aire waters and great varietie of wines and fruites likened now by some to Paradise or the garden of God In this Italy which was heretofore one intire gouernement in the florishing estate of the Romanes are now many absolute States and princedomes by the great policie of the Bishop of Rome who thought it the best way to make himselfe great to weaken the Empire So he hath not onely driuen the Emperour out of all Italie into Germanie but hath diminished his Maiestie in both by making so many petie gouernments which hold themselues soueraigne rulers without relation to any other As there are many States in Italie so one of the chiefest are the Venicians called Resp Venetorum or the State of Venice because they are not gouerned by any one but by their Senate gentlemen although they haue a duke with whose stampe their money is coyned and in whose name all their executions of iustice are done But this duke is euery way limited by the State This Citie of Venice standeth in an Aestuarium or shallow of earth in the North-part of the Adriatike sea so safely that it is held inuincible There is in it but one streete of firme land into the other the sea doth flow at euerie tide They haue beene a great and rich State not onely possessing much in Italie as Padua their Vniuersitie and other things which nowe they doe but a great part of Illyricum and many rich Ilands in the Med. as Candie called commonly Creta Cyprus Zacynthus and other The impouerishing of their state hath partly beene by the encroching of the Turke but especially By the decaying of that trafique which they had to Alexandria in Aegypt for their spices and other riches of Persia Arabia and the East Indies Since the course of the Portugals to those Easterne countries hath beene by sea by the backeside of Africa Here standeth the Citle of Florence a renowmed Citie of Lombardie which is gouerned by a Duke an absolute Prince This Dukedome is in the familie of the Medices from whom came Katherine de Medices the wife of Henrie the 2. King of France lately so well knowne by the name of Queene mother In this Lombardie standeth also the Dukedome of Millaine a most rich and pleasant thing which sometime had beene gouerned by a Duke of their owne but of late hath beene possessed by the Spaniard and sometime by the French and is now in the gouernment and possession of the king of Spaine A good part of Italie is vnder the Bishop of Rome which commoÌ„ly is called the land of the Church where the Pope is a Prince absolute not onely spirituall as else-where hee claimeth but also temporall making lawes requiring tribute raising souldiers and executing iustice as a Monarche In the South part of Italie lieth the kingdome of Naples which is a countrie very rich and full of all kind of pleasure aboundant in Nobilitie whereof commeth to bee said that prouerbe Naples for Nobilitie Rome for religion Millaine for beautie Florence for policie and Venice for riches This was heretofore ruled by a king 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—r owne till the time of Ioane Queene of Naples who â—y deede of gift did first graunt that kingdome to the Kings of Aragon in Spaine and afterward by will with a reuocation of the former grauÌ„t did bequeath it to the house of Anioy in France Since which time the kingdome of Naples hath sometimes beene in the hand of the Spaniard sometimes possessed by the French and is now vnder the King of Spaine vnto this is annexed also the Dukedome of Calabria There be moreouer in Italie many other Prince-domes and States as the Dukedome of Ferrara the Dukedome of Mantua the Dukedome of Vrbine the Dukedome of Parma Placentia the State of Luca the State of Genua commonly called the Genowaies which are gouerned by their Senate but haue a Duke as they haue at Venice There bee also some other by which meanes the glory and strength of Italy is decayed De Dania Suecia Noruegia AS Italie lieth on the Southside of Germanie so Denmarke lieth on the North into the middle of which land the sea breaketh in by a place called the Sound The Imposte of which passage bringeth great riches as an ordinarie tribute to the King of Denmarke this is a kingdome and ruled by an absolute gouernour On the North and East side of Denmarke lieth Suecia commonly called Sweden or Swethen which is also a kingdome of it selfe Where the King professeth himselfe to bee Rex Suecorum Gothorum Vandalorum Wherby we may know that the Gothes and Vandales which in times past did waste Italie and other Nations of Christendome did come out of this country On the Northside and West of Sweden lieth Noruegia or Norway which is at this day vnder the gouernement of the King of Denmarke although heretofore it hath beene a free kingdome of it selfe Within the Sounde on the East part of the sea lieth Dantzicke where are three townes of Hanse-men confederates and allies vnto the King of Denmarke There is no great thing to be noted in these countries but that from Denmarke commeth much come