They have several peculiar Kings the Hollanders have some Fortresses In the last Age Charles the Fifth Emperour sent Magellan to discover 'em who to arrive there steer'd the Western Course quite contrary to that which the Kings of Portugal had caus'd to be taken since they were engaged to the Portugals who laid claim to 'em as having been there by the common way which was that of the East The Government of these Islands after that was join'd to the Manilhes and the Commerce of 'em was left to the Portugals From hence are transported Nutmegs Cloves and Ginger Ternate the greatest of the five small Islands is eight Leagues in circuit and has a Mountain which casts forth fire the others are Tider very considerable Motir Machian and Bachian The Moluccoes are good Soldiers commonly of the Mahometan Religion Besides the Kings of Ternate Tidor and Bachian there are several others in the Celebes Islands and in Gilolo The King of Macassar in the Celebes has lately caused his City to be fortified He has always given free entrance in his Ports to the Ships of strangers In the Year 1661 he treated with the Hollanders East-India Company and abandoned the Portugals In the Year 1668 the Hollanders oblig'd him to trade with none but them with exclusion to other Nations The state of this Prince would be pretty temperate if the heats were not insupportable in the day time Formerly the Inhabitants of Macassar are humane flesh for which reason the Kings of the Moluccoes and others of their neighbourhood sent their Criminals thither Celebes fertil in Rice and the Land of Papous affords Gold Ambergreese and the Birds of Paradise Banda the only Island in the World which produces Nutmegs and Mace is an Island towards the South of the Moluccoes on the East of that of Amboyna with five or six other smaller Islands It has a Volcan or Mountain which casts forth flames which in the Year 1615 spoil'd all the Artillery in the Island Amboyna fruitful in Cloves likewise on the South of the Moluccoes gives it Name to some other small neighbouring Islands It was taken in the Year 1603 from the Portugals by the Hollanders who have at this day several Fortresses there It 's their best Establishment next that of Batavia They have treated with the Inhabitants of the Island so as these last are oblig'd to receive no Commerce but with the Hollanders Europe EVROPE one of the four great Parts of the World is also one of the most considerable if we respect either the Potency of its States the great Number Beauty and excellent Polity of its Cities its great Commerce the goodness of its Air and its prodigious Fertility 'T was Europe that gave Alexanders and Caesars to the Universe that has had within its Boundaries the principal part of the Roman and Grecian Monarchies and which at this day does send Colonies into other parts of the World For this reason it seems to be represented with a Crown on its Head when it is shewn under the form of a Woman It lies in the North-West of our Continent all in the Northern temperate Zone This exempts it from the insupportable heats which reign in Africk and which the most Southern parts of Asia undergo It s Air is equally mild unless it be in its most Northern Countreys The Ground affords all manner of Grains and Fruits It s length to take it from the Cape St. Vincent towards the West of Spain unto the Parts of Muscovy bordering upon the Mouths of the River Obi exceeds twelve hundred Leagues or is about 3800 Miles It s Breadth that is to say its Extent from the South to the North from Cape Mapatan in Morea to the most Northern Promontory of Norway is full eight hundred Toward the North Europe has the Northern Ocean call'd Frozen by reason of its Ice the Western or Atlantick Ocean towards the West the Mediterranean Sea towards the South and beyond that Sea Africa Now the Bounds which towards the Levant separate it from Asia in remounting the Mediterranean-Sea towards the North are as follows 1. The Archipelago or the White otherwise Aegean Sea 2. The Streight of Gallipoli call'd the Dardanelloes and an Arm of St. George otherwise nam'd the Hellespont two Miles broad 3. The Sea of Marmora otherwise Propontis 4. The Streight of Constantinople or the Chanel of the greater Sea otherwise the Thracian-Bosphorus 5. The Black or Major Sea otherwise Euxinus 6. The Streight of Caffa or Vospero otherwise the Mouth of St. John formerly the Cimmerian Bosphorus 7. The Limen or the Sea of Zabaca and Tana formerly Palus Mcotides 8. The River of Dom or Tana formerly Tanais 9. A Line drawn from the most Eastern winding of the Dom unto the Northern Ocean near Obi. Some draw this Line more towards the West from the Sources of the Dom unto the White Sea which is in Muscovy and make Europe very small Others contain the Conquests of the Great Duke of Muscovy which he made in the Asiatick Tartary Not to confound the true Limits of Asia and Europe together we may say that both the Czar and the Grand Seignior have Territories in each of those Great Parts of the World Europe is to be considered both in Terra firma and in Islands if we make the Numeration of its Parts according to their situation 1. We find towards the West France Spain Portugal three Hereditary Kingdoms 2. Towards the South three Regions belonging to divers Sovereigns the first comprehends the Countreys bordering upon France which were almost all formerly part of Gaule and whereof the greatest part has been reunited in our time in France the Low-Countreys that is to say Holland and Flanders La Franche Compte Suisserland and Savoy The second of these Regions is Italy and the third Germany 3. Towards the North of Europe there is Denmark and Sueden Hereditary Kingdoms Norway is added to the Crown of Denmark as belonging to the same King 4. Towards the East are Poland Muscovy Turkey three the Greatest States of Europe Under the Name of European Turkey is comprehended Turkey properly so taken Greece Hungary Transylvania Walachia Moldavia lesser Tartary the Republick of Ragusa The Isles of Europe are in the Ocean in the Mediterranean in the Baltick-Sea The Isles of the Ocean are Great Britain which comprehends England and Scotland Ireland and other that are smaller all under the Name Britanick Sicily Sardaigna Corsica and Candia are the greatest of the Mediterranean-Sea The Isles of the Baltick are not considerable in respect of us The most renowned Mountains of Europe are the Pyrenees and the Alpes towards the Confines the Cevennes about the midst of France Sierra-Morena in Spain the Apennine in Italy Parnassus in Greece Crapax between Poland and Hungary the Riphees in Moscovy Mount-Gibel otherwise call'd Aetna in Sicily Amongst the most considerable Rivers there are the Tage the Guadiana the Guadalquivir the Eber in Spain The Po the Tyber in Italy
keeps in its Metropolitan Church call'd the Dome the Relick of St. Suaire wherein the Face of our Lord is imprinted with most of his Body It boasts of having of all the Cities of Italy brought the Press into use Nice near the Sea has several Roman Antiquities and a Cittadel which seems inaccessible by reason of its situation upon a Rock Montferrat has most of its Towns upon Hills very fertile in Corn and Wine By the Peace of Quieras a part of that Country was yielded to the Duke of Savoy the other remaining the Duke of Mantua's who possesses Casal near the Po. This Town is fortified with several Bulwarks and Half-moons with a Castle and a strong Cittadel composed of six great Bastions The Land of Milan is the most beautiful Country of all Lombardy and the finest Dutchy of Christendom now possess'd by the King of Spain The Ways are pleasant almost all in a direct line with Chanels of Spring-Water on both sides and rows and plantations of Trees which make them resemble Alleys and Walks The Champain of Milan is so fertile that there is not an Inch of Land but brings forth twice a Year The Nobility as well as in the Kingdom of Naples does not meddle with Commerce as does that of the other neighbouring States The City of Milan is called Great because it is full ten Miles in compass wherein it contains above two hundred and thirty Churches ninety six Parishes as many Convents and above a hundred Fraternities It is a general Mart of the Merchandizes of France of Spain of Italy of Germany so great a number of Artizans it has of all sorts that the Italians have it for a Proverb That Milan must be ruin'd if they would accommodate Italy with them It has ever passed for a second Rome tho' it has been besieged forty times and taken two and twenty Its strength consists rather in its Men than in its Walls it being reckoned to contain above three hundred thousand persons It s Castle is one of the finest Fortresses of Europe of six great Bastions Royal invested with Brick with Grafts and Ditches full of running Water The Coast of Genoa formerly called Liguria produces Muscate-Wines Olives in abundance all manner of good Fruits the Western part particularly is full of Lemmon Orange Fig Palm and Cedar-trees the Inland of the Country is mountainous full of Woods which furnish Materials for the making of Ships and Galleys The Situation of Genoa is upon the Sea-shore part in Plains part in Hills The City is full five Miles round and has Fortifications which are yet much greater in circuit for which reason it is the greatest the most trading and the most important of all Italy towards the West The Buildings and Structures of this Town are so magnificent and so beautiful that it is called the Stately tho' very much endamag'd by the late Batteries of the French One of the principal Revenues of its Inhabitants consists in the transportation of Silk-stuffs Parma the Capital of Parmezan is the common abode of the Duke of that Name of the House of the Farnezes a Feudatory of the Church It has a Cittadel whereon Money has not been sparing for the rendring it good and a fair Palace for its Princes dwelling Modena is the Capital of the Dutchy of the same Name fortified with Bulwarks after the ancient manner inhabited by above thirty five thousand Souls In Modena it was that Brutus was in vain besieged by Mark Anthony after the Murder of Julius Caesar Octavius having happily defeated the Army of him who would by this Siege have renewed the Civil Wars Mantua is seated in the Waters of a Lake of twenty Miles in circuit which only affords entrance by Causeys into the Town Its Mills do raise a good Revenue to this Duke the Jews who are there very numerous pay him a great Tribute The Ducal Palace is one of the finest and best furnish'd in all Italy The Demesn of Venice has so many Rivers Canals and Navigable Lakes that Merchandizes are easily conveyed into all its places The Republick is independent above twelve hundred Years standing the Bulwark of Christendom against the Turks The City of Venice is one of the greatest of Europe so populous that there are reckoned above three hundred thousand persons Those who have seen it may boast of having seen one of the Wonders of the World It s Arcenal is the finest the greatest and the best furnished upon Earth The Isles whereof the City is composed are separated from one another by Chanels wherein there be above fifteen thousand Boats which they call Gondoles The Church and Palace of St. Mark are very fine Structures the Treasury of St. Mark contains immense Riches The Bishoprick of Trent which belongs to its Bishop is under the Protection of the House of Austria The City of Trent is ancient inhabited both by Italians and Germans renowned for-holding the last General Council The state of the Church is look'd upon as so much the more considerable in that the Pope who is the Temporal and Spiritual Prince of it pretends to be the Chief and Soveraign Pontife of all Christendom the Patriarch of Rome and of the West Primate and Exarch of Italy Metropolitan of the Suffragan Bishops of Rome Bishop of St. John de Lateran Rome formerly the Capital of the finest greatest and most considerable Empire of the Universe was once the Mistress of the better part of the World famous for excellent Men who have surpassed others in Valour in Piety in Justice and Temperance It has had in its beginning Kings Consuls and Emperours the Papists call it Rome the Holy by reason of the Residence of the Popes We may say it has few Equals if we consider its Antiquities Churches Palaces and Curiosities Tuscany has three principal Cities Florence Siena Pisa formerly as many Republicks Florence the Capital of this State renowned upon the account of its Beauty is large and very populous The Palace of the Great Duke has fine Pictures Jewels of great value several Rarities Lucca fortified with eleven regular Bastions is famous for its Silks and Olives The Head of this Republick is a Gonfalonier or Chief-Standard-Bearer whose Charge lasts but two Months The Kingdom of Naples is the greatest State of Italy it belongs to the King of Spain who pays for it every Year a white Hobbey to the Pope with seven thousand Ducats The Spring is there so long and so full of Flowers the Autumn so loaded with Fruits that it is esteemed a Paradise The City of Naples is the abode of several Gentlemen which makes it be called the Gentile It is situated so advantagiously that it seems an abridgment of all the Beauties of Italy There are few Cities in Europe who have so many Churches and so many Cittadels as has Naples Germany GErmany has very fertile Provinces and a great number of fine Cities The Corn Fruits Salt and other Commodities afford a very considerable
place of the Venetians in those parts is upon a Rock which buts out into the Sea and is only joyned to the Terra Firma by the space of six and twenty paces Spalato is there the Town of greatest Traffick since the late Peace Fiume belonging to the House of Austria has in its Neighbourhood the place called Tersacs where the Papists say the Chappel of the Virgin was three years and some Months before it was transported to Loretto in Italy Bosnia has had the Title of a Kingdom Servia has the City of Belgrade very considerable and as advantagiously scituated as any City of Turkey near the place where the Danube receives the Teyss and the Save Bulgaria whose ancient Inhabitants were formidable to some Roman Emperours has Sophia for the Capital a great passage from Hungary to Constantinople This Province extends as far as the Black Sea where the Ruines are to be seen of the wall which the Emperour of Constantinople caused to be set up from Silistria upon the Danube as far as Tomi noted in antiquity for the Banishment of Ovid. There dwell the Dobruck Tartars which the Turks make use of in their greatest expeditions because this Militia is no great charge to the Grand Seigniours who by the ancient conventions only pay these Tartars at the end of the Campaign a certain quantity of Cloaths and a Sultanin a Head besides the Booty they may have taken in their Enemies Countrey There is to be seen upon the Coast the City of Varne renowned for the Victory of Amurath the 2d over the Hungarians that of Nigeboli upon the Danube where the Christians were also defeated by the Infidels under Bajazet the 1. in the year 1396. Romania has for principal Cities Constantinople Adrianople Gallipoli It was formerly Thrace Constantine the great called it Romania not to abolish entirely the Name of Rome after having given his own to the City of Bizance Constantinople is the Head of the Turkish Empire so as it was of the Eastern Empire when it served for abode to the Roman and Greek Emperours It s Scituation is the most curious imaginable having the conveniency of one of the finest and best Harbours of Europe which may receive a thousand or twelve hundred great Ships it is full thirteen Miles in compass The Houses are low whether that they are built after that manner to avoid the incoveniency of the Winds or that the Turks think not fitting to raise them high as they do those of God and of their Princes or that they have no design to build for others since most commonly their Children do not succeed them in their Estates which the Grand Seignior gives to whom he thinks fitting The Church of Saint Sophia is the most stately Building of all that City and has serv'd for a Model to most of the Turskish Moskees Constantinople is very subject to Fires by reason that most of its Houses are built of Wood. In the year 452. besides a great number of Houses six and twenty thousand Volumes were burtn with the Gut of a Serpent six and twenty foot in length wherein the Iliads and Odysses of Homer were written in Letters of Gold The Preservation of this City depends on that of Gallipoli of the Castles of the Dardanelles and of the Towers of the Black Sea at the entrance of the Bosphorus where formerly a chain was made use of to barr entrance to Enemies Ships The Channel of Constantinople is so narrow that in some parts of the Town the Cocks may be heard who crow on the nearest Shoar of Asia This Channel has to Currents at the same time that which is nearest Europe carries away the Ships towards the Black Sea and that which is on the side of Asia carries them toward the Mediterranean Sea The seven Towers make a Fortress where Prisoners of State be confined Galatia a small City beyond the Port wherein are the Franks Above Galatia is the Burrough of Pera the Residence of some Christian Embassadours Formerly a Wall was raised two days Journey in length from the Black Sea as far as Selivrea to hinder the Incursions of the Scythians and of the Bulgarians Osman had a design of transferring his Seat from Constantinople to Grand Cairo Constantine left Rome for Bisance Julius Caesar had also the Thoughts of making his abode at Troy or in Alexandria Adrianople is now one of the Principal Abodes of the Grand Seignior Chiorlick a small Town where Bajazet the 2d vanquished his Son Selim the same who boasted that he wore not a great Beard as his Father did for fear the Janizaries should catch hold of it and lead him where they pleas'd Asperosa seems to be the ancient Abdera whose Inhabitants were looked upon as the most stupid in the World near this place stood the Stable of cruel Diomedes who gave his Guests to his Horses instead of Oats Greece was formerly the most famous Countrey of Europe its inhabitants had for a long time the advantage of excellence of Wit and Grandure of Courage over other Nations they have added to and brought to perfection most of the Arts and Sciences they build their Cities at some distance from the Shoar for fear of being exposed to the plunder of Pyrates who were very rife at that time and that the the Civility of the Citizens might not be corrupted by conversing with Terpawlins They sent several Collonies into Italy into Asia Minor and left their Names in most of the Regions which be upon the Mediterranean Sea Athens Sparta Argos Gorinth Thebes Megalopoli were the most powerful Cities of Greece In some of these Towns the Soveraign Power was in the hands of the People in others it was given to the most conspicuous The principal People of Greece who affected the Dominion of it and who sometimes interessed others in their party were the Athenians the Lacedemonians the Thebans the Etolians the Acheans the Boeotians the Phoceans Megara Corinth Sicion Argos Micoene Elide Arcadia Messenia have also formed considerable States Macedonia Thessalia Cyprus have had the Titles of Kingdoms Most of the other States were Realms then Commonwealths and afterwards obeyed the Macedonians in part the Romans some patticular Lords and finally the Turks The Greeks are now almost all the Greek Church their Countrey is much changed since in the hands of the Turks almost all the Towns being ruined and without defence If there be some considerable for their Strength they are kept for the maintenance of Commerce and for resisting the Christian Galleys There be six Provinces in Greece Macedonia Albania Epirus Thessalia Achaia Peloponesus these two last having particularly been called Greece All these Names except that of Albania are ancient and more known to us than those which be given them by the Turks Macedonia which Alexander the Great made one of the greatest Monarchies in the World was a Kingdom which ended in Perseus after whom the Romans swayed there as did also some petty Kings unto Amurath
