Hispaniola of which last they leave the Port or Citty of St. Domingo at a distance of two or three leagues off at Sea and hold their course betwixt the Islands of Cuba and Jamaica till they attain St. John D' ullua or Vera Crux in the Province of New Spain This passage viz. from the Islands Desseada and Guadalupe to St. John D'ullua is reckoned to be little less than 500 leagues and by reason of so many Islands great and small which lie in their way and cause the Seas to be much subject to contrary windes it is counted a passage of no little difficultie and not to be attemped as Herrera saith without a very skilfull Pilot and that in the day time with the favour of a good winde and a full Sea in respect whereof they commonly make it twenty daies passage and are glad if they can reach it within that time Those that goe for the Main Land as they call it or Castella del oro have a passage of 400 leagues from Guadalupe abovesaid These take the left-hand way and having discovered the high Mountain of Tayrone which is as a Pharos or generall Land-mark for such as sail upon that coast they touch at Carthagena a famous and well-seated Port and Citty of that Province and from thence pass on to Nombre de Dios or Porto-Bello from which places they convey all their Merchandise by Land unto Panama which is not above eighteen or twenty miles distant and lyeth upon the South Sea where they are Shipt again and from thence by Sea conveyed to all the parts of the Province of Peru. They that goe to Honduras and the Province of Guatimala keep company with them that goe for New-Spain till they discover Cape Tiburon which is the first point of Hispaniola Westward where they leave them and run along upon the North-side of the Island Jamaica unto the point of Negrillo Then they put to Sea and seek the Cape called Cameron which is at the entrance of the gulf and Province of Honduras from whence sailing fourteen or fifteen leagues Westward they come to Anchor at Truxillo upon the River Haguara which runeth into the said Gulf and unlade their Merchandise so much of it as is intended for those parts the rest they carry further up the Gulf to Porto de Cavallos or St. Thomas de Castile and from thence along the coast into the Province of Guatimala 4. The best and most usual time for an outward voyage that is from Spain to America is about the Spring viz. from the latter end of March to the beginning of May for then commonly they make their voyage in due time and come well thither If they stay longer so as that the Moneth of August be spent before they reach the Islands it is more difficult and they are usually taken with the Hurricanos as they call them which are certain violent and contary windes that doe terribly infest the Atlantick and Indian Seas all winter long from September to March. And likewise in their return homewards they observe the same time of the yeere there viz. about May and June the ships that are to return for Spayn from all parts of the continent of America bend their course for Havana in the Island of Cuba which is the place of their general Rendezvous where they are all to meet and to stay one for another till the whol Fleet especially both of Convoy and Treasure be come in Those from the main land set sayle commonly in May from Porto Bello laden with all the wealth of Peru and whatsoever else comes by the south Sea which is not seldome very much from the Philippine Islands and the east Indies and at Carthagina take in more brought thither from all parts on that side the continent especially out of the new kingdome of Granada as they call it Sayling from Carthagena they avoid the coast of Veragua what they can by reason that the Current which falleth out of the Ocean into that Gulfe cometh so strongly upon them that they would never beare up against it at least not without much difficulty and danger So that they are forced to seek the Cape Saint Anthony which as we said was the most westerly point of the Island Cuba at which place the ships from Honduras doe also touch and so they sayle together a matter of fifty leagues eastward till they come to Havana The ships from new Spayne beare up Northward as far as the Sound or Bay called Las Tortugas which are certain Islands lying upon the coast of Florida and so fetch a compasse as it were of little lesse then three hundred leagues before they come to Havana The reason of this course is because the American Seas especially neere upon the coast are frequently subject to calms so as the ships oftentimes want winde to sayle with and therefore to gain or assure themselves as much as may be of a convenient wind they are forced to steere thus far Northward from whence that is from the Islands Tortugas they have a short and easie cut of a few leagues over to Havaena 5. When the ships are all met in the Port of Havana they presently set sayle for Spayne through the Streites of Bahama and by some of the Leucaiae Islands not now in a direct course East-ward as they came in from the East but in a greater altitude and more Northerly The reason hereof is because the Brises or Easterly winds which as we said doe constantly blow all within the Tropiques or Torrid zone doe hinder their passage East-ward and force them to seeke their course higher that is somewhere without the Tropiques and more towards the North at least to twenty three or twenty foure degrees of altitude where they finde Westerly windes commonly which carry them homewards as far as the Azores or Tercerae Islands and the farther they goe from the