the other cities did stand neare vnto Iordan and to the Mare mortuum for the destruction of whome all that coast to this day is a witnes the earth smelling of brimstone being desolate and yeelding no fruite sauing apples and such which growing with a faire shewe to the eye lyke other fruite assone as they are touched turne presently to ashes as besides Iosephus Solinus doth witnes The land of Palaestina had for inhabitants all the twelue tribes of Israell which were vnder one kingdome till the time of Rehoboam the sonne of Salomon But then were they deuided into two kingdomes ten tribes being called Israel and two being called Iuda whose chiefe Citie was called Ierusalem Then the tribes after much Idolatrie were caried prisoners into Assyria and the kingdome dissolued other people being placed in their roome in Samaria and the countrie adioyning The other two tribes were properly called the Iewes their land Iudaea which continued long after in Ierusalem and thereabout till the captiuitie of Babylon where they liued for 70. yeares They were afterward restored but liued without glory till the comming of Christ But since his time for a curse vpon them and their children for putting Christ to death they are scattered vpon the face of the earth as runnagates without certaine countrie King Priest or Prophet In their chiefe Citie Ierusalem was the Temple of God first most gloriously built by Salomon and afterwarde destroyed by Nabuchadnezzer By the commaundement of Cyrus King of Persia was a second Temple built much more base then the former for besides the pouertie and smalnesse of it there wanted fiue thinges which were in the former as the Iewes write First the Arke of the couenant Secondly the pot of Manna Thirdly the rod of Aron Fourthly the two tables of the lawe written by the finger of God and fiftly the fire for the sacrifice which came downe from heauen Herod the great an Edomite stranger hauing gotten the kingdome contrary to the lawe of Moses and knowing the people to be offended therewithall to procure their fauour did build a third Temple much more glorious then the second which was that Temple wherein our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles did teach The Citie of Ierusalem was twise taken and vtterly laid desolate first by Nabuchadnezzer at the captiuitie of Babylon and secondly after the death of Christ by Vespatian the Romaine who first began the siege and by his sonne Titus who was afterward Emperour of Rome who brought such horrible desolation on that Citie and the people thereof by sire sworde and famine that the lyke hath not bin read in any historie He did afterward put thousands of them on some one day to be deuoured by the beastes which was a cruell custome of the Romaine magnificence After this destruction the land of Iudaea and the ruines of Ierusalem were possessed by some of the people adioyning till that aboute 600. yeares since the Sarazens did inuade it for the expelling of whome from thence diuers Frenchmen and other Christians vnder the leading of Godfrey of Bullen did assemble themselues thinking it a great shame that the Holy land as they called it the Citie of Ierusalem and the place of the sepulchre of Christ should be in the hands of the Infidels This Godfrey ruled in Ierusalem by the name of a Duke but his successors after him for the space of sixe score yeares called themselues Kings of Ierusalem aboute which time Saladine who called himselfe King of Aegypt and Asia the lesse did win it from the Ch istians for the recouery whereof Richard the first King of England together with the French King and the King of Cicilia did goe in person with their armies to Ierusalem but although they wonne many thinges from the infidels yet the ende was that the Sarazens did retaine the Holy land The whole countrie and citie of Ierusalem are now in the dominion of the Turke who notwithstanding for a great tribute doeth suffer many Christians to abide there There are therefore nowe two or more monasteries and religious houses where Friers doe abide and make a good commoditie by shewing of the sepulchre of Christ and other monuments vnto such Christian pilgrims as doe vse superstitiously to goe in pilgrimage to the Holy land The King of Spaine calleth himselfe at this day King of Ierusalem De Arabia NExt vnto the Holy land lyeth the great countrie of Arabia hauing on the North-parte Palestina and Mesepotamia on the East the gulfe of Persia on the South the maine Ocean of India or Aethiopia on the West Aegipt and the great bay called Sinus Arabicus or the redde sea This countrie is deuided into three partes the North parte whereof is called Arabia deserta the South parte which is the greatest is named Arabia Foelix and in the middle betweene both which for the aboundance of Rockes and Stones is called Arabia Petrea or Petrosa The deserte of Arabia is that place in which God after the deliuery of the Israelites from Egypt by passing through the red sea did keepe his people vnder Moses for fortie yeares because of their rebellion feeding them in the meane time with Manna from heauen sometime with water miraculously