this Wood What they do when they come out of the Wood. they are brought by the Belli-Soggonoe into Huts made for that purpose where they are permitted to eat and drink familiarly with the women and afterwards are anew instructed in causes which concern the Wars Justice and Government At their first coming abroad they behave themselves as if they then came newly into the world not knowing or at least wise so pretending where their Parents dwell and so totally changed that they have forgot their Names nor indeed do they the meanest or most common act of Childhood without being first tutor'd therein by the Soggonoe At this their beginning appearance How they are clothed when they come out of the Wood. they are habited with Plumes of Feathers and Caps made of the Bark of Trees with long flappets hanging down before their Faces After some days stay in the Huts in such array with Bells about their Legs and Beads mixt with Leopards Teeth about their Necks and their Hair plaited they are brought openly to the Sporting-place where the women and other people of all sorts of all Towns and Villages lying round about are gathered together to see them Dance the Belli-Dance the postures whereof they learned in the Wood. Those whose dull apprehensions The Belli-Dance or unactive bodies have not carried them forward to perform their parts in this Dance are contemned as having spent their time in abhorr'd idleness After the end of the Dance every one call'd by his new name receiv'd in the Holy Wood from the Soggenoe is delivered to his Parents with these words These are your Parents or Tutors learn hereafter to know one another again Lastly The mark'd must swear by Belli-Paaro Every one of them must swear by Belli-Paaro that is by Divine Justice That he will do the Command imposed on him that he will not withdraw out of this or that Town nor reproach any persons or places or carry any thing away or hinder the passing of the Canoo's or keep Oyl Nuts and Houses Then they put a Stick in the Earth with a bush of Rushes resembling a Broom on the top and Charm it by these words Hucquonono Hucquo Hucquonono Hucquo Hucquonono Hucquo which concern Belli onely and are not used otherwise in the Language Who ever offends against this Oath receives punishment according to the weightiness of the matter In case of breaking this Determination The Punishment of such as transgress this Adjuration the Falsifier is laid into a Basket with Thorns and so rowl'd thorow the Town and back again till that his skin and flesh is torn besides they give him Buasille that is Pepper mixt with water which they put into his Mouth Eyes Ears and strow or sprinkle it over his whole Body But the Trial of Adultery by this kind of Oath The Adjuration in case of Adultery is made by the Magistrate after many Pre-admonitions and inflicted onely upon the transgressing Woman according to this Custom The complaining Husband who will have his Wife tryed by Belli or be deliver'd up to the Spirits as they call them brings her in the Evening into the Sporting-place before the Council assembled for that purpose where after the calling of the Jannanen into her company she is blindfolded that she may see nothing and admonish'd to forsake her evil life and not go to any but her own Husband and presently a great noise and murmure is rais'd as if Spirits did appear with some not intelligible though articulate Sounds that are interpreted aloud before the whole Congregation with threatnings that if ever she commit such an offence again she shall be punish'd according to her deserts and if she be ever thereafter detected of the like Crime she shall together with her Paramour be carried away by the Jannanen In like manner some are adjur'd for breaking the Decrees made by the King or the Magistrate for Bloudshed and for taking away the Slave of another and selling him and such like Now this taking away of Offenders by the Jannanen How Offenders are carried away by the Jannanen is made terrible by this means In the Evening with a great rushing noise comes into the Town their Belli Soggenoe having certain Rattle-clappers making a great noise so that the common people wonder at the hurliburly being come to the Sporting-place where the Offenders are set they take with them as many as are there with such a fearful Clamour that the Out-cries of the Offenders cannot be heard so are they hurried to the Holy Wood from whence they never return During the time of this Performance no Woman or unmark'd person may look out of the house upon pain of being fetcht from thence in like manner This Belli-Paaro is also common in Hondo Where the Belli-Parro is in use Folgia Gala and Gebbe also among the Bolmesses and Cilmesses And though it is apparent enough How highly Belli is esteem'd by them what it is to be kill'd by Belli for that the Execution of Belli is but the Kings Form of Justice yet no man dares for fear of Death take upon him to interrupt it For the Belli-Soggenoe hold this Ceremony to be so Sacred and have it in such high esteem that the King himself who is as it were the Head of Belli declares himself his Vassal and to be subject to his Mysteries Indeed he takes care in the Council Who are free from Belli that none be adjur'd by Belli nor that the Jannanen take away any without his knowledge or consent onely inflicting that Punishment upon his own Subjects though sometimes a few have dar'd to resist it and fly into another Province rather than submit And here we may observe that none is given up to the Jannanen Water to know if any be guilty or not guilty but with good Consideration and upon clear Evidence of Guilt to prove which they have a Water of Cursing boyl'd of Barks and Herbs which by the Elders of the Mystery is put upon the hand of the charg'd Party lukewarm if he be innocent it will not hurt but will corrode and burn the Skin off if guilty Thus is Adultery Thievery and Lying try'd The foresaid Water of Cursing or rather of Divination wherewith they extort the Truth in all doubtful matters as we have related is thus prepared The Bollimo takes the thick Rind of the great Tree Nelle and the Rind of Quony growing also upon a great Tree bearing Seed used in the making of Poyson for their Arrows and mixed with water as we said is given to them to drink who are accused of Sovach Thirdly He takes some leaves of the Borrow-Tree from which beaten and pressed proceeds a white Juyce which with some mitigating Ingredients makes an excellent Purge but the strongest taken alone is mortal Poyson Moreover the Bollimo adds to the before-recited long Pepper and a piece of Mannoone about the bigness of a Bean. All these are put
into a little Pot or Horn and filled up with the Urine of a young man that had never known a woman This done they scrape in a little Bonda that is red Dying-weed Lastly daubing the four sides of the Pot with Mannoone chawed in the mouth it is ready to be set on the fire which must be made under the open Heaven in the morning at Sun-rise or in the evening at Sun-set of green Wood. As soon as the water begins to boil the Bollimo takes a piece of Domboo being a Tree that bears fruit like a Medlar and puts it under the Seething Pot in the mean time trying whether the Ingredients have boyl'd enough and repeating secretly the names of the suspected persons or of other matters How this sorcery-Sorcery-water is used to which the Witchcraft must be applied When all is ready the Bollimo takes the arms or legs of the suspected persons and washeth them clean with fair water At length he puts his Divining-Staff which is bruised and tufted at the end into the Pot and drops or presseth the water out of it upon the arm or leg of the suspected person muttering these words over it Is he guilty of this or hath he done this or that if yea then let it scald or burn him till the very skin come off Now if the person remain unhurt they hold him innocent and proceed to the trial of another till the guilty be discovered and this is done so long till the name of the guilty or the person be found out The Criminal thus found is without any long procrastinating put to death The manner of which according to the variety of Places is different but the most usual thus The Executioner takes the Offender and leads him with his Hands tied behind and his Eyes blind-folded either into an open Field or a Wood whither being come the Offender upon his Knees his Head bowed down he first runs through the Body with an Assagay or Simiter and afterwards chops off his Head with an Axe for they do not believe he is dead till his Head be cut off The Carcase cut into four quarters after great lamentations they leave in the Field as a Prey to the Beasts and Fowl but the Friends take away the Head as a great Present and boiling it in a Kettle drink up the Broth but hang the Scull by their Fetisso or Idol The like Trial is also made of other Offences among the Blacks in Quoia and also in Gala Hondo Bolm Cilm and many other Places so that every one had need to be circumspect and careful to prevent suspicion especially the Women who are for every trifling Caprichio of their Husbands brought in question of their Honesty Now if one of the King's Women lash out The Punishment of chief Women for Adultery or go abroad after other Men and the King be enraged against it then he causeth them to be so possessed that if they touch any Masculine person small or great they suddenly fall into a kind of Epileptick Fit according to which three Wives of the present King Flamboere suffered one of which receiving her Daughters Child not knowing it was a Boy fell into a Swoon and might therein have died if the other Women had not run to the King and beseeched him that the Bollimo might release her from the Curse But because this is an extraordinary thing no other but the King himself may put it in execution and that very seldom ¶ ANd as the Men have the Marks of Belli The Marks of Nesogge so here the Women have a Mark of Obligation which they call Nesogge which first took original from Goula and done in manner following They bring ten twelve or more Maids of full Age as also Women into a peculiar place in the Wood not far from the Town where first Huts are made for them then a Woman comes out of Goula whom they call Soghwilly to be the chiefest in this Work of the Garnoer or Vala Sandyla as they term it This Soghwilly or Priestess gives the Assembly Hens to eat with the Obligation to stay with her in that place which she names Sandy-Latee that is Hens of the Agreement After that she shaves off their Hair and the next day brings them to a Brook in the Wood where the aforesaid Soghwilly by Incision cut out the Mother not without great pain and terror then washing and healing the Wound with green Herbs which sometimes requires ten or twelve days time They stay there afterwards three or four Moneths to learn Dances and Verses of Zaudy which are not onely difficult to learn but contain very little that can be sung with honesty by any that do but pretend to be chaste and modest During their abode together in recess they go as naked as they were born their Clothes being taken away at the first coming of the Soghwilly When the time draws near that they shall be brought from thence they make a kind of Garments of the Rind of Trees Dy'd red and yellow and their Friends are permitted to bring them Arm-Rings Beads Bells to put about their Legs when they Dance and other things to adorn themselves at their coming forth When they enter the Town or Village where the People gather together as if it were some Holiday the Soghwilly leads to the Sporting-place where one sits Drumming with two Sticks on a round hollow piece of Wood. By the ill-tun'd Musick of which if so we may call it Instrument the Simodiuno or Sandi-Simodiuno that is Children of Sandy every one understands his time and they all seek to exceed one another in Dancing This Solemnity ended they make these Women to swear by Noe-Soggo that is by their Faithfulness and thenceforth all people must give credit to their words They have no select Days set apart for their Ceremonies They have no Holy-days nor do they keep holy the seventh but the first Day of the New-Moon when they see it appear for then they do no manner of work neither do they any work in Planting on that day when any one drinks Quony nor when any one dies in the same Town for they believe if they should that the Mille and Rice would grow red seeing as they say it is a day of Blood but they may freely go a Hunting Thus far we have thought fit to give an account of what concerns the Kingdom of Quoia now we shall for the better connexion and understanding of what before is mention'd and that which is yet to be related give you the Narrative in what manner the Karou's were dispossest of their Countrey by the Folgia's and Vey Puy and Quoia-Berkoma subjected A Relation in what manner the Karou's subdued by force of Arms by the assistance of the Folgians the Countreys of Vey Puy and Quoia-Berkoma THe Karou's when they inhabited by Rio Junk and Aquado The Contention and Quarrel between the Karous and Folgians had for their Prince one Sogwalla whose
of the Reins and Bladder For it quenches or allays the inordinate heat of the Kidneys and an excellent Vehicle for carrying off the slimy dregs out of those Vessels through the Bladder so that the Egyptians by the frequent use thereof are absolutely freed from the Stone It is also useful against pains in the Limbs arising from heat especially against the Gout applyed by way of Plaister The Blossoms Candied with Sugar are a powerful Remedy against the Heat of the Kidneys and cleanse and free the Uretories from vicious and slimy foulness The green Pipes first decocted in water and then dryed in the shade and lay'd in Sugar or Honey are used commonly by Women and Children against the same Distempers taking the weight of half an Ounce at a time The Plant by the Arabians in Egypt call'd Elhanne Elhanna and by the Physicians Alcanna grows with many Branches like a little Shrub The Leaves resemble those of the Olive being shortish but something broad of a fresh and flourishing green The Blossoms grow as those of the Elder-tree and used by the Women as a comfortable refreshment in their Baths A decoction of the Leaves prevents the falling off of Hair and drives away Vermin the Egyptian Women with the Juyce of the Leaves and Branches paint their Nails in the manner of a Semi-circle which remains long without wearing off Of the stamped powder of the Leaves which they call Archenda mixt with water is made a Gold colour wherewith they stain their Hands and Feet which yellow tincture they hold for a great Beauty Lablab a Tree with many Branches climbing and spreading like a Vine Lablab but in Leaves Blossoms and Form resembling the Roman Bean. Twice a year that is in Lent and Harvest it bears long and broad Cods or Shells which contain in them Black and Brown reddish Beans streaked as the Roman This continues many times without sensible decay a hundred years carrying both Winter and Summer green Leaves The Egyptians use the Beans for food which are no less pleasant than the European The Women drink the Decoction of it for their Moneths and it is good against the stopping of the Urine and the Cough Melochia is an Herb growing a Cubit high with thin and limber Twigs Melochia The Leaves are like those of a Beet but smaller long and sharp-pointed The Blossoms are little and colour'd like Saffron the Seeds little and black in a Husk like a Horn. The Seed is us'd to prevent Swooning-fits and ripens all hard Swellings though this be common yet is nothing more acceptable to the Palate for they boyl it either alone in water or in Pottage as we dress Beets at Feasts they both garnish and season their Dishes with it which is very pleasing yet notwithstanding this repute it agrees not over-well with many for it yields but slender nutriment and a flimy juice breeding in such as eat much of it great stoppings and Costiveness in their Bowels The taste also is something flashy and flat unless quicken'd with Juice of Lemons The Decoction of the Leaves is very good against the Cough and half an ounce of the Seed makes a sufficient Purge Sesban is a Sprout with a prickly Stock Sesban shooting up to the height of a Myrtle Tree the Blossoms are yellow the Husks or Cods long and like those of Fenugreek so also is the Seed and hath an attractive power like the Fenugreek Seed The Egyptians commonly make Hedges or Fences between their Grounds with this Bush Sophera is a Plant two Cubits high and leaved like the Myrtle Sophera it bears scentless yellow Blossoms with few Seeds which are said to be poisonous Absus is an Hearb with Leaves like the common Clover or Three-leav'd Grass Absus the Blossom white or straw-colour'd the Seed black and the Stalk prickly The Plant known to the Egyptians by the Name Sempsen Sempsen but by the Greeks and Latines call'd Sesamus grows upright a foot and half high the lower Leaves are more indented or nicked than the higher and are very like those of Nightshade The Blossoms are small and white followed by small Cods holding a Seed like Line-seed out of which Oyl is pressed which the Arabians call Zeid Taib that is Good Oyl because it is so wholesom a Food that it is sold dearer than the Oyl-Olive The Leaves The use of it Seed and Oyl moderately hot and moist in the second degree of an extenuating quality are by the Egyptians us'd against many Diseases The Countrey people heretofore fed thereon and grew fat with it but now the Oyl is chiefly us'd to take away Freckles and Spots in the Skin and to anoint Sores The Plant Berd or Papyrus Berd or Papyrus groweth upon the Nile having a reedy or stringy Root with many streight Stalks six seven or more Cubits high above water at the end of which is a multitude of long and very small Threeds seeming as a Blossom The Leaves are Triangular soft below at the Stalk broad and at the end sharp in form of a Cross-barr'd Dagger Surgeons there use the Juyce of the Leaves to cleanse and enlarge the Orifices of Sores and with the Ashes of the tops of the Stalks close and heal up the Wounds The Roots in former times serv'd in stead of Writing-Tablets The use of them the Juyce of the Stalks wrought into thin Leaves the Antients wrote upon as we now adayes do upon our Paper made of old Linnen and probably from this Plant took the name Papyrus There is a signature of a Sprig or Stalk of this Plant Carv'd upon several Obelisks whereby they signifyed the great abundance of all things because this Plant served them formerly in stead of all necessary Commodities for before the Planting of Corn was known in Egypt the people lived on this Plant making thereof Cloaths Boats all manner of Houshold-stuffe Garlands for the Gods and Shooes for the Priests But at this day by the carelessness of the Inhabitants and the importing of our European Paper thither it is by them esteemed of no worth at all There grows also a kinde of Cucumers in several places in Egypt Chate nam'd Chate differing onely from ours in Europe in greatness clearness and softness of the Leaves which are smaller whiter softer and rounder they have a very pleasant taste and are light and easie of digestion The Inhabitants account them very wholsom either eaten boyled or raw and Physicians use them against burning Feavers and several other like Distempers There grow also several kinds of Melons Abdellavi one call'd Abdellavi much differing from ours another kinde Chajar of an unpleasant and watery taste but the Seed is held to be more cooling Batechia El Mavi than of the rest A third sort call'd Batechia El Mavi bigger than ours yellow of Skin and hath within nothing but Seeds and sweet water which they drink in great abundance against Thirst and to allay
