the Streights of Davis Waigats and Anian This South-land with the Pacifick-Sea Indian Ocean and Magellanick Streight The Polar Artick Land hath a very little distance at the Streight of Waigats from the Old World from America at the Streight of Davis But it is removed from the South-land by a huge space The Polar Austral or rather the South-land is very nigh to the Old World at the running out Tract of New Guiney as also to America at the Streight of Magellan But concerning the South-land only we have assuredly discovered that it is round about environed with the Sea and is separated from the rest Concerning the rest of the Lands to wit the Old World America and the Pole Artick World the matter and discovery is not yet certain whether they be round about begirt by the Sea and separated from one another but yet it is very likely they are so by reason of divers Bays and Entrances of starts running within the Earth The south-South-land only as yet is fully sailed about this could not be hitherto performed in the rest For the Old World as yet hath not been sailed round beyond Waigats Streight although the whole Western Southern Eastern shore hath been viewed and that but a little part of the North shore remaineth to be discovered America hath been sailed round only part of her Septentrional shore being excepted by reason of the uncertainty of the Streights or narrow Seas Thus have we declared the placing of the greatest Islands or Continents Proposition IV. Ten great Ilandâ— We reckon up ten great Islands on the Surface of the Land which are these following 1. Britain comprehending England and Scotland it is esteemed the greatest of all Islands which are commonly so called those being excluded which in The foregoing Proposition we have related at large 2. Japan which in Maps and Globes hath a lesser magnitude than it ought to have for they which have been there affirm that it is as great if not greater than Britain 3. Luconia one of the Philippine Isles which also from its Metropolitan Town is called Manilha 4. Madagascar or St. Laurence seated on the Eastern shore of Africa 5. Sumatra one of the Indian Isles 6. Borneo not far from Sumatra 7. Island not far from Norway 8. Newfoundland nigh unto Canada 9. Between Davis Streight and Hudsons Streight in the Northern Ocean lyeth a great Island about the Polar Land which according to Visher's Vniversal Tables is in form round 10. Nova Zembla nigh unto Russia To these is California to be also numbred if that be an Island which it is esteemed to be and not a part of America Proposition V. We number up ten mean Islands on the Surface of the Earth viz. 1. Java one of the Indian Isles 2. Cuba nigh unto Hispaniola 3. Hispaniola 4. Ireland nigh unto England 5. Crete or Candia not far from Greece 6. Sicily nigh unto Italy 7. Ceylan one of the Indian Isles 8. Mindanao one of the Philippine Isles 9. Sardinia seated in the Mediterranean Sea 10. Celebes in the Indian Ocean To these may be numbred Friezland an Isle not far from Island Proposition VI. Ten little Isles We will also number ten little Islands on the Surface of the Earth to wit 1. Gilolo one of the Indian Isles 2. Amboina not far from Gilolo 3. Timor one of the Indian Isles 4. Jamaica in the Bay of Mexico 5. Sealand in Denmark 6. Corsica seated in the Mediterranean Sea 7. Eubaea now Negropont seated in the Mediterranean Sea 8. Majorca nigh unto Spain 9. Cyprus 10. Isabella in the Pacifick Ocean There are more Islands which may be reduced to this rank but we shall refer them to the last order of them as more commodious Proposition VII The least Isles Of the least Islands there is almost an innumerable multitude on the Surface of the Earth among which these following deserve a peculiar consideration First the famous Solitary Islands Secondly those which are found in great numbers in some Tract of the Ocean and for their Neighbourhood are comprehended under one name We shall term them in general a body or fry of Islands because we are left destitute of a more fitting name The Tract of Sea wherein these Isles lye is called the Archipelago The notable Solitary Islands are in the Mediterranean Sea Rhodes Malta Ivisa Minorca Chios Cephalonia c. In the Atlantick Ocean between Africa and Brazile lieth the Island of St. Helen where also the Island of the Ascension the Isle of St. Thomas is placed in the very Equator The Island Madera over against the Gaditane Streight Zocotora seated before the mouth of the Arabian Bay Gothland in the Baltick Sea Among the notable Solitary Isles those are also worthy of remembrance which swim on the waters of which see Chapter eighteenth Proposition VIII There are fifteen fries or files of the least Islands numbred on the Surface of the Earth The lesser Isles to wit 1. The Canary Islands in the Atlantick Sea 2. The Isles of Azores in the Northern Sea 3. The Islands of Hesperides or the Green Islands over against Cape Verd. 4. The Islands of Maldives in Indian Ocean 5. The Lucar Islands between Florida and Cuba nigh unto America 6. The Princes Islands between Hispaniola and America to which I refer and reduce all the least Islands seated in the Bay of Mexico 7. The Camercan Isles lying before Hispaniola 8. The Mascarenian Islands between Madagascar and Africa 9. The Molucco Islands seated in the Indian Ocean 10. The Philippine Islands in the Pacifick Ocean 11. The Aegean Islands 12. The Japonian Isles 13. The Islands of Solomon in the Pacifick Sea 14. The Isles of Theeves in the Archipelago of St. Lazarus 15. The Isles of Banda nigh unto Java 16. The Islands scituate near England and Scotland as the Hebrides Orcades Sourlings Sporades c. 17. The Islands between the Magellanick Streight and the Streight Le Maire Other Isles may be reckoned Here I do not reckon to these those Islands which lye close on the shore of some Continents in great numbers as on the Coast of China Norway Brazile Davises Streight c. Unto this rank also the Islands in great Rivers are to be referred and marshalled as such as are found in the River Nile in the River of St. Laurence of Canada in the River Wolga and in some other Rivers as also those which are in certain Lakes as in the Lake Zembre a Lake in Africa in South America where the Islands of Lead are scituate in a Lake c. But all or most of these Isles especially these aforegoing together with several others I have largely treated of in the Geographical Description of the four Parts of the World in their fit places to which I refer the Reader Proposition IX The Parts of all Lands or Islands are not of the same shape or figure but are unlike The more famous differences of these are a Peninsula and an Isthmus
for some months are less frequent or not at all For either they perished by Shipwrack being carried or forced on the Rocks that lay hidden beyond all expectation or else the Seamen perished by famine being detained in this Gulph But yet this Motion is not common to the whole Aethiopick Ocean but only to that part which adjoyneth to the Coast of Guinee even to that Gulph or Bay for in the Sea it is not found to be above the distance of fourteen miles from the shoar at the distance of one degree from the Aequator Therefore Mariners sayling by those Coasts are very cautious not to approach over near unto them so that they may Steer their Course according to their minds and the scituation of the appointed place Now it is difficult to find out the cause of this literal motion especially seeing that the neighbouring Ocean is moved by a contrary way from the East to the West yet two things may be said 1. That the Ocean being repulsed from the Coasts of America floweth back somewhat towards the East and because that the Aethiopick Ocean is extended in a long tract to the Gulph of Fernando Poo therefore it refloweth into this which yet is only discovered at the shoars not in the deep Ocean because in this the contrary motion rendreth it insensible but towards the shoar the Sea is moved more violently and therefore is chiefly discovered in that Bay of Fernando Poo because that the Sea by reason of the Rivers flowing in with a great violence is repelled from the Shoars of the rest of Africa as of Congo 2. There may be a certain subterraneous Channel in this Gulph of Fernando Poo into which the Sea may fall and attract the rest of the Ocean with it Proposition XXIV The second peculiar perpetual motion The second peculiar motion of the Sea About Sumatra the Sea floweth from the South towards the North into the Gulph of Bengala and that with a violent motion so that it is probable that by the violence of the Sea this Gulph was made and that the Cherfonesus of Malacca was separated from India Whether the cause be that the Ocean which tendeth towards the West be forced from so many Islands and the Promontory of the Land of Magellan so that it should be carried violently flowing towards the North or whether a subterraneous Channel be in that Gulph is to be questioned Yet I suppose it is not directly carried to the North but to a Collateral quarter which declineth towards the West Yea this very same motion is found between Java and the Land of Magellan Therefore the Dutch sayling towards the Indies direct their Course to that procurrent part of the Land of Magellan or the South Continent and then sail from the South towards the North viz. to Java Proposition XXV The third special perpetual motion of the Sea The third special perpetual motion is observed between the Isle of Madagascar and the Promontory of Good Hope especially on the Coast of Africa between Terra de Natal and this Promontory of Good Hope This motion is found from the quarter of the North-East to the South-East and from the North to the South according to the extension of the Coasts so vehement that Ships with a stiff gale can hardly overcome it and hold the contrary course to Madagascar On the contrary those who sail from Canali into Madagascar and Africa towards the Promontory of Good Hope without any help of the winds are carried unto it by the motion of the Sea alone I suppose the cause to be the forcing of the Ocean by a general motion to the Coasts of Africa where it findeth a passage For this motion is not found in the middle of the Ocean or that part removed from the shoars between India and Africa from a Collateral quarter But the Ocean is moved from the East to the West Proposition XXVI The fourth special perpetual motion The fourth special perpetual Motion is in the Pacifick Ocean on the Coast of Peru and the rest of America where the Sea is moved from the South to the North questionless the cause is a perpetual South wind which is found to predominate on those Coasts as we have shewed in our Chapter of Winds In the Sea remote from the Coasts this motion is not discovered neither this wind Proposition XXVII The fifth special perpetual motion The fifth special perpetual motion is observed in the Sea on the Coasts of America from the Promontory of St. Augustin in Brazile to the Isles Antilles in the Gulph of Mexico towards Florida that is from the South to the North. Peradventure the cause is that the Ocean being carried by a general motion towards Brazile is repelled and by reason that a more free and broad passage is granted towards the North thither is carried The like motion is observed in the mouth of the Streight of Manilla near the Phillippin Isles So in Japan a most strong motion proceedeth forwards from the Port of Xibuxia towards Arima Proposition XXVIII The sixth special perpetual motion of the Sea The sixth special perpetual motion is in the Streight Le Maire where the Mariners of the Prince of Nassau found the Sea to be carried from the West into the East But one observation sufficeth not especially seeing that Le Maire writeth the contrary More special motions are found in the parts of the Ocean at or near the Coasts but as yet they are not accurately enough observed or described Proposition XXIX Vnto the special perpetual motions of the parts of the Ocean also those do pertain which great Rivers cause where they exonerate themselves into the Sea So on the Coast of Africa Loango Congo for ten or twelve miles from the shoar is a strong motion of the Sea from the Coasts towards the West because many Rivers amongst which is the great River Zaire cast themselves with a violence into the Sea The River Zaire casts it self with a violent motion into the Sea and so repel the Sea which motion is helped by the general motion Therefore some daies are required that Ships may touch those Goasts although they may be distant only one or two miles from them So at the Isle Lamon adjacent to the Coast of China the Sea is moved from the shoar towards the East contrary to the general Motion which is from the East towards China this contrary Motion is caused by the impetuous flux of the great River Thoucoan in China but in the Sea more remote from China this motion is obstructed by the general Motion neither is it discovered beyond the Isle of Branco Hitherto concerning the special perpetual motions a little must be subjoyned concerning the special fixed and anniversary motions Proposition XXX Great is the variety of the special ceasing or periodical motions and those periodical fixed and anniversary motions do all almost arise from anniversary and stated winds And stated or fixed winds of one
higher for to avoid this excess of Altitude the Ocean floweth from those places towards the Equator Now the original of the Opinion concerning the greater Altitude of the North Land more than of others seemeth to spring hence because that the face being turned to the North we discover the Pole elevated above the Horizon and our place and therefore the Pole of the Earth and the vicine tracts of the Land in their supposition is higher than other Regions Some determine the Indian Ocean between Africa and India to be higher than the Atlantick Ocean which they endeavour to prove from the Bay viz. the Arabian and Mediterranean where also the doubt is to be considered Whether the Altitude of the Bay be the same with that of the Ocean or lesser especially in the extream parts of the Bay and chiefly in those Bays which are joyned by a narrower Streight of the Ocean The Indian and Atlantick Ocean higher than the Mediterranean But it is not improbable but that the Atlantick and Indian Ocean are higher than the Mediterranean Bay especially in the extreams parts of this at Asia Minor and Aegypt For the Atlantick Ocean floweth through the Streights of Gades into the Mediterranean Bay and it is probable that the Altitude of the Ocean is some what greater than that of the Streight because a free Influx is impeded in these Here indeed will be a small difference but then proceeding forwards in so long and large a tract between Europe and Africa the depression of this Bay will seem to be made greater than that of the Ocean especially when it meeteth many Rocks Islands and procurrent Lands which repel the current Water and therefore either diminish or beat back the Influx Yea if that be true which is reported by credible Authors concerning Sesostris King of Egypt Darius and other Egyptian Kings we ought no longer to doubt of this inequality of Altitude For those Kings attempted to draw a Trench or Channel from the Red-sea into the Nile so that by this passage a Navigation might be performed from the Indian and Red-sea through Egypt and hence through the mouths of the Nile into the Mediterranean Sea which would have offered great profit and conveniency to many Regions of the Mediterranean Bay But they were forced to leave their enterprise when it was discovered by those that were skilful that the Red-sea was much higher than the interiour Egypt Now if the Red-sea be higher than the Land of Egypt it will also be higher than the Water of the Nile and by consequence than the mouths of the Nile and then the Mediterranean Sea it self for that the water of the Nile is not of a lesser Altitude than the Mediterranean is hence manifest that it floweth into it wherefore the Red-sea and therefore also the Indian Sea is higher than the Mediterrean at least at the extream parts of it about Egypt Syria Thrace and in the Aegean Sea The Isthmus which conjoyneth Asia and Africa endeavoured to be cut by the Egyprian Sultans Moreover other Egyptian Kings in times past and of late the Egyptian Sultans and Turkish Emperors have consulted how to digg through the Isthmus which conjoyning Africa and Asia disjoyneth the Mediterranean and Red-seas but the reason why they proceeded not is reported to have been the Altitude of the Indian and Red-sea above the Mediterranean and the Coasts adjacent to it and therefore they feared least that the water flowing from the Red-sea should overflow and drown the Regions of those Coasts especially Egypt concerning whose low scituation all Writers do consent If therefore the Isthmus between the Red-sea and the Mediterranean should be cut or dugg through then by an open passage the Indian Ocean would immit much water into the Mediterranean Bay but whether it could let in so great a quantity that there should be any danger of an inundation of the Regions adjacent to the Mediterranean sea I doubt For peradventure it may be thus if that the Indian Ocean should let in somewhat overmuch then the Atlantick Ocean would let in less through the Streights of Gades from whose Altitude somewhat would be detracted if that the motion were made from the Indian Sea into the Mediterranean But although I deny not but that this may be Reasons why the Egyptian Sultans and Turks did not digg a passage through the Isthmus yet I suppose that the Egyptian Sultans and the Turks were moved by other reasons and Political Causes for the omitting the digging through of this Isthmus As 1. The vast expence it being forty German miles and the Earth rocky also banks must have been made by the advice of skilful Artists which they wanted 2. They supposed that the Inhabitants of the Christian part of the World as the English French Dutch Italians c. would have reaped more benefit by that means than they themselves For then through that Streight they might have sailed into Persia and India whereas now they fetch a vast circuit compassing all Africa and have laden themselves with their rich Commodities which they are now contented to have at Aleppo See Massius in his third Book of his Indian History being thither brought on Camels through the Turks Territories and in many places receive customs for the same which is no small benefit unto them 3. That the Sultans and Turks knew that the Christians excelled in the abundance of warlike Ships which they were deficient in and therefore feared least they should be invaded by a strong Navy which might land a powerful Army and so over-run their Country These were necessary to be explained concerning the Altitude of the Mediterranean Sea compared with the Red-sea the Atlantick and Indian Ocean by reason that some thence take occasion to maintain that the Altitude of the parts of the Ocean is divers But we may confirm them also by another example if that we may compare small matters with great The German Ocean which is part of the Atlantick flowing between Friesland and Holland into a Bay which although it be small in respect of the more noted Bays of the Sea yet it is also called a Sea and watereth the Empory Amsterdam Not far from thence is the Lake Harlame which is also termed the Sea of Harlame whose Altitude is no less than the Altitude of that Belgick Bay which we have spoken of and sendeth a branch into the City of Leyden where it divaricateth into many Trenches Now seeing that neither this Lake nor that of the Belgick Sea do cause the inundation of the adjacent Lands it is thence manifest that they are not higher than the Lands of Holland But the Inhabitants of Leyden have experimentally found the German Ocean to be higher than these Lands when they undertook to make a Trench or Channel from this City to the Coasts of the German Ocean near the Town of the Catti it is the space of two miles that they might sail through this Channel the Sea
Figgs Melons Capers and excellent Grapes c. The manners habit and tongue of the Islanders retain much of the Moors yet they are all Catholicks like to Malta and under the Vice-Roy of Sicily In the midst of the Island and in a Cave is a Pitt which exhales continually an obscure vapour which spreading it self on all sides on the Rock dissolves into water and distills with such abundance that it furnisheth all the Inhabitants have need of not only for their drink and other uses but for their Beasts nor is there any other fresh water in the Isle the Land being dry reddish and so hot that a naked foot can scarce suffer it For the rest the Knights of Malta are alwaies in Arms against the Moors Mahometans and all the Pyrates of the Mediterranean Sea Knights alwaies in Wars and by their expeditions with those few Gallies they have delivered out of their hands a great number of Christian Captives reduced many Mahometans to the Christian Faith maintain their Arms in good reputation and on all occasions which present themselves whether of their own or with other Princes of Christendom they freely employ and venture both their lives and goods in favour of Christians in general and particular But it is time to finish Africa and to say that if we would have believed certain Authors among the Antients this Africa had been represented to us with unsupportable heats unsufferable droughs fierce and cruel Beasts perfidious Men horrible and afrightful Monsters whereas time which daily discovers things unknown to the Antients hath made us see that the greatest heats of Africa have some refreshments that the driest sands have some wells some waters that the vastest solitudes have some green fields some Fruits that the Beasts are not so dangerous but that Men may desend themselves from their fury nor the Men so faithless but that they have Commerce and Society among themselves as also with Strangers that their Dragons Serpents Griffons c. are for the most part imaginary And moreover the generosity of its Lyons the docility of its Camels the Feathers of its Estriches the odour of its Civets the swistness of its Barbes the agility of its wild Asses the greatness of its Elephants the strength of its Eagles the diversity of its Parroquets and the wantonness of its little Monkeys c. recompence the mischief which other Beasts may do And though there are as yet some people fierce and Man-eaters the most part of the others are very ingenious and tractable The Egyptians have long since sufficiently made known their cunning in Sciences Arts and Arms so have the Carthaginians c. and the Antients esteemed the Aethiopians the most innocent and justest men in the world believing the Gods sometimes banqueted with them Besides there are many particulars worthy of observation in Africa what City was ever fairer or more magnificent than THEBES in the higher Egypt Than MEMPHIS in the middle Or A LEXANDRIA in the lower Out of Egypt what City was ever richer more powerful or more proud than CARTHAGE except Rome And at present PEZ is so splendid that there is no City in Europe to be compared with it though many believe it not to compare to CAIRO in Egypt Among the Seven Wonders of the World some place three in Egypt alone the Statue of MEMNON at Thebes the PYRAMIDES near Memphis and the PHARVS of Alexandria Commodities of Africa Not only these beautiful Works and fair Cities not only the infinite quantity of Gold and other Metals Precious stones Grains Fruits Spices Druggs Wines Oyls Sugars Honey Wax Cordovants Amber Ambergreece Elephants-teeth Estriches-feathers Saffron Coral Civet Musk Incense Coffee Capers Olives Ivory Silk Cotton Flax c. of which they make Velvets Silks Damasks c. a thousand several Manufactures which are found there ought to make us account Africa very considerable but its extent which is little less than Asia twice as great as Europe It s position is in the Southern part of our Continent the South is esteemed after the East before either North or West It was the portion of Cham second Son to Noah which may make us judge it the second in greatness and goodness Its first Monarchies have been known before those of Europe some will say before those of Asia Arts Sciences Letters and Laws have been in great reputation here before they passed into Greece or the rest of Europe AMERICA as it is divided into SEPTENTRIONAL which may be divided into CANADIANE where there shall be The ARCTICK LANDS as Island Bellested Groenland Beareford North Wales Sea hor c-p inâ— South Wales Hudsons Bay CANADA or NEW FRANCE whose chief parts and people are those of Estoriland Hope advanced Saguanay Quebec Canada Mont Real Acadie Martengo New England Boston Mary Land Marys town Virginia James town Carolina Charles town The Hurons St. Peter Isle of Bermuda's Southampton Florida St. Hellens MEXICANE with it Audiences Provinces c. of MEXICO with its Provinces and chief places of Mexico Mexico Panuco Panuco Mechoachan Mechoacan Thascala Thascala Guaxaca Antequera Tabasco No. â—en de la victoria Jucatan Merida GUADALAJARA with its Provinces of Gudalajara Guadalajara Xalisco Compostella Chiâ—â—etlan St. Sebastian Culiacan St. Michael Cinaloa St. John Los Zacatecas Zacatecas New Biscay St. John Quivira St. Fee Anian Anian Cibola Cibola California Port de Montere GUATEMALA with its Provinces c. of Guatemala St. Jago de guatemala Vera Pax Vera Pax. Soconusco Gueyet lan Chiapa Cui dad Real Honduras Valladolid Nicaragua Leon. Costarica Cartago Veragua la Conception St. DOMINGO with its Isles the chief of which are Cuba St. Jago Jamaica Sevilla Hispaniola St. Domingo Soana St. Germaine MERIDIONAL which may be divided into PERUVIANE where three shall be TERRA FIRMA with its Provinces c. of Panama Panama Carthagena Carthagena St. Martha St. Martha Rio de la Hacha Rio de la Hacha Venezula Venezula New Andalousia Comana Paria Macureguaâ—a Caribes Taupuramuneâ— Guiana Macurewaray Popayan St. Fee de Antiochia Granada St. Fee de Bogata PERU with its Audiences of Peru Quito De los Quixos Baesa Pasamores Loyola Lima Lima. De la Plata de la Plata Chili Copiopo Magellanick Land St. Phillip BRAZILIENE where there shall be BRAZILE with its Capitaines or Governments of St. Vincent Sanctos Rio Janieto Schastian Spiritu Sancto Spiritu Sancto Porto Seguro Porto Seguto los Isleos Los Isleos Baya de los Sanctos St. Salvador Seregippe Seregippe del Rey. Fernambuco Olinda Tamaraca Tamaraca Parayba Parayba Rio Granda De los tres Reys Siara Siara Maranhan Junipara Para Para. PARAGUAY or RIO de la PLATA with its Provinces c. of Paraguay Paraguay Chaco Chaco De la Plata Aslumption Tucoman St. Jago del Estera Urvaig la Conception Parana St. Ignatious Guayr Ouidad Real A New Mapp of AMERICA SEPTENTRIONALE Designed by MouÌ„sieur Sanson Geographer to the French King and Rendred into English and Illustrated
These are the three sorts of Properties to be declared in Special Geography although those Terrestrial properties which make up the third rank are not so rightly referr'd to Geography But we must yield somewhat to Custom and the Profit of Learners We will besides these joyn many Chapters to Particular Geography concerning the practice of Geography But in General Geography which we will unfold in this Book first the absolute properties of the Earth and its constitution are considered Lastly in the Comparative part those things shall be proposed which are offered unto us in the comparing one place with another The Principles of Geography The Principles which Geography useth for the confirming the truth of her Propositions are threefold 1. Geometrical Arithmetical and Trigonometrical Propositions 2. Astronomical Precepts and Theorems although it may seem like a miracle for the knowledge of the Earth in which we dwell to use the Celestial Bodies which are so many thousand miles remote from us 3. Experience for indeed the greatest part of Geography especially that which is Particular is upheld by the only Experience and Observation of men who have described every Country The Order of Geography Concerning the Order which I esteem sitting to observe in this Art of Geography it hath been already spoken in the Division and Explication of the properties thereof yet here meets us a certain difficulty concerning the Order to be observed in the explication of these Properties Forsooth whether to all Countries their own Properties are to be attributed or whether the Countries themselves are to be ascribed to the Properties generally explicated Aristotle in the first Book of the History of Living Creatures as also in his first Book of the Parts of Living Creatures moveth the like doubt and disputes it at large whether according to the single â—orts of Living Creatures their Properties are singly to be reckoned up or else whether these Properties are generally to be declared and the Living Creatures in which the may be found are then to be subjoyned The like difficulty occurs also in other parts of Philosophy We in General Geography have generally unfolded some Properties which in Special Geography we will apply to the application of single Countries The Method of Geography As touching the method and manner of proving the truth of Geographical Tenents very many are proved in general Geography by Demonstrations properly so called especially Celestial Properties but in special Geography the Celestial Properties only excepted which may be demonstrated are in a manner declared without demonstration because experience and observation doth confirm them neither can they be proved by any other means Also very many Propositions are proved or rather demonstrated by the Terrestrial Artificial Globe and also by Geographical Maps and some of these Propositions which are thus explained upon the Globe c. may be confirmed by lawful demonstrations Again some Propositions can in no wise be so proved but are therefore received because we suppose that all places in the Globe and Maps are so disposed even as they lie on the Earth Yet in these things we will rather follow the Descriptions made by Authors of Geography The Globe and Maps serve for the clearing and more easie comprehension thereof The Original of Geography The Original of Geography is not New nor brought into the World at one birth neither came she to us from one Man but her Principles and Foundations were laid long ago yea many Ages since although ancient Geographers were employed only in describing Countries which is the part of Chorography and Topography The Romans were accustomed when any Country by them was subdued to shew in their Triumph the Chorography thereof lively pencilled and drawn on a Table and flourished with Pictures to the Beholders There were besides at Rome in Lucullus his Porch many Tables of Geography exposed to the view of all men The Senate of Rome about an hundred years before Christs Birth sent Surveyors and Geographers into divers parts of the World that they might measure out the Earth but they came far short thereof Neco King of the Egyptians many Ages before the Birth of Christ commanded that the whole outer-side of Africa should be discovered by the Phoenicians in three years space King Darius commanded that the Mouths of the River Indus and the Ethiopian Eastern-Sea should be searched out Alexander the Great in his Voyage to Asia took with him Diognetus and Beton as Pliny noteth two Surveyors and Describers of his Journies out of whose Annotations and Journals Geographers of succeeding Ages took many things Ancient Geography very imperfect But the Geography of the Ancients was very lame and imperfect for first they knew not America in the least 2. The northern-Northern-Lands 3. The south-South-land and Magellan were utterly unknown to them 4. They knew not whether the Earth might be sailed about or the Main Ocean with a continual trace did encompass it but yet I deny not but that some of the Ancients were of that opinion yet I utterly deny they knew it certainly 5. They knew not whether the Torrid Zone were habitable 6. They were ignorant of the true dimensions of the Earth although they wrote many things in this business The Excellency of Geography First the study of Geography is commended to us by the great worthiness thereof because it most of all becometh Man being an Inhabitant of the Earth and endued with Reason above all Living Creatures Secondly It is also a pleasant thing and indeed an honest recreation to contemplate the Kingdoms and Properties of the Earth Thirdly The commodity and necessity of it is notable insomuch as neither Divines Physitians Lawyers Historians nor other Professors can want the knowledge thereof But the Excellency of Geography hath been sufficiently handled I place hereunder a Table which openeth the order in Special Geography to the observing the Explication of single Countries Special Geography considereth in every Region Ten Terrestrial 1. Limits and circumscription 2. Longitude of place and scituation 3. Figure 4. Magnitude 5. Mountains The Appellation Scituation and Altitude Their properties and things contained in them 6. Mines 7. Woods and Deserts 8. Waters The Sea Lakes Marshes Rivers Their Springs Inlets Tracts and Latitude The quantity of Water the celerity the quantity the Cataracts 9. Fertility Sterility and Fruits 10. The Animals Eight Celestial 1. The distance of place from the Aequator and Pole 2. The obliquity of Motion above the Horizon 3. The Quantity of Dayes 4. The Clime and Zone 5. The Heat the Seasons of the Year the Winds Rain and other Meteors 6. The rising and stay of the Stars above the Horizon 7. The Stars passing through the Vertex of the place 8. The celerity or quantity of their Motion according to the Hypothesis of Copernicus Ten Human Things 1. The Stature Life Meat and Drink and the Original of the Inhabitants 2. The Income Arts Merchandize or Traffick 3. Vertues and Vices the Genius and Erudition 4.
