till that in the yeare one thousand five hundred twenty and one Solyman the Great Turke did winne it from the Christians by force From thence South-ward is the I le * The Ile Carphathus Carphathus but in the farthest end of the East part of the Mediterranean is * The I le of Cyprus Cyprus which about three hundred yeares since was a Kingdome and did afford great ayde unto the Christians that went to conquer the holy-Holy-Land but it is now under the Turke The chiefe City thereof is * The Citie of Famogusta Famogusta which is an Archbishops Sea for Christians for their Tribute doe yet live there In this Countrey in old time was Venus much honored and therfore she was called Cypria as also Paphia because shee had a Temple in a Citie there called * The Citie Paphos Paphos * The Iland Tyrus Neere unto Syria stood the Iland Tyrus against the pride whereof the Prophets doe much speake this was a rich Citie for Merchandize and Navigation in old time and is the place from whence Dido and the builders of Carthage did come The destruction of it is most famous by Alexander the Great Of the rest of the small Ilands wee doe say nothing Of the Ilands in the Jndian Sea THe Ilands are very many that doe lie in the Seas adjoyning to the East Indies but the most famous among them shall only be touched Among old Writers as especially appeareth by Solinus was well knowne that which was then called Taprobana which lieth neere the Aequinoctiall Line It was in that time a Monarchy where the Kings raigned not by succession but by election and if any of them did grow intolerable hee was deposed and enforced to die by withdrawing from him all things necessary This is now called * The Iland of Sumatra Sumatra and hath in it divers Kings Not farre from thence lie Eastward the two Ilands called * Two Jlands Iava major and Iava minor Java-major * Java-minor which were all knowne to the old Writers as in generall may bee noted that all the East-part either in the Continent or in the Ilands have very many small Kings and Kingdomes From whence yet more East lieth a great number of Iles which are now called the * The Ilands of Moluccoes the great Riches which the King of Spaine receives from hence yearly Moluccoes which are places as rich for their quantity as any in the World from these it is that the Spaniards have yearely so great quantity of all kindes of Spice neither is there any place of all the East Indies that doth more richly furnish home their Carrects then doe these Moluccoes The Ilands which are called by that name are by some of our Writers accounted to bee at least foure and twentie or five and twentie and some of them which are the bigger have in them two or three Kings a peece and some of them which are lesse are either the severall Dominion of severall Kings or else two or three of them doe belong to some one Prince * Note When Sir Francis Drake did compasse the whole World hee came neere unto these but did not touch at any of them but Master Candish taking at large a journey was in one or more of them where hee found the people to bee intelligent and subtill and the Kings of the Countrey to take upon them as great state as might be convenient for such petty Princes Some of these Islands the Spaniards in right of the Portugals have got into their owne possession with the Kings of some other they have leagued and a third sort utterly detest them More North-ward over against China lyeth a Countrey consisting of a great many Islands called Iapona of * The Iland of Iapan Iapan the people whereof are much of the same nature with the men of China this Countrey was first discovered by the Jesuites who in a blinde zeale have travelled into the farthest parts of the World to winne men to their Religion This Iland is thought to be very rich About the parts of Iapan there are divers people whose most ordinary habitation is at the Sea and doe never come into the Land but onely for their necessities or to furnish themselves with new vessels wherein they may abide but lying not farre from the Land they have Ducks and other Fowles swimming about them which sometimes they take into their Boats and Ships and in such sort doe breed them to the maintenance of them and their Children Into this Iapan of late dayes have our English also sayled as into other parts of the East Indies and there erected a Factory The rest that be either neere unto Asia or Africa because there is little written of them wee passe over Divâ—rs smal Iionds onely named onely naming them as the Philippina Borreo Bandara as also on the side of Africke the Island of Saint Laurence called by the Inhabitants Madagascar Sumatra and other of lesse note And yet we doe finde in Solinus and Plinie but especially in Pomponius Mela that it was knowne in old time that there were many Ilands neere unto the East Indies which as it might bee first discovered by the trafficking of the Ilanders into the Continent so no doubt that Navie which Alexander sent out to Jndia to descry and coast thorow the Easterne Seas did give much light thereunto partly by that which themselves did see and partly by those things which they heard in such places or of such persons as they met with in their travell Of the Ilands in the Atlanticke Sea THere bee many Ilands which be westward from Africa and from Europe as those which are called the * Iland of Gorgades Gorgades that lie in the same climate with Guinea which are foure in number not inhabited by men but they are full of Goates Peter Martyr in his first Decade the sixt Booke saith that the Admirall Colonus in the yeare of Christ 1498 sailing to Hispaniola with eight Ships came to the I le * The Ile Madera Madera from whence sending directly the rest of his Ships to the East Indies hee in one Ship with deckes and two Carayels sayled to the Equinoctiall betweene which and the I le Madera in the middest way lie thirteene Ilands of the Portugals in old time called * Hesperides Hesperides now Cabonerde two dayes sayling distant from the inner parts of Ethiâ—pe one whereof is called * Bonavista Bonavista North-ward from thence in the same climate with the South part of Morocco lie those which are called * Canariae Ilands Canariae or the fortunate Ilands which are seven in number being most fruitfull and very pleasant and therefore called by that name Fortunatae insulae This is famous in them that it hath pleased all Cosmographers to make their Meridian to bee their first point where they doe beginne to reckon the computation of their Longitude and unto them after three hundred and
Russians doe hold that so holy a thing as that is highly prophaned if any resemblance of it be worne but above the girdle Possevinus in a treatise written of his Embassage into that Countrey where hee discourseth this whole matter Possevinus feare of the Emperour confesseth that hee was much afraid lest the Emperour would have strucken him and beaten out his braines with a shrewd staffe which then hee had in his hands did ordinarily carry with him and he had the more reason so to feare because that Prince was such a tyrant that he had not onely slaine and with cruell torture put to death very many of his subjects and Nobility before shewing himselfe more brutishly cruel to them than ever Nero and Caligula were among the Romans but he had with his owne hands and with the same staffe upon a small occasion of anger killed his eldest sonne who should have succeeded him in his whole Empire The people of this countrey are rude and unlearned Chiefe people rude and unlearned so that there is very little or no knowledge amongst them of any liberall or ingenuous Art yea their very Priests Monks wherof they have many are almost unlettered so that they can hardly do any thing more than reade their ordinary service And the rest of the people are by reason of their ignorant education dull and uncapable of any high understanding but very superstitious having many ceremonies and Idolatrous Solemnities as the consecrating of their Rivers by their Patriarch at one time of the yeare when they thinke themselves much sanctified by the receiving of those hallowed waters yea and they bathe their Horses and Cattell in them and also the burying of most of their people with a paire of Shooes on their feet as supposing that they have a long journey to goe and a letter in their hand to S. Nicholas whom they reverence as a speciall Saint and thinke that he may give them entertainement for their readier admission into heaven The Muscovites generally have received the Christian Faith but yet so that rather they doe hold of the Greeke Difference betweene the Greeke and Latin Church and the Easterne then of the Westerne Roman Church The doctrines wherin the Greek Church differs from the Latine are these First they hold that the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father alone and not from the Sonne Secondly that the Bishop of Rome is not the universall Bishop Thirdly that there is no Purgation Fourthly their Priests doe marry and fiftly they doe differ in divers of their ceremonies as in having foure Lents in the yeere whereof they doe call our Lent their great Lent At the time of the Councell of Florence There was some shew made by the Agents of the Greeke Church that they would have joyned in opinion with the Latines but when they returned home their Countrey-men would in no sort assent thereunto In the Northerne parts of the dominion of the Emperour of Russia which have lately been joyned unto his territories as specially Lapland Biarmia and thereabouts The people of Lapland very heathenish there are people so rude and heathenish that as Olaus Magnus writeth of them looke whatsoever living thing they doe see in the morning at their going out of their doors yea if it be a Bird or a worm or some such other creeping thing they doe yeeld a divine Worship Reverence thereunto for all that day as if it were some inferiour God Damianus a Goes hath written a pretty