the exiguity of the water which doth not grow thick but resolveth For although you take a great quantity of water and that you provoke with a light and gentle fire that the resolution may be impeded yet the water acquireth no salt tast 3. Lakes and Marshes though heated by the Sun yet wax not salt This Objection also Scaliger endeavoureth to avoid saying that this hapneth by the succession of fresh water And the same is found in those standing Pools and Lakes which only proceed from Rain or Snow dissolved where there is no place for that refuge of succession for those Lakes are rather dried when that it raineth not for a long space than turned into Salt or rendred salt Therefore rejecting those false Opinions concerning the cause and original of Salt in the Ocean let us lay hold of one of the most probable Opinions with little or no difficulty in it viz. 1. That these particles are Coeternal with the very Ocean and therefore we should no more dispute concerning their original than concerning the original of the Ocean it self the Earth yea and of the original and generation of the World 2. If that this Opinion be less complacent we may make choice of another viz. that these salt particles are here and there pulled from the Earth and so dissolved into water Now it is certain that there are many saline Mountains or Rocks in the bosom of the Sea Isle of Ormus a salt Rock The whole Isle of Ormus is nothing else but a white and hard Salt of which they make the Walls of their Houses and therefore no Fountain of fresh water is found in that Isle And none can be ignorant how that many mines of Salt are found on the Land and we have related concerning some in the Eleventh Chapter but we need not particulars Let us consider the whole Earth The greatest part of the Earth hath much Salt in it the greatest part of which is nothing else but a Salt for it hath its consistency from Salt for the Chymical Philosophers do rightly prove that the consistency and compaction of every thing proceedeth from Salt and Experience is answerable to the Assertion for if that you take an hard piece of Earth and burn it to ashes much Salt will be found in it Nothing can be alledged against this Opinion that is of any value and is not easily refuted for some say that it is impossible that those salt parts of the Earth should perpetually suffice and should not at some time or other be consumed by the water of the Ocean which continually taketh away some part of them Unto this I answer That the Salt of the Ocean is not consumed in so great abundance that it should stand in need of much instauration and if that any be consumed yet notwithstanding that is laid up in another place seeing that it is not removed out of the Earth Proposition IX Whether that Water be the fresher in the Ocean by how much it is nigher the bottom and why in some parts of the Ocean fresh Water is found in the bottom Of the freshness of Water in the Sea Unto the first I Answer That experience doth not testifie concerning that sweetness but in some places of which the other Question speaketh that in these places in the bottom of the Sea are Fountains of fresh water I have sufficiently said for it cannot naturally be that the more Salt-water should exist above water less Salt seeing that that is more heavy Those places of the Sea where fresh water is found to spring at the bottom may be collected by those that are studious from the Writers of Geography Proposition X. The Water of the Ocean becometh less salt by how much it is nearer the Poles and on the contrary the more salt by how much it is more near the Aequator or Torrid Zone Although this may be understood of most parts of the Ocean yet the Proposition admitteth of some exceptions The cause of this inequality in saltness is sixfold The Causes of the inequality of the saltness of the Sea in different places 1. That the heat of the Sun in the Torrid Zone lifteth up more vapours from the Ocean into the Clouds than in the Northern places which are the vapours of fresh-water because that the particles of Salt by reason of their gravity are not so easily lifted up Seeing therefore that from the Water of the Ocean of the Torrid Zone or where the place is more near the Torrid Zone so much the vapours are separated by the heat of the Sun thence it cometh to pass that the water that is lest is found more salt there than in the Northern places where there is not so much fresh-water separated by reason of the weak heat of the Sun The 2d Cause 2. The second Cause is the heat or cold of the water for the same numerical water or salt meat as also pickled meat sauce and the like afford a more sensible saltness to the tast when they are eaten hot than when cold for the heat or particles of the fire do move and render the particles of the salt contained in such meat more acute and separates them from the admixtures whence they bite and prick the Tongue more sharply Now because the water of the Ocean is the more hot by how much it is nigher the Aequator or the parallels of the Sun at every day and contrariwise the more cold by how much it is more near the Pole thence it followeth that waters though they should contain the same quantity of salt yet they must seem and appear so much the salter to the tast by how much they are nearer to the Torrid Zone and by how much they are more near the Pole by so much they have less sensible Salt The 3d Cause 3. The third Cause is the more or less quantity of Salt in the diverse parts of the Channel of the Ocean for as we find in the parts of the Earth that there are not pits of Salt in them all neither where they are found is there the like quantity of Salt must be held concerning the part of the Earth that the Sea washeth or covereth that is the Channel or the Shoars where there is therefore most quantity of Salt or Mineral in the bottom or shoar of the Ocean there the water is more salt because that it is impregnated with a greater quantity of Salt So the Isle of Ormus consisteth all of Salt therefore the adjacent Ocean hath very Salt waters But whether there be greater plenty of Salt in the Channel and shoars of the Ocean in the Torrid Zone or more saline Mines than in the North is very doubtful by reason of the want of observation yet it seemeth probable unto some that there is greater quantity of Salt in those places by reason of the greater heat of the Sun by which the parts of the water are separated from the Terrestrial and
Salt but this is a deceitful sign The 4th Cause 4. The fourth Cause of the unequal saltness is the frequency or scarcity of Rains unto which we may add Snow and in the Northern places Snow and Rain is frequent in the places of the Torrid Zone they are less frequent in some parts of the year and in othersome they are almost continual And therefore in these places in the pluvial Months the water of the Ocean is not so salt on the shoar and hath less Salt in it than in the dry Months Yea in many Regions of the Coast of Malabar the Ocean is fresh in the pluvial Months by reason of the abundance of water that floweth from the top of the Mountain Gatis and falleth into the Sea for this very reason in divers Seasons of the year the same Ocean is of a various saltness yet because in the Northern places the Rains and Snows are continual throughout the whole year therefore this Sea is less salt than in the Torrid Zone The 5th Cause 5. The fifth Cause is the dissimilary solution or unequal faculty of the Water to dissolve this Salt and unite it to its self for hot water sooner uniteth Salt unto it self than cold Water although therefore in the Northern places of the Ocean the shoars and Channels of the same contain more or the like quantity of Salt that those places of the Torrid Zone do yet because the water is there more cold it is not so able to dissolve and unite the Salt to it self so subtily us the water in the Torrid Zone which is more hot The 6th Cause 6. The sixth cause is the exoneration of many and great Rivers into the Sea but this cause only taketh place in the parts of the Ocean that are vicine to the shoars but is not discovered in the remote parts So Mariners affirm that the Ocean on the Coast of Brasilia where the Silver-River disburtheneth it self loseth it saltness and affordeth fresh waters fifteen miles distant from the shoar The same is observed of the African Ocean on the Coasts of Congi where the River Zaire exonerateth it self and of many more Rivers Unto these add runing Fountains in some parts of the bottom of the Ocean These are the Causes which seem to concur to the variety and diversity of saltness in divers parts of the Ocean from which the saltness of every one of the Seas may be explained From whence also it is easy to give an account why the water of the German and Northern Ocean is less apt to separate Salt from it self by coction than the water of the Spanish Ocean the Canary Isles and that of Cape Verd whence the Dutch fetch Salt in great abundance and transport it into the Northern Regions viz. this Ocean is more near the Torrid Zone and receiveth water from the Ocean of the Torrid Zone the other is more remote from the Frigid Zone yet I cannot deny the constitution of the Channels themselves to be more or less saline The Sea-water at Guinee in the Ethiopick Ocean affordeth Salt at one coction as white as snow such as neither the Spanish Ocean nor any other in Europe do produce at one coction or boyling Proposition XI Why Rain-water in the middle of the Ocean is found sweet but the water which we separate from the Marine or Salt-water either by decoction or distillation is yet notwithstanding found salt when yet the Rain-water proceedeth from the Vapours exhaled from the Sea Fresh-water abstracted from Salt-water The Learned Chymists or true Naturalists have hitherto laboured in vain that they might find out an Art by which they might distill and abstract fresh water from the water of the Ocean which would be of great advantage but as yet their Labours have proved fruitless for although as well in the decoction as distillation Salt may be left in the bottom of the Vessel yet the water separated by decoction as well as distillation is yet found salt and not fit for men to drink which seemeth wonderful unto those that are ignorant of the cause Yet Chymistry that is true Philosophy hath taught the reason for by the benefit of this we know that there is a twofold salt in Bodies or two kinds of salt which although they agree in tast yet they much differ in other qualities one of these Artists term fixed the other volatile salt The fixed salt by reason of its gravity is not elevated in distillation but remaineth in the bottom of the Vessel but the volatile salt is full of spirit and indeed is nothing else but a most subtile spirit that is elevated by a very light fire and therefore in the distillation ascendeth with the fresh water and is more firmly united by reason of the subtilty of the Attoms neither is this volatile salt found only with fixed salt in Sea-water but almost in all bodies as Chymistry proveth by experience but in some in a greater and in othersome in a lesser quantity in a greater quantity in sharp tasted Herbs in a lesser in oily Herbs Therefore difficulty consisteth in the separation of this salt spirit or volatile salt from the water But why the pluvial water in the midst of the Sea is no less fresh than on the Land seeing that yet it is generated by abstraction of the exhalations of the Ocean caused by the fervour of the Sun or from some subterraneous fire which evaporation doth little differ from distillation The cause seemeth to be Fourfold 1. A slow operation by which the tenuous part is only elevated from the Ocean which although it containeth a saline volatile spirit yet it hath it in less quantity than if that this exhalation were caused by a more forcible heat 2. The long way that this vapour passeth through before that it arriveth unto that Region of the Air where it is condensated into rain in passage it is possible that the saline spirit is by degrees separated from the watery particles 3. The admixture of other watery particles existing in the air 4. A Refrigeration Coition and condensation of the vapour for these exhalations exhaled from the Ocean by degrees are more and more refrigerated and being conjoyned with other obvious and admixed vapours they condense into a more thick vapour or cloud in this Refrigeration and condensation or coition of the saline spirit with the fiery particles they fly into the more exalted part of the Air. Now why the same is not performed in distillation where the vapours exalted are also condensed the cause is 1. That by reason of the small passage the saline spirit is as yet over straitly conjoyned to the watery particles 2. That the vapour restrained in the vessel admitteth not a free passage to the evolant spirit Proposition XII Sea-water is more ponderous than fresh water and the water of one Sea is more heavy than another Sea water more heavy than fresh water The cause is manifest from what hath been said
participations of Minerals are to be applied to Vitriol Sulphureous and Mercurial waters and the like and more especially to these to wit to Salt Vitriolate and Sulphureous because in these Nature it self doth exhibit this fourfold variety I doubt whether that Corporeal waters of a mixed subtilty do exist Spirituous Metallick waters are very rare but Sulphureous and Salt waters are frequent But the Corporeal and Spirituous because these sorts of Metals are both found in many places of the Earth and also in a greater quantity and easily suffer their particles to be gnawed off they send out also frequently a fume and vapour We will explain by one Example this fourfold variety of participation and that in Gold 1. In the preceding Chapter and the sixteenth Proposition we have enumerated those Riverets which carry grains of Gold and with this Treasury make glad the Natives such are many in the Earldom of Tirol and the places adjacent and we have said that the Rhine it self Albis Danube and most great Rivers in some places carry grains of Gold as also of other Metals and Minerals by reason that they receive Golden or Gold-bearing Riverets The Rhine carrieth grains of Gold commixed with Clay and Sand in many places but especially at these 1. Near Curia in Rhetia 2. At Meinfield 3. At Eglinsan 4. At. Secningham 5. At the Town Augst not far from Basil 6. At Norinburgh 7. At Wormes 8. At Seltz 9. At Mentz 10. At Bacherack 11. At Bononia and the like The Reader may see those Gold-bearing Riverets which the Rhine receiveth in Thurnhuserus as also those that the Danube and Albis do receive In the water of this viz. the Albis are found grains of Gold 1. At Leutmeritz in Bohemia 2. At Puru 3. At Dresda in Misnia 4. At Torga 5. At Magdeburgh 6. At the Tower of Lunenburgh fifteen miles from Hamburgh Concerning the Gold-bearing Riverets consult the forecited Book of Thurnhuserus where also you may see those that carry other Mettals and Minerals These Waters are therefore the Corporeal Golden-waters of the first mode viz. those that carry grains of Gold which less properly are termed Mineral or Golden because the Golden-grains are not permixed with the water but are carried down by the rapid Current of the water and the waters themselves are simple or uncompounded 2. Golden Corporeal-waters of a subtile commixtion to wit the Atoms of whose waters are mixed with the Atoms of the Gold as we have said of the Aqua Regia of the Chymists which dissolveth the Gold and uniteth it to it self by Atoms And now because there may be like waters which whether they be carried through Golden-lands or Mines may gnaw off and dissolve some Golden-Atoms of it with Earthly ones such Golden-waters many Riverets seem to be which Thurnhuserus writeth to participate of Gold and reckoneth them up in the description of the Danube Rhine and other great Rivers 3. The Golden Spirituous-waters are very few and some of those are they peradventure which Thurnhuserus enumerateth Now such waters are less noted or sensible because Golden-Earth and Mines are very rare and that in a small quantity Moreover where the Mines are a quantity of other Minerals are also together with the Gold whence the water receiveth many more Spirits Yet some Riverets in the high Alpes of Bohemia are said to participate of these Golden-Spirits also in Silesia and the Mountain that they call Fitchtelberg The Pepper-Baths in the Bishoprick of Curia are believed to be impregnated with such a Spirit but by reason of the admixture of other Minerals in greater quantity the waters receive a less sensible quality from it 4. Golden-waters which carry both Atoms of Gold and Spirit are some of the Riverets mentioned by Thurnhuserus We will add the Example of Salt-waters Example of Salt-waters 1. Salt Corporeal-waters viz. which carry the more gross particles of Salt and not accurately mixed they are many and sufficiently known to any person as certain Springs of which Salt is made Hitherto appertaineth the Sea-water if that it be made more gross by the heat of the fire 2. Salt Corporeal subtile-waters which contain the Salt reduced into little particles they are those which when they are most Salt yet withal they are very pellucid and subtile as many salt Springs and tenuous Sea-water although that there be great difference in this subtile commixtion Hitherto appertaineth the Vrin of all Animals 3. Salt Spirituous-waters which contain not the particles of Salt but the spirit of Salt they are such that if you should boyl many Vessels of them yet notwithstanding you should receive no Salt Not a few of these are in Germany and elsewhere but they are rarely found simple 4. Salt Corporeal and Spirituous-waters which have particles of Salt and Spirit Almost all the Corporeal have also some portion of Saline spirit but most of them very little So near the City Saltzinga not far from the Rhine the Fountains are salt the water of which though more salt than other waters yet it affordeth less Salt because its sharp and salt sapor is sharpned by a spirit or volatile Salt that flyeth away in the boyling Hence it is manifest how this fourfold difference of participation is to be applied unto every sort of Mineral waters viz. Vitriolate-waters Alom-waters Lead-waters and the like Proposition V. To reckon up the noted differences of Mineral Waters The noted differences of Mineral Waters In the foregoing Propositions we have explained the true kinds and differences of Mineral waters taken from the very essence of them viz. from the particles of the Minerals which they carry or by which they are impregnated but those differences because they do not so strike the senses and moreover by reason of the various mixture of Minerals communicate various properties to the water wherefore they are less vulgarly known for the denomination of all Bodies ariseth from manifest qualities on the Sense as also doth the celebrity of waters amongst men The explication and cause of which apert qualities and properties must be sought from the inmost composition of things Therefore the noted and famous differences or species of Liquors flowing from the Earth and also known to the Vulgar sort of men are these ten to wit 1. Sowr-waters 2. Bitter 3. Hot 4. very Cold 5. Oily and Fat 6. Poysonous 7. Coloured 8. Ebullient 9. Water that converts less hard into harder or after any other mode changing any Bodies cast in or stained with them 10. Salt-waters And in the 11th place we may add those which are endowed with any other wonderful property Unto these Classes those that are studious in these things may reduce all Waters which are found described in Authors We shall only in brief shew their generation and differences and alledge some Examples Proposition VI. To explain the cause or generation difference or kinds of Acid or Sowr Waters Of Sowr Waters Great is the celebrity of Acid waters or Springs they
