Temperature and Disposition of the Aire there the quality of the Soile and Nature of its several Climates 1. THe Spaniards and other Nations have not altogether the same sense concerning the situation or extent of the West-Indies Commonly they are taken to signifie that part of the World lately discovered which lyeth Westward of the Worlds general and fixed Meridian which according to the common opinion runneth through the Azores or Tercerae Islands from one Pole to another thereby dividing the Globe of the Earth into two equall parts or Hemispheres The Spaniards looking to the pretended Donation or Grant made by Pope Alexander the sixth to the Kings of Castile and Leon of whatsoever Lands or Islands discovered or that should be discovered by them sailing Westward of the Azores whether upon the coast of India or elsewhere doe not seldom comprehend under the notion of the West Indies and the New World the Moluccae and Philippine Islands with some other places in the Indian Sea though they lie cleerly in the Eastern Hemisphere which because it seems not so properly done and doth otherwise beget obscuritie in the Authors that treat of this subject I thought it not amiss to give this Item of it here According therefore to the most ordinarie and general acception of the word America or the West-Indies is that part of the World lately discovered which lyeth Westward of the Azores and the Worlds Meridian and possesseth either in Sea or Land the greatest part of that Hemisphere viz. the Western Hemisphere of the World the Land it self viz. of America being bounded Eastward and and South-East with the Atlantick Ocean and Westward and to the South-west with Mare del Zur the Northern borders of it being not yet known A Countrie of so vast an extent that some have equalled it to all the other three parts of the World Europe Asia and Africa together to whom I can hardly assent yet doe readily acknowledge it to be much larger than any one yea perhaps than any two of the other parts could they be exactly compared It lyeth for the most part North and South not directly but somewhat inclining in the Southern part of it Eastward and in the Northern part Westward being in length as 't is commonly supposed from Terra Magellanica in the South to Estetiland and the further parts of Quivira in the North above a thousand nine hundred and seaventy seaven Spanish leagues which according to English or common measure is more than six thousand miles reaching from 60. degrees of Northern latitude for so farr it hath been discovered already by Land unto 53 degrees of Southern The breadth of it viz. from St. Michael otherwise called Piura in the Province of Quito upon the South Sea to the Prefecture and Town of Parayba on the Coast of Brasil where it is thought to be broadest is reckoned to be 1300. leagues and in the whole compass to contain little less than ten thousand leagues or thirty thousand common English miles 2. The whole Countrie lyeth in the form of two Peninsula's or large demy-demy-Islands joyned together by an Ihstmus or neck of Land called the Streit of Darien of about an hundred miles in length but in breadth viz. from one Sea to another in many places especially about Panama and Nombre de Dios not above seventeen and eighteen miles over They that resemble the Country to the form of a Pyramis reversed I suppose would be understood onely of the Southern or Peruvian part as 't is called neither is it so easie to conceive where they lay the Basis of it if from the Coast of Peru Westward to the uttermost point of Brasil towards the East as by the form of the Maps 't is most probable they doe the spire or top of their Pyramis will have somewhat an obtuse or blunt point in as much as the Countrie of Magellanica which lyeth upon the Streits and maketh the point of the Pyramis is by confession some hundred of leagues over from East to West or from the Atlantick to the South Sea the Streits themselves running a course of one hundred and ninety leagues all along the Coast of it and consequently must be of a far greater bredth than the Streit of Darien where 't is evident the Land of America or rather of Peru contracts it self into a much sharper point or Pyramis viz. betwixt Panama and Nombre de Dios as hath been said To me taking the whole Country or both Peninsulas together America seems rather to resemble some rich Usurers bagge tyed fast in the mid'st the one end whereof is rich and well stuff'd with Crowns the other empty and loose So seems America The Southern part thereof containing the golden Countries of Peru New-Granada Castella aurea Chile and the rest like the full bottome of the bagge swells and spreads it self with a large circumference and border both East and West the Northern part especially beyond New Spain and the Streit of Darien which is as it were the hand upon the Purse and that part by which the Catholike King both holds and commands all the rest as the Provinces thereof seem to lye more scattered one from another and not so compacted together as consisting much of Islands and the Continent it self frequently divided with Bays and Inlets of the Sea so in comparison of the Southern Provinces it affords but little of those precious Commodities for which America's acquaintance is so much desired by other Nations and with equall care policie and good success hitherto forbidden by the Spaniards 3. It is a question among Cosmographers too great for me to determine whether America be really Continent or Island that is whether the Northern Borders of it be joyned to any part of Asia or divided from it by some narrow Sea or Frith as it is to the Southward from those as yet undiscovered Southern Lands which lie on the other side of Magellan's Streits It seems to be the more common Opinion at least amongst Englishmen that it is an Island though a huge one wholly surrounded by the Sea and divided from Asia by a certain Frith or narrow Sea which they call the Streits of Anian from a Province of the Asiatique Tartarie which beareth that name and is supposed to border upon those Streits Nor doe there want some presumptions of probability for it as for example a report of Pliny out of Cornelius Nepos an ancient and credible Author of certain Indians that were driven by storm upon the Coasts of Suevia or Suaben in Germany in their Canoa's or little Boats in which it had been impossible for them to have come thither by any other passage than by the North parts of America Impossible I say to have come any other way and not to have touched first at some other Lands or Islands by the way viz. upon the Coasts of Barbary Spain Portugall the Azores or Canarie Islands by reason that a ship or any thing else floating at Sea when it is
lost by which disaster being forced again to turn homeward how long he lived or what expeditions he made after this it doth not appear 7. I ought not altogether to forget Sir Sebastian Cabot a Venetian Gentleman yet born and living in England who likewise about this time viz. in the year 1496 at the charge of Henry the seventh King of England set out with two Carvels for the discovery of a North-west passage to Cathay and the East-Indies according to the design which Columbus had first suggested to him In pursuit whereof he is reported to have sailed to 67 degrees of Northern latitude upon the coast of America but finding the Land still to bear Eastward which was contrarie to his purpose he turned sail and coasted down Southward as farre as Florida where with the usual ceremonies he took possession of several places in the name of the King of England as we shall further see in the particular description of the Continent In the way he discovered the Islands Baccaleos or of Cod-fish so named from the great aboundance of that kinde of Fish which they met withall upon the coasts They lie 25 leagues into the Sea over against Cape Raye of New-found land where the English have an extraordinary good Trade for Fishing and also many other rich Commodities But being forced at length to return home again for want of Victuals his business by reason of Warres which we had then with Scotland was wholly laid aside to the great prejudice of the English Nation who in all probability might have made themselves quarter-Masters at least with the Spaniard in the wealthiest parts and Provinces of America if the business had been well followed Sir Sebastian himself went immediatly thereupon into Spain and though he returned again into England and was graced by the King with some titulary dignity viz. of Grand Pilot of England and a pension yet seeing his design was never revived to effect I shall forbear to speak further of him as likewise I shall doe concerning Ferdinand Magellan a Portughese whose name although it be deservedly famous in the History and affairs of the new World and that he had the happiness to discover what so many before him had sought but could not finde namely a passage to the East-Indies by the South Sea and the coast of America called therefore from him ever since Megellans Streits yet because his business chiefly was to discover and not to conquer and that his design upon the Continent failed which was to have planted a Colonie of Spaniards in the middle and narrowest part of the Streits thereby to have secured the Streits to himselfe and prohibited the passage to all Strangers it may suffice to remember him in some other place that is in the description of that part of the Continent which lyeth upon those Streits CHAP. III. Of the Voyage to America or the ordinary course of Navigation which the Spaniards commonly hold to and from the West-Indies 1. THe English Nation have long since bin acquainted with the waies to the West-Indies reasonably well as appears by the many brave exploits gallantly attempted and no less stoutly and successfully performed by them in those parts both at Sea and Land some of which I shall not altogether forget to mention in due place So that this Chapter may seem not so necessarie Nevertheless for the satisfaction of those who are never likely to see America otherwise then in a Map nor to understand the affairs of that rich part of the World but by such reports and relations as this I think it not altogether inconvenient to speak a few words of the particular voyage or course held by Sea to and from America called by the Spaniards commonly Carrera de las Indias 2. Their course is wholly Westward and they reckon commonly from Sevill in Andaluzia which is a Province of old Spain to St. John D' vllua a famous and much frequented Port of the Province of New-Spain in America about 1700 leagues after the Spanish measure which is thrice so much of Italian or common miles and with favorable windes they doe ordinarily dispatch it in two moneths and an half To Nombre be bios or Porto-bello in the Island of Hispaniola