Corn Wine and most delicate fruits and happily enriched with Meadows and most excellent Pastures which yeeld a notable increase of Cheese and Butter And in the Countrey about Sion they discovered in the year 1544 a Fountain of Salt and have also many hot Bathes and medicinall waters very wholsom Of Springs and River-water they are very destitute having scarce any but what they fetch from the Rhosne vvith a great deal both of charge and trouble the common people using snow-water for the most part for domestick uses which made one pleasantly observe that they pay there dearer for their water than they do for their Wine Cattell they have sufficient to serve their turn and amongst others a wild Buck equall to a Stag in bigness footed like a Goat and horned like a fallow Deer leaping with vvonderfull agility from one precipice to another and so not easily caught but in Summer time for then the heat of that season makes him blind It is divided into the Upper and the Lower Wallisland the Upper lying towards the Mountain de Furcken in the very bottom of the Valley and the Lower stretching out to the Town of Saint Maurice which is at the opening of the same the length of both said to be five ordinary daies journey but the bredth not answerable The Upper Wallisland containeth the seven Resorts of 1 Sion or Sedune 2 Leuck 3 Brig 4 Nies 5 Rawren 6 Sider 7 Gombes in which are reckoned thirty Parishes the Lower comprehending the six Resorts of 1 Gurdis 2 Ardoa 3 Sallien 4 Martinacht 5 Jutremont and 6 Saint Maurice in which are 24 Parishes The people in both parts said to be courteous towards strangers but very rough and churlish towards one another The severall Resorts before mentioned are named according to the names of their principall Towns which according to their reckoning are thirteen in number The chief of which are 1 Sedunum Sittim or Sion a Bishops See suffragan to the Metropolitan of Tarentuise the chief of all this little Country of no great beauty in it self but neat and gallant in respect of the Towns about it Situate in a Plain on the River of Rhosne under a Mountain of tvvo tops on the one of which being the lower is seated the Cathedrall Church and the Canons houses and on the other looking downwards with a dreadfull precipice a very strong Castle the dwelling place of the Bishop in the heats of Summer which being built upon an hill of so great an height and of so hazardous an ascent is impossible almost to be took by force the sharpness of the Rocks keeping it from the danger of assaults and the highness of the hill from the reach of Gun-shot 2 Marchinacht by Caesar called Octodurus and Civitas Valensium by Antoninus remarkable for its antiquity only 3 Saint Maurice or Saint Morits antiently Augaunum the Key of the whole Country but in Winter especially vvhen all the other passages are so frozen up that there is no other entrance but by the Bridge at this Town vvhich for that cause is very well manned and fortified to avoyd surprisall and therefore also chosen for the seat of the Governour of the Lower Wallisland This Country now called Wallisland is in most Latin Writers called by the name of Valesia but corruptly as I think for Valensia as the Dutch or English name for Wallinsland which name I should conceive it took from the Valenses the old inhabitants of this valley of vvhom Octodusus now called Marchinacht is by Antoninus made to be the Metropolis or principall City It was made subject to the Romans by Julius Caesar at such time as the Helvetians were conquered by him and falling with the Western parts of the Roman Empire unto Charles the great was by him given to Theodulus Bishop of Sion An. 805. Under his successors they continue to this very day but so as that the Deputies of the seven Resorts have not only voyces with the Canons in his Election but being chosen and invested into the place they joyn with him also in the Diets for choosing Magistrates redressing grievances and determining matters of the State The Lower Wallisland obeyeth the upper made subject by long War and the chance of Victory and hath no sway at all in the publick Government but takes for Law that which their Governours agree of The same Religion is in both being that of Rome For maintainance whereof they combined themselves with the seven Popish Cantons of Switzerland An. 1572 or thereabouts as also for their mutuall defence and preservation against Forein Enemies and keeping amitie and concord amongst one another 5. SWITZERLAND NExt unto Wallisland lyeth the Country of the SWITZERS having on the East the Grisons and some part of Tirol in Germany on the West the Mountain Jour and the Lake of Geneve which parts it from Savoy and Burgundy on the North Suevia or Scwaben another Province also of the upper Germany and on the South Wallisland and the Alpes which border on the Dukedom of Millain The whole Country heretofore divided into three parts onely that is to say 1 Azgow so called from the River Aaz whose chief Town was Lucern 2 Wislispurgergow so called from Wiflispurg an old Town thereof the chief City whereof is Bern. And 3 Zurichgow so named from Zurich both formerly and at this present the Town of most note in all this Tract but since the falling off of these Countries from the house of Austria divided into many Cantons and other members of which more anon It is wholly in a manner over-grown with craggy Mountains but such as for the most part have grassie tops and in their bottoms afford rich Meadows and nourishing pastures which breed them a great stock of Cattell their greatest wealth And in some places yeelds plenty of very good Wines and a fair increase of Corn also if care and industry be not wanting on the Husband-mans part but neither in so great abundance as to serve all necessary uses which want they doe supply from their neighbouring Countries And though it stand upon as high ground as any in Christendom yet is no place more stored with Rivers and capacious Lakes vvhich doe not onely yeeld them great aboundance of Fish but serve the people very vvell in the vvay of Traffick to disperse their severall Commodities from one Canton to another Of which the principall are Bodensee and the Lake of Cell made by the Rhene Genser see or the Lake of Geneve by the Rhosne Walldstet see and the Lake of Lucern made by the Russe Namonburger and Bieter sees by the Orbe and Zurich see by the River of Limat or Limachus It is in length two hundred and forty miles an hundred and eighty in bredth conceived to be the highest Countrey in Europe as before is sayd the Rivers which do issue from it running thorow all quarters of the same as Rhene thorough France and Belgium North Po thorough Italie to the South
rising out of a Sea wavie Argent Azure WEST-FRISELAND hath on the East Groyning-land and a part of Westphalen in High-Germany on the South Over-yssell and the Zuider-See on the North and West the main Ocean The Countrey generally moorish and full of fennes unapt for corn but yeelding great store of pasturage which moorishnesse of the ground makes the air very foggie and unhealthy nor have they any fewell wherewith to rectifie it except in that part of it which they call Seven-wolden but turf and Cow-dung which addes but little to the sweetnesse of an unsound air Nor are they better stored with Rivers here being none proper to this Countrey but that of Leuwars the want of which is supplyed by great channels in most places which doe not onely drain the Marishes but supply them with water Which notwithstanding their pastures doe afford them a good breed of horses fit for service plenty of Beeves both great and sweet the best in Europe next these of England and those in such a large increase that their Kine commonly bring two Calves and their Ewes three lambs at a time The Countrey divided into three parts In the first part called WESTERGOE lying towards Holland the principall towns are 1. Harlingen an Haven town upon the Ocean defended with a very strong Castle 2. Hindeloppen on the same Coast also 3. Staveren an Hanse Town opposite to Enchuisen in Holland the town decayed but fortified with a strong Castle which secures the Haven 4. Francker a new University or Schola illustris as they call it 5. Sneck in a low and inconvenient situation but both for largenesse and beauty the best in this part of the Province and the second in esteem of all the countrey In Oâ—ffergoâ— or the East parts lying towards Groiningland the townes of most note are 6. Leuwarden situate on the hinder Leuwars the prime town of West-Friâ—eland and honoured with the supreme Court and Chancery hereof from which there lyeth no appeal a rich town well built and strongly fortified 7. Doccum bordering upon Groyning the birth place of Gemma Frisiiâ— In SEVEN-VVOLDEN or the Countrey of the Seven Forrests so called from so many small Forrests joining neer together is no town of note being long time a Woodland Countrey and not well inhabited till of late The number of the walled Townes is 11 in all oâ— the Villages 〈◊〉 Burroughs 345. To this Province belongeth the Isle of Schelinke the shores whereof are plentifully stored with Dog-fish took by the Inhabitants in this manner The men of the Iland attire themselves with beasts skins and then fall to dancing with which sport the fish being much delighted make out of the waters towards them nets being pitched presently betwixt them and the water Which done the men put off their disguises and the frighted fish hastning towards the sea are caught in the toyles Touching the Frisons heretofore possessed of this countrey we shall speak more at large when we come to East-Friseland possessed also by them and still continuing in the quality of a free Estate governed by its own Lawes and Princes here only taking notice that the Armes of this Friseland are Azure semy of Billets Argent two Lyons Or. The ancient Inhabitants of these three Provinces were the Batavi and Caninefates inhabiting the Island of the Rhene situate betwixt the middle branch thereof and the Waeâ— which now containeth South-Holland Vtrecht and some part of Gueldres the Frisii dwelling in West-Friseland and the North of Holland and the Mattiaci inhabiting in the Isles of Zeland By Charles the Bald these countries being almost unpeopled by the Norman Piracies were given to Thierrie son of Sigebert a Prince of Aquitain with the title of Earl his Successours acknowledging the Soveraignty of the Crown of France till the time of Arnulph the 4. Earl who atturned Homager to the Empire In John the 2. they became united to the house of Hainalt and in William the 3. to that of Bavaria added to the estates of the Dukes of Burgundie in the person of Duke Philip the Good as appeareth by this succession of The EARLS of HOLLAND ZELAND and LORDS of WEST-FRISELAND 863 1 Thierrie or Theodorick of Aquitain the first Earl c. 903 2 Thierrie II. son of Thierrie the 1. 3 Thierrie the III. the son of Theodorick the 2. 988 4 Arnulph who first made this Estate to be held of the Empire shin in a war against the Frisons 993 5 Thierrie IV. son of Arnulph 1039 6 Thierrie V. son of Theodorick the 4. 1048 7 Florence brother of Thierrie the 5. 1062 8 Thierrie VI. son of Florence in whose minority the Estate of Holland was usurped by Godfrey le Bossu Duke of Lorrein by some accompted of as an Earl hereof 1092 9 Florence II. surnamed the Fat son of Thierrie the 6. 1123 10 Thierrie VII who tamed the stomachs of the Frisons 1163 11 Florence III. a companion of Frederick Barbarossa in the wars of the Holy-Land 1190 12 Thierrie VIII son to Florence the 3. 1203 13 William the brother of Thierrie and Earl of East-Friseland which countrey he had before subdued supplanted his Neece Ada his Brothers daughter but after her decease dying without issue succeeded in his owne right unto the Estate 1223 14 Florence IV. son of William 1235 15 William II. son of Florence the 4. elected and crowned King of the Romans slain in a war against the Frisons 1255 16 Florence the V. the first as some write who called himself Earl of Zeland the title to those Ilands formerly questioned by the Flemmings being relinquished to him on his marriage with Beatrix the daughter of Guy of Dampierre Earl of Flanders 1296 17 John the son of Florence the 5. subdued the rebellious Frisons the last of the male-issue of Thierrie of Aquitaine EARLS of HAINALT HOLLAND c. 1300 18 John of Avesnes Earl of Hainalt son of John of Avesnes Earl of Hainalt and of the Ladie Aleide sister of William the 2. and daughter of Florence the 4. succeeded as next heir in the Earldome of Holland c. 1305 19 William III. surnamed the Good Father of the Lady Philippa wife of one Edward the 3. 1337 20 William IV. of Holland and the II. of Hainalt slain in a war against the Frisons 1346 21 Margaret sister and heir of William the 4. and eldest daughter of William the 3. married to Lewis of Bavaria Emperour of the Germans forced to relinquish Holland unto William her second son and to content her self with Hainalt 1351 22 William V. second son of Lewis and Margaret his elder Brother Steven succeeding in Baâ—aria in right of Maud his wife daughter and coheir of Henry Duke of Lancaster succeeded in the Earldome of Leicester 1377 23 Albert the younger Brother of William the fift fortunate in his warres against the Frisons 1404 24 William VI. Earl of Osternant and by that name admitted Knight of the Garter by King Richard the 2. eldest
by the Tartars At what time Erdizvill then their Prince but an Homager and Tributary to the Ruâ—sians with drew himselfe from their command as did also many others of the conquered Provinces Afterwards Miâ—doch one of the Dukes or Princes of it being made a Christian was by Pope Innocent the third honoured with the title of a King but returning againe unto his vomit he lost that title In the end anno 1386. Jâ—gello Duke of Lituania marying with Heduigis Queen of Poland was upon three conditions chosen King of that Realm 1 That he should immediately receive the Christian faith 2 That he should draw all his subjects to the same beliefe and 3 that hee should unite this Dukedome to the Crown of Poland Of these the two first were performed without any delay though the second not without some difficulty the people being obstinate in their old Idolatry especially in the religious conceit they had of high trees which to cut down was held both unsafe and impious Not to be weaned from this conceit till by the authority of the King their lostiest trees were felled and their Woods grubbed up which when they saw done without any danger to the Prince or any of those whom he employed in that service Regis mandato autoritati cedere caperunt they then began to hearken unto his commands and generally received the Gospell and were Baptized In the last point there was a longer time of deliberation For the Princes of the house of Jagâ—llo loth to deprive themselves of their Patrimoniall estate which was hereditary unto their posterity and to subject it to the election of the Polanders in which it was possible the Princes of their family might be pretermitted deferred the accomplishment hereof from one day to another under colour that the Lituanians would revolt if they went about it But Sigismund Augustus in whose person the male issue of Jagello failed foreseeing what divisions might ensue after his decease and fearing that the Moscovites would renew their old pretentions united it unto the Crown ordaining that the Bishops Palatines and a certain number of the Chastellans by him established should have their place and suffrage in the great Councell of Poland power in the choosing of the King and all other priviledges which the naturall Polonians have Since that accounted a chief Member of that Body Politicke subject to those corruptions changes and innovations in matters of Religion which have been predominant in the other excepting those parts onely which relate to the Church of Greece or Mosco adhering pertenaciously to the rites thereof 4 VOLHINIA VOLHINIA by some accounted one of the Palatinates of Lituania as once it was but by others a distinct Province of it selfe is bounded on the North and East with Lituania on the South with Podolia and on the West with Russia Nigra and Podlassia So called as Maginus is of opinion from the Volgari who dwelling on the banks of the River Volga came afterwards into this countrey calling it Volgaria whence by degrees it came unto Volhonia and at last to Volhinia But this conjecture is improbable and of no good grounds The countrey yeelds good plenty both of grain and fruits Pooles which abound with very good fish Forrests which doe afford them store of game and honey and much good pasturage for their cattell The people of the same nature with the Lituanians but more strong and warlike and better weaned from their old superstitions and heathenish customes then the others are Of the same language and Religion with those of Russia to which together with the rest of Lituania it did once belong It is divided commonly into three parts or Provinces all taking name from the three principall Cities of it that is to say 1 Luzke in Latine called Luceozia a towne of above 1000 families where 127 onely in the time of my Authour were of the Romish Religion the residue being Russians Grecians and some Armenians the seat residence of two Bishops of which one being of the Communion of the Church of Rome is of the Province of the Archbishop of Lemburg in Russia Nigra but they which are of the Communion of the Church of Greece have also a Bishop of their owne who acknowledgeth the Patriarch of Mosco for his Metropolitan 2 Valodomir a Bishop See also of the same condition 3 Keromenze which as the rest hath under it many fair Towns and Castles besides large Villages The whole once part of Lituania as before was said but of late dismembred from it and united to the Crown of Poland as a State distinct But so that the greatest part of it is immediately subject to the Duke of Ostrogoye who is said to have 4000 Feudataries in this Countrey the greatest Prince of those who hold Communion with the Church of Greece in the whole Realm of Poland 5 PODOLIA PODOLIA hath on the North Volhinia part of Lituania and the great Empire of Russia on the South Moldavia from which parted by the River Tyras now called Niester on the West Russia Nigra extending Eastward through vast uninhabited countries as far as to the Euxine Sea The reason of the name I finde no where guessed at the people for the most part of the same nature with the Russians to whose Empire it formerly belonged The Country generally so fertile that the husbandman is accustomed to reap an hundred for one in regard it bears at one ploughing for three years together the countreyman being put to no further trouble then at the end of the first and second yeares to shake the corn a little as he reaps or loads it that which so falls serving as seed for the next yeare following The meadow grounds so strangely rich and luxuriant and the grass so high that a man can hardly see the heads or horns of his Cattell of so swift a growth that in three days it will cover a rod which is throwne into it and in few more so hide a plough that it is not an easie work to finde it If these things seeme beyond beliefe let Maginus who reporteth them bear the blame thereof though better take it on his word then goe so far to disprove him And yet which addes much unto the miracle the ground in most places so hard and stony that there need six yoke of Oxen to break it up to the great toyle both of the Cattell and the men It is also said that in this countrey there are great flocks of sheep many heads of Oxen abundance of wild beasts and great store of honey And yet for all this plenty and abundance of all things necessarie the Country for the most part especially towards the East is but meanly inhabited by reason of the frequent incursions of the Tartars bordering next unto it Who have so wasted it in times past and thereby so discouraged the people from building planting and all other works of peace and husbandrie that in so large and rich a Countrie
Sigismund the Emperour and King of Hungary besieging it with an Army of 130000 Christians in the time of Baiazet the first whose Father Amurath had taken it from the King of Bulgaria the issue of which siege was this that Baiazet coming to raise the siege obtained the victory with the loss of 60000 Turks the army of the Christians being wholly routed 20000 slain all the rest almost taken prisoners and the young Emperor forced to flie by Sea to Thrace thence unto Constantinople afterwards to Rhodes and at last after 18 months absence to his Realm of Hungary the other as it were in revenge of this was fought betwixt Michael Vaivod of Valachia and the forces of Mahomet the third over whom the Vaivod got a remarkable victory and as the fruits thereof sacked the City it self carrying thence great spoil and booty and infinite multitudes of people with some whereof he made up his Army sending the rest to inhabit and manure the void and desert places of his own Dominions 6 Sophia called Tibiscum in the time of Ptolemie repaired by the Emperour Justinian who gave it this name from a famous and magnificent Temple founded and dedicated by him unto St. Sophia The ordinary Residence for these late times of a Turkish Beglerbeg who hath the chiefe command of Europe under the grand Signieur once taken by Huniades and by him at the command of Vladislaus King of Hungary burnt unto the ground but afterwards repaired and more strongly fortified then it had beene formerly 7 Varna antiently called Dionysiopolis situate on the Euxine Sea neer the borderes of Thrace remarkable for the great defeat there given the Christians the first flight of Huniades from the face of the Turkes and the death of Vladislaus King of Hungary spoken of before 8 Sumium 9 Pezechium 10 Calacrium 11 Galata and 12 Macropolis all taken by the Hungarians in their way to Varna and lost againe upon the issue of that battell 13 Silistria at this time the chief City hereof and the ordinary abode of a Turkish Bassa delivered to Amurath the first by Sasmenos Prince or King of Bulgaria out of a vaine hope to save thereby the rest of his countrey 14 Parastlaba or Perstlaba the antient seat of the Kings of Bulgaria till the taking of it by John Zimisces Emperour of Constantinople by whom caused to be called Johannopolis but it soon lost that new name and is now an ordinary village called Pâ—retalaw 15 Ternova the usuall seat or residence of the later Princes of this countrey at the conquest of it by the Turkes 16 Budina once of great importance and the chief of this countrey but being taken by Huniades in the course of his victories it was by him burnt downe to the ground as having been the cause of much warre to the Christians there supposed to be built in or neer the place where once stood the old City of Oescus the principall town of the Triballi called therefore Oescus Triballorum though some will have that City to be now called Blida 17 Venuzina a towne of great strength and one of the first peeces taken by the Turkes 18 Cossova fatall to the Christians who in the plaines hereof had two main defeates the first by Amurath the first who here discomfited Lazarus the Despot of Servia and the greatest Army that the Christians ever raised against the Turkes Lazarus himselfe being slain in the fight and Amurath himselfe shortly after the battell stabbed in the belly by one Miles Cobelitz a wounded and halfe dead souldier as he was taking a view of the dead bodies which lay there in heaps The last by Amurath the second to the famous Huniades whom he here discomfited after a cruell fight continuing three dayes together in which were slain 17000 Christians and amongst them the greatest part of the Hungarian Nobility Huniades put againe to flight and forced to some extremities to preserve his life the Turkes buying this great victory with the lâ—ise of 40000 men as themselves confessed The place in which these fields were fought called the Plaines of Cossova extendeth 20 miles in length and 5 miles in breadth incompassed round with pleasant mountaines in the form of a Theater as if it were designed by Nature for a stage of action 19 Dorostorum by some of the Antients called Rhodostolon the seat in Pâ—olemies time of the first Legion called Italica afterwards one of the chief townes which the Rosses and Russians had in this countrey from whom taken by John Zimisces the Eastern Emperour decaying after that time by little and little and now wholly ruinate 20 Achrida the birth-place of Justinian by whom beautified and enlarged and called Justiniana Prima who raising the Diocese of Dacia into a Praefecture placed here a Primate for the affaires of the Church which honour it doth still retaine the Bishop hereof being the Primate of all Dacia and a Pâ—aefectus Praetorio for affaires of State But he being dead the town returned to its old name nov called L' Ochrida contracted by William of Tyre to Aâ—re by the Turkes called Giustandill a distiâ—ct Principate of it selfe in the time of Amurath the first and by him made tributary at his first warre upon this countrey And here it is to be observed that those parts of this countrey which lie next to the Euxine Sea had antiently the name of Pontus aâ— had some parts of Asia Minor which bordered on the same Sea also and that the City of Tone as Ptolemie or Tomos as Pliny calls it to which Ovid was banished by Augustus Caesar was a City of this Europaean Pontus and not of the Persian as hath been commonly conceived For Tomi is by Ptolemie placed amongst the Cities of Moesia inferior and by Ovid on the West or left side of the Euxine and not upon the South thereof as appeareth by these lines of his Cum maris Euxini positos ad laeva Tomitas Quaerere me laesi Principis ira jubet that is to say My wronged Princes wrath commands me bide At Tomos on the Euxines Western side The place at this day called Tomiswar according to Coelius Calcagninus but others would have it to be the same which is now named Kiovia in the same tract also not farre from which is said to be a Lake called to this day Owidow Jezcocoor the Lake of Ovid. For what cause hither banished is not yet agreed on Some say it was for the unlawfull pleasures which he enjoyed with Julia the Emperours daughter whom he celebrates in his Amorum under the borrowed name of Corinna Others imagine that he had seen Augustus himselfe unnaturally using the company of the same Julia his daughter for which the offended Prince exiled him and that he alludeth hereunto in his book de Tristibus saying Cur aliquid vidi cur noxia lumina feci c. A Crime of which I dare not thinke that noble Emperor to be any way guilty But certain it is that whatsoever was the
wonted manner by mine Authour Lugentur Puerperia natique deflentur funera contra festa sunt veluti sacra cantu lusuque celebrantur A peece of such sound and Orthodox Divinity that I wonder how they hit upon it in these times of darknesse and savouring very much of the Primitive piety by which the Obits of the Saints were kept as Festivals no notice being taken of the day of their births According to that of the good old Writer Non nativitatem sed mortem Sanctorum Ecclesia pretiosam festam judicat Here lived the Tyrant Polymnestor who villaniously murdered Polydorus a younger sonne of Priamus for which fact Hecuba the young Princes mother scratched him to death Here also lived the Tyrant Tereus of whom before in Phocis and Diomedes who using to feed his Horses with mans flesh was slaine by Hercules and cast unto his horses And finally here reigned King Corys whom I mention not as a Tyrant but propose as a pattern of rare temper both in mastering and preventing passion For when a neighbour Prince had sent him a present of Glasses of the purest metall and no lesse accurate in the workmanship or fashion of them having dispatched the messenger with all the due complements of Majesty and gratitude he broke them all to peaces lest it by mishap any of his servants should doe the like he might be stirred to an intemperate choler Chief mountaines in this countrey besides Haemus spoken of already are I Rhodepe the highest next Mount Haemus in those parts of the World craggy and rough the top whereof continually white with snow memorable for the fate and fable of Orpheus who in a melancholy humour having lost his wife betooke himselfe unto these mountaines where with his Musick he affected both Woods and Beasts who are said to have danced unto his Musick from this place of his abode called Rhodopeius from his countrey Thracius Non me Carminibus vincet nec Thracius Orpheus c. as the Shepheard boasteth in the Poet. The truth is that he was a man of an heavenly Muse and by his dictates and good Counsell laid down in verse first of all civilized this people and weaned them by degrees from their bestiality Hence the occasion of the Fable But for Mount Rhodope it selse it is in the midst of this Countrey thwarting it from Mount Haemus towards the West which with the spurres and branches of it and the plaines adjoining lying betwixt the River Nessus on the West and Melas or Niger on the East made up the Province of the Empire called Rhodope by the name of the Mountaine 2. Pangoeus rich in Mines of Silver 3 Melapus shooting towards the Sea full of rocks and cliffes and 4 Orbelus lying towards Macedon where there is a little Region from hence called Orbelia Principall Rivers hereof besides Strymon spoken of before the boundary in some places betwixt this and Macedon are 1 Nessus by the Grecians now called Mestro by the Turkes Charajon which rising out of Mount Haemus falleth into the Sea near the Isle of Thassus 2 Athyras in which name the memory of Thyras the sonne of Japhet seemes to be preserved which rising in Mount Hemus also loseth it selfe in the Propontick as doth 3 Bathynias another river rising from the same Mount Hemus 4 Hebrus the most noted River of this countrey rising out of Mount Rhodope and falling into the Aegean neer the Isle of Sanothrace a river of so flow a course that it is not easie to discerne which way it goeth but memorable in the Poets for the fate of Orpheus who being torn in peaces by the Thracian women had his limbes thrown into it by those Furies 5 Thrarus good against the scab both in man and Beast issuing out of 30 Fountaines some hot some cold with the pleasantnesse of whose waters Darius the King of Persia was so delighted that he erected a pillar in honour of it The chief Towns 1 Abdera now called Polystilo situate not far from the fall of the River Nessus into the Aegean the birth place of Democritus who spent his whole life in laughing at the follies of others 2 Potidea of old a Colonie of Athens from whom it revolted and submitted to the State of Corinth But the Athenians not enduring the affront beleaguered it and after two yeares siege and the expence of 2000 Talents could not recover it againe but on composition 3 Adnus on the Aegean Sea a town of great strength and safety and therefore used by the later Constantinopolitan Emperours for the securing of great persons For hither Michael Palaeilogus sent Jathatines the Turkish Sultan flying to him for aid and hither Mahomet the Great sent Demetrius Prince of Peloponnesus when he yeelded up his countrey to him both under colour of providing for their ease and safety but in plain terms to keep them in honourable Prisons 4 Lyssmachia on the Sea-shore once of great importance built by Lysimachus who after Alexanders death laid hands on this Countrey afterwards garrisoned by Philip the Father of Perseus on the withdrawing of whose Forces for some other service it was taken and razed to the ground by the barbarous Thracians and all the people of it carried into captivity but by Antiochus the Great re-edified and new peopled again moved thereunto by the convenient situation and former glories of the place 5 Philippolis so called from Philip King of Macedon the father of Alexander who built and fortified it as a bridle to hold in the Thraeians called also Trimontium from three hils on which it was situate beautified in the time of the Romans with a goodly Amphitheatre continuing entire and whole till these latter days and might have lasted longer by many Ages did not the Turks dayly take away the stairs thereof which are all of marble to make money of them Here are also many other antient Monuments though the town be much wasted and destroyed the Scythians at one time killing in it above 100000 persons which notwithstanding it is populous and well frequented by reason of the convenient situation of it on the River Hebrus which they now call Mariza 6 Trajanopolis so called from the Emperour Trajan by whom either founded or repaired indifferently well peopled and still preserving its old name 7. Selimbria on the coast of the Propontick Sea beautified with a commodious port for receipt of small vessells and many Bayes adjoyning capable of greater by Ptolemy called Selibria and Olibria by Suidas 8 Apollonia upon Pontus Euxinus or the Black Sea now Sisopoli 9 Phinopolis on the same Sea also 10 Nicopolis at the foot of the Mount Haemus there being another of that name neer the River Nessus 11 Perinthus on the Propontick sea near the influx of the River Arsus A town of great note in the antient businesses of Greece of great strength and peopled formerly with men of such resolutions that they maintained their liberty against Philip of Macedon after almost all the rest
reigning in Chabul or Arachosia and possessed of some parts of India also since the times of Tamerlane Who compounding an Army of his own subjects some mercinary Persians and a great body of Zagathaian Tartars from whom originally descended came in accordingly discomfited the vast Anny of Badurius consisting of of 150000 horse and 500000 foot in two set battails the first at Doceti the next at Mandao and following his blow possessed himself of the whole Kingdome of Cambaia But not content with that success quarrelled the Mandoan King in whose aid he came besieged him in his principal City which at last he won and therewithall the Kingdome also the wretched King shewing hereby a fair both evidence and example to succeeding ages that the easiest way for a Prince to ruin his own estate and endanger his neighbours is to admit a Forrein power into his own Dominions which he cannot as easily thrust out as he hath brought them in 4. DELLY DELLY is bounded on the West with Mandao on the East with the Kingdome of Botanter on the North with the Eastern parts of Pengab on the South with the Eastern parts also of the Kingdome of Agra So named from DELLY the chief City of it by some called Delin The Countrey besides what is common to it with the rest of India is said to be more abundantly stored than any other part of it with horses Elephants and Dromedaries Of the people nothing singular except it be that many of them taking more delight in thee very than honest trades live for the most part upon spoil but those especially whom they call by the name of Belemi being such of the nobility or better sort who since the conquest of their Countrey by the Great Moguls have lived like Out-Laws on the Mountains Of the same temper with the Resbutes in Cambaia and the Agwans in Sanga and Dulsinda who rather than submit themselves to a forrein yoak as they count that of the Mongull choose to forsake their proper dwellings and all honest waies and means of living Places of most importance in it 1. Delly A City not only honoured heretofore with the residence of the Great Moguls who from hence pass in common appellation by the names of the Kings of Delly and that amongst their most knowing Subjects but beautified with many sepulchres of their antient Kings whose funerals and Coronations were herein celebrated And though deserted of late times by the Great Moguls moving their Courts from place to place as they inlarged their Empire and increased their conquests yet still a great many of the Nobles and not a few Captains and Commanders do frequent the same and have their houses and pleasure of retirement in it 2. Tremel upon the Western side of the River Mandova but not much observable 3. Doceti memorable for the great battel fought neer unto it in which Merhamed the Mongul overthrew the forces of Badurius and therby opened a fair way to the Realm of Cambaia This Countrey governed a long time by its natural Princes was at last conquered by some Moores or Saracens comming from Persia or Arabia but I find not which who grew to so great power and wealth that Sanosaradine a Mahometan one of their Descendants dreamt of no less than the conquest of all India if not of the whole Continent of Asia also Having about the year 1300 memorable for the beginning of the Ottoman Empire subdued by little and little all the neighbouring Princes which made head against him he pierced at last into Canora now called Decan and conquering a great part of it returned back to Delly The pursuit of his victories he left unâ—o one Abdessa his Lieutenant there who added the rest of that Countrey to his Masters territories but kept the possession to himself confirmed therin by Sanosaradine with the Title of Regent But Sanosaradine dying in a war against the Persians left for his Successor a sonne so unlike his Father that the conquered Provinces revolted from him unto other Masters more able to govern and protect them Confined unto its former bounds it remained notwithstanding of sufficient power to preseâ—ve it self from any of their equal neighbors till the rising of the Great Monguls whose puissance being unable to withstand it submitted at the last to Adabar the son of Merhamed the second Emperor of this line who to assure himself of the peoples loyaltie and confirm his conquests settled his Court a while at Delly the chief City of it from whence removed on the next prosporous emergency as before was noted 5. AGRA THe Realm of AGRA is bounded on the North with Delly and Mandao on the South with Sangâ— and Cambaia on the West with Indus which parteth it from the Province of Sinda a part of the Kingdome of Cambaia on the East with Oristan or Orixa So called from Agra the chief City of it and the Seat Royall of late times of the Great Monguls The Country said to be the best and most pleasant of India plentifull in all things and such a delicate even peece of ground as the like is hardly to be seen Well watered as with other Rivers so most especially with those of Tamtheo and Jemena which last runneth thorow the middest of it North and South or rather from the North-west to the South-east from whence bending more directly Eastwards it falleth at last into the Ganges or that which is supposed to be Ganges for the bed of that great River is no ncertainly known The People for the most part Gentiles Mahometanism coming in with the Great Mogul and generally inclining somewhat to the Pythagorean For such as live upon the banks of the River Jemena neither eat flesh nor kill any thing The waters of which River they esteem so sacred that thereof they usually make their Temple and say their prayers therein but naked in which posture they both dress their meat and eat it lodging upon the ground being imposed by them as a penance and so conceived Places of most esteem herein 1. Fattpore or Fettebarri on the West-side of the River a very fair and goodly City once beautified with a Royall Palace here built by Echebar after the removall of his Court from Cascimar with many spacious gardens belonging to it but much decaied since the fixing of the Court at Agra to which most of the Stones are carried and no small quantity of Corn sowed within the Walls 2. Agra on the North bank of the River Jemena inferiour to Lanor for wealth and greatness but far more populous the constant residence of the Court here in these latter times drawing to it great resort of all sorts of People By some supposed to be the Nagara of Ptolomy but such a supposition as is built on no better ground than some resemblance of the names For Ptolomies Nagara is by him placed on the Western-side of Indus in the Latitude of 33. whereas this Agra standeth on the East of the River Jemena five Degrees more
good arts whereby to indeer their Subjects and keep them out of leisure to soment new factions The way of indeerment by the fair and satisfactory distribution of the spoils gotten in the wars whether Lands or Goods all which they divided into three parts allotting the first unto the service of the Gods the second for the maintenance of the King his Court and Nobles the third to the relief of the common people A distribution far more equal then that of Lycurgus or the Lex Agraria of the Romans But when there was no cause of wars they kept the people busted in their Works of Magnificence as building Palaces in every one of the Conquered Provinces which served not only as Forts to assure the Conquest but were employed as Store-houses to lay up Provisions distributed amongst the people in times of dearth But that which was the work as of great trouble so of chiefest use was the cross-wayes they made over all the Country the one upon the Mountains and the other on the Plains extending 500 Leagues in length a work to be preferred before any both of Rome and Aegypt For they were forced to raise the ground in many places to the heighth of the Mountaiâ—â— and lay the Mountains level with the flattest Plains to cut thorow some Rocks and underprop others that were ruinous to make even such wayes as were uneasie and support the Precipices and in the Plains to vanquish so many difficulties as the uncertain foundation of a sandy Country must needs carry with it Kept to these tasks the people had no leisure to think of practises yet well content to undergo them in regard they saw it tended to the Publike Benefit And for the Caciques so they call the Nobility the Inga did not only command them to reside in Cusco to be assured of their persons but caused them to send their Children to be brought up there that they might serve as Hostages for the Fathers Lovalty They ordered also that all such as repaired to Cusco the Imperial City should be attired according to his own Country fashion so to prevent those Leagues and Associations which otherwise without any note or observation might be made amongst them Many such Politike Institutions were by them devised which had little of the Barbarous in them and clearly shewed that there were other Nations which had Eyes in their Heads besides those of China What else concerns the storie of them offereth it self in the following Catalogue of The Kings of Peru. 1. Manga-Capac descended of the chief of the first seven Families the first who laid the foundation of this puissant Monarchie subdued the Cannares and built the City of Cusco 2. Sinchi-Rocha eldest son of Mango subdued a great part of Collao as far as Chancara 3. Loque-Yupanqui the son of Sinchi conquered Chiquito Ayavire the Canus and the Inhabitants about Titicaca the first advancer of the service of Viracocha from whom he did pretend to have many visits 4. Mayta-Capac the son of Yupanqui subdued all the rest of Collao the Province of Chuquiapa and a great part of the Charcas 5. Capac Yupanqui or Yupanqui II. the son of Mayta enlarged his Kingdom Westward unto Mare del Zur 6. Rocha II. or Yncha Rocha eldest son of Yupanqui the second enlarged his Kingdome towards the North by the conquest of the great Province of Antabuyallam and many others 7. Jahuar-Huacac son of Rocha the second added to his Estates by the valour of his brother Mayta all the Southern parts from Arequipa to Tacaman Deposed by the practise of his son 8. Viracocha the son of Huacac having setled and inlarged his Empire raised many great and stately works and amongst others many Aquaeducts of great use but charge For fear of him Hancohualla King of the Chuncas with many thousands of his People forsook their Country 9. Pachacutec-Ynca son of Virachoca improved his Kingdom by the conquest of many Provinces lying towards the Andes and South-Sea with that of Caxamalcu Northwards 10. Yupanqui III. or Yncha Yupanchi son of Pachacutec subdued the Conches and Moxes with some part of Chile 11. Yupanqui IV. or Tapac Ynca Yupanchi son of Yupanqui the third extended his Dominions as far as Quito 12. Huayna Capac or Guaynacapac son of Yupanqui the fourth the most mighty Monarch of Peru conquered the whole Province of Quito and is supposed to be the founder of those two great Roads spoken of before 13. Huascar or Guascar Ynca the eldest son of Guaynacapa after a reign of five years deposed and slain by his Brother 14. Athualpa or Atubaliba the third son Guaynacapa by the daughter and heir of the King of Quito into which Kingdom he succeeded by the will of his Father Commanded by his Brother to do Homage for the Kingdom of Quito he came upon him with such power that he overcame him and so gained the Kingdom Vanquished afterwards by Pizarro at the battle of Caxamalca he was taken Prisoner And though he gave in ransome for his life and liberty an house piled up on all sides with Gold and Silver valued as some say at ten millions of Crowns yet they per fidiously slew him 15. Mango-Capac II. the second son of Guaynacapac 1533 substituted by Pizarro in his â—rothers Throne after many vicissitudes of Fortune was at last slain in the City of Cusco and so the Kingdom of the Ingas began and ended in a Prince of the same name as it had hapned formerly to some other Estates Let us next look â—pon the birth and fortune of that Pizarro who subdued this most potent and slourishing Kingdom and made it a member of the Spanish Empire and we shall find that he was born at Trusiglio a village of Navarr and by the poor whore his mother laid in the Church-porch and so left to Gods providence by whose direction there being none found that would give him the breast he was nourished for certain daies by sucking a Sow At last one Gonsalles a souldier acknowledged him for his son put him to nurse and when he was somewhat grown set him to keep his Swine some of which being strayed the boy durst not for fear return home but betook himself to his heels ran unto Sevil and there shipped himself for America where he attended Alfonso de Dioda in the discovery of the Countries beyond the Golf of Vraba Balboa in his voyage to the South Sea and Pedro de Avila in the conquest of Panama Grown rich by these Adventures he associated himself with Diego de Almagro and Fernando Luques a rich Priest who betwixt them raised 220 souldiers and in the year 1525 went to seck their Fortunes on those Southern Seas which Balboa had before discovered After divers repulses at his landing and some hardship which he had endured Pizarro at the length took some of the Inhabitants of Peru of whom he learnt the wealth of the Country and returning thereupon to Spain obtained the Kings Commission for the
All that the Scripture telleth us of it is that the Ark rested on the Mountains of Ararat but where those Mountains are that it telleth us not I know Iosephus and some other of more eminent note but such as ground themselves upon his authority affirm those Mountaines of Ararat to be the hills of Armenia which they doe chiefly on these Reasons First because Armenia is called Ararat in the Book of God as it is confessedly And secondly because of an old Tradition countenanced by Berosus and some others of the ancient Writers cited by Iosephus affirming that on the Gordiaean Mountains in Armenia Major some of the Relicks of the Ark were remaining in their times and used as a preservative against inchantments Which notwithstanding I incline rather to the opinion of Goropius Becanus who amongst many strange whimseys broached some notable truths by whom the Ark is said to rest on the top of Mount Caucasus in the Confines of Tartarie Persia and India His Arguments are many but I look on two as of greatest consequence the first whereof is grounded upon evident reason the second on plain Text of Scripture That which is grounded upon reason is the exceeding populosity of those Eastern Countreys into which none of those by whom the world was planted after the Confusion of Languages are yet reported to have travailed with their severall Colonies by any who have took most pains in this discovery Those infinite numbers which Staurobates one and but one of many of the Kings of the Indians brought into the field against Semiramis and the vast Army of Zoroaster the King of Bactria conducted out of that one Province against Ninus are proof enough that those Countries were of an elder Plantation than to be a second or third Castling of some other Swarm setled in Persia or Assyria after the Confusion For Ninus who was the Husband of Semiramis was but the Grandchild of Nimrod and I must needs look upon it as a thing impossible that those vast Armies which Semiramis was able to raise out of all her Dominions should be encountred by one King with an equall force and that of his own Subjects onely If that one King and those his Subjects had been some late Colonie of those new Plantations and not possessed of a Country peopled and inhabited before that Confusion Nor was it but upon some good ground that the Scythians who inhabited on the North of Mount Caucasus were generally esteemed the most antient Nation in the World and carried it away from the Egyptians Phrygians and all other Competitours with this publick Verdict Scytharum gens semper antiquissima which ground could be no other but the neighbourhood of the Ark unto them though perhaps that ground long since forgotten was not stood upon and the dwelling of Noah and hiâ— children near the place of the Ark till numbers and necessity compelled them to inlarge their border And in the inlarging of their Boâ—derâ— I shall make no question but that such parts as lay neâ—rest were peopled and possessed before those which lay furthest off according to the method of Plantations in all Ages since This though it be to me a convincing Argument yet it falls short of that which comes from the Text it self both in authority and weight where it is said of the Heads of those severall Families which afterwards joyned together in the building of Babel that As they went from the East they found a Plain in the land of Shinaar and there they abode Gen. 11. v. 2. If then they came from the East to the land of Shinaar as the Text saith plainly that they did it might well be that they came from those parts of Asia on the South of Caucasus which lie East of Shinaar though somewhat bending to the North impossible they should come from the Gordiaean Mountains in the greater Armenia supposed to be the Hills which the Ark did rest on which lie not onely full North of Shinaar but many degrees unto the West For Babylonia or Shinaar is situate in the Latitude of 35 and the Longitude of 79 and 80. the Latitude of the Gordiaean Mountains in 41 and their Longitude in 75. By which Accompt those Mountains are 6 Degrees more Northwards and 5 Degrees more Westwards than the Land of Shinaar by no means to be reckoned on the East of that Vallie except we make Moses whose hand God guided in his Books to speak Cod knows what or in plain terms to speak plain non sense And though this Scripture be so clear that it needs no Commentarie yet the perplexities I find amongst those of the other opinion in shifting out of the autor tie of so plain a Text doe adde in my conceit some moment and weight unto it For some will have the Mountains of Ararat to be indeed on the North of the Land of Shinaar but with some bending towards the East which were it true as nothing is more truly false Moses had never told us that they came from the East but from some Countries of the North which lay towards the East Others will have a double progress of the Heads of their severall Families First from the Mountains of Ararat or the Plains of Armenia to the Fields of Assyria and Susiana And secondly from thence to the land of Shinaar But of this first journey there is ne gry quidem nor so much as any one syllable in all the Scripture besides the needlesness of making them go so far about and to cross over the great Rivers Euphrates and Tigris whereas they had a shorter and an easier passage Capellus singular by himself quarrelleth with the Translation received without dispute by all other Criticks and will not have the Hebrew Kedem to be rendred East but to signifie that Region whatsoever it was which was inhabited by Kedem the son of Ismael of whom we find mention Gen. 25. 15. But then besides his quarrell with all other Translations he supposeth a former progress from the Mountains of Ararat to that land of Kedem and consequently falleth into a part of the Errour before refelled Bochartus finding if not fancying that the Assyrians called all those parts of their Empire beyond Tygris the Eastern and those on this side of it the Western Would thence conclude that these Heads may be said by Moses to have come from the East because they came from one of the Eastern Provinces of the Assyrian Empire Every way faulty in this point For besides that the greatest part of Armenia lieth on the North of Tygris and the least part of it on the West and therefore not within the compass of the Eastern Provinces and that Bochartus hath not proved nor indeed can prove that this division was in use in the time of Moses We may as rationally conclude and with less absurditie that the first Inhabitants of Britain might have been said by Ammianus Marcellinus or any Writer of that time to come out of the West though
TERRA DILAVORO is bounded on the North and East with the Apennine Hils on the South with the Sea and on the West with St Peters Patrimonie called antiently Campania Felix in regard of the wonderfull fertilitie of it and that it was the seat or dwelling of the Campans by some modern Latinists named Campania Antiqâ—a to difference it from Latium which they now call Campagna di Roma or Campania Nova And for the other name of Terra di Lavoro or Terra Laboratoris it was given to it from the continuall labour of the Husbandman in cultivating the ground and carrying in the fruits thereof but neither the reason nor the name so new as some men suppose But I am sure as old as Plinie who calleth these parts sometimes by the name of Laboria sometimes of Campus Laborinus and gives this reason of the name quod ingens in eo colendo sit labor because of the great pains it requires to till it and the great profit reaped by them who did till and manure it The Country so exceeding fruitfull in Wines and Wheat that by Florus the Historian it is called Cereris Bacchi certamen and deservedly too For in this noble Region one may see large and beautifull fields overshaded with rich Vines thick and delightfull Woods sweet Fountains and most wholsome Springs of running water usefull as well for the restoring of mans health as delight and pleasure and in a word whatsoever a covetous mind can possibly aim at or a carnall covet Towns of note here were many in the elder times The principall whereof 1 Cajeta seated on a fair aud capacious Bay from the crookedness whereof it is thought by Strabo to have took the name the word in the Laconian language signifying crooked Others will have it so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uro with reference to the burning of the Fleet of Aeneas by the Trojan Ladies for fear of being forced again to go to Sea where they had been so extremely tossed in their former voyages But why that Fact committed on the furthest coasts of Sicil should be so solemnly commemorated here on the shores of Italie I can see no reason And therefore we may far more probably derive it from Caâ—eta the Nurse of Aeneas in memory of whom being buried here or hereabouts Aeneas is affirmed to have built this Town Of which thus the Poet Aeneid lib. 7. Tu quoque Littoribus nostris Aeneia nutrix Aeternam moriens famam Cajeta dedisti That is to say Aeneas Nurse Caâ—eta by her death Did to these shores an endless fame bequeath But on what ground soever it first had this name it is assuredly a place of great strength and consequence and of so special importance for the estate of this Kingdom that as Cominaeus hath observed if King Charles the 8. had but only fortified it and the Castle of Naples the Realm had never been lost 2 Naples the Metroplis of the Kingdom a beautifull City containing seven miles in compass It was once called Parthenope and falling to ruin was new built and called Neapolis Among other things here is an Hospital the revenues whereof is 60000 Crowns wherewith besides other good deeds they nourish in divers parts of the Kingdom 2000 poor Infants In this City the disease called Morbus Gallicus or Neapolitanus was first known in Christendom This City is seated on the Sea-shore and fortified with 4 strong Castles viz. 1 Castle Capodna where the Kings Palace was 2 Ermo 3 Castle del Ovo or the Castle of the Egge and 4 Castle Novo or the new Castle But nature hath not done much less to her Fortifications than the hand of Art the Town being for the most part environed by Sea or Mountains not to be ascended without great difficulty and disadvantages Which Mountains as they seem on that side as a bank to the City so do they furnish the Citizens with most generous Wines and being once ascended yeeld a gallant prospect both for Sea and Land A City honoured by the seat of the Vice-Roy and the continual resort if not constant residence of most of the great men of the Realm which makes the private buildings to be very gracefull and the publick stately And yet it had increased much more in buildings than it is at present if the King had not forbidden it by speciall Edict And this he did partly at the perswasion of his Noblemen who feared that if such a restraint were not layd upon them their vassals would forsake the Country to inhabit here so to enjoy the privileges and exemptions oâ— the Regall City but principally upon jealousie and poynt of State the better to prevent all revolts and mutinies which in most populous Cities are of greatest danger 3 Capua once the head of the Campans seated in a delicious and luxurious soyl and one of the three Cities which the old Romans judged capable of the seat of the Empire the other two being Carthage and Corinth Being distressed by the Samnites they were fain to cast themselves into the Arms of the Romans who did not only take them into their protection but suffered them to live according to their own Laws as a Free Common-wealth rather like a Confederate than a Subject-State Which Freedom they enjoyed till after their revolt to the Carthaginians when being reduced to their obedience by force of arms they lost all their Liberties and hardly scaped its fatall and finall ruin The pleasures of this place was it which enervated the victorious Army of Annibal who wintered here after the great defeat given to Terentius Varro at the battell of Cannae whence came the saying Capuam esse Cannas Annibali 4 Cuma a City once of great power and beautie till Campania was subdued by the Romans after which it decayed in both Near hereunto was the Cave or Grot of one of the Sibyls called from hence Cumaea and not far off the Lake called Lacus Avernus the stink whereof is said to have poysoned Birds as they flew over it supposed by ignorant Antiquity for the entrance of Hell And finally from this place it was that Aeneas is fabled by the Poets to have gone down to the infernall Ghosts to talk with his Father 5 Nola where Marcellus discomfited the forces of Annibal and thereby gave the Romans to understand that he was not invincible 6 Puteolis a small Town standing on a Creek of the Sea just opposite to Baule on the other side of it from which distant about three miles and an half Both Towns remarkable for the Bridge built betwixt them by Caligula composed of sundry vessels joyned together in such sort that there was not only a fair and large passage over it but victualling houses on both sides of it Over which Bridge thus made he marched and re-marched in triumphall Robes as not only the Earth but the very Seas were made subject to him And he did as himself afterwards affirmed to some of his friends to
