the Carthaginians It is now held by the Knights of Malta whose valour appeared Anno Christi 1565. by defending it against their mighty and powerful adversary the Turk The General Description of Europe Europe by Pliny is called Orbis domitorum genitrix and well shee may if we read her story in her Greek Monarchy of Alexander the great and in her Latine Empire of the Romans who scarce left a corner of the World then known unconquered It is almost encompassed with the Sea being as it were a Peninsula whose Isthmus is that part which lyes between the River Tanais and the frozen Sea by which it is joyned to Asia Westward it is bounded with the Atlantick Ocean having no land till you come to Amerrica On the East towards Asia it hath the Aegean Sea called Archipelagus and Pontus Euxinus Palus Meotis and the River Tanais Southward it hath the Mediterranean Sea and Fretum Herculeum Northward the Pole Artick She bears in length but three thousand and eight hundred miles and in breadth nigh one thousand and two hundred miles So that shee is the least but yet the most populous part of the world and blessed with the Gospel above all others The Kingdomes and Countrys in the Continent of Europe are Spain France Belgia Germany Italy Denmark Hungary Poland Sclavonia Greece Dacia Norway Sweden and Muscovy Spain not long since consisted of three Kingdomes Castile Arragon and Portugal but lately Portugal hath rent it self from her and chose for King the Duke of Braganza under the name of John the Fourth but wee will speak of her as shee was before and so in compass shee is about one thousand eight hundred and ninety English miles It s begirt with the Sea on every side unlesse on the Eastern where it is joyned to France by a kind of Isthmus crossed by the Pyrenaean Mountains from Sea to Sea On the West it s bounded with the Atlantick Sea On the North with the Cantabrick On the South with the straits of Gibraltier and South East with the Mediterranean Sea It yeilds all sorts of Wines Sugar Fruits Oils Mettals Lamb-skins Wool Cork Rosen Steel c. The Inhabitants are not many nor have they many great Cities as in other parts of Europe the poor are proud the best superstitious and hypocritical yet good Souldiers because patient to endure labor hunger thirst by which means they rather weary out than overcome their enemies France begins at the West from the Pyrenean Mountains and is bounded on the East with Germany On the North with our English Seas Southward with the Mediterranean and South-East with the Alpes which divide it from Italy The cheif Provinces are Lorraign Burgondy and Savoy which have Princes of their own the rest are Normandy Britany Bury Aquitane Picardy Peictoires Languedock Anioâ— Casconie Provence and Campaine c. The Country is very fruitfull which causeth much Traffick from neighbouring Nations their special commodities are Wine Salt Linnen Paper c. It s well peopled and hath many fair Cities the Inhabitants are great Courtiers and light of carriage Belgia hath France on the South Denmark on the North Germany on the East and the Ocean on the West It s called the Lowcountrys or Netherlands It s in compasse about one thousand miles It s divided into seventeen Provinces whereof four are Dukedomes seven Earldomes five Baronies and one Marqueship The Dukedomes are 1. Brabant in which is Anâ—werp 2. Luick 3. Lutzenburg where is the vast Forrest of Ardenna 4. Gilderland The Earldoms are 1. Flanders 2. Artois 3. Heinolt 4. Holland 5. Zeland 6. Zutphen 7. Hamme The Barronies are 1. Friezland 2. Utrech 3. Mecklen 4. Overysel 5. Grauling The Marquisat is that of the Holy Empire It s a good land and affords store of Butter Cheese and very great Oxen. The people are industrious and excellent Mechanicks The men are big boned excellent Seamen and maintain their liberty by the sword Germany lyeth Eastward from Belgia and is bounded on the West with France and Belgia On the East with Hungary and Poland and the River Vistula On the North with the German Ocean and on the South with the Alps that divide it from Italy Bohemia is situated in the middest compassed with the Hyrcanian wood whereof the Regal City is Prague Germany comprehends many Provinces as Saxony Brandenberg Pomeren Bavaria Silesia Franconia Austria Helvetia East-Friesland Westphalia Cleveland Alsatia Brunswick and Hassia The Emperor is now chosen by eight Electors the Arch-Bishops of Triars Ments and Colen the Count Palatine of the Rine the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria and the Marquesse of Brandenberg and the King of Bohemia with his casting voice It s a rich country in Corn Wine Fruits and Mines and hath in it healthful Baths the People are warlick and ingenious Italy hath Germany on the North the Mediterranean on the South the Adriatick Sea on the East and on the West Mare Terrenum It s in length one thousand and ten miles the greatest breadth is four hundred and twenty It s divided into many States the chief are the Kingdome of Naples the territory of Rome Lumbardy Tuscany The Signiory of Venice Verona c. It s of admirable fertility and called the Paradice of the world The Inhabitants are grave but exceeding libidinous Denmark is joyned to Germany on the South on the West it hath Mare Germanicum and is a Peninsula the two principal Provinces are Irglant and Holstein most of the other are petty Islands whereof Zeland is the chief and Loitland It breeds goodly horses and store of Cattle Hungary hath on the VVest Germany the River Tabiscus and Walachia on the East Poland on the North and on the South is the River Sauri Southward is Sclavonia The famous River Danubius cuts her in the middle nameing her parts Citerior and Ulterior The chief Provinces are Soliense where the earth sends forth such a stink that it poysons the birds that fly over it and an Island in Danubius that is exceeding fertil and so generally is the whole Country The Inhabitants are strong their Daughters Portions are only a new attire and all their sons equally inherit without respect of primogeniture The Emperor and Turk share it betwixt them Poland hath Silesia on the West the River Boristhenes on the East the Baltick Sea on the North and Hungary on the South It s in compasse two thousand six hundred miles The chief Provinces are Livonia Lituania Volinia Samogatia Podolia Russia Nigra Mazoria Prussia Regal Podlasia and the Dukedome of Opwits and Zator and Polonia propria The land abounds with hony wax Mines of Copper and Iron horses fit for service the Kingdome is elective Sclavonia hath Hungary on the North the Adriatick sea on the South Greece on the South-East and Italy on the West It contains in length four hundred and fourscore miles and in breadth one hundred and twenty It s divided into Illiricum Dalmatia and Croatia The Sclavonian Language is used in
