Esteem The Falling-sickness in Esteem among them because Mahomet was troubled with this Disease and shamelesly made them believe That then God by his Angel Gabriel reveal'd to him the most secret Mysteries of his Religion The highest Festival is the Nativity of their great Prophet A Festival upon the Birth of Mahomet which they celebrate with all Solemnity the fifth of September in manner following All the School-masters assemble after Dinner with their Scholars in the chiefest Mosque out of which they go in Order every one with a Torch in his Hand and sing along the Streets the Eulogy and famous Acts and Praise of their Prophet Two of these Masters carry upon their shoulders a great Pyramide cover'd over with Flower-Works and a Cross on the top of it follow'd by vocal and instrumental Musick after the Turkish manner all the Corner-Houses in Cross-ways are hang'd with Tapistry and burning Lamps They set also in every House about Mid-night a lighted Torch upon the Table because Mahomet was born at that Hour During the eight Days of this Feast every one may walk the Streets by Night which at other times they dare not on pain of corporal Punishment The Cooks of the Divan to the number of Two hundred each carrying a Napkin or Towel upon his shoulders and a burning Torch in his Hand from the seventh to the eleventh Hour go two and two along the Streets till placing themselves before the doors of the chiefest Councellors they chant a solemn and appointed Hymn in Praise of their Prophet with many Instruments of Musick ¶ THe last Solemnity concerns their Burials or Funerals Their Solemnity for the Dead which they perform in this manner When any Dies the next Friend hireth Women to lament who flocking about the Corps with strange and unusual howling make a noise and scratch themselves till the blood follow their Nails This done How they bury their Dead the Body is inclosed in a Coffin cover'd with a Green Cloth upon which a Turban is set as we use a Garland and so with the Head forward is carried to and laid in the Grave but attended all the way thither with howling Valedictions At the entrance of the Burial-place some Marabouts sing without intermission these words Lahilla Lah Mahometh ressoul allah that is God is God and Mahomet is his Prophet At last it is placed in the Grave in a sitting Posture with a Stone under the Head in stead of a Pillow and the Face towards the South Their Burying-places are very Large and lye round about the Cities for they Interr none in their Mosques but in the plain Field where every one according to his Estate buys a spot of Ground which they Wall in and plant with Flowers The Women every Friday visit these Monuments carrying thither Meat and Fruits which they leave for the Poor and for the Fowls after they have tasted of them believing it to be a work of Charity and a furtherance to the bliss of departed Souls They pray there for their Husbands and other Deceased Friends and comfort them sometimes with these or the like words That they should have Patience in waiting for the Resurrection of their Bodies And this shall suffice to have spoken of the Mahumetans there The Jews in Barbary differ in nothing from the Jews in Asia and Europe Great number of Jews Barbary being so numerous that only in the Cities of Morocco Algier and Tunis and a part of the Kingdom of Fez there are a Hundred thousand Families The Christians are few and not Masters of many places in Barbary those that be are under the Command of the King of Spain as Arache Oran Mamaure and Tangier now in the possession of the King of England Gramay saith that in Morocco Fez also in Lybia are some Remainders of Antient Christians who Celebrate the Liturgy of the Mozarabes or Moxarabes Translated out of the Latine into the Greek Tongue and about an Hundred and seventy Greek Families who give peculiar Honor to St. Stephen There are besides these many other of several Nations who taken at Sea by the Pyrates are brought to Land and sold for Slaves whence they cannot be redeem'd without great Ransoms except by chance any make an Escape which is seldom or rowing in the Galleys be retaken by the Christians These generally lead a miserable Life undergoing the extremity of Servitude only some one by good Fortune that lights upon a milde Patron is more gently handled In Algier the Slavery is most bitter but in the Kindoms of Tripolis Tunis and Fez more tollerable Some Slaves meet with Patrons dwelling up in the Countrey The labour of the Slaves in Barlary which carry them thither to bear all sorts of Burdens to Market of which if they render not a good account they are sure to be well beaten Others go Naked as in Billedulgerid tending Cattel or like Horses drawing the Plough without any other reward for their toyl than harsh Language and merciless Blows being hardly afforded a little Water and Meal for Food Others are thrust into the Galleys to row where their best fare is Water and hard Bisket and the reward of their Pains drubs with a Bulls pizzle nor is their treatment better when they come ashore being lockt to a heavy Chain and at night thrust into Dungeons by them call'd Masmora where they lye upon the bare ground Such as chance to have City Patrons The labour of the Slaves in the Cities their chiefest labour is to carry Water from place to place bear away the dust of their Houses convey their Merchandises to Ware-Houses work in the Mill like Horses knead their Dough bake their Bread and do all other drudgery yet for all receive neither good word or deed or freedom from their Fetters Many of these wretched Creatures Why many Christian Slaves make desection partly out of desperation and impatience of their misery partly out of a desire of liberty and hopes to attain the honour of a Janizary renounce their Religion and turn Turks Nay there are many rich Women who often give half their Goods to their Slaves when they embrace Mahumetanism and some even of the best Quality among them being Widows are so zealous that they marry their Slaves out of design only to draw them to be Mahumetans it being among the Turks accounted a most meritorious work to make Proselytes to their Prophet The several Punishments for Malefactors in use by them are these Those that can be prov'd after Circumcision to revolt Their Punishments are stript quite naked then anointed with Tallow and with a Chain about his Body brought to the place of Execution where they are burnt They who are convicted of any Conspiracy or Treason have a sharp Spit thrust up the Fundament others bound Hand and Foot and cast from a high Wall or Tower upon an Iron Hook whereon sometimes they stick fast by the Belly sometimes by the Head or
beating of the Sea against the Shore the Landing proves very dangerous When the Merchants have done and are ready to depart they must pay to the King two Musquets and five and twenty Pound of Gun-Powder or for want of that in Silk-Worms the worth of nine Slaves to the Carte to the Foello or Captain of the Whites and to Honga the Captain of the Boat to each of them a like Present Provisions for the Whites may be had here for a reasonable Price that is a Cask of fresh Water and a Sag of Wood for two yellow Armlets a Kof or Chest of Salt for three five Hens for four a Pot of Beer for one In time of Wars none are exempted from Service The Wars but very old Men and Children their disorderly manner of Fight you have before describ'd as also their Barbarism to the Slain and Prisoners and Method of Triumphing with their Heads and therefore we will not here repeat and cloy you with the same things again The King of Arder hath absolute and Soveraign Power over his Subjects Dominion and according as they reckon State carries a Majestick Splendor both in Clothes and Servants his Subjects tendring him great respect He Creates Noblemen and Courtiers at his pleasure and punishes Offenders not any daring to contradict Every Town as Jakkijn and Ba hath their Fidalgos or Noblemen to preside it in the King's Name who exacts a great Revenue from the Inhabitants by Order from the King When the King dies Funeral for two or three moneths after two sit waiting by him and some Servants are Strangled as an ostentation of Power not in expectation of Service in the other world The Crown descends to the Eldest or Youngest Son after their Fathers Decease and takes all his Father left but his Wives whom all but his own Mother to whom extraordinary respect is shown he imploys in his works of several kinds The Goods of the meanest sort after their decease falls to the Noblemen whose Vassals they were Their Religion consists in no appointed Meetings or setled Form Their Religion though they have Fetiseros or Priests for every Person of Quality hath his own Chaplain and if any be sick in their Family the Fetisero comes and taking Oxen Fetisero's or Priests Sheep and Hens for a Sacrifice cuts their Throats and with the Bloud besprinkles their Fetisi or Sant that is sometimes no more than an old Earthen Pot or Basket Every Family hath a Meeting once in six moneths at which their Priest offers Sacrifice to their Fetisi or Sant put under a Pot with Holes and then they enquire of what they desire to know If the Fetisi be unsatisfied the Priest can get no words from him if otherwise he hath an answer by a gracile or small-piped voice as if it came from the Fetisi whereas indeed it is a counterfeited sound by their Priests Then the Inquirer takes a Bason fill'd with Beer and Meal and gives to the Priest then suddenly somewhat in the Pot under which the Fetisi sits leaps whereupon all promising obedience to the answer and drinking a draught out of the Bason depart They believe another life after this but not for all for they say that a man after death perisheth and his bloud congeals so that none must expect any Resurrection saving those that are slain in the Wars which they averre to have found by experience and that the Bodies slain in the Wars lie not two days in the Graves But more probably this seems a cheat of their Fetisero's who in the night steal the bodies from their resting-places to make the people believe they were risen and gone to another life and to this end to make them the more stout and valiant in the Wars Sixteen miles Eastward of Little Arder Rio Laga Rio de Lagas empties his Waters into the Sea before which a Shelf lyeth that choaks the whole River except at the East-side where they may Row in with a Boat but not without danger to overset in a rowling Sea This Flood goeth in at North or North-west and so passes to a Town call'd Curamo lying on the South Curamo from which Cotton-Cloathes are brought to the Gold-Coast and with good Profit Traded for by the Europeans there The Kingdom of ULKAMI or ULKUMA ULkami or Ulkuma a mighty Countrey The Kingdom of Vlkami spreads Eastward of Arder between that and Benyn to the North-East From hence they send many Slaves partly taken in the Wars Their Trade and partly made such as a punishment for their offences to Little Arder and there sold to the Portuguese to be transported to the West-Indies The Boys in this Region are Religion or Worship according to the Mahumetan manner Circumcis'd but the Girls when they attain the Age of ten or twelve years they put a Stick up their Privacies whereon Pismires taken out of the Fields are set to eat out the Flesh The Monarchy of BENYN THe Kingdom of Benyn Borders of the Kingdom of Benyn or Benin so call'd from its chief City Great Benyn borders in the Northwest on the Kingdom of Ulkami Jaboc Jejago and Oedobo in the North on that of Jaboc eight days journey above the City Benyn in the East on the Kingdom of Istanna and Forkado and in the South on the Sea How far this Principality of Benyn spreads Bigness from South to North is as yet unknown by reason several places continue so full of great Woods that they cannot be Travell'd but it hath from East to West about a hundred Spanish Miles This Kingdom boast many good Towns Latbâ— though little at present known as lying eight or nine days journey beyond the City of Benyn besides an innumerable number of Villages and Hamlets sprinkled as Beauty-Spots on the Verge of the River but the rest of the Countrey not Inhabited so overgrown with Brambles and Bushes as makes it unpassable save onely where some narrow Paths lead from Town to Town Twenty miles or thereabouts up the same River near its Head-Spring stands a Town call'd Gotton Gotton considerable for its length and extent Nine or ten miles from which The City of Benyn but more into the Countrey Northward Benyn shews its self a City of that largeness as cannot be equall'd in those Parts and of greater civility than to be expected among such Barbarous People to whom better known by the name of Ordor It confines within the proper Limits of its own Walls three miles Bigness but taking in the Court makes as much more The Wall upon one side rises to the height of ten Feet double Pallasado'd with great and thick Trees with Spars of five or six Foot laid Crossways fasten'd together and Plaister'd over with Red Clay so that the whole is cemented into one intirely but this surrounds hardly one side the other side having onely a great Trench or Ditch and Hedge of Brambles unpassable with little
up with the Hand and gaze at their Surprizers till knock'd on the head with Sticks From the salt-Salt-Water beating against the Cliffs a Froth or Scum remains in some Places which the heat of the Sun so purifies that it becomes white and good Salt Some of the Mountains yield Bole Armoniack and a fat Earth like Terra Lemnia The Sea will answer the pains of a patient Fisherman who must use an Angle not a Net because of the foul Ground and beating of the Sea The chief are Mackrels Roaches Carps but differing in colour from those among us Eels as big as a Mans Arm and well-tasted Crabs Lobsters Oysters of as good a rellish as our English and very good Mussles Yet all these Conveniences have not brought thither any setled Colony the King of Portugal as they say not permitting any of his Subjects to dwell there lest they should appropriate it to themselves The Cape de Verd or Salt-Islands THe Cape de Verd Islands are so call'd for their nearness to Cape Verd on the Main Coast of Africa but the Portuguese name them Ilhas Verdes Green Islands because the Sea thereabouts is always cover'd with green Weeds so thick that one can scarce discern the Water and the Ships can hardly Sail through them They are also commonly known by the name of the Salt-Islands because of the many Salt-Pans especially in Ilha del Sal Boavista Mayo and St. Jago Some take them for the Gorgons in the Atlantick Sea spoken of by Mela others for the Gorgades of Pliny an ancient Dwelling-place as the Poets feign of three Sisters the Daughters of Forkus viz. Medura Sthenio and Euryale and some stick not to believe that they were antiently call'd Hesperides from the neighboring Cape of Hespiere mention'd by Ptolomy They lie over against the Main Coast of Africa Situation between Cabo Blank and Cabo Verd from the nineteenth to the fifteenth degree of North-Latitude about two and forty Miles from the Shore Writers differ about their number very frequently Number for some reckon them twelve others eleven some nine but most agree upon ten generally known by the corrupt Portuguese names as follows Ilha del Sal Ilha Bovista Ilha Mayo Ilha del St. Jaga Ilha del Fogo Ilha del Brava Ilha del St. Niklaos Ilha del St. Lucie Ilha del St. Vincent and Ilha del St. Antonio besides some other nameless Islands The most Westerly is St. Antonio next those of St. Vincent and St. Lucie and the most Easterly Boavista All these or at least some of them are said to have been discover'd in the Year Fourteen hundred and forty by a Genoes call'd Anthonio Nolli thou Jarrik affirms the Portuguese had that honor six years after whereas Sanutus gives it to a Venetian call'd Lovis Extracted out of the House of Cadamosto sent abroad by the Infanta of Portugal to discover new Countreys The Salt-Island Salt-Island or Ilha del Sal lies with its South end on the North-Latitude of sixteen degrees and eight and thirty minutes and with the South-East Point in sixteen degrees and forty minutes It shews coming out from the Canaries or out of the North afar off very high like a Hill but nearer appears low On the North side runs a River and in the South-West a small Haven and close by that another small Island A Musket shot to the Southward of the West Point where by a long Sandy Valley fresh Water cometh out of the Mountains is a good Road for Ships Buena The Island Boavista or Boavista that is a pleasant sight perhaps for its pleasant appearance afar off at Sea they make its North Point eight Miles and its South seven Miles from the Salt-Island It may be distinguish'd at Sea from the Salt-Island by the many white Banks on the North Coast which the other hath not on that side twenty Miles some have guess'd but none know certainly its circumference There is a long River which runs from the North end North-East and North-East and by East a whole Mile and some hold that it runs into the Sea with mighty Breaks to the great hazard of adventuring Ships without a skilful Pilot. IN SULE PROMONTORII VIRIDIS Nispanis ISSAS DE CABO VERDE Belgis DE SOUTE EYLANDEN There shoots also another Rieff from the South-Point with some Rocks above and some under Water about a Mile and a half long East and East and by North from the Point Under the South-West Point where the Shore spreads West South-West and East North-East is a good Haven wherein Ships may Ride in fifteen or sixteen Fathom Water very good ground Mayo lieth eight or nine Miles South South-Westward from Boavista being the least of all and not above seven Miles in circuit It hath within some sharp Mountains and on the North side a Plain a Mile broad where a Rieff at the North-East Point shoots a good way from the Shore and likewise another to the Westward both which make a dangerous passage for Ships The common Harbor stands at the South-West side of the Shore where Ships Ride in fifteen or sixteen Fathom Water with a Sandy bottom and have the West Point of the Island North and by West and the South end of the Island St. Jago South-West On the North side lieth behind a black Point a convenient Harbor neighbour'd on the East side by a Village of ten or twelve houses The Island of St. Jago the famousest and biggest of all those of Cape de Verd Island St. Jago contains in length about twelve Miles spreading North-West and South-East at the South-East Point you come into the Road of the Island Mayo being five Miles broad From the South-East Point the Shore spreads two Miles South-West where the City Praya signifying The Strand hath its scituation on a convenient place between two Mountains on a little rising Summit surrounded with two Rivers which falling into the Sea make two Harbors one call'd Porto de Praya a spacious Bay where a hundred Ships may Ride at Anchor in fourteen Fathom Water within Musquet Shot of the Shore with a defence from the Winds Beyond Porto de Praya towards the City lieth an Out-Point in Portuguese call'd Cabo de Tubarao and North-Westward from this Cape the other Haven by the Portuguese call'd Porta Riebeirra Korea very convenient because lying between two Mountains whose middle shoots thorow by a River which takes original two Miles from thence and falls into the Sea by a Mouth a Bowe shot wide not far off which more Northward appears St. Maries Haven Jarrik places in this Island a City call'd St. Thomas seated conveniently but that 's uncertain yet the Town of St. Jago may be seen being the Metropolis of this and the other Islands and the residence of the Portugal Bishop Somewhat more Westerly on a Point a Fort or Castle shews it self two Miles from Porto de Praya and North-Westward from thence you come to Porto de Canisos
which Seamen pull up and fetch for Fuel and Coloquintida which grows in so great quantities that it cannot be destroy'd There are many Tortoises very good in taste and so big that the Sea-men who touch at this Island for fresh Water are compell'd to hale them Aboard with Ropes They come every night in June and July out of the Sea to the Land when the Inhabitants casting them upon their backs by reason of their weight they cannot turn themselves again The Countrey hath many Rocks but little Water The Goats they kill for their Skins which they send yearly to Portugal in great quantities Their Inhabitants are Blacks who live there very soberly without Recreation fetching their Water in Leather Sacks made of Goats Skins in the Year Sixteen hundred twenty three they were onely nineteen persons eight Men seven Women and four young Girls Ilha de Mayo a Rocky and dry Land with little Grass affords onely some few Figg-trees which by the heat of the Climate and dryness of the Ground never bear any ripe Fruit for though the Figgs have a promising colour yet they are insipid or tastless But Goats or Cabriets or Sheep breed so numerously that above five thousand Skins are carry'd thence yearly They have also some little Horses Asses Oxen and Cows Turkeys and Hens of the bigness of a Pheasant with white and black mix'd and speckled Feathers but all wild and in a manner untameable There are many Salt-Pans which after they have let in the salt-Salt-Water being shut up the heat of the Sun consolidates and brings to a Gray-Salt but 't is a toilsome work to gather it and yet more troublesome to get on Ship-board because the Boats are not without great danger of being swallow'd up by the Whirlpits The Inhabitants are Whites and Blacks usually sent thither from St. Jago In the Year Fifteen hundred and five they were two hundred and five and twenty Whites and Blacks Old and Young Exiles and Slaves but in the Year Sixteen hundred twenty and eight there were onely fifty besides Women The Inhabitants have neither Corn nor Clothing unless brought them from St. Jago but there are many Goats which the Portuguese and Blacks there resident catch up with Dogs partly for the Skins and partly for the Flesh St. Anthonio has many Woods and therein several sorts of Fruits as Oranges Lemons Dates Pomegranates Sugar-Canes Bakovens and Melons One Orchard lieth in this Island of which nothing can be seen from Sea but a high Palm-Tree which the people of the Ships in the Bay of St. Vincent discern plainly and commonly send their Boats to barter Knives and other such small Toys for Fruit with the people who have a Portuguese Governor their number generally about five hundred most of them Blacks who from another Orchard bring the Fruits upon Asses to the Shore side to sell to the Sea-men In the latter end of December they have great ripe Citrons Lemons and Oranges many Bananoes but unripe Potatoes and Melons very large and singular good The Island Goree THe Island Goree lieth in fourteen degrees and fifteen minutes North-Latitude about a Stones throw from the firm Land of Cape de Verd in South South-East about half a Canon shot in length and a Musket shot in breadth This Island hath one little Bay with a Road for Ships from whence the Sea-men go Ashore no other place affording that conveniency neither hath it any Brooks or Rivers of fresh Water but fetch all they use from Cape Verd. In the Year sixteen hundred and seventeen King Biram of Cape Verd gave it to the Netherlanders who in a little time erected a Fort there The Fort SNASSAO ORANGE upon the Island GOEREE Het FORT NASSOU van Binnen met ORANJE op â— EILANT GOEREE INSULAE CANARIAE alias FORTUNATAE dictae In the Year Sixteen hundred sixty three both these Forts together with the whole Island were taken by Captain Holmes so the Royal African English Company but the year following on the four and twentieth of October by Admiral de Ruyter regain'd It was at that time possess'd with about sixty English Souldiers under Sir George Abercromy Chief Governor of the Island all which with convenient Boats for their hire were carry'd to the River Gamboa Then both the Forts together with the whole Island was left possessed with about an hundred and fifty Hollanders Commanded by Johannes Cellarius who presently caus'd the fall'n Batteries to be made up raising the upper Fort with a Breast-Work of three Foot higher and fully repairing the lower The Canary Islands or Islands of the Canaries THe Canary Islands by the consent of most eminent Geographers are held to be the Insulae fortunatae or Fortunate Islands of Ptolomy and Pliny though Ptolomy placeth them not far enough to the North setting the most Northerly part of them but at sixteen degrees North-Latitude whereas they extend to the thirtieth degree and therefore we may suppose that they mistook them for the Islands of Cape Verd last before mention'd Some will that the Canaries receiv'd that name from the Spaniards who attributed to all the proper Denomination of the most Eminent which they call'd Canary from the many Dogs found at the first discovery thereof Can signifying a Dog in Spanish whereas the name of Canary was known a long time before by Pliny and Ptolomy the Moors of Barbary call it Elbard from the Pike-Mountain of Teneriff Ptolomy computes the number of these Islands to six and names them Gramage lib. 9. c. 3. Apropite Here or Autolala Pluitalia Casperia Canaria and Centuria Pliny makes the same number but differences their names thus Ombrio great and small Junonie Capraria Niraria and Canaria There are that make Ombrio and Junonie the same with Porto Santo and Madera Pluitalia for Lancerote Casperia or Capraria for Fuerte-ventura Canaria for the Grand Canary which still holds its name At this day the Canary Islands the Holy Haven and Madera being included are seven and known to all by the same names viz. As the Island of Palma Fierro or Ferro Gomere Teneriff Grand Canary Fuerta-Ventura Lancerota or Lanceroto to which number Purchas adds Lobos Rocha Gravosa Santa Clara Alegranca and Inferno by Sanutus reckon'd in this order Vecchio Marino Sante Clare Rocho Gravosa and Alegoranca Ortelius brings among them one that he calleth Selvaia or Savage the most Northerly of all plac'd in the same rank with that of Alegranca and besides Gravosa and Coro which Thevet calleth the Heart Island But these small Spots are of such little concern that many do not so much as name them These Canary Islands whereof Lasaretto Fuerte-Ventura Grand Canary Situation and Teneriff are the chiefest they have their scituation between six and twenty degrees and thirty minutes and twenty degrees and thirty minutes North-Latitude opposite to Cape Nun in Morocco seventy or eighty Miles from the Main-Land of Barbary and nine or ten distant from each other They were for many
be set forth in because of their rarity ¶ AFrica abounds with Camels especially in the Wilderness of Lybia Beasts Biledulgerid and Barbary they have them also in Asia Camel the Bactrians and Arabians use them for Burthens nor travel they in Egypt without them the Beast is cloven-footed having a fleshy bunch on his back onely peculiar to its Species and another lesser bunch on the bending of his Knees which seems Supporters to the whole Body his Tayl is like an Asses but has four knots like a Cows his Pizzle which sticks out behind is so sinewy that they make of them the strongest Cross-bowe strings Each Leg hath onely one Knee-joynt or bending though they seem more because of the trussness of his Hips and short Buttocks his Dung is like that of an Ox his Gall lyes not separated as in other Beasts but keeps in certain veins Nature as Aristotle and Plinie write hath bestowed on him two Maws because he eats Thistles and Thorns for the Uval of his Mouth and the inward Skin of his Maw are very rough Modern Writers as Purchas Peter de Avicen and others Three sort of Camels say there are three sorts of Camels the first as Marmol tells us the Arabians call Elhegen which is so large and strong that he will carry a thousand weight the Africans geld them so making them more hardy ordering onely one Male to ten Females The second sort call'd by the Arabians Bocheti or Bechet is lesser and hath two bunches each carrying Burthens or a Man these are onely in Asia Of their Burthen The third they call Raguahill or Elmahari are the Dromedaries which are small Of the Dromedary lean and tender fit onely to carry men but in swiftness they so far excel that in one day they will travel a hundred miles posting seven or eight days through Desarts with little or almost no food All the Arabian Nobles of Biledulgerid Of his Swiftness and the Africans of Lybia ride on them usually and when the King of Tombut would impart weighty Affairs to the Biledulgerid Merchants he postes one away upon a Dromedary to Darha or Segelmess in seven or eight days which are each from Tombut about seven hundred and fifty miles When they load a Camel or unload he sinks down on his Belly and when he feels that he hath a sufficient Burthen he rises nor will take more upon him than he is able to carry The African Camel far excels the Asiatick for they travel forty or fifty days without Provender Of his enduring Hunger and Thirst contented onely with a little Grass and browsing on the Leaves of Trees Solinus saith they endure thirst four days but swill when they come to it not onely satisfying their arrears but barrelling up store for the future puddle-puddle-water best suits their palate for finding what is clear they will stir up the bottom with their feet so delighting as it were in the Must or drink with a flying Lee. Late Authors say they will endure thirst fourteen or fifteen days and it is certain in the Desarts of Hara and Biledulgerid they never drink if they can finde Grass to feed They copulate backward says Plinie Their Generating but Aristotle tells us that the Female stoops under the Males embraces as other Juments and that in their Amours they spend whole days in dark Recesses and private Retirements concealed amongst Bushes and the like none daring come near to disturb them in their commutual Love-fits They go as Suidas says ten moneths producing on the eleventh and after the twelfth moneth prepare for the like encounters Plinie will have twelve months e're they are delivered and that being three years old they generate bringing forth always in the Spring and so soon as delivered couple again But Aristotle puts twelve moneths to their pregnancy and that they never bring forth more than one Foal They by natural instinct hate the Horse Their Enmity Lyon and Gnat which Cyrus King of Persia well observing drew up his Camels against Croesus Horse who cannot endure their smell Elian writes how offensive Lyons are to them the Arabs noint them over with the fat of Fish so to keep off their Enemy the Gnat Authors differ much about their age Their Age. Aristotle says they live above fifty years Solinus a hundred unless the disagreeing temperature of the Air out of their Native Countrey cut them sooner off They are docile and vindicative and extreamly fond of their young They swell if beaten and conceal how much they take it ill Revengeful and study revenge till they finde an opportunity The Camel Colt learns to Dance Learn to Dance as saith Africanus to a Tabor beaten behinde the door where he is put up in a room with a hot Stove which not well enduring he lifts up lightly one foot after another which quick and tripping motion when ever he hears the like Musick reminding his old lesson he puts in practice so seeming to dance They are driven with great trouble yet not with stripes but onely a Song so that they seem delighted with vocal Harmony Camels flesh amongst the Arabians and Sineses is esteemed as a Dainty but prohibited to the Jews The Arabs count their Wealth by their stock of Camels for when they Audit their Princes Estate they reckon not by Pounds and Duckats but adjust his Revenues by thousands of Camels for they live in full pleasure freedom and safety because they can remove with all they have into the Desarts where no Army nor Invasion can reach them ¶ THe Elephant call'd by the Arabs Elfill Elephant is common both to Asia and Africa but especially to the last Amongst the Woods behinde Syrtes and the Desarts of Salee in Upper Ethiopia Guinee on the banks of Niger and in the Wilderness of Atlas and other parts of Africk they abound of which there are also of divers kindes as the Lybian the Indian Marsh Mountain and Wood Elephants the Marsh hath blew and spungy teeth hard to be drawn out and difcult to be wrought and bored through being knotty and full of little knobs The Mountain are stern and ill-condition'd their teeth smaller yet more white and of a better shape the Field-Elephant is the best well natur'd most docile having the largest whitest teeth and easiest to be cut of all the other and may by bending be shaped into any form according to Juvenal Dentibus ex illis quo mittit porta Syenes Et Mauri celeres From whiter Teeth Sat. 2. which the Syene sends And the swift Moors So it appears the Wealth of Africa did as much consist in Elephants Teeth as Corn by this Crown or Wreath described by Claudian Mediis apparet in astris Africa rescissae vestes spicea passim Serta jacent lacero crinales vertice dentes Et fractum pendebat Ebur Amidst the Stars next Africa appears De Bello Gildon Her Garments torn her Wreath
Bontzius having a very rough Tongue insomuch that Bontzius writes that having cast down a Man and Horse to the ground as if nothing which he never does unless greatly provok'd he kills him afterwards with licking for the roughness of his Tongue will immediately denude the Bones of their Fleshy coverings He is at great enmity with the Elephant against whom preparing to Fight he whets his Horn upon a Stone ayming to strike him in the Belly his tendrest part that so rending it open he may bleed to Death but if he miss that opportunity the Elephant assuredly kills him with his Trunk and Teeth ¶ THe Musk-Goat is not onely found in China and Persia Musk-Goat but as most Eminent Writers affirm in Africa and Egypt There is difference among Authors about its Description yet all agree that it is a kind of Goat We find in Martinus his Chinese Atlas that in the Country of Xensi Musk grows in the Navel of a certain Beast not much unlike a Hart without Horns whose Flesh the Chineses eat When this Beast is high in lust his Navil swells like a Tumor or Bile full of Matter and taken thence resembles a thin hairy Purse stuffed with this costly Odour The Civet-Cat Civet-Cat called in Spanish Genetta by the modern Greeks Zapetia and perhaps unknown to the Ancients hath rough Hair and is from the Head to the Tayl a Cubit long about the size of and colour'd like a Wolf near the Cods it hath a Purse from whence they gather Civet She eats eagerly raw Flesh and Mice as also sweet things Rice and Eggs. The Excrement which flows out of the Purse-net near the Fundament being full of small holes hath at first a strong Scent but put together and set in the Air becomes most odoriferous some suppose this to be the Sperm which they take daily out of the Purse with a Silver Copper or Horn Spoon about the quantity of one Dram of which he will yield the more being anger'd or irritated with a limber Twig or Wand when you are to gather it The Leopard hath a long Fore-head round Ears Leopard very long and small Neck little Ribs a long Back Thighs and Buttocks fleshy and flat about the Belly and Hips which are speckled his whole Body wants shape and symmetry On the Belly are four Teats its Fore-feet have five the hinder Feet four Clawes his Eyes are more fiery than other Creatures in the dark but dimmer in the open light his Skin according to Oppianus is of a dark Yellow dappled with Black upon White 'T is said he is marked in his Fore-head with a Half Moon his Tongue is very Red Teeth and Clawes sharp and his Heart great considering his bigness he hath strong Legs yet by reason of his great heat is but lean many of them are bred in Asia and Africa in the Countrey of Comeri and Bengale He Courts often the Lionnesse her self sometimes driving a lower Trade with homely Bitches and the She-Wolf Isidore fabulously relates that the young ones anticipate their Birth tearing their Mothers Wombs So much he hates man that he assassinates his picture though a meer Paper Sketch yet flyes from a Dead Mans head though some say he fears onely a humane Visage which Gesner confirms He bears a great enmity to the Cock Serpent and Leeks Pliny saith that a Panther will not venture on any that is annointed with Cocks-blood and who wears a Panthers Skin need fear no Serpents such his Antipathy to the Hyena that their Skins hang'd opposite his will shed the hair if you dare believe Pliny ¶ THe Camelopardelis so call'd as springing from the Camel and Pard Camelopard in size resembles the Camel in his Marks or Spots the Leopard and is call'd Nabuna by the Moors says Pliny by the Moderns now Saffarat the Greeks and Latines call it Gyraffa Bellonius in his Observations describes this Beast very exactly thus I saw a couple of them in Grand Cayro each having two little horns in the Forehead about six inches long between which appear'd a bunch like a third horn about two inches high from the Dock to the crown of the Head was 18 foot his Legs were much of a length before and behinde but the upper Joynt or Shoulder-Bone much longer than the Thigh his Back slop'd like the ridge of a house his whole Body is of a Deer-colour trick't up with many great and square spots Cloven-footed like an Ox with his upper Lip over-hanging the under his Tail little thin and tufted at the end his Mane like a Horses and seeming to limp in his going first on the right then on the left Leg When he eats Grass drinks Water or takes other Food off from the earth he stretches out his Fore-feet otherwise he can take up nothing his Tongue as Josephat Barbarus writes is two foot in length of a sad Azure long and round like an Eel wherewith he gathers branches leaves and herbs up into his mouth with an admirable celerity Purchas adds that a horse and man may pass under his Belly Strabo says he is found among the Troglodites and Ethiopes Caesar first shewed him at Rome though 't is probable they formerly abounded in Judea being a food prohibited to the Jews Here also are a kind of Wild Bulls called by the Natives Gualiox Wild Bulls but by the Spaniards Vacas bravas that is Mad or Hectoring Bulls They are swift as a Hart but lesser than our Beeves arm'd with horns black and sharp but his Flesh is sweet and his Hide fit for Tanning making good Leather In Barbary they run together in herds more than 100. sometimes 200. especially in the Countreys of Duquele and Tremisen the Desarts of Numidia and elsewhere ¶ WIld Asses also are found in the Wildernesses of Numidia and Lybia Wild Asses of a light grey and for swiftness equalling the Barb. In the high Eastern part of Prester John's Countrey Goats on the Banks of Nile are Male-Goats as big as a wean'd Calf their thick hair trailing on the ground They have excellent Skins call'd Xarequies which are drest hair and all with the Root of a Tree Cows stiled Alhanne There also are great naked Cows which the Egyptians call Demnie with Tails trailing on the ground and raising the dust like our Madams Gowns and their Necks strip'd with divers colours In these parts are two sorts of Sheep Sheep Woolly and Hairy The first differ from ours only in their Horns and Tails the last so round and thick that the Sheep themselves are but subservient to their own Train some thereof weigh 15 others 20 l. which happens chiefly in their fatting Leo Africanus says Of their wondrous Tails he saw one weighing 80 l. Others report to have seen some of 150 l. weight however true it is that the people are constrained to bind them upon little Carriages that they may go with less impediment All the fat that covers the Kidneys
