is greatly subiect to earthquakes and to hayles and therefore these poore people being ignorāt of natural things yea much more of heauēly things are greatly afrayd although that these things are common they think that these things procede from their Gods for that they haue offended them Notwithstanding earthquakes commeth not but of windes that are shut in in certayn crasses of the earth the which by greate power causeth it to shake as in lyke manner it causeth many times great trées to shake yea and bloweth them vp by the rootes of the which Aristotle doth shewe As touching hayle it is not to be maruell though it be rife bicause of the vntemperatnesse and vnconstancie of the ayre being very colde in this Region bicause of the distāce of the Sunne the which commeth no néerer than when it commeth to our Tropicke And therefore the water that falleth from the Firmamēt is alwayes frosen bicause that the aire is alwayes colde and therefore it is alwayes haile or snow Now these Canadians when that they féele such incommodities for the affliction that they receiue they kepe thēselues in their houses with certaine domestical beasts that they nourish And there they make their mone to their Idols whose forme and lykenesse is not much vnlike to the fabulouse picture of Melusin of Lusignam being halfe a Serpent and halfe a Woman for the heade of their Idoll with hir haire representeth according to their brutish maner a woman And the rest of their body is lyke to a Serpent The which may cause Poets to fayne that Melusin was their Goddesse The earthquakes be dangerous although the case be euident Séeing that we are come to speake of earthquakes we will shewe thereof one word according to the opinion of naturall Philosophers with the inconueniences that folowe Thales Milesius one of the seuen wise men of Grecia sayde that water was the beginning of al things and that the earth floting in y e middest of this water was in a continuall quaking sometymes more and sometymes lesse Of this same opinion was Democrites and fayde furthermore that the water vnder the earth being burst out by rayne coulde not bicause of his excesse quantitie be contayned in the vaynes and compasse of the earth but caused these earthquakes and of this procedeth the Springs and Fountaynes that we haue Anaxagoras sayd it was fier the which coueting as it is his nature to rise hye and to ioyne with the fier Elementarie causeth not onely this quaking but certayne openings goulfes and such lyke in the earth as we may sée in certa yne places and confirmed his opinion in that the earth burneth in certayne places Anaximines doeth affirme the earth it selfe to be the cause of this quaking the whiche being opened bicause of the excessiue heate of the Sunne the ayre entereth in greate quantitie and with vyolence the whiche after that the earth is closed agayne hath no issue And by this meanes the belly of the earth beginneth to moue this causeth the earthquake The which semeth more to agrée with reason and trueth than the others according as we haue folowing Aristotle also that the winde is no other thing than an ayre that riseth rangingly But leauing these opinions of naturall causes and of earthquakes the which may come by other reasons only by the permission of the most highest vnknowen to vs. The inconueniens and mishaps that come thereby is ouerwhelming of Towns and Cities as happened in Asia of seuen Cities in the time of Tiberius Caesar and of the Metropolitane Citie of Bithinie during the raigne of Cōstantinus Many also haue ben swallowed vp by the earth and others drowned with waters as was Elicea and Aura at the ports of Corinth And for to be short this earthquake commeth sometimes with such vehemence that beside the inconueniences afore shewed it maketh Ilandes of mayne land as it hath done Sicily with certayne places in Siria and others it ioyneth sometymes Ilandes to mayne land as Plinie saith to be happened of those of Doromscia Parua in millites In Africa many playnes and valleys are at this day turned to lakes and riuers Also Seneca sheweth that a flocke aboue fiue hundreth Shepe and other beastes and foules were on a tyme swallowed vp and lost by an earthquake And for this reason the moste parte kepe them by the Riuers sides for to eschewe this earthquake being taught by experience and not by reason that marish grounde and wet places are not so subiect to earthquakes as the mayne and the hyelande and therefore this reason is very easy to those that vnderstād the occasion of the earthquakes before alleged And for this cause the riche and renomed temple of Diana in Ephesus the which continued more than two hundreth yeares being so strongly edified that it meriteth to be in the number of one of the spectacles of the world was set on piles of woode in a marishe place for bicause that it should not be subiect to Earthquakes vntil such time as one Heluidius or as some terme him Eratosthenes being foolishly minded for bicause that he would be knowne and that his memorial might be shewed did set it on fire and consumed it to ashes Also for this cause the Romains had edified a Temple to Hercules by the riuer of Tyber and there they did pray and offer sacrifices Nowe this earthquake is so vehement and contagious in Canada that within .v. or .vj. leagues of their houses within the Countrey there shall be found more than two thousand trées ouerthrowne to the earth as well on hils as on valeys rockes ouerthrowne one vpon an other the ground to sinke and to be swalowed vp and all this hapneth not but of mouing and stirring of the earth The like may happen to other Countreys that are subiecte to earthquakes Thus much thought I good to speake of earthquakes without straying farre from our matter Of the Countrey called New found land Cap. 82. AFter that we were departed from the heigth of the gulfe of Canada it behoued vs to passe further kéeping our course right North leauing the lande of Labrador and the Ilands called the Ilands of Deuils and the Cape of Marco distant from the line .56 degrées we coasted on the left hand the Countrey that is named Newe founde lande the which is very colde and therfore those that did first finde it out made there no long abiding nor those neither that goe thither oftentimes for fishe This new found land is a region that is one of the farthest partes of Canada and in the same land there is found a riuer the which bicause of his bredth and length séemeth to be almost a Sea and it is named the riuer of the thrée brethren being distant from the Ilands of Essores foure hundreth leagues and from Fraunce nine hundreth it separateth the Prouince of Canada from this New found land Some iudge it to be a narow Sea
aire and so letteth it fall and breaketh it for to get the fishe out this Egle maketh hir nest in great hie trées by the sea side Also in this Countrey there is many faire riuers and a multitude of good fishe This people prepareth for nothing but that which is néedefull to sustaine nature so that they are not curious in meates for they goe not to séeke any thing in farre Countreys and yet their nourishment is healthsome and therefore they know not what sicknesse meanes but they liue in peace and in continuall health so that they haue no occasion to conceiue enuie one against an other bicause of their goods and patrimonie for they are in a maner all equall in goodes and riches being in one mutuall contentation and equalnesse in pouerty Also they haue no place ordained for to minister iustice for bicause that among them they do nothing worthy of reprehension They haue no lawes no more than the worthy Americanes other people but only the law of nature The people that dwell toward the sea as I haue shewed liue with fish and others that are farre from the sea are content with fruits of the earth that commeth forth the most part without labour of mannes hands and after this sorte liued the people in the first age as Plinie witnesseth also we sée in our dayes how the earth bringeth forth fruit without labor Virgill sheweth that the Forest Dodana began to die bicause of his age or else for bicause that it could not satisfie the multitude of people that then did multiply and therefore they began to labor and till the earth for to receiue the fruits therof for the sustainmēt of their liues so that they began husbādry Moreouer these people make not warre vnlesse that their enimies come to séeke them then they put them al to defence like to the Canadians their instruments that giue men corage to fight are beastes skinnes spread in maner of a circle which serueth them in steade of drummes with fluites of bones of Déere like to the Canadians if that they perceiue their enimies a farre of they will prepare to fight with their armors and weapōs which are bowes and arrowes And before y t they enter into battell their principall guide the which they honour as a King shal goe the first being armed with faire skins and fethers sitting on the shoulders of two mighty men to the ende that euery one should sée him and know him also to be ready to obey him what so euer he shall commaund And when they obtaine victory he shall lacke no honor so they returne ioyfull to their houses with their banners displayed which are braunches of trées garnished with fethers of swannes wauering in the aire and bearing the skin of the face of their enimies spred in litle circles in token of victorie Of the Ilands of Essores Cap. 83. THere resteth now nothing of all our voyage but to speake of certain Ilands that they call Essores which we coasted on the right hand not without great dāger of shipwracke For .iij. or .iiij. degrées beyond and on this side there bloweth alwayes a winde so cold contagious that for this respect it is feared of the Pilots Nauigants as the most dangerous place that is in the voyage be it to goe either to the Indies or to America by this ye may know y t the Sea in those parts are neuer calme but alwayes rough growne as we sée many times the winde to blow vp the dust into the aire the which we cal a tempest or fowle weather which is as well vpon y e land as on the sea for in the one and the other it riseth like a poynt of fire that raiseth the water of a heigthe when it plaweth or boileth as I haue many times sene And therfore it séemeth that the wind hath a mouing vpward like a whirle wind of which I haue spoken in an other place For this cause these Ilands wer so named bicause of the great Essor that causeth this winde in the said Ilands for Essores is as much to say to dry or to wipe cleane These Ilands are distant from Fraunce about .x. degrées and a halfe and they are .ix. in nūber of which the best of them are inhabited with Christians Portingalles whether as they did send many slaues for to laboure the ground the which by their great paine and diligence they haue made fruitfull with all good fruits necessary for mannes sustenaunce chiefly with wheat the which groweth there so plentifully that therewith all the land of Portingall is furnished The which they transport in their ships with many good fruits as well naturally of the Countrey as other where but there is one amongst others named Hyrcy the plant wherof was brought from the Indies for there was none thereof found before euen as in the Canaries Likewise in our Europe before they began to labor the earth to plant and to sowe diuers kinds of fruits men were contented onely with that the earth brought forthe of his nature hauing then to drinke nothing but cléere water and for their clothing the barks and leaues of trées with certaine skins of beastes as we haue already shewed In the which we may cléerely sée a wonderful prouidence of our God the which hath placed in the sea great quantitie of Ilands bothe little and great which doeth abide and sustaine the brunt of the waues of the sea that goeth not beyonde their compasse or limits neither hurteth the inhabitaunts for the Lord as the Prophet sayth hath appoynted his limits the which he doeth not ouerpasse Of these Ilands some are inhabited that before were desert and many are forsaken that in times past were inhabited and peopled as we sée hath hapned to many Cities and Townes of the Empire of Greece Trapezande and Egipt such is the ordinance of God that things héere in earth shall not be perdurable but subiect to chaunging The which being considered of our Cosmographers in our dayes they haue added to the Tables of Ptolomeus newe matters of our time for since y e time and knowledge that he hath written there hath happened many newe things Now these Ilands of Essores were desert before that the Portingalls knew them Neuerthelesse they were full of woods of all sorts among the which is founde a kynd of Ceder named in their speach Orcantine with the which they make fyne karued works as tables cofers and many vessels for the Sea This wood hath a very good smel and wil not rot neither be worme eaten be it dry or wette as other wood wil. Of the which also Plinie speaketh that in his time was found at Rome in an old Sepulcher certaine bookes of Philosophy betwene two stones within a lyttle chest made of Ceader wood the which had ben vnder the grounde aboue fyue hundreth yeares Furthermore I remember that I haue read in times
