malâ gentibus intulit That is the bold sonne of Japhet brought fire by craft among the Nations Of this matter the Poets haue set forth many fables the true drift whereof our Author sheweth in a word Looke what I haue noted vpon the 707. verse of the sixt day of the first weeke The rest of this place is easie to be vnderstood 30. As is a pebble stone A fine similitude concerning the aforesaid matter to shew how all the Arts began from the plaine of Sennaar to spread by little and little ouer all the world 31. For from Assyria He beginneth here to treat of the more particular peoplings And first he sheweth how the posteritie of Sem began to fill Asla Their first oute-ease leauing the coast of Assyria bent toward the East Of this riuer Hytan Plinie saith 6.23 Carmaniae slumen Hytanis portuosum auro fertile Looke Solinus cha 67. They hauing peopled this quarter thrust on further toward Oroatis a riuer of Persia whereof Plinie faith in his 6. booke the 23. Flumen Oroatis oslio dissicili nisi peritis Insulae 2. paruae inde vadosa nauigatio palustri similis per curipos tamen quosdam peragitur and in the 25 chap. Persidis initium ad Flumen â—roatin quo diuiditur ab Elimaide Read also the 24. chapter of the said booke of Plinie for the better vnderstanding of their dwelling here Then they drew further forth into Persia towards the Citie of Susa close by the which Coaspis runneth such is the sweetnesse of that water that as Plinie Soline Plutarch and others record the Kings of Persia drinke of none other So they came into the valleys of the famous hill Caucasus where dwelt the Parthians whose Kings were commonly called Arsaces From hence into Medie and lastly vp higher toward the Hyrcanian or Caspian lake Looke Ptolomie in his first second and third table of Msia Mercater Ortelius Cellarius and Theuet All these remoues are contained within the compasse of fiue or six hundred leagues 32. These mens posteritie He setteth downe in foure verses the chiefe countries peopled by the second ouercrease of Sems Issue The land fronting Cheisel is a part of Tartarie not farre from the Caspian sea whereinto that riuer falleth and riseth neere the wildernesse of Lop aboue Tachaliston which is a great Countrey neighbour to the mountaine Imáus Charasse Charassan or Chorasan it is a Countrey that lies betweene Isligias Bedane and Tacalistan which I note more particularly then I finde in the French Commentary because there is so little difference of letters betweene that and the name of Carazan whereof the Poet speaketh in the fourth verse following This Charasse Gadel Cabul Bedane and Balistan are prouinces enclosed by the riuer Indus the mountaine Imaus the Caspian Sea and realme of Persia a circuit of land somewhat more then 600. leagues 33 Their of-spring afterward He commeth to the third ouercrease of the Semites who went forth Southward as well as North and Eastward The inhabitants of Cabul thrust forward their Issue toward Bisnagar a rich countrey of South Asia lying betweene the Persian sea and the Gulfe of Bengala Narfinga for so I haue translated the French Nayarde is a kingdome lying yet lower and very rich That plenteous land that Ganges thorow-flowes it containes the higher India where are many wealthy kingdomes set forth well at large in the Maps as Cambaie Decan Bengala Pedir c. Toloman is further vp toward the North. Aua is beyond the Gulfe of Bengala toward the East about Pegu and Siam countries of infinite wealth Mein on the West hath Ganges on the East Macin on the South Bengala and on the North Carazan which the Poet surnameth Muskey because there is great store of the best Muske Lop a Desert thirty dayes iourney ouer lying yet higher Northward It seemes the Roet followes the opinion of M. P. Venet who in the first booke of his Tartarian Historie chap. 35. makes very strange report of the fearefull sights that the poore passengers there meete with often to the losse of their liues Not vnlike it is that certaine legions of cuill Spirits there abiding haue had some speciall power giuen them so to punish the Idolatrous Mahometists who still inhabit those quarters The Poet saith all che countries marching this Wildernesse were peopled by this third outerease of the Semits It is an opinion somewhat likely and thereon I rest vntill I heare some other if it be possible giue more certaine intelligence of the matter 34. Long after sundry times He speaketh of the fourth and last ouercrease of Sem. Tipura a Countrey breeding many Rhrinocerots which according as the Greeke name signifieth I haue translated horny-snouted beasts read the description of them in the exposition of the fortieth verse of the sixt day of the first weeke this Tipura lieth Eastward aboue Toloman betwixt Carazan an Caichin or Gaucinchine for so I haue translated it hath on the West Tipura and Toloman on the South Campaa on the North China and Mein and on the East the East-Ocean a land very large and bearing great store of Aloës Mangit is farre vp in the North so is also Quinsai Ania and Tabin one aboue another euen vnto the Anien Straight and Seythicke Ocean By this description plaine to be seene in the Maps of Asia the Poet meant to shew vs all the seuerall remoues of Sems posteritie who not passing beyond the Anian Straight might long content themselues with â—o large a portion as Asia containing aboue foure thousand leagues of ground As for the particular description of these Countries their length breadth and commodities I neither dare nor will euer charge therewith my notes entenâ—ed for short Besides it was not the Poets minde to hold the Reader long with view and study of such matter and questions as may be had and plainly resoiled of the Card-men 35. Now from the center-point Out of Affyria and Mesopotamia Iaphet or the next race from him drew toward the West into those places that the Poet