Measles and Small Pox as in asswaging Malignant Feavers and tough Distempers of Agues In Nubia and the Kingdom of the Abyssines Zorafes or Giraffes is a Beast called Zorafes or Giraffes as big as a two-years old Heifer having a Neck like the Glave of a Javelin or Half-Pike and a head resembling a Gazell with Legs short behind and long before hair'd and brindled like an Ox the Ears like a Hart and Breast smooth and shining which the Africans say is generated of two Species he wanders solitarily through the Woods flying from men and not to be taken but young ¶ HAving treated thus far of Beasts We shall now briefly present you with some Plants and Vegetables referring their full discourse to the places where naturally produced Though Africa be in some places very fertile yet a great part of the Country lyes waste and unmanured full of Barren Sands or abounding with Serpents in such manner that the Peasant dare not Till the ground unless Booted but the manured parts afford a rich crop to the industrious Husbandman yeilding oftentimes an hundred fold encrease The chief Grain of Africa is Wheat Rye Barley Rice and Maiz and besides the Trees growing there that are in common with Europe are divers others not found amongst us such are the Cassia Egyptian Fig-tree the Inhabitants term it Guimeiz the Date Cotton Coco and Balsam-tree Sugar-Canes and the like Productions with which they drive a great Trade with us in Europe Among others in the Wildernesses of Lybia Ettalche a Tree Biledulgerid and Negro-land grows the Tree call'd Ettalch guarded round with Prickles having leaves like the Juniper shrub from under the Bark issues a Gum whose body and smell resembles Mastich which the Merchants often cheat with by adulterating so selling it for Mastich Of the Tree Argan or Erguen Argan an Oyl is made by the Inhabitants whereof more at large in the Description of Hea a Province of Marocco In the Countrey of Lyme Aud-Altassavijt is found the Aud-Altassavijt which is tough like Hemp and will not break with hachelling but yields at every blow a pleasing sound Other parts of Africa afford no small number of Herbs and Plants all which we shall set forth in their due place especially in the Description of Egypt There is also the Root by the Inhabitants call'd Terfez Terfez A Root but Kamha by the Physitians resembling an Earth or Ar-Nut but bigger and very sweet gather'd by the Arabians in the Desarts of Biledulgerid pleasing their palates like confected Fruits Another Root yeilding a very sweet and pleasing scent is found on the Western parts on the Sea-shore which the Merchants of Barbary carry to sell among the Negroes who use it as a Perfume onely by sprinkling it about the house An African * A Mudde is three Bushels English or thereabouts Mudde which in Mauritania is sold for half a Ducket which the Merchants vend again among the Negroes for eighty or a hundred Duckets and sometimes dearer There is another Root call'd Addad not unknown to the African Women Addad whose acid Leaves and Root are of so poysonous a faculty that a little of their water distilled gives a quick dispatch by sudden death to their Husbands or any other that they are weary of On the West-side of Mount Atlas is the Root Surnag Surnag having a special vertue to incite Venus The Inhabitants report that it will devirginat Maids couching to Urine on the Leaves and after will much dis-affect them with Tympanied infirmities There is also Euphorbium whereof more at large in Barbary ¶ HEre are two sorts of Pitch the one natural or Stone Pitch Pitch The other Artificial and thus made They erect a great Oven with a hole at the bottom in which they put the Branches of Pine or Juniper chop 't in peices then the Ovens mouth close stop'd a fire is made underneath by the heat whereof the Pitch is extracted out of the wood running through the bottom of the Oven into a hole underneath it in the Earth whence they take it out and put it into Bladders or Leathern Bags All the Salt in the most part of Africa as Leo saith is dig'd out of Salt-pits Salt being white red and gray Barbary 't is true hath plenty of Salt Biledulgerid is reasonably well stored but in Negro-land and the innermost Parts of Ethiopia a pound of Salt is sold for half a Ducket They use no Salt-cellar nor set it on the Table but each having a piece in his hand lick it at every Morsel In a Lake in Barbary near the City of Fez all the Summer is found a well-concocted and coagulated Salt but such as border on the Sea make Snow-white Salt of Sea-water Atlas on that side where Biledulgerid borders on the Kingdom of Fez Antimony produces great quantity of Antimony and sundry other have veins of Sulphur Mines of Gold and Silver but above all the rich Mines of Gold and Silver those especially in Negro-land Guinee and Ethiopia deserve admiration ¶ MArmol relates from Aben-Gezar Marmol Los Hechizos that certain Stones are found in the Land of Lyme call'd by the Spaniards Los Hechizos and by the Arabians Hajar Acht which have divers signatures representing several parts of a Man as a Hand and Foot Face Head and Breast many like the Heart but some the whole compleat Figure of a Man in just proportions The most perfect of these Stones they assuredly believe to have an occult and wonderful faculty irritated by the help of Spels and Sorcery to introduce and bring the Bearer thereof into the favour of Princes In the steep Mountains Alard and Quen between Nubia and Zinchamque The Stone Beth. a Stone is found call'd Beth which as they say will make those Speechless that long gaze upon it ¶ AFrica also brings forth Eagles differing in size colour and properties Eagles whose greatest the Arabs call Neser and bigger than a Crane having a very short Beak Neck and Legs yet mounts exceeding high till for want of Feathers he betakes himself to his Nest where the Eaglets feed him Divers parts of this Countrey Parrots especially Guinee and Ethiopia yield Parrots of several sorts and colours Whereof more at large when we come to those parts The Mountains of the upper Ethiopia Griffons Marmol specially that of Beth as Marmol says shew Griffons which the Arabians enstile Ifrit Great store of strange Creatures Hippo-potamus and other Amphibious creatures some Amphibii as the Hippo-potamus or Sea-Horse the Sea-Cow the Crocodile Tortoises Ambare and others of the same nature using both Water and Land are found in the Lybian wildes and Sea-coasts of Africa Serpents Serpents c. Venomous Creatures Reptiles and strange Insects are produced in the Wilderness of Biledulgerid Negro-land and upper Ethiopia ¶ HItherto we have lightly touch't several things as first that Africa is for the most part
void Court The Men wear about their heads a kinde of Shash The Men. hanging down part before and part behinde They use no Linnen nor other Clothing for their Bodies save only a remnant of four or five yards of Cloth wherein they wrap themselves casting it over the Shoulder and under the Arms bare-footed and bare-leg'd The Women wear a piece of Cloth hanging from the Breasts down to the Knees The Women the rest naked They tye up their Hair adorning it with Fishesteeth and some small pieces of Coral or Glass over which they lightly cast a fine Hair-cloth or Lawn to appear the fairer They pounce their Foreheads Cheeks Thumbs and Calves of their Legs making various marks with the point of a needle wherein they strow a black Powder to make them the more visible and continuing and in stead of more costly Jewels Wear wooden Rings Their Kitchen-Furniture consists in one or two earthen Pots their daily food is Rice Their Houshold-stuff Cakes and Cuscous with a little Drink and Milk they drink fair water wash their right hands but never any part else using neither Cups or Napkins but squat crosse-leg'd on the ground on a Mat made of Date-leaves Each Houshold carries with it a * Like a Mustard-Mill Mill to Grind Corn made of two stones lay'd one upon another which they turn about with a stick Every day they bake Bread in great flat Loaves under the Embers and eat it hot They are strangers to riot and luxurious feeding never tasting of two several Dishes at one Meal which admirable temperance may be the cause of their so constant health Salust They dye of no Disease but the Plague Scrpents Sword or Age. and freedom from the Gout Stone and all other like Distempers usually living eighty years and upwards They greatly delight when they come into Cities to be presented with Oyl and Vinegar in a Dish and warm Bread which broken in small pieces they dip therein and eat Each wandring Company chooses a Captain Their Habitations his Barraque or Tent stands in the midst of the Dovar where he takes care of all things conducing to their preservation Their Arms are a Half-pike or Javelin they call it Agay or Azagay and use it with such dexterity and strength that they can certainly hit a man and wound him dangerously at a very great distance They use besides a broad Dagger which they wear in a sheath on their right Arm near the Elbow for the more ready service They are so skilful and active Horsemen Their Horsemanship that whatever they let fall they can take up again their Horses running in careere at full speed Upon any Visit Their Visits if they be equals they salute one another upon the Cheek at first meeting but if a Commander or Marabou visit them they kiss their hands with great respect and reverence After salutes they civily enquire of the health and welfare not onely of their Wives Children and Relations but also Horses Cattel and Hens nay more strangely inquisitive how their Dogs and Cats do as a more concern'd Domestick for their Dogs are highly esteemed not as their Play-fellows nor Ladies Foisting-hounds but as faithful Warders and a Watch against the incursions of the subtile Fox preventing all Assaults and Plots upon his Masters Poultry and also giving notice of a more dreadful Enemy the Lyon by their loud and continual barking But the great estimation they set on their Cats is not onely that they preserve Victuals from the plundering Rat and Mouse where ever seizing of them but their persons from the deadly tooth of the Viper which there abounds ¶ THeir Marriages are thus celebrated Their Marriages The Wooer furnish'd by his father with a certain number of Oxen and Cows wherein their wealth consists drives them to his intended Father-in-laws residence who immediatly acquaints his Daughter that such a man must be her Husband Whereupon putting on a White Garment she waits till he comes to visit her in the Tent where the onely Complement is to tell her how much he lov'd her by declaring how dear she cost him whereto a customary reply is made that a discreet and vertuous Wife cannot truly be valu'd at any price After this first interview she remains for a while * It is a custom in Spain as formerly in Greece that both Wives and Virgins should have their faces covered whence Libanius mentioning the Destruction of Troy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The head of the Woman was without a veil for the destruction of her Countrey had taken away the consideration of modesly for it was the fashion for Curtizans to walk open-fac'd as may be seen in Callimachus Hymn on Venus and in the Comedy of Xenarchus whence the Athenians made this Caveat That whoever was taken with any Woman Wife or Virgin unveyl'd should not be counted an Adulterer veyl'd in her Fathers Tent and there visited by all the Maids of the Dovar which done she mounts on Horseback attended by the same Visitants with great shouting and joy till arriv'd at her Bridegrooms Tent where expected by many Women with his Mother and Friends At the Bridegrooms approach they offer him drink wherein is sopt a piece of the Tent wood with loud acclamation wishing happiness to the new Married Couple and that the great God would so bless their Marriage that their Cattel might encrease and Milk flow to the top of the Pavilion When they alight they give the Bride a sharpned Wand which she sticks into the ground to intimate that as that cannot come out of the earth unless forc'd so a woman must not forsake her Husband unless by Divorce or driven away These Ceremonies perform'd they set her to keep the Herds and Flocks signifying that from thenceforth she must lay her hands to work and take care about Houshold-affairs After her Marriage she wears a Mask for a Moneth not stirring abroad When one dyes the Wife or next Neighbour goes out of the Tent After the Irish maâ—ner and wont with a loud cry or ou-la-loo howling in a strange manner with a loud cry or Ou-la-loo by which Summons the Women start out from their Tents and joyning their sad notes make a hideous and doleful harmony others mean while repeating as it were in a Song his Eulogies chanting forth his Praises and Vertues till at last they bring him to the Grave according to the custom of the Mahumetans They are so much addicted to Robbery and Theft that their very name Arab signifies a Theif for where the Prophet Jeremy saith Like a Thief in the Wilderness St. Jerome saith like an Arab in the Wilderness ¶ THe Xilohes and Bereberes as Marmol says Marmol Their Languages and manner of Writing at this day write and speak all one Tongue which is called Quellem Abimalick that is the speech of Abimalick who was accounted the Inventer of the Arabick letters But besides this they use also
The Encrease whereas the Moderns say that time onely is the Encrease which is between the least and greatest depth of Water and the other wherein the Water returns into his own Channel The Decrease The Nile then flows by degrees from the later end of June How long the Nile increases in Egypt At the first very little scarce rising up two or three fingers in twenty four hours nor much more any day after while the Sun remains in Cancer but when the Sun passes into Leo it rises first half a foot afterwards half a foot and a palm immediately a foot and lastly a whole cubit almost every day so continuing till the full height Thus the Grounds lying near the River are first moistened afterwards those afar off and at last all Egypt over Then the Earth which a little before was dry Land becomes Navigable and the River whose Channel in many places was scarce broader than a Furlong enlarges to * Above thirty English miles three hundred Furlongs nor would it stay there if the Hills on both sides did not curb and hinder it The Nile in this expansion at his height which ordinarily happens the Sun in the middle of Leo though sometimes when in the fifth or sixth degree of Libra doth not presently decrease but continues many times at the same depth twenty days and more till the Sun enters Virgo then by degrees lessening and running away before which time all the Dikes Ditches and Damms are opened to receive and detain the water Then may it easily be perceived how the Waters retire gradatim first from the Grounds of Upper Egypt that border upon Ethiopia afterwards from the High-grounds of Lower Egppt which naturally comes to pass for the Water glides through the High-grounds not running off indeed but kept up in Ditches that the Mud which improves the Land may be ready to be spread so much the nearer At length after the Autumnal Equinox the Water returns into its natural Channel and that which was thus long by Dikes kept up in the Upper-grounds let out by Sluices first in Upper and after in Lower Egypt And although sometimes there is a difference in the rising of the Nile according to the little or much rain falling in Ethiopia yet the whole Countrey is clear'd and the Water return'd to its Channel before our eight and twentieth of September whereupon immediately the Grounds are ploughed with small Coulters and made fit for Sowing and the Countrey-man when the Sun enters Scorpio The Nile almost always either increasing or decreasing puts his Seed into the Earth however though in its own Channel the River ceases not lessening till the end of May the next year It remains now that from this Overflowing of the Nile The Current of Nile sometimes swift and sometimes flow we shew the swiftness or slowness of his Current and how it varies at several times for the making which appear you are to know that in Ethiopia it flows up at least twenty days and sometimes a whole moneth ere it begins to rise in Egypt at the beginning scarce running a league in an hour whereas when the Water is come to the highest it passes so swiftly forward that if the Channel of the Nile be above four hundred and fifty leagues and more in length as by reason of its windings and reaches some running almost point-blank backwards it may well be upon an equal calculation it will appear that it may run three leagues in one hour we must confess it is not so swift in Egypt because the Channel is like a Sea about ten leagues broad which causes it necessarily to flow slower whereas it 's circumscribed and confined in narrow limits in Ethiopia and so consequently goes there more swift But now to return to our quest of the Head Sources or Fountains of this famous River The Head-Springs of Nile where as supposed Vossius Vossius gives us this account Although the Head-springs of other Rivers are not onely in places far distant from their mouths It receives all its water out of Ethiopia in regard where Rain falls Brooks and small Channels are usually found which by their confluence make the great ones full it is clear otherwise with the Nile being onely indebted to Egypt for a passage not receiving any addition of Waters there for all Egypt except where bordering on the Sea is altogether void of Rain but comes out of that part of Ethiopia that now is call'd Abyssine so that with reason there must we look for the Head-veins of Nile Among the many Heads ascribed thereto the farthest and most Southerly making the rivers Maleg and Anguet which joyn in the Countrey of Damut and make the West Channel retaining the name Maleg till after a course of fourscore leagues it falls into the middle Channel accounted the chief beginning in the Hilly Countrey of Sakala The Sea Bar-Dambea wherein also lies the large Sea Dambea eighty and eight leagues long and about two hundred over call'd Bar-Dambea by the Inhabitants first falling in the Countrey of Bagameder thence gliding forward through the Regions of Amaharam Olekam Gauz Bizamo and Gongos and increased by the addition of other Rivers turns towards the North visiting the Fields of Fasculo at last intermingling with the River Malegt where it borders upon Nubia The third Channel is the rich River Takaze rising from three Springs on the borders of the Kingdom of Angola whence after a Western course between Daganam and Haogam it winds towards the North by the Kingdom of Tygre and dividing the Region of Syre turns Eastward Afterwards falling into the River Mareb or Marabo which begins near Baroa they joyntly water the Countrey of Dengiri call'd by the Moors who enjoy it Ballai and unites at last with the Nile by the City Jalak There are the three Rivers which principally make up the Nile and enrich his Bosome with such plentiful Streams Thus far have we traced the opinions of Kircher and Vossius Now we proceed to declare what the Cataracts thereof be divers having written strange things thereof But first as to the name It is call'd by Pliny and other Latine Authors and by the people also who live thereabouts Catadupae and by the present Inhabitants Katadhi which in their Tongue signifies A Rushing Noise This happens at the Hill Gianadel where his even Current is broken by the sharp rocks through or over which it makes passage The place of this Fall according to the Antients contains * Above six miles fifty Furlongs filled up with huge and inaccessible rocks over which the Nile making his way falls with such an impetuous force and prodigious noise that as the Antients write the people who dwell thereabouts were all deaf by reason thereof But Experience now adays hath taught us that this Noise hath no such effect whilst the River keeps his usual stream but when he begins to rise the Noise encreases but yet is never so
great that people should loose their hearing by it Though 't is true the Waters rush downwards two hundred foot roaring like the Breaches of the Sea in a Tempest from hence then sliding in a gentle Current over the Plains of Egypt to Cairo where the Haven of Bulach towards Villamont carryes in bredth two mile then leaving Cairo behinde him he parts into two and after into more Branches The Inhabitants for distinction sake have call'd the Tract of Land Eastward Garbiah and the places Southward near the Angle or Point of Damiata Chargnia These Branches or Arms make the several Mouthes of Nile which the Antients have especially noted to be seven But Ptolomy sets down nine which two are missing and Pliny encreases them to eleven whereof four are wanting The names of the supposed seven remaining are these The Heraclean call'd also Canopean and Naucratian The Bolbitian Sebennitian Pathmetian by Strabo nam'd Fatnian and by * In his Euterpe Herodotus Bucolian The Mendesian Tanitian and Pelusian The two wanted are Dialcos and Pineptimi But if we take the †What ever was or is their number antient or modern Maps vary among themselves for whereas Ptolomy hath set forth nine Hondius in his Map of Africa makes but eight and in that of Europe ten Ortelius in the Map of the Turkish Empire setteth down eight in that of Egypt eleven And Maginus in his Map of that Countrey hath observ'd the same number And if we enquire farther we shal find the same diversity and discord in divers others Thus we may perceive that this Account hath been always different concerning these Ostiaries of Nile Nilus as he is at present we shall finde nine Mouthes great and small the chiefest and most remarkable being the Canopean now stiled Rosetta from its neighborhood The Pelusian by some taken for the Ostiary were Damiata but seemeth rather the Tanitian from its near adjacency to Tenez The Bolbitian known by very few The Sebennitian now beareth the Name of Sturioni The Pathmetian retains the old Name The Mendetian and Damiatian by some are supposed the same though others call it Migri The Tanitian at this day known to some by the name of Kalixen and to others of Tenez or Tanez Pineptimi is taken for that which in the Maps in nam'd Brule Lastly Diolcos that is wanting Sanutius stiles Damanora Modern Geographers much abate this number Peter de la Valle his Journal Maginus Guil. Tyrius Bellonius attesting there are but three or four to wit The Rosettian and Damiatian and two other little Rivulets running between these but poor in waters We come now to the Description of the Countrey wherein for Methods sake we will begin with the Cities ¶ EGypt as we declared before is at present by the Turks divided into three Parts Description of the Westerly parts of Egypt We will take our view from the Westerly call'd Erriff extending to the Point of the Sea by Barca a Countrey belonging to Barbary and reaching from thence to Rosetta containing all the places between the two Arms of Nilus from Alexandria and Rosetta to Cairo First To the West of Barca lyes a City by the Antients call'd * A â—ort or Castle of the Arabians Plinthina and now by the Italians The Arabian Tower near adjoyning to which is the Sea Monester Busiris or Bosiri Next to the old City Busiris now term'd Bosiri on the Coast of the Mid-land Sea about twenty miles westward of Alexandria heretofore by the Christians subdu'd and totally destroy'd This Busiris whence the Busirian Precinct formerly takes its name is call'd in the Bible by Ezekiel * Cap. 30. In our English Translation it is rendred Pathros Phatures Some will have this City so call'd from the feigned †Syntagm Chorograph Aegypti Busiris who sacrificed all his Guests to Jupiter and was the most cruel Tyrant of all Egypt Others draw its Denomination from * There is in this Countrey a Pillar with this Inscription Mihi Pater est Saturnus Deorum junior sum vero Osyris Rex qui totum peragravi orbem usque ad Indiorum fines ad cos quoque sum profectus qui septentrioni subjacent usque ad Istri fontes alias partes usque ad Oceanum Dr. Brown c. Nowaccording to the best Determinations Osyris was Mizraim and Saturnus Egyptus the same with Cham after whose name Egypt is not only called in Scripture the Land of Ham but testified by Plutarch who in his Treatise De Osyride says Egypt was called Chamia a Chamo Noe filio Osyris the Egyptian Jupiter or Hercules and the Arabians from Busir the son of Cham. Kircher says it is so nam'd from the Egyptian Idol Apis signifying in their Tongue An Ox into which shape as Diodorus reports he was transformed and then the Name in the Old Egyptian Language must be Busosirin that is The Kings Ox. The Grecians confound this City with Thebes although they be distant the whole length of Egypt From the Name Busiris it may be supposed the Inhabitants worshipp'd an Ox Osiris as they hold first shewing himself in such a similitude But the truth is he was a man as they say though much controverted and a great Enricher of that Nation upon this their idolizing of an Ox and scituation of the City so near to Memphis or Cairo as also to †Called also Ez. 30.17 Aven Heliopolis which was Rameses the constant place of residence to the Israelites whence might perhaps the worship of the Golden Calf in the Wilderness take its original Not far from Bosiri lyeth Alexandria Alexandria so call'd from Alexander the Great who built it about three hundred years before the Birth of Christ chiefly employing therein the famous Architect Dinocrates Some say it was antiently call'd Noy It s several Names The Hebrews knew it by the Name of No-Ammon The Romans of Pharos Sebastia Augusta Julia Claudia Domitiana and Alexandria The Egyptians formerly styled it Racotis and say it was built by one Dalucka an Egyptian Queen after the drowning of Pharaoh in the Red-Sea The European Christians call it to this day Alexandria but the Turks Scanderoon which is the same with Alexandria De Stadt ALEXANDRIE of SCANDERIK The City AS EXANDRIA or SCANDERIX The City lyeth on the edge of the Mid-land Sea on a Sandy ground It s Scituation near the Canobian Mountains of the Nile Lee Africanus mistaken though Leo Africanus placeth it forty Miles to the Westward of Nile in regard near Cairo it begins to divide it self in two Arms and so in strictness looseth its name as he supposeth and about seven or eight hundred paces from the Haven which is very spacious for Ships but dangerous because of the two great Promontories of Rocks standing on either side in the entrance call'd by the French Diamant and Girofele but generally known by the names of the Tower Port and the Chain'd Port The former very
Ammianus like Livy who said that it was a work becoming the most Excellent Wise and Provident Kings And Ammianus pathetically Among all the Buildings the Serapeum bad the pre-eminence wherein was that invaluable Library containing all antient Records of Memorable Transactions in seven hundred thousand Books by the diligence of the Ptolomies Kings of Egypt gathered together but in the Wars of Alexandria and Destruction of the City burnt by that most Pernicious destroyer * Caesar being the most eminent for Arms and Acts accounted this his greatest misfortune that he so great a Lover of Books should be the cause of such an irrepairable destruction Agellius Julius Caesar All the Books says Agellius were burnt in the fore-mentioned Wars of Alexandria when the City was destroyed not wilfully nor of set purpose but perhaps by the multitude of helpers to save it He excuses not onely Julius Caesar but also the Romane Souldiers and lays the fault upon the unruly crew of assistants But Dio and Plutarch speak clean otherwise Dio and Plutarch as may be read more at large in their Writings Thus had this never to be parallel'd Library its end in the hundred eighty and third * Not much above forty years before the Incarnation Olympiade after it had continued an hundred and twenty four years Another Library was after re-erected by Cleopatra in the Serapeum It is again rebuilt by Cleopatra which by the help of Mark Anthony who obtained the Attalian and Pergamenian Libraries was greatly adorned and enriched and in being to the time of Primitive Christianity and was there preserved so long as the Serapeum which was a Building of great Entertainment and wonderful Art continued And at last with the Serapeum utterly subverted which at length the Christians in the Reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Great as a Harbor of Infidelity threw to the ground Over against Alexandria stands the renowned Island Pharos The Island Pharos by the Inhabitants call'd Magraf or Magragh and by the Arabians Magar Alexandri that is Pharos of Alexandria and by Ortelius Pharion from the Lanthorn Tower which stands upon the Island and now call'd Garophalo In the time of Homer Alexandria and this Island were severed by a Part of the Sea about a days sayling from the Land whereof himself thus speaks Od. lib. 4. Pharos an Isle amidst the swelling Deep ' Gainst Egypt lyes from whence a nimble Ship May sayl 'twixt Sun and Sun with Sayls a trip 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Od. 1ib 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But now it is part of the Main Land the reason whereof is because the river Nile by his evomition of Soyl and Mud has constantly gained upon the Sea To this place of Homer Lucan alludes in his tenth Book thus Tunc claustrum Pelagi cepit Pharon Insula quondam In medio stetit illa mari sub tempore vatis Proteos at nunc est Pelleis proxima muris Then he took Pharos circled with the Main Where Fate fore-telling Proteus once did reign But now to Alexandria joyn'd Pinetus and others will have nothing lye between this City and Island but a Bridge but Villamont who hath searcht more narrowly saith Piuetus it is now united to the Continent and the Walls of the City in such manner Villamont that the Island makes two Points one Eastward another West 'T is united to the Main Land which almost meet in two other Points running from the Main Land into the Open Sea But makes two Haven leaving two Passages into the Havens one of which is call'd Porto Vecchio that is The Old Haven and hath no Defence as it is said but the Castle of the old City by the Italians nam'd Castel Vecchio But the other Haven hath two opposite Forts yet not so far distant but that they can answer and defend each other Two Castles nor can any Ship go in and out between them without leave The greater Fort is much the stronger having high Walls fenced with Towers besides a quadrangular Work of Defence And in it beneath is a Watch or Cour du Guâ—â—d for Security and above are Lights that give direction for Ships coming in to finde the Channel This great Castle on the right hand the Italians call Pharzion and that on the left Castelletto or The Little Castle Both of them are subject to great inconveniences by the want of fresh water which they are compell'd to fetch from the City every day on Camels backs The Soyl hereabout The nature of the Soyl in and about Alexandria as we said already is sandy bearing neither Bush nor Vine and so barren that it is unfit to be sown all the Corn that serves the City comes about forty miles off down the Artificial Channels of Nile There are some small Orchards but they onely produce Fruits so unwholesom that they commonly bring such as eat them into dangerous Feavers and other malignant Distempers They have abundance of Capers and Tamarisk-Plants and Hamala which is a Root they make Wine of like the Herb Anthillis by the Arabians named Killu or Kalli Kalli a Plant. and is of three sorts the two first are found in Europe but the third is peculiar to Egypt having few Leaves and very like Field-cypress but longer The Stalk is single and somewhat crooked out of which two or three small Branches shoot forth and grow upright each of which hath a Blade furnisht with five bending Leaves or more as appears ABOVE ENGRAVEN Venice Glasses made with the ashes thereof and other ingredients Out of these three sorts first dried in the Sun and then burnt Ashes are made from thence transported to Venice wherewith and a mixture of Soap and other Ingredients they make those most clear and chrystaline Glasses The Physical use of the Leaves and Juice so well known through Europe for their rarity It is also said that the Leaves beaten and taken in a convenient Vehicle cleanse Flegm and a dust Choller The same vertue is attributed to the strained Juice of them Thus much we have thought fit to say of Alexandria the Seat of the Antient Egyptian Kings and Birth-place of Ptolomy the Prince of Geographers and Astronomers from whence it must be concluded that all the state and ostentation of this City by Historians mentioned is to be understood of the time before its first destruction A great Staple of rich Merchandize still and therefore there are Consuls at Alexandria or Scanderoon at this day however notwithstanding the several desolations thereof yet always hath it driven on Trade and Merchandize by the continual coming in of Ships from several Countreys insomuch that divers European Princes have their Consuls there for the Management of Affairs and Deciding Controversies that may arise between their inhabitants and their Subjects to this day ¶ NExt Alexandria in the East lyeth the wasted City
journey through the African Wildernesses and therewith when they are by the heat of the Sun inflamed and thirsty it admirably cools comforts and quenches their Drowth a special Blessing nay sometimes they cure burning Feavers The Liquor wherein these Leaves have been steeped a Week sweetned with Sugar and drank is good against Malignant and putrid Agues Lastly they use them in all Inflammations of the Liver and Reins and also to cure the Gonorrhaea In these parts about Cairo Calaf especially in moist places grows a little shrubby Tree like a Willow the Egyptians call it Caleb or Calaf The Leaves are of a fingers length and two fingers broad at full growth The Flowers grow in form of a little ball between the Body and Stalks of the Leaves they are white of a pleasant smell grow plentifully the Flowers commonly equallizing the Leaves on the Tree From the Blossoms they extract a water call'd Macahalaf The use of it accounted very powerful against all Putrifaction and Poyson and also a great Cordial whence happily the Plant gained its name Joan. Vesting in lib. Alphin de Plant. Egypt Caleb or Calub in the Arabian tongue signifying a Heart The water of it is also specially commended against all Malignant or Quartan Agues and is given to young Children with some Graines of the Bezoar Stone to drive out the Small Pox and the Measles About seven thousand paces from Cairo El-Mattharia lyeth a Hamlet or Village call'd Mattarea and El Mattharia by some thought to be the antient Hermopolis but untruly yet by consent of most Writers is esteemed to have been the Residence of the Virgin Mary and Joseph The place whither the Virgin Mary fled with Christ from Herod's persecution with our Saviour when they fled thither from the persecution of Herod There is still to be seen a Wall with a little Window where the Christian Priests celebrate Mass upon a small Wooden Altar and on the right side of the same Wall the Turks have erected a Mosque There also springs a Fountain wherein they say the Virgin washed our Saviours Swadling-cloths the water whereof is yet in great esteem having as they say a special power for the Curing of Agues Close by this Village is a Tree known to the Antients by the name of Sycamore Sycamore Tree or Pharaoh's Fig. and by the present Christians of Egypt is call'd Tin El Pharaon Pharaohs Fig but by the Natives Giamez The Body of this Tree is low and broad parting it self into two or three spreading Branches from which again spring others strong and large close one by another * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifies a Fig. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mulberry which in Summer afford Travellers a pleasant cool shade to keep off the scorching Sun-beams The whole Tree in its Stock Branches Fruit Milk roughness of Leaves and Colour resembles our Fig-tree but in form and bigness of Leaves which never fall off all Winter like the Mulberry It is as many aver so fertile that it 's never without Fruit it growing on the Stock and thick Branches and never on the uppermost as Dioscorides hath mis-reported The Fruit of it call'd Figs. This Fruit they call Figs growing out of a Milk that issues from slits in the Bark without which it would be barren for each slit sends forth a small Branch bearing sometimes three five seven or more Figs hollow within and full of a yellowish small dust which commonly turns to little Worms These Figs eaten are very hurtful to the Stomach making it faint weak and subject to vomit but they are good to cool and moisten such as walk in the heat of the Sun being moderately taken they have a purging quality and cure all heat and hard Swellings if applied by way of Plaister or Pultiss The Learned Ulpian speaking of the Miscarriages of strangers says Vlpian It is not to be pluck'd up by the Roots It is commanded that none should presume to pluck up a Sycamore by the Roots because growing upon the Trenches at the foot of Nile they binde the Earth fast together with their Roots It grows not of the Seed for the Fruit has no Seed in it but is propagated by Slips set in the Earth suddenly springing up and growing in a little while to great largeness and continues very long That which now grows in Mattharea A Sycamore in Matarea the Inhabitants believe and held to be the very same in whose Concave formerly the Virgin Mary Mary the Virgin and Jesus hide themselves therein flying from Jerusalem to avoid Herods Persecution hid her self and her Childe our Savior for some days and ever since it is held in great esteem especially the Hollow of that Tree wherein Christ lay conceal'd which the Turks themselves say proceeded from the Spirit of the great God whereupon they also shew great Devotion at this Place and Tree accounting Christ next Mahomet for a great Prophet Others affirm that this Tree by a Miracle was split in two parts between which the Virgin Mary with her Childe JESUS and Joseph put themselves to dis-appoint the Persecuting Pursuers whereinto they were no sooner entred but it immediately by like Miracle closed again till the Herodian Child-slaughterers passed by and then suddenly re-open'd to deliver its charge so as at this day is to be seen They report also The Illegitimates cannot walk under it that none unlawfully begotten can walk along under this Tree It is encompassed with a low Ditch on whose edge a bank of Earth is cast up for the ease of the Beholders the top-branches are still green and lovely though the Body toward the Root is miserably spoiled it having been observed that who ever comes out of zeal to visit or kiss this Tree commonly cuts off a piece of the Trunk to keep it in remembrance These kindes of Trees grow in several other places of Egypt in great plenty some of that largeness that three men can scarce fathom them about They are found also in the Island of Cyros Tripoli and at this day in several Gardens of Europe being brought hither out of Egypt though our Sycamore never bears Fruit but onely puts forth flourishing Branches and Leaves It was this kinde of Tree upon which Zacheus climbed to see Christ By St. Luke it is call'd Sycomoraea by St. Luke in his nineteenth Chapter and fourth Verse call'd in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sycomoraea and the same which our Translation renders a Fig-tree which seeing fruitless he cursed that it should never bear Fruit more whereupon it presently withered Close by El-Mattharia in a Marshy and moist place caused by the long lying of the water of Nile upon it groweth a Plant call'd Beid-El-Ossar Beid-El-Ossar but by Arabian Physitians Ossar El-Usar It hath been brought and planted in Europe in several Gardens where it groweth very great and blossometh Vesting in Lib. P.
