he was assured that whatsoever he undertook should succeed well with him In after-times the Order of the Friers Carmelites as successouts unto the Children of the Prophets left here by Eliah had their name from hence the Ruines of whose Monastery are still to be seen with a Temple dedicated to the blessed Virgin and under that a Cave or Chappell said to have been the lurking place of that holy Prophet in the time of his troubles Places of most importunance in it 1. Ptolemais now nothing but a ruine of what it hath been but formerly of great strength and consequence Named Ace at the first a refuge for the Persian Kings in their wars against Egypt enlarged or rather new built by Ptolomy the first of that race by whom called Ptolemais which name still continued though Claudius Casar planting there a Roman Colony would fain have had it called Colonia Claudâ after the conquest of it by the Saracens in the time of Omer the great Caliph it returned towards its first name and was called Acon or Acre both names still remaining in vulgar speech as that of Ptolemais amongst Latine writers Situate in the flourish of it on a flat or levell in form of a triangular-Shield on two sides neighboured by the Sea which comes up close to it on the third looking towards the Champaign environed with a double wall to each wall a Ditch fortified on the outside with Towers and Bulwarkes within the wals so strongly housed as if the whole Town had been a Conjunction of fortresses and not ordained for private dwellings In the midst of the City was one Tower of great strength and beauty which had sometimes been the Temple of Bel-zebub and was therefore called the Castle of Flies on the top whereof was maintained a perpetuall light like the Pharos of Egypt to give comfort and direction in the night to such Mariners as made towards this Port. Took from the Christians by the Saracens in the time of Omer and from them wrested by the Turks with the rest of Syria it became Christian again Anno 1004. in the Reign of Baldwin the first brother of the famous Godfrey of Bouillon and second King of Hierusalem by the help of the Genoese who for their pains had the third part of the City assigned unto them Recovered by Salidine to the Turks and from him taken again by the Western Christian under the conduct of Philip of France and Richard the first of England Anno 1191. it continued in the possession of the Kings of Hierusalem notably defended by the Hospitalers now Knights of Malta till the year 1291. When besieged by an Army of a hundred and fifty thousand Turks it was forced to yield though lost by inches and the Turks fearing left the Christians would again attempt it razed it to the ground demolishing the large walls and arches of it which lie like massy Rocks on their old foundations Memorable in those times for the brave service here done by the Christians of the Westerâ parts of which none more renowned than those of our Richard the first and Edward the first This later here treacherously wounded by an Infidell with a poisoned knife the venome whereof could by no means be asswaged till his most vertuous wife herein proposing a most rare example of conjugall affection sucked it out with her mouth And for the former he became so terrible and redoubted among the Turks that when their Children began to cry they would say Peace King Richard is coming and when their horses started they would spurre them saying What you Jades doe you think that King Richard is here By the Mamalucks when Lords of Syria it was patched together and made fit for habitation rather than defence not Peopled by above 300 Inhabitants nor would it have so many but for the Haven adjoyning which though a small Bay and of very ill anchorage is much frequented by the Merchants of our Western World trading here for their Cotton Wools with which the neighbouring Countrie is abundantly furnished I have staid the longer in this place by reason of the great fame and importance of it as being the last hold which the Christians had of all their conquests with the loss whereof they laid aside all thoughts of those holy wars 2. Tyre seated in a rocky Iland about seventy paces from the main Land well built and circular of form as well by Art as Nature impregnably fortified A Colonie of the Sidonians and therefore by the Prophet Esay Chapter 23. verse 12. called the Daughter of Sidon but by them built upon an high hill the ruines whereof by the name of Palatyrus or old Tyre are remaining still Removed unto the Iland by Agenor King of the Phaniclans and by him named Sor or Tzor from the rockie situation of it as that word importeth Mollified by the Greeks to Tyrus and from them taken by the Luines though known to them also by the name of Sarra the Tyrian purple being by ãâã and some other of the antient Poets called Sarrarum Ostrum and now at last returned to its first and originall name vulgarly at this day called Snr. A City in the elder times of great trade and wealth the Prophet Esay chap. 27. v. 8. calling the Merchants hereof Princes and her Chapmen the Nobles of the World Excelling all others of those times both for Learning and Manufactures especially for the dying of Purple first here invented and that as Julius Pollux faith by a very Accident the Dâg of Hercuâes or if not his some Dog or other whose lips by eating of the fish called Couchilis or Purpura had been made of that colour Grown to great pride by reason of the wealth and pleasures her destruction was fore-signified by the holy Prophets accomplished in Gods own time by Nebucadnezzar who with great industrie and toil joyned it to the Continent But his works being demolished by the fury of the Sea and the labour of the Tyrians it was after seventy years again reedified and having flourished after that for two hundred years by Alexander the Great was again demolished to whose indefatigable perseverance nothing was impossible For having filled the Channell with the stones and rubbish of old Tyââ and rammed them in with huge beams brought from Libanus he made a passagâ for his Army and having once approached the walls so over-topped them with Towers and frames of Timber that at last he made himself Master of it putting to the sword all such as resisted and causing two thousand of them to be hanged in cold blood all along the Shore for a terrour to others This rendition of the Town was divined by the Southsayers which followed the Camp of Alexander upon a dream which he had not long before For dreaming that he had disported himself with Satyres the Diviners onely making of one word two found that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was no more than ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is Tui Tyrus and it hapned
for the cost of the Emperour in whose name Lucan had bestowed this Epitaph on that first Monument Hic situs est Magnus placet hoc Fortuna Sepulchrum Dicere Pompeii quo condi malluit illum Quam terra carnisse Socer Which may be Englished to this purpose Here Magnus lies Such Fortune is thy doom That this vile earth should be great Pompeys Tomb. In which even Caesars self would rather have His Son-in-Law interr'd than want a grave Places of most consideration in it 1. Dinhahah the City of Bela the first King of Edom. 2. Anith the City of Hadâd and 3. Pan the City of Hadar two others of the Kings hereof which three are mentioned Gen. 36. 32. 35. 39. 4. Berzamna placed here by Ptolomy supposed to be the same with Bershabee in the Tribe of Simeon the utmost border South-wards of the Land of Canaan of which more there 5. Caparorsa 6. Gammararis and 7. Elasa all of them mentioned by Ptolomy which sheweth them to be of some consideration in those times though now forgotten with the former 8. Anthedon on the South-side of the River Besor opposite to Gaza in the Tribe of Simeon which is situate on the Northern bank A port Town once of good repute till defaced by Alexander King of the lewes re-edified afterwards by Herod the Great and named Agrâppias in honour of Agrippa the favorite and Sonne-in-Law of Augustus Caesar 9. Raphia memorable for the great defeat which Ptolomy Philopater there gave unto Antiochus surnamed Magnus 10. Rhinocurura so called from a mishap which befel the Inhabitants hereof by mangling and defacing their noses By Plinie and Sârabâ called Rhinocurula and at this day Pharamica Memorable for an old but ill-grounded tradition that here the world was divided by lots betwixt the posterity of Noah and so considerable in the warres of the holy land that it was strongly fortified by Baldwin the first to obstruct the passage of such forces as usually came out on Egypt to aid the Turks 11. Ostracine now Stragionâ on the Sea-side beneath Anthedon and in that part of the Countrey which from Mount Casius hath the name of Casiotus ascribed by Ptolomy to Egypt but being they are both on the North of the Lake of Sirbon more properly belonging to Palestina But most of these being now buried in their ruines there are left none but a few Castles and scattered villages the villages inhabited for the most part by Arabians the Castles garrisoned by Turks The chief of which lying on the Sea in the road to Egypt are 12. Hamones a small Castle not farre from Gaza used chiefly for a Toll-booth to receive custome of such Merchants as pass that way 13. Harissa a small Castle also serving specially for the same use but stronger and of more importance because neer the Sea from which not above two miles distant and for that cause garrisoned with a hundred Souldiers environed with a few houses by reason of the commodity of the water which is sweet and wholesome else little better than a Desart 14. Catio an other Castle or rather Toll-booth with a garrison of about 60 Souldiers in it seated in a place so desert and unfruitful that nothing vegetable groweth in it but a few starved Palm-trees The water which they have there so bad and brackish though esteemed good enough for the common Souldiers that all which the Captain drinketh is brought from 15. Tina a Town upon the Sea-shore about twelve miles distant and the last upon this coast towards Egypt The first Inhabitants of this Countrey were the Horites the Horites which dwelt in Mount Seir as we reade in Gen. cap. 14 v. 6. that is to say which dwelt in that hilly Countrey which afterwards was called Mount Seir. But whether it were so called from Esaus dwelling here as is said before or from Seir the Horite mentioned Gen. 36. 20. as perhaps may probably be supposed need not now come into dispute Broken by Cherdolaomer and his Associates they were the more easily subdued by Esau Who leaving the land of Canaan to his brother Iacob Gen. 36. 7 8. because those parts in which they dwelt did not afford them room enough for their several Cattel came into this Countrey and having destroyed the Horites from before them succeeded in their habitations and dwelt there in their stead âvenunto this day Deut. 2. 22. T is true we find Esau in Mount Seir before this remove for it is said that Iacob at his first coming out of Mesopotamia sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the Land of Seir the Countrey of Edom Gen. 32. 3. And hence a question hath been moved how Esau dwelling there before Jacobs coming can be said to remove thither to make room for him To this Sir Walter Ra egh and some others answer that at the time when Jacob came out of Padan-Aram Esau dwelt in those parts of the Mountains which lie on the East of Jordan called afterwards Galaad and Mount Hermon by which Jacob must needs passe in his way to Canaan which Mountains then were called by the name of Seir and from thence Syrion by the Zidonians or Phoenicians in the ages following from whence driven by the Amorites at such time as they vanquished those of Moab and Ammon they were forced to seat themselves on the South of Canaan where Moses found them But with this I am by no means satisfied For besides that it maketh Esau to carry a Mount Sier with him wheresoever he went it doth expressely differ from the plain words of Scripture both in the occasion and the time of his setling there the victories which the Amorites had over the Ammonites and Moabites being then fresh and newly gotten when Moses with the children of Israel came into these parts which was at the least 200. years after Esau did withdraw himself to the land of Edom. And therefore I should rather think that Esau finding himself distasted by his Father and Mother in regard of his Canaanitish mariages and the hatred which he bare to Jacob departed from them and so journed in the South parts amongst the Horites of Moun Seir that thither Jacob sent his messengers to make peace between them that the reconciliation being made Esau returned unto the place where before he sojourned and having brought thence his children cattel and the rest of his substance fixed himself again neer the house of his Fathers and finally that on Isaacs death finding his family increased his heards of flocks augmented and the rest of his substance also doubled by the death of his father he thought it fit also to enlarge his dwelling and so removed back once more to Edom. A thing not needful to be done had he dwelt in Galaad Hârmon or any other part of that Mountainous Tract considering the great distance betwixt those Mountaines and the City of Hebron in which Isaac dwelt nigh to which Iacob also had set up his dwelling But on what
behalf of Henry the seventh of England who discovered all the North-east Coasts hereof from the Cape of Florida in the South to New found land and Terra di Laborador in the North causing the American Roytelets to turn all Homagers to that King and the Crown of England Followed herein by divers private Adventurers and undertakers out of all parts of Europe bordering on the Ocean Ferdinand Magellanus was the first that compassed the whole World and found the South Passage called Fretum Magellanicum to this day followed herein by Drake and Cavendish of England Frobisher and Davies attempted a Discovery of the North-west passage Willoughby and Burroughs of the North-east So that according to that elegant saying of the learned Verulam in his Advancement of learning this great building the World had never thorow lights made in it till these our dayes by which as almost all parts of Learning so in especiall this of Navigation and by consequence of Cosmographie also hath obtained an incredible proficiency in these later times For in the Infancy and first Ages of the World pardon me I beseech you this short but not unprofitable digression men lived at home neither intent upon any âorreign Merchandise not inquisitive after the Lives and Fortunes of their Neighbours or in the Language of the Poet Nondum caesa suis peregrinum ut viseret Orbem Montibus in liquidas Pinus descenderat undas The Pine left not the Hils on which it stood To seek strange Lands or rove upon the Flood But when the Providence of God had instructed Noah how to build the Ark for the preservation of himself and his children from the general Deluge the Posterity which descended from him had thereby a pattern for the making of Ships and other Vessels perfected in more length of time whereby to make the waters passable and maintain a necessary intercourse betwixt Nation and Nation T is true the Heathen Writers which knew not Noah attribute the invention of shipping to sundry men according to such informations or traditions as they had received Strabo to Minos King of Crete Diodorus Siculus to Neptune who was therefore called the God of the Seas and Tibullus to the People of Tyre a Town indeed of great wealth and traffick and the most famous Empory of the elder times saying Prima ratem ventis credere docta Tyrus The Tyrians first the Art did finde To make Ships travell with the winde And questionless the Tyrians and the rest of the Phoenicians enjoying a large Sea-coast and many safe and capacious Havens being in these times most strong at Sea and making so many fortunate Navigations into most parts of the then known World might give the Poet some good colour for his affirmation From the Phoenicians the Egyptians their next neighbours might derive the Art of Navigation though being an ingenuous People they did add much to it For whereas the first Vessels were either made of the body of some great Tree made hollow by the Art of man or else of divers boards fashioned into a Boat and covered with the skins of Beasts such as are still in use amongst these Americans the Phoenicians brought them first into strength and form but the Egyptians added Decks unto them By Danaus King of Egypt when he fled from his brother Rameses the use of shipping was first brought amongst the Grecians who before that time knew no other way of crossing their narrow Seas but on Beams or Rasters tied to one another Nave primus aâ Egypto Danaus advenit ante cnim Ruibus navigabatur as it is in Plinie where we may see the true and genuine difference betwixt Ratis and Navis though now both used indifferently for all sorts of shipping Amongst the Grecians those of Crete were the ablest Sea-men which gave occasion to Aristotle to call Crete the Lady of the Sea and to Strabo to make Mino the Inventor of Ships In following times the Carthaginians being a Colony of Tyre were most considerable in this kinde and by the benefit of their shipping much distressed the Romans But so it hapned as all things do and must concur to Gods publick purposes in the alteration of Estates that a Tempest separating a Quinqueremis or Gallie of five banks of Oars from the rest of the Carthaginian Fleet cast it on the shore of Italy by which accident the Romans learning the Art of Ship-wrights soon became Masters of the Sea That France and Spain were taught the use of shipping by the Greeks and Phoenicians is a thing past questioning Marseilles in the one being a Phocean and Gades in the other a Tyrian Colony As for the Belgians and the Britains it is probable that they first learnt it of the Romans though formerly they had some way to transport themselves from one shore to the other For Casar telleth us of the Belgae Ad eos Mercatores minimeè commeant that they were not at all visited by Forraign Merchants And the same Caesar found the Seas betwixt France and Britain so ill furnished with Vessels that he was sain to make ships to transport his Army Singulari Militum studio circiter sexcentas duodetriginta Naves invenit as his own words are Having thus brought Navigation to the greatest height which it had in those days let us look back again on the Inventors of particular Vessels and the Tackle unto them belonging That the Phoenicians first invented open Vessels and the Egyptians Ships with Decks hath been said before and unto them also is referred the Invention of Gallies with two Banks of Oars upon aside which kinde of Vessels grew so large in the course of time that Ptolomy Philopator is said to have made a Callie of 50 banks Great Ships of burden called Ciraera we owe to the Cypriots Cock boats or Skiffs Scaphas to the Illyrians or Liburnians Brigantines Celoces to the Rhodians and Frigots or light Barks Lembos unto the Cyrenians The Phaselis and Pamphyli which we may render Men of War were the invention of the Pamphylians and the Inhabitants of Phaselis a Town of Lycia in Asia Minor As for Tackle the Boeotians invented the Oar Daedalaus and his son Icarus the Masts and Sails Which gave occasion to the Poets to seign that flying out of Crete they made wings to their bodies and that Icarus soaring too high melted the VVax which fastened his wings unto his shoulders and thereby perished the truth being that presuming too much on this new invention he ran himself upon a Rock and was cast away For Hippagines vessels for the transporting of Horse we are indebted to the Salaminians for grapling hooks to Anacharsis for Anchors to the Tuscans and for the Rudder Helm or Art of Steering to Typhis the chief Pâlot in the famous Argo who noting that a Kite when she flew guided her whole body by her Tail effected that in the devices of Art which he had observed in the works of Nature By these helps some great Voyages were performed
Egypt Odours from Arabia come From India Gums rich Drugs and Ivorie From Syria Mummie black red Ebonie From burning Chus from Peru Pearls and Gold From Russia Furs to keep the rich from cold From Florence Silks from Spain Fruit Saffron Sacks From Danemark Amber Cordage Firs and Flax. From France and Flanders Linnen Woad and Wine From Holland Hops Horse from the banks of Rhine From England Wooll All lands as God distributes To the Worlds treasure pay their sundry tributes This as Dn-Bartas speaks of the present times so questionless the same or the like Commerce held good in the first Ages of the Worlds Creation God furnishing all Countries from the first beginning with some Staple-commodities for the benefit of themselves and others for the maintaining of that entercourse between Nation and Nation which makes them link the closer in the bonds of Amitie And to this end also serve those severall Manufactures wherewith some Countries do abound in respect of others but looked on in the present Book as the works of men And of this kind also are there severall Polities and forms of Government For though all Magistracy in it self be from God originally and that the Monarchicall form comes neerest to the Government used by God himself yet being that some Polities are meerly but humane inventions and that even Monarchy it self is founded on the consent of men explicitely or implicitely required unto it All Government or Magistracie is called an Ordinance of man in holy Scripture 1 Pet. 11. v. 13. But those particular Works of men which are the most considerable part of our present subject are Castles Towns and Cities of most eminent note which thrive and prosper in the World according as they do partake of those Conveniencies which conduce most to their Magnificence and Greatness Of these Boterus gives us many relation being had to the time he lived in but of those many we shall touch upon the principall onely passing by those of lesser note as pleasantness of Site fruitfulness of Soyl salubritie of Air and such like obvious Observations First then there is required to the Magnificence and Splendour of Cities a Navigable River or some such easie passage by Sea which will bring thither a continual concourse and trade of Merchants as at Venice London Amsterdam Secondly some Staple-Manufactures or Commodities which will draw the like resort of Merchants though the conveniencie of Sea or Rivers invite them not as in Nurenberg in Germany a dry Town but mightily Traded Thirdly the Palace of the Prince For ubi Imperator ibi Roma where the Court is there will be a continuall confluence of Nobles Gentry Merchants and all sorts of Trades And by this means Madrid not long since a poor beggerly Village is grown the most populous Citie in all Spain Fourthly the Residence of the Nobility beautifieth a Citie with stately and magnificent Buildings which makes the Cities of Italy so much excell ours in England their Nobles dwelling in the Cities and ours for the most part in their Countrie-houses Fifthly the Seats or Tribunals of Justice on which both Advocates and Clients are to give attendance as in the Parliamentary Cities in France and Spires in Germany Sixtly Universities and Schools of Learning to which the Youth from all parts are to make resort which hath been long the chief cause of the flourishing of Oxford Cambridge Bononia in Italy and other Cities of good note beyond the Seas Seventhly Immunity from Tolls and Taxes most men being most desirous to inhabit there where their In-come will be greatest their Privileges largest and their Disbursements least So Naples Florence Venice having been desolated by Plagues were again suddainly re-peopled by granting large Immunities to all comers-in And last of all the opinion of Sanctitie either for the Reliques of Saints or some noted Shrines or the residence of some Famons man or the Seat of Religion is not the least Adamant which draws people to it to the great enriching of some Cities And of this Rome it self can give us two most pregnant evidences the one in reference to the Popes and these latter times that famous Town not otherwise subsisting now than by the constant residence of the Popes and Cardinals whose absence while the Papall Sea was kept at Avignon had made it over-grown with Briars and Brambles and buried it almost in its own sad ruins The other in the person of Titus Livius the Historian to see which man there came so many from the Coasts of France and Spam that Saint Hierome elegantly saith Quos ad suis contemplationem Roma non traxerat unius hujus hominis fama perduxit qui jam nrbem tantam ingressi aliud extra Urbem quaererent Such are the causes of the Greatness and Magnificence of Cities when they are once built none of all which might possibly be looked at by the first builders of Cities I mean by Cain before the Flood and by Nimrod after it who aimed more at the love of Empire and self-preservation than at the generall good of Mankind or the particular wealth of those amongst whom they lived Of Cain it is affirmed expresly in the Book of God That being possessed with this fear that every one that found him would lay hands upon him and slay him in revenge of the blood of Abel He builded a Citie and called it by the name of his son Enoch Gen. 4. 17. Builded a Citie For what reason To fortifie and secure himself against all revenge as the Text doth intimate or thereby to oppresse his Neighbours as Iosephus witnesseth Neither was thiâ the onely Citie of the first Ages though none but this be mentioned in the Book of God And that which the Scripture saith of Jubal that he was the Father of such as dwell in Tents and of such as have Cattell that is to say he was the first of those which lived upon Pasturage and followed their cartell up and down with their moveable Tents not having any certain home or habitations as the wild Arabs now and the ancient Nomades Is proof sufficient that the residue of all Mankind lived a more civill kind of life in their Towns and Villages And if Pomponius Mela be of any credit as in these things I think he is he will inform us that the Citie of Ioppa was built before the Flood that the King thereof was named Cepha and that his name and the name of his Brother Phineas together with the Grounds and Principles of their Religion were found graven upon certain Altars of stone But whether this be so or not certain it is that as well Canaan in the West whereon Ioppa stood as the Land of Nod on the East side of Paradise where Cain built his Citie were peopled long before the Flood and so were most of the other parts of the World besides And if well peopled in all or most parts thereof no doubt but they had Villages and Towns yea and Cities too as well for
generall name of Iones and there is very good ground for the assertion considering that the Greek Translators of the Bible instead of Javan read Jovan and that all those who elswhere ordinarily are called Iones are by Homer one of the anâientest of the Greeks named Jaones Now Javan and Jaon sound so like each other that one may very well conclude that they were the same A name not onely proper to the Athenians and their Colonies though probable enough first belonging to them of Attica but comprehending the âoeotians and Achaans also yea and extending also into Macedonia as appears Dan. 8. 21. where Alexander the Great in the Hebrew is called King of Javan which we English Graecia Nor do we much dif-joyn Javan from the rest of that stock by carrying him cross the seas into another part of the World for he might go along with Gomer in his second Plantation And leaving him well setled in the greater Phrygia and his sonne Askânaz in the lesser might then with very little trouble and no improbalitie at all pass over the Hâllespont and plant himself in Attica called at first Ionia saith Plutarch in the life of Theseus Or if any one notwithstanding conceive this for too great a leap and will rather think with Hecataeus that the Iones came ouâ of Asia into Greece as Strabo cites him to that purpose I shall not much contend against that opinion so it be also granted on the other side that Javan not having room enough on the shores of Asia passed over into Greece as a land unoccupied With Javan went Elisha his eldest fonne the Father of the Aeoles or Aeolians on the Asian side as Josephus hath it and the founder of Elis in Peloponnesus and planter of the Gracian Isles which by the Prophet Ezekiel 27. 7. are called the Isles of Elisha And it agreeâ exceeding well with the Isles of Greece which by the Prophet is affirmed of the Isles of Elisha namely that the inhabitants thereof did trade to Tyre with Blow and Purple in which some of the Grecian Isles were such excellent Artizans that Carpathus had the name of Porphyris and Cithera was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã onely from the abundance of Purple which they had amongst them Not to say any thing of Coos Nisyrus and Gyarus and some other of the Cyclades renowned in good Authors for that commoditie A shorter journey but withall a far shorter Territory fell to the lot of Tarshish the second sonne whom Javan when he travelled further upon new discoveries left setled in Calicia a Province of the lesser Asia where either he or some of his Posteritie in honour of him built the City of Tarsus the principall City of that Province For that Tarshish in those early daies should go into Spain and there build Tartessus I take to be a strange if not idle Romance that Town being built by the Phoenicians many ages after without relation unto Tarshish or his memory either What Voyages or Plantations those of Cilicia or Tarsus made in times succeeding as I no where finde so is not materiall to my present purpose which principally is to settle the sonnes of Noah in their first habitations On therefore unto Cittim the third sonne of Javan whom Josephus settleth first in the Isle of Cyprus where he finds a Citie called Câtium the birth-place of Zâno the Stoick thence surnamed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Josephus is herein followed by St. Hierome in his Notes on Genesis in whose time as Pintus telleth us in his Comment on Ezekiel the Town of Citium was still standing so do Eastathins in his Hexameron and divers others The Author of the Book of Maccabees sets him further off giving the name of Cittim unto Macedonia After that saith the Author Alexander the son of Philip went forth of the land of Cethim and slew Darius King of the Persians and Medes cap. 1. v. 1. And after in the 18. Chapter of the same Book verse 5. Perseus King of Macedon is called King of the Citims But this doth no way contradict that of his first planting in Cyprus where it is very probable that he made his dwelling for a time by reason of the neighbourhood of his brother Tarshish Ciliâin and the Citie of Tarsus lying neer unto it But finding in time that Island to be too small for his people and that the other parts both of Greece and Asia were taken up already by the first Adventurers he might finally fix himself or some of his posteritie in Macedonia as a spare place which no body could lay claim unto That either he or any of his sonnes planted first in Italae which I see Bochartus would fain have were against the method of Plantations and he must give them wings to fly that conveyeth them thither when as yet Mankind was not taught the use of shipping or not accustomed at least to make long voyages But that in course of time as the World grew fuller and that Greece was not able to contain its multitudes some of the race of Cittim might pass over into Italy the passage thither from some of the Ports of Greece being short and easie I am apt enough to beleeve and in its proper place shall declare my self for it Nor can I otherwise agree with him as concerning Dodanim whom against all right and reason he hath placed in Gaul making the River Rhodanus one of the principal of that Country to be named of him whom the Greeks mistaking the letter Daleth for that of Resh as indeed the letters are so like that one may very easily be mistook for the other most commonly present unto us by the name of Rhodanim Admitting which it is more proper in my mind to settle Rhodanim for a while in the Isle of Rhodes lying so neer the dwellings of his other brethren till wanting room for the increase of his posterity in so small an Island he might coast along the shores of Peloponnesus and fix himself finally in Epirus by his brother Elisha where in the Province of the Mollossians we shall finde a City called Dodona without any such mistake or change of letters as before is mentioned For that the three furthest parts of Europe in respect of Asia should be planted all at once by these sonnes of Javan is so incredible an imagination that he must have a very strong fancy or be of very light belief which can entertain it Finally as for Thyras the last sonne of Japhet having accompanied his brother Javan to the shores of Asia and seeing him passed over the seas to Greece he took the opportunity of the next streight of Fretum since called Thracius Bosphorus and fixed himself in Thrace which Country he gave name unto as most Writers testifie Nor want there such apparent footsteps of the name of Thyras besides the name of Thracia as some spell the word which may adde good autoritie to this generall testimony there being both a River and an
Chaldaea into Canâân A. M. 2021. Fifthly from their deliverance out of Egypt A. M. 2453. Sixthly from the first yeer of Jubilee A. M. 2499. Seventhly from the building of Solomons Temple An. 2932. And lastly from the Captivity of Babylon An. 3357. That which they had common with other Nations was the Aera or Epoche of the Victory of the Greeks which took beginning on the first Victory which Seleucus had against Antigonus which was in A. M. 3637. an Accompt much used by the Jews Chaldaeans Syrians and other Nations of the East But the Chaldaeans also had their own Epoche or Accompt apart reckoning their time from the first yeer of Nabonassar Salmanassar he is called in Scripture which being 438. yeers before this of Seleucus must fall in A. M. 3201. Next for the Grecians they reckoned a long while by Olympiaeies the first of which is placed in the yeer of the World 3174. of which more hereafter But this Accompt perishing under the Constantinopolitans they reckoned after by Indictions an Accompt devised by Justinian every Indiction containing 15. yeers the first beginning A. Ch. 513. which amongst Chronologers is still used The Romans reckoned first from the foundation of their City which was A. M. 3213 and afterwards from the sixteenth yeer of Augustus his Empire being that which properly is called the Roman Aera A. M. 3936. An Accompt used by the Spaniards where it first began till the Reign of Pedro the fourth of Aragon who abrogated it in his Dominions An Ch. 1350. followed therein by John the first of Castile An. 1383. and at last by the King of Portugal also 1415. The Christians generally do reckon from the Birth of CHRIST but this they did not use till the yeer 600. following in the mean time the Accompt of the Empire And finally the Mahometans beginning their Hegira for so they call the time of their Computation from the flight of their Prophet Mahomet from Mecca when he was driven thence by the Phylarchae which hapned A. Ch. 617. Of these we shall make use generally but of two alone those namely of the Worlds Creation and our Saviours Birth and of the building of Rome and the flight of Mahomet in things that do relate to those severall States Next for Geographie we will first define it and after explicate such terms or second notions as are not obvious to the understanding of every Reader First for the definition of it it is said by Ptolomie to be a description of the whole Earth or the whole Earth imitated by writing and delineation with all other things generally annexed unto it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it is commonly but corruptly read ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as his own words are In which we look not on the Earth simply as it is an Element for so it belongeth to Philosophy but as it is a Sphaericall body proportionably composed of Earth and Water and so it is the subject of Geography First for the Earth which is the first part of this body it is affirmed by the best Writers to be 21600. miles in compass which is demonstrable enough For being there are in every of the greater Circles 360. degrees every degree being reckoned at 60. miles let 360. be multiplied by 60. and the Product will be 21600. as before is said So that if it were possible to make a path round about the Earth an able Footman going constantly 24. miles a day would compass it in 900. days The Earth is divided In respect of men into the right hand and the left In respect of it self into parts Reall and Imaginary To Poets which turn their Faces towards the Fortunate Islands so memorized and chanted by them the which are situated in the West the North is the right hand and the South the left To the Augures of old and in our days to Priests and Men in holy Orders who usually in their Sacrifices and divine Oblations conâveât themselves unto the East the South is the right hand and the North the left To Astronomers who turn their faces towards the South because that way the motions of the Planets may be best observed the West is the right hand and the East the left Finally to Geographers who by reason they have so much to do with the Elevation of the Pole do turn their faces towards the North the East is the right hand and the West the left The Reall parts of the Earth are divided commonly into Continents Ilands A Continent is a great quantity of Land not separated by any Sea from the rest of the World as the whole Continent of Europe Asia Africa or the Continents of France Spain Germany An Iland is a part of the Earth environed round about with some Sea or other as the Isle of Britain with the Ocean the Isle of Sicilie with the Mediterranean and therefore in Latine it is called Insula because it is situate in Salo as some derive it Touching the Continent I have nothing in general to inlarge til we come to the particular Chorography description of them But for Ilands leaving the disquisition of their being or not being before the Flood there are four causes to which they may be thought to owe their Originall 1. An Earthquake which works two waies towards their production First when by it one part of a Countrey is forcibly torne away from the other and so Eubâââ was divided from the rest of Attica And Secondly when some vehement wind or vapour being shut up in such parts of the Earth as be under the Sea raiseth the Earth above the Water whereunto the Originall of most of those Ilands which are far remote from any part of the Continent is probably to be referred 2. Great Rivers at their entry into the Sea carry with them abundance of gravell dirt and weeds which if the Sea be not the more working will in time settle to an Iland So the Corn which Tarquinius sowed in the Campus Martius being cut down by the people and cast into Tiber setled together and made the Holy Iland So the River Achelous caused the Echinades as anon we shall more at large declare 3. The Sea violently beating on some small Isthmus weareth it thorough and turneth the Peniusula into a compleat Isle Thus was Sicilie divided from Italie Cyprus from Syria England from France and Wight from the rest of England And 4. sometimes as it eateth and worketh on some places so it voluntarily leaveth and abandoneth others which in sometime grow to be Ilands and firm land under foot So it is thought the Isles of Zeland have been once part of the main Sea and Verstegan proveth it because that the Husbandmen in tilling and manuring the ground finde sometimes Anchors here and there fixt but very often the bones of huge and great fishes which could by no other accident come thither To these kinde of Ilands Pythagoras in Ovid alluding
the ALPINE Provinces FRANCE SPAIN and BRITAIN with the ILES thereof BY PETER HEYLYN Florus in Prooem l. 1. Populus Romanus à Rege Romulo ad Caesarem Augustum ita latè per orbem terrarum arma circumtulit ut quires ejus legunt non unius Populi sed generis humani facta discant Velleius Patercul Hist Quemadmodum Urbium Imperiorumque ita Gentium nunc floret fortuna nunc senscit nunc interit LONDON Printed by W. W. for Henry Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet 1652. EUROPAE Descriptio Nova Impensis HENRICI SEILE Ro Vaugsian sculp 1652 COSMOGRAPHIE The First Book Containing the CHOROGRAPIE and HISTORIE of ITALIE the ALPINE Provinces FRANCE SPAIN and BRITAIN with the ILES thereof OF THE WORLD And first of EVROPE OF the Creation of the World by Almighty God and the Plantations of the same by the sonnes of Men sufficient hath been spoken already We are to look upon it now as perfected and peopled in all parts thereof but all those parts united into one Compositum called therefore by the Grecians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because the Summa totalis and generall comprehension of all things existent In which respect called by the Latins Universum a name of multitude but of a multitude united Universi qui in uno loco versi say the old Grammarians The great body of the World like the body of man though it have many parts and members is but one body only A body of so perfect and exact a form of so compleat a Symmetrie in respect of the particular parts and all those parts so beautified and adorned by the God of Nature that from the elegancy and beauties of it it was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Grecians and Mundus by the Latins both names deckiring the Composure of it to be full of Ornament and all those Ornaments conducting mankind to the knowledge of God For as the Christian Advocate reasoneth very strongly As he which comes into an house and seeth all things in it ordered in a beautifull and comely order utrisque praeesse crederet Dominum c. Must needs conceive both that the house had some wise Lord and Master who had so contrived it and that such Lord and Master of it was of more worth and excellencie than the house and furniture So saith he whosoever doth observe the most eminent beauties of the Heaven and Earth most needs conceive there is some great and more glorious power who did first create it disposing of all things therein in such excellent manner This contemplation together with the notions of a Deitie which naturally are ingrafted in â the soul of man hath trained up all men in the practice of some Religion though few comparatively so happy as to be practised in the true For though the knowledge and worship of the true God by reason of some accessions in America and the Indies be more generally diffused than in former times yet is the least part of the World possessed by them who make profession of that Worship For dividing the whole World into 30 parts it hath been found by such as have laboured in this search that 19 of them are inhabited by Idolaters who either know no God at all or worship stocks and stones for Gods even the work of mens hands Of the 11 parts which are remaining fix are possessed by Jews Turks and Saracens who though they have the knowledge of God that made them yet abnegating or not worshipping the Lord that bought them they have no part nor portion in the true Religion Then for the five which are behind two are conceived to be of the Greek Communion the other three being divided betwixt âhose of the Church of Rome and such as otherwise differing in some opinions pass generally by the name of Protestant or Reformed Churches Which as it sheweth how small a portion of the World is possessed by Christiaus who only though not all of them have reason to pretend to the true Religion So doth it shew I note this only by the way how falsly those of Rome make Multitude of Professors to be a sign of the True Church and then conceive themselves to be such a multitude as corresponds unto that sign Faultie alike both in the Position and the Application For if the multitude of Professors be a sign of the Church the true Church should be found rather amongst the Heathens or Mahumetans than amongst the Christians or if they do restrain their meaning as I hope they do to those who make profession of the Christian faith those of the Greek Communion possessing two whole parts of five will be found more numerous than the members of the Church of Rome though possibly of less esteem in the eye of the World So infinitely vain was that Brag of Bellarmine though otherwise more modest than the rest the Jesuits affirming positively and expresly Romanam Ecclesiam universam plane orbeâ possidere â e. That the Church of Rome is fully of as large a latitude as the World it self This I have noted by the way intending to take a more speciall noticeâ of the state of Religion in the severall Provinces of the World to which now I hasten premising first this scheme of those severall parts into which it doth now stand divided THe WORLD is divided into two parts Unknown or not fully discovered and is divided commonly into Borealis and Australis the last taking up the whole Southern Continent the other lying on the North of Europe and America whereof we shall say somewhat at the end of this Work Known either Antiently as Europe Asia Africa Lately as America Europe is joyned to Asia by that space of earth which is between the heads of Tanais and Duina Asia is joyned to Africk by the Egyptian Isthmus America is divided as most conjecture from all of them Europe is separated from Asia by a line drawn from the Bay of St. Nicolas to the head of Tanais from thence by that River it self all the length of his course then by Palus Moeotis the Euxine Sea the Thracian Bosphorus the Propontis the Hellespont and the Aegean Asia is parted from Africk by the Red-Sea or Gulf of Arabia And Africa from Europe by the Mediterranean Africa is greater than Europe Asia than Africk and America than Asia They which have entertained a fancy of resembling every Countrie to things more obvious to the sight and understanding have likened Europe to a Dragon the head of which they make to be Spain the two wings Italy and Denmark In like manner they have been curiously impertinent in resembling France to a Lozenge or Rhomboides Belgium to a Lyon Britain to an Ax Ireland to an Egge Peloponnesus to a Plantane leaf Spain to an Ox hide spread on the ground Italy which indeed holdeth best proportion to a mans Leg with divers the like phantasmes of a capricious brain these Countries no more resembling
them than pictures made when painting was in her infancy under which they were fain to write this is a Lyon and this is a Whale for fear the spectators might have taken one for a Cock and the other for a Cat. EUROPE though the least as being in length but 2800 in bredth but 1200 miles is yet of most renown amongst us First because of the temperature of the Air and fertilitie of the soyl Secondly from the study of Arts both ingenuous and mechanicall Thirdly because of the Roman and Greek Monarchies Fourthly from the puritie and sincerity of the Christian Faith Fiftly because we dwell in it and so first place it EUROPE is generally said to be so called from Europa the daughter of Agenor King of the Phoenicians brought thence by Jupiter as the Poets feign in the shape of a Bull or as some Histories say by a Cretan Captain named Taurus as others in a Ship whose Beak had the portraiture of a Bull upon it But why the bringing of that Lady into the I le of Crete should give denomination to the whole Continent of Europe whereof that Iland is so inconsiderable and so small a part I must confess I see no reason Goropius Becanus who holds the high Dutch to be the primitive language which was spoke in Paradise and loves to fetch all names from thence not thinking ic convenient that Europe being first inhabited by Gomerians or Cimbrians should be beholding to the Grecians for its name will have it called Europe quasi Ver-hop by the transposition of the two first letters Ver signifying excellent and Hop a multitude whence we use to say as thick as Hops because Europe contains a multitude of excellent people And on the other side Bochartus a French Writer loving as much to bring all names from the Phoenician or Punick tongue will have it called Europe from Ur-appa which signifieth in that language a beautifull countenance because the Europaeans much exceld the Africans in whiteness of skin and clearness of complexion But in my mind Herodotus hath best determined of the controversie who telleth us plainly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. That it is utterly unknown both whence it had the name of Europe and who first called it so And yet considering there is a Province in Thrace called Europe whereof more hereafter why might not the Aâratick give the name of Europe to this part of the World according to the name of that Province which lay neerest to them as the Romans did the name of Africk to the other part of the World after the name of that particular Province or part thereof which they first brought under their obedience Or as the Europaeans gave the name of Asia to the greatest of the three known parts of the World which properly and originally belonged unto Asia Minor as it since was called or rather to those parts thereof which lay next to Greece as shall be shewn hereafter in convenient place The first Inhabitants of Europe as hath been shewn in part already and shall be shewn more fully in its proper place were the sonnes of Japhet amongst whom as the Scripture telleth us the Isles of the Gentiles were divided Gen. 10. v. 5. which includes all the Continent of Europe and the Isles adjoyning For besides that it is compassed about with the Cyelades and other Isles in the Seas of Greece together with the Ilands of Candie Sicilie Sardinia Corsica the Isles of Britain and Zealand with their young ones adjacent Europe it self was formerly taken for an Iland as being invironed round with water saving where it is joyned on the North-East to Asia the great which very few of the Antients were acquainted with And what are the great Countreys of Anatolia Greece Spain and Italy all which did fall to the Posterity of Japhet but so many Peninsula's or Demy-Ilands invironed almost round with one Sea or other Nor was the name and memory of Japhet so much forgotten by the Children which descended of him but that the Greeks who were the first of their Europaean Plantations retained it a long time in their Iapetus whom they make to be the sonne of Coelum and Terra and the father of the wise Prometheus whom Ovid therefore calleth Satus Iapeto in the first Book of his Metamorphosiâ So that we see how punctually the first part of Gods blessing was fulfilled upon him which was that he would inlarge the borders of Japhet Gen. 9. 27. The second part thereof that he should dwell in the tents of Sem though it was long before it came to the accomplishment yet it came at last and that both in the literall and mysticall sense First in the literall when the posterity of Japhet both Greeks and Romans made themselves Masters of Judaea or the Land of Canaan and the Eastern parts promised to and possessed by the seed of Sem Next in the mysticall when God was pleased to break down the partition-wall and to incorporate the Gentiles of the house of Japhet into the body of the Church which for a long time was restrained to the Line of Sem. Europe may be considered as it stands divided into the Continent and the Ilands the Continent lying altogether the Ilands as they are dispersed in the Greek Aegean Cretan and Ioniah Seas the Adriatick and the Mediterranean and in the British and Northern Ocean But in this work we shall discover them and discourse of them in this following order dividing Europe into 1. Italy 2. the Alpet 3. France 4. Spain 5. Britain 6. Belgium 7. Germany 8. Denmark 9. Swethland 10. Russia 11. Poland 12. Hungary 13. Sclavonia 14. Dacia and 15. Greece and speaking of the severall Ilands as they relate to some or other of these greater Countries In all which Countries and the Ilands belonging to them besides the Latine Tongue which is the now rather Sholasticall than Nationall and besides the Italian French and Spanish being but as so many corruptions of the Latine and besides the English which is a Compound of Dutch Latine and French there are in all 14. Mother-Tongues which owe nothing at all to the Roman that is to say 1. Irish spoken in Ireland and the West of Scotland 2. British or Welch in Wales and some parts of Cornwall 3. Cantabrian or Basquish in Biscay about the Pyrenean hills and neer to the Cantabrian Ocean 4. Arabick in the Mountains of Granada called Alpâxarras 5. Finnâek in Finland and Lapland Provinces of the Crown of Sweden 6. Dutch though with different Dialects in Germany Belgium Denmark Norway Swethland 7. Cauchian which the East Friezlanders or Cauchi speak amongst themselves though to strangers they speak the Common Dutch 8. Sclavonish in Sclavonia Poland Hungarie and almost all the parts of the Turkish Empire 9. Illyrian on the East side of Istria and the I le of Veggia 10. Greek in most Provinces and Isles of Greece by the Greeks themselves 11. Hungarian and 12. Epirotique in the
mountainous places of those Countreys 13. Jazygian on the North side of Hungarie betwixt Danubius and Tibiscus and 14. Tartarian in the Taurica Chersonesus and other Europaean parts of that barbarous people And this shall serve for Europe in the generall notion Descend we now to the particular Kingdoms Regions and Ilands of it beginning first of all with Italie contrary to the usage of most Geographers who commonly begin with Spain or Ireland as being the furthest Countreys Westward and consequently neerest to the first Meridian from whence the Longitude was reckoned Which we shall do by reason of that great influence which the Romans had in most parts of Europe and many parts of the World besides in matters as well Civill as Ecclesiasticall which much depended on the power of that Empire formerly and on the usurpations of that Church in the later days OF ITALIE ITALIE once the Empress of the greatest part of the then known World is compassed with the Adriatick Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas except it be towards France and Germany from which it is parted by the Alpes so that it is in a manner a Peninsula or Demy-Iland But more particularly it hath on the East the lower part of the Adriatick and the Ionian Sea by which it is divided from Greece on the West the River Varus and some part of the Alpes by which it is parted from France on the North in some parts the Alpes which divide it from Germanie and on the other parts the Adriatick which divides it from Dalmatia and on the South the Tyrrhenian or Tuscan Seas by which it is separated from the main land of Africa It containeth in length from Augusta Praetoria now called Aost at the foot of the Alpes unto Otranto in the most Eastern point of the Kingdom of Naples 1020. miles in bredth from the River Varo which parts it from Province to the mouth of the River Arsia in Friuly where it is broadest 410. miles about Otranti where it is narrowest not above 25. miles and in the middle parts from the mouth of Pescara in the Adriatick or Upper Sea to the mouth of Tiber in the Tuscan or Lower Sea 126. miles The whole compass by Sea reckoning in the windings and turnings of the shore comes to 3038. miles which added to the 410. miles which it hath by land make up in all 34.48 miles But if the Coast on each side be reckoned by a straight Line then it falls very short of this proportion amounting in the totall as Castaldo computes it to no more then 2550. miles The whole Countrey lieth under the fifth and sixth Climates of the Northern temperate Zone which it wholly taketh up so that the longest day in the most Northern parts is 15. hours and three fift parts of an hour the longest in the Southern parts falling short a full hour and no more of that length But these dimensions must be understood of Italy in the present latitude and extent thereof and not as it was called and counted of in the times of the Romans neither in the growth nor flourishing fortunes of that State The bounds of Italy on the West and North-Western parts being then the River Rubicon which runneth into the Adriatick not far from Ravenna and the River Arno which runneth into the Tyrrhenian Seas by the Port of Ligorn All that lay Westwards toward the Alpes as it was possessed by the Gaules so had it also the name of Gallia and for dictinctions sake of Gallia Cis-Alpina and Togata whereof we shall speak more when we come to Lombardie And it continued though a Province of the Roman Empire distinct from Italie untill the Empire of Augustus who dividing Italie for the better Government thereof into eleven Provinces or Regions divided Gallia-Cisalpina into severall parts whereof more anon and reckoned them as Provinces or Members of the Body of Italie The names hereof so bounded as before are said to have been very many according to the severall Nations which were antiently of most power and authority in it or to the severall fancies of the Name-giver whereof some being the names onely of particular Provinces were by a Metanimy taken for and applyed to the whole Of this last sort to omit others of less note were Latium and Ausonia the Ausones being a people dwelling about Cales a town of Campania and Latium that particular Province which lieth on the East of Tiber so called as most Writers are of opinion à latendo from hiding because Saturn being driven from Crete by Jupiter hic latebat abditus did here live concealed Latiumque vocari Maluit his quoniam latuisset tutus in Oris as the Poet hath it Nor was this Virgils fancy onely but a Tradition generall followed and allowed of by the greatest Writers as by Europius and Herodian and by Minutius Felix also though Varroâ pretending to more than ordinary knowledge in Antiquity would have it called Latium quod lateat inter praecipitia Alpium Apennini as Servius in his notes on Virgil because it lieth hidden as it were under the praecipices of the Alpes and Apenine hills which cannot possibly be said of Italy properly and antiently so called no part whereof came neer the Alpes The more generall names of the whole Countrey were 1. Hesperia from Hesperus the sonne of Atlas as the Poets say or rather as Macrobius is of opinion from Hesperus the Evening Star as being seated Westward in regard of Greece 2. Oenotria either from the abundance and excellency of the wines wine being called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Grecians or as most think from Oenotrus an Arcadian King one of the first Planters of the Countrey And 3. Italia the name at first of that part of this Continent which was after called Calabria as shall there be evidenced and by degrees communicated to the rest of the Countrey So named from Italus a cheif Commander of some Nations that setled here Of these three thus the Poet Virgil. Est loâus Hesperiam Grââi cognââine dicuâ Terra antiqua yet ãâã armis atque ubere glâba Oenotrii coluâre viri ãâã Faââ minores Italiam diâcisce ducis de ãâã Gentem Which may be Englished in thâse words That Which the Greeks Hosperia call'd a place Great both in Arms and Wealth first planted was By the Oeâotrians since if Fame not lie Was from their Chief-âains name call'd Italie Who and from whence this Italus was we shall see ere long Mean time we will take notice of those honourary Attributes which have been given unto this Countrey so denominated from him by Aethieus called Regina Mundi the Queen or Empress of the World By Mamertinus one of the old Panegyrists Gentium Dominââ the Mistress of Nâtions by others Paradison Mundi the terrestriall Paradise But what need more be said than is spoken by Pliniâ who hath adorned Italie with this following Paâegyrick Italia terrarum ãâã aluââa âadem parens ãâã Deûm electa quae Coelum ipsum