the Antiquities of India al that is comprehended on the one side from the North sea or Meditareum euen to the West Meridionall neuerthelesse seperated in twayne olde and newe the new beginneth at the hilles of the Moone hauing his head at the Cape of good hope in the South sea .35 degrées aboue the lyne so that it contayneth of latitude .25 degrées As touching the olde it is diuided in foure prouinces the first is Barbaria contayning Mauritania Cyrenia and Cesariensia there the people be very blacke In tymes past this countrey was little inhabited but nowe much more also the diuerse kindes of people remayning in this countrey with the diuersitie of maners and of their Religion the knowledge of which wold haue made both a long voyage and also a large volume Ptolomeus hath made no mention of the exterior parte towarde the South for bicause that it was not founde out nor discouered in his tyme. Many haue discribed it more at large as Plinie Mela Strabo Apian and others and therefore I wil not stand therein This Religion as Herodian writeth is frutefull and well peopled with people of diuerse sortes and maners of liuing Also the Phenicians in times past came to dwell in Africa as it is sene by that which is writen in the Phenician tong in certaine pyllers of stone that as yet are to be sene in the towne of Tynge called at this day Thamar belonging to the King of Portugal As touching their maners euen so as is the temperatnesse of the ayre according to the diuersitie of places also the people themselues doe cause varietie of temperance and by folowing of maners for the Simpathie that the soule hath with the body as Galian sheweth in the booke that he hath writē Likewise we sée in Europia in diuers Kingdomes the varietie of maners and customes the Africans in general are crafty as the Syrines couetous the Sicilians willy and the Asians voluptuous There is also difference in Religions some worship after an other maner some are Mahometistes other some are Christians after a very strange maner contrary to vs. And as for brute beastes there are diuers kindes Aristotle saith that the beastes in Asia are very cruell and in Africa monstrous For the scarcetie of water many beastes of diuers kindes are constrayned to assemble where as there is any water to be had there oftentimes they couple together and therby engendereth the diuersitie of strange and monstrous beastes the which causeth this argument and prouerbe that Africa alwayes bringeth forth some new thing This prouerbe is commō among the Romaines for that they made thether many vayages hauing the Dominion of it of a long tyme as Scipio Africanus sayth they alwaies brought from thence some strange thing which séemed to engender a rebuke or shame to their citie and common weale The fourth Chapter treateth of Africa particularly NOwe as concerning that parte of Africa the which we haue coasted towards the West as Mauritania and Barbaria so named bicause of the diuersitie and strange maner of the inhabitantes it is inhabited with Turkes Moores and others borne in the countrey true it is that in some places it is vnhabited and as desert as wel for the extreme heate that maketh them to goe naked sauing onely their priuie partes as also for the sterilitie and barennesse of some places being full of Spiders and for the quantitie of wild beastes as Lyons Tigers Dragons Leopards Panthers and others vnknowen the which causeth and constrayneth the people of that countrey to go in bandes and companies to their affaires and trades garnished with bowes and arowes with other weapons for their defense But if by aduenture they be sodainly beset with these wild beasts being but a smal cōpanie whē that they go a fishing or otherwise they flée to the sea casting thēselues in so saue thēselues by swimming in the which they are wel exercised accustomed The others being not so swift in running or not hauing the knowledge to swym clyme vp into trées and by this meane they euitate or eschew the danger of those beastes Ye must also note that the people of y e countrey dye more by the rauishment of wilde beasts than by natural death and this is from Gibaltar to the Capuerd They kepe the cursed and damnable lawe of Mahomet yea more superstitiously than the naturall Turkes Before they make their prayer in their temples they washe wholy their bodies thinking thereby they purge their soule as well as the body by this outwarde washing and ceremonie with a corruptible element and their prayer is made foure times a day as I haue sene the Turkes do at Constantinople In times past when that the Pagans had firste receiued this damnable Religion they were constrayned once in their time to make a voyage to Mecha where as their gentill Prophete is buryed otherwise they had no hope of the rewards or benefits that to them wer promised the which things the Turkes obserue at this day and they assemble for to accomplishe this voyage with all kinde of munitions and attilery as though they would goe a warfar for feare of the inuasions of the Arabians that kepe the mountaines in certaine places What assemblies I haue sene being in Cairea with the magnificence and triumphes that there is made And yet this is more curiously and straitly obserued amōg the Moores of Africa and other Mahometists so blinded and obstinate are they the which hath giuen me occasion to speake in this place of the Turkes and of their voyage afore they take in hand the warre or any thing else of waight or importance And when that principally the meane is taken from them to make this voyage they sacrifice some wild or tame beast as they chaunce to méete which they call as well in their language as in Arabike Corban which is as much to say as present or offering the which abuse is not vsed amōg the Turkes of Leuant neither in Constantinople They haue certaine Priests that are the greatest deceiuers of y e world they make the common sort beleue vnderstande that they know the secrets of God and of their Prophete that speaketh many times to them Furthermore they vse a strange maner of writing and do attribute the first vse of writing before all other nations To the which the Egyptians wil neuer accord to whom the most part of those that haue treated of Antiquities giue the first inuention of writing with the representing by certaine figures the cogitations and thoughtes of the minde And to this purpose writeth Tacitus in this maner the Egyptians wer the first that represented and manifested the conception of the minde by figures of beastes grauing vpon stones for the memorial of mē the things that happened and were done in times past Likewise they say that they are the first inuenters of letters And this inuention as it is founde by writing was brought into
Grecia by the Phenicians that then ruled on the sea being reputed to their great glory as the first finders out of that which they had learned of the Egyptians The men in this parte on the coaste of Europe vse to noynte their ioyntes with Oyle of the which they haue greate plenty before they take in hand any greate exercise for al softe and pliable things are not easy to breake they principallie make warre with the Spanyardes on their borders partly for religion partly for other causes It is true that the Portingals of late time haue ouercome certaine places in Barbaria and edified townes and Castels and planted our Religion specially one faire towne named the holy Crosse for that they ariued stayed there the same day it is at the foote of a faire mountayn But within this twoo yeres the wicked people of the countrey being assembled together haue throwne downe from the sayde mountayne so many greate stones that they had pulled out thereof that in the ende the poore Portingals were constrayned to forsake the place there is alwayes such enimitie or hatred among them that they trade and trafficke together their Suger Oyle Ryce Lether and other marchandise by leauing of pledges and hostages They haue quātitie of good fruts as Oranges Lemōds Citrons Pomegarneds the which they eat for wante of better meate and Ryce in stede of Wheate also they drinke Oyles as we do Wine They liue many yeares more to my iudgement bicause of the sobrietie they vse than otherwise Of the fortunate Ilandes novv called the Canaries Cap. 5. LEauing Barbaria on the left hande hauing alwayes the winde fauorable we knew by our compasse how néere we were to the fortunate Ilandes lying on the borders of Mauritania toward the west being so named by our elders bicause of the good tēperatnesse of the aire frutfulnesse of the same Nowe the first day of September in the foresayde yeare about sixe of the clocke in the morning we had sight of one of these Ilands bicause of the hyght of a great Hill of the which we wil speke more largely and particularly hereafter These Ilandes as some do affirme are .x. in number of which there are thrée that the Authors make no mention of for that they are vnhabited the other seuen which are named Tenerif the Ile of yron Gomeria and the great Iland properly called Canaria are distant from the Equinoctial .27 degrées the other thrée Forteuenturia Palma and Lencelota are .28 degrées so that by this ye may sée that from the first to the last is a degrée the which is .17 Leagues and a halfe reckening from the North to the South according to the opinion of Pillotes But without further talke he that wold finde out by the degrées of the firmament the quantitie of leagues and stades that the earth doth contayne and what proportion there is from league to degrée the which ought to be obserued of him that will write of coūtreys as a true Cosmographer let him reade Ptolomeus the which treateth therof at large in his Cosmography Among these Ilands there is none of them but the greatest that is named Canaria bicause of the multitude of greate Dogs that there are nourished as Plinie sheweth and many others after him that say as yet that Iuba bare away twayne But nowe they are all named the Canaries without any distinction for this onely reason before shewed But in my opinion I thinke they were named Canaries for the abundance of Canes and wild Réedes that growe on the sea brink as for the Canes or Réedes y t beare Suger the Spaniards haue planted a great many since the tyme that they haue there inhabited but ther did inhabite brutish Barbarous men before that there were any Dogs the which standeth by good reason for I knowe well by experience that in all the countreis and Indies y t haue ben discouered and founde out of late dayes they had neuer knowledge of dog or catte as hereafter shal be shewed Yet I knowe well that the Portingals haue brought thether some and kept them for to hunte after wild beastes Plinie therefore speaketh in this maner the first is called Ombrion whereas there is no signe of house nor building In the mountaines there is a fountaine trées like vnto that which is named Ferula both blacke and white out of the which may be wrong or writhen water Of the blacke ones the water is very bitter to the contrary the white ones the water is pleasant to drinke The other is called Iunonia whereas there is but one onely house builded of stone ther is sene another that is next to this but lesse of the sayd name another that is full of greate Lizardes Right ouer against these before shewed there is another named the Iland of Snowe for that it is alwayes couered with snowe The next to that is Canaria so called bicause of the multitud of great dogs y t it engendreth as we haue before shewed wherof Iuba King of Mauritania had two in the saide Ile ther are some apperāce of old buildings This coūtrey in times past hath ben inhabited with wild Barbarous people not knowing God but altogether Idolaters worshipping y e Sūne y e Moone certaine other planets as soueraigne deities of the which they thought they receiued al their benefits but in lesse thā .58 yeres y e Spaniards haue subdued and ouercome them and slayne part of them and the rest they hold and kepe as slaues and captiues and they inhabiting there haue established or set vp the Christian fayth so that at this present ther is none of the ancient dwellers left onely a fewe excepted that are hid in the mountaynes as in the mountayne of Pych of the which we will speake hereafter folowing True it is that that place is the refuge of all the banished of Spaine the which for punishement are sent thither into exile so that there is an infinite number also of slaues the which serue as well to labor the grounde as to do other labors I do much maruel how the inhabitantes of these Ilands and of Afrike for that they are néere neighbors haue so differed in language in colour Religion and in maners Also that many vnder the Romaine Empire haue conquered and subdued the greatest parte of Africa and neuer touched these Ilands as they haue done in the sea Meditareum knowing also that they are very fruitfull seruing as a victualer to y e Spaniards euē as Cicilie serueth to the Romaines and Geneuois This countrey of it selfe is good being so well tilled it bringeth greate profit and the most in Sugers For within these fewe yeares they haue planted many Canes that bring forth greate quantitie of Sugers maruelous good not only in these Ilands but in other places that they hold there Neuerthelesse it is not so good in any part as in
dayes nor houres neither monthes nor yeares but they count only by Moones This maner of counting or reckening was in times past commaunded to be vsed by Solon to the Athenians that is to obserue the dayes by the course of the Moone Nowe to our purpose if that of this prisoner and of the wife that is giuen him there are borne any children for the time that they shalbe togither they shall be kept and nourished for a time and than they will eate them saying that they are their enimies children This prisonner after that he hath bene well entertained and made fat they will put him to death thinking it to be a great honoure And for to celebrate this slaughter they wil send for their farthest friends and kinsfolks for to eate their parte thereof the day before the execution he shall be laide in his bed and chained with Iron the which vse they haue learned of the Christians singing after this sorte The Margageas our friendes are good men strong and mightie in the vvarre they haue taken and eatē a good number of our enimies likewise they vvill eate me vvhen it please them But as for me I haue killed and eaten his parentes and friends to vvhome I am prisoner with many suche like woords By this ye may know that they feare not death I haue sometimes for pleasure deuised with suche prisoners being faire and strong men demaunding of them if they did no more care to be thus slaine and murthered from day to day to the which they answeared laughing and scoffing Our friends sayd they will reuenge our death shewing a hardie and an assured countenaunce And when that I did shewe them that I would redéeme them out of the handes of their enimies they tooke it in mockage and derision As touching the women and maids that are taken in the warre they are kept like prisoners as the men are for a certaine time then vsed after that maner They are not kept so muche in captiuitie as the men are but they haue libertie to goe about and they are set to dresse Gardens and to fishe and gather certaine shell fishe Now when that they are retourned from this slaughter or murther the owner of the prisoner as we haue already shewed will request all his friendes to come to him against that day to eate their parte of their bootye with good quantitie of Cahouin which is a kinde of drinke made of Mill with certaine rootes Vpon this day of solempnitie all the assistantes will decke them selues with fethers of diuers coloures or else they will painte their bodies Specially he that doeth the execution shall be decked after the best maner that is possible hauing his sweard of wood wherewith he doeth his office richly adorned with faire Fethers but the prisoner the shorter time that he hath to liue the more greater signe of ioy doeth he shewe He shall be brought surely bounde wyth cordes of Cotton into a publike place being accompanied with ten or twelue thousande of the wilde men his enimies and there he shall be smitten downe like an Oxe in the Shambles after many Ceremonies This prisoner being deade his wife that hath bene giuen him shall mourne a certain time for his deathe but the body being cut in pieces they take the bloud and therewith bathe their male children