water on which drops of oyl do flow In Scotland two miles from Edenborough a Fountain floweth on the whole Superficies of which drops of black oyl do swim the Inhabitants use it to mollifie the skin and to take away scabs So the River Cilicia tearmed Liparis was famous amongst the Ancients in which those that washed themselves were anoynted by the water whether it be so at this day I much doubt So likewise there was a Lake in Aethiopia which anointed those that swam it Also there was a Fountain in India which on a clear day sent forth a great quantity of oyl In Zant and about Dyrrachium and Appallonia as Vitruvius writeth there were Fountains which vomited out abundance of pitch with water There was a Lake in Babylon of great magnitude called Limme Asphaltis it had liquid Bitumen swiming upon it with which the black Semiramis encompassed Babylon with a Wall At this day also at Monasterium in Bavaria is the Fountain Degemsce on the top of which oyl swimmeth and is daily taken off The Acid waters of Schwalback if they be taken in a Vessel and have been settled for some days small drops of oyl swim on the top of them There is a greater quantity in the Fountain tearmed Oelbrum not far from Hagenaw at the Village Lamperscholch Also in the many Bathes are found bituminous particles if so be that they stood quiet for some days as in the Baths of the Kingdom of Naples tearmed the Bath of Petrolei Now the Fountains that send out not an oyl swimming on the water but a meer fat or bituminous liquor are also many Near Gersbachium in the Valley called Lebersthal from an antiquated and exhausted Mine oyl or bitumen floweth with which the Country Swains besmear their Cart-wheels Neither do the Inhabitants know its excellency In the Isle of Sumatra is a Spring from which Naptha like unto oyl floweth others say that it is a kind of Balsom they report Fountains of Amber to be there likewise In Peru near the sea is a bituminous Fountain sending forth a Branch or Riveret into the Sea The Natives use it instead of pitch neither do they use any other matter In Persia not far from Schimachia at or near the high Mountain Barmach in a Valley are about thirty Fountains of Bitumen or Naptha but runing in deep Wells with a great force the Depth is about two Ells wooden steps being made for the conveniency of descent it sendeth forth a Sulphureous and strong Spirit it is of a twofold colour in some red in others white The cause of these bituminous Fountains is a sulphureous and bituminous matter in the bowels of the earth thrust forth by a heat and spirit The cause of the differences is to be sought from the differences of the fat matters themselves as Succinum Amber Oyl of Petrolei Pitch Naptha and the like Proposition X. To explain the generation of bitter water and to reckon up the places of the earth in which they are found Of the generation of bitter waters and the places where they are found Many Fountains and Wells in the Regions of India on the Choromandel have bitter water although that they ebulliate in and flow from Rocks In Pontus a Region of Asia minor a little River tearmed Exampeus at the Town Callipadus is very bitter it rendereth the River Hypanis into which it floweth also very bitter They arise from impure Sulphur Bitumen Nitre Ink Copper as water left a long time in a Copper vessel acquireth a bitter taste The Lake Asphaltites in Palestine which is called Mare Mortuum or the Dead Sea hath a bitter water by reason of the impure Bitumen whence it ought to be referred to the fat waters of the former Proposition It sendeth forth a stinking scent and vapour all things without life sink to the bottom but it suffereth not any Animal to sink neither doth it grow sweet although that it continually swalloweth up the River Jordan It is venomous by reason that it containeth Arsnick Proposition XI Yo explain the cause of very cold Springs and to enumerate the places of the Earth where they are found The cause of cold Springs In the Province of Dauphin in France not far from Vienna is a Fountain of so great cold that the mouths of those that drink it are swelled with it neither can they endure their hands in it it is not diminished for the water that is drawn out of it nor augmented by the water poured into it In Arabia or Aethiopia are most cold Springs although that the heat of the Sun be most excessive there In Stiria not far from Gretz are Fountains so cold at the bottom that none can drink any water runing or drawn from thence In a mile from Calma a Spring sendeth forth water as it were boyling with a great wind when yet it is very cold hence they call it The mad water The cause of the coldness of these Fountains are 1. The admixture of Nitre and Alom also of Mercury Iron and the like 2. The depth of the Spring by reason of the defect of the Solary Beams and of the sulphureous subterraneous heat There are also some Springs which are sometimes cold and sometimes hot In Gatalonia the Lake and Fountain Salsula in the Winter is hot and in the Summer very cold This is common to it with many others I think the cause to be that in the Summer the pores of the Earth are open through which the hot Spirits break forth in the Winter they are closed whence within there are hot Furnaces that heat the waters So some Fountains are more hot in the night than in the day Proposition XII To explain the generation of those waters which seem to change bodies into another kind and to reckon up the places of the Earth where they are found There are some waters which change wood into the hardest stone In Ireland Of the generation of waters which change bodies into another kind c. above the City Armagh in a Pool not very large a stake of wood if it be fixed for some months the part that sticketh in the Mud will be iron the part which is touched with the water is turned into stone and the rest remaineth wood so Giraldus and Maginus relate but Brietius sayeth I know not by what authority that it is a meer fable The waters of Loches in Blois a Province in France turn all things put into it into stone At the City Senon in Burgundia near a Lake a Spring floweth which hardneth into stone Vitruvius saith that in Cappadocia between Mazaca and Tuana is a large Lake which changeth a reed or wood put into it in one day into stone In Bohemia near the Baths of Charles is a Fountain in which wood lying long is changed into stone Other waters are thought to change Iron into Copper which yet really they do not but by reason that waters themselves carry particles and spirit of Copper
and Vitriol therefore they dissolve the particles of Iron and by degrees take away from it which whilst that they do the Copper particles of the water are reposed in the place of the Iron ones taken away or there adhere whilst that they glide with the runing water The reason of those that change wood into stone are these 1. Some do not change the wood it self into stone but earthy stony and saline particles contained in the water do apply themselves to the wood and so as it were cover the wood with a stony crust and do not really change it 2. Some do not change the wood into stone but cause a stony hardness to the wood which some mineral waters may possibly do 3. If that some waters have truly changed wood into stone I conceive it to be done after this manner that chief difference is found by sight between the wood and the stone that in the wood there are certain long Fibres or Veins unto which the particles do cohere and those are less thick but in stone the particles are like unto Atoms without any certain extension into long Fibres If that therefore any water dissolve and as it were grind the particles cohering in the wood according to a long line so that now they do no more cohere after this mode but yet are more condensed there will be no more any great difference between the wood and stone as may be observed by our Eyes yet it is probable that these mineral waters communicate some substance to the wood it self There are other waters whose faculty is reported to be able to change the colours in the hair of man or beast Proposition XIII To explain the cause of poisonous and death-causing waters and to reckon up the places where they are Of poisonous waters Such is the Lake Asphaltites by reason of its Arsenical Bitumen In times past famous was the Fountain of Terracina which was called Neptunicus in the Region of the Volsci of which those that drank were deprived of their lives therefore it was filled up with stones by the Inhabitants In Thessalia a Fountain springeth of which no Cattle drink nor no kind of Beast approacheth Famous or rather infamous is the water which in the Region of Arcadia called Nonacris the Ancients write to drop exceeding cold from stony Rocks therefore called the Infernal and Stygian water which no vessel either of silver brass or iron could be preserved in without breaking And by this water Historians report that Alexander the Great was killed by Jolla Son of Antipater and that not without the infamy of Aristotle At this day many mortiferous waters are found in the Places or Regions called the Alpes but most of them are stopped with stones which is the reason that so few death-causing Fountains are known Now the generation of such water is if the water glide or flow through Arsenical Mercurial or Antimonial Earths and are impregnated with their fumes For as the smoak or fume of Arsnick killeth living creatures so waters impregnated with such a fume do the same Proposition XIV To explain the generation of coloured waters and their differences and to enumerate the places of the Earth in which they are found At Chinen in France water floweth from a Cave of somewhat a yellowish colour Of coloured waters In the Kingdom of Congo a Riveret floweth of a red colour into the Sea In some places waters flow of a black of a green and such like colours but they are but few The cause of the colour of these waters is that they glide or run from lands before they come to the Fountain Proposition XV. To explain the generation of Salt-waters and to reckon up the places of the Earth in which they are found Of the generation of Salt-waters The generation is twofold 1. From the Ocean they come through Subterraneous passages and flow to the Superficies of the Earth 2. They are generated of a Salt contained in the Earth such as is found in many places through which whilst the water glideth it conceiveth Saline particles and spirits before that it arrive at the Spring Great is the plenty and that known to every one of Salt Fountains We have spoken in the preceding Chapter and this matter is easily known by reason of the abundance of Salt almost every where lying hidden in the Earth seeing that Salt it self is an Element Proposition XVI To explain the cause of Ebullient Fountains and those that break out with a great spirit and wind and to enumerate the places of the Earth wherein they are found The cause is partly a Sulphureous spirit and partly a Nitrous spirit commixed with water in the Earth Of ebullient Fountains if that it be a Sulphureous spirit the waters are hot if Nitrous cold For neither are all the waters which ebulliate like to those that are hot hot but many of them are cold as is evident from that near to Culma called a mad water of which we have spoken in the Twelfth Proposition The River Tamayus in Galaecia ariseth from a Lake in its rising for some months of the year it sendeth forth a mighty noise In Japan that wonderful hot Fountain of which we have spoken in the Eighth Proposition not above twice every day breaketh forth for the most part for one hour now when that the water beginneth to flow it is carried with so great a force and vehemency of wind that it moveth the vast stones incumbent on the Well and leapeth to the height of three or four Ells with so great a noise like unto the discharge of Cannon In Westphalia a Fountain breaketh forth tearmed Bolderborn from its noise Most of the Spaws and Baths break forth with an abundance of wind and ebulliate as if they boyled a Sulphureous spirit causeth this in the Baths and in the Spaws the Spirits of Vitriol Nitre and the like Proposition XVII To enumerate the kinds of waters which have other certain wonderful properties and to explain the causes of them Unto this Classis all others ought to be reduced which cannot conveniently be referred unto the former sorts Other kinds of waters of wonderful properties So there is a Fountain in Portugal tearmed Cadina devouring all that is cast into it Also in times past there was another near to it rejecting all things cast into it but this latter is obstructed In Andalusia not far from the City Guadiana Eusebius Nierenburgius relateth that there is a Lake which sheweth the Seasons or Tempest for when that this is approaching it maketh an horrible noise which is oftentimes heard for the space of 18 or 20 miles In Calice in France is a Well into which if that a stone is cast in a noise will be heard like Thunder in the cavities of the Well In the Alpes are Wells whose water being drank off contracteth swellings of a great bigness hanging from their necks In the Kingdom of Granada at the Town Antiquarius is
proceed from dry bodies So Sal Armoniac vanisheth into smoak fire being placed under it This also is the cause that in divers Regions a different Air is discovered Also that it raineth in one place and not in another Proposition V. The least particles of the Air and those all insensible repell or reflect the rayes as a Looking-glass but some of the particles of the Air being sensible and compounded do transmit many rayes but reflect fewer others on the contrary transmit fewer rayes and reflect more Therefore the parts of the Atmosphere are divided into those that are opac and pellucid The parts of the Atmosphere these are those that transmit many rayes the former are those that transmit fewer Therefore because that the least particles both water and earth being Atoms are solid little bodies without any pores so that they transmit no rayes but repell them because that it is very probable that a perspicuity or a transmission of rayes doth require pores orderly placed in a body and empty little spaces But the parts of the Air or Atmosphere composed of little particles if that they shall have ordinate and many pores they will be perspicuous and transmit many rayes but if that those particles shall be composed or aggregated very confusedly they will transmit rayes without any pores thence it cometh to pass that the Sun discussing a thick cloudy opac Air doth make it perspicuous to wit more porous Now that the least particles reflect rayes is manifest from hence that the rayes of the Sun in a most serene Air be admitted into an obscure Chamber through a narrow hole you will see manifestly from the particles flying in a great number in the Air that the rayes are reflected to the eye as from a glass Now seeing that those particles are yet sensible the same must be concluded concerning the least particles and those that fly the sense Now those who will have humid attenuated vapours to be perspicuous but not dry ones and smoaks they are refuted by experience and reason By reason because that fumes and dry exhalations may be made equally subtile and porous as those that are watery but they suppose that perspicuity doth not consist in the mode or reason of the pores but in a peculiar quality But it is manifest by experience because that the Air is serene it hath more dry than moist particles for in that new kind of Wind-gun which is not discharged by powder or fire but by the help of wind and air the Air is so condensated that it scarcely comprehendeth the sixtieth part of the former space yet neither do they create any kind of humidity in the Gun which must altogether happen if that the particles of the serene Air were watery Proposition VI. Exhalations do not ascend of themselves and of their own nature upwards but they are forced by a violent motion or the Air is not light but heavy in a proper mode of expression Of exhalations All that is to be termed grave or heavy is moved to the Center of the Earth except that it be hindred but the Air doth that for the Earth being digged up the Air descendeth into the space made That therefore it is carried upwards is thus performed 1. That heat rarifieth it to seek a greater space 2. Because that it is forced by another vapour So in cold places as in Nova Zembla and with us in the night season no Mist ascendeth but the heat of the Sun approaching rarifieth it and causeth one part to force out and thrust forwards the other For if that those small particles of Air were free neither mutually implicated one within another then at length it would be light Proposition VII The upper parts of the Atmosphere are more subtile than the lower yet it may so come to pass that the middle parts may be more gross and condensed than the lower parts about the Earth Therefore the more light parts fly to the upper place they are more subtile and light hence the truth of the member of the former Proposition is manifest Now the cause of the latter member is that the parts in the middle Air easily counite again and so become thicker for the hot or calid Particles being carried up with them have forsaken them and the Rays refracted from the Earth in that middle Region by reason of their distance have no force Thence it cometh to pass that after Rain the middle Air is more serene because the more thick parts are separated Proposition VIII The Atmosphere or Air being heated possesseth more space than before now by how much it is more destitute of heat by so much the more it contracteth it self and occupieth the lesser space The Air being heated possesseth more space than before This is excellently shewed by that Instrument which we call a Thermometer or Weather-glass because that we measure the temperature of the Air and heat by in in hot and cold in which we discover the Air to become more condensed and to occupy lesser space in the Glass by how much the Air acquireth less heat as we shall shew in the following Proposition Now the cause of the Proportion is a priore because the calid Particles either of the Rayes of the Sun or of another fire are most subtile of all the Particles of the whole world and in continual motion Therefore those Atmospheres whilst that they are admixed separate and divide these Particles with a great force and so cause more pores and these little fires departing the Particles of the Air left to themselves unite again or are mutually complicated within themselves Corollary Therefore the Altitude of the Air or Atmosphere is not constant but decreaseth and increaseth viz. at Noon-day it ought to be greater at Midnight least about the time of the rising and setting of the Sun moderate as in Proposition XIV Proposition IX To make a Thermometer Thermoscope or Weather-glass by which we may discover the mutations of the Air in heat and cold Take a Glass of an oblong and cylindrical neck with the spherical small head L H How to make a Thermomemeter or Weather-glass let this be fixed to the Table or Board M N P Q the head being erected Let a Vessel with water be placed under the Orifice which is best to be coloured so filled that part of the pipe or neck L F may be hidden in it Now let the time of the moderate constitution of the Air or at that time at whose temperature you will compare the temperature of the Air of the other days and at that time let the water be poured into the Vessel so it will happen that the Air becoming more frigid Sec Scheme the water will ascend upwards beyond F because that the Air being condensated with cold which before filled up the space F A now possesseth less space On the contrary the Air being rendred more hot the water will descend from F towards L because that the