Travel from Cana over the fore-mention'd Sandy Desart There are many Granaries for the reception of Corn brought thither from Cana. It is probable that Livius Sanutus says that this Haven is that of the Old City Berenice because they lye in the very same elevation yet some will have it to be Miosormus There is also Conza formerly Metacompsus not far from the City Asna Conza on the Southermost borders of Egypt some of the Antients placed Elephantis or Elephantina of which at this day the name onely remains The last City to the South of Egypt lying on the Nilus is Asna formerly call'd Siena but got the name Asna from the Arabians for the word Siena being the same with the Arabian Zeyâ—â—a which signifies Foul Sanutus lib. 9. they thought the City too fair to bear that Name and therefore chang'd Siena into Asna that is Fair the City indeed being very beautiful the Romans wasted most part of it but it hath since been much more stately rebuilt by the Mahumetans The Inhabitants drive a subtle Trade in the Kingdom of Nubia partly in Vessels sailing up the Nile and partly by Land through the Desart by which way of Transportation they are become considerable in Cattle Corn and Money In the City which is of a large extent and by the Moors according to Marmol call'd Gavera there yet appear many fair Edifices and particularly a very curious Sepulchre with Egyptian and Latin Inscriptions There is also a deep Well into whose bottom the Sun shines at Noon A deep Well while he passes too and again through the Northern signs To this place or a little further the Nile is Navigable but beyond no Vessel can pass oppos'd and stop'd by the Cataracts and therefore they Land their Goods below and carry them over Land then again shipping when they are past the precipice and come into smooth water Eastward from Asna is the antient and great City Asuan or Assuan The City Assuan by some taken to be Conza or Metacompsus and borders upon the Desart Buche through which they Travel by the City Suaquen to the Red Sea Neighboring with the Moors and by Marmol placed in Egypt Beyond this they pass not up the Nile Sanutus because of the fore-mention'd precipices It is very hot there in Summer and the Inhabitants are Tawny of colour not caused so much by the great heat as by their commixture with the People of Nubia and the Moors In several places about this City are many antient Buildings and Towers there call'd Barba which makes some imagine that heer stood Thebes In circuit five mile in length three miles out of whose Ruines Asuan was built Strabo gives it eighty Stadia or Furlongs in length of which City of Asuan Albufeda the Arabian thus writes Asuan is a City of the upper Theban Countrey lying by the side of the Eastern Desart wherein stands the famous Needle or Spire the greatest Monument of Antiquity partly for its huge Carv'd Stones and partly for the variety of curious Imagery upon it And that many Obelisks and Pyramids have been there Herodotus Diodorus and others testifie Herodotus Diodorus Beyond this the utmost border of the Turkish Dominions in Egypt there are no Seats or Habitations worth the mentioning onely some few Huts or Cottages where Tawny people of Buchia dwell that speak a Tongue scraped together out of the Egyptian Arabian and Moorish Languages Several other small Cities Sanutus and inconsiderable places by length of time decay'd are by Sanutus and other Geographers with few words touched upon such are these Thura in the East lying close by Cairo Sachila and Pharsono lying beneath the Lake Maeris Narnita and Nitriota above it Elmena Libelezait Saguan Dakat all poor and thin peopled places of which the first is to the inland in the mid-way between the Red-Sea and Nile but the other lye close by the Sea side King Pharaoh's Angle Pharaoh's Angle or Point from whence Moses with his people in a wonderful manner passed through the Red Sea Corondal Aziruth and Aphaca places on the Red-Sea lying not far one from another with few or no Inhabitants The seven Wells Seven Wells call'd by the Italians Zette Pozzi is a place in a dry Tract of Land where at this day appear some tokens of the Old Wells or Fountains of Water that gave name to the place Menuia and Cosera lye in the Island Heracleopolites Sanutus but thinly inhabited The like also are Veneria and Ansena two Neighboring places Besides the Island Michias The two Islands of Heracleopolites and Cynopolites lying by Cairo and the Island Elephantina there are Heracleopolites and Cynopolites or the Isle of Dogs both lying in the Nile placed by Sanutus in Egypt The Metropolis of the later is Cynopolis Cynopolis or Dog-town because the Inhabitants for the most part worshipped a Dog but at this day 't is call'd Monphalus The Island Heracleopolites Heracleopolis so call'd from Heracleopolis that is Hercules City because Hercules was worshipped in it is fifty miles in circuit and fruitful in Olives and other Fruit-Trees Here was the Icneumon the mortal Enemy of Crocodiles and Serpents worshipped Besides all these Cities The Number of Villages in Egypt there are many Villages in Egypt for above Delta both Southward and Northward of Cairo Sanut there are four thousand and in Delta twenty thousand whose Grounds and Meadows are once a year water'd by the Nile As to the Soil The Soil of Egypt is dry and thirsty in it self it is Sandy very Barren and so dry and seared that unless it lye under water many dayes as at the overflux of Nile it will never become fertile Therefore the Egyptians often drown their Gardens and Orchards so by long soaking to make them fruitful whereby their Pot-herbs and Salletting are very waterish and more insipid or flashy than in Europe But although the Soil be of it self thus steril It is made fat by Nilus yet the fruitful Nilus with his fat Mud makes it fertile and fit for Tillage and in some places so luxuriant that they often mix the fatness of the Soil with Sand to temper and allay it This onely over-flowing of the Nile made Egypt to be esteemed not onely the Granary of Rome but of the whole then known world for it fed all the Roman Provinces with Corn a third part of the year exposing besides abundance into remoter Countreys Pliny reports that the ground there was so exceedingly fruitful that one onely Seed planted in the Earth would bring forth a hundred fold But this wonderful fertility was attended with this inconvenience that the rich Product was not lasting and from this very same cause they dispatch'd them away to their Neighbor Nations of the Arabian Desart Palestine Syria Constantinople and Europe especially Sugar Cassia Sena-leaves several Gums and other Inland Commodities Kassia Colekasia Datura The Delta's boast theirs
of the Reins and Bladder For it quenches or allays the inordinate heat of the Kidneys and an excellent Vehicle for carrying off the slimy dregs out of those Vessels through the Bladder so that the Egyptians by the frequent use thereof are absolutely freed from the Stone It is also useful against pains in the Limbs arising from heat especially against the Gout applyed by way of Plaister The Blossoms Candied with Sugar are a powerful Remedy against the Heat of the Kidneys and cleanse and free the Uretories from vicious and slimy foulness The green Pipes first decocted in water and then dryed in the shade and lay'd in Sugar or Honey are used commonly by Women and Children against the same Distempers taking the weight of half an Ounce at a time The Plant by the Arabians in Egypt call'd Elhanne Elhanna and by the Physicians Alcanna grows with many Branches like a little Shrub The Leaves resemble those of the Olive being shortish but something broad of a fresh and flourishing green The Blossoms grow as those of the Elder-tree and used by the Women as a comfortable refreshment in their Baths A decoction of the Leaves prevents the falling off of Hair and drives away Vermin the Egyptian Women with the Juyce of the Leaves and Branches paint their Nails in the manner of a Semi-circle which remains long without wearing off Of the stamped powder of the Leaves which they call Archenda mixt with water is made a Gold colour wherewith they stain their Hands and Feet which yellow tincture they hold for a great Beauty Lablab a Tree with many Branches climbing and spreading like a Vine Lablab but in Leaves Blossoms and Form resembling the Roman Bean. Twice a year that is in Lent and Harvest it bears long and broad Cods or Shells which contain in them Black and Brown reddish Beans streaked as the Roman This continues many times without sensible decay a hundred years carrying both Winter and Summer green Leaves The Egyptians use the Beans for food which are no less pleasant than the European The Women drink the Decoction of it for their Moneths and it is good against the stopping of the Urine and the Cough Melochia is an Herb growing a Cubit high with thin and limber Twigs Melochia The Leaves are like those of a Beet but smaller long and sharp-pointed The Blossoms are little and colour'd like Saffron the Seeds little and black in a Husk like a Horn. The Seed is us'd to prevent Swooning-fits and ripens all hard Swellings though this be common yet is nothing more acceptable to the Palate for they boyl it either alone in water or in Pottage as we dress Beets at Feasts they both garnish and season their Dishes with it which is very pleasing yet notwithstanding this repute it agrees not over-well with many for it yields but slender nutriment and a flimy juice breeding in such as eat much of it great stoppings and Costiveness in their Bowels The taste also is something flashy and flat unless quicken'd with Juice of Lemons The Decoction of the Leaves is very good against the Cough and half an ounce of the Seed makes a sufficient Purge Sesban is a Sprout with a prickly Stock Sesban shooting up to the height of a Myrtle Tree the Blossoms are yellow the Husks or Cods long and like those of Fenugreek so also is the Seed and hath an attractive power like the Fenugreek Seed The Egyptians commonly make Hedges or Fences between their Grounds with this Bush Sophera is a Plant two Cubits high and leaved like the Myrtle Sophera it bears scentless yellow Blossoms with few Seeds which are said to be poisonous Absus is an Hearb with Leaves like the common Clover or Three-leav'd Grass Absus the Blossom white or straw-colour'd the Seed black and the Stalk prickly The Plant known to the Egyptians by the Name Sempsen Sempsen but by the Greeks and Latines call'd Sesamus grows upright a foot and half high the lower Leaves are more indented or nicked than the higher and are very like those of Nightshade The Blossoms are small and white followed by small Cods holding a Seed like Line-seed out of which Oyl is pressed which the Arabians call Zeid Taib that is Good Oyl because it is so wholesom a Food that it is sold dearer than the Oyl-Olive The Leaves The use of it Seed and Oyl moderately hot and moist in the second degree of an extenuating quality are by the Egyptians us'd against many Diseases The Countrey people heretofore fed thereon and grew fat with it but now the Oyl is chiefly us'd to take away Freckles and Spots in the Skin and to anoint Sores The Plant Berd or Papyrus Berd or Papyrus groweth upon the Nile having a reedy or stringy Root with many streight Stalks six seven or more Cubits high above water at the end of which is a multitude of long and very small Threeds seeming as a Blossom The Leaves are Triangular soft below at the Stalk broad and at the end sharp in form of a Cross-barr'd Dagger Surgeons there use the Juyce of the Leaves to cleanse and enlarge the Orifices of Sores and with the Ashes of the tops of the Stalks close and heal up the Wounds The Roots in former times serv'd in stead of Writing-Tablets The use of them the Juyce of the Stalks wrought into thin Leaves the Antients wrote upon as we now adayes do upon our Paper made of old Linnen and probably from this Plant took the name Papyrus There is a signature of a Sprig or Stalk of this Plant Carv'd upon several Obelisks whereby they signifyed the great abundance of all things because this Plant served them formerly in stead of all necessary Commodities for before the Planting of Corn was known in Egypt the people lived on this Plant making thereof Cloaths Boats all manner of Houshold-stuffe Garlands for the Gods and Shooes for the Priests But at this day by the carelessness of the Inhabitants and the importing of our European Paper thither it is by them esteemed of no worth at all There grows also a kinde of Cucumers in several places in Egypt Chate nam'd Chate differing onely from ours in Europe in greatness clearness and softness of the Leaves which are smaller whiter softer and rounder they have a very pleasant taste and are light and easie of digestion The Inhabitants account them very wholsom either eaten boyled or raw and Physicians use them against burning Feavers and several other like Distempers There grow also several kinds of Melons Abdellavi one call'd Abdellavi much differing from ours another kinde Chajar of an unpleasant and watery taste but the Seed is held to be more cooling Batechia El Mavi than of the rest A third sort call'd Batechia El Mavi bigger than ours yellow of Skin and hath within nothing but Seeds and sweet water which they drink in great abundance against Thirst and to allay
immoderately they are by Nature very Wakeful and little inclining to Sleep of a chearful Spirit yet delighting in an Idle and Lazy Life only the Arabians and Farmers take Pains or else they must Starve ¶ THis Countrey is very subject to several and dangerous Diseases Egypt is much subject to Land-Sicknesses partly because of the intemperate Air partly by the immoderate use of Women and partly because the Poor there which are numerous are necessitated to use foul unwholesom Food and muddy and corrupt Water The chief Diseases afflicting them are Blear Eyes Scabs Leprosie and Mortal Phrensies Small Pox pain in the Limbs and Joints Ruptures Stone in the Kidneys and Bladder Consumption Obstructions or Stoppings Weaknesses of the Liver Spleen and Stomach Tertian Agues Consuming Quartanes and all manner of Maladies of the Head It is true other people are subject to the like but not so continually nor grievously and therefore properly may be call'd The Plagues of Egypt In Alexandria in Harvest-time many malignant and mortal Agues reign by drinking the tainted and foul Water which the Townsmen from year to year keep in their Wells under their houses In Winter they are troubled with sore Eyes but the Inhabitants of Cairo much more among whom it reigns so Epidemically that scarce half of them escape the Distemper There also rages that most terrible Egyptian Disease by the Arabians call'd Dem El Muia which in few hours suddenly possesses the Brain like an Apoplexy and bereaving them of sense and understanding in few minutes irremediably kills them Every year once are the Egyptians surprized with this Sickness of which multitudes dye At the same time Children are much afflicted with a malignant kind of Pox bred by the venomous Damps raised from the corrupt Water of Caleg Malignant Childrens Fox in Alexandria which is a Branch or rather a Trench cut from the Nile into Alexandria Every year Whence they arise when the Nile is risen eight or ten Cubits it falls into this Trench and runs from thence through the whole City and at the recess of Nile this Water then in the Caleg remaining without current or motion at length corrupts and first becomes green then black and in the end sends forth a very noisome Stench which corrupting sends forth venomous Vapours whereby the Air is polluted and that Infection bred and therefore all the Children which dwell thereabout for that cause are carried thence to other places Many other Diseases are in Egypt which are bred by the eating Ox and Camels Flesh and rotten Salt Fish taken in Pools and Lakes and mouldy stinking Cheese by them call'd Gibnehalon whereby is ingendered much thick Blood Choler adust Grossness and soft and crude Humours The Cause of the Dropsie The Dropsie here is very frequent and such as have it have Legs which by the abundance of hardness and gross Swelling are blown and puffed up like the Legs of Elephants though indeed they feel no Pain but are only unwieldy to walk One main Cause of these Distempers proceeds from the too frequent Use of Colocasie Beets Bammia and Melochia Herbs breeding thick and tough Flegm Many of the better Sort also have a Weakness in their Joynts and Limbs Why the Egyptians have weak Joynts and feeble Limbs like Childrens Rickets relaxed either by immoderate Venery or the too frequent Use of Sweat-Baths Alpin Medicin Egypt But the meaner Sort get it by wearing the same Clothes in Winter and Summer and going bare-foot and bare-legg'd And are troubled with the Stone The Stone is no stranger among them being bred from the Sediment of the Water of Nilus which as all Water causing Urine comes to the Kidneys but the more Earthy Part remaining like Dregs behind by the extraordinary Heat of the Body becomes dry and in a little Series of time is turned into Stones There are also many of a Melancholy Temper Sad spirited People in Egypt which are generally accounted Holy Men For the vulgar perswade themselves that they live without Sin leading their Lives in great Sanctity the better to mind Sacred Mysteries retiring from the World into desart and barren Places The Mahumetans look upon them as Santons because they seem to contemn Riches and slight the vain Pleasures of the World They live single giving Hospitable Entertainment to all Strangers of what Religion soever They reprove Vice very sharply affirming the World to be nothing but a Vale of Misery and Trouble In a sad and morose Reservation they denounce great Punishments to Man for Sin and so macerate and mortifie their Bodies by a vowed Abstemiousness and Labour that they are little better than the dried Mummies The Pestilence is very frequent in these Parts Egypt is much afflicted with the Pestilence and prevails against them the more because they seek no Remedy for it falsly conceiting that God hath certainly appointed and ordained every ones Death aforehand and the manner of his Dying so that he that must die in the Wars cannot die of the Pestilence and those onely can die of the Pestilence that are aforehand destined of God for it For this cause as we said no Egyptian will go about to avoid the Place nor shun converse with the Infected and the Clothes and other Houshold-stuff of such as dye of that Distemper are instantly sold in the open Market by Out-cry which none are afraid to buy by which mad obstinacy in this their foolish Perswasion the Plague in Cairo in the space of six or seven Moneths sometimes sweeps away above five hundred thousand People This dreadful Malady commonly begins in their first Summer When it commonly begins in Egypt continuing till the cool Northern Winds arise and then it begins to abate That which begins in the first Moneths is the worst of all especially if it come over out of Barbary for then it sometimes almost depopulates whole Cities leaving them destitute of Inhabitants But if it comes later it is so much the milder and ceaseth the sooner But although it rage never so fiercely At the Suns entrance into Cancer the Pestilence ceases in Egypt yet at the Suns entrance into Cancer it wholly ceaseth which by them is accounted no small Blessing for from thence forward as if never any such infectious Disease had been the City and all things in it are from a depth of miserable despair reduced into a secure safe and healthful condition Neither while the Contagion lasted did any other Diseases appear among the People Now the reason of this so sudden Cessation seems to be caused by the even and constant temper of the Air How this comes to pass by the blowing of the Anniversary Northwinds which then begin to rise and oppose the moist Nature of the South-winds call'd as we said Campsien which cooling as well the Air as Mens Bodies taking away the Cause the infectious Heat the Effect ceaseth Very seldom or never doth the Plague begin here
the Water up to their Elbow with all their strength stirring the Water about then leaving the Almonds in it the Water will be clear in the space of three Hours Lastly pouring out the clear Water into other small Vessels they use it either for their Drink or Food Others let this Water stand only and setle till it become clear of it self The Vertues of this Water are very many and great The Vertue of the Water of Nilus for in some it fetches out an inward Infirmity by insensible transpiration others it causes to Urine freely some to go to Seige to none is it hurtful though drunk Day and Night even to excess Moreover it is to hot Bodies as a cooling Julep to allay the heat and burning of the Bowels There also our New Drink call'd Coffee hath no small Estimation Coffee-Drink gotten by long Experience of the Benefits which they suppose they receive by it using upon the matter little or no other Physick or Doctors they eating much Fruits and drinking only the Nile which is it self their grand Physitian The infusion of the Powder of this Berry in that so excellent Water decocted and taken Hot composeth not only the Crudities arising from bad Digestion but suppressing all Fumes so setleth in quiet both Head and Stomach which may be well asserted by those that use it moderately here who after they have taken their Dose two or three Cups in the Morning find themselves more apt to Business or Study It certain and suddenly cures Inebriation and in many allays the fits of the Gout * Namral History Sir Francis Bacon who took it long before in use with us says It comforts the Heart and Brain by Condensation of the Spirits The Arabians call it Caova and the Tree whereon it grows Bon where it grows in such abundance that from thence the whole Eastern and now part of our Western World is furnished yet with them so valued as not to be purchased by any Barter as they say but Gold and Silver The Turks and Moors have also a very wholesom Drink call'd Sorbet A Turkish Drink call'd Sorbet made of Sugar and Lemmon and drank by them with great Delight They use also another kind of Drink made of Plumbs Corants and Water set together in the Sun ¶ MEn in Egypt live longer than in other Places for they say The Egyptians live long 't is usual to find People above an hundred Years old the Reason of which Longevity Physitians much differ about yet in General they assign'd as one chief Cause their spare Life in Eating and Drinking whereas on the contrary Alpinus de Medicina Aegypt all Europeans which drink abundance of Wine and eat much Flesh By what means this is so are for the most part short Liv'd for as the moderate use of Flesh generates good Blood and quickens the natural Heat so the immoderate use incrassates the natural moisture making it become tough and viscous so stopping the activity of Circulation with the Load of gross repletions just as the Flame in a Lamp by the exuberancy of the Oyl extinguisheth therefore the Egyptians living Sparingly and not Distempering themselves with high Fare their Blood being thus attenuated spins out a longer thread of Life to them than our guzling and debaucht Nations ¶ THe Habits of the Men are neat but not gorgeous Mens Habits for in the Summer time they wear Vests of the finest and lightest Cotton but in the Winter of their own Countrey Cloth quilted with Cotton Their Vests are shaped narrow above and wide below with small Sleeves close at the Hand over which Princes Officers of State and other Great Men wear a rich Tunick of Sattin Damask and other costly European-stuff every one according to his State and Dignity They wear great Turbans made of long striped Camelet Tulhandes or Turbants wound or folded up round together The Colour of which denotes of what Religion they are The Colour of the Turbant denote the Religion for the Jews wear one Yellow the Christians Red or Blew and the Mahumetans only a White one but those that boast themselves lineally descended from their Great Prophet wear Green Turbans Their Hose or Stockings are short like the Buskins of the Antients but in a manner all strangers to Shoes for what they use on their Feet are rather Slippers or Sandals having no Upper-leather behind and the Soals according to the Turkish Fashion shod with Iron Ladies and Persons of Honor The Habit of Women are there for the most part cloathed in White with Masks of the same Colour The Countrey-Women have in stead of a Mask a Cotton Cloth before their Face Black or some other Colour at the Chin pointed with two holes only that they may see their Way and where they tread But in many Places their Vizors follow the Turkish Mode being a very thin Cloth made of Horse-Hair before their Faces or else among the better Sort a fine Linnen or Tiffany They go mounted on Choppines which have no Upper-leather but only to fasten them over to the foot Their Head-attires are various according to the divers Customs of the Countrey the Turkish keeping their own Fashion of being close covered but the Egyptians wear a costly Silk Cap half a Foot high and running to a Point like one of our Womens high-crown'd Hats without a Brim on the fore-part of which they fix a Branch or Sprig neatly compos'd of several Gems with various Lustres and a Frontlet of Oriental Pearls with Chains of Gold about their Neck The Egyptian Women wear Smocks and Peticoats lac'd at the bottom like the Gallants of our Time and Golden Bracelets on their Wrists and Garters all of Gold Next their Skin they wear a fine Silk Smock bordered with curious Needle-work and over this a Coat or Gown of a different Length made of changeable colour'd Silk trim'd with Gold Silver and Silk Knots and the Skirt richly embroider'd No People are more dextrous in Swimming as compelled thereto by necescesity for at the overflowing of Nilus they swim from place to place to dispatch their Affairs and to that end are very lightly Clad only with a Coat and Shirt intending to Travel which they tye upon their Heads in form of a Turbant when they swim cross any deep Rivers but if their Transnatation extend to a farther Distance they have bundles of Flaggs or Bull-rushes which as either necessity or conveniency requires they use to Buoy themselves upon both for their Ease and Safety When they ride in Cavalcade through Cities in State or through the Countrey for private Business their Horses are unshod cover'd after the Moorish Fashion with Foot-clothes or Caparisons usually made of Tapistry wrought after the manner of the Moors but the Women mask'd upon Mules Mean People and Strangers use Asses which always stand upon the parting of cross Ways ready to Hire ¶ THe Houses of the plain Countrey
Jealous of their Wives that they dare not go open-fac'd to their Parents They have many pernicious Customs Evil Customs being greatly addicted to Sorcery and Witchcraft Whoever at any time falls sick makes an address to a Wiseman or Wise-woman as we term them who oftentimes cure them by Charms taken out of the Alcoran or Amulets or else Specifick Medicines for they have neither Physician Apothecaries or other Druggists but onely some inexpert Chyrurgeons The greatest Zealots amongst them when sick go where one of their Marabouts or Saints lie buried to whose Sepulchre they bring a great many things to eat fondly fancied to a belief that if by chance a Beast eat thereof it gets the Disease and the sick person will recover When their women are in Labor Great Superstition of the Barbarians when they bring forth they send to School to fetch five little children whereof four are employ'd to hold the corners of a Cloth in each whereof they tie a Hens Egg wherewith these Children presently run along the Streets and sing certain Prayers one answering the other In the mean while the Turks and Moors come out of their Houses with Bottles or Cruises full of Water which they throw into the midst of the Cloth by which means they believe the Woman who is in Labour is luckily deliver'd To this idle Fancy they adde another no less ridiculous to cure the Pain in the Head by taking a Lamb or young Kid which they hunt and beat about the Field so long till it fall down whereby they perswade themselves that the pain will pass out of the mans head into the beasts To countervail these bad and foolish Two commendable Customs they have some commendable Customs Pierre Dan. descript Barbar One is That how angry soever they are they never swear by the Name of God nor have in their Language whether Arabick Turkish or Morisk any particular words wherewith they can curse or blaspheme 'T is true the Renagadoes Swear desperately in their own Tongues but because they do it in contradiction of the Turks they are presently most severely punished for it The second is That how great a contest soever they have one against another they seldom come to Hand-blows but never kill The Inhabitants of the City of Barbary are very ingenious The Condition of the Inhabitants in Cities and singularly zealous in their Religion but no people more jealous for they had rather lose their lives than have a blemish on their Reputation which especially they look upon as best preserved by their Wives Chastity They covet Riches above measure but are very modest in speech The Inferiours behave themselves towards their Superiours with great humility and submission But Children shew wonderful Reverence and Obedience towards their Parents The Countrey People dwell in Tents or Booths upon the Hills and Fields The manner of the Countrey People generally dealing in Cattel they are not fierce of Nature yet very couragious they live but poorly yet are great pains-takers and liberal Whereas the Townsmen on the other side are quarrelsome vindicative inhospitable covetous setting their whole thoughts upon scraping together Money and Goods They are continual Traders but so suspicious that they will not trust any Foreigner They are great boasters but dull of wit giving easie belief to common reports and doubtful hear-says yet so cunning and false in their dealing that they will deceive the most vigilant Some of the better Sort have great inclination to Arts and Sciences They are inclin'd to Skil and Knowledge delighting chiefly in Histories and the Exposition of their Law Heretofore extraordinarily addicted to Southsaying Magick and Astrology all which about five hundred years since were absolutely forbidden by their Princes They Ride well after their manner and know with a singular dexterity to mount and dismount The chiefest Weapons of such as dwell up in the Countrey are long Launces or Javelins in the throwing of which they are wonderful ready but all that coast upon the Sea use Guns Powder and Shot The whole Countrey is very healthful The Age of the People in Barbary so that the people by the ordinary course of Nature seldom dye before sixty five or seventy years of Age In the Mountains peradventure some be found reaching a hundred years remaining to the last very strong and active but chiefly upon the Sea-Coasts where the Air is constantly refresht and agitated by the frequency of cool Breezes which have the same efficacy working upon their Constitutions so that they are seldom sickly Barbary hath a great abundance of Merchandise Barbary affords much Merchandise which are transported by Foreigners to the enriching of the Inhabitants such are untann'd or raw Hides Linnen and Cotton-Cloth Raisins Dates Figs and the like of which we will speak more particularly in its proper place Evident Signs of the great Wealth of this Kingdom in former times may be drawn hence that the Kings of Fez as they say Signs of the Antient Power of Barbary formerly spent four hundred and eighty thousand Crowns in the building a Colledge Leo Africk Peter Aviley Barbary and seven thousand in erecting a Castle and little less in founding a City besides his continual standing Pay to his Militia No less are the Riches thereof at this day Signs of the present Power as appears by the great Revenue of the Kings of Morocco and Fez the Bashaws and other great Lords of Tripolis Algiers and Tunis and the infinite Trade and Merchandise which the English Venetians Genoas Hollanders French Hamburgers and other people drive there without taking notice of the rich Spoils the Pyrates of Barbary carry in from all parts especially Spain and Italy with too much connivance of their Governours though seemingly against their Command Another signal proof of its exceeding Wealthiness are the great number of Mosques and the yearly Revenues belonging to them For in Algiers onely there are a hundred and in Tunis three hundred as many also in Fez and in Morocco seven hundred among which the chief have two hundred Ducats Annual Rent Adde thereto that the Plunder of Fez when those of Algiers became Masters of it was valued at two hundred and sixty Millions and the Spoyl of Tunis under the Emperor Charles the Fifth which he gave to the Soldiers for a Reward as much when the three chiefest Field-Officers gave each of them for their Heads Thirty Millions of coyned Ducats Moreover the Jews who have their chiefest Refuge there as in the Center of the World bring no small advantage by the liberty of their Usury The Dominion of Barbary is various as the Countrey The Government of Barbary some are absolute unlimited Kings as those of Morocco and Fez. Others acknowledge a Superior Lord as the Kings of Algiers Tunis and Tripolis who are no other than Bashaws or Viceroys or under the obedience of the Great Turk who at his Pleasure may alter the
of Morocco's Concubines to the number of eight hundred under the Guard of Eunuchs but now the Residence and Seat of the Governours Without the City lie several Sconces and Redoubts made of Loam and cast up when the Castle was Besieg'd in the Year Sixteen hundred and sixty Within these Cities are several Mosques with inclosed Yards round about and without divers Mesquites The Houses especially in Old Sale are very small and slightly built Their Houses though here and there some are richly set out with Carv'd Work and Marble Pillars Generally they are but one Story high without any Windows to the Street or other opening than the Door all their Light descends from a Loover in the midst about which the Chambers are placed the whole Edifice flat-rooft for conveniency of Walking Morning and Evening for the benefit of the cool refreshing Air. The Haven is very spacious The Haven but shallow having at low Tyde not above a Foot or a Foot and a half Water though at full Sea eleven or twelve Before the Haven lyeth a Barr passable at High Water with loaden Barks and Ships either out or in whereas when the Tyde is out they must remain at the Rivers mouth and unload their Goods into small Boats out of which Landed they carry them through the Gate Sidimusa Ducala upon Asses and Camels into the City This shallowness of the Haven compels the Corsaires or Pyrates of this Place to use light Vessels that draw little Water which proves better for the Chace and more advantageous in their Pyracies and also in escaping Ships of greater Burden whereas they of Algiers Tunis and Tripolis from the convenience of their Haven put to Sea in greater Vessels The Revenue consists in Tributes and Customs of Exported and Imported Merchandise The Revenue all which pays ten in the Hundred The Countrey People under its Jurisdiction pay the tenth of all their Land-Fruits for a Tribute And the Pyrates by their Robberies against the Christians bring no small Advantage These Cities are now Govern'd by an Alcaide The Government who with his chosen Councel manage all Affairs either Martial or Civil In the Election of a new Governour or Deputy they proceed with no regularity the Commons or Plebeians sometimes setting up one from among themselves or if it were possible below themselves as they did some few Years since when without the consent of the King or Nobles running together upon the Governours death without any the least appearance of Reason they set up in this mad fit an Ass-driver and by their own Authority impowered him but he soon after his Advancement using the same severity rough handling and menaces to his new Subjects as towards his old Slave the Ass they no longer pleased with his so rigorous Government kickt him out of the Saddle and left him to conduct by those stern Rules his old Servant Other great Alterations often happen in the chusing of Governours insomuch that sometimes it hath been known that there have been three new Governours in a Moneth so often turned out either out of the Peoples hatred to them or for their own Misgovernment and yet their whole Jurisdiction reaches no farther than over a few little Cities and some wandring Advars that is Arabs This City hath from the first Foundation been subject to Commotions and Alterations but more especially since the coming of the Andaluzian Moors that were driven out of Spain as will presently appear During the continuance of the Moors in Spain which was from the Year Seven hundred and twelve for then they made their Conquests for Six or seven hundred Years they kept possession all which time the Kings of Spain made it their Master-piece to drive them out especially Ferdinando the Fifteenth for he taking into serious Consideration the great mischief by them done to the Christians and the continual Wars wherewith they infested them in the Year Fourteen hundred ninety two set fiercely upon them who seeing themselves in a straight and even brought under the power and obedience of Ferdinando seem'd to embrace Christianity though scarce in outward appearance they were such however it gain'd them a breathing while and gave them opportunities of endeavour at least to distract that State so that in the Year Sixteen hundred and ten Philip the Third King of Spain by an Edict published the Sixteenth of January banisht them out of his Kingdom The Andaluzian Moors driven out of Spain and for fear of incurring the penalties thereof above a Million of Men Women and Children of all Sexes departed within the time limited the greatest part of whom taking Ship passed into Barbary But others spread themselves into the East about Constantinople some came into France with the consent of the King who allotted them a place to dwell in conditionally they observ'd the Roman Catholick Religion wherein by performance of their Articles they so fixed themselves that at this Day some Families of them are to be found in Provence and Languedoc Such of them as pitched at Salee were admitted with freedom by the King of Fez and Morocco believing they might be useful to instruct his People in many Trades and Handicrafts Here a while they lived Peaceably yielding equal Obedience with the other Subjects but they soon started aside and with the Money which in great quantities they brought from Spain bought Arms and some Ships wherewith they apply'd themselves to Roving and Pyracy at Sea pretending at first to take from none but the Spaniards in revenge of their inflicted Banishment though indeed and in truth their malice raged upon all the Christians 'T is true at the beginning they play'd fast and loose under pretence of Trading and Merchandise setting up Spanish Flags and Colours in their Masts and Sterns and acting all in the name of Spaniards The Andaluzjans beginning to take from the Christians as they were by Birth and Language by which they did great Robberies but at last this Trick growing stale they pull'd their Vizards off and declared themselves openly Pyrates and Enemies to all Christians Whatsoever Prizes they took they pay'd to the King of Morocco as a Tribute seven or ten in the Hundred as well of Prisoners as of Merchandise Thus for a time they continued their Subjection to the King of Morocco but still waiting an opportunity to throw off the yoak and indeed they wanted not a specious pretence for under the colour of furnishing their Ships they got into their hands the best Arms in Salee of which possessed and instigated by the natural Ambition of the Countrey they were bred in they brought to pass those Designs they had been so long secretly contriving For first they made themselves Masters of the Alkassave They rise up against the King of Morocco or Castle of Salee and by that means of the City which done they disarm'd the Moors banish'd the Natives and expell'd all the King of Morocco's Officers and for their Assistance
The chief Places thereof lying on the Coast of the Mediterranean-Sea Comere are Comere lying close by three little Islands the first of which some hold to be Penon and the two other the Cliffs Tarfonelle and Nettegalle The City Terga by Marmol call'd Targa and built as Sanutus says by the Goths about twenty miles from the Straits of Gibraltar contains near five hundred Buildings Yelles Yelles a little Sea-Town two miles from Bedis hath a safe though small Haven Bedis Bedis by many call'd Bellis as cohering with the Spanish Name Velez is by the Inhabitants nam'd Deirath Bedis and by the Learned thought to be the Akrath of Ptolomy It stands between two high Mountains containing six hundred Houses an ill fortifi'd Castle and a small Dock on the Shore where commonly Galleys and other small Vessels or Boats are built About a thousand Paces from thence Penon de Velez upon a Rock in the heighth of twenty four Degrees and twenty Minutes Northern Latitude stands Penon de la Velez that is The Rock of Velez sever'd from the firm Land by a small Channel that affords a safe Harbour for ten or twelve Gallies It is a very strong place guarded with several Forts the chiefest of which is built upon the heighth of the Rock accessible by one onely cut way some stand in the middle and others at the foot so that it seems almost impregnable Gebba Gebba a small decay'd Town eight French Miles from Velez Near Point Oleaster Mezemme mention'd by Ptolomy Marmol places Mezemme or Megeime by some held to be the Teniolonga of Ptolomy seated on the side of a Hill on a great Plain nine French Miles long and three broad through which the River Nakor passing divides Errif and Garet But now so waste that the wilde Arabs desert it Towns more to the Inland are Tegasse a little Place two miles from the Mediterranean-Sea call'd by Marmol Tagaza and thought to be the Thalude of Ptolomy Seusaon Guazaval Then Seusaon and Guazaval remarkable for nothing but their inconsiderable meanness ¶ THe Mountains here have few Habitations The Mountains of Errif but poor Huts cover'd with Straw or Barks of Trees Such as they be take as followeth First Bentgarir or Beni Oriegan close by Targa three miles long and two broad Beni Mansor three miles long Bucchuia or Botoia in Length four and in Breadth three miles Benichelid or Beni Quilib in the Road between Bedis and Fez. Beni Jus four miles long and three broad Benizarval and Benirazin fronting the Mediterrane Seusacen or Xexuen reported to be the fairest Mountain of Africa The Beni Gebara high and craggy Beni Yerso and Hagustan well inhabited Benigualed and Beni Iedes high and almost unpassable Alkas twelve miles from Fez. Beniguazeual ten miles long and five broad shewing one City and an hundred and twenty Villages Guarga Beni Achmed or Beni Hamet four miles long and the like in Breadth Beni Egenefen or Beni Zanten Beni Mesgilda Beni Guamud all bordering on Fez from which divided by a River ¶ THis Province bears good The Condition and Quality of the Territory tall and streight Timber but little Grain of any sort Of Grapes Figs Olives Quinces and Almonds there is pretty plenty but no Cattel besides Goats Asses and Apes with a sort of Beeves no bigger than yearling Calves The Water abounds every where but in many places so muddy that it is scarce potable by reason whereof the People fetch their water to drink from Pits and Ponds without the City ¶ MOst of the Inhabitants of these Places have great Swellings under their Chins like the People in the Mountains of Savoy and Dauphine The Customs of the Inhabitants but the reason unknown except it proceed from the drinking that Water however it much deforms them They are blockish stupid and given to Jealousie and all other kinds of Beastiality These are not so curious of their Wives but in other parts of the same Jurisdiction they are as careless it being customary That when a Woman dislikes her Husband she will go presently to a Neighboring Mountain leave her Children and take another And this is the cause of continual Wars between them And if by chance at any time they make peace the Man who hath the others Wife is bound to give all the Expences to the first Husband during the time of their Cohabitation They fare very hardly living of Barley or Oat-Bread salt Sprats and Eggs accounting Goats Milk Bean-Broth and boil'd Mosch a great Dainty GARET GAret the sixth Province of Fez butting East on the River Mulaye West The Borders of Garet on the River Nakor on the North on the Midland-Sea and South on the River Mullulo and the Mountains close by Numidia is divided into three Parts The first compriseth the Cities and Plains the second It s Partition the Mountains and the third the Wildernesses The first containing the Cities is accompted sixteen miles in Length and forty in Breadth On the Mediterrane stand the Cities Tarforagello Fetis and Tarfoquirato with the Mountain Alkudie so call'd by the Arabians but Marmol takes it to be Abyle Alkudie one of Hercules Pillars at whose foot lies Cape Trident or The Point of three Forkes by Castaldus call'd Cabo de tres Forcas and by Oliverius Cabo de tres Orcas supposed to be the Metagonitis of Ptolomy the Metagonium of Strabo and Sestiana of the Antients It shoots far into the Sea with a Point from which Eastward lie three small Islands in form of a Triangle besides one great one nam'd Abusam in the heighth of thirty Degrees and twenty Minutes Melille formerly Ryssadirum or Ruisar Melille by the Inhabitants call'd Deirath Milila having a convenient Haven in the Midland-Sea was heretofore the Head-City of this Territory In the time of the Goths strongly wall'd and so flourishing under the Mahumetans that it contained above two thousand Houses But in the Year Fourteen hundred and ninety seven the Duke of Medina Sidonia won it and at this day it is one of the Spaniards Principal Strengths in Africa excellently Fortifi'd and commanded by a Castle well provided of all Habiliments necessary either for Offence or Defence About six miles from Melilla near Cape Trident or Metagonites lieth Casasa Casasa by the Portuguese call'd Cabo de Casasa where formerly because of the Conveniency and Safety of the Haven the Venetians drove a great Trade of Merchandise with the Inhabitants of Fez But by the Diligence of Ferdinand King of Aragon and Castile the Moors driven out he annexed it to the Kingdom of Spain Places further from the Sea Tezzote are Tezzote mounted on a Rock ascendible onely by Winding-Stairs Meggeo And Meggeo a small Town two miles Southward of the Midland-Sea and about four to the West from Tezzote ¶ BEsides Alkudie The Mountains of Garet and the Point of three Forks here are several
