may be gathered that put the case that Paradise stood towards any part of the East yet could not the same be far off frō the Citties of Ierusalem Tyre because he nameth iointly together Charam Heden being a thing most manifest that Charam is a Prouince in Chaldae or Mesopotamia which appeareth by the words of Genesis saying God took thē out of Vra Prouince of the Chaldaeans that they might go to Canaan they cam euen to Charam these are euident reasons to proue that Paradise stood in that Coūtry that if as yet it be it standeth there it maketh the better with this opinion because the two Riuers Tygris Euphrates bath and water that Prouince Besides we may suppose that the Arke of Noe during the 40. dayes of the flood while it floted vpō the water being so great huge built so monstrous as appeareth by the holy scripture to no other end then that it should not sink made no very long voyage which staying setling it selfe on the mountaines of Armenia is a token that Noes biding was not farre from thence of the other side it is certaine that his habitation was not far off from that part where Paradice was which by consequence could not be farre off from Armenia vpon which these prouinces before rehearsed doe border and that the Country where Paradice stood was enhabited appeareth by these words of S. Chrisostome Before the flood saith he men knew the place where Paradice stood the way to goe vnto the same But after the deluge they found thēselues out of the knowledge thereof neyther could Noe or any of his Successors remēber or find out the place where it had beene And seeing that Chrisostom saith that it was neuer afterwards knowne neither can we know if it still remained or if it were dissolued for standing in part where notice might haue been had thereof LV. Indeed if Paradice should be in a place so neere vnto vs how were it possible that no man should haue knowledge thereof or at the least of the place where it might stand AN. To this answereth Eugubinus that granting his former opiniō to be true or that Paradice was planted in a flat ground or at least not so high as other Doctors affirme then certainly it was destroyed by the waters of the flood God through our offences not permitting a thing so notable of so great perfection to remaine amongst vs in the world LV. It seemeth not vnto me that Eugubinus hath reason to gainsay the opinion of so many Doctors agreeing all in one Strabo being both a Historiographer and a Diuine writeth that the sword with which God placed the Seraphin at the gate of Paradice was called Versatilis which is as much to say as turning because it could turn back as it did when it gaue place of entry to Elias Enoch though the same be otherwise vnderstood of Nicolaus de Lyra who saith that Torrida Zona is the firy sword which the Seraphin held whose exceeding furious heate defended that passage frō all men liuing But this is out of date seeing the industry of this our age hath found the same to be passable BE. I dare not determinatly affirme whether Elias cam out of terestrial Paradice or any other place when he was speaking with Christ at his transfiguration for it is generally held as a thing most certain indubitable that Elias where so euer he be is in body and soule AN. Truly there are for the maintenance of each of these opinions so many reasons that it is best not to trouble our wits withall but to leaue the censure of thē to wiser men greater Doctors then we are only one thing remaineth the which truly if it were in my power I would not permit that so many fables shold be set forth divulged as there are as that which is written in the life of S. Amasus that hee stoode so many yeeres at the gates thereof and also in a treatise of S. Patricks Purgatory where it is written that a Gentleman entring in passed through the same into earthly Paradice for in such matters no man ought to be so hardy as to affirme any thing but that which is knowne to be true and approoued LV. In good sooth you haue great reason but now seeing you haue sayde as much as may be about the situation of Paradice goe forward with that of the Riuers which come from thence a matter vnlesse I be deceaued of no lesse difficulty then the before rehearsed AN. I assure you it is such that I should haue been glad if you had ouerslipped it doubting least I shall be vnable to satisfie your expectation for as Eugubinus sayeth there is so great and so intricate a difficulty heerein that he is hardly able to vnwinde him selfe there out whom of force in this matter I must follow for as for the other Authors which write heereof it seemeth that they stay at the halfe carere without reaching to the end of the course To begin therefore it is sayd in Genesis that there issued a Riuer out of Paradice deuiding it selfe into foure parts the which were Gion Fison Tygris and Euphrates But seeing the difficulty of the seate and place of paradice cannot clearely be determined much lesse can this be of the foure Riuers which issue thence especially knowing at this present that their Springs and risings are in diuers different parts of the world yet for all this sifting and bolting out the truth we will approach as neere it as we may This Riuer which deuided it selfe into foure first issued out of the place of delights which was according to Eugubinus the Prouince of Heden and from thence entered to inundate Paradice whence comming forth it made this deuision It is manifest that the first part therof called Gion is the same which we now call Ganges for this is it which watreth the land of Heuylath The second Riuer Fyson is without all doubt that which wee now call Nilus seeing there is no other which watereth and compasseth about the Land of Aethiopia as the text it selfe sayeth As for Tygris Euphrates they retaine yet their selfe same first names and runne along the Country of the Assirians and of these two last it may be sayde that they rise or at the least that the first Land which they water is the same which according to that before alleaged may be called the prouince of Heden BER These two Riuers are by all Cosmographers described to haue their risings in the Mountaine Taurus in Armenia and it is true that they vvater the prouince of the Assirians but theyr rysing and beginning is farre from thence as saith Strabo by these words Euphrates and Tygris rise in the Mountaine Taurus and compassing about Mesapotamia ioyne themselues together by Babylon and from thence goe to enter into the Persian Sea the spring of Euphrates is on the North side of
man may certainly attaine to know where the place of terestriall Paradise is vnlesse it be by reuelation diuine which selfe same hee might haue saide of the foure riuers that issue there out But seeing this is a matter which the more wee penetrate into the greater difficulties we shall finde it were better that wee lefte the same to be discussed and determined of men whose learning and capacity is more profound then ours alwayes submitting our selues to their iudgement and censure BER It pleaseth me very wel which you say but there is one thing in the which you must first satisfie mee that is my first demaund of the vertue with which by all reason the waters of these Riuers should be enriched with for this was the beginning of our present discourse AN. I confesse that by reason these Riuers should haue more vertue then all the others of the world and so I thinke they had at such tyme as they issued out of Paradise and whiles with their waters they refreshed that blessed soyle but after as they changed their Springes and Issues the cause ending the effect also might cease and end without retayning any more the former vertue but whether Paradise be as yet and whether at their beginning they enter into the same enriching ennobling themselues with the vertue therof is to vs vtterly vnknown perchance God hath herein darkned our vndestanding because through our wickednes we deserue not to enioy so great a good or that a thing so excellent proceeding from so sacred a place should be communicated vnto vs so that we remain in obscurity darknes vnable to iudge of Paradise but by signes coniectures which lead vs to beleeue the one and the other without any assured certainty so that I meruaile not if in so diuers a matter there be diuers opinions LU. Will you haue my opinion vve are so fewe and so ill Christians in the world that we deserue not to haue this matter of Paradise reuealed by God vnto vs. AN. Fewe Christians say you nay we are many in the world if we were all good and would liue as we ought to doe BER Of all friendship I pray you make me vnderstand this for in my opinion we are so few that in many parts of the world there is scarcely any knowledge or notice of vs. AN. You are farre deceaued as you shal presently vnderstand First therfore the deuill is so mighty that he hath beene able to blind the vnderstanding of many wise prouident men to the end that they might not attaine vnto the knowledge of the truth so that the world is deuided into three principall sorts of Religions besides ours which is the vniuersal true Christian and Catholique beleefe