to the satisfaction of the Beholders Having seen the Arsenal at Venice the Stores at Chatham and the Naval Provisions at Amsterdam I am not like to admire any other especially so far from the Sea and looked for nothing of that nature in this place Notwithstanding I found an Arsenal and place for Naval Vessels to be set out upon occasion and some thereof were employed in the last Turkish war when they attempted to destroy the Bridge of Boats which the Turks had made over the Danube a little above Gran and Barehan They are built somewhat like Galleys carry great Guns and a good number of Souldiers and will make a sight upon the broad deep stream of the Danube and may be handsomely brought into the Town behind one of the Bastions when the River is high and hereof there are some at Rab and Komora as I have declared elsewhere The Emperour hath many Counsellors great Souldiers and Courtiers about him among which these seemed of greatest Note Eusebius Wenceslaus Duke de Sagan Prince Lobkowitz Pirme Counsellor Hoff-meister of the Order of the Golden Fleece a person of a grave and sober Aspect somewhat blunt in conversation but of a generous temper and free from all covetousness who spent his Revenues nobly and unto his great reputation He was chief Favorite unto the Emperour and though some had no great opinion of his Abilities yet he was the first that discovered the last Hungarian defection and revolt whereby those Noble Persons Count Peter Serini and Nadasti whom I saw at Vienna were brought unto their ends Henricus Gulielmus Count of Stahrenberg Ober-hoff-Mareschal or Lord Marshal of the Court. Johannes Maximilianus Count of Lamburg Oberst-Kammer-Herr or Chief of the Chamber a Person of great esteem The Gentlemen of the Bed-chamber are numerous and many are in extraordinary there may be an hundred of them all Barons and Counts Every one of them wears a Golden Key before his Breast and the Grooms of the Bed-chamber wear one of Steel Two of each attend every Night Gundakerus Count Dietrichstein Oberst-Stall-Meister or Chief Master of the Horse These are the Chief These following are also considerable Count Sinzendorff Oberste-Jag-Meister Grand Veneur or Hunts-Master a Person in good favour with the Emperour who very much delighteth in Hunting as have most of his Predecessors The Count of Aversberg Oberst Falken-Meister Chief Falconer who hath twelve Falconers under him The Count of Paar Chief Master of the Emperours Post Leopoldus Wilhelmus Marquiss of Baden Captain of an hundred Hartshires who are the Horse-guard and ride with Pistols and Carabines out of the City but within Vienna they cary Launces and Javelins with broad points Franciscus Augustinus Count of Wallensteyn Captain of an hundred of the Foot-guard of a good Personage and well esteemed of by the Emperour Sixty or more Pages for the number is uncertain and not limited most of them Counts and Barons Raymundus Count de Montecuculi was his General President of the Council of War Governour of Rab and the Confines about it and of the Order of the Golden Fleece a tall Person somewhat lean but hath a spirit in his look he is one of the oldest Commanders in Europe and performed good Service in Poland Hungary Germany in many places and is esteemed a prudent valiant and successful Commander The Count de Souches was also a Commander of great Fame and in high esteem with the Emperour He was a Native of Rochelle he first served the Swedes in the German wars and was a Colonel but upon some disgust he forsook the Swedes and served the Imperialists and was made Governour of Brin the second Town in Moravia After the taking of Crembs in Austria General Torstenson besieged Brin and sent word unto the Governour de Souches That if he refused to deliver up the Town he would give him no quarter Who answered him That he would not ask any and also give none and defended the place with such resolution that after many Assaults Underminings and Attempts by Granado's Torstenson was forced to rise after a Siege of four months which was so advantagious unto Austria and the Imperial affairs that the Emperour took especial notice of him made him a Baron and of his Privy Council He commanded also all the Forces in Vienna and did notable Service in the last Turkish wars He took the City of Nitra or Nitria not far from Strigonium or Gran and took and slew six thousand Turks which were sent by the Vizier of Buda against him a worthy Person and of a good Aspect Count Souches the younger his Son an Heroick Commander is Governour of the strong fortified place Leopoldstadt by Freistadt a Person of great Civility unto whom I was much obliged Count Lesly Nephew unto Count Lesly who was sent Ambassadour to Constantinople to the Sultan from the Emperour is a Commander worthy of that esteem he hath with