to the supply of other parts of Christendome and that from all these countries is brought great furniture for warre or for shipping As masts cables steele fadles armour gunpowder the like And that in the seas adioyning to these parts there are fishes of much more monstrous shape then else-where are to be found The people of these countries are by their profession Lutherans for religion De Russia siue Moscouia ON the East side of Sweden beginneth the dominion of the Emperour of Russia although Russia or Moscouia it self doth lie some what more into the East which is a great and mightie Monarchie extending it selfe euen from Lapland and Finmarke many a thousand mile in length vnto the Caspian sea so that it containeth in it a great part of Europe and much of Asia also The gouernour there calleth himselfe Emperour of Russia great Duke of Mosconia with many other titles of Princedomes and Cities whose dominion was very much enlarged by the Emperour not long since dead whome in Russie they call Iâ—an VasilIwich in the Latine Iohannes Basilides who raigning long and being fortunate in warre did very much enlarge this mightie dominion The people of this countrie are rude and vnlearned very superstitious a kinde of Christians but rather following the Greeke Church Their buildings is most of wood euen in their chiefe Citie of Mosco insomuch that the Tartars wholy in the North-east of them breaking oft into their countries euen vnto the very Citie of Mosco doe set fire on their Cities which by reason of their woodden buildings are quickly destroyed The passage by sea into this countrie which was wont to be through the Sound and so afterward by land was first discouered by the English who with great danger of the frozen seas did first aduenture to saile so far North as to compasse Lapland Finmarke
the other cities did stand neare vnto Iordan and to the Mare mortuum for the destruction of whome all that coast to this day is a witnes the earth smelling of brimstone being desolate and yeelding no fruite sauing apples and such which growing with a faire shewe to the eye lyke other fruite assone as they are touched turne presently to ashes as besides Iosephus Solinus doth witnes The land of Palaestina had for inhabitants all the twelue tribes of Israell which were vnder one kingdome till the time of Rehoboam the sonne of Salomon But then were they deuided into two kingdomes ten tribes being called Israel and two being called Iuda whose chiefe Citie was called Ierusalem Then the tribes after much Idolatrie were caried prisoners into Assyria and the kingdome dissolued other people being placed in their roome in Samaria and the countrie adioyning The other two tribes were properly called the Iewes their land Iudaea which continued long after in Ierusalem and thereabout till the captiuitie of Babylon where they liued for 70. yeares They were afterward restored but liued without glory till the comming of Christ But since his time for a curse vpon them and their children for putting Christ to death they are scattered vpon the face of the earth as runnagates without certaine countrie King Priest or Prophet In their chiefe Citie Ierusalem was the Temple of God first most gloriously built by Salomon and afterwarde destroyed by Nabuchadnezzer By the commaundement of Cyrus King of Persia was a second Temple built much more base then the former for besides the pouertie and smalnesse of it there wanted fiue thinges which were in the former as the Iewes write First the Arke of the couenant Secondly the pot of Manna Thirdly the rod of Aron Fourthly the two tables of the lawe written by the finger of God and fiftly the fire for the sacrifice which came downe from heauen Herod the great an Edomite stranger hauing gotten the kingdome contrary to the lawe of Moses and knowing the people to be offended therewithall to procure their fauour did build a third Temple much more glorious then the second which was that Temple wherein our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles did teach The Citie of Ierusalem was twise taken and vtterly laid desolate first by Nabuchadnezzer at the captiuitie of Babylon and secondly after the death of Christ by Vespatian the Romaine who first began the siege and by his sonne Titus who was afterward Emperour of Rome who brought such horrible desolation on that Citie and the people thereof by sire sworde and famine that the lyke hath not bin read in any historie He did afterward put thousands of them on some one day to be deuoured by the beastes which was a cruell custome of the Romaine magnificence After this destruction the land of Iudaea and the ruines of Ierusalem were possessed by some of the people adioyning till that aboute 600. yeares since the Sarazens did inuade it for the expelling of whome from thence diuers Frenchmen and other Christians vnder the leading of Godfrey of Bullen did assemble themselues thinking it a great shame that the Holy land as they called it the Citie of Ierusalem