The first is of the Iewes which still remaine in their law The second is of the Moores and Turks who follow the law of Mahomet The third is of Pagans and Gentiles who adore Idols and thinges which are bare creatures leauing to adore him vvho of nothing made and created them all BER This is that whereat I wonder exceedingly that these false lawes and sects should so maintaine them selues in manifest errors and deceites without any substance or foundation especially those of the Pagans and Moores which in a manner take vp and possesse the whole Lands and Countries of the worlde that are knowne and enhabited for take the three parts into which the world is by the auncient Philosophers deuided and you shall finde that they possesse so much thereof that there is scarcely any place left for the Christians so that we are thrust and as it were shouldered into the least part thereof which is Europe yea and of that also wee possesse but a part AN. I tell you once againe that you are deceaued for Christendome stretcheth very wide and farre and there are fewe places in the world where Christians inhabite not as you shall straight vnderstande though in truth all that beare the name are not true Catholique Christians But leauing this for another time I say that the blindnes of the Gentiles consisted not in that they followed the simplicity of the Lawes of Nature the which if in those dayes they had vsed well they might rightly haue called themselues wise But that they became to frame and forge new Sects and Religions Whereas I can not perswade my self but that they knew that there was one only God onely puissant and almighty who of nothing created the whole word and all things therein contained but such was theyr malice that they would needes put vp exalt into the heauens other men deifying and making them Gods by their owne authoritie Of the beginning and originall of Idolatry though there be many and diuers opinions yet for breuities sake I will omit them onely the commonest is that Ninus King of the Assirians after the death of his Father King Belus made and erected an Idol of his likenes ordayning the same to be a suretie and defence to all those that had theyr refuge thereunto howe capitall and haynous soeuer were the offences by them committed so that the offenders finding there a securitie inuiolable against those by whō they were persecuted began with all reuerence to worshippe that Idoll and to doe sacrifice vnto the same as though it had been God From that time forward the ignorant blindnesse of the common people began to adore theyr Kings Princes and to call them Gods imagining that as they had been mighty on the earth while they liued so shoulde they be in heauen after theyr death Against the grossenes of this error furdered by the deuill which put himselfe into the Idols they made and to deceaue them the more spake and gaue aunsweres many haue written chiefely Lactantius Firmianus in his Booke of Diuine Institutions highly and cleerly making them vnderstand the error and deceite wherein they were abused in adoring creatures leauing to adore the Creator Neyther doe you thinke but that the wiser sort had in detestation theyr ignorant errors laughing at the foolish multitude and though in publique they did like the rest because they would not lose theyr worldly estimation yet in theyr secrete breast they were of a farre different opinion which they shewed as cleerly as they might namely Diuine Plato Aristotle Porphirius Socrates and Cicero who in his Treatise of the Nature of the Gods gaue to vnderstand howe differently hee iudged of those false Gods if it had beene lawfull freely to haue vttered that which in his breast hee conceaued To be short there were fevve Philosophers eyther Latines or Greekes which vnderstood not this common blindnesse hauing the same in abhomination and horror If you doubt heereof aske Hermes Trismegistus who confesseth that there is no more but one true and onely God Looke in Lucians workes and you shall finde them full of scoffs iestes in derision of his Gods whom as there was then no man to lighten and instruct them in
so strange which for the true proofe and vnderstanding whereof were necessary to be seene with our eyes for confirmation whereof though there be many most sufficient reasons and proofes yet I haue not reade heerein any Author which auoucheth his own knowledge and sight whereas me thinkes if these Regions were so short as by this computation of degrees the Authors seeme to make them there should not haue wanted curious men to discouer the particularities of them howe great so euer the difficulty or danger had beene in doing the same which if they had done they should perchaunce haue found many things farre otherwise then they deemed at least touching some particularities of which some later Writers vaunt to haue in part experience of which seeing we our selues are able to giue no assured testimony of sight I thinke it best that we leaue them to those whose curious industry wil omit no paine to attaine vnto the perfect searching out of things so worthy to be known and seeing the Auncients which went sifting out these matters confesse that from the same Land came Virgins to bring their first fruits to the temple of Apollo in Delos belike there was then some known way the passage betweene nothing so difficill as it nowe seemeth vnto vs which beeing to vs vnknowne and the manner howe to trauaile and passe through those cold Regions beset with deepe Snow thicke Ice wide Riuers painefull high Hils fearefull low Valleyes vnaccessible Desarts and all kinds of cruell wild Beasts we leaue them vnuoyaged not seeking any way whereby we may penetrate into them and attaine the cognition of their particulers in a manner concealed and hidden from vs of which though some fewe of the hether parts thereof were knowne by relation of some painefull and industrious men who affirmed that they had seene them yet the greatest part was by coniectures considerations and probable argumentes though the curiosity of our times hath passed a little farther because as I haue sayde they are eye-witnesses of part of that which wee haue discouered of as I will tell you straight but all shall be little to giue vs such perfect and particuler knowledge of this part of the worlde that we may discourse thereof as of the others which we know Some Authors will haue this Land to be in Asia others in Europe but in whether it be the matter is not great alwayes if it be in Europe then is Europe not so little a part of the earth as they make it of vvhich if they will set the limits there as the Auncients say it finished then must these Regions before time vndiscouered be another nevve part of the world and so they should make foure parts therof or fiue with that which is newly discouered thereof in the West Indies BER I vvonder not much if men haue not so good notice of those partes of which wee haue discoursed neere the one and neere the other Pole and of that vvhich runneth out by the Coast of the North towardes the West because besides the great sharpnes and rigour of the cold we haue no cōuersation at all with the enhabitants of those parts nor they with vs neither is there any cause to mooue eyther them or vs thereunto vnlesse it be the curiositie of some that thirst after the vniuersal knowledge of all things in the world as did Marcus Paulus Venetus who for this cause only trauailed so great a part of the worlde as any man that euer I heard of till this day Truth it is that some Kings and Princes through couetous desire of enlarging their dominions as you shall hereafter vnderstand haue entered so far as they could conquering into these parts which they found neyther ouer all enhabited neyther yet so desert but that it was in manie places and the greater part therof peopled and not so far one from another but that they had knowledge conuersation traffique together And as in these Countries and Prouinces of ours we finde one soyle plaine temperate and pleasant and another quite contrary sharpe barren and vnfruitfull subiect to boystrous winds harsh ayres and continuall snow wherewith some mountaines are all the yeere long couered so that no man will frame in them his habitation So likewise in these extreame Regions of the North no doubt but there are some parts of them vninhabited as those which Pliny Soline and the before remembred Authors terme condemned of Nature yet there want not wayes and compasses in cyrcling about them to discouer that which is enhabited on the other side and though with difficultie yet in fine Nature would not leaue to prouide an open way to the end that this Land should not remaine perpetually hidden and vnknown LV. I remember I haue seene in Paulus Iouius in a chapter which hee made of Cosmography abbreuiated in the beginning of his History these words speaking of the Kingdomes of Denmarke and Norway and the Landes beyond them Of the Nature saith he of these Lands of the peoples that liue beyond them called Pigmaei Ictiophagi which are those that liue by fishes now newly discouered in whose Country by a certaine order of the Heauen of