Treatise describing the manners of those Lappians The greatest part of the Country of Russia is in the winter so exceeding cold The extraordnary sharpnesse of the weather in winter that both the Rivers are frozen over the Land covered with snow and such is the sharpenesse of the Ayre that if any goe abroad bare faced it causeth their flesh in a short time to rot which befalleth to the fingers and toes of divers of them therefore for a great part of winter they live in Stoues and Hot-houses and if they be occasioned to goe abroad they use many Furs whereof there is great plenty in that Country as also wood to make fire but yet in the summer time the face of the soyle the ayre is very strangely altered insomuch that the Country seemeth hot the Birds sing very merrily the trees grasse corn in a short space do appeare so cheerfully greene and pleasant that it is scant to be beleeved but of them which have seene it Their building is most of wood even in their chiefe citie of Mosco Their buildings of wood insomuch that the Tartars who lie in the North-east of them breaking oft into their countries even unto the very Mosco doe set fire on their Cities which by reason of their woodden buildings are quickly destroyed Their government The maner of government which of late yeers hath bin used in Russia is very barbarous little lesse than tyrannous for the Emperour that last was did suffer his people to be kept in great servility permitted the Rulers chiefe Officers at their pleasures to pill ransack the common sort but to no other end but that himselfe might take occasion when he thought good to call thē in question for their misdemeanor and so fill his own coffers with fleecing of them which was the same course the old Roman Emperor did use calling the deputies of the Provinces by the name of Spunges whose property is to sucke up water but when it is full then it selfe is crushed and yeeldeth forth liquor for the behalfe of another The passage by Sea into this country The passage by Sea into this country which was wont to be through the Sound and so afterward by land was first discovered by the English who with great danger of the frozen seas did first adventure to sayle so far North as to compasse Lapland Finmark Scricfinia Biarmia and so passing to the East by Noua Zembla half the way almost to Cathaio have entred the River called Ob by which they disperse themselves for merchandize both by water and land into the most parts of the Dominion of the Emperour of Russia The first attempt The first attempt which was made by the English for the entrance of Moscovia by the North Seas was in the dayes of King Edw. the 6. at which time the Merchants of London procuring leave of the King did send forth Sir Hugh Willoby with shipping and men who went so far toward the North that he coasted the corner of Scricfinia Biarmia and so turned toward the East but the weather proved so extream the snowing so great the freezing of the water so vehement that his ship was set fast in the Ice and there he his people were frozen to death and the next yeer some other comming from England found both the Ship and their bodies in it a perfect remembrance in writing of all things which they
Persian who procured unto himselfe great fame by his many valorous attempts against the Turke Surius in his Commentaries writing upon him saith that upon some fond conceit the Iewes were strongly of opinion that hee was that Messias whom unto this day they expect and therefore hoped that he should have beene their deliverer and advancer But he addeth in his report that it fell out so cleane contrary that there was no man who more vexed and grieved them than that Ismael did Their Religion The Persians are all at this day Sarazens in Religion beleeving in Mahomet but as Papists and Protestants doe differ in opinion concerning the same Christ so doe the Turks Persians about their Mahomet the one pursuing the other as Heretikes with most deadly hatred in so much that there is in this respect almost continuall war betweene the Turke and the Persians Of Parthia and Media Situation of Parthia ON the North-East side of Persia lyeth that Country which in old time was called Parthia but now named Arach of whom those great warres of the Romanes with the Medians or Armenians in Tacitus and ancient Histories are true This Country boundeth on Media by the West and it was in ancient time veryful of people whose fight as it was very much on horsebacke Their manner of fight so the manner of them continually was for to give an onset and then to returne their wayes even to returne againe like to the Wilde Irish so that no man was sure when he had obtained any victory over them Great wars of the Parthians against the Romanes These were the people that gave the great overthrow to that rich Marcus Crassus of Rome who by reason of his covetousnesse intending more to his getting of gold than to the guiding of his army was slaine himselfe and many thousands of the Romanes The Parthians with exprobation of his thirst after money poured moulten gold into his mouth after he was dead Against these the great Lucullus fought many battels but the Romanes were never able to bring them quite to subjection Media how situated On the West-side of Parthia having the Mare Caspium on the North Armenia on the West and Persia on the South lyeth that Country which in time past was called Media but now Shirvan or Sarvan which is at this day governed by many inferiour Kings and Princes which are tributaries and doe owe subjection to the Sophy of Persia So that hee is the Soveraigne Lord of all Media as our English-men have found who passing through the dominion of the Emperour of Russia have crossed the Mare Caspium and merchandized with the inhabitants of this Media A famous Nation This Nation in former times was very famous for the Medes were they that removed the Empire from the Assyrians unto them which as in themselves it was not great yet when by Cyrus it was joyned to that of the Persians it was very mighty and was called by the name of the Empire of the Medes and Persians Here it was that Astyages raigned the Grandfather of Cyrus and Darius of the Medes The chiefe City of Media The chiefe City of this Kingdome was called Ecbatana as the chiefe City of Persia was Babylon It is to bee observed of the Kings of Media that in the Summer time they did use to retire themselves Northward unto Ecbatana for avoyding of the heate but in the winter time they came downe more South unto Susis which as it seemeth was a warmer place but by this meanes they were both taken for Imperiall Cities and chiefe residences of the Kings of Media which being knowne takes away some confusion in old Stories The like custome was afterward used also by the Kings of Persia Of Armenia and Assyria Situation of Armenia ON the West-side of the Mare Caspium of Media lieth a Countrey called by a generall name Armenia which by some is distinctly divided into three parts the North part whereof being but little Divided into three parts is called Georgia the middle part Turcomania the third part by the proper name of Armenia By which a man may see the reason of difference in divers writers Some saying that the countrey whence the Turkes first came was Armenia some saying Turcomania and some Georgia the truth being that out of one or all these Countries they did descend These Turks are supposed to bee the issue oâ— them whom Alexander the Great did shut up within certaine Mountaines neere to the Mare Caspium A memorable Note There is this one thing memorable in Armenia that after the great Floud the Arke of Noah did rest it selfe on the Mountaines oâ— Armenia where as Josephus witnesseth it is to be seene yet to this day the hills whereon it resteth are called by some Noae Montes Armenians Christians The people of this Nation have retained amongst them the Christian Faith as it is thought from the time of the Apostles but at this day it is spotted with many absurdities Bathing of their children Among other Errours which the Church of Armenia hath bin noted to hold this is one that they did bathe their children waving them up and downe in flames of fire and repute that to bee a necessary circumstance of Baptisme Which errour ariseth by mistaking that place of Iohn the Baptist where he saith That he that came after him meaning Christ should baptize them with the holy Ghost and with fire In which place the word doth not signifie materiall fire but expresseth the lively and purging operation of the Spirit like to the nature of fire On the South part of Armenia bending towards the East lyeth the Country of Assyria Assyria bounded which is bounded on the West with Mesopotamia This Country was that Land wherein the first Monarchy was setled which began under Ninus whom the Scripture calleth Nimrod living not long after Noahs Flood and it ended in Sardanapalus continuing a thousand and three hundred yeares The King of this Countrey was Senacherib Kings of Assyria of whom wee reade in the Booke of the Kings and here reigned Nebuchadnezzar who tooke Ierusalem and led the Iewes away prisoners unto Babylon In this Countrey is the swift River Tygris The swift river Tygris The City Ninivee neere unto the which was Paradice Vpon this River stood the great City Ninivee called by prophane writers Ninus which was almost of incredible bignesse and exceeding populous by the neerenesse of the River and marvellous fruitfulnesse of the soile which as Herodotus writeth did returne their Corne sometime two hundred and sometimes three hundred fold and did yeeld sufficiency for to maintaine it This Citie for a long time was the Imperiall Seat of the Monarchy but being destroyed as God foretold it should be by the Chaldeans the residence of the King was afterwards removed unto Babylon a great City in Chaldea first built by Semiramis Of Chaldea Situation of Chaldea NExt unto Assyria