Precopensis Cambaja Long among which are The Chersonesus of Malacca adjoyning to India Cimbrica or Jutland adhering to Holsatia Borea adjoyning to Tartaria The North and South parts of America California Jucatan The Chersonesus of Thracia Nova Francia Ionia Cindensis Mindensis Of Affinity to Peninsulas Italy Greece Acaia Spain Norway Sweden Lapland Asia minor Arabia Beach a Region of Magellan and New Guiney Indostan Cochinchina New-England Monomotapa Camboia 3. Islands which may be considered in four sorts viz. Great as England Japan Island Canada Sumatra Madagascar Borneo Nova Zembla California Indifferent as Sicilia Ireland Hispaniola Cuba Java Major Celebes Creet Luconia Sardinia Friesland Terra Nova Mindanoa Ceilan Small as Gilolo Amboina Timor Corsica Majorca Cyprus Negropont Sealand Jamaica The very small ones in which we consider 1. The more famous Solitaria Rhodes Malta Lemnos Helena St. Thomas 2. A knot or heap of Isles together as The Canary Isles The Flandrian or Caribbe Isles The Hesperides Those of the Gulph of Mexico Of Maldives Of Japan About Madagascar The Moluccoes and Isles of Bauda The Philippine Isles The Isles of Theeves The Isles in the Aegean Sea The Isles about England The Isles of Solomon 4. The Isthmuses Between Egypt and Arabia or Africa and Asia That of Corinth between Peloponesus and Achaia The Isthmus of Panama or America the longest of all Between Jutland and Holsatia Between Malacca and India OF Absolute Geography SECT III. Wherein the constitution of the Land or the dry part of the Earth in four Chapters is declared CHAP. VIII Concerning the natural division of the parts of the Earth made from the Ocean flowing round about it THE things which in this Chapter we shall deliver concerning the division of the Earth and in the fifteenth Chapter we shall teach touching the division of the Sea will greatly facilitate the young Student in the understanding the distinction of the surface and parts of the Earth and to fix them the faster in the memory they are carefully and fully to be read and to be compared with the Terrestrial Artificial Globe and Maps Proposition I. A certain portion of Earth is covered with Water and a certain part stands out above the Surface of the Water Of parts of the Earth covered and of parts not covered with water but yet there are some parts which at some time are covered with Waters and some parts are free from them and conspicuous as many Islands by Norway Scotland and other Countries Add to these the beds or shelves of Sand and Seashores But seeing these parts are so small we take no account of them at present neither will we move that Question here Whether the Land takes up the greater part of the Superficies of the Earth or whether the Water We will treat of this briefly in the eighteenth Chapter Now we will confider the part standing up or extant above the Waters and we will call it Lands or Islands Proposition II. The Earth standing out above the waters not one but many Lands of which may be five sorts The Land or Earth standing out above the Waters is not one and continual but many Lands divided and disjoyned from one another by the Water flowing it between them We will make five differences of them to wit 1. The greatest Lands or Islands 2. The great ones 3. The mean ones 4. The little ones and 5. The least ones We will treat of the cause and original of these Lands extant or above the Waters or of the Islands in the eighteenth Chapter for there will be a more commodious place to treat of this Matter or Subject But all Lands extant above the Waters were to be called Islands seeing that an Island is no other thing then a Land begirt with Waters All Lands extant above the waters may be called Islands yet the common use of speaking hath taken away from the greatest Lands this name because that they are so great and of such a huge tract and continuance that the Circuit of the Water is thereby the less to be perceived Insomuch that they are usually called the firm Land and also great Continents And indeed by reason of their vast bulk and greatness unto which the magnitude of other Islands being compared is small they deserve this peculiar name therefore we will also call them firm Lands and great Continents Proposition III. The firm Lands four The greatest Lands Continents or Islands not contending with any about their name are four First the Old World Secondly the New World or America Thirdly the Polar Land Artick or Artick World and Fourthly the South-Land or Magellanick Land The old world most famous with its bounds c. The Old World the most famous of those four and only known of the Ancients which we inhabit is commonly divided by the Sea into two parts but joyned together by an Isthmus or narrow neck of Land one whereof is Africa and the other Asia and Europe It is invironed by the Ocean in this manner from the East by the Chinean Ocean and the Pacifick Sea from the South by the Indian Ocean and Aethiopick Sea from the West by the Atlantick Sea and from the North by the Frozen or North Sea the White Sea and Tartarian Ocean The division of this Continent of which we have spoken is made by the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabick Bay or Red-sea Africa divided from Asia and Europe For the distance of the Bays that is the Latitude or breadth of the intercedent Tract is not greater then about 30 miles if which were away Africa would make a peculiar firm Land and would increase the number The distance of the Old World towards the East is but a very little space from the New World or America The distance of the old world from the new about the Streight of Anian if only this be existent in the Universe of Nature And the distance of Europe from America is also very little between Norway and Newfoundland Also the Old World is but a very small distance from the Pole Artick-land about the Streight of Waigats from the South Polar or Magellan about New Guiney The New World or America is thus begirt by the Ocean On the East by the Atlantick Sea The new world with its bounds c. On the South by the Magellanick Streight On the West by the Pacifick Sea and on the North by a Sea unknown or uncertain except Davis Streight This World also wants but little but that it may be cut into two Islands to wit at Panama and Nombre de Dios where the confluence of the Pacifick and Atlantick Ocean is by a small Tract of earth intercepted It is distant from the Old World a very little space as before noted The Polar Artick and South Land with its bounds c. The Polar Artick and the South or Austral Land are begirt round with the Sea the first with the North Sea whose parts are
passage is two days Journey To this some Valleys coming in betwixt them is a second bordering called Cirgins Koy Camen also of two days Journey the third is Podvins Coy Camen the highest of these three Mountains which in many parts throughout the whole year is covered with Snow and Clouds and therefore it affordeth a very difficult passage which is of four days The City Vergateria Siberiae is nigh unto it The Mountains of Norway and Lapland 13. The Mountains of Norway and Lapland which begin from the Southern Promontory of Norway and seperate Sweden in part from Norway then in many orders proceed even to the farthest part of Lapland and are distinguished by divers names as Fillefiel Dofrefiel and the like The Mountain Hercinium in Germany 14. In Germany the famous Mountain Hercinium encompassing all Bohemia and by various windings extending it self into divers Regions and that also by various names In the Dutchy of Brunswick it retaineth its Ancient appellation the Mountain Bructerus is part of it Proposition II. In most Islands and in the procurrent parts of the Continent the Mountains are so scituated that they pass through the middle of the Land and divide them into two parts The division of Lands by Mountains So in Scotland the Mountain Grampius called by the Inhabitants Gransbaine which extendeth through this Island from the East to the West and divides it in two equal parts both which differ not only in the nature of the Soyl but also in the Inhabitants So in the Islands of Sumatra Borneo Luconia Celebes Hispaniola Cuba Mountains are found which arise from the Sea-shore by degrees towards the midst of the Islands unto a very great height The Mountain Gatis So the Mountains Gatis pass through the middle procurrent part of Asia which is called India For they arise from the extremities of Caucasus and proceed to the Promontory of Corus vulgarly called Cabo de Comerino from the North to the South and so divide this procurrent into two parts whereof that part which is on this side Gatis towards the West is termed the Region of Malabar and the other beyond the Mountain Gatis towards the East the Region of Choromandel This very same ridge of Mountains passeth through the other part of India which is now called Bengala through the Kingdoms of Pegu Siam and the whole Chersonesus of Malacca The Mountains in Camboja California Corea So also the Mountains of the procurrent of Earth termed Camboia The like Mountains are in the Peninsula or Isle of California in the procurrent Africa from the Lake Zair to the Promontory of Good-hope In the Peninsula Corea the Apennine in Italy How these Mountains came whether created with the Earth it self or whether they afterwards sprung from natural Causes is uncertain Proposition III. Of Mountains famous for their exceeding Altitude The Mountain of El Pico the highest in the world 1. El Pico in Teneriff esteemed the highest in the whole World whose top is conspicuous at Sea 60 miles there is no ascending up it but in July and August by reason that it is covered all the other part of the Year with Snow although that Snow is never seen in the Island it self or the adjacent Canary Isles The Vertex is manifestly discovered to be advanced above the Clouds seeing that these encompass the middle of the Mountain and the Vertex is beheld to be above this Cloud but because it suffereth Snow thence it is certain that it is not protended beyond the middle Region of the Air. Three days are required to ascend to the top of this Mountain for it is not a spiral top but plain and the Air being serene and without Clouds one may distinctly discern from it all the other circumjacent Canary Isles of which some are 50 miles remote from it In those two Months many Sulphureous stones are brought from the Mountain and carried in great abundance into Spain 2. In one of the Azores near to the Isle Fayal The Mountain Pico de St. George there is found a Mountain called Pico de St. George whence the Isle is called Pico It is reported to have an equal Altitude with the Mountain of Teneriff The Mountain Cordillera 3. The Mountain called Cordillera in the Southern America separating Peru from the other Provinces is said to be of that exceeding height that it giveth place to no Mountain of the Earth for Altitude It extendeth from the Streights of Magellan to Panama Mount Aetna 4. Aetna a Mountain in Sicilia from the top of which fire is discerned to be ejected in the Isle of Malta whence it is supposed to have at the least an intire mile in Altitude but in the preceeding Chapter we have given a reason of this apparent Altitude 5. Hecla a Mountain of Island Hecla Pico de Adam 6. Pico de Adam in the Isle of Geilam 7. The Mountain Bructerus in Germany and Abnoba 8. The Mountain Figenojamma in Japan Figenojamma is supposed to exceed the Clouds in Altitude 9. The Mountain Caucasus much celebrated by the Ancients for its great height Caucasus The Mountain Pelion 10. The Mountain Pelion in Macedonia Pliny saith that Dicaearchus the Mathematician by the command and expence of some Kings measured the Altitude of this Mountain and found it to be 1250 paces that is 10 Stadia or â…“ of a German mile Geminus saith that the Mountain Cyllene was found by Dicaearchus to be of the same Altitude The Mountain Athos 11. The Mountain Athos as Mela in Lib. 2. Chap. 2. relateth is so elated that it is believed to rise higher than that showers should fall thence This Opinion received credit because that the Ashes are not washed away from the Altars that are on the top of it but remain in the heap as they were left in It runneth along with a great broad Ridge into the Sea where it adhereth to the Continent Xerxes making his Expedition against the Graecians dugg it through and made it Navigable 12. Olympus a Mountain of Asia minor Olympus of which we have spoken in the former Chapter 13. Casius Casius a Mountain in Asia which Pliny writeth to be four miles in height 14. Mount Haemus Haemus which Martianus Capella describeth to be 6 miles in Altitude 15. Atlas Atlas a Mountain in Africa of which we have spoken in the preceeding Proposition The Poets feigned this Mountain to be so high that it upheld Heaven but experience hath found the contrary Proposition IV. The many differences of Mountains In the former Propositions we have shewed three differences viz. The differences of Mountains 1. Some are extended in a long Tract and some are terminated in a small Circuit 2. Some divide the Regions in two parts others pass through any Tract of the Regions 3. Some are of an exceeding height some of a mean and some but low To these differences these may be added
these are most noted which may be divided into four kinds viâ—â— Sandy Ericose Stony and Marish or Boggy Desarts Those that are Ericose have for the most part here and there in many places Woods and Forests are the more useful and easier to be cultivated 1. All the Desarts of Africa are almost Sandy neither is any part of the Earth more pestered with Desarts the greatest are found in Lybia they also encompass all Egypt 2. The Desarts of Arabia are partly Sandy and partly Stony but the most famous is that Sandy Desart in Arabia termed vulgarly the Sandy Sea 3. The Desarts of Tartaria about the Mountain Imaus Also the Desart Belgian about the Moguls where hitherto it hath been though falsly believed that the rich Kingdom of Cathaie is seated 4. The Desarts of Camboia 5. The Desarts of Nova Zembla which are rocky 6. The Desarts of Norway Lapland Sweden and Finmarch 7. All the Desarts of Germany are Ericose they term them Een Heide whence they call the Desart in the Dutchy of Luneburgh 8. The Desarts of America and the like OF Absolute Geography SECT IV. Containing the Hydrography or the description of the Water explained in Six Chapters CHAP. XII Of the division of the Ocean throughout the Earth The division of the Ocean BY reason that we have treated in the precedent Chapters of the division of the parts of the Earth order requireth that we contemplate the division and scituation of the Waters which compose the other part of the Earth and also take a survey of their Properties which do appertain unto Geography In Chapter VII Proposition II. we distributed the Waters into four sorts which are 1. The Ocean 2. Rivers and Fountains of Fresh-waters 3. Lakes and Marishes and 4. Mineral Waters In this Chapter we shall treat of the division of the Ocean Proposition I. The Ocean in a continued tract encompasseth the whole Earth and the Terrestrial parts neither is the Superficies of the same any where altogether interrupted by the Lands interposed but the more large continuity and free congress is only impeded The truth of the Proposition can only be proved by Experience especially from the Circumnavigation of the Earth which hath now for a long while been so often attempted and hapily performed first by the Spaniards under the conduct of Magellan who first found out the Streights then by the English twice viz. under Drake and Cavendish and lastly five times by the Hollanders The opinion of the Ancients concerning the Old World The Ancients nothing doubting of this continuity by reason that they accounted the Old World only for the extant Earth and thought it on every side to be encompassed by the Ocean yea some supposed it to float But when that America was detected which is extended from North to South in a very long tract and impedeth the continuity of the Ocean and moreover the Polary Land North and South then not undeservedly was it doubted concerning it For many supposed and that not without probability that America and the South Continent were conjoyned as many Geographers now think that the Northern America is contiguous to Greenland which two if both true the Ocean could not encompass the whole Earth But in truth Magellan removed the doubt when in the Year 1520 he found out the Streights between America and the South Continent by which it was manifest that the Pacifick Ocean was joyned with the Atlantick What therefore the Ancients imagined from a false Opinion that they knew that we know from infallible Experience The like hapned with Africa for then also the Ancients without any hesitation placed the Ocean without or beyond it and thought Africa to be extended beyond the Equator in a far less space than in truth it is but when the Portugals had sailed the Coast of Africa and had found vast Lands in a long tract beyond the Equator and then also it was questioned whether Africa could be sailed about that they might sail into India that is whether it were encompassed with the Ocean This doubt was removed by Vasques Gamma under whose conduct in Anno 1497. Africa was first sailed about the Promontory of Good Hope being found to be the ultimate bound of the same towards the South which appellation it received from the King of Portugal in Anno 1494 when that Diaz which first related concerning although he passed it not Victuals failing him and the Tempests forcing his Return the storm and raging Ocean of this Promontory and spake much more to the King Proposition II. The difference in the parts of the Ocean which ariseth from the Earth is threefold or the Water of the Ocean may be divided into three kinds which are 1. The particular Ocean or Seas 2. The Bays of the Sea or Ocean and 3. The Streights The Water in the Ocean may be divided into three kinds The word Ocean is taken in a twofold acceptation Sometimes for the whole Ocean or Water which encompasseth the Earth sometimes and that frequently for any part of the large Ocean which adhereth to another part by a large tract and that from on both sides So we say the Atlantick Ocean the German the Ethiopick the Indian and the Chinesan Oceans In this latter signification by use of Speech we sometimes use the word although we sometimes call a part of the entire Ocean the Sea but by reason of the homonymie of the word Mare or Sea which shall be explained by and by the word Ocean is usually used in that sense A Bay A Sinus or Bay of the Sea is said to be a part of the Sea or Water which runneth between two Lands from the Sea or some other Bay until it stop at some Land It is also commonly termed a Sea A Streight A Fretum or Streight is a part of the Ocean or part of a Bay of the Ocean or Sea running between two Lands in a narrow tract and conjoyning of two Seas or conjoyned with the Sea from both extremities by which they Sail from one Sea into another Proposition III. We reckon four principal Oceans Four principal Oceans or great parts of the whole Ocean or Seas in respect of the scituation of the four Continents or Quarters of the Earth Atlantick Ocean 1. The Atlantick Ocean is that part of the Ocean which is scituated between the Occidental Coast of the Old World and the Oriental of the New It is vulgarly termed Mare del Nort or the North Sea but improperly seeing that it extendeth it self beyond the Equator towards the South It is more aptly divided into two parts one from the Equator towards the North the other stretcheth towards the South It hath therefore on the Eastern quarter the Occidental Coast of the Old World and on the Western the Oriental Coast of America Towards the North it conjoyneth with the Hyperboreal or Northern Ocean and towards the South with the Southern Ocean Pacifick Ocean Hyperboreal Ocean
by reason that the Sea water containeth a fixed salt which is a far more weighty body than fresh water And we have shewed that in divers parts of the Sea there is a divers quantity of salt Yet doth it not follow that water is more heavy by how much it is the more salt which doth not augment the gravity but lesseneth it and yet rendreth the water very salt Proposition XIII Salt water doth not so easily freez as fresh or a greater dègree of cold is required to the congelation of Sea water than of fresh Salt water doth not so soon freez as fresh Experience sufficiently sheweth this against the Aristotelians who defend that water is so much the lesser obnoxious to congelation by how much it is the more pure and therefore should more easily congeal as receding more from the elementary water which is false Now the cause is that in the salt it self their is a certain spirit which resisteth congelation and being seperated from the salt admitteth of no congelation from the hardest frost as those that are skilful in Chymistry know For the spirit of salt is a medicament sufficiently known and of frequent use Proposition XIV Why the Ocean is not bigger seeing that it receiveth so many Rivers The cause is 1. That the water returneth to the Sea through subterraneous passages unto the fountains of the Rivers as shall be explicated in the following Chapter 2. Because that many vapours are elevated from the Ocean whereof many being resolved into rain fall into the Ocean and part on the land Proposition XV. Certain parts of the Ocean differ in colour The water in the Ocean in all places not of one and the same colour Experience testifieth that in the Northern places the Sea seemeth of a more black colour in the Torrid Zone of a duskish colour in other places of a blew About certain shoars of new Guinee the Ocean is found of a white colour in some other place of a yellow In Streights the water appeareth to incline to white at the Shoars of Congi not far from Bay a D'Alvaro Gonzales a Rivulet or an Arm is disburthened into the Sea of somewhat a Redish colour taken from a mine of red earth through which it floweth But the Arabian Gulph called therefore the Red Sea by reason of the property of the colour some will have the denomination taken from King Erythreus others from the splendour which the Raies of the Sun repercussed doth effect But the more probable opinion and that which is confirmed from experience is that the redness doth arise from the sand of a red colour which is found in the bottom of this Sea and on the Shoars and is frequently admixed with the water The water in the Red Sea only red by reason of the red sâ—â—â—â— in it The cause of this admixture which seemeth contrary to the ponderousness of sand is the vehemency of the flux and reflux of the water or its swiftness and agitation in this Sea by which it cometh to pass that the sand or gravel is agitated and moved up and down and so hindred by the continual motion of the Sea that it cannot rest Mariners affirm that the water of this Sea sometimes appeareth as red as blood but if taken up in a vessel the sand will sink down and then the water appeareth otherwise It often happens that storms from the Red Sea rushing into Arabia or Africa carry with them so great an abundance of sand and cast it on the earth that it covereth whole troops of men and beasts whence proceedeth the true Mummie Whether from the same or another cause the Sea between California and America be termed red Vermejo I have not as yet found it observed by Writers Proposition XVI Certain peculiar things are found in certain parts of the Ocean Of things in the Ocean peculiar to certain places The Sea termed Di Sargasso by the Portugals which beginneth not far from Cape Verd in Africa about the Isles of Salt and extendeth it self from the 20th degree of Northern Latitude unto the 34th of South Latitude The colour of this Sea seemeth to be green which is not the colour of the Sea it self but of a certain small leaved herb in the bottom of it called by the Portugals Sargasso The leaves of this weed mutually complicated one into another swim on the face of this Ocean in so continued a tract that the water can hardly be seen so that the Seamen afar off discovering this Ocean take it for an Island and green Land neither can they pass through this knot of weeds except that they be helped by a moderate wind at least the herb beareth a small berry whence it ariseth is not yet known Seeing that this Sea is not so near any land that it should have its original from them neither is it probable that it should come from the bottom of the Sea by reason that the profundity of this Sea is such that in many places it exceedeth the length of any line or cord In the Ocean not far from the Promontory of Good Hope are many floating red-like shrubs of a great thickness discovered unto which the herb Sargasso is implicated Seamen take it for a certain that if they see them thereabouts that they are near to the Promontory of Good Hope or else have just past it Corral found on the Shoar of Madagascar On the Shoar of the Isle of Madagascar the Ocean casteth up red and white Coral which augment like shrubs under the water and although that they be soft in some places yet between Madagascar and Africa there are reported to be Rocks of hard Coral In the Baltick Ocean nigh to the Shoar of Borussia the Shoar casteth forth most excellent succinum which the Inhabitants are taught when certain winds do blow to draw up with certain Iron hooks Amber only in the Ocean in the Torrid Zone The Ocean casteth up Amber only in the Torrid Zone viz. at the Shoar of Brazile where a peece of 500 l. weight was taken up by a Dutch Soldier and presented unto Count Nassaw at the Isle of Madagascar at Cape Verd at the Isle of Maurice at the Isle of Sumatra and other Indian Isles Garcias relateth that a piece of 200 l. weight was found yea that some Islands consist wholly of Amber but he doth not name them In the Aethiopick Ocean at Guinea Congo and Angola this is peculiarly observed that at the sides of the Keil of the Ship whilst that they remain there green Cockles like unto grass do stick which hindreth the sailing of the Ships and eateth the wood On the Coast of Languedock in France Birds unshaped first of all then by degrees they receive form and fixing of their bill in the wood when they begin to move by degrees they are pulled off and swim on the water like Geese The excrement of the Ocean termed the Scum of the Sea is found floating in
and sand from the shoars or some banks also the substance of the bottom is advanced and lifted up and is carried by the impetuosity of the River until it come to a more large and ample Channel and be removed from the Fountain or cause of abundancy of water for here the vehemency of the motion is remiss and then the Terrestrial parts subside and Sand-banks are generated of which many are found in places where there are broad Rivers but none almost in narrow Neither is there any mischief which taketh away more splendor from the most flourishing and rich Empories or places of trade without any hope of recovery or bringeth greater detriment to Ships That we may pass over those Ancient Cities now for many Ages buried in oblivion we have Examples before our eyes of Stavoren in Friezland Armuyen in Zeiland of Dort in Holland Antwerp in Brabant and Stade in the Bishoprick of Bremen Nothing took away the power of Traffick from these Cities which was the cause of all their splendor and riches but the banks of Sand arising in their Rivers or the Neighbouring Seas Neither is there almost any Empory that is Maritimate that is free from the fear of these Sand-banks Those that are in the Albis or the Elbe have destroyed many Hamburgian Ships that have escaped the grand storms of the Ocean The same is manifest in others to him that considereth especially in the Texel and Vlie of Amsterdam They are discovered in a great number on the Sea-coasts of Flanders and Friezland and the suff of the Sea going down many of them are discovered to be part of the Continent for the Channel interceding hath then little water and admitteth of no sailing The famous or rather infamous amongst Mariners by reason of Shipwrack are those that are found in a great number in one part or place of the Sea They are these 1. The Sand-banks of Brazil Abrolhos de Brasilia Het riff van Brasilian also de Droogte van Brasil They lie from the Coast of Brazil for the space of 70 miles which the Mariners that sail to the Indies ought to avoid with great diligence whilst that to shun the calm of Guinea they sail towards Brazil yet they come as near to those Sands as they may that they may have the greater Wind but they must be cautious that they be not carried between Brazil and the Sands 2. The Sands of St. Ann not far from Guinea six degrees at the elevation of the North Pole Ships being carried upon these come not off without great danger and labour and are detained for many daies when that Seamen suppose that they have passed beyond them For these Sands are not continual but they are disjoyned by broad and deep Whirlpits or Gulphs so that in a small distance here is a depth of about eight fathom by and by about two 3. The Sands between the Isle of Madagascar and Arabia called Baixos de India they are sharp Rocks of Coral of divers Colours 4. The Sands of China 5. The Sands of Flanders But more may be seen in Geographical Sea-charts We have declared one mode of the generation by which these Sands have an Original by sinking of the Sandy matter which the Sea carrieth with it The second mode to be adjoyned to this is by which such Sands can or may have a Being to wit if that the Sea overflow the Earth in which the hills and risings are sandy for then those hills are or shall be called Sand-hills they are discovered in a large tract but the Land it self is more low If therefore the Sea by an irruption should inundate and cover those Lands then those Hills would be Sand-banks so we must judge of others Therefore at the Mouths of Rivers Sand-banks are most frequent because the Channel is there broader and therefore the impetus of the efflux of Rivers is there diminished and therefore the matter sinketh which the violent Flood brought with it Also the waves of the Ocean repel the Waters flowing from the Mouths of the Rivers whence all the force ceaseth And it is worth our labour to distinguish and consider these two modes of the generation of Sand-banks Proposition XI To conjecture whether the Sand-hills which lye in the Sea not far from the Continent shall be part of this future Continent Of Sand-banks or Hills in the Sea not far from the Land We have said in the former Proposition that these Sand-banks are generated two manner of ways one truly by the subsidency or sinking of the Sand into the Sea the other by denomination viz. all Hill the water encompassing and overflowing the Earth If that they are generated by the former mode and are found to increase more and more it is a sign that they will joyn to the Continent of the Earth that is to say that the Channel of the Sea will be dried between these Sand-banks and the adjacent Land But if that the Sand-banks are generated after the second mode then we may conjecture that those Sand-banks will not so easily be conjoyned to the adjacent Earth but that the Sea rather will farther overspread the Land Proposition XII Islands are produced in the Sea and Rivers after the same mode that Sand-banks are yea Islands may proceed from Sand-banks yet they are also made after another mode Of the generation of Islands For if that in any part of the Sea so great a quantity of Sand Gravel Mud and Ouze be aggregated in progress of time that it becometh higher than the Sea it will become an Island which is the first Mode Then by the second mode If that the Sea breaking into the Land overfloweth only the lower parts but not the higher and the Hills those will be Islands And by this latter Mode it is probable that those Islands were generated or had original which arise to an huge Altitude as St. Helena Ascension and the like especially those which are rocky and stony Sicilia separated from Italy by the Sea Hitherto appertain Islands which the Sea hath cut off from the prominent Lands So Writers testifie and the Poets Verses are known that Sicilia was separated from Italy by the violence of the Sea By the first Mode viz. the subsidency and congregation of many Terrestrial particles the Islands of Zeland Denmark and Japan had their original The same seemeth to have been the original of the Molucco Isles for if that you dig on the Plain to a small depth you shall meet with an abundance of sand and shells Other Isles separated from the Continent by the Sea The Inhabitants of Ceiland relate that the Isle was separated from the procurrent of India and it is very probable so The Isle of Sumatra is supposed formerly to have been united to Malacca The Isles of the Maldives in times past was were said to adhere to India and were a continuous Continent yet at this day they are far in the Sea and divided into an innumerable many