the Emperour a Person of great Courage Civility and Humanity which I must ever acknowledge The Courts of the Empress and of the Empress Dowager are filled with Persons of Note and there are a great number of Souldiers in this place of great Fame as the Marquiss Pio Spork Cops and many more Many of the Clergy and Men of Learning are in good esteem with the Emperour but the Jesuites Milner and Boccabella are his near Favorites Many Strangers both Souldiers and Scholars have built their Fortunes here And surely Strangers of parts and industry so they be of the Roman Church are not like to raise their Fortunes any where better than in these parts Though the Emperour goeth not to war in Person yet hath he been successful in his wars especially in the last Battel with the Turks at St. Godart where the business was handsomly and actively managed to set upon the body of the Turks which had passed the River Rab before the whole Forces of the Vizier could come over to the great slaughter of the Janisaries and Turks who fought stoutly and were first put to a Retreat by the French Cavalry For at first the Turks seemed to prevail and had slain a great part of two Regiments of the Auxiliaries which came out of Franconia and after their custome had cut off their Heads Among the many notable things in Vienna the Imperial Library is very remarkable He who hath seen the Bodleian Library at Oxford and the Vatican at Rome would be much surprised to find such a notable one here as may compare with them especially upon the extreme Borders of the Learned part of Europe The number and nobleness of the Books doth much exceed the receptacle or place which containeth them as making no fair shew at the entrance and somewhat wanting light But as for the number and value of the Books they are of opinion here that it yieldeth unto none but rather excelleth any other Library in Europe There was a place designed for the building of a fit receptacle for them but I know not
or Bingium was an old Roman Fortress upon the Rhine where the River Navus or Naw entreth into it over which latter there is a handsome Stone-bridge In this Town were many of the Duke of Lorrain's Army sick and wounded who three weeks before had maintained a fight against the Forces of the Elector Palatine near this place From Bing we continued our Journey to Mentz at Rudesheim in Rhinegaw a place noted for good Wine they shewed us a Boy whose hair was thick and woolly like to the African-Moors but of a fine white colour which being somewhat an odd sight I took away some of his hair with me Mentz Moguntia Moguntiacum and by the French Mayence is seated over against the Confluence of the River Main with the Rhine or rather a little below it in a fertile Country abounding in all Provisions and good Wine it lieth at length and is most extended towards the River and that part excelleth the other towards the Land which is not so populous or well-built It is a strong place and well guarded it hath many Churches and Monasteries and some fair Buildings especially those of publick concern as the Palace of the Elector and others But the narrowness of the Streets and many old Houses take away much from the beauty of the City It is an University begun about the year 1486. or as others will have it 1461. This place also challengeth the Invention of Printing or at least the first promotion or perfection thereof And the Territory about it is famous for the destruction of the Roman Legions under Varus by the Germans Gustaphus Adolphus King of Sweden was wonderfully pleased upon the taking of this City 1631. entring into it in State upon the 14th of December it being his Birth-day which began the 38th year of his life and kept his Court and Christmas here where at one time there were with him six chief Princes of the Empire twelve Ambassadours of Kings States Electors and Princes besides Dukes and Lords and the Martial men of his own Army At the taking of the Town they found great store of Ordnance and Powder and the City redeemed it self from Pillage by giving the King a Ransome of Eighty thousand Dollars and the Clergy and Jews gave Two and twenty thousand more of which the Jews paid Eighteen thousand Archbishop Wambold saving himself upon the Rhine and retiring to Colen The King caused also two great Bridges to be made one over the Main founded upon fifteen great flat bottom'd Boats the rest being built upon great Piles of Wood Another over the Rhine supported by sixty one great flat Boats each lying the distance of an Arch from one another and many Families of people living sometimes in the Boats under the Bridge The Bridge over the Main is taken away but that over the Rhine is still continued Upon which I saw the present Elector passing in his Coach a Person of great Gravity of a middle