Whale or as others the sperme or seed of the Whale consolidated by lying in the Sea P. Pil. v. 2. p. 772. The Herb Addad is bitter and the root of it so venemous that one drop of the juice will kill a man within the space of one hour P. Pil. v. 2. p. 850. Of Palm-trees which they keep with watering and cutting every year they make Velvets Satins Taffaties Damasks Sarcenets and such like all which are spun out of the leaves cleansed and drawn into long threads P. Pil. v. 2. p. 985. Frankincense grows in Arabia and is the gumme that issueth out of trees Idem p. 1781. In Mozambique Manna is procreated of the dew of heaven falling on a certain tree on which it hardens like Sugar sticking to the wood like Rozen whence it s gathered and put into jars and is used much for purging in India Idem p. 1554. Mastick-trees grow only in the Island of Sio the trees are low shrubs with little crooked boughs and leaves In the end of August they begin their Mastick-harvest men cutting the bark of the Tree with Iron instruments out of which the Gumme distills uncessantly for almost three months together Idem p. 1812. Spunges are gathered from the sides of Rocks fifteen fathom under water about the bottom of the Streights of Gibralter the people that get them being trained up in diving from their child-hood so that they can indure to stay very long under water as if it were their habitable Element In Manica is a tree called the Resurrection-tree which for the greatest part of the year is without leaf or greenness but if one cut off a bough and put it into the water in the space of ten hours it springs and flourisheth with green leaves but draw it out of the water as soon as it is dry it remaineth as it was before Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1537. There is in the Island of Teneriff which is one of the Canaries a Tree as big as an Oke of a middle size the bark white like Hornbeam six or seven yards high with ragged boughs the leaf like the Bay-leaf It beareth neither fruit nor flower it stands on the side of an hill in the day its withered and drops all night a cloud hanging thereon so that it yeelds water sufficient for the whole Island wherein are eight thousand souls and about an hundred thousand Cammels Mules Goats c. The water falls from it into a pond made of brick paved with stone from whence it s conveyed into several ponds thorough the whole Island They also water therewith their Corn-ground for they have no other water in the Island except Rain-water The Pond holds twenty thousand Tun of water and is filled in one night Many of our English that have been there have attested the truth hereof Idem p. 1369. Concerning which Tree Sylvester the Poet made these verses In th' I le of Iron one of those same seven Whereto our Elders happy name have given The Savage people never drink the streams Of Wells and Rivers as in other Realms Their drink is in the air their gushing spring A weeping tree out of it self doth wring A Tree whose tender bearded root being spread In dryest sand his sweating leaf doth shed A most sweet liquor and like as the Vine Untimely cut weeps at her wound the Wine In pearled tears incessantly distills A royal stream which all their Cisterns fills Throughout the Island for all hither hie And all their vessels cannot draw it drye Aloes grows in the Island of Socotera which is nothing but Semper vivum it is so full of a Rosin-like juice that the leaves are ready to break with it which leaves they cut in small peeces and cast them into a clean pit made in the ground and paved there it lies to ferment in the heat of the Sun whereby the juice floweth forth which they put in skins and hang them up in the wind to drye whereby it hardens P. Pil. v. 1. p. 419. Indico groweth in the Moguls Country having a small leaf like that of Sena the branches are of a wooddy substance like Broom It grows not above a yard high the stalk about the bignesse of a mans thumb The seed is included in a small round Cod of an inch long This once sowed lasteth three years that of the first year makes a weighty reddish Indico that sinks in water being not yet come to its perfection that of the second year is rich very light and of a perfect Violet colour swimming on the water that of the third year is weighty blackish and the worst of the three This herb when it s cut is put into a Cistern and pressed down with stones then covered over with water where it remains till the substance of the herb is gone into the water then it s drawn forth into another Cistern and laboured with staves till it bee like Batter then they let it seeth and so scum off the water two or three times till nothing but a thick substance remains which taking forth they spread on a cloath dry it in the Sun then make it into balls dry it on the sand which causes the sandy foot That is best which is of a pure grain Violet-colour is glossie dry and light Idem p. 430. Sir James Lancaster in his East-Indy Voyage in the Isle of