that constellation the dayes and nights are equall which I will make mention in their place AN. Mee thinkes there are many that touch this matter promising to write largely thereof without doing it and if they doe it it is euen as they list themselues because there is no man to controle them and as for Paulus Iouius himselfe all that he wrote of this Country was by the relation of a Muscouian Embassadour in Rome In one place hee saith that the Muscouites border vpon the Tartaryans and that towards the North they are accounted the vtmost dwellers of the worlde and that towardes the West they confine with the Danske Sea And in another place the Muscouites sayth he who are seated betweene Polonia and Tartaria confine with the Ryphaean mountaines enhabite towards the Septentryon in the vtmost bounds of Europe and Asia extending themselues ouer the Lakes of the Riuer Tanays euē to the Hyperborean mountaines and that part of the Ocean which they call the Frozen Sea These are his wordes in which truly he hath little reason for the vtmost Land that the Muscouites possesse is where the day and night continue 3. months long a peece so that they cannot be called the last enhabitants of the earth for those whose day and night is of sixe months are farder North and neerer the Pole then they so that in fine as I sayd before touching these matters which cannot be seene without such difficultie those that entreat of them goe by gesse coniecturing thereat by the probabilitie of reasons considerations LU. As I imagine this countrey must be very great where the daies are so long in encreasing and decreasing and more if there be on the other side of the North before you come at the Sea so much other land of force it
if they were then no greater then they now are the greatnes of his stature was not so out of proportion and wonderfull and if the bodies of Antheus Oryon had thē been measured they would not haue been so many of their cubits as they were of theirs that measured them I beleeue that they would nowe be more the cause hereof is that as the world waxeth old so al things draw to be lesser for euen as earth that hath not ben laboured yeeldeth greater fruite at the beginning and in more aboundance then after when it becōmeth weary and tired with continuall trauaile bringing forth euen so the vvorld through wearines and long course of generation ceaseth to breed men of so large and puissant statures as it wonted AN. Although in part of this your argument you seeme to haue some reason yet you are deceaued if you hold this for a generall rule without exception for this age of ours is not without Gyants and those very great truth it is that in times past there were of thē in many parts and now in very few those for the most part in Lands nere to the North South pole for it seemeth that Nature enclineth to create this greater men in cold Countries But seeing this is a matter which cannot be handled without falling into discourse of those Countries towards the Septentrion matter of no lesse admiration let vs leaue it till we meete another time to the ende wee may haue where-with to entertaine good conuersation LU. There are also people of great stature which liue in hote Countries towards the Aequinoctiall for as Crates Pergamenus writeth there is a people among the Aethiopians called Sirboti whose common stature is eight cubites and more in height and what thinke you May not these men well be called Gyants AN. This onely Author maketh relation thereof and though we haue notice of all the Nations of Aethiopians we haue neuer seene nor heard of any such great people amongst them but wee notoriously knowe that there are of them in the colde Regions and such as are commonly helde to bee vninhabitable which at farther leasure I will cause you thoroughly to vnderstand LV. If you thinke that I will forgette this your promise you are deceaued for I holde well in memory all such matters as we doo nowe leaue in suspence but nowe seeing you will haue it so let vs passe on and giue mee to vnderstand vvhether liue longest these great or little men for it agreeth with reason that the one greatnes should be conformable to the other AN. The long life of man consisteth neyther in littlenes nor greatnes but in being wel complexioned hauing good humors not apt to receaue corruption besides a mild reposed life good victuals sobriety in eating drinking many other particuler things which Phisitions prescribe doe help much there-vnto but the chiefest of all is the good quality condition of the country as wel for some particuler constellation as for the temperature purenes of the ayre breeding the victuals in perfection without rawe and flimy humors this I take to be the cause why some Nations liue so long Aelianicus sayth that in the Prouince of Aetolia the men liue 200. some 300. yeres and Pliny sayth that there is a people in India called Cimi who liue ordinarily 140 yeeres Onosecritus also writeth that in a certaine part of India where at noone dayes there is no shadow at all the men are of height 5. cubits and two hand breadths that they liue 130. yeres without waxing old but die euen as it were in their middle age There is another Nation of people of a Prouince called Pandora whose life endureth v. or 300. yeres in their youth their haire is hoary and gray in their elder age turning to be blacke Though these liues be long yet we may giue credite there-vnto for the causes which I haue said chiefely for the purenes of the aire which cōserueth health as wel in humane bodies thēselues as in the fruits victuals which grow there with lesse coruption more perfection vertue thē in other parts 〈◊〉 glueth testimony heereof speaking of the Iland Lemnos and the Citty Mirina the which hath in opposite the mountaine Atos in Macedonia which is so high that being thence in distance 6000. paces it couereth this Citty with his shadow on the top wherof moueth no aire at al but pure in so much that the ashes which there remaine moues not frō one yere to another on the height of this hil was builded a City called Acroton the enhabitants of which liued twice so long as those that dwelt beneath BE. If this Citty were so wholsom the people of so long life wherfore cam it to be dispeopled for saken by reason me thinks it should be as full of people as it were able to hold AN. One cōmodity alone suffiseth not to the life of man for what auaileth long life if men liue continually in penury and want of thinges necessary For in so great a height Spring they could haue none neither could they gather water into Cesternes because it was higher then the Region where the clouds are congealed which could by no means moue themselues wanting wind as they must needs want there for howe can there be any where the ashes lye without mouing so that this other commodities for their sustenance were to be prouided with such paine difficulty and vnease that forsaking this place they chose rather with more ease though shorter life to commodate themselues elsewhere for this selfe same cause is the mountaine of Olympus vninhabited in whose top also it is affirmed the ayre to be so pure that there bloweth no wind at all The like also I beleeue to be of the mountaine Pariardes which is in Armenia where after the flood the Arke of Noe remained But all this is to no other ende then that you should vnderstand the reason how mans life is to be conserned more in some places then in others and euen so I thinke it to be in the Prouinces which we haue rehearsed that also which the selfe Solinus sayeth of the Aethiopians whom they call Macrobians who are on the other side of the Iland Meroe and liue ordinarily 150. yeeres and many reach to 200. And Gaudencius Merula writeth that he hath found Authors which affirme that in the selfe same Iland Meroe the people neuer die of any sicknes liuing so long till very age consume them But leauing this generality of liues let vs come to entreate of some particulers without alleadging the liues of those holy Fathers out of the old Testament before and after the flood of 800. and 900. yeeres a peece which we firmely beleeue through faith and because the holy Church affirmeth it so that wee know it to be true and indubitable neither is that a small argument