for to make them the more hardye as they say shewing them that when they come to age they doe the like to their enimies as their fathers before them had done By this ye may knowe that the like is done to them if they be taken in the warre The prisoner being put to death after this sort and hewed in pieces and prepared according to their maner shall be distributed among them all be they neuer so many euery one a morsell or piece as for the bowels or inner partes the women eate them vp commonly and they reserue the head to set it on a poll out of their houses in signe of triumph and victorie And aboue all other they haue a pleasure to vse the Portingals after this sorte The Canibals and those of a riuer named Marignan are much more cruel to the Spanyardes making them to die a cruell death and then they eate them We finde not in no Historie of any nation be it neuer so straunge and barbarous that hathe vsed the like crueltie as these haue done but onely Iosephus wryteth that when the Romaines had besieged Ierusalem vnder Titus Vespasians sonne after that the famine or hunger had deuoured all the mothers were constrained to eate their owne children And the Anthropophages that are a people inhabiting in Scythia liued also with humain flesh as these wilde men do Now he that hath made y e execution straightly after that he hath done goeth home to his house and there remaineth all the day without meate or drinke in his bed Likewise he shall abstaine certaine dayes and in thrée dayes after he shal not set foote on groūd If he be minded to goe to any place he is borne on mennes shoulders hauing among them this fonde and foolish opinion that if he should not so doe there would happen vnto him some mischiefe or else the like death This being done with a little sawe made of the téethe of a beast named Agontin he will race his skin on his brest or on other places so that it shall appear all rent and broken And the cause why they doe these things is as I haue bene enformed of some of them that they doe it for pleasure estéeming the murther that by him hath bene committed against his enimie a great glory and honoure to him warde Vnto whome minding to shewe the crueltie of the thing disdaining my woords sayd vnto me that it was a great shame to vs for to forgiue and pardon our enimies hauing once taken them in the warres Moreouer he sayd that it is muche better to put them to death to the ende that they moue not warre against vs an other time By this ye may sée with what discretion these poore brutishe men doe rule and gouerne themselues Also the maidens doe vse suche Ceremonies with their bodies the space of thrée dayes continually after that they haue had the first purification of women so that sometimes they are very sicke Also the same dayes they do abstaine from meates not comming out of their houses nor setting foote on ground as we haue before shewed of the men sitting only vpon a stone appoynted for that vse Hovv that these vvilde men couet greatly to reuenge their harmes and iniuries Cap. 41. IT is not greatly to be maruelled at if that these people walking in darknesse and ignorant of the truthe prepareth not only vengeaunce but putteth it in vre Considering that the Christian although it be straightly forbidden him by expresse commaundement cannot kepe himselfe from it folowing the error of one named Melicius who helde opinion that we ought not to pardon our enimies the
all yours in health and eternall felicitie Amen Your Lordships moste humble Thomas Hacket ¶ An Admonition to the Reader I Doubt not gentle Reader but that the description of this present historie wil make thée to wonder as well bicause of the varietie of things that herein then mayst Reade as also of many others whiche at the firste wil seme vnto thée rather monstrous than naturall But after that thou hast soberly wayed considered the great effects of our mother dame nature I doe surely beleue y t such admiratiōs shal haue no more place in thée Also let it not seme to thée strāge the setting forth of many strāge trées as Palme trées and others with beasts of the fielde and foules of the Ayre the which are cleane contrarie to the setting forth of our Cosmographers and Anciente writers who for bicause that they haue not sene the places and for the smal experience and knowledge that they had did greatly erre But if thou herein stande in doubt then those that haue trauelled thether and those Indians that were brought frō thence can affirme al things herein contayned to be true Furthermore if that there be here in this booke any wordes that seme to thée rude or il placed thou shalt therefore accuse the feuer and death y e feuer which hath so kept or cleaned to the Author since his returne home that he had no leasure to peruse his boke before that it came to the Printer being prouoked to deliuer it at the commaundement of the Cardinall of Sens and death which happened to Ambrose de la porte a good student and well sene in the Frenche tong who had taken vpō him the whole charge of this present boke Notwithstanding gentle Readers our good will herein hath not bene wanting onely wishing for recompence that it may be agreable to thée Farewell In prayse of the Author THe farthest scope of heauen and earth also The subtile stremes inclosed in the grounde The mighty Mines of Metals that doe gro In lurking vaynes that hidden are profounde The Cristall pearle the Diamond so fayre The floting fish of diuers kindes of hew Of diuers soiles to which thou mayst repayre Of other landes that yet to vs be new Hath Theuet here through trauell his and payne Educted forth to satisfie thy minde Who well deserues thy thankefull speech to gayne As single eye of iudgement thyne shall finde Therefore as craues this his deserued stile So of his worke let iudgement thyne procede Who of good will this libell did compile To further thee that tooke the same to rede IN THEVETVM NOVI ORBIS peragratorem descriptorem Io. Auratus literarum Graecarum Regius professor AVre tenus sed non pedibus nec nauibus vllis Plurimus terras mensus est maria Multa tamen non nota maris terraequeue relicta His loca nec certis testificata notis At maria terras pariter vagus iste Theuetus Et visu mensus nauibus pedibus Pignora certa refert longarum haec scriptae viarum Ignotiqueue orbis cursor author adest Vix quae audita alijs subiecta fidelibus edit Hic oculis terra sospes ab Antipodum Tantum alijs hic Cosmograephis Cosmographus anteit Auditu quanto certior est oculus Vale in Christo ¶ To my Lord the Right reuerend Cardinall of Sens keper of the great seales of France Andrew Theuet wisheth peace and felicitie MY good Lorde being sufficiently enformed how greatly after the moste commendable and no lesse great and paynfull exercise to the which it pleased the King to employe and bestowe your prudencie forcasting witt you take pleasure not onely to reade but also to see and taaste some fayre Historie the which among so many cares might recreat your spirite and giue it a delectable libertie of his moste graue and carefull businesse I haue boldened my selfe to present vnto you this my discourse of a longer farre voyage made into India America otherwise by vs named Fraunce Antartike being partly peopled and partly discouered by our Pilotes a land which at this day may be called the fourth parte of the vvorlde not onely by the withdrawings of our orizons as by the diuersitie of nature of bests and temperatnesse of the ayre of the countrey Also for that none heretofore hath sought it out supposing al Cosmographers yea persuading with themselues that the world was lymitted in that which the elders to vs had shewed And although that this worke semeth to me of it selfe to be very litle to be offered before the eyes of your Lordship notwithstanding the greatnesse of your name will extol the basenesse of my worke seing also that I am assured wel of your wonted clemēcie vertue and desire to heare wonderfull things that easily you will iudge howe that my intention doeth tende to no other ende but onely to make you vnderstand that I haue no other delyght than to offer vnto you that thing of the which you may draw and receiue some contentation and wherein sometimes you shalbe eased of the great and troublesome affayres which are offered in thys degree and office that you holde For there is no mind or spirit be it neuer so constant but that sometymes is troubled with the quicke dispatch graue and weighty affaires of a common weale Therefore it is needefull sometimes to ordayne as the learned Phisition doth to a pacient or sicke body some chaunge of meates to recreate the appetite of them which by their infirmitie and sicknesse cannot broke nor taste one kind of meate continually be it neuer so pleasant This therefore is the cause why the ancient Philosophers and others did oftentimes withdrawe themselues from being wrapped in or charged with the publike affayres As also the great Orator Cicero witnesseth to haue absented him selfe many tymes from the Senate of Rome to the great displeasure of the cytizens for to remayne in his countreyhouse to be delighted in the plesant and Harmonicall melodie of the birdes Seing then that among oures as he among the Romaynes for your singular erudition prudencie and eloquence you are as chiefe and principall minister of the triumphant common weale of Fraunce and such a one as describeth Plato in his common weale that is to know great Lorde and a louer of vertue and science therefore it is not without reason to imitate and folow him in this point Euen so my good Lorde as returning all weake and wery of so long a voyage I was by you first of your grace receiued and welcomed home which gaue me to vnderstand and know that you are the singular patron of vertue and of all those that folowe it also to my iudgement I thinke I could not direct this my little labour to a better than to you the which if it please you to receiue so beningly as with a good affectioned will I do present and direct it and also to reade and peruse it you shal find in my
haue not vsed such forme and meane as the thing and your néedefull iudgement doeth deserue I beséech you to hold me excused considering that it is very harde for one man alone without the fauor and maintenance of some Prince or great Lord for to sayle and discouer far countries obseruing the things singular nor to execute greate enterprises although y t of him selfe he might And to my remembrance Aristotle agréeth well to this purpose that it is vnpossible and very harde that he should do any thing of great excellencie and worthy of prayse when the meane that is to say riches wanteth knowing that the life of man is shorte and subiect to a thousand fortunes and aduersities Of the streight aunciently named Calpe and now Gibaltary Cap. ij COasting Spaine on the lefte hand with a calme and fauorable winde we came ouer against Gibaltar not striking our sayle nor casting anker very nere for many causes In y t which place we stayed certaine dayes This streight is on the borders of Spaine deuiding Europe with Africa as Constantinople doeth Europe and Asia Many thinke this to be the originall of our sea Meditareum as if the great sea being to full shoulde by this place poure out vpon the earth of the which writeth Aristotle in his booke of the World in this maner the Occeā that of all sides doeth compasse vs toward the west neare to the columnes or pillers of Hercules doeth poure out by the earth into oure sea as in a porte or hauen by a narow straight neare to this straight are twoo Ilands neare one to the other inhabited with slaues and others the which labor to make salte and therefore there is good trade and traffike of these Ilandes the one is southwarde and the greatest made in maner of a triangle if that ye beholde it from far named by the elders Ebusus and by the modernesse Ieniza the other is towarde the north and named Frumentaria and for to saile thether it is very dangerous bicause of certayne rockes that are there with other inconueniences Furthermore there entereth diuerse nauigable Riuers that bringeth greate riches as one named Malue separating Mauritania frō Cesariensia another yet named Sala taking his spring in Mountayne Dure the which trauessing the Kingdome of Fes diuideth in forme of this Greke letter Δ and then runneth into this streight likewise of many others the which at this time I omit this much I will say by the way that this straight passeth ouer the coast of Afrike to the troppike of Cancer where as the sea doeth very little ebbe and flowe but in those partes so sone as one draweth néere to this greate floude Niger 11. degrées from the lyne the course of this Riuer is not perceiued In this straight of the sea Meditareum there be twoo Moūtaynes of a wonderful height one on the coste or side of Africa in tymes paste named Calpe and now Gibaltar the other Abyle the which both together are called the Colūnes or pillers of Hercules for that according to some writers he diuided them in twain that before was but one mountaine named Briarei and there retourning into Grecia by this straight finished and ended his labors esteming and thincking that he coulde passe no further bicause of the Amplitude and spreading of the sea which extended euen to his orizon end of his sight Others do affirme that the said Hercules for that he woulde leaue a memorial of his happie conquests caused ther to be erected two columnes or pillers of a meruelous height on the cost of Europe For the old ancient custome hath ben that the Noble great Lords did reare set vp a piller or columne in that place whereas they did finishe their voyages high enterprises or else at their toombes or sepulturs thereby to shew and manifest their might famous actes aboue others As we reade of Alexander which did leaue certaine markes in Asia the great wheras he had bene For the like cause the like was erected at Rhodes As much may be said of Mausolia numbred amōg the seuen wonders of the world made edified by Artemisia in the honour for the loue that she bare to hir husband the like of the Pyramides of Memphis vnder y t which are embalmed the Kings of Egypte Furthermore at the entrie of the great sea Iulius Caesar reared vp a hye piller of white marbell And for bicause that many haue bene of this name of Hercules we wil say with Arian y e Historiographer this Hercules to be he that the Tyriens haue celebrated for bicause that they haue edified Tartesse on the borders of Spaine whereas are the pillers of the which we haue spoken and there is consecrated to him a temple according to y e maner of the Phenicians with such sacrifices and ceremonies as was vsed in times paste Also it hath ben named the place of Hercules This straight at this day is the refuge and succor of theues pirates and rouers on the sea as Turkes Moores and Barbarians enimies of our Christian Religion who lurking and flotting there with their Galleys and barkes rob and spoyle marchāts that come to trade as well of Africa and Spayne as of Fraunce Englande and other places and that which is more to be lamented the captiuitie of diuers Christians whom they vse most cruelly yea worse than brute beastes in all their affaires beside the losse of soules in denying their Christendome bicause of their horrible and dreadful torments Of Africa generally Chapter .3 SAyling beyond this straight for that we had costed the countrey of Africa the space of eight dayes on the left hand euen right to the Cape of Canti being distant frō the Equinoctial .33 degrées we wil write therof generally Africa as Ptolomeus writeth is one of y e third parts of y e world or else the fourth according as certayne writers haue affirmed that haue writen sine tchat by nauigatiōs many countries in times past being vnknowē haue ben discouered as India America of the which we pretende to write named as Ioseph witnesseth Africa of Affer who as we reade in the Gréeke and Latine Histories for that he ouercame it raigned him self named it after his own name for before it was called Libia as some think of this Gréeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the which signifieth the South winde that there is frequented and familiar or of Lybs that raigned or else Africa hath ben named of this article A and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth colde and before called Hisperia As touching his lying it beginneth truely at the Weaste Atlantike and endeth in the straight of Arabia or at the sea of Egypte as Apian witnesseth as in like case in fewe woordes Aristotle doeth very well write Others make it to beginne at Nyll towardes the North at the sea Meditareum furthermore Africa hath bene called as Iosephus writeth in