Air F H being rarified now requireth more space Now you will find the degrees of accretion and diminution of the heat and cold if that you divide the Line F A on the Table into certain parts of numbers Or without putting a Vessel under set the Glass L H even at the extremity L have a Globe with a little hole from the side and let this Globular Vessel be filled with Air for so also the degrees of heat will be shewed by the ascent and descent of the water Proposition X. The serene Air may be carried so by a most vehement fire that it may occupy a space 70 times greater than it did before On the contrary it may be so condensed in a Wind-gun that it may only possess a 60 part of the former space but the heat of the Sun bringeth not so great a rarification or the cold so great a condensation to the Air The same is proved from that that if you take an Aeolopile and heat it with fire so that it may then contain 13 ounces but the same being cold and returning to its former natural estate it will contain 13 ounces a dram and a half Therefore the space that the Air occupied whilst that it was hot is greater than the space that the Air possessed when refrigerated that the difference of the space is that part of the Aeolopile that receiveth half a dram of water if that the whole receiveth 13 ounces with half a dram and the part of this Aeolopile is almost the 70 part of the whole space in the Aeolopile therefore the Air being hot hath possessed a space 70 times greater than it doth when it returneth to its natural estate Proposition XI Why in the places in the Frigid Zone at the time in which the Sun ariseth not altogether unto them on some days the Air is clear and serene and for the most part cloudy and foggy Of the Air in places of the Frigid Zone I answer the cause of this gross and almost perpetual Mist or Fogg is the small heat of the subterraneous Earth it self or else it is derived from the Sun and likewise the Moon which in the time of the obscurity of the Sun remaineth many days and nights continually above the Horizon the other Stars which heat because it is weak cannot dissipate this Mist Now that some days or nights afford a serenity of the Air this happeneth not because the thick vapours are attenuated but because that they either sink down into the earth or else are forced into other places by the winds Proposition XII Why oftentimes in the greatest cold of the Winter the Air is yet subtile and serene when that yet the cold condensateth and contracteth the Air The Air subtile and serene in the greatest cold of the Winter Cold is twofold Moderate or Extream Moderate cold rendereth not the Air serene but cloudy by reason that vapours are elevated but not discussed by that little heat which is mixed or adjoyned to that cold But an extream cold maketh the Air serene for a twofold reason 1. Because it rendereth the grosser vapours of the Air more gross and so causeth them to fall and make the Air more subtile 2. Because that the pores of the earth are shut and bound up and the vapours themselves cannot exhale and render the Air turbid The Sea it self indeed is not bound up with Ice yet the particles are so condensated with Ice that it is not so apt for exhalations although it sendeth forth many for the condition of it and the earth are different Proposition XIII Why the Air being beheld at the Horizontal Line appeareth more thick and cloudy than that in which we are The cause is twofold 1. Because that the Air about the Horizon is indeed more cloudy The other is a fallacy or deception of the sight or judgment from our sight for the eye apprehendeth the distances of columns placed in a long order and series and therefore as the judgment supposeth the remote columns to be conjoyned so also it apprehendeth not the distances of the particles of the Horizontal Air but imagineth them conjoyned but the eye beholdeth the distances of the elevated Air under greater Angles and therefore better apprehendeth it The same is the reason why the Air which appeareth cloudy to us removed from it when we come to it or are in it seemeth less misty or cloudy Proposition XIV Whether that the Altitude of the Atmosphere or Air above the Earth be the same in all places at one and the same time and whether its figure be spherical Of the Altitude of the Atmosphere That the Altitude is not the same but divers in sundry places seemeth to follow from thence that the Sun is only Vertical to one place at one time and it sendeth forth oblique rayes and therefore more weak unto other places by how much the place is more remote from the Sun and nearer to the Poles therefore the pores of the rayes of the Sun are very different to the elevating of the vapours and therefore they are raised to different Altitudes to wit in a place unto which the Sun is vertical his Altitude is the greatest in the opposite place the lesser in the places about the Pole moderate so that the Air receiveth an oval figure But the contrary is more probable viz. that the Altitude of the Atmosphere is the same in all places for although that the Vapours and Air be more elevated in some places than in others yet because that the Air is fluid and tendeth by its gravity to the Center of the earth therefore the more elevated part of the Air presseth down the Air placed under it and this thrusteth down another more depressed until all the parts acquire the same Altitude And after the same mode the Spherical Figure of the Air shall be demonstrated as in the thirteenth Chapter we have proved with Archimedes concerning the water by reason that the same Hypotheses are prevalent here which we there assumed to wit that the part of the Air less pressed is expelled by that which is more pressed for every part is pressed by the Air that is above it wherefore the Figure of the Air is spherical not oval as some will have it but if the forementioned Hypotheses be not granted the demonstration falleth Des Cartes also maketh the Air oval in figure for a peculiar reason see Chapter fourteen Proposition XV. Condensation or Rarefaction of Air changeth not its Altitude Condensation of Air changeth not its Altitude Because that the whole Atmosphere is not condensed but only some parts and at all times some parts are condensed sometimes these sometimes those wherefore the condensation or rarefaction of one time doth no more alterare the Air than the condensation or rarefaction of the first time There only seemeth to be a difference that at one time there may be a greater condensation or rarefaction than at another but this
Authors for the confirmation thereof do use they propose so obscurely and confusedly that they cannot compel or convince an obstinate and pertinacious Defender of the contrary Opinion We therefore as much as may be will most clearly set forth those very Opinions and examine them that the Readers may have a distinct knowledge thereof Reasons to prove the Earth round First I reject the slighter Reasons or Arguments which are probable or rather Sophistical First the Spherick figure is most capacious therefore the Earth ought to have such a kind of figure Secondly all the parts of the Earth tend to the same Center therefore all those parts make a round figure Thirdly when as in the Creation the Water as yet was confusedly mixed with the Earth without doubt the Earth was moist and soft but the figure or shape of Liquid things is round or spherical therefore such also the figure of the Earth remained after the separation of the moist from the dry These and the like Arguments being slighted let us view and consider the stronger and most solid There is but one Argument of one and the first kind which is taken à priori but the other two kinds are taken à posteriori to wit some Arguments are taken from the Celestial appearances some again from them which we either observe in the Earth or in Heaven As for the first Argument concluding à priori it is taken from the nature of Water and this demonstration is wont to be taken either from Aristotle or Archimedes Aristotle in his second Book de Coelo chap. 5. hath proposed his Demonstration in these very words The superficies of the Water round It shall manifestly appear that the superficies or surface of the Water is round if we shall take the Supposition That Water of its own nature makes its confluence always to a hollow place and that that place is more concavous which is nearer the Center Therefore from the Center A let the strait lines A B and A G be drawn and from B unto G let the line B G be drawn See Scheme unto which from A let a perpendicular line A D be drawn into E. It is manifest therefore that the line A D is less than the lines A B and A G by the 18th of the first Book of Euclid's Elements Geometrical therefore this place D is more concavous wherefore the Water shall flow from B and G until the lines A B A D A G may be equal But A E is equal to A B A G therefore it must needs be that the very water should be in these lines which are drawn in the Center this part of the Demonstration is clearly known but A E c. makes nothing for the Demonstration But that line which toucheth them which are drawn from the Center is the circumference therefere the superficies of the Water which truly is B E G is round Things to be noted This is Aristotles Demonstration in which besides the confused and evil composure thereof these things I observe First that it supposeth some Center of the whole Vniverse Secondly that it taketh the place more or less bending down in regard of that Center For he which shall deny the shape or figure of the Earth to be spherical would call these things into question Yet the first may be sufficiently concerning the Center of the Universe proved or corrected For we must say that either the Stars are wheeled round about by a Diurnal motion or that the Earth is turned round about its own Center for this the apparent motion of the Stars forceth and causeth If the Stars then that point about which they are turned shall be the Center of the Vniverse if the Earth then the middle point of the Earth or that about which it is turned shall be taken in the Demonstration for the Central point of Aristotle But the chiefest difficulty lies in the second Supposition to wit that the lesser or greater declivity or bending downward ought to be considered in respect of that Center For he which would defend the superficies of the Water to be plain and of another figure he would deny this Supposition and would say that the declivity must be considered according to our senses to wit in respect of our Horizontal plain according to which the Earth with infinite spaces is extended into profundity or else he would define the declivity in another manner And thus this demonstration concludeth nothing at all unless it be granted that the declivity of the places of the Earth must be taken in respect of that Center about which the daily apparent motion of the Celestial Bodies is performed which thing although it may be true and all other definitions of declivity according to which the Water may be moved may also be confuted yet notwithstanding it can scarce be admitted for a principle seeing that it in a manner supposes the figure of the Earth to be Spherical Archimedes his demonstrations by some preferred before those of Aristotles Others therefore prefer Archimedes his Demonstration before this of Aristotle which is found in his first Book concerning those things that are carried in the Water This indeed is more Artificial than that of Aristotle yet it is opprest with the same difficulties forasmuch as it supposeth the Spherical figure of the Earth and its Center in respect of which it taketh the depression of the Water We will bring hither some Arguments framed from those that are taken from Celestial appearances First let us conceive the Meridian line of our place or of any point of B in the Earth See Scheme or a Section of the Earth made in plane which through the Poles of the World M N passeth through A B C D this line is usually called the Latitude of the Earth and the line which is drawn perpendicular to this is named the Longitude of the Earth or another plain Parallel to the Celestial Equator making in the Earth the line E B F C. I say as well the line A B C D as the line E B F C in the Earth to be circular But it is a Geometrical Thorem If any Superficies according to one dimension be cut through any point and the section be made in the periphery or circumference of the Circle then according to the other dimension through the same point the section be made in plain which is perpendicular to the former plain and the section again be made in the periphery of the Circle that superficies is spherical Therefore because we have taken the point B in the superficies of the Earth according to our own pleasure and have shewed the Section A B C D and E B F C to be the peripheries of the Circles The Earth a Spherical body therefore by the aforesaid Theorem we conclude that the superficies of the Earth is spherical and that the Earth is a spherical Body The Section of the Earth according to the dimension
about the Meridian because in this position they are nearer to the Earth almost by one semidiameter of the Earth The same Argument is valid as touching the Sun also for his Diameter is not found greater in the Meridian than when he is yet on the Horizon But the Diameter of the Moon is observed to be a little greater in the Meridian than when as yet she is on the Horizon Therefore in the Meridian it is somewhat nigher to us to wit almost one Semidiameter of the Earth CHAP. VII Concerning the substance and constitution of the Earth WE have in the foregoing Chapters considered the qualities or properties of the Earth no regard being taken of its substance or being But now these being declared it is fitting we consider this also that we may know what kind of body the Earth is and how its parts cohere together the which although it may rather rather seem natural yet because it is requisite for the perfect knowledge of the Earth we will here handle briefly leaving the accurate consideration thereof to the Natural Philosopher Proposition I. To declare of what simple and similar Bodies the Earth may consist or be compounded of Of the four Elements of the Earth There are divers opinions of Philosophers concerning this matter The Peripateticks number four Elements of the Earth and the whole sublunary World being now sufficiently known to the very Vulgar Fire Air Water and Earth Many of the Ancients as Democritus and Leucippus determined that the whole World consisted of very little solid pieces which differ only in their various figures shapes and magnitude and them many of the later Philosophers do follow and of late Cartesius endeavoured by such an hypothesis to declare all natural appearances The three Principles of the Earth by Chymists Chymists make three Principles Sal Sulphur and Mercury to whom some do rightly add Caput mortuum or the Dead head when as they three are fruitful But to me doubtful terms and words being laid aside and the things themselves well considered there seem to be five simple Bodies the first Principles of all things By Others Five simple bodies the first principles of all things to wit Water Oyl or Sulphur Salt Earth and a certain Spirit which the Chymists call Mercury For indeed all Bodies and the parts of the Earth are resolved into those five Elementary substances Notwithstanding I deny not that those differ not so much in essence as in the singular variety of their shapes and magnitudes Therefore the whole Earth consisteth of these simple Bodies which are divers ways commixed from whence ariseth so great variety of Bodies which do appear different from one another and similar or Bodies of like parts But the more exquisite declaration of these points belong to Natural Philosophy which I shall have occasion to treat of more at large in the first Volume of my Book of the Arts and Sciences now ready for the Press Proposition II. The Earth is divided into dry and moist parts or into Earth and Water to which some joyn the Atmosphere This is the vulgar division of Geographers and then the Water is taken in a large signification for all that is liquid or moist and fluid and running as the Land is taken for the whole dry and consistent part of the Earth Of the Land and its various bodies of Nature and thereby doth embrace and comprehend such various bodies of Nature to wit First Sand Loam Clay and Mineral Earths Chalk Cinnaber Ochre Terra sigiâ—lata or Saracens Earth Earth of Samos Bole-Armoniack