Cloth about their Loins to keep off the violent beatings of the Snow All the aforemention'd Cities and Towns Strength and Riches of Morocco are by natural Scituation exceeding strong and the inhabitants Powerful and Rich so that if they were reduced under one Head by such a Union his Discretion and good Conduct might effect great matters HEA THe Jurisdiction of Hea Borders of the Territory of Hea. the most Westerly Part of the Moroccian Kingdom joyns to the Great Atlas which the Inhabitants call Aivakall conterminated on the West and North with the great Ocean on the South with Atlas and part of Sus and on the East with the River Eciffelmel which divideth it from Morocco The famousest Places lying in this Territory are Tedoest Tedoest heretofore the chief City of Hea was in the Year Fifteen hundred and fourteen totally ruin'd but is now rebuilt in part by the Jews who have erected there five hundred Houses Agobel Agobel a strong City on a Hill and surrounded with a Wall contains about three hundred and thirty Houses Alguel Alguel scituate also on a Hill hath tolerable Walls and the advantage of two small Rivers running through it Tekuleth Tekuleth a fair City on the side of a Hill eighteen Miles Westward of Tedoest close by the Fort Aguz at the mouth of the River Tekulet which Ptolomy call'd Diure Hadequis Hadequis lying on a Plain three Spanish Miles from Tekuleth before its Destruction by the Portugueze in the Year Fifteen hundred and eleven had Walls of Stone strengthened with Towers The Houses were of the like Materials amounting to twenty thousand but now is thinly inhabited by a few Jewish Merchants So also the next City Texevit Texevit though wall'd and water'd by a pretty large River falling from the neighbouring Hills between which it stands Lusugaguen Leusugaguen or Ilusugaguen a strong City built on a high Hill in manner of a Fort three Mile from Hadis Southward But amongst these Mountain-Cities Tesegdelt is imputed the chiefest four Miles from Texevit having a Wall of sharp Rocks it containeth about a thousand Houses and is moistned with a handsom River Tegteze Tegteze or Tagtesse stands on a high Hill five Miles from Tesegdelt the ascent to it going round the Hill as it were by winding stairs Eitdevet Eitdevet five Miles from Tegteze towards the South an antient City containing about Seven hundred Houses Kuleyhat Elmuhaidin Kuleyhat Elmuhaidin that is a Foundation for Scholars seven Miles from Eitdevet was first built in the Year Fifteen hundred and twenty by an Apostate Mahumetan named Homar Seyef who broached divers new Opinions as to matters of Religion drawing after him many Followers who did much mischief but at length after this Province of Hea had been miserably harrased and wasted he was slain by his Wife for his Incestuous living with his Daughter-in-law and all his Followers when his notorious Dissimulation and odious Debaucheries were discover'd driven out of the Countrey only his Nephew betook himself to a Fort which he defended a whole Year though strictly besieged but in the end surrendred on Articles but carried with him his malice which he wreaked on them in a perpetual enmity Tefethne or Teftane by Gramay call'd Bente but Tamusige by Ortelius Tefethue a strong City on the Coast of the Atlantick at the foot of Mount Atlas hath a Haven four Spanish Miles in length A little toward the West lyes another Gazole Tafalle Zebedech which Marmol supposes to be the same that Ptolomy calls Hercules-Road Then to the Southward Gazole Tafalle and Zebedech all places of small Importance which at last bring us to the Cape of Ozem Northward The Cape of Ozem Magador not far from which appears the Island Magador or Mongador about five Miles from the main Land Here is a strong Castle wherein the Kings of Morocco always keep a good Garrison for defence of his Gold and Silver Mines in the neighboring Mountains Goz or Gozen a safe Haven by some taken to be the Surige of Ptolomy Goz. Kurio descript Regus Morocco Engueleguingil Engueleguingil or according to Sanutus Ichillinghighil is a small City lying two Miles Southward of Eitdevet Those are all the remarkable Towns We will take a short view of the Mountains and so proceed ¶ THe first that lyes in our way is Aidvacal or rather Atlas Mountains of Hea. Aidvacal beginning at the Ocean and reaching along the Shore making a Boundary between Hea and Sus being about three days Journey in breadth Here are many populous Villages Demensere or Tensare begins where Aidvacal ends Demensere and reaches into the East about seven Miles to Nefise in the Province of Morocco it is very populous but hath no City nor inclosed Town but divers small ones and many Villages Mount Giubel el Hand or Gebel el Hadith that is Iron-Hill Giubel el Hand which Ortelius guesses to be the Fokre of Ptolomy begins toward the North near the Ocean and reaches Southward Tenzift running between Hea Morocco and Ducala but cometh not near Atlas This Countrey hath in it many small Rivers great Woods The Nature of the Territory of Hea. and pleasant Valleys yet the Inhabitants have little Corn which proceeds either from their sloth or unskilfulness in Husbandry as appears for that in several places are abundance of Fig-trees Peaches and Nuts Here is also great quantity of Honey which in part they sell but such is their stupidity that they throw away the Wax ¶ ASses Goats Oxen Sheep Deer Hares and Apes run here in great abundance so are the Horses but of a strange shape different from ours and so swift that they will run over the Mountains without Shooes catching hold like a Cat. ¶ THe usual Food of this Province is Barley-Meal unsifted Nature and Customs of the Inhabitants which they Bake with the Bran in an Earthen Pan and eat for Bread together with Elhasid that is Barley-Flower in Winter boyl'd in Water and Oyl put into it but in Summer boyl'd in Milk and sauced with Butter Other-while they eat boyl'd Flesh sometimes divers sorts of Meat together which they call Couscous ¶ THe most People wear only a piece of Woollen Apparel of the People of Hea. by them call'd Elchise made like a Sheet and ty'd about the Body so round about the Head with a piece of the same dy'd Black with the Bark of a Nut-tree But the Elder and such as are in any esteem for Learning wear round double Bonnets Their Matts which they sit on Furniture for their Houses are made of Hair platted thorow with Reeds so also are their Beds and cover'd with Hair-cloths from five to ten Yards long serving both for Blankets Sheets and Coverlid In Winter they put up their Hair under a Cap but let it hang down about their ears in the Summer They Plow their ground
THe most eminent Rivers watering Biledulgerid Rivers are Darha Ziz Ghir to which some adde the Sus Leo Africanus rather belonging to the Kingdom of Morocco as we have already set forth Darha Darha descending from Mount Atlas on that side which Borders the Countrey of Haskora thence running Southwards through a Land of the same Name loseth it self in many Rivulets first making luxurious Vales amidst the Desarts The River Ziz Ziz. falls branching it self also from Atlas then recollected into one Stream glides Southward straitned with several Mountains washing the Feet of Mount Gersolim Afterward visiting the Countreys of Chenegh Matgara Reteb and Segel-Messe thence losing it self in a Desart appears again at Fort Sugaihila From thence carried on making no stop till in the middle of a barren Sand choak'd up it becomes a Lake by none frequented but a few Hunting Arabs The River Ghir also derives from Atlas Ghir which Sanutus puts under twenty two Degrees Northern Latitude and five and twenty Degrees and a half Longitude which gliding Southward through Desarts cometh at last to Benignumi and from thence to a Sandy Wild where obstructed it makes a Lake as the former Besides those aforementioned Rio Blanko there are other less or second rated Rivers of which the first is the White River in Portuguese call'd Rio Blanko which falling from a Hill and running through the chief Province Biledulgerid commixeth its Streams from many Mouths with the Great Ocean But Buzedor springs not from a Mountain Buzedor but in Campaigne and so also gliding through Biledulgerid disembogues where it leaves its Name to the Town Buzidor into the same Sea The Dry River Dry River so call'd from its Channel being so often bankrupt in Summer scarce then having any Streams to carry Contribution to the Sea the French call Seche being rather a Brook than a River falling from the Highlands of Numidia not far from the Sluces of Ifran whence descending betwixt the Cape Bojador and the City Nun ends in the Ocean The Lebech Lebech also rising in a Hilly Countrey in its Descent swollen with the Waters of many other petty Streams loseth it self in its full greatness near Albena in the Atlantick Main Teseut Teseut or Teseutin the one in the Singular signifying A Shore the other in the Dual or Plural number Shores are two Rivers which rise within a small mile one from another in Mount Gegudeme which gliding through pleasant Plains and the Territory of Askore then both uniting their Streams with the River Lebick leave there their Denomination Hemissin boasts its Birth also from the Mountain in Biledulgerid Hemissin falling into the Sea near a place which the Sailers call Ansulim The River Tarkala Tarkala which taketh its Name from the Countrey thorow which it glides is but small and its Fountain not far distant though some suppose it springs from the Northern Hill so hasting till stagnated it becomes a Standing-Pool which often swelling turns into Morass the adjacent Valleys But Togdaa falls more probably from the Northern Mountains Togdaa and though little at first yet waters the Countrey of its own Name and running Southward from small grows great and sluggish so ending its progress there settles in a Standing-Water The warm River call'd by the Hollanders The Heet Revier being warm like a Bath descending from Atlas first fertilizing the Plains of Biledulgerid accommodating also the City Teolach and Nefta acquiesceth at last in the Desarts there becoming also a Standing-Pond Techort Techort another small River rushing from the Mountains bordering on Lybia running by the City Techort ends amongst Sandy Wilds in large Plashes The Brook Teusart descending from a Mountain runs Southward Teusart loseth motion in the Desart and so spreading it self becomes a shallow Fen. ¶ THe Soyl of Biledulgerid is hot and dry The Numidian Soyl. being very much attemper'd with the moisture which these foremention'd Rivers contribute most of them watering the Countrey quite thorow to the Desart of Lybia This Territory bears little Corn but superabounds with Dates and other fruitful Trees but in less quantities They have there also the Lotus and the Plant Euforbium with some other Rarities of that kind That part of Biledulgerid that borders Lybia yields but a small Product being craggy and barren Mountains whose Skirts are of as little value bearing nothing but inconsiderable Shrubs Brambles and Thorns a dry Sterility ruling over all for want of Water ¶ ALl Numidia is infected with various and deadly biting Serpents abroad The Beasts and within with Scorpions as dangerous which especially rage in Summer killing many They have store of Ostriches Camels and Goats and some breeds of Horses Their Corn-Harvest falls in April their Dates they gather in September and the middle of October but if Rain happens in April or September they neither sowe nor reap but their stor'd up Dates which are alwayes abundant supplies the Effects of a bad Year by which means though the Seasons prove intemperate they know no Famine yet though the Date grows there so plentifully that they never lack yet they would rather have a good Fruit-year than a Corn-year because the Arabian Merchants and others bring them in store of Grain which they willingly barter for Dates There groweth much of the Wood call'd Anil so useful for Dying Besides ravening wilde Beasts and venomous Serpents they suffer also much by the molestation of an East-Wind which raising such Tempests of Sand and beating on their Faces gets into the Eyes of those that travel making them always blear'd and sore otherwise the Air of it self is very healthy and oftentimes for an hundred years together they know no Pestilence Small Pox nor any other such like Distempers ¶ THe Inhabitants of Numidia are generally long liv'd The Constitution of the Inhabitants onely Scorbutick in so high a manner that their Teeth often drop out supposed to proceed from their constant eating of Dates whose sweetness so incrassates the Blood making slower the Circulation that this their Diet seems to be the chief cause of that Distemper They are also weak-sighted and much troubled with sore Eyes which accidentally happens from the Sandy Commotions carried on by the foremention'd noxious Eastern Winds They are by Nature jealous libidinous and ignorant not courting neither Knowledge or Learning nor minding how to live in a plentiful manner but though they are sedentary and slothful yet they are deceitful treacherous and murdering Robbers But some few of this Region are not guilty of this their sordid Condition but are more generous ingenious very civil and truly valiant ¶ THey eat much Camels Flesh Their Food and the Ostrich they esteem as a Dainty their Drink is Camels Milk and the Liquor in which the Flesh is boil'd not once so much as tasting clear Water Amongst their other Qualities there are some that are so nastily sordid that not