rare Colonies as in the most considerable of their Conquests notwithstanding the misunderstanding that arose between Cortez and Narvaez their principal Commanders This Region tho' under the Torrid Zone seems to enjoy a perpetual Spring by reason of the purity of its Air and the goodness of its Soyl. 'T is the finest the most agreeable and the most populous of all America All Northern America is called Mexicana It has Mines of Gold and Silver wherein they work with more ease than in those of Peru the Silver that is drawn from thence is unquestionably the best in the World It produces that admirable Plant of Magucaz which produces small Wine Vinegar Honey Needles Thread Stuffs and Timber proper for building It has Cotton Hides Silk Wool Balm Sugar Salt that is made in its Lakes and several sorts of good Fruits It has all the Commodities of Europe unless Wine and Oyl Formerly 't was an Elective Kingdom full of great Cities governed with great Policy and its Inhabitants very civil Its Kings could bring into the Field Armies of three or four hundred thousand tall fighting Men. The Kings of Spain who have a Vice-Roy there whose Residence is in the Castle of Mexico have taken care to erect several Bishopricks The Mexicans are well made dexterous in melting their Metals and in making Pictures of their Feathers which they have off their Cincons small Birds of their Countrey which live only upon Dew They keep their Balls in the open Field where it is pleasant to see 'em Dance or rather make Gamboles and perform the Double Sommerset sometimes two or three thousand together Formerly the Mexicans divided their Countreys into hot and cold At present the Spaniards reckon their several small Provinces as New Galicia Guadalaira New Biscay Mexico Mechoachan Panuco Jucatan Guatimala Honduras Nicaregua Costarica Veragua and others They have establish'd Royal Audiences I mean Parliaments at Mexico Guadalaira and Guatimala There is a sort of Ravenous Birds in Guadalaira which are not much greater than our Sparrows and nevertheless make a horrible distruction of their Corn they have Bees too without stings The Province of Mexico properly taken is that which lies near the City of Mexico the greatest richest and best peopled of all America This City suffer'd a great loss in the Year 1629. all its Digues and most of its Houses having been carried away by the violence of the Waters its scituation being neer a Salt-water-Lake of about twenty five or thirty Leagues in circuit where there enters another Lake of sweet Water Since that it has been rebuilt and has full a hundred thousand Houses great and small Before the coming of the Spaniard into this Countrey there were several places very considerable neer Mexico Chulula contain'd above twenty thousand Houses with as many Temples as there are days in the year and its Inhabitants did annually put to death five or six thousand of their Children in sacrificing them to their Idols Tezeuco was twice as big as Seville in Spain Queretaro had a Fountain which wou'd furnish Water for four years together and cease running four years after Los Angelos upon the way from Vera Cruz to Mexico is a City of ten thousand Inhabitants where is a Bishoprick of great Revenue there 's also a Mint for the coining of Money Cloth Hats and excellent Glasses are made there too Acapulco upon the South Sea with a Fort of five Bastions is a Bay of good security tho' at the entrance it be but a League in breadth Jucatum is a Peninsula between the two Gulphs where the City of Merida is so call'd upon the account of its ancient Structures and Buildings which were found equal to those of Merida in Europe Tabasco the first City that made any defence against the Spaniards is a Province where the Inhabitants have great Priviledges because they contributed much to the Conquest of Mexico Near Tabasco Cortez gain'd a great Victory in the Year 1518. over Montezuma the Ninth and last King of Mexico We killed there upon the spot above three hundred thousand Indians This Land is so fertile that a Peasant having caused two Sheep to come thither from Castile those two Sheep multiplied in such a manner that there were above forty thousand of 'em in a few years The Isle of Cozumel near the Coast is famous upon the account of its ancient Idol Guatimala produces Balm Sulphur Wood and Cacao which is a Fruit like to little Almonds whereof the Inhabitants make a very delicious Drink Near Guatimala is a Vulcan that is a Mountain which casts forth Fire where a private person seeking after Treasures which he fancied there found the End both of his Wealth and his Life The Henduras furnishes Honey Cotten Cloaths and Wool Niceregua was first of all named the Paradice of Mahomet by reason of its fertility and the quantity of its Gold Its Lake of a hundred and thirty Leagues in length ebbs and flows and disgorges it self into the North Sea There was once a design of communicating it with the South Sea but they imagin'd this would cause a great deal of disorder this Sea being much higher than the North Sea because of several Rivers which have their source in its Neighbourhood and nevertheless fall into the North Sea One of the last Kings of Niceregua seems to have had some knowledge of the Mysteries of our Faith He ask'd the Spaniards What they knew of the Deluge If any was to happen If the Sun and Moon won'd one day lose their light What was the Cause of their Motion Whither the Souls went after the separation from their Bodies If the Pope and Emperour were immortal And for what reason they sought after Gold and Silver with so much Eagerness and so many Perils The Caribby Isles or the Antilles UNder the Name of Antilles are generally known all the Islands of the North Sea which are between Florida New Spain and the Firm-Land of Southern America The Luccayes seem to be so called from that of Lucayonequo Bahama gives its name there to a Channel wondrously rapid from the South to the North and famous at present for the passage of the Spanish Fleets in their return from Mexico and from the Terra Firma of America in Europe Bimini which is a place of no easie access by reason of the Flats and Rocks thereabouts has had the renown of having a Fountain which made people young again because the Women there were extraordinary Beautiful and that for their sakes several Men went to dwell there Guanahani is that which was first spyed out by Columbus who called it San. Salvador by reason it was the cause of saving him from the Conspiracy of his Men who a little before would have cast him into the Sea as not in their mind meeting soon enough with those Lands whereof he had given them such hopes Hispagniola otherwise Saint Domingo is the first Country in the New World where the Spaniards built Towns and Fortresses
whom Charles the Ninth had engaged it had a design to build a City at the mouth of the Lake Macaraybo upon the model of that of Venice but in a little while after they changed their design and chose rather to return into their Countrey New Andalousia is otherwise called Paria from its great River Its Coast as well as that of Venezuela goes under the name of Costa de las Perlas by reason of the Pearl-fishing that is there since they have ceased so doing in the Neighbourhood of the Isles of Margaretes and Cabagna Some Indians maintain and defend themselves there still against the Spaniards and most of the Sea Towns have often been pillaged and plunder'd by the English That of Comana has Salt Pits in its Neighbourhood The Countrey and City of Popayen have kept the Name of their last King The New Kingdom of Granada which was discovered by one Ximanes a Granadian furnishes Silver Copper Iron and Emeralds There was formerly one brought from hence to Philip the Second King of Spain that the Goldsmiths could not sufficiently esteem the value of it It was put into the Treasury of the Escurial Guayna THis Countrey has been named by some the Savage Coast the Countrey of the Amazons El-Dorado and Guayna this last Name which is Indian has prevailed over the rest L'Orenoque bounds it on the West the Amazon River on the East the North Sea on the North and the high Mountains towards the South and all these bounds leave it a figure which approaches very much to Oval L'Oronoque called also Paria which in the Indian Tongue signifies River does often constrain its Inhabitants by its over-flowings to make lodgings upon Trees which resemble the Nests of great Birds Amongst other Rivers of Guayna Surinam is the most Navigable Cayenne forms the Island of the same Name At the Mouth of these Rivers and all along the Coast which is generally low and extends above two hundred and fifty Leagues there are several Colonies of English French and Hollanders The Territories that lie near the Lake Parima which is in the mid'st of Guayna are said to acknowledge for their Soveraign a a Successour of Guainacapa of the Family of the Incas of Peru and compose the true Kingdom of the Golden King The rest drawing towards the Sea is possessed by divers Nations who are Idolaters and obey the most ancient of their Families Some Relations make mention of Amazons inhabiting there or rather great Women who make War with an admirable Dexterity and Valour that those of the Isle of Arowen which is at the Mouth of the Amazon River go particularly under that Name by reason of their long Hair that there are some Nations in those Parts where they truck their Women and where the Men commonly seek after the oldest because they are more laborious and fitter than the young for the management of their business The Inhabitants of Guayana are long liv'd by reason of the good Air they breath The East Winds are regular there and it is never excessively hot or cruelly cold There are places proper for the Cultivating of Manioc for Cotton for Sugar and Tobacco and others which furnish Gums Timber Precious Stones of several sorts Parrots and Monkeys Hunting and Fishing are here equally useful and pleasant Manoa near the Lake Panima the principal City of Guayna is called Eldorado by reason of the quantity of Gold which is said to be there so great both in Coin Plate Armour and other Furniture that the Inhabitants make their Arms of it cover their Bodies with it after having rubbed them with Oyl or Balm from whence it comes that people would make this Town pass for the Richest in the World The Island Cayene the principal Colony of the French in those parts is sixteen or seventeen Leagues in circumference whereof it presents five to the Sea the rest is between the arms of the River of the same Name It has several Hills and Meadows which are there called Savanes Peru. PERV is so considerable a Region that the Spaniards thought fitting to comprehend under that Name all the other parts of Southern America It is almost all under the Torrid Zone and yet it has not the Qualities of the Countreys of our Hemisphere that are in the same Zone There are three sorts of Countreys very different from one another the Plain the Mountainous and the Andes The Plain which borders upon the Sea and where it hardly ever rains is sandy and subject to Earthquakes and but ten or twelve Leagues in breadth The Mountainous which has full twenty consists in Valleys in Hills and Mountains where it is very cold The Andes that are as broad as the Mountainous part and where there be almost always continual Rains are Mountains excessively high and nevertheless fertile and well peopled so as under the Name of Peru many more Territories have been contained than those that have been conquered The Spaniards have a Vice Roy in this Countrey where they have particularly fortified Arica as a Sea-Port whether are brought the Commodities of Lima and the Riches of Potosi They invaded this Kingdom under Pizarra in the Year 1525. the Civil Wars which followed did for some time retard the absolute Conquest The Indians not being able to defend themselves pay them Tribute The King of Spain draws immense Sums from the Mines of Peru the principal Towns have almost all of 'em some and the Fond of Earth is there often of Gold and Silver for which reason Peru is without contradiction the richest Countrey in the World It is certain that the Spaniards brought from thence to the value of above twenty Millions of Ducats in the first Voyage they made thither The security of the Ways is so great that Commodities often to the worth of three or four hundred thousand Ducats are frequently conducted under the Convoy only of four Musqueteers The Incas had reign'd hereditarily in Peru for above three hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards They had caused there to be made two Royal High-ways the one in the Plain where they were at great Charges in setling the Sand and the other in the Mountains where it was necessary to fill up several Valleys These Ways were each of 'em five hundred Leagues in length and there were Houses where Travellers were entertain'd by the Inhabitants with all the care and civility imaginable The same Incas had also caused Temples to be built to the Sun to the Moon and the Stars which they called the Moons Waiting Gentlewomen to Lightning to Thunder and the Rain-bow which they said was the Executioner of the Kings Justice Some say that their Policy resembled in some manner that of the Greeks and Romans that their Government was full of Ease Franchises and Liberality They divided the World into three parts High Low and Subterranean signifying thereby Heaven Earth and Hell Atabalippa one of the last of those Incas said The Pope was not wise to
which gathers towards its Mouths stops them and that the Northerly Winds drove them up Several Moderns believe that these Waters encrease from the thawed Snow and from the Rains which fall regularly and abundantly in Ethiopia It has lately been found out that the Nitre wherewith the Nile abounds so much is the cause of all these wonderful effects and that being heated by the Sun it mingles it self with the Water renders it troubled swells it and makes it pass over its Banks insomuch that the Mud which the Nile conveyes does not come from elsewhere nor does it make its Banks the higher The Niger keeps its ancient Name which it received from the people whose Countrey it Waters It sometimes goes under the Earth and before it empties it self into the Atlantick Sea it forms three principal Branches the Senega Gambia and Rio Grande It fertilizes all the places it passes through and an abundance of Grains of Gold are found in its Sand. The Zaire is considerable for the rapidity and plenty of its Waters the Zambre forms three Branches Cuama Spiritu-Santo and Rio-de los Infantes The Ghir often loses it self in the Sand and almost as often gets out thence again The three greatest Lakes are Zaire Zembre and Zaflan all three in Ethiopia Amongst the Mountains of Africa none are more renown'd than Atlas and those of the Moon The Poets have feign'd that Heaven was supported by Atlas by reason of its excessive height or else upon the account of a King of Mauritania called Atlas who was one of the first that studied Astrology Antiquity thought this Mountain to be the boundary of the World In respect of its scituation the Romans have divided all Africa into Citerior and Vlterior and those of the Countrey divide it into Interior and Exterior Strabo and Mela separate Africa from Asia by the Nile some Arabian Geographers shut it up between the Mediterranean the Ocean and the Rivers Zaire and Nile In matter of division it seems more proper to follow the Seas than Rivers The Isthmus of Sues which hinders Africa from being an Isle is of about nine Leagues between the Red Sea and the nearest Channel of the Nile for from one Sea to the other there is above twenty five Leagues or three days journey by Camels They say that one of the Ptolemeyes Queen Cleopatra some Sultans and other Soveraign Princes of Egypt have endeavour'd to no purpose to pierce or cut the Neck of this Isthmus and that they have been discouraged from their undertaking by the vastness of the Work and by the damage the Waters of the Red Sea might do being found higher than those of the Mediterranean and so might have corrupted by their bitterness that of the Nile the only Water that 's drunk in Egypt Ptolomey intended a Memorable Work in making Africa an Island Cleopatra's design was to make her Ships pass into the Red Sea that she might have escap'd falling into Augustus's hands The Sultan's meant to facilitate the Commerce of the Europeans through their Dominions towards the constant Levy of a vast Tribute The Africans exact great Services from their Elephants their Camels and their huge Apes Dromedaries they call a sort of Camels smaller and swifter than the others they have wild Asses Unicorns Barbes Cameleons Marmousets and Parrots They get fine Feathers from their Ostriches and their Civit Cats are much esteem'd for their scents There is no living-Creature in the World that becomes so great from so small a beginning as does the Crocodile it is form'd of an Egg and still grows as long as it lives insomuch that there are those that attain to twenty five or thirty Cubits The scituation of Africa under the Torrid Zone and the abundance of its burning Sand occasions insupportable heats principally towards the Tropicks and make it the least fertile and worst peopled part of our Continent It s greatest Rivers have Crocodiles Its Mountains and Desarts are full of Lions and other wild Beasts The lack and scarcity of Water produces several Monsters Creatures of several kinds coupling commonly at the Watering-places where they meet The Anthropophagi or Man-eaters that have been found in those parts and the Slaves that are daily transported from thence do also very much contribute to the rendring it desart The Africans to consider them in general are no great Soldiers and their Armies are more numerous than good Their Combats are perform'd on Horse-back with the Lance and confusedly The Arabians who have taken up their Habitations in Africk trust in their dexterity and Address their being harden'd and enur'd to labour and their long habit of fighting renders 'em formidable to their Neighbours Some say there 's no Nation but has some good and evil but that the Africans have nothing that 's good As concerning Religion there are Idolaters Cafres without Law Mahometans Jews and Christians of several sorts The Portuguese have some Bishopricks in those places where they have made any Establishments We may consider Africa under a treble respect the Countrey of the Whites that of the Blacks and Ethiopians the Islands make a fourth The Countrey of the Whites comprehends Barbary Egypt Biledulgerid and the Zaara or Desart The Countrey of the Blacks has three parts Nigritia Nubia and Guiney Ethiopia is of two sorts Higher and Lower Ethiopia Superior is much of Abyssinia in the inward part of the Countrey Ethiopia Inferior contains Congo Cafreria with Monomotapa and Zanguebar The Islands attributed to Africk are either in the Ocean as the Tercera's Madera the Canaries the Isles of Cap-verd Madagascar and others or in the Mediterranean Sea as Maltha We are not acquainted with those of the Red Sea The Island Gueguere is within the Arms of the Nile Egypt and almost all Barbary belongs to the Turk with exception to the Kingdoms of Morocco and Fez which have a Prince of their own and to the Cities of the Corsairs and some Towns of the Christians upon the Coast Abissinia Nubia Congo and Mono-motapa have their peculiar Kings There are Arabian Cheiques in Numidia and in Libya The rest of Africa belongs to several little petty Soveraigns some of whose Dominions extend no farther than the compass of one Town or Burrough But to speak the truth we have but little knowledge of the inward part of the Countrey The Monarchs of England Spain and Portugal and the States-General of the Vnited Provinces have some Places upon the Coast which furnish 'em with the means of carrying on the Commerce with the inland parts of the Countrey The French have some places of Traffick in Barbary in Guiney and in the Isle of Madagascar which they have called the Isle Dauphine The Great Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem is Prince of the Isle of Maltha Barbary THe Ancients knew in Africa under the Name of Barbary what we call Zanguebar whereas the Modern Barbary is all along the Mediterranean-Sea where it comprehends the best Countrey of all Africk
by means of its Waters but the Rains which fall there occasion several Diseases As Commerce is now in high consideration amongst the European Nations it is not improper to say somewhat of the Coast of Nigritia Cap Blanc is a tongue of Land as hard as a Rock ten or twelve fathom high with a very spacious Haven where Ships are safe against most Winds Arguin a Castle in a little Island belongs to the Hollanders The Barks may enter into the River of St. John and treat with the Negroes for Ostridge-Feathers Gums Amber and some small Gold Senega one of the principal Branches of the Niger is not a League in breadth at its disemboguing it self into the Sea The Coast on the North of Senega is very low and hardly to be kenn'd by those that are twelve Leagues distant at Sea The Road of Cape-Verd has twelve or thirteen fathom water upon a bottom of grey Sand. The Island belonging to the Flemmings called Gorea has a Plat-form flank'd by four Bastions of Earth with a Dungeon of Bricks which did not hinder it from being insulted in the late Wars The entrance into it is on the West of the Island where Ships of a hundred Tun may touch and ride The Road is good but no fresh water to be had Rufisca is a retreat commodious enough Gambia is about five Leagues broad at its influx into the Sea but it is not Navigable for Barks above sixty Leagues 'T is said that the Portugals have remounted the Niger sometimes as far as the Kingdom of Benin in the space of above eighteen hundred Leagues that the Danes have formerly possess'd Cantozi towards the place where the Niger divides it self and that this Niger forms great Lakes upon the Banks of which there are several good Cities from whence go Caravans as far as Tripoli of Barbary The English in hopes of getting some of the Gold of the Countrey had a design to go up the Senega with several light Ships but the excessive heats the insults of the Negroes accompanied with some Portugueses made them lay aside the thoughts of their Enterprize The Negroes are commonly simple and candid Idolaters towards the Sea Mahometans in the inland Countrey They have three pretty considerable Kingdoms Tombut Borno and Gaoga Most of their Cities are not to be compared with our Towns the Houses being only built of Wood Chalk and Straw and often one of these Cities makes a Kingdom The last Kings of Tombut whom they call Tombouctou have had the reputation of possessing a great quantity of Gold in Bars and Ingots They are said to have this Gold from the Kingdom of Gago and that from the Kingdoms of Morocco and Sus there go often several Cafiles or Caravans for the bringing it thence The Kingdom of Gualata produces Milet. That of Agades has a City indifferently well built Borno formerly the abode of the Garamantes is inhabited by a People who live in common private persons there acknowledge for their Children those who resemble them and the flattest nosed are the handsomest and greatest Beauties Several Nations are between the branches of the Niger where some Authors place the Gardens of the Hesperides Those of Senega send abroad Slaves Gold in dust Hides Gums and Civit Cats The Negroes are very strong and are more sought after and bought up by the Europeans than those of other Countreys They of Guiney are docible for which reason they are commonly made domestick servants Those of Angola are employed in cultivating of Land by reason of their strength 'T is a saying That he who expects to have any service from his Negro must give him Food enough a great deal of Work and many Blows On the South of the Niger are several other small Kingdomsâ— that of Melli with a City of six thousand Houses Gago rich in Gold as we have said Zegzeg considerable for its Commerce Zanfara fertile in Corn. The enumeration of the other places would be here as tedious as it is unnecessary since they are neither strong nor well peopled and but a very little trade is driven by ' em The Portugals have yielded up to the English some Fortresses which they had towards the Mouths of the Niger which has given our Nation the means of trafficking here and making Enterprizes as do also the Hollanders Nubia NVbia is three hundred and fifty Leagues in length and two hundred in breadth It retains some remnants of Christianity in its old Churches and in the Ceremonies of Baptism that is there administred The Nubians obey a King who commonly keeps Cavalry upon the Frontiers of his Dominions because he hath potent Enemies for his Neighbours the Abissin and the Turk Histories affirm That an Army of a hundred thousand Horse was formerly Levyed and led by a King of Nubia against the Governour of Aegypt Gold Civet Sandal-Wood Ivory Arms and Linnen are Transported from this Country The Commerce of the Nubians is most especially with those of Cairo and the other Cities of Aegypt They have a strong subtle and penetrating Poyson in this Countrey the tenth part of a Grain of which will kill a man in a quarter of an hour and the Ounce is valued at a hundred Ducats One of the King 's principal Revenues consists in the Receipt of the Right of Exportation 'T is sold to Strangers but upon condition of not making use of it but out of the Kingdom The Inhabitants have Sugar-Canes but they know not how to improve them They have amongst them Bereberes of the Mahometan Religion who go in Troops to Cairo and return from thence when they have gotten ten or twelve Piasters The capital Cities are Nubia and Dancala near the Nile the others are but little known to us A Relation of the Year 1657 affirms That the King of Dancala pays a Tribute in Cloths to the King of the Abissins Geography in some sort is indebted to this Countrey since it presented the World with the Author of the famous Geography of Nubia the Cherif-Alderisi Guiney GViney is subject to such great Heats that were it not for the Rains and the coolness of the Night it would be uninhabitable It sends abroad Parrots Apes White-Salt Ivory Skins Wax Amber-Greece Gold and Slaves Its Inhabitants have the repute of being presumptuous thievish Idolatrous and extreamly superstitious It s best Town is St. George de la Mina now in Possession of the Hollanders The English have amongst others Cabo Corso and the Danes Fredericksbourg Most of the Portugals who succeeded the French in that Colony have been compelled by reason of their small numbers to retire into the Inlands during the Wars with Spain The Castle of La Mina having been so called from the Mines of Gold which are in its Neighbourhood the name of St. George was given it by John the Second King of Portugal who after having made the Conquest of it conceal'd the Commerce thereof as long as he could Benin is a particular Kingdom with the best