awe the Ocean and imitate if not exceed the like acts of Xerxes and Darius mentioned in the antient Writers as also to terrifie the Britans and the German Nations with the report of such a notable exploit or as some thought to fulfill the prophecie of one Thrasibulus a Fortune-teller of those times who had been often heard to say in the life time of Tiberius his next immediate Predecessor that it was as impossible for Caius to succeed in the Empire as it was for him to ride on horseback from Baule to Puteolis 7 Not far hence on a Semicircular Bay stnads the City of Baiae whereof Baule before mentioned is a part so called as the Poets say from Baius one of the companions of Ulysses in his Navigations A City in the flourish of the Roman Empire of five miles in length and two in bredth so wonderfully endued by nature and adorned by Art that no place in the World was thought comrable to it Nullus in Orbe locus Baiis praelucet amoenis Few places in the World there are With pleasant Baiae to compare As it is in Horace A City beautified with magnificent Temples multitudes of Baths or Bannias Imperial Palaces stately buildings and the adjoyning Mannor-houses of the principall Romans whom the pleasures of the place invited hither and was indeed too great and sensible a monument of the lasciviousness and luxury of that prosperous people of which the Ambubaiae mentioned in the Satyrist is sufficient proof now so demolished by War and devoured by water that there is nothing of it to be seen but some scattered ruins 8 Misenus seated near a great hiil or Promontory of the same name at the foot whereof there is a large and capacious harbour where Augustus keeping one Navy and another at Ravenna in the upper Sea awed the whole Roman Empire But these were places of renown in the former times all which excepting Naples are now only known by what they have been not by what they are The principall Cities at this time are next to Naples it self Sessa the Sinuessa or Suissa of the antients anâ now the title of a Dukedom 2 Ceano 3 Salvi 4 Aversa 5 Venafre and 6 Caserte with others to the number of 22 besides 166 Castles or defensible places Here is also in this Tract the Hils called Gallicanum where Annibal that great Master in the Art of War frighted that wary Captain Fabius Maximuâ by the stratagem of two thousand Oxen carrying fire in their horns by which device he freed himself out of those difficult Streights in which he was at that present And in this Country there is also the Hill Vesuvius that casteth out flames of fire the smoak of which stifled Plinie senior coveting to search the cause of it The flame hereof brake forth cruelly also during the reign of Titus casting out not only such store of smoak that the very Sun seemed to be in the Ecclipse but also huge stones and of asâes such plenty that Rome Africk and Syria were even covered and Herculanum and Pompeti two Cities in Italy were overwhelmed with them There were heard dismall noyses all about the Province and Gyants of incredible bigness seeâ to stalk up and down about the top and edges of the mountain which extraordinary accident either was a cause or presage of the future Pestilence which raged in Rome and Italy long after On the East side of this Campania and properly as antiently it was esteemed a part thereof lieth that little Territory which Alfonso King of Naples caused to be called the Principate extending in length 33 miles and 16 in bredth and was of old the seat of the Picentini a Colony of the Piceni dewelling on the Adriatick Principall places of it 1 Massa by the Italians called Marso of more note for the Hils adjoyning than any great beauty or antiquity it hath in it self Those hills now called Monte Marso but known to the Romans by the name of Montes Massici of speciall estimation for the rich Wines called Vinae Massica 2 Nuceria nine miles from the Sea in a very plentifull and delicious soyl 3 Rivelli a City not long since built which for the elegancy of the buildings hardly yeelds to Naples 4 Malfi or Amalphi an Arch-Bishops See in which it is supposed that the Mariners Compass was first found out It is situate on the Sea side and giveth name to the coast of Amalfe fenced with Hils or Mountains of so great an height that to look down into the Vallles or the Sea adjoyning makes men sick and giddy A Town of great note were there nothing else to commend it to our observation for the finding out of the Mariners Compass devised and contrived here about the year 1300 by one Iohn Flavio a native or inhabitant of it 5 Salern about a mile from the Sea the title of the Prince of Salern and an Universitie but chiefly for the study of Physick the Doctors of which wrote the Book called Schola Salerni dedicated to a King of England not to K. Henry the 8. as it is conceived for then the Commentary on it written by Arnoldus Villanovanus who lived about the year 1313 must needs have been before the Text. And therefore I conceive it dedicated either to King Richard the first or King Edward the first who in their journeys towards the Holy Land might bestow a visit on this place and give some honourary incouragement to the Students of it Through this Principate or this part of Campania runs the River of Silarus crossing in a manner the very midst of it There are sayd to be in this small Territory fifteen good Towns and two hundred and thirteen Castles or walled places 2 North of Campania lyeth the Province now called ABRUZZO bounded on the East with Puglia or Apulia on the West with Marca Anconâtana on the North with the Adriatick Sea and on the South with the Apennine It is called Aprutium by the Latins the Country heretofore of the antient Samnites a people which held longer wars with the state of Rome than almost all Italy besides as keeping them in continuall action for the space of 70 years together besides many after-claps In which long course of Wars the Romans were so hardly put to their shifts that they were four times fain to have recourse to the last refuge which was the choosing of Dâctatâââ and yet came off so often with success and victory that it afforded them the honour of thirty Triumphs But these Samnites as they were a potent so they were also a compound Nation consisting of the Ferentani Caraceni Peligni Praecatini Vestini Hirpini and Samnites properly so called into which name the rest of the inferiour Tribes were after swallowed The chief City of the whole was called Samnium whence they had their name which in the conclusion of the War was so defaced by Papyrius the Roman Consul ut hodie Samnium in ipso Samnio requiratur that not improperly
into three small Provinces that is to say 1. Vall de Noto 2. Mazara and 3. Mona to which the Isles adjoyning may add a fourth 1. VALLIS DE NOTO taketh up the Eastern parts of the Iland The chief Cities of which are 1. Syracusa once the Metropolis of the whole Iland and a most flourishing Common-wealth It was as Tully reports the greatest and goodliest City of all that wene possess'd by the Greeks for situation very strong and of an excellent prospect from every entrance both by Sea and Land The Port thereof which had the Sea on both sides of it was for the most part invironed with beautifull buildings and that part of it which was without the City was on both sides banked up and sustained with very fair ãâã of Marble Nor was it only the goodliest City of the Greeks as Tullie tells us but the greatest also of the world as is said by Strabo by whom it is affirmed that without the outmost wall thereof for it was invironed with three walls it contained one hundred and eighty Furlongs in compass which of our measure cometh to eighteen miles it being compounded of four Towns made up into one that is to say Insula or the Isle Acradine Neapolis and Tyche besides the Fort called Hexapla which commanded the rest the greatness of all which the ruins and foundations of it do still demonstrate It standeth North of the Promontory called Pachiâus and was built by Archias of Corinth about the time of Jotham King of Judaâ who being for an unnaturall rape committed on a young Gentleman banished his Countrey together with his Friend and Companion Miscellus consulted with the Oracle at Delphâs âow and in what place they should dispose of themselves The Oracle demanding whether they most affected wealth or health Miscellus answered health and Archias wealth and thereupon the former was directed to setle himself at Cortona in Italie and the other here Nor did the Oracle deceive him in his expectation this Town by reason of its beautifull and commodious Port proving of greatest trade and wealth next to Carthage it self in those times of the world It was the custom of this Town when any of the Citizens grew too potent to write his name ãâ¦ã Olive leaf which being put into his hand did without more ãâã condemn him to banishment for five years and was called Petalisme from the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifying ãâã leafâ yet could not this device so much secure them in the possession of their so much-defined Freedom but that this City fell oftener into the power of Tyrants than any one City in the world That which is now remaining of it is the work of Augustus who after a second destruction of it in the time of Pompey sent a Colonie hither and built upon the Isle and the parts neer to it But now the whole Isle Ortygia the Antients called it is taken up with a very strong Castle the whole City also being very well walled and held by a Garrison of Spaniards 2. Noto which giveâ name to this whole Division A City which heretofore contended with Syracuse in point of greatness situate on a very high Rock unaccessible on all sides but by one narrow passage and having under the Cape of Passari a very fair and capacious Harbour the Key of Sicil on that side 3. Augusta fituate on the shore also and of so large a Haven that it could never be fortified 4. Castro Giovanni a Town of about four thousand Families situate in a wholesom air and a fruitfull soyl which they hold to be the very Navell and exact middle of the Iland It is also much prized for mines of most excellent Salt 5. Lentini famous for its Lake whose fishing is farmed for eighteen thousand Crowns yeerly It was antiently called Leontium and stood somwhat North of Syracusa with which continually in war either to preserve their own Liberties or get the Soveraignty of the other 6. Enna a midland Town whence Pluto is said to have ravished Proserpine In after times the dwelling of that Syrus Ennus who stirred up the Roman Slaves against their Lords and having broke open the common prisons and received all such as came unto him patched up an Army of forty thousand This war the Roman Writers call Bellum Servile ended at last but with no small difficulty by the valour and good fortune of P. Ruptlius 2. MAZARA containeth all the West part of the Iland The chief Cities whereof 1. Agrigentum now called Gergenti famous for Phalaris the Tyrant and his torturing Perillus in a Brazen Bull which he had made for the destruction and torture of others Of which aptly Ovid. Nec enim lex justior ulla est Quam necis Artifices arte perire sua Most just it is a man should be tormented With that which first his cruell wit invented It was said antiently of the people of this City that they built as if they should never dye and eat as if they were sure to live no longer 2. Palermo antiently called Panormus and then a Colony of the Phoenicians now the chief City of Sicil and the seat of the Spanish Vice-Roy Situate on the West Cape of the Iland looking towards Sardinia beautified with large streets delicate buildings strong walls and magnificent Temples It hath no naturall Port appertaining to it Drepanum serving antiently as the Port thereof but of late there is an Haven forced out by a mighty Pierre a work of vast expence and worthy of the greatness of Rome It is also an Arch-bishops See and an University 3. Monreal commonly called Morreal famous for the Church the Archbishops See It is called in Latine Mons Regalis 4. Drepanum now called Trapani situate on a Promontory thrusting into the Sea not far from that of Lilybaeum a Town well fortified in regard of the ill neighbourhood of the Moors who do often pillage on these coasts and having the command of a very fair Port. The Inhabitants of this place are said to be the best Seamen of Sicil. 5. Mazara which gives name unto all this Vale situate South of Lilybaeum and not far from Selinus 6. Eryx situate on a mountain over-looking the Sea said by the Antients to have took this name from Eryx the sonne of Venus slain here by Hercules memorable in those elder times for being the Seat of K. Acestes who so kindly entertained Aeneas and his wandring Trojans and a magnificent Temple in which Venus was worshipped who from hence was called Erycina as sive tu mavis Erycina ridens in the Poet Horace This was the last Town which the Carthaginians held in Sicil on the surrendry whereof by Amilcar the Father of Annibal at the end of the first Punick War it was conditioned by the Romans amongst other things that the Carthagintans should relinquish all the clame or title which they had to any part of this Iland which thereby fell unto the Romans the State of Syracusa excepted onely
the Lombards the foundation of the houses of Free-stone the rest of Bricks built with Arched Cloysters towards the street under which one may walk dry in the greatest rain A City honoured with many Palaces of the neighbouring Nobles the chief University of Italy and the retiring place of the Popes The Civill Law is much studied here insomuch that from hence proceeded the famous Clvilians Johannes Andreas Azâ Bartolus and Socinâs I believe they have built Castles in the air which ascribe the founding of this University to Theodosius the 2d. The Charter of this foundation dated Ano. 423. is an idle and foolish thing For there it is said that at the institution there were present Gualter Earl of Poictiers Embassador for the King of England and Baldwin Earl of Flanders for the King of France when at that time neither those Earldoms or those Kingdoms were in rerum natura It is fituate on the river Aposa and was by former Writers called Felsina Neer unto this Town in a Demy-Iland called Forcelli was that meeting between Augustus Antony and Lepidus wherein they agreed on the Triumvirate dividing the Empire and City of Rome among themselves Which combination was confirmed by the ensuing Proscription wherein that they might be revenged on Cicero Lepidus proscribed his Brother Antonius his Uncle 2. Rimini antiently called Ariminum seated on the mouth of the River Rubicon which in those times divided Italie from Gaule upon the bank whereof neer unto this Town there was an old Marble Pillar having on it a Latine Inscription to this purpose viz. Leave here thy Colours and lay down thine Arms and pass not with thy Forces beyond the Rubicon whosoever goeth against this command let him be held an Enemy to the people of ROME Which Rule when Caesar had transgressed and surprized this City he so frighted Pompey and his faction that they abandoned Italie and Rome it self and withdrew themselves into Epirus It is said that Caesar dreamed the night before that he carnally knew his own Mother whereby the South-sayers gathered that he should be Lord of Rome which was the common Mother of them all Which dream and severall prodigies happening at the same time with it did so incourage him in his enterprize that he is said at the passing over Rubicon to have said these words Eamus quo nos Divâm monita c. Let us go whether the sins of our Enemies and the prodigies of the Gods do call us In memory of which venturous but fortunate action he caused a monument to be erected in this City with his name and Titles It was antiently a Roman Colony and in the bustles happening betwixt the Pope and the Emperor was seized on by the Malatesti as Bononia was by the Bentivoli two potent Families of these parts who held them in defiance of the Powers of Rome till they were reduced again unto the Church by Pope Julio the second 3. Cervia on the Adriatick Sea where there is made so much Salt that they furnish therewith all their neighbours of Marca Anconitana and a great part of Lombardie the Pope receiving for his Customes of this one commoditie no less than 60000. Crowns per annum 4. Furlii called of old Forum Livii one of the Towns belonging properly to the Exarchate of Ravenna seated in a very pleasant air and a fruitfull soyl betwixt two fresh streams of which the one is called Ronchus and the other Montonus 5. Faventia now called Faenza on the banks of Anemus a calm gentle River an antient City but well peopled much benesited by the Flax which groweth in the adjoyning fields and the Earthen Vessells which they vend to most parts of Italie It was first given unto the Popes by Desiderius the last King of the Lombards whom they but sorrily requited for so great a curtesie 6. Sarsina an old City seated at the foot of the Apennine the birth place of Plautus the Comaedian 7. Imola antiently called Forum Cornelii and 8. Cesena Cities both of them of no small Antiquity but this last the fairer built the better peopled and the more strongly fortified 9. Ravenna once beautified with one of the fairest Havens in the world and for that cause made the Road of one of the two Navies which Augustus kept always manned to command the whole Empire of Rome the other riding at Misenus in Campania This of Ravenna being in the upper Sea awed and defended Dalmatia Greece Crete Cyprus Asia c. the other at Misenus in the lower Sea protected and kept under France Spain Africk Aegypt Syria c. The walls of this City are said to have been built or repaired by Tiberius Caesar the whole Citie to have been much beautified by Theodoricus King of the Gothes who built here a most stately and magnificent Palace the ruins whereof are still easily discernable The private buildings are but mean the publick ones are of a grave but stately structure Of which the principall heretofore was the Church of S. Maries the Round whose roof was of one entire stone and honoured with the rich Sepulchre of the said King Theodorick which the souldiers in the sack of this City by the French pulled down together with the Church it self onely to get the Jewells and Medalls of it The principall at the present is the Church of S. Vitalis the pavement whereof is all of Marble and the walls all covered with precious stones of many sorts but unpolished as they were taken out of Mines which sheweth as well the magnificence as Antiquity of it The Patriarchs of this City in regard it was so long the Regall and Imperiall Seat have heretofore contended for precedency with the Popes themselves this City having been antiently the Metropolis of the Province called Flaminia afterwards honoured with the Seat of the Emperor Honorius and his successors next of the Gothish Kings then of the Exarchs and last of its Patriarchs And it was chosen for this purpose because of the plentifull Territory since covered with water and the conveniency of the Haven at this day choaked though lately by expence of a great deal of treasure the Fens about the City have been very much drained and the Bogs in some places turned to fruitfull Fields to the great benefit hereof both for health and pleasure As for the Exarchs who had their residence in this City they were no other than the Vice-Roys or Lieutenants of the Eastern Emperors Concerning which we are to know that the Kingdom of the Gothes in Italie was no sooner destroyed by Narses but the Lombards entred To give a stop to whose successes and preserve so much unto the Empire as was not already conquered by them it was thought good by Justine the second to send thither an Imperiall Officer of principall command and note whom he honoured with the title of Exarch His residence setled at Ravenna as standing most commodiously to hinder the incursions of the barbarous Nations and withall to receive such aids
of the water and the Holy Iland consisting of three distinct parts or members Of these the least is that which they call La Isola but antiently the Holy Iland first made an Iland by the Corn Straw and other Goods of the Tarquins which the Senate not vouchsafing to convert to any publick or private use commanded to be flung into the River where it sunk and setled to an Iland and after called the Holy Iland from a Temple herein built unto Esculapius brought hither from Epidaurus in the shape of a Serpent This Iland is not above a quarter of a mile in length and hardly half so much in bredth but full of stately Churches and beautifull houses Next to this is that which they call Trastevere or Trans-Tiberina but of old Janiculo from the mountain of that name included in it called also Civitas Ravennatium or the City of the men of Ravenna of the Souldiers which Augustus kept at Ravenna against Antonius and after placed in this out-part of the City which by reason of the unwholsomeness of the air is inhabited onely by Artizans and poor people yet compassed about with walls except on that side next the water and adorned with many goodly Churches and some handsome buildings But the chief glory of the City conâisteth in that part of it which is called Il Borgo lying on the North side of the other but disjoyned from it compassed about with walls by Pope Leo the 4. and from thence called Civitas Lâonina For in this part there are 1 the Churcb of S. Peter which were it once finished would be one of the rarest buildings in all the World 2 The Castle of S. Angelo impregnable unless by Famin. 3 The Popes Palace called Belvidere which with the Gardens thereof was compassed about with a very high wall by Pope Nicolas the fift and had this name from the fair prospect which it hath in the same sence as Belvoir Castle here in England the Barony and Mansion of the Earls of Rutland A Palace of magnificence and receipt enough 4 The Library of the hill Vatican properly called the Palatine but more commonly the Vatican Library a Library was founded by Sixtus the 4th who not only stored it with the choicest books he could pick out of Europe but allowed also a large revenue for the perpetuall augmentation of it Bibliothecam Palatinam in Vaticano toto terrarum orbe celebrem advectis ex omni Europa libris construxit proventusque certos c. So Onuphrius When the Duke of Burbon sacked Rome An. 1527 it was much defaced and ransacked but by the succeeding Popes it hath been again recovered to its former fame and beauty Rome is now an University which was founded by Urban the fourth at whose request Thomas Aquinas professed here Pope Nicholas the fifth was a speciall Benefactor to the same and after him Leo the tenth who revived the Greek learning and language which were in these parts almost forgotten And finally to this place are brought all the treasures of those parts of Christendom subject to the Popes authority partly for the expence of strangers which do there remain on their severall pleasures or occasions and partly for the expeditions which are there obtained for the Investitures of Bishopricks and Buls of Benefices Indulgences and other matters of Court-holy-water and partly in the Pensions which are payd there to the Cardinals and other Ministers of those Kings and Princes which know best how to make their ends of the Popes Ambitions So that it may be truly sayd there came not more Tributes into Old Rome from the conquered Provinces than hath been bronght into the New from the subject Churches which have submitted to the power of the Roman Prelates and that they have as great command now under the pretence of Religion as ever they had formerly by force of Arms. So truly was it sayd by Prosper of Aquitane if my memory fayl not Roma caput mundi quicquid non possidit Armis Religione tenet This is to say What Rome subdu'd not with the Sword She holds by colour of the Word But yet there wants the Genius of the antient City the power and naturall courage of the old Inhabitants which held the same against the bravery and assaults of all Forein Enemies this City during the time of the antient Romans being never took but by the Galls but since Pontificall it hath been made a Prey to all Barbarous Nations and never was besieged by any that did not take it In a word the city of Rome as now it standeth is but the carcass of the old of which it retains nothing but the ruins and the cause of them her sins The Popes much brag of the foundation of their Church and the authority of S. Peter whose being there is indeed constantly attested by most antient Writers insomuch that Calvin though no friend to the Popes of Rome yet propter Scriptorum consensum in regard of the unanimous consent of the primitive times did not think fit to controvert it The silence of the Scriptures is a Negative Argument and concludes nothing to the contrary against so great a Cloud of unquestioned Witnesses as soberly and positively have affirmed the same And yet I would not have it thought by the captious Remanists that I conceive that it makes any thing at all for the Popes Supremacy because he siâs in Peters seat no more than it did make for Vibius Rufus as Dion doth relate the Story to attain Tullies eloquence or Caesars power because he maried Tullies widow and bought Caesars chair though the poor Gentleman did befool himself with this opinion that he should be Master of them both Of which see Lib. LVII And yet the Popes relie so much upon this fancy of being the direct heirs of S. Peter and all his preheminences that all things which they say or do must be entituled to S. Peter Their Throne must be S. Peters Chair their Church S. Peters Ship their Lands S. Peters Patrimony their Tributes and exactions must be called Peter-pence their Excommunications âulminated in S. Peters name and all their Buls and Faculties sealed Annulo Piscatoris with S. Peters Signet Nay they went so far at the last that Pope Steven not being contented to be Peters Successor did take upon him in plain terms to be Peter himself For being distressed by Astulphus King of the Lombards he sends for aid unto King Pepin in this following stile Petrus Apostolus JESU CHRISTI c. i.e. Peter the Apostle of JESUS CHRIST to you the most illustrious King Pepin and to all Bishops Abbots c. I the Apostle Peter whose adopted sonnes you are admonish you that you presently come and defend this City c. And doubt you not but trust assuredly that I my self as if I stood before you do thus exhort you c. and that I Peter the Apostle of God will at the last day yeeld you mutuall kindnesses and prepare you Tabernacles
ãâã how litle he is able to do by Sea may be best seen out of the aid which he sent to the Venetians at the famous Battell of Lepanto wherein he furnished them with no more than twelve Gallies and those too hired of the Duke of Florence The Venetians in the Adriatick and the Florentines in the Tuscan Seas having all the Trade and consequently all the power in the seas of Italie 'T is true the Pope was bound by the capitulation to bear the fift part of the charge of the war and with the help of the rest of the Princes of Italie who were to march under his colours to set forth 50000 Foot and 4500 Horse which is as great an Argument of his riches and power by land as the other is of his weakness at sea Having a purpose in the prosecution of this Work to mention such particular Orders of Knighthood as most Countries have given beginning to I will here set down the Orders of such Popish Spirituall Knights or Friers which his holy benediction hath erected and âat allowance doth maintain And for our better proceeding we will begin with the originall of a Monasticall life and then we will make speciall mention of some of the Romish Votaries of both sexes Know then that under the seventh Persecution raised against the Church by Decius one Paulus born at Thebes in Egypt retired to a private cave under the foot of a Rock An o 260. Here he is sayd to have lived one hundred years and to have been seen of no man but one Anthony who was at his death This Anthony was the first that followed the example of Paulus a man of a noble house and one that sold all his estate that he might the more privately injoy himself He lived an hundred and fifty years and is called the Father of the Monks To these beginnings doth Polydore Virgil refer the originall of the Monks and religious orders the name Monk comming from the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because of their lonely and solitary lives Those of the religious orders are called Fratres and in English Friers from the French word Frere which signifieth a Brother and that either because of their brotherly cohabitation or else because they are Fratres in malo brethren in mischief and design The foundation of Monasticall life thus layd by Paulus and Anthony the world increased so fast in Monks and Eremites that it seemed necessary to prescribe them orders Hereupon Saint Basil gathered them together living formerly dispersed and is said to be the first that built them Monasteries He is also said to have ordained the three Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience to have instructed them in good Arts true Religion and in the service of God with Hymns Prayers and Watching Of this order there are not many in the Latin Church but good plenty of them in the Greek They are bound to abstain from all kind of flesh and are called Monks of S. Basil by the name of that Father amongst the Writings of which Father the Rules for these Monastickâ are set down at large 2 The next who prescribed Orders was S. Augustine born in the year 350 who being thirty years of age is said to have obtained a Garden without the walls of Hippo for private contemplations Twelve only he assumed into his society living with them in all integrity and wearing a leathern Girdle to distinguish them from Monks Hence came the present Austin Friers or the Eremites of S. Austin as others call them Of such esteem formerly in the Universitie of Oxford that all who took the degree of a Master of Arts were to submit themselves to their Oppositions in the publick Schools and receive approbation from them from whence the form in Augustinensibus responderit vel opposuerit still retained among them There house in London stood in Broadstreat of which a part of the Church still standeth converted to a Church for the use of the Dutch the rest demolished and in the place thereof a stately Mansion erected by Sir William Pawlet the first Marquess of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England These make the first order of the Friers Mendicants The first Monastery of them was erected at Paris by William Duke of Guien An o 1155 and An o 1200 they began to flourish in Italie by the favour of John Lord of Mantua The other branches of this Tree are 1 the Monks of S. Hierom 2 the Carmelites 3 the Crouched Friers and 4 the Dominicans 1 The Monks of Saint Hierom challenge their originall from the worthy Father of the Church so called They flourish especially in Spain where there are thirty two Monasteries of them their chief House being Saint Bartholomews of Lupiena and have taken unto themselves the Rule of Saint Austin Their Robe is a white Cassock under a tawney Cloak 2 The Carmelites so called from Mount Carmel in Syria pretend their original from Elias and John the Baptist They onely allowed at first the rule of S. Basil and were confirmed in Europe by Honorius the third They are by some called Jacobines from a Church dedicated to Saint Iames where they had their first Convent and by us the White Friers from the colour of their habit Their house in London stood in Fleetstreet converted since into a dwelling of the Earls of Kent besides other Tenements Their Rule was afterwards corrected according to the Rule of Saint Austin by Donna Eresba or Teresa a Spanish woman who made them also certain Constitutions confirmed by Pius the fourth An o 1565. 3 The Friers of S. Crosse Crossed or Crouched Friers were first ordained by ââriacus Bishop of Hierusalem who shewed to Helena the place where the Cross was hidden hence this Order which being almost decayed was restored first by Urban the second and afterwards by Innocent the third under the rule of Saint Austin Their Robe is Watchat and in their hands they carry the figure of the Cross Their house in London near the Tower still retains its name 4 The Dominioans or Friers Preachers were instituted by Saint Dominik a Spaniard He puts himself in this Order with sixteen of his Disciples under the Rule of Saint Austin An o 1206 and had his device confirmed by Honorius the third Their duty is to preach the Gospell in all places unto the farthest parts of the world which both they did and their successors since have done not at home only but in India and America with great zeal and diligence They are call'd by us Black Friers from the colour of their habits and are the 3. Order of Friers Mendicans Their house in London stood neer Ludgate and took up the whole Precinct which is still called Black-Friers though nothing be remaining of it but the very name 3 The third that prescribed Orders was S. Benedict born at Nursia in the Dutchy of Spoleto An o 472. He gathered the Monks of Italie together gave them a Rule in writing caused them to
it by land and that over steep and craggy Rocks The streets are narrow paved with Flint and most of them on the sides of the hill which is the reason that they use Horse-litters here insteed of Coaches and most of the better sort are carried on mens shoulders in Sedans or Chairs which from hence came hither into England But that which they call La Strada Nueva or the New street reaching from the West to North-East is of a very fair bredth each house thereof is built with such Kingly magnificence that it is thought to be the fairest street in the World In all the rest the buildings for the height of two stories are made of Marble curiously wrought but the Laws forbid Marble to be used any higher The Haven of it is very fair and capacious safe from the violence of Tempests and well fortified so that the Spaniards use to say that were the Catholique King absolute Lord of Marseilles in Provence and Genoa in Italie he might command the whole World After the reedifying of it by Charles the Great the people here continued subject to his successors till the Berengarii as Kings of Italic made them free An. 899. in which condition they remained till the year 1318 when being shrewdly weakned in their Estate they were fain to give themselves to Pope John the 22 after the Robert King of Naples But being soon weary of a forein Government the people in a popular tumult made choice of one Simon Boccanegra to be their Duke An. 1339. which Government continued till the French were called in by the Guelfian Faction in the reign of Charles the 7â under whom they continued thirteen years and then expelling thence the French for their many insolencies they put themselves under the protection of the Dukes of Millain An. 1403. Long time they liâed under the protection of those Princes in great tranquillity who never carryed towards them any rigorous hand save that once D. Lodowick Sforzae exacted of them a great mass of money But as the tale goeth his Agent being invited to the house of a Genoesa and walking in a Garden with him was shewed an herb growing there called Basil which stroaking gently he smelt thence a most pleasing savour but asunsavory a smel when he strained it hard The Genoese hereupon inferred Sir if our Lord Duke Lodowick will gentle stroak the hand of his puissance over this City it will prove pliant to him by obedience but may chance to prove rebellious if he do oppress it But Lodowick being taken prisoner by King Lewis the 12 they first came under the command of the French and then of the Spaniard according as those Nations had possession of the State of Millain and after many changes and alterations obtained again their freedom of King Francis the first which being not able to preserve by their proper strength they finally put themselves under the shelter of the Spaââard who is now their Protector and that not for nought he being indebted to them An. 1600 a Million and a half of Gold that being the remainder of 18 Millions cut off by the Popes authority that so the King might be indebted to that See for most of his Lands were formerly engaged to the Mony-masters of this City The same course of non-payment the King took with the rest of his Creditors in Florence Ausburg and the rest insomuch that it was commonly sayd in Italie that the King of Spain had made more ill faces upon the Exchange change in one day than Michael Angelo the famous Painter had ever made good in all his life And thus you see this great City which commanded the Ocean the Lady of so many Ilands and a great Moderator of the Affairs of Italie fain to put her self into the protection of a forein Prince and that too at the charge of a great deal of Treasure which he continually raiseth from them in the way of Loan of which he often proves but a sorry Pay-master And if the Wars he had with England did so drain their Purses for it was that War and the War which he had in the Netherlands that made him so indebted to the Banks of Genoa no question but the revolt of Catalogne and the lasting Wars made against him by the French in so many places have plunged him in as deep as ever Which notwithstanding this people do so thrive under his protection and draw so great commodity from their Trade with Spain that it is thought their private men were never richer the publick Treasurie never fuller than it is at the present CORSICA is an Iland in the Ligustick or Ligurian Sea opposite to the City of Genoa from whence it is distant about sixty miles and lying just North of the Isle of Sardinia from which it is distant seven miles It comprehends in length an hundred and twenty miles seventy in bredth and three hundred twenty five in circuit and lyeth under the fift Climate the longest day being almost fifteen hours The people are stubborn poor unlearned supposed to be more cruell than other Nations and so affirmed to be by Caesar in his Book of Commentaries the Progeny as some say of the 52 daughters of Thespius who being all got with child in one night by Hercules were by their Father put to the mercy of the Sea by which they were brought unto this Iland after peopled by them From one of these sonnes named Cyrnus the Iland had the name of Cyrnos by which it oftentimes occurreth in some old Greek Writers This is the conceit of Fabius Pictor one of Annius his Authors And that of Eustathius a far more credible Writer is not much unlike who will have it called Corsica from a woman so named dwelling in the coast of Liguria who following her Bull hither was the first that discovered it But these Orignalls I look on the first especially as the worst kind of Romances the name of Cyrnos being more like to be derived from the Punick Keranoth which signifies a horn or corner by reason of the many Promontories with which it shoots into the Sea Corsica insula multis Promontoriis angulosa est as it is in Isidore Lib. 14. cap. 6. And for the name of Corsica I should derive it rather from the Corsi by which name the inhabitants hereof are called in most Latin Writers one of the two Nations of most note in the neighbouring Iland of Sardinia Celeberrimi in ea populorum Balari Corsi as we find in Pline Which Corsi or some of them being overborn by some new Invaders which the Iland of Sardinia was seldom free of were fain to shift their seat aud came over hither This Countrey yeeldeth excellent Dogs for game good Horses fierce Mastifs and a beast called Mufoli not found in Europe excepting in this Iland and Sardinia only but there called Mufrones or Musriones for I conceive they are the same under divers names sayd to be horned like Rams and skinned
most part is plain and champian the others before mentioned being common unto this with the bordering Provinces This Country is wonderfully stored with rivers the chief whereof 1 Sequana or Seine which arising in Burgundy watring the Cities of Paris and Roane and receiving into it nine navigable streames disburdeneth it self into the British Ocean 2 Some upon which standeth Amiens It hath it's head about S. Quintins divideth Picardie from Artoys and having received eight lesser streams loseth it self into the same Sea 3 Ligeris or Loyre on which are seated Nantes and Orleance It riseth about the mountains of Auvergne being the greatest in France and having runne 600 miles and augmented his channell with the entertainment of 72 lesser rivulets mingleth his sweet waters with the brackish Aquitane Ocean 4. Rh danus or the Rhosne which springing from the Alpes three Dutch miles from the head of the Rhene passeth by Lions and Avignon and having taken in thirteen lesser Brooks falleth into the Mediterranean Sea not far from Arles 5 The Sâasne by the old Latines called Araris which rising out of the Mountain Vogesus or Vauge in the borders of Lorrein and Alsatia divideth the two Burgundies from each other and falleth into the Rhosne at the City of âions 6 Garumna or the Garond which issuing out of the Pyrenean Mountains passing by Tholouse and Burdeaux and having swallowed up sixteen lesser Rivers of which the Dordonne is the chief disburdeneth it self into the Aquitane Ocean neer the Town of Blay that part hereof which is betwixt the main Ocean and the influx of the river Dordonne being called the Garonne Of these it is said Proverbially that the Seine is the richest the Rhosne the swiftest the Garond the greatest and the Loyre the sweetest And by these and many other Rivers this Kingdom is inriched with 34 excellent Havens having all the Properties of a good Harbour that is to say 1 Room 2 Safety 3 Easiness of Defence 4 Resort of Merchants As for so much of the story hereof as concerneth the whole it was first peopled if we may give credit to Annins as I think we may not in this point by Samothes the sixth Sonne of Iaphet affirmed by them and such as adhere unto them to be that Sonne of his who in the Scripture is called Mesech in the year of the world 1806. But those which are better conversant in the course of History have utterly laid aside this devise of Anniuâ Even Functius though a great Berosian doth confess ingenuously Quis hic Samothes fuerit incertuÌ est that it is unresolved who this Samothes was And Vigniâr a French Antiquarie doth confess with Functius Mais un ne scayt qui il estoit that no body can tell us who he was They who have better studied this point than Annius derive the Gauls from Gomer I whete Eldest Sonne whose off-spring were first called Gemerians afterwards Cimmerians at last Câmbri first planted as before was said in the Mountainous places of Albania where the Mountains called Cimmerini long preserved his memorie and after changing that unfruitfull and unpleasânt dwelling for the plains of Phrygia wherein the City Cimmeris did retain somewhat of his name in the times of Plinie Afterwards his posterity proceeded further in the lesser Asia and in long tract of time filled Germany and Gaul and Britain with his numerous issues the Gauls and imbri being clearly of the same Originall though known amongst the Romans by two different names From whence they had the names of Gauls and Celtes and Galatiae hath been shewn before It shall suffice us now to adde that being originally of the ãâã and having somewhat in them of the blood of Hercules they proved a very valiant and warliâe Nation without whose love no King could secure himself from imminent dangers They were very sparing in their diet and used to fine any one that outgrew his girdle With these men the Somans at the first fought rather for their own preservation than in any hope by a conquest of them to enlarge their dominions For these were they who under the conduct of Belloresus passing over the Alpes conquered the neerest parts of Italie called afterwards Gallia Cis-alpina and under that of Segovesus overrun all Germaâie and following their successes as far as Scyânia founded the potent Nation of the Celto-Scythia These were the men whose issue under the command of Brennus discomfited the Romans at the river Allia sacked the City and besieged the Capitoll Ann. M. 3577. V. C. 365. In which action they so terrified the Romans that after their expulsion from Rome by Camillus there was a law made that the âriests though at all other times exempted from military employments should be compelled to the War if ever the Gauls came again And Finally these were the men who under the command of Belgius and another Brennus ransaked Illyricum Pannonia Thrace and Greece in which they spoyled and ransackt the Temple of Delphâs for which sacrilege they were visited with the Pestilence Such as survived this plague went into Asia and there gave name to that Country now called Galatia of whom thus Du Bartas The ancient Gaul in roving every way As far as Phoebus darts his golden ray Seiz'd Italy the worlds proud Mistress sackt Which rather Mars than Romulus compact Then spoyles Pisidia Mysia doth inthrall And mid'st of Asia plants another Gaul Yet at the last the Romans undertook the War but not till they had conquered almost all the residue of the then known World And though the War was managed then by the ablest Captain that ever the State of Rome gave life to yet was it not more easily vanquished by the valour and fortune of the Romans than by want of good intelligence and correspondence among themselves Nor did they fell their liberty so good cheap as those other Nations with whom the Romans had to deal Caesar himself affirming that he had slain 1192000 of them before they would submit to the Roman yoak But at the last they were brought under the power of Rome by whom the whole Country was divided into these four parts vâz 1. Narbonensis called so from the City of Narbon then a Roman Colonie containing Laâguedoc Provence Daulphine and some part of Savoy and it was also called Comata from the long hair of the people subdued by Fabius Maximus and Cn. Domitius Aenobarbus in their War against the Allobroges and their confederates before mentioned about 70 years before the coming of Iulius Caesar 2. Aquitanica so called from the City of Aquae Augustae now D' Acqsin Guienne lying upon the Pyrences and the wide Ocean which comprehended the Provinces of Gascoyn Guienne Xaintoigâe Limosin Quercu Perigort Berry Bourbonoys and Auvergne extending from the Pyrenees to the River of Loyre and consequently stretching over all the middle of Gaul 3. Celtica so named from the valiant Nation of the Celtae called also Lugdunensis from the City of Lyons and Braccat from the
Earls of Burgundy being meerly Officiall It was first united to the Dutchy by the mariage of D. Eudes with Ioan the Countess But no issue coming of this bed it fell into the house of Flanders and with the Heir of Flanders unto Philip the Hardie the first Duke hereof of the Royall Race of Valois Anno 1369. Philip the Grand-child of this Philip united most of the Belgick Provinces unto his Estate after whose death and the death of Charles his Sonne at the battell of Nancie the Dutchie was surprized by King Lewis the 11th as holden of the Crown of France escheated to him for want of Heirs males But the Countie holden of the Empire though subdued also by this Lewis was restored again to Mary the Daughter and Heir of Charles continuing hitherto in her issue as appears evidently by this Catalogue of The Earls of Burgundie 1001. 1 Otho Guillaume the first Earl of Burgundy by the power and aid of Robert King of France 1118. 2 Reinald Cousin and Heir of Otho 1157 3 Frederick Barbarâssa Emperour in right of Beatrix his wife Daughter of Earl Reynald 1183. 4 Otho the youngest Sonne of Frederick 1200 5 Otho II. Duke of Meranis and Earl of Burgundie in right of Beatrix his Wife the Daughter of Otho the first 1208 6 Stephen Earl of Chalons next Heir of Gerard of Vienne and Joan his Wife Daughter of Otho the first 1204 7 John the Sonne of Stephen de Chalons 1269 8 Hugh the Sonne of John â270 9 Othelin the Sonne of Hugh Earl of Artoys in right of Maud his Wife Daughter of Robert Earl of Artoys 1315 10 Philip the Long King of France in right of Ioan his Wife Daughter and Heir of Othalin 1331 11 Eudes Duke of Burgundie Husband of Ioan of France the eldest Daughter of King Philip the Long and Ioan the Countess 1349 12 Philip Duke and Earl of Burgundie Grand-child of Eudes and Ioan his Wife by their Sonne Philip. 1361. 13 Margaret the Widow of Lewis Earl of Flanders and second Daughter of Philip the Long and Ioan the Countels was Countess of Burgundie and Artois after the death of her Cosin Philip. 14 Lewis de Malain Earl of Flanders by his Father and of Burgundie and Artois by his Mother 1369. 15 Philip the Hardie Duke of Burgundie by the gift of his Brother Charles the 5th and Earl of Burgundie Flanders and Artois in right of Margaret his Wife sole Daughter of Lewis de Malain 1404. 16 Antony the Proud Duke and Earl of Burgundie 1419. 17 Philiy the Good Duke and Earl of Burgundie 1467. 18 Charles the Warlike Duke and Earl of Burgundie 1475. 19 Mary the Daughter of Charles maried to Maximillan of Austria Sonne of Frederick the 3d Emperour of Germany in which honour he succeeded his Father 1482 20 Philip the IV. Sonne of Mary and Maximilian King of Castile and Aragon in right of his Wife Ioan Daughter to âerdinand and Isabel Kings of Castile c. 1506 21 Charles the Sonne of Philip King of Spain and Emperour of Germany by the name of Charles the fiât 1558. 22 Philip the II. of Spain and V. of Burgundie 23 Philip the III of Spaine and VI. of Burgundie 23 Philip the IV. of Spaine and VII of Burgundie in whom resteth the possession of the ãâã of Burgundie and the Earldom of Charolois herein not troubled by the ãâã for feââ of giving offence to the Cantons of Switzerland upon whom it bordereth jealous enough already of the greatness and power of France and so not likely to admit such a porent Neighbour The Armes of this Earldom are Azure a Lyon rampant Or Seme of Billets Argent 20 The ILANDS in the AQUITAINE and GALLICK OCEAN HAving thus took a view of the severall Provinces within the Continent of France let us next look upon the ILANDS which belong unto it dispersed in the Mediterranean Sea and the Western Ocean Those in the Mediterranean Sea are of little note as the Isles of Ere 's and 2 Pomegnes lying against Provence 3 Maguelone lying against Languedoc and 4 L' Anguillade betwixt both at the moutâ of the Rhosne of which there is nothing to be said but that those of Ere 's are thought to be the ostocchades of Ptolomie and his Blascon to be Anguillade And of as little note in the Western Ocean are Belle-Isle against Vannes in Bretangne the Isle de Deiu having in it two or three good Villages Marmostier plentifull in Salt and beautified with a Monastery called the White Abbie Those of most note are 1 Oleroâ and 2 Ree on the coast of Aquitaine and those of 3 Jarsey 4 Gernsey 5 Sark and 6 Alderney on the shores of Normandy Of which the four last are under the Kings of England the rest possessed by the French 1 OLERON is an Iland situate over against the Province of Xaintoigne and South unto the Isle of Ree from which little distant It is the biggest of the two and makes yeerly very great quantitie of Salt wherewith most of the Provinces on the Western Ocean use to be furnished But it is easie of access and not very defensible which makes it of lesse note both in antient and modern stories The principall Town of it is called Oleron by the name of the Iland One thing there is for which indeed this Iland is of speciall fame and that is that the Marine Lawes which for neer 500 years have generally been received by all the States of the Christian World which frequent the Ocean the Rhodian Lawes being antiquated and worn out of use for regulating of Sea affairs and deciding of Maritime Controversies were declared and established here and from hence called the Lawes of Oleron And here they were declared and established by King Rich. the first of England as Lord Paramount of the Seas immediately on his return from the Holy Land this Iland being then in his possession as a Member of his Dukedom of Aquitaine Quae quidem Leges Statutaper Dominum Richardum quondam Regem Angliae in redditu suo à Terra Sancta correcta fuerunt interretata declarata et in Insula de Oleron publicata et nominata in Gallica Lingua La Loy d' Oleron c. saith an old Record which I find cited in a M. S. Discourse of my late learned Friend Sir Iohn Burroughs once Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London but afterwards Principall King of Arms by the name of Garter entituled The Soveraignty of the British Seas So powerfull were the Kings of England in the former times as to give Lawes to all that traded on the Ocean 2 The Isle of R E is situate over against Rochell to which it served for an Out-work on that side thereof It is in length ten English miles and about half as much in bredth well fortified with deep marishes at the entries of it to which the many Salt-pits every where intermingled adde a very great strength Chief places in it
of Biscay were Argent two Wolves Sable each of them in his mouth a Lamb of the second 5 GALLICIA GALICIA or GALLAECIA is bounded on the East with the Asturias from which parted by the River Mearo on the South with Portugall from which divided by the River Minâo on the North with the Cantabrian and on the West with the Atlantick Oceans The antient Inhabitants of it were the Gallaici whence it had the name distinguished into the severall Tribes of the Bedyi Seuri Cilini Capori and Lemavi spoken of by Ptolomie The Countrie like that of the Asturias mountainous and almost inaccessible overspread with the Cantabrian hils and so the fitter to hold out against forrein invasions in defence of Libertie and Religion in that regard chosen for a retiring place by the distressed and vanquished Christians in their first Wars against the Moores Not well inhabited to this day not so much for the hilliness of the Countrie as for want of Water which defect makes the people generally draw more towards the Sea where they improve their fortunes by trade and fishing The barrenness of the Countrie râompenced heretofore by the rich mines of Gold and Silver which in this Countrie and the Astures and some part of Lusitania afforded yeerly 20000 pound weight of Gold unto the Romans amounting in our money to two millions of Crowns but now no mines found in it of any value Instead of which it yeeldeth the best mines for Iron of any Province of Spain for which their Waters are so proper that they are said to fortifie and improve the metal Places of principall importance are 1 Compostella an Vniversity and Archbishops See vulgarly called St. Iago in honour of S. Iames the sonne of Zebedee whom they pretend to be buried here and of whom there is denominated an Order of Knights his Relicks said to be kept in the chief Church of it worshipped by the Romanists with great devotion and drawing to this place a wonderfull concourse of people comming thither on pilgrimage 2 Baiona not far from the mouth of the River Minio 3 Corunna by Ptolomie called Flavium Brigantium by us English the Groyn often mentioned in the storie of our Wars with the Spaniard in Qu. Elizabeths time then taken by the English but since very well fortified to avoid the like surprizall Divided then as now into the High Town and the Low situate on the Cantabrian Sea betwixt the Promontorie Trilencum now Cabo Ortegal lying towards the East and that of old called Nerium now Cabo Finis terre as being the most Western end of the then known World 4 Oreus upon the Minio a Bishops See by Ptolomie called Aquae Calidae from the Bathes here being now much commended for the best Wines 5 Tui on the same River frontiring upon Portugall a Bishops See in antient Writers called âudâ 6 Ponte-vedre 7 Ribadeo both upon the sea both fitted with convenient Harbours The antient Inhabitants hereof as before is said were the Gallaici one of the last Nations which submitted to the power of the Romans by whom first made a part of Tarraconensis after a Province of it self by the name of Gallicia the Asturias and some part of the Old Castile and Portugall being added to it In the declining of that Empire the Suevi a potent Nation of Germanie accompanying the Vandals and Alani in their transmigrations invaded Spain and first possessed themselves of this Countrey But not content with their Estate they warred on the Silinges a Vandal-tribe then possessing Baetica whom they vanquished and took that Province from them under the conduct of Rechila their second King They added shortly after Lusitania to their former conquesâs stopped in their careere by Theodorick the 2d King of the Gothes by whom vanquished and confined again within Gallicia which they enjoyed till the finall ruine of their kingdom by Leutigild the Goth Anno 858. reduced then to a Province of the Gothish kingdom Their habitation before their comming into Spain was in the Eastern part of Germanie beyond the Elb. Their Religion at the first under Recciarius their third King was very Orthodox and âound But vanquished by the Gothes and obliged unto them for the restoring of their kingdom they fell off to Arianism persisting in that Heresie for the space of an hundred years and then again returning of the Catholick Faith under Theodomire their King therein continuing constant till their finall overthrow The Kings hereof as many as are upon record are these that follow Kings of the Suevi in Gallicia 1 Hermenericus who first brought the Suevians into Spain and possessed Gallicia Arcadius and Honorius then Emperours of the East and West 2 Râchila who conquered the Silinges and subdued Baetica 3 Recciarius the first Christian King who won Lufitania afterwards vanquished and slain by Theodorick King of the Gothes the Suevians for a time becomming subject to that King 4 Masdras restored unto the kingdom by Theodorick 5 Frumarius the Sonne of Masdras 6 Remismuâdus Brother of Frumarius recovered some part of Lusitania and fell off to Ariaâism 7 Theodomirus the Restorer of the Catholick Faith amongst the Sâevians 8 Ariamirus Sonne to Theodomire 9 Eboricus the Sonne of Ariamirus deposed and shorn Monk by Andeca 10 Andeca the last King of the Suevii in Gallicia or rather the Vsurper of the Regall title served in the same kind by Leutigildis King of the Gothes as he had served Eboricus his Lord and Master After which time Gallicia was made a Province of the Gothish Monarchy and the name of Suevians no more heard of in Spain In times ensuing it became a part of the Kingdom of Leon erected to a Kingdom by Alfonso the Great King of Oviedo and Leon and given unto his Sonne Ordogno Anno 886. And though Ordogno came after to succeed in his Fathers Throne his elder Brother Garcias dying without issue yet did Gallicia continue as a State distinct till wrested from the Owners of it by Alfonso the sixt of Leon and the third of Castile by whom incorporate with this Kingdom never since dis-joyned the Castilians being too good Statesmen to dismember Kingdoms The Arms hereof were Azure seme of Crossets Fitchee a Chalice covered Or. 6. The Kingdom of CORDVBA HAving thus surveied those Provinces under the Government of Castile which lye at the foot of the Pyrenees and on the shores of the Northern or Cantabrian Ocean we will next look on those which lye more toward the Streights of Gibraltar and the Mediterranâan And so come round at last to Castile it self And first we will âegin with the Kingdom of CORDVBA which at the first erection of it contained all those parts of Spain conquered by the Moores and not again recovered by the Kings of Leon and Navarre conrracted within narrower bounds when subdued by the King of Castile at that time comprehending only the Provinces of Andalusia Extemadura Granada and the Isle of Gades We will consider it notwithstanding in both