Stature having long grey Hair and was very Princely attended his Name Joannes Philippus of the Noble Family of Schoenburg Elector and Archbishop of Mentz Bishop of Wurtzburg and Bishop of Worms Arch-Chancellour of the Empire for all Germany the first of the Electoral Colledge in all publick Conventions he sits at the right hand of the Emperour and is a Successour of the famous Boniface an English man Bishop of Mentz who so much promoted the Christian Religion in these parts But though his Dignity and Place excelleth the two other Ecclesiastical Electors of Colen and Triers yet his Territories come short and they lye not together but scatteringly with those of the Palatinate Spier Franckfort and divers places in Franconia But of late he hath much encreased his Power by seizing the great City of Erfurdt in Turingia which he hath since much beautified and strengthned by a Citadel built upon St. Peters hill From Mentz I passed by water up the River Main to Franckfort a free City of the Empire called Trajectum Franconum a Passage or Ford of the Franks as serving them for a Retreat when they entred or returned from Gaul at present Franckford upon the Main to difference it from Franckford upon the River Oder which is an University It is a large Town divided into two parts by the River the lesser called Saxonhausen or Saxon-houses united to the other by a Stone-bridge over the Main of twelve or thirteen Arches It is a place of good Trade and well seated for it as having the advantage of the River Main which passeth by Bamberg Schweinfurt Wurtzburg Guemund or Gaudia mundi and also the Tauber and other Rivers running into it affordeth conveniency for Commerce with the remoter parts of Franconia and the Main running into the Rhine makes a large communication both up and down that Stream But this place is most remarkable for the Election of the Emperour which by the Laws of the Golden Bull should be in this City as also for two great Marts or Fairs kept in March and September at which times there is an extraordinary concourse of people from remote parts in order to buying and selling of several Commodities especially for Books as well printed here as in other parts whereof they afford two Catalogues every year and have no small dealings that way by the Factors of the Germans Hollanders Italians French and English although at other times their trading in Books seems not great for when I was there out of the time of the Mart the Stationers Shops being shut up made but a dull show Here are also a great number of good Horses bought and sold and on the North-side of the City there is a spacious place for a Horse-Fair The City is strong and well fortified and most part of the Town are Lutherans In the German wars the King of Sweden having taken Hanaw sent a Messenger to Franckfort to know whether the City would peaceably and speedily set open their Gates unto him and accept fairly of a Garrison or stand to the hazard of a Siege And although they were unwilling to yield yet for fear of the worst they consented That the King should have free passage for his Army through the City and that for the better assurance of it six hundred of his men should be received for a Garrison into Saxonhausen and also that the Magistrates and People should take an Oath unto his Majesty So that upon the 17th of November 1631. the King's Army passed through Saxonhausen over the Bridge quite through the Town Colonel Vitzthumb was left Governour in Saxonhausen and the King himself rode bare-headed through the Streets and by his obliging behaviour did generally win the affections of the beholders and three days after returned thither again with the Landtgrave of Hessen-Cassell and the Landtgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt where they met the Seventeen Earls of the Wetteraw or Veteravia and were feasted in the same room where the Emperours at their Coronation use to be entertained In Saxonhausen there is
Hart of a Horse of a Man of a Bear bigger than a Horse And some Pictures as one of a Ninivite and another of Moses which they take to be Ancient Dr. Wagenseyl Professour of Law and History brother to Captain Wagenseyl who travelled with me from Heidelberg invited us to lodge at his House and shew'd me his Library and all his Rarities and Coyns whereof he hath a good Collection having lived in most places of Europe and speaks many Languages well he gave me a piece of the first mony that was coined in Germany In the University Library I saw a fair Hortus Eystetensis and Youngerman's Collection of Plants by his own hand At Nurnberg I met with the Son and the Secretary to the Holland Ambassador in Turky who had travelled hither over-land from Constantinople in their return into the Low-Countries travelling in Greek Habits From hence I went to