Lapland Biarmia and thereabouts they 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 do yield a Divine Wâ—…ship and Reverence thereunto for all that day as if it were some inferiour God Damianus à Goes hâ—…th written a pretty Treatise describing the manner of those Lappians The greatest part of the Country of Russia is in the winter so exceeding cold that both â—…he Rivers are frozen over the land covered with snow and such is the sharpnesse of the aire that if any go 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 stoves and hot-houses and if they be occasioned to go 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 and the aire is very strangely altered insomuch that the Countrey seemeth hot the birds sing very merrily and the trees grasse and coâ—…n in a short spâ—…ce do appear so chearfully green and pleasant that it is scant to be beleeved but of them which have seen it Their building is most of wood even in the chiefe City of Mosco insomuch that the Tartars who lie in the North-east of them breaking oft into their Countries even unto the very Mosco do set fire on their Cities which by reason of their woodden buildings are quickly destroyed The manner of government which of late years hath been used in Russia is very barbarous and little less than tyrannous for the Emperour that last was did suffer his people to be kept in great servility and permitted the Rulers and chief Officers at their pleasures to pil and ransack the common sort but to no other end but that himself might take occasion when he thought good to call them in question for their misdemeanor and so fill his own coffers with flee cing of them which was the same course the old Roman Empire did use calling the Deputies of the Provinces by the name of Spunges whose property is to suck up water but when it is full then it selfe is crushed and yi ldeth forth liquor for the behalfe of another 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 saile so far North as to compass Lapland Finmark Scricfinia Biarmia and so passing to the East by Nova Zembla halfe 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 Emperor of Russia The first attempt which was made by the English for the entrance of Moscovia by the North seas was in the daies of King Edw. the sixt 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 wheather proved so extream the snowing so great and 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 year some other comming from England found both the ship and their bodies in it and a perfect Remembrance in writing of all things which they had done and dis covered where amongst the rest mention was made of a land which they had touch'd which to this day is known by the name of Sir Hugh Willobies Land The Merchants of London did not desist to pursue this discovery but have so far prevailed as that they have reached one halfe of the way toward the East part of Chyna and Cathaio but the whole passage is not yet opened This Empire is at this day one of the greatest dominions in the world both for compasse of ground for multitude of men saving that it lyeth far North and so yieldeth not pleasure for good Traffick with many other of the best situated nations Among other things which do argue the magnificence of the Emperour of Russia this one is recorded by many who have travelled into those parts that when the great Duke is disposed to sit in his magnificence besides great store of Jewels and abundance of massie plate both of Gold and Silver which is openly shewed in his Hall there do sit as his Princes and great Nobles cloached in very rich and sumptuous attyre divers men ancient for their yeares very seemly of countenance and grave with white long beards which is a goodly shew besides the rich state of the thing But Olaus Magnus a man well experienced in those Northern parts doth say how truely I cannot tell that the manner of their sitting is a notable fraud and cunning of the Russian in as much as they are not men of any worth but ordinary Citizens of the gravest and seemliest countenance which against such a solemnity are picked out of Mosco and other places adjoining and have robes put on them which are not their own but taken out of the Emperours Wardrobe Of Spruce and Poland IN Europe on the East and North corner of Germany lyeth a Countrey called Prussia in Latine most times Borussia in English Pruthen or Spruce of whom little is famous saving that they were governed by one in a kinde of order of Religion whom they call the Grand-Master and that they are a meanes to keep the Moscovite and the Turke from some other parts of Christend me This Country is now grown to be a Dukedome and the Duke thereof doth admit traffick with our English who going beyond the Hance Townes do touch upon his country and amongst other things doe bring from thence a kinde of leather which was wont to be used i Jerkins and called by the name of Spruce-Leather-Jerkins On the Eâ—…t side â—… Germany between Russia and Germany â—…eth Polonia or Poland which is a â—…gdome diffeâ—…ing from others 〈◊〉 Europe because the King there is â—…osen by Election out of some of the Princes neere adjoining as laâ—…ely Henry the third King of France These Elections oftenâ—…mes doe make great factions there so that in taking parts they grow often there into Civill warre The King of Polonia is almost continually in warre either with the Moscovite who lyeth in the East and North-East of him or with the Turke who liâ—…th on the South and South Eâ—…st and someâ—…imes also with the Princes of Germany whereupon the Poles doe commonly desire to chule warriours to their King In this
new-found lands so with very great labour and diligence they attempted to open something higher than Nova Francia and therefore with some Ships they did passe thither and entred upon the Land from whence they brought some of the people whose countenance was very tawny and dusky which commeth not by any heat but the great cold of the Climate chilling and pricking them but the digestion and stomack of these people is very good insomuch that like unto the Tartars and some other Norther nations their feeding was for the most part upon raw meat their manners otherwise being barbarous and suitable to their diet They had little leatherne Boats wherein they would fish neare the brinks of the Sea and at their pleasure would carry them from place to place on their backs Notwithstanding all their pains there taken it was a great errour and ignorance in our men when they supposed that they should find good store of Gold-mines in those quarters for the country is so cold that it is not possible to find there any full concoction of the sun to breed and work such a metall within the ground and therefore howsoe ver they brought home some store of earth which they supsed to be Ore and of shining stones yet when it came to the triall it proved to be nothing worth but verified the Proverb All is not Gold that glisters In very many parts of these Northern Countries of America there is very fit and opportune fishing some pretty way within the sea and therefore divers Nations of Europe do yearly send fishers thither with shipping and great store of salt where when they have taken fish and dried 