and the place of the sepulchre of Christ should be in the hands of the Infidels This Godfrey ruled in Ierusalem by the name of a Duke but his successors after him for the space of sixe score yeares called themselues Kings of Ierusalem aboute which time Saladine who called himselfe King of Aegypt and Asia the lesse did win it from the Ch istians for the recouery whereof Richard the first King of England together with the French King and the King of Cicilia did goe in person with their armies to Ierusalem but although they wonne many thinges from the infidels yet the ende was that the Sarazens did retaine the Holy land The whole countrie and citie of Ierusalem are now in the dominion of the Turke who notwithstanding for a great tribute doeth suffer many Christians to abide there There are therefore nowe two or more monasteries and religious houses where Friers doe abide and make a good commoditie by shewing of the sepulchre of Christ and other monuments vnto such Christian pilgrims as doe vse superstitiously to goe in pilgrimage to the Holy land The King of Spaine calleth himselfe at this day King of Ierusalem De Arabia NExt vnto the Holy land lyeth the great countrie of Arabia hauing on the North-parte Palestina and Mesepotamia on the East the gulfe of Persia on the South the maine Ocean of India or Aethiopia on the West Aegipt and the great bay called Sinus Arabicus or the redde sea This countrie is deuided into three partes the North parte whereof is called Arabia deserta the South parte which is the greatest is named Arabia Foelix and in the middle betweene both which for the aboundance of Rockes and Stones is called Arabia Petrea or Petrosa The deserte of Arabia is that place in which God after the deliuery of the Israelites from Egypt by passing through the red sea did keepe his people vnder Moses for fortie yeares because of their rebellion feeding them in the meane time with Manna from heauen sometime with water miraculously drawne out of drie rockes for the country hath verie little water almost no trees and is vtterly vnfit for tillage or corne There are no townes nor inhabitants in all this desert in Arabia Petrosa are some but not many Arabia Foelix for fruitfulnes of the ground and conuenient standing euerie way towarde the sea is one of the best countries of the world but the principall cause why it is called Foelix is for that it yeeldeth many things in aboundance which in other parts of the world are not to be had as Frankincense especially the most precious balmes myrhe and many other both fruits and spices and it yeeldeth withall store of some precious stones This is that countrie wherein Mahomet wes borne who being of meane parentage was brought vp in his youth in the trade of merchandise but afterward ioyning himselfe with theeues and robbers his life was to rob such marchants as passed through Arabia and to this purpose hauing gotten togither many of his owne countrimen he had afterwardes a whole legion or more out of the Romane souldiours who being offended with Heraclius the Romane Emperour for want of their pay ioined themselues to him so that at length hee had a great armie wherewith hee spoyled the countrie adioyning To maintaine his credit authoritie with his owne men he fained that he had conference with the holy Ghost at such time as he was troubled with the falling sicknes and accordingly he ordained a new religion consisting partly of Iewish ceremonies and partly of Christian doctrine and some other things of his owne inuention that hee might inueagle both Iewes and Christians and yet by his own fancy distinguish his followers from both The booke of his religion is called the Alcoran The people which were his Sectaries
prerogatiue of the Bishop of Rome It is thought that they haue retayned christianitie euen from the time of our Sauiour being supposed to bee conuerted by the Chamberlaine of Candace the Queene of Aethiopia who was instructed concerning Christ by Phillip the Euang. in the Actes of the Apostes Euseb in his Ecclesiasticall storie doth make mention of this But they doe to this day retaine Circumcision whereof the reason may be that the Eunuch their conuerter not hauing any further conference with the Apostle nor any else for him did receiue the ceremonies of the Church vnperfectly retaining Circumcision which among the Iewes was not abolished when he had conference with Phillip Within the dominion of Prester Iohn are the mountaines commonly called Lune montes where is the first well-spring and arising of the riuer Nylus which riuer running violently along this countrie and sometimes hastely increasing by the melting of much snow from the mountaines would ouer-run and drowne a great parte of Aegipt but that it is slaked by many ponds dams sluces which are within the dominion of Prester Iohn And in respect hereof for the maintenance of these the Princes of Aegipt haue paid vnto the gouernor of Abissines a great tribute time out of minde which of late the great