Sombrero found on the Sea-sands a young twig growing up to a tree and offering to pluck up the same it shrank down into the ground and when it was by strength pulled up a great Worm was the root of it and as the Tree groweth in greatnesse the Worm diminisheth This Tree plucked up the leaves and pill stripped off by that time its dryed is turned into a hard stone so that this Worm was twice transformed into different natures after a wondrous manner Of these hee brought home many P. Pil. v. 1. p. 152. About Saffron Walden in Essex there grows great store of Saffron which was first brought into England in the reign of King Edward the third This in the month of July every third year being plucked up and after twenty dayes having the root split and set again in the earth about the endâ— of September it putteth forth a whitish blew flower out of the midst whereof there come three chives which are gathered in the morning before Sun-rising and being plucked out of the flower are dried by a soft fire and so great is the increase that commeth thereof that out of every acre of ground there are made fourscore or an hundred pound weight of Saffron whilst it is moist which being dryed yeeld some twenty pound weight And the ground which three years together hath brought Saffron is so enriched thereby that it will bear very good Barley many years together without dung or manuring Camb. Brit. p. 453. All along the shores of the Red-sea are abundance of Palm-Trees of a very strange nature They grow in couples Male and Female both thrust
the River Bindamyr that springs out of the Tapirian Mountains It 's each way about three miles in length the compasse nine miles It s pleasantly seated in the North West end of a spacious plain twenty miles long and six broad environed with stupendious Hills under one of which the City is placed It s defended by Nature inriched by Trade by Art made lovely The Vine-yards Gardens Cypresses Sudatories and Temples ravish the eye and smell in every part sweet and delightful The houses are of Sun-burnt Bricks hard and durable flat and tarrassed about the Belconies and windows are curiously and largely trellized the floores spred with rich Carpets None are without their Gardens or Forrests rather of high Chenaers and Cypresses In it are fifteen brave Mosques pargetted with Azure-stones resembling Turquoises without lined within with pure black polished Marble the tops beautified with many double-guilt-spires which reflect the Sun beams with a rich and delightful splendor two excel all the rest One of them is fifty foot high in the body leaded covered with gold and blew the walls varnished and wrought with knots and poesies Above aspiring with two colums of wood round cut and garnished with great bravery very nigh as high as Pauls in London The other is Quadrangular the superficies of Arabick invention imbost with gold paved with Porphiry painted with Azure garnished with Mazes and at their festivals made resplenâ—ent with one thousand Lamps and Torches Idem When our English Embassador passed through this City hee was entertained in the Dukes Palace where all the great men of the Court and City were present and many young Ganimedes arrayed in cloath of gold went up and down with flagons of pure gold to fill out VVine to such as nodded for it they were served with a curious banquet at the end whereof came in the Duke Hee was ushered in by thirty gallant young Gentlemen vested in crimson Satten Their Tulipants were of Silk and Silver wreathed about with chains of Gold of Pearl of Rubies Turquoises and Emeralds they were all girded with rich swords and imbroidered scabbards they had Hawks on their fists each hood worth one hundred pound To these succeeded their Lord the Arch Duke of Shyraz his Coat was of blew Satten richly imbroidered with silver upon which hee wore a Robe of a great length so glorious to the eye so thick powdered with Oriental Gems as made the ground of it invisible the price invaluable His Turbant was of pure fine silk and gold bestudded with Pearl and Carbuncles his Scabbard was beset all over with Rubies Pearls and Emeralds His Sandals resâ—mbled the bespangling Firmament c. Idem The ancient Persepolis described Persepolis was a City so glorious that Quintus Curtius and Diodorus Siculus intitle it the richest and most lovely City under the Sun It was a very large City and the Metropolis of all Persia two of the gates standing twelve miles asunder which shews what the circuit of it was when in her beauty and bravery On the South side was a stately and magnificent Pallace built by King Cyrus On the North side stood a mighty strong Castle which was girt about with three walls The first wall was four and twenty foot high adorned and beautified with many turrets and spires The second was like the first but twice as high And the third was foursquare being ninety foot high all built of polished Marble On each side of the City were twelve brasen gates with brasen Pales