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 English about the year 1570 did adventure far for to open the North parts of America and sayled as far as the very Circle Articke hoping to have fonnd a passage-by the North to the Moluccoes and to China which hitherto neither by the North of Asia nor by the North of America could be effefected by them by reason of the very great cold and ice in the climate The rest of the Iland being a huge space of earth hath not hither to by any Christian to any purpose been discovered but by those near the sea coast it may be gathered that they all which do there inhabite are men rude and uncivill without the knowledge of God Yet on the north west part of America some of our English men going through the straights of Magellane and passing towards the North by Hispania nova have touched on a Countrey where they have found good entertainment and the King thereof yeelded himself to the subjection of the Queen of England whereupon they termed it Nova Albion Sir Francis Drake who toucht upon that Country and for some pretty time had his abode there doth report in his Voyage that the country is very good yeelding much store of divers fruits delightful both to the eye and taste and that the people are apt enough by hospitality to yeeld favour entertainment to strangers but it is added withall that they are marvellously addicted to Wichcraft and adoration of Devils from which they could not be perswaded to abstain even in the very presence of our Country-men Of Peru and Brasile VVHen the Portugals had first begun their Navigation by Africk into the East-Indies some of them intending to have held their course Eastward unto Catut bonae spei were driven so far Westward by tempest that they landed in a large and great Country which by a general name is called Brasilia where they began to enter traffick and with Towns 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 Crown of Portugal We may read in Guicciardine how when the Spaniards towards the West and the Portugals towards the East had descried many new-found-new-found-lands there grew great contention between 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 year 1492 and somewhat before and after and he 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 between 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 he had in his portion all America accept Brasilia This Country is large having in it many people and several Kingdoms which are not all possessed by the Portugals but so that other Christians as namely the Frenchmen being driven out of their Country for Religion have set foot in there though afterwards again they have abandoned it What the Portugal do 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 forty 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 own country-men did go thither continued there the space of one year having Ministers and Preachers among them and the exercise of the Word and Sacraments but after by the evill counsell of some of the chief Rulers in 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 siâ—…ce been continued by any of the French There is a learned man one Johannes Lyreus who was in their voyage and hath written a Tract called Navigatio in Brasiliam which is very well worth the reading not only 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 alwaies naked reasonable good Warriours after their country fashion using to fat such enemies as they take in the wars that afterwards they may devour
avouch that there be a great many and that it is as good a Countrey as almost any in the world 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 he would in his wisdome appoint some reasonable creatures to have their habitation there Concerning those places which may be supposed to lie neer unto the Northern 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 lookt into It is therefore by an old tradition delivered and by some written also that there was a Friar of Oxford who took on him to travel into those parts which are under the very Pole which he did partly by Negromancy wherein he was much skilled and partly again by taking advantage of the frozen times by meanes whereof he might travell upon the Ice even so as himself pleased It is said therefore of him thà t he was directly under the Pole and that there he found a very huge and blackrock which is commonly called Nigra rupes and that the said rock being divers miles in circuit is compassed round about with the Sea which Sea being the breadth of some miles over doth run out into the more large Ocean by four severall Currents which is as much to say as that a good pretty way distant from the Nigra Rupes there are foure several lands of reasonable quantity and being scituated round about the rock although with some good distance are severed each from other by the sea running between them and making them all foure to be Islands almost of equall bignesse But there is no certainty of this report and therefore our best Mathematicians in this latter age have omitted it Our travellers of later years have adventured so far to their great danger in those cold and frozen countries that they have descried Groinland which lieth as far or beyond the circle Artick but whether it go so far out as unto the Pole they cannot say which is also to be afirmed of the Northern parts of America called by some Estote-land for the opening whereof our English-men have taken great pains as may easily appeare by the â—…ew â—…lobes 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 and Cathaio by the North parts of America but by the snows which fell in August and September as also by the incredible Ice there after many hazards of their lives they were forcâ—…d to return not knowing whether there be any current in the Sea that might lead to the East-Indies or how far the Land doth reach Northward In like sorâ—… some of our English Merchants to their great charges set forth â—…eets to descry the Seas towards the East yet going by the North and there have found many unknown countries as Nova Zembla Sir Hugh Willoughbies land and other mâ—…re but of certain what is very near unto the Pole they could never find They have also so far prevailed as to reach one half of the way toward Cathaio by the North going Eastward insomuch that by the River Ob and by the Bay of St. Nicholas they bring the Merchandize downwards into Russia But whether the sea do go throughout even to the fatherest Eastern parts or whether some great Promontory do stretch out of the main Continent unto the very Pole they cannot yet attain to know These things therefore must be left uncertain to further discoveries in fature ages UNIVERSITIES In England 1 Oxford 2 Cambridge Universities in Spaine 1 Toledo latitude 40. 10. longitude 16. 40. 2 Sivill lat â—…7 â—…0 long 14. 20 3 Valencia lat 39. 55. long 21. 10 4 Granada lat 37. â—…0 long 17. 1â—… 5 S Jago lat â—…0 5 long 15. 40. 6 Valindolid lat â—…2 5. long 15. 45. 7 Alcalade Henaros lat 40. 55. long 17. 30 8 Salamanca lat 14. 10. long 24 4 9 Caragoca lat 4â—… 22 long 22. 20 10 Signencâ—… lat â—…4 35. 20. long 18. â—…0 11 Lerida lat 42 20 long 18. 10 12 Huesca lat 12 50. long 2â—… 20 13 Lisbon lat 38. 50. long 0 50 14 Coimbra lat 40. long 11. 