Turke supposing to bee a custome needelesse did denye till the people of the Abissines by commaundement of their Prince did breake downe their dammes and drowning Aegipt did inforce the Turke to continue his paye and to giue much money for the newe making of them very earnestly to his great charge desiring a peace There be other Countries in Africa as Agisimbae Libiae interior Nubia and other of whome nothing is famous But this may be said of Africa in generall that it bringeth forth store of all sortes of wilde beastes as Elephants Lyons Panthers Tigers and the like yea according to the Prouerbe Africa sempor aliquid apportet noui Oftentimes newe and strange shapes of beastes are brought forth there The reason whereof is that the countrie being hot and full of wildernesses which haue in them little water the beastes of all sortes are inforced to meete at those fewe warring places that be where oftentimes contrarie kindes haue coniunction the one with the other so that there ariseth newe kindes or species which taketh parte of both Such a one is the Leopard begotten of the Lyon and the beast called Dardus somewhat resembling either of them And thus fat of Africa De Insulis septentrionalibus THe Ilands that doe lie in the North are in number almost infinite the chiefe of them onely shall be briefely touched Very farre to the North in the same clymate almost with Sweden that is vnder the very circle arctick lyeth Ireland called in olde time Thule which was then supposed to be the farthest parte of the worlde Northward and and therefore is called by Virgill Vltima Thule the countrie is colde the people barbarous and it yeeldeth little commoditie sauing Hankes in some parte of the yeare there is no night at all Southward from thence lyeth Frizeland called in Latine Frizelandia whereas the Frizeland ioyning to Germanie is in Latine called Frizia On the coast of Germanie one of the seuenteene prouinces is called Zeland which containeth in it diuers Ilandes in whome little is famous sauing that in one of them is Vlishing or Firshing a towne of warre and at Middleburg in an other a place of good marte The States of the Lowe-countries doe holde this prouince vnited against the King of Spaine These Ilands haue bene much troubled of late with inundation of waters The Iland that lyeth most West of any fanie is Ireland which had in it heretofore many kings of their owne but the whole land is now annexed vnto the crowne of England The people naturally rude and superstitious the countrie good and fruitefull but that for want of tillage in diuers pleces they suffer it to growe into bogges and desertes That is true of this countrie which Solmus writeth of some other that serpents and adders doe not breede here and in the Irish timber of certaine experience no spiders webbe is euer founde The most renowned Iland in the worlde is Albion or Britannia which hath heretofore contained in it many seuerall kingdomes but especially in the time of the Saxons It hath now in it the two kingdoms of England and Scotland wherein are forue seuerall languages that is the English which the ciuill Scots doe barbarously speake the Welsh tongue which is the language of the olde Britaines the Cornish which is the proper speech of Cornewall and the Irish which is spoken by those Scots which liue on the West parte of Scotland neare vnto Ireland The commodities of England and pleasures are well knowne vnto vs and many of them may be expressed in this verse Anglia Mons Pons Fons Ecclesia foemina lana This countrie which in olde time was inhabited by the Britaines was entered vpon by the Romaines first vnder Iulius Caesar and was long by them kept in subiection but it was an error in them when they wrote that England would breede nor keepe no Wolfe It was afterwarde ouerrunne and possessed by the Saxons of whome 7. kings at once did raigne here After that the Danes out of Denmarke did inuade it and much molest it And lastly vnder the leading of their Duke William the Normans did conquere it and established that gouernement which to this day doth continue And from whome as from the Conquerour our ordinarie computation is deriued The Scots were in times past a most barbarous people of whome Saint Ierome reporteth that he sawe some of them in his time in France to feede on mans flesh They were neuer wholy conquered by the Romaines There be very many little Ilandes adioyning vnto the great Iland Britanie As at the very North-point of Scotland the Orchades which are in number aboue 30. The chiefe whereof is named Orkney where the people are barbarous On the West-side of Scotland towardes Ireland lye the Ilandes called Hebreides where inhabite the people ordinarily tearmed the Redshankes Not farre from thence is the I le Mona commonly called The I le of Man The peculiar iurisdiction of the Earles of Darbie with homage notwithstanding reserued vnto the crowne of England On the North-part of Wales is the Iland of Anglesey which is reputed a distinct shiere towardes France side on the South part of England is the I le of Wight in Latine called Vectis which is a good holde in the narrowe seas against the French More neare Fraunce are the Iles of Garnesey and Iernesey where they speake French and are vnder the crowne of England There be also many other but of small accompt De Insulis in Mari Mediterraneum THere be many Ilandes in the Mediterran renowmed in the olde writers but the chiefe of them onely shall be touched From the pillers of Hercules going Eastwarde are two Ilands not farre from Spaine which in times