set before them very curiously wrought On the East arose amiably an Hill of four Acres in which in stately Mausoleum's were entombed the Monarchs of the VVorld Many rare and admirable buildings it had amongst which the glorious Temple of Diana was the most exquisite for Art and materials in the VVorld The stones were of the richest Marble and Porphery the roof of refined gold The Pallace Royal was cut out of the Marble Rock above two miles in compasse the roof and windows were of Gold Silver Amber and Ivory The Seate within was of Gold and Oriental glittering Gems In one room was an artificial Vine the stalk of pure Gold the clusters of Grapes of Pearls and Carbuncles His bolster was valued at five thousand Talents of Gold the footstool worth three thousand Talents so that when the greedy Greeks had pillaged three dayes yet Alexander had for his share seventy two millions of Crowns of Gold besides hee loaded away three thousand Mules with two and thirty millions and seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds in Coin The ruines of this stately City are seen at this day with astonishment Herb. Trav. p. 144. The City of Spahawn described Spahawn The Metropolis of the Persian Monarchy is seated in the Parthian territory as the navel to that spacious body It 's nine English miles in compasse containing seventy thousand houses and of souls about two hundred thousand composed besides natives of English Dutch Portuguize Poles Moscovites Indians Arabians Armenians Georgians Turks Jews c. drawn thither by the magnetick power of gain and novelty The principal things observeable in it are The Bridge well built of stone supported by five and thirty Arches through which the Syndery from the Acroceraunian Mountains gently floweth The Midan or great Market-place which is the most spacious pleasant and Aromatick Market in the VVorld a thousand paces from North to South the other way above two hundred resembling our Exchange the building is of Brick well made and framed in a most delightful manner the inside is full of shops each shop full of ware arched above a top framed Tarrase-wise and cemented with excellent plaister it s placed in the heart of this triumphant City The Kings Pallace joyns to the West side of it possessing a large quantity of ground backward though to the street side it hath no magnifick front her best bravery being in the trim pargetting and painting with Azure and Gold in Mosaick and Antick sort interlaced with Poesies of Arabick But within the rooms are arched enlightened with curious trellizes the roof embossed with red white blew and gold the sides with sports and painted Images the ground spread with rich and curious Carpets of Silk and Gold Tarrased above garnished with a very high Tower excellent for view and breathing The Wildernesse behinde is filled with all sorts of birds priviledged from hurt or affrights who return their thanks in a sweet melodious consort The North Isle of the Midan contains eight or nine arched rooms hung with Lamps and Candlesticks which being lighted gives a curious splendor Opposite to this Pallace is a fair Mosque in form round and within distinguished into Isles the walls are lined fifteen foot high from the ground with white and well polisht Marble without pews or seats In the midst is a stately Tank or Pond and at the Portal another eightsquare filled with Christal streams of water wherein all Musslemen wash their hands armes eyes c. as an operative work
to purge sin and confer devotion In the Midan the shops bee uniform the Trades are no where severed all the Mercers together the Lapidaries together c. but most of them are of gums drugs and spices so sweet and delicate as can bee imagined The Hummums or Sudatories are many and very beautiful some square but most round made of white stone polished and durable the windows are large without and narrower within the glasse is thick and dark the top round tyled with a counterfeit Turquoise perfectly blew fresh and lasting they are divided into many rooms some for delight and others for sweating the paving all pure black Marble Men use them in the morning women towards night T is their Catholicon against all diseases colds catarrhes flegme aches c. The City is Oval each house made pleasant by large Cypresse Gardens The Seraglio for his women is full of precious treasures and more precious beauties but not to bee seen The Castle is very large well walled and deeply moated The City hath so many pleasant Gardens that at a distance you would take it for a Forrest so sweet you would call it a Paradise I shall only describe one of them excelling all others Going from the Midan you passe through an even delicate street two miles long most part of the way walled on both sides bedecked with Summer-houses but more remarkable in that abundance of green broad spreading Chenore Trees yeelding shade and incomparable order and beauty The Garden is circled with a stately wall three miles in compasse