they reckon 1400 leagues and doe usually make their voyage in two moneths They set out commonly from St. Lucar which is the Port as it were to Sevill or else from Palos a Sea Town in the same Province with Sevill not many miles distant from St. Lucar Westward and hold their course directly for the Canaries which are certain Islands towards the coasts of Africk under the dominion of the King of Spain well known for the rich Wines yearly transported thence They lye about 200 leagues distant from Spain and the Ships arrive at them commonly in eight or ten daies if nothing hinder making their course through the Bay or Gulf De las yeguas as they call it from the aboundance of Mares which they were transporting into America and were forced thereabouts by a storm to cast over board It is counted the most difficult passage betwixt Spain and the West-Indies especially in the Winter-time being then for the most part dangerously infested with violent and contrary windes At these Islands the Spaniards ordinarily victuall and supply themselves with necessaries the Countrie being rich and affording all things requisite for their journey plentifully especially that called Palma where they use most commonly to touch and furnish themselves From hence they set sail for America by the Islands of Cape Verde which lye in the Atlantick Ocean a few degrees within the Tropiques toward the coast of Africk And hither for the most part they have an easie and certain course seldom wanting some favorable winde or other to bring them within the Tropiques or Torrid Zone as 't is commonly called and being there they have constant windes forward which they call The Brises or Levant-windes These are certain Easterly windes which continually blow within the Tropiques on both sides of the Equator never failing and in the space of fourteen or fifteen daies doe carry the Ships within sight of the Northern Islands as they at the West-Indies call them which are as it were the Suburbs of the New World lying thick scattered upon the coast of America in the Atlantick or North Sea 3. The first which they commonly discover are some of the Caribee Ilands lying toward the coast of Paria viz. Desseada Dominica Guadalupe at which last they alwaies come to Anchor and refresh themselves both going and coming and from hence disperse themselves to the several parts and Ports of America for which they are bound Those that goe for New-Spain take the right hand way towards the Island Hispaniola and having discovered the Cape St. Anthony which is a foreland or Promontorie in the furthest and most Westerly parts of Cuba they sail in sight of the Islands both of St. John de Portrico and also of
same place good plenty of them again in a short time The End of the first Part. AMERICA ¶ The second Part. Containing The Topographicall description of the several Provinces both of the Northern and Southern part With some other Observations incident thereunto By N. N. Printed by R. Hodgkinsonne for E. Dod. CHAP. I. Of the generall division of the New World into Continent and Islands and of the two parts of the Continent viz. the Northern and the Southern 1. AMerica or the New World as we have said before is it self most generally thought to be but an Island though a very huge one and to be surrounded on all parts by the Sea not only on the East West and South as is already found by experience but also towards the North where it is likewise supposed to be divided from the Continent of Asia by the Sea running between Nevertheless for distinction sake and by reason it is of such a vast extent as that it equalleth and far exceedeth any other part of the World how great soever that is counted or called Continent it seems not amiss to express the whole under this division viz. of Continent and Islands understanding by the first viz. Continent only the main Land or more principall Provinces of America which lye united together and extend themselves in one continued tract from the Northern to the Southern borders and by the latter the Islands which lye about the main Land and though some of them at a good distance from it yet as well by reason of situation as for that they were discovered and conquered at the same time with the other are generally taken and reckoned for part of the New World That which we call the Continent of America is divided generally into two parts which are two great Peninsulas or â—emy-Islands environed on all parts by the Sea save onely in the midst where they are joyned together by a certain Isthmus or neck of Land which they call the Streit of Darien lying almost under the Equinoctial Line in some few degrees of Northern latitude which runneth in length from the district of Panama as they call it and Nombre de Dios to the Southward about an hundred miles or more but in bredth from East to West or from the North to the South Sea is nothing answerable being in some places not above seventeen or eighteen miles over These two Peninsulas are generally counted the Northern and Southern parts of America so called from their situation in respect of the Equator the one of them lying wholly Northward of the Equinoctiall Line and the other at least for the greatest part of it Southward They contained anciently beside many huge and vast Provinces governed for the most part by Royteletts or certain pettie Princes in each respective Province or Territorie whom they called Casiques two great and mightie Kingdoms the one of Cusco generally called the Kingdom of Peru in the Southern part and the other of Mexico now called new Spain in the Northern of both which and likewise of the manner of the first conquering and subduing of them by the Spaniards when time was something shall be said in due place 2. The Mexican or Northern part of America containeth these several Provinces viz. 1. Estotiland 2. Canada or New France 3. Virginia 4. Florida 5. Califormia 6. New Gallicia 7. New Spain or Mexicana properly so called and lastly 8. Guatimala together with some other lesser Islands so neerly adjoyning to the Continent that they are usually reckoned for part of it by those which describe the Countrie and therefore shall be mentioned in their several places accordingly viz. as parts of the respective Provinces upon which they lye The Peruvian or Southern part containeth these which follow viz. 1. Castella del oro as the Spaniards call it or golden Castile 2. Nova Granada 3. Peru 4. Chile 5. Paraguay 6. Brasil 7. Guiana and lastly Paria or new Andalusia as some call it The Islands which lye further off from the main Land but yet reckoned commonly for part of the New World by reason they were discovered as hath been said and for the greater part conquered and subdued with it are chiefly those called 1. Los Ladrones 2. the Islands of Salomon which lye in the South Sea and in the Northern 1. the Caribee Islands 2. St. John de Port-rico 3. Hispaniola 4 Jamaica and 5. Cuba of all which in their order according to the method of the latest and as I presume the exactest Cosmographers viz. of our learned Countriman Dr. Heylyn and his Author Laet upon whom I must profess to rest very much in this part of my report especially as to the site and position of Places CHAP. II. Of Estotiland and the several Provinces which it containeth 1. THe first Province of the Continent of America towards the North is called Estotiland for what reason I must plainly confess I cannot so cleerly discover unless perhaps our Neighbours the Duch happened to have the first naming of it and that it beareth any signification of its Easterly lying in respect of the other Provinces It containeth all those Regions of the Mexican or Northern part of America which lye furthest toward the North East on which side as likewise more directly Eastward it is washed all along with the main Ocean or North-Sea having on the South Canada or new France Westward and to the North-west it is not yet fully discovered but supposed either to be joyned to some parts of Tartary or which I think is the more common conjecture to be divided from it by the Sea which some presuming it to be but a narrow Sea call the Streits of Anian from a Province or part of the Asiatique Tartary which beareth that name and lyeth upon it On the North it hath a Bay or large Inlet of the Sea which the English call Hudsons Streites from Capt. Henry Hudson an Englishman who in the yeare 1610 is said to have sailed in this Sea no less then three hundred leagues Westward in search of a passage that way to the Kingdomes of Catha and China of which we have spoken already and which was so much endeavoured in those times both by our selves and our neighbours the Duch but without success hitherto The whole Province containeth these particular Countries if I may so call them or Prefectships as some others doe viz. First Estotiland more properly so called Secondly Terra Corterialis Thirdly New-found land and Fourthly certain Islands neer adjoyning to the Continent which they call Baccaleos 2. Estotiland specially so called is the most Northerly region of all America towards the East lying betwixt the abovesaid Hudsons Sreights which it hath on the North and Terra Corterialis on the South The soil of the country is said to be reasonably good and well stored with naturall Commodities I mean such as are of necessity and may be expected in such a cold northerly quarter as Flesh fowl and good store of