names set downe as they are in the ancient and later Maps of Asia and Europe I neede not mine 〈◊〉 euery word of the text Armenis is distinguished into the Great and Lesse it lieth neere the Caspian sea and coasteth toward Europe The sweete Corician caue it is in Cilicia and is described of Plinie in the 27. chapter of his 5. booke and Strabo in his 4. booke and Solinus in his 51. chapter Concerning the strange matters which the Poet reports of it read Pomponius Mela his description of Cilicia the first booke Besides many notable properties of the place he saith moreouer that when a man hath gone there a troublesome narrow way a mile and more he shall come through pleasant shades into certaine thicke woods which make a sound no man can tell how of certaine country-songs and after he is passed thorow to the end thereof he shall enter another deeper shadow which amazeth much all that come
there by reason of a noise is heard loud and passing mans power to make as it were the sound of many Cimbals These are his words Terret ingredientes sonitu Cimbalorum diuinitùs magno fragore crepitantium He sets downe also at large all other the pleasant delights of the place Concerning this musicke some thinke it a fable others ascribe it to a naturall cause as that the ayre entting by a natrow mouth into a vault of stone wide and very deepe soone growes thereby exceeding raw and so turnes into water then dropping still downe in many places and quantities somewhat proportionable vpon the sounding stone makes in those hollow rockie places a noyse as it were musicall Taure his lostie downes this great mountaine reacheth hence well toward Pisidia Westward and on the other side a great way into Asia as Ptolomee sheweth in his first table Meander a riuer arising out of the mountaines of Pelta and Totradium in Asia the lesse runneth thorow Hierapolis Pâ—sidia Licaonia Caria and other countries thereabouts into the Midland sea Illios or Troas Bithynia and the rest are higher toward Hellespont and the Maior sea 36. Then boldly passing ore He spake before of Illios which lies in low Phrigia vpon the shore of the Midland sea about the Sigean Peake and the riuer Sin Sis hard by the Straight of Gallipolie where Abydos on Asia-side standeth and Sestos on the side of Europe now he saith the second ouercrease of Semites past the Straight it being in breadth but the fourth part of a league as Bellon nuoucheth in the second booke and third chapter of his Singularities In times past there stood two towers one in Sest the other in Abyde in the tops whereof wont to be set great lights to waine the marrinets by night Looke what we haue noted vpon the word Phare in the first day of the first weeke verse 448. and what vpon the word Leander first weeke fift day 912. verse At this time Sest and Abyde are two Castles where the Turke hath Garrisons and are the very keyes of Turkie in that quarter so neare is Constantinople vnto them Strimon Hebre and Nest are three great riuers passing thorow Thrace which is now called Romania and â—alling into the Aegean sea called now by some Archipelago and by the Turkes the white sea Looke the ninth table of Europe in Ptolomee The Rhodopean dales Rhodope is a mountaine bounding Thrace in the dales thereof beside other Townes are Philippoli and Hadrianopoli Danubie or Donaw is the greatest riuer of all Europe springing out of Arnobe hill which Ptolomee and Mercator puts for a bound betweene the Sweues and Grisons this Riuer running thorow Almaine Austria Hungaria Slauonia and other countries with them interlaced receiueth into it aboue fifty great Riuers and little ones an infinite sort so emptieth by six great mouthes into the Maior sea Moldauia Valachia and Bulgaria are the countries neare about the fall of Danubie 37 Thrace These countries neare the Maior and Aegean Seas and the Thracian Bosphore thrust on the third ouercrease of people further West and Northward as the Poet very likely saith the Maps of Europe shew plainly the coasts he nameth for their chiefe seats But to shew how and when they changed and rechanged places and names of places driuing out one the other and remouing by diuers enterspaces it were the matter of a large booke 38 Now turning to the South He commeth now to handle the Colonies or ouercreases of Chams posteritie first in Arabia Phaenicia and Chananaea which was after called Iudea the site of these countries wee know well they are easie to be found in the generall Maps and those of Europe beside the particulars in Ptolomce and other late Writers as namely in the Theater of Ortelius When the Chamites had ouerbred Arabia and the countries South from Chaldaea which lies betwixt the Arabian and Persian Gulfes they went at the second remoue downe into Aegypt betwixt the red and Midland seas thirdly they entred Affrick and by little and little filled it The Poet points out many countries for better vnderstanding whereof wee must consider that Affrick the fourth part of the world knowne is diuided into foure parts Barbaria Numidia Lybia and the Land of Negroes Barbaria containeth all the North coast from Alexandria in Aegypt to the Straight of Gibraltar along by the Midland sea and is diuided into foure Kingdomes Maâ—oco Fessa Tremisen and Tunis containing vnder them 21. Prouinces Vnder the same Southward lieth Numidia called of the Arabians Biledulgerid and hauing but few places habitable Next below that is Lybia called Sarra as much to say as Desert a countrie exceeding hot marching athonside vpon the Land of Negroes that the last and greatest part of Affricke reacheth South and Eastward very farre In the further coast thereof is the countrie of Zaâ—zibar certaine kingdomes and deserts neare the Cape of good hope which is the vtmost and Southerest peake of all Affrick Corâ—ne is neare Aegypt The Punick Sea the Sea of Carthage put for the