with divers other kinds of Earth Secondly Stones of various sorts the chief among which are Diamonds Emeralds Rubies Saphirs c. Thirdly Mettals among which are Gold Silver Copper Tin Lead Mercury or Quicksilver Iron Steel c. Fourthly Brimstone Salts Niter Alom Bitumen Vitriol Antimony c. Fifthly Herbs Plants c. Of the Water and its parts To the Water are referred first the Seas secondly Rivers and sweet Waters thirdly Lakes and Fens or Marshes fourthly Mineral Waters as hot Baths sowr Waters c. Of the Atmosphere which encompasses the Earth The Atmosphere is that thin and subtile Body which girts and encompasses the Earth towards Heaven and contains the Air Clouds showers of Rain c. Therefore into these three Parts the Earth is fitly divided Proposition III. To expound how the Earth and Waters cleave or hold together and make the Land The Earth not bounded with one Superficies but hath hollow Cavities 1. The Land that is the dry part of the Earth is not bounded with one and that even superficies or surface but she hath many hollow Caves many parts lifted up aloft In her Cavities caves or hollows which are here and there found round about the whole Earth the Sea or Ocean is contained and therefore part of the Earthly superficies is covered with Waters Those hollows or cavities are not made of an even hollowness but have here and there Rocks and elevated parts and elsewhere they have Gulphs and swallows sunk very deep So the part of the Earth appearing out above the Waters hath certain as it were Navels in its middle and some parts are more or less raised up or sunk down than others So it cometh to pass that the Water environing the whole Earth is hindred that it overwhelms not the whole Earth but the higher parts and such as appear above the Waters are Islands of which some are great and some small Mouths holes Pipes other conveyances in the body of the Earth 2. Besides that continual Channel in the Earth in the outward superficies within also in the solid body of the Earth there are innumerable Mouths holes swallows windings conveyances deeps pipes and huge vast Receivers in some of which there is the Sea which by that secret conveyance are joyned to the Channel of the common Sea in some again there is Sweet Waters Rivers Streams In some spirits or else a sulphury and smoking substance Seneca saith rightly He gives too much way to his eye-sight who believeth not that there are in the hidden and secret bosom of the Earth Bays of a vast Sea Neither do I perceive what may hinder that there may not be some Sea-shore and the Sea received by hidden passages There is therefore no cause of doubting of there being many hollows in the very solid Earth For verily we conjecture at it by these means First by the Rivers which are found in many places where Earth is digged even to a notable depth which is frequent in Mines Secondly in some places the profundity of the Sea is beyond all sounding or measure Thirdly there are some Caves in the Earth In the Western part of Hispaniola is a Mountain of a great height being hollow within with many Caves in which Rivers of Waters are thrown down headlong with so great sound and rushing noise of streams that the very fall of those Waters may be heard
by reason that the Sea water containeth a fixed salt which is a far more weighty body than fresh water And we have shewed that in divers parts of the Sea there is a divers quantity of salt Yet doth it not follow that water is more heavy by how much it is the more salt which doth not augment the gravity but lesseneth it and yet rendreth the water very salt Proposition XIII Salt water doth not so easily freez as fresh or a greater dègree of cold is required to the congelation of Sea water than of fresh Salt water doth not so soon freez as fresh Experience sufficiently sheweth this against the Aristotelians who defend that water is so much the lesser obnoxious to congelation by how much it is the more pure and therefore should more easily congeal as receding more from the elementary water which is false Now the cause is that in the salt it self their is a certain spirit which resisteth congelation and being seperated from the salt admitteth of no congelation from the hardest frost as those that are skilful in Chymistry know For the spirit of salt is a medicament sufficiently known and of frequent use Proposition XIV Why the Ocean is not bigger seeing that it receiveth so many Rivers The cause is 1. That the water returneth to the Sea through subterraneous passages unto the fountains of the Rivers as shall be explicated in the following Chapter 2. Because that many vapours are elevated from the Ocean whereof many being resolved into rain fall into the Ocean and part on the land Proposition XV. Certain parts of the Ocean differ in colour The water in the Ocean in all places not of one and the same colour Experience testifieth that in the Northern places the Sea seemeth of a more black colour in the Torrid Zone of a duskish colour in other places of a blew About certain shoars of new Guinee the Ocean is found of a white colour in some other place of a yellow In Streights the water appeareth to incline to white at the Shoars of Congi not far from Bay a D'Alvaro Gonzales a Rivulet or an Arm is disburthened into the Sea of somewhat a Redish colour taken from a mine of red earth through which it floweth But the Arabian Gulph called therefore the Red Sea by reason of the property of the colour some will have the denomination taken from King Erythreus others from the splendour which the Raies of the Sun repercussed doth effect But the more probable opinion and that which is confirmed from experience is that the redness doth arise from the sand of a red colour which is found in the bottom of this Sea and on the Shoars and is frequently admixed with the water The water in the Red Sea only red by reason of the red sâ—â—â—â— in it The cause of this admixture which seemeth contrary to the ponderousness of sand is the vehemency of the flux and reflux of the water or its swiftness and agitation in this Sea by which it cometh to pass that the sand or gravel is agitated and moved up and down and so hindred by the continual motion of the Sea that it cannot rest Mariners affirm that the water of this Sea sometimes appeareth as red as blood but if taken up in a vessel the sand will sink down and then the water appeareth otherwise It often happens that storms from the Red Sea rushing into Arabia or Africa carry with them so great an abundance of sand and cast it on the earth that it covereth whole troops of men and beasts whence proceedeth the true Mummie Whether from the same or another cause the Sea between California and America be termed red Vermejo I have not as yet found it observed by Writers Proposition XVI Certain peculiar things are found in certain parts of the Ocean Of things in the Ocean peculiar to certain places The Sea termed Di Sargasso by the Portugals which beginneth not far from Cape Verd in Africa about the Isles of Salt and extendeth it self from the 20th degree of Northern Latitude unto the 34th of South Latitude The colour of this Sea seemeth to be green which is not the colour of the Sea it self but of a certain small leaved herb in the bottom of it called by the Portugals Sargasso The leaves of this weed mutually complicated one into another swim on the face of this Ocean in so continued a tract that the water can hardly be seen so that the Seamen afar off discovering this Ocean take it for an Island and green Land neither can they pass through this knot of weeds except that they be helped by a moderate wind at least the herb beareth a small berry whence it ariseth is not yet known Seeing that this Sea is not so near any land that it should have its original from them neither is it probable that it should come from the bottom of the Sea by reason that the profundity of this Sea is such that in many places it exceedeth the length of any line or cord In the Ocean not far from the Promontory of Good Hope are many floating red-like shrubs of a great thickness discovered unto which the herb Sargasso is implicated Seamen take it for a certain that if they see them thereabouts that they are near to the Promontory of Good Hope or else have just past it Corral found on the Shoar of Madagascar On the Shoar of the Isle of Madagascar the Ocean casteth up red and white Coral which augment like shrubs under the water and although that they be soft in some places yet between Madagascar and Africa there are reported to be Rocks of hard Coral In the Baltick Ocean nigh to the Shoar of Borussia the Shoar casteth forth most excellent succinum which the Inhabitants are taught when certain winds do blow to draw up with certain Iron hooks Amber only in the Ocean in the Torrid Zone The Ocean casteth up Amber only in the Torrid Zone viz. at the Shoar of Brazile where a peece of 500 l. weight was taken up by a Dutch Soldier and presented unto Count Nassaw at the Isle of Madagascar at Cape Verd at the Isle of Maurice at the Isle of Sumatra and other Indian Isles Garcias relateth that a piece of 200 l. weight was found yea that some Islands consist wholly of Amber but he doth not name them In the Aethiopick Ocean at Guinea Congo and Angola this is peculiarly observed that at the sides of the Keil of the Ship whilst that they remain there green Cockles like unto grass do stick which hindreth the sailing of the Ships and eateth the wood On the Coast of Languedock in France Birds unshaped first of all then by degrees they receive form and fixing of their bill in the wood when they begin to move by degrees they are pulled off and swim on the water like Geese The excrement of the Ocean termed the Scum of the Sea is found floating in
dissolved Snow And this they take for a sign of it that Rain and dissolved Snow do much augment the Rivers that oftentimes they extend beyond their Channel and overflow Regions also that Rivers do much decrease and some lesser sort of them are altogether dried up when no Rain for a long while in the Summer season hath fallen because that their Channel is not very profound and therefore have collected little water but those that have a deep Channel are not dried up in the Summer by reason that they have gathered so much water from the Rains that fell and dissolved Snow so that all cannot be turned into vapours except by a daily and continual heat 2. Because that there are very few Rivers in those places where there is little rain as in the more inward part of Africa there are few Springs But these allegations resolve not the question because we are not to demand or seek the Original of Rivers but only the Original of the Water of Fountains Therefore those that speak thus have not well considered the sence of the question as we have taken notice before although also the experience that they alledge is not general because that there are Rivers found in places where there is little rain and no snow although it be true in the Region of Peru and Aegypt which they assert Moreover rain moistneth not the Earth above ten foot deep but Fountains spring from a far greater profundity The Opinion of Seneca 2. Others suppose that we should not demand whence the water of Fountains doth arise by reason that water is an Element as much as Earth Air and Fire concerning the Original of which we do not dispute thus Seneca discourseth But other Authours cut in twain this Gordian knot with the Sword of Alexander For it is not enquired after how that water hath a Being but how it cometh to the places of Fountains and not to other places Moreover the Earth doth not so flow forward as Rivers do But for the Air it is false that we should not seek concerning it as they determine 3. Aristotelians follow the opinion of their Master See Aristotle līo 1. Chap. 11. who in the whole Eleventh Chapter of his first Book of Meteors endeavoureth to prove that the water of Fountains is generated from Air contained in the bowels of the Earth He alledgeth these reasons 1. Waters are generated from Air above the Earth viz. Rain therefore seeing that Air is in the bowels of the Earth and that there is the same cause of condensation viz. Cold therefore he saith it is absurd for any one to think that water is not produced from Air there 2. Experience testifieth that more great drops that fall are made of small ones and therefore the Original of Rivers must be as it were certain Brooks of water that meet in one part of the Earth for therefore those that make Aqueducts are wont to bring the water down by trenches and small Channels 3. Because that many Springs and those of the greatest Rivers are found in mountanous places very few in Plains or Valleys which is an evidence that the water of Fountains proceedeth from a condensed Air or Vapour which Air and Vapour tend towards higher places and mountainous places are as it were spunges incumbing over lower places Those are the reasons of Aristotle The Opinion of Cardanus 4. Cardanus with others suppose that the water of Fountains proceeds from Rivulets which are generated of watery vapours condensed both within and without the Earth but that these Fountains alone scarce make up Rivers unless assisted by rain or dissolved Snow His Reasons are these 1. If betimes in the morning one view the Mountains they will appear moist 2. Rivers overflow in the morning and so much the more by how much the part of it is more near the Fountain But the perpetual and constant impetus of the water bubling and leaping from the Springs doth not seem to have its Original from so weak and inconstant a cause Neither doth this opinion of Cardanus much differ from that of Aristotle but that Aristotle placeth Air with the generation Cardanus vapours with the generation to be the cause of Springs and indeed small is the difference between Air and vapours 5. Some of the Antients supposed Rains to be coacervated within the Earth in Cavities and thence to break forth as from a mighty belly and that all Rivers sprang from one of them or from some other of them neither that there was any other water generated but what were collected in the winter months into those receptacles they supposed to evade into the multitude of these Rivers and therefore that they flowed more in the winter than in the Summer and that some were continual and some not They added the same cause that we have laid down in the first opinion But Aristotle receiveth this opinion because that more water in one year floweth out from the mouth of the River than the bulks of that whole part of Earth or Land 6. Of Modern Philosophers many as also of the Ancients determined that the Earth again received whatsoever waters flowed out from the mouth of the Rivers into the Sea For the water of the Sea by an hidden passage went under the Earth and is beaten in its passage through divers windings of the Earth and strained through Sand and Chalk which removeth its saltness and so passeth into pure water I also defend this opinion and suppose it true yet so as not to exclude the cause laid down in the first and third place the reasons are these 1. Because more than one thousand Rivers exonerate themselves into the Sea and the greater of them in such an abundancy that that water which they send forth into the Sea throughout the whole year exceedeth the whole Earth as the River Volga into the Caspian Sea and also other Rivers Therefore it cannot otherwise be but that water must be sent forth into many places of the Earth even to the Fountains of Rivers Now if that this were not so we could not possibly imagine how that the Sea should not be augmented unto an immensity or why Fountains should not cease to send forth water Neither may it be objected that so many vapours are elevated from the Sea that are equivalent to the water that the Sea hath received from the Rivers For first only Rain maketh those vapours then again it is most false that so great a quantity of vapours should be elevated from the Sea as are generated from the water which floweth from the Rivers into the Sea Fountains the nearer the Sea are salter than those farther distant 2. This opinion is proved from that to wit that the Fountains near the Sea are salt and brackish and by how much they are nigher to the Sea by so much they are the more salt as on the Coast of Africa especially on the Coasts of Choromaudel in India where no Vines