2â—… 15 Ebora lat 37 38 long 20 In the Isle Majorica 1 Majorica In Polonia 1 Câ—…acovia 2 Posne In Prussia 1 Koningsberg In Lituania 1 Wild In France 1 Paris lat 48. â—…0 long â—…3 2 Poictiers lat 46. 10 long 1â—… 1â—… 3 Lyons lat 44. 30 long â—…5 40 4 Anger 's lat 47. 25. long 18. 10 5 Avignon lat 42. 30 long 25 50 6 Orleans lat 47. 10 long â—…2 7 〈◊〉 lat 46. 20 long 22. 10 8 Cacn lat 40. 45. long 1â—… 20 9 Reims lat 48 30 long 25 25 10 Burdeaux lat 44 30 long 17. 50 11 Tolouse lat 43 5 long 20 30. 12 Nismo lat 42 30 long 25 13 Montpelieâ—… lat 42 long 24 30 14 Bisantâ—…n lat 46 3â—… long 27 48 15 Lole lat 46 10 long 27 In Italy 1 Rome lat 41 20 long 38 2 Venice lat 44 50 long 37 3 Padna lat 44 45 long 32 10 4 Bononia lat 43 33 long 35 50 5 Ferrara lat 44 long â—…6 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 long 35 40 In Boheâ—…a 1 Prague In Germany 1 Collen lat 51 long 30 2 Basil lat 47 40 long 31 3 Alents lat 50 long 31 4 Witzburg lat 50 5 Triers lat 49 50 6 Heidleberg lat 49. 25 long 33 7 Tubinge lat 49 50 8 Ingolsted lat 49 â—…0 9 Erfurt lat 50 10 Leistgige lat 51 10 11 Wittenberg lat 51 50 12 Frankford in Oder 51 10 13 Rostoch lat 53 40 14 Grislwald lat 53 10 15 Friburg lat 48 16 Marburg lat 50 40 17 Viena lat 43 40 18 Diling in Suitzerland neate Dâ—…yaw In Germania Inferiori 1 Lovain lat 50 long 23 2 Doway lat 50 30 long 29 3 Liege lat 50 30 long 29 4 Leiden lat 5â—… 10 long 27 20 In Denmarke Copenhagen lat 56 50 long 34 30 In Moraviâ—… 1 Olmues In Scotland 1 Saint Andrews 2 Abeâ—…don Of England In England are contained Sâ—…ires 52 Bishopricks 26 Castles 186 Rivers 555 Chases 13 Forrests 68 Parkes 781 Clties 25 Parish-Churches 9725 Bridges 956 FINIS Of the seas The divers names given to the seas and the reason why Of the straits or Narrow Seas Of the Earth How Spain is bounded The original name of the Country of Spaine Carthaginians sent to defend the Gaditanes Spaine once a Province of the Roman Empire Sarazens and Moores
A BRIEFE DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD WHEREIN Is particularly described all the Monarchies Empires and Kingdoms of the same with their Academies AS ALSO Their severall Titles and Scituations thereunto adjoyning Written by the Reverend Father in God George Abbot late Archbishop of Canterbury The Fifth Eddition LONDON Printed for Margaret Sheares at the Blew Bible in Bedford-Street in Coven-Garden and John Playâ—…ere at the White-Beare in the upper Walk in the New-Exchange 1664. A Briefe Description of the whole World THe Globe of the Earth doth either shew the Sea or Land The Sea general is called by the name or Ocean which coasteth all the World and taketh his name in speciall either of the place neare which it commeth as Oceanus Britanicus Mare Germanicum Sinus Perficus Mare Atlanticum of the Hill Atlas in the West part of Africke 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 between the lands of Europe and Africke Mare Icarium because Icarus was drowned there or the like There be some few Seas which have no intercourse with the Ocean as Mare Mortuum neare Palestina Mare Caspium sive Hircanum not far from Armenia and such a one is said to be in the North part of America 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 Straights between Barbary and Spaine Fretum Magellanicum c. The Earth is either Islands which are those which are wholly compassed by the Sea as Britannia Sicilia Corsica or the Continent which is called in the English The firme Land in the Latine Continens The old known firme Land was contained only 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 and Europe in old time were but little known and discovered Africa is divided from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea from Asia by the River Nilus and so Asia by Tanais and Nilus is severed from Europe and Africke Of Spaine TO say nothing of England and Ireland the most Westerne Country of Europe is Spaine which is bounded on the South with the Mediterranean on the West with the Atlanticke on the North with Oceanus Cantabricus or the Spanish Seas on the East with France from which it is severed with certaine Mountaines called Montes Pyrenei or the Pyrenay hils If we should enquire into the times that were before the comming of the Carthaginians and Romans into Spaine we shall find nothing but that which is either fabulous or neare to sables here it was first called Iberia ab Ibero flumine afterwards Hispania ab Hispane we may take as a tradition but their Gargoris their Ha bis their Geryon exceed beleefe of any but those that will take all reports on trust It is certain 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 Common-wealth 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 Expedi tion these Carthaginians succes sively sent thither three Captaines Hamilcar Hasdrubal and Hanibal who for the most part subdued the Province and held it till by Scipio's and the Romans Forces they were dispossessed of it Yet for many years after the fortunes of the Romans stuck as it were in the subduing of that Province so that from the time of â—…he second Punick war untill the time of Augustus they had businesse made them in that Country continually neiâ—…her could they till then bring it peaceably into the forme of a Province It continued a Province of the Roman Empire untill the time of Honorius the Emperour in whose dayes the Vandals came into it conquering and making it theirs then the Goths the Vandals either driven out or called over into Africk entring erected there a Kingdome which flourished for many yeares till by the comming of the Saracens and Moores their Kingdome was broken who setling themselves in Spaine erected it 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 yeares mighty in that Countrey till they were first subdued by Ferdinand afterwards and that now lately utterly expelled by Philip the Third After the comming in of these Africans in this Country there were many Kingdomes as the Kingdome of Portugall toward the West the Kingdome of Granado toward the South the Kingdom 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 Spaine As Damalanus à Goes doth write in the Treatise intituled Hispania there were in times past twelve severall Kingdomes in Spain which he nameth thus Castellae antiquae novae Leonis Aragoniae Portugalliae Navarrae Granatae Valentiae Toleti Galitiae Algarbiâ—…rum 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 Kingdoms and Monarchies In the best Maps 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 surable thereunto for the Armes of Castile is given a Castle which was the cause that John of Gaunt Son to Edward the Third King of England did quarter with the Armes of England the Castle and the Lion as having married Constance Daughter to Peter King of Castile and at this day the first and chief 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 Andaluzia neare unto which the Island called properly Gades but since by depravation of the word Cadiz and commonly Cales which was lately surprized by the English The Kingdome of Granada which lieth nearest to the Mediterranean was by the space of seven hundred years possessed by the Moores and Saracens who do professe the Reâ—…igion of Mahomet the reason whereof Rodericus Toletanus in the third book of history doth shew to be this that whereas the Sarazens after Mahomets time had spread themselves all along Africke even unto the Westerne part of Barbary a King of Spaine called Rodericus employed in an Embassage to them one Julian a Nobleman of his who by his wise Demeanour procured much Reputation amongst the Moores but in the time of his service the King Rodericus
