right Name was Columbus or Colonus Nor whether the Quadripartite Division of the World is rational or any Equality to be found in it The Reader is suppos'd to have some acquaintance with these things and to know what is the meaning of the Meridian Aequator Zodiack Tropicks Polar Circles and Zones or at least without these Knowledges may reap benefit enough from this Book But tho' this Treatise doth not pretend to shew how the Latitude in the Abstract may be found either in the day-time by the Sun or in the night by the Stars though it doth not brag of having invented any new more certain and ready way than hitherto has been used for the finding out the Longitudes of Places yet in the Descriptions of the most considerable Regions the Longitudes and Latitudes of them are not past over but are very carefully set down There is one Exception more which I am to take notice of That whereas our Author having divided the World into Upper and Nether Hemisphere has considered the first with Relation to France which will not do exactly in England yet since that England for the most part is under the same Meridian with France I have made bold to venture all Countries so considered in English without any Change or Alteration because there will be no great Squares broken For the like reason and by a Pardonable figure of Speech I call Europe Asia and Africa our Continent though we live in an Island which yet as some have said and proved how truly I shall not here question to have been once joyned to the Terra Firma I said I had but one Exception more to wipe off for I am sorry I have not forgot that nice one which some Criticks may make that I say of different Places such a thing in such a Place is the best in the World But besides that some things may be best in different Prospects and Relations these sort of Expressions follow the French and are vulgarly us'd in our own Tongue and are of a very ancient Date as appearing frequently in the Lively Oracles of God when both Hezekiah and Joshua are commended To have had none like unto them neither before nor after them THE PRESENT STATE Of the Four Parts of the WORLD The Terrestrial World WE mean by the Terrestrial World this round Mass which Comprehends the Earth and Water The Earth whose Description is here intended consists principally of two great Continents and some Lands towards both Poles The first of these Continents has three great Parts to wit Africa Asia and Europe Africa lyes toward the South and the West Asia on the East Europe North-West These three great Parts are in our Hemisphere which we call Superiour and Oriental with regard had to that of the Americans which seems to be below us and is West of us America possesses the other great Continent in the Inferiour and Occidental Hemisphere The Lands near the Poles are of two sorts Artick and Antartick neither have they long been nor is there much of them discover'd than what 's along the Sea-Coasts The Antartick Lands are separated from the other great Continents by the Ocean the Turn that Merchants and Travellers take in circling the World from East to West thro' the South Seas having left no subject of doubt We cannot with certainty say the same thing of the Artick Coasts tho' some affirm the Northern Sea communicates with the Oriental towards the North-East of our Continent and with the South-Sea toward the North-West of Northern America The Artick Region THese Parts have been call'd by the name of Artick because they are near the Artick Pole they are called Northern because of the North in which they are scituated * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boreales from a Greek Word which signifies the North-Wind they consist of Islands and Peninsula's where there are Bears Foxes and Rain-Deer in abundance the Inhabitants living commonly on Hunting or Fishing The Seas of these Regions make a part of the the great Ocean which is here known under the name of Northern and Frozen The Ice there lasts a long time because to these Parts the Sun during several Months discovers not himself and when he appears he doth not heat or thaw it The Bays and Streights of Hudson Davis and Forbisher are in the Inferiour Hemisphere that of Weygats otherwise of Nassaw in the Superiour Hemisphere on the North of our Continent Cabot Willoughby Forbisher Davis Hudson and other English men have sought a Passage to the East-Indies through the three former Streights Barenson Heemskirk and other Hollanders have done the same thro' that of Weygats but all to no purpose by reason of the Ice which is almost continually there and stops Ships in their Navigation and this it is that has hindred 'em from going beyond the 80. Degree of North Latitude Three Courses have been commonly steer'd in these Northern Seas to Archangelo into Moscovy for Furs to Spigelberg and Greenland for Whales and into Norway for Herrings and Timber The Artick Lands are Estotiland Greenland Island Spigelberg Nova Zembla to which may be added the Land of Jesso tho' it be in the Northern temperate Zone Estotiland is towards the North of the great Continent of America Greenland is of a vast extent to the North of Estotiland Christian the Fourth King of Denmark call'd it His Philosophers Stone because the Ships he sent thither could hardly find it out His Successours keep a Governour there at Bearford The Greenlanders Cloaths are made of the Skins of Wild Beasts and their Wastcoats of Birds Skins garnish'd with their Feathers the Flour of the Bread they eat is made of Fishes Bones they drink Sea Water without receiving any inconvenience by so doing Iseland ISeland the Thule of the Ancients one of the greatest Islands in the World lyes towards the North in both Hemispheres where it is part of the Dominions of the Crown of Denmark This advantage it has of not having so many Rocks upon its Coasts as have the other Northern Countreys There are two Principal Villages Hola and Schalholt As for Cities it has none the Houses in other places are commonly of Wood cover'd with the Bark of Trees and with Turfs The Inhabitants are of the Confession of Augsbourg have no Physicians feed their Oxen and their Horses with dry Fish when they are in want of Hay They receive often great floats of Ice which are loosen'd from the Northern Shores whereon is Wood and several sorts of Creatures which they accommodate themselves withal Therefore they inhabit more willingly the Sea-Coasts than the inner part of the Island There are several Mountains whereof Mount Hecla is the most considerable It casts forth Fire and is not to be approached within six Miles distance Danish Hambourger and Lubecker Ships frequently refort thither with diverse Commodities of Europe which the Islanders stand in need of The Danes fetch from thence dryed Fish Whale-Oyl Butter Suet Sulphur Ox-Hides
and those Teeth of Valrushes which some esteem as much as Ivory Spigelberg or Spitsbergen is a Countrey in our Hemisphere the most advanc'd toward the Artick Pole It produces only green Moss those that have been left there to make a full discovery of it perish'd through cold after having fought with White Bears who pretended a right to eat them Upon its Coasts Whales are taken of a prodigious bulk since from one alone has sometimes been drawn a a Hundred and twenty Tun of Oyl The English and Hollanders lay claim to the Dominion of it Nova Zembla is the Island Carambice of the Ancients very near our great Continent from whence one may pass to it upon the Ice and one way stretches as far as Spitsbergen nay and much farther so as it may probably be said that this is the place where those pass'd who first of all inhabited America the streight which parts it from the Terra firma has in its Eastern part high Mountains of Ice which are call'd Pater-nosters This Name of Nova Zembla is by reason of the Way that has been so long sought after along those Coasts to go to the East-Indies through the Tartarian-Sea In the year 1676. Capt. Wood that Ingenious and Industrious Seaman was again sent out by His Majesty King Charles the Second to make a more perfect Discovery of that North-East Passage perswaded unto it by diverse Relations of our own and Dutch Mariners who reported many things concerning it which Capt. Wood upon his own experience conceives to be false as that they were either under or near the Pole that it was there all thaw'd Water and the Weather as warm as at Amsterdam c. He saith further That he himself cou'd pass no further than 76 Deg. where he found the Sea as far as he cou'd discern entirely frozen without intermission That it is most likely that Nova Zembla and Greenland are the same Continent at least that there is no passage betwixt them for that he found scarce any Current And that little which was ran E.S.E. along the Ice and seem'd only to be a small Tide rising not above Eight Foot And whil'st he was in that Degree there were nothing but Frogs Frost and Snow and all imaginable ill Weather tho' at the same time the heat seem'd to be as great as at any time in England The Land of Jesso lyes between Asia and America being separated from each of those Continents by great Arms of the Sea Its Inhabitants exchange in those Cities of Japan that are nearest 'em their Fish their Skins the Tongues and the Fat of their Whales for other Merchandize which they fancy most The Planks of their Vessels are not nail'd they are sewed very dexterously with Ropes made of the Rind or Bark of Cocoes and they do not rot in the Water The Hollanders have been there several times Their Relations affirm That part of this Territory acknowledges the King of Japan for its Soveraign That the Commander in Chief of this Country who has his Residence at Matzimai carries that Monarch every year Silver Birds Feathers of several Colours with very fine Furs The Antartick Lands THe Antartick Land is often called Australis Magellanica Incognita We might with just title name them the Southern Indies and the third World Those who would engage Soveraign Princes to promote the discovery of these Lands say that they are of as great an extent as all America nor less Peopled or less