Isles esteemed about 1100 neither ought we to doubt of it seeing that narrow Euripuses pass through every two of these Maldivian Isles so that in some places they exceed not four or five Ells but in progress of time many of them unite into one the Euripus being diminished and all of them at length will conjoyn in one oblong Island Yea all the Oriental Isles scituate between the Continent of Asia and the Land of Magellan in a great number seem to arise from the violence of the Ocean the Land being separated For the Pacifick Ocean in the Torrid Zone is moved by a perpetual motion and force from the West to the East that is from America to those Oriental Isles Moreover a perpetual Wind greatly augmenteth the violence of the Ocean towards that Oriental quarter Therefore it is not improbable seeing that all these Islands are in the Torrid Zone but that Asia formerly did adhere to the south-South-land or that of Magellan in a continual tract of Land then at length the violence of the Ocean eat off and separated sometimes here and sometimes there until that a way being made on every side it was conjoyned to the Indian Ocean and made so many Islands as that we stand amazed at this day in that quarter being distant a very small space Java Celebes Borneo Madera Amboina c. Concerning the Islands in the Gulph of Mexico as also in the Streights of Malacca we conjecture altogether the same The Isles of the Aegean Sea whether they had a Being from the divulsion made by or from the Sea the Sea flowing from the Euxine Sea and the Mediterranean raising up of contrary floods or after the former mode by a subsidency of the Terrestrial matter which the Propontis had carried from the Euxine Sea as yet I doubt It is more probable that a divulsion was made and peradventure that famous Inundation of Deucalion here also exercised its force It is certain that the Isle Euboea at this day called Negropont did formerly adhere to Greece as Authors of no mean Credit do relate for so small an Euripus interfloweth that it may be joyned by a Bridge We shall shew that Islands may be made of Sand-banks by many Examples So the Islands in the River Nile and in the River of St. Laurence were formerly Sand-banks Rivers make Islands after another manner when that they send forth a branch which they receive into themselves in another place as may be seen in the Wolga Tanais and other places That this was not done by Nature but by the Industry of Man we ought not to question the River Ob doth the same These two Rivers Rengo and Coanza made the Isle Loanda scituated on the Coast of Africa which exonerated themselves into the Sea in that place by reason that they bring great store of Mud and Rubbish with them they falling with an exceeding force from Mountainous places so that they lest this and as yet the same in their Inlets and so in course of time made the Island Landa first made a Sand-bank now most fertile and likewise populous And so we suppose that many Sand-banks formerly made the Islands scituated at the Coasts although that some were also caused by a divulsion made by the Sea as Norway And it is more probable that this is the mode of generation of Islands in stony and rocky Isles But in the Indian Sea Islands may have an original both by divulsion and subsidence or sinking of matter because that whilst it forceth away it also eateth between the middle of the Earth which at length it putteth in another place unto this many furious Winds which are very frequent in the Pluvial months from May to September do much conduce For by these the Sea is mightily troubled so that the Sand and gravel is separated from its bottom and from other Regions which matter is forced on the Coasts of India So the Mouths of the Port of Goa by the violence of the Winter-winds from May to September are so obstructed with congested heaps of Sand that they hardly afford a passage to smaller Vessels So these heaps of Sand shut up the Port of Cocin on those Months so that neither small nor great Vessels can pass For a continual Rain on the Mountain Gatis and a frequent Ecnephias or impetuous wind from a Cloud breaking forth with an abundance of water from the Clouds which are beheld to hang as it were on the top of Gatis send forth such an abundance of water and with that violence that it carrieth much Sand with it to the shoar where the Ocean resisteth which Sand when that the Winter endeth is taken away by the Ocean and the Ports are opened There are some Lands so nigh the shoar that the flux of the Sea doth make them Islands and in the reflux they are in appearance part of the Continent and if that the interposed Channel acquire a greater Altitude in progress of time at length the flux of water is excluded and the Islands become part of the Continent without reciprocal mutation And also the Nile overflowing Aegypt every year causeth the Cities and Hills of Aegypt then to seem Islands So the River Wolga doth so increase in the Months of May and June that it covereth the Sands and Islands and many of the Isles that adjoyn unto India become Sands in the Pluvial Months where that the Nile and the Ganges do overflow the Regions Proposition XIII There is yet another Mode besides the two already related by which Islands have a Being or Original viz. for the coherent Earth suddenly to be carried from the bottom of the Sea to the superficies Another Mode by which Islands have an Original Others suppose this Mode and that not undeservedly to have proceeded from the fabulous Grecians and Poets But Seneca a grave Author relateth that the Island Thracia in his time sprang up in the Aegean Sea whilst that the Mariners looked on Although therefore that very few Examples of such productions of Islands are to be found yet it ought not to be supposed impossible for it may be that a porous spongy sulphureous Earth doth exist as there is a various difference and mixture of sight Earths which even now hath increased to a notable altitude yet so as that it yet remaineth beneath the superficies of the water Now if that such a Sand or Earth adhere less firm at the bottom of the Sea it may be separated by the violence of the Sea because that it is little lighter than the water or almost of the same levity therefore it will ascend to the superficies of the water and suddenly an Island will seem to spring up or a Spirit or Wind included in the bowels of the Earth without any violence of the Sea and endeavouring to break forth may send forth such an Island above the Water for great is the force of Winds included in the Earth and requiring a larger space as is evident from
Earthquakes By which it is manifest that sometimes Mountains are sent forth of the Earth and sometimes swallowed up the same is manifest from Warlike Mines where the Wind breaketh up great Towers and Walls and carrieth them into the Air. If that therefore such an Island of a sudden springing in the Sea adhere to the bottom of the Sea we must necessarily say that it was forced upwards by the violence of some subterraneous Wind As some write that Mountains sometimes are thrust forth of the Earth but if that it no longer adhere to the bottom as well the Wind as the violence of the water may separate it from the bottom so that at length by its own levity it is carried upwards to the superficies Proposition XIV Whence another doubt doth arise viz. whether that there be certain Islands that swim on the Sea as Thales supposed the whole Earth to swim on the Ocean For the Opinion of Thales it is sufficiently refuted seeing that the Channel of the Sea is found continuous to the Land but reason perswades us that there may be swiming Islands if that the Land be light and sulphureous Seneca addeth Experience for he saith that he saw the Isle Catylias swiming which had Trees and brought forth Grass and Herbs that the water sustained it and that it was not only driven hither and thither by the wind but also by the Air and that it continued not in one station either by Day or by Night Moreover there was another Island in the Lake Vadimon another in the Lake Station So the Ancients relate that Delos and all the Cyclades formerly swam in the Sea Neither may you object why do not those Islands swim at this day For unto this the Answer is easie That such a swiming cannot continue long for seeing that those Islands almost touch at the bottom of the Sea whilst that they are moved hither and thither they are carried more or less elevated to the Sands or Channels especially if that they come in the midst between two Sands that motion is stopped and other collected Earths are united with this Sand-bank or Channel and so of swiming Islands they become firm In Fondura a Country in America at this day is a Lake in which are many Hills which are moved to and fro with the wind In the great Lake of Scotland called Loumond is an Isle that swimeth and is moved about although that it be apt for Pasturage as Boetius writeth Hitherto we have treated of the generation of the Lands or of the Acid part of the Earth that is extant on the superficies we shall now consider how the Ocean and Waters may change their places and possess new Proposition XV. Rivers possess certain tracts of Land which they possessed not before and that for divers reasons Certain tracts of Land which Rivers possess which they possessed not before 1. When that they first arise from their Fountains and receive a Channel either from Nature or by Art of which we have spoken in the fifteenth Chapter 2. If that a River maketh another Channel for it self or sendeth forth a branch from it self which is most commonly done by men viz. that they may bring part of the Rivers unto Cities or into another River Examples of which we have alledged in the forecited Chapter 3. If that Rivers more and more possess the banks in progress of time which hapneth 1. If that the Channel become higher from the sinking down of the Earth or Sand. 2. If that it eateth off the sides of the Bank by its swift course 3. If that it be augmented by another River and by an abundance of Rain or an Exhydria or impetuous wind accompanied with a mighty fall of water 4. If that they overflow the Earth which if not going back again but do more and more augment they become Lakes or if they return to their Ancient Channel the water being effused into the Fields becometh a Marsh if that there be great abundance of it Corollary It is probable therefore then that there was a time in which those tracts of Land which now the Rhine Elbe and the Nile possess as also other Rivers were dry and possessed by the Earth Proposition XVI Lakes Marishes and standing-Pools occupy parts of the Earth that before they possessed not Lakes Marishes and Pools possess parts of the Earth which formerly they did not 1. When that they first spring up and are augmented in progress of time of which we have spoken in the fifteenth Chapter 2. If that abundance of Rain fall 3. If that Rivers bring store of water with force into the Lakes 4. If that the Channel become more high 5. If that the Lakes being agitated by often and more vehement floods by degrees do more eat the banks and cover the land with water So the Lake of Harlem within thirty or forty years hath extended beyond its former Bank about the space of the twentieth part of a mile Corollary Therefore it is probable that there was a time when those tracts of land which now the Lake Zaire Lemanus Parina Harlem Maeotis or the Marishes of Westphalia and all others formerly possessed were dry Lands Proposition XVII The Ocean possesseth part of the Land which formerly it did not possess Land possessed by the Ocean which formerâ—y it did not possess This hapneth after various manners 1. When that breaking through the middle of the land it maketh Streights and Gulphs as the Mediterranean the Arabian that of Bengala Camboja and such like So the Streight between Sicily and Italy between Geilan and India between Greece and Euboeja between Manilla and Magellan and also the Danish c. Neither is it improbable but that the Atlantick Ocean was so generated and that America was so divided from the Old World or at least from Europe which some do the more easily embrace that they may thence only deduct the Original of the American Nations from Adam Indeed the Aegyptian Priests related unto Solon about six hundred years before Christ as you may see in the Dialogue of Plato termed Timons that there was formerly opposite to the Herculean Streight of Gibralter an Isle bigger than Asia and Europe together called Atlantis and that part of it afterwards by a great Earthquake and a great deluge of one day and one night was swallowed up in the Ocean From which Narration we may collect that in former times amongst the Aegyptians there was a fame especially amongst those that were Learned of the separation of America from our World made many Ages before But it is far more likely that the North part of America in which is New France New England Canada and the like did in former Ages adhere to Ireland The Ancients write that the Streights of Gibralter were dug through by Hercules 2. When with a violent Wind the Ocean is forced and overfloweth the land by breaking through or over the banks that are made by Nature and Art There are
many Examples of the Inundations of the Ocean as formerly in Thessaly and not long since in Friezland and Holsatia 3. When by reason of the same causes it penetrateth the firm Land and maketh Islands By this Mode we have said in the former Propositions that it is likely that that Sea had its original which interfloweth between those innumerable Oriental Isles and that which floweth between the Maldivian Isles and India and also between the Gulph of Bengala and Camboja 4. When it by degrees eateth and consumeth the Coasts or Shoars and so in progress of time covereth some parts of the shoar and of the adiacent land So the Baltick Sea invaded the Coasts of Pomerania and destroyed the famous Town or Empory of Vinetam so taking away the Islands from the Coast of Norway it let in it self between these Isles and the Continent So the German Ocean hath possessed the shoar of Holland near the Village of the Catti in a great space of Land so that the Ruins of the Brittish Tower formerly a Fortress or Castle of the Romans now lieth inconspicuous being covered with water far from the shoar in the Sea The Ocean hath taken from the North part of the Island of Ceilan the space of 20 miles so that at this day it is far lesser than it was And there are many more Examples of the like kind Corollary From hence we may collect that those places of the Earth where now the Ocean is in times past were Land and again shall be land to wit if that we do suppose that the earth hath continued so many thousand years and shall yet continue Concerning this Argument you may consult Aristotle in the first Book of his Meteors and the twelfth Chapter and Stevinus in his Geography If that you demand how the Ocean shall occupy the place of Mountains that then the Mountains shall not be covered by the Sea but shall then become either Rocks or Islands other earth being forced unto them that is confirmed by the example of many Islands yea almost of all because that Experience testifieth that almost all Isles have Mountains in the midst as Ceilan Sumatra Java furthermore some are nothing else but Mountains as St. Helena Ascension the Hesperides and the like Seeing therefore that those places of the Ocean in which those Isles lye in Ages to come shall be or already have been land then indeed the Mountains of these Isles shall be Mountains of the Continent Proposition XVIII Whether it is possible that the whole superficies of the Earth should become dry or Land Or that it should be all liquid or covered with water That the most parts should be of an Earthy superficies at one time more than at another or that more should be covered with water Of the whole Superficies of the Earth whether it may become all Land or all Water 1. That sometimes the land should possess a greater part of the superficies of the Earth than at another Also that which is a consequence to the former that water at one time should possess the greater part of the superficies of the Earth more than at another hath been sufficiently shewed in the second Proposition of this Chapter 2. Whether the Water or Ocean can cover the whole Earth so that there shall be no Earth or Island above it and so cause a Universal stood Unto this I answer That a mode may be conceived and explained by which it may naturally be done but yet by reason of the compaction of the Lands and Altitude of the Mountains it is scarcely probable that any such thing will be The mode by which it may be done is the same with that explained in the second Proposition For if that the Ocean continually eateth the land from the shoar and layeth it down in the profoundest parts of its Channel and do this in a perpetual course of time then it shall take away all the Lands of the superficies or extant parts and it self shall cover all the Earth And the Mountains shall either be made Rocks or shall by degrees sink and fall their Foundations being consumed by the vehement force of the water But this may be done more easily if that we will follow their opinion who attribute a greater height to the Ocean than to the Land But we have in the precedent discourse sufficiently confuted that opinion 3. Whether that the Land can so occupy the whole superficies of the Earth so that all the water and the whole Ocean may be contained in the Caverns of the Earth or in the subterraneous passage and covered by the Earth Unto this I answer after the same manner that it is not impossible and that a Mode may be conceived by which it may be done but yet scarcely ever shall be Now there is only one Mode to be conceived viz. that if now there are or may be so many cavities within the depth of the earth within the which the Ocean may be contained for neither hath it been demonstrated by any as hitherto that such cavities are not in the depth of the earth and if they be not but that they may be done 1. by the violence of the earth and 2. by subterraneous winds Proposition XIX Why in the middle of the Ocean no Islands are found and no abundancy of Isles but most at great Continents or great Islands No Isles found in the middle of the Ocean Of the truth of this Proposition we ought not to doubt for experience manifestly proveth it In the midst of the vast Pacifick Ocean between Africa and Brasilia besides the Isle of Sancta Helena and that of the Ascension few are found but about the shoars of the Continent or in the Ocean not far from the Coasts of the greatest Continents all Islands are those few only excepted which I have spoken of this may especially be taken notice of in those numerous ones that we tearm troops of Isles which are all near the Continent The troop of the Isles of the Aegean Sea adjoyneth to Europe and Asia the Hesperides to Africa the Maldivian Isles to India as also all the Indian Isles between Asia and the South Continent only the Flandrian Isles or Azores seem to be situated in the midst of the Ocean between the old World and America although that they are more near to that than to this The cause of this Phenomenon or situation of the Islands without doubt is that they had a Being from the irruption of the Ocean into the Continents by which violence the Lands of the Continents were separated but because the Altitude of the Ocean was not so great that it could cover all the Lands intercepted thence here and there between the Continents and at the Continents troops of Islands did arise also it is likely that some of them were generated by another mode viz. because the Ocean cannot carry the Lands separated and cut off any long space with it but suffereth them by degrees to subside
North Latitude in the Sea seventy miles from Guinea a South-East wiad predominateth from the 20th of April to the 5th of May but not on the Shoar or in Guinea it self after the 5th of May the same wind is also discovered at the 3 deg and 3 ½ of Latitude 12. At the Isle of Madagascar from the 15th of April unto the last of May the North and North-West wind bloweth but in February and March the winds blow from the East and South 13. In April or May in the tract of Land and Sea from Madagascar to the Promontory of Good-hope the North wind and the wind Collateral to the North blow continually to the East so that it is esteemed a Miracle if that the Southo South-East wind blew for two daies 14. After the 20 of April in the Sea of Bengala the South wind is violent before that day the South-West and North-West and those being very impetuous do predominate 15. There is a Motion for Navigation from Malacca to Maccou in July October November December viz. the South winds and South-West winds and oftentimes the South-East winds but in June and July at the begining the West winds rage about Malacca and in the Sea of China 16. The Motion by which they Sail from Java to China from the West to the East begineth with the Month of May. 17. The Motion by which they Sail from China to Japan from the West to the East is in force in June and July viz. the South-West wind but the North and Collateral wind to the North at the East oftentimes interpose and that especially at the day time but in the night season the South-East and the first Collateral wind at the East do interpose and let 18. A contrary Motion viz. from Japan to Maccou from the East to the West is in February and March viz. the East and North-East winds but these predominate not in the Sea but on the Coasts of China which those that Sail in that Voyage from Japan observe they term them the Winds over the Land 19. The motion by which they Sail from the Phillippine Isles or China to Aquaepulco in America viz. the Western winds are observed in June July and August but they are very weak except in the Full Moon now they are the South-West winds but they avoid the Torrid Zone and choose the Coasts of America Septentrional is to shun the wind that is general from the East which yet then is less vehement This therefore must be known in general that the Occidental Motions or West winds are more weak than the Oriental because that these are helped by a general wind but these are diminished by it 20. In the Sea of China a South and South-West Motion reigneth in July August and October But if that these winds be changed into an Oriental Motion they never presently return to the South but first to the North hence when they have blowed some daies they return to the East and lastly to the South sometimes the North-East is immediately changed into the South-West sometimes presently from the North to the South and that here is sufficiently frequent So in the Sea anniversary winds are more constant unto which I add those that are less constant and those which on the Coasts and also on Maritimate places are observed to be Anniversary Proposition IV. The Etesian winds so termed that are Anniversary in Grece proceed from Rain and Snow dissolved on the Mountains Of Etesian winds and from what they proceed The Grecians observed a twofold kind of Winds on every Year which were Stated and termed Etesian winds Viz. 1. Those in the Summer or Canicular winds which they called by the General term Etesiae because that they were more strong and sensible 2. The Winter winds which they called the Chelidonii or Ornithiae The Canicular Etesian winds are Northern in the placing of the begining of which to a certain Writers do much differ When that Aristotle had added that they blow after the Summer Solstice he mentioneth nothing of the true time which certainly is a very great negligence which at length he augmenteth where making mention of the Ornithiae he omitteth both the time and the quarter of these winds but those that have noted the time of the Etesian winds they have observed that the forerunners of them begin to blow either on the 6 of July or on the 15 of July at the rising of the Canicular or Dog Star Now those winds blow 40 daies the whole space of the Dog dates and therefore end with the Month of August but others extend them to September they only blow in the day and cease in the night therefore Mariners formerly called them the sleepy and delicate winds The cause of these winds questionless is the dissolving of the Snow caused by the heat of the Sun on the Northern Mountains which at that time is very great by reason that now for divers Months together almost he hath continually shined on those Mountains without any setting and with this cause it aptly agrees that the Etesian winds cease on the night because that then the resolution of the Snow ceaseth or at least is lesser than the generation of the wind requireth because that the Sun then is over or near the Horizon or else setteth wholly The same Northern Canicular wind is not only in Greece but also in Thrace Macedonia the Aegean Sea and the Isles of the same all which Regions are sometimes comprehended under the general term of Greece yea in Aegypt also and it is probable that the wind which we have said in the former Proposition bloweth in Congo scituate beyond the Aequator that that wind that bloweth from the North between March and September is the same with these Etesian winds of the Grecians or at least proceed from the same cause as also that North wind which we have said bloweth in the same Months in the Kingdom of Guzurat from March to September these I say we ought to Determine to proceed from the dissolved Snows of the Mountains of Asia termed the Sarmatian Mountains and the Girdle of the World and therefore we reckon it amongst the Motions The second Anniversary wind of the Grecians is the Chelidonian which they relate to begin after Winter but have not noted the day of the beginning Now these are South winds contrary to the Canicular or Etesian winds and very weak without violence Moreover inconstant and not so continual whence they render the Sea calm Aristotle relateth that they blow by Course even unto the middle of Summer until the Northern Canicular Etesian winds begin but that they are not so much discerned The Cause also of these winds is the dissolving of the Snow on the Mountains of Monomotapa which Snow the Sun rarifyeth because that in the time of Winter and that of Greece they have Summer the Sun passing through the Southern parts of the Zodiack and this wind is also found in Congo Aegypt and the Aegean
the Shore and in the Harbours as also greater Ships come to Zeland than to Holland Proposition V. If a Ship be so burdened that its weight or gravity be almost equal to the weight or gravity of the Sea water equal to the capacity of the Ship yet it sinketh not in the Sea but when it shall be brought into any Rivers it sinketh to the bottom The reason is because the Water of Rivers is lighter than the Water of the Sea Therefore if the weight of the laden Ship be almost equal to the gravity of the Marine Water therefore it shall be greater than the gravity of River Water and so the Ship shall be sunk in the River or carried to the bottom Many Ships for this reason have perished which have been over laden by unskilful Mariners or not unburdened in the Mouths of the Rivers Now how much this gravity should be is known from the proportion of the Sea Water to River Water Proposition VI. Any body swiming on the water hath that weight that the watery Moles hath equal to the demergent part of this body Corollary The part of the Ship being given which is under Water the weight of the whole burdened Ship may be found For the gravity of the Water is known or is easy to be found For Example one Cubick foot of Water is 70 li. and therefore if the part of the Ship under Water be 2000 Cubick foot therefore the gravity of the Watery Moles which is equal to the part of the Ship under Water shall be 140000 li. So much also shall be the weight of the Ship laded Proposition VII A Ship is most commonly accounted commodiously to carry that quantity of burden whose gravity is equal to the gravity of half the Moles of water which the Ship can contain For Example if the Ship can carry 500000 Tun of Water whereof every one is accounted at 2000 li. weight that is if it contain the Water of 1000000000 li. You may conveniently lade it with the burden of 250000 Tuns 1000000000. In this sense you must understand it when they say that Ships are so many Tuns or carry so many Lasts The Spanish Carracts carry 1200 Lasts the greatest Holland Indian Ship 800 Lasts Proposition VIII By how much the Weight of the Ship laded is greater by so much the less it is tossed with storms and tempests A laded Ship is not so subject to be tossed in Tempests as when not laden Ships of 2000 Tuns are not in danger of those Tempests which are vexatious to Ships of 300 or 500 Tuns Much more might be said but this may suffice for Elements CHAP. XXXVII Of the third and chief Part of the Nautick Aâ—t viz. the Art of Guiding or Navigating of a Ship and its subdivision of the Four Parts Proposition I. That is termed the Art of Guiding or Navigating of a Ship which teacheth unto what quarters a Ship is to be Guided in any scituation of it in the Sea that it may come to the purposed place without danger I Make Four Parts of it Of the Guiding or Steering of Ships 1. Special Geography that is the knowledge of a space intercepted between two places and the properties of the same 2. The knowledge of the quarters in every place 3. The cognition of the Line by which the Ship is to be brought from one place to the other for there are between every two places infinite intercepted Lines this part is termed Histriodromice 4. The knowledge of the scituation of every place unto which by Sailing we arrive or how these places are scituated unto that place unto which the Ship is to be directed This is the chief part of the Art of Sailing Proposition II. The cognition of the intermedial space comprehendeth these things Things observed from Special Geography and Nautical Maps 1. The scituations of the places the procurrences of Angles the bending of the Shores the aspect of Promontories Mountains Bays the depths of Waters the sight of Islands and Coasts of Lands All which are known from Special Geography and Nautical Maps but most easily and with greatest certainty from observation and frequent Navigation through any tract of Land which is the only Cause that some Mariners are more fit to guide a Ship to such place and others to another 2. The knowledge of the General and Special Winds and those that are peculiar unto any place which is exceeding necessary in Navigations which are undertaken in the Torrid Zone and adjacent places For here a general Wind and in many places Anniversary Winds which we have shewed to be called Moussons Motions in our XX. Chapter do rule which either promote or hinder Navigation For the Indian Sea is Sailed by these Anniversary Winds Of these and also of storms and tempests we have spoken in the XX. Chapter See Chap. 20. 3. The Condition of the Motion of the Seas in every tract also the quarter of it into which quarter the Sea and Waves are born for they carry the Ship with them The diversity of those Motions in many places we have shewed in the XVII Chap. See Chap. 17. First of all there is required a knowledge of the Ship and reflux of the Sea and the time or hour of the increase and decrease at every day the supputation of which is termed the reckoning of the Tides for except a Master know this the Ship is often much hazarded when it is near Shores or Sands whereof most in the greatest increase of the Water do not hinder the passage of the Ship but most do in the decrease So with a flux the Navigation is more facile to the Shore and to the inlets of Rivers and the contrary is discovered in the reflux Of the supputation of this time we have spoken a little in the Proposition of the XVII Chapter CHAP. XXXVIII Of the knowledge of places viz. the North South East and West and the intermedial quarters Proposition I. In every place to know the Plagas viz. the North South East and West and the intermedial quarters The quarters very neccessary in Navigation THe knowledge of this is the most necessary of all the Problems of the whole Art of Navigation seeing that a Ship must be guided unto some quarter which if unknown there can be no direction and the very defect of this knowledge alone hindred the Navigation of the Ancients and in this is the chief difference between the Ancient and Modern Navigation For the Ancients had not a Method by which at any time in the large Ocean they might know where was the North where the South and the other quarters Therefore they could not nor durst they commit themselves to the vast Ocean but only coasted the Shores so that they might know the quarters from other signs The Ancients had a double Method of finding out the quarters The Ancients had a double Method which serveth also to the Modern Navigation of finding out the quarters