Flood the Ark of Noah did â—…est it self on the Mountaines of Armenia where as Josephus witnesseth it is to be seen yet to this day the hils whereon it resteth â—…re called by some Nâ—…ae Montes The people of this Nation have retained amongst them the Chriâ—…tian faith as it is thought from the â—…ime of the Apostles but at this say it is spotted with many absurdities Among other Errors which the Church of Armenia hath been noted to hold this is one that they lid bathe their Children waving them up and down in flames oâ—… fire and repute that to be a necessary circumstance of Baptisme Which errour ariseth by mistaking that place of John 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 lieth the Country of Assyria 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 Nim rod living not long after Noahs Flood and it ended in Sardanapalus continuing a thousand and three hundred yeares The King of this Country was Senacherib of whom we read â—…n the book of the Kings and here reigned Nebuchadnezzar who took Jerusalem and led the Jewes away prisoners unto Babylon In this Countrey is the swift River Tygris near unto the which was Paradise Upon this River stood the great City Ninive called by prophane Writers Ninus which was almost of incredible bignesse and exceeding populous by the nearnesse of the River and marvellous fruitfulnesse of the soil which as Herodotus writeth did return their Corn sometime two hundred and sometimes three hundred fold and did yield sufficiency for to maintain it This City for a long time was the Imperiall Seat of the Monarchy but being destroied 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 NExt unto Assyria lyeâ—…h Chaldea having on the East side Assyria on the West Syria or Palestina on the North Armenia on the South the Desart of Arabia This Countrey is often called by the name of Mesopotamia which name it hath because it lieth in the middle of two great Rivers Tygris and Euphrates It is called also by the name of Babylonia which word of it self properly taken doth signifie only that part of the Countrey which standeth about Babylon The chief City whereof was Babylon whose ruines do remain unto this day It was a rich and most pleasant City for all kind of Delight and was in the latter time of that Monarchy the Imperiall City of the Assyrians where Nebuchadnezzar and other their great Kings did â—…ye It was to this City that the children of Israel were carried captives which thereof was called the Captivity of Babylon The Kings of Persia also did keep â—…heir residence here it was built upon the River Euphrates some part of it standing on the one side and some part on the other having for its foundresse Semiramis the wife of Ninus Ammianus Marcellinus reporteth one thing of this Countrey wherein the admirable power of God doth appeare for he writeth that in these parts are a huge number of Lyons which were like enough to devour both men and beasts throughout the Countrey but withall he saith that by reason of the store of water and mudd thereof there do breed yearly an innumerable company of Gnats whose property is to flye unto the eye of the Lyon as being a bright and orient thing where byting and stinging the Lyon he â—…eareth so fiercely with his clawes that he putteth out his own eyes and by that meanes many are drowned in the Rivers others starve for want of prey and many the more easily killed by the Inha bitants It is supposed by Divines that in this Mesopotamia between the River Tygris and Euphrates Paradise did stand This was the Country wherein Abraham the Patriarch was born unto which the Romanes could very hardly extend their Dominion For they had much to do to get the Government of any thing beyond the River Euphrates From this people it is thought the wise men came which brought presents to Christ by the guiding of the Starre For as in India and all the Eastern parts so especially in this Country their Noblemen and Priests and very many people do give themselves to all Arts of Divination Here were the great Southsayers Enchanters and wise men as they call them Here were the first Astrologians which are so described and derided in the Scripture and against the Inhabitants of Babylon and Chaldea were the Lawes of the Romans made which are against divining Mathematicians who in Tullie de Divinatione Cornelius Tacitus as also in the Lawes of the Emperors are Ordinarily collected by the name oâ—… Chaldeans and indeed from these and from the Egyptians is supposed to have sprung the first knowledge of Astronomy It is thought that a great reason whereof these Chaldeans were expert in the laudable knowledge of Astronomy was partly because the Countrey is so plain that being without hils they might more fully and easily discover the whole face of the Heaven and partly because the old Fathers which lived so long not only before but in some good part also after the flood of Noah did dwell in or near to these parts and they by observation of their own did find out and discover many things of the heavenly bodies which they delivered as from hand to hand to their posterity But as corruption doth staine the best things so in proces of time the true Astronomy was defilled with superstitious Rules of Astrology which caused the Prophets Isaiah and Ieremiah so bitterly to inveigh against them And then in their fabulosity they would report that they had in their Records Observations for five and twenty thousand yeares which must needs be a very great untruth unlesse we will qualifie it as some have done expounding their yeares not of the Revolution of the Sun but of the Moon whose course is ended in the space of a moneth Of Asia the lesse ON the North-west side of Mesopotamia lyeth that Countrey which is now called Natolia but in times past Asia minor having on the North side Pontus Euxinus on the West the Hellespont and on the South the maine Mare Mediterraneum In the ancient writings both of the Grecians and of the Romans this is oftentimes called by the single name of Asia because it was best knowne unto them and they were not so much acquainted with the farther places of Asia the Great This Countrey in generall for the fruitfulnesse of the Land standing in so temperate a Climate and