intermedial Winds so that there were 12 winds every one of which they designed by their proper terms although that some others reckon otherwise The Latins besides these twelve added the names of twelve more which blow between two of the former twelve the following Diagram sheweth their appellations and order in which the Greek winds are noted by Greater letters and those which the Romans have interposed between every two are noted by Lesser letters yet Seneca noteth that this inconveniency was long since observed by Varro and that therefore he ordered these twelve VVinds thus that every two should be distant by equal distances not having any regard of the rising of the Solary quarter but in that Seneca affirmeth that there are no more VVinds than twelve is false and ridiculous for they are infinite Proposition IX Hitherto we have explained the distribution of the Winds taken from the quarters and have also shewed that both the divisions of the Ancient Grecians and Romans is less adapted to the use of Navigation and Geography Therefore we deservedly retain the more recent distributions which constitute 32 Winds blowing from quarters equally distant Now those are called Opposite Winds or contrary which blow from quarters diametrically opposite For we conceive the Winds as coming from another place to our place but we suppose a quarter to be extended from our place to another place Proposition X. The Causes of the Winds are various for seeing that the Wind is nothing else but a continued protraction of the Air all those things which are able to effect such a protrusion will be the causes of Winds Now they are these The Causes of the Winds are various 1. The chief and general cause is the Sun it self which attenuateth and rarefieth the Air by his fiery beams especially that on which he sendeth forth his perpendicular rays or over which he standeth for the Air being rarefied requireth far more space Thence it cometh to pass that the Air being forced by the Sun doth protrude the vicine Air with a great force and when that the Sun is moved round from the East into the West the chief force of the Air caused by him is towards the West And a sign of it may be that in many places of the torrid Zone and every where in the Sea a continual Easterly wind doth blow viz. the Sun thrusteth forwards the Air from the East towards the West and exceedeth not the torrid Zone Indeed the rarefied Air is thrust forwards circularly towards all the quarters North East South West but yet it is not admitted in all quarters But the more vehement protrusion is towards the West because that the Sun moveth towards that quarter therefore the wind is almost continually more sensible in the torrid Zone towards this quarter But in our Zone for many days in the Morning before the rising of the Sun and after that where for the most part other Winds do cease Of other quarters some are sometimes more disposed than others to receive this force therefore where the protrusion becometh greater towards the North the South Wind is said to blow when that it is thrust towards the East then the West Wind bloweth when towards the South the North and so for other quarters And it is to be noted that when this protrusion is made to any quarter lying without those four Cardinal Quarters then in divers Regions a diverse Wind shall be seen For although that that quarter be one in respect of the place unto which the Sun is vertical yet in respect of other places it is diverse and so the same cause maketh the same Wind to be termed by divers names in several Regions Now this cause is either assisted or hindred by other causes if that it be assisted it maketh the Wind vehement if it he hindred it maketh it less vehement from that quarter and oftentimes another Wind then bloweth which is rather assisted by that general cause 2. I make the second cause of the Winds and that more frequently Exhalations elevated copiously and with a violence from the Sea and Land but they scarce cause any Winds except that when they begin to be rarefied 3. The attenuation and rarefaction of the Clouds and Mists whether that it be caused by the Sun or from other Stars or whether from included or adjoyned fires or sulphureous particles 4. The dissolving of Snow and Ice especially of that which lieth on Mountainous places and are not wholly dissolved into water 5. The various scituation and rising of the Moon and the other Stars 6. The condensation and rarefaction of the Air and Vapours by any heat or cold 7. The descent of the Clouds by which the subjected Air is pressed The consideration of the Aeolopila conduceth much to the more easie understanding of these causes into which the water included fire being put to it by an arrow orifice sendeth forth the winds with a great force until that all the water be exhaled Now these retain the place of a narrow orifice in the Air 1. The more dense circumstantial Air. 2. If that the same vicine Air be forced by or prohibited to give place by other Vapours or Mists 3. If that the Air be more condensed towards one quarter and so layeth open a way to Blasts Proposition XI Why the Winds blow so that they make a perpendicular line over the Horizon or why the going forth of the Winds is perpendicular to the Horizon The Winds so blow that they make a perpendicular â—ine over the Horizon The cause is by reason that the Air in a Spherical figure doth encompass the Earth and the protrusion of the Air is made for the most part through the greatest circle of the Sphere which passeth through the Center of the Earth for although we may suppose the Air to be forced according to a transverse line yet because that there is a lesser force from the sides and greater resistance thence it cometh to pass that the winds incumb into the midst of the passage But we shall more commodiously conceive this mode if that we do but consider the first cause of the winds for the Sun thrusts forwards the Air towards all the quarters of that place unto which it is vertical but that force is not received in all as I have said If that now we consider the great Circles drawn from that place and amongst these those in which the Air is thrust forwards all those places of the Earth seated in this circle or semicircle shall find the wind falling down perpendicularly by reason that every great Circle of the Earth passing through any place of it is perpendicular to the Horizon of that place The same is the reason if that at any time the wind breaketh forth from a thick Fog or dissolved Clouds but those places that are scituated without these Circles feel not the wind although that the Air be moved above their Horizon because that it is not perpendicular to that
Zones In the Cold Northern Zone lieth part of Izland the Utmost part of Norway and Lapland Finmarch Samojeda Nova Zembla Groenland Spitsberga and some part of America Septentrionalis not yet discovered In the Cold Southern Zone what it is whether Land or Water is unknown What we have spoken on hitherto are shewed by the Globe and by the Maps but they are proved by the Tables of the Latitude of Places which are made by Observations Proposition IV. In the Places which lye in the Tropicks the Sun once in every year is only vertical in the Meridies or Noonstead but in places lying under the Torrid Zone he is vertical twice a year viz. two days which are equally distant from the Longest day But in Places without the Torrid Zone and scituated without the Tropicks the Sun never in any day of the year is vertical The Sun how oft and in what places Vertical For when the Sun is in the first degree of Cancer which is about the one and twentieth of June then he describeth the Tropick of Cancer in the Heaven and by how long a space this Tropick is distant from the Celestial Aequator by so much the Terrestrial Tropick of Cancer is distant from the Terrestrial Aequator and so the Terrestrial Tropick is subject to the Celestial and the Sun therefore becometh vertical to the Places seated in the Tropick of Cancer In the places of the Tropick of Capricorn it happeneth after the same manner about the twentieth of December the Sun then entring the Sign of Capricorn These are manifest from the Globe and from Maps But for further Explanation to shew the Sun to be vertical twice a year in a place Take a place lying in the Torrid Zone Explanation and let the place taken be brought to the Meridian and a pointed Chalk being applied let the Globe be turned round that the Parallel of that place may be described that will cut the Ecliptick in two points which will be equally distant from the first degree of Cancer or Capricorn And the Sun being in these points of the Ecliptick will be vertical in the place taken for the Parallel which the Sun in those days describeth will directly hang over the Parallel of the place described Wherefore the Sun will pass through the Vertex of that place and therefore will be vertical to it in the Meridies of these two days but not so in other days Now that it is only vertical in the Meridies unto places is perspicuous from his diurnal revolution Now that in places scituate without the Torrid Zone and the Tropicks the Sun is never vertical is manifest by reason that no Parallel of the Sun is imminent over the Parallel of those places for the Sun is never vertical in the Temperate and Cold Zones Proposition V. To places seated in either of the Frigid Zones the Sun every year some day or other setteth not and so many days riseth not and that so many days the more by how much those days are nigh the Poles so that in a whole place of the Pole for six Months space it setteth not and ariseth not to another But in places in the Artick or Antartick Circle the Sun setteth not one only day in the year and one day ariseth not but other days it setteth and riseth The rising and setting of the Sun in places seated in the Frigid Zones Take any place you please of the Frigid Zone in the Globe and let the Pole be so elevated as the Latitude of the place requireth or that the Wooden Horizon may become the Horizon of the place as in the preceding Chapter Then let a pointed Chalk be applied to the Crena of the Horizon which is more nigh the Pole elevated and let the Globe be turned round so that the Chalk may mark some Parallel of the Aequator This Parallel shall cut the Ecliptick in two points which shall be equally distant from the first degree of Cancer and the Sun being in any of these points of the Ecliptick and in all Intermedial points shall not set which hence is manifest because the Parallels of the Sun existing in these points remain above the Horizon in the whole Circumrotation On the contrary If that the Chalk so pointed be applied unto the other Crena of the Horizon and the Parallel be described we shall find those points of the Ecliptick or the Arch about the beginning of Capricorn in which whilst the Sun is he doth not arise to that place of the Frigid Zone but remaineth beneath the Horizon The contrary appeareth if the place be taken in the cold Antartick Zone What we have said of the places lying under the Artick or Antartick Circle is shewed after the same manner viz. the Pole must be elevated to 66 degrees 30 minutes so the Wooden Horizon shall be the Horizon of any place lying under the Artick Circle And it will be manifest that the Tropick of Cancer setteth not and the Tropick of Capricorn ariseth not but that they touch the Horizon therefore the Sun in the first degree of Cancer setteth not and in the first degree of Capricorn ariseth not but on both days radiateth the Horizon But in other degrees of the Ecliptick it will arise and set which may be discerned by the Oriental and Occidental points of the Ecliptick Proposition VI. In places seated without the Frigid Zone that is in the Temperate or Torrid Zones the Sun every day riseth and setteth In places without the Frigid Zones the Sun riseth and seteth every day Take any place in the Globe lying without the Frigid Zones and Polary Circles and let the Poles be elevated according to its Latitude so that the Wooden Horizon doth become the Horizon of that place If that now you turn the Globe it will be apparent that all the points of the Ecliptick do rise and set that is to say sometimes they are depressed beneath and sometimes elevated above the Horizon The Sun then being in those points doth the same Proposition VII A place being given that is seated in the Torrid Zone to find those two days in the which the Sun is vertical to that place Let the place given be brought to the Brazen Meridian and let the degree of Latitude be marked with Chalk then move the Globe until one point or other of the Ecliptick to pass through this noted point of the Meridian Let these two points be noted for they are those in which when the Sun is he is vertical to the place given let also the days of the Year be found in which the Sun occupieth those points of the Ecliptick which may be done either in the Wooden Horizon or from a Table or by the method of the 22th Chapter those will be the sought for days whereof one will be before the Solstice the other after it in which the Sun is vertical to that place when he cometh to the Meridian This Problem is also easily resolved in Universal
February in Congo Here therefore the Terrestrial Season is repugnant to the Celestial because that in January and February the Sun is not most remote from those places and therefore they should not have Rain but rather Siccity Without doubt the cause is either from another scituation of the Mountains another fixed Wind or the like 6. The Island of St. Thomas See the Description of St. Thomas and Anobon are very abundant in Sugar Grain Fruits and Meats and great plenty of Oranges c. 7. How the Seasons are in the other Regions of the Occidental Coasts of Africa from Lowango to the Tropick of Capricorn I have not yet found to be observed by any one 8. Therefore that shore being left and the Promontory of Good-hope being sayled about we return to the Tropick of Capricorn where the Oriental Coast of the Promontory or Tongue of Africa is discovered in which lyeth Zofala Mozambique Quiloa even to the Aequator which are illustrated by the Oriental Sun In these places the Winter is in the Months of September November December and January in the rest Siccity and Summer which time is contrary to that in which in Congo we have said that they have the Rain in Winter and yet these Regions lye from the Aequator but the ridge of Mountains which doubly divide this Prominent Tongue of Africa into the Eastern and Western Land questionless are the cause of this diversity The Land of these Regions are only of a moderate Fertility in many places Sandy Barren and scorched with the chalure of the Sun but the Rivers the adjacent Sea and general Easternly Wind much allay the heat 9. The other Regions of the Oriental Coasts of Africa lying from the Aequator towards the North at the mouth of the Arabian Gulph and hence to the Shore of the said Gulph even to the Tropick of Cancer these Regions I say what seasons they have and in what times of the year I have not yet found observed by any but that some write that this tract is barren sandy oppressed with such a violent heat and destitute of Rivers 10. As to the seasons in the Mediteranean part of Africa which is the Region of the Abyssines which is cut almost in the middle by the Aequator so that it hath some Provinces in the Southern Torrid Zone and very many in the Northern Torrid Zone 11. Now leaving Africa we enter the Regions of Asia lying under the Torrid Zone where first we meet with the Regions of Arabia adjacent to the Red Sea from Mecca to Aden 12 degrees from the Aequator towards the North which regard the West The Merchants at Aden negoriate their affairs in the Night season by reason of heat in the day on the East they have the Arabian Mountains These Regions are exceedingly infested with heat in March and April and more in the following Months whilst the Sun approacheth to their Vertex and about it it remaineth May June July and August the chalure is so great that the Inhabitants especially the better sort cause water to be poured on their Bodies all the day long or else lie in Vessels of Water to refresh them I suppose the cause to be the defect of watery Vapours because on the Oriental part the Region is Rocky and hath but few Rivers now the Oriental wind which is general although it be not there perceived repelleth the Vapours rising from the Red Sea Likewise the abundance of Sand which retaineth the heat received in the night and communicateth it to the Air. Therefore this time of the Summer and Winter agrees with the Celestial Course 12. The same is the case of all Arabia and its Eastern Coast 13. In Camboja in India lying under the Tropick of Cancer as also in the Regions of Malabar or the Eastern Coast of the Indies which regard the West and extend themselves from the North towards the South to the eighth degree of North Latitude I say these Regions the Winter or rainy Seasons possess the Months of June July August and September but especially from the middle of June to the middle of September Neither in all these places doth it rain in an equal time but more continually in the province of Goana and Cocina and less in Camboja where it only raineth three Months in the other eight months it seldome raineth in Camboja but in Goa in the Months of April and May it raineth but less vehement and beginning with Thunder and Storms so that to Autumn here may be ascribed half the Month of March also April and May to the 15th of June then from the 15th of June July and August to Winter likewise from the 15th of September to December the Spring the other Months from the 15th of December to the 15th of March to Summer The Winter is not so called from the cold as with us but from the Rains which then fall for in these Months is great drought because that the Water of the former Rains is extracted by the Sun from the Earth Yet the Inhabitants do not number four Seasons but only two Summer and Winter or rather a dry and a rainy Season Besides these Raines there are frequent Storms on the Coast and also Thunders in those rainy Months so that the Sea is supposed to be then shut up and many Rivers then overflow the Sea is open again in the Month of September and then Ships put forth to Sea from the Coast of Malabar into various parts of the world Neither are there any violent rains in these places in the Fields except some Storms by reason that it ceaseth for many hours of the day therefore it affordeth the Inhabitants a time of Planting and Sowing which they do in these watery Months The Air also is of a moderate heat at that time because the Sun is obstructed with Clouds so that the remote Inhabitants expatiate from the Shore to the Hills and Fields for recreation where the inundation is not great and incredible fertility is acquired to the Earth by this Rain But if these Raines fall not on the year as in Anno 1630. which seldom happens then all hope of Sowing and consequently Harvest is taken away thence cometh Scarcity of Corn a hot Sultery Air burning Feavours Pestilences and Deaths of Thousands of People In the said year 1630 A great Famine in Camboja in 1630. and the year following Mans Flesh was publickly sold in the Shambles in Camboja Sometimes the Shores do so rage that the Houses which are but slightly built fall by the inundation of the River They Sow in May and the beginning of June and Reap in November and December it is otherwise in Guiny This Summer and this Winter is contrary to the Celestial Course or Motion of the Sun for in the Months of July and August the Sun is vertical to those places or very near the Vertex therefore they must have heat and drought this is the great felicity of those places