Newmarkt a good Town in the upper Palatinate belonging to the Duke of Bavaria and the next day through Heinmaw subject to the Duke of Newburg to Regensburg Ratisbona Regensburg Augusta Tiberii Colonia Quartanorum the chief place of the Roman Forces in this limit of the Empire where the fourth Italick Legion had a constant station was made a Colony by Tiberius in the year as some conceive of the Passion of our Saviour It was much augmented and adorned by the Emperour Arnulphus who had a great affection for this place so pleasantly seated and in a good Country Here the River Regen runs into the Danube from whence it was called Regensburg There are two Bridges one of wood below the Town and another Bridge of stone of about fifteen Arches which is the fairest stone Bridge over the Danube It is an Imperial City but not without some acknowledgment to the Duke of Bavaria And although it be strongly fortified yet it was taken by the Swedes in the German wars There are many fair buildings in it both private and publick and though I am not able to confirm what some report that there as many Churches and Chappels in this City as there are dayes in the year yet are there many fair Churches and Convents As the Cathedral of St. Peter in the South-side of which is the Picture of St. Peter in a ship and on the North aother of the Apostles first Mission In the Piazza stands a neat little Church the Convent of St. Paul founded by St. Wolfgangus Bishop of this place the Convent of St. Emerammus Bishop of Ratisbone a Saint of great Veneration here though but of little mention or name in other parts The name of Albertus Magnus Bishop of this place hath also added unto the Fame of Regensburg But that which chiefly promoteth its lustre is the General Diet or Parliament which is often held in this City and is not to be called in any part out of Germany and the place is not unfit for the accommodation of such a noble Convention as are the Estates of Germany The Vice-Marshal taketh care to provide Lodgings respectively to their persons and seeth that all things be brought hither and at a just price that the Hall or Place of Assembly be furnished and adorned sutably to the dignity of the Persons convened and hath an especial eye and regard towards the Publick safety By this Convention the great Concerns of Germany are much secured and their peace and quiet Established Wherein Germany seems to have a better advantage than Italy For Italy being likewise divided into many Dominions and Principalities hath no Common Diet or Great Council whereby to proceed for their Publick safety Which makes them often so divided in their common Concerns in times of Danger and when they most need a joynt Combination I entred the notable River Danubius at this place which hath already run a good course and passed by many fair Towns or Cities as the large City of Ulme in Swabenland where it beginneth to be Navigable as also Donawert Neuburg and Ingolstadt and hath already received the considerable River of Licus or Leck whereby the Commodities of that great Trading City of Augsburg are brought into it When I first embarked at Regensburg I thought I might have taken leave of the Danube not far below Vienna but an opportunity made me see this great Stream beyond Belgrade as I have declared in another Account of my Travels The first day we passed by Thonawsteyn where there is a Castle seated upon a high Rock and came to Pfeter or Vetera Castra of old now but an ordinary place The Boats upon the Danube are generally painted black and white are flat bottom'd and broad at the Head and Stern there is a Chamber built in the middle and the Rudder is very large to be able to command the Boat where the River is rapid and of a swift Course The next day we came to Straubing a handsome walled Town belonging to the Duke of Bavaria the Streets are streight and there is a Tower in the Market-place painted all over with green and gold-colour There is also a Bridge of wood over the Danube We passed by Swartz in the Afternoon where the Church is seated upon a Hill and is frequented by Pilgrims and lodged at Deckendorff where there is another Bridge Near this Town comes into the Danube that considerable River Iser or Isara having passed by divers considerable Towns as Landshut Frising and München the Seat of Ferdinandus Maria Elector of Bavaria Great Steward of the Empire and at present the first of the Secular Electors and he is to take place immediately after the King of Bohemia it being so concluded on at the Treaty of Munster where Maximilian Duke of Bavaria was allowed to hold the Electorship which was confirmed upon him by the Emperour Ferdinand the Second when he excluded Frederick the Fifth Count Palatine and in lieu hereof there was an eighth Electorship erected for the