little more to be said 4. Terra Nova or New-found land the third part of this Northerly Province of America is a great Island lying on the South of Corterialis from which it is divided by a Frith or narrow Sea which the French call Golf de Chastieux This place is chiefly frequented for fishing of which there is such plenty all along the Coasts of this Island and likewise of Terra Corterialis adjoyning to it that the huge Shoales of Cod-fish doe sometimes stay their Ships under sail besides great store of other fish both of salt water and fresh as namely Herrings Salmons Thornback Smelts excellent Oysters and Muscles that are said to have a kinde of Pearl in them but of what quality or value doth not so well appear The Land within is likewise reported to be a very good Countrie plentifully stored with Deer and other sorts of Venison Phesants Partridges Swans with variety of other good Fowl lastly of a temperate Aire and Soile not barren only the people of it are said to be few and to inhabit chiefly the Western and North-west parts of it But this perhaps may be rather out of fear and to avoid the conversation of Strangers which at first they would not endure but fled at the sight of them being themselves altogether Savage and wilde But since 't is said they grow more tractable and will be hired in time of yeer by the Portugheses and other Nations that fish commonly for Whales in the Bay of St. Laurence and other places thereabouts to help them in the opening of their Whales boyling the fish and drawing out the Oyle wherein they that will be got to it are extremely diligent and ready to take pains They are commonly of but mean stature full eyed somewhat broad-faced and for the most part beardless Their houses are only certain long Poles set an end sloping upwards towards the top where they are fastened together and covered downwards with the skins of Beasts having in the mid'st their hearth or place to make fire upon But that which is most remarkable about this Island is the many and fair Havens which it affordeth on all sides for shipping in which respect it is though for the bigness scarsely to be paralleld by any other Island or Place in the World not indeed beautified with any great Towns or stately buildings as some are but affording commodious and secure station for the tallest ships that come before it the chief whereof are these 1. La Roigneuse or Rennosa as it is called six leagues Northward of the Cape Raye which lyeth at the South-East angle of the Island a place much resorted unto for fishing from all parts 2. Portus formosus or the fair Haven three miles Northward of the other capable of great ships and bearing at least four or five miles within Land or more 3. Thornbay called otherwise by the Portugheses Enseada grande or the great Bay for distinction sake 4. Trinity Bay on the North of the Cape St. Francis called by the Spaniards Baia de la conception This is likewise a very large and capacious Bay five miles over where it is narrowest having diverse great Rivers falling into it and some little Islands lying scatteringly up and down in it yet safe and affording very good Anchorage and riding for ships in most parts 5. Bay Blanche as the French call it or White-Bay on the North of the Cape or Promontory of St. John On the South side of the Island and Westward of Cape Raye there is 1. Port Trespasse an excellent and secure Harbour having alwaies a reasonable deep Sea without shallows or Rocks 2. Port St. Marie six leagues distant from it 3. Port Presenza by others called Placenza on the other side of Cape St. Marie towards the West 4. Port du Basques or the Biscayners Haven and lastly on the West side of the Island after you have doubled Cape Raye there is at Georges Bay all of them secure stations large and of great resort 5. Before this Island right over against Cape Ray at a distance of twenty four leagues or more there lyeth an huge Bank or ridge of Land extending it self in length out of the Sea some hundred of leagues if my Author mistake not but in bredth not above four or five and twenty when it is broadest and in other parts much less sharpning towards each end into a Conus or narrow point It is counted one of the Marveils of the Sea which round about it at some distance is very deep and hardly to be sounded especially betwixt the Bank for so they commonly call it and Cape Ray but drawing neerer it grows by degrees more and more shallow insomuch that nigh the Land there is not much more water than is necessary for the ships riding It runneth out in length as was said from North to South from fourty one degrees of latitude to fiftie two and round about it there lye scattered a multitude of lesser Islands which Sir Sebastian Cabot when he first discovered the place called by one common name Los Baccaleos or the Islands of Cod-fish from the great quantity of that sort of fish hee there found which was such that they hindred the passage of his ships and lay in such multitudes upon the Coasts that the very Bears would come and catch them in their claws and draw them to Land This place I say with the rest was first discovered by Sir Sebastian Cabot upon the English account howbeit the matter happened to be lay'd aside upon the aforesaid occasions till in King Henery the eight his time it was revived again by Thorn and Eliot two Merchants of Bristoll but without success after which the Portugheses French and other Nations resort to it and change the names which the first discoverers had given to the Bayes and Capes thereabouts But the English not relinquishing their pretensions of primier discovery and seisin about the yeer 1583 Sir Humfry Gilbert took possession of it again in the name of Queen Elizabeth and prohibited all Nations the liberty of fishing there without the Queen of Englands leave But he being unhappily wracked in his coming home the business was again discontinued for a time viz. till the year 1608 when it was undertaken a new by John Guy another Merchant of Bristoll and with so good success that the Colony in a short time were well furnished with Wheat Rye Barley and other grain of their own sowing with Turnips Coleworts and aboundance of other necessary things not without some probable hopes of Metals a certain and plentifull trade of Sables Musk and other rich Commodities and such excellent good fishing especially for Codfish and Ling that 't is said some English-men doe ordinarily take two or three hundred of them in the space of three or four houres which from thence they conveigh as a sure and ready Merchandise into most parts of Europe CHAP. III. Of Canada and the Countries belonging to it 1 CAnada or New
may throw down stones of which there is alwaies good store ready or what else they have to annoy the assaylants It hath one only Gate for entrance and that likewise well fortified after their manner There are said to be in it fifty or threescore great houses built as the manner of the Americans generally is that use houses in a square figure each side being about fiftie foot long or more and sixteen or twenty broad but not many stories high and in the midest of the Court or void space a place to make their fire and doe other necessary work about it The Countrie round about this Town pleasant and good 2. Stadac or as some call it Stadacone another Town of the Natives not far from the Isle d' Orleance Westward 3. Quebeque another old Town which the French having first expelled the Natives and made it a Colonie of their own have since named St. Croix 4. Tadousac a Town lying at the mouth of the River Saguenay having a small Haven but very safe and capable of ten or twenty good ships 5. France-Roy This is little more than a Castle and Fort built by Mounsieur Robeval a French man at his first landing there about the yeer 1540. And lastly St. Lewis a place which the French designed for a Colonie in the year 1611 under the command of Monsieur Champlain but it came not to effect by reason of the Iroquois a Savage and war-like People on the South-side of the River Canada who doe often trouble and alarme the French in their Quarters and particularly hindred this Plantation 3. Nova-Scotia or New-Scotland is a part of this Province of America so named by Sir William Alexander a Scottish Gentleman to whom King James gave it by Letters Patents in the year 1621 being made afterwards Secretary of State for Scotland and after that by King Charles Earl of Sterling It containeth all that part of the Province of Canada or New-France which the French call Accadie or sometimes Cadia which properly is only a Peninsula or half Island lying thereabouts together with so much of the main Land as lyeth between the River Canada and the Bay Francoise that is reaching from the River of St. Croix upon the West to the Isle of Assumption in the East This was done presently after that Sir Samuell Argall Governour of Virginia had outed the French of all their possessions on the South-side of Canada that is such as lay within the bounds of Virginia and New-England where they had not any thing to doe much less to molest and make-warre upon such people as lived quietly under the protection of the English But the Patentee after sometime finding that to plant and maintain Colonies was no business to be undertaken by a single person sold Port-royall which was the principall place he had there to the French and wholly discontinued his endeavours in the rest which the French therefore have since possessed The places of chief importance in this Country are 1. Port-royall above mentioned This was first a Colony of French planted there by Monsieur de Montz about the yeare 1604. but being destroyed by the English from Virginia about the yeare 1613. it was granted to Sir William Alexander who as we heard sold it back again to the French and they took possession of it the second time and upon another account Howbeit if report speak true as the affaires of the world are alwais uncertain it is now again very lately taken from them by some English commanded by Major Sedgwick It hath a reasonable good Haven belonging to it of a mile broad and more within and two miles in length the mouth or entrance being somewhat narrower but neere upon a mile over 2. St. Lukes Bay so named by the Colony which Sir William Alexander sent thither but by the French Port au Mouton or Sheeps Bay 3. Gaspe or Gachepe another fair Port right over against the Isle of Assumption 4. To the Southwest of Nova Scotia and Nothward of Virginia lieth the Country of Norim begua so generally called and as it hath been thought from a great City or Town in this Province or from a River bearing the same name But as for the first later discoveries finde none such and as for the River that should be called Norimbegua it is likewise swallowed up in that which is more truely called Pemtegovet which is indeed a fair River running many miles together in this Tract but not well navigable above twenty or thirty at the most by reason of the Cataracts or great falls of water which it hath and which are an inconvenience incident unto many other Rivers of the New World and doth make them at severall places unpassable The mouth of this River is said to be eight or nine miles broad having many little mountainous Islands lying before and about it one whereof the French call La Isle haute from the great height which it seemeth to beare to them at Sea Westward of this River Pemtegovet at a distance of twenty or thirty miles there emptyeth it self another great River into the Sea which they call Quinnebequi but the English as Laet reporteth Sagadahoc betwixt and about which two Rivers the cheif and most known parts of this Country of Norimbegua lyeth saving only a small Southerly Tract upon another River which they call Chovacovet The aire of this whole Country is found to be of a very good temperature and the soil if it were used supposed to be no less fruitfull especially towards the Rivers and where it is not mountainous or overgrown with Woods as it is in some parts where yet it affords much good Timber abundance of Walnut trees and of other Nuts Firre-trees Beech with much other necessary and usefull wood elsewhere there is as much good pasturage and very fair plains only the Sea Coasts are said to be shallow and full of sands so that the sailing neer is generally accounted but dangerous and which I suppose may be some reason why there occurres not upon these Coasts any particular Ports or havens which as yet Authors seem to have thought worthy of their report 5. There are adjoyning to these parts of Canada or New-France cerain Islands which although they come not under any one cōmon name yet it seemes most fit that we should take notice of them as Appurtenances to this Country The Principall of these are 1. Natiscotec or the Isle of Assumption situate in the very mouth of the great River of Canada It was discovered first in the yeare 1534. by Jaques Cartier a French man and contains in length thirty leagues or more but in breadth not much above seven or eight The Island is for the most part very plain and level and of a soil fruitfull enough if it had Inhabitants plentifully stored both with fowl and fish having convenient roades but no very good harbours for Ships to stand and abide in 2. Rameae These are as it were a Fry of Islets or