affected to his House whose Government he took upon him discharged of all subjection and subordination to the Caliphs or Mahometum Emperours and making it an absolute Kingdom of it self In his Race it continued without any fractions or subdivisions till the time of Hââân the 2d the tenth King of these Spanish Moores after whose death distracted amongst many petit Tyrants till they were all brought under by the Moores of Africk of which more anon In the mean time take here the Catalogue of the Kings of these Moores of Spain called commonly from Corduba their Royal Seat The Kings of Corduba A. C. 757. 1 Abderamen 30. 787. 2 Hizen 7. 794. 3 Halt Hatan 25. 819. 4 Abderamen II. 20. 839. 5 Mahomet 35. 874. 6 Almudix 2. 876. 7 Abdalla 13. 889. 8 Abderamen III. 50. 939. 9 Hali-Hatan 17. 956. 10 Hizen II. 33. 989. 11 Zulcimen 4. 993. 12 Mahomet II. 8. 1001. 13 Hali. 2. 1003. 14 Cacin 4. 1007. 15 Hiaâa 1007. 16 Abderamen IV. 1. 1008. 17 Mahomet III. 1. 1010. 18 Hizen III. 1. 1011. 19 Ioar 3. 1014. 20 Mahomet IV. the last King of the Moores in Corduba before the second Conquest of these parts of Spain by the Moores of Africa Concerning which we are to know that after the great Victory obtained at âlâvâgio against Abderamen the 2d by Râymir King of Leon Anno 826. the power and reputatiân of the Spaâiâh Moores began to decline brought utterly to nothing by the sloath and negligence of Hâzân the 2d after a long and unprofitable Reign deposed by Zulcimen who succeeded But the Moores not easily brooking the command of a new Vsurper fell into many Fractions and Divisions amongst themselves every great man seizing on some part of the Kingdom which he retained unto himself with the name of King from whence we have a King of Sevill another of Toledo a third of Cordova the names of which last only doe occurre in the former Catalogue And 't was a sign the Kingdom was in the expiring when so many Kings succeeded in so few yeers after one another there passing from the deposing of Hizen the 2d to the beginning of Mahomet the 4th not above 34 yeers in all during which time we find no fewer than ten Kiugs The often change of Princes and short lives of Kings are the apparent signs of a ruââous âtate approaching very neer to its expiration as may be seen by the short lives and Reigns of the last Western Emperours nine of them hardly Reigning 20 yeers as also of the Kings of the Gothes in Italy of which the six last held the Throne no longer than the nine Western Emperours had done before them But to proceed Mahomet the last King of this first Rank having left the stage we find no good Constat of his Successors in the kingdom of Corduba made inconsiderable by the withdrawing so many Provinces from the body of it the pride and insolencie of whch Roytelets and petit Tyrants forced them at last to call unto their aid the Kings or Miramomolines of Morocco by whom themselves and all the rest of their Corrivals were in fine subdued Vnder seven Princes of Morocco the Spanish Moores continued subject about 120 yeers that is to say from the first coming in of Ioseph Telephin the Miramamoline Anno 1091 unto the going out of Mahomet surnamed the Green Anno 12â4 during which time the affairs of the Moores in Spain were so well conducted that they lost nothing to the Christians but Extremadura taken from them by Alfonso the 2d in the accompt of Castile the 7th in the accompt of Leon Anno 1147 and the Citie of Lisbon taken from them in the same yeer also by Alfonso the first King of Portugal But Nahomet the Green being vanquished in the great fight at Sierra Morena by the joynt Forces of the confederated Christians left off all further care of the Moores in Spain after his going thence distracted once again into many Kingdoms all of them swallowed up in a little time by the Kings of Castile Aragon and Portugal And amongst them the kingdom of Corduba not able to stand long on this new Foundation was ruinated and brought under the command of the Castilians by their King Ferdinand the 2d Anno 1236. Since that time there is no more mention of the kingdom of Corduba The Arms whereof were Or a Lyon Gules armed and crowned of the first a Border Azure charged with 8 Towers Argent 7 GRANADA GRANADA is bounded on the West with Andalusia on the East with Murcia and the Mediterranean on the North with New Castile on the South with the Mediterranean only So called from Granada the chief Citie and Seat Royal of it It is in length 200 miles 100 miles in breadth and about 700 miles in compass The North part of the Countrey plain the South parts over-spread with the Alpuxarras and other spurres and branches of the Orospeda In the time of the Moores wonderfully well inhabited and full of all sorts of commodities the Hils planted with Vines and Fruits the Plains and Vallies swelling with Corn and Gardens since their expulsion neither much peopled nor very fruitfull for want of men to dress and manure the Land The principal Cities of it are 1 Granada situate on two Hils divided by a Valley thorow which runneth the River Darien consisting of four severall parts called Alhambâe Sierre de sol Granada and Antequerula the two first standing on the Hils the two last in the Valley the whole containing in the time of the Moorish kingdom about 200000 of fouls Fenced with strong wals fortified with 130 Turrets and replenished with abundance of wholsome and pleasant Springs the whole Circuit being about seven miles The Merchants and Gentry of the best sort doe dwell in that part which is called Granada the houses of which are for the most part built of free stone with delicate and artificiall Masonrie shewing great magnificence Herein standeth the Cathedral Church a work of admirable structure of Figure round as having sometimes been a Mahomâtane Mosquit Here is also the place which they call Alcazar representing a little Town the which are ten Gates In the Aâhambre is the Palace of the Moorish Kings covered with Gold indented with Moisaical work and which by reason of the structure and multitude of Fountains which are about it may be put amongst the Wonders of the World having withall a goodly prospect over all the Town lying under it upon the East a spacious Champian towards the North and the snowie tops of Sierra Nevade towards the South This Citie is the ordinarie Parliament and Court of Iustice for all the Southern parts of Spain as Valladolit is for the Northern Madrid which is the highest Court having jurisdiction over and receiving Appeals from both A Town first raiâed out of the ruines of Illiberis situate not far off on the Hill Elvire much mentioned in the stories of Rome and Carthage In
The Town adorned with large streets handsome buildings strong Walls and a very pleasant situation called Barcino by the ancient writers in whoâe time it was a Romaâ Colonie now honoured with a Bishops See and the seat of the ãâ¦ã 2 Tââragone seated also on the Mediterranean East of the River Francolino built fortified and peopled by the two Sâipiâs the Father and Vncle of Afâicanâs for a Counter-Fort to Cârthagena or New Carâhage not long before founded by the Carthaginians afterwards made the Metropolis of Tarrdâonensis hence denominated stript of that honour by Tolâde and is now but two miles in compass and containing not above 700 Families Yet still it holdeth the reputation of an Archbishops See contending with ãâã for the Primacie of all Spain as Braga alâo doth in the Kingdom of Portugal the controversie being undecided to this very day 3 Ampurias on the same sea also once of great esteem founded by the Massiâans a Roman Colonie and a well traded Town as the name doth signifie this being the ãâã spoken of by Strabo and Ptolomie now not observeable for any thing but a safe Road for Ships 4 Blanos 5 Palamos and 6 Rosas all Ports on the same Sea but subject unto divers Winds and not very spacious More in the Land are 7 Girone a small but handsomely built and a well traded Town a Bishops See and the title of the eldest Sonne of Aragon called Prince of Girone Which title was first given to Iohn the eldest Sonne of King Pedro the fourth immediately upon his birth Anno 1351. and hath since continued 8 Tortosa on the River Ebro in the most rich and pleasant part of all the Country A goodly Town and of great importance garrisoned by the French since the late revolt of Catalonia from the King of Spain and like to draw a great part of this Province after it whilest it continueth in their power or the possession of their party 9 Vrgel a Earls honour and a Bishops See situate at the foot of the Pyrences 10 Momblane which heretofore gave the title of Duke to the second Sonnes of the Kings of Aragon Here is also on the East part where it joyneth with the land of Rousillon the Promontary called of old Templum Veneris now Cabo de Ceux and not far from Barcelone the Mountain called Montserrato on the sides full of Hermitages and Anchorets cells and having towards the summit of it a Chappell dedicated to the Virgin Mary much famed and resorted to by Pilgrims from all parts of the World for her miraculous Image which is there enshrined The old Inhabitants of this Province were the Castellani Auxitani Indigites Cosetani with part of the Ilercones Iaccetani all of them part of Tarraconensis In the declining of the Empire seized on by the Alani and they soon after vanquised if not dispossessed by the power of the Gothes Lost to the Moores in the general ruine of the whole from them recovered by the puissance of Charles the great who having taken the City of Barcelone Anno 801. gave it to one Bernard a Frenchman with the title of Earl who Governed the Country for that Emperor as Wâfredus or Godfredus his successor did for Lewis the Godly Godfredus Sonne to this Godfrede by the gift of Charles the Gross was the first Proprietary united unto Aragon by the mariage of Earl Raymond with the Heir of that Kingdom The Earls of Barcâlone A. Ch. 884. 1 Godfredus surnamed the Hairie Sonne of Wifrede the Provinciall Governour for the Emperour Ludovicus Pius 914. 2 Miron Sonne of Godfredus 933. 3 Godfredus II. Sonne of Miron by some called Seniofrid 971. 4 Borellus Brother of Miron and Vncle of Godfred the second 993. 5 Raymond Sonne of Borellus 1017. 6 Berengarius surnamed Borellus Sonne of Raymond 1035. 7 Raymond II. Sonne of Borengarius Borellus 1076. 8 Raymond III. Sonne of Raymond the second 1082. 9 Raymond IV. Sonne of Raymond the third Earl of Provence also in right of Dâulce his wife 1131. 10 Raymond V. Sonne of Raymond the fourth and Dâulce Countess of Provence maried Petronilla Daughter of Raymir or Raymond the second King of Aragon whom he succeeded in that Kingdom Anno 1134. Uniting these Estates together never since dis-joyned The Arms hereof were four Pallets Gules in a field Or now the Arms of Aragon Which Arms were given to Geofrie surnamed the Hairie the first Earl hereof by Lewis the Stammering Emperor and King of France to whose aid he came against the Normans with a Troop of horse and being bloody in the fight desired of the Emperour to give him some Coat of Arms which he and his Posterity might from thenceforth use Who dipping his four fingers in the blood of the Earl drew them thwart his Shield which was only of Plain Gold without any Devise saying This shall be your Arms hereafter 11 The Kingdom of MAIORCA THe Kingdom of MAIORCA contained the Ilands of Majorca Minorca Ebuâsa and Frumentaria in the Mediterranean the Land of Rousillon Sardaigne or Cerdagne in the Continent of Spain and the Earldom of Montpâlier in France The Land of ROVSILLON which is the first Member of this Kingdom is situate betwixt two Branches of the Pyrenâes bounded on the South with the Mediterranean on the West with Catalogne on the North with the said Pyrenees on the East with Languedoc in France Places of most importance in it are 1. Helna a Bishops See on the River Techo 2. Collâbre now a poor and ignoble Village of note only for a safe and commodious Harbour but formerly the great and famous Citie of Illiberis so often mentioned in the wars betwixt Rome and Carthage 3. Perpignan in Latine Perpinianum built in the yeer 1068. by Guinard Earl of Rousillon in a pleasant Plain on the River Thelis now a rich Town well traded and as strongly fortified against the French to whose fury in the time of war it is still exposed Besieged by Henry Sonne to King Francis the first with a puissant Army Anno 1542 Pertly to be revenged upon Charles the fifth who had before attempted Marsâilles in Provence partly to get into his hands a chief door of Spain by which he might at all times enter into that Kingdom But he found here such strong resistance that he was fain to raise his siege with as little honour as Charles had gotten by the Expedition which he made into Provence 4. Salsus the Salsulâe of Strabo a strong place on the Frontire of Languedock fortified according to the Rules of modern Fortification and one of the chief Bulwarks against the French 5. Rousillon a Castle of more honour and antiquity than strength or beauty by Plinie and other Antients called Ruseino the Countrey Comitatus Ruseinoâensis now Rousillon and the Land of Rousillon accounted heretofore a part of Gaule Narbonensis and added unto Spain in the time of the Gothes On the death of Gerard the last Proprietarie Earl it was added
Raymund and Petronill 34. 1196. 8 Pedro II. Sonne of Alfonso 1213. 9 Iames Sonne of Pedro the 2d 43. 127â 10 Pedro III. Sonne of Iames. 9. 1285. 11 Alfonsâ III. Sonne of Pedro the the 3d. 6. 1291. 12 Iames II. Brother of Alfonsâ the 3d. 36. 1328. 13 Alfonsâ IV. Son of Iames the 2d 8. 1336. 14 Pedro IV. Sonne of Alfoâso the 4th 51. 1387. 15 Iohn Sonne of Pedro the 4th 8. 1395. 16 Martin the Brother of ãâã 17. 1412. 17 Ferdinand of Castile the Nephew of Pedro the âth 4. 1416. 18 ãâã V. 42. 1458. 19 Iohn II. Sonne of Ferdinand and Brother of Alfonso King of Navarre also in right of Blanch his Wise 20. 1478. 20 Ferdinand II. of that name of Aragon Sonne of Iohn the 2d King of Aragon and Navarre by a second Wife and the V. of that name of Castile and Leon which kingdoms he obtained by the mariage of Isabel or Elizabeth Sister and Heir of Henry the 4th uniting thereby the great Estates of Castile and Aragon and all Appendixes of either In which regard he may well challenge the first place in the Catalogue of the Monaâchs of Spain to be presented in due season In the mean time to draw to a conclusion of the Affairs and Estate of Aragon we are to understand that of all the kingdoms which belong to the Spaniard it is the most privileged and free from the absolute command of the Kings of Spain having in it such a temper or mixture of Government as makes the Kings hereof to be well-nigh titular of little more autority than a Duke of Venice For at the first erecting of this Estate the better to incourage the people to defend themselves against the Moores they had many Privileges indulged them and amongst others the creating of a Iustitiar of popular Magistrate which like the Ephori of Sparta had in some cases superioritie over their Kings reversing their judgements cancelling their Grants and sometimes censuring their Proceedings And though King Philip the 2d in the busines of Antonio de Perez had made a Conquest of that kingdom and annulled their Privileges yet after of his own meer goodness he restored them in part again as they continue at this day Chief Orders of Knight-âood in this kingdom are 1 Of S. Saviour instituted by Alfonso the first Anno â118 to animate the Members of it against the Moores Of the habit and customs of this Order I have met with nothing 2 Of Montesa instituted by Iames the first King of Aragon Anno 1270 or thereabouts endowed with all the Lands of the Templars before dissolved lying in Valentia together with the Town and Castle of Montesa made the Seat of their Order whence it took the name Subject at first unto the Master of the Order of Calatrava out of which extracted and under the same Rule of Cisteaux But after by the leave of Pope Benedict the 13th they quitted themselves of that subjection and in sign thereof changed the Habit of Calatrava which before they used to a Red Cross upon their Brests now the badge of the Order The Arms of Aragon since possessed by the Earls of Barcelone are Or four Pallets Gules before which they were Azure a Cross Argent THE MONARCHIE OF SPAIN THus having spoke of Spain and the Estate thereof when broken and divided into many kingdoms let us next look upon it as united into one main body effected for the most part by Ferdinand the last King of Aragon before mentioned Before which time Spain being parcelled into many kingdoms was little famous and less feared the Kings thereof as the Author of the Politick Dispute c hath well observed being only Kings of Figs and Orenges Their whole puissance was then turned against one another and small Achievements had they out of that Continent except those of the House of Aragon upon Sicilie Saraiââa and the Baleares âhuanus a diligent Writer of the Historie of his own times if in some things he savour not more of the Partie than the Historian telleth us that before this Kings Reign the name and glory of the Spaniards was like their Countrey hemmed in by the Seas on some sides and the ãâã on the other Potius patuisse exteris invadentibus quâm quicquam memârab le extra suos sines ãâã T is true that ãâã the Great King of Navarre assumed unto himself the ãâã King of Spain and that Alfonso the first of Castile and the sixt of Leon caused himself to be crowned Emperour of Spain in the Cathedral Church of Leon Titles ambitiously affected upon no good ground and such as ended with their Persons But this Prince worthily named the Great seized on the Kingdom of Navarre conquered Granada from the Moores subdued the Kingdom of Naples united Aragon to Castile banished 124000 Families of the Jewes began by the Conduct of Columbus the discoverie of the Western Indies and finally by marying his Daughter Ioan to Philip Sonne of the Emperour Maximilian Duke of Burgundy and Lord of the greatest part of the Netherlands laid the Foundation of the present Austrian greatness Continued since by so many intermariages betwixt the Spanish and Imperiall Branches of that potent Family that Philip the second might have called the Archduke Albertus Brother Cousin Nephew and Sonne A strange Medley of Relations Thus by the puissance of this Prince the Spaniards became first considerable in the eye of the World and grew to be a terror to the neighbouring Nations Nomen Hispanicum obscurum antea et Vicinis pene incognitum saith the same Thuanus tum primùm emersit tractuque temporis in tantam magnitudinem excrevit ut formidolosum ex eo terribile toti terrarium Orbi esse coeperit And he saith true with reference to the French and Italian Nations to whom the Spaniards have administred no small matter of fear and terrour though unto others they appear no such dreadfull Bugg-Bears But sure it is and we may warrantably speak it without any such impressions of fear and terror that this Kingdom since that time is wonderfully both enlarged and strengthned strongly compacted in it self with all the Ligaments both of Power and State and infinitely extended over all the parts of the World his Dominions beholding as it were both the rising and setting of the Sun which before the Spaniard no Monarch could ever say A greater change than any man can possibly imagine to have been effected in so short a time as was between the first yeer of Ferdinand the Catholick to the last yeer of Charles the fift Concerning the title of the most Catholick King re-attributed to this Ferdinand I find that Alfonso the first of Oviâdo was so named for his sanctity with whom it died and was revived in Alfonso the Great the twelfth King of Leon and Oviedo by the grant of Pope Iohn the 8th After it lay dead till the dayes of this Prince who re-obtained this title from Pope Alexander the sixt either
name And it was called Albion as my Authors tell me either from Albion the Brother of Bergâon the Sonne of Neptune mentioned by Aeschilus Dionysius Strabo Mela Solinus ãâã and others it being not improper that the greatest Iland of the Ocean should be denoââluated from a Sonne of the greatest Sea-god or from the old word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifying White amongst the Greeks from whence the Latines had their Album by reason of the white chalkie cliffs seen by the Mariners a farre off as they sailed those Seas But to return again to Britain in the generall notion and to the severall Ilands which that name includeth we may distinguish them into the Greater and the Lesser the Greater subdivided into 1 Great Bâitain or Britain specially so called and 2 Ireland the Lessâr into 1 the Orcades 2 the Hâbrides 3 Man 4 Anglesey 5 The Ilands of the Severn Sea 6 the Sorlinges or Isles of Silly 7 Wight 8 Thanet 9 Sunderland and 10 Holy Iland GREAT BRITAIN TO speak much of GREAT BRITAIN or BRITAIN specially and properly so called I hold somewhat superfluous it being our home and we therefore no Strangers to it Yet as Mela once said of Italie De Italia magis quia ordo exigit quam quia monstrari egeat pauca dicentur not a sunt omnia so say I of Britain It is so obvious to the eye of every Reader that he needs not the spectacles of Letters Yet something must be said though for methods sake rather than necessity First then we will begin with laying out the bounds thereof as in other places which are on the East the German Ocean dividing it from Belgium Germanie and Danemark on the West S. Georges Channel which divides it from Ireland and to the North of that with the main Vergivian or Western Ocean of which the Antients knew no shore on the North with the Hyperbârcan or Deucaledonian Ocean as Ptolomie calls it extending out to Iseland Freezeland and the ends of the then known World and on the South the English Channel which divides it from France The length hereof from North to South is reckoned at 620 Italian mlles the greatest bredth from East to West measured in a right line no more than 250 of the same miles but by the crooks and bendings of the Sea-coast comes to 320 miles the whole circumference accompted 1836 miles The greatest Iland in the World except Java Borneo Sumatra and Madagascar and therefore by Solinus and some other Antients to whom those Ilands were not known called the other World by others of late times the Ladie and Mistress of the Seas Situate under the 8th 9th 10th 11th and 12th Climes so that the longest day at the Lizard point in Cornwall being the most Southernly part hereof containeth 16 hours and a quarter at Barwick which is the Border of England and Scotland 17 hours 3 quarters and one hour more at Straithby head in the North of Scotland where some observe that there is scarce any night at all in the summer Solstice but a darker Twilight To which alludes the Poet saying Et minima contentos nocte Britannos and the Panegyrist in the time of Constantine amongst other commendations which he gives to Britain saith that therein is neither extreme cold in Winter nor any scorching heats in Summer and that which is most comfortable long dayes and very lightsome nights Nor doth the Panegyrist tell us onely of the temperateness of the Air or the length of the dayes but of the fruitfulness of the soyl affirming Britain to be blessed with all the commodities of Heaven and Earth such an abundant plenty of Corn as might suffice both for Bread and Wine the woods thereof without wild Beasts the Fields without noysome Serpents infinite numbers of milch-Beasts and Sheep weighed down with their own Fleeces Whereto adde that of Alfred of Beverley a Poet of the middle times saying thus of Britain Insula praedives quae toto vix eget orbe Et cujus totus indiget orbis ope Insula praedives cujus miretur et opâet Delicias SOLOMON Octavianus opes A wealthy Iland which no help desires Yet all the World supply from her requires Able to glut King SOLOMON with pleasures And surfet great Augustus with her treasures Proceed we next to the name of Britain of which I find many Etymologies some forced some fabulous and foolish and but few of weight That which hath passed for currant in former times when almost all Nations did pretend to be of Trojan race was that it took this name from Brutus affirmed to be the Sonne of Silvius who was the Grandchild of Aeneas and the 3d King of the Lâtines of the Trojan Blood Which Bâutus having unfortunately killed his Father and thereupon abandoning Italy with his friends and followers after a long voyage and many wandrings is said to have fallen upon this Iland to have conquered here a race of Giants and having given unto it the name of Britain to leave the Soveraignty thereof unto his posterity who quietly enjoyed the same till subdued by the Romans This is the summe of the Tradition concerning ârute Which though received in the darker times of ignorance and too much credulity in these more learned dayes hath been laid aside as false and fabulous And it is proved that there was no such man as Brutus 1 From the newness of his Birth Geofry of Monmouth who lived in the reign of K. Henry the second being the first Author which makes mention of him for which immediately questioned by Newbrigensis another Writer of that Age. 2ly By the silence of all Roman Historians in whom it had been an unpardonable negligence to have omitted an Accident so remarkable as the killing of a Father by his own Sonne especially when they wanted matter to sill up the times and the erecting of a new Trojan Empire in so great an Iland 3ly By the Arguments which Caesar useth to prove the Britains to be derived from the Galls as Speech Lawes Customes Disposition Making and the like 4ly And lest it might be said that though the Britans in Caesars time were of Gallick race yet there had been a former and more antient people who had their Originall from the Trojans Tacitus putteth off that dispute with an Ignoramus Qui mortales initio coluerint parum compertum est saith that knowing writer And 5ly By the Testimony of all Roman Histories who tell us that Caesar found the Britains under many Kings and never under the command of one sole Prince but in times of danger Summa Belli administrandi communi consensu commissa est Cassivellauno as it is in Caesar Dum singuli pugnabant universi vincebantur as we read in Tacitus To omit therefore that of Brutus and other Etymons as unlikely but of less authority the name of Britain is most probably derived from Brit which in the antient British signifieth Painted and the word Tain signifying a Nation agreeable unto the
that dissolute behaviour that he could not be admitted to these tithings was forthwith conveyed to the house of correction By this course every man was not carefull only of his own actions but had an eye to all the nine for whom he stood bound as the nine had over him insomuch that a poor girl might travell safely with a bagge of gold in her hand and none durst meddle with her The antientest of these ten men were called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Tithingmen Ten of the nighest or neighbouring tithings made the lesser Division which we call hundreds which name cannot be derived from the like number of villages for none of our hundreds are so large and one of them there is in Berk-shire which containeth five hamlets onely We have then a division of the Realm into 40 Shires of the Shires into divers hundreds and of the hundreds into ten tithings And this division made by Alfride still remains in forceâ as also doth the High Sheriff and the rest of the subordinate Officers the office of the High Sheriff consisting especially at this time in executing Arrests assisting the Itinerary Judges gathering the Kings Fines and Amerciaments and raising the Posse Comitatus if occasion be But for the Civill part of government in the severall Counties it is most in the hands of such as we call Iustices of the Peaces authorised by Commission under the Great Seal of England appointed first by that prudent Prince King Edward the first by the name of Custodes Pacis Guardians of the Peace and first called Iustices of the Peace in the 36 of King Edward the 3d Cap. 11. A form of Government so much conducing to the prosperity of the Countrie and the securitie of the People that King Iames the first Monarch of Great Britain established it by Law in the Kingdom of Scotland Then for the Courts which are still kept in every Shire they are either the County Court holden every moneth wherein the Sherâff or his sufficient Deputy commonly presideth or the Assizes and Court of Gaol-delivery held twice a yeer by the Iudges Itinerant assisted by the Iustices of the Peace and others in Commission with them There are also two Officers in every hundred chosen out of the Yeomanrie whom we call the Constables of the hundred who receiving the Precepts or Warrants of the Sheriff or Iustices dispatcheth them to the Tithingman or Petit Constable of each town and village in their severall Divisions And in each hundred a Court kept once in three Weeks by the Steward of the hundred or his Deputy capable of Pleas or Actions under the value of 40 s. though in some few of these Courts also as in that of Slaughter-hundred in Glocester the value of the Action by some speciall Charter be left unlimited The like Courts also holden in some antient Burroughs And besides these in every Village are two severall Courts and these two holden twice a yeer if occasion be held by the Steward of the Manour in the one of which called the Court Leeâ there is Enquirie made into Treasons Felonies Murders and other Cases falling between the King and the Subject and in the other which we call by the name of Court Baron such onely as concern the Lord and Tenants and these last summened for the most part at the will of the Lord So that Comines had we see good reason for this Affirmation that of all the Signeuries in the World that ever he knew the Realm of England was the Countrie in which the Commonwealth was best governed To return again unto the Shires some of them take their names from the old Inhabitants as Cumberland from the Cymrâ or antient Britains Essex and Sussex from the East and South Saxons some from the situation of them as Northumberland Norfolk Suthfolk Devonshire this last so called from Devinam a Welch or British word signifying Low Vallies of which it very much consisteth Some from the form or figure of them as Cornwall from the resemblance which it hath to an horn and Kent in Latine Cantium because it lieth in a Canton or Corner of the Iland Some from Accidents therein as Berkshire or Berockshire from the abundance of Boxe which the Saxons call by the name of Beroc the most part from the principall Town of all the Countie as Glocester Oxford and the like Of these Shires the biggest beyond all compare is the County of York out of which 70000 men may be raised for present service if need so require And in them all comprehended 8709 Parishes besides those of Wales not reckoning in such Chappels as we call Chappels of Ease in greatness not inferour to many Parishes 22 Cities and 585 Market Towns which are no Cities and in the Towns and Villages to the number of 145 Castles or ruines of Castles few of them places of importance and such as are belonging generally to the King who suffer not any of their Subjects to nest themselves in Strong Holds and Castles Cities of most observation in it 1 London seated on the Thames by which divided into two parts conjoyned together by a stately and magnificent Bridge spoken of before The River capable in this place of the greatest Ships by means whereof it hath been reckoned a long time for one of the most famous Mart-Towns in Christendom and not long since had so much got precedencie of all the rest that the greatest part of the wealth of Europe was driven up that River A Citie of great note in the time of the Roman conquest to whom it was first known by the name of Londinum a Town at that time of great trade and riches and by them honoured with the title of Augustae Increased of late very much in buildings contiguous to some Towns Villages from which in former times disjoyned by some distant intervalls So that the Circuit may contain 8 miles at least in which space are 122 Parish Churches the Palace of the King the houses of the Nobility Colleges for the study of the Laws I mean not the Civill Law which is Ius Gentium but as we call it the Common Law appropriate only to this Kingdom It is wondrous populous containing well nigh 600000 people which number is much angmented in the Term time Some compare London with Paris thus London is the richer the more populous and more antient Paris the greater more uniform and better fortified But for my part as I doe not think that London is the more populous so neither can I grant that Paris is the greater Citie except we measure them by the Walls For taking in the Suburbs of both and all that passeth in Accompt by the name of London and I conceive that if London were cast into the same orbicular figure the circumference of it would be larger than that of Paris For uniformity of building Paris indeed doth goe beyond it but may in that be equalled also in some tract of time if the design begun
7 the ârinobantes of Midlesex and Essex where London called afterwards Augusta Trinobantum and Camalâdunum the first Roman Colonie now called Maldon the Seat Royall of Cunabelinus King of the Trinobantes in the time of the Romans 8 The Catieuchlani dwelling in the Counties of Buckingham Bedford and Hartford whose Towns of most importance were Magivintum now called Dunstable and Verulamium neer S. Albans the strongest Hold the Britains had in their wars with Caesar 9 The Iceni living in the Counties of Suffolk Norfolk Huntington and Cambridge their principall Cities being Villa Fastini now S. Edmundsburâ âito magus now Thetford Durolis now Godmanchester and Camboritum or Cambridge 10 Câritani who took up the whole Counties of Lincoln Leicester Rutland Nottingham Northampton and Darby principall Towns of which were Lândum now Lincoln Râugo where now is Leicester Guusenxae not far from Stamford now called Bridge-Castertân Agelâcis now Litleborough a small Village neer Newark upon Trent Triâontium now Târcester not far from Northampton 11 the Brigantes the greatest Nation of the Iland filling all Yorkeshire the Bishoprick of Durham Cumberland Westmerland and the Countie Palatine of Laneacter in a word all the North of England except Northumberland the dwelling of the 12 Oltadiââ whose chief Town was Bremenium thought now to be Riâchester in Ruadisdaâe Principall places of which large and potent Nation were Isaurium now Alâborrow in the North Riding Eboracum or York in the West Riding and Pâtuariâ thought to be Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire Vinovium where now is Binchâster in the Bishoprick Epâacum now Pap-Castle in Cumberland Caelatum now ãâã Castle in Westmorland and Rhtgodunum now Rible-Chester in the County Palatine of Lancaster 13 The Cornavii seated in the Counties of Chester Saloâ Worcester Stafford and Warwick whose principall Towns were Denvania or Legiovicesima Victâix now West-Chester Uriconium now Wroxââer an ignoble village Pennocrucium now Penkridge not far from Stafford Brannogenium now Worcester Manduessedum now Manchester on the River Anker 14 And last of all the Dobuni of Oxford and Glocestershires principall places of the which were Dorcinia now Dorchester seven miles from Oxford and Corinium or Cyrencester neer the head of the Thames Such Nations as are comprehended under the name of Wales and Scotland shall be remembred when we come to speak of those Countries These and the rest of Wales and Scotland as far as the Romans did proceed being once subdued Britain became a Member of the Roman Empire yet so that many of the Tribes had their own Kings and were suffered to govern by their own Lawes it being a known custome amongst the Romans as we find in Tacitus habere servitutis instrumenta Reges to permit Kings sometimes in the conquered Countries making them instrumentall to the peoples bondage And it is said of Lucius Verus the Roman Emperour that having put an end to the Parthian war Regna Regibus Provincias Comitibus suis regendas dedisse he gave those Kingdoms he had conquered to be ruled by Kings the Provinces to be governed by Proviniciall Earles Kings of which kind were Codigunus and Pratusagus spoken of by Tacitus Lucius before-mentioned the first Christian King and Coilus the Father of Helena Mother of Constantine the great But as afterward in the Heptarchie of the Saxons that King who over-ruled the rest and was of most power and estimation was called the Monarch of the English so probable enough it is that he amongst the British Kings who was in most credit with the Romans or of most power amongst his neighbours might be permitted to assume the Title of King of Britain The Catalogue of whom from Cassibelane to Constantine I have here subjoyned according to the tenor of the British Historie The Kings of Britain after the coming in of the Romans A. Ch. 1 Cassibelane King of the Trinobantes Commander of the Britans in the war against Julius Caesar 2 Theomantius 3 Cymbeline 4 Guiderius 45. 5 Arviragus by Hector Boetius called Pratusagus in whose times Britain was subdued by Aulus Plautius sent hither from the Emperour Claudius 73. 6 Marius 125. 7 Coilus the supposed Founder of Colchester 180. 8 LUCIUS the first Christian King of Britain and of all the World who dying without issue left the Roman Emperour his Heir 207. 9 Severus Emperour of Rome and King of Britain 211. 10 Bassianus Caracalla Sonne of Severus Emperour of Rome after his Father who lost the Kingdom of Britain to 218. 11 Carausius a Native of the Iland who rebelling against Caracalla obtained the Kingdom for himself 225. 12 Alectus 232. 13 Aesclepiodorus 260. 14 Cotlus II. the Father of Helena 289. 15 Constantius Emperour of Rome in right of Helena his Wife succeeded on the death of Coâlus the 2d 16 Constantine the great the Sonne of Helena and Constantius who added his Estates in Britain to the Roman Monarchie But to proceed Britain being thus made a Member of the Roman Empire it was at first divided into three Provinces onely that is to say Britannia prima so called because first subdued containing all the Countries on the South side of the Thames and those inhabited by the Trinâbantes Iceni Cattieuchlani whose Metropolis or chief City was London 2 Britannia Secunda comprising all the Nations on the further side of the Severn whose chief City was Caer-Leon upon Usk in the County of Monmouth and 3 Maxima Caesariensis including all the rest to the Northern border whereof the Metropolis was York each Province having severall Cities 28 in all Accordingly the Church conforming to the Plat-form of the Civill State there were appointed for the Government hereof eight and twenty Bishops residing in those severall Cities three of the which residing in the principall Cities were honoured with the Title of Metropolitans and a superiority over all the Bishops of their severall and respective Provinces And in this state it stood till the time of Constantine who in his new moulding of the Empire altered the bounds and enlarged the number of the Provinces adding two more unto and out of the former viz. Valentia conteining all the Country from the Frith of Solway and the Picts wall on the South to the Friths of Edenburgh and Dunbritton North and Flavia Caesariensis comprehending all between Thames and Humber the rest betwixt the Humber and the bounds of Valentia continuing under the old name of Maxima Caesariensis though now made less than any of the other four The number of the Provinces being thus enlarged he making the whole a full and complete Diocese of the Roman Empire whereas Spain had Tingitana added to it as before was shewn subordinate as Spain was also to the Praefectus Praetorio Galliarum and governed by his Vicarius or Lieutenant Generall By which division or rather subdivision of the Roman Provinces there was no other alteration made in the Ecclesiasticall government but that the British Church became more absolute and independent than it was before and had a Primate of
its own as each Diocese had residing in the same Citie with the Vicar or Lieutenant Generall which was then at York of as great power and jurisdiction in the Isle of Britain as any Patriarch of Alexandria Rome or Antioch in their severall Patriarchates The Metropolitans were no more than before they were It being ordered by a Canon of the Councill of Chalcedon that their number should not be augmented by any alteration made of the Roman Provinces As for the Forces which the Romans kept here in continuall pay as well to keep their Coasts and Frontires against the Enemy as for retayning of the Natives in their due obedience they came in all if Panciroll be not mistaken in his reckoning to 23000 Foot and 2000 Horse three Legions keeping here their constant and continuall Residence that is to say the sixt Legion surnamed Victrix at York the 20th Legion surnamed also Victrix at West-Chester and the second Legion sometimes at Isca Danmoniorum which we now call Exeter sometimes at Isca Siluâum which is now Caer-Leon upon Usk Which Legions with their Aides and Cohorts may well make up the number spoken of before Of so high estimaton was this Iland in the State of Rome Yet could not all these Forces so preserve the Countrie from forrein Enemies but that in the declining of the Roman Empire the Saxons made great spoyles on the coasts thereof as did the Scots and Picts on the Northern borders against all which the Romans held out well enough and made good their ground till the recalling of the Legions out of Britain for defence of Italy it self then wasted and destroyed by the barbarous nations Which hapned in or about the yeer of Christ 407 and some 470 yeers from the first invasion Honorius being at that time the Roman Emperour and Victorinuâ the last Governour for the Empire in the Isle of Britain For though the noble Aetiuâ on the Petition and complaint of the slaughtered people unmercifully butchered by the Scots and Picts sent some small forces to assist them against those Enemies yet were they presently called back for defence of Gaul against the Hunnes breaking in upon it out of Italie And then the wretched Britains hopeless of all help from Rome and being unable by their own strength to repell the Enemy by reason of their long ease and disuse of Arms applied themselves to Aldroenus King of Armorica in France called Little Britain a Prince extracted from the same stock for relief and succour whose Brother Constantine according to the British storie passing over with a competent Army and having valiantly repulsed the barbarous people was crowned King of Britain the first of a new race of Kings which swayed the Scepter with much trouble and continual conflicts either against the Scots or Saxons till they were finally subdued and shut up in Wales Those of most observation in the course of storie were 1 Constantine the first King and the restorer of the Countrie to Peace and quiet traiterously murdered by a Pict 2 Vortiger E. of the Gevilles now Cornwall Protector of Constantius the Sonne of Constantine taken out of a Monastery after whose death wherein he was conceived to have had an hand he got the Kingdom to himself but being unable to defend it against the Enemy and make his title also good against the other children of Constantine first called in the Saxons 3 Vortimer eldest Sonne of Vârtiger who overthrew the Saâons in many battels but in the midst of his successes was poysoned by Rowena a Saxon Lady second Wife of Vortiger 4 Arthur one of the Worlds nine Worthies of whom the Moâkish writers and other Lâgendaries report so many idle and impossible actions Doubtless he was a Prince of most perfect vertue a great Preserver of his Countrie from approaching ruine and worthy of the pen of an able Panegyrist by whom his brave atchievements might have come entire unto us without the intermixture of those feats of Chivalry affabulated to him and his Kuights of the Round-table For by the overstraining of some Monkish Writers Geofry of Monmouth and the rest they have given too just occasion to posterity to suspect that vertue which they intended to advance and filled us with as much ignorance of the story as admiration of the persons But this hath not been the ill hap of King Arthur and his Nobles onely Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France men of great vertue and renown suffering as deeply in the same kind by the solly of the French Romances It is affirmed of this Arthur but how true I know not that he began the custome of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour for the twelve dayes following with such pastimes and sports as are or have been used of late by the Lords of Misrule in some Gentlemens houses an Institution which the Scotish Writers of those times much blame perhaps not unjustly it being a time more sit for our devotions than such rude disports But to proceed King Arthur dying left the Crown to 5 Constantine the Sonne of Cador Duke of Cornwall his neerest kinsman slain by Aârelius Conanuâ his own Nephew who succeeded after him which fraction did so weaken the distressed Britans that they were forced to withdraw themselves beyond the Severn as 6 Careticus or Caradoc by the joynt forces of the Saxons to charge the plain Countries beyond the Severn for the safer but more fruitless Mountains Of the rest till Cadwaâlader there is little left of any certainty but their names only which are thus ranked in the second race of The Kings of Britain after the withdrawing of the Romans A. C. 433. 1 Constantine 10. 443. 2 Constantius 3. 446. 3 Vortiger 18. 464. 4 Vortimer his Sonne 7. 471. 5 Vortiger again 10. 481. 6 Aurelius Ambrosius 19. 500. 7 Uter Pendragon 6. 506. 8 Arthur 36. 542. 9 Constantine II. 4. 546. 10 Aurel. Conanus 30. 576. 11 Vortipor 4. 580. 12 Malgo. 6. 586. 13 Caneticus or Caradoc 27. 613. 14 Cadwan 22. 635. 15 Cadwallan 43. 687. 16 Cadwallader the last King of the Briâans who on a superstitious zeal travelled in pilgrimage to Rome there to receive the habit of a Religious Order from the hands of Pope Sergius where he died not long after Anno 689. After whose death his Successors were no longer called Kings of Britain but Kings or Princes of Wales And there we shall be sure to find them And so the Britans leave the Stage and the Saxons enter a great and potent Nation amongst the Germans but greater by the aggregation of many people under their name and service than in themselves the Jutes and Angles joyning with them and passing in Accompt as the same one Nation Their Countries different as their names untill this Conjunction but neighbouring neer enough to unite together the Angles dwelling at the first in that part of the Cimbrian Chersonese which we now call Sleswick where still the Town called Angoleâ doth preserve
which is now called Morea 2 Thracia Chersonesus in Thraââ near the Sea Propontis 3 âaurica Ghersonesus in the âuxine Sea now a part of Târtarie 4 Aureâ Chersonesus in India which we now call Maââca of all which we shall speak in their proper places and 5 Cimbricâ Chersonesus where now we are This âast so called from the Cimbri the first inhabitants hereof originally descended from Gomer the sonne of Japhet thence called Gomerii and Cimmeriâ by contraction Cimbriâ Leaving the plains of Phrygia as too narrow for them they sought out new dwellings and are said to have first dwelt in the banks of Palus ãâã where they gave name to Bosphorus Cimmerius there being Being overcome by the Scythians they removed their seats more Northward into a Countrey bounded according to Plutarch by the great Ocean on the one side and the forest of Herââin on the other within in which bounds is the Peninsula or countrey where we now are They were a people of extraordinary big stature having blew and red eyes and lived most upon theft so that for their sakes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Germans called all theeves Cimbers It hapned that the Ocean overflowing a great part of their Countrey compelled them to seek new seats whereupon in great multitudes abandoning their dwellings they petitioned the Romans then lording over a great part of the World for some place to settle in This request being denyed they proceeded in another manner winning with their swords what their Petitions could not obtain Manlius Sillanus and Cepio all Roman Consuls perished by them so that now saith Florus Actum esset de Imperio Romano nisi ille seculo Marius contigisset for he as we have elsewhere told you utterly overthrew them The next Inhabitans hereof were the Saxons Iuites and Angles upon whose removall into Brittaine the greatest part of it was peopled by the Danes who still possesse it It containeth in length about 100 Italian miles and 80 of the same miles in the breadth and comprehendeth in that tract or extent of ground 30 walled townes 6 Episcopall Sees besides those of Hamburg and Lubeck which are under the Archbishop of Bremen and 20 Royall Castles and Palaces as well for the reception of the Nobles and great men of the Countrey as the private retirements of the King The soil naturally more fit for pasturage then tillage feeding such multitudes of Oxen that from hence no fewer then 50000 are sent yearly to Germanie Divided at the present into the Dukedome of Holstein and the Province of Iuitland 1. HOLSTEIN The Dukedome of HOLSTEIN taketh up the Southern part of the Cimbrick Chersonese where it joins to Germanie extending as far North as the River Eydore which divides it from Juitland So called from the Dutch word Holt which signifies a Wood or Forrest according to the nature of it the Countrey being low marishie and full of Woods as it continueth to this day It contains in it these foure Provinces 1 Wagerland 2 Stormarsh 3 Ditmarsh and 4 Holst or Holstein specially so called 1. WAGERLAND is that part of Holstein which lies on the South East of this Chersonese bounded on the East with Mecklenbourg and the Baltick sea on the West with Holstein specially so called on the North with the Sea Baltick also on the South withsome part of Mecklenbourg So called from the Wagrii a Tribe or Nation of the Sclaves who possessed this tract from whence the name of Wagria in our Latine writers Chief townes hereof are 1 Lubeck pleasantly seated on the confluence of the Trave and the Billâw neer the fall thereof into the Baltick from which distant five Italian miles The River capable of ships of a thousand Tun which commonly they unlade at Tremuren the Port Towne to the City seated upon the very brink of the Sea where the united Rivers have their fall into it it was first built by Adolph the second Earl of Holstein anno 1143. but so well priviledged by him and his next successours that in short time it bid defiance to its founders the cause of many differences betwixt it and those Princes and was made a Dukedome of it selfe By Frederick the first it was united to the Empire after whose death they chose themselves another Duke who having governed them five years was subdued by the Danes and the City made subject to that Kingdome remaining so till delivered by the Emperour Frederick the second By whom being once again infranchised it became Imperiall afterwards listed amongst the Hansetownes and the first in estimation of all the company having above 600 ships of all sorts some of a thousand Tun and and upwards which belong unto it But being their Trade is for the most part on the Baltick Seas which are generally free from Pirats they are most of them built for burden and are slow of sail and little serviceable if at all for a fight at Sea But to return unto the City it is built upon all the sides of a rising hill on the top whereof standeth the Church of Saint Marie once the Cathedrall of the City for it was Episcopall whence is a descent to all the gates of the City affording to the Eye a most pleasing prospect The buildings very beautifull and all of brick the streets streight and even the Churches ten in number in good repair adorned with excellent imagerie and much admired even by skilfull workmen and unto every private house a pipe of water is conveyed from the publick Conduit according to the pattern whereof it hath been observed that the Conduâts were first made in London and other places In a word there is not any City of Germany or the more Northern Countries which can equallize it either for the beauty and uniformity of the houses the pleasant gardens fair streets delightfull walks without the wals or for the Citizens themselves who are much commended for their civilitie to strangers and strict execution of justice without partiality The whole in compasse about six miles fortified with a double wall deep ditches and unfordable Rivers 2 Segeberg on the River Trave four Dutch miles from Lubeck and near the head of that River 3 Oldeslo on the same River in the midst betwixt both 4 Gronnebârg and 5 Newkirk on the Baltick shore and 6 Stendorp more within the land neer the edge of a lake out of which runs the River Suentin Southwest of Wagerland lieth STORMARSH betwixt the Elb and two lesse Rivers called the Billen and the Store from which last and the marishnesse of the situation or from that River and the Marfi once the Inhabitants hereof comes the name of Storemarsh Places of most importance are 1 Crempe on a little River so named which falls not far off into the Store and both together not much further into the Elb. A town well fortified by Christian the fourth and reckoned one of the Keies of the Kingdom as well appears by the resistance which it made to the
But in our way we must first take a view of the Dukedom of Novogrod the Lower so called to difference it from Novogrod surnamed the Great spoken of before situate almost in the midst betwixt Casan and Mosco distant from the last 100 Pâlonian miles and 60 miles from the borders of the other every Polonian mile being reckoned at four Italian The Countrie generally very rich both for tillage and pasturage inferiour unto none in all this estate but Rhezan and Wolodomir only So called from Novogrod the chief town situate at the confluence of the Ock and Volga besides which it hath the neighbourhood of a very great Lake which storeth it plentifully with fish A Citie of great esteem in all this Empire partly for the great number of houses in which not easily equalled by any other partly for an impregnable Castle cut out of the main Rock with incredible charges in the time of Basilius the Great Duke but principally for a stately and magnificent Temple built above 1600 years agoe in imitation or emulation as some say of the famous Church of S. Sophia in Constantinople To this Town the story of the Scythian or Sarmatian slaves ought in my mindâ to be ascribed though commonly reported of the other Novogrod in the West parts of this Empire My reason is because it is not likely that the Sarmatians dwelling on the borders of the Baltick Sea should crosse all this Country to join with the Asiatick Scythians so remote from them in a needlesse war which those of this tract might well do as near neighbours to them if not of the same Nation or extraction with them Subject to the Estate hereof are the Mordwit Tartars lying on the South betwixt the Volga and the Don or Tanais where it beginneth to return Westwards towards the Euxine A people much of the same nature with the Czeremissois but that they have some Villages scattered houses which the others either want or else care not for Idolaters for the most part and the rest Mahometans carrying their Idols in their Carts wheresoever they goe worshipping that beast all day which they first see in the morning and swearing by it for that day as their chiefest deitie 20 WOROTINE 21 TUVER 22 WOLODOMIR And now again we are in Europe where the Great Duke hath almost as many Titles as Towns with Territorie four of them besides some before either situate in the Province of Moscovie or else so intermingled with the Towns thereof that they may easily be taken or mistaken for members of it The principall are 20 WOROTIN seated on the West side of the River Ocque a distinct Dukedom of it self so called from Worotin the chief Citie of it built upon that River about 3 Dutch miles from Colluga in the Province of Rhezan lying on the further bank thereof beautified with a strong Castle and a pleasant soil The 2 Misceneck the next Town of note remarkable for the head of the River Ocque which ariseth in the fields thereof 21 TVVER or OTVVER as some call it is a large and goodly Country lying along the banks of the River Volga so populous that it is said to contain 40000 Boidres or Gentlemen sit to serve on horseback and double that number of the common or inferiour sort It gives the title of a Duke to the Russian Emperour and is so called from Twerde the chief Town thereof and a Bishops See affirmed to be a fairer and more stately Citie then Mosco it self from which distant 36 Dutch miles 22 WOLODOMIR is one of the most fruitfull Countries in all Russia not paralleld by many Countries in the world the soil here if all be true which is said of it yeilding such an increase that many times the husbandman hath twenty and sometimes twenty five for one It gives the title of a Duke to the Russian Emperour and hath precedencie before Moscovie in the style Imperiall So called from Wolodomir the chief Citie of it and a Bishops See and that so named from the Founder who probably was the same Valadomir one of the first Kings of the Russes who married Helena the daughter of Nicephorus Phocas Emperour of Constantinople The Citie situate 36 Polonian miles on the East of Mosco anciently the chief seat and residence of the Oreat Duke and so continued till the time of John the son of Daniel who first translated it to Mosco that from thence he might more easily confront and oppose the Tartars with whose irruptions and invasions both he and his predecessours had long been troubled Under the government hereof is the City of Susdali of great esteem and very well peopled as long as the Royall seat remained at Wolodomir betwixt which and Rostow it is seated After it tell into decay and being once destroyed by the Tartars could never since recover ãâ¦ã lustre having now little to uphold its reputation but a Bishops See 23 DWINA 2â DWINA so called from the chief Town situate on the confluence of two Rivers Juch and ãâã whence it hath the name Dwine in the language of that Countrie signifying two as twan doth with us amongst Countrie-people A Countrie of a great extent but exceeding barren which âakes the Villageâ hereof to stand very thin the Towns considering the great compasse of it to be very âew and the Inhabitants for the most part to live upon dried fish and the flesh of wild beastâ which they have no want of The chief commoditie is in salt with which they use to furnish the neighbouring Provinces and provide such necessaries for themselves as they stand in need of Chief Towns hereof are 1 Dwine spoken of before situate in the midst of the Province on the meeting of the said two Rivers which here united into one stream take the name of Dwine or Duina the greater known by that name untill its fall into the Northern Ocean in the Bay of Granduâe 2 Sagan so called of the River one of the two which makes the Dwine upon which it is seated 3 Colnagro 4 Pinnegue two strong Castles Unto this Province because I know not else how to dispose of them I must reduce these four Towns following that is to say 1 Vstiug a Bishops See situate on the western side of the River over against the Town of Dwine and in a Country so ill furnished with necessaries that the people eat dryed fish in stead of bread but have salt enough to season it from those of Dwine 2 Gargapoll a Bishops See also on the same side of the River that Dwina is of 3 S. Nicolas a well known Port and a Bishops See situate at the influexe of Duina into the Gulfe of Granvicus or the Bay of S. Nicolas from hence denominated A Town much traded since the discovery of the North-east passage by the English and the removal of theirs and the Dutch traffique from Novogrod hither from hence dispersed with more case and speed into all the parts of this vast Empire 4 S.