City are many old Buildings and some Ruines signs of its former Greatness and about half a mile distant from it a Triumphal-Arch built after the Roman fashion From the City they go to the River by steps cut out in a Rock within which is a Vault whose Roof Columns and Floor are all of the same Piece Not far off rises a Fountain of warm Water a little Eastward of which by a little Rill of fresh Water is a Structure of Marble garnished with Carved Images which the Common People imagine to have been an Academy and that the Master and Scholars for their wickedness were metamorphos'd into those Statues Sanutus placeth the City Chollo Kollo formerly call'd Kullu and now by some Alkol by others Kol and Kollo near Constantine being built by the Romans at the edge of the Mediterrane-Sea adjoyning to a high Mountain but open and without Walls It hath a Castle founded upon a Rock with a convenient Road for Ships formerly much frequented by Genouese and French Merchants Sukaicada Sukaicada about thirty miles from Constantine hath also a Haven full of Trading and a Street-way running from it a mile and a half in Length Five or six miles from Constantine The Village Estore not far from the Cape of Gigeri lieth the Village Estore famous for its Antiquity and a small but convenient Haven ¶ THe Mountains are many The Mountains of Constantine covering the whole Coast from the North to the West and so to the East beginning at the Mountains of Bugie and reaching alone the Mediterranean-Sea about thirty miles from whence arise many Fountains and Rivers that taking their Course through the Plains by their fertilizing Streams greatly enrich the Places through which they pass Here also appear scatter'd up and down many Ruines of Streets and Castles built by the Romans ¶ THe Land about Constantine is bountiful to the Countreyman rendring to his labour a thirty-fold return nor are the Mountains much behind yielding good Corn besides plenty of Olives Figs and other Fruits yet nevertheless through the insolency of the Arabians are but thinly inhabited In the beforemention'd warm Bath there is abundance of Snails with shells which the silly Women cried out upon for Evil Spirits and Devils attributing to them the cause not onely of all Diseases but other evil Occurrents As a remedy of all mishaps coming by them they use to kill a white Hen and thrust it with their feet into a Dish so bringing it with a Wax-Candle to the Bath and leaving it which is soon conveigh'd away and eaten I hope you will not think by the Snails ¶ THe Inhabitants of the City Constantine are rich proud and clownish but withall couragious those of Kollo friendly and courteous great Traders and Lovers of Arts and Sciences The Mountaineers are much Civiler here than in Bugie but ignorant in all parts of Literature however they learn and use many Handicraft Trades and without doubt would much improve themselves if they would leave off those continual Wars they manage among themselves about their Wives which often run over from one Mountain to another to get change of Men. By this means generally the Men are Souldiers so that they can bring into the Field forty thousand Men of the which perhaps four thousand Horse The Citizens of Constantine Kollo and Gigeri yea and the Alarbs come to their Weekly Markets to whom without exception they equally sell what Fruits or other Commodities they have ¶ THe whole Government is Commanded by a Provincial Lieutenant It s Government Residing in Constantine Heretofore they had Kings of their own but in the Year Fourteen hundred and twenty becoming subject to Tunis the Kings thereof bestowed it as a Principality on their eldest Sons but at last in the Year Fifteen hundred and twenty after Cheredine Barbarossa had taken Kollo those of Constantine weary of the Trunsian yoke voluntarily yielded themselves up into the hands of Barbarossa since which they have remained free from Tunis BONA PLiny and Ptolomy call'd this Countrey The Royal Hippon Its Borders for distinction from Diarrython Hippon but the Inhabitants in the Moorish Tongue name it Bederna now a Member of Algier though heretofore computed under Constantine It lies encompassed with Mountains on the West and South and which reach about twenty miles that is from Bona to Begge and in breadth eight miles ¶ THe City Bona famous for having been the Episcopal See of St. Augustine The City Bona. is said to be built by the Romans upon sharp and very high Cliffs on the Mediterranean Sea having both within and without many Wells and Springs Sanutus and John Leo say that Bona lieth at present waste and depopulate and another City call'd Beldelhuneb or Beledel Ugneb built out of its Ruines whereas yet Marmol a Writer worthy of belief averrs that the City which the Europeans call Bona got the Name of Beledel Ugneb from the Moors so making them both one as indeed they are The compass thereof is small and the Streets very narrow so that it hath kept nothing of the former Beauty and antient Glory which it boasted of in the time of the Antient Father St. Augustine having been several times destroy'd by the Moors and Saracens particularly in Four hundred and Forty the very year wherein St. Augustine died A small Quarter of a Mile Southwards from the City lieth a remarkable Plain where yet are to be seen the Marks and Monuments of the Monastery and Cloyster which that Father caus'd there to be built which by the Foundation may be judg'd to have contain'd about an hundred Paces in Length and thirty in Breadth Near the Ruines of this Structure is a very fair and large Fountain which the Moors of this place do to this day call Saint Augustines Well Eastward of Bona lieth a handsome Cittadel built by the King of Tunis wherein the Governor keeps his Residence it is strongly fortifi'd and well provided with great Cannon and other Ammunition as well for fetching the Revenue from the Alarbs as to keep the Countrey in awe The usual Garrison two hundred Janizaries Mele or Mile Mele. formerly Tenare stands also near the Sea yielding Obedience at present to the Algerines but before subject to Constantine from which distant three miles The Walls are old and ruinous the Houses sometime three thousand now very few and those thinly inhabited yet the great Conduit in the very heart of the place is no little advantage to such as dwell there Tabarka Tabarka seated on the Sea-Coast and famous onely for the Coral-fishery close by it opposite thereto lies an Island of the same Name between which and the main Land is the distance of a mile and half ¶ THe Soyl of this Territory well deserves the Attribute of Bona The Soil of the Country Good abounding with fresh Valleys rich in Grain and delightful in the shadow of Jujuben-Trees whose Fruit the Inhabitants gather in
who had served the Malteses were put to the Sword and most of the Knights of Malta sent to the Galleys and the rest the Bashaw took and made Slaves After this Victory Sinan appointed Morat Aga to be Vice-Roy and ever since the Grand Seignior sends from Constantinople every three years a Beglerbeg or Bashaw thither to support his Conquests About the Year Fifteen hundred ninety eight Sidi Haga a Marabout or Priest designing to make himself a Master of the City and Kingdom with the assistance of the meaner sort began a notable Rebellion upon the first intelligence whereof Asan Bassa Admiral at Sea Sailed thither with sixty Galleys and some Souldiers from Tunis and Algier on a sudden fell into the Marabout's Quarters whose own Men finding their error in some measure to mitigate the fury against themselves set an end to their Mutiny by presenting their Captains Head to Sinan who sent it to the Grand Seignior De Stadt TRIPOLIS THE TERRITORY OF TRIPOLI NEar the Lesser Africa and Asfatus over against the Island Querquene The Borders of the Territory of Tripoli call'd by Ananie Ceraunia the River Capez takes its Course antiently call'd Triton Westerly of which this Province takes its beginning and ends at that of Mezellata in the East so that it hath for Borders on the West Tunis and on the North the Mediterrane on the South Numidia or Biledulgerid and Lybia with the Wilderness of Zara and in the East Mezellata a large Tract of Ground but altogether waste and unfruitful The chiefest Places thereof are Old and New Tripoli Kapes Machres Elhamma and Zoara Old Tripoli by some taken for the Antient City Naples in Barbary Old Tripoli and the Great Leptis of Ptolomy This was the Birth-place of the Emperor Severus first built by the Romans afterwards possessed by the Goths and at length destroy'd by the Mahumetans in the time of Hamor their second Kalif and ever since as Sanutus saith little inhabited New Tripoli or Tripoli in Barbary New Tripoli to distinguish it from a City of the same name in Syria call'd by the Turks Terabulus and by the Moors Trebeliz or Tarabilis seated on the Sea-side is not great but full Peopled with Turks Moors The Scituation and Jews surrounded with high and defensible Stone-Walls strengthened in several places with Sconces and Bullwarks yet having but two Gates one on the South-side going out to the main Land and one on the North by the Haven adjoyning to which Gates are two Forts that on the North securing the Haven which is very pleasant and beneficial and of capacity enough to contain many Ships The Houses like those of Tunis and the Streets very well pav'd with one large Prison or Masmora for Christian Slaves whereof there are always some here though much fewer than at Tunis or Algier besides divers Mosques and some Hospitals but for the greatest part sorely decay'd through the Cruelty of the Wars Kaps Kaps or Kapis or Kapis or Kafis by Marmol call'd Kasce and by the Moors according to Mercator Kabez being the Takape of the Antients stands near the Midland-Sea environ'd with lofty Walls and strengthened with a Castle Machres Machres or Mahara a Village about thirteen miles from the Isle of Zerby with a Castle for the defence of Kaps Bay Elhamma Elhamma a Roman Platform three miles from Kapes having Walls of Hewen Stone and Gates whereon in Marble Tablets may yet be read Latin Inscriptions Zoara Zoara or Zoarat taken by the Antients for the Haven Pisidon is an antient Town by the Mediterrane thirteen miles to the East of the Island Zerby There is one more little inhabited Rasalmabes and of as little fame onely for the Name controverted by Authors some making it Gichtis others Rasalmabes and Simlerus the Gita of Antoninus The Syrtes are two a greater and a lesser the lesser is an ill Neighbour to the Gulf of Kaps near Tripoli being very dangerous by reason of the Shelves Banks and Quick-sands lying round about But the great Syrtes in the Maps are call'd The Shoals of Barbary and in Spanish Baxos de Carthage which is the same over against Ezzab Syrtes is properly a Greek word The Syrtes signifying Shifting Sands sometimes having much and then little Water and sometimes almost none at all The greater of these Syrtes is in Nine and twenty Degrees North Latitude and Forty eight Degrees of Longitude but the smaller in Two and thirty Degrees Latitude and in Three and forty Degrees Longitude The Lake Tritonis The Lake Tritinis famous in Antiquity and often mention'd by Historians and Geographers lies in the very heart of Little Africa Volateranus says there are there of the said Name viz. this of Lybia thought to be the Birth-place of Minerva another of Boetia and a third in Thessalia Ptolomy places here two that is Tritonis by Marmol call'd Kapis and the other the Lake of Pallas Diodorus after all makes mention of another near the Atlantick Ocean ¶ THe Rivers of this Kingdom The Rivers are Karsarnaker Rasalmabes and Magro otherwise Cenifes all which take their originals from Mount Atlas and discharge their Waters into the Midland-Sea near the places from which they take their Names ¶ THe Countrey is all Sandy The Soyl. and so Barren that no kind of Corn by the best Husbandman be produced there so that the Inhabitants would almost perish with Hunger if Corn were not Transported thither from other places to supply their defective Harvests ¶ THere is in this City no fresh Water Their Scarcity of Water but that which runs from the tops of the Houses through Gutters Not far from Elhamma rises a great Spring to the Southward whose Waters being exceeding hot are conveyed by Pipes into the Bathes there which notwithstanding it s so distant Current yet retains the Heat so powerfully that few will adventure to go into it yet sometimes for pure necessity the Inhabitants are compell'd to drink thereof though in regard of its Sulphurous Quality it operates little towards the quenching of their thirst Lastly not far from the City is a standing-Standing-Water call'd The Lake of the Melatson by reason of having a strange power to Cure the Leprosie Sanutus places here the Lotus-Tree which by some are call'd Mikakoliers or rather Alsiers of which Fruit being sweeter than Dates the Inhabitants make very pleasant Wine Lemmons Oranges and Dates grow here in great abundance but no other Fruits except Halbhazis which groweth under Ground to the bigness of a Bean it tastes like an Almond but is never chew'd onely sucked ¶ THe Inhabitants of Tripolis live chiefly upon Weaving and Merchandising Those of Kapes being poor Their Employment are generally Husbandmen and Fishers paying Tribute of all their Labors to the Bashaw Those of Elhamma are lazy poor and very Thieves The Zoarers burn Lime which they carry to Tripolis But all live hardly their Food being so scarce that he is
THe most eminent Rivers watering Biledulgerid Rivers are Darha Ziz Ghir to which some adde the Sus Leo Africanus rather belonging to the Kingdom of Morocco as we have already set forth Darha Darha descending from Mount Atlas on that side which Borders the Countrey of Haskora thence running Southwards through a Land of the same Name loseth it self in many Rivulets first making luxurious Vales amidst the Desarts The River Ziz Ziz. falls branching it self also from Atlas then recollected into one Stream glides Southward straitned with several Mountains washing the Feet of Mount Gersolim Afterward visiting the Countreys of Chenegh Matgara Reteb and Segel-Messe thence losing it self in a Desart appears again at Fort Sugaihila From thence carried on making no stop till in the middle of a barren Sand choak'd up it becomes a Lake by none frequented but a few Hunting Arabs The River Ghir also derives from Atlas Ghir which Sanutus puts under twenty two Degrees Northern Latitude and five and twenty Degrees and a half Longitude which gliding Southward through Desarts cometh at last to Benignumi and from thence to a Sandy Wild where obstructed it makes a Lake as the former Besides those aforementioned Rio Blanko there are other less or second rated Rivers of which the first is the White River in Portuguese call'd Rio Blanko which falling from a Hill and running through the chief Province Biledulgerid commixeth its Streams from many Mouths with the Great Ocean But Buzedor springs not from a Mountain Buzedor but in Campaigne and so also gliding through Biledulgerid disembogues where it leaves its Name to the Town Buzidor into the same Sea The Dry River Dry River so call'd from its Channel being so often bankrupt in Summer scarce then having any Streams to carry Contribution to the Sea the French call Seche being rather a Brook than a River falling from the Highlands of Numidia not far from the Sluces of Ifran whence descending betwixt the Cape Bojador and the City Nun ends in the Ocean The Lebech Lebech also rising in a Hilly Countrey in its Descent swollen with the Waters of many other petty Streams loseth it self in its full greatness near Albena in the Atlantick Main Teseut Teseut or Teseutin the one in the Singular signifying A Shore the other in the Dual or Plural number Shores are two Rivers which rise within a small mile one from another in Mount Gegudeme which gliding through pleasant Plains and the Territory of Askore then both uniting their Streams with the River Lebick leave there their Denomination Hemissin boasts its Birth also from the Mountain in Biledulgerid Hemissin falling into the Sea near a place which the Sailers call Ansulim The River Tarkala Tarkala which taketh its Name from the Countrey thorow which it glides is but small and its Fountain not far distant though some suppose it springs from the Northern Hill so hasting till stagnated it becomes a Standing-Pool which often swelling turns into Morass the adjacent Valleys But Togdaa falls more probably from the Northern Mountains Togdaa and though little at first yet waters the Countrey of its own Name and running Southward from small grows great and sluggish so ending its progress there settles in a standing-Standing-Water The warm River call'd by the Hollanders The Heet Revier being warm like a Bath descending from Atlas first fertilizing the Plains of Biledulgerid accommodating also the City Teolach and Nefta acquiesceth at last in the Desarts there becoming also a Standing-Pond Techort Techort another small River rushing from the Mountains bordering on Lybia running by the City Techort ends amongst Sandy Wilds in large Plashes The Brook Teusart descending from a Mountain runs Southward Teusart loseth motion in the Desart and so spreading it self becomes a shallow Fen. ¶ THe Soyl of Biledulgerid is hot and dry The Numidian Soyl. being very much attemper'd with the moisture which these foremention'd Rivers contribute most of them watering the Countrey quite thorow to the Desart of Lybia This Territory bears little Corn but superabounds with Dates and other fruitful Trees but in less quantities They have there also the Lotus and the Plant Euforbium with some other Rarities of that kind That part of Biledulgerid that borders Lybia yields but a small Product being craggy and barren Mountains whose Skirts are of as little value bearing nothing but inconsiderable Shrubs Brambles and Thorns a dry Sterility ruling over all for want of Water ¶ ALl Numidia is infected with various and deadly biting Serpents abroad The Beasts and within with Scorpions as dangerous which especially rage in Summer killing many They have store of Ostriches Camels and Goats and some breeds of Horses Their Corn-Harvest falls in April their Dates they gather in September and the middle of October but if Rain happens in April or September they neither sowe nor reap but their stor'd up Dates which are alwayes abundant supplies the Effects of a bad Year by which means though the Seasons prove intemperate they know no Famine yet though the Date grows there so plentifully that they never lack yet they would rather have a good Fruit-year than a Corn-year because the Arabian Merchants and others bring them in store of Grain which they willingly barter for Dates There groweth much of the Wood call'd Anil so useful for Dying Besides ravening wilde Beasts and venomous Serpents they suffer also much by the molestation of an East-Wind which raising such Tempests of Sand and beating on their Faces gets into the Eyes of those that travel making them always blear'd and sore otherwise the Air of it self is very healthy and oftentimes for an hundred years together they know no Pestilence Small Pox nor any other such like Distempers ¶ THe Inhabitants of Numidia are generally long liv'd The Constitution of the Inhabitants onely Scorbutick in so high a manner that their Teeth often drop out supposed to proceed from their constant eating of Dates whose sweetness so incrassates the Blood making slower the Circulation that this their Diet seems to be the chief cause of that Distemper They are also weak-sighted and much troubled with sore Eyes which accidentally happens from the Sandy Commotions carried on by the foremention'd noxious Eastern Winds They are by Nature jealous libidinous and ignorant not courting neither Knowledge or Learning nor minding how to live in a plentiful manner but though they are sedentary and slothful yet they are deceitful treacherous and murdering Robbers But some few of this Region are not guilty of this their sordid Condition but are more generous ingenious very civil and truly valiant ¶ THey eat much Camels Flesh Their Food and the Ostrich they esteem as a Dainty their Drink is Camels Milk and the Liquor in which the Flesh is boil'd not once so much as tasting clear Water Amongst their other Qualities there are some that are so nastily sordid that not
unsafe Road not onely lying open to the Sea-winds but full of blind Rocks and shifting Sands and a sprinkling of small Isles like Warts upon the Sea Beyond this Southward The Islands of Arguin opens another Bay in which are the Isles of Arguin and the Seven Cliffs which had once peculiar Names but now call'd onely Arguins from a Fort built on the chiefest of them by Alphonso first King of Portugal Its Names Anno 1441. But these were their former Names The White Island that the Portugals call Blanca because of the white Sands The Island of Skins by the In habitants call'd Adeger lying about two miles from the main Land Ilheo or Little Island otherwise call'd The Island de Las Garcas or Crane Isle not far from the main Land Nar and Tider two more near the Coast and lastly Arguin which now gives the denomination to all the rest long since possessed and fortifi'd by the Portugals Castle of Arguin whose Fort lies on a commanding Point strong built all of Stone four hundred and five and twenty Foot in circuit defended on the Land-side with a Wall or Out-work of eleven Foot thick and four and twenty high It hath also three Batetries two towards the Land and one to the Sea This Fort hath more than ordinary accommodation sixteen handsom Rooms of State and Address with their Apartments a large Kitchin good Cellars and other Offices and close by accommodated with a Fountain of fresh Water But in Sixteen hundred thirty and three on the nine and twentieth of January onely with three Ships of the Netherland West-India Company though so defensive the Portugals surprized with a pannick fear delivered it up to the Hollanders The Main Land Coasting this Bay is dry and barren but about five miles there are some Shrub and Heathy Grounds from whence those of Arguin fetch their Fewel Formerly there dwelt upon this Isle some Moors call'd Sebek-Moors who liv'd by Fishing and some Trade giving the fifth part of their Gain to the Castle Also the French Fisher-men yearly in December January and February using large Nets above fourscore Fathom long Fish up and down this Bay for Grampos's which they cut up at Land and dry in the Sun making Train-Oyl of them And also hereabouts the Portugals drive a notable Trade with the wild Arabs and the Whites bartering their Woollen and Linnen Cloth Silver course Tapestry but most of all Corn for Blacks Gold and Ostrich-Plumes They bring thither also Horses which yielded them a dozen or fifteen Slaves Under the Desart of Zannaga is also contained The Wild of Azoat The Desart of Azoat so call'd because of the general dryness and infertility reaching from the Pool of Azoat to that of Azoan near thirty miles distance from Tombut Here are to be seen two Stone Monuments with Inscriptions upon them signifying who were there Interr'd and the cause of their lying there which was thus One of them a wealthy Merchant travelling through those Defarts over-power'd by invincible Necessity suffering strangely by Thirst met by chance with a poor Carrier who had not yet spent all his Water though under the same calamity with whom he contracted at no less Rate than ten thousand Ducats which he laid down upon the Spot for the Moiety thereof but so it happened that neither of them had any great purchase for the Water being divided was soon exhausted and proved not sufficient to save either so that languishing with extream drought they both lost their lives and were there Interr'd The Desart of Zenega inhabited by the People Zanaga's is wondrous hot and hath little or no Water but what is bitter and brackish and those Pits or Wells are at least twenty miles one from another But the Wild of Zenega is destitute of all Water seldom or never raining there having but one Pit in all the way of thirty miles This Soyl is all Sandy and utterly unfruitful being a vast Plain so flat and level that the Traveller hath no mark to find his way or know where he is but is forced to steer his Coast by the Sun and Trade-Winds which blow always Easterly and other little knowledges they gather by former Prints from the Claws of Fowl as Crows Ravens and such like which always wait upon the Caravans as on great Armies expecting Prey for none ever travel through this Desart but with great Company This Countrey produces a kind of Grain like Wheat Plants or Vegetables which grows of its own accord without Sowing But those near the Banks of the River Zenega reap Barley not wanting Dates having also good store of Camels Goats and other Cattel The Inhabitants of these Desarts are Breberians Ludays Duleyns and Zenega's or Zanaga's by Sanutus call'd Azaneghes and some Arabs Sanutus who live upon others sweat and labour stealing their Cattel which they convey to Dara and elsewhere there bartering them for Dates Sometimes the Arabians of Beni-Anir pillage this Countrey between Nun and the City Tagaost Tegaza THe Desart of Tegaza so call'd from the chief Town Tegaza The Desart of Tegaza which hath also this denomination from the great quantity of Salt which is brought thither and from thence convey'd through this Wild to other Countreys This populous Dominion Borders Eastward on Zanaga's This Countrey though well inhabited is vexed in Summer with a dangerous South-Wind whose scorching blast strikes many blind and it hath also great scarcity of fresh Water Here are many Pits of pure white Salt round about which the Salt-boylers The Salt Pits being Strangers pitch their Huts and Tents and their business being done return with the Caravan to Tombut and there sell that Commodity being there very dear Those of Dara also send their Tivar Gold to Tombut The Gold of Tioar dispersing it from thence to Taragbel and Morocco Zuenziga THe Desart of Zuenziga Zuenziga beginning Westward on the Borders of Tegaza reaches Eastward to the Wilds of Haya Northerly confin'd with the Desart of Sugulmesse Tebelbelt and Beni-horai on the South with the Wilderness of Ghor lying near the Kingdom of Huber belonging to Negro-Land The Desart of Gogden is compris'd under that of Zuenziga The Inhabitants of the Desart of Zuenziga are call'd Guaneziries and Zuenziga's The Merchants which travel out of these Parts and from Tremecen to the City Tombut and the Kingdom of Isa must cross this Desart and that of Gogden This Zuenzigan Wild is much dryer and worse to be travell'd through than Zanaga very many being often choak'd for want of Water And that of Gogden hath in nine days Journey no Water except what falls from Heaven in sudden showers and onely in one place where Lading their Camels every one supplies his own private store There grow also many Dates in the Desart of Zuenziga on these Borders of Numidia ¶ AMongst the Inhabitants of this Countrey there are also Arabs call'd Hemrum The Inhabitants who take Tribute of Sugulmesse for
stand two large Portugal Houses each having an exceeding great and tall Tree call'd Talbassero before the Door whose interwoven Boughs that afford a pleasant shade make a delightful Arbor whereinto they frequently go and eat and sleep there North-East from thence appears Magar Magar where the King of Cayor many times keeps his Residence Emboul and seven miles farther Eastwards Emboul where the Kings Palace is divided from the City with Pallisado's interweaved with Bands and Palmito-Boughs and on the in-side Planted with many Vines Before the Court lieth a great Plain The Court of Rayer where they use to break and exercise Horses set round with Trees Into this none may enter but such as are appointed because the King 's chiefest Wives therein have their particular Apartments yet about it at the distance of a Musquet-shot many persons dwell in small Huts or Tents making a reasonable Livelihood by petty dealing with the Servants and Attendants of the Court. Ten miles from the Palace they have Embar Embar a Town set apart onely for the Reception and Entertainment of all such as come of the Blood-Royal and may have any hopes to the Succession of the Crown Three or four miles farther Bey-hourte upon the Shore of the River Zenega is a large Hamlet termed Bey-hourte where the King's Customers and Receivers reside for the Collection of all his Revenues of all sorts thither brought to them About three miles from hence Westwards The Fort of the French the French have a Fort which they maintain to support the Trade they drive there but they pay to the King Sixteen in the Hundred for Hides whereas the Portugals pay but Ten and but a little for other Wares In this Tract we arrive at Baool Lambay whose Metropolis is Lambay where the King usually resides about two miles from whence towards the North-West lieth Sangay Sangay where sometimes the King takes his Divertisements Four miles removed Eastward stands Jamesil Jamesil and about five and fifty miles to the In-land the City Borsalo Borsalo But the Royal City of the whole Kingdom of Zenega is Tubakatum Turbakatum the Court and Chamber of the Great Jalof ¶ THese Countreys are usually infested with sultery heats The Air or temper of the Climate so that the depth of their Winter is warmer than May with us yet have they stormy and wet Weather Travaden or Stormy weather or Rains which they call Travaden that is Tempestuous accompanied with much Thunder and Lightning these begin on the Sea-Coast for the most part in June and continue till September though sometimes accidental Storms happen in October and May but without Rain These sudden Gusts arise commonly out of the South-East but the stiffest and strongest out of the East-South-East which too often prove dangerous to the Sea-men The most unhealthy time here is in October for then the Air parches with Heat but when the Winds begin to blow those Breezes temper and cool the Air and so continues till towards May. ¶ SEveral Rivers water this Countrey the Chief of which are those of Zenega and Gambea both after many meandring Courses discharg'd their full Streams into the Atlantick Ocean Ortelius believes that Zenega is the same which Ptolomy nam'd Daras or Darade but Lewis Cadamost maintains it to be the Niger of the Antients and makes it a bordering Limit to Negro-Land But that Opinion seems altogether impossible because like the Nyle Niger overflows and fertilitates the Countreys it passes through whereas Zenega leaves all lying about it very lean and barren Zenega hath as many Names as it runs through Countreys Several Names Marmol l. 8. c. 3. for the Jaloffs call it Dengueh the Turkornols Maso the Caragols name it Colle the people of Bagano Zimbala those of Tombut Iza but the Portugals not knowing its proper Name stil'd it Zenega from the Name of a Prince with whom upon their first coming into these Parts they contracted a League of Amity Johannes Barros derives this Stream from certain Lakes lying in the East The Head-Fountains by Ptolomy nam'd Chelonides the greatest whereof at present is call'd Goaga and the other Nuba The Course of it is very long and straight almost in a right line till about seventeen miles above Cape de Verde disemboguing into the Ocean In Zenega though not so full of Water as Gambea many Islands appear Islands of Zenega the greatest part whereof are full of Serpents and Wilde Beasts Nor is it much profitable otherwise to such as inhabit near being not passable in many places by reason of huge Rocks causing great and unusual Cataracts like those of the Nyle which some of the Inhabitants call Huaba others Burto that is a Bowe because sometime the Water is carried up into the Air by the force of the Wind in the manner of a Bowe Many other great Rivers run into this A strange Vertue of two Rivers especially one coming out of the South and seeming to have Red-Water between these two they say is such a strange Antipathy that whoever drinks the Water of one and presently that of the other findes himself necessitated to vomit yet neither of them produce this effect single nor both together after they have mingled their Streams and run in one Channel Several kinds of Fishes and other Creatures breed herein as the Hippopotamus or Sea-Horse Crocodiles and Serpents with little Horns yet notwithstanding all these inconveniencies the Water hath a Prolifick Quality foecundating Cattel that drink of it ¶ SIx miles Southward flows Borsalo full of great dry Sholes or Sands The River Borsalo on both sides several Villages shew themselves Fountain-Springs supply'd with fresh Water from a clear Spring that rises on the Easterly Shore A Tree four fatsiom thick by a Tree above four Fathom thick For the River Water by the flowing of the Sea is brackish near forty miles ¶ NOt far from Punto Sereno floweth a small River call'd Rio de la Grace being a Border to the Kingdom of Ale before whose Mouth lieth a Shelf many times overflow'd by the Sea from which as soon as dry fresh and sweet Water continually springs Somewhat more Southerly runs Bassangamar full of great Rocks The River Bassangamar The next is Rio des Ostro's or Oyster-River The River of Oysters deep enough for the coming in of Ships Between Borsalo and Gambea the Countrey all along is plain but full of high Trees yet wholly void of Inhabitants About three miles from Jandos Northwards The Lake Eutan is the Lake Eutan six miles long and half a mile broad In time of Rain it abounds both with Water and Fish but in a dry Season so empty that they can go over dryshod The bottom for the most part covered with Simbos or pieces of Horn and Glass which in Angola they use for Money Not far distant from hence is a Well of ten Fathom deep
A Well of sweet Water sending forth so pleasant Water as if it were dulcified with Sugar or Honey from whence all the People fetch their drink the other Wells through the whole Countrey are unwholsom The Inhabitants say A strange vertue in Water and if true 't is worth observation and enquiry that there are streams of Water of which if the Horses or Camels drink they die but all other Beasts drink thereof without prejudice of which the Natives can give no other reason but that they have found it so by experience ¶ THe whole Countrey is plain The Condition of the Soyl. and without doubt fit to bring forth all things in abundance but it lies altogether uncultivated for that Zenega and Gambea by their over-flux in the Winter lay it wholly under Water but in the Summer the heat of the Sun and want of Moysture make therein parch'd Chops wide enough to bury a Horse By these means the products of the Soyl are few which may be attributed rather to the sloth and ignorance of the Inhabitants Vegetables or Plants Sanus than the barrenness of the Earth 'T is true about Cape Verde there grow Beans of an unusual bigness besides Rice Cardamoms or Grains of Paradise and Barley each Grain as big as a Pease The little Harvest they have is in September when it rains there and the Rivers swell over their Banks The most usual Grain is Mille Mille or Mais and Indian Mais which they put into the Earth dry and onely cover it lightly with Sand without any other labor bestowed upon it by which sleight kind of Culture it grows and flourishes exceedingly whereas without that mixture of Sand the Earth first by the overflowing of the Rivers and the Rains made soft and afterwards made over hard again by the violent heat of the Sun is made barren and uncapable of bearing They have no Wine but what is made of Palm in high esteem among them Some few places yield Dates and a sort of Oyl that gives a yellow tincture to all that it is put into or mingled with Close by Porto d' Ale lieth a Wood call'd Tapa The Wood Tapa full of high Trees which give pleasant and delightful shade under which the Portuguese have their abode and shelter themselves from the scorching beams of the Sun Tobacco grows there wild Tobacco without Planting whose green Leaves plucked off the People suck or chew with great delectation And certainly if these People could be brought to labor they might propagate not onely Tobacco but all other Plants in abundance Tamerindes grow here also Tamerindes and Anana's but few Oranges and Lemmons yet there is another Fruit call'd Foles The Fruit call'd Foles in bigness and colour like an Orange but differing in taste being sowre and full of great Seeds There grows also a wild Fruit like Dates but smaller yet very sweet out of which Wine is pressed Sebanken-Wine but inferior to that of the Palm Syby-Trees afford Wine also but of great esteem and Fruit like a Coco-Nut but much smaller Kakatons are a great soft round Fruit Kakatons outwardly of a dark-green colour and tart Juice Naniples resembles a Pear-Plumb yellow without and soft having a Juice Naniples whose pleasant sharpness and cooling quality makes it useful in several hot Distempers if mingled with Water Nompata's grow to the bigness of a Wallnut upon high Trees Nompata sweet in taste and of a greenish colour Tambakumba somewhat bigger Fruit than the former Tambakumba is hot and unpleasant of taste Cotton also is naturally produced more than what the Inhabitants know what to do with and would grow in great abundance Cotton if managed with Art and Industry There grows also in great abundance small Trees about three Foot high Arbre-Tint call'd Arbre-Tint whose Leaves bruised yield a blue Colour wherewith the Natives Dye their Cloathes the manner thus Of the Leaves which in the Morning when the Dew lieth yet upon them they pull off and immediately stamp in a Mortar they make Cakes as big as ones Fist they being dri'd in the Sun divers days are often pulverised very fine and then put into Earthen Pots upon these Pots they set others bigger having a little hole at the bottom fill'd with Ashes of the same Tree mixed with Water which they let drop through the Vent into the lower Pot upon the common Colour this moistened stuff they set ten days in the Sun then scum off the uppermost which is the best and therewith colour the finest and with the undermost the coursest Cloathes The Dregs remaining are thrown away ¶ THe Countrey is exceedingly stock'd with Cattel especially Kine Cattel as appears by the Hides wherein their chiefest Trade consists which are Transported into Europe The Herdsmen are found to drive them from place to place for change of Pasture by reason of the driness of the Ground The King of Baool call'd Luchi Four keeps above six thousand Oxen the like do the Nobility and others according to their ability There are also Camels small Muletto's Asses Horses Goats and Sheep with Hair like Dogs And the Woods feed many Stags Harts and other Deer with crooked Horns like Rams-horns There is a strange Beast in Body like a Hog but Footed like a Badger that creeps in the Earth like a Mole and feeds on Ants or Pismires neither yielding them profit nor doing any damage Here are also Hares Civet-Cats Dogs and Apes The Wilderness that borders upon the Kingdoms of Cayor and Borsalo breed many wild Beasts as Lyons Tygers Leopards Wolves Elephants and Alakarons being Creatures like Crabs with two Claws and a Sting in their Tails like Scorpions for fear of which the Inhabitants when they travel through these desolate ways make great Fires in the night to secure their persons Nor are the wild Beasts all that trouble these Wastes for there are Thieves farther therein altogether as savage and inhumane as those other Beasts of Prey The Fowls there far exceed in number the Beasts such are Popinjay's Parrots Paraqueeto's some small others very large with Ash-coloured Necks and green and yellow Bodies Geese Ducks Herons Partridges with black and white spots and in Fenny places Snipes Wild-Ducks and many other small Fowl common with us in Europe Such as we know not nor have yet seen are the Akkaviak as big as a Turky with a red tuft of Feathers upon their Crown which they can raise like Bristles and spread so that they will hang over their Eyes Hearons white and black and large as Eagles but not regarded because they eat nothing but Mans-dung Pelicans with Necks so great and long as a Mans Arm. Nor is the Land more productive of Beasts Fishes than the Water is of Fish whereof there is great variety especially of Carps Crabs Pikes Herrings and other like Salmon onely differing in the whiteness of their flesh In the
Egyptian Monarchs Pharaoh at first and afterwards Ptolomy The proper Name of the present King is Daur but by the addition of that Royal Title which signifies King call'd Burdomel Daur This Name of Burdomel The King is taken by some for a Place about Cape Verde and accordingly so set down in the Maps of Africa ¶ HEre are no peculiar or Municipal Laws The Law of the Countrey for indeed the Law or light of Nature is the onely Rule they steer by for when a Man dies and leaves behind him Wives Children Cattel Slaves and Iron wherein their chiefest Riches consists the Brothers and Sisters of the Deceased take all without any consideration of the Children whom they leave to the wide World to help themselves as well as they can As to matters of distributive Justice or punishments of Crimes they are in a manner strangers to both the greatest extravagancies being bought off and pardoned by paying of Slaves or some other Mulct to the King ¶ THeir Religion Their Religion if so we may call it is generally Paganism for they greet the New-Moon with horrible roarings and strange gestures of adoration they offer their Sacrifices in the Woods before great hollow Trees wherein they have placed Idols and this they do rather out of custom then zeal using neither form nor method in their Devotions nor any particular Assemblies but every one following the dictates of his own humor makes a God in his own Fancy which is as often varied as their Lusts or Passions raises in them other motions Some of them seem to incline to Mahumetanism and admit among them some Marabouts but so little have they prevailed upon them that they know not what the Sala means nor do the Priests any other Service than write Arabick Characters on small Papers which sew'd in little Leather Purses are worn by the Blacks on their Necks Arms Legs Heads and every part of their Bodies in great numbers firmly believing that thereby in time to come they shall be freed of all troubles and dangers to the great gain of the Marabouts who sell them at no small Prices And although they know there is a God yet have they no understanding to worship him and use Circumcision the fifth or sixth Year and then if they be asked the reason thereof they can give no other account but that it is an antient Custom received among them but farther know not None of the Priests are permitted to Marry but in their own Families nor may teach any to Read or Write without the chief Marabout's Licence They hold the Christian Religion in great abomination affirming that God who giveth all things and can do what he pleaseth and causes Thunder Lightning Rain and Wind is Omnipotent and needs neither praying to nor to be set forth in so mysterious a way as that of the Trinity and thus Heathenism and Idolatry generally possesses the whole Countrey THE KINGDOM OF GAMBEA CASSAN CANTOR AND BORSALO ADjoyning to Zenega on the North is Gambea The Kingdom of Gambea a small Kingdom by the River of the same name On the other side of the River Gambea lies the Jurisdiction of Cassan Great Cantor and Borsalo all heretofore subject to the King of Mandimanza but now have Princes as absolute as himself and acknowledging no Superior The King of Great Cantor keeps his Residence continually on the Southerly Shore of the River Gambea The King of Canter having many inferior Dominions under his Obedience The King of Borsalo commands on the North-side of the same River to Tantakonde The King of Borsalo Both these Princes have several populous Towns belonging to them but Several Towns lying on Gambea as we said all without Walls and scituate on both the Shores of Gambea which like the Nyle overflowing it Banks much enriches and fertilitates the neighbouring Soyl. The Sea-Coast hereabouts shooting from the South is very low and in that regard unless in very clear weather hard to be known but more forward the Land rises high is full of Trees and spreads North-East and South-West At the Mouth of this River stands the Town Barra Barra so named because every Ship that comes thither must give a Bar of Iron which they call Barra to the King of Borsalo Above the South-Point stands a Town call'd Nabare Nabare within a Wood. Three miles higher on the same Point lieth a Town call'd Bintam inhabited by the Portugals Bintam On the South-side of the River twenty miles from the Mouth Tankerval Tendeba appears Tankerval and not far thence a Town call'd Tendeba twelve miles from which last may be seen Jayre Jayre in a narrow Creek Half a mile beyond the Creek on the South-side lieth the River and Town call'd Jambay Jambay Mansibaer Barraconda with another named Mansibaer on the North. In the last place you come to Barraconda above which the Sea floweth not so that whoever will go higher must Row against the Stream After a tedious and toilsom Journey of ten days you arrive at Tinda Tinda above which stands Joliet Joliet Munkbaer and six days Journey from that a City call'd Munkbaer to which without great hazards there is no coming from whence in nine days you come to the City Jayr and so to Silico an In-land Town yet a place of great Trade Five and fifty miles within the Land stands Borsalo and eighty five miles Little Cassan Small Cassan Groat Cassan three miles above which the vast and great City Cassan shews it self whose side is washed by the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea and where the King keeps his Court. ¶ AMong other Rivers that water these Countreys The River Gambea one of the principal is Gambea or Gambia so call'd by the Portuguese after the example of the Blacks who call all the Tracts of Land reaching from the Mouth of it to the Gold-Coast Gambu It s Mouth is about three miles broad hath five fathom Water and lies in thirteen Degrees and nineteen Minutes North Latitude between the Zenega and Rio Grande It draws the original from the great River Niger It s Original at the place where it makes a great Lake and divides in four branches which are afterwards named Zenega Gambea Sante Domingo and the Great River all which after several long courses having visited and refreshed these hot Countreys with their pleasant Streams at last near Cape Verde pour forth their Waters into the Great Ocean but especially Gambea with so strong a Current and such abundance of Water that sixteen miles in the Sea as they say that Water may be taken up They may row up in this River against the Stream near a hundred miles but then are stopped with a strong Water-fall which with an impetuous noise pours down over the Rocks and by that means becomes unpassable The Channel is for the most part very broad especially from the Gold-Coast of Cantor or Reskate to its Mouth