and inriched more by trade from China seventy of these Islands are subjects or friends to the Spaniards their intestine divisions making an easy way to the Spanish Conquest They worshiped the Sun and Moon Now they have amongst them many Monasteries of Friers and Jesuites But the wicked lives of the Spaniards makes the Inhabitants abhor their Religion They carve and cut their skins in sundry fashions and devises all over their body The Island of Mauritius described The Island of Mauritius lies within the torrid Zone about one hundred Leagues from Madegascar It abounds with all good things requisite for mans use The land is high and mountainous the shape somewhat round in circuit about one hundred miles every where sweet and flourishing having an healthful air and the blooming fragrant trees abating the heat of the Sun besides the gentle Breezes moderating the weather There are delicious Rivers which make the Earth fruitful Infinite store of lofty spreading trees green all the year their boughs being never unapparrelled of their Summer livery The ground is ever spread with natures choicest Tapestry the mirthful Sun ever re-inforcing a continued vigor and activity Of the trees some are good for timber others for food all for use Here is store of Box and of Ebony of all sorts black white red and yellow the tree is high small and streight and the wood of such esteem that many ships come yearly to it to load with Ebony besides which there are Coquo trees Pines Ashes Cypresses c. As also store of rare fruits birds and fowl Hawks of all kinds Bats as big as Gos-hawks Passo-Flemingos Herons Geese and many others good in their flesh and excellent in their feathers Fish there are plenty as the Cow-fish Dolphins Abicores Cavalloes VVhale Porpice Grampasse Mullet Bream Trout Tench Soles Flounders Tortoises Eeles Sharks Pikes Crabs Lobsters Oysters Cuttle-fish Rock-fish and other strange fishes some like Hedg-hogs some like Cats others with bristles c. This Isle also affords Goats Hogs Beeves and land Tortoises so big that two men may sit on one of them and shee will go away with them Africa described in General Africa is divided on the North from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea On the South it runs on a point to the Cape of Good Hope and is bounded with the vast Ocean called there the Aethiopick Sea On the East with the Red-Sea and on the VVest with the Atlantick Ocean called Mare del Nort so that her longitude and latitude contains about four thousand and two hundred English miles It s much lesse than Asia and far bigger than Europe In most parts it s very barren and therefore hath no great plenty of Inhabitants It s full of sandy desarts which lying open to the winds and storms are often moved like to the waves of the Sea by which means Cambysis with his Army was much hazarded It s full of venemous Serpents which much endanger the Inhabitants besides other ravenous beasts which ranging about possesse themselves of a great part of this Country and make it a VVildernesse of Lions Leopards Elephants and in some places Crocodiles Hyena's Basilisks and Monsters without number and name for when for want of water Creatures of all kinds at sometimes of the year come to those few rivolets that bee to quench their thirst the Males promiscuously forcing the Females of every species that comes next him produceth this variety of forms Salust reports that there dye more of the people by beasts than by diseases And in the tracts of Barbary the Inhabitants every tenth fifteenth or five and twentieth year are visited with a Plague and with the French disease in such violence that few recover except they remove into Numidia or the land of Negros the very air whereof is an excellent Antidote against those diseases Their commodities are Elephants Camels Barbary-hoâ—ses Rams with great tails weighing above twenty pound c. Africa is divided into seven parts Barbary or Mauritania Numidia Lybia The land of Blacks Aethiopia superior Aethiopia inferior and Egypt besides the Islands Barbary hath on the North the Mediterranean Sea on the VVest the Atlantick on the South the mountain Atlas and on the East Egypt The Inhabitants are crafty covetous ambitious jealous of their VVives their Country yeelds Orenges Dates Olives Figs and a kinde of Goat whose hair makes a stuff as fine as Silk It contains in it the Kingdomes of Tunnis Algier Fess and Morocho Tunnis is famous for the chief City of the same name five miles in compasse and Carthage two and twenty miles in circuit that contended so long with Rome for the Monarchy of the world and Utica memorable for Catoes death there Algier contains in it a strong harbor for Turkish Pirates before the chief Town whereof the Emperor Charles the fifth received a mighty losse of ships Horses Ordinance and men Fess hath in it a City with seven hundred Churches one of which is a mile and an half in compasse Morocho where the chief City of the same name hath a Church larger than that of Fess and thereon a Tower so high that from thence may bee discerned the toâ— of the Mountains Azaci which are at one hundred and thirty miles distance Here is also a Castle famous for Globes of pure gold that stand on the top of it weighing one hundred and thirty thousand Barbary Duckeâ—â— Numidia the second part of Africa hath on the East Egypt on the VVest the Atlantick Ocean on the North the Mountain Atlas and on the South the desarts of Lybia It s called also the Region of Dates from the abundance that grows there The Inhabitants are very wicked stay in a place but till they have eaten down the grasse Hence there are but few Cities and those in some places three hundred miles distant Lybia on the East is bounded with Nilus on the West with the Atlantick on the North with Numidia and on the South with the Country of the Blacks It s so dry that a traveller can scarce meet with any water in seven dayes journey the Inhabitants live without any Law almost so much as that of nature The Land of Blacks or Negroes hath on the West the Atlantick on the East Aethiopia superior on the North Lybia and on the South the Kingdome of Manicongo The River Niger runs through it almost as famous as Nilus for her overflowing It yeelds store of gold silver Ivory and other commodities It hath in it four Kingdomes Tombuâ—o infinitly rich Bornaum where the people have no names proper no wives peculiar all therefore no children which they call their own Gonga the King whereof hath no estate but from his subjects as hee spends it And Gualatum a very poor Country Of this Land of Negroes one makes these verses The Land of Negroes is not far from thence neerer extended to th' Atlantick main Wherein the Black Prince keeps his residence attended by his Jetty-coloured train Who in their native beauty