named Ialout by the inhabitants and since Caape verd by those that haue sayled thither discouered it being so named bicause of the multitude of trées bothe small and greate that are gréene at all tymes of the yere euen as the white Caape is so called bicause it is full of white sandes being as white as Snowe without any appearance of Herbes or trées distant from the Canaries .70 Leagues and there is founde a goulfe of the Sea called by the people of the countrey Dargin of the name of a little Ilande néere to the mayne lande Ptolomeus hath named this Caape verd the Promentorie of Ethiopia of the which he onely had knowledge without passinge further the which I iudge for my parte to be well termed of him for this countrey extendeth of a greate length and therefore many haue sayde that Ethiopia is diuided in Asia and in Africa Among the which Gemaphrisius saith that the mountains of Ethiopia did occupie the greatest parte of Afrike extending to y e brinkes or borders of y e west Occidental toward the South euen to the floud or riuer Nigritis This Caape is very fayre and greate lying farre into the sea edified on two fayre mountaynes All this countrey is inhabited with rude vnciuil people not so rude or wild as they of the Indies very black as they of Barbarie ye must also note that frō Gibaltar to Prestre Iohns land Calicute cōtaining more thā .3000 leagues the people is al blacke Also I haue sene in Ierusalem thrée Bishops on the parte of Prester Iohn that came thither to visite the holy Sepulcher that were much more blacker than those of Barbary and not without occasion for it is not to be thought that generally those of Africa are a like blacke or like in maners and conditions considering the varietie and difference of Regions that are some more hotter than others Those of Arabia and of Egypt are betwene blacke and white others browne coloured whom we call white Moores others are cleane blacke the moste parte goe all naked as the Indians acknowledging a King whō they name in their language Mahouat yet some of them as well men as women hyde their priuie parts with beasts skins Some among the others weare shirtes gownes of course hairy cloth the which they receiue in trading with the Portingals The people are familiar inough towardes strangers Before that they take their sustenance they washe their bodies and members but in another thing they doe greatly erre for they ordaine their meates very vnclenly also they eate stinking and rotten flesh fish the fish bicause of his moistnesse putrifieth and the fleshe for that it is tender and moyst is quickly changed bicause of the vehemēt heat as we sée here in Sommer For moystnesse is signe of putrifaction and the heate is as a cause efficient Their houses lodgings are alike all rounde in maner of our doue houses couered with réedes and Rushes of the which also they vse to lye on in steade of beds for to slepe and take their rest As touching their Religiō they hold diuers kinds of opinions strange inough and contrarie to the true Religion Some worship Idols others Mahomet chiefely in the realme of Camber some thinke that there is one God the Author of all things with other opinions not vnlike to the Turkes There are some amōg them that liue more hardly than the others hauing hanged at their necke a little boxe closely shut and glewed with gumme like to a little chest ful of certain letters or wrytings for to make their inuocations and prayers the which customably they vse certaine dayes without ceassing hauing an opinion that whilest they haue it about them they be out of daunger As for Matrimonie they ioyne together one with another by certaine promisses and agréementes without any other Ceremonie This Nation passeth the time in pleasure louing daunsing the which they exercise at euening in the Moone shine in their daunsing they turn their face as by some manner of reuerence and worship the which a very friend of mine hathe shewed me of a truthe who dwelled there a certaine time Nere adiacent are the Barbazins and Serrets with the which those of whome we haue spoken make continuall warre although that they be like only excepting that y e Barbazins are more wilde brutishe cruel and hardy The Serrets are vacabonds and despearsed euen as the Arabians by the deserts pilfering all that they may come by without law without King sauing only that they beare a certaine honoure to him among them that hath done some prowesse or valiant acte in the warre And this they alleage for reason that if they wer subiect vnder the obedience of a King he might take their children and vse them as slaues as doth the King of Senega They fight for the most part on the water in little boates made of the barke of a trée of foure fadome long the which they name in their language Almadies Their weapons are bowes and sharpe poynted arrowes enuenomed so that he is vncurable that therewith is stricken Furthermore they vse staues of Canes garnished at the end with some beastes téethe in steade of iron with the which they can well helpe them selues When they take their ennimies in the warre they kéepe them to sell to to straungers for to get other Marchandise for there is no vse of money they doe not kill them and eate them as the Canibals doe and they of Bressill I will not leaue out y e ioyning to this Countrey there is a faire riuer or floud named Nigritis and since named Senega the which is of the same nature as is Nylle from whence it procéedeth as many doe affirme the which passeth by hie Lybia and the kingdome of Orgunea running through the midst of that Countrey watering it as Nylle doeth Egipt And for this cause it was named Senega The Spanyardes many times haue assayed by this riuer to enter into the Countrey for to subdue them and sometimes they haue entred well foure score leagues but for that they could not at no time addulciate nor appease the inhabitauntes being straunge and stoute for auoiding of further inconueniences that might happen and fal they departed home again The trade of these brutishe men is Oxen and Goates specially their skins and they haue so great abundance that for a hundreth waight of yron you may haue a couple of Oxen of the best The Portingals make their vaunt that they were the first y t haue caried to this Caape verd Goates Cowes and Bulles the which haue since so multiplied also that they haue caried thither diuers Plantes and Séedes as of Rice Citrons Orenges As touching Nyll it groweth in the Countrey plentifully Neare to this Caape verde next to the maine land there are thrée litle Ilandes others than those that we call Ilandes of Caape verd of the which we wil speake héereafter being fair
vnconstant with many other vices which wold be to long to reherse therfore I wil leaue this to Philosophers Let vs come to our purpose These Ethiopians Indians vse Magike bicause they haue many herbes other things proper for that exercise And it is certaine true that there is a certain Sympathia in things and hid Antipathia the which cannot be knowen but by long experience And bicause that we coasted a countrey somwhat far in this land named Ginney I thinke good to write therof particularly Of Ginney Cap. 17. AFter that we had refreshed vs at Caape verd it behoued vs to passe further hauing y e wind at Northeast maruelous fauourable for to conducte vs right vnder the Equinoctiall line the which we ought to passe but being come to the height of Ginney lying in Ethiopia the winde became cleane contrary bicause that in that region the windes be very vnconstant with raine tempest and thunder so that the Nauigation on that coast is very dangerous Now the fourth day of September we arriued into this Countrey of Ginney on the West borders But somewhat far within the lande it is inhabited with a very straunge people bicause of their Idolatry darke ignoraunce Before that this Countrey was discouered and the people knowen it was thought that they had liued like the Ethiopians hauing the like manner of religion of those of the higher Ethiope and of Senega but it is found cleane contrary for all they that inhabite or dwel from the said Senega to the Caape of good hope are al Idolaters without the knowledge of god and his law And these people are so blinded and ignorant that the first thing that they méete in the morning be it birde serpent or other wilde or tame beast they take it with them bearing it about them all the day about what businesse so euer they haue as a God or protector of their worke if they go a fishing in any of their litle boates of bark they will put it in one of the endes of the boate well wrapped with some leaues hauing an opinion and beleuing that it wil bring them all the day good lucke be it on lande or on water neuerthelesse they beleue in God alleaging y t he is there aboue immortall but vnknowne for that he will not be knowne to them sensibly The which erroure differeth nothing from the error of the Gentiles in times past that worshipped diuers Gods vnder the coloure of Images and similitudes But yet this is a thing worthy to be noted though it be superstitious and abhominable that these pore ignorant and brutishe men had rather worship corruptible things than to be reputed without a God Diodorus the Sicillian writeth that the Ethiopians had the first knowledge of the fained gods to whom they began to vow and to sacrifice Also Homer signifieth that Iupiter with other Gods went into Ethiopia as well for that they were there honored and sacrificed vnto as for the wholesomnesse of the Countrey The like you haue of Castor and Pollux the which going on the sea at the request of the Greekes against Troy were vanished in the aire and were neuer after séene againe the which giueth opinion to some to thinke y t they were rauished placed among the starres of the Sea also many name them the cleare starres of the sea attributing their names Caster Polux to two fair bright starres The sayd people haue neither temples nor churches nor other places appoynted for sacrifice and prayer Besides this they are without comparison much more wicked than those of Barbarie or Affrica in such sort that the straungers dare not aborde them nor set foote on land but by pledges otherwise they would take them and handle them like slaues These Villaines or wicked impes goe all naked sauing some since the time that their Countrey hathe bene somewhat frequented haue worne a little shirt of Cotten or some suche thing the which is brought them from other places They make not so great trade with beastes as in Barbarie there is very fewe fruits bicause of the drinesse extreme heat for this region is vnder y e signe Taurus they liue a good many yeares and yet séeme not olde so that a man of a C. yeares olde would be iudged with vs not aboue .xl. Neuerthelesse they liue with the fleshe of wilde beasts without séething roasting or wel preparing of it they haue also some fishe and great aboundaunce of Oysters more larger some than halfe a foote but they are more dangerous to eate than any other fishe they cast a liquor like to milke and yet the inhabitants eate thereof without any danger and they vse as well salte water as freshe They commonly make war with other nations their weapons are bowes and arows as the other Ethiopians and Affricans The women of this Countrey frequent the warre as much as the men and they beare for the most part a large buckle of fine gold or other mettal at their eares lips and also on their armes The waters of this countrey are very dangerous and also the aire is vnholesome for that to my iudgement the South winde being very hot and moist and familiar in that countrey is subiect to all kinde of putrefactions the which we féele many times in this Countrey And therefore they that of our Countrey and of other Countreys of Europe that trauaile to Gynney cannot remaine there long without receiuing some sicknesse the which chaunced to vs for many of our companie died and others remained a long time sicke and with great paine they recouered their health For the which cause we remained not there long time I will not omit that in Ginney the fruit that is most rife and common and with the which the straungers of straunge Countreis lade their ships is named Maniguetta being very good and wel estemed aboue other spices with the which the Portingalles make a great trade This fruit commeth vp in the fields like an Onion The other that commeth from Molucquer and Calicut is not so wel estéemed by a great deale This people of Ginney trade with certaine Barbariens adiacent golde and salt after a straunge fashion There are certaine places ordained among them where as eche one of his parte bringeth his Marchandise those of Ginney salte and the others gold molten in lumpes and without any other talke togither bicause of the small trust and confidence one of another as the Turkes and Arabians and some of America with their neighbors they leaue in the place before spoken the golde and the salte of eache part This being done these Ethiopians of Ginney if they finde there golde inough for their salt they take it away otherwise they leaue it and let it lie The which the other séeing that their golde wil not satisfie they adde vnto it vntill that there be sufficient then they beare away that that to eche one doth appertaine You shall vnderstande