past were called Insulae Baleares for that the people oft then did vse both for their delight and armour Slings which they continually almost carried aboute them And whereunto as Plinie writeth they did traine vp their children from their yoâ—â—â—â—st yeares Not giuing them any meate till they had from some Post or Beame cast it downe with a sling Of these were those Funditories or Sling-casters which the Carthaginians and Spaniards did vse in their warres against the Romanes The lesser of these which lieth most West was called in olde time Minorica and at this day Minorica The bigger which lieth more East was called Maiorica and now Maiorica They are both vnder the dominion of the King of Spaine More Eastward in the sea called Mare Inferum or Tyrrhenum lieth the Iland of Corsica ouer against Genua and direct Southward from thence lyeth the great Iland Sardinia Forthe quiet possessing of which two the warres were oftentimes reuiued betweene the olde Carthaginians and the Romanes For these two Ilands lie in the middle very fitly For both these are also at this day vnder the King of Spaine And were the same which latelie the Cardinall of Lourain would perswade the old king of Nauarre in France that if hee woulde leaue his religion and become a Papist the Spanish king should yeeld him either Sardinia or at the loast Corsica in recompence of Pampilona and the rest of the kingdome of Nauarre which the Spaniards by force did detaine from him Farther yet to the East at the verie poynt of the South-part of Italy lieth the great Iland of Sicilia which some haue supposed to haue beene heretofore a part of the continent but by an earth-quake and inundation of water to haue bin rent off and so made an Ileland The figure of this Country is Triquetra or triangle three-square There was also great contention for the Countrie betweene the Carthaginians and the Romanes but the Romanes obtayned it and had from thence exceeding store of corne yearelie whereupon Cicilie was called Horreum P. Romani Here stoode the goodly citie called Siracusa which was destroyed and sacked by Marcellus the Romane This was in times past a kingdom where the two tyrants the elder and the yonger Dionisius did reigne where Hiero also that great friend to the Romanes did remaine It was afterward made a prouince and gouerned by a Praetor or Deputie of the Romanes whereof Verres was one so inueighed against by Tullie It grew afterwards to be a kingdome againe insomuch that Tancredus was King of Cicilia who went to the taking of Ierusalem with Richard the second king of England Here was likewise Phalaris the tyrant so famous king of Agrigentum This Countrey is now also vnder the King of Spaine who among other titles calleth himselfe king of both the Cicilies reckoning this Iland for one and that part of Italie for another which is nowe called Calabria and was in the Romane hystories named Maegna Graecia There is nothing more renowmed in all Cicilia either with the newe or olde writers then the mountaine Aetna which beeing on the out-side ofteÌ„ couered with snow yet by a sulphurie or brimstonie water doth continuallie burne within yea so that whereas it was supposed in the ages last before vs that the matter beeing consumed the fire had ceased twise in our age it hath broke foorth againe to the intollerable losse of all the Countrie adioyning the ashes thereof destroying townes and fruites which were within the compasse of manie myles about This is that place whither Empedocles threwe himselfe that hee might bee reputed a God This is it whereof Virgill doth make his tract called Aenea which the Poets did report to be the shop of Vulcan where the Cyclops did frame the thunderbolts for Iupiter and to conclude this is it which some of our grosse Papists haue not feared to imagine to be the place of Purgatorie Not farre South from Cicilie lieth the little Iland called in old time Melite whence those dogs come which were so much desired vnder the name of Canes Melitenses This is the countrie where S. Paul was cast vp after his shipwracke in his iourney to Rome where the Viper hanged on his hand and did not hurt him This Countrie is now called Malta and is one of the places most renowmed in the worlde for the repelling of the Turkes when Soliman the Emperour of them did send agaynst it a most mightie armie It was then defended by those who are called the knights of Malta which by sea doe great