and by the receiving of many other Streams becomes full of water and gliding also easier by reason of the breadth to the great ease of all Vessels that go up against the Stream By the Village Tinga the River is fordable but none dare venture to wade through it but the Blacks for fear of the Crocodiles however on both its Shores are many Villages and within its bosome divers small Islands Twelve miles upwards of Tondebu half a mile above the Creek Jayre on the left hand lies a little Island betwixt the which and the main Land the Stream is no broader than a Musquet-shot shallow and runs in many Meanders but higher on the left side is four or five fathom deep About two miles about Mansibaer lies another Island that so straightens the passage that without great trouble they cannot go through it Not far from Nabare half way between the Mouth of the River and the Gold place of Cantor or Reskate lieth Elephant-Island so call'd for the great number of Elephants which breed there ¶ THe Air in this Countrey is continually hot The Air. though with some little variation from the beginning of June till the end of September in which time it rains every day at Noon and at Night from the East and South-East continual Lightnings and Thunder But the greatest Rains falls from May till the beginning of August which causes the Rivers to swell and overflow their Banks and that proves a very unhealthful time for the first Rains falling upon the naked people cause blotches and spots and on the Clothes of the Whites it breeds Worms but after a little time that inconvenience vanishes ¶ ALl along the Banks of Gambea and about Cassan Vegetables or Plants Tobacco grows plentifully which the Portugals fetch with Sloops both green and dried without making up in Rolls Cotton also with Mille Rice Lemons Oranges Apples and Ananasses but not in such abundance as some have written On the Sea-Coast are Trees above seventeen Paces in compass and not twenty in height whereas further into the Countrey they are tall and slender ¶ BEasts fit for labour and service breeding here are Camels The Beasts small Horses and Asses But they have besides many Cows and Oxen as appears by their Hides yearly brought into Europe as also Goats Sheep Deer red and fallow with divers others besides the Wilde Beasts found in the Wildernesses viz. Lyons Tygers Baboons Otters Elephants and the like This plenty of Cattel makes Provision in those places so cheap that about Gambea you may buy a Beast of three or four hundred weight for a Bar of Iron although at Cape de Verde they pay four or five Bars for the like ¶ THe people heretofore were savage and cruel but since they have in some sort by the Converse of Christian Merchants received some notions of Religion they are become tractable and courteous The Kings as we said keep a Majestick Port according to their manner of State seldom appearing in publick to their Subjects They are all great lovers of Brandy and will drink thereof even to excess Their propensity to Brandy And if any Forreigner Merchant or other desires Audience of the King he can by no means sooner effect it than by presenting him with a Bottel of Brandy The King of Great Cassan call'd Magro who spoke the Portugal Tongue The King of Cassan a great Sorcerer yet could not be won to Christianity was well skill'd in Necromantick Arts whereof one Block in a Journal of his Travels gives a particular account We will onely instance in one or two of his prestigious actions He commonly wore as many inchanted Chains without trouble as would have over-loaden a strong Man One time to shew his Art he caused a strong Wind to blow but confined it onely to designed limits so that the next adjoyning places were not sensible of any violent motion Another time desiring to be resolved of some questioned particular after his Charms a smoke and flame arose out of the Earth by which he gathered the answer to his demand ¶ MOst of the Wealth of the Inhabitants consists in Slaves Their Riches though some have Gold for among them are few Artificers and those that are onely Weavers and Smiths Artificers who are ill provided of Tools for their Work yet make shift therewith The Smiths make short Swords and knowing how to harden the Iron form the Heads of their Assagay's or Lances Darts or Arrows and all sorts of Instruments with which they Dig the Earth Their Bellows are a thick Reed or hollow piece of Wood in which is put a Stick wound about with Feathers which by the moving of the Stick makes the Wind. The Iron which they Forge is brought over out of Europe thither in Bars in Pieces of eight or ten Inches long and are exchanged with great gain in barter for their In-land Commodities The Weavers make Cloathes of Cotton which by the Merchants are carried to Serre-Lions Serbore and the Gold-Coast and there barter'd for Ivory red Wood and Gold These Cloathes because made also about Cape Verde are call'd Cape de Verde Cloathes being of three sorts the best and chiefest call'd Panossakes are two Ells and a half long and an Ell and a half broad whitened upon the Ground and with Lists commonly of eight Bands sew'd together the second Bontans two Ells long and an Ell and a half broad very neatly Strip'd having six Lifts sew'd together but the third sort named Berfoel are great Cloathes made with blue Stripes all which are commonly bought for Iron that is one Panossakes for one Bar of Iron three Bontans for two Bars and two great Barfoel Cloathes for one Bar. ¶ EVery one Their Tillage be he Spiritual or Temporal old or young must Till his own Ground if he intends to eat the King onely and some chief Nobles and antient decrepid people excepted for the doing whereof they use no Ploughs but dig the Earth with a kind of Mattocks in the time of their Rain because then the Ground is softened ¶ THeir Food is Mille Their Food Shell-Fruit Milk and some Flesh They Bake no Bread but boyl it as we in these Countreys do Puddings which they eat hot Their Drink is Palmito-Wine and for want of that Water but the Priests with their whole Families drink no sort of strong Drink but only Water ¶ THe Houses Their Houses like those in Zenega are onely round Huts with Walls of Reed Lime and Earth covered with Canes and environ'd with a Pallisado or Hedge of Canes ¶ THe Habit of this People Cloathes Sanutu◠as well Men as Women is onely a Shirt that reaches down to their Knees with long wide Sleeves a pair of Cotton Breeches and little white Hats with a Plume of Feathers in the middle The Maidens cut and prick their Breasts Thumbs Arms and Necks with Needles in fashion of Embroidery and burn in these marks that they
Lords Government but own for their Superior the King of Quoia whose Predecessors subdued them by Arms by the Assistance of the Folgia's as hereafter we shall more fully declare Fourteen miles from Rio de Galinas to the South-East appears Cabo Monte in five Degrees and three and forty Minutes North Latitude THE KINGDOM OR COUNTREY OF QUOIA THis Kingdom scituate by Cape de Monte containeth especially two Countreys viz. Vey-berkoma and Quoia-Berkoma Vey-berkoma that is the Countrey of Vey Vey-Berkoma the Antient Name of the Inhabitants is that Tract which lieth at Cape de Monte near the River Mavah below which lieth Dauwala wherein the same River Northward of the Cape hath its Exit into the Sea The Antient Inhabitants as we said Vey are by Wars reduc'd to a small number possessing onely a parcel of ruin'd Villages or Towns insomuch that their Name is almost forgotten Another People nam'd Puy-monou Puy-Monou dwelt antiently before the Wars and Conquest of the Countrey by the Karou's in the Island Boebelech and along the Banks of the River Mavah But few of this Posterity are at present to be found being for the most part by Inter-marriages with the Karou's so united as if but one in Name and Nature Quoia-Berkoma begins at the Sea-Coast of the New-River or Rio Novo Quoia-Berkoma by the Inhabitants stil'd Magwibba and extends to Rio Paulo a Boundary between this and the Territory of Gebbe shooting out into the Land above twenty miles This Kingdom boasts great numbers of Towns and Villages most of them pleasantly seated on the Banks of the River Magwibba The first appearing in five Degrees and three and forty Minutes-North Latitude Cape de Monte. by the Inhabitants is call'd Wachkongo and by the Portugals Cabo Monte although the Countrey both on the West and East is low and over-grown with Bushes This Point to Ships sayling out of the West shews its self in the shape of a Helm but coming near it appears long with a gap in the middle Westward of this is the Road where the Ships Ride that put in to trade upon this Coast Half a mile upwards from Magwibba on the left side Jegwonga stands a Village call'd Jegwonga where the King Flamboere settled his Royal Mansion when he first left Tomvy but at present he resides on the Island Massagh in the Lake Plizoge whither he retired to avoid the hazards of the people of Dogo that invaded his Territories On the other side of the River stands the fair Town Fachoo Fachoo signifying I watch the Dead which Flamboere fortifi'd and retir'd to as a place of security upon intelligence that the Land of Folgia would make War upon him though afterwards he found it but a rumor A mile and half farther up Figgia on the same side Figgia discovers its self being formerly the Dwelling of Figgi one of King Flamboere's Brothers A mile beyond that Cammagoereia on the same Shore is seated Cammagoereia and half a mile from thence the handsome Town Jerboeffaia where the Prince of Quoia who commands the Countrey round about keeps his Court opposite to this last King Flamboere about a year since began to lay the Foundations of a new Town From thence going along the Sea-Shore lie dispersed some Salt-Towns where the Inhabitants boyl Salt out of sea-Sea-Water In the Vales of Tomvy water'd by the River Plizoge stands a great Town or Village beset with Trees sprung up out of the Rubbish of its decayed Walls From thence to Cape de Monte lye some forsaken and wasted Villages On a Branch of the River Menoch or Aguado is scituate Faly-hammaia and two miles farther another call'd Flomy-Seggaya The Region of Quoia hath the benefit of four excellent Rivers The Countrey of Quoia is watered by four Rivers the first in the West Magwibba or Rio Novo the second Mavah the third Plizoge the fourth Menoch or Aguado The River Magwibba in Summer bears two miles and a half in breadth The River Magwibba but in Winter is broader and fuller of Water It runs from the Sea up into the Land taking a North-Easterly Course up into the Countrey in the Mouth of it are so many Banks or Shelves as great Bars that make it dangerous to be passed with small Boats although the English Portuguese and French have and still venture over it in their little Skiffs As far as Davarouia it may conveniently be passed with reasonable Vessels being very deep and four hundred foot wide but above that place by the interposition of divers Rocks which cause great Water-falls there is no passing The second call'd Mavah The River Mavah or Maffah on whose Shore formerly the Puy-monou dwelt springs from a Mountain four and twenty miles within the Countrey The Channel is wide and deep making its Exit into the Sea in the broken Land of Dauwala almost a mile Northward of Wach-kongo or Cape de Monte. Between these two Rivers along the Sea-Coast here and there they say stand certain Towns where the Inhabitants make Salt The third Plizoge meets with the Sea a mile Northward of Cabo de Monte. The River Plizoge This is sometime in dry weather very empty of Water but so continues not long being soon fully replenisht Three miles from this River appears a great Lake a mile and a half broad wherein stands the Island Massagh the Courtly Residence of the present King Flamboere on whose South-side flourish many stately Palmito-Trees The fourth Menoch or Rio Aqâ—ado The River Menoch cometh out of the Countrey above the Hondous and six or seven miles Eastward of Cape de Monte poures into the Sea It is a deep and wide River yet unpassable because of several Water-falls Cliffs and Shelves of Sand that choak it It hath on both sides Red-wood Trees Having thus given you the Scituations of Towns and Rivers in this Kingdom we will now proceed to describe the Vegetables or Plants Beasts and then the Customs or Manners of the People but by the way in regard Gala-Vy Hondo Konde Quoias Manou and Folgia lying round about participate of the same qualities with Karou already mention'd or at least with very small difference we will give you a cursory glimpse of these in particular and then carry on our intended method Gala-vy a member of Quoia shews the original source of Mavah Gala-vy near a great Wood of eight or ten days Journey in length It bears the Names of Gala-vy from its Inhabitants sprung at first from Galas but being driven out of their Countrey by the People of Hondo sought new Habitations in those places whence they were neither call'd Vy as those with whom they intermixt nor Galas their old Name but Gala-Vy that is half Galas and half Vy On the Borders of Hondo and Manoe beyond the fore-mention'd great Wood dwell the right Galas who are under the Jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Manoe and have a Prince
also give Presents to this King of Monou yearly whose Name at present is Quawawoe but his Predecessors was Mendino but the Folgia's as an acknowledgment of their accustomed subjection to them of Monou call them Mendi-Manou that is to say Lord the word properly so signifying For the same cause the Quoians have the like Title of Mendi-Monou both from the Folgia's Bolmasses and Timnasses And this Power of the Mendi-Monou is as we said already more maintain'd by Wisdom than Force The Folgia's are esteemed Rich and their Language Courtly and Eloquent which wins great respect and by their Neighbors call'd Mendi-Co The Lordly Tongue ¶ HOndo hath many several Princes the chiefest appointed by the Quoians The Government of Hondo are Mossilago Dedowach Dangoerro and Dandi each lying far distant from the other From hence come yearly Merchants bringing Slaves and Elephants-Teeth who apply themselves in the name of their Lords to King Flamboere who returns by them back again to their Lords red Cloathes Copper Kettles Basons Cypress or Quaqua-Cloathes and Salt which is not dri'd in Pans by the heat of Sun but boil'd from the sea-Sea-water with great labour and toil ¶ THe Quoians Their Religion as also those of Bolm Timna Cilm Folgia Hondo Gala and Manou are all Circumcised according to the Mahumetan manner and acknowledge one God the Creator of Heaven Earth and Men and jointly with these they worship no visible earthly Creature but they highly honour the Sun Moon and Stars They neither represent the Deity nor Spirits in the shape of Men or Beasts onely in Bolma and Timna some Images by them call'd Janaa they set in the Ways and by their Houses as remembrances of their deceased Ancestors and Friends They believe that the Almighty Their great Superstition concerning the Souls of the Detaâ—â—ed whom they call Kanuo will punish all their misdeeds and encourage well-doing therefore they call upon him when they are oppressed for his presence and aid and that he will take notice of their Cause and do them Justice continually inculcating in all their speeches That there shall a time come in which all evil-doers shall receive their wages They believe that their Friends after their death become Spirits which they call Jannack or Jannanen and say that they are omniscient to take cognisance of all Causes which happen among them and therefore they hold familiar Colloquies with them telling them all troubles and adversities under which they labour Those that go into the Woods to Hunt The Offers or Sacrifices to their deceased Parents and take Elephants or Buffles or begin any other dangerous Enterprize go first and offer to the Spirit of their deceased Parents either a Cow or Wine or Rice which they leave on the Grave The high times of Sacrificing are kept among them with great Joy Dancing and Singing But besides those solemn times the King calls upon the Souls of his Father and Mother almost in every Matter of difficulty They believe the Spirits of their near acquaintance are protectors of their Houses and therefore in all Sorrow and Sickness they bring Wine and Food out of their Houses into the Way and there leave it for an Offering They say farther that these Spirits have their habitation in the Woods whereupon all that are distressed and look for help from God by them go thither complaining and lamenting their affliction but with awful reverence for how great soever any man is yet he fears very much in the presence of God For this cause all acts of Devotion are performed in those solitary Recesses into which no Women or Children may be permitted to come In this Place twice thrice or oftner in the year according to the fruitfulness of the Season and when Hunting is good all sorts of Meat-offerings are brought to feed the Spirits They say Circumcision hath been received among them from hand to hand from all antiquity Circumcision and that God hath commanded it They Circumcise Children at half a year old though sometime by the Mothers tenderness they are kept to the second or third year but then the Cure proves more difficult because the Children going naked the Air and Sun make the Cut swell and fester which they heal by washing with the Juice of green Herbs They have together with Circumcision another Custom which they call Belli-Paaro whereby they say they become incorporated into the society of Spirits and therefore take part with them in eating the before-mention'd Offerings But this is kept hidden from Women and unskilful persons to whom they affirm that the Jaananen or Spirits themselves eat it And if any dare be so bold as either out of covetousness or curiosity to peep into this secret if it happen to be known they are by some sudden and undiscovered means immediately made away The received Tokens of Belli-Paaro are seldom shewn viz. once in twenty When it is done or five and twenty years and then they tell strange Stories of it and how they came to the high favour of receiving them which are nothing else but some rows of Cuts from the Neck along both the Shoulder-blades What they are Those that have them are accounted very understanding persons and when they grow old in all Assemblies and Councils relating to State-Affairs or Causes Criminal wherein Life is concern'd may be present and give their opinion Of the manner of receiving these Marks take this short account There is by the Kings order a place in the Wood appointed of about two or three miles compass They are received in the Wood. whither are brought the Youths that have not been Marked by main force and against their wills because they believe they shall be kill'd or chang'd and therefore they take a sorrowfull farewell of their Friends and Parents as if they went indeed to their death When now they are lodged in the Wood continually some Ancient persons which have had the Tokens of Belli-Paaro very long attend to teach and instruct them what behavior they shall use leading them a strange and uncouth Dance and causing them to learn some Verses which they call Belli-Dong being Songs and Encomiums of Belli stuffed with obscene and scurrulous language Hither the women bring Rice Bonano's and all sort of Fruit prepared for an Offering and give it up to the Soggonoe that is the Ancientest Marked whom the women hold for Saints praying them by all means to hinder that their Children in the change should not be burnt to ashes Thither also goes the King and stays two or three days This living in the Wood continues four or five years during which time there are new comers daily brought thither None unmark'd may come near this place onely women in manner before mention'd and they too must come and go singing with a loud noise for if it fall out that any pass by silently they are taken away by the Spirits without ever being heard of more When they come out of