noyse about the ships side that we could not hear one another speke whether this is bicause of y e heat of the Sunne or for any other reasons I leaue that to the Philosophers There resteth nowe to shewe that euen about our Equinoctiall I taasted the water the which was more swéeter pleasāter to drinke thā in other places wheras it is very salt though that many affirme the contrarie iudging that it shoulde be rather more salter for that it draweth to the lyne whereas the heate is most vehement knowing that from thence commeth the saltnesse of the sea and therfore that shoulde be more swéeter that is towarde the Poles I do verily thinke that from the one Pole to the other euen to the line that as the ayre is not equally temperat so in like case the water is not temperat But vnder the lyne the temperatnesse of the water doeth folowe the temperatnesse of the ayre Therefore there is a good reason why the water in that part is more swéeter than in other places Being passed this line we found the sea more and more calmer and peaceable keping our course towarde the Caape of good hope That not onely all that is vnder the lyne is inhabited but also al the worlde is inhabited contrary to the opinion of our elders Cap. 19. IT is euidently sene howe greate the curiositie of men is either for a desire to knowe things or for to attayne to possessions or else to auoyde Idlenesse that they haue hazarded them selues as the wise man sayth and beside him the Poet Horace sayth in his Epistles to all dangers and trauels for to eschew pouertie to leade a more quiet life without trouble or payne Notwithstanding it might be ynough for them to know and vnderstande that the soueraygne workmaster hath made with his owne handes this worlde al rounde so that the water hath ben separated from the lande to the ende that more commodiously euery one might inhabit in his proper Eliment or at the leaste in that place whereas he thought moste beste Neuerthelesse not content with this they would knowe if it be all ouer inbabited Notwithstanding for such finding out and diligence I esteme them for my parte as much and rather more worthy of prayse than our late writers and Nauigators for that they haue first opened to vs these things Otherwise with greate payne we could not haue knowen them nor comprehended but Thales Pithagoras Aristotle and many others as well Greekes as Latins haue sayde that it is not possible that all partes of the world should be inhabited the one parte for the greate and vnsuportable heate another parte for the great and vehemēt cold Other Authors deuiding the world into two parts called Himisperes one of y e which they say can in no wise be inhabited But the other parte in the which we are muste of necessitie be inhabited And so of foure partes of the worlde they take away thrée so that to their opinion there shoulde rest but two that be habitable And for the better vnderstanding thereof to eche one excepting those that haue knowledge thereof I will declare this more playner minding therefore to proue that al the world is inhabited They suppose that there is fiue zones in all the worlde by the which they will measure and compasse all the earth of the which two are colde two temperate and the other hot And if you wil know how they gather these fiue Zones extende your lefte hande towarde the Sunne rysing being the fingers spredde abroade and by this meane Probus Grammaticus dyd teach or instructe Then when you haue beheld the Sunne thorough the lower parts of your fingers bowe and bende them euery one in forme or manner of a Circle By the thumbe ye shall knowe the colde zone which is the North the which by the excessiue coldenesse as they doe affirme is vnhabited Neuerthelesse the experience hath shewed within fewe yeares that all those partes well néere to our Pole also vnder the Paralezey Artike ioyning to the Hyperbores as Scauia Dacea Swetherlande Gotlande Norway Denemarcke Thilia Lyuonia Pilapea Pruse lande Russia Muscouia Ruthenie whereas there is nothing but Ise and continual coldnesse to benotwithstanding inhabited with frowarde and brutish men The which to our Englishe Marchantes is well ynough knowen Therefore the Ancient writers in this do greatly erre are not to be beleued hauing onely spoken by gesse and thought and not by experience Let vs speake of the other zones the other finger next to the thumbe doeth signifie the tempeperat zone the which is inhabited extendeth to the tropicke of Cancer though y t in drawing néere it be more hot than temperat as that which is iustly in the midst that is to know betwene this tropicke the Pole The thirde finger doeth represent the zone placed betwene the two tropickes named Torrida bicause of the extreme heate of the Sunne the which resteth and burneth vp all and therefore it was iudged vnhabitable The fourth finger is the other zone temperated of the Antipodes a meane betwene the tropicke of Capricorne and the other Pole the which is inhabited The fifth which is the little finger signifieth the other zone colde the which in like case they haue estemed vnhabited for the like reason as they alleged for the former Pole of the which we may say as much as we haue sayde of the North parte for the like reason is of bothe After then that this rule or example is knowen it is easily knowen what partes of the Worlde are inhabited and which are not according to the opiniō of the Auncient writers Plinie diminishing that which is inhabited sayth that of the fiue partes that are named zones we muste take away thrée bicause they are not inhabited the which hath bene shewed by the thumbe the greate finger and the little finger Also he taketh away al that occupieth the Weast sea And in another place he writeth that y e earth that is vnder y e Zodiack is onely inhabited The causes that he allegeth why these thrée zones are vnhabited is the vehement colde which for the farre distance absence of the Sunne is in y e Region of the two Poles and the greate and extreme heate that is vnder the zone Torrida is bicause of the continuall presence of the Sunne As much doe our late Theologiās affirme and write The contrary notwithstanding may be shewed by the writings of these Authors before alleged by the authoritie of Philosophers specially of our tyme by the witnessing of holy Scriptures and then by experience which passeth all the which by me hath bene made Strabo Mela Plinie although that they disproue the zones write neuerthelesse that there are men in Ethiopia in the Ilande named by the elders Aurea and also in the Ile Tabroban Malaca and Zamotra vnder the zone Torrida also that Scandenauia the hills Hyperbores and the countrey adiacent
Tabrobane Melinde Cannonor and others they take on the left hande costing the Ile of S. Laurence guiding the head of the ship to Weast or Southweast hauing the winde at Weaste Northweaste This countrey of the Easte Indies extendeth so farre that many iudge it to be the thirde parte of the worlde Mela and Diodorus writeth y t the sea compassing these Indies from the South to the Easte is of such a greatnesse that with much payne they can passe though the wind be fauorable in the space of fortie dayes but I dare affirme twice fortie This countrey therefore is on that side compassed with the sea which bicause of that is named the Indian sea or Indique confining towardes the North to the hill Cancasa and is named India of a Riuer named Indus as Tartaria of the Riuer Tartar passing by the countrey of the greate King Chan. Yt is inhabited with people of diuers kinds as well in manners as in Religion A great parte is vnder the ohedience of Prester Iohn the which holdeth the Christian Fayth the others are Mahometists as we haue before shewed speaking of Ethiopia and others are Idolaters The other way at the departing of this Caape that is on the right hand leadeth to America the which we folowed hauing the wind good and fauorable neuerthelesse we remayned a good long time on the water as well for the distaunce of the places as for the winde that afterwarde fell contrarie the which made vs to lynger euen to the eightene degrée of our lyne and then agayne it began to fauor vs. Before passing any farther I will shewe a thing that is worthy of memorie Aproching or drawing néere to America within fiftie leagues we began to smell the ayre of the lande otherwyse than the smell of the sea with such a swéete and pleasant smell of the Trées Herbes Fruits and Floures of the countrey that neuer balme were it the balme of Egypte that euer smell swéeter or pleasanter Therefore I leaue you to thinke or iudge what greate ioye the poore Nauigantes had although that of a long time before they had eaten no breade also being out of hope to recouer any for their retourne The next day which was the laste day of October about nine of the clocke in the morning we discried the high hills of Croistmouron although that was not the place whereas we pretended to goe wherefore costing the lande a thrée or foure Leagues not minding to descend a lande being well enformed that the inhabitantes there are allyed with the Portingals and therefore for nothing we woulde aborde or descende there keping on our way till the second of Nouember that we aryued to a certayne place named Maqueh for to enquire of things specially of the King of Portingals Armye whereas preparing our boates and barges for to come a shore and set foote on lande there appeared foure olde men of the countrey for that the yong men were gone to the warre the which olde men at the firste fled away thinking we had bene Portingals their enimies but shewing them a token of assurance in the ende they came néere vs. Neuerthelesse staying there not aboue foure and twentie houres we hoyssed sayle for to drawe towarde Caape de Frie distant from Maqueh twentie fiue leagues This countrey is maruellous fayre in tymes past inhabited by the Portingals the which gaue it that name which before was called Gekan and there they reared a tort minding there to remayne for bicause of the goodnesse of the place But within a shorte tyme after for what cause I knowe not but the Barbarous men of the countrey made them all to dye and eate them vp as they vse customably their enimies And at our ariuall they helde two Portingals that they had taken in a little boate and to them they though to doe the lyke to whom our comming was a pleasure for by vs they were recouered out of the handes of these cruell inhabitantes Pomponius Meleus calleth this Caape of which we speake the front of Africa for that beyonde it bendeth lyke an Angle and retourneth by little and little into the North and East there whereas is the ende of the mayne land and of Africa of the which Ptolomeus had neuer any knowlege This Caape also is the chiefe or heade of Newe Africa the which towarde Capricorne extendeth to the mountaynes of Habacia and Gaiacia the flat countrey is little inhabited it is very brutish and Barbarous yea monstrous not that the men are so disformed as many haue written as though that in their sléepe they had dreamed it being not afrayde to affirme that there are people of whome their eares hang to their héeles others with one eye in the foreheade as Arismases others without heade others hauing but one foote but of such a bredth that therewith they may shadowe them selues against the heate of the Sunne and they call them Monomeres Monosceles and Sciapodes certaine others being ignorant doe write yet more strangenesse yea late writers writing without iudgement reason or experience I will not altogether denye the monsters which are vnnaturall approued by the Philosophers and affirmed by experience But I doe impugne things that are so farre out of reason let vs returne to our Promentarie There is founde diuers kindes of dangerous beastes venomous among others the Basiliscus hurtfull to the inhabitants also to the strangers and to those that go to fish on the Borders This Basiliscus as euery man may know is a venomous beast that killeth a man with his onely looke the body about nine inches long the head like fier vpō y t which ther is a white spot in maner of a crowne the mouth red the rest of the face of blacke colour the which I knowe by the skinne that I dyd sée in the handes of an Arabian he chaseth away all other Serpentes with his hissing as Lucian sayth for to remayne alone master of the fielde To be short I may say with Salust that there dyeth more people by wilde beasts in Africa than by any other inconuenience This much thought I good to speake by the way Of the Iland Madagascar otherwise of S. Laurence Cap. 23. THE great desire that I haue to let slip nothing that is necessarie and profitable to the Readers bindeth me that I thinke it the office and duetie of a writer to treate of al things that partayne to his argument without leauing one word out the which thing hath stired me vp to set out in this place this Ilande so notable hauing seuenty eight degrées of longitude no minut and of latitude aleuen degrées and thirtie minutes very well peopled and inhabited with blacke wilde men within a certayne time the which kepe or holde the like maner of Religion as the Mahometists some being Idolaters but after another manner It was firste discouered by the Portingals and named S. Laurence and before Madagascar in their language