no other Town within three hundred miles of it In this Country are abundance of Dates whence it s called Dactylorum regio This fruit is most of â—heir food and with the stones of them they feed their Goats which makes them fat and causeth them to give store of milk The air hath this property that it presently cures all that have the French disease and come into it The chief Cities are Stafilet Dausen Dara Lapsa and Teffet Lybia hath on the East Nilus on the VVest the Atlantick Ocean On the North Numidia and on the South the Land of Negroes In this Country Arius the Heretick was born who denyed the perpetual divinity of Christ. It is now called Sarra i. e. a Desart because the whole Country is full of sandy Desarts through which Merchants use to travel eight dayes together without the sight of either River Lake Bush or Tree The chief Cities are Huadan Guargata and Toherraum They have neither King nor Lawes but are governed by the chief man in every Tribe They are most Gentiles they have some Mahometans amongst them The Land of Negroes described The Land of Negroes hath on the East Aethiopia superior On the West the Atlantick Ocean On the North Lybia and on the South the Kingdome of Manicongo The people are very ignorant and bruitish most of them Gentiles yet are there some Mahometans and Christians amongst them They took the Portugal ships when they first saw them for great birds with white wings their guns for the work of the Devil and bag-pipes for living Creatures The Nobles in the presence of the King never look him in the face but sit on their buttocks with their elbows on their knees and their hands on their faces they anoint their hair with fat of fishes which makes them stink abominably They have abundance of gold and silver very pure and fine It s watered with the River Niger which from the fifteenth of June overflows its banks for the space of forty dayes and is so many more before it returns into its channel which makes the fields very fruitful In one place Niger hides it self for six miles under ground The second River is Senega upon whose Northern bank the people are cole black but on the South only tawny The Chief Kingdomes are 1 Gualata where they have no Laws 2 Guinie where there is neither Town nor Castle except Mina built by the Portugals 3 Tombutum where the Inhabitants spend all their time in singing and dancing The King hereof is the richest of all the Princes in those parts of Africa keeping a royal Palace and hath for his guard three thousand horsemen and footmen sance number 4 Melli which is three hundred miles long the Inhabitants are rich civil and industrious 5 Cana where are Plenty of Lemons and Pomegranats 6 Gialoâ—ie where the people are so nimble that they will leap upon a horse when hee gallops and stand upright when hee runs turn themselves about and suddenly sit down mount and dismount in a trice 7 Benin where the people rase their skins with three lines drawn to the Navel without which they think they cannot bee saved Both men and women go naked till they bee married and then they wear a cloath from the wast to the knees 8 Nubia where there is a poison so exceeding strong that the tenth part of a grain will kill a man in a quarter of an hour It s sold for one hundred Duckats the ounce 9 Bornum where the people have neither wives nor children that they call their own nor names but are only distinguished by some external accident 10 Goaga where the King hath no revenues but what hee winnes from his enemies 11 Ganaga where the King hath nothing but what his Nobles please daily to allow him The Country of the Mandigos described In Guinie upon the River Gambra live the Mandingos The River abounds with Crocodiles River-horses Torpedoes running-fishes c. On the banks of it are many Geese Ducks Hernes Curlews Storks Plovers c. On the Land are Beeves Goats Guinie Hens c. The people are perfeclty black and live a very idle life except it bee in their seed-time and harvest their usual food is Rice or some Grain boiled their drink is water or Dullo made of Grain like our Ale Their houses are round covered with Reeds many of them built together and compassed with a wall of Reeds six foot high to defend them from wild-beasts which yet many times much endanger them There are Ant-hills cast up by Pismires some of them twenty foot high and in compasse able to contain twelve men which with the heat of the Sun are baked into that hardnesse that our English which trade thither for gold use to hide themselves in the ragged tops of them when they take up their stands to shoot at Deer or other beasts The Town wherein the King dwels is seated on the River compassed about with Hurdles ten foot high and fastened to strong poles On the outside is a Trench of great breadth beyond which the Town is again circled with Posts set close together of about five foot high their Armes are Azegaies or Javelins made of Reeds six foot long with an Iron Pike artificially made and dangerous they have others that they cast like Darts with barbed heads as also swords about two foot long Some have Bows and Arrows made of Reeds headed with Iron poisoned when any of them come to the King they presently kneel down and comming nearer they lay their hands first upon the ground then upon their head then comming to him they lay their hand with much submission upon the Kings thigh and so retire back the King answers them with nodding his head They are generally cloathed in cloth made of Cotton whereof there is plenty their apparrel is a shirt to their knees and a pair of breeches they are mostly bare-headed their hair bedecked with Gregories made of leather of several fashions which whilst they wear they think that no evil can betide them The King hath two wives sitting by him laying their hands on his naked skin stroaking and gently pulling the same VVhen the woman is with child shee lyes no more with her husband till the child bee weaned The wives live in great servitude beating their Grain in Morters they never are admitted to sit and eat with their husbands you shall never see kissing or dalliance betwixt husband and wife nor brawling amongst the wives though one man hath many and they equal each woman hath her several house for the night and when they appear in the morning they salute their husbands kneeling laying their hands on his thigh her apparrel is loose and party-coloured from the wast upward shee is bare to shew her painted razed body whereof they are proud turning themselves to shew it and well pleased when you handle it Few either of men or women are without Tobacco-pipes made of earth well glazed about two inches long