Midland that parteth Europe and Affrick asunder Fesse is the name of the chiefe Citie of that Realme in Barbarie Gogden a Prouince of the Negroes as are also Terminan Gago and Melli neare the same Argin lieth neare the White Cape Gusola is one of the seuen Prouinces of Maroco in Barbarie Dara a country in the North-west of Numidia not farre from Gusola Tembuto agreat countrie in the West part of the Negroes neare about the Riuer Niger So is Gualata but somewhat higher and right against the Greene Cape Mansara which I haue put in for the verse sake as I left out Aden it lies neare Melli vpon the lowest mouth of Niger By Aden that the French hath I take to be meant Hoden which is betwixt Argin and Gualata or somewhat lower The Wildeâ—nesse of Lybie is surnamed Sparkling because the sands there ouerchafed with a burning heat of the Sunne flye vp and dazle mens eyes Cane Guber Amasen Born Zegzeg Nubie Benim all are easie to be found in the Mappe neare about the Riuer Niger sauing Benim which is lower by the Gulfe Royall and Nubie higher toward Nilus Amasâ—n which I haue added is a great countrie neare the place where Niger diueth vnder the Earth From these quarters South and Eastward lies the great Ethiopia a countrie exceeding hot sandie and in many places vnhabitable because of the sands which by the wind are so moued and remoued oftentimes that they ouer-heate and choke-vp diuers great countries that might otherwise be dwelt in There the great Negus called Prester-Ian raigneth farre and neare His Realmes Prouinces Customes Lawes Religion and the manner of his peoples liuing are set forth at large by Franciscus Aluares is his Historie of Ethiopia that is ioyned with Iohannes Leo his description of Affrick 39 If thou desire to know Hitherto the Poet hath told vs how Asia Europe and Affricke were peopled by the successours of Noe. But he hath not
such as hurt him P. Marlyr of Millaine in the 8. booke of his 3. Decade tels great wonders of one that was tamed and made so familiar with a certaine Cassike or Lord of India that he would play and make sport like an Ape and sometimo would carry ten Indians at once on his backe and passe or ferry them in that wise from one side of a great Lake there to the other And for as much as hauing foure feet like a Sea-dog he liued on the land as well as in the water he would now and then wrestle with Indians and take meat at their hand but would in no wise be reconciled vnto the Christians there because one of them whom he knew it seems very strangely by his face and clothes had once strooke him with a lance though hurt him not by reason of his hard and thicke hyde Ouiede in the 13. booke and 10. chap. f his History describes one but not as a creature liuing both at Sea and Land nor yet foure-footed Howbeit he saith the name of Manat is giuen to this fish by the Spaniards because he hath as t' were manus duas two hands neere his head which doe serue him for fynnes to swim withall he tels further many things of singular note and that this Manat or Seabullocke is found about the Isle of Hispaniola As for other fishes here mentioned they shall be handled in another place hereafter but who so desires to know more of the history and nature of them let him reade Gesner Rondeletius Bellon So much out of the second day of the first weeke Now let vs goe on with this booke of the Arke 7 Good Noe. In the history of Moses Gen. 7. there are certaine points worthy noting to proue that the faithfull and holy Patriarck Noes heart failed him not though he saw then the Arke tossed vp and downe the boundlesse waters of this generall Flood though all the fountaines of the great deepe broke forth and the flood-gates of Heauen were opened so as the raine fell amaine and without ceasing vpon the face of the earth forty daies and forty nights together and the water swelled fiftie cubits aboue the highest of all hills The first is that he entred the Arke himselfe with his wife and children and their wiues also at the commandement of God The second is that after all the beasts paire by paire were also come in God himselfe shut the doore vpon them For this shewes that the holy Patriarke with a liuely faith obeyed the voice of God and vpon his only wise prouidence wholly rested And therefore good reason had the Poet to set downe such holy exercises as were likely to be vsed by Noe being now close prisoner as it were for the space of a whole yeare and ten daies as may be gathered by the 11. and 13. verses of the seauenth chapter of Genesis and by the 13. and 14. verses of the chapter following The summe of his discourse is grounded vpon consideration of the great mercy of God who neuer forgetteth his children and such as feare him and rest vpon his goodnesse This goodnesse and mercy well shewed it selfe vnto Noe and his among so many fearefull shapes of death while in the Arke they were so preserued aliue from the Deluge together with the whole seminarie of the world next to ensue The Almighty now held all creatures obedient vnto the Patriarke as he had before disposed them to come and range themselues by couples into the Arke where they were during this imprisonment to be fed and kept cleane Let the Reader duely consider how many wayes the faith patience and constancie of Noe was exercised in so waighty a charge and how needfull it was that God who had shut vp his seruant in this prison of wood should be there also with him from time to time to strengthen and make him rich in faith as hee was whereby he onercame all these dangers God therefore doubtlesse was the Patron of his ship the sterne Load starre Ancor and Hauen of this Arke sloating amid the waters now hurried after a strange manner To this purpose saith a learned Father Noah iactatur procellis nec meigitur serpentibus beslijs sociatur nec terretur ei serae colla submittunt alites famulantur It was