spoile to the gallies of the Turke that passe that way Neare vnto Graecia and Peloponnesus on the West-side toward Italie is the I le Corcyra nowe tearmed Corfue and not far South from that is Cephalonia and from thence South is Zant called by Virgill Nemorisa Zazinthus all which Ilands haue beene heretofore vnder the Venetians but are now vnder the Turke In Zazinthus our English marchants haue an house of abode for their trafique Southeast from Morea lieth the great Iland Creta where Minos sometime did raigne so famous for his seueritie This countrie was then called Hecatompolis as hauing in it an hundred townes and cities The Turkes haue wonne this also long since from the Venetians it is now called Candie from whence commeth our ordinarie sugar of Candie Betweene Creta and Peloponnesus lieth Cythera where was the fine Temple of Venus who thereof by the Poets is called Cytherea The Ilandes are many which doe lie in the sea called Mare Aegeum from the bottome of Greece vnto the top of the Hellispont as all the Cyclades Euboea the great Iland Samos and Chios so Scyro where Achilles was borne and was king of that countrie There was also Lesbos Lemnos Metilene and Ithaca where Vlisses was king and Andros whether Themistocles was sent by the AtheniaÌ„s for tribute of which places something may be read in the olde historie of the Greekes Diuers of these did striue that Homer was borne in them but of certaintie many of those kinges which Homer saith came with Agamemnon to the siege of Troye were kings but of these small Ilands Eastward from thence not farre from some parte of Natolia or Asia the lesse is the Iland Rhodus the friendship of the inhabitants whereof was in auntient time very much desired by the Princes that had to doe that way So that Alexander first and the Romaines afterwardes did embrace their league Here was that huge and mightie image of the Sunne which was Cholossus Rhodius This countrie was long defended by those who were called the Knightes of the Rhodes against the power of the Turke and it was a great bulwarke to defend Christendome till that in the yeare one thousand fiue hundred twentie and two Solimon the great Turke did winne it from the Christians by force From thence Southward is the I le of Carpathus but in the farther end of the East parte of the Mediterraneum is Cyprus which about 300. yeares since was a kingdome did
afforde great aide to the Christians that went to conquer the Holy land but it is now vnder the Turke The chiefe Citie thereof is Famagusta which is an Archbishoppes sea for Christians for their tribute doe yet liue there In this countrey in olde time was Venus much honoured and thereof it was called Cypria as also Paphia because shee had a Temple in a Citie there called Paphos Neare vnto Siria stood the Iland Tirus against the pride whereof the Prophets doe so much speake This was a rich citie for merchandise and nauigation in olde 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 greate Of the rest of the small Ilandes wee doe say nothing De insulis in Mare Indico THe Ilandes are very many that doe lie in the seas adioyning to the East Indies but the most famous among them shall be touched Among the olde writers as especially appeareth by Solinis was well knowne that which was then called Taprobana which lieth vnder the Equinoctiall line It was in that time a Maonarchy where the Kings raigned not by succession but by election and if any of them did grow intollerable he was deposed and inforced to die with withdrawing from him all things necessary This is nowe called Sumatra and hath in it diuers Kings Not far frō thence lye Eastward the two Ilandes called Iaua maior and Iaua minor which were also known to the olde writers they haue also in them diuers Kings as in generall may be noted that all the East part either in the continent or in the Iland haue very many small Kinges and kingdomes From thence yet more East lieth a great number of Iles which are now called the Moluccoes which are places as rich for their quantity as anie in the world From these it is that the Spaniards haue yearely so greate quantitie of all kindes of spice neither is there any place of all the East Indies that do more richly furnish home their caractes then do these Moluccoes Some of these Ilandes the Spaniards haue gotte into their owne possession with the Kings of some other they haue league and a third sorte vtterly detest them More North-ward ouer against China lieth a greate Iland called Iapona or Iapan the people whereof are much of the same nature with the men of China This countrey was first discouered by the Iesuites who in a blinde zeale haue trauailed vnto the farthest partes of the worlde to winne men to their religion this Ilande is thought to bee very rich The rest that bee either neare vnto Asia or vnto Africa because there is little written of them we passe ouer De Insulis in Mari Atlantico THere bee many Ilands which lie West-ward from Africa and from Europe as