of the passage by reason of some lesser Islands scattered up and down in the Channel and through which the Sea breaks with a great deal of force called Boca del Dragro or the Dragons mouth It lyeth betwixt the ninth and tenth degrees of Northern latitude accounted to be in length about 24. or tweny five leagues and about eighteen in breadth of a cloudy and less pleasant aire yet the Soil good and aboundantly well stored with all Commodities of the natural growth of America viz. Maiz sugar-Canes Cotton-wooll and the best sort of Tobacco good quantity of Fruits also and of Cattel some veins of gold and of a kinde of Pitch which they digge out of a Mine such plenty that as many ships as could come might lade themselves with it and is said to be good in all other respects except only that it will not endure the Sun The chief Town of this Island is called St. Josephs situate on the banks of a little River which they call Carone on the South side of the Island which was likewise taken by Sir Walter Raleigh in the year abovesaid and in it the Governour Antonio Berreo who to procure his liberty or fair treating at Sir Walters hands is thought to have furnished him with some relations concerning Guiana more liberally than otherwise he needed Tabago lyeth Eastward of Trinidado and divided from it by a little Sea of eight miles over said to have for the bigness of it as many safe Harbours belonging to it as any Island of America The Dutch of late years have named it Niew-Walacheren and are said to frequent it but for what special Commodities or reason doth not appear CHAP. XVIII Of Paria or New-Andalusia 1. THe last but not the least Province of the Southern America is the Country of Paria by som called Nova-Andalusia but for what reason or resemblance with Andalusia of Old-Spain they doe not tell us This Country lying as it doth brings us back again by the Eastern Coast to the Isthmus or Streit which as we have often said joyns the two parts of the Continent of America together at least to those Countries that lye next upon it to the South viz. the new Kingdome of Granada c. It hath on the East Guiana and those Islands which lye about the mouth of Orenoque on the West the Gulf or Bay of Venezuela with some part of the New Kingdome abovesaid on the North it is washed with the Atlantick Ocean and hath on the South some Countries not yet discovered toward the Andes The whole consisteth partly of Continent and partly of Islands neer adjoyning to it and is commonly divided into five several Precincts or parts which are 1. Cumana 2. Venezuela 3. Margarita 4. Cubagna And 5. some lesser Islands 2. Cumana is bounded Eastward with the Gulf of Paria and the River Orenoque on the West with Venezuela Northward it hath the Atlantick Ocean and on the South those undiscovered Countries above mentioned containing in length two hundred leagues or more as some say and not much less than one hundred in breadth but for ought appears little of it planted or used save only upon the Sea side where the Coast hath formerly been much famed for the rich Trade of Pearls and Pearl-Fishing which failing its principall esteem now is for an excellent vein of Salt which they digg here as out of a Mine and gather it naturally made ready to their hands not half a mile from the Sea side on the back-side of the Promontory or Cape called by some Punto de Araya and by others for this reason Cape de Salinas Places of chiefest consideration here are 1. Cumana it self a Colony of Spaniards seated on the banks of a little River two miles distant from the Sea where it hath a good Harbour 2. St. Jago a very strong fortress which the Spaniards of late yeares have built for the defence and security of the Salt-works against the Dutch who began to trade much that way and in the yeare 1622 had a design to have made themselves Masters of the Place 3. St. Michael de Neveri another Fortress of theirs upon a River so called 4. Guaniba a Town of the Natives 3. Venezuela the prineipall part of this Province is bordered on the East with Cumana on the West with a great Gulf or Bay commonly called the Bay of Venezuela with the Lâ—ke Maracabo and some part of New-Granada Nothward it hath the Ocean or Atlantick Sea southward some undiscovered Countries which as we said lye betwixt the Andes and it It stretches out in length from East to West one hundred and thirty leagues or thereabouts but in breadth little more than half so much being named Venezuela or Little Venice by Alonso de Oyeda a Spaniard who at his first discovery of the Country fell upon a Town of the Natives which stood like another Venice all upon the waters and having no passage to it but only by Boats It s a Country extraordinary rich in all sorts of Commodities affords good Pasture for Cattel and aboundance of fair heards of them Oxen Sheep Swine c. plenty of Corn and other Grain great store of Venison likewise in the Woods of Fish in the Rivers Gold in the Mines and therefore not likely but to be well peopled and inhabited especially by the Spaniards whose Towns and places of chief importance are these viz. 1. Venezuela at the most westerly Confines of the Country built upon the Sea with the advantage of a double Haven in a temperate and good Aire and Soil round about it the richest and best of the whole Province It is now a Bishops Sea who is Suffragan to the Arch-Bishop of St. Domingo in Hispaniola and the ordinary Residence of the Governour 2. Caravalleda called by the Spaniards Nuestra Sennora de Caravalleda fourscore leagues distant from Venezuela toward the East upon the Sea likewise 3. St. Jago de Leon in the Country of Caracas four or five leagues southward of Caravalleda and six or seven distant from the Sea 4. New-Valentia twenty five leagues distant from St. Jago 5. New-Xeres a Town but lately built fifteen leagues southward of New Valentia 6. New-Segovia but one league distant from Xeres 7. Tucuyo a place well known and frequented for the aboundance of Sugar which is made there and in the Country round about it 8. Truxillo or our Lady de la Paz eighteen leagues southward of the Lake Maracaybo a place of great resort and much frequented for trade both by Spaniards and Natives 9. Laguna a Town lying more towards the bottom of the Lake said to be much haunted with Tygres and more than this not much is said of it 4. Margarita is an Island lying right over against the Salinas or Cape de Araya afore mentioned seven or eight leagues distant from the main-Main-land and taking its name from the aboundance of Pearles found about it when time was It containes not above fifteen or sixteen leagues
in length and about six in breath having these only places of importance in it viz. Mon Pater which is a good Fort of the Spaniards built at the East Angle of the Island to secure their Pearl-fishing when that Trade held and to defend their ships which commonly rode there at Anchor 2. the Valley of Sta. Lucia two leagues distant from the Sea where the Spaniards have a Colony 3. Makanao a Town of the Natives This whole Island was surprised by the English under Captain Parker in the yeare 1601 who in stead of Prisoners carryed away good store of the Spaniards Pearl which he forced them to pay for their ransome 5. Cubagna another Island pertaining to this Province of Paria lyeth almost in the midle way betwixt the Island Margarita and the Continent from which last it is not counted to be above a league distant and five or six from the other being it self in the compass of the whole not much above three or four of a Soil wholy barren and destitute of all kinde of necessaries for the life and sustinance of man without Corn without Pasturage without Fruit without water yet only for the richness of the Pearl-fishing round a-about it for many yeares together there was no place more frequented than it Nor is it at present wholly deserted for though the Trade of Pearls be said to have failed for some yeares yet have they a Colony still remaining there called New-Cadiz and on the East part of the Islands a certain Fountain not far from the Sea side which yeeldeth a kinde of Bituminous substance like Oyle of such a medicinable vertue for many diseases that it sufficiently recompenseth the want of the Pearls by a more reall utillity and benefit is found in good plenty floating for the most part upon the Sea thereabout 5. The lesser Islands as they are called part of this Provinciall Prefecture of Paria lie all along upon the coasts of Venezuela from East to West in number many but the principal of them are 1. Tortuga a little Island said to be not above four or five miles in length and in breadth hardly one but well know for the aboundance of good Salt that is made and transported thence every yeare it lieth five or six leagues westward of Margarita hath a good Harbour and aboundance of that wood called Guaiacum of which we spake before 2. Bonayre an Island of five or six leagues in compass well stored with small Cattell especially Sheep and Goates It lyeth right over against the Bay called Golfo Triste or the Vnfortunate Bâ—y and was the place whether the Spaniards transplanted the poor Natives of Hispaniola when they grew weary of killing them 3. Curacaos three or four leagues westward of Bonayre and containing about so many in compass of a soil exceedingly fertill and good for Pasturage having likewise on the north side of the Island a very good and safe Harbour for shipping 4. Aruba three or four leagues distant from Curacaos to the North-east about five miles in compass being for the most part a level and flat Country inhabited but not much either by Spaniards or Natives 5. Los Monges or the Monks as the Spaniards named them These are three or four lesser Island lying eastward of the Cape Coquibocoa of great use and direction at Sea to