Palatinate Family who also if the Bavarian branch doth fail are to re-enter into their ancient Electorship and the other newly erected is to be abolished Thursday November the fifteenth we came by Wilshoven to Passaw Patavia or Boiodurum a long and noble City in the lower Bavaria or Bayern made up of three Towns Iltstadt Passaw and Innstadt at the concurrence of the River Inne the Danube and the Iltz. As Towns are commonly of great Antiquity which are built at the Confluence of great Rivers for the Strength of the Situation and convenience of Commerce so is this accounted ancient as being a Roman Colony and the place of the Castra Batava in old times The Church of St. Stephen is stately besides other fair Churches The Bishop who is Lord of the City hath a strong Palace upon a Hill his Revenues are large and besides what he possesseth hereabouts he hath the tenth part of the notable great Lead-Mine at Bleyberg in Carinthia This place had lately suffered much by fire but a good part was rebuilt and very fairly after the Italian manner So that
them had silver Rings with the same Signatures of the Turkish Seales They took much Tobacco in very long Pipes Their Tobacco is not in Rolls but in Leaves and dry They went about wandring and gazing at most things as Churches Houses Shops And took much delight to be in the Fair where they would take much notice of small trifles Yet these are the men that make such sad Incursions into the Eastern parts of Europe and carrying away so many thousands sell them to the Turks and so repair the defect of People in Turky And now after the Consumption of men in Constantinople and the Country about by the Plague are like to be active in that Trade hoping to find better Markets for their Plagiaries and Depredations There are divers Greeks who trade to Vienna and many live in the Town among which I met with three considerable persons One a grave Abbot who was forced from his Convent by the Turk upon suspicion that he corresponded with those of Candia Another who went by the name of Constantinus Catacuzenos and was of the Blood Royal of the Catacuzeni The third was Jeremias a Greek Priest who had travelled through Italy and France into England and from thence through the Low-Countries and Germany to Vienna and intended for Constantinople He came into England to enquire after a young man who was in a Ship which was first taken by an Algerine and afterwards by an English man of war in the Levant He was very kindly used in England and particularly at Cambridge He did a great deal of honour at Vienna unto the English Nation declaring that they were the most civil generous and learned people he had met with in all his Travels and that he no where found so many who could speak or understand Greek or who gave him so good satisfaction in all parts of Knowledge And as a testimony of his respect and gratitude requested me to enclose a Greek Letter unto Dr. Pierson now Lord Bishop of Chester and Dr. Barrow now Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge Most men live here plentifully there being abundance of all provision They have great quantity of Corn which upon Scarcity by the help of the Danube might be brought unto them from remoter parts The Country affordeth such plenty of wine that they send a considerable quantity up the River They have also rich wines out of Hungary and Italy and such variety that there are more than thirty several sorts of Wine to be sold in Vienna They are not also without good Beer Halstadt in Austria affordeth them Salt where they make it by letting in water into the hollow parts of a Mountain where it drinketh in the Salt of the Earth and is afterwards let out and boiled up This affordeth great profit to the Emperor and therefore the Hungarian Salt is not permitted to be brought higher than Presburg They have also plenty of Sheep and Oxen but for Oxen at present they are also supplied from Hungary nor only from the Countries in the Emperours Dominions but from the Turkish parts by permission of the Grand Signor and they are brought hither by the Eastern Company of Vienna They eat much wild Boar whereof the Fat is delicious like that of Venison with us They want not Hares Rabbets Partridges Pheasants A Fowl called Hasenhendal or Gallina Corylorum is much esteemed by them which made me the more wonder to meet with some odde dishes at their Tables as Guiny-pigs divers sorts of Snails and Tortoises The Danube and many Rivers which run into it afford them plenty of Fish extraordinary Carps Trouts Tenches Pikes Eels several sorts of Lampries and many Fishes finely coloured the white Fish Crevises very large the best come out of the River Swechet not far from Vienna They have also that substantial large fish called a Scheiden or Silurus Gesneri larger than Pike Salmon or