Natives ¶ THe King of Kassamanse pays Tribute to another call'd Jaxem Their Dominion who himself hath for Superior as all the rest of the petty Princes thereabouts the King of Mandinga ¶ THe Trade formerly accustomed to be driven in Kassamanse Their Trade the Portuguese have for conveniency removed to Katcheo often before mentioned ¶ THe Kassamansines are down-right Pagans Their Religion devoted to one Idol among others named China signifying God in whose honour on the Twenty ninth of September at midnight they solemnize a high Festival at which time some of their Priests or Soothsayers which they call Arakam as indeed they are all no better than Magicians and Witches wears a blue Scarf wherein they depict a bundle of Rice Branches intermixed with Bones in remembrance perhaps of such as have out of the height of their blind zeal sacrificed themselves to this Idol under whose form the Devil beguiles them in several manners This Priest begins a circular Procession which finished they place it in a hollow Tree offering before it many Burnt-sacrifices and other Oblations of Honey and the like At length ending their Devotions in stead of Prayers with several extravagant and inarticulate Ejaculations they betake themselves to their particular Abodes ¶ THe Portugals here as in Zenega come with Ships laden with all sorts of Ethiopian Wares Their Trade which they barter with their Countreymen resident here to great profit for Negro Slaves which they transport to Carthagena in the West-Indies and there sell dearer by ten Rials a piece than any either of Benin or Angola and not without cause for these are cleaner limb'd better shap'd and featur'd of a notable capacity and understanding but withall stubborn and suspicious but time and experience must discover those qualities while in the interim their outward Semblance advances the Market nor are the numbers of them small as will easily appear if we consider that the best Commodities brought hither are for the most part exchang'd for such being either purchas'd by War or else under the pretext of some imperious and arbitrary Laws by the Kings and Great Men of the Countrey first enslav'd and then sold The like Trade is driven at St. Jago one of the Salt Islands Cape Verde Refrisko Porto de Ale and Ivala The Wares chiefly desir'd and bought up almost at any rate by the Blacks are Spanish and Brandy-Wines Oyl Fruits Iron Stuffs for Clothes fine Linnen Edgings Bracelets Damask Laces Nails Yarn Silk and other small Wares but among all these Iron is the chief The People BURAMOS THe Buramos or Papais live about the River Santa Domingo and from thence spread to the Mouth of Rio Grande far up into the South Their chiefest Town in the proper Idiom of the Countrey call'd Jarim lies five miles and a half from the Haven of Saint Domingo Jarim where the Potentest King of this People resides and keeps his Court. Katcheo scituate upon the River so named Katcheo wherein live several Portuguese Families and some Mulata's who have many Slaves they dwelt heretofore intermixed with the Blacks but of late have betaken themselves to Forts which they have erected and planted with Guns to secure themselves against Invasion ¶ THe Houses of the Natives are built of Clay Their Houses with Roofs made of the Leaves of Trees In the above-mention'd River lie some small Islands possessed still by the Buramos very pleasant fruitful and full of Trees ¶ BOth Men and Women file their Teeth to make them sharp The Nature of the Inhabitants as if Nature had not given them edges fit for their ordained work The Women Jarrik lib. c. 44. because they would not accompany themselves to much talking or scolding take every morning betimes a little Water in their mouthes which they keep there till all their Houshold-work is done but then putting it out give their Tongues free liberty They have many Governours but all subject to him of Jarim onely the Islanders have a particular Prince But as to matters of Religion they all continue in their old Paganism The Bisegos or Bigiohos Islands BEyond the Buramos to the South Bisego's Islands opposite to the Kingdom of Guinala and Bisegui lie seventeen other Islands call'd De Bigiohos or Bisegos The chiefest and greatest of these is the Fair Island by the Portugals named Isla-Formosa Isla formosa or The fair Island by the Spaniards Isla de Po according to the Discoverer's Name Ferdinando de Po in eleven Degrees and three and forty Minutes North Latitude four miles and a half due-South of Cabo Roxo These Islands are very fertile The Fruitfulness of the Islands and full of Palm-Trees which yield Wine Oyl and many other things for the most part plain and so fit for the producing all sorts of Grain that it affords a sufficiency of Food to the Inhabitants without being manured Here is also great store of Rice Iron Wax Ivory and long Pepper which the Portugals call Pimienta de Cola a Commodity much desired by and vented to the Turks And many times upon the Sea-Shore are found great quantities of Ambergreece The Land is well stock'd with good Cattel Beasts and the Sea and Rivers plentifully stor'd with excellent Fish whereof great profit accrews to the Inhabitants who as they cannot speak so neither are they willing to learn any Language but their Mother-Tongue being of a large stature and inclinable to fatness Their Arms are the same with those of Besu and Katcheo Arms. but not so well wrought nor so handsome which they are well skill'd in the use of being withall of great courage and very hardy Heretofore they so pressed upon the Portuguese The Valour of the Inhabitants and harrassed the Rivers where they had seated themselves with their light Boats that in the Year One thousand six hundred and seven they forc'd them to send for Aid into Spain which arriving they were brought to reason and ever since have held a friendly Correspondence The King of Biguba they reduc'd into so great straits that he was forc'd to flye in the Wilderness with all his Subjects The King of Guinala they have dispossessed of six Kingdoms and maintain continual Wars against their Neighbors on the Main Land from whom they take many Slaves which they sell to the Portugals Each of these Islands hath a particular Lord which are all under the Jurisdiction of the King of The fair Island or Isla do Po. THE KINGDOM OF GUINALA THis Kingdom inhabited by the Beafers The Borders of the Kingdom of Guinala hath its Name from the River Guinala and borders on the South on the beforemention'd Islands on the East on the Naluze◠a warlike people but not such troublesome Neighbors to the King of Guinala as the Islanders who as we said have dispossessed him of six Kingdoms The chiefest place of this Countrey is the Haven of Guinala The Haven of Guinala and the next the
Serre-Lions This River taking its course Northward of the Point of Serre-Lions is at the Mouth twelve miles broad but on the North-side half way choaked up with divers Shelves of Sand which divide it into three Channels one runs along the North-side the other in the midst but the great Channel Coasts by the South which is the deepest of all The Portugals pass onely in the two small Channels with Boats for in the third or great Channel they dare not venture Also between the Island Tasso lying in this River and the South there be many small Currents passable with little Vessels but not with great Ships Another call'd Bangue glides on the South-side of Serre-Lions into the Sea as Mitombo on the North-side so that the Mountain by these two Rivers lieth inclosed in manner of a hanging Island and maketh the prominent Point call'd The Cape of Serre-Lions as we have often said Cabo de Serre-Lions but so narrow that the Blacks take their Canoos upon their Shoulders and carry them over On both Shores of this River lie several Towns and Countreys those to the North-side are call'd Bolm which signifies Low but they on the South are in their Language named Timna On the outermost Point to the Mouth stands the Town Serboracasa and on another Point lying on a yellow sandy Bay a mile and a half distant they have the first place where the Ships which frequent this Coast take in fresh Waters The Countrey about Serboracasa is call'd Serbore Serbora extending from the Sea to the Town Bagos A mile Eastward of Serbore beginneth another Dominion Observe the Miles on these Coasts are all Spanish or Potugal either formerâ—â— mention'd or hereafter following govern'd by one Semaura an ill natur'd man and for every small trifle picks a quarrel with the King of Serbora Eight or ten Paces within the Shore is the second Watering-place The second Watering-place where the Water drills easily down the side of a little rising Ground About two miles farther lies a flat Shore full of Trees and between them a small open place through which a Brook descends from above which at low Water runs away over the Beach A Musquet-shot distance thence into the Land stands a Town where Don Andreas Brother of the King of Bolm-berre resides here the River hath a strong Current which two miles and a half upwards splits it self into three Branches one to the North-East having red Sand hath Water enough to bear great Ships but the middlemost by reason of the shallowness Shelfs of Sand and Cliffs may onely be passed with Skiffs and small Boats Three miles from the first Watering-place appears Bagos Bagos a Town seated under the shadow of a little Wood and a mile and half Eastward upon a prominent Point you see Tomby a pleasant Seat Tomby where the English usually lie with their Ships at Anchor After that the Island Tasso is seen a far off seeming to be firm Land Thirty two miles up the River lieth the Kingdom of Mitombo The Kingdom of Mitombo on whose South-side the Village Os Alagoas is scituate Os Alagoas whither the Blacks will let no White People besides the Portugals come all others they anticipate with Skiffs and Floats The Islands De los Idolos Bravas c. ALong the Coast of Serre-Lions lie several Islands particularly twelve miles and a half Southward of the Cape de Virgen those of Tamara and Veu Usvitay commonly call'd Los Idolos which West and by South from the Point appear as joyn'd to the Continent but afterwards shew themselves as they are in truth Islands which afford all sorts of fresh Provisions to the Seamen and good Tobacco The people are self-will'd and mistrustful and will not suffer any Dutchmen to come into their Towns The most advantageous Commodities vented there are Salt and Brandy to for which they have in Exchange Elephants-Teeth and Gold To the South end of Serre-Lions near the Islands Banannes appears to Ships sailing by a very high Mountain raising his Head into the Clouds call'd Machamala whereof we shall have occasion to speak more largely in a short space Near the South-end of Serre-Lions half a mile in the Sea lie the Islands Bravas being a high Land full of Trees the biggest having a Spring of fresh Water Five miles from hence lie on the South-East against the Point three other little Islets call'd Sombreras Between the Sombreras and Bravas is the place where Jacob le Maire in the Year Sixteen hundred and fifteen found four Rivers among which the Westermost having large Banks had depth and breadth enough for great Ships The next running in between the Trees they might stand on either side of the shore and not be able to see Land on the other thereabouts it was wild and waste without any signs of inhabiting but they saw many wild Beasts as Elephants Buffles Boars Civet-Cats and such like The third had a Bank that hinder'd the coming in of Ships Three or four miles upward lay a low Land full of Lemon-Trees whose Fruits notwithstanding it was in the time of the Rain hung most of them ripe upon the Trees The fourth was a small River within the Point of the Island Sombreras whose Water is deep and Salt where the Sea-men coming on Shore found Crocodiles Turtles and Oisters on the Trees The afore-mention'd Bay here and there hath Shole-water Furna de Sante Anna. about five six seven or eight Fathom and muddy Ground which runs between the Sombreras-Islands Easterly and Furna de Sante Anna whence come many Rivers amongst which the chiefest is Gambea Twelve miles upward of Gambea being as far as it is Navigable with small Vessels lies a Place call'd Kancho in the height of seven Degrees being very low Land whereto adjoyn some Islands ¶ THis Countrey of Serre-Lions according to the Description of Jarrick many take for the healthfullest place of all Guinee and the Air much wholsomer than that of Portugal so that seldom any die by other infirmity than that of Old Age. The same Air as Jarrick adds is much better for a mans health than in many places of Europe being neither too cold nor too hot by reason of the cool Winds which blow there continually which is worth observation considering the nearness of its scituation to the Equinoctial And truly under the favor of that Author we may question his Assertion seeing in the Summer viz. in June and July it is there dark and close rainy Weather with South and South-West Winds as also because the Rain-water in all the neighboring parts of Serre-Lions and along the Sea-Coast is of so unwholsom a quality that where-ever it falls on the bare Body it causes Swellings and Blotches on the Skin and breeds a sort of strange Worms in the Cloathes besides the River-water in April is very offensive and dangerous to drink by reason the Ground through the Summer excessive heats and the stench of
than from the Cape of Serre-Lions to the Cape of Lopez Gonsalvez lying about one Degree and a half South Latitude But some yet restrain it more shutting it up between which they include the before-mentioned Cape of Serre-Lions and the River of Benin GVINEA Some Geographers have attributed to Guine the Title of a peculiar Kingdom making it begin at the Gram-Coast and the River of Benin but this cannot be considering the great numbers of several Kingdoms lying between them Again others oppose that making all along upon the Sea-Coast in every eight miles a particular Territory and People to each of whom they set a peculiar King but he forsooth is no better than a Provincial The greatest part of Guine which indeed lies all upon the Sea-Coast Guine is divided into several Coasts has several Names given to it according to the various Commodities they most abound with Some divide it into six or seven Parts others into five but the best and most known Partition is into the Guinee-Coast Ivory-Coast Quaqua-Coast and Gold-Coast The Grain-Coast so call'd from Manigetta or Grain of Paradise Grain-Coast abundantly there to be had taketh beginning from Cabo de Baixos and runs two miles beyond the Palmito Gardine or Cabo de Palmas although some would have it to commence at Serre-Lions Ivory-Coast by others call'd Bad People that is Villanous Vooth-Coast beginneth near the Town Gruwa two miles Eastward of Palmito and ends at Cape de Lahoe containing a Space of fifty miles From whence to Cabo des tres Puntas or Cape Triangle they reckon Quaqua-Coast so call'd from the Cotton Cloathes which are there Traded for Quaqua-Coast but the vulgar acceptation of Quaqua takes original from the Call wherewith the Inhabitants when they come near with their Skiffs to the Merchants Ships as a token and sign of salutation and welcom cry always Quaqua For the Gold-Coast we need not seek for the reason of the Name Gold-Coast because it speaks it self 't is a large spot of Ground extending in length fifty miles from Cape Triangle to Acre though some would stretch it to Rio Volla and others yet farther even to Rio Jagos and Rio de Benni Whence this Name Guine had the first original all Geographers differ The original of the Name Guine but the greatest probability seems to bring it from the Portuguese who being the first Discoverers and finding it to lie even with the before-described Kingdom of Guine or Geneva near the River Niger gave it the same Denomination with its Neighbor In the Description of this Countrey we shall onely set down some of the chiefest and which for the variety of Plants Beasts and Customs of the Inhabitants bear some remarkable difference from others and particularly begin with that of Bolm The TERRITORY of BOLM CILM and QUILLIGA THis Countrey whose Inhabitants are call'd in their Mother-Tongue The Countrey of Bolm Bolm-Monou lies by the Sea-Coast near the River Selbore taking Name from the Prince being very low and watery from whence denominated Bolm Fourteen or fifteen miles up the River on the Left-hand appears the Village Baga Baga where the Prince resides and keeps his Court Ten or eleven miles to the South-East you come to the Province of Cilm The Countrey of Cilm whose Inhabitants are named Cilm Monou Here are seated on the Banks of the River divers good Towns with the City Quanamora containing about five thousand Families The River Selbore or Rio des Palmas the chief of this Region lying in eight Degrees North Latitude towards the Mouth divides into two Branches one running to the Westward the Inhabitants name Torro the other passing to the South the Portugals call Rio de Sante Anna. Torro twice or thrice a year hath little Water and by reason of several Islands can onely be passed with Ketches of eighteen or twenty Last and other small Passage-Boats This River with its Branches produces many amphibious Creatures In the Mouth of it lieth a great Island so made by the two fore-named Arms which from their embraces thereof on each side suddenly fall into the Sea The Island with its Point call'd Sante Anne appearing very pleasant by reason of its shady Groves the Portugals in their Sea-Cards call'd Ferula or Farillons but 't is better known to People by the Title Massokoy according to the Name of the Prince whom the King of Cabo Monte or Quoia hath made his Vice-Roy Before this Island lieth a great Shelf denominated Baxos de Sante Anne and round about it several dangerous Rocks ¶ THe Inhabitants are Blacks of the Town Quanamora The kind of Inhabitants a wicked and faithless people under pretence of Trade coming under the Ships will endeavor to sink them The Land hath Nature for a kind Mother The fruitfulness of the Countrey bearing without or at least with very little Tillage abundance of excellent Rice and other Grain besides Hens Banames Injames Potatoes Bakovers Ananasses and such like by reason of which Fertility many people flock thither to inhabit especially near the River The English have by this River in the Village Bago Their Trade many Tents wherein at certain Seasons they reside for their conveniency of dealing for Red-Wood whereof they purchase and acquire very great parcels and for that very purpose have planted several Families in the circumjacent Villages The Inhabitants of Farrillons and Massakoye Their Customs are affable and courteous behaving themselves in a very orderly manner beyond the ordinary Barbarism of the Blacks and wear a Cotton Coat down to the knees by whose example their Neighbors do the like By St. Annes Rocks Pearl-catching Pearles and Scollop-shells are taken but the Sea is so over-run with devouring Fishes that few dare adventure the catching of them Their Religion Their Religion if any is down-right Paganisme yet use they Circumcision like the Jews and Turks of which their Ignorance is not able to give any reason Having thus travell'd through Bolm and Cilm you go to Quilliga lying by Rio de Galinas The Countrey Quilliga or Hen-River thirty or two and thirty miles upward of which appears Carradobo The River of Hens whose Inhabitants are call'd Carradabo Monou as those of the former Quilliga Monou All this spreads East and by South lying very low but full of Trees having the benefits of several Rivers that water their Plains The first lying twelve miles from Rio das Palmas the Inhabitants call Maqualbary and the Portugals Galinas by reason of the great number of Hens thereabouts bred and takes its Original out of the Region of Hondo The people living on the Shore of this River speak a particular Language that seems harsh and unpleasant but when they go to Quoya Their Language or Cabo Monte to traffick they express their meanings significantly in another Tongue that runs smooth and easie either to be learnt or understood All these Countreys have particular
lying in a Lake of the River Plyzoge whither the Dogo-Monou with Fleets following to Attaque him were in a manner totally subdu'd by Flansire's people The Coast from Cape de Mesurado to the Grain-Coast ABout twelve miles Eastward from Cape de Monte lieth Cape de Mesurado Cape de Mesuâ—ado a high Mountain at the North Point A mile and a half The River St. Paul or two mile Eastward of which the shallow River of St. Paul falls into the Sea passable onely with Boats and Sloops The Land about Cape de Monte and this River containing about ten miles and a half is low over-grown with Bushes and Brambles but the Cape a high Mountain and runs with the South Point steep down in the Sea and seems to Sea-men coming from the South an Island because the low Grounds on the other side cannot be seen The Countrey about the Cape de Mesurado is call'd Gebbe Gebbe and the People Gebbe-Monou subjected and conquered as in the manner newly related Nine or ten miles from Cape Mesurado lieth Rio Junk Rio Junk also in Portuguese call'd Rio del Punte having a violent Stream yet at the deepest not above eight Foot Water by which impediment made passable not without great labour and difficulty The Land hereabout over-grown with Bushes and Brambles yet standing higher may be farther seen to the Sea On the South-end of Rio Junk some little Groves appear upon a rising Ground beyond which to the In-land three swelling Hills raise heads to a heighth discernable far off at Sea Eight miles from Rio Junk St. Johns River empties its Streams into the Sea The River St. John being shaded with lofty Trees The Coast reacheth betwixt both South-East Easterly Eastward of this River within the Countrey a high Mountain shews it self in the shape of a Bowe being high in the middle and low at both ends Six miles from it lieth a Village call'd Tabe Kanee and a little forward to the Sea a Cliff where the Land begins to grow low and so continues to Rio Sestos In the mid-way between Tabe Kanee and Sestos stands a small Village call'd Petit Dispo with an adjoining Cliff like the former Three miles from Del Punte you meet with the Brook Petit or Little-water by the Blacks call'd Tabo Dagron perhaps from the Name of the King who has the Command there The Grain-Coast THe Grain-Coast so call'd by the Europeans The Grain-Coast from the abundance of Fruits and Grain there growing the chief of which named by Physicians and Apothecaries Grain of Paradise takes its beginning at the River Sestos and reaches two miles beyond Cape de Palm being a Tract of forty miles though some make it begin at Cape de Monte or Serre-Lions and end as before Divers Geographers make this whole Coast one Kingdom The Kingdom of Melli. and name it Mellegette or Melli from the abundance of Grain of Paradise there growing which the Natives call Mellegette And they not onely give it the Grain-Coast but further include within it the Jurisdiction of Bitonen But Leo Africanus circumscribes it with other Limits Other Borders of the Kingdom of Melli. for in the North he bounds it with Geneva or Genni below Gualata on the South with certain Wildernesses and Mountains in the East Gago and in the West divers great Woods adding further that the chiefest City named Melli lying thirty days Journey from Tombute contains above six thousand Houses and gives Name to the whole But we will not farther dispute this matter but proceed to set before you the Places and Rivers lying upon and within this Coast Six miles from Petit Brook The River Sestos and nine from Rio Junk the River Sestos glides with a smooth strong Current between high Cliffs on either side Westward of which the Countrey appears woody Here the Grain-Coast takes its beginning Three miles up this Water stands the King's Village where commonly the Ships lie at an Anchor to Trade A mile and a half Eastward you come to Little Sestos Little Sestos a Village neighbor'd by a Cliff extending into the Sea and having one Tree upon it as a Land-Mark Five miles forward lieth Cabo Baixos Cabo Baixos that is Dry Head by reason of the Shelf lying before it in the Sea It is a round Hill a mile and a half from the Main Land Eastward of Cabo Baixos you may see a white Rock appearing far off coming by Sea out of the South like a Ship with a Sail. And farther into the Sea many others which threaten great danger to the ignorant Sea-man and the rather because most of them are cover'd with Water Three miles from hence the Village Zanwyn shews it self Zanwyn with a River of the same Name on whose Banks stands a great Wood where are many tall and lofty Trees A mile Easterly lies the Hamlet Bofow and half a mile thence Little Setter distant from which three miles you may view the Village Bottowa seated on the rising of a high Land near the Sea-Coast opposite to Cape Swine and to the Southward a Village of the same Name by a small Rivers side Four miles more Eastward you discover the little Town Sabrebon or Souwerobo then to a place named Krow which directs you presently to a prominent Cape with three black Points From Bottowa the Coast reaches South-East and by East for five miles with low and uniform Land little known to Sea-men onely before Setter and Krow some high and bare Trees raise themselves into the Air like Masts of Ships laid up Passing four or five miles from Krow you come to a Village call'd Wappen Wappen or Wabbo in a Valley with a Stream of fresh Water adjoining and five or six streight Trees on the East-side Before Wappen lieth an Island and by it the greatest Cliff in all this Coast besides many smaller and farther on the right hand another Cliff united on the East with the Land at whose Edge lieth a Pond whereinto the fresh Water falls out of the Woods Hither the Sea-men bring their Casks commonly into the Village which the Blacks fill with Water receiving for their pains Cotton-Seed or Beads The like Pond is by Krow behind the Cliffs whither also the Sea-men commonly go with their Boats to fetch fresh Water which the Blacks bring them in Pots out of the Woods and receive the like reward From Wappen you come next to Drowya thence to Great Setter Great Setter by the French call'd Parys adjoyning to which rises a large Pool of fresh water This Tract runs South-East and by South About three miles from Great Setter you may discover the Township of Gojaven and two miles more forward Garway Goaven Garway Greyway close by Cape de Palm and two miles to the East another Village call'd Greyway or Grouway Here a small River passes but full of Rocks and Sandy Banks yet passable enough with Boats along the Southern Shore
Eastward of Albine The Principality of Anten ANten lying about seven miles from Cape de Tres Puntas The Kingdom of Anten and ten from Atsin hath neighboring on the West Little-Inkassan towards the North-West Igwira on the North North-West Mompa in the North Adom in the North-East Tabu and in the East Guaffo the whole River full of Villages inhabited by Fishermen as amongst others Botrow Pogera Pando Takorari or Anten Maque Jaque Sakonde Sama whereof Takorari is the chief behind which lies a remarkable Promontory with a convenient Road or Haven for Ships At Botrow the Netherlands have a considerable Fort. The King of Anten keeps his Court about three or four miles up in the Countrey commanding all the Countrey as well the In-land Villages as those that lie at the Sea A mile Eastward of Anten Rio St. George falls into the Sea close by whose Banks the Village Jabbe is seated Near Tekorari the Hollanders some years since built a Fort from the neighboring Village call'd The Fort of Tekorari The Fort of Witsen or Tekorari but to themselves known by the Name of Witsen originally belonging to the Dutch West-India Company but before the great War between the Crown of England and the States of Holland by them remitted to the States-General In the Year Sixteen hundred sixty and four in the Moneth of April Sublued by Captain Holmes this Fort was attacqu'd by Captain Holms and one Joseph Cubits in behalf of the Royal African English Company with two of the Kings Men of War six Frigats and some other Ships and by them with no great difficulty won but regained again the next Year on the fifteenth of January Recover'd by De Ruyter by Admiral De Ruyter being at that time onely mann'd by four or five in health and about as many more sick English-men and leaving in it seven Iron-Guns six or eight Pounders Immediately upon the retaking the Guns being drawn off to the Ship De Ruyter caus'd it as not to be maintain'd without many people and great Charges with Twelve hundred pound of Powder to be blown up into the Air and totally dismantl'd The Negro's of the Myne in the mean time Plunder'd Takorari The Negets of the Myne are sent to assist De Ruyter and laid it waste by Fire and Sword out of malice which they had against the Blacks of Takorari there came down thither about nine hundred in three hundred Canoos who having as it were by surprize won the Victory exercis'd great cruelty upon such Prisoners as they took cutting off their heads with which they went Dancing and Leaping up and down and at last carri'd them home in token of Victory These Negro's of the Myne were well Arm'd according to their Countrey fashion some of them having Caps made like Helmets adorn'd with Feathers and Horns of Beasts and Swords hanging before upon their Belly whereon instead of Handles they put Bones of Tygers Lions and other Beasts Their Faces generally Painted with Red and Yellow so also on their Bodies which made a very strange and terrible sight Three miles lower stands a large Town call'd Sama containing about two hundred Houses under the Government of one Braffo nevertheless both he and his men own as their Superior Lord the King of Gavi whom they serve in his Wars in time of need and pay him Tribute The Portugeuese had in this Village a Stone Bulwark with a Store-house but now decay'd and deserted by them but by reason of the great conveniency of the River for fresh water and the adjacent Grounds for Fire-wood the Netherlanders have Rebuilt and possess it and have rais'd the middle foursquare Battery fourteen Foot high and a Store-house whither those of Adom and Wassen come to Traffick with them Close under the Town runs a handsome River whose Water is fresh and pleasant Two three or four miles upwards but higher up is full of Cliffs and Rocks so that it is not passable although for a while it was conceited otherwise till experience manifested the contrary for several of the Traders there hoping to have got some advantage by it in their Gold-trade sent six persons in a Ketch with three weeks Provision to search who turn'd back the thirteenth day relating that they had Row'd up eleven or twelve days but were not able to get any further because of the forcible fall of the Water six or seven Foot higher and that above they discover'd so many Cliffs and Rocks that it was impossible to get through them Anten is a plentiful Countrey producing great store of Fowl The Condition of the Countrey and Poultry of several sorts besides great variety of Fruits and Vegetables especially Injame's Ananasse's and Palmitor's from which so much Palm-wine is extracted that the Blacks come ten or twenty miles to fetch it thence in Canoo's and carry it up the whole Gold-Coast The people along the Shore maintain themselves by Fishing Their Maintenance and in the Countrey by Handy-labor and Husbandry They have always held themselves in an indifferent neutrality towards all people Trade and formerly were sought to sometimes by the English sometimes by the Dutch to Trade with them but they finding the Gold they had was brought to them from Igwira and Mempa in small quantities signifying little neither of them prosecuted it any further The best Conveniences to be had among them are Water Wood and Ballast for Ships The Government is mixt being constituted of a Braffo or Captain and Cabosero's or Chiefs of the People The Jurisdiction of GUAFFO or GREAT-COMMENDO GUaffo or Great-Commendo The Kingdom of Guaffo or Commany borders in the West on Anten and Tabeu having a small River for a Boundary between both in the North-West on Adom in the North on Abramboe in the East on Fetu and in the South on the Sea Formerly Commendo Fetu and Sabou were united under one Prince and the Inhabitants then as now by strangers call'd Adossenie's as those of Fantijn Fantenie's but at present divided into three several Kingdoms On the Shore lie several Towns as Aitako or Agitaki otherwise Little-Commendo but by the Portugal's call'd Aldea de Torres being the head Town on the Shore scituate on the Borders of Fetu two miles and an half Eastward of Sama then Ampea or Apene Cotabry Aborby Terra Pekine and half a mile Eastward another Commendo Within the Countrey stands a great City upon a Mountain by the Inhabitants stil'd Guaffo and by the Europeans Great-Commendo for a distinction from Little-Commendo before-mention'd lying near the Sea Most of those Towns have suffered terrible devastations by those of the Myne who use on a sudden to invade them by Water burning and spoiling all before them being not able to cope with the Guaffin's at Land but they of Abramboe once made War against this Countrey by Land got the Victory and kill'd their King All sorts of Fruit and Provision are daily brought to Market in
Things that to lighter Judgments may seem fabulous yet credited by Antiquity and as we may suppose not without reason Pliny for they making Pluto the God of Riches 't is no marvel if he defend his Possession thus violently and without his leave invaded and ransacked But whether those related Fancies of the Blacks be true or not signifies little however this we may be infallibly assur'd of that this Gold is gotten with great labor and trouble for if any can find two or three * An English is one Peny-weight in Gold that is four Shillings in Money Englishes in Gold in a whole Day he hath labor'd very hard and hath gotten a good days Wages for his pains The Air to all but its Natives proves very unwholsom The Air unhealthy in the Gold-Coast to Strangers as experience teacheth for all Strangers which lie on Shore whether in Forts or Store-houses are afflicted with grievous and mortal Sicknesses whereas on the contrary the Indigenae look fresh live healthy and attain to a great Age. Some of the most Ingenious Blacks attribute the cause thereof to the multiplicity of Lightning and Thunder whose frequency diffuseth the Infection as the two sorts of Winds from Sea and Land dissipate unhealthy Fogs and Vapors Foreigners which come to Guinee Worms especially this Gold-Coast are very much tormented with Worms breeding in their Bodies so also are the Blacks about Myna whereas those that live four and twenty miles lower Easterly are always free from that trouble These Worms call'd Ikkon do not affect every one equally that hath been there but some sooner others later some get them while they are yet upon the Coast others in their Voyages a third after the ending of their Voyage nay four five six yea twelve Moneths after their coming home and others have been two or three times there and never had any touch of them From whence they have their original and breed Their Original hath been much disputed some lay the cause upon their excessive use of Venus some upon their eating of Fish which have Worms in their Bodies or upon much Swimming and running into the cold Water others that they proceed from the over-much Drinking of Palmito-Wine eating of Kankaiens that is their Bread made of Mille but all these seem meer Fancies without a shew of reason for divers in all those particulars most temperate have nevertheless this Distemper whereas on the contrary others the most loose and debauched have never had any of them But those speak with most probability who say that these Vermine proceed either from a peculiar Malignity in the Air or from drinking of the Water which the Negro's draw out of Wells in some places and sell to the Whites for most true it is that several have drank much Water and yet not been afflicted with Worms but then they resided at Akara and other adjacent places but those which lie before Moure and drink of that Water shall be tormented with that Elminthick Evil. These Worms breed in several manners By what accident they come in some they bring Fevers or shaking Agues in others fainting Fits with great pain in some they cause Frensie some can neither go nor stand or lie or sit while others scarce feel a Distemper They shew themselves with a little Pimple or red Spot hard in the Flesh wherein sometimes may be seen the Worms between that and the Skin at last they cause Ulcers upon the Ball of the Foot on the Arms Knees Thighes or Hips and indeed in all fleshy places continuing with some near three Moneths whereas others have scarce any pain three Weeks yet perhaps have ten Worms hanging out of the Flesh and Skin at once The Worms are of several lengths and bigness Their Form some a Yard others a Yard and a half long and some shorter but generally as thick or big as the Bass-String of a Theorboe The Cure cannot be perfected till the Worm breaks through the Skin The Curing and thrusts out his Head then they tie it that it may not creep in again and at length draw it quite out which they do by winding the end hanging out about a Spoon if in the extracting it happens to break there commonly ensueth a renewing of the Wound The Blacks never use any means but onely wash the affected part with salt Water But the best Cure is to cleanse the Body of putrifi'd humors and to anoint the place with fresh Butter In the performing which Cure the Place where the Worm appears must be defended against Cold to prevent swelling and exulceration The Negro's The Venerial Pox. among other Sicknesses are very subject to the Venerial Pox which they cure by drinking Sarsaparilla Wounds by them call'd Mapira growing from Blows they cleanse little without using any Medicine because they have none nor any Chirurgions to apply them Swellings which will not ripen or come to Suppuration Swellings they cut with three or four long slashes then let it heal of it self whence it comes that they have so many Cuts and Scars in their Bodies They use no artificial Pbloebotomy How they let Bloud but onely cut the Flesh till the Blood comes out All the help they give the Sick is to Shave them if Parents or Children otherwise they will not offer them one drop of Water or Oyl but let them perish with hunger and perplexity The Sick are call'd Myarri and mortal Diseases Jarbakkasi and a dead Body Ou. The Men are of a middle Stature free and airy of disposition well made The Constitution of the Inhabitants strong Limm'd and swift of Foot with round Faces midling Lips but flat or Camosi'd Noses with them a beauty little Ears white Eyes with great Eye-brows and great Teeth that shine and are as white as Ivory caused by rubbing them with hard Wood wherewith they keep them always very neat and clean Their Visages seem to shine with Sweat or else foul'd with Dirt Scurf and Nastiness continuing Beardless till thirty years old their Shoulders broad Arms brawny with great Hands and long Fingers whereupon they let their Nails grow like Claws sometimes to the length of a Joynt and as a great ornament is especially used among the Nobility Lastly they have little Bellies broad Feet long Toes and furnish'd as most of the Blacks upon the Guinee Coast with large Propagators They have quick and ready Wits to help in any sudden emergency Their Kind and shew themselves withall very considerate whereunto they adde great craft and subtlety Covetousness they learn from their Cradles which makes them always craving and with such petulancy as not to receive a denial Courteous enough in outward appearance to Strangers but envious and given to revenge amongst one another and where they can play the Masters fear not to manifest their Ambition Treachery domineering and supercilious Tyranny The People neighboring the Shore both Men and Women Expert in Swimming