that was also 300. yeeres old both by his lowne saying and the affirmation of those that knew him well besides other many great proofes and arguments thereof This Moore for the austeritie of his life and abstinence vvhich hee vsed was held amongst the rest for a very holie and religious man and the Portugals had great familiarity friendshippe vvith him For all thys though the Chronicles of Portugall are so sincere that there is nothing registred in them but with great fidelitie and approoued truth yet I should stagger in the beliefe of this were it not that there are so many both in Portugall and Spayne which are eye witnesses hereof and know it fully to be true BER And so trulie should I but that your proofe and information is not refutable for these ages are so long in respect of the shortnesse of ours that they bring with them incredible admiration and mee thinkes it is impossible that the first of these two shoulde haue had so many wiues AN. It being verified that hee liued so long this is not to be wondred at for the law both of Gentiles and Moores permitteth men to forsake their wiues and to take new as often as they please and so perchance this man was so fantasticall and peeuish that not contenting himselfe long with any he tooke it for a custome to put away his wiues as we doe seruants that please vs not And as they hold together as many wiues as they will though they bee not all called lawfull what letted him if he chopt changed some turning away taking new especially if he were so rich that he had meanes to maintaine many at once so that there is no such cause to wonder at any of these thinges for in the yeare 1147. in the time of the Emperor Conrad died a man which had serued Charles the great in his warres who as it was by inuinsible arguments proued had liued 340. yeeres and it agreeth with that which you haue sayd of this Indian whence Pero Mexia which writeth also the same tooke it Fascicuhis Temporum likewise maketh mention thereof All thys can he doe in whose hands Nature is shoutning lengthning lyues and ages as it pleased him but for my part I will neuer beleeue but that there are in these things some secrete mysteries which we neither conceiue nor vnderstand LU. Let vs take it as we find it without searching the profound iudgments of God who onely knoweth wherefore hee dooth it and in truth I dared not vtter as holding in for a thing fabulous that which I haue read in the xv booke of Strabo where he saith that those which dwel on the other side of the moūtaines Hyperbores towards the North many of them liued a 1000. yeares AN. I haue also read it but hee writeth the same as a thing not to be beleeued though he denieth not but that it may be possible that many of them liued very long but the likeliest is that in those Countries they deuide theyr yeeres according to the reckoning of which Pliny speaketh one into foure by which computation a thousand yeeres of theirs maketh 250. of ours and this differeth not much from the ages of other people and Nations which we haue rehearsed Yet Acatheus the Philosopher speaking of the mountaines Hyperbores sayeth that those which dwell on the farther side liue more yeeres then all the other Nations of the world Pomponius Mela also speaking of them in the third booke vseth these words vvhen they are weary of liuing ioyfull to redeeme themselues from the trauailes and miseries of life they throw themselues headlong into the Sea which they account the happiest death and fortunatest Sepulcher that may be how so euer many Authors of credite verifie theyr liues to be long BER It is said also that those of the Iland Thile according to the opinion of many now called Iseland liue so long that wearied with age they cause themselues to be conuaied into other parts to the ende that they may dye AN. I haue not seene any Author that writeth this it is like to be some inuention of the common people because those of that Iland liue very long euery one addeth what pleaseth him for as the desire to liue is a thing naturall to all men so how old so euer a man be he will in my opinion rather procure to defend and conserue his life then seeke occasion to finish or shorten the same This people being in the occident and according to the auncient vvriters the last Nation that is knowne that way participate with the Hiperboreans in fame of long life or perchaunce those which haue heard speake of Biarmio Superior the which as we will one day discourse is the last which is knowne of the other side of the Septentrion and of which are written many wonderfull matter chiefely of their long life without infirmity ending onely through extreamity of age the which many of them not attending voluntarily kill themselues thought that these men were vnder the selfe climate and hereof was the inuention of the Elysian fields which the Gentiles held to be in these parts But this being a matter that requireth long time we will now leaue it returne to our former discourse Truly if conforming our selues to reason we would well weigh the trauailes miseries vexations which in this wretched life we endure we should esteeme a short life far hapier then a long which we see beset with infinite troubles calamities endeuor so in this transitory life to serue God that we may come in glory to enioy that other which shal endure for euer BER Seeing we haue hetherto discoursed of so many particularities belonging vnto men let vs not forget one which is of no lesse mistery nor lesse worthy to be knowne then the rest which is of the Centaures or Archers to the ende wee liue not deceaued in that which is reported of thē for many Histories make mention of them though to say truth I neuer read any graue Author that affirmeth to haue seene them or stedfastly that they now are or at any other time haue been in the world which if they either be indeed or haue been they are not to be held for small wonders but for as great as euer haue been any in the world AN. Certainely this of the Centaures is but a Poetical fiction for if it were true it is not possible as you said but that som graue Author or other would haue written therof LV. Let vs yet know whence these fables had their beginning AN. Aske this of Eginius Augustus Libertus which in a booke of his entituled Palephatus de non credendis fabulis sayth that Ixion King of Thessalia brought a mighty Heard of Bulls and Cows to the mountain Pelius which being affrighted throgh some accident that happened scattered themselues flying into the Woods Valleys other vninhabited places out of which they
thing that may worke vs hurt hinderance domage or preiudice BER Well then seeing the Astronomers and Phisitions are of one opinion the Philosophers of another each of them armed with so many arguments reasons to maintaine their party let vs leaue them to beate their braines about the determination therof contenting our selfe with this satisfaction which you haue giuen vs. And seeing it now waxeth time to withdraw our selues you Signior Anthonio being wearied with your long discourse our troublesome demaunds interpositions it is more then reason that we nowe giue you respite till another time and that we accompany you to your lodging AN. This courtesie is so great that in accepting it I should shew my selfe vnworthy therof therfore I will not put you to that paine but seeing it is so late we wil goe euery man his way there-vpon I betake you to the protection of th' Almighty LV. Seeing you will haue it so we also commit you to God who guide you in the accomplishment of your good desires The end of the fourth Discourse The fifth Discourse entreating of the Septentrionall Countries and of the lengthening and decreasing of the dayes and nights till they come to be sixe moneths long a peece and how the Sunne and the Moone riseth and setteth with them in a different sort then heere with vs with many other things pleasant and worthy to be knowne * Interlocutores ANTHONIO LVDOVICO BERNARDO LV. SEeing our busines is nor great and this place where wee are so fitte and commodious to passe our time in good conuersation I cannot choose Signior Anthonio but challenge you of the accomplishment of your promise made vnto vs in these our former cōuersations touching the declaration of certaine doubts which we then lest in suspence remitting them till some other time that we should meete together which now seeing our oportunity the fit and delightfull pleasure of this place and the sweete temperature of the weather inuiteth vs to entertaine our selues in some recreatiue discourse I pray you make vs vnderstand especially those touching Geography Cosmography wherein my ignorance is such that I should account my selfe very happy to be instructed in some knowledge thereof whereby I might be able to discourse my selfe or at least to vnderstand others when they discourse therein I say this because I heard you say the other day that you were laughed at by certaine Gentlemen for saying that there was a part of the worlde where the day endured the whole space of sixe moneths together without night and the night likewise as long without day which to me seemeth a matter so meruailous and strange that how true so euer it be I cannot choose but greatly wonder thereat and therefore you shall doe me a great fauour to declare it somwhat more particulerlie in plaine and euident reasons whereby I may the better comprehend the same BER You haue preuented me for in truth I came with the same purpose and intention and I know not howe vvee may spend the time better for thereby seeing with our eyes we cannot view nor with our bodies trauell the whole world thorough yet shall we vnderstand the particularities thereof at the least those which in this matter we require to know if it shal please Signior Anthonio to make vs participant of some part of his knowledge therein AN. I coulde haue beene contented that you had forgotten this matter into the deepe Sea of which if I once engulfe my selfe I see not how I shall be able to auoyd the