ground and therefore howsoever they brought home some store of earth which they supposed to bee Oare and of shining stones yet when it came to the tryall it prooved to be nothing worth but verified the Proverbe All is not gold that glisters In very many parts of these Northerne Countries of America there is very fit and opportune fishing some pretty way within the Sea and therefore divers Nations of Europe doe yearely send Fishers thither with shipping and great store of salt where when they have taken fish and dryed it and salted it at the land they bring it home into Christendome and utter it commonly by the name of New-found-land-fish The fish of New-found land The English about the yeare 1570 did adventure farre for to open the North parts of America and sayled as farre as the very Circle Articke hoping to have found a passage by the North to the Molluccoes and to China which hitherto neither by the North of Asia nor by the North of America could be effected by them by reason of the very great Colde and Ice in the Climate The rest of the Island being a hugh space of Earth hath not hitherto by any Christian to any purpose beene discovered but by those neere the Sea-coast it may be gathered that they all which doe there inhabite are men rude and uncivill without the knowledge of God Yet on the North-west part of America some of our Englishmen going through the Straights of Magellan and passing towards the North by Hispania Nova have touched on a Countrey where they have found good entertainment and the King thereof yeelded himselfe to the subjection of the Queen of England whereupon they termed it * Nova Albion Nova Albion Sir Francis Drake who toucht upon that Countrey and for some pretty time had his abode there doth report in his Voyage that the Countrey is very good yeelding much store of divers Fruits delightfull both to the eye and taste and that the people are apt enough by hospitality to yeeld favour and entertainment to strangers but it is added withall that they are marveilously addicted to Witch-craft and adoration of Devils from which they could not be perswaded to abstaine even in the very presence of our Countrey-men Of Peru and Brasile The Portugales discovery of Brasile WHen the Portugals had first begun the Navigation by Africke into the East Indies some of theÌ„ intending to have held their course East-ward unto Caput bonae spei were driven so farre West-ward by Tempest that they landed in a large and great Countrey which by a generall name is called Brasilia where they began to enter Traffick and with Townes and Castles to plant themselves before that the Spaniard had discovered Peru which is the South part of America So that at this day whatsoever the King of Spaine hath in Brasilia it is in the right of the Crowne of Portugall Wee may read in Guicciardine how when the Spaniards towards the West and the Portugales towards the East had descryed many new-found-New-found-lands there grew great contention betweene them what should be appropriated unto the one and what might be seized on by the other therefore for the better establishing of peace amongst them they had both recourse unto Alexander the sixt who was Pope in the yeare 1492. and somewhat before and after and hee taking on him after the proud manner of the Bishops of Rome to dispose of it which belonged not unto him did set down an order betweene them which was that all the degrees of Longitude being 360 in the Globe being divided into two parts the Spaniards should take one and the Portugals the other so that in this division they were to begin in those degrees under which some of Peru standeth from the which they counting forwards towards the East did allow Brasilia and 180 degrees to the Portugals Eastward and so from Brasilia Westward to the Spaniards as many so that hee had in his portion all America except Brasilia A large Country and much inbaâ—ited This Countrey is large having in it many people and severall Kingdomes which are not all possessed by the Portugals but so that other Christians as namely the Frenchmen being driven out of their Countrey for Religion have set foote in there though afterwards againe they have abandoned it What the Portugals doe at this day in Brasilia I know not but it is likely now that whatsoever there is held by the Christians is reputed to be under the Spaniards as many other parts of Brasile promiscuously are yet certaine it is that now almost 40. yeares since some of the French-men which professed sincere religion and could not then be suffered quietly to live in France did provide certain shipping and under the conduct of one Villagagno a Knight of Malta but their owne Country-man did goe thither and continued there by the space of one yeare having Ministers and Preachers amongst them and the exercise of the word Sacraments but after by the evil counsell of some of the chiefe Rulers of France which were addicted unto the Pope the heart of Villagagno was drawn away insomuch that he contumeliously using the Pastors and chiefe of that Company did force them to retire into France so that the habitation there was then utterly relinquished and hath not since been continued by any of the French There is a learned man one Iohannes Lyreus who was in their voyage and hath written a Tract called Navigatio in Brasiliam which is very well worth the reading not onely to see what did befall him and his Company but what the manners of that people with whom they did converse The Inhabitants here are men also utterly unlearned but men more ingenious than the common sort of the Americans goodly of body and straight of proportion going alwayes naked reasonable good Warriours after their Countrey fashion using to fat such enemies as they take in the Warres that afterwards they may devoure them which they may devoure them which they doe with great pleasure For divers of the people of those Quarters as the Caribees and the Cannibals and almost all are eaters of mans flesh * The abundance o Brasile wood In this Countrey groweth abundance of that wood which since is brought into Europe to die red colours and is of the place whence it commeth called Brasil Wood the Trees whereof are exceeding great The people of Brasil where Lyrius and his fellowes lived are called by the name of Tauvoupinambaltii by description of whose qualities many things may be learned concerning the rest of the Inhabitants neere thereabout First then they have no letters among them and yet seeme to bee very capable of any good understanding as appeared by the speech of some of them reproving the Frenchmen for their great greedinesse and covetousnesse of gaine when they would take so much paines as to come from another end of the World to get Commodities there * Their Religion Their
A BRIEFE DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD Wherein is particularly described all the Monarchies Empires and Kingdomes of the same with their ACADEMIES As also their severall Titles and Situations thereunto adjoyning Written by the Most Reverend Father in God GEORGE late Arch-bishop of Canterbury LONDON Printed by T. H. and are to sold by Wil. Sheares at the signe of the Harrow in Brittains Burse 1636. A BRIEFE DISCRIPTION of the whole WORLD Written by the Right Reverend Father in GOD. George Abbott Late Archbishop of Canterbury COSMOGRAPHIA 〈…〉 Will Marshall Sculpsit Printed for Will Sheares at the Harrow in Britaines by 1636. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE whole World THE Globe of the Earth doth either shew the Sea or Land Of the Seas The Sea generall is called by the name of Ocean which coasteth all the World and taketh his name in speciall either of the place neer which it commeth as Oceanus Britannicus The diver â—â—s names giuen to the Seas and the reason why Mare Germanicum Sinus Persicus Mare Atlanticum of the hill Atlas in the West part of Africk or of the finder out as Fretum Magellanicum or of some other accident as the Red Sea because the sand is red Mare Mediterraneum because it runneth betweene the lands of Europe and Africk Mare Jcarium because Icarus was drowned there or the like There be some few Seas which have no intercourse with the Ocean as Mare mortuum neer Palestina Mare Caspium sive Hircanum not farre from Armenia and such a one is said to be in the North part of America Of the Straits or Narrow Seas The Straits or narrow Seas are noted in the Latine by the name of Fretum as Fretum Britannicum the English narrow Seas Fretum Herculeum the Straits between Barbarie and Spain Fretum Magellanicum c. Of the Earth The Earth is either Ilands which are those which are wholly compassed by the Sea as Britanâ—ia Sicilia Corsica or the Continent which is called in the English The firme Land in the Latin Continens The old known firme Land was contained onely in Asia Europe and Africa Europe is divided from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea from Asia by the River Tanais whereby appeareth that the North parts of Asia Europe in old time were but little known and discovered Africa is divided from Europe by â—he Mediterrean Sea from Asia by â—he River Nilus and so Asia by â—anais and Nilus is severed from Europe and Africk Of Spain TO say nothing of England and Ireland the most Western Country of Europe is Spain How Spain is bounded which is bounded on the South with the Mediterranean on the West with the Atlantick on the North with Oceanus Cantabricus or the Spanish Seas on the East with France from which it is severed with certain Mountains called Montes Pyrenei or the Pyrenay hils If wee should enquire into the times that were before the comming of the Carthaginians and Romanes into Spaine wee shall finde nothing but that which is either fabulous or neere to fables The Originall names of the CouÌ„tâ—ey of Spain here it was first called Iberia ab Ibero slumine afterwards Hispania ab Hispano wee may take as a tradition but their Gargoris their Habis their Geryon exceed beliefe of any but those that will