above almost maketh up and moderateth them To wit in the Regions of the Northern Temperate Zone it is Spring and Summer the Sun going from Aries by Cancer to Libra because then he is more near them Then the Sun going from Libra through Capricorn to Aries it is Autumn and Winter But in the Southern Temperate Zone the matter is contrary neither can those other causes altogether disable the force of this first and induce a new course of the seasons and be able to alter the times as in the Torrid Zone 2. Yet those Seasons of divers places vary so that in one place there may be more Heat or Cold or Rain than in another although the places lie in the same Climate but yet they cause not the Winter to be changed into Summer or Summer into Winter A Rocky Marshish and Maritim Land findeth somewhat another degree of heat or cold than Vallies or a Chalk and Maritim Land 3. The places in the Tropicks for the most part in the Summer have an excessive heat others a Pluvial Season so that they almost approach to the nature of the places of the Torrid Zone So in the part of the Kingdom of Guzarat lying without the Tropick at the same time the wet and dry months are observed which in the part lying beyond the Aequator the Summer is changed into a Pluvial Season yet then there is greater heat than the dry part of the year where they have a moderate cold and in truth in the places of the Temperate Zones we judg the Summer and Winter not from the drought and rains but from the heat and cold Now in the Coasts of Persia and Ormus there is so great heat without Rains in the Summer by reason of the vicinity of the Sun rhat both the Men and their Wives ly in Cisterns full of Water The like heat is in Arabia The Regions of Africa on the Mediterranean Sea are called the coast of Barbary Throughout all Barbary the middle of October being past Showers and Cold begin to increase and in December and January the cold is perceived more intense and that only in the morning and withal so remiss that the Fire is not desired February taketh away the greatest part of the cold from the Winter but yet it is so inconstant that sometimes 5 or 6 times in one day the Air changeth In the month of March the North and West Winds blow violently and cause whole trees to be vested with blossoms April giveth form almost to all Fruits so that the entrance of May and the end of April is wont naturally to produce Cherries In the middle of May they gather Figs and in the middle of June in some places are ripe Grapes Of the seasons of the year of Barbary the Figs or Autumn are gathered in August and there is no greater plenty of Figs and Pears than in September There is not so great intemperies of the year in those places but that the three months of the Spring are always temperate The entrance of the Spring that is the Terrestrial not the Celestial is as they reckon on the 15th of February and the end the 18th of May in all which time the Air is most grateful to them If from the 25th of April to the 5 of May they have no Rain they esteem the same as ominous They count their Summer even to the 16th of August at which time they have a very hot and serene Air. Their Autumn from the 17 of August to the 16 of November and they have that for two months to wit August and September yet not great That which is included between the 15 of August and the 15 of September was wont to be termed by the Antients the Furnace of the whole year and that because it produced Figs Pears and that kind of Fruit to maturity From the 15 of November they reckoned their Winter which they extend to the 14 of February At the entrance of this they begin to till their Land which is the plain but the mountainous in the month of October The Africans have a certain perswasion that the year hath 40 very hot days and on the other side so many cold The Opinion of the Arabians days which they say begin from the 12 of December They begin the Aequinoxes on the 16 of March and on the 16 of September Their Solstices on the 16 of June and the 16 of December The end of their Autumn all their Winter and a good part of their Spring is full of violent Winds accompanied with Hail Lightnings and dreadful Thunders neither is there wanting in many places of Barbary an abundance of Snow In Mount Atlas 7 degrees distant from the Tropick of Cancer they divide the year only into two parts for from October even to April they have a continual Winter and from April again to October they have Summer In this there is no day in which the Mountains tops glitter with Snow The seasons of Numidia In Numidia the parts of the year swiftly pass away for in May they reap their Corn in October they gather their Dates but from the middle of September to January a violent Frost continueth October abstaining from Rains all hopes of Sowing is taken from the Husbandman the same hapneth if that April produceth not Pluvial Water Leo Astricanus remembreth many Mountains of Snow in Africa not far from the Tropick of Cancer Of China The North part of China although no more remote from the Aequator than Italy yet it hath a cold more sharp for great Rivers and Lakes are congealed up with Frost the cause of which is not yet sufficiently known except we should refer it to the Snowy Mountains of Tartaria not far remote to the avoyding of which cold they abound with the Skins of Foxes and Scythilian Rats New England New England although it lie in 42 degrees of North Latitude and therefore no more removed from the Aequator than Italy yet in the month of June when Sir Francis Drake was there the Air was so vehement cold that he was compelled to sayl back to the South for the Mountains were then covered with Snow The cause is the Frigid temperature of the Earth being Stony The seasons of Aegypt In Aegypt which is bounded with the Tropick of Cancer the Spring and Temperate Season of the year is observed about January and February The Summer beginneth with March and April and continueth June July and August The Autumn possesseth September and October The Winter hath November and December About the beginning of April they Reap their Corn and presently thresh it After the 20 of May not an Ear of Corn is to be seen in the Fields no Fruits on the trees On the Ides of June the inundation of the Nilus beginneth The seasons in the streights of Magellan In the Streights of Magellan and the adjacent Regions although they be no more distant from the Aequator than our parts
Derwent which River severeth the County into East and West and it is observed that on the East-side Coal is generally dug and on the West Lead The Inhabitants were the Coritani of the Romans and was afterwards part of the Kingdom of the Mercians It is severed into 6 Hundreds and contains 106 Parish Churches besides several Chappels of Ease and is traded unto by 9 Market Towns Derby Derby well seated on the Derwent over which it hath a goodly Stone-bridge a Town of good Antiquity and is at present a very large populous well frequented and rich Borough Town numbring 5 Parish Churches of which All-Saints which is the chief is a curious structure and beautified within with several Monuments It is a Borough Town electing Parliament men is honoured with the Title of an Earldom enjoyeth ample Immunities is governed by a Major 9 Aldermen 14 Brethren 14 Common-Council a Recorder Town-Clerk c. is well traded unto especially for Barley which they make into Mault which finds good vent and its Market which is on Fridays is very considerable for Cattle Corn and all sorts of Provisions besides a small Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays Here is lately built a fair Hall of Free-stone aâ— the Counties charge where the Assizes are constantly kept Chesterfield Chesterfield pleasantly seated between two small Rivers and in a good Soil a Borough Town of great antiquity is dignified with an Earldom enjoyeth large Immunities is governed by a Major 6 Aldermen a Recorder 6 Brethren 1â— Counsellors c. and hath weekly two Markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays which are very considerable for Corn Lead and most Country Commodities Wicksworth seated in a Valley a pretty large and populous Town beautified with a fair Church Wicksworth hath a Free-School and Alms-houses and its Market on Tuesdays is well served with Provisions and Apples especially for Lead where the Merchants have their meetings for the Sale thereof Bakewill Bakewill seated amongst Hills and on the banks of the Wye an indifferent large Town and hath a good Market on Mondays for Lead and Provisions In the Peak Forest is a Well that obbâ— and flows 4 times in one hour keeping its exact Tides At Buxton out of a Rock in 24 foot compass 9 Springs arise of which 8 are warm and one cold and the Waters are found very good to bath in and for the Stomach And in this County is Eldenhole being a Cave worthy of note Devonshire described DEVONSHIRE of a sharp and healthful Air very hilly and generally of an ungrateful Soil without great pains and charges in manuring it yet is it not without many fertil Valleys and its sterility is recompenced by the rich Mines of Tin and Lead as also by the great plenty of Herrings Pilchers and other Fish taken on its Sen-Coast from which the Inhabitants reap good profit which with its Clothings Saerges and Bone-lace are the chief Commodities of the County The ancient Inhabitants were the Dannionii and was afterwards part of the Kingdom of the West-Saxons It is very well watered with fresh Streams as the Ex Tamar Tave Tawe Pline Dart Turridge Tinge Plime Culme and Ottery which are found very advantagious to the Inhabitants It is divided into 33 Hundreds in which are 394 Parishes and for the accommodation of its Inhabitants hath about 30 Market Towns Exeter a fair sweet and well compacted City of great Antiquity Exeter and no less pleasantly than commodiously seated on the top of an easie Ascent and on the Ex whence it took its name over which it hath a fair Stone-bridge 'T is a place of a good largeness containing within its Wall and Ditches about a mile and half in circuit in which and in its Suburbs which are large are numbred 15 Parish Churches besides its Cathedral or Minster founded by King Aethelstan a fair and beautiful structure It enjoyeth a considerable Trade being much inhabited and resorted unto by Merchants and Tradesmen having several Ships and Vessels belonging unto them and is in a flourishing condition enjoying ample Immunities sendeth Burgesses to Parliament is honoured with the Title of an Earldom is governed by a Major 24 Aldermen or Brethren a Recorder and other sub-Officers and hath two very considerable Markets weekly viz. on Wednesdays and Fridays for Provisions and Searges in great abundance Plymouth seated on the Plime and near the Tamer Plymouth at both their Influxes into the Sea which from a poor Fishing-Village is become a very fair large well inhabited and frequented Town resembling rather a City than a Town although it hath but two Parish Churches 't is a place of great importance by reason of its commodious Haven and excellent Port which doth occasion it to be so well resorted unto by most Ships both outward and inward bound and is of great strength as well by Nature as Art being defended by a strong Fort a Cittadel and other Fortifications It is a Borough and Town Corporate governed by a Major Aldermen and Common Council hath the election of Parliament men enjoyeth a great Trade for most Commodities and its Markets on Mondays and Thursdays are extraordinary well served with all sorts of Provisions as also have living Cattle Dertmouth seated on the Dent near its fall into the Sea Dertmouth where it hath a commodious Haven a large well inhabited frequented and traded Port-Town containing 3 Parish Churches and its Market on Fridays is very well served with Provisions 'T is an ancient Town Corporate is governed by a Major and his Brethren and amongst its Immunities sendeth Burgesses to Parliament Totnes seated on the Dert and on the descent of a Hill Totnes a Town of great antiquity and of greater account than now it is yet doth it retain several of its Immunities sendeth Burgesses to Parliament and is governed by a Major and his Brethren The Town is large and hath a very great Market on Saturdays for all live Cattle Corn Mault and Provisions both Flesh and Fish Ashburton seated in a rich Soil under the Moor a large Borough Town Ashburton composed of several Streets is beautified with a fair Church electeth Parliament men and hath a very good Market for Corn Cattle Sheep and Provisions on Saturdays Okehampton seated betwixt the River Okement and a branch thereof Okehampton a Borough Town which electeth Parliament men is governed by a Major Burgesses Recorder and sub-Officers and hath a very good Market for Corn Provisions and Yarn on Saturdays Bediford Bediford commodiously seated for the reception of Vessels on the Towridge over which it hath a large Stone-bridge of Arched-work consisting of 24 Peers 'T is a large well inhabited and traded Town and its Market on Tuesdays is well served with Corn and Provisions Barnstable Barnstable commodiously seated on the Tawe over which it hath a large Stone-bridge 'T is a fine Borough Town which electeth Parliament men is a place of some Trade and hath
Fowl called the Soland-Geese which in many places are taken in very great plenty and are sound very profitable to the Inhabitants not only for their Flesh to eat but for their Feathers and Oil. Their chief Commodities are Course Cloths Freezes Lead-Oar Feathers Sea-Coal Alum Iron Salt Salt-Peter Linnen-Cloth Train-Oil Hops Wood Alablaster some Hides and Tallow c. To the R t Noble Iames Duke of Monmouth Buckleuch Earle of Doncaster Dalkeith Baron of Kendale Miâ—ekeâ—â— Ashdale Kt. of the Garter one of his Majs most honble prvy Councell This Mapp is most humbly dedicatâ—â— by Ric Blome A MAPP of the Kingdome of SCOTLAND By Ric Blome by His Majys comand Its Inhabitants The Inhabitants especially those Southernly are of a good feature strong of body very hardy couragious and fit for Martial affairs and their Nobility and Gentry which are of several degrees as Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts Barons Knights Esquires and Gentlemen are generally very ingenuous and accomplished men in all civil knowledge Nobility and Gentry of Scotland Their Sessions of Parliament This Kingdom like unto England consisteth of a King Nobility Gentry and Commons and these with the Lords Spiritual assemble together in Parliament as often as they are called together by Writ from the King And by reason of his Majesties residence in England so that he is not here at their Sessions of Parliament he constituteth and sendeth one to act as his Vice-Roy who is commonly called Lord Commissioner and such at present is the Right Noble John Duke of Lotherdale c. Things worthy of note Amongst the things worthy of note in this Kingdom for Antiquity famous was that Fortification drawn from Abercorne upon Edenborough Frith unto Alcluyd now called Dunbritton opening upon the West Sea where as Speed noteth Julius Agricola set the limits of the Roman Empire past which according to Tacitus there were no other bounds of Britain to be sought for And here the second Legion of Augusta and the twentieth of Victrix built a part of the Wall as also an ancient coped Monument of an high and round compass which according to the opinions of some was a Temple consecrated to the God Terminus but others there be that will have it to be a Trophy raised by Carausius who fortified this Wall with seven Castles Caledonian Wood. Here began that Wood Caledonia which name Tacitus attributeth to all that Tract of ground which lieth Northward beyond Grahames Dike or the Wall of Antonius Pius which Ptolomy divideth into several Nations as the Caledonii Vacomagi Epidii c. who are all known to the Romans by the general name of the Picts from their painting themselves This Wood or Forrest was very spacious and over-shadowed with Thickets and tall over-spreading Trees which rendred it impassable and was divided by Grampe-Hill now calâ—ed Grantzbain that is the crooked bending Mountain Solinus is of opinion that Vlysses was in Caledonia and to confirm his belief therein he saith there was a Votive Altar with an Inscription in Greek Letters Plutarch â—aith that Bears were brought out of Britain to Rome but for more truth 〈◊〉 may be said that here were bred the wild white Bulls a Beast of nature â—erce and cruel whose thick and curled manes resembled the Lions In the â—ays of Severus Argetecox a petty Prince reigned over this Tract of Ground â—hose Wife being reproachfully called by Julia the Empress an Adulteress â—oldly made this Answer We British Dames have to do with the best of men Cámbden p. 32. â—â—t you Roman Ladies secretly commit the same with every base and lewd Companion Two famous Loughs In this Kingdom are two famous Loughs Nessa and Lomund the former never Friezeth though in the extreamest cold weather and the waters of the â—atter most raging in the calmest and fairest weather and herein is an Island that the Wind forceth or moveth to and fro In the Rivers Dee and Done besides the great abundance of Salmons is taken a Shell-fish called the Horse-muskle wherein Pearls are engendred which are very good in many Physical Medicines and some of them not much inferiour to the Oriental Pearl Courts of Judicature Court of Parliament As to their Courts of Judicature they are peculiar to themselves and are several The chief amongst which is the High Court of Parliament consisting of Lords and Commons hath the same Authority as that of England and is also summoned by Writ from his Majesty at his pleasure as occasion requireth Colledge of Justice The second Court is the Sessions or Colledge of Justice consisting of a President 14 Senators 7 of the Clergy and as many of the Laity unto whom was afterwards adjoyned the Chancellor who is the chief and 5 other Senators besides 3 principal Scribes or Clerks and as many Advocates as the Senators see convenient And this was thus constituted by King James the Fifth in Anno 1532 after the form of the Parliament at Paris These sit and administer Justice with equity and reason and not according to the rigour of the Law every day except Sundays and Mondays from the first of Novemb. to the 15 of March and from Trinity Sunday to the first Calends of August and all the time between as being either Seed-time or Harvest is vacation They give judgment according to the Parliament Statutes and Municipal Laws and where they are defective they have recourse to the Imperial Civil Law Other Courts There are likewise in every Shire or County inferiour Civil Judicatories or Courts kept wherein the Sheriff of the Shire or his Deputy decideth the Controversies and Law-suits of the Inhabitants from which there are oft-times Appeals to the Sessions or Colledge of Justice And these Sheriffs are for the most part Hereditary Besides these Courts there are other Judicatories which they call Commissariots the highest whereof is kept at Edenburgh and these have to do with Ecclesiastical affairs as Wills and Testaments Divorcements Tithes c. In criminal Causes the Kings Chief Justice holdeth his Court at Edenburgh Likewise the Sheriffs in their Territories and the Magistrates in some Boroughs may sit in Judgment of Manslaughter in case the Manslayer be taken within 24 hours after the fact committed and being found guilty by a Jury may be put to death but if the said limited time is past the matter is referred and put over to the Kings Justice or his Deputies There are also Civil Courts in every Regality holden by their Bailiffs Ecclesiastical Government This Kingdom as to Ecclesiastical Government is divided into two Archbishopricks viz. of St. Andrews the Primate of Scotland and of Glasco and under these are several Suffragan-Bishops viz. under him of St. Andrews those of Dunkeld Aberdon Murray Dunblan Berohiu Ross Cathanes and Orkney And under him of Glasco those of Galloway Argile or Lismore and the Isles Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland The ancient People of this Kingdom were 1.