danger of drowning for to debate and declare one particularitie well of force there must concurre many others weaued and enchained as it were together one with another yet if you will promise mee to take in good part that little which I shall say and to which my knowledge extendeth I will proue how farre I can reach and when I am at the farthest I will make an end though in truth were it not for giuing you contentment I should do best in holding my peace least I seeme to take vpon me to be an Astronomer a Phylosopher and a Cosmographer whereas indeede I haue knowledge in no part of any one of them BER Wee require heerein no more of you then you knowe which howe little so euer it be I am sure it is farre aboue ours and therfore seeing you haue audience so intentiuely bent to heare you you haue no reason to vse such excuses finally if you condiscend not willingly to our request we are resolutely bent to vse force AN. Nay rather then you should doe so I will doe the best I can with a free and good will though I entreate not but of that part of the world which is towards the North because it so chiefely serueth for our purpose yet can not I chuse but touch diuers others for the better vnderstanding of our matter and this will be with so great a difficultie that I may with great reason say as Pomponius Mela did whose words are these I begin sayth he to write the situation of the Vniuerse a worke truly very combersome and of which my tongue and eloquence is no way capable the same consisting of so great a diuersitie of people places c. This therefore is likely to be a matter more tedious then pleasant prouided alwaies before hand that you account mee not so arrogant as that I should attribute any thing of that vvhich I will say herein vnto my selfe assuring you that I wil alledge nothing but that which hath been written by Authors of credit both auncient and moderne and in fine nothing can be said which hath not beene said before as Solinus confesseth saying What thing may we properly terme to be our owne seeing there hath not been till this our time any one thing left vnintreated of The opinions of those that write of this part of the earth are so different and disagreeing that there can be no greater confusion in the world at which I wonder not if they somtimes erre in many things touching those parts of the worlde distant so infinite a number of miles from vs and separated from vs by so many Mountaines Valleyes Rocks Cragges vnenhabited Deserts Riuers Lakes Forrests sandes seas which barre vs from giuing assured testimony and witnesse of them seeing wee beeing heere in Europe which as euerie one knoweth that hath but a little smacke in Geography is the least of the three old parts of the VVorld cannot truelie tell where she endeth her bounds and limits and throughlie proue the same with sufficient reasons but onely that we follow heerein the opinion of the Auncients who wrote thereof according to their owne fancie and as they list themselues for some of them comming to distinguish the bounds of Europe on the North-side content themselues in setting the Riuer Tanais and the Lake Maeolis for limits therof others the Ryphean mountaines without vnderstanding what they say or yeelding any
all that vvhich is forthward betweene these two Prouinces the Sea Northward Of Scithia hee sayth the same in his seauenth Table of Asia that on the North-side it hath vnknowne Lande in his third Table that all that part of the Mountaynes towardes the North is vndiscouered and in comming to India to the kingdome of Chyna hee hath no knowledge at all of that which is thence forwarde to the East where is so great a multitude and diuersitie of Countries Prouinces and Kingdoms as in a manner remaineth behind on this side yet truly there was neuer any man equall vnto Ptolomie in that which he knew and all both Auncients and Moderns doe follovve him as the truest Geographer though hee were many tymes deceaued as in saying that the Indian Sea is wholy closed and separated from the Ocean it beeing afterwards founde that from the Cape of Bona Speranza to Calycut there is more then a thousand leagues of water the which according to his opinion should be enuironed with firme land Strabo also in his seauenth booke saith that the same Region which turneth towards the Aquylon pertayneth to the Ocean sea for they are sufficiently known who take their beginning from the rising of the riuer of Rheyne forth to the riuer of Albis of which the most famous are the Sugambij the Cymbri but the stripe that reacheth out on the other side of the riuer Albis to vs is wholy vndiscouered vnknowne and a little farther Those saith he which will goe to the rysing of the Riuer Boristhenes to those parts from whence the winde Boreas commeth all those Regions are manifest by the Clymes and Paraleils but what Countries people those are which are on the other side of Almania and in what sort they are placed which are nowe called Bastarni as many doe suppose or Intermedij or Lasigae or Raxaili or others that vse the couerings of Wagons for the roofes of theyr houses I cannot easily say neither whetheir their country extendeth it selfe to the Ocean or whether through the extreame cold it be vnenhabitable or whether there be anie other linage of men between the sea those Almaines which are towards the part of the Ponyent By these authorities you may vnderstande that Strabo though hee were so great a Cosmographer had no knowledge of all those Countries which are on the other side of Almaine towards the Septentryon or North-pole But you must vnderstand that they made Almaine extende it selfe much farther then we now adayes doe bringing within the limits thereof all those Countries euen vnto Scithia in which seeing Strabo was ignorant it is not much if the other Cosmographers were ignorant of that which is vnder the vtmost Zone it selfe As for Strabo he confesseth not only his ignorance in those parts but also in speaking of the Getes There are saith he certaine mountaines which reach Northward euen to the Tyrregetes to the knowledge of whose bounds ends we cannot attaine the ignorance of which hath made vs admit many fables that are reported of the Hiperbores and Ryphaean mountaines But let vs leaue these men yea and Pytheas Marsiliensis also with his lyes which he wrote of the Ocean Sea and if Sophocles saide any thing in his tragicall verses of Oricia that she was carried of the wind Boreas ouer the whole Sea and transported to the vtmost bounds of the whole world to the fountaines of the Night to the height of the Heauen and to the old Garden of Apollo let vs leaue him also and come to the trueth of that which is in deede knowne in this our age BER Strabo hath cleerely giuen to vnderstand in these speeches the small knowledge he had of those Countries which are towards the North and of the other side of the Hiperborean and Ryphaean mountaines which being included in the vtmost Zone where as you say vnknowne to all the Auncients but I wonder at nothing more then that the vvorld hauing dured so many yeeres before them there was neuer any that could attaine to the light and cleare certainty thereof AN. There hath not wanted some which in som sort though doubtingly haue roued therat as Pliny who though he denied as I said a little before the vtmost Zones to be enhabited yet comming to speake of the mountaines of Rypheus hee discouereth the contrary of that which hee had saide before turning to vse these wordes The Arimasps being past there are straight at hand the Ryphaean mountaines and a Country through the continuall falling of snow like feathers called Pterophoros the which is a part of the world condemned of Nature beeing seated in a place of obscurity darknes we cannot place these mountains any where then in the very rigour of Nature it selfe and in the very seate and bowels of the Aquilon on the other side of the Aquilon liueth if we wil beleeue it a verie happy people whom they call Hyperboreans whose life they say lasteth many yeres and of whom are reported many fabulous miracles it is thought that there are the vtmost barres of the world and the farthest compasse of the starres it is 6. months light with them one only day of the Sun contrary not as som ignorantly say from the Winter Equinoctiall to the Autumne only once a yere doth the sunne rise vnto them in the Solstitio and only once a yere set in the Winter Their region is warme of a wholsome temprature without any noysome ayres the mountaines woods serue them for houses they worship their gods in troupes ioyntly flocking together there is neuer amongst them any discord debate sicknes or infirmity Death neuer ouertaketh them til being through olde age weary of liuing they throw themselues from the top of some high Rock down headlong into the sea this they account the happiest sepulchre that may be Some writers haue placed thē in the first part of Asia and not of Europe because there are some in situation likenes resembling them called Attacori others haue placed them in the midst betweene either Sunne which is Sun-setting of the Antypodes and the rising thereof with vs which can by no way be so beeing so great and huge a sea between Those who place them there where they haue but one day in the yere continuing sixe months say that they sow their corne in the morning and reape it at midday and that when the Sunne forsaketh them they gather the fruit of their trees and during the space of theyr night they hide thēselues in Caues This people is not to be doubted of seeing so many Authors haue written that they were wont to sende their first fruites to the Temple of Apollo in Delos vvhom they cheefely adored All this is out of Plinie who as you see discourseth confessing and denying for one while he sayth if we will beleeue it making it ambiguous and then presentlie he turneth to say that it is not to be doubted of LVD I alwayes vnderstood