have great skill in Swimming but the Men within Land use it so little that they seem afraid at the sight of any great River They can keep long under Water and Dive exceeding deep wherefore the Portugals bring of the expertest from hence to the West-Indies to use them in the Pearl-fishing in the Island Margaretta Children not exceeding two years of Age betake themselves instantly to the Water and learn to Swim because unskilfulness therein is counted a great shame The Women are slender-Body'd and cheerful of disposition but have such great Breasts that they can fling them over their Shoulders and give their Children Suck that hang at their backs They have great inclinations to Dancing The Women are inclin'd to Dancing so that when they hear a Drum or other Instrument they cannot stand quiet but must shew their Skill They meet usually in the Evenings to Revel while some Dance others Play upon Instruments as Copper Panns struck with Buttons or Drums made of a hollow Tree and cover'd over with a Goats Skin or such like barbarous Musick They Dance commonly two and two together The use of Castinetto's came from Africa Leaping and Stamping with their Feet Snapping with their Fingers and Bowing their Heads one to another some have Horses Tails in their Hands which they cast one while upon one Shoulder and one while upon the other others with Wisps of Straw in their hands which they let fall then again suddenly reaching it they cast it up aloft and catch it in their hands This Dancing having continu'd an hour or an hour and a half every one returns home Besides these Evening-Pastimes they have a sort of Dancing-Schools wherein the younger Breed are taught These People are seldom free from Lice The Blacks are Lowsie though Clean. and Fleas although they keep themselves clean in their Bodies for they Wash every Morning and Evening from Head to Foot and anoint themselves with Oyl of Palm or Suet to make them look Smooth and that the Flies may not bite their Naked Body The Women moreover anoint themselves with Civet and fine smelling Herbs to be the more acceptable to their Husbands They count it a great shame to Break Wind in the presence of any they never do their Easement upon the ground but make a Hut whereinto they retire and when full burn them to Ashes They cannot Evacuate their Water in a continu'd Current as usual in humane Creatures but rather like Hoggs by intermissive girdings When they meet any of their Friends or Acquaintance in the Morning Their Salutation they Salute them with great Courtesie Imbracing one the other in their Arms and closing the two first Fingers of the Right Hand snap two or three times together each time bowing their Heads and saying Auzy Auzy that is Good Morrow Good Morrow Another as it were innate quality they have to Steal any thing they lay hands of Exquisite in Stealing especially from Foreigners and among themselves make boast thereof as an ingenious piece of Subtilty and so generally runs this vicious humor through the whole Race of Blacks that great and rich Merchants do sometimes practise small Filching for being come to the Trading Ships they are not at rest till they have taken away something though but Nails or Lead that is Nail'd to the outside of the Ships to prevent Worm-eating which no sooner done then with a singular sleight of hand they convey from one to another but if they chance to be trapp'd they all leap instantly over-Board for fear of Beating but if caught and soundly Bastinado'd then as past doubt of other punishment they never avoid the Ship but come again the next day to Trade They little esteem any Promises made to Foreigners They keep little of their Promises but break them if they can see any advantage in it in brief they are a treacherous perjur'd subtle and false People onely shewing Friendship to those they have most need of When they make a Promise or Oath to the Whites they cast their Face to the Ground then bowing speak these words thrice Jau Jau Jau every time striking their hands together and stamping upon the ground with their feet and lastly kiss their Fetisy or Sants which they wear upon their Legs and Arms. Most of their Food is Bread Most of their Food is Bread by them call'd Kankaiens Bak'd or Boil'd of Mille How it is made ready mix'd with Oyl of Palm and sometimes with green Herbs the Mille they prepare by Pounding in a Stone-Mortar afterwards cleanse it in a Woodden Shovel then the Women Grinde it every day twice upon a flat Stone which stands a mans height from the Earth with another Stone a Foot long just as the Painters usually Grind their Colours which is no small labour though little regarded by the men Thus made into Meal they mingle it with water and make Cakes or Balls as big as both ones Fists which they Boyl or Bake upon a hot Hearth bound up in Cloth Others add thereto Maizr They seldom eat Flesh Other Food but all sorts of Fish Potatoes also and Injames which they Boyl as also Bananasses Bakovens Rice and several other sorts of Fruit which the Countrey affords Their daily Drink is Water and Palm-Wine Drink yet they make another Liquor of Mace which they call Poitou The Men Drink stoutly especially hot Liquors such as Palm-Wine The Men are inclin'd to Drinking Brandy and other Wine so that the Evening seldom sees them Sober In Drinking they use strange Customs for the first Drinker must lay his Hands upon his Head and with a loud voyce cry out Tautosi Tautosi After Drinking they poure a little as an Oblation to their Fetisi upon the Earth crying aloud I. O. U. which if they omit they are perswaded it will do them no good but vomit it up presently Nor have they a less Voracity in Eating being scarcely satisfi'd with Food Gluttony in Eating their Caninus Appetitus being so insatiate that when they have as it were but newly swallow'd the last they will fall to afresh as if pin'd for hunger nor do they chew it like us but take it in broken Gobbets with the three middle-Fingers Unmannerly and throw them into their Mouthes down their Throat without ever casting it beside ¶ WAlled Cities they have none nor good Towns near the Sea Towns or Villages what they are onely upon the Shore some Villages appear of no great consequence being ill-favoredly built and worse order'd for they so stink of Dirt and Filthiness that sometimes when the Land-Wind blows the Stench may be smell'd a mile and a half in the Sea The Towns more within the Land are much bigger and fuller of Trade and People who live more at ease for such as live at the Sea are Interpreters Brokers Rowers Skippers or Seamen Servants Fishers and Slaves of the other But although as we said the Towns lie open
Priviledges for now he may buy Slaves and Trade for other things which before he had no permission to do They take great care therefore about it although perhaps the acquiring cost them all they are worth and thereby are much poorer than before but he soon gets it up again by Presents brought him from others each according to his ability And now as soon as he hath gain'd an Estate again he bestows it upon Slaves wherein their Riches and Reputation consists These keep one among another a yearly time of Feasting where they make good Cheer new Paint the Cows Head and hang it about with Ears of Mille. Besides this the Nobility in general keep one Feast upon the sixth day of July where they Paint their Bodies with Stripes of red Earth and wear on their Necks a Garland of green Boughs and Straw as a Badge of their Nobility In the Evening they all come as Guests to the House of the Braffo where they are entertain'd with exceeding Mirth and Feasting even to Excess and Drunkenness These People are so conceited of their old Idolatrous Customs Religion or Worship that they deride as it were the Religion of the Whites under what Name or Notion soever Several times have the Portuguese and French by Jesuits sent thither endeavour'd to convert them to the Christian Faith yet never have been able hitherto to effect any thing worth relating And thus have we travell'd through the Gold-Coast The Coast from Rio Volta to Arder SEven Miles Eastward from Akara The River Rio da Volta on the Shore lieth a Town call'd Sinko twelve Miles from that the River Rio da Volta falls into the Sea Coming with Ships before this River the Entrance seems very little because of a Shelf which lies before it and closeth it up yet more within Land it may be discern'd to run with an open and wide Channel Between Sinko and Rio Volta standeth a Town call'd Ley whose Inhabitants maintain themselves by selling Cows wherewith though at a dear Rate they furnish themselves with Meat Three Miles from Rio Volta lieth a Point call'd in Portuguese Cabo Montego a low Countrey having little Wood and the Shore spreading East South-East From Cabo Montego Eastwards the Coast shoots out with a great Belly so that from one Corner to the other Observe Spanish Miles or Leagues as we said before such as twenty five make a Degree it is ten Miles Sailing The Countrey seems Craggy yet water'd with a small River whose Mouth is stopp'd with Sand and hath Trees on the East Quarter Beyond all the Land lies flat as far as Popo or Popou and shadow'd with good Boscage THE KINGDOM OF ARDER THis Kingdom of Arder contains about twelve Miles in length The Kingdom of Arder beginning four Miles Eastward of Popou and ending at Aqua Three Miles Eastward of Popou on the Shore appears a Town named Foulaen The Town Foulaen five Miles Eastward of which on the same Coast you come to Little Arder Little Arder three hundred Rods in length beyond which about fifty Rods from the Shore runs a River of brackish Water From Popou the Coast reacheth East and by South to Arda and for eight Miles low Land spotted here and there with Trees Two Miles Westward of Arder stand four Woods A Mile to the North North-East of Arder Jakkeins you may see Jakkein a Town so call'd from the Governor thereof The City is encompass'd fifteen hundred Rod about with an Earthen Wall and includes a stately Palace the Residence of the Governor and water'd with a small Rivulet Three days Journey from Jakkein lieth the Jojo Jojo and a quarter of a Mile farther a Town call'd Ba surrounded with a Mud Wall Ba. over which a Fidalgo Commands in the King's Name On the Sea-Coast stand two Gates and on the Land-side runs a fresh River which reacheth to Benyn About twelve Miles to the North North-East up in the Countrey lieth Great Arder an open Village and straglingly built but containing in circuit as the Natives report above three Miles They may conveniently Ride to Arder on Horseback or be carri'd in a Litter or Waggon there runneth so straight a Way thither from the Shore In the mid-way stands a Retiring place for Travellers where they brew Beer of Mille. The King hath his Residence in this Village and two Palaces but he dwells onely in one the other being reserv'd as a Retirement upon casualty of Fire Both these Palaces are environ'd with an Earthen Wall of four or five Foot thick with Coverings of Reeds and have several Chambers and Apartments within Here are no Wall'd Cities but open Villages in abundance fitly scituate for Merchandise and defensible for the Inhabitants The Air proves unhealthy to the Whites The air unhealthy for the greatest number of them that go to Land are quickly seiz'd by a Sickness which for the most part kill 's whereas the Natives are very fresh and sound and attain a great Age. This Tract of Land is every where plain and fruitful thin of Woods The conditions of the Land but full of fine Villages the Ways very convenient to Travel in and several full-stream'd Rivers that irrigate and with their Waters fertilize the Ground The Valleys are enricht with divers Fruits throughout the whole year Their Fruits as Injames Potato's Oranges Lemons Coco-Nuts Palm-Wine and such like The Injames are eaten either boyl'd broil'd or roasted with Butter for Sawce In the Marshes of Arder they make much Salt which those of Kuramo buy and carry away with great Canoos Here breed many Horses The Houses are meer Mud-walls two or three Foot thick Houses and cover'd with Straw Their Houshold-stuff no other than that before described on the Gold-Coast Houshold-stuff and as there also for Ornament hang on the Walls their Arms viz. Shields Assagays or Lances Bowes and Arrows In Places of retirement or as we may call them Inns Beer of Mille. between the Shore and Great Arder and in the Town Offer they brew Beer of Mille in this manner First they steep the Mille in Water till it shoots afterwards dry it in the Sun then stamp it to Meal in great Mortars and poure upon it boyling hot Water They know also to make this Mash Work with Yeast and to make it thick or thin as they please But this Beer by the heat of the Mille will soon sowre and drinking of it causeth the Scurvey but mixed with Water makes a good wholsom Drink Their Bread made of Mille they call Kanties and their other Victuals Kade Food being green Herbs Rice Beef Pork Cabrietes or Mutton Dogs and Hens The Men have three Habit. sometimes four Garments hanging about their Middles one shorter than another so that part of them all may be seen but the upper part of the Body and Feet up to the Knees remain naked The better sort have very sumptuous Cloathing of
Wall of Elephants-Teeth in stead of Stone and there hanging upon Poles remain till they be quite rotten These Islanders also have particular Heads and chief Officers Government chosen by most Voices Several other Rivers pay their tributary Waters to increase the swelling Current of Zair the most eminent are Umbre Brankare and Barbale Umbre by Sanutus call'd Vambere rises in the North out of a Mountain in Negro-Land and loseth it self on the East-side in the Zair Brankare as Pigafet or Bankare as Sanutus calleth it taketh the original out of the same Mountain and after a long course discharging his Meandring Stream into the Sea saith the same Sanutus but Pigafet from the information of Edward Lopez averrs it mingleth with Zair on the Easterly Borders of Pango not far from the Foot of the Crystal Mountain The River Barbele so call'd by Linschot or Verbele by Pigafet springs out of the same Lake which the same Author makes the Head-Source of Nylus to flow from after which it shooteth through the Lake Aquilumde and visiting the City of Pango it enlargeth the Zair with the addition of its Water Southward of the Mouth of the River Zair shoots out a Promontory The Cape of Padron call'd in Portuguese Cabo de Padron who above a hundred years since erected a small Chappel and set up a Cross and about five miles from Padron is the Residence of the Earl of Sonho where the Netherlanders Trade A little way within Padron lieth St. Pauls Point affording a convenient Road for Ships A mile and a half from thence lieth a Creek call'd Pampus Rock Pampus Rock More on Southwards you come to the Rivers Lelunde or Lolongo Ambris Enkekoquematari Loze Onza Libonge Danda and Bengo Lelunde running between Zair and Ambris The River Lelunde hath its Head-Spring in the same Lake with Coanza or Quanza so passing close by the Foot of the Mountain where the Royal City St. Salvadore stands runs down from thence with many windings West-North-west to the Sea into which it falls with a strong Current but in the Summer so shallow that 't is not passable with Vessels of any Burden The Blacks frequent it with Canoos notwithstanding the hazard of Crocodiles which in great abundance breed there Next you come to Ambris Ambris lying in six Degrees South Latitude a great River and full of Fish but Rocky at the entrance yet passable enough for small Boats It hath the same original with Lelonde taking likewise its course not far from St. Salvadore the Water seems muddy caused by the swiftness of the Stream at whose Edges begins the Dukedom of Bamba Thirty miles up this River is a Ferry A Ferry where every Traveller for his passage over must pay a certain Toll to the King of Congo On the South Banks of it many people inhabit who get their Living by making Salt boyl'd of Sea-water in Earthen Pots and proves gray and sandy yet they carry it to Pambo and several other Places and drive a great Trade therewith Enkokoquematari is the next Enkokoquematari whose beginning lies undiscover'd to the Europeans and the whole in a manner of no use great Flats and Sands stopping up the Mouth so that it will not bear a small Boat and within so scanty of Water that a Canoo can hardly make way Loze Loze another mean Brook yet up in the Countrey passable for a Boat About twenty miles upward you must pass a Ferry where all Travellers for going over must pay Custom to the Duke of Bamba Onza or as Pigafet Onzoni is Fordable and not to be Sail'd by any Vessels because of its shallowness Lihongo Lihongo by some call'd Lemba can boast neither greater depth or better qualities Danda The River Danda. a little more Southward hath at the Mouth five or six Foot Water 't is full of Fish and feeds many Crocodiles and Sea-Horses and affords on each side fruitful Grounds somewhat high on the South-side but on the North for half a mile low Grounds Bengo The River Bengo by some taken for a Branch of Danda with Quanza another lying makes the Island Lovando it affords good Sailing with Sloops about fourteen miles upward and in the Mouth sometimes seven or eight Foot Water notwithstanding the Flats of Sand. It comes a great distance out of the Countrey and so inundates in the time of Rain viz. March April and May that with the violence of its Stream it sometimes carrieth away much of the Earth on one side which either joyns again on the other or else driven into the Sea The Winter there bears almost an equal temper with our Summer The Climate of Air. so that the People alter nothing of their Apparel nor require the warmth of Fire at that Season of the Year for the difference between Winter and Summer is scarely discernable onely the Air so long as it Rains is a little Cooler but the wet Season once past the Heat is almost intolerable especially two hours before and after Noon The Winter commences in mid March The Seasons of Rain and the Summer in September in the former the great Rains begin and continue March April May June July and August during which time they have scarce a clear day the lesser Rain in September and November The Summer on the other side is exceeding hot and dry This Countrey Congo is watry from the several Rivers hath great store of Water so that the Inhabitants are very curious in their choice of it for they will not drink the usual and every where to be had but take care for the freshest and best as appears by them of St. Salvadore who make not use of such as the adjoyning Plains afford them but cause their Slaves to fetch other more sound and healthy as they suppose out of Fountains a little lower on the North-side The Lands in the time of Rain by the muddiness of the water The King of the Land are made exceeding fruitful and fit to bring forth all manner of things The Dukedom of Batta and other lying round about hath fat and fertile ground affording all manner of Provision The Territory of Pembo especially about Saint Salvadore because of the fresh and serene Air abounds with rich Pastures Plants and produceth many flourishing and thriving Trees Here grows a kind of Grain by the Inhabitants call'd Luko Luko not unlike our Rye but smaller this they Grind into Meal by a Hand-Mill and make Bread of it Abundance also of Mille which the Natives call Mazza Manputo Mille or Mazza or Portuguese Corn as also Mais or Turky-Wheat wherewith they fat their Hogs and Rice in such plenty that it hardly bears any price Lemmons Oranges and Pome-Citron-Trees grow in every corner bearing fruit of a pleasant yet brisk taste also Bananasses Dates Coco-Nuts and Palm-Trees besides others producing Colas which the Inhabitants chaw as the Indians Betel
The Trees call'd Ozeghes yields Fruit like yellow Plums delightful in smell and delicious in taste and with the Branches make Fences Pallizadoes and Arbors to shelter them from the scorching Beams of the Sun Nor do they want Melons Cucumbers and Citrons of an extraordinary bigness and pleasant taste The Shore of the River Lelunde going to Saint Salvadore stands beautifi'd with abundance of Cedars which the ignorance of the people make no other account of them than to make Canoos and Fuel Cassia Fistula and other Drugs fit for the use of Apothecaries as Tamarinds in Europe grow plentifully and have the repute of a good remedy in Feavers In the Towns near the Sea they have store of Beans Mille and Poultrey which the English Netherlanders and other Traders buy with Panos Simbos little Looking-Glasses and other Trifles In Bamba a Province of Congo Beasts and there especially they have good stocks of Cattel viz. Cows Oxen Swine and Goats Besides plenty of Fowl as Turkies Hens Ducks and Geese Elephants The Elephants breeding here in numerous droves grow to an extraordinary bigness insomuch that some of their Teeth have weigh'd above two hundred weight in Congoish Language such a Tooth they call Mene-Manzo and a young Elephant Moane-Manzo The Elephant if the Blacks report true casteth not his Teeth having indeed but onely two But they Hunt and Shoot them with Lances and Darts making from them a double advantage both of Merchandize and Victuals There are many scurfed or hollow Teeth found in the Wilderness which by lying many years in rain and wind become so This Commodity from the infinite abundance brought thence within these fifty or sixty years begins to abate much because they are compell'd to fetch them further out of the Countrey The Buffle in the language of the Countrey call'd Empakasse hath a red Skin and black Horns of which the Inhabitants make musical Instruments It is a mischievous beast and dangerous to be hunted especially after they are shot if not right struck wherefore the Huntsmen who mean to shoot a Buffle first choose out a secure place where they may not fear the furious assaults of the enrag'd Creature They say that if a Cow happen to eat where a Buffle Pastures it will instantly die for that the breath of the Buffle proves mortal poyson to other Cattel The flesh of it is very gross and slimy yet the Slaves eat freely of it cut in slices and dry'd Here breeds in the Woods another Creature Azebro seldom to be found elsewhere they stile it Zebro or Zebra in shape like a Mule with a Skin strip'd on the head and over the whole body with colours of white black and blewish They are very wild and swift hard to be taken alive and if taken more difficult to be tam'd though the Portuguese say that some years since they sent four of these Azebras to Portugal for a Present to the King who us'd them for a Caroch and rewarded the person who brought them over with the Notaryship of Angola to him and his Heirs Empalanga Empalanga is a great Beast like an Ox having two Horns and very savoury they are of several colours some brown others red and some white Envoeri Envoeri also a great Beast like a Stag with two Horns The Makoko Makoko differs little from a Horse in bigness but hath long and slender Legs a long and gray Neck with many white small stripes and upon his head long sharp Horns wreath'd below the Dung of this Creature resembles that of a Sheep Tygers in the Congoish language call'd Engri never hurt the Whites Engri or Tygers so that when he meets a White and a Black together he will assail the Black and let the White pass unmedled with therefore the King of Congo hath appointed a reward for those that can make appear by bringing of a Tygers Skin that he hath kill'd one with this proviso that the hair of the Lips remain upon it because they account them a venomous and mortal poyson The Leopards generally prey upon Cattel so do the Lions but they are not so cruel as the Tygers nor so much dreaded The Quumbengo or Wolves here very numerous have a thick head and neck almost like the Wolfs in Europe but much bigger gray headed speckl'd with black spots like the Tyger but much more ill-favour'd Foxes Stags Deer Conies and Hares swarm in incredible multitudes because they are never hunted as here with us Civet-Cats the Blacks catch and make tame for their perfume The Territory of Batta affords many Beavers Beavers whose Skins are of great value one of them being as dear as a Sheep so that none is suffer'd to wear them without the King's Licence Moreover Apes and wild Cats grow troublesome by their numbers especially in Songo by the River of Zaire Wild Boars by them call'd Emgalo may be seen here with two great Tusks Emgola or Wild-Boars with which he tears violently the Blacks stand more in fear of this than any other Beast and if they do but hear him will make away with all speed possible The filings of their Teeth which the Portuguese highly esteem and are very seldom gotten taken in some Liquor are reputed for a powerful Medicine against Poyson and Teeth themselves rubb'd against a stone and administred in a little Water proves an infallible Cure against an Ague They say this Beast finding himself sick regains his health by such rubbing of his Teeth upon a stone and likewise with his Tongue Roebucks call'd Golungo breed here abundantly but no bigger than Sheep Rocbucks of a brown colour with some white specks and two sharp little Horns several of the Blacks kill and eat them but the Congoians They are by those of Congo and Ambonde a forbidden food and Ambondes will by no means taste their flesh nay they bear such an antipithy to it that they will not touch any thing out of that Pot where their flesh hath been boyl'd nor come into the place where the fire was that dress'd it nor lay their hands on ought wherewith it was slain But of this niceness can give no other reason but that the flesh is their Quistilla that is a food prohibited to them by Authority and antient Custom by Traditions deliver'd from hand to hand by their Fore-fathers for they firmly and undoubtedly believe that if they should do the contrary they should not onely be lame in their bodies but their fingers and toes would rot off Lastly Bears Foxes and poysonous Serpents frequent the Woods and infinitely damage the people Besides these varieties of Quadrupeds they shew many sorts of Wing'd Animals as First Peacocks which none but the King onely may have Peacocks and he keeps them with great care in inclos'd Woods upon the borders of Angola Of Partridges they have two sorts tame and wild as also Pheasants Pigeons Turtle-Doves Eagles Falcons Merlins Sparrow-Hawks Pellicans green and
warred against the King of Angola in the Countrey And now inhabited by many Families of Portuguese besides Mulattoes and Blacks Kambamba edges upon Quansa The Tertltory of Kambamba where stands a Village denominated also Kambamba Eastward of Massingan about a dayes Journey The Portuguese have a Fort here also wherein divers Families reside and many Free Blacks that have good store of Slaves About eight days passage up the River Lukala The Territory of Embakka you arrive at Embakka where is a Village of the same denomination twelve days Journey from the Sea side In this place the Portuguese have their Bounds beyond it claiming no Interest The unwholsomness of the Air breeds divers Sicknesses Constitution of the Air and Sicknesses especially violent and burning Fevers which kill in few Hours unless prevented by frequent Phlebotomy The Pox is so common among them Pox. that they think it no Disgrace and for Remedy use Oyntments and Physical Herbs taken inwardly but through want of Skill the Cure remaining imperfect many die They have another frequent Distemper call'd Bitios de Kis suprising them with Melancholy great pain in the Head Faintness and soreness of Limbs and makes their Eyes stand out staring as if they would fall out The Cure which immediately must be used upon the appearance of the Symptomes they perform by washing the Fundament very clean and putting a Pill made of a quarter of a rinded Lemmon therein with the Finger holding it in as long as may well be endur'd which is not done without great pain and burning a sign of the right Bitios This Medicine though seeming but mean yet proves the onely Remedy against this Disease if timely applied But if the Distemper be grown inveterate and far rooted which the swelling out and opening of the end of the Gut and a whitish loosness testifies then a Mixture of Juyce of Tobacco-leaves Salt and Vinegar steeped together two hours then stamped in a Mortar and so much thereof put into the Fundament as can well be done and kept there as long as possible reduces the Part again to its proper condition and absolutely cures the Disease But this Medicine is so painful and hardly to be endured that the sick Person must be fast held by two strong Men else he can never receive the intended Advantage The Bitios also are cured by frequent Clysters or Serringing the Fundament-Guts with the purified Decoction of the Plant Orore de Bitos and dried Rose-leaves mixt with one or two Yelks of Eggs and a little Allom and Oyl of Roses For the preventing hereof so soon as the tokens of it are perceived the Fundament must first be well cleansed then a Medicine made of a new-laid Egg well beaten with a little rose-Rose-water and Sugar with which mix White Lead scraped small then dipping fine Lint into it put it up into the Fundament Observe here That White Lead is taken for a rare Cure against this Evil. Another Disease sorely afflicts them taking away in a manner their Sight so that they grow Pur-blind but by applying the raw Liver of a Hey regain their former Health Few escape the misery of sore Legs whose malignity is such as will hardly admit Cure They labor under another sort of Distemper Beriberi which the Indians call Beriberi being a Lameness of all the Limbs and supposed to have its original from the ill curing of the Bitios and not cleansing the Blood enough The best Medicine against this is to anoint the Joynts before a Fire with an Oyl by the Indians call'd Man-Tennah which in the Island of Sumatra drops out of the Rocks like Stone-oyl and proves very wholesom and serviceable against all Colds weakness of Limbs and Strains The Boasi is a Malady very common and pernicious rotting off the Nose Boasi Hands Feet Fingers and Toes spreading from Joynt to Joynt with great pain until without Remedy it brings them to their End Embasser a usual Sickness proceeds from the hardness of the Spleen Embasser which makes them grow melancholy yellow of colour heavy-hearted and faint But Broath made of the Root of the Tree Embotta that part especially that lies to the Morning-Sun restores their Health Of the Branches of this Tree being very strong and tuff they make Bowes The Small-Pox also rages here much Small Pox. and by reason of their unskilfulness in the use of fitting Medicines proves many times very mortal The Land about Lovando for want of convenient Moisture proves barren The nature of the Soil but on the opposite side by the River Bengo fruitful yielding store of Mandiboka Mille Beans and many sorts of Fruits and Herbs which upon the Portuguese first arrival was over-grown with Bushes and Brambles But the Portuguese Governor of Lovando Ferdinando de Sousa in the Years Sixteen hundred twenty nine and thirty commanded the Inhabitants every one acording to the number of Slaves they had to take each of them a piece of Ground at the River and clear it from the Bushes Brambles and Weeds and make it fit for Sowing and Planting by which they brought it to the present Fertility This Labor at first was ill resented by the Inhabitants who were drawn to it with great difficulty but when they tasted the Profit and saw the Fruitfulness every one sought to get a Plantation and took so much Ground as they could Manure In this manner the Ground was planted with Mille Beans and all sorts of Herbage and by Time and Practice the People still improving became not onely a necessary Plantation but as it were a pleasant Garden for the whole Countrey But afterwards in the Year Sixteen hundred forty one when the Netherlanders took the City Lovando Saint Paulo all was burn'd and ruin'd So that this Tract of Land formerly as we said a Garden of Pleasure became afterwards a Den for Lions Tygers and other wild Beasts However after some time a Peace being settled between the Dutch and Portuguese their joynt Endeavors restor'd it to the former Beauty and Fertility The chiefest Products of these Parts are small and great Mille Plants whereof they make Bread Chesnut-colour'd Beans call'd Enkossa a fatning and delicate Food yet too much eating of them causes a pain in the Belly Also Oranges Lemons Dates Bananos Ananasses Potatoes Cocos Arosses and Palm-oyl-Trees Anones Guajaves Wine or Gegos Anones Anones so call'd by the Portuguese from a Duke which brought this Fruit first thither is a pleasant Fruit very delightful in taste Ash-colour'd as big as ones Hand and almost round like a Pine-apple Guajaves Guajaves or Gojava so call'd by the Portuguese by the Natives Cienko and by the Dutch Granate-Pears is a Fruit very delicious in taste but the coldness of its Quality makes it thought unwholesom Arosses Arosses or Granate-plums a Fruit almost like Guajaves but smaller wholesom to eat and of a pleasing sharp taste Gegos grows on high Trees Gegos in
and hath fifteen and sixteen Foot Water so that the great Ships may come before it About the North Point of Katon-belle lieth the Good Bay Good Bay so call'd by reason of its ground of Anchoring The Countreys upon the Sea-Coast are fruitful and low but the In-lands high and overgrown with Woods A mile and a half from Katon-belle you discover a fresh River that falls into the Sea but in the times of Rain The Bay of Benguella having good Ground for Ships to ride at an Anchor reaches from one Point to the other a mile and a half in breadth On the North-side stands the Foot of Benguelle built four-square with Pallizado's and Trenches and surrounded with Houses which stand in the shadow of Bananos Orange Lemon Granate-Trees and Bakovens Behind this Fort is a Pit with fresh Water Here lie seven Villages that pay to those of Bengala the tenth part of all they have for Tribute The first Melonde the second Peringe both about a League from the Fort Under Benguelle are seven Villages and a mile one from another the other five are Maniken Somba Maninomma Manikimsomba Pikem and Manikilonde of all which Manikisomba is the biggest and can bring three thousand Men into the Field Here formerly lived some Portuguese which afterwards out of fear of the Blacks fled to Massingan but were most of them kill'd in the way On the West Point of the Bay of Benguelle is a flat Mountain call'd in Portuguese Sombriero from its shape representing afar off a three-corner'd Cap and by it an excellent Bay having at the South-east-side a sandy Shore with a pleasant Valley and a few Trees but no Water fit to drink Four miles from thence they have a Salt-Pan which produces of gray Salt like French Salt as much as the adjacent Countreys can spend In Bengala is a great Beast The Beast Abada call'd Abada as big as a lusty Horse having two Horns one sticking out in his Forehead and another behind in his Neck that in the Forehead is crooked but smooth rises sloaping before and very sharp but at the Root as thick as an ordinary Man's Leg being many times one two three or four Foot long but that in the Neck shorter and flatter of colour black or a sad gray but being fil'd appears white the Head not so long as the Head of a well-shaped Horse but shorter and flatter with a Skin Hair'd like a Cow and a Tail like an Ox but short a Mayn like a Horse but not so long and cloven Feet like a Deers but bigger Before this Beast hath attained the full growth the Horn stands right forward in the midst of the Forehead but afterwards grows crooked like the Elephant's-Teeth When he drinks he puts his Horn first in the Water for prevention as they say against Poyson The Horn they report to be an excellent Medicine against Poyson The Horn is good against Poyson as hath oftentimes been proved but they find more efficacy in one than another occasioned by the timely and untimely killing of the Creature The trial of their goodness the Portuguese make in this manner They set up the Horn with the sharp end downwards on a Floor and hang over it a Sword with the Point downwards so as the Point of the one may touch the end of the other If the Horn be good and in its due season or age then the Sword turns round of it self but moves not over untimely and bad Horns The Bones of this Beast ground small and with Water made into Pap they prescribe as a Cure against inward Pains and Distempers being applied outwardly Plaister-wise The Kingdom of MATAMAN or rather CLIMBEBE THe Kingdom of Mataman Name commonly so call'd took that Denomination from its King the proper and right Name according to Pigafet being Climbebe or Zembebas Its Borders Borders as the same Author Linschot Peter Davitius and other Geographers hold in the North upon Angola Eastwards on the Westerly Shore of the River Bagamadiri to the South it touches upon the River Bravagul by the Foot of the Mountains of the Moon near the Tropick of Capricorn which the chiefest Geographers make a Boundary between this Kingdom and those Mountains and the Countrey of the Kaffers to the West along the Ethiopick-Sea that is from Angola or Cabo Negro in sixteen Degrees South Latitude to the River Bravagul a Tract of five Degrees and fifteen Minutes every Degree being reckon'd fifteen great Dutch Leagues or threescore English Miles Two Rivers chiefly water this Kingdom Rivers viz. Bravagul and Magnice the first takes its original out of the Mountains of the Moon Linschot or the River Zair and unites its Waters with those of Magnice springing out of a Lake by the Portuguese call'd Dambea Zocche and falling in the South-east into the Indian-Sea The Places of this Kingdom coasting the Sea are these Next the Black Cape right Eastward you may see the beginning of the Cold Mountains Mountains of the Moon on some Places for the abundance of Snow with which they lie cover'd are call'd The Snowy Mountains Then you come to the Crystal Mountains Crystal Mountains that shoot Northerly to the Silver Mountains and to Molembo by which the River Coari hath its course and makes a Border to the Kingdom of Angola At the Southerly Coast of Cymbebas near the Sea Calo Negro in sixteen Degrees and sixty Minutes South Latitude appeareth Cabo Negro or The Black Point so denominated because of its blackness whereas no other black Land can be seen from the one and twentieth Degree South Latitude On the top of this Point stands an Alabaster Pillar with an Inscription but so defaced by the injuries of Time and Weather that it is hardly legible and formerly upon the Head of it a Cross raised but at present fall'n off and lying upon the Ground The Coast from hence spreads a little North-east and East-North-east The spreading of the Coast The Countrey round about shews nothing but barren and sandy Hills without green and high sandy Mountains without any Trees More Southerly in the heighth of eighteen Degrees you come to a Point by the Portuguese call'd Cabo de Ruy piz das Nivez or Cabo de Ruy Pirez having to the Northward a great Inlet with sandy Hills and the Shore to the Black Point but Southward a High-land altogether sandy and reacheth to nineteen Degrees Farther to the South in nineteen Degrees and thirty Minutes lies a Bay call'd Golfo Prio and Prias das Nevas with double Land and full of Trees afterwards you come to the open Haven of Ambros in the one and twentieth Degree then going lower to the Southward the Sea-Coast resembles what we mention'd in the North shewing high white sandy Hills barren Land and a bad Shore A good way to the Westward of Cabo Negro lies a great Sand in the Sea in Portuguese call'd Baixo de Antonia de Viava or The
Soldanha-Bay Memoires de Thomas Roe where the Soldanhars have their chief Residence Some would make the Countrey lying at this Bay an Island contrary to the receiv'd Opinion of all Geographers and to support their Fancy aver That it is divided from the Main Land of Africa by a deep Bay at the South-East side and on the East side by a small River below Table-Mountain and inhabited by five or fix hundred People CABO DE BONE ESPERANSE At Table-Bay and the foot of the Table-Mountain The Fort or strength of the Netherland West-India Company the Netherlanders have a Fort for the defence and shelter of their Shipping in their Voyages Built in a Quadrangular form Fortifi'd with a great many Pieces of Ordnance and a convenient Garrison of Souldiers strong enough to repulse any Army of native Assailants By which they have a Garden of fifteen Acres of ground Planted with several Trees and Fruits besides the Plantation on the other side of Table-Mountain full as big again A Governor Commands this Fort assisted by two Merchants a Book-keeper or Clerk Accomptant some Assistants and a Serjeant over the Souldiers all which are chief Men and Councellors Without this Fort divers free people of several Nations have their residence transported out of Holland and maintain themselves chiefly by Tillage and Planting but they pay for their Priviledge a part of their Harvest to the Governor for the Benefit and Advantage of the Company In the Latitude of four and thirty degrees and forty minutes Eastward of the Needle-Cape lieth another Bay first call'd Flesh-Bay Flesh-Bay by reason of the abundance of Cattel to be had there This Bay wherein lyeth a small Island standing open to all Winds except on the North and at the West-side runs a Brook of fresh Water from the Mountain yielding no small refreshment to Sea-men Eight or ten miles Eastward you arrive at Fish-Bay Fish-Bay so nam'd from its abundance of Fishing Fifteen or twenty miles Eastward hereof in the elevation of four and thirty degrees and thirty minutes you discover Muscle-Bay so call'd by the Dutch Muscle-Bay but by the Portuguese Seno Formoso that is Faire-Bay Next Seno Formoso follow Seno del Lago that is The Bay of the Lake Faire-Bay because the Sea hath wash'd into the Shore in such a manner that it seems to be a great Lake rather than a Bay containing many Islands and Havens and amongst others Ilehos Ctaos Between these are three Capes plac'd in the Maps viz. Cabo de Sante Fransisko Cabo das Sorras and Cabo do Aregito and an Isle call'd The Island of Content Somewhat higher Northerly the River St. Christopher glides along Rio de Santo Christian the Portugnese call it Rio de Sante Christian and the Inhabitants Nagoa in whose Mouth three Islands are seen Next this River appears a Tract of Land by the Portuguese call'd Terra de Natal that is The Land of the Nativity of Christ so call'd from the day of its first discovery The Southermost Countrey of these parts is water'd by three known Rivers besides many other unknown Rivers viz. The Sweet and Salt River and Rio de Jakquelina Just about the foot of Lion-Mountain flows the Sweet River Sweet-Rivers which takes its beginning out of the descent of Table-Mount and runs down very swiftly through not above knee-deep Pigafet will have this River take its Original out of the Lake Gale between the Mountains of the Moon on the West-side and to fall into the Sea by False-Cape whereas the common African Maps place there the River Kamissa To the East beyond Terra de Natal opposite to this little River in the year Sixteen hundred forty and four some few Dutchmen erected a Fort or Bulwark with four Angles for the defence of this fresh water but they never finished it Half a mile Eastward runs the Salt-River so call'd from its plenty of Salt for on a great place of Sand three or four miles upwards by heat and drought so much fine and white Salt continually grows that a Ship might soon be Laden therewith Rio de Jackquelina hath its Original within the Countrey and its Out-let about half a mile Eastward into Table-Bay As to the Air quality of the Soyl Plants Beasts Customs Food Cloathing Arms Language Religion and Worship of this people in general we cannot say much that little we shall speak will have onely relation to the Hottentots lying close to the Cape as the Garouchouquas Goringhuiquas Goringhaiconas Cochoquas or Saldanhans great and little Cariguriquas and Hosaas for of the rest viz. the Vanouquas Cabonas Sonquas Mamaquas Heusaquas Brigoudys Hancumquas hitherto little or no information hath been had other than that in general they agree with those that lie nearest to the Cape The Air about the Cape of Good-Hope is always Serene Air. Clear and Temperate and by consequence very Healthy because neither the Heat parches nor the Cold pierces too much In June and July blow the stiffest and sharpest storms of Wind from the Southerly Points which continue till December mix'd with Mists Snow and Frost so that the waters in June and July are often Frozen the thickness of the back of a Knife The Vale-Winds Wind. or Hurricans blow sometimes so terribly from the Mountains which are commonly cover'd with thick Clouds which hover there and break with that violence as if all above ground would be rent to pieces At this time when the Winds bluster and tear so horribly they make a hollow Sea at the Point which too often proves dangerous for Ships It Rains there in the Winter that is in May or June so extreamly as if it did almost pour down whereby the low grounds are laid under Water yet without any prejudice for after the falling away of the Water the ground appears more fresh and flourishing The Soyl about the Cape is in some places very rich and ferile fit to be Husbanded and to produce all manner of Fruits although other parts be full of Clay Stony Gravelly or Sandy some Trees grow here and there but so hard and knotty as makes them fit onely for Fuel yet the natives report that in the Countrey there grow such Trees that a hundred men may shelter themselves under one of them perhaps the Indian Fig-Tree by Linschot call'd Arbar de Rais. There grow in the Winter Plants especially among the Saldanhars certain little roots which they eat some of them have a taste like Anniseeds others like Jerusalem-Artichokes others as Acorns The Valleys and Plains under lie verdur'd with Grass and sweet Herbs which being boyl'd with fresh Meat make a pleasant Sallet Close by the Fort of Good-Hope on a Mountain call'd The Vineyard the Netherlanders have Planted forty thousand Vine-stocks which all at this day send forth lusty Sprouts and Leaves and bear Grapes in such abundance that sometimes they press Wine of them They have there also Peaches Apricocks