remaining nothing but Ruins Four miles from which there was another City built by Lysimachus one of Alexanders Captains which from other Cities there adjoyning was peopled by him called Alexandria or Troas Alexandria or New Troy in honour of Alexander the Great who begun the Work which though not so great rich and famous as the first yet was the Metropolis of the Province but now by the Turks quite ruinated by their carrying the Stones and Pillars to Constantinople for the beautifying of their Bashaws Houses 3. Sigaeum the Port-Town to Troy 4. Assus called by Pliny Apollonia in which place the Earth will consume the Bodies of the Dead in 40 days 5. Lyrnessus opposite to the Isle of Lesbos destroyed by Achilles and the Greeks in the beginning of the Trojan War The Province of Paphlagonia and its Cities PAPHLAGONIA hath for its chief Cities 1. Gangra remarkable for a Council there held in the Primitive times called Synodus Gangrensis 2. Pompeiopolis so called by Pompey the Great And 3. Coniata or Conica fortified by Mithridates when he was Master of this Country The Province of Lycaonia and its chief places LYCAONIA bounded on the East with Armenia Minor The most eminent places in this Country are 1. Iconium now Cogni the Regal Seat of the Aladine Kings a place of great strength whose scituation is in the Mountains advantagious for defence and safety 2. Lystra famous for the Birth-place of Timothy and where Paul and Barnabas having healed a Cripple were adored for Mercury and Jupiter And 3. Derbe where the said Apostle preached The Province of Pisidia and its chief places PISIDIA hath for its chief places 1. Seleucia built by Seleucus 2. Sagalassa scituate in the most fruitful part of this Country 3. Selge a Colony of the Lacedemonians And 4. Termessus strongly seated This Country was famous for the Battel fought betwixt Cyrus and Artaxerxes where Cyrus lost his life and the Victory out of which Xenophon made that notable Retreat with his Grecians in the despight of 20000 Men which pursued him Armenia Minor and its Cities ARMENIA MINOR is bounded on the East with the Euphrates which separates it from Armenia Major Cities of hote viz. 1. Meteline the Metropolitan City now called Suur abounding in great quantities of Wine and Oil. 2. Nicopolis built by Pompey in remembrance of a Victory he there obtained against the Forces of Tygranes King of Syrid 3. Garnasa a strong Town 4. Oromandus and 5. Arabyssus remarkable for the exile of St. Chrysostom Patriarch of Constantinople confined here by the malice of the Empress Eudoxia This Country as to its fertility pleasantness c. is the same as Cappadocia afore-mentioned The Province of Mysia and its chief places MYSIA hath for its chief places 1. Cyzicus seated in the Propontis in an Island of the same name but so near the Continent that it is joyned to it by two Bridges The Metropolis of the Consular Hellespont a place of great strength and beauty whose Walls Bulwarks Towers and Haven were made of Marble 3. Adramyttium where Paul took Shipping to go to Rome And 4. Pergamus seated in a goodly Plain on the Banks of the River Caicus a place of great strength beautified with a Library of about 200000 Volumes or Manuscripts all writ in Parchment famous also for those costly Hangings known to us by Tapestry Here was one of the 7 Churches of Asia to which St. John writ his Revelation and lastly famous for the Birth-place of Galen the eminent Physician who lived to the Age of 140 years in good health Mountains in Anatolia worthy of note The Mountains and Rivers in Anatolia may have somewhat in particular observed of them Mount Taurus begins between Lysia and Caria and extends it self all the length of Asia being a continual Ridge of Hills running through Asia from West to East which for its length height and the branches it casts forth on one side and the other the greatest and most famous Mountain in the World On Mount Ida the Trojan Paris judged of the Beauty of Juno Pallas and Venus and giving the Golden Apple to the last drew on himself and his Friends the enmity of the other two On the Mountain Tmole in Lydia Midas having esteemed Pan's Pipe to be more pleasant than the Harp of Apollo was by him pulled by the Ears not to make them greater but so hard as gave occasion to the Poets to jeer him and say that he had Asses Ears This Mountain is very fruitful especially in Vines and Saffron On Cragus was feigned to be the Monster Chimera which Bellerophon made tractable On Latmus in Caria passed the Loves of the Moon and Endymion c. Amongst the Rivers Rivers Pactolus hath rouled down so much Gold in its Streams since Midas washed there that the Riches of Croesus and others are come from thence The Granick was witness of the Victory of Alexander the Great against the Satrapes of Darius but Alexander washing himself in the cold waters of Cidnus had near lost his life The River Acheron and the Lake Acherusia near Heraclia in Bithynia are esteemed to reach to Hell and that this way Hercules brought up the Villain Cerberus Halys at present Lali served for the bounds and limits between the Kingdom of Croesus and the Empire of the Persians but it proved fatal to Croesus c. Things worthy of note in Asia Minor There are many other things observable about and within the lesser Asia The Bosphorus of Thrace or Channel of the Black-Sea or Streight of Constantinople is so narrow that Darius Hystaspes built a Bridge over it and passed with his Troops over it from Asia into Europe to make War against the Scythians Xerxes the Son of Darius did as much over the Hellespont or Streight of Gallipoli or the Dardanelles which we call the Castles of Sestos and Abydos which are seated three Leagues above the entrance and at the narrowest place of the Hellespont opposite each to other Formerly famous for the unfortunate Loves of Hero and Leander drowned in the merciless Surges Here also Xerxes whose populous Army drank Rivers dry and made Mountains circumnavigable is said to have passed over into Greece on a Bridge of Boats Sestos is strongly seated on the side of a Mountain descending to the Sea on the European shoar Abydos on a low Level on the Asian shoar The Amaniden Streights or Passes of Mount Aman between Cilicia and Syria are easie to keep the Way for about 2500 Paces being between Rocks and Crags the Feet of which are washed with many streams which fall off from the Mountains Here it was that Alexander the Great vanquished Darius The ISLANDS about ASIA MINOR THe ISLANDS about ASIA MINOR have been very remarkable to Antiquity though not so at present Islands They are almost in the Archipelago some in the Mediterranean Sea almost none in the Black Sea yet at the entrance into that
on the top thereof grow certain Strings which resemble Hair the great end of the Branches appearing like Hands extended forth and the Dates as Fingers And so much for Egypt LIBYA INTERIOR which doth comprehend ZAHARA or SAARA with its Parts or Provinces of ZANHAGA Tegassa ZUENZIGA Zuenziga Ziz Ghir TARGA Hair Targa LEMPTA Lempta Dighir Agades BERDOA Berdoa BORNO Borno Kaugha Amasen GAOGA Gaoga The Land of NEGROES with its Parts or Kingdoms as they lie On this side the Niger as GUALATA Guadia Angra Arguya GENEHOA Genehoa Walade Ganar Samba-Lamech TOMBUT Tombut Salla Berissa Guegneve AGADES Agades Deghir Mura CANUM Cano Tassana Germa CASSENA Cassena Nebrina Tirca GANGARA Gangara Semegonda Between the Branches and about the Mouth of the Niger as JALOFFES Emboule Lambaya Yagoa Bersola Nabare Besu Catcheo Boyla Codan Julieto GAMBIA CASANGUAS BIAFARES Emboule Lambaya Yagoa Bersola Nabare Besu Catcheo Boyla Codan Julieto Beyond the Niger as MELLI Melli. SOUSOS Beria MANDINGUE Mandinga Tocrur GAGO Gago Dau. GUBER Guber ZEGZEG Zegzeg Channara ZANFARA Zanfara Reghebil GUINY and regarding the Atlantick Ocean with its Parts or Kingdoms of MELEGUETTE with its chief Places as they lie On the Sea as Bugos Timaa Bagga Serbora Masfah Faly Hamaya Samwyn Crou and Growaly Within Land as Bolombere Quinamora GUINY particularly so called or the IVORY or GOLD Coast with its chief places as they lie On the Sea as Tabo Taboe Petoy Wetoe Moure Nassau St. George del Mina Cormantir Berku Pompena Within Land as Laboure Uxoo Quinimburm Acanes Grandes Dauma Aâ—â—â—raus Adios St. Eaurenco Zabandu Buma Roggis Jamo BENIN with its chief Places as they lie On the Sea as Popou Jackeyn Loebo Fosko Borli Bodi and Cesge Within Land as Bâ—din Oâ—verre Aâ—ovon and Curamo ZAHARA That is DESART Zahara its name and description of the Country IN our Africa or Libya Interior we have placed ZAHARA the Country of the NEGROES and GVINY Zahara is an Arab name and signifies Desart and this name is taken from the quality of the Country so the Arabs divide the Land into three sorts Cehel Zahara and Azgar Cehel hath only Sand very small without any Green Zahara hath Gravel and little Stones and but little Green Azgar hath some Marshes some Grass and little Shrubs The Country is generally hot and dry it hath almost no Water except some few Wells and those Salt if there fall great Rains the Land is much better But besides the leanness of the Soil there is sometimes such vast quantities of Grasshoppers that they eat and ruin all that the Earth produceth Through this Country the Caravans pass which adds no small advantage unto it It is so barren and ill inhabited that a Man may travel above a week together without seeing a Tree or scarce any Grass as also without finding any Water and that Water they have is drawn out of Pits which oft-times is covered with Sand and tastes very brackish so that many times Men die for want of it which knowing the defect those Merchants which travel in this Country carry their Water as well as other Provisions on their Camels backs It s People The People are Bereberes and Africans likewise Abexes and Arabs of which the first are seated in the most moist places the others wander after their Flocks Some have their Cheques or Lords almost all follow Mahometism Though the Air be very hot yet it is so healthful that from Barbary the Country of the Negroes and other places Sick people come as to their last remedy It s division and parts described This great Desart is divided into seven principal Parts of which the three Western are Zanhaga Zuenziga and Targa or Hair The four towards the East are Lempta Berdoa Gaoga and Borno Almost every part reaches the full breadth and all together make but the length of this Desart ZANHAGA is most Westward Zanhaga and touches the Ocean with this Desart are comprehended those of Azaoad and Tegazza This last yields Salt like Marble which is taken from a Rock and carried 2 3 4 or 500 Leagues into the Land of the Negroes and serves in some places for Money and for this they buy their Victuals These People use it every moment letting it melt in their Mouths to hinder their Gums from corrupting which often happens either because of the heat which continually reigns or because their food corrupts in less than nothing In the Desart of Azaoad and in the way from Dara to Tombut are to be seen two Tombs the one of a rich Merchant and the other of a Carrier The Merchants Water being all gone and ready to die for want buys of the Carrier who had not overmuch one Glass full for which he gave him 10000 Ducats a poor little for so great a Sum but what would not a man do in necessity yet at the end the Carrier repented his bargain for both the one and the other died for want of Water before they could get out of the Desart Those near the Sea have some Trade with the Portugals with whom they change their Gold of Tibar for divers Wares To the Hono ble the Governour Sub Governour Deputy Governour Court of Assistants of the Hono ble Company of Royall Adventurers of England tradeing into Affrica This Mapp is humbly dedicated by Ric. Blome â—FRICA or LIBIA ULTERIOUR Where are the COUNTRIES of SAARA DESERT â—he COUNTRIE of NEGROES and GUINE With the Circumjacent Countries and Kingdoms Designed by Monsieur Sanson Geographer to the French King and Rendered into English by Richard Blome By the Kings Especiall Command Printed for Richard Blome The Country or Desert of ZVENZIGA Zuenziga under the name of which passes that of Cogdenu and is more troublesom and dangerous than that of Zanbaga as also more destitute of Water and yet it hath many People among others certain Arabs feared by all their Neighbours and particularly by the Negroes whom those Arabs take and sell for Slaves in the Kingdom of Fez But in revenge when they fall into the hands of the Negroes they are cut into so many pieces that the biggest that remains are their two Ears It s chief places are Zuenziga and Ghir The Desart of TARGA or HAIR some esteem this last the name of the Principal Place Targa and the other of the People is not so dry nor troublesom as the two others There are found many Herbs for Pastures the Soil indifferent fruitful and of a temperate Air. They have some Wells whose Water is good In the Morning there falls store of Manna which they find fresh and healthful of which they transport quantity to Agades and other places It s chief places are Targa and Hair LEMPTA is likewise esteemed the name of a People Lempta and its principal place also Digir This Desart is dry and more troublesom than that of Targa and its People haughty brutish and dangerous to them that cross it going from Constantina
with the Mono-Motapa of which he seems once to have been a part is in peace with the King of Zanguebar that he may have commerce to the Sea for he hath much Gold Silver Ivory and the same Commodities as Mono-Motapa but its People are more barbarous and brutish The chief places in the Mono-Emugi are Agag Astagoa Leuma Camur Beif Bagametro and Zembre seated on the bottom of the Lake Zaire CAFRERIA or the Land of CAFRES The Land of Cafreria described CAFRERIA or the Land of CAFRES makes the most Southern Coast of all Aethiopia winding like a Semicircle about the Cape of Good Hope some begin it from Cape Negro and continue it unto the River of Cuama this separating it from Zanguebar and the other from Congo or what we have esteemed with Congo Others begin it and end it with the Tropick of Capricorn as well on this side as beyond the Cape of Good Hope I esteem under the name of Cafres all the Coasts which environ the Mono-Motapa both towards the West South and East so that we may call these Cafres Occidental Meridional and Oriental This distinction being taken in regard of the natural scituation in which these People are from the Mono-Motapa or we may chuse rather to consider them in Occidental or Oriental as we have already done the Cape of Good Hope then keeping the one from the other It hath formerly been believed that these People had neither Kings Law nor Faith and therefore were called Cafres that is without Law But it hath since been known that they have divers Kings and Lords as those of Mataman where there are divers Metals Chrystal c. And of Melemba among the Occidentals those of Chicanga Sedanda Quiteva and Zefala among the Orientals and others we know not towards the South and Cape of Good Hope On the Coast of Cafres are these places and Isles viz. St. Nicolai Piscarius the Port of Carascalis the Cape of Good Hope St. Martins Bay and the Cape of St. Lucia Also these Isles 4 bearing the name of St. Lucia 2 of St. Christophers 5 of Crucis and 3 of Aride Many of which as likewise the Capes are well known by Sea-men especially the Cape of Good Hope All these Coasts of Cafreria are bounded within Land by a Chain of Mountains formed by the Mountains of the Moon and which inclose Mono-Motapa That part of these Mountains which advance towards the Cape of Good Hope are called by the Portugals The Cape of Good Hope Picos Fragos that is Watry Points or Rocks This Cape is the most remarkable piece in Cafreria the most Southern point of Africa and of our Continent and the most famous Promontory of the whole World Vasco de Gama knew it in 1498 and after having doubled it found the way by the East-Indies to the Great Sea and from hence the Portugals boast to have been the first that had the knowledge of this Cape But we have made appear in the general discourse of Africa that the Ancients have both known and spoke of it Near the Cape of Good Hope and farther towards the South is the Cape of Needles which should be more famous since it is more Southernly than the other by 12 or 15 Leagues But the name Cape of Good Hope is given to all that Head of Land which is the most Southern of Africa The Air Fertility Commodities c. of the Country The Air of this Country is sometimes temperate and sometimes cold by reason of the Mountains which are covered with Snow and Ice