part of Illyricum and on the South with the Sea Ionian So that it is in a manner a Peninsula or Demy-Island environed on three sides by the Sea on the fourth only united to the rest of Europe But this is only in relation to the present extent hereof the name being anciently restrained within narrower bounds Confined at first to Attica and the parts adjoining ab Isthmi angustiis Hellas incipit as it is in Plinie and took the name of Hellas from Hellen the son of Deucalion as that of Greece or Graecia from Graecus the son of Cecrops the first King of Athens Communicated afterwards to Peloponnesus then to Thessalie also and finally when the Macedonian Empire had inlarged it selfe over the petit Common-wealths and Estates hereof it came to be communicated to that Countrie also The people for this cause known by divers names by some Achivi by others Myrmidones sometimes Pelasgi Danai Argivi c. But the name whereby they are best known in sacred Writers is that of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so called from Hellas the more proper and genuine name of Greece in the strictest notion and acception A name used frequently and familiarly in the Book of God both absolutely to denote this Nation as where it is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Greeks seek wisdome 1 Cor. 1. 22. and relatively as in opposition to the Jews the Barbarians and the Hellenists or Graecizing Jews First with relation to the Jews and then it signifieth the whole bodie of the Gentiles generally of which the Gâecians were the most eminent and famous people as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Rom. 11. 9 10. Give none offence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles 1 Cor. 10. 32. and elsewhere frequently In which and all other places of that kinde where the Antiâesis lyeth between the Jews and other Nations we are to understand the Gentiles the whole body of them though many times our Translators I know not why render it literally the Greeks as Rom. 1. 16. 10. 12. c. Secondly with reference to all other Nations not so well versed in the learning and ãâã of that Age as the Grecians were whom by a common name of scorn they called Barbarians according unto that of Strabo Barbarae sunt omnes Nationes praeter Graecos the Romans themselves though then the great Lords of the World being included in the reckoning And so the word is taken Rom. 1. 14. I am a debtour saith S. Paul ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both to the Greeks and the Barbarians to the wise and unwise in which as well the Romans as those of other Nations have the name of Barbarians Last of all for the Graecizing Jews whom the Vulgar Latine calleth Graecos and our English Grecians they were such of the Jews who living dispersed amongst the Gentiles used the translation of the Septuagint making that the Canon both for life and doctrine Which difference betwixt them and the Jews inhabiting in Judaea who kept themselves unto the Scriptures in their mother-tongue and used the Hebrew only in all sacred actions occasioned many jars amongst them which sometimes brake out into to open violence insomuch as R. Eliezer brake into the Synagogue of the Alexandrians at Hierusalem and therein committed many outrages Of this unfriendlinesse between them mention is made Act 6. 1. where it is said that there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews c. In which place though the English and Vulgar Latine use the name of Grecians yet ought they more properly to be rendred Hellenists or Graecizing Jews as in all other places viz. Acts 9. 29. 11. 20. c. where they are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Greek Originals But to proceed to our description of the Country we finde it situate in the Northern temperate Zone under the fift and sixt Climats the longest day being 15 hours inhabited by a people which were once brave men of war sound Scholars addicted to the love of vertue and civill behaviour A Nation once so excellent that their precepts and examples do still remain as approved rules and Tutors to instruct and direct the man that endeavoureth to be vertuous famous for government affectors oâ freedome every way noble For which vertues in themselves and want of them in other all their neighbours and remote Nations were by them scornfully called Barbarians a name now most fit for the Grecians themselves being an unconstant people dâstitute of all learning and the means to obtain it Vmversities uncivill riotous and so lazie that for the most part they endeavour their profit no further then their belly compels them and so perfidious withall in all their dealings especially towards the Western Christians that it is grown into a Proverb amongst the Italians Chi fida in Grego sara in trigo i. e. He that trusts to a Greek is sure to be cousened When they meet at foasts or banquets they drink small draughts at the beginning which by degrees they increase till they come to the height of intemperancie at which point when they are arrived they keep no rule or order whereas before to drink out of ones turn is accounted a point of incivility Hence as I beleeve sprung our by word As merry as a Greek and the Latine word Graecari The women for the most part are brown-complexioned exceedingly well favoured and excessively amorous Painting they use very much to keep themselves in grace with their husbands for when they once grow wrinckled they are put to all the drudgeries of the house Both sexes generally in their habit and outward garb apply themselves to the State under which they live such as are subject to the Turk conforming unto the dresse and fashions of the Turks as those who live under the Venetians do to that of Venice The Christian Faith was first here planted by S. Paul invited by the Spirit to come over into Macedonia Acts 16. 12. passing from thence to Thessalonica the chief Citie of Mygdonia ch 17. 1. from thence to Athens in Achaia v. 16. then unto Corinth the Metropolis of Peloponnesus ch 18. 1. watering the greatest part of Greece with the dew of heaven and planting Bishops in most Churches where he preached the Gospell as Dionysius the Areopagite at Athens Aristarchus at Thessalonica Epaphroditus at Philippi Silas at Corinth and Titus in the Isle of Crete The like he did in many other Countries also accounted members of the Greek Church though not of Greece the name of the Greek Church extending over all the Provinces of the Eastern Empire governed by the 4 Patriarchs 1 Of Alexandria who presided over Egypt and Arabia 2 Of Hierusalem whose Patriarchate erected only in regard of our Saviours passion in that Citie and the great opinion which by that means accrewed unto it confined within the bounds of Palestine 3 Of
Sicyon the nineteenth King thereof and finally Peloponnesus from Pelops the son of Tantalus King of Phrygia and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Insula the word signifying as much as the Isle of Pelops But it is now of late called Morea and that a Maurorum incursionibus from the incursions of the Moores as Mercator thinketh It is conceived to be the most pleasant Countrie of all Greece abounding in all things necessarie for the life of man and in such also as do serve for delicacie and contentment only adorned with many goodly Plains swelled with fruitfull Hils well stored with Ports and Havens on all sides thereof And though no Country in the world for the bignesse of it hath suffered in the ruine of so many brave and stately Cities yet is it still the most populous and best inhabited of all the Continent of Greece Near the middle of it in Laconia is the Mount Taygetus from the top whereof there was no Citie of note in all this Peninsula but what might easily be seen A most gallant prospect The whole divided commonly into these 7 Provinces 1 Achaia propria 2 Elis 3 Messene 4 Arcadia Laconia 6 Argolis and 7 Corinthia 1 ACHAIA PROPRIA is bounded on the East with Argolis and Corinthia on the West with the Ionian Sea on the North with Sinus Corinthiacus or the Golfe of Lâpanto on the South with Elis. So called from the Achaei the Inhabitants of it the adjunct propria being added to difference it from Achaia in the Continent or main land of Greece Places of most consideration in it are 1 Dyme situate in the most Western point of it on or near the Promontorie called Araxum the town now called Chiarenza and the Promontorie Cabo di Chiarenza Not far from which is another Promontorie or head-land of old called Antirrhium because opposite to another in Aetolia that was called Rhium divided by a very narrow strait or fretum which openeth into the Bay of Corinth fortified on each side with a Castle for defence thereof commonly called Dardanelli and sometimes Castelli di Lepanto 2 Aegium where Jupiter is said to have been nursed by a Goat whence it had the name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Greek signifying a she Goat once a strong town now ruined and destroyed by the Turks called at this day Vostiza or Bostizan 3 Aegira once the chief Citie of all this tract situate on a steep and inaccessible hill now a small Village called Xilocastro 4 Olenus so named from Olenus the son of Jupiter and Anaxithea now called Chaminisa 5 Patrae situate at the very mouth of the Golfe opposite to Lepanto first called Arâe but being by one Patreus enlarged and walled took the name of Patrae which name it holdeth to this day being still called Patras the town of most note on the Bay of Corinth called from hence Golfo di Patras A town of good trade and much frequented not long since by the English Merchants who had here their Consul called the Consul of Mera but formerly more memorable for the death of S. Andrew the Apostle who here suffered Martyrdom 6 Pellene distant from the Sea about 60 furlongs the people whereof being constant to their old fashions of apparell occasioned the Proverb of Pellenaea vestis applyed to old cloaths out of fashion Here were once also the two Cities of 7 Helice and 8 Buris sunk by the violence of a tempest into the bottome of the Sea about the time of the battle of Leuctres Not to say any thing of 9 Tritae and 10 Phera two other towns hereof of note in the former times so little now remaining of them as if they had been sunk at the same time also But the chief town of all this Province if not a Province of it self is that of Sicyon situate not far from the Isthmus in the most Eastern parts hereof and giving to the territorie or adjoyning Country as once unto the whole Peninsula the name of Sicyonia The territorie rich especially in Olives and works of Iron the Citie the most ancient of all Greece built within little time of the generall flood and restauration of mankind first called Aegialia after Sicyonia by the names of the first and nineteenth Kings hereof by whom and their successours much adorned and beautified with Temples Altars Statues and Images of their severall Gods the ancientest Kingdome in the world the Assyrian and Aegyptian excepted only and perhaps not those It took beginning in the person of Aegialeus within 150 years after the deluge and 200 years before the death of Noah continuing in a race of Princes who swayed the affairs of Peloponnesus till overtopped by the growth and good fortune of the Kings of Argos The names of whom by reason of the undoubted antiquitie of this Kingdome I shall here subjoin in the ensuing Catalogue of The KINGS of SICYON A. M. 1860 1 Aegialeus 1910 2 Europs 1950 3 Telchin 1980 4 Apis 2004 5 Telxion 2055 6 Aegyras 2089 7 Eurymachus 2134 8 Leucidpus 2187 9 Mesapus 2234 10 Peratus 2280 11 Plemnaeus 2328 12 Orthoulis 2391 13 Marathon 2421 14 Marathus 2441 15 Echyreus 2496 16 Corax 2526 17 Epopeus 2561 18 Lamedon 2601 19 Sicyon 2646 20 Polybus 2686 21 Ianischus 2728 22 Phestus 2736 23 Adrastus 2740 24 Polyphides 2771 25 Pelasgus 2791 26 Xeuxippus the last King of Sicyon after whose death A. M. 2812. the estate hereof was governed by the Priests of Apollo seven of them successively one after another the first five only years a piece Amphictyon who was the sixt continuing 9 years in the Regencie and Charidemus the last of them ruling 18 years After whose death or departure I know not which A. M. 2844. the Heraclidae who about that time returned into Pelâponnesus made themselves Masters of this Country there being no Kings of Sicyenia from this time forwards Of these Kings the most memorable were Aegialeus and Apis the first and fourth from whom this Peninsula had the names of Apia and Aegialia Aegirus the 6. giving name and being to the Citie Aegira spoken of before Marathon the 13. of whom perhaps the famous fields of Marathon in the other ãâã took denomination Epopeus the 17. who founded a Temple to Minerva and therein placed his own Monument or Tropheys Sicyon the 19. the Founder of the Citie of Sicyon or at least therepairer and enlarger of it Pelasgus the 25. from whom perhaps the Grecians might be called Pelasgi if not known formerly by that name After this time I finde no man of note who bare sway in Sicyon till the time of Aratus the speciall ornament of this town of which a Native and one of the principall establishers of the Achaean Common-wealth against the Spartans and Macedonians of which more hereafter in the generall History of Peloponnesus 2 The Country of ELIS hath on the East Arcadia on the West the Ionian Sea on the North Achaâa prepria on the South Messenia The chief Cities are
famous Poetesse At that time joined unto the sand but since by the violence of the Sea or the hand of man made into an Island according unto that of Ovid Leucada continuam veteres habuere Coloni Nunc Freta circumcunt That is to say Leucas in former times join'd to the land Environ'd round with waters now doth stand It was called Leucas from the whitenesse of the Rock or Promontorie having before the separation or disjunction of it been called Neritos the chief Town of it varying with the name of the Isle and Promontory both town and Island at this time called S. Maure taken by Bajazet the second from the State of Venice and by him given unto the Jews who doe still inhabit it at their expulsion out of Spaine 5 Nicopolis a Colonie of the Romans of great both wealth and beautie in the time of S. Paul who from hence dated his Epistle to Titus called in that Postscript Nicopolis of Macedonia because Epirus at that time was part of the Province of Macedon though afterwards a distinct Province of it selfe It was first built by Augustus Casar on a Promontory opposite unte Actium on the other side of the Bay that being the place where his Land souldiers were incamped before the Navall battell betwixt him and Mark Anthony and was thus called either in memory of his victory or from a poor man and his Asse whom he met there the day before For asking the mans name he told him that his name was Eutyches i. e. Fortunate and that the name of his Asse was Nicon i. e. Conquerour which happy Omen made his souldiers courageous and hopefull of victory and he in memory thereof erected here two brazen Images the one of the Asse the other of his Master It is now a small village called Prevesa 6. Actium on the Sea-shore nigh unto which Augustus and Antony fought for the Empire of the world The Navy of the later consisted of 500 Gallies the former had 250 onely but those crowned with victory Antonius shamefully deserting his souldiers to follow after Cleopatra who on the very first charge fled away for Egypt The town now ruined the Promontory upon which it stood called Cabbo di Figulo The Countrey was first peopled by Dodonim the son of Javan or at least by some of his posterity coming hither from the Isle of Rhodes whose memory was preserved a long time in the Towne of Dodona him or from him so denominated Afterwards being parted into severall Nations and those Nations united in the common name of Epirots it became a great and powerfull Kingdome governed by a race of Kings descending from Pyrrhus the sonne of Achilles and continuing till the time of Pyrrhus the sonne of Aeacides A man of such courage and magnanimity that he did not onely recover his owne Kingdome of which Cassander had deprived his Father but got the Kingdome of Macedon from Cassanders children outed of which he tried his fortunes with the Romans Anno Mundi 3683. V. C. 471. After his death this Kingdome was shrewdly shaken by the Macedonians and shortly after subdued by Paulus Aemilius who as we now said destroyed 70 Cities hereof in one day For desirous to satisfie his souldiers after his victory in Macedon he sent unto the Epirots for ten of the principall men of every City These he commanded to deliver up all the gold and silver which they had and to that end as he gave out he sent certaine companies of souldiers along with them unto whom he gave secret instructions that on a day by him appointed they should fall to fack every one the town whereunto they were sent A barbarous and bloudy decree 70 Cities confederate with the Romans ruined in one day and no fewer then 150000 Epirots made and sold for slaves But the chief motive which induced him to so great a cruelty was by dispeopling this countrey lying with a long and faire Sea-coast over against Italy to give the Romans opportunity to land their Armies without any resistance for the further progresse of their Forces into Macedon Thrace Moesia or where else they pleased Which ungodly policie was afterwards imitated by William the Conquerour who laid wast all that part of Hampshire since called New Forrest and therein 36 Parish Churches that he might have a safe landing place for his Norman Forces if the English should at any time endeavour to make head against him Being made subject to the Romans it was a while part of the Province of Macedonia but afterwards when Macedonia was made a Diocese it became a distinct Province of it selfe called by the name of Old Epirus to difference it from the Province of New Fpirus which lay Eastward of it At the division of the Empire it belonged to the Constantinopolitans and so continued till the taking of Constantinople by the Western Christians at what time Throdorus Angelus a Prince of the Imperiall family seised on Aetolia and Epirus as before is said and sped so well in his designs that he took the strong City of Durazzo from the State of Venice to whom it fell in the division of that spoil and cunningly if not treacherously intercepted Peter the third Emperor of the Latines whom as some say he caused to be murdered at a banquet After his death his whole Estate being divided into two parts Aetolia with that part hereof which is called Chaonia continued in his house till the time of Charles Prince of Aetolia and Epirus spoken of before after whose death it was subdued by Amurath the second as before was said The residue hereof together with that part of Macedon which is called Albania fell to the family of the Caâtriots the last of which named John the Father of Scanderbeg seeing himself unable to resist that Tyrant who had already swallowed up all his neighbour Princes submitted his estate unto him and gave unto him all his sonnes for hostages No sooner was the old Prince dead but Amurath seised on his estate murdered his three eldest sonnes and caused George the youngest to be trained up in the Law of Mahâmet who afterwards escaping out of his power and recovering all his Fathers countries assumed also the style or title of Prince of Epirus After whose death his children not being able to make good their game lost it to Mahomet the Great as shall be shewn more fully in the storie and description of Albania which is next to follow 4 ALBANIA ALBANIA is bounded on the East with Macedonia on the West with the Adriatick on the North with Sâlavonia on the South with Epirus The countrey mountainous and barren watred with few Rivers and those of no great note amongst the Antients as 1 Laus 2 Apsus 3 Paniasus 4 Celidnus all of them falling into the Adriatick It took this name from the Albani once the Inhabitants of this tract from whom the chiefe City hereof was called Albanopolis Other townes of most consideration are 1 Stetigrade or Vestigard called
by the Macedonians together with Chalcis in the Isle of Euboea and the City of Corinth kept all Greece in awe and were therefore commonly called the Fetters of Greece the Grecians never thinking themselves at liberty till those townes were dismantled by the Romans 5 Pharsalis nigh to which was fought the great battell betwixt Caesar and Pompey for the Soveraignty of the Roman Empire a battell more famous then bloudy 6000 only of 300000 which were in the field on both sides being therein slain A battell before which the Pompeians were in such a miserable security that some of them contended for the Priesthood which was Caesars Office others disposed of the Consulship and preferments in the City of Rome Pompey himself being so rechlesse that he neither considered into what place it were best to flie if he lost the day or by what means he might provide for his own safety and end the war As if the war had been made against some ignoble Enemie and not against that Caesar who had taken 1000 Towns conquered 300 Nations tooke prisoners one million of men and slain as many 6 Philippi so named from Philip the Macedonian the first founder of it situate in the further part of the same plains of Pharsalia and famous for as memorable a Battell as that before and of no lesse consequence that namely betwixt Augusius and M. Antonius on the one side against Brutus and Cassius on the other these later being rather overcome by chance then valour For either of them thinking the other vanquished slew himself in the field being the two last that ever openly stood out for the common Liberty and therefore called by Cremutius Cordus Vltimi Romanorum or the last of the true Roman Spirits 7 Gomphi an ancient Citie bordering on Epirus 8 Pheroe in which Citie Alexander the Tyrant reigned against whom that noble Captain Pelopidas the Theban fighting was slain in battell the Tyrant being not long after murdered by his wifes brother and by that means all Thessalie recovering liberty 9 Pagasa situate on the Bay called Sinus Pelasgicus which from hence is sometimes named Pegasicus in which the ship called Argo was said to be built so famous for the renowned voyage of the Argonautes The hill Pelion spoken of before is not far from hence 10 Pythion or Pythoeum of great note for the Pythian games there celebrated in the honour of Apollo who hereabouts killed the Serpent Python the Conquerour in which games were crowned at the first only with an Oaken Garland but afterwards with one of Lawrell Of which thus the Poet Neve operis famam posset abolere vetustas Instituit sacros celebri certam ne ludos Pythia de domiti Serpentis nomine dictos c. Thus made to speak English by G. Sandys Then lest the well-deserved memorie Of such an act in future times should die He instituted the so famous Games Of free contention which he Pythia names Who ran who wrestled best or rak'd the ground With swiftest wheels the Oaken Garland crown'd These games together with the Olympick Isthmian and Nemaean spoken of before made the four annuall meetings amongst the Grecians renowned for the universall concourse of the noblest spirits 11 Doliche which together with Pythium and 12 Azorium another Citie of this tract standing near together are called in Livius the Historian by the name of Tripolis 13 Hypata the Metropolis of Thessalie so called by Heliodorus in his Aethiopick Historie before mentioned who placeth it near the Bay called Sinus Maliacus now Golfo di Ziton and not far from Mount Oeta bordering on the Province of Doris upon which Mountain Hercules being tortured with a poisoned shirt sent by his innocent wife Deianira said to have burned himself thence called Hercules Oeteus Of all which Towns Lamia Pagasa and Demetrias are in the Region called Phthiotis Larissa Doliche Phthium and Azorium in that called Pelasgia Gomphi and Trieca in Estiotis the rest in Thessalie properly and specially so named This Country at first called Aemonia afterwards Pelasgia then Pyrrhoea from Pyrrha the wife of Deucalion and finally Thessalia from Thessalus one of the companions of Hercules by Plinie is called Driopis Estiotis by Strabo Pelasgia by Diodorus and by Homer Argos the name of some chief Citie or particular Province being figuratively used for the whole Divided commonly into four parts 1 Thessaliotis 2 Estiotis 3 Pelasgiotis and 4 Phthiotis the name of Thessalie or Thessaliotis in the end prevailing accordingly distributed into severall governments united finally in the person of Philip the father of Alexander who partly by force but specially by art and practise made himself Master of the whole Continuing in a mixt condition betwixt free and subject under the Macedonian Kings of the second Race it became subject with that Kingdome to the State of Rome first reckoned as a part of the Province of Macedon after a Province of it self when Macedon was made a Diocese part of which it was But from a Province of that Diocese and a member of the Eastern Empire it was made a kingdome given with that title to Boniface Marquesse of Mont-ferrat in exchange for Candie together with the Citie of Thessalonica and some part of Peloponnesus at the division of that Empire amongst the Latines Which title he affected in regard that Reiner the brother of Boniface his Grandfather had formerly been created Prince of Thessalie by the Emperour Emanuel whose daughter Cyri Maria or the Lady Mary he had took to wife In him as it began so this title ended Thessalonica falling to the State of Venice Thessalie reverting to the Empire when the Greeks recovered it from whom subdued and added to the Turkish Empire in the reign of Amurath the 2. anno 1432. 2 MACEDON specially so called is bounded on the East with Mygdonia on the West with Albania on the North with Mount Haemus on the South with Thessalie The Country for the most part fruitfull as before was said but not so surfeiting with delights as to make the people wanton or esteminate in their course of life as being naturally good souldiers exact observers of military discipline and inured to hardnesse which their many signall victories doe most clearly evidence both in Greece and Asia The Greeks in the pride of their own wits reckoned them amongst the barbarous Nations and yet by a strange kinde of contradiction ascribe unto their Country the seats of the Muses For in this Country was Mount Pimple with a fountain of the same name at the foot thereof both consecrated to the Muses from hence called Pimpleides Here also was the hill Libethris and the Province of Pieria from whence the Muses had the names of Libethrides and Pierides by this last called more frequently then by any other name what ever especially by the Greeks themselves But the birth of Aristotle in this Country doth more convince the Grecians of this foolish arrogance then all the Muses in the world A man
search and examine all Ships that passe that way they receive the Grand Seignieurs customes and are in effect the principal strength of Constantinople At these Castles all Ships must stay three dayes to the end that if any Slave be run away from his master or theeves have stolen any thing they may be in that place pursued and apprehended So that these Castles are as it were the out-works of Constantinople to defend it from all invasions and from any forces which may come unto it by Sea out of the Mediterranean And for the safety thereof from such as may finde passage into the Euxine there are situate at the very entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus two strong Castles also the one above Constantinople on Europe side anciently called Damalis and now the Black tower strongly fortified and compassed with a wall twenty two foot thick which with the opposite Castle on the A sian Shore doe command that entrance No Europaean Isle of note in either Strait And therefore on unto The ISLANDS of the AEGEAN SEA Hellespont after a forty miles course expaciateth its waters in the Aegaean Seas so called either from Aegaeus the father of Theseus who misdoubting his sons safe return from the Minotaure of Crete here drowned himself or secondly from Aege once a principall City in the prime Island Euboea or thirdly because that the Islands lie scattered up and down like the leaps of a wanton Goat from the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The chief Ilands of it are 1 Samothrace 2 Thassus 3 Imbrus 4 Lenmos 5 Euboea 6 Salamis 7 Aegint 8 the Cyclades 9 the Sporades and 10 Cythera all which especially from Euboea Southwards are called the Islands of the Arches the Sea being by the Mariners called the Archipelago in regard of its greatnesse compared unto the narrow Seas which lie about it 1 SAMOTHRACE is a small Iland opposite to the Coast of Thrace where the Hebrus falls into the Sea so called quasi Samos Thraciae to difference it from the A sian Samos bordering on Ionia Formerly it was called Dardania from Dardanus the Trojan who fled hither when he carried the Palladium thence But Aristotle writing of the Common-weal of these Samo-Thracians telleth us that it was first called Leucosia and afterwards Samus from Saus the sonne of Mercury and Rhene the letter M being interposed It is now called Samandrachi plentifull in Honey and Wilde Deer and better stored with commodious harbours then any other in these Seas It hath a town of the same name with the Iland situate on an high hill on the North part hereof over-looking a capacious Haven of late by the Pirates frequent infesting of these Seas in a manner desolate II THASSVS another little Iland on the same Coast opposite to the influx of the River Nessas lying betwixt that and Athos in Macedonia at the mouth of the Strymonian Bay by Pliny called Aerid and Aethria by P tolemy Thalassia at the present Thasse In compasse betwixt forty and fifty miles sufficiently fruitfull well replenished with woods and yeilding good store of the best Wines mountainous in some places but those mountains fraught with Quarries of excellent Marble which the Romans called Thassiam from the Iland and in the times of Philip and Alexander the Great so rich in Mines of usefull metals that those Kings received yearly 80 talents for their Customes of them It hath one town of the same name with the Iland situate on a large plain in the north part of it bordering on a goodly Bay which serves for an Haven to the Town and on the South parts where the Country is more mountainous and hilly there are two towns more each of them situate on an hill but the names thereof occur not amongst my Authors III IMBRVS another small Iland now named Lembro is situate betwixt Samothrace and the T hracian Chersonese in compasse about thirty miles but more long then broad stretching north and south and distant from Samothrace about ten miles The Iland mountainous for the most part except towards the West where it hath some pleasant and well-watered Plaines in which a town of the same name situate at the foot of the mountain once sacred unto Mercury but not else observable IV LEMNOS an Iland of more note lyeth betwixt Thrace and Mavedon not far from Imbrus memorable amongst the Poets for the fabulous fall of Vulcan who being but an homely brat hardly worth the owning was by Juno in great passion thrown out of Heaven and falling on this Iland came to get his halting Howsoever he was antiently worshipped by the people hereof and from hence called Lemnius In compasse about an hundred miles but more long then broad extended from the East to the West on every side well furnished with convenient Greeks and some pretty Havens by which the want of Rivers is in some sort recompensed The Country for the most part plain if compared unto the adjacent Ilands but otherwise swelled with rising mountainets the enterposed valleys being very fruitfull of wheat pulse wine flesh cheese wooll flax linnen and all other necessaries onely wood is wanting And though here be no Rivers as before was said yet have they good fishing on the Sea-cost for their use and sustenance and in some parts Hot-bathes for health and medicine But the chief riches of this Iland is in a Minerall Earth here digged of excellent Vertue for curing wounds stopping of fluxes expulsing poisons preservative against infections and the like called Terra Lemnia from the place and Terra Sigillata from the seal or Character imprinted on it For being made up into small pellets and sealed with the Turks Character or Signet it is then not before sold unto the Merchants by whom dispersed over most parts of the Christian world Upon the sixt of August yeerly they goe to gather it but not without much Ceremony and many religious preparations brought in by the Venetians when they were Lords of this Iland and still continued by the Greek Monks or Caloires who are the principall in the work There is one hill onely where it groweth the top whereof being opened they discover the vein resembling the casting up of wormes and having gathered as much of it that day as the Priesis think fit it is closed again certain bags of it being sent to the Grand-Signeur yeerly the residue sealed up and sold to the forain Merchant But to return to the Topographie of the place the eastern parts hereof are said to be fat and fruitfull the western very dry and barren in both containing 57 Towns and Villages all of them inhabited by the Greeks except only three and those three garrisoned by the Turks who being Lords of the whole Iland have new named it Stalimene In former times from two prime Cities in it it was called Diospolis Of which the first was called Lemnos by the name of the Iland as large and well-people now as ever formerly but of no great estimation
MCCC tenuerunt Imperium ab Asyriis ad Medos Arbaces transfert SENECA EPIST. 17. Omnes quae usquam rerum potiuntur urbes ubi fuerint aliquando quaeretur vario exitii genere tollentur LONDON Printed for Henry Seile 1652. ASIAE Descriptio Nova Impensis HENRICI SEILE JohanÌ Goddard sculpÌ 1652 COSMOGRAPHIE The Third Book CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHIE and HISTORIE of the Lesser and Greater ASIA And all the principall Kingdomes Provinces Seas and Isles thereof OF ASIA ASIA is bounded on the West with the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas the Hellespont Propontis Thracian Bosphorus and the Euxine Sea the Palus Maeotis the Rivers Tanais and Duina a line being drown from the first of the two said Rivers unto the other by all which parted from Europe On the North it hath the main Scythick Ocean on the East the Streits of Aman if such there be the Indian Ocean and Mare Del Zur by which separated from America on the South the Mediterranean or that part of it which is called the Carpathian washing the shores of Anatolia and the main Southern Ocean passing along the Indian Persian and Arabian coasts and finally on the South-west the Red Sea or Bay of Arabia by which parted from Africk Environed on all sides with the Sea or some Sea-like Rivers except a narrow Isthmus in the South-west which joynes it to Africk and the space of ground whatsoever it be betwixt Duina and Tanais on the North-west which unites it to Europe It took this name as some will have it from Asia the daughter of Oceanus and Thetis the wife of Japetus by him mother to Prometheus as others say from Asius the son of Atis a King of Lydia from whence that Conntrey first afterwards all Anaâolia or Asia Minor and finally the whole Continent had the name of Asia Others again but more improbably derive the name from Asius the Philosopher who gave the Palladium unto the Trojans in memory whereof that Countrey first and after the whole Continent did receive this name But these Originations being very uncertain Bochartus out of his great affection to the Punick or Phoenician language will have it called so from Asiâ a Phanician word signifying Mâaium or the middle because Anatolia or the Lesser Asia which gives name as he conceiveth to the Greater also lieth in the middle as it were betwixt some parts of Europe and Africa And so farre the Conjecture doth find countenance from some antient writers that Asia is said by Plinie to be inter Africam Europan to be betwixt Africa and Europe by Mela Medium nostris oequoribus excipt to be embraced in the middle of two Seas he meaneth Pontus Euxinus and the Mediterranean and finally by Eustathius conceive them all of Anatolia or the Lesser Asia ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to have a middle situation betwixt Europe and Africa But by what name and on what grounds soever it be called by the Greeks and Latines it is otherwise and with better reason called in holy Scriptures by the name of Semia as being that portion of the world wherein the whole posterity of Sem had their seates and dwellings If the observation of Maginus be of any weight It is situate East and West from the 52. to the 169 degree of Longitude and North and South from the 82 degree of Latitude to the very Aequator some onely of the Islands lying on the South of that ãâã so that the longest Summers day in the Southern parts is but twelve houres onely but in the most Northern parts hereof for almost four whole moneths together no night at all And for a measurement by miles it stretches in length 5200. and in bredth 4560. miles This Countrey hath heretofore been had in especiall honour 1. For the Creation of man who had his first making in this part of the world 2. Because in this part of it stood the garden of Eden which he had for the first place of his habitation 3. Because here flourished the four first great Monarchies of the Assyrian Babylonianâ Mâdâs and Persians 4. Because it was the Scene of almost all the memorable actions which are recorded by the pen-men of the holy Scriptures 5. Because that here our Saviour CHRIST was borâ here wrought he most divine miracles and here accomplished the great work of our Redemption 6. And finally because from hence all Nations of the World had their first beginning on the dispersion which was made by the sonnes of Noal after their vain attempt at Babel The chief Mountains of this great Continent not limited within the bounds of any one Province for of those we are to speak in their severall places are 1. Mount Taurus which having its beginning in ãâã a Province of Anâiolââ passeth directly East-wards to the Indian Ocean and reckoning in its severall wind âgs turnings with its spurs and branches every way is said to be 6250. miles long and 357 m. broad This Mountain or rather Ridge of hils divideth the Greater Asia as the Aequator doth the World into North and South memorable for three difficult passages from the one to the other the first out of the ãâã of ãâã into Ciliciae called Pylae Ciliciae the second out of Scythia or Tarterie into Turcomaââ called ãâã Portae and the third out of Scythia into Persia called Portae Caspia Of which and of the whole course of this Mountain more at large hereafter 2. Imaus which beginning neere the sheres of the Northern Ocean runneth directly towards the South dividing the Greater Asia as the Meridian doth the World into East and West and crossing Mount Taurus in right Angles in or about the Longitude of 140. This on the North of Taurus hath no other name among the Latines then Imaus onely and by that name divide â Scythia into Scythia intra Imaum and Scythia extra Imaum but by the Tartars is called Altay by some writers Belgion And on the South-side of that Mountain is known in Ptolomy by the name of Bâââgo extending from Mount Caucasus or some other Branch of the Taârus to the Cape of Câmari in the Southern Ocean supposed by some to be Mount Sephar mentioned Gen. 10. v. 30. of which we shall say more also when we come into India The estate of Christianity in this vast Continent is in ill condition discountenanced and oppressed though noâ quite extinguished For all the great Princes and Commanders of it being either Mahometans or Pagans the most that can be hoped for of the Christian Faith is a toleration or connivence and that not found but with an intermixture of such afflictions as commonly attend discountenanced and disgraced Religions Yet is not Christianity so over-powered either by Mahomet ânisme or Paganisme but that in Asia the Lesser Syria Palestine and Armenia a great part of the inhabitants do retain the Gospel under their severall Paââââchs and Metropolitans differing in some few points from one another but in many from the Church of Rome with which
the West with Mysia interposed betwixt it and the lesser Phrygia on the North with Metapontus or Pontus specially so called on the South with Lydââ Called Phrygia for the reasons before laid down the word Major being added for distinctions sake because the greater of the two The People of this Countrey were antiently more superstitious then the other Asians as appeareth by the rites used in the Sacrifices of Cybele and some other Godesses said to be also the Inventors of Augury and ãâã kiddes of Divination And yet for the most part men of after-wits and all for had I wist whence ãâã Proverb Sero sapiuut Phryges applyed to those who wanted forecast and knew better to lament mis ãâã then to keep them off and used not to bethink themselves of what would follow till it was too ãâã A people noted for effeminacy and lightnesse of conversation and for fear they should not of themselves be wanton enough their very Musick was so fitted as to dispose them to laseiviousnesse Where by the way I find three sorts of Musick spoken of amongst the Antients the first that which Aristotle calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because it setled and composed the affections and Boëtius the Lydian Musick because much used by that people before corrupted by long ease and ill example It consisted principally of long notes or Spondeeâ such as is that supposed to be which Elisha called for Kings 1. chap. 3. v. 15. to invite the spirit of prophesie to him and was played by David before Saul to drive away the ill spirit from him And of this sort was the Church-Musick of the Primitive times fitted to calme mens passions and raise their devotions ut per oblectamenta aurium as Saint Augustine hath it assurgat enimus ad pietat is affectum that by the pleasure of the ears the passions might be calmed and the soul inflamed with pious and devout affections The second sort is that which Aristotle calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Active as the other ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or merall commending it before the other in the education of youth because more stirring them to action consisting of Dactyles or one long note and two short ones by him and Boëtius both called Dâriân as most peculiar to that people The third and last by the Philosopher called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ravishing because it unhingeth the affections and stirreth men to lascivious gestures and wanton thoughts consisting of short notes or Tribrachies Boëtius termes it Phrygian as most in use amongst this loose and ungoverned nation such as the French Musick in our age A sort of Musick forbidden to be used by Aristotle but upon the Theatre for contentation of the rude and unpolished people by reason of that influence which it had upon mens behaviour Mutatâ Musicâ saith the Oratour mutantur mores Curandum itaque ut Musica quà m gravissima sedatissima retineatur that is to say the change of Musick maketh an alteration of manners care therefore to be taken in the Common-Wealth that the Musick be composed and grave and such onely used But see how fane this fidling humour hath led me out of the way I return again The Countrey very rich and pleasant well watered with the River Sangarius and Marsyas Of which the former hath its spring or fountain in this Countrey but his fall in the Euxine on the banks whereof standech the City Gordium and many others of good note The later was so called from one Marsyas who striving with Apollo for prcheminence in Musick was by him flead which fact say the Poets was so lamented that from the tears of the mourners grew this River The chief Townes are 1. Gordior the seat of Gordius who from a plowman being raised and chosen King of this Kingdome placed the furniture of his waine and Oxen in the Temple of Apollo tied in such a knot that the Monarchy of the world was promised to him that could untie it which when Alexander had tried and could not undo it he cut it with his sword 2. Midaeium the seat of Midas son to this Gordiuâ who being not a little covetous intreated of Bacchus that what ever he touched should be turned into gold which petition granted he was almost starved his very victuall turned into gold till he had repealed his wish and afterward for preferring Pan's pipe before Apollo's Harpe his head was adorned with a comely paire of Asses eares 3. Colosse where dwelt the Colossians to whom Saint Paul writ one of his Epistles 4. Pesinus where the Goddesse Cybele being worshipped was called Dea Pesinuncia The Romans were once told by an Oracle that they should be Lords of the world if they could get this Goddesse into their possession Hereupon they send to the Phrygians to demand it The Phrygians willing to please a potent neighbour especially the Romans being their Countrey-men as descended from Aeneas and his Troians granted their request and the Goddesse is shipp'd away for Rome But behold the unluckinesse of fortune The Ship Goddesse and all made a stand in Tiber neither could it be advanced forward by force or art It hapned that one of the Vestall Virgins named Claudia being suspected of unchastity resolved to put her self upon this experiment and fastning her girdle to the ship prayed to the Goddesse that if she were causelessely suspected the ship might be suffered to go forward which was no sooner heard then granted Claudia drawing the ship up the water to Rome where I leave the people wondering at the miracle as well they might But to return unto the City it stands in the borders of Galatia and is by some made to be the City of Gordius and the Gordian knot plac'd in it also but neither rightly Not far off stood the mountain Dindyme overlooking the City in which the Priests of Cybele had their usuall residence thence called Dindymene 5. Apamea situate not far from the banks of Maeander antiently a most flourishing Emporie the Metropolis of the whole Countrey till Constantine divided it into the two Provinces of Salutaris and Pacatiana making 6. Synnada the Metropolis of the first 7. Hiârapolis and 8. Laodicea two noted Cities in those times the principall of the other Province 9. Juliopolis and 10. Tiberiopolis so called from the Emperours to whose honour dedicated 11. Dorylaeum c. Not known unto the antient Writers but of more note in modem stories are 1. Sagnta the habitation of Etrogul Father of Othoman the first King of the Turks 2. Chara-chisar by the Grecians called Melampyrgos or the Black Tower 3. Billezuga 4. Einegâoll places of consequence and importance taken by the said Ottoman from the Christians in the first rise of his fortunes As for the Phrycians they descended as was shewn before from Gomer the eldest sonne of Japhet and Askânaz the eldest sonne of Gomer of which Gomer first placed himself in the mountainous Countreys of Albania and afterwards in the
more pleasant plaines of the Greater Phrygiâ where the City of Cimmeris the posterity of Gomer being generally called Cimmerians did preserve his memory And as for Aâkenaz he first took up his dwelling in the Lesser Phrygia and the banks of the Hellespont where was antiently a City and Territory called Ascania some Isles adjoining called Insuloe Ascanioe the name of Ascanius also very frequent in Troy it self An antient people they were doubtlesse esteemed the antientest of the world by Psamniticus King of Egypt upon this experiment Desitous to inform himself to what Nation the priviledge of Antiquity did of right belong he caused two Children to be kept in a fold where they were suckled by goates all mankind being prohibited upon very great penalties to have recourse to them All the language which the children learned from their speechlesse nurses was no more then Bec which in the Phrygian language signifieth Bread and being of no signification at all in any other which was then known to the Aegyptians gave up the Verdict on their side But other Nations of the world not yielding to this sentence by a Writ of Errour or an Ad meliùs inquirendum impannell'd a new Jurie wherein it was pronounced on the Scythians side Seytharum gens semper antiquissima Where by the way Goropius Becanus makes the like use of this experiment to prove the High-Dutch to be the Original or Mother-tongue of the world because Becker in that language signifieth as with us a Baker or a maker of Bread In this Countrey reigned Niobe who preferring her self before Latona the mother of Phoebus and Diana had her Children slain before her face by an unseen meanes and was her self turned into a stone as the Poets fable Here also reigned Tantalus who being rich and wanting wisdome to make use of it is feigned to stand in hell up to the chin in water and that too under a tree whose fruit toucheth his lips yet both the one and the other flie from him when he offereth at them Of which thus Ovid Tibi Tantale nullae Deprenduntur aquae quaeque imminet effugit arbor In English thus Thou canst not Tantalus those waters tast The tree just at thy lippes flies off as fast But this race of Kings being worn out by the tyranny of time or war the Phrygians were made subject to the Kings of Lydia continuing under their command till the conquest of Lydia by the Persians with which they fell together to the Crown thereof not made the stronger by the accession of effeminate Subjects Gained from them by the sword of Alexander they fell unto Antigonus one of his great Captains and on his overthrow at the battell of Ipsus to Seleucus the Conquerour the first King of that race following the same fortune after that with the rest of Asia till they came to be possessed by the Romans and made a Province of that Empire But Constantine laying to it the Greater Mysia made two Provinces of it the one called Salutaris from some miraculous cures there wrought by the Arck-Angel Michael as was then generally believed the other called Pacatiana from Pacatianus who in the time of the said Constantine was Praefect for the Praetorium of the East and divers years before had began his honours with the Lieutenantship of Britain In the declining of the Constantinopolitans it became a prey unto the Turkts of the Selzuccian Family possessed by them till the death of Aladine the last King of that race when seized upon together with the Greater Mysia and those parts of Lydia which lay next unto it by Aidin a great Turkish Prince and made a peculiar Kingdome called by his name Aidinia or Aidin-Illi extorted shortly from his heires by the house of Ottoman 10. MYSIA INterposed betwixt the two Phrygia's lieth the Countrey of MYSIA bounded on the East with Phrygia Major on the West with Phrygia Minor and the Aegean Sea on the North with parts of Bithynia Propontis and the Hellespont and on the South with part of Lydia Aeolis and the Aegean So called from the Mysians the Inhabitants of it Whether these Mysians were originally a Phrygian Nation or some inter-lopers which thrust in afterwards amongst them I find not determined Most probable it is they were naturall Phrygians being as superstitious in the worship of their severall Deities as any Phrygian of them all and that they had this name given them by the Lydians from the abundance of Beech-trees which grow amongst them by them called Mysae A people of so base and contemptible quality that it grew into a common proverb to call a fellow of no worth Mysiorum postremus The principall Mountain of this Countrey is that called Olympus situate in the north-parts hereof bordering towards Bithyma which as it is called Olympus Mysius to difference it from Olympus in Greece so the people of the Greater Mysia where this Mountain is are called Olympeni to difference them from the Mysii or Masi of Europe And as for Rivers those of most note besides Aesopus parting it from Troas or the Lesser Phrvgia are 1. Caicus on whose bankes stand's the City of Pergamus and from thence passeth into the Aegean Sea at the Bay of Eloea and 2. the famous River of Granicus which hath his fountain in Mysia Major and passing through Mysia Minor falleth into the Propontis A River memorable for the Victory which Alexander obtained on the bankes hereof in his first essay against the Persians by whom upon the first noyse of his preparations he was so slighted that Darius King of Persia gave command to his Leiutenants residing in Asia Minor that they should take him alive whip him with rods and so convey him to his presence A notoble example of pride and fall of the Persians But Alexander soon taught them another lesson For though the Persians were possessed of the higher bankes of the River with an intent to stop his passage yet he resolved to charge them in the face of their strength knowing full well that if he could beat them on a place of so great advantage he should not onely lessen them in point of reputation but beget an opinion of himself that he was invincible And so accordingly it proved the Persians being vanquished by him and all the Kingdomes and Provinces of this Asia submitting to him on the noyse of the Victory as an Enemy not to be resisted upon equall termes some few Townes excepted And therefore it was wisely advised by Machiavell that he who takes upon him to defend a passage should with his ablest forces oppose the Assailant because in all invasions where the Nations invaded have been beaten upon a great advantage of place as defence of Rivers Streets and Mountaines they do not onely dishearten their Souldiers from dealing afterwards on even ground with that enemy but leave no hope unto their fellowes and partakers of being succoured and defended by such weak Protectors Which caution if the Persians Commanders had observed
Singas on which Aleppo is situate keepeth it self almost on an even course in the Latitude of 37. between 20 and 30. minutes over which is more by a degree and a half than the site assigned unto Berroea 3. Cybros as in the Latine Copies of Ptolomy mistook for Cyrrhus once the chief City of this part from hence called Cyrrestica 4. Heraclea neer which Minerva had a Temple in which as in that sacred to her in Laodicea they used once yearly to offer a Virgin for a sacrifice but afterwards on the sight of that gross impiety changed it to an Hart. 5. Regia now Rugia two dayes journey from Antioch took by the Christians in the beginning of the warres for the Holy Land 6. ãâã is of great renown in those dark times of ignorance and idolatry for the Syrian Godess therein worshipped from whence it had the name of Hierapolis or the Holy City being formerly by the Grecians called Callinice by the Syrians Magog one of the first seats of Magog the Some of Japhet and from him denominated The Godess so esteemed of in those wretched times that from all parts Assyria Babylonia Arabia Cilicia Cappadocia and indeed what not they brought her many rich gifts and costly offerings Nero himself who scoffed at all Religions else being for a while a great Votary of this Syrian Idol though afterwards he grew weary of her and defiled her with urine The Temple built by Stratonice the wife of Seleucus in the midst of the City compassed with a double wall about the height of 300 Fathome the roof thereof inlaid with gold and made of such a fragant and sweet-smelling wood that the clothes of them which came thither retained the sent thereof for a long time after Without the Temple there were places inclosed for Oxen and beasts of Sacrifice and not farre off a lake of 200 fathom in depth wherein they kept their sacred fishes the Priests attending here for their severall Offices amounting in number to three hundred besides many more subservient Ministers The tricks and jugglings of these Priests to deceive the people he that list to see may find them copiously described in the Metamorphosis of Apuleius which changing but the names and times may serve for a Relation of those gulleries and Arts of Leger-de-main which the Friers and Pardoners have practised in the Church of Rome 7. Chalyban whence the parts adjoining were called âhalybanotis conceived by Postellus and some ãâã to be Chalepium or Aleppo but on no good ground this City having one degree less of Northern Latitude than Berroea had 8. Barbarissus in the same subdivision neer the banks of Euphrates 9. Chalcus the principal of that part of Syria Propria which is called Chalcidice but not otherwise memorable 10. Telmedissa another Town of the same division and as litle famous 11. Seleucus so named from the founder of it the first Eastern Monarch of that race and the greatest Builder of the World founding nine Cities of this name sixteen in memory of his Father Antiochus six by the name of Laodice his Mother and three in honour of Apamia his first Wife besides many others of great note in Greece and Asia either new built or beautified and repaired by him From this the Countrey hereabouts had the name of Scleucis 12. Laodicea one of the Cities founded by Scleucus in honour of Laodice his Mother from which the Region adjoining is called Laodicene Built by him in the place where formerly had stood the City Rhamantus so called from a certain Sheepherd who being strook with a flash of lightning cryed out amazedly Rhamantus that is to say Deus ab excelso before which time it had been named Leuca Acte from the whitenesse of the Sea-cliffs neer to which it is situate the Countrey round-about commended antiently for the best wines and choise of very excellent fruits 13. Apamia so named in honour of Apamia the wife of Seleucus which together with Laodicea and Seleucus before mentioned having the same founder and maintaining a strict league of amity with one another were commonly called the Three Sisters From this the Countrey neer is called Apimene 14. Emesa now Hamse the Episcopall See of Eusebius hence called Emesenus who flourished in the time of Constantius the Sonne of Constantine in whose name are extant certain Homilies justly conceived to be of a later date The City seated in a spacious and fruitful plain of Apimene watered with many pleasant and cheerfull Riverers once of great note as may be easily conjectured from the walls hereof which are still perfect and entire built of polished stone and of very large circuit but the dwelling-houses so decayed that it affordeth nothing worthy observation 15. Epiphama in the cantred or subdivision of Casiotis called at first Hamath from Hamath a Sonne of Canaan the founder of it and upon that account mistaken by Saint Hierome for another Town of the same name in the Tribe of Naphthals so different from this place both in Longitude and Latitude as we shall shew hereafter when we come to Palestine that they can by no means be the same But that old Town being gone to ruin it was repaired if not re-edified by Antiochus Epaphanes King of Syria who thereupon commanded it to be called Epiphania obeyed therein as Josephus telleth us by the Macedonians though the Syrians still called it Amatha as in former times Antiqu. l. 1. ca. 7. 16. Ltrissa which still preserveth its old name being now called Laris much mentioned in the warres of the Holy Land especially for the death of Baldwin the first Brother of Godfrey of Bovillon and second King of Hierusalem Anno 1118. 17. Gebal the Gabala of Ptolomy and others of the antient Writers situate on the South of Laodicea from which twelve miles distant mentioned Psal 83. as a confederate with Tyre and other uncircumcised Nations in their hatred and designes against the Israelites at this day called Gabella with little difference from the old name of it and by that name remembred in the Stories of the Holy Warres 18. Aradus one of the Co-founders of Tripolis situate in a rocky Iland of a mile in compass directly opposite to the mouth or influx of the River Eleutherus and distant from the Continent about twenty furlongs So called from Arvad one of the Sonnes of Canaan and mentioned by that name in the Prophet Ezrk. Chap. 27. v. 8. 11. This once a Kingdome of it self containing not this Iland only but some part of the Continent especially about Antaradus so called because built over against it situate on the Northern banks of the River Eleurberus of which we have spoken in Phoenics 19. Daphne about five miles from Antioch but afterwards by the continuall enlargements of that City accounted as the Suburb to it so named of Daphne one of the Mistresses of Apollo who was here worshipped by the name of Apollo Daphnans and had here his Oracle and his Groves with other the Additaments