gray Fowl almost like a Lapwing Pheasants little bigger than Swallows white-feather'd with gray or black Specks ringstreaked and speckled in their Bodies and therefore easie to be known from the other The Gavoitoyns or Dyvers which sit in the Water about the Cape Garagias almost the same with the Alcatraces Jan-van-Genten or white Plovers tipt with black at the end of their Wings Another sort of great Fowls call'd in Portuguese Mangas de Velludo or Velvet-Parrots have black Tufts like Velvet on their Wings and in flying hold them not steady but flutter as Pigeons As the Air is thus replenished with good Fowl no less doth the Sea Fishes and other Waters abound with the variety of Fish particularly one sort call'd Huygen in shape like Carps being of a very pleasant taste Rough Mullets Lobsters Breams and Crabs of a large size Mussles also among the Rocks and great and small Oysters with Pearls in them In Table-Bay and thereabouts play many Whales and other great Fishes Bottle-heads out of which may be boyl'd Train-Oyl as well as out of Whales The People which dwell about and near the Cape of Good Hope The Constitution of the Kaffers or Hottentots are of a middle Stature Slouch-body'd and uncomely of Person of a Tawny colour like Mulletto's But those about Flesh-Bay are somewhat smaller The Hair of their Heads in general resembles Lambs Wool short and Curl'd but the Womens thicker than the Mens especially among the Cobona's They have broad Foreheads but wrinkled clear and black Eyes but all both Men Women and Children have Camosie-Noses and blab-Lips Their Mouthes well fashion'd and bearing a proportionable bigness every way with very clean and white Teeth Their Necks are of an ordinary length with narrow Shoulders and long Arms but about the Wrists very thin their Hands well shaped their Fingers long letting their Nails grow like Eagles Talons which they count an Ornament Most of them have their Bellies long and wrinkled with Buttocks sticking out Their Legs handsom but small Calves little Feet especially the Women They are swift of Foot and so strong that some can stop an Ox in his full course The Women are little of Stature especially among the Cochoqua's or Saldanhars and some cut their Faces as if they were drawn with a Pencil The Married Women are so great Breasted that they can give them into the Mouthes of their Children to Suck behind over their Shouldets where they commonly carry them All the Kaffers are void of Literature They are Unlearned stupidly dull and clownish and in understanding are more like Beasts than Men but some by continual converse with European Merchants shew a few sparks or glimmerings of an inclination to more humanity Notwithstanding this their bruitish ignorance they observe the Laws and Customs of the Countrey with as much seriousness and observance as the most orderly People in Europe as a proof whereof you may take this Instance In the Year Sixteen hundred fifty nine when the Cape-men happen'd to be at ods and controversie with the Netherlanders being asked what cause they had for that Quarrel gave for answer that it was onely in return of the wrong done them by the Netherlanders in taking away their Seed and Lands as before we have more fully related In kindness and fidelity towards their Neighbors They are kind and faithful they shame the Dutch and all other Europeans because whatsoever one hath they willingly and readily impart it to others be it little or much Sometimes by eating the Root Dacha mixed with Water they become Drunk and then go about not knowing what they do others constrain'd by poverty seek here and there to take what they can find from any body but if it happen to come to light their Skin must pay dear for it There appears also among them some sparks of Pride for when they come to the Fort of Good Hope they cast on their filthiest greaziest and most stinking Skins and adorn their Ears and Necks with red and yellow Copper Beads supposing themselves exceeding pompously dressed Notwithstanding the meanness and poverty of their Condition yet they bear a high mind and are ambitious they will rather fall to open enmity than a Like our Quakers bow or give any reverence to each other and he that gets the Victory doth not onely play the Lord for that one time but always vaunts and braves it over his vanquished Enemy Their Clothing is very sordid The Clothing of the Men. and vile most of the Men wearing onely a Sheeps Pelt or Badgers Skin in manner of a Mantle about their Shoulders with the hairy side commonly within and ty'd under their Chin. Such a Mantle consists of three Pieces neatly sew'd together with Sinews of Beasts in stead of Threed When they go abroad or upon a Journey they throw another Sheeps-skin with the Wool on the out-side over the undermost Upon their Heads they wear a Cap of Lamb-skin with the Woolly side inward and a Button on the top Their Shoes are made of a Rhinocerot's Skin and consists of a whole flat Piece before and behind of a like heighth with a Cross of two Leatherbands fasten'd to their Feet Before their Privacies hangs a little piece of a wild Wood-Cat or ring-streaked Tyger or Jack-alls Skin ty'd behind with two Thongs DRACHT en WAPENING der HOTTENTOTS The Habit of the Women differs little from the former The Habit of the Women being a Sheep-skin Mantle on the upper part of their Bodies with the Wool inwards but somewhat longer than the Men also another Skin hanging behind to cover their back-parts and a square Piece before their Privacies On their Heads they wear a high Cap of a Sheeps or Badgers Skin bound to their Heads with a broad Fillet In all the rest following the Mens Garb. No less uncomely are their choycest Ornaments for the Men have their Hair dressed up or adorn'd with Copper-plates white little Horns and great Beads They pull all the Hair out of their Chins and daub their Faces with Black and then anoint them with Grease and Tallow and thereby seem as if they never were washed Those which dwell close by the Cape on the Shore and come to the Netherlanders Ships presently run to the Cook 's Kettle or Pottage-pot and anoint themselves with the Soot thereof which they esteem a Princely Ornament Such as are rich and have good stocks of Cattel liquor the out-side of their Mantles and Caps with Grease whereas the Poor wear them starved and unliquor'd Also most of the Princes and Kings and Kings Daughters particularly the King of Cocoquas his Vice-Roy and Daughter Mamis wear fat besmear'd Skins In their Ears they hang great bunches of Beads of which some contain ten or eleven Strings each weighing near a quarter of a Pound About their Necks they put red and yellow Copper Chains or Bracelets of Beads and upon their Arms Ivory Armlets and forwards near the Wrists Bracelets
of Copper which stick so close that it makes their Arms sore and sometimes come to ulcerate before they will lay them off Many of them wear as an Ornament the Guts of Beasts fresh and stinking drawn two or three times one through another about their Necks and the like about their Legs Some wear a sort of Roots gather'd from the bottoms of Rivers which in their Journeys through Woods where Lyons Leopards and Wolves frequent by the Fire side which they kindle at the Place where they stay all night for the driving away wild Beasts they chew into little bits and spit out of their Mouthes round about with firm perswasion that there is such vertue in them as no Beast can endure the smell of it When they go abroad they have usually an Ostrich Feather or a Staff with a wild Cats Tail ty'd to it in one Hand in stead of a Handkerchief to wipe their Eyes and Noses and beat away the Dust Sand and Flies and in the other Hand a sleight Javelin The Women never go abroad without a Leather Sack at their backs having at each end a Tuft or Tassel and fill'd with one trifle or another Their Weapons or Arms are Bowes and Arrows and small Darts three four or five Foot long having at one end a broad sharp Iron fixed which they handle and throw very dexterously They take great delight in our Bread for which they are willing to barter Cattel The Honey found in the Woods they eat up Wax an all and in stead of Physick administer to the Sick Cabbages Coleworts and Mustard-Leaves with a little beaten Lard boyl'd with it Their common Drink is Water Drink or Mille but they are very greedy of Brandy or Spanish Wine as also of Tobacco but quickly become Drunk with it They use no Trades Handicrafts or Arts with Bulrushes make Mats wherewith they cover their Houses they Forge the sharp Heads of their Lances being Iron in the doing whereof they use onely a Stone and Hammer making it malleable with Wood-Coals The Goringhaica's dwelling by the Cape Employment employ themselves in Fishing which they sell to the Netherlanders for Bread and Tobacco Most of the other have no skill therein nor any Vessels to go out to Sea so that in all Journeys they go by Land and on Foot In stead of Horses they have great Oxen who carry their Goods and Commodities from one place to another which they lead and guide with a Stick thrust through their Noses as with a Bridle The Cochoqua's or Saldanhars are a kind of Herdsmen and live by keeping of Cattel whereof they have above an hundred thousand Head all very fair besides as many Sheep The like do the Cariguriqua's and Hosaa's None amongst them all Sowe or Plant but onely the Heusaqua's When they perceive any wild Beasts in the Night whether Elephants Elans Rhinocerots Lyons Tygers Bucks or Horses then all the stoutest Men run forth and make a great noise to fright them away But if by day any devouring wild Beast appear then all that can carry Arms go forth every one provided with two or three Assagays or Lances and encompassing the same with extraordinary outcries and shoutings they let fly their Darts and Shoot as at a Mark to wound and kill him When a person falls in Love with a Maid he desires of his Father Marriage that he may Marry her who consenting he goes to the Father and Mother of the Maid entreating the same and when the Parents grant his Suit the Daughter receives and as a sign of her acceptance and in confirmation of the Marriage she puts about his Neck not a Gold Chain but a fat Cows Chitterling which he must wear till it drop off Then two of the fattest Sheep are sought out of the whole Flock and kill'd part of whose Flesh being boyl'd and part of it roasted none may eat but the Marry'd couple and their Parents and without this Ceremony the Marriage would not be accounted lawful The Skins cut in small pieces and the Hair taken off then beaten upon a Stone and so laid on hot Coals they eat with a very great appetite This pitiful Feast ended the solemnity of the Wedding is over As to their constancy in Love they are as in other places some quickly nauseating the ties of Marriage while others observe it with a most affectionate strictness For the manifesting of the constancy and true Love amongst some of these Salvages we will give you two remarkable Stories the one of a Widow which through excess of grief and sorrow for the death of her Husband leapt into a Pit full of Wood set it on fire and burnt her self to death the other of a young Maid which for grief threw her self down from a Rock because her Parents had caus'd her Lover to be severely whipt with Thorns for Lying with her against their consents Whether by the goodness of the Air or the natural strength of their Constitutions these People attain so great an age as generally they do remains a doubt but this is certain that most of them live to eighty ninety or a hundred and some to a hundred and ten twenty or more years They bury their Dead sitting in a deep Pit stark naked Funerals throwing the Earth upon their Heads with a great heap of Stones over all to preserve the Corps from being raked out of the Grave by wild Beasts When a Man or Woman dies Inheritance all the Friends to the third degree of Consanguinity must by an antient custom cut off the little Finger of their left Hand to be bury'd with the Dead in the Grave but if the Deceased had in his Life any Cattel and leaves some Relations to whom they might come by Inheritance they must cut off a Joynt from each little Finger before they can take the Cattel for the Sick cannot giveaway the least thing on his Death-bed from those to whom it falls by Inheritance As soon as any one falls sick those about him fetch one skill'd in Herbs who with a sharp two-edged Knife lets them blood on their Back then burns them on their Arms with a red hot Iron and drops thereon some Juyce of Herbs with new boyl'd sweet Milk And if this work not a Cure they give them over for Dead Those which rob in the Day if they be catcht in it are beaten by the King or Choeque himself with a Stick without other punishment but those which Rob in the Night receive upon discovery a more severe punishment in this manner inflicted The Offender is first for a whole day tied Hand and Foot being neither allowed Meat or Drink On the second day some of the Eldest go to the Coehque to ask if they shall proceed in the Execution which is done without any Condemnation or Tryal but not without sufficient Testimony whereupon the King with a great Train of People following him comes to a Tree where he commands the Offender to
be brought before him whom they bind to the Tree and very severely whip all over his Body that the Blood runs down to his Feet After this being turned with his Face towards the King a sort of Gum or Rozin melted in a Pot is poured over his naked Body from his Neck running down upon his Breast so that the Skin immediately peels off then they let him loose and give him some Meat wherewith a little refresh'd they tie him again Neck and Heels and so leave him three days And lastly after the enduring all this pain he is sometimes banish'd and thrust from their Society When any are found in Fornication Incest the Parents force them to Marry immediately if they have a competency of Estate But if that cannot be effected then they wait to know if the Woman be with Child and then they enforce a Conjunction though the Person be so mean that he cannot maintain a Wife When any Person Rich or Poor is discover'd to have committed Incest they believe such People cannot be punished enough because they say it is an unpardonable offence and this from the meer Light of Nature And therefore they punish the Transgressors with death the manner this First of all the Man hath his Hands and his Feet drawn together with a Cord How they are punish'd and so put into a Tub till the next day and the Woman set by it The second day they take him out and so Manacled set him under a Tree fastning his Head to a strong Bough which one pulls and holds down then they cut off one Member after another Afterwards they let the Bough spring up again with the mangled Body upon it for a Spectacle to other Evil-doers The Man thus dead they bring forth the Woman whom bound round about with many dry Shrub-Bavins her Hands and Feet tied fast together they set Fire to the Bushes and so burn her to Ashes A little above five years ago it hapned that a certain Person a great Friend and Acquaintance of the Coehques or King of the Saldanhars committed Incest yet for all that without respect to his Person he did Justice upon him If any Man of Wealth and Quality Punishment for killing and wounding or reputed Wise through fury or rage stab or wound another to death they take him and beat his Brains out against a Tree and put him into the Grave with the murdered Person for they say Such a Person being endued with more Understanding ought to know better and to give a good Example to others Whereas on the other side poor simple People are permitted to ransom their Lives by a Payment of Cattel Some for Offences which deserve Death have their Knees nail'd through and an Iron Pin fast driven into each Shoulder so dying a lingring death They live like the Arabians Their Houses in the Fields in Huts made of slender crooked Poles set round and cover'd with Bulrush-Mats Some of these are so large that conveniently ten or twenty Men with Women and Children may dwell in one of them though others are much less and some so small that they can take them up and run away with them The Fire-place lieth in the midst of the House but they make no Funnels to carry up the Smoke They kindle Fire with an excellent dexterity by rubbing one little hollowed Stick upon another very hard for a great space All these Hottentots speak one and the same Language Language which for the difficulty of the pronunciation cannot be learn'd to the great retarding and hinderance of further Discoveries In all Discourse they cluck like a Broody Hen seeming to cackle at every other Word So that their Mouths are almost like a Rattle or Clapper smacking and making a great noise with their Tongues Some words they know not how to utter but with very much ado and they seem as if they fetch'd it out behind at the bottom of their Throats and as the People in Savoy that live near the Alps who by drinking Snow-water have great Crops or Swellings under their Chins Brokwa in their Language signifies Bread Kahou denotes to sit down Bou is an Ox Ba a Sheep and Kori Iron But now many of them which dwell close to the Fort of Good Hope by daily Converse with the Netherlanders speak Dutch as some who have been with the English in Bantam stammer some broken English They have no inclination to Trading Trade neither hold they any Correspondence with Foreign People iron and Copper were the onely Commodities desired by them the former for Arms the other for Ornament both which they so esteemed that in a Voyage to the Indies in the year Fifteen hundred ninety five the Dutch had in Barter with these People for a Cutting-knife a fair Ox for a Bar of Iron of seventy pounds broken into five pieces two Oxen and three Sheep for one Hook-knife one Bill one Ax one short Iron Bolt and some pieces of Iron three Oxen and five Sheep and for a Knife one Sheep But at this day grown wiser by Converse and the abundance of Commodities carried thither they prize their Cattel at a much higher rate and their former fair dealing is not now found amongst them Tobacco Brandy and Copper they chiefly desire at present but the yellower the better So that for four pieces of Copper as big as the Palm of ones Hand and a piece of Tobacco they usually buy two Cows Some of these People have Elective others Successive Kings or Governors Government but all their Powers not able to make above four or five thousand Men and those living dispersedly in several Plantations far distant from each other Religion is an absolute stranger among all these Salvages Religion insomuch that they never worshipped either God or Devil yet they say and believe there is a Divine Power which they call Humma which causeth Rain Winds Heat and Cold but will not worship him because he sends sometimes too much Heat and Drowth and another time an overflux of Rain contrary to their desires Secondly They imagine that they can stop the Rain and allay the Wind at their pleasure First To cause Rain to cease they lay a small Cole of Fire on a Chip in a little Hole digged in the Ground and upon that Hole they lay a Lock of Hair pull'd from their Heads and cover up the Hole with Sand when the Hair begins to stink then they make Water upon it and so run away shrieking To lay the Winds they hold one of the greasiest Skins upon a long Stick aloft in the Air till the Wind has blown down the Skin and then vainly think the power of the Wind smothered thereby When the New Moon begins first to be discerned they commonly in great Companies turn themselves towards it and spend the whole night in great joy with Dancing Singing and Clapping of Hands They have a Musical Instrument made with a String like a Bowe and a
Island of that name exceeding those her two neighbors of St. James and St. George living all three near at the Mouth of the River Meginkate Over against St. Georges Island but at the distance of an English mile you may see a Point call'd Cabo Ceira being a hanging Islet joyn'd to the Main-Land of Africa by a small Istbmus overflow'd at High-Water but at other times passable on Foot The Countrey of Mozambike is very fertile in producing many sorts of Fruits Plants as Rice Citrons Oranges and Mille which the Blacks are compell'd to guard and defend against Elephants by the kindling of Fires whereof these Beasts are very much afraid There groweth also a certain Plant call'd Pao or Wood of Antak which creeps along the ground and is very like the Herb Aristolachia or Heart-Wort The Fruit is long small with green Seeds or Grains The Roots have a strange vertue in curing a Disease call'd Antak which seizes on the Foreigners by conversing with the Blacks and can be expell'd by no other Medicine The Inhabitants make Wine of Mille which they call Huyembe or Pembe Here is no want either of tame or wild Fowl Animals nor of Stags or Harts wild Hogs Cows Oxen and Elephants which last are so numerous that the Inhabitants dare not travel without fire to defend them from their assaults Wild Hens breed in the Woods being speckled with many small white and gray spots their Heads are much less than our common Hens with a short Comb but thick and of a high colour and not onely the upper part of the Head but also part of the Neck cover'd with a blue Skin like a Turky Many Silver Gold and other Mynes are found in the Countrey The People have short Curl'd Hair The Constitution of the Inhabitants great Lips long Visages and very large Teeth They go stark naked onely a blue little Clout before their Privacies They Paint ther Bodies with divers Colours but account it the greatest Ornament to have streaks of a certain red Earth They make in each Lip three holes in which they hang Bones Jewels and other things But this Fashion and Trimming eminent People onely use They feed in general upon all sorts of Fruit Food and Flesh of Beasts yet they eat also the Flesh of Men taken Prisoners in the Wars but they esteem the Flesh of Elephants as the choycest Dainty They are revengeful and treacherous dull of understanding and inured to labour like Beasts not grutching to be Slaves Every Lordship or Province produces a several Language Language yet it proves no hindrance to their converse one with another Their Riches consist in Gold Riches found in the Rivers Ivory Ebony and Slaves yet are so fearless of any attempts to be made upon them that they debar no Foreigners to come into their Havens the Portuguese onely excepted Their Weapons of War are Arrows Battel-Axes but can neither boast any number of People nor extent of Land The Inhabitants are according to Linschot some Heathens and some Mahumetans but Pyrard averrs they have neither Religion nor Laws but that they are onely Kaffers The Island MOSAMBIKE THe Island Mosambike half a Mile from the Main Land contains about three quarters of a League in length a quarter in breadth the whole compass not exceeding a League and a half with a white Shore It extendeth South and North along the Main Land between which and this Isle and Fort appears the Bay serving for a convenient Haven Land-lockt from all Winds being very large and carrying eight or ten Fathom Water Within a Stones-throw of which the Ships ride at Anchor This Island hath the Main Land on the North and two other uninhabited small Islets on the South the one nam'd St. James or Jago and the other St George but neither affording any conveniency not being inhabited being wholly overgrown with Shrubs and Bushes Some place two Cities upon Mosambike-Isle affirming the one to be plentifully peopled by Portuguese and the other with Blacks but Pyrard makes the whole so fully inhabited that it seems but one Town comprehending within its Circuit a very large and strong Fort together with five or six Churches Chappels and Cloysters From the Description of the Navigation to the East-Indies made by Verhoeven in the Year Sixteen hundred and seven it appears that the City of Mosambike is very large having good Walls fine Houses and some Churches and Cloysters wherewith agrees Paul van Caerden in the Journal of his Voyage to the East-Indies Moquet allots to the City not above two hundred Houses but Linschot leaves all the places open and unwall'd except the Castle where the Portuguese Governor with his Soldiers have their Residence Garias de Silva Figueora in his Persian Embassy comprises in the City an hundred and fifty Houses but most of them built of Wood Straw and Palm-Tree Leaves For the deciding these different Relations we may suppose that the first Writer who placeth two Cities here mistook two Villages for Cities and Linschot himself mentions the Dwellings severally making one part of the old Fort commonly call'd Fortarez a Velha and another of some Houses close by it Others may have taken a great number of Houses standing close together to be a City however it is we may modestly guess that at the time of these Writers things were found thus There is a Cloyster of St. Domingo with a rich Hospital said to have been a Castle in former time built by the Kings of Portugal into which those of that Nation are put coming sick from Sea Besides St. Anthony St. Dominick and St. Gabriel's Church all lying without the Fort they have another Nossa Seniora do Balvarte built close under the Fort. The Air being generally more than warm proves very unwholsom Air. insomuch that few live there any while free from dangerous Distempers which no doubt are much augmented by the want of fresh Water there being onely one small Spring of little consequence in a Thicket of Palm-Trees so that most of them drink salt Water mingled with a little of that fresh This great Drought sufficiently declares that the Land proves barren Unfruitfulness of the Soyl. and unfit to produce any thing Yet provident Nature hath recompenced the want of all other Provision with Coco-Nuts Oranges Citrons Ananassed-Figs and other Indian-Fruits but these onely in manured and well cultivated Gardens They have neither Wheat nor Rice growing but all brought from the Main Land or from Goa and the East-Indies so also Raisins or Grapes and Spanish-Wines with several other Necessaries both for benefit and sustenance so that it is much dearer living here than in any other Place possessed by the Portuguese in this Coast Here breed great Herds of Oxen Cows Sheep Beasts with Tails as big as a fifth part of their Bodies Bucks Goats and Swine whose Flesh hath gain'd such an esteem that the Doctors oftentimes order the Sick to eat it and forbid them
in former times the Red-Sea overflow'd all Egypt and by its Water took away the colour from the green springing Soyl but after the Water began to fall away and lessen it remain'd at length with so little moisture that the Sun-beams which shine down in that place with very great power make a reflexion of the red Sand from the bottom which seeming to give a tincture to the Water from its ruddiness gave the occasion of denominating it the Red-Sea though Pliny will have it from a King who Reigned here and in Greek was call'd Erithreos that is Red. To this Opinion inclin'd Pomponius Mela Aristotle and others But Quintus Curtius is of a contrary Judgment maintaining that this Sea was call'd the Red-Sea from the Egyptians who were drown'd in it when they pursu'd the Israelites in the Year after the Creation Two thousand three hundred fifty and four according to the computation of Michael Zapuler in his Description of the Holy Land Johannes de Castro formerly Vice-Roy to the King of Portugal in the Indies affirms that the red colour of this Sea ariseth from the great quantity of Corral growing at the bottom Others that the Rivers which pour into this in the midst of Winter having flow'd through Countreys of a red colour'd Earth make the Water seem red and consequently gave it the Name Certain it is that all the Water is like that in the great Sea and saltish In this Sea befell the Miracle which the holy Scriptures mention when Moses with his Rod commanded a Way for the passage of the Israelites to the number of six hundred thousand Men Women and Children not reckon'd and wherein Pharaoh in pursuit of them as he supposed flying twelve thousand Foot-Soldiers and fifty thousand Horsemen were swallow'd In this Sea are many strange and remarkable things as Trees growing Branches of Corral Mushroms Meremaids flying Fishes and other wondrous Creatures But how great diligence soever they have used none could ever take any of them although common and at all times seen along the Coast for the Egyptians believe that they and theirs by the killing such a Creature should die within a year as they say they have found by experience And out of that conceit when in the Year Sixteen hundred thirty one one was taken alive in the Nyle by the City Rosetta the Bey or Governor of the City commanded it presently to be put into the Water again though a Venetian had bought it for five and twenty Piasters and rather than incur the hazard return'd him his Money Gaspar de San Bernardino in his Journey to the Indies by Land saith the Entrances into the Red-Sea lie in twelve Degrees and forty Minutes being no other than two Points of Land one on Africa side call'd Rosbel and the other on the Coast of Arabia lying right over against it nam'd Ara. In the midst of the Passage lieth the Island Mium between which and the Main Land of Asia runneth a Channel nine or ten Yards deep and a large League broad as another on Africa side shoots down to the depth of sixteen Yards but useless because it hath no convenient Haven for Ships and many dangerous Shelves and Banks From this Port inwards the Sea widens all along till towards the end where it grows narrower and narrower the broadest part is not above thirty Leagues or Spanish Miles Petrus della Valla a Noble-man of Rome in the second Part of his Travels describes the Red-Sea as followeth In some places of the Red-Sea unpassable for its shallowness they gather up a finer sort of Corral than the common especially useful to be set in deep Caves and Grotts because it represents perfectly the shapes of little Trees with great delight to the Eyes of curious beholders In these Vegetables many times by varying colours or transparency Nature plays and sports it self with great curiosity The Inhabitants of these Parts pass this Sea in little Barques made of Planks joyn'd together not with Nails but certain Pitcht Towe Many Commodities are brought in these Boats to Cairo which the Proprietors take in pieces afterwards and sell the Planks at dear Rates and then return home by Land to their Houses This way of building Boats without Iron-Nails seems to be no Novelty considering Strabo the Geographer many Ages since speaks of Leather-Boats used by the Arabians for pastime in the Red-Sea As also of some other made of Osiers and Brush-wood with which the Egyptians passed over the Nyle I somewhat marvel'd says the foremention'd Petrus della Valla at the Name this Sea beareth for that it is not as the Black-Sea which is so call'd from the blackness or muddiness of the Water For the Water of this is so clear and pure that Men may see to the bottom and shews afar off like other Seas The Sand is also like that of other Seas so that it hath borrow'd its Name no otherwise than from the King Erithreos who as Strabo saith lieth buried in an Island of the South-Sea and hath given the Name of Red to the whole and not onely to the Arabian Gulf but whether so or no we will not dispute but content our selves that the holy Scriptures calleth it so in several places Upper-Ethiopia Or the EMPIRE of ABYSSINE Otherwise call'd PRESTER-JOHN'S-COUNTREY AByssine Name otherwise Prester-John's Countrey is by Marmol call'd The Kingdom of the Abixins or Abexin or rather Abassia or Abaxia and Habas or Elhabas as the Coast of the Red-Sea the Coast of Abex The name Abyssine derives its Original either from the Inhabitants by the Arabians call'd Abassi or Habasschi and by adding the Arabian Particle El comes to Elhabashi as that by the alteration of the guttural Letters makes Abassinia and Abyssines or from the people Abassenos which divers of the Antients among whom Stephanus in his Book of the Cities Davity placeth in Arabia Felix supposing they came from Africa over thither Some imagine that they took denomination from a Territory of Ethiopia nam'd Abyssi lying under the Jurisdiction of Prester-John under that Title including Ethiopia below Egypt mention'd by Ptolomy Terra Cinnamomifera or The Cinnamon Land of the Antients a great part of the Troglodytian Arabia with some of Libya AETHIOPIA SUPERIOR vel INTERIOR vulgo ABISSINORUM sive PRESBITERIIOANNIS IMPERIOR Notwithstanding all these losses and dismembrings the common Vogue stretches it to that vast magnitude as makes it exceed all Europe having in circumference above seventeen hundred Dutch and according to Pigafet four thousand Spanish miles but we dare be bold to aver that at this day it doth not exceed Spain alone in bigness and that in Africa are many other Kings which possess many more Kingdoms and are of greater power than this so much famed Abyssine To reduce then this unsettlement to some certainty Bigness the length taken from Egypt or rather from Bugia and Nubia to the Kingdom of Monomotapa Pigafet reckons to five hundred and Cluverius to five
from the River Mareb it visits the Kingdom of Denghini the Moors Bagihos or Fuches and at length pours its Water by the City Jalak into the Nyle The Rivers Anquet and Maleg lying furthest and most Southerly The Rivers Anquet and Maleg arise in Damut so flowing through Bizamo and joyning their Streams make the Westerly Channel of the Nyle yet retain the name of Maleg for eighty Miles till meeting with the middle Current of the Nyle they lose their less known resuming its more famous Name In the South of Abyssinie two other well-known Rivers discover themselves The River Haoax the one call'd Zebe and the other Haoax which latter by Godignus call'd Oara springs out of a vast Mountain upon the united Borders of Xaoa and Ogge whence flowing North-East and increased by the conjunction of the River Machi passeth into Adel or Zeila and so through the midst of Gurrule with a full Stream insomuch that Godignus hath not feared to affirm it to surpass the Nyle in Plenty of Water onely it reacheth nothing near so far for it hath not as the Nyle and other Rivers its Out-let into the Sea but is trencht away by the Husbandmen of Adel into many Brooks and Rivulets for the watering of their Grounds because it seldom raineth in that Conntrey The other call'd Zabee beginneth in the Kingdom of Narea The River Zabee and shoots at the beginning to the West with a strong Current Thence it floweth Southwards and encompasseth the Dominion of Gingiro Afterwards passing to the South and as Godignus will have it by Mombaza floweth into the Sea But Johannes Barros asserts it to be Oby having near Melinde its Out-let into the Sea changing the name into Quilmanzi The before-mention'd Godignus reckons five Lakes of eminency in those Parts Lakes viz. Aicha Dambeabahar or Bar-dambea Zella Zacala and Zoay Aicha the smallest of all lieth in the Kingdom of Angote Dambea-bahar The Lake Bar-dambea or Bar-dambea is so call'd by the Abyssines partly for its bigness and partly from its Situation in the Kingdom of Dambea but Ptolomy stiles it Coloe and Joannes Barros and Mercator Barcena In the common Maps it hath two Names that to the South part Zambre and the North part Zaire where they say the River Zaire which parts Congo and Angola taketh its original lying in thirty Degrees and a half South Latitude and receiveth a great increase of Water out of many several Streams and Brooks which pour down out of the circumadjacent Mountains Plains and Woods It reacheth according to Godignus in length sixty Italian Miles four of which make a German Mile and in breadth five and twenty But Balthazar Tellez a Portuguese Jesuit makes its greatest length on the South-side to be twenty and the breadth taken in the midst and broadest place ten or twelve Spanish Miles They say this Lake can shew eight and twenty Islands viz. Deck which contains twenty Acres of Land the others less Upon seven or eight of which there are Jesuits Cloysters now by length of time much decay'd Most of these little Spots are fruitful producing Oranges Lemons Pome-citrons and other Fruits The Water of the Lake is light very clear healthy to drink and full of Fish besides Sea-Horses which come on Land and devour the Fruits of the Field to the great prejudice of the Husbandmen And therefore there is a Reward appointed to all that kill them who have also a further advantage in selling their Flesh accounted a good Food and their Skins to make Alenga's far more useful to such as ride than Spurs because they jerk hard and strike better But here breed neither Efts Lizards nor Crocodiles though they abound in other places of the Nyle perhaps because these Creatures love not a clear Water and rather chuse troubled and muddy Streams Therefore the Cattel feed in safety upon these Shores and the People inhabit there without any disturbance The Abyssines of these Islands pass this Lake with small Boats made of the Plant call'd Papyrus by the ancient Grecians of which also the Egyptians formerly made Boats and used the Leaves in stead of Paper whereof we have treated more largely before in Egypt This Lake about the Summer Solstice increases for from the vast Mountains of Dambea pour down exceeding many great Streams Dambea whereby it would swell exceeding high if it did not find an Out-let into the greatest Channel of the Nyle Many have thought that the Nyle takes its original out of this Lake but without good ground it being rather a Receptacle for it to pass through However it is certain That this Lake affords it a convenient Supply by the way Into one of these Islands the Emperor banishes Rebels and Out-laws and in another strengthned with a Fort keeps part of the Treasure of the Empire The Lake Zella Zella or Zoay lieth in the Kingdom of Oecie or Ogge on that side towards the Kingdoms of Adel and Mombaza The Lake of Xacala Xacala or Sacala lieth not far from that of Zella and each about a days Journey in length Sanutus sets in the beginning of Amara on the East-side the Lake of St. Stephen two Miles long and half a Mile broad and an Island in it in which stands St. Stephen's Cloyster This Empire hath many and very high Mountains viz. Mountains In the Kingdom of Tigre between Fremona and Dambea one call'd Lamalmon Balthazar Tellez and another adjoyning call'd Guca It is half a days Journey to climb up to the top by an Ascent going always round and turning by steps like a pair of winding Stairs but with very dangerous Precepices and steep falls On the top lieth a great Plain a Mile about where the wearied Travellers and Caravans bait and rest themselves because the next day they have a very troublesom and dangerous way to go through very small narrow and sharp and on each side so steep that the sight cannot reach the depth By these narrow Paths coming to the bottom you meet with Lamalmon three hundred Cubits high like a continaul Hewn Rock which out in the Countrey seems a high and strong Castle where the Passage is narrow and troublesom yet Nature hath provided it with certain Steps in manner of winding Stairs which run up from one side to the other very steep and exceeding dangerous to climb up Aloft upon this Mountain also is a Plain about half a Mile in compass and a Musket-shot broad The People in this Mountain live in safety without fear of being assaulted by their Enemies and richly provided of Fresh-water and Victuals From the top of this Mountain they have the Prospect of the whole Kingdom of Tigre Northwards and North-Westwards lieth a Ridge of Mountains which all together make as it were a great Fence or Inclosure The Kingdom of Amara appears full of craggy steep Mountains among which the Ape-Hills are not the least There are also certain Ports call'd Aquisagi hewn in the
Goyame the sixth dedicated to Agapite stands in Dambea the seventh St. Saviours in Abagamedri the eighth dedicated to the Virgin Mary built of very fine hew'n Stone with nine Portals but was destroy'd by the King of Adel or Zeila and the Saracens so that at this day it remains a heap of Ruines in respect of its former Lustre In the adjoyning Cloyster all sorts of Abyssines were kept together with the Chronicles of the Kings as well those Anointed and Crown'd in this Church as those that were not There is another Church call'd Abagarami or Batta-Abagarima also dedicated to the Virgin Mary but ruin'd by the Turks however still retaining marks of its antient beauty in a Painted and Varnisht Arched Roof All these Churches have adjacent Cloysters But besides the beforenamed they have many other Churches dedicated for the most part to the holy Trinity Jesus Christ or St. Saviour to the holy Cross the Virgin Mary St. Michael or some other Saint Gala's or Jages IN the South of Abyssine and Eastward of the Kingdom of Congo over against the Sun and Saltpetre-Mountain and on either side of the Nyle upon the Borders of Monoe-Mugi certain salvage and Warlike People reside by those of Congo call'd Giaqua's but in that Countrey Language Agaz according to Pigafet and Linschot by the Abyssines as Jarrick asserts Gala's or Galla's by Andrew Batel an English-man who lived among them six Moneths Jagges or Jages but by themselves Imbangola's by which Name as Batel well observes upon it they seem to have proceeded from the Imbiers or Galla's of Serre-Lions which Peter Davity says can be no other than the Cumba's who at this day possess many Regions towards the South which they have wrested by force of Arms from the Abyssine Empire whose manner of life we have at large before related In several places of Africa especially in Abyssine there grows a Plant call'd by the Moors Muz and Gemez by the East-Indians Melapolanda by the Egyptians Mauz by the Natives of St. Thomas Island Abella by the Greeks and Latins Maxgraita in the Scripture Dudaim by others Pharaohs Figs and Apples of Paradise some conceiting that Adam eat of this Fruit among whom are the Learned St. Augustine Moses Berzepha Bishop of Syria Nicephorus Calistus Ambrosius and most of all the Rabbies It groweth to the heighth of a Pomegranate-Tree without any Branches and but few Leaves resembling a Reed for at first they appear rowl'd up together but afterwards spread themselves wide and growing to six or seven Yards in length and almost one in breadth so that any may shelter themselves from the scorching of the Sun under one of them which some make a strong argument to prove that with the Leaves of this Tree the Father of Mankind cover'd himself in Eden upon the discovery of his nakedness The Fruit resembles a small Cucumber but hangs together in Bunches the Rhind of a Gold-yellow colour lovely to look on and fragrant in smell The Fruit within somewhat like that of a Cucumber but tender juicy sweet without Stones or Kernels and wondrous delicious to such as use to eat it Another Plant The Plant Bahabab which the Egyptians call Bahabab or Baobab groweth wild here bearing Fruit in bigness and fashion like a Gourd but the Leaves bearing the similitude of those of an Orange-Tree The Fruit pluck'd from the Tree hath not onely a most delicious taste but quencheth the Thirst and cooleth extraordinarily Thus have we led you a toylsom Journey through the Heats and Wastes of Africa in the Main Land we will now give you a short sight of the Islands belonging to it and so leave you to your contemplations of what you have read and observed therein The African Islands 659. stand in this order Madagascar Carkanossi Towns Franshere Imanhal Cokombes Andravoulle Ambonnetanaha Mazomamou Imouze Mazesâ—â—touts Hatare and Fananghaa besides others and the Fort Dauphine Rivers Franshere Akondre Imanhal Manambaton Manghafia Harougazarak Foutak and Sama. Mountains Vohitsmassian the Naked Mountain and some others Manatengha Towns Amboulle Izame Rivers Manatengha Vohitsbang Rivers Daviboulle Dandraghinta Sandrivinangha Monamboudrou Massianash Mananghare Itomampo Rivers Itomampo Jonghainow Morqua Mangharak Eringdrane Rivers Mangharak Marsiatre Matatane Rivers Outhaivon Manghasiouts Mananghare Mana Irin Itapoulabei Itapoulosirire Itapaulomaiâ— thairanou Faroan Lamohorik Manataraven Mananzau Andredi Tenasataniamou Teraâ—minri Avibaha Tsabsacke Fouchurao Juorhon Manghabei Rivers Voulouilou Maransatran Marinhou Jamiami Mandreri Towns Rabsimelone St. Angelo besides four other very Populous Ampatte Towns None onely some large Villages and one Fort. Rivers Manamboulle Manamba Menerandre The Salt-River Siveh Youronbehok Yorlaghe Mountains Hiecla and another Hill Mackicore Rivers Ranoumanithi Ranoumene Sohavianh Soumada Manatangh St. Apollony Nothing considerable scarcely inhabited Mauritius Isle or Cerne Affording nothing but Beasts and Fowl The Islands Primicras Onely some scatter'd Huts Gomorre and Gomara Reasonably well peopled but without Towns the Houses built of Stone dawb'd over with Mortar The Island of Ferdinand Po No People of Europe have ever Traded there and consequently unknown Princes Island One Town inhabited by Portuguese and Slaves to about 3000. Anaboon One Town and some few Villages St. Thomas Towns Pauosan well-fortified St. Sebastians Castle Rivers Two small ones without name Ilha Rolles Ilha des Cabres Caracombo St. Matthias Ascension Island All places in a manner desolate and void of Inhabitants onely Carocombo has one remarkable Hut but many more remarkably immodest Women But they all produce variety of Foul and some Beasts St. Hellen Few Houses but several Cliffs Mountains and Valleys The chief known Church-Valley and Apple-Dale but without Inhabitants Cape Verd or Salt Islands Ilha del Sal A small River and a little Haven Boavista In a maner unknown further than sight onely one River falls into the Sea Mayo Some Mountains one handsom Plain and a dangerous Road for Ships St. Jago Towns Praya St. Jago the Metropolis of all these Islands and a Bishops See surrounded with two little Rivers Del Fogo One Castle and several burning Mountains Del Brava Neither Town nor Village onely one Haven above which stands an Hermitage St. Nicholas Two Havens viz. Porto de Berguera and Fuoor Fole St. Lucy One Harbor but within very Hilly St. Vincent Many high Mountains a convenient Bay but dangerous to come to and little fresh Water St. Antonio Two high Mountains one Village containing about 50 Families and in the whole about 500 Inhabitants Gorce No Rivers or Brooks only two Forts held by the Hollanders Canary Ilands are Grand Canary Towns The Metropolis of the whole a Bishops See besides Galdar and Guya with many dispersed Cloysters Fuertaventure Towns Lanagla Tarafalo and Pozo Negro Lanecrotte Towns Cayas Teneriffe Towns Sancta Cruz Lagana Ortom and Garrico The famous Mountain call'd the Pike of Ten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gomere Palma Both without Inhabitants Ferro Some Towns and a little Water Holy Haven Altogether void of People Madera Towns Funzal Manchico Malta Towns