the great mercy of God toward Noe that hee gaue him the skill and knowledge how to fit the seuerall places in the Arke for the creatures and their food as also that vnder one man and so few more as were saued with him he held in obedience so many beasts and for the most part one contrary to another that the men were not choâ—ked vp with this close ayre and ill sauour of excrements that amid so many fearefull apprehensions they were able to keepe life and soule together But the blessing of God is the stay and sure hold of all his children 8 But Cham. I will not speake here now of the questions arising about the time when began or how long continued the Flood nor curiously examine the Hebrew words lest these Annotations grow too long And the Poet hath chosen matter of more importance to be considered I haue said else-where that it graceth much a Poem where the certame truth appeares not there to stand vpon likelyhoods C ham shewed himselfe a profane wretch and a scosser straight after the Flood whereupon both he and his posteritie were accursed The Poet therefore with great probabilitie supposeth he could not long conceale and hold-in the poyson whereof his heart was full but began to vent and vomit it euen in the Arke Noe then a man endued with the feare of God was surely not silent the space of a whole yeare and ten dayes and his care was not employed altogether vpon the beast it must needs be therefore that he spent some time in teaching and comforting his familie C ham was certainly gracelesse and had no feeling of the Spirit and fitly then doth the Poet personate in him all that are profane striuers against the iudgements of God For whatsoeuer is here imputed vnto Cham may be gathered for likely by that which he and his posteritie did after the Deluge Noe who liued yet three hundâ—ed and fiftie yeares longer returned it seemes from the Armenian hills where the Arke staid into his own former habitation about Damascus where his fore-fathers were buried It is held for certaine that Sem also came againe thither and that his issue peopled the lands thence reaching toward the East the South Cham drew to the South West Iaphet to the North and West whereof reade yee the 10. chap. of Genesis C ham had one sonne called Cus whose posteritie inhabited a part of Arabia and that of Ethiopia which is vnder Egypt another called Mitsraim of whom came the Egyptians and another called Canaan father of the Cananites He had also Put a fourth sonne but of his posteritie Moses hath not a word Iosephus in the sixt chapter
tongue should remaine entire and vncorrupt with such as had corrupted the seruice of God But the Lord being mercifull vnto Abraham restored to him againe and kept for his faithfull children the first Language which had not beene so much corrupted in the family of Sem who parted not so farre from his father La terre partagee entre les enfans de Noé Sem tire vers l'Orient Ce pays qui s'estend non moins riche que large Iusqu'au bord Perosite où reide se descharge L'Ob Roy des douces caux l'Ob au superbe cours Fleuue qu'a peine on peut trauerser en six iours Iusques à Malaca les Isles où s'amasse La Canelle le Clou Sumatre sur qui passe Le Cercle egale-nuicts iusqu'au slot encor De Zeilan porte-perle Binasgar porte-or Depuis la mer Euxine l'onde fraternelle Des fleuues Chaldeans iusqu ' à l'onde cruelle Du destroit Anien les paresseuses eaux Habitation des successeurs de Cham. Ou Quinzit est hasty Chiorze ou les Taureaux Aussi grands qu'Elephans son habillez de soye Est la part du grand Sem. Car le destin enuoye Assur en l'Assyrie à sin qu'en peu de iours Chalé Resen Niniue au ciel haussent leurs tours Le porte-scepre Elam saisit les monts de Perse Et les fertils guerets que l'Araxe trauerse Lut le champ Lydien Aram l'Aramean Et le docte Arphaxat le terroir Chaldean This countrry reaching forth as rich as it is large From Peake of Perosites Sem went toward the West where doth himselfe discharge The stately running Ob great Ob fresh waters King A riuer hardly crost in six daies trauelling To Malaca to th'Isles from whence are brought huge masses Of Calamus and Cloues Samotra whereon passes Heau'ns Equinoctiall line and to the waters far Of Pearly Zeilan Isle and goldie Bisnagar And from the Pont-Eusine and from the brother waues Of those two Chaldee streames vnto the Sea that raues With hideous noise about the Straight of Aniens To Quinsies moorie poole and to Chiorza whence Come Elephantick buls with silken-haired hides This hight the share of Sem for Gods decree it guides Ashur t'Assyriland that after some few daies How and what Nations came of Sem. Chal Rezen Niniué their tow'rs to heau'n may raise The Persian hilles possest great Elams kingly race And those fat lands where-through Araxes bont his pace Lud held the Lydian fields Aram th'Armenia And learned Arphaxad the quarter Chaldean 6. This Countrey He setteth downe the lots of Sem Cham and Iaphet first in generall after meaning to shew the particular Colonies of each So then to Sem he allotteth Asia The proofe of these seuerall shares may be gathered out of the tenth Chapter of Genesis It is not meant that Sem in his owne life-time tooke possession of this huge plot of groūd although he liued 600 yeers but the posteritie of his fiue sonnes ouer-spred it by succession of time as the Poet declares at large hereafter and a man may perceiue some token hereof in that Moses reckoneth in the foresaid Chapter the sonnes of Joktan the sonne of Heber peti-sonne of Arphaxad sonne of Sem. Now before I shew the bounds here noted by the Poet in this lot of Sem I will set downe the description and deuision of Asia as now it is The map-drawers of our time differ in their order some consider it by the whole masse others by the sea-borders and parts best knowne which they reckon to be nine and those particularly deciphered