entred by three gallant and curious gates From North to South it is one thousand paces from East to West seven hundred from one end to the other easily seen by reason of a fair large Alley running all along in parallel distinguished into nine ascents each surmounting other a foot each distance smooth and even In the Center is a spacious Tank made into twelve equal sides each side being five foot set round with pipes of lead which spout out water in variety of conceits and postures which sort of pastime continues thence to the North gate where is raised a house of pleasure antickly garnished without within divided into four or six Chambers the lower is set out with Tanks of rich white Marble and fumes out a cool Breese the higher rooms are garnished with variety of Landskips representing their sports of hunting hawking fishing riding shooting wrestling and other fancies the seeling is inriched with beaten gold imbost with Azure From her Tarrasses is a dainty prospect of most part of the City This Garden is replenished with trees of all sorts for fruit shade and medicine All so green so sweet so pleasant as may well bee tearmed a Compendium of Sense-ravishing delights Within the City is a Column or Pillar at the base twenty foot round and sixty foot high made of the heads of men and beasts the occasion of this was Anno Christi 1500. when Tamas Shaw ruled Persia being much troubled with Turks and Tartars these Citizens refused not only to contribute to his Wars but denyed him enterance whereupon hee vowed revenge entred the City by force and without regarding age or sex slew three hundred thousand of them and of their heads made this Pillar as a Trophee of his victory and their basenesse En quo discordia Cives perduxit miseros When our English Embassador came to the Emperor of Persia he found him at Asharaff in Hircania two miles from the Caspian Sea when hee came to the Court with his retinue they allighted and were ushered into a little Court du Guard that stood in the center of a spacious Court the ground spread with Persian Carpets about a pretty white Marble Tank where they were feasted with Pelo and Wine the flagons cups dishes plates and covers being of pure beaten gold Thence they were led through a spacious and fragrant Garden curious to the eye and delicate to the smell to another Summer-house rich in gold imbossements and paintings but far more excellent for the admirable prospect for from thence they viewed the Caspian Sea on one side and the Mountain Taurus on the other The ground Chambers were large four-square archt and richly guilded above and on the sides below bespread with curious Carpets of Silk and Gold In the Center were Tanks of Christalline water an Element of no mean account in those Torrid habitations Round about the Tanks were placed Goblets Flagons Cisterns and Standards of pure Massy-gold some of them were filled with perfumes others with Rose-water with wine some and others with choisest Flowers From thence they were led into another large square upper Room where the roof was formed into an Artificial Element many golden Planets attracting the wandring eye to help their Motion The ground was covered with far richer Carpets than the other the Tank was larger the matter Jasper and Porphiry the silver purling-stream was forced up into another Region yet seemed here to bubble wantonly as in her proper Center about it was so much gold in vessels for use and oftentation that some Merchants with them judged it worth twenty millions of pounds sterling Another Tank there was incircled with a wall of Gold and richest Gems No other Flagons Cups nor other vessels were there but what were thick and covered over with Diamonds Rubies Pearls Emeralds Turquises Jacinths c. The seeling of this Chamber was garnished with Poetick fancies in gold and choicest colours The ground in this room was covered with such Carpets as befitted the Monarch of Persia Above sixty of the greatest Nobles sat round about it cross-legged with their bums to the ground and their backs to the wall like so many statues their eyes fixed on a constant object not daring to speak sneese Cough spit c. in the Emperors presence The Ganimed Boys in vests of Gold and richly bespangled Turbanes c. with Flagons of most glorious mettal profering wine to such as would tast it The Emperor Abbas himself sat at the upper end so much higher than the rest as two or three silken shags could elevate him his apparrel was plain c. The City of Casbine Described Casbine is at this day for multitude of Buildings and inhabitants the chiefest City in Media and next to Spahawn the greatest City in the Persian Monarchy It s compassed with a wall seven miles in compasse seated in a fair even plain having no hill of note within thirty miles compasse the Champain yeilds grain and grapes but no wood It hath a small stream to water it which gives drink to the thirsty and makes fruitfull the gardens whereby they yeild abundance of fruits and roots in variety as Grapes Orenges Limes Lemons Pomecitrons Musk melons and Water-melons Apples Pistachoes Filberts Almonds Walnuts Plums Cherries Peaches Apricocks Figs Pears Goosberries Dates and excellent Pomgranats c. The Families in it are twenty thousand and the Inhabitants about two hundred thousand The Buzzars or market places
