Generall flood it should be destroyed and ouerthrowne the selfe same consideration may serue for this of the Riuers not without proofes very euident and agreeable to reason for if it were destroyed with the Flood euen as it pleased God to permit the vndooing thereof so would hee also ordayne that all signes and markes of the same shoulde cease to the end that the peoples dwelling in the prouinces and borders thereabout shoulde haue no knowledge at all thereof that it should be no longer necessary for the Cherubin to remaine in garde thereof with a fierie Sworde as till that time hee had done But before wee come to handle the principall causes you shall vnderstande that there are some who holde opinion that all these foure Riuers rise neere the Land of Heden and come to ioyne in the same Leauing therefore a part Tygris and Euphrates because that of them seemeth in a manner verified as for Ganges the course therof is not so contrarie but that it may well meete where the other riuers doe and that any inconuenience eyther of lownes or highnes of the earth might bee sufficient to diuert or to cause the same to runne where it now doth But this is an argument that neyther concludeth nor carrieth any reason withall As for the Riuer Nilus they goe another way to worke saying that it is not the same which in the holy Scripture is called Fison for there are two Ethiopias say they the one in Affrica which is watred with Nilus the other in the West Indies in Asia beginning from the coast of Arabia folowing along the coast of the Ocean sea towards the East the which may be vnderstood by the holy Scriptures who call those of the Lande of Madian neere to Palestina Ethiopians Sephora also that was wife to Moises beeing natiue of that region was called Ethiopesse And with this agreeth a Glosse written in the margen of Caetano his discourse vppon thys matter by Anthonio de Fonseca a Frier of Portugall and a man very learned so that Fison may well be some Riuer of these which watereth this Country first discending by the Lande of Heden comming from the same to enter into the Ocean as Tygris and Euphrates and many other deepe riuers doe in the same maner may it be coniectured that Gion should bee some one of these riuers the one and the other through antiquity hauing lost theyr names and that it is not knowne because it cannot perfectly be prooued whether of these two Ethiopias is meant by the holy Scripture Aueneza saith it is a thing notorious that the Riuer Gion was not far from the Land of Israell according to that which is written in the third booke of Kings Thou shalt carry it into Gion although there be other Authors that vnderstande not Gion to be a Riuer but to be the Lake Siloe or else a Spring so called If that Gion were Ganges it is manifest that it runneth not so neere vnto Israel as it is heere said S. Isidore entreating of this matter sayeth that the Riuer called Araxes commeth out of Paradise which opinion is also maintained by Albertus Magnus Procopius writeth of another Riuer called Narsinus whose streame issueth from thence neere to the Riuer Euphrates some thinke that these are Gion and Fison though at this time their waters runne not through the same Lands These are the opinions of Ecclesiasticall Doctors labouring to discusse and sift out the truth of this secret But leauing them all I will tell you my opinion partly agreeing with Eugubinus and his followers that when it pleased God to drowne the whole worlde in time of the Patriarch Noe with a vniuersall flood mounting according to the sacred Text fifteene cubits in height aboue all the mountaines of the earth the same must of necessity make and vnmake change alter and ouerturne many things raysing valleyes abating mountaines altering the Deserts discouering many parts of the earth vnseene before and couering drowning many Citties and Regions which from thence forth remained vnder the water ouerwhelmed in the Sea or couered with Ponds and Lakes as we know that which without the flood happened to Sodome and Gomorrha with the rest which after they were burnt did sinke with them And we see oftentimes in the swelling and ouerflowing of great Riuers whole Countries drowned and made like vnto a Sea yea and sometimes mighty Riuers to lose their wonted passage and turne and change their course another way farre different from the first If I say the violent impetuosity of one onely riuer suffice to worke these effects What shall we then thinke was able to doe the incomparable fury and terrible swinging rage of the generall and vniuersall flood In the which as the same Text sayth all the Fountaines and Springs of the earth were broken vp by their bottomes and all the Conduits of heauen were opened that there might want no water eyther aboue or beneath If then the Springs so brake vp it could not be but that some of them were changed and passed into other places different from those in which they were before theyr streames scouring along through contrary wayes and veines of the earth In like manner might it happen to those which entered into terestriall Paradise issued forth to water those Lands named in the holy Text which eyther through the falling downe of huge mountaines and rocky hills or filling vp of lowe valleyes might be constrained to turne their streames farre differently to their former course or else by the permission and will of GOD which would haue vs to be ignorant of this secrete they changed their Springs and issues by hiding and shutting them selues in the bowels of the earth and running through the same many thousand miles and at last came to rush forth in other parts farre distant from those where they were before neyther passed they onely vnder a great quantity of Lands enhabited and vninhabited but the very Sea also whom they hold for mother Spring whence they proceede hideth them vnder her to the ende that they might returne to issue foorth where they were not knowne or if through some cause they were it should be vnto our greater admiration and meruaile as now it is Neyther wonder you at all if the generall flood wrought so great a mutation in the world for there haue not wanted graue men who affirme that the whole world before the time of the flood was plaine and leuell without any hill or valley at all and that by the waters thereof were made the diuersities of high and lowe places and the seperation of Ilands from firme Land And if these reasons suffice not let euery man thinke heerein what shall best agree with his owne fancy for in a mistery so doubtfull and secrete we may as well misse as hit and so S. Augustine thinking this to be a secret which God would not haue knowne but reserues it to himselfe saith that no
little was by them brought and put into a pond or standing water in the Iland of S. Domingo a little after the conquest thereof by the Spaniards Being in which fresh water in short space hee encreased to such greatnes that hee became bigger then any horse and withall so familiar that calling him by a name which they had giuen him he would come ashore and receaue at theyr handes such thinges as they brought him to eate as though he had beene some tame domesticall beast The boyes among other sportes and pastimes they vsed with him woulde sometimes gette vp vppon his bace and hee swimme all ouer the Lake with them without euer dooing harme or once dyuing vnder the water with any one of thē One day certaine Spanyards comming to see him one of them smote him with a pyke staffe which he had in his hand from which time forward hee knewe the Spanyards so vvell by theyr garments that if any one had beene therby when the other people called him hee woulde not come ashore otherwise still continuing with those of the Country his vvonted familiaritie Hauing thus remained in this Lake a long space the water vpon a tyme through an extreamitie of raine rose so high that the one side of the Lake ouerflowed and brake into the Sea from which time forward he was seen no more Thys is written by the Gouernour of the fortresse of that Iland in a Chronicle which he made Leauing them therefore now I will briefely speake of certaine notable Fish coasts from the West of Ireland forwards winding about towardes the North For it is a thing notorious that many Kingdoms Regions Prouinces haue their prouisions of Fish frō thence of which our Spaine can giue good testimonie the great commodity considered that it receaueth yeerely thereby To beginne therefore the farther forth this way that you goe the greater plenty you shall finde of fishe many of those Prouinces vsing no other trade forraine Merchants bringing into them other necessary thinges in exchange thereof The chiefest store whereof is founde on the Coast of Bothnia which deuideth it selfe into three Prouinces East West and North-Bothnia The last whereof is different farre from the other two for it is a plaine Champaine Land seated as it were in a Valley betweene great and high Mountaines The ayre thereof is so wholesome the Climat so fauourable that it may be well termed one of the most pleasant and delightfull places of the world for it is neither hote nor cold but of so iust a temperature that it seemeth a thing incredible the Countries lying about it beeing so rigorously cold couered with Snow congealed with a continuall Ise. The fields of themselues produce all pleasant varietie of hearbes and fruites The woods and trees are replenished with Birdes whose sweet charmes melodious tunes breedeth incredible delectation to the hearers but wherein the greatest excellencie and blessing of this Land consisteth is that amongst so great a quantitie of Beasts and Fowles of which the Hilles Woods Fieldes and Valleyes are full it breedeth not nourisheth or maintaineth not any one that is harmefull or venemous neyther doe such kindes of Fishes as are in the Sea hurtfull approach theyr shoares which otherwise abound with Fishes of all sorts so that it is in the fishers handes to take as many and as few as they list The cause of which plentie is as they say that diuers forts of Fishes flying the colde come flocking in multitudes into these temperate waters Neyther bapneth this onely on theyr Sea-shoare but in theyr Lakes Riuers within the Land also which swarme as thicke with fishes great and little of diuers kindes as they can hold The enhabitants liue very long neuer or sildome feeling any infirmity which surely may serue for an argument seeing it is so approouedly knowne to be true to confirme that which is written concerning the vpper Byarmya which though it be seated in the midst of vntemperate cold countries couered and frozen with continuall Snow and Ice yet is it selfe so temperate and vnder so fauourable a Climate and constellation that truly the Authors may well call it as they doe a happy and blessed soile whose people hauing within thēselues all things necessary for the sustentation of humaine life are so hidden sequestred from other parts of the world hauing of themselues euery thing so aboundantly that they haue no need to traffique or conuerse with forraine Regions And this I take to be the cause that we haue no better knowledge of some people that liue vppon the Hyperbores who though they liue not with such pollicy as we doe it is because the plenty of all thinges giueth them no occasion to sharpe their wits or to be carefull for any thing so that they leade a simple and rustique life without curiosity deuoyd of all kind of trouble care or trauaile whereas those who liue in Countries where for their substentation maintenance it behooueth them to seeke needefull prouisions in forraine Landes what with care of auoiding dangers well dispatching their affaires and daily practising with diuers dispositions of men they cannot but becom industrious pollitique and cautelous And hence came it that in the Kingdome of China there was a Law and statute prohibiting and defending those that went to seeke other Countries euermore to returne into the same accounting them vnworthy to liue in so pleasant and fertile a soile that willingly forsooke the same in searching an other But returning to our purpose in this North Bothnya which is beyond Norway is taken incredible store of fish which they carry some fresh some salted to a Citty called Torna situated in manner of an Iland betweene two great Riuers that discende out of the Septentrionall mountaines where they hold their Fayre and Staple many and diuers Nations resorting thither who in exchange of theyr fish accommodate them with such other prouisions as their Country wanteth so that they care not to labour or till their grounds which if at any time they doe the fertillity thereof is such that there is no Country in the worlde able to exceede the same The people is so iust that they know not howe to offende or offer iniurie to any man they obserue with such integrity the Christian fayth that they haue him in horrour and destentation that committeth a mortall sinne They are enemies of vice and louers and embracers of vertue and truth They correct and chasten with all seuerity and rigour those that are offendours insomuch that though a thing bee lost in the streete or field no man dareth take it vp till the owner come himselfe There are also other Prouinces maintayned in a manner wholely by fishing as that of Laponia in the vvhich are manie Lakes both great and little infinitelie replenished with all sorts of excellent fishes and that of Fylandia which is very neere or to say better vnder the Pole The