the Sea-Coast comes the Lordship of Bani wherein is seated a pretty large Town by Name Kuleba the Residence of a Deputy-Lieutenant who Commands over eight or ten adjacent Townships All the Blacks inhabiting the Easterly-shore of the greater Calabare Those of Calabare are Cannibals towards the North are Cannibals for they eat up whatever Enemies they kill but their Prisoners they sell for Slaves The Number One they call Barre Two Ma Three Terre Four Ni Five Sonny c. The Women here have a peculiar way of Circumcision with Pismires as before related in Arder and therefore we shall not repeat it In Moko they have Coin'd Money made of Iron in form of a Roach the Rundle as big as the Palm of a Hand with a Handle about an Inch long The Whites give here in Barter for Slaves Trade great Copper Armlets long-fashion'd and with a round Bowe very neatly made else the Blacks who are very curious therein will not buy them also red and smooth Copper Bars the smoother the better every Piece of a Pound and a quarter weight and about an Ell long for fourteen of those they purchase a good Slave The Blacks fashion these Bars longer and thinner which they divide into three parts and then bray'd or twist them together like a Rope made of three Strings which they fashion into great and small Armlets and Collers or Neck-bands for the Armlets term'd Boctu brought thither by the Whites they use onely in stead of Money The Blacks in this River use great Canoos Canoos wherein twenty Row on each side can carry sixty or eighty Men and are cut out of the entire Body of a Tree by burning and cutting it hollow and some near sixty nay seventy Foot long sharp before and behind but wide in the middle having Planks laid cross from side to side and fastned which lie a hand-breadth over on which Planks and on the edges of them such as manage the Boat sit which they drive forward not with Rowing but with Padling On each side hang two great Shields How they are Arm'd with some Bowes and Wooden Assagays or Launces to defend themselves against the Assaults of their Enemies Every Canoo hath also a Hearth near which the chiefest of the Boat have their Sleeping-places When they stay out a Nights with their Canoos How they make Tents over their Canoos they make a Tent over them with Mats hang'd upon Polls set up in holes of the sitting-Planks under this covert they lay small flat Sticks bound together with Rushes whereupon they lie down to rest and sleep but the Slaves lie dispers'd about the bottom of the Boat The Slaves brought by the Blacks to sell at the River Calabare From whence the Slaves come which the Netherlanders buy come most from the East and are the same which they take Prisoners alive in the Wars for those that are kill'd they eat as we said before Eastward of Great Calabare about two miles from its East Point The River Loitomba glides the River Loitomba otherwise Rio Sante Domingo whose East corner a petty Town shews it self large and full of Merchants who Travel into the Countrey to buy Slaves which they sell again to the Whites After Loitomba follows Old Calabare by some stil'd Old Kalhorgh The River of old Calabare passing through a Plain but Woody Countrey from the East Point of Rio Reael to this the Coast spreads East South East sixteen miles Next you come to Rio del Key a very great and wide River Rio del Key with three Fathom Water and a Muddy Ground neither troubled with Sandy Shoales nor Rocks At the Northerly Shore thereof lieth a Township over which some years since one Samson had the Command but driven out by those of Ambo he hath ever since maintain'd himself by Robbing for his Village was so wasted by Fire that very few Houses remain'd and those all made of Palm Canes from the top to the bottom as well the Sides as the Roof The Countrey far and near is all low and marshy Ground Constitution of the Countrey so that there is no fresh Water but that which runs from the Village or gathered from the Roof of the Houses The People living up higher call'd Kalbongos are very subtil and cunning Nature of the Inhabitants so that a White must look well to himself Both Men and Women go naked onely a small covering before their Privacies and so barbarously cruel that the Parents sell their Children the Husband his Wife and one Brother and Sister the other and as to decency or order scarce a degree above Beasts The Men tie the top of their Virile part with a piece of Bark Apparel or else put the same in long Callabashes the rest of their Bodies remain Naked onely Painted with Red Colours They wear their Hair Pleited in several Fashions and many have their upper Teeth fil'd as sharp as Bodkins or Needles chiefly supporting themselves by catching Fish When any amongst them stands accus'd Oath he clears himself by taking an Oath in this manner He cuts himself in the Arm and sucks up his own bloud and this they repute a sufficient Purgation and this custom those inhabiting the high Land of Amboises in Ambo and Botery also observe This River affords many Slaves for Copper Bars Trade and likewise for counterfeit Corral Beads and Copper Basons which on the Gold-Coast for their sleightness cannot be sold Akori also and Elephants Teeth against Knives and Assagayes or Lances the Teeth generally so large that three pieces make a hundred weight Between Rio del Key and that of Kamarones narrow but deep Rivers Little Kamaroms makes his way from whence the Coast spreads East South East about three miles with low and Woody Land and a plain Shore The Trade here agrees in all points with that at Rio del Rey Trade but differ in speech for here they call the number One Mo Ba Two Melella Three Meley Four Matam Five The Territory of AMBOSINE or the High Land AMBOISES THis Lordship of Amboisine The Territory of Amboises by the Europeans call'd the High Land of Amboses because they suppose it to be as high as the Pick of Tenariffe and by the Spaniards therefore nam'd Alta Terra de Ambosi takes place between Rio del Rey The Village Bodi and Kamarones At the West side thereof lie divers Villages among others Bodi or Bodiwa otherwise Cesge The Countrey produces great plenty of Grain Nature of the Countrey but no Palm-Wine which want the Inhabitants supply by a Root call'd Gajanlas which they boile in water and make a Drink of pleasant in taste but hurtful for the belly if taken in excess Other Provisions they have in such quantities that Seameâ— esteem it a good and desirable place to refresh in The Islands of AMBOISES FOur miles to the South East of this High Land The Islands of Amboises
lie three small Islanâ—â— the Sea call'd also Amboises of which the Eastermost is the biggest almost as Towring as the High Land of Amboises being very populouâ— Within these great abundance of Provision good Palm-Wine and 〈◊〉 may be had but little Trade and for that reason as little frequented 〈◊〉 before it the Ships Ride at Anchor to buy Slaves and Elephants Teeth brought thither from Kamerones The Inhabitants Inhabitants which for the most part speak Portuguese live on the middlemost Island of the three from whence they go often to the main Land 〈◊〉 get Provision and Fruit. About five miles from Amboises River of Kamarones the River Jamoce glides in a narrow Current In the middle of which Buffels Island towards the South Wall a small Island call'd Buffels Island discovers it self from which spreads a Bank of Rocks South Easterly so steep that one side of a Ship touching it on the other side may find six Fathom water Two miles within the third Point Yeeth Hole or Monoka you arrive at a place by the Whites call'd The Teeth Hole but by the Natives Monoka and opposite to that another nam'd The Monombas Hole whereto adjoyns a Village the usual Trading place At the North live the Kalbangas whose Governor nam'd Moneba hath the repute of one of the powerfullest of the adjacent Princes The Town where he keeps his Seat Royal stands scituate on a Hill very neatly Hedg'd about with Trees so that they account it the pleasantest place in all that Tract and not onely so but exceedingly stor'd with abundance of Provision as Injames Bananassen Palm Wine and Bordon Wine both of the same species but the latter the worst as growing in Fenny places The Houses are built in Quadrangular form Little Ivory can be gotten here and less Akori but many Slaves Trade which makes them cheap The Commodities desir'd there and carry'd thither by the Netherlanders are Thin beaten Bosses which they use in stead of Money Bars of Iron Copper Bars Copper Pots Hammer'd Kettles Violet Beads Paste of Oranges and Lemmons Cows Horns And such like The People which live by the River Kamerones are strong fat and lively smooth Skin'd from the top to Toe and generally of as large a stature as the lustiest Englishman Next Kamerones on the Sea Coast follow the Rivers Monoka Borba or Bourn Rio de Campo Rio Sante Benito and Rio Danger Rio Sante Benito lieth in two degrees Northern Latitude Rio Santo Benito and the Coast spreads South and North. Seven miles Southward in one degree and five and thirty minutes you come to another River and four miles farther a third abounding in Water Five miles from the last opens a Bay bearing eight Fatnom Water Six miles below which a prominant Point stil'd Cape St. John Cape of St. John fronted with a ridge of Rocks None of these Rivers are much frequented for Trade except that of Danger in one degree North Latitude The People prove ill Neighbours to each other being never free from Animosities Feuds and Quarrels upon every trifle The Island KORISKO THree or four miles Southward of Cape St. John appears an Island The Island Korisko to which the Portuguese have given the name of Ilhas des Korisko that is The Island of Lightning from the more than usually frequent Lightnings happening there when they first discover'd the place The Land towards the Sea Coast is generally Sandy Nature of the Countrey except on the North West where Stony But more within overgrown with high Trees whose Wood is Redder if Sanutus say true than that of Brasile perhaps it may be the Red Wood which the Inhabitants call Takoel The Road for Ships lieth in five and forty minutes Northward of the Line The Road or Harber and convenient for Shipping According to Sanute the Island not inhabited being indeed not above half a mile in compass but the propriety of the Benyan King The Countries lying about the River Gabon and the Cape of Lope Gonzalvez THe River Gabon The River Gabon by Linschot call'd Gaba and in some Maps Gabam lyeth under the Line The North Point of which the Seamen call the Cape of St. The Cape St. Clare Clare much resembling that of St. John and in a manner differenc'd onely in this that coming out of the Sea and approaching near the Shore they see a white Spot against it as if it were a Sayl which is not to be seen at the Cape of St. John In the Mouth this River is four miles wide but grows afterwards smaller and narrower The Island Pongo so that it is not above two miles over at the Island Pongo It s South Point is low and overgrown with Trees but the North Point almost choak'd up with Flats and Sands At the South Shore about three or four miles inwards another Point discovers it self known by the name of the Sandy Point many Crocodiles and Sea-Horses breed herein to the great damage and hazard both of the Natives and Strangers Five miles more inward you come to two little Islands the one the Inhabitants call Pongo and the Whites Parret Island The King's Isle because he keeps his Court there and the other Parrets Isle from the great abundance of Parrets breeding within it which last yields also great plenty of Bananasses Injames Oranges and other Fruits The King of Pongo hath the report of a powerful Prince they entitle him Manipongo that is Lord of Pongo as the King of Kongo Mani-Kongo 'T is true two other Princes claim a great Jurisdiction near him viz. one at Majombo and another at Gabon yet neither dare resist he Pongian and his Palaces nam'd Goliparta exceed in magnificence and extent all the rest of the Buildings which pretend to Beauty or State The Men naturally incline to Cheating and Thieving The nature of the Inhabitants but not so much among themselves as towards strangers to whom also bloudy barbarous and unnatural but the Women shew great courtesie and affability accounting it an honor to make acquaintance with them In Marriage they have no respect to neerness of Relation Marriages for the Mother may Marry her Son and the Father his Daughter The Houses have no other Walls or Partitions than Reeds Houses very neatly order'd and fastned together and cover'd with Leaves of the Bannana-Tree They lie all along on the ground when they eat Food the common People using Earthen Vessels but more eminent persons Dishes of Tin Their Food chiefly Potatoes and Injames Roasted or Boil'd and many other Roots Also Fish and Flesh mixt together but first either smoak'd or dry'd in the Sun During the Meal they never Drink but having done Eating swallow great Cups full of Water or Palm-Wine or a sort of Mead which they call Melaffo For Apparel they wear Cloth made of Mats Habit. and the Shell of the Matombe-Tree over which some hang the Skins of Apes or Sea-Cats
and beautifi'd with exquisite Imagery each Cloth holding about two Spans and a half in Square which a Weaver with his greatest diligence may well spend fifteen or sixteen days in Working to finish it The second sort call'd Sokka are less by one half than the Kimbes yet many that have little handl'd their Work would easily mistake the one for the other for both are high and Cutwork with Images or Figures upon them but the turn'd side gives the distinction by the Courseness or Fineness Six of the foremention'd Pieces make a Garment which they know how to Colour Red Black or Green The two other sorts of Cloathes are a wearing for Common People being plain without Images or Figures yet have their distinctions one being closer and firmer wrought than the other These are many times Slash'd or Pink'd from the middle to the knees as old fashion'd Spanish Breeches were wont with small and great cuts Every man by promise or injunction is bound to wear a Furr-skin over his Cloathes right before his Privacies viz. of a tame Cat Otter Cattamountain great Wood or wild Cat or of an Agali or Civet Cat with whose Civet they sometimes also anoint themselves Besides these they have very fair speckl'd Skins call'd Enkiny of high Price among them which none may wear but the King and his peculiar Favorites Some Persons of high Degree when they Travel wear six or eight Skins for Garments others as the King and his greatest Nobility cause five or six Skins to be sew'd together interlac'd with many white and black speckl'd Tails of the foremention'd Enkiny Cross-wise in the midst of the Skin they set commonly round Tufts made of the aforesaid Furr and white and black Parrets Feathers and at the edges Elephants Hair spread round in winding-Trails Every one also wears a String about his middle made of the peeling of Matombe Leaves of which there are two sorts one call'd Poes-anana and the other Poes-anpoma with which they tye their Cloathes fast Besides they have two Girdles one above another that is one of fine Red or Black Cloath slightly Embroyder'd in three or four places the other of Yarn wrought in Flowers and fastned together before with double Strings call'd Pondes These Girdles are commonly three or four Inches broad wherefore the Cloathes sent thither out of Europe with broad Lists serve to be Embroider'd and Quill'd to make such Girdles Some wear Girdles of Bulrushes and young Palm Branches others of peelings of a Tree call'd Catta and in other places Emsande which they Weave and Pleit together of the same peelings Match for Guns is made which stand the Portugals in good stead Between the upper and lower Girdle they set several sorts of Ornaments and about their Necks white and black Beads the latter they call Insimba Frotta and the white Insimba Gemba but the last bears the greatest value Others wear Triangular Breast-Chains brought thither out of Europe Their Ornament and by them nam'd Panpanpane some Ivory cut in pieces and some sort of flat Scalops which they polish very smooth and round and wear them strung as Neck-Laces On their naked legs they put Brass Copper or Iron Rings about the bigness of the smallest end of a Tobacco Pipe or else trim them with black and white Beads On their Arms they wear many