drawne out of drie rockes for the country hath verie little water almost no trees and is vtterly vnfit for tillage or corne There are no townes nor inhabitants in all this desert in Arabia Petrosa are some but not many Arabia Foelix for fruitfulnes of the ground and conuenient standing euerie way towarde the sea is one of the best countries of the world but the principall cause why it is called Foelix is for that it yeeldeth many things in aboundance which in other parts of the world are not to be had as Frankincense especially the most precious balmes myrhe and many other both fruits and spices and it yeeldeth withall store of some precious stones This is that countrie wherein Mahomet wes borne who being of meane parentage was brought vp in his youth in the trade of merchandise but afterward ioyning himselfe with theeues and robbers his life was to rob such marchants as passed through Arabia and to this purpose hauing gotten togither many of his owne countrimen he had afterwardes a whole legion or more out of the Romane souldiours who being offended with Heraclius the Romane Emperour for want of their pay ioined themselues to him so that at length hee had a great armie wherewith hee spoyled the countrie adioyning To maintaine his credit authoritie with his owne men he fained that he had conference with the holy Ghost at such time as he was troubled with the falling sicknes and accordingly he ordained a new religion consisting partly of Iewish ceremonies and partly of Christian doctrine and some other things of his owne inuention that hee might inueagle both Iewes and Christians and yet by his own fancy distinguish his followers from both The booke of his religion is called the Alcoran The people which were his Sectaries
past were called Insulae Baleares for that the people oft then did vse both for their delight and armour Slings which they continually almost carried aboute them And whereunto as Plinie writeth they did traine vp their children from their yoâ—â—â—â—st yeares Not giuing them any meate till they had from some Post or Beame cast it downe with a sling Of these were those Funditories or Sling-casters which the Carthaginians and Spaniards did vse in their warres against the Romanes The lesser of these which lieth most West was called in olde time Minorica and at this day Minorica The bigger which lieth more East was called Maiorica and now Maiorica They are both vnder the dominion of the King of Spaine More Eastward in the sea called Mare Inferum or Tyrrhenum lieth the Iland of Corsica ouer against Genua and direct Southward from thence lyeth the great Iland Sardinia Forthe quiet possessing of which two the warres were oftentimes reuiued betweene the olde Carthaginians and the Romanes For these two Ilands lie in the middle very fitly For both these are also at this day vnder the King of Spaine And were the same which latelie the Cardinall of Lourain would perswade the old king of Nauarre in France that if hee woulde leaue his religion and become a Papist the Spanish king should yeeld him either Sardinia or at the loast Corsica in recompence of Pampilona and the rest of the kingdome of Nauarre which the Spaniards by force did detaine from him Farther yet to the East at the verie poynt of the South-part of Italy lieth the great Iland of Sicilia which some haue supposed to haue beene heretofore a part of the continent but by an earth-quake and inundation of water to haue bin rent off and so made an Ileland The figure of this Country is Triquetra or triangle three-square There was also great contention for the Countrie betweene the Carthaginians and the Romanes but the Romanes obtayned it and had from thence exceeding store of corne yearelie whereupon Cicilie was called Horreum P. Romani Here stoode the goodly citie called Siracusa which was destroyed and sacked by Marcellus the Romane This was in times past a kingdom where the two tyrants the elder and the yonger Dionisius did reigne where Hiero also that great friend to the Romanes did remaine It was afterward made a prouince and gouerned by a Praetor or Deputie of the Romanes whereof Verres was one so inueighed against by Tullie It grew afterwards to be a kingdome againe insomuch that Tancredus was King of Cicilia who went to the taking of Ierusalem with Richard the second king of England Here was likewise Phalaris the tyrant so famous king of Agrigentum This Countrey is now also vnder the King of Spaine who among other titles calleth himselfe king of both the Cicilies reckoning this Iland for one and that part of Italie for another which is nowe called Calabria and was in the Romane hystories named Maegna Graecia There is nothing more renowmed in all Cicilia either with the newe or olde writers then the mountaine Aetna which beeing on the out-side ofteÌ„ couered with snow yet by a sulphurie or brimstonie water doth continuallie burne within yea so that whereas it was supposed in the ages last before vs that the matter beeing consumed the fire had ceased twise in our age it hath broke foorth againe to the intollerable losse of all the Countrie adioyning the ashes thereof