Beleeue me the vertues of the water are no lesse then theyrs for as the herbes sucke and draw theyr propertie and vertue out of the earth which nourisheth and produceth them yeelding moisture and sustenaunce to their rootes so likewise the water draweth to it selfe the propertie of the earth minerals through which it passeth participating with thē of their vertues which beeing so deepe in earth are frō vs hidden vnknown But I know not whether the vertue of a Spring which Aristotle writeth to be in Sycilia in the Country of the Palisciens proceede of thys cause for the misterie which it contayneth is farre greater and so sayth Nicholaus Leonicus that it is a thing verie hardly credible for he affirmeth the propertie thereof to be such that who so taketh a solemne oath and the same oath be written in Tables and cast with certaine solemnities into the Fountaine If the oath contained therein be true the Tables remaine floating aloft vpon the water but if it be false they sink incontinently downe to the bottome And he which tooke the same is burned presently in the place and conuerted into ashes not without damage many times of those that were present They called this the holy Fountaine and appointed the charge and custody thereof to Priests which suffered no man to sweare vnlesse that hee first put in sureties that hee would content him selfe to passe by this triall LV. I rather thinke that Aristotle and those that wrote heereof were deceaued then otherwise because we heare not at this present that there is any such Fountaine knowne in Sicilia if there had beene in times past any of such force and vertue the memory thereof would be farre more rife and famous then it is BER Let vs neuer trouble our selues with the triall heereof for in this sort we may say the like of all those others which we haue not seen AN. The selfe same Nicolaus Leonicus writeth of another Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans nere to the Riuer Citheros into the which all the water that ranne there out degorged There stood by this Fountaine a sacred house the which they constantly affirmed to haue beene the habitation of foure Nimphs Caliphera Sinalasis Pegaea and Iasis All manner of diseased persons that bathed them selues in this Fountaine came there out whole and sound The like is written of two other Riuers the one in Italy called Alteno and the other called Alfeno in Arcadia But of no lesse wonder then all the before rehearsed is that which is vvritten of the Lake in Scithia in the Country of the Dyarbes neere to the Citty Teos the which besides the meruailous plenty of fish in which it aboundeth hath a property most admirable for in calme and warme weather there apeareth aboue the vvater great aboundance of a kind of liquor like vnto oyle which the inhabitants in Baotes made for the same purpose skimme off from the vvater and apply the same to their vses finding it to be as good and profitable as though it were very oyle in deede There is likewise in the Prouince of Lycia nere a Citty called Pataras a Fountaine the vvater that floweth from which looketh as though it were mingled with blood The cause whereof as the Country men say is through one Telephus who washing therein his wounds it hath euer since retained the colour of blood But the likeliest is that it passeth through some veine of red clay or coloured earth vvith the which mixing it selfe it commeth forth stained with that colour the Author hereof is Nicolaus Leonicus And Athenaeus Naucratites sayeth that in an Iland of the Cyclades called Tenaeus there is a Fountaine whose water will agree by no means to be mingled with vvine alwayes howsoeuer it be mingled or poured with vvine into any vessell it remaineth by it selfe a part so that it is to be taken vp as pure vnmedled as when it was poured forth yea though all possible diligence were vsed to ioyne and mingle them LV. There be a great many that would be glad that all water were of this condition by no means brooking the mixture therof with wine as a thing that keepes them somtimes sober against their wils AN. You say truth but leauing them with their fault which is none of the least but one of the greatest foulest that may be in any man pretending to beare honour or reputation I say there is in the Iland of Cuba according to the relation of many which haue seene the same a Fountaine which poureth forth a thick liquor like vnto Tarre which is of such force that they cauke and pitch their ships withall in such sort that they remaine as firme dight against the entry of water as though they were trimmed with the best sort of Pitch that we doe heere vse in these parts BER I haue heard say that there is in the same Iland a great Valley the stones that are found in which are all so round as if they had by Art euery one beene fashioned in the same forme LV. Perchaunce Nature hath so framed them for some effect of the which wee are ignorant seeing that few or none of her workes are without some secrete mistery and as well may these stones serue to some vse as the liquor of that Fountaine but let vs heerewith not trouble Signior Anthonio from prosecuting his discourse AN. Solinus discoursing of the Iland of Cerdonia saieth that it containeth many wholsome vvaters Springs amongst the rest one whose water healeth all infirmity of the eyes withall serueth for a discouery of theeues for whosoeuer by oath denieth the theft which he hath cōmitted in washing him selfe with that water loseth incontinent his fight if so be that his oath be true his eye siight is therby quickned made more sharp liuely but whosoeuer obstinately persisteth in denying his fault remaineth blind for euer But of this Fountaine there is now no notice at all for I haue beene long resident in that Iland during which time I neuer heard any such matter Many the like vnto these are written of by diuers Authors the which for their vncertainty I wil not weary my self in rehearsing only I wil tell you of a Lake which is in the Spanish Iland called S. Domingo in a mountaine very high vninhabited The Spaniards hauing conquered that Country found round about this mountaine no habitation of people through the cause of a hideous noise which was therein continually heard amazing making deafe the hearers therof the hiden cause secret mistery wherof no man being able to comprehend three Spaniards resolutly deliberated to goe vp into the height thereof to discouer if it were possible the occasion whence this continuall roaring proceeded so that prouiding them selues of all things necessary for the difficulty ragged sharpnes of the way being ful of craggy rocks shruby trees bushes
Taurus and that of Tygris on the other part of the same Mountaine tovvardes the South the sources of these two Riuers are distant the one froÌ„ the other 2500. stadies This is also affirmed by other Authors and Beda sayth It is a thing most notorious that those riuers which are said to come out of Paradise spring and ryse out of the earth Gion which is Ganges out of the hill Caucasus which is a part of the mountaine Taurus Fison which is Nilus not farre from the mountaine Atlas in Affrica towards the West and Tygris and Euphrates out of a part of Armenia which two Nylus as the Historiographers say hide themselues in many places vnder the earth Pomponiê° Solinus Ptolomie and the rest are of Bedas opinion as touching the rising of these Riuers and the words of Procopius are these Out of this Mountaine saith hee arise two Fountaines the which immediatly make two riuers of that on the right hand commeth Euphrates and of that on the left hand Tygris AN. I tolde you that whence soeuer these Riuers come so they enter thorough the prouince which they called Heden according to the opinion of Eugubinus they may enter into earthly Paradise and vvater it neyther for all thys leaueth it to agree with the text of Genesis especially making one whole riuer after they come to ioyne by Babylon LVD Leauing these two Riuers let vs speake of the other two seeing it is also notorious that Ganges taketh his beginning in the Mountaine Caucasus though some vvill say in the Mountaine Emodos whose height and sharpnesse is such that few haue been able to reach vnto the place where the source of the Riuer is whence some took occasion to say that Paradise was placed in the midst of those Rockes and rough vnaccessible crags and so shall you find it described in the most part of Mappes but is certaine that this consideration is false and leauing it for such I say that the streame of this Riuer discendeth from betweene the East the North and coÌ„meth running thorough many Countryes of the East-Indies euen till it enter into the Ocean Sea and contrarilie the Riuer Nilus ryseth as I haue sayde in Affrica neere the Mountaine Atlas and as some thinke towards the East though by the Nauigation of the Portugals which discouered it it seemeth that the rysing thereof shoulde bee in the Mountaine called De Luna bending towards the South But how soeuer it be his streame is contrary in opposit to the riuer Ganges and entred by a different and contrary way into the Redde Sea so that I see not how it may stand with reason that these two Riuers shoulde conforme themselues in theyr rysing or that they shoulde euer come both out of one part ANT. Haue patience awhile and perchaunce though now it seeme to you vnpossible you will straight be of a contrarie opinion First therefore you must suppose that there is eyther now a Paradise in the worlde or else that the same is through the waters of the Generall floode destroyed The will of him which planted and made it is not that we should haue thereof any notice not onely concealing from vs the place where it stoode and standeth but taking also from vs all signes and tokens whereby we might come to the knowledge and vnderstanding thereof So that though Paradise nowe remaine in such sort as when it vvas first made planted by the hands of GOD yet hath hee so diuerted from thence the current of those Riuers guiding them by vvayes different and contrary one to another that by them it is vnpossible to attain to the knowledge therof For it Paradise be in the East and vnder the Aequinoctiall according to the common opinion and that the foure Riuers ought to come from those parts and to deriue theyr streames from thence we now see that Nilus and Ganges are towards the West or rather South-west and Tygris and Euphrates though they come from the East-wardes yet is it by very contrary wayes the reason is because those Riuers at theyr comming foorth of Paradise or at least before they come to be knowne of vs doe hide themselues in the depths and veynes of the earth breaking out againe in other parts with new Springs and rysings the one beeing distant froÌ„ the other so many thousand leagues and that this may be so vvee see daily amongst our selues the experience thereof as for example the Riuer of Alpheus in the prouince of Achaia which entring into a coÌ„cauitie vnder the earth turneth to come out againe in the Spring of Arethusa neere Caragosa in Sicilia vvhich by this experience is apparantly knowne for all such thinges as are throwne into the same in Achaia beeing such as may swim and flote aboue water come foorth at the mouth of Arethusa passing not onely vnder the earth but also vnder the Mediterranean Sea as Plinie affirmeth saying There are many Riuers that hyding themselues vnder the earth come to appeare and runne anewe in other partes as the Riuer Licus in Asia Erasine in the region of Algorica and Tygris in Mesapotamia The like also doe the Riuers of Sil and Gaudiana in our Spaine although the space of grounde vnder which they runne hidden be not so great yet suffise they for examples of that which wee say And in thys manner doe the riuers which come from Paradise hide and put themselues in the concauities and hollowe veines of the earth and turne to breake out anew in other parts where of force they must alter and change the course and currant of theyr streames S. Augustine entreating of thys matter affirmeth the riuers of terrestriall Paradise to hide themselues vnder the earth Encisus in his Cosmography discoursing of Landes on the Coast of the Oryent reaching to the Golfe called the great Sea which by the same coast goeth towards the North in coÌ„ming to speak of the land called Anagora sayth From thys place forwards there is knowledge of no more Lands for no man hath sayled any farder and by Land it is vnaccessible for the Lande is full of Lakes and high rockie mountaines of meruailous greatnes where they say is the seate of earthly Paradise and that there is the Fountaine where the foure Riuers make a crosse and afterwards sinck into the earth going along by the hollow veynes vvhereof they come out againe the one at the Mountaine Emodos which is Ganges and the other in Ethiopia at the mountaine De Luna which is Nylus and the other two at the rough mountaines of Armenia which are Tygris and Euphrates All this is so easie for him which made the whole World of nothing of nothing created all thinges in the same that we ought not so to meruaile at this but as a thing vvhich may be Leauing thys opinion and returning to that of Eugubinus that Paradise should be planted in the prouince of Heden that through the waters of the