thinke they haue as the Cryb a people of Thracia and other barbarous men in certaine Ilands of the sea Magilanike a thing very detestable and vnworthie of christendome to whome may serue for example these poore brutishe men The women for the tyme that they be greate with childe shall not beare or carie any heauie burthens neyther shall do any great labour for feare to be hurt The woman being brought to bed or deliuered the wiues shal carie the chyld to the sea to be washed or to some Ryuer and then will bring it to the mother who shall remaine in hir childe bed twentie dayes and foure houres the father shall cutte the childes nauell with his téeth as I my selfe haue séene as for the rest they handle and vse the women in child bed as tenderly as we doe here the norishment of the litle childe is the mothers milke notwithstāding that within certain days after his natiuitie they wil giue it grosser sustenance The father shortly after the childe is borne shall giue him a bow and arrow in his hand as a beginnyng and protestation of warre and vengeaunce of their enimies But yet there is one thing that marreth al that is that the fathers mothers before they marry their daughters wil gyue them to be abused to the first cōmer for a little value principally to Christians that trade thither if they will couple with them as wée haue before shewed Wée fynde in some histories of certaine people lyuing in maner as these wilde men do in their mariages Seneca in one of his Epistles and Strabo in hys Cosmographie writeth that the Lydians and Armenians hadde a custome to sende their virgins and maidens to the sea borders there in offering them selues to all commers to get them husbandes or else their dowries As muche sayeth Iustinus dyd the virgins of Cypris for to get their dowries and mariages which when they were quit and well iustified offered to the Goddesse Venus a present or offeryng We may fynde at this day amongst vs that making great profession of vertue and religion would doe the lyke and rather more without offering presente or candle the which I knowe of a truthe As touching the consanguinitie in Mariage Saincte Hierome writeth that the Athenians were woonte to marrie the brethren wyth the systers and not the Auntes wyth the nephewes the whych is contrary to the order of the Americanes Lykewise in oure countrey a woman of late hadde libertie to marrie hir selfe to fiue husbandes and not contraried Beside this we sée the Turkes and Arabians tooke many wiues I speake it not for that it is honest and allowable but for that we christians should auoyde such things To conclude our wylde men vse the maner and order that wée haue shewed so that a mayden is seldome maried hauing hir virginitie but beyng once maryed they dare doe no faulte for their husbandes doe looke straightly to them hauing a suspition of Iealousie shée may leaue hir husbande if that she be euill intreated the whiche oftentimes commeth to passe as we reade of the Aegyptians that dydde the lyke before they had any lawes In this pluralitie of women that they vse as wée haue sayde there is alwayes one aboue the others moste fauoured whiche is not subiect to so much trauell as the others All the children that procéede by the mariage of these wiues are reputed legittimate saying that the first Author of generation is the father and not the mother which is the cause that many tymes they kill the male children of their enimies being prisoners bicause y e such children in time to come might be their enimies Of the ceremonies buriall and funeralls that they vse to the deceassed Capit. 43. SEyng that I haue shewed you their doing and maner of liuyng and other theyr orders and ceremonies there resteth to speake of their Funerals and burialls For all that these kinde of people are brutishe and vnciuile yet haue they this custome and opinion to lay the dead bodies in the earth after that the soule is separated from the body in the place wher as the deceased in hys life time toke most plesure thinking so as they say that they can not put hym in place more notable than in the earth that bringeth forth the men that beareth so many fruites and other richesse profitable and necessarie for the vse of man There haue ben many lewde and vnaduised Heathen Philosophers that toke no care what should becom of their bodies after their decease whether it were cast out to y e beasts in the fields or birds of y e aire they forced not As Diogenes who after his death cōmaunded that this body should be cast out to the foules of the aire beastes of the fielde for to be eaten and deuoured saying that after his death his bodie should fele no more pain and that he loued much better that his body shold serue for sustenance than to putrifie and rot Likewise Lycurgus among the Lacedemonians did giue straight cōmaundement as Seneca writeth that after his deathe his body shoulde be cast into the sea others that there should be burned to ashes These poore people of America though they be brutish and ignorant shewe them selues after the death of their parentes or frends with out comparison more reasonable than aunciently dyd the Parthians who for all that they had lawes in stede of putting their dead bodies into the earthe cast them out to be a praie for soules and dogs Also the Taxilians did cast their dead bodies to the soules of the ayre and the Caspians in like maner The Ethiopians did cast the dead bodies into the waters the Romans did burne them to ashes as many other nations haue done By this ye may sée that the wilde men are not so voide of honestie but that they haue some knowledge of good considering that without lawe or faith they haue this knowledge and aduise that is to wit as much as Nature hath taught them Therfore they burye the deade bodies in the earth as we haue alreadie sayde in like maner as did aunciently the Nasomones Nowe the buriall of the dead is approued as well by the olde as by the new testament Likewise the ceremonies if they be duly obserued as well for that they haue bene vessels and instrumēts of the soule diuine and immortal as also to giue hope of the resurrection to come Here might I bring in many things as touching this mater but for that it is not my argument I omitte it and let it passe Nowe therefore among these wylde men yf that a housholder happen to dye hys wyues and hys néere kinsefolke and friends shall make a maruellous mournyng not for the space of thrée or foure dayes but foure or fiue monethes and this greatest sorow is foure or fiue of the first dayes ye shall heare them make such a noyse and harmonie as dogges and catts ye shall see as well men as women
broken out with infections as the Frenchmen are Thus much thought I needefull to speake in this place And he that will make any difficultie to beleue my words let him aske the opinion of the moste learnedest Physitions of the originall cause of this disease and what internall partes are soonest grieued where it is nourished For I sée at this day many contradictions but not among the lerned And to my séeming I fynde very fewe that toucheth the pricke specially of those that take vpon them to heale it among the which there are men and women so ignorant that they cause many mishaps vnto the poore pacientes for in stéede of curyng and healyng of them they make them worse and worse There are other kinde of diseases as ophthalmies of the whiche we haue alreadie shewed that comes of ouermuch smoke for that they make their fires in many corners and places of their lodgings the which are great for that they assemble a great number for to take vp their lodgings I knowe well that al ophthalmies come not of smoke but wher of so euer it be it commeth of the ylnesse of the brain being by some meanes grieued Also all the diseases of the eies are not ophthalmies as may bée séene among the inhabitauntes of America of whiche we speake for many haue loste their sight hauing no inflamation in their eyes And this fulnesse and abundance of troubles of the braine as I maye learne and vnderstande commeth of the ayre and southwindes hot and moyst very common in America the whiche sodainly fylleth the brayne as Hippocrates sheweth Also we feele in our selues our bodies to wax heauy specially the head when the winde is at south For to heale this paine of the eyes they cut a braunch of a certaine trée very soft rinde like to a kind of palme trée the which they bring home to their houses and they let drop the iuyce being redde into the eye of the pacient Moreouer this kind of people is always subiect to the leprosie paralysey and other exterior vices as we are in this country but they are alwayes whole and well disposed walkyng with a great courage and boldnesse their heads lifting vp like a stagge or hart This much by the way of this sicknesse the most daungerous that is in Fraunce Antartike or America Of the diseases most rife and common in America and the meane that they obserue to cure them Cap. 46. THere is none be they neuer of so rude and grosse memorie but that knoweth well that these Americanes are made of foure elementes as all naturall bodies are so that by this meanes they are subiect to the like affections that wée are In déede diseases and sickneesss may be diuers and contrary according to the temperatenesse of the ayre and maner of lyuyng Those in that countrey that inhabite neare the sea are subiecte to rotten diseases as Feuers Catarres and others In the whiche these poore people are so persuaded and abused of their Prophetes of whome we haue spoken the whiche are called for to heale them when they haue these diseases and they haue this foolishe opinion that they can cure them we can not better compare these impes thā to a companie of new fond foolish ignorant Physitions in our dayes here in our realme y t persuade the pore people make profession that they can heale all kinde of diseases curable and vncurable the whiche I woulde very well beleue if that science were become ignorance Therfore these Prophetes make them to beleue that they doe speake vnto the spirites and soules of their parentes and that nothyng to them is vnpossible also that they can cause the soule to speake within the bodie Moreouer when soeuer any sycke man féeleth his stomacke to swelle by the occasions of some humours in the stomacke and liuer the whyche by debilitie or otherwyse he can not caste or vomite vp he thinketh that it is his soule that complaineth Now these goodly Phrophetes for to heale this disease wil suck with their mouth the place where the sore or disease lieth thinking that by this meanes they drawe it oute Lykewyse they sucke one an other but not with such belefe and opinion the women vse other meanes they wyll put into the pacientes mouth a thréede of cotton a two foote long the whiche afterwardes they sucke thynkyng also by thys thréede for to get away thys disease or sickenesse If one of them doe hurte an other in ernest or otherwyse he is bounde to sucke his wounde vntill the tyme that he bée healed And in the meane tyme they doe abstayne frome certayne meates the which they thinke is contrary They haue y e mean to lette bloud betwéene the shoulders with a kynde of herbe very cutting or with the teeth of some beast The maner how to diet the pacient is this They wil neuer giue him no meate nor sustenance before he doe aske it and they will rather let him languish a whole moneth They are not so often grieued with sicknesse as we be although they go all naked day and nyghte also they vse no excesse or superfluitie in their meates or drinkes In other things they are very curious to knowe the trées and fruites they will not tast of any fruite that is perisht vnlesse it be thorough ripe The fruite of which they commonly eate in their sicknesses is named Naua being great made in maner of a Pine apple thys fruite when it waxeth ripe becommeth yelow the which is very excellent as wel for his swetenesse as his relish as pleasant as fine suger and more It is not possible to bring of them into this countrey but conserued for being ripe they will not long kéepe Furthermore it beareth no grain wherfore they plāt them by litle slippes as the fruites that are grafted in our countrey Also before it be ripe it is so roughe in eating that it will pull of the skinne of your lips the leafe of this trée when it groweth is like to the leafe of a large Iounck or sags I wil not forget that amōg their diseases they haue one maruellous indisposition which commeth by litle wormes that enter into their féete named in their language Tom that are litle ones and I thinke that they ingender in their féet for there will be somtimes such a number in one place that they wyll rayse a knob as big as a beane with doloure and paine in that place the whiche paine also chaunced to vs for being there our féete and our handes were couered with little clothes in the which when they were broken was onely one white worme with filthe And for to shunne this griefe the wilde men make a certain oyle of a fruite named Hibonconhu like vnto a Date the which is not good to eate they preserue it in little vessels of fruites named in their language Caramenio and therwith they rubbe the places that are grieued a
haue not séene hir They name hir Hau or Hauthy of the greatnesse of a greate Munky of Afeca hauing a great belly and the head almost in proportion of a Childes head She being takē casteth out sighes lyke a Chyld féeling payne hir skyn colored lyke ashes and rough lyke a litle Beare hauing on each paw three nayles or clawes a foure fingers long and made lyke the fyn of a Carpe with the which she climeth on Trees abyding there more than on the ground Hir tayle is thrée fingers long with lyttel heare thereon Another thing there is worthy of memory that this straunge beast was neuer séene eating for the wylde men of the coūtry haue watched hir to sée if she would féede but all was in vayne as they them selues haue shewed me Bysides this I would neuer haue beleued it if I had not proued it for a captaine of Normandy and the Captaine Mogneuylle borne in Picardy walking on a time in the great thick woods dyd shoote with a Handgunne at two of these beastes which were in the top of a trée so that they fell bothe to the ground the one sore hurt the other onely amased or astonned the which was giuen to me for a present so it was well kept the space of .xxvj. daies and in the meane time it would neuer eat nor drinke but always at one estate but in the ende it was strangled by certaine Doggs that we brought thyther some thinke that this beast lyueth onely with leaues of a certaine Trée named in their language Amahut this Trée is the highest Trée in that countrie bearing leaues very small and thin and for that this beast is commonly in this Trée she is named Haut Furthermore this beast is very louing to man when she is tame coueting to be always on his shoulders as if hir nature were to remayne on high places the which doings the wylde men of the countrey cannot abyde for that they are wicked for this beast hath very sharpe clawes and longer than the clawes of a Lyon or any other beast that euer I saw To these wonders I haue séene by experience certain Chameleons in Constantinople that liued only with the ayre And by this I knew it was of a truthe that the wylde men shewed me as touching this beast moreouer if that this beast be abroade in the greatest raine that is yet she will be always as drie as before By this ye may sée the wonderfull works of nature how that she can make things strange great incomprehensible and wonderfull to mans iudgement Therefore it is a thing impertinent to seke out the cause reason as many daily go aboute to doe For this is a very secret of nature y e knowledge whereof is reserued and kept to the onely creator also of many others that might be héere alleadged but for that it is not my argument I omit it for to finish the rest Hovv these Americans kyndle Fyer of their opinion of the drowning of the World and of their Yron works Cap. 53. NOw y t I haue shewed you of some singular plātes and vnknowne beastes not onely to vs but as I think to all the world for that this countrey was neuer