City of all Nigritia Ardre towards the Coast has its King from whom there was an Ambassadour to the French King at Paris towards the latter end of the Year 1670 for the establishment of Traffick in its Dominions The Coast of Maleguetta is so call'd from a kind of Pepper which it produces and which is said to be better than that of the Indies Apes do them great service in Guinca Those that are called Barris fetch Water turn the Spit and serve too at Table Abissinia or Aethiopia THis Countrey is otherwise call'd Abech Abassia Abassinia the Empire of the Negus the Kingdom of Prester John the Middle-Indies the Southern-Indies the High or Great Aethiopia Those of the Countrey give their King the Name of Belulgian by reason of the Ring which the Queen of Sheba received from Salomon and which since that time has been Hereditary in that Royal Family Those who call him Prester-John do it upon this foundation that he sometimes carries a Cross in his hand The Popish Missionaries boast that some of the late Kings have been Catholicks But since the Jesuits who had been powerfully establisht in that Countrey have been Banish'd thence the Papists complain of the Persecution their followers have suffered in those parts The Abissins have a great number of Churches where Divine Service is performed much after the same manner it is here This Land is temperate unless in the Valleys where it is very hot and upon some Mountains where it is cold The Aethiopians are the most ancient People in the World and boast of having never been driven from their Countrey They are dexterous active blith and perform better than other people in great Employments The Mahometans are used to Spirit away the Abissin Children and go sell them to Indian Princes They are so-so Souldiers for Africans but they have not the Art of Building nor of Grinding their Corn and they often eat Cows flesh all raw with Salt and Pepper which they look upon as a peculiar Delicacy They have Civet-Cats and make use of Cloth Stones Salt and little pieces of Iron instead of money for which purpose they also use Gold which they give by weight They do not work in their Mines of Gold and Silver of Narea which has given occasion to say of their Prince That he might with his Treasures purchase whole Worlds The King of Abissinia to whom is also given the title of Emperour is Absolute in all the Territories of his Dominions And this it is that makes his principal Revenue He commonly keeps his Court in the open Field sometimes in one place sometimes an other He has few Cities but a great number of Villages Several places upon the Frontier of the Galles have been fortified for the security of the Inhabitants against the incursions of those people the capital Enemies of the Abissins The Turks hold the City of Suaquem upon the Red Sea whither the Vice-Roy of Barnagasse has commonly sent a Tribute of a thousand Ounces of Gold There are several Relations of Aethiopia and for the most part fabulous But the Jesuits pretend that the late ones they have published to be the most certain According to the Account of an Abissin Ambassadour sent to the Grand Seignior in the Year 1657 Gonthar was the abode of the Emperour Four Kings were tributary to him The King of Sennar which is a hot Country paid him his Tribute in Horses the King of Narea paid it him in Gold The Kings of Bugia and Doncala payed it him in Linnen and Cloth These Dominions are not of so great an extent nor of the same scituation they have hitherto been shown us The Galles on one side have subdued several great Provinces in the Southern part and the Moores have rendred themselves Masters of several places all along upon the Red Sea upon the Coast of Abex According to the late Relations the Sources of the Nile are placed in the Province of the Agaux at twelve Degrees of Northern Latitude which shows in the Cart the difference of above thirty of those Degrees That famous River goes first of all towards the North and then towards the East across the Lake of Bardambea from thence towards the South and towards the West so to return to take its Course pretty near its Sources towards the North and to continue it thro' Aegypt Twenty four small Kingdoms have been commonly accounted in Abissinia that of Amara has a Fortress upon a Mountain called Amba Guexem where formerly were kept the Princes of the Royal Blood Goyama is almost environed with the Nile Which has given some occasion to say that it is the Island Meroe There is in that of Tigermahon the City of Caxumo or Aceum which is said to have been the Residence of the Queen of Sheba several of the Abissin Kings have held their Coronation in that Town Dambea has the famous Lake Bar-Dambea and 's not very far off the City of Gorgora one of the last Residences of the Kings The Coast of Abex upon the Red Sea is full of Woods The tongue of the ancient Troglodites who inhabited it had this peculiarity that it resembled whistling Some have endeavoured to persuade the World that the King of the Abissins might very much incommode the Grand Seignior if he diverted the Waters of the Nile into the Red Sea and so render Aegypt dry This proposition has rendred them ridiculous because there are Mountains that must of necessity be cut through for the bringing this about and that these Mountains which have the Sources of several great Rivers make Aethiopia one of the highest Countreys of all Africa Albuquerque Vice-Roy of the East-Indies for the King of Portugal seems to have had the same design but he did not pursue the putting it into execution He it was who would have caused the Body of Mahomet to be stollen away and have pillaged Mocha with three hundred Horse which he had sent from Ormus upon Ships made on purpose for this Design Congo COngo is a temperate Countrey the Rains and Winds moderating the Heat which is insupportable in the adjacent parts Africa has no Regions that abound more in Rivers The Zaire which is the principal one of this Countrey is considerable for its rapidity and for the abundance of its Waters The Congolans know not how to make use of the Commodities of their Land and though they have Mines of Gold they have none but shells for Money Several amongst them have been converted to Christianity after the example of some of their Kings The Portugueses bring from thence Ivory and Slaves They have their establishment in the Royal City called San-Salvador and in that of St. Paul in the small Island of Loanda where they get fresh Water out of the holes they make in the sand They keep a Garrison in the Forts of Massagan and Cambambo in the Kingdom of Angola for the security of their Silver-Mines in which they work and here it is they assemble their
reason there having been reckoned above five hundred and seventy It s extent from the South to the North is about seventy Leagues Its breadth thirty somewhere more somewhere less according as it is bounded either by the Mountains of Arabia or by Jordan What is there call'd the Desart is so stiled in that it has not all the fertility that is found in the Countreys which are near it It s modern Division is into three Principalities Sayd Cossaria and Gaza Two Governments are under the Bashaw of Damascus Jerusalem and Naplouse Jerusalem tho' fallen from its ancient Lustre still preserves those places which Jesus Christ was pleas'd to honour with his presence It has been famous for the bigness beauty and riches of its Temple for its Kings for its High-Priests and for other particularities It was ruined by Nebuchadnezzar by Vespasian and Titus These two last saw the Death of Eleven hundred thousand Persons There are eight Nations of Christians who are rank'd in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Roman Catholicks the Maronites the Greeks the Armenians the Syrians or Jacobites the Copties or Aegyptians and the Georgians One of the Gates of the City called the Eye of a Needle has given occasion to the Proverb that a Camel may as soon pass through the Eye of a Needle as a Rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Nazareth is the place where the Saviour of the World was conceived Bethlem that where he was born There are an infinite number of rare things to be remark'd upon these Cities of the Holy Land The misfortune is that they are hardly any longer to be known Some Islands in the Mediterranean Sea belong to the Turks whereof that of Cyprus is the greatest It has the Title of a Kingdom and formerly contained nine Nicosia is the Capital City of the Island Famagusta the Principal Sea-Port This Famagusta was the last place which the Venetians defended there against the Turks who took it at last after a Siege of seventy dayes and above a hundred and forty thousand Shot made against the Town The Grotto of the seven Sleepers is near the City of Baffo In an Abbey near Limisso they keep Cats brought up to the hunting of Serpents after which they return back thither at the ringing of a Bell. The Isle of Rhodes is famous for the ancient abode of the Knights of the same Name who were constrained to yield it to the Turk in the Year 1522 For the Colossus of the Sun which was so prodigious that few persons could embrace the thumb of it Great Ships passed easily with full Sails between its Leggs When the Sarazens caused the Copper of it to be carried into Aegypt they found it to load above nine hundred Camels The Isles of Chio and Metilin are in the Archipelago Chio one of the most fertile and most delicious in the World produces excellent Fruits Malmsy Wine and particularly Mastick It has the High and Low Town and in both are reckoned above twenty thousand Mortals They are almost all Christians Greeks and Latins and there is not a place under the Turk where the Christians have more freedom Metelin affords excellent Wines And the Nightingales are said to sing more melodiously there than elsewhere It s ancient Inhabitants have had the reputation of being very expert Mariners In the last Age the famous Barberossa who is said to have been a Native of this Island rendred himself formidable to all Christendom Patmos or Palmosa is known for the Exile and the Grotto of St. John the Evangelist The Isle of Lango under the Name of Cos has passed for the native Countrey of Hippocrates and Appelles The enviers of Hippocrates attribute all his knowledge to Medicinal Receipts which were brought into the Temple of Aesculapius Apelles observ'd proportion in his Pictures whereas Zeuxis made them greater than Nature for the giving them Majesty The Inhabitants of Lango are said to have found out the first use of Silk-Worms Not far from thence there is a little Island called Caloiero which is almost impregnable It is only a steep Rock where the Monks and those who inhabit it draw up their Boats after them with Ropes Georgia UNder the Name of Georgia we bring Mingrelia Gurgistan Zuiria and Circassia Provinces where the ancient Romans were not able to establish their Empire by reason of the sharpness of the Mountains known by the Ancients under the Name of Caucasus celebrated in the fable of Prometheus All these Provinces lie between the Black and Caspian Seas which are thought to communicate with one another because they have Fish of the same kinds and that those Territories which lie between both seem to have a superficies of but little depth principally when they go on Horse-back there From thence they transport Silk Stuffs Wax Honey Little Money is made use of most of the Georgians being so poor that they often sell their Children to have wherewith to subsist on An Inhabitant has been known there to exchange his Mother for a Turkish Horse that was to his mind There are in Georgia several Christians and some Mahometans The true Natives have a peculiar tongue Several amongst them are free some have their Kings others acknowledge either the Turk or the Persian according to the necessity of their affairs Those who obey the Turk have great Priviledges in his Dominions they pay him but a very inconsiderable Tribute may enter armed and with displayed Ensigns into Jerusalem Teflis has a particular King who owns Allegigiance to him of Persia Derbent often disputed by the Turks and the Persians is in the Passage that is called the Port of Iron these are the Remnants of the Caspian Ports that are seen upon Mount Barmach with some Springs of Medicinal Oyl The Tartars of Dagestan who are near it are commanded by the Schemkal a Prince whose Dignity depends on fate when he is dead those who pretend to have his Place assemble around and a Priest cafts a Golden Apple in the midst of them which makes him Prince it touches for they don't scramble for Sovereignty Mingrelia otherwise Imereti and Basciaciuch lies near the Black Sea at the place where that Sea receives the Faze which contrary to other Rivers has fresh waters above and salt below In the Countrey about Faze Pheasants were first of all had There are caught several other sorts of Birds especially Crows and Jackdaws In the Year 1642 those Birds eat a prodigious quantity of Herrings which the Sea had cast upon the Coast to the height of a foot and half There are White Bears which prove that those Creatures form a particular sort of Bears Mingrelia upon the Eastern part of the Black Sea is the ancient Colches famous for the Amour of Jason and Medea and the coming thither of the Argonautes to sharpe the Golden Fleece This Fleece when the Metaphor is shorn off is thought by the wise to have consisted in the Mines of Gold or else in the
that they keep Registers of their Race which are from time to time approv'd of by the Judges Horses of the most noble and commonly Mares are sometimes sold for three or four thousand Piasters The Arabians eat their Meals crouching upon their Heels whereas the Turks eat upon Cushions cross-legg'd the oldest among 'em wear the finest Cloaths and the gaudiest Colours Their Predecessours prohibited Buildings and the tilling of Lands for that those who stood possess'd of great stocks if they meant to enjoy 'em were easily constrain'd to obey them who aim'd at subduing ' em They made also that Member of the Noble Race Successour of the Kingdom who came first into the World after the proclaiming of the King In the comparison of the Manners and Maximes of the Levantine Nations with those of Europe the Arabians are made to resemble the Italians the Persians the French the Turks the Spaniards Arabia in general is subject to such great heats that they are constrain'd to keep the Markets by night There is a great number of Mountains and few Rivers It is divided into three parts Petraea Deserta and Foelix the two former is almost wholly in the possession of the Turks Arabia Foelix has several petty Sovereigns Arabia Petraea was inhabited by the Madianites Moabites Amalekites and Idumeans Nations of whom mention is often made in the Holy Oracles Its Inhabitants pay Tribute to the Bashaw of Cairo Crac otherwise Montreal formerly call'd Petra has communicated to it its Name Busseret is the Countrey of Philip the Roman Emperour who is said to have embrac'd Christianity Tor upon the Red-Sea is a Port defended by a four-square Castle There are in the places adjacent found petrified Mushrooms white Corral Chagrin small Oysters and sometimes Sea-men or such people as are bred and live in the Sea 'T is said the Red-Sea is but three Leagues broad in that place and that the Children of Israel pass'd it over there dry-shod when they came out of Aegypt that it was one of the Ports from whence Solomon sent his Fleets into Ophir to fetch Gold Pegs of Wood are put into the Ships of the Places that belong to this Sea because little Iron is to be found there Those who have a mind to impose Talk as that if they made use of Iron Nails instead of Pegs the Ships would be attacked and stopp'd by the Loadstone that is found in the neighbouring Mountains Mount Oreb is famous in the Holy Writ for the burning Bush wherein God appear'd to Moses Sinai is illustrious for the Decalogue or Ten Commandments which this Prophet receiv'd It is extraordinary high and nevertheless the Mount St. Catherine which is near it is much higher Arabia Deserta is a Countrey where they often want good Water tho' there be some Wells the Water for the most part is hardly worth any thing Ana upon the Euphrates has an Arabian Emir There is a King in this Arabia who has a moving and portative City which consists in Tents and he causes it to be carried whither he pleaseth He takes this course to avoid being surpriz'd by the Turks Sumiscasac is esteem'd the ancient Saba from whence departed the three Kings or rather wise Men to come and adore the Saviour of the World in Bethlehem Arabia Faelix goes under that Name as being a good Countrey It has Horses very much esteem'd Manna Cinnamon Myrrh Balm Benjamin Incense and other Perfumes There is so great a quantity of Incense that from the Port of Dolfar the Inhabitants furnish the principal parts of the World Aden is a City of great trade in a small Peninsula at the foot of a Mountain with two Castles towards the North and a small Fortress at the entrance of the Harbour The Portugals at the time of their establishment in the East Indies had Orders to make themselves Masters of Aden Ormus and Malaca by reason of their important situations The Turks prevented them at Aden whose King they caused to be hang'd on the Mast of their Captain 's Galley Since that time there have been some Revolutions those of the Countrey having dispossess'd the Turks Ormus and Malaca have been in the power of the Portuguese the Persians have taken from them Ormus by the help of the English and the Hollanders Malaca Mecha and Medina are famous for the Pilgrimages of the Mahometans who are in great esteem after such a Journey they go particularly to Mecha to pay their devotion to Kiaabee the four-square House which they call the House of God as having been built by Abraham This City about as big as York as containing about six thousand Houses is a days journey distant from the Red-Sea the place of the Birth of Mahomet whose body was as some Authors say transferred to Medina when Albaquerque the Portuguese would have surpriz'd the Port of Ziden otherwise called Gidde with design to go with Cavalry and fetch away that Mahometan Relick The Countrey about Mecha produces in abundance that sort of Berry which serves to make the Drink called Coffee so much us'd in the Levant by reason of its virtue to fortifie the Stomach and facilitate Digestion Medina three days journey from the Red-Sea is the place where that pretended Prophet lyes buryed Endeavours have been used to make his Tomb pass for a Wonder as if it was suspended in the Air by the means of the Load-stone this is not only found to be a fallacy but Antiquity shews us such like things Democritus the Athenian by order of Ptolomey King of Aegypt undertook to make the Statue of Arsinoe all of Iron for to dispose it after the like manner and in the Temple of Serapis in Alexandria they formerly hung up the same way a Sun made of a very delicate Iron The Prince of Mecha called Sultan Scherif is one of the most Potent of all Arabia His most usual Residence is in Almacharana The Grand Seignior makes him often Presents and causes part of the Revenue of Aegypt to be given him by reason that he 's of the Race of Mahomet and to oblige him to defend the Turkish Pilgrims The Arabians call Scherifs the Relations of Mahomet the Turks call them Emirs Fartach Caxem Gubel-haman Alibinali Amanzirifdin Masfa Mascalat Jemen are as many Sultanies or small Kingdoms in Arabia-Felix Mascate formerly belonging to the Portugals has for a long while carried on the trade from the Indies to the Mecha by the means of the Cities El-Catif and Lehsa Sohar in the Eastern part drove the Commerce which has since been to Ormus and to Gombru Mocha upon the Red Sea is an open Town with a small Castle By reason of the goodness of its Haven there resort thither Ships from all parts of the East-Indies with Merchandizes to take in those of Europe which are in like manner brought thither There are Jews Persians Armenians Indians Banians It is the place where the Pilgrims disembark who go from the Indies to Mecha 'T is much augmented since the