Rings of several fashions and light which they temper in the Forging with Oyl of Palm Over their Shoulders they hang a Sack about three quarters of a yard long sew'd together onely a little opening left to put in the hand Upon their Head they have an artificial Cap made to sit close And in their Hands either a great Knife Bowe and Arrows or a Sword for they never go without Arms. The Womens Clothes which come a little below their knees are made of the same with the Mens over which they sometimes put some fine European Stuff or Linen but without any Girdles The uppermost part of the body and the Head remains always naked and bare but on their Arms Legs and Necks many Rings Beads and other Toys Their usual Diet is fresh and smoak'd Fish especially Sardyn Food which they take with a Hook and Boyl with Herbs and Achy or Brasilian Pepper People of Quality eat with their Fish Massanga or small Mille first stamp'd with a Pestle then Boyled with Water and so Kneaded together They Swear by the King speaking these words Fyga Manilovanga Their Oath or Swearing but the highest Oath is the Drinking of Bondes Root and never used but when something is presently to be undertaken or perform'd The Bondes is onely a Root of a Tree of a russet Colour very Bitter Bondes Root or Adjuration Root and astringent and gets as they say by enchantment of the Ganga or Conjurer perfect power and vertue This Root they scrape with a Knife and put into a Pot of Water of which the accused Party takes about a Pint and half administred by a person appointed by the King for that purpose In like manner if any weighty or criminal matter either of Sorcery or Theft be laid to any ones charge and it cannot be ascertain'd by the Oracle of Ganga or their Conjurer they forthwith condemn the suspected person to drink of the Bonde-drink which is perform'd in this manner The Complainant must go to the King How the Bonde-drink is drank and beseech him to appoint an administrator of the Bondes for which he pays the King his due These Bonde-givers are about eight or ten persons appointed by the King and his Nobility who meeting under the open Heaven in a broad way sit down upon the ground and about three a Clock in the afternoon begin their work for by that the Complainers must be there who coming with their whole Retinue and Generation the Bonde-givers admonish to bring to light the righteousness of the Matter without any siding or partiality which he adjures them to with an Oath by their Fetisies which they have standing round about them Then also appears the Accus'd with his Family for seldom one person alone but commonly the whole Neighbourhood is accus'd these meet and standing in a row come by course one by one to the Bonde-givers who have a little Drum upon which they continually Beat and receiving about a Pint and a half of Liquor they retire to their places again After this one of the Bonde-givers riseth up with certain sticks of a Bacoven tree in his hands which he flings after the Accus'd requiring him to fall down and if he have no guilt to stand up and make Water in token of his Innocency Then the Bonde-giver cuts the Root before them all that every one may walk up and down over it In the doing whereof if one or other of them chance to fall then the standers by set up a loud Cry and the party fall'n lieth like a possess'd man speechless but with horrible Convulsions in all his Limbs not enduring his body
Wall of Elephants-Teeth in stead of Stone and there hanging upon Poles remain till they be quite rotten These Islanders also have particular Heads and chief Officers Government chosen by most Voices Several other Rivers pay their tributary Waters to increase the swelling Current of Zair the most eminent are Umbre Brankare and Barbale Umbre by Sanutus call'd Vambere rises in the North out of a Mountain in Negro-Land and loseth it self on the East-side in the Zair Brankare as Pigafet or Bankare as Sanutus calleth it taketh the original out of the same Mountain and after a long course discharging his Meandring Stream into the Sea saith the same Sanutus but Pigafet from the information of Edward Lopez averrs it mingleth with Zair on the Easterly Borders of Pango not far from the Foot of the Crystal Mountain The River Barbele so call'd by Linschot or Verbele by Pigafet springs out of the same Lake which the same Author makes the Head-Source of Nylus to flow from after which it shooteth through the Lake Aquilumde and visiting the City of Pango it enlargeth the Zair with the addition of its Water Southward of the Mouth of the River Zair shoots out a Promontory The Cape of Padron call'd in Portuguese Cabo de Padron who above a hundred years since erected a small Chappel and set up a Cross and about five miles from Padron is the Residence of the Earl of Sonho where the Netherlanders Trade A little way within Padron lieth St. Pauls Point affording a convenient Road for Ships A mile and a half from thence lieth a Creek call'd Pampus Rock Pampus Rock More on Southwards you come to the Rivers Lelunde or Lolongo Ambris Enkekoquematari Loze Onza Libonge Danda and Bengo Lelunde running between Zair and Ambris The River Lelunde hath its Head-Spring in the same Lake with Coanza or Quanza so passing close by the Foot of the Mountain where the Royal City St. Salvadore stands runs down from thence with many windings West-North-west to the Sea into which it falls with a strong Current but in the Summer so shallow that 't is not passable with Vessels of any Burden The Blacks frequent it with Canoos notwithstanding the hazard of Crocodiles which in great abundance breed there Next you come to Ambris Ambris lying in six Degrees South Latitude a great River and full of Fish but Rocky at the entrance yet passable enough for small Boats It hath the same original with Lelonde taking likewise its course not far from St. Salvadore the Water seems muddy caused by the swiftness of the Stream at whose Edges begins the Dukedom of Bamba Thirty miles up this River is a Ferry A Ferry where every Traveller for his passage over must pay a certain Toll to the King of Congo On the South Banks of it many people inhabit who get their Living by making Salt boyl'd of sea-Sea-water in Earthen Pots and proves gray and sandy yet they carry it to Pambo and several other Places and drive a great Trade therewith Enkokoquematari is the next Enkokoquematari whose beginning lies undiscover'd to the Europeans and the whole in a manner of no use great Flats and Sands stopping up the Mouth so that it will not bear a small Boat and within so scanty of Water that a Canoo can hardly make way Loze Loze another mean Brook yet up in the Countrey passable for a Boat About twenty miles upward you must pass a Ferry where all Travellers for going over must pay Custom to the Duke of Bamba Onza or as Pigafet Onzoni is Fordable and not to be Sail'd by any Vessels because of its shallowness Lihongo Lihongo by some call'd Lemba can boast neither greater depth or better qualities Danda The River Danda. a little more Southward hath at the Mouth five or six Foot Water 't is full of Fish and feeds many Crocodiles and Sea-Horses and affords on each side fruitful Grounds somewhat high on the South-side but on the North for half a mile low Grounds Bengo The River Bengo by some taken for a Branch of Danda with Quanza another lying makes the Island Lovando it affords good Sailing with Sloops about fourteen miles upward and in the Mouth sometimes seven or eight Foot Water notwithstanding the Flats of Sand. It comes a great distance out of the Countrey and so inundates in the time of Rain viz. March April and May that with the violence of its Stream it sometimes carrieth away much of the Earth on one side which either joyns again on the other or else driven into the Sea The Winter there bears almost an equal temper with our Summer The Climate of Air. so that the People alter nothing of their Apparel nor require the warmth of Fire at that Season of the Year for the difference between Winter and Summer is scarely discernable onely the Air so long as it Rains is a little Cooler but the wet Season once past the Heat is almost intolerable especially two hours before and after Noon The Winter commences in mid March The Seasons of Rain and the Summer in September in the former the great Rains begin and continue March April May June July and August during which time they have scarce a clear day the lesser Rain in September and November The Summer on the other side is exceeding hot and dry This Countrey Congo is watry from the several Rivers hath great store of Water so that the Inhabitants are very curious in their choice of it for they will not drink the usual and every where to be had but take care for the freshest and best as appears by them of St. Salvadore who make not use of such as the adjoyning Plains afford them but cause their Slaves to fetch other more sound and healthy as they suppose out of Fountains a little lower on the North-side The Lands in the time of Rain by the muddiness of the water The King of the Land are made exceeding fruitful and fit to bring forth all manner of things The Dukedom of Batta and other lying round about hath fat and fertile ground affording all manner of Provision The Territory of Pembo especially about Saint Salvadore because of the fresh and serene Air abounds with rich Pastures Plants and produceth many flourishing and thriving Trees Here grows a kind of Grain by the Inhabitants call'd Luko Luko not unlike our Rye but smaller this they Grind into Meal by a Hand-Mill and make Bread of it Abundance also of Mille which the Natives call Mazza Manputo Mille or Mazza or Portuguese Corn as also Mais or Turky-Wheat wherewith they fat their Hogs and Rice in such plenty that it hardly bears any price Lemmons Oranges and Pome-Citron-Trees grow in every corner bearing fruit of a pleasant yet brisk taste also Bananasses Dates Coco-Nuts and Palm-Trees besides others producing Colas which the Inhabitants chaw as the Indians Betel
Chesnuts Olive-Trees and such like Fruits There grow wild upon the Mountains and in the Valleys and on the banks of the Rivers many other sorts of Plants as among the rest a peculiar sort of Tulips Sempervive Fritillaria or Speckled Lillies Penny-Wort or Dragon-Wort with sharp pointed Leaves Sorrel with knotted Roots and white Blossoms The Tulip bears a bole bigger than ones fist having thick Shells The Cape-Tulip but of a faint smell The Blossom that shoots out before the Leaves in April of a very high red colour appearing very gloriously and hath five broad long and thick Leaves within having whitish red Stripes and at the end a round Stalk of a span long streak'd and speckled with purple upon a white ground It grows upon the Mountains The Sempervive or House-Leek hath Leaves almost a finger thick whitish green and as big almost as the Palm of ones Hand The Fritillaria or the speckled Narcissus which some reckon as a sort of Dentilaria or Eminie hath in stead of Leaves Sprouts of a fingers length thick and juicy with sharp and round broken edges like Teeth of a pale purple above and underneath green At the Leaves comes a flower that hath five limber Leaves sharp at the ends with a high Crown or Tuft in the middle hollow within inclosing another flower which hath also five Leaves all yellow but of a dark-brown at the ends with some very red standards in the middle this Plant hath no smell and grows upon barren and Sandy Mountains The Sorrel with knotted Roots shoots up a span in height hath hard pale green Leaves long and slender which stand aloft on the Stalk five or six together for below the Stalk is void of Leaves In the very Sea it self about the Cape may be seen several Plants viz. Sea-Plants a Fort of Canes by the Portuguese call'd Tromba's which grow with Moss being large and thick in the fashion of a Cornet some such but longer are found on the Cape and the Island of Tristan de Cunba from whence Linschot saith it flotes along driven by the Wind thence to the West side of the Cape near the Shore upon sight whereof the Sea-men infallibly know they are near this Coast Also Sargossa a kind of a Lentil drives along being an Herb like Sedge or Wild-Cresses which are to be seen an hundred miles far and wide in the Ethiopian Sea driven upon heaps They have also Coral Tortoise-shells Pearls and in the Salt-River pure white Salt About Cabo das Aiguilhas or Needle-Cape are Sharks-bones found which the Goldsmiths use although some are of opinion they came from the Sea-Cat or Bleach with which that Sea abounds In the particular relations of this Countrey Cattel we told you they had great store of Cattel We will now onely add That the Oxen are very fair fleshy and thick and some near half a foot higher than those among us with very fine slender and long crook'd Horns Others have their Horns flat and hanging down loose by their bodies They have infinite flocks of Sheep very large with long Legs and Hair in stead of Wool their tails are nothing but fat and some of them so heavy that they have weigh'd eighteen or twenty pounds and more The Woods Valleys and plain low Gronds feed many wild Beasts as Stags or Harts Roe-Hindes and wild Cows who run together by sixty seventy yea a hundred in a Head Badgers of a red colour but so slow in running that a man may easily outstrip them yet their flesh is accounted a pleasant food Wild-Bears Wild-Goats Hares Conies Ringstreak'd Tygers a fierce and dangerous Beast Leopards Wolves Rhinocerots and Elephants On the tops of the Mountains keep multitudes of fierce Lions which in dark Moons come out of their hideous Dens of shelter and seek their prey close under the Fort and therefore they always about the Inclosure where the Cattel are kept in by night kindle great fires to scare them away There are found great Beasts like Elephants with two Horns at their Noses such as the Rhinocerots hath one It ordinarily goes swifter than a man in its speediest course hath a skin with short Mouse-dun hair a tail and feet like an Elephant streight and round ears and a short bunch of black hair in stead of a Mane on the Neck Here have been seen many Jack-alls being a creature that by his quick scent discovers prey for the Lion and is both his Guard and Spie The Ocean also produces many Creatures as Sea-Rabbits Sea-Dogs Sea-Wolves or Sea-Bears who in the Summer swim in the Sea but in the Winter remain under ground and keep on Shore and in the Cliffs The Sea-Wolves or rather Sea-Bears because with their paws and gestures more resemble Bears than Wolves onely they have sharper Snouts and are a fiercer Creature biting cruelly they exceed men for the most part in swiftness of running so without two or three they are not to be taken On the Shore of the Rivers are many Sea-Horses Porcupisses or Sea-Hogs and Sea-Cats Many sorts of small and great Fowls are found here Fowls as Partridges Ducks Sparrows Geese Wild-Ducks Parrets will yellow Bills More-hens Wagtails Gulls Teal Wood-Snipes and Water-Snipes and Cormorants being a black sort of Fowl as big and as large as Ducks or Geese Here also breed the Pinguyns Pinguyns with small thick Feathers more like Bristles or Beasts Hair than Plumes in stead of Wings they have a Leather Finn on each Foot wherewith they swim they have very tough Skins are cruel in biting ready in diving and keep as well in the Sea as at Land They harbor in the Sedges lie in a Burrow scraped out hollow and lay their Eggs in the Sand to the number of four or five bigger than Goose-Eggs and with a white Shell They have so slow a pace that we easily catch them or follow them to their Nests which they defend with biting and are not to be forced thence without Staves Their Flesh is Oylie and not good to eat except they be two or three times boyl'd in fresh Water and then fry'd in a Pan with Butter or Suet. There are also Moor-Cocks Marsh-Fowl with red Bills and Legs wild Peacocks white Shovelers as big as a Hen with a Neck in two or three Joynts Herons of three sorts viz. blue ones white ones of a middle size and black as big as Sea-pies which keep most in Moorish places Cranes several kinds of Hawks Peacocks Pheasants Partridges Ravens Crows and Ostriches The Bird Flemengos increases here numerously in bigness like a Goose Flamengo's with long and red Legs Bills and Wings the other parts have all white Feathers Also white Lapwings which flie so boldly that they will come to the Muzzle of a Gun The Fowls which come from Land and frequent the Sea are of divers sorts as the Antenagas great speckled Fowls which many times sit upon the dry places within the Water about the Needle-Cape Alcatraces a