It s chief places are 1. Genoua seated on the Sea-shoar at the foot of high Mountains between two Rivers built by Janus the first Inhabiter of Italy it is as also its whole State governed in form of a Republick The City for its stately Buildings makes it to be termed by the Italians Genoua la Superba having beautiful Palaces with delightful Gardens it s Strada Nova being a spacious long and strait Street on each side imbellished with stately Palaces which for the most part are supported by vast Pillars of Marble not to be parallel'd in the World amongst which may be reckoned the Jesuits Colledge than which nothing can be more polite The Palace of the Prince d'Orta with its famous Bird-cage deserves a particular mention nor is its new Mould to be forgotten which hath made the Port twice as capacious and much safer than before The City is in circuit about eight miles defended besides its Walls by a strong and fair Castle it is exceeding populous and rich its Inhabitants being observed to be the greatest Vsurers and Money-mongers in the World which is a great obstruction to its Trade 2. Savona of note for the interview between Ferdinand of Spain and Lewis the 12th of France Anno 1507. 3. Sarzana 4. Arbengue and 5. Vintimiglia Estate of Montferat The Estate or Country of MONTFERAT doth in part belong to the Duke of Mantoua and the rest to the Duke of Savoy a Mountainous Country but of a fertil Soyl. It is encompassed with the Appenine Hills Millain and Piedmont the River Tenarus parts the possessions of the Duke of Mantoua from that of Savoy its chief places are 1. Alba where Pertinax the Roman Emperour was born 2. St. Vas built by the first Duke of Mantoua 3. Casal and 4. Trin fair Cities with some others In the Lower LOMBARDY we have placed the Estates of Venice Mantoua Modena Parma Placenza and Trent of which in order Estates of Venice The Estates of the Duke of VENICE may be divided into several Parts or Provinces as they lye on firm Land and on the Sea which are taken notice of in the Geographical Tables of Italy the chief of which I shall here only name as I have occasion to treat of the Cities 1. Trevigi seated in the Province of Marche Trevisane a City of some account as commodious for an Inland Trade 2. Bressia seated in the Province of Bressan esteemed the second City for largeness and beauty in all Lombardy it is more famous in her Archbishop who is Earl Marquess and Duke than in any matter of trade 3. Brescello in the Province of Bressan famous for the death of Otho the Roman Emperour 4. Este in the Province of Padouan from whence came the late Dukes of Ferrara 5. Crema in the Province of Cremase seated on the River Serio and in a very fertil Soyl a beautiful and rich City adorned with stately Edifices and about two Furlongs from the City towards the Castle is a stately Temple called Sancta Maria del la Cruce a structure of great beauty and richly adorned with Pictures c. a place much frequented for Devotion sake this City may be termed a strong Fortress against the Millanois upon which it borders 6. Vicenzo in the Province of Vicentin seated at the bottom of a Hill which commands the City being well watered with Rivers which uniting themselves not far distant from the City form a Navigable River capable to receive Vessels of a considerable burthen which passing by Padua falls into the Sea by Venice It is about four miles in circuit beautified with stately Palaces Temples and Publick buildings it is very populous and inhabited by Nobility and Gentry who contrary to the custom of the Italians delight to Travel here is a famous Theater capable to receive five thousand People whose Stage is so represented by Prospective that it seems a stately City being modelled by the famous Architect Andreo Paladio then its Piazza a spacious and beautiful place 7. Verona in the Province of Veronois a fair large and beautiful City seated on the Athesis a place of great strength as well by Nature as Art and boasteth chiefly of its yet standing Amphitheater capable to receive about 80000 Persons 8. Padua in the Province of Padouan seated in the midst of a spacious Plain about 20 miles distant from the Sea It is a place of good strength being inclosed with double Walls and deep Ditches besides its Bulwarks and Fortifications it was built by Antenor Brother to Priam King of Troy whose Tomb is here yet to be seen to this City do belong seven Gates several Stone-Bridges and five spacious Piazza's it is every where beautified with many splendid Edifices as well private as publick also its Churches are no less beautiful and rich of which the Domo or Cathedral is chief its Hall of Justice is a spacious and stately structure near to which are the Schools for Learning but this City is now most famous for its Vniversity of Physicians 9. Bergamo in Bergamasse adjoyning to Cremase 10. Feltri in Feltrin towards the Bishoprick of Trent and 11. Rovigo in the Polesine of Rovigo far engaged towards the Estates of the Church And these Provinces may properly be comprehended under one part to wit Marche Trevisane The chief Rivers in this Country are Addua Athesis Breuta and Olius Estates of Frioli The second part in this Estate of Venice is FRIOLANI encompassed with Histria the Alpes Trevigiana and the Adriatick Sea Its chief places are 1. Aquilegia seated on the Natisco a place not very well inhabited 2. Cuidad de Austria built by Julius Caesar 3. Palma la Nova the best fortified place in all Italy and 4. Tergestum or Treist seated nigh the Sea-shoar The chief Rivers are Natisco Risanus and Lizonsus The third and last part of this Estate shall be ISTRIA of an unhealthful Air. It s chief places are 1. Cabo d'Istria 2. Polo 3. Cita Nuova and 4. Parenzo But to proceed to Venice the principal City of this Republick City of Venice The City of VENICE is seated at the bottom of the Adriatick Sea or Gulph of Venice built on 72 Islands being distant from the main Land five miles and defended from the fury of the Sea by a Bank of sixty miles in length through which in seven places there are passages broken for small Vessels save only at Malamocco and the Castle of Leo which are strongly fortified it is about eight miles in circuit having for the conveniency of the Inhabitants about 4000 Bridges amongst which that of Rialto is the chief built over the Grand Canal which for length breadth and height may compare with any in the World and for the passage of People to and fro here are said to be employed about 10 or 12000 Gondelos all its Buildings are fair and beautiful here are 200 particular places built of Marble adorned with Columns Statues and Pictures of great
of the Dutchy of Lancaster and hath a Market on Saturdays Doncaster seated on the Done and on the great Road to London Doncaster an ancient Town of good Antiquity once defended by a Castle now reduced to ruins and in Anno 759 this Town suffered much great part with its Cittadel being consumed with Fire but was rebuilt with a fair Church erected in the place where the Cittadel stood It is a large well-built and inhabited Town Corporate governed by a Major and Aldermen enjoyeth a good Trade especially for Stockings Knit-Waistcoats Petticoats and Gloves and hath a very good Market for Corn Cattle and Provisions on Saturdays Selby honoured in giving birth to King Henry the First seated on the Owse Selby which gives passage for small Vessels to York which doth occasion it to be a Town of some Trade and hath a good Market for Provisions and Merchandize on Mondays Ponfract very delightfully seated in a dry tract of ground Pontfract a neat Town Corporate beautified with good Buildings was once strengthned with a strong and stately Castle which was demolished in the late Wars It is governed by a Major and Aldermen sends Burgesses to Parliament and hath a very great Market for Corn Cattle Provisions and divers Country-commodities on Saturdays Wakefield seated in a large Lordship so called having its Steward Wakefield It is a large Town of good antiquity beautified with well built Stone-houses it is a place well known for its Clothing here made and hath a great Market on Thursdays and Fridays for Cloth Corn Provisions and divers Country-commodities Leeds seated on the Are an ancient Town Leeds where the Kings had formerly their Royal Palace and here Oswy King of the Northumbers put to flight Penda the Mercian It is a large and well built Town Corporate governed by a Major and Aldermen with sub-Officers electeth Parliament men is very well inhabited especially by wealthy Clothiers who drive a great Trade for their Cloth and hath two considerable Markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays which are well traded unto for Corn Provisions Woollen-Cloth and divers good Commodities Knaresbrough Knaresbrough delightfully seated on the Nid and on a ragged rough Rock on which is seated a Castle It is a well-built Town Corporate electing Parliament men and hath a good Market for Corn and Provisions on Wednesdays Nigh unto this place in a Moorish boggy-ground ariseth a Spring of Vitrioline tast and odour and not far off is also a Sulphur-Well which is good for several Diseases here is also a droping petrefying-Well which turns Wood Moss c. into Stone Rippon Rippon feated between the Yore and a Branch thereof over which are two Bridges It is a place of good antiquity and of much same for its Religious Houses but especially for its stately Monastery built by Wilfrid Archbishop of York It is at present a large and well-built Town Corporate governed by a Major and Aldermen hath the election of Parliament men the Town is well inhabited by Gentry and its Market which is on Thursdays is very great for Cattle Corn Provisions and chiefly for Wool which is much bought up by the Cloathiers of Leeds This Town is beautified with a very fine Cathedral Church with a lofty Spire-Steeple and in this Church was St. Winfrids Needle a place famous in our Fore-fathers days being a narrow Hole in the close Vaulted-room under ground in which place as 't is reported but not Recorded for Truth Womens Honesty was used to be tried for according to the story those that were Chast could easily pass through but the kind-hearted Souls were by an unknown means held fast and could not pass through WALES THE Island of great Britain in ancient time was severed into three Parts the first fairest and greatest contained all within the French Seas the Rivers of Severn Dee and Humber and was called Lhoyger which name in Welsh it still retaineth and in English England The second took up all the Land Northwards from the Humber to the Orkney Isles and was called Mare Caledonium or Deucaledonium and now Scotland And the third lying between the Irish Seas the Rivers of Severn and Dee was anciently called Cambria and now Wales to which the Britains being outed of their Country were forced to retire and there fortified themselves The Bounds This Country of Wales is bounded on all sides by the Sea except towards England from which it is severed by the River Dee and a Line drawn to the River Wye but anciently it was extended to the River Severn Eastward for Offa King of the Mercians forced them to quit the Plain Countries beyond that River which now is called the Marches of Wales and to betake themselves to the Mountains which he caused to be separated from England by a great Ditch called Offa's Dike in Welsh Claudh Offa in many places yet to be seen which Dike beginneth at the influx of the Wye into the Severn and reacheth unto Chester which is about 84 miles where the Dee disburthens it self into the Sea And over this Dike by a Law made by Harald no Welshman was permitted to pass with a Weapon upon pain of losing his Right hand Very Mountainous and Barren The whole Country is Mountainous and Barren yet affordeth several good Commodities and is not without many fertil Valleys which bear good Corn and breed great abundance of small Cattle with which they furnish England as also with Butter Cheese Woollen-Cloths called Welsh-Frizes Cottons Bays Herrings both White and Red Calve-skins Hides Hony Wax c. and the Country is well stored with Quarries of Free-stone for building and Mill-stones as also hath Mines of Lead Lead-Oar Coals and some of Silver and Tin And these Commodities are generally brought to Shrewsbury Oswestre Bristol Worcester and other adjacent parts and thence dispersed into England It s Ancient division About the year of Christ 870 Rodericus Magnus King of Wales divided this Country into three Regions Territories or Talaiths which were so many Kingdoms to wit Gwineth Venedotia or North-Wales and this part he gave to Anarawd his eldest Son Deheubarth or South-Wales which he gave to Cadelh his second Son and Powis or Powis-Land which he gave to Mervin his third Son and in each of these three Kingdoms he appointed a Royal Palace as at Aberffraw in the Isle of Anglesey for North-Wales at Dynefar or Dynevowr-Castle not far from Carmarthen for South-Wales and at Matravan in Montgomery-shire for Powis-Land Present division But at present according to Act of Parliament made in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth it is severed into two Parts to wit North-Wales and South-Wales both which have as it were devoured all Powis-Land and in each of these parts there are 6 Counties in the North those of Anglesey Caernarvon Denbigh Flint Merioneth and Montgomery and in the South those of Brecknock Cardigan Carmarden Glamorgan Pembroke and Radnor Again Wales like unto
nor costly in their Apparels or Habitations they are very Religious and neglect not the Church yet as all People they are inclined to Venery Contentions and Strifes they are not much addicted unto living in Amity together and for Recreation they are so much addicted to the musick of the Violin that there is scarce any Family but is provided therewith The Government As to the Government for Spiritual Affairs it hath a Bishop who at present is the Right Reverend Dr. Henry Bridgman and is called Lord Bishop of Sodore and for Temporal Affairs a Lieutenant or Governour with two Deemsters or Judges a Controller a Clerk of the Rolls a Receiver a Water-Bailiff an Attorney-General and other Officers And to their further assistance as occasion requireth for the deciding of Controversies c. are usually called the 24 Keys of the Isle especially once every year to wit upon Midsomer-day at St. Johns Chapel to the Tinewild-Court where upon a Hill adjoyning to the said Chapel the Inhabitants of the Isle being there assembled hear the Laws and Ordinances agreed upon before in the Chapel which is performed with no small ceremony and pomp especially if the Lord of the Isle be present who is seated on a Chair of State with a Canopy over his head and attended by his Barons viz. the Bishop the Deemsters the Gentry and the Yeomanry The present Lord of the Isle who is called King in Man is the Right Honourable Charles Stanley Earl of Darby Baron Strange of Knocking and Mohan c. a Dignity hereditary to him and his Heirs Good Orders observed in their Law The Inhabitants have a great happiness above those of England in that they are freed from necessary and chargeable Suits and heavy Fees of the Lawyers for here no Judge or Clerks take any thing for drawing up Orders or making up Processes all Controversies being ended by the Deemsters without Writings or matter of Charge and for the deciding the same they have their several Courts kept at certain times of the year for the Inhabitants of such a sheading or division of the Isle where they have particular Officers which do observe good Rules and Orders The People do here observe two very good Customs the one in not permitting the Poor to get their living by Begging and the other that when the Women go abroad they begirt themselves with their Winding-sheet to put them in mind of their Mortality This Isle is severed into two parts viz. South and North whereof the Inhabitants of the one have affinity with the Scots and the other with the Irish And in these parts are numbred 17 Parishes and many Villages is desended by two Castles and for intercourse of Traffick hath five Market-Towns It s chief places are It s chief places Douglas Douglas the best Peopled Town and of the greatest resort by reason of its commodious Haven unto which the French and others come to Traffick with them for their Commodities as aforesaid and for the security of the Harbour here is a Block-house Russin Russin or Castle-Town where within a small Isle Pope Gregory the Fourteenth instituted an Episcopal See It is fortified with a strong Castle but of no great importance as to the security of the place by reason of its distance from the rocky and shallow Harbour Laxi-Town Laxi-Town seated on a Bay so called Ramsey Ramsey scituate on the Sea where it hath a Haven which for defence hath some Guns mounted thereon Peel Peel or Peel-Castle seated in St. Patricks-Isle a place of great strength towards the Sea and defended by a Castle being a Market-Town as are the former Amongst its other places are these following Balacuri honoured with the Palace of the Bishop Kirh-Androw Kirk-Patriark Kirk-Balalough Kirk-Mighill Kirk-Lennon Kirk-Brodon Kirk-Santon and Kirk-Christ The Isle of Jersey described JERSEY seated near the Coast of Normandy in France and opposite to Hantshire in England of which it is a part it is a place of good strength as well by Nature as Art as being fenced about with Shelves and Rocks and defended by several Castlos It is an Isle of a fertil Soil and the more by reason of their rich manuring it bearing good crops of Corn and other Grain and breeding store of Cattle especially good Flocks of Sheep whose Wool is fine of which they make Jersey-Stockings in great plenty It is ill clothed with Wood instead of which they use for Fuel a kind of Sea-weed which they call Vraic which plentifully groweth on the Rocks and in the craggy Islands and this being dried they burn and with the Ashes they manure the Land Nor are they permitted to gather it but in the Spring and Summer-season and then upon certain days according to the appointment of the Magistrates It s extent This Isle containeth in length from Mount-Orguil-Castle in the East to Sentwon-pool in the West about 10 miles and in breadth from Dubon-point in the South to Plymouth-Bay in the North about 6 and in circumference about 38 miles It s Air and temperature It is blest with a sweet temperate and wholsom Air not being subject to any disease except Agues in September It is well watered with fresh Streams and hath great plenty of Fruit and the Inhabitants who are much of the nature of the French in their Language Manners c. live very happily enjoy the fruits of their labour addicting themselves to Fishing but principally to the Manufacture of Stockings which finds good vent in England and elsewhere The Government of this Isle is as followeth Government viz. a Governour or Captain is sent over by the King of England who appointed Sub-Officers as a Bailiff who together with twelve Jurates or sworn Assistants which are elected our of the 12 Parishes by the choice of the Inhabitants sit and administer Justice in Civil Causes but in Criminal matters he sitteth with seven of them and in Causes of Conscience which are to be decided by reason and equity with only three This Isle is every where furnished with commodious Creeks and Havens and is garnished with twelve Parishes besides several Villages It s chief places It s chief places are St. Hillares so called from St. Hillary Bishop of Poictiers St. Hillares who was hither banished and here interr'd a Town seated on the Sea-shoar nigh unto which is a small Isle so called which is fortified with a Garrison and this Town is the principal in the Isle for its Market Commerce plenty of Inhabitants and for being the place where the Courts of Judicature are kept St. Albans seated not far from the Sea where it hath a a Haven St. Albans as also a small Isle so called St. Clement seated on an Arm of the Sea St. Clements not far from which is the Castle of Mount-Orguil seated on a steep Rock on the Eastern-shoar Mount-Orguil nigh unto which is a place called the Rock and
another called St. Katharines-point also these Towns Trinity St. Johns St. Lawrence St. Brelade St. Peters St. Owen St. Maries and Greve de Leke not far from which on the North-shoar is seated the strong Castle of Groness The Isles of Garnsey described GARNSEY seated about 15 miles North-west from Jersey and on the same Coast an Isle not so large nor altogether so fertil as Jersey by reason the Inhabitants do not addict themselves so much to cultivating and manuring it as they do to Traffick for which this is more eminent yet doth it in a liberal manner answer the Husbandmans labour bringing forth good increase and breeding good store of Cattle This Isle is seated very high having many steep Rocks amongst which is found a hard and sharp Stone called Emerill which is used by Lapidaries for the cleansing cutting and burnishing their precious Stones as also by Glasiers for the cutting their Glafs And for many reasons this Isle may be preferred before Jersey as for its greater strength more commodious Havens which are better resorted unto by Merchants and for that it suffereth neither Toad Snake Adder or any other venemous Creature to live which the other doth It s Government The Government of this Isle as also the People as to their Language Customs c. are much the same as in Jersey Chief places In this Isle are numbred ten Parish Churches besides Villages the chief amongst which are St. Peters a Town not very large St. Peters but well inhabited and replenished with Merchants It is a place of good strength for the entry of the Haven which is Rocky is fortified on both sides with Castles as also by Block-houses of which that on the right hand called Cornet is seated on a high Rock which at every High-water is encompassed with the Sea and here resideth the Governour as also for the generality the Souldiers which are kept for the security of the Isle and is well provided with all sorts of Ammunition for War if occasion should so happen It s other places are Tortuville St. Saviours Other places St. Andrews Trinity St. Martins St. Maries St. Sampsons and St. Michaels On the West part of the Isle near the Sea is a Lake of about a mile and an half in compass which is well replenished with Fish especially Carps This Island as also that of Jersey with several other small ones on the Coast of Normandy and Britain are under the Diocess of Winchester amongst which Isies are those of Serke Serk-Isle encompassed with steep Rocks And Jethew which serveth as a Park for the Governour of Garnsey Jethew-Isle to feed Cattle to keep Deer Coneys and Phesants and was formerly a solitary place of Regular Canons and after for the Franciscan Friars Isle of Wight ISLE of WIGHT opposite to Hantshire of which it is a part already treated of in the description of the said County PORTLAND Portland-Isle a small Isle adjoyning to the County of Dorset of which it is also a part and already there treated of And besides these Isles there are divers others which may not so properly be ranged under these four heads aforesaid and such are those of Londay Londay-Isle seated over against Devonshire about two miles in length and as much in breadth very fertil and strong whose chief place beareth the same name Chaldey and Dennoy Isles Also Chaldey and Dennoy all in the Severn Sea Isles of Sheppey and Thanet Also the Isles of SHEPPY and THANET in and near Kent already taken notice of and lastly those of FARN COCKET and holy-HOLY-ISLAND on the Coast of Northumberland likewise there treated of Thus having given a Description of EVROPE we shall in the next place take a View of ASIA ASIA as it is divided into Firm Land whereof the principal Paris are TURKEY in ASIA which comprehendeth the parts and chief places of Anatolia Smyrna Ephesus Lampsaco Bursa Scutari Tripoli Sourie Aleppo Tripoli Damascus Sayd Diarbeck Caraemit Achanchive Samosat Turcomanie Erzerum Cars Majaferequin GEORGIE which comprehendeth the parts and chief places of Mingrelie Fazze Savatopoli Gurgistan Cori. Zulrie Chipeche Stranu Little Turcomanie Derbent ARABIA with its parts and chief places of Arabia the Stony Busseret Moab Arabia the Desert Anna. Arabia the Happy Medina Mecca Aden PERSIA with its chief Provinces and places of Servan Tauris Gilan Gilan Gorgian Gorgian Churdistan Choy Ayrack Hispahan Casbin Chorazan Kayen Chusistan Souster Fars Chiraef Kherman Giroft Sablestan Zarani INDIA as it is divided into the Empire of the GREAT MO GOL wherein are comprehended divers Kingdoms the chief of which are Attock Attock Calul Cabul Lahor Lahor Delly Delly Agra Agra Malway Rantipore Guzurate or Cambaya Surat Cambava Bengala Bengala Decan Goa Peninsula of INDIA without the Ganges with its several Kingdoms c. the chief of which are Golconda Golconda Bisnagar Bisnagar Harsingue Malabar Calicut Peninsula of INDIA within the Ganges with its Kingdoms and chief places of Pegu Pegu Boldia Siam Banckock Malacca Malacca Cochinchina Pulocacein Tunquin Keccio CHINA with its chief Provinces and Cities of Pequin Pequin Nanquin Nanquin Scianton Xanton Quicheo Quicheo Canton Canton Chequian Chequian TARTARIA with its five Parts and chief places of Tartaria Deserta Cumbalich Usbeck Jarcham Turchestan Chialis Cathay Cambalu True Tartaria Tartan ISLES to wit In the Ocean as the Isles of JAPON as Niphon Meaco Xicoco Sanuqui Ximo Bungo PHILLIPPINE Isles as Luson Luson Mindanao Mindanao Isles of MOLUCCO'S as Molucques Gamma Celebes Celebes Gilolo Gilolo Isles of SONDE as Sumatra Achem Aru. Borneo Borneo Java Bantarâ— Jacatra Isles of LARRONS or THEVES Deserte Isles of CEVLAN Colombo Isles of the MALDIVES Tilla don Matis In the Mediterranean Sea as In the LEVANT Sea as Cvprus Famagouste Rhodes Rhodes Scarpanto Scarpanto In the ARCHIPELAGO as Scio Scio. Tenedo Metelin Samo Samo Nicaria Nicaria Lango Lango Stampalia Stampalia ASIA ASIA is one of the Tripartite division of our Continent and if we consider the advantages which the Author oâ— Nature hath given it if the Actions which have passed in it both before and after the Flood Asia the first place of Monarchies of all Religions c. that the first Monarchies and all Religions have here had their beginnings that the chief Mysteries both of the Old and New Law have there been laid open we may be induced to prefer in before all other parts either of the one or other Continent And as of the two Continents ours is much the greater the more noble and most considerable so is Asia among the three parts of our Continent the Greatest the most Oriental the most Temperate and the Richest It s Extent from West to East is from the 55th Meridian or degree of Longitude unto the 180 containing 125 degrees of Longitude which are about 2500 of our common Leagues It s length and breadth and from South to North from the Equator to the 72 Parallel or
degree of Latitude which is 72 degrees of Latitude and makes about 1800 of our Leagues In this length and breadth we do not comprehend the Islands which belong to Asia which are as great as rich and possibly as numerous as all the rest of the Universe It s Scituation It s Scituation for the most part is between the Circular Tropick of Cancer and the Circle of the Artick Pole scarce extending it self beyond this but surpassing the other in divers of its Isles which it expands under the Equator so that almost all Asia is scituate in the Temperate Zone what it hath under the Torrid being either Peninsula's or Isles which the Waters and Sea may easily refresh Asia the richest of all the four Parts ASIA being the greatest the best and most temperate part of our Continent it must by consequence be the richest which not only appears in the goodness and excellencies of its Grains Vines Fruits Herbs c. but likewise in its great quantities of Gold Silver Precious Stones Spices Drugs and other Commodities and Rarities which it sends forth and communicates to other parts and particularly to Europe A Generall MAPP of ASIA Designed by MOUNSIE R SANSON Geographer to the FRENCH KING Rendred into English Ilustrated by RIC BLOME By his MAJtis Especial Command LONDON Printed for Ric Blome 1669 To The Rt. Noble Christopher Duke of Albemarle Earle of Torington Baron Monk of Potheridge Beauchamp and Teys Kt. of ye. most noble order of the Garter Lord Leivtenant of Devon-shire Ess ex Captaine of his Matys Guards of Horse one of the Gentlemen of his Bed-Chamber c one of the Lords of his most honble Privy Councell This Mapp is most humbly D.D. by R. B It s Name The Name of ASIA is derived diversly by sundry Authors but whether it took its name from a Virgin-Woman or a Philosopher whether from some City Country or Marish or from whatever it were most certain it is that that Name was first known to the Greeks on that Coast opposite to them towards the East afterwards it was given to that Region which extends to the Euphrates and which is called Asia Minor and was communicated to all the most Oriental Regions of our Continent Its Bounds Its Bounds are towards the North with the Northern frozen or Scythian Ocean to wit that which washes Tartary on the East and South with the Oriental or Indian Ocean the Parts of which are the Seas of China India and Arabia Towards the West Asia is separated from Africa by the Red-Sea from the Streight of Babel-Mandel unto the Isthmus of Suez and from Europe by the Archipelago by the Sea of Marmora and by the Black-Sea drawing a Line cross all these Seas and passing by the Streight of Galipoli or the Dardanelles by the Streight of Constantinople or Chanel of the Black-Sea by the Streight of Caffa or Vospero the Line continuing by the Sea of Zabaque and by the Rivers of Don or Tana of Volga and of Oby where they are joyned the nearest one to another It s division Asia may be divided into firm Land and Islands the firm Land comprehends the Kingdoms of Turkey in Asia Arahia Persia India China and Tartary We will follow this order and then end with the Isles TURKY in ASIA or that which the Grand Signior doth possess in whole or in part in ASIA wherein are several Regions Countries Isies c. may be considered as they lie Westernly and towards EUROPE as ANATOLIA or ASIA MINOR wherein are comprised several Provinces all which are at present by the Grand Signior included under four Beglerbeglies that is Lord Lieutenants to wit those of Anatolia particularly so called Smyrna Ephesus Pergama Troya Burfia Comana Chaloedoine Scutari Sinopi Castele Angouri Sardis Philadelphia Caramania Archalich Side Nigdia Tarsus Satalia Antiochia Tocat Amasia Tocat Trebisonde Caisaria Caraisar Marast Arsingan Sukas Aladuli Vardar Adana Maaraz Manbeg South-westernly as Divers ISLES as they lie in the ARCHIPELAGO MEDITERRANEAN and AEGEAN Seas the chief of which are Cyprus Nicosia Paphos Salamis Amathus Arsinoe Famagusta Rhodes Rhodes Metelin of old Lesbos Metelino Medina Samos Samo Tenedos Tenedos Scarpante Scarpante Lero Lero Negropont Colchis Coos Coos Lero Lero Pathmos Pathmos Scio or Chios Scio Icaria of old Icarus Nicaria Southernly and regarding Arabia and the Mediterranean Sea as SOURIA or SYRIA with its parts of Syria Propria Aleppo Aman Zeugma Antioch Samosat Hemz or Emsa Hierapolis Alexandretetts Phoenicia Tripoli Sayd or Sidon Tyre or Sor Damascus Acre Palestine formerly Judea Canaan or the Holy-Land Jerusalem Samaria Naplouse Gaza Joppa or Jussa Southernly and towards Arabia Deserta as ASSYRIA now DIARBECK with its parts of Chaldea or Babylonia now Yerack Bagded or Babylon Balsera Cousa Orchoe Sipparum Mesopotamia or the particular Diarbeck Orpha Caraemid Merdin Asanchif Carra Sumiscasack Virta Assyria now Arzerum Mosul of old Ninive Schiarazur Easternly and regarding Persia as TURCOMANIA with its parts of Turoomans Erzerum Cars Curdes Schildir Bitlis Georgiens Derbent Tiflis North-Easternly and towards the Caspian Sea as GEORGIA with its parts of Avogasia St. Sophia Mingrelie Phazza Savatopoli Gurgistaâ— Cori Bassachiuch Quiria Zitrach Stranu Chipicha Northernly and towards Moscovy as COMANIA Asof Maurolaco Serent â—VERSâ—â— SECVNDIS To the R t honble Heanage Earle of Winchelseâ— Vis t Maidstone Baron Fitz Herbert of Eastwell Lord of the Royall Mannour of Wye and Lord Leiutenant of Kent and 〈◊〉 This Mapp is humbly D. D by R. B A MAPP of THE ESTATES of the TURKISH EMPIRE in ASIA and EUROPE Designed by Mon sr Sanson Geographer to the French King Turky in Asia UNDER the name of TVRKY in ASIA we understand not all which the Great Turk possesses but only certain Regions which he alone possesses or if there be any Estates intermixed they are inconsiderable And in this Turky we shall find Anatolia which the Ancients called Asia Minor the greater Souria which the Ancients called Syria the Great Turcomania by the Ancients called Armenia the Great then Diarbeck which answers to Mesopotamia and to divers parts of Assyria and the Chaldea or Babylonia of the Ancients ANATOLIA is that great Peninsula which is washed on the North by the Black-Sea Mare Major or Euxine Sea and on the South by that part of the Mediterranean which we call the Levant Sea which extends Westward to the Archipelago or Aegean Sea and thence to the Euphrates which bounds it on the East The Parts of Asia Minor or Anatolia The Ancients divided this Great Asia Minor into many lesser Regions of which the principal are viz. Pontus Bithynia Little Asia Minor into Lycia Galatia Pamphilia Cappadocia Cilicia Caria Ionia Aeolis Lydia Phrygia Major and Minor Paphlagonia Lycaonia Pysidia Armenia Minor Mysia the Isle of Rhodes c. But at present the Turks do in general call this Great Asia Minor Anatolia which signifies Orient That part of Anatolia which is