Line the more ordinary and certain those windes are and more fit to make their return for as much as blowing from the South and south-west they carry them directly East and North-east as their voyage lyeth which is also the reason why the return which the ships make from America or any of those western Islands is usually more difficult longer and less certain than when they goe out because as hath been said in their going out when they are once passed the Canarie Islands and got within the Tropiques which they usually doe in four or five dayes sayling if the windes favor them they have constantly there an Easterly winde which carries them with full Sayles upon the Islands of America whereas in their return beside the uncertainty of the windes by which they sayle they are forced to seeke a height as they call it that is to fetch a compasse Northwards sometimes more then three or four hundred leagues to gaine a convenient winde These Azores or Tercerae Islands lie in the Atlantick Ocean betweene thirty seven and fourty degrees of northern Latitude
voyage onely to Cape Verde themselves sent out a Carvell with instructions to make what discoveries they could of any Land westward But their project had no great success the Carvell after much fowl weather and hardship endured making a difficult return home and discovering nothing Whereupon he applyeth himself to the King of England who was at that time Henry the seventh a Prince that loved treasure well enough but cared not to hazard much to gain it and all that Columbus could promise as yet upon that point was onely that he would discover a shorter way to the East-Indies whereby Christian Princes might procure themselves the wealth of those rich Countries already known in a shorter time and at far less charges than hitherto they had been able to doe But what through the parcimony of this Prince and his cold attention to the business when it was first propounded to him and what through the misfortunes which his Brother Bartholmew Columbus met withall in his way to England which somewhat hindred his addresses to the King there was no answer given till it was too late and that Columbus had engaged his service unto Ferdinand King of Castile who at last viz. after a matter of six or seven years attendance and delayes had yeilded to his request at the earnest entreaty of the Queen Isabella and of the Cardinal Mendoza Archbishop of Toledo It is said that the Queen was become so zealous and earnestly affected to the business as 't is supposed upon some principles of Religion suggested to her by a Religious man Fernando de Talovera her Confessor that she pawned many of hir own Jewels to help to furnish him out and 't is certain the Treasure of Castile was never more exhausted than it was at that time through a long and chargeable warre with the Moors which was not quite ended when Columbus received his Commission So that many humane reasons might seem to have excused that King from undertaking any new charge at that time especially had it not been the will of divine Providence to have that work goe forward and to recompense the liberality and piety of those Princes with such an infinite advantage both of wealth and honour by the means of this man 4. On Friday the third of August 1492 he set out from Palos a Port Town of Andalusia with three Carvels whereof the Admirall Sancta Maria was commanded by himself the Vice-Admirall Pinta commanded by Captain Martin Pincon and the Ninna commanded by Captain Vincent Yannez Pineon having aboard in all of them together about 120 men and among them Americus Vespucius for one On the eleventh of August following they had sight of the Canary Islands and sailing forwards on the 16th day they met with certain quantities of long grass floating upon the water and upon one of them a Gras-hopper alive which grass as it encreased daily more and more for some time so it put them in continual hopes every day of coming to some Land Nevertheless they sailed August quite out the whole Moneth of September following and some part of October without kenning of any land which troubled them extreamly insomuch that his company began to mutiny desperately and to threaten their Admiral that they would throw him overboard unless he would presently return for Spain swearing they were abus'd and that he should not make himself a great Lord as he intended with the perill of their lives They alledged moreover that the Ships were spent and grown so leaky that they thought they would scarce endure the Seas so long as to carry them safely home again Columbus was much afflicted with this behaviour and resolution of his Souldiers yet endeavored to pacify and draw them on as much as he could with good words and to animate them still with hopes of success but at length seeing nothing else could prevail with them much against his will he made them a promise that if within three dayes they descryed not Land he would forthwith return for Spain This was on the 10th of October and the very night following they discovered the Island Guanahani one of the Leucaiae Islands which lye together in the Gulfe of America called afterwards by Columbus St. Salvador This was a great rejoycing to them all especially to Columbus who went on shore and having sung the Te Deum on his knees with tears in his eyes he erected a Cross and took possession of the Island in the name of the Catholique Kings Ferdinand and Isabella all the Spaniards that were with him presently according to his Patent acknowledging him Viceroy of the