out the Emperor and altered the Government of the City as to them seemed good suddenly they became Enemies to him and the Popes received more injuries at their hands than at any other Christian Princes and that even in those days when the Censures of the Popes made all the West of the wold to tremble yet even then did the people of Rome rebell and both the Popes and the People studied for nothing so much as how one of them might overthrow the Authority and Estimation of the other But for the method and degrees by which the Popes ascended to their temporall greatness take here an extract of the Story collected out of the best Authors by the most reverend Father in God the late Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his learned and laborious work against Fisher the Jesuit The Pope saith he being chosen antiently by the Clergie and people of Rome used always to receive from the Emperors hands a ratification of that choyce insomuch that about the yeer 579. when all Italie was on fire with the Lombards and Pelagius the second constrained through the necessity of the times to enter upon the Popedom without 〈◊〉 Emperors leave S. Gregorie then a Deacon was shortly after sent in an Embassie to excuse it But when the Lombards grew so great in Italic and the Empire was so infested with the Saracens and such changes happened in all parts of the world as that neither for the present the Homage of the Pope was usefull to the Emperor nor the Protection of the Emperor available for the Pope by this means was the Bishop of Rome left to play his own game by himself A thing which as it pleased him well enough so both he and his Successors made great advantage by it For being grown to that eminence by the favour of the Emperors and the greatness of that City and place of his abode he then found himself the more free the greater the Tempest was that beat upon the other And then first he set himself to alienate the hearts of the Italians from the Emperor in which he did prevail so far that Theophylact the Exarch coming into Italie was opposed by the Souldiers who wished better to the Pope than to the Emperor and the Emperors own Governor was fain to be defended from his own Souldiers by the power of the Pope who had gotten interest in them against their own Master Next he opposed himself against him and about the yeer 710. Pope Constantine the first did openly affrone Philippicus the Emperor in defence of Images as Onuphrius telleth us After him Gregory the 2d. and 3d. took up his example and did the like by Leo Isaurus By this time the Lombards began to pinch very close and to vex on all sides not only Italie but Rome too This drives the Pope to seek a new Patron and very fitly he meets with Charles Martel in France that famous Warrier against the Saracens Him he imployeth in defence of the Church against the Lombards and the Address seems very advisedly taken it proved so fortunate to them both For in short time it dissolved the Kingdom of the Lombards having then stood two hundred and four yeers which was the Popes security and it brought the Crown of France into the House of Charles and shortly after the Western Empire And now began the Popes to be great indeed For by the bounty of Pepyn the sonne of Charles that which was taken by him from the Lombards was given to the Pope that is to say the Exarchate and all that lay betwixt the Apennine and the River of Po. So that now he became a Temporall Prince But when Charles the great had set up the Western Empire then he resumed the Antient and Originall power to govern the Church to call Councills and to order Papall Elections And this power continued for a time in his posterity for Gregory the seventh was confirmed in the Popedom by the sanre Henry the fourth whom he afterwards deposed And it might have continued longer if the succeeding Emperors had had Abilities enough to secure or vindicate their own Rights But the Pope keeping a strong Counsell about him and meeting with some weak Princes and those oft-times distracted with great and dangerous wars grew stronger til he got the better yet was it carried in succeeding times with great changes of fortune and different success the Emperor sometimes plucking from the Pope and the Pope from the Emperor winning and losing ground as their spirits abilities aids and opportunities were till at last the Pope setled himself on the grounds laid by Gregory the seventh in that great power which he now useth in and over these parts of the Christian World A power first exercised saith he in another place by this Pope Gregorie the seventh and made too good upon the Emperor Henry the fourth as by Pope Adrian the fourth Alexander the third with some others upon Frederick Barbarossa And others of the Emperors were alike served when they did not submit And for this I hope his Holiness was not to be blamed For if the Emperor kept the Pope under for divers yeers together against all reason the Popes as Bellarmine affirms being never subject to the Emperor and wanting force to stand on his own Prerogative I hope the Pope having now got power enough may keep the Emperors under-foot and not suffer them any more to start before him Having thus a little glanced at the means by which the great power of the Church of Rome was first obtained let us next consider of those Policies by which this Papall Monarchy hath been so long upheld in esteem and credit We may divide them into three heads 1. Those by which they have insinuated and screwed themselves into the affections and affairs of the greatest Princes 2. Those by which already they have and by which they will hereafter be able to secure their estate And 3ly those by which they keep the people in obedeence and ignorance 1. Concerning the first First the Donation of severall Kingdoms to them which have no right nor title but by these Grants of the Pope cannot but bind them fast to uphold that power without which they could lay no clame to that which they are possessed of Of which sort was the Confirmation of the Kingdom of France to the House of Pepin of Naples to the House of Schwaben and Anjou of Navarre to the Spaniards 2. The readiness of their Ministers to kill such as resist them cannot but necessitate Princes to seek their friendship and hold fair with them especially since by a Writ of Excommunication they can arm the Subjects against their Soveraign and without the charge of leavying one souldier either destroy him utterly or bring him to conformity The frequent wars raised by them against the Emperors of Germany and that against King John in England by these Papall fulminations onely the poisoning of the said King John by a Monk of Swinestead and
1564 who marking the great sway which the Jesuites began to have and the danger which the Church might run if that Order were not equally ballanced by some other of as much abilitie first established this consisting altogether of Priests that by their diligence in preaching of the lives of the Saints and other heads of practical and morall duties they might divert the torrent of the peoples affection from the brood of Ignatius The renowned Cardinall Caesar Baronius Francis Bourdino afterwards Bishop of Avignon in France and one Alexander Fidelis were the three first whom he admitted to his Rule initiated in S. Hieroms Church at Rome by Pope Pius the fourth with great zeal and cheerfulnes to whom as to some of his Predecessors the power and practices of the Jesuites were become suspitious They increased speedily being countenanced on so good grounds to great numbers and a proportionable Revenue as much esteemed of for their knowledge in Ecclesiasticall Historie and Practicall Divinitie as the others for Philosophy Tongues and the study of Controversies and more accepted of in most places because not usually intermedling in affairs of State So evenly looked on by the Popes that the Jesuites could not obtain the Canonization of their Ignatius till the Oratorians were grown rich enough to celebrate that of their Nerius also which hapned in the short Popedom of Gregory the 15. An. 1622. To conclude this discourse of Monks and Friers I will say somewhat of the severest kind of Recluse which is the Anachoret or Anchoret so called from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they use to live retired from company They are kept in a close place where they must dig their graves with their nails badly clad and worse dieted not to be pitied because their restraint of liberty is voluntary yet to be sorrowed for in this that after such an earthly Purgatory they shall find instead of an Euge bone serve a Quis quaesivit de manibus vestris But concerning these Orders of Monks and Friers certain it is that at their first institution they were a People much reverenced for their holy life as men that for Christs sake had abandoned all the Pomps and Vanities of the world And questionless they were then a People altogether mortified and who by their very aspects would gain upon the affection of the hardest heart insomuch that not only mean men but great personages also did desire to be buried in Friers weeds as Francis the 2 d Marquess of Mantua Albertus Pius another Prince of Italie and in late times the great Scholar Christopher Longolius But as Florus saith of the Civill Wars between Caesar and Pompey Causa hujus Belli eadem quae omnium nimia felicitas we may say also of these Friers The greatness of their wealth which many on a superstitious devotion had bequeathed unto them brought them first to a neglect of their former devout and religious carriage next to a wretchlesness of their credits and consequently into contempt so that there was not a people under heaven that was more infamous in themselves or more scornfully abused by others Hence the vulgar sayings of the people that Friers wear crosses on their breasts because they have none in their hearts and that when a Frier receiveth the Razor the Devil entreth into him and the like Nay Sir Thomas Moore who lost his head in the Popes quarrell sticks not in his Utopia to call them Errones Maximos and would have them comprehended within the Statutes of Vagabonds and sturdy Beggers Now to shew both the humours of Respect and Contempt used severally to these Monks and Friers as men stood affected there goeth a Tale how the Lady Moore Sir Thomas his wife finding by chance a Friers Girdle shewed it to her husband with great joy saying Behold Sir Thomas a step towards Heaven whereunto with a scornfull laugh he returned this answer that he feared that step would not bring her a step higher And as for their retiredness and solitary course of life so it is that many Kings especially of the Saxons in the time of their Heptarchie have abandoned their Scepters to enjoy it And Barclay in his Argenis under the person of Anaroestus hath defended this in such Princes as have cloystered themselves to injoy the solitude of a Covent Which notwithstanding Philosophers have defined a man to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Creature principally made for civill conversation the Poets say Nascitur indignè per quem non nascitur alter that he dyeth indebted to the world who leaves no posterity behind him and the Jews which live in great numbers even in Rome it self abhor this unsociable kind of living and prefer a civill sociableness much before it as to Nature more agreeable to Man more prositable and consequently to God more acceptable And having spoken thus much of the Monks and Friers descend we now unto the Nuns And indeed I should much wrong the Friers if I should deprive them of the company of their dearest Votaries and therefore take somewhat of them also Called antiently Moniales from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from their living alone whence we also had the names of Monks and Monasteries in the middle times called Nuns from Nonna an Aegyptian word for Aegypt in old times was not meanly furnished with such Eremites which also signifieth a solitary and lonely life A word in some of the barbarous Latines very much in use Scholastica the Sister of S. Benedict was the first who collected them into companies and prescribed them Rules They are shaved as Monks are and vow as they do perpetuall poverty and Virginity Which last how well they keep let Clemangis testifie who telleth us that Puellam velare eadem est ac publicè eam ad scortandum exponere to veil a Nun and prostitute her for a common Harlot were terms equivalent And one Robinson who lived for a time in the English Nunnery at Lisbon hath told us that he found an hole in their Garden-wall covered over with Morter in which were hidden the bones of many new-born children which their unnaturall Mothers had murdered and thrown in there But of these I will instance only in two Orders viz. that of S. Clare as being the strictest and that of S. Brigit which injoyeth most liberty 1. S. Clare was a Knights daughter of Assis where S. Francis was born with whom she was co-temporary and with whose austere life she was so affected that she forsook her Fathers house and followed him Having learned her Lirrie of that Frier-monger she devised an Order of Religious women and had it confirmed by Pope Honorius the third Ano. 1225. Her followers vow Poverty and Virginity as before was said go barefoot feed meanly and are more streightned in their course of life than those of any other Order By their Foundress out of a desire to conform the better to the Rule and Order of S. Francis they were called Minorites or
in his Robes his gravity and outward parts and the respect given him by the people would think no Prince could be more absolute and supreme But look upon him in the exercise and powers of Government and he is nothing in the wold but an empty Title For notwithstanding that he injoyeth so great a dignity yet hath he a full power in nothing not being able to determine in any point without the presence of his Counsellors being six in number who always sit with him and dispatch affairs both publick and private as namely giving audience to Ambassadors from Forrain States receiving Letters from their own Ministers granting of Privileges and the like in which the Duke can do just nothing if four at least of these Counsellors be not present with him And yet these Counsellors without him may conclude of any thing Nay he is so restrained in all things to the power of the Senate and to three Officers called the Capi that he may not go out of the Town without their consent and by them is prescribed an Order in his own Apparell So that he is but little better than a Prisoner when within the City and a Traytor if he stir abroad at the best 〈◊〉 honourable Servant And his Revenue is as little as his Authority as being allowed out of the common Treasury no more than 40000. Ducats a yeer towards his expence and entertainment As for the Soveraignty of the State that resides wholly in the Senate but representatively in the Duke the six Counsellers and the three Heads or Presidents of the Forty which are those Officers as I take it whom they call the Capi. The Senate or Great Counsell consist of all the Gentlemen of Venice above five and twenty years of age which may amount unto the number of 2500. though seldom half that number do assemble at once by reason of their severall imployments in affairs of the Common-wealth in other places who usually do meet together every Sunday morning and on the mornings of other Festivalls where they choose Magistrates and distribute Governments and order matters of the State But because such great Bodies move but slowly and are not very capable of trust and secrecie they parcell thâ—â— greâ—â— Counsell into lesser Members whereof the principall are the Pregadi and the Counsell of â—en That of the Pregadi consisteth of 120. in which they treat of and determine matters of the greatest importance and therein conclude commonly of such principall points as formerly have been proposed and treated of in the great Assembly And in this Counsell besides the 120. before mentioned the Duke the six Counsellors and the Counsell of Ten and all such as have born any publick Office have their voyce or suffrage This is that Counsell which properly and more specially is called the Senate in which nothing is to be concluded or passed into Acts except four of the six Counsellors be present at them and that sixty at the least of the whole number give their suffrage to it Then for the Counsell of Ten their power is universall over all affairs such as the other Counsels may not meddle with as to conclude of war or peace to put in execution what they think most necessary for the benefit of the Common-wealth and other things of like weight and moment which if they were first treated of in the Generall Counsell or Assembly and after in that of the Pregadi as they ought to be in common course could not be possibly managed with such speed and secrecie as the exigencies of the State require And in this Counsell with the Prince and his six Assistants the Supreme Majesty of the State doth reside especially Some other Officers there are and those of great authority and reputation as the Procurators of S. Mark which have the charge of the publick Treasures and the Aâ—ogadori or Tribunes as one might call them of the people being three in all one of which must be always present in all consultations lest any thing should pass to the prejudice and infringement of the Privileges of the common-people For the whole body of the City consisteth either of the Gentlemen or of Artificers and Commons These last are the descendants and progeny of such as came to settle here when the State was sixed invited to dwell here and to follow their occupations by severall Privileges and Immunities which were offered to them and these they neither admit into any of their Counsells nor into any of the Offices of Trust and Power except it be two that namely of the Chancellor and the principall Secretaries which pertain only to the people The other are the issue or descendants of those who first laid the foundation of their City and Common-wealth and these they have in such respect and so high esteem that to make any Stranger how great and eminent soever a Gentleman of the City is the greatest honour they can bestow and not bestowed but upon the best deserver Henry the 3d. of France taking this City in his way out of Poland thought himself graced with this attribute which they are very dainty and sparing of it being the highest honour which they vouchsafe to impart to such Commanders of their own and Ambassadors of other Princes as have well deserved it And that this honour may be kept up to the very height and their Nobility not grow too cheap by being too numerous neither the younger sonnes of these Gentlemen within the City or of the Noblemen in the Countrey are permitted to marry But otherwise they suffer them to satisfie their lusts with too much impunity and for their sakes allow of Stews as an evill not to be voided on the former grounds Now as Otho in Tacitus said to the Pretorian Souldiers Princeps è Senatu oritur Senatus è vobis so out of these Gentlemen are chosen the Senators out of them the Duke His election by Contarenus is described in this manner In the vacancy of the place all the Gentry above thirty years of age are assembled So many as meet cast their names into a pot and in another are just so many balls of which thirty only are gilt Then a child draweth for each till the thirty gilt ones be drawn for which thirty the child draweth again the second time out of another pot that hath only nine gilt balls The nine so drawn nominate forty out of which forty are twelve again selected by the same kind of lot These twelve nominate five and twenty out of which five and twenty are nine again by lot set apart These nine nominate five and forty who are by lot again reduced unto eleven These eleven choose forty one of the best and chiefest of the Senators who after an oath taken severally to choose whom they judge worthiest write in a scroll every one whom he best liketh The scrolls are mingled together and then drawn the fitness of the persons then drawn is discussed and he that hath most voyces
Earldom by Charles the Grosse in the cantoning and dismembring of the Kingdom of Burgundie The Earldom containing at that time not only Lionois it self but also Forrest and Beaujolois before described The Earls hereof were at first onely Provinciall Governours but under the distractions of the German Empire they shifted for themselves and became hereditarie but long it held not in one hand For first the Earldom of Forrest and the Lordship or Signeurie of Beaujeu being taken out of it about the year 990. the rest of the Estate fell in some tract of time to the Bishops and Church of Lions but under the Soveraignty of the French Kings as Lords Paramount of it The places in it of most note are 1 Mascon Matisconum a Bishops See situate on the Soasne antiently a distinct Earldom from that of Lions one of the five as that of Lions was another which made up the Dukedom of Burgundie on this side of the Soasne purchased of William the last Earl hereof and of Elizabeth his Wife by King Lewis the 9th and afterwards subjected to the Jurisdiction and Court of Lions as it still continueth 2 Eschalas on the Rhosne on the South of Lions opposite to Vienne the chief Citie of the Lower Danlphine 3 Dandilli 4 Francheville 5 Chaumont and 6 Labrelle all somewhat Westward of that River but not much observable 7. Lions it self pleasantly seated on the confluence of the Soasne and the Rhosâ—e antiently a Roman Colonie testified by many old Inscriptions and honoured with a magnificent Temple dedicated by the Cities of France to Augustus Caesar now the most famous Mart of France and an Vniversitie by our Latine Writers called Lugdunum These Marts in former times were holden at Geneva from thence removed hither by King Lewis the 11th for the enriching of his own Kingdom When Iulio the 2d had excommunicated Lewis the 12th he commanded by his Apostolicall autoritie that they should be returned to Geneva again but therein his pleasure was never obeyed the Marts continuing still at LIONS as a place more convenient and capacious of that great resort of French Dutch and Italian Merchants which frequent the same As for the Vniversitie questionless it is very antient being a seat of learning in the time of Caius Caligula For in those times before an Altar consecrated to Augustus Caesar in the Temple spoken of before this Caligula did institute some exercises of the Greek and Roman Eloquence the Victor to be honoured according to his merit the vanquished either to be ferulaed or with their own tongues to blot and expunge their writings or to be drowned in the River adjoyning Hence that of Iuvenal Vt Lugdunensem Rhetor dicturus ad Aram applied to dangerous undertakings In the time of the Romans first comming into Gaule it was the chief Citie of the Hedui and Secusiani afterwards the Metropolis of Lugdunensis Prima The Archbishop hereof is the Metropolitan of all France and was so in the time of S. Irenaeus one of the renowned Fathers in the Primitive Church who was Bishop here In this Town lived Peter Waldo a wealthy Citizen about the time of Frederick Barbarossa Emperour of Germanie who being a devout and conscientious man sensible of the many errours and corruptions in the Church of Rome distributed the greatest part of his riches amongst the poor and betook himself to meditation and studying of the holy Scriptures In the carnall eating of CHRISTS body the substraction of the Cup in the blessed Sacrament in matter of Purgaterie the Supremacie adoration of Images Invocation of the Saints departed and many other points of moment he held opinions contrary unto those of Rome and little different from those of the present Reformed Churches And yet it may not be denied but that amongst some good Wheat there were many Tares which gave the juster colour to their Adversaries to exclame against them Being much followed in regard of his pietie and charitie he got unto himself and them the name of Pauperes de Lugduno or the Poor men of Lions given in derision and contempt Afterwards they were called Waldenses by the name of Waldo the beginner of this Reformation and by that name opposed and writ against by Frier Thomas of Walden The French according to their manner of Pronunciation drowning the L. and changing the W. into V. call them commonly Vaudois by which name they occurre in the stories of that State and Language But Lyens proving no safe place for them they retired into the more desart parts of Languedoc and spreading on the banks of the River Alby obtained the name of Albigenses as before was said Supported by the two last Earls of Tholouse they became very masterfull and insolent Insomuch that they murdered Trincanell their Viscount in Beziers and dashed out the teeth of their Bishop having taken Sanctuarie in S. Magdalens Church one of the Churches of that Citie Forty yeers after which high outrage the divine Providence gave them over to the hand of the Crâ—isadas under the conduct of the French Kings and many other noble Adventurers who sacrified them in the self-same Church wherein they had spoyled the blood of others About the yeer 1250 after a long and bloodie War they were almost rooted out of that Countrie also The remnants of them being bettered by this affliction betook themselves unto the mountains lying betwixt Daulphine Provence Piemont and Savoy where they lived a godly and laborious life painfully tilling the ground re-building villages which formerly had been destroyed by Warre teaching the very Rocks to yeeld good pasturage to their Cattel insomuch as places which before their comming thither scarce yeelded four Crowns yeerely were made worth 350 Crowns a yeer by their care and industrie Lasciviousness in speech they used not Blasphemie they abhorred nor was the name of the Devil in the way of execration ever heard amongst them as their very enemies could not but confess when they were afterward in troubles The Crimes alleged against them were That when they came into any of the neighbouring Churches they made no address unto the Saints nor bowed before such Crosses as were erected in the high-wayes and streets of Towns Great crimes assuredly when greater could not be produced And so they lived neither embracing the Popes doctrines nor submitting unto his Supremacie for the space of 300 yeers uutouched unquessiooned even till the latter end of the reign of King Francis the first But then the Persecution raging against the Lutherans they were accused condemned and barbarously murdered in the Massacres of Merindol and Chabriers before mentioned After which time joyning themselves with the rest of the Protestant partie they lost the name of Vaudois by which called before and pass in the Accompt of the Reformed Churches of France enjoying the same privileges and freedom of Conscience as others of the Reformed doe And though I look not on these men and their Congregations as founders of the Protestant Church or of the
Raymund and Petronill 34. 1196. 8 Pedro II. Sonne of Alfonso 1213. 9 Iames Sonne of Pedro the 2d 43. 127â— 10 Pedro III. Sonne of Iames. 9. 1285. 11 Alfonsâ— III. Sonne of Pedro the the 3d. 6. 1291. 12 Iames II. Brother of Alfonsâ— the 3d. 36. 1328. 13 Alfonsâ— IV. Son of Iames the 2d 8. 1336. 14 Pedro IV. Sonne of Alfoâ—so the 4th 51. 1387. 15 Iohn Sonne of Pedro the 4th 8. 1395. 16 Martin the Brother of 〈◊〉 17. 1412. 17 Ferdinand of Castile the Nephew of Pedro the â—th 4. 1416. 18 〈◊〉 V. 42. 1458. 19 Iohn II. Sonne of Ferdinand and Brother of Alfonso King of Navarre also in right of Blanch his Wise 20. 1478. 20 Ferdinand II. of that name of Aragon Sonne of Iohn the 2d King of Aragon and Navarre by a second Wife and the V. of that name of Castile and Leon which kingdoms he obtained by the mariage of Isabel or Elizabeth Sister and Heir of Henry the 4th uniting thereby the great Estates of Castile and Aragon and all Appendixes of either In which regard he may well challenge the first place in the Catalogue of the Monaâ—chs of Spain to be presented in due season In the mean time to draw to a conclusion of the Affairs and Estate of Aragon we are to understand that of all the kingdoms which belong to the Spaniard it is the most privileged and free from the absolute command of the Kings of Spain having in it such a temper or mixture of Government as makes the Kings hereof to be well-nigh titular of little more autority than a Duke of Venice For at the first erecting of this Estate the better to incourage the people to defend themselves against the Moores they had many Privileges indulged them and amongst others the creating of a Iustitiar of popular Magistrate which like the Ephori of Sparta had in some cases superioritie over their Kings reversing their judgements cancelling their Grants and sometimes censuring their Proceedings And though King Philip the 2d in the busines of Antonio de Perez had made a Conquest of that kingdom and annulled their Privileges yet after of his own meer goodness he restored them in part again as they continue at this day Chief Orders of Knight-â—ood in this kingdom are 1 Of S. Saviour instituted by Alfonso the first Anno â—118 to animate the Members of it against the Moores Of the habit and customs of this Order I have met with nothing 2 Of Montesa instituted by Iames the first King of Aragon Anno 1270 or thereabouts endowed with all the Lands of the Templars before dissolved lying in Valentia together with the Town and Castle of Montesa made the Seat of their Order whence it took the name Subject at first unto the Master of the Order of Calatrava out of which extracted and under the same Rule of Cisteaux But after by the leave of Pope Benedict the 13th they quitted themselves of that subjection and in sign thereof changed the Habit of Calatrava which before they used to a Red Cross upon their Brests now the badge of the Order The Arms of Aragon since possessed by the Earls of Barcelone are Or four Pallets Gules before which they were Azure a Cross Argent THE MONARCHIE OF SPAIN THus having spoke of Spain and the Estate thereof when broken and divided into many kingdoms let us next look upon it as united into one main body effected for the most part by Ferdinand the last King of Aragon before mentioned Before which time Spain being parcelled into many kingdoms was little famous and less feared the Kings thereof as the Author of the Politick Dispute c hath well observed being only Kings of Figs and Orenges Their whole puissance was then turned against one another and small Achievements had they out of that Continent except those of the House of Aragon upon Sicilie Saraiâ—â—a and the Baleares â—huanus a diligent Writer of the Historie of his own times if in some things he savour not more of the Partie than the Historian telleth us that before this Kings Reign the name and glory of the Spaniards was like their Countrey hemmed in by the Seas on some sides and the 〈◊〉 on the other Potius patuisse exteris invadentibus quâ—m quicquam memâ—rab le extra suos sines 〈◊〉 T is true that 〈◊〉 the Great King of Navarre assumed unto himself the 〈◊〉 King of Spain and that Alfonso the first of Castile and the sixt of Leon caused himself to be crowned Emperour of Spain in the Cathedral Church of Leon Titles ambitiously affected upon no good ground and such as ended with their Persons But this Prince worthily named the Great seized on the Kingdom of Navarre conquered Granada from the Moores subdued the Kingdom of Naples united Aragon to Castile banished 124000 Families of the Jewes began by the Conduct of Columbus the discoverie of the Western Indies and finally by marying his Daughter Ioan to Philip Sonne of the Emperour Maximilian Duke of Burgundy and Lord of the greatest part of the Netherlands laid the Foundation of the present Austrian greatness Continued since by so many intermariages betwixt the Spanish and Imperiall Branches of that potent Family that Philip the second might have called the Archduke Albertus Brother Cousin Nephew and Sonne A strange Medley of Relations Thus by the puissance of this Prince the Spaniards became first considerable in the eye of the World and grew to be a terror to the neighbouring Nations Nomen Hispanicum obscurum antea et Vicinis pene incognitum saith the same Thuanus tum primùm emersit tractuque temporis in tantam magnitudinem excrevit ut formidolosum ex eo terribile toti terrarium Orbi esse coeperit And he saith true with reference to the French and Italian Nations to whom the Spaniards have administred no small matter of fear and terrour though unto others they appear no such dreadfull Bugg-Bears But sure it is and we may warrantably speak it without any such impressions of fear and terror that this Kingdom since that time is wonderfully both enlarged and strengthned strongly compacted in it self with all the Ligaments both of Power and State and infinitely extended over all the parts of the World his Dominions beholding as it were both the rising and setting of the Sun which before the Spaniard no Monarch could ever say A greater change than any man can possibly imagine to have been effected in so short a time as was between the first yeer of Ferdinand the Catholick to the last yeer of Charles the fift Concerning the title of the most Catholick King re-attributed to this Ferdinand I find that Alfonso the first of Oviâ—do was so named for his sanctity with whom it died and was revived in Alfonso the Great the twelfth King of Leon and Oviedo by the grant of Pope Iohn the 8th After it lay dead till the dayes of this Prince who re-obtained this title from Pope Alexander the sixt either
its own as each Diocese had residing in the same Citie with the Vicar or Lieutenant Generall which was then at York of as great power and jurisdiction in the Isle of Britain as any Patriarch of Alexandria Rome or Antioch in their severall Patriarchates The Metropolitans were no more than before they were It being ordered by a Canon of the Councill of Chalcedon that their number should not be augmented by any alteration made of the Roman Provinces As for the Forces which the Romans kept here in continuall pay as well to keep their Coasts and Frontires against the Enemy as for retayning of the Natives in their due obedience they came in all if Panciroll be not mistaken in his reckoning to 23000 Foot and 2000 Horse three Legions keeping here their constant and continuall Residence that is to say the sixt Legion surnamed Victrix at York the 20th Legion surnamed also Victrix at West-Chester and the second Legion sometimes at Isca Danmoniorum which we now call Exeter sometimes at Isca Siluâ—um which is now Caer-Leon upon Usk Which Legions with their Aides and Cohorts may well make up the number spoken of before Of so high estimaton was this Iland in the State of Rome Yet could not all these Forces so preserve the Countrie from forrein Enemies but that in the declining of the Roman Empire the Saxons made great spoyles on the coasts thereof as did the Scots and Picts on the Northern borders against all which the Romans held out well enough and made good their ground till the recalling of the Legions out of Britain for defence of Italy it self then wasted and destroyed by the barbarous nations Which hapned in or about the yeer of Christ 407 and some 470 yeers from the first invasion Honorius being at that time the Roman Emperour and Victorinuâ— the last Governour for the Empire in the Isle of Britain For though the noble Aetiuâ— on the Petition and complaint of the slaughtered people unmercifully butchered by the Scots and Picts sent some small forces to assist them against those Enemies yet were they presently called back for defence of Gaul against the Hunnes breaking in upon it out of Italie And then the wretched Britains hopeless of all help from Rome and being unable by their own strength to repell the Enemy by reason of their long ease and disuse of Arms applied themselves to Aldroenus King of Armorica in France called Little Britain a Prince extracted from the same stock for relief and succour whose Brother Constantine according to the British storie passing over with a competent Army and having valiantly repulsed the barbarous people was crowned King of Britain the first of a new race of Kings which swayed the Scepter with much trouble and continual conflicts either against the Scots or Saxons till they were finally subdued and shut up in Wales Those of most observation in the course of storie were 1 Constantine the first King and the restorer of the Countrie to Peace and quiet traiterously murdered by a Pict 2 Vortiger E. of the Gevilles now Cornwall Protector of Constantius the Sonne of Constantine taken out of a Monastery after whose death wherein he was conceived to have had an hand he got the Kingdom to himself but being unable to defend it against the Enemy and make his title also good against the other children of Constantine first called in the Saxons 3 Vortimer eldest Sonne of Vâ—rtiger who overthrew the Saâ—ons in many battels but in the midst of his successes was poysoned by Rowena a Saxon Lady second Wife of Vortiger 4 Arthur one of the Worlds nine Worthies of whom the Moâ—kish writers and other Lâ—gendaries report so many idle and impossible actions Doubtless he was a Prince of most perfect vertue a great Preserver of his Countrie from approaching ruine and worthy of the pen of an able Panegyrist by whom his brave atchievements might have come entire unto us without the intermixture of those feats of Chivalry affabulated to him and his Kuights of the Round-table For by the overstraining of some Monkish Writers Geofry of Monmouth and the rest they have given too just occasion to posterity to suspect that vertue which they intended to advance and filled us with as much ignorance of the story as admiration of the persons But this hath not been the ill hap of King Arthur and his Nobles onely Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France men of great vertue and renown suffering as deeply in the same kind by the solly of the French Romances It is affirmed of this Arthur but how true I know not that he began the custome of celebrating the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour for the twelve dayes following with such pastimes and sports as are or have been used of late by the Lords of Misrule in some Gentlemens houses an Institution which the Scotish Writers of those times much blame perhaps not unjustly it being a time more sit for our devotions than such rude disports But to proceed King Arthur dying left the Crown to 5 Constantine the Sonne of Cador Duke of Cornwall his neerest kinsman slain by Aâ—relius Conanuâ— his own Nephew who succeeded after him which fraction did so weaken the distressed Britans that they were forced to withdraw themselves beyond the Severn as 6 Careticus or Caradoc by the joynt forces of the Saxons to charge the plain Countries beyond the Severn for the safer but more fruitless Mountains Of the rest till Cadwaâ—lader there is little left of any certainty but their names only which are thus ranked in the second race of The Kings of Britain after the withdrawing of the Romans A. C. 433. 1 Constantine 10. 443. 2 Constantius 3. 446. 3 Vortiger 18. 464. 4 Vortimer his Sonne 7. 471. 5 Vortiger again 10. 481. 6 Aurelius Ambrosius 19. 500. 7 Uter Pendragon 6. 506. 8 Arthur 36. 542. 9 Constantine II. 4. 546. 10 Aurel. Conanus 30. 576. 11 Vortipor 4. 580. 12 Malgo. 6. 586. 13 Caneticus or Caradoc 27. 613. 14 Cadwan 22. 635. 15 Cadwallan 43. 687. 16 Cadwallader the last King of the Briâ—ans who on a superstitious zeal travelled in pilgrimage to Rome there to receive the habit of a Religious Order from the hands of Pope Sergius where he died not long after Anno 689. After whose death his Successors were no longer called Kings of Britain but Kings or Princes of Wales And there we shall be sure to find them And so the Britans leave the Stage and the Saxons enter a great and potent Nation amongst the Germans but greater by the aggregation of many people under their name and service than in themselves the Jutes and Angles joyning with them and passing in Accompt as the same one Nation Their Countries different as their names untill this Conjunction but neighbouring neer enough to unite together the Angles dwelling at the first in that part of the Cimbrian Chersonese which we now call Sleswick where still the Town called Angoleâ— doth preserve
multum aeris habet ex eo fuso fit aes as that Author hath it It is one of the least of the Belgick Provinces containing in it but 125. Villages and no more then five walled Towns or Cities viz. 1. Limbourg which gives name to the whole Estate pleasantly seated on an hill amongst shady woods under which runneth the River Wesdo which having watered the whole countrey emptieth it self into the Maes well built and fortified with a very strong Castle mounted upon a steep Precipice of no easie accesse 2. Walkenbourg called by the French Fauquemont a reasonable fair Town with a large territory two Dutch miles from Maestricht conquered from Reynold Lord hereof by John the 3. Duke of Brabant 3. Dalem a little Town with a Castle the territory thereof extending beyond the Maes conquered by Henry Duke of Brabant of that name the second 4. Rhode le Duck a little old Town with as old a Castle half a league from Walkenbourg 5. Carpen situate between Gulick and Colen beautified with a Collegiate Church and a strong Castle in which there is a Governour with a good Garrison for defence of the place Each of these Towns hath jurisdiction on the parts adjoyning but with appeal unto the Chancery of Brabant The ancient inhabitants of this â—act and the Bishoprick of Leige adjoyning were the Eburones When it was first made an Earldome I am yet to seek but of an Earldome it was made a Dukedome by the Emperour Frederick Barbarossa anno 1172. Henry one of the Dukes hereof marryed his daughter Margaret to Godfrey the 3. Duke of Brabant which gave that house some colour to pretend unto it backed with a better title on the death of an other Henry the last Duke of Limbourg whose next heir Adelph sold it to John Duke of Brabaâ—t pretending to it in the right of the former marriage anno 1293. But Reynold Earl of Gueldres thinking himself to have a better title then Adolph in right of Ermingrade his wife the daughter of Herman a late Duke hereof put in his plea and challenged it by force of Armes but being vanquished and taken prisoner by the said Duke John in the battell of Woranem was fain for his release to release all his claim and title to the Dukedome of Limbourg after that quietly enjoyed by the Dukes of Brabant till they fell both together to the house of Burgundie The Armes hereof are Argent a Lyon Barrie of ten pieces Or and Gules 8. LVICK-LAND OR The Bishoprick of LEIGE Westward of Limbourg but a far mightier estate then it lieth LVICK-LAND as the Dutch or the Bishoprick of LEIGE Leâ—diensis as the Latine and French writers call it anciently under the protection of the Dukes of Brabant and afterwards of the Princes of the house of Burgundie as Lords of that countrey By some accompted of and described as a part of Germany but for the reasons before mentioned I shal place it here environed on all sides with the Belgick Provinces that is to say with the Dukedome of Limbourg on the East with Brabant on the North and West on the South with Luxembourg The Aire hereof is very wholesome and the Earth as fruitfull abounding with all kinde of grain and fruits some store of wine and as for flesh fish fowle and venison it hath very great plenty and that too of an excellent taste But the chief riches of this Countrey is under ground consisting in mines of Lead and Iron and some few of Gold quarries of Albasier mingled with all sorts of Marble rich veins of Brimstone and unexhaustible pits of Coal which last it hath in such abundance that there is digged within the compasse of one league of the City of Leige not only sufficient for that great City but so much overplus as being sold at mean prices about the countrey amounts unto 100000. duckets of yearly value The Coal much sweeter then elsewhere and of a nature contrary to all other Coal in that it is kindled with water and quenched with oyle and the strong servour of it taken off by casting salt on it The whole countrey containeth 24 walled Towns and 1800. Villages the principall of which are 1 Leige or Luick in Latine Leodium situate in a pleasant valley environed with hils the Meuse entring it in two branches accompanied with four lesser Riverets which make in it many delightfull Ilands The compasse of it about four miles the ordinary buildings very fair all built of stone the Bishops palace a magnificent and sumptuous piece the Churches in number forty of which eight are Collegiate 32. Parochiall all of them for their riches and bounty excelling all in any City of France or Germanie Besides these there are so many Convents Mâ—nasteries and religious houses about the Town that taking all together they amount to an hundred all of them of such fair revenues so well endowed and the Religious persons there of so great authority that it is cailed the Paradise of Priests and that deservedly It is also an University of good Antiquity wherein were Students at one time 9. Kings sons 24. Dukes sons 29. Earls sons besides Barons and Gentlemen the greatest part of which were Canons of the Church of S. Lambert which is the Cathedrall of the City Yet notwithstanding it hath tasted of the malice of fortune as well as others being first destroyed by the Danes then by the Normans twice taken and once destroyed by Charles of Burgundie anno 1468. Subject it is unto the Bishop as Lord temporall of it from whom being long since made an Imperiall Ctiy there lyeth an Appeal to the Chamber of Spires 2. Dinand upon the Meuse near Namur of very great traffick till destroyed by Charles of Burgundie in the same year with Leige hardly recovered of which wounds it was again sacked by K. Henry the 2. of France anno 1854. 3. Maeseck upon the Meuse or Maes also a league from whence is the fair Nunnery of Thuren of the same nature with that of Mentz and others spoken of before the like to which there is near 4. Bilsen another Town of this Bishoprick the Abbesses of each having the priviledge of coyning both gold and silver 5. Lootz by the Dutch called Borclom in the county of Diostein made a county in the time of Charles the Great the title and possession of Vgier the Dane so famous in the History of Gallen of France and others of the old Romances 6. Franchimont which gives the title to a Marquesse of the Bishop of Leige 7. Centron or S. Truden a fair Town so called of the Abbie dedicated to that Saint 8. Huy or Hoey so called of a violent River which there runs into the Meuse 9. Tungres the chief City of the Tongri which together with the Eburones were once the Inhabitants of this tract in which are still the ruines of a Temple consecrated to Hercules Anciently an Episcopall See translated hence to Maestreicht and at last to Leige and
Friburg by Berchthold the 4 it grew by little and little to be lesse frequented the other being seated more conveniently for trade and businesse Finally in the fourth and last part hereof called NORTH-SCHWABEN because on the North side of the Danow the places most observable are 1 Gmand on the Rheems 2 Dinkel-Spuell on the Warnitz two Imperiall Towns which with Vberlinque or Werlingen all three but mean in building territory or estimation spoken of before are the only three Imperiall Cities in all Germanie which totally adhered unto the doctrines of the Church of Rome 3 Boptingen on the Egra an Imperiall City 4 Norlingen on the same River but in a low and moorish ground yet of great resort populous and well traded Most memorable for the great defeat here given the Swedes by Ferdinand the third now Emperour at his first entrance on the Government in which Bannier one of the principall commanders of that nation was slain on the place Gustavus Horn another of as great eminence taken Prisoner their whole forces routed and thereupon so strange an alteration of the affairs of Germanie which they had almost wholly conquered though not for themselves that the Palatinate not long before restored to its proper owner was again possessed by the Spaniards Frankenland by the Imperialists and the remainder of the Swedes forced to withdraw into their holds on the Baltick seas anno 1637. 6 Rotweil not far from the head of the Neccar an Imperiall City and a Confederate of the Switzers 7 Donawerdt seated on the confluence of the Donaw and the Werdt whence it had the name most commonly called only Werdt an Imperiall Town the habitation of John de Werdt once a Bâ—â—wer herein but afterward a chief Commander of the forces of the Duke of Bavaria in the late German wars 8 Villengen on the Bregen a small river falling into the Danow a Town belonging to the Princes of the house of Austria Not far from which stands 9 Furstenberg an ancient Castle the Earls hereof are Princes of the Empire and Lords of a great part of the Countrey in a Village of whose called Don-Eschingen is the head of Danubius 10 Vlme an Imperiall City situate on the meeting of the Blave the Iler and the Danow the principall City of North-Schwaben about 6 miles in compasse rich populous well fortified and stored with an Armory for Ordnance and all manner of Ammunition not inferiour to any in Germanie The Town but new taking its first rise from a Monastery here founded by Charles the Great which after grew to be a great City and took the name of Vlme from the Elmes about it At first it belonged unto the Monkes of whom having bought their freedome in the time of Frederick the third it became Imperiall The Danow hereabouts begins to be navigable having so violent a stream that the Boats which go down the water use to be sold at the place where they land it being both difficult and chargeable to bring them back again Not far hence on the banks of the Danow lye the Suevian Alpes and amongst them the old Castle of Hohenberg the Lord whereof on the ruine of the house of Schwaben became possessed of a great estate here and in upper Elsats sold afterwards to Rodolph of Habspurg the founder of the now Austrian Family The ancient Inhabitants hereof were the Brixantes Suanetes Rugusci and Calucones who together with the Vindelici of whom more hereafter and other tribes of the Rhaeti of whom somewhat hath been said before in the Alpine Provinces possessed themselves of that Countrey which lyeth betwixt the River Inn and the head of the Rhene East and West Danubius and the Alps of Italy North and South Within which compasse are the greatest part of the Grisons the Dukedomes of Schwaben and Bavaria on this side the Danow and part of the County of Tirol and not a few of the Cantons of Switzerland Subdued by Drusus and Tiberius Nero sons-in-law of Augustus it was made a province of the Romans divided into Rhaetia Prima taking in all the Countries from the Rhene to the Leck or Lycus and Rhaetia Secunda lying betwixt the Leck and the River Inn which by another name was called Vindelicia By which accompt all Schwaben on the South side of the Danow was part of the Province of Rhaetia Prima continuing so till vanquished and subdued by the Almans in the time of Valentinian the third Emperour of the Western parts As for the Almans who succeeded in possession hereof they were originally some tribes and families of the Suevi the most warlike nation of the Germans inhabiting upon the banks of the River of Albis who jealous of Caesars great successes brought against him 430000 fighting men of which 8000 were slain and many drowned They used to stay at home and go to the war by turnes they which stayed at home tilling the land to whom the rest returning brought the spoil of the Enemies But after which blow we hear little of them till the time of Caracalla the son of Severus during whose reign descending towards the banks of the Rhene and the Danow and mingling with other nations as they passed along they assumed first the name of Almans either from that promiscuous mixture of all sorts of men or as I rather think from Mannus the son of Tuisco one of the great and National Gods of the Germans And though well beaten by him at their first comming down near the River Moenus and afterwards more broken by Diocletian who slew at least 60000 of them at one time in Gaul yet never left they to infest the Provinces of the Empire which lay nearest t them till in the end following the tract of the Hunns who had gone before them and beaten down many of the Forts and Garrisons which were in their way they made themselves Masters of Rhaetia Prima Germania Prima and part of Maxima Sequanorum containing besides the Countries spoken of before Alsatia and so much of the Lower Palatinate as lies on the French side of the Rhene But quarrelling with the French their next neighbours of whose growth and greatnesse they began to be very sensible they were first vanquished by Clovis the first Christian King of the French in that great and memorable fight at Zulph near Colen and afterwards made wholly subject to the Conquerour by whom oppressed with an heavy and lasting servitude About this same they returned again to their old name of Suevians their estate being erected into a Dukedome called many times the Dukedome of Almain and when so called divided into the upper Almain comprehending the Countrey of the Grisons with some parts of Switzerland and Tirol and the Lower or the Proper Almain which contained the rest of the Estates of the ancient Almans called for the most part by the name of the Dukedome of Suevia or Schwaben and finally transmitting that name to this Province only the best part thereof These Dukes at first