Ships which were bound from Sues to Aden unload there for the avoiding the dangerous Passages of the Streight of Bebel-Mandel Persia PErsia bears the Name of one of its ancient Provinces that is now called Fars It 's one of the most considerable Kingdoms of Asia by reason of the Riches of its principal Towns and the Union of its Forces it is more fertil and populous than Turkey its Inhabitants the most civil and the best polished of all the Mahometans There is more politickness and more refined Wits than in Turkey They love good order and justice and favour Strangers Its Rivers which have this particular of having neither Pike nor Eel are not Navigable They commonly go under the Name either of their Cities or their Colours They furnish the conveniency for the making of Channels for the watering the Lands they become smaller the nearer they come to the Sea and sometimes are entirely dryed up by the Diversions that are made of them The Neighbourhood of the Sea of Bassera and that of the Caspian is more fertil and more temperate than the Inland Countreys which have Desarts and Mountains where it seldom rains for which cause the Fruit-trees receive no Water but at the Foot and Root This Kingdom is one of the most Ancient Monarchies of the World the Assyrians Medes Persians and Parthians have begun their Empires here The Policy of this Kingdom is in great esteem the Government easie supportable to the Persians and to Strangers There is no talk of Robbers the Rights of Hospitality are so regularly observ'd that the King will have all Foreigners to be reputed as his Guests The Name of Scha is bestow'd on the Kings of Persia the Vulgar attribute to them that of Sophi which is a proper Name They were formerly call'd Great Kings and Kings of kings principally when they had Vanquished the Grecians The Name of Sultan which in Turkey signifies King in Persia only signifies the Governour of a Town The Persians have alwayes had their Sovereign in great estimation Still at this day they think to confirm a thing much more strongly by the name of their King than by that of God perhaps after the Mode of those of Achem in the Isle of Sumatra who say that God is afar off and the King near at hand The Riches of the ancient Persian Kings have been immense as may be seen by the Treasures which Alexander the Great found in the Coffers of Darius Scha-Sefi one of the late Monarchs had for common service 7200 Marks in Vessels of Gold Herbert says that in his time there has been seen in Asharat for the service of Scha-Abbas Vessels of Gold and others to the value of 260 Millions of Livers The Persians are well proportion'd have little experience in the Art of Navigation tho' they be near the Sea When the Portugals would have drove them from Ormus they had recourse to the Ships of the English Their Women are in great esteem through all Asia for their Beauty their Horses for their agility their Camels for strength In the Countrey they have a saying Bread of Yesde-Kast Wine of Schiras Women of Yesde Their Religion is Mahometan of the Sect of Hali the King allows that the Carmelites the Augustins the Capuchins the Jesuits have their Houses and Churches in this capital City Ispahan where the Superiours of those Houses perform the Function of Ambassadours for Christian Princes of the Roman Communion The Persian Tongue is so sweet and soft that it is in little use but amongst the Women and Poets the King and Persons of Condition commonly make use of the Turkish Language Persia is as a Go-between to the Turks and Europeans for the Commerce of the Indies It furnishes the finest Silk-stuffs and the best Tapestries that are seen Cloaths of Gold Bezoar Manna Rhubarb Rose-Water Turquoises which are taken at the Mountain of Phirouskou four Leagues from Meschet a City renowned for the Pilgrimages of the Mahometans of Persia The Silk of Chorasan is very fine that of Kilan somewhat courser There are Fields of Salt some Mines of Copper Iron and Steel in Chorasan of Lead in Kirman Gold and Silver is imported from abroad as well as Wood. The greatest Trade is droven to Bagdad for Turkey to Gombru for the Indies The Kings of Persia do allow of Commerce upon their Coasts but suffer not any Fortresses to be made there the Mogul the Emperour of China and other Eastern Kings take the same course in their Dominions They have powerful Neighbours of the Turk and the Mogul The strength of their State consists principally in its situation there being high Mountains and great Desarts in its neighbourhood Ismael Sophi had three hundred thousand Men in Arms against Selim Emperour of the Turks the ancient Kings had sometimes Armies of seven or eight hundred thousand Men. The usual Armies now-a-days are of fifty or sixty thousand Horse besides thirty thousand that are kept upon the Frontiers this number would be much greater if we reckon'd all those who go to the Army The Persians wear the Red Turbant wherefore they are called Keselbas the Tartars of Giagatay wear it green that of the Turks is white and that of the Grecians blew Their Soldiers are of four sorts Fuzeliers Slaves Keselbas Life-guard-men all Troopers There is a great antipathy between the Persians and Turks Those who observe that antipathy amongst the Nations of the World say that it is between the Chineses and Japoneses betwixt the Armenians and Nestorians between the Arabians and Abyssins between the French and Spaniards betwixt the Italians and Greeks between the Germans and Polanders between the Danes and Swedes between the Muscovites and Tartars between the English and Scotch between the Irish and Welch betwixt the Hurons and Iroquins Nations of Canada Here follows the enumeration of the Provinces of Persia according to the most receiv'd Relations Arak Fars Chusistan Adherbeitzan Iran or Karabach Schirwan Kilan Teberestan or Mesanderan Chorasan Sablestan Sirestan Kirman Tzisire and Diarbeck These two last are between the Euphrates and Tigris and belong to the Turk The Governours are called Chans or Cans sometimes Sultans The City of Ispaham the abode of the King of Persia is one of the greatest of all Asia compos'd of four Cities it is likewise one of the finest if we consider its stately Palaces delicious Gardens spacious Market-place rich Bazars Exchanges or publick places which make the Inhabitants call it the half of the World The Arabians who have no P in their Alphabet call it Isfaham There is a remarkable Tower upon the King's Stables all built with Goats heads and other wild Animals which were taken in one Royal Match of Hunting Caswin or Casbin is esteemed the ancient Ecbatana where the King of Media dwelt where Parmenio was killed and Ephestion died whose Funerals cost above twelve thousand Talents that is twelve thousand times six hundred Crowns Schiras is near the Ruins of the ancient Persepolis which was
King of Narsinga who is the Raja of Velou whose Territories advance towards Cape Comorin stiles himself the King of Kings and the Husband of a thousand Wives The City of Bisnagar is upon a Mountain with a Cittadel There are on this Coast the Naiques or Princes of Madura Tanaior and Gingi and in their Dominions Inhabitants who have pleasant Imaginations they make the number of their Gods mount to thirty three Millions They say that the Globe of the Earth is supported with a Serpent arm'd with a thousand Heads on which all the World is pois'd that this Serpent is born by eight Elephants who stand upon the Back-bone of a Tortoise which of its self remains firm and motionless even with the Water They also multiply the Seas and make seven different ones of them the one of Water the other of Milk the third of Cream the fourth of Butter the fifth of Salt the sixth of Sugar and the seventh of Wine These small States have rose out of the ruins of that of Narsinga The late Relations make mention of the Kingdom of Messur bordering upon that of Madura of the Moravan People being very Warlike and of the Land of Thieves There are several Apes in the Woods of this Country where People take the Diversion of making them fight to get Rice Golconda belongs to a Mahometan King of the Sect of the Persiaens there is a Mine of Diamonds so abounding that in the Year 1622. the King caused it to be stopped up for some time for fear that the too great quantity would render them common or that the Mogul might have a desire to possess it This Mine is at the foot of a Mountain where are sometimes a hundred thousand Workmen There are also Mines of Iron and Steel the Steel that is drawn from thence passes for the best of all the Levant The Inhabitants of this Countrey are very much addicted to Traffick though the Countrey be Mountainous and Sandy yet it produces great plenty of Rice The King has so many Customs and Imposts that there accrue to him from thence above twenty Millions They speak Talenga in this Kingdom and reckon by Gauts each of which comes to six thousand paces The City of Golconda is one of the most beautiful and strongest of all India it is also one of the greatest being divided into three Citites Badnaguar otherwise Hidraband where is the King's Palace though it be without Walls Golconda where is the Cittadel Emanjour upon a River which separates it from the former The King's Palace is the most magnificent of all those of India it is twelve Miles compass Gold is there employed to such uses as we employ Iron for Mazalpatan an unwalled Town has narrow Streets and low Houses it is strong by Situation in a marshy place where it has a Bridg of fifteen thousand paces in length It s Harbour or Road is half a League from the City commodious for all sorts of Ships most Europeans have their Factors here The Inhabitants of the Town drive a great Trade in Stained or Painted Cloaths and other Works of Cotton so delicately wrought and with such lively Colours that they are more esteemed than those of Silk The Fortress of Condapoli has six Fortifications one upon another each with its conveniency and Lands capable of nourishing its Garrison There are sixty other places of defence in the Kingdom of Golconda The Peninsula of India extra Gangem IN this part of India is a great number of good and great Rivers which render it fertile by their Inundations and which afford the means of Transporting thence the same Merchandizes as from the Neighbouring Countries The Elephants do great service principally when Fire has seized on any place for then they pull down with a wonderful dispatch and dexterity the Houses neighbouring on those which are burning upon a certain signal from him who governs them they take away with their Trunk the Roof of the House that is shew'd them and Butt down the Walls that remain without going beyond the Order that is given them The Inhabitants of these Countries are for the most part Pagans and live in a state of War under divers Kings in whose Dominions are daily wrought some Changes or other the most powerful still becoming Masters of the weakest Aracan is fertile in Grains and Silver-Mines Pegu was very considerable when it comprehended two Emperors and twenty six Kingdoms It is much decayed and fallen from its grandeur through the Wars it sustain'd against the King of Siam for the maintaining itself in the possession of a White Elephant This Elephant was in so much the greater esteem amongst the Indians in that they firmly believed that their Xaca or Prophet was Metamorphosed into such an Animal In the Year 1661. the Tartar Victorious over China push'd on his Conquests thither in pursuing Constantin the last King of the Chineses The Glasses of the Pagods which are the Churches of the City of Pegu are of Tortoise-shells so as those of Goa are of Mother of Pearl The City of Siam which is otherwise called Odia or India is twenty Leagues from the Sea upon the Menan River which overflows every six Months the Indians call it in this manner as if it was the Mother of Waters This River has three Mouths whereof the most Eastern is the most commodious Several Ships come to the City of Bankok six Leagues from the Sea from thence their Boats and Pinnaces go twenty Leagues as far as the City of Siam The King of Siam has been very absolute has had several small Tributary Princes but has since own'd Homage to the Tartar Master of China He is an Idolater and nevertheless allows of the Building of some Christian Churches in his Capital Cities nay he himself has caused some to be Built at his own cost He himself Trades out of his Dominons are Transported Buck-skins Benjamin and all other precious Merchandises of India The Siamois contrary to other Orientals dispose their Writing after the same manner as do the other Orientals Tanacerin near an Isthmus Ligor and Patane drive a great Trade This Country is fertile temperate and brings forth Fruits every Month of the Year Hens Geese and Ducks lay often their Eggs twice a day insomuch that Victuals are in abundance and at easie rates Malaca with a strong Castle is as the Centre of the East-Indies where you may wait for Winds fair for the Navigation you intend to make Barks may enter into it by the River but great Ships cast anchor between the two Islands that are in the mouth of the River The City ows its rise to Fishermen of Pegu Siam and Bengala who frequented it establishing there at the same time a new Tongue which is at present receiv'd in several parts of India The Portugals gave out that the Air hereof was unwholsome which was to prevent all desire in other Nations of setling themselves here In the Year 1641 the Hollanders made themselves Masters
of it People observe there for a rarity the doleful Tree whose Flowers only come by Night and fall at the sight of the Sun Ihor in the most Southern part of India is built upon Posts near a River which divides it into two Ports Cambodia whose King is a Vassal of that of China drives a great Trade The City of the same Name is sixty Leagues from the Sea built in length upon a rising ground to exempt it self from the Inundation of its River The Mecon which passes by it has two principal Mouths which separate themselves afterwards into two others It is Navigable In the Year 1644 four Holland Ships entred it and got out again notwithstanding the endeavours and oppositions of the King of that Countrey who would have hindred them from so doing Cochinchina is one of the best Kingdoms of all India A great number of Galleys are kept there where the Office of Rower is more sought after than in Europe the French Bishops have been busie there to promote the Catholick Religion Tunquim or Tonkin has its peculiar King as well as Cochinchina and Cambodia Upon the Confines of China and India there are People called Maug Timocoves Gueyes and others The Tunquiners are the best Fire arms-men of all Asia instead of Purses they have little Strings whereon they file their Copper Money which are round pieces pierced thro' the middle distinguish'd from sixty to sixty by certain marks they carry them upon their shoulders or else around their arms The Country of Tunquim is boggish watry and interlaced with above thirty Rivers which fall into the Sea the Air is nevertheless very pure They reckoâ— they have aobut twenty thousand Villages and six great Provinces wherein are said to be two hundred thousand Christians The capital City is esteemed twenty Miles in circuit wherein it contains above a Million of Persons There are upon the Frontiers Forests full of Apes who go sometimes to the number of three or four hundred and ravage the fields from whence they carry a prodigious quantity of Rice which they fasten between their skin and a girdle of straw which they make for that purpose This Country has no wall'd Towns or Fortresses The King of Tunquim has above fifty thousand Soldiers for this guard and keeps above sixty thousand upon the Frontiers of Cachinchina with whose Prince he is often at Dagger's drawing He is said to have above five hundred Elephants about as many Galleys most of em well fitted and finely guilt It is by the means of the Elephants that the Tunquiners have maintain'd themselves against the Chineses who did domineer over 'em for somewhile The most modern Relations make seven Kingdoms pass under the Name of Tunquim Tunquim Cochinchina Ciucanghe or Caubang the small Bao the little Lao and the Mountains of Rumoy or Kemois where there is a little King of Fire and another of Water They likewise make mention of the great Kingdom of Lao which extends from fourteen Degrees to two and twenty and a half of Northern Latitude upon a breadth of fifty Miles along a River of same Name where Langione at eighteen Degrees of Latitude is the capital City They likewise mention that its King has for Tributaries those of Bao Ciocangue Ava and that there are full five hundred thousand Men capable of Service in his Dominions The Maldive Islands THe Maldive's Islands situate on the South of India both on this and the other side the Equinoctial have this Name from their City called Male and from Dive which signifies Island in the Language of the Country They are said to be twelve thousand in all which is spoke at hazard and an uncertain number is taken for a certain These Islands are dispers'd from the North-East to the South-East into thirteen Provinces which the Inhabitants call Atollons whereof each has a Bank for its Ramparts Some of 'em are only Rocks or heaps of Sand and all are very small That of Male which is the Principal is not a League in compass They are interlaced with several Arms of the Sea environed with Rocks which render 'em of very difficult access It has been the good pleasure of Divine Providence that there are four Ports or four Openings to the Issues of each Atollon that those Ports corresponding to one another the Inhabitants might communicate together Without this help the Ships would be hurried away by the great Currents of the Sea for above seven or eight hundred Leagues from the Maldives These Currents go six Months towards the East six Months towards the West sometimes more sometimes less The Chanels through which the Ships may pass most easily are those of Malos-Madou of Adou and Sovadou this is twenty Leagues broad As the Sea is but shallow in these parts and there are commonly high Winds and few Commodities few Europeans resort to these Islands The King of Maldives is called Rascan His Revenue consists in the Misfortunes of others that is to say it accrews from the Shipwracks of Vessels that are cast away in those parts Certain it is there is no trust to be put in the Pilots of those Islands they often cause the Ships to be cast away that are left to their conduct that so the profit thereof may redound to their King This Prince has a Custom to Caress strangers and invite them into his Island that so by their dwelling there for some while they may die of the Disease that reigns in those parts The Insularies are of a low Stature of a tawny Complexion of the Mahometan Religion subject to several Evils by reason of the excessive heats which reign there and Feavers which seldom abandon their Islands They shave themselves with cold water catch Fish by swimming go easily to the bottom of the Sea choose a convenient place for the Anchors of their Ships will with an incredible facility weigh up from thence burdens of a hundred thousand pounds weight by the means of a Cable and some pieces of their Woods of Condou Their Cocoes furnish them with great Conveniencies they make of 'em Wine Honey Sugar Milk and Butter they eat Almonds instead of Bread with all sorts of Meats they place each Trade in a particular Island Now to exempt ' emselves from the Vermin which might spoil and destroy their Commodities they have their Ware houses and Magazines set up in the Sea upon Posts and Pillars at two or three hundred Paces from their Islands The Isle of Ceylan CEylan is said by the Insularies to have been much greater formerly than it is at this day of four hundred Miles which it was then in compass it is not now above three hundred 'T is made to resemble a Pearl and several do believe that it is the Taprobana of the Ancients It s Air is the purest and most healthful that is in all India Some call it the Land of Delights and say that it is the place where was the Terrestrial Paradise that the Pico of Adam whither