in the first chapter of the twentieth booke of the Portugall historie But this kinde of deuision because it is more obscure and farther from my purpose I leaue and rest on the other which deuides the masse of Asia into siue principall parts the first which is ouer-against Europe and vnder the Emperour of Moscouie is bounded with the frozen sea the riuer Ob or Oby the lake of Kittay and the land-straight that is betwixt the Caspian and Euxine sea The second is Tartary subiect to the great Cham which abutteth Southward on the Caspian sea the hill Imaus and the riuer Juxartes Northward and Eastward on the Ocean and Westward vpon Moscouie The third part is possessed by the Turke and containeth all that lyes betweene the Euxine Aegean and Midland seas and so further betwixt Egypt the Arabian and Persian Gulfes the riuer Tygris the Caspian sea and the land-straight there The fourth is the Kingdome of Persia abutting Westward on the Turke Northward on the great Cham Eastward on the riuer Indus and Southward on the Indian sea As for the fist part it is the same which we call the East-Indies so named of the riuer Indus and distinguished the higher from the lower by the famous riuer Ganges These Indies are very large Countries as the Maps declare and front out Southward as farre as Malaca hauing besides an infinite sort of Ilands great and small which the Card-men haue well set downe both in Maps and writing Now see we the manner how the Poet considereth Asia He takes it first by right line from North to South to wit from the Peake foreland or cape of Perosites as farre as Malaca where he taketh in the Moluckes and Taprobana and from thence riseth againe to Zeilan and Bisnagar Then draweth another line from the Maior or Euxine sea on the West to the straights of Anien Northeast and toucheth by the way some few Countries most note-worthy reseruing the rest vntill his particular description of the Colonies which followeth from the 297. verse vnto the 319. To make plaine some words in the text the Peake of Perosites is a promontory about the farthest part of Moscouy neare the Scythian sea where liueth as Cellarius reports of Asia in his great booke entituled Speculum orbis terrarum and Mercator in his world-map a certaine people which haue so small a vent for their mouth that they are nourished onely by the sauour and steeme of sodden flesh And about this promontory the Riuer Ob rising from the lake of Kythay groweth to an huge breadth and so emptieth into the Scythian or frozen sea The Baron of Herbestoin noteth it in his map of Moscouie and in his Historie saith as much as here followeth touching this riuer fol 82. They that haue beene thereon say they haue laboured a whole day without ceasse their vessell going very fast to passe the Riuer and that it is fourescore Italian miles broad Which ageeth well with that the Poet here saith and with report of Merator and Cellarius so that by good right it may be called rather then any other streame the king of all fiesh waters because in all the world besides there is none so large and this also is of a wonderfull great length for as the foresaid Baron affirmeth from the one end to the other to wit from the lake of Kythay to the frozen-sea it asketh
more then three moneths sayling The realme and citie of Malaca are described in the sixth booke of the Portugall historie chap. 18. It is neare the Equinoctiall aboue Taprobana so therefore Asia reacheth from the North-pole beyond the Equator The Isles from whence are brought buge masses of Cloues and Cassia are the Moluckes siue in number Tidor Terenat Motir Machian and Bachian beset with diuers other Isles and Islets vn ler and neere the Equator in the East which with their properties and manners of their inhabitants are well set downe in the 13. booke of the history of Portugall Chap. 8. Samotra whereon passes the night-equalling line or the Equator is the Isle Taprobana Southward ouer against Malaca it is aboue 450. leagues long and 120. broad I haue described it in the fist day of the first weeke see further the history of Portugall in the sixt booke the 18. chap. Zeilan is an Isle right against the Cape of Calecut aboue Taprebana toward the East it lies North and South in length about 125. leagues and in the broadest place is 75. ouer There are taken out of the sea great store of pearles very faire and brighte for the further description thereof see the 4. booke and 20 chapter of the history of Portugall Bisnagar is a kingdome lying betweene Decan and Narsingua the mountaines of Calecut and the sea called the great gulfe of Bengala It is rich in gold which is there found in riuers Looke the situation thereof in the Map of the East Indies and in the Asia of Ortelius and Cellarius The Pont-Eusine is now called the Maior or the Hacke Sea at the one end thereof toward the Midland-sea is Constantinople the Card-men call it by diuers names which Orteliu hath set downe in his Synonym By the Brother waues of those Chaldean streames is meant as I suppose the Persian sea whereinto Euphrates and Tygris both together empty being before ioined about Babylon now called Bagadet and so the Poet takes as much of the breadth of Asia at the West end as he doth at the East the one from Quinsay to Chiorze the other from the sea of Constantinople to the Persian Gulse Concerning the straight of Anion the Cardmen are not all of one opinion Mercator Ortelius Cellarius Theuet and others set downe plainly a good broad arme of Sea betwixt the North-east point of Asia and America But Vopelius ioynes Asia and this fourth part of the world together greatly enlarging Asia and cut tolling the other contrary to the opinion of the Authors aforesaid and many Spaniards that haue written of the new-found world the reasons that may be alledged in fauour of either side require a large Commentary Vopelius his