is scituate without the Red Sea at the beginning of the great Ocean and by the industry of the Inhabitants is made an Island fortified with a strong Castle which commands the Road. This City or Island is now become the Magazine for the Commodities of India Persia and Arabia Other Cities in Arabia Above Aden and farther in the main Land are many fair Cities as Laghi Agiaz Almachazane Sanaa and others subject to the Xecque of Mecca Laghi is not far from the Sea Agiaz or Hagias sometime gave its name to these quarters Almachazane is seated on the top of a very high Mountain and of a difficult access it hath a Cistern capable to hold Water to furnish a 100000 Men The Xecque ofttimes keeps Court here Sane or Sanaa stands at the foot of a Mountain and is one of the greatest fairest and strongest of Arabia having many Vineyards Meadows and Gardens within its Circuit Its Houses are well built its Vineyards and Gardens well cultivated its Walls 10 Cubits high and its Ramparts 20 Cubits thick It s Territory is watered with many Fountains produceth excellent Fruits and feeds the best Horses of Arabia Kingdom and City of Fartach its People and Trade Towards the East and almost 150 Leagues from Aden is Fartach a Kingdom and City near the Sea and having a Cape of the same name The Tarquins are valiant and their King defends himself couragiously against the Turks having seen their treatment to his Neighbours of Aden and Zibit The Ports of Dolfar which is the Turks and Pescher are the most renowned of this Coast and send forth the best Frankinsence of Arabia in great quantity Higher on the Coast and farther on the Land are the Cities and Kingdoms or as they call them the Sultanies of Gubel haman Alibmahi Amazirifden and others Other Cities and Kingdoms The rest of the Coast unto Cape de Raz-al-gate is very barren from Cape de Raz-al-gate unto that of Moccandon the Soil is the best of all Arabia and some would here alone confine the name of Hyaman which signifies Happy There are here many fair Cities both on the Sea-coast and higher in the Land one of chief Traffick between the East and Arabia the Happy was formerly called Sohar but this Trade was after transported to Ormus on the Persian side In our time it was restored to the Arabian side to wit at Mascates held by the Portugals Sohar and Mascates are between the Capes of Raz-al-gate and Moccandon and are not above 20 Leagues distant from each other Within the Land are Masfa a City and Kingdom Mirabat Sour or Lyr and others Beyond the Cape Moccandon and advancing towards the Mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates among many other places we have Elcatif or El-Catif a famous Port and which communicates its name to the adjacent Gulph which the ancients called Sinus Bersicus and we at present the Gulph of Balsora and Ormus Near Elcatif is Bahar whose Territory is called Bahareim or Baharem and the Isle and City before Baharem farther in the land is Mascalat a City and Kingdom Jemen likewise a Kingdom and City according to some Lazach or Lassach likewise a Kingdom and City where are of the best Horses of Arabia as at Sanaa Lassach Elcatif and some other are the Turks Elcatif is the ancient Gerra and that part of the Gulph nearest the City called Gerraticus Sinus and the Isle of Barem is the ancient Tylos There yet remains some Cities of which some have their Kings or Sultans others live in Republick which is very rare in Asia The Arabs Bengebres a free People Towards the middle of Arabia are the Arabs Bengebres a free People and which live only of the Prey and Tribute they force from their Neighbours yet possess they 200 or 250 Leagues of Country and are for the most part in the Mountains The Beduins towards Mecca are of the same nature bound about Arabia are a great number of Isles which belong unto it which are dispersed either in the Southern Ocean Red Sea or the Persian Gulph Arabian Isles in the Southern Ocean In the Southern Ocean are found three Isles which bear the name of COCCONATI seven by the name of ZENOBII and two by the name of Insulae AGATHOCLIS and lastly CVRIA and MVRIA where there is found white Tortoises whose Shells are great curiosities In the Red Sea In the Red Sea these Islands 1. CANARAN very hot but fruitful 2. DALAQVA being the largest of all in length 125 miles and not above 12 broad having a City of the same name where they gather Pearls And 3. and lastly the Samaritan Islands In the Persian Gulph In the Persian Gulph these Islands are found BAHAREM the most famous because it hath the Pearl-fishing the best in the Oriental parts This Isle is between Balsora and Ormus about a 100 or 120 Leagues from Balsora and 150 from Ormus It is near the Coast of Arabia and directly opposite to the Coast of Elcatif which is the Turks but the Isle of Baharem which is still the Persians once belonged to the Kingdom of Ormus The Waters here are almost all salt but near Manama the Capital City of the Island there are Springs of Fresh-water at the bottom of the Sea which the Divers go and fetch gathering it into Borracho's or Goats-skins with much cunning and bringing it forth of the Sea do afterwards sell it The Pearls of this Isle are very much esteemed both for their largeness and roundness and this fishing is yearly worth 500000 Ducats besides the value of 100000 and more which is diverted Those of the Isle of GIONFA are of no great value those of the other neighbouring Isles are less except it be at MASCATES 60 Leagues from Ormus They fish here all June July and August if they begin sooner the Pearls are unripe and not hard enough The Air of all Arabia is very healthful but not nor Rains it in some places above twice or thrice in 3 or 4 years but the abundance of the Dew makes their Fruits excellent The People of Arabia their Manners c. The People for the most part are of a mean stature lean swarthy complexioned effeminate voices very swift of foot and expert in the Bow and Dart. They first exercise themselves in Manufactures using all sort of Trade and Traffick far off and some addict themselves to Learning particularly to Philosophy Physick the Mathematicks and to Astrology there have been amongst them many Grammarians Rhetoricians Historians and Interpreters of the Alcoran which is in their Tongue and which hath made the Arabick Language spread itself through all the East at least in the most Southerly parts of Asia and part of Africa but little in Europe Those which range the Country are great Wanderers and greater Thieves they are divided into many Families which know each other and how to distinguish the one from the other Every Family how numerous soever it be hath a
from the Sea seated strongly on a Mountain with Walls of Free-stone it is well Peopled most following Dying Weaving and making of Cottons as they do at Brodra About this City are very fertil Fields which bring forth Wheat Barly Rice and Cotton in great abundance and out of the Mountains they find the Agats Cambaya 3. Cambaya seated on a River and on a Sandy place encompassed with a Wall of Free-stone about 10 Leagues in circuit its Streets are strait and broad its Houses fair and large having 12 Gates for entrance 3 large Market-places and 4 stately Cisterns large enough to keep Water for the Inhabitants all the year long They have also about this City 15 or 16 publick Gardens for the recreation of the Inhabitants being places of great pleasure and delight The Inhabitants are for the most part Pagans Benjans or Rasboutes This City is at the bottom of its Gulph and so famous and of so great Traffick that the Kingdom sometimes bears its name being frequented by most Nations where the English and Dutch keep a Factory Amadabad the Metropolis of Guazarete 4. Amadabad is the Metropolis of Guzurate being about 7 Leagues in compass a place of good strength the Buildings are very stately and fair especially the Mosques the Governours House and other publick Places the Streets are large and many is very populous and of a great Trade abounding in divers Indian Commodities It is seated on a small River which falls into the Indus about 45 Leagues from Surat and is by the English compared to London Here the Merchants pay no Custom the Governour of this City is Vice-Roy of all Guzurate being answerable for what he doth to none but the Great Mogoll he liveth in a greater state than any King in Europe his Court large and stately his attendance great not stirring abroad without great pomp and state as in his attendance of Nobles and others in his Guards of Horse and Foot in his Elephants with brave furniture together with several playing on certain Instruments of Musick His Revenue is exceeding great which by some is accounted to be about Ten Millions of Gold yearly out of which he is at great expences as in the maintaining the charge of the Kingdom his own expences and the keeping 12000 Horse and 50 Elephants for the Mogolls service In and about this City there are great quantities of pleasant Gardens plentifully stored with variety of Fruit-trees 5. Diu is in an Island of the same name The City of Diu its Trade and Commodities and lieth about 20 Leagues from the River Indus and not far distant from the main Land It is now subject to the Portugals who have strongly fortified it This City is well built indifferent big and hath a great and good Haven being a place of great Trade and having a concourse of Merchants of divers Nations by reason of which it brings a great profit to the King of Portugal whose chief Commodities are Cotton-Linnen of sundry sorts which we call Callicoes Cocos-Oil Butter Pitch Tar Sugar-Candy Iron several sorts of curious Desks Chests Boxes Standishes which they make of Wood neatly carved guilded and variously coloured and wrought with Mother of Pearl also excellent fair Leather which is artificially wrought with Silks of all colours both with flowers and figures which is there and elsewhere used instead of Carpets and Coverlids 6. Bisantagan by reason of the fertility of the Country there adjacent is of good repute well peopled having in it about 20000 Houses 7. Cheytepour is seated on a small River the Inhabitants being Benjans who by Profession are Weavers who make great quantities of Cotton-Linnen Here are also several other Cities of less note as Nassary Gaudui and Balsara which are under the jurisdiction of Surat Agra a pleasant City and much frequented by the Mogoll from which they are not far distant 8. Agra seated on the River Gemini which falls into the Ganges of a very large extent and strongly fortified with a Wall and a great Ditch Its Houses are fair it Streets spacious several being inhabited by those of one Trade each Trade having its Street alloted it It hath a fair Market-place and hath for the accommodation of Merchants and Forreigners about 80 Caravanseraes or Inns which are large Houses wherein are good Lodgings and Ware-Houses for their Goods In this City there are about 70 great Mosques or Churches besides divers little ones in the greatest of which are several Tombs of their Saints Here are also a great quantity of Baths or Hot-Houses which are much used amongst them The Great Mogoll doth often change his dwelling so that there is scarce any City of note but what he hath abode in and where he hath not Palaces but there is none which hath his presence so much as this it being the most delightful of all others where he hath a sumptuous Palace as also several Gardens and Houses for his retirement without the City His Palace is seated upon the River Gemini and if some Authors may be credited is about 2 Leagues in compass it is very strong being encompassed with a strong Wall and a great Ditch or Moat having at every Gate a Draw-bridge which are strongly guarded For the description of this Palace I must be beholding to J. Albert de Mandelslo in his Book of Travels where he saith That being entred in at the Gate there is a spacious Street with Shops which leads to the Mogolls Palace to which there is several Gates which are called by several names Under the Gate called Cistery is the place of Judicature to which is adjoyned a place where all Ordinances and other Writs are sealed and where the Records are kept At the entrance of this Gate is the spacious Street aforesaid The Gate called Achobarke Derwage is a place of great respect with them and it is the place that the Singing and Dancing Women are lodged at who are kept for the diversion of the great Mogoll and his Family these Women dance before him naked There is another Gate which they call Dersame which leads to a River to which he comes every morning to worship the Sun at his rising Near this place it is that his Nobles and Officers about his Court come every day to do their submission to him to which place he comes every day except Fridays which is set apart for their Devotions as Sunday is with us to see the fighting of Lions Elephants Bulls and the like fierce Beasts which are here used for his recreation He speaketh of another Gate which leadeth into the Guard-Hall through which at the farther end of a Paved Court under a Portal there is a row of Silver Pillars where there is a continual Guard also kept to hinder all people except great Lords to enter any farther it leading to the Mogolls Lodgings which are exceeding rich and magnificent but above all is his Throne which is made of massie Gold and inriched with
Buildings have neither Morter nor Plaister here they build not without both They despise all Precious Stones and esteem more their Vessels of Earth which serve to keep their Drink which we make little esteem of but much value Precious Stones They drink nothing but what is hot those most delicate with us is cool Their Physick is sweet and odoriferous ours bitter and unpleasant They never let their sick Blood which with us is very common upon the least occasion These with several other customs contrary to ours do they observe amongst them which are too long to set down Nor want they fine Reasons to sustain their Customs better then ours they say we must conserve our Blood as one of the principal sustainers of our Life that we must not give a sick person that which is displeasant troublesom and sometimes affrights him to see much more to drink or eat that hot water augments the natural heat opens the conduits and quenches thirst that cold closes the Pores begets the Cough weakens the Stomach and quenches natural heat that their Vessels of which they make such esteem are necessary for many things in a Family which Precious Stones are not that their buildings may be easily taken down carried other where and erected in another manner when they will which ours cannot c. Amongst their Manners there are some very good they hate Games of Hazard they are very patient in bad fortune they maintain themselves honestly in their Poverty suffer hot themselves to be transported with Passion speak not ill of the absent know not what it is to swear lye or steal suffer easily all incommodities of heat cold famine or thirst yet all this rather to get the honor of being esteemed constant and vertuous then being so truly for they are subject to Vices as well as their Neighbors But lot us leave their Manners and speak a word of their Government which of late hath encountred a diversity and deserves to be known The general Estate of all these Isles was not long since divided into 66 Kingdoms of which the Isle of Japan alone had 47 which with some little Neighbouring Isles was made up 53 that of Ximo or Saycok had 9 according to its name and Chicock the other four The Estate of these Isles At present the order is much changed the whole Estates are fallen into the hands of one alone as it hath been formerly and is divided into 7 Provinces or principal parts and those 7 parts subdivided into many others which ought to pass under the name of Lordships some of which yet retain the name of Kingdoms others of Dutchies Principalities c. Those which command in the lesser parts are called generally Tones Caron ranges them in six different degree and calls them Kings Dukes Princes Knight-Barons Barons and Lords which according to our degrees of honour are distinguished by Kings Princes Dukes Marquisses Earls and Barons Caron makes 21 Kings some of which possess 1 or 2 and some 3 and in all 30 and odd of the 66 ancient Kingdoms After the Kings he puts 4 Dukes 6 Princes 17 Knight-Barons 50 Barons and 41 Lords giving each a Revenue of at least 100000 Livers per annum and so augmenting to the greatest to whom he gives 10 Millions and more and makes account that the Cube or Cesar of Japan spends at least 100 Millions of Crowns yearly as well in the expence of his house as in his Militia and what he disburses to the Tones The parts of Japan The names of the 7 principal parts into which the Estate of Japan is divided are Saycock Xicoco Jamasoit Jetsengo Jetsegen Quanto and Ochio Saycock with the Isles which belong to it is the nearest to China Chicock is on the East of Saycock the other five parts are in the great Island and extend themselves advancing from East to West Jamosoit being the most Western part of all and answering to the 12 Kingdoms which the King of Nangato or Amanguci hath formerly possessed Jetsenco and Jetsegen together make the middle of the great Island and apparently that which passed under the name of Tenza and contained 20 others Quanto and Ochio advance themselves from the East unto the streight of Sangaar which divides Japan from the Land of Jesso of which more anon Quanto comprehended 8 Kingdoms and Ochio the rest and in these parts there are abundance of Cities and Towns which I have observed in my Geographical Tables But because the diversity of names of Dayri or Emperor of Cube or Cesar of Tones or Kings Princes Dukes c. may breed some confusion to give a more particular knowledge we will say succinctly that before the year 1500 there was in all Japan only one Soveraign which they called Voo or Dayri that is Emperour The Isle or Land of JESSO The Isle of Jesso AFter the Isles of Japan let us speak a word of the Isle or Land of Jesso Yedzo or Jesso for divers Authors write its name differently some calling it the Isle some the Land abovesaid and to the East of Japan in the manner that the English Portugals and Hollanders deseribe it this Land must extend from Asia to America They say that from Tessoy which is the most Western point of it opposite to Coray and near Tartary advancing towards the East it is 60 days journey to the Province of Matzumay and that from Matzumay unto the most Easterly point and neerest America it is likewise 90 days journey so that it is 150 days journey from one end to the other which after only 8 Leagues a day will be 1200 of our Leagues It s breadth is not spoke of The streight of Tessoy The Streight of TESSOY which separates this Isle from Tartary hath great currents caused by the discharging of several Rivers which come rom the Northern parts and from Tartary and Jesso The other streight which separates it from America may in all likely-hood be that Anian and those two streights limit the two extremities of Jesso towards the midst must be the Province of Matzumay and apparently beyond the Streight which separates the Isle of Japan from the Land of Jesso and this streight may be called the streight of Sangaar which is the utmost East-Land of Japan The traverse or traject of this streight is not above 10 or 12 Leagues others say not above so many miles others there are affirm it no streight but an Isthmus which fixes Japan to Jesso and that both the one and the other together are but one Isle so difficult it is to find the truth of a thing so far distant This Isle or Land of JESSO is so great and vast that the Inhabitants cannot but have different manners those which are nearest Japan resembling the Japanois those which are near Tartary the Tartars and those near America their neighbouring Americans and in all likelihood they are more barbarous then all their neighbours Its Inhabitants They are all Idolaters
must be great by reason of the rich Commodities that are found here He is so powerful that in 1616 he put to Sea 60000 Men of War in 200 Ships and 60 Galleys with store of Cannons and Ammunition to make War against the Portugals in Malacca and he alone drove them from the Fort which they had in Pacem and hindred them from taking footing in Sumatra The Fertility Commodities c. of these Isles The Air by reason of the great heats is very unhealthful but withal is very fertile abounding in Rice Millet Oyl Beefs Goats Sheep Fowls Fish store of Fruits also it is rich in Gold though of a lower alloy in Silver Copper Iron Tin in Precious Stones in Silks in several Spices as long and common Pepper Ginger Cinnamon Cloves Nutmegs also in Medicinal Drugs in Wax Honey Camphire Cassia Bezar Lignum Musk Civet Amber Alloes whole Woods of white Sandale abundance of Cotton c. The Hollanders are in good intelligence with the people and Kings of Sumatra and particularly with him of Achem They have no place or Fortress in the Isle but at Jambay a Kingdom City and River of the same name in one degree and fifty minutes beyond the Equator They have built on this River and 25 Leagues from the Coast a House to accommodate their Traffick with the Islanders Their Trade is for the most part Pepper which they send from this House to the Sea by Canoes The Inhabitants are many of them good Artificers and expert Mariners they are for the most part Gentiles yet of late Mahometism hath crept in amongst them They are of an Olive colour Complexion flat-faced but indifferent well proportioned and content themselves with a mean habit The Isle of Borneo its situation and fertility The Island of BORNEO like to Sumatra is part on this side and part beyond the Equator but it reaches on this side unto the seventeenth degree of North Latitude and beyond only to the fourth of South Latitude It s Form is almost round having only 250 Leagues from North to South and little less from West to East containing in its Continent more than Sumatra or any other Isle we have knowledge of in Asia but it is not so well inhabited nor of so great Trade as Sumatra yet more fertile and besides the same Commodites hath quantity of Myrabolans Its Forests are full of Trees which bear the most excellent Camphire in the World which is uttered in the Indies being too dear to be brought farther That which comes to us from China is so falsified and of so little value in respect of that which comes pure from Borneo that one hundred pounds of the one is not worth one pound of the other It hath also plenty of Provision Borneo Bendarmissin Lave and Hormeta are the fairest Cities or at least the best known of the Isle for we yet know nothing of the Eastern Coast Borneo is on a Salt Lake or rather at the bottom of the Gulf of the Sea as Venice is and is on the North-West of the Island Its Houses are built of Wood and upon Piles and are accounted to be 20 or 25000. Through every Street runneth a Channel or River of Water the Palace of the King and the Houses of the principal Lords are of Stone and on the firm Land Bendarmassin and Lave are towards the South regarding the great Java and both belong to the same King They build many Juncos at Bendarmassin The River of Succadan and the Neighbouring Forrests furnish them easily with Wood and all that is necessary for the building of those Vessels Lave is near a River of the same name and this River as Succadan yields Diamonds Hormeta is described by the Hollanders on the Coast Westwards of the Isle and they esteem it to have 2 or 3000 Houses Its Inhabitants The Inhabitants are great of an Olive colour of a good countenance their Women brown and chaste a thing very rare in the Neighbouring Islands They trade little to distant places being more inclined to Theft and Piracy then to Trade exercising this only with their Neighbours the others with strangers far off They are expert in all sorts of Arms of good Wits and capable of Arts. Their Apparel is much the same with the Indians which is a Linnen Cloth about their privy Parts and on their Heads Turbets In their Religion they are either Mahometants or Gentiles Several small Isles About Borneo are a great quantity of little Isles Bonquerano 3 Degrees St. John 4. Jolo or Zolo 5. Tagyma 6. and Combahan 8 Degrees of Latitude This last is on the North of the Gulph and City of Borneo near that Gulph is Pulogitgan c. all these Islands belong to the King or Kings of Borneo Isles of Java Major and Minor their situation length and breadth The two Islands of JAVA Major and Minor are to the South of Borneo however there is much dispute about the seat of the little one the greater lies from the sixth unto the eighth ninth or tenth Degree of South Latitude for we know not its certain breadth And from the 145 Meridian beyond the 155 this length being 250 Leagues and its breadth little less We have scarce knowledge of any but the North-coast of this Island none at all of its Southern The City of Bantam described with its great trade Along the North-Coast of Bantam where is one of the greatest Trades of all the East-Indies and where the Merchants of the East-India Company of England have their residence and where once there was a like Company for the Hollanders which they have transported to Jacatra or Batavia Bantam is at the foot of a Hill from which descend three Rivers of which one passes through the middle the others long and on the two sides of the City communicating by divers Channels convenient for the Mahometans who believe themselves purged from their sins as often as they wash but all too shallow for Ships to sail in the Walls of the City are of Brick of no great strength as also are their Gates which makes them have the greater care in guarding them The City is indifferent great yet have they but three principal Streets and these all but upon the Castle at every corner of the Streets there stands a guard and at Sunset they make fast all passage Boats so that in the night there is no stirring in the Streets The Houses are but meanly built either of Reeds or Straw and covered with Coco leaves but for preservation of Goods they have Store-houses made of Stone they have several places or Markets for the sale of Commodities as also an Exchange where Merchants meet Its Commodities The Commodities of Bantam are these of the Isle as all sorts of Druggs Pepper Sugar Preserved Ginger and all sorts of Sweet-meats both wet and dry Rice Honey c. Also in this City is found several good Commodities which are the product of other