fift on what day soever for on that he came into the world in that he took K. Francis Prisoner at the battel of Pavâe and on the same received the Imperial Crown But to return unto the Temple we find that on the Sabbath or Saturday it was taken by Pampey on the same by Herod and on that also by Titus But goe we forwards to Hierusalem as now it standeth it lay in rubbish and unbuilt after the destruction of it by Titus till repaired by Adrian and then the Temple not so much as thought of till out of an ungodly policy in the Reign of Julian that Politick Enemy of the Church who to diminish the infinite number of Christians by the increase of the Jews began again to build this Temple But no sooner were the foundations laid but a terrible Earth-quake cast them up again and fire from Heaven consumed the Tools of the Workmen together with the Stones Timber and other materials As for the City it self after the desolation in it which was made by Titus it was re-edified by the Emperour Aelius Adrianus who named it Aelia drave thence the Jews and gave it to the Christians But this new City was not built in the place of the old For within this Mount Calvary is comprehended which was not in the Old before As on the other side a great part of Mount Sion part of the City of Herod and the Soyl where the New City stood are left out of this the ruines of the other still remaining visible to shew the antient greatness and magnificence of it To look upon it then as it stands at present it is now onely famous for the Temple of the Sepulchre built by Helena whom most report to have been daughter to Corlus a British King Mother to Constantine the great Much a doe had the good Lady to find the place where the LORDS body had been laid for the Jews and Heathens had raised great hillocks on the place and built there a Temple of Venus This Temple being plucked down and the earth dâgged away she found the three Crosses whereon our blessed Saviour and the two Theeves had suffered To know which of these was the right Cross they were all carried to a woman who had been long visited with sickness and now lay at the point of death The Crosses of the two Theeves did the weak woman no good but as soon as they laid on her the Cross on which the Lord died she leaped up and was restored to her former health This Temple of the Sepuâchre even at the first building was highly reverenced and esteemed by the Christians of these parts and even untill our daies it is much resorted to both by Pilgrims from all the parts of the Romish Church who fondly and superstitiously hope to merit by their journey and also by divers Gentlemen of the reformed Churches who travell hitherward partly for curiosity partly for love to the antiquity of the place and partly because their generous spirits imitate the heaven and delight in motion Whosoever is admitted to the sight of this Sepulchre payeth nine crowns to the Turkish Officers so that this âribute onely is worth to the Grand Signeur eighty thousand Duckats yearly The other building generally very mean and poor if not contemptible Built of flint stones Low and but one rock high flat on the tops for men to walk on and fenced with battlements of a yard in hight to preserve them from falling the under-rooms no better than vaults where they repose themselves in the heat of the day Some houses neer the Temple of Solomon and the Palace of Herod adorned with Arches toward the Street where the passenger may walk dry in a showr of rain but not many such nor any thing but the ruins left of the antient buildings The whole circuit of it reduced to two or three miles and yet to those which take a survey thereof from some hills adjoining where the ruines are not well discerned from the standing edifices it affordeth to the eye no unpleasing prospect And as the place is such is the people inhabited for the most part by Artizans of the meanest quality gathered together of the scumme of divers Nations the greatest part consisting of Moores and Arabians a few poor Christians of all the Orientall Sects which dwell there for devotion and some Turks who for the profit which they make of Christians are content to stay in it Insomuch that when Robert Duke of Normandy being then not cured of his wounds and was carried into this City on the backs of some of this rascal people he called to a Gentleman of his who was going for England and bad him say that he saw Duke Robert carried into Heaven on the backs of devils Come we now to the Tribe of LEVI though indeed not reckoned for a Tribe because not planted close together as the other were nor had whole Provinces to themselves but mingled and dispersed amongst the rest of the people having forty eight Cities assigned them for their habitation proportionably taken out of the other Tribes So was it ordered by the Lord partly that they being set apart for his Service might be at hand in every place to instruct the People and partly to fulfill the Prophecy which he had spoken by Jacob who had fore-signified to Levi at the time of his death that he should be divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel The like fortune he had prophesied of Simeon also of the accomplishment whereof so far as it refered to him and the dispersion of his Tribe we have spoken before Now to make up the number of the twelve Tribes Joseph was divided into Ephraim and Manasses and the Levites were reckoned to belong unto that Tribe within whose territorie that City which they dwelt in stood Their maintenance was from the tenths or tithes the first fruits offerings and Sacrifices of the People and as it is in the eighteenth of Joshua v. the seventeenth The Priesthood of the Lord was their inheritance There were of them four kinds 1. Punies or Tirones which from their childhood till the five and twentieth year of their age learned the duty of their offices 2. Graduates ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which having spent four years in the study of the Law were able to answer and oppose in it 3. Licenciates ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which did actually exercise the Priestly function And 4. Doctors Rabbins they use to call them who were the highest in degree For maintenance of whom they had as before is said the Tithes first fruits and offerings of all the rest of the People besides the 48 Cities assigned for their habitation which last with the severall territories appertaining to them extending every way for the space of two thousand Cubits seems to have been a greater proportion of it self than any of the other Tribes with reference to the small number of the Levites had in their possessions Then for the Tithes
forgetting where they left them sit on those they meet next In that respect accounted for a simple fowl though otherwise of wit enough to preserve themselves keeping in flocks and oftentimes with their fearful shreeches affrighting Passengers to whom they do appear a farre off like a Troop of horsemen Their wings too little for their bodies serve them not for flight but to run more speedily and by that means not easily caught though much laid in wait for for their skins which the people sell unto the Merchant with the feathers on them Nor of less note is the Frankincense though of common use almost peculiar to this Countrey and here but to those parts thereof which were formerly possessed by the Sabi the wood out of which this gum proceedeth being about 100 miles long and 500 broad gathered onely in Spring and Autumn More of this anon The Countrey is much commended by Ammianus for plenty of Rivers the principal whereof are said by Ptolomy to be 1. Betus 2. Prion 3. Harman 4. Lar but the modern names thereof I find not Many fair Lakes and store of large capacious Baies on each coast of the Sea as 1. Sinus Eliniticus 2. Sachalites 3. Leanites 4. Sinus Magoram 5. Sinus Iehthy-phagorum 6. Messanites 7. Sacer Sinus or the holy Bay and 8 the Road or Naval station called Neogilla Mountains of most note 1. Those which are called Melanes at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. 2. Cabubuthra at the entrance of the Red Sea or Gulf of Arabia 3. Hippus 4. Prionotus not far from the River Pyton from whence so denominated 5. Climax 6. The Mountains called Dedymi c. Towns of good note in antient times it had very many no Region affording unto Ptolomy the names of more and amongst those many commodious Ports for trafick the Sea begirting it for the space of three thousand miles and upwards Of most importance and observation in those times were 1. Zabrum 2. Baden 3. Rhabana 4. Carman 5. Manambis 6. Sabe 7. Are the Royal seats of so many severall Kingdomes and therefore honoured by Ptolomy with the title of Regioe Then there are 1. Macoâmos 2. Meara 3. Nagara 4 Sabbatha 5. Mapha and 6. Saphar which he called Metropolet as being the head Cities of some severall Nations Amongst the Ports he reckoneth 1. Soâippus 2. Trulla 3. Tretos 4. Cryptus 5. Itamos and 6. Moscha amongst the most noted Empories or Towns of Trafick 1. Musa 2. Ocelis 3. Arabia 4. Cane Besides which there are some which do preserve the memory of their first Plantations as 1. Saphta upon the Persian Gulf to called from Sabta the third Sonne of Chus 2. Rhegama or Regma as the Greek copies of Ptolomy have it so named from Regmoe or Raama his sixt Sonne On the same Gulf also 3. Sabe on the shores of the Red Sea and 4. Sabe Regia more within the Land so named from Seba the eldest Some of the same Chus from whom the rich and potent nation of the Saboeans are to be derived Out of all which and many others by him named we shall take more particular notice of some that follow 1. Musa a noted Port on the entrance of the Red-Sea frequented antiently by the Ethiopian and Egyptian Merchants who there laded their ships with Frankincekse Myrrhe Spices and other commodities of this Countrey bringing in in exchange thereof Saffron corn wine ointments purple dies c. 2. Sabe the Regal Seat of the Kings of the Sabaans particularly of that Queen so memorized in holy Scripture called in the old Testament the Queen of Sheba from her Countrey and place of dwelling in the New Testament the Queen of the South because of the Southern situation of it in respect of Judea said there to come from the furthest parts of the world because there was no part of the world which lay south to the Countrey of the Saboeans over which she reigned Situate on a little Mountain assumed by Agatharcides to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the most beautiful by far in all Arabia and the Metropolis of the rich and potent Nation of the Saboeans rich in all the excellencies of Nature espeecially in Frankincense a gum peculiar to them only and growing here in a wood of about 100 miles long and 50 broad not gathered but in the Spring and Autumn nor then without great care and many ceremonies The Countrey hereabouts from hence called Thurifera and this sweet gum appropriated soly to it Sabaei Arabum propter thura clarissimi as we find in Pliny Solis est thurea virga Sabaeis as it is in Virgil and finally Thuriferos felicia Regna Sabaeos in the Argonauticks of Valerius Flaccus It was called also Mariaba and by that name occurreth in some antient Writers 3. Saphar more towards the Persian Gulf on the South-side of the mountain Climax the chief City of the Homerita adorned in times of Christianity with a beautifull Temple 4. Sabbatha or Sabota as Pliny calleth it seated about the middest of the Countrey on the top of an high and lofty hill from whence it had a gallant prospect on the fields adjoyning antiently large and populous and strongly fortified having no fewer than 60 Temples within the walls the principal that consecrated unto Sabis the God of their Nation to whom they offered the tith of their Frankincense ubi decimas Deo quem Sabin vocant mensura non pondere capiunt Sacerdotes as we read in Pliny But these and almost all the rest being grown out of knowledge there have risen in their rooms 1. Egra on the shore of the Red Sea neer the Bay called Sinus Elaniticus by Prolomy called Arga by the Arabians themselves Algiar the Port Town to medina from which about three daies journey distant 2. Jatrib or Jathrib in the way betwixt Aygiar and Medina the birth-place of Mahomet by whom fortified with a mud-wall as his place of retreat in the first beginnings of his fortunes 3. Medina or commonly called Medina Talmabi corrupty for Medinatho-luabi that is to say the City of the Prophet so called from the Sepulchre of Mahomet that vile Imposture which is there to be seen although not in such an iron coffin or drawn up to the roof of the Temple by vertue of an Amant there placed as some deliver The Town situate in a desolate and barren place bordering on Arabia Petroea but of great trade rich and well inhabited the Sepulchre of that false Prophet drawing thither a continuall resort of Pilgrims The Temple gorgeous having 3000 lamps in it which burn continually The Sepulchre or Tomb inclosed within an Iron grate but of no magnificence or beauty covered with a carpet of Green Velvet which is sent hither yearly by the Grand Signeur the old one being taken off and cut into innumerable shreds or peeces and sold for Relicks by the Priests to such as come in Pilgrimage thither to their great enriching 4. Cufa the ordinary residence of the first Caliphs till
out of whose long commerce with them both nations lost their proper languanes and fell upon a third made out of both which was called the Syriack Of this we spake before when we were in Syria and Palestine And this is now the naturall language of this Countrey and its neighbour Assyria but with a little mixture of the Greek and Arabick not vulgarly spoken elsewhere for ought I can find but used by many others in their sacred offices by whom not commonly understood For in this language all the Sects of the Eastern Christians do officiate their publick Liturgies that is to say the Nstorians Jacobites Marânites for I reckon not the Melchites who use the Greek Liturgie amongst the Sectaries The like do also the Indians or Christians of Saint Thomas the Cophties or Christians of Aegypt and the poor remainder of Christians in the Isle of Zocatara an Island on the coast of Asrick Used to those Liturges when that language was more understood amongst them though now worn out of Vulgar knowledge by the overspreading of the Arabick Tartarian and Turkish Conquests In which the Prelates of these Churches have fallen into the great errour of the Church of Rome and without taking notice of the alterations hapning in the Vulgar tongues of those severall nations which are united under them into one opinion keep up a language in their Liturgies which they understand not as if the capacities of the people could be sooner raised to the understanding of an unknown language than the publick Liturgies be fitted unto their capacities The antient piety of the Church and the modern languages of Gods people are not inconsistent though out of private ends some have taught us otherwise But I fear this errour as some others will not be so easily remedied as reprehended From the tongâe in which they celebrate the Divine Offices of their Religion pass we to the Religion it self whose Sacred Offices are so celebrated The Christian faith was first preached in this Countrey by Saint Peter of whose being in Babylon the chief City hereof himself assureth us in the last words almost of his First Epistle and other busines he had none here but to preach the Gospel Much persecuted by the Persians who were then possessed of all these parts it prevailed at last Christianity growing up the faster for the cutting down The Patriarchall See originally planted in Salencia successour unto Babylon in repute and greatness if not also in name the Bishop whereof by order of the Nicene Councill had the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction of these parts with the name of Catholique and the next place in Sâssiom at all publick assemblies of the Church next after the Patriarch of Hierusalem And besides this the Indians or Christians of Saint Thomas acknowledge him for their Primate or Metropolitan as they did afterwards in his right the Patriarch of Muzal At this present here are some remainders of Christianity part of them Jacobites but the most Nestorians of whom more anon Of the chief Rivers hereof we have spoke already and Mountains there are none to hinder us in our passage forwards So that without more delay we may take a view of their principall places And in the first place we meet with Babel in the Hebrew signifying confusion famous for the confusion of languages which here hapned For immediately after the Universal deluge Nimrod the sonne of Chus the sonne of Cham perswaded the people to secure themselves from the like after-claps by building some stupendious Edifice which might resist the fury of a second deluge This Counsel was generally imbracod Heber onely and his Family as tradition goeth contradicting such an unlawful attempt The major part prevailing the Tower began to rear a head of Majesty 5146 paces from the ground having its basis and circumference equal to the height The passage to go up went winding about the outside and was of an exceeding great breadth there being not only room for horses carts and the like means of carriage to meet and turn but lodging also for man and beast and as Verstegan reporteth grass and corn-fields for their nourishment But God beholding from an high this fond attempt sent amongst them who before were of one Language a confusion of tongues which hindred the proceeding of this building one being not able to understand what his fellow called for 2. Babylon on the Bank of Euphrates the antientest City in the World on this side of the flood first built by Nimrod in the place destinated to the raising of the Tower of Babel and by him made the Seat of his Kingdome afterwards beautified and enlarged by Semiramis the wife of Ninus one of his Successors and finally much increased both in bulk and beauty by Nabuchadnezzar who therefore arrogated to himself the whole glory of it saying in his pride is not this the great Babel that I have builded Dan. 4. 30. A City of great fame and state accompted one of the worlds nine wonders and deservedly too The compass of the walls 365 furlongs or 46. miles according to the number of the dayes in the year in height 50. Cubits and of so great breadth that carts and carriages might meet on the top of them finished in one year by the hands of 200000 workmen employed dayly in it Situate on both sides of Euphrates over which there was a sumptuous bridge and at each end of that bridge a magnificent Palace and beautified also with the Temple of the Idol Bel and famous for the Pensile Gardens made with great charge and born up with most stately Arches In a word so great and vast it was that Aristotle saith that it ought rather to be called a Countrey than a City adding withall that when the Town was taken it was three dayes before the furthest parts of the Town could take notice of it Which taking of the Town must be understood of the surprize thereof by the Medes and Persians and not of the taking of it by the Macedanians as Pet. Ramus as great a Clerk as he was in his marginal notes upon the Politicks of that Author hath most vainly told us Which whether it were that there were Gates at the end of every street which made it be so long in taking or that the Babylonians were not wakened from their drunken feast in the time whereof it was surprized I determine not Revolting in the time of Semiramis the news came to her as she was ordering her hair whereupon leaving her head half-drest she went and besieged it never ordering the rest of her hair till she had recovered it How it fell into the hands of Cyrus we learn out of Xenophons Cyri-paideia which was in this manner The River Euphrates ran quite thorow the Town round about whose banks the politick Prince cut many and deep channels into which when the Babylonians were securely merry at a general feast he suddenly drained and emptied the River conveying his own forces into the Town all along the dry
Persian Provinces and removed the Imperiall Seat to Ninive by him much beautified and inlarged 52. 1959 4. Semiramis the wife of Ninus subdued the Arabians but invading the Indians also she was vanquished and slain by their King Staurobates Of this great Lady it is said she was born in Ascalon a Town of Syria and exposed to the fury of wilde beasts But being born not to die so ingloriously she was brought up by shepherds and at full age presented to the Syrian Vice-roy who gave her in mariage to his onely Sonne Going with him to the warres she fell in acquaintance with Ninus who liking her person and spirit took her to his bed This bred in him a greater affection towards her so that he granted her at her request the command of the Empire for five daies making a Decree that her will in all things should be punctually performed which boon being gotten she put on the Royall Robes and as some Writers doe report commanded the King to be slain Having thus gotten the Empire she exceedingly enlarged it leading with her an Army consisting of one hundred thousand Chariots of warre three millions of Foot and half a million of Horse A woman in whom there was nothing not to be honoured or applauded but her insatiable lusts in which if the Greek writers say true as we have no reason to believe it of so gallant a woman she was very guilty 2001 5. Ninus II. the Son of Ninus and Semiramis 2039 6. Arias 30. 2069 7. Arabius 40. 2109 8. Belus II. 30. 2139 9. Armamatrites 2177 10. Belochus Prisc 35. 2212 11. Belochus Jun. Balaeus 52. 2264 12. Altades 32. 2296 13. Mamitns 30. 2326 14. Mancaleus 30. 2356 15. Spherus 20. 2376 16. Mancaleus II. 30. 2406 17. Sparetus 40. 2446 18. Ascatades 40. 2486 19. Amintes 45. 2511 20. Belochus Jun. 45. 2556 21. Bellopares 30. 2586 22. Lamprides 22. 2618 23. Sasares 20. 2638 24. Lampares 20. 2668 25. Panmas 45. 2713 26. Sâramas 19. 2732 27. Mitreus 27. 2759 28. Tatanes 32. 2791 29. Tautes 40. 2831 30. Tineus 30. 2861 31. Dercillus 40. 2901 32. Eupales 38. 2939 33. Loastines 45. 2984 34. Pyrithiades 30. 3014 35. Ophrateus 20. 3034 36. Ophraganeus 50. 3084 37. Ascrasapes 24. 3126 38. Sardanapalus by Eusebius called Tonosconcolos the last King of this Race Of which being 38. in all there is scarce any thing remaining but the very names registred in this order by Berosus or rather by Frier Annius a Monk of Viturbum in Tuscany who hath thrust upon the world the fancies of his own brain under the name of that antient Historian The chief Kings of note after Semiramis were 1. Ninus or Zameis her Sonne who by his Deputies and Lieutenants subdued the Arrians Bactrians and Caspians but was otherwise a man of effeminate and unkingly carriage And therefore is conceived to be the elder Bacchus so much celebrated amongst the Grecians 2. Belus the second who recovered that Countrey which afterwards was called Judaea to the Assyrian Empire from which it had revolted in the time of his Predecessor on the defeat of Amraphel one of his Lieutenants by the sword of Abraham and subdued many other nations 3. Belochus Prise the tenth King who by some writers is said to be the Author of Divination by the flying of Birds called Auspicium For of Sooth-saying there were in all four kinds 1. This Auspicium quasi Avispicium taken from the flight of birds either on the right hard or on the left and hence the Proverb commeth avi sinistra good luck because in giving the right hand is opposite to the receivers left or from the number of the birds whence Râmulus had promised to him the Empire before his Brother because he had seen the double number of Vultures or lastly from the nature of them whence the same Romulus seeing the Vultures was saith Florus spei plenus urbem bellatriem fore ta illi sauguini praedae assuetae aves pollicebantur 2. Aruspicium ab inspiciendo in which the Sooth-sayers observed whether the Beast to be sacrifised came to the Altars willingly or not whether the entrails were of a naturall colour exulcerate c or whether any part were wanting All Histories afford variety of Examples in this kind I need give no particular instance A kind of Divination said to be practised first by the Tuscans or Hetrurians instructed in the knowledge thereof by one called Tages who appearing to certain Ploughmen out of a Furrow caught them this mystery and so vanished 3. Tripudium so called quasi Terripudium and Terripavium from the trembling or shaking of the Earth was a conjecture of future successes by the rebounding of crums cast unto Chichens We have an instance of this in the life of Tiberius Gracchus who being seditiously busie in promoting the Law Agraria was fore-warned by the keeper of his Chickens to desist from that enterprise because when he had thrown the crums to the Coop there came out but one of the Chickens only and the same without eating went back again which was taken for a sign of ill luck as the greedy devouring of them had been of good But Tiberius slighting the advertisement and pursuing his design was the same day slain 4. Augurium so called ab avium garritu was a prediction from the chirping or chattering of birds as also from the sounds and voices heard they knew not whence nor on what occasion In which later kind the death of Caesar was divined from the clattering of Armour in his house and the poisoning of Germanicus by the sounding of a Trumpet of its own accord in the former an Owl screeching in the Seâate-house was deemed ominous to Augustus and a company of Crowes following Setanus to his house with great noise and clamor was judged to be fatall to that great Favorite and so it proved 4. Manitus the thirteenth King who revived again the antient Discipline corrupted by the sloathfulness and effeminacie of his Predecessors and by the terrour of his name awed the Aegyptians 5. Ascatades the eighteenth King more absolute in Syria and the Western-parts than any of the Kings before him 6. Sardanapalus the last King of this Race who being wondrous effeminate and utterly unable to govern so great an Empire gave opportunity to Arbaces his Lieutenant in Media to conspire against him By whom associated with Belochus Governour of Babylon he was besieged in his City of Ninive and there reduced unto such extremities that gathering his treasures all together he burnt himself and them in one funerall Pile eo solum facto virum imitatus as is said by Justine The treasure which he is said to have burnt with him amounted to one hundred Millions of Talents of Gold and a thousand Millions of Talents of Silver which in our English money comes to twenty thousand and five hundred Millions of pounds A mass of money which as it must be long in gathering so probably it had not seen the
Armenian King who came hither to sue for aid against the Turks by whom then dispossessed of his estates By Ussan-Cassanes one of the Princes of this Countrey of whom more hereafter who had the fortune to obtain the Crowh of Persia Anno 1472. it was made a Province of that Kingdome and so continued till the year 1515. when conquered by Selimus the first and by him made a part of the Turkish Empire more fully setled and assured in the reign of Amurath the third who by causing many Forts and Garrisons to be planted in it made the conquest absolute The Armes of this Kingdom when a Kingdom governed by Princes of its own of the Christian faith were Gules 3 heads of a Buck Argent Crowned Or. 2. COLCHIS COLCHIS is bounded on the East with Iberia on the West with the Euxine Sea and past of the Tartars Precopenses on the North with Tartarie from which parted by those vasl hills which the Romans called Caucasi and on the South with Armenia Major from which separated by the Montes Moschici The reason of the name I find not Nor can yield unto Bochartus who fetcheth the original of the name and Nation from Cusluhim one of the sonnes of Mizraim the sonne of Cham the Etymology of the name being too much wrested and Egypt too farr off to give a being to Colchis in those early daies though possibly in times succeeding the Aegyptians hearing by the Greeks of the wealth of the Countrey might send Colonies of their people thither as to other places It is now called Mengrelia The Countrey said to be very fruitful if the care of the husbandman were not wanting Their vines they plant at the feet of great trees which twining about the armes thereof lade them full of Grapes with which and other fruits rising from the Earth they used of late times to furnish the Store-houses of their Kings for want of ready money to fill his Coffers their tributes being paid in such commodities Formerly of great fame for abundance of gold found in the sands of their Rivers issuing from the Caucasian Mountains The thing affirmed by Appianus in his Mithridatica ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Many of their springs saith he which come out of Caucasus carry veins of Gold The like saith Strabo also and some other Antients With which and out of their rich Mines both of Gold and Silver the Kings hereof were so well furnished with those metals that the furniture of their Chambers were all of Gold and the beams of their Lodgings were made of Silver But now so destitute of both that the people for want of money to buy and sell with are inforced to barter their commodities and change one for another The people at the present very rude and barbarous so inhumane and voide of naturall affection that they sell their children to the Turks The better sort of them much given to belly-cheer dancing and singing loose sonnets of love and daliance using much wine in their in tertainments which the more their Guests drink the better welcome inflamed wherewith they offer them for a cooler their wives or Sisters with charge to yield them all content esteeming it no small credit to them if it be accepted Nor are the women much averse from the entertainment whether to please themselves or obey their husbands let them tell that can The Christian faith was first here planted in the time of the Emperour Justinus by whose perswasion Taurus Prince of the Colchi then at the Court in Constantinople became a Christian and being baptized was returned back into his Countrey with the title of King But Cabades the King of Persia much ofended at it proclamed war against him which hindred the further progress of the Gospell till the year 860. About which time Methodius and Cyrill two reverend men were by the Patriarch of Constantinople employed in this service which they succesfully effected in that regard they hold to the communion of the Church of Greece and belong to the jurisdiction of that Patriarch To whom conform in most dogmaticall points of their Religion and in many practicall And though they have a distinct language of their own which hath no affinity with the Greek yet do they celebrate their Divine Offices in the Greek tongue and follow the Rituals of that Church which few of them understand any better than the Vulgar Papists of France Spain or Germany do the Latine service Whether it be that they have no learned men amongst them either to translate their old Liturgic or to compose a new or that they hold tall alterations in Religion to be matters of danger or that ignorance is the best mother of devotion as is thought by others I am nor able to determine The chief Rivers of this Conntrey are 1. Hippus 2. Cyaneus 3. Chaeristus all rising out of the Caucasian Mountains and falling into the Euxine 4. Phasis the principall of all rising out of the Moâes Moschici or Armenian Mountains and there called Boas Navigable with smaller vessels a great way up into the Countrey and with great ships 18 miles from the Sea Memorable amongst the Antients for the landing of the Argonatutes in the mouth thereof and those delicate fowl called from hence Phasides or Phasiani Phesants which they brought with them into Europe As for this expedition of the Argonautes being the most remarkable action in those elder ages of the world when Piracy and depredations were accounted for Heroical vertues it was no other than the adventure of some noble Grecians for the gold of Cholchos The Age wherein it hapned was about the 11 year of Gideon the Judge of Israel The chief Adventurers Jason Orpheus the famous Poet Castor and Pollux the Sonnes of Tindarus Telamon and Peleus the Sonnes of Aeacius and Fathers of Aâax and Achilles Lacries the Father of Vlysses Amphiaraus the Sooth-sayer Hercules Theseus Meleager with many others of like note These moved with the great noise of the wealth of Colchos and the riches of King Aetus then therein reigning resolved upon a voyage thither embarked in a ship called Argos whence the name of Argonautes whereof one Typhis was chief Pilot Passing the Hellespont Propontick and Thracian Bosphorus they came into the Euxine Sea and after many difficulties and strarge Adventures which such Knights Errants could not chuse but encounter with they landed in the River Phasis and came to the Kings Coutt and there were kindly entertained But finding the Kings Treasures to be too well guarded to be took by force said by the Poets to be kept by a Draâân alwaies waking they practised with Medea the daughter of Aetes to assist them in robbing her Father Who being in love with Jason on promise of mariage with him assented to it by whose Attisices which the Poets call Magicall charmes the Guardians being circumvented and the treasure gotten they all together with Medea imbarked again and af er a long and dangerous voyage returned into Greece This is
the substance of the Story which being the greatest and most notable voyage which the greâians in those early daies had undertaken occasioned the Poets to advance it to the highest pitch and to disguise it with many fictions and ingenious fancies But not without some ground entituled to the Golden Fleece which they make the end of the design For the Rivers as before was said having Golden sands which fell down from the mountains as in many other parts of the world they are found to have it was the custome of the people to lay many Fleeces of wooll in the descent of those Rivers in which the grains of Gold remained though the water passed through which Strabo witnesseth to be true But leaving these Adventurers to pursue their fortunes let us go forward to survey the Colchian Cities the principall whereof 1. Dioscurias a Town of great wealth and trade founded by Amphitus and Telchius two Spartans the Charioters of Castor and Pollux and so named in honour of their Masters whom the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which two Spartans passing further East were afterwards the founders of the Nation from them called Heniocht or the Chariot-drivers A Town of such resort by Merchants from most parts of the world that here were spoken 300 different languages insomuch that the Romans as Pliny saith were fain to maintain here 130 Interpreters for dispatch of business and negotiating with those Merchants 2. Sybaris the seat-Royal of the Colchian Kings about nine miles from which was the Temple of Mars to which Medea is reported to have brought the Argonauts 3. Siganeam neer the mouth of the River Cyaneus as is also 4. Aea by Ptolomy called Aeapolis an Aegyptian Colony planted there by Sesosoris in the time of Rehoboam the Sonne of Solomon at what time he attempted but without success the conquest of Colchis 5. Neapolis so called from the newness or late foundation of it when that name was given 6. Phasis so called from the River upon which it is situate retaining both the site and name to this very day the ordinary residence of the Turkish Beglârbeâ by whom called Phassum 7. Alvati a well fortified place More in the land are placed by Ptolomy 8. Mechlessus 9. Sarace 10. Zadris 11. Surium c. not much observable The first Inhabitants of this Countrey most probably came of out of the neighbouring Armenia and therefore the posterity of Hul or Chul from whence perhaps the name of Colchis to whom in tract of time some Colonies out of Aegypt a seafaring people moved with the great fame of the riches and wealth hereof did adjoin themselves the Colchians on that ground or from some part of his Army left there by Sesostris being said by Ammianus Marcellinus to be the antient off-spring of the Aegyptians The most antient of their Kings was Aetes spoken of before who entertaining Phryxus flying out of greece from the fury of his stepdame Ino with great store of treasure occasioned the Argonauts as well in way of revenge as in hope of booty to make that famous expedition for the Gold of Colchos disguised under the fiction of the Golden Fleece Of most note after him Selauces and Esubops who first discovered the rich mines of Gold and silver of which metals they made all their Utensils even the beams of their Chambers The fame whereof drew thither Sesostris the great King of Aegypt who being vanquished in the field was fain to lay aside all those hopes which he brought with him thither and return back to Aegypt in worse state than he came but that he left behind him an Aegyptian Colony in the City of Aea which after occasioned others of that Countrey to repair hither also Living in peace and unmolested from this time forwards they were unhappily ingaged by Tigranes of Armenia to side with him against the Romans and in his overthrow gave such advantage to the Victor that Orodes the King of Colchis was fain to submit himself to Pompey to dismiss his forces leave his fastnesses and finally to redeem his peace by sending to him a Bedstead of purest Gold and many other rich presents After this the Romans had here their Agens and received hence some annuall profits but never brought it to the form of a Province Distressed between the Persians and Constantinopolitans they had much ado to stand upright though betwixt both they kept themselves in a kind of liberty as of late times betwixt the Persians Turks and Tartars their too potent Neigbours But at the last Anno 1579. Amurath the third to make the safer passage for his forces in Georgia sent Uluzales his Admiral with a great Fleet into the Euxine Sea who comming up the River Phasis took the City of Fassum fortified it and laid so certain a foundation of a future conquest that though the Mengrelians did not long after demolish some of his fortifications yet they were afterwards repaired and Fassu made the seat of a Turkish Beglerbeg as it still continueth 3. IBERIA I BERIA is bounded on the East with Albania on the West with Colchis on the North with the Caucasian Mountains and one the South with the Montes Moschici by the first mountains parted from Sarmatia Asiatica and by the last from Armenia Maâor It was so called from the River Iberus which running thorow it falleth at last into the more noted River Cyrus but is now called Georgia and that as some say from Saint George the Cappadocian Martyr whom here they have in very great reverence as their tutelary Saint and Patron as others say from George a Cappadocian Bishop by whose preaching they were brought unto Christianity and some again will have them called properly Gordiaeans and corruptly Georgians from their neer neighbourhood to those mountains But the most probable opinion is as I conceive that they took this name from the Georgi whom Pliny reckoneth amongst other of the Caspian nations Though to say truth the name of Georgia extendeth somewhat further than that of Iberia as comprehending also that part of Armenia Major which lies next to Media and the whole Countrey of Albania if I guess a right The Countrey for the greatest part is covered with Mountains woods and thickets and in that regard unconquerable for the difficulty of the mountainous passages yet notwithstanding it is very fruitfull in many places having many fertile plains and wealthy vallies well watered and of great increase to the husbandman if he be not wanting to himself in care and industry Of the old Iberians it is written that they were a very warlike nation and used to set as many Pillars about the grave of a dead man as he had slain Enemies in his life as also that those of the same Tribe or family had all things common he being the Ruler which was eldest and that some of them did derive themselves from the Children of David begotten on the wife of Vriah for that cause never marying out of
bands And better Souldiers when they run away Than to cut off an enemy that stands Their crafty Gall-thraps on the ground they lay Nor dares their courage come to down-right blows But fight best furthest off most trusting to their bows From hence it was that M. Crassus in his expedition against them being told by an Astrologer that his enterprise would prove unprosperous by reason of some ill aspect which he had found in Scorpio Tush said he I fear not Scorpio but Sagittarius And to these warlike exercises of horse and Archery the temper of the Air and Soyl gave no smal advantages the dry Air seasoning their Bow-strings and their large fields affording them sufficient room to train their horses Coelum enim quod siccum est nervos intentos facti Regio tota plana est et ob eam rem equis accomodata as it is in Dion But this is to be understood not of Parthia onely but the whole Countrey of Persia subject at that time to the power of the Parthian Kings Next to these Parthians the English have been looked on formerly as the ablest Bow-men having gotten by their bow and arrows as many notable victories over the French as the Partians ever did obtain upon the Romans But at this time Archery both here and elsewhere is quite laid aside the Gun silencing all offensive weapons how justly I determine not The point hath been long since debated betwix Sir John Smith and Sir Roger Williams many great wits appeared upon either side and the summe of their severall Arguments drawn up together by Sir Clement Edmunds in his judicious observations upon Casirs Commentaries to which the Reader may repair for his satisfaction All I shall say is only this that victories as great as any in those elder daies have been obtained with farre less bloodshed since the Gun came up than in any of the times before it The Religion of this People hath suffered under the same changes with the rest of Persia but they have a language of their own mixt of Mede and Scythian For which besides the testimony of humane Authors we have the Authority of Scriptures where the Parthians Elamites and Medes are named as Nations of a severall language or a different Dialect at the least Acts 2. Rivers of note I find not any nor any Mountains proper and peculiar to them Coronus part of the great Mountain Taurus lying in common betwixt them and Hyrcania as Masdoranus doth betwixt them and Aria and the hills called Parchoatras betwixt them and the Desarts of Carmania So that for want of such known Landmarks the finding out of their antient Cities would be very difficult if any learned Antiquary should undertake it The Countrey antiently more populous the towns and villages thicker set than they be at the present many Cities and 2000 villages having been overthrown with Earth-quakes In Ptolomy we find the names of 25. of their Cities distributed into the 4 Provinces or Tetrarchies of Camisene towards Hyrcania Parâhiens bordering on Media Paracanticene confining on Aria Tabiene neighbouring Carmanta The principall of which and of those that are now in being 1. Genonia 2. Charax 3. Ar ãâã 4. Apama which by the name seems to have been of the foundation of Seleucus 5. Dardamana 6. Syndaga 7. Pasacarta 8. Hecatompyle the Royall City so called from the number of an hundred Gates in the walls thereof by which we may conjecture at the antient greatness the Parthians which had seen no greater calling it by the glorious name of Half the world 9. Hispaan commonly called Spahan or Spawhawn raised out of the ruins of Hecatompyle and as that was the Regal City for these parts In compass about nine miles of figure round and seated in the middest of a large and capacious Plain beautified with many pleasant Gardens goodly Bathes and handsome Mosques But the greatest glory of it lieth in the market-place or Midan quadrangular in form but the sides unequal cloistred about and well stored with merchandise of all sorts but drugs especially the Court or Quadrangle serving for horse-races and other warlike exercises which are done on horse-back On the west-side a magnificent Mosque built of white Marble five yards high and the rest above that of brick curiously interwoven with Araback Poesies In the middest a fait Conduit wherewith they purifie themselves when they go to their prayers On another side the Royall Palace wronght in the Front with Antique works the Floors on the inside covered with rich Persian Carpets and the Roofs chargeably embossed with Gold and Azure 10. Jelphea on the other side of the River on which Spawhawn is seated as the Burgh of Southwark is to London wholly inhabited at this time by Armenian Christians from hence called Jelphelines who live here in great freedome both for person and conscience but that their spoll-money is taxed at an higher rate 11. Groom a right pleasant and healthy City well built of large streets and seated on the banks of a small but delightfull River issuing out of the Coronian Mountains neer to which it standeth Consisting at the present of 2000 Families but antiently as may be gathered from some ruins of farre greater compass Much honoured by the Persians for the Sepulchre of Fatima the daughter of Mahomer from whom the Sophian Sect and Princes do derive their Pedegree 12. Câhim a rich and pleasant City about 60 miles from Spawhawn well-built and peopled by a number of ãâã who for the making of Silks Sattens and cloth of Gold are in great esteem Beautified amongst other things with a stately and magnificent Caravanus-Raw built by Sultan Abas for the reception of Strangers whether Merchants or other Travellers but fit to entertian any Prince of Asia The City of no great age the work either of Vssan-Cassanes the Armenian who got the Crown of Persia in the year 1470. or at the highest of Cassam the sonne of Axan and Grand-sonne of Tangrolipix the first Turk here reigning from one of which it had this name 13. Tawgehawt where the Persian Kings have a house of pleasure of no great receipt but for the cost and ofnaments of it and the delectableness of the Gardens adjoyning to it not yielding to any in this large Empire and for Grots Ecchos Labyrin hs and the other excellencies of Art perhaps not fellowed in the world especially considering that it standeth in the midle of a sandy Desart The Parthians were originally a Scythian Nation banished their own Countrey and glad to plant themselves in this barren Region calling themselves by the name of Parthians which in their language signifieth as much as Exiles A People so obscure and poor either not knowing or not caring for the use of money that none of Alexanders great Captains would vouchasafe to be their Governour but let it lie as an Appendix of Media to the Kings whereof it had originally been subject till one Philip a man of small regard took the place upon
having left the reigns so loose on the necks of the peopl that they seemed to reign by curtesie only and had no more authority amongst their Subjects than any of the mean Lords had upon their Vassals 3303. 7. Phraortes a man of great prowess and fortune he made all Asia stand in fear and compelled the Persians to be his tributaries but was after overtopped by the Scythians 22. 3331. 8. Cyaxares united to his Empire the Saracens and the Parthians The King was so overlaid by the Scythians who in the reign of Phraortes had broke into Media that he was little better than their rent-gatherer But having endured them for above two years he plotted their finall extirpation and committed his design to the Nobles who willingly gave ear to it One night they invited the chief of the Scythians to a banquet where having well liquored them and put them all to the sword the baser sort willingly returned homeward 40. 3371. 9 Astyages the sonne of Cyaxares who having maried his Daughter Mandane to Cambyses the Tributary King of Persia dreamed that she had made as much water as drowned all Asia hereupon he commanded Harpagus one of his Noble men to see the Child killed but he loathing so cruel a fact committed the charge of executing the Kings commandment to Mithridates the Kings heard-man He preserved the life of the young infant to whom he gave the name of Cyrus whose fortune at last lifted him up to the Kingdome of Persia when abhorring his Grand-Father for that intended cruelty he both bereft him of his Kingdome and confined him to Hyrcania when he had reigned thirty five years A. M. 3406. 3406. 10. Cyaxares II. in the Scripture called Darius Medus sonne to Astyages of the age of 52. years succeeded his father For Cyrus pretending no quarrel to his Unkle who had never wronged him left him the Kingdome of Media and took unto himself the Soveraignty of Persia which before was tributary to the Medes not making any other alteration in the State of Media At this division of the Median Empire as Torniellus in his Annalls and that not improbably is of opinion it was also agreed on that Cyrus should take the daughter and only child of Cyaxares to wife that they should both join together in subduing of their neighbours that whatsoever they won should belong to Cyaxares who was even then an old Prince during his life and that Cyrus should be his heir In the twentieth year of their severall reigns they took Babylon slew Baltazar and destroyed the Empire of the Chaldaeans This action the Scriptures attribute wholly to Cyaxares who is by them called Darius Medus whereof Saint Hierome allegeth three reasons 1. Ordo aetatis 2. Regm 3. Propinquitatis 1. Darius was the elder 2. the Empire of the Medes was more famous than that of the Persians and 3. the Unkle ought to be preferred before the Nephew We may adde to these three the composition above-mentioned made between these Princes at the beginning of their reigns or the death of Astyages The Greek Writers attribute the victory onely to Cyrus and that on three reasons also The Persians desirous to magnifie Cyrus their own Conntrey-man gave him all the glory of the action and from the Persians the Greeks had it Secondly Cyrus was only imployed in the siege Darius then being absent and by his valour and conduct was the Empire of the Chaldaeans ruined And thirdly Darius lived not fully two years after the great victory s that before remote Nations had taken notice of the conquest Cyrus was actually in the Throne Josephus onely in the 11 Chapter of his Book cutteth the thread even between these two Princes and telleth us that Darius with his ãâã Cyrus destroyed the estate of the Babylonians That this Darius Medus of Daniel is the Cyaxares of the Greeks is more than manifest For Josephus in the place above-cited telleth us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That he was Astyages sonne and is otherwise called by the Greeks now ask the Greeks what was the name of the sonne of Astyages and Xenophon will tell you that it was Cyaxares As for the name of Nabonidus which Joseph Scaliger in spight of reason and the whole world of Chronologers would thrust upon this Darius Medus we have already refelled it though we are not ignorant that Helvicus and Calvisius two most worthy Writers have followed him as in all his Canon so also in this particular Error But to proceed unto the course of the Persian history after the death of this Cyaxares Cyrus succeeded in his Throne and the Empire of the Medes was incorporated in that of the Persians as it hath ever since continued if not subject to it The first Dynasty or Race of the Persian Monarchs of the house of Achaemenes 3406. 1. Cyrus who having vanquished Astyages united to the Empire of Persia the whole Kingdome of Media the Countreys of Armenia Phrygia Lydia some part of Arabia and all the Provinces possessed by the Babylonian and Assyrian Monarchs After which victories he was slain by Tomyris a Queen of the Scythians as some Writers say others affirming that he escaped alive but wounded out of the battel died in his own Kingdome and was buryed at Pasagarda a Town of Persis This Cyrus is magnified by Xenophon as Aeneas is by Virgil and Vlysses by Homer 29. 3434. 2. Cambrses the sonne of Cyrus subdued Psamniticus King of Aegypt which Countrey he united to his Empire Having a mind to marry his own Sister he was told by his Lawyers that they knew no law which admitted such mariages but that there was a law that the Persian Kings might do what they listed This King was a very bloudy Tyrant The Inter-regnum of the Magi. Cambyses at his expedition into Aegypt constituted Patizithes one of the Magi Vice-Roy in his absence He hearing of the Kings death conferred the Kingdome on his own sonne Smerdis making the people beleeve that he was the brother of Cambyses A matter of no difficulty considering how retirement from the publique view was a chief point of the Persian majesty But the Nobles either knowing the true Smerdis to be slain or suspecting the overmuch retiredness of the new King began to search out the matter Otanes had a daughter which was one of the Kings Concubines her he commanded when the King took next his pleasure with her to feel whether he had an years for Cambyses in I know not what humour had cut off the ears of this Magus This commandment she obeying found out the falshood The seven Princes informed of this imposture join together and slew this Pseudo-Smerdis in the eighth moneth of his reign This done to avoid contention they agreed among themselves that the seven Princes meeting on the Palace green should acknowledge him for King whose horse before the rising of the Sunne first neighed The evening before the day appointed the horse-keeper of Darius the sonne of Hystaspis brought his masters
horse into the green together with a mare which the horse then covered In the morning the Princes met and Darius his horse knowing the place and longing for his mare neighed lustily on which the Princes presently acknowledge Darius for their King The restoring of the Kingdome 3443. 3. Darius Hystaspis one of the seven Persian Princes descended from Cyrus the fourth King of the Persians thus elected King took Babylon which had revolted by the ingenious fetches of Zopirus and over-ran all Asia and some part of Greece 36. 3479. 4. Xerxes to revenge the overthrow at Marathron attempted to subdue the Greeks by whom he was overthrown in the navall battle of Salamâs and that famous and honourable exploit of the Graecians at Thermopylae 21. 3500. 5. Artaxerxes Longâmanus was he who sent Esdras to re-build the Temple of the Lord and received Themistocles being banished from Athens This also was he as some would have it whom the Scriptures call Ahasuerus the Husband of Hester though others choose rather to place that story in the time of Xerxes 44. 3544. 6. Darius II. surnamed Nothus in whose time the Aegyptians revolted and chose a King of their own 19 3563. 7. Artaxerxes II. from the greatness of his memory surnamed Mnemon under whom hapned that famous retreat of Xenophon with an handfull of Graecians thorow most of the Provinces of this Empire by which they shewed the way to the Macedenians 3599. 8. Ochus a great Tyrant but a valiant Prince recovered Aegypt subdued Syria Cyprus and some part of India and was at last slain by Bagoas one of the Eunuchs of his Chamber 3625. 9. Arses the sonne of Ochus most villanously murdered by the same Eunuch for fear he should revenge the death of his Father 3629. 10. Darius III. Governour of Armenia and Cousin German of Ochus before his comming to the Crown named Codomannus by the means of the said Bagoas made sole Monarch of Persia But being vanquished by Alexander the Great in the three battels of Granicus Cilicia and Arbela the Empire of the Persians was transferred to the Graecians A. M. 3635. The certain Revenues of this great Monarchy seem to have been 14560 Talents for so much the last Darius received yearly But what the casuall and extraordinary Intrado was is not easie to say though manifest it is and demonstrable by many strong and evident reasons that they farre exceeded the certain For first the Persian Monarchs were Kings of 127 Provinces Secondly Darius offered to Alexander for the ransome of his mother and two daughters 30000 Talents of Gold Thirdly Alexander found in the Treasury of Damascus 2600 Talents in that of Susa 50000 Talents of Gold uncoyned in that of ' Pasagardis 60000 Talents in that of Ecbatana 26000 Talents in that of Persepolis 120000 Talents in all 204600 Talents besides the infinite riches of the Treasury of Babylon yielded into his hands by Bagophâânes and other places of note noâ particularly specified an huge and most unspeakable summe Fourthly in that the gold and riches which Alexander now a Conqueror sent from Persia to Macedon and Greece besides that which every Captain and common Souldier had provided and laid up for his own maintenance loaded ten thousand Mules and five thousand Camels After this overthrow of the Persian Monarchy this Nation lay obscure 535 years viz. from the 3635 year of the world to the 228 year of CHRIST of which time they were 83 years under the Syrian Successors of Alexander and 452 years under the Arsacidan Kings of Parthia ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. as Herodiâin For after Darius had lost his Kingdome to Alexander the Macedonian and after the Victor himself was dead also the more potent Captains divided Asia among them But discords often arising and the Macedonions puissance by these often broiles not smally broken Arsaces one of the Parthian Nobility perswaded the barbarous people of the East and among them the Persians to cast off the Greek yoak and stand for their liberty he himself taking upon him the title of King and inversting himself with a Diadem A. M. 3718. The Persians by this revolt got little or nothing having indeed not changed the Tyranny but the Tyrant onely these Parthian Princes lording it with as high an insolencie as ever the old Persian Monarchs or the Kings of Syria did before From this Arsaces all the rest of his Successors and those too of the family of Artabanus or the second race of arthian Kings took that name upon them as the Roman Emperors that of Caesar or the old Aegyptian Kings the name of Pharaoh Their usual stile was Rex Regum or King of Kings and by that stile with arogance and insolence inough Vologeses thus inscribed his letters to Vespasian the Roman Emperor Arsaces Rex Regum Flavio Vespasiano giving himself the title of Kings of Kings but the other nothing but his bare names onely To which Vespasian without taking notice of the Parthians pride returned his answer to him with this superscription Fl. Vespasianus Regi Regum Arsacidi whether with more scorn or modesty it is hard to say They also called themselves the Brethren of the Sun and Moon which were the chiefest Gods they worshipped Great Princes questionless they were and kept the Romans harder to it than all the Kings and States in the world besides whose names and acts occurre in these following Catalogues of 2. The Arsacidan or Parthian race of the Kings of Persia A. M. 3718. 1. Arsaces the founder of the Parthian family 3741. 2. Mithridates or Arsaces the 2d assaulted by Antiochus Magnus with an Army of 120000 men but without success 3761. 3. Pampatius 3773. 4. Phraartes the sonne of Pampatius 3783. 5. Mithridates II. brother of Phraartes subdued the Medes and extended his Empire to Euphrates 6. Phraartes II. slain in a warre against the Scythians 3857. 7. Artabanus Uncle to Phraartes the 2d 8. Pacorus the sonne of Artabanus 9. Mithridates III. brother of Pacorus 3903. 10. Horodes brother of Mithridates whom he overcame and caused to be slain in his own sight He also vanquished M. Crassus and flew 20000 Romans and because Crassus was reported to be wondrous covetous he caused molten gold to be powred down his throat A miserable death but in respect of the divine Providence a most just revenge upon him for his sacrilege in robbing the Temple of Hierusalem as he marched towards the Parthians The overthrow and the disgrace which thereby hapned to the Romans was not long afterwards recompensed by Ventidius one of the Lieutenants of Mark Antony the Triumvir who flew great numbers of them in a pitched field and amongst others Pacorus the Kings sonne the day of the battell being the same in which Crassus had before been vanquished After this victory for which Ventidius had the honour of a Triumph and the first Triumph that ever the Romans had beheld for a Parthian victory he was in a fair way to have ruined this Kingdom to have
adjoining Provinces were took into the reckoning in those early daies in which he did encounter Ninus the great Assyrian had the Bactrians and the rest of these Scythian nations been but a Castlâng as it were of some second swarm and not coavall with the first But besides these presumptions we have other proofs viz. an old and constant tradition on this side the Mountains that the great Vineyard of Margiana was of Noahs planting and 2. the affirmation of Porcius Cato though one of the writers of Frier Annius in Scythia Sagarenatum mortale genus that mankind was repaired in these parts of Scythia so called from Sabatius Sagar an Armenian King whose Dominions did extend thus far So that I look upon it as a matter of strong presumption if not demonstrably concludent that these People were of the first plantation which was made after the flood before the rest of the world was peopled by the Confusion of Languages Scytharum gens semper antiquissima could not else hold good As for their dispositions and naturall inclinations they are said by Trogus or his Epitomator Justine to be Gens laboribus bellis aspera A Nation patient of labours and fierce in warr of bodily strength immense and vast yet so much masters of their affections that they made no further use of their greatest victories than the augmentation of their fame Theft they esteemed the greatest crime and that they punished so severely that their Flocks and Herds might and did safely wander from one place to another without fear of stealing In them they placed their greatest wealth feeding themselves with the milk thereof and making their rayment of the skinns Silver and gold they contemned as much as it was coveted by othersâ there being no desire of riches where there was no use Mcum and Tuum those common Barretours and authors of debate amongst other men were not known amongst them and therefore did not care for tillage or made any inclosures nor troubled themselves with the care of building But putting their wives and children upon wains or wagons covered with hides against the weather they removed from one place to another no longer staying upon one than they found grass and herbage to sustain their Cattel So just in all their actions that they needed not the restraint of lawes and had attained to such an eminent degree of humane perfection as not to cover In a word that moderation which the Greeks endeavoured to attain unto by the help of learning and Philosophy was to these so natural that the ignorance of vice did as much contribute to their welfare as the knowledge of vertue Such are the antient Scythians affirmed to be And being such it was a wonder that the great Monarchs of the world who had wealth at will should make warre upon them amongst whom there was nothing to invite an Army or reward a Conq uerour Yet either on desire of glory or to add unto the former multitudes over whom he reigned they were first invaded by Cyrus the great Persian Monarch who quarrelling with Tomyris Queen of the Massagetes a warlike Nation inhabiting on both sides of the River Oxus discomfited her Army and slew her sonne Spargapises who commanded it In revenge whereof the Queen having in a second battail obtained the victory and took Cyrus prisoner is said to have cut off his head and cast it into a boul of blood with this scornful taunt Satia te sanguine quem sitiisti now drink thy fill of blood which thou hast so thirsted But others tell us otherwise of the success of this fight By whom it is reported that the horse of Cyrus being disordered on the sight of some Elephants which came from India to her aid and himself dangerously wounded the Scythians had won the victory but for the comming in of Amorges King of the Sacons who of a conquered Enemy was become his Confederate by whom he was rescued and b the 20000 fresh men which he brought with him obtained the honour of the day though long he lived not to enjoy it dying not long after of the wounds he had received With Alexander they are said to begin the war as loth to be behind-hand with him arming themselves upon the building of Alexandria ultima so neer their borders which they conceived rather intended for a curb to hold them down than for a btidle to keep them in But being repulsed and wife enough to suffer what they could not hinder they sued for peace and had it granted Alexander being called away by the revolt of the Bactrians a matter of more conseqnence than these Scythian brables With Alexanders Successours they had nothing to do nor with the Persian Kings of the Parthian race the Parthians being their Allies and of Scythian breed And for the Romans it is well observed by the Historian Romanorum arma andivere magis quaem sensere that they had heard much of their valour but never felt it Remaining undisturbed in their honest poverty till the Tartars an obscure and beggerly people brake out of their Prison and carryed the whole World before them As for their Kings I find some of their names laid down but without any note of time in which their reigns might be supposed to begin or end Nor can I think that the Kings occurring in that Catalogue did either reign in the same place or over the same Nations or that they succeeded one another Howsoever we will take their names as they come before us in this list of The Kings of Scythia 1. Scythes 2. Napis 3. Phitra 4. Sagillus 5. Targitana 6. Plinus 7. Scholypethus 8. Panaxagora 9. Tanais 10. Indathyrsus 11. SâUlius 12. Spargapisis 13. Tomyris 14. Aripethes 15. Seiles 16. Octimasdes 17. Lanthinus the last of all those Scythian Kings who are conceived to have the government of these warlike Nations But for my part I dare not say that ever any one King did command the whole people generally each Tribe or Nation having their particular Kings as in other places not reduced into form and order And therefore for those Kings if such Kings there were as for some of them I durst venture to swear the contrary they must be such as in their severall Countries were of greatest same most taken notice of in the world or imployed in the conduct of their joynt and united forces and so conceived to be the Kings of the whole Scythian Nation as Cassibeline King of the Trinobantes and perhaps not that is by some writers said to be the King of the Britains because he had the conduct of their forces against Julius Caesar CATHAY CATHAY is bounded on the West with Zagathay from which parted by the Mountain Imaus on the East with the Orientall Sea and some part of China on the North with the Scythick or Frozen Ocean and on the South with China onely So called as some think from the Chatae an old Scythian people The Countrey notwithstanding the cold