the bowle will hold half an ounce of Tobacco into these they put Reeds about a yard long and so draw the smoak They have store of Palmita wine and gourds which grow like our Pumpions carryed up their walls of unequal size from an egge to a bushel yeelding variety of houshold vessels to eat drink and wash cloaths in they have store of great Locusts trees which yeeld clusters of Cods ripe in May which they eat They have store of Bees and Honey They have a sort of trees which on a long stalk have a great and round fruit with a pleasing pith therein on which Baboons and Monkeys feed There is a tree or shrub commonly growing on the River bank like our great Briars having a ragged leaf which leaf with the gentlest stealing touch betwixt the finger and thumb will make the whole bough to close up all his leaves and the touch of a sprig will cause the whole tree to close up all his leaves It bears a yellow flower like our Eglantines There are many Lions Jackals Ouzes and Leopards The Civit-Cats and Porcupins rob them of their Poultry There are also abundance of Elephants which going in companies spoil their Corn and Cotton grounds they feed amongst sedges and upon boughs of trees the blacks eat their flesh There are Deer of all sorts Antilops wild Bulls and huge Bears The Baboons go by three or four thousand in a Heard some of the bigest being leaders which are as big as Lions the Females carry their young under their bellies and if any have two shee carries one on her back There are infinite store of Guinie-hens Partridges Quails as big as Woodcocks Pidgeons Parrats and Parakitos Their greatest fowl is a Stalker who standing upright is taller than a man the next is a Wake which makes a great noise as hee flies and doth much hurt in their Rice grounds of smaller birds there are many sorts pleasant to the eye and delighting the ear Aethiopia inferior Described Aethiopia inferior hath on the East the Red-sea on the VVest the Aethiopian Ocean on the North the Land of Blacks and Aethiopia superior and on the South the Southern Ocean It hath in it these Kingdomes Atan between the mouth of the Red-Sea and the River Calimanci It abounds with flesh Honey Wax Corn Gold Ivory and abundance of Sheep whose tails usually weigh five and twenty pounds Zanzibar extending from the River Calimanci to Monomopata It s divided into fifteen Provinces or Kingdomes the chiefest whereof is Sofila where there is so much Gold and Ivory that some would have it to be Solomons Ophir Cafraria which hath on the East the River de Infanto on the VVest and South the Ocean and on the North the Mountains of the Moon it extends Southward to the Cape of Good hope first discovered by the Portugals Anno Christi 1497. The Africans at the Cape of Good Hope Described At the Cape of Good Hope the Africans are ugly black strong-limmed desperate crafty and injurious Their heads are long their hair woolly and crispt of which some shave one side leaving the other long and curled Another shaves all saving a little tuft on the top Another thinking his invention better shaves here and there the bald skull appearing in many places other some shave away all save a lock before Such as have tufts of hair hang in them brasse buttons spur rowels peeces of Pewter c. Their ears are long and made longer by heavy bables they hang in them as links of brass or Iron chains glass-beads blew-stones bullets or Oister-shels and such as cannot reach to such Jewels have singles of Dear beaks of birds Dogs or Cat stones c. Their Noses are flat crusht so in their infancy their Lips great quick crafty eyes and about their necks they have guts or raw puddings serving both for good and Ornament The better sort instead of them get hoops of Iron chains of brasse or greazy thongs of stinking Leather Their arms are loaden with voluntary shackles of Iron Ivory rusty brass or musty Copper the rest of their bodies are naked saving that they are girded with a thong of raw Leather to which is fastened a square peece like the back of a Glove to cover their privities but the women when they receive any thing return their gratitude by taking up that slap and discovering their shame But their great ones have better cloathing A nasty untanned hide of a Lyon Leopard Calf Baboon or Sheep the hair inward which they put upon their shoulders reaching to their wasts for their thighs and legs are never covered To their feet is fastened a broad peece of Leather tyed by a little strap which for the most part they hold in their hands that their feet may have liberty to steal which with their toes they can do most cunningly all the while looking you in the face