the fire It s Sap infused in Water heated and taken luke-warm purges Flegm and cures Venerial distempers Their Fruits Among their Fruits they have Damsons twice as big as ours Mirabolans of many kinds Anana's Citrons Oranges Pomegranates Grapes Dates Coco-Nuts c. They gather Maniguet Ginger and divers Roots which they eat instead of Bread and which serves for divers other uses they have quantity of Rice Millet Beans Pease French-Beans both red white green and all sorts of Pulse The Sensitive Herb is found among the Tapates whose Leaf touched they all close and shut up one within anothen hanging towards the ground and not raising up nor opening themselves again till a good while after and that by little and little It s chief places The Isles hath many good Roads and commodious Ports and every where are found good Water and Victuals but the Air is unhealthful to the Europeans by reason of the great Heat which here reigneth it lying under the Torrid Zone yet the French have established a Colony sometimes in one place and sometimes in another The Bay of Anton-Gil or of St. Anthony is the best in all the Island On the same Coast and farther towards the North is Boamarage more towards the South Arganda and continuing Cacambout Manialoufe Manajara or the Port of Pruâ—es Matatane Manapate or the Port of Gallions Manatenga Andâ—â—boul Romag near the Port St. Cace and Antipere or Sancta Clara near Cape St. Romain All these places or Ports are builded with Wood covered with Leaves and inclosed with Pallisadoes as throughout all the Isle On the other side towards the West and directly opposite to the Coast of Africa are Vingagora St. Andreâ—â—â— the Bay of Pracel St. Vincent St. James the Port or Guâ—ph of St. Augustine the best next to Antongil Tombaja c. The middle of the Isle rises into Mountains covered with Wood where is Ebony Saunders Orange-Trees Citron-Trees c. The Isle of Sancta Mary described About Madagascar are a great many of Isles as that of SANCTA MARY near the Bay of Anton-Gil about ten or twelve Leagues in circuit is fair and fertile affords store of Provisions and Potters Earth and their Seas quantity of Whales which they catch by darting on them a certain Iron fixed to the end of a Cord which when they have tired themselves they make to the shore and of these Whales they make Oyl with which as also with their Provisions and Potters Earth they drive a Trade The Isles of Comeres described The Isles of COMERES are Five principal ones as St. Christophers St. Esprit Loura Comera and Gasidsa The Inhabitants of this last are perfidious the others more civil and under one King alone who resides at Ansuvanny where there is some Trade the most part are Mahometans the Soil is pleasant and fertile because of the Rivers which descend from the Mountains and water their Fields They have all sorts of Birds they have no Iron they fetch from Madagascar Rice Millet Amber-greece and Slaves which they transport into Arabia and the Red Sea from whence they bring Stuffs and Indian Habits Amfium or Opium In 1613. the Hollanders tauched on this Island and received great refreshment It is observed that for a Quire of common Paper they had an Ox for a common Looking-Glass another for a Dozen of Little Bells which they fastned to Hawks Legs another for a Bar of Iron three Oxen c. The Isle of Maurico described The Isle MAVRICE or SANCTA APPOLLINA between 19 and 20 degrees seems to have been inhabited before the Hollanders established a Colony It is about 15 Leagues in compass Mandelslo saith that this Island hath a good Haven both deep and large enough for fifty Said of great Ships to harbor in which makes it to be very pleasant having many Mountains which are well cloathed with Trees and always green among which some are so lofty that they seem to overtop the Clouds And its Valleys as pleasant and green and adorned with several sorts of Trees as well those that bear Fruits as Cocoes Dates Oranges Citrons c. as those which yield none as great quantity of excellent Ebony and other Trees some of whose wood is Yellow others Red others mixt and all with fair and lively colours The Leaves of their Palm-trees are large enough to cover a man the Birds are here so tame that they suffer themselves to be taken with the hand or killed with a stick They have Tortoises strong enough to bear a man but fourfooted Beasts they have none Besides these Isles aforesaid there are several others which are seated about the Isle of Madagascar as Two bearing the name of Deigosoares Two by the name of Nunni Pereirae Three by the name of Deigo Roix Four by Sancta Clara Two by St. Romanus Three by St. Julianus Three by St. Jacobus Nine by St. Vincent Three by St. Christophers Three by Comora And eight by the name of Bugi Also the Isles of Boamarage St. Anthony St. Maria Radix Mascarenhae Johannis de Lisboa Syrtium and Mosambicha-Nova with some others The Banks of India very dangerous for Shipwracks Between the Isle of Madagascar and the main Land about 70 Leagues from the Isle 100 from Cefala and 150 from Mozambique are the Banks of India infamous for Shipwracks and particularly for that of the Admiral Fernando Mendoza in 1586. The Banks and Rocks are of sharp Stones and with divers points like to Coral some black others white others green but all horrible even to behold There rests a great number of Islands to the North and East and between the North and East of Madagascar and among these Isles many Banks and Rocks We will omit a particular description of them as unnecessary and only say that the French have often designed to establish a powerful Colony in the Countrey encouraged by its Commodities and the great Commerce it is like to maintain The Isles of CAPE VERDE The Isles of Cape Verde described viz. ONe hundred and fifty Leagues from Cape Verde and towards the West are a body of Islands which extend themselves from 13 ½ unto the 19 degree of Latitude and from 153 ½ unto 157 or thereabout of Longitude They are called in general the Isles of Cape Verde because that Cape is the nearest main Land to them Amongst these Isles there are 10 in some consideration though a part of them not inhabited they are ranged almost in form of a Cressant or Semi-Circle of which the convex part regards the Continent and the two Points the Ocean That which makes the Point towards North and West is that of St. Antonio which those of St. Vincent St. Nicholas and Sancta Lucia follow advancing between East and South then those of Salt Bona Vista and Maya descend from North to South and are the most Easterly of all Those of St. Jago of Fuego and Brava the most Southern returning from East to
West and advancing a little towards the South So that St. Anthony and Brava make the two Ends or Points towards the West Bona Vista makes the middle of the half Circle towards the East SANCTA LVCIA St. Nicholas St. NICHOLAS and St. JAGO are the greatest having each 100 or 120000 paces of length 15 20 or 30000 of breadth and 200 or 250000 paces of circuit St. Anthonio and St. Vincent are less by more then half and not of above 100000 paces in circuit the rest which are the least have not above 30 40 or 50000 paces I make no account of seven or eight others whose names have not been given us and which are rather Rocks than Isles St. JAGO is the greatest and the chief of all having a Bishops seat in the City of the same name St. Jago besides which are Ribera Grande with a good Port towards the West Praya towards the East St. Mary towards the North all with their Ports Some place likewise St. Thomas whose Port is dangerous others St. Domingo others St. Michael possibly these fall under some of the others Ribera Grande hath 500 Houses the Air is unhealthful the Land hilly but the Valleys fruitful in Grains Vines Fruits Sugar Canes Millons c. Feeding much Fowl and Cattle and particularly Goats in abundance These Beasts bringing forth young every four Moneths and three of four at a time and the Kids are very fat and delicate Sancta Lucia St. Vincent St. Anthony SANCTA LVCIA is the best peopled after that of St. Jago St. Nicholas St. Vincent and St. Anthony have been esteemed Desert yet they appear to have many Inhabitants though not so many as they could feed The Ships of the Vnited Provinces passing here in 1622. found in that of St Anthony 500 persons Men Women and Children all Aethiopians St. Vincent and St. Nicholas had no less At Mayo these Aethiopians are strong and of good stature but it is to be believed that every where are some Portugals to keep the rest in aw Salt Bona Vista The Isles of SALT of BONA VISTA of MAYO and of St. JAGO yield so great quantity of Salt which is made naturally of the Water which the Sea from time to time leaves that besides what they consume in the Countrey they laded every year more then 100 Ships which is transported into other Countreys and yet there remains six times as much which becomes useless It is reported that the Isle of Mayo could make alone lading for two thousand Sail of Ships yearly and the others not much less The other riches of the Countrey lies in the Skins of their Goats which are in so great quantity through all these Isles that many flocks are seen of 1000 Head The Skins are sent to Brasil Portugal and other places and make excellent Cordovants The Flesh is salted in the Countrey and sold to Ships going and returning from Brasil to the Indies Besides the Salt and Woats which are the principal riches of the Countrey they have many Wild Horses Oxen Apes c. also Cotton whereof they make several Manufactures Also Rice and many sorts of Grains Among their Fowl they have one kind particular to them which they call Flamencos the Feathers of their Bodies are all White and those of their Wings Red as Blood Their Tortoises are not above two or three foot long they come out of the Sea and lay their Eggs in the night covering them with Sand and the heat of the Sun hatches them Fuego Brava In Fuego and Brava they gather Wines which yield little to those of the Canaries The Sargasso Sea Between the Islands of Cape Verde and the main Land inclining towards the Canaries the Sea is called Sargasso because from the 20 to the 24 degree and for the length of 30 40 or 50 Leagues the Sea is covered with an herb like to that which is found in the bottom of Wells and which the Portugals call Sargasso This Herb except that it is more Yellow resembles Sea-Parsley bearing certain Grains or Fruit at the end but of neither taste nor substance Many have been much troubled to know from whence these Weeds come which are distant from the Isles and from the firm Land more then 60 Leagues and in a part of the Sea where there is no bottom found Nevertheless they are so close and in so great quantity that the Water seems rather a Meadow or Green Field then a Sea Ships which fall among these Weeds had need of a good Wind to disingage themselves and I believe it was these which hindred Sataspes from finishing his course about Africa and were the cause of his misfortune This Sataspes Son of Teaspes one of the Achemenides A story of Sataspes having ravished the Daughter of Zopyrus the Son of Magabises was condemned by Xerxes to be crucified His Mother the Sister of Darius caused this punishment to be changed into another to wit he was caused to make the Circumnavigation of Africa which could not be done without great difficulty and hazard He embarked in Egypt passed the Pillars of Hercules entred into the Occidental Ocean and passed far to the South along Africa but knowing that it would yet require much time and pains to end this course he returned into Egypt and thence to the Court where he said he had met with somewhat that hindred his Ship from passing farther Xerxes took him for a liar and made him suffer the death he was before condemned to But to continue The Isles of Cape Verde The Position wherein the Isles of Cape Verde are now found answers much better to the Position of the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy then that of the Canaries Ptolomy places his Fortunate Isles between the 10 and 16 degree of Latitude the Isles of Cape Verde are between the 13 and 19 the Canaries beyond the 26. The Meridian of the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy is at 8 degrees of Longitude from the Coast of Africa and towards the West The least Meridian of the Isles of Cape Verde is at 8 degrees of Longitude from the same Coast and towards the same side The least Meridian of the Canaries touches the Coast of Africa Ptolomy confines his Fortunate Isles under one Meridian and extends them from South to North between the tenth to the sixteenth parallel or degrees of Latitude which are five degrees of Latitude The Isles of Cape Verde are not justly under one Meridian but under two or three and extend themselves from the 13 ½ to the 19 which are five degrees of Latitude The Canaries on the contrary are all couched from West to East and almost under the same parallel or degree of Latitude which is the 27 lengthning themselves from the first to the 6 of Longitude These four Reasons are very strong to prove that the Isles of Cape Verde do rather answer to the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy then the Canaries Their distance in regard of the Aequator is
moreover those of Cape Verde are the nearest the Aequator and most Southernly the Azores the farthest off and most northernly and the Canaries in the midst as to Latitude Now the one of these three Bodies of Islands must answer to the Fortunate Isles of the Ancients and of Ptolomy placed in the first Meridian and among Modern Authors if there be any which would give the first Meridian to the Azores and others to those of Cape Verde and others to the Canaries it is for the most part out of the belief they have that one or the other answer to those Fortunate Isles Ptolomy having made account but of one body of Islands in the Occidental Ocean it is more likely to be that which is nearest the Main Land and Gades then those farther off This reason makes for the Canaries Pliny Solinus Capella and others have made account of three different Bodies of Islands in this Ocean to wit the Fortunate Islands the Gorgades or Gorgons and the Hesperides placing their Fortunate Isles near the Coast of Mauritania the Gorgades two days sail from the Coast and the Hesperides forty days sail farther then the Gorgades and at the bottom of some Gulf so that these answer either to the Azores or to the Isles of St. Thomas in the bottom of the Aethipian Ocean or rather to the Antilles or Caribes in the Gulf of Mexico as we shall speak more in another place They cannot answer to the Canaries nor can the Gorgades answer to others than those of Cape Verde the Canaries then remain for the Fortunate This is another reason for the Canaries But the goodness of the Air the fruitfulness of the Soyl their proximity to the Coast of Africa the names and particularities of every one of the Fortunate Isles absolutely concluded them the Canaries The Fortunate Isles received this name from the Ancients only because of the healthfulness of the Air and fruitfulness of the Soyl. The Canaries are excellent healthful the Azores little and the Isles of Cape Verde not at all healthful likewise the Canaries have the best Grains Wines Fruits c. that are in the World which they transport every where The Corn of the Azores will not keep and their Wines are consumed in the Countrey not being strong enough to be transported to other places In the Isles of Cape Verde the Inhabitants can scarce gather Corn and Wine necessary exporting nothing but Salt and Goats Skins Pliny esteems some of his Fortunate Isles 8000 paces from the Coast of Africa the Azores are 300 Leagues those of Cape Verde 150 Among the Canaries Forteventura is not above 10 or 12 Leagues from Cape Bojador The Air Soyl and Neighborhood to the Coast of Africa makes then for the Canaries Let us proceed to confer their old and new names and other particulars Ptolomy calls his Fortunate Isles Aprositos that is Inaccessibilis Herae that is Junonis Insula Pluitalia Ortelius reads Pluitalia Casperia Canaria Centuria which interpreters write Pinturia Pliny Solinus and Capella call them Ombrio Junonia Junonia Minor instead of which Ortelius puts Theode Capraria Nivaria and Canaria In the numbring of these Isles Pliny and his two Apes or Copiers Solinus and Capella agree upon six changing little in the rank names and number of Ptolomy but Pliny makes mention of one Pluvialia among his Fortunate Isles a little before he comes to number the other Six This Pluvialia must then be a Seventh and possibly Theode the 8. Conferring the Fortunate Isles of Ptolomy with those of these three Authors we shall find that his Aprositos answers to their Ombrio his Herae Insula to their Junonia There is nothing answers to their Junonia Minor or Theode whether they be two different or only the same Island His Pluitalia answers to the Pluvialia of Pliny which the two others did not know his Casperia to their Capraria his Canaria to their Canaria and his Centuria or Pinturia to their Nivaria Some names being corrupted by others At present it will be hard to judge which of the Canaries answer to each of the Ancients Fortunate Isles yet let us see if we can effect it and do it better then others have done there is no difficulty for the Great Canary since it retains its ancient name The Isle of Ferr also most apparently answers to the Pluitalia of Ptolomy or rather to make all particulars better accord with the Pluvialia of Pliny where he saith Non esse aquam nisi ex imbribus as at this day according to the common opinion it hath no Water but what distills from a certain Tree always covered with Clouds The Isle of Teneriffe likewise whose Pike is always covered with Snow and Clouds may answer to their Nivaria quae nomen accepit à perpetua nive Nebulosam saith Pliny ab aere Nebuloso saith Solinus and Capella There remain four or five Islands wherein will lie the difficulty Aprositos Junonia Junonia Minor Theode if it be other then Junonia Minor and Capraria Pliny seems to joyn this Capraria with Pluvialia and saith after Sebosus Junoniam abesse a Gadibus 150000 pa. ab ea tantundem ad occasum versus Pluvialiam Caprariamque Seeing the great distance he gives between these Isles and from East to West it may be said that Pluvialia and Capraria are the most Western of the Fortunate Isles Junonia the most Eastern and that of the Isles of Ferr and Palma being the most Western of the Canaries that of Ferr being already allowed for the Pluvialia Palma will rest for the Capraria of Pliny On the other side Junonia being the most Eastern and 750000 paces from Gades it must either answer to the Forteventura or Lancelotta which are the most Eastern of the Canaries and 6 or 700000 paces from Gades or Cadiz But Pliny and Solinus make mention of two Junonias of which one being less than the other we will give Lancelotta which is the least for their Junonia Minor and Forteventura the Greater for the other Junonia And it seems in this passage Pliny would observe those he met with first from the nearest to the Coast to the farthest off Of the Seven Canary Islands we have given Six which answer to the other Six among the Fortunate Isles There remains the Isle of Gomer among the Canaries and Ombrio or Aprositos among the Fortunate Isles This might make it be judged that none must answer to the other but there are many reasons to the contrary The name of Aprositos that is Inaccessible or of Ombrio and Ombriona as Capella writes it shews that this Isle hath been in a manner unknown in regard of its Neighbors nay it seems impossible to be landed upon Gomer is between the Isles of Ferr Palma and Teneniffe these three having been known Gomer being in the midst and near these Islands must likewise be known and the Port of Gomer being one of the best and most frequented of the Canaries it cannot answer to the Aphrositos of the Ancients Let
us therefore leave this Gomer for Theode and say That farther in the Sea and about 100 miles or as others say 100 Leagues from the Canaries is an Isle they call San Borondon Authors say that those which think not of it find it sometimes by chance but that it is never found by those who expresly seek it However it be it is held for truth and Vincent Blanc assures us that from the top of Teneriffe whence may be seen all the Canaries this is likewise sometimes seen yet that those which attempt to go to it cannot find it though with great pains whether it be that the Fogs hide it or that some Current carries them from it and for this reason they have given it the name of Fortunada Incontada and Nontrovada c After all these particularities I can doubt no longer but this Isle is the Aprositos Inaccessible and the Ombrio that is the shadow of the Ancients And so the whole body of the Canaries will answer to the whole Body of the Fortunate Isles without adding the Madera and from hence we have reason to place the first Meridian in the Canaries as Ptolomy hath placed it in the Fortunate Isles since these first answer to the last which will give a great facility to the reconcilement of Ancient and Modern Geography otherwise not to be done Let us proceed to what each of the Canaries may have at present considerable beginning with those nearest the main Land The Isle of Forteventura described Forteventura once Erbania is not far distant from the Cape Bojador above 10 or 12 Leagues from the Great Canary 16 or 18 from Lancelotta 6. It s greatest length is 25 Leagues 15 or 16 its greatest breadth In the middle it streightens so much that there remains only a League or two from one Sea to another And this part was crossed with a Wall which separated the Island into two Estates when it was discovered The Land is partly Mountainous and partly in Plains fruitful in Wheat and Barley Along the Coast glide many streams of Fresh Water and along these streams are the Tarbais Trees crooked and soft which bear Gum of which is made pure white Salt In the Countrey besides the Palm Trees which bear Dates the Olive Trees Mastick Trees and the Orsolle a Grain for Dying there is a kind of Fig-tree from which they have Balm as white as Milk and which is of great vertue in Physick They make Cheese of their Goats Milk with which the Countrey is so well stocked that they may afford more then 50000 yearly and besides the profit made of their Skins and their Fat each Beast yielding 30 or 40 pound their Flesh is excellent The Ports of this Island are not proper but for smaller Vessels It s chief places towards the Sea are Forteventura Ricquerocque Chabras Baltarhays Lanegala Fozonegro and Tarafulo Most of which are well frequented by Merchants especially by the English who of late are incorporated into a joynt Fellowship and Stock and not only to this Isle but to all the Seven Canary Isles The Isle of Lancelotta LANCELOTTA is 16 or 18 Leagues long and 10 or 12 large The access to it is difficult on the North and West Coast the Countrey is plain towards the East and the Continent where its Town and Ports are as Cayas or Lancelotta Porto de Nayos and Port de Cavallos These last are near one to the other the Isle hath the same properties with that of Forteventura The Great Canary Isle The GREAT CANARY is almost equal in length and breadth which is about 18 or 20 Leagues It is the principal of these Islands both because of its greatness fertility and the goodness of its Air and because the Governor and Bishop of these Islands whose yearly Revenue is 12000 Ducats have their Residence in the City Canaria Its Inhabitants chief places fertility commodities and Trade which is fair its Inhabitants well clad and civil and how hard soever it rains its streets are dry being only Sand. It s other places are Tedele Galder Argores Gusa and Del Douze Ingennos or Twelve Sugar Engines This Island it exceeding fruitful and the Soyl so fertile that they have two Harvests in one year reaping their Wheat Barley and other Grains in February and May. Their Wheat excellent and its Bread very white but from the excellency of its Fruits as Oranges Citrons Pomegranates Figs Olives Apples Pears Peaches Melons Potato's and above all from its Wine which is far beyond that of Spain Which among all others bears the Bell with us in England From these we may judge of the goodness of the Island They have also several other good Commodities as Honey Wax Sugar-Canes Cheese and Wood in great abundance and breeds such plenty of Cattle that the Leather is not one of the least Commodities they vend to other Nations as Spain England Holland c. They have also store of Fowl it is well covered with Firr Trees Dragon Trees Palm Trees c. And its Rivers well filled with Fish but above all they have Plantons which delights in Water it is cut and shoots forth yearly into three or four Branches each Branch bears 30 or 40 Apples resembling a Cucumber they incline to black being ripe they eat more deliciously then any Comfit in the World The Isle of Teneriffe with its high Pike Teitha described TENERIFFE which some call Enfer is distant from the Grand Canary 16 or 18 Leagues towards the North-West It s utmost length is about 24 or 25 Leagues and 12 or 15 its greatest breadth The Land is raised in little Hills and towards the middle is the Pike of Teitha or Terreira a streight and round Mountain which reaches in height 45000 English paces which is 45 miles some make it not so high others higher but all agree that it is the highest Mountain in the World even so high that it may be seen in a clear day 60 Leagues distance at Sea and from the top of it a man may easily discover and count all the other Canary Islands though some of them be above 50 Leagues distance from this It often casts forth fire and Sulphur It s Summit is in form of a Sugar Loaf or sharp point called the Pike of Teneriffe For two or three miles about it are only Cinders and Pumice Stones two or three Miles lower all is covered with Snow throughout the year though there never fall any in those Islands and yet lower are found the great Trees Vintaico whose Wood is very weighty and never rots in Water Under these Trees Laurels cover almost 10 or 12 miles of the Countrey where the Singing Birds of the Canaries known among us by the name of Canary Birds warble their pleasant notes The foot of the Mountain casts forth divers Branches and extends it self into a good part of the Island which abounds more in Corn then any of the rest and sometimes it alone feeds them all
The Countrey between Rotana and Realejo is so fruitful and pleasant that its like can scarce be found in the World such quantity it produces of Grains Wines Fruits Honey Wax Sugar Flax It s Fertility Silk c. And from hence they have their Vines which they carry to the West Indies the best of which grow on the Coast of Ramble There are certain Shrubs which yield a liquor like to Milk which after it is thickned makes an excellent Gum called Taybayba From the Dragon Tree cut towards the Root they draw a red liquor which they call Dragons Blood well known to Apothecaries It s chief places It s principal City Laguna so called because of the Lake near to it is 4 or 5 Leagues from the Sea contains two parishes and is the residence of the Governor of the Island The other Cities are Sancta Crux Rotana Rajalesa Carachico and Adeca When it was discovered its Kings to the number of seven dwelt in Caverns and the bodies of their dead were set up about Caves where they became as dry as Parchment among which the most honorable had a stick put in their hand and a vessel of Milk before them The Isle of Gomer described GOMER is 8 or 9 Leagues from Teneriff is 10 or 12 Leagues long It s chief City of the same name often receives the Indian Fleet and furnishes them with Corn Fruits Sugar and Wines as well as those of Teneriff and Canaria The Countrey is high plain bears many Dragon-trees feeds small Cattle Its Roads are deep and large The People of this Isle were formerly more barbarous than those of the other Canary Isles using many strange Customs not known elsewhere among which they held it for a great sign of Hospitality to let their Friends lie with their Wives and receive theirs in testimony or return of kindness Isle of Ferr described The Isle of FERR is the most West of all the Canaries distant from Palma 15 or 16 Leagues from Gomer only 5 or 6. This Isle in reason should be well known many persons having been there and many Authors treated very amply of it yet I will a little shew the diversity found touching the greatness and quality of the soyl as also the Water with which the Isle is served It s chief place is called Hierro seated on the Sea shore Here is found plenty of Hogs Goats and Sheep also of Beasts Fowl Fruits and quantity of Grains and Sugar Canes and hath much Cattle which yield abundance of Milk and Cheese A Tree whose Leaves destilâ—â— Water which serves the Isle there being no Rain or Rivers Here is said to be no fresh Water only in the middle of the Isle there grows a Tree whose Leaves are much like those of the Olive which being alwaies covered with Clouds drops from its Leaves into a Cistern which is underneath it very good Water and in such great abundance that it suffices all the Inhabitants as also all the Cattle and living Creatures in the Island One Jackson an Englishman who reports to have seen considered and measured this Tree in 1618 saith That the water falls into a Pond containing 20000 Tuns which in one night is filled and that from this Pond the water is by divers Channels conveyed into other Ponds or Cisterns through the whole Isle which is very well peopled some say it hath in it about 8000 people and above 100000 head of Cattle which for an Island but of six Leagues Circuit is very well for if the Tree be in the middle of the Isle it cannot be above a League distant from any extremity and moreover more than 20000 Tuns of water for 100000 months will be a Tun a day for every five months which is too much drink if they drink nothing but water These particulars are contradicted by others The Conquest of all these Isles saies many Trees not one alone otherwise it would be immortal Sanutus saith that the Cloud begins to rise about noon and in the evening quite covereth the Tree which at the same time destills water drop by drop along the trunk branches and leaves and that it continues so till day Others say that this water falls from Noon all night until a little after the Sun be risen But most will have the Cloud perpetually about the Tree and that it destills continually Suarez makes the Pond or Cistern of not above 20 Tuns The relations of 1602. say two reservers each 20 foot square but neither Suarez nor others makes any mention of other reservers in the Isle but will have this water in one place alone whither all go to fetch it But let us pass from the Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea and come to Malta which is one of the best but none of the least considerable pieces of Africa Nigh unto these 7 Islands called the Canary Isles are the Isles of Roco Sancta Clara Gratiosa Alegria and the two Savage Isles PALMA is distant from Gomer 12 or 15 Leagues to the North West It is round or oval and its Circuit about 25 Leagues Abounds in Corn Wine Sugars and all sorts of Fruits It is well stored with Cattle and therefore made the victualling place of the Spanish Fleet that pass to Peru and Brasil The City of the same name hath great confluence by reason of its Wines loaden for the West-Indies and other places It s best and like to Malvoisie is made about Brenia whence are taken more than 12000 Pipes yearly also St. Andre and Tassa Corde are on the Sea It hath little Corn which is brought from Teneriff Four Sugar Engines the Church of Palma and the Governors House are esteemed fair The Island of MALTA The Isle of Malta THe Isle of MALTA is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and almost at an equal distance from the main Land of Asia and Europe It is about 600 Leagues from the Coast of Souria and 500 from the Streight of Gibralter This Streight beginning the Mediterranean Sea towards the West and that Coast ending it towards the East Likewise from Malta to the nearest firm Land of Europe It s scituation which is Italy and to the nearest Coasts of the firm Land in Africa which are the Coasts of Tunis and Tripoly these bounding the Mediterranean Sea on the South that on the North is 80 90 and near 100 Leagues The Antients have esteemed it rather in Africa then in Europe and the opinion hath been followed by almost all modern Authors though it be nearest the Isle and Kingdom of Sicily which is in Europe and from which it likewise holds then to Africa and though it be in the hands of the Knights of Malta who are all Europeans the native tongue of the Country and most of their Customs have alwaies more resembled those of Africa than Europe This Isle at present is very famous The Isle famous for being the seat of the Knights of Malta not for its