to his estate 8. Mango Cham to whom Haiton an Armenian Prince and the chief Compiler of the Tartarian History went for ayd against the Caliph of Bagdt By whose perswasion the said Mango Cham is said to have been christned with all his houshold and many nobles of both sexes 9. Cublay Cham the sonne of Mango 10. Tamor Cham the Nephew of Cablay by his sonne Cingis 11. Demâr Cham the great Cham of Cathay in the year 1540 or thereabouts What the names of the Chams are who have since reigned we cannot learn nor what memorable acts have been done among them The great distance of Countries and difficulty of the journey have hindred further discoveries For the great Cham and his next neighbour the King of China will neither suffer any of their subjects to travell abroad nor permit any foreiners to view their dominions or enter into them unless either Embassadours or Merchants and those but sparingly and under very great restraints to avoid all giving of intelligence touching their affairs The government is tyrannicall the great Cham being Lord of all and in his tongue besides which they have almost no laws consisteth the power of life or death He is called by the simple vulgar the shadow of spirits and sonne of the immortall God and by himself is reputed to be the Monarch of the whole world For this cause every day assoon as he hath dined he causeth his trumpets to be sounded by that sign giving leave to the other Kings and Princes of the earth to go to dinner A fine dream of universal Monarchy At the death of the Cham the seven chief Princes assemble to crown his sonne whom they place on a black coarse cloth telling him if he reign well heaven shall be his reward if ill he shall not have so much as a corner of that black cloth to rest his body on then they put the crown on his head and kissing his feet swear unto him fealty and homage And at the funerall of these great Monarchs they use to kill some of his guard-Soudiers whereof he hath 12000 in continuall pay saying unto them Itâ domino nostro seâvââe in ââia vita Paulus Venetus reporteth that at the obsequies of Manâo Cham no fewer than 10000 were slain on this occasion There Chams are for the most part severe justicers and punish almost every small fact with sudden death but theft especially Insomuch that a man in Cambalu taking a paâl of milk from a womans head and beginning to drink thereof upon the womans out-cry was apprehended and cut a sunder with a sword so that the blood and the milk came out together Nor are Adultery or lying punished with less than death and so ordained to be by the lawes of Cingis their first Emperour a wiser man than possibly could be expected from so rude a Countrey and of so little breeding in the knowledge of books or business the Tartars being utterly without the use of letters till the conquest of the Huyri a Cathaian nation but of Christian faith What forces the Great Chams in the height of their power were able to draw into the field may be conjectured at by the Army of Tamerlaâe consisting of 1200000 horse and foot as was said before And looking on them as confined within Cathar we shall find them not inferiour to the greatest Princes For Cublaâ Cham long after the division of this great estate which was made by Tamerlane had in the field against Naian his Unkle and one Caidu who had then rebelled an Army of 100000 foot and 360000 horse there being 500000 horse on the other side Which made almost a million of men in both Armies And this is probable enough if report be true touching the Chams of Zagathay and those of âurchestan before reduced under the obedience of the other of which the first is said to have been able to raise 300000 horse and the last an hundred thousand more For standing forces he maintaiâs 12000 horse distributed amongst four Captains for the guard of his person besides which he hath great forces in every Province and within four miles of every City ready to come upon a call if occasion be so that he need not fear any outward invasion and much less any homebred rebellions Of the Revenues of the Cham I can make no estimate but may conclude them to be what he list himself he being the absolute Lord of all the Subject without any thing he can call his own But that which ordinarily doth accrew unto him is the tenth of wooll Silk hemp coâ and Cattel Then doth he draw into his own hands all the gold and silver which is brought into the Countrey which he causeth to be melted and preserved in his treasurie imposing on his people instead of money in some places Cockle-shels in others a black coin made of the bark of trees with his stamp upon it And besides this hath to himself the whole trade of Pearl-fishing which no body upon pain of death dare fish for but by leave from him So that his Treasury is conceived to be very rich though his Annual in-come be uncertain or not certainly known And so much for Tartary OF CHINA CHINA is bounded on the East with the Orientall Ocean on the West with India on the North with Tartary from which separared by a continued chain of hills part of those of Ararat and where that chain is broken off or interrupted with a great wall extended 400 Leagues in length built as they say by Tzaintzon the 117th King hereof and on the South partly with Cauâhin-China a Province of India partly with the Ocean It was called antiently Sine or Sinarum Regio by which name it is still called at the present by our modern Lââinistâ and from whence that of China seems to be derived By Paulus Venetâs called Mangi by the neighbouring Countries Sanglai by the natives Taine and Taybinâo which last signifies no other than a Realm or by way of excellence the Realm By the Arabians it is called Tzinin and the inhabitants call themselves by the name of âangis It is said to contain in circuit 69516 Dâez of China measure which reduced to our Europaean measure will make a compass in the whole of 3000 Leagues the length thereof extended from the borders of India to Colâm one of the Northern Provinces of this Continent 1800 Leagues But they that say so speak at randome For besides that 1800 Leagues in length must needs carry a greater compass than 3000 Leagues they make it by this reckoning to be bigger than Europe which I think no sober man will granâ And answerable to this vast compass it is said also to contain no fewer than 15. Provinces every one of which is made to be of a greater Continenââhan the greatest Realm we know in Europe Yet not a Continent of wast ground or full of unhabitable Desarâs as in other places but full of goodly Towns and Cities The names of which
Landlord and him the subjects do not onely reverence as a Prince but adore like a God For in the chief City of every Province they have the Kings portraiture made of gold which is always covered with a veil and at every New-moon the Magistrates and other inferiour Officers use to kneel before it as if it were the King himself By these and other artifices of the like contrivement the Common-people are kept in such awe and fear that they are rather slaves than subjects calling their King the lâmp of the world and Son of the evershining Sun without whose light they were able to see nothing In every Province except Paquin and Tolenchia onely he hath his Deputies or Vice-Royes maintained by liberall stipends from the publique treasury but those he governeth by himself Some laws they have and those affirmed to have been written 2000 years since as is like enough they were So strongly do they favour of the ignorance and Aâheism of the darkest times the manner of life by them allowed most obscene and shameless their idolatries most gross and palpable their exorcisms ridiculous and the prostitution of their Virgins most abhominable and the variety of sensuall prophanations to an illuminated mind most base and contemptible In a word nothing commendable in their course of life notwithstanding the brags which they make of themselves but their Arts and industry The forces which this King is able to draw into the Field must needs be infinite considering that incredible number of subjects under his command For whereas France is thought to contain 15 millions of people Italy with the Isles as many Germany with the Switzers and Belgick Provinces about that proportion Spain not above seven Millions and the Kingdome of England about four this Countrey one-is computed at 70 millions which is more by 15 millions than all together Proportionably his Levies must be so much greater than can be ordinarily raised out of those Countries But because it may be thought that his subjects though more in number may be less trained to the warres than those of Europe the contrary is affirmed by such as have taken an estimate of the forces which every Province is bound to entertain in continuall readiness And by that estimate it appeareth that in the year 1557 though a time of peace there were dispersed in the fifteen Provinces of this Realm to the number of five millions 846500 Foot and 948350 Horse Nor is he less powerfull for Sea-service having continually great Fleets for the guard of his costs in continuall attendance and many more ready to set out when there is occasion insomuch that the Chinois use to say in the way of a Proverb that their King is able to make a bridge of ships from China to Malaca which are 500 leagues asunder Some of these ships whereof the King hath above a thousand of his own besides those of his subjects of great magnificence and beauty the Officers and Souldiers in all which are exceeding well paid and rewarded answerably to their merits And as this King is able to raise greater forces than any from his own estates so doth he also de facto do it when the urgency of his affairs do require it of him his ordinary stint being 300000 foot and 200000 horse without which compleat number not onely in the muster-rols but in bodies of men he vouchsafes not to go into the field Answerable unto these great Levies of men must be his Revenue which they who have travelled in this search if they tell us true and do not build upon an hope of not being confuted as for my part I fear they do affirm to be 120 millions of Crowns answered unto him out of the profit of the mines of Gold Silver and other metalls the tenth of all commodities which the Earth brings forth the tolls imposed on that uspeakable quantity of merchandise which passeth on so many navigable Rivers from one Town to another the customes taken of all those rich wares which are brought into Europe and the Gabell laid on Salt in all parts of his Kingdome Out of which summe the payment of his Fleet discharged the entertainment of the Souldiers satisfied and his Court defraied there remaineth 40 millions of Crowns de claro to be disposed of either in his treasury or private pleasures or the works of magnificence and ostentation And so much for China OF INDIA INDIA is bounded on the East with the Orientall Ocean and some part of China on the West with the Persian Empire on the North with some branches of Mount Taurus which divide it from Tartary and on the South with the Indian Ocean So called from the River Indus the neerest of esteem and note in all the Country towards these parts of the world It is conceived to be the largest Country of any one name in the world except China and Tartaria affirmed by Pomponius Mela to be of such a great extent on the Sea-coasts of it that it was as much as a ship could sail in 40 daies Extended from 106 to 159 Degrees of Longitude and from the Aequator to the 44th degree of Northern Latitude By which accompt it lieth from the beginning of the first to the end of the sixt Clime the longest Summers-day in the Southern parts being 12 hours only and in the parts most North 15 hours and an half Concerning the monstrous Fables which the ages foregoing have delivered to us of this Countrey give me leave to say that as the Poets used of old to fill up the times of which they were ignorant with strange fictions and prodigious metamorphoses or as our modern Geographers in the Maps of the world fill up those unknown parts thereof of which they can give us no certain description with strange pictures and uncouth shapes of beasts and trees so also the writers in former ages have filled the more remote Countries of which they knew little with such impossible and incredible relations Hence there have been attributed to this India the fables of men with dogs heads of men with one leg only yet of great swiftness of such as live by sent of men that had but one eye and that in their foreheads and of others whose ears did reach unto the ground It is reported also that this people by eating a dragons heart and liver attain to the understanding of the languages of beasts that they can make themselves when they list invisible that they have two tubs whereof the one opened yields wind the other rain and the like But these relations and the rest of this strain I doubt not but the understanding Reader knoweth how to judge of and what to believe For my part I am of the same mind with Curtius Plura equidem transcribo quam credo nec enim affirmare ausâus sum quae dubito nec subducere sustineo quae accepi I may perhaps relate some things which I do not credit but shall not let them pass without some
a course of 900 miles falleth into the Ocean at seven Mouths that is to say 1. Sagappa being the most Western 2. Sinthum 3. Aureum 4. Cariphi 5. Sappara 6. Sabalassa 7. Lonibare the most Eastward But five of these being chaoked with sands or drawn into the neighbouring Chanells there now remains but only two A River famous in Records and antient stories for giving name unto the Country and that so celebrated voyage of Alexander who sayled down it towards the Indian Ocean the voyage holding above five moneths of which there is said to have passed no day wherein he saiâed not 15 miles or 600 Furlongs 2. Ganges which riseth as some say from the Mountain Imaus or rather from that part of Taurus where Imaus falleth right upon it and falling headlong down the Rocks is first collected into a Lake or Pool supposed by others for the fountain and Original of it whence with a gentler pace it passeth towards the Ocean taking in by the way as is said by Pliny 30 navigable Rivers In the narrowest place of eight miles breadth in the broadest 20. seldome so shallow but that the depth thereof is 100 foot or 20 Geometrical paces Parted into five great Chanels it falleth at last into the Sea the first of which most towards the West is called Cambysum 2. Magnum 3. Camberychum 4. Psendostomum and 5. that which lyeth furthest towards the East called Autiboli This River erroneously supposed to be that Pison which watered Paradise and to encrease the reputation of the error we find it countenanced by Josephus and other no less eminent names and also backed by some traditions of the people which inhabit neer it By whom it is affirmed that one of the Bengalan Kings sent men up the River who came at last to a pleasant place blest with a fragrant Earth sweet air and quiet waters beyond which they could go no further The truth and reality whereof doth so possess them that at the mouth of this River called Gangasagie such as are weary of this world use to cast themselves into the current and are presently devoured by a fish called Sea-dogs by whom they hope to find a quick passage to Paradise The occasion of which error among the Antients proceeded from those words of the Scripture in which it is affirmed of Pison that it compassed the land of Havilah which granting that it did inferreth not that either this River must be Pison or that India is intended by that Havilah For besides Havilah the sonne of Jocktan planted in some part of India there was another Havilah the sonne of Chus settled in the land of Havilah or Chasiana not far from Babylon this last indeed watered by the River Pison and the first by Ganges too farr asunder and divided by too many Nations to be taken or mistaken one for another But not less famous because none of those which neighboured the garden of Eden perhaps of greater fame than any of those which did For to this River do the superstitious Indians make their solemn Pilgrimages vainly conceiving that they shall be sure of their eternity if at the time of their death they may drink of this water To the overflowings of this River do the People ascribe the fertility of the Countreys adjoining as the Aegyptians do to Nilus And finally by this River was the whole Countrey antiently and at this present is divided into two main parts each subdivided into many particular Provinces viz. 1. India intra Gangem 2. India extra Gangem Of each of which we will first take a brief survey with reference to the state and story of it in preceding times and then consider them with reference to the present age INDIA INTRA GANGEM INDIA INTRA GANGEM is bounded on the East with the River Ganges till the fall thereof into the Sea and after that with that large and spacious Bay called antiently Sinus Gangeticus now the Gulf of Bengala on the West with Paropamisus Arachosia Gedrosia Provinces of the Persian Empire and part of the Arabian Seas on the North where it is broadest with Mount Taurus branched into Paropamisus Caucasus and other parts and on the South where it endeth in a sharp point or Promontory by Ptolomy called Commaria extrema but now Cape Commari with the Indian Ocean So named from being situate on this side of Ganges by the moderns Indostan The Countrey of the same nature formerly as it is at the present not altered but by changing of the chanels of Indus which being shifted by an Earthquake turned a great part of the once neighbouring Region to a sandy Desart Indus as many other of the Indian Rivers fatning and enriching all the land which it overfloweth The people of those elder times much like the Scythians especially in their course of life living without Cities Temples Houses in their moveable tents their food the bark of a tree called Tala which served for bread and the flesh of bucks does and other venison with the skins whereof they made their Garments All of them Free-men but no Slaves to be found amongst them Less warlike than the Scythians but as great Contemners of death as they the very women contending eagerly amongst themselves which should accompany their Husband one husband having many wives to his Funerall Pile Of which thus Saint Hierome Hae igitur contendunt de amore viri ambitio summa certantium est ac testimonium castitatis dignam morte censeri A custome still retained amongst them of which somewhat hath been said already and more is to be said in another place Principall Rivers of this part 1. Hydaspes by Ptolomy and by him only called Bidaspes one of the furthest bounds of Alexanders conquests 2. Suastus 3. Coa 4. Acesines very memorable in the Gests of Alexander 5. Sandabilis 6. Zaradrus all comming from the Northern Mountains and all falling Hydaspes with three other Rivers first received into it into the greater bed of Indus 7. Diamna 8. Sorabus and 9. Soa falling from the like Northern Mountains into the main Chanell of Ganges 10. Naragonas issuing from Mount Vindius 11. Baris from Bittigo 12. Chaberis from Adisathras 13. Tindis from the hill called Vxentus and 14. Tina from the Orodian Mountains with many others of less note By what names called at the present I determine not nor find I any which have dared to adventure on it But doubtless to be found in 1. Catamul 2. Cebcha 3. Ray 4. Chenao 5. Rebeth all tributaries unto Indus which is now called Schind 6. Taphi 7. Harunda 8. Chambel 9. Jamena which empty their waters into Ganges the which with such others of the principal Rivers as are now known by name unto us shall occasionally be touched on in that which followeth Besides which Rivers here is a famous Lake mentioned in the Gests of Alexander but the name occureth not not much above a mile in circuit but exceeding pleasant shaded on every side with woods
and the Stars their children ascribing to each of them divine honours to the Sun especially whom they salute at his first rising with great Reverence saying certain verses Their publicke businesses are treated of commonly in the night at which time the Counsellers of State meet and ascend some tree viewing the Heavens till the Moon rise and then go to the Senate-house The same Apparell generally of both Religions but thin by reason of the great heat of the Air a shirt of Silk or of Calicut or some such slight stuff worn more for modesty than for warmth Chief Towns hereof 1. Borneo situate in the North-west part of the Iland neer a goodly bay but in the middle of the Fens like the City of Venice and seated as that is on Piles the building sumptuous of hewed stone covered with the leaves of the Coââ-tree The Town so large as to contain 25000 Houses in the smallest reckoning the principal of all the Iland which takes name from hence 2. Cabura 3. Taiaopura 4. Tamaoratas 5. Malano all of them noted for fair Cities or commodious Havens 6. Sagadana a Factory of English 7. Lavi on a large Bay in the South-East part of the Iland the ordinary Seat of the King of Laus 8. Paro on another capacious Bay not farre from Lavi and directly opposite to Borneo that being seated on the North-west and this on the South-East of the Iland Betwixt these two Kings is the whole divided but so that he of Borneo hath the greatest part of it and therefore keeps the greater State not to be spoken with but by the mouth of some of his own Interpreters and in his Palace served by no other Attendants than Maids or Women 7. JAVA OPposite to Borneo towards the South lie the Isles of JAVA two in number both situate South of the Aequator both of great Circumference and commonly distinguished into Major and Minor or the Greater and the Lesser Java 1. JAVA-MAJOR the more North-ward of the two and by much the bigger is said to be in compass 3000 miles and that by them who elsewhere reckon Borneo for the biggest of these Seas But the truth is that the South-parts of this Iland not being perfectly discovered make the ameasurement thereof to be very uncertain Conceived most probably to be the Jabadiu of Ptolomy the most Northern part whereof is placed by him in the 8th Degree of Southern Latitude said by him to afford much gold and silver to be exceeding fruitfull of all other necessaries and finally that the name did signifie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Iland of Barley All which agreeth punctually with the present Iland the word Jabad signifying a kind of grain much like our Barley and Diu in the Persian and Indian tongues signifying an Iland And so in Jabadiu we have found the Iland of Iava the mutation of B. into V. being very ordinary Then for the riches and fertility of it it is said to yield great plenty of fruits and com but of Rice especially flesh of all sorts salted and sent from hence into other Countries great store of fowl both wild and tame plenty of gold some precious Stones and the best kind of brass silks in abundance and great quantities of pepper ginger Cinnamon and some other spices In a word so befriended by the bounty of nature that Scaliger calleth it Epitome Mundi or the whole World contracted in a lesser Volume But withall it is much exposed unto storms and tempests from which seldome free The people of a midle Stature corpulent and of broad faces most of them naked or covered onely with a slight silken stuff and that no lower than the knee accompted the most Civill people of all the Indians as fetching their descent from China but withall treacherous very proud much given to lying and very careless of their words to which so used that they count it not amongst their Faults And therefore when a king of theirs had broke promise with the Hollanders and was challenged for it he answered that his tongue was not made of bone Cruel they are also said to be and implacable if once offended accustomed of old to eat the bodies of their friends accounting no buriall so honourable nor obsequy so applausive This also a custome amongst many of the rest of the Indians and so hath been ever since the beginning of the Persian Monarchy Herodoius reporteth how Darius Hystaspis understanding of this custome and withall knowing how the Grecians use to burn their dead sent to the Greeks that it was his pleasure they should eat the bodies of their dead But they used all means of perswasion and entreaty not to be forced to so bruitish and barbarous a custome Then commanded he the Indians to conform themselves to the fashion of the Graecians but they all more abhorred to burn the dead than the Greeks did to eat them So impossible is it for a custome either to be suddenly left off or to seem undecent and inconvenient if once thorowly settled In matter of Religion they are all Mahometans or Gentiles according to the fancy of their severall Kings whereof in this Iland there are very many one for every great Tribe or more powerfull Family Zealous in their Religion which soever it be as appears by the sad story of the daughter of the King of Ballambua murdered by her husband the King of Passarva the second night after her wedding with all her Attendants because they would not be Mahometans which was his Religion Yet in some common Principles they agree well enough punishing Adulery with death in which case the woman chooseth her neerest kinsman for her Executioner but otherwise spending day and night in much sloth and dalliance Of the two Gentilism is the moâe diffused because most antient the Sect of Mahomet not being introduced till the year 1560. though of a very swift growth and of a great increase for so short a time Their chief Towns 1. Paâaruaan neer a burning hill which in the year 1586. break forth exceedingly oppressed infinite numbers of men and cast great stones into the City for three dayes together 2. ââctam a Town of 1000 Housholds the Inhabitants whereof are Gentiles and have their Temples in the Woods the Chief-Priest of whose superstition hath his dwelling here of great authority and power over all the Iland 3. Ballambua 4. Passarva 5. Taban 6. Matara 7. Daumâ 8. Taggal 9. Surrabaia 10. Catabaon the Seats of so many of their Kings some of them also furnished of convenient Havens 11 BANIAM the seat also of a King but of most trade in all the Iland seldome without the company of English Portugals and Hollanders the principall Factory of the English in all the Indies though they have many besides this The Town unwholesomely seated in a moorish ground and much subject to fire 12. Sundâ situate in a place abounding in pepper 13. Agracan a convenient Port Here was also in the time of Ptolomy
friends to seek out some other place of dwelling far enough from the Romans But from this Anthonie who fled after her and vainly hoped for a change of fortunes did at last disswade her The Form hereof is like a Pyramis reversed the Basis of which from Tanger on the Streit of Gibraltar to the point where it joyneth unto Asia is reckoned at the breadth of 1920 Italian miles the Conus of it very narrow But from the Conus or Pyris to the most Northern part of the Bâsis it extendeth it self the space of 4155 miles being much lesse then Asia and far bigger then Europe By the Grecians it is called most commonly Libya of which more hereafter part of it taken for the whole by the Aethiopians Alkebu-lam by the Indians Besecath But the most noted name thereof is Africa which Josephus out of Cleodenus and Polyhistor deriveth from Epher or Apher one of the Nephews of Abraham by Midian the son of Keturah The Arabians by whom it is called Ifrichia derive it from the Verb Faruch signifying to divide because more visibly divided both from their own Country and the rest of the World then any other part thereof which was known unto them Some of the Greek Fablers setch it from one Afer a Companion of Hercules whom he attended unto Spain Some fetch it out of Aphar an Hebrew word signifying Dust agreeable to its sandie and dustie soile Festus an old Grammarian from A Privativum and the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which imports a Country void of cold as suitable to the fiery temper of the Aire By Bochartus who brings all from the old Phaenician it is said to be derived from Peruc Spica an Ear of corn which mollified into Feric came at last to Africk that is to say a Country plentifull in Corn. Which Etymologie of his may receive some countenance from that great plenty of Corn which was bred in this Country especially in those parts hereof which the Romans called the Proper Africk whereof we shall speak more when we come to Barbary the whole Continent taking from that Province the name of Africk But in my mind if that from the Hebrew Epher or Aphar be not worth accepting I should prefer the Etymon of Festus before any other unlesse we might be sure that Carthage anciently was called Africa as Suidas telleth us it was for then without all peradventure we would seek no further For other more particular names by which it hath been called in some elder writers i.e. Olympia Oceanica Eschatica Coryphe Ammonis Hesperia Ortygia and perhaps some others it is enough to our design to take notice of them It is situate for the most part under the Torrid Zone the Aequator crossing it almost in the very midst and for that cause supposed by many of the Ancients not to be inhabited at all or but very âhinly in the middle and more Southern parts of it or if at all with such strange people as hardly did deserve to be counted men Pomponius among others was of this opinion guessing the inward parts thereof to be taken up by such strange Brutes as the Cynophanes who had heads like dogs 2. The Sciapodae who with the shadow of their Foot could and did use to hide themselves from the heats of the Sun 3. The Gamosaphantes a naked people ignorant of the use of weapons and therefore fearfully avoiding the sight of men 4. The Blemmyae who being without heads had their eyes and mouths in their breasts 5. The Aegypani who had no other humane quality to declare them to be men but the shape and making of their bodies These people as they thought possessed some small portion of the mid-land parts of this great Country the rest they knew not or conceived to be unhabitable in regard of the great heats thereof But late discoveries and navigations have found the contrary the Country proving in most parts to be well inhabited and the coolnesse of the nights by mists dewes and gentle gales of wind to mitigate the heat of the day Quodque die Solis vehementi excanduit aestu Humida nox resicit paribusque refrigerat horis That is to say What the Sun burns by day the Night renewes And doth as much refresh with moystning dewes For notwithstanding that it be in some places full of sandy desarts a disease incident to some parts of Arabia Persia and other Countries of a more Northernly situation yet it is said by some who speak it upon knowledge that the greatest part of those Regions which lie under the Line or near it both in America and here have so many goodly Fountains Rivers and little Brooks such abundance of Cedars and other stately Trees of shade so many sorts of delicate Fruits ever bearing and at all times beautified with blossoms as may make them hold comparison with any others supposed to be of a more temperate situation But as was said before the Ancients knew not much of this Country and therefore spoke upon conjecture or more doubtful hear-say For though Hanno a noble Carthaginian imployed by that State discovered much of the Western Shores of this great Peninsula yet he ventured not much into the Land nor did his Journal either suppressed by the Romans or not much took notice of give any great light to other Nations to pursue those Voyages being writ in the Carthaginian tongue but since translated into Greek and published at Basil by Sigismund Gelenius ann 1533. As little credit did it find in former times that some Phoenicians in the dayes of Pharao Neco passing down the Red Sea should sail about the Coasts of Africk to the Streits of Gibraltar and so return again to Egypt by the Mediterranean as we find in Herodotus that they did But what those Ages disbelieved or esteemed impossible is now grown ordinary the Circumnavigations about this Country being very frequent since first performed by Vasques de Gama an Adventurous Portugal in the year 1497. by means whereof these latter Ages are better instructed in the particulars of it then the former were who knew not much beyond the limits of the Roman Empire and some parts adjoyning upon Egypt more then the strange Beasts and more strange Reports which they had from hence occasioning hereby the By-word Africa semper aliquid apportat novi Touching the State of Christianity in this great Continent it is very weak most of those Regions which Christian religion had once gained from Idolâtry Mahometism having since regained from Christianity Insomuch that not only the North-part of Africk near the Mediterranean from Spain to Egypt where the Gospel once so exceedingly flourished that three hundred Catholike Bishops were at one time banished thence by Gensericus King of the Vandals is at this present utterly void of Christians except some few Towns belonging to the King of Spain but even in all this vast Country thrice as big as Europe there is not any one Region entirely Christian but the
of the Festivials except only in Cities 8. And in their Liturgies reading the Gospel written by Nicodemus The points wherein they differ from the Church of Rome 1. Administring the Sacrament of the Lords Supper under both kinds 2. Administring in leavened bread 3. Admitting neither Extreme unction nor the use of the Eucharist to those that are sick 4. Nor Purgatory nor Prayer for the dead 5. Not using Elevation in the act of Administring And 6. Reckoning the Roman Church for Heretical and esteeming no better of the Latines then they do of the Jewes In these opinions they continue hitherto against all Opponents and perswasions For though Baronius in the end of the sixth Tome of his Annals hath registred an Ambassage from Marcus the then Patriarch of Alexandria to Pope Clement the 8. wherein he is said to have submitted himself and the Churches of Egypt to the Pope of Rome yet upon further search made it was found but a Cheat devised to hold up the reputation of a sinking cause The Patriarch of Alexandria still adhereth to his own Authority though many of late by the practise and solicitation of some busie Friars have been drawn to be of the Religion of the Church of Rome and to use her Liturgies What their Religion was before Christianity is obvious to the eye of a vulgar Reader even the worst of Gentilism these People not only worshipping the Sun Moon and the Stars of Heaven creatures of greatest use and glory nor only sacrificing to Jupiter Hercules Apollo and the rest of the Gods many of whom were Authors in their severall times of some publike benefit to mankind as did other Gentiles but attributing Divine honours to Crocodiles Snakes Serpents Garlick Leeks and Onions For which as worthily condemned by the Christian Fathers so most deservedây exposed unto publike scorn by the pens of the Poets Porrum caepe nesas violare laedere morsu Felices populi quibus haec nascuntur in Hortis Numina Quis nescit qualia demens Aegyptus portenta colât c. Which may be rendred to this purpose To bite an Onion or a Leek is more Then deadly sinne The Numen they adore Growes in their Gardens And who doth not know What monstroâs Shapes for Gods in Egypt go But the God most esteemed by them and by all sorts of the Egyptians the most adored was Apis a coal black Oxe with a white star in his forehead the Effigies of an Eagle on his back and two hairs only in his tail But it seemeth his Godship was not so much respected by Strangers For Cambyses when he conquered Egypt ran him with his sword thorow the thigh and caused all his Priests to be scourged And Augustus being here would not vouchsafe to see him saying ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Gods and not the Oxen of Egypt were the object of his devotions A speech most truly worthy so brave an Emperour Amongst the Rarities of this Country some were the works of nature and some of industry and magnificence Of this last kinde I reckon the Labyrinth the Pyramides and the Phâros all of them admirable in their several kindes the envy of the Ages past and the astonishment of the present Of the Labyrinth we shall speak anon in the course of our business Look we now on the Pyramides many in number three most celebrated and one the principal of all situate on the South of the City of Memphis and on the Western banks of Nilus This last the chief of the Worlds seven Wonders square at the bottom is supposed to take up eight acres of ground Every square 300. single paces in length ascended by 255. steps each step above three Foot high and a breadth proportionable growing by degrees narrower and narrower till we come to the top and at the top consisting but of three stones onely yet large enough for 60. men to stand upon No stone so little in the whole as to be drawn by any of our Carriages yet brought thither from the Arabian Mountains How brought and by what Engine mounted is an equal wonder Built for the Sepulchre of Cheops an Egyptian King as were the rest for others of those mighty Princes who imployed in it day by day twenty yeers together no fewer then 366000. men continually working on it The charges which they put him to in no other food then Garlick Radishes and Onions being computed at a thousand and eight hundred Talents The next to this in bulk and beauty is said to be the work of a daughter of Cheops enabled as Herodotus writeth both to finish her Fathers undertaking and raise her own unto the height by the prostitution of her body requiring but one stone towards the work from each one of her Customers but the tale unlikely Nor is it of a greater Truth though affirmed by Josephus and supposed by many good Divines that the drudgery put upon the Israelites did concern these Pyramides the Materials of these works being stone their imployment brick But past all doubt advanced by those considerate Princes upon good advice and not for ostentation only of their power and glories For by this means they did not only eternize their memory to succeeding Ages but for the present kept the Subject from sloth and idleness who being a People prone unto Innovations were otherwise like enough to have fed that sin in the change of Government if not thus prudently diverted Next these Pyramides I place the Isle and Tower of Pharos the Island opposite unto Alexandria once a mile distant from the Land but joyned to the Continent by Cleopatra on this occasion The Rhâdians then Lords of the Sea used to exact some tribute or acknowledgement out of every Island within those Seas and consequently out of this Their Ambassadors sent unto Cleopatra to demand this tribute she detained with her seven days under colour of celebrating some solemn Festivals and in the mean time by making huge dams and banks in the Sea with incredible both charge and speed united the Island to the shore Which finished she sent the Rhodians away empty-handed with this witty jeere telling them that they were to take Toll of the Islands and not of the Continent A work of great rarity and magnificence both for the bigness of it taking up seven Furlongs of ground and for that cause called Heptastadium and that incredible speed wherewith it was finished As for the Watch Tower called in Greek and Latine Pharos by the name of the Island it was built by Ptolomy Philadelphus for the benefit of Sailors the Seas upon that coast being very unsafe and full of Flats to guide them over the Bar of Alexandria Deservedly esteemed another of the Worlds seven Wonders the other five being 1. the Mausolaeum 2. the Temple of Ephesus 3. the Walls of Babylon 4. the Colossus of Rhodes and 5. the Statue of Jupiter Olympicus This Watch-tower or Pharos was of wonderfull height ascended by degrees and having many Lanthorns at
misfortune that befell it then for any thing else purposely burnt by Amenophis the fift upon this occasion Being blinde he was assured by some of his Wizards that if he washed his eyes with the Urine of a Woman which had never known any but her own husband he should be restored unto his sight After a long search and many vain tryals he met with one whose water cured him whom he took to wife and causing all the rest whom he had made tryal of to be brought together to this Town he set sire on the Ciây and burnt both it and all the women there assembled which tale if true is little to the credit of the Dames of Egypt Places of most note and observation in the Province of Egypt strictly and specially so called are 1. Alexandria situate Westward of the Delta over against the Isle of Pharos and built upon a Promontory thrusting it self into the Sea with which on the one side and the Lake Mareotis on the other it is exceeding well defended the Work of Alexander the Great and by him peopled with Greeks immediatly after his conquest of Egypt The Regal Seat of the Ptolomies whilst Egypt did maintain the State of a Kingdom and afterwards the Metropolis of it when a Roman Diocese Adorned with many stately buildings of which most memorable the Serapium or Temple of their God Separis for sumptuous workmanship and the magnificence of the Fabrick inferiour to none but the Roman Capitol and next to that the Library erected by Philadelphus who had stored it with 700000. Volumes unfortunately burnt in the War against Julius Caesar a City of great trading and infinite Riches ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the greatest Empory of the World as is said by Strabo Wanton with which the Citizens so abounded in all licentiousness both of life and speech that they spared not the Emperour himself if he came in their way But they paid dearly for their folly For Caracalla not so patient of a Contumely as some wiser Princes having felt the lashes of their tongues when he was amongst them assembled all the youth of the City as if out of them he would have chosen some to attend his Person and suddenly gave command to his Souldiers to put them all to the sword A slaughter so great and universall that the River Nilus coloured with the blood of the slain might not improperly at that time be called a Red Sea In this City Anno 180. Gantenus read here both Divinity and Philosophy to all such as would come to hear him which as it is conceived to give the first hint to the instituting of Vniversities in the rest of Christendom so from that small beginning the Schools of Alexandria grew so great and eminent that Nazianzen calleth them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the shop or work-house as it were of all kinds of Learning Much short of what it was even in point of trading especially since the diversion of the Trading from the Bay of Arabia and utterly divested of those beauties which once it had Inhabited at the present by a mixture of Nations Moors Jews Turks Greeks and Christian Cophtives more for some little gain which they reap by Traffick then any pleasure in the place Now called Scanderia by the Turks remarkable only for the house of the Patriarch though he dwell for the most part in Caire and a Church in which S. Mark their first Bishop was said to be buried 2. Canopus situate east of Alexandria and on the principal branch of the Nile called Heracleoticum so called from Canopus the Pilot of Menelaus who having suffered shipwrack upon this coast was there interred by his Master A Town so branded in old times for varieties of all kinde of beastliness and luxury that as Seneca very well observed he that avoided the viciousness and debauchery of it could not scape the infamy the very place administring matter for suspicion 3. Rosetta on the same branch of the River and not far from Canopus out of whose ruines it arose built by a Slave of one of the Egyptian Caliphs unwalled and destitute of all Fortifications but plentifully accommodated with all sorts of commodities and well frequented by the Merchant 4. Nicopolis now called Munia the Monument of some eminent Victory and probably of the conquest of Egypt by the Macedonians the name being Greek and the Town standing within 30. Fuâlongs of Alexandria 5. Aphrodites and Aphroditopolis so called from Venus who was here worshipped situate betwixt the two middle branches of the Nile 6. Sais betwixt the same branches of the River also whence that Nomus or Division had the name of Saites It is now called Sibnit or Signiti 7. Plinthine on the Sea-side and 8. Hierax more within the land the chief Towns of the Region called Maraeotica In Arcadia called also Heptanomus because it contained seven of the Nomi or Divisions into which Egypt was distributed by the Macedonians the Places of most note were and are 1. Memphââ on the Western bank of Nile not far from the sharp point of the Delta where the River first beginneth to divide it self the Regal City of the old Egyptian Pharaohs by one of which who removed the Seat Royal from Thebo hither it is said to be built and called thus by the name of his daughter In compass when it flourished about 20. miles Great populous and adorned with a world of Antiquities amongst others with the Temples of Apis Venus and Scrapis beset with Sphyrâââ now nothing left of the Ruines of it but the Statues of some monstrous Resemblances sufficient to âhew what it hath been formerly The Pyramides before described stood not far from hence to which the Poet relateth saying Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Let barbarous Memphis brag no more Of her Pyramides as before 2. Babylon called for distinctions sake Babylon Aegyptiorum built on the other side of the River and somewhat more unto the North said to be founded by Cambyses the Persian Monarch the first that made this Kingdom stoop to the yoke of a forreiner and by him peopled with some Babylonians or Chaldaeans transplanted hither Great as appeareth by the ruines amongst which many of the Christian Temples and Monasteries do lie there in rubbish the Castle whereof served long after for the Garrison of the three Legions appointed to defend this Country in the time of the Romans This thought by some to be the Babylon mentioned by S. Peter in his 1 Epistle cap. ult which the following words and Mark my son S. Mark being the first Bishop of the Alexandrians and the Apostle of Egypt may make somwhat probable but the truth and reality hereof I dispute not now Out of the ruines of this City arose 3. Caire now and for many Ages past the chief of this Country raised from the ashes of old Babylon by the Chaliphs of Egypt and by the Mamalucks made the Seat-Royal of their Kingdom In compasse not above eight miles but full
of Streets the number of which said to be 18000. every one of them fortified with a Gate at each end which being well barred made every several street an impregnable fortresse Found so by Selymus the first when he conquered Egypt who spent three dayes in forcing his way through it with his numerous Army The private buildings very mean the publique specially the Mosques beyond thought magnificent Visited every seventh year with a dreadful Pestilence yet still so populous that it is conveived to be in good health if there die not above a thousand in a day or 300000 within that year Adorned with many delicate Orchards both within the City and without full of variety of contentments and neighboured by a pleasant Lake but made more pleasant by the company which meet there in Boats for their mutual solace and delights Fortified at the South end with a stately Castle the Palace of the Mamaluck Sultans situate on the top of a Mountain overlooking the City and a great part of the Country also So large that it seemeth a City of it self immured with high walls divided into many partitions or several Courts in times past the places of exercise and entred by dores of iron Destroyed for the most part by Selimus for fear of giving opportunity to some rebellion or envying the Mamalucks the glory of having been the Masters of so brave a Mansion that which is left now serving for the habitation of the Turkish Bassa who hath the Government of this Kingdom 4. Matared or Matarea not far from Caire the soile whereof is said to be so rich and fertile that the People are fain to cover it with sand or gravel so moderating the extreme ranknesse of it 5. Arsinoe on the West side of the Nile and somwhat South of the famous Labyrinth before described called also to difference it from another of the same name on the shores of the Red-Sea the City of Crocodiles in regard of the divine honours there done that Monster 6. Nilopolis or Nili Civitas in the Island called Heracleotis made by the imbracements of the River most memorable for being the Episcopal See of Cheraemon a right godly Prelate of whom see Eusebius in the 6 Book and 34 Chap. of his Ecclesiastical History 7. Troia on the Eastern stream which makes that Island not much observable but for giving name to the Montes Troici lying neer unto it out of which were digged the stones which made the Pyramides 8. Cynopolis in a little Island up the water 9. Hermopolis or the City of Mercurie called also Hermopolis magna to difference it from another of that name not far from Alexandria to which they give the Adjunct of Parva 10. Antinous now Antius founded by Adrian the Emperor in honour of Antinous his especial favourite the most Southern City of this Province on the banks of the Nile 11. Dionysias or the City of Bacchus situate on the Southern end of the Lake of Moeris in the Nomus or Division called Oasis parva 12. Clysma upon the shores of the Golf a Roman Garrison Cities of most note in the Province of Thebais 1. Panopolis the Panos of Antoninus one of the greatest of this part 2. Ptolomais the foundation of one of the Ptolomies and the goodliest City of this Province succeeding unto Thebe both in power and greatnesse 3. Saiet a fair and large Town six dayes journy from Caire going up the water but by what name called amongst the Antients I do nowhere find Affirmed erroneously I think to be the dwelling-place of Joseph and Mary when they fled with CHRIST our Saviour from the fury of Herod Beautified with a goodly Temple but now somwhat ruinous of the foundation of Helena the mother of Constantine The City much resorted to on the strength of this Tradition only by many aged Christian Cophties who desire to die there 4. Diospolis or the City of Jupiter all of them on the banks of the River 5. Tentyra in a little Isle so called made by the circlings of the Nile The inhabitants whereof were the onely men who durst encounter the Crocodile A creature of a terrible name but a cowardly nature of which it is said by Ammianus Marcellinus that it assaulteth those which flie from it and flieth from those who do assault it In that point very like the Devil of whom it is said by the Apostle James 4 7. that if he be resisted he will flie from us Or as the good old Poet hath it Est Leo si fugias si stas quasi Musca recedit Give ground a Lyon he will be Stand to it and away flies he 6. Coptos upon the head of a Trench or water-course which falleth into the Nilus on the South of Tentyra but on the other side of the River in old times a most noted Emporie for Indian and Arabian wares from whence not only the Christians of this Country are thought to have the name of Cophties but the whole Country to be originally called Aegyptus from Ai-Coptus or the land of Coptus 7. Thebe the residence and foundation of that great Tyrant Busiris in compass 140 furlongs or 17 miles and an half called also Hecatompylae from the number of an hundred Gates which were said to be in it So beautified with Colosses Temples Palaces the Sepulchres of the old Egyptian Pharaohs and other Ornaments of State that it was thought ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be the Nonesuch of the world Decayed on the removing of the Court to Memphis it became a ruine so long since that there was nothing left of it in the time of Iuvenal as he telleth us saying Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis Old Thebe yielding to the Fates Lies buried with its hundred Gates 8. Abydus now called Abutick once the seat-royal of Memnon from thence called Memnonium renowned for the Temple of Osiris more for the Statue of Memnon which though made of stone did at the rising of the sun yield a vocal sound 9. Elephantis on the banks of Nile neighboured by Crophi and Mophi two sharp Rocks betwixt which the River falling-down with a violent current makes the Lesser Cataract of which and of the greater we shall speak more fully in Aethiopia The City seated in an Island of the River Nile on the borders of Aethiopia sub Aegypto as the Antients called it known unto Ptolomie by the name of Elephantina but to our Ecclesiastical writers by the name of Tabenna Memorable in times of Heathenism for the Town and Temple of Onuphis wherein stood the Nilometrium or standing-pillar by which they did observe the increase of the River removed since to the Castle of Michias two miles from Caire in times of Christianity for the dwellings of infinite numbers of Monks and Hermits called from this place Tabenisiotae 10. Syene now Asna a little North of Elephantis situate directly under the Tropick of Cancer and memorable for a deep Well there digged by some Astronomers which when
same nature with Sanaga but that this affords good store of Rice which the other doth not 8. TOMBVTVM on the further side of the River Sanaga exceeding plentiful of Corn Cattel Milk and Butter Destitute of Salt but what they buy of sorrein Merchants at excessive rates and small store of horses Well watered by a branch also of the River Niger and many wells of purpose made to receive such waters as by artificial Dikes and Channels are derived from both The People courteous rich and pleasant spending whole dayes and nights in singing and dancing Their food Flesh Butter Milk and Fish which they mingle together and make it neither toothsom nor wholsom The chief Towns 1 Tombuto which gives name to this Kingdom situate about twelve miles from a branch of the Niger and founded by the Saracens or Arabians in the 610. year of their Hegira The houses all of mud and thatch except one fair Church and the Kings palace both of lime and stone Inhabited by wealthy Merchants who manage a great trade betwixt this and Fesse 2 Gago the residence of the King large without wals the buildings very poor and mean except such as belong unto the King or the chief Nobility The Merchants rich and their wares sumptuous and precious but excessive dear The Town about 400 miles distant from Tombuto situate in a fruitful Country for Rice Fruits and Flesh and well replenished with fresh water 3 Cabra a large Town but unwalled and of no better building then the other two 9. MELLI lying on the East of Tombutum is a spacious and fruitful Province situate all along on a branch of the River Niger in breadth 300 miles and abundantly fertile especially in Corn Cattel and Cotton Wooll the people generally very wealthy of greater wit civility and industry then the rest of the Negroes The chief Town of it is called Melli unwalled but large as containing in it 6000 families furnished with many Temples Priest and Readers of the Mahometan Law which those of this Country did first unhappily admit of This the Seat-royal of their Kings who are very courteous unto strangers but Homagers and Tributaries to the King of Tombutum 10. GHENEOA situate betwixt Gualata Tombutum and Melli but so that it bordereth in one place on the Ocean also is a wealthy Country but hath neither Town or Castle in it except that wherein the King resideth who is a Vassal also to the king of Tombutum That town the residence also of their Priests Doctors and Merchants of which the Priests and Doctors are apparalled in white but all the rest in black or blew Cotton The people have great traffick with the Merchants of Barbary and though made very rich by the overflowings of Niger and the wealth of the Country they have great store of Gold uncoined yet in buying and selling at home they use iron-mony 11. GVBER lieth on the East of the former Province of the same length and naturally well senced with lofty mountains Exceeding populous and thick set with Villages in which dwell their Husbandmen and Shepherds rich in their numerous herds of all sorts of Cattel as also great quantities of Rice and Pulse the people very industrious and good Artificers Their principal Town is called Guber also a town of 6000 families the usual residence of their King full of wealthy Merchants and rich in Manufactures 12. GIALOFI lieth betwixt the two great Rivers of Sanaga and Gambia The people whereof are of such admirable dexterity that they can leap upon an horse when he is in his fnll gallop stand in the saddle when he runneth fastest turn themselves about upon his back and suddenly sit down Of their Country I find little of their Story nothing but that Bemoin one of their kings being overlaid with Civil wars in the year 1489. went for aid to the king of Portugal and gave great hopes of his Conversion to the Christian faith But being shamefully murdered by Pedro de Vas the Portugal General the hopes of Christianity in these parts fell together with him 13. GVINEA is a Sea-coast Country extended from Sierra Leona so called from the Lyon like roaring of the Waves beating on that Promontory in the tenth degree of Longitude to the borders of Benin in the 30. But the Portugals comprehend under this name the whole Sea coast of Africk from Cape Blanco and the Country of Ora Anterosa to Angola and Congo inclusively in the Lower Aethiopia But take it in the proper sense as before limited and we shall find it to be rich in Gold Ivory Rice Barley Cotton-wooll and a sort of Pepper which the Portugals call Pimienta del Rabo the Natives Melegneta and we Guinie-pepper of double the efficacie of the Pepper which come from India and therefore forbidden to be sold by the Kings of Portugal for fear their Indian trade should be discontinued Well stored with Sheep and Poultry and of Dates good plenty All other Fruits which they want or care for are brought thither from Gualata Birds in abundance and Of Elephants and Apes too many A Tree they have by them called Mignolo the Bark whereof being cut doth afford a most excellent liquour more pleasant strong and nourishing then the choiceest Wines which they drink of in their great Feasts even to drunkenness The people of both Sexes very rude and barbarous aswel in their habit as their manners yet amongst many barbarous customs they have one most commendable which is the breeding of their Maidens When marriageable they place in an house severed from the rest of their Cities like a Cloyster or Monastery where for a yeers space they are trained up by some old man of best estimation At the years end they are brought out well apparalled with Musick and Dances where the young men please themselves in the choice of their wives For whom having bargained with their Parents they satisfie the old man for his care and pains in their Education They keep one day of rest weekly but therein differ from all Nations in the world besides that they keep their Sabbath upon the Tuesday Distracted into as many Kingdoms as great Tribes or Families the Kings thereof subordinate unto one another as they lie more within the Land till they end all in a subjection to the King of Mandinga Places of most note 1. Songus the principal of Mandinga about 100 Leagues Eastward from the Cape of Palmes 2 Budomel the chief Town of the Kingdom so called 3 Uxoo in the Center of all the Country 4 Mina a strong hold of the Portugals situate neer the Cape called Cabo de Trois pentas the three pointed Cape named sometimes also S. George de Mina by the name of the Cappadocian Martyr and the Mines of Gold which they hoped to finde there By which and by the Fort of Arquin which they have upon Cape Blanco in the North part of this Land of the Negros they command all the Countries which they call