as if they meant no harm Most of the men are semi-Eunuches one stone being exsected in their infancy by their nurses Both sexes hideously cut gash and pink their brows nose cheeks arms breast back belly thighs and legs in sundry works and Figures They have no houses they delight most in Caves Holes or Lyons dens unfurnished a whole Tribe commonly keeping together coupling without distinction the name of wife or brother being unknown amongst these incestuous persons They feed sleep and speak altogether without order or Law In the night they sleep round a fire a Centinel watching the Lyons their adversaries Vivitur ex rapto the one eating the other the Lyon tearing some of them and they other times training him over covered pits which catches him and so they slay and eat him to day who perhaps was a Sepulcher to their friends or parents the day before They dawb and rub their skins with grease and coals indenting and drying them in the Sun whereby they become Monsters to all civil eyes They eat men alive or dead which when they fail of dead Whales Seals Pengwins grease or raw puddings are their diet and when the frost of old age benums their limbs whereby they are unapt to provide their own food they either eat them or expose them upon the Mountains either to bee killed by famine or devoured by Lyons With these no violent death nor stroying rage Of Lust is half so dreadful as old age They have no spark of devotion no knowledge of God heaven hell or immortality no place of worship no day of rest no order in nature no shame no truth no ceremony in births or burials meer brutishnesse and stupidity over shadowing them The women carry their children on their backs and give suck with their long dugs stretched over their shoulders Anno Christi 1600. Sir James Lancaster had amongst them a thousand sheep and fifty Oxen for trifles They train their Cattle to such obedience as with a whistle great Heards will follow them like Dogs and being sold with a like call will runne away after them to the
forth cods full of seed but the Female is only fruitful and that not except growing by the male and having her seed mixed with his The pith of these Trees is an excellent sallet better than an Artâ—choke Of the branches are made bedsteads Lattices c. Of the leaves Baskets Mats Fans c. Of the outward husk of the cod cordage of the inward brushes The fruit it beareth is like a Fig and finally it is said to yeild whatsoever is necessary for the life of man It is the nature of this tree that if never so great a weight bee laid upon it it will lift and raise up it self the more for which it was given to conquerors in token of victory Herb. Trav. In Italy there grows an Hearb called Balilisco which hath this innate property that if it bee laid under a stone in some moist place in two days space it produceth a Scorpion Raimunds Mercu. Ital. The Assa-Faetida Tree is like our Bryer in height the Leaves resemble Fig-leaves the root is like our Radish though the smell bee so base yet the taste is so pleasing that no meat no sauce no vessell is pleasing to the Gusarats pallats where it grows except it relish of it Herb. Trav. Benjamin is either pure cleer and white or yellow and streaked This Gum issues from an high tree small and furnished with fruitlesse branches the leaves are not unlike to those of the Olive Pegu and Siam yeild the best The Coco tree is very rife in the East-Indies In the whole world there is not a tree more profitable than this is neither do men reap more benefit of any other tree than of this The heart of the Tree makes good Timber Planks and masts for ships with the leaves thereof they make sails with the rinde of it they make cordage A Gum that grows out of it caulks the ship the fruit of it is a kinde of Nut which being full of kernel and a sweet liquor serves for meat and drink much Wine also it yeilds and of the wine they make Sugar and Placetto The wine they gather in the spring of the year out of the middle of the Tree from whence there runs continually a white thin liquor at which time they put a vessel under it and take it away full every morning and evening and then distilling it they make a very strong liquor of it Of the Nuts also they make great store of Oil out of the tree they make bows Beadsteads of the leaves also they make very fine mats which whilst green are full of an excellent sweet liquor with which if a man bee thirsty hee may satisfy himself with the bark they make spoons dishes and platters for meat The first rinde of the nut they stamp and make thereof perfect Ockam and the store of these nuts serve for merchandise So that out of this one Tree they build and rig ships furnish them with meat drink utensils and merchandise without the least help of any other whatsoever Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1466. and 1704. Mr. Herbert in his Travels thus describes it The Tree that bears the Coco is strait lofty without any branches save at the very top where it