many Countrys both of Europe and Asia It s divided betwixt the Empire of Germany the Turk and the Venetians Greece hath on the West the Adriatick sea on the East the Aegean Hellespont and Propontis Northward the Mountain Hemus and Southward the Mediterranean It was once the seat of the worlds Empire and flourished above other Countries with all sorts of humane learning It was one of the first that embraced the Gospel and bred many Fathers of our Church It s now miserably enslaved to the Turks It s commonly divided into Peleponesus Achaia Epirus Albania Macedonia Migdonia and Thracia It yeilds Gold Silver Coperas Colours Wines Velvets Stuffs c. Dacia hath on the West Hungary on the East the Euxine sea on the South Greece and on the North Sarmatia from the which its divided by the Carpathian Mountains It was formerly called Misia The cheif regions in it are Transilvania Moldovia Walachia Servia Rascia Bulgaria and Bosnia Norway is in length one thousand three hundred miles in breadth about six hundred It s under the Government of the King of Denmark Theft is counted the greatest sin amongst them It yeilds Cables Masts Furrs Stockfish which the poor eat instead of bread The Metropolitan City is Nidrosio besides which there are but two of note Bergla and Asloia On the North and West lies the populous Province of Finmark Sweden is on the East of Norway from which it is divided by the Dofrine Mountains on the North and South its bounded by the seas On the East it joynes to Muscovy It s a fertile Country and in some Provinces hath great plenty of Corn Furrs Mines of Gold Silver Copper and Lead It s divided into Gotland quasi good land Finland quasi fine land Bodia Scrickfinia Lapland c. The inhabitants often live till they bee one hundred and forty years old Thence lately have come the two great Conquerors Gustavus Adolphus that conquered much of Germany and Carolus Adolphus that now hath conquered Poland and most of Prussia Muscovy is the last country of Europe towards the East and part of it stands in Asia It s bounded on the West with Livonia and part of Sweden On the East with Tartary on the North with the frozen seas and on the South with Lituania The length of it is three thousand miles the breadth of it is three thousand threescore and five Most of it is extream cold but to help that they have great store of Furrs as sables Martins white Foxes c. It hath store of Corn Fruit and Cattel The people are very base contentious ignorant and sottishly superstitious They bury their dead upright with a staff in his hand and a penny in his Purse with a letter to St. Nicolas to procure him entrance into heaven The chief Provinces are Muscovy where stands the Regal City of Mosco Pernia where they eat dryed stags flesh instead of bread Rhesan full of Corn and Horses c. The Islands in Europe Described In the Western Atlantick Seas are Groenland Groviland Island and Frisland These are extream cold yet yeild plenty of Fish Oil Whale bones and Morses teeth In the British Seas are Ireland Great Britain with her train the Orcades Hebrides Silly Man Weight Anglesey Jersey Garnsey c. Others there are of lesse note in the German Seas and those which divide Norway and Sweden from Germany and Poland Towards Spain are the Azores nine in number the chief of them is Faial The Southern Islands of Europe lie in the Mediterranean Seas As the Baleans neer Spain Corsica Sardinia neer Italy Sicily and Malta In the Adriatick and Jonian seas Absorrus Curicta Scardona Insulae Diomedeae Issa Tragurium Pharia Corsica and Melitum More Southward Ertcusa Cephalenia Ithica Echidnades Zazinthus the Strophades and Cythera In the mouth of the Aegean sea is Candy an I le of five hundred and twenty miles in compasse abounding with Cypresse trees and a lascivious wine called Malmesey The chiefest Islands in the Aegean sea are Melos Chias Bria the Cyclades Sporades Delos c. But I will write a little more particularly of the chiefest of these Islands as 1 Samothracia which is a small Island where the air is most cleer and pure the chief Town is Samia beautified with a goodly harbour but now by reason of the Pyrates infesting it left almost desolate 2 Lemnos containing in circuit almost one hundred miles here is digged that soveraign Mineral called Terra Lemnia and Sigillata because it s sealed when made into pellets with a Turkish character The VVestern parts are dry and barren the Eastern more fruitful It contains about seventy five Villages 3 Lesbos is one hundred sixty eight miles in compasse the South and VVest parts are mountainous and barren the rest level and fruitful 4 Chios is one hundred twenty and five miles in compasse It beareth that sweet Gum called Mastick In it are an infinite number of Partridges that are of a red colour they are kept tame and fed in flocks in the streets and Villages a little boy or girle driving them into the fields and with a whistle calling them home again The most excellent Greekish VVines are made here called Vina Chia 5. Euboea over against Chios now called Negropont is in compasse three hundred sixty five miles A very fruitful Island between the continent and it is only a little Euripus that ebbs and flowes seven times in one day the reason whereof when Aristotle could not finde out hee threw himself into it saying Quia ego non capio te tu capis me In it are two Rivers Cireus and Nileus Strabo saith that if sheep drink of the former their wooll turns white if on the latter coal black The Sporades are twelve in number the chiefest is Milo fourscore miles in circuit the soil is fruitful of grain and oil Here is excellent Marble curiously spotted pitch and brimstone and hot springs good for many diseases The Cyclades are in number three and fifty the chiefest are 1. Delos wherein they had a custome not to suffer men to dye nor children to bee born in it sending their sick men and great bellied women to Rhena a small Island hard by 2 Samos where the Tyrant Polycrates lived who because hee never had any mischance threw a Ring that hee loved dearly into the Sea but shortly after hee found it in the belly of a fish that was brought to his Table yet was hee at length brought to a miserable death by Orontes a Persian shewing the instability of all earthly things 3. Patmos whither St. John was banished by the Emperor Domitian and where hee had his Revelations In the Cretan Seas are 1. Crete in compasse five hundred and ninety miles in length two hundred and seventy in breadth fifty the soil is fruitful especially of Wines called Muskadels it yeelds also Sugar-Candie Gums Hony Sugar Olives Dates Apples Orenges Lemons Raisons Citrons and Pomegranats yet it wants Corn. It s very populous Paul