of Copper which stick so close that it makes their Arms sore and sometimes come to ulcerate before they will lay them off Many of them wear as an Ornament the Guts of Beasts fresh and stinking drawn two or three times one through another about their Necks and the like about their Legs Some wear a sort of Roots gather'd from the bottoms of Rivers which in their Journeys through Woods where Lyons Leopards and Wolves frequent by the Fire side which they kindle at the Place where they stay all night for the driving away wild Beasts they chew into little bits and spit out of their Mouthes round about with firm perswasion that there is such vertue in them as no Beast can endure the smell of it When they go abroad they have usually an Ostrich Feather or a Staff with a wild Cats Tail ty'd to it in one Hand in stead of a Handkerchief to wipe their Eyes and Noses and beat away the Dust Sand and Flies and in the other Hand a sleight Javelin The Women never go abroad without a Leather Sack at their backs having at each end a Tuft or Tassel and fill'd with one trifle or another Their Weapons or Arms are Bowes and Arrows and small Darts three four or five Foot long having at one end a broad sharp Iron fixed which they handle and throw very dexterously They take great delight in our Bread for which they are willing to barter Cattel The Honey found in the Woods they eat up Wax an all and in stead of Physick administer to the Sick Cabbages Coleworts and Mustard-Leaves with a little beaten Lard boyl'd with it Their common Drink is Water Drink or Mille but they are very greedy of Brandy or Spanish Wine as also of Tobacco but quickly become Drunk with it They use no Trades Handicrafts or Arts with Bulrushes make Mats wherewith they cover their Houses they Forge the sharp Heads of their Lances being Iron in the doing whereof they use onely a Stone and Hammer making it malleable with Wood-Coals The Goringhaica's dwelling by the Cape Employment employ themselves in Fishing which they sell to the Netherlanders for Bread and Tobacco Most of the other have no skill therein nor any Vessels to go out to Sea so that in all Journeys they go by Land and on Foot In stead of Horses they have great Oxen who carry their Goods and Commodities from one place to another which they lead and guide with a Stick thrust through their Noses as with a Bridle The Cochoqua's or Saldanhars are a kind of Herdsmen and live by keeping of Cattel whereof they have above an hundred thousand Head all very fair besides as many Sheep The like do the Cariguriqua's and Hosaa's None amongst them all Sowe or Plant but onely the Heusaqua's When they perceive any wild Beasts in the Night whether Elephants Elans Rhinocerots Lyons Tygers Bucks or Horses then all the stoutest Men run forth and make a great noise to fright them away But if by day any devouring wild Beast appear then all that can carry Arms go forth every one provided with two or three Assagays or Lances and encompassing the same with extraordinary outcries and shoutings they let fly their Darts and Shoot as at a Mark to wound and kill him When a person falls in Love with a Maid he desires of his Father Marriage that he may Marry her who consenting he goes to the Father and Mother of the Maid entreating the same and when the Parents grant his Suit the Daughter receives and as a sign of her acceptance and in confirmation of the Marriage she puts about his Neck not a Gold Chain but a fat Cows Chitterling which he must wear till it drop off Then two of the fattest Sheep are sought out of the whole Flock and kill'd part of whose Flesh being boyl'd and part of it roasted none may eat but the Marry'd couple and their Parents and without this Ceremony the Marriage would not be accounted lawful The Skins cut in small pieces and the Hair taken off then beaten upon a Stone and so laid on hot Coals they eat with a very great appetite This pitiful Feast ended the solemnity of the Wedding is over As to their constancy in Love they are as in other places some quickly nauseating the ties of Marriage while others observe it with a most affectionate strictness For the manifesting of the constancy and true Love amongst some of these Salvages we will give you two remarkable Stories the one of a Widow which through excess of grief and sorrow for the death of her Husband leapt into a Pit full of Wood set it on fire and burnt her self to death the other of a young Maid which for grief threw her self down from a Rock because her Parents had caus'd her Lover to be severely whipt with Thorns for Lying with her against their consents Whether by the goodness of the Air or the natural strength of their Constitutions these People attain so great an age as generally they do remains a doubt but this is certain that most of them live to eighty ninety or a hundred and some to a hundred and ten twenty or more years They bury their Dead sitting in a deep Pit stark naked Funerals throwing the Earth upon their Heads with a great heap of Stones over all to preserve the Corps from being raked out of the Grave by wild Beasts When a Man or Woman dies Inheritance all the Friends to the third degree of Consanguinity must by an antient custom cut off the little Finger of their left Hand to be bury'd with the Dead in the Grave but if the Deceased had in his Life any Cattel and leaves some Relations to whom they might come by Inheritance they must cut off a Joynt from each little Finger before they can take the Cattel for the Sick cannot giveaway the least thing on his Death-bed from those to whom it falls by Inheritance As soon as any one falls sick those about him fetch one skill'd in Herbs who with a sharp two-edged Knife lets them blood on their Back then burns them on their Arms with a red hot Iron and drops thereon some Juyce of Herbs with new boyl'd sweet Milk And if this work not a Cure they give them over for Dead Those which rob in the Day if they be catcht in it are beaten by the King or Choeque himself with a Stick without other punishment but those which Rob in the Night receive upon discovery a more severe punishment in this manner inflicted The Offender is first for a whole day tied Hand and Foot being neither allowed Meat or Drink On the second day some of the Eldest go to the Coehque to ask if they shall proceed in the Execution which is done without any Condemnation or Tryal but not without sufficient Testimony whereupon the King with a great Train of People following him comes to a Tree where he commands the Offender to
all other sort of Meat it being a delicate Food pleasant and delightful of taste There are also many excellent Birds with black Feathers and black Flesh either boyl'd or raw yet accounted no unwholsom Food The Haven swarms with Fishes which the Inhabitants call Marraxos and the Portuguese Tintoreas they are very ravenous after Man's-flesh for so soon as they see a Man fall into the Water by chance or go to swim they will immediately catch and devour him The Inhabitants are a mixture of Mestiffs Mahumetans and absolute Heathens yet all subject to the Portuguese The Natives of this Island are black of Complexion The Nature of the Inhatants and low of Stature with short Curl'd Hair like Wool they smell very ranck when grown warm they are by nature barbarous cruel and revengeful but withall timorous Both Sexes go naked Apparel onely the Men have a small Clout before their Privacies and the Women cover their Bodies from their Breasts half way to their Knees with course Cotton-Clothes Their Ornaments consist in three or four Strings of white Omaments green blue and red Beads about their Necks and ten or twelve Copper or Tin Armlets about their Arms. They make holes in their Ears wherein in stead of Pendants they hang pieces of Copper or Lattin cutting and carving the rest of their Skin for an Ornament Their common Food is Fish Food and Rice boyl'd in Water with Honey Their Drink is Palm-Wine and Water and a sort of Liquor call'd Arak made of Rice Their Skiffs Boats or Canoos consists all in one Piece as we often mention'd They speak generaly a kind of broken Arabick Language There are a certain sort of handsom Mats Trade made by the Inhabitants which are sent to Goa The Portuguese drive a smart Trade here with Spanish-Wine Oyl Cotton Skiffs red Beads and such like notwithstanding they have a quick Market at Sena Makuno Sofala Quamma and other places Their Arms are Bowes Armâ— Arrows or Lances but of late they have begun to learn the use of Fire-Arms The Portuguese have many years ago built a Fort supposed the strongest they possess in those Parts consisting of four Bulwarks from whence with their mounted Artillery they can defend and make good the Haven against any ordinary attempts It hath strong and well designed Flankers fortifi'd and surrounded with three double Walls and a broad Trench made about it in the Year Sixteen hundred and thirteen Several vain Onsets have the Dutch made upon this Fort but chiefly in the Year Sixteen hundred and six when after a formal Siege of thirty two days they were compell'd to withdraw first as an effect of their malice having burn'd many Ships Canoos Houses and Churches those two especially of St. Gabriel and St. Domingo beforemention'd Some of the Inhabitants by reason of the Converse and Trade of the Arabians on this Coast are drawn to Mahumetanism others are Christians but the most part of them are Idolaters The Kingdom of QUILOA THe Kingdom of Quiloa derives the Name from an Island Situation Plgaf 2. b. 8. H. lying in eight Degrees and fifty Minutes South-Latitude at the Mouth of the River Kuavo said to spring out of the Lake Zambre and according to Peter Alvarez posited so near the Main Land as if joyn'd to it and hath a stately City by some taken for the Rapta of Ptolomy with lofty Houses after the Spanish fashion all adorn'd with stately Halls Chambers and other Apartments furnished with costly Housholdstuff and accommodated both for Pleasure and Profit with sweet and fertile Gardens There lies on the Main Land of Quiloa another City call'd Old Quiloa Sanut lib. 12. built about six hundred years since by one Haly Son of Hacem King of Cyrus in Persia but yields nothing so delightful a Prospect as that mention'd before This Kingdom before the coming of the Portuguese thither spread it self along the Sea-Coast above a hundred and fifty Dutch miles for he Reigned formerly over Sofalo Quamma Angos and Mozambike but when Francois Dulmanda in the Year One thousand five hundred and five put in for this Coast with the Portuguese Fleet the King though invited to Friendship prepared for a Warlike Defence whereupon seven hundred Portuguese went on Shore who quickly took the City and put him to flight Sanutus saith this Countrey hath such an antipathy to the nature of the Europeans that the Portuguese found themselves necessitated to forsake the same notwithstanding they had built a Fort there and made no doubt but to have been the Masters thereof But later Opinions hold the Air since that to have grown more temperate for that some good and wholsom Fruits have been found growing there Osorius praises it as being water'd with many Fountains so enriching the Soyl that it produces all sorts of Grain and Fruits with little labor especially Maiz Rice Oranges Citrons and Lemons They have great store of Oxen and sheep many Hens Pigeons Beasts Turtle-Doves and several other sorts of unknown Birds divers sorts of wild Beasts in the Woods and on the Sea-shore variety of Fish Some of the Inhabitants draw their Original from Arabia such are brown some black others white Pigafet affirms them to be all white whereas on the contrary Pedro Alvarez maintains them all black Their usual Food is Maiz Rice and other Grains Carrots Food and variety of wild Fruits a fit Diet for such poor People The Merchants and better sort of Men go Habited in Cloth of Gold Apparel Silk or Cotton with Turbants on their Heads The Women wear also stately Apparel with Gold and Silver Chains on the Arms and Legs and costly Pendants in their Ears In brief they go Clothed after the Arabian or rather Turkish Mode They commonly speak Arabick but understand other Languages Language by reason of their Trading with Outlandish Merchants The Riches of the Quiloan Merchants consists in Gold and Silver Riches Ambergreece Pearls and Musk. The Inhabitants are under a peculiar King whom Linschot makes a Vassal or Tributary to the King of Mommugi They are partly Mahumetans Religion and the rest Pagans The Kingdom of Mombaza TO the Northward of Quiloa Borders on the Sea-Coast you come to the Kingdom of Mombaza so call'd from an Island in four Degrees and five Minutes South-Latitude which Sanutus makes in its Circumference to be twelve Italian miles but Jarrik onely a League or thereabouts The City being of the same Name The City Membaza built after the Italian manner bears a considerable bulk being situate on a high Rock The extent of the whole Dominion not very big bordering on one side at the City of Orgaba seated on the Banks of the River Onchit which poures her Waters into the Nyle by the Mountain Amara where the Kingdom of Melinde begins The Turks had formerly thrown up a Fortification at the Shore of this River so that none could come into the City
Clergy to the very Eteche and Bishops dwell in Cloysters in the Cities and in the Wildernesses they go bare-foot never eat Flesh nor drink Wine and do besides unusual severe Penance for besides Fasting they torment themselves terribly by being bound to a Cross and so set for a whole day broyling in the Sun Others go stark naked up to the neck into a cool Brook and stay there till they are half dead Some which they call The Clergy of Libela for a Penance carry two four-square pieces of Lead of fifty or sixty pound weight which hang before their Breasts and behind their Backs with which so about them they fall upon their Knees with their Foreheads upon the Ground so that many times their Heads swell and their Bodies grow all black and blue Others sit with a great Stone about their Necks which so bows down their Heads that they cannot look up to Heaven nor move themselves from the places where they are All the Abyssines Circumcision as well Clergy as Temporality are Circumcised the eighth day after their Birth and Baptiz'd the fortieth but the Daughters the sixtieth and afterwards in their sixth year are Re-baptiz'd with Fire in this manner They take a sharp Iron which cuts on both sides and making it red hot in the Fire set therewith upon the very tip of their Nose two Marks to distinguish them from Mahumetans who are also Circumcised The Water of Baptism they Consecrate with many Ceremonies and Benedictions with which they renew their Baptism every year upon the Day of the Three Kings because upon that day Christ was Baptized The Confession of their sins they say they have by Apostolical command which they make standing after which they receive Absolution Godignus avers that they neither make known the particulars nor the number of their sins but say onely in general Habessen Habessen which signifies I have sinn'd I have sinn'd They hold onely five mortal sins fixing upon the last Chapter of the Revelations which excludes out of the holy City Sorcerers Fornicators or Adulterers Murderers Idolaters and Lyars They acknowledge but five Commandments imply'd by Christ in these Negatives I have been hungry and ye have not fed me I have been thirsty and you have not given me drink I have been a stranger and you have not let me in I have been naked and you have not clothed me I have been sick and you have not visited me I have been in prison and you have not come to me Believing that Christ will say to Reprobates onely these words at the last Day They perform Mass daily yet no more but one in every Church and that usually in the Evening an hour and a half before the going down of the Sun except on Saturdays and Sundays They ordinarily bury their Dead with a Cross and Prayers reading over them the Gospel of St. John the next day give some Alms for the benefit of their Souls They Fast every Wednesday Damian Goez in remembrance of the Council of the Jews upon the Death of Christ which was held upon that day and every Friday in Commemoration of the Death of Christ eating nothing before the going down of the Sun observing besides with other Christians several other times of Abstinence Some of the Clergy in the Cloysters always eat Flesh because they lie far from the Sea and have no Lakes nor Rivers out of which to take Fish Others eat on Fasting-days but onely an Apple with Bread and Water or else some Herbs boyl'd without Oyl or Butter and some onely Bread and Water Such as eat Fish in some Places will touch nothing that hath any Bloud but content themselves with Grashoppers Oysters Lobsters and the like Also they use upon Fasting-days a Grain call'd Camfa and another Tebba both prepar'd and made ready like Mustard Most of the Abyssines have made defection from their antient Opinions acknowledging the Roman Church to have the true Doctrine and the Pope to be Christ's Vicar for in the time of Pope Clement the seventh Prester-John sent to acknowledge him High-Priest with promise of obedience to him and his Successors and all that have succeeded him have done the same till the Year Sixteen hundred and nine when the Prince of Narel Jacob infected with the Errors of Dioscorus and Eutiches got the Crown After him the Son of Zaga-Christ who in the Year Sixteen hundred thirty and three stept into the Throne embraced the same Opinions so that he put out of the City all those that acknowledged and obeyed the Pope But Cosme Son of King Haste Jacob about the Year Sixteen hundred and thirty caused in the Kingdom of Dambea near his Court a Church to be built after the European manner of Cedar-wood and Zaga-Christ his Brother and all his Family heard Mass openly in the Kingdom of Goyame And moreover being a singular Votary of the Catholick Religion established among others those Laws That no Clergy-man that is Marry'd may administer the Lords Supper upon pain of death That no temporal Person may have any more but one Wife and That none should draw near to the Lords Table before he had made satisfaction to all whom he had wronged In the Year Sixteen hundred and twenty in the Territory of Agoas a spacious Countrey and fruitful five thousand Souls were Baptiz'd by the Portuguese Jesuits The several states of the Countreys relating to Religion are as followeth In Tigre the Turks possess the Places lying near the Sea Peter Davity Estats du Grand Kegus but the Bowels of the Kingdom are fill'd with Idolaters mixed with Christians Those of Angote are Christians without mixture so those of Xoa and Amara Damut according to Sanutus contains a mixture Leka remains wholly Christian but Bagamedi hath some Christians and some Heathens so Dambea Mahumetans wholly possess the City of Aukaguerle But Dahali contains Christians Moors and Mahumetans Gecie Moors and Idolaters Ario and Fatigar wholly Christians Those of Zingaro and Roxa are Idolaters but they of Ronazegus all Christians Goyame comprehends Heathens and Christians but Marea Goroma Zeth Concho and Mahaola lie totally involved in Idolatry Sua hath Mahumetans and Christians Bora Calava and Aga in show Christians but in heart Idolaters Dubane and Xaucale Caffers a People without any Religion Xincho Aris Evara and Arbo none but Mahumetans Daraita all Christians and lastly Agoas are most Idolaters but some Christians who have many Monasteries and Convents both of Men and Women They have a great number of Churches Churches the first and principal of all is call'd Delia Libanos that is The Mountain of Liban in the Kingdom of Goyame wherein formerly the Kings of Abyssine us'd to be buried the second Marcoza Mariam that is The Misery of Mary in the same Kingdom the third Dima or St. Maries in Goroma the fourth Macana Celacen that is The Seat of the Trinity in Amara the fifth Laboca that is Mountain of Gold dedicated to St. Michael in