afford them Materials for Swords Knives and Armour well furnished also with Martrons Sables and other Futrs of great esteeme amongst Forreigne Merchants This is the best Region of this Kingdom not above 40 miles in breadth betwixt Batta and the River of Zaire nor much more in length Their chief City hath the name of Sunda which it communicateth to the whole 7. SONGO is bounded on the East with Batta and Anzichana on the West with the Aethiopick Ocean on the North with the Kingdom of Loanga and on the South with the River Ambrizi by which parted from the Realm of Bamba It lieth on both sides of the great River Zaire which is here so turbulent and broad and so full of Ilands that the one part of it hath little or no commerce with the other The chief Town hereof called Songo gives this name to the Country in which is nothing singular for the Soil or People 8. ANZICHANA hath on the West part of Songo and Loango extended thence unto the East as far almost as the Lake of Zembre on the North some part of the Land of Negroes on the South the Zaire So called from the Anziqui the Inhabitants of it The cruellest Cannibals in the world for they do not only eat their Enemies but their Friends and Kinsfolk And that they may be sure not to want these Dainties they have shambles of mans flesh as in other parts of Beef or Mutton So covetous withall that if their Slaves will yield but a penny more when sold joynt by joynt then if sold alive they will cut them out and sell them so upon the Shambles Yet with these barbarous qualities they have many good Affirmed to be so cunning at the Bow and Arrows that they will discharge 28 Arrows for so many do their Quivers hold before the first of them falls to ground and of so great fidelity to their Masters and to those which trust them that they will rather choose to be killed then either to abuse the trust or betray their Master For that cause more esteemed by the Portugals then their other Slaves And for the same and that only worthy of so good a Country said to be rich in Mines of Copper and very plentifull of Sanders both red and gray which tempered with Vinegar is found by the Portugals to be a certain remedy against the Pox as the smoke thereof against the head-ache Towns they have none or none at least of any reckoning which deserve place here 9. LOANGO hath on the East Anzichana on the West the Atlantick Ocean on the North Benin one of the Realms of Guinea in the Land of Negroes and on the South the Province of Songo from which parted by the River Loango whence it hath its name The Country very hot as lying under the Line but well peopled indifferently fruitful and more stored with Elephants then any other of these parts strenching in length 200 miles within the Land and for the most part very well watered The Inhabitants whom they call Bramas by Religion Heathens but of old accustomed as the Anziqui and other of these barbarous Africans unto Circumcision Governed by a King of their own once subject to the Kings of Congo but of late times both he and the King of the Anziqui for they are also under the command of one Soveraign Prince have freed themselves from that subjection though still the King of Congo be called King of both Their King they call by the name of Mani-Loanga Their Towns of note 1 Penga the Haven to the rest 2 Morumba 30 Leagues more Northwards and within the 1 and the inhabitants of which Towns being more civil then the rest apparell themselves with the leaves of Palm trees but not so well skilled in the nature of that excellent Tree as the more civilized People of the Realms of Congo who out of the leaves thereof well cleansed and purged draw a fine long thred of which they make Velvets Damaskes Sattens Taffaties Sarcenets and the lake fine Stuffes 10. Having thus looked upon the chief Provinces of this Kingdom seated on the Continent Let us next look upon the Ilands The principal of which LO ANDA situate over against the Town of S. Paul in the Province of Bamba said to be first made out of the sands of the Ocean and the mire of Coanza cast into an heap and at last made into an Iland Now beautified with a very fair Haven of the same name with the Iland possessed by the Portugals The Iland destitute of Rivers but so well furnished with waters that every where within less then half a yard digging they find sweet and good Waters so contrary to the Sea from whence they come that when the Sea ebbs from it they be salt and brackish when it floweth towards the Iland then most fresh and sweet But most remarkable is this Iland for the Cockle fishing which the Women going a little into the Sea take up together with the sands in baskets and part them from the sand as they lie on the shore the shells of which being naturally distinguished into drivers colours serve over all the Kingdom of Congo instead of money which is a matter of such moment unto this King that he entertains a Governour in the Iland for no other reason but to take care about this fishing Besides this there are many Ilands in the River of Zaire now subject to the Kings of Congo but heretofore in continual Wars against them fighting in Boats which they made of the bodies of a Tree by them called Liconde The tree so big that two or three men or more are not able to fathom it insomuch that many times a Boat is made of one of the largest of them able to contain 200 men Upon the shores of these Ilands and in others of their Bays and Creeks they have so great numbers of Anchioves that in winter time they will leap upon the Land of their own Accord Compacted of these several Members and of the rest expressed in the Stile Imperial is the Realm of Congo so called from Congo the chief Province but now distinguished from the rest by the name of Pemba which being of more power or of better fortune then any of the other or of all together hath given both Law and name unto them Discovered by the Portugals under Diego Can An. 1486. at what times these Kings were at the greatest called by their subjects Mani Congo or the Kings of Congo the word Mani signifying in their Language a Prince or Lord the name communicated since to the Kingdom also Of their affairs before this time there is nothing certain What hath since hapned in this Kingdom may best be seen in the ensuing Catalogue of The Kings of Congo 1486. 1 John not so called till converted to the Faith of Christ and then baptized by this name in honour of John the 2. King of Portugal Anno 1490. in whose reign this discovery and Conversion hapned 2
Guoga 55.0 22.0 Goyami 57.0 14.0 A. Gualata 13.30 23.30 Guber 29.20 10.40 H Holy Port 10.0 32.30 L Lanserot 11.40 29.30 M Madagascar 77.0 19.0 A. Midazo 78.0 5.10 Malta 46.0 35.30 Manicongo 47.20 7.0 A. Morocco 20.0 30.30 Melinde 71.20 3.20 A. Meroe 68.20 16.15 Mezzata 47.4 30.40 Mina 28.50 6.20 Mombaza 72.0 4.50 A. Mosambique 70.20 14.40 Memphis   N Nubia 60.0 17.40 O Oran 29.40 35.0 P Palma 6.20 28.0 Pascar 59.40 1.20 A. Q Quiloa 69.50 8.56 R Rameses 68.30 30.30 S Sabaim 68.20 8.40 Septa 22.0 35.40 Suachem 72.40 18.40 Sus 27.30  Salla   T Tangier 30.50 35.0 Tefethne 16.10 30.0 Tegnit 27.40 28.10 Teient 17.0 30.30 Tenariffe 8.10 27.30 Thesset 20.0 29.10 Telesine 29.0 34.10 Tigremahon 65.0 6.0 Tombuto 20.50 15.0 Tunis 40.0 36.0 Thebes in Egypt   V Vella 77.0 13.0 Utâca   Z Zacatera 88.0 12.50 Zegreg 36.40 14.40 Zeila 80.0 11.20 Zigec 45.50 40.50 Zimbaus 59.0 25.20 A. A is the Mark of a Southern Latitude The End of the First Part of the Fourth Book COSMOGRAPHIE The Fourth Book PART II. CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHY HISTORY OF AMERICA AND ALL THE PRINCIPAL Kingdoms Provinces Seas and Ilands of it By PETER HEYLIN Matth. 24. 14. Et praedicabitur hoc Evangelium regni in universo Orbe in testimonium omnibus Gentibus tunc veniet consummatio S. Hieronym in locum Signum Dominici adventus est Evangelium in toto Orbe praedicari ut nullus sit excusabilis quod aut jam completum aut brevi cernimus complendum LONDON Printed for Henry Seile 1652. AMERICAE Descriptio Nova Impensis HENRICI SEILE Will Trevethen sculpÌ 1652 COSMOGRAPHIE Lib. IV. Part. II. CONTAINING THE CHOROGRAPHY HISTORY OF AMERICA And all the principal Kingdoms Provinces Seas and Isles thereof OF AMERICA AMERICA the fourth and last part of the World is bounded on the East with the Atlantick Ocean and the Vergivian Seas by which parted from Europe and Africa which Seas the Mariners call Mare del Nort on the West with the Pacifique Ocean by the Mariners called Mare del Zur which divides it from Asia on the South with some part of Terra Australis Incognita from which separated by a long but narrow Streit called the Streits of Magellan the North bounds of it hitherto not so well discovered as that we can certainly affirm it to be Iland or Continent It is called by some and that most aptly THE NEW WORLD New for the late Discovery and World for the vast greatness of it The most usual and yet somewhat the more improper name is that of America because Americus Vespacius an Adventurous Florentine discovered a great part of the Continent of it But since the first light he had to finde out those parts came from the directions and example of Columbus who first led the way and that Sebastian Cabot touched at many places which Americus Vespacius never saw it might as properly have been called Columbana Sebastiana or Cabotia The most improper name of all and yet not much lessured then that of America is the West Indies West in regard of the Western situation of it from these parts of Europe and Indies either as mistook for some part of India at the first Discovery or else because the Seamen used to call all Countries if remote and rich by the name of India Many are of opinion but rather grounded on conjectural presumptions then Demonstrative Arguments that America was known long before our late Discoveries Their Reasons drawn 1. From the Doctrine of the Antipodes which being maintained by many of the Ancient Writers inferreth as they think a knowledge of these parts of the World which are opposite to us But unto this it may be answered that the knowledge of the Antipodes amongst the Antients was by supposition at the best by Demonstration only and not in fact or thusâ that it was known that there were Antipodes but the Antipodes were not known 2ly It is said that Hanno a noble ãâã discovered a great Iland in the Western Ocean and after a long voyage returned home again not wanting Sea-room but Victuals as he told the Senate But he that writ the actions of Hanno in this famous Voyage which some conceive to be Hanno himself informs us that he sailed not Westwards but more towards the South and therefore this great Iland whatsoever it was whether Madera or some one of the Fortunate Ilands I determine not could not be America 3. It is alleaged that Plato in his Timaus speaks of a great Iland of the Atlantick Ocean Libyam Africam adaquans as out of him Tertullian hath it as big as Libya and Africk properly so called which he confesseth to be drowned long before his time and therefore possibly never extant but in some mens fancies 4. That Aristotle in the Book de Mundo if that Book be his speaks of an Iland very fruitful and full of navigable Rivers discovered by the Carthaginians and by them forbidden to be planted upon pain of death Which Iland being affirmed by that Author to be Multorum dierum itinere a Gadibus remota hath made some men conceive it to be this America or some of the great Ilands of it As if it might not be as well one of the Azores or perhaps Madera or some other of the Ilands in the Road of Hannos voyage Certain I am that one of the best friends the Phoenicians have who would not gladly lose such an opportunity of ennobling their performances in Navigation could any thing be built upon it doth wave the whole Relation as of doubtful credit and knoweth of no such place as is there described by that Author whosoever he were 5. Some have produced these Verses of Seneca to inferre a knowledge of this Country amongst the Antients Viz. Venient annis secula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet ingens pateat tellus Novosque Typhis detegat Orbes Nec sit Terris ultima Thule Which may be Englished in these words In the last dayes an Age shall come Wherein the all-devouring Fome Shall lose its former bounds and shew Another Continent to view New-Worlds which Night doth now conceal A second Typhis shall reveal And frozen Thule shall no more Be of the Earth the furthest Shore But this Argument can bring no necessary nor so much as a probable inference of any such Continent as this then known to Seneca the Poet in that Chorus shewing as well the continual dangers as the possible effects of Navigation that there might be not that there were more Lands discovered then those formerly known 6. Some hold this Country to be the Land of Ophir to which Solomon is said in the holy Scriptures to have sent for Gold But Ezion-Geber which is there also said to be the station where his Navie lay was situate in the bottom of the Red Sea or Bay of Arabia whereas if he had sent this way his shipping must have lain
at Joppa or some other Port of the Mediterranean and from thence set forwards thorow the Streits of Gibraltar and so plainly Westward 7. Finally in the History of Wales writ by David Powel it is reported that Madoc the son of Owen Gwinedth Prince of Wales of purpose to decline ingaging in a Civil war raised in that Estate in the year 1170. put himself to Sea and after a long course of Navigation came into this Country where after he had left his men and fortified some places of advantage in it he returned home for more supplies which he carried with him in ten Barks but neither he nor they looked after by the rest of that Nation To which some adde that here is still some smattering of the Welch or British tongue to be found amongst them as that a Bird with a white head is called Pengwin and the like in which regard some sorry Statesmen went about to entitle Queen Elizabeth unto the soveraignty of these Countries Others more wise disswaded from that vain Ambition considering that Welch men as well as others might be cast upon those parts by force of tempest and easily implant some few words of their own among the people there inhabiting And though I needs must say for the honour of Wales that they have more grounds for what they say then those which look for this New World in the Atlantis of Plato the Atlantick Ilands of Aristotle and Plutarch or the Discoveries of Hanno the Carthaginian yet am I not so far convinced of the truth thereof the use of the Mariners Compass being not so antient without which such a Voyage could not be performed but that I may conclude with more satisfaction that this Country was unknown to the former Ages But now as Mela the Geographer said once of Britain then newly conquered by the Romans Britannia qualis sit qualesque progeneret mox certiora magis explorata dicentur quippe jam diu clausam aperit ecce Principum maximus he means Claudius Caesar nec indomitarum modo sed incognitarum ante se Gentium Victor so may we say of America on these late discoveries What kind of Country it is and what men it produceth we do and shall know more certainly then in former times since those puissant Kings of Spain have laid open all the parts thereof inhabited not only by unvanquished but even unknown Nations For God remembring the promise of his Son that his Gospel should before the end of the World be preached to all Nations stirred up one Christopher Colon or Columbus born at Nervy in the Signeury of Genoa to be the instrument for finding out those parts of the World to which the sound of the Gospel had not yet arived Who being a man of great abilities and born to undertake great matters could not perswade himself the motion of the Sun considered but that there was another World to which that glorious Planet did impart both his light and heat when he went from us This World he purposed to seek after and opening his Design to the State of Genoa An. 1486 was by them rejected On this repulse he sent his brother Bartholomew to King Henry the seventh of England who in his way hapned unfortunately into the hands of Pirats by whom detained a long while but at last inlarged Assoon as he was set at liberty he repaired to the Court of England where his Proposition sound such chearfull entertainment at the hands of the King that Christopher Columbus was sent for to come thither also But God had otherwise disposed of this rich purchase For Christopher not knowing of his Brothers imprisonment not hearing any tidings from him conceived the offer of his service to have been neglected and thereupon made his Desires known at the Court of Castile where after many delayes and six yeers attendance on the business be was at last furnished with three ships only and those not for Conquest but Discovery With this small strength he sailed on the main Ocean more then 60 days yet could see no Land so that the discontented Spaniards began to mutinie and partly out of scorn to be under the command of a Stranger partly desirous to return would not go a foot forwards Just at that time it hapned that Columbus did discern the clouds to carry a cleerer colour then they did before and probably conceiving that this clearness proceeded from some nigh habitable place restrained the time of their expectation within the compass of three days passing his word to return again if they did not see the Land within that time Toward the end of the third day one of the Company called Rodrigo de Triane he deserves to have his name recorded being no otherwise rewarded for such joyful news descried Fire an evident Argument that they drew neer unto some shore The place discovered was an Iland on the Coast of Florida by the Natives called Guhanani by Columbus S. Saviours now counted one of the Lucaios Landing his men and causing a Tree to be cut down he made a Cross thereof which he eâected neer the place where he came on Land and by that Ceremony took possession of this NEW WORLD for the Kings of Spain Octob. 11. An. 1492. Afterwards he discovered Cuba and Hispaniola and with much treasure and content returned towards Spain and after three other great Voyages fortunately finished he died in the year 1506. and lieth buried at Sevil. Preferred for this good service by the Fings themselves first to be Admiral of the Indies and next unto the title of Duke De la Vega in the Isle of Jamaica but so maligned by most part of the Spaniards that Bobadilla being ãâã into those parts for redress of grievances loaded him with Irons and returned him ãâã into Spain Nor did they only stick after his death to deprive him of the honour of this Discovery attribuâing it to I ãâã not what Spaniard whose Cards and Descriptions he had seen but iâ his life would often say that it was a mitter of no such difficulty to have sound these Countries and that if he had not done it when he did some body else might have done it for him VVhose peevishriess he consuted by this modest artifice desiring some of then who insolently enough had contended with him couching this Discovery to make an Egg stand firmly upon one of its ends Which when they could not do upon many Trials he gently bruizing one end of it made it stand upright letting them see without any further reprehension how easie it was to do that thing which we see another do before us But to proceed Columbus having thus led the way was seconded by Americus Vâspusius an old venturous Florentine imploied therein by Emanuel King of Portugal from whom the Continent or Main land of this Country hath the name of Americas by which still known and ãâã commonly called To him succeeded John Cabot a Venetian the Father of Sebastian Cabot in
dishonour yet by his leave or without it rather some of his neighbours have made bold with his wife in these later times though in the affections of his Mistress they have greater interest But these attempts of the English and Hollanders have been an occasion of great strength to the whole Country For whereas in our first VVars with Spain our private Adventures found the Sea-coasts almost naked of defence and thereupon many a rich and prosperous voyage to these parts the Spaniards upon sight of that weakness and disadvantage so strongly fortified their Havens and Sea-Towns that towards the later end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth we were not able to accomplish that with great and publick Forces which before had been performed by small and private which caused our Captains and Adventurers failing oftentimes in the Continent to make up their Market on the Seas in the return of the Spanish Navies as they yet do This New World is very plentifull of Spices Fruits and such Creatures which the old World never knew stocked with such store of Kine and Bulls brought hither out of Europe since the first discovery that the Spaniards kill thousands of them yearly for their tallow and hides only blest with such abundance of Gold that they found in many of their Mines more Gold then Earth a Mettal which the Americans not regarding greedily exchanged for hammers knives axes and the like tools of iron for before they were wont to make their Canoes or Boats plain without and hollow within by the force of fire Other particularities shall be specified in the particular Descriptions of the several Countries I shall now only take a brief view of such of their Beasts and Fowls as either this old World did not know or knew not in such shapes and qualities as are there presented Their Lyons less in greatness then those in Africa are said to be of colour gray and so nimble as to climb Trees their Dogs snowted like Foxes but deprived of that property which the Logicians call Proprium quarto modo for they could not bark their Hogs with talons sharp as Razors and the navil of their bodies on the âidge of their backs their Stags and Deer without Horns their Sheep they call them Lamas not only profitable as with us for food and raiment but accustomed to the carrying of burdens some of of 150 pound weight Amongst such strange Beasts as this old World kew not we may reckon that deformed one whose name I find not whose forepart resembleth a Fox the hinder part an Ape except the Feet only which are like a Mans beneath her belly a Receptacle like a Purse where she keeps her young till they be able to shift for themselves never coming thence but when they suck and then in again The Armadilla is in form like a barbed Horse seeming to be armed all over and that with Artificial rather then natural Plates which do shut and open The Viâugue resembleth a Goat but greater and more profitable of the Fleece whereof they make Rugs Coverings and Stuffs and in the Belly finde the Bezoar sometimes two or three a loveraign Antidote against Poisons and venemous Diseases A kinde of Hare resembling a Want in his feet and a Cat in his tail under whose chin nature hath fastned a little Bag which she hath also taught him to use as a Store house for in this having filled his Belly he preserveth the remnant of his Provision The Pigritia a little Beast not so named for nought which in fourteen days cannot go so far as a man may easily throw a stone Then for their Birds they have them there in such variety of colours that the Indians will perfectly represent in Feathers whatsoever they see drawn with Pencils insomuch as a Figure of S. Francis made of Feathers was presented to Pope Sixtus Quintus whose eye could not discern them to be natural colours but thought them pencil-work till he made tryal with his fingers One called the Tominejo of all colours so little that it seems no bigger then a Bee or Butter-flie the mouth thereof no bigger then the eye of a needle yet yielding not to the Nightingale in the sweetness of its note and Musick the Bird and Nest put into Gold Scales not weighing above 24. grains yet beautified with Feathers of so many colours especially in the neck and brest that the Indians make great use of them in their Feather pictures Others as big as these are little The Condores of such strength and greatness that they will fall upon a Sheep or Calf open it and eat it Like Miracles of nature have they in their Fruits and Plants more proper unto Natural History then to this Discourse and many medicinal Drugs of rare operation which I leave to the consideration of the Learned Herbarists I am too much a Fool to be a Physitian and therefore will not deal in such things as are out of my Element Yet somewhat of this kinde we may chance to meet with in the Description and Survey of the several Provinces into which this new World is divided The whole is naturally divided into two great Peninsulas whereof that towards the North is called Mexicana from Mexico the chief City and Province of it supposed for the most Northern parts of it are not yet discovered to contain 13000 miles in compass That towards the South hath the name of Peruana from the great Country of Peru the circumnavigation whereof is reckoned at 17000 Italian miles The Isthmus which joyneth these two together very long but narrow in some places not above twelve miles from Sea to Sea in many not above seventeen By the Spaniards it is called the Streite of Darien from a River of that name in Peruana neer unto the Isthmus and is so small a Ligament for so great a Body that some have thought of turning these two Peninsulas into perfect Ilands Certain it is that many have motioned to the Councel of Spain the cutting of a navigable channel through this small Isthmus so to shorten their common voyages to China and the Moluccoes But the Kings of Spain have not hitherto attempted it partly because if he should imploy the Americans in the work he should lose these few of them which his people have suffered to live partly because the Slaves which they yearly buy out of Africa do but suffice for the Mines and Sugar-houses but principally lest the passages by the Cape of good hope being left those Seas might become a receptacle of Pirats Which doubtless was a very prudent and Politick consideration Many times I have read of the like attempts began but never of any finished Sesostris King of Egypt Darius of Persia one of the Ptolomies and a late capricious Portugal had the like Plot to make a passage from the Red-Sea to the Mediterranean so had Caesar Caligula and Nero Emperours of Rome upon the Corinthian Isthmus Another of the same nature had Charls the great to
let the Rhene into the Danow the like had Lucius Verus to joyn the Rhene and the Rhone all which in their peculiar places we have already touched Nicanor also King of Syria intended to have made a channel from the Caspian to the Euxine Sea an infinite project but neither he nor any of the rest could finish these works God it seemeth being not pleased at such proud and haughty enterprises And yet perhaps the want of treasure hath not been the least cause why the like projects have not proceeded besides the dreadfull noyses and apparitions which as we have already said continually affrighted the workmen Not less observable then this great but unsuccessful design of cutting a passage thorow this Isthmus from one Sea to the other was that notable but a like successless Attempt of John Oxenham an adventurous Englishman in a passage over it by Land This man being one of the Followers of Sir Francis Drake ariving in a small Bark with â0 of his Companions a little above Nombre di Dios the chiesest Town of all the Isthmus drew his Ship on Land covered it with boughs and marched over the Land with his Company guided by Negroes till he came to a River There he cut down Wood made him a Pinnace entred the South Sea went to the Isle of Pearls where he stayed ten days intercepted in two Spanish Ships who feared no Enemy on that side 60000 pound weight of Gold 200000 pound weight in bars of silver and returned in safety to the Land And though by the mutinie of some of his own Company he neither returned into his Country nor unto his âhip yet is it an Adventure not to be forgotten in that never attempted by any other and by the Spanish Writers recorded with much admiration But to return to the Division of this Country and the two main parts thereof which this Streit uniteth Mexicana or the Northern Peninsula may be most properly divided into the Continent and Ilands the Continent again into the several Provinces of 1 Estotiland 2 Nova Francia 3 Virginia 4 Florida 5 Califormia 6 Nova Gallicia 7 Nova Hispania and 8 Guatimala each of them branched into many sub divisions and lesser Territories Peruana or the Southern Peninsula taking in some part of the Isthmus as before we did hath on the Continent the Provinces of 1 Castella Aurea 2 Nova Granado 3 Peru 4 Chile 5 Paraguay 6 Brasil 7 Guiana and 8 Paria with their several members parts and particular Regions The Ilands which belong to both dispersed either in the Southern Ocean called Mare del Zur where there is not any one of note but 1. Those called Los Ladrones and 2 the Ilands of Solomon or in the Northern Ocean or Mare del Norte reduced unto 3 the Caribes 4 Porto Rico 5 Hispaniola 6 Cuba and 7 Jamaica In the survey of which particulars we will begin with those which lie on the North-east of this great Continent not possessed by the Spaniard and passing thorow the Plantations of such other Nations as have any footing in the same come by degrees to the Estates of the King of Spain that we may lay them altogether without interruption beginning with Estotiland the most Northern part and that which as some say was discovered first OF ESTOTILAND ESTOTILAND as under that name we comprehend those Regions of the Mexicana which lie most towards the North and East hath on the East the main Ocean on the South Canada or Nova Francia on the West some unknown Tract not yet discovered and on the North a Bay or Inlet of the Sea called Hudsons Straits and called so from Henry Hudson an Englishman who by this way endeavoured to finde out a more commodious and quick passage to Cathay and China then had been formerly discovered It comprehends 1 Estotiland specially so called 2 Terra Corterialis 3 New-found Land and 4 the Isles of Bacaleos 1. And first Estotiland specially so called is the most Northern Region on the East side of America lying betwixt Hudsons Straits on the North and Terra Corterialis on the South The soil sufficiently enriched with natural endowments said to have in it Mines of Gold and other Mettals but I doubt it lieth too much North for Gold whatsoever it may do for Brass and Iron The People rude and void of goodness naked notwithstanding the extream cold of the Country not having either the wit or the care to cover their bodies with the skins of those Beasts which they kill by hunting though their Bellies teach them to keep life by the Flesh thereof Said by the first Discoverers to sow Corn to make Beer or Ale and to have many Barks of their own with which they traded into Groen-land as also to have many Cities and Castles some Temples consecrate to their Idols where they first Sacrificed men and after eat them The Language which they spake expressed in Characters of their own but some knowledge of the Latine Tongue there had been amongst them and Latine Books in the Library of one of their Kings understood by few Such were the Reports made of this Country by the first Discoverers who were certain Fishermen of Freezland cast by a Tempest on this Coast about the year 1350. Six of them only got on Land where all died save one who after along wandring from one Princes Court to another found means to return into his own Country the King whereof called Zichumi being a great Adventurer in the feats of Arms prepared for the further Discovery and Conquest of it Animared thereunto by the opportune coming of Nicolo and Antonio Zeni two noble Gentlemen of Venice who desiring to see the fashions of the World furnished a ship at their own charges and passing the Straits of Gibraltar held their course northward with an intent to see England and Flanders But driven by tempest on this Iland An. 1380. They were kindly welcomed by the King then newly prosperous in a War against those of Norway who liked Nicolo so well that he gave him a command in his Navie and under his good conduct woon many Ilands discovered Groen-land and provided for the conquest of Estotiland also But Nicolo in the main time dying the business was pursued by his brother Antonio the King in person making one in the undertaking who liked the Country so well being once possessed of it that he built a City in it and there determining to spend the rest of his days sent back Antonio unto Freezland with the most of his People This is the substance of the story of the first Discovery published long since by one Francisco Marcellino out of the Letters of the Zeni which had they been considered of as they might have been we had not so long wanted the acquaintance of this part of the World But whether it were that their reports were esteemed as fabulous by the States of Europe or that the time was not yet ripe for this great Discovery there was nothing done
in pursuance of it Zichumi never going back to his own Country and Freezland not long after conquered by the Kings of Norway So that the knowledge of it was quite lost again till these later days Said in the Letters of the Zeni to be well stored with Fowl and the Eggs of Birds which they found there for their refreshing the Haven where they Landed to be called Cape Trin the People to be of small Stature fearfull and to hide themselves in Caves at the sight of the Freezlanders that there was a Mountain always burning or casting smoak together with a certain Spring whence issued a water as black as Pitch but no such Cities Forts and Temples as the Fisherman spake of The Country West from Freezland 1000 miles To give you the face of it as it stand as the present it is said to be well cultivated fruitfull of all necessaries for the life of man and rich in mettals but extream cold watered with four Rivers which rising out of an high Mountain in the midst of the Country disperse themselves over all parts of it The People said to be more ingenious of better judgements and more skilled in most Mechanick Arts then the rest of the Americans were at the first Discovery which argueth some more civil People to have been formerly amongst them Their Garments of the skins of Beasts or Sea-Calves with which also they covered the outside of their Boats to Keep out the water and make them able to endure the Sea VVhat Towns they have and whether the name of Cape Trin be still remaining I am not able to discover this Country lying still for the most part hidden in a Northern Mist All we can say is that some English names have been imposed of late on some Capes and Promontories lying on the Northern shores hereof towards Hudsons Straits by Hudson and such others of the English Nation who pursued that enterprise Of which sort are Prince Henry's Foreland towards the East almost at the entries of those Straits and then proceeding towards the West Cape Charls Kings Foreland and last of all Cape Wolstenham at the end thereof where these Straits open into a large and capacious Bay called Hudsons Bay But of these more particularly in another place where we endeavour the Discovery of such parts of the World as are yet unknown and so within the compass of a Terra incognita 2. TERRA CORTERIALIS hath on the North Estotiland on the South New-France So called from Gaspar Corterialis who in the year 1500 left his name unto it It is called also Terra di-Laborodoro both from the pains required of the Husbandman and the great recompence which it gives him in the same sence as Campania in the Realm of Naples is named Terra di Lavoro By the French who succeeded in the possession hereof after the Spaniard had forsook it it was called New-Bretagne with reference to Bretagne in France their own natural Country The People at the first coming of Corterialis were found to be barbarous enough well coloured swift of foot and very good Archers their clothing of Beasts skins their habitations Caves or some sorry Cottages their Religion Paganism or none their directions Sooth-saying Not so forgetful of the Law which Nature had planted in them as not to know the necessary use of marriage but extremely jealous Better conditioned at the present then in former times by their neer neighbourhood to the French and commerce with Forreiners affirmed to be very well disposed to feed most generally on Fish and to adorn themselves with Bracelets of brasse or silver Their chief Towns 1 Brest 2 Sancta Maria 3 Cabo Marzo of which little memorable The Country first discovered by Sebastian Cabot the son of John Cabot before mentioned who in the year 1499. at the charges and encouragement of King Henry 7. setting sail from Bristol first made the discovery of these parts as far as to the Latitude of 67 and an half which brings Estâtiland within the compass also of his Discoveries The Land which ãâã first saw he called Prima Vesta and an Iland lying before it he called S. Johns because discovered on the day of S. John Baptist They found upon the Country plenty of White Bears Stags greater then ours Scut-fishes of a yard long and such store of Cod fish which the Inhabitants called Baccalaos that their multitudes sometimes staied his ships hence the occasion of their name Recurning home he found great preparations for a war in Scotland so that nothing else was done in this Discovery by the English Nation But three years after Gaspar Corterialis a Portugueze setting sail from Lisbon fell upon those parts of Cabots Discoveries which since bear his name from whence he brought the peece of a gilded Sword of Italian workmanship left there most probably by one of the Cabots Returning again the next year he was no more heard of drowned in the sea or slain by the Salvages on the land as was his brother Michael in the year next following Neglected after this till the French having planted in Nova Francia cast an eye upon it who gave the name of Brest to a town hereof according to the name of a noted Port in little Bretagne but whether they setled any Colonie in it or only did resort unto it in the way of trading I am not able to determine 3. NEWâFOVND-LAND Terra Nova as the Latines call it is a great Iland lying on the South of Corterialis from which parted by a Frith or Streit called Golfe des Chasteaux So called from the late discovery of it when discovered first though it be some forces of years ago as Wickhams College in Oxford hath the name of New College though founded divers Ages past because it was the Newest when that name was given The dimensions of the Country I have nowhere met with But for the quantity hereof it is said to be better inhabited in the North parts then in the South though the South the fitter of the two for habitation Furnished upon the sea coasts with aboundance of Codfish as also with Herrings Salmons Thornbacks Smelts Oysters and Muscles with Pearls in them Within the Land a goodly Country naturally beautified with Roses sown with Pease planted with stately Trees and otherwise diversified both for pleasure and profit the Air hereof never very extreme more temperate in the depth of winter then with us in England the Brocks being never so frozen over that the ice is able to bear a dog those little Frosts but seldom holding 3 nights together The people of reasonable stature full eyed broad faced but beardless their faces coloured with Oker their houses Poles set round meeting together in the top and covered over with skins an hearth or fire-place in the midst their Boats of Bark 20 foot long and 4 in breadth not weighing above 100 pound weight every of which will carry four men and is by them carried to all places of their
also one of which will grind and knead more Maize in a day then the women of Mexico do in four In other things not differing from the rest of the Salvages This Country was first made known to the Spaniards by the Travels of Frier Marco de Nisa employed on new Discoveries by Antonio de Mendoza as before was said Leaving Conliacan the most Northern Province of Nova Gallicia he overcame a tedious Desart four dayes journey long at the end of which he met some people who told him of a pleasant Country four dayes journey further unto which he went And staying at a place called Vacapa he dispatched the Negro whom he took with him for his Guide to search towards the North by whom he was advertised after four dayes absence that he had been informed of a large and wealthy Province called Cibola a moneths journey thence wherein were seven great Cities under the Government of one Princess the houses of which were built of stone many stories high the Lintrels of their Doors adorned with Turquoises with many other strange reports of their markets multitudes and riches But neither the Frier nor the Negro had the hap to see it the Negro being killed on the very borders and the Frier so terrified with the news that he thought it better to return and satisfie the Vice Roy with some handsome Fiction then put himself upon the danger of a further journey To that end he enlarged and amplified the Reports which the Negro sent him gave to the Desarts in his way the name of the Kingdoms of Tonteac and Marata ascribed unto this last a great City called Abacus once well inhabited but at that time destroyed by wars to the other a more civil and well clothed People then in other places Inflamed with which reports Vasques de Coronado undertook the action but found the Frier to be a Frier nothing of moment true in all his Relations the Kingdom of Marata to be found only in the Friers brains Tonteac to be nothing but a great Lake on whose Banks had once been many Cottages now consumed by Wars And as for the seven Cities of such wealth and bigness he found them to be seven poor Burroughs all situate within the compass of four Leagues which made up that so famous Kingdom which the Frier dreamt of The biggest of them held about 500 Cottages the rest of them not above half that number One of them lest he might be said to return without doing something he besieged and took but found it such an hot piece of service that he was twice beaten down with stones as he scaled the Rampiers but having taken it at the last he found in it great plenty of Maize to refresh his Army and caused the Town consisting of 200 houses or thereabouts to be called Granada for some resemblance which it had to that City in Spain Such as have since endeavoured the Discovery of these North-west parts and sailed along the shores hereof on Mer Vermiglio have added hereunto the names of some points or Promontories known in the Maps by the names of Po de S. Clara not far from the mouth or influx of Rio del Nort 2 Las Plaias 3 S. Michael 4 Rio de Toron 5 Laques del Oro bordering on Quivira and 6 Rey Coronado on the East of that Betwixt this Region and Quivira specially so called lieth a Country which the said Vasques names Tucayan memorable for the famous River of Huex on the Banks whereof for the space of 20 Leagues stand 15 Burroughs well-built and furnished with Stoves if he hath not in this part of the Story out-lied the Frier as in other cold but more civil Countries against the extremities of Winter This Region stretching seven days journey to the River of Cicuique I reckon to belong to the North-east parts of Cibola As I do also the fruitfull Valley of Aroia de Corazones which they passed in their way hither from Conliacan with the Town and Territory of Chichilticala and the Valley of Nuestra Sennora or our Ladies Dale in the South parts of it not knowing otherwise what Province to refer them to Proceed we now unto the Iland the other general part of this Division parted from Cibola and New Gallicia by a narrow Sea called Mer Vermiglio and by some the Golf of Califormia environed on all other parts by the main Ocean Extended in a great length from the 22d degree of Northern Latitude to the 42d but the breadth not answerable The most Northern point hereof called Cabo Blance of which little memorable The most Southern called the Cape of S. Lucas remarkable for the great prize there taken from the Spaniards by Captain Cavendish in his Circumnavigation of the World An. 1587. Supposed informer times to have been joyned in the North parts of it above the Latitude of 27. to the rest of the Continent and so described in most of our later Maps till the year 1626 and after that in the Chart or Map of John de Laet An. 1633. which I wonder at himself affirming that in many of the old Maps it was made an Iland l. 6 cap. 11. and that he had seen a fair Map in parchment a very fair and ancient draught Quae Califormiam in ingentis Insulae modum a Continente divideret in which it was expressed for a spacious Iland lib. 6. cap. 17. The reason of the Errour was that those who first endeavoured the Discovery of it sayling up the Sea of Mer Vermiglio found it to grow narrower and narrower towards the North till it seemed to be no bigger then some mighty River but that of such a violent current that no Boat was able to pass upwards with wind or Oar unless haled up with Cords by the strength of men And taking it to be a River they gave it the name of Rio de Bona Guia known by that name and continued in the opinion of being a River till the year 1620 or thereabouts At what time some Adventurers beating on these Coasts fell accidentally upon a strait but violent passage on the North hereof which brought them with a strong current into Mer Vermiglio discovering by that Accident that the waters falling into that Sea was not a River as formerly had been supposed but a violent breaking in of the Northern Ocean by consequence that this part of Califormia was not a Demi-Iland or Peninsula but a perfect Iland And looking on it as an Iland we have divided it into Nova Albion and Califormia specially so called 1. And first Califormia specially so called containeth the Southern parts hereof as far as to the Latitude of 38. where it bordereth on Nova Albion of which Country though so neer to New Spain and New Gallicia and though discovered so long since we yet know but little the Spaniards either wanting men for new Plantations or finding small incouragements here to invite them to it Furnished on the Sea-coasts with great plenty both of Fish and Fowl
which they finde in great Ilands of Weeds floating on the Seas and more within the Land with a kinde of Beast haired like a Goat and with teats like a Cow but otherwise resembling Deer which they kill with their Dogs Some Mountains in it said to cast Fire Ashes which the Spaniards for that reason call Cacofogo The People numerous and thicke set insomuch that on the Banks of the supposed River of Bona Guia were numbred three and twenty Nations all of severall Languages In their persons like the rest of the Salvages but of different dresses Some of them painting their Faces all over some half way only others with painted Vizards resembling faces holes in their nostrils for their Pendants the tips of their Ears loaded if not over-loaded with the bones of Fishes hanging at them A girdle about their waste to which they fasten a bunch of feathers that hang down behinde them like a Tail the Women using the like Bunches before them also Their chief God the Sun as that of Cibola is the Water which they most affectionately worship as the cause of the increase of their fruits and plants Joyned in commission with which God they were taught by Alarcon a Spaniard to worship a woodden Crosse the more irrational Idolatry of the two which he caused to be erected at his coming away with instructions to kneel before it every morning at the first rising of the Sun so teaching them to worship their two Idols at once or to translate their devotions from the Sun a Creature of God's to a plain wooden Cross of which they knew nothing but the form the work of a Carpenter It is also told us of this people that each family is ordered by the Father of it without other government yet so well managed that they allowed but one wife to a man and punished Adultery with death the Maids not sufferd to converse or talk with men before their marriage but to abide at home and work the Widows not to marry again till they had mourned at least half a year for the death of their Husbands Matters more savouring an Viopian Commonwealth then a Califormian Places of most observation in it 1 The Capes of S. Clara and S. Lucas the first on the South east point of the Peninsula towards New Gallicia the other on the South-west towards Asia 2 S. Crosses Sinus S. Crucis a capacious and convenient Haven neer the Cape of S. Clara so called because discovered upon Holy-Rood day 3 Cabo di las Plaias more within the Bay so named because the shore shewed in little hillocks without grass or shrubs the Spanish word signifying as much 4 Cabo Boxo towards the bottom of the Gulf from whence the land on the other side may be easily seen in the Latitude of 29. 5 S. Andrews a convenient Haven and not far off an Iland of the same name with some Cottages in it 6 S. Thome an Iland of 25 Leagues in compass at the mouth of the Gulf rising towards the the South in an high Mountain under which a convenient Road for shipping the Sea being thereabouts 25 sathoms Then on the other side towards the Sea we have 7 S. Abad a convenient Haven surrounded with a Country which seemed rich and pleasant 8 Cape Irinidado a Promontory well known to Sea men 9 Cape de Cedros so called from the Cedars growing neer it in the Latitude of 28 15 minutes with an Iland not far off of the same name also 10 Cape Enganno in the Latitude of 31. 11 Puebla de las Canoas so named from the multitude of Boats by themselves called Cances which the people used four degrees more Northward then that Cape And 12 Cabo de Galera so named from the resemblance which it had to an Hat in the Latitude of 36. But these two last I take to be wiâhin the Country of Seyo one of the Provinces of Quivira Understand here that these are onely the names of places not of Towns or Villages for whether there be any such I am yet unsatisfied and that there are many other Promontorâes Bayes Rivers and Ilands on both sides of this Region which I find no names for The first discovery of this Country we owe to Ferdinando Cortez of whom more hereafter who in the year 1534. furnished out two ships from the Haven of S. Jago in the Western shores of Hispania Nova to search these Seas who making some small progress in it encouraged him the next year to pursue it in person and passing up the Gulf as high as to the River of S. Peter and Paul so called because discovered on the 29 of June the Annual feast of those Apostles for want of victuals and other necessary provisions returned back again The business having slept a while was in the year 1539. awakened by Francisco de Vlloa one that had accompanied Cortez the time before who did not only search to the bottom of the Gulf but having thorowly canvassed all the Eastern shores he turned his course and made as fortunate a Discovery also of the VVestern coasts Landing he took possession of the Country with the wonted ceremonies for the King of Spain and in the place set up a Cross to serve as a Remembrance of his being there After him followed Fernando the Alarcon who discovered many Leagues up the course of the supposed River of Buena Guia where Naguacatus one of the Chiefs of their Clans or Tribes did submit unto him advancing so far towards the North that at the last he heard news of Cibala but unprovided at that time for a journey thither And on the other side Rodorico Cabrillo in the year 1642. coasting along the VVestern shores of this Country discovered two small Ilands beyond Cape Galera the one of which he called S. Lukes and the other the Iland of Possession and beyond them a fair Haven which he called Sardinas more properly belonging to the Province of Seyo But yet not finding what they looked for which was Gold and Silver and hungry Honour yielding but a poor subsistence the further search of these Countries was quite laid aside almost as little known now as before Columbus first set sail upon New Discoveries 4. NOVA ALBION formerly conceived to be a part of the Continent hath of late times been found to have taken up but some part of this Iland lying about the 38 degree of Latitude and so Northwards as far as to Cape Blanco as they call it now Discovered by Sir Francis Drake in his Circumnavigation of the World An. 1577. and by him named Nova Albion in honour of England his own Country which was once called Albion The Country abundantly replenished with Herds of Deer grasing upon the hills by thousands as also with a kinde of Conies in their feet somewhat lâke a Want and on each side a Sack where they keep such victuals as they cannot eat The flesh of these Conies serves the People for food and of their
so much by force as by fair perswasions Places of most observation in it 1 S. Barbara and 2. S. Johns about three Leagues distant built only for the benefit of the Mines adjoyning 3 Ende the furthest Town which the Spaniards have towards the North of whom a Colonie was there planted by reason of the adjoyning Mines by Roderico del Rio who did also Fortifie it by the direction of de Tharra under whom a Colonell Distant from S. Barbara and S. John about twenty Leagues and an hundred and twenty Leagues from Los Zacatecas More North by seventy Leagues at least and within this Region but not within the power of the Spaniard are said to be those four great Towns which the Spaniards call Las Quatro Cienagas but I have nothing of them certain This Country first subdued by Francisco de Tharra who after he had built Durango in the North parts of Las Zacatecas and assured that Province advanced with a Troop of 130 horse for the Discovery and Conquest of his Northern Neighbours Encountred at the first more with hunger and thirst then with any opposition of the Inhabitants insomuch that they were sain to eat their Horses and afterwards by the Rebellion of the Natives who killed the greatest part of such Horses as were left uneaten But not discouraged herewith nor with the many difficulties which he found in his way being compelled to hew his passage thorow the VVoods by the swords of his Souldiers he prevailed at last and having setled it in peace returned by the way of Cinoloa which he also Conquered and planted there a Colony in the Town of S. Johns as was said before 7. NOVA MEXICANA is bounded on the South with New Biscay on the West with Quivira the Countries on the North and East not discovered hitherto though some extend it Eastwards as far as Florida Extended 250 Leagues from the Town and Mines of S. Barbara and how much beyond that none can tell the Relations of this Country being so uncertain and indeed incredulous that I dare say nothing positively of the soil or People but much less of the Towns and Cities which are said to be in it so named by Antonio de Espeio a Citizen of Mexico in New Spain by whom discovered and subdued For first they tell us of the People that they are of great stâature and that like enough but not so probable that they have the Art of dressing Chamoâs and other Leather as well as the best Leather-Dresser in all Flanders or that they have Shoes and Boots so well sewed and soaled that no Shoo Maker in all S. Martins could do it better Then for their Towns that they are very fair and goodly the houses well built of Lime and Stone some of them four Stories and in most of them Stoves for the Winter Season The Streets even and ordered in an excellent Manner Particularly they tell us of a Town called 1 Chia one of the five chief Towns of the Province of Cuames which is said to contain eight Market-Places and all the houses to be plaistered and painted in most curious Manner 2. Of Acoma that it is stuate on the top of a Rock a great Town yet no way unto it but by Ladders and in one place a paire of stairs but exceeding narrow hewn out of the Rock exceedingly well fortified by Nature they say true in that if any thing were true which they tell us of it and all their water kept in Cisterns but no body can tell from whence they have it 3. Of Conibas on a Lake so called the City seven Leagues long two broad a second Ninive but the Houses scatteringly built amongst Hills and Gardens which takes up a great deal of the room Inhabited by a People of such strength and courage that the Spaniards only faced it and so went away Much of this stuff I could afford you but by this tast we may conjecture of the rest of the Feast The Country first discovered by Augustino Royaz a Franciscan Frier Anno 1580 who out of Zeal to plant the Gospel in the North accompanied with two other Friers of that Order and eight Souldiers undertook the Adventure But one of the Monks being killed by the Salvages the Souldiers plaid the Poltrons and gave over the Action On their return Beltram a Frier of the same Order from whose mouth we must have the former Fictions desirous to preserve the lives of his Fellows which staid behinde encouraged one Antonio de Espeio a Native of Cordula but a Citizen of Mexico to engage in such an holy Cause who raising a Band of 150 horse accompanied with many Slaves and Beasts of Carriage undertook the business I omit the many Nations of the Conchi Pasnugates Tobosi Patarabyes Tarrahumares Tepoanes and many other as hard names which he passed thorow in his way But coming at the last to a great River which he called Del Nort there he made a stand caused the Country on both sides of it to be called Nova Mexicana and a City to be built which he called New Mexico situate in the 37th degree of Northern Latitude and distant from old Mexico five hundred Leagues the name since changed to that of S. Fogi but still the Metrrpolis of that Province the Residence of the Governour and a pretty Garrison consisting of two hundred and fifty Spaniards Some other Towns he found at his coming hither viz. 2 Socorro so called by the Spaniards because of that succour and relief they found there for their half starved Bodies 3 Senecu 4 Pilabo and 5 Seviletta old Towns but now Christened by the Spaniards when the Inhabitants thereof did embrace the Gospel each of them beautified with a Church 6 S. Johns built afterwards in the year 1599 by John de Onnate who with an Army of five thousand followed the same way which Espeio went and having got a great deal of Treasure laid it up in this place that it might be no incumbrance to him in his Advance This is the most I dare relie on for this Country And this hath no such VVonders in it but what an easie Faith may give credit to though I had rather believe the Friers whole Relations then go thither to disprove any part thereof OF NOVA HISPANIA NOVA HISPANIA is bounded on the East with a fair and large Arm of the Sea called the Bay of New Spain and the Golf of Mexico on the West with parts of Nova Gallicia and Mare del Zur on the North with the rest of New Gallicia some part of Florida and the Golf on the South with Mare del Zur or the South-sea onely So called with relation to Spain in Europe as the chief Province of that Empire in this New World with reference to which the Kings of Spain call themselves Râges Hispaniarum in the Plural number It extendeth from the 15. Degree of Latitude to the 26. exclusively i. measuring it on the East-side by the Bay of Mexico to the North