and comely When the King dieth they bury him with solemnity and upon his grave they set the cup wherein hee was wont to drink and about it they stick many Arrows for six months certain women are appointed to bewail his death His house and goods they burn together They sow or set their Corn as in Virginia and have two seeds times and two harnests their meat is Venisons Fish and Crocodiles dried in the smoak for preservation Peruana Described The other part of this new World is called Peruana being in compasse seventeen thousand miles comprehending in it Golden Castile Guiana Peru Brisile and Chili The first is so called from the abundance of gold in it lying in the Northern parts of Peruana and part of the Istmus which is but seventeen miles broad between sea and sea It s admirably stored with silver Spices Pearls and medicinal herbs and is divided into the Provinces of Castella del oro Nova Andaluzia Nova Granata and Carthagena Castella del Oro is in the very Istmus an unhealthful Countrey the chief Cities are Nombre de dios on the East and Panama on the West side Through which two places comes all the traffique between Spain and Peru. The commodities from Peru being unladen at Panama in the South sea and thence carried by land to Nombre de dios in the North sea and thence shiped to Spain In Guiana is the great River Orenoque which is Navigable with ships of burthen for one thousand miles and with Boats and Pinnasses almost two thousand more It was discovered by Sir Walter Rawleigh and the River Margnon called the River of the Amazons which is Navigable almost six thousand miles and towards the sea two hundred miles broad Peru lieth under the Aequinoctial line and stretcheth for the space of eight hundred leagues upon six hundred whereof viz. from Atacama to Tumbez it never rainethâ— and yet it is as fruitful a land for all sorts of necessaries for the life of man as is in the world On the West frontire is a mighty ridg of high Mountains that are always covered with Snow from whence issue great store of Rivers into the South sea with the water whereof being led by sluces and channels they moisten their vineyards and Corn fields which makes them exceeding fruitful Besides Mines of gold and silver there are mines of Copper and Tin there is also abundance of Salt-peter and Brimstone It is now well replenished with horses kine sheep goats and Wheat The Fortresse of Cusco Described One of the Incas of Peru built a fort that may rather seem the work of Devils than of men especially considering that these Indians had neither Iron nor steel to work and cut the stones with nor Cart nor Oxen to draw them yet was this Fort built with stones that seemed Rocks rather than stones drawn by strength of men with great Cables and that through uneven ways in rough mountains many of them being brought from places that were ten twelve and some fifteen Leagues off especially that stone which the Indians called VVearied which was brought fifteen Leagues and over a great river in the way The most of them came five Leagues off these stones they joined so close together in the building that the joynts could scarcely bee discerned which required often lifting up and setting down neither could they make Cranes or any kind of Engines to help them therein neither had they square or Rule to direct their work Instead of mortar they used a kinde of Clay that held faster This Fortresse was built on an hill on the North side of the City of Cusco the hill was so steep on one side that that way it could not bee assaulted and therefore one wall served on that side which was two hundred fathoms long On the other sides they made three walls one without another each being above two hundred fathoms and were made in the fashion of an half Moon in which there were stones admirably great each wall had in the middest one gate which was covered over with one entire stone each wall stood thirty foot distant from the other and at the top of them the battlements were above a yard high Within those walls there were three strong forts the middlemost was round which had in it a Conduit of very good water brought under ground from far The walls were all adorned with gold and silver and had Images of beasts birds and Plants enchased therein which served instead of Tapestry the other two Forts were square and they had passages under ground from one to another artificially made with Labarinthian windings and turnings inextricable but by a thread They drew their great stones with great Cables To draw the stone which they called Wearied they had twenty thousand Indians the one half before the other behind and yet in one uneven passage it crushed three or four thousand of them to death This proved so unweildy that they never laid it in the building Pur. Pil. v. 4. p. 1478. Another of the Incas to shew his magnificence caused a chain of gold to bee made which was seven hundred foot long and every link as big as a mans wrist two hundred Indians could but lift it Caxamalca another City in Peru is four miles in circuit entered by two gates on the one side stands a great Palace walled about having within it a great Court planted with trees this they call The house of the Sun whom they worship putting off their shooes when they enter into it in this City there are two thousand houses the streets are as strait as a line the walls are strong built of stone about three fathoms high within there are fair fountains of water In the middest is a very fair street walled about having before it a fortress of stone On one side of this street was the Palace of the â—nâ—as or Emperor with lodgings and Gardens the houses were all painted with diverse colours and in one room were two great Fountains adorned with plates of Gold one of them was so hot that a man cannot endure his hand in it the other was cold Atabalipa was Emperour when the Spaniards took it from whom they presently got fifty thousand Pezoes of gold each of them being worth one ducat and two Carolines and seven thousand Marks of silver besides many Emeralds The Spaniards asked Atabalipa what he would give them for his ransome Hee told them that hee would fill that room with Gold to a mark that was higher than a tall man could reach by a span the room being five and twenty foot long and fifteen foot broad Then they asked him how much silver hee would give besides Hee answered as much as ten thousand Indians could carry in vessels of silver of diverse sorts The Spaniards went to Cusco to receive part of it where they found a Temple of the Sun covered with plates of gold as also many pots and vessels of gold yea there was such store