opinion indeede cutteth off many doubts that arise about the enpeopling of America but Mercator and the others who are most commonly followed seeme to ground more vpon Geography and better to agree with the seas naturall sway and easie compassing the earth Arias Montanus in his booke intituled Phaleg where he treateth of the habitations of Noes posteritie setteth downe a Map according to Vopelius this booke of his bound in the volume called Apparatus is ioyned with the great Bibles of Antwerp But the Poet followeth Mercator Ortelius and the common opinion of the Cardmen of our time for Ptolome Strabo and Mela in their daies had not discouered so much Quinsay which the Poet cals Quinzit is a famous citie in the Northeast point of Asia about ten leagues from the sea built vpon peeres and arches in a marrish ground it is twenty leagues or one hundred miles about and by reason as well of the great Lake-waters there as also of the ebbe and slow of the sea it bath as M. P. Venet reports in the 64. chapter of his second booke 12000. bridges of stone the most renoumed bound-marke of all Asia and the greatest citie in the world if that be true But Theuet gainsaith it in the 27. chapter of the 12. booke of his Cosmography where he describes the Citie and Lake with the Riuer that causes the Lake to swell he saith it is not aboue foure leagues in compasse yet M. Paule affirmes he hath beene there Chiorze is another worthy part of Asia set downe here for a bound-marke because of the strange Buls there as great as Elephants with haire as smooth and soft as silke Howsoeuer now adaies that country is nothing so ciuill as others inhabited by the posterity of Cham and Iaphet yet the fruitfulnesse of the ground and great commodities there growing for maintainance of mans life declare it hath beene in times past one of the best portions of the children of Noe. 7. Ashur t' Assyriland Moses saith the sonnes of Sem were Elam Ashur Arphaxad Lud and Aram The Poet here in six verses hath noted out the first habitations of these fiue reseruing afterward about the 300. verse and so forth to shew their first second third and fourth out-going ouer the rest of Asia Concerning Ashur it may be gathered out of the 10. of Genesis verse the 11. that hauing sorted himselfe with the people that now began to feare Nimred and liking not to liue vnder that yoke went on further and in the Countrey after his name called Assyria built Niniuy which a long time remained one of the greatest Cities in the world as appeares by the prophesie of Ionas and other places of Scripture and Caleh and Resen not farre asunder which haue beene long agoe destroyed Elam that was the eldest seated himselfe by the riuer Euphrates neere the Persian Gulfe which now is called the Sea of Mesendin The Poet giues him a Princely title because the Monarchie began betime and long continued thereabouts where also reigneth still the Sophi a great Emperour and deadly enemy of the Turkes The Riuer Araxes is described by Ptolome in his third Map of Asia where he makes it spring from the soot of Pariard which some men take for the hill Taurus and so passing Scapene Soducene and Colthene to emptie into the Caspian sea These Countries are very rich and therefore the Poet cals them sat lands Lud hauing passed the Riuer composed of Tygris and Euphrates which straight after voids into the Golfe had Elam on the North the two Riuers ioyned and the Gulfe on the East and on the West the Marches of Seba which is the vpper part of Arabia The poet here allotteth him the Lydian fields if by Lydia be vnderstood that part of the lesser Asia called Meonia by Ptolome Herodote and Plinie Lud should haue wandered further then the other foure brothers Moses reports not any thing of his Colonies and his farre going may be the cause for according to the Poet he should haue coasted vp as farre as Aeolia and the Midland sea The seat of Aram is Mesopotamia to wit the Countries about Babylon and the mountaines of Armenia which were after called by the name of Taurus This also containeth Syria and the great Armenia
Spaniards haue taken as it were this one graine away but thus much say they pointing to the rest in the vessell thus much and more haue they left behinde them Now the word Viracochie because it comes thus in my way Benzo himselfe in his third booke saith it signifies the froth or scumme of the Sea and that the Peruvians so call the Spaniards for deepe hatred and abomination of them saying also sometimes one to another in their language The wind beares downe houses and trees and the fire burnes them but these Viracochie they doe worse than wind and fire They waste all they eat all they turne the earth and all vpside downe they turne the course of Riuers they are neuer at quiet they neuer cease ranging vp and downe to seeke gold and siluer and all they finde is too little for them When they haue it what doe they They take their pleasure they warre one with another rob one another kill one another they are euer giuen to lying blaspheming and denying the same God whom they professe and these men haue cruelly slame without cause our fathers our children and kinsfolkes taken from vs contrary to all right our goods our libertie and countrie Hauing thus commended the Spaniards they cause the Sea for vomiting on the Earth so cruell and wicked a people and often haue vpbraided the Spaniards themselues with this notorious reproach that Gold was the Christians God O how shall this people in the latter day condemne that euer greedy couetousnesse for which Europe now adaies heareth so ill and is by the selfe-people thereof so wasted and vnpeopled But concerning the diuers gouernments of the West-Indies seeing they are set downe so well at large by Lopes Ouâ—ede Benzo and others it is too great a matter for me to handle in this discourse which is I feare me growne