Countrie There were standing by some few of the Natives wondring to see men cloathed and so acoutred as the Spaniards were themselves being for the most part naked and onely painted upon their bodies with white black red and other colours as their fancie lead them In their nostrils and upon their lips some of them had rings of gold pendant as it were in the way of ornament which the Spaniards quickly espied and inquiring of them by signes where they had such fine things they came to understand that a certain King of that Country who lived a great way further toward the South had aboundance of it This news pleased them so well that they made no long stay there but on the 15th of October they set Sail and fell upon another of those Islands seven or eight leagues distant from this which they called la Conception from thence upon the 17th they came to the Island Fernandina and from thence to Cuba Columbus not suffering his men in any of these places to take ought from the Natives against their will or without giving them something for it which they seemed to desire At Cuba he found that the Natives had some Towns and Villages which they inhabited and were so ordered that in fifty or threescore houses sometimes 2000 or 1500 people of Men Women and Children were contained according to the custome of the Country that all People of the same Linage or Kindred lived together in one house and their houses being built square in the fashion of a Court with long and large sides though but low and of a lamentable Architecture easily contained them all 5. From hence they sailed to Hispaniola where they had sight of the King of the Country named Guacanagari who received him and his company with much shew of kindeness presenting him with the Fruits and other Commodities of the Country and which was better than all the rest giving them more certain information of those golden Provinces which were afterwards discovered in the main Land for as yet they were but upon Islands and had not touched or seen any part of the Continent of America Columbus was so well satisfied with the intelligence which he had gained that he resolved to return for Spain and to make report of his Adventures to the King whereunto the condition of his Ships want of some necessary Provisions to proceed
in length and about six in breath having these only places of importance in it viz. Mon Pater which is a good Fort of the Spaniards built at the East Angle of the Island to secure their Pearl-fishing when that Trade held and to defend their ships which commonly rode there at Anchor 2. the Valley of Sta. Lucia two leagues distant from the Sea where the Spaniards have a Colony 3. Makanao a Town of the Natives This whole Island was surprised by the English under Captain Parker in the yeare 1601 who in stead of Prisoners carryed away good store of the Spaniards Pearl which he forced them to pay for their ransome 5. Cubagna another Island pertaining to this Province of Paria lyeth almost in the midle way betwixt the Island Margarita and the Continent from which last it is not counted to be above a league distant and five or six from the other being it self in the compass of the whole not much above three or four of a Soil wholy barren and destitute of all kinde of necessaries for the life and sustinance of man without Corn without Pasturage without Fruit without water yet only for the richness of the Pearl-fishing round a-about it for many yeares together there was no place more frequented than it Nor is it at present wholly deserted for though the Trade of Pearls be said to have failed for some yeares yet have they a Colony still remaining there called New-Cadiz and on the East part of the Islands a certain Fountain not far from the Sea side which yeeldeth a kinde of Bituminous substance like Oyle of such a medicinable vertue for many diseases that it sufficiently recompenseth the want of the Pearls by a more reall utillity and benefit is found in good plenty floating for the most part upon the Sea thereabout 5. The lesser Islands as they are called part of this Provinciall Prefecture of Paria lie all along upon the coasts of Venezuela from East to West in number many but the principal of them are 1. Tortuga a little Island said to be not above four or five miles in length and in breadth hardly one but well know for the aboundance of good Salt that is made and transported thence every yeare it lieth five or six leagues westward of Margarita hath a good Harbour and aboundance of that wood called Guaiacum of which we spake before 2. Bonayre an Island of five or six leagues in compass well stored with small Cattell especially Sheep and Goates It lyeth right over against the Bay called Golfo Triste or the Vnfortunate Bâ—y and was the place whether the Spaniards transplanted the poor Natives of Hispaniola when they grew weary of killing them 3. Curacaos three or four leagues westward of Bonayre and containing about so many in compass of a soil exceedingly fertill and good for Pasturage having likewise on the north side of the Island a very good and safe Harbour for shipping 4. Aruba three or four leagues distant from Curacaos to the North-east about five miles in compass being for the most part a level and flat Country inhabited but not much either by Spaniards or Natives 5. Los Monges or the Monks as the Spaniards named them These are three or four lesser Island lying eastward of the Cape Coquibocoa of great use and direction at Sea to those that sail for Carthagena but for any thing else scarsely