against the Arians Nicomedia sometimes the seat of the Emperors Apamia or Bursa nigh to Mount Olympus where the first Ottamans had their Seat-Royal and all of that race except the Great Turks themselves are still there buried Chalcedon builded seventeen years before Biâ—amium and the builders thereof are said to bee blinde which neglected that better seat Here was held a famous Council of six hundred and thirty Bishops against the Heresie of Eutiches Paphlagonia hath on the North Pontus on the East the River Halis on the South Phrygia and Galacia and on the West Bithynia Vetruvius tells us of a â—ountain here that seems to bee mixed with wine that makes drunken such as drink freely thereof Asia properly so called now Sarcum is bounded on the West with part of Propontis and Hellespont the Aegean Icarian and Myrtoan Seas On the South with the Rhodian Sea Lycia and Pamphilia On the East with Galacia and on the North with Pontus Bythinia and part of Propontis In which space are contained Phrygia Caria and both Mysia's Aeolis Jonia Doris and Lydia Phrygia is divided into the greater and the less called also Hellespontiaca and Troas The greater lyeth Eastward and is so called from the River Phryx which parts it from Caria Here stood Midaium the Royal Seat of Mydas and Apamia the Phrygian Metropolis Here also upon the River Sangarius stood Gordie where was the Gordian knot which when Alexander could not untie hee cut it in sunder with his sword In the lesser Phrygia stood the eye of Asia and Star of the East called Ilium or Troy destroyed by the Grecians after ten years siege the ruines whereof appear at this day the walls and decayed buildings entertaining the beholder with a kinde of majesty the walls were of a large circuit of great spongy black and hard stones cut foursquare the ruines of the Turrets on the walls are yet to be seen also great marble Tombs of ancient workmanship made Chest-fashion and their covers whole are yet to be seen without the walls Many great Cisterns made to receive rain water are yet whole The soil about it is dry and barren The Rivers Xanthus and Simois so much famoused are small Rivers which in Summer are quite dry Nunc seges est ubi Troja fuit Cyzicus was a City of Mysia wherein was a famous Temple whose Pillars were four cubits thick and fifty cubits high each of one stone the whole building was made of polished stone and each stone was joyned to other with a line of gold The Image of Jupiter within was made of Ivory crowned with a marble Apollo which City and Temple were swallowed up in an Earthquake and probably for their abominable Idolatry The like befel Philadelphia one of the seven Churches to which St. John wrote another City of Mysia and the like to Magnesia in the same Region A little hence standeth Abydus and over against it on Europe side was Sestus one of the Guards of the Turkish Empire he having built Castles there which are well furnished and the Straits not being above seven Furlongs over Here Xerxes joyned Asia to Europe by a Bridge for the transportation of his huge Army into Greece In Mysia also was that famous Pine-tree that was four and twenty foot in compass and growing intire for seventy foot from the root was then divided into three Arms equidistant which afterwards gathered themselves close into one top two hundred foot high Jonia is situated on the Icarian Seas over against the Isle of Chios wherein were ten principal Cities Miletus Myus Priene Ephesus Colophon Lebedus Teos Clazomenae Phocaea and Erythraea The Temple of Diana Described The Temple of Diana at Ephesus was one of the Worlds Wonders two hundred and twenty years were spent in the building of it It was built upon a Marish to prevent hurt by Earthquakes which were very common in those parts the first foundation was laid upon Coals the second upon Wooll It was four hundred twenty and five foot long and two hundred and twenty broad there were in it one hundred twenty and seven Pillars of Marble sixty foot in height and thirty six of them curiously wrought and engraven the works of so many Kings The doors of the Temple were of Cypress which after four hundred years were as fresh as if they had been new made the roof was of Cedar The Image which superstition supposed to have come down from Jupiter was made by one Canesia some say of Ebonie others of the Vine which had many holes made and filled with Spikenard the moisture whereof closed up the rifts It was inriched and adorned with gifts beyond value It was contrived by Ctesiphon and was seven times fired the last whereof was by Erostratus who did it to get himself a name Herodo Doris was almost surrounded with the Sea wherein was Gnidus a City famous for the Marble Image of Venus and Halycarnassus famous for Herodotus and Dionysius the Historians and for Mausolus whose Sepulchre erected by Artimesia his wife and sister was accounted one of the seven Wonders of the World Lycia is washed by the Sea for the space of two hundred miles In it Mount Taurus ariseth hence stretching it self Eastward under divers appellations to the Indian Sea Pamphilia beareth Eastward from Lycia and now together with Cilicia is by the Turks called Caramania Armenia minor which is divided from the greater now Turcomania by the River Euphrates on the East A more full description of the Countries in Asia major The Land of Canaan Described It was first called Canaan after that the posterity of Canaan the son of Cham had possessed it when Moses and Joshua had conquered it it was called the Land of Israel After the Babylonish Captivity it was called the Land of Judaea From the Philistines which inhabited the Sea-coasts it was called the Land of Palestine and by Christians since the Holy Land Adricomius which hath best described it makes it to bound Eastward on Syria and Arabia Southward on the Desart of Paran and Egypt Northward on Mount Libanus and Westward on the Sea From Dan to Bersheba its about a hundred and sixty Italian miles in length and sixty in breadth No Country in the world had so many Cities in so little a compass as this once had The Royal Cities in each Tribe were these In Aser Acsaph besides Sidon and Tyrus In Benjamin Bethel Gaaba Jerusalem and Jerico In Dan â—achish besides Eckron and Gath In Ephraim Gazer Samaria Saron and Tapua In Gad Rabba In Isachar Aphec In Juda Arad Beâ—eck Eglon Hebron Libna Mackeda Odolla Taphua In Manasse Dor Gilgal Jezreel Megiddo Taanac and Thirza In the other part of Manasse Astaroth Edri Geshur Machathi Soba Teman and Damascus In Nepthali Aser Kedes and Hemath In Ruben Heshbon Madian and Petra In Simeon Debir and Gerar In Zebulon Jeconan and Shimron Jordan is the chiefest River which at last looseth it self in the Lake Asphaltites but before that it makes many fruitful