those that sail for Carthagena but for any thing else scarsely memorable CHAP. XIX Of the American Islands 1. VVE have spoken hitherto only of the Continent of America and those Islands which lye so neer the Continent that they are commonly reckoned as part of it and appertaining to the respective Provinces against which they lie It remains now not to leave any thing considerable untouch'd at least that we take a veiw of some other Islands viz. that lie further off and seem not to have any other relation to America but only that of obedience and subjection to the Spaniards government who are Lords of America and have reduced at least the principall and chief of those Islands long since under their power They lye either in the South or the North Sea Those in the South or Mare del Zur are chiefly two viz. Los Ladrones and the Islands Fernandinae Los Ladrones in English the Islands of Theeves lye as it were in the midle way betwixt the main-Main-land of America and the Philippine Islands but some hundred of leagues distant from either in the fourth degree of Northern latitude So named by Ferdinand Magellan from the pilfering disposition he observed in the Natives when he sailed that way for the Moluccae Islands They were a nimble and active sort of People yet light-fingerd it should seem and going for the most part naked tall of stature excellent Swimmers and Divers and have not much more to be spoken in their Commendation The Fernandinae are only two Islands of no great bigness lying over against the coast of Chile in the three and thirtieth degree of Southern latitude and about one hundred leagues or three hundred English miles from the Continent yet well stored with some lesser sort of Cattel as Goats c. good plenty likewise of Venison in the Woods and of Fish upon the Coasts for which reason though lying at some distance yet are they not a little frequented by the Spaniards of Peru who finde many good Harbours and roads for shipping belonging to and about these Islands But the chief viz. of the American Islands abovesaid are those which lye in the Atlantick or North-Sea on the East side and as it were in the way to the Continent of America which are as follow viz. 1. The Caribes 2. Port-rico 3. Hispaniola 4. Cuba and 5. Jamaica Of the Caribee Islands 1. THe Caribee-Islands as the English commonly call them are a row or ridge as it were of lesser Islands which extend themselves almost in fashion of a Bow from the Coast of Paria as far as St. John de Port-rico The name signifies as much as the Islands of Cannibals or Man-Eaters and so the Natives generally were before they were either destroyed or reduced to better manners by the Spaniards There are many of them but the principall and those which seem most worthy of notice are 1. Granada This lyeth in form of a Croissant or half-Moon upon the Continent of Paria viz. that part of it which is called Cuniana having a reasonable good Haven and a Soil not altogether unfruitfull but much over-shaded with Woods and hitherto but little inhabited 2. St. Vincent six or seven leagues Northward of Granada but from any part of the Continent ten at least a very fruitfull Island yeelding aboundance of Sugar-Canes that grow naturally without any Art or help of Husbandry well watered with Rivers and affording many convenient Bays and safe roads for shipping It lyeth in a circular form and is thought to contain about eight or ten leagues in compass Inhabited by a People not over much industrious nor sollicitous for ought but what
concerns the belly 3. Dominica an Island of twelve leagues in length very fruitfull of a good sort of Tobacco which the Europeans have of the Natives chiefly in exchange of Knives some Hatchets and other Instruments of Iron which they value much It hath on the West side of it a convenient Harbour for ships but the People being said to continue Cannibals and exceedingly barbarous even to this present no Nations as yet have attempted to inhabit among them 4. La Desseada a small Island but of great use to the Spaniards who alwaies touch at it both coming and going 5. Guadalupe another small Island which they likewise take in their way continually to and from America it serves them chiefly for fresh water and lyeth eight or ten leagues Westward of Desseada 6. Antego as the English corruptly call it rather Antiqua is an Island of about seven leagues in length and almost as much in breadth lying to the North-East of Guadalupe where the English of late years are said to have planted a Colony but wherein their Trade lyeth doth not so well appear 7. St. Christophers This lyeth on the North-west of Guadalupe where the English and French both of them having planted their several Colonies were not many years since outed by the Spainyards yet permitted quietly to pass to their other Plantations The chief Commoditie which the Countrie yeeldeth is Tobacco and in the Easterly parts of it some Salt 8. Barbados This is an Island at the North-East of St. Vincent of an ovall form and of the same bigness or extent with that of St. Vincent that is containing in the compass of the whole a matter of eighteen or twenty miles It lyeth the most Easterly of all the rest of these Islands of a Soil very lusty and good especially for such Commodities as are proper for it On the East side it hath many Angles and Points shooting out into the Sea which consequently make many Bays upon the Coast of it but by reason of certain quick-sands which lye before them not much used or frequented by ships On the South side it hath a large and convenient Harbour capable of the tallest ships and well frequented It is counted now one of the best Colonies of the English but said to have been heretofore not a little at the mercy of the Spaniard Their chief Trade is Tobacco and a kinde of course Sugar which we call Barbados-Sugar and will not keep long not that the Countrie is unapt for better but as 't is rather supposed because the Planters want either skill or stock to improve things to the best The Countrie is somewhat hot and it behoves an English man to be very temperate and wary when he goes first thither 9. Sta. Crux called by the Natives anciently Ayay fifteen leagues distant from Port-rico to the South-East woody and Mountainous having on the West side of it a convenient Harbour for shiping They speak of a certain Fruit of this Countrie not unlike to a green Apple which if a Man eat it causeth such an inflammation and swelling of his tongue that for twenty four hours space at least he looseth the use of it quite but afterwards it asswageth of it self without further hurt And also of certain Fen-waters with which if a Man chance to wash his face before noon it likewise swells so much presently that his eyes will be closed up but in the afternoon no such matter which I mention because they say there is a Colony of English setled there of late years There be many other of these Caribee Islands beside as namely Anguilla Barbada St. Bartholmews Las Nieves St. Lucies St. Martins Montserrat c. but of so little consideration especially to our Nation that it would seem but tedious to mention them further Of Port-rico and Monico 1. POrt-rico is an Island fifteen leagues distant from Sta. Crux as hath been said to the North-west and about as many from Hispaniola to the South-East but from the Continent or main Land of Paria which seems to be the neerest one hundred and thirty or one hundred and thirty six as some reckon It lyeth almost in a Quadrangular form being supposed to contain about thirty leagues in length and not less than twenty in breadth in eighteen and nineteen degrees of Northern-latitude The Aire reasonably temperate and agreeable not scorched with any excessive heats in Summer nor beaten with those continuall rains to which some parts of America are subject in Winter its greatest annoyance being from those sudden and violent tempests which they call Hurricanoes which infest it very much especially in the moneths of August and September The Soil fruitfull enough affording aboundance of Sugar-Canes Ginger Cassia Hides and divers other rich Commodities As concerning the Mines both of gold and silver which were once certainly known to be there some say they are exhausted and spent long since others think that 's but a pretence of the Spaniards to keep strangers from looking into the Country while they themselves are more busied within Land It is divided almost in the midst from East to West with a ridge of Mountains which the Spaniards call Sierra del Loquillo and hath these Towns of chief note and importance viz. first Port-rico it self commonly called St. John de Port-rico a strong and neat Town well built in a little Island by it self but joyned to the other by certain huge piles of Timber-work of vast labour and expence done by command of Philip the second King of Spain It was attempted by Sir Francis Drake in the year 1595 without success but a few years after taken by the Earl of Cumberland as hath been said 2. St. Germans in the West parts of the Island three or four leagues distant from the Sea a place as 't is said to be neither fortified nor much frequented 3. Luysay on the East side a good and well frequented Port some leagues distant from Port-rico 2. Eastward of Port-rico and betwixt it and Hispaniola there lyeth a little but fruitfull Island called Mona and Westward of that another called Monico or Monetta which last the English when time was found so admirably stored with a sort of wilde Fowl that the huge flights of them seemed to darken the Aire over their heads and upon their landing found such plenty of their eggs upon the shore and ground thereabouts that they presently laded two of their boats with them But how Peopled or possessed not so well known Of Hispaniola 1. HIspaniola or little Spain as Columbus named it is if not the largest yet at least the fairest and goodliest of all the American Islands called by the Natives anciently Hayti It lyeth as we said fifteen leagues Westward of Port-rico and distant from the main Land of America about one hundred and twenty of a Triangular form the sharpest point whereof is that towards Port-rico which they call Cabo de Enganno That towards the West inclines to a semi-circle containing a good and