The Seine Loire Garone Rhosne in France The Danube Rhine Elbe Oder in Germany The Vistule and Nieper in Poland The Volga and Dom in Moscovy The Thames Trent Severn in England The Tay in Scotland The Shennon in Ireland We may consider the State of Europe according to their Titles without having regard to their Rank and say that there is the Patrimony of the Church Two Empires Germany and Turkey Seven Kingdoms each with its King who acknowledged yet no Superiors England France Spain Portugal Suedeland Denmark Poland this Elective Eight Electorates Mayence Treves Cologne Bohemia Bavaria Saxony Brandenbourg the Palatinate One Arch-Dutchy which is Austria Two Great Dutchies Moscovy Tuscany Six Dutchies besides those in the Empire Lorrain Savoy Mantua Modena Parma Courland Four Principalities which pay Homage to the Turks Transylvania Walachia Moldavia lesser Tartary Seven Republicks Holland Suisserland Venice Genoa Lucca St. Marin Ragusa A great number of Principalities and Imperial Cities in Germany enjoy Sovereignty in their States but owe Fealty to the Emperor The Christian Religion is the most received in Europe for which reason some give it the Name of Christendom By the Cares of the Europeans the Faith has been Preached and Established in America Africa and Asia Besides the Roman Catholicks the Protestants and the Reformed there are in Europe several Sectaries Mahometans and Idolaters in some Countries of the North. The Roman Catholick Religion is for the most part where is us'd the Latin Tongue The Schisms where they speak the Sclavonian Protestanism where the Teutonick is in use Judaism wandring in most parts of the World is tolerated in some Cities It has been particularly banish'd out of France Spain and Portugal Some who have undertaken to make the supputation of the Parts of the Earth Discover'd according to the Religions that are receiv'd up and down have said that if those Parts were divided into thirty Christianity would have five of them Mahometism six and Paganism nineteen In Europe are reckon'd four Principal Tongues the Teutonick the Latin the Greek and the Sclavonian The Teutonick is of three sorts German in Germany Saxon in England and Scotland Danish in Denmark in Sueden Norway and Ireland The Latin Tongue is receiv'd in Italy France and Spain The Greek was formerly of four sorts Attick Ionick Dorick Aeolick The Sclavonian is currant amongst the Sclavonians Bohemians Polanders Moscovites There are seven other less considerable Tongues the Albanese Cossack Hungarian Finlandish Irish British and Bask. The Cossack has affinity with that of the lesser Tartary the Finlandish is receiv'd in Finland and Lapland the Brittish in the Principality of Wales and in Brittany of France Amongst the Ancient People of Europe the Greeks have won the Prize for Sciences and the Roman for Arms In the last Ages its Western Nations have excell'd in Navigation The Present State of the Countries Fortresses and other Places which the Europeans stand Possess'd of in the East and West-Indies EVrope at first had but two Nations who in the last Age and towards the end of the Age before undertook with success Voyages of a long course and who afterwards sent Colonies into those Lands they had Discover'd the Spaniards towards the West the Portugals towards the East They obtained from Pope Alexander VI. a Donative of all the undiscover'd Lands The other Europeans were not satisfied with the over-Prodigal Liberality of this Sovereign Pontiff the English share therein the French and Hollanders were willing to have their share therein Since which there have been divers changes in several places of those Countries the rigour which the Spaniards and Portugals have used to exclude other Nations having only promoted their own Destruction The French have in Canada 1. Mont-real the three Rivers Quebec Tadousac upon the Great River of St. Laurence Accadia Port-Royal St. John Pemtagoet near the Sea the Isle of Cap-Breton in the Isle of Terra-Nova Plaisance the Bay of little Niort 2. In the Antilles Islands St. Christopher's in part the other part belonging to the English St. Bartholomew St. Croix St. Martin Guadaloupe la Desirce Mary-Galant the Saints Martinick St. Alousie Grenade the Grenadins The Tortuse and several Colonies in the Western Part of the Islands of Hispaniola called San-Domingo 3. In the Terra-firma of Southern America upon the Coast of Guayana the Isle of Cayene The Colony of Corou Coonama Comaribo 4. The Commerce of the Coast of Africa upon the Rivers of Senega of Gambia at Rufisque near Cap-Verd at Grand-Sestre at Ardre in several places of Guinea 5. The Fort Dauphin in the Isle of Madagascar The Isles of St. Mary of Bourbon of Diege-Rois Countoirs or Staples at Suratte at Souali and other Places of the Mogul Near Nazul-Patan at Rezapour at Siam in the Kingdom of Tunquim at Bantam in the Isle of Java and other Places The Spaniards possess the greatest and best part of America where they have a great number of Towns 1. In the Northern America New-Spain the Isles of Cuba Hispaniola the French have setled themselves in the Western part of Hispaniola Porto-rico St. Augustin St. Matthew in Florida a part of new Mexico 2. In Southern America la Castille d'or otherwise called Terra-firma Peru Chili Paraguay which comprehends the Countries of Tucuman and la Plata The Isles of Salomon in the South Sea 3. In the Coast of Africa upon the Ocean Larache the Canary Islands 4. Towards the East most of the Philippine Island called Manilhes They have a part of the Molucco Islands which they have abandoned and the Hollanders have not failed to make advantage of their so doing The Portuguese have 1. All the Coasts of Brasile in Southern America where are the Capitanias of Peru Maranhaon Ciara Riogrande Paraibe Tamaraca Pernambuco Seregippe Baia de Todos-os-Santos los-Isleos Porto-Seguro Spiritu-Santo Rio-Janeiro and San-Vincente Towards the Mouth of the Amazon the Places of Estero Corduba Cogemine 2. In Africa Mazagan upon the Coast of the Kingdom of Morocca Some Forts upon the River St. Dominick a Branch of the Niger upon the Coasts of Guinea of Congo of Angola Habitations in the Isle of St. Thomas The Isles Terceres Madera Porto-Santo Cap-Verd of the Prince of Fernando Pao of Annabon 3. Several Places in the East-Indies in Cafreria the Castle of Cofala the Village of Sena a Factory with a small Fort at the Cape of Corientes strong Houses of Cuama and on the Rivers of the Coast In Zanguchar the City and Castle of Mozambick with the Fort of St. Mark Factories and small Forts of Angoxa and Quilimane The Castle of Quiloa a Factory in the Isle Monfia The Town and Castle of Mombaze the Castle of Melinde with the Villages and Factories of Pata and Ampaze The Traffick in all the Coast of Africk from the Cape of Good-Hope to the Red-Sea in the Isle Zoeotora at Aden at Fartach at Bassora In Persia half of the Revenue of the Isle of Baharem of Congue the Traffick to Bender-Rich
Tubal so strongly affirming what they said that they obtained belief And the Duke shortly after went with a parcel of Musketeers and subdued them easily they having no offensive Weapons but only Slings They Worshiped the Son and Moon fed upon nothing that had life but had good store of excellent Fruits Roots and Springs of Water wherewith Nature was well contented And though their Language was not altogether understood yet many of their Words were purely Basquish Reduced in this Discovery to Christianity but easily discernable from all other Spaniards by their tawny Complexions occasioned by the reverberation of the Sun-beams from the Rocky Mountains wherewith on all sides they are encompassed The People must necessarily have been some remnant of the ancient Spaniards who hid themselves amongst the Mountains for fear of the Romans Their Language and Idolatry speak them to be such For had they either fled from the Goths or Moors there had been found some Cross or other Monument of Christianity as in other places or some such mixture in their Speech as would have savoured somewhat of the ancient Romans The Duke of Alva by whose means this Valley was discover'd was the same who out of Vanity had himself call'd an whole Army composed of one sole Person The other States of the King of Spain are near France part of Flanders In Italy the Dutchy of Milan Final Orbitelle the protection of Piombin of Portolongon The Kingdoms of Naples of Sicily of Sardinia Oran Marsalquivir Melille Pennon de Velez Ceuta along the Coasts of Barbary upon the Mediterranean the Isle of Pantaralee The greatest part of America Several Islands and Places in the East and West-Indies Portugal POrtugal is a Kingdom ancient for above five hundred years in the Western part of Spain where was formerly Lusitania In all probability this Name of Portugal came from that of Porto a Town considerable for its Commerce and from that of Cale a small Place near it It is from the South to the North about a hundred and twenty Leagues in length in breadth five and twenty thirty and sometimes fifty It s Situation upon the Ocean and the experience of its Inhabitants in point of Navigation has given occasion to them to make Conquests in the four parts of the World and principally in the East-Indies Their Conquests have been in above five thousand Leagues of Coast in Brasil in Africa and Asia All their Places were near the Sea for they had no other design than that of rendring themselves Masters of Commerce True it is that during the War they were oblig'd to sustain against Spain for eight and twenty years together and by reason of the great Garrisons they were oblig'd to keep in those parts against the Hollanders whom they have nevertheless drove entirely out of Brasil they made but small profit and this moved them to give some places to the English by the Marriage of the Infanta of Portugal with Charles the Second King of England The Portugal Provinces have all their peculiar Commodities they afford among other things Lemons and excellent Oranges They have Mines the Greeks and Romans went to seek in Portugal the Gold which the Portuguese go to seek in the Indies They are so populous principally towards the Sea as that there are reckoned above six hundred Cities or priviledged Burroughs and above four thousand Parishes The Roman Catholick Religion is only receiv'd in this Kingdom those who are of the Jewish Race have been constrained to be baptized and are now known under the Name of New Christians There are three Arch-bishopricks Lisbon Braga and Evora ten Bishopricks The Arch-bishopricks of Lisbon and Evora have each of 'em full two hundred thousand Livers yearly Income Inquisitions are at Lisbon at Coimbre at Evora the Assembly of the Cortes or Parliaments at Lisbon at Porto Twenty seven Places have Generalities which they call Comarques and Almoxarifats The Order of Christ which resides at Tomar is the most considerable of the Kingdom the Kings are the Masters and Heads of it for on this Order depend all the Foreign Conquests Its Knights wear the Red and White Cross in the Middle whereas those of Avis wear it green those of St. James red These have their Residence at Palmella near Setuval The Revenue of the Kingdom without reckoning that of the Indies is said to exceed ten Millions of Livers I can hardly believe what the Portugals say that their King Don Sebastian was at the Charge of a Million of Gold upon the Harness of a Horse that the Trappings of the European Ladies were only the remains of those of Portugal In the Year 1640. this Kingdom withdrew it self from its Obedience to the King of Spain Then was admired the Great Secresie that was kept in that Affair among above two hundred persons for above a Year together The principal Motives of this Resolution were the Permission which his Catholick Majesty gave to others than to the Portugals of trading to the East-Indies the Tribute of the fifth that was proclaim'd in the Year 1636. by which the Government exacted five in the hundred of all the Revenues and Merchandizes in the Kingdom The Duke of Braganza was proclaimed King under the Name of John the Fourth This Prince reigned sixteen Years and had for his Successour Alphonso the Sixth who was deposed in 1667. His Marriage having been declared null Pedro his Brother married the Queen was made Regent of the Kingdom and made Peace with Spain The Conspiracy in the Year 1673. against this Prince obliged him to have the King fetch'd back from the Terzera and put into the Fortress of Sintra near Lisbon About two Years since a Marriage was concerted betwixt the Infanta and Victor Ame Duke of Savoy but that Match is now wholly broke off and a new Treaty now on foot for the same purpose with the Prince of Tuscany This Kingdom contains six Provinces which are as many general Governments Entre Doaro and Minho Tralos-Montes Beyra Estremadura Alen-Teyo and Algarve Entre Douro and Minho is the most delicious and so populous that in the space of eighteen Leagues in length and twelve in breadth it has above a hundred and thirty Monasteries well rented fourteen hundred and sixteen Parishes five thousand Fountains of Spring-Water two hundred Bridges of Stone and six Sea-Ports Some call it the Marrow and the Delight of Spain Porto a City of four thousand Housholds drives a great Trade Bragra is renowned for the holding of several Councils by the Pretension of its Archbishop who styles himself Primate of the Spains Tralos-Montes has Minerals with the City of Braganza the Capital of a Dutchy of forty thousand Ducates Revenue wherein there are full fifty small Cities and other Lands which make the Duke of Braganza thrice Marquis seven times a Count and several times a Lord. The Princes of that Name now in possession of the Crown remain'd commonly at Villa Viciosa and had the Prerogative to the Exclusion of
the Grandees of Spain to sit in publick under the Royal Canopy of the King of Spain Beira is fertile in Rye Millet Apples and Chestnuts It s City of Coimbra formerly the abode of Alphonso the first King of Portugal is famous for its University for its Bishoprick which is said to be worth above a hundred and fifty thousand Livres yearly Rent Estremadura another than that of Castile produces Wine Oyl Salt Honey which the Bees make there of the Flowers of Lemmons and of Roses It s City of Lisbon is the Capital of all the Kingdom one of the richest greatest most beautiful and most populous Towns of all Europe It has above thirty thousand Houses and an admirable Port with the conveniency of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea It particularly drives the trade of Brasile and of the East-Indies The small City of Belem which is near it is the Mausoleum or the place of burial of several Kings of Portugal Santaren has so great a number of Olive-Trees in its Dependencies that the Inhabitants boast of being able to make of their Oyl a River as great as the Tagus Setuval which the Flemmings call St. Hubes is well situated well built and of great trade It has the best Harbour in all the Kingdom thirty Miles in length three in breadth Its Salt-Pits and Fishery according to what the Portuguese say raise a greater Revenue to their King than all Arragon does to the King of Spain Alen-Teyo by reason of its Corn is reckon'd for the Granary of Portugal Its City of Evora pretends to the first rank after Lisbon In the Year 1663. the Portuguese gain'd a famous Battel over the Spaniards in its neighbourhood Elvas is known for its excellent Oyls for the Sieges which it has happily sustain'd against the Castillians Ourques in the Year 1139. saw that famous Battel fought which gave occasion to the proclaiming the first King of Portugal Algarve tho' of small extent has the Title of a Kingdom It was reunited to the Crown by the Marriage of Alphonso the Third with Beatrix of Castile it affords Figs Olives Almonds and Wines very much esteemed the Name of Algerbia in the Moorish Tongue signifies a fertile field The Seventeen Provinces of the Low-Countries THese Provinces are made to pass under the number of Seventeen because that formerly tho' at divers times they have each had their peculiar Lord. The Name of the Low-Countries is given them as a Country situated in the lower part of the Rhine The situation of the Low Countries is so much the more considerable as that it lies between England France and Germany These Seventeen Provinces touch France and Germany and are separated from England by the Sea There are four Dutchies Brabant Limbourg Luxembourg Guelderland Seven Counties Holland Zealand Zutphen Flanders Artois Hainault Namur a Marquisate of the Holy Empire which has only the City of Antwerp five Lordships Malines Vtrecht Over-Issel or Trans-Isalane Friesland Groninghen This Region is small but one of the richest and most populous in the World Its Air is temperate its Winter is more long than cold its Summer resembles the Spring of the Southern Provinces of France It s Soyl is generally fertile full of good Pasturages which furnish Cattel Milk Butter Cheese and other Commodities abundantly It s principal Rivers are the Rhine Maes Scheld The Rhine has its Sources in Suisserland most of its Course in Germany after having divided it self upon its entrance into the low Countrys at Skinckensckons it communicates most of its Waters to other Rivers those it keeps lose their Name in the Sand a little below Leyden in Holland The Maes which comes from France and from Lorrain has this advantage over the Rhine that it carries its Name and Waters to the very Ocean wherein it forms several good Harbours The Scheld serv'd for bounds to France and to the Empire in the time of the Emperour Charles the Bold It receives at Gaunt the Lis or Ley a navigable River and before it entirely loses its Name it makes two principal Branches the left called Hont the right whose Chanel passes by Tolen falls into the Meuse Besides these Rivers and those which fall into them there are Canals great store of Lakes Pools and Marshes which fortifie the Country provide it with Fish and afford the convenience of passage and the more easie transport of their Commodities The Emperour Charles the Fifth saw himself Master of all these Provinces In the Year 1581. they reâ—us'd for the most part Obedience to King Philip his Son taking for a Pretext of their Revolt the cruel Treatments of their Governours the Infraction of their Priviledges the Introduction of the Council of Trent and the Imposition of the Tenth Penny upon all the Commodities that were sold in that Country We may say that the two Real Causes of this Revolution were the Change of Religion and the Ambition of some Lords joyn'd to the Aversion of the People to a foreign Government Two Years before these Revolted Provinces had made the Union at Vtrecht for which reason the Duke of Alva who made War in those Provinces for the King of Spain did maintain that he ought not to treat them as the Patrimony of his Master but as his own Conquest There are in the Low-Countries two States very different from one another the one is a Republick or rather several Republicks and is called for that reason the Vnited Provinces otherwise Holland the other belongs in part to the King of Spain and goes under the Name of the Catbolick Provinces or that of Flanders The Christian King has Conquered the best of these Provinces and the strongest Towns which have been confirm'd to him by the Treaties of the Pyrenees of Aix la Chapelle and of Niâ—â—meghen or else possess'd by him under colour of Dependencies The Hague is the Residence of the Council of the States-General of the Vnited Provinces Bruxels that of the Princes or of the Governours established by the King of Spain Lisle Tournay Doway Ypres Dunkirk Arras St. Omar Cambray Valenciennes Luxembourg are Cities the most considerable of the Acquisition of France The Roman Catholick Religion is only receiv'd in Flanders All sorts of Sects are tolerated in Holland Each person is allowed to follow his own Opinion tho' not Preach it in Publick The Sect of Calvin is there principally exercised The National Synod held at Dort in the Year 1619. has regulated the principal Points of that Religion The Humours of the People of Flanders and Holland are as different from one another as are their Governments and Religions The Flemmings do much affect those fine Titles of Honour which the Kings of Spain have not been sparing of to them The Emperour Charles the Fifth had a design of making a Kingdom of this State so as would have done before him Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy who meant to have it called the Kingdom of the Lyon The Hollanders are more popular than