Sea of the North though being frozen the greatest part of the yeare yet that the same at such time as the Sunne mounteth high and their day of such length should through the heate of the Sunne thaw and become nauigable and so in that season the Indians might be driuen through the same with a tempest all which though it be so yet the people assuredly knowing that the same Sea freezeth in such sort euery yeere will not dare or aduenture to saile therein or to make any voyage on that side so that we come not to the knowledge of such thinges as are in that Sea and Land vnlesse wee will beleeue the fictions that Sylenus told to King Mydas LV. Of all friendship tell vs them I pray you for in so diffuse a matter any man may lye by authority without controlement BER That which I will tell you is out of Theopompus alleaged by Aelianus in his book De varia Historia This Sylenus saith he was the Sonne of a Nimph and accounted as inferiour to the Gods but as superiour vnto men who in one communication among many others that hee had with King Mydas discoursed vnto him that out of this Land or world in which wee liue called commonly Asia Affrique and Europe whom he termeth Ilands enuironed rounde about with the Ocean there is another Land so great that it is infinite and without measure in the same are bred Beastes and Fowles of admirable hugenes and the men which dwell therein are twise so great as we are and their life twice as long They haue many and goodly Citties in which they liue by reason hauing lawes quite contrary vnto ours among their Citties there are two that exceede the rest in greatnes in customes no whit at all resembling for the one is called Machino which signifieth warlike and the other Euaesus which signifieth pittifull the enhabitants of which are alwayes in continuall peace and plentifully abounding in great quantity of riches in whose Prouince the fruites of the earth are gathered without being sowed or planted They are alwayes free from infirmities spending their whole time in mirth pleasure and solace they maintaine iustice so inuiolably that many times the immortall Gods disdaine not to vse their friendship and company but on the contrary the enhabitants of Machino are altogether warlike continually in Armes and Warre seeking to subdue the bordering Nations This people doth dominate and commaund ouer many other proud Citties and mighty Prouinces The Cittizens of this Towne are at least 200000. in number they sildome die of infirmity but in the Warres wounded with stones and great staues Iron nor steele hurtes them not for they haue none Siluer gold they possesse in such quantity that they esteeme lesse therof then we doe of Copper Once as he said they determined to come conquer these Ilands of ours and hauing past the Ocean with many thousandes of men and comming to the Hiperborean mountaines hearing there vnderstanding that our people were so ill obseruers of Religion and of so wicked manners they disdained to passe any farther accounting it an vnwoorthy thing to meddle with so corrupt a people and so they returned backe againe He added heere-vnto many other meruailous things as that there were in other Prouinces thereof certaine people called Meropes who enhabited many and great Citties within the bounds of whose Country there was a place called Anostum which worde signifieth a place whence there is no returne this Country saith he is not cleare and light neither yet altogether darke but betweene both through the same runne two Riuers the one of delight the other of greefe vppon the shore both of the one and the other are planted trees about the bignes of Poplar-trees those that are on the banks of the Riuer of griefe bring forth a fruite of the same nature quality causing him that eateth thereof to spend the whole time of his life in sad and melancholly dumps bitter teares perpetuall weeping The fruite of those that grow on the banks of the other Riuer haue a contrary effect and vertue yeelding to the eater thereof a blessed course of life abounding in all ioy recreation and pleasure without any one moment of sadnes When they are in yeeres by little and little they waxe young againe recouering their former vigour and force and thence they turne still backward euen to their first infancie becomming little babes againe then they die LV. These things were very strange if they were true but be howe they will they carry some smell of that of which we entreated concerning the Land which is on the other side of the Riphaean and Hiperborean mountaines seeing he saith that determining to conquer this our world which he calleth Ilands they returned backe after they came to those mountaines and so it is to be vnderstoode that they came from the other part of the North-pole as for that Land which he saith to be so tenebrous obscure it may be the same which as we sayd hath continuall obscurity and is a condemned part of the world I doe not wonder at all if amongst the other works of Nature she made this part of the earth with so strange properties I meane not that which Silenus spake but the other by vs entreated of before the ayre of which by reason of som constellation or other thing we comprehend not is so troubled that it is not onely vninhabitable but also not to be passed through wherby the secreets therein contained remaine concealed though perchance on the other side therof the time temperature may be such and so contrary that it may excell these very Countries wherein we now liue AN. You haue reason for without doubt the Land which is in those parts vndiscouered must be very great and containe in it many things of admiration vtterly vnknowne to vs But comming now to particularize somewhat more of that which is now in these our times known discouered I wil tell you what some very new moderne Authors doe say thereof and principallie Iohn Zygler whom I alleadged before who in person visited viewed some part of these Septentrionall Countries though hee passed neither the Hiperborean neyther the Riphaean mountains who meruaileth greatly at that which sundry Authors haue left written of these parts for he found many things so different and contrary that theirs conformed in no one poynt with the truth as well touching the situation of mountaynes and heads of Riuers as the sundry properties and qualities of the Regions and Prouinces for hee sayeth that he was in that part where they all affirme the mountaines Ryphaeus to be and hee found there no mountaynes at all neyther in a great space of Lande round about it but all a plaine and leuell Country the selfe same is affirmed by Sigismund Herberstain in his voyage so that if they erre in the seate of a thing so common and
it freeze and become more hard and cleare vsing the same in certaine warlike pastimes they haue in steede of a Castell of lyme or stone one troupe entereth there-into to defende the same and another bideth without to besiege assault or surprize it and this in most solemne sort with all engines stratagems and manners of vvarfare great prices being ordained for those that shall obtayne the conquest besides the tryumph wherein the conquerours doe glory ouer the vanquished Who so amongst them is found to be fearefull or not forward in executing that which he is commaunded is by his companions stuft full of Snow vnder his garments and somtimes tumbled starke naked in great heapes of the same enuring them therby better to abide hardnes another time These Septentrionall Lands haue many Lakes and standing waters of great largenes som of the which are a hundred miles long These are at somtimes so frozen that they trauaile ouer them both a foote and horsebacke In the Countries of East and Westgothland there are Lakes vpon which great troupes of horsmen meete and runne for wagers their horses are in such sort shod that they sildome slide or fall in time of warre they skirmish often vpon these frozen Lakes yea and sometimes fight maine battailes vpon them At sundry seasons they hold vpoÌ„ them also certaine Faires to which there resorteth a great concourse of strange Nations the beginning of which custome was ordained as saith Iohn Archbishoppe of Vpsala Predicessour to Olaus by a Queene of Swethland called Disa who being a woman of great wisedome commaunded her Subiects on a certaine yeere in which her dominions were afflicted with extreame dearth scarsity of graines to goe vnto the bordering Regions carrying with them such merchandize as their Country yeelded and to bring with them in exchange thereof Corne and graine withall to publish franchize to all such as should bring thither any victual to be sold where-vpon many strangers repairing thither at such time and season as the Lake was frozen she appointed them that place for holding of their Faire from which time till this day that custome hath continued Northward of these Regions there are many great and meruailous Lakes such as scarcely the like are to be found in any other part of the world that is peopled of which leauing apart one that is neere the Pole is called the white Lake which is in maner an other Caspian Sea yeelding great commodities of fowle and fish to the adioyning Prouinces part of the same reaching out euen to the Muscouites There are in the Regions of Bothnia Lakes of 300. 400. miles long where there is such quantity of fish taken that if they could conueniently be carried about they would serue for prouision to halfe the world Thereby also are many other notable Lakes of which the three most famous are as the Authors write Vener Meler and Veher Vener containeth in length 130. miles which are about 44. leagues as much in breadth within it it hath sundry Ilands well peopled with Citties Townes and Fortresses Churches and Monasteries for all those three Lakes are in Country of Christians though we haue heere little notice of them Into this Lake enter 24. deepe Riuers all which haue but one only issue which maketh so terrible a noyse amongst certayne Rocks falling from one to another that it is heard by night six or seauen leagues of making deafe those that dwell neere there abouts so that it is sayd there are certaine little Villages and Cottages thereby the enhabitants of which are all deafe They call the issue of these Riuers in their Country language Frolletta which is as much to say as the deuils head The second Lake called Meler is betweene Gothland and Swethland hath in the shore thereof many mynerals of mettals both of siluer and others the treasures gathered out of which enricheth greatly the Kinges of those Countries The third also called Veher aboundeth in mines on the North side thereof The waters thereof are so pure cleare that casting there-into an egge or a white stone you may see it lye in the bottome though it be very deep as well as though there were no water betweene Within this Lake are many peopled Ilands in one of which wherin are two great Parish Churches Olaus writeth that there happened a thing very meruailous and strange There liued in this Iland saith hee a man called Catyllus so famous in the Art of Negromancie that in the whole worlde his like was scarcely to be found Hee had a Scholler called Gilbertus whom hee had in that wicked Science so deepely instructed that hee dared so farre presume as to contend with him being his Maister yea and in som things seeme to surpasse him at which shamelesse ingratitude of his Catyllus taking great indignation as alwayes Maisters vse to reserue vnto themselues certaine secrete points with onely wordes and charmes without other band fetter or prison he bound him in an instant both body hands and feete in such sort that he could not wag himselfe in which plight he conuayed him into a deepe Caue vnder one of the Churches of the same Iland where he remaineth till this day according to the common opinion is alwayes liuing Thither vsed darly to resort many not only of that Country people but strangers also to see him and to demaund questions of him They entred with many Torches and Lanternes and with a clew of threed of which they fasten one end to the dore whereat they enter vnwiding the same still as they goe for the better assurance of finding their way out the Caue being full of many deepe pits crooked turnings and corners But at length because the moisture dampish cold thereof with a lothsome stench besides anoyed so much those that entred that some of them came out halfe dead they made a law that on greeuous paine none of the Countrimen should froÌ„ that time forward resort nor enter into that Caue neither giue counsaile aide or assistance to strangers which for curiosities sake shold atempt the same LV. This is without doubt the worke of the deuil who the same Gilbertê° dying perchance presently entered into his putrified stinking carkasse abusing the people aunswered to their demands For though the force of enchauntments be great yet can they not preserue life any longer then the time fixed appointed by God AN. You haue reason and in truth it seemeth that the deuill is there more lose and at greater liberty then in other parts so that som wil say the principall habitation of deuils to be in the North according to the authority of holy Scripture All euill shal come discouer it selfe from the Aquilon Zachary Chap. 2. crieth ho ho flie from the land of the Aquilon howbeit that these authorties are vnderstoode coÌ„monly in that Antichrist shal come from those parts whose like was neuer in persecuting the people of
that in euery such part of her body as by any possibility they might which when they savve themselues vnable to succour vvith griefe hoising vp their sailes they departed from thence naming the place the Iland of Satyrs Gaudencius Merula rehearseth the selfe same saying that Eufemius which told this to Pausanias was a Cardinall LU. Ptolome in his second booke of the tenth table of Asia vvriteth that there are three Ilands of Satyres bearing the selfe same forme I verily beleeue that those are they whom we commonly call wilde Sauages paynted with great and knotty staues in theyr handes for till nowe I neuer heard that there were any such particulerly in any part of the world BER Plinie vvriteth alleadging the authority of Megasthenes that there are towards the East certaine people which haue long bushie tayles like Foxes so that they are in a manner like vnto those which you haue said I partly beleeue this the rather because of that which as I haue heard hapned to a lynage of men that brake vp a vessell pertayning to S. Toribius Bishop of Astorga in which hee helde sacred reliques with whose delectable sauour hee sustained himselfe putting in place there of things stinking vnsauory for punishment and perpetuall marke of which wicked offence both they theyr posteritie came to haue tayles which race as it is sayde continueth till this day AN. You commit no deadly sinne though you beleeue it not But I will tell you one no lesse monstrous then all these aboue mentioned the which I did see as they say with mine owne eyes in the yeare 1514. of a stranger that went to S. Iames in pilgrimage who ware a long garment downe to his feet open before which in giuing him some litle almes he opened wide discouered a child whose head to our seeming was set in the mouth of his stomack or a very little higher his whole necke beeing out from whence downeward his body was fully perfected and well fashioned in all his members which he stirred as other children doe so that there was in one man two bodies but whether this child was gouerned by the man vvhich bare it or by it selfe in his naturall operations I cannot say for I vvas then so young that I neyther had the discretion to discerne it nor the wit to aske it I should not haue dared to haue tolde this but that there are in Spayne so many vvhich haue seene it remember it besides my selfe and the thing so publique and notorious Besides I haue beene tolde by certaine persons of great credite that about 2. or 3. yeares since in Rome they went about gathering money vvith shewing a man that had tvvo heads the one of the vvhich came out of th' entry of his stomacke the selfe same place out of vvhich the others bodie came but this head though it were most perfectly shaped yet was it like vnto a dead member vvhich of it selfe had no feeling but that the man felt vvhen it was touched as vvell as any other of his members BER Though these things be passing strange wonderfull and neede many witnesses to giue them credite yet why should not this happen sometimes to men as it doth often to other creatures I haue seen my selfe a Lamb brought forth vvith two heads which died incontinently LU. Petrus Crinitus in his 21. Booke of honest discipline saith that in Emaus which I take to be that of which the holie Scripture maketh mention a woman bare two boyes from the nauill downeward ioyned in one hauing vpwards two seuerall bodyes two heads two breasts and all other members proportionable and that they were two persons and two distinct soules it was easie to perceaue for the one wept when the other laughed the one slept when the other waked and each of them did in one moment different operations in which sort they liued two yeares at terme of which the one dying the other liued only foure dayes after him He rehearseth this historie by the authoritie of Singibertus whom he commendeth for an Authour of great grauity and truth who lyued in the time of Theodosius the Emperour Besides Saint Augustine in his Citty of God writeth of this monster though not so particulerly I haue read of other two that were borne ioyned together by the shoulders backe to backe lyuing so a certaine time till the one comming to die the stench of his dead body so infected and anoyed the other that hee lyued not long after him AN. When there is no Authour of credite I will neuer beleeue that which is amongst the common sort reported beeing for the most part altogether fabulous BER Leauing thys I pray you tell me Signior Anthonio what you thinke of that which Plinie writeth of the Pigmees many other Authors of the Amazons AN. As for the Amazons many Writers affirme that they haue been and there are so many histories recorded of them theyr valorous deedes of Armes the battailes and warres in which they were that it should seeme great temerity to say the contrary Though Plutarch writing the life of great Alexander bringeth xij Greeke Authors that wrote also of his life some in his very time and some little after his death of which some fewe make mention of one Thalestris Queene of the Amazones that came so far to see him and speake with him but the rest and the greater part say nothing at all thereof wherby he seemeth to doubt whether it were true or no for if it were hee thinks that such and so esteemed Authors would neuer haue past so notable a matter in silence Besides Strabo was of opinion that this matter of Amazons was altogether faigned whose wordes are these Who can beleeue that there was euer at any time Army Cittie or Commonwealth onelie of women and not onely that there were but that they made war inuaded conqueringly vpon other Countries subdued their neighbours in battailes ranged and dared set their Armies in Ionia and on the farther side of Pontus euen to Attica This were as much to say as that in those dayes the women were men and the men women LUD All thys is not sufficient to prooue that in times past there were no such for all those that write of the Troyan warres make no doubt of theyr comming thither and that vvhich is written of theyr originall beginning is most notorious and knowen but of theyr last fall and finall ende I haue not seene anie Historie that maketh mention BER There haue beene in the Worlde many notable thinges vnknowne for want of Wryters of the which this may be one but I haue cheefelie noted one thing vvhich is that the Authors agree not about those Countryes vvherein they write that they lyued the rehearsall of vvhose seuerall opinions concerning theyr Prouince and Kingdome I will not encomber my selfe with repeating ANT. Diodorus Siculus vvryteth that the Amazones raigned in two partes the
thy walls and in this manner encreased thy goodlines and beauty BER Perchaunce those Pigmees of which Ezechiell maketh mention was some Nation of little men but not so little as those which wee speake of for Pigmee in Hebrew is as much to say as a man of little stature for if these Pigmees were such as those Authors write they must needes enioy long life seeing they voyaged so farre vsing traffique by Sea bringing vnto vs such commodities as theyr Country yeeldeth and carrying backe such of ours as are necessarie for them so that I account it a matter vnpossible that men whose space of lyues is so short should traffique with such carefull industrie in the farre Countries of Siry and Iury. LU. Your opinion is not without reason but in the ende heerein we cannot stedfastly affirme any thing for trueth so that it is best that wee leaue it euen so contenting our selues with that which hath beene vpon this matter alleadged seeing we haue not as yet ended our discourse of monsters I say therefore that Ctesias affirmeth that beeing with Alexander in India hee sawe aboue 130000. men together hauing all heads like dogges and vsing no other speech but barking BER I would rather call these dogges with two feete or else some other two footed beasts such as there is a kinde of great Apes of the which I haue seene one with a doggs face but standing vpright on his feete each part of him had the shape of a man or so little difference that at the first any man might be deceaued and so perchaunce might Ctesias and the rest of those which saw them seeing they could not affirme vvhether they had the vse of reason vvhereby they might be held for men and not brute beasts AN. Both the one and the other may be but leauing this they write that there are certaine men dwelling on the hill Milo hauing on each foote eight toes which turne all backward and that they are of incredible swiftnes Others that are borne vvith theyr haire hoary gray vvhich as they waxe olde becommeth blacke To be short if I should rehearse the infinite number of such like as are reported I should neuer make an ende for you canne scarcely come to any manne vvhich will not tell you one vvoonder or other vvhich hee hath seene One vvill tell you of an Evve that brought foorth a Lyon vvhich as Elian sayeth happened in the Countrey of the Coosians in the time of the tiranny of Nicippus Another vvill tell you of a Sovve that farowed a Pygge resembling an Elephant vvhich happened not long since in this Tovvne vvherein vvee dwell so that euery one will tell you a new thing and for my part I will not beleeue but that they are true because we see euery day new secrets of nature discouered the world is so great that we cannot knowe in the one part what is done in the other If it were not for this it were vnpossible to write the number of them neither were any booke how great so euer able to containe them But for the proofe of the rest I will tell you of one strange people found out in the world Mine author is Iohanes Bohemus a Dutch man in his booke entituled the manners and customes of all Nations who though he declareth not the time wherein it happened nor what the person was that found them out yet he writeth it so familierly that it seemeth he was some man meruailous well knowne in his Country but because you shall not thinke that I enhaunce the matter with wordes of mine owne I will repeate those selfe same which he vsed in the which haue patience if I be somwhat long Iambolo sayth he a man from his childhood wel brought vp after that his Father died vsed the trade of Merchandize who voyaging towards Arabia to buy spices and costly perfumes the ship wherein he went was taken by certaine Rouers which made him with another of the prisoners Cow-heard and keeper of their cattell with which as he went one morning to the pasture hee and his companion were taken by certaine Aethiopians and caried into Aethiopia to a Citty situate on the Sea whose custome was from long and auncient time to cleanse that place and others of the Country there abouts according to the aunswere of an Oracle of theirs in sending at certaine seasons two men beeing strangers to the Iland which they call Fortunat whose enhabitants liue in great and blessed happines If these two went thither and returned againe it prognosticated to that Country great felicity but if they returned through feare of the long way or tempest of the Sea many troubles should happen to that Country and those which so returned were slaine and torne in peeces The Aethiopians had a little boate fit for two men to rule into the which they put victuals enough for sixe moneths beseeching them with all instance to direct the Provv of their boate according to the commaundement of the Oracle towards the South to the end they might arriue in that Iland where those fortunate men liued promising them great rewardes if after theyr arriuall they returned backe threatning to pull them in peeces if they should before through feare returne to any coast of that Country because theyr feare should be the occasion of many miseries to that Land and as in so returning they should shewe themselues most wicked and cruell so should they at theyr hands expect all crueltie possible to bee imagined Iambolo and his companion beeing put into the boate with these conditions the Ethiopians remained on the shore celebrating theyr holie ceremonies and inuoking theyr Gods to guide prosperously thys little ship and to graunt it after the voyage finished safe returne Who sayling continuallie 4. months passing many dangerous tempests at last wearied with so discomfortable a voyage arriued at the Iland wherto they were directed which was round and in compasse about 5000. stadyes approching to the shore some of the inhabitants came to receiue them in a little Skiffe others stoode on the shoare wondering at the strangenes of theyr habite and attyre but in fine all receiued them most curteously communicating with thē such thinges as they had The men of this Iland are not in body and manners like vnto ours though in forme and figure they resemble vs for they are foure cubites higher and theyr boanes are like sinewes which they double writhe each way they are passing nimble and withall so strong that whatsoeuer they take in theyr handes there is no possible force able to take it from them They are hairie but the same is so polished and delicate that not so much as any one haire standeth out of order Theyr faces most beautifull theyr bodies well featured the entry of theyr eares far larger then ours The chiefest thing wherein they differ from vs is theyr tongues which haue a singuler particularitie giuen thē
taken in such extremety as you take them for though it be said the superior part yet therby is not meant the vtmost thereof neither is that which we call the superior part with out a difference and distance between the beginning the end the which thogh it be in the midle temperat yet the end being neer to the fire participating with the heat of the Sun wanteth that temprature that which S. Thomas saith is to be vnderstood that if Paradise be in the region where the clowds be engendred it cannot be in a place temperate neither if it reach vnto the vppermost of the superior part of the pure aire by reason of the great heat drines of the fiery element But these are matters spoken at randon without euer beeing seen or verified and therfore euery one thinketh iudgeth that which in his own fancie he imagineth to agree with reason For no man is able to doe that which Lucian in his Dialogues writ of Icarus the which with artificiall wings flewe vp into the ayre Leauing therfore fables I say that the common opinion of all men is that Paradise is seated in the oryent in a country or region abounding in delights so writeth Suidas a greeke Author whose words are these Paradise saith he is in the East the seat therof is higher then all the other earth it enioyeth a temprature pure in al perfection an ayre most delicate cleere the trees therof flourish in perpetuall greenenesse laden vvith flowers and fruites a place full of all solace and sweetnes and of such beauty and goodlines that it passeth all humaine imagination Conciliador and Scotus are of the same opinion and these are the words of S. Thomas him selfe Wheresoeuer wee beleeue Paradice to be it must be so that it be in a place very temperate be it vnder the Aequinoctial or in what other part so euer To this purpose Caelius Rodiginus applieth that of Arryanus a Greeke Historiographer to whom they attribute so much credit that they call him the very searcher of verities who sayeth that Hanno a famous and renouned Cartagenian Captaine parting with an Army from the pillers of Hercules where the Citty of Calyz is forward into the Ocean leauing Lybia Affrica on the left hand sayling towards the West and afterwards turning his course towards the South suffered by the way many and great impediments discommodities for besides the great feruentnes of the hot starres as if it had beene in the part of a burnt vvorld they began to want water or if they found any it was such as they could not drinke they heard terrible thunders without ceasing their eyes were blinded with continuall flashes of lightning and it seemed that there fell from heauen great flakes of flaming fire so that they were forced to returne Some think that this Nauie went very neere the Aequinoctial but Caelius aleadgeth it speaking of Paradice saying that all these were tokens of Paradice beeing neere there abouts according to that of Genesis where he sayeth that God placed before the gate thereof a Cherubin with a sword of fire which turned about on all sides to the end that he should suffer no man to enter into that place But I rather beleeue that Hanno with this Nauy came to be vnder the Torrida Zona at such time as the heate thereof caused these effects making him returne so astonished whereas if he had stayed perchaunce hee should haue found both time and place to passe forward as it happened at the first to Colona who going to discouer the Indies found him selfe vnder the same Zone where the vveather waxing calme his ships were detained two or three daies without any hope euer to come foorth or to saue their liues but afterwards a gentle gale arising they passed forth without any danger and now since diuers passe thereby daily in their Nauigations but all these are imaginations of contemplatiue men seeking to sift out the truth There are some also that affirme Paradise to be in that part where God when he framed the world began the first moouing of the heauens which they call the right hande of the worlde and the best part thereof This is alleaged by Nicholaus de Lyra bringing for his Author Iohan. de Pechan in a treatise which he wrote of the Sphaere though the more generall opinion be that the motion of the heauens tooke not theyr beginning in any one particuler place but that they began to moue ioyntly as they nowe doe There want not also that affirme the whole worlde in which wee dwell to be Terrestriall Paradise who grounde them selues in saying that the foure Riuers which the holy Scripture saith come out of Paradise issue out of diuers and distant partes of the earth which cannot otherwise be verified vnlesse we will grant the whole earth to be Paradise but I woulde aske of these men when the Angell by the commaundement of God draue Adam and Eue out of Paradise whether they went for according to this opinion they should haue gone into some other part out of the world As for their obiection of the foure Riuers you shall heereafter vnderstand it when we fall into discourse of them BER If it please you you may well declare it now seeing you haue satisfied vs with such opinions as are held touching the seate of Paradice AN. One onely remaineth contrary to all the rest maintained by Caetanus and after him by Augustinus Stechius Eugubinus a late Doctor that wrote learnedly highly vpon the Genesis who declaring the wordes of Moises which sayeth God had planted Paradice in Heden prooueth that though this word Heden being interpreted signifieth delights yet in that passage it is not to be vnderstoode for other then the proper name of the Prouince or Country so called where Paradice was planted the which he proueth by strong and sufficient arguments and reasons the first hee gathereth out of the fourth Chapter of Genesis where it is written Cain flying forth went and enhabited the orientall stripe of Heden And out of the 27. of Ezechiel where he reckoneth vp many people diuers Nations that handled trafficked with the citty of Tyre saying that there came also thither people out of the Countries of Charam Chene Heden yet Caeton thinketh that Heden in this authority is not the place where terestrial Paradise was but the name only of a particuler Citty But following the opinion of Eugubinus we may gather that the Country where earthly Paradise was planted was inhabited that neere vnto it were peoples Nations therfore God placed the Cherubin there with the turning fiery sword to the end he should not let enter there-into any person liuing for if Paradise had been thē vnknown as now it is to al men what need had there beene of an Angell to gard it when no man knew where it stoode nor which way to come vnto it Besides it
may be gathered that put the case that Paradise stood towards any part of the East yet could not the same be far off frō the Citties of Ierusalem Tyre because he nameth iointly together Charam Heden being a thing most manifest that Charam is a Prouince in Chaldae or Mesopotamia which appeareth by the words of Genesis saying God took thē out of Vra Prouince of the Chaldaeans that they might go to Canaan they cam euen to Charam these are euident reasons to proue that Paradise stood in that Coūtry that if as yet it be it standeth there it maketh the better with this opinion because the two Riuers Tygris Euphrates bath and water that Prouince Besides we may suppose that the Arke of Noe during the 40. dayes of the flood while it floted vpō the water being so great huge built so monstrous as appeareth by the holy scripture to no other end then that it should not sink made no very long voyage which staying setling it selfe on the mountaines of Armenia is a token that Noes biding was not farre from thence of the other side it is certaine that his habitation was not far off from that part where Paradice was which by consequence could not be farre off from Armenia vpon which these prouinces before rehearsed doe border and that the Country where Paradice stood was enhabited appeareth by these words of S. Chrisostome Before the flood saith he men knew the place where Paradice stood the way to goe vnto the same But after the deluge they found thēselues out of the knowledge thereof neyther could Noe or any of his Successors remēber or find out the place where it had beene And seeing that Chrisostom saith that it was neuer afterwards knowne neither can we know if it still remained or if it were dissolued for standing in part where notice might haue been had thereof LV. Indeed if Paradice should be in a place so neere vnto vs how were it possible that no man should haue knowledge thereof or at the least of the place where it might stand AN. To this answereth Eugubinus that granting his former opiniō to be true or that Paradice was planted in a flat ground or at least not so high as other Doctors affirme then certainly it was destroyed by the waters of the flood God through our offences not permitting a thing so notable of so great perfection to remaine amongst vs in the world LV. It seemeth not vnto me that Eugubinus hath reason to gainsay the opinion of so many Doctors agreeing all in one Strabo being both a Historiographer and a Diuine writeth that the sword with which God placed the Seraphin at the gate of Paradice was called Versatilis which is as much to say as turning because it could turn back as it did when it gaue place of entry to Elias Enoch though the same be otherwise vnderstood of Nicolaus de Lyra who saith that Torrida Zona is the firy sword which the Seraphin held whose exceeding furious heate defended that passage frō all men liuing But this is out of date seeing the industry of this our age hath found the same to be passable BE. I dare not determinatly affirme whether Elias cam out of terestrial Paradice or any other place when he was speaking with Christ at his transfiguration for it is generally held as a thing most certain indubitable that Elias where so euer he be is in body and soule AN. Truly there are for the maintenance of each of these opinions so many reasons that it is best not to trouble our wits withall but to leaue the censure of thē to wiser men greater Doctors then we are only one thing remaineth the which truly if it were in my power I would not permit that so many fables shold be set forth divulged as there are as that which is written in the life of S. Amasus that hee stoode so many yeeres at the gates thereof and also in a treatise of S. Patricks Purgatory where it is written that a Gentleman entring in passed through the same into earthly Paradice for in such matters no man ought to be so hardy as to affirme any thing but that which is knowne to be true and approoued LV. In good sooth you haue great reason but now seeing you haue sayde as much as may be about the situation of Paradice goe forward with that of the Riuers which come from thence a matter vnlesse I be deceaued of no lesse difficulty then the before rehearsed AN. I assure you it is such that I should haue been glad if you had ouerslipped it doubting least I shall be vnable to satisfie your expectation for as Eugubinus sayeth there is so great and so intricate a difficulty heerein that he is hardly able to vnwinde him selfe there out whom of force in this matter I must follow for as for the other Authors which write heereof it seemeth that they stay at the halfe carere without reaching to the end of the course To begin therefore it is sayd in Genesis that there issued a Riuer out of Paradice deuiding it selfe into foure parts the which were Gion Fison Tygris and Euphrates But seeing the difficulty of the seate and place of paradice cannot clearely be determined much lesse can this be of the foure Riuers which issue thence especially knowing at this present that their Springs and risings are in diuers different parts of the world yet for all this sifting and bolting out the truth we will approach as neere it as we may This Riuer which deuided it selfe into foure first issued out of the place of delights which was according to Eugubinus the Prouince of Heden and from thence entered to inundate Paradice whence comming forth it made this deuision It is manifest that the first part therof called Gion is the same which we now call Ganges for this is it which watreth the land of Heuylath The second Riuer Fyson is without all doubt that which wee now call Nilus seeing there is no other which watereth and compasseth about the Land of Aethiopia as the text it selfe sayeth As for Tygris Euphrates they retaine yet their selfe same first names and runne along the Country of the Assirians and of these two last it may be sayde that they rise or at the least that the first Land which they water is the same which according to that before alleaged may be called the prouince of Heden BER These two Riuers are by all Cosmographers described to haue their risings in the Mountaine Taurus in Armenia and it is true that they vvater the prouince of the Assirians but theyr rysing and beginning is farre from thence as saith Strabo by these words Euphrates and Tygris rise in the Mountaine Taurus and compassing about Mesapotamia ioyne themselues together by Babylon and from thence goe to enter into the Persian Sea the spring of Euphrates is on the North side of
night at last the dawning of the day began to appeare the student saw before him a goodly countrey ful of gardens plesant trees not far of a very great citty asking of his companion what countrie and cittie the same was hee made him aunswere that they were within the precincts of Granada and that the same was the Cittie vvhich they saw before them instantly desiring him in recompence of his easie voyage not to vtter this matter of him his horse to anie man liuing and so tooke his leaue of him bidding him to goe where it pleased him for hee was to take another way The Student after many thankes dispatching himselfe out of his cōpany went to the towne the most amazed man of the world thinking it vnpossible to finish a voyage of so many miles in one night vnlesse there had beene some deuill within the horse as it is most likelie there was BER It is most manifest that this could not be without the work of the deuill and I will recite vnto you another the like which a most substantiall friende of mine a man of verie good reputation told mee was most certaine and true and it hapned on the selfe same way of Granada to his father which in companie of another of his friendes going homewardes hauing parted from Valladolid and past the Towne of Olmedo met by the way with a stranger who told him that hee was also to goe the same way and that if it pleased them he would be glad to beare them company with which they beeing very well contented rode on together entertayning them selues with diuers kindes of discourses and pastimes till hauing ridden eight or nine miles theyr newe companion perswaded them to light downe in a greene Medow by the high way side which was to the eye very greene and pleasant and there spreading a great cloake which he ware drew out of his Budget prouision to eate and so did the others also and sate themselues all downe vpon the cloake and two of theyr Lacquaies with them and the newe commer would needs haue theyr horses also sette theyr feete vpon the same great cloake of his and so breaking theyr fast with great leysure and deuising of sundry things such as best pleased them after they had sitten a good space without scarcely thinking of their iournie they began to make hast to get a horsebake but theyr nevve companion byd them take leysure for they shoulde come in good time to Granada shewing them with his finger the citty not aboue a quarter of a league from thence bidding them thanke his cloake requesting them withall not to vtter this to any man which they promised him not without singuler astonishment vpon which he tooke his leaue of them departing by a contrary way LU. Truly eyther of both these things heere rehearsed are passing strange but if as you say the deuils lost not their nature though they lost grace then is the power and force which they haue if they be in liberty not restrained like vnto that of the good Angels and so as the Angell carried by the haire the Prophet Abacuck out of Iury into the denne of Lyons which was in Babilon where Daniel was might the deuill likewise carry in an houre these men so great a way as is betwixt Olmedo and Granada and in this manner doe I thinke that they carry those men and women whom wee call Sorcerers and Hags whether they will themselues AN. This is a lynage and kinde of people which are expresly agreed and accorded with the deuill holding and obeying him as their soueraigne Prince and Maister and suffering thēselues to be marked of him as his slaues which mark some say they beare in one of their eyes fashioned like a Toades foote by which they know and haue notice one of another for they haue amongst themselues great companies and fraternities making often generall meetings together at which times they pollute themselues with all filthines in accomplishing most abhominable villanies brutish lusts and infernall ceremonies and alwayes when so euer they meete so together they doe lowly homage and reuerence to the deuill who most cōmonly appeareth to them in the figure of a great Ram-goate where the wicked hellish abhominations that they commit are such that they are not to be vttered I will therefore onely tell you one which was told me for a matter most assured and approued by infinite testimonies and informations that were taken thereof which was thus A certaine man well learned and very discreete suspected vehemently a neighbour of his to be a Sorcerer and through the great desire he had to be assured thereof began to vse conuersation and to enter in a great league of familiarity and friendshippe with him couering so finely his dissimulation that the other assuring him selfe of his secrecie discouered him selfe vnto him with great instance perswading him also to enter into their society in which doing he should enioy all the pleasures delights and contentments of the world who faining himselfe to be very desirous of the same it was agreed betweene them that at the next assembly of theirs hee should goe to make his couenant and confederation with the deuill putting himselfe vnder his baner and protection The day assigned being come and gone after it was darke night the Sorcerer tooke the learned man out of the Towne and carried him along certaine valleyes and thickets in which to his iudgment he had neuer beene before though hee knew the Countrey round about very well and in short space hee thought that they had gone very farre comming at last into a plaine field enclosed round about with mountaines where he saw a great number of people men and women that went vp and downe in great mirth who all receaued him with great feast gladnes giuing him many thankes for that it had pleased him to become a member of their society assuring him that there was no greater happines in the world then that which he should enioy In midst of this field was a throne built very sumptuously on which stoode a great filthy Ram-goate to whom at a certaine houre of the night they all went to do reuerence and going vp certain degrees one after another they kist him in the foulest part behind The learned man seeing an abhomination so great though hee were by his companion thoroughly instructed how he should behaue himselfe could no longer haue patience but began to call vnto God at which very instant there came such a terrible thunder and tempest as though heauen and earth should haue gone together in such sort that he became for a time through great astonishment sencelesse and without all iudgement and vnderstanding in which sort he knew not himselfe how long he continued but when hee came to himselfe it was broade day and hee found himselfe amongst certaine rough mountaines so brused and crushed as though hee had scarcely any one sound bone in
must haue the same encrease and decrease for the selfe same cause and reason as is of the other side and if the same goe lengthning on inwards it must be greater then it hath seemed vnto vs. AN. Whether this land extend it selfe on the other side of the North forward or whether the Sea be straight at hande I cannot resolue you for there is not any Author that writeth it neither do I thinke is there any that knoweth it the cause wherof as I said is that in passing by the coast of the West beyond the Iles of Thule the coldes are so bitterly sharpe that no ship dareth to aduenture farder by reason of the huge floting Rockes and flakes of Ise vvhich encomber that Sea threatning eminent danger and vnauoydable destruction to those that attempt to saile thereinto Of the other side of the East giuing a turne about to the very same North is discouered so far as the Prouince of Aganagora which is the last of all the knowne Countries on that side the Gulfe being past which is called Mare magnum for by land they say it is not to be trauailed by reason of the great Deserts the earth in many places full of Quagmyres with many other inconueniences which Nature seemeth to haue there ordained Some say that earthly Paradise standeth there and that therefore no earthly man in the world hath knowledge thereof but of this we haue before sufficiently entreated with the opinions of those that haue written thereupon Some there are also who write that in this Lande are certaine great mountains amongst the which are enclosed many peoples of India from which they haue no issue nor meanes at all to come out but I rather beleeue this to be a fiction because I find the same confirmed by no graue allowed Authour But howsoeuer it be beyond this Countrey called Aganagora is much vnknowne and vndiscouered Land neyther by sea thence Northward hath there been any nauigation or discouery of which also the extreame cold and the sea cōtinually frozen and choked vp with heapes of Ise may be the cause the feare of which hath hindred men from attempting the discouery therof onely that which we may hereby vnderstand is that there is a most great quantity of Land from the coast which goeth by the west turneth towards the North and that which compasseth about the East and turneth likewise to the North of which till this time there is not anie man that can giue direct notice in midst of all which is that which we intreated of which is vnder the North whose daie and night is reparted into a yeere BER I knowe not in vvhat sort the moderne Geographers doe measure or compasse the world but I know that they say that the whole Rotundity of all the Land and water in the worlde containeth not aboue sixe thousand leagues of which are discouered 4350. reckoning from the Hauen of Hygueras in the Occident or West Indies to Gatigara where the Prouince of Aganagora is cōtayned which is in the Orient so that there are yet to discouer 1650. leagues in discouering of which the ende and vtmost boundes of the Indies shoulde be knowne as well as that of this part of the earth which we inhabite AN. To those that will measure the world in this maner may be answered as a Boy in Seuilla to those that would deuide the conquest thereof between the King of Castile and the King of Portugale who in mockage of theyr folly puld downe his breeches and shewing them his buttocks badde them draw the line there along if they would needes deuide the world in the midst by measure as for those which mesure in such sort the worlde they take but the length of the earth fetching their way by the midst of the Equinoctiall and so the Astronomers and Cosmographers may goe neere the mark reckoning by degrees and giuing to euery degree 16. leagues a halfe a minute of way as they do but though they discouer this yet they can hardly come to discouer the many parts nookes that are of one side and another of the world being so wide that in one corner thereof may lye hydden many thousands of miles and Countries which beeing seene known wold perchance seem to be some new world so lieth this part of which I speake on the coast of the Sea quite without notice or knowledge BER Some will say that the shippe called Victoria which is yet as a thing of admiration in the Bay of Seuilia went round about the world in the voyage which she made of fourteen thousand leagues AN. Though she did compasse the world round about in one part yet it is not said that she compast the same about in all parts which are so many that to thinke onely of them is sufficient to amaze a mans vnderstanding Amongst the rest we neuer heard that the Coast from the West to the East by the way of the North or at least the greater part thereof hath beene compassed about as yet by any ship neither haue we knowledge of any thing at all neither by Sea nor Land nauigating from thence forward LV. If you reade Pomponius Mela in his Chapter of Scithia where he discourseth of this matter you shall finde that he bringeth the authority of Cornelius Nepos alleadging for witnesse Quintus Metellus whom he had heard say that when he was Proconsull of the Gaules the King of Swethland gaue him certaine Indians of whom demanding which way they came into those Countries they aunswered that through the terrible force of a great tempest they were so furiously driuen from the streame of the Indian Sea that after long attending nothing else thē to be swallowed vp of the waues they came at last violently to bee striken into a Riuer on the Coast of Germany which being true then they made that nauigation by those partes which you say are vndiscouered from the West to the East by the way of the North whereby it is to be thought that the Sea is not so frozen as they say but that it is nauigable AN. Truth it is that Mela saith so though it be doubted whether the Indians came this way or no and Mela himselfe in the ende of the Chapter turneth to say that all the same Septentrionall side is hardened with Ice and therefore vninhabitable and desert but as I haue said all this is not directly proued and confirmed by sound experience exact knowledge seeing we know not howe farre the Land extendeth it selfe on the other side of the North without comming to the Sea and if we would seeke to sift this secrete out and aspire to the knowledge of that which might be found in nauigating that Sea fetching a compasse about the world from North to North God knoweth what Lands would be found and discouered BER The likeliest to beleeue in this matter in my iudgement is that the same
him that knoweth not the cause thereof the same being no lesse terrible then the thunder from heauen yea and somtime because it is neerer it seemeth to be more violent the force thereof is such that the Ise sundereth and splitteth in clefts making it vvay and roome to passe espire out thereat at which time those that trauaile thereupon being neere the place where the noise is make as much hast thence as they can fetching a compasse about till they thinke themselues in securitie and then they follow theyr way on forward And though all these Lakes waters thaw by degrees more and more as the Sommer commeth on yet is the Lake Vether in thawing far different frō the rest for it seemeth to haue in the bottome thereof some secrete and hidden property hard to be vnderstood because the water beginning to boyle and bubble beneath in making like noise as doth a Cauldron of skalding water seething ouer a hote Furnace in very little space mounteth vpward breaketh the Ise how strong thicke or hard soeuer it be and that into such little peeces that many times those whose hap it is to be in that instant trauailing vpon the same doe saue themselues vpon one of them as vpon a plank where they perrish if they be not presently succoured with Boates which vsuallie accustome to be in readines to helpe and assist those that are in danger at such time as the breaking of the Ise is suspected to be at hande And once it happened that a Gentleman of very principall calling and reputation with fiue or sixe of his Seruaunts all on horsebacke trauailed vpon this Lake towards a towne in the Iland and at the very same time somewhat far from them vpon the same Lake was going a labouring man driuing before him certaine beastes who beeing borne there-abouts and knowing by long experience the propertie and manner of the Lake at that instant hearing it beginne to murmure and bubble beneath leauing his beasts betooke him to his heeles and ran with all his might towards the shoare which was about halfe a league of The Gentleman and his seruaunts being a good space farder inwards vpon the Lake imagined the poore man to be some theefe that had stolne this Cattell and the cause of his running away to be the feare he had of being discouered by him and his company and therefore putting spurres to their horses galopt after him as fast as they coulde to take him But the Labourers extreame feare made him so swift that they coulde not ouertake him till he was of from the Lake and vppon the firme Land where laying hands vpon him and demaunding him why he ran in such sort away leauing his Cattell behind him The poore Labourer beeing tyred with running was scarse able to make them answere but after hee had paused awhile and recouered his breath he prayed them to haue a little patience and though he told them not they should themselues see the cause why Whereupon presently of a suddaine the water bubled vp the Ise speeted in small peeces the beasts in sight of them all fell into the water and were drowned at which the husbandman laughing I had rather qd hee that they were drowned then I and thys was the cause of my running because fore-seeing by assured signes the breaking of the Ise and hauing no space to saue them I did the best I could to saue my selfe The Gentleman beeing a stranger in those parts hearing this tale with amazement thinking thys preseruation of him his to proceede of Gods diuine goodnes gaue thankes and prayse vnto his holie Name and withall knowing the Labourer to be an instrument and meane of sauing his life tooke him along with him not onely paying him for the Cattel which he had lost but also recompencing him with many other large rewards to his great contentment and bettering of his estate LV. By diuers meanes doth God preserue his seruaunts and I warrant you this Gentleman was one that feared GOD seeing it pleased him by fo strange a meane to deliuer him frō that danger in which he had otherwise perrished BER The nature of this Lake is wonderfull strange aboue mans capacitie which being but a moment before able to beare and sustaine a whole Army should so in an instant be dissolued broken But leauing thys the cold must of necessitie in my iudgement be there most extreamely sharp vehement rigorous seeing it causeth an Ise of such incredible strength and thicknes AN. Let vs leaue that of the sea which is on the other part or vnder the North commonly called the Frozen-sea remaining so as some doe write the whole yere thorough though as I said before my opinion is that it thaweth at such time of the yere as the sun lyeth beating vpon it with his beames let vs come vnto those Lands and Seas which though we call Septentrionals yet are neerer vnto vs which are all as you haue heard in a manner enhabited of Christians and are according to the description of the old Cosmographers contained vnder our Europe the cold of which is so sharp pearcing that a man would iudge no humaine flesh able to endure the same But according to the olde Prouerbe Custome is another nature and so those that are accustomed thereunto receaue thereby no domage at all Albertus Kransius in his history of those Countries wryteth in perticuler of some yeeres in which the cold was so excessiue that not onely the Riuers and Lakes were frozen but the Sea also so that no ship could saile thorough the same that they trauailed on horsebacke vpon the Ise frō one countrey to another carrying with them prouision of thinges necessarie fuell also to make fire Neyther was this extreame cold and freezing vpon the Sea-coast onely but also manie thousands of myles inward to the Landwarde and the earth was so hardned and bounde that it yeelded them no fruites vvhereupon there ensued a great dearth and mortalitie principally among theyr Cattell for want of fodder The dailie encrease of this cold and Ise continued so long that they built vppon the Sea on such places as men vsually trauayled by Innes and Tauerns with all necessary prouisions both to eate by day and to rest by night as well for man as horse a matter scarcely credible LVD I knowe not why any man should be so fond as to trauaile vpon the Sea in such danger and penury of commodities as of necessity they must endure especially hauing meanes to goe by Land with greater securitie and more prouision of necessaries AN. This may be easily answered for the way by Sea cannot chuse but be farre neerer in cutting straight ouer and lesse painefull as being without Hilles Valleys Quagmires or compasses about Neyther is it to be imagined that they want by the way commodity of things necessary vvhich for gaine are brought thether most aboundantly from all sides at such times
present at a spectacle so fearefull horrible cruell And if this Monster were not in such a desert place farre of from those parts which are by the people enhabited hee were able to dispeople and bring to desolation the vvhole Country for yet as it is those that are neerest liue in great feare and dread of him LVD Truly I remember not that euer I heard of a more terrible and cruell Serpent and therefore I much wonder why the people of that Countrey doe not seeke some remedy to deliuer themselues of so miserable a feare and scourge as he is vnto theÌ„ AN. Neuer thinke but that they haue done their best though perchance it hath little auailed them BE. Their only remedy must come froÌ„ God which is that time shal end his life to doe which the force of man suffiseth not As for my part I wonder not at all that there should be a serpent so great fierce as this is for both Plinie Strabo alleaging Megasthenes write of Serpents in India which are so great that they deuoure a Stag or an Oxe whole in at once Pliny also by authoritie of Metrodorê° saith that there are some so huge that they reach the birdes which flie in the ayre in time of the Emperor Regulus there was one found about the shores of the Riuer Bragada 120. foote long to destroy which there was a whole Army of men sette in order as though they had gone to assault a mightie Citty AN. But nowe turning to our former discourse I say it is a thing strange and meruailous that in so great an extremity of cold as that of the North there should breede so many venemous Serpents the number of which is so great that the people is with them miserably afflicted especially the Sheepheards whose trade of life being most in the open field meet with them oftenest and therfore they neuer goe vnprouided of necessary remedies to apply presently when neede requireth But being wearied with matter so full of contagion and poyson I will passe forward and come vnto their trees whose kinds and qualities are diuers rowing in that extreamity of cold Snow and Ice to such an exceeding height and greatnes that there are no better found in the world to make ships and maine masts of then they are But seeing they are smally different from ours I will spend no time in describing theyr particularities onely I will tell you of one called Betulnye which is in growth very great and tall and all the yeere long continually greene without casting his leafe for which cause of the common people he is called the holy Tree not vnderstanding his vertue and property which is so hote that in despite of the cold hee retaineth alwayes his greenenes and verdure so that many Serpents make their nests and dens vnder his rootes through the warmenesse and heate of the which they defend themselues against the rigorous sharpnes of the colde which all the other trees not enduring as they shoote forth their leaues fruites in the Sommer so shed they them againe in the Winter returning to their naked barenes The like also doe all their hearbes and plants of which many are such as we haue commonly heere and many farre different of vs neither knowne nor vsed BER I am of opinion that in these Lands there are generally all such kinds of thinges as are in others excepting alwayes the difference of the soyles the quality of which maketh some better some worse and of greater and lesser vertue in their kinds and operations But let vs detaine our selues no longer about thinges of so small importance I pray you therefore tell vs if that be true of which we reasoned the other day that is if all these Prouinces and Lands are enhabited of Christians for if it be so I wonder we should haue heere no more particular knowledge and notice of a matter so important AN. Make no doubt at all of that which I haue tolde you for all those of the Kingdome of Norway which is very great and contayneth many mighty Prouinces and those of Dacia Bothnia Elfinguia Laponia Lituania Escamia Filandia Escandia Gronland Island Gothland Westgothland Swethland Sueue and Denmarke with many other Septentrionall Regions and Prouinces euen to the Hiperbores amongst which also are sundry of those that the great Duke of Muscouia and Emperour of the Russians possesseth all these I say are vnder the banner and fayth of our Sauiour Iesus Christ though differently For some follow the Church of Rome others obserue the ceremonies of the Greek church cleauing wholy there-vnto others of them followe the Catholique Church but ioyntly there-withall certaine errors that are there spread abroade LV. But leauing this till an other time and returning to our former purpose I pray you tell me if the Emperour of Russia be so great a Monarch as heere it is sayd he is AN. No doubt but he is so great and mighty that there are fewe or no Princes of Christendome besides equall vnto him in gouernment and signeury of manie Kingdomes Prouinces Lands and Countries as partly may be vnderstoode by his tytles in a Letter which he wrote to Pope Clement the seauenth the beginning of which was as followeth The great Lord Basilius by the grace of God Emperour and Lord of all Russia great Duke of Blodemaria of Muscouia of Nouogradia of Plescouia of Finolenia of Yfferia of Iugoria of Perminea of Verchia of Valgaria Lord and great Prince of the neather Nonogradia of Cernigonia of Razania of Volothecia of Rozeuia of Belchia of Boschouia of Iraslauia of Beloceria of Vdoria of Obdoria of Condinia c. This Letter was written in the Citty of Muscouia which is his principall seate and from which the whole Country taketh his name in the yeere of our Lorde 1537. LU. Are all these Kingdomes Lands and Prouinces which you haue named enhabited with Christians AN. It is to be supposed that they are though I cannot affirme the same for a certainty for perchaunce hee hath gotten some of them by conquest the people of which may yet remaine in their idolatry as for the law of Mahomet it is there of small force Yet for all this this Duke or Emperour or what you list to call him being so mighty a Prince as he is there is notwithstanding a Prouince and Nation of people called Finnes which liue in a manner vnder the Pole so valiant and stoute in Armes that they hold him at a bay yea and sometimes enter into his Country with fire and sword making great conquests vppon him BER So that the neerest Nation to them that liue vnder the North-pole is that of the Russians Muscouites AN. You say true it is so indeede of one side marry on the other side is Bothnia Fynland and some others which are vnder the very Pole but on that side of Russia and Muscouia the old Cosmographers for far that they went reached not
beyond the same and in all their Maps Cards if you mark them wel they set them vtmost next the North or if they doe set any other it is without name But the Modernes as I haue said goe farther describing Countries both of one side the other yet for all that as I vnderstand there is a great part of the world there-abouts as yet vndiscouered as well in the higher Biarmia which is on the other side of the Pole as in the Land which extendeth it self towards the west wheeling fetching a compasse about to the Septentrion from thence againe pointing vp towards the East which way these Muscouites trauaile with their merchandize passing out of their owne bounds among the Tartarians The principall wares they carry are Furres of sundry sorts of which some are very precious These Muscouits are a crafty people cautelous deceitful of smal honor in maintaining their word promise but aboue all other most cruel Albertus Krantzius writeth that an Embassador being sent out of Italy to the duke of Muscouia was by him cōmanded to be put to death because at the time of doing his Embassage he kept his head couered but the pore Embassador aleaging the custom of his country the preheminence of Embassadors § were sent frō mighty Princes the tirant answered him that as for him he meant not to abollish so goodly an vsage to cōfirme the which he caused presently his hatte to be nailed fast to his head with mighty long yron nailes so that he fell downe dead in the place LU. Seeing you giue so good notice of these Northerne Lands I pray you tell me what Countries or Prouinces those are which are of late discouered and with which our Merchants doe traffique and conuerse as that which they call Tierra del Labrador the Land of Bacallaos and another Country thereby latelier found out whence commeth such aboundance of fish AN. To tell you truth I know not my selfe but that which I imagine and holde for certaine is that they are some parts or corners in the Sea of those Septentrionall Prouinces of which wee haue spoken which those that goe hence through ignorance doe terme by new names As for Tierra del Labrador it is not yet throughly discouered whither it be firme Land marry the most part and to which I giue greatest credite affirme that is an Iland The same beeing so farre Westward that by all likelihood the Septentrional people had little knowledge thereof Those which haue beene there say that the enhabitants doe liue after a barbarous and sauage manner But in fine you must vnderstand that it is in a manner vnpossible throughly and exactly to know the distinct particularity of the Regions that are in those parts not so much for the impossibility of discouering them as for the diuersity of the names of the Prouinces Countries Kingdomes Ilands Hils and Riuers which are euery day changed and diuersly in different names termed by such seuerall Nations as finde them whose languages differing each of them speaketh and writeth of them by such names as they themselues haue imposed vnto them insomuch that sometimes when we speake all of one Country yet through the diuersity of names we imagine the one to be distant from the other many miles And hence commeth so great a confusion that though we know these Countries to be amongst those North and West Regions of which we haue spoken yet we vnderstand not which of them they are and in like maner of those of the East For as some Cosmographers giue them one name and some another those that come after them interpret thereof euery one as he pleaseth yea and many times differ in the very principall poynts and of this is the varietie of the worlde cause for euen as euery yeere the trees plants and hearbes sprout forth in one season their leaues and fruites in another do fade wither and decay and then the next yeere renewe againe and euen as of men one dies and another is borne and the like of all other worldly creatures beastes fowles and fishes so doth it happen and fall out in the verie names of things which with time also doe change alter and loose their selues leauing one and taking another Take for example the olde Cosmographers which doe most particularly entreate of Spayne the Prouinces Citties and particularities thereof as Ptolome and Plinie and you shall not find sixe names conforming and agreeing to those which we now vse and perchance within a thousand yeeres if the world last so long they will haue lost these which they nowe haue and taken others For without doubt as the worlde hath such an vnstable varying so it will not leese the same vntill it come to be ended and dissolued Neither onely in this but in the Languages also I warrant you there will be in tract of time such alteration and change For though at this present it seemeth that we speake in Castile the most pure and polished speech that may be yet those that shall come some space of yeeres after vs will speake the same so differently that such things as are written in this our time will seeme vnto them as barbarous as doth vnto vs the olde prose which we finde in stories of auncient time For there is no thirtie or forty yeres but there are diuers and sundry words worne out of vse and forsaken and others new inuented and had in price vvhich though they be not good yet vse maketh them to seeme so as in all other things it vsually happeneth that onelie custome is sufficient to make that which is euill seeme good and that which is good seeme euill BER There is nothing more true and manifest then this which you say But returning to our former discourse I pray you make mee vnderstande if those which doe border next vpon the frontires of these Septentrionall Lands that doe professe the faith of Christ are Idolaters or no for if they be so in my iudgement it were an easie matter the grossenes of their beleefe cōsidered to perswade and conuert them to the Christian fayth AN. You haue great reason for in truth they are with farre greater facilitie conuerted then the other Countries that are infected poysoned with the false and damnable sect of Mahomet and so Henry King of Swetheland and Henry Bishop of Vpsala being moued with a godly charitable and vertuous zeale to extend and amplifie the Christian religion in those parts vsed such diligence that they conuerted thereunto the Prouince of Finland which is the fardest that is knowen Northward and where the dayes and nights doe each of them endure full sixe months apeece the enhabitants of which are prooued so good Christians and people of so great charitie and hospitalitie that the chiefest exercise wherein they busie and employ themselues is in dooing good workes the like also as I sayd doe those of Bothnia who haue in euery parrish a Priest as