knowne nor discouered but of late daies being minded to make an ende of this discourse of America I will shew you the straunge maner and practise that these Barbarous people vse to get fyre as well as we doe with a flint stone and a tinder boxe the which inuention truely is celestial giuen by diuine prouidēce to man for his necessitie Now these wilde men haue another meane almost vncredible to get fire greatly differing from our vse that smite a flynt stone with an Yron And ye must note that they vse customably fire for their necessities as we doe rather more for to resist the wicked spirit that tormenteth them for thē which cause they neuer lye downe in what place so euer they be but that they haue first fire lighted by their beds side And therefore aswell in their houses or other where be it in the forest or in the fieldes whereas they are constrained to remaine a long time as when they go a warfare or hunte for Venison they beare commonly with them their instrumentes to make fire Therefore they will take two stickes vnequal the one which is the least shalbe a two foote long or thereaboute made of a certaine drie wood hauing a rinde or pith the other somewhat more longer He that will make fire will lay the lesser sticke downe on y e ground pierced through y e middest y e which he holding with his féete wil put the ende of the other sticke into the hole that is in the other with a littell cotton and dried leaues then with turning of the stick there engendreth such a heate that the leaues and cotton begin to burne so that by this meanes they light fire the which in their language they name Thata and the smoke Thatatyn and this maner or way to make fire so subtilly they say came by a great Charaibe more than a Prophete the which taught it to their Elders with other things also of which they before had no intelligēce or knowledge I know wel there are many fables as touching y e inuention of fire Some say y t certaine pastors or shepherds were y e first y t inuēted to make fire after the maner that these wilde men vse with certaine wood being destitute of Yron and flint stone By this we may euidently know fier commeth neither of stone nor Yron as Aphrodisius disputeth in his probleames Dioderus writeth y e Vulcan was y e first inuenter of fier the which for this respect was elected King by the Egiptians Also the wylde men are almost of this opinion the which before this inuention of fier did eate their meates dried in the Sunne And this knowledge was brought to them as I haue before shewed by a great Charaibe one night in their sléepe after a great deluge of waters the which they maintaine to haue ben in times past although they haue not memoriall by writing but onely from age to age so that they wil beare in memory things foure or fiue hundreth yeares past the which is to be maruelled at And by this meanes they are very curious to teach instruct their Children things done and past which are worthy of memory The auncient men after their sléepe in the night doe no other thing but declare auncient stories to the young men so that to heare them you will say they are Preachers or Readers of Lectures now say they the water was so exceding great in this Deluge that it couered the highest moūtaines in that countrey so that all the people were drowned the which they tell of a truthe and beleue as stedfastly as we doe that which was in Noes time that is read of in holy Scripture Neuerthelesse it is easy for them to fayle
and the meane that they obserue to cure them cap. 46 The maner hovv to trade among these people of a byrd named Toucan of the Spicery of that countrey cap. 47 Of byrdes most common in America ca. 48 Of Venison and wyld beastes that these wylde men take cap. 49 Of a tree named Hauorahe cap. 50 Of a tree named Vhebehafou and of the honey Bees that frequent it cap. 51 Of a straunge beast named Haute cap. 52 How these Americans kyndle fier of their opinion of the vvorld and of their Yron works cap. 53 Of the riuer of Vases lykewise of certaine beastes that are found there about And of the land named MorpioÌ„ 54 Of the Ryuer of Platte and of the countrey adâ—acent ca. 55 Of the straight of Magellan and of Daryen ca. 56 Hovv that those that inhabit from the Ryuer of Platte vnto the straight of Magellan are our Antipodes cap. 57 How these wylde men excercyse husbandry and make gardens of a roote named Manihot and of a tree that they name Penoabsou ca. 58 How and after vvhat sorte the land of America vvas dyscouered and Brassyll wood found out with many other trees not seene else vvhere but in that countrey cap. 59 Of our departing from France Antartik or America ca. 60 Of the Caniballs aswell of the maine land as of the Ilands of a tree named Acaiou cap. 61 Of the Ryuer of Amazones otherwise named Aurelana by the which ye may fayle into the country of Amazones and into France Antertike cap. 62 How certayne Spaniards aryued into a countrey vvhere they found Amazons ca. 63 How these Spaniards contynued theyr voyadge to Morpion and of the Ryuer of Platte cap. 64 How the lands of the kings of Spayne and of Portingall are seperated cap. 65 The deuision of the West Indies in thre partes cap. 66 Of the Iland of Rats cap. 67 How we continued our course wâ—â—h a declaratioÌ„ of Astrolabia of the Sea cap. 68 Of the departing of our Equator or Equinoctiall cap. 69 Of Perou and of the principal places coÌ„tained in the same cap. 70 Of the Ilandes of Perou and chiefly of the Spanish Iland cap. 71 Of the Ilands of Cuba and of Lucaia cap. 72 A description of Noua Espania and of the great citie of Themestitan edified in the vvest Indies cap. 73 Of Florida cap. 74 Of the Ilande of Canada before named Baccalos being discouered in our tyme and how the inhabitans lyue cap. 75 Of a nother countrey of Canade cap. 76 What Religion these Canadians vse with theyr lyuing how they resist the Colde cap. 77 Of these Canadians apparell how they weare theyr haire and hovv they treate their children cap. 78 Hovv these people make war cap. 79 Of Mynes precious stones other secrets that are found in Canada cap. 80 Of Earthequakes hayles to the which the countrey of Canada is very subiect ca. 81 Of the countrey called Nevv found land cap. 82 Of the Ilands of Essores ca. 83 ¶ Imprinted at London in Knightrider strete by Henry Bynneman for Thomas Hacket 1568. Al things haue bene made for man A difference of Art and of Nature How Nauigation profiteth The cause of the Authors Nauigation How the Author toke shipping for to sayle to India America Why it was called new Hauen The superstitioÌ„ of the elders before they would go on the water Ilandes and other singularities of Gibaltar Ebusus Ieniza Frumentaria Malue Sala Diuers opinioÌ„s of the erection of the pillers of Hercules The maner custome of noble and valiant men in tymes paste What Hercules it was of whoÌ„ are named the columns Tartesse and auncient Citie of Africa Gibaltar a place of Trafficke from Europe to Africa Cap. de canti The fourth parte of the world as some writers affirme the opinion of this word Africa The situation of Africa Pillers of stone where as are writings of the Phenicians The maners ReligioÌ„ of the Africans The cause why there are in Africa so many strange kind of beastes Barharia parte of Africa and why it was so called The Religion ceremonies of the barbariens In Mecha the sepulture of Mahomet the voyage of the Turkes to Mecha The EgyptiaÌ„s were the first that inuented writing and letters The holy Crosse a town in Barbarie How the Fortunate Ilandes lye nowe named the Canaries Why they wer named of our elders the Fortunate Ilandes The number of these Ilands Ca. 3.4.5 6. Why the fortunate Ilandes are now named the Canaries Ombrion Strange trees Iunonia The Ile of Snowe Canaria The inhabitaÌ„ts of the Canaries conuerted to the Christian faith The bountie of the Ilandes named Canaries Suger of Canaria Suger of Egypt Suger of Arabia The fruitfulnesse of the Canaries Smal trees named Paper Oriselia an herbe Bre blacke gumme and howe it is made The wonderfull hight and circuite of Pikehill The height of the hill Etna Ptolomeus hath knowen this hill Strange sortâ— of stones The Ile of IroÌ„ and why it is so called The fruitfulnesse of the Ile of Iron Milke and Cheese grauelly Diuers nourishmentes of diuers people Milke is very good sustenance The Ile of IroÌ„ is right vnder the Diametrial line The value of euery degree Scorpions of Canaries The Ilandes of Madera not knoweÌ„ of our elders What Madera signifieth Suger of Madera celebrated aboue others Comfets of Madera The fruitefulnesse of the Ilands of Madera Gumme A kinde of Gaiac Dragons blud Dioscoridus Cinaber Wine and Suger of Madera Wine of CaÌ„dia Wine of the Ile of Palme The profit of Wine being moderatly taken A Promentary is that which we cal a Cape Ialout now called Caape verd why it was so named Dargina gowlf Promentarie of Ethiopiae Barbazins and Serretsa people of Affrica Almadies Nigritis nowe called Senega Iland neare to Caape verde not inhabited A straunge tree Diuers kindes of Palmes Plinie lib. 13. cap. 4. Phoenix a bird and why she is so named Prouerbe The property of the Palme Lib. 7. Lib. 8. Lib. 16. Chapt. 42 â–ª Lib. 5. of plantes The manner how to make Wine of Palmes The property of the Wine of Palme trees Another kinde of drinke The Kingdome of Senega The opinion of some of our elders vpon the originall of Nill and of Senega Hills of the Moone and of there lying The originall of Senega Hills of Libia None in times past hath had perfit knowledge of Africa in generall The newe worlde The Iles Hisperides discouered by the Carthaginians in times paste The Ile Atlantike in the time of Plato The diuisitie of the countrey the inhabitants maners in Senega A fruitfull tree and Oyle of diuers properties The lying of the Ilandes of Caape verd The Ile of S. Iames. The Ile of S. Nicolas others as Flera Plintana Pintoria and Foyon Marokins of Spaine Foure kinde of Torterels Lib. 9. cap. 10. How to take the Torterels The thicknesse of the shells of these Torterels of the Sea and why they serue Shieldes
these Ilāds of Canaries And the cause why it is there better gathered desired is for that the Ilāds in the sea Meditareum on the cost of gréeke lād as Metelin Rhodes other places bearing good suger before the Turke had the dominiō of them haue ben spoyled by negligence or otherwise And in all the countrey of Leuant I haue sene no suger made but in Egypt y e canes y t beare it growe on the brinke of Nyll the which also is greatly estemed of the people of the marchants y t trade thether as much rather more than Canarie Suger The elders before vs estemed greately the Suger of Arabia for that it was maruellous harty and pleasant specially for medicine to the which vse they did put it to little other But now adayes voluptuousnesse is so incresed specially in our Europe that there cannot be neuer so little a banket made after our maner of liuing but that euery sause must be sugered and also our meates and drinkes The which thing was defended to the Athenians by their lawes as a thing that did effeminate the people the which the Lacedemonians haue folowed by example But of a trueth the great Lordes of Turkie drinke sugered waters for bicause that wine is defended them by their lawe As touching the wine that was inuented by the greate Phisition Hyppocrates it was onely permitted to sicke folke and vnable but at this day it is so common with vs as it is scarce in other countreys So much haue we spoken by the way on the talke of suger let vs nowe returne to our mater As for corne there is sufficient in these Ilands also of very good wine better than the wine of Candia where as they make Malmesies as we will declare intreating of the Ilands of Madera Of flesh also there is sufficient as wilde and tame goates birds of all kindes greate quantitie Oranges Citrons Lemonds Pomegranads and other fruites Palmes and greate quantitie of good Hony There is also about the riuers and floudes little trées named Paper and in the sayd riuers and floudes there are fishes named Silures the which Paulus Iouius in his booke of fishes thinketh to be Sturgion of the which the poore slaues féede on sweating for trauell almost breathlesse and oftentymes they féede thereon for wante of other meate And thus much I will say by the way that they are very hardly intreated of the Spaniards specially of the Portingals yea worsse than of the Turkes or Arabians And I am constrayned to speake thereof for that I haue sene it my selfe Among other things there is found an herb against the hils sides commonly called Oriselia the which they gather with greate diligēce for to dye colour Furthermore they make a kinde of blacke gumme the which they name Bre of the which there is greate abundāce in Tenerif They take thornes of y t which there is great quantitie and breake them and lay them by pece one vpon another like crosses and vnder eche heape there is a little hole of no great depth and then they set fire on this woodē almost at the very top and then it rendereth his gumme that falleth into this hole Others do make it with lesse labor for the hole being made they set fier on y e trée this gumme bringeth them great profit in their trade that they make to Perou of the which they vse to calke ships and other vessels for the sea putting it to no other vse As touching the harte of this trée being somewhat red the poore people that dwel on the hils and moūtaynes cut it by long stickes of the length of halfe a fadome as greate as our thumbe and lighting it at one ende it serueth in stede of a cādel Also the Spaniards vse it after this manner Of the high mountaines of Pike properly called Pikehill Cap. 6. IN one of these Ilands named Tenerif there is a Hil of so wonderful a highth that the mountaynes of Armenia of Persia Tartaria neither the Hyll Lybem in Syria the mounte Ida Athos nor yet the mounte Olympus so much celebrat by the Historiographers ought not to be cōpared to this Hil the which containeth in circuite at the leaste twenty miles from the foote to the top 54. miles This moūtaine or Hil is named Pike at al times snowy mysty and ful of great and cold vapors and also of snow although that it is not easily sene to my iudgement for bicause that it extendeth to the lower Region of the Aire the which is very colde as Philosophers and Astronomers holde opinion so that the snow cannot melt bicause that in that place the Sunne cannot cast hir beames and therefore the superior or vpper part remayneth alwayes colde This mountayne or Hill is so high that if the ayre be cleare it may be sene fiftie Leagues on the water and more the top and the bottome of this hill though one be néere or farre of is made in maner of this Gréeke figure Ω the which signifieth Omega I haue also sene the Hill called Ethna .30 Leagues and on the sea néere to Cypris I haue sene a certayne mountayne of Armenia fiftie Leagues of though I haue not the eye sight so good as Linxius who from the Promontorie of Lylibie in Cicilie did discerne and sée the ships in the porte of Carthage I am sure that some will thinke this strange esteming that a mans eye coulde in no wise sée nor discerne so far of but neuerthelesse this is most true in plainnesse but not in height The Spaniards haue diuers tymes assayed to sounde the height of this hyll and for to doe it they haue many tymes sent a certayne number of people with mulles bearing bread wine other munitions but they neuer returne againe as I haue ben crediblie informed of those that haue dwelled there ten yeres And therefore they holde opinion that in the sayd hill as wel on the toppe as on the circuite there are some reste or remnant of these wilde Canarians that thither are retired and kepe the sayde hyll liuing with Rootes and with wilde beastes the which kill and slaye those that presume to get vp the hill to discouer the toppe thereof Also of this Ptolomeus hath had knowledge saying that beyond the Columnes or pillers of Hercules In a certain Ile there is a hil of a maruellous and wonderful height and therefore towarde the toppe it is alwayes couered with Snowe from the sayde hille there falleth greate aboundance of water that watereth all the Ilande the which maketh it very fruitfull of Canes Sugers and other thinges And there is no other water than that which commeth from that hill otherwise the countreys that are vnder the tropike of Cancer wold remayne barren bicause of the excessiue heate It bringeth forth abundantly great stones like to spunges are very light so that one as great as a mans heade doth
out not comprehending them although that they are of no lesse coÌ„passe and greatnesse than Sicilia Corsica Cypris or Candia nor yet of lesse value therefore shall this parte be limitted towards the South to Florida There resteth now only to describe the third parte the which shall begin at Noua Espania or new Spaine comprehending all the prouinces of Anauac Vcatan Eulhuacan Xalixa Thalco Mixtecapan Tezeuco Guzanes Apalachen Pancho Aute and the kingdome of Micuacan from Florida vnto the land of Bacalles which is a great Region vnder the which also is comprehended the land of Canada and the prouince of Chicora which is .33 degrées on this side the line the land of Labrodor newe found land compassed with the frostie Sea on the Northe side This Countrey of the West Indies being thus deuided not specifying many things from the one ende to the other that is to witte many things froÌ„ the one end to the other that is to wit from the straight of Magellan at the which we haue begon vnto the ende of the farthest land of the Indies it is more then .4800 leagues of length and by this ye may descerne the bredthe excepting the straight of Parias before named therfore they are now called y e great Indies being without comparison more greater than the East Indies As touching the rest I desire the reader to take in good parte this little deuision vntil it please God to giue vs meane to make one more greater Likewise to treate more at large of this countrey but thus much I thought néedefull in the meane time to bring to light Of the Iland of Rats Cap. 67. LEauing these Canibals for the small comfort y t there was to be had hauing the winde at South we sailed to a very faire Iland distant froÌ„ the line .iiij. degrées the which is very daungerous in the aboording of it for it is no lesse daungerous to a front thaÌ„ some great Cape or Promentary for that it entreth farre into the sea and for rockes that are about it and ranged on the coast side This Iland was vnluckely found out to the mishappe of those that first did discouer it Some Portingall ship passing by on that coast for default of good gouernment striking against a rocke néere to this Iland brake in pieces and drowned excepting .xxiij. meÌ„ that saued them selues in this Iland in which place they remained the terme of two yeares wheras they died only two excepting which in the meane time liued with Rattes Birdes and other beastes And as on a time there passed by a ship of Normandie that returned from America they set their skiffe out for to rest in that Ilande whereas they found these two poore Portingalls that were onely lefte of this shipwrake the which they brought away with them And these Portingals had named it the Iland of Rats bicause of the multitude of Rats of diuers kindes that there are so that they say that their companions died onely being vexed with these vermin These beastes liue with egs of Torterels that they make on the Riuage of the Sea and with birds egs wherof there is great store Also when we went for to seke fresh water whereof we had such greate nede that some amongst vs were constrayned to drinke their owne water or bryn the which dured the terme of thrée monethes and the famyn foure moneths we sawe there so many birdes and so priuie that we might haue laden therewith our ships neuerthelesse we coulde not recouer fresh water vnlesse we had entred very farre into the couÌ„trey As for the rest it is fayre decked with many fayre trées being gréene the moste parte of the yeare euen like a goodly gréene medowe in the moneth of May although it be within foure degrées of the lyne Though that this Iland is not inhabited yet it is not vnpossible no more than others in the Zone as the Ilandes of S. Homer vnder the Equinoctial others And if it wer inhabited I am wel assured that it would make one of the fairest places in al the Worlde and riche there might be made very good Suger Spices and other things of great value I know well that many Cosmographers haue had this opinion that the Zone betwene the two Tropickes was vnhabited for the extreame heate of the Sunne notwithstanding y t experience sheweth the coÌ„trary without any farther contention euen as the Zones to the twoo Poles bicause of the colde Heroditus and Solon affirmeth that the hils Hiperbores are inhabited and likewise Canada drawing néere to the North and other count yet more néere approching the colde Sea of the whiche we haue alredy spoken Therefore let vs returne to our IlaÌ„d of Rats This place by good right is so named for bicause of the abundance of Rats that lyue there of the whiche there are diuers kindes one kinde among the reste that the wilde men of America eat named in their language Sohiatan and they haue their hayre gray the flesh good delicate like a little leueret There is another named Hiexousou greater than the others but not so good to eat they are as great as those of Egypt called Pharaos Rats Others there are as greate as Wezels that the wild meÌ„ eate not for bicause that when they are dead they stinke like carion the which I haue sene also there are founde diuersitie of Serpentes named Gerara the which are not good to eate but there are others named Theirab that are good for of these Serpentes there are diuers kindes that are nothing venemous nor like to those of our Europe so that their biting is neither mortall nor any thing dangerous there are to be sene redde ones scaled of diuers coloures lykewise I haue sene gréene ones as gréene as the bay leafe they are not so greate of body as the others notwithstanding they are very long Therefore it is not to be marueled at how these wild men there aboutes eate these Rats without daunger and Serpents euen as they do Lezardes as before we haue shewed Likewise néere to this Ilande is founde a kynde of fish and also vpon the coaste of America very daungerous also much feared and redoubted of the wilde men for that she is a rauening fish and as daungerous as a Lyon or a Woulfe famished this fish is named Houperou in their language and eateth other fish in the water excepting one that is as greate as a little Carpe the which foloweth him alwayes as if there were soâ—â—â— Sympathia or secrete loue betwene them or else he foloweth him for to be preserued and kept sure from other fishes So that the wilde men fishing all naked as they do alwayes feare him not without a cause for if he catche them he will either drowne them or strangle them or looke where he toucheth he carieth away a piece with his téethe Also they will take héede how to eate of this fishe but if y t they can take him
aliue as they doe many times for to be reuenged of him they kill him with arrowes Being therefore there a certaine space of time turning héere and there I behelde many straungs fishes that are not in Europe among the which I saw two very monsterous hauing vnder the throte like two Goates dugge◠a thing on the chin that for to sée too was like a Goates beard Beholde how nature the great workemistresse taketh pleasure to varifie hir workes as well by water as by land as the cōning workman beutifleth his work excéeding the common trade of his Arte and science Hovv vve continued our course vvith a declaration of the Astrolabia of the sea Cap. 68. FOr bicause that we found no great consolation nor comfort of our trauails in this Iland It behoued vs without any tarying to hoise sail with an indifferent winde vntill we came vnder the Equinoctiall whereas the sea and the windes are also vnconstant Also the aire is alwayes séene there troubled if one side be faire the other is troubled and threatneth fowle weather so that for the most parte there is raine and thunder which can not be without danger to y e Nauigants Now before they come néere to this line the good Nauigantes Pilots and Mariners being expert take counsel or beholde alwayes their Astrolabia for to knewe the distance and lying of places from thence where they are And bicause this so necessarie an Instrument for Nauigation commeth now in talke I will speake there of lightly by the way for the instruction of those that wil folow the sea being so great that the vnderstanding of man cannot well comprehend it And that which I speake of the Astrolabia as much may I say of the Rule or nedell of the sea by the whiche they may also conduct right the ship This Instrument is so politike that with a little paper or parchement as broade as the palme of my hand and certayne lines marked which signifieth the windes and a little Iron with the which this Instrument is made by his onely natural vertue that a storie giueth him and bloweth in his proper mouing and without any touching sheweth where is the Easte the Weaste the North and the South and also al the thirtie two windes belonging to Nauigation it sheweth them not onely in one place but in al places of the worlde beside other secretes that I omit for this present wherby it plainly appeareth that the Astrolabia the nedell or compasse with the Carde Marin are well made and that there shewing and perfection as is a wōderfull thing for that a thing so great as the Sea is pictured in so little a space and so agreable that by the same men vndertake to sayle rounde about the worlde Then the good and perfect Astrolabia is no other thing than the Sphere pressed and represented in a playn accomplished in his compasse with .360 Degrées that answere to the circute of the World deuided in like number of degrées the which agayne must be deuided into foure equal parts in our Instrument that is .90 in euery parte the whiche afterwarde ye muste parte by fiue and fiue then holding your Instrument by the ring rayse it or hold it towarde the Sunne so that the Sunne beames may enter in at the hole then looking to your declination in what year◠moneth and day ye are in when ye take the height of the Sunne And if the Sunne be towardes the South which is on the coast of America and ye be towards the North ye muste take from your height as many degrées as the Sunne hath declined from the line of y e which we speke towarde the South And if that in taking of the height of the Sunne ye be towardes the South beyonde the Equinoctiall and the Sunne be in the North ye muste in lyke manner take away so many degrées as the Sunne hath declined from the lyne towarde our Pole as for example if ye take your height the Sunne being betwene the Equinoctiall and you when ye haue taken the sayde height ye muste for to knowe the place where ye are be it in sea or lande adde your degrées which the Sunne is declyned from farre from the lyne with your height and ye shall finde that which ye demaunde the which is to be vnderstanded as much of the Pole Artike as Antartike Thus much by the way Gentle Reader of our Astrolabia leauing the rest of the knowledge and vsage of this Instrument to Astronomers and Astrologians that make dayly profession thereof It shall suffice that which I haue spoken the which I knowe to be necessary and nedefull to Nauigation chiefly for those that are ignorant and not yet exercised therein Of the departing of our Equator or Equinoctiall Cap. 69. I Thinke there is no man of Spirite but that knoweth that the Equinoctiall is a trace or circle imagined by the midst of the Worlde from the East to the Weast in equall distance of two so that from the fayde Equinoctiall to eche one of the Poles it is .90 Degrées as we haue at large treated before and of the temperatnesse of the ayre that is there about of the Sea and of the fishes There resteth nowe somewhat to speake in our returne of that which before we left out passing therefore about the firste day of Aprill with a fauourable winde kéeping our right course with sayle spread right to the North neuerthelesse we were molested with one ill commoditie the which was that daye and night it ceased not to raine the which notwithstanding came well to passe for vs to drinke considering our necessitie for the space of two monethes and a halfe enduring thyrst for that we colde get no fresh water And God knoweth whether we drancke not our fill euē with open throte considering the extreame heat that burned vs it is true that the rayne water in those parres are corrupted for the infection of the ayre from whence it commeth for that whereof the rayne engendreth is depraued in such sort that if a body wash their hāds therewith there wil ryse pushes bladders I knowe well that many Philosophers hold opinion that some rayne water is vnholsome they set difference betwene these waters with y e reasons which at this time I wil not allege auoyding prolixitie wel what corruptiō so euer came of it yet neuerthelesse it behoued vs to drink therof though it had cost vs our liues Furthermore this water falling on a clothe woulde stayne it and leaue a spot that scant would be gotten out Nowe therefore after we had passed the lyne it was néedfull for our conduct to beginne to counte our degrees from thence vnto our Europe as much muste be done of them that goe thither after that they are come vnder the sayde-line The Ancient Cosmographers measured the earth the which we may also doe by stades paces and féete and not by degrées as we doe as affirmeth Plinie Strabo