those which are called the Gorgades that lie in the same climate with Guinea which are foure in number but not inhabited by men but they are full of Goates North-ward from thence in the same clymate with the South-parte of Marocco lie those which are called Canariae or the fortunate Ilandes which are seuen in nomber being most fruitfull and very pleasant and therefore called by that name This is famous in them that it hath pleased all Cosmographers to make their Meridiane to be the first poynte where they doe beginne to reckon the computation of their longitude and vnto them after three hundred and threescore degrees to returne againe From these Ilandes it is that those strong and pleasant sackes which are called Canari wines are brought and from thence are fetched those which they call Canarie Birdes these Ilandes are vnder the Crowne of Spaine More Northward from thence lye these Ilandes which are called Azotes insulae being sixe or seuen in number of which Tercera is one of the chiefe of whome the rest by some are called the Terceraes which are farre inferiour in fruitfulnesse vnto the Canaries these were first vnder the Crowne of Portugale and one of them was the last which was kept out from the King of Spaine by the Prior don Antonio who now calleth himselfe King of Portugale but the Spaniard at the last tooke this Tercera from him and doeth possesse all these Ilandes tagether with the rest of the dominion which did belong to the Portingale De America siue Orbe nouo ALthough some dispute out of Plato and the olde writers that there was not onely a gesse but a kinde of knowledge in auntient time that besides Europia Asia and Africa there was another large countrey lying to the West yet he that shall aduisedly vse the coniectures made therevpon may see that there is nothing of sufficiencie to enforce any such knowledge but that all antiquitie was vtterly ignorant of the newe founde countries towarde the West whereunto this one argument most forcible may giue credite that at the first ariuing of the Spaniards there they founde in those partes nothing shewing trafique or knowledge of any other Nation but the people naked vnciuill some of them deuourers of mans flesh ignorant of shipping without all kinde of learning hauing no remembrance of historie or writing among them neuer hauing heard of any such religion as in other places of the world is knowne but being vtterly ignorant of Scripture or Christ or Moyses or any God neither hauing among them any token of crosse Church Temple or deuotion agreeing with other Nations God therefore remembring the prophecie of his sonne that the Gospell of the kingdome should before the day of iudgement be preached in all coastes and quarters of the worlde and in his mercie intending to free the people or at the least some fewe of them from the bondage of Sathan who did detaine them in blockish ignoraunce and from their Idolatrous seruice vnto certaine vile spirites whome they called their Zemes and most obsequiously did adore them and raised vp the spirit of a man worthie of perpetuall memorie one Christophorus Columbus borne at Genua in Italie to set his minde to the discouery of a new worlde Who finding by that compasse of the olde knowne worlde that there must needes bee a much more mightie space which the sun by his dayly motiō did compasse aboute then that which was alreadie knowne and discouered and conceiuing that this huge quantitie might as well by land as sea could neuer satisfie himselfe till that hee might attempt to make proofe of the veritie thereof Being therefore himselfe a priuate man and of more vertue then abilitie After his reasons and demonstrations layd downe whereby hee might enduce men that it was no vaine thing which he went about Hee went vnto many of the Princes of Christendome and among other vnto Henrie the seuenth then King of England desiring to bee furnished with shipping and men fitte for such a nauigation But these men refusing him parly because they gaue no credite vnto his newe narration and partly least they should be derided by their neighbour Princes
plant in they sent thither two seuerall times two seuerall companies as Colonies to inhabit that part which in remembrance of the virginity of their Queene they named Virginia But this voyage beeing interprised on the charge of priuate men and not thorowlie being followed by the State the possession of this Virginia is nowe discontinued and the countrie at this present left to the old inhabitants Northward from thence on the sea-coast lieth Norombega which is the South-parte of that which the Frenchmen did without disturbance of any Christian for a time possesse For the French-men did discouer a large part of America on toward the circle Arctick and did build there some townes and named it of their owne countrie Noua Francia The Enlish-men about the yeare 1570. did aduenture farre for to open the North partes of America and sayled as farre as the very circle Arcticke hoping for to haue found a passage by the North to the Moluccos and to China which hitherto neither by the North of Asia nor by the North of America could bee effected by them by reason of the verie great colde and yse in that clymate The rest of the inland beeing an huge space of earth hath not hitherto by any Christian to any purpose beene discouered but by those neare the sea-coasts it may bee gathered that they all which doe there inhabite are men rude and vnciuill without knowledge of God Yet on the North-west part of America some of our English-men going through the straightes of Magellan and passing toward the North by Hispania noua haue touched on a Countrie where they found good entertainement the King thereof yeelding himselfe to the subiection of the Queene of England whervpon they tearmed it Noua Albion De Peru Brasilia WHen the Portingales had first begun their nauigation by Africa vnto the East Indies some of them intending to haue helde their course Eastwarde vnto Caput bone spei were driuen so farre West-ward by tempest that they landed in a large and great countrey which by a generall name is called Brasilia where they began to enter trafique and with Townes and Castles to plant themselues before that the Spaniardes had discouered Peru which is the South parte of America So that at this day whatsoeuer the King of Spaine hath in Brasilia it is in right of the crowne of Portingale The countrie is large hauing in it many people and seuerall kingdomes which are not all possessed by the Portingals but so that other Christians as namely the Frenchmen being driuen out of their countrie for religion haue set footing there though afterwardes againe they haue abandoned it The inhabitants hereof are men also vtterly vnlearned but men more ingenious then the common sorte of the Americans goodly of bodie and straight of proportion going alwayes naked reasonable good warriours after their countrie fashion vsing to fat such enemies as they take in the warres that afterwardes they may deuoure them which they doe with great pleasure For diuers of the people of these quarters as the Caribles and the Canibals are all eaters of mans flesh In this countrie groweth aboundance of that wood which since is brought into Europe for to dye red colours and is of the place whence it commeth called Brazil-wood the trees whereof are exceeding great After that the Spaniardes had for a time possessed Hispania noua for the desire of gold and pearle some of them trauelled towardes the South And as by water they found that sea Westward from Peru which is alwayes very calme and is by them called the South-sea as the other wherein Cuba standeth is termed the North-sea so by land they founde that huge mightie countrie which is named Peru wherein the people are for the most parte very barbarous and without God men of great stature yea some of them farre higher then the ordinarie sorte of men in France vsing to shoote strongly with bowes made of fishe bones and most cruell people to their enemies Among these the Spaniards partly by force but especially by perfidious treason did get infinite summes of golde and pearle wherein being allured and hoping for more by reason that a great parte hereof lyeth vnder the Zona Torrida They haue heare and there scatteringly vpon the sea-coastes set vp some Townes and Castles but are not able to possesse almost any thing of the land neither haue they as yet discouered the inwarde partes thereof Some of these Spaniardes desirous for to see how farre this land of Peru did goe towardes the South trauelled downe till at length they founde the landes end and a little straight or narrowe sea which did runne from the maine Ocean towardes Africa into the South sea One magelanus was he that found this straight and although it be dangerous passed thorowe it so that of his name it is called Fretum Magelanicum or Magelanes straightes And this is the way whereby as the Spaniards doe passe to the backside of Peru and Hispania noza so whosoeuer will compasse the whole worlde as some of our English haue done He must of necessitie for any thing that is yet knowne passe thorowe this narrowe straight Magellanus did finde on the other side towards the Pole the maine continent which also the Portingales in their voyages to the East Indies haue sometimes bene driuen vnto whereof nothing is discouered but that in one place they did see aboundance of Parats and greater then ordinarie whereof they did call it Psittacorum regio This is thought to be a mightie huge countrie conteyning in compasse all the degrees of longitude in the continent thereof and is supposed to goe vnto the South pole By reason that no sea is yet founde to breake in or breake through the same There be also described by some of our late writers certaine great Landes towardes the North-pole And our English-men in their Nauigations haue touched Gronland but the nature of them and whether they be such and so many as is reported is not certainely knowne FINIS