memorable CHAP. XIX Of the American Islands 1. VVE have spoken hitherto only of the Continent of America and those Islands which lye so neer the Continent that they are commonly reckoned as part of it and appertaining to the respective Provinces against which they lie It remains now not to leave any thing considerable untouch'd at least that we take a veiw of some other Islands viz. that lie further off and seem not to have any other relation to America but only that of obedience and subjection to the Spaniards government who are Lords of America and have reduced at least the principall and chief of those Islands long since under their power They lye either in the South or the North Sea Those in the South or Mare del Zur are chiefly two viz. Los Ladrones and the Islands Fernandinae Los Ladrones in English the Islands of Theeves lye as it were in the midle way betwixt the main-Main-land of America and the Philippine Islands but some hundred of leagues distant from either in the fourth degree of Northern latitude So named by Ferdinand Magellan from the pilfering disposition he observed in the Natives when he sailed that way for the Moluccae Islands They were a nimble and active sort of People yet light-fingerd it should seem and going for the most part naked tall of stature excellent Swimmers and Divers and have not much more to be spoken in their Commendation The Fernandinae are only two Islands of no great bigness lying over against the coast of Chile in the three and thirtieth degree of Southern latitude and about one hundred leagues or three hundred English miles from the Continent yet well stored with some lesser sort of Cattel as Goats c. good plenty likewise of Venison in the Woods and of Fish upon the Coasts for which reason though lying at some distance yet are they not a little frequented by the Spaniards of Peru who finde many good Harbours and roads for shipping belonging to and about these Islands But the chief viz. of the American Islands abovesaid are those which lye in the Atlantick or North-Sea on the East side and as it were in the way to the Continent of America which are as follow viz. 1. The Caribes 2. Port-rico 3. Hispaniola 4. Cuba and 5. Jamaica Of the Caribee Islands 1. THe Caribee-Islands as the English commonly call them are a row or ridge as it were of lesser Islands which extend themselves almost in fashion of a Bow from the Coast of Paria as far as St. John de Port-rico The name signifies as much as the Islands of Cannibals or Man-Eaters and so the Natives generally were before they were either destroyed or reduced to better manners by the Spaniards There are many of them but the principall and those which seem most worthy of notice are 1. Granada This lyeth in form of a Croissant or half-Moon upon the Continent of Paria viz. that part of it which is called Cuniana having a reasonable good Haven and a Soil not altogether unfruitfull but much over-shaded with Woods and hitherto but little inhabited 2. St. Vincent six or seven leagues Northward of Granada but from any part of the Continent ten at least a very fruitfull Island yeelding aboundance of Sugar-Canes that grow naturally without any Art or help of Husbandry well watered with Rivers and affording many convenient Bays and safe roads for shipping It lyeth in a circular form and is thought to contain about eight or ten leagues in compass Inhabited by a People not over much industrious nor sollicitous for ought but what
Temperature and Disposition of the Aire there the quality of the Soile and Nature of its several Climates 1. THe Spaniards and other Nations have not altogether the same sense concerning the situation or extent of the West-Indies Commonly they are taken to signifie that part of the World lately discovered which lyeth Westward of the Worlds general and fixed Meridian which according to the common opinion runneth through the Azores or Tercerae Islands from one Pole to another thereby dividing the Globe of the Earth into two equall parts or Hemispheres The Spaniards looking to the pretended Donation or Grant made by Pope Alexander the sixth to the Kings of Castile and Leon of whatsoever Lands or Islands discovered or that should be discovered by them sailing Westward of the Azores whether upon the coast of India or elsewhere doe not seldom comprehend under the notion of the West Indies and the New World the Moluccae and Philippine Islands with some other places in the Indian Sea though they lie cleerly in the Eastern Hemisphere which because it seems not so properly done and doth otherwise beget obscuritie in the Authors that treat of this subject I thought it not amiss to give this Item of it here According therefore to the most ordinarie and general acception of the word America or the West-Indies is that part of the World lately discovered which lyeth Westward of the Azores and the Worlds Meridian and possesseth either in Sea or Land the greatest part of that Hemisphere viz. the Western Hemisphere of the World the Land it self viz. of America being bounded Eastward and and South-East with the Atlantick Ocean and Westward and to the South-west with Mare del Zur the Northern borders of it being not yet known A Countrie of so vast an extent that some have equalled it to all the other three parts of the World Europe Asia and Africa together to whom I can hardly assent yet doe readily acknowledge it to be much larger than any one yea perhaps than any two of the other parts could they be exactly compared It lyeth for the most part North and South not