Fertile than Europe They may have above Six thousand Miles of Coast in three several Zones of the Southern part of the World the Hot Temperate and Cold Perhaps Countreys might there be found of all manner of temperament tho' none have yet been beyond the 68 Degree of Southern Latitude Amongst the Streights that are there that of Magellan first afforded a way in the year 1523. to voyage it round the World through the South Sea this Streight is Two hundred Leagues in length in breadth in some places two three in others five six or ten Those who pass through it receive great inconveniencies by reason of the sinuosities and windings and the frequent storms that are there The Streights of Maire which were discovered in the year 1615. are much more commodious 't is but ten or twelve Leagues in length and as many in breadth That of Brouvers which was pass'd in the year 1643. is on the South-East and has the same advantages with that of Le Maire The English and Hollanders sometimes steer this Course to go to the East Indies Besides under the name of Antartick Lands are reckoned Countries which indeed are very far distant from the Southern Pole but which cannot be attributed to the other great parts of the World since they are separated from it by Seas of a vast extent New Guiney the Isles of Solomon New Zealand the Land of Fire the Land of Parrots New Holland There 's hardly any thing known of the other Southern Parts befides the Names of those who discovered them New Guiney towards the South of the Equinoxial Line and in the Inferiour Hemisphere is a very great Isle and bears this Name because it seems to be Diametrically opposite to the Guiney of Africa The Isles of Solomon are in the South Sea at ten or twelve Degrees of the Southern Latitude The Spaniards who have them in possession give them the name of Solomon to persuade the World that that wise King sent for his Gold from thence New Zealand is the Country where the Hollanders have met with scurvy usage when they would have setled themselves there There it is they say are great Men and of a huge stature whether they really be so or fear made them appear such at least each of their two Companies to the Indies avouched the same thing In all probability it was discovered by Fernandez de Quir who tells a thousand advantageous particulars of it He spent Fourteen Years in his Travels Fourteen Months at Court and presented in vain Eight Petitions to the King of Spain to persuade him to send Colonies thither Between New Zealand and the Streights of Magellan some have placed several small Islands which are said to have been discover'd in the Name of the King of Spain by Hernando Gallego in the year 1576. The Land of Fire on the South of America consists of several Islands that are called Magellanic and the Fires that were seen there the first time the Europeans went on shoar have given occasion to this Name The Land of Parrots is probably that which we call Terra Australis In the year 1504. a French-man called Gonneville went on shoar there and was kindly receiv'd by a petty King called Arosca After several Months abode he brought away with him some of the Inhabitants and amongst others one called Essomeriq a King's Son who has left of his Posterity in Normandy New Holland seems to be that Land or rather those two great Islands of Petan and the lesser
Java which Mark Paul saith lies South East of the Isle of Java The Hollanders set so great a value upon these New Lands that they have caused the Map of them to be cut in inlaid or Mosaick Works upon the Pavement of their Stadt-House in Amsterdam America IS a part of the World bearing the Name of Americus Vesputius a Florentine tho' Christopher Columbus a Genoese discover'd it before him It has been also call'd the New World because it was not well known until the last Age and its bigness has made it pass for the greatest Continent of the Earth Sometimes it is called the West Indies and the Little Indies to distinguish it from the East Indies which are great and part of Asia Some give it the Name of the Spanish Indies because the King of Spain has the greatest and better part of it in his possession Thus the Name of Indies is common to two great Regions the one in our Continent the other in the other Hemisphere whether they were discover'd at the same time or that in both the Inhabitants go commonly naked or that from the one and the other are brought rich and precious Merchandize and Commodities or lastly whether the Pilot Alonze Zanches d' Andalousia being the same that saw America before Columbus and left him his Memoirs did think that it was joyn'd to the Indies of Asia In all probability America is the Atlantick Island of the Ancients some say that it is the real Tarsis which Monarchs to take from their People the knowledge of its great Riches and the desire of trading thither had given it very strange Names calling it Hell the Elysian Fields and the Fortunate Islands and that for the confounding the Name of Tarsis they had called by the same Name several Places of our Continent where the Merchants had their Banks and their Correspondencies Several are persuaded that the City and Island of Cadiz are now what was formerly Tarsis Those Soveraigns pretended there were Dragons Infernal Rivers sometimes a Cherubim with a flaming Sword which were probably nothing else than those storms which are frequent in the Torrid Zone and the Insults of Corsairs and Pyrates who watcht the the coming of the Gallies and Fleet from Terra firma to get Booty Several do assure us that it was to the Atlantick Isle Hanno the Carthaginian went when he conducted towards the South West a Fleet of Sixty Sail with Thirty Thousand Men. They also say That five years afterwards the same Hanno being return'd into his own Countrey prohibited all such Voyages to his Citizens that their City might not be depopulated by their going to dwell there charmed with the great Riches that were to be found in those-Countries for fear the Rebels might make it an Asile to the ruin of their State Those Authors find but little credit who undertake to prove by a feigned Medal of Augustus which was pretended to be found in those parts or by a supposed Marble taken out of the ground in Portugal under King Emanuel with Latin Verses of a forged Sybile touching the discovery of this New World If it be then true that America was known by the Ancients we may say that the perils People must expose themselves to in traversing the Seas that are between the two great Continents before they arrive there and the little experience the Ancients had in Navigation did make 'em abandon the persuit of their Commerce into these Regions and that had it not been for the favourable reception that was made by Ferdinand King of Arragon and Castile to Columbus whose proposal had been rejected by the Government of Genoa the Kings of Portugal and England we should perhaps be still to learn if there was any other Continent than ours America is divided into two great parts or Peninsula's the one Northern called Mexicana the other Southern called Peruana This Division is according to the Isthmus or neck of Land which lyes near Panama and not according to the Equinoctial Line The Spaniards had once a design in their heads to cut through that Isthmus for the sparing the Charges which are far greater to them in that Tract of Land by the transportation of their Merchandizes when they go to Peru or return from thence than in all the way by Sea they make between Spain and America tho' this way be above two thousand Leagues But were not able to bring this Enterprize of theirs about The Countries of Northern America are as you go from the North to the South Canada or New France Virginia Florida New Mexico Mexico or New Spain and the Islands of the Antilles You find in Southern America all along the Seas the Terra firma where is Castella del Oro and Guyana Peru Chili Magellanica Paraguay where is Tucuman and la Plata and lastly Brasile America is environned with the Sea if it be true that towards the North West it is separated from the Land of Jesso by the Streights of Anien Those who make it as big as Asia and Africa together compare its Northern part to Asia and its Southern to Africa It has the advantage of being fertil and temperate by reason of its great and goodly Rivers and of the cool Winds that arise there even in the Torrid Zone where the Inhabitants have not the blackness which is natural in most of the Africans and in some Asiaticks of our Continent who inhabit under the same Zone This makes us see that the most or the least heat is not always caused by the proximity or remoteness of the Sun and that which contributes thereto often is the situation of Places the disposition of the Mountains and Valleys the quality of the Soil and the diversity of the Winds which blow in those respective Regions The Riches of America are so great that Spain has drawn out from thence and does still draw every year a prodigious quantity of Gold and Silver of which many private persons of Europe both in Peace and War under diverse borrowed Names receive a good share The Mines of Potosi have always furnished an immense number of Millions Never were any Riches comparable to those of Atabalipa and of Guainacapa Kings of Peru and to the precious Furnitures of the City of Cusco It was no extraordinary thing during the Reign of those Kings to see in some Cities of those Countreys Temples Wainscoted with Silver and Houses Cover'd with Sheets of Gold The Spaniards do affirm their King draws from thence every year above Twelve Millions of Livres by means of the Impositions he lays upon Commodities that are transported from those Parts As Gold Silver Pearls Emeraulds Skins Sugar Tobacco Cutchenelle Sarzepareilla Ginger and several other things Yet it is made out that the first Expence for the discovery of America came but to Fifteen Thousand Ducats which were advanced to Columbus by a Secretary of the King of Spain The Mexican and Peruvian were the only Nations amongst the Americans who had Cities