greatness nor for its fertility neither for Antient renown but by reason it is the residence of the Great Master and Knights of St. John of Jerusalem whom at present we call of Malta where they have settled since they lost Rhodes and because it serves as a powerful Rampire for all Christendom and particularly for Sicily and Naples It s length and breadth The length of the Isle is not above 20 or 25000 paces its breadth 10 or 12000 and its Circuit about 60000 paces which are 20 or 25 Italian miles in length 10 or 12 in breadth and 60 in Circuit The Soil except the Antient City of Malta It s soil and Commodities is almost all stones craggy and dry yet it produces Wheat Barley Cummin and all sorts of Fruits among others Figgs Apricocks Citrons Melons Grapes c. It feeds Horses Asses Mules Hogs Goats Sheep Hares Conies Hens Partridges Quails Faulcons and other Birds of prey And its Beasts Fowl Grains Fruits as likewise their Capers Honey and Cotton of which they make Cotton Cloth and several Manufactures are excellent yet it wants much Corn and Wine for the necessary food of its Inhabitants which are 75 or 80000 souls and among which there are about 15 or 16000 Souldiers besides the Knights so that they are constrained to fetch their provision from Sicily which they have at a certain rate and with priviledge to pay no Custom Its Inhabitants The natural Inhabitants of this Island are said to be miserable churlish and uncivil people of complexion not less tawny then the Moors use the African Language but follow the Religion of the Church of Rome which the Knights are bound to defend Their women are fair who are debarred the society of men and go veiled as not desiring to shew themselves and are guarded after the Italian manner they have here a great many of Curtizans which are tolerated who for the most part are Grecians who sit at their doors playing on Instruments c. to intice men in to them Its Ports Roads and chief places On the Coasts of this Isle and beginning by Malta and turning towards the East South and West c. to make the Circuit the Ports Roads and Harbours which present themselves are Marza or Marza-scala then Marza sirocco where the Turks landed the 19 of May 1565 when they had a design to besiege Malta The Great Master Vignacour hath since caused to be built two Forts which defend the entrance and a third upon that languet or tongue of land which advances into the middle of the Port enough to hinder any for the future from casting Anchor there in quiet continuing towards the Coast which regards the South and far towards the West is nothing but Rocks except it be a little Bay or Golfe of Pietra Negre others call it Pietra Sancta where the 5 of July arrived the first succour in favour of Malta This relief was but of six hundred men who passed from Pietra Sancta to the old City and from thence to the Bourg Il-Borgo which the Turks besieged after having taken the Fort of St. Elmo and this assistance served much to the defence of that place Pietra Sancta regards towards the South The Isle hath oft withstood the fury of the Turks the Rock of Forfolo or Furfura Towards the West are the Golfes or Bayes of Anteofega the Islanders call it Hayntofeca then Muggiaro where the Turks first cast Anchor the 18 of May 1565. Between the West and North is the Bay or Port of Melecca where the great relief arrived the 7 of December following Melecca regards the Island of Goza and in the streight or channel between both are the Isles of Cumin and Cuminat This part of the Isle about Melecca is almost divided from the rest by the Golfe or Port of the Saline Vecchie or old saltpits towards the East and that of Muggiaro towards the West and if the Turks had seized the pass which is between them this assistance had proved vain Next to the Golfe of the old Saline is the Creek and Chapel of St. Paul where according to common tradition he was ship wrackt next is the Creek of new Salines and the Creek of St. George where the Turks dis-imbarked their Ammunitions to serve to assault the Fort St. Elmo And in fine the Ports of Marza Massetto and Marza grande are those where at three several times have been builded and fortified three Cities and divers Forts contiguous to each other It Borgo or the Bourg is 2000 paces in Circuit the Isle of Sengle 1500 each of 1000 or 1200 houses the one and the other so well fortified that they received 70000 Cannot shot and sustained an incredible number of assaults of 60 or 70000 Turks The Arsenal for the Gallyes is yet in the Bourg but there resides there only Malteses and Mariners and in the Isle of Sengle Mariners and Souldiers of Fortune The residence of the Great Master The great Master and the Knights reside at present in the City of Valetta which is now by much the most considerable of these Cities both for its force the advantage of its scituation and the beauty of its publick and private buildings It is built upon Montit Sceberros which forms a Languet of Land all of a Rock and between the Ports of Marza Massetto and Marza grande commanding on all sides and into all parts of the one and the other Port and its ditches to the landward which are cut out of the Rock which are exceeding broad of a very great depth strongly flankt and well fortified The Walls are strong joyn to the Rock and are about 60 foot high and are well provided with Guns c. against any occasion It contains above 2000 houses which are for the most part uniform builded of Free-stone they are commonly two stories high flat at top and with Tarrasses The Market place is spacious from whence several fair Streets do take their rise to every house there is a Cistern to preserve water for their occasions besides these houses there are several stately Structures as the Great Masters Palace which is a gallant Edifice having a Tower which overlooketh the whole Island the Hall or Chamber of Assemblies where they sit in Council is curiously adorned and painted wherein their Fights both by Sea and Land as well at home as abroad are lively represented and this as also the Armory which may on a suddain Arm 20 or 25000 men are in the Great Masters Palace then the Churches of St. Paul and St. John Patron of the Order the one the seat of a Bishop and the other of a Prior are magnificent likewise the seven Alberges of the Knights like so many Palaces where the Commanders of the seven tongues treat the Cavaliers at the expence of the Order The Arsenal near Porto Reale is as well furnished with all sorts of Munition as any in Christendom Also the Hospital of St. Johns towards
by Richard Blome By his Majesties Especiall Command London Printed for Richard Blome To the Rt. honble Anthony Earle of Shaftesbury Baron Ashby of Wimbourne St. Giles and Lord Cooper of Paulet This Mapp is most humbly D.D. by R.B. AMERICA AMERICA is a Continent different from that wherein we inhabit or which we call Ours for the surface of the Globe being described into two Hemispheres divided by the first Meridian America is in that Hemisphere which is opposite to ours The Voyages of Columbus Cabral and Visputius into America In 1942 and some succeeding years Christopher Columbus a Genouese for and in the name of Ferdinand King of Arragon and Isabella Queen of Castile made divers Voyages into the Islands which are before this Continent and discovered part of the Coasts of the Continent In 1501 Alvares Cabral for and in the name of Emanuel King of Portugal Navigating along the Coast of Africa on a Voyage to the East-Indies some Eastern Winds carried him so far to the West that he discovered the Coast of a main Land which was afterwards called Brazil where a little after Americus Vesputius a Florentine was expresly sent with a particular charge to discover this Country In which he was so happy that his name was given to that part of the Coast which he discovered and in fine to the whole Continent From these Voyages of Columbus Cabral and Americus Vesputius the Spaniards pretend to be the first who discovered or caused to be discovered and gave knowledge of this Continent America known by the Ancients The Greeks and Latins have given fair testimonies that the Ancients have had some knowledge of America Plato in his Timaeus and in his Critias calls in the Atlantick Isle and esteems it as great or greater than Asia and Africa together It seems that Plato or Solon or the Priest of Egypt c. had knowledge of the greatness scituation and form of the two parts of America so well they agree to Asia and Africa the Northern America with Asia the Southern with Africa America bounded AMERICA is almost divided into two parts of which one is between the Equator and the North the other in regard of us is towards the South and part under the Equator After Plato Theopompus either in his Treatise of Wonders or in his History makes mention of another Continent besides ours and touches divers particulars Among others that its greatness is so vast that it was not wholly known that its Men were greater stronger and lived longer than we that they had Gold and Silver in so great quantity that they made less account of it than we do of Iron That they had a great number of Cities and among others two very great ones and of Customs much different the principal aim of the one being to War and the other to Religion which I esteem agreeing with Cusco and Mexico which we have so found when first known to us Mexico more inclined to War and Cusco to the adoration of its Divinities AMERICA having been known to the Ancients under divers names and all these names preserved till now there remains to know from whence the People of this America should descend whether from Europe Asia or Africa It is to be believed that the first of our Continent which were carried into America were so either by chance or by force the Eastern Winds having driven them from the Coast of Africa or Libya where they sailed and carried them so far into the West that they have found these Lands And it is likewise to be believed that of those which have been so carried some have been unfurnished of Victuals for so long and impremeditated a Voyage and so have been constrained to eat some among them to preserve the rest as others since have done And thus America may have been peopled by divers Nations How America became first peopled by those of our Continent and at divers times and according to the Parts from whence they were according to the hunger and necessity they suffered upon the Sea they became more or less barbarous And that some have been carried by chance or force from our Continent to the other we may judge both by Ancient and Modern Histories Diodorus Siculus makes mention of certain Phoenicians Aristotle had said almost the same before of the Carthaginians who sayling along the Coast of Africa or Libya were carried far into the Occidental Ocean where they found a very great Isle distant from our Main Land many days sail and the Country as beautiful as that of Toscany so that some of Carthage would here have settled but that the Republick prohibited any more to pass fearing lest it should weaken their Estate commanding those which were passed to retire and abolishing as much as they could the knowledge of their Country yet with design to retire thither if they should become so unfortunate as to fall under the Romans subjection Those particulars which Authors apply to this Isle agree better with America Meridionalis which is almost an Isle than with the Isles on this side it Besides these Authorities of the Ancients the accident which arrived to Alonzo Zanches de Guelva in Adalousie or whatever other Pilot he was who landing at the Madera where was Christopher Columbus who told him how he had been carried by force into the West which he had discovered and how he had returned And the like accident which happened to Cabral in 1501 as we have already said makes it sufficiently appear how the same thing may have hapned to other Saylors and particularly to those Nations on this side which lie upon the Ocean as the Moors Spaniards Celtes and Bretons c. And those who traded on the Ocean as the Phoenicians Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians and this is the more easily because between the two Tropicks the Eastern Brises or Winds do for the most part blow and easily carry nay sometimes force Ships from East to West It is true that it is hard to turn from East to West by the same course And possibly from these two so different things the Poet took occasion to say Facilis descensus Averni Sed revocare gradum superasque revertere ad auras Hoc opus hic labor est Understanding it easy to descend from our Continent into the other which we esteem the Lower Hemisphere but hard to return from that to ours which we esteem the Higher the means to return with least difficulty not being found out but with time and after having and that at divers times essayed all courses which is by disingaging themselves from between the Tropicks which some attribute to Pedrarias de Avila who about the year 1514 began to give Rules for the time of parting and the course was to be held to go from our Continent to the other and likewise the time and course to return from the others to ours Since some have passed from this world of our Continent and by
Groenland we might likewise put Shetland which we know not whether Isles or parts of the New Continent as we are likewise ignorant of all the rest of America Arctica ISELAND Iseland subject to the King of Denmark is 150 Leagues long and little less than 100 broad Its Inhabitants Its Inhabitants are very lusty and live above an 100 years they scarce addict themselves to any thing but the feeding of their Beasts and Fishing The Coast toward the South is much better and best inhabited The Governour of the Island resides at Bellested on the Coast Scalhold and Holdon Bellested Scalhold and Holdon its chief Towns within Land are Bishops Sees The Mountains of Hecla and Helga often vomit Fire though the Circle of the Pole Arctick passes over this Island and incloses part of it in the Frozen Zone leaving the other in the Temperate if that can possibly be which lies so contiguous and near to the Frozen yet doth it not hinder them from enjoying many rare things in their Mountains in their Lands in their Fountains and Rivers in their Beasts and in their Fish Iseland doth in my Judgment apparently answer to the Thule of the Ancients though some Authors of the Country maintain the contrary Groenlandt or Greenland GROENLANDT that is GREENLAND hath been long known to those of Iseland and Norway Account is made that one Torwald and his Son Errick of Norway passed into Iseland about the year 800 and that from Iseland Errick and his Son Lieffe passed a little after into Groenlandt where they established some Colonies of Norwegians And the same History saith that Lieffe had some Combats with the Ancient Sekreglingres and Native Inhabitants of the Country and that those of Norway held but a small part in the East Coast of Groenlandt the Sekreglingres keeping the rest within the Country and that what the Norwegians possessed and knew in Groenlandt was not the hundreth part but that there were divers People governed by several Lords of which the Norwegians had no knowledge It s Fertility They say that in several parts of Groenlandt there are Lands which bear as good Wheat as any Ground in the World and Chestnuts so large that their Kernels are as big as Apples that the Mountains yield Marble of all sorts of colours that the Grass for Pastures is good and feeds quantities of great and small Cattle that there are Horses Stags Wolves Foxes Black and White Bears Beavers Martles c. That the Sea is full of great Fishes as Sea-Wolves Dogs and Calves but above all of Whales that the white Bears live more on the Sea than on the Land and that as the Black ones feed only on Flesh the White ones do on Fish and are especially greedy of little Whales which causes a great Antipathy between them and Whales who pursue them where-ever they can scent them The Marhval a strange kind of Fish That their Fish Marhval carrieth a Tooth or Horn so strong and long that it fights against and pierces the Whale as the Rhinoceros does the Elephant and they assure us that the Horn is of the same greatness form and matter and hath the same properties as those which we here esteem in the Vnicorns The Norwegians and Danes who sometime since have passed into Groenlandt say that the Language of its Inhabitants is so different from that of Norway or Denmark that there is little appearance they could descend either from the one or the other and that if formerly there have been any Colonies of Norwegians they are quite extinct In 1636 the Danes which went thither to Trade demanded by signs if beyond that ridge of Mountains there were any Men the Savages made them to understand they were innumerable higher Its Inhabitants and stronger than they and that they used great Bows and Arrows and would not have any Commerce nor suffer the sight of Strangers The Habits of those with whom the Danes traded some of which they brought into Denmark were of Skins of Wild Beasts their Shirts of the Entrails of Fish and their Wastcoats of the Skins of Birds with their Feathers These same Relations make mention of an Old and New Groenlandt this descending towards the South the other mounting towards the North but that some years since the North Seas have been so loaden with Ice that the first ones not being melted before Winter and the other having continued from time to time to add to them and lie in heaps one upon the other the Sun in the end hath not had power to break them and in succession of time this way hath been stopt up and the communication of Iseland with Old Groenlandt lost CANADIANE In which may be considered The ARCTICK LANDS called AMERICA ARTICA with its chief places and such are ISELAND Bellested Schalhod Holdon GROENLAND Bearesord Mudder Point Trime Point Warusick Foreland Warwick Sound Cape Farwel Resolution Isle NORTH WALES Seahorse Point Cape Pembrook SOUTH WALES Hudsons Bay James Bay Cape Henretta Marie CANADA or NEW FRANCE with its chief Parts and Places and such are those of ESTOTILAND Sir Tho. Smiths Foreland Merchants Isles Cape Charles King James Foreland Cape Prince Henry Hope advanced Ganse Bay Slapers Haven Clapmuts Bay Orang Bay Hollandsche Bay SAGUANA Quebeck Tadousac Bay Savage Brest Port de Quartier Port de St. Nicholas Chichekedec Port Neuf Jaus Coudres Isle of Orleance Sillery CANADA Mont Real Richelieu Point Verte Croipapequiac Cape de l'Evesque Assumpsion Isle Isle of Plate Isle of Birds Isle of Ramec New-found-land Isle of Brien Isle of Cap. Breton Isle of St. John ACADIE Martengo Macomode Paspay Port de Rosignal Cape de Sable Port Royal Cape de Mines Isles of Forchu de Sable NEW ENGLAND Boston Plimouth Charles-Town Dorchester Cambridge Ulielands Isle Long Isle MARY-LAND Maries Town Calverton Herrington NEW YORK New York VIRGINIA James Town Elizabeth Town Dales Gift Wicocomoco Pouhatan Bermuda Secotam Cape Henry Smiths Isle Isle of Paquiwock Croatoan Wokokon CAROLINA Charles-Town The HURONS St. Peter St. Francis Alexis St. Michael St. Joseph Isle of BERMUDES Southampton Harington Pagets FLORIDA St. Hellens Port Royal St. Matthews St. Augustine St. Jago CANADA OR New France UNder the name of CANADA or New France we esteem that which is on both sides the great River of Canada or St. Laurence with the Isles that are before its Mouth unto and so far as this River is known and from the Gulphs and Streights of Davis and Hudson unto New Spain or Mexico In this extent we have the Isles of New-found-land Terra di Librador Canada which communicates its name to the rest Acadia Saguenay the Irocois the Hurons the Algonquins with about a hundred other sorts of people whose names are known The Isles of NEW-FOVND-LAND or according to the Biscains New-found-land of Bacallaos that is of God-fish are so called by reason of these Fishes here found in such great quantity that sometimes they seem to hinder the sayling
Salt-pits near the Point de Salinas The principal Fortress that the Portugals hold here is De los tres Reyes or the three Kings on the right hand of the River The Coast of Brazile from Cape de Frio until on this side of that of St. Augustine and so to the middle of the head of Potengi stretches from South to North and continually regards the East The rest of this Capitany and that of Siara Maranhan and Para extend from East to West regarding the North and are the nearest to the Equinoctial Line The Coast of these four last Capitanies hath no less extent on the Sea than that of all the others together but are worth much less The Capitany of Siara with its Commodities The Capitany of SIARA is among many Barbarous People and therefore not much frequented yet is of some trade by reason of the Cotton Chrystal Precious Stones and many sorts of Wood which are here found They have likewise many Canes of Sugar which are of no use there being no Sugar Engines in the Country The Capitany of Maranhan with its chief places The Capitany of MARANHAN is an Isle which with some others is found in a Gulph about twenty five Leagues long and broad This Isle hath forty five Leagues Circuit hath twenty seven Villages of which Junaparan is the chief and in each Village four five or 600 men so that the French made account of 10000 men in this Island The fertility of the Country with its Commodities The Air serene temperate and healthful the Waters excellent and which scarce ever corrupt on the Sea The Land as fruitful as any in America yielding Brazile-wood Saffron Cotton Red-dye Lake or Rose colour Balm Tobacco Pepper and sometimes Ambergrease is gathered on its Coast The Land is found proper for Sugar and if it were tilled would produce Grains some say it hath Mines of Jasper and white and red Chrystal which for hardness surpasses the Diamonds of Alenzon It is well watered with fresh Rivers and pleasant Streams well cloathed with Woods in which are store of Fowl The people are strong of body Its Inhabitants and Apparel live in good health commonly dying with age the women being fruitful till eighty years of age both Sexes go naked until they are married and then their apparel is only from the Wast to the Knees which is Manufactures of Cotton or Feather-works in which they are very ingenious The Country or the Isle of the Tapouies The Tapouy Tapere that is the Country of the Tapouies is another Isle East of Maraguon at Full-sea it is an Isle on the Ebb only Sands separate it from the Continent The soll is yet better than that of Maranhan it hath but fifteen Villages the chief bearing the name of the Country they are greater and better peopled than those of Maranhan The Country and City of Comma West of Tapouy Tapere and on the firm Land Comma a City River and Country of the same name is of no small value it s fifteen or sixteen Villages are as well peopled as those of Tapouy Tapere Between Comma and Cayetta which approaches Para are divers people descending from the Toupinambous as those of Maranhan and Comma descend from the Tapouyes The French were likewise divers times possessed of the Isle of Maranhan Ribaut was here in 1594. Ravardiere in 1612. This last chose a most commodious place in the Island and built the Fort of St. Lewis the Portugals drove them out in 1614 and built new Forts St. Jago and Neustra Sennora Among the Rivers that full into the Gulph of Maranhan Miari is the greatest then Taboucourou The Capitany of Para with its Commodities The Capitany of PARA hath a square Fort seated on a Rock raised four or five fadom from the neighbouring ground and well walled except towards the River it hath four or five hundred Portugals who gather in the Country Tobacco Cotton and Sugar This Capitany holds beyond the Mouth of the Amazone Corrupa and Estiero and among the Mouths of that River Cogemine Of a temperate Air. Brazile hath an Air sweet and temperate though under the Torrid Zone the daies and nights being almost equal the freshness of the Sea Rivers and ordinary Dews contributing much to its wholsomness They lie very subject to Storms and Thunders and if it lighten in the evening it is without Thunder if it Thunder without Flashes That which likewise proves the goodness of the Air is that their Serpents Snakes Toads c. are not venemous Serpents Toads c. not venemous here but often serve for food to the Inhabitants yet the soil is more proper for the production of Fruits Pastures and Pulse than the Grains or Vines of Europe They carry them Wine and Flowr Corn being subject to spoil on the Sea The Natives use Rice and Manjoche to make their Bread It s fertility and Commodities They have likewise quantity of Pulse Trees which bear excellent Fruits Herbs Four-footed Beasts Birds and Fish in great abundance many of which are not known to us many sorts of Palm-trees which yield them great Commodities they have some Mines of Gold but more of Silver but the riches of Brazile is drawn from the Sugars and the Brazile-wood which comes from their Araboutan a mighty Tree which bears no Fruit. They have abundance of Parroquetos among their Monkeys they have black ones and of divers colours the most part very pleasant The skin of the Tapiroussou curried becomes so hard that it makes Bucklers not to be pierced by the strongest shot Arrow The Inhabitants of Brazile and what they are addicted unto their Customs c. Their Habit. The Brazilians are of a mean stature gross headed large shouldred of a reddish colour their skins tawny they live commonly to a hundred and fifty years and free from diseases caring for nothing but War and Vengeance They wander most part of their time in Hunting Fishing and Feasting in which Manjoche furnishes them with Bread Cumin-seed with Drink and and the Flesh of Beasts or of their Enemies cut in gobbets and some Fish are their most excellent meats The men are very cruel forgetful of courtesies received and mindful of injuries The Women are very lascivious they are delivered with little or no pain and immediately go about their affairs and not observing the custom of a Months lying in as is used among us They let their hair grow long which ordinarily hangeth over their shoulders both Sexes go naked especially till Married They are esteemed excellent Swimmers and divers being able to stay an hour together under water They paint themselves with divers colours all over the body on which they leave no hair not so much as on their Eye-lids but only a Crown about their Head and fasten a Bone which is well polished and some little Stone which is esteemed amongst them in their upper Lip and Cheeks Others cut their skin in Figures and
mixing a certain tincture it never comes out They make Bonnets Frontlets Ruffes Bands Cloaks Girdles Garters and Bracelets with Feathers of divers colours which they work and mix the colours together very excellently The Brazilians which have stayed among the Portugals are for the most part become Christians the others wander without Religion Some knowledge of the Sun Moon and Stars There is a great diversity of Tongues among them insomuch that Jarric assures us that in his time he observed sixty different ones and though they have no Sciences yet have they some knowledge of the course of the Sun Moon and Stars giving them divers names and calling the Eclipses nights of the Sun and Moon The riches of Braâ—ile All the Wood of Brazile belongs unto the King of Portugal private persons not being permitted to trade in it Their riches come from Whale-Oyl Confects Conserves Tobacco Silver Hides and other Commodities but principally from Sugar no Country in the World exporting so much as Brazile doth The Isle Madera hath but ten Sugar Engines the Isle of St. Thomas possibly less but Brazile 4 or 500. The names of Mestiz Mulates Cariboco Criolo c. Explained As for the names of Mestiz and Mulates which divers times have been met with it is to be observed that the Portugals being long since here established and having from time to time caused to be transported a great many Negroes as well Men as Women to serve them This mixture of divers Nations and divers colours hath made them to distinguish their Children and to call those who came from Father and Mother of the Europeans Mozomâ—o those who came from an European and a Brazilian Mestiz or Mamelucco those from an European and a Negroess Mulates those from a Brazilian and a Negroess Cariboco those from the Father and Mother of Aethiopians Criolo Moreover it hath been known that an Aethiopian woman whose Husband was likewise an Aethiopian hath brought forth two Children the one black and the other white and a Brazilian Woman whose Husband was likewise a Brazilian to bring forth two the one white and the other black and oft-times blacks have whites and whites blacks and there are to be seen white Aethiopians that is to say in all the features of their face and in their hair all the proportions of an Aethiopian but with skin and hair white Before Brazile lyeth a train of low Rocks but of a small breadth but which continue almost all along the Coast leaving but certain overtures by which the Rivers discharge themselves into the Sea Ships that go or return from Brazile pass necessarily by these overtures or openings which oft times proves very dangerous PARAGVAY or Rio de la Plata THe Province of PARAGVAY or Rio de la Plata other then the Province de la Plata in Peru is on the River which those of the Country call Paraguay the Spaniards Rio de la Plata from whence it takes its name We may comprehend under the name of Paraguay or Rio de la Plata all the neighbouring Provinces and those which are on the Rivers falling into the Paraguay and consider them in three or in seven parts To wit in Paraguay or Rio de la Plata which may make the higher and lower part of that which is upon the River Into Chaco and Tucuman which are on the Rivers which descend on the right hand and into Parana Guayr and Vraig which are on the Rivers which descend on the left hand These are towards Brazile and the Mer del Nort the other two towards Peru and Chili and the two first in the middle The River of Paraguay described The River of Paraguay or de la Plata hath its springs in the Lake of Xarajes on the confines of Peru and Brazile and descending from north to South turns in the end to South-East receives a great many fair and large Rivers among others Putomayo Vermejo or Salado and la Garzarone on one side Guaxarape Parana and Vraig on the other The Paraguay falling into the Sea makes a Gulf of fifty and odd Leagues wide between the Capes of St. Mary and St. Anthony and an hundred and fifty Leagues within Land is ten or twelve and descending farther fifteen twenty or five and twenty Leagues broad but of so little depth and so cumbred with Rooks and Banks that what with them and the sudden storms which often rise from the South sailing up it proves very dangerous The Province of Paraguay described The particular Province of Paraguay in the highest part of the River is little known nor have the Spaniards here any Colonies yet it bears its name common with the River and communicates it to all the neighbouring quarters The People are not so barbarous as in Brazile It s People some addicting themselves to Husbandry in which the men till and sow the ground and the Women reap and gather in Harvest others know how to make Stuffs Vestments spin Cotton c. The Province de la Plata with its Colonies described Below Paraguay is the Province dela Plata where the Spaniards have some Colonies viz. 1. The Assumption being the chief place in this Countrey is well built and very well frequented neighboured by a great Lake in the midst of which is a great Rock which exalteth its head about one hundred fathom above the water this Town is said to be inhabited by three sorts of people viz. 1 By natural Spaniards who are Masters of it to the number of about four hundred families 2. Mulatoes being those that are born of Spaniards and Negro's of which there are said to be several thousands and lastly by Mestizo's which are such as are begotten by the Spaniards upon the Natives and these are not in such great number The next Town of note is Buenos Ayres seated on the ascent of a small Hill on the Southern Bank of the River de la Plata said to contain about two hundred families of Spaniards It is encompassed with a Mud-Wall but it s chiefest strength is in its Castle which is but small neither over-well provided with Ordnance and Ammunition the other Towns are Las Siette Corrientes St. Fe and St. Spiritu or Torre di Gabboto the two last and Buenos Ayres are on the right side the Assumption and Las Corrientes on the left and this two hundred and fifty or three hundred Leagues from the Sea Buenos Ayres little less than an hundred St. Fe little more the Assumption alone is on the Paraguay Las Siette Corrientes where the Parana c. falls into the Paraguay The fignification of Paraguay de la Plata This name of Paraguay is given by the Natives of the Country and signifieth a River of Feathers either because there are here found great quantities of Birds whose Feathers are various and of divers colours or because those of the Country dress and adorn themselves with those Feathers The name de la