of Steel in the Territories of Mahafalle Anachimoussi Inourhon Icondrean Manamboulle and in Amboulle Anossi Matatane and Manghabei good Iron Silver is very common in these Countreys yet hath none ever found there any Mynes either of Silver Copper Lead or Tin They find Gold also among the Inhabitants Minerals or Mynes not brought thither to them but found every where in great plenty and such as the Europeans have none of they call it in their Countrey Language Voulamene Voutruroa yet distinguish it into three sorts the first their In-land Gold or Gold of Malacasse pale-colour'd and is pliable as Lead an Ounce whereof is not worth ten Crowns The second Gold of Mecha or Voulameneraca which the Rohandrians brought with them out of their Countrey it being very fine and good Duckat-Gold The third that which the Christians have brought thither being hardest to be melted and by them is nam'd Voulamene Voutrouwa as they say The Gold of Malacasse was first found in the Countrey of which there are Mynes in the Territory of Anossi and elsewhere by the relation of the Blacks The In-land Gold they divide into three sorts one very fine call'd Litteharonghe the second less fine styl'd Voulamene Sautehy and a third ordinary nam'd Ahets-Lovau Precious Stones they find in the Rivers and Brooks of many kinds Precious Stones as Crystal Topazes Granats Amethysts Eagles-stones Smaragdines or Emerauds Saphyres Jacinths Jaspers Agats Blood-stones by the Inhabitants call'd Rahamanghe and by the Physitians in Greek Haematifes Cornelion Toad-stones and such like They find in several quarters of this Island divers sorts of Waters Waters some running above and some under Ground receiving a taste and quality according to the Mineral they participate of In the Valley of Amboulle ariseth a Spring with very hot Water a powerful Medicine against Sicknesses growing from Cold in the Sinews the same being drunk is a great Pectoral and cures all Diseases of the Stomach openeth obstructions in the Reins and Spleen and expells the Stone and Gravel They have in many places Springs that taste like Iron as near Fort Dauphin in Anossi which the French and the Blacks therefore call the Iron-water In a high Mountain in Amboulle are Fountains of salt Water although thirty Miles distant from the Sea whereof the Natives make Salt Manghasia shews a Fountain upon a Hill out of which issues Jews-Gumme In the Precinct of Fanghaterre Westward of Mount Hiela are Brooks with white Water that taste and smell like Brimstone Houlouve Four setts of Honey and Vourouhehock afford rich Salt-Petre Caves which they name in general Tentele and make-four sorts of it Bee-Honey call'd Voatentele green Mesquite-Honey by name Sih and two sorts of Honey of Pismires one of Flying Pismires Swarming together in hollow Trees and of other Pismires a little bigger which make their Honey in Vontantames that is great Mole-hills sharp and copped above every where boared through with Ant-holes All these Honeys have a very sweet taste But besides these they tell of two other sorts of Honey one hard and sweet more resembling Sugar than Honey yet call'd Teutele Sacondre made of the Leaves of a little Tree or Shrub which at maturity turn into yellow green and red Husks some hold this to be the Tabaxir of the Arabians or Sugar of the Bomboes Cane which yields rather an unpleasant than sweet taste There is yet another sort of Honey said to be Venomous or Poysonous yet made by Bees which suck it out of the Flowers of a Tree bearing strong Poyson and found in Carakarak a member of Anossi The Inhabitants make three sorts of Wine the first and commonest of Honey the second of Sugar which they call Tovach or Tovapare being somewhat bitter of taste like new Beer or as the Kernel of an Apricock made in the Countreys of Manamboule Matatane and Hanghabei by boyling the Sugar Canes in Water to the consumption of a third part then putting it into great Callabashes it becomes Wine on the third day This Wine hath such a corrosive quality that put it into an Egg-shell it will eat the same throrow in the space of one hour The third some make of the great Bananoes Fruits putting the same into a Vessel and boyling it four or five hours of which cometh a tartish Wine like Sider They have several sorts of Oil Oile with which both Men and Women anoint their Heads and Bodies for want thereof they take Ox Suet mixt with Wax The best known and ordinariest Oils are Menachtanhe Menaen signifieth Oil Menachil Menachovivat Monachmafoutra Menach Voarave Menach Apokopouk Menach Vintag and Menach Arame Menach Tanhetanhe made of a Plant in the Countrey Language call'd Tanhetanha and by us Tree of Wonder and in Latin Ricinus Minalchis Oil they make in the Valley of Amboulle of a Fruit or Seed call'd Voankare and in Europe Sesamus Menachouvivou they extract of a Fruit as big as an Almond and hath a good taste both in Eating and Drinking Menachmafoutra made of the Kernels of the Fruits of the Dragon-Tree bears the same thickness as Oil of Nutmegs but without smell it cures Scabs and dry Tetters Voarave is drawn from the Fruit Fontsi Menachfowaha of the Fruit Apokapouk being very Poysonous Menach Vintag of a great Acron Menach Arame of the Kernel of the Fruit of the Tree from whence the Gum call'd Tacamahacha proceeds From hence Merchants bring divers sorts of Physical Earth one red Tamene in their Speech as good if not the same with that by the Apothecaries call'd Bole Armoniack another call'd Terra Sigillata Sealed Earth that properly so named brought from the Island of Lemnos and therefore also call'd Terra Lemnia yet according to Flakourt that of Madagascar no less esteem'd than the other and among the Natives call'd Tavelisse A third like Chalk excellent to wash Linen in stead of Sope being a fat Clay like the Earth of Malta which they say carry'd about one hath power to kill or drive away Snakes or Serpents or at least to resist their Poyson the Vulgar name there is Tanefoutchi They have great variety of Gums known by the general name Lite some well scented and others without any smell Of these we will reckon first Litementa or Benjoin Literame or Taccamahacca Lite Fimpi a pleasant scented Gum. Lite-Enfouraha a kind of green Rosin with a Balsom-like smell Quizominthi a black Gum which serves to Glue the Handles to their Assagays Hingue a black well scented Gum Litimithsi black like Jah very drawing but quickly grows dry and hard yet the Women use it to Gum their Faces to prevent Wrinkles it heals also Wounds and Sores Litin Bitsik Gum made by the Pismires in the Territory of Ampatre is white and hangs on a small Branch of a Tree inclosing within it small Pismires Falanoue that is Musk cometh from a Creature as big as a Cat Litineha is our Dragons Bloods Litin Barenkoko another sort of Dragons Blood Latinpane well scented
up and burn to make a Compost of their Ashes to inrich the Grounds intended for Planting of Rice The Fruit which it bears not till the third year is of the thickness of a small Bean whereof perhaps good Meal might be made This Plant yields no less profit to the Islanders then the Coco-Nuts do to the Indians for they make thereof Pots to boyl Rice in Pails or Vessels to fetch Water in Wine and Beer Flasks Knives Violins and Harps Rice-Measures Tobacco-pipes Tinder-boxes small Skiffs for two Men to sit in and row up and down in the Rivers Roofs of Houses Planks and Stairs and likewise Palanquins or Sedans wherein the Grandees of the Countrey are carried for which purpose it is bended in its growth to make these Chairs the easier Ampoufoutchy is a Wood extraordinary light white and easie to be wrought Of the Bark they make Ropes Amaze is a Tree thick in Body but shoots up aloft tapering like a Pyramide The Fruit contains a white Marrow with many hard Kernels within like the Seeds of a Pine-apple Tanevoule is a Tree whose Leaves grow round about the Branches without Stalks very long and narrow as if they were glew'd to them Onuvane a sort of knotty Cane like the Indian The Root they account good Meat and the Wood being Violet-colour Dyes Red. Besides these are many others found which are much like the European and seem to be one and the same The Countrey of Alfissack produces many Wild Grapes but the Inhabitants do not eat them being ignorant of their goodness Good Tobacco grows all over the Countrey and Hemp there call'd Ahetsmanga Ahetsboule which Flaccourt affirms both in Stalk Leaf and Seed not to differ from that of Europe This Hemp saith the same Flaccourt the Inhabitants plant with great diligence and the dry'd Leaf they take in stead of Tobacco which hath a stupifying quality causing Drowsiness Sleep and pleasant Dreams Those that are not us'd to take it like two or three days together as if they were distracted and therefore none but old Women and the Ombiassen that is the Soothsayers or Priests and Learned Men take of it In the East-Indies they have a like sort of Plant call'd Bangue and producing the same Effects but the Stalk is thrown away and useless Lastly There grows also Taikombelahe or Purslain Cabbage Radish Dill Turky-Wheat Toughes or Mustard-seed and Datura or Thorn-apple As this Island boasts so wonderful a fertility of Plants Beasts so it is also stor'd with great numbers of several kinds of Beasts Vermin Fowl and Fishes There are three sorts of Oxen some with Horns others without Horns and round Heads call'd Bouri and the third with hanging or loose Horns only fastned to the Skin All these have great Lumps of Fat behind in their Necks of which the Inhabitants make Suet and use it in stead of Butter In the Territory of Machicore many of those Beasts are found which in former times the Inhabitants say have been tame and indeed they resemble ours in Europe onely longer Legg'd and run through the Woods in great Herds There are many Kabrito's or Rams whose Females have Young commonly three times a year and four at each time Some of the Sheep have great long Tails of five and twenty Pound weight and nothing but clear Fat which they boyl and eat being excellent Food The Woods swarm with wild Hogs which do great hurt to the Rice-Fields The Flesh of these but chiefly of the Sows and young ones is esteemed a choyce Dainty The common Hogs makes very good and wholsom Pork for though one eats never so much of it he will not surfet perhaps by reason of their good feeding which consists most in Land-Turtles and their Eggs. There are another sort call'd Tendrak whose Flesh though not very pleasing to the Pallat yet the Inhabitants hold for a great Dainty They sleep six moneths under ground without eating and in that time shed their Bristles and other new ones appear in their places sharp like those of Hedghogs Fosse is a Creature preying upon Poultry they eat the Flesh thereof as wholsom Diet. Farassa a devouring Beast as big as a Fox with a great long Tail and Hair like a Woolf. The Dogs are very small with a long Snout short Ears like a Fox and such like Hair but of several colours Monkies or Baboons are of several sorts and amongst others great ones being white with Spots on their Ribs and Heads and a long Snout like a Fox fierce of nature like Tygers and make a great noyse in the Woods Another sort have gray Hairs are much smaller with flat Noses and easily made tame A third and the most common call'd Varii are gray and long Nos'd with great shaggy Tails These may be tam'd without difficulty if taken young or else they will starve themselves to death There are white Apes call'd Sifak with yellowish Heads white Tails and two Spots on their Sides are much bigger than the Varii and usually walk on their hindmost Legs and keep in the Woods in great companies There is yet another sort of gray Apes with Eyes shining like Fire and short Hair but not possible to be tam'd Fitsihi or gray Squirrels which commonly keep the Holes of hollow Trees and not easily caught Vondsira a small Vermine like a Weazle of a darkish colour greedily covets Honey and smells like Musk. There are many Civet-Cats which the People of Manahengha and others eat Tre-tre-tre or Tra-tra-tra a Beast as large as a Cow hath a round Head and a Man's Face and Feet like an Ape Flaccourt taketh it for the Tanacht described by Ambrose Paree It keeps for the most part alone by the Pool Lepomami The Inhabitants stand so much in fear of it that they flye the sight of it as that also runs away upon the appearance of a Man Antamba a great Beast with a round Head The Negro's report it as fierce and ravenous as a Leopard and that it devours both Men and Beasts yet seldom appears but keeps in the Mountains Mangerzahok a very great Beast with round Feet like a Horse and very long Ears Brays like an Ass why may we not suppose it to be a wild one Brehis a Beast with one single Horn in the Forehead as big as a Goats is very wild But there are neither Tygers Horses nor Lyons as some have Written Famokantratra Vermin a small Beast having Legs at the Tail above the Neck and on the outmost part of the Chin small Claws with which it hangs fast on the Barks of the Trees It holds the Mouth always open to receive Spiders Muggs and other Vermin whereon it feeds It gain'd the Name Flamokantratra that is Breast-hopper because it leaps upon the Breast of any that approach near the Tree where it sits and sticks so close and fast that the skin must be cut away with a Rasor to remove it for which reason the Inhabitants much fear it Camelions Valaau Rats