when he riseth to take his course through the heauen ouer vs and so at last to set himselfe in the contrary place so with those which are vnder the Poles in his rising afterwards his setting in a far different sort For the first day that he riseth there appeareth but a point of him which can scarcely be discouered and goeth so round about their Orizon in which going about hee sheweth himselfe alwaies in one sort without encreasing vnlesse it be a very little casting all alike brightnes forth At the second turne he goeth discouering himselfe a little more and so at the third and fourth and all the rest encreasing from degree in degree and giuing turnes round about the heauen vpwards in which he continueth three moneths and the shadow of all that vppon which his beames doe strike goeth round about and is when he beginneth to rise very great and the higher he mounteth the shorter it waxeth and afterward when he turneth to come downward in which he dureth other three moneths it is contrary euen till hee come to hide himselfe vnder the earth at which time as hee goeth hiding himselfe to those of the one pole so goeth hee shewing and discouering himselfe to those of the other LV. The vnderstanding of this mistery is not without some difficulty especially to vs which till this time haue not had thereof any notice yet I now begin by little and little to comprehend the same onely one doubt remaineth which somwhat troubleth mee which is if the whole Land from that place where the dayes are of 24. houres length which according as I vnderstand is from the I le of Thule and the other Prouinces that are on firme Land till you come to that which you say is vnder the Pole be enhabited of men or Desert without habitation AN. I make no doubt but that all this Land is enhabited in parts though not so populously in all places as this of ours in this the Authors doe not so plainly declare themselues that we may thereby receaue cleare and particuler vnderstanding thereof though some of them goe on setting vs in the right way to knowe the same For Encisus following the discouery of the Coast which goeth towards the Sunne-setting giuing a turne to the North he goeth discouering by the same many Prouinces amongst which I remember hee speaketh of two the one called Pyla Pylanter and the other which is somwhat farther Euge Velanter in which he saith the dayes encrease to two moneths and a halfe and the night as much which though it be a Land enhabited yet through the extreame and terrible cold thereof the Riuers and Waters are in such sort frozen that the enhabitants haue much adoe to get any vvater for their Ices are so thicke strong and hard that they cannot be broken without infinite paine trauaile They waite many times til the Ice be opened by certaine wild Beasts which they haue amongst them white of colour and proportioned much like vnto Beares whose nature is as well to liue by water as by land whose feete are armed with such terrible sharpe great and strong nailes that they breake therewith the Ice how thicke so euer it be vnder the which plunging themselues they swim along the water and pray vpon such fishes as they finde leauing the holes whereat they entred open at which the enhabitants come incontinently to draw water endeuouring with all dilligence to keepe them open least otherwise they freeze and close together againe as fast as they were before They hang in at them their baits and Angling hookes with the which also they take fish for their sustenance As for me I assuredly thinke that these Prouinces are those which Gemma Frigius calleth Pilapia and Vilapia though he say that the dayes in them encrease no farther then to a moneth the nights as much But let vs not wonder if in such things as these so farre distant seperated from vs we finde no witnesses of such conformity but that they differ in somwhat Olaus Magnus giueth vs though in briefe words some neerer notice of this matter for before he come to discourse more particulerly of the Prouinces vnder the same Pole he vseth these words Those of Laponia saith he of Bothnya Byarmya and the Ifladians haue their dayes and nights halfe a yeere long a peece Those of Elsingia Angermania and part of Swethland haue them fiue moneths long and those of Gothland Muscouia Russia and Liuonia haue them three moneths long Which Author being naturall of Gothland and Bishop of Vpsala it is to be thought that hee knew the truth thereof But these Countries being so neere vnto ours I meruaile that there is no greater notice of them and that there are not many more Authors that doe write of them Truth it is as I vnderstand that this encreasing of daies and nights should not bee generall throughout the vvhole Country but onely in part thereof which may be gathered out of that which he sayth of the Kingdome of Norway that in the entry and first parts of the same the dayes are as they are heere with vs But going on forth to the blacke Castell and from thence forwarde there is so great a change as you haue heard before the like may also be in other Countries By these before rehearsed authorities we may vnderstand the resolution of the doubt by you proposed that all the Lande betweene vs and the North is enhabited at least in parts therof heere and there so that it may be trauailed through ouer all BER My head is greatly troubled about this encreasing decreasing of the dayes and nights so much because the farther we goe from the Aequinoctial the longer we find them yet the common opinion of all Cosmographers is that in one degree are reckoned sixteene leagues and a halfe or somwhat more which being so it seemeth meruailous that in two degrees which are but 23. leagues or very little more the day and successiuely the night should encrease so much time as is a moneth according to your former computation and that when it were day in the one part it should be night in the other they being so neere together AN. You haue some reason to doubt but as these Lands goe alwaies downehill or slopewise in respect of the course of the Sun so in little space the same both hideth discouereth it selfe vnto them in great quantity this you may partly vnderstand by that which happeneth to trauailers who hauing the Sunne in their eye a little before the setting thereof in passing ouer a Plaine and champaine place lose presently the sight thereof in comming to the foote of a hill as though he were sodainly set yet if they make hast when they get vp to the top of the hill they finde him not fully downe recouering againe day though but a little yet somwhat longer But for all this I blame you not in wondring at a thing
must haue the same encrease and decrease for the selfe same cause and reason as is of the other side and if the same goe lengthning on inwards it must be greater then it hath seemed vnto vs. AN. Whether this land extend it selfe on the other side of the North forward or whether the Sea be straight at hande I cannot resolue you for there is not any Author that writeth it neither do I thinke is there any that knoweth it the cause wherof as I said is that in passing by the coast of the West beyond the Iles of Thule the coldes are so bitterly sharpe that no ship dareth to aduenture farder by reason of the huge floting Rockes and flakes of Ise vvhich encomber that Sea threatning eminent danger and vnauoydable destruction to those that attempt to saile thereinto Of the other side of the East giuing a turne about to the very same North is discouered so far as the Prouince of Aganagora which is the last of all the knowne Countries on that side the Gulfe being past which is called Mare magnum for by land they say it is not to be trauailed by reason of the great Deserts the earth in many places full of Quagmyres with many other inconueniences which Nature seemeth to haue there ordained Some say that earthly Paradise standeth there and that therefore no earthly man in the world hath knowledge thereof but of this we haue before sufficiently entreated with the opinions of those that haue written thereupon Some there are also who write that in this Lande are certaine great mountains amongst the which are enclosed many peoples of India from which they haue no issue nor meanes at all to come out but I rather beleeue this to be a fiction because I find the same confirmed by no graue allowed Authour But