Alexandria in Egypt and from thence dispersed into Christendome by the Venetians which spices and Apothecaries drugs are found to be farre worse than before time they were by reason of the great moisture which they take on the water by reason of the long navigation of the Portugals by the back parts of Africa This is the sea through the which Solomon did send for his gold and other precious Merchandise unto the East Indies and not to the West-Indies as some lately have disputed Whereout the vanity of that opinion may appeare that America and the West Indies were known in the time of Solomon For if he had sent thither his course had been along the Mediterranean and through the straits of Gibraltar commonly called Fretum Herculium between Spain Barbary But the Scripture telleth that the Navy which Solomon sent forth was built at Ezion Geber which is there also said to stand on the Red Sea So his course might be East-ward or South-ward and not West-ward In the Desart of Arabia is the Mount Horeb which by some is supposed to be the same that is called Mount Sinai where they think it was that Abraham should have offered up his sonne Isaac But this is certaine that it is the place where God in the wildernesse did give unto the people of Israel his Law of the ten Commandements in thundering lightning and great earth quake in most fearefull manner Of Africke and Egypt FRom Arabia and Palestina toward the West 〈◊〉 A fricke having on the North side from the one end of it to the other the Mediterranean sea The greatest p rt of which Coun try although it hath been guessed 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 or the Wildernesses therein it was in former time supposed by many not to be much inhabited but of certainty by all to be very little discovered till the Portugals of late began their navigation on the backe side of Africa to the East Indies So exact a description is therefore not to be looked for as hath been of Asia and Europe Joining to the Holy Land by a little Istmos in the Countrey of Egypt which is a land as fruitful as any almost in the world although in these daies it doth not answer to the fertilty of former times This is that which in the time of Joseph did relieve Canaan with corne and the family of Jacob which did so multiply in the land of Egypt that they were grown to a huge multitude when God by Moses did deliver them thence This Countrey did yield exceeding abundance of corne unto the City of Rome whereupon Egypt 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 Egypt Whereupon the raining with thunder and lightning and fire running on the ground was so much more strange when God plagued Pharaâ—…h in the daies 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 which river yearly is one of the greatest miracles of the world no man being able to yield 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 rain to fall in Egypt besides other heathen testimonies and experiences of Travellers may be gathered out of the Scripture for in the 10 Chapter of Deuteronomy God doth make an Antithesis between the Land of Canaan and Egypt saying that Egypt 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 hills and mountaines and which was watered with the raine of Heaven and yet some have written that ever now and then there is mists in Egypt which yield though not raine yet a pretty dew It is noted of this River that if in ordinary places it doe flow under the height of fifteen cubits that then for want of moisture the earth is not fruitfull and if it doe flow above seventeen cubits that there is like to be a dearth by reason of the abundance of moisture the water lying longer on the Land than the inhabitants do desire It is most probably conjectured that the falling and melting of snow from those hils which be called Lunae Montes do 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 and dams the water that doth hastily fall and the same they let out with sluces some after some which causeth it ordinarily to come down into the plaines of Egypt For the keeping up of these Dammes the Countrey of Egypt hath time out of mind paid a great tribute to Prester-John Which when of late it was denied by the Turke Prester John caused all the sluces to be let go on the sudden whereby he marveliously annoied and drowned up a great part of the Countrey of Egypt In Egypt learning hath been very ancient but especially the knowledge of Astronomy and Mathematicks whereof before the time of Tully their Priests would report that they had the discent of 1500 yeares exactly recorded with observations Astrological which as it is a fable unlesse they do reckon their yeares by the Moone as some suppose they did every month for a year so it doth argue knowledge to have been among them very ancient Their Priests had among them a kinde of writing and describing of things by picture which they did call their Hieroglyphica This in times past was a Kingdome 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 Egypt and so oppressed by Pharaoh as is mentioned in the beginning of the booke of Exodus 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 Egypt had much cost bestowed upon them after they were dead For in as much as Arabia was neare 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 thereof and the skin will remaine unputrified for divers hundred years and all learned men
world is Albion or Britania which hath heretofore contained in it many severall Kingdomes but especially in the time of the Saxons It hath now in it two Kingdomes England and Scotland wherin are four several languages that is the English which the civill Scots do barbarously speake the Welch tongue which is the language of the old Britains 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 neer unto Ireland The commodities and pleasures of England are well known 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 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 first this Countrey was peopled from the continent of France or thereabout when the sons 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 do labour to fetch their pedigree from one Brutus whom they report to come from Troy because the original of that truth began by Galfridus Monumentensis above 500. yeares agone and his book containeth great shew of truth but was noted by Nubringensis or some author of his time to be meerly fabulous Besides that many of our English Nation have taxed the saying of them who would attribute the name of Brittannia unto Brutus and Cornubia to Corynaeus Aeneas Sylvius Epist. 1. 3. hath thought good to confirm it saying The English people saith he do report that after Troy was overthrown one Brutus came unto them from whom their Kings do fetch their pedigrees Which matter there are no more Historians that deliver besides a certaine English man which had some learning in him who willing to aequall the blood of those Iflanders unto the Roman stock and generosity did affirm and say that concerning Brutus which Livy and Salust being both deceived did report of Aeneas We do find in ancient Records and Stories of this Island that since the first possessions which the Britains had here it was over-run and conquered five several times The Romans 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 Romans but was not able to sarre to prevaile upon it as any way to possesse it yet his successours afterwards did by little and little so gain on the Country 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 between their dominion here and Scotland Divers of the Emperours were here in person as Alexander Severus who is reputed to be buried at York Here also was Constantius father unto Constantine the Great who from hence married Helena a woman of this Land who was afterward mother to the renowned Constantine But when the Romans had their Empire much weakned partly by their owne