of them Mahometans They have certain Idol puppets made of Silk or other stuff in the likenesse of a man which they fasten to the door of their walking houses to keep them in safety besides they have the Image of their great Cham of an huge bignesse which they erect at every stage when they march and every one as he passeth by must bow down to it they are much given to witchcraft and sorcery They are divided into Hoords over each of which is a Duke who are bound when the Emperor sends for them to attend him with such a number of Souldiers every one having two horses one to ride on and the other to kill when his turn comes to have his horse eaten for their chief food is horseflesh which they eat without any bread They keep also great heards of Kine and black sheep rather for their skins and milk which they carry with them in great bottles then for their flesh which they say is not so strengthning as horse-flesh they drink milk and bloud mingled together Sometimes as they travel they let their horses blood and drink it warm They have no Towns but walking houses built upon wheeles like Shepheards Cottages these they draw with them and drive their cattel before them and when they stay they plant their Cart-houses very orderly in rank so making the form of streets and of a large Town the Emperor himself hath no other City but such as these In the spring they move with their Cattel Northward grazing up all before them and then return Southward again where they remain all the winter Towards the Caspian sea and on the frontiers of Russia they have a goodly Country but marred for want of Tillage They use no money and prefer brass and Steel before all other mettals They have broad and flat visages much tanned have fierce and cruel looks thin hair on their upper lips they are light and nimble they have short legs as if they were made for horsemen their speech is sudden and loud speaking out of a deep hollow throat their singing is very untunable The Circasses that border upon Lituania are more civil than the rest applying themselves to the fashions of the Polonians The Nagay Tartars lye Eastward and are far more savage and cruel The most rude and barbarous are the Morduit-Tartars that worship for god the first living thing they meet in the morning and swear by it all the day after when his friend dyes hee kills his best horse and carries his hide upon a long pole before the Corps to the place of buriall that so his friend may have a good horse to carry him to heaven they are void of learning and without written Laws only some rules they hold by tradition as to obey their Emperor and Governors none to possesse any land but the whole Countrey to bee common not to use daintiness in diet c. This great Country is bounded on the East with the Eastern Ocean On the West with Russia and Moldovia On the North with the Sythick or frozen Sea and on the South with Mare Caspium the Hill Taurus and the wall of China It s in length from East to West five thousand four hundred miles and in breadth from North to South three thousand and six hundred miles It was formerly called Scythia It hath been so fruitfull of people that it was called Vagina gentium et officina generis humani the mother of all inundations From hence indeed Huns Herules Franks Bulgarians Circassians Sueves Burgundians Turks Tartarians Dutch Cimbers Normans Almaines Ostrogothes Tigurines Lombards Vandals Visigothes Have swarm'd like Locusts round about this Ball. And spoil'd the fairest Provinces of all The Island of Cyprus Described In the Mediterranean Sea there are only two Islands belonging to Asia Cyprus and Rhodes The Island of Cyprus Described Cyprus is seated in the Sea of Syria and is in compasse five hundred and fifty miles It s in length from East to West two hundred miles In breadth but sixty five miles It s about sixty miles distant from Cilicia and one hundred from the main land of Syria In summer it s very hot the greatest supply of water is from the Clouds So that in Constantines time there being a great and long drought the Island was almost unpeopled for thirty six years together Ordinarily it s very fruitfull and so stored with Commodities that without the help of other Countrys its able to build a ship from the keel to the top-sail and to furnish it to Sea with all things necessary either for a voyage or Sea-fight It yeilds plenty of wine Oile Corn Sugar Honey Wool Cotton Turpentine Allum and Verdegreece As also all sorts of Mettals Salt Grograms and other Commodities whence it was called Macaria or the blessed Island There are abundance of Cyprus Trees growing in it The Inhabitants are warlike strong and nimble civil Hospitable and friendly to strangers The Jews in Trajans time slew in this Island two hundred and forty thousand living souls whereupon ever since they suffer no Jew to come amongst them The Island is divided into eleven Provinces the chief Rivers are Pedeus and Tenus The chief Cities are Paphos once famous for the Temple of Venus Famagusta on the South Sea Nicosia almost in the center of the Countrey Amathus Ceraunia now called Cerines And Arsione now Lescare It s now under the Turks who took it from the Venetians Anno Christi One thousand five hundred threescore and ten The Island of Rhodes Described Rhodes is situated in the Carpathian Sea over against Caria in the lesser Asia It s in circuit one hundred and twenty miles The chief City is of the same name where stood that huge Colossus of Brasse in the Image of a man fourscore cubits high whose little finger was as big as an ordinary man it was the work of twelve years made by Chares of Lindum The Inhabitants of this I le were always good Seamen Anno Christi 1308. the Knights of St. John in Hierusalem being driven out of Asia by the Saracens seized upon this Island and were always troublesome neighbours to the Turks till the year 1522. at which time Solyman the Magnificent wrested it from them The forenamed City of Rhodes stands on the East part of the Island at the bottome of a hill and on the shore of the Sea having a safe and fair Haven it hath also two walls for defence thirteen high towers five bulwarks besides sconces and outworks It s inhabited only by Turks and Jews for though the Christians are suffered to trade freely all day yet at night upon pain of death they must leave it The Rhodian Colossus more fully Described In the Isle of Rhodes stood one of the worlds seven wonders which was a huge Colossus made of Brasse in the form of a man standing with his two leggs striding over an haven under which ships with their Masts and Sails might passe It was fourscore cubits high with all the