too long already therefore will I draw to an end The Poet at the 413. verse begins to shew some likely opinions how this new-found world was pleopled and first in generall that the people of countries inhabited exercising their ordinary traffick one with another might sometimes be cast by force of tempest vpon the West-Indian shore and so be constrained their ships being broken to remaine still there Others by plague war or famine were driuen to leaue their countries and seeke some quietter dwelling farre off and so haue lighted on these new Countries Or perhaps some great man of authority or cunning Pilot by ventring made a discouery thereof and led the ouer-creases of some people thither As the Poet sheweth more particularly in the verses following 44 Nay could not long agoe He guesseth in speciall and most likely that the inhabitants of the furthest Northeast shore of Asia to wit the men of Quinsay and other places there might haue emptied their ouer-peopled Cities by passing the Anien Straight a part of Sea no broader as he saith then the Phare of Gallipoli Gibraltare or Messine and so from the East Indies might they haue stored first the land of Tolguage which Theues in his map of the new world placeth betwixt the Realmes of Anián Tolm and Quiuir within 15 degrees of the North-pole then the rest as followeth 45 So from the Wastes of Tolm and Quiuir In all this huge Northren part of America few people there are especially toward the coast ouer against Quinsay and the other East countries There are therefore great Waste-lands as the later Card-men haue noted about the kingdomes or countries of Anian Tolguage Quiuir and Tolm about 12000 leagues compasse So then the Poet holds opinion that some of Sems posteritie hauing once passed from the farthest East-point of Asia ouer to the West-Indian Coast thrust their of-spring farther into the land The Countries here named by the Poet are to be found in the Sea-cards and Land-maps betwixt Now-Spaine and Estotilant as if he meant that the North-part of America was first inhabited concerning the properties and particular descriptions of these places reade the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations the second Booke of the generall historie of Lopez de Gomara chap. 37. c. the Historie of Florida Benzo the Reports of Johannes Verazzanus laques Cartier and other French Captaines concerning their discouering of the Land of Labour where the Sea is frozen Baccalos New France Canada Hochilega and other lands thereabouts Reade Thenet also and the later Card men For the French Calienza I haue translated Caliquas according as I finde it writted both in others and in Ortellus who also hath for Mechi Terlichi-mechi and therefore I translate it Terlichi 46 They sow'd at'nother side Xalisco now called Noua Gallicia is described by Gomara in the 21. chapter of his fift booke It is a land very fruitfull and rich in honey waxe and siluer and the people there are Idolaters and Men-eaters Nunnius Gusmannus who seized the country for the King of Spaine in the yeare 1530. hath written a discourse thereof and it is to be read in the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations The Prouince of Mechuacan from whence not far lyeth Cusule is about 40 leagues lower southward then Xalisco that also the said Gusmannus conquered after he had most cruelly and traiterously put to death the Prince and Peeres of the country as Gomara sheweth in his booke and chapter aboue quoted Mexico which some account all one with Themixtetan is the mother-Citie of that kingdome now called Hispania Nona wonderfull rich it is and strong and of high renoume built farre more curiously then Venice vpon a lake salt on the north-side because it is there of a Sea-like breadth and on the south-side fresh because of a Riuer that empties there into it Greater is the Citie thought to be then Seuille in Spaine the streets are passing well set and their channels in such manner cast as cannot be mended Diuers places there are to buy and sell-in the needfull and ordinarie wares but one there is greater then the rest with many walkes and galleries round about it where euery day may be seene aboue threescore thousand Chapmen There is the Iudgement Hall for common Pleas and were also many temples and shrines of Idols before the comming of Ferdinando Cortez who made thereof the first conquest for the king of Spaine exercising most horrible cruelties vpon all both young and old in the Citie as Barthelemi delas Casas a Monke and Bishop of Spaine reports in his historie of the Indies where he stayed a long time Looke the description of Mexico in the third volume of the Spanish Nauigations fol. 300. See also Benzo of Millaine his historie of the new world the second booke and 13. Chapter Now from these parts abouenamed after report of some wonders of many there seene and worthy a larger discourse by themselues the Poet drawes his Colonies downe further towards Peru by the Land-straight of Panama which parts the South-sea from the Ocean and thereabout is hardly 20. leagues in breadth The fiery mountaine