a fair Cathedral Anno 1544. situate neer a large Lake said to be bigger then that of Mexico which doth not only afford the City great store of Fish but yeildeth them the opportunity of severall pleasures which they take in Boats upon the Water The Lake and Citie by the Natives called Gnayangareo 4 S. Michaels in the way from Mexico from which distant about 40 Leagues to the silver Mines of Zacatecas First built by Lewis de Velasco then Vice-Roy of Mexico to defend the People of this Province from the Chichamechas a barbarous and hitherto an unconquered People who terribly molest the Nations upon whom they border 5 S. Philips built at the same time by the said Velasco 6 Conception de Salaya seventeen Leagues from Valladolit 35 from Mexico of the foundation of Martin Enriquez the Vice-Roy An. 1570. to be a Stage for Travellers in their journeys Northwards 7 Guaxanato bordering on Panuco and not far from S. Jago de Los Valles rich in Mines of Silver Then on the Sea we have 8 Acatlan on the borders of New Gallicia two miles from the Ocean A Town of not above 30 houses with a little Church but neighboured by a large and safe Road for shipping by the Spaniards called Malacca which makes it seldom without the company of Saylers 9 Natividad or Portus Nativitatis a noted and convenient Haven from whence they commonly set sail to the Philippine Ilands pillaged and burnt by Captain Cavendish in his Circumnavigation of the VVorld 10 S. Jago or S. Jago de Buena Speranza a little on the South of Natividad the shores whereof are said to be full of Pearls 11 Colima ten Leagues from the Sea but more South then the other built in the year 1522 by Gonsalvo de Sandovall 12 Zacatula by the Spaniards called Conception situate on the Banks of a large but nameless River which rising about the City of Tlascala passeth by this Town and thence with two open mouths runneth into the Sea This Province at the coming of the Spaniards hither was a distinct Kingdom of it self not subject nor subordinate to the Kings of Mexico as were most of the Princes of these parts the Frontires of the Kingdom fenced with stakes of wood like a Palizado to hinder any sudden incuision of the Mexican Forces The last King called Tangayvan Bimbicha submitted of his own accord to Cortez An. 1522. and willingly offred himself to Baptism But the Spaniards were not pleased with either because deprived thereby of the spoil of the Country But at last Nonnez de Guzman then President of the Courts of Justice in Mexico picked a quarrell with him accused him falsly as is said by the very Spaniards of some practises against his King burnt him alive with most barbarous and unheard of cruelty and so confiscated his estate 3. Mexicana is bounded on the East with the Golf of New Spain on the VVest with Mechuachan on the North with Panuco and some part of Nova Gallicia on the South with Tlascala and part of the Southern Sea so called from Mexico the chief City not of this Province only but of all America It is in breadth from North to South measuring by the Bay of Mexico 130 Leagues thence growing narrower in the midland parts hardly above sixty and on the shores of Mare del Zur not above seventeen The length hereof extendeth from one Sea to the other that is to say from the point of Lobos in the Province of Papantla on the Golf of Mexico to the Haven of Acapulco on the Southern Ocean but the determinate number of miles I do nowhere finde But measuring it from 17 degrees and an half of Latitude unto the 22. and allowing something for the slope we may conclude it to be much of the length as it is breadth that is to say about 130 Leagues The Country is inferiour to Peru in the plenty and purity of Gold and Silver but far exceeding it both in the Mechanical and ingenious Arts which are here professed and in the abundance of fruits and cattel of which last here is such store that many a private man hath 40000 Kine and Oxen to himself ãâã is here also in great plenty that only which is drawn out of the Lake whereon Mexico standeth being reported worth 20000 Crowns yeerly to the Kings Exchequer The People for the most part wittie and industrious full of valour and courage good Handicrafts-men if they stoop so low as to Trades and Manufactures rich Merchants if they give themselves to more gainfull traffick And hardy Souldiers if trained up and employed in service Their ancient Arms were Slings and Arrows since the coming of the Spaniards practised on the Harcubuize In a word what was said before of New Spain in general as to the soil and People of it is most appliable to this Chief Rivers hereof 1 Los Yopes which parteth this Province from that of Tlascala 2 Citala and 3 Mitla both running Eastward towards the Gulf. 4 Papagaio in the way from Mexico to Acapulco with a fair bridge over it 5 Las Balsas of a violent course and in bigness equal unto Tagus in Spain passable only by a bridge made of Raâts and Reeds not very strongly joyned together 6. The River of S. Francis both large and swift but in some parts fordable Mountains of note I finde not any which require a more particular consideration and so pass them over Towns of most note in it 1 Mexico the seat of an Archbishop and of the Spanish Vice-Roy who hath the power to make Laws and Ordinances to give directions and determine controversies unless it be in such great causes which are thought fit to be referred to the Councel of Spain This City was first situate in the Lakes and Ilands like Venice everywhere interlaced with the pleasant currents of fresh and sea-waters and carrying a face of more civil government then any of America though nothing if compared with Europe But the Town being destroyed by Cortez it was built afterwards on the firm Land on the Edge of the Lake and bordering on a large and spacious Plain The Plain on which it bordereth is said to be 70 Leagues in compass environed with high hills on the tops whereof the snow lyeth continually In the middle of which âlain are two great Lakes the least of them fourty miles in circuit the one Salt and the other fresh each of them alternately ebbing and flowing up into the other On the Banks of the Salt Lake standeth the City of Mexico with many other goodly Towns and stately houses on which Lake also 50000 Wherries are continually plying The Town in compass six miles and containeth 6000 houses of Spaniards and 60000 of Indians It is a by-word that at Mexico there are four fair things viz. The Women the Apparell the Horses and the Streets Here is also a ârinting-house an Vniversity and a Mint the Cathedral Church ten Convents of Nuns several houses of Jesuits Dominicans Franciscans
to have inhabited on the banks thereof The Fountain of it in Peru the fall in the North Sea or Mare del Nort. A River of so long a course that the said Orellana is reported to have sailed in it 5000 miles the several windings and turnings of it being reckoned in and of so violent a current that it is said to keep its natural tast and colour above 30 miles after it falleth into the Sea the channel of it of that breadth where it leaveth the Land that it is accompted 60 Leagues from one point to the other 2 Orenoque navigable 1000 miles by ships of burden and 2000 miles by Boats and Pinnaces having received into it an hundred Rivers openeth into the same Sea with 16 mouths which part the Earth into many Ilands some equal to the Isle of Wight the most remote of those Channels 300 miles distant from one another By some it is called Raliana from Sir Walter Raleigh who took great pains in the discovery and description of it or rather in discovering it so far as to be able to describe it 3 Maragnon of a longer course then any of the other affirmed to measure at the least 6000 miles from his first âising to his fall and at his fall into the Sea to be no less then 70 Leagues from one side to the other More properly to be called a Sea then many of those great Lakes or largest Bays which usually enjoy that name 4 Rio de la Placa a River of a less course then the other but equall unto most in the world besides in length from its first Fountain 2000 mile in breadth at his fall into the Sea about 60 Leagues and of so violent a stream that the sea for many Leagues together altereth not the taste of it All these as they do end their Race in the Atlantick so they begin it from the main body of the Andes or at the least some Spur or branch of that great body But before we venture further on more particulars we are to tell you of these Andes that they are the greatest and most noted Mountains of all America beginning at Timama a Town of Popayan in the New Realm of Granada and thence extended Southwards to the straits of Magellan for the space of 1000 Leagues and upwards In breadth about 20 Leagues where they are at the narrowest and of so vast an height withall that they are said to be higher then the Alpes or the head of Caucasus or any of the most noted Mountains in other parts of the VVorld Not easie of ascent but in certain Paths by reason of the thick and unpassable VVoods with which covered in all parts thereof which lie towards Peru for how it is on the other side or by what People it is neighboured is not yet discovered barren and craggie too withall but so full of venemous Beasts and poysonous Serpents that they are said to have destroyed a whole Army of one of the Kings of Peru in his match that way Inhabited by a People as rude and savage as the place and as little hospitable The most noted Mountains of America as before was said and indeed the greatest of the World Of âame sufficient of themselves not to be greatned by the addition of impossible Figments or improbable Fictions Among which last I reckon that of Abraham Ortelius a right learned man who will have these Mountains to be that which the Scripture calleth by the name of Sephar Gen. 10. 30. and there affirmed to be the utmost Eastern limit of the sons of Joktan the vanity and inconsequences of which strange conceit we have already noted when we were in India Proceed we now unto the particular descriptions of this great Peninsula comprehending those large and wealthy Countries which are known to us by the names of 1 Castella Aurea 2 The New Realm of Granada 3 Peru 4 Chile 5 Paragnay 6 Brasil 7 Guyana and 8 Paria with their severall Ilands Such other Isles as fall not properly and naturally under some of these must be referred unto the generall head of the American Ilands in the close of all OF CASTELLA DEL ORO CASTELLA del ORO Golden Castile Aurea Castella as the Latines is bounded on the East and North with Mare del Noort on the West with Mare del Zur and some part of Veragua on the South with the New Realm of Granada Called by the name of Castile with reference to Castile in Spain under the favour and good fortune of the Kings whereof it was first discovered Aurea was added to it partly for distinctions sake and partly in regard of that plenty of Gold which the first Discoverers found in it It is also called Terra Firma because one of the first parts of Firm land which the Spaniards touched at having before discovered nothing but some Ilands only The Soâl and People being of such several tempers as not to be included in one common Character we wâll consider both apart in the several Provinces of 1 Panama 2 Darien 3 Nova Andaluzia 4 ãâã 5 the little Province De la Hacha 1 PANAMA or the District of Panama is bounded on the East with the Golf of Vraba by which parted from the main land of this large Peninsula on the VVest with Veragua one of the Proviâces of Guatimala in Mexicana washed on both the other sides with the Sea So called of Panama the town of most esteem herein and the Juridical Resort of Castella Aurea It taketh up the narrowest part of the Streit or Isthmus which joyns both Peninsulas together not above 7 or 8 leagues over in the narrowest place betwixt Panama and Porto Bello if measured by a straât line from one town to the other though 18 leagues according to the course of the Road betwixt them which by reason of the hils and rivers is full of turnings Of some attempts to dig a Channel through this Isthmus to let the one Sea into the other and of the memorable expedition of John ãâã âver it by land we have spoke already The Air hereof âoggie but exceeding hot and consequently very unhealthy chiefly from May unto November the Soil either mountainous and barren or low and miery naturally so unfit for grain that ãâ¦ã nothing but Maize and that but sparingly better for pasturage in regard of its plenty of grass and the goodness of it so full of Swine at the Spaniards first coming hither that they thought they never should destroy them now they complain as much of their want or paucitie As for the Inhabitants whatsoever they were formerly is not now material most of the old stock rooted out by the Spaniards and no new ones planted in their room so that the Country in all parts except towards the Sea is almost desolated or forsaken The Country as before was said of little breadth and yet full of Rivers the principal whereof 1 ãâã by the Spaniards called Rio de Lagartos or the River of Crocodiles
civil Nations So that the most that we can do is to coast the shores and see what names of Ports or Promontories we can find therein And first upon the Sea coasts towards Mare del Zur they place beginning at the North and so descending 1 The Promontorie called Cabo de las Islas 2 The Port or Haven of S. Stephen 3 The Valley of Nuestra Sennora or our Ladies Valley 4 The Promontorie called Punta Delgado 5 Porto de los Reyes 6 Ancon Sinsalida on the banks of a semi-circular Bay the receptacle of many Rivers and not a few Ilands 7 Cabo de la Victoria or the Cape of Victorie situate betwixt that Bay and the mouth of the Streits so called from the name of the Ship in which some of Magellanes souldiers did first compass the world For Ferdinand Magellano a noble Portugal and well skilled in Navigation at the perswasion or command of Charles the fifth to whom upon some discontents received in the Court of Emanuel King of Portugal he had made offer of his service undertook the finding out if possible a shorter cut to the Moluccos then discovered formerly In the year 1520 he began his voyage and keeping on the coast to the South of Rio de la Plata about the end of October fel upon the Cape of Virgins at the very entrance of this Streit which on the doubling of this Cape he was fallen upon and by the end of November not before was fully clear of these narrow Seas since called Fretum Magellanicum and entred into Mare del Zur Afterwards passing the Moluccos he was killed in a fight against the Ilanders of S. Matthew a little Iland not far off but more near the Pilippins which notwithstanding the ship called Victoria returned to Spain in safety and brought the welcome news of their good success We use to say that Sir Francis Drake was the first that sayled round about the world which may be true in a mitigated senses viz. that he was the first Captain or man of note that atchieved this enterprise Magellanus perishing in the midst of it and therefore is reported to have given for his device a Globe with this motto Tu primus circumdedisti me This navigation was begun An. 1577 and in two years and an half with great vicissitude of fortune finished concerning which his famous voyage a Poet then living directed to him this Epigram Drake pererrati novit quem terminus orbis Quemque simul mundi vidit uterque polus Sitaceant homines facient te sydera notum Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui Drake whom th'encompass'd earth so fully knew And whom at once both poles of heaven did view Should men forget thee Sol could not forbear To chronicle his fellow travailer This Fretum Magellanicum these Magellan straits are in the 52 degree and are by M. John Davis who professeth to know every Creek in them thus described â For 14 Leagues within the Cape of S. Marie lyeth the first strait where it ebbeth and floweth with a violent swiftness the strait not being fully half a mile broad and the first fall into it very dangerous and doubtful Three leagues this strait continueth when it openeth into a sea eight miles long and as much broad beyond which lyeth the second strait right West South-west from the first a perilous and unpleasing passage three leagues long and a mile in breadth This strait openeth it self into another sea which is extended even to the Cape of victory where is the strait properly called the strait of Magellane a place of that nature that which way soever a man bend his course he shall be sure to have the wind against him The length hereof is 40 leagues the breadth in some places two leagues over in others not fully half a mile The Channel in depth 200 Fathoms so no hope of Anchorage the course of the water full of turnings and changings withal so violent that when a ship is once entred there is no returning On both sides of it are high Mountains continually covered with snow from which proceed those counter-winds which beat with equal fury on all parts thereof A place assuredly not pleasing to view and very hazardous to pass So far and to this purpose M. Davis But to proceed the way thus opened was travelled not long after An. 1525. by Garsias de Loyasa next in the year 1534 by Simon de Alcazavo and four years after by three ships of the Bishop of Placenza in Spain but none of them had the hap or courage to adventure thorow till undertaken and performed by Sir Francis Drake An. 1577 after which it grew more familiar amongst the seamen Howsoever we are so much debtors to the attempts of others as that we owe to them the most part of the names of those Bayes and Promontories which they discovered in the search though many of them since new named by the English and Hollanders Those of most note proceeding from Cabo de la Victoria 1 Cabo de Quade 2 Cape Gallant 3 Cordes Bay 4 Cape Froward being the very point or Conus of this great Pyramis 5 Porto Famine 6 â little Isle called Elizabeths Iâand and at the exit of the strait into Mare del Noort the Cape of Virgins Then bending Northward toward the great River of Plata we find upon the main Ocean 1 Rio de la Crux neighboured by a Promontorie called Cabo de las Bareras where Magellano staid all September and the greatest part of October in expectation of an opportunity to discover further 2 The Bay of S. Julian out of which he set sayl for this adventure about the later end of August leaving there two of his companions condemned of mutinie 3 The Port of Desire 4 A large Promontorie called the Cape of S. George 5 The outlets of a fair River named Rio de los Camerones 6 A goodly Haven entituled Puerto de los Leones 7 The Cape called Punta de terra plana 8 The Bay of Amegada 9 The Promontorie called the Cape of S. Andrews And 10 the River of S. Anne beyond which lyeth the Province of the River This is the most that I can say touching Magellanica as to the Havens Rivers Points and Promontories and this is nothing as we see but a Nomenclator It must be better peopled and more discovered before it can afford discourse of more variety All we can adde is that the passage back again from Mare del Zur to the Atlantick hath not been found so safe and easie as from the main Atlantick unto Mare del Zur Attempted first by Ladrilliro a Spaniard at the command of Garcia de Mendoza Governour of Chile and attempted only performed not long after the voyage of Sir Francis Drake by D. Pedro Sarmiento imployed therein by Francis de Toledo Viceroy of Peru with much difficulty and no less danger so much that few have since endeavoured to return that way As for the fortunes affairs of
the Province of Chile to which we have made this an Appendix we are to understand that it was first discovered by Almagro de Alvarado one of Pizarro's chief friends and associates But he having other designs in his head about Peru which he intended for himself and to out Pizarro did discover it only the conquest of it being reserved for Baldivia whom Pizarro on the setling of his affairs by the death of Almagro had imployed in that action He going souldierlike to work not only did subdue the people but as he gained ground built some Fortress or planted Colonies of Spaniards in convenient places This done about the year 1544. his ill luck was to meet with a more stubborn and untractable people then either Cortez or Pizarro had done before him who quickly weary of the yoke besieged one of his Forts encountred Baldivia himself coming with too small a power to relieve his people vanquished and slew him in the field Some adde that they poured Gold into his throat as the Parthians are reported to have done to Crassus bidding him satiate himself with that which he so much thirsted After this blow given in the year 1551 the Savages recovered the rich vallies of Auranco Tucapel and Purene which they keep from them till this day The Towns of Los Confines and Villa Rica both on the borders of those Vallies then deserted also Nor staid they there though they took time to breathe a little For in the year 1599 having provided themselves of 200 Corslets and seventy Muskets they brake out again surprised and sacked the Town of Baldivia forced Imperiale after a whole years siege to surrender without any conditions and in the year 1604. took Osorno by famine Of thirteen Cities which the Spaniards had possessed amongst them they had taken nine some of them since recovered but the most demolished As ill it thrived with them in Magellanica where Pedro de Starmiento undertook the planting of two Colonies to command those Streits An. 1584. The one he setled near the mouth of the Streit which he called by the name of Nombre de Jesus and left therein 150 of his men the other he intended on the narrowest place of the Streit to be called Cividad del Roy Philip which he resolved to fortifie and plant with Ordnance But winter coming on he left there others of his men promising to relieve them shortly with all things necessary But such was his unhappy face that after many shipwracks and disappointments which befell unto him in the pursuit of his design he was at last taken by the English under the command of Sir Walter Rawleigh who was there in person and his two Colonies for want of timely succours either starved at home or eaten by the Savages as they ranged the Country OF PARAGVAY PARAGVAY is bounded on the South with Magellanica on the East with the main Atlantick on the North with Brasil on the West with some unknown Countries betwixt it and Chile So called from the River Paraguay one of the greatest of the world which runneth thorow it the River and the Province both by the Spaniards called Rio de la Plata from the great store of Silver they expected from it The Country for so much as hath been discovered is said to be of a fruitfull soil capable of Wheat and other fruits of the Fruits of Europe which thrive here exceedingly nor do the Cattell increase less which were brought from Spain both Kine and Horses multiplying in a wonderfull manner Well stored with Sugar Canes and not unfurnished with Mines both of Brass and Iron some veins of Gold and Silver and great plenty of Amethystis Of Stags great plenty and of Monkeys almost infinite numbers not to say any thing of Lyons Tigers and such hurtfull Creatures which a few would be thought too many Of the People there is nothing said but what hath been before observed of the other Savages Chief Rivers of it 1 De la Plata whose course we have described already 2 Rio de Buenos Ayres so called from the chief Town by which it runneth 3 Zarcaranna which riseth in the Country of the Diaguitas and falling into a Lake at the end of his course doth from thence pass into the body of De la Plata 4 Estero which rising in the Valley of Chalcaqui and passing thorow two great Lakes meets with 5 the Bermeio and both together fall into De la Plata neer the Town of S. Foy 6 Pilcomayo which hath its Fountain neer the Mines of Potosi in the Province of Charcos but his fall in the same River with those before Then on the North side of that River there is 7 that of S. Saviour or S. Salvador as the Spaniards call it 8 Rio Nigro or the Black River of a longer course but buried in the end as the other is in the Deepâ of La Plata 9 Yquaan and 10 several others whose united streams make the great River Parana the second River of esteem in all this Country But swallowed in that of Plata Besides these 11 Rio de S Martin and 12 Rio Grande falling into the Ocean It comprehendeth the three Provinces of 1 Rio de la Plata 2 Tucaman and 3 La Crux de Sierra The rest not conquered by the Spaniard of not well discovered cannot be properly reduced under any Method 1. RIO DE LA PLATA or the Province of De la Plata lieth upon both sides of that River ascending many Leagues up the water but not extended much upon either side The reason of the name the quality of the soil and people we have seen before Chief Towns hereof 1 Buenos Ayres or Neustra Sennora de Buenos Ayres by others called Cividad de La Trinidad seated on the Southern bank of the River of Plata where built by Pedro de Mendoza An. 1535. Deserted by the Inhabitants and again new-Peopled by Cabesa de Vacca An. 1542. It was afterwards again abandoned and finally in the year 1582 re-edified and planted with a new Colony Situate on the rising of a little hill in the 34 Degree and 45 Minutes of Southern Latitude and about 64 Leagues from the Mouth of the River fortified with a mud Wall and a little Castle with some pieces of Ordnance yet neither large nor much frequented containing but 200 Inhabitants 2 S. Fe or S Fidei 50 Leagues up the River from Buenos Ayres on the same side of the water neer the confluence of it with the River Estero of the same bigness as the other but somewhat richer the People here being given to clothing which Manufacture they exchange with the Brasilians for Sugar Rice other necessary Commodities 3 Neustra Sennora del Assumption but commonly Assumption only higher up the River from the mouth whereof 300 Leagues distant situate in the Latitude of 25. and almost in the midst betwixt Peru and Brasil well built and very well frequented as the chief of the whole Country
of more pleasant and goodly streams The names of some of them on both sides of the Wiapoco we have had before the chief of which I take to be Wia affirmed to be of a long course a goodly River all the way and at the mouth thereof to be large and broad which passing thorow the heart of the Country in the 4 Degree 40 minutes of Northern Latitude may possibly occasion both the whole and this part more specially to be called Wiana by the Dutch who cannot pronounce the double VV Guyana Certain I am that by the name of Wiana I have found it written in approved Authors But what need further search be made after lesser Rivers which will offer themselves to us of their own accord when we have a Lake to pass over like a Sea for bigness magnum famosum vastum instar maris as my Author hath it by the Yaos or Jaos called Raponowinin by the Caribes the old Inhabitants of this Country Parimen Situate about a dayes journey from the River Essequebo and neighboured by the great and famous City Manoa which the Spaniards call El Dorado or the Golden City from the abundance of Gold in coin plate armour and other furniture which was said to be in it The greatest City as some say not only of America but of all the world For Diego de Ordas one of the Companions of Cortez in his Mexican wars and by him condemned for a mutinie put into a Boat alone without any victual and so cast off to seek his fortune affirmed at his return that being taken by some of the Guianians and by them carried to their King then residing at Manoa he entred the City at high-noon travelled all the rest of that day and the next also untill night before he came to the Kings Palace but then he faith that he was led blindfold all the way And therefore possibly enough this City might be no such miracle as the story makes it Don Diego being either abused by the reports of the Savages or willing to abuse the world with such empty fictions For though the Spaniards and the English have severally sought and that with incredible diligence to find out this City yet none of them have hitherto had the fortune to fall upon it So that I fear it may be said in the Poets language Et quod non invenis usquam Esse putes nusquam i. e. That Which is nowhere to be found Think not to be above the ground Nor is there much more credit to be given unto his Relations of the great Court kept here by one of the Ingas who being forsook one of the younger Brethren of Atabaliba the last King of Peru at the conquest of that Kingdom with many thousands of his Followers came into this Country and subduing the Caribes erected here a second Peruvian Monarchy For besides that Atabaliba had no brethren but Guascar and Mango who both died in Peru how improbable must it needs appear that this Guianian King knowing so well the thirst of the Spaniards after Gold would either suffer him to return and disclose the secrets of his State or send him away loaded with Gold as t is said he did VVho sheweth his Treasure to a Thiefe doth deserve to lose it And therefore letting pass these dreams of an El Dorado let us descend to places of less Magnificence but of greater reality Amongst which I reckon 1 Caripo most memorable for a Colonie of English there planted by Capt. Robert Harcourt An. 1608. situate on the banks of the Wiacopo near the mouth thereof on the advantage of a Rock and that Rock so difficult of access that they feared no danger from an Enemy The Ayr so found and answerable to the constitution of an English body that of 30 which were left there for three years together there dyed but six and those six rather by misfortune and some cross accident then by any diseases 2 Gomeribo on the top of an hill near the mouth of the Bay of Wiacopo possessed a while by some Hollanders but soon deferâed 3 Moyemon a Village of the Paragoti on the banks of the River Marwinen 4 Crewinay on the other side of the same River possessed by the Caribes the King of the first for each Tribe had its several Princes being named Maperitaka affirmed to be a vertuous man and kind to strangers of the later Minapa 5 Tanparamunân about an hundred Leagues from the mouth of that River And 6 Moreshego four dayes journey from the other both possessed by the Caribes The King or Cacique of those last at Cap. Harcourts being there of which time we speak named Areminta affirmed to have a skin like a piece of Buff. The principal Families of this part besides the Yaos or Jagos and the Maraons spoken of before who possess almost all the Sea-coasts of this Country are said to be Arwaccae the Sapayoy the Mayos and the Aracouâi of different Languages and Customs though neer neighbours unto one another Originally inhabitants of the Iland of Trinidado and the River of Orenoque whence driven by the Spaniards they came into this Tract and beating the old Inhabitants whom they call by the common name or Cariber higher into the Country possessed themselves of the Sea shores and the parts adjoyningâ each Tribe or Family being governed by its several Chief as before was intimated The Netherâlanders for a time had some footing in it but they quickly left it endeavouring nothing more in the ââme of their short stay amongst them then to make the People dis-affected to the English of whose pretensions to these parts and designs to plant them they had good Intelligence And so much was confessed by some of the Natives when they had found by good experience and acquaintance how much the English were abused in those mis-reports Afterwards in the year 1604. Captain Charles Leigh set Sail from Woolwich on the Thames and in May fell upon the River of Wiapoco where he was kindly entertained gratified with an House and Garden and his Aide craved against the Caribes and their other Enemies He took possession of the Country in the name of King James and the Crown of England and caused the River of Wiapoco to be called by his own name Caroleigh but that name ended with his life and that shortly after he dying in his return on ship-board The design went forwards notwithstanding and in the year 1608 an English Colony is brought hither by Captain Harcourt a new possession taken in the name of King James the Colony planted at Carpo before mentioned the Country further searched into by that Noble Gentleman then ever formerly by any or by many since After three years the Colony wanting fit supply returned home again the Plantation never since pursued though by some projected Yet so far are these Savages beholding to the English Nation that as they did defend them at their being there against the Caribes so at their
Napaei 188 Lib. IV. Nigitimi 33 Novatae 33 Nectiberres 35 Nigritae 46 Nubae 46 Nabatrae 57 O OXili 110 Ossismi 167 Oretani 298 Ottadâi 272 Oâdovices 288 Lib. II. Osyli 161 Osoniates 185 Lib. III. Oâympem â19 Oâbitae 169 Oâcheni 113 Obares 113 Oâandae 193 Oxydracae 19â 2â7 Oxiani 19â Occacororae 200 Opunâi 235 Ozolae 235 Lib. IV. Ogdoni 16 Odianguli 4â P PEligni 59 Precutini 59 Piceni 57 Picentes 81 Picentini 57 Parisii 157 Pictones 175 Peââgorii 177 Pesici 219 Pictis 300 Lib. II. Phrundusii 126 Pniraei 1â6 Pâatunae 1â8 Pagiritae 161 Phinni 175 Pagarini 170 Phrungudiones 175 Paeones 1ââ Parii 195 Peârustae 168 Picentii 208 Peucini 211 Pelasgi 220 Lib. III. Proselimnitae 17 Phryges 17 Pisiâae 28 Pasagarrae 166 Paâsarae 168 Paâgyetae 169 Parambi 173 Parni 174 Pselli 191 Pialae 200 Piratae 217 Pezuari 217 Polindae 217 Phyllitae 217 Lib. IV. Prosditae 16 Poeni Perasori 49 Pyrrhaei 49 Psilli 49 Q Quadi l. 2. 75 93 R RUtuli 84 Rhaeti 131 Rhemi 157 Rhodones 167 Ruteni 184 Regni 272 Rhobegnii 312 Lib. II. Ramuraci 61 Rugusci 68 Rugii 98 Reudigni 102 Rutheni 161 Roxâlani 161. 185. l. 3. 188 Rossi 161 Rhatacensii 203 Rascâani 207 Lib. III. Raubeni 113 Ramnae 168 Rochitae 169 Rhabbanaei 200 Rapsy l. 4. 73 S SAmnites 57 Salentini 61 Sicano 68 Siculi 68 Sabini 82 Sadani 131 Salii 131. 187 Salassi 135 Senones 121. 157 Salures 163 Suessiones 159 Samnitae 170 Segusiani 173 Santones 178 Senitii 188 Sigestorii 188 Secusiani 192 Scyrani 194. 195 Sâuri 223 Segalauni 191 Silures 288 Selgovio 300 Lib. II. Sicambri 29. 81. l. 1. 198 Suentes 68 Sevates 74 Salii 81. l. 1. 198 Suardones 103 Saxons 107. 113. 123. l. 1. 265 Sigalones 123 Subalingii 123 Sueones 139 42 Suethidi 39. 42 Sitones 145 Suiones 145 Siculi 202 Sauromatae 161 Savari 170 Sondini 175 Scordisci 185 Sclavini 198 Sardiotae 198 Sartones 198 Strimonii 152 Sapaei 152 Saâi 152 Lip III. Soli 113 Sachalites 121 Sabaei 147 Soani 149 Suscani 161 Sazaei 165 Stabaei 165 Sagartii 160 Sazarae 166 Sieri 169 Salatarae 176 Scordae 176 Savari 176 Sinchi 188 Sythi 117 Samocolchi 193 Socanââ 193 Seci 193 Seres 199 Scimnitae 193 Sozyges 200 Semantini 210 Sadani 217 Soringi 217 Sabari 217 Lib. IV. Succusii 35 T TArentini 61 Tyrrheni 107 Tusci 107 Taurini 134 Tectosages 184 l. 2. 11. 197 Tolosates 184 Turones 167 Tricassini 191 Teucteri 198 Turdetani 209. 228 Turduli 228 Tuditani 242 Trinobantes 272 Talzalli 300 Lib. II. Tungri 17 Treveri 55 Tribochi 161 Taurisci 171. 177. 203 Turingi 102 Tricornesii 208 Teutones 128 Triballi 211 Tegeates 222 Talantii 241 Lib. III. Thynni 6 Themiscyry 8 Tibareni 10 Trogmi Tolibosti 11 Turcae 150. 191 Thyrsagetae 150. 191 Tapyri 160 Tombyzi 176 Thocari 176 Tauri 186. 188 Tauro-Scythae 188 Thyrambae 191 Tachozi 194 Taporaei 197 Thoani 200 Tacoraei 238 Tilaedae 238 Lib. IV. Taladusii 35 Thaloffii 35 Troglodites 59. l. 2. 210 U VEstini 59 Umbri 81 Volsci 84 Veneri 103. 165 Veii 10â Veragri 131 Valenses 131. 140. 141 Veromandui 159 Venelhocassi 163 Vaccaei 1â0 Velauni 184 Volcrae 185 Vencienses 187 Vasionenses 188 Valentini 191 Vocontii 191 Vascones 216. 221 Varduli 222 Veâtones 238 Vermines 300 Vacomagi 300 Voâentii 312 Veniculi 312 Velibori 312 Utarni 312 Vodii 312 Lib. II. Ubii 53 Vangiones 57 Veredonenses 62 Vindelici 67. 68. 69 Vingeli 70 Virthungi 85 Varini 96 Vandali 101 Venedi 175 Vardae 198 Lib. IV. Veli 35 Vacuatae 35 W WInithi l. 2. 96. 99. 192 Werciani l. 2. 185 Winnili l. 2. 186 X XIlinces l. 4. 57 Xanthi â3 Z ZOelae 219 Lib. III. Zaviaspae 176 Zigae 190. 191 Zychi or Zinchi 190 Zaratae 197 The End of the first Table A TABLE OF SOME PRINCIPAL THINGS herein contained not properly reducible to the other two A S Augustines tart reply to an Atheistical demand l. 1 f. 2. The Order of Friers by him founded 92. a. Augustane Confession why so called 1. 2. f. 67. by whom and where confirmed 67. 71. c. Aristotle the Praecursor of Christ in rebus naturalibus l. 1. f. 2. why he conceived the World to have been eternall ibid. Abilene the Tetrarchie of Lysanias where it was l. 3. f. 64. and 81. Why reckoned Luke 3. amongst the portions of Herods children lib. 3. 64. Abassines by whom converted 1. 4. f. 60. their Hetrodoxies and Opinions ibid. Ark of Noah where made l. 3. f. 132. in what place it rested after the Flood l. 1. in f. 7 8. and l. 3. 174. Assur the son of Sem where planted l. 1. f. 10. and l. 3. 131. The Assyrians descended of him why so easily conquered by all Invaders ibid f. 139. Arphaxad the father of the Chaldaeans l. 1. f. 10. first setled in the Region called Arrapachitis ib. and l. 3. 131. Aram the son of Sem the founder of the Syrians l. 1. 10. l. 3. 48. the large extent of that name in holy Scripture ibid. Almodad the sonne of Jockâam where most probably fixed l. 1. 12. Askenaz the son of Gomer first setled in Bithynia and Phrygia Minor l. 1. 15. and l. 3. 6. 18. Ananim the father of the Hamanientes an African People l. 1. 14. Antoeci what they are in Geographie l. 1. 25. Antipodes what they are l. 1. 25. The tenet touching them derided by some of the Antients ib. condemned of Heresie in the darker times of the Church ib. Amphiscii why so called and what they are in Geographie l. 1. 25. Armes why first used l. 1. 47. by whom first quartered 221. Why those of England give place in the same Esââcheon to the Armes of France 286. Anakim the name of a Gigantine race of men and why given unto them l. 3. 91. Annals what they are l. 1. 21. and how they differ from Histories ib. Augustus or an essay of the means and Counsels by which he reduced the Commonwealth of Rome to the state of a Monarchie l. 1. 44. Albigenses what they were and why so called l. 1. 193. The ãâã and substance of their story 192 193. 147. Anabaptists their furies and proceeding in the City of Munââer l. 2. 114. Their demands in the Insurrection of the ãâã 183. Adamites why so called and what l. 2. 89. and by whom destroyed ib. ãâã why made the God of the winds l. 1. 72. Aetna the violent burnings of it l. 1. 69. and the cause thereof 69 70. Aâtila the Hun why called Flagelum Dei l. 1. 184 l. 1. 186. his bloody end ibid. his Coat of Armes l. 2. 190. Amphictyones what they were and of their authority l. 2. 230. 233 234. Areopagites what they were and from whence so called l. 2. 231. Amethist a precious stone and the vertues of it l. 3. 41. Asia whence so called at first l. 3. 3. the severall notions of the word and in what sense used in holy Scripture 5. 21. the estate of Christianity in it 4. amongst whom divided ibid. Amazon why
he well knew they came from Gaul which is plainly East of it because Gaul in his time was a Province of the West parts of the Empire Having thus fortified our opinion both with Scripture and Reason the Arguments produced against us will be easily answered For though Armenia be granted to be the Countrie of Ararat yet the Mountains of Ararat may extend beyond the Countrie That mighty Ridge of Mountains which beginning in Asia the less run as far as India by the Antients commonly called Mount Taurus might very well be called by Moses the Mountains of Ararat because that was the first Countrie of the greater Asia by which they passed and where they were of greater note than they had been formerly Just as the Adriatick Sea took that name from Adria then the chief Port of it though it washed many Shores besides Or as some Hils with us are called Malvern Hils because they are highest neer that Village though they extend themselves into other Lordships And as for the Authoritie of Tradition and the Testimony of humane Writers which as before was said are brought in for an help touching some Relicks of the Ark to be seen on the Gordiaean Mountains I look upon it as an Argument of no weight at all For first Berosus followed herein by all the rest reports it onely on the ground of uncertain hear-say which is a weak staff for so heavy a cause to rely upon Secondly to balance the authoritie of Berosus if of any credit in this case we have the testimony and authoritie of Porcius Cato as antient almost as he affirming positively in Scythia Saga renatum esse mortale genus that Mankind was repaired in that part of Scythia which after was possessed by the Sacans And they we know dwelt in those parts of Scythia which lay next to Bactria a Province of the Persian Empire and not far from the branches of Mount Caucasus And Thirdly unto one Tradition to oppose another those of Mount Caucasus do aver that a large Vineyard in Margiana neer the foot of that Mountain was of Noah's Plantation Of which we shall speak more when we come to Tartarie It is now time I should go forwards with the Builders of Babel and their wide dispersions for whom it was high time to consort themselves with such as they could understand the necessity of discourse and conference on that fatall Accident making them lay aside their old acquaintances and joyn themselves to others of their own new Language I know that many learned men according to the number of names laid down in the tenth of Gen. being 70 have made so many Languages to have been spoken upon that Confusion And that of those 26 being the Posteritie of Sem dispersed themselves about Asia the greater 30 others of the loyns of Cham peopled Africk Arabia and Syria and that the 14 which remain being the issue of Japhet withdrew themselves towards Europe and the lesser Asia But this as to the number of Languages I take to be but a conceit though many more improbable have passed for currant It being plain that Canaan and his Sonnes eleven in all had but one Language amongst them which was the Hebrew or the Language of the land of Canaan And as for Ioctar and his Sonnes being 13 in number considering that he was the younger Brother of Phaleg in whose time this Confusion hapned it is most probable and avowed for a certain truth that either none of them were born or if they were yet they were all of them too young to have an hand in the design for the building of the Tower of Babel and consequently could not be within the curse of confounded Languages So here is neer a third part of the 70 to be taken off as possibly might all the Sons of Misraim be if it were worth the while to insist upon it This then I take but for a fancy And as for that of the dispersion into the said three parts of the then known World I take it to be true enough in long tract of time but false enough if understood of any present separation of the Sonnes of Noah into parts so far remote and distant from one another For what needed any such remote Plantations be as long as they had room enough to live one neer another and so enjoy that civill entercourse and mutuall society which the nature of Mankind doth most delight in And therefore I conceive it to be far more probable that they who met together for the building of Babel joyning themselves to men of the same Language with them did first set down upon the places neer the Valley of Shinaar and from thence propagated and dispersed themselves into further Countries as either the necessity of providing of Victuals or seeking better and more fruitfull habitations for themselves and theirs or the desire of being out of the reach of some potent Neighbours whose yoke they found too heavy for their necks to bear did enforce them to it And being so setled to their mindes the addition of a few more years brought the like necessitie of sending Colonies further off as they grew more or less populous in their generations It being in Plantations of Men as in that of Bees amongst whom one Swarm sends out another that begets a Castling till the whole ground or Garden grow too small to hold them For thus to seek no further for an instance of it the Gauls first planted Britain the Britans Ireland the Irish Scotland and the Isles Thus the Helvetians finding their old dwellings both too barren to sustein and too narrow to contain their multitudes angustos se fines habere arbitrantes as in Caesars Commentaries intended to plant themselves in Gaul And thus the Syrians and Phoenicians flying the dreadfull sword of Iosuah the son of Nun sought them out dwellings further off from the present danger whereof we shall speak more in its proper place On the like motives and inducements did the first people after the Flood distribute and disperse themselves into severall parts as their posterities have done since and will do to the end of the World in all probabilitie Giving their own names or some names of their own imposing upon the Countries planted or discovered by them And though the length and consuming nature of time hath either changed or worn out the names imposed by the first Adventurers I mean the first Planters after the Flood Yet all the Footsteps of Antiquitie are not so defaced but that some Nations and Cities have preserved the memory of their first Founders and true Parents In the discovery whereof as Iosephus in his Book of Iewish Antiquities did first lead the way and gave good light to those who have travelled in it So a more notable proficiency hath been made therein by Iunius in his Notes on the tenth of Genesis Sir Walter Ralegh in his excellent History and lately by Bochartus a French Writer in his Book called
Geographia Sacra Out of whose learned labours and some Animadversions of mine own I shall here say somewhat concerning the Plantation of the World by the Sons of Noah leaving the more exact and punctuall description of it unto the History of those severall Lands and Countries which were planted by them First therefore to begin with the posterity of Sem as those who fixed themselves in Asia without wandring further we finde Sem to have had five sons that is to say Elam Assur Arphaxad Lud and Aram of whom there is no issue on Record in holy Scripture but onely of Arphaxad and Aram And of these two there are but four sonnes given to Aram viz Uz Hul Gether and Mesech and but one to Arphaxad which was Selah To Selah was born Heber to Heber Phales the Ancester of Abrabam and Ioktan the father of those thirteen sonnes whose names we shall rehearse hereafter if occasion be From Elam who is first named did descend the Elamites a people bordering on the Medes and therefore oft-times joyned together in the Scriptures as Go up O Elam besiege O Media Es 21. v. 2. And all the Kings of Elam all the Kings of the Medes Ier. 25. v. 25. And in the second of the Acts Parthians and Medes and Elamites march in rank and file as being Nations bordering upon one another The principall City of this people was called Elymais mention whereof is made in the second of Maccab. cap. 6. v. 2. Sufficiently famous for the rich and magnificent Temple which was there consecrated to Diana A City seated on the banks of the River Eulaeus and neighbouring close to Susiana which therefore is sometimes included in the name of Elam as Dan. 8. ver 2. I was saith he ãâ¦ã not taken for the Province of the ãâ¦ã but as it gave denomination unto all these Nations whom they after mastered ãâ¦ã of Sem is Assur of whom there is no question made amongst the Learned but ãâ¦ã was the Father of the Assyrians called Assyres in some old Greek Writers Not of the whole ãâã of that great and unwieldy Empire who sometimes generally passe by the name of Assyâââ but of the people of Assyria strictly and properly so called as it denotes the Country ãâ¦ã the Regall City of that Empire which after was called Adiabene Iuxta hunc Circuicum Adiabene Assyria priscis temporibus vocata as in Ammianus Marcellinus lib. 33. Arphaxad comes next after Assur and him Iosephus makes to be the Father of the Chaldaeans called antiently Arphaxadaeâ if he tell us true But others tells us and that more probably perhaps that he planted in that part of Assyria which was first called Arphaxitis afterwards Arrapachitis by which name it occurreth in the Tables of Ptolomie Lud the fourth son is generally said to be the Father of the Lydians a people of Asia the lesse the names of Lud and Lydi or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Grecians call them being much alike And it is possible enough that some of the posterity of this Lud might afterwards settle in those parts and call the Country by the name of Lud their common Ancestor as the posteritie of Abraham took unto themselves the name of Hebrews from Heber one of the Progenitors of their father Abraham But that Lud should in person go so far from the rest of the sonnes of Sem I cannot easily imagine For Aram the fift and last as they stand in order of the Text sets himself down close by his Brethren in the Land of Syria which in the Hebrew is called Aram and from thence the name of Aramites was given to the Inhabitants of it Of which and of the severall Provinces which were hence denominated we shall hereafter speak more fully when we come to Syria Onely take now this testimony and acknowledgment from the pen of Strabo Quos nos Syros vocamus ipsi Syri Aramenios Arameos vocant Those saith he which we now call Syrians do call themselves Arameans or Aramentans In and about the same parts did the four Sons of Aram set themselves and their Families Uz in that part of Syria which is called Syria Damascena or Aram Dammesek the building of the great Citie of Damascus being generally ascribed unto him and the Land of Uz bordering South upon Damascus taking denomination from him The like did Hul or Chul the next son of Aram whom both Josephus and St. Hierome setle in Armenia or Aramenia as in Strabo And that not improbably considering that there is a Region in Armenia which Stephanus calls Cholobetene and divers Cities in that tract which still preserve the Radicals of Hul or Chul as Cholus Cholnata Cholimna Colsa and Colana whereof mention is made in the Tables of Ptolomie For Gether the third son of Aram it is not yet agreed on where to find his dwelling Josephus contrary to all reason placeth him in Bactria and Mercer with as little in Caria a Province of the lesser Asia and Acarnania of Greece Junius sets him down in the Province of Cassiotis and Seleucis neer his Father Aram where Ptolomie placeth Gindarus and the Nation called by Plinie Gindareni Bochartus on the banks of the River Centrites which divides Armenia from the Carduchi as it is in Xenophon Which River if it were called originally Getri as he conjectureth it might be the controversie were at an end But being that we find in Ptolomie a City of Albania which bordererh on Armenia called Getara and a River of the same Country called Getras I see no cause why we should seek further for the seat of Gether though the Greek Copies more subject to corruption in the times of ignorance than the Latin were insteed of Getara read Gagara But if this be too far to set him we shall find Mas or Mesch the last Son planted neerer hand even in the Northern part of Syria towards Mesopotamia neer the Hill called Masius at the foot whereof there is a people which Stephanus calls Masieni and thereabouts a River which in Xenophon is named Masca Both which do evidently declare from what root they come Come we next to the second branch of the house of Sem derived from Arphaxad whom we left setled in the Region of Arrapachitis in or neer Assyria Not far from which in Susiana a Province of the Persian Empire there is a Citie of chief note called Sela mention of which is made both in Ptolomies Tables and the 23 Book of Ammianus Marcell nus Adde unto this the autoritie of Eustathius Antiochenus who briefly thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The People of Susiana came from Sala But this as I conceive must be understood onely of that part of this people which lived in and about the Citie of Sela and not of the whole Nation of the Susians or Susiani which borrowed their nomination from another root To Sela was born Heber from whom the people of the Hebraei or Hebrews do derive their name And to him Phaleg his
first disswaded him from an attempt so foolish but seeing no perswasion could prevaile he condescended When he had seen the naked Queen and was ready to depart Candanles cryed to him Esto fidelis Gyges which words the Queen marking and seeing the back of Gyges as he left the chamber the next morning sent for him When holding a poynyard in her hand she gave him his choise either presently to be slaine or else to kill the King and take her to wife with the Kingdome for her Dower Of which two evils he made choice of that which he thought the best and so killed Candaules 5. Gyges the first of this new line added Ionia to his other dominions A Prince of so great wisdome for the times he lived in that all other Kings his neighbours sate as it were in the light to him and he as in the dark to them occasioning thereby the fiction of a Ring he had by which made invisible when and as often as he pleased 3305. 6. Ardis II. the Sonne of Gyges 37. 3342. 7. Sardiattes 15. 3357. 8. Haliactes II. of whom before 57. 3406. 9. Croesus the last King of Lydia subdued Doris and Aeolis after which victories he was overcome by Cyrus King of Persia in which battell a Sonne of Croesus who had been dumb from his cradle seeing a Souldier ready to kill his father suddenly broke out into these words Rex est cave ne occîdas After this overthrow and the captivity of Croesus one of the richest Kings that ever was of old Lydia was made a Persian Province A. M. 3420. The ãâã after this rebelled but being again subdued Cyrus bereaved them of all their horses of ãâã dispoyled them of all their armour and trained them up in all manner of loose and effeminate ãâã weakening by this means a powerful Nation which before that time had not onely maintained its own liberty but awed all the Provinces adjoining After this they continued Persian till the Conquest of ãâã by the Macedonians in the division of whose spoiles they fell to the portion of Seleueus and the Kings of Syria following the common fortune of the rest of this Asia till they came under the power of the Romans Made by them one of the Provinces of their Empire it had the Lower Mysia or Mysia Olympenâ annexed unto it by means whereof the limits of each became so confounded that the Towns and Cities of the one are many times ascribed to the other In the falling of the Eastern Empire it was made as all the rest of Anatolia a prey to the Turks that part of it which lieth next to Aeolis subject to the Carausian Family as the other part towards the Phrygia Major were to the Aidinian of which before 13. CARIA CARIA is bounded on the East with Lycia on the North with Lydia and Ionia on the West with the Icarian or Aegean Sea and on the South with the Carpatian So called from Cares the Sonne of Phoroneus King of Argos once the Lord hereof Who is said to have invented the Science of Divination by the flying of Birds called Augury though others ascribe it to the Phrygians In this Countrey is the Hill called Latmus the dwelling or rather retiring place of Endymion who being much addicted to the study of Astronomy found out the changes and courses of the Moon and is therefore by the Poets feigned to have been her Paramour Others adde that Jupiter hid him him in a cave under this Hill and cast him into a dead sleep which notwithstanding she descended sometimes to kiss him whence came the old By-word of Endymionis somnium dormit Here is also in this Countrey the River Salmacis said to inseeble all such as either drink of it or bath in it from whence the Poets raise their fiction of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus described by Ovid and the Proverb of Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore mentioned by Tully in his book of Offices and there used for effeminate and wanton exercises Places of most note in it 1. Miletus not far from the hill Latmus the birth-place of Thales one of the seven wife-men of Greece from hence called Milesius and the Mother of no fewer than 75. or as Pliny faith of 80. Colonies dispersed in severall places of Greece and Asia antiently honoured with the Oracle of Apollo surnamed Didymoeus whose Temple being burnt by Xerxes was again rebuilt by the âMilisians to so vast a greatness that it remained without roof compassed about with a Grove and dwelling houses and sumptuously ser out with costly workmanship This is that Mileties mentioned Acts XX. to which Saint Paul called together the Bishops of Ephesus and other the adjoining Cities ab Epheso reliquis proximis Civitatibus faith Saint Irenoeus the renowned Bishop of Lions Lib. 3. cap. 14. Antiently it was called Lelegis and Anactoria 2. Mindus which being but a small Town had so great Gates that Diogenes the Cynick cryed out and said Ye men of Mindus take heed that your City run not out at your Gates 3. Heraclea ad Latmum so called because situate at the foot of that Mountain to difference it from many others of that name 4. Borgylia or Borgylos as Plinie calleth it where antiently Diana had another Temple though not to be compared to that of Ephesus 5. Milisa in old times famous for two Temples sacred unto Jupiter the way to which for 60 furlongs was paved with stone for the easier travelling of Pilgrims and the better ordering of Procession the principall of the Citizens serving there as Priests which office they held unto their deaths 7. Primassus memorable for the Stratagem by which it was taken by Philip of Macedon the Father of Perseus Who meaning to force it by Maine and finding the earth so stony that it would not work commanded the Pyoneers notwithstanding to make a noise under the ground and caused great mounts of rubbish to be raised secretly in the night at the mouth of the Mine as if the work went very well forwards At last he sent word unto the Towns-men that two parts of their wall stood only upon wooden props to which if he gave fire they should find no mercy which heard the Citizens yielded up the Town unto him So usefull in the Art of warre is a piece of wit that it prevailes sometimes more than Mines or Batteries In the South-west of this Province thrusting it self into the Sea like a spacious Promontory stands the Countrey of DORIS so called of the Dores a Greek people who there inhabited The principal Cities whereof were 1. Cnidus not farre from a foreland or Promontory of the same name famous of old times for the marble Image of Venus called hence Dea Cnidia 2. Cressa a noted Haven-Town in the time Ptolomy 3. Halicarnassus now called Nesi the birth-place of Herodotus and Dtonysius named hence Halicarnasseus two famous Historians and the seat-Royall of Artemisia Queen of the Carians called from hence sometimes the
Queen of Harlicarnassus who in the honour of her husband Mausolus built a stately monument accounted one of the worlds seven wonders of which thus Martiall speaking of the Roman Amphitheatre erected by Domitianâ Aere nec vacuo pendentia Mausolaea Laudibus immodicis Cares ad astra ferant That is to say Mausolus tomb filling the empty Aire Let not the Carians praise beyond compare That the Carians were so called from Cares the sonne of Phoroneus King of Argos hath been said before But Bochartus will rather have them so called from Car which in the Phoenician language signifieth a Sheep or a Ram with numerous flocks whereof they did once abound And this may seem more probable in regard that the Ionians next neighbours to Caria borrowing this word from the Phoenicians called sheep by the name of Cara ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã faith Hesrchius the old Gramarian But from whomsoever they had their name certain it is they were a very warlike people ãâã morun pugnaeque amans saith Pomponius Mela ut aliena etiam bella appeterent who when they had no warres at home would seek out for action A little before the time of Xerxes Mausolus reigned here whose wife Artemisia lately mentioned aided that King in his undertakings against Greece Afterwards in the time of Alexander the Great we meet with Ada Queen hereof who aided him against the Persians adopting him for her Sonne and Successour Subject after her decease to the Macedonians it followed the same fortune with the rest of these Provinces till the defeat of Antiochus neer Magnesia in the division of whose spoiles it was given to the Rhodians incorporated not long after to the State of Rome and made a Province of the Empire Wrested from the Eastern Emperours by the Turkes of the Selzuccian Family the greatest part hereof on the death of Aladine 2d was raised unto a petit Kingdome by the name of Mentesia so called from Mendos or Mindus the chief City of it the residue being laid to the Caraman Kingdome both long ago subdued by the Ottoman Family that of Mentesia by Mahome surnamed the Great who dispossessed Elias the last Prince thereof Anno 1451. LYCIA LYCIA is bounded on the East with Pamphylia on the West with Caria on the North with parts of Lydia and Phrygia Major on the Sauth with the Mediterrenean Sea Environed on three sides with the Mountain Taurus which part it from the Countries above mentioned by consequence naturally strong aud not very accessible the Sea for the space of twenty miles shutting up the fourth And here it is to be observed that besides this there was a litle Region of the same name not far from Troy not much observed by our Geographers either old or new but mentioned sometimes by the Peets as in Virgill Aeneid 4. Qualis ubi hybernan Lyciam Xanthique fluenta deserit c. which is meant plainly of the Phrygian or Trojan Lycia the word hyberna being added because of its Northern situation in respect of this The People hereof were sometimes called Xanthi from Xanthus the chief River hereof which rising in two springs from the foot of mount Cadmus passeth by a Town called Xanthus also and falleth into the Sea But generally they were called Lycii and the Councrey Lycia from Lycius the sonne of Pandion King of Athens who either conquered them or did some memorable Act amongst them which deserved that honour The principall Mountain of this Countrey and indeed of Asia is the Mountain Taurus which hath his beginning in this Province extending Eastward to the great Orientall Ocean of which somewhat hath been said already and more is to be said hereafter when these hils are grown unto the greatest One of the branches of it and the most notable in this Countrey is that called Chimoera vomiting flames of fire like Cicilian Aetna the bottom whereof was infested with Serpents the midle parts grazed upon by Goats and the higher parts made dangerous by the dens of Lions Hence by the Poets made a Monster having the head of a Lion the body of a Goat and the taile of a Serpent according unto that of Ovid in his Metamorphosis Quoque Chimaera iugo mediis in partibns Hyrcum Pectus ora Leo caudam Serpentis habebat In English thus Chimaera from a Goat her mid-parts takes From Lions head and breast her tail from Snakes This dangerous Mountain was first planted and made habitable by the care of Bellerophou a noble Grecian who is therefore fabled by the Poets to have killed this Monster employed upon this business by Jobares the King of Lycia to whom he had been sent by Proetus King of Argos who was jealous of him and sent with letters to require that King to kill him Whence came the saying Bellerophontis liter as portare applied to those who were unawares imployed do carry letters tending to their own destruction such as those carried by Vriah to Joab the Generall by command of David This Countrey was so populous that antiently there were reckoned threescore Cities in it of which six and thirty remained in the time of Saint Paul now nothing left of them but the names and ruins Those of chief note were 1. Myra the Metropolis of Lycia when a Roman Province by consequence an Arch-Bishops See when Christian St. Nicholas one of the Bishops hereof in the primitive times is said to have been a great Patron of Scholars his festivall annually holden on the sixt of December is celebrated in the Church of Rome with several pastimes and still in some Schools here in England as in that of Burford in the County of Oxon where I had my breeding and my birth for a feast and a play-day Of this City there is mention Acts 27. v. 5. 2. Telmesus the Inhabitants whereof were famous for South-saying and accounted the first Interpreters of Dreams 3. Patara or Patras formerly called Sataros beautified with a fair Haven and many Temples one of them dedicated to Apollo with an Oracle in it for wealth and credit equall unto that of Delphos 4. Phaselis on the Sea-side also a nest of Pirates in the times of the Reman greatness by whom then haunted and enriched as Algiers is now but taken by Servilius a Roman Captain at such time as Powpey scowred the Seas And unto the Pirates of this Town the former Ages were indebted for the first invention of those swift Vessels which the Romans called a Phaselus by the name of the Town we may render it a Brigantine 5. Cragus with a Mountain of the same name thrusting out eight points or Promontories neer to the Chimoera 6. Rhodia or Rhodiopolis as Plinie calleth it most probably the foundation of the neighbouring Rhodians 7. Solyma on the borders hereof towards Pisidia the people of which were conquered and added unto Lycia by the sword of Bellerophon whom Jobares with a minde to kill him according to the request of Poetus imployed in that service 8. Corydalla neer