howsoeuer it be beyond this Countrey called Aganagora is much vnknowne and vndiscouered Land neyther by sea thence Northward hath there been any nauigation or discouery of which also the extreame cold and the sea cōtinually frozen and choked vp with heapes of Ise may be the cause the feare of which hath hindred men from attempting the discouery therof onely that which we may hereby vnderstand is that there is a most great quantity of Land from the coast which goeth by the west turneth towards the North and that which compasseth about the East and turneth likewise to the North of which till this time there is not anie man that can giue direct notice in midst of all which is that which we intreated of which is vnder the North whose daie and night is reparted into a yeere BER I knowe not in vvhat sort the moderne Geographers doe measure or compasse the world but I know that they say that the whole Rotundity of all the Land and water in the worlde containeth not aboue sixe thousand leagues of which are discouered 4350. reckoning from the Hauen of Hygueras in the Occident or West Indies to Gatigara where the Prouince of Aganagora is cōtayned which is in the Orient so that there are yet to discouer 1650. leagues in discouering of which the ende and vtmost boundes of the Indies shoulde be knowne as well as that of this part of the earth which we inhabite AN. To those that will measure the world in this maner may be answered as a Boy in Seuilla to those that would deuide the conquest thereof between the King of Castile and the King of Portugale who in mockage of theyr folly puld downe his breeches and shewing them his buttocks badde them draw the line there along if they would needes deuide the world in the midst by measure as for those which mesure in such sort the worlde they take but the length of the earth fetching their way by the midst of the Equinoctiall and so the Astronomers and Cosmographers may goe neere the mark reckoning by degrees and giuing to euery degree 16. leagues a halfe a minute of way as they do but though they discouer this yet they can hardly come to discouer the many parts nookes that are of one side and another of the world being so wide that in one corner thereof may lye hydden many thousands of miles and Countries which beeing seene known wold perchance seem to be some new world so lieth this part of which I speake on the coast of the Sea quite without notice or knowledge BER Some will say that the shippe called Victoria which is yet as a thing of admiration in the Bay of Seuilia went round about the world in the voyage which she made of fourteen thousand leagues AN. Though she did compasse the world round about in one part yet it is not said that she compast the same about in all parts which are so many that to thinke onely of them is sufficient to amaze a mans vnderstanding Amongst the rest we neuer heard that the Coast from the West to the East by the way of the North or at least the greater part thereof hath beene compassed about as yet by any ship neither haue we knowledge of any thing at all neither by Sea nor Land nauigating from thence forward LV. If you reade Pomponius Mela in his Chapter of Scithia where he discourseth of this matter you shall finde that he bringeth the authority of Cornelius Nepos alleadging for witnesse Quintus Metellus whom he had heard say that when he was Proconsull of the Gaules the King of Swethland gaue him certaine Indians of whom demanding which way they came into those Countries they aunswered that through the terrible force of a great tempest they were so furiously driuen from the streame of the Indian Sea that after long attending nothing else thē to be swallowed vp of the waues they came at last violently to bee striken into a Riuer on the Coast of Germany which being true then they made that nauigation by those partes which you say are vndiscouered from the West to the East by the way of the North whereby it is to be thought that the Sea is not so frozen as they say but that it is nauigable AN. Truth it is that Mela saith so though it be doubted whether the Indians came this way or no and Mela himselfe in the ende of the Chapter turneth to say that all the same Septentrionall side is hardened with Ice and therefore vninhabitable and desert but as I haue said all this is not directly proued and confirmed by sound experience exact knowledge seeing we know not howe farre the Land extendeth it selfe on the other side of the North without comming to the Sea and if we would seeke to sift this secrete out and aspire to the knowledge of that which might be found in nauigating that Sea fetching a compasse about the world from North to North God knoweth what Lands would be found and discouered BER The likeliest to beleeue in this matter in my iudgement is that the same
Sea of the North though being frozen the greatest part of the yeare yet that the same at such time as the Sunne mounteth high and their day of such length should through the heate of the Sunne thaw and become nauigable and so in that season the Indians might be driuen through the same with a tempest all which though it be so yet the people assuredly knowing that the same Sea freezeth in such sort euery yeere will not dare or aduenture to saile therein or to make any voyage on that side so that we come not to the knowledge of such thinges as are in that Sea and Land vnlesse wee will beleeue the fictions that Sylenus told to King Mydas LV. Of all friendship tell vs them I pray you for in so diffuse a matter any man may lye by authority without controlement BER That which I will tell you is out of Theopompus alleaged by Aelianus in his book De varia Historia This Sylenus saith he was the Sonne of a Nimph and accounted as inferiour to the Gods but as superiour vnto men who in one communication among many others that hee had with King Mydas discoursed vnto him that out of this Land or world in which wee liue called commonly Asia Affrique and Europe whom he termeth Ilands enuironed rounde about with the Ocean there is another Land so great that it is infinite and without measure in the same are bred Beastes and Fowles of admirable hugenes and the men which dwell therein are twise so great as we are and their life twice as long They haue many and goodly Citties in which they liue by reason hauing lawes quite contrary vnto ours among their Citties there are two that exceede the rest in greatnes in customes no whit at all resembling for the one is called Machino which signifieth warlike and the other Euaesus which signifieth pittifull the enhabitants of which are alwayes in continuall peace and plentifully abounding in great quantity of riches in whose Prouince the fruites of the earth are gathered without being sowed or planted They are alwayes free from infirmities spending their whole time in mirth pleasure and solace they maintaine iustice so inuiolably that many times the immortall Gods disdaine not to vse their friendship and company but on the contrary the enhabitants of Machino are altogether warlike continually in Armes and Warre seeking to subdue the bordering Nations This people doth dominate and commaund ouer many other proud Citties and mighty Prouinces The Cittizens of this Towne are at least 200000. in number they sildome die of infirmity but in the Warres wounded with stones and great staues Iron nor steele hurtes them not for they haue none Siluer gold they possesse in such quantity that they esteeme lesse therof then we doe of Copper Once as he said they determined to come conquer these Ilands of ours and hauing past the Ocean with many thousandes of men and comming to the Hiperborean mountaines hearing there vnderstanding that our people were so ill obseruers of Religion and of so wicked manners they disdained to passe any farther accounting it an vnwoorthy thing to meddle with so corrupt a people and so they returned backe againe He added heere-vnto many other meruailous things as that there were in other Prouinces thereof certaine people called Meropes who enhabited many and great Citties within the bounds of whose Country there was a place called Anostum which worde signifieth a place whence there is no returne this Country saith he is not cleare and light neither yet altogether darke but betweene both through the same runne two Riuers the one of delight the other of greefe vppon the shore both of the one and the other are planted trees about the bignes of Poplar-trees those that are on the banks of the Riuer of griefe bring forth a fruite of the same nature quality causing him that eateth thereof to spend the whole time of his life in sad and melancholly dumps bitter teares perpetuall weeping The fruite of those that grow on the banks of the other Riuer haue a contrary effect and vertue yeelding to the eater thereof a blessed course of life abounding in all ioy recreation and pleasure without any one moment of sadnes When they are in yeeres by little and little they waxe young againe recouering their former vigour and force and thence they turne still backward euen to their first infancie becomming little babes againe then they die