directly but somewhat inclining in the Southern part of it Eastward and in the Northern part Westward being in length as 't is commonly supposed from Terra Magellanica in the South to Estetiland and the further parts of Quivira in the North above a thousand nine hundred and seaventy seaven Spanish leagues which according to English or common measure is more than six thousand miles reaching from 60. degrees of Northern latitude for so farr it hath been discovered already by Land unto 53 degrees of Southern The breadth of it viz. from St. Michael otherwise called Piura in the Province of Quito upon the South Sea to the Prefecture and Town of Parayba on the Coast of Brasil where it is thought to be broadest is reckoned to be 1300. leagues and in the whole compass to contain little less than ten thousand leagues or thirty thousand common English miles 2. The whole Countrie lyeth in the form of two Peninsula's or large demy-Islands joyned together by an Ihstmus or neck of Land called the Streit of Darien of about an hundred miles in length but in breadth viz. from one Sea to another in many places especially about Panama and Nombre de Dios not above seventeen and eighteen miles over They that resemble the Country to the form of a Pyramis reversed I suppose would be understood onely of the Southern or Peruvian part as 't is called neither is it so easie to conceive where they lay the Basis of it if from the Coast of Peru Westward to the uttermost point of Brasil towards the East as by the form of the Maps 't is most probable they doe the spire or top of their Pyramis will have somewhat an obtuse or blunt point in as much as the Countrie of Magellanica which lyeth upon the Streits and maketh the point of the Pyramis is by confession some hundred of leagues over from East to West or from the Atlantick to the South Sea the Streits themselves running a course of one hundred and ninety leagues all along the Coast of it and consequently must be of a far greater bredth than the Streit of Darien where 't is evident the Land of America or rather of Peru contracts it self into a much sharper point or Pyramis viz. betwixt Panama and Nombre de Dios as hath been said To me taking the whole Country or both Peninsulas together America seems rather to resemble some rich Usurers bagge tyed fast in the mid'st the one end whereof is rich and well stuff'd with Crowns the other empty and loose So seems America The Southern part thereof containing the golden Countries of Peru New-Granada Castella aurea Chile and the rest like the full bottome of the bagge swells and spreads it self with a large circumference and border both East and West the Northern part especially beyond New Spain and the Streit of Darien which is as it were the hand upon the Purse and that part by which the Catholike King both holds and commands all the rest as the Provinces thereof seem to lye more scattered one from another and not so compacted together as consisting much of Islands and the Continent it self frequently divided with Bays and Inlets of the Sea so in comparison of the Southern Provinces it affords but little of those precious Commodities for which America's acquaintance is so much desired by other Nations and with equall care policie and good success hitherto forbidden by the Spaniards 3. It is a question among Cosmographers too great for me to determine whether America be really Continent or Island that is whether the Northern Borders of it be joyned to any part of Asia or divided from it by some narrow Sea or Frith as it is to the Southward from those as yet undiscovered Southern Lands which lie on the other side of Magellan's Streits It seems to be the more common Opinion at least amongst Englishmen that it is an Island though a huge one wholly surrounded by the Sea and divided from Asia by a certain Frith or narrow Sea which they call the Streits of Anian from a Province of the Asiatique Tartarie which beareth that name and is supposed to border upon those Streits Nor doe there want some presumptions of probability for it as for example a report of Pliny out of Cornelius Nepos an ancient and credible Author of certain Indians that were driven by storm upon the Coasts of Suevia or Suaben in Germany in their Canoa's or little Boats in which it had been impossible for them to have come thither by any other passage than by the North parts of America Impossible I say to have come any other way and not to have touched first at some other Lands or Islands by the way viz. upon the Coasts of Barbary Spain Portugall the Azores or Canarie Islands by reason that a ship or any thing else floating at Sea when it is
America are rather grey than red or yellow and have not that long shaggie haire on the fore-parts of their bodie with which they are painted The Tygres are more fierce and cruel but that is only when they are hungry and seek their prey for otherwise viz. when their bellies are full if the report of Maffaeus be true in his historia Indica they are as fluggish and heavie a Beast as any and may be both taken and killed by any body almost that will But by his favour I will not be the first that shall make tryal There is likewise aboundance of Staggs and wild Deer in all parts of the Continent of America but for ought I know in the Islands there are none found 6. These are all Beasts and Creatures of the Land with which and infinite others not here to be mentioned the New World is aboundantly stored Nor doe the Waters afford less variety either of Sea or more within Land viz. in the