spreads its beautiful plumes and Nuts like Pearls or pendants adorning them It is good Timber for Canoes Masts Anchors The leaves for Tents or thatching the rinde for sailes Matteresses Cables and Linnen the shels for furniture the meat for victualling The Nut is covered with a thick rinde equall in bignesse to a Cabbage The shell is like the skull of a man or rather a deaths head the eyes nose and mouth being easily discerned within it is contained a quart of sweet and excellent liquor like new white-wine but farre more aromatick tasted the meat or kernel is better relished than our Philberds and is enough to satisfy the appetite of two reasonable men The Indian Nut alone Is cloathing meat and trencher drink and Can. Boat Cable Sail Mast Needle all in one Herb. And Sylvester hath set them forth to the life in these verses The Indian Isles most admirable be In those rare fruits call'd Coquos commonly The which alone far richer wonder yeilds Then all our Groves Meads gardens orchards Fields What wouldst thou drink the wounded leaves drop wine Lackst thou fine linnen dresse the tender rine Dresse it like Flax spin it then weave it well It shall thy Cambrike and thy Lawn excell Longst thou for Butter bite the poulpous part For never better came to any mart Do'st need good Oyle then boult it to and fro And passing Oyle it soon becometh so Or Vinegar to whet thine appetite Why Sun it well and it will sharply bite Or want's thou Sugar steep the same a stownd And sweeter Sugar is not to bee found 'T is what you will or will bee what you would Should Midas touch it sure it would bee gold And God all-good to crown our life with Bayes The Earth with plenty and his Name with praise Had done enough if hee had made no more But this one plant so full of choicest store Save that the world where one thing breeds satiety Could not bee fair without so great variety The Plantan Tree is of a reasonable height the body about the bigness of a mans thigh compacted of many leaves wrapped one upon another adorned with leaves in stead of boughs from the very ground which are for the most part about two ells long and an ell broad having a large rib in the middle thereof The fruit is a bunch of ten or twelve Plantans each a span long and as big almost as a mans wrist the rind being stripped off the fruit is yellowish and of a pleasant taste Pur. Pil. p. 416. The Cedars of Mount Libanus grow higher than Pines and so big that four or five men with their arms can but fathom them the boughs rise not upward but stretch out a cross largely spread and thickly enfolded one in another as if done by Art so that men may sit and lye along upon the boughs the leaves are thick narrow hard prickly and alwayes green the wood is hard incorruptible and sweet smelling the fruit like the Cones of Cypress gummy and marvellous fragrant Pur. Pil. v. 2. p. 1500. In Africa are many Palmeta trees whence they draw a sweet and wholesome Wine by cutting or boring holes into the body of the Tree into which a Cane is put that receives the sap and conveyes it into Gourds It tastes like white Wine but it will not last above four and twenty hours Idem In New-Spain there are many trees which they call Manguey It hath great and large leaves at the end whereof is a strong and sharp point which they use for pins and needles and out of the leaf they draw a kind of thred which they use much to sew with The body of the Tree is big which when it is tender they cut and out of the hole proceeds a liquor which they drink
good milk and her flesh is like beefe Idem p. 1469. In the same Country also are certain wild Goats whose horns are good against poison Pur. Pil. p. 472. In the Country of Indostan in the East-Indies are large white Apes as big as our Grey-hounds which will eat young birds whereupon Nature hath taught their Dams this subtilty they build their Nests on the utmost boughs at the end of slender twigs where they hang them like Purse-nets to which the Apes cannot possibly come yet many times with their hands they will shake those boughs til the nests break and fall down and then they will devour them Pur. Pilgrimag p. 1475. The Camelion is of the shape and bigness of a Lizzard it is a deformed lean and crooked creature having a long and slender tail like a Mouse and is of a slow pace It lives only upon Flys It changeth colours according to the variety of places where it comes It is a great enemy to venemous Serpents for when it sees any lye sleeping under a Tree it gets upon a bough just over the Serpents head and voideth out of its mouth as it were a long thred of Spittle with a round drop hanging at the end which falling on the Serpents head immediately kills him P. Pil. p. 848. There was lately found in Catalunia in the Mountains of Cerdania a certain Monster that had humane shape as far as the waste and downwards it was like a Satyre Hee had many heads Arms and Eyes and a mouth of extraordinary bignesse wherewith hee made a noise like a Bull