Hispaniola of which last they leave the Port or Citty of St. Domingo at a distance of two or three leagues off at Sea and hold their course betwixt the Islands of Cuba and Jamaica till they attain St. John D' ullua or Vera Crux in the Province of New Spain This passage viz. from the Islands Desseada and Guadalupe to St. John D'ullua is reckoned to be little less than 500 leagues and by reason of so many Islands great and small which lie in their way and cause the Seas to be much subject to contrary windes it is counted a passage of no little difficultie and not to be attemped as Herrera saith without a very skilfull Pilot and that in the day time with the favour of a good winde and a full Sea in respect whereof they commonly make it twenty daies passage and are glad if they can reach it within that time Those that goe for the Main Land as they call it or Castella del oro have a passage of 400 leagues from Guadalupe abovesaid These take the left-hand way and having discovered the high Mountain of Tayrone which is as a Pharos or generall Land-mark for such as sail upon that coast they touch at Carthagena a famous and well-seated Port and Citty of that Province and from thence pass on to Nombre de Dios or Porto-Bello from which places they convey all their Merchandise by Land unto Panama which is not above eighteen or twenty miles distant and lyeth upon the South Sea where they are Shipt again and from thence by Sea conveyed to all the parts of the Province of Peru. They that goe to Honduras and the Province of Guatimala keep company with them that goe for New-Spain till they discover Cape Tiburon which is the first point of Hispaniola Westward where they leave them and run along upon the North-side of the Island Jamaica unto the point of Negrillo Then they put to Sea and seek the Cape called Cameron which is at the entrance of the gulf and Province of Honduras from whence sailing fourteen or fifteen leagues Westward they come to Anchor at Truxillo upon the River Haguara which runeth into the said Gulf and unlade their Merchandise so much of it as is intended for those parts the rest they carry further up the Gulf to Porto de Cavallos or St. Thomas de Castile and from thence along the coast into the Province of Guatimala 4. The best and most usual time for an outward voyage that is from Spain to America is about the Spring viz. from the latter end of March to the beginning of May for then commonly they make their voyage in due time and come well thither If they stay longer so as that the Moneth of August be spent before they reach the Islands it is more difficult and they are usually taken with the Hurricanos as they call them which are certain violent and contary windes that doe terribly infest the Atlantick and Indian Seas all winter long from September to March. And likewise in their return homewards they observe the same time of the yeere there viz. about May and June the ships that are to return for Spayn from all parts of the continent of America bend their course for Havana in the Island of Cuba which is the place of their general Rendezvous where they are all to meet and to stay one for another till the whol Fleet especially both of Convoy and Treasure be come in Those from the main land set sayle commonly in May from Porto Bello laden with all the wealth of Peru and whatsoever else comes by the south Sea which is not seldome very much from the Philippine Islands and the east Indies and at Carthagina take in more brought thither from all parts on that side the continent especially out of the new kingdome of Granada as they call it Sayling from Carthagena they avoid the coast of Veragua what they can by reason that the Current which falleth out of the Ocean into that Gulfe cometh so strongly upon them that they would never beare up against it at least not without much difficulty and danger So that they are forced to seek the Cape Saint Anthony which as we said was the most westerly point of the Island Cuba at which place the ships from Honduras doe also touch and so they sayle together a matter of fifty leagues eastward till they come to Havana The ships from new Spayne beare up Northward as far as the Sound or Bay called Las Tortugas which are certain Islands lying upon the coast of Florida and so fetch a compasse as it were of little lesse then three hundred leagues before they come to Havana The reason of this course is because the American Seas especially neere upon the coast are frequently subject to calms so as the ships oftentimes want winde to sayle with and therefore to gain or assure themselves as much as may be of a convenient wind they are forced to steere thus far Northward from whence that is from the Islands Tortugas they have a short and easie cut of a few leagues over to Havaena 5. When the ships are all met in the Port of Havana they presently set sayle for Spayne through the Streites of Bahama and by some of the Leucaiae Islands not now in a direct course East-ward as they came in from the East but in a greater altitude and more Northerly The reason hereof is because the Brises or Easterly winds which as we said doe constantly blow all within the Tropiques or Torrid zone doe hinder their passage East-ward and force them to seeke their course higher that is somewhere without the Tropiques and more towards the North at least to twenty three or twenty foure degrees of altitude where they finde Westerly windes commonly which carry them homewards as far as the Azores or Tercerae Islands and the farther they goe from the Line the more ordinary and certain those windes are and more fit to make their return for as much as blowing from the South and south-west they carry them directly East and North-east as their voyage lyeth which is also the reason why the return which the ships make from America or any of those western Islands is usually more difficult longer and less certain than when they goe out because as hath been said in their going out when they are once passed the Canarie Islands and got within the Tropiques which they usually doe in four or five dayes sayling if the windes favor them they have constantly there an Easterly winde which carries them with full Sayles upon the Islands of America whereas in their return beside the uncertainty of the windes by which they sayle they are forced to seeke a height as they call it that is to fetch a compasse Northwards sometimes more then three or four hundred leagues to gaine a convenient winde These Azores or Tercerae Islands lie in the Atlantick Ocean betweene thirty seven and fourty degrees of northern Latitude
America are rather grey than red or yellow and have not that long shaggie haire on the fore-parts of their bodie with which they are painted The Tygres are more fierce and cruel but that is only when they are hungry and seek their prey for otherwise viz. when their bellies are full if the report of Maffaeus be true in his historia Indica they are as fluggish and heavie a Beast as any and may be both taken and killed by any body almost that will But by his favour I will not be the first that shall make tryal There is likewise aboundance of Staggs and wild Deer in all parts of the Continent of America but for ought I know in the Islands there are none found 6. These are all Beasts and Creatures of the Land with which and infinite others not here to be mentioned the New World is aboundantly stored Nor doe the Waters afford less variety either of Sea or more within Land viz. in the Lakes and Rivers which are generally so plentifully and well stored with good fish that there is no Countrie in the World comparable to America in that respect Amongst these the Cayman as they call him or Indian Crocodile as the most prodigious and strange deserves to be first mentioned yet is he an amphibious Creature living as well and perhaps as much upon Land as in the water It is a most fierce and ravenous Creature of a vast bulk or bigness being said to be from the fore part of his snout to the end of his tayle seven or eight yards long and of such strength that he hath been seen to take up a living man lying asleep upon the shore in his mouth and to carry him cleer away with him into the water over to another Island or Rock in the Sea where he meant to have devoured him But being shot with a Caliver he lost his prey and the man was recovered but dyed soon after He seeks his prey commonly upon Land which he kills or drowns in the Water yet cannot there eat it by reason of some peculiar disposition of his throat or gullet which is such as that it permits him not to swallow any thing in the water but with hazard to suffocate or drown himself The best is his motion by Land is but slow and his body so unweldy that he cannot turn himself but with much adoe nor his head to either side without turning his whole body Yet doe they much mischief especially about some Rivers in the Provinces of Mechoacan and Tlascalla where there are many of them They say 't is excellent sport to see a Cayman and a Tygre fight as they happen to doe oftentimes endeavouring to prey one upon another The Cayman with his taile cruelly beats and jerks the Tygre endeavouring what he can to hale him into the water The Tygre as stoutly resists him with his paw and labours to pull up the Cayman to land which for the most part he doth and then opens him by the belly which is the only part of him where he can be pierced his whole body otherwise being armed with scales so extremely hard and thick set that no Lance and scarcely an Harquebuz or Musket shot will enter it The Indians fear him not so much by water as land for being themselves excellent Swimmers and Dyvers and the Cayman alwaies swimming above water or very fleet they make no great matter to encounter him hand to hand in his own element for they easily get under his belly and with their knives or short Lances pierce him there as they list and so bring him to Land 7. The Tyburons are a kinde of Shark-fish of large size and extremely ravenous They are commonly ten or twelve foot long and about six or seven spans broad on the back being fashioned like a Soale with huge wide mouths and two rows of teeth on each side of their mouth very sharp and thick set and of so great strength that at one snatch or jerk they will break the bones or pluck asunder the joints of any Beast whatsoever They follow the ships at Sea willingly for the wash and other stuff which the Mariners cast out to them being so ravenous that they receive everything Acosta reporteth that out of the gullet of one of them he saw taken at the same time a great Butchers knife a long iron hook and a piece of a Cows head with one horn still growing upon it Others tell of Hats whole Shirts Leggs and Arms of Men ropes ends with many other things of like nature found in the same manner Yet is the flesh of them counted very good meat when they are well dryed and a principall reliefe in many occasions at Sea where they are taken without much difficultie and so bigge that many times ten or twelve men have somewhat to doe to pull one of them up when they have him upon the hook They come likewise out of the Sea up into the rivers as the Caymans doe and are exceeding dangerous both to men and cattell that are not aware of them or happen to ly or sleep upon the banks of any great river as in America it is not unusuall to doe At Sea they are commonly attended by a smaller sort of fish which they call Rambos which lives by the meat that falls from the Tyburon as the Jaccall is said to doe by the Lion 8. The Manati or Oxe-fish as some call them is another great fish of the Sea bigger by farre than the Tyburon headed like an Oxe or young heifer with two armes or at least stumpes of armes on each side before and those as some say distinguished into severall joynts with nailes upon them not unlike to those of a mans hand This is a gentle and harmeless creature and though of bulk or body not less than a young Oxe or Bullock yet neither of any feirce or horrid aspect but rather amiable and cleerer countenanced as the figure of it in Hernandez and Laet sheweth It cometh frequently upon land and feeds upon hearbs or grasse if there be any neer and being at Sea it swimes commonly above water and is easily taken 'T is counted for meat the best fish in the World being as tender and delicate as any veale or the best young porke and so like it that a stranger would verily take it for veale which it resembles so much every way both for colour and taste that it hath been disputed and questioned by some whither it might be eaten on fasting dayes for that it both eateth hearbs and grasse resembles flesh so much and beareth its young alive suckling them with milk by certain teats which they have as other Land creatures doe They finde in the head of it a certain Stone or hard congelated Substance which being ground to powder they say is very good for the stone in the reins and to provoke urine especially that which is found in the male-fish 9. The Tortoise is a Fish yet greater than any of