the bowle will hold half an ounce of Tobacco into these they put Reeds about a yard long and so draw the smoak They have store of Palmita wine and gourds which grow like our Pumpions carryed up their walls of unequal size from an egge to a bushel yeelding variety of houshold vessels to eat drink and wash cloaths in they have store of great Locusts trees which yeeld clusters of Cods ripe in May which they eat They have store of Bees and Honey They have a sort of trees which on a long stalk have a great and round fruit with a pleasing pith therein on which Baboons and Monkeys feed There is a tree or shrub commonly growing on the River bank like our great Briars having a ragged leaf which leaf with the gentlest stealing touch betwixt the finger and thumb will make the whole bough to close up all his leaves and the touch of a sprig will cause the whole tree to close up all his leaves It bears a yellow flower like our Eglantines There are many Lions Jackals Ouzes and Leopards The Civit-Cats and Porcupins rob them of their Poultry There are also abundance of Elephants which going in companies spoil their Corn and Cotton grounds they feed amongst sedges and upon boughs of trees the blacks eat their flesh There are Deer of all sorts Antilops wild Bulls and huge Bears The Baboons go by three or four thousand in a Heard some of the bigest being leaders which are as big as Lions the Females carry their young under their bellies and if any have two shee carries one on her back There are infinite store of Guinie-hens Partridges Quails as big as Woodcocks Pidgeons Parrats and Parakitos Their greatest fowl is a Stalker who standing upright is taller than a man the next is a Wake which makes a great noise as hee flies and doth much hurt in their Rice grounds of smaller birds there are many sorts pleasant to the eye and delighting the ear Aethiopia inferior Described Aethiopia inferior hath on the East the Red-sea on the VVest the Aethiopian Ocean on the North the Land of Blacks and Aethiopia superior and on the South the Southern Ocean It hath in it these Kingdomes Atan between the mouth of the Red-Sea and the River Calimanci It abounds with flesh Honey Wax Corn Gold Ivory and abundance of Sheep whose tails usually weigh five and twenty pounds Zanzibar extending from the River Calimanci to Monomopata It s divided into fifteen Provinces or Kingdomes the chiefest whereof is Sofila where there is so much Gold and Ivory that some would have it to be Solomons Ophir Cafraria which hath on the East the River de Infanto on the VVest and South the Ocean and on the North the Mountains of the Moon it extends Southward to the Cape of Good hope first discovered by the Portugals Anno Christi 1497. The Africans at the Cape of Good Hope Described At the Cape of Good Hope the Africans are ugly black strong-limmed desperate crafty and injurious Their heads are long their hair woolly and crispt of which some shave one side leaving the other long and curled Another shaves all saving a little tuft on the top Another thinking his invention better shaves here and there the bald skull appearing in many places other some shave away all save a lock before Such as have tufts of hair hang in them brasse buttons spur rowels peeces of Pewter c. Their ears are long and made longer by heavy bables they hang in them as links of brass or Iron chains glass-beads blew-stones bullets or Oister-shels and such as cannot reach to such Jewels have singles of Dear beaks of birds Dogs or Cat stones c. Their Noses are flat crusht so in their infancy their Lips great quick crafty eyes and about their necks they have guts or raw puddings serving both for good and Ornament The better sort instead of them get hoops of Iron chains of brasse or greazy thongs of stinking Leather Their arms are loaden with voluntary shackles of Iron Ivory rusty brass or musty Copper the rest of their bodies are naked saving that they are girded with a thong of raw Leather to which is fastened a square peece like the back of a Glove to cover their privities but the women when they receive any thing return their gratitude by taking up that slap and discovering their shame But their great ones have better cloathing A nasty untanned hide of a Lyon Leopard Calf Baboon or Sheep the hair inward which they put upon their shoulders reaching to their wasts for their thighs and legs are never covered To their feet is fastened a broad peece of Leather tyed by a little strap which for the most part they hold in their hands that their feet may have liberty to steal which with their toes they can do most cunningly all the while looking you in the face as if they meant no harm Most of the men are semi-Eunuches one stone being exsected in their infancy by their nurses Both sexes hideously cut gash and pink their brows nose cheeks arms breast back belly thighs and legs in sundry works and Figures They have no houses they delight most in Caves Holes or Lyons dens unfurnished a whole Tribe commonly keeping together coupling without distinction the name of wife or brother being unknown amongst these incestuous persons They feed sleep and speak altogether without order or Law In the night they sleep round a fire a Centinel watching the Lyons their adversaries Vivitur ex rapto the one eating the other the Lyon tearing some of them and they other times training him over covered pits which catches him and so they slay and eat him to day who perhaps was a Sepulcher to their friends or parents the day before They dawb and rub their skins with grease and coals indenting and drying them in the Sun whereby they become Monsters to all civil eyes They eat men alive or dead which when they fail of dead Whales Seals Pengwins grease or raw puddings are their diet and when the frost of old age benums their limbs whereby they are unapt to provide their own food they either eat them or expose them upon the Mountains either to bee killed by famine or devoured by Lyons With these no violent death nor stroying rage Of Lust is half so dreadful as old age They have no spark of devotion no knowledge of God heaven hell or immortality no place of worship no day of rest no order in nature no shame no truth no ceremony in births or burials meer brutishnesse and stupidity over shadowing them The women carry their children on their backs and give suck with their long dugs stretched over their shoulders Anno Christi 1600. Sir James Lancaster had amongst them a thousand sheep and fifty Oxen for trifles They train their Cattle to such obedience as with a whistle great Heards will follow them like Dogs and being sold with a like call will runne away after them to the