Crescent very capacious deep and secure for Ships being big enough to secure five hundred Vessels at once from all storms The Town is long containing several Streets and adorned with abundance of well built Houses being the place of Residence of the Governour or His Deputy where the Courts of Judicature are kept It hath two strong Forts opposite to each other for its defence and the security of the Ships but the Town is ill seated the Ground being lower than the Banks of the Sea Little Bristol formerly Sprights Bay scituate about four Leagues from St. Michael a commodious Road for Ships well frequented and defended by two strong Forts St. James formerly called the Hall seated not far from Bristol here is a good Road for Ships also and is a place of considerable Trade Also Charles-Town about two Leagues from St. Michael where are kept weekly Markets and Monthly Courts for the Precincts there are also several good Bays belonging to this Island as Fowle-Bay Austins-Bay Maxwel-Bay c. and here are divers Caves some of which are very deep and large enough to hold five hundred men and those Caves are often the Sanctuaries of such Negro slaves as run away and it is supposed that these Caves were the Habitations of the Natives The Riches and Commodities of the Island consist in Indico Cotton and Ginger in great abundance Logwood Fustick Lignumvitae and Sugars whereof there is so great a quantity that they freight above a hundred Ships with it every year the Inhabitants truck it for other Commodities at the rate of thirty shillings the Quintal this Isle is so very fertil that it bears Crops all the year long The Trees Fields and Woods being alwayes in their Summer Livery They have here in their Seas several sorts of Fish as Cavalos Cong-fish Green Turtles c. which of all other are the most delicious with several other sorts appropriate to this and the rest of the Caribby Isles Here are also almost all sorts of English Herbs and Roots and several sorts of Fowls and great variety of small Birds but no Beasts or Cattel but what are tame and imported as Camels Horses Asnegroes Oxen Bulls Cows Sheep Goats and Hoggs in great plenty here are also Snakes a yard and a half long Scorpions as big as Rats and Lizzards but neither of them hurtful to Man or Beast Musketoes Cock-Roches and Merry-Wings which are very troublesom in the night in stinging and here are Land Crabs in great abundance which are found good to eat and a small Flie called Cayo whose Wings in the night as it flies affords a mighty lustre and the Indians do commonly catch them and tye them to their hands and feet and make use of them instead of Comets which are forbidden them here are also abundance of Fruits as Dates Oranges Pomgranates Citrons Lemmons Icacos Cherries Raisins Indian Figgs Pine-Apples the rarest Fruit in the Indies with several other sorts and for Trees here are great varieties fit for several uses as the Locusts Mastick Red-wood the Prickle Yellow-wood Ironwood-tree Cedar Cassia Fistula Colloquintida Tamorins Cassary Poyson-tree Physick-Nut Calabash the shells of which Tree serveth them for Troughs to carry liquid things in and the Roneon of whose Bark is made Ropes and also Flax Lignum-vitae with several others The other Antilles Islands which are Inhabited have Colonies either of English French or Hollanders There are some other Isles along the Coasts of Terra-firma which are called Sotavento because that in respect of the others which are on the North-East and which go under the Name of Barlovento they are below the Wind which blows commonly from the East to the West Margareta and Cubagua had formerly the Fishing of Pearls which prov'd very profitable to the Spaniads having used all imaginable stratagems to Fish there for those Oysters wherein they found the Pearls Tobago which has given its name to Tobacco or else has received its own from that weed has a Colony of Zelanders Tobacco was formerly called the Nicotion Herb by reason one Doctor Nicot was the first who introduced the use of it into Europe Those who call'd it the Queens Herb gave it that name as having been first presented to a Queen of Spain Castella Aurea CAstella Aurea so called from the Gold which the Spaniards found there in so great abundance that in the Year 1514. several of their Country-men would needs go thither in the Opinion that it was there to be Fisht for with Nets Its Inhabitants eat Crocodiles Serpents whose flesh they find very delicate Food The Spaniards have there several Provinces Terra-firma Cartagena Sancka Martha the Rio de la Hacha Venezuela New Andalousia Popayen and the New Kingdom of Granada The Terra-firma lies near the Isthmus which joyns the two America's It is different from the great Terra-firma which makes part of the Northern America upon the North Sea It s called so as being the first Land of the Continent of America that was discovered after the Islands It s City of Panama upon the South Sea is the Store-House or Magazine of the Gold and Silver of Peru which is afterwards carried by Land to Porto Belo which is sixteen or eighteen Leagues from thence upon the North Sea which is much augmented from the ruins of the City of Nombre de Dios which the ill Air had caused the Spaniards to abandon At Porto-Belo this Gold and Silver is put on board of Ships which carry it into Spain In the way from Panama to Porto-Belo they have the conveniency of the River of Chagre if they please to make use of it and then departing from Panama you have but five Leagues by Land after which they Embark upon that River By the same way do they bring their Merchandizes out of Spain into Peru. In the Year 1668. the English plundered Porto Belo exacted very considerable summs from the Spaniards before they would restore it them The Buccaniers and other Privateers have done the like Cartagena affords Balm Rosin and several sorts of Gums Its Inhabitants had formerly peculiar places whither they carried the Bodies of their Dead with their Gold their Necklaces and other most precious Ornaments The Spaniards to take advantage of this have shown those Relicks the light for the second time the City which is in a Peninsula has had its Name from the resemblance of its Harbour with that of Cartagena in Europe 'T is one of the best of America the Rendezvouze of the Fleets which come from Cadiz for the Terra-firma Sancta Martha produces almost all the sorts of Fruits that are had in Spain and there you see the beginning of those High Mountains which under the Names of Andes advance towards the South The Rio de la Hacha no longer affords the fishing of Pearls in its Neighbourhood Venezuela had this Name from a Town that was found built there upon Piles of Wood in the midst of Waters When this Countrey was Discovered the Germans to
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
rare Colonies as in the most considerable of their Conquests notwithstanding the misunderstanding that arose between Cortez and Narvaez their principal Commanders This Region tho' under the Torrid Zone seems to enjoy a perpetual Spring by reason of the purity of its Air and the goodness of its Soyl. 'T is the finest the most agreeable and the most populous of all America All Northern America is called Mexicana It has Mines of Gold and Silver wherein they work with more ease than in those of Peru the Silver that is drawn from thence is unquestionably the best in the World It produces that admirable Plant of Magucaz which produces small Wine Vinegar Honey Needles Thread Stuffs and Timber proper for building It has Cotton Hides Silk Wool Balm Sugar Salt that is made in its Lakes and several sorts of good Fruits It has all the Commodities of Europe unless Wine and Oyl Formerly 't was an Elective Kingdom full of great Cities governed with great Policy and its Inhabitants very civil Its Kings could bring into the Field Armies of three or four hundred thousand tall fighting Men. The Kings of Spain who have a Vice-Roy there whose Residence is in the Castle of Mexico have taken care to erect several Bishopricks The Mexicans are well made dexterous in melting their Metals and in making Pictures of their Feathers which they have off their Cincons small Birds of their Countrey which live only upon Dew They keep their Balls in the open Field where it is pleasant to see 'em Dance or rather make Gamboles and perform the Double Sommerset sometimes two or three thousand together Formerly the Mexicans divided their Countreys into hot and cold At present the Spaniards reckon their several small Provinces as New Galicia Guadalaira New Biscay Mexico Mechoachan Panuco Jucatan Guatimala Honduras Nicaregua Costarica Veragua and others They have establish'd Royal Audiences I mean Parliaments at Mexico Guadalaira and Guatimala There is a sort of Ravenous Birds in Guadalaira which are not much greater than our Sparrows and nevertheless make a horrible distruction of their Corn they have Bees too without stings The Province of Mexico properly taken is that which lies near the City of Mexico the greatest richest and best peopled of all America This City suffer'd a great loss in the Year 1629. all its Digues and most of its Houses having been carried away by the violence of the Waters its scituation being neer a Salt-water-Lake of about twenty five or thirty Leagues in circuit where there enters another Lake of sweet Water Since that it has been rebuilt and has full a hundred thousand Houses great and small Before the coming of the Spaniard into this Countrey there were several places very considerable neer Mexico Chulula contain'd above twenty thousand Houses with as many Temples as there are days in the year and its Inhabitants did annually put to death five or six thousand of their Children in sacrificing them to their Idols Tezeuco was twice as big as Seville in Spain Queretaro had a Fountain which wou'd furnish Water for four years together and cease running four years after Los Angelos upon the way from Vera Cruz to Mexico is a City of ten thousand Inhabitants where is a Bishoprick of great Revenue there 's also a Mint for the coining of Money Cloth Hats and excellent Glasses are made there too Acapulco upon the South Sea