LV. These things were very strange if they were true but be howe they will they carry some smell of that of which we entreated concerning the Land which is on the other side of the Riphaean and Hiperborean mountaines seeing he saith that determining to conquer this our world which he calleth Ilands they returned backe after they came to those mountaines and so it is to be vnderstoode that they came from the other part of the North-pole as for that Land which he saith to be so tenebrous obscure it may be the same which as we sayd hath continuall obscurity and is a condemned part of the world I doe not wonder at all if amongst the other works of Nature she made this part of the earth with so strange properties I meane not that which Silenus spake but the other by vs entreated of before the ayre of which by reason of som constellation or other thing we comprehend not is so troubled that it is not onely vninhabitable but also not to be passed through wherby the secreets therein contained remaine concealed though perchance on the other side therof the time temperature may be such and so contrary that it may excell these very Countries wherein we now liue AN. You haue reason for without doubt the Land which is in those parts vndiscouered must be very great and containe in it many things of admiration vtterly vnknowne to vs But comming now to particularize somewhat more of that which is now in these our times known discouered I wil tell you what some very new moderne Authors doe say thereof and principallie Iohn Zygler whom I alleadged before who in person visited viewed some part of these Septentrionall Countries though hee passed neither the Hiperborean neyther the Riphaean mountains who meruaileth greatly at that which sundry Authors haue left written of these parts for he found many things so different and contrary that theirs conformed in no one poynt with the truth as well touching the situation of mountaynes and heads of Riuers as the sundry properties and qualities of the Regions and Prouinces for hee sayeth that he was in that part where they all affirme the mountaines Ryphaeus to be and hee found there no mountaynes at all neyther in a great space of Lande round about it but all a plaine and leuell Country the selfe same is affirmed by Sigismund Herberstain in his voyage so that if they erre in the seate of a thing so common and
it freeze and become more hard and cleare vsing the same in certaine warlike pastimes they haue in steede of a Castell of lyme or stone one troupe entereth there-into to defende the same and another bideth without to besiege assault or surprize it and this in most solemne sort with all engines stratagems and manners of vvarfare great prices being ordained for those that shall obtayne the conquest besides the tryumph wherein the conquerours doe glory ouer the vanquished Who so amongst them is found to be fearefull or not forward in executing that which he is commaunded is by his companions stuft full of Snow vnder his garments and somtimes tumbled starke naked in great heapes of the same enuring them therby better to abide hardnes another time These Septentrionall Lands haue many Lakes and standing waters of great largenes som of the which are a hundred miles long These are at somtimes so frozen that they trauaile ouer them both a foote and horsebacke In the Countries of East and Westgothland there are Lakes vpon which great troupes of horsmen meete and runne for wagers their horses are in such sort shod that they sildome slide or fall in time of warre they skirmish often vpon these frozen Lakes yea and sometimes fight maine battailes vpon them At sundry seasons they hold vpoÌ„ them also certaine Faires to which there resorteth a great concourse of strange Nations the beginning of which custome was ordained as saith Iohn Archbishoppe of Vpsala Predicessour to Olaus by a Queene of Swethland called Disa who being a woman of great wisedome commaunded her Subiects on a certaine yeere in which her dominions were afflicted with extreame dearth scarsity of graines to goe vnto the bordering Regions carrying with them such merchandize as their Country yeelded and to bring with them in exchange thereof Corne and graine withall to publish franchize to all such as should bring thither any victual to be sold where-vpon many strangers repairing thither at such time and season as the Lake was frozen she appointed them that place for holding of their Faire from which time till this day that custome hath continued Northward of these Regions there are many great and meruailous Lakes such as scarcely the like are to be found in any other part of the world that is peopled of which leauing apart one that is neere the Pole is called the white Lake which is in maner an other Caspian Sea yeelding great commodities of fowle and fish to the adioyning Prouinces part of the same reaching out euen to the Muscouites There are in the Regions of Bothnia Lakes of 300. 400. miles long where there is such quantity of fish taken that if they could conueniently be carried about they would serue for prouision to halfe the world Thereby also are many other notable Lakes of which the three most famous are as the Authors write Vener Meler and Veher Vener containeth in length 130. miles which are about 44. leagues as much in breadth within it it hath sundry Ilands well peopled with Citties Townes and Fortresses Churches and Monasteries for all those three Lakes are in Country of Christians though we haue heere little notice of them Into this Lake enter 24. deepe Riuers all which haue but one only issue which maketh so terrible a noyse amongst certayne Rocks falling from one to another that it is heard by night six or seauen leagues of making deafe those that dwell neere there abouts so that it is sayd there are certaine little Villages and Cottages thereby the enhabitants of which are all deafe They call the issue of these Riuers in their Country language Frolletta which is as much to say as the deuils head The second Lake called Meler is betweene Gothland and Swethland hath in the shore thereof many mynerals of mettals both of siluer and others the treasures gathered out of which enricheth greatly the Kinges of those Countries The third also called Veher aboundeth in mines on the North side thereof The waters thereof are so pure cleare that casting there-into an egge or a white stone you may see it lye in the bottome though it be very deep as well as though there were no water betweene Within this Lake are many peopled Ilands in one of which wherin are two great Parish Churches Olaus writeth that there happened a thing very meruailous and strange There liued in this Iland saith hee a man called Catyllus so famous in the Art of Negromancie that in the whole worlde his like was scarcely to be found Hee had a Scholler called Gilbertus whom hee had in that wicked Science so deepely instructed that hee dared so farre presume as to contend with him being his Maister yea and in som things seeme to surpasse him at which shamelesse ingratitude of his Catyllus taking great indignation as alwayes Maisters vse to reserue vnto themselues certaine secrete points with onely wordes and charmes without other band fetter or prison he bound him in an instant both body hands and feete in such sort that he could not wag himselfe in which plight he conuayed him into a deepe Caue vnder one of the Churches of the same Iland where he remaineth till this day according to the common opinion is alwayes liuing Thither vsed darly to resort many not only of that Country people but strangers also to see him and to demaund questions of him They entred with many Torches and Lanternes and with a clew of threed of which they fasten one end to the dore whereat they enter vnwiding the same still as they goe for the better assurance of finding their way out the Caue being full of many deepe pits crooked turnings and corners But at length because the moisture dampish cold thereof with a lothsome stench besides anoyed so much those that entred that some of them came out halfe dead they made a law that on greeuous paine none of the Countrimen should froÌ„ that time forward resort nor enter into that Caue neither giue counsaile aide or assistance to strangers which for curiosities sake shold atempt the same LV. This is without doubt the worke of the deuil who the same Gilbertê° dying perchance presently entered into his putrified stinking carkasse abusing the people aunswered to their demands For though the force of enchauntments be great yet can they not preserue life any longer then the time fixed appointed by God AN. You haue reason and in truth it seemeth that the deuill is there more lose and at greater liberty then in other parts so that som wil say the principall habitation of deuils to be in the North according to the authority of holy Scripture All euill shal come discouer it selfe from the Aquilon Zachary Chap. 2. crieth ho ho flie from the land of the Aquilon howbeit that these authorties are vnderstoode coÌ„monly in that Antichrist shal come from those parts whose like was neuer in persecuting the people of