they met with as namely 1. Porto de St. Clara neer to the mouth of the River which they call Rio del Nordt 2. Las Playas 3. St. Michael 4. Lago del oro which bordereth on Quivira And lastly El Rey Coronado Eastward of that 5. Califormia specially so called is by many thought and described to be but a Peninsula or half Island by reason that the Bay which divides it from Quivira and New-Gallicia towards the North runneth much narrower than it doth Southerly which made them think that somwhere or other at the North it was joyned to the main-main-Land of America But later discoveries have found it to be a perfect Island and altogether separate from the Continent For about the yeer 1620 some Adventurers beating upon those coasts Northward accidentally and before they were aware fell upon a Streit the waters whereof ran with such a Torrent and violent course that they brought them into Mar Vermiglio whether they would or no and before they knew it and by that means discovered that Califormia was an Island and that the waters which were observed to fall so violently into that Sea towards the North were not the waters of any River emptying it self into the Bay from the main-main-Land as was formerly thought but the waters of the North-west Sea it self violently breaking into the Bay and dividing it wholly from the Continent It lyeth North and South extending it self in a vast length full twenty degrees of latitude viz. from twenty two to fourty two but the bredth nothing answerable The most Northern point of it is called Cape Blanche that to the South Cape St. Lucas memorable for that rich and gallant prize which Captain Cavendish in the year 1587 being then in his voyage about the World took from the Spaniards neer to this place As for the Island it self it is not at all inhabited by the Spaniards whether it be that they want men to furnish new Plantations or that they finde no matter of invitation and encouragement from the Countrie or perhaps that the access thither be not so easie For 't is reported to be wonderfully well peopled by the Natives and that there were found only upon the coasts and along the shore of Mar Vermiglio twenty or twenty three Nations all of different languages The Countrie aboundantly well stored both with Fish and Fowl as appears partly by the Natives who take an huge pride in making themselves gay with the bones of the one with which they load their eares and sometimes their noses also and with the feathers of the other which ordinary People weare only sticking about their waste but great persons and such as will be fine indeed beset their heads strangely with them and have coÌ„monly one bunch of them bigger than ordinary hanging down behinde them like a tayle Having no knowledge of the true God they worship what the Devill will have them that is the Sun attributing to it only the increase of their Fruits and Plants healthfull Seasons and most of the other good they enjoy or are sensible of Their government is said to be only Oeconomicall each Father ordering the affairs of his Familie apart without subjection to any other superiour yet so well managed that they live in good peace one with another not without many good Laws and Customes viz. That they allow but one wife to one Man That they punish Adultery with death That they suffer not Maids to talk or converse with Men till they be married That Widdows may not marry till they have mourned at least one half of a year for their Husbands deceased and divers others of like nature which perhaps if the truth were known doe more properly belong to the Natives of Vtopia or New-Atlantis then to these of Califormia 6. The places therein as yet most observed are only upon the Sea Coasts viz. the Capes St. Clara and St. Lucas the one at the South-East of the Island looking towards New-Gallicia the other at the South-west looking into the Sea and towards Asia 2. St. Cruce This is a large and convenient Haven not far from Cape St. Clara. 3. Cabo de las Playas more within the Bay 4. St. Andrews another convenient Haven upon an Island of the same name 5. St. Thome an Island at the mouth of the Gulf or Bay of about twenty five leagues in compass rising Southerly with an high mountainous point under which is a convenient road for shipping and twenty five fathoms of water On the other side of the Island towards the main Sea there is first St. Abad a good Haven and almost surrounded with a pleasant and fruitfull Countrie 2. Cape Trinidado 3. Cape de Cedras 4. Puebla de las Canoas from the aboundance of those little Boats which the Americans generally use and doe call Canoes whereof perhaps some store is made there 5. Cabo de Galera and some others 7. Nova-Albion is only the more Northerly part of this Island reaching from the thirty eighth degree of latitude up towards the North as far as Cape Blanco first discovered by Sir Francis Drake in his Circumnavigation of the World in the year 1577 and by him named Nova-Albion in honour of England his own Countrie which anciently bore that name They found the Countrie exceedingly well stored with Dear grazing up and down the Hills by thousands in a company The Men generally goe naked all over the Women using only a piece of a mat or some such thing instead of an Apron Their houses built only of Turf and Osier yet so wrought together that they served very well to keep out the cold in the midst of it is their hearth where they make their fire and lye al round about it together upon several Beds of Bulrushes What their Towns are or whither they have any is not yet discovered When the English first landed in those parts under Sir Francis Drake the Natives of the Countrie immediatly presented themselves to the General bringing him fine presents of Feathers and some Kâ—lls of Net-work made of Rushes and the news of their arrivall being spread up into the Countrie it was not long before the King himself came and gave them a visit He was a person of goodly stature cloathed all over with certain Conie skins of that Countrie the furre whereof is exceeding smooth and fine and the only Robe of Nobility there He had many other tall men attending on him and one that went before him bearing somewhat instead of a Mace at which there hung three Crowns by so many chains the Crowns were made of Feathers the Chains of Bone both of them very ingeniously wrought After these followed a great multitude of the common sort of People but none of them without his present of something or other even to the very Boys The King would needs have the Crowns put upon the Generals head and the Chains about his neck to which he consented and by that Ceremonie promised in the name and behalf of the
likewise the Metropolis or head town of the Natives before the Spaniards burnt and destroyed it 3. St. Jago de los Valles This is a Frontier place and enjoyeth certain speciar Immunities and some fair possessions also fo defense of the Country against the Savages It is twenty five leagues distant from St. Steven del Puerto lying in an open or Champain Country and is fenced about with a wall of Earth 8. Mechoacan hath on the North-East Panuco on the East Mexicana properly so called on the South part of Tlascalla on the West the main Ocean or Mare del Zur and last of all more directly Northward Xalisco which is a Province of New Gallicia The name signifieth in the American language as much as a Fish Country so it is having many fair Lakes and Rivers in it aboundantly well stored with good Fish The Country so exceedingly pleasant and healthfull that 't is usuall for sick persons of other Provinces to come hither to recover their health only by the benefit of a good Aire The Soil so aboundantly fertil of all sorts of grain that of four measures of seed it hath been often observed they have reaped the next harvest more than so many hundred measures of the same grain Very well wooded and by reason of its many Rivers and fresh springs equally rich in good pasture and beside great plenty of Medicinall Hearbs and Plants It affordeth good store of Amber nigh the Sea Coasts Mulberry-trees consequently Silks much Honey wax and divers other Commodities both for necessity and pleasure The People of the Country are generally tall of a strong active body and a good wit especially in comparison of other Natives not unskilfull in divers curious Manufactures and the most excellent Feather-Picturers aforementioned are said to be found in this Province They seem more generally inclined to the humors and customes of the Spaniards than many other Americans and received the preaching of Christian Religion when time was with much willingness so that the Country is now entirely Christian and divided into several Parishes There are said to be in it one hundred and fifty Towns or Burroughs beside many scattered Villages most of which have free Schools erected in them for the training up of youth in Christian Religion good literature and Arts and few of them without an Hospitall for the sick of which towns the principall are such as follow viz. Zinzoutza the seat of the ancient Kings of Mechoacan 2. Pascuar a City fourty seven leagues distant from Mexico once a Bishops Sea but now removed to Valladolit 3. Valladolit the Metropolis