with a Fort of five Bastions is a Bay of good security tho' at the entrance it be but a League in breadth Jucatum is a Peninsula between the two Gulphs where the City of Merida is so call'd upon the account of its ancient Structures and Buildings which were found equal to those of Merida in Europe Tabasco the first City that made any defence against the Spaniards is a Province where the Inhabitants have great Priviledges because they contributed much to the Conquest of Mexico Near Tabasco Cortez gain'd a great Victory in the Year 1518. over Montezuma the Ninth and last King of Mexico We killed there upon the spot above three hundred thousand Indians This Land is so fertile that a Peasant having caused two Sheep to come thither from Castile those two Sheep multiplied in such a manner that there were above forty thousand of 'em in a few years The Isle of Cozumel near the Coast is famous upon the account of its ancient Idol Guatimala produces Balm Sulphur Wood and Cacao which is a Fruit like to little Almonds whereof the Inhabitants make a very delicious Drink Near Guatimala is a Vulcan that is a Mountain which casts forth Fire where a private person seeking after Treasures which he fancied there found the End both of his Wealth and his Life The Henduras furnishes Honey Cotten Cloaths and Wool Niceregua was first of all named the Paradice of Mahomet by reason of its fertility and the quantity of its Gold Its Lake of a hundred and thirty Leagues in length ebbs and flows and disgorges it self into the North Sea There was once a design of communicating it with the South Sea but they imagin'd this would cause a great deal of disorder this Sea being much higher than the North Sea because of several Rivers which have their source in its Neighbourhood and nevertheless fall into the North Sea One of the last Kings of Niceregua seems to have had some knowledge of the Mysteries of our Faith He ask'd the Spaniards What they knew of the Deluge If any was to happen If the Sun and Moon won'd one day lose their light What was the Cause of their Motion Whither the Souls went after the separation from their Bodies If the Pope and Emperour were immortal And for what reason they sought after Gold and Silver with so much Eagerness and so many Perils The Caribby Isles or the Antilles UNder the Name of Antilles are generally known all the Islands of the North Sea which are between Florida New Spain and the firm-Firm-Land of Southern America The Luccayes seem to be so called from that of Lucayonequo Bahama gives its name there to a Channel wondrously rapid from the South to the North and famous at present for the passage of the Spanish Fleets in their return from Mexico and from the Terra Firma of America in Europe Bimini which is a place of no easie access by reason of the Flats and Rocks thereabouts has had the renown of having a Fountain which made people young again because the Women there were extraordinary Beautiful and that for their sakes several Men went to dwell there Guanahani is that which was first spyed out by Columbus who called it San. Salvador by reason it was the cause of saving him from the Conspiracy of his Men who a little before would have cast him into the Sea as not in their mind meeting soon enough with those Lands whereof he had given them such hopes Hispagniola otherwise Saint Domingo is the first Country in the New World where the Spaniards built Towns and Fortresses
he ever had lost before Argiers The Kingdom of Tunis can pride it self in the Birth of Hannibal Asdrubal Terence and other great Men and Christianity is obliged to it for the Birth of Tertullian St. Cyprian and St. Augustin The City of Tunis has encreased it self from the Ruins of Carthage the Great formerly the Rival of Rome and the Capital City of a very considerable State At present it obeys a Prince whom they call the Dey Bizerta and Souza are two places where those of Tunis do often keep their Pyrate Ships Souza is composed of the High and Low Town Mahometa is the ancient Adrumetum or Adrumyssus near which some have been pleased to say that formerly thirty Gaulish Cavaliers repulsed above two thousand Moors Caraan has been the Seat of a Calif that is to say of a Mahometan Pontiffe It is the Ancient Thisdrus where Massinissa gained over Asdrubal the Battel which Scipio was spectator of Beja is in a soyl so fertil in Corn that it 's a saying of that Countrey That if there were two Beja's there would be as much Corn as there are grains of sand in the Sea Guadibarbar makes so many turnings and windings that it is passed full five and twenty times in the way from Bone to Tunis Between the Kingdom of Tunis and the Isle of Maltha there are some small Islands Pantalaria belonging to the King of Spain with a Gulph where the vapour which clings to the Rock above distils as much Water as is necessary for the use of the Inhabitants Lampadosa and Linosa depends on the Order of Maltha There is in Lampadosa a Chapel famous for the Offerings both of Christians and Turks And it has been observ'd that the Sacrilegious have never been able to carry any thing away from thence with impunity The Kingdom of Tripoly is a barren Land considerable only for Pyracies and the Commerce of its City called Tripoly of Barbary that it may be distinguish'd from those others of Souria and Natolia which go under the same Name Upon the Coasts of that Kingdom is the Island Zerbi where in the Year 1560 the Spaniards were defeated by the Infidels In this Island was it also that the Corsair Dragut escaped from the famous Doria this last held him there so narrowly Besieg'd that he could not stir out the other bethought himself of making a Channel without the Christians perceiving it and so in a clear night he had the means of Transporting his Galleys into another part of the Island and of retiring to open Sea where he came and presented himself before his Enemy who was in no small surprize The Land of Barca begins at the place where stood formerly the Altars of the Philenians which had also served for Bounds to the States of Carthage and Cyrene and since to the Empires of the West and East 'T is only a meager and desart Plain where stands the City of Caruenna formerly Cirene the Capital of a small State which was given by Cirus for a retreat to King Croesus In this Country did the Psilloe inhabit who had the reputation of making Serpents die only by their presence Egypt FEw Countreys have had so many ancient Names as Egypt the Hebrews and Jews call'd it Mesraim and the Egyptians at present call it Chibet It s length that is to say its extent from the North to the South is two hundred Leagues and its breadth which is what it contains from the West to the East is confin'd by the Mountains which bound the Valley of the Nile It is the only Region of Africa which touches Asia and the Countrey the most populous in the World tho' the Air be somewhat bad Its Women do often bring forth two or three Children at a time which is attributed to the Water of the Nile Egypt was no less peopled formerly if it be true that under Amasis one of its ancient Kings it had full twenty thousand Cities The plenty of Corn it affords made the Ancients call it the Publick Granary of the World The abundance or famine of the Roman Empire depended on the good or ill Harvest in Egypt The Nile by the inundation of its Waters which are full of Nitre as we said before gives it this advantage not by wholly covering the Lands as several have imagin'd but being brought into several Channels after the Inhabitants have broke the Dikes That part which is on the East of the Nile is more fruitful than that which is on the East of the River Its Plants grow so abundantly that they would stifle one another if they did not prevent it by casting Sand in the field Thus it is somewhat surprizing that the Egyptians make their Lands lean with Sand whereas other Nations endeavour to fatten theirs with Dung Besides Corn they transport out of this Countrey Rice Sugar Dates Sena Cassia excellent Balm Skins Linnen and Cloth They are but ill inform'd who say that it never Rains there whereas there are frequent Showers during the Months of November December and January principally on the Mountains and in the lower parts Still are there at this day to be seen in Egypt Pyramids Obelisques Labyrinths and other Works which its ancient Kings caus'd to be made at an extraordinary charge to shew their Power and to give Employment to their People The Statue of Memnon was formerly very considerable there as well as the Pharos near Alexandria But among all these several Works it has been observ'd that the Pyramid is the most solid Monument Antiquity has left us There remains nothing more in the Lake Meris than the place of the Labyrinth which is said to have had above three thousand three hundred Chambers The Mummys which are very frequent in this Region and which Travellers take delight to bring into Europe are Humane Bodies pitch'd and embalm'd that have been preserv'd above two or three thousand years in Caverns whither the ancient Egyptians took care to carry them They passed for that purpose a Lake in a Bark and so first gave occasion to the Fable of Charon Fiction has made Gods Heroes and Men reign in Egypt History gives an account of several of its Kings before Alexander the Great It says that among those Kings Sesostris was the greatest Conquerour that Memnon having dedicated his Statue to the Sun it saluted that Star at its rising that Busiris pass'd there for a Tyrant by reason of the Cruelties he exercised over the Hebrews that Cencres is the Pharoah who was drowned in the Red Sea that Protcus had the repute of changing his Form because he had divers sorts of Head-array that Chemnis employed three hundred and sixty thousand Men for twenty years together in building the first and greatest Pyramid that Sesonchis with an Army of four hundred thousand Foot and sixty thousand Horse took Jerusalem and that Sennacherib King of the Assyrians being come against him wild Rats gnaw'd the Bow-strings in the Assyrian Army that Necaus began the Channel for the
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
Negroes appointed for Brasile The Males alone have Right of succeeding in this Kingdom and all Lands belong to the King who is called Mani The Inhabitants have Horses of Wood the use of which is mighty pleasant They lay a piece of an Oxes Hide of the bigness of a Saddle upon a Post near twelve inches thick and he who travels is seated thereon with his leggs on each side all this is carried by two strong men who find others in the way to relieve them Learning is amongst them in so little estimation that when Emanuel King of Portugal had sent to their King all the excellent Books of Law that he could meet with with a considerable number of Civilians This Prince sent the Doctors back and caused the Books to be burnt saying They would but puzzle the Brains of his Subjects who stood in need of nothing but honest reasonable old fashion'd Thinking and common Sense That nevertheless he should be no less a friend of the King of Portugal They still reckon under the notion of Congo the Kingdoms of Angola Cacongo and Malemba The Ansicain people who have the Qualities of the Basques in France And lastly the Bramas and Loanghi Those Kingdoms and People no longer acknowledge the Soveraignty of the King of Congo as they did formerly The King of Angola calls himself the Soba His Subjects love Doggs flesh to that degree that they bring up whole Herds or Packs of them and one Dogg alone well sed is sometimes sold amongst them for above two hundred Crowns They have nothing recommendable but their Dexterity in shooting with the Bow They will let fly a dozen Arrows before the first be fallen upon the ground They say the Sun is a Man the Moon a Woman and the Stars the Children of that Man and that Woman Cafreria and Mono-Motapa THe Land of Cafreria is the most Southern of all Africk nay of all our Continent reaching along the Aethiopick-Sea with an extent of Coasts for about twelve hundred Leagues part in the Torrid and part in the temperate Southern Zone 'T is full of Mountains subject to great Colds and under several petty Kings who for the most part pay tribute to the Emperour of Mono-Motapa The King of Sofala pays it to the King of Portugal who has a Garrison in the Castle of Sofala and who by the means of this Garrison draws abundance of Gold from the Mines which are in the inland Countrey This Gold is accounted as good as any in the World they gather it likewise in the Rivers with Nets after there has been Rain Solomon might possibly have had his come from hence which he employed in the building of the Temple The Coast of Cafreria is low and full of Woods the Soyl produces Flowers of an grateful smell and the Trees make a curious prospect Three great Rivers discharge ' emselves into the Indian Seas through Cafreria all three known in the beginning under the name of Zambera Cuama Spirito Santo les Infantes The Cafres live without Law so as their Name speaks them They often furnish the Seamen who come thither with their Cattel But the Mariners now cause the Oxen they buy to betied to great Posts and shut up the Sheep before they pay 'em because the Cafres after having sold 'em were used to make 'em return home with the Call of a Whistle which is wholly peculiar to ' em We may say of 'em in seeing their colour that they resemble our Chimney-sweepers Besides that they have big Heads flat Noses whether they take care to break them in their infancy or that this happens because when they are little their Mothers carry them continually upon the Back Be it how it will they look upon it as one of the Beauties of the Countrey to have them in that manner They have frizl'd Hair Lips extraordinary big the Chine of the Back sticking out sharp and very large Hips insomuch that nothing can be seen more terrible So that we are not to wonder if Pirard calls 'em those Devils of Cafres The Cape of Good Hope which lies toward the most Southern part of this Countrey is by much the longest the most famous and the most dangerous Cape in the World 'T was called so in hopes of arriving suddenly at the East-Indies when it was veered in the year 1498. Before it had the Name of the Tempestuous Cape from the storms that are frequent thereabouts Some have call'd it the Lyon of the Sea others the Head of Africa There are Signs by which the Sailers know when they are near it fifty or sixty Leagues off they find the Bodies of great Reeds called Trombes floating on the Sea and they see flying a number of white Birds mark'd with black spots They who return from the East-Indies see Troops of Sea Wolves made like Bears and then they are continually sounding This Cape serves for bounds to the East and West-India-Companies As they go to the East-Indies and return from thence they must of necessity come in ken of it The Land enjovs a temperate Air several Valleys have Herbs and Flowers in abundance There are Rivers full of Fish and Woods full of Deer and Cattel The Inhabitants who make their Garments of Beasts-skins are very good at running but very villanous in their Diet and when they speak you 'd think you heard Turkey-Cocks Mono-Motapa which is entirely in the Terra firma is almost environ'd with Cafreria It goes under the Name of its King whereas Kings commonly go under the Names of the Countreys that are subject to ' em It is fertile abounding in Ivory and so rich in Gold that the King of it is called the Golden Emperour The Inhabitants who are very superstitious have Pikes Bows and Arrows for their Arms several of 'em are so swift o' foot that they equal Horses in running The Common People only wear Garments below their middle A Relation that was publish'd in the year 1631 tells us That the King then reigning was baptiz'd with all his Court by the Jesuits This Prince is commonly adorn'd with Chains and Jewels like a Bride He is said to have for his usual Guard a Regiment of Women and another of Doggs and that in the Armies those Women do not less service than the Men. The Princes who pay him Tribute receive every Year firing from him for a Mark of the Fealty they owe him the City which is the most considerable has the same Name with the Kingdom Zimbaoe is a square Fortress and the abode of the Court Mono-Emugi is a State on the North of Mono-Motapa The Giaques otherwise called Galles and Chava border upon it and are illustrious for their Valour and for their Conquests which they have made in our time over Abissinia in the upper Aethiopia Zanguebar ZAnguebar of Barbary is a great Coast in the Oriental part of Africa along the Indian-Sea on each side the Equinoctial 'T is a low fenny woody Countrey which by the extremity of the
exact Discoveries of all the Eastern and Southern Coast of the Island The Isle of Bourbon called formerly Mascharenhe five and twenty Leagues in length and fourteen in breadth is in possession of the French It has a Vulcano that is to say a Mountain that spits and casts forth fire the rest of its Land is by much the best and finest Countrey in the World the Waters are very healthful and it has most of the Commodities that are in the Isle of Madagascar The Isle of Maltha MAltha about the midst of the Mediterranean-Sea was formerly call'd Melita by reason of its Honey 'T is attributed to Africk because nearer it than the firm Land of Europe and because the Maltheses have great conformity with the Africans in point of manners It s Land and its Stones have Vertues altogether singular if there be Serpents they have no venome Some appropriate to this Island the particulars of the Shipwrack of St. Paul and those of the little Dogs which others affirm to have been in the Isle of Melada in the Gulph of Venice The Isle of Maltha has often had the same Soveraigns with Sicily at present it is the abode of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem under a Prince whom they call the Great Master The Patron of the Order is St. John Baptist and nevertheless the Name of St. John was given it upon occasion of the place where that Order was first of all establish'd and by reason of a St. John Bishop of Alexandria celebrated for his great and bountiful Alms. The Emperour Charles the Fifth gave it to the Knights who had no setled abode since the loss of Rhodes and who before had resided at Jerusalem at Margat Acre and Limisso in the Isle of Cyprus The Order is compos'd of eight Tongues which are as many principal Nations Provence Auvergne France Italy Aragon England Germany and Castile To each of 'em belong some considerable Dignities Priories and Commanderies The three Tongues of France have full three hundred Commanderies and the five others together have not many more The Name of Knight was not in use in the beginning of the institution of the Order The Religious were then called Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem One of the Statutes of the Order bears That the Knights ought rather to lose their Lives than yield up the Places that are confided to their keeping The Island produces several good Fruits as it has little Corn and Wine to nourish seventy five or eighty thousand persons Sicily does commonly supply that want They make account there of fifteen thousand Men fit for service and they now keep there eight good Galleys It is but ten Leagues in length and five in breadth with several Harbours and Roads that are called Calles and Marsa It is the best fortified of the World as being the principal Rampart and Bulwark of Christendom and its Fortresses have above three hundred pieces of Canon By reason of its strength and the valour of its Knights they say Maltha fior del Mondo There are four Towns the City which is about the midst of the Island Valetta a new City the victorious Burg City which repulsed the Turks in the Year 1565 and St. Michael which is now called the Isle de la Sangle the three last are near one another and seem to make but one La Goza a small Island near that of Maltha affords good Hawks the Great Master styles himself the Prince of it They call those young Knights whom they mean to droll upon for their Bravading by the Title of Prince of Forfola which is a Rock near the Coast Of some other Islands of Africa MAdera eighteen Leagues in compass in the Atlantick and on the North of the Canaries belongs to the Crown of Portugal It enjoys a pleasant Air is not subject to excessive Heats but never feels any Cold. Seven or eight small Rivers contribute much to its temperature It is call'd the Queen of Islands by reason of its Beauty and the fertility of its Soil which produces excellent Wine Here grow also delicate Fruits and they make the best Sugar in the World which furnishes the means of preparing Marmalade Codinniack and other such like Preserves It has three Towns the principal is Funchal the Residence of the Governour and the Bishop 'T is at the foot of a Mountain which is full five Quarts of a League high with three Fortresses and an Harbour in form of a Crescent where Ships may come and lye at Anchor within Pistol-shot of the Town St. Thomas under the Equinoctial is rich in Sugar the Air bad for those Foreigners who go to dwell there they never grow bigger than they were at their first arrival there The Portuguese were the first who subdued it It s best Town is Pavoasan of about seven hundred Families with a Fortress in the Eastern part of the Island at present belonging to the Hollanders It has several Trees like to that of the Island of Fierro they have the same circumstance of distilling Water continually for the use of the Inhabitants Their Swines-flesh is more pleasant and more healthful than that of Fowl by reason that Creature is fed with Canes that produce Sugar The Prince's Island has had this Name since that its Revenue was set apart for the maintenance of the Prince of Portugal Annabon was so called having been first discovered on the first day of the Year The Portuguese have an Habitation there in its Northern part St. Helena of sixteen Leagues in compass is in the Ethiopick There is not an Island in the World farther distant from the Terra firma They call it the Sea's Inn because it has fresh Water in abundance and that those who come from the East-Indies are us'd to touch there to take it in It 's high and full of Mountains with a very clear Coast without Rocks where is even near the Rocks above ten fathom Water The English have found such great accommodation here that they have built a Fort in the Island Zocotora and Bebelmendel are towards the Red Sea this last in the Streight which receives its Name where the passage is most commodious on the side of Africa Zocotora near the Cap Guadarfu five and twenty Leagues in length and ten in breadth obeys a King that is an Arabian It has a good Road and Bays very commodious where Ships may ride safe at Anchor even near the Rocks Ships may Winter there more conveniently than at Mozambique or Mombaze the Air being healthful the Entrance of the Bar without danger and the Cattel in great plenty AsÃa THis part of the World which is called the Levant by reason of its scituation on the East of Europe and of Africa is the greatest of the three which compose our Continent It s Length from the West to the East is full two thousand five hundred French Leagues from the Western parts of Natolia to the most Eastern parts of China If we include herein
the Territories of Tartary as far as the Channel of Piecko and the Streight of Vries which separate it from the Land of Jesso this length would contain above thirty Degrees of Longitude more The Breadth of Asia without comprehending therein the Islands is seventy two Degrees which make above eighteen hundred of the forementioned Leagues and all this in the Northern Temperate Zone except some Peninsula's which are in the Torrid Zone Several do believe that the Terrestrial Paradice was in Asia and so that Adam was Created there Asia was the Lot of Sem the Eldest of Noah's Sons God has wrought herein the principal Mysteries of the ancient and new Law and therein Jesus Christ was born 'T was in Asia that Man did first breath From Asia came the Customs Religions Manners Laws and Learning which after the Universal Deluge spread themselves into other parts of the Earth Asia is famous for the Monarchies of the Assyrians Medes Babylonians Persians and Califfs for the Phoenician People who first taught the Greeks and other Nations a good part of the Arts and Sciences The four principal Religions are followed there The Jewish the Mahometan and Idolatrous more than the Christian Idolatry began there among the Assyrians Judaism amongst the Hebrews Christianity in the Holy Land and Mahometism in Arabia Several Missions have been established there by Christian Princes those of Turkey under the Protection of France those of the Indies under the Protection of Portugal those of the Philippines under the Protection of Castile There are four Archbishopricks and seven Bishopricks in the East-Indies where likewise the Jesuits have three Provinces that of Goa that of Malabar and that of Japan Since the Peace of the Year 1659 France sent thither the Bishops of Heliopolis Metellopolis Berite and Caesarea with design of setling Christianity and of carrying it as far as into China They have made considerable progresses notwithstanding the impositions of the Spaniards who would have impos'd on the Bishop of Heliopolis Intreagues of affairs of State and made him take a turn round the World without his desiring it Mahometism is receiv'd by the four principal Nations of Asia by the Turks Arabians Persians and Tartars The Turks in matters of Religion are the freest the Arabians the most superstitious the Persians the most rational and the Tartars the most simple Some make up the number of seventy two Sects of them which are commonly reduced to two to that of the Turks following the Doctrin of Homar and to that of the Persians according to the Doctrin of Hali. These last have their Patriarch at Ispahan the Turks have theirs at Bagdad The Greeks have theirs who bear the names of Antioch and Jerusalem There be still other Schismaticks Jacobites who have their Patriarch at Caramit Nestorians Cophites Georgiens Syrians who bear the name of their Chief and not of Syria And Armenians These last have two Patriarcks the one at Nassivan in Media the other at Ciz in Cilicia The Maronites have theirs at Canobin in Mount Libanus The Papists boast of having brought over several to their Church within a few years past Asia towards the West is separated from Africa by the Red Sea and by the Isthmus of Sues It is divided from Europe by several Seas and Streights which I shall enumerate in the Article upon Europe Towards the other Regions of the World Asia is environ'd with the Ocean known under the Name of Tartary towards the North under that of China towards the East and under that of the Indies towards the South Some have endeavoured to persuade us that the Hollanders have of late traded into Japan by the Sea of Tartary if this be true those people keep that Voyage very secret and are much afraid that other Nations should have any knowledge thereof The principal Seas within the Inland Country are the Caspian which now receives other Names from the Provinces and Cities which are near it It has salt Waters tho' it has the Fish of Fresh Waters This made the Ancients believe in that it communicated with the Ocean it may well communicate with some Sea by the subterraneous Meatus It receives several great Rivers and nevertheless does not swell The Sea El-Catif is that of Persia The Dead Sea is small in respect of others yet it is famous by reason of the Holy Land where it is It has this name of the Dead Sea given it because its Waters have no Motion The principal Rivers of Asia are the Euphrates Tigris Indus Ganges Quiam and Obi. Caucasus and Taurus so celebrated by the Ancients are the highest Mountains in this part of the World The Inhabitants of the Country have them under other Names The Air almost of all Asia is found to be temperate If we consider its Gold Silver precious Stones Drugs Spices Silk Stuffs we must own that it is the richest as well as the most temperate part of the World The fishing for Pearls is in three principal places at the Isle Baharem in the Persian Sea the Island Manar upon the Coast of the Indus and that of Ainan near China Amongst the Products of Asia they esteem the Diamonds of Golconda and Narsinâ—a the Pepper and Ginger of Malabar the Stuffs of Bengala the Rubies and Lacca of Pegu the Dainties and Knacks of China the Cinnamon of Ceilan the Gold of Sumatra the Camphire of Borneo the Cloves of the Molucco's the Nutmegs of Banda the Sanders of Timor Four of the seven Wonders of the World were in Asia the Temple of Diana at Ephesus the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus the Walls of Babylon the Colossus at Rhodes the Statue of Jupiter Olympicus was in Europe the Pharos and the Pyramids in Africa The Asiaticks have ever been a people addicted to pleasures except some Tartars who by their incursions incommode their Neighbours continually they love fish more than flesh wherefore Priests in their Fasts and Lents eat only flesh Asia is under the Dominion of Potent Monarchs who can easily bring great Armies on foot of whom those of the Turks are the best Disciplin'd The most considerable of those Sovereigns are the Grand Segnior who resides in Europe the King of Persia the Great Cham of Tartary at present King of China in part and the great Mogul Several other great Princes are in Georgia Arabia Tartary in the Indies and in most of the Islands Divers people maintain their liberty in the Mountains The principal place of the Conquests of Portugal is Goa that of the Hollandens Jacatra otherwise Batavia in the Isle of Java The English and the French have their chief place of Traffick at Surat The Spaniards possess the Philippine Islands the Moscovites sway the best part of the Desart of Tartary which commonly be attributed to Asia In the division of this part of the World some Authors make it to be Inferior and Exterior in respect of Mount Taurus By this same Mountain the Greeks have made it a Citerior or Northorn and
Babilon have been so great that it alone contributed more to King Cirus than did the third part of his Dominions After Babilon Seleucia has been considerable in Assiria Ctesiphon Vologe-socerta and lastly Bagdad which is in the place of Ctesiphon Bagdad which some call Baldac and which is vulgarly called Babilon is not only resorted to by Merchants of several Nations but also by Mahometans who go thither from all parts of Asia to visit in its neighbourhood the Sepulchres of Omar Ali and other Disciples of Mahomet It was for a long while the Residence of the Caliphs one of whom named Vlit has had the glory of being Master of the greatest Monarchy that has ever been in the World It extended from the most Western parts of Barbary to the Indus 'T is observ'd of another Caliph of this same City that he left at his death eight Sons eight Daughters eight Millions of Gold eight thousand Slaves and his Dominions augmented by eight Kingdoms In the Year 1638 when the Grand Seignior Amurath the Fourth recover'd this strong and important City of Bagdad from the Persians he caus'd three Men of each Company of his Army to be cast into the Ditch and upon them a number of Faggots and Sacks of Wool for the making the Assault with the more facility Kufa is a Town which the Inhabitants have in peculiar veneration by reason of the Sepulcher of Ali. They keep there a Horse always ready to mount him whom they say is to come and convert the whole World to their Law Bassora is a Town near the mouth of the Tigris called Chat by those of the Countrey 'T is spacious and pleasant by reason of its Palm-Trees By the means of its Harbour it furnishes the Indies and Persia with Dates which serve for Bread and Wine to those who know how to prepare them It s great Commerce of Horses makes it often called by the Name of Mer-El-Catif They were used to Voyage upon this Sea or Gulph along the shoar and with the lead in hand The Barks that are made use of there are sewed with little Cords of Coco insomuch that not any Nails are to be perceived in ' em Some few years ago Bassora belong'd to Ali Bashaw who called himself King of it and who had this state from Father to Son and was the Dominus fac-totum paying only a small tribute to the Grand Seignior who did not press him for fear he should take the Persians side Souria is divided into Souria Phoenicia and the Holy Land Souria proper to the City of Aleppo which is reckoned for the best of all the Levant and contains above two hundred and fifty thousand Persons It is really the third of the Ottoman Empire if we consider the resort thither of the Caravans the Rendezvouz of the Turkish Armies in the Wars of Persia and all its other advantages The Jewels Spices Silks and other precious Commodities arrive here from the East by Sea and by Land They send them afterwards into Barbary by means of the Port of Alexandretta upon the Mediterranean Sea They there make use of Camels for the going to Bi r where they might have the conveniency of the Euphrates as far as the Neighbourhood of Bagdad but several Mills there hinder the Navigation It 's fine to see upon that River the Peasants going down the stream upon Goats-skins which they fill with Wind and let out again when they have made use of them Antioch which for excellency has the Denomination of Great was the abode of some Roman Emperours and the Cradle of Christianity St. Paul having established here the first Patriarchate of the Church It has had formerly a Suburb called Daphne which passed for one of the most delicious places in the World Damas the Metropolis of Phoenicia sends us sweet smelling Waters Wines pleasurable Fruits Prunes Raisins Cutlasses Sword Blades and other works which keep the Name of it They say that after the Battel of Issus Alexander the Great found in Damascus two hundred thousand six hundred Talents of Coined Money This City is in so fertile and so agreeable a scituation that some have called it the Paradice of the World Sayd otherwise Sidon has a French Consul for Trade Sur or Sour from whence came the Name of Souria is the ancient Tyre renowned for its fine Scarlet for its good Mariners for its Colonies and for the Siege of seven Months which it held out against Alexander the Great before he could take it In its Neighbourhood is to be seen the Castle of Tygade the ancient obode of Old de la Montagne Prince of the Assassins who executed blindly all the Orders of their Sovereign Saint John de Aere otherwise Ptolemaida formerly the Residence of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem is accompanied with a Sea-Haven Mount Libanus is remarkable for its height for its fertility for the ancient Cedars which have been found there since the Creation of the World It has full sixty Leagues in compass and forty Villages of the Maronites Those people who are Catholicks receive their Name from the Monastery of Saint-Maron They are in possession of four hundred Villages and can bring fifteen thousand Men in Arms. Canobin is the Residence of their Patriarch who bears the Title of that of Antioch Besides the Maronites in this Mount Libanus are Emirs or Princes and the Nations of the Druses Nassarians Kelbins who maintain there their liberty The Holy Land where the principal Mysteries of our Salvation were wrought is as it were in the midst of our Continent It was first of all named the Land of Canaan the Land of the Promise the Land of the Hebrews the Land of Israelites and afterwards Judea Palestine and finally the Holy Land by reason of the Birth and Death of the Saviour of the World and in consideration of the abode of the Prophets It s principal and first Divisions have been into eleven people who bore the Names of the Children of Canaan into fifty two Kingdoms and five Satrapies into twelve Tribes who went under the Names of the Children of Jacob. 'T is however to be observed that Manasses and Ephraim are the Names of the Children of Joseph who died before the Division and that the Tribes who had the Lands on the East of Jordan had them upon condition of engaging first in the most dangerous Actions The other Divisions of the Holy Land have been into twelve Governments under Solomon Into two Kingdoms Israel and Judah Into six Provinces after the Captivity of Babylon Into three Roman Provinces Into five Tribunals or Audiences by Gabinius And lastly Into three Ecclesiastical Provinces The Holy-Land has hardly at present any place of Remark and the Turks only preserve the Towns they have there by reason of the Money which they exact from the Pilgrims It had formerly Cities so rich so powerful and in such great numbers that no Countrey in the World was there that could be compared to 't for that
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
The Seine Loire Garone Rhosne in France The Danube Rhine Elbe Oder in Germany The Vistule and Nieper in Poland The Volga and Dom in Moscovy The Thames Trent Severn in England The Tay in Scotland The Shennon in Ireland We may consider the State of Europe according to their Titles without having regard to their Rank and say that there is the Patrimony of the Church Two Empires Germany and Turkey Seven Kingdoms each with its King who acknowledged yet no Superiors England France Spain Portugal Suedeland Denmark Poland this Elective Eight Electorates Mayence Treves Cologne Bohemia Bavaria Saxony Brandenbourg the Palatinate One Arch-Dutchy which is Austria Two Great Dutchies Moscovy Tuscany Six Dutchies besides those in the Empire Lorrain Savoy Mantua Modena Parma Courland Four Principalities which pay Homage to the Turks Transylvania Walachia Moldavia lesser Tartary Seven Republicks Holland Suisserland Venice Genoa Lucca St. Marin Ragusa A great number of Principalities and Imperial Cities in Germany enjoy Sovereignty in their States but owe Fealty to the Emperor The Christian Religion is the most received in Europe for which reason some give it the Name of Christendom By the Cares of the Europeans the Faith has been Preached and Established in America Africa and Asia Besides the Roman Catholicks the Protestants and the Reformed there are in Europe several Sectaries Mahometans and Idolaters in some Countries of the North. The Roman Catholick Religion is for the most part where is us'd the Latin Tongue The Schisms where they speak the Sclavonian Protestanism where the Teutonick is in use Judaism wandring in most parts of the World is tolerated in some Cities It has been particularly banish'd out of France Spain and Portugal Some who have undertaken to make the supputation of the Parts of the Earth Discover'd according to the Religions that are receiv'd up and down have said that if those Parts were divided into thirty Christianity would have five of them Mahometism six and Paganism nineteen In Europe are reckon'd four Principal Tongues the Teutonick the Latin the Greek and the Sclavonian The Teutonick is of three sorts German in Germany Saxon in England and Scotland Danish in Denmark in Sueden Norway and Ireland The Latin Tongue is receiv'd in Italy France and Spain The Greek was formerly of four sorts Attick Ionick Dorick Aeolick The Sclavonian is currant amongst the Sclavonians Bohemians Polanders Moscovites There are seven other less considerable Tongues the Albanese Cossack Hungarian Finlandish Irish British and Bask. The Cossack has affinity with that of the lesser Tartary the Finlandish is receiv'd in Finland and Lapland the Brittish in the Principality of Wales and in Brittany of France Amongst the Ancient People of Europe the Greeks have won the Prize for Sciences and the Roman for Arms In the last Ages its Western Nations have excell'd in Navigation The Present State of the Countries Fortresses and other Places which the Europeans stand Possess'd of in the East and West-Indies EVrope at first had but two Nations who in the last Age and towards the end of the Age before undertook with success Voyages of a long course and who afterwards sent Colonies into those Lands they had Discover'd the Spaniards towards the West the Portugals towards the East They obtained from Pope Alexander VI. a Donative of all the undiscover'd Lands The other Europeans were not satisfied with the over-Prodigal Liberality of this Sovereign Pontiff the English share therein the French and Hollanders were willing to have their share therein Since which there have been divers changes in several places of those Countries the rigour which the Spaniards and Portugals have used to exclude other Nations having only promoted their own Destruction The French have in Canada 1. Mont-real the three Rivers Quebec Tadousac upon the Great River of St. Laurence Accadia Port-Royal St. John Pemtagoet near the Sea the Isle of Cap-Breton in the Isle of Terra-Nova Plaisance the Bay of little Niort 2. In the Antilles Islands St. Christopher's in part the other part belonging to the English St. Bartholomew St. Croix St. Martin Guadaloupe la Desirce Mary-Galant the Saints Martinick St. Alousie Grenade the Grenadins The Tortuse and several Colonies in the Western Part of the Islands of Hispaniola called San-Domingo 3. In the Terra-firma of Southern America upon the Coast of Guayana the Isle of Cayene The Colony of Corou Coonama Comaribo 4. The Commerce of the Coast of Africa upon the Rivers of Senega of Gambia at Rufisque near Cap-Verd at Grand-Sestre at Ardre in several places of Guinea 5. The Fort Dauphin in the Isle of Madagascar The Isles of St. Mary of Bourbon of Diege-Rois Countoirs or Staples at Suratte at Souali and other Places of the Mogul Near Nazul-Patan at Rezapour at Siam in the Kingdom of Tunquim at Bantam in the Isle of Java and other Places The Spaniards possess the greatest and best part of America where they have a great number of Towns 1. In the Northern America New-Spain the Isles of Cuba Hispaniola the French have setled themselves in the Western part of Hispaniola Porto-rico St. Augustin St. Matthew in Florida a part of new Mexico 2. In Southern America la Castille d'or otherwise called Terra-firma Peru Chili Paraguay which comprehends the Countries of Tucuman and la Plata The Isles of Salomon in the South Sea 3. In the Coast of Africa upon the Ocean Larache the Canary Islands 4. Towards the East most of the Philippine Island called Manilhes They have a part of the Molucco Islands which they have abandoned and the Hollanders have not failed to make advantage of their so doing The Portuguese have 1. All the Coasts of Brasile in Southern America where are the Capitanias of Peru Maranhaon Ciara Riogrande Paraibe Tamaraca Pernambuco Seregippe Baia de Todos-os-Santos los-Isleos Porto-Seguro Spiritu-Santo Rio-Janeiro and San-Vincente Towards the Mouth of the Amazon the Places of Estero Corduba Cogemine 2. In Africa Mazagan upon the Coast of the Kingdom of Morocca Some Forts upon the River St. Dominick a Branch of the Niger upon the Coasts of Guinea of Congo of Angola Habitations in the Isle of St. Thomas The Isles Terceres Madera Porto-Santo Cap-Verd of the Prince of Fernando Pao of Annabon 3. Several Places in the East-Indies in Cafreria the Castle of Cofala the Village of Sena a Factory with a small Fort at the Cape of Corientes strong Houses of Cuama and on the Rivers of the Coast In Zanguchar the City and Castle of Mozambick with the Fort of St. Mark Factories and small Forts of Angoxa and Quilimane The Castle of Quiloa a Factory in the Isle Monfia The Town and Castle of Mombaze the Castle of Melinde with the Villages and Factories of Pata and Ampaze The Traffick in all the Coast of Africk from the Cape of Good-Hope to the Red-Sea in the Isle Zoeotora at Aden at Fartach at Bassora In Persia half of the Revenue of the Isle of Baharem of Congue the Traffick to Bender-Rich
of three or four Foot in length as thick as a Man's arm lying upon the Water with their Roots They are used to pass to such a distance to the Cape des Aiguilles that they can sound the Bank which is in the South of it From thence they go Eastward and then North-East to arrive at Madagascar In the above-mentioned Course they stay some time at the Canary Islands or in those of Cape Verd formerly at Cape Blanck Rufisque in the Isles of the Idols at Tagrin or in the Bay of Saldaignâ—â— upon the Coast of Africk according to their Occasions and Occurrences The Bay of Saldaigna which is seven or eight Leagues in length and two or three in breadth has good anchorage it looks like a Lake and it has good shelter about from five or six small Islands which are there The return into France is performed after another manner than the way they go from thence by reason of the General Winds which reign from the East West-wardly in the Torrid Zone as we have said After having doubled the Cape of Good-Hope and been some hundred Leagues to the East they pursue the Course North North-East unto the sixteenth Degree of Southern Latitude from whence they go directly West to ken the Island of St. Helena where they are used to refresh themselves the English have made there a Fort some few years since From the Isle of St. Helena they go to the Isle of Ascension where they have the conveniency of Fishing for Tortoise and then still towards the North-East until they come to the height of France In their return when they are somewhat on this side the Line they leave the Panedo of St. Peter on the left After that they leave the Isles of Cape-Verd on the right as well as the Tercera's and are very cautious of approaching the Abrolhes which lye on the West of those Islands The Portugals go to the East-Indies by the South of the Cape of Good-Hope their Navigation into the Indian Sea is regulated by certain Seasons and the Winds they call Muessons After having doubled that famous Cape they bend their Course for Goa between the firm Land of Africa and the Island Madagascar to the East or to the West of the Shores of India They go to refresh themselves at Mozambick and pass between the Isles Comorro and Juan-Miz then still to the North-East unto the sixteenth Degree of Northern Latitude in the distance of about a hundred Leagues from the Desart Coast At length they steer directly East for Goa When they go from Goa to Macao they they make Sail along Malabar towards the Cape of Comorin South of Ceilan and of all the Southern Islands They pass through the Streights which are near the Island Galli and Sail along Macasar and the Manilhes unto Macao This they do not without great inconveniencies and they take that great Circuit because the Hollanders hinder them from passing between the Streights of Malacca and Sunda nay and often scout 'em towards Cochim and at the Point of Galle upon the Coast of the Isle of Ceilan The Navigation from Macao to Japan is about twenty days In their return at their departure from Goa they pass by the Cape to the West about a hundred and fifty Leagues and come in ken of the Desart Coast of Africa and in sight of Land and get to Mozambick making Sail between the Isle of Madagascar and the Shores of India they Coast along the Land of Natal where the Currents are commonly from the North-East to the South-West and where the Navigation is very dangerous After which they return into Portugal by the Cape of Good-Hope following the above-mention'd Course The Course the Hollanders often take to the East-Indies is by the South of the Cape of Good-Hope They go thither sometimes through the Streights of le Maire and Brovers They take that way by reason of the Winds motion of the Water which they have then favourable in Sayling towards the West and because commonly they spend less time and lose fewer Men in this than in the other way When by the South of Africa they go and double the Cape of Good-Hope they after touch at the Bay they call Tafel-Bay This Bay is a commodious Retreat for Ships they can Anchor there with all safety at six or eight Fathom Water and shelter themselves from the Storms which are very frequent in those parts The Air is healthful they find all sorts of refreshments excellent Water the access to it is so easie that they can take in fresh Water without any trouble For these considerations the Hollanders made an Establishment there some years since and no longer content themselves as they formerly did with leaving Letters there for their Country-men that might come to pass that way The Mountain of Tafel-Bay is esteemed thirteen hundred and fifty Foot high Those Hollanders who do not stop at Tafel-Bay make for Mauritius-Island otherwise Swan-Island This Island has in its Southern part a Port between the Flats wherein above fifty great Ships may ride safe under the shelter of a Fort built in the Year 1640. From thence between divers Flats they make for the Chanel of Mamale or that of Malique and in this last Course they have favourable Currents For their way towards Malacca whether that they go from Mauritius Island or from Cochim they pass by the Islands of Nicubar North of the Isle of Sumatra and leave the Isle of Pulo-Lada on the left otherwise called the Isle of Pepper of about twenty Leagues in compass They return into Holland after the same manner as do other Europeans Other Tracts and Ways to the East-Indies THE People who inhabit along the Mediterranean Sea designing for the East-Indies go to Alexandretta to Aleppo and Bi r which is four small days Journey from thence There are Caravans from Aleppo to Erzerum to Erivan to Tauris At Bi r they Embark upon the Euphrates to go in ten days to Rousvania from thence by Camels to Bagdad and then by the Tigris to Bassora They may go by Water from Rousvania to Bassora in small Barks from Bassora to El-Catif in eight days the Navigation is not very commodious upon the Euphrates and the Tigris by reason of the numbers of Mills they meet with upon those Rivers Sometimes they go through the Desart to go to those two Cities from whence they go to Ispaham and to Agra by Caravans or else after being Embark'd upon the Tigris they go to Congue and Gombru near Ormus by the Sea El-Catif and into the East-Indies by the Ocean The Customs of the Turk and Persian gain very much by the Merchandizes which take this way The Carriage from Bagdad to Bassora is very easie and pleasant in the Barks which go that way they sometimes make use of Sails and sometimes Oars often do they let themselves be carried along by the Current and Stream of the Water so as they only Steer The River which the
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