discords and partly by that decay which the irruptions of the Gothes and Vandals 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 Pictes did breake in who most miserably wasted and spoiled the Country Then were the Inhabitants as some of our Authors write put to that choise 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 Pictes who were the second over-runners of this Land some do write that they did use to cut and pounse their flesh and lay on colours which did make them the more terrible to be seen with the cuts of their flesh But certaine it is that they had their name for painting themselves 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 seem the more dreadfull when they were to joyn battell To meet with the cruelty and oppression of these Barbars the Saxons were in the third place by some of the Land called in who finding the sweetnesse of the soile and commodiousnesse of the Countrey every way did repaire hither by great troops and so seated themselves here that there were at once of them seven several 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 remained then the Pictes 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 Religion and Devotion was much embraced and divers Monasteries and rich Religious houses were founded by them partly for pennance which they would do and partly otherwise because they thought it too meritorious insomuch 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 lead 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 Danes who Lording it here divers yeares were at last expelled and then William Duke of Normandy pretending that he had right thereunto by the promise of adoption or some other conveiance from Harald did with his Normans passe over into this Land and obtained a great victory in Sussex at a place which he caused in remembrance thereof to be called Battell and built an Abby there by the name of Battell Abby He took on him to winne the whole by conquest and did beare himselfe indeed like a Conquerour For he seised all into his hands gave out Barons Lordships and Mannors from himself reversed the former Lawes and Customes and instituted here the manners and orders of his own Country which have proceeded on and been by little and little bettered so that the honourable government is established which we now see at this day It is supposed that the faith of Christ was first brought into this land in the days of the Apostles by Joseph of Arimathea Simon Zelotes and some other of that time but without doubt not long after it was found here which appeareth by the testimony of Tertullian who lived within lesse then 200. yeares after Christ And there are records to shew that in the daies of Eleutherius one of the ancient B shops of Rome King Lucius received here both Baptisme and
dead bodies into Morea which is not farre distant to be buried there among the Greekes and after their fashion The naturall Inhabitants of Zant are Greeks both by Language and Religion and observe all fashions of the Greekish Church in whose words being now much corrupted depraved there may yet be found some tokens and remainders of the old pure and uncorrupted Greek There are in this Countrey great store of Swine kept whereof the Inhabitants do feed and carry them into Morea but the Turks there by their Mahumetane profession will taste no Swines flesh In Zacynthus our English Merchants have an house of abode for their Traffick South-East from Moreah lyeth the great Island Creta where Minos sometimes did reign so famous for his severity This Countrey was then called Hecâ—…tompolis as having in it a hundred Towns and Cities Here stood the labyriâ—…th which was the work of Dedalus who conveighed the house so by the manifold turnings infiniteness of Pillars and Doors that it was impossible to find the way yet Theseus by the help of Ariadne the Daughter of King Minos taking a bottome of thred and â—…ing the one end at the first doore did enter and slâ—…y the Minotaur which was kept there and afterwards returned safe out again The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were such noted lyars that beside the Proverbs which were made of them as Crettenscmendacium Cretisandum est cum Cretensibus the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Titus who was left there by him as Bishop of that Island doth cite a verse out of the Heathen Poet Epimenides that the Cretians are ever lyars evil beasts slow bellies This Island is in our daies called Candy being the place from whence our Sugar of Candy is brought It is under the Venetians and repute a part of their Seigniory although the Turks when they had taken Cyprus did think also to have surprised it but that it pleased God by the meanes of Don John of Austria in the behalf of his brother the King of Spaine and the Venetians to give the Turke that great overthrow at sea in the sight near unto Lepanto Yet since that time no doubt the Turks have a greedy eye upon the sland of Canay Between Creta and Peloponnesus lyeth Cithera There was the fine Temple of Venus who thereof by the Poets is called Citherea The Islands are many which lye in the Sea called Mare Aegeum from the bottome of Greece unto the top of the Hellespont as all the Cyclades Euboia and the great Iland Samos and Chios so Seyres where Achilles was born and was King of that Coutrey There is also Lesbos and Cemnos Mytilene and Ithaca where Ulysses was King and Andnos whither Themistocles was sent by the Athenians for Tribute as Plutarch layeth down the History Themistocles did tell them that he came to demand Tribute or some great imposition upon them being ' accompanied with two goddâ—…sses the one was Eloquence to perswade them and the other Violence to enforce them Whereunto the Andrâ—…ans made answer that they had on their side two goddesses as strong whereof the one was Necessity whereby they had it not and the other was Impossibilitie whereby they could not part with that which they never possessed Of these places something may be read in the old History of the Greekes Divers of these did strive that Homer was borne in them but of certain many of those Kings which Homer saith came with Agamemnon to the siege of Troy were Kings but of those small Ilands Eastward from thence not farre from some part af Natolia or Asia the lesser is the Iland of Rhodes the friendship of the inhabitants whereof was in ancient time very much desired by the Princes that had to do that way so that Alexander first and the Romans afterwards did embrace their league Here was that huge and mighty Image of the Sun which was called Colossus Rhodius This Country was long defended by those who were called the Knights of Rhodes against the power of the Turke and it was a great bulwarke to defend Christendome till that in the yeare one thousand five hundred twenty and one Solyâ—…an the Great Turke did win it from the Christians by force From thence Southward is the Isle Carpathus but in the farthest end of the East part of the Mediterranean is Cyprus which about 300. yeares since was a Kingdome and did afford great aide unto the Christians that went to conquer the Holy Land but it is now under the Turke The chief City thereof is â—…amogusta which is an Archbishops sea for Christians for their