from whence descends quantity of cold Waters The Vallies and Lower Countries pleasant and fertil hath store of Woods and Forests in which are abundance of Beasts and Fowls as Deer Antilopes Baboons Foxes Hares c. Also Ostriches Herons Pelicans Pheasants Partridges Geese Ducks c. They are well supplied with good Water feed much Cattle which they truck with Strangers for Knives Scizzars Spoons and divers Toys they have likewise much Fish in their Rivers The People and their Trade The Inhabitants are Black have thick Lips flat Noses long Ears and in a word very ill-shapen They are more barbarous and brutish than the rest of Africa they are Man-eaters their chief ornaments in their Apparel are Chains of Iron Brass Beads Bells or the like and cutting and slashing their Skins in several shapes Clothing they have none only in the Cold season they wrap themselves about with Skins of Beasts Towns they have none or very few for the most part living in the Woods and Forests like brute Beasts But the Cafres on the East are much more civil than the others most of them have made a part and are yet subject to the Mono-Motapa who about 50 years ago divided his Estate into four parts giving to his eldest Son what is within Land and by much the greatest part and to his three younger Sons Zuiteva Sedanda and Chicanga towards the Sea-Coast for their Portions Cefala or Zefala seems to make its piece apart whose King pays Tribute both to the Mono-Motapa and the Portugals and these have divers Fortresses on the Coast Sena Tete Cuama c. Zefala is so abundant in Gold and Elephants that some take it for the Ophir whither Solomon sent his Fleet every three years And they give for a reason that the Gold Ivory Apes c. which that Fleet brought are here found in abundance That this Fleet parting from the Red Sea there is no likelyhood it should go to Peru which some take for this Ophir besides that there is there neither Ivory nor Apes but that it was rather to some part of Asia or Africa They add that there remains not far from Zefala some footsteps of ancient Buildings and Inscriptions left there by Strangers long time ago Nay likewise that there is some notes and Books how Solomon sent thither his Fleet. Moreover the Septuagint translate Sophira instead of Ophir and the name of Sophira is not overmuch different from Sopholo However it be there is here store of Gold both in the Mountains and Rivers and often very clean and pure as well in Powder as Sand and this Gold is esteemed the best and finest in Africa ours seeming but Brass in comparison of it The Country is healthful and pleasant seated only on the Coast the Mono-Motapa confining it within Land A part of its now Inhabitants are not the Natives but descended from that Coast which belonged to the Mono-Motapa The Natives as I said before are Black and Idolaters or Cafres the others very swarthy and for the most part Mahometans They have a great Trade on this Coast for their Gold two or three Millions being yearly brought hence and that for Toys and things of a very small value which are carried them from divers parts of Asia and Europe and some parts of Africa The ISLES of AFRICA as they lie and are found In the Mediterranean Sea And on the Coast of BARBARY as the ISLES of
other Sex It is distinguished as under its Ancient Kings into these Quarters which at present are called that of St. John of St. Maria the Round of St. Paul and of St. Sebastian and of St. James formerly Tlatelulco In this last which is very great and the fairest is the Palace of the Vice-Roy the House of the Archbishop the Court of Audience the Mint and other Offices In this City of Mexico is a Cathedral Church which was begun by Cortez with so much haste that to raise two Columns for want of Materials they made use of the Stones which had made part of the Statues of the Idols Here is also a Printing-house several Houses of Jesuits Dominicans Franciscans Augustinians and other Religious Orders some Colledges abundance of Hospitals and other publick Buildings all of great state and beauty They have here four things which are remarkable for Beauty viz. their Women their Apparel their Horses and their Streets Chulula described Among those places which are or have been on the two Lakes of Mexico Chulula is reckoned one of the fairest scarce excepting that of Mexico with which it in times past contended as well for state as bigness once containing near 20000 Houses and beautified with so many Temples as there are days in the year The People were said to be so addicted to Idolatries and so barbarous in their bloody Sacrifices Its Inhabitants that it sacrificed yearly no less than 5000 Infants of both Sexes on its Altars before its Idols Tezcuco described Tezcuco once twice as great as Sevil in Spain its Streets are fair and large its Houses stately and Beautiful and adorned with many Conduits and Aquaeducts which furnished them with fresh Water though seated on the brinks of the Salt-Lake of Mexico Quitlavaca Quitlavaca described built on divers little Islands like to Venice was joyned to the Continent by a Caus-way made of Flint-stones of about a League long but narrow called by the Spaniards Venezuela containing about 2000 Houses Yztalpalapa Yztalpalapa described seated part on the Lake and part on the Banks with a Paved way to Mexico from which it is distant two Leagues once a large City having no less than 10000 well built Houses which were plentifully supplied with fresh Waters from its many Ponds as well as its beautiful Fountains Queretaro hath two Fountains Queretaro described of which one is so hot that its Waters at first burn being cold fatten Cattle the other runs four whole years continually and ceases other four whole years having likewise this property that it increases in dry and diminishes in moist and rainy weather Mestitland described Mestitlan once of good repute containing about 30000 Inhabitants seated on an high Hill begirt about with pleasant Groves and fertil Plains which affords excellent Fruits and very good Grains Cuyocan of about 50000 Houses and Mexicaltzingo of about 4000 Cuyocan and Mexicaltzingo described both upon the Lake were in times of Paganism adorned with many beautiful Temples so rich that at a distance they seemed to be made of Silver but now their lustre is decaied most of them being converted to Monasteries and Religious Houses Acapulco a City and Port on Mer del Sud Acapulco described seated on a safe and capacious Bay full of convenient places or Docks for Ships to ride in so that it is said to be the safest Haven of all those Seas it is distant from Mexico 100 Leagues The Mexicans keep here some Vessels and trade to the Philippines and to China from whence they are distant 3000 Leagues The Air of Mexico The Air of Mexico is sweet and temperate though scituate under the Torrid Zone the Heats thereof much qualified by the cooling Blasts which rise from the Sea on three sides of it as also by the frequent refreshing Showers which always falls in June July and August which is their hottest Season of the year The Soil is so fertil that they gather their Crop twice a year yet want they good Wine and good Oil by reason of the Summer-Rains It s fertility It is believed that no Country in the World feeds so much Cattle some private persons having 40000 Oxen or Cows others 15000 Sheep c. and an infinite number of tame Fowl as Hens Turkies c. whence it comes that Oxen Sheep Goats Hogs and tame Fowl are hardly worth the buying Their Horses are excellent the Race coming from the best of Spain Mines in Mexico There are few Mines of Gold though many of Silver about Mexico as those of Comana Fuchuco Archichica Temozcaltepeque Zacualpa Tasco Ymiquilpo Cu Tepeque Talpajava Zumpango Guanaxuato and others And these Mines are not so rich as those of Peru but easier wrought and with less expence and loss of Men. The principal Riches of the Country after their Silver Gold Iron and Copper are their Grains Fruits Wool Cotton Sugar Silk Cocheneel the grain of Scarlet Feathers Honey Balm Amber Salt Tallow Hides Tobacco Ginger and divers Medicinal Drugs Its Inhabitants The Natives of this Country are more ingenious than the rest of the Savages and are much civilized since the Spaniards had to do here they are excellent in many Mechanical Arts especially in making fine Pictures with the Feathers of their Cincons which is a little Bird living only on Dew and place their Colours so well that the best Painters of Europe admire the delicacy they far exceeding a piece of Painting They have some memories of their Histories make use of certain Characters instead of Letters of our Alphabet their Tongue was extended so far as they could extend their Dominion though in divers Provinces there were diversity of Languages They are excellent in refining of Metals expert Goldsmiths and curious in Painting upon Cotton The Plant Magney a very great rarity Among their Rarities of this Country there is a most admirable Plant called Magney from which they extract several things it hath on it about 40 kinds of Leaves which are fit for several uses for when they are tender they make of them Paper Flax Thread Cordage Girdles Shoes Mats Mantles Stuffs c. upon them grow Prickles so strong and sharp that they make use of them instead of Saws also they serve for Needles The Bark if it be roasted maketh an excellent Plaister for Wounds from the top Branches comes a kind of Gum which is a sovereign Antidote against Poyson from the top of the Tree cometh a Juyce like Syrup which if seethed will become Hony if purified Sugar they make also Wine and Vinegar of it and it affordeth good Wood to build with In this Country are two Mountains one which vomits flames of Fire like Aetna and another in the Province of Guaxaca which sendeth forth two burning streams the one of black Pitch and the other of red The Kings of Mexico were rich and powerful in regard of their Neighbours having no less than 2 or 3000 Men
departed from the Meridian for that is equal to the Latitude of the place Proposition X. The Places of the Earth scituated under the Aequator have no Latitude or elevation of the Pole but both the Poles lye in their Horizon The places under the Aequator have no Latitude The places under the Pole have the Latitude of 90 degrees viz. the Pole in the Vertex and the Aequator in the Horizon The places between the Poles and the Aequator have a less Latitude than Ninety Degrees The truth of this Proposition is evident therefore it needs no Explication Proposition XI If we are either on the Sea or Land and know not the place where we are let the Latitude be found to exhibit that Parallel in the Globe that we may be certain that we are in one point of it This is done after the same manner that we have shewed in the sixth Proposition viz. a Parallel must be described at the given or observed Latitude and this is the Parallel demanded The same is also easie in Maps CHAP. XXIV Of the division of the Earth into Zones and the Celestial Appearances in the divers Zones Proposition I. From the proper or Annual motion of the Sun there ariseth a certain division of the Superficies of the Earth into five parts or Zones THe division of the Earth into 5 Zones See Scheme SEEing that the Sun doth not always continue in the Aequator but declining from it describeth by his Motion a path which cutteth the Aequator so that his greatest declination is in 23½ degrees as well towards the North from the Aequator as towards the South in which declination he describeth the Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorn thence it is that he is not perpetually vertical to the Places lying under the Aequator neither doth he always keep one distance from other places for sometimes he is more nigh and sometimes more remote from a certain place and variously changeth heat cold rain and other conditions of the Seasons These which we have now spoken of may be shewed as well on the Globe as in Maps A Zone is termed a part of the Earth included within the Tropick and the Polary Circle A Zone what And because there are two Tropicks and two Polary Circles thence it cometh to pass that there are five Zones viz. 1. Torrid 2. Temperate and 2. Frigid Torrid zone The Torrid Zone is that part of the Earth which lieth between the Tropicks of Cancer and Capricorn Temperate Zones The Temperate Zones which lye between one of the Tropicks and the adjacent Polary Circle the Northernly Temperate Zone is that which lieth between the Tropick of Cancer and the Artick Circle the Southernly temperate Zone is that which lieth between the Tropick of Capricorn and the Antartick Circle Frigid Zones The Frigid or Cold Zones are those parts of the Earth which lye about the Poles even to the Polary Circles and they are as well Northernly as Southernly cold Circles Proposition II. The Places according to their Latitudes in what Zones they are in Those places of the Earth whose Latitude is less than 23 degrees and 30 minutes they lie in the Torrid Zone Those whose Latitude is 23 degrees and 30 minutes they lie in the Tropicks viz. in the extremity of the Torrid Zone Those whose Latitude is greater than 23 degrees and 30 minutes and less than 66 degrees and 30 minutes they lie in the Temperate Zone Those whose Latitude is 66 degrees and 30 minutes they lie in the Polary Circles viz. in the term of the Temperate Zone Those whose Latitude is greater than 66 degrees and 30 minutes they lie in the Frigid Zones These are manifest from the definitions of the Tropical and Polary Circles which we have treated of in the 23th Chapter Proposition III. The Aequator of the Earth passeth through these Places Places which the Aequator passeth through Through the Island of St. Thomas in the great Bay of Africa which is called the Aethiopian Ocean Through Aethiopia Through the Indian Ocean Through the middle of Sumatra Through the Chersonesus of Malacca and other Islands in the Indian Ocean Through the Moluccas themselves and the Pacifick Ocean Through the entrance of the Province of Peruana By the Lake Parima Through the Atlantick Ocean even to the Island of St. Thomas The Aequator divideth the Torrid Zone into two equal parts so that they may deservedly be termed two Torrid Zones one Northern and the other Southern These Places lie in the Torrid Zone Places which lie in the Torrid Zone The greatest part of Africa the Indian Ocean Abyssine part of Arabia Cambaja India The Isles of the Indian Sea Java Ceilan Peruvia Mexico great part of the Atlantick Ocean the Island of St. Helena Brazil New Guinee Places which the Tropick of Cancer passeth through The Tropick of Cancer passeth through these places viz. through the Confines of Lybia and other places in the Inland Africa through Syena in Aethiopia Thence passing the Red Sea beyond the Mountain Sinai and Mecca the Birth-place of Mahomet it passeth through Arabia Felix hence it entreth the Indian Ocean and toucheth the borders of Persia and passeth over Cambaja India and the Borders of China until it come into the Pacifick Sea which being passed over it falleth in with California into the Kingdom of Mexico and again entring into the Atlantick Ocean passing the Gulph of Mexico it sweepeth the Coast of the Isle of Cuba and thence returneth to the Occidental shoar of Africa Places which the Tropick of Capricorn passeth through The Tropick of Capricorn passeth through very few places of the Earth its greatest part lying in the Sea The places through which it passeth are through the Tongue of Africa through Monomotapa Madagascar the Indian Ocean New Guinee the Pacifick Ocean Peru Brazil and through the Atlantick Ocean Places scituate in the Northern and Southern temperate Zones Many places in the Earth lie in the Northern temperate Zone and those almost all known and inhabited viz. all Europe all Asia except part of India Malacca and the Isles of the Indian Ocean great part of America Septentrionalis and part of the Atlantick and Pacifick Ocean In the Southern temperate Zone few places lie and those not fully known with a large portion of the Sea viz. part of the Prominent part of Africa Monomotapa a great part of Terra Magellanica part of Brazil Chili the Streights of Magellan and a great part of the Atlantick Indian and Pacifick Ocean Places which the Artick and Antartick Polary Circles pass through The Artick Polary Circle passeth almost through the middle of Izland through the Upper Norway the North Sea Lapland the Bay of Russia Samojeda Tartaria America Septentrionalis and Groenland The Antartick Polary Circle passeth through Terra Magellanica of which we have little or no knowledge at this day Places which lie in the cold Northern and Southern