Reine serue Cartage Et l'autre par Martelpres de Tours martelé Espuisa de soldats tout le térroir bruslé How it was possible that Noe his three sonnes should increase as they did Well may I grant you then saith one perhaps ther 's naught In all this lower world but will at length be raught By mans ambition it makes a breach in hills It runneth dry by Sea among the raging Scylls And in despite of thirst it guides the Carauands Amids the drie Tolmish Arabick Numyd sands But yet he lewdly thinks it goes against all sense That one house beds but foure should breake so large a sense As t'ouerbreed the lands of Affrick Europe Ase And make the world appeare too narrow for the race What ere thou be 1. Answer if light thou reck th'Immortals hest That once againe the bond of sacred mariage blest And said Encrease and fill ◠Answer if thou profane denie That Iacobs little traine so thicke did multiplie On Pharoh's fruitfull ground that in foure hundred yeere The seuentie liuing soules fiue hundred thousand were Alas yet thinke at least 3. Answer how for in elder time The fruits they are ne grew not on so foggy slime As ours doe now nor was their meats with sawces dight Nor altered as yet with health-empairing slight Of gluttonating Cooks and for with murdring sword Of neigh bour enemies they seld were swept aboord And for their mightie limbes they dulled not by sloth Or want of exercise they wox in liuely groth And liu'd some hundred yeeres and in their latter daies With siluer-haired heads were able sons to raise So that Polygamie then taken for a right This world an ant-hill made of creatures bolt-vpright And many peopl ' arose in short time if thou marke From out the fruitfull raines of some one Patriarch Eu'n as a graine of wheat Two sit comparisons if all th' increase it yeelds Be often-times resow'd vpon some harty fields Will stuffe the barnes at length and colour mighty launes With yellow-stalked eares and as two fishes spaunes Cast in t ' a standing poole so fast breed vp and downe That aft'r a while they store the larders of a towne An example of late yeares And haue we not of late a certaine Elder knowne That with his fruitfull seed a village had o're-growne Of fiuescore houses big so blessed that he saw His sonnes and daughters knit by ord'r of mariage law The tree of parentage was ouershort and thin To branch-out proper names for their degrees of kin Another example Who knowes not that within three hundred yeeres and lesse A few Arabians did Lybie fill and presse With new inhabitants and taught Mahound in Fesse In Oran in Argier in Tunis Bugy and Tesse Now if they so increas'd that woon'd in Afferick That with an humor sharpe fretting melancholick Prouok'd are day and night and made more amorous Then able to beget for deed venerious The more enforc'd the lesse it is of force no doubt And inward doe they freize that most doe boyle without Imagine how the men who neerer to the Poule Behold the flaming wheeles of heau'nly chariots roule Doe wax and multiplie because they come but seeld And at well chosen times to Cithareas field And sith cold weather staies about the northen Beare O're all that rugged coast triumphing euery where The liuely heat reures into the bodies tower The North hath swarmed with people not the South And closer-trussed makes their seed of greater power And thence the Cimbrians Gaules Herules and Bulgares The Sweues Burgundians Circassians and Tartares Huns Lombards Tigurines Alanes and Estergoths Turks Vandalls Teutonicks Normans and Westergoths Haue ouerflow'd the lands and like to Grashoppers Destroy'd the fairer parts of all this Vniuerse Whereas the barren South in all those former daies Hath scarce been able enough two martiall bands to raise That could the North affright one vnder Haniball Who brought the Punick State both vnto rule and thrall Anoth'r impression made as far as Towers wall And there with Abderame was knockt by Charles the Maule 49 Well may I grant This is the second obiection against that hath beene said concerning the Colonies drawne from Noes three sonnes to wit that it is impossible so few housholds should in so short time fill so many countries as are in the world so thicke as now they swarme 50 Jf little thou regard The Poet answers at large and very exactly to the said obiection First out of the words of Moses Gen. 9. And God blessed Noe and his children and said vnto them Encrease and fill the earth This answer is right to the point and very sufficient to stop the mouthes of all curious questioners that at least beleeue the word and power of God Such is also the answer following 51 If thou profane deny He that beleeues the holy Scripture knowes well that in the space of foure hundred yeares the family of Iacob no more than seuentie persons encreased in Aegypt vnto the number of fiue hundred thousand besides women and children This is an argument from the lesse to the greater if in one little countrie a few so much encreased and that in the short space of 400. yeares how much more might all the people else in the world encrease in 4000. yeares But the prophane man will not beleeue the story he will say it is vnpossible I will make no miracle of it although the Scripture noteth how the people encreased maruellously and therefore vseth a word which signifieth to multiply or spawne like fishes But let him cast account as neare as he can not of excesse but the ordinarie encrease that might arise of seuentie persons in the space they were in Aegypt and before he come to two hundred fifty of the foure hundred he shall haue the number as Morneus noteth in his book Deveritate Chap. 26. 52 At least consider how This the third answer is also of great importance especially for Atheists because it relieth vpon naturall reason as namely that a purer sood and better health with peace strength rest long life and Polygamie which is the vse of many wiues made greatly for the encrease of mankinde in those former times Each point of this answer is of great waight and may perswade easily all that is written of the matter 53 Right so a graine of Wheat For confirmation of the foresaid arguments he bringeth in two fine comparisons and sit for the purpose The one drawne from a corne of Wheat the other from the spawne of two fishes Both so much the better in this case because they are of common things and such as we daily see before our eyes 54 Haue we not in our daies He confirmes his reasons further by a notable example of a certain man who liued to see a whole towne of no lesse then 100 houses peopled only with persons issued of himselfe and his so that there were no names in