tribute do yet live there In this Countrey in old time was Venus much honoured and therefore she was called Cypria as also Paphia because she had a temple in a City there called Paphos Neer unto Syria stood the Island Tyrus against the pride whereof the Prophets doth much speak this was a rich City for Merchandise 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 Islands we do say nothing Of the Islands in the Indian Sea THe Islands are very many that do lye in the Sea adjoining to the East Indies but the most famous among them shall onely be touched Among old writers as especially appeareth by Solinus was well known that which was then called Tâ—…probana which lieth neer the Equinoctiall Line It was in that time a Monarchy where the Kings reigned not by succession but by election and if any of them did grow intolerable he was deposed and enforced to dye by withdrawing from him all things necessary This is now called Sumatra and hath in it divers Kings Not far from thence lâ—…e Eastward the two Islands called Java major and Java minor which were also known to the old Writers as in general may be noted that all the East part either in the Continent or in the Ilands have very many smal Kings and Kingdomes From whence yet more East lieth a great number of â—…les which are now called the Molucco's which are places as rich for their quantity as any in the World from these it is that the Spaniards have yearly so great quantity of all kinds of spice neither is there any place of all the East-Indies that doth more richly furnish home their Carracts than do these Molucco's The Islands which are called by that name are by some of our writers accounted to be at least four twenty or five and twenty and some of them which are the bigger have in them two or three Kings apiece and some of them which are lesse are either the several Dominions of several Kings or else two or three of them do belong to some one Prince When Sir Francis Drake did compasse the whole World he came near unto these
but did not touch at any of them but Master Candish taking as large a journey was in one or more of them where he found the people to be intelligent and subtill and the Kings of the Country 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 own possession with the Kings of some other they have leagued and a third sort utterly detest them More Northward over against China lyeth a Country consisting of a great many Islands called Japona of Japan the people whereof are much of the same nature with the men of China This Country was first discovered by the â—…esuites who in a blind zeale have travelled into the farthest parts of the world to win men to their Religion This Island is thought to be very rich About the parts of Japan there are diâ—…ers people whose most ordinary habitation is at the Sea and do never come into the Land but only 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 fowls swimming about them which sometimes they take into their Boats and Ships in such sort do breed them to the maintenance of them and their Children Into this Iapan of late daies have our English also sail'd as into other parts of the East Indies and there erected a Factory The rest that be either neer unto Asia or Africa because there is little written of them we passe over onely naming them as the Philipinâ—… Borneo Bandaâ—…a as also on the side of Africke the Island of Saint Laurence called by the inhabitants Madagasâ—…ar 〈◊〉 and others of lesse note And yet we do find in Solinus and Pliny but especially in Pomponius Mela that it was known in old time that there were many Islands neer unto the East-Indies which as it might be first discovered by the trafficking of the Islanders into the continent so no doubt that Navy which Alexander sent out to India to desâ—…ry and coast thorow the Eastern seas did give much light thereunto partly by that which themselves did see and partly by those things which they heard in such places and of such persons as they met with in their travell Of the Islands in the Atlantick Sea THere be many Islands which he Westward from Africa and from Europe as those which are called the Gorgades that lye in the same climate with Guinea which are four in number not inhabited by men but they are full of Goats Peter Martyr in his first Decade the sixth Book saith that the Admirall Colonus in the year of Christ 1498 sailing to Hispaniola with eight ships came to the Isle of Madera from whence sending directly the rest of his ships to the East Indies he in one ship with decks and two Carayels sailed to the Equinoctiall betweene which and the Isle Madera in the middest way lye 13. Islands of the Portugalls in old time called Hesperides now Cabonerde two daies sailing distant from the inner parts of Ethiope one whereof is called Bonavista Northward from thence in the same climate with the South part of Morocco lye those which are called Canariâ—… or the fortunate Islands which are seven in number being most fruitful and very pleasant and therefore called by that name Fortunate Insulae This is famous in them that it hath pleased all Cosmographers to make their Meridian to be their first point where they do begin to reckon the computation of their Longitude and unto them after three hundred and threescore Degrees to return again From these Islands it is that those strong and pleasant Sacks which are called Canary Wings are brought and from thence are fetched those that they call Canary Birds These Islands are under the Crowne of Spaine The heat of the Countrey is very great and therefore fitter for concoction but besides that the sayle of it self is accommodated thereunto and by reason of them both these Islands do bring forth a Grape which is sweeter in taste then any other Grape and hath that property with it that the Wine which is made thereof doth not â—…ume into the head like other Sack but doth help the stomacke and exercise the force of it there The slips of their Vines have been brought into Spaine and some other places of Europe but they have not sorted to the same purpose as they do in their native Countrey ... There do grow also in these Isles good store of Sugar-canes which yeeldeth plentifully that kinde of commodite unto Spaine either for Marmelets wherein they much delight or for other uses Peter Martyr in the beginning of his Decades which he hath written de Orbe novo doth particularly touch the names and some other things of these Islands On the backside of Africa also just under the Equinoctial is the Isle of Saint Thomas inhabited by the Portugals which Island was taken in the later time of Queen Elizabeth by the Dutch it is reported that in the midst of this Iland is an Hill and over that a continual cloud where with the whole Island is watered such a like thing as this is reported of the Isle of Cloves The aire of this Island is unwholsome and there is hardly seen any Portugal or stranger that comes to dwell there which lives till he be above forty years of age More Northward from Africke lye those Islands which are called Azores Insulae being six or seven in number of which Tercera is one of the chief of whom the rest by some are called Tercera's which are farre inferiour in fruitfulnesse unto the Canaries These were first under the Crown of Portugal and one of them was the last which was kept out from the King of Spaine by the Prior Don Antonio who afterward called himself King of Portugal but the Spaniard at last took this Terrera from him and doth possesse all these Islands together with the rest of the Dominion which did belong to the Portugall He who list to see the unadvised proceedings of Don Antonio both in parting with Lisbon 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 union of Portugall to the Crown of Castile But these Azores have in times past yeelded much Oade which thereupon in England was called Island 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 go lower to the South and so to water in some part of Guinea or thereabout or else to keep