any of our River Fishes but the great Fishes called Hausons or Husones in Johnstonus for largeness exceed all others some being twenty foot long Some think this to be the same Fish which Aelian nameth Antacetus and speaketh largely of the fishing for them in Ister I was at the fishing places for Hausons in Schut Island between Presburg and Komara for they come not usually higher especially in shoals and it is much that they come so high for they are conceived to come out of the Euxine-sea and so up the stream They eat them both fresh and salted they taste most like Sturgeon It is a Cartilagineous Fish consisting of gristles and they have a hollow nervous chord all down the back which being dried serveth for a whip When they fish for them they blow a Horn or Trumpet and know where they go by the moving of the water From Venice they are supplied with Oysters with salt Sturgeon and sometimes with red Herrings and great variety of other Fishes pickled up as also with Oranges Limons and other Fruits Observing much freedom musick and jollity in the City I wondered how they could content themselves without Plays for there were few while I was there till the Players came hither out of Saxony and acted here for a time The Jesuites would sometimes entertain the Emperour and Empress with a Comedy at their Colledge and I had once the favour to be at one when they were present Rutten out of the Danube Koppen Grondel Biscurn I. Oliuer Fe. In Treason and high Crimes they cut off the right Hand of the Malefactor and his Head immediately after I saw a Woman beheaded sitting in a Chair the Executioner striking off her Head with a Fore-blow she behaved her self well and was accompanied unto the Market place by the Confraternity of the Dead who have a charitable care of such Persons and are not of any Religious Order but Lay men among whom also in this place there are many Fraternities and Orders as of the Holy Virgin of the Holy Cross and others Another person also executed after the same manner as soon as his Head fell to the ground while the Body was in the Chair a man ran speedily with a Pot in his hand and filling it with the Blood yet spouting out of his Neck he presently drank it off and ran away and this he did as a Remedy against the Falling Sickness I have read of some who have approved the same Medicine and heard of others who have done the like in Germany And Gelsus takes notice that in his time some Epileptical persons did drink the Blood of the Gladiatours But many Physicians have in all times abominated that Medicine Nor did I stay afterwards so long as to know the effect thereof as to the intended cure But most men looked upon it as of great uncertainty and of all men the Jews who suffer no Blood to come into their Lips must most dislike it At Presburg they have a strange way of Execution still used at Metz and some other places by a Maid or Engine like a Maid
and Gowns with great Capes In Holland I observed no distinction But the Jews there most of them having come out of Portugal there may be some suspicion of them from their Complexion Lastly when I consider the old strength of Vienna consisting in an old wall and a deep ditch I cannot much wonder that Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary took this City And I must ascribe it under God unto the singular valour and resolution of the Defendants that Solyman the Magnificent with two hundred thousand men was not able to take it and though he made large breaches could never enter it but lost some thousands at an Assault and departed at last with the loss of a great part of his Army But this place is now in a far better condition strongly fortified and able to resist the greatest Forces of Turky The houses are cleared from the wall and yet for better security when I was there Count Souches advised the Emperour to pull down part of the Suburbs upon the other side of the nearest branch of the Danube lest the Turks might take advantage to play upon the two Bastions on that side It would be a sad loss for Christendome if this place were in the hands of the Turk and no man knows where he would rest If he should begin with this place and take it the strong holds of Rab Komara and Leopoldstadt would want their support and soon fall into his possession and if he were Lord of Austria a great part of Germany would lye bare unto him and probably it would not be long before he visited Italy into which Country he would then find other ways than by Palma nova A JOURNEY FROM VIENNA IN AUSTRIA TO HAMBURG TAking a farewel of the Imperial City of Vienna I ordered my Journey for Prague in Bohemia which is usually six days Journey by Coach in the Summer and eight in the Winter I went over the great Bridge of Vienna upon the large Stream of the Danube passing by the Chappel