fifteen or sixteen Leagues where with a great declension it strikes against some traverses others divides its waters into many Branches re-assembles them and after having been so long in foam and froth disingaged from these Rocks it repasses but in every hour of the day once only is heard at the bottom of the River a certain Lowing which raiseth up the waters but which endures but for a moment and the River retakes its ordinary course which is Navigable above and below the Cataract The province of urvaig with its chief places described The Province of Vrvaig is on the Sea and between Brazile and the Mouth of the Paraguay it takes its name from the River of Vrvaig that is of Snails by reason of the prodigious quantity here found Its habitations are La Conception there where the Vrvaig falls into the Paraguay St. Nicholas on the River Piration St. Francis Xavier up within Land and likewise on the Vrvaig Ibicuit or the Visitation on the Paraguay and almost directly opposite to Buenos Ayres on the other side But there hath been no relation of these Parts since those of 1626 and 1627 which were Printed in 1636 in Antwerp and in 1637 in France If these people have since inclined themselves to Christianity as those Relations say they had begun to do no doubt but they are by this time all or the greatest part Christians The Magellanick Land and Island The magellanick-Magellanick-Land bounded SOuth of Chili Tucaman and Rio de la Plata lies a great Region and a great many of Isles which we pass under the name of the MAGELLANICKS They make together the last and most Southern part of America Meridionalis washed on the East by the Mer del Nort on the West by the Mer del Sud or the Pacifique-Sea on the South by the Magellanick-Sea which may in general be extended over all the Coasts of these Magellanick-Lands and Islands The Streight of Magellan first discovered by Magellan the Portugal The streight of Magellan only formerly rendred all these Quarters famous because that the People of Europe and particularly the Castilians seeking a passage other then that of the Cape of Good-Hope to go to the Moluccoes and East-Indies Magellan a Portugal Gentleman but in the name and service of the King of Castile for some discontent he had received in the payment of his wages in Portugal was the first that found this Streight at the extremity of America Meridionalis and who passing from Mer del Nort unto that Del Sud between the 21 of October and the 27 or 28 of November in the year 1520 gave means not only to the Castilians to pretend the discovery of the Molucco's by the West against the Portugals who boasted to have first discovered them by the East but likewise shewed a way to make the whole circuit of the Terrestrial Globe which certainly had never before been done The two openings of our Streight as well towards us and the Mer del Nort as on the other side and towards the Mer del Sud are between the 52 and 53 Degrees of Latitude the middle descending unto the 54. And the two Capes of the first opening are that of the Virgins on the right hand and on the Continent and that of St. Severin or of St. Espritt on the left and in the Magellanick Isles or Terra del Fogo The two Capes which end the other opening are Cape Victory on the right hand and Cape Desired on the left The length breadth of this Streight The length of this Streight is near two hundred Leagues Its breadth only two three six ten Leagues and sometimes more incommodious for the most part being subject to Whirl-Pools The Waves of the Mer del Sud predominate for fifty and odd Leagues the rest is beaten on by those of the Mer del Nort and it is observed that so long as the Mer del Sud predominates the Streight is lockt between very high Mountains and Rocks always covered with Snow and which seem to touch on the other which makes the approach difficult on this side and withal the Sea is exceeding deep The bottom of that which is beaten by the Mer del Nort is easily found and the Fields and Valleys according to the Season are very pleasant both on the one and the other side And moreover here the streight much enlarges it self and hath store of commodious Ports and Roads not fast distant from one another where the waters likewise are good and the Wood which is found in the Mountains above the Coast hath something of Cinamon and being put in the fire renders an agreeable Odour So soon as the discovery of this Streight was known in Spain the Castilians had a design to make themselves Masters of it with an intent to hinder all other Nations from passing In 1523 Dom. Gutieres Carvajal Bishop of Plaisance sent in the name of Charles the fifth four Ships to make it more particularly but this Voyage proved very unfortunate for three of the Ships perished in the Streight and the fourth retired with no small hurt to Lima. In 1526 Garsia de Loyosa was likewise here for the same intent which proved also fatal for the Admiral coming out of the Streight was lost as also some at the Molucco's In 1535 one Simon de Alcazova entred it but the mutiny which was among his people was the cause of his loss and ill success Dom. Gutiers Carvajal Bishop of Plaisance sent other three Vessels in 1539 of which the Admiral was lost one returned back and the third passed on Some others there were which went all of which were Castilians some by the Coast of Spain others by the Coast of Peru but none could ever find a way to seize this Streight whereby to hinder a passage to others Sir Francis Drake in this Streight For in 1575 Sir Francis Drake happily passed this Streight came into the Mer del Sud pillaged and burned along the Coast of Chili and Peru quantity of Spanish Vessels and making a very rich booty he returned into England This course of the English very much allarm'd Peru and was the cause that the Vice-Roy sent Dom. Piedro Sarmiento to take full knowledge and make report in Spain of all the Coasts Harbours Anchorages and particularly of places where Forts might be built and Colonies established in this Streight This report made in Spain Dom. Diego de Valdes was sent with twenty three Vessels and twenty five hundred men But this voyage was likewise unhappy for seven or eight Ships with about seven or eight hundred men were lost almost in sight of Spain also some others of his Ships with about three or four hundred men likewise perished during the Voyage and Valdes returned into Spain with seven or eight of his Ships Sarmento with four remaining was at this Streight built Nombre de Jesus at the beginning of the Streight and left there a hundred and fifty men and
began farther in the Cividad del Rey Philippe but the want of many things and the cold too harsh for the Spaniards made the last work cease and the men be brought back to the first Colony Pedro Sermiento returning into Spain fell into the hands of the English near the Coast of Brazil and on the other side Famine Miseries and the Cruelties of the Inhabitants of the Streight soon destroyed the Colony he had left After Drake many other English and Hollanders passed at divers times and in divers years Spilbergen in 1615. more happily then the rest having taken his time in January and February which is the Summer of these Quarters the Sun returning from Capricorne The Streight dele Maire discovered by Isaac le Maire a Hollander But in 1617 a hundred years after Magellan Isaac le Maire a Hollander having discovered another Streight incomparably more easie to pass then that of Magellan this only is now made use of and called the Streight Dele Maire It is between the 55 and 55½ degrees of Septentrional Latitude It hath throughout 10 or 12 Leagues of length and breadth and so soon as it is passed there is found a very great Sea there where we have formerly believed to be a Land so great that some would make it a third Continent under the name of Terra Australis or Terra Incognita and Magellanica The Inhabitants of Magellan Maire and the Magellanick Land The Inhabitants of the Streight of Magellan Maire and the Magellanick Lands are very barbarous having very sharp and dangerous Teeth they go almost naked though in a Countrey very cold they have neither Religion nor Policy they are born white but paint some part of their body red and others black And this Painting is a Band drawn straight from Head to Foot or else cross their Body or slooping the rest is in its natural colour or else sometimes varied with divers colours They garnish their Arrows and Javelins with Fish-bones or with Stones very sharp of which they make their Knives they use likewise Clubs and Slings The Patagons a sort of people Amongst these People are the Patagons a particular Nation in the Continent which some call the Race of Toremen If report be true they are the greatest men known at present in any part of the World They are said to be no less then ten foot high and we are assured that the greatest men that were with Magellan or with the English and Hollanders that passed this Streight reached but to their Girdle But it is time to leave America The first expence made to go thither was not of above 15 or 16000 Duckats which were advanced by Lewis de St. Ange Secretary of State and not taken out of the Treasuries of the Kings of Castile and Arragon who then protested they had not so much money to expend yet notwithstanding this little hath returned them infinite riches Christopher Columbus seised on Hispaniola and the Neighbouring Isles a little after 1492. Americus Vesputius of Brazil in 1497. Ferdinand Cortes took Mexico in 1519. Pizzarre Peru in 1529. So others have seised of divers parts of America and still of those which are the best and have brought thence so much Gold Silver and Riches that they have filled almost all Europe and made those Estates Lordships and Commodities on this side which before were valued but at Twenty pence Twenty shillings or Twenty thousand pounds worth now a hundred times as much The Spaniards have received great losses from the English and Dutch But we must confess that these discoveries and these conquests of new Lands hath cost Spain store of men not so much in the War as on the Sea In 1590. a hundred Spanish Ships laden with very great riches to return to Europe passing in company near Florida a tempest surprized them and cast them all away save one whom Linscot reports to have seen in Tercera and this Author assures us that at the same time divers other Tempests or divers English Rovers took away or sunk another hundred of Spanish Ships so that of 220 parted the year before from New Spain St. Domingo Havana Cape Verde Brazil Guiney and other places not above 14 or 15 escaped shipwrack or the English Rovers Likewise after and at other times sometimes the English sometimes the Hollanders have not only taken abundance of Spanish Vessels on the Sea but likewise divers places on Land and sometimes whole Provinces and Islands The Hollanders held not long since a good part of Brazil the English hold at present Barbadoes Jamaica and some other places in the Isles and Lands about it And all those Isles which are on this side Hispaniola are in the hands of the English French and Hollanders who likewise establish divers Colonies on the Coast of Guiana which if they subsist those Isles are not already more troublesome Thorns to Mexico and Terra-Firma then these Colonies in Guiana will be to Terra-Firma Peru and Brazil The Trade of America in geral To give a small touch of the Traffick of this New World it is observed to give imployment to many Ships of great burthen and that of several Nations as well Europeans as others by which they have gained much riches in which England Spain France Portugal Holland c. have been large sharers To sum up the rich staple commodities that it produceth as also what Commodities they receive in exchange will not be unnecessary Its Fruits and Commodities First then Its Earth yieldeth Grains excellent Fruits Plants Sugar Indico Tobacco Ginger Long-Pepper and other Spices Several Medicinal Drugs Cotton of which as also of the Feathers of their Birds they make excellent and curious Manufactures In the bowels of the Earth lie hid in abundance of Mines Gold Silver Iron Lead Tin and Copper there is also plenty of Quick-silver Amber Precious Stones Pearls Bezoar Amber Greece Gum Arabick and several Precious Gums Cocheneile Saffron Chrystal excellent Balsom Rozin Salt Honey Wax Rich Furs Ox-Hides Tallow Whale-Oyl Dried Fish Pitch Tar Jallop Salsaperilla Gayac Turbith Several excellent Woods as Campeche Brazil Lignum Vita Green Ebony Cedar Cypress Firrs and excellent Wood for building of Ships Commodities sent them in exchange For these and other such rich commodities they take in exchange Beads Necklaces Bracelets and the like Toys as also Looking-Glasses Ribbons Needles Pins and all sorts of Haberdashery Ware also Knives Hatchets Saws Nails Hammers and other Instruments made of Iron with several other of the like cheap Commodities We have thus comprised all that seemed most necessary concerning America true it is whole Volums might be made only touching the Nature and Propriety of their Grains Herbs Plants Fruits Fowl Beasts and Fish which are all different from ours yet those which have been carried from hence have thrived and multiplied exceeding well either in one place or another But of all our Beasts nothing so much astonished them as our Horses and it was near a hundred years in Peru and other parts of America before those People would be perswaded to mount on them FINIS
A Peninsula A Peninsula or Chersonese that is such a Tract of Land that is almost encompassed by the Sea except at one only narrow place where with a strait neck of Land called an Isthmus it is knit to the Main Land An Isthmus An Isthmus is that narrow or strait neck of Land that couples and joyns the Peninsula to the Continent or Main-land and that by which we pass out of one broad Land into another The Peninsula's Chersonesusses or Chersoneses that is running out Lands are these following to wit 1. Italy 2. Spain 3. Part of England Of Lands which are or may be termd Peninsula's 4. All Greece and Macedonia 5. Norway and Swedeland with Lapland 6. Asia minor 7. India 8. Camboia 9. New Guiney of the South-land 10. Beach a Country of the same Land 11. Part of Virginia and New-England 12. The Tongue of Africa c. Proposition X. Other Lands termed Peninsula's The Chersoneses of the Ancients We will number up further fourteen Peninsula's or Chersoneses and these we will divide into longish ones and somewhat round ones The longish ones are first the Golden Chersonese of the Ancients now called the Malaccan Chersonese and joyns to the Indies 2. The Cymbrick Chersonese now called Jutland adjoyning to Holsatia 3. California on the Western side of North America near the Sea Vermejo But late Observations report it to be an Island 4. New France on the Eastern side of North America 5. The Jucatan Chersonese in the Bay of Mexico 6. The Thracian Chersonese on the Hellespont 7. The Cassandrian Chersonese by the Bay of Thessalonica in the Grecian Sea There are also certain Peninsula's less celebrious of the lesser Asia to wit Ionia or the Smyrnensian Peninsule 2. The Cnidensian or the Countrey of Doris and 3. The Mindensian Peninsula's Concerning Corea it is doubtful whether it be a compleat Island or a Peninsula Some Maps joyn it to Tartary some again begirt it round with the Sea yet notwithstanding the latest Observations make it a Peninsule The somewhat round Peninsula's are 1. Africa her self a huge part of the Old World is such an one it is environed with the Mediterranean Sea the Atlantick Ocean the Aethiopick Indian and Red-sea It sticketh fast to Asia by a narrow Tract of Land at Egypt 2. Three parts of America to wit Mexican and Peru stick fast together at Panama by a narrow passage of the Earth 3. Peloponnesus now called the Morea being part of Greece 4. Taurick Chersonese or Peninsula in the Euxine Sea and the mouth of the Fen Maeotis now called the Precopensian Tartary 5. Cambaia in India Proposition XI Of the chief Peninsula's We reckon as many Isthmusses as Peninsula's the more famous are five in number 1. The Isthmus between Egypt and Asia whereby Africa joyneth to Asia 2. The Corinthian Isthmus between Peloponnesus and Greece 3. The Panamensian Isthmus between Mexico America and Peruvia 4. The Isthmus between the Chersonesus Aurea or Golden Chersonesus and the Indies 5. The Isthmus of the Taurick Chersonese CHAP. IX Of Mountains and Hills in General Of Mountains and Hills TOuching Mountains very many things worthy to be known in Geography will here occur and meet us partly because they seem to hinder the roundness of the Earth and partly because divers things amongst renowned Authors are here delivered concerning them Proposition I. But a Mountain or Hill is said to be a part of the Earth rising aloft which if it be lesser is called a Hillock or Clift Of Promontories and Rocks Also a Promontory is said to be a Hill or Mountain running out at length into the Sea Rocks are called parts jutting or appearing forth in the Sea or also arising up out of huge stony Bulks or Bodies But it must be generally known that the parts of the Earth which appear plain are not all of the same height but some are sunk lower especially at or near the Sea shores insomuch as the height encreaseth from Maritine places or such as abutt upon the Sea even to the Inland Regions This also is proved by the Fountains and flowing Streams of Rivers For seeing that that part of the Earth to which the water floweth is lower than that from which it floweth and that the Fountain-heads and Springs of Rivers are seldom in the Inland places and such as are far remote from the Sea It is clearly manifest thereby that the Inland places are more elevated than those adjoyning to the Sea Coasts Inland places higher than those near the Sea-coasts So Bohemia is higher then Holsatia which is perceived by the streaming course of the River Elbe which floweth from Bohemia to Holsatia In like manner we take apparent Signs and Arguments of the greater height of Inland places from the Rivers Danubius Visurgis Rhene Mosa c. The Swishers and Rhetians Countries are judged by some men to be the highest of all Europe because the Rivers Rhene Roan and the greater Danou do flow and stream down from thence Moreover look how great the declivity or bearing downwards of the Rivers are so great is the height of the Inland places above the Maritine places Proposition II. To finde out the height of a Mountain by Geodesie or Land-measuring commonly called Surveying This is performed in the same manner which we use in the searching out the height of Towers if so be the top of the Mountain or Hill is remarkable by some peculiar sign For the finding out the height of a Mountain by Geodesie Let A B be the Mountains height A the foot B the conspicuous head thereof We will take the line F C by a mean distance from it so that neither of the Angles A F C A C F may be made very acute but may in a manner be equal Then let the Angles A F C A C F be observed by a collimation or levelling with winking be made to B and these being subtracted to 180 degrees the remaining degrees shall shew forth the Angle C A F. After that the distance of the stations of F C is exquisitely to be measured See Scheme and let it be wrought As the sign of the Angle F A C to the sign of the Angle C F A or F C A if you would take F A so F C to A C the distance of the Mountain from C. Then the Instrument being hanged up or placed upright in C and levelling with the Eye to B let the Angle B C A be taken And because the Triangle C A B is strait angled to wit the Angle B A C is strait therefore also the Angle A B C of 90 degrees shall be given Let it therefore be wrought by the Triangle BAC As the whole sign 10000000 to the Tangent of the Angle B C A so the distance A C to the perpendicular height of the Mountain A B. The height of the Mountain Olympus measured by Xenagoras For Example Let us put it that
of which it is probable that the mutation of the height of the Sea availeth much sometimes in this and sometimes in that part by reason of the floods waves or tempest For the water being made higher more presseth the water and promoteth its ingress through the Earth to the Springs And seeing that every day the Altitude of the Sea is augmented and diminished in the parts of the Ocean not only by storms but also by the flux and reflux therefore such a pressure happeneth every day but I question whether this cause can effect much The third Argument answered Unto the third Argument I say that the reason is the disposition of the places and of the Earth it self and as I said that the humour is moved and glideth towards that part where the flux is made neither do I think it needeth any farther explication The fourth Argument Answered The fourth Argument taken from the saltness hath a more difficult solution because that it seemeth not possible that the saltness should be taken away only by transcolation for the saltness of the water consisteth in a double Salt which the Aristotelians never observed the one of which the Chymists aptly call fixed the other volatile Salt And the fixed Salt may indeed be separated from the marine water as well by continual transcolation as by coction and distillation of the water but the volatile Salt because it is spirituous is immediately advanced with the water neither can it be separated by frequent and often repeated distillation Therefore it is hard to give a mode by which this volatile salt spirit in its passage between the Sea and the Fountain may be separated from the Sea water Yet in the mean while these will suffice for the solution 1. Although we have not discovered the mode and artifice by which this volatile salsitude may be separated from the Sea water yet we must not deny but that it may be separated for by nature we find it separated viz. for fresh showers fall into the Ocean which yet were generated of the vapours taken up from the Sea 2. Those particles of Salt water penetrating the Earth before they flow to their Fountain are mixed here and there with other waters proceeding there from rain or vapours and so that small saltitude that they yet had is rendred altogether insensible 3. It is not true that the salsitude is altogether insensible in all Springs because that some Fountains are salt as we said before other-some brackish a little as those two miles from the City Suez and in places less remote from the Sea Therefore there is need of a long transcolation and gentle evaporation to separate the water from the volatile Salt and by this artifice we make Sea water less salt and such also is the generation of rain water which therefore is not salt or at least less salt For it is certain that sometimes saltish kinds of rain do fall into the Sea Therefore the waters of Fountains proceed partly from the Sea or subterranean waters partly from Rivers and Dew that moisten the Earth But the water of Rivers partly proceedeth from Springs and partly from Rain and Snow Proposition VI. Certain Rivers hide themselves in the midst of their passage under the Earth and in another place rise up again as if they were new Rivers Of Rivers which in the midst of their passage hide themselves under the Earth and rise again The most celebrated of them are 1. The River Niger which meeting the Mountains of Nubia is observed under them and cometh sorth again from the other Occidental quarter 2. Tigris having passed the Lake Arethusa meeting the Mountain Taurus is hidden in a Cave and floweth out on the other side Then when it hath passed the Lake Thospites it is again obscured in subterranean Caverns and then after it hath thus run the space of about six German miles it breaketh forth again 3. About Arcadia in Peloponnesus many such Riverets are to be found as Aristotle writeth in his first Book of Meteors Chapter Eleventh 4. Alpheus a River of Achaia is absorbed by the Earth The Grecians write that it keepeth its course under the Sea and beneath the Earth even unto Sicilia where they will have it to emerge on the Coast of Syracuse and to be that River that is called Arethusa in Sicilia Now this they especially collected from this viz. that Arethusa in Sicilia every fifth Summer cast up the dung of those Beasts at that time when the Olympian Games were celebrated and the dung and garbage of the slain Victims were cast into Alpheus Therefore being carried with a direct Current they were cast up in Sicilia 5. The River Guadiana between Portugal and Biscay in times past called Anas wholly obscureth it self at Medelina and about 8 German miles further discovereth it self again 6. Dan which flowing with the River Jor maketh Jordan breaketh forth some miles from its Fountain Phiala Straw or rushes being cast into the same are found and discovered in the Fountain or proruption of the River Dan. The Reasons why these Rivers hide themselves under the Earth and again emerge are 1. The obstacle of a more elevated place than the Channel of the River 2. Either perchance some cavity existing in the Earth or some inconstant matter which easily giveth place to the gliding River There are also other Rivers which hide themselves under the Earth but do not again emerge as we shall shew in the following Propositions Proposition VII Most of the great and indifferent Rivers as also a great part of the lesser do exonerate themselves into the Sea or a Lake and the place where this exoneration is made is termed the Mouth of the River Some Rivers have one some three and some more such Mouths Some of the Rivers of indifferent magnitude as also the lesser sort discharge themselves into greater Rivers the others either stagnate or are sucked up by the Earth Most Rivers both great and small lose themselves in the Sea or in Lakes Concerning the greater Rivers the thing is evident by the Example of the Rhine the Danube the Wolga and such like For the Danube is exonerated into the Euxine Sea by seven Mouths the Wolga hath at least seventy Outlets or Mouths the Nile hath seven and where it overfloweth more The cause why greater Rivers do exonerate themselves into the Sea is their abundance of water and vehement course Now why they have more outlets than one there is a twofold reason for the same 1. The abundance of water 2. The generation of Sands and ridges in the mouths which in progress of time was so augmented that they become either part of the Land or Island and so cause that the River gliding is divided into two branches And when many such ridges are generated the River is divided into many branches or one mouth into many but then for the most part the mouths are carried forwards and the Sea recedeth from
the Land Courses of water often made by the Industry of Men. The Ancients testifie that the Nile in times past let it self into the Sea by one mouth which was termed Canobus Unto these two former causes a third may be added viz. Human Industry for men oftentimes from some River derive courses of water and prepare a passage or Channel for them into the Sea partly to water their Fields and partly for the convenience of Navigation which Aqueduct in progress of time by the violence of the water becomes greater Therefore the Ancients write and that not without probability that all the mouths of the Nile except Canobus were made by men But of this we shall treat more fully in the following Proposition where also shall be declared how it cometh to pass that one River floweth into the Channel of another Wolchda in Moscovia not Wolga ariseth from a Lake and exonerateth it self into another Lake Rivers and Riverets which neither exonerate themselves into the Sea or into other Rivers are either Arms or Branches of other Rivers or else peculiar Rivers Those which are branches of other Rivers very probably do stagnate and go not under the Earth Now the cause why they tend not towards the Sea is twofold 1. Because the Channel is not so deep and therefore they have not much water 2. The more hard Earth hindereth the progress 3. Many of them are made to water the Fields and for the more easie use of water 4. The Mouth is obstructed the Sea departing and the Land augmenting or promoting towards the Sea or the banks or ridges generated in the Channel are so augmented that they admit of no water but repel it so that branch of the Rhine which formerly discharged it self into the Belgick Ocean near the Village of the Catti now stagnates in the mid-way between Leyden and that Village But those peculiar Rivers which neither exonerate themselves into the Sea nor into other Rivers but rising in the Earth seem to be absorbed by the Earth these Rivers are very small also few as also those that flow from the Mountainous places of Peru India and Africa are swallowed up either within the Sandy soil or are absconded in the Earth So at Meten a Village in Arabia near the Gulph is found a River with a glorious Channel Under these Reeds in the Summer season the streams hide themselves with such a silent course that there appeareth nothing of humidity on the top but if that no way be admitted to these Riverets under the Earth they make Marishes and small Lakes Notwithstanding some run with so slow a stream that almost so much is separated by exhalations as they receive by the Stream and so are stayed on the Earth and neither make Lakes nor are absorbed as the Riverets Conitra Salle Marefsa Jeleesa and others in Moscovia Proposition VIII Whether the passage or Channel through which the Rivers run be made by the Industry of men or by Nature Of the Channels of Rivers It is probable that the Channels of those Rivers which were not generated with the Earth were made by hands on those very accounts 1. Because that Experience testifieth that when new Fountains do flow the water so flowing out maketh not a certain Channel to it self but doth dilate it self through the adjacent Land And therefore if that it must flow there is need of the help of man to hollow a Channel 2. It is manifest that men have made many Channels So the Chineses made a Channel by which water runeth from the yellow River into another River 3. Because Lakes and Marishes do confirm the same such as are found about the Fountains of many Rivers that are on a plain such as are those Lakes or Marishes from which the Nile Tanais Wolga and others do flow Which Lakes we doubt not but to be generated and conserved from the effusion of water made round about by the Fountain and therefore men made a certain Channel to defend their Fields from such a water into which Channel the water might fall and drain the Lands The same must be understood of Rivers whose Springs are on the Mountains Of affinity to this Proposition is this other viz. Whether that Rivers which exonerate themselves into others or meet together made that passage by their motion or whether they were brought into them by men which made a Channel The latter seemeth more probable for the reasons before alledged The same must be observed concerning the branches of Rivers and Circumductions by which Islands are made in the Tanais Wolga c. Of Isles made in Rivers So one Arm of the Euphrates formerly passing through the Ghaldean Marishes was let out into the Sea afterwards it left its course many Aqueducts and Channels being made by the Natives to water their grounds neither doth it arrive to the Sea its mouth being obstructed and its water is partly taken up in the Aqueducts that are made and partly averted into the other Arm which exonerateth it self into the Tigris And so it seemeth to be the case of other Rivers which we now see do not go forwards into the Sea but to stagnate It is probable that in times past they did exonerate themselves into the Sea Proposition IX Why no salt Rivers are found seeing that Salt-springs are found in many places The reason why no Salt Rivers are found The reason is because that men have no need of Salt-water and therefore make no Channel by which the water of the salt Fountain may flow by reason that they can have Salt at an easier rate But if that a fit Channel were prepared from those salt Springs we should have salt Rivers such as are in Lunenburgh and other places under the Earth Neither do we question but that many Rivers of Salt-water do flow from their Fountains under the Earth Proposition X. The Channels of Rivers by how much they are the more near their Fountains by so much they are the more high and by how much they are the more near the Mouths of Rivers and the Sea by so much for the most part they are the more depressed Furthermore of Channels of Rivers But in some Channels some parts more removed from the Spring are higher than that part more near to the Fountain either by reason of the Hills and Valleys as I may so say in their Channels or by reason of their Whirlpools yet no part of the Channel is higher than the Fountain The flowing of water The cause or reason of the Proposition is manifest because that water floweth not but from a place more high to a place more low and so every part of the Channel especially the mouth of the River is lower than the Spring for otherwise it would flow back again to the Fountain Now that the elevation of the Channel doth decrease even to the mouth of the River that at least is true concerning many parts of the Channel for because here