are govern'd by an evil Vitang or Planet so that these People account almost half the Year unlucky Nevertheless some among them have a little more pity and compassion towards their Children and after they have so barbarously expos'd them let their Slaves their Maid-Servants go instantly and take it thenceand Suckle it however they account it no more theirs but appropriate to the Person that takes it up or the Nurse Others are satisfi'd by performing Falis for their Children that is they sacrifice Beasts and Hens and shut them half a day as they say to prevent the malign influence of the Constellation that reigns over them for if they should let them live and not perform this Ceremony they would another day be Robbers and Murtherers of their Fathers and adicted to all Mischief If a poor unmarried Woman-Slave have a Child and her Master hath put her away she will not stick to drown the Child in the River or bury it alive in the Ground or otherwise kill it to rid her of the burthen trouble and care of bringing up If a Woman when she is great with Child and is very sick or has hard Labor they impute the fault to the Child and the Woman orders them to kill or to bury it alive If the Daughter of a Rohandrian hath had to do with a Negro before she be Married as they all do none excepted she either causes an Abortion or if she be deliver'd makes away the Child Nevertheless there are some though few that do it not but cause the Child to be carried afar off and nursed by her own Negresses Lastly If a Woman die in Labor they bury the Child alive with the Mother saying That it is better it should die than live having no Mother left to bring it up The Inhabitants both Whites and Blacks Their manner of Eating observe a peculiar and evil Custom in Eating though their Victuals is dress'd very neatly and handsomly The People of the Rohandrians eat with Rohandrians the Lohavohits with Lohavohits the Ontsoa's with their own Tribe and never intermixedly insomuch that no Rohandrian Woman married to an Anakandrian will endure that her Husband should eat with her But in Manghabei the Slaves eat with their Masters They have their Meal-times commonly in the Morning and in the Evening but the Zafferamimi make five or six Meals in a day Their usual Food is Rice Beans Voanzonrouk or little Wheat Food call'd also Voenzou or Mimes and Voamitsa-Ofekque Ignames of several sorts Coleworts which they call Sanzes and Varuattes Oxen Sheep Goats Hens Capons Turkeys by them styl'd Alcanga Ducks Pigs but never any grown Hogs except they Hunt them and then they and their whole Family eat them Many sorts of Sea and River Fish Menachil or Oyl of Sesamos and Oyl of Ovinaa Several Fruits as Vontaka Lamontes Voarats Voanattes Lotfes Sakol the Fruit Sakre Co Sugar-Canes and Bananoes They live also in time of Scarcity or Famine upon certain Roots which grow in the Water and in the Woods as Roots of Ouirandre Oumenpasso and Ouuirouzes For Sauce to their Meat they usually have Ginger Garlick-Leaves and White Pepper though at the beginning they look'd upon it as Poyson Their usual Drink is warm Water or the Broath wherein they boyl their Meat They make Wine of Honey yet they drink it not but in their Missavatsi and chief Solemnities They speak but one Language through the whole Island Language but very different in the Tone and Pronunciation some giving them a short and some a long Accent This Language hath much affinity with the Eastern especially the Arabick and great agreement with the Greek as well in the manner of Expression as in the connexing of Names and Compound-words Every thing is call'd according to the Action or manner of Operation by which it is effected as a broken Tree or Stick they call Hazonfaulac a torn Cloth Sichinrota a broken Pot Vilanghavakqui broken Thred Foulomaitou and so many other things which expresseth the copiousness of the Tongue In the manner of their speaking there happens a change of some Consonant Letters The V is chang'd into a B when the anticedent Word ends in a Consonant as for Exampie Vohits signifies A Mountain but to say Ambohits which signifies In the Mountain the V must be chang'd into B The Letter F they turn into P thus Fasso signifies Sand or the Shore but when the Word An comes before it they must say Anpasso that is In or on the Sand or Shore as also in many others The Lords Prayer is thus Amproy Antsica izau hanoutang andanghitsi angharanau hofissahots Vahouachanau hoavi aminay fiteiannau boefaizangh an tane toua andanghitsi Mahoumehanau anrou aniou abinaihane antsica aman hanau Mangbafaca hanay ota antsica Tona-Zahai Manghafaca hota anreo Mououany amanhanau aca Mahatet Seanay abin fiuet seuetse ratsi fehe hanau Metezaha hanay tabin haratsian abi Amin. The Letters which the Ombiasses or Priests make use of are the same with the Arabick and eight and twenty in number written from the right hand to the left though the Pronunciation of some of them differ from those of the Arabick These Letters about two hundred years ago were brought in among them by certain Arabians who were sent into this Island by the Caliph of Mecha and Landed in Matatane where they Married the Native Women and Instructed every one that would in the Arabick Tongue and Alchoran as they do at this day The Paper they write upon is yellow and made of the middlemost Bark of the Tree Avo almost in the same manner like that of Europe but with trouble and preparation Paper made that is They boyl the Bark two days in a great Kettle with very strong Lye of the Ashes of the Tree afterwards being tender and supple they wash it in clear Water and then in a Wooden Mortar beat it to Pap which they lay together upon a Sieve or Canvas made of small thin Reeds put together to drain and afterwards upon a Leaf of Balisier anointed with Oyl of Menachil and laid to dry in the Sun As soon as it is dry they draw it through a thick Decoction of Rice to prevent sinking of the Ink and then again lay it to dry pressing it flat and even Their Ink is made of the Decoction of the Wood Arandrantes of which the Grandees build their Houses and the Gum Carabe comes from it Ink made which they let stand till the thinner and more subtle parts exhaled it becomes thick again This Ink proves very good and durable though not so black as ours in Europe but the addition of a little Copperas makes it a pure Black It hath no need of Gum the Wood of which being boyl'd hath enough of it self and if it chance to be dry'd they boyl it up with a little Water and it becomes as good as at first Their Writing-Pens are made of Bamboes Reeds Writing-Pens which they
Corpse and draw the Bowe-string as far as they can to signifie that they would fight against his Enemy and if he were slain in the Wars or kill'd by any malicious Person they would with such force take vengeance And lastly a Man or a Woman is left by the Corpse to keep it and take care to beat away the Flies and Vermine which otherwise might annoy the body When the nearest Relations have finish'd their Ceremonies and come from the house immediately some Women of her Acquaintance apply themselves to the Widow to lament and condole with her and falling down at her feet use these words Bqun e Bqun e that is Be comforted or Cease your lamentation After the accomplishment of these sorrowful Complaints the men carry the Corpse upon a Biere to the Grave commonly made near the Sepulchres of their Ancestors in some Tombouroi or desolate Village and there inhume it not above knee-deep casting into the Ground after him Mats Kettles Basons Beads or what other Wealth he possest himself with or was presented after his death and then fill up the Hole with Earth covering it over with a painted Mat fasten'd with Pins and an Iron close by setting up a Pole whereon if it be a Mans Corpse they hang his Clothes and Arms in the manner of a Trophy but if it were a Woman some Pewter Porringers or Dishes are made fast with a Pin to the Ground And with all convenient speed the Friends erect a Hut over the Grave as a defence from the Rain and also for a Monument that their Memories may not altogether be forgotten The Kings Kindred are buried in an Island call'd Masach lying in a Lake belonging to the River Plizoge where King Flans-Sire Father of the present Reigning King Flambore in his life kept his Royal Seat and now lies Entomb'd If any of the Friends have been absent or in a Journey upon his return he comes to the House of the Deceas'd though it be two or three moneths after and falling down at the feet of the nearest Kinsman to the Deceas'd bewails his loss If he meets any of his Acquaintance of the near Friends to the Deceas'd he embraces him and salutes him with these words Clau e Clau e that is Lament Lament and then talk together of their Affairs When any Nobleman dies one or two of his Slaves or Slavesses are put to death at the Grave to be his Attendants in the Elizian Fields others wait at the Grave to whom the Friends of the Dead carry Presents of Bracelets Beads Coral Rice Tobacco the Fruit Kola and a Hen boil'd with Rice which they may dispose as they please Though this destroying and killing of Slaves and Slavesses was an old Custom here yet it is not much practis'd of late and those of the Slaves that can run away or defend themselves with weapons in their hands are free Therefore when an Eminent Person is dying all his Slaves get away where they cannot be found though the danger of their Lords Death is conceal'd as much as possible The Run-away-Slaves when they come again are rail'd at and upbraided with these or such like words You will eat of your Lords Cost but not die with him who excuse themselves saying Life is sweet and no man would willingly leave or have it taken away against his will The chiefest of the Friends at the beginning of the Mourning make a Vow of Abstinence swearing by a holy Token which they call Bolly-Gowe with lifting up of hands that they will keep it for a common Person eight or ten days and for a Lord a moneth or longer in which time they may not eat any Rice nor drink out of any whole Vessel or Cup but onely out of a Potsheard or a little hole made in the ground neither do the Men sleep with their Wives nor may wear any Painted or Colour'd Clothes but onely Black or White cut with flashes shaving their Hair and sleep upon the bare ground When the time is expired they come to the Bolly-Gowe and discharge themselves with up-lifted Hands from the aforesaid Promise and Vow with assurance that they have kept the same Lastly a Funeral-Banquet is prepared for which the Women boyl Rice and the Men go into the Woods a Hunting and bring home what they catch which they boyl and eat and so the whole Ceremony concludes Those that have fasted are gratifi'd with Presents every one according to his quality that is common persons one with a Bason another with a little Garment or Salt-Basket or a piece of Iron or Mat but persons of account with a Staff Iron or other Goods which with them are highly esteemed If the acquaintance of the Deceased have any suspicion that he died not a natural Death they neither wash the Dead nor lament till the doubt be resolved for they say if any should mourn before it would be impossible to bring to light the guilty person because the Spirit of Envy over-hearing it would not give any intimation of it The Enquiry is performed in thismanner They take the Corps or in stead of that a piece of his Cloathes with pairings of his Nails and some of his Hair sewing it up like a Pudding mixed with scrapings of Bondu or red Dying-wood this Roll they put into a Mortar where they stamp it Then two eloquent Men are elected who stand with two Iron Bills or Halberds before the Staff-bearers and clashing their Bills ask the Dead what he died of and whether God took him away or no if yea then the Staff-bearers nod as if they were half asleep but if not they shiver and shake In like manner they do upon the other Question of Who did it Where is he and In what manner was it done At length they receive answer that he died a violent Death being kill'd by some Bolly for Bolly is with them all manner of Medicinal Herbs but the Herb that is venomous or poysonous is call'd Sovach But if Bolly hath kill'd him then the Names of most Physical Herbs are recited till they have found which of them was used concluding however at last that Sovach hath kill'd him Then is asked whether he was kill'd by a Man or a Woman and at last is asked concerning the place of his dwelling and person The guilty person being found immediately they are chained to a great Block and asked if he or she will acknowledge the Fact If they can be brought to no acknowledgment then is given to them Quony or else upon acknowledgment of the Fact are cruelly put to death This Quony is a Rind or Bark of a Tree so call'd which in the presence of Friends by the suspected person is pull'd off that the Sap or Juice may be used without any deceit The outermost scurf of the Bark they pare off and beat in a Mortar with Water which after the setling affords a very tart Juice of which they give to those that are taken three or four Kalabasjes
or Quarts to drink in the Morning and not at any other time In the mean time they conjure and perswade themselves that if the Captive be guilty of the Crime he will die or else not At last vomiting the Quony he is held to be quit but if he cannot do that though at first he brings up a little Froth he dies and the Body is either burnt or else cast into the River But if it happen that they cannot receive any answer or but such as is uncertain and Amphibological resting thereon though with much dissatisfaction they forthwith without farther enquiry interre the Corps Yet nevertheless they go to a Jakehmo or Soothsayer a vagrant sort of People who have no certain Dwelling-place but rove up and down and before they answer any question run about distractedly one with a certain kind of Pots or Cups another sounding a Horn the rest with Tabers or little Drums making a great noise and hurliburly seeking and calling for the Sovahmo from whom when they have received any information concerning the guilty person then they proceed to the trial with the Quony in the manner aforesaid ¶ IN Right of Inheritance or possessing of Goods this method is observed The Inheritance When the Man dies and leaves behind him some Children that are under Age the elder Brother takes the possession of all the Slaves Wives Children moveable and not moveable Goods of his Father except his own Mother Thus taking upon himself the government of the Family after time of mourning finished he draws to the place of Exercises before the King in presence of all his acquaintance with his Father's Bowe in his hand and his Quiver of Arrows at his back one end of the Bowe he sets upon the Ground holding the other end in his hand in that posture he declareth openly that resolving to be valiant and to follow his Father's course he will now give a proof before all the Spectators After he hath shewed his skill and activity he presents himself before the King in the same posture as before saying He is resolved to bear the burthen of his Family to give the Children under Age an Example to Till the Ground to defend the Right of his Family and what else befits him After the Decease of this Son the next eldest Brother takes all But if the eldest Son live and have Children then his younger Brothers and their Children have onely so much of the Estate as shall keep them till they come to Manhood and maintain the Slaves or Slavesses given him in his Father's life-time for it is the custom in that Countrey that people of ability bestow upon their Children as well Sons as Daughters from their Infancy some Slaves But if the Father dies leaving onely Daughters either his Father's Brother if living or else his Father's Brother's Son that the Name may not be extinct shall inherit But if there be no Male-issue of the Father's side the King is Heir and takes as well Slaves as Goods and Women to him allowing a sufficient maintenance to some trusty Person for the bringing up of the Children ¶ THe Quoia's speak not onely their own Timnian Their Language Hondian Mendian and Folgian Languages but also those of Gala and Gebbe The People of Gebbe and Folgia differ in Speech but little however the Folgian being the smoothest and the noblest is call'd Mendi-ko The Lordly-Tongue partly as we said for its Elegancy and Smoothness partly because of the Dominion the Folgia's hold over the Quoia's and Gebbe-Monou that is the People of Gebbe for Monou in that Idiom signifies People They of Konde-Quoia or High-Quoia differ in Dialect from the Quoia's near the Sea ¶ IN the Head of the Constellation Taurus Signs of their Summer and Winter-Seasons are five Stars near the Pleiades which they call Manja-Ding that is Lords-Childe upon which they look to know whether it be Midnight They have no Hours or past Midnight but know not how to divide Time into Hours nor how to reckon the Age of the Moon Those that dwell in Daula look upon these five Stars appearing in the Evening to the West as a Sign of a Raining-time ¶ THe Authority and Greatness of Quoia Their Strength and Power is at present supported more by Wisdom and Policy than by Power because the subjected Countreys of Cilm Bolm and Bolmberre are accounted more powerful than it This the Parable of King Flamboers Brother nam'd Cia-Haddo seem'd to hint to Flamboere's eldest Son threatning Massakoey Lord of Bolm to take his Countrey There was said he in antient time a Fowl with a very fine red Head and Neck but beyond that thin of Feathers and a small Train but for his beautiful out-side appearance was by other Birds chosen King This Bird sensible of his own defects kept in a Bottel and when the Council of Fowls was assembled put the Head and Neck onely out till at length by course of time the great Sacrifice was to be made to the Idol Belli in the Wood which none but the King in Person might perform at which time compell'd to dissert his Bottle his poverty and wants were discover'd to his great damage Thus far Cia-Haddo And without doubt he discover'd a great Prudence in that witty Apothegm for to prevent discovery it is not permitted to the People lying Northwards to pass through the Easterly Countreys nor for those of the East to go with their Ambassadors or Merchants through the West Countrey and this as we said that they should not discover the Secrets and Conveniences or Inconveniences of the State therefore they of Quoia keep them at distance and traffick for Eastern Wares at reasonable Rates which they vent to the West in Exchange for such as are fit for Barter and Exchange with European Merchants for such Commodities as yield ready Truck with those of the East In like manner also the People of the Upper Countreys prohibit the Quoians to travel through their Land for it is a particular favour that the King of Quoia may take to Wife the Daughter of the King of Manou and at his pleasure pass through the Folgian Territories ¶ WE will next proceed to their Government The Government and first begin with Quoia-Bercoma at present Commanded by a King with the Title of Dondagh his Name Flamboere the Fourth Grandson of one Bokwalla formerly Prince of the Karou's who by the assistance of the Folgians conquering the Veyes after a tedious War laid here the Foundations of a Potent Monarchy to his Successors invited thereto by the fertility of the Soil and an innate ambition and thirst of Soveraignty This acquired Grandeur hath been supported with such Policy that the Inhabitants at all publick Meetings and Solemnities to this day Sing He descended from above This King like his Ancestors holds in subjection Folgia The King of Quoia holds subject the Folgia's the Region of Cape de Monte and the adjacent places formerly