corners The taste comes near that of a green Walnut They chew the Shell for the same reason as the former Zemale a meer stinking Weed yet used by the Inhabitants to the same purpose with the two before-going and also to cure the Scurvey and Rotting Teeth There grows also the Herb which the Indians call Betell or Bethree the Arabians Tamboul but the Madagascars Tamboure which they continually chew with a little Chalk but in the Territory of Matatane with a Fruit call'd Fouronfourau which is the Indian Areka Banghets by the Indians call'd Anil and Enger is a Plant of which they make Indico in this manner They put a great quantity of this Plant cut off with Leaves and Stalks when it begins to blossom into a Tub of Water and every day stir it about with a Stick When it is rotten which is commonly in three or four days they cleanse it from all Dross and Stalks and the Water which hath receiv'd a dark Violet-colour they let through a hole in the bottom into another Tub after it hath been well stirr'd Into this Water so drawn off they put a proportion of Oyl-Olive and then beat it strongly together to mix it Then they let it stand till the Colour settles down to the bottom and the Water parts it self from it which they draw off till at last there remains nothing but this Mud being the right Indico Then they lay it on a great Stone in the Shade to dry keeping all Soil from it Fanshaa a Tree whose Wood is strip'd and very hard grows high and affords if cut round about a blackish Liquor Ravier a Plant with Leaves almost half a yard long and broad like those of the Aloe but not so thick serving to cover the Huts with and are call'd Fandre Latakanghommelahe the Fruit of a spreading Plant with white Flowers that smell like Jasmine but are much bigger Singofau is a great Leaf three Handfuls long and four Fingers broad growing on a Plant which winds it self round the Body of a Tree like Ivy. The Leaf beaten and rubb'd into the Eyes clears the Sight Rhomba an Herb with great Leaves grows about a yard high and smells like Cloves or Cinnamon It seems a sort of Balsom They have along the Water-side and Ditches much Eastern Cyprus which they call Movita and use it against the pain of the Head Tongue is an Herb like our Saponarie with a Flower like Jesamine but a bitter Root very good against the pain of the Heart and Poyson They shew two sorts of it one with white Leaves being the most powerful the other with purple Anramatiko a Plant of two yards high bearing on the top of the Leaves being an Hand-long a hollow Flower and Fruit. They are of two sorts one with red and another with yellow Flowers The Inhabitants dare not pluck these Flowers alledging That whosoever plucks them as he passeth along shall never want Rain Which the French have found untrue Voame are small red Pease growing on a little low Plant by the Goldsmiths in that Countrey used to sodder Gold with in stead of Borax which they know not They use it by mixing the pownded or beaten Pease with the Juyce of Lemons and wet the Gold therein which by that means grows tough and forgeable The Indians in Malaya call these Pease Konduri and the Javanars Saga using the same in stead of Weights Fiomouts otherwise Voulibohits is an Herb bearing yellow Flowers and thick Leaves which the Women apply to any part to take away Hair The green Herb which smells like Melilot they burn to Ashes and make into a Lixiviate Liquor Fimpi in bigness represents the Olive-Tree with an Ash-colour'd Bark of a sharper taste than Pepper Flaccourt taketh it for the Indian Costus The Bark dried in the Sun like Cinnamon turns white and smells fragrantly either burn'd or unburn'd The Wood is very white hard and strong-scented The Leaves have the same smell as the Bark The Tree Tetech by the ancient Greek Druggists call'd Agollachum and Xiloaloe that is Aloe-wood and by the Portuguese Paodaquilla grows there also to the Height of an Olive-Tree with Leaves somewhat larger than those of the great Myrthus but being bruised cause sneezing Madrise is a Tree with small Leaves speckl'd Wood outwardly but in the Heart bears a Violet-colour Hazon Mainthi or Black Wood is a great Tree from whence the Ebony-wood cometh being the Heart of the Body It hath but small Leaves like those of the Myrthus and of a dark green and the Bark appears blackish There are three or four sorts of them Anokouts bears a Fruit a Finger long but not so thick of a dark Ash-colour with Leaves like those of a Pear-Tree The Juyce of the Fruit put into new Milk converts it into Cream Tendrokosses bears a Fruit like Haws Tarantalle is a sort of Box-wood Sanzene Lake and Sanzene Vane are a Wood smelling almost like Cummin-seed but much stronger The Inhabitants use this Wood against Fevers and Agues and cure with it all green Wounds being rubb'd with Water on a Stone That which they call Sanzene Vane is the best Enkafatrahe smells like Rose-wood 't is us'd against the pain of the Heart being rubb'd on a Stone with Water and laid on the Breast Mera hath Leaves like the Olive-Tree with unscented yellow Wood as hard as Box. Vintang a Tree of which the Inhabitants make their Canoos because the Worms never get into it There issues from it a Gum very good for the curing of Wounds Azonorouts a fine Wood and good to make Combs of Tamboubitsi is a Plant whose Wood resembles that of the Orange-Tree Fatra bears Benzoin Sandraha a very high and straight Tree of a blacker Wood than Ebony without any Knots and when planted as smooth as Horn. In Ranoutfoutchy and about it grow great store of them Kokambe another black Wood like Sandraha but crookeder grows on Stony Places is very full of Prickles and hath few Leaves The Blossoms smell very pleasant and likewise the Wood laid on the Fire makes a delicate Perfume Envilasse another sort of Ebony-wood like the former but more knotty Zaa a tough Wood of which the Hilts or Handles of the Lances are made Tambourecissa bears Apples which in the ripening open themselves into four parts They are within full of Kernels cover'd with a thin Orangy Peel which affords a Dye like the American Fruit Rokou Anakau or Anako resembles the Cypress-Tree and grows at the Water side Asonpassehis brings forth a Fruit well-tasted and is as big as a Date-Tree Vahats a small Tree whose Bark at the Root is onely serviceable for Dying From the fresh Root the Rhind comes off very easily being moisten'd with Water but from the dry Root it must be taken with a Bone-Knife When they will use the same in Dying they hang it together with the Silk or Wooll to boyl over a small Fire with a Lixivium of the Ashes of the Bark which gives a Fiery-Red
Colour by adding to which a little Juyce of Lemon it turns into a beautiful Yellow The Plant Anghive is of two sorts a greater and a smaller The small produces a Fruit in bigness like a Goosberry but the biggest grow as large as a Hen-Egg being of a Scarlet colour and a good taste The Scum of the Root is good against the Gravel Andian Bouloha grows along the Sea-side with Leaves like those of Dog-grass Varaukoko a Plant winding it self about great Trees bears a Violet-colour'd Fruit as big as a Peach sweet and good of taste but mealy with four great Kernels within Of the Wood they make Hoops for Pails and Tubs but they rot in a Years time Out of the Bark drops a red Gum like Blood The middlemost Bark being indifferent thick smells if held in the Candle like Gum-Lac and hath almost one and the same smatch Rhaa in this Countrey call'd the Dragon-Tree from the shape of that Creature which the Fruit doth represent under the Shell which Flaccourt doth positively deny having as he saith open'd several grows to the height of a Nut-Tree and yields Blood out of the Bark Boughs and Body when cut from whence this Tree hath gotten its Name for Rhaa signifies Blood and the Blood is as red as that of a Man or Beast being the same which commonly the Apothecaries call Dragons Blood The Wood looks white but subject to decay in a short time The Leaves are like those of the Pear-Tree but a little longer shap'd The Elowers as red as Fire and long The Fruit call'd here Mafoutra or Voafoutra and by Dodoneus and others Dragonall hath the bigness of a small Pear and the same shape onely thicker at the Stalk Within lies a Stone cover'd with a single Skin containing a Kernel of the same colour and almost in smell like a Nutmeg There are three sorts of this Tree each of which produceth a several Fruit. From the Kernel of the Fruit they extract a thick and fat Oyl a powerful Medicine against Burnings Itches and Tetters and effectually operates upon all Pains The Scum of the Bark cures the Bloody-Flux Lalanda is a kind of Jesamin and grows to the height of a small Tree with Leaves like our European Jesamin and a very sweet smelling Flower which the Women lay to steep in the Oyl of Sesamos and Menachil Honnits Ankazon a small Tree bearing a Flower of smell like the Jesamin but much larger and whiter with a white Stalk of above six Inches long Voale a small Plant bearing an ordinary Blossom Langhare grows commonly amongst Thorns with long carv'd Leaves like those of the Chessnut but much harder and somewhat sharper at the ends The Body of it rises very straight The Blossom hath a red colour and grows without a Stalk on the Bark of the Body of the Tree from the top to the bottom and no where else which chew'd in the mouth by its tartness raiseth a little Phlegm or Spittle and moves to Salubility The Wood rubb'd small and drank with Water or hung about the Neck is said to drive away the Hiccup Mimbouhe a pretty Plant yielding well-scented and wholesom Leaves being wonderfully cordial Horame a great Tree distilling a Gum to the Apothecaries known by the American Name of Taccamahacca but it is properly a Rosin The Tree attains the bigness of a Poplar with long and small Leaves whose Fruit is as big as an ordinary Plum or a Walnut thick and hard The Wood hath been prov'd very serviceable to make Planks for great Ships and Barks Here grows also the Indian Fig-tree by the Inhabitants call'd Nounouk and by Linschot in Portuguese Avor de Rais that is The Tree of Roots because of its great increase by rooting with its hanging Boughs in the Ground continually growing into others which likewise send out more pendent Branches to take new root by that means increasing to a little Wood or rather a Collection of shady Bowers as we have already before more fully describ'd Flaccourt reports to have seen several by the Fort of Dauphin which have put forth four thick Bodies every one above two Fathom in compass The Leaves carry the similitude of those of a Pear-Tree and the Fruits call'd Voanounouk that is Fruit of the Nounouk or Indian Fig-tree in taste resemble the Marzilian Figs. The Tree cut through yields Milk and of the Bark they make Ropes Vera a small Tree with Leaves like the Almond-Tree of a dark green colour on the top and underneath white and woolly which apply'd to a Wound draw and cleanse it Himavale a little Plant with six Leaves on each Stalk which Physically used strengthens the Heart as Cordials and are of a good smell Endrachendrach a great Tree with black Wood hard as Iron and durable under Ground as Marble which also agrees with its name Endrachendrach signifying Sempervive Tsimandan hath but few Leaves but they good against the Pain of the Heart Plague and other dangerous Sicknesses Feaokosse a Shrub bearing a round Fruit like a Cabbage and good to eat Manoavavatte a Tree with a hard green thorny Bark and Fruit like a Hasle-Nut of the Wood they make Handles for Lances Sira Manghits signifying A sweet Perfume is a little Plant whose Wood strengthens the Heart The Leaves smell like those of Juniper but the Bark like a Clove and yields a good-scented Rosin Aboulaza brings forth a Cordial Wood. Laherik grows with a straight and hollow Body whereon the Leaves stand circularly like a pair of round Stairs Fooraha yields a green and well-scented Balsom a powerful Medicine for all Stabs Cuts and Bruises The Women mix it amongst their Oyls wherewith they anoint themselves Mihahots whose Wood used Physically proves very corroborative Arindranto good for nothing but to burn nor that till rotten then it sends forth a pleasing scent Ouviwassa a creeping Plant whose Root resembles that of Jalap and yields a Gum like that of Scamoni which eaten causes a violent Loosness and without speedy help the Bloody-Flux Saldits a very curious Plant with red Flowers standing one by another like a Plume of Feathers The Seed makes a strong Vomit but the danger easily abated by taking some of the Root Pendre bears ten or twelve white Flowers so odoriferous that the Women lay them to steep in the Sun in their Menachil or Oyl of Sesamos Apokapouk hath Leaves like Lawrel and such a Blossom with Fruit as big as an Almond but strong Poyson Nevertheless of the Kernel they make an Oyl to anoint Hair with Oniau bears a sort of Almonds from which they extract an excellent Oyl both to anoint Hair and to eat Voulo is an Indian Cane by Linschot and Acosta from the example of the Indians call'd Mambu and Bambu full of a milky moisture which the Arabian Druggists call Tabaxir and the Indians Sacar Mambu or Bambu that is Sugar of Mambu very highly esteem'd by the Arabians Persians Indians and other Eastern People These are the Canes they cut
are govern'd by an evil Vitang or Planet so that these People account almost half the Year unlucky Nevertheless some among them have a little more pity and compassion towards their Children and after they have so barbarously expos'd them let their Slaves their Maid-Servants go instantly and take it thenceand Suckle it however they account it no more theirs but appropriate to the Person that takes it up or the Nurse Others are satisfi'd by performing Falis for their Children that is they sacrifice Beasts and Hens and shut them half a day as they say to prevent the malign influence of the Constellation that reigns over them for if they should let them live and not perform this Ceremony they would another day be Robbers and Murtherers of their Fathers and adicted to all Mischief If a poor unmarried Woman-Slave have a Child and her Master hath put her away she will not stick to drown the Child in the River or bury it alive in the Ground or otherwise kill it to rid her of the burthen trouble and care of bringing up If a Woman when she is great with Child and is very sick or has hard Labor they impute the fault to the Child and the Woman orders them to kill or to bury it alive If the Daughter of a Rohandrian hath had to do with a Negro before she be Married as they all do none excepted she either causes an Abortion or if she be deliver'd makes away the Child Nevertheless there are some though few that do it not but cause the Child to be carried afar off and nursed by her own Negresses Lastly If a Woman die in Labor they bury the Child alive with the Mother saying That it is better it should die than live having no Mother left to bring it up The Inhabitants both Whites and Blacks Their manner of Eating observe a peculiar and evil Custom in Eating though their Victuals is dress'd very neatly and handsomly The People of the Rohandrians eat with Rohandrians the Lohavohits with Lohavohits the Ontsoa's with their own Tribe and never intermixedly insomuch that no Rohandrian Woman married to an Anakandrian will endure that her Husband should eat with her But in Manghabei the Slaves eat with their Masters They have their Meal-times commonly in the Morning and in the Evening but the Zafferamimi make five or six Meals in a day Their usual Food is Rice Beans Voanzonrouk or little Wheat Food call'd also Voenzou or Mimes and Voamitsa-Ofekque Ignames of several sorts Coleworts which they call Sanzes and Varuattes Oxen Sheep Goats Hens Capons Turkeys by them styl'd Alcanga Ducks Pigs but never any grown Hogs except they Hunt them and then they and their whole Family eat them Many sorts of Sea and River Fish Menachil or Oyl of Sesamos and Oyl of Ovinaa Several Fruits as Vontaka Lamontes Voarats Voanattes Lotfes Sakol the Fruit Sakre Co Sugar-Canes and Bananoes They live also in time of Scarcity or Famine upon certain Roots which grow in the Water and in the Woods as Roots of Ouirandre Oumenpasso and Ouuirouzes For Sauce to their Meat they usually have Ginger Garlick-Leaves and White Pepper though at the beginning they look'd upon it as Poyson Their usual Drink is warm Water or the Broath wherein they boyl their Meat They make Wine of Honey yet they drink it not but in their Missavatsi and chief Solemnities They speak but one Language through the whole Island Language but very different in the Tone and Pronunciation some giving them a short and some a long Accent This Language hath much affinity with the Eastern especially the Arabick and great agreement with the Greek as well in the manner of Expression as in the connexing of Names and Compound-words Every thing is call'd according to the Action or manner of Operation by which it is effected as a broken Tree or Stick they call Hazonfaulac a torn Cloth Sichinrota a broken Pot Vilanghavakqui broken Thred Foulomaitou and so many other things which expresseth the copiousness of the Tongue In the manner of their speaking there happens a change of some Consonant Letters The V is chang'd into a B when the anticedent Word ends in a Consonant as for Exampie Vohits signifies A Mountain but to say Ambohits which signifies In the Mountain the V must be chang'd into B The Letter F they turn into P thus Fasso signifies Sand or the Shore but when the Word An comes before it they must say Anpasso that is In or on the Sand or Shore as also in many others The Lords Prayer is thus Amproy Antsica izau hanoutang andanghitsi angharanau hofissahots Vahouachanau hoavi aminay fiteiannau boefaizangh an tane toua andanghitsi Mahoumehanau anrou aniou abinaihane antsica aman hanau Mangbafaca hanay ota antsica Tona-Zahai Manghafaca hota anreo Mououany amanhanau aca Mahatet Seanay abin fiuet seuetse ratsi fehe hanau Metezaha hanay tabin haratsian abi Amin. The Letters which the Ombiasses or Priests make use of are the same with the Arabick and eight and twenty in number written from the right hand to the left though the Pronunciation of some of them differ from those of the Arabick These Letters about two hundred years ago were brought in among them by certain Arabians who were sent into this Island by the Caliph of Mecha and Landed in Matatane where they Married the Native Women and Instructed every one that would in the Arabick Tongue and Alchoran as they do at this day The Paper they write upon is yellow and made of the middlemost Bark of the Tree Avo almost in the same manner like that of Europe but with trouble and preparation Paper made that is They boyl the Bark two days in a great Kettle with very strong Lye of the Ashes of the Tree afterwards being tender and supple they wash it in clear Water and then in a Wooden Mortar beat it to Pap which they lay together upon a Sieve or Canvas made of small thin Reeds put together to drain and afterwards upon a Leaf of Balisier anointed with Oyl of Menachil and laid to dry in the Sun As soon as it is dry they draw it through a thick Decoction of Rice to prevent sinking of the Ink and then again lay it to dry pressing it flat and even Their Ink is made of the Decoction of the Wood Arandrantes of which the Grandees build their Houses and the Gum Carabe comes from it Ink made which they let stand till the thinner and more subtle parts exhaled it becomes thick again This Ink proves very good and durable though not so black as ours in Europe but the addition of a little Copperas makes it a pure Black It hath no need of Gum the Wood of which being boyl'd hath enough of it self and if it chance to be dry'd they boyl it up with a little Water and it becomes as good as at first Their Writing-Pens are made of Bamboes Reeds Writing-Pens which they
Ilha del Fogo or The Island of Fire Island del Fogo because of its Vomiting Smoke and Fire out of its highest Hills lieth in fourteen degrees and twenty minutes North-Latitude twelve Miles North-Westerly from the South-West Point of St. Jago On the West side you discover another Road with a Castle adjoyning Built at the foot of a Mountain but the Haven affords little conveniency by reason of the strong Current before it Those that Sail out of the East and intend for this Harbor must make to the Northward about the Countrey or else they will scarce fetch it for the Wind blows very hard and the ground is deep and runs down sloaping so that indeed none can be had but under the Castle Four Miles South-Westward from del Fogo Island del Brava lieth Ilha del Brava or The Desolate Island having on the West side a convenient Entrance for those that will take in fresh Water But the Haven lies to the South-East with fifteen Fathom Water so that an East-India Man may Ride there with his Starne moved towards the Shore Above the Haven stands a Hermitage with people South-Westward from Ilha Brava Island St. Nicholas in the Altitude of twelve degrees and almost thirty minutes appears a dry place two Ships length and one broad St. Nicholas-Isle seventeen Miles from the Salt-Island sets its North-West end in sixteen degrees and twenty minutes at the West end three Miles broad and at the East a Mile and a half and seven or eight long M. Figuredo places the Haven at the South side giving it the name of Porto de Berguira with an Islet at the entrance and to the North-West lieth beyond the Point the Haven Fuoor Fole St. Lucie Island St. Lucie a high and Hilly Island eight or nine Miles long with its South end in the Altitude of sixteen degrees and eighteen minutes At the South-East end are two small Islands as on the East South-East end the Haven with a fine Sandy Shore On the South-West towards St. Vincent lies another Harbor of twenty Fathom Water Thirty Miles Westward from the Salt-Island Island St. Vincent and two Miles West from St. Lucie lieth St. Vincent in the Altitude of seventeen degrees five Miles long It hath at the North-West side a half Oval-Bay a Mile and a half wide and surrounded with high Mountains The high Mountains of St. Anthonys-Isle defend this Bay from the West and North-West Winds so that it seems the most convenient Haven among all the Islands yet the coming to it is dangerous by reason of the strong Winds blowing impetuously from the high Mountains The South end of St. Vincent hath a little fresh Water but elsewhere cannot be had one drop St. Anthony Island St Anthony the most Northermost of all in seventeen degrees North-Latitude two Miles and a half from St. Vincent hath two high Mountains the one almost as high as the Piek of Teneriff in the Canary-Islands but both most commonly cover'd with Clouds There live about five hundred Inhabitants on this Island At the North-West end stands a Village of about twenty Huts wherein dwell about fifty Families as well Negro's as Whites Govern'd by a Captain Priest and Schoolmaster all which speak very good Portuguese but they live very poorly At the Northside is a Road in the Latitude of sixteen degrees and fifty minutes North-Latitude The unwholesomeness of the Air in all these Islands Air. breeds generally in the Inhabitants Burning-Feavers Belly-Ach and the Bloody-Flux Their Scituation being between the Equinoctial and Tropick of Cancer affords the Inhabitants two Summers When the Sun enters into Cancer which is in June it Rains there continually with Storms of Thunder Lightning and Wind which continues till the middle of October which Jarrik seems to affirm where he writes That it doth Rain there in August September and October and the Air about the middle of June gets a remarkable change growing damp and foggy with Mists out of the Sea The Portuguese find these Islands wild and desolate Plants but most of them now are Till'd and bare Rice Mayz Tares Oranges Lemons Citrons Bananoes Ignames Potatoes Cucumbers Cotton Pomegranates all sorts of Figs Coco-Nuts and Vines which bear Fruit twice a year The principal Cattel breeding here are Goats and Sheep Beasts but they have a few Oxen and Cows Fowl and Poultry increase even to admiration such are Hens Crains Turtle-Doves Turkicocks Morehens Quails and Birds which the Portuguese call Flamingo's that is Flemmings with white Feathers red Quills and a Body like a Goose Their greatest Wealth consists in Goat-skins and Salt Riches which they send in great Parcels from the Islands Del Sall Boavista Mayo and St. Lago by Shipping into Europe This as to the general we will now descend to particulars The Inland of Del Sal lies almost cover'd with Stones but without either Plants or Trees onely towards the South-East Point hard by a white Sandy Bank are seventy two Salt-Pans Many Turtels and Fish are taken between the Cliffs out of which the Slaves decoct a Train-Oil all out of the Salt-Water for they have no fresh In short such is the sterility as affords no other refreshment but poor Goats yearly kill'd in great numbers for their Skins Two Miles from the Road on the South side of the Countrey is a Pond of Salt-Water nine or ten foot deep into which a Brook runs with very clear water but not held to be very wholsome because brakish St. Jago yields all sorts of Fruits having indeed a very fruitful Soyl Trees of Cedar Colcoes Oranges and the like all along beautifie the Banks of the River Ribeira Korea They have also Rice Maiz Mille Cotton and Sugar-Canes The European Herbs and Plants sent thither grow very well there but must be every year renew'd All the Wine they drink Lisbone furnishes them with but other Provisions they can spare to their Neighbors The Cattel there breeding are Oxen Horses Asses and Goats besides Hens Ilha Brava produces Figgs Mulberries and other Fruits also Mille Maiz Water-Melons and many others Some Goats but they may not be sold without leave of the Governor of St. Jago On the Island St. Nicholas are but few Trees It feeds many wild Cats and Goats close by the Shore is fresh Water in a Pond which in time of Rain flows over the Shore into the Sea St. Lucie appears Mountainous with many Woods and some fresh Water At the West side hath no other Inhabitants than Mice and Tortoises At the Watering-place of the Island St. Vincent fresh Water may be had out of Wells but not very pleasant Below on the highest Mountain there floweth a Brook whose Waters are fresh and well tasted all the rest sulphurous and brackish and for that cause unfit to drink The parch'd ground bears little but stones being every where so bare that there is neither Leaves nor Grass to be found but onely a few Shrubby Bushes
of a Bason The Vines which afford those excellent Wines grow all about the Island within a Mile of the Sea such as are planted farther up are not esteem'd nor will they thrive in any of the other Islands Concerning the Guanchio's or antient Inhabitants he gave this full account The third of September about twelve years since he took his Journey from Guimar a Town for the most part inhabited by such as derive themselves from the antient Guanchio's in the Company of some of them to view their Caves and the Corps buried in them a favour they seldom or never permit to any having the Corps of their Ancestors in great veneration and likewise being extremely against any molestation of the Dead but he had done several Eleemosinary Cures among them for they are very poor yet the poorest think themselves too good to Marry with the best Spaniard which endeared him to them exceedingly otherwise it is death for any Stranger to visit these Caves and Bodies The Corps are sew'd up in Goat-skins with Thongs of the same with very great curiosity particularly in the incomparable exactness and evenness of the Seams and the Skins are made very close and fit to the Corps which for the most part are entire the Eyes clos'd Hair on their Heads Ears Nose Teeth Lips and Beard all perfect onely discolour'd and a little shrivell'd likewise the Pudenda of both Sexes He saw about three or four hundred in several Caves some of them standing others lying upon Beds of Wood so hardned by an Art they had which the Spaniards call Curay to cure a piece of Wood that no Iron can pierce or hurt it These Bodies are very light as if made of Straw and in some broken Bodies be observ'd the Nerves and Tendons and also the String of the Veins and Arteries very distinctly By the relation of the most antient of this Island they had a particular Tribe that had this Art onely among themselves and kept it as a thing sacred and not to be communicated to the Vulgar These mixt not themselves with the rest of the Inhabitants nor Marry'd out of their own Tribe and were also their Priests and Ministers of Religion But when the Spaniards conquer'd the Place most of them were destroy'd and the Art perisht with them onely they held some Traditions yet of a few Ingredients that were us'd in this business they took Butter some say they mixed Bears-grease with it which they kept for that purpose in the Skins wherein they boyl'd certain Herbs first a kind of wild Lavender which grows there in great quantities upon the Rocks secondly an Herb call'd Lara of a very gummy and glutinous consistence which now grows there under the tops of the Mountains thirdly a kind of Cyclamen or Sow-bread fourthly wild Sage which grows plentifully upon this Island These with others bruised and boyl'd up with Butter rendred it a perfect Balsom This prepar'd they first unbowel the Corps and in the poorer sort to save Charges took out the Brain behind after the Body was thus order'd they had in readiness a Lixivium made of the Bark of Pine-Trees wherewith they washt the Body drying it in the Sun in Summer and in the Winter in a Stove this repeating very often Afterward they began their Unction both without and within drying it as before this they continu'd till the Balsom had penetrated into the whole Habit and the Muscle in all parts appear'd through the contracted Skin and the Body became exceeding light then they sew'd them up in the Goat-skins as was mention'd before The Antients say that they have above twenty Caves of their Kings and great Personages with their whole Families yet unknown to any but themselves and which they will never discover Lastly he says That Bodies are found in the Caves of the Grand Canaries in Sacks quite consumed and not as these in Teneriff Antiently when they had no knowledge of Iron they made their Lances of Wood hardned as before mention'd They have Earthen Pots so hard that they cannot be broken Of these some are found in the Caves and old Bavances and us'd by the poorer People that find them to boyl Meat in Their Food is Barley Parched and then Ground with little Stone-Mills and mingled with Milk and Honey which they always carry with them in Goat-skins at their Backs To this day they drink no Wine nor care for Flesh they are very ingenious lean tall active and full of courage for they will leap from Rock to Rock from a very prodigious heighth till they come to the bottom sometimes making ten Fathom deep at one Leap in this manner First they Tertiate their Lances which are about the bigness of a Half-Pike and aim with the Point at any piece of a Rock upon which they intend to light sometimes not half a Foot broad in leaping off they clap their Feet close to the Lance and so carry their Bodies in the Air the Point of the Lance comes first to the place which breaks the force of their fall then they slide gently down by the Staff and pitch with their Feet on the very place they first design'd and so from Rock to Rock till they come to the bottom But their Novices sometimes break their Necks in the learning He told also and the same was seriously confirm'd by a Spaniard and another Canary Merchant there in the Company That they Whistle so loud as to be heard five Miles off and that to be in the same Room with them when they Whistle were enough to endanger the breaking of the Tympanum of the Ear and added That he being in Company of one that Whistled his loudest could not hear perfectly in fifteen days after He affirms also that they throw Stones with a force almost as great as that of a Bullet and now use Stones in all their Fights as they did antiently Thus far Mr. Sprat Gomere IN the West of Teneriff lieth Gomere in six and twenty Degrees and a half North-Latitude a barren Island yet producing Wine and Sugar Palma THe Island of Palma the most Westerly of all the Canaries lieth twelve Miles Northward of Ferro and four from Gomere in eight and twenty Degrees North-Latitude It is small but exceeding fruitful hath plenty of Pasture affords many Grapes and Coleworts Sugar and other Fruits and abounds with Cheese and Milk but the chiefest Trade consists in Wine Ferro or Iron-Isle THe Island call'd by the Spaniâ—rds Hierro by the Portuguese Fierro and by the Italians Ferro which all signifie Iron lieth four Miles from Gomere in six and twenty Degrees and forty Minutes North-Latitude and held by some undoubtedly to be the Pluitalia of Ptolomy or Ombron or Pluvialia of Pliny and Solinus It comprehends some Towns of which the chief possesseth a Cloyster and a Church of St. Francis it hath little Water and that which they have is brackish and unsavory but this inconvenience and want receives a strong supply from a
Tree always cover'd with thick Mists or Clouds except in the hottest time of the day this Mist casts so great a dew upon the Tree that from the Leaves drop constantly pure clear Water twenty Tuns in a day falling into two Stone Cisterns each of twenty Foot square and sixteen Hands deep made for that purpose on the North-side of the Tree When the Spaniards at the Conquest hereof found no Springs Wells nor Rivers of fresh Water they stood amazed and asked the Inhabitants whence they gat their Water they answer'd That they preserv'd the Rain-water in Vessels for the Tree they had cover'd with Canes Earth and other things in hope by this means to cause the Spaniards to leave the Island But this subtilty did them little good for a Woman had discover'd the Secret to a Spaniard that was her Gallant who disclos'd it again to the Spanish Commanders In brief this Tree affords so much Water that it not onely furnisheth the Inhabitants and their Cattel but also Ships which by accident come thither This Tree which the Inhabitants call Garoe and the Spaniards Santo that is Holy attains a competent bigness having always green Leaves like the Lawrel but not much bigger than those of a Nut-Tree and a Fruit like an Acorn in the Shell with a very sweet and Spicy Kernel and for defence and presenvation they have enclos'd it with a Stone-Wall Here grows some Corn Sugar-Canes much Fruit and Planâ—â— in great abundance besides many Cattel affording the Inhabitants much Milk and Cheese The small Islands lying near and about the Canaries as Vecchio Marino Rocha Graciosa Santa Clare Alegranca Inferno and Salvaies little can be said of them but onely that Salvaies is the most Northerly Vecchio Marino or Vecchi Marini lying between Lancerote and Forteventure Santa Clare a little Northward of Lancerote and smaller than Graciosa Alegranca more Northward than the three former But all these deserve rather the name of Rocks or Cliffs than Islands The Description of these Islands Linschot and others add as a Wonder a certain Island call'd St. Borondon or Porondon a hundred Leagues or thereabouts from Ferro which such as have by accident seen greatly praise as being full of Trees very delectable fruitful and inhabited by Christians whose Language and Descent is not known but never any have been able to find upon Design Many Spaniards have attempted to discover it but in vain whereupon some have believ'd that it never appears to those that seek after it Others are confident that it appears onely upon some certain Days or is constantly cover'd with Clouds or that by a special power of the Sea Ships are driven from it Santo Port or Holy-Haven THe Island of Santo Port or Holy-Haven being situate in the Atlantick Ocean opposite to the Cape of Cantyn in the Kingdom of Morocco in two or three and thirty Degrees and thirty Minutes North-Latitude Ortelius held to be the Cerne of Ptolomy others the Ombrio or Pluvialia of Pliny but more probably it seems to be the Pena of Ptolomy from the Latitude It containeth five Miles in compass and was first discover'd in the Year Fourteen hundred twenty eight by two Portuguese Noble-men Jan Zarco and Tristan Vaz being then uninhabited and desolate but soon after Peopled and provided of all Necessaries They have no Haven there but one very convenient Bay This Island bears Corn and other Grain and breeds also Oxen wild Hogs and an infinite number of Coneys besides as good Honey and Wax as can be had in the most fam'd Places There grows also a Tree from which issues a Gum by the Apothecaries and Druggists call'd Dragons-Blood The Island of Madera LOwer to the South appears an Island by the Spaniards call'd Madera Ortelius Syntagm and by the Portuguese Madeira Gramay Afr lib. 9. because at the first Discovery they found it overgrown with Wood distant about thirty Miles from Santo Port and sixty from the Canaries in thirty Degrees and one and thirty Minutes North-Latitude between the Straights of Gibraltar and the Canaries The Form resembles a Triangle Cadam Sanuâ— holding in compass according to Sanutus an hundred and forty Italian Miles and five and thirty Dutch Miles long from East to West and six broad In the Year Fourteen hundred and twenty John Gonzalves and Tristan Vaz both Portuguese sent forth by Henry the young King of Portugal to discover new Countreys first took notice of it whither being come and seeing it as we said overgrown with Wood thought it little worth but an accident happening amongst the Wood uncover'd this fruitful piece of Ground that Nature had so long kept hidden and by burning clear'd it of that which had hinder'd the inhabiting it By this means the Portuguese gain'd it but underwent many hazards therein before they could make any advantage from it in regard the Fire raged so furiously as that it forced them for a time to forsake the Place The burning continu'd seven years among the thick Trees but at length the Fuel failing the Fire extinguish'd of it self whereon immediately planting and manuring it 't is become at this day one of the best and delightfullest Places that can be found The Discoverers at the beginning divided it into four parts that is into Monchrico or Manchico Santo Cruize Fonzal and Camerade Lobes that is The Chamber Wolves so call'd because at their first coming on Shore they found a great Cave resembling an Arch'd or Vaulted Room under a Point of Land reaching into the Sea where were the prints of the footings of Sea-Wolves The chiefest Places of this Island are the Head-City Funzal or Funhial the Seat of the Bishop comprehending a Collegiate-Church three other great Churches two Cloisters of the Order of St. Francis one for the Men built by the King of Portugal and the other for Virgins built by Gonzalves Governor of the Island and a Colledge for the Jesuits Manchico or Manchrico shewing a fair Church nam'd Santa Cruize and a Cloister of St. Bernard Moquet affirms that the whole contains many Castles six and thirty eminent Parish-Churches five Cloisters four Hospitals and two and twenty Hermitages In the Year Sixteen hundred twenty five there were computed in this Island six thousand ninety six Houses which at this day are increased to a greater number The Air keeps so even a temperature that neither Heat or Cold invade it with excess the Ground enriched by many excellent Springs of fresh Water and besides fertilitated with the advantage of seven or eight small Rivers so that every part lies carpetted with a pleasant Verdure or beautifi'd with the delightful prospect of various Fruits always flourishing on their natural Stems and gather'd as well please the Palate as the Trees refresh the Body by their cooling shade But especially it affords an excellent Wine better in the second and third year than in the first The Earth though Mountainous affords plenty of Corn that multiplies sixty fold Cadamast computed the
from Putrifaction of the Air Seldom does the Pestilence in Egypt arise from the Putrifaction of the Air. unless the Nile overflowing the Countrey too high leaves his Water a long while upon the Ground whereby the whole Land becomes as a corrupt and standing Lake that by the Southerly Winds and Summer Heat are ripened and made fit to send up infectious Vapours There being then no Natural Cause to breed this Contagion within Egypt The Pestilence is always brought over from other Places into Egypt it follows that it is brought thither from other Neighbouring and Bordering Places and especially out of Greece Syria and Barbary That which is brought thither out of Greece and Syria and falls upon Caire is very milde kills few and holds but a short time But when it comes from Barbary thither it is most pernicious and of longest continuance Such was that in the Year Fifteen hundred and eighty that raged so furiously that in a short time it clearly swept away above five hundred thousand men By the continual rising of the Dust Why the Baths are in great use among the Egyptians and extraordinary Sweating the Bodies of the People become foul nasty and verminious and therefore Baths are of very great use to cleanse and keep them sweet and free from breeding Cattel But the Women with most frequency and care use Bathing as intending or at least imagining that such Lotions make them more pleasing to their Husbands and to have a gracious and pleasant Scent in their Nostrils when they come together to recreate themselves They take little care of their Hair Alpin de mâ—de Egypt ordering it slightly according to the manner of the Countrey in a Silken Caul but are very curious elsewhere using the Razor where necessary Afterwards they anoint themselves with several rich Perfumes such as Musk Amber Civet and the like which there are bought in great abundance for a small matter as aforesaid This frequent Bathing and Anointing they use not onely for Ornament Fat Women are pleasing to the Egyptians Cleanliness and Coolness but especially to make them if lean to become plump and fat because such Women be highly esteemed of in those Parts by which means some grow Bona-Roba's and others out of all measure with fathomless Wastes like foul Sows chiefly the Jews whose Women are more liable to that undecent Extream All in general when they are Bathing the sooner to facilitate their Design What they do to be fat take nourishing cool Broaths and Cordial Jellies on purpose made of Pinguefying Ingredients to wit Bammia Melochia and Colocasia The poorer sort in the Bannias drink the Settling of the Oyl of Sesamus Seed which they call Thaine or the decoction of China Roots or the Oyl pressed out of the Indian Nuts or the Fruit of the Turpentine-Tree Sweet Almonds Hasle-nuts and Pistaches eating besides much food and Flesh of fatted Fowls with the Broath boiled to a Jelly and mixed therewith Nor do these Lotions and Unctions suffice The chasing of the Body unless attended with a threefold Frication The first is done with the naked palm of the hand anointed with the Oyl of Sesamus the second with a rough linnen cloth and the third with a course cloth of Goats-hair After which they are rubbed all over with Sope which they wash off in a Bath of warm sweet-Water And lastly they lay upon their Feet a mixture of the Powder of Archanda mixed with ordinary water and is very serviceable for moist and stinking Feet drying them speedily by its great astringency At Cairo and Alexandria great multitudes of Houses are appointed for the use of Baths which have many Caves Cellars or Chambers The Superfluity of Baths at Cairo wherein people sweat are chafed and washed containing at all times hot warm and cold Baths but usually moderately warm because principally in use among them The Egyptians keep a slender and sparing Table eating little but often The Egyptians feed sparingly but often They are not pleased with Variety but content themselves with one Dish of Meat at a meal And if Flesh eat sparingly of it as having no great appetite thereto but when they do they chuse Mutton simply cook'd without either addition or Sauce to it But of late some Merchants have begun to learn to eat Chickens They chiefly delight in moist Food Their Food and therefore commonly use Rice boiled in preserved Juices of Linse Erwetes white Cives Melochia Beets Melda Coale Bammia Cucumers or Chate the Roots of Colocasia Melons Dates Musae Fruit Figs Apricocks Peaches Oranges Lemons Citrons Granates The poor people eat Beef and Camels flesh and some Fish as Pikes or Pickerels and many other and among the rest the flesh of the Crocodile In places near the Sea Fish may be had in great abundance which they eat without distinction for the most part salted and sometime half rotten Milk and all that come of it or are made with it is with them in very great use And as they are best pleased in simple Diet of one kinde of Food They eat not many sorts of Food so a little of it contents them For many make their Dinner and Supper onely of Melons or Wheaten Bread some of such simple Broth as we mentioned before and others chew upon a green Sugar-Cane or onely with Figs or Grapes or Cucumers or some such trifling Diet. All their Pot-herbs and Fruits are moister than the European and therefore more unsavoury The Fishes are unwholesom In like manner the Fishes taken in the Nile are fat enough and pleasant in Taste but accounted unwholesom because that River hath no stony or gravelly but a sedimented bottom and the Water unsetled with a flying Lee which must of necessity make the Fishes that breed in it unwholesom The common Drink of the Countrey is the Nile Their Drink which is very sweet but the Christians and Jews drink Wine also as also some Turks and especially the Soldiers that often at Cairo take the Creature in such abundance that they return home laid athwart on Asses Backs in those mad and inebriating Frolicks no more minding their Prophets Wine-forbidding Laws The best Wine for in Egypt there grows none is brought from the Island of Candy Rhodes and Cyprus the Wine of Italy Corcyre and Zacynthe turning sowre presently This Water of Nilus The Water of Nilus very wholesom to drink which by the length of his Current and the Heat of the Sun must needs be sufficiently concocted and made thin is very wholesom for as to the dregs or muddy part thereof the Egyptians have a way to make it clear which they do in this manner As soon as the Water is brought home in Leathern Flasks or Bottles they put it in long-neck'd great earthen Jugs or Jarres with broad round Bellies anointing the edge a little with stamp'd sweet Almonds then taking a handful of the same they thrust their Arm into