destroying townes and fruites which were within the compasse of manie myles about This is that place whither Empedocles threwe himselfe that hee might bee reputed a God This is it whereof Virgill doth make his tract called Aenea which the Poets did report to be the shop of Vulcan where the Cyclops did frame the thunderbolts for Iupiter and to conclude this is it which some of our grosse Papists haue not feared to imagine to be the place of Purgatorie Not farre South from Cicilie lieth the little Iland called in old time Melite whence those dogs come which were so much desired vnder the name of Canes Melitenses This is the countrie where S. Paul was cast vp after his shipwracke in his iourney to Rome where the Viper hanged on his hand and did not hurt him This Countrie is now called Malta and is one of the places most renowmed in the worlde for the repelling of the Turkes when Soliman the Emperour of them did send agaynst it a most mightie armie It was then defended by those who are called the knights of Malta which by sea doe great spoile to the gallies of the Turke that passe that way Neare vnto Graecia and Peloponnesus on the West-side toward Italie is the I le Corcyra nowe tearmed Corfue and not far South from that is Cephalonia and from thence South is Zant called by Virgill Nemorisa Zazinthus all which Ilands haue beene heretofore vnder the Venetians but are now vnder the Turke In Zazinthus our English marchants haue an house of abode for their trafique Southeast from Morea lieth the great Iland Creta where Minos sometime did raigne so famous for his seueritie This countrie was then called Hecatompolis as hauing in it an hundred townes and cities The Turkes haue wonne this also long since from the Venetians it is now called Candie from whence commeth our ordinarie sugar of Candie Betweene Creta and Peloponnesus lieth Cythera where was the fine Temple of Venus who thereof by the Poets is called Cytherea The Ilandes are many which doe lie in the sea called Mare Aegeum from the bottome of Greece vnto the top of the Hellispont as all the Cyclades Euboea the great Iland Samos and Chios so Scyro where Achilles was borne and was king of that countrie There was also Lesbos Lemnos Metilene and Ithaca where Vlisses was king and Andros whether Themistocles was sent by the AtheniaÌ„s for tribute of which places something may be read in the olde historie of the Greekes Diuers of these did striue that Homer was borne in them but of certaintie many of those kinges which Homer saith came with Agamemnon to the siege of Troye were kings but of these small Ilands Eastward from thence not farre from some parte of Natolia or Asia the lesse is the Iland Rhodus the friendship of the inhabitants whereof was in auntient time very much desired by the Princes that had to doe that way So that Alexander first and the Romaines afterwardes did embrace their league Here was that huge and mightie image of the Sunne which was Cholossus Rhodius This countrie was long defended by those who were called the Knightes of the Rhodes against the power of the Turke and it was a great bulwarke to defend Christendome till that in the yeare one thousand fiue hundred twentie and two Solimon the great Turke did winne it from the Christians by force From thence Southward is the I le of Carpathus but in the farther end of the East parte of the Mediterraneum is Cyprus which about 300. yeares since was a kingdome did
prerogatiue of the Bishop of Rome It is thought that they haue retayned christianitie euen from the time of our Sauiour being supposed to bee conuerted by the Chamberlaine of Candace the Queene of Aethiopia who was instructed concerning Christ by Phillip the Euang. in the Actes of the Apostes Euseb in his Ecclesiasticall storie doth make mention of this But they doe to this day retaine Circumcision whereof the reason may be that the Eunuch their conuerter not hauing any further conference with the Apostle nor any else for him did receiue the ceremonies of the Church vnperfectly retaining Circumcision which among the Iewes was not abolished when he had conference with Phillip Within the dominion of Prester Iohn are the mountaines commonly called Lune montes where is the first well-spring and arising of the riuer Nylus which riuer running violently along this countrie and sometimes hastely increasing by the melting of much snow from the mountaines would ouer-run and drowne a great parte of Aegipt but that it is slaked by many ponds dams sluces which are within the dominion of Prester Iohn And in respect hereof for the maintenance of these the Princes of Aegipt haue paid vnto the gouernor of Abissines a great tribute time out of minde which of late the great Turke supposing to bee a custome needelesse did denye till the people of the Abissines by commaundement of their Prince did breake downe their dammes and drowning Aegipt did inforce the Turke to continue his paye and to giue much money for the newe making of them very earnestly to his great charge desiring a peace There be other Countries in Africa as Agisimbae Libiae interior Nubia and other of whome nothing is famous But this may be said of Africa in generall that it bringeth forth store of all sortes of wilde beastes as Elephants Lyons Panthers Tigers and the like yea according to the Prouerbe Africa sempor aliquid apportet noui Oftentimes newe and strange shapes of beastes are brought forth there The reason whereof is that the countrie being hot and full of wildernesses which haue in them little water the beastes of all sortes are inforced to meete at those fewe warring places that be where oftentimes contrarie kindes haue coniunction the one with the other so that there ariseth newe kindes or species which taketh parte of both Such a one is the Leopard begotten of the Lyon and the beast called Dardus somewhat resembling either of them And thus fat of Africa De Insulis septentrionalibus THe Ilands that doe lie in the North are in number almost infinite the chiefe of them onely shall be briefely touched Very farre to the North in the same clymate almost with Sweden that is vnder the very circle arctick lyeth Ireland called in olde time Thule which was then supposed to be the farthest parte of the worlde Northward and and therefore is called by Virgill Vltima Thule the countrie is colde the people barbarous and it yeeldeth little commoditie sauing Hankes in some parte of the yeare there is no night at all Southward from thence lyeth Frizeland called in Latine Frizelandia whereas the Frizeland ioyning to Germanie is in Latine called Frizia On the coast of Germanie one of the seuenteene prouinces is called Zeland which containeth in it diuers Ilandes in whome little is famous sauing that in one of them is Vlishing or Firshing a towne of warre and at Middleburg in an other a place of good marte The States of the Lowe-countries doe holde this prouince vnited against the King of Spaine These Ilands haue bene much troubled of late with inundation of waters The Iland that lyeth most West of any fanie is Ireland which had in it heretofore many kings of their owne but the whole land is now annexed vnto the crowne of England The people naturally rude and superstitious the countrie good and fruitefull but that for want of tillage in diuers pleces they suffer it to growe into bogges and desertes That is true of this countrie which Solmus writeth of some other that serpents and adders doe not breede here and in the Irish timber of certaine experience no spiders webbe is euer founde The most renowned Iland in the worlde is Albion or Britannia which hath heretofore contained in it many seuerall kingdomes but especially in the time of the Saxons It hath now in it the two kingdoms of England and Scotland wherein are forue seuerall languages that is the English which the ciuill Scots doe barbarously speake the Welsh tongue which is the language of the olde Britaines the Cornish which is the proper speech of Cornewall and the Irish which is spoken by those Scots which liue on the West parte of Scotland neare vnto Ireland The commodities of England and pleasures are well knowne vnto vs and many of them may be expressed in this verse Anglia Mons Pons Fons Ecclesia foemina lana This countrie which in olde time was inhabited by the Britaines was entered vpon by the Romaines first vnder Iulius Caesar and was long by them kept in subiection but it was an error in them when they wrote that England would breede nor keepe no Wolfe It was afterwarde ouerrunne and possessed by the Saxons of whome 7. kings at once did raigne here After that the Danes out of Denmarke did inuade it and much molest it And lastly vnder the leading of their Duke William the Normans did conquere it and established that gouernement which to this day doth continue And from whome as from the Conquerour our ordinarie computation is deriued The Scots were in times past a most barbarous people of whome Saint Ierome reporteth that he sawe some of them in his time in France to feede on mans flesh They were neuer wholy conquered by the Romaines There be very many little Ilandes adioyning vnto the great Iland Britanie As at the very North-point of Scotland the Orchades which are in number aboue 30. The chiefe whereof is named Orkney where the people are barbarous On the West-side of Scotland towardes Ireland lye the Ilandes called Hebreides where inhabite the people ordinarily tearmed the Redshankes Not farre from thence is the I le Mona commonly called The I le of Man The peculiar iurisdiction of the Earles of Darbie with homage notwithstanding reserued vnto the crowne of England On the North-part of Wales is the Iland of Anglesey which is reputed a distinct shiere towardes France side on the South part of England is the I le of Wight in Latine called Vectis which is a good holde in the narrowe seas against the French More neare Fraunce are the Iles of Garnesey and Iernesey where they speake French and are vnder the crowne of England There be also many other but of small accompt De Insulis in Mari Mediterraneum THere be many Ilandes in the Mediterran renowmed in the olde writers but the chiefe of them onely shall be touched From the pillers of Hercules going Eastwarde are two Ilands not farre from Spaine which in times