of St. Bridget of an eight-square Figure This Bridge is a very great and massy work supported by many high Trees and Timber and hath between two and three thousand Trees laid upon it cross or side by side from one side of the Bridge to the other for the passage over it after the German manner of making Bridges At Ratisbone there is a handsome Stone-bridge over the Danube and between that place and Vienna divers of Wood but from Vienna to Belgrade I observed none but what were made with Boats Having passed the River I entred into the Trans-Danubian Austria or that part of Austria which lieth between the Danube and the River Theya and came unto Corneuburg a pretty Town about which place the Emperour often hunteth it is near the Hill Bisneberg which is opposite unto Kalenberg The Swedes advanced far when they took this place in the last wars and held it so well that they were not easily forced out of it From thence I came to Stockerau near the mouth of the River Mida where it runneth into the Danube A place much noted for the death of St. Colman a Scotch Saint highly honoured in these parts From thence to Guntersdorff so to Colnedorff or Koldorff which although it be on the South of the River Theya is accounted the first Village of Moravia and then came unto Znaim In all this part of Austria which extendeth a great length on the North-side of the Danube conceived to have been anciently inhabited by the Marcomanni and Quadi there are few or no Towns of antiquity largeness or note for the Romans made their Stations and Colonies upon the South-side of the Danube but the Country is full of Villages and populous One of the chiefest Towns is Crembs which some call Cremona Austriae which I saw as I came down the Danube A great part of this Country was notably harrassed and plundered by the Swedes The Soyl is light and easie to be ploughed Znaim is a handsome place with many painted Houses in it and accounted the fourth chief Town in Mahren or Moravia Olmütz Brün and Iglaw being the other three famous for the death of the Emperour Sigismund It is seated by the River Theya which divideth Moravia from Austria and running at last into the River Mark affordeth accommodation of passage into the Danube From thence we passed by Ulverskirken Paulitz and Moravian Budweisse to Zimmaw and by Byrnitz came to Igla or Iglau upon the River Igla which at last runneth into the great River Marck a very pleasant place seated upon a Hill on the Frontiers of Bohemia It is well fortified à la moderna upon one side and hath one of the largest Piazza's that I have seen Moravia is a pleasant and fruitful Country affording plenty of necessaries for life the people are plain-dealing stout and make good Souldiers It is commodiously furnished with Rivers the greatest whereof is the Mora or Marck which arising in the Northern part thereof runneth quite through the Country and entreth the Donaw not far from Presburg The other considerable Streams are the Theya or Thaisa the Swarta the Schwitta which run into the Marck In the last Turkish wars the Tartars having passed the Wag in Hungaria made incursions into Moravia and carried away some thousands of the Inhabitants Leaving Igla we soon came into Bohemia first coming into Stecken then to Teutchin Broda by the River Saczua formerly a strong place taken by Zisca the famous Bohemian General who then forced the Emperour Sigismund to fly out of Bohemia by the way of Igla From thence we came to Heberne and so to Janikaw At this place upon the 24th of February 1643. was fought that memorable Battel between the Swedes commanded by Leonard Torstenson and the Imperialists under Count Hatzfield Goetz and other Commanders The Imperialists had the better at first but falling upon the Enemies Baggage and being too greedy of Booty they were defeated three thousand slain four thousand taken prisonners with their General Hatzfield and six or seven Colonels The success hereof gave the Swedes advantage to proceed further and into Silesia and Austria In this Town meeting with a Gentleman who came from Schaclitz which is not far from the Risgeburg or Mountain of Gyants about the Head of the River Elbe I enquired of him concerning the spirit Ribensal which is said to infest that Country but he could say nothing therein of his own knowledge and though he was confident that there was such a Spirit yet he confessed that for twelve years it had done no hurt In Hills Mountains and places of Mines such reports are ordinary It is reported that a Spirit haunts the Silver Mines of Brunswick And another to be in the Tinn Mine of Slackenwalde in this Country of Bohemia and to walk in the shape of a Monk who strikes the Miners sings and plays on the Bag-pipes and doth many such Tricks And Agricola in the latter end of his Sixth Book Dere