His picture was sent by Don John of Austria now Governour of the Low Countryes to the King of Spain and afterwards many Coppies thereof were drawn and sent abroad by Ambassadors and other persons to several Princes and States in Europe Hist. of this Iron age In Brasile is a certain Beast called a Tamandua or Ant-Bear of the bignesse of a great dog more round than long and the tail above twice so long as the body and so full of hair that under it hee shelters himself from raine heat cold and wind His head is small and hath a thin snout his mouth round with a tongue three quarters of a yard long hee is diligent in seeking Ant-hills which hee teareth with his claws and then thrusts in his long tongue upon which the Ants run and when it is full hee licks them in and this is all his food Pur. Pil. v. 4. p. 1301. The Armadillo is of the bignesse of a Pig and of a white colour It hath a long snout and the body is covered with shels like Plates wherwith they are armed for they are so hard that no arrow will pierce them except in the Flanks where they are softer their flesh is good to eat they dig holes in the ground with their snouts in which they lye Idem The Porcupine hath bristles or quils white and black of a span and an half long which they can cast and they have this quality that where one of these bristles enters into the flesh if it bee not pulled out presently it will work it self quite through they are of a good flesh and taste The Civet Cat exceeds the Castor for bignesse her head is little her eyes cleer hath a long muzzle sharp and offensive teeth Her hair is parti-coloured harsh and bristley yellow above and whiter downwards The pocket wherein the Civet is bred is neer the genitory which is taken forth with a spoon or stick But when shee is wild shee casts it forth of her own accord and by the sent it is found by the passengers The Lyons in Affrick are more fierce than in colder Countryes here was one of their skins brought into England which from the snout to the top of the tail contained one and twenty foot in length They engender backwards as do Camels Elephants Rhinoceroses Ounces and Tygers They spare such men as prostrate themselves to them and prey rather upon men than women and not at all on Infants except compelled by hunger His tail is his Scepter by which hee expresses his passion Hee shrinks not at danger except some covert of woods hides him from witnesses and then he will take the benefit of flight which otherwise he seems to disdain The Hyaena hath no joints in her neck and therefore stirrs not her neck but with the bending of her whole body Shee hath one continued tooth through her whole mouth In Africk are many wild Asles whereof one male hath many females he â—s so jealous that he bites off the stones of the young males if the suspicious female prevent him not by bringing forth in a close place The Dabuh is a simple Creature like to a Wolf but that his legs and feet are like to a mans they which know his haunt with a Taber and singing will bring him out of his den and captivate his ears with their Musick whilst another captivateth his legs with a rope The Zebra is a very beautiful Creature resembling a curiously shaped horse but not all out so swift all overlaid with party coloured lades and guards from head to tail In Sofala there is a certain creature called Inhazaras as big as a hog and somewhat like with thin and black hair having on his hinder feet five fingers like unto a mans and four on his forefeet they live meerly upon Ants by thrusting their tongues which are two spans and an half long into an Ant-hill whereon the Ants running they pull them into their mouths and so eat them some call them Ant-Bears Pur. Pil. There is in Affrica a certain monster called Pongo in the whole proportion like unto a man but that it is bigger It hath a mans face hollow eyes long hair upon the brows his face and ears being without hair but his body is all hairy of a dunish colour c. Hee differs from a man only in his legs which have no calves hee goes always upright upon his legs and carries his hands clasped in the nape of his neck when hee walkes upon the ground They use to sleep in trees and live upon fruits and nuts Idem v. 2. p. 982. In Congo there is a strange Creature as big as a Ram that hath wings like a Dragon a long tail and great chaps with diverse rows of teeth They feed upon raw flesh Idem p. 1003. In Affrica there is a beast called a Dabuk in bignesse and shape resembling a Wolf saving that his legs and feet are like a mans Hee useth to rake dead men out of their graves and eat them Idem p. 847. In the Kingdome of Mexico there are Kine with bunches on their backs about the bignesse of our bulls having little horns and more hair on their foreparts than behind which is like Wooll On the back bone they have manes like horses and long hair from their Knees downward with much long hair on their throats They are meat drink shooes houses fire vessels and their masters