take all reports on trust It is certaine that the Syrians planted a Colony there in the Isle of Gades corruptly now called Cadiz or Cales These troubled by their Neighbours desired aid of the Carthaginians a flourishing neighbour commonwealth descended of the Syrians as well as themselves who sent first to defend the Gaditanes against their neighbours afterwards heartned on by their successe in their first Expedition these Cathaginians Carthaginians sent to defend the Gaditanes successively sent thither three Captains Hamilcar Hasdrubal and Hannibal who for the most part subdued the Province and held it till by Scipio's and the Romane Forces they were dispossessed of it Yet for many years after the fortunes of the Romanes stucke as it were in the subduing of that Province so that from the time of the second Punick War untill the time of Augustus they had businesse made them in that Countrey continually neither could they till then bring it peaceably into the forme of a Province Spain once a Province of the Roman Empire It continued a Province of the Romane Empire untill the time of Honorius the Emperour in whose dayes the Vandalls came inâ—o it conquering and making it theirs then the Gothes the Vandalls either driven out or called over into Africke entring erected there a Kingdome which flourished for many yeeres Saracens Mâ—â—â—es erâ—cted it a Kingdome till by the comming of the Saracens and Moores their Kingdome was broken who setling themselves in Spaine erected a Kingdome changed the names of many places and Rivers and gave them new names such as they retaine to this day and continued for the space of some hundred of years mighty in that Countrey till they were first subdued by Ferdinand They were utterâ—y expelled by Philip the Third afterwards and that now lately utterly expelled by Philip the Third After the comming in of these Africans in this Countrey there were many Kingdomes as the Kingdome of Portugall toward the West the Kingdom of Granado toward the South the Kingdome of Navarre and Arragon toward the East and the Kingdome of Castile in the middle of the Land but the whole Dominion is now under the King of Spain Spain in former 〈◊〉 12 sevâ—â—all Kingdomes As Damianus a Goes doth write in that Treatise intituled Hispaniâ— there were in times past twelve several Kingdomes in Spain which hee nameth thus Castellae antiquae novae Leonis Aragoniae Portugalliae Navarâ—ae Granatae Valentiae Toleti Galitiae Algarbiorum Murtiae Cordubae which is not to be wondred at since in England a farre lesse Country there were in the time of the Saxons seven severall Kingdomes and Monarchies In the best Mappes of Spaine the Armes of these severall Kingdomes do yet distinctly appeare where for the Armes of Leons is given a Lion which manifestly argueth that whereas by some it is called Regnum Legionis that name is false for it is Leonis sutable thereunto for the Armes of Castile is given a Castle which was the cause that Iohn of Gaunt sonne to Edward the Third King of England did quarter with the Armes of England the Castle and the Lion as having maried Constance daughter to Peter King of Castile and at this day the first and chiefe Coat of the King of Spain is a Castle quartered with a Lion in remembrance of the two Kingdomes of Castile and Leons In Corduba as in times past it was called standeth Andoluzia neere unto which is the Island called properly Gades but since by deprivation of the word Cadiz and commonly Cales which was lately surprized by the English The Kingdome of Granada Granada â—oo yeeres possessed by the Moores Saracens which
Asia and Europe so neere together and the Sea running between them which serveth each place with alâ— manner of commodities it appeareth that Constantinople is marvelâ— lously richly and conveniently seated and therefore a fit place from whence the Turke may offer to archieve great attempts After this strait the Sea openeth iâ— selfe more large toward the South and it is called by the name of Propontis But then it groweth againâ— into another strait which they writâ— to be in breadth about two mileâ— This is called Hellespontus Hellâ—spontus Xerxes Bridge having on the one side Abidus in Asia on the other side Sestus oâ— the side of Europe This is thâ— place where Xerxes the great Kinâ— of Persia did make his Bridge oveâ— the Sea so much renowned iâ— ancient History which was not impossible by reason of the narrow nesse the foundation of his Bridg being rested on ships Here alâ— may appeare the reason of the stoâ—â— of Leander and Hero which Leaâ—der is reported for the love of Herâ—to have oftentimes swom over thâ—â— Sea till at last hee was drowned From this strait Southward the Sea groweth more wide and is called afterwards by the name of Mare Aegeum Mare Aegeum and so descendeth to the full Mediterranean Of Asia and first of Tartary ON the Northside of Asia joyning unto the dominion of the Emperour of Russia is Tartary Tartary bounded in ancient time called Scythia the bounds wherof did then extend themselves into a good part of Europe therefore was called Scythia Europea but the greatest part of it lyeth in Asia a mighty large Country extending it selfe on the North to the uttermost Sea on the East to the Dominion of the Great Cham or Prince of Cathaie on the South down to Mare Caspium The Tartarians which now inhabit it are men of great stature rude of behaviour no Christians Their Religion but Gentiles neither doe they acknowledge Mabumet They have few or no Citieâ— among them but after the manner of the old Scythians doe live iâ— Wildernesses lying vnder their Carts and following their drove of cattell by the milke whereoâ— they doe nourish themselves Theâ— sowe no Corne at all because theâ— abide not long in any one place buâ— taking their direction from theâ— North-pole-starre they remoovâ— from one coast of their Countreâ— unto another The Countrey is populous and the men are great warriers fighting alwayes on horse backe with their bow Their manner of war arrowes anâ— a short Sword They have amongâ— them infinite store of horses wheâ—of they sell many into the Countries neere adjoyning Their ordnary food in their warres is horse flesh which they use to eate rawâ— being chafed a little by hanging 〈◊〉 their Saddle They have great wars with thâ— Countries adjoyning but especiall with the Muscovite and sometimes with the Turke from hence came Tamberlaine Tamberlain the Great a Tartarian who brought 7000000 of the Tartarians at once into the field wherein he distressed and took prisoner Bajazet the great Turke whom he afterward forced to feed as a Dogge under his table They have now amongst them many Princes and Governours as those have one whom they call the Crim Tartars and those have another which are the Tartars of Magaiae and so divers others The English have laboured to their great expences to finde out the way by the North Seas of Tartaria to go into Cathay and China but by reason of the frozen Seas they have not yet prevailed although it hath beene reported that the Flemmings have discovered that passage which would be very likely to the great benefit of the Northern parts of Christendome yet that report doth not continue and therfore it is to be thought that the Flemmings have not proceeded so farre Of Cathaie and China NExt beyond Tartaria on the Northeast part of Asia lyeth a great Countrey called Cathaie Situation of Cathaie the bounds whereof extend themselves on the North and East to the utter most Seas and on the South to China The people are not much learned but more civil than the Tartars and have good and ordinary trafficke with the Countries adjoyning This Countrey hath in it many Kings which are tributaries and do owe obedience unto one whom they call the great Cham The Great Can of Cathaie or Can of Cathaie who is the chiefe Governour of all the Land and esteemed for multitude of people and largenesse of Dominion to be one of the greatest Princes of the World but his name is the lesse famous for that hee lyeth so farre distant from the best Nations and the passage into his Countrey is so dangerous either for the perils of the Sea or for the long space by Land His chiefe Imperiall Citie is called Cambalu On the South side of Cathaie Cambalu the chiese Citie of China and East part of Asia next to the Sea lyeth China and the people thereof Osorius describeth by the name of Sina and calleth their Countrey Sinarum Regio A very rich Countrey This is a fruitfull Countrey and yeeldeth as great store of rich Commodities as almost any Countrey in the World It containeth in it very many severall Kingdomes which are absolute Princes in their Seats The chief Citie in this Countrey is called Quinsay Quinsay the chiefe Citie and is described to be of incredible greatnesse as were wont to be the ancient Cities in the East as Babylon Ninivie and others This Countrey was first discovered by the late Navigation of the Portugalls into the East Indies The people skilfull in Arts. The people of China are learned almost in all Arts very skilfull Worke-men in curious fine works of all sorts so that no Countrey yeeldeth more precious Merchandize than the workmanship of them They are great Souldiers very politicke and crafty and in respect thereof contemning the wits of others using a Proverbe That all other Nations doe see but with one eye Their Proverbe but they themselves with two Petrus Maffaeus Historiographer to the King of Spaine for the Easterne Indies doth report of them that they have had from very ancient time among them these two things which wee hold to be the Miracles of Christendome and but lately invented The one is the use of Gunnes for the Warres Two rare wonders invented in China Guns and Printing and the other is Printing which they use not as wee doe writing from the left hand unto the right or as the Hebrewes and Syrians from the right hand unto the left but directly downeward and so their lines at the top doe beginne againe Of the East Indies ON the Southside of China toward the Molucco Ilands and the Indian Sea lyeth the great Country of India extending it selfe from the South part of the Continent Thâ— situation of the Indies by the space of many thousand miles Westward unto the River Indus which is the greatest River in all the Countrey except Ganges one of the greatest Rivers
might be Eastward or Southward and not Westward Mount Horeb. In the Desart of Arabia is the Mount Horeb which by some is supposed to be the same that is called Mount Sina where many think it was that Abraham should have offered up his Sonne Isaac But this is certaine that it was the place where God in the Wildernesse did give unto the people of Israel his Law of the ten Commandements in Thundring Lightning and great Earth-quake in most fearfull manner Of Africk and Egypt FRom Arabia and Palestina toward the West lyeth Africke Situation of Africk having on the North side from the one end of it to the other the Mediterranean Sea The greatest part of which Countrey although it hath beene ghessed at by Writers in former time yet because of the great heat of it lying for the most part of it under the Zona Torrida and for the Wildernesses therein it was in former time supposed by many not to bee much inhabited but of certainty by all to be very little discovered till the Portugals of late began their Navigation on the backside of Africa to the East Jndies So exact a description is therefore not to be looked for as hath beene of Asia and Europe The Countrey of Egypt Ioyning to the Holy Land by a little Isthmos is the Countrey of Egypt which is a Land as fruitfull as any almost in the world although in these dayes it doth not answere to the fertility of former times This is that which in the time of Ioseph did relieve Canaan with corne and the family of Iacob which did so multiply in the land of Aegypt that they were growne to a huge multitude when God by Moses did deliver them thence This Countrey did yeeld exceeding abundance of Corne unto the Citie of Rome Jts fertility whereupon Aegypt as well as Sicilia was commonly called Horreum populi Romani It is observed from all antiquity that almost never any raine did fall in the land of Aegypt Whereupon the raining with thunder lightning fire running on the ground was so much more strange when God plagued Pharaoh in the dayes of Moses But the flowing of the River Nilus over all the Countrey their Cities onely and some few Hils excepted doth so water the Earth that it bringeth forth fruit abundantly The flowing of Nilus The flowing of which River yearly is one of the greatest miracles of the World no man being able to yeeld a sufficient and assured reason thereof although in Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus many probable causes and opinions are assigned thereof That there doth not use any raine to fall in Aegypt besides other heathen testimonies and experiences of Travailers may bee gathered out of the Scripture for in the 10 chapter of Deuteronomy GOD doth make an Antithesis betweene the Land of Canaan and Aegypt saying that Aegypt was watered as a man would water a Garden of herbes that is to say by the hand But they should come into a Land which had Hils and Mountains and which was watered with the raine of Heaven and yet some have written that ever now and then there is mistes in Aegypt which yeeld though not Raine yet a pretty Dew It is noted of this River that if in ordinary places it do flow under the height of fifteene cubits that then for want of moysture the earth is not fruitfull and if it doe flow above seventeene Cubits that there is like to be a dearth by reason of the abundance of moysture the Water lying longer on the Land than the inhabitants doe desire It is most probably conjectured that the falling and melting of Snow from those Hils which bee called Luna Montes doe make the increase of the River Nilus And the custome of the people in the Southerne parts of Arabia is that they do receive into Ponds Dams the water that doth hastily fall and the same they let out with Sluces some after some which causeth it orderly to come downe into the plaines of Aegypt For the keeping up of these Dammes the Countrey of Aegypt hath time out of minde paid a great tribute to Prester John Which when of late it was denyed by the Turke Prester John caused all the Sluces to bee letten goe on the sudden whereby hee marvellously annoyed drowned up a great part of the Country of Aegypt Learning very ancient in Egypt In Aegypt learning hath bin very ancient but especially the knowledge of Astronomy and Mathematickes whereof before the time of Tullâ—e their Priests would report that they had the discent of 1500. yeares exactly recorded with observations Astrologicall which as it is a fable unlesse they doe reckon their yeares by the Moone as some suppose they did every Moneth for a yeare so it doth argue knowledge to have beene among them very ancient Their Priests had among them a kinde of writing and describing of things by picture which they did call their Hicroglyphica This in times â—past was a Kingdome Their Pyramides one of the Wonders of the world and by the Kings thereof were built those great Pyramides which were held to be one of the seven wonders of the world being mighty huge buildings erected of exceeding height for to shew the magnificence of their founders There is part of two or three of them remaining unto this day Divers learned men are at this day of opinion that when the children of Israel were in Aegypt and so oppressed by Pharaoh as is mentioned in the beginning of the booke of Exodus that their labour in burning of Bricke was partly imployed to the erecting of some of those Pyramides but the Scripture doth onely mention walling of Cities The Founders of these Pyramides were commonly buried in or under them and it is not unfit to remember that the Kings and great men of Aegypt had much cost bestowed upon them after they were dead For in as much as Arabia was neere unto them whence they had most precious Balmes and other costly Spices they did with charge embalme their dead and that with such curious art that the flesh therof and the skin will remaine unputrified for divers hundred yeares and all learned men thinke thousands of yeares Whereof experiments are plentifull at this day by the whole bodies hands or other parts which by Merchants are now brought from thence and doth make the Mummia which the Apothecaries use the colour being very blacke and the flesh clung unto the bones Moses doth speake of this when he saith that Iacob was embalmed by the Physicians after the manner of embalming of the Aegyptians But this manner of embalming is ceased long since in Aegypt The Citie Memphis In Aegypt did stand the great Citie Memphis which at this day is called Caire one of the famous Cities of the East Here did Alexander build that Citie which unto this day is of his name called Alexandria being now the greatest Citie of Merchandize in all Aegypt of which Amianus
and admirable Note It is true of this Countrey which Solinus writeth of some other that Serpents and Adders doe not breed there and in the Irish Timber of certaine experience no Spiders webbe is ever found * Of Britaine The most renowned Iland in the world is Albion or Britannia which hath heretofore contained in it many severall Kingdomes but especially in the time of the Saxon. It hath now in it two Kingdomes England and Scotland wherein are * Foure languagâ—s there spoken foure severall Languages that is the English which the civill Scots doe barbarously speake the Welsh tongue which is the Language of the old Britaines the Cornish which is the proper speech of Cornewall and the Irish which is spoken by those Scots which live on the west part of Scotland neere unto Jreland The commodities and pleasures of England are well knowne unto us and many of them are expressed in this Verse Anglia Mons Pons Fons Ecclesia Foemina Lana England is stor'd with Bridges Hils and Wooll With Churches Wels and Women beautifull * Their originall The ancient inhabitants of this Land were the Britaines which were afterward driven into a corner of the Countrey now called Wales and it is not to be doubted but at the first this Countrey was peopled from the continent of France or thereabout when the sonnes of Noah had spread themselves from the East to the West part of the World It is not strange to see why the people of that Nation doe labour to fetch their pedigree from one Brutus whom they report to come from Troy because the originall of that Truth began by Galfriaus Monumetensis above five hundred yeares agone and his Booke contayneth great shew of Truth but was noted by Nubringensis or some Authour of his time to be meerely fabulous Besides that many of our English Nation have taxed the saying of them who would attribute the name of Britannia unto Brutus and Cornubia to Corynaeus Aenaeas Sylvius Epist 1.3 hath thought good to confirme it saying The English people saith hee doe report that after Troy was overthrowne one Brutus came unto them from whom their Kings doe fetch their Pedegrees which matter there are no more Historians that deliver besides a certain English man which had some learning in him who willing to equall the bloud of those Islanders unto the Romane stocke and generositie did affirme and say that concerning Brutus which Livie and Salust being both deceived did report of Aeneas Wee doe finde in ancient Records and Stories of this Island that since the first possessions which the Brittaines had heere it was over-runne and * The Brittains five times conquered conquered five severall times * First by the Romans The Romanes were the first that did attempt upon it under the conduct of Julius Caesar who did onely discover it and frighted the Inhabitants with the name of the Romanes but was not able so farre to prevaile upon it as any way to possesse it yet his Successours afterwards did by little and little so gaine on the Countrey that they had almost all of it which is now called England and did make a great Ditch or Trench from the East to the West Sea betweene their Dominion here and Scotland Divers of the Emperours were here in person as Alexander Severus who is reputed to be buried at Yorke Here also was Constantius Father unto Constantine the Great who from hence married Helena a woman of this Land who was afterwards Mother to the renowned Constantine But when the Romanes had their Empire much weakned partly by their owne discords and partly by that decay which the irruptions of the Gothes and Vandales and such like invaders did bring upon them they were forced to retire their Legions from thence and so leaving the Countrey naked the Scots and certaine people called the Tictes did breake in who most miserably ' wasted and spoyled the Countrey Then were the Inhabitants as some of our Authours write put to that choice that either they must stand it out and be slaine or give ground till they came to the Sea and so be drowned Of these * Secondly the Pâ—cts who used to print or pâ—unâ—e their 〈◊〉 Pictes who were the second over-runners of this Iland some doe write that they did use to cut and pounse their flesh and lay on colours which did make them the more terrible to be seene with the cuts of their flesh But certaine it is that they had their name for painting theÌ„selves which was a common thing in Brittaine in Caesars time as he reporteth in his Commentaries the men colouring their faces with Glastone or Ode that they might seeme the more dreadfull when they were to joyne battaile To meete with the cruelty and oppression of these Barbars the * Thirdly the Saxon. Saxons were in the third place by some of the Land called in who finding the sweetnesse of the soyle and commodiousnesse of the Countrey every way did repaire hither by great troupes and so seated themselves here that there were at once of them seven severall Kingdomes and Kings within the compasse of England These Saxons did beare themselves with much more temperance and placability towards those few of the Countrey that remayned than the Picts had done but yet growing to contention one of their Kings with another partly about the bounds of their territories and partly about other quarrels they had many great battels each with other In the time of these * Their Religion and devotion Religion and Devotion was much embraced and divers Monasteries and rich Religious houses were founded by them partly for penance which they would doe and partly otherwise because they thought it to be meritorious in so much that King Edgar alone is recorded to have built above foure severall Monasteries And some other of their Kings were in their ignorance so devoted that they gave over their Crownes and in superstition did goe to Rome there to leade the lives of private men These seven Kingdomes in the end did grow all into one and then the fourth and most grievous scourge and conquest of this kingdome came in the * Fourthly the Danes Danes who Lording here divers yeares were at last expelled and then William Duke of Normandy pretending that hee had right thereunto by the promise of adoption or some other conveyance from Herald did with his Normans passe over into this Land and obtained a great victory in Sussex at a place which he caused in remeÌ„brance therof to be called Battell and built an Abby there by the name of Battell Abby Hee tooke on him to winne the whole by Conquest and did beare himselfe indeed like a Conquerour For hee seised all into his hands gave out Barons Lordships and Mannours from himselfe reversed the former Lawes and Customes and instituted here the manners and orders of his owne Countrey which have proceeded on and beene by little and little bettered so that the
threescore Degrees to returne againe From these Ilands it is that those strong and pleasant Sacks which are called * From hence the best Canary Sackâ—s Canary Wines are brought and from thence are fetched those that they call Canary Birds These Ilands are under the Crowne of Spaine The heat of the Countrey is very great and therefore fitter for concoction but besides that the soyle of it selfe is accommodated thereunto and by reason of them both these Ilands doe bring forth a Grape which is sweeter in taste then any other Grape and hath that propertie with it that the Wine which is made thereof doth not fume into the head like other Sacke but doth helpe the stomacke and exercise the force of it there The slips of their Vines have beene brought into Spaine and some other places of Europe but they have not sorted to the same purpose as they doe in their native Countrey There doe grow also in these Iles From hence great store of Sugar-canes good store of Sugar-canes which yeelde plentifully that kinde of commoditie unto Spaine either for Marmalets wherein they much delight or for other uses Peter Martyr in the beginning of his Decades which hee hath written De Orbe novo doth particularly touch the names and some other things of these Ilands On the backe-side of Africa also just under the Aequinoctiall is the * The I le of S. Thomas I le of Saint Thomas inhabited by the Portugals which Island was taken in the latter time of Queene Elizabeth by the Dutch it is reported that in the middest of this Island is an Hill and over that a continuall Cloud wherewith the whole Island is watered such a like thing as this is reported of the * The I le of Cloves Isle of Cloves The ayre of this Island is unwholsome and there is hardly seene any Portugall or stranger that comes to dwell there which lives till hee be above fortie yeares of age More Northward from Africke lie those Islands which are called * The Ilands of Azores Azores Insulae being sixe or seven in number of which Tercera is one of the chiefe of whom the rest by some are called Terceras which are farre inferiour in fruitfulnesse unto the Canaries These were first under the Crowne of Portugall and one of them was the last which was kept out from the King of Spaine by the Prior Don Antonio who afterward called himselfe King of Portugall but the Spaniard at last tooke this Tercera from him and doth possesse all these Islands together with the rest of the Dominion which did belong to the Portugals Hee who list to see the unadvised proceedings of Don Antonio both in parting with Lisbon Note the unadvisednesse of Don Antonio and the rest of Portugall as also in losing these Islands which last of all held out for him let him read Conestagio of the uniting of Portugall to the Crown of Castile But these Azores have in times past yeelded much Oade which thereupon in England was called Jsland Oade but now they are the place where the Spaniards do commonly touch and take in fresh water both going and comming to and from America finding that to passe directly without turning on either hand towards America is very hard by reason of the strong current of the water from the Gulph of Mexico and so forward to the East and therefore they are enforced either to goe lower to the South and so to water in some part of Guinea or thereabout or else to keepe up as high as these Ilands Of America or the new World ALthough some doe dispute out of Plato and the old Writers that there was not onely a guesse but a kind of knowledge in ancient time that besides Europe Asia and Africa there was another large country lying to the West yet he that shall advisedly peruse the conjectures made thereupon may see that there is nothing of sufficiencie to enforce any such knowledge but that all Antiquity was utterly ignorant of the new found Countries towards the West Whereunto this one argument most forcible may give credite * The people of America utterly void of all manner of God or goodnesse that at the first arriving of the Spaniards there they found in those places nothing shewing trafficke or knowledge of any other Nation but the people naked uncivill some of them devourers of mens flesh ignorant of shipping without all kinde of learning having no remembrance of Historie or writing among them never having heard of any such Religion as in other places of the World is knowne but being utterly ignorant of Scripture or Christ or Moses or any God neither having among them any token of Crosse Church Temple or Devotion agreeing with other Nations The reasons which are gathered by some late Writers out of Plato Seneca and some other of the Ancient are rather conjecturall The reasons conjecturall of a new found World that it was likely that there should bee some such place then any way demonstrative or concluding by experience that there was any such Countrey and the greatest inducement which they had to perswade themselves that there was any more Land towards the West then that which was formerly knowne was grounded upon this that all Asia Europe and Africk concerning the Longitude of the World did containe in them but 180 Degrees and therefore it was most probable that in the other 180 which filleth up the whole course of the Sunne to the number of 360 degrees GOD would not suffer the water onely to possesse all but would leave a place for the habitation of men beasts flying and creeping creatures I am not ignorant that some who make too much of vaine shewes out of the British Antiquities have given out to the World and written something to that purpose that Arthur sometimes King of Britaine had both knowledge of these parts and some Dominion in them for they finde as some report that King Arthur had under his government many Ilands and great Countries towards the North and West which one of some speciall note hath interpreted to signifie America and the Northerne parts thereof and thereupon have gone about to entitle the * Some have entitled the Queene of England Soveraigne of these Provinces Queene of England to bee Soveraigne of those Provinces by right of Descent from King Arthur But the wisedome of our State hath beene such as to neglect that opinion imagining it to be grounded upon fabulous foundations as many things are which are now reported of King Arthur onely this doth carrie some shew with it that now some hundred of yeares since there was a Knight of Wales who with shipping and some pretty Company did goe to discover those parts whereof as there is some record of reasonable credit amongst the Monuments of Wales so there is this one thing which giveth pregnant shew thereunto that in the late Navigation of some of our men to Norumbega and some other
that they were the Sonnes of some God and not borne of mortall seed but sent downe from Heaven unto them and this conceit was the stronger in them because at the first in such conflicts as they had with them they could kill few or none of them the reason whereof was partly the Armour of the Spaniards and partly the want of Iron and Steele upon the Arrowes which the Americans did shoot but they were not very long of that opinion that they were immortall but reformed their errour both by seeing the dead corpes of some of the Christians and by trying an experiment upon some of them also for they tooke of them and put their heads under the water and held them till they were choaked by which they knew them to be of the same nature as other men * They admired and feared a Letter Among other points which did shew the great ignorance and unlettered stupidity of these Indians this was one that they could not conceive the force of writing of Letters in so much that when one Spaniard would send unto another being distant in place in India with any Provision and would write a Letter by him what the fellow had received from him The poore Indian would marvell how it should bee possible that hee to whom hee came should bee able to know all things which either himselfe brought or the sender directed And thereupon divers of them did thinke that there was some kinde of Spirit in the Paper and marvellously stood in feare of such a thing as a Letter was This Countrey yeeldeth great abundance of strange Herbes the like whereof are not to bee found in other parts of the World * Some very rare Beasts as also some very rare Beasts as one among the rest who by Peter Martyrs description hath some part like an Elephant some part like an Horse and divers other parts like divers other Beasts Nature having studied to expresse a great many severall Creatures in one There are also found at the Sea or within some Rivers * The Sea Crocodiles Crocodiles but not of that hugenesse as those that breed in Aegypt in the River Nilus whereof some are described by Plinie to bee at the least foure and twenty Cubits in length which argues the Crocodile to bee the greatest Creature in the World that comes of an Egge * Some rare stones There are also thereabouts some extraordinary Stones growing in the Land as above others the Bloud stones wherof there are great store but especially there is one thing of great beauty and worth that is the abundance of Pearles which are taken in Shell fishes and are of as great quantity as any that be in the Seas neere to the East Judies so that the true cause of the plenty of Pearle in Europe in this our age beyond that incomparably which hath beene in the dayes of our Fore-fathers is to be ascribed to the Discovery of these New-found Lands * Divers trees not else-where found There are also here divers trees which are not to bee found elsewhere and many Roots which serve for divers purposes * The abundance of Kine and Buls Among other things whereof there is great plenty in those Westerne parts is the abundance of Kine and Buls whereof they report that there is such store in Cuba and Hispaniola that there are killed downe divers thousands every yeare whereof the Spaniard maketh no other use but to take the Tallow or the Hide which serveth them in their shipping and for divers other purposes but the flesh of the most part of them they suffer for to putrifie as making little account of it partly because of the heate of the Countrey wherein they eat little flesh and partly because they have great store of Hennes and other more dainty meate whereupon together with fish they doe very much feed It may seeme a kind of miracle unto him who looketh no higher than the ordinary rules of Nature and doth not respect the extraordinary and unlimited power of God that whereas a great part of America doth lye in the Zona torrida in the selfe-same Climate with Aethiopia and the hottest parts of the East Jndies where the Inhabitants are not onely tawny as all bee in Aegypt and in Mauritania but also cole-blacke and very Negroes here there should bee no man whose colour is blacke except it bee those which are brought out of Africa but that the people should bee of a reasonable faire complexion which is to be ascribed onely unto Gods peculiar Will and not to that which some foolishly have imagined that the generative seed of those people should be white and that other of the Aethiopians blacke for that is untrue in as much as the Aethiopians case doth not differ from the quality of other men The Spaniards did find the people to be here most simple * The condition of the people of America without fraud giving them kinde entertainment according to their best manner exchanging for Knives and Glasses and such like toyes great abundance of Gold and Pearle It is certaine that by the very light of Nature and by the ordinary course of humane shape there were among this people very many good things as affabilitie in their kinde Hospitalitie towards strangers which had not offended them according to their ability and open and plaine behaviour * Their Religion yea and in some parts of the West Indies there was an opinion in grosse that the soule was immortall and that there was life after this life where beyond certaine Hils they know not where those which dyed in defence of their Countrey should after their departure from this life remaine in much blessednesse which opinion caused them to beare themselves very valiantly in their fights either striving to conquer their enemies or with very good contentment enduring death if it were their hap to be taken or slaine in as much as they promised themselves a better reward else-where * Tet many grieuous sins by them committed But withall as it could not choose but be so there were many other grievous sinnes amongst them as Adoration of Divels Sodomie Incest and all kinde of Adultery Ambition in very high measure a deadly hatred each to other which proceeded all from the Fountaine of ignorance wherewith Satan had blinded their eyes yet there were among them some which by a kinde of blinde Witch-craft had to evill purpose acquaintance and entercourse with foule spirits * Their Attire The manner of their Attire or beautifying themselves which divers of these people had severally in severall parts did seeme very strange unto them who came first into that Countrey For some of them did adorne themselves with the shels of Fishes some did weare Feathers about their heads some had whole Garments made of Feathers and those very curiously wrought and placed together of divers colours to which purpose they did most use the Feathers of Peacockes or
Country which is called * A description of the people of Peru. Peru wherein the people are for the most part very barbarous and without God men of great stature yea some of them farre higher than the ordinary sort of men in Europe using to shoot strongly with Bows made of Fish-bones and most cruell people to their enemies Our English people who have travailed that way do in their writings confesse that they saw upon the South of Peru very huge tall men who attempting upon them when they put to land for fresh water were much frighted with their Gunnes or else doubtlesse had offered violence unto them which our men fearing got them away as speedily as they could There was one Petrus de Cieca a Spaniard who when he had travailed two and twenty yeeres returned backe againe into Europe and wrote an excellent Booke of the Discovery of that whole Country And he amongst other things doth record that there are found in some parts of Peru very huge and mighty bones of men that had bin Gyants who dwelt and were buried there * The Riches of the Countrey of Peru. Amongst these the Spaniards partly by force but especially by perfidious treason did get infinite sums of Gold and Pearles wherewith being allured they hoped for more by reason that a great part therof lyeth under the Zona Torrida and that caused them to spread themselves here and there as farre as they durst in the Country where in some places they digged Gold out of the Earth and in some other they found it ready digged and tryed unto their hands by the people of the Country which had used that trade before their comming thither Among other creatures which are very famous in this Peru there is a little * A strange story of the Beast Cincia beast called Cincia which is no bigger then a Fox the tayle whereof is long the feet short and the head very like a Fox which hath a bagge hanging under her belly whereinto shee doth use to put her young when shee seeth them in danger of any hunter or passenger That Petrus de Cieca of whom mention was made before telleth that himselfe saw one of them which had no lesse then seven yong ones lying about her but as soone as she perceived that a man was comming neere unto her shee presently got them into her bagge and ranne away with such incredible swiftnesse as one would not have imagined After the Spaniards had conquered Mexico they discovered Peru travelling towards the South and as they prevailed against the Mexicans taking part with an enemy Neighbour so finding two brothers striving in Peru Guascar and Atabaliba they so demeaned themselves in their difference that they ruin'd both and got there incredible store of Gold The first attempters against the Peruvians The first that attempted against the Peruvians and destroyed their Kings were Iames of Almagra and the two brothers of Pizarroes but dealing trecherously cruelly with the Peruvians the long enjoyed not their victory but all of them died a violent death The people of Peru are in many places much wiser than those of Cuba Hispaniola and some other parts of the Continent where the Spaniards first landed and therfore they have some orders and solemne customes among them as among the rest they doe bury their dead with observable Ceremonies laying up their bodies with great solemnity into a large house prepared for that purpose They have also in one Province there a custome of carrying of news and messages very speedily to the end the King and Governour of the Country may presently take advertisement of any thing which falleth out and this is not on Horse-backe or by the Dromedary or Elke as they use in other places but onely men who passe over Rockes and thorow Bushes the next way and in certain set places there be always fresh Postes to carry that farther which is brought to them by the other The Spaniards have here and there scatteringly upon the Sea-coasts set up some Towns and Castles but are not able to possesse almost any thing of the Land neither have they as yet discovered the inward parts thereof though daily they spread themselves more and more in so much that it is supposed that within these seven yeares last past they have gotten into Guiana where in former time no strength of that Nation hath bin * Guiana Guiana is a Countrey which lyeth to the North-sea in the same height as Peru to the South as it is described about five degrees from the Aequinoctiall and that as I take it towards the South * The richnesse and pleasantnes of the Countrey The Countrey is supposed to be exceeding rich and to haue in it many Mynes of Gold which have not yet been touched or at least but very lately and to be exceeding fertile and delightfull otherwise although it lie in the heate of Zona Torrida but there is such store of Rivers and fresh waters in every part thereof and the soyle it selfe hath such correspondency thereunto that it is reported to be as green and pleasant to the eye as any place in the World Some of our Englishmen did with great labour and danger passe by water into the heart of the Country and earnestly desired that some forces of the English might be sent thither and a Colony erected there by reason of the distance of the place and the great hazard that if it should not succeed well it might proove dishonourable to our Nation and withall because the Spaniards have great companies and strength although not in it yet many waies about it that intendment was discontinued In divers parts of this Peru and neere unto Guiana there are very many great rivers which as they are fit for any navigation that should be attempted to goe up within the Land so otherwise they must needs yeeld health and fruitfulnesse to those that inhabite there The greatest of these Rivers is that which some call Oregliana or the * The River of the Amazones river of the Amazones And next is the river Maragnone down towards Magellane straits Rio de la Plata and our Englishmen doe speake of the river Orinoque In the greatest of which this is famous that for a good space after they have run into the maine sea yea some write 20. or 30. miles they keepe themselves unmixt with the salt water so that a very great way within the Sea men may take up as fresh water as if they were neere the Land The first of our Nation that sailed to Guiana and made report thereof unto us Sir Walter Raleigh did first discover it to the English was Sir Walter Raleigh who travelled far up into the Country upon the River Orinoque after him one or two voyages thither did Captaine Kemmish make and now lately Captain Harcourt with others have visited that Country where our men continued the space of three or foure yeares
Kingdomes or Common-wealths which are seated and placed there whereof he seemed in confidence of words to avouch that there be a great many and that it is as good a Countrey as almost any in the world Note But the arguments why he gathered it to be so he did not deliver and yet notwithstanding it may be most probably conjectured that the Creator of the world would not have framed so huge a masse of Earth but that hee would in his wisdome appoint some reasonable creatures to have their habitation there Concerning those places which may be supposed to lie neere unto the Northerne Pole there hath in times past something been written which for the particularity thereof might carry some shew of truth if it be not throughly looked into It is therefore by an olde tradition delivered and by some written also that there was a Fryer of Oxenford who took on him to travaile into those parts which are under the very Pole which he did partly by Negromancie wherein hee was much skilled and partly againe by taking advantage of the frozen times by meanes whereof he might travell upon the Ice even so as himselfe pleased It is said therefore of him that he was directly under the Pole and that there he found a very huge and blacke Rocke which is commonly called * Nigra Rupes Nigra Rupes and that the said Rock being divers miles in circuit is compassed round about with the Sea which Sea being the bredth of some miles over doth runne out into the more large Ocean by foure severall currents which is as much to say as that a good pretty way distant from the Nigra Rupes there are foure severall Lands of reasonable quantitie and being situated round about the Rocke although with some good distance are severed each from other by the Sea-running betweene them and making them all foure to be Ilands almost of equall bignesse But there is no certaintie of this report and therefore our best Mathematicians in this latter age have omitted it Our travellers of later years have adventured so farre to their great danger in those cold and frozen Countries that they have descryed * Groin-Land Groin Land which lieth as far or beyond the circle Artick but whether it goe so farre out as unto the Pole they cannot say which is also to bee affirmed of the Northerne parts of America called by some Estote-land for the opening wherof our English-men have taken great paines as may easily appeare by the new Globes and Maps in which all the Capes Sounds and Furlongs are called by English names Their purpose was in attempting this voyage to have found out a passage to China Cathaio by the north parts of America but by the snowes which fell in August and September as also by the incredible Ice there after many hazards of their lives they were forced to returne not knowing whether there bee any current of the Sea that might leade to the East Indies or how farre the Land doth reach Northward In like sort some of our English Merchants to their great charges set forth Fleets to descry the Seas towards the East yet going by the North and there have found many unknowne Countries as * Nova Zembla Nova Zembla * Sir Hugh Willoughbies Land Sir Hugh Willoughbies Land and other more but of certaine what is very neere unto the Pole they could never finde They have also so far prevailed as to reach one halfe of the way towards Cathaio by the North going East-wards insomuch that by the river Ob and by the Bay of Saint Nicholas they bring the Merchandize downeward into Russia But whether the Sea doe goe thorow out even to the farthest Easterne parts or whether some great Promontory doe stretch out of the maine Continent unto the very Pole they cannot yet attaine to know These things therefore must be left uncertaine to further discoveries in future ages UNIVERSITIES In England 1 Oxford 2 Cambridge Vniversities in Spain 1 Toledo lat 40.10 long 16.40 2 Sivill lat 37.30 long 14.20 3 Valencia lat 39.55 long 21.10 4 Granada lat 37.30 long 17.15 5 Saint Iago lat 40.5 long 15.40 6 Valladolib lat 42.5 long 15.45 7 Alcalade Henaros lat 40.55 long 17.30 8 Salamanca lat 14.20 long 14.4 9 Carageca lat 42.22 long 22.20 10 Siguenca lat 14.35.20 lo. 18.20 11 Lerida lat 42.20 long 18.20 12 Huesca lat 42.50 long 21.20 13 Lisbon lat 38.50 long 10.50 14 Coimbra lat 40. long 11.25 15 Ebora lat 37.38 long 20. In the I le Majorica 1 Majorica In Polonia 1 Cracovia 2 Posue In Prussia 1 Koningsberg In Lituana 1 Wild. In France 1 Paris lat 48.10 long 23. 2 Poicters lat 46.10 long 19 10. 3 Lions lat 44.30 long 25.40 4 Anger 's lat 47.25 long 18.10 5 Avignon lat 42.30 long 25.50 6 Orleans lat 47.10 long 22. 7 Burges lat 46.20 long 22.10 8 Cane lat 49.45 long 19.20 9 Rhemes lat 48.30 lon 25.25 10 Burdeaux lat 44.30 lon 17 50. 11 Tolouse lat 43.5 long 20.30 12 Nismo lat 42.30 long 25. 13 Montpellier lat 42. long 24.30 14 Bisanton lat 46.30 long 27.48 15 Lole lat 46.10 long 27. In Jtalie 1 Rome lat 41.20 long 38. 2 Venice lat 44.50 long 37. 3 Padua lat 44.45 long 31.10 4 Bononia lat 43.33 long 35.50 5 Ferrare lat 44. long 36. 6 Millan lat 44.40 long 33. 7 Pavia lat 44. long 33.5 8 Turin lat 43 45 long 31.30 9 Florence lat 42.35 long 35.50 10 Pisa lat 42.40 long 35. 11 Sienna lat 42.20 long 36.15 12 Modena lat 13.50 lon 35.40 In Bohemia 1 Prage Of Germany 1 Collen lat 51. long 30. 2 Basil lat 47.40 long 31. 3 Mentz lat 50. long 31. 4 Wisburge lat 50. 5 Triers lat 49.50 6 Heidleberge lat 49.25 long 33. 7 Tubinge lat 49.50 8 Ingolstad lat 49.40 9 Erfurt lat 50. 10 Leistgige lat 51.10 11 Wittenberg lat 51.20 12 Frankford in Order 52.10 13 Rostoch lat 53.40 14 Grisswald lat 53.50 15 Friburg lat 48. 16 Marburg lat 50.40 17 Vienna lat 48.40 18 Diling in Switzerland neere Dovaw In Germania inferiori 1 Lovaine lat 51. long 23. 2 Doway lat 50.30 long 29. 3 Liege lat 50.30 long 29. 4 Leiden lat 52.10 long 27 20. In Denmarke 1 Cobenbagen lat 56.50 long 34.30 In Moravia 1 Olmnes In Scotland 1 S. Andrewes 2 Aberdon Of England In England are contained Shires 52 Bishoprickes 26 Castles 186 Rivers 555 Chases 13 Forrests 18 Parkes 781 Cities 25 Parish-Churches 9725 Bridges 956 FINIS