what they stand in need of they have neither Bread nor Corn nor Fruits nor Herbs nor Wines nor Beer nor Cattle nor Eggs nor Milk nor any other Commodity but they do not want Water and they have Rain-Deers which are a kind of a Stag extraordinary swift whose flesh is their Food and whom they also make use of in their Travels The great and swift Journies they go by their means having given occasion to the believing them Witches But to proceed there is one part of Lapland belonging to the Crown of Denmark and another to the Muscovite Mount Enarby has three Lodges for the Deputies of the three Nations and there the Suedes administer Instice Finland is a Dutchy which some Kings of Sueden have given for Appanage for their Brothers The principal Towns are Abbo and Nibourg There is in this Province a place near Ratzebourg where Needles toucht with the Loadstone are said to turn continually Ingria was taken from the Muscovites by a Treaty in the Year 1617. It is small but considerable for the hunting of Elks and for the Scituation of the Fortress of Notebourg in the midst of a great River and at the disgorging of the Lake Ladoga This Fortress was taken miraculously by the Suede all the Muscovite Garrison except two Persons having been swept away by a Disease which took them in the Mouth and hindred them from eating Lifeland was ceded entirely by Poland as we have said except Dunembourg It was formerly the order of the Knights Sword-Bearers but under Pope Gregory the 9th this Order was united to that of the Teutons or Cross-Bearers The Polanders and Muscovites had it afterwards in possession The Dutchy of Courland has its Duke of the Family of Ketler who does Homage to Poland It is a remnant of the great Mastership of the above mentioned order Riga is the Capital Town of Lifeland The Germans English and Hollanders trade much to that Town in Summer-time while the Sea is navigable In the Winter its Inhabitants traffick into Muscovy by means of their tâ—aineaux It is in a Plain upon the River de Dune which in that place is a quarter of a League in breadth Its Fortifications consist in six regular Bastions in several half Moons freezed and in Counterscarps pallisadoed The Dune has so rapid a Stream and often whirles along so much Ice that it sometimes changes its course from Riga as far as Dunemund In the Year 1656. I saw an Army of an hundred thousand Muscovites wast and moulder away before that Town which gloriously repulsed their efforts Revel has the Direction of the Commerce from Lifeland unto Muscovy Nerva is a strong place which bestows its Name upon a neighbouring River wherein the brave Pontus de la Gardie was drowned after Sueden was obliged to him for many of its best Conquests By the late Treaties between the Crowns of Sueden and of Poland the exercise of both the Catholique and Protestant Religion is allowed of in Lifeland as well as in Curland and Prussia The Isle of Gotland the greatest of the Isles of the Baltick Sea accompanied with five or six Havens belongs to the Crown of Sueden Several of its Rocks have ancient Gothick Characters It s City of Wisby still preserves Marbles and Houses which have Doors of Iron and Brass either washt with Silver or guilt with Gold which speaks its ancient Grandure This Town did formerly establish Laws for the Navigation of the Baltick Sea and gave beginning to Sea Maps Of Poland POland which was formerly but a part of Sarmatia is now the Kingdom of Europe of the greatest extent It is in length comprehending therein Lithuania above three hundred Leagues and almost as large in breadth It is fertile in Rye Wax and Honey rich in Furrs whereof the finest are brought thither from Hungary They digg salt near Cracow in famous salt-Pits which form under ground a kind of City They bake it in little Russia and the Sun makes it in Podolia This Kingdom has the conveniency both of the Baltick and Black Sea but the neighbouring Princes hinder the Polanders from making use of them to any great purpose The Rivers of Vistula Niemen and Dune fall into the Baltick Sea the Boristenes the Bog the Niester into the Black Sea The Vistula passes by the noblest City of this Kingdom The Mouths of the Boristhenes are possessed by the Turk who in the Year 1672 received the Ukrain into his protection after having subdued Podolia by the sacking of Caminiec The Kingdom of Poland is Elective the only one of Europe where the Inhabitants have kept the right of choosing a Prince The government is that of an Aristocratical Monarchy wherein the Senators have so much Authority that when they mention the State they say the Kingdom and Republick of Poland The Senate is composed of Archbishhops Bishops Pallatines Principal Castellins and the great Officers of the Kingdom The King like that of Bees can do no mischief to his Subjects that is to say he cannot in any wise act against any of the Nobility without the consent of the Senators and he can do 'em a great deal of good on his own part by bestowing on them vacant places His Person and his Dignity are so considered that it has not been known that ever any attempt was made upon any Kings Life of his Predecessors Before the Emperor Otho the 3d. there were only Princes in this State that Emperour recalled the Tribute which Poland paid the Empire Warsaw is the usual place of election and of the general Dyets Cracow that of the Coronation of the Kings The Archbishop of Gnesne Primate of the Kingdom performs this Coronation and has almost the whole Authority during the Interregnum for then he presides in the Senate and gives Audience to Embassadors He contests the Presidence with Cardinals for which reason there are three Orders the Church the Nobility and the third Estate which comprehends all those which are not Noble The Nobility is so numerous in this Realm that Poland is called the Kingdom of the Nobles In the Dyets the Nuncio's who are the Deputies of the lesser Nobility or Gentry of the Provinces do often oversway the rest of the Dyet But one amongst 'em has sometimes the Authority to cause a whole general Dyet to be broke up by a Protestation As the Catholick Religion is observed in this Realm so the Bishops have the first rank after the King then the Palatines and the Castellains The Castellains of Cracow is above the Palaine of the same name because that formerly the Chastellain behaved himself more valiantly than did the Palatine in defence of the Kingdom also does he wear a Royal Crown at the anointing of his Majesty at which Ceremony he precedes all the other Secular Senators The Palatine of Cracow carries the Scepter The Archbishop of Gnesne and of Leopold have under them sixteen or seventeeen Bishops as well within as without the Kingdom There be three other
Schismaticks in black Russia who first of all acknowledge him of Kiou and then the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople There is in this State several other Sects Here Gentlemen are equall the distinction and precedence proceeding only from the publick Offices they stand possess'd of they serve at their own costs in time of Wars but do not stay long in the Campagne Their infantry is commonly compos'd of Forreigners The Garments of the Polanders are long have their Beards shaved off their Chins only one Tuff of Hair upon their Heads upon the occasion of Casimir the first one of their Kings whom they took out of a Cloister he was in in France to place him upon their Throne They are almost all handsome well shaped well proportioned knowing for the most part the Latin Tongue The use of Spices is very common and with them in great request they misuse their Peasants in consequence of the absolute Power they have over them which certainly did occasion the revolt of the Cossaques and afterwards all the disorders of the Kingdom Their Cavalary is so considerable that if they were well united they might bring into the Field a hundred thousand Horse The confidence they have therein and the fear of rendring a King or Citizens too powerful have inclined them in all times to neglect their Fortresses Their usual Arms are their Cimiter the Sword the Battel Ax Carabine and Arrows The Cossaques have ever formed a Militia and not a particular Nation At the first they were Volunteers making incursions upon the Turks and the lesser Tartars these last call them by the Name of Roux because their Country makes a part of Russia King Battori reduced them into a Body and joyned thereto two thousand Horse to whom he appointed the fourth part of the Revenue of his Demesne for which reasons they were called Quartians They have power of choosing and of deposing their General who takes an Oath of Fidelity to their King Their number was first of all six thousand afterwards forty thoufull sand and now since twenty thousand Their abode is in the lower parts of Volhinia and of Podolia which is called Ukrain that is to say Frontier This Country is by much the most fertile and the best inhabited of all Poland so many fortified Buroughs have been there made since the beginning of this Age and so full is it of Inhabitants that in the late Wars there were reckoned at the same time two hundred thousand Cossaques besides a hundred and fourscore thousand Tartars and as many Polanders in Arms. There be Cossaques who have their retreats in some Isles of the Boristhenes which is not Navigable by reason of the Cataracts or falls which they call Porowis Their Custom was formerly to put to Sea with several light Ships and to go plunder the Coasts of the Grand Seignior upon the Black Sea Since they confederated with the lesser Tartars and have likewise courted the Protection of the Muscovite and that of the Grand Seignior who gave them in his name a Prince for the Ukrain insomuch that we may say that the Felony of the Cossaques the Irruption of the Suedes under Carolus Gustavus the Tumults and Irresoluon of the Muscovites the continual harassings of the lesser Tartars the Invasion of Ragotski Prince of Transilvania the defection of several Provinces the Insurrections of the whole Armies of Poland and Lithuania the different Factions of the Kingdom and the Caballs of the Neighbouring Nations to have a King Elected have given a rude shock to this Crown And this was what really moved the Grand Seignior to make war upon this Realm after the taking of Candia Poland has ten great parts four towards the West upon the Vistula Poland Mazovia Gujavia Royal Prussia six towards the East on the West of the Boristhenes Lithuania Samogitia Polachia Lesser Russia Volhinia Podolia These Provinces have been acquired for the most part either by Arms or Allyances They are divided into Palatinates the Palatinates into Chastellenies the Chastellenies into Capitanies The Government of the Places are called Starostyes Besides these Provinces there is a part of Muscovy which has been yielded to Poland in the year 1634. after that King Ladislaus the 4th being yet but Prince had the year foregoing gloriously relieved the City of Smolensko and reduced to extremity an Army of an hundred thousand Muscovites who were all constrained to ask his pardon as their Prince to save their Lives This Treaty which is called of Viasma acquired to Poland Smolensko Novogrodeck Sovierski Gzernihou and other places and by that same Treaty the King of Poland renounced his pretensions upon Muscovy The Truce of 13 years concluded on the 14th of February in the year 1667. left the Grand Duke of Muscovy in possession of Smolensko until a certain term as well as in part of the Ukrain on the East of the Boristhenes and procured the restoration of Dunembourg Polosk and Vitepski to the Crown of Poland Poland the most populous of all the Provinces is divided into High and Low In the former is Cracow where the Coronations of the Kings and Queens are performed and where is a great number of Germans Italians and Jews Of Cracow was the Popish Bishop St. Stanislaus who was killed by order of King Bogislaus Upon the Confines of Silesia stands the City of Czentochow with the Cloister of our Lady of Clermount a place extraordinary strong which the Suedes did twice besiege in vain in the year 1655 and 1656. Low Poland though much smaller than the Higher is called Great because it makes part of the Kingdom rather than the other It s City of Gnesne is ancient the abode of the first Princes It was so called upon the account of an Eagles Nest that was there found when it was built and which gave occasion to the Arms of Poland which art Gules an Eagle-Argent Crowned beaked and Armed Or bound under the Wings with a Ribbon of the same The Province of Mazovia alone has full thirty thousand Gentlemen Narsan is the Capital thereof and of all the Kingdom too with a Castle the Kings usual abode Gujavia has the City of Uladislau where the Houses are built of Brick which is somewhat extraordinary in Poland It has also the Lake of Goblo from whence issued the Rats that eat King Popiel Prussia which is of two sorts Regal and Ducal has a great number of Cities which were built by the Knights of the Teutonique Order Its Lakes and Sea Coast furnish abundance of Amber Nariembourg is strong Toren the Birthplace of the Copernicus drives a great Trade with a fine Bridge of Wood over the Vistule Dantzick one of the four Capital Hanse-Towns drives all the Trade of Poland and has not its like upon all the Baltick Sea It is free and has right of sending to the States of the Kingdom The King of Poland has there some Rights The City of Elbiens disputes with it the Precedence in the States of Prussia The generous
the Gulph of Venice It pays eighteen thousand Sequins of annual Tribute to the Grand Seignior for liberty of Commerce in the Levant The City which seems to have succeeded to the ancient Epidaure is pretty well fortify'd and very populous It has the Title of an Archbishoprick its Inhabitants who addict themselves for the most part to trade are Roman Catholicks In the year 1667. it received a great loss by an Earthquake It s Principal Harbour is that of St. Croix which is three Leagues distant from it Its Ships are pretty numerous well known in the Seas of the Levant as its Caravans be in the Dominions of the Turks in Europe He who commands the Republick of Ragusa is called Doge or Rectour he is assisted with the Councel of a hundred Senators his Government lasts only a Month. The Governour of the Castle is changed every day wherein one of the Nobles enters to command in his turn Their Gentlemen must marry Gentlewomen if they mean their Children should be acknowledged to be of the Ragusian Nobility The Revenue of the Republick is five and twenty thousand Crowns The Country above the Town is not over fertile full of Rocks and Stones if it bring forth any thing it is by the means of the Forreign Earth which they cause to be brought thither which is done with such care and such success that the Coast makes a Beautiful Prospect of Vineyards Orange Trees Lemon Trees and Pomegranates The Neighbouring Islands which are of the dependance of Ragusa are also very pleasant The Turks have some sort of inclination for the Ragusians by reason they pay punctually their Tribute and that by their means they are provided with all the Commodities of Europe which they stand in need of They give them Priveledges which they seldom grant to other Christians Of the Brittish Islands THese Islands consist in two great and several small ones Great Brittain and Ireland are the two great the small are all in the Neighbourhood of Great Brittain the Hebrides Orcades Shetland which depends on the Crown of Denmark in the sea of Scotland Man Anglesey the Sorlingues in the Irish Sea Wight Guernsey Jersey in the Channel Formerly Great Brittain went under the Name of Albion by reason of its Rocks all along the Sea which seem white It now comprehends two Kingdoms that of England and that of Scotland the union whereof gave occasion to King James to stile himself King of Great Brittain and at the same time the design of stifling the partialities which were between the two Nations The English were not very well satisfyed with this change since thereby their Name became the less famous The Brittish Islands had to the number of Nineteen Kingdoms England had seven of them Wales three Scotland two Ireland five the Isle of Man made one the Isles near Scotland another All this now is under the Crown of England Several places and Islands in the East and West Indies are also subject to it whereof we have made mention in the Article of Europe Of England ENgland was so called by the English an ancient People who dwelt on the confines of Germany and of Denmark the Name of Saxony Trans-marine was given it by the Saxons Before it was called Lhoegria and then Scotland went under the Name of Albania and Wales that of Cambria During the decay of the Roman Empire the Saxons and English invaded Great Brittain with main force and near Bedford gained a signal Victory over the Insularies who were constrained to abandon their Countrey Several Brittons retired into Wales others passed into Brittany in France where they setled the British Tongues by the help of their Country Men whom the Romans had already lead thither to support their pretensions to the Empire King Arthur one of the last Brittish Kings who dyed in the year 542. is the same whom so many Fables be told of and to whom is attributed the institution of the Knights of the round Table The Victors that is to say the Saxons and the English raised a Wall towards the West of England to mark the Bounds of their Conquests and at the same time made a Law by which all the Brittons should have a hand cut off who were found with a Sword on this side the Wall In the year 450. and the following there were formed seven Kingdoms Kent Sussex Essex West-Sex East-Anglia Mercia North-Humbria A little after that Charlemagne was acknowledged Emperour of the West all these Monarchies were reduced into one by King Egbert who dyed in the year 837. The Successours of this Egbert having been troubled by the Danes the last of them declared his Heir William Duke of Normandy to whom the Conquest of England brought the Name of Conquerour Thus England has had Soveraigns of six several Nations of the Brittons Romans Saxons English Danes and Normans These last have established there the Principal Laws the King who now reigns is James the 2. England is a greater Kingdom more fertile and populous than is either Scotland or Ireland It is the most considerable of any State in the Ocean It produces Corn and Fruits in abundance the best Tin in the World is transported thence Wool Cloaths Hides and other Commodities both excellent and in great plenty neither is it wanting in excellent Liquors The English Horses Dogs and Cocks are in high esteem all over the World No Wolves have been seen there since the general hunting which destroyed them almost all by the means of permission Criminals had of redeeming their Lives with the Heads of those Animals Gunners and Dogs were for sometime kept upon Frontiers of Scotland to hinder the Wolves ' which were hunted out from returning into England The great respect that is paid to Ladys in this Realm has given occasion to the saying that England is the Paradise of Women the Purgatory of Servants and the Hell of Horses The English for the most part are well proportioned and of a generous Nature They have had so great an Antipathy to the Scots that Edward the 1. the same who was preferred before his Eldest Brother by reason of the Beauty of his Body recommended that after his Death they should boyl him until they parted his Flesh and his Bones that they should bury his Flesh and carry his Bones along to the War against the Scots The English are owned Soveraigns of the Ocean and have made those States and Potentates to repent who have dared to dispute their Right to that Title Their Countrey is compared to the Tortoise in the shell who has all his Defences collected The acquisition of some Places by the allyance with Portugal has obliged them to extraordinary expences The Spaniards have a Proverb with all War and Peace with England The general Religion of the English is the reformed the King of England is the Head of the Anglican Church where of the Principal Members are the Bishops who compose the House of Lords with the other Peers This
Parliament is very different from those of France besides the House of Lords there is that of the Commons called the Lower House The principal Rivers of England are the Thames Severn and Humber which do not encrease by the Rains the neighbouring Lands being sandy There be reckoned one and fifty Counties called Shires each of those Counties is distributed into hundreds into Tithings or Tenths They may be considered according to the four Regions of the World and this division is much the same with that the Romans made when they were Masters of the Country The Southern part of England is along the Channel where be the best Harbours of the Kingdom Canterbury and Bristow be there considerable the first upon the account of its Archbishopwrick and of its Primacy the second for its Commerce Ships arriving there at full Sail. Rochester is the usual Station of the Kings Ships which are called men of War Frigats Yachts Salisbury has a Metropolitan Church wherein are reckoned as many Doors as there be Months and as many Windows as there be days in the year Windsor is a Royal Castle near the Thames where the Ceremonies of the order of the Garter are generally performed Dover is known for its strong Castle for Peoples embarking there for Calice Dunkirk and Ostend for the Neighbourhood of the Downs under whose shelter the Ships that are bound towards the East and towards the South may wait safely for Winds fair for their Voyage Hastings is a place where in the year 1066. William the Conquerour gained a full Victory over Herald the 2d the last Danish King who was killed upon the spot with above sixty thousand of his Men. Portsmouth Southampton Plimouth have very good Ports The Eastern part has this advantage of having London the Capital of all the Realm one of the Greatest Richest and most Populous Cityes in the World by the means of its greatest traffick It s Scituation is upon the River of Thames where it receives the noblest Ships of the Universe its Bridge is three hundred and thirty Paces in length The Pastures and Meads round about would make a most pleasant Prospect and Landskip if the Smoak of Coals which is commonly burnt there did not raise a continual Cloud Norwich is one of the best Cities and most populous of all the Kingdom Yarmouth sees the fishing of Herrings performed in its Neighbourhood where at Michaelmas is held a fair for that purpose Cambridge one of the most famous Universities in the World Harwich a famous Port. The Countrey round about was the abode of the Icenians whose Queen Bodicea put to Death a great number of Romans in the time of Nero and preferred a glorious Death before an Ignominious Slavery Towards the midst of the Realm is Oxford with one of the four most famous Universities of Europe wherein there is thirty three Colledges that of the University has a Library full of very curious Manuscripts unless it be that of the Vatican there be few in the World that have any so fine Gloucester is commonly the appanage of the third Son of the King of Great Brittain It is near the Severn near the Isle of Aldney where was formerly fought a singular Combat between Edmond Ironside King of the English Saxons and Canute the Dane who at length divided the Kingdom between them after having fought a long while without being able to have any advantage over one another Chester is accompanyed with a Sea-Port where People embark for Ireland At Worcester was the Defeat of the Kings Army in the year 1651. by the Rebels York in the Northern part is the second City of the Kingdom and the Title of the Kings second Son Lancaster is a County Palatin famous for its ancient Family The two Houses of York and Lancaster gave a great deal of trouble to England during above a hundred years by the fatal Faction of the White and Red Rose New-Castle and Hull have the conveniency of the Sea The Country about New-Castle is full of Mines which afford Coals so necessary to the Inhabitants of the City of London and the best Crayons of Europe The refusal that was made at Hull of receiving King Charles the 1. was one of the Principal Motives of the War between his Majesty and the Parliamentaryes Barwick and Carlisle have some Fortifications Penrith keeps the round Terrass which is said to have been King Arthurs Table Between Hull and Newcastle there be the Ports of Brilington and Scarborough The Principality of Wales is the Title of the Kings Eldest Son it has few good Cities Bangor was there formerly a famous Abby where above twelve hundred Monks lived on what they earn'd by working Milford is reckoned one of the finest Havens of Europe by reason of its Sinuosities which form as many good Ports The Isle of Anglesey which is near it was the abode of some Druids and the retreat of those who in Great Brittain would not submit to the Romans It is called the Nursing Mother of Wales by reason of its fertility It s City of Aberfrau served formerly for abode to the Kings of North-Wales Of Scotland THis Kingdom is the ancient Caledonia which was called Scotland from the Scots a People who made a sharp War upon the Romans and obliged them to make entrenchments against their Incursions principally under Adrian and under Severus The Name of Albany has been sometimes given to all this Kingdom whereas it is now peculiar to one of its Countys which the Inhabitants call Broad Albiny Some Scotch Authors make the Name of Scotch come from the ancient Scythians for the showing their Predecessours in the Higher Antiquity Scotland is of a cold Temperature its Gulphs Lakes and Mountains hinder its Provinces from being over Fertile The Inhabitants are of the reformed Religion Popery having been there abolish'd under King James the 6th But the many Scots which Sprung up with the Reformation produced there many Troubles and occasioned most of the disorders which in our time we have seen in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland There be still at this day Phanaticks who call themselves the Sweet Singers of Israel and are retire into the Mountains and into the Woods though they be hardly able to subsist there The Southern Scots live much after the same way as the English the Northern are wedded to the ancient Customs and not over careful of neatness in their Repasts The Scotch Nation has for a long while been in esteem for Valour and Fidelity the most Christiam King St. Lewis and his Successours the French Kings have trusted them with the Guard of their Royal Persons and made allyance with Scotland This Kingdom is now the most ancient in the World it is said to have been above two thousand years hereditary with a Succession of about a hundred and ten Kings The Power and Revenues of the King of Scotland are rendred much more considerabbe since his Majesties Restauration and his re-stablishment in the Power