hold a Synod at which the Patriarch hath his Crozier or Pastorall staffe carried before him as the Popes Legate hath the Crosse where they make Constitutions for the publick government and the regulating of Divine matters most punctually and carefully observed by the Prince himself As followers of the Greek Church but so as to be counted a Church distinct they differ much both from the Romish and Reformed 1 Denying the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son 2 Denying Purgatory but praying for the dead 3 Beleeving that holy men enjoy not the presence of God before the resurrection 4 Communicating in both kinds but using leavened bread and mingling warm water with wine which both together they distribute with a spoon 5 Receiving children of 7 years old to the Sacrament of the Eucharist because then they begin to sin 6 Forbidding extream unction confirmation and fourth marriages 7 Admitting none to Orders but such as are married and yet prohibiting marriage to them that are actually in Orders 8 Rejecting carved Images but admitting the painted 9 Observing 4 Lents in the year 10 Reputing it unlawfull to fast on Saturday or to eat blood or any thing that hath been strangled according to the first Councell holden at Hierusalem 11 And finally dissolving marriage by divorcement upon every slight occasion or conceived pleasure Which diversitie betwixt the Romanists and this people in point of Religion hath bred such a difference betwixt them in point of Affection and made them so ill conceited of one another that it a Mâ—scovite be known or but suspected to have conversed with any of the Church of Rome he is accounted to be a polluted person and must be solemnly purged and purified before he be admitted to partake of the blessed Sacrament In matters of war the people are indifferent able as being almost in continuall broils with their Neighbours and have a custome that when they goe to the Wars every Souldier giveth to the Emperour or Great Duke a piece of money which at the end of the war he receiveth again and by that means the number of the slain is exactly known At their funerals they use to put a penny into the mouth of the partie deceased a pair of shoes on his feet and a Letter in his hand directed such is their superstition to S. Nicholas whom they deem to be the Porter of Heaven an opinion doubtlesse very prejudiciall to the Popes and S. Peters prerogatives This Country is not so populous as spatious The Eastern parts are vexed with the Tartars who like Esops dog will neither dwell there themselves nor suffer the Muscovites to plant Colonies in them the Western parts are almost as much molested by the Sweden and Polonian Kings the Southern by the Turks and Precopenses and the Northern by the coldnesse of the air which is of such vehemencie that water thrown up into the air will turn to ice before it fall to the ground The better to resist the extremity of this cold not only the clothes of this people but their very houses are lined with thick Furs Every Gentleman or man of note hath in his dwelling-house a stove or hot-house in which they keep as it were to thaw themselves Such as travell on the way use often to rub their nose or ears with snow or ice to settle and recall the motive spirits into those parts which otherwise they would be in danger to lose the ignorance of which preventing Chirurgery was not the least cause that in the year 1598 of 70000 Turks which made an inrode into Muscovie 40000 were frozen to death By reason of these extremities of frosts and cold it is the custome of this people to lay the bodies of their dead all the winter long on heaps in the Belfrees of their Churches where they lie without putrefying or any ill favour till the end of March at what time the air beginning to wax warm and the earth to be fit for digging each familie looks out their dead bodies and takes care to bury them This excesse of cold in the air gave occasion to Castilian in his Aulicus wittily and not incongruously to faign that if two men being somewhat distant talk together in the winter their words will be so frozen that they cannot be heard but if the parties in the spring return to the same place their words will melt in the same order that they were frozen and spoken and be plainly understood Such is their winter neither is their summer lesse miraculous For the huge Seas of ice which in a manner covered the whole surface of the Country are at the first approach of the Sun suddainly dissolved the waters quickly dryed up and the earth dressed in her holy-day apparell such a mature growth of fruits such flourishing of hearbs such chirping of birds as if here were a perpetuall spring The reason of which strange and suddain alteration is conceived to be the long lying of the snow on the face of the earth keeping it from the rigour of the winter frosts which being dissolved by the Sun in the beginning of the spring doth so throughly drench and soke the ground being of a light and sandie mold and consequently make it the more penetrable by the beams of the Sun shining hotly on it that it forceth in a manner the Herbs and Plants to shoot forth in great plenty and that too in a shorter time then can be imagined The whole Countrie generally is very much over-spread with Woods parts of the great Hercynian Forrest heretofore over-running all the North and still more visible here then in other places either by reason of the idlenesse of the people naturally given to sloath and ease or for that the Country is not populous enough to overcome them or that there is already ground enough for tillage to supply their necessary uses For here do grow the goodliest and tallest trees of the world through which by reason of their thicknesse the brightnesse of the Sun-beams can hardly pierce affording shelter to great multitudes of Cattle but of wild beasts especially whose skins are better then their bodies as Bears Marterns Zibellines Wolves black Foxes whose skins are of very great estimation Of the timber of these trees are squared all necessaries both for Forts and Houses the Fortifications in this Countrie being made of huge Beams fastened together the chinks filled with earth not easily shaken by batterie though much subject to fire And out of them issueth an unspeakable quantitie of Pitch and Rozin which are hence distilled besides an everlasting fountain of wax and hony the Fees without the Midwifrie of the Art of men building their Hives or houses in the hollow trees Concerning this there goeth a story reported and beleeved for a certain truth of a Country-man who accidentally had slipped down into a great hollow tree where he stood up to the brest in honey continuing there two dayes without other sustenance at the end whereof a
lâ—qui liceat when as a man might thinke as hee listed of the publick and speak what he thought But whether this be such a Rara temporum felicitas such a felicitie of these our times as Tacitus conceived the other to be of those future times will shew But to return againe to Poland notwithstanding this mixture of Religions yet that most publickly allowed and countenanced is the Religion authorised by the Church of Rome asserted here by the zeal of the Kings unto that cause and the great power of the Bishops who seeing how those of their Order have spâ—d in Germanie and other places under colour of Reformation of some things amisse have hitherto upheld the Ecclesiasticall Estate in the same forme they found it The Government of the Church as formerly by 3 Archbishops and 19 Bishops who challenge a jurisdiction over all the kingdome â—ut exercise it upon those onely who submit unto them those who embrace the Doctrines of Luther or Calvin following the formes of Government by them established as others doe some new ones of their owne devising And for those Provinces and people which lie towards Greece or were parts heretofore of the Russian Empire and still hold a Communion with those Churches they have Archbishops and Bishops of their owne Religion that is to say the Archbishops of Vilne and Lemburg the Bishops of Polozko Luzko Pinsko Volodomire Presmil and Kiovia Yet amongst all these different Churches and formes of Government there is this conformitie that whensoever the Gospell is read openly in the Congregation the Nobility and Gentrie use to draw their swords according to an antient custom which they had among them signifying their readinesse to defend it against all opposers Which reason doubtlesse gave beginning to the standing up at the Creed and Gospell in the primitive times retained still in the Church of England whereby we doe declare how prepared and resolute we are to defend the same though some of late holding it for a Relick of Popery with greater nicety then wisdome have refused to doe it Chief Rivers of this Kingdome are 1 Vistula or Wixel the antient Boundary betwixt Germany and Sarmatia Europaea which rising in the Carpathian Mountaines passeth by Cracovia the chief City of Poland and dividing Prussia from Pomerella falleth into the Baltick sea not far from Dantzick and is navigable for the space of 400 miles of old called Vandalis 2 Warta which runneth through the lesser Poland 3 Duina the lesse watering Livonia and 4 Borysthenes or Nieper passing through Podolia both spoken of before when we were in Russia 5 Niester by Ptolemie called Tyras which falleth into the Euxine Sea having first parted Podolia from Moldavia 6 Jugra by some called the lesser Tanais arising in Lituania and falling into the more noted Tanais which is now called Don. Of lesse note there are 1 Reuben or Reuhon 2 Chronuâ— now called Pregel 3 Bogh said by some to bee the 〈◊〉 of the Antients 4 Minnael 5 Niemen the Maeander of these Northern parts 9 Winde a Livonian river falling into the Baltick Mountains of note here are not many the Countreys for the most part being plain and Champain and those which be are rather boundaries betwixt this and some other Kingdome then proper unto this alone The chief of which are those called Sarmatici dividing Gâ—rmany from Sarmatia Europaea by Solinus named Sevo by Ptolemie the Carpathian Mountains the boundary at this time betwixt Poland and Hungary The common metes and Land-markes being thus laid down we will next take a view of those severall Provinces of which this kingdome doth consist being ten in number that is to say 1 Livonia 2 Samogitia 3 Lituania 4 Prussia 5 Poland specially so called 6 Mollovia 7 Podlassia 8 Russia Nigra 9 Voltinia and 10 Podâ—lia all of them except the proper Poland within Sarmatia Europaea 1 LIVONIA 1 LIVONIA or LIEFLAND is bounded on the East with the Empire of Russia on the West with the Baltick Sea on the North with the Gulf or Bay of Finland on the South with Samogitia and Lituania Extended in length along the shore of the Baltick for the space of 125 Dutch or 500 Italian miles 40 Dutch or 160 Italian miles in breadth and called thus perhaps from the Lenovi a people of Germany inhabiting not far from the River Vistula The countrey for the most part plaine without any mountaines furnished with corn and fruits in so great aboundance that they send part thereof into other countries and yet there is much ground untilled in it by reason of the bogs and marishes which are very frequent Here is also store of wax honey and pitch but they have neither oyl nor wine the want of which last is supplyed by Meth. Of tame beasts fit for mans service they are well provided as also of such whose skins are of more value with the Merchant then their flesh at the market as Ermins Sables Castors others of that kinde besides good store of game for hunting the countrey having in it many large woods parts of the Hercynian And as for Rivers there are few countries which have more watered by the Winde the Beck the Dwine the Ruho all of them falling into the Baltick many great Lakes whereof the chiefe is that of Beybas 45 miles long and full of fish The people are much given to gluttonie and drunkennesse especially in rich mens houses where it is to be had for the paisant lives in want enough meere slaves to their tyrannicall Landlords who spend in riot and excesse what these get by drudgerie And when at any time the poore wretch leaves his Landlord to mend his condition with some other the Lord if he can overtake him will cut off his foot to make sure of him for the future They are a mixture of many Nations as the Fstones which are the naturall Inhabitants derived from the Estii a Dutch people spoken of by Ptolemie of which Nation are almost all the Paisants the Moscovites Swedes Danes Dutch and Polanders intermingled with them comming in upon severall conquest and planting themselves in the best parts of it in which they still Lord it over the Native but the Dutch especially for long time Masters of the whole The Christian Faith was first here planted by Meinardus of Lubeck imployed herein in the time of Frederick the first at the perswasion of some Dutch Merchants who traded hither by the Archbishop of Breme by whom made the first Bishop of the Livonians The Church hereof at this time governed by the Archbishop of Riga the Bishops of Derpt Asâ—lia Oesel Curland and Rivallia in those parts which remaine subject to the Polander where the Religion of the Church of Rome is onely countenanced Such parts of it that are under the Swedes or Danes are for the most part of the Lutheran profession planted with colonies of that people But the Estones or originall Inhabitants as they have a language so they have a Religion
and Princes of Germanie began to think of some expedient to compound the businesse Being inclined to Luthers doctrines and willing to advance himself unto this Estate he secretly practised with Sigismund the first of Poland to end the war to the advantage of both parties By whom at last it was agreed that Albert should relinquish his Order and surrender all Prussia into the hands of the King that the King possessing the Western parts with the town of Mariemberg and the soveraignty of Dansk and Melvin should invest Albert with the title of Duke of Prussia estating on him and the heirs of his bodie the whole Eastern Moietie containing the Provinces or Dukedoms before specified and finally that Albert and his heirs should hold the said Estate as Homagers to the Crown of Poland taking place in all Assemblies at the Kings right hand According to this agreement anno 1525. Albert attired in the compleat Habit of Master of the Dutch Order presents himself humbly on his knees before King Sigismund at Cracow the King then sitting on his Throne The King raising him from the ground caused him to put off those robes and attire himself in a Ducall Habit which done an instrument was read and published whereby the King conferred upon him and the heirs of his body the Dukedome of Prussia to be held of him and his successours Kings of Poland An act at which the whole Order were extremely incensed but they could not help it and thereupon retired into Germanie where there were some good lands left to maintain such of them as had no mind to quit that militarie honour leaving their old Estates in Prussia to the King and the Duke whose successors have hitherto enjoyed their part of it with the Title of DUKES of PRUSSIA 1525 1 Albert Brandenbourg son of Frederick Marquesse of Onalsbach or Ansbach created Master of the Order by the Emperour Maximilian anno 1511. and the first Duke of Prussia by Sigismund the first of Poland anno 1525. founded the Universitie of Coningsberg anno 1544. 1563 2 Albert Frederick son of Albert the first Duke marryed Mary Eleanor daughter of William Duke of Cleve Gulick Berg c. 3 Anne Eldest daughter of Duke Albert Frederick Dutchesse of Prussia brought the Estate in marriage to 4 John Sigismund Marquesse and Elector of Brandenburg confirmed therein by Sigismund the 3. of Poland pretending an Escheat thereof for want of heirs males of the bodie of Albert the first Duke 5 George William Marquesse and Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in right of the Lady Anne his mother and of Cleve Gulick Berg c. by descent from Mary Eleanor his Grandmother 6 Frederick William son of George William Marquesse and Elector of Brandenburg Duke of Prussia Cleve Gulick and Berg of whose investiture in the Dukedome of Pomeren and other large and goodly Signeuries we have spoke elsewhere As for the Government of this Province standing thus divided that of the Duke is more Monarchicall then that of the King the one being absolute and uncontrollable in his Estates the other subject to the great Councell of Poland If any difference grow between them Delegates appointed by the King but taking a new Oath to doe equall justice either at Mariemberg or Elbing do compound the businesse who together with some others of the Dukes nomination receive all Appeals in which the Duke is interessed as one of the parties The Revenues of this Dukedome are thought to be 120000 Ducats yearly The Armes thereof are Argent an Eagle Vert Membred and Crowned Or langued Gules 10 POLAND POLAND properly and specially so called is bounded on the East with Massovia Podlassia and Lituania on the West with Silesia and the Marquisate of Brandenburg on the North with Prussia and on the South with the Sarmatian or Carpathian Mountains which divide it from Hungarie It is in length 480 Italian miles 300 of the same miles in breadth and took this name as afore is said from the word Pole signifying as much as plain the Countrie being plain and levell little swelled with hils The Air hereof is pure and healthy but sharp and cold the Countrie plain shaded with thick dark woods parts of the Hercynian full of wild beasts for hunting and of Bees for honey which they have here in great abundance together with such plenty of grain but of Rie especially by reason of the continuall breaking up of new grounds gained out of the Forrests that it may be called the Granarie or Store-house of the Western parts of Europe sent down the Wixel unto Dantzick and thence transported by the Merchant into other Countries according to their severall wants The Character of the people we have had before adding now only that in matters of war they are stout and resolute so forwards in giving the charge and pursuit of the enemie that John Vasiâ—wich the Great Duke of Moscovie comparing them with the Souldiers of his own Dominions was wont to say that the Moscovites wanted a spur to drive them forwards and the Polanders had need of a bridle to hold them back Their language is the Sclavonian tongue most generally spoken also in the rest of the Provinces but with some difference in the dialect or pronunciation It is divided commonly into two parts the Greater and the Lesser Poland The Greater lying wholly on the Western side of the Wixel and so accounted anciently as part of Germanie contains 9 divisions under the jurisdiction of the 9 Palatines of 1 Posna 2 Kalisch 3 Siradia 4 Lancitia 5 Vratislaw 6 Brestus 7 Rava 8 Ploczko and 9 Dobrzin each of them so called from some Town of note The chief whereof and of the rest contained in them are 1 Posna a Bishops See and the principall of the Greater Poland seated amongst hills on the River Warta built of free-stone with very large Suburbs beyond the River but much subject unto inundations which adde much strength unto the place of great resort by reason of the Marts or Fairs holden twice a year 2 Koscien situate amongst Marishes and â—ortified with a double wall 3 Ostresow bordering on Silesia begirt with woods 4 Guesna the antientest town of Poland founded by Lechus their first Prince the seat of him and his successours till removed to Cracow situate in Kalisch and by old prescription the first place for the inauguration of the Kings of Pole in regard that here Prince Boâ—â—slaus the first King received the Regall Diadem at the hands of Otho the third The town well-walled and the See of the Archbishop who is the Primate of the kingdome by antient priviledge the Popes Legat for all Sarmatia Europaea and in the absence of the King or interregnums the Vicar Generall of the kingdome having power to summon the Diets to conclude and publish their Decrees 5 Petrocow a walled Town in the Palatinate or division of Siradia situate in a moorish soyle the place in former times of the Generall Diets since removed
from the enter-view which the Lord pleased to bestow there on his servant Iacob at his return out of Mesopotamia mentioned Gen. 32. 32. the word signifying the place of the face or vision of God defaced by Gedeon for their churlish usage of him when he craved relief of them against the Midianites to whom together with the Moabites and Ammonites the whole territory appertaining to these two Tribes did once belong But being from them taken by Og King of Basan and Sehon King of the Amorites it came by the overthrow of those Kings to the hands of Moses by whom assigned unto the Tribes of Gad and Reuben for their habitation Continuing theirs till the fatall period of this Kingdome of Israel began to approach at what time these two Tribes with the half Tribe of Manasses lying on the East of Iordan being carried captive into Assyria by Tiglath Philaser the Moabites and Ammonites recovered a great part of their antient dwellings Of which possessed till their subversion by the Babylonians Afterwards this whole Countrey coming into the hands of the Kings of Syria had the name of Pereaa for the reason formerly delivered And being wonne peece-meal by the Maccabaeans came with the rest of the Kingdome of Iudah to the possession of Herod the Great by whom bequeathed at his death unto Herod Antipas one of his Sonnes who held it together with both Galilees under the name of Tetrarch of Galilee and Pereaa as Iosephus or of Galile onely as Saint Luke who being dead it was bestowed on Agrippa King of the Iews of whom more hereafter ITVRAEA ITVRAEA hath on the East and North Cale-Syria on the West the River Iordan and on the South Peraea So called from Ietur one of the Sonnes of Ismael seated in this tract though lost by his posterity to the Amorites one of the most powerful tribes amongst the Chanaanites and by them made the patrimony of the Kings of Basan The race of which Kings ending in Og the wealthiest and best parts hereof were given by Moses to the half Tribe of Manasses such parts of it as lay towards Damascus being seized on by the neighbouring Aramites and made a Kingdome of it self called the Kingdome of Gessur and the more mountainous and unpleasant left to the first inhabitants as not worth the conquering But both the Kingdome of Gessur and those of the half tribe of Manasses shifting from one Lord to another till they came into the hands of the Grecians the name of Ituraea revived again and grew into very good esteem the Ituraeans being reputed for good Souldiers especially at the Bow and Arrowes of which thus the Poet in his Georgicks lib. 2. Ituraeas taxi torquentur in arcus Of the best Eugh that can be had The Ituraean Bows are made The whole Countrey in the times of the Greeks and Romans divided into Trachomitis and Ituraea specially so called this last again being subdivided into Batanea Ganlonitis Auranitis and Paneas For whereas it is said in Saint Lukes Gospel that Philip the brother of Herod was Tetrach of Ituraea and the Region of Trachonitis and by Iosephus that for his Tetrachy he had the Provinces of Trachonitis Batanea Gaulonitis Auranitis and Paneas it must needs be that the four last mentioned Provinces make up that one which by Saint Luke is comprehended in the name of Ituraea distinct from that of Trachonitis though a part hereof Inhabited in the time of Iosephus as in those of Iosuah and David both by Iews and Syrians the Syrians dwelling in the mountainous and more barren parts the Iews in that which was assigned them in the time of Moses the whole not yielding unto Galilee for extent of ground but far inferiour to it for wealth and fruitfulness not well inhabited where best and in some places which are desart and very barren hardly inhabited at all or bearing any thing but wild-fruits Such was it in the time of Iosephus and not bettered since 1. TRACHONITIS is that mountainous and hilly Countrey which beginning at the borders of the Ammonites where the hills are called the Mountains of Gilead extendeth it self Northwards as far as Libanus the hills in those parts being by the Iews called Galeed Syrion and Heâ—mon but by the Grecians for the craggedness and roughness of them by the name of Trachones The people mischievously bent and much given to witch-craft as we find in Strabo Montanam regionem incolunt Ituraei Arabes malefici omnes So he or his Translatour rather for I have not the Originall by me Where by Arabians he meaneth those of Trachonitis which every where he maketh to be the fame with Ituraea though differing from it as the Cots-wold Countreys do from the rest of Gloucestershire or as a pared th from the whole because united by that name into one estate at the time he lived in Solet Trachonitis Itureae nomine appellari saith the learned Grottus according to the generall consent of the antient Writers A people generally addicted to spoyl and robberie living especially on the spoil of those Merchants which traded to and from Damascus till with some difficulty restrained to a more orderly life by Herod on whom Augustus Caesar had bestowed the Countrey to the end that by strong hand he might hold them in The People and the Countrey by Iosephus are thus described The Trachonites saith he have neither Towns nor lands nor heritage or any other possessions but only certain retreates and caves under the ground where they lived like beasts and having made abundant provision of water and victuals were able to hold out along time against any assailant For the doors of their Caves were made so narrow that they could be entered but by one at once and the way to them not direct but full of turnings and windings not possibly to be found out but by the help of a Guide the whole Countrey naturally consisting of craggy Rocks The passages of the Caves once entred they were found to be very large and spacious sufficient to contain great multitudes of these theevish people who when they had not opportunity to spoile their neighbours would rob one another and omitted no kind of wickedness being so accustomed to thest that they could not live otherwise But I conceive that this is not meant generally of all the people but only of some bodie of theeves or out-lawes which possessed themselves of the streits of the Mountains and from thence issued to assault and spoil the Passengers For it is afterwards expressed that revolting upon the news of Herods death and committing new out-rages they no sooner heard of his recovery but they fled the Countrey and betook themselves unto a strong Castle in Arabia where they increased to the number of a thousand persons So that there is no question to be made at all but they had villages and towns and lands and heritages in the more civill parts hereof though not amongst those Mountainers which Iosephus speaks of And
Mahomet having treacherously practised the death of Mirza his elder brother suceeeded his Father recovered almost all which the Turks had gained and added the Kingdomes of Ormus Heri Candahor and Hyrcania to the Crown of Persia 7. Soffie the Nephew of Abas by his sonne Mirza whose eyes he caused to be put out on a false suspition at the age of fifteen years succeeded committed by his Grand-father during his minority to the protection of Emangoly Chawn or Duke of Shyras A Prince who since he came to age hath had a good hand against the Turks attempting the recovery of Bagdel and other places which had been taken from them in the time of Abas The Government of these Persian Kings though it be despoticall and severe hath a great deal less of the Tyrant in it than any other of the Mahometan Kings or Princes these cherishing their Brethren maintaining Nobility amongst them and incouraging industry which makes them to be better served than the Turk or Tartar to both whom they are farre inferiour both in power and treasure Their Officers of of State and men of principall inployment for the most part Eunuchs as generally in all the Empires of the East such Persons being thought most trusty because abstracted from the obligations of wife and children they study more the Princes service than their own advantages Their forces consist most of Horse to which they are inclined more generally than to serve on root and yet the greatest body of horse which they have brought at any time into the field came not to above 30000 but those well furnished and appointed maintained on Lordships and Estates after the manner of the Turkish Timariots The Foot-Souldiers of his own Countries but poor and raw and very seldome stand their ground That defect being for the most part supplied by Mercinaries The inconvenience of which being found by Sultan Abas he served himself of children bought of Christian Parents neer the Euxine Sea from whence the Egyptian Sultans had their Mamalucks whom they call by the name of Cozel-Bassas or Red-capâ— so named from the colour of their Turbans trained up by them in their Religion and warlike Discipline as the Turks their Janizaries yet farre inferiour to the Turk against whom if they have prevailed since the time of Abas they may ascribe the greatest part of their good fortune to those divisions and Rebellions which in these late times have been frequent in the Turkish Empire And as for their Sea-forces they are inconsiderable For though they have a large Sea-coast both on the Persian Bay the Caspian Sea and the Southern Ocean yet are they very poor in shipping suffering the Moscovite to ingross the trade of the Caspian Sea the Portug â—â— to manage that of the Southern Ocean as formerly that also of the Persian Bay till the taking of Ormuz The Revenues of this Kingdome in the time of Hysmael the first Sophy were exceeding great insomuch that Tamas his Successor to ingratiate himself with all sorts of people released them of all kinds of Customes imposed on Merchandise either imported or exported And this they say amounted to the summe of 90000 Tomans yearly which reckoning every Toman at 20 Crowns made up a million and 800000 Crowns of annuall income Which notwithstanding his Revenue was computed at four or five millions of Crowns yearly raised out of Domain lands the tenth of fruits the profit of mines and the 〈◊〉 payed by every subject when he sets up shop But Tamas finding this not to be sufficient to maintain his Royalty doubled the value of his money and thereby for the present his Revenues also Since that they have been much empaired by the Conquests made upon them by the Turks who had got from them so much land as maintained 40000 Timariots and yielded to the grand Signeur one million of yearly income whether improved again or not to their former height I am not able to determine And so much for Persia OF TARTARIA ARTARIA is bounded on the East with China the Orient all Ocean and the streights of Anian by which parted from America on the West with Russia and Podotra a Province of the Realm of Poland on the North with the main Scythick or frozen Ocean and on the South with part of China from which separated by a mighty wall the the River Oxus parting it from Bactria and Margiana two Persian Provinces the Caspian Sea which separates it from Media and Hyrcania the Caucasian Mountains interposing betwixt it and Turcomania and the Euxine which divideth it from Anatolia and Thrace So called from the Tartars a puisant and mighty people now possessed hereof the reason of whose name we shall shew hereafter It containeth all those great and spacious Provinces which the antients called Seres Scythia extra Imaum Scythia intra Imaum Sacae Sogdiana the greatest part of Sarmatia Asiatica and part of Sarmatia Europaea extending it self the whole length of Asia from the River Tanais to the Eastern Ocean taking in Taurica Chersonesus and some other parts of Europe also So that if we measure it by miles it is said to contain 5400 from East to West and 3600 from North to South a greater quantity of ground than the Turkish Empire but of less fertility and accompt In measuring by the way of degrees it reacheth from the 50. degree of Longitude to the 195. which is 145. degrees from West to East and from the 40th degree of Northern Latitude unto the 80th which is within ten degrees of the Pole it self By which accompt it lieth from the beginning of the sixt Clime where the longest day in summer is 15 hours till they cease measuring by Climates the longest day in the most Northern parts hereof being full six moneths and in the winter-half of the year the night as long The Countrey lying under such different Meridians and such distant Climes must needs be such as no generall Character can be given of it and therefore we shall deferre that with the names of the Rivers and chief Mountains to the description of the several and particular Provinces But for the people being much of the same nature in every part we may take the measure of them here Affirmed to be of square Stature broad faces hollow eyes thin beards thick lips flat noses ugly Countenances swart of complexion not so much by the heat of the Sunne which keeps farre enough off as their naturall sluttishness Barbarous every where in behaviour especially in those parts which they call Asiatica and Antiqua but withall very strong of body swift of footmanship vigilant in time of service and patient of all extremities both of cold and hunger The women suitable to the men scorning or wanting ornaments to set themselves out or when they do they seldome go beyond copper feathers or such precious gew-gawes In behaviour they are rude and barbarous as before was said eacing their Enemies when they take them as in way of revenge first letting
by Psamniticus the Aegyptian King who had heard of their comming and thought it best to entertain them on the way and not to bid them welcome at home to his greater cost Out-vying the Median as of the two the richer Prince he loaded them with gifts and treasure and so sent them back again into Media from whence they came where for many years they afflicted that people and the neighbouring Provinces doubling their tributes and using all kind of insolencies till in the end Cyâ—xares the sonne and Successour of Phraartes acquainting some of his most faithful subjects with his design caused the better part of them to be plentifully feasted made them druak and slew them recovering thereby the possession of his whole estate Afterwards imitated by the English in their Hock-tide slaughter Such of them as escaped this blow and were not willing to be subject to the Kings of Media as many of them were were suffered to return home by the same way they came where at their coming they found foul work made by their wives and their slaves the story whereof we had when we were in Russia After this we hear nothing of them in the stories of the Greeks and Romans unless those Amazon who attended their Queen Thalestris when she bestowed a visit on Alexander were rather of these Sarmarian Amazon than of those of Pontus and Thermodon as I think they were the neerness of their dwelling to Hyrcania in which place they found him inducing me to this opinion But possible enough it is though it be not certain that some of these Sarmatian tribes though by other names hearing of the successes of the Hunnes Avares and other barbarous nations which made havock of the Roman Empire might join themselves unto them and make up their numbers those nations being else two small to compound such Armies as by them were brought into the field against the Romans with out such like helps What their estate hath been since subdued by the Tartars hath been shewn already 3. ZAGATHAY ZAGATHAY is bounded on the East with the Mountain Imaus by which it is parted from Cathay on the North with the main Scythick or Frozen Ocean on the West with Tartaria Deserta from which separated by the River Soane and the Lake of Kitay and on the South with the Caspian Sea and the River Oxus by which divided from the Empire of Persia So called from Zigathay a brother of one of the Great Chams on whom it was conferred for his better maintenance the Scythia intra montem Imaum of the antient writers The Countrey spreading out so far on all sides as before appeareth comprehendeth all those Provinces and tracts of ground which angiently were called 1. the Countrey of the Sacae 2. Sogdiana 3. Zagathay specially so called 4. Turchestan included antiently in the name of Scythia intra montem Imaum and 5. the Terra incognita which Ptolomy makes to be the Northern boundarie of that part of Scythia By taking a survey of all which particulars we shall find the temper of the whole 1. SACAE or the Countrey of the Sacans is bounded on the East with the mountain Imaus on the West with Sogdiana on the North with Zagathay properly and specially so called on the South with the River Oxus by which parted from Bactria So called from the Sacae the Inhabitants of it but the reason of their name I find not The Countrey antiently either barren or ill manured full of vast Forests wide Desarts and the like unhabitable places Few or no Cities in it and not many villages civitates autem non habent as my Author hath it the people living for the most part in Caves or otherwise wandring up and down with their droves of cattel Called for that reason Nomades by some antient writers The name not proper to these onely but common to all those who followed the like roving life as the Sarmatians wild Arabians Saracens and the Inhabitants of Libya and Numidia in Africk Onely one fortified place they had which from the materials of it had the name of Turris Lapidea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek or the Castle of Stones Part hereof being peopled for the most part by Camels or travellable onely with those Creatures had the name of Camelorum Regio Divided it was antiently into many Tribes the Caratoe and Comari neer the River Jaxartes the Massagetae and Comedoe neer the hills called Ascatanas the Bylcae and Grynaei more within the Country All joined in one by the name of Sacae and by that name made a very fortunate Progress into Armoniae to which they had an easie passage by the Northern banks of the Caspian Sea and therein gave name unto the Province called Sacasena But proceeding into Cappadocia and there slain by the Persians in the middest of their Feastings they left there also some resemblance of their name in an annuall festivall called Sarea celebrated by the Persians in memoriall of their good success in the warre against them Such as stayd here being overcome by Cyrus the first Persian Monarch did so good service to that Prince that Amorges the King of these Sacoe is said to have rescued him from the hands of the Scythians by whom otherwise he had been slain or taken Prisoner In the declining of that Kingdome they were subdued by Alexander at the end of his Scythian and Sogdian warres who hereabouts by Cobortanes a noble Persian was presented with a Bevy of beautifull Ladies one of the which was that Barsine whom he made his wise and had by her that Hercules whom Polysperchon and his faction proclamed King of Macedon Not memorable in the following times for any thing which they did or suffered as they have been made by the opinion or mistake of others Who building Castles in the Air will needs derive the Saxons our famous Ancestors from this Originall as if they were called Saxons quasi Sac-sonnes or the sonnes of Sacae A fancy in my poor conceit of no ground at all For either the number of these Sacae when they left these parts must be great or little I little how can we conceive it possible they should force their way thorough those valiant Nations of both Sarmatias who to the last maintained their liberties and estate against the Romans If great enough to force their passage for stout and provident Nations use not to give passage to great Armies but they pay dear for it how can we think it possible they should be shut up in a corner of Germany betwixt the River Albis and the Cimbrick Chersonees The Saxons then whatsoever they were were no sonnes of the Sacae and what in likelihood they were hath been elsewhere shewn 2. SOGDIANA hath on the East the Sacoe on the North and West Zagathay specially so called on the South the River Oxus parting it from Margiana So called from a cha in of Mountains named Montes Sogdii being the chief of all this Countrey though of themselves a
Clime under which it lieth is said to be abounding in wheat rice wooll hemp silk and musk Great store of that medicinall root called Rhubarb or Rha-barbarum to difference it from the Rha-Pontick growing on the banks of Volga They have also very great herds of Camels of whose hair they make those stuffs which are hence called Camelets or Chamlets and such an infinite breed of horses that the great Cham feedeth yearly 10000 white mares which he keeps for their milk Some of their Rivers are reported also to yield golden sands But whether it be so or not certain it is that it is so well provided of all things both for necessary use and the pleasures of life that it is thought to be inferiour to few Countries of Europe The Air indeed not so temperate as in many places in summer-times extremely hot and in winter miserably cold the thunders and lightnings being here so terrible that in summer many men die for fear when they hear it The winds no less violent than the thunder do sometimes tear up trees by the roots and beat men from their horses but seldome bring with them any storm of rain the greatest showers which they have hardly wetting the ground The people are generally very waâ—like strong of body quick of action fearless of the greatest dangers patient both of want and labour of mean stature little eyes sharp-sight and thin beards Industrious they are in severall manufactures of a good wit for dispatch of business more honourable than the rest of the Tartâ—â—ars as loving to dress themselves gorgiously to fare sumptuously if there be occasion to live in handsome houses and to frequent the most populous and best-traded Cities They accompt not any for a wife till she bear them children nor till then do medle with their dowries but repudiate them at a certain time if they find them barâ—en They reverence their Cham or Emperor even to adoration not suffering any stranger to come in his presence except he be first purged if any any otherwise presume it is present death The Religion publiquely allowed and conntenanced is that of Mahomet but so that they obey the Pentateuch of Moses and observe many things there commanded It was much laboured by Pope Innocent and King Lewis of France that they should receive the Christian faith and they found some inclinations in the people and chief Princes to it But finding by the Mahomentan Agents who then laboured to bring them to their superstition that Mahomet allowed of many wives and other things more agreeable to their fleshly lusts they conformed to that Yet so that there are many Idolaters in Cathay it self I mean Cathay strictly so called and some Christians also the state of whose affairs we have shewn before Chief Rivers of the whole 1. Palysanga navigable up to the City of Cambalu to which it is a means of conveying great store of merchandise 2. Caromoram so broad and deep that no bridge can be made over it 3. Quiam one of the greatest in the world in length about an hundred dayes journey for breadth in most places six miles in many eight and in some ten 4. Quiantu about half a mile over and well stored with fish Here are also very many Lakes both large and usefull as 1. the Lake of Caniâ—lu in which are said to be so many pearls as would make them of no value if every man might have leave to fish for them which is therefore interdicted without speciall licence upon pain of death 2. the Lake of Caraim about an hundred miles in circuit and so full of fish as might suffice for all the Countrey did they love to eat of it Their mountains we shall climb over in their severall places It comprehendeth those two large and ample Provinces which the Antients called Serica and Scythia extra montem Imaum the first conceived to be Cathay especially so called the last now named Altay and subdivided into severall Regions of which more anon 1. SERICA hath on the East some part of China on the South the rest of China and some part of India on the North Altay or Sâ—yshia extra moutem Imaum on the West the mountains of Imans In which I follow not the bounds laid down by Ptolomy who for want of that knowledge in these remote Countries which these latter ages have afforded is fain to shut it up on the North and East with a Terra incognita At the present it is called CATHAY and that most probably from the Chatae a Scythian People who subduing the old Inhabitants became masters of it But for the name of Serica it was derived originally from Sera the chief City of it whence the people had the name of Seres very industrious in their times and amongst other things in the making of silks made of a fine wooll growing on the leaves of trees from hence named Serica Of great esteem amongst the Romans as is said by Pliny Tanâ— multiplici apere tam longinquo orbe potitur ut in publico matrona transluceat being faâ—â—e fetch'd and dear-bough they were good for Ladies Nor were they industrious onely but chast and temperate The names of Theeves and whores were not known amongst them They eat not any unclean flesh nor used the company of their wives either after conception or during their menstrual purgations So moderate of diet that they lived commonly to the age of 200 years the quietness and mildness of their disposition helping much thereto Of yellow hair watchet or Sea-green eyes and good composure Men of few words but very just in all which they said or did Governed by a common Councell of 5000 men every one of which was to find an Elephant for the use of the State If you will take the character both of the Countrey and People from Ammianus Marcellinus he will give it thus First of the Countrey that it is plentifull and large circled about with a chain of mountains the two famous Rivers Oechar des and Banthisis with a still and slow stream running thorow the midle of the inclosed plain spaciously stretched out to the sides of the prâ—cipices in one place large and open in another lying flat and low with an easie descent in which regard they have abundance of corn store of Cattel and plenty of Orchards The temperature of the Air pleasant and wholesome the constitution of the weather clear and pure the blowing of gentle winds most commodious and the woods with a pretty glimmering of light both within and under them from whence the people with much sprinkling of water softning that which the trees bring forth like a kind of Fleece kemb a most fine and tender matter which they spin into silk serving in former times for the nobility and gentry now become common to those also of inferiour rank Then for the People he saith that they are a frugall Nation lovers of quiet not troublesome unto their neighbours without the use of Arms and the
thrusting it self into the Sea discerned afar off by the Saylor and the Country people as well by reason of his height reaching to the clouds as the continual lightnings and thunders which do issue thence Rivers of most note besides Nile which watereth it on the East 1 Senaga or Canaga which riseth out of the Lake of Guoga supposed to be the same which Ptolomy calleth Lacum Chelonidem and if so then must this be the River Gir of which he saith that having fallen into that Lake and there swallowed up it thence produced another River whose name he telleth not little inferiour unto Nilus for the length of its course the variety of strange Creatures which are bred therein or the distinction which it maketh in the face of this Country the people on the one side of it being Black on the other Tawnie the soyl on the one side very barren on the other fruitfull In the end having run his race he falleth into the Atlantick by two great Out-lets 2 Niger a River better known to Ptolomy by name then nature now found to have its rise from a great Lake within two degrees of the Equinoctiall whence running northwards for a time he hideth himself under ground for the space of 60 miles together when rising up again and making a great Lake called the Lake of Borneo he bendeth his course directly Westward and taking in many less Channels he teareth the earth into many Islands and at last falleth into the Sea Of as long course and the same wondrous nature as the River Nilus For from the fifteenth day of June it overfloweth all the adjacent fields the space of 40 days together and in so many more recollecteth his waters into their proper Channels the whole Country being indebted to these inundations for its fertility which otherwise could be but small since the dryness of the soyl can afford no exhalations whereby clouds may be generated and the earth refreshed with moystures or revived with dewes Chief Cities of this Country in the time of Ptolomy 1 Nigira the Metropolis of the Country 2. Panagra 3 Malachath 4 Anygath 5 Thumondacana 6 Suluce and others to the number of 17 in all situate all along the course of the River Niger Of all which we have nothing now remaining but the situation and the names which that Author giveth us So that the memory of all the Ancient Towns and People being quite defaced we must look upon it now as it standeth divided at this time into several Kingdoms 25 at the least in all some say many more the chief of which are these that follow 1. ORA ANTEROSA A large tract of ground on the Western Ocean extended from Cape Blance to the River Carthage sandy and barren but reasonably well peopled The Inhabitants hereof called Azanaghi were accompted formerly very rude and barbarous much civilized since the Portugals and other Christian Nations began to trade there of middle stature complexioned between black and ash colour great lyers very treacherous poor and parsimonious and very patient in extreams both of heat and hunger The chief Towns 1 Porto di Dio we may call it Gods Port and 2 Porto del Riscatto two frequented Havens thus named occasionally by the Portugueze at their first coming thither 3 Arquin a strong Fortress of the Portugals situate on or neer the Promontory now called Cape Blance and giving name unto some Ilands five or six in number lying neer unto it called the Isles of Arquin inhabited by a barbarous People named the Azanhays but of no great note These coasts discovered first by the Portugals An. 1452. under the conduct of Prince Henry son of John the first or by his incouragement and directions 2. GVALATA distant from the Ocean 100 miles the Province of Ora Anterosa being interposed is but a small Country though a Kingdom containing in it but three Burrough Towns with some Territorie of ground and petty Hamlets belonging to them Fruitfull only in Dates Mill and Pulse but of these two last no great abundance The Inhabitants Cole-black hospitable towards strangers to their power but poor and miserable without Laws setled form of Government Gentry and Judges 3. AGADEZ bordering on Targa one of the five Desarts of Libya the People of it generally given to grazing their houses made of green boughs which upon every change of Pasture they carry with them So that we are to look for few Towns among them but these moveable Villages One of good note it hath called Agadez by the name of the Country inhabited for the most part by Merchants Strangers who drive a great Trade betwixt this and Tremesen The Town well walled the houses of a better building then the Country promiseth the People civiller and more fair conditioned then the rest of the Negroes seated commodioustly on a River which falleth into the Senaga and by that means hath correspondence with the Ocean also The King hereof a Tributary to the King of Tombuto payeth him 15000 Crowns of Annual tribute 4. CANO a large Province on this side of the River Canaga full of woods mountainous and in some parts desart but plentifull enough of Corn Rice Citrons and Pomgranats with good store of Cotton wool Well-watered besides that great River with some lesser Streams Sufficiently populous and stored with good Towns and Villages the habitations of the Shepherds and Husbandmen as the chief Town called Cano is of wealthy Merchants This the Seat-Royal of their King a Tributary also unto him of Tombuto environed with a wall built of a Chalk stone as most part of the houses are 5. CASENA on the East of Cano but less fruitfull far the Country over-grown with vast woods and the soyl untractable affording only Mill and Barley but of that good plenty The People as black as any Coal with great noses and most prominent lips Their houses very poor and mean and their Towns accordingly none of them numbring more then 300 Families 6. SANAGA lying on the other side of that River from which thus named extendeth to the Atlantick Ocean as far as to the Promontory which by Ptolomy named Arsinarium is now called Cape Vert or Caput Viride The Country full of rich Pastures goodly Trees and most sorts of Fruits plentifull enough of Mill and Pulse but ill provided of other Corn and no Grapes at all Well watered both with Lakes and Rivers No tame beasts about their fields but Goats Cows and Oxen of Lyons Leopards Wolves and Elephants too great a plenty The people extreme black much given to lying treacherous very full of talk excessively venereous and extremely jealous A King they have but such a one as holdeth but by courtesie only having no certain Rents or Revennes but what given By his Nobles 7. GAMBRA or GAMBEA a small Kingdom on the River so named but bordering in some places on the Atlantick In those parts very pleasant the Trees always flourishing the air very hot in other parts of the
grounds to be the seat of the Gorgons the proper habitation or dwelling place of Medusa and her two fair sisters This Medusa said or rather fabled by the Poets to have been a Woman of great beauty Who either for suffering her body to be abused by Neptune in one of the Temples of Pallas or for preferring her self before Pallas had by the said Goddess her hair turned into Snakes and this property annexed unto them that whosoever looked on her should be turned into stones which quality is retained after she was slain and beheaded by Perseus Thus and far more sabulously the Poets The Historians for as some think omnis fabula fundatur in historia relate how this Medusa was indeed a Lady of such exceeding beauty that all men that saw her were amazed and of such a wise and subtile brain that for that cause only men attributed unto her a Serpents head She abounding in wealth and by piracy molesting the Seas of Europe was invaded by an Army of Grecians under the leading of Perseus who in a single combat slew her Perseus when he plucked off her helmet admiring that beauty which he had destroyed cut off her head and carried it into Greece where the people beyond measure wondred at the rare compositure of her face and the exceeding beauty of her haire and are therefore said to have by her head been metamorphosed into stones Pausanias in his Corinthiacks so reports the story 12. The CANARIES THe CANARIES are in number seven situate over against the Coast of Libya Interior so called from Canaria one of the principal of the number By Plinie Ptolomy and other of the Ancient Writers they were called Insulae Fortunatae the fortunate Ilands and amongst them of greatest note five being made the fixed place of the first Meridian removed since to S. Michaels one of the Azores But those Antients knew but six of them by name and in the naming of these six do not well agree By Plinie whom Solinus followeth they are said to be 1 Ombrio 2 Junonia Major 3 Junonia Minor 4 Caprariae 5 Nivaria and 6 Canariae By Ptolomy thus reckoned 1 Aprositus 2 Hera or Junonia 3 Pluitania 4 Casperia 5 Canaria and 6 Pincuria Where we may note also to our purpose that though these Authors disagree in all the rest of the names Junonia being added by the Translator unto Ptolomies Hera yet they agree in making Canaria to be one which sheweth that one to be of eminence enough to give the name of Canarie Ilands unto all the rest Called Fortunate from an opinion which the Ancients had of their fruitfulness and other excellencies in which respects several Countries in those times had the names of Macaria Felix Fortunate Now better known by the new names of 1 Canarie 2 Palma 3 Tenaritte 4 Gomero 5 Ferro 6 Lanserotte and 7 Fuerte Ventura 1. CANARIA or Canaria Magna because the biggest of the Cluster is said to be 90 miles in compass and to contain 9000 persons Plentiful in Barley Honey Wax Sugar Canes Goats Kine and Camels of which and of their Cheese and the skins of Beasts they raise great profit but from nothing more then from their Wood whereof they have very great abundance used by the Clothier for the well colouring of his Cloth From hence and from the other of these Ilands which bear this name come the fine singing Birds called Canary Birds and so do also those rich Wines the fruit of the â—henish Grape transplanted which we call Canaries A sort of wine if not sophisticated and abused which is said to sume less into the head please the Palat more and better help the natural weakness of a cold stomack if moderatly and discreetly used then any other Wines whatsoever Brought hence in such abundance to supply our luxury that no less then 3000 Tuns hereof are vended yeerly into England and the Netherlands onely 2. PALMA the one of the least in circuit but as rich as any fruitful in VVine and Sugars abundantly well stored with Cattell and great plenty of Cheese and therefore made the victualling place of the Spanish Fleets as they passe to Brasil and Peru. This Iland together with Canary and Tenariffe make up the Bishoprick of the Canaries one of the Bishops where of was that Melchior Canus a Dominican Frier whose works now extant in defence of the Church of Rome shew him to have been a moderate and learned man and Master of a perfect Ciceronian stile The residue of the Ilands are of the Diocese of Madera 3 TENARIFFE some what less then the Grand Canarie but of the same fertility and condition with it is most remarkable for a Mountain of so great an height that it may be seen 90 Leagues at Sea in a fair clear day Some reckon it 15 miles high others 15. Leagues and some advance it to 60 miles but with little credit With truth enough most of our Travellers and Geographers hold it to be the highest in the whole world The Form Pyramidal in shape agreeing to these Prodigies of Art and Wonder the Aegyptians Pyramides The top whereof ending in a sharp point called the Pike of Tenarisse is said to be seldom without snow and therefore problably conceived to be the Nivaria of Plinie 4. HIERRO or FERRI insula so called from the Iron Mines therein is by some thought to be the Pluitalia by others the Aprositus of Ptolomy and some again more probably the Ombrio of Plinie if this and Ptolomies Pluitalia be not one and the same as for my part I think they be And it might possibly have those names in the Greek and Latine because it hath in it no fresh waters but what they do receive in showres and preserve in Cisterns it being added by late Writers which the Ancients knew not that these showres do daily fall upon them from the Leaves of a tree which always covered with a Cloud doth distill these waters preserved in a large Cistern underneath the tree for the use of Man and Beast throughout the Iland 5. GOMERA now as civil and well cultivated as any of the rest was the most barbarous of all when first discovered it being here and here only the ordinary sign and evidence of their Hespitality to let their friends lie with their wives and receive theirs in testimony of reciprocal kindness for which cause here as in some places of the Indies the Sisters son did use accustomably to inherit 6. LANSAROTE the first of these Islands which was made subject to the Crown of Castile discovered by some adventurous Biscains An 1393. by whom spoiled and pillaged and the poor King and Queen thereof and 170 of their Subjects of better quality brought away Prisoners into Spain On this discovery the Kings of Castile challenged a propriety in all these Ilands of which more anon In this of Lansarote there was an Episcopal See erected by Pope Martin the 5. removed unto the Isle of Canary in the time of Ferdinand
Removes Places of most importance in it are the several Havens of which it is conceived to have more and more commodious then any one Iland of the World for the bigness of it not beautified with towns or buildings but yielding very safe stations to the greatest ships the chief whereof 1 Rennosa or Roigneuse on the North of the Promontory called Cape de Raz the South-East Angle of the Iland of much resort for fishing from several Countries 2 Portus Formosus or Fair-Haven three miles North of the other capable of great ships and bearing into the main land above 40 miles Situate in the Latitude of 46. and 40 minutes 3 Thornbay by the Portugals named Enseada Grande 4 Trinity Bay on the North of Cape S. Francis by the Portugals called Bahia de la Conception a large Bay five miles broad in the narrowest place yet safe withall and of very good Anchorage 5 Bona Vesta the name of a Port and Promontory 6 White-Bay or Bay-Blanche as the French call it safe and capacious on the North of the promontory of S. John Betwixt which and Cape de Grat on the North-east Angle of the Iland is no Port of note Then on the South-side of the Iland and the West of Cape de Raz is 7 Port Trespassez 8 Port Presenza and 9 Port des Basques or the Biscains Haven and on the West-side having doubled the Cape de Raye in the South-west Angle of the Iland there is 10 S. Georges Bay all of them safe capacious and of great resort 4. Before the Iland at the distance of 25 Leagues from Cape de Raye lieth a long bank or ridge of ground extended in length many hundred leagues in breadth 24 leagues where broadest in other places but sixteen and all about it certain Ilands which Cabot by one common name called BACALAOS that name peculiar now unto one alone from the great multitudes of Codfish by the Natives called Bacalaos which swarmed hereabouts so numerous that they hindred the passage of his ships as before was noted and lay in such shoals upon the Coasts that the Bears caught them with their claws and drew them on land The Government at that time by Kings before whom the People in the most formal expressions of duty and reverence used to rub their noses or stroke their foreheads which if the King observed or accepred of and meant to grace the party which had so adored him he turned his head to his left shoulder as a mark of favour The first Discoverers of this Country but not known then to be an Iland were the two Cabots John and his son Sebastian imployed herein by Henry the 7. 1497. as before was noted the business being laid aside at his coming back was afterwards revived by Thorn and Eliot two of Bristol who taking a more perfect view of it then was took by the Cabots ascribed to themselves the discovery of it and animated King Henry the 8 unto the enterprise which was done An. 1527 but with ill success In the mean time the Normans Portugals and Britons of France had resorted to it and changed the names which by the English had been given to the Bayes and Promontories But the English would not so relinquish their pretensions to the Primier Seisin And therefore in the year 1583. Sir Humfrey â—ilbert took possession of it in the name of the Queen of England interdicted all other Nations the use of Fishing and intended to have setled there an English Colonie But being wracked in his return the sending of the Colonie was discontinued till the year 1608. when undertook by John Guy a Merchant of Bristol who most successfully performed it the Colonie so prospering in a little time that they had Wheat Rye Turneps Coleworts of their own sowing some probability of metals a certainty of Sables Musk and other precious commodities besides their fishing though that the great occasion of their setling there Such plenty is there found of Ling and Cod-fish all about the Coasts that ordinarily our men take 200 or 300 of them within four houres space which they convey from hence to all parts of Europe OF CANADA CANADA is bounded on the North with Corterialis on the South with New-England on the East with the Main Ocean the Countries lying on the West either not yet discovered or not perfectly known So called from the River Canada the greatest not of this Province only but of all this Peninsula A River which hath its Fountain in the undiscovered parts of this Northern Tract sometimes inlarged into great Lakes and presently reduced to a narrower channell with many great windings and Reaches in it Having embosomed almost all the rest of the Rivers of this Country it emptieth it self into the Great Bay of St. Lawrence over against the Isle of Assumption being at the mouth 40 Leagues in breadth and 150 Fathom deep It is also called Nova Francia from the French who following the tract of Cabot and Corterialis made a further Discovery of these parts and planted several Colonies in them The business first undertaken by Jaques Cartier An. 1534. received here gladly by the Natives with singing dancing and expressing much signe of joy pursued by Monsieur Roberval sent thither in the year 1542. by King Francis the first not only to discover the Country but to plant some parts of it who built there a fair Fortress for his greater safety followed therein by divers others of that Nation in their several times The nature of the soil and people we shall best discover in the several parts of it each differing from one another and so not easily conformed to a general Character Look we now only on the principal Rivers of the whole 1 Canada of which before 2 Pemtegonet or Norumbegue as some call it of which more hereafter 3. Quimbeque falling into the Ocean as the others do 4 Rio S. Johan ending its course in a large Bay called Bay Francoise interposed betwixt Nova Scotia and the rest of this Country 5 Les trois Riviers which rising far north and passing thorow two great Lakes falleth into the Canada 6 Sagnenay of the same Original Course and Fall A River of so strong a Current that it suffereth not the Sea to flow up its Channel so deep that in many places it attaineth to 100 Fathoms and though but narrow at the mouth yet groweth it broader and broader upwards and having received many lesser streams looseth it self at last where the other doth It containeth in it the several Regions of 1 Novia Francia specially so called 2 Nova Scotia 3 Norumbegue and 4 the Isles adjoyning 1. NOVA FRANCIA specially so named is situate on the South of Corterialis and on the North of the great River Canada towards the East but on both sides of it in the Western and more in-land parts The Country naturally full of Stags Bears Hares Matterns and Foxes whose flesh the People did eat raw till more civilized having first dried it
or the River of Amazons 2 Wiapoco or Guiana specially so called 3 Orenoque and 4 the Isles of Guiana 1. RIO DELAS AMAZONES or the River of Amazons containeth that part of this Country which lieth along the tract of that famous River The soil in some places dry and barren in others fertile and productive of the choicest fruits Full of large Woods and in those Woods most sort of Trees which are to be found in America One amongst others of most note and perhaps peculiar to Guiana which they call the Totock a tree of great bulk and as great a fruit this last as big as a mans head and so hard withall that when the fruit grows ripe and ready to fall the people dare not go into the woods without an helmet or some such shelter over their heads for fear of beating out their brains The Kernels of it for the most part ten or twelve in number have the taste of Almonds and are said to be provocative in point of Venerie Of which the Savages have this By-word Pigue seeke in Saccowe pâ—ngean Totâ—â—ke that is to say Eat Totock if thou wouldst be potent in the Acts of Venus Here are also Sugar-canes in some places and the Plant called Pita the taste whereof is said to be like Strawberries Claret-wine and Sugar The principal Inhabitants of this part of the Country the Yaos Cockettuway Pattâ—cui Tockianes Tomoes and Wackehanes dwelling on the Continent the Maraons and Arowians possessed of the Ilands Towns of note I have met with none amongst them though every house most of them 150 foot in length 20 in breadth and entertaining at the least an hundred persons might pass sufficiently for a Village Yet they are safer housed then so for otherwise their houses would afford them but little comfort in the overflowings of the River which drown all the Country and therefore they betake themselves to the tops of trees and there remain like Birds with their several families till the waters be drawn in again and the earth become more comfortable for habitation Yet I find some of these their dwellings called by proper names as 1 Matarem 2 Roakery 3 Anarcaprock 4 Haaman 5 Womians and 6 Coâ—â—mymne But I find nothing but their names and enough of that The first Discoverer of this River and the parts adjoyning was Orellana the Lieutenant of Gonsales Pizâ—rro whom his brother Francisco Pizarro then Viceroy of Peru had made the Governour of Quito Moved with the noise of some rich Countries beyond the Andes he raised sufficient forces and passed over those Mountains where finding want of all things for the life of man they made a Boat and 〈◊〉 Orellana to bring in provisions But the River which he chanced into was so swift of course that he was not able to go back and therefore of necessity to obey his fortune in following the course of that strong water Passing along by divers desolate and unpeopled places he came at last into a Country planted and inhabited where he first heard of the Amazons by those Savages called Comapuyaras of whom he was bidden to beware as a dangerous people And in the end having spent his time in passing down this River from the beginning of January to the end of August 1540. he came at last into the Sea and getting into the isle of Cubana sailed into Spain the course of his voyage down the water he estimated at 180 leagues or 5400 English miles but found no Amazons in his passage as himself affirmed only some masculine women shewed themselves intermixt with the men to oppose his landing and in some places he found men with long hair like women either of which might make these parts believed to be held by Amazons But to proceed Arriving at the Court of Spain he got Commission for the conquest of the Countries by him discovered and in the year 1549. he betook himself unto the service But though he found the mouth of the River one of them at least he could never hit upon the Channel which brought him down though attempted often Which ill success with the consideration of his loss both in fame and fortunes brought him to his grave having got nothing but the honour of the first discovery and the leaving of his name to that famous River since called Orellana The enterprise pursued but with like success by one Pedro de Orsna An. 1560. after which the Spaniards gave it over And though the English and the Hollanders have endeavoured an exact discovery and severally begun some Plantations in it yet they proved as unfortunate as the others their Quarters being beaten up by the neighbouring Portugals before they were sufficiently fortified to make any resistance 2. WIAPOCO or GVIANA especially so called taketh up the middle of this Country on both sides of the River of Wiapoco whence it hath its name A River of a long course but not passable up the stream above 16 miles by reason of a Cataract or great fall from the higher ground in breadth betwixt that Cataract and the Aestuarium about the tenth part of a mile at the Aestuarium or influx a whole mile at least and there about two fathoms deep The Country on both sides of this River very rich and fertile so natural for Tobacco that it groweth to nine handfuls long Sugar-canes grow here naturally without any planting and on the shrubs great store of Cotton and the Dye by some called Orellana Plenty of Venison in their Woods and of Fish in their Rivers their fields well stored with Beasts which themselves call Moyres in shape and use resembling Kine but without any horns The people generally of a modest and ingenious countenance Naked but would wear cloaths if they had them or knew how to make them Their bread is made of a Plant called Cassavi of which also being dried and chewed and then strained thorow a wicker-vessel they make a kind of drink in colour like new Ale but not so well tasted and of less continuance The greatest part of their food is Fish which they intoxicate with a strong-sented wood and so take them up as they lâ—e floating on the top of the water Much troubled with a worm like a Flea by the Spaniards called Nignas which get under the nails of their Toes and multiply there to infinite numbers and the no less torture of the Patient without speedy prevention No better remedy found out then to poure Wax melting hot on the place affected which being pulled off when t is cold dâ—aws the Vermin with it sometimes 800 at a pull The women of such easie child birth that they are delivered without help and presently bring the child to his father for they have so much natural modesty as to withdraw from company upon that occasion who washeth it with water and painteth it with several colours and so returneth it to the mother Rivers of note here are very many no Country under Heaven being better watered nor fuller
saith Vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul à pelago conchae jacnere marinae Et verus inventa est in montibus anchor a summis Oft have I seen that earth which once I knew Part of the Sea so that a man might view Huge shells of fishes in the upland ground And on the Mountain tops old Anchors found As concerning the situation of Ilands whether commodious or not this is my judgement I find in Machiavel that for a Citie whose people covet no Empire but their own Towns a barren place is better than a fruitfull because in such seats they are compelled to work and labour by which they are freed from idleness and by consequence from riotousness But for a City whose Inhabitants desire to enlarge their confines a fertile place was rather to be chosen than a sterill as being move able to nourish multitudes of people The like I say of Ilands If a Prince desire rather to keep than augment his Dominions no place sitter for his abode than an Iland as being by it self and nature sufficiently defensible But if a King be minded to adde continually to his Empire an Iland is no fit seat for him because partly by the uncertainty of Winds and Seas partly by the longsomness of the waies he is not so well able to supply and keep such forces as he hath on the Continent An example hereof is England which hath even to admiration repelled the most puissant Monarch of Europe but for the causes above mentioned cannot shew any of her winnings on the firm land though she hath attempted and atchieved as many glorious exploits as any Country in the World The Continent and Iland are sub-divided into Peninsula Isthmus Promontorium Peninsula quasi pene Insula is a tract of land which being almost encompassed round by water is joyned to the firm land by some little Isthmus as Peloponnesus Taurica and Peruana Isthmus is that little narrow neck of land which joyneth the Peninsula to the Continent as the Streights of Dariene in America and Corinth in Greece Promontorium is a high Mountain which shooteth it self into the Sea the outmost end of which is called a Foreland or Cape as the Cape of Good Hope in Africk Cape Comari in India c. The Imaginary parts of the Earth are such which not being at all in the Earth must yet be supposed to be so for the better teaching and learning this Science and are certain Circles going about the Earth answerable to them in Heaven in name These Circles are either the Greater Lesser in both which there are 360. Degrees which in the greater Circles are greater than those in the lesser and every Degree in the greater is 60. miles The greater Circles are either Immutable as the Aequator Mutable as the Horizon Meridian The Aequator is a great Circle going round about the Terrestiall Globe from East to West It passeth through Habassia Sumatra Guiana c. The use of it is to shew the Latitude of any Town Promontory c. Now the Latitude is the distance of a place South or North from the Aequator or middle of the World and must be measured on the Globe by the Degrees in the Meridian The Meridian is a great Circle rounding the earth from Pole to Pole There are many Meridians according to the divers places in which a man liveth but the chief and first Meridian passeth through the Island St. Michael one of the Azores The use of it is to shew the Longitude of any place Now the Longitude of a Citie Cape c. is the distance of it East and West from the first Meridian and is usually measured on the Globe by the Degrees of the Aequator The Horizon is a great Circle designing so great a space of the earth as a quick sight can ken in an open field The use of it is to discern the divers risings and settings of the Stars The lesser Circles either are Noted with some name as Tropicall of Cancer Capricorn Polar either Artick Antartick Noted with no distinct name and are the Parallels The Tropick of Cancer so called of the Caelestiall sign Cancer is distant from the Equinoctiall 2â— Degrees Northward and passeth through Barbary and India China and Nova Hispania The Tropick of Capricorn equally distant from the Aequator Southward passeth through Ethiopia inferior and the midst of Peruana And this is to be observed in these Tropicks that when the Sun is in the Tropick of Cancer our daies are at the longest and when he is gone back to the Tropick of Capricorn the daies are at the shortest The first they call the Summer the last they call the Winter Solstice the first hapning on or about St. Barnabies day in June the last on or about St. Lucies day in December The Artick Circle so called for that it is correspondent to the Constellation in Heaven called the Bear in Greek Arcâ—os is distant from the Tropick of Cancer 45 Degrees and passeth through Norway Muscovy Tartary c. The Antartick Circle so called because opposite to the other is as much distant from the Tropick of Capricorn and passeth through Terra Austrialis Incognita The use of these four Circles is to describe the Zones The Zones are spaces of earth included betwixt two of the lesser nominate Circles They are in number five one over-hot two over-cold and two temperate The over-hot or Torrid Zone is betwixt the two Tropicks continually scorched with the presence of the Sun The two over-cold or Frigid Zones are situate between the two Polar Circles and the very Poles continually wanting the neighbourhood of the Sun The two temperate Zones are betwixt the Tropick of Cancer and the Artick and 'twixt the Tropick of Capricorn and the Antartick Circles enjoying an indifferency between heat and cold so that the parts next the Torrid Zone are the hotter and the parts next the Frigid Zone are the colder These five Zones are disposed according to the order of the Zones in heaven of which thus Ovid Metamorph. 1. Utque duae dextra coelum totidemque sinistra Parte secant Zonae quinta est ardentior illis Sic onus inclusum numero distinxit eodem Cura dei totidemque plagae tellure premuntur Quarum quae media est non est habitabilis aestu Nix tegit alta duas totidem inter utramque locavit Temperiemque dedit mista cum Frigore Flamma And as two Zones do cut the Heavens right-side And likewise other two the left divide The midst in heat excelling all the rest Even so it seem'd to the Creator best That this our World should so divided be That with the Heavens in Zones it might agree The midst in heat the outwardmost excell In Snow and Ice scarce fit for men to dwell Betwixt these two extremes two more are fixt Where heat with cold indifferently is mixt Parallels called also Aequidistants circle the Earth from East to West and are commonly ten Degrees asunder Such
my self of these Furcae Caudinae and sport my self a while in the Plains of Calabria But I must note before I take my leave hereof that these two Provinces of Campania and Abruzzo make up the greatest richest and best peopled part of the Realm of Naples And therefore when the Kingdom was divided between the French and the Spaniards it was allotted to the French as having the priority both of claim and power The Provinces remaining although more in number yet are not comparable to these two for Wealth and Greatness and were assigned over to the Spaniard as lying most conveniently for the Realm of Sicilie Of these the first are the CALABRIAS so called from the Calabri an antient people of this tract which take up totally that Peninsula or Demi-Iland which lyeth at the South-East end of Italie near the Fare of Messana Amongst some of the Antient Writers the name Italie did extend no further than this Peninsula bounded by the two Bayes called Sinus Scilleticus and Sinus Lameticus because first peopled out of Greece or otherwise first known unto the old Writers of that Country For so saith Aristotle in his seventh Book of Politicks cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That part of Europe which is comprehended betwixt the Bay Scilleticus and Lameticus took the name of Italie and this Tradition he received as he there affirmeth from the best Antiquaries of that Country The like occurs in Dionysius Hallicarnasseus out of Antiochus Syracusanus a more antient Author the like in Strabo Lib. 6. But by what name soever it was called at first that of Calabria hath held longest and most constantly to it as being known by that name in the times of the Romans and so continuing to this day Ennius the old Poet being a native of this Country and so called by Ovid in his 3 d de Arte. Ennius emeruit Calabris in montibus hortos Old Ennias his Garden tills Among the steep Calabrian hils But leaving these matters of remote Antiquity let us behold the Country as it stands at the present and was the title of the eldest sonnes of the Kings of Naples who heretofore were called Dukes of Calabria divided of late times into inferior and superior in which distinct capacityes we shall look upon it Premising only by the way that this Country was the Title of the eldest sonnes of the Kings of Naples who were from hence called the Dukes of Calabria and that before it was subjected to those Kings it had a King of its own Holofernes whose daughter Flora was married unto Godfrey of Bovillon being King hereof An. 1098. 3 CALABRIA INFERIOR the habitation of the Brutii whom the Greek Writers generally call Bretti and their Country Brettania upon which ground some of our modern Criticks envying so great an honour to the I le of Great Britaine have transferred to this Province the birth of Constantine the first Christian Emperour These Brutii being first conquered by the Romans with the rest of Italie after the great defeat of Cannae took part with Carthage and was for a long time the retreat of Annibal whom the Romans had shut up in this corner It hath on the East a branch of the Adriatick Sea on the West that part of Campania which is called the Principate on the North Calabria superior and on the South the Tyrrhenian Seas and the streight of Messana A Country not much short in fruitfulness of the rest of the Kingdom and having the advantage of so much Sea is the better situate for Traffick At one extremity hereof is the Promontory called by Ptolomy Leuco-Petra now Cabo di Spartimento all along which especially in the moneth of May are taken yeerly great store of Tunnies a fish which much resembleth mans flesh which being barrelled up are sold to Mariners Here are two Rivers also of a very strange nature of which the one called Crathis makes a mans hair yellow and dies silk white the other named Busentus causeth both hair and silk to be black and swarthy The principall Cities of it are 1. Consensia an antient Town comprehending seven little hills and a Castle on the top of one of them which commandeth both the Town and the Countrey adjoyning It is built betwixt the said two Rivers and is still reasonably rich though not so wealthy now as in former times 2. Rhegium or Rhezo on the Sea shore opposite to Messana in the Isle of Sicilie which is supposed to have been broken off from the rest of Italie and that this Town had the name of Rhegium from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to break off or to tear asunder A Town in former times very well traded but left desolate in a manner since the yeer 1594. when it was fired by the Turks 3. Castrovillare seated upon the top of a very high Mountain 4. Belmont and 5. Altomont two very fair Towns whose names sufficiently express their pleasant and lofty situations 6. S. Euphemie from whence the Bay which antiently was called Sinus Lametinus or Lametirius is now called Golfâ— de S. Euphemie 7. Nicastro three miles from the Sea the same with Newcastle in Euglish On the West side of this Calabria and properly a part thereof standeth that mountainous Countrey which in the Subdivision of these Provinces by King Alfonsus was called the BASILICATE antiently the Seat of the Lucani A Countrey heretofore very unsafe for Travellers by reason of the difficult wayes and assured company of Theeves but now reduced to better order It containeth in it ninety three walled places and nine Towns or Cities the chief whereof are Possidonia or Pest a City situate in so clement and benign a Soyl that Roses grow there thrice a yeer 2. Poly Castrie on the Sea shore as the former is honoured with the Title of a Dukedom And 3. Dian or Dianum a more midland City neer which there is a valley twenty miles in length and four miles in bredth which for all manner of delights and fruitfulness yeelds to none in Naples 4. CALABRIA SUPERIOR called formerly Magna Graecia from many great and famous Cities founded there by the Graecians hath on the East the Adriatick on the West Campania from which it is divided by the Apennine and the River â—rathis on the North Sinus Tarentinus or the Gulf of Tarento and on the South and South-East Calabria inferior and Golfo de Chilaci of old called Sinus Scilleticus The principall Cities at this time are 1. Belcastro eight miles from the Sea where once stood Petilia 2. Bisignan the title of a Prince fortified with a very strong Castle and endowed with the best Revenues of any principality or other Nobleman of Title in all the Kingdom 3. Matera an Arch-Bishops See a rich Town and well peopled 4. Rosanum three miles from the Sea a well fortified City and situate in a very fruitfull and pleasant Soyl. 5. Altavilla which gives title also to a Prince 6. Terra Nova
Taracina in the place thereof seated upon a Mâ—â—ntain but neer the Sea which it 〈◊〉 like a Half Moon it is now called the Bay of Mola this City lying on the one horn thereof 〈◊〉 the very extremity of the Popes Dominions and that of Caseta on the other which is the first Port-Town of the Realm of Naples The Country hereabouts hath most pleasant Orchards of Citrons Oranges and Limons the Oranges having at the same time both ripe and green Fruits and represents a kind of Summer in the dead of Winter Such other things as are remarkable in this Campagna heretofore called Latium but more by what they have been than they are at the present are 1 Tusculum a village which belonged to Tullie who here composed his excellent Book called the Tusculan Questions 2 Formiae built by the Laconians heretofore the delight and solace of the antient Romans now visible only in its ruins 3 Prâ—vernum once the chief City of the Volsci and the seat of Camilla a noble Amazonian Lady who aided Turnus the Rutilian in his sharp war against Aeneas and the Troâ—ans where she lost her life 4 Circe an old City in the place whereof now stands S. Felix the habitation of Circe that so much celebrated Sorceress of whom and her chanting of Ulysses and his companions there is so much upon record in the antient Poets Neer to which is the head-land called the Circaean Promontory the repercussion of the Waves by whose Southern Basit makes a dreadfull noise and gave occasion to the fabulous inventions of the roaring of Lyons hoâ—ling of Dogs c. which were heard about that Witches dwelling But the great glory of Latium and indeed of Italie was that the famous City of Rome was seated in it being built on the East side of Tiber now much inlarged by the increase of 42 leâ—â—er streams or Rivers It is distant from the sea about 15 miles first built as Fryer Leander a great Italian Antiquary is of opinion by Roma Daughter or Wife to one of the Latin Kings But being forsaken and forlorn by reason of the unwholsom air comming from the Fens was rebuilt by Romulus much pleased with the naturall strength of the situation and therefore like to make a good town of war And this tradition I should rather subscribe unto than that it was called Rome from Romulus who had he pleased to challenge the honour to himself might better have caused it to be called Romulea of which name there was a Town among the Samnites than to call it Roma But whatsoever greatness it did after come to it was small enough God knows at first the City comprehending the Mount Palatine only and therefore not a mâ—le in compass the Territory not extending as Strabo witnesseth above six miles from the City and the Inhabitants thereof at the first generall Muster amounting at the most to 3300 men So inconsiderable they were as well in quality as numbers that their neighbours thought it a disparagement to bestow their daughters on them and therefore they were fain to get themselves wives by a slight of wit proclaming solemn Playes and Pastimes to be held in Rome and ravishing the women which came thither to behold the sports The Kings succeeding much enlarged it Mount Aventine and the hill Janiculum on the other side of the water being walled and added to it by Ancus Martius as Quirinalis Esquilinus and Viminalis were by Servius Tullus Capitolinus and Mount Coelius came not in till afterwards But at the last it was improved to such an height that in the flourishing times of that Commonwealth the men increased to the number of 463000 and the compass of the Town unto 50 miles there being on and about the walls 740 Turrets And in this number of 463000 men I reckon neither servants women nor children but men able to bear Arms Free Denizens and such as were inrolled into Cense or the Subsidie Books To which if we should adde their wives children and servants we cannot probably conjecture them to have been fewer than three or four Millions and so Lipsiâ—s is of opinion his Tract de Magnitudine Romana The most memorable buildings of it were 1 the Capitol founded by Tarquinius Superbus and beautified with the spoyles of their conquered Neighbours saved from the fury of the Galls by the cackling of Geese Tacitus calleth this house Sedem Jovis optimi maximi asupicatò à majoribus pignus imperii conditum It was twice burnt once in the Civill Wars of Sylla and Marius and again in the wars of Vespasian and Vâ—tellius In the third building of it Vespasian carried the first basket of earth after him the Nobility did the like to make the people more forward in the service and perhaps the custom of laying the first stone in a building or driving the first nayl in a timber-work by him whose edifice it is hath from hence if not beginning yet growth 2 Here was the Temple of Janus open in the time of wars and shut in the time of peace which during all their Monarchy hapned but thrice namely during the reign of Augustus after the Punick war and in the time of Numa 3 Here was the Bridge called Pons Sublicius on which Horatius Cocles resisted the whole Army of King Porsena Tarquin and the Tuscans till the Citizens behind had broken down the bridge received him swimming to the bank with joyfull acclamations and saved their City from present ruin Here lived the famous Warriers so much renowned in the stories of elder times here flourished the exact Martiall discipline so memorized by ancient Historiographers and finally here were layd up the spoyles and Tropheys of all Europe ROME as now it standeth lower on the bank of Tyber upon Campus Martius where it was built after the inundation of the Gothes and Vandals is in compass about eleven miles within which compass is not a little wast ground The Inhabitants of all sorts reckoned to amount to 200000 two parts whereof are Clergy-men and Courtiers that is to say such as have their dependance on the Court of Rome either by holding offices and places of employment under the Popes or by attending on his person or waiting on the Cardinals and eminent Prelates who are there abiding or otherwise being of the retinue of such Forein Ambassadors aâ— are alwaies commorant in the City to follow the Negotiations of their severall Masters all which must needs amount to a very great number It was first built on the East side of the River in the Territory of Latium but now there is little lest of the old City but the goodly ruins and here and there some Churches and scattered houses except it be a little on the North-East of the River from the Gate called Del Populo to the Iland of Tiber the rest especially towards the South being taken up with Pastures and sields of Corn. The main body of the City as now it stands is on the West side
in danger of relapsing to their former servitude but in the treasonable practice of the Flischi a remarkable Family of the City who hoping to possess themselves of the Principalitie under protection of the French had so laid their plot that Augustine di Flischi who was designed to be their Duke had in the night time seised on the Navy and slain John Doria who had the command thereof but leaping from one Gallie to another to make sure of all stumbled and fell into the sea where he and his ambitious treasons were both drowned together As for their Forces there are within the Signeuriâ— 10000 men ready to arm at any time as they see occasion 25 Gallies alwayes ready in the publick Arsenall and four continually at Sea for defence of their Trading Sufficient strength to save them from a petit force though not to guard them from the power of a strong Invader But the chief strength which they rely on is the King of Spain whose protection though it costs them dear is worth their money and they have prospered so well by it that notwithstanding all the losses which they have sustained it is supposed that the Revenue of the Common-wealth besides the Treasury of S. George which is very rich and managed as a distinct body from the publick by its own Officers amounteth to no less than 430000 Crowns per An. As for the Treasurie of S. George though it contain no part of the publick Patrimony but be governed by its own Officers as a State distinct yet is it of such ready use so able at all times to furnish the Republick with vast sums of money that the security and preservation of this Commonwealth depends much upon it The Institution and Administration whereof together with the benefit which from hence redoundeth unto this Estate I cannot better represent to the Readers view than in the words of Machiavel the greatest Politick of his times who in his History of Florence hath expressed it thus Post diuturnum illud bellum quod Genoenses multis ab hinc annis cum Venetis gessere c. After that tedious war between the Genoese and Venetians was ended in the yeer 1381. and that the Genoese found themselves unable to repay those moneys which they had taken up of their private Citizens in pursuit thereof they thought it best to assign their ordinary Taxes over to them that so in tract of time the whole debt might be satisfied and for that end allotted them a Common-hall there to deliberate and determine of their affairs These men thus made the Masters of the publick Taxes elect among themselves a Common-Counsell of an Hundred and over them eight Officers of especiall power to order and direct the rest and to dispose of the Intrado which Corporation so established they entituled S. Georges Bank It happened afterwards that the Republick wanting more moneys was glad to have recourse unto S. George who growing wealthy by the orderly managing of his stock was best able to relieve them in their necessities and as before they assigned their Taxes over to him so now ditionem suam oppignorabant they Mortgaged also their Demain So that S. George continually waxing richer and the State poorer this Corporation became possessed at last of almost all the Towns and Territories of the Common-wealth all which they govern by their own Magistrates chosen by common suffrage from among themselves It followed hereupon that the common people bearing less respect unto the publick applyed themselves unto S. George this being always orderly and prudently governed that many times inclining to Tyranny this never changing Officers or form of Government that subject to the proud and ambitious lusts of each Usurper whether Domesticall or Forein Insomuch that when the two potent Families of the Fregosi and Adorni contended for the Soveraignty in this Estate most of the People look upon it as a Quarrell which concerned them not S. George not medling more in it than to take an Oath of the prevailing Faction to preserve his Liberties Rarissimâ— sane exemplo c. A most excellent and rare thing saith he never found out by any of the old Philosophers in their Imaginarie Forms of a Common-wealth that in the same State and the same People one may see at the same time both Tyranny and Liberty Justice and Oppression Civilitie and Misgovernments This only Corporation preserving in the Common-wealth its antient lustre So that in case S. George should in the end become possessed of the remainder of the Patrimony and Estate thereof as it is possible it may the State of Genoa might not alone be equalled with that of Venice but preferred before it So far and to this purpose that great Master of State-craft a man of less impiety and more regular life than some of those who have traduced him for an Atheist Here are within this Common-wealth Arch-bishops 1. Bishops 14. THE ESTATES OF LOMBARDY LOMBARDY is bounded on the Eastâ—with Romandiola and the Estate or Territory of Ferrara on the West with that part of the Alpes which divide Italie from France on the North reckoning Marca Trevigiana within the bounds hereof with that part of the Alpes which lyeth towards Germany and on the South with the Apennine which parteth it from Liguria or the State of Genoa It was called antiently Gallia Cisalpina whereof we shall speak more anon and took this new name from the Lombards or Longobardi a people of Germany of whom we have already spoken but shall speak more at large when we come to Hungarie who coming out of Pannonia possessed themselves of a great part of Italie but left their name to this Tract only A tract of ground of which it may be truly said that as Italie is the garden of Europe so Lombardie is the garden of Italie or the fairest flower in all that garden A countrey of so rich a mixture that such another peece of ground for beautifull Cities goodly Rivers for fields and pastures shaded with such excellent fruits for plenty of fowl fish corn wine cannot be found again in our Western World So that it is no wonder that the two great Kings of France and Spain have strived so eagerly and with such effusion of Christian blood for the Duchie of Millain a part only though the richest part of this goodly Country and but a spot of earth compared to their own Dominions Antiently it was of more extent than now it is containing besides the principalities hereafter mentioned the Provinces of Romandiola and Trevigiana even all which in the infancy and growth of the Roman Empire had the name of Gallia Cisalpina It was called Gallia from the Galls who being drawn into Italie by the sweet tast of their wines subdued the Natives and possessed themselves of all the Countrey from the Apennine to the Adriatick and from the Alpes to the River of Rubicon on the North-East and the River of Arnus on the South-East This happened
them though of different judgement 7 Dan. Tossanus the Hebrician To which we may adde 8 Calvin also who though he had his birth in France had his being here and never grew to any eminency in Fame or Learning till he was setled in Geneva For matter of Religion it is of a very mixt condition also in all these Countries that of the Romish onely have publick countenance in the Dukedom of Savoy and Piemont but so that the Reformed is tolerated in some parts thereof especially in the parts next Dauphine to which the neighborhood of Geneva gives a great increase In Switzerland there are four Cantons which are wholly for the Reformation viz. Zurich Bern Basil and Schaffhausen Seven that stand wholly for the Doctrin of the Church of Rome i. e. Uren Switz Underwalden Lucern Zug Friburg and Solothurn in Apenzel and Glaris they allow of both The Grisons are confusedly divided betwixt both Religions but the Italian Praefectures admit no other but the Romish The cause of which division came upon the preaching of Zuinglius a Canon of the Church of Zurich who being animated with Luthers good success in Germany began about the year 1519 to preach against the Mass and Images and other the corruptions of the Church of Rome In which his party so increased that on a publick Disputation which vvas held at Zurich the Mass was abrogated in that Canton by the authority of the Senate Anno 1526 and Images destroyed at Bern 1528. After which prosperous beginnings the Reformation began to spread it self amongst the Confederates and had prevailed further both in France and Germanie but for a difference which arose betwixt him and Luther about the Sacrament of the Supper in which Luther did not only maintain a Reall presence but a Consubstantiation also in the sacred Elements which Zuinglius maintained to be only a bare sign and representation of Christs blessed body For reconciling of this difference wherein the enemies of both did extremely triumph a conference was held between them at Marpurg a town of Hassiae by the procurement of that Lantgrave but without success Luther professing that he durst not agree in that point with Zuingulius ne Principes suos interpretatione tantopere Pontificiis exosa magis invisos redderet for fear of drawing too great hatred on the Princes of his own profession From this time forwards all brake out into open flames the names of Ubiquitarians and Sacramentarians being reciprocally cast upon one another to the great hindrance of the cause which they had in hand yet so that the Lutheran opinions got ground in Germany the Zuinglians amongst these Mountains and in France it self and finally prevailed by the meanes of Calvin in many parts of Germany also But hereof more hereafter in convenient place As for the story of those Countries before they were divided into so many hands we are to know that the old Inhabitants hereof mentioned before were conquered severally by the Romans as shall be shewen in the description of the severall Provinces Won from the Romans by the Burgundians in the time of Honorius the Western Emperor they became'a member of their Kingdom except the Country of the Grisons and some parts of Switzerland which fell under the Almans united afterwards in the new Kingdom of Burgundy of the French erection when subdued by that Nation But Charles the Bald the last of the French Kings of Burgundie having united it to the Kingdom of France divided it into three Estates that is to say the Dukedom of Burgundie on this side of the Soasne the Dukedom of Burgundy beyond the Soasne and the Dukedom of Burgundy beyond the Jour This last containing the greatest part of all these Alpine Provinces except Piemont onely vvas by the sayd Charles given to Conrade a Saxon Prince the sonne of Witikind the third and younger brother of Robert the first Earl of Anion by the name of Earl of Burgundy Transjurane or Burgundy beyond the Jour Rodolph his sonne and successor by Eudes the King of France his Comin German was honoured with the title of King to make him equall at the least with Bosâ—n Earl of Burgundie beyond the Soasne whom Charles the Grose Tabour the same time had made King of Arles But Rodolph finding it offensive to the German Emperors abandoned it on the death of Endes and took to himself the title of Duke The residue of the story we shall have in the following Catalogue of The Earles Dukes and Kings of Burgundie Trnnsjurane 1 Conrade the first Earl of Burgundie Transjurane 890 2 Rodolph Earl King and Duke of Burgundie Transjurane 912 3 Rodolph II. elected King of Italie against Berengarius which title he exchanged with Hugh de Arles who vvas chosen by another Faction for the possession of the Kingdom of Arles and Burgundie on the assuming of which Crown he resigned this Dukedom to his Brother 4 Boson the brother of Rodolph the second succeeded his brother in the Dukedom of Burgundie beyond the Jour as afterwards he succeeded Rodolph his Brothers sonne in the kingdom of Arles and Bnrgundie 965 5 Conrade sonne of Boson King of Arles and Burgundie and Duke of Burgundie Transjurane 990 6 Rodolph III. sonne of Conrade who dying without issue lest his estates to Henry surnamed the Black the sonne of his sister Gisela by Conrade the second Emperor and King of Germanie united so unto the Empire till by the bounty and improvidence of some following Emperors it was cantonned into many parts of which more anon It is novv time to lay aside this discourse as to the generall condition and affairs of these Alpine Provinces and to look over the particulars beginning first with the estate of the Duke of Savoy situate wholly in these Mountains and lying next to Italie where before we left THE DVKEDOM OF SAVOY THe Dukedom of SAVOY is bounded on the East with Millain and Montferrat in Italy on the West with Dauphine in France on the North with Switzerland and the Lake of Geneva and on the South with Provence and the Mediterranean The Country of so different nature that it cannot be reduced under any one character and therefore we must look upon it in the severall parts into which divided that is to say 1 the Principalitie of Piemont and 2 Savoy specially so called 1 PIEMONT in Latin called Regio Pedemontana because situate at the foot of the Mountains as the name in both languages imports is bounded on the East with Millain and Montferrat on the West with Savoy on the North with the Switzers and on the South it runneth in a narrow valley to the Mediterranean having Montferrat on the one side Provence and a part of the Alpes upon the other The Country wonderfully fertile compared with Switzerland and Savoy which lie next unto it but thought to be inferior to the rest of Italie It containeth besides Baronies and Lordships 15 Marquisates 52 Earldoms 160 Castles or walled places and is so
are 1 La Butte du Mont. 2 St. John de Mons 3 St. Hilarie 4 St. Martins the largest and strongest of them all from whence the whole Island hath sometimes been called St. Martins After the taking of this Town by Lewis the 13th Anno 1622. The Duke of Soubize then commanding in it for those of Rochell it was very well fortified and since made unfortunately famous for the defeat of the English Forces under the command of George Duke of Buckingham sent thither to recover the Town and Island on the instigation of Soubize who before had lost it Anno 1627. 3 IARSEY by Antonine called Caesarea is situate about ten miles from the Coast of Normandie within the view and prospect of the Church of Constance part of which Diocese it was in length conteining 11 miles 6 in bredth and in circuit about 33. It is generally very fruitfull of Corn whereof they have not onely enough for themselves but some over-plus to barter at St. Malos with the Spanish Merchants and of an Air not very much disposed to diseases unless it be an Ague in the end of Harvest which they call Les Settembers The Countrie stands much upon inclosures the hedges of the grounds well stored with Apples and those Apples making store of Sider which is their ordinary drink watered with many pleasant rivulets and good store of Fish-ponds yeelding a Carp for tast and largeness inferiour unto none in Europe except those of Gâ—rnsey which generally are somewhat bigger but not better relished The people for the most part more inclinable to husbandrie than to trades or merchandise and therein differing very much from those of Gernsey who are more for merchandize than tillage It containeth in it 12 Parishes or Villages having Churches in them besides the Mansions of the Sergneurs and chief men of the Countrie The principall is St. Hâ—laries where is the Cohu or Court of Iustice for all the Iland It is about the bigness of an ordinary market Town in England situate on the edge of a little Bay fortified on the one side with a small Block-house called Mount St. Aubin but on that side which is next the Town with a very strong Castle called Fort Elizabeth situate upon craggie Rocks and encompassed with two arms of the Sea so named from Qu. Elizabeth who built it to assure the Island against the French and furnished it with 30 peece of Ordnance and all other necessaries There is also on the East side opposite to the Citie of Constance high mounted on steep and craggie Rocks the strong Castle of Mont-Orgueil of great Antiquity repaired by King Henry the fifth now furnished with 40 peece of Cannon and made the ordinarie residence of the Governours for the Kings of England 4 On the North-west of Iarsey lieth the Iland of GERNSEY called Sarnia by Antoninus in form Triangular each side of nine miles in length The Countrie of as rich a soyl as the other of Iaâ—sey but not so well cultivated and manured the poorer people here being more given to manufactures especially to the knitting of Stockins and Wast-coats and the rich to merchandize many of which are Masters of good stout Barks with which they traffick into England and other places The whole Island conteining ten Villages with Churches the Principall of which St. Peters Port a very neat and well-built Town with a safe Peer for the benefit of Merchants and the securing of the Haven capable of handsom Barks a Market Town beautified with a very fair Church and honoured with the Plaiderie or Court of Iustâ—ce Opposite whereto in a little Islet standeth the Castle of Cornet taking up the whole circuit and dimensions of it environed on all sides with the Sea having one entrance onely and that very narrow well fortified with works of Art and furnished with no less than 80 peeces of Ordnance for defence of the Island but chiefly to command the adjoyning Harbour capable of 500 as good ships as any sail on the Ocean A peece of great importance to the Realm of England and might prove utterly destructive of the trade hereof if in the hands of any Nation that were strong in shipping For that cause made the Ordinarie Seat of the English Governours though of late times not so much honoured with the presence of those Governours as a place of that Consequence ought to be Pertaining unto Gernsey are two little Islets the one called let-how the Governours Park wherein are some few Fallow Deer and good plentie of Conies the other named Arme some three miles in compass a dwelling heretofore of Franciscan Friers now not inhabited but by Phesants of which amongst the shrubs and bushes there is very good store 5 ALDERNEY by Antonine called Arica by the French Aurigni and Aurney is situate over against the Cape of the Lexobii in the Dukedom of Normandie which the Mariners at this day call the Hagge distant from which but six miles onely Besides many dwelling houses scattered up and down there is one pretty Town or Village of the same name with the Iland consisting of about an hundred Families and having not far off an Harbour made in the fashion of a Semi-Circle which they call La Crabbie The whole about 8 miles in compass of very difficult access by reason of the high rocks and precipices which encompass it on every side and with a small force easily defensible if thought worth attempting 6 And so is also SARK the adjoyning Iland being in compass six miles not known by any speciall name unto the Antients and to say truth not peopled till the fift year of Queen Elizabeth who then granted it in Fee-farm to Helier de Carteret the â—igneur of St. Oen in the Isle of Iarsey who from thence planted it and made Estates out of it to severall Occupants so that it may contain now about 50 Housholds Before which time it served only for a Common or Beasts-pasture to those of Gernsey save that there was an Hermitage and a little Chappel for the use of such as the solitariness of the place invited to those retirements These two last Ilands are subject to the Governour of Gernsey all four to the Crown of England holden in right of the Dukedom of Normandie to which they antiently belonged and of which now the sole remainders in the power of the English Attempted often by the French the two first I mean since they seized on Normandie but alwayes with repulse and loss the people being very affectionate to the English Government under which they enjoy very ample Privileges which from the French they could not hope for Their Language is the Norman-French though the better sort of them speak the English also their Law the Grand Customaire of Normandie attempered and applied to the use of this people in their sutes and business by the Bailifs and Chief Iusticiers of the two chief Ilands Their Religion for the main is that of the Reformed Churches the Government in
the two other parts of the Town there is nothing remarkable inhabited only by Mechanicks of the poorer sort 2 Alhama seated amongst steep and craggie rocks out of which issue Medicinall Waters occasioning a great resort of the Spanish Gentrie 3 Guaâ—ix an Episcopall See about nine leagues from Granada 4 Veâ—es Malaga by Ptolomie called Sex by Antoninus Sexicâ—num situate at the Foot of the Mountains called Alpuxarras a large branch of the Orospeda overspreading a great part of this Countrie heretofore planted with incredible numbers of Moores who chose to dwell there for the strength and safety of the situation since their expulsion desolate and unfrequented nothing remaining of them now but the Arabick Language which is still spoke by those few people which inhabit in it The Mountains in this tract so high that from the topps hereof a man may easily discern the whole course of the Streight of Gibraltar together with the Towns of Seuta and Tangier in Africk 5 Ronda at rhe foot of another branch of the Orospeda called from this Town Sierra de Ronda Not far from which by Munda now a very small Village was sought that memorable battell betwixt Caesar and the Sonnes of Pompey the honour of which fell to Caesar who then made an end of the Civill Wars which that very day four yeares before were begun by Pompey the Father In this fight was Câ— Pompeius slain and his Forces broken Caesar himself being so put to it that seeing his Soldiers give back he was fain to maintain the fight by his own great courage bidding them remember that at Munda they forsook their Generall The shame of which reproach and his noble example encouraged them to a new onset which was honoured with a signall and remarkable Victory this being the last fight that Caesar was in murdered not long after in the Senate-house And of this Fight he used to say That in all other places he fought for his Honour but in this for his life 6 Antiquera heretofore a well-fortified Town bordering close upon Castile 7 Maxacra on the shore of the Mediterranean supposed to be the Margis of Ptolomie 8 Vera on the same shore the furthest Town of Baetica and of this Countrie towards Murcia 9 Malaga or Malaca situate at the mouth of Guadalquivir once sacked by Crassus the rich Roman Who flying out of Spain to avoid the furie of Marius and Cinna who had slain his Father and Uncle hid himself and his Companions in a Cave hereabouts for eight moneths together but after hearing of their deaths issued out and ransacked amongst many other Cities this Malaga A Town of great traffick and much resort especially for Raisins Almonds Malaga Sacks well fortified and of great importance as a Town of War and to the great prejudice of the Moors taken by Ferdinand the Catholick Anno 1487. the conquest of the whole kingdom of Granada following not long after It was since made a Bishops See or restored rather to that dignity which it had of old 10 Almeria a noted haven on the Mediterranean the Abdera of Mela a Colonie of the Carthaginians and antiently a Bishops See As for the fortunes of this Countrie after the Conquest of it by the Moores and Saracens it was a part or member of the kingdom of Corduba and so continued till that kingdom was subdued by the Spaniards But the Moores were too stout to yeeld all at once Having yet ground enough both to secure themselves in and endow their King they are resolved though they had lost one kingdom to erect another And therefore Corduba being taken and that kingdom ruinated the Moores with Mahomet Aben Alhamar their unfortunate but valiant King removed themselves unto Granada and there renew their strength and kingdom which lasted 256 yeers under 20 Kings whose names here follow in this Catalogue of The Kings of Granada 1236. 1 Mahomet Alcamir the last King of Corduba and the first King of Granada 36. 1272. 2 Mahomet Mir Almir 30. 1302. 3 Mahomet Aben Ezar 7. 1309. 4 Mahomet Aben Evar. 10. 1319. 5 Ismael 3. 1322. 6 Mahomet 12. 1334. 7 Joseph Aben Amet. 20. 1354. 8 Mahomet Lagus 23. 1377. 9 Mahomet Vermeil 2. 1379. 10 Mahomet Guadix 13. 1392. 11 Ioseph II. 4 1396. 12 Mahomet Aben Balva 11. 1407. 13 Ioseph III. 16. 1423. 14 Mahomet Aben Azar 4. 1427. 15 Mahomet the little 5. 1432. 16 Ioseph Aben Almud 13. 1445. 17 17 Mahomet Osmen 8. 1453. 18 Ismael II. 9. 1462. 19 Muley Alboacen 16. 1478. 20 Mahomet Boabdelin The last King of the Moores in Spain Of all which there is little left upon Record their whole time being spent in defending their borders against the encroachments of Castile or else in Civil Wars and discords amongst themselves in which they were so freqnent and sometimes so violent as if they had no Enemie neer them Mahomet Aben Ezar the 4th King deposed by Mahomet Aben Levin and he again thrust out by Ismael the Sonne of Ferrachen before he could enjoy the fruits of his treason Mahomet Sonne of Ismael murdered by his Subjects â—oseph the Sonne of Mahomet slain by Mahomet Lagus and he again deposed by Mahomet Vermeil who in the end was miserably slain by Pedro the Cruell of Castile to whom he had fled for help and succour After this time they ruined and deposed one another till the end of their kingdom the Successor never staying for the death of his Predecessor but violently making way for himself to enter on the Government even Mahomet Boabdâ—lin the last King hereof not having patience to expect the death of his Father but setting him besides the Throne and thereby opening a fair Gate for Ferdinand King of Castilâ— and Aragon to bring in his Forces to the subduing of them both Such was the fortune of this kingdom that as it began under a Mahomet a Ftrdinand being King of Castâ—le so it ended under a Mahomet a Ferdinand being King of Castile also In the tenth yeer then of this mans Reign did the war begin and about the yeer 1492 the Empire of the Moores ended in Spain by the valour of Ferdinand the Catholick and Isabel his Wife after their first entrance into it more than 760 yeers Such of them as after the decay of their kingdom had a desire to stay in Spain which had for so long time been their native Countrey were suffered so to doe by the prudent Victors fearing a desolation of the Countrie if they should abandon it conditioned that they would be â—hristâ—ned And that they might be known to be as they professed the Iuquisition was ordained consisting of a certain number of Domâ—nican Friers who finding any counterfeit or Apostate Christianâ— were first gently to reprove and exhort them and after if no amendment followed to inflict some punishment upon them This custom in it self was wondrous tolerable and laudable but from the Moores it was after turned on the Protestants and that with such violence and extremity of
here burnt and scatered about by the Moores Places of most importance it in 1 Silvis an Episcopall See seated in the in-land parts 2 Villanova situate beyond the Cape 3 Tavila the Balsa and 4 Faro the Ossonoba of Ptolomie both noted Ports on the Atlantick 5 Lagos an other Haven Town also This Country conquered by the Moores with the rest of Spain and from them again recovered by the Kings of Leon remained a Member of that Crown till by Alfonso the tenth of that name in Leon and the fift in Castile it was given in dowrie with Beatrix his Daughter to Alfonso the third of Portugal From which mariage issued Dionysius or Denys King of Portugal the first that ever used the title of Rex Algarbiorum Anno 1274. 3 THE AZORES are certain Islands lying in the Atlantick Ocean oposite to the City of Lisbon from which distant but 250 Leagues Situate betwixt the 38 and 40 degrees of the Northern Latitude and one of them in the first Longitude which is commonly reckoned from these Islands as being the most Western part of the World before the discoverie of America They were thus called from the multitude of Gos-hawkes which were found there in the begining the word Azor in the Spanish tongue signifying a Gos-hawke though at this time there are none of them to be found Called allso the Flemish Islands because first discovered by the Flemings and the great numbers of them in the Isle of Faial one of the chief of all the pack where there are yet some Fawilies which resemble the Flemings both in their complexion and habit and not far from the place of their abode a Torrent which the Spaniards call Riberados Flamengos or the River of Flemings They are also called the Terceras from Tercera the chief Isle among them The Air of those Islands is generally good and subject unto few diseases except that which the Portugals call the Blood being an impostumation of the blood breaking out at the Eys or other parts of the Body Some other inconveniences they are subject to proceeding from the humidity of the place the great winds and stormes of such a violent and strange kind of working that barres of Iron as big as a mans arm have in six years been worn as little as a Straw All of them well stored with Flesh Fish and other things necessary except Salt and Oyl with which they are furnished out of Portugal Wines they have also for their own use but not to be transported far because of their weakness for which cause also the richer men provide themselves of Canarie Wines or those of the Iland of Madera Of like nature is their Wheat and other fruits which hold not good above a year All of them subject unto Earthquakes and some to breathings out of fire which continually sendeth forth fuming vapours The chief commodities which they tranport unto other Countries are Canarie birds for Ladies Oad for the Diers Ioyners-work which they sell to the Spaniards and Beeves for the victualling of such Ships as come there to be victualled The Inhabitants are generally Laborious excellent husbands on their grounds insomuch as they make Vines to grow out of Rocks much given to Ioy nery by which they make many prettie fancies much esteemed by the Spaniards but not so expert at it as those of Nuremberg They take great pains to teach their Cattell understanding the Oxen being taught to know when their Master calleth them In other things they conform to the Portugals both in their customes and apparell but with some smattering of the Fleming which Nation they affect above any other The Islands nine in number and distinguished by the severall names of 1 Tercera 2 S. Michael 3 Fayal 4 Gratiosa 5 S. George 6. Pico 7 Corvo 8 Flores and 9 S. Maries of which S. Michaels and St. Maries lie next to Spain Tercera on the North-West of those by consequence the third in order whence it had the name S. Georges Gratiosa Pico Fayal on the West of that and finally those of Corvo and Flores neerest to America 1 TERCERA the chief of all the rest 18 miles in compass well stored with Peaches Apples Limons Oringes and for the Kitchin with Turneps Cabages plenty of Pot-herbs and as good Batato-rootes which are the best food the people have as any be in the World but more esteemed in Portugal than they be in this Iland by reason of their great abundance Here is also great quantity of the best kind of Woad which from hence is called Iland-Woad and a Plant about the height of a man which beares no Fruit but hath a Root as profitable as those that doe out of which the People draw a thin and tender film wherewith they fill their mâ—â—â—resses instead of Feathers Fowl enough for the use of man and yet none of prey No Port of any safety in it but that of Angra and that made safe by Art and not by Nature the whole begirt with Rocks which stick out like a pointed Diamond able to pierce the feet of any who shall venture over them Places of most importance in it 1 Praye on the Sea side well-walled but not very well peopled 2 S. Barbara 3 S. Sebastians 4 Gualne and 5 Villa nova Burroughs of good note 6 Angra the chief not of this Iland only but of all the nine the Residence of the Governour and an Archbishops See who hath in it his Cathedrall Church Seated on a convenient Bay made in the form of a Crescent with two Promontories on each side like the two horns of a half-Moon bearing into the Sea each fortified with a strong Castle for defence of the Haven the Town it self also well-walled about and environed with sharp Rocks on all sides Both Town and Castles well garrisoned and no less diligently guarded This in regard of its great strength and commodious Haven is esteeemed the principall of these Ilands and communicates it's name unto all the rest though neither neerest unto Spain nor the greatest in compass 2 S. MARIES so called from the Saint as S. Georges and S. Michaels are unto which it is dedicated is the most Southern of these Isles and the next to Spain twelve miles in circuit inhabited by Spaniards onely and those much given unto the making of Earthen vessels So naturally fenced with Rocks that it is and may be easily kept by the Inhabitants without the charge of a Garrison The chief Town of it hath the name of St. Maries also which it either giveth unto the Iland or borroweth from it 3 S. MICHAELS directly North of S. Maries from which little distant the biggest in the whole pack as being 20 miles in length though the breadth not answerable much subject unto Earth-quakes and fiery vapours Of most note amongst our modern Geographers who have removed hither the first Meridian by which they divide the World into East and West from the Canâ—ries or Fortunate Ilands were it was fixed in the time of
but few the People living till of late in perpetuall peace The chief of those whose names have been transmitted to us 1. Civilis a Prince of the Batavians for subtilty of wit compared to Hannibal and Sertorius of which in his long war against the Romans in the time of Vespasian he gave very good proof In the middle times 2. William Earl of Holland elected Emperour of Germanie 3. Baldwin Earl of Flanders Emperour of Constantinople 4. Philip the good and 5. Charles the Warlike Dukes of Burgundie 6. Charles the fift Emperour and King of Spain and of late times the Princes of the house of Nassaw and Orange transplanted hither in the Regency of Maximilian out of higher Germany And to say truth their Genius doth not lie so much for land service as it doth for the seas in which they have been very famous and not lesse fortunate For of this nation was Oliver de Noort the fourth that compassed the world Jacob le Maire the first discoverer of the Straight or Fretum which now beareth his name besides divers others And generally the people are so expert in Navigation especially those bordering on or near the coasts that they â—eem born for and to the seas many of which being born on ship-board and bred up at sea know no other Countrey and brook the land as ill as a fish doth the dry ground Which naturall inclination to it and the necessity they have of employing themselves that way the Countrey not being otherwise able to provide sustenance for those multitudes of men which it doth abound with hath so exceedingly increased their shipping that it is thought that they are masters of more vessels of all sorts taking one with another then almost all the rest of Europe Scholars of note it hath bred many 1. Erasmus the great Restorer of learning in these parts of the World 2. Justus Lipsius as eminent a reviver of the Latine Elegancies 3. Joseph Scaliger the son of Julius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man not to be followed in all parts of learning but of equall arrogance 4. Rodolphus Agricola 5. Levinus Lemnius 6. 7. Janus Douza the Father and the Son 8. Abraham Ortelius and 9. Gerard Mereator the Geographers 10. Geo. Cassander 11. Dr. James Harmin 12. Gerard Vossius eminent Divines and 13. Hugo Grotius of as great parts but seasoned with more modesty and moderation as the famous Scaliger 14. Jansenius and 15. Pamelius two right learned men but of the Pontifician party The Christian Religion was planted in severall Provinces by severall men in Holland Zealand and Friseland by Willibrode an Englishman the first Bishop of Vtrecht whence by degrees it gained on the rest of the Countrey these being the first people of the Frankes or Germans converted totally to the Gospell In tract of time it fell from the primitive purity participating of the Errours and Corruptions of the Church of Rome from which when they desired to reclaim themselves they were therein opposed by the King of Spain and his Ministers Hence the beginning of the troubles enlarged afterwards on pretence of civill rights invaded and infringed by the Spaniard affecting a more absolute Dominion over them then their Laws admitted At this time as the country doth stand divided betwixt the States the Spaniard so stands it with Religion also the Spaniard permitting only the Religion of the Church of Rome within the Provinces Estates under his command and the States General indulging the free use of all Religions even the very Jewes but countenancing only that of the Reformed Churches according to the Platform laid down by Calvin Chief Fâ—â—ests of this 〈◊〉 are 1. that of Ardenne which in the time of Caesar extended from the banks of the Rhene as 〈…〉 â—â—urney one way and Champagne another way and was in compasse 500. miles in the least accomâ—t At this time though the greatest of all Gaule Belgick it reacheth but from â—ieâ—ge to Theonville 20. leagues in length and yet not all that Woodlands neither though within the Vierge of the Forest there being much tillage and many Villages in that tract of ground the principall of which is the town of S. Huâ—ert situate almost in the midst of it 2. Niepe and 3. Numen in the Earldome of Flanders the first extending to the banks of the River Lis the other coming up close to â—pris 4. Pondsberg in the Confines of Hainalt and Flanders near unto Mount Gerrard all of them parts of this great Forest of Ardenne which once overshadowed all this Countrey 5. Normault in Hainalt in which is much Char-coal made supposed for that reason to be a part of that Forest which the old French called La Charbonniere 6. Echterwald in Guelderland near Arnâ—em c. The chief Rivers are 1. Rhene which ariseth out of two springs in the Lepontian Alpes amongst the 〈◊〉 united into one stream near Câ—ur thence passing by the Cities of Constance Basil Spire Wormes Mentz and Colen is again divided about the confines of Guelderland into four branches or channels Of which the first is called the Wael which running through Guelderland by Nimmegen and Bomel loseth it selâ— in the Maes the second which keeps the name of the Rhene passeth by Arnhem from thence in a contracted channell to Vtrecht and so through Holland unto Leiden the third called the Lecle taketh his course through the Provinces of Vtrecht and Holland and so into the sea betwixt Dort and Roterdam and the fourth called the Ysel which passing by the towns of Zutphen and Deventer betwixt â—ueblerland and Ouor-ysâ—l emptieth it self into the Ocean near Amsterdam And of these branches I have given the exacter reckoning partly because the course of that famous River is otherwise not easie to be observed and partly because the knowledge of a great part of these Provinces dependeth on the knowledge of the course of this River A River of such reputation in the ancient times that into it the old Belgae used to cast the children which they suspected to be Illegitimate for were they born of lawfull bed they floated on the waters if of an unlawfull they sank immediately Whereunto Claudian alluding saith nascentes explorat gurgite Rhenus But the great searcher of Antiquities Versiegan is of opinion that they thereby only inured their children to hardnesse and made tryall of their strength adultery being rarely found among them and so these kindes of experiments needlesse 2. Mosa or the Maes or the Meuse which rising in France not far from the springs of the Seine and the Marne passeth through Loraine Luxemburg Namur from thence by Ruremond and Venâ— where turning toward the West it taketh in a part of the Rhene and falleth into the sea not far from Bril with so great a violence that the waters of it for a long space do continue fresh 3. Ems in Latine called Amisus dividing the two Friselands 4. Scaldis which arising in Picardie and running through Artois and between Hainalt and
or more for each severall Province according to the condition and capacitie of those which are chosen to reside at the Hague there to consult of the affairs which concern the publick but so that be they more or lesse out of every Province they make amongst them but one suffrage when any thing is to be put unto the Vote And these they call the States Generall first because a collected body out of all the Provinces and secondly because they are not properly to deal in any matters of particular concernment which are determinable absolutely by the States Provinciall but only in such things as concern the generall good of the whole Estate as treating with Ambassadours making war and peace c. For their assistance in the which there is a Councel of State made up of the Governours and some eminent men of every Province in which the Ambassadour of England as long as we held Flushing and the other Cautionarie Towns had his voice or suffrage by whose advice they dispose of all things which concern the publick But so that if any difficultie do appear in the businesse they conclude nothing till they have the approbation and consent of the particular Cities and Provinces for which they are chosen to whom they are accomptable for their administration and by whom revocable whensoever they please The Revenue of this Estate doubtlesse is exceeding great the Armie which they keep in continuall entertainment consisting of no lesse then 30000 men which they can draw into the field leaving the Forts and Towns very well provided yet so well paid that we never read of any mutinie amongst them for want thereof The whole charge with the entertainment of Captains and superiour Officers is said to amount to 500000 l. per annum raised on the people by Excise laid upon all commodities and many taxes of like nature so insupportable in themselves and amongst men which would be thought to live in a free State that should the Spaniard or any Prince in Christendome lay but half so much upon their Subjects it would occasion a Revolt So that whereas one of the first causes of their falling off from the King of Spain was to free themselves from taxes and impositions illegally as they said inforced upon them they have drawn upon themselves more arbitrarie and illegall payments then any Nation in the World So little have they got by the change of government Touching their power at Sea we have spoke alreadie All I shall now adde to it is by way of instance which is that in the year 1587. the King of Denmark on pretence of some displeasure arrested 608 ships of theirs of all sorts at one time in the Sound and that the next year after they set out upon very short warning an hundred good men of war to join with England against the invincible Armada which then threatned both To conclude there is nothing wanting to these Countries wherewith the God of all blessings doth enrich a Nation but a gracious Prince unitie of Religion and a quiet Government which if it pleased the Almighty to confer upon them they would surpasse all neighbouring States in treasure potencie content and all worldly happinesse There are in these Countries Archbishops 3. Bishops 15. Universities 7. Viz. Lovain Doway Leige Leyden Harderwick Franeker Groyning And thus much of Belgium OF GERMANIE GERMANIE is bounded on the East with Prussia Poland and Hungarie on the West with France Switzerland and Belgium on the North with the Baltick Seas and some part of Denmark on the South with the Alps which part it from Italy By which accompt the modern Germanie much differeth from that described by Tacitus and others of the Roman writers that comprehending the three Kingdoms of Denmark Norway and Sweden with so much of the Kingdom of Poland as lieth on this side of the River Vistula but bounded on the East with the Rhene and on the South with the Danow the modern Germanie containing on the further banks of those Rivers 5 whole Roman Provinces that is to say Noricum Ripense and Mediterraneum Rhoetia secunda Belgica and Germania prima with some parts of Rhoetia prima and Germania secunda but terminated with the Danes and the Baltick Sea It was first called thus by the Romans as some conceive who seeing the people both in customs speech and course of life so like those of Gallia called them the Germanes to the Gaules the word Germanus in the Latine signifying a Brother of the whole bloud as our Lawyers phrase it that is to say a brother both by father and mother those which have the same mother but divers fathers being called Fratres uterini And of this minde is Strabo who speaking of the great resemblance which was betwixt these Nations in manners speech customs and way of life concludes it thus that the Romans did with very good reason call them Germans cum fratres eos Gallorum hoc nomine vellent ostendere intending to signifie by that name that they were the brethren of the Gaules But this is to be understood of those people only which dwelt next to Gaule and not of all the Nations which inhabited in this vaste Continent according to the ancient extent thereof it being very well observed by Tacitus that Germanie was at first Nationis non Gentis nomen the name of some of the Nations only not of all the Country the name in processe of time spreading over all that large tract of ground and those scattered Nations which were either conquered by them or incorporate with them Others will have the name to be meerly Dutch deriving it from Ger which signifieth all and the word man signifying in that language as in ours whence also they derive the name of Almans by which they would imply that the Almans or Germans are a very warlike Nation a people that have in them nihil nisi virile nothing not worthie of a man Bocartus somewhat near to this telling us that Ger in the antient Gallick did signifie as much as Guerre in the modern French would have them at their first coming over the Rhene to be called Germans by the Gaules that is to say men of war or Gens d' Armes in the present French by reason of the great and many victories obtained by them The like diversity I find for the name of Almans For though some gave them the name of Almans from the same originall from whence they fetch the name of Germans as was said before yet others as probably conjecture that they had that name because they consisted of so many severall Nations coming out of the North and North-east hither that they seemed to be an Hotch-poth of all sorts of men kneaded into one name and Nation which is the conceit of Asinius Quadratus But for my part I doe conceive supposing the name of Almans to be Dutch originally that the whole Country was not called Almain till such time as the Princes of the
the name of Austrasia whence the modern Austria The air is generally very healthie and the earth as fruitfull yeilding a plentifull increase without help of compost or other soiling and of so easie a tillage to the husbandman that on the North side of the Danow it is ploughed and managed by one horse only Exceeding plentifull of grain and abundant in wine with which last it supplyeth the defects of Bavaria great store of Saffron some provision of salt and at the foot of the Mountains not far from Haimbourg some Ginger also Nor wants it Mines of silver in a large proportion Divided by the River Danow into the Lower and the Higher that lying on the North side of the River towards Bohemia and Moravia this on the South side towards Stiermark Places of most importance in the HIGHER AVSTRIA are 1 Gmund seated on a Lake called Gemunder See bordering on Bavaria at the efflux of the river Draun which ariseth out of it 2 Lints seated on the confluence of the said Draun with the famous Danow the Aredate of Ptolemie A town before the late wars almost wholly Protestant but then being put into the hands of the Duke of Bavaria began to warp a little to the other side 3 Walkenstein on the Ens or Anisus near the borders of Stiermark 4 Ens on the fall of that river into the Danow raised out of the ruines of Laureacum sometimes the Metropolis of the Noricum Ripense the Station at that time of the second Legion afterwards an Archbishops See made such in the first planting of Christianity amongst this people by S. Severine anno 464. On the reviver whereof suppressed by the Hunnes Bojarians and others of the barbarous Nations by the diligence and preaching of S. Rupertus the Metropolitan dignitie was fixt at Saltzburg 5 Waidhoven near the head of the river Ips. 6 Ips seated at the influx of that river and from thence denominated the Gesodunum of Ptolemie and other ancients 7 Newfull on a great Lake so named 8 Wels on the main stream of the Danubius 9 Haimburg on the confluence thereof and the river Marckh Near to which at the foot of the Mountains now called Haimburgerberg from the town adjoining but anciently named Mons Cognamus is some store of Ginger a wonderfull great raritie for these colder Countries 10 Newstat first called so from the newnesse of it being built of late 11 Vienna by the Dutch Wien the principall of all these parts by Ptolemie called Juliobona Vindebona by Antonine the station in their times of the tenth Roman Legion of whose being setled here there are many Monuments both within the City and without Seated it is on the bankes of Danubius well built both in regard of private and publike edifices each private house having such store of cellarage for all occasions that as much of the Citie seems to be under the ground as is above it The streets for the most part spacious and all paved with stone which makes them very clean and sweet in the midst of winter fenced with a mighty wall deep and precipitious ditches on all parts of it and many Bulwarkes Towers and Ramparts in all needfull places the wals hereof first raised with some part of the money paid unto Leopold Duke of Austria for the ransome of King Richard the first of England taken prisoner by him as he passed homewards through this Countrey from the Holy Land Esteemed at this day the strongest hold of Christendom against the Turkes and proved experimentally so to be in that most notable and famous repulse here given them an 1526. At what time 200000 of them under the conduct of Solyman the Magnificent besieged this City but by the valour of Frederick the second Electour Palatine of the Rhene and other German Princes gallantly resisted and compelled to retire with the losse of 80000 souldiers Nor doth the strength hereof so diminish the beauties of it but that it is one of the goodliest townes in all the Empire the residence for these last ages of the Emperours made an Vniversity by the Emperour Frederick the second revived and much advanced by Albert Duke of Austria anno 1356. Adorned with an Episcopall See many magnificent Temples and stately Monasteries but above all with a most sumptuâ—us and Princely Palace wherein the Archdukes and Emperours use to keep their Courts built by Ottacar King of Bohemia during the little time he was Duke of Austria In the middle ages as appeares by Otho Frisingensis it was called Fabiana but being ruined by the Hunnes and again reedified was first called Biana the first syllable omitted by mistake or negligence from whence the Dutch Wien and the Latine Vienna We should now take a view of the townes and Cities in the LOWER AVSTRIA if there were any in it which were worth the looking after The Countrey having never beene in the hands of the Romans hath no town of any great antiquity nor many new ones built or beautified by the Austrian Princes since it came into their possession the onely one of note being Crems or Cremia on the left hand shoar of Danubius going downe the water 2. Rets on the River â—ega bordering on Moravia and 3. Freistat at the foot of the Mountaines on the skirts of Bohemia The old Inhabitants of this tract are supposed to be the Quadi in that part which lyeth next to Bohemia the Marcomanni in those parts which are next Moravia who intermingled with the Boâ—i and united with them into the name of Bojarians wonne from the Romans the whole Province of the Second Rhaetia and so much of Noricum as lyeth betwixt the Inn and the Ens leaving the rest to the Avares who possessed that and the two Pannonia's extorted also from the Romans in the fall of that great and mighty Empire But these Bojarians being conquered by Clovis the Great and the Avares driven out of Pannonia by Char le magne both Provinces became members of the French Empire till the subduing of Pannonia by the Hungarians To oppose whom and keep in peace and safety these remoter parts some Guardians or Lords Marchers were appointed by the Kings and Emperours of Germany with the title of Marquesses of Ostreich At first Officiary onely but at last hereditarie made so by the Emperour Henry the first who gave this Province to one Leopold surnamed the Illustrious the sonne of Henry Earle of Bamberg of the house of Schwaben and there withall the title of Marquesse anno 980. This Marquisate was by Frederick Barbarossa raised to a Dukedome 1158. Henry being the first Duke whose brother Leopold took Richard the first of England prisoner in his returne from Palestine for whose ransome hee had so much money that with it he bought Stiermark together with the Counties of Nâ—obourgh and Liutz and walled Vienna His sonne Fredericus Leopoldus was made King of Austria by the Emperour Frederick the second anno 1225. Eleven yeares he coâ—tinued in this dignity at the end
then that towards the borders of Lapland and 4 Kerldby in East Bodden on the bank of the Gulfe conveniently seated for a town of Trade 3. FINLAND FINLAND hath on the North Bodia on the South the Baltick Sea or Mare Suevicum on the East Sinus Finnicus on the West Sinus Bodicus It is by Munster thought to be called Finland quasi fine land quod pulchrior amaenior sit Suecia because it is a more fine and pleasing countrey than Sweden it selfe But indeed it is so called from the Finni or Fenni a potent Nation who have here dwelt whose character is thus framed by Tacitus Finnis mira feritas foeda paupertas non arma non equi non penates victui herbae vestitui pelles cubile humus sola in sagittis spes The Finnes saith he are wonderfully barbarous miserably poore without Armes Horse or Household Goods Herbs their food the ground their bed and the skins of beasts their best apparell armed onely with their Arrowes and in them their hopes A Character which agreeth every way with our present Finlanders especially those of Scricfinnia and some parts of Finmarchia who are not so well reclaimed to civility as the other are but very different from that which Jornandes gives them who living within 400 yeares after Tacitus before they had much if any entercourse with forein Nations telleth us of them that they were Scanziae Cultoribus omnibus mitiores more tractable and civill then any of the Inhabitants of Scandia not excepting the Suethidi themselves If so they did deserve to live in so good a Countrey more plentifull and plaine then Sweden and neither so hilly nor so moorish The principall place in it are 1. Abo an Archbishops See situate on the most Southern point of it shooting into the Baltick 2 Wiburg a Bishops See also whose jurisdiction for the most part is without this Province on some part of Russia all Finland being in the Diocese of the Bishop of Abo. A town conveniently seated at the bottome of the Bay or Gulfe of Finland called Sinus Finnicus in Latine which divides this Countrey from Livonia well fortified as the chief Bulwarke of this Kingdome against the Moscovite and so well garrisoned withall that the keeping of this town and Rivallia in the borders of Liefland doe cost the king of Sweden 100000 Dollars yearly 3. Vdden on a point or Promontorie of the same Gulfe opposite to Narve another Garrison of this king in Liefland 4 Verma upon the Bodner Zee 5 Cronaburg more within the land at the efflux of a River out of the Lake called Puente 6 Deckala on the banks of the great Lake called Hoâ—ela 7 Varta more northwards towards Lapland of which last four I finde not any thing observable in the way of story 6 The SWEDISH ISLANDS And now at last I come to the Swedish Islands here and there interspersed in the Baltick Seas betwixt the Isle of Bornholm which belongs to Denmark and Liefland or Livonia appertaining to the King of Poland the principall of which are 1 Gothia or the Isle of Gothland and 2 Insulae Vlandae or the Isles of Oelandt 1. GOTHIA or the Isle of GOTHLAND is situate over against Colmar a strong town in the Continent of Gothland in length 18 Dutch miles and five in breadth Of a rich soile but more fit for pastâ—rage then till age yeelding great heards of Cattell store of game for hunting plenty of fish excellent marble and aboundance of pitch which it sends forth to other Countreys There are in it 18 large and wealthy Villages besides the Haven town of Wisbich heretofore rich and of very geeat trading as much frequented by the Merchant as most in Europe but now much decayed and neither so well peopled nor so rich as formerly The trade removed hither from Wollin of Pomeâ—ania destroyed by Waldemar the first of Denmark anno 1170 made it flourish mightily the greatest traffick of the Baltick being managed here but after that by reason of the long and continuall wars betwixt Denmark and Swethland for the possession of this Isle it became unsafe the Factorie was transferred unto other places For being conveniently seated to annoy the Swedes the Danes have much contended for it and sometimes possessed it but at the present is in the hand of the Swethlander By some conceived to be the Eningia spoken of by Pliny 2 OELAND or the Isles of Vlande so called in the plurall number because there are many of them of which this the principall is situate over against Abâ— the chief City of Finland Of no great note but that it is commodiously seated to invade or annoy this kingdome and therefore very well fortified and as strongly garrisoned here being the good towns of 1 Viburg 2 Vames and 3 the strong Castle of Castrolm Besides which Countreys here described the King of Sweden is possessed of the strong townes of Narve and Rivallia and Pernow in Liefland of Kexholm or Hexholm in Corelia a Province of Russia with very fair and ample territories appertaining to them subdued and added to this Crown by John the second anno 1581. except Rivallia which voluntarily submitted to Ericus the second King of this present Race anno 1561. But being these Townes and Territories are not within the bounds of Swethland we shall deferre all further discourse thereof to a place more proper The first Inhabitants of this kingdome besides the Gothes and Finni spoken of already were the Sitones and Suiones mentioned in Tacitus together with the Phavonae the Phiraesi and the Levoni whom we finde in Ptolemie placed by him in the East and middle of this great Peninsula Which being the generall names of some mighty Nations are by Jornandes branched into lesser tribes of the Suethans 〈◊〉 Vagoth Bergio Hallin Liothida Athelniâ— Gaurigoth Raumaricae Rauragnicii Grannii Aganziae 〈◊〉 Arochitamii Enagerae Othingi and divers others by him named But from what root the name of Sweden Swedes or Swethland by which the chief Province of it the people generally and the whole kingdome is now called is not yet agreed on nor spoken of at all by Munster or Crantzius which two but specially the last have written purposely of this people Gaspar Peucerus deriveth them from the Sucvi who antiently inhabited in the North parts of Germanie beyond the Albis from whom the Baltick sea was called Mare Suevicum which people hee conceiveth to have beene driven by the Gothes and Daci into this countrey and by the change of one letter onely to be called Sueci But this hath no good ground to stand on though I meet with many others which are more improbable For when they left those colder countreys they fell into these parts which are still called Suevia the Schwaben of the modern Dutch where we finde them in the time of Caesar And after in fatali illa gentium commigratione when almost all the Northern Nations did shift their seats we finde such of them as had staid behinde to
and the brother his sisters to the place of their Execution The language generally here spoken of is a kinde of Sclavonian differing in dialect from the Pâ—les but in the parts adjoyning to Germanie the Dutch is spoken as the old Iazygian is betwixt Danubius and Tibiscus the ancient seat of the Iazyges Metanastae The soil is wonderfull fruitfull yeelding corn and fruits in great abundance the grasse in some places as in the Isle of Comara exceeding the height of a man which doth breed such a number of cattle that this Country alone is thought to be able to feed all Europe with flesh They yearly send into Germany and Sclavonia 80000 Oxen they have Deere Partridge Pheasant in such superfluitie that any man that will may kill them which in other places is utterly prohibited these creatures being reserved as game for Gentlemen For at that great insurrection of the Boores in Germany before the end of which 50000 of them were slain in fight their chief demands were that they might choose 〈…〉 2 That they might pay no tythes but of corn 3 That they might be free from the power of 〈◊〉 4 That wood timber and fewell might be common 5 And especially That they might hunt and hauk in all times and places The other commodities of the Countrie are 〈◊〉 Silver whereof they have some very rich veins as also of Tin Lead Iron good store of Fish Copper Wine this last as good as that of Candie The worthiest Scholar that ever this Kingdome produced was S. Hierome a worthy Father of the Latine Church born in Stridon The most worthy of all their Souldiers were Johannes Huniades who so valia thy resisted the incursions of the Turks and slew of them 50000 at the battle at Maxon And 2. Matthias Corvinus his sonne afterward King of Hungary of whom thus Adrian out of a Poet Patriae decus unica stirpis Gloria Pannonicae caedis fortissimus ultâ—r His Countries pride the glory of his race Revenger of th' Hungarians late disgrace The principall Rivers are 1 Danubius spoken of before when we were in Germanie 2 Savus which rising in Carniola 3 Dravus which rising in Carinthia and 4 Tibiscus which rising in the Carpathian Mountains pay their tribute to Danubius of which Tibiscus the Hungarians use to say that two parts are water and the third fish Besides which and some others of inferiour note there is the famous Lake called Balaton by the Dutch Platse 40 Italian miles in length but of breadth unequall in some places being ten miles broad and in some but three There be also many medicinall waters and more hot Baths then any one Country hath in Europe some waters also of a strange Nature whereof some falling on the ground is turned to stone others about the Town of Smolnice which falling into Ditches make a kinde of mud out of which tried and melted they make very good Copper and some again which flow in winter and freeze in Summer and near unto Bisâ—â—ice or Mensol a spring or fountain out of which cometh a green water whereof they make Solder for their Gold Principall Mountains of this Countrie are 1 Carpatus the Sarmatian or Carpathian Mountains spoken of before 2 Matzan near the Citie Agria covered with rich ulns 3 Eâ—dol omnium amplissimus the largest of the three saith the Atlas minor Which words if true must needs be understood of the height of this Mountain but neither of the length or breadth in both which without question it comes short of Carpatus The Country is commonly divided into the Vpper Hungarie and the Lower the Vpper lying on the North of the River Danow out of the bounds and territories of the Roman Empire the Lower lying on the South of that River and comprehending all Pannonia Inferior and part of Superior two Roman Provinces The Vpper again subdivided before the coming in of the Turks into 32 Counties or Juridicall resorts that is to say 24 on the West side of Tibiscus or the Tisse and 8 on the East side of it the Lower at the same time into 18 onely of which 10 were betwixt the Danow and the River Dravus and the other six betwixt the Danow and the Savus But this Division and the Subdivisions depending on it being since the coming in of the Turkes almost out of use we will now look upon it as it standâ— divided at the present betwixt the Emperour as King of Hungarie by a mixt title of descent and election and the Great Turk as Lord of the most part of it by Arms and conquest two parts of three at least being forced into his possession Chief places in the Emperours part are 1 Sabaria antiently the Metropolis of Pannonia Superior the birth-place of St. Martin Bishop of Tours now of lesse accompt by the Hungarians called Kimarorubath Others conceive it to be that which the Dutch call Leibnits 2 Stridon the Sidron of Ptolemie in the confines of Hungary and Dalmatia by the common people called Strigman A town of good repute till destroyed by the Gothes but after made of more esteem by the birth of St. Hierom one of the foure chief Fathers of the Latine Church and for all parts of humane learning nothing inferiour to the best of the Grecian Sages 3 Agria a Bishops See 4 Nitri a Bishops See also on the River Boch 5 Sopran Sopronium in Latine on the borders of Austria 6 Komara a strong peece in an Island of the same name made by the Circling of the Danow oft-times attempted by the Turk but in vaine at al tinâ—es 7 Presburg on the edge of Austria also but on the North side of the river the Carnuntum of Antoninas but by the moderne Latines called Posonium seated in a pleasant healthfull countrey on the River Lyet whose waters the Danow there receiveth in the suburbs whereof on the top of an high Mountaine standeth a goodly Castle the ordinary residence of the Emperours as Kings of Hungary For though it be a little City and not very beautifull yet being safe by the neighbourhood of Austria it hath been made the Metropolis of this kingdome since the losse of Buda Before the wals hereof dyed Count Dampierri one of the chief Commanders of Ferdinand the second in the wars of Hungary and Bohemia 8 Gran by the Latines called Strigonium took by the Turks anno 1534. and lost again anno 1595. at what time Sir Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire carryed himselfe so gallantly by forcing the Water-tower and taking thence with his owne hands the Turkish Banner that the Emperour Rodulphus created him a Count of the Empire and King James afterwards maâ—â— him Lord Arundell of Wordour It is seated on the Danow but opposite to the mouth of the Cran which arising in the Vpper Hungary doth there end its courses hence the name of Gran honourâ—d also of long time with the See of an Archbishop who is the Primate of the kingdome 9 〈◊〉 on the meeting
Souldiers 1608 13 Gabriel Battori of the familie of the former Princes succeeded by the favour of Achmet the Great Turk after whose death so welcome to his neighbours and subjects 1613 14 Bethlem Gabour by the same Achmet was made Prince of Transylvania a professed enemie of the house of Austria but one that with a great deal of noise did them little hurt 1630 15 Stephen Ragotzi on the death of Bethlem Gabour succeeded Prince by the power and favour of the Turks under whose Clitentele and protection he doth still enjoy it as his predecessours did before him against all pretentions of the Empire as on the other side defended by the Emperour and Crown of Poland from being made thrall unto the Turkes 2 MOLDAVIA MOLDAVIA is bounded on the East with the Sea on the West with Transylvania on the North with the River Niester the Tyras of Ptolemie and the Antients by which parted from Podolia a Province of POLAND and on the South with Walachia It is so called as some say quast Moetavia from its neernesse to the fens of Moeotis or rather from the Hunnes and other people of those fennes who possessed the same Others conceive that it was at first called Maurdavia i. e. nigrorum Davorum Regio the countrey of the black Davi for by the name of Davi were the Dacians called as we finde in Strabo and some others so named from their complexion or the colour of their Caps and other garments as Nigra Russta a neere neighbouring Province of the Realm of Poland on the like occasion But the more probable opinion as I take it is that it tooke this name from the River Moldava which runneth through it as the Moravians had that name from the River Morava The countrey is very fruitfull in corn wine grasse and wood but more used for pasturage then tillage by reason of the great want of people to manure the land by meanes whereof it affordeth great plenty of Beefe and Mutton whereby they supply some parts of Poland and the populous City of Constantinople And these they issue out in so great a number that the tenth penny exacted by the Prince or Vaivod in the way of Custome amounteth to 150000 Crownes per annum and yet the Clergy and the â—entry are diâ—charged of this impost But the maine trade of this Countrey is not driven by the Natives the Port-townes being â—ull of Armenians Jews Hungarians and Raguzian Merchants who forestall the Markets and barter all their corn and wine into Russia and Poland their skins wax honey powdered beefe Pulse and butter into Constantinople The countrey is in a manner round the Diameter each way being neere upon 300 English miles but so ill-inhabited by reason of the neighbourhood of the Turkes Tartars and Polonian Cosacks that certain English Gentlemen having in the yeare 1609. travelled at least 240 miles in the countrey could meet in all the way but nine townes and villages and for an hundred miles together the grasse so high that it rotted on the ground for want of Cattell to eat it and of men to order it So that we are not to expect in it many eminent Cities or townes of note though it afford two Archbishops and two Bishops Sees followers as all the rest of the people are of the traditions and doctrines of the Church of Greece The principall of those which be are 1 Occazoma or Zucconia the Vaivods seat 2 Fucciania 3 Fazeling of which little memorable 4 Kotjim a place of great strength on the borders of Poland by some called Cochina the ordinary magazeen of the countrey 5 Iassy commonly called Yas the chief Town for wealth and trade in all this Province 6 Bender Niester on the Euxine Sea 7 Polada neer the Danow 8 Bialograd or Bologrove situate on or neer the river Tyras now called a strong town against the Tartars and Polonians 9 Kele antiently called Achiâ—â—eia situate on the shores of the Euxine Sea for the most part compassed round with the waters of it and therefore said by Ptolemie to be an Island 10 Ac Germen of old called Asprocastron Moncastrum a very strong Town in the same coast also both taken by Baiazet the second Emperour of the Turkes anno 1485. But these three Towns are not so properly in Moldavia at least not in Moldavia properly so called as in a little Province called Bessarabia lying on the Euxine formerly counted part thereof till conquerred by the Turkes in the year aforesaid it became a member of that Empire A tract inhabited by the Bessâ— in the times of Ptolemie who being drivenout of their countrey by the Bulgarians setled themselves as some say in that part of Sclavonia which is now called Bosnia The whole Countrey following the fortune of Transylvania and the rest of Dacia till the coming of the Sclaves and Rosses was for a while accompted part of the Russian Empire till the dismembring of that Empire by the Tartars After which time it was sometimes Homager to the Polanders sometimes to the Hungarians according as the Vâ—ivods or Princes of it could finde best conditions By Mahomet the Great it was made Tributary to the Turkes but the Tribute at the first very light and easie not above 2000 Crownes per annum that mighty Emperour who aimed at more profitable conquests being loth to spend his Forces on so poore a purchase as the addition of this Province would have been unto him But Baiazet his son finding how fit it lay for the more absolute command of the Euxine Sea tooke in that part hereof which is called Bessarabia reducing it into the form of a Turkish Province anno 1485. as before was said imposing on the rest an increase of the former tribute and so left it unto the disposall of its naturall Princes After which time the Vaivods fearing to be made Vassals to the Turkes did many times rise in Armes against them aided therein sometimes by the Hungarians and sometimes by the Polander which last pretended to the Soveraignty and chiefage of it Bogdanus Vaivod hereof in the time of Selimus the second uniting himselfe more closely with the Pâ—loâ—ians became thereby suspected by the Turkish Tyrant who with a great power chaâ—ed him out of his countrey and gave the same unto one John a Moldavian born but bred up for the most part in the Turkish Court where he renounced his faith and was circumcised under the yeerly tribute of 60000 Crownes But John the new made Vaivod was no sooner setled but he returned again to his first Religion and for that cause grew lesse affected by the Turkesâ— Which being observed by the then Vaivod of Valachia he practised to obtain that dignity for his brother Peter offering to double the said tribute and to assist in subjugation of the Countrey The Turk accepting of these offers compounds an Army of 70000 Valachians 30000 Turkes and 3000 Hungarians with which they fall into Moldavia and were so gallantly received by
the noble Vaivod that few of them escaped the slaughter But being afterwards betrayed by his old friend Czarnieviche and against faith given barbarously murdered by the Turkish Bassa Moldavia fell into the hands of the Turkes and was united to that Empire an 1574. the Vaivods from that time forwards being nominated by the Turkish Emperours and governing as substitutes and Lievtenants for and under them And though Aaron one of the succeeding Vaivods did shake off this yoke and confederated himself with Sigismund Prince of Transylvania and Michael Vaivod of Valachia for defence of themselves and their Estates against that Enemy yet being afterwards supplanted by Roswan one of his own ambitious subjects and that confederacie disjointed it became subject first unto the Polonians by the power and practise of Zamoyskie Chancellour of Poland and then unto Rodolphus Emperour of Germany and finally unto the Turke as before it was And though the Polanders have since made use of some opportunities in imposing Vaivods on this countrey in despite of the Turkes yet was it commonly to their owne losse little or no benefit to the Moldavians and in the end drew the whole power of the Turkes upon themselves in the reign of Osman never since intermedling in the affaires of this Province but leaving them entirely to the Turkes disposing who receive hence some yearly tribute but have not hitherto obtained the entire possession of it so long since aimed at by those Tyrants 3 VALACHIA VALACHIA is bounded on the East with Moldavia and a branch of the Ister or Danubius bending towards the North on the West with Rascia on the North with Transylvania and some part of Moldavia and on the South with the Danubius wholly by which parted from Servia and Bulgaria First called Flaccia from one Flaccus a Noble Roman who on the conquest hereof in the time of Trajan brought hither an Italian Colonie afterwards by corruption Vlachia and at last Valachia But the name of Flaccia or Vlachia was at first of a more large extent then it is at present comprehending all Moldavia also divided in those times by a ridge of Mountaines into Cisalpina and Tran alpinaa the name of Moldavia being afterwards appropriated to the one and that of Valachia properly and specially so called unto the other The people of both in token of their first extraction speak a corrupt Latine or Italian language but in matters of Religion follow the dictates of the Greek Church and obey the Patriarch of Constantinople under whom all Ecclesiasticall affairs are governed by one Archhishop and two Bishops In other things they partake generally of the rudenesse and barbarity of those Nations which have since subdued them being a rough hewn people hardly civilized ignorant for the most part of letters and all liberall sciences not weaned perfectly in so long time of their possession of Christianity from the superstitions of the Gentiles swearing by Jupiter and Venus marying and unmarying at their pleasures much given to magicall charms and incantations and burying with their dead both clothes and victuals for their relief in that long journey to the other world It is in length 500 in breadth 120 miles the countrey for the most part plain and very fertile affording store of Cattell a breed of excellent Horses iron-mines salt-pits and all provisions necessarie to the life of man Some vines they also have and not few mines of gold and silver more then for feare of the Turkes and other ill neighbours they dare discover begirt about with woodie mountaines which afford them fewell and very well watered with the Rivers of Pruth called antiently â—â—rasus 2 Stertius 3 Fulmina 4 Teln 5 Alluta all of them falling into 6 the Danow which in this Province at the influx of Fulmina takes the name of Ister yet is it not at the present very populous the spaciousnesse and fertilitie hereof considered by reason of the ill neighbourhood of the Tartars Turks and Polonian Cossackes their late long wars against those Nations and the Dutch having much decreased their former numbers with which they so abounded in the times foregoing that the Vaivod of this countrey in the year 1473. was able upon little warning to bring 70000 men into the field for a present service Places of most note herein are 1 Galatz on the influx of the River Pruth or Hierasus into the Danubius the waters of which River are so unwholesome that it causeth the body to swell 2 Trescortum not far from which they dig a bituminous earth so refined and pure that usually they make Candles of it instead of wax 3 Prailaba by some called Brailovia the town of most trade in all this countrey situate on the Danow and defended with a very strong Castle fortified by Art and Nature and furnished with a strong garrison of Turkes as the key of this Province opening the dore unto the rest The town most cruelly destroyed and razed to the ground with an incredible slaughter of the Inhabitants of all sexes ages for the spaces of four dayes together by John the Vaivod of Moldavia spoken of before at his first revolting from the Turkes but the Castle in regard of the great strength of it scarce attempted by him 4 Teina a Fortresse of great strength but in the hands of the Turkes also 5 Zorza corruptly for San-Georgio seated on the Danow with an arm whereof the Castle of it is encompassed garrisoned by the Turkes and by them held to be so strong and so safe a place that at the taking of it by Sigismund the Prince of Transylvania an 1596. there were found in it 39 great peeces of Ordinance with such store of Armes and Ammunition as might well have served for a whole kingdome 6 Tergovista sometimes the chief City of the Province and the ordinary residence of the Vaivod till the taking of it by the Turkes once beautified with a fair and famous Monastery by the Turkes converted into a fortresse environed with deep trenches strong Bulwarks upon every quarter and great store of Ordinance but many times lost and got againe according to the changes and chance of war 7 Bucaresta about a dayes journey from Tergovista seated on the Danow remarkable for two bridges built neer unto it the one of Boats the laying whereof took up no lesse then an whole moneths time for the transporting of the Army of Sinan Bassa against Sigismund Prince of Transylvania before mentioned and broken down by the said Bassa in his flight having bern worsted in all places by the Transylvanian The other work of the Emperour Trajan in his warre against Decebalus King of Dacia built all of stone and laid on piles and Arches of a wonderfull greatnesse 24 piles or pillars whereof are yet remaining to the great admiration of all beholders 8 Cebium of old called Lycostomos in vain besieged by the forces of Mahomet the Great coming in person to subdue this petit Province 9 Zarmizegethusa the seat Royall of Decebalus
1 Elis which gives name to the whole Province So called from Elisha the son of Javan and grand-child of Japhet who fixt himself in these parts of this Countrie where he built this Citie calling it by his own name as his posteritie in honour of him did the Isles adjoynig mentioned in the Propher Ezekiel by the name of the Isles of Elisha Ch. 27. v. 7. Nigh to this Citie runneth the River Alpheus of which we have spoken in 〈◊〉 and in this Citie reigned the King Augeas the cleansing of whose Stable is accompted one of the wonders or twelve labours performed by Hercules 2 Olympia famous for the Statue of Jupiter Olympiâ—as one of the 7 wonders being in height 60 cubits composed by that excellent workman Phidias of gold and ivory In honour of this Jupiter were the Olympick games instituted by Hercules and celebrated on the Plains of this Citie A. M. 2757. The exercises in them were for the most part bodily as running in Chariots running on foot wrastling fighting with the whorlbats and the like But so that there repaired thither also Orators Poets and Musicians and all that thought themselves excellent in any laudable qualitie to make triall of their severall abilities the very Cryers who proclaimed the Victories contending which should cry loudest and best play his part The rewards given to the Vâ—ctor were only Garlands of Palm or such slight remembrances and yet the Greeks no lesse esteem'd that small sign of conquest and honour then the Romans did their most magnificent triumphs those which were Conquerors herein being met by all the principall men of the Citie in which or under which they lived and a passage broken in the main wals thereof for their reception as if the ordinarie Gates were not capable of so high an honour or able to afford them entrance Insomuch that when Diagoras had seen his three sons crowned for their severall victories a friend of his came to him with this gratulation Morere Diagoras nunquam enim in Coelum ascensuruses that is to say Die now Diagoâ—as for thou shalt never goe to Heaven as if no greater happinesse could befall the man either in this life or that to come then that which he enjoyed already The Judges and Presidents of these Games were some of the Citizens of Elis deputed to it highly commended for their justice and integrity in pronouncing who best deserved without partialitie Of these thus Horaâ—e in his Odes Sunt quos Curriculo pulverem Olympicum Collegisse juvat metaque fervidis Evitata rotis Palmaque nobilis Terrarum Dominos evehit ad Deos. Quos Elea domum reducit Palma coelestes That is to say Some in Olympick dust take pride Their Chariots and themselves to hide Whom the shunn'd mark and Palm so priz'd Like to the Gods hath eterniz'd Such as like heavenly wights do come With an Elean Garland home But to proceed after the death of Hercules these games were discontinued for 430 years at which time one Iphitus warned so to doe by the Oracle of Apollo renewed them causing them to be solemnly exercised every fourth year from which custom Olympias is sometimes taken for the space of 4 years as cuincue annorum Olympiades for 20 years Varro reckoneth the times before the floud to be obscure those before the Olympiads and after the floud to be falulous but those that followed these Olympiads to be Historicall These Olympiads were of long time even from the resâ—auration of them by Iphitus untill the reign of the Emperour Theodosius the Grecian Epoche by which they reckoned their accompt the first of them being placed in the year of the world 3174. before the building of Rome 24 years the last in the 440 year after Christs nativity According to which reckoning this accompt continued for the space of 1214 years the memorie of which remains though the name of Olympia be not found in Peloponnesus the town at this day called by the name of Sconri 3 Pisa whose people followed Nestor to the wars of Troy and in their return were by tempest driven to the coasts of Italie where they built the Citie Pisa in Tuscanie 4 Tornese a new Town or the new name of some ancient City from whence the adjoyning Promontorie of old called Chilonites is now called Cabo di Tornese 3 MESSENIA hath on the East Arcadia on the North Elis on the South and West the Sea It takes its name from the Metropolis Messene situate on Sinus Messeniacus now called Golfo di Conro 2 Pylos where Nestor was King now called Novarino a desolate and poor village not worth the noting Of which thus Ovid speaking in the name of Penelope Nos Pylon antiqui Neleia Nestoris arva Misimus incerta est reddita fama Pylo To Pylon aged Nesiors seat we sent But could not hear from thence how matters went 3 Medon or Methone seated in the most southern part of this Peninsula from whence unto the Isthmus which joineth it to the rest of Greece are reckoned 175 Italian miles the ordinarie residence of the Turkish Zanziack who hath the government of this whole Province of Morea under the Beglerbeg of Greece 4 Corone or Coron the chief town on the Bay of Messene called from hence Golf di Coron and the last which held out against the Turks for the State of Venice once Lords of all the Sea-coasts of Peloponnesus 5 Cyparissi now called Arcudia from whence the Bay adjoyning hath the name of Golfo di Arcudia Here is also the Promontorie called of old Coryphusium now Calo Zanchio The people of this small Province had once a great sway in the whole Peninsula At first confederate with the Spartans in so strict a league that they mutually sent young Virgins to one another for their publick sacrifices but afterwards Corrivals with them for the Supreme power The Spartans at the last getting the upper hand of them oppressed them with a miserable servitude The occasion this In the confines of this Countrie stood a Temple of Diana common alike to the Messenians Spartans and Dores It happened that some Spartan Virgins were by the Messenians here ravished which abuse the Spartans pretended to be the ground of their warre the true reason indeed being their covetousnesse of the sole Empire This warre broke out three severall times The first continued 20 years in which space the Lacedaemonians fearing their absence would hinder the supply of young children in the Citie sent a company of their ablest young men home to accompany their wives Their off-spring were called Parthenii who coming to full growth abandoned Sparta sailed into Italie and there built Tarenâ—um The second being of 23 years continuance was raised and maintained by Aristomenes one of the chief men of the Messenians in which they prospered â—il Aristoâ—rates King of Arcadia one of their confederates revolted to side with Lacedaemon Then began they to decline and Aristomenes was thrice taken prisoner still miraculously escaping His last imprisonment was
23. And no lesse memorable amongst the Gentiles for that snmptuous and magnificent Temple here consecrated to Diana which for the largenesse furniture and workmanship of it was accompted one of the Wonders of the World The length thereof said to be 425. foot 220. foot in breadth supported with 127. Pillars of Marble seventy foot in height of which twenty seven were most curiously engraver and all the rest of Marble polished The modell of it contrived by one Ctesiphon and that with so much art and curiosity of Architecture that it took up two hundred years before it was finished When finished it was fired seven times the last time by Erastrotus onely to get himself a name which hap'ning on the same night inwhich Alexander the Great was born gave occasion to that weighty but witty scoffe that Diana she was counted one of the Godesses of midwifery could not attend the preservation of her Temple being then busied at the birth of so great a Prince As for those Iones or Ionians they were no doubt the descendants of Javan the fourth sonne of Japhet as hath been shewn before in our generall Preface but whether they came hither out of Graecia or passed from hence into that Countrey hath been made a question The Athenians boasting of themselves to be Aborigines men growing as it were out of the Soile it selfe without any Ancestors report that those Ionians were a Colonie of their Plantation But Hecataeus in Strabo doth affirm the contrary Saying that the Athenians or Iones of Greece came from those of Asia for that Attica was antiently called Ionia Plutarch in the life of Theseus doth declare expresly Most probable it is that Hecataeus was in the right these parts of Asia lying so directly in the way from the vallyef Shinaar unto Greece that Javan may very well be thought to leave some of his company here when he ferried the rest over to the opposite Continent I know Pansani as ignorant of their true antiquity deriveth them from Ien the sonne of Xuthus and grandchild of Deucaliâ—n wherein he came so neer the truth though he missed the men that it was the grand-son of that man who escaped the flood from whom both the Athenians and those Ionians had their true Originall In regard of which relations betwixt the Nations the Athenians gave aide to those Ionians against the Persians who on the overthrow given to Croesus pretended to the Lordship or Dominion of Asia and conquered them in the time of Cyrus the first Persian Monarch Upon which ground and the sending of fresh aid to them upon their revolt in the time of Darius that King first undertook the invasion of Greece After this yielding to the times they followed the fortune of the strongest subject successively to the Persians Macedonians Romans Constantinopolitans and Turks till the death of Aladine before mentioned when both Aeolis and Ionia got a new name and are now called Sarcan from Sarachan a Turkish Captain who on the death of that Aladine seized upon this Countrey and erected here a petit Kingdome long since subdued by those of the race of Ottoman 12. LYDIA LYDIA is bounded on the East with Phrygia Maâ—or and some part of Pisidia from which separated by a branch of the Mountain Taurus on the West with Aeolis and Ionia or Asia specially so called on the North with the Greater Mysia on the South with Caria So called from Lud the Sonne of Sem by some of whose posterity it was first inhabited In the full Latitude and extent thereof as antiently comprehended in Aeolis and Ionia the adjoining Provinces it made the Lydian Asia spoken of before within the verge whereof all the seven Churches were contained mentioned by Saint John in the Revelation The people of this Countrey are said to have been the first coyners of money the first Hucksters and Pedleâ—s and the first inventers of dice ball chesse and the like games necesity and hunger thereunto enforcing them according to that of Persius Arâ—is Magister ingeniique largitor venter For being sorely vext with famine in the time of Atis one of the progenitors of Omphale they devised these games and every second day playing at them beguiled their hungry bellies Thus for 22 years they continued playing and eating by turns but then seeing that themselves were more fruitfull in getting and bearing children then the sâ—ile in bringing forth sustenance to maintaine them they sent a Colony into Italy under the conduct of Iyrrhenus the Sonne of Aâ—is who planted in that Countrey called at first Tyrrhenia and afterward Tuscany This Countrey was also called Moeonia and was thought to have been the native soile of Homer in regard that Colophon and Smyrna two of the seven contending Cities and those which seem to have most colour for their claime were antiently accounted as parts of Lydia as was said before Hence Homer hath the name of Moenides and Moeonitus Vates and in some Authors Carmen Moeontum is used for Homers Poeticall abilities as Carmine Moeonio consurgere in Ovid. Bacchus is also called sometimes by the name of Moeonius but for a very different reason viz. because antiently there were no Trees in all this Countrey but the Vine onely Principall Mountaines of this Countrey are 1. Sipylus and 2. Tmolus this last of most accompt in regard of the great fruitfulnesse of it covered over with Vines and yielding abundance of the best Saffron Cinefe Rivers of it are 1. Hermus which rising out of Phrygia Major passeth onely by the skirts hereof and so falleth into a fair Bay of the Aegean opening towards the Isle of Clazomene 2. Pactolus which rising at the foot of mount Tmolus falleth not long after into Hermus famous amongst the Poets for its golden sands 3. Caystrus no lesse notable for the abundance of Swans which swim thereon whose fountain is in Phrygia Major also neer the borders hereof and his fall in the Aegean also over against the Isle of Samos 4. Maeander which rising out of a branch of the Taurus in the furthest parts of the said Phrygia towards Lycaonia passeth by Magnesia and endeth his course in the same Sea neer the City of 〈◊〉 A River famous for its many turnings in and out 600 at the least as Prusaeus counteth them Of which in generall thus the Poet Quique recurvatis â—lud it Maeander in undis Maeander plaies his watry pranks In his so many winding banks The Countrey by reason of these Rivers was exceeding fruitfull abounding in all sorts both of wealth and pleasures well cultivated and manured above ground and under-neath inriched with prodigall veines of Gold and Silver and some precious gemmes Which made the people after their overthrow by Cyrus to become more sensuall and voluptuous and lesse sit for action then any plot of their new Masters could have brought them to had not the naturall delicacies of the Soyle it self contributed to the advancement of their design And yet before they were sufficiently
easie of entrance by the first but very difficult by the last the Streits thereof called Pyloe Cilicioe or the Ports of Cilicia being indeed so strait and almost impassable that had they been guarded or regarded by the Persians as they should have been the progress of Alexanders victoties might have ended there But Arsenes who had the charge of them durst not stand his ground and so left them open to the Enemy whom by those Ports he put into the possession of the Kingdome of Persia With better faith though no better fourtune did the Souldiers of Pesceninus Niger make good these Streits against the Emperour Severus the Monarchy of the World lying a second time at stake and to be tried for in this Cock-pit For the Nigrians possessed of these Streits and entrances couragiously withstood the Severian party till at last a sudden tempest of rain and thunder continually darting in their faces as if the very Heavens had been armed against them they were fain to leave the passage and therewith the victory to the adverse faction having sold that at the loss of 20000. of their own lives which Alexander had the happiness or the hap to buy for nothing In the borders of this Countrey towards Pamphylia lived a Tribe or Nation called the Soli originally of Attica but in long tract of time difused from converse and communication with their Countrey-men they spake that language so corruptly that from their barbarous manner of pronunciation and as rude expression came the word Soloecismus Yet amonst these were born three men of eminent note that is to say Chrysippus the Philosopher Philemon and Aratus the Poet out of the writings of which last Saint Paul vouchsafed to use this passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. for we are also his offspring Acts 17. v. 28. That blessed Apostle thought himself never the worse Preacher for being brought up in humane learning at the feet of Gamaliel nor held it any disparagement to the influences of the Holy Ghost to make use of it in his Sermons and divine discourses And therefore to prevent those cavils which ignorance or misprision might chance to make in times succeeding he hath thrice vouchsafed the words and testimony of the heathen writers viz. of Epimâ—nides Tâ—tus 1. v. 12. of Menander 1 Cor. 15. v. 33. and that of Aratus before mentioned So lawfull is it in this kind for those of the spirituall Israel to rob the Aegyptians and to make this Hagar serviceable to their Mistress Sarah Principall Cities in this Province 1. Soloe the habitation of the Soli before remembred by some said to be built by Solon the Athenian but generally affirmed to have been planted by those of Rhodes and Attica mistakingly called Heliopolis by Qu. Curtius which is as much in Latine as Solis civitas or the City of the Sunne On the site hereof then decayed and ruinous the Town having been destroyed by Tygranes the Armenian King in his late warres against the Romans did Pompey build his City of Pomperopolis after his victory over the Pirates who not onely lorded it over the Seas and consequently obstructed trade and merchandize but wasted and spoiled the Villages of Italy it self Pompey being Victor and having inflicted exemplary punishment on the Ring-leaders with the rest peopled this new Town and the Countrey adjoining allowing them competent possessions lest want and necessity should again inforce them to the like courses An action truly commendable and worthy so great a Captain rather to take occasion of offending from the people than after offence done to punish them Hythlodoeus in the Utopia somewhat bitterly though perhaps not unjustly inveigheth against the lawes of England for ordaining death to be the punishment of theft Cum multò potius providendum fuerit uti aliquis esset proventus vitae ne cuipiam sit tam dira furandi primùm deinde pereundi necessitas Where as saith he the lawes ought to make provision for putting men in to some orderly course of life and not let them runne upon the necessity of stealing first and then being hanged for it 2. Tarsus the birth-place of Saint Paul the Apostle for that sufficiently famous were there nothing else to commend it to consideration But it was a Town withall of great note and consequence the Metropolis first of all Cilicia and after the division of Cilicia Prima The Inhabitants whereof had the privilege of Roman Citizens Situate in a goodly plain on the banks of the Cydnus and by some said to be the work of Sardanapalus the last King of Assyria it being engraven on a Monument erected to him that in one day he had built this Tarsus and 3. Anchiala another City of this Countrey neer the Sea-side and not farre from the Promontory Zephyrium Of the same date if the said Monument speak truth but neither of the same fortune nor continuance that being utterly decayed but Tarsus still remaining of great wealth and strength Much spoken of in the wars of the Holy Land and in the Stories of the Caramanian and Ottoman Kings And thoughthe Tarsians to ingratiate themselves with Julius Coesar would needs have their City called Juliopolis yet the old name survived the new and it is to this day called Tersia or Terassa by the vulgar Grecians but Hamsa by the Turks as Bellonius telleth us 4. Adena the Adana of Ptolomy a large Town but unwalled instead whereof defended by a very strong Castle Situate in a fruitful soyl both for wine and corn wherewith the Town is alwaies furnished for the use of those that are to travell over the Taurus who commonly take in here three daies provision 5. Epiphania the birth-place of George the Arian Bishop of Alexandria thrust on the world of late by some learned men but of more industry than judgement for George the Cappadocian Martyr 6. Mopsuestia as famous or infamous rather for giving title to Theodorus Mopsuestenus Bishop hereof and a great Patron of the Nestorian Heresies in the time of Saint Chrysostome The City otherwise of good note and of great consequence in the course of the Roman warres described at large by Ammianus Marcellinus 7. Issus upon a spacious Bay called hence Sinus Issicus neer the borders of Syria memorable for the great battel here fought betwixt Alexander and an handful in comparison of his Macedonians and that vast Army of Darius himself there in person consisting of 600000 undisciplined Asians whereof so many lost their lives that the dead bodies seemed to have buried the ground For partly by the unskilfulness of the Commanders who chose so ill a place to sight in that they could make no use of their mighty numbers and partly by the effeminatness of the Asian Souldiers unable to endure the charge there fell that day no fewer than 200000 of the Persians 40000 of them being taken Prisoners amongst them the wives and daughters of Darius and not above 100 of the Alexandrians if Qu. Curtius be not partiall in
appertaining unto those Idolatries as much esteemed of but more sumpeuous than those of Delphos The Grove about ten miles in circuit environed round with Cypresses and other trees so tall and close to one another that they suffered not the Sunne to enter in his greatest heats the ground perpetually covered with the choisest Tapestry of nature watered with many a pleasant stream derived from the Castalian founteins as it was given out and yielding the most excellent fruits both for taste and tincture to which the wind and air participating the sweetness of the place did adde a most delightfull influence A place devised for pleasure but abused to lust he being held unworthy of the name of a man who transformed not himself unto a Beast or trod on this unholy ground without his Curtezan insomuch as they which had a care of their good names did forbear to haunt it A fuller discription of it he that lists to see may find in the first Book and 18. chapter of Sozomens Ecclesiasicall History who is copious in it The Temple said to have been built by Seleucus also renowned for the Oracle there given by which Adrian was foretold of his being Emperour and therefore much resorted to by Julian the Apostata for that purpose also But the body of Babylas the Martyr and Bishop of Antioch being removed thither by the command of his Brother Galius then created Coesar by Constantius the Devil and his Oracles were both frighted away as the devill did himself confess to Julian Who being desirous to learn here the success of his intended expedition into Persia received this Answer that no Oracle could be given as long as those divine bones were so neer the Shrine Nor was it long after before the Idol and the Temple were consumed by a fire from Heaven as was avowed by those who observed the fall of it though Julian did impure it to the innocent Christians and in revenge caused many of their Churches to be burned to ashes 20. Anitoch situate in that part hereof which is called Casiotis first built oâ— began rather by Antigonus when Lord of Asia by whom named Antigonia but finished and enlarged by Seleucus after he had overthrown and slain him at the battell of Issus by the Jewes or Hebrew 's once called Reblatha Built neer the place and partly out of the ruines of an antient City in the second Book of Kings called Râ—blah in the Land of Hamath Hamath the Great in the sixt of Amos by Josephus and the Syrians Reblata Memorable in those daies for the Tragedies of Jehoahaz and Sedechias Kings of Judah the first of which was here deprived of his Crown and Liberty by Pharaoh Neco King of Egypt 2 Kings 23. 33. the other of his eyes and Children by the command of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon as was said before In following times it was by some Greek writers called Epidaphne from the neerness of it to that Grove as afterwards in the times of Chrictianity by the name of Theopolis or the City of God either from the many miracles there done in the Primitive times or from the great improvement which the Christian faith did here receive where the Disciples first obtained the name of Christians The Royall seat for many Ages of the Kings of Syria and in the flourish and best fortune of the Roman Empire the ordinary residence of the Praefect or Governour of the Eastern Provinces next of the Praefectus Praetorio Orientis who had not only the superintendency over the Diocese of the Orient though that large enough but also of the Dioceses of Egypt Asia Pontus Thrace extending so his Jurisdiction into all the parts of the then known World Honoured also with the residence of many of the Roman Emperours especially of Verus and Valens who spent here the greatest part of their times and from the first dawning of the Gospel with the Seat of the Patriarck A title of such eminency in all times of the Church the second in Accompt to the See of Rome till Constantinople being made the Imperiall City got precedence of it that there are at this time no less than four great Prelates which pretend unto it that is to say the true Patriarck governing the Christians of those parts whom they call Syrians or Melchites the Psâ—ndo-Patriarcks of the Jacobite and Maronite Sectaries both which for the greater credit to their Schism doe assume this title and finally a titular Patriarck nominated by the Pope who since the time that the Western Christians were possessed of these Eastern Countries hath assumed a power unto himself of nominating Patriarks for Alexandria Hierusalem and this City of Antioch The City seated on both sides of the River Orontis about twelve miles distant from the shores of the Mediterranean the River Parfar passing on the South-side of it By Art and Nature fortified even to admiration compassed with a double wall the outward most of which was stone the other of brick with four hundred and sixty Towers in the walls and an impregnable Castle at the East-end thereof and on the other side defended with high broken Mountains whereunto was adjoyning a deep Lake comming cut of the River Parfar before mentioned Adorned in former times with many sumptuous Palaces and magnificent Temples answerable to the reputation of so great a City till taken by the Saracâ—ns and after by the Turks and Mamalucks men careless of all State and beauty in their fairest Cities it began to grow into decay Recovered by the Western Christians from the power of the Turks after a siege of seven moneths June 3. Anno 1098. confirmed in their possession by a great and memorable Victory got in the very sight hereof within few daies after June 28. obtained against Corbanas Lieutenant to the Persian Sultan in which with the loss of four thousand and two hundred of their own they slew a hundred thousand of the Enemy The Town and territory given by the Conquerours to Bohemund a noble Norman and Prince of Tarentum who by practising with one Pyrâ—hus who had the command of one of the chief Towers thereof afterwards called Saint Georges Tower was secretly let into the City and so made way for all the rest Bohemund thus made the Prince or as some say King of Antioch left it to Bohemund his sonne about ten years after succeeded in this principate by Tancred and Roger Princes of great renown in those holy wars which last unfortunately slain by the Turks not far from Aleppo in the year 1120. Baldwin the second having revenged his death by a signall victory joyned this estate to the Kingdome of Hierusalem Betrayed about sixty years after this that is to say in the year 1188. it came into the power of Saladine the victorious King of Egypt and Damascus and therewithall no fewer than five and twenty Cities which depended on the fortunes of it the glories of this famous City so declining after this last Tragedy but whether laid desolate of
towards Palmyrens or Aram-Zobah that of Beth-Rehob confederate in the same war also with the other Syrians mention whereof is made in the second book of Sam. chap. 10. ver 6. Which whether they belonged to Syria or to those North-parts of Ituraea is of no great certainty and as little consequence For after their greatest and last exploit we hear no more news of them swallowed up not long after as it seems by the Kings of Damascus To return therefore into Gessur as more certainly within the limits of Palestine the places of most observation in it were 1. Gessur then the chief City of it and giving name unto the whole 2. Mahaeath or Macuti as some call it conceived to be that Maacha mentioned 1 Chron. 19. 6. But of this we have already spoken in Comagena 3. Chauran or Hauran mentioned by the Prophet Ezekul chap. 47. whence these Northen parts of Palestine were called Auranitis 4. Chaisar-Hevan there mentioned by that Prophet also 5. Vs neer the borders of Damascus the first habitation of Vs the Sonne of Aram and Grand-child of Sem by whose name so called supposed to be the founder of Damascus also and that more probably than that the Countrey thereabouts should be the Land of Hus enabled by the dwelling and story of Iob. 6. Sueta mentioned by Brochardus and by some conceived to be the habitation 〈◊〉 surnamed the Shuchite one of Iobs three friends mentioned in that story but both of him and Iob himself and the Land of Hus we shall speak more at large when we come to Arabia More certainly remarkable for a Fort of great strength and use for the commanding of the Countrey recovered from the 〈◊〉 in the time of Baldwin the second by digging with incredible labour thorow the very rock upon which it was seated As for the fortunes of this part the Tribes on that side of Iordan were led captive into Assyria and the Kingdome of Damascus subverted by Tiglah-Phalassar it followed the fortune of the Babylonian and Perâ—ian Empires together with which it came to the Macedonian Kings of the race of Seleucus In the declining of that house but the time I find not it made up the greatest part of the Kingdome of Chalcis possessed by Ptolomy the Sonne of Mennaeus in the beginning of Herods greatness who dying left unto Lysanias his eldest Sonne murdered about seven years after by Marc. Antonie on the suggestions of Cleopatra who presently seized on his estates But Antonie and Cleopatra having left the Stage Lysanias a Sonne of the murdered Prince entreth next upon it by the permission of Augustus During whose time Zenodorus Lord of the Town and territory of Paneas farming his demeasnes and paying a very grat Rent for them not only suffered the Trachonites to play the Robbers and infest the Merchants of Damascus but received part of the booty with them Augustus on complaint hereof giveth the whole Countrey of Trachonites Batanea Gaulonitis and Auranitis to Herod the Ascalonite before created King of Iewrie that by his puissance and power he might quell those Robbers and reduce the Countrie into order Leaving unto Lysanias nothing but the City of Abila of which he was the natural Lord whereof and of the adjoining territory he was afterwards created Tetrarch by the name of the Tetrarch of Abilene mentioned Luke 3. Nor did Herods good fortune end in this For presently on the death of Zenodorus not long after following Augustus gave him also the district of Paneas of which we shall speak more when we come to Galilee which with the Countries formerly taken from Lysanias made up the Tetrarchie of Philip his youngest Sonne affording him the yearly Revenue of 100. Talents which make 37500 l. of English money On Philips death his Tetrarchy was by Cains Calâ—gula conferred on Agrippa the Nephew of Herod by his Sonne Aristobulus whom he had also dignified with the title of King after whose death and the death of Agrippa Minor who next succeeded his estates escheated to the Romans and have since had the same fortune with the rest of Palestine 3. GALILEE GALILEE is bounden on the East with Batanea and part of the halfe Tribe of Manasses on that side of Iordan on the West with the Sea-coast of Phoenicia on the Mediterranean on the North with Anti-Libanus on the South with Samâ—ria So called as some say from Geliloth a Phoenician word signifying as much as borders because the bordering Countrey betwixt them and the Iews The Countrey not so large as that on the other side of the River but far more fertile naturally fruitfull of it self every where producing excellent fruits without much pains to the Husbandman and so well cultivated in old times that there was hardly any wast ground to be found in it Thick set with Cities Towns and Villages in the time of Iosephus and those so populous and rich that the smallest Village in it is affirmed by that Author to comprehend no fewer than 15000 Inhabitants A number beyond all parallel if reported rightly and not mistaken in the transcripts The people from their childhood very stout and warlike not daunted for fear of want or deard of penury which seconded by their vast and almost incredible numbers made them experimentally known for a tough peece of employment when subdued by Titus And this together with their zeal to the Iewish Religion makes it more than probable that there was something in them of the antient Israelite and that they were not meerly of an Assyrian either stock or spirit but intermixt with such remainders of the Tribes as had saved themselves either by flying to the Mountains or hiding themselves in Caves and Defarts or otherwise were inconsiderable for strength and numbers in the great transplantation of them made by Salmanassar And in this I am the more confirmed by their speech or language which was the same with that of the natural Iews differing no otherwise from it than in tone and dialect as our Northern English doth from that which is spoke in London as appeareth by the communication which the Damosel had with Saint Peter in the High-Priests Hall in which she plainly understood him but so that she pronounced him for a Galilean For had the Transplantation been so universal as some think it was and that both sick and sound old and young had been caried away and none but Colonies of the Assyrians to fill up their places it must needs be that those New-comers would have planted their own language there as the Saxons did on the extirpation of the Briâ—â—â— on this side of the Severn The like may be affirmed of the other Tribes on this side of Iordan especially Simeon and Dan which either bordering upon Iudah or having their lands and Cities intermingled with it continued in great numbers in their former dwellings under the Patronage or subjection or the Kings thereof Divided it was antiently into the Higher and the Lower The Higher so called from its
story see at large in the Book of the Indges chap. 19 20 21. The territories of this Tribe lay betwixt those of Ephraim on the North and Iudah on the South having the Dead-Sea to the East and Tribe of Dan to the West-ward of them The chief of their Towns and Cities were 1. Micmas the incamping place of Saul 1 Sam. 13. 2. and the abiding place of Ionathan one of the Maccaboean brethren 1 Macc. 9. 73. 2. Mispah famous in being the ordinary place of assembly for the whole body of the people in matters of warre or peace as also in that standing in the midst of Canaan it was together with Gilgal made the seat of justice to which Samuel went yearly to give judgement to the people 3. Gebah the North border of the Kingdome of Iudah toward Israel 4. Gibeah the Countrey of Saul the first King where the a busing of the Levites wife by the young men of this Town had almost rooted the Tribe of Renjamin out of the garden of Israel 5. At a great and strong City in the siege of which the Israels were first discomfited but when by the death of Achan who had stoln the accursed thing the Camp was purged Josuah by a warlike stratagem surprised it 6. Gibeon the mother City of the Gibeonites who presaging the unresistable victories of the Israelites came to the Camp of Josuah and by a wile obtained peace of Josuah and the People Emploied by them in hewing wood and drawing water for the use of the Tabernacle after the fraud was made known unto them called Nethinims Ezr. 43. from Nathan which signifies to give because they were given to the service of the Tabernacle first of the Temple after Saul about four hundred years after slew some of them for which fact the Lord caused a famine on the land which could not be taken away till seven of Sauls sonnes were by David delivered unto the Gibeonites and by them hanged This famine did God send because in killing those poor Gibeonites the Oath was broken which Josuah and the Princes swore concerning them In defence of those Gibeonites it was that Josuah waged war against the Kings of the Canaanites and staied the motion of the Sun by his fervent praiers 7. Jericho destroied by the sound of Rams-horns was not onely levelled by Josuah to the ground but a curse inflicted on him that should attempt the re-building of it This curse notwithstanding at the time when Ahab reigned in Israel which was about five hundred years after the ruine of it Hiel a Bethelite delighted with the pleasantness of the place reedified it But as it was foretold by Iosuah as he laid the foundation of the wals he lost his eldest Sonne and when he had finished it and was setting up the gates thereof he lost also the younger It may be Hiel when he began his work minded not the prophecy it may be he believed it not peradventure he thought the words of Iosuah not so much to proceed from the spirit of prophecy as from an angry and vexed heart they being spoken in way of wish or execration And it is possible it may be he chose rather to build the eternity of his name on so pleasant and beautifull a City than on the lines and issues of two young men 8. Anathoth the birth-place of the Prophet Ieremy and the patrimony of Abiathar the high Priest sent hither by the command of Solomon as to a place of his own when deposed from his Office by that King 9. Nob called 1 Sam. 22. 19. the Cit of the Priests destroyed by Saul for the relief which Abimelech the high Priest had given to David the Aâ—k of the Lord then residing there 10. Gilgaâ— upon the banks of Iordan where Iosuah did first eat of the fruits of the Land and kept his first Passeover where he circumcised such of the People as were born during their wandring in the Wilderness and nigh to which he set up twelve stones for a Memorial to posterity that the waters of Jordan did there divide themselves to give passage to the twelve Tribes of Israel where Agag King of the Amalekites was hewen in peeces by Samuel and where Samuel once every year administred Justice to the People For being seated in the midst of the land of Israel betwixt North and South and on the Eastside of the Countrey neer the banks of Iordan it served very fitly for that purpose as Mispah also did which stood in the same distance in regard of the length of the land of Canaan but situate towards the West Sea neer the land of the Philistinis used therefore enterchangeably for the ease of the people 11. Bthel at first called Luz but took this new name in remembrance of the vision which Iacob saw here at his going towards Mesopotamia as is said Gen. 28. 19. It signifieth the house of God and was therefore chosen by Jeroboam for the setting up of one of his Golden Calves though thereby as the Prophet saith he made it to be Beth-aver the house of vanity Osee 4. 15. and 10. 5. For then it was a part of the Kingdome of the Ten Tribe and the Southern border of that Kingdome on the coasts of Ephraim but taken from it by Abijah the King of Judah and after that accounted as a member of his Kingdome till the destruction of it by the Chaldoeans Called with the rest of those parts in the time of the Maccabees by the of Aphoerema which signifieth a thing taken away because taken from the Ten Tribes to which once it belonged 1. Maccab. 11. 34. where it is said to have been taken from the Countrey of Samaria and added unto the borders of Iudoea 12. Ramath another place there mentioned and said to have been added to the Realm of Iudah having been formerly the South border of the Kingdome of Israel and therefore strongly fortified by Baoesha in the time of Asa King of Iudah 13. Chadid or Hadid one of the three Cities the other two being 14. Lod and 15. Ono which were inhabited by the Fenjamites after the Captivity Destroyed in the warres with the Kings of Syria and afterwards rebuilt by Simâ—n the Maccaboean But he chief glory of this Tribe and of all the rest and not so only but of all the whole world besides was the famous City of Hurusalem seated upon a rocky Mountain every way to be ascended with steep and difficult ascents except towards the North environed on all other sides also with some neighbouring mountainets as if placed in the middest of an Amphitheatre It consisted in the time of its greatest flourish of four parts separated by their several Walls as if severall Cities we may call them the Upper City the Lower City the New City and the City of Herod all of them but the Lower City seated upon their severall hills Of these that which we call the City of Herod had formerly been beautified with the houses of many of the
by Miriam and Aaron called an Ethopian or Chusite as in way of reproach Num. 12. 1. But being they were different Nations and such as had some speciall ingagement with or against the Children of Israel we will consider them by themselves till we have brought them into one body by the name of Chusites Hethiopians or Arabians which are all the same And first the MADIANITES were such of the posterity of Madian the sonne of Abraham by Keturah who preserving the knowledge of the true God withdrew themselves from all communion with the idolatrous Canaanites at such time as the rest of their brethren did associate with them and setled themselves more towards the banks of the Red Sea where they did all good offices to the children of Israel as they passed thorow their Countrey Of these the Kenites were a branch as appeareth Judges 1. 16. where Jethro the Prince or Priest of Madian is called a Kenite some of which turned Proselytes and dwelt with the Israelites in Canaan of which race Heber the Kenite the husband of Jael who slew Sisera was undoubtedly one The rest continuning mingled with the Amalekites till the time of Saul were by him warned in memory of former curtesies to withdraw themselves from them lest they should perish with them in the same destruction Afterwards we hear litle of either People losing their name in the greater Nation of the Ismaelites with whom intermingled or passing with them into the same common notion of Arabians Chusites or Ethopians 2. Nor were the AMALEKITES though a greater and more powerful Nation of much more continuance descended as it is conceived from Amalek the Grand-sonne of Esan though I deny not but there are some reasons to be urged against that opinion and planted on the back of the Edomites as their Guard or outwork A people mischeivously bent against those of Israel as if they had inherited the hatred which Esau their fore-father did bear to Jacob whom they violently set on at Rephidim when they supposed them spend and wearied with their flight from Egypt And though discomsited in that battel yet they continued in their malice against the Tribes and joyning first with the Canaanites against them when they were in their March and after with the Midianites when not well setled in their new possessions A provocation so ill-taken by the Lord of hosts because unnatural and ill-grounded that he declared his resolution from the time of the battel of Rephidim to put out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven Exodus 17. 14. Accordingly when the Children of Israel were provided for it he commanded Saul to set upon them and to slay both man and woman Infant and suckling yea their sheep and Cattel But some of them escaped this slaughter and fell not long after upon Ziglag the retiring place of David which they took and ransacked but being by him followed on the first intelligence they were easily overthrown and the prey recovered Their malice yet survived their power and what they could not do by their proper forces they endeavoured to affect by joying with the Ammonites Moabites and other enemies of David in their warres against him And this was ultimum conamen one of the last flashes of their dying light nothing done by them worth remembrance of the times succeeding most of the Nation being worn out and those few which were left retiring to the Mountains of Edom but thereof also dispossessed by the Simeonites during the reign of Hezekiah 3. The ISMAELITES descending from Ismael the sonne of Abraham by Hagar branched into twelve great Nations and grown wondrous populous spread themselves over a great part of these three Arabias all of them either Theeves or Merchants trading to Egypt in spicery and balm and myrrhe or robbing those which traded in the like commodities Called also Hagarens in the Scripture as 1 Chron. 5. 10. Psalm 83. 6. c. and by that name well known to many of the antient writers A people for the most part of a vagabond and roguish life more given to spoyl than any honest course of living which made every Traveller and Merchant to be armed against them so verifying the prediction which was given of Ismael that he should be a wild man having his hand against every mar and every mans hand against him Saint Hierome so conceives that Prophecy to have been accomplished More fitly verified perhaps when in and under the name of Saracens by which and by the name of Scenites they were most generally known to the Greeks and Romans they made such foul havock in the world and were esteemed the common enemies of all Civil Nations Never so governable in their best and most orderly times as to acknowledge King or Law till made one body with the Chusites and the rest of these Nations and then no further than it stood with their lust or liking 4. As for the Chusites though they permitted the Nations above specified to inhabit in those Desarts and wast places which themselves either could not people or cared not for yet were they alwayes of most power and gave name to that whole tract of ground containing now all Petroea the South part of Deserta and the Mountains which divide Petroea from Arabia Felix which from them was called Chus or the land of Chus Rendred in all places of the old Testament by the name of Ethiopia first by the Septuagint and afterwards by all the Fathers Greeks and Latine the Vulgar translation of the Bible and almost all the other translations at this day extant And rendred right enough at first as in all times since though by some mistaken who having never heard of any other Aethopia than that in Africk have transferred thither all those actions and Texts of Scripture which are meant of this The Septuagint no doubt were not so ignorant of the affaires of their next neighbouring Nation as not to know by what name they were called by the Greeks their then Lords and Masters And he that looks into the History of Herodotus who lived 150 years before that translation will find that by the Grecians they were called Aethiopians and called so questionless from the self same reason that is to say the swarthyness or Sun-burnt-ness of their complexion as the AE thiops of Africk were that name being framed of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to burn and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a countenance by reason of their tawny and Sun-burnt Countenances For speaking of the huge Army of Xerxes against the Greeks he doth thus proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arsames saith he was Captain of the Arabians he meaneth the Troglodites and Aethiopians which are beyond Egypt but the Eastern Aethiopians were ranked with the Indians nothing differing from the other in the structure of their bodies but their hair and voice onely the Eastern Aethiopians wearing their hair smooth those of Libya curled The Aethiops
of Asia were armed like the Indians but the Aethiops of Africa were arrayed with the skins of beasts Here then we have an Asian Aethiopia in the time of Herodotus the same acknowledged by Pausanias an old Greek writer and by Philostratus after him though they look for it in the wrong place the first amongst the Seres in the North of Asia the other on the River Ganges too much in the East Nor doth Aethicus one of the old Cosmographers published by Simlerus shoot more nâ—or the mark who speaking of the River Tigris faith that it buryeth it self and runneth under the ground in Aethiopia Which though Simler doth interpret of these parts of Arabia yet questionless that Author meaneth it of the Countreys about Mount Taurus where that River doth indeed run under ground and having passed under those vast mountains riseth up again But what need further search be made to find out the situation of this Aethiopia when it is bounded out so plainly in the holy Scriptures For when it is said of Zipporah the wife of Moses that she was an Aethiopian woman Num. 12. 1. who is well known to have been a native of this Countrey and when it is said in the 2 Chron. 21. 16. that the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistims and of the Arabians that were near the Aethiopians it must needs be that the Aethiopia there spoken of must be conterminous to the rest of Arabia and be intended of that Countrey wherein Madian was So where God threatneth by the mouth of the Prophet Exekiel that he would lay wast the land of Egypt from the Tower of Syene even unto the borders of Aethiopia chap. 29. 10. that is to say from one end thereof unto the other it followeth necessarily that Aethiopia there meant must be this part of Arabia or the Land of Chus as the bound of Egypt most remote from the tower of Syene which all Geographers acknowledge to be in the extreme South parts thereof towards the Cataracts of Nilus For to expound it as some do of Aethiopia in Africk on the borders whereof Syene stood and stood so indifferently betwixt it and Egypt that Stephanus an antient Writer makes it very doubtfull to which of the two it did belong were to make the Scripture speak plain non-sence as plain as if a man should say that the French comquered all the Netherlands from Graveling to Flanders or that the sword hath ranged over all England from Barwick to Scotland As then we have found this Aethiopia of the old Testament to be neer the Philistims on the one side and the Land of Egypt on the other so may we find it to be bounded also on the East with Babylonia or Chaldoea the River Gihon which is said to compass the whole Land of Aethiopia or the land of Chus Gen. 2. 13. being no other than a branch of the River Euphrates which falleth into the Lakes of Chaldoea So that the translation of the Septuagint in reading Chusit is or the land of Chus by Ethiopia needs no such alteration or emendation as some men suppose The mistakes whereof there have been many which arise from hence not being to be charged on them or on their translation but on the ignorance of the Reader or errour of such Expositors who dreaming of no other AEthiopia than of that in Africk have made the Scriptures speak such things as it never meant and carried these Chusites into the African Ethiopia where they never were And yet perhaps it may be said that this posterity of Chus being streitned in their own possessions or willing to seek new adventures might have crossed over the Red-Sea or Gulf of Arabia being but seven miles broad where narrowest and mingling with the Sons of Ludim on the other side might either give the name of Aethiopians to them or receive it from them Now to go forwards with the story the first great action atributed to these Cbusites or Arabian Aethops incorporated with the rest of those mingled Nations is the expedition of Zerah the King hereof against Asa King of Judah drawing after him an Army of a million and three hundred Chariots of war the greatest Army ever read of in unquestioned story but for all that discomfited by the Lord of hosts on the praiers of Asa and all the spoyl of that huge Army carried to Hierusalem After this Tirrakth another of these Aethiopian Kings finding how dangerous the great growth of the Assyrian Kingdome might prove unto him prepared a puissant Army against Senacherib then besieging Libna threatning the conquest of all Judah and invading Egypt upon the news of whose approach Senacherib's forces which were even upon the gaining of Pelusium the Gate of Egypt were fain to dislodge and provide for their safety For though Herodotus call Senacherib King of Arabia and Assyria yet was he Master onely of those parts of Arabia which had been formerly possessed by the Kings of Israel being no more than some few Cities of Petraea bordering next unto them or perhaps called so onely in respect of those parts of Syria and Mesopotamia which were sometimes comprehended under the name of Arabia as before is said What part they after took in the great war betwixt Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt is not hard to say For that besides the same reasons of state obliging them to side with the Egyptian were stil in force their giving Necho leave to pass thorow their Countrey with his Army to invade the Babylonian on the banks of Euphrates make that plain enough Now that both Tirr akah and Zerah were Kings of this Asian and not of the African Aethiopia is most clear and evident partly in regard the Kings 〈◊〉 Egypt would never suffer such huge Armies to pass thprow the whole length of their Dominions but principally because it is said in the holy Scriptures that Asa having overthrown that vast Army of Zerah smote all the Cities about Gezar which formerly had belonged unto the Philistims but were then possessed by these Chusites and their Associates After this either as Confederates or subjects we find them aiding unto Xeâ—xes in his war on Greece and like enough it was that in Alexanders march from Egypt towards Persia they submitted to him as did all the other Countries thorow which he passed He being dead Antigonus one of his great Commanders sent Athenaeus with an Army to bring them in who being trained into an ambush was discomfited by them Demetrius the Sonne of Antigonus thinking that he had done enough in revenge of that overthrow by compelling them to sue for peace In the time of the Seleucian race in Syria we find them governed by Kings of their own most of them called by the name of Aretas of which one was of special note in the declining forrunes of the Seleucidans for bidding very fair for the Crown of that Countrey another mentioned by Saint Paul 2 Cor. 11. 32. as Lord of
the removing of the Imperiall Seat to Damascus in Syria and after that the usuall place of meeting for â—â—â—sultation in affairs of State relating to the peace of this Countrey and the common interest of this People as memorable for the Sepulchre of Mortis Hali the Progenitor of the Persian Sophies as Medina is for that of Mahomet 5. Meccha supposed to be the Mechara of Ptolomy situate in the like barren soyl not far from Medina but of far greater resort and trafick the whole wealth in a manner of this Countrey together with the commodities of Persia and India being first brought hither and from hence on Camels backs transported into Aegypt Syria Palestine and other parts of the Turkish Empire Unwalled and either for that cause or for concealement of their fopperies from the eyes of Christians it is made death for any Christian for to come within five miles of it Utterly destitute of water but what they keep in cisternes from one shewer of rain to another or else brought thither with great charge otherwise pleasantly seated rich and containing about 6000 families every year visited with three Caravans or troops of Merchants and Pilgrims from India Damascus and Grand Caire who having done their business and devotions there go afterwards in Pilgrimage to Medina also to the great enriching of both places 6. Ziden the Haven Town to Mecca from which distant about 40. miles situate on the Red Sea in a sandy soyl unwalled and much exposed both to wind and weather but wealthy well-built and of great resort 7. Zebit now the Metropolis of the Countrey situate about half a daies journey from the Red Sea in a large plain between two mountains a Riveret of the smae name passing by it well-traded for Sugars spice and fruits the ordinary residence of the Turkish Beglerâ—e by whom taken not longer after Aden 8. Eltor a Port Town of this Countrey where the Christians are suffered to inhabit 9. Aden on the very entrance of the Red Sea neer the Streights called 〈◊〉 Mâ—ndell supposed by some to be the Madoce of Ptolomy but more agreeing in situation with the 〈◊〉 Emporie by him called Arabia The fairest Town of the whole Peninsula of great strength both by Art and Nature well-traded and well-fortified having a large capacious Haven seldome without good store of shipping and containing to the number of six thousand persons Once a distinct Kingdome of itself but treacherously surprized by the Turks Anno 1538. and therewith all the rest of the Countrey made afterwards the seat of a Turkish Beglerbeg under whom and him of Zebit are supposed to be no fewer than thirty thousand Timariots 10. Oran the Lock and Key of the Southern Ocean 11. Thema or Theman the same I take it which our later travellers call Zeman situate more within the land affirmed by Benjamin the Jew surnamed Tuledensis to be a Town of 15 miles square but to have within the walls thereof great quantity of ground for tillage 12. Zarval a retiring place of the Caliphs when they lived in this Countrey 13. Hor on the point or Promontory called Chorodemus a Garrison not long since of the Kings of Ormus 14. Muskahat on the Persian Gulf neer the point of Land called Cape Rozelgate opposite to Surat in the East India and possessed by the Portugals who have fortified it with a well-built Castle for defence of their ships and Frigots which frequent those Seas Of no great note till the taking of Ormus by the Persians many of the Inhabitants whereof were since setled here Of the affairs of this Countrey we shall speak anon having first took a brief view of the Ilands which belong unto it 4. THE ARABICK ILANDS The ILANDS which lie round about the shores of Arabia Felix and have been antiently accompted as parts thereof are dispersed either in the 1. Red-Sea 2. Southern Ocean or 3. the Gulf of Persia 1. The RED-SEA called also by the Antients Sinus Arabicus and now Golso di Mecca is that part or branch of the Southern Ocean which interposeth it self betwixt Egypt on the East Arabia Felix and some part of Petraa on the West the North-East bound of it touching upon Idumaea or the Cost of Edom. Extended in length from the Town of Sues antiently called Arsinoe in the bottom of it to the streights of Babe!-Mandel where it openeth into the Southern Ocean for the space of one thousand and four thousand miles in breadth for the most part but one hundred but in some places almost two the Streights themselves not being above a mile and an half antiently chained by the Kings of Aegypt as is said by Strabo but now left open by the Turk who is Lord hereof A violent and unquiet Sea full of sands and shelves insomuch as they who passe in and out are fain to make use of Pilots which dwell thereabouts and are experienced in the channel Sufficiently famous in all times and stories for the miraculous passage of the Children of Israel It took the name of the Red-Sea as some conceived from the redness of the sands as others have delivered from the redness of the waters but later observations have discovered the weakness and absurdity of these Etymologies the Sea and Sands being coloured here as in other places By the Grecians it was called Erythraum which in that tongue signifieth Red also not from the colour either of the sands or waters but from one Erythras supposed to be the Sonne of Perseus and Andromeda who commanded the Eastem shores hereof And these come neerer to the mark than the others did For the truth is it was originally called the Sea of Edom because it took beginning on the coasts of that Countrey which word in the Hebrew signifying Red as appeareth Gen. 25. 30. first given as a nick-name to Esau and from him afterwards to Mount Seir or the Land of Edom Gen. 36. 31. was by the Greeks rendred Erthraum and Mare Rubrum by the Latines Whence the name of the Red Sea became known to all but the reason of the name to few Of the great trafick which was antiently driven up this Sea we shall speak hereafter when we are in Egypt on the other side of it Look we now on the Ilands which belong to Arabia as they all generally do Known in the times of Ptolomy by the names of 1. Adani 2. Aeni 3. Are 4. Cardamine 5. Combusta 6. Damanum 7. Hieracum or the Isle of Hawkes 8. Maliaci 9. Polbii 10. Socratis 11. Timagenis and 12. Zygana But by what names now called and of what note then is a thing so doubtfull that I dare not offer a conjecture Late Travellers report almost all of them to be small desolate or but meanly inhabited described by them under other names One there is of indifferent largeness said to be an hundred twenty and five miles long though but twelve broad called Dalaqua with a City in it of that name where they gather Pearls 2. Then
as Jacobites distinct from all other Christians is 1. The acknowledgement but of one nature one will and one operation as there is but one person in Christ our Saviour 2. In signing their Children before Baptism in the Face or Arm with the sign of the Cross imprinted with a burning iron 3. Retaining Circumcision and using it in both Sexes 4. Affirming the Angels to consist of two substances Fire and Light and 5. Honouring the memory of Dioseurias of Alexandria and Jacobus Syrus condemned by the antient Councils The points wherein they differ from the Church of Rome 1. Not enjoining on the People the necessity of Confession to a Priest before they admit them to communicate 2. Not admitting Purgatory nor Prayers for the Dead 3. Administring the Sacrament of the Eucharist in both kinds 4. Allowing the marriage of Priests And 5. Teaching that the souls of men deceased are not admitted presently to the Vision of God but remain somewhere in the Earth to expect Christs coming In which last letting aside the determination of the place as they have many of the Fathers concurring with them so to the first touching the unity of nature in our Saviour Christ they have of late added such qualifications as possibly may make it capable of an Orthodox sense Chief Rivers of this Countrey besides Tigris and Euphrates of which more hereafter 1. Chabiras which rising in Mount Masius passing directly South falleth into Euphrates as also doth 2. Syngarus by Pliny called Masca arising out of the Mountain Syngarus which is but the more Western part of the said Mount Masius Which names of Masea Masius and the Masicni being the name of a People dwelling thereabouts shew plainly that they go upon very good grounds who place Mesch or Mesich one of the sonnes of Aram in these parts of the Countrey It was divided antiently into 1. Anthemasia 2. Chalcitis 3. Gaulinitis 4. Accabene 5. Ancorabitis and 6. Ingine each part containing several Cities or Towns of name These six when conquered by the Romans reduced unto two Provinces onely viz. 1. Mesopotamia lying on the South of Mount Masius or the head of Chaboras and 2. Osrloene on the North this last so named from one Osrhoes the Prince or Governout of these parts in the time of the Persians as Procopius telleth us Chief places of the whole 1. Edessa the Metropolis of Osrhoene situate on the River Scirtas which runneth thorow the middest of it not far from the fall thereof into Euphrates Memorable for the Story of Agbarus before related amongst Church-Historians and in the Roman Histories for the death of the Emperor Caracalla slain here by the appointment of Macrinus Captain of his guard The occasion this The Emperour conscious to himself of his own unworthiness employed one Maternianus to enquire amongst the Magicians in the Empire who was most likely to succeed him by whom accordingly advertised that Macrinus was to be the man The letters being brought unto Caracalla as he was in his Chariot were by him delivered with the rest of the Packets to the hands of Macrinus who by his Office was to be attendant on the Emperiours person that he might open them and signifie unto him the contents thereof at his better leisure Finding by this the danger in which he stood he resolved to strike the first blow and to that end entrusted Martialis one of his Centurions with the execution by whom the Emperour was here killed as he withdrew himself Levandae vesicae gratia as my Author hath it So impossible a thing it is to avoid ones Destiny so vain a thing for any Prince to think of destroying his Successor and therefore very well said to Nero in the times of his tyranny Omnes licet occider is Successorem tunm occidere non potes that though he caused all the men of eminence to be forthwith murdered yet his Successor would survive him and escape the blow But to return unto Edessa in following times it was made one of the four Tetrarchies of the Western Christians when they first conquered Syria and the Holy Land the two first Governors or Tetrarchs successively succeding Godfrey of Bouillon in the Kingdome of Hierusalem But in the year 1142. it was again recovered by Sanguin the Turk Father of Noradin Sultan of Damascus and by the loss thereof no fewer than three Arch-Bishopricks withdrawn from the obedience of the See of Antioch 2. Cologenbar another strong peece adjoining besieged on the taking of Edessa by the same Sanguin who was here stabbed in a drunken quarrell by one of his familiar friends and the Fort saved for that time 3. Nisibis situate somewhat to the East of Mount Masius called also Antiochia Mygdonia from the River Mygdonius which runneth thorow it and afterwards Constantia from Constantius the Sonne of Constantine A City of great note in those elder times a Roman Colony and the Metropolis of the Province of Mesopotamia properly and specially so called which being besieged by Supores the King of Persia Constantius ruling in the East and in no small danger to be lost was gallantly defended by James the then Bishop of it whom Theodoret calls not onely Episcopum Civitatis sed Principem Ducem not the Bishop only of the City but the Prince and Captain of it libr. 2 cap 31. So little inconsistencie was there found in those early daies betwixt the Episcop all function and civill businesses that the Bishops were not interdicted from the Acts of war when the necessities of the State did invite them to it The City not long after most unworthily delivered to the said Sapores by the Emperour Jovinian which drew along with it in short time the loss of the Province 4. Vr seated on the East of Nisibis betwixt it and Tigris and so placed by Ammianus who had travelled this Countrey Conceived to be the Birth-place of Abraham and called Vr of the Chaldees Gen. 11. 28. either because the Chaldees were in those daies possessed of the place or because the name of Chaldaea did comprehend also those parts of this Countrey which lay towards Tigris as was shewn before For that the place from which Terah the Father of Abraham did return to Haran in Mesopot amia was rather situate in this coast where Vr is placed by Ammianus than betwixt the Lakes of Chaldaea and the Persiau Golf where most Writers place it may appear probable for these reasons 1. Because it is said by Josuah chap. 24. ver 12. That Terah the Father of Abraham and the Father of Nachor dwelt on the other side of the Flood that is to say on the further side of the River Emphrates and that too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagim ab initio as the Vulgar Latine in the first beginning Which cannot be understood of any Vr placed on or neer the Lakes of Chaldaea those being on this side of that River 2. Because all the rest of Abrahams Ancestors from Phaleg downwards were
to his estate 8. Mango Cham to whom Haiton an Armenian Prince and the chief Compiler of the Tartarian History went for ayd against the Caliph of Bagdt By whose perswasion the said Mango Cham is said to have been christned with all his houshold and many nobles of both sexes 9. Cublay Cham the sonne of Mango 10. Tamor Cham the Nephew of Cablay by his sonne Cingis 11. Demâ—r Cham the great Cham of Cathay in the year 1540 or thereabouts What the names of the Chams are who have since reigned we cannot learn nor what memorable acts have been done among them The great distance of Countries and difficulty of the journey have hindred further discoveries For the great Cham and his next neighbour the King of China will neither suffer any of their subjects to travell abroad nor permit any foreiners to view their dominions or enter into them unless either Embassadours or Merchants and those but sparingly and under very great restraints to avoid all giving of intelligence touching their affairs The government is tyrannicall the great Cham being Lord of all and in his tongue besides which they have almost no laws consisteth the power of life or death He is called by the simple vulgar the shadow of spirits and sonne of the immortall God and by himself is reputed to be the Monarch of the whole world For this cause every day assoon as he hath dined he causeth his trumpets to be sounded by that sign giving leave to the other Kings and Princes of the earth to go to dinner A fine dream of universal Monarchy At the death of the Cham the seven chief Princes assemble to crown his sonne whom they place on a black coarse cloth telling him if he reign well heaven shall be his reward if ill he shall not have so much as a corner of that black cloth to rest his body on then they put the crown on his head and kissing his feet swear unto him fealty and homage And at the funerall of these great Monarchs they use to kill some of his guard-Soudiers whereof he hath 12000 in continuall pay saying unto them Itâ— domino nostro seâ—vâ—â—e in â—â—ia vita Paulus Venetus reporteth that at the obsequies of Manâ—o Cham no fewer than 10000 were slain on this occasion There Chams are for the most part severe justicers and punish almost every small fact with sudden death but theft especially Insomuch that a man in Cambalu taking a paâ—l of milk from a womans head and beginning to drink thereof upon the womans out-cry was apprehended and cut a sunder with a sword so that the blood and the milk came out together Nor are Adultery or lying punished with less than death and so ordained to be by the lawes of Cingis their first Emperour a wiser man than possibly could be expected from so rude a Countrey and of so little breeding in the knowledge of books or business the Tartars being utterly without the use of letters till the conquest of the Huyri a Cathaian nation but of Christian faith What forces the Great Chams in the height of their power were able to draw into the field may be conjectured at by the Army of Tamerlaâ—e consisting of 1200000 horse and foot as was said before And looking on them as confined within Cathar we shall find them not inferiour to the greatest Princes For Cublaâ— Cham long after the division of this great estate which was made by Tamerlane had in the field against Naian his Unkle and one Caidu who had then rebelled an Army of 100000 foot and 360000 horse there being 500000 horse on the other side Which made almost a million of men in both Armies And this is probable enough if report be true touching the Chams of Zagathay and those of â—urchestan before reduced under the obedience of the other of which the first is said to have been able to raise 300000 horse and the last an hundred thousand more For standing forces he maintaiâ—s 12000 horse distributed amongst four Captains for the guard of his person besides which he hath great forces in every Province and within four miles of every City ready to come upon a call if occasion be so that he need not fear any outward invasion and much less any homebred rebellions Of the Revenues of the Cham I can make no estimate but may conclude them to be what he list himself he being the absolute Lord of all the Subject without any thing he can call his own But that which ordinarily doth accrew unto him is the tenth of wooll Silk hemp coâ— and Cattel Then doth he draw into his own hands all the gold and silver which is brought into the Countrey which he causeth to be melted and preserved in his treasurie imposing on his people instead of money in some places Cockle-shels in others a black coin made of the bark of trees with his stamp upon it And besides this hath to himself the whole trade of Pearl-fishing which no body upon pain of death dare fish for but by leave from him So that his Treasury is conceived to be very rich though his Annual in-come be uncertain or not certainly known And so much for Tartary OF CHINA CHINA is bounded on the East with the Orientall Ocean on the West with India on the North with Tartary from which separared by a continued chain of hills part of those of Ararat and where that chain is broken off or interrupted with a great wall extended 400 Leagues in length built as they say by Tzaintzon the 117th King hereof and on the South partly with Cauâ—hin-China a Province of India partly with the Ocean It was called antiently Sine or Sinarum Regio by which name it is still called at the present by our modern Lâ—â—inistâ— and from whence that of China seems to be derived By Paulus Venetâ—s called Mangi by the neighbouring Countries Sanglai by the natives Taine and Taybinâ—o which last signifies no other than a Realm or by way of excellence the Realm By the Arabians it is called Tzinin and the inhabitants call themselves by the name of â—angis It is said to contain in circuit 69516 Dâ—ez of China measure which reduced to our Europaean measure will make a compass in the whole of 3000 Leagues the length thereof extended from the borders of India to Colâ—m one of the Northern Provinces of this Continent 1800 Leagues But they that say so speak at randome For besides that 1800 Leagues in length must needs carry a greater compass than 3000 Leagues they make it by this reckoning to be bigger than Europe which I think no sober man will granâ— And answerable to this vast compass it is said also to contain no fewer than 15. Provinces every one of which is made to be of a greater Continenâ—â—han the greatest Realm we know in Europe Yet not a Continent of wast ground or full of unhabitable Desarâ—s as in other places but full of goodly Towns and Cities The names of which
navigable River whereon ride for the most part no fewer than 10000 of the Kings ships besides such as belong to private men The Town in compass 30 miles being girt with three fair brick walls having large and stately Gates The streets in length two leagues wide and paved the number of houses is about 200000. so that it may equall four of the fairest Cities of Europe 4. Paquin or Pagnia where the King continually resideth and that either because the air hereof is more healthfull and pleasant than any of the other or because it lieth neer unto the Tartars with whom the Chinois are in perpetuall warre so that from hence the dangers which may by their invasions happen unto the Countrey may with more convenience be either prevented or remedied The City said to be inferiour to Nanquin for bulk and beauty but to exceed it in multitude of Inhabitants Souldiers and Magistrates occasioned by the Kings abode Environed on the South with two walls of so great breadth that twelve horsemen may runne a brest upon them on the North with one wall onely but that so strong and vigilantly guarded that they fear as little annoyance on that side as they do on the other But the greatest Omament hereof is the Royall Palace compassed about with a triple wall the outwardmost of which would well inviron a large City within which space besides the many lodgings for Eunuchs and other Courtiers are Groves hills fountains Rivers and the like places of pleasure larger in circuit but not comparable for the Arts of Architecture to the Royall Palaces of Europe 5. Canton supposed to be the Caltigara of Ptolomy by the Chinois called Quamchen the least of the Metropolitan Cities of this Countrey but beautified with many triumphant Arches a navigable River large streets and many goodly bridges Fortified with deep trenches 83. Bulwarks and seated in so rich a soyl both for Fowl and Catteil that here are said to be eaten dayly 6000 hogs and 12000 Ducks besides proportionable quantity of other victuals If this be one of the least of their Metropolitans what may we fancy of the greatest A Town in which the Portugals drive a wealthy trade being permitted in the day-time to come within the City it self but at night excluded and forced to find lodging in the Suburbs By reason of which restraint they have settled their Mart at Macaan the Port-Town to this where they have their Factor and many Families the Town being almost wholly peopled by them 6. Suchean seated in the marishes like Venice but more commodiously because those marishes are of fresh water the streets and houses founded upon piles of pine-tree with many bridges and conveniencies for passage both by land and water Well traded as the fittest Center for dispersion of merchandise from all the other Ports of the Kingdome by the multitude and frequency of ships almost denying faith to the eyes which would think all the ships of China to be here assembled So infinitely rich that the small Region whereof it is the head containing but eight Cities more payeth 12 millions to the king of yearly income 7. Hamseu the Metropolis of the Province of Chequian about two dayes journey from the Sea of which distance from the Sea is Sucheau also in compass less than Namquin but better builded no place in it taken up with gardens Orchards or other pleasures but all employed for shops houses and other edifices So beautified with Triumphant Arches erected to the honour of deserving Magistrates that in one street there are 300 of great mass or workmanship The Temples magnificent and many the bank-sides of the Channels watering every street beset with trees of shade and most excellent fruits and in the midle of the City a round high mountain which gives the eye a gallant prospect into every street And not farre off a pleasant Like of great breadth and length the banks whereof are beautified with groves and gardens and the Lake it self even clothed with vessels of all sorts on which the Citizens use to feast and entertain their idle time with plaies and spectacles Two Cities so replenished with all kind of pleasures that the Chinois use it for a Proverb Thien Xam thien thum ti Xamsu hum that is to say look what the Hall or Presence Chamber is in heaven that Hamseu and Sucheau are on earth 8 Focheo beautified amongst many other Stately structures with a magnificent Tower erected on 40 marble pillars of great elegancy cost and bigness every pillar being 40 spans in height and 12 in breadth not to be parallelled as some say by any the like work in Europe 9. Lochiau in which are 70000 families 10. Colans famous for the best Porcellane 11. Xaitou whose Harbour is never without 500 ships 12. Scianhay within 24. houres sail of the Isle of Japan and therefore defended with a strong Garrison and a Navy Situate in a pleasant and wholesome soyl the whole Countrey so set forth with trees as if it were one continued Orchard So populous that it conteineth 40000 housholds most of which get their livelihood by weaving Cottons it being supposed that here are 200000 persons which attend that maintenance 13. Chinchiâ—â—su whence by a River made by hand there is a passage to Sucheau the water of which never freezeth and for that cause so clogged with ships in time of winter that the passage is stopped with the multitudes of them 14. Cergivan of the same fashion with the rest though of lesser note So like they are to one another that we may say with Ovid on the like ocasion Facies non omnibus una Nec diversa tamen qualem decet esse sororum Which I find thus Englishâ—d by George Sandys Amongst them all no two appear the same Nor differ more than Sisters well became The antient Inhabitants of this Country in the time of Ptolomy were towards the North the Semantini bordering a mountain of that name and the only one remembred in all this Countrey more Southward the Acadra and Aspithrae Towards the Sea the Anabastae and Ichthyophagi these last so called from living wholly upon fish From what Original they came it is hard to say whether from the Indians or the Scythes or that it was primitively planted by some of the posterity of Noah before the enterprise of Babel which last may propably be concluded from the extreme populousness of the Country the many magnificent Cities their industry and ingenuity in all Arts and Sciences not to be taught them by their neighbours more ignorant in those things than themselves And hereunto the Chronicles of China seem to give some ground which tell us of 340 Kings which for the space of four thousand years have therein reigned For as their Chronicles inform us if they may be credited the Countrey being without Rule or settled government was first reduced into order by one Vitey the Sonne of Ezolom by whom the people were instructed in Physick Astrology Divination and the
censure that so I neither may impose any thing on the Readers belief nor defraud him any thing conducible to his contentation The Countrey to report no more of it than it doth deserve enjoyeth an exact temperature of the air two Summers or one as long as two and a double encrease blest with all things which are either necessary to the life of man or of convenience and delight particularly with mines of Gold and Silver and with precious stones with spices of all sorts and Civets with the best medicinable drugs metals of all kinds except Copper and Lead abundance of all sorts of Cattel except horses Somewhat defective also in Wheat and Vines that so this Countrey might be beholding unto others as well as others to this Famed also for abundance of Camels Apes Dragons Serpents Rhinocerots Elephants These last more savouring of reason and human ingenuity or else more tractable and docile than any brute Creature whatsoever Of this we have a fair instance in the story of the Acts of Alexander The Elephant which King Porus sate on finding his Master strong and lusly rushed boldly into the thickest of the Enemies Army but when he once perceived him to be faint and weary he withdrew himself out of the battell kneeled down and into his own trunk received all the Arrows which were directed at his master The greatness of the Creature makes it yet more admirable that either he should have soul enough of his own to actuate so vast a body or being of such strength and bigness should submit himself to the instructions of another some of these Indian Elephants as Aelianus hath affirmed being nine Cubits high and as many long and in breadth or thickness about five Cubits Nor doth the Sea afford less plenty or variety than we find on shore yielding abundance of the richest and fairest Pearls huge sholes of fish and amongst them the Whale or great Leviathan exceeding the proportion of that land-monster the Elephant For though the ordinary dimension of the Whale be but 36 Cubits in length and eight in thickness yet Nearchus in Arianus is said to have measured one in these Indian Seas which was of the length of 50 Cubits and of breadth proportionable not to say any thing of that incredible report of Plinie who speaketh of some Indian Whales which were nine hundred and threescore Foot or four Acres long The people are of five sorts and as many Religions that is to say the Naturall Indians derived from the Original Inhabitants of it 2. Moors or Arabians who more than two hundred years ago possessed themselves of some Sea-Towns driving the Natives up higher into the Countrey 3. Jews scattered and dispersed as in other places into all parts of it 4. Tartars in those parts and Provinces which are under the Great Mongul and 5. Portugueze who have many Colonies and Factories in the Ports and Islands but brag as if they had made a conquest of all the Countrey Which notwithstanding considering that the Naturall Indians are by far the greatest number we must relate to them only in the Character which is made of this people Affirmed to be tall of stature strong of body and of complexion inclining to that of the Negroes of manners Civill and ingenuous free from fraud in their dealings and exact keepers of their words The Common sort but meanly clad for the most part naked content with no more covering than to hide their shame But those of greater estates and fortunes as they have amongst them many antient and Noble families observe a majesty in both Sexes both in their Attendants and Apparel sweetning the last with oils and perfumes and adorning themselves with Jewels Pearls and other Ornaments befitting They eat no flesh but live on Barley Rice Milk Honey and other things without life The Wâ—meâ— not of much fairer complexion than the men yet of lovely countenances wear their hair long and loose but covered with a thin vail of Calicut Lawn Their ears hung with many rings so great and heavy that they are torn and stretched to much disproportion their noses also ringed and behung with Jewels according to their estate and quality Servilely obsequious to their husbands whose affections they divide amongst them without jarre or jealousy the men allowed here as in all the East the use of many wives whom they buy of their parents for a yoke of Oxen and may mary as often as they list In which they have too great a privilege above the women who after the decease of their common husband do either burn in the same flame with him or else are forced to doom themselves to perpetuall Widow-Hood But of this we may speak more hereafter when we come to the particulars The Christian faith was first planted in these Countries by Saint Thomas from whom the remainders of Christianity take denomination and unto whom the Records and Miniments of that Church do ascribe their conversion For in one of their Treviaries written in the Chaldaean tongue and translated into Latine by Father John Maria Campaâ—â— a Jesuite we find it thus Per D. Thomam evanuit error Idololatriae ab Indis c. i. e. By Saint Thomas the errors of Idolatry vanquished out of the Indies by Saint Thomas they received the Sacrament of Baptism and the Adoption of Sonnes by Saint Thomas they believed and confessed the Father the Son and Holy-Ghost by Saint Thomas they kept the faith received of one God And finally by Saint Thomas the splendour of saying doctrine did appear to all India His body as they say inâ—ombed in the City of Maliapar upon the Coast of Choromandâ—ll the truth of which tradition I dispute not here But this plantation of the Gospel by the hand of Saint Thomas was not universal over all the Countrey but in some parts and Provinces only or else was forced to give ground a while to prevailing Heathenism For in the reign of Constantine we read how the Indians living on the further-side of the Rive Ganges for so I understand the Indi interiores of my Author were converted to the Faith byrâ— the ministery of one Frumentius of the City of Tyrâ—â— who having spent the greatest part of his time amongst them was employed in that service and consecrated the first Bishop for those Churches by the great Athanasius of Alexandria But being the foundation of this building was laid by Saint Thomas the remainder of Christians here being ascribe the whole work to him called therefore Christians of Saint Thomas Governed originally by their own Bishops subordinate to an Archbishop of their own also residing at Augamale fifteen miles from Cochin one of the chief Cities of this Countrey who for long time acknowledged obedience to the Patriarch of Musal by the name of the Patriarch of Babylon as by these Christians of India he is still termed The number of these Christians computed at 15 or 16 thousand families or at 70000 persons in the accompt of others
and the Stars their children ascribing to each of them divine honours to the Sun especially whom they salute at his first rising with great Reverence saying certain verses Their publicke businesses are treated of commonly in the night at which time the Counsellers of State meet and ascend some tree viewing the Heavens till the Moon rise and then go to the Senate-house The same Apparell generally of both Religions but thin by reason of the great heat of the Air a shirt of Silk or of Calicut or some such slight stuff worn more for modesty than for warmth Chief Towns hereof 1. Borneo situate in the North-west part of the Iland neer a goodly bay but in the middle of the Fens like the City of Venice and seated as that is on Piles the building sumptuous of hewed stone covered with the leaves of the Coâ—â—-tree The Town so large as to contain 25000 Houses in the smallest reckoning the principal of all the Iland which takes name from hence 2. Cabura 3. Taiaopura 4. Tamaoratas 5. Malano all of them noted for fair Cities or commodious Havens 6. Sagadana a Factory of English 7. Lavi on a large Bay in the South-East part of the Iland the ordinary Seat of the King of Laus 8. Paro on another capacious Bay not farre from Lavi and directly opposite to Borneo that being seated on the North-west and this on the South-East of the Iland Betwixt these two Kings is the whole divided but so that he of Borneo hath the greatest part of it and therefore keeps the greater State not to be spoken with but by the mouth of some of his own Interpreters and in his Palace served by no other Attendants than Maids or Women 7. JAVA OPposite to Borneo towards the South lie the Isles of JAVA two in number both situate South of the Aequator both of great Circumference and commonly distinguished into Major and Minor or the Greater and the Lesser Java 1. JAVA-MAJOR the more North-ward of the two and by much the bigger is said to be in compass 3000 miles and that by them who elsewhere reckon Borneo for the biggest of these Seas But the truth is that the South-parts of this Iland not being perfectly discovered make the ameasurement thereof to be very uncertain Conceived most probably to be the Jabadiu of Ptolomy the most Northern part whereof is placed by him in the 8th Degree of Southern Latitude said by him to afford much gold and silver to be exceeding fruitfull of all other necessaries and finally that the name did signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Iland of Barley All which agreeth punctually with the present Iland the word Jabad signifying a kind of grain much like our Barley and Diu in the Persian and Indian tongues signifying an Iland And so in Jabadiu we have found the Iland of Iava the mutation of B. into V. being very ordinary Then for the riches and fertility of it it is said to yield great plenty of fruits and com but of Rice especially flesh of all sorts salted and sent from hence into other Countries great store of fowl both wild and tame plenty of gold some precious Stones and the best kind of brass silks in abundance and great quantities of pepper ginger Cinnamon and some other spices In a word so befriended by the bounty of nature that Scaliger calleth it Epitome Mundi or the whole World contracted in a lesser Volume But withall it is much exposed unto storms and tempests from which seldome free The people of a midle Stature corpulent and of broad faces most of them naked or covered onely with a slight silken stuff and that no lower than the knee accompted the most Civill people of all the Indians as fetching their descent from China but withall treacherous very proud much given to lying and very careless of their words to which so used that they count it not amongst their Faults And therefore when a king of theirs had broke promise with the Hollanders and was challenged for it he answered that his tongue was not made of bone Cruel they are also said to be and implacable if once offended accustomed of old to eat the bodies of their friends accounting no buriall so honourable nor obsequy so applausive This also a custome amongst many of the rest of the Indians and so hath been ever since the beginning of the Persian Monarchy Herodoius reporteth how Darius Hystaspis understanding of this custome and withall knowing how the Grecians use to burn their dead sent to the Greeks that it was his pleasure they should eat the bodies of their dead But they used all means of perswasion and entreaty not to be forced to so bruitish and barbarous a custome Then commanded he the Indians to conform themselves to the fashion of the Graecians but they all more abhorred to burn the dead than the Greeks did to eat them So impossible is it for a custome either to be suddenly left off or to seem undecent and inconvenient if once thorowly settled In matter of Religion they are all Mahometans or Gentiles according to the fancy of their severall Kings whereof in this Iland there are very many one for every great Tribe or more powerfull Family Zealous in their Religion which soever it be as appears by the sad story of the daughter of the King of Ballambua murdered by her husband the King of Passarva the second night after her wedding with all her Attendants because they would not be Mahometans which was his Religion Yet in some common Principles they agree well enough punishing Adulery with death in which case the woman chooseth her neerest kinsman for her Executioner but otherwise spending day and night in much sloth and dalliance Of the two Gentilism is the moâ—e diffused because most antient the Sect of Mahomet not being introduced till the year 1560. though of a very swift growth and of a great increase for so short a time Their chief Towns 1. Paâ—aruaan neer a burning hill which in the year 1586. break forth exceedingly oppressed infinite numbers of men and cast great stones into the City for three dayes together 2. â—â—ctam a Town of 1000 Housholds the Inhabitants whereof are Gentiles and have their Temples in the Woods the Chief-Priest of whose superstition hath his dwelling here of great authority and power over all the Iland 3. Ballambua 4. Passarva 5. Taban 6. Matara 7. Daumâ— 8. Taggal 9. Surrabaia 10. Catabaon the Seats of so many of their Kings some of them also furnished of convenient Havens 11 BANIAM the seat also of a King but of most trade in all the Iland seldome without the company of English Portugals and Hollanders the principall Factory of the English in all the Indies though they have many besides this The Town unwholesomely seated in a moorish ground and much subject to fire 12. Sundâ— situate in a place abounding in pepper 13. Agracan a convenient Port Here was also in the time of Ptolomy
beginning continuance and period of the Traffick through this Sea by which all Europe formerly received so great commodity Know then saith he that Ptolomie Philadelphus 277 years before the Incarnation was the first that set on foot this Navigation Cosir of old called Myos-Hormos on the sea-side being the ordinary Haven out of which they hoysed sail for India and into which they returned full fraught with their commodities From hence they were by land conveighed to Coptus and so down the Nile to Alexandria by which Traffick the City grew exceeding rich insomuch that the Custom-house there yielded Ptol-Auletes 7 millions and an half of gold yearly The Romans being Lords of Egypt enhansed the Customs to double that sum they sent into India every year as Plinie witnesseth 120 ships whose lading was worth 1200000 Crowns and there was made in return of every Crown 100. When the Vandals Lombards Goths and Moors had torn in peeces the Roman Empire all commerce between Nations began to cease At last perceiving the inconvenience they began anew conveighing the Indian commodities partly by land partly by water unto Capha in Taurica Chersonesus belonging to the Genoese Next Trabezond was made the Mart-town then Sarmachand in Zagatate where the Indian Turkish and Persian Merchants met to barter wares the Turks conveighing their merchandise to Damascus Baratti and Aleppo from whence the Venetians transported it to Venice making that the common Emporium of Christendome Once again viz. Anno 1300. the Soldans of Egypt restored the passage by the Red-Sea which having continued more then 200 years is now discontinued by the Portugals Spaniards English and Dutch which bring them to their several homes by the back side of Africk So that not only the Traffick of Alexandria is almost decayed and the Riches of the Venetians much diminished but the Drugs and Spices have lost much of their vertue as impaired by too much moisture So much saith he touching the course and alteration of this Trading to which I shall take leave to adde That for the better and more quick return of such Commodities as were usually brought into this Sea some of the Kings of Egypt attempted formerly to cut a main Channel from it to the River Nilus passable by Ships of greatest burden the marks of whose proud attempts are remaining still Sesostris was the first who designed the work having before with good successe cut many Trenches from the River and some Navigable into many places of the Country by which unprofitable Marishes were drained the Country strengthened Trade made easie and the People better furnished with water then in former times Darius the great Persian Monarch seconded the same Project so did one of the Ptolomies The like is said of a Capricious Portugal in these later times But they all gave it over on the same consideration which was a fear lest by letting in the Red-Sea they might drown the Country and perhaps make a second Deluge in the parts of Greece and Asia Minor which lay nearest to them that Sea being found to be much higher then the Mediterranean and the flats of Egypt But here we are to understand that all which hitherto hath been spoken concerning Egypt relates to Egypt strictly and specially so called containing only so much of the Country of Egypt as lieth upon the Banks and Channels of the River Nilus and not to all that tract of ground which lay betwixt the Red-Sea and the borders of Libya which was reckoned in the compasse of the kingdom of Egypt much lesse as comprehending Libya and Cyrene also though now accounted Members of that great Body and antiently parts or Provinces of the Diocese of it For Egypt in the largest sense and acception of the word may be and generally is divided into these three parts viz. 1. Egypt in the general notion or the Kingdom of Egypt extended on the Mediterranean from the borders of Idumaea to the the Roman Libya or Marmarica lying Westward of the mouth of Nilus called Heracleoticum and on the borders of Aethiopia Superior from the said Red-Sea to the Country of Libya Interior 2. Libya or Marmarica lying betwixt Egypt properly so called and the Province of Cyrene or Pentapolis And 3. Cyrene or Pentapolis reaching from that Libya to the greater Syrtis where it bordered with that part of the African Diocese which is now called the Kingdom of Tunis And in this first acception of it we shall now proceed to a Survey of the Mountains and chief Cities which done we shall describe the other in their proper places and then unite them all in the Generall Story As for the Mountains of this Country there are very many there were no living else for the people in the time of the overflowings of the River The principal of these 1. Those called Montes Libyei lying in a long chain on the West of Nilus 2. Alabastrinus 3. Porphyritus 4. Troigus 5. Basanitus on the East thereof Betwixt these Hils the course of the River is so hemmed in on both sides that at the upper part of the stream where it first entreth into Egypt the space betwixt the Mountains is not above four miles broad enlarging afterwards to eight then about Caire to thirty seven thence opening wider and wider till we come to the breaches of the Delta as the Country doth increase in breadth On these and other of the Mountains and lesser Hils stand most part of the Towns the receptacles of the Country-people in the time of the Flood rising when least to fifteen cubits or seven yards and an half Rivers of note here are none but Nilus nor indeed any one but that that being sufficient of it self to enrich this Country which otherwise would be nothing but a Sandy Desart But what they want in Rivers is supplied with Lakes and Trenches which serve for watering their Cattel tempering of mortar for their buildings and other such inferior uses sometimes perhaps for drink for the poorer sort who cannot be conveniently furnished with the waters of Nile Amongst the Trenches which were many as before was said those of most estimation were the Works of Ptolomie and the Emperor Trajan the first falling into that branch of the Nile which maketh the Isle called Heracleotis the other into the main body of it not far from Caire These two by reason of the many fresh springs which fall into them have the name of Rivers in old Authors and betwixt these was seated the Land of Goshen extending from Nilus to the Red-Sea on the East and West The chief of note amongst the Lakes were those called 1. Mareotis not far from Alexandria by Plinie called Arapotes Maria by Ptolomie all which names are now lost and changed into that of Lagodi Antacon from a Town of that name near unto it 2. Laccus supposed to be the same which in the book of Maccabees is called Asphar lib. 1. cap. 9. And 3. Moeris now called Buchaira more memorable then the rest in compasse 3500
Now indigent and so unprovided of all Grain for the use of their families that they are fain to furnish themselves out of other places the People not daring to manure or sow their land for fear of the Arabians who ever and anon fall into these parts and spoil what they meet with Places of most note in it in the elder times 1. Adrumetum or Adrumystus now called Machometta once a Roman Colony and the Metropolis of the Province of Byzacena by consequence in the times of Christianity an Archbishops See walled and repaired by the Emperor Justinian and by his command called Justiniana 2. Zama the incamping place of Annibal before his battel with Scipio 3. Nadagora memorable for the great battel betwixt the two renowned Generals of Rome and Carthage not parallel'd since their own times nor in those before them In which the great Controversie between those Cities being to be tried the fortune of the day fell unto the Romans For though Annibal shewed his singular judgment in ordering his Souldiers as Scipio could not but acknowledge yet being far the weaker in horse and by an Order of the Senate of Carthage to fight in a place of disadvantage he could do no marvels the Romans with the losse of no more then 1500 of their own men killing 20000 of the Carthaginians in the fight and chase 4. Salera the first place took by Scipio after the landing of his Army 5. Vtica a Tyrian Colony beautified with an Haven capable of the greatest ships much spoke of in the wars of Carthage and memorable for the death of Cato hence sirnamed Vtican who here slew himself for fear of falling into the hands of Caesar It is now called Biserta 6. Byzacium seated in liberal and fruitful soils as was shewn before whence the Province had the name of Byzacena 7. Ruspinum made by Caesar the seat of his war in Africk against the sons and faction of Pompey as memorable in the times succeeding for being the Epiâ—copal See of S. Fulgentius 8. Thystrus remarkable for the Tragedie of the Gordiani Of which the Father in this City was saluted Emperor by the Souldiers in hatred to Maximinus then their Emperor whose Procurator they had slain in a tumult but his party being discomfited by Capellianus whom Maximinus sent against him and his son killed in the defeat upon the hearing of the news he here hanged himself 9. Hippagreta on a great Lake betwixt Carthage and Vtica once of the Towns which held out longest for the Mercinaries in their desperate Rebellion against the Carthaginians by which the Estate of that great City was in danger of ruine at the end of the first Punick war 10. CARTHAGE once the Lady and Mistresse of Africk situate in the bottom of a safe and capacious Bay the entrances whereof were very strongly fortified both by art and nature Environed with the Sea except upon one side only where joyned unto the Land by a narrow Isthmus about two miles and an half in breadth In compasse 24 miles but measuring by the outward wall it was 45. For without the wall of the City it self there were three wals more betwixt each of which there were three or four Streets with Vaults under ground of 30 foot deep wherein they had place for 300 Elephants and all their Fodder with Stables over them for 4000 Horse and all their Provender and Lodging in those Out-streets for the Riders of the said Horse and for 20000 Foot besides which never came within the City to annoy or pester it On the South side stood the Castle called Byrsa which took up two miles and an half in compasse first built by Dido on that ground which she obtained of the Libyans when she got leave to buy only so much land of them as she could compasse round about with an Oxes hide In that the sumptuous Temple of their antient Deities Juno Apollo Aesculapius Belus On the West-side a standing Pool made of the Sea-water let into it by so narrow a passage that there was but 70 foot open for the Sea to enter On which they had a stately Arsenal with their Ships and Gallies riding by it Of the foundation and affairs of this mighty City we have spoke already The Government of it first by Kings those absolute enough at first afterwards limited by the Senate and finally made meerly titulary by the power of the People which unproportionable mixture is much condemned by Aristotle in the 2. of his Politicks Their Territories before the second Punick war when they were at the greatest extended on the Sea-coasts of the Mediterranean from the Greater Syrtis to the Streits and so unto the River Iberus for the space of 2000 miles in length their Revenues answerable and readily brought in by reason of their infinite trading Which made the Roman people think themselves unsafe whilst this City stood Resolved on the destruction of it they sent against it L. Martius and M. Manlius their two Consuls with a puissant Army to whom the Carthaginians willingly delivered up their Arms and Shipping contracting only for the preservation of the City it self which was faithfully promised But when they had withall given up the sons of their principal men to be sent to Rome for Pledges of their future loyaltie they were told that a City consisted not in wals but in lawes and government These with the Corporation should remain as formerly the Town to be removed ten miles further off where there was no Sea to thrive and grow rich upon Enraged herewith it was resolved to abide the utmost but they wanted necessaries for resistance That want supplied for want of Iron to make Arms with Gold and Silver the Houses pulled down to furnish them with timber to build a Navy and noble Ladies cutting off the hair of their heads to make Ropes and Cordage 25000 Women listed to defend the wals But the fatal moment being come a second Scipio is sent thither to dispatch the work by whom at last the Town was taken and for 17 dayes together consumed with fire the Queen and multitudes of the People burning themselves in the Temple of Aesculapius because they would not fall into the hands of the Romans Reedified by Iulius Caesar and made a Colonie it recovered some part of her former lustre but so that her chief glory was rather to be sought for in her antient then her present fortunes Populi Romani Colonia olim Imperii ejus pertinax amula priorum excidio rerum quam ope prasentium clarior was her character in the times of Pomponius Mela. But in this last Estate accompted for the Metropolis of the Diocese of Africk the Residence of the Vicarius or Lieutenant-General and the See of the chief Primate of the African Churches who had 164 Bishops under him in that one Province wherein Carthage stood Destroyed in the succeeding times by the Vandals and after that by the Saracens it is at last reduced to nothing but a few scattered
hereof according unto which we must here describe it it comprehendeth the three Countries called antiently Aethiopia Sub Aegypto Trogloditica and Regio Cinnamomifera Of these the two last are by some reckoned but as parts of the first though certainly the Troglodites were a different Nation from the Aethiopians For past all doubt the Troglodites were Originally an Arabian people so called quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subeunt from their living in Caves and dens in which respect their part of this Country had the name of Arabia Trogloditica in Dioscorides and some others of the Ancient Writers Of these it is affirmed by Pomponius Mela that they were not the Masters of any wealth and that their speech was rather a gnashing of the teeth then any articulate and intelligible Pronunciation Nullarum opum Domini sunt Trogloditae strident magis quam loquuntur As for their houses they were saith he no better then Caves and their food then Serpents With whom concurreth Plinie also for their dwelling in Caves and consequently for the reason of the name saying positively Trogloditae speluncas excavant Called for the same reason in the holy Scripture 2 Chron. 12. 3. by the name of Succhaei the word Succoth whence that name derived not only signifying in the Hebrew Tents or Tabernacles but Caves and Dens and so translated Psal 10. v. 9. and Job 38. v. 40. As for that part hereof which was called Regio Cinnamomifera taking up the Southern parts in the time of Ptolomy it took that name from the abundance of Cinnamon which was then growing by it now not a tree of it to be found in all this Country as the Portugals who have looked narrowly for it have affirmed unto us Shipped at Mosylon a noted Emporie placed by Ptolomy in the ninth degree of Northern Latitude it was thence transported into Egypt and other Countries as is said by Plinie Portus Mosylitus quo Cinnamomum devehitur the Spice in some Authors being called Mosulum by the name of the Town 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of Cinnamon the best is that which is called Mosulon because brought from the City of that name in Aethiopia saith Simeon Sethi in his Tract de Facultatibus Ciborum As for this Cinnemâ—n I note this only by the way it is the inner bark of a Tree as big as an Olive with Leaves like Bay leaves the drying of which maketh it roll together and every three years is renewed and stripped off again Some think it came first from the Sinae or the Country which the Romans called Sinarum Regio the Moderns China and that it was so called quasi Sinae Amomum the Amomum of the Sinae Amomum being the name of a sweet perfume growing in Assyria and Armenia But then it should be written Sinamomum and not Cinnamomum yet to give the greater credit to the former opinion they of Ormus call it Barâ— Chinae or the wood of China But of this enough To go on therefore unto Aethiopia it self The people of it in old times were said to have been great Astrologers the first ordainers also of sacred Ceremonies and in both to be Tutors to the Egyptians They were also noted to be very good Archers and to draw the longest and strongest Bowes of any Nation the Persian Bow though those the greatest of all Asia being only three Cubits long but these of Aethiopia four Utuntur etiam Aethiopes quatuor cubitorum arcubus as we read in Strabo the like is said also by Herodotus and Diodorus Their Arrows small but strong for the most part poisoned Aethiopum geminata venenis Vulnera as we find in Claudian and for that inhumanity very much condemned But not to spend our time too much upon these particulars Pliny reciteth two strange things of this Country 1. That the Air and ground are so patching hot that the people not only dare not go out of doors without shooes but that they rost their meat also by setting it in the Sun 2. That there is a Lake whose waters are thrice a day and thrice a night exceeding salt and unpleasing but at all other times most sweet and delicate to the palate This Country being as big as Germany France and Italy laid together is but meanly populous the distemperature of the Climate and the dry barrenness of the ground not admitting a multitude For this cause Africk is by Strabo compared to a Leopards skin the distance of whose spots sheweth the dispersedness of the towns and habitations in those torrid countries A Country scarce in Wheat but sufficiently plentiful in Rice Barley Beans Pease and the like they have abundance of Sugars Minerals of all sorts and infinite herds of Oxen Sheep Goats Finally there is no Country under heaven fitter for increase of Plants and Living creatures if industry were not deficient But in regard of this defect they are destitute of many necessary things which otherwise the natural commodities of the Country would supply them with For they have here great store of Flax but make no Cloth plenty of Vines yet make no wine except it be to serve the palaces of the King and the Patriarch Abundance of Sugar canes and Mines of Iron but know not how to make use of either unto any advantage Rivers and Brooks in many places but will not take the pains to dig Channels or trenches to derive their waters to the rest of the land which want them those Rivers almost choaked with Fish their Woods crammed with Venison which they trouble not themselves to catch By this we may conjecture somwhat of the people also Lazie and given unto their ease ill-clothed and not much better housed extremely inclined to Barbarism destitute of all learning not to be credited unless they swear by the life of their Emperours they hate a Smith equally with the Devil their colour is generally olive-tawny excepting only their King himself who is always of a white complexion a wonderful prerogative if true This blackness of their bodies by the Poet attributed to the burning of the world by Phaeton Sanguine tum credunt in corpora summa vocato Aethiopum populos nigrum traxisse colorem Which may be thus Englished Their blood it's thought drawn from the outward part The Aethiopians grew so black and swart But the true cause hereof whatsoever it be may perhaps be looked upon hereafter when we come to America The Christian faith was first made known in this Country by the Eunuch of Queen Candace who was baptized by Philip the Evangelist and one of the Seven more generally imbraced by the pains and preaching of S. Matthew the Apostle hereof but not totally propagated over all this Empire till the reign of Abraham An. 470. who in his life entituled himself the Defender and Propagator of the Religion of CHRIST and after his death was generally honoured as a Saint Suppressed in part by the coming in of the Abasenes and other Arabians it was again revived and more universally received
the Catholique 7. FVERTE-VENTVRA of the same nature with the rest supposed to be the Capraria of Plinie and the Casperia of Ptolomy but not else observable Neer unto these but not within the name and notion of the Fortunate or Canary Isles are certain others of less note that is to say I Gratiosa 2 S. Clara 3 Roca 4 Lobos 5 Alegranco and 6 Infierno small and of no Accompt nor yielding any matter of observation The knowledge of these Ilands being lost with the Roman Empire they lay concealed and undiscovered till the year 1330. or thereabouts when an English or as some say a French ship distressed by tempest did in that misfortune fall upon them Notice whereof being given in the Court of Portugal in the reign of King Alphonso the fourth Lewis de Ordo was designed for the conquest of them Who being repulsed at Gomera An. 1334. gave the entercourse over though on this ground the Portugals build their first claim unto these Ilands But the news spreading by degrees to the Court of Rome Clement the sixt thought fit to make a grant of them to Prince Lewis of Spain son of Alphonso de la Cerde the right heir of Castile by the old name of the Fortunate Ilands and to assist him in the conquest caused Levies of Souldiers to be made both in France and Italy Which coming to the ears of the English Ambassadors in the Popes Court they seared some transport had been made of the British Ilands then which they thought that none could better deserve the name of the Fortunate Ilands and in all haste dispatched a Post to the Court of England for the preventing of the danger The People at the time of this first Discovery were so rude and ignorant that they did eat their flesh raw for want of fire and tilled or rather turned up the earth with the horns of Oxen for want of Ploughs or Tools of Iron their Beards they shaved with a sharp flint and committed the care of their children to the nursing of Goats To kill a Beast was conceived to be the basest office that could be possibly put upon them and therefore commonly imposed on Prisoners and condemned persons who being thus made the common Slaughter-men were to live separate from the rest Their Government by Kings in each Iland one when at their deaths they sit up naked in a Cave propped against the wall with a staff in his hand and a vessel of Milk fast by him the better to enable him for his journey to the other world and leaving him in the Grave with these solemn words Depart in peace O thou blessed Soul The like Funeral they bestowed also on the chief of their Nobles Yet was not the Government in those times so purely Regall but that they had a Common Councell as it were out of all the Ilands consisting of 130 persons who did not only direct in Civil matters but in Sacred also prescribing to the People both their Faith and Worship and for their pains were priviledged with the first nights lodging with every Bride which the Husband was to offer to some one of them But to return unto the Story nothing being done by Lewis de la Cerde in pursuance of the Popes Donation it hapned in the year 1393. that some Adventurers of Biscay setting out certain Ships from Sevil to seek their Fortunes at Sea fell amongst these Ilands And having pillaged Lansarâ—te as before was said and observed the number greatness and situation of all the rest returned into Spain with great store of Wax Hides and other commodities with which those Ilands did abound extremely welcom to King Henry who then reigned in Castile and did intend from that time forwards to possess himself of them By Catharine the Dowager of this King Henry during the minority of John the 2. the Conquest of them was committed to John of Betancourt an adventurous French-man conditioned he should hold them under the soveraignty of the Crown of Castile by whom four of the Ilands were subdued though he himself perished in the action An. 1417. Young Betancourt the son not able to subdue Canary to which most of the Ilanders had retired fortified himself as well as he could in the Isle of Lansarote and took unto himself the title of King which he left not long after to one Menault in whose time the Ilands under his command received the Gospel and had a See Episcopal in the Isle of Lansarote But this new King making money by the sale of his subjects as well of the new Christians as the old Idolaters complaint was made of him in the Court of Castile and Pedro Barva de Campos with three ships of war is sent against him with whom unable to contend with the good leave and liking of the King of Castile he sold his interesse in these Ilands to one Fernando Peres a Knight of Sevil who by the wealth and power of that City made good his purchase and left it unto his Successors But we must know that the posterity of this Peres enjoyed the four lesser Ilands only Canaria it self Tenarisse and the Isle of Palmes being under the command of their own Kings and so continued till the reign of Ferdinand the Catholick who in the year 1483. under the conduct of Alphonso of Muxica and Pedro de Vera two noble Captains became master of them and translated the Episcopal See from Lansarote to the Great Canary So that although the Portugals claim these Ilands in right of the first discovery yet the possession hath gone alwayes with the Crown of Castile Divided at the present into two Estates but the one subordinate to the other Gomera Lansarote and Hierra being in the hands of some private Subjects those which belong unto the Crown being Canaria Palma Tenarisse and Fuerte-Ventura are said to yield yearly to the King 50000 Ducats the Seat of Justice being fixed in the Isle of Canaria unto which all the rest resort as they have occasion 13. MADERA 14. HOLY-PORT 13. MADERA the greatest Iland of the Atlantick is situate in the Latitude of 32 over against the Cape of Cantin in Morocco in compass 140 miles some adde 20 more So called of the wilderness of Trees there growing when first discovered the Portugals naming that Madera which the Latines call Materia we English Timber with which the Isle was so over grown that the best way to cleer it and make it habitable was by consuming them with fire which raged so horribly for the time that the people imployed in it were fain to go far into the Sea to refresh themselves But the Husbandry was well bestowed the Ashes making so good compost to enrich the soil as burning the Turf of barren lands and ploughing the Ashes of it on some grounds with us that at the first it yielded sixty fold increase And though the first vertue of that experiment be long since decayed yet still it yieldeth thirty fold in most places
sadness of the misadventure that he endeavoured what he could to settle a Plantation in it That of more same and greatness then all the rest to which the name is now most properly ascribed is situate in the Latitude of 32. 30 minutes Well stored when first discovered with plenty of Hogs divers fruits Mulberries Palmitos Cedars as also of Silk-worms Pearls and Amber and such rich Commodities of Fowl so infinite an abundance that our men took a thousand of one sort as big as a Pigeon within two or three hours The Aire hereof very sound and healthy found by experience the best Argument in such a point to be agreeable to the body of an English man yet terribly exposed to tempests of rain thunder and lightning For which and for the many shipwracks happening on the Coasts thereof and want of other Inhabitants to be said to own it the Manners have pleased to call it the Iland of Devils The soil affirmed to be as fertile as any well watered plentiful in Maize of which they have two Harvests yearly that which is sowed in March being cut in July and that which is sowed in August being mowed in December No venâ—mous creature to be found in all the Iland or will live brought hither And besides these Commodities of so safe a being so fenced about with Rocks and â—lets that without knowledge of the passages a Boat of ten Tuns cannot be brought into the Haven yet with such knowledge there is entrance for the greatest ships The English have since added to there strengths of nature such additional helps by Block-houses Forts and Bulwarks in convenient places as may give it the title of Impregnable It was first discovered but rather accidentally then upon design by John Bermudaz a Spaniard about the year 1522. and thereupon a Proposition made in the Council of Spain for setling a Plantation in it as a place not to be avoided by the Spanish Fleets in their return from the Bay of Mexico by the Streits of Bahama Neglected notwithstanding till the like accidental coming of Sir George Summers sent to Virginia with some Companies of English by the Lord De la Ware An. 1609. Who being shipwracked on this Coast had the opportunity to survey the Iland which he so liked that he endeavoured a Plantation in it at his coming home An. 1612. the first Colonie was sent over under Richard More who in three years erected eight or nine Forts in convenient places which he planted with Ordinance An. 1616. a new Supply is sent over under Captain Daniel Tucker who applied themselves to sowing Corn setting of Trees brought thither from other parts of America and planting that gainful Weed Tobacco An. 1619. the business is taken more to heart and made a matter of the Publick many great Lords and men of Honour being interessed in it Captain Butler sent thither with 500 men the Isle divided into Tribes or Cantreds to each Tribe a Burrough the whole reduced to a setled Government both in Church and State according to the Law of England After this all things so succeeded that in the year 1623. here were said to be three thousand English ten Forts and in those Forts fifty peeces of Ordinance their numbers since increasing daily both by Children borne within the Iland and supplies from England OF FLORIDA FLORIDA is bounded on the North-east with Virginia on the East with Mare del Noort on the South and some part of the West with the Gulf of Mexico on the rest of the West with part of New Gallicia and some Countries hitherto not discovered Extended from the River of Palmes in the 25 degree of Latitude to Rio de Secco in the 34. which evidently speaketh it for a Country of large dimensions It was first discovered by the English under the conduct of Sebastian Cabat An. 1497. afterwards better searched into by John de Ponce a Spaniard who took possession of it in the name of that King An. 1527. and by him called Florida either because he landed there upon Palm-Sunday which the Spaniards call Pascua di Flores or Pascha Florida or else quia Florida erat Regio by reason of that fresh verdure and flourishing estate in which he found it But by the Natives it is said to be called Jaquasa This Country lying Parallel to Castile in Spain is said to be of the same temper both for Aire and Soil but that it is abundantly more fruitfull the heart of the ground not being here worn out by continual Tillage as perhaps it may be in the other For here they have great abundance of Maize the natural bread-Corn of the Country which they sowe twice a year viz. March and June and reap in the third month after laying it in some publick Barns and thence distribute it to the neccssities of particular persons Well stored with several sorts of Fruit as Mulberries Cherries Chelnuts Grapes and Plums of both excellent taste and colour Beasts wilde and came of all kindes which these Countries yield and of like sorts of Fowl The Woods and Forrests full of the largest Okes and the loftiest Cedars some Cypress-Trees and Bays of a large proportion with great plenty of that Wood which the Inhabitants call Pavame and the French name Sassafras the bark whereof is Medicinal against some Diseases and another Tree which we call Esquine affirmed to be a Soveraign and present Remedie for the French disease It is also said to be enriched with some Mines of Gold and Silver neglected by the Natives till the coming of the Spaniards and French put a price upon them and to have in it Emeralds of great worth and beauty with many Tarquoises and Pearls Others report that all the Gold and Silver which they have amongst them came from some ships which had been wracked upon those Coasts contrary whereunto it is said by the Natives that in the Hills which they call Apalatei there are found great Veins of a reddish Mettal which the French concluded to be Gold though they wanted time and opportunity to search into them The People are of an Olive-Colour great stature and well proportioned naked except their Privities which they hide with the skins of Stags their Arms and knees stained with divers paintings not to be washed off their hair black and hanging down as low as their thighs Cunning they be and excellent in the Arts of dissimulation So stomackfull that they do naturally love War and Revenge insomuch that they are continually in War with one or other They are crafty also and very intelligent as appeareth by the Answer they gave to Ferdinando Soto a Spaniard who was here among them An. 1549. For when he went to perswade the people that he was the son of God and came to teach them the Law Not so replyed a Floridan for God never bad thee to kill and slay and work all kinde of mischief against us The Women when their Husbands are dead use to cut off their hair close
his Garrisons It comprehendeth the Provinces of 1 Panuco 2 Mexicana 3 Mechoacan 4 Tlascala 5 Guaxâ—â—a 6 Chiapa 7 Jucutan Some others of less note but reduced to these 1 PANUCO the most Northern Province of all New Spain by some called Guastecan is bounded on the â—ast with the Golf of Mexico on the West with Vxitipa a member of the Province of Zacateâ—â—â—IN New Gallicia on the North with Florida and some Countries not yet discovered from which 〈◊〉 by the River of Palms on the Southwest with Mechuacan and on the South with Mexicana So called from Panuco the chief River of it which rising out of the hils of Tepecsuan bordering upon Cinoloa and Couliacan and dividing New Biseay from the Province of Zacatecas passeth thorow the middle of this Country and so at last into the Golf The length hereof is reckoned to be 50 leagues and the breadth as much Divided into three provinces That towards Mexicana called Aâ—â—tuxetlan of a fruitful soil and not without some Mines of Gold once very populous till in the year 1522. dispeopled in a manner by Ferdinando Cortez in his war against them The other called Chila less fruitful but possibly for want of People to improve the Land for being formerly of a stout couragious nature and trusting overmuch to their â—ens and Fastnesses they put the Spaniards to such trouble when they warred upon them that the Conquerours to secure themselves from all future dangers endeavoured to root them out and destroy them utterly The third lieth towards the River of Palmes inclined to barrenness and unpleasant but the name I find not Chief Towns hereof at the coming of the Spaniards hither 1 Las Caxas 2 Yxicuyan 3 Nachapatan 4. Taquinite 5 Tuzeteco desolate and laid waste by the cruel Spaniards Of most note now 6 Tanâ—hipa and 7 Tameclipa two small Burroughs in the Province of the River of Palmes for so I call it inhabited by the Natives only 8 S. Kallap another small Town but in the Province of Chila inhabited by a few Christians with a Convent of Augustinian Friers sacked by the Savages in the year 1571. 9 Tampâ—â—e or S. Lewis de Tampice a Colonie of the Spaniards situate on the North banks or the River Panuco and at the very mouth thereof where it hath a very large Haven but so barred with sands that no ship of great burden can make use of it the River otherwise so deep that Vessels of 500 tun might sail 60 leagues at least in it against the stream 10 S. Stevaen del Puerto on the Southern side of that River in the Latitude of 23. about 65 Leagues on the North of Mexico from the Sea eight leagues now the Metropolis and town of greatest trade in all this Country Built by Ferdinando Cortez in the place where formerly had stood Panuco once the chief City of the Province but by him destroyed Opposite hereunto on the other side of the River lie great store of Salt-pits out of which the people of this town raise their greatest profit 11 S. Jago de los Valles or S. James in the Vallies 25 leagues Westward but inclining to the South withall from S. Scevan del Puerto situate in an open Country and therefore fenced about with a Wall of Earth to the Inhabitants whereof all Spaniards as in that before the King of Spain hath granted many fair possessions to defend those parts then being the borders of his Estates against the Salvages This Country first attempted by Francisco Garaio but the conquest of it finished by Cortez as before is said each striving as it seemeth who should most deface it and be enrolled for the greatest Man-slayer of the two But having carried on the course of their Victories almost as far as to the River of Palms they desisted there either because already glutted with humane blood or that the conquest of those parts would not quit the charge Insomuch as in all that Country from the River of Palms to the Cape of Florida though lying all along on the Golf of Mexico the Spaniards have not one foot of Ground secure enough because it lieth all along that Golf that no other Nation can possess it 2. MECHV AC AN hath on the North-east Panuco on the East Mexicana on the South part of Tlascala on the West the main Ocean and on the North the Province of Xalisco in New Gallicia So called from the abundance of Fish which their Lakes and Rivers did afford them the word in their own language signifying Locum Piscosum or a Country of Fish The breadth hereof on the Sea-coasts is 80 Leagues in the borders towards Mexicana but sixty only The length I finde not yet agreed on Blest with an Aire so sound and sweet that sick Folk come hither out of other Countries to recover their health Well stored with Rivers some Lakes innumerable Springs of running water and here and there some hot Bathes issuing from the Rocks The Soil so plentifully productive of all sorts of grain even to admiration that in some parts hereof four Measures of Seed have brought forth 600 Measures of the same grain in the following Harvest Well VVooded and by reason of its Springs and Rivers full of excellent Pastures and yet not yielding unto any part of all America for Medecinal Herbs and Plants of very Soveraign Nature for the good of Mankinde It affordeth also store of Amber Mulberry Trees Silk Wax Honey and such other things as chiefly serve for Pomp and pleasure The People tall of stature but strong and Active of a good wit and skilled in many excellent Manufactures They speak four Languages of their own but that most generally used is by the Spaniards called the Tarascuan Tongue which though it be an elegant and copious Language yet most of them speak the Spanish also More pliant to the Manners and Apparell of that Nation then the rest of New Spain the Mexicans excepted only and so inclinable to the Gospel that they are almost all gained from their old Idolatries Insomuch that the whole Country being divided into 50 Parishes every Parish hath its several Priests and inferiour Ministers who in the Language of the place do instruct the People in which they Preach to them and hear their Confessions besides many Convents of Dominicans and Augustine Friers It containeth in it upwards of 150 Towns or Burroughs besides scattering Villages 90 of which have Free Schools in them and almost every one a Spittle for relief of the Sick The principal thereof 1 Zinzoutza the seat of the old Kings of Mechuachan in the first times of Christianity in this Country made a Bishops See till removed to Pascuar The first Bishop Vasquez de Quiroga 2 Pascuar of no great note at present but that the Bishops See was removed thither because neerer to Mexico from which distant 47 Leagues 3 Valladolit now the chief City of this Province and the Bishops See removed hither from Pascuar and here finally setled in
whereof are made both Sulphur and Allom. And here is said to be a Volcana or burning Mountain which though it hath vomited no â—ire of late the matter of it being spent yet the said Monuments of his Furies do remain among them another not far off which still casts out smoak Towns of most note 1 Guatimala or S. Jago de Guatimale the chief Town of the Province situate on a little River betwixt both 〈◊〉 by one of which most terribly wasted An 1541. But being 〈◊〉 it hath since exceedingly flourished by reason of the Bishops See the residence of the Governour and the Courts of Justice 2 S Salvador 40 Leagues Eastwards from Guatimala by the Natives called 〈◊〉 situate on the River Guacapa seven Leagues from the Sea and neighboured by a great Lake of five Leagues compass 3 Acaxutla at the mouth of the same River the Port Town to 〈◊〉 4â—â— Trinidad by the Natives called Samsonate the most noted Empory of this Country the 〈◊〉 at Bartery betwixt the Inhabitants of New Spain and those of Peru. 5 S. Michaels two Leagues from the Bay of Fonseca which serves unto it for an Haven 6 Xeâ—es de la Fontera the chief Town of the Cantrea of Chulutâ—can by which name it was formerly known situate on the Frontires towards Nicaragua and to the South east of the Bay of Fonseca that Bay so named in honour of Roderick Fonseca Bishop of Burges and President of the Councel for the Indies An. 1532. by Giles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who first discovered it About and in this Bay are ten little Ilands four of which inhabited and plentifully furnished with wood water and salt 4. HONDVRA hath on the South Guatimala specially so called on the VVest the Bay or Arm of 〈…〉 Dulce by which parted from Verapaz on the North and East the Sea called Mare del Nort on the South east Nicaragua on the South Guatimala specially â—o called In length 〈…〉 of that Sea 150 Leagues and about 80 Leagues in breadth from North to 〈…〉 of Honduras or Fonduras imposed upon it from the depth of the Sea about the 〈◊〉 Head land of it called the Cape of Honduras The whole Country either Hills or Vallies little Champagne in it fruitfull of Maize and wheat and of very 〈…〉 age made so by the constant overflowings of their Rivers about Michaelmass which do not only soil their grounds but water their Gardens The principal of them 1 Haguara 2 Chamalucon 3 Vlna all neighboured by fertile fields and pleasant meadows Some Mines of Gold and Silver are conceived to be here but not yet discovered the people being so slothful and given to idleness that they had rather live on Roots then take pains in tilling of their land and therefore not easily intreated to toyl for others but where necessity and strong hand do compell them to it Towns of most note 1 Valladolit by the Natives called Commyagna 40 leagues distant from the Sea situate in a pleasant and fruitful Valley on the banks of the River Chamalucon and honoured with a Bishops See fixed here about the year 1558. built neer the place where once Francisco de Montâ—io Governour of this Provinâ—e had planted a Colonie of Spaniards An. 1530. by the name of S. Maria de Commyagna 2 Gracias di Dios 30 leagues Westward of Valladolit buâ—â—t by Gabriel de Royas An. 1530. to be a place of defence for those who worked in the Mines against the Savages But finding himself unable to make it good he defaced and left it Reedified again by Gonsalvo de Alvarado and since well inhabited 3 S. Peters eleven â—eagues distant from the Port of â—avallos but seated in a most healthy air and therefore made the dwelling place of the Farmers of the Kings Customs who have their houses in this town and follow their business in the other as occasion is â— Porto de Cavallos so called from some horses thrown overboard in a violent tempest the most noted Heaven of these parts and strong by natural situation but so ill guarded and defended that in the year 1591. it was pillaged by Captain Christopher Newport and An 1596. by Sir Anthony Sherley Deserted on those spoils and not since inhabited 5 S. Thomas de Castile 18 leagues from Cavallos naturally strong and forrified according to the Rules of Art to which as to a place of more strength and safety Alfonso Briado de Castilla President of the Sessions of Guatimala removed both the Inhabitants and Trade oâ— Cavalios 6 Traxillo seated on the rising of a little hill betwixt two Rivers one of them that which is called Haguara distant from Cavallos 40 leagues to the East and 60 leagues to the North of Valadolit surprized and pillaged by the English An. 1576. Not far hence towards the North-east lieth the Cape of Honduras from whence the shore drawing inwards till it joyn with Jucutan makes up a large and goodly Bay called the Golf of Honduras 7 S. George de Olancho so named of the Vallie Olancho in which it is seated a Vallie noted heretofore for some golden Sands which Guaejape a River of it was then said to yield 5 NICARAGVA is bounded on the North with Honduras on the East with Mare del Nort and the Province of Veragua on the South with Mare del Zur on the West with Guatimala By Didaco Lopez de Salsedo who first subdued it it was called the New kingdom of Leon but the old name by which they found it called at their coming thither would not so be lost The Country destitute of Rivers except that part hereof towards Veregua called Costa Rica reckoned a Province of it self The want hereof supplied by a great Lake or a little Sea called the Lake of Nicaragua 120 leagues in compass â—bbing and flowing like the Sea upon the banks of which stand many pleasant villages and single houses A Lake well stored with Fish but as full of Crocediles and having made its way by a mighty Cataract emptieth it self into the Sea about four leagues off Not very rich in Corn most of which is brought them from Peru but well stored with Cattel level and plain and shadowed with frequent trees one amongst others of that nature that a man cannot touch any part of it but it withereth presently Affirmed to be as full of Parrets as England of Crows stored with great plenty of Cotton wooll and abundance of Sugar canes In a word so pleasing generally to the eye that the Spaniards call it by the name of Mahomets Paradise The People for the most part speak the Spanish tongue and willingly conform themselves to the Spanish garb both of behaviour and apparel well weaned from their old barbarous customes retained only by some Mountainers whom they call Chontales All of good stature and of colour indifferent white They had before they received Christianity a setled and politick form of government only as Solon appointed â—o law for a mans killing of his father so
who formerly made their Nest like Birds on the tops of trees 2 Bizu 3 Los Angadesos two small villages on the other side of the Country possessed by the Savages Besides these and some sorry sheds here and there dispersed all the rest a Desart So that not being able to maintain the reputation of a distinct Province the government here of hath of late been devolved on the Prefect of Panama 3 NOVA AND ALVSIA hath on the West the River Darien and the Golf of Vraba on the East the Province of S. Martha on the North the main Ocean and on the South the new Realm of Granada So called with reference to Andalusia a Province of Spain Called also by some Writers Carthagena from Carthagena now the chief City of it It is in length from the Golf of Vraba to the River of Magdalen 80 Leagues and neer upon as much in breadth Mountainous and very full of woods but in those woods great store of Rosin Gums and some kinds of Balsams Here is also said to be a Tree which whosoever toucheth is in danger of poisoning The Soil by reason of the abundance of rain which fals upon it very moyst and spewie insomuch that few of our Europaean fruits have prospered in it Few veins of Gold in all the Country except only in that part hereof which is called Zena where the Spaniards at their first coming found great store of treasure But it was taken out of the graves and Monuments of the dead not found in Mines or digged for as in other places such being the reputation of that Territory in former times that the Nations far and neer did carry the bodies of their Dead to be buried in it with great quantity of Gold Jewels and other Riches The Natives very fierce and stout whiles they were a People But giving the Spaniards many overthrows before fully conquered they have been so consumed and wasted by little and little that there are not many of them left Chief Rivers hereof 1 Rio de los Redos 2 Rio de los Anades both falling into the Bay of Vraba 3 Zenu which passing thorow the Province above-mentioned to which it gives name falleth into the Ocean over against the Iland Fuerte 4 S. Martha of long course and much estimation For rising in the most Southern parts of the New Realm of Granada neer the Aequinoctial it passeth thorow the whole length of that Kingdom and at the last mingleth its streams with that of the River Magdalen not far from Mopox By the Natives it is called Cauca And as for Mountains those of most note are a continual Ridge of hils by the Spaniards called Cordillera by the Natives Abibe craggie and difficult of ascent in breadth affirmed to be 20 leagues but the length uncertain the furthest ends of them towards the South not discovered hitherto Places of most importance in it 1 Carthagena situate in a sandie Peninsula ten degrees distant from the Aequator well built and for the bigness of it of great wealth and state consisting of 500 houses or thereabouts but those neat and handsom Beautified with a Cathedral Church three Monasteries and one of the best Havens of all America Well fortified on both sides since the taking of it by Sir Francis Drake who in the year 1585. took it by assault and carried thence besides inestimable sums of money 240 Brass pecces of Ordinance 2 Tolu by the Spaniards called S. Jago twelve miles from Carthagena memorable for the most soveraign Balsam of all these parts called the Balsam of Tolu little interior if at all to the Balsam of Egypt 3 Mopox or Santa Crux de Mopox neer the Confluences of the Rivers of Martha and Magdalens 4 Baranca de Malambo on the Banks of the River Magdalen six leagues from the Ocean where such Commodities as are brought by sea for the New Realm of Granada use to be unshipped and carried by Lighters or small Boats up the River 5 Sebastian de Buena vista built by Alfonso de Oieda An. 1508. in his first attempt upon this Country situate on a rising ground neer the mouth of the Bay of Vraba a league and an half from the sea 6 Villa de Maria 30 leagues South of Carthagena but of no great note 4 S. MARTHA hath on the West Nova Andalusia on the East Rio de la Hacha on the North the main Ocean on the South the New Realm of Granada about 70 leagues in length and as much in breadth So called from S. Martha the chief City of it The Country mountainous and barren not fit for pasturage or tillage productive notwithstanding of Limons Orenges Pomgranats and such other fruits as are brought hither out of Spain The Air on the Sea-coasts very hot and scalding and in the midland parts as cold because of the neighbourhood of some Mountains alwayes covered with snow The principal of those Mountains a long Ridge of Hils by the Spaniards called Las Sierras Nievadas or the Snowy mountains discernable by the Mariners 30 leagues at sea by whom called the Mountains of Tairona from a Vallie of that name beneath them the Inhabitants whereof by the advantage of those hils have hitherto preserved their liberty against the Spaniards The rest though subject to the Spaniards have their several â—â—ings affirmed to be an arrogant and ill-natured people made worse perhapâ— then indeed they are by reason of their hate to the Spaniards whose government they live under with great unwillingness Chief Rivers of this Province 1 Rio Grando de la Magdalena which hath its fountain in the hils of the new Realm of Granada not far from the Aequatâ—r but its fall into the Ocean betwixt Carthagena and S. Martha in the Latitude of 12 Degrees where dividing it self it maketh an Iland of 5 leagues long and after openeth into the Sea with two wide mouths discernible for ten leagues space from the rest of the Main by the taste and colour of the water 2 Rio de Cazaze which falleth into the Magdalen as doth also 3 Caesar by the Natives called Pompatao which having its fountain neer the City of Kings in the Vale of Vpar passeth directly towards the South till it meet with 4 Ayumas another River of this Tract accompanied with whom he runneth westward for the space of 70 leagues and endeth in the great River of Magdalens as before is said neer the Forrest of Alpuerte 5 Bubia 6 Piras 7 Don Diego 8 Palamini 9 Gayza falling into the Ocean Towns of most observation 1 S. Martha situate on the shores of the Ocean in the Latitude of ten Degrees 30 Minutes neighboured by a safe and convenient Haven defended from the winds by an high Mountain neer unto it and honoured with an Episcopal See Small and ill built when it was at the best nor well recovered of the spoil it suffered by Sir Francis Drake An 1595. and by Sir Anthony Sherley the next year after 2 Tenariffe on the
by the Natives Chiquiabo according to the name of the Cantred in which it standeth is situate at the â—oot of a little Mountain by which defended from the injuries of winde and weather but over-looking a large plain of great fertility well watered and well wooded both for fruits and fewell 7 Chilane 8 Acos 9 Pomata 10 Cepita and others of as little note 6. LOS CHARCAS on the North is bounded with Lima and Collao on the South with Chile on the West with Mare del Zur on the East with some Countries not yet well discovered interposed betwixt it and the Province of Rio de la Plata This also called by the name of Plata according to the name of the chief City of it The Country extended in length from North to South but 300 Leagues but measuring by the Sea-shores above 400. Not very rich in corn or cattel though in many places furnished with good pasture-Pasture-grounds but for the inexhaustible Mines of Gold and Silver not to be equalled in Peru. Of these the principal those of Porco and Potosi but these last the chief out of which comes that mass of Silver which yieldeth the King so much profit yeerly as before was mentioned The Mine 200 Fathoms deep to which they do descend by Ladders made of raw Hides 800 steps some of the workmen not seeing the Sun many moneths together many fall down with their loads of silver on their backs pulling others after them and many dying in the Works for want of Air. For the refining of this Silver there are 52 Engines or Silver Mills upon a River neer unto it 22 more in the Valley of Tarapia not far off besides many which they turn with horses The Poets words never more literally verified then in these deep Mines where speaking of the Iron-Age he describes it thus Nectantum segetes alimentaque debita dives Poscebatur humus sed itum est in viscera terra Quasque recondiderat Stygiisque admoverat umbris Fffodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum Which I finde thus rendred by George Sundys Nor with rich Earths just nourishments content For treasure they her secret entrails rent That powerfull evil which all power invades By her well hid and wrapt in Stygian shades Places of most importance in it 1 Plata so called from the rich Mines of Silver found in Mount Porco neer adjoyning well emptied by the ancient Ingas but searched into again by Francisco Pizarro who it is thought might have raised hence 200000 Ducats of yeerly income if hopes of greater at Potosi had not took him off The town commodiously seated in a fruitfull soil in the 19th Degreee of Latitude and 180 Leagues distant from the City of Cusco honoured with the seat of the Governour and the Courts of Justice and beautified besides many Religious houses with a fair Cathedral the See of the best endowed Bishoprick of all Peru his Revenues being estimated at 80000 Ducats of yeerly Rents By the Natives it is called Chuquisacay 2 Oropesa twenty Leagues from Plata built by Don Francis de Toledo when Vice-Roy here in the rich and pleasant Valley called Cochabamba An 1565. 3 Potosi neighboured by those wealthy Mines already mentioned Discovered first in the year 1545 before which time this Town was but a sorry Village now the best peopled and frequented in all the Province said to be constantly inhabited by four or five thousand Spaniards many more of the Natives not so few as 30000 Workmen appertaining to it but lodged in the Villages adjoyning besides the infinite resort of Merchants in pursuit of profit and idle Gallants who come hither for their Lusts and Pleasures Situate in the 21 degree and 40 Minutes of Southern Latitude in a cold and very barren soil yet plentifully furnished with all commodities both for necessity and delight For as the money is so the Market always 4 Misque a small Town but one which furnisheth Potosia with good plenty of wine as 5 Lagunilla and 6 Tarixa do with VVheat Maize Sugar and choice of fruits 7 Arica the most noted Haven of this Country in the Latitude of 19 Degrees and 80 Leagues or thereabouts from the Mines of Potosia the wealth whereof brought hither on the backs of their sheep is here shipped for Lima the truth hereof experienced by Sir Francis Drake who seized here on three Spanish Ships in one of which was 57 Bars of silver each of them twenty pound weight apiece Few other Towns if any upon all this coast which is altogether Rockie barren and unfit for habitation accordingly but little peopled or not at all Come we now to the Peruvian story which we shall sum up with as much brevity as we can The People generally governed by the Chief of their Tribes as in all Countries else where neither the Arms of Forreiners nor the ambition of some few of the Natives had not diminished any thing of those Natural Rights Not subject to any one Supream till these latter times the Ingas or Monarchs of Peru growing unto their greatness but a little before their Fall Their Territory at the first so small that it was not above five or six Leagues in compass situate in that part of the Country where the City of Cusco now standeth Opposed at their first incroachments by the Cannares a valiant Nation and likely to have had the better if the Ingas had not helped themselves by a piece of wit giving it out that their Family had not only been the Seminary from which mankinde came but the Authors of that Religion also which was then in use particularly that the whole world having been destroyed by a Flood except only seven so far they hit upon the truth which seven had hid themselves in a Cave called Paticambo where having lived in safety till the fury of the waters had been asswaged they came abroad at last and re-peopled the Country that Viracocha the Creator and great God of Nature had appeared to one of them and taught him how and with what rites he would be worshipped which rites were afterwards received over all Peru. And finally that the same Viracocha had appeared lately to the chief of their Family assuring him that he would aid him with invisible forces against all their enemies This tale soon gained belief amongst those Barbarians and that belief drew many to take part with the Ingas by that aid victorious This is supposed to have hapned 400 years before the Spaniards put an end to this flourishing Kingdom which was in the year 1533. VVithin which time they had brought all this Country which we now call Peru and many of the adjoyning Provinces under their Dominion Their Kings were called Ingas as the Aegyptians Pharaoh the Tartars Cham the word Inga signifying an Emperour as Capa Ingas by which they also sometimes called them the only Emperours Much reverenced by their Subjects and so faithfully served that never any of their Subjects were found guilty of Treason Nor wanted they
the Province of Chile to which we have made this an Appendix we are to understand that it was first discovered by Almagro de Alvarado one of Pizarro's chief friends and associates But he having other designs in his head about Peru which he intended for himself and to out Pizarro did discover it only the conquest of it being reserved for Baldivia whom Pizarro on the setling of his affairs by the death of Almagro had imployed in that action He going souldierlike to work not only did subdue the people but as he gained ground built some Fortress or planted Colonies of Spaniards in convenient places This done about the year 1544. his ill luck was to meet with a more stubborn and untractable people then either Cortez or Pizarro had done before him who quickly weary of the yoke besieged one of his Forts encountred Baldivia himself coming with too small a power to relieve his people vanquished and slew him in the field Some adde that they poured Gold into his throat as the Parthians are reported to have done to Crassus bidding him satiate himself with that which he so much thirsted After this blow given in the year 1551 the Savages recovered the rich vallies of Auranco Tucapel and Purene which they keep from them till this day The Towns of Los Confines and Villa Rica both on the borders of those Vallies then deserted also Nor staid they there though they took time to breathe a little For in the year 1599 having provided themselves of 200 Corslets and seventy Muskets they brake out again surprised and sacked the Town of Baldivia forced Imperiale after a whole years siege to surrender without any conditions and in the year 1604. took Osorno by famine Of thirteen Cities which the Spaniards had possessed amongst them they had taken nine some of them since recovered but the most demolished As ill it thrived with them in Magellanica where Pedro de Starmiento undertook the planting of two Colonies to command those Streits An. 1584. The one he setled near the mouth of the Streit which he called by the name of Nombre de Jesus and left therein 150 of his men the other he intended on the narrowest place of the Streit to be called Cividad del Roy Philip which he resolved to fortifie and plant with Ordnance But winter coming on he left there others of his men promising to relieve them shortly with all things necessary But such was his unhappy face that after many shipwracks and disappointments which befell unto him in the pursuit of his design he was at last taken by the English under the command of Sir Walter Rawleigh who was there in person and his two Colonies for want of timely succours either starved at home or eaten by the Savages as they ranged the Country OF PARAGVAY PARAGVAY is bounded on the South with Magellanica on the East with the main Atlantick on the North with Brasil on the West with some unknown Countries betwixt it and Chile So called from the River Paraguay one of the greatest of the world which runneth thorow it the River and the Province both by the Spaniards called Rio de la Plata from the great store of Silver they expected from it The Country for so much as hath been discovered is said to be of a fruitfull soil capable of Wheat and other fruits of the Fruits of Europe which thrive here exceedingly nor do the Cattell increase less which were brought from Spain both Kine and Horses multiplying in a wonderfull manner Well stored with Sugar Canes and not unfurnished with Mines both of Brass and Iron some veins of Gold and Silver and great plenty of Amethystis Of Stags great plenty and of Monkeys almost infinite numbers not to say any thing of Lyons Tigers and such hurtfull Creatures which a few would be thought too many Of the People there is nothing said but what hath been before observed of the other Savages Chief Rivers of it 1 De la Plata whose course we have described already 2 Rio de Buenos Ayres so called from the chief Town by which it runneth 3 Zarcaranna which riseth in the Country of the Diaguitas and falling into a Lake at the end of his course doth from thence pass into the body of De la Plata 4 Estero which rising in the Valley of Chalcaqui and passing thorow two great Lakes meets with 5 the Bermeio and both together fall into De la Plata neer the Town of S. Foy 6 Pilcomayo which hath its Fountain neer the Mines of Potosi in the Province of Charcos but his fall in the same River with those before Then on the North side of that River there is 7 that of S. Saviour or S. Salvador as the Spaniards call it 8 Rio Nigro or the Black River of a longer course but buried in the end as the other is in the Deepâ— of La Plata 9 Yquaan and 10 several others whose united streams make the great River Parana the second River of esteem in all this Country But swallowed in that of Plata Besides these 11 Rio de S Martin and 12 Rio Grande falling into the Ocean It comprehendeth the three Provinces of 1 Rio de la Plata 2 Tucaman and 3 La Crux de Sierra The rest not conquered by the Spaniard of not well discovered cannot be properly reduced under any Method 1. RIO DE LA PLATA or the Province of De la Plata lieth upon both sides of that River ascending many Leagues up the water but not extended much upon either side The reason of the name the quality of the soil and people we have seen before Chief Towns hereof 1 Buenos Ayres or Neustra Sennora de Buenos Ayres by others called Cividad de La Trinidad seated on the Southern bank of the River of Plata where built by Pedro de Mendoza An. 1535. Deserted by the Inhabitants and again new-Peopled by Cabesa de Vacca An. 1542. It was afterwards again abandoned and finally in the year 1582 re-edified and planted with a new Colony Situate on the rising of a little hill in the 34 Degree and 45 Minutes of Southern Latitude and about 64 Leagues from the Mouth of the River fortified with a mud Wall and a little Castle with some pieces of Ordnance yet neither large nor much frequented containing but 200 Inhabitants 2 S. Fe or S Fidei 50 Leagues up the River from Buenos Ayres on the same side of the water neer the confluence of it with the River Estero of the same bigness as the other but somewhat richer the People here being given to clothing which Manufacture they exchange with the Brasilians for Sugar Rice other necessary Commodities 3 Neustra Sennora del Assumption but commonly Assumption only higher up the River from the mouth whereof 300 Leagues distant situate in the Latitude of 25. and almost in the midst betwixt Peru and Brasil well built and very well frequented as the chief of the whole Country
282. 20. 31. 0. Guanaâ—â— 294. 50. 8. 10. A. Guardalupe 319. 20. 15. 20. Guatimala 303. 0. 24. 20. H Hangnedo 310. 30. 54. 0. Havana 292. 10. 20. 0. Hochelaga 300. 50. 44. 10. Hunedo 324. 0. 51. 30. I Jabaque 315. 15. 17. 15. S. Jago 298. 10. 30. 10. Isabella 305. 20. 18. 50. L Lempa 274. 10. 16. 50. Lima 296. 40. 23. 30. Loxa 293. 30. 9. 50. A. M Malagnana 306. 0. 23. 40. Malones 279. 40. 13. 40. Maracapana 312. 10. 8. 0. Margarita 314. 10. 10. 50. Mexico 283. 0. 38. 30. Martha 301. 20. 10. 40. S. Michael 291. 40. 6. 10. A. S. Michael 327. 10. 47. 20. Mona 309. 30. 18. 0. Monsorate 319. 10. 15. 40. Montroyal 301. 0. 45. 40. Mopox 301. 10. 10. 0. N Navaca 300. 20. 17. 10. Niccia 284. 30. 10. 40. Nives 318. 40. 16. 20. Nombre de Dios 294. 30. 9. 20. Norumbega 315. 40. 43. 40. P Paca 302. 50. 31. 10. A. Paito 290. 30. 5. 10. A. Panama 294. 30. 8. 30. Panuco 270. 10. 22. 20. Pasto 304. â—0 1140. A. Pina 296. 20. 3. 0. Plata 305. 0. 19. 50. A. Popayan 297. 20. 1. 50. Possession 241. 30. 32. 20. Potosi 315. 10. 21. 10. A. Q Quilcoa 298. 50. 16. 30. A. Quintete 303. 40. 34. 40. A. Quito 293. 10. 0. 10. Quivira 233. 0. 41. 40. R Roca 311. 0. 11. 10. Roquelay 314. 10. 50. 0. S Saba 317. 30. 17. 20. Salinas 321. â—0 53. 0. S. Salvadore 321. 10. 5. 0. Sante 294. 40. 9. 30. A. Saona 309. 0. 16. 50. Sorand 351. 40. 61. 0. T Tabaco 322. 10. 10. 40. Tarnaco 270. 15. 24. 40. Tavasco 275. 40. 18. 20. Testigos 316. 10. 11. 0. Thomebamba 293. 40. 1. 50. A. Tiquisana 305. 20. 16. 0. A. Tochtipec 274. 40. 19. 0. Tortuga 303. 50. 20. 20. Totonteac 248. 20. 36. 0. Trinidad 295. 50. 21. 20. Tumbez 291. 40. 4. 10. A. V Valparaiso 300. 0. 33. 0. A. Vllao 242. 10. 30. 30. Vraba 297. 20. 7. 30. Vrcos 301. 0. 14. 50. A. Wococan 307. 30. 34. 0. Z Zacatula 269. 4. 20. 0. A. is the mark of Southern Latitude The End of the Second Part of the Fourth Book AN APPENDIX To the Former VVork ENDEAVOURING A DISCOVERY OF THE VNKNOWN PARTS OF THE WORLD ESPECIALLY OF Terra Australis Incognita OR THE Southern Continent BY PETER HEYLIN HORAT DE ARTE POET. Pictoribus atque Poetis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa Potestas LONDON Printed for Henry Seile 1652. AN APPENDIX To the Former VVork Endeavouring a Discovery Of the VNKNOWN PARTS of the WORLD AND here we are upon a new and strange Adventure which no Knight Errant ever undertook before Of things unknown as there is commonly no desire so less discourse can probably be made upon them By unknown therefore we must understand less known or not well discovered and in that sense we may as well endeavour to say somwhat of them as others with more pains and hazard to attempt the discovery And to say truth even in the known parts of the World there is much unknown as in the best and most flourishing Kingdoms of the Earth there is some waste ground either not cultivated at all or not so well inhabited as the rest of the Country For besides many vast tracts of ground in the North and North-west parts of Tartary and such parts of India as he Northwards towards Delanguer Nangrocot the East parts of Caucasus and the Realms of Cathay it is conceived that the greatest part of the midlands of Africk are undiscovered to this day or the knowledge of them so imperfect as comes neer a nescience And for America not reckoning in the Northern Borders which are in part to be the subject of this enquirie it is affirmed of the Midlands by John de Lact who hath made the most exact description of it that was ever extant Minimasui parte perlustratum esse that the least part of them hath been discovered hitherto to any purpose Leaving these therefore as before without further search we will divide the VNKNOWN WORLD into these two parts 1 Terra Incognita Borealis and 2 Terra Incognita Australis which with their Subdivisions we will now pursue TERRA INCOGNITA BOREALIS TERRA INCOGNITA BOREALIS is that part of the Vnknown World which lieth towards the North and is to be considered in these three notions 1. As directly under the Pole which for distinctions sake we will call Orbis Arcticus 2. As lying to the North-east on the back of Europe and Asia or 3. on the North-west on the back of America 1. ORBIS ARCTICVS is that part of Terra Borealis Incognita which lieth under or about the Arctick Pole the situation and dimensions of which being taken with the Astrolabe by an Oxford-Frier are by Mercator thus described out of the Itinerarie of James Cnoxe of Boâ— le duc or the Besche a Town of Brabant Under the Artick Pole saith he is said to be a black Rock of wondrous height about 33 leagues in compasss the Land adjoyning being torn by the Sea into four great Ilands For the Ocean violently breaking thorow it and disgorging it self by 19 Channels maketh four Euripi of 〈◊〉 Whirlpools by which the waters are finally carried towards the North and there swallowed into the Bonels of the Earth That Euripus or Whirpool which is made by the Scythick Ocean hath five 〈◊〉 and by reason of his strait passage and violent course is never frozen the other on the back of Greenland being 37 leagues long hath three inlets and remaineth frozen three moneths yearly Between these two there lieth an Iland on the North of Lappia and Bâ—â—rmia inhabited as they say by Pygmies the tallest of them not above four foot high A certain Scholer of Oxford reporteth that these four Euripi are carried with such furious violence towards some Gulf in which they are finally swallowed up that no ship is able with never so strong a Gale to stem the Current and yet that there is never so strong a wind as to blow a Windmill The 〈◊〉 Ciralâ—us Cambrensis 〈◊〉 his Book De mirabilibus Hiberniae So far and to this purpose he But Blundevile our Countryman is of another opinion as indeed who not neither believing that Plinie or any other of the Roman Writers came hither to describe this Promontory or that the Oxford Frier without the Assistance of some cold Devil of the middle Region or the Aire and consequently able to endure all weathers could approach so neer as to measure these cold Countries with his Astrolabe or take the height of this Blacks Rock with his Jacobs Staff Leaving this therefore as more fit for Lucians Dialogues then any serious discourse we will proceed to matters of more truth and certainty 2. THE NORTH WEST parts of Terra incognita Borealis are those which lie on the back of Estotiland the most Northern Province of America by which it hath been much endeavoured