if they were neer the Land The first oâ—… our Nation that sailed to Guiana and made report thereof unto us was S. Walter Raleigh who â—…ravelled far up into the country upon the river Orinoque after him one or two voyages thither did captain Kemish make and now lately captain Hâ—…recourt with others have visited â—…hat Country where our men conâ—…inued the space of 3. or 4. yearâ—… being kindly intreated of the natives who much desired them to come and make some plantation amongst them hoping by them to be defended against the Spaniards whom they greatly hate and fear When Sir Walter Raleigh come to Guiana â—…he overthrew the Spaniards that were in Trinidado and took Bereo their Captain or General prisoner he loosed and set at liberty four or five Kings of the people of that country that Bereo kept in chains and sent thâ—…m home to their own which deâ—…d of his did win him the hearts of the people them and make much to favour our English at this day Divers also of that country which â—…mongst them are men of note have been brought over into England here living many years are by our men brought home to their-own country whose reports and knowledge of our Nation is a cause that they have been wel entreated of these Guiancans and much desired to plant themselves amongst them Our men that travelled to Guiana amongst other things most memorable did report and in writing delivered to the world that near unto Guiana and not far from those place where themselves were there were men without heads which seemed to maintain the opinion to be true which in old time was conceived by the Historians and Philosophers that there were Acephali whose eies were in their breasts and the rest of their face there also scituated and this our English travellers have reported to be so ordinarily and 〈◊〉 mentioned unto them in those parts where they were that no sober man should any way doubt of the truth thereof Now because it may appear that the matter is but fabulous in respect of the truth of Gods creating of them and that the opinion of such strange shapes and monsters as were said to be in old time that is men with heads like Dogs some with eares down to their ankles others with one huge foot alone whereupon they did hop from place to place was not worthy to be credited although Sir John Mandevile of late age fondly hath seemed to give credit and authority thereunto yea and long since he who took upon him the name of S. Augustine in writing that counterfeit Book Ad frates in Ermo It is fit that the cerainty of the matter concerning these in Peru should be known that is that in Quinbaia and some other parts of Peru the men are borne as in other places yet by devises which they have after the birth of Children when their bones and gristles and other parts are yet tender and fit to be fashioned they do crush down the heads of the children unto the breasts and shoulders and do with frames of wood other such devices keep them there that in time they grew continuate to the upper part of the trunke of the body and so seem to have no necks or heads And again some other of them thinking that the shape of the head is very decent if it be long and erect after the fashion of a Sugar-loaf do frame some other to that form by such wooden instruments as they have for that purpose and by binding and swathing them to keep them so afterwards And that this is the custome of those people and that there is no other matter in it Petrus de Cieca who travelled almost all over Peru and is a grave and sober writer in his description of those Countries doth report There be in some parts of Peru people which have a strange device for the catching of divers sorts of fowls wherein they especially desire to take such as have their feathers of pâ—…ed orient and various colours and that not so much for the flesh of them which they may eate as for their feathers whereof they make garments either short as Cloaks or as Gowns long to the ground and those their greatest Nobles do wear being curiously wrought and by order as appeareth by some of them being brought into England And here by this mention of feathers it is not 〈◊〉 to specifie that in the sea which is the Ocean lying betwixt Europe America there be divers flying fishes yet whose wings are not feathers but a thin kind of skin like the wings of a Bat or Rearmouse and these living sometimes in the water and flying sometimes in the aire are well accepted in neither place for below either ravenous fishes are ready to devourt them or above the sea-fowls are continually beating at them Some of the Spaniards desirous to see how far this Land of Peru did go towards the South travelled down till at length they found the Lands end and a little strait or narrow Sea which did run from the main Ocean toward Africk into the South-sea One Magellanus was he that found this strait and although it be dangerous passed through it so that of his name it is called Fretum Magellanicum or Magellans straits And this is the way whereby the Spaniards do pass to the back-side of Peru and Hispania nova and whosoever will compass the whole world as some of our English men have done he must of necessity for any thing that is yet known passe through this narrow strait Ferdinandus Magellanus having a great mind to travel and being very desi rous to go unto the Molucco Islands by some other way than by the back side of Africk if it might be did in the year 1520 set forth from Sivill in Spain with five ships and travelled toward the West Indies went so far towards the South as that he came to the lands end where he holding his course in a narrow passage towards the West for the space of divers daies did at the length peaceably pass through the straights and came into a great sea which some after his name do call Mare Magellanicum some others Mare pacaficus because of the great calmness and quietness of the waters there but most comonly it is termed the South sea the length whereof he passed in the space of three months and 20. daies and came unto the Moluccoes where being set upon by the East Indian people himself and many of his company were slain yet one of his ships as the Spaniards do write called Victoria did get away from those Moluccoes and returning by the Cape Bonae spei on the South side of Africk came safe into Spain So that it may be truly said that if not Megellanus yet some of his company were the first that did ever compass the World through all the degrees of longitude Johannes Lyrius in the end