These Cities tho' built by People we stile Salvage and Barbarous yielded in nothing to those of Europe or for bigness or magnificence No Horses were in America An Indian of good sence reckoned a Horse in the number of the three things he most esteemed the two others were a new laid Egg and Light Horses gave so much terrour to the Americans that for above a hundred years they could not be prevailed with to mount ' em The Inhabitants are of four sorts Europeans Metis Negroes and Salvages Most of the Nations of Europe have Colonies in this Portion of the World which for the most part bear the Names of their respective Provinces and Cities The Spaniards stand possess'd of the greatest the richest and the fertilest Countreys of America Among others of Mexico and Peru formerly two famous Kingdoms the latter Hereditary the other Elective their King pretends a Right to All by vertue of the Donative of Pope Alexander the Sixth in the year 1493. But this other Nations do not allow of The Portugneezes have the Coasts of Brasile The French have Colonies in Canada in several Islands and upon the firm Land The English have fair and great Establishments all along the Coasts of Northern America and in the Islands The Metis are those who are born of the Europeans and Indians In the Territories conquered by the Spaniards they call Crioles those who are born of a Spanish Man and Woman and these are they whom the Spaniards of Europe have a mortal aversion to and whom they put by all great Offices for fear of a Revolt The Negroes are transported into America from Angola and other parts of Africa to labour in the Mines which drudgery the Americans are not able to support The Salvages here live commonly on Hunting Maiz Cassave which is their Corn. They have amongst 'em almost as many Tongues as Villages He who has the use of those of Mexico and Casco may make himself understood through all America This diversity of Tongues is the cause that we have little knowledge of their Origine They are all naturally dexterous and active good Runners and excellent Swimmers Several amongst 'em live like Beasts without King Policy or Law The Sun Moon nay and the Devil too are consider'd by them as so many Divinities The Sooth-sayers who are very numerous in these parts keep 'em in these Errours The Kings of Spain have caused five Arch-Bishopricks to be erected there and about thirty Episcopal Sees The French have one Bishop in Canada The Portugueezes have at this present three in Brasile under the Arch-Bishop of S. Salvador The other Nations who have Settlements in these Countreys have likewise establish'd there the Religion they profess America is not peopled comparatively with the parts of our Continent perhaps by reason of the continual Wars which the Inhabitants wage there against one another or else because of the cruel treatments the Indians have received from the Spaniards some Authors do attest they have put to Death there several Millions of Persons whether for Religion or for other Pretexts and that the Blood of those who have perished in the Mines where they have been forc'd to labour would weigh more than the Gold and Silver they have thence extracted The Spaniards met with no strong resistance in their Conquests where they found none to make head against 'em but naked People whose Armies were easily broken by the Noise only of a Canon-shot or at the sight of a Horse-man The poor Indians stedfastly believed that the Spaniards were the Masters of Thunder they thought 'em half Men and half Horses or some Sea-Monsters when they saw 'em on Horse-back And when they saw them on board their Ships eating Bisket and drinking Claret they said they were descended from Heaven upon a great Bird that they eat Stones and drank Blood If we confider the situation of the Islands of that part of the World we shall find that California is in the West of Northern America the New Lands the Bermudas and the Antilles towards the East The Mountains of the Andes Cross all Southern America from the North to the South That of Potosi in Peru is esteem'd the richest of all by reason of its Silver Mines The Spaniards would persuade us that there are others in the Neighbourhood at least as rich The North Sea is so call'd because it is on the North of the firm Land which makes part of the Southern America and was sooner discovered than the Northern America in regard of which it cannot bear the Name of the North Sea 'T is called the Green Sea towards the Tropick of Cancer by reason of the Herbs found there upon the Surface of the Waters The South Sea is really Southern in regard of that North Sea but if we consider all America both Northern and Southern we shall find that it is Western It 's often called Pacific by reason of its pertinacious Calms or else because very few Acts of Hostility are perform'd there Between Mexico and the Island of California 't is call'd the Vermillion Sea It hardly receives any considerable Rivers The Sweet Sea which is in Canada and the Parime Sea in Southern America bear the names of Lakes because they are in the midst of Lands Many are of opinion that by this Sweet Sea the Northorn Sea communicates with with the Southern Among the Rivers of America that of Canada or St. Lawrence is vulgarly call'd the Great River perhaps for that it receives above two thousand others great and small and that above five hundred Leagues above Quebeck its source has not yet been found out It makes some Lakes grow narrow sometimes it casts it self among the Rocks with such impetuosity that 't is impossible to pass there by reason of the number of Water-falls which they call Saults and Carriages because those who mean to go over must carry their little Boats upon their shoulders which they term Canoes It s ordinary breadth is full twelve or thirteen Leagues its depth does often exceed two hundred fathom it keeps its Waters clear as far as below Quebeck The River of Chayre upon the Confines of the two America's affords means for the Transportation of Merchandizes from one Sea to the other L'Orenoyu is the largest of all those of America The Amanzon is esteemed the greatest strongest and deepest of all those of these Countreys and one of the fiercest in the World In the Year 1638. the Portuguese who were then under the Crown of Spain remounted it up as far as Quito in Peru and came down again the following Year It has its Inundations as well as the Nile whereby the neighbouring Countrey is not incommoded with Insects Above a hundred and fifty several Nations have been observ'd to dwell in the Neighbourhood of this great River and those which fall into it La Plata has its Name from the Mines of Silver which are near it Towards its beginning it bears the Name of Paraguay after having
and the most populous by reason of the conveniency of trade Some Sea-men call Barbary the Coast of Africk from the Streight of Gibraltar as far as Cap-Blanc which is at twenty Degrees of Northern Latitude The Romans Sarazens Vandals Arabians Moors and Turks who have been consecutively the Lords of the Barbary we treat of have given very different Names to its Towns The Turkish Emperour sways over the greatest portion of it The Kings of Fez and Morocco possess what is most towards the West The Spaniards Portuguese and English have Towns upon the Coast which elsewhere shall be enumerated Susaon Couco Labes are little States which maintain themselves in the Mountains Salley Tituan Algier Tunis and Tripoli are Towns belonging to Corsairs the three last under the Protection of the Grand Seignior who sends Bashaws thither but they have not much authority The French have the Bastion of France and Genoveses the Isle of Tabarca which they keep for the bringing thence the Merchandize of the Countrey which consists in Barks Corn Hides Corral which is of three sorts red white and black The Portuguese were the first that made Conquests in Africa and had it not been for the design they entertain'd of carrying their Arms into the East-Indies from which they expected more advantage they would undoubtedly have made Progresses there much more considerable by reason of the Divisions which were at that time in the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco There are chiefly seen in Barbary Africans or Bereberes who are called Barbaresques and most commonly Moors Also there are Arabians who came thither about the Year 999 of three Broods These last live in the open Field by Adarous which are Communities compos'd of several Families call'd Baraques where they have commonly a hundred or two hundred Tents disposed around they esteem themselves much more Noble than those who inhabit the Towns and cultivate the Earth nor do they take any care but of their Herds and Flocks or to make Incursions into the Mountains the Moors apply themselves particularly to Commerce Amongst some of their Customs 't is observ'd they are at excessive charges in their Nuptials as the Christians are in their Law-Suits and the Jews in their Passeovers They cause themselves to be buryed in those places where no Body was enterred before that when they rise again they may not be puzzled to know and distinguish their Members from those of others They were used to crucifie their Criminals but since they took notice that the Christians have a respect for Crosses and that a great Drought once happened during some Executions which nevertheless was followed with some Rains after that the Crosses were taken away they attributed this blessing to Mahomet and order'd that for the future Criminals should either be Hang'd or Beheaded They make five Quarters of their Sheep by reason of their extraordinary large Tails nevertheless they often cause them to be roasted whole nay and served so upon the Table too Barbary comprehends several Kiugdoms which have Cities of the same Name Marocco Fez Tremisen Algier Tunis Tripoli and Barcar The Kingdom of Morocco is upon the Ocean which goes under the Name of the Atlantick Sea 'T is full of Mountains excessive high and alwayes covered with Snow It s King styles himself Emperour of Barbary and Morocco King of Fez of Suz and Tafilet Lord of Dara of Gago c. He takes also the Title of Grand Cherif of Mahomet and Successour of his Family This Name of Cherif shows That his Predecessours made use of the pretence of Religion in their Establishment they were also called Amiiel-Momins and by corruption Miramomoulins that is to say Emperours of the Faithful The City of Morocco formerly longer and more populous than it is at present has upon its Royal Palace three or four Golden Apples esteemed at more than two hundred thousand Crowns which are said to be Enchanted because they cannot be taken from the place where they are The Land about it affords Grapes as big as Pullets Eggs and Goats hair which serves to make fine Chamlets Morocco and Safi have Consuls of Europeans for the maintaining the Priviledges there of their several Nations Mazagan is a Fortress of which the Portuguese have made use for the bringing the open Country under Contribution after the examples of the Arabians The little Island of Mogodor five miles from the Continent has a Castle with a Garrison for the security of some Mines of Gold and Silver which are in its Neighbourhood The Kingdom of Fez is fruitful by reason of its Rivers It has four sorts of Land Mountains Valleys Plains and Sea-Coasts the City of Fez which passes in Africa for the seat of the Western Court is the best the finest and and most populous of all Barbary with a Famous University and a Library in which there are above two thousand Manuscripts 'T is said to have above fourscore Gates a hundred thousand Houses two hundred Hospitals thirty two Suburbs and a great number of Temples and Mosques whereof one alone is half a Mile round There is the Old and New Fez this the abode of the Prince and the other accompanied with a Fortress It is near the River of Cebu which has towards its source a very extraordinary Bridge for it is raised a hundred and fifty Fathoms out of the Water and is only a kind of Pannier of Sea-Rushes capable of holding eight or ten Persons This same Pannier is hung up betwixt two Ropes which turn upon two Pulleys fasten'd to the two ends of two Wooden Posts which are upon the Rocks of each side the Valley Salley is a Nest of Corsairs who have alwayes several Pyrate Ships Rubat opposite to Salley was Built after the Model of Morocco and has an Aqueduct of above 12000 Paces Alcazar is known by the Battels of 1578 wherein dyed three Kings one of whom was Sebastian King of Portugal Anafi or Anfa a ruin'd Town with a Castle of the Arabians is thought by the Moors to be an Enchanted Place where are still as they say the Treasures of their first Emperour Tremisen or Telensin is a great City belonging to the Turk seven or eight Leagues distant from the Sea The Town of Argiers is one of the best Inhabited and the Richest of all Africk by means of the Pyracies which the Inhabitants Exercise upon the Ocean and Mediterranean Sea It has full fifteen thousand Houses twelve or fifteen thousand Gardens in its Neighbourhood the Christian Slaves are there to the number of thirty or forty thousand Cardinal Ximenes said That if Argiers could be taken Money enough might be found there to Conquer all Africa Amongst the Tents which are out of the Town there is that of the beautiful Cava the Daughter of Count Julian de la Betica who first caused the Moors to pass over into Spain to revenge himself by their means of King Roderic The Emperour Charles the Fifth had the disatisfaction of seeing the finest Fleet
he ever had lost before Argiers The Kingdom of Tunis can pride it self in the Birth of Hannibal Asdrubal Terence and other great Men and Christianity is obliged to it for the Birth of Tertullian St. Cyprian and St. Augustin The City of Tunis has encreased it self from the Ruins of Carthage the Great formerly the Rival of Rome and the Capital City of a very considerable State At present it obeys a Prince whom they call the Dey Bizerta and Souza are two places where those of Tunis do often keep their Pyrate Ships Souza is composed of the High and Low Town Mahometa is the ancient Adrumetum or Adrumyssus near which some have been pleased to say that formerly thirty Gaulish Cavaliers repulsed above two thousand Moors Caraan has been the Seat of a Calif that is to say of a Mahometan Pontiffe It is the Ancient Thisdrus where Massinissa gained over Asdrubal the Battel which Scipio was spectator of Beja is in a soyl so fertil in Corn that it 's a saying of that Countrey That if there were two Beja's there would be as much Corn as there are grains of sand in the Sea Guadibarbar makes so many turnings and windings that it is passed full five and twenty times in the way from Bone to Tunis Between the Kingdom of Tunis and the Isle of Maltha there are some small Islands Pantalaria belonging to the King of Spain with a Gulph where the vapour which clings to the Rock above distils as much Water as is necessary for the use of the Inhabitants Lampadosa and Linosa depends on the Order of Maltha There is in Lampadosa a Chapel famous for the Offerings both of Christians and Turks And it has been observ'd that the Sacrilegious have never been able to carry any thing away from thence with impunity The Kingdom of Tripoly is a barren Land considerable only for Pyracies and the Commerce of its City called Tripoly of Barbary that it may be distinguish'd from those others of Souria and Natolia which go under the same Name Upon the Coasts of that Kingdom is the Island Zerbi where in the Year 1560 the Spaniards were defeated by the Infidels In this Island was it also that the Corsair Dragut escaped from the famous Doria this last held him there so narrowly Besieg'd that he could not stir out the other bethought himself of making a Channel without the Christians perceiving it and so in a clear night he had the means of Transporting his Galleys into another part of the Island and of retiring to open Sea where he came and presented himself before his Enemy who was in no small surprize The Land of Barca begins at the place where stood formerly the Altars of the Philenians which had also served for Bounds to the States of Carthage and Cyrene and since to the Empires of the West and East 'T is only a meager and desart Plain where stands the City of Caruenna formerly Cirene the Capital of a small State which was given by Cirus for a retreat to King Croesus In this Country did the Psilloe inhabit who had the reputation of making Serpents die only by their presence Egypt FEw Countreys have had so many ancient Names as Egypt the Hebrews and Jews call'd it Mesraim and the Egyptians at present call it Chibet It s length that is to say its extent from the North to the South is two hundred Leagues and its breadth which is what it contains from the West to the East is confin'd by the Mountains which bound the Valley of the Nile It is the only Region of Africa which touches Asia and the Countrey the most populous in the World tho' the Air be somewhat bad Its Women do often bring forth two or three Children at a time which is attributed to the Water of the Nile Egypt was no less peopled formerly if it be true that under Amasis one of its ancient Kings it had full twenty thousand Cities The plenty of Corn it affords made the Ancients call it the Publick Granary of the World The abundance or famine of the Roman Empire depended on the good or ill Harvest in Egypt The Nile by the inundation of its Waters which are full of Nitre as we said before gives it this advantage not by wholly covering the Lands as several have imagin'd but being brought into several Channels after the Inhabitants have broke the Dikes That part which is on the East of the Nile is more fruitful than that which is on the East of the River Its Plants grow so abundantly that they would stifle one another if they did not prevent it by casting Sand in the field Thus it is somewhat surprizing that the Egyptians make their Lands lean with Sand whereas other Nations endeavour to fatten theirs with Dung Besides Corn they transport out of this Countrey Rice Sugar Dates Sena Cassia excellent Balm Skins Linnen and Cloth They are but ill inform'd who say that it never Rains there whereas there are frequent Showers during the Months of November December and January principally on the Mountains and in the lower parts Still are there at this day to be seen in Egypt Pyramids Obelisques Labyrinths and other Works which its ancient Kings caus'd to be made at an extraordinary charge to shew their Power and to give Employment to their People The Statue of Memnon was formerly very considerable there as well as the Pharos near Alexandria But among all these several Works it has been observ'd that the Pyramid is the most solid Monument Antiquity has left us There remains nothing more in the Lake Meris than the place of the Labyrinth which is said to have had above three thousand three hundred Chambers The Mummys which are very frequent in this Region and which Travellers take delight to bring into Europe are Humane Bodies pitch'd and embalm'd that have been preserv'd above two or three thousand years in Caverns whither the ancient Egyptians took care to carry them They passed for that purpose a Lake in a Bark and so first gave occasion to the Fable of Charon Fiction has made Gods Heroes and Men reign in Egypt History gives an account of several of its Kings before Alexander the Great It says that among those Kings Sesostris was the greatest Conquerour that Memnon having dedicated his Statue to the Sun it saluted that Star at its rising that Busiris pass'd there for a Tyrant by reason of the Cruelties he exercised over the Hebrews that Cencres is the Pharoah who was drowned in the Red Sea that Protcus had the repute of changing his Form because he had divers sorts of Head-array that Chemnis employed three hundred and sixty thousand Men for twenty years together in building the first and greatest Pyramid that Sesonchis with an Army of four hundred thousand Foot and sixty thousand Horse took Jerusalem and that Sennacherib King of the Assyrians being come against him wild Rats gnaw'd the Bow-strings in the Assyrian Army that Necaus began the Channel for the