or chief City of the Province since the Episcopall chair was removed from Pascuar thither It lyeth upon a great Lake equall almost for bigness to that of Mexico and is about seven leagues distant from Pascuar towards the East 4 St. Michaels a good town fourty leagues Westward of Mexico and in the way to the Zacatecas but lying in a road that is somewhat dangerous being not a little infested with Savages on both sides of it 5. St. Philips 6. La Conception de Salaya 17 leagues distant from Valladolid and a convenient stage for Travellers being indeed with the two last mentioned built chiefly for the defence and securing of the Country against the Savages 7. Guaxanato a Town on the borders of Panuco where there are very rich Mines of silver 8. Leon another Town likewise of very rich Mines twenty four leagues distant from Valladolid and threescore from Mexico 9. Zamorra 10. Villa de los Lagos and others Towards the Sea there is 1. Acatlan but two miles distant from the Coast and a small town yet by reason of a safe and very good Harbour which it hath for shipping a place of no little trading 2. Natividad another well known and convenient Haven upon Mare del Zur pertaining to this Province and from whence they usually set sail for the Philippine Islands 3. St. Jago de buena Speranza so called by the Spaniards perhaps from the aboundance of good Pearls they found upon this Coast 4. Colyma 5. Zacatula and some others This Province as we said was at first a distinct Kingdome of it self yet subordinate and tributary to that of Mexico the King whereof named Tamgaivan Bimbicha as Laet reporteth at the first coming of the Spaniards thither after the conquest of Mexico voluntarily submitted himself to them and was baptized Nevertheless afterwards upon a pretence of I know not what Treason intended by him against them and which the Spanish Writers themselves professedly think to have been feigned by command of Nunnez de Gusman President of the Chancery of Mexico he was most inhumanely burnt alive and the Spaniards seized upon his Kingdome 9. Mexicana specially so called is bounded on the East with the Gulf of Mexico on the West with Mechoacan on the North with Panuco and some parts of New-Gallicia and on the South with Tlascalla so called from Mexico which is the chief City of the Province and of all America beside A large and rich Country containing not much less than one hundred and thirty leagues both in length and bredth and if it yeelds any thing to Peru in the plenty of gold and silver 't is certain it much excells it in many other commodities as namely in all sorts of Fruits aboundance of Cattel plenty of Corn and Grain in all which the advantage which this Country hath not only of Peru but of all the other Provinces of America beside is well known not to speak any thing of the great plenty and variety of good Fish which both the Rivers and Lakes of this Country afford which is very great insomuch that the very tribute of the one Lake of Mexico is said to yeeld an Income of above twenty thousand Crowns yearly one with another The People of the Country are generally industrious and active especially since the Spaniards came among them rich Merchants if they apply themselves to it and they say likewise good Souldiers when they are trained and imployed that way The chief towns and places of the Province are 1. Mexico both anciently and at present the Metropolis and Capitall City being the seat of an Archbishop and the ordinary Residence of the Vice-Roy and chief Governours of New-Spain Formerly it stood like another Venice upon the water being built upon certain Islands within the Lake and interlaced in all the quarters of it with divers pleasant Currents both of fresh and salt water But the old City being destroyed by Cortez as we said it was rebuilt by him more upon the firm Land almost upon the banks of the great Lake for there are two of them the one of salt-water the other of fresh which continually ebbe and flow into one another contain in the compass of the whole about thirty leagues or more upon which there are thought to be not less than fourty or fifty thousand Canoas or little Boats continually plying from one Town to another
not hindred or diverted by storms tide or some other accidentall cause naturally of it self and by the proper course and conduct of the waters onely beareth towards Land Beside that it is not very probable they could have subsisted alive and not been starved in so long journey as to have come by Magellans Streits or the Atlantick Ocean There be extant likewise some positive testimonies of certain persons that say they have really passed that way as of one Salvatierra a Portughese and F. Vrdanetta a Religious man mentioned by Mr. Carpenter in his Geographie and of one Juan de Fuca is he is called an ancient Greek Pilot mentioned by Mr. Purchas in his third part of Eng. Voyages pag. 849.850 who is said to have lived fourty years in America and in his own person to have discovered the passage in the year 1592. at the command of the Vice-Roy of Mexico But of what credit these testimonies shall be thought for ought I know the Reader must judge I onely report them as I finde them I could heartily wish for the honor and great advantage which the Nation might reap by it by having thereby a free passage into the South Sea and consequently a much shorter cut to the other Indies that the passage were discovered and the English well Masters of it especially if it could be made so easily as the said Pilot Juan de Fuca pretendeth and in so short a time as is the space of twenty daies or from the Coast and neer the latitude of Virginia as some others have argued and seem to hope that it may But for my part ingenuously to speak what I think I fear the Proverb may somwhat prevail upon the English in this point Quod volumus facilè credimus and that the desire we have to finde such an advantageous passage is not the least argument to make us think That it is to be found Not that I conclude there is none for that were to be too injurious against the positive depositions of those who are said to have made it and which I my self cannot disprove by any evident reason And the report of Sir Thomas Button mentioned in the same Mr. Purchas concerning a strong Tide coming from the West much about the same latitude seems to add something to the probability of the passage but that I think the discovery of it especially from the Land on this side or from any part of Europe immediatly is a business of so great difficulty that it is almost all one as if there were no passage For how many of our own Nation worthy men and of great experience and skil at Sea not to speak of our Neighbours the Dutch a People no less industrious and skilfull have with undaunted courage and resolution undertaken it at several times with great hazard of their lives and charge to the Adventurers yet alwaies forced to return without effect Those Northern Seas whither they sail Eastward or Westward being so barred and block'd up as it were with huge and perpetual mountains of Ice their nights so long their day-time so dark by reason of the continual foggs mists and flights of snow which are ever and anon falling and lastly the weather generally in those parts so extreamly cold and freezing even in the midest of summer that all things well considered it may seem an attempt of small hope and that Divine Providence by the order of Nature it self or by the natural frame and constitution of this sublunarie and terrestrial World hath set a non plus ultra to humane indeavors that way Nevertheless if the State think it expedient to make yet any further tryall in the business and to command the prosecution of it with more publique authority resolution and strength than as yet hath been used about it as from so great wisdome I cannot but expect much so for the ends abovesaid viz the honour and advantage of the Nation according to my dutie I shall wish all happie success to it But this perhaps will seem a digression I shall therefore return 4. The greatest part of America that is inhabited or commanded by the Spaniards to speak in the language of Astronomie lyeth between the Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorn or within the Torrid Zone as it is called but to speak more intelligibly to the general capacity of Readers it lyeth in the middle part of the World in respect of North and South so as it receives the raies of the Sun almost perpendicularly striking upon it all the year long and consequently should be much subject to heats and droughts as the Countries of Aethiopia Aegypt Lybia and other parts of the World that lye in the same parallel generally are But with America it is not so there is no Countrie in the World generally more temperate in respect of heat and cold than the West-Indies be The reason of the difference is partly the Brises as they call them or the Levant windes which perpetually blow upon it from the East on both sides of the Aequator together with other windes from all coasts of the Sea that doe much qualifie and abate the heats which otherwise 't is probable would be not a little troublesome especially in the plain Countrie and maritime parts of it and partly the very site and position of the Countrie it self which more within Land is generally mountainous and hilly so that from whatsoever Coast or part of the World you enter the West-Indies travelling forward you still mount upward and ascend as it were in some parts to a very great height which is true not onely of the Continent or main-Land but also of all or most of the Islands adjoyning by reason whereof not onely the Aire for the most part is found to be temperate coole and healthfull but the valleys and lower grounds also very fertil and pleasant Howbeit not in all parts of the Countrie alike either for the one or the other viz. either in respect of temperature of Aire or fertility of Soyle For we are to know the Countrie of America consisteth generally of three several sorts of Land The first whereof is flat and as it were level ground which lyeth for the most part upon the Sea Coasts and takes up no small part of the Countrie by reason that as we have said America is wholly or at least for more than three parts of four surrounded and environed by Sea The second is extream high Land as consisting of the Andes as they are called which are a certain ridge or row of mountains of such incredible altitude or height that they are not thought to be paralleld in the world again These run in a long and continued ridge through the whole Countrie of Peru or the Southern part of America from the Province of Popayan almost up to Magellans streits above a thousand leagues together the tops of them being in most parts about twenty leagues over and so perpetually covered with snow that they are not much