Lakes and Rivers which are generally so plentifully and well stored with good fish that there is no Countrie in the World comparable to America in that respect Amongst these the Cayman as they call him or Indian Crocodile as the most prodigious and strange deserves to be first mentioned yet is he an amphibious Creature living as well and perhaps as much upon Land as in the water It is a most fierce and ravenous Creature of a vast bulk or bigness being said to be from the fore part of his snout to the end of his tayle seven or eight yards long and of such strength that he hath been seen to take up a living man lying asleep upon the shore in his mouth and to carry him cleer away with him into the water over to another Island or Rock in the Sea where he meant to have devoured him But being shot with a Caliver he lost his prey and the man was recovered but dyed soon after He seeks his prey commonly upon Land which he kills or drowns in the Water yet cannot there eat it by reason of some peculiar disposition of his throat or gullet which is such as that it permits him not to swallow any thing in the water but with hazard to suffocate or drown himself The best is his motion by Land is but slow and his body so unweldy that he cannot turn himself but with much adoe nor his head to either side without turning his whole body Yet doe they much mischief especially about some Rivers in the Provinces of Mechoacan and Tlascalla where there are many of them They say 't is excellent sport to see a Cayman and a Tygre fight as they happen to doe oftentimes endeavouring to prey one upon another The Cayman with his taile cruelly beats and jerks the Tygre endeavouring what he can to hale him into the water The Tygre as stoutly resists him with his paw and labours to pull up the Cayman to land which for the most part he doth and then opens him by the belly which is the only part of him where he can be pierced his whole body otherwise being armed with scales so extremely hard and thick set that no Lance and scarcely an Harquebuz or Musket shot will enter it The Indians fear him not so much by water as land for being themselves excellent Swimmers and Dyvers and the Cayman alwaies swimming above water or very fleet they make no great matter to encounter him hand to hand in his own element for they easily get under his belly and with their knives or short Lances pierce him there as they list and so bring him to Land 7. The Tyburons are a kinde of Shark-fish of large size and extremely ravenous They are commonly ten or twelve foot long and about six or seven spans broad on the back being fashioned like a Soale with huge wide mouths and two rows of teeth on each side of their mouth very sharp and thick set and of so great strength that at one snatch or jerk they will break the bones or pluck asunder the joints of any Beast whatsoever They follow the ships at Sea willingly for the wash and other stuff which the Mariners cast out to them being so ravenous that they receive everything Acosta reporteth that out of the gullet of one of them he saw taken at the same time a great Butchers knife a long iron hook and a piece of a Cows head with one horn still growing upon it Others tell of Hats whole Shirts Leggs and Arms of Men ropes ends with many other things of like nature found in the same manner Yet is the flesh of them counted very good meat when they are well dryed and a principall reliefe in many occasions at Sea where they are taken without much difficultie and so bigge that many times ten or twelve men have somewhat to doe to pull one of them up when they have him upon the hook They come likewise out of the Sea up into the rivers as the Caymans doe and are exceeding dangerous both to men and cattell that are not aware of them or happen to ly or sleep upon the banks of any great river as in America it is not unusuall to doe At Sea they are commonly attended by a smaller sort of fish which they call Rambos which lives by the meat that falls from the Tyburon as the Jaccall is said to doe by the Lion 8. The Manati or Oxe-fish as some call them is another great fish of the Sea bigger by farre than the Tyburon headed like an Oxe or young heifer with two armes or at least stumpes of armes on each side before and those as some say distinguished into severall joynts with nailes upon them not unlike to those of a mans hand This is a gentle and harmeless creature and though of bulk or body not less than a young Oxe or Bullock yet neither of any feirce or horrid aspect but rather amiable and cleerer countenanced as the figure of it in Hernandez and Laet sheweth It cometh frequently upon land and feeds upon hearbs or grasse if there be any neer and being at Sea it swimes commonly above water and is easily taken 'T is counted for meat the best fish in the World being as tender and delicate as any veale or the best young porke and so like it that a stranger would verily take it for veale which it resembles so much every way both for colour and taste that it hath been disputed and questioned by some whither it might be eaten on fasting dayes for that it both eateth hearbs and grasse resembles flesh so much and beareth its young alive suckling them with milk by certain teats which they have as other Land creatures doe They finde in the head of it a certain Stone or hard congelated Substance which being ground to powder they say is very good for the stone in the reins and to provoke urine especially that which is found in the male-fish 9. The Tortoise is a Fish yet greater than any of