Negroes appointed for Brasile The Males alone have Right of succeeding in this Kingdom and all Lands belong to the King who is called Mani The Inhabitants have Horses of Wood the use of which is mighty pleasant They lay a piece of an Oxes Hide of the bigness of a Saddle upon a Post near twelve inches thick and he who travels is seated thereon with his leggs on each side all this is carried by two strong men who find others in the way to relieve them Learning is amongst them in so little estimation that when Emanuel King of Portugal had sent to their King all the excellent Books of Law that he could meet with with a considerable number of Civilians This Prince sent the Doctors back and caused the Books to be burnt saying They would but puzzle the Brains of his Subjects who stood in need of nothing but honest reasonable old fashion'd Thinking and common Sense That nevertheless he should be no less a friend of the King of Portugal They still reckon under the notion of Congo the Kingdoms of Angola Cacongo and Malemba The Ansicain people who have the Qualities of the Basques in France And lastly the Bramas and Loanghi Those Kingdoms and People no longer acknowledge the Soveraignty of the King of Congo as they did formerly The King of Angola calls himself the Soba His Subjects love Doggs flesh to that degree that they bring up whole Herds or Packs of them and one Dogg alone well sed is sometimes sold amongst them for above two hundred Crowns They have nothing recommendable but their Dexterity in shooting with the Bow They will let fly a dozen Arrows before the first be fallen upon the ground They say the Sun is a Man the Moon a Woman and the Stars the Children of that Man and that Woman Cafreria and Mono-Motapa THe Land of Cafreria is the most Southern of all Africk nay of all our Continent reaching along the Aethiopick-Sea with an extent of Coasts for about twelve hundred Leagues part in the Torrid and part in the temperate Southern Zone 'T is full of Mountains subject to great Colds and under several petty Kings who for the most part pay tribute to the Emperour of Mono-Motapa The King of Sofala pays it to the King of Portugal who has a Garrison in the Castle of Sofala and who by the means of this Garrison draws abundance of Gold from the Mines which are in the inland Countrey This Gold is accounted as good as any in the World they gather it likewise in the Rivers with Nets after there has been Rain Solomon might possibly have had his come from hence which he employed in the building of the Temple The Coast of Cafreria is low and full of Woods the Soyl produces Flowers of an grateful smell and the Trees make a curious prospect Three great Rivers discharge ' emselves into the Indian Seas through Cafreria all three known in the beginning under the name of Zambera Cuama Spirito Santo les Infantes The Cafres live without Law so as their Name speaks them They often furnish the Seamen who come thither with their Cattel But the Mariners now cause the Oxen they buy to betied to great Posts and shut up the Sheep before they pay 'em because the Cafres after having sold 'em were used to make 'em return home with the Call of a Whistle which is wholly peculiar to ' em We may say of 'em in seeing their colour that they resemble our Chimney-sweepers Besides that they have big Heads flat Noses whether they take care to break them in their infancy or that this happens because when they are little their Mothers carry them continually upon the Back Be it how it will they look upon it as one of the Beauties of the Countrey to have them in that manner They have frizl'd Hair Lips extraordinary big the Chine of the Back sticking out sharp and very large Hips insomuch that nothing can be seen more terrible So that we are not to wonder if Pirard calls 'em those Devils of Cafres The Cape of Good Hope which lies toward the most Southern part of this Countrey is by much the longest the most famous and the most dangerous Cape in the World 'T was called so in hopes of arriving suddenly at the East-Indies when it was veered in the year 1498. Before it had the Name of the Tempestuous Cape from the storms that are frequent thereabouts Some have call'd it the Lyon of the Sea others the Head of Africa There are Signs by which the Sailers know when they are near it fifty or sixty Leagues off they find the Bodies of great Reeds called Trombes floating on the Sea and they see flying a number of white Birds mark'd with black spots They who return from the East-Indies see Troops of Sea Wolves made like Bears and then they are continually sounding This Cape serves for bounds to the East and West-India-Companies As they go to the East-Indies and return from thence they must of necessity come in ken of it The Land enjovs a temperate Air several Valleys have Herbs and Flowers in abundance There are Rivers full of Fish and Woods full of Deer and Cattel The Inhabitants who make their Garments of Beasts-skins are very good at running but very villanous in their Diet and when they speak you 'd think you heard Turkey-Cocks Mono-Motapa which is entirely in the Terra firma is almost environ'd with Cafreria It goes under the Name of its King whereas Kings commonly go under the Names of the Countreys that are subject to ' em It is fertile abounding in Ivory and so rich in Gold that the King of it is called the Golden Emperour The Inhabitants who are very superstitious have Pikes Bows and Arrows for their Arms several of 'em are so swift o' foot that they equal Horses in running The Common People only wear Garments below their middle A Relation that was publish'd in the year 1631 tells us That the King then reigning was baptiz'd with all his Court by the Jesuits This Prince is commonly adorn'd with Chains and Jewels like a Bride He is said to have for his usual Guard a Regiment of Women and another of Doggs and that in the Armies those Women do not less service than the Men. The Princes who pay him Tribute receive every Year firing from him for a Mark of the Fealty they owe him the City which is the most considerable has the same Name with the Kingdom Zimbaoe is a square Fortress and the abode of the Court Mono-Emugi is a State on the North of Mono-Motapa The Giaques otherwise called Galles and Chava border upon it and are illustrious for their Valour and for their Conquests which they have made in our time over Abissinia in the upper Aethiopia Zanguebar ZAnguebar of Barbary is a great Coast in the Oriental part of Africa along the Indian-Sea on each side the Equinoctial 'T is a low fenny woody Countrey which by the extremity of the
the Pagan Priests go in Devotion is a Testimony thereof as well as the Crystal Mountains the Forests of Cinnamon and the Rivers of precious Stones which are all to be found there except the Diamond Doubtless the Cinnamon which is gather'd in this Island is by much the best in the World It affords excellent Ivory The fishing for Pearls is perform'd in its neighbourhood upon the Coast of the Isle of Manar This Island abounds so with Rice that they give it their Horses instead of Oats The Pike of Adam afore-mention'd is a high sharp Mountain The Fables of the Countrey say that Adam was there bred and buried that the Lake of Salt Water which is at the top of it is a Flood of the Tears Eve shed during a hundred years for the death of her Son Abel The Inhabitants of Ceylan are of divers Religions active well shap'd black and very ugly Their Forces consist in Elephants which are reckon'd the most couragious and docible of all India from whence it comes they are called Noble They say moreover that the Elephants of other Countreys seeing them do them Reverence and that the Ivory of their Teeth does never turn yellow There was formerly a white Ape in Ceylan in such veneration amongst the Inhabitants that this Ape falling into the hands of the Portugals they offer'd to the King of Portugal tho' in vain three hundred thousand Crowns to purchase him again The Bannians who reckon amongst their false Divinities Ramo one of their Heroes say amongst other follies that he desiring to pass from the Western Peninsula of India into this Island all the Scale-fish join'd together upon the surface of the Sea to make him a Bridge The Streight of Manar is but a Musket-shot broad by reason of the small Islands which are daily made by the stones that are cast in there that they may approach the nearer to a Pagod or Temple of Idolaters which is in the Terra firma of India upon the Coast of the Fishery There are none but small Vessels which can pass through this Streight So narrow a space of Sea makes it believ'd that the Island was formerly joined to the firm Continent The Portugals have nothing more in Ceylan the Hollanders stand now possess'd of most of the Places upon the Sea There are in this Island several Cities with the Title of Kingdom Candea Das sette-Corolas Ceitavaca Galle Colombo Chialo Jaffanatapan Trinquilemale Baticala Jala The King of Candea is the most powerful of the Countrey and a sworn Enemy of the Hollanders He commonly causes his Blacks to burn the Cinnamon that he may render it useless to his Enemies The best Town of Ceylan is Candea towards the midst of the Island The Islands of Sunda THe Streight of Sunda gives it Name to the Isles of Sumatra and Borneo It is the common passage of the Ships which go to China and in the most Oriental Seas The Air of these three Islands is unwholsome and they do not furnish those Provisions for the Mouth that are to be got in the Terra firma of India Their Inhabitants are Pagans in the Inland-Countrey Mahometans upon the Sea-Coasts They have several Kings who besides their Armies by Land have considerable Forces by Sea They furnish rich Merchandizes and chiefly Spiceries which the English Portugals Hollanders and most other Nations fetch from thence Sumatra is the most renown'd Island of the East by reason of its spaciousness and riches It is seven hundred Miles in length and two hundred in breadth with several Mines of Gold It is ten Leagues distant from the Terra firma the Ancients thought it a Peninsula by reason of the great number of small Islands which seem'd to join it to the Continent It has five or six Kings of whom that of Achem is best known to us the others remain at Camper Jambi Menancabo and Palimban They have maintain'd themselves so well in their Islands that the Europeans have not yet been able to hold there any Fortresses There is a Mountain which casts forth fire and flames in like manner with Mount Gibel in Sicily The Pepper which grows in this Island is better than that of the Coast of Malabar because the Soyl is here more humid The Gold is gathered in grain and small pieces in little Ditches by the means of floods of Water In the Inlands of this Isle there are still barbarous Inhabitants who make no difficulty of eating the raw flesh of their Enemies with Salt and Pepper which they always carry about them for that purpose The City of Achem the most considerable of all the Island was much better than it is at this day It is half a League from the Sea in a Plain with a Fortress upon the Banks of a River which is as broad as the Thames but so shallow that it cannot bear ordinary Vessels Java has several small Kings each City having often its own the knowledge of whom is of no great use to us There are amongst others those of Japara Tuban Jortan Panarvan Panarucan and Palambuam Several are Pagans some Mahometans Most own homage to the Grand Materau who resides either at Materau or Japara and who formerly pretended to the Sovereignty of the whole Island There are Oysters taken upon this Coast some of which are said to weigh full three hundred pounds The Island produces such large Reeds that one of these Reeds alone is sufficient to make a small Boat It likewise furnishes excellent Calamba which is the Wood of the Aigle or Aloes Salt which is taken near Jortan Gold and Silver in abundance It s Southern Coast is not yet known Java is one of the greatest Islands of Asia and by reason of its abundance some call it the Compendium of the whole World Its City of Bantam is at the foot of a Hill environ'd with two Hills and cut through by a third The Walls of the City are of Brick flanck'd with several Cannons without full Earth only three foot thick Its Haven is the most spacious and most frequented that is in all the Islands of Sonde There is all manner of Spices Gums and other Commodities of the East-Indies It is the Staple of the English tho' our last advice from thence tell us of great changes and that the King of Bantam's Son assisted by the Hollanders had drove both the Right King and English from thence The French have of late years drove some small Trade in this Town Some Spaniards call Bantam the Geneva of the East Jacatra or Batavia has since the Year 1669. been the Residence of the Councel of the Hollander's East-India Company and the Magazine General of all the rich Merchandises which they draw from the Countries of the East to send into Europe It has a good Cittadel with four regular Bastions Half-Moons and other Works It is in a Bay which being covered by some Islands toward the Sea forms the best Road in all the Indies After this Jortam is one of
as now Languedoc comprehended Cevenes The other great Governments are not subdivided into great Provinces Now follow the capital Cities according to that distribution Amiens Rouen Paris Troyes Rennes Mans No-gent-le-Retrou Orleans Nevers Tours Anger 's Poictiers Angoulesme Bourges Dijon Bourg-en-Bresse Lyon Clermont Moulins Gueret Pau Auch Bourdeaux Saintes Perigueux Limoges Cahors Rodes Toulouse Viviers Grenoble and Aix Spain SPain is a Great Peninsula two hundred Leagues in length and the same in breadth in the most Western part of Europe betwixt the ninth and twenty fourth Degree of Longitude and between thirty five Degrees and a half and forty Degrees and a half of Northern Latitude This Peninsula is upon the Ocean and upon the Mediterranean-Sea towards the North-East it borders upon France for the space of above a hundred Leagues the Pyrenean Mountains between both Several things concur to the making Spain thinly inhabited its Fertility Mountains the barrenness of its Women the banishment of the Moors of whom above eight hundred thousand were constrain'd to depart thence in the Year 1610 the great number of persons that are sent to Colonies and the Wars abroad From whence it proceeds that never above seven thousand natural Spaniards were ever seen together in any Army The Heat reigns there more than the Cold those Provinces which lye South-East are more fertile than the rest The Mountains without Trees and the mighty Rocks are there called Sierra This Country has but scarcity of Corn but abounds with the strongest Wines the most delicious Fruits and the sweetest Oyls of Europe The Gold and Silver which is brought into Spain from America is very capable of purchasing it all the other Conveniencies of Life In the Year 1618. it was verified that since the first discovery of this New World by Columbus the Spaniards had drawn from thence above fifteen hundred thirty six Millions of Gold These are immense Sums but as the Traders of Europe have the best share in them they have not enrich'd Spain proportionably to what it has been weakned by the Colonies that have been sent thither Moreover the necessity of having foreign Commodities drains and exhausts the better part of those Riches This made Henry the Fourth of France say That the Spanish Pistolls spoke their Riches in their own Dominions but carried elsewhere did but shew their Poverty Mines there are of Copper Quick-silver Lead Iron and Salt in Spain those of Gold and Silver have been spared since they have had the conveniency of those of America The Horses of this Region are generally in esteem those of Andalousia above all others yet they travel commonly in this Countrey upon Mules and Asses by reason of the Mountains No Prince whatsoever has so much Land as the King of Spain He may with justice style himself the greatest Territorian of the Universe if I may use that Term. True it is that his Dominions lye separated from one another and dispers'd in the four parts of the World Some of his Predecessours have boasted that the Sun never set in their Dominions and that the extent of their Territories was only to be measured by the Course of that Planet In some Letters which the Kings of Persia have address'd to them in the foregoing Age there is To the King who has the Sun for a Hat Among other Titles they wear that of Catholick particularly since Ferdinand the Fifth and that of the King of Spains they have taken up this last but of late years These following are those which Philip the Fourth took in the Pleinpouvoir which he gave in the Year 1659 to Don Lewis de Haro for the treating of a Peace between France and Spain Dom Philip by the Grace of God King of Castile Leon Arragon the two Sicilies Jerusalem Portugal this Title was left out in the Plein-pouvoirs of the Peace of Nimmeghen Navarre Grenada Toledo Valencia Galicia Maillorca Seville Sardaigna Cordova Corsica Murcia Jaen the Algarbes Algezire Gibraltar the Canary Islands the East and West-Indies the Islands and Terra firma of the Ocean-Sea Arch-Duke of Austria Duke of Burgundy which is no longer allow'd him by the French King since the Cession of the Franche Compte Brabant Milan Count of Hapsbourg Flanders Tirol Barcellonna Lord of Biscay and Malines The principal Order of Knighthood in Spain is that of the Golden Fleece the others are those of St. James of Calatrava of Alcantara and Montese the Kings of Spain have attributed to themselves great Masterships and Jurisdictions of 'em under the Name of Perpetual Administrators There are moreover above fourscore Grandees who are much the same with the Dukes and Peers of England this Dignity of Grandee is setled upon Lands and falls to Females The Spaniards esteem Arts as disnonourable upon which account most of their Artificers are strangers They have always maintain'd the reputation of being Faithful and Loyal to their Prince they are slow in their Resolutions and their Tediousness and Procrastination makes them often lose good Occasions Some of 'em have the vanity to say That their Country furnishes the World with Generals of Armies That God spoke to Moses upon Mount Sinai in the Castillian Tongue That the Lord of the Universe must be a Spaniard born and other such great Words Spain sometimes called Iberia Hesperia Mus-Arabia was subject to strangers during a long while the Celtae Rhodiots Phenicians Carthaginians Romans Vandals Swabians Goths and the Moors have commanded and domineer'd there over all or in some parts Its first Division was into two parts the one on this side the other on that side the Ebre which then bounded the Empires of Rome and Carthage since what has been called Vlterior Hispania has only comprehended Betica and Lusitania In each part the Romans establish'd fourteen Convents or Benches of Justice During the decay and fall of the Domination of the Moors there arose five Kingdoms Leon with Castile Aragon Navarre Portugal and Grenada After which the whole Country fell under the sway of the King of Castile the King of Portugal and the King of Arragon It is principally by these three Titles that the King of Spain has possess'd all his States wherein are eight Vice-Roy-ships In our time the King of Castile has been a peaceable Possessour of all these Kingdoms tho' that since Pelagius the Succession of these Kingdoms has fallen ten times upon Females In the Year 1640 Portugal proclaim'd the Duke of Braganza King The principal Rivers of Spain are the Douere abounding in Fish the Tagus renowned for its golden Sands Guadiana which is said to run under Ground Guadalquiber is the deepest Iberus famous for its Name All of them have their Source in Castile and are not Navigable like many Rivers in other Countreys Guadiana has given the Spaniards occasion to say That their Land affords the richest Bridge upon Earth that it daily feeds above ten thousand Cattel and that a great Army may march over it in Battalia the Ancients seem
to have admirably well called this River Anas by reason that it enters and rises out of the Earth as a Duck does in the water Some Moderns say this River is hidden by the Mountains others do assure us that these are Breakin gs up of the Ground which are made for the watering the neighbouring Lands that are very lean and hungry Certain it is that this happens towards the Sources of Guadiana and not towards Merida as the old Carts represent it This is one of the Wonders of Spain the two others are a City incircled with Fire by Walls of Flint which is Madrid a Bridge over which Water is seen to run which is the Aqueduct of Segovia One may say of the Cities of this State that they have some appellation for Excellence Sevil the trading Grenada the great Valencia the fair Barcellonna the rich Saragossa the satisfied Valle dolid the Genteel Toledo the ancient Madrid the Royal City There are eight Arch-Bishopricks forty five Bishopricks the Arch-Bishopricks are Toledo Burgos Compostella Sevil Grenada Valencia Saragossa and Taragonna King Richard the First establish'd there the Roman Catholick Religion which is the only one allowed of in the Kingdoms the Inquisition having been introduced against all other Beