These Cities tho' built by People we stile Salvage and Barbarous yielded in nothing to those of Europe or for bigness or magnificence No Horses were in America An Indian of good sence reckoned a Horse in the number of the three things he most esteemed the two others were a new laid Egg and Light Horses gave so much terrour to the Americans that for above a hundred years they could not be prevailed with to mount ' em The Inhabitants are of four sorts Europeans Metis Negroes and Salvages Most of the Nations of Europe have Colonies in this Portion of the World which for the most part bear the Names of their respective Provinces and Cities The Spaniards stand possess'd of the greatest the richest and the fertilest Countreys of America Among others of Mexico and Peru formerly two famous Kingdoms the latter Hereditary the other Elective their King pretends a Right to All by vertue of the Donative of Pope Alexander the Sixth in the year 1493. But this other Nations do not allow of The Portugneezes have the Coasts of Brasile The French have Colonies in Canada in several Islands and upon the firm Land The English have fair and great Establishments all along the Coasts of Northern America and in the Islands The Metis are those who are born of the Europeans and Indians In the Territories conquered by the Spaniards they call Crioles those who are born of a Spanish Man and Woman and these are they whom the Spaniards of Europe have a mortal aversion to and whom they put by all great Offices for fear of a Revolt The Negroes are transported into America from Angola and other parts of Africa to labour in the Mines which drudgery the Americans are not able to support The Salvages here live commonly on Hunting Maiz Cassave which is their Corn. They have amongst 'em almost as many Tongues as Villages He who has the use of those of Mexico and Casco may make himself understood through all America This diversity of Tongues is the cause that we have little knowledge of their Origine They are all naturally dexterous and active good Runners and excellent Swimmers Several amongst 'em live like Beasts without King Policy or Law The Sun Moon nay and the Devil too are consider'd by them as so many Divinities The Sooth-sayers who are very numerous in these parts keep 'em in these Errours The Kings of Spain have caused five Arch-Bishopricks to be erected there and about thirty Episcopal Sees The French have one Bishop in Canada The Portugueezes have at this present three in Brasile under the Arch-Bishop of S. Salvador The other Nations who have Settlements in these Countreys have likewise establish'd there the Religion they profess America is not peopled comparatively with the parts of our Continent perhaps by reason of the continual Wars which the Inhabitants wage there against one another or else because of the cruel treatments the Indians have received from the Spaniards some Authors do attest they have put to Death there several Millions of Persons whether for Religion or for other Pretexts and that the Blood of those who have perished in the Mines where they have been forc'd to labour would weigh more than the Gold and Silver they have thence extracted The Spaniards met with no strong resistance in their Conquests where they found none to make head against 'em but naked People whose Armies were easily broken by the Noise only of a Canon-shot or at the sight of a Horse-man The poor Indians stedfastly believed that the Spaniards were the Masters of Thunder they thought 'em half Men and half Horses or some Sea-Monsters when they saw 'em on Horse-back And when they saw them on board their Ships eating Bisket and drinking Claret they said they were descended from Heaven upon a great Bird that they eat Stones and drank Blood If we confider the situation of the Islands of that part of the World we shall find that California is in the West of Northern America the New Lands the Bermudas and the Antilles towards the East The Mountains of the Andes Cross all Southern America from the North to the South That of Potosi in Peru is esteem'd the richest of all by reason of its Silver Mines The Spaniards would persuade us that there are others in the Neighbourhood at least as rich The North Sea is so call'd because it is on the North of the firm Land which makes part of the Southern America and was sooner discovered than the Northern America in regard of which it cannot bear the Name of the North Sea 'T is called the Green Sea towards the Tropick of Cancer by reason of the Herbs found there upon the Surface of the Waters The South Sea is really Southern in regard of that North Sea but if we consider all America both Northern and Southern we shall find that it is Western It 's often called Pacific by reason of its pertinacious Calms or else because very few Acts of Hostility are perform'd there Between Mexico and the Island of California 't is call'd the Vermillion Sea It hardly receives any considerable Rivers The Sweet Sea which is in Canada and the Parime Sea in Southern America bear the names of Lakes because they are in the midst of Lands Many are of opinion that by this Sweet Sea the Northorn Sea communicates with with the Southern Among the Rivers of America that of Canada or St. Lawrence is vulgarly call'd the Great River perhaps for that it receives above two thousand others great and small and that above five hundred Leagues above Quebeck its source has not yet been found out It makes some Lakes grow narrow sometimes it casts it self among the Rocks with such impetuosity that 't is impossible to pass there by reason of the number of Water-falls which they call Saults and Carriages because those who mean to go over must carry their little Boats upon their shoulders which they term Canoes It s ordinary breadth is full twelve or thirteen Leagues its depth does often exceed two hundred fathom it keeps its Waters clear as far as below Quebeck The River of Chayre upon the Confines of the two America's affords means for the Transportation of Merchandizes from one Sea to the other L'Orenoyu is the largest of all those of America The Amanzon is esteemed the greatest strongest and deepest of all those of these Countreys and one of the fiercest in the World In the Year 1638. the Portuguese who were then under the Crown of Spain remounted it up as far as Quito in Peru and came down again the following Year It has its Inundations as well as the Nile whereby the neighbouring Countrey is not incommoded with Insects Above a hundred and fifty several Nations have been observ'd to dwell in the Neighbourhood of this great River and those which fall into it La Plata has its Name from the Mines of Silver which are near it Towards its beginning it bears the Name of Paraguay after having
They have several peculiar Kings the Hollanders have some Fortresses In the last Age Charles the Fifth Emperour sent Magellan to discover 'em who to arrive there steer'd the Western Course quite contrary to that which the Kings of Portugal had caus'd to be taken since they were engaged to the Portugals who laid claim to 'em as having been there by the common way which was that of the East The Government of these Islands after that was join'd to the Manilhes and the Commerce of 'em was left to the Portugals From hence are transported Nutmegs Cloves and Ginger Ternate the greatest of the five small Islands is eight Leagues in circuit and has a Mountain which casts forth fire the others are Tider very considerable Motir Machian and Bachian The Moluccoes are good Soldiers commonly of the Mahometan Religion Besides the Kings of Ternate Tidor and Bachian there are several others in the Celebes Islands and in Gilolo The King of Macassar in the Celebes has lately caused his City to be fortified He has always given free entrance in his Ports to the Ships of strangers In the Year 1661 he treated with the Hollanders East-India Company and abandoned the Portugals In the Year 1668 the Hollanders oblig'd him to trade with none but them with exclusion to other Nations The state of this Prince would be pretty temperate if the heats were not insupportable in the day time Formerly the Inhabitants of Macassar are humane flesh for which reason the Kings of the Moluccoes and others of their neighbourhood sent their Criminals thither Celebes fertil in Rice and the Land of Papous affords Gold Ambergreese and the Birds of Paradise Banda the only Island in the World which produces Nutmegs and Mace is an Island towards the South of the Moluccoes on the East of that of Amboyna with five or six other smaller Islands It has a Volcan or Mountain which casts forth flames which in the Year 1615 spoil'd all the Artillery in the Island Amboyna fruitful in Cloves likewise on the South of the Moluccoes gives it Name to some other small neighbouring Islands It was taken in the Year 1603 from the Portugals by the Hollanders who have at this day several Fortresses there It 's their best Establishment next that of Batavia They have treated with the Inhabitants of the Island so as these last are oblig'd to receive no Commerce but with the Hollanders Europe EVROPE one of the four great Parts of the World is also one of the most considerable if we respect either the Potency of its States the great Number Beauty and excellent Polity of its Cities its great Commerce the goodness of its Air and its prodigious Fertility 'T was Europe that gave Alexanders and Caesars to the Universe that has had within its Boundaries the principal part of the Roman and Grecian Monarchies and which at this day does send Colonies into other parts of the World For this reason it seems to be represented with a Crown on its Head when it is shewn under the form of a Woman It lies in the North-West of our Continent all in the Northern temperate Zone This exempts it from the insupportable heats which reign in Africk and which the most Southern parts of Asia undergo It s Air is equally mild unless it be in its most Northern Countreys The Ground affords all manner of Grains and Fruits It s length to take it from the Cape St. Vincent towards the West of Spain unto the Parts of Muscovy bordering upon the Mouths of the River Obi exceeds twelve hundred Leagues or is about 3800 Miles It s Breadth that is to say its Extent from the South to the North from Cape Mapatan in Morea to the most Northern Promontory of Norway is full eight hundred Toward the North Europe has the Northern Ocean call'd Frozen by reason of its Ice the Western or Atlantick Ocean towards the West the Mediterranean Sea towards the South and beyond that Sea Africa Now the Bounds which towards the Levant separate it from Asia in remounting the Mediterranean-Sea towards the North are as follows 1. The Archipelago or the White otherwise Aegean Sea 2. The Streight of Gallipoli call'd the Dardanelloes and an Arm of St. George otherwise nam'd the Hellespont two Miles broad 3. The Sea of Marmora otherwise Propontis 4. The Streight of Constantinople or the Chanel of the greater Sea otherwise the Thracian-Bosphorus 5. The Black or Major Sea otherwise Euxinus 6. The Streight of Caffa or Vospero otherwise the Mouth of St. John formerly the Cimmerian Bosphorus 7. The Limen or the Sea of Zabaca and Tana formerly Palus Mcotides 8. The River of Dom or Tana formerly Tanais 9. A Line drawn from the most Eastern winding of the Dom unto the Northern Ocean near Obi. Some draw this Line more towards the West from the Sources of the Dom unto the White Sea which is in Muscovy and make Europe very small Others contain the Conquests of the Great Duke of Muscovy which he made in the Asiatick Tartary Not to confound the true Limits of Asia and Europe together we may say that both the Czar and the Grand Seignior have Territories in each of those Great Parts of the World Europe is to be considered both in Terra firma and in Islands if we make the Numeration of its Parts according to their situation 1. We find towards the West France Spain Portugal three Hereditary Kingdoms 2. Towards the South three Regions belonging to divers Sovereigns the first comprehends the Countreys bordering upon France which were almost all formerly part of Gaule and whereof the greatest part has been reunited in our time in France the Low-Countreys that is to say Holland and Flanders La Franche Compte Suisserland and Savoy The second of these Regions is Italy and the third Germany 3. Towards the North of Europe there is Denmark and Sueden Hereditary Kingdoms Norway is added to the Crown of Denmark as belonging to the same King 4. Towards the East are Poland Muscovy Turkey three the Greatest States of Europe Under the Name of European Turkey is comprehended Turkey properly so taken Greece Hungary Transylvania Walachia Moldavia lesser Tartary the Republick of Ragusa The Isles of Europe are in the Ocean in the Mediterranean in the Baltick-Sea The Isles of the Ocean are Great Britain which comprehends England and Scotland Ireland and other that are smaller all under the Name Britanick Sicily Sardaigna Corsica and Candia are the greatest of the Mediterranean-Sea The Isles of the Baltick are not considerable in respect of us The most renowned Mountains of Europe are the Pyrenees and the Alpes towards the Confines the Cevennes about the midst of France Sierra-Morena in Spain the Apennine in Italy Parnassus in Greece Crapax between Poland and Hungary the Riphees in Moscovy Mount-Gibel otherwise call'd Aetna in Sicily Amongst the most considerable Rivers there are the Tage the Guadiana the Guadalquivir the Eber in Spain The Po the Tyber in Italy
to have admirably well called this River Anas by reason that it enters and rises out of the Earth as a Duck does in the water Some Moderns say this River is hidden by the Mountains others do assure us that these are Breakin gs up of the Ground which are made for the watering the neighbouring Lands that are very lean and hungry Certain it is that this happens towards the Sources of Guadiana and not towards Merida as the old Carts represent it This is one of the Wonders of Spain the two others are a City incircled with Fire by Walls of Flint which is Madrid a Bridge over which Water is seen to run which is the Aqueduct of Segovia One may say of the Cities of this State that they have some appellation for Excellence Sevil the trading Grenada the great Valencia the fair Barcellonna the rich Saragossa the satisfied Valle dolid the Genteel Toledo the ancient Madrid the Royal City There are eight Arch-Bishopricks forty five Bishopricks the Arch-Bishopricks are Toledo Burgos Compostella Sevil Grenada Valencia Saragossa and Taragonna King Richard the First establish'd there the Roman Catholick Religion which is the only one allowed of in the Kingdoms the Inquisition having been introduced against all other Beliefs Some Churches are at Toledo where they still perform the Mus-Arabick Office which is that which the Christians who liv'd amongst the Arabians used Several of their Sea-Ports are very considerable the Passage Saint Andre la Corune Cadiz Cartagena Alicant c. There are reckoned in Spain fifteen great Parts most of which had the Title of Kingdoms in the times of the Moors Five upon the Ocean Biscaya Asturia Galicia Portugal that hath its King Andalousia Five upon the Mediterranean-Sea Granada Murcia Valencia Catalonia the Isles of Majorca and Minorca Five within the Inland of the Country Aragon Navarre the two Castiles Leon. Biscay has Woods which furnish it with the conveniency of building Ships It has so great a quantity of Mines and Iron-Forges that the Spaniards call it the Defence of Castile It is separated from France by the small River of Bidassoa which forms a little Island Celebrated for the conclusion of the Peace in the Year 1659. between the Crown of Spain and France The Biscayans who are the ancient Cantabrians have great Priviledges and boast of never having been subdued The Land as well as in the Kingdom of Navarre is well Cultivated because there is neither Tax nor Tythes nor Right of Importation It s Capital Cities are Bilbao St. Sebastian both driving a great Trade especially in Wooll Great Ships cannot come up to Bilbao but at High-Water The Port of Saint Sebastian is of easie access its entrance is defended with two Castles that of the East upon a Height that of the West on a Level upon a Rock Saint Andero and le Passage are two excellent Sea-Ports in this Country Fonterabia the strongest place Guatari the Country of Sebastian Can he who first went round the World in the Ship called the Victory Asturia breeds Horses much esteemed for their strength it is the Title of the Prince of Spain whose younger Brothers are called Infants since the Reign of King John the First It has serv'd for a retreat to the Gothick Kings and to several Bishops during the irruption of the Moors wherefore Oviedo its Capital City is called the City of Kings and Bishops Galicia is more Populous than Fertile Compostella is known for the Pilgrimages of those who go thither to visit the Relick of Saint James the Patron of the Spaniards la Corune for the goodness and spaciousness of its Harbour The Silver Fleet rich above thirty Millions arrived there in the Year 1661. to avoid meeting with the English who for the surprizing it lay at watch upon all the Avenues of Cadiz They reckon in this Country above forty other Havens whereof that of Vigo is the most considerable Andalousia is so beautiful so abounding in Wines Corn Olives that it passes for the Granary and Store-house-of the Kingdom Sevil is the Magazine of the Riches of the New-World 'T is a Town so well Built that there is a Spanish Proverb which runs Qui en no ha visto Sevilla no ha visto maravilla It still keeps the remains of the City Italica the Native Town of Adrian Corduba which gave Lucan and the two Seneca's to Antiquity was much more considerable under the Moors than it is at present It s principal Church was formerly the greatest Mosque of the Mahometans after that of Mecca San-Lucar at the Mouth of Guadalquivir is a Town of great Trade The Ships which bring Gold and Silver from the West-Indies have sometimes cast Anchor near the Tower of the Port which is sometimes call'd the Tower of Gold This casting Anchor is more commonly performed at Cadiz and the Port Saint Mary which is near it Xeres de la Fontera is in the Neighbourhood of the Place where the Moors entirely defeated the Goths in the Year 712. After which they had the means of Ravaging all Spain as they did The Spaniards have been observ'd to have made no scruple of having Alliance with those Infidels because some of their Divines have maintain'd that they might be made use of as of Horses and Elephants Gibraltar gives its Name to the famous Streight which communicates the Ocean and Mediterranean-Seas and which separates Europe from Africa Palos is the Haven where Columbus embarked for the first Discovery of the New-World Cadiz as we have said is the most usual place of Resort for the Fleets which come from the West-Indies by reason of the conveniency of its Harbour It is of such importance that the Emperor Charles the Fifth recommended the preservation of it above all things to his Son Philip the Second with that of Flushing and la Goulete Antiquity shews here a Temple dedicated to Hercules with two Pillars either of Brass or Silver which are said to be the Pillars of that Hero as well as the two Mountains of the Streights of Gibraltar Julius Caesar is said to have wept in this Temple at the remembrance of the Prodigious Conquests which Alexander the Great had made at the Age of thirty three Years and whereof the consideration carried him to such high Enterprises as that of Xenophon's Cyrus had done Scipio The Name of Andalusians was given to the Moriscoes who were driven out of Andalousia and Granada that of Tagarins to those of Aragon and Catalonia The Kingdom of Granada under its last Moorish Kings who lost it in the Year 1421. was much Richer and more Populous than it is at present it was also much more fertile The Moors had a thousand Inventions to Water their Lands with Rivulets and Trenches by causing Water to be brought thither from great Ponds which they made in the Mountainâ— which are at the foot of la Sierra-Navada The Situation of this Kingdom and the Disposition of its Towns are conformable to the Description Julius Caesar gives
Tubal so strongly affirming what they said that they obtained belief And the Duke shortly after went with a parcel of Musketeers and subdued them easily they having no offensive Weapons but only Slings They Worshiped the Son and Moon fed upon nothing that had life but had good store of excellent Fruits Roots and Springs of Water wherewith Nature was well contented And though their Language was not altogether understood yet many of their Words were purely Basquish Reduced in this Discovery to Christianity but easily discernable from all other Spaniards by their tawny Complexions occasioned by the reverberation of the Sun-beams from the Rocky Mountains wherewith on all sides they are encompassed The People must necessarily have been some remnant of the ancient Spaniards who hid themselves amongst the Mountains for fear of the Romans Their Language and Idolatry speak them to be such For had they either fled from the Goths or Moors there had been found some Cross or other Monument of Christianity as in other places or some such mixture in their Speech as would have savoured somewhat of the ancient Romans The Duke of Alva by whose means this Valley was discover'd was the same who out of Vanity had himself call'd an whole Army composed of one sole Person The other States of the King of Spain are near France part of Flanders In Italy the Dutchy of Milan Final Orbitelle the protection of Piombin of Portolongon The Kingdoms of Naples of Sicily of Sardinia Oran Marsalquivir Melille Pennon de Velez Ceuta along the Coasts of Barbary upon the Mediterranean the Isle of Pantaralee The greatest part of America Several Islands and Places in the East and West-Indies Portugal POrtugal is a Kingdom ancient for above five hundred years in the Western part of Spain where was formerly Lusitania In all probability this Name of Portugal came from that of Porto a Town considerable for its Commerce and from that of Cale a small Place near it It is from the South to the North about a hundred and twenty Leagues in length in breadth five and twenty thirty and sometimes fifty It s Situation upon the Ocean and the experience of its Inhabitants in point of Navigation has given occasion to them to make Conquests in the four parts of the World and principally in the East-Indies Their Conquests have been in above five thousand Leagues of Coast in Brasil in Africa and Asia All their Places were near the Sea for they had no other design than that of rendring themselves Masters of Commerce True it is that during the War they were oblig'd to sustain against Spain for eight and twenty years together and by reason of the great Garrisons they were oblig'd to keep in those parts against the Hollanders whom they have nevertheless drove entirely out of Brasil they made but small profit and this moved them to give some places to the English by the Marriage of the Infanta of Portugal with Charles the Second King of England The Portugal Provinces have all their peculiar Commodities they afford among other things Lemons and excellent Oranges They have Mines the Greeks and Romans went to seek in Portugal the Gold which the Portuguese go to seek in the Indies They are so populous principally towards the Sea as that there are reckoned above six hundred Cities or priviledged Burroughs and above four thousand Parishes The Roman Catholick Religion is only receiv'd in this Kingdom those who are of the Jewish Race have been constrained to be baptized and are now known under the Name of New Christians There are three Arch-bishopricks Lisbon Braga and Evora ten Bishopricks The Arch-bishopricks of Lisbon and Evora have each of 'em full two hundred thousand Livers yearly Income Inquisitions are at Lisbon at Coimbre at Evora the Assembly of the Cortes or Parliaments at Lisbon at Porto Twenty seven Places have Generalities which they call Comarques and Almoxarifats The Order of Christ which resides at Tomar is the most considerable of the Kingdom the Kings are the Masters and Heads of it for on this Order depend all the Foreign Conquests Its Knights wear the Red and White Cross in the Middle whereas those of Avis wear it green those of St. James red These have their Residence at Palmella near Setuval The Revenue of the Kingdom without reckoning that of the Indies is said to exceed ten Millions of Livers I can hardly believe what the Portugals say that their King Don Sebastian was at the Charge of a Million of Gold upon the Harness of a Horse that the Trappings of the European Ladies were only the remains of those of Portugal In the Year 1640. this Kingdom withdrew it self from its Obedience to the King of Spain Then was admired the Great Secresie that was kept in that Affair among above two hundred persons for above a Year together The principal Motives of this Resolution were the Permission which his Catholick Majesty gave to others than to the Portugals of trading to the East-Indies the Tribute of the fifth that was proclaim'd in the Year 1636. by which the Government exacted five in the hundred of all the Revenues and Merchandizes in the Kingdom The Duke of Braganza was proclaimed King under the Name of John the Fourth This Prince reigned sixteen Years and had for his Successour Alphonso the Sixth who was deposed in 1667. His Marriage having been declared null Pedro his Brother married the Queen was made Regent of the Kingdom and made Peace with Spain The Conspiracy in the Year 1673. against this Prince obliged him to have the King fetch'd back from the Terzera and put into the Fortress of Sintra near Lisbon About two Years since a Marriage was concerted betwixt the Infanta and Victor Ame Duke of Savoy but that Match is now wholly broke off and a new Treaty now on foot for the same purpose with the Prince of Tuscany This Kingdom contains six Provinces which are as many general Governments Entre Doaro and Minho Tralos-Montes Beyra Estremadura Alen-Teyo and Algarve Entre Douro and Minho is the most delicious and so populous that in the space of eighteen Leagues in length and twelve in breadth it has above a hundred and thirty Monasteries well rented fourteen hundred and sixteen Parishes five thousand Fountains of Spring-Water two hundred Bridges of Stone and six Sea-Ports Some call it the Marrow and the Delight of Spain Porto a City of four thousand Housholds drives a great Trade Bragra is renowned for the holding of several Councils by the Pretension of its Archbishop who styles himself Primate of the Spains Tralos-Montes has Minerals with the City of Braganza the Capital of a Dutchy of forty thousand Ducates Revenue wherein there are full fifty small Cities and other Lands which make the Duke of Braganza thrice Marquis seven times a Count and several times a Lord. The Princes of that Name now in possession of the Crown remain'd commonly at Villa Viciosa and had the Prerogative to the Exclusion of
Neuchatel Wallangery Biel Geneva Mulhausen Rotweil The six first Protestants and Rotweil Catholick Geneva is the best Fortified of all the Burghers or Citizens keep a very exact Guard for the preservation of their Liberty and that of Religion which is Reformed In the Year 1663. the French King obtain'd freedom for the Catholicks to say Mass in that Town where it had not been Celebrated in this Age. The Lake of Geneva is crossed by the Rhosne which mixeth not with its Waters there sometimes arise Tempests even in clear fair Weather because it abutts at the foot of the Mountains In the Country it s said that Julius Caesar caused his Treasures to be cast into this Lake when he was pursued by the Switzers hitherto they have been sought for to no purpose Savoy THis Country formerly the abode of the Allobroges is said to have been called Savoy after one of its Princes had drove away the Robbers It is full of Mountains which we generally call the Alpes tho' several Branches there have their peculiar Names Mount Cenis and the lesser St. Bernard make the two principal Passages for Italy 'T is very cold in these parts the Inhabitants by reason of their drinking the Snow-water are subject to the Goitre which is a swelling of the Throat proceeding from the crudity of that Water Nevertheless there are several Places in this Country both very pleasant and very fertile The Mountains have Marmotes which are seldom seen elsewhere they are great Rats who have short Legs rugged Hair the Mouth and Ears of a Squirrel four Teeth long and cutting they sleep full six Months of the Year without taking in any Food or Nourishment Savoy is reckon'd for the Principal and most Noble Dutchy of Christendom It 's certain that its Dukes have had Alliances with all that 's Royal in Europe After the Houses of England and France that of Savoy is one of the most ancient Ame the eighth had reason to say that he had Princes to his Vassals Most of the Gentlemen of his Dominions come from the Emperours of the East and West from the Kings of Italy from the Princes of Morea from the Counts of Geneva The Power of the Dukes of Savoy is so much the more considerable in that they are Masters of several Passages from France into Italy by the possession of Piedmont of the County of Niece and other Seigneuries Under Savoy is comprehended Genevois Choblais Faussigni Tarentaise Maurienne part of Bugey Chambri is the Capital of the Dutchy and the Seat of a Parliament Montmelion is the strongest in it with a Cittadel which covers the head of almost an inaccessible Mountain where the Keys of Savoy are said to be kept Anneci is the Residence of the Bishop of Geneva Ripaille was the retreat of Felix the Fourth before and after his Pontificate This Prince liv'd there with his Friends in such a disapplication from Affairs that since People say Faire Ripaille when they are merry and without disquiet Italy AMong the Authors who have written concerning Italy few there are but represent it as the most beautiful best and most delicious Country in the World Its situation towards the midst of the temperate Zone affords it all these advantages It is commonly compared to a Boot the figure whereof it does really resemble lying between the Mediterranean-Sea and the Gulph of Venice The Alpes which Livy calls the Walls of Italy and Rome are at those places where it touches France Savoy Suisserland Germany the Appennine Mountain runs quite through it The Po Adige Tiber and Arne are the greatest Rivers of this Country There is not one in the World observ'd in so short a course to have so much encrease as the Po and which is so inconvenient by its over-flowings notwithstanding the Dikes that have been raised for prevention The People of Italy are polite dextrous subtile and prudent extream in their Manners they were formerly Masters of the most considerable Empire that has been seen since the Creation of the World And now stand possess'd of the chiefest Dignity of the Roman-Catholick Church They obey divers Princes who are all Papists but very different in Power and Interests We are oblig'd to the Italians for the Discovery of the New World Columbus was a Genouese Americus Vespucius a Florentine The Cities of Italy are so much the more beautiful and better built in that the Nobility have commonly their abode in ' em Their Churches and other Edifices are adorned with excellent Pictures for which reason the Men and Houses are said to be all painted The Italian Tongue is deriv'd from the Latin Tuscan is received in the Court of Rome and amongst the well-bred people Their way of reckoning the Hours is very different from ours they regulating it according to the Sun 's setting then they count four and twenty Hours and at the entrance of the Night they begin to reckon the Hours of a New Day Insomuch that the number of the Hours at Noon rises and falls according to the Seasons tho' there are always four and twenty Hours for the Civil Day that is for the Day and Night together For Example On the twelfth day of August at Noon which we reckon twelve a Clock the Italians reckon seventeen and so what remains to finish the Civil Day of four and twenty Hours comprehends seven Hours which make up just the time which the Sun employs that day the twelfth of August since the Hour of Noon unto its setting The Sovereign Princes of Italy are the Pope the King of Spain who possess almost half of it the Duke of Savoy the great Duke of Florence the Republick of Genoa the Duke of Mantua the Duke of Modena the Duke of Parma the Bishop of Trent the Republick of Lucca The other Princes are call'd Petty by reason of the small extent of their Dominions The Republick of Venice is independent most of the other States depend either on the Church or the Empire for some Fiefs The Quality of Duke is in Italy more considerable than of Prince bating in the Territories of the King of Spain There are so many Archbishopricks and Bishopricks that the Kingdom of Naples alone has more than all France hath the truth is most of 'em have not so good a Revenue as our Country Curates Italy is divided into three great parts the High which may be called Lombardy the Middle and the Low According to this division there is found in the High Piemont Montferrat Milantz the Coast of Genoa Parmezan Modenois Mantouan the Domain of Venice Trentin The State of the Church Tuscany Lucquois are in the Middle the Kingdom of Naples possesses the rest There is a fourth part if we may add the Isles thereto Piemont according to the saying of a Piemontin is a City of three hundred Miles in compass One and the same Land produces Corn Wine and Fruits Turin the abode of the Dukes of Savoy is a lovely Town accompanied with a strong Cittadel It
Schismaticks in black Russia who first of all acknowledge him of Kiou and then the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople There is in this State several other Sects Here Gentlemen are equall the distinction and precedence proceeding only from the publick Offices they stand possess'd of they serve at their own costs in time of Wars but do not stay long in the Campagne Their infantry is commonly compos'd of Forreigners The Garments of the Polanders are long have their Beards shaved off their Chins only one Tuff of Hair upon their Heads upon the occasion of Casimir the first one of their Kings whom they took out of a Cloister he was in in France to place him upon their Throne They are almost all handsome well shaped well proportioned knowing for the most part the Latin Tongue The use of Spices is very common and with them in great request they misuse their Peasants in consequence of the absolute Power they have over them which certainly did occasion the revolt of the Cossaques and afterwards all the disorders of the Kingdom Their Cavalary is so considerable that if they were well united they might bring into the Field a hundred thousand Horse The confidence they have therein and the fear of rendring a King or Citizens too powerful have inclined them in all times to neglect their Fortresses Their usual Arms are their Cimiter the Sword the Battel Ax Carabine and Arrows The Cossaques have ever formed a Militia and not a particular Nation At the first they were Volunteers making incursions upon the Turks and the lesser Tartars these last call them by the Name of Roux because their Country makes a part of Russia King Battori reduced them into a Body and joyned thereto two thousand Horse to whom he appointed the fourth part of the Revenue of his Demesne for which reasons they were called Quartians They have power of choosing and of deposing their General who takes an Oath of Fidelity to their King Their number was first of all six thousand afterwards forty thoufull sand and now since twenty thousand Their abode is in the lower parts of Volhinia and of Podolia which is called Ukrain that is to say Frontier This Country is by much the most fertile and the best inhabited of all Poland so many fortified Buroughs have been there made since the beginning of this Age and so full is it of Inhabitants that in the late Wars there were reckoned at the same time two hundred thousand Cossaques besides a hundred and fourscore thousand Tartars and as many Polanders in Arms. There be Cossaques who have their retreats in some Isles of the Boristhenes which is not Navigable by reason of the Cataracts or falls which they call Porowis Their Custom was formerly to put to Sea with several light Ships and to go plunder the Coasts of the Grand Seignior upon the Black Sea Since they confederated with the lesser Tartars and have likewise courted the Protection of the Muscovite and that of the Grand Seignior who gave them in his name a Prince for the Ukrain insomuch that we may say that the Felony of the Cossaques the Irruption of the Suedes under Carolus Gustavus the Tumults and Irresoluon of the Muscovites the continual harassings of the lesser Tartars the Invasion of Ragotski Prince of Transilvania the defection of several Provinces the Insurrections of the whole Armies of Poland and Lithuania the different Factions of the Kingdom and the Caballs of the Neighbouring Nations to have a King Elected have given a rude shock to this Crown And this was what really moved the Grand Seignior to make war upon this Realm after the taking of Candia Poland has ten great parts four towards the West upon the Vistula Poland Mazovia Gujavia Royal Prussia six towards the East on the West of the Boristhenes Lithuania Samogitia Polachia Lesser Russia Volhinia Podolia These Provinces have been acquired for the most part either by Arms or Allyances They are divided into Palatinates the Palatinates into Chastellenies the Chastellenies into Capitanies The Government of the Places are called Starostyes Besides these Provinces there is a part of Muscovy which has been yielded to Poland in the year 1634. after that King Ladislaus the 4th being yet but Prince had the year foregoing gloriously relieved the City of Smolensko and reduced to extremity an Army of an hundred thousand Muscovites who were all constrained to ask his pardon as their Prince to save their Lives This Treaty which is called of Viasma acquired to Poland Smolensko Novogrodeck Sovierski Gzernihou and other places and by that same Treaty the King of Poland renounced his pretensions upon Muscovy The Truce of 13 years concluded on the 14th of February in the year 1667. left the Grand Duke of Muscovy in possession of Smolensko until a certain term as well as in part of the Ukrain on the East of the Boristhenes and procured the restoration of Dunembourg Polosk and Vitepski to the Crown of Poland Poland the most populous of all the Provinces is divided into High and Low In the former is Cracow where the Coronations of the Kings and Queens are performed and where is a great number of Germans Italians and Jews Of Cracow was the Popish Bishop St. Stanislaus who was killed by order of King Bogislaus Upon the Confines of Silesia stands the City of Czentochow with the Cloister of our Lady of Clermount a place extraordinary strong which the Suedes did twice besiege in vain in the year 1655 and 1656. Low Poland though much smaller than the Higher is called Great because it makes part of the Kingdom rather than the other It s City of Gnesne is ancient the abode of the first Princes It was so called upon the account of an Eagles Nest that was there found when it was built and which gave occasion to the Arms of Poland which art Gules an Eagle-Argent Crowned beaked and Armed Or bound under the Wings with a Ribbon of the same The Province of Mazovia alone has full thirty thousand Gentlemen Narsan is the Capital thereof and of all the Kingdom too with a Castle the Kings usual abode Gujavia has the City of Uladislau where the Houses are built of Brick which is somewhat extraordinary in Poland It has also the Lake of Goblo from whence issued the Rats that eat King Popiel Prussia which is of two sorts Regal and Ducal has a great number of Cities which were built by the Knights of the Teutonique Order Its Lakes and Sea Coast furnish abundance of Amber Nariembourg is strong Toren the Birthplace of the Copernicus drives a great Trade with a fine Bridge of Wood over the Vistule Dantzick one of the four Capital Hanse-Towns drives all the Trade of Poland and has not its like upon all the Baltick Sea It is free and has right of sending to the States of the Kingdom The King of Poland has there some Rights The City of Elbiens disputes with it the Precedence in the States of Prussia The generous
that Strait Galloway in Connaught the most considerable after Dublin trafficks principally into Spain Altone an important passage upon the Shennon was fortified by Queen Elizabeth who intended to have made it the Residence of her Lord Lieutenant Waterford in Munster is esteemed the third in the Kingdom near the meeting of the three Rivers which are called the three Sisters Limerick and Cork are considerable Dublin in Leinster is the Capital of all Ireland the Residence of the Lord Leiutenant and of the principal Officers of Justice with an University the only one of the Kingdom Kilkenni is esteemed the finest of the Cities in the Inlands of the Countrey Sicily SIcily is the greatest and best of all the Islands of the Mediterranane Sea its fertility occasioned it formerly to be called the Granary of Rome It was first of all inhabited by the Cyclops afterwards most of the Cities were swayed by some Princes or other and the Republick of Syracuse was very considerable The Carthaginians Greeks and Romans made War there during a long while these last made it their first Conquest when they began to stir out of Italy The Sarazins Normans Swabians French and Spaniards have been successively Masters of it It has bore the Name of Trinacria by reason of its triangular Figure which makes three great Promontories at equal distance From the most Western called Lilybee may be discovered Cap Bon in Africa though it be a hundred Miles off Mount Aetna now called Mount Gibel casts forth Fire and Flames continually in the midst of Snow sometimes more sometimes less and some years since it vomited Water in a bundance The Emperour Adrian had one day the curiosity to mount it to see those Fires and consider the Sun rising which is said to appear from that Mountain like a Rain-Bow painted with several colours In Sicily did the Ancients place the Birth-place of Ceres and the Rape of Proserpine The whole Island is divided into three great Valleyes Val di Demona Val di Mazara Val di Noto The places which are not upon the Coast are almost all built upon Mountains Messina the greatest and richest of all has had great Priviledges and ever drove a great Trade of Corn and Silk The Spaniards remembring the ill Treatments they received there in 1674. have taken from it all the advantages which it had kept during several Ages It is near the Pharos or Streight of the same Name where the Ancients placed the two Mountains of Scylla and Charybdis the former in Italy the latter near Sicily The Fable runs that Charybdis was a Thief who stole away Hercules his Heifers and for that reason was changed into a Sea-Monster The Port of Messina seem'd to have been made of the Compass The Younger Pompey assembled there his Fleet the Christians Fleet before the Battle of Lepanto had there its Rendezvouz Palermo is the Capital of the Island formerly the abode of the Kings and the usual Residence of the Vice-Roy for the King of Spain who does Homage to the Pope for his Kingdom Augusta is considerable for its Scituation and for its Port all defended by three Fortresses Syragousa or rather Saracousa formerly Syracusa one of the best Cities of the Roman Empire is noted in History for its Wars for its Tyrants for its Fountain Arethusa for the brave resistance which it made against the Romans under Marcellus by the help of the Machines which the famous Archimedes had raised there for the defence of his Countrey It had before shewed its Puissance against the Athenians who at the Solicitation of the Segestains had besieged it The Tyranny of Phalaris and the invention of the Brazen Bull by Perillus has made Gergenti renowned Noto has in its Neighbourhood a River where there are said to have been tame Fish which eat out of Mens Hands Comarana is near that ancient Moor or Lake the draining whereof contrary to the advice of the Oracle brought upon its Inhabitants a Pestilence and the Invasion of their Enemies Trapano accompanyed with its Port was noted by the Ancients for the Death of Anchises the Father of Aeneas it is known by the Moderns for its Salt-Pits for the fishing of Corail and of tunny-fishies which is performed there Mont-real an Archbishops See has a fine Cathedral Church built by the Normans Melazzo still preserves the first Monastery of the Fathers Minims whom the Popish Saint Francis de Paula caused to be built The Spaniards did particularly make use of this place for the Reduction of Messina Near Melazzo was Sextus Pompeius defeated by Augustus On the North or rather on the West of Sicily are the Islands of Lapari renowned for the Fable of Aeolus for the first Naval Victory of the ancient Romans and some Mountains which by their Fires and Flames gave Means to the Inhabitants to foretel Tempests Towards the West are the ancient Aegades where Catullus defeated the Carthaginians at Sea during the first Punique War Sardinia as well as Sicily belongs to the King of Spain it lies in the same Sea which is the Mediterranean but more towards the West It s Capital City is Gallari the Residence of a Vice-Roy and an Archbishops See and there is gathered that Sardonique Herb which makes People dye laughing because that it contracts the Nerves and Muscles particularly those of the Mouth When the Ionians were subdued by the Persians Bias one of the seven Sages of Greece proposed to them the Inhabiting of Sardinia because of the Convenience of its Situation The Isle of Corsica is on the South of the Seigneury of Genoa the Mistress of it An Italian Proverb runs that a Corsican is not to be trusted alive or dead The Corsicans as their Enemies say have so great an inclination to thievery that if they do not steal in their life-time they willingly rise out of their Tombs to steal after their death they also say that their ancient Pyracies did occasion the name of Corsaires to Pyrates and Sea-Robbers In this Island is found the Stone Catochite which sticks to Peoples hands like glue when they touch it The City of Bastia is the abode of the Governour whom the Genoeses call Vice-Roy The Ancients reckoned in this Island above thirty good Cities which have been for the most part ruined Boniface is now the most commodious Haven with a Fortress esteemed one of the best of Europe by reason of its advantageous Situation in the Peninsula The Isle of Candia CAndia formerly Crete is one of the greatest Islands of the Mediterranean Sea with the Title of Kingdom at the entrance of the Archipelago in the sight of Europe of Asia and Africa Upon the consideration of so advantageous a Situation Aristotle was perswaded that it might be made the Seat of the universal Empire It is above two hundred Miles in length about forty five or fifty in breadth It has had full a hundred Cities tho' it has now more than four which be any thing eminent It was renowned
by means of its Waters but the Rains which fall there occasion several Diseases As Commerce is now in high consideration amongst the European Nations it is not improper to say somewhat of the Coast of Nigritia Cap Blanc is a tongue of Land as hard as a Rock ten or twelve fathom high with a very spacious Haven where Ships are safe against most Winds Arguin a Castle in a little Island belongs to the Hollanders The Barks may enter into the River of St. John and treat with the Negroes for Ostridge-Feathers Gums Amber and some small Gold Senega one of the principal Branches of the Niger is not a League in breadth at its disemboguing it self into the Sea The Coast on the North of Senega is very low and hardly to be kenn'd by those that are twelve Leagues distant at Sea The Road of Cape-Verd has twelve or thirteen fathom water upon a bottom of grey Sand. The Island belonging to the Flemmings called Gorea has a Plat-form flank'd by four Bastions of Earth with a Dungeon of Bricks which did not hinder it from being insulted in the late Wars The entrance into it is on the West of the Island where Ships of a hundred Tun may touch and ride The Road is good but no fresh water to be had Rufisca is a retreat commodious enough Gambia is about five Leagues broad at its influx into the Sea but it is not Navigable for Barks above sixty Leagues 'T is said that the Portugals have remounted the Niger sometimes as far as the Kingdom of Benin in the space of above eighteen hundred Leagues that the Danes have formerly possess'd Cantozi towards the place where the Niger divides it self and that this Niger forms great Lakes upon the Banks of which there are several good Cities from whence go Caravans as far as Tripoli of Barbary The English in hopes of getting some of the Gold of the Countrey had a design to go up the Senega with several light Ships but the excessive heats the insults of the Negroes accompanied with some Portugueses made them lay aside the thoughts of their Enterprize The Negroes are commonly simple and candid Idolaters towards the Sea Mahometans in the inland Countrey They have three pretty considerable Kingdoms Tombut Borno and Gaoga Most of their Cities are not to be compared with our Towns the Houses being only built of Wood Chalk and Straw and often one of these Cities makes a Kingdom The last Kings of Tombut whom they call Tombouctou have had the reputation of possessing a great quantity of Gold in Bars and Ingots They are said to have this Gold from the Kingdom of Gago and that from the Kingdoms of Morocco and Sus there go often several Cafiles or Caravans for the bringing it thence The Kingdom of Gualata produces Milet. That of Agades has a City indifferently well built Borno formerly the abode of the Garamantes is inhabited by a People who live in common private persons there acknowledge for their Children those who resemble them and the flattest nosed are the handsomest and greatest Beauties Several Nations are between the branches of the Niger where some Authors place the Gardens of the Hesperides Those of Senega send abroad Slaves Gold in dust Hides Gums and Civit Cats The Negroes are very strong and are more sought after and bought up by the Europeans than those of other Countreys They of Guiney are docible for which reason they are commonly made domestick servants Those of Angola are employed in cultivating of Land by reason of their strength 'T is a saying That he who expects to have any service from his Negro must give him Food enough a great deal of Work and many Blows On the South of the Niger are several other small Kingdomsâ— that of Melli with a City of six thousand Houses Gago rich in Gold as we have said Zegzeg considerable for its Commerce Zanfara fertile in Corn. The enumeration of the other places would be here as tedious as it is unnecessary since they are neither strong nor well peopled and but a very little trade is driven by ' em The Portugals have yielded up to the English some Fortresses which they had towards the Mouths of the Niger which has given our Nation the means of trafficking here and making Enterprizes as do also the Hollanders Nubia NVbia is three hundred and fifty Leagues in length and two hundred in breadth It retains some remnants of Christianity in its old Churches and in the Ceremonies of Baptism that is there administred The Nubians obey a King who commonly keeps Cavalry upon the Frontiers of his Dominions because he hath potent Enemies for his Neighbours the Abissin and the Turk Histories affirm That an Army of a hundred thousand Horse was formerly Levyed and led by a King of Nubia against the Governour of Aegypt Gold Civet Sandal-Wood Ivory Arms and Linnen are Transported from this Country The Commerce of the Nubians is most especially with those of Cairo and the other Cities of Aegypt They have a strong subtle and penetrating Poyson in this Countrey the tenth part of a Grain of which will kill a man in a quarter of an hour and the Ounce is valued at a hundred Ducats One of the King 's principal Revenues consists in the Receipt of the Right of Exportation 'T is sold to Strangers but upon condition of not making use of it but out of the Kingdom The Inhabitants have Sugar-Canes but they know not how to improve them They have amongst them Bereberes of the Mahometan Religion who go in Troops to Cairo and return from thence when they have gotten ten or twelve Piasters The capital Cities are Nubia and Dancala near the Nile the others are but little known to us A Relation of the Year 1657 affirms That the King of Dancala pays a Tribute in Cloths to the King of the Abissins Geography in some sort is indebted to this Countrey since it presented the World with the Author of the famous Geography of Nubia the Cherif-Alderisi Guiney GViney is subject to such great Heats that were it not for the Rains and the coolness of the Night it would be uninhabitable It sends abroad Parrots Apes White-Salt Ivory Skins Wax Amber-Greece Gold and Slaves Its Inhabitants have the repute of being presumptuous thievish Idolatrous and extreamly superstitious It s best Town is St. George de la Mina now in Possession of the Hollanders The English have amongst others Cabo Corso and the Danes Fredericksbourg Most of the Portugals who succeeded the French in that Colony have been compelled by reason of their small numbers to retire into the Inlands during the Wars with Spain The Castle of La Mina having been so called from the Mines of Gold which are in its Neighbourhood the name of St. George was given it by John the Second King of Portugal who after having made the Conquest of it conceal'd the Commerce thereof as long as he could Benin is a particular Kingdom with the best
City of all Nigritia Ardre towards the Coast has its King from whom there was an Ambassadour to the French King at Paris towards the latter end of the Year 1670 for the establishment of Traffick in its Dominions The Coast of Maleguetta is so call'd from a kind of Pepper which it produces and which is said to be better than that of the Indies Apes do them great service in Guinca Those that are called Barris fetch Water turn the Spit and serve too at Table Abissinia or Aethiopia THis Countrey is otherwise call'd Abech Abassia Abassinia the Empire of the Negus the Kingdom of Prester John the Middle-Indies the Southern-Indies the High or Great Aethiopia Those of the Countrey give their King the Name of Belulgian by reason of the Ring which the Queen of Sheba received from Salomon and which since that time has been Hereditary in that Royal Family Those who call him Prester-John do it upon this foundation that he sometimes carries a Cross in his hand The Popish Missionaries boast that some of the late Kings have been Catholicks But since the Jesuits who had been powerfully establisht in that Countrey have been Banish'd thence the Papists complain of the Persecution their followers have suffered in those parts The Abissins have a great number of Churches where Divine Service is performed much after the same manner it is here This Land is temperate unless in the Valleys where it is very hot and upon some Mountains where it is cold The Aethiopians are the most ancient People in the World and boast of having never been driven from their Countrey They are dexterous active blith and perform better than other people in great Employments The Mahometans are used to Spirit away the Abissin Children and go sell them to Indian Princes They are so-so Souldiers for Africans but they have not the Art of Building nor of Grinding their Corn and they often eat Cows flesh all raw with Salt and Pepper which they look upon as a peculiar Delicacy They have Civet-Cats and make use of Cloth Stones Salt and little pieces of Iron instead of money for which purpose they also use Gold which they give by weight They do not work in their Mines of Gold and Silver of Narea which has given occasion to say of their Prince That he might with his Treasures purchase whole Worlds The King of Abissinia to whom is also given the title of Emperour is Absolute in all the Territories of his Dominions And this it is that makes his principal Revenue He commonly keeps his Court in the open Field sometimes in one place sometimes an other He has few Cities but a great number of Villages Several places upon the Frontier of the Galles have been fortified for the security of the Inhabitants against the incursions of those people the capital Enemies of the Abissins The Turks hold the City of Suaquem upon the Red Sea whither the Vice-Roy of Barnagasse has commonly sent a Tribute of a thousand Ounces of Gold There are several Relations of Aethiopia and for the most part fabulous But the Jesuits pretend that the late ones they have published to be the most certain According to the Account of an Abissin Ambassadour sent to the Grand Seignior in the Year 1657 Gonthar was the abode of the Emperour Four Kings were tributary to him The King of Sennar which is a hot Country paid him his Tribute in Horses the King of Narea paid it him in Gold The Kings of Bugia and Doncala payed it him in Linnen and Cloth These Dominions are not of so great an extent nor of the same scituation they have hitherto been shown us The Galles on one side have subdued several great Provinces in the Southern part and the Moores have rendred themselves Masters of several places all along upon the Red Sea upon the Coast of Abex According to the late Relations the Sources of the Nile are placed in the Province of the Agaux at twelve Degrees of Northern Latitude which shows in the Cart the difference of above thirty of those Degrees That famous River goes first of all towards the North and then towards the East across the Lake of Bardambea from thence towards the South and towards the West so to return to take its Course pretty near its Sources towards the North and to continue it thro' Aegypt Twenty four small Kingdoms have been commonly accounted in Abissinia that of Amara has a Fortress upon a Mountain called Amba Guexem where formerly were kept the Princes of the Royal Blood Goyama is almost environed with the Nile Which has given some occasion to say that it is the Island Meroe There is in that of Tigermahon the City of Caxumo or Aceum which is said to have been the Residence of the Queen of Sheba several of the Abissin Kings have held their Coronation in that Town Dambea has the famous Lake Bar-Dambea and 's not very far off the City of Gorgora one of the last Residences of the Kings The Coast of Abex upon the Red Sea is full of Woods The tongue of the ancient Troglodites who inhabited it had this peculiarity that it resembled whistling Some have endeavoured to persuade the World that the King of the Abissins might very much incommode the Grand Seignior if he diverted the Waters of the Nile into the Red Sea and so render Aegypt dry This proposition has rendred them ridiculous because there are Mountains that must of necessity be cut through for the bringing this about and that these Mountains which have the Sources of several great Rivers make Aethiopia one of the highest Countreys of all Africa Albuquerque Vice-Roy of the East-Indies for the King of Portugal seems to have had the same design but he did not pursue the putting it into execution He it was who would have caused the Body of Mahomet to be stollen away and have pillaged Mocha with three hundred Horse which he had sent from Ormus upon Ships made on purpose for this Design Congo COngo is a temperate Countrey the Rains and Winds moderating the Heat which is insupportable in the adjacent parts Africa has no Regions that abound more in Rivers The Zaire which is the principal one of this Countrey is considerable for its rapidity and for the abundance of its Waters The Congolans know not how to make use of the Commodities of their Land and though they have Mines of Gold they have none but shells for Money Several amongst them have been converted to Christianity after the example of some of their Kings The Portugueses bring from thence Ivory and Slaves They have their establishment in the Royal City called San-Salvador and in that of St. Paul in the small Island of Loanda where they get fresh Water out of the holes they make in the sand They keep a Garrison in the Forts of Massagan and Cambambo in the Kingdom of Angola for the security of their Silver-Mines in which they work and here it is they assemble their
reason there having been reckoned above five hundred and seventy It s extent from the South to the North is about seventy Leagues Its breadth thirty somewhere more somewhere less according as it is bounded either by the Mountains of Arabia or by Jordan What is there call'd the Desart is so stiled in that it has not all the fertility that is found in the Countreys which are near it It s modern Division is into three Principalities Sayd Cossaria and Gaza Two Governments are under the Bashaw of Damascus Jerusalem and Naplouse Jerusalem tho' fallen from its ancient Lustre still preserves those places which Jesus Christ was pleas'd to honour with his presence It has been famous for the bigness beauty and riches of its Temple for its Kings for its High-Priests and for other particularities It was ruined by Nebuchadnezzar by Vespasian and Titus These two last saw the Death of Eleven hundred thousand Persons There are eight Nations of Christians who are rank'd in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Roman Catholicks the Maronites the Greeks the Armenians the Syrians or Jacobites the Copties or Aegyptians and the Georgians One of the Gates of the City called the Eye of a Needle has given occasion to the Proverb that a Camel may as soon pass through the Eye of a Needle as a Rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Nazareth is the place where the Saviour of the World was conceived Bethlem that where he was born There are an infinite number of rare things to be remark'd upon these Cities of the Holy Land The misfortune is that they are hardly any longer to be known Some Islands in the Mediterranean Sea belong to the Turks whereof that of Cyprus is the greatest It has the Title of a Kingdom and formerly contained nine Nicosia is the Capital City of the Island Famagusta the Principal Sea-Port This Famagusta was the last place which the Venetians defended there against the Turks who took it at last after a Siege of seventy dayes and above a hundred and forty thousand Shot made against the Town The Grotto of the seven Sleepers is near the City of Baffo In an Abbey near Limisso they keep Cats brought up to the hunting of Serpents after which they return back thither at the ringing of a Bell. The Isle of Rhodes is famous for the ancient abode of the Knights of the same Name who were constrained to yield it to the Turk in the Year 1522 For the Colossus of the Sun which was so prodigious that few persons could embrace the thumb of it Great Ships passed easily with full Sails between its Leggs When the Sarazens caused the Copper of it to be carried into Aegypt they found it to load above nine hundred Camels The Isles of Chio and Metilin are in the Archipelago Chio one of the most fertile and most delicious in the World produces excellent Fruits Malmsy Wine and particularly Mastick It has the High and Low Town and in both are reckoned above twenty thousand Mortals They are almost all Christians Greeks and Latins and there is not a place under the Turk where the Christians have more freedom Metelin affords excellent Wines And the Nightingales are said to sing more melodiously there than elsewhere It s ancient Inhabitants have had the reputation of being very expert Mariners In the last Age the famous Barberossa who is said to have been a Native of this Island rendred himself formidable to all Christendom Patmos or Palmosa is known for the Exile and the Grotto of St. John the Evangelist The Isle of Lango under the Name of Cos has passed for the native Countrey of Hippocrates and Appelles The enviers of Hippocrates attribute all his knowledge to Medicinal Receipts which were brought into the Temple of Aesculapius Apelles observ'd proportion in his Pictures whereas Zeuxis made them greater than Nature for the giving them Majesty The Inhabitants of Lango are said to have found out the first use of Silk-Worms Not far from thence there is a little Island called Caloiero which is almost impregnable It is only a steep Rock where the Monks and those who inhabit it draw up their Boats after them with Ropes Georgia UNder the Name of Georgia we bring Mingrelia Gurgistan Zuiria and Circassia Provinces where the ancient Romans were not able to establish their Empire by reason of the sharpness of the Mountains known by the Ancients under the Name of Caucasus celebrated in the fable of Prometheus All these Provinces lie between the Black and Caspian Seas which are thought to communicate with one another because they have Fish of the same kinds and that those Territories which lie between both seem to have a superficies of but little depth principally when they go on Horse-back there From thence they transport Silk Stuffs Wax Honey Little Money is made use of most of the Georgians being so poor that they often sell their Children to have wherewith to subsist on An Inhabitant has been known there to exchange his Mother for a Turkish Horse that was to his mind There are in Georgia several Christians and some Mahometans The true Natives have a peculiar tongue Several amongst them are free some have their Kings others acknowledge either the Turk or the Persian according to the necessity of their affairs Those who obey the Turk have great Priviledges in his Dominions they pay him but a very inconsiderable Tribute may enter armed and with displayed Ensigns into Jerusalem Teflis has a particular King who owns Allegigiance to him of Persia Derbent often disputed by the Turks and the Persians is in the Passage that is called the Port of Iron these are the Remnants of the Caspian Ports that are seen upon Mount Barmach with some Springs of Medicinal Oyl The Tartars of Dagestan who are near it are commanded by the Schemkal a Prince whose Dignity depends on fate when he is dead those who pretend to have his Place assemble around and a Priest cafts a Golden Apple in the midst of them which makes him Prince it touches for they don't scramble for Sovereignty Mingrelia otherwise Imereti and Basciaciuch lies near the Black Sea at the place where that Sea receives the Faze which contrary to other Rivers has fresh waters above and salt below In the Countrey about Faze Pheasants were first of all had There are caught several other sorts of Birds especially Crows and Jackdaws In the Year 1642 those Birds eat a prodigious quantity of Herrings which the Sea had cast upon the Coast to the height of a foot and half There are White Bears which prove that those Creatures form a particular sort of Bears Mingrelia upon the Eastern part of the Black Sea is the ancient Colches famous for the Amour of Jason and Medea and the coming thither of the Argonautes to sharpe the Golden Fleece This Fleece when the Metaphor is shorn off is thought by the wise to have consisted in the Mines of Gold or else in the
that they keep Registers of their Race which are from time to time approv'd of by the Judges Horses of the most noble and commonly Mares are sometimes sold for three or four thousand Piasters The Arabians eat their Meals crouching upon their Heels whereas the Turks eat upon Cushions cross-legg'd the oldest among 'em wear the finest Cloaths and the gaudiest Colours Their Predecessours prohibited Buildings and the tilling of Lands for that those who stood possess'd of great stocks if they meant to enjoy 'em were easily constrain'd to obey them who aim'd at subduing ' em They made also that Member of the Noble Race Successour of the Kingdom who came first into the World after the proclaiming of the King In the comparison of the Manners and Maximes of the Levantine Nations with those of Europe the Arabians are made to resemble the Italians the Persians the French the Turks the Spaniards Arabia in general is subject to such great heats that they are constrain'd to keep the Markets by night There is a great number of Mountains and few Rivers It is divided into three parts Petraea Deserta and Foelix the two former is almost wholly in the possession of the Turks Arabia Foelix has several petty Sovereigns Arabia Petraea was inhabited by the Madianites Moabites Amalekites and Idumeans Nations of whom mention is often made in the Holy Oracles Its Inhabitants pay Tribute to the Bashaw of Cairo Crac otherwise Montreal formerly call'd Petra has communicated to it its Name Busseret is the Countrey of Philip the Roman Emperour who is said to have embrac'd Christianity Tor upon the Red-Sea is a Port defended by a four-square Castle There are in the places adjacent found petrified Mushrooms white Corral Chagrin small Oysters and sometimes Sea-men or such people as are bred and live in the Sea 'T is said the Red-Sea is but three Leagues broad in that place and that the Children of Israel pass'd it over there dry-shod when they came out of Aegypt that it was one of the Ports from whence Solomon sent his Fleets into Ophir to fetch Gold Pegs of Wood are put into the Ships of the Places that belong to this Sea because little Iron is to be found there Those who have a mind to impose Talk as that if they made use of Iron Nails instead of Pegs the Ships would be attacked and stopp'd by the Loadstone that is found in the neighbouring Mountains Mount Oreb is famous in the Holy Writ for the burning Bush wherein God appear'd to Moses Sinai is illustrious for the Decalogue or Ten Commandments which this Prophet receiv'd It is extraordinary high and nevertheless the Mount St. Catherine which is near it is much higher Arabia Deserta is a Countrey where they often want good Water tho' there be some Wells the Water for the most part is hardly worth any thing Ana upon the Euphrates has an Arabian Emir There is a King in this Arabia who has a moving and portative City which consists in Tents and he causes it to be carried whither he pleaseth He takes this course to avoid being surpriz'd by the Turks Sumiscasac is esteem'd the ancient Saba from whence departed the three Kings or rather wise Men to come and adore the Saviour of the World in Bethlehem Arabia Faelix goes under that Name as being a good Countrey It has Horses very much esteem'd Manna Cinnamon Myrrh Balm Benjamin Incense and other Perfumes There is so great a quantity of Incense that from the Port of Dolfar the Inhabitants furnish the principal parts of the World Aden is a City of great trade in a small Peninsula at the foot of a Mountain with two Castles towards the North and a small Fortress at the entrance of the Harbour The Portugals at the time of their establishment in the East Indies had Orders to make themselves Masters of Aden Ormus and Malaca by reason of their important situations The Turks prevented them at Aden whose King they caused to be hang'd on the Mast of their Captain 's Galley Since that time there have been some Revolutions those of the Countrey having dispossess'd the Turks Ormus and Malaca have been in the power of the Portuguese the Persians have taken from them Ormus by the help of the English and the Hollanders Malaca Mecha and Medina are famous for the Pilgrimages of the Mahometans who are in great esteem after such a Journey they go particularly to Mecha to pay their devotion to Kiaabee the four-square House which they call the House of God as having been built by Abraham This City about as big as York as containing about six thousand Houses is a days journey distant from the Red-Sea the place of the Birth of Mahomet whose body was as some Authors say transferred to Medina when Albaquerque the Portuguese would have surpriz'd the Port of Ziden otherwise called Gidde with design to go with Cavalry and fetch away that Mahometan Relick The Countrey about Mecha produces in abundance that sort of Berry which serves to make the Drink called Coffee so much us'd in the Levant by reason of its virtue to fortifie the Stomach and facilitate Digestion Medina three days journey from the Red-Sea is the place where that pretended Prophet lyes buryed Endeavours have been used to make his Tomb pass for a Wonder as if it was suspended in the Air by the means of the Load-stone this is not only found to be a fallacy but Antiquity shews us such like things Democritus the Athenian by order of Ptolomey King of Aegypt undertook to make the Statue of Arsinoe all of Iron for to dispose it after the like manner and in the Temple of Serapis in Alexandria they formerly hung up the same way a Sun made of a very delicate Iron The Prince of Mecha called Sultan Scherif is one of the most Potent of all Arabia His most usual Residence is in Almacharana The Grand Seignior makes him often Presents and causes part of the Revenue of Aegypt to be given him by reason that he 's of the Race of Mahomet and to oblige him to defend the Turkish Pilgrims The Arabians call Scherifs the Relations of Mahomet the Turks call them Emirs Fartach Caxem Gubel-haman Alibinali Amanzirifdin Masfa Mascalat Jemen are as many Sultanies or small Kingdoms in Arabia-Felix Mascate formerly belonging to the Portugals has for a long while carried on the trade from the Indies to the Mecha by the means of the Cities El-Catif and Lehsa Sohar in the Eastern part drove the Commerce which has since been to Ormus and to Gombru Mocha upon the Red Sea is an open Town with a small Castle By reason of the goodness of its Haven there resort thither Ships from all parts of the East-Indies with Merchandizes to take in those of Europe which are in like manner brought thither There are Jews Persians Armenians Indians Banians It is the place where the Pilgrims disembark who go from the Indies to Mecha 'T is much augmented since the
burnt by order of Alexander the Great at the end of a Feast It has still full ten thousand Houses a Proverb of the Countrey goes thus That if Schiras was Schiras that is to say what it was formerly Grand Cairo would pass but for its Suburbs The Ruins of this Persepolis are called Chilminar i. e. Forty Columns which seem to be the remains of the Palace of Cyrus the Great the most beautiful of all the East The Neighbours of those Ruins endeavour to destroy 'em entirely to free themselves from the importunities of strangers who go to see them upon that account What remains of 'em shews a great antiquity of habits for Personages and an extraordinary magnificence in the stones of the building Those who have seen them say that they surpass the Antiquities of Rome and the Wonders of Aegypt The abode of Schiras is so agreeable that Mahomet according to what the Persians say would not go thither for fear of being charm'd with the Beauty of the Ladies and that if he had tasted the delights of that Town he would have made it his request to God never to have died The Government of Schiras is the most considerable of all Persia it affords excellent Wines and that Mummy or Counter-poyson which serves for Medicament to all manner of Wounds Susa was the Court of Ahasucrus and some other Kings Alexander the Great married Statira there He gave ten thousand Talents for the acquitting the Debts of those who had a mind to return into Greece and receiv'd there thirty thousand young Men of Recruits for his Army This is also the place where the fair Esther obtain'd favour for the Jews and where Mordecai was put into the place of Haman who was hanged after that he would have caus'd Mordecai to have undergone his own Fate The Palace of Susa built by Darius is said to have been enrich'd by Memnon with the Spoils of the great Thebes in Aegypt and 't is famed that the stones were cemented with Gold After Persepolis it is reckoned amongst the magnificent Works of the Kings of Persia as well as the delicious Gardens of Cyrus the younger in Lydia Congue Bender Congo is a City upon the Gulph of Bassora much like that of Thoulon in Provence 'T is much augmented since the ruine of Ormus as well as Gombru It has a Demesne which the Persians and the Portugals have the Revenue of by halves Lar communicates its Name to a sort of silver Money that is coin'd there five of those Larins make but one Piaster the City has full four thousand Houses and a small Cittadel Some believe it the ancient Passagarde where the grand Cyrus having overcome Astiages transferred the Empire of the Medes to the Persians Calanus the Indian Philosopher did voluntarily suffer death there in the sight of all the Macedonian Army It has several very learn'd Inhabitants the Earthquakes which are frequent in these parts render it the less populous The Frontiers of Persia towards Turkey have a warlike People called Curdes whose Countrey had been the field of several Battels Alexander the great overcame Darius at Arbela and they would persuade us that there were four hundred thousand Persians killed and only three hundred Macedonians the Caliphs won there the Battel of Moraga which made them Masters of Persia Near Chuy Selim defeated Ismael Sophi who before had always been his Conquerour Tabris or Tauris drives an extraordinary Trade and the first of Persia it has Walls and Towers of cut stone of a vast heighth Ardebil is the staple of the Silks of the Countrey and the place of burial of several Kings of Persia amongst others of Cha-Sefi who has a magnificent Tomb there Bakuie gives sometimes its Name to the Caspian-Sea It has in its neighbourhood a source of Oyl which serves to burn throughout all Persia Kirman towards the Ocean yields Wools and very fine Steel whereof Arms are made that are in great vogue a Cymeter of that steel does easily cut a Helmet through without striking hard Moghostan is a Countrey which contains the Amadizes and the Gauls very warlike Nations who have perhaps furnish'd Matter to make the Fables of Amadis de Gaule Ormus has had the Title of a Kingdom the Soyl of this Island is subject to great heats and produces only Salt it has not a drop of fresh Water but what it borrows The Portuguese being Masters of it had caus'd a Fort to be made in the Isle of Kesem for the having this conveniency The excellent scituation of Ormus gave occasion formerly to this saying That if the World was a Ring Ormus was the precious Stone in it In the year 1622 the King Scha-Abbas took it by help of the English and after having caused the Fortress of it to be razed transferred the Commerce to Gombru which he caus'd to be called by his own Name Bender-Abassi The Portuguese lost by the taking of that Town to the value of seven or eight Millions Thus Gombru grew great from the ruins of Ormus The Castles which defend Gombru are fortified after the ancient manner The Road is commodious riding safe at anchor in five or six fathom Water All Nations who trade upon the Indian-Seas except the Portuguese carry their Commodities thither and bring Velvet Taffaties raw Silks and other Commodities from Persia The English have half of the Customs and the right of exporting some Horses which the Persians have granted them in acknowledgment of the Men and Ships wherewith they assisted them for the taking of Ormus Bahrem upon the Coast of Arabia and of the Dependances of Persia is an Island known for the Springs of fresh Water which it has at the bottom of the Sea and for the Pearls that are fished there which are the best the greatest and the roundest of all the East Giask upon that Coast is a place where is droven the greatest Commerce for Silk Candahar upon the Confines of the Mogul is a Conquest of the late Kings of Persia Tartary THis is the vastest Region of our Continent Equals in bigness all Europe and possesses all the Northern part of Asia The Name of Tartary which has succeeded that of Scythia is come from the River Tatar which the Chineses name Tata because they do not make use of the Letter R. The Tartars are a warlike People the best Archers of the World but cruel and barbarous they make War almost ever to the disadvantage of those they visit and to the confusion of those who attack them Cyrus at the passage of the Araxes Darius Histaspes in his march against the Scythians of Europe Alexander the great when he was beyond the Oxus have been constrain'd to yield to the Tartars In our time the great Kingdom of China has been forc'd to own them its Masters Their Cavalry does most execution in their Battels on the contrary to what is practised in Europe it is it which first attacks places The most peaceable of the Tartars inhabit Tents of
Pelts and do nothing else than look to their Cattel Their Countrey has in all times been a Nursery of Men who under divers Names have made Conquests and establish'd Colonies in several places That great Wall which the Chineses had rais'd for the putting a stop to their incursions has not been capable of effecting that purpose They aaknowledge several Princes whom they call Cans They have sundry Hurdes that may be called Cantons Camps Tribes or Assemblies of Families The little knowledge we have of them is the reason we call them all under the general Name of Tartars They have the Owl in great veneration since that Cingis one of their Sovereigns was saved by the means of that Bird. They will not suffer they should be buried some amongst 'em make choice of a Tree and give order for their being hang'd up upon it after their death There be still among 'em Idolaters but they are for the most part Mahometans It has been observ'd that those who have conquered China have hardly any particular Religion tho' they practice several Moral Vertues Five great parts are commonly reckon'd in Asian Tartary Tartaria Deserta Giagathi Turquestan Northern Tartary and the Tartary of Kin. Desort Tartary is so called because that most of the Lands there are uncultivated It is for the most part subject to the Czars of Muscovy who draw fine and rich Furrs from thence and who with ease subdued the Inhabitants of it they being only Shepherds Its Gities of Casan and Astracan are near the Wolga which empties it self into the Caspian-Sea by seventy Mouths the Obi which in the same Countrey empties it self into the Ocean has six Astracan drives a great trade in Salt which the Inhabitants find in a neighbouring Mountain The Calmack People are Idolaters much like to the ancient Scythians by reason of their incursions their cruelty and their other ways of living Giagathai and Mawaralnahr have peculiar Chams The City of Samarchand is that where Tamerlane the great a Native of la Casta a day's journey from thence establish'd a famous University There is also one at Bockora which passes for the Countrey of Avicenna a famous Philosopher and Physician another at Orcange near the Caspian-Sea Alexandria of Sogdiana was formerly famous for the death of the Philosopher Calisthenes The Tribe of the Mogul is known by the rise of the Prince of the same Name whose Successours command a good part of India The Inhabitants of these Parts hunt wild Horses with Faulcons in some of these Countries they have such a disposition for Musick that their little Children sing instead of crying Those of Giagathai and Yousbeg do not call themselves Tartars being of the Mahometan Religion Turquestan is the Country from whence some make the Turks to come Thibet which is part of it has Musk Cinnamon Coral which serve for Money to it's Inhabitants The Tartars of Kin which some call Cathai is the most Potent State of all Tartary very Populous Rich and full of Great Cities Cambalu or rather Muoncheu is the Capital thereof Several Authors have told Wonders of this City making it known under the Names of Quinzai Xantum Suntien and Peguim Amongst other things they say that in the Palace Royal there are twenty four Pillars of fine Gold and another much greater of the same Metal with a Pine Apple beset with Jewels that are worth four Great Cities The Voyage of Cathai has been undertaken by several ways in hopes of finding Gold Musk Rhubarb and other Rich Commodities there several have gone thither by the Terra-firma others by the Northern Sea some by going up the Ganges The Tartars of this Country invaded China in our Time the King of Niuche called Xunchi is the same who made the Conquest of it at the Age of twelve years assisted with the good and faithful Councels of two of his Uncles Besides a continual success and happyness a great Moderation has been observ'd in this young Conquerour who has treated a Nation newly subdued with all the Lenity imaginable The old or true Tartary which the Arabians call after a different manner is towards the North and but very little known Salmanasar King of Assyria is said to have transported thither the Tribes which he carryed away Captive from the Holy Land and there are also said to be still at this day Hords of them who keep up their Names and follow their Manners It has Imaus one of greatest Mountains in the World China CHina which receiv'd almost as many Names as it has had Royal Families has ever pass'd for one of the most Considerable Kingdoms in the World by reason of it's bigness the Beauty of it's Cities the great number Politeness and Maximes of it's Inhabitants Printing the Manufacture of Silks Artillery Gunpowder and Chairs or Sedans are said to have been in use with them sooner than with us Besides what is necessary to the Life of Man China produces the most precious commodities of the East It seems as if Nature had bestow'd upon each of it's Provinces some peculiar Gift those who have dwelt in this Country do aver that all that is thought fine dispers'd in the rest of the World is collected in China That there is likewise a vast number of things which would be in vain sought for else-where So that it is no wonder if the Tartars found it so easy a matter to subdue a Nation subdued in delights before who having forgot to wear the sabre contented themselves with fighting at fisticuffs and with their Nails which they expresly let grow for that purpose and for tearing away their Flabels and their hair which was their Principal Ornament This oblig'd their Conquerours to call the Chineses the soft and easy and to make them enjoy the Pleasures of the Campagne which they had never done before that Conquest China is almost Quadrangular so Populous that there has been sometimes reckoned above Sixty Thousand Millions of Persons of those who might be assessed and pay Taxes It 's Rivers are so covered with Boats that there are held to be as many as in all the other Rivers of the World The Annual Revenue of it's King has ever been esteem'd a Hundred and Fifty Millions of Gold according to others Four Hundred Millions of Ducats The Chineses laugh'd at our Maps which plac'd their Kingdom at one of the ends of the World they say they are in the mid'st the Jews have pretended the same thing for Jerusalem the Greeks for Delphos the Moors for Granada They say also that they have two Eyes that the Europeans have but one and other People none at all Learned Men are oblig'd to them for that they have compiled their History which was brought into Europe by Martini the Jesuit It is esteemed so much the more faithful in that they made it but of their own Country and only for themselves They have always been so Jealous of the secrets of their Policy and of their other affairs that they did
not willingly allow Strangers entrance into their Country The great Wall or rather the Intrenchment of above four hundred Leagues which they caused formerly to be made is a Work that has had more Renown than Effect the Tartars have often over-run China notwithstanding this Obstacle Those who have said that China is but one City by reason of the Numerousness of it's People have likewise said that a no less considerable Wall was requir'd to be proportionable to the Grandeur of such a Town 'T is hardly credible that in this Fortification the Stones be seven Fathom high and five broad as they are said to be by the Chineses If we may believe their History the Hostilities of the Tartars have been exercised for above four thousand years the Chinese Horses cannot endure the sight of those of Tartary The late years have caused strange Revolutions in this Kingdome After that the Rebels had acted as Soveraigns the Tartars under their Emperour Xunchi have conquer'd all their Country in less then seven years Time and that since the year 1643 the Militia was not very considerable Men of Learning domineer'd over Men of the Sword From whence it came that the State only subsisted by Policy by numerous Armys and not by the valour of it's People The principal Chiefs were called Mandarins at present the Tartar has Tartarian Officers and Chinese Officers below his Vice-Roys of whom some are for Arms and others for Learning This change has the Sword wrought over the Gown and the poor Mandarins are no longer in a state to do Justice with so much Pomp and Pride as they formerly did Paganisme is there generally received nevertheless Vertue amongst them is in an high esteem The Publick is more Rich proportionably as particular Persons are Writing is managed from the top to the bottom It has above sixty thousand Letters and has not three hundred thousand Words which are almost all Monosyllables whereas the Europeans have many Words few Letters the Chineses have many Letters and few VVords which they pronounce with divers Tones according to their signification So as we may say their Speech is only singing It 's Great Cities are called Fu the lesser Câ—u The Chineses love their Hair to that Degree that several amongst them choose rather to dye than to be shav'd conformably to the Tartars commands Swines Flesh is with them a most exquisite Dish Before the coming of the Tartars Yellow was the Kings and Black the Peoples usual wear All China is divided into sixteen Provinces each of which are worth more than large Kingdoms Ten of 'em lye towards the South Yunnan Quansi Canton Fuquiem Chequiam Nanxin Kiamsi Huquam Suscuem and Quicheu The six towards the North are Xensi Sciansi Honan Xantung Pekin and Leaorung which several have called Cathai whereas they give the name of Mangi to the Southern Provinces Canton has a Town of the greatest Trade and Riches of all the Kingdom from thence are transported Rice Sugar Varnish which is drawn from the Rinds of Trees and Pearls that are fish'd near the Isle of Ainaon Macao in an Island of the same Name surrounded with several other small Islands and Rocks is peopled with Portugals who have fortified it after an extraordinary manner since they were attack'd by the Hollanders in the Year 1622. This City entertains a great Commerce between China and Europe this Commerce is much diminish't they have no longer two hundred for a hundred profit as they had formerly and now the Hollanders have got footing in the Kingdom whereas they were formerly excluded from thence because the Chineses had a Prophesie that they should be subdued by people who have blue Eyes This has been verified by the coming of the Tartars The Right alone for the Trade of Salt is worth every Year above fifteen hundred thousand Livers to the King of China The small Isle of Sanchoan is known for the death of the Popish Saint Xavier Fuquiem produces pure Gold Pepper Sugar and Calamint The Gold and Silver of China is not so good as that we have they esteem the Pistols and Rials of Spain The Island Formosa has a Mine of Gold which the Hollanders had in possession for a long while In the Year 1661 they were drove thence by a Chinese called Coceinga a Taylor 's Son The Isle of Tayouan half a League from Formosa is an Island whither People resort in all Seasons of the Year without being oblig'd to wait for the Monzoon In the Year 1632 the Hollanders made a Fort there of four Bastions faced with hew'd stone which serv'd them to take the Isle of Formosa Chequiam has Temples wherein are rich Idols Nankin has a Town of the same Name formerly the abode of the Court the most esteemed of China upon the account of its Beauty the fertility of its Soyl its fine Edifices its great Commerce the River Kiang which we call the River Blew and the Chinese the Son of the Sea because that its common breadth exceeds two of our Leagues With the River Jaune and the Royal Channel it affords the means of going to Pekin by Boat and of trading to Pekin by Rivers disembarking only at the Mountain Muilin There is near Nankin a Tower of Porcelain nine Stories or Vaults above one another with a hundred and fourscore and four steps Schanchay is the most usual station of the King's Fleets Kiamzi passes for the most populous Province It alone has Water proper for the perfection of Porcelain when they apply to it the Tincture of Azure Vermilion or Yellow The late Voyages that have been made into the Inlands of China have inform'd us that Porcelain-Ware is not made of the shells of the Sea nor of Egg-shells pounded as several have believed it is made by the means of Sand or Earth peculiar to certain Cantons of the Countrey where it is found in Rocks for the making it 't is not necessary that this Earth remain buried an Age as some have thought fit to affirm The Chineses knead this Sand and make Cups of it which they set a baking in Ovens for the space of fifteen days and give them several Figures The application of Colours is one of the principal Secrets which the Chineses have thought fit to keep conceal'd from strangers Huquam yields so much Rice and Oyl that the Chineses have it in a Proverb That they draw but one Collation from each of the other Provinces of China but from Huquam they have wherewith to live on a whole Year Xensi does particularly furnish Musk Its City of Cancheu has a great confluence of Caravans Siganfu has very ancient Remnants of Christianity Sciansi hath Vineyards from whence the Jesuits had the Wine they stood in need of for the celebrating the Mass before they were driven thence in the Year 1665. Honan produces the best Fruits in the World and in great quantity Pekin otherwise Peguin has a City of the same Name the Capital of all
the State with a Castle-Royal It is probably the City which several Authors call Cambalu what those Authors call Cathai is nothing else than Northern China In the Year 1644. This City was surpriz'd and pillag'd by a Rebel who dissipated in a few days all the Riches which sixteen Kings had heaped up during two hundred and fourscore Years Since that the Tartars of Niuche whom they call Kin have rendred themselves Masters of it and by the taking of Nakin and Canton have setled their Conquests in the great Kingdom of China India THe Name of India and that of Indostan is given to the Empire of the Mogul and has two great Peninsula's on this and on the other side the Ganges They call by the Name of Indies the Islands of the Oriental Sea the Coasts of Persia and Arabia and those of Africa towards the East The Coasts of Africa upon the Ocean on this side the Cape of Good Hope and of America are known under Name of the West-Indies by those who frequent the Sea The principal Tongues that have any vogue in the East-Indies are the Canarine in and about Goa the Malabar in the Countrey of the same Name the Guzerate in Cambaia Coromondel Bisnagar and Bengala the Malaize in Malucca Sumatra the Java's and the Moluccoes that of the Maldive Isles is wholly peculiar Arabick is employed only for Religion and the Sciences just as Latin is in Europe Portuguese is spoken in all the places which were first conquered by the Crown of Portugal tho' some of those places be at present possess'd by other Nations of Europe The Empire of the Mogul THis Empire comprehends the greatest part of the firm land of India between Persia Tartary and China The Mogul is the Sovereign thereof He has his Name and his Rise from a Tribe come from Giagathai a Countrey of Great Tartary He passes for the richest Prince in the World as to Jewels besides those of his Crown he has those of several Princes his Neighbours whose Predecessours had for a long while lived in and entertain'd the curiosity of having 'em Besides he inherits the Jewels of the Grandees of his Court He is Universal Heir to those he gives Pensions to all Houses before which he passes owe him a Present the Lands belong to him his Will serves for Law in the decision of Matters In this State People go under the Name of the Employment they possess and not of the Lands they enjoy Some Relations assert that this Monarch is every day shewn part of his Treasures sometimes his Elephants sometimes his Jewels another day somewhat else and that he commonly sees every thing but once a Year all the Treasure being divided into as many parts as there are days in the Year The day of his birth he is weighed and the feasting upon that occasion lasts five days then he receives sometimes the value of above thirty Millions and always something very rare The Civil War which arose between the four Sons of Scha-Jehan did not allow Aureng-zebe who rendred himself Master of 'em all to observe punctually these Diversions One of the Temples of this State is pav'd and imbowed with Plates of pure Gold In the Palace of Agra there are two Towers cover'd with sheets of massy Gold and a Throne enrich'd with Jewels with four Lyons of silver Vermilion guilt supporting a Canopy of massy Gold People talk at a much higher rate He is said to have two Bushels of Carbuncles five Bushels of Emeralds twelve Bushels of diverse sorts of Precious Stones twelve hundred Cutlasses whose Scabbards are of Gold and covered with Jewels They say moreover that the Treasure of Scha-Choram one of the late Moguls was of fifteen hundred Millions of Crowns What is certain is that Scha-Jehan who reign'd near forty Years left above five Millions of Crowns that the Throne which he caus'd to be made in his City of Jehan-Abad which is that of Delli came to above sixty Millions of Livers There are seven magnificent Thrones whereof the greatest was begun by Tamerlain The Money of this State is of good alloy great Justice is done the Europeans are in great consideration being by them call'd Francs They reckon the ways by Cosses each of which is a Mile and a half No Oats are allowed their Horses they give 'em Pease and a sort of Paste made of Sugar Flour and Butter They bathe themselves in Cysterns which they call Tanques in the Rivers there are Tuberons which eat Men. The Mogul upon occasion can arm two hundred thousand Horse He has but little Infantry and that too but bad He has a considerable number of Elephants of which Creatures he commonly keeps five or six hundred He draws great Services from these Creatures they are sure-footed rise and lye down easily tho' there be of 'em thirteen and fifteen foot high This Prince is of the Mahometan Religion of the Turkish Sect Most of his Vassals are Pagans The Gymnosophists and the Brachmans have formerly been esteem'd for Wisdom in India just as are the Bramins at this day The former were very cruel they caused old people and the diseased to be killed out of an opinion that they did them good service The Bramins exercise surprising Abstinences and Mortifications some amongst 'em will remain standing with their Arms up for ten or twelve Years They are as the Priests of the Countrey The Troopers and Soldiers are called Rezbutes There are several Mahometans in the Empire of the Mogul Above two thirds there are Gentiles or Banians or Persces The Banians are almost all Merchants sharp cunning and as sagacious as possible Hucksters by reason of their acquaintance in the Country where they live amongst the Mahometans as the Jews do among the Christians they make profession of doing no hurt to any Creature living of pardoning the injuries that are done them they believe the transmigration of Souls have Hospitals for Brutes more than for Men. One amongst 'em spent in one day above twelve thousand Ducats for the making the Nuptials of his Friend's Bull They have a Cow in great veneration They dare not eat of any thing that has had life not so much as Radishes for fear of eating the Soul of some of their Friends They do not willingly light Candles for the preventing the Gnats from burning themselves in 'em When the Portugueses who dwell there have no Money they endeavour to catch some Bird which they shew in the Streets saying they are going to have it roasted for their Supper and immediately the Banians do not fail to give them Money to redeem it out of their hands Marriage is with them in such consideration that when a young man is dead without having been married they cause some Maiden or other to lye with the Body to whom they give for that purpose a Dowry or Portion The Persees are descended from the ancient Persians who retired into those parts Never any of 'em are Farriers or Locksmiths for fear of
King of Narsinga who is the Raja of Velou whose Territories advance towards Cape Comorin stiles himself the King of Kings and the Husband of a thousand Wives The City of Bisnagar is upon a Mountain with a Cittadel There are on this Coast the Naiques or Princes of Madura Tanaior and Gingi and in their Dominions Inhabitants who have pleasant Imaginations they make the number of their Gods mount to thirty three Millions They say that the Globe of the Earth is supported with a Serpent arm'd with a thousand Heads on which all the World is pois'd that this Serpent is born by eight Elephants who stand upon the Back-bone of a Tortoise which of its self remains firm and motionless even with the Water They also multiply the Seas and make seven different ones of them the one of Water the other of Milk the third of Cream the fourth of Butter the fifth of Salt the sixth of Sugar and the seventh of Wine These small States have rose out of the ruins of that of Narsinga The late Relations make mention of the Kingdom of Messur bordering upon that of Madura of the Moravan People being very Warlike and of the Land of Thieves There are several Apes in the Woods of this Country where People take the Diversion of making them fight to get Rice Golconda belongs to a Mahometan King of the Sect of the Persiaens there is a Mine of Diamonds so abounding that in the Year 1622. the King caused it to be stopped up for some time for fear that the too great quantity would render them common or that the Mogul might have a desire to possess it This Mine is at the foot of a Mountain where are sometimes a hundred thousand Workmen There are also Mines of Iron and Steel the Steel that is drawn from thence passes for the best of all the Levant The Inhabitants of this Countrey are very much addicted to Traffick though the Countrey be Mountainous and Sandy yet it produces great plenty of Rice The King has so many Customs and Imposts that there accrue to him from thence above twenty Millions They speak Talenga in this Kingdom and reckon by Gauts each of which comes to six thousand paces The City of Golconda is one of the most beautiful and strongest of all India it is also one of the greatest being divided into three Citites Badnaguar otherwise Hidraband where is the King's Palace though it be without Walls Golconda where is the Cittadel Emanjour upon a River which separates it from the former The King's Palace is the most magnificent of all those of India it is twelve Miles compass Gold is there employed to such uses as we employ Iron for Mazalpatan an unwalled Town has narrow Streets and low Houses it is strong by Situation in a marshy place where it has a Bridg of fifteen thousand paces in length It s Harbour or Road is half a League from the City commodious for all sorts of Ships most Europeans have their Factors here The Inhabitants of the Town drive a great Trade in Stained or Painted Cloaths and other Works of Cotton so delicately wrought and with such lively Colours that they are more esteemed than those of Silk The Fortress of Condapoli has six Fortifications one upon another each with its conveniency and Lands capable of nourishing its Garrison There are sixty other places of defence in the Kingdom of Golconda The Peninsula of India extra Gangem IN this part of India is a great number of good and great Rivers which render it fertile by their Inundations and which afford the means of Transporting thence the same Merchandizes as from the Neighbouring Countries The Elephants do great service principally when Fire has seized on any place for then they pull down with a wonderful dispatch and dexterity the Houses neighbouring on those which are burning upon a certain signal from him who governs them they take away with their Trunk the Roof of the House that is shew'd them and Butt down the Walls that remain without going beyond the Order that is given them The Inhabitants of these Countries are for the most part Pagans and live in a state of War under divers Kings in whose Dominions are daily wrought some Changes or other the most powerful still becoming Masters of the weakest Aracan is fertile in Grains and Silver-Mines Pegu was very considerable when it comprehended two Emperors and twenty six Kingdoms It is much decayed and fallen from its grandeur through the Wars it sustain'd against the King of Siam for the maintaining itself in the possession of a White Elephant This Elephant was in so much the greater esteem amongst the Indians in that they firmly believed that their Xaca or Prophet was Metamorphosed into such an Animal In the Year 1661. the Tartar Victorious over China push'd on his Conquests thither in pursuing Constantin the last King of the Chineses The Glasses of the Pagods which are the Churches of the City of Pegu are of Tortoise-shells so as those of Goa are of Mother of Pearl The City of Siam which is otherwise called Odia or India is twenty Leagues from the Sea upon the Menan River which overflows every six Months the Indians call it in this manner as if it was the Mother of Waters This River has three Mouths whereof the most Eastern is the most commodious Several Ships come to the City of Bankok six Leagues from the Sea from thence their Boats and Pinnaces go twenty Leagues as far as the City of Siam The King of Siam has been very absolute has had several small Tributary Princes but has since own'd Homage to the Tartar Master of China He is an Idolater and nevertheless allows of the Building of some Christian Churches in his Capital Cities nay he himself has caused some to be Built at his own cost He himself Trades out of his Dominons are Transported Buck-skins Benjamin and all other precious Merchandises of India The Siamois contrary to other Orientals dispose their Writing after the same manner as do the other Orientals Tanacerin near an Isthmus Ligor and Patane drive a great Trade This Country is fertile temperate and brings forth Fruits every Month of the Year Hens Geese and Ducks lay often their Eggs twice a day insomuch that Victuals are in abundance and at easie rates Malaca with a strong Castle is as the Centre of the East-Indies where you may wait for Winds fair for the Navigation you intend to make Barks may enter into it by the River but great Ships cast anchor between the two Islands that are in the mouth of the River The City ows its rise to Fishermen of Pegu Siam and Bengala who frequented it establishing there at the same time a new Tongue which is at present receiv'd in several parts of India The Portugals gave out that the Air hereof was unwholsome which was to prevent all desire in other Nations of setling themselves here In the Year 1641 the Hollanders made themselves Masters
of it People observe there for a rarity the doleful Tree whose Flowers only come by Night and fall at the sight of the Sun Ihor in the most Southern part of India is built upon Posts near a River which divides it into two Ports Cambodia whose King is a Vassal of that of China drives a great Trade The City of the same Name is sixty Leagues from the Sea built in length upon a rising ground to exempt it self from the Inundation of its River The Mecon which passes by it has two principal Mouths which separate themselves afterwards into two others It is Navigable In the Year 1644 four Holland Ships entred it and got out again notwithstanding the endeavours and oppositions of the King of that Countrey who would have hindred them from so doing Cochinchina is one of the best Kingdoms of all India A great number of Galleys are kept there where the Office of Rower is more sought after than in Europe the French Bishops have been busie there to promote the Catholick Religion Tunquim or Tonkin has its peculiar King as well as Cochinchina and Cambodia Upon the Confines of China and India there are People called Maug Timocoves Gueyes and others The Tunquiners are the best Fire arms-men of all Asia instead of Purses they have little Strings whereon they file their Copper Money which are round pieces pierced thro' the middle distinguish'd from sixty to sixty by certain marks they carry them upon their shoulders or else around their arms The Country of Tunquim is boggish watry and interlaced with above thirty Rivers which fall into the Sea the Air is nevertheless very pure They reckoâ— they have aobut twenty thousand Villages and six great Provinces wherein are said to be two hundred thousand Christians The capital City is esteemed twenty Miles in circuit wherein it contains above a Million of Persons There are upon the Frontiers Forests full of Apes who go sometimes to the number of three or four hundred and ravage the fields from whence they carry a prodigious quantity of Rice which they fasten between their skin and a girdle of straw which they make for that purpose This Country has no wall'd Towns or Fortresses The King of Tunquim has above fifty thousand Soldiers for this guard and keeps above sixty thousand upon the Frontiers of Cachinchina with whose Prince he is often at Dagger's drawing He is said to have above five hundred Elephants about as many Galleys most of em well fitted and finely guilt It is by the means of the Elephants that the Tunquiners have maintain'd themselves against the Chineses who did domineer over 'em for somewhile The most modern Relations make seven Kingdoms pass under the Name of Tunquim Tunquim Cochinchina Ciucanghe or Caubang the small Bao the little Lao and the Mountains of Rumoy or Kemois where there is a little King of Fire and another of Water They likewise make mention of the great Kingdom of Lao which extends from fourteen Degrees to two and twenty and a half of Northern Latitude upon a breadth of fifty Miles along a River of same Name where Langione at eighteen Degrees of Latitude is the capital City They likewise mention that its King has for Tributaries those of Bao Ciocangue Ava and that there are full five hundred thousand Men capable of Service in his Dominions The Maldive Islands THe Maldive's Islands situate on the South of India both on this and the other side the Equinoctial have this Name from their City called Male and from Dive which signifies Island in the Language of the Country They are said to be twelve thousand in all which is spoke at hazard and an uncertain number is taken for a certain These Islands are dispers'd from the North-East to the South-East into thirteen Provinces which the Inhabitants call Atollons whereof each has a Bank for its Ramparts Some of 'em are only Rocks or heaps of Sand and all are very small That of Male which is the Principal is not a League in compass They are interlaced with several Arms of the Sea environed with Rocks which render 'em of very difficult access It has been the good pleasure of Divine Providence that there are four Ports or four Openings to the Issues of each Atollon that those Ports corresponding to one another the Inhabitants might communicate together Without this help the Ships would be hurried away by the great Currents of the Sea for above seven or eight hundred Leagues from the Maldives These Currents go six Months towards the East six Months towards the West sometimes more sometimes less The Chanels through which the Ships may pass most easily are those of Malos-Madou of Adou and Sovadou this is twenty Leagues broad As the Sea is but shallow in these parts and there are commonly high Winds and few Commodities few Europeans resort to these Islands The King of Maldives is called Rascan His Revenue consists in the Misfortunes of others that is to say it accrews from the Shipwracks of Vessels that are cast away in those parts Certain it is there is no trust to be put in the Pilots of those Islands they often cause the Ships to be cast away that are left to their conduct that so the profit thereof may redound to their King This Prince has a Custom to Caress strangers and invite them into his Island that so by their dwelling there for some while they may die of the Disease that reigns in those parts The Insularies are of a low Stature of a tawny Complexion of the Mahometan Religion subject to several Evils by reason of the excessive heats which reign there and Feavers which seldom abandon their Islands They shave themselves with cold water catch Fish by swimming go easily to the bottom of the Sea choose a convenient place for the Anchors of their Ships will with an incredible facility weigh up from thence burdens of a hundred thousand pounds weight by the means of a Cable and some pieces of their Woods of Condou Their Cocoes furnish them with great Conveniencies they make of 'em Wine Honey Sugar Milk and Butter they eat Almonds instead of Bread with all sorts of Meats they place each Trade in a particular Island Now to exempt ' emselves from the Vermin which might spoil and destroy their Commodities they have their Ware houses and Magazines set up in the Sea upon Posts and Pillars at two or three hundred Paces from their Islands The Isle of Ceylan CEylan is said by the Insularies to have been much greater formerly than it is at this day of four hundred Miles which it was then in compass it is not now above three hundred 'T is made to resemble a Pearl and several do believe that it is the Taprobana of the Ancients It s Air is the purest and most healthful that is in all India Some call it the Land of Delights and say that it is the place where was the Terrestrial Paradise that the Pico of Adam whither
the best and most frequented Havens of the Isle of Java Borneo is the greatest Island of all Asia fertile in Merabolans and Camphire It has several good Roads but few good Towns Some say it is the Java Major of Marc-Pol of Venice and Java Minor is that we have just before made mention of The City of Borneo is built upon Posts in the Sea at the Mouth of a River where is a Great and Commodious Haven It has its particular King as well as Bender-Massin Sabas is the Capital of a Kingdom which affords Diamonds The Isles of Japan THere be several Islands known under this name The three most considerable are Niphon Ximo and Xicoco Niphon much larger than the rest is separated from the firm Land by an Arm of the Sea about ten Leagues in breadth some say that it is joyn'd to it but that by the difficulties of the ways the Japans chuse rather to go thither by Sea All these Islands have a temperate Air abound in Rice Pearls and Mines of Silver very much esteemed Their Pearls are large but are found to have too much of Red in them In this Country is a very extraordinary Tree it becomes dry when they wet it and to nourish it they must put into a hole they make in it filings of Iron with Sand very dry and to make its Branches green and gain and exert its Leaves they are to be fastened with a Nail The Japaneses are Idolaters good Soldiers and very patient Notwithstanding the dangers of the neighbouring Sea they have sometimes taken the Peninsula of Corca from the Chineses They have the most happy memories in the World and a very abounding Tongue for each thing they have several names some for Contempt others of Honour some for the Princes others for the People Their Customs and Manners are wholly contrary to ours They drink Warm water and they give this reason for their so doing that the Cold is binding provokes Coughing and the Distempers of the Stomach but that the Warm nourishes the Natural heat of the Body that the passages are opened by it and that the thirst is the more easily quenched They give such Potions to the Sick as are very sweet and odoriferous They never let Blood because they would spare their Blood as the Vehicle of Life They esteem black Teeth the finest They mount on Horseback on the right side Salute by a shaking of the Feet To treat the King of Japan who calls himself Cube or Caesar three Years are said to be required for Preparations and that the Feasts last full three Months The Jesuites Cordeliers Jacobites and Augustines have been very busie here and are said to have considerably promoted their Religion In the Year 1596. there were reckoned to be six hundred thousand Christians since the Year 1614. they have been extraordinarily persecuted and none dare make Profession of Christianity now there but in private In the Year 1636. the Jesuites the Spaniards and Portugals were entirely driven thence where the Hollanders alone have had the Liberty of Commerce because when they came into those Parts they forbid their Men above all things speaking of Religion They have several particular Tones or Princes the most part of whom confine their Power within the Circle of a Town This Custom is generally receiv'd that when one of those Tones loses his Dominions his Subjects lose likewise their Estates The Capital City is Meaco which is said to contain sixty thousand Housholds Yendo is a Royal Castle Sazay a famous Sea-Port In the Year 1658. a Fire happened at Yendo which occasioned the loss of above forty eight Millions of Gold The Spaniards Sail along these Islands when they return from the Philippines to Mexico and Peru. The Hollanders are said to go now to Japan by the North passing West of the Land of Jeso The Philippine Islands THe King of Spain Philip the Second has given his Name to these Islands which are to the number of forty or fifty this is to be understood of the greatest for if we reckon'd all the small ones they would be found to be above eleven thousand Most of these Isles are fruitful furnish Gold wherewith the Inhabitants pay their Tribute The Council of Spain for the Indies has often propos'd to abandon them by reason of the too great expence of the Garrisons that are necessary to be kept there because they contribute to the Commerce that is driven with China and the Molucco's his Catholick Majesty has thought fit to keep them The Islanders are valiant and defend their Freedoms in several places Lusson otherwise New Castile is the greatest of all the Philippine Islands The City of Manilhe which gives its Name to the whole body of these Islands is the abode of a Governour and an Archbishop 'T is small but beautiful and well fortified the two thirds of its compass are along a River which carries Barks and the third part towards the Sea Besides the Spaniards and Indians it has many Chineses who have taken refuge there as in a Town where is the Magazine of one of the richest Commerces in the World Cavite two Leagues from the Town is the principal Haven secure from great winds and defended by two Forts The Bay is forty Leagues in compass where they have the conveniency of building great Galeons but it is beaten by the Northern Winds the bottom is bad and the entrance difficult Here did the Spaniards detain a French Bishop Titular of Heliopolis to make him afterwards take a turn round the World before that he return'd into Europe from whence that Prelate is departed for the third time with the Apostolical Missions of the See of Rome The Isle of Mindanao was not subdued by the Spaniards till a long while after that of Lusson that of Paragoya obeys still their own Kings that of Tendaye bears the Name of Philippine as having been first discover'd Cebu and Matan are known the first for Magellan's arrival there in the Year 1520 the last for the death of the said Magellan This was the first time that the Voyage had been perform'd round the World which was done in the Ship of this Captain who had put himself into the Service of the King of Castile for that the King of Portugal whose Subject he was had refus'd half a Ducate a Month above his constant Pay The Spaniards who sail to the Philippines do not go through our Hemisphere They go thither by Mexico and the South-Sea For which reason they would fain comprehend these Islands as well as the Moluccoes in the bounds of their West-Indies which they extend for that reason as far as Malacca The Moluccoe Islands THere are five of these Isles with the particular Name of the Moluccoes in the head of several others much greater which receive from them their Name These five Isles are very small and in a situation near the Equinoctial Line where it is unwholsom living for those who go to settle themselves there
Arabians of the Neighbourhood call Chat or Xat as they do the other Great Rivers is two Miles in breadth and about six Fathom deep It is something like the Rhosne in France less rapid and more abounding in Fish its Water tho' somewhat brackish is nevertheless mighty good to drink It forms several Branches because that the Land is low there and sandy In the Way they take to China through the Territories of the Levant they are to be at Aleppo towards the end of the Month August for to take there in September the conveniency of the Caravans which bring them in November to Bagdad From Bagdad they are ten days in going to Bassora twelve in going from Bassora to Gombru where they almost daily meet with conveniencies in Barks called Tranquins In January and February the Muesson stands right for Surat where they commonly Embark upon English Ships or Moorish Vessels which go that Voyage in five and twenty days This way is look'd upon as much the same with that from Marseilles to Alexandretta At Surat they take their Way by Land spend therein forty small days Journies as far as Mazulpatan a City upon the Gulph of Bengala and this about the Month of March From Mazulpatan they go to Tanazarin by Sea from thence to Sian from Sian to China in all Seasons This way did the three French Bishops go who were Missionaries into China They make mention of another way to China thro' Candahar Agra Pathna Niepal Pitan c. this way is gone by Land no Inn to be found few Villages great Desarts hideous Mountains where they make use of great Goats to carry their things There are also some of those Mountains so steep that to pass them they are forc'd to wrap themselves up in Carpets and put themselves into the hands of certain People who lay you upon their Shoulders to carry you through those difficult places Those who dwell upon the Shore of the Black-Sea remount the Faze get to Arais the Caspian-Sea Albiamu from whence they go by Land to the Indus or the Ganges those Rivers carry them to the Ocean Nicanor King of Syria had projected to joyn Pontus Euxinus and the Caspian-Sea The Genoueses have a long while held the City of Caffa for the maintaining this Commerce There is for those of those parts another way by Trebrizond Erzerum and the Euphrates which lead to Bi r from thence as we have said into the Sea of the Indies The Moscovites have the conveniency of the Volga the Caspian-Sea Albiamu and the Indies For to return into the City of Mosco they go up the Volga Ocea and the Mosca These are the common ways that are taken for the going to the East-Indies and which now render that Country as famous as did formerly the Military Expeditions of Bacchus and Alexander the Great Now follow those which have since with great care been sought out for the same design The Romans went to Alexandria of Egypt ascended the Nile as far as Coptos now Cana and by Land went to Berenice which is Cossir where they had the conveniency of the Red-Sea and the Ocean Under the Soldans of Egypt Sues and Arden were the Magazines of the Indian Merchandizes which were Transported to Cairo by means of the Nile then they had in Europe fresher Spices than they have now the Venetians and Genoueses brought them thither by the Mediterranean-Sea France TThe Kingdom of France is at this day one of the most flourishing States of Christendom in the midst of the Northern temperate Zone where its People breath a very favourable Air. The French call it the Eye and Pearl of the World and say that it is to Europe what Europe is to other parts of the Earth it is Rich Fertile very Populous there being reckoned above four thousand good Towns in it It 's above two hundred and twenty Leagues in length and full as many in breadth The French-men value most of their Towns to be worth Provinces their Provinces to be worth Kingdoms Their Corn Wine Salt and Linnen do very much enrich the Inhabitants France was formerly known under the name of Gaul which was carried into several places of Europe nay into Asia when the Gauls made War in that part of the World The extent of Gaul hath been divers The French may well boast that this King's Conquests have not been bounded neither by the Rhine nor the Ocean nor the Pyrenees nor the Alps. The Crown is Hereditary and according to the Salick Law the Female never succeeds upon the Throne The French King's eldest Son is called Dauphin This Monarchy is said to have subsisted since the Year 420. The three Royal Races of Merovers Charlemaigne Hugh Capet have furnished it with sixty five Kings Amongst other Titles its Princes take upon them that of Most Christian and Eldest Son of the Church They pretend to Precedence before all other Kings upon a pretext of being the most Noble and the Most Ancient of Europe Their Arms are Azure with three Flower-de-luces d' Or since Charles the Ninth The Kingdom is composed of three Orders or States the Clergy the Nobility and the third Estate There are reckoned seventeen Arch-Bishopricks a hundred and six Bishopricks besides the Arch-Bishopricks of Cambray Besanzon the Bishopricks of Arras St. Omar Tournay Ipres Perpignan sixteen Abbayes Heads of the Order or of the Congregation about fifty thousand Curates besides other Ecclesiastical Dignities several General and Particular Governments Thirty two great Provinces Twelve ancient Peerages several of new Creation A great number of Principalities Dutchies Marquisates Counties Baronies and other Lordships Eleven Parliaments besides those of the Conquer'd Countrys eight Chambers of Accounts twenty two Generalities There are four Principal Rivers the Seine whose Water is esteem'd the strongest in the World and more healthful to drink than that of Fountains the Loire the King of the French Rivers la Garonne the most Navigable the Rhosne the most Rapid Several Divisions are made of France which regard the Church the Nobility the Justice and the Finances It is sufficient to say here that the States-General of the Kingdom were held in the Year 1614. that then all the Provinces appear'd under twelve Great Governments four of those Governments are towards the North the Seine and the Rivers which fall into it Picardy Normandy the Isle of France and Champaign Four towards the midst near the Loire Brittany Orleanois Burgundy and Lyonnois The four others towards the South and near the Garonne or the Rosne Guyenne Languedoc Dauphine Provence With Orleanois they then conjoyned le Mains le Perche la Beauce on this side the River of Loire Nivernois Tourain Anjoy above the said River beyond it Poictou Angoumois Berri Burgundy had la Bresse as it has still at present Under Lyonnois were Lyonnois Avergne Bourbonnois la Marche In Guyenne was Bearne Gascogne true Guyenne beyond the Garonne and on this side Saintogne Perigort Limosin Querci Rouergue Then as well
thereof The City of the same Name is the greatest of Spain The abode in it is so pleasant by reason of the pureness of its Air and its admirable Fountains that the Moors placed Paradise in that part part of Heaven which is upon its Zenith Malgus is known for the excellent Wines which it furnishes the World withal Almeria for its Commerce and its Harbour Monde for the Victory of Julius Caesar over Pompey's Sons He killed upon the place thirty thousand of his Enemies and afterwards made the Circumvallation of the Town with the Arms and Bodies of the Dead Murcia is called the Garden of Spain by reason of its excellent Fruits It s Town of the same Name drives a great Trade in Silk Carthagena is a good Sea-Port Valentia is the most agreeable Country of all Spain The City of the same Name has also those of Beautiful Great of Valencia del-Cid since its being taken by Rodrigo from the Moors Alicant is known for the Transportation of its good Wines Upon the Coast are seen in a place called Morvedre the Ruins of the ancient Sagonte the destruction whereof by Hannibal gave occasion to the second Punick War The Principality of Catalonia the most important Province of Spain produces Wine Oyl Corn and Fruits in abundance The Neighbourhood of the Pyrenees furnish it with very fine Marble Jaspar and Azure Those who make Spain the Head of the Catholick King 's Dominions say Catalonia is one of its Ears and Portugal the other Ten Cities are reckoned in this Province seventeen Vigueries or great Baily-wicks with above a hundred Walled Towns whereof the most part were taken and re-taken in the late Wars Barcelona the Capital City has good Edifices by reason of the conveniency it has of being furnished with Stone from Mount-Juy Tarragona whereof the greatest part of Spain has born formerly the Name is more Ancient and Strong than it is Beautiful Tortosa upon the end of the Ebre The French gained near this Town a famous Victory over the Sarazens in the time of Charlemain Larida has susteined several Sieges and seen several Battels fought in our time Caesar formerly defeated near this place Aframius and Petreius of Pompey's Party Gironne is a Principality whereof the Eldest Sons of the Kings of Aragon bore the Title Cordene a famous Dutchy has a Mountain of Salt which seems of all sorts of Colours but becomes white when it is pounded Problet a rich Monastery was the Sepulchre of the King 's of Aragon That of our Lady at Montferrat is known for its great Solitude for its Pilgrimages and the Presents that are made there Roses the strongest and most important of the Sea-Towns The Isles of Majorca and Minorca are the ancient Baleares where the Inhabitants were heretofore as good Slingers and great Pyrats as it this day They obliged their Children to fight for their Break-fast with their Slings notwithstanding their activity they were constrain'd to demand help of Augustus against the Rabbets which harassed their Country The Books of Raymundus Lullius are read and studied in the University of Majorca as Aristotle's Des-Cartes's are in other places The Isle of Minorca has good Havens whereof the most considerable is that of Mahon with Avenues well Fortified The Territory of Yvica has this particularity of killing Serpents which are in great numbers in the Isle Formentera Aragon has no good Towns but Saragossa Ainsa and Benavari have been the Capitaâ—s of two small Kingdoms Sobrarbe and Ribagorce Monzon is a place where the States of Aragon did formerly assemble Navarre consists in six Merindades or Governments whereof the Capital is Pamplune There is on this side the Pyrenees one of those Governments which is call'd of Low-Navarre in the hands of the French King The French say That the Genealogy-Table shews the Rights which his most Christian Majesty has over the Kingdom of Navarre which was Usurp'd from his Predecessors about the Year 1512. without any other ground than that of Vis Arma. Old-Castile has receiv'd its Name from a Castle whose Figure is seen in the first Quarter of the Arms of the King of Spain Burgos is the Metropolitan City thereof with a strong Castle and a fine Church Valladolid has been the abode of the Kings the Ruins of the ancient Numantia are still seen towards the Sources of the Donere near Soria where is kept the Great Standard of the Kingdom The Inhabitants of Calahorre were formerly in such esteem for their Fidelity and Loyalty that the Emperor Augustus Caesar chose his Life-Guard out of those People Both Castiles as well as all the other Inland Provinces are extraordinary full of Mountains New-Castile has the Capital Cities of the Kingdom Madrid and Toledo Madrid is adorn'd with beautiful Fabricks as being the most usual Seat of the King Toledo is very ancient in the midst of Spain where some Gothick Kings had then their abode It s Clergy is reckoned the richest of Christendom the Sword-blades which are made in this Town are in very great esteem The Escurial standing seven or eight Leagues from Madrid passes amongst the Spaniards for an eighth Wonder of the World it costing King Philip the Second above twenty Millions of Gold but 't is true that this expence was not extraordinay for a Prince who is said to have spent above seven hundred Millions of Gold during his Reign In the Year 1671. this admirable House was very much endamaged by a Fire Badajox is upon the Frontier of Portugal in Estramadura The small Territory of la Manche is made the Native Country of Don Quixot The Kingdom of Leon was the first which the Christians did establish after the Invasion of the Moors It s Town of the same Name has a Cathedral Church renowned for its Beauty That of Toledo is esteemed for its Riches of Sevil for its Bigness of Salamanca for its Strength The City of Salamanca has a Celebrated University which has the Priviledg of Teaching the Hebrew Greek Arabick and Chaldean Tongues Mention is made of the Vallies of Vatuegas Inhabited by a kind of Patoacas or Savage People never heard of in Spain before the late discovery of 'em in the Mountains of the Kingdom of Leon. The occasion this An Hawk of the Duke of Alva's which he very much valued flew over those Mountains and his Man not being able to find her at first they were sent back by the Duke to seek her Clambring from one Hill to another they hapned at last upon a large and pleasant Valley where they spied a Company of Naked Savage People hemm'd about amongst many Craggy Rocks the Savages gazing a while upon them ran into their Caves made in the hollows of the Rocks the best Houses they had which being observed by the Falconers they return again to their Lord telling him that instead of a Falcon they had brought him news of a new World in the midst of Spain and of a Race of People which came in with
the Grandees of Spain to sit in publick under the Royal Canopy of the King of Spain Beira is fertile in Rye Millet Apples and Chestnuts It s City of Coimbra formerly the abode of Alphonso the first King of Portugal is famous for its University for its Bishoprick which is said to be worth above a hundred and fifty thousand Livres yearly Rent Estremadura another than that of Castile produces Wine Oyl Salt Honey which the Bees make there of the Flowers of Lemmons and of Roses It s City of Lisbon is the Capital of all the Kingdom one of the richest greatest most beautiful and most populous Towns of all Europe It has above thirty thousand Houses and an admirable Port with the conveniency of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea It particularly drives the trade of Brasile and of the East-Indies The small City of Belem which is near it is the Mausoleum or the place of burial of several Kings of Portugal Santaren has so great a number of Olive-Trees in its Dependencies that the Inhabitants boast of being able to make of their Oyl a River as great as the Tagus Setuval which the Flemmings call St. Hubes is well situated well built and of great trade It has the best Harbour in all the Kingdom thirty Miles in length three in breadth Its Salt-Pits and Fishery according to what the Portuguese say raise a greater Revenue to their King than all Arragon does to the King of Spain Alen-Teyo by reason of its Corn is reckon'd for the Granary of Portugal Its City of Evora pretends to the first rank after Lisbon In the Year 1663. the Portuguese gain'd a famous Battel over the Spaniards in its neighbourhood Elvas is known for its excellent Oyls for the Sieges which it has happily sustain'd against the Castillians Ourques in the Year 1139. saw that famous Battel fought which gave occasion to the proclaiming the first King of Portugal Algarve tho' of small extent has the Title of a Kingdom It was reunited to the Crown by the Marriage of Alphonso the Third with Beatrix of Castile it affords Figs Olives Almonds and Wines very much esteemed the Name of Algerbia in the Moorish Tongue signifies a fertile field The Seventeen Provinces of the Low-Countries THese Provinces are made to pass under the number of Seventeen because that formerly tho' at divers times they have each had their peculiar Lord. The Name of the Low-Countries is given them as a Country situated in the lower part of the Rhine The situation of the Low Countries is so much the more considerable as that it lies between England France and Germany These Seventeen Provinces touch France and Germany and are separated from England by the Sea There are four Dutchies Brabant Limbourg Luxembourg Guelderland Seven Counties Holland Zealand Zutphen Flanders Artois Hainault Namur a Marquisate of the Holy Empire which has only the City of Antwerp five Lordships Malines Vtrecht Over-Issel or Trans-Isalane Friesland Groninghen This Region is small but one of the richest and most populous in the World Its Air is temperate its Winter is more long than cold its Summer resembles the Spring of the Southern Provinces of France It s Soyl is generally fertile full of good Pasturages which furnish Cattel Milk Butter Cheese and other Commodities abundantly It s principal Rivers are the Rhine Maes Scheld The Rhine has its Sources in Suisserland most of its Course in Germany after having divided it self upon its entrance into the low Countrys at Skinckensckons it communicates most of its Waters to other Rivers those it keeps lose their Name in the Sand a little below Leyden in Holland The Maes which comes from France and from Lorrain has this advantage over the Rhine that it carries its Name and Waters to the very Ocean wherein it forms several good Harbours The Scheld serv'd for bounds to France and to the Empire in the time of the Emperour Charles the Bold It receives at Gaunt the Lis or Ley a navigable River and before it entirely loses its Name it makes two principal Branches the left called Hont the right whose Chanel passes by Tolen falls into the Meuse Besides these Rivers and those which fall into them there are Canals great store of Lakes Pools and Marshes which fortifie the Country provide it with Fish and afford the convenience of passage and the more easie transport of their Commodities The Emperour Charles the Fifth saw himself Master of all these Provinces In the Year 1581. they reâ—us'd for the most part Obedience to King Philip his Son taking for a Pretext of their Revolt the cruel Treatments of their Governours the Infraction of their Priviledges the Introduction of the Council of Trent and the Imposition of the Tenth Penny upon all the Commodities that were sold in that Country We may say that the two Real Causes of this Revolution were the Change of Religion and the Ambition of some Lords joyn'd to the Aversion of the People to a foreign Government Two Years before these Revolted Provinces had made the Union at Vtrecht for which reason the Duke of Alva who made War in those Provinces for the King of Spain did maintain that he ought not to treat them as the Patrimony of his Master but as his own Conquest There are in the Low-Countries two States very different from one another the one is a Republick or rather several Republicks and is called for that reason the Vnited Provinces otherwise Holland the other belongs in part to the King of Spain and goes under the Name of the Catbolick Provinces or that of Flanders The Christian King has Conquered the best of these Provinces and the strongest Towns which have been confirm'd to him by the Treaties of the Pyrenees of Aix la Chapelle and of Niâ—â—meghen or else possess'd by him under colour of Dependencies The Hague is the Residence of the Council of the States-General of the Vnited Provinces Bruxels that of the Princes or of the Governours established by the King of Spain Lisle Tournay Doway Ypres Dunkirk Arras St. Omar Cambray Valenciennes Luxembourg are Cities the most considerable of the Acquisition of France The Roman Catholick Religion is only receiv'd in Flanders All sorts of Sects are tolerated in Holland Each person is allowed to follow his own Opinion tho' not Preach it in Publick The Sect of Calvin is there principally exercised The National Synod held at Dort in the Year 1619. has regulated the principal Points of that Religion The Humours of the People of Flanders and Holland are as different from one another as are their Governments and Religions The Flemmings do much affect those fine Titles of Honour which the Kings of Spain have not been sparing of to them The Emperour Charles the Fifth had a design of making a Kingdom of this State so as would have done before him Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy who meant to have it called the Kingdom of the Lyon The Hollanders are more popular than
keeps in its Metropolitan Church call'd the Dome the Relick of St. Suaire wherein the Face of our Lord is imprinted with most of his Body It boasts of having of all the Cities of Italy brought the Press into use Nice near the Sea has several Roman Antiquities and a Cittadel which seems inaccessible by reason of its situation upon a Rock Montferrat has most of its Towns upon Hills very fertile in Corn and Wine By the Peace of Quieras a part of that Country was yielded to the Duke of Savoy the other remaining the Duke of Mantua's who possesses Casal near the Po. This Town is fortified with several Bulwarks and Half-moons with a Castle and a strong Cittadel composed of six great Bastions The Land of Milan is the most beautiful Country of all Lombardy and the finest Dutchy of Christendom now possess'd by the King of Spain The Ways are pleasant almost all in a direct line with Chanels of Spring-Water on both sides and rows and plantations of Trees which make them resemble Alleys and Walks The Champain of Milan is so fertile that there is not an Inch of Land but brings forth twice a Year The Nobility as well as in the Kingdom of Naples does not meddle with Commerce as does that of the other neighbouring States The City of Milan is called Great because it is full ten Miles in compass wherein it contains above two hundred and thirty Churches ninety six Parishes as many Convents and above a hundred Fraternities It is a general Mart of the Merchandizes of France of Spain of Italy of Germany so great a number of Artizans it has of all sorts that the Italians have it for a Proverb That Milan must be ruin'd if they would accommodate Italy with them It has ever passed for a second Rome tho' it has been besieged forty times and taken two and twenty Its strength consists rather in its Men than in its Walls it being reckoned to contain above three hundred thousand persons It s Castle is one of the finest Fortresses of Europe of six great Bastions Royal invested with Brick with Grafts and Ditches full of running Water The Coast of Genoa formerly called Liguria produces Muscate-Wines Olives in abundance all manner of good Fruits the Western part particularly is full of Lemmon Orange Fig Palm and Cedar-trees the Inland of the Country is mountainous full of Woods which furnish Materials for the making of Ships and Galleys The Situation of Genoa is upon the Sea-shore part in Plains part in Hills The City is full five Miles round and has Fortifications which are yet much greater in circuit for which reason it is the greatest the most trading and the most important of all Italy towards the West The Buildings and Structures of this Town are so magnificent and so beautiful that it is called the Stately tho' very much endamag'd by the late Batteries of the French One of the principal Revenues of its Inhabitants consists in the transportation of Silk-stuffs Parma the Capital of Parmezan is the common abode of the Duke of that Name of the House of the Farnezes a Feudatory of the Church It has a Cittadel whereon Money has not been sparing for the rendring it good and a fair Palace for its Princes dwelling Modena is the Capital of the Dutchy of the same Name fortified with Bulwarks after the ancient manner inhabited by above thirty five thousand Souls In Modena it was that Brutus was in vain besieged by Mark Anthony after the Murder of Julius Caesar Octavius having happily defeated the Army of him who would by this Siege have renewed the Civil Wars Mantua is seated in the Waters of a Lake of twenty Miles in circuit which only affords entrance by Causeys into the Town Its Mills do raise a good Revenue to this Duke the Jews who are there very numerous pay him a great Tribute The Ducal Palace is one of the finest and best furnish'd in all Italy The Demesn of Venice has so many Rivers Canals and Navigable Lakes that Merchandizes are easily conveyed into all its places The Republick is independent above twelve hundred Years standing the Bulwark of Christendom against the Turks The City of Venice is one of the greatest of Europe so populous that there are reckoned above three hundred thousand persons Those who have seen it may boast of having seen one of the Wonders of the World It s Arcenal is the finest the greatest and the best furnished upon Earth The Isles whereof the City is composed are separated from one another by Chanels wherein there be above fifteen thousand Boats which they call Gondoles The Church and Palace of St. Mark are very fine Structures the Treasury of St. Mark contains immense Riches The Bishoprick of Trent which belongs to its Bishop is under the Protection of the House of Austria The City of Trent is ancient inhabited both by Italians and Germans renowned for-holding the last General Council The state of the Church is look'd upon as so much the more considerable in that the Pope who is the Temporal and Spiritual Prince of it pretends to be the Chief and Soveraign Pontife of all Christendom the Patriarch of Rome and of the West Primate and Exarch of Italy Metropolitan of the Suffragan Bishops of Rome Bishop of St. John de Lateran Rome formerly the Capital of the finest greatest and most considerable Empire of the Universe was once the Mistress of the better part of the World famous for excellent Men who have surpassed others in Valour in Piety in Justice and Temperance It has had in its beginning Kings Consuls and Emperours the Papists call it Rome the Holy by reason of the Residence of the Popes We may say it has few Equals if we consider its Antiquities Churches Palaces and Curiosities Tuscany has three principal Cities Florence Siena Pisa formerly as many Republicks Florence the Capital of this State renowned upon the account of its Beauty is large and very populous The Palace of the Great Duke has fine Pictures Jewels of great value several Rarities Lucca fortified with eleven regular Bastions is famous for its Silks and Olives The Head of this Republick is a Gonfalonier or Chief-Standard-Bearer whose Charge lasts but two Months The Kingdom of Naples is the greatest State of Italy it belongs to the King of Spain who pays for it every Year a white Hobbey to the Pope with seven thousand Ducats The Spring is there so long and so full of Flowers the Autumn so loaded with Fruits that it is esteemed a Paradise The City of Naples is the abode of several Gentlemen which makes it be called the Gentile It is situated so advantagiously that it seems an abridgment of all the Beauties of Italy There are few Cities in Europe who have so many Churches and so many Cittadels as has Naples Germany GErmany has very fertile Provinces and a great number of fine Cities The Corn Fruits Salt and other Commodities afford a very considerable
the not being burthened with any Impositions by Foreign Princes the consideration of this League is now of little use to several of those Towns each of them endeavouring to do its own business by it self They were reckoned to be sixty six Lubeck Cologne Brunswick Dantzick are the Capitals of them with as many Colledges Lubeck may Convene all the rest with the advice of five of those Towns which are nearest it The most renowned Rivers of Germany are the Rhine the Danube the Elbe the Oder the Weser The Rhine the greatest of Rivers which goes towards the Ocean has its Source in Suisserland and its end in Holland where it loses its Name in the Sand It is so broad below Strasbourg that Bridges cannot be made over it There is not one in the World that Waters so many Sovereign States The finest Cities by which it passes are on this side its Bed or Chanel most of 'em built by the Romans who made it the bound of their Empire It formerly separated Gaul from Germany during the first Race of the French Kings it passed through some part of their Territories The Danube which begins in Suevia has a Course of above seven hundred Leagues The most easie Division of Germany is that which has made it into two parts the one High and the other Low according to the Course of the Rhine of the Elbe and of the Oder Each of those parts has several Provinces The High has four towards the West Alsatia the Palatinate of the Rhine Franconia Suevia And four great States towards the East Tirol Bavaria which is of two sorts Dutchy and Palatinate Bohemia which also comprehends Silesia with Moravia and Austria which has other Herereditary Lands namely Carinthia Carniola and Stiria Low-Germany has as many parts as the High four towards the West the Electoral Arch-Bishopricks the Succession of Cleves and of Juliers Westphalia and Hesse Four towards the East known under the Name of Saxony Saxony Electoral which comprehends Turingia Misnia Lusacia High-Saxony upon the Elbe Saxony has other Princes wherein we reckon Brunswick Low-Saxony upon the Elbe Meckelbourg Brandenbourg and Pomerania which for the most part belongs to the Crown of Sueden with some other Seigniories Alsatia is indeed small but the most fertile of all Germany in Corn and in Wines Strasbourg there is rich strong and very populous by reason of its Commerce It s Arcenal the Tower and the Clock of the Church deserves to be seen by those who Travel Heidelberg is the Capital of the Palatinate of the Rhine It s fine Library was Transported to Rome after that the Town had been taken in the Year 1622. by Tilly the Emperors General Franconia was the abode of the ancient French who called it Eastern France after that they had carried their Name and setled their abode in Gaul Francfort upon the Mein is known for its Fairs and for the Elections of Emperors which have been made in that Town Nuremberg has fine Manufactures and furnishes Europe with abundance of Gew-gaws Suevia has so many Sovereignties that there 's not a Country that has so great a number it s two best Cities are Augsbourg and Vlm The first Celebrated by the Confession of the Faith of the Protestants in the Year 1530. by the Enemies it has raised against the King of Spain and by its Goldsmiths Work Its Town-House is one of the finest Fabricks of Germany The Catholicks and Lutherans are received Magistrates indifferently in this Place Vlm is one of the best fortified and the richest of the Empire in Land the Danube begins to carry Boats there The Dutchy of Bavaria is not to be dismembred as are some other States the youngest Brothers there do ever reverence the eldest Munich the Residence of the Elector is a fine Town accompanied with a stately Castle wherein there is a Library full of curious Manuscripts Ratisbon renowned for its Diets has five Principalities of the Empire the Bishoprick the City three Abbies with the finest Bridges in Germany Bohemia is esteemed one of the Highest Countries in Europe by reason there enters no Rivers therein and several go out from thence It has its particular States its Customs and its Tongue different from those of the Neighbourhood tho' its King be one of the Electors of the Empire The Inheritance of this Custom has been confirmed to the House of Austria by the Peace of Munster Prague the Capital is composed of three Cities and so populous that under the Emperor Charles the Fourth there are said to have gone from thence above forty thousand Foreign Scholars for that their Priviledges were retrenched The great Battel in the Year 1620. which was fought near its Walls decided in less than an Hours time the Quarrels of the Kingdom in favour of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second against Frederick Elector Palatine Austria the only Arch-Dutchy in the World is not subject to the Justice of the Empire and does not Contribute to its necessity The Piety of that Family and the Situation of its great Dominions near those of the Infidels have made the Germans continue the Empire in that Family for some time past Vienna the Residence of the Empire is the best Fortified of Germany In the Year 1529. it sustained generously twenty Assaults against the Great Turk Soliman the Second who Besieged it in vain with three hundred Thousand Men. Cologne an Imperial City one of the four Hans-Towns is called the Rome of Germany by reason of its bigness and the beauty of its Benefices The Papists call it Holy because it has in keeping several Bodies of their Saints has three hundred sixty five Churches and that amongst the free Cities it alone is exemped from Heresie Westphalia furnishes Gammons and Hams Munster is the place where the General-Peace of the Empire was concluded in the Year 1648. It was known in the Year 1535. for the Rebellion of the Anabaptists whose pretended King John of Leyden was there punished according to his merit In the Year 1661. its Bishop caused a Cittadel to be there made for the maintaining his Authority against the pretensions of the Citizens Hosse is the Province where hitherto most care has been taken to instruct the Inhabitants in the Trade of War The Name of Saxony was more famous when its People Conquered the better part of England The House of Saxony is one of the most ancient of Europe Erfort in Turingia is esteemed the greatest City of Germany Dresden the Residence of the Elector of Saxony has sine Fortifications and an Arcenal well provided Low-Saxony has several good Cities Brunswick Lubeck Hambourg Vismar Bremen Hambourg is spacious rich strong besides its being able to put fifteen thousand Citizens in Arms Its Situation facilitates to it the Commerce of the Ocean and of the Baltick-Sea Brandenbourg is the only Marquisate of all the Empire with that of Baden Berlin is there the Residence of the Elector Stetin is the most considerable of Pomerania
acquisitions of Sueden over the Empire by the Peace of Osnabrug are the Dutchy of Pomerania Citerior and in the Ulterior Stetin Gartz Dam Golnau The Isle and Principality of Rugen the Isles and the Mouths of the Oder the Dutchies of Bremen and of Verden the City the Seigniory and the Port of Wismar Wildhusen in Westphalia certain Customs in the Rest of Pomerania and in the new Marquisate of Brandenbourg The War declared in the year 1675 by the King of Denmark and several Princes of the Empire deprived Sueden of many of these acquisitions which it was restored to by the Peace of Nimeguen in the year 1679. The Treaty of Oliva in the year 1660. was so advantageous to Sueden that the King of Poland did there make renunciation of the Title of King of Sueden for the future reserving only to himself the Title during his life to other Princes and likewise consented that Lifeland should henceforward be Hereditary to the Crown of Sueden This is to be understood of Lifeland on the North of the Duna where the only place of Dunembourg was reserved to the Crown of Poland conformable to the Truce made at Stumsdorf for twenty six years in the year 1635. The Peace with the Muscovites procured restitution to Sueden of all the Grand Duke or Zar had taken in Lifeland The King of Sueden has lately very much augmented his Revenue by the re-union to his Demesne of several Lands which had been Alienated from it He pretends to the Succession of Gleves and of Juliers by the means of his great Grandfather John Duke of Deux-Ponts who married Magdelain the third Sister of the Duke of John William In the States of the Kingdom the Peasants make a Body as well as the other Orders Sueden possesses part of Scandinavia which is the best of it as being towards the East The Cold is somewhat long in this Country often very sharp to provide themselves against it the Inhabitants do not make use of Furres as they do in Germany they have only Night-Caps Gloves of Wool Waist-Coats and make great Fires of the Fewel they have plenty of They have so few sick People in their Countrey that the Physitians and Apothecaries have hardly practice among 'em whereas Barbers are there in great request The Ministers and Officers of Justice do there keep Inns. The Inhabitants of this Province are all equally rich their greatest Revenues consist in Mines of Copper from whence most of the Europeans are furnish'd wherewith to make money their Canons and their Bells The City of Stockholme alone has in its Castle above a hundred pieces of great Artillery and there are held to be above eight Thousand in the Kingdom In the review of the Militia which was made in the year 1661. there were reckoned above Fourscore Thousand Men in Arms. This Countrey being full of Woods and Mountains affords very little Corn in time of scarcity the Poor eat often very bad Bread It furnishes Butter Suet Hides Skins Pitch Rosin Masts Posts and Planks The Towns are subject to Fire the Houses being only built of Wood. The Lakes and Gulphs are there more considerable than the Rivers Trade being only drove upon the Coasts neither dare the Ships venture upon that without a Pylot by reason of the number of Rockswith which it is beset The Ice is here so strong and firm in Winter that when it is but two Inches thick it is said to be able to bear a Man on Foot Waggons go on it with safety when it is half a foot thick The Snow does there afford the means of travelling in Sledges The Horses in this Countrey are proper for War they are very easily reared and rarely sick they see as well almost by night as by day they carry their man swimming with ease they leap great Ditches they have so much courage and agility that they attack with their Feet and Teeth the Enemies of those who mount them Six great Regions are principally known under the name of Sueden Gotia Sueden Lapland Finland Ingria Lifeland the three former towards the West the three other towards the East the Gulph of Finland between both and besides these the modern acquisitions before specified Gotia is divided into Ostro-Gotia and Westro-Gotia this last towards the Ocean the former upon the Baltick Sea According to the like division the Goths who subdued Italy were called Ostro-Goths and those who rendred themselves Masters of Spain Visi-Goths Calmar is a strong Town and the place where the Suedes until now did embark for Germany It s Cittadel was esteemed in the Northern Countreys as much as that of Milan in Italy Norkoping has works and forges of Copper which afford the Europeans the conveniency of coming to load Cannon there Lindkoping the Countrey of the Historian Olaus-Magnus is remarkable for the Victory of Charles of Sudermania since King of Sueden There be several Cities in these parts whose names be thus terminated in Koping which signifies the places where the market is kept Gottembourg a new Town and has its Sea-Port upon the Ocean Sueden properly taken communicates its name to the other Provinces of this State Stockholme is the Capital City of all the Kingdom accompanied with a Royal Castle and a Sea-Port at the disgorging of the Lake of Meler whereof was formerly the conjunction proposed with that of Wener for the communicating the Ocean and Baltick Seas and thus be exempted from the passage of the Sound This Town is now better built and much richer than it was before the War of the Suedes in Germany In the year 1641. they began to make the Streets in Right Lines and to build their Houses of one and the same Structure It is a safe Harbour for Ships which may ride there in security without Anchor There be three Channels which lead thither between several Isles and Rocks The Kings Ships remain at Elsnappen The Country round about is beautify'd with several fine Houses which the Soveraigns and most of the Senators have caus'd to be built Upsal accompanied with a great Castle is the Metropolitan and formerly the place of the Coronation of their Kings whose abode it formerly was When in Sueden were several Kingdoms that of Upsal was ever the most considerable of 'em This City has an University and the most renowned Fairs of all those parts It s principall Church was a stately Building and is said to have been embelish'd and wainscoted with Gold now it is covered with Copper Lapland has no Towns only some Habitations divided into five Countries which bear the name of their Rivers The Laplanders are very low of Stature the tallest among them not exceeding four Foot in height They have no other Cloaths than of Skins and when they are young they are so hardned to the cold that they afterwards undergo it with ease when without habilliments They have neither Wool nor Flax nor Hemp they have blades of Copper which they call Cipons which they exchange for
what they stand in need of they have neither Bread nor Corn nor Fruits nor Herbs nor Wines nor Beer nor Cattle nor Eggs nor Milk nor any other Commodity but they do not want Water and they have Rain-Deers which are a kind of a Stag extraordinary swift whose flesh is their Food and whom they also make use of in their Travels The great and swift Journies they go by their means having given occasion to the believing them Witches But to proceed there is one part of Lapland belonging to the Crown of Denmark and another to the Muscovite Mount Enarby has three Lodges for the Deputies of the three Nations and there the Suedes administer Instice Finland is a Dutchy which some Kings of Sueden have given for Appanage for their Brothers The principal Towns are Abbo and Nibourg There is in this Province a place near Ratzebourg where Needles toucht with the Loadstone are said to turn continually Ingria was taken from the Muscovites by a Treaty in the Year 1617. It is small but considerable for the hunting of Elks and for the Scituation of the Fortress of Notebourg in the midst of a great River and at the disgorging of the Lake Ladoga This Fortress was taken miraculously by the Suede all the Muscovite Garrison except two Persons having been swept away by a Disease which took them in the Mouth and hindred them from eating Lifeland was ceded entirely by Poland as we have said except Dunembourg It was formerly the order of the Knights Sword-Bearers but under Pope Gregory the 9th this Order was united to that of the Teutons or Cross-Bearers The Polanders and Muscovites had it afterwards in possession The Dutchy of Courland has its Duke of the Family of Ketler who does Homage to Poland It is a remnant of the great Mastership of the above mentioned order Riga is the Capital Town of Lifeland The Germans English and Hollanders trade much to that Town in Summer-time while the Sea is navigable In the Winter its Inhabitants traffick into Muscovy by means of their tâ—aineaux It is in a Plain upon the River de Dune which in that place is a quarter of a League in breadth Its Fortifications consist in six regular Bastions in several half Moons freezed and in Counterscarps pallisadoed The Dune has so rapid a Stream and often whirles along so much Ice that it sometimes changes its course from Riga as far as Dunemund In the Year 1656. I saw an Army of an hundred thousand Muscovites wast and moulder away before that Town which gloriously repulsed their efforts Revel has the Direction of the Commerce from Lifeland unto Muscovy Nerva is a strong place which bestows its Name upon a neighbouring River wherein the brave Pontus de la Gardie was drowned after Sueden was obliged to him for many of its best Conquests By the late Treaties between the Crowns of Sueden and of Poland the exercise of both the Catholique and Protestant Religion is allowed of in Lifeland as well as in Curland and Prussia The Isle of Gotland the greatest of the Isles of the Baltick Sea accompanied with five or six Havens belongs to the Crown of Sueden Several of its Rocks have ancient Gothick Characters It s City of Wisby still preserves Marbles and Houses which have Doors of Iron and Brass either washt with Silver or guilt with Gold which speaks its ancient Grandure This Town did formerly establish Laws for the Navigation of the Baltick Sea and gave beginning to Sea Maps Of Poland POland which was formerly but a part of Sarmatia is now the Kingdom of Europe of the greatest extent It is in length comprehending therein Lithuania above three hundred Leagues and almost as large in breadth It is fertile in Rye Wax and Honey rich in Furrs whereof the finest are brought thither from Hungary They digg salt near Cracow in famous salt-Pits which form under ground a kind of City They bake it in little Russia and the Sun makes it in Podolia This Kingdom has the conveniency both of the Baltick and Black Sea but the neighbouring Princes hinder the Polanders from making use of them to any great purpose The Rivers of Vistula Niemen and Dune fall into the Baltick Sea the Boristenes the Bog the Niester into the Black Sea The Vistula passes by the noblest City of this Kingdom The Mouths of the Boristhenes are possessed by the Turk who in the Year 1672 received the Ukrain into his protection after having subdued Podolia by the sacking of Caminiec The Kingdom of Poland is Elective the only one of Europe where the Inhabitants have kept the right of choosing a Prince The government is that of an Aristocratical Monarchy wherein the Senators have so much Authority that when they mention the State they say the Kingdom and Republick of Poland The Senate is composed of Archbishhops Bishops Pallatines Principal Castellins and the great Officers of the Kingdom The King like that of Bees can do no mischief to his Subjects that is to say he cannot in any wise act against any of the Nobility without the consent of the Senators and he can do 'em a great deal of good on his own part by bestowing on them vacant places His Person and his Dignity are so considered that it has not been known that ever any attempt was made upon any Kings Life of his Predecessors Before the Emperor Otho the 3d. there were only Princes in this State that Emperour recalled the Tribute which Poland paid the Empire Warsaw is the usual place of election and of the general Dyets Cracow that of the Coronation of the Kings The Archbishop of Gnesne Primate of the Kingdom performs this Coronation and has almost the whole Authority during the Interregnum for then he presides in the Senate and gives Audience to Embassadors He contests the Presidence with Cardinals for which reason there are three Orders the Church the Nobility and the third Estate which comprehends all those which are not Noble The Nobility is so numerous in this Realm that Poland is called the Kingdom of the Nobles In the Dyets the Nuncio's who are the Deputies of the lesser Nobility or Gentry of the Provinces do often oversway the rest of the Dyet But one amongst 'em has sometimes the Authority to cause a whole general Dyet to be broke up by a Protestation As the Catholick Religion is observed in this Realm so the Bishops have the first rank after the King then the Palatines and the Castellains The Castellains of Cracow is above the Palaine of the same name because that formerly the Chastellain behaved himself more valiantly than did the Palatine in defence of the Kingdom also does he wear a Royal Crown at the anointing of his Majesty at which Ceremony he precedes all the other Secular Senators The Palatine of Cracow carries the Scepter The Archbishop of Gnesne and of Leopold have under them sixteen or seventeeen Bishops as well within as without the Kingdom There be three other
resolution of its Citizens to maintain the Authority of their King against the Suedes without being prevail'd with to accept the Neutrality was the cause of the preservation of the whole Realm under King Gasimir Lithuania is the greatest Province of those which compose the States of the Crown of Poland It has the title of the Great Dutchy wherein there is still at this day as many Chief Officers as in the Kingdom of Poland and of three General Dyets of the States one is to be held in Lithuania This Countrey is so full of Marshes and of Boggs that there is no travelling there but in Winter and that by means of the Ice Vilna its Capital City contains so many sorts of Religions that there is not a City in the World where God is praised in more several manners There be reckoned three Sabbaths that of ours that of the Turks which is Friday that of the Jews which is Saturday Samogitia is a Country where the Inhabitants live very poorly Polachia communicates its name to the Polanders who call themselves Polaques as being descended from Lechus their first Prince Lesser Russia has several other names It is called Black by reason of its Woods Red by reason of the Colour of its Earth Southern by reason of its scituation towards the South Leopold which put a stop to the progresses of the Turks is the principal City thereof Samoski the strongest Volhinia has for its Capital Kiou an ancient City upon the Boristhenes where the Cossaques have had often their Retreats It is now in the hands of the Muscovite who makes a scruple of restoring it to the Polanders Podolia has Gaminiec a Fortress which formerly resisted the Armies of the Turks of the lesser Tartars of the Transilvanians of the Walachians and which at length submitted to the Armies of the Grand Seignior in the year 1672. Ducal Prussia wherein stands Konigsberg belongs to the Elector of Brandenburg who now possesses its Soveraignty and independantly on Poland This City is so much the greater in that it contains two others in one and the same compass of Walls Pilau and Memel are two Maritime Fortresses the most important of this State There it was the Elector caused Frigats four years ago to be fitted out which have very much incommoded the Commerce of the Subjects of Spain Gourland is a Dutchy whose Duke of the House of Ketler does Homage to the Crown of Poland His Residence is at Mitaw Of Muscovy THis is the vastest Country of all Europe stiled formerly Sarmatia now Muscovy It is called Great and White Russia from the name of the ancient Roxolan People and upon the account of its great extent and of the Snow which so covers the Ground near two thirds of the year that to Travel there at that time one would have occasion to veil ones Eyes with black Crape so as formerly Xenophon made his Souldiers do in the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks The Soyl of Muscovy is cold humid full of Woods and Bogs which make it little inhabited What makes it believed that it is better populated than it really is is that the Country People by express order go to the avenues of the Citties through which the Embassadours of forreign Princes pass The cold there does often hinder the Corn from coming to its perfection It is there sometimes so violent that the Earth is wholly opened by it the Inhabitants find it no extraordinary matter to see their Nose Ears and Feet frozen they only sow in them parts in the Month of June the heats of July and of August do visibly forward the Harvest The Muscovites do not willingly afford the entrance of their Countrey to other Nations they care not to know any other Tongues than their own they only have their Children taught to write and read that is sufficient to be a Doctor They take for their Sirname the proper Name of their Father they write upon Roles of Paper cut into Welts and glued together to the length of twenty or five and twenty Yards they reckon the first day of the Month of September for the first of the Year they wear long Garments and put their Girdle below their Belly Their Collations are performed with the Bread of Spices of Brandy and of Honey The Peasants have recourse to somewhat an extraordinary means for the securing themselves from the quartering of Souldiers they provoke and set upon them their Bees The Office of Executioner is not dishonourable amongst the Muscovites od â—ir Armies are offten of a hundred and two hundred thousand Men. They are divided into five Bodies as ours are into three Boris Foederowits Great Duke of Muscovy towards the beginning of this age saw himself in the Head of an Army of three hundred thousand Men. Alexis Michaelowits after the defeat of Stepan Radzin had no less considerable Army when the Desiign was to hinder the Progress of the Turks The Infantry is there in more esteem than the Cavalry It sustains well a Siege and suffers patiently all imaginable hardship rather than yield which it did in our time in the Castle of Vilna and in the Fortress of Noteburg As for besieging of a Town the Muscovites understand nothing at all of that Art which they have made evident before Smolensko in 1633. before Riga in the year 1656. before Azac in the year 1673. Their Forts are commonly of Wood and of Earth upon the sinuosities of Rivers or else in Lakes The greatest strength of the State consists in forreign Troops and good pay and Pensions are given to the Officers when they have occasion for them The Prince has the Title of the Great Duke says he is discended from Augustus stiles himself Grand Tzaar or Gzar that is to say Gaesar and Emperour The Habiliments he is bound to wear make him appear like a Prelate When the Ministers of Forreign Princes are to treat with his Embassadours they have all the pain imaginable to agree upon his Titles by reason of his extraordinary Pretensions In the year 1654. for the making war in Poland and for supporting the Rebel Gosaques thener at Duke took for Pretext that some Polisheek â—ords had not given him his due Titles and that they had caused to be printed in Poland Books to his disadvantage One of the two present Zars Predecessours was so cruel as to cause an Italian Embassadours Hat to be nailed to his Head for that he had put it on in his Presence His Government is Despotick the Muscovites call themselves Slaves and he calls them out of conrempt by a diminutive Name little John little Peter his will alone is the Rule of his Subjects who hold themselves certain that the will of God and of the Grand Duke are immutable The Zarrs Treasures are said to be great he shuts up the most he can of Gold and Silver in his Fortresses of Bioliczero and Vologde and only makes his Presents and his Payments in Skins and Fish or in giving
some Hides or Cloaths of Gold They have in esteem the Corn of Resan and of Volodimere the Hides of Jaroslau the Wax and Honey of Plescou the Suet of Vologde The Oyl of the Country about the Wolga the Flax and Hemp of great Novogorod the Pitch of Duvine the Salt of Astracan the Sables and other Furrs of Siberia where the Hunters have the dexterity to hit the Beast upon its Nose for the having the Spoils entire The Country bordering upon the lesser Tartars is wholly Desart by the incursions of those People who go thither to make Slaves to sell them in the Crim from whence they are led to Constantinople as there are very handsom Women amongst those slaves they ever meet with Chapmen who take them off their hands The Palisado'd Hedges of Wood and the Ditch that was made a hundred Leagues in length have not been capable to stop those Incursions They have treated the Russians with so many indignities in the foregoing ages that besides the Tribute the Prince of Muscovy was bound to light off his Horse before the Embassadour of Tartary to offer him a Dish of Milck to lick up what by chance might fall upon the Horses Crest to keep standing and bare headed the Tartar being seated The Religion of the Muscovite is little different from that of the Greeks all their Images are in Board Pictures St. Nicholas is the Protectour of their Nation they have seldom any Festivals but on the day of the Blessed Virgins Anunciation they have at Mosco a Patriarch the head of their Religion three Archbishops and Metropolitans at Rosthou at Susdal and at Great Novogorode Bishop of Wologda Resan Susdal Tuvere Tobelesca Astracan Casan Plescou Colomna and almost in all the Provinces of the Great Duke where they are chosen out of the Body of the Monks The Muscovites have this good property as they do not constrain any body for Religion they hate the Roman Catholicks because of the excesses committed by the Polanders when they rendred themselves Masters of Moscow in the year 1611. There be still some Idolaters towards the North. Muscovy is divided into two parts Southern and Northern the former towards the Wolga the latter towares the Duvine which Wolga the greatest River of Europe falls into the Caspian Sea after having run a course of about seven hundred Leagues The Duvine which waters the most trading Towns of Muscovy empties it self by six or seven Mouths into the Gulph of St. Nicholas which is called the White Sea by reason of the Snow of the Country thereabouts The Dom which seperates Europe from Asia has its beginning a hundred Leagues from its end its Course is about six hundred Leagues first towards the East afterwards towards the West the conjunction of these three Rivers was formerly proposed for the communication of the principal Seas of our Continent that is to say for the facillitating the Commerce of the Ocean Mediterranean and Caspian Seas But this design did not succeed by reason of the divers Interests of the Neighbouring Princes The Rivers of Muscovy have this in particular that they have not any Carps There be few good Towns in all those Parts they are not paved some that are boarded with Wood nor walled for the most part the Lands being till'd and plow'd between the streets the Houses below made of Wood and Mud in the Markets their Houses are to be sold wholly prepared and ready to be set up There often happen Fires by reason of that combustible matter which is easily lighted and enflamed by the number of Candles that are lighted before the Images and which the Muscovites who are commonly drunk do not take care to extinguish Mosco the Capital City and the Residence of the Great Duke seems rather a heap of several Boroughs than a good City It has had forty thousand Houses but has less since it has been pillaged at divers times by the lesser Tartars by the Polanders and since the late burning down of most part of its Houses It s two Castles were built by Italian Ingeniers after the Model of that of Milan Volodimere the Residence of the Prince before that of Moscow is in the most fertile part of all Muscovy accompanied with a Castle The Rivers of Moscow and of Occa furnish the Inhabitants of Moscow with the means of making their Merchandize descend upon the Volga The lesser Novogorod is the last City of Europe towards the East Plescou is well fortifyed as being a Bulwark against the Polanders and the Suedes Great Novogorod was one of the four Magazines of the Hanse-Towns and a Town so rich and puissant that it was formerly a saying of its Citizens that nothing could oppose God or great Novogorod In the year 1577. the Great Duke took it and is said to have carried away from thence three hundred Waggons loaded with Gold and Silver It is still at this day a Town of great Commerce Archangel or St. Michael the Archangel is the staple of all Muscovy by reason of its Sea-Port The Customs there mount to above six hundred thousand Crowns a year This place was both first discovered and first frequented by the English Ships but have been followed by other Nations of Europe Before the Commerce of Muscovy was carryed on by passing through the Sound and resorting to Nerva the great Impositions laid upon Merchandize by the Princes through whose Territories they were to pass have made Merchants abandon that way St. Nicholas drives also a great Trade at the entrance of the Duvin these are the only good Places of the Grea Duke upon the Ocean Colmogorod is noted for the faires that are held there in Winter The Duvine there receives great Ships Oustioug is in the Center of the Countrey where its traffick is pretty considerable by means of its Scituation at the meeting of two Rivers The Interest of the Great Duke of Muscovy would be to have a place upon the Baltick Sea for the Cannons Muskets and other ammunition of War which he has brought him from Hamburgh and Lubeck are conveyed by the North of Norway with extraordinary pain and trouble Besides the White Sea has Banks and Rocks at its entrance the Snow thaw'd and melted and the Torrents which augment it in the Spring carry its Waters with such impetuosity that the Ships can hardly enter therein true it is that abundance of Salmon are taken there Kola and Pitzora in Lapland receive Merchants Ships As concerning the Conquest of the Great Duke in Asiatick Tartary there is principally Astracan and Casan with Titles of Kingdoms and the Hurdes of Zavolha and Nagaia Astracan towards the Mouth of the Wolga drives a great traffick upon the Caspian Sea In this Country is the Plant Zoophite which resembles a Lamb it eats the Herbs round about its Root and if it be cut it casts forth a red Liquor like to bloud the Wolves devour it with as much greediness and avidity as if it were a Sheep Locomoria
place of the Venetians in those parts is upon a Rock which buts out into the Sea and is only joyned to the Terra Firma by the space of six and twenty paces Spalato is there the Town of greatest Traffick since the late Peace Fiume belonging to the House of Austria has in its Neighbourhood the place called Tersacs where the Papists say the Chappel of the Virgin was three years and some Months before it was transported to Loretto in Italy Bosnia has had the Title of a Kingdom Servia has the City of Belgrade very considerable and as advantagiously scituated as any City of Turkey near the place where the Danube receives the Teyss and the Save Bulgaria whose ancient Inhabitants were formidable to some Roman Emperours has Sophia for the Capital a great passage from Hungary to Constantinople This Province extends as far as the Black Sea where the Ruines are to be seen of the wall which the Emperour of Constantinople caused to be set up from Silistria upon the Danube as far as Tomi noted in antiquity for the Banishment of Ovid. There dwell the Dobruck Tartars which the Turks make use of in their greatest expeditions because this Militia is no great charge to the Grand Seigniours who by the ancient conventions only pay these Tartars at the end of the Campaign a certain quantity of Cloaths and a Sultanin a Head besides the Booty they may have taken in their Enemies Countrey There is to be seen upon the Coast the City of Varne renowned for the Victory of Amurath the 2d over the Hungarians that of Nigeboli upon the Danube where the Christians were also defeated by the Infidels under Bajazet the 1. in the year 1396. Romania has for principal Cities Constantinople Adrianople Gallipoli It was formerly Thrace Constantine the great called it Romania not to abolish entirely the Name of Rome after having given his own to the City of Bizance Constantinople is the Head of the Turkish Empire so as it was of the Eastern Empire when it served for abode to the Roman and Greek Emperours It s Scituation is the most curious imaginable having the conveniency of one of the finest and best Harbours of Europe which may receive a thousand or twelve hundred great Ships it is full thirteen Miles in compass The Houses are low whether that they are built after that manner to avoid the incoveniency of the Winds or that the Turks think not fitting to raise them high as they do those of God and of their Princes or that they have no design to build for others since most commonly their Children do not succeed them in their Estates which the Grand Seignior gives to whom he thinks fitting The Church of Saint Sophia is the most stately Building of all that City and has serv'd for a Model to most of the Turskish Moskees Constantinople is very subject to Fires by reason that most of its Houses are built of Wood. In the year 452. besides a great number of Houses six and twenty thousand Volumes were burtn with the Gut of a Serpent six and twenty foot in length wherein the Iliads and Odysses of Homer were written in Letters of Gold The Preservation of this City depends on that of Gallipoli of the Castles of the Dardanelles and of the Towers of the Black Sea at the entrance of the Bosphorus where formerly a chain was made use of to barr entrance to Enemies Ships The Channel of Constantinople is so narrow that in some parts of the Town the Cocks may be heard who crow on the nearest Shoar of Asia This Channel has to Currents at the same time that which is nearest Europe carries away the Ships towards the Black Sea and that which is on the side of Asia carries them toward the Mediterranean Sea The seven Towers make a Fortress where Prisoners of State be confined Galatia a small City beyond the Port wherein are the Franks Above Galatia is the Burrough of Pera the Residence of some Christian Embassadours Formerly a Wall was raised two days Journey in length from the Black Sea as far as Selivrea to hinder the Incursions of the Scythians and of the Bulgarians Osman had a design of transferring his Seat from Constantinople to Grand Cairo Constantine left Rome for Bisance Julius Caesar had also the Thoughts of making his abode at Troy or in Alexandria Adrianople is now one of the Principal Abodes of the Grand Seignior Chiorlick a small Town where Bajazet the 2d vanquished his Son Selim the same who boasted that he wore not a great Beard as his Father did for fear the Janizaries should catch hold of it and lead him where they pleas'd Asperosa seems to be the ancient Abdera whose Inhabitants were looked upon as the most stupid in the World near this place stood the Stable of cruel Diomedes who gave his Guests to his Horses instead of Oats Greece was formerly the most famous Countrey of Europe its inhabitants had for a long time the advantage of excellence of Wit and Grandure of Courage over other Nations they have added to and brought to perfection most of the Arts and Sciences they build their Cities at some distance from the Shoar for fear of being exposed to the plunder of Pyrates who were very rife at that time and that the the Civility of the Citizens might not be corrupted by conversing with Terpawlins They sent several Collonies into Italy into Asia Minor and left their Names in most of the Regions which be upon the Mediterranean Sea Athens Sparta Argos Gorinth Thebes Megalopoli were the most powerful Cities of Greece In some of these Towns the Soveraign Power was in the hands of the People in others it was given to the most conspicuous The principal People of Greece who affected the Dominion of it and who sometimes interessed others in their party were the Athenians the Lacedemonians the Thebans the Etolians the Acheans the Boeotians the Phoceans Megara Corinth Sicion Argos Micoene Elide Arcadia Messenia have also formed considerable States Macedonia Thessalia Cyprus have had the Titles of Kingdoms Most of the other States were Realms then Commonwealths and afterwards obeyed the Macedonians in part the Romans some patticular Lords and finally the Turks The Greeks are now almost all the Greek Church their Countrey is much changed since in the hands of the Turks almost all the Towns being ruined and without defence If there be some considerable for their Strength they are kept for the maintenance of Commerce and for resisting the Christian Galleys There be six Provinces in Greece Macedonia Albania Epirus Thessalia Achaia Peloponesus these two last having particularly been called Greece All these Names except that of Albania are ancient and more known to us than those which be given them by the Turks Macedonia which Alexander the Great made one of the greatest Monarchies in the World was a Kingdom which ended in Perseus after whom the Romans swayed there as did also some petty Kings unto Amurath
the Gulph of Venice It pays eighteen thousand Sequins of annual Tribute to the Grand Seignior for liberty of Commerce in the Levant The City which seems to have succeeded to the ancient Epidaure is pretty well fortify'd and very populous It has the Title of an Archbishoprick its Inhabitants who addict themselves for the most part to trade are Roman Catholicks In the year 1667. it received a great loss by an Earthquake It s Principal Harbour is that of St. Croix which is three Leagues distant from it Its Ships are pretty numerous well known in the Seas of the Levant as its Caravans be in the Dominions of the Turks in Europe He who commands the Republick of Ragusa is called Doge or Rectour he is assisted with the Councel of a hundred Senators his Government lasts only a Month. The Governour of the Castle is changed every day wherein one of the Nobles enters to command in his turn Their Gentlemen must marry Gentlewomen if they mean their Children should be acknowledged to be of the Ragusian Nobility The Revenue of the Republick is five and twenty thousand Crowns The Country above the Town is not over fertile full of Rocks and Stones if it bring forth any thing it is by the means of the Forreign Earth which they cause to be brought thither which is done with such care and such success that the Coast makes a Beautiful Prospect of Vineyards Orange Trees Lemon Trees and Pomegranates The Neighbouring Islands which are of the dependance of Ragusa are also very pleasant The Turks have some sort of inclination for the Ragusians by reason they pay punctually their Tribute and that by their means they are provided with all the Commodities of Europe which they stand in need of They give them Priveledges which they seldom grant to other Christians Of the Brittish Islands THese Islands consist in two great and several small ones Great Brittain and Ireland are the two great the small are all in the Neighbourhood of Great Brittain the Hebrides Orcades Shetland which depends on the Crown of Denmark in the sea of Scotland Man Anglesey the Sorlingues in the Irish Sea Wight Guernsey Jersey in the Channel Formerly Great Brittain went under the Name of Albion by reason of its Rocks all along the Sea which seem white It now comprehends two Kingdoms that of England and that of Scotland the union whereof gave occasion to King James to stile himself King of Great Brittain and at the same time the design of stifling the partialities which were between the two Nations The English were not very well satisfyed with this change since thereby their Name became the less famous The Brittish Islands had to the number of Nineteen Kingdoms England had seven of them Wales three Scotland two Ireland five the Isle of Man made one the Isles near Scotland another All this now is under the Crown of England Several places and Islands in the East and West Indies are also subject to it whereof we have made mention in the Article of Europe Of England ENgland was so called by the English an ancient People who dwelt on the confines of Germany and of Denmark the Name of Saxony Trans-marine was given it by the Saxons Before it was called Lhoegria and then Scotland went under the Name of Albania and Wales that of Cambria During the decay of the Roman Empire the Saxons and English invaded Great Brittain with main force and near Bedford gained a signal Victory over the Insularies who were constrained to abandon their Countrey Several Brittons retired into Wales others passed into Brittany in France where they setled the British Tongues by the help of their Country Men whom the Romans had already lead thither to support their pretensions to the Empire King Arthur one of the last Brittish Kings who dyed in the year 542. is the same whom so many Fables be told of and to whom is attributed the institution of the Knights of the round Table The Victors that is to say the Saxons and the English raised a Wall towards the West of England to mark the Bounds of their Conquests and at the same time made a Law by which all the Brittons should have a hand cut off who were found with a Sword on this side the Wall In the year 450. and the following there were formed seven Kingdoms Kent Sussex Essex West-Sex East-Anglia Mercia North-Humbria A little after that Charlemagne was acknowledged Emperour of the West all these Monarchies were reduced into one by King Egbert who dyed in the year 837. The Successours of this Egbert having been troubled by the Danes the last of them declared his Heir William Duke of Normandy to whom the Conquest of England brought the Name of Conquerour Thus England has had Soveraigns of six several Nations of the Brittons Romans Saxons English Danes and Normans These last have established there the Principal Laws the King who now reigns is James the 2. England is a greater Kingdom more fertile and populous than is either Scotland or Ireland It is the most considerable of any State in the Ocean It produces Corn and Fruits in abundance the best Tin in the World is transported thence Wool Cloaths Hides and other Commodities both excellent and in great plenty neither is it wanting in excellent Liquors The English Horses Dogs and Cocks are in high esteem all over the World No Wolves have been seen there since the general hunting which destroyed them almost all by the means of permission Criminals had of redeeming their Lives with the Heads of those Animals Gunners and Dogs were for sometime kept upon Frontiers of Scotland to hinder the Wolves ' which were hunted out from returning into England The great respect that is paid to Ladys in this Realm has given occasion to the saying that England is the Paradise of Women the Purgatory of Servants and the Hell of Horses The English for the most part are well proportioned and of a generous Nature They have had so great an Antipathy to the Scots that Edward the 1. the same who was preferred before his Eldest Brother by reason of the Beauty of his Body recommended that after his Death they should boyl him until they parted his Flesh and his Bones that they should bury his Flesh and carry his Bones along to the War against the Scots The English are owned Soveraigns of the Ocean and have made those States and Potentates to repent who have dared to dispute their Right to that Title Their Countrey is compared to the Tortoise in the shell who has all his Defences collected The acquisition of some Places by the allyance with Portugal has obliged them to extraordinary expences The Spaniards have a Proverb with all War and Peace with England The general Religion of the English is the reformed the King of England is the Head of the Anglican Church where of the Principal Members are the Bishops who compose the House of Lords with the other Peers This
Parliament is very different from those of France besides the House of Lords there is that of the Commons called the Lower House The principal Rivers of England are the Thames Severn and Humber which do not encrease by the Rains the neighbouring Lands being sandy There be reckoned one and fifty Counties called Shires each of those Counties is distributed into hundreds into Tithings or Tenths They may be considered according to the four Regions of the World and this division is much the same with that the Romans made when they were Masters of the Country The Southern part of England is along the Channel where be the best Harbours of the Kingdom Canterbury and Bristow be there considerable the first upon the account of its Archbishopwrick and of its Primacy the second for its Commerce Ships arriving there at full Sail. Rochester is the usual Station of the Kings Ships which are called men of War Frigats Yachts Salisbury has a Metropolitan Church wherein are reckoned as many Doors as there be Months and as many Windows as there be days in the year Windsor is a Royal Castle near the Thames where the Ceremonies of the order of the Garter are generally performed Dover is known for its strong Castle for Peoples embarking there for Calice Dunkirk and Ostend for the Neighbourhood of the Downs under whose shelter the Ships that are bound towards the East and towards the South may wait safely for Winds fair for their Voyage Hastings is a place where in the year 1066. William the Conquerour gained a full Victory over Herald the 2d the last Danish King who was killed upon the spot with above sixty thousand of his Men. Portsmouth Southampton Plimouth have very good Ports The Eastern part has this advantage of having London the Capital of all the Realm one of the Greatest Richest and most Populous Cityes in the World by the means of its greatest traffick It s Scituation is upon the River of Thames where it receives the noblest Ships of the Universe its Bridge is three hundred and thirty Paces in length The Pastures and Meads round about would make a most pleasant Prospect and Landskip if the Smoak of Coals which is commonly burnt there did not raise a continual Cloud Norwich is one of the best Cities and most populous of all the Kingdom Yarmouth sees the fishing of Herrings performed in its Neighbourhood where at Michaelmas is held a fair for that purpose Cambridge one of the most famous Universities in the World Harwich a famous Port. The Countrey round about was the abode of the Icenians whose Queen Bodicea put to Death a great number of Romans in the time of Nero and preferred a glorious Death before an Ignominious Slavery Towards the midst of the Realm is Oxford with one of the four most famous Universities of Europe wherein there is thirty three Colledges that of the University has a Library full of very curious Manuscripts unless it be that of the Vatican there be few in the World that have any so fine Gloucester is commonly the appanage of the third Son of the King of Great Brittain It is near the Severn near the Isle of Aldney where was formerly fought a singular Combat between Edmond Ironside King of the English Saxons and Canute the Dane who at length divided the Kingdom between them after having fought a long while without being able to have any advantage over one another Chester is accompanyed with a Sea-Port where People embark for Ireland At Worcester was the Defeat of the Kings Army in the year 1651. by the Rebels York in the Northern part is the second City of the Kingdom and the Title of the Kings second Son Lancaster is a County Palatin famous for its ancient Family The two Houses of York and Lancaster gave a great deal of trouble to England during above a hundred years by the fatal Faction of the White and Red Rose New-Castle and Hull have the conveniency of the Sea The Country about New-Castle is full of Mines which afford Coals so necessary to the Inhabitants of the City of London and the best Crayons of Europe The refusal that was made at Hull of receiving King Charles the 1. was one of the Principal Motives of the War between his Majesty and the Parliamentaryes Barwick and Carlisle have some Fortifications Penrith keeps the round Terrass which is said to have been King Arthurs Table Between Hull and Newcastle there be the Ports of Brilington and Scarborough The Principality of Wales is the Title of the Kings Eldest Son it has few good Cities Bangor was there formerly a famous Abby where above twelve hundred Monks lived on what they earn'd by working Milford is reckoned one of the finest Havens of Europe by reason of its Sinuosities which form as many good Ports The Isle of Anglesey which is near it was the abode of some Druids and the retreat of those who in Great Brittain would not submit to the Romans It is called the Nursing Mother of Wales by reason of its fertility It s City of Aberfrau served formerly for abode to the Kings of North-Wales Of Scotland THis Kingdom is the ancient Caledonia which was called Scotland from the Scots a People who made a sharp War upon the Romans and obliged them to make entrenchments against their Incursions principally under Adrian and under Severus The Name of Albany has been sometimes given to all this Kingdom whereas it is now peculiar to one of its Countys which the Inhabitants call Broad Albiny Some Scotch Authors make the Name of Scotch come from the ancient Scythians for the showing their Predecessours in the Higher Antiquity Scotland is of a cold Temperature its Gulphs Lakes and Mountains hinder its Provinces from being over Fertile The Inhabitants are of the reformed Religion Popery having been there abolish'd under King James the 6th But the many Scots which Sprung up with the Reformation produced there many Troubles and occasioned most of the disorders which in our time we have seen in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland There be still at this day Phanaticks who call themselves the Sweet Singers of Israel and are retire into the Mountains and into the Woods though they be hardly able to subsist there The Southern Scots live much after the same way as the English the Northern are wedded to the ancient Customs and not over careful of neatness in their Repasts The Scotch Nation has for a long while been in esteem for Valour and Fidelity the most Christiam King St. Lewis and his Successours the French Kings have trusted them with the Guard of their Royal Persons and made allyance with Scotland This Kingdom is now the most ancient in the World it is said to have been above two thousand years hereditary with a Succession of about a hundred and ten Kings The Power and Revenues of the King of Scotland are rendred much more considerabbe since his Majesties Restauration and his re-stablishment in the Power
of raising Forces by Sea and Land of making Peace or War with the command of the Castles of the Cittadels and Garrisons of the Kingdom The richness of the Countrey consists in Wool in Cattle and Salt-Fish It s Land has several Mines of Lead Iron Sulphur Azure and Coal It s principal Rivers have a prodigious Quantity of Salmon All Scotland is divided into two great parts by the River of Tay the one Northern the other Southern Northern Scotland contained under the name of High-lands is that where the Romans could not carry their Armies and where in our times the English Parliamentaries had not all the Success they had promised to themselves It was the abode of the ancient Scots whose Kings had their residence at Dunstafag The Robberies of the Inhabitants have been there formerly so frequent principally in the Province of Albania that if by the Law any one of the Province had committed a Robbery he amongst them whom a man could seize of was obliged to repair the loss or to lose his Life Aberdeen is the most considerable City of this Country by reason of its University and of its Pearls which are found in its little River and of the Salmons that are taken in its Neighbourhood where three hundred are said to be sometimes taken at one Cast of the Net The Southern part of Scotland which is called Lower is a better Country than the upper There is to be seen Edenborough the Capital of the Kingdom the abode of the late Kings St. Andrew and Glascow have the Title of Archbishopricks St. Andrew has also a famous University I say famous for such a Kingdom as that of Scotland where Glascow passes for a Paradise Abernethi was the abode of the King of the Picts Duns upon the Marches of England is the place of Birth of the subtil Doctor Scotus Leith the Sea-port of Edinborough St. Johns Town a new City near the ruins of the ancient Perth which the Sea has ruined It is defended with good Walls whereas most of the other Cities of the Kingdom have none at all The Coronation of the Kings of Scotland is performed at Scone near St. Johns-Town There was in this Abby a Marble Chair from which the Royalty of Scotland was esteemed inseparable but the King of England Edward the 4th having transferred it to London it looks as if King James the 6th was as it were forced to go thither That Chair had been before in the Country of Argyle Dunbar is an old Castle the Fortifications whereof have been destroyed The English Parliamentaries won a Battail there in the year 1650. Dunbarton is a Fortress upon a Rock near a Lake where the Fish are said to have no bones The Isles of May and Bass have Castles situated upon inaccessible Rocks The Garrison of that of Bass receives great conveniencyes from the Geese Sea Coots or Moor-hens which go there to make their Nests these Fowls furnish abundance of Wood for Fewel Among the Islands which depend on Scotland The Hebrides are on the West the Orcades on the North of that Kingdom The Inhabitants of the Orcades keep carefully the Cup of St. Magnus whom they name their Apostle With this Cup they try their Bishops and hope for abundance of good from 'em when those Prelates empty it quite They are of so good a complexion that they never take Physick Towards the North of the Orcades there be the Isles of Scetland which we have said to depend on the Crown of Denmark The Insularies there are so healthful and so vigorous that they make no scruple of marrying when they are a hundred years old Nay they go a fishing at the age of a hundred and thirty and a hundred and forty Zeal one of these Islands suffers no Forreign Animals they dye as soon as they come there Ireland IReland formerly called Ivernia and Hibernia is on the West of Great Brittain from which it is separated by a Sea full of Shelves and Rocks where there is a concourse of several Rivers which fall in there with great Rapidity There is little sayling there but with Ships of a middle Bulk yet Ireland has the finest Harbours and the greatest number in the World The Irish are tall and well proportioned love Repose and Liberty most of them are Catholicks During the usurpation of the Royal Authority in England by the two Houses and by Cromwel most of the Papists were brought to condign Punishment for their execrable Massacres and Bloudshed and the Irish Nobility pen'd up in a corner of the Kingdom between the River of Shennon and the Sea The Physitians there are received by Succession The Riches of this Realm consists in Butter Suet Wool Hides Frizes Coverlets Cheeses and Salmon The English who reside there drive almost all the Trade Though this Island be full of Lakes Ponds Marshes Mountains it is nevertheless very healthful and is said neither to produce or suffer any thing that 's venemous The Wood or Timber that 's cut there engenders neither Worms nor Spiders Of this Nature is the Timber Work of the Pallace of Westminster and that of the Town-House of the Hague in Holland Of late time several of its Marshes have been drained and dryed up and the Countrey which was formerly only Forrests is at present so disgarnished of Woods that they are constrained to make use of Turfe instead of it for Firing All along the Coast is great plenty of those Fowl we call Soland-Geese they are produced of the Wood of the Ships which rot in the Sea There be also Pearls which float in company as Bees follow their King but are not of a fine Water Ireland is divided according to the Dispositions of the Regions of the World into four parts Leinster Ulster Cannaught and Munster formerly Meeth was reckoned for a fifth but is now accounted a Member of Leinster There is still another Division which divides all Ireland into two parts whereof the one is the Province of the English the other the Country of the true Irish though the whole Country has been subdued and there is almost every where English and Scotch Collonies The Province of the English has in like manner four Countreys Lease Meth Dublin Kildare-Monmouth is the best Country with the finest Havens of the Kingdom Leinster drives the greatest Trade the two other Ports are not so considerable Mead passes for the Granary of Ireland by reason of its Corn. There be few good Towns Armagh in Ulster which was formerly the principal in all the Island has now nothing more than the Ruines with the Title of the Primary and the Archbishops See London-Derry is much more considerable Drogday is strong and trading a Proverb runs that Wexford was in vogue that Dublin is so and that Drogdah shall be The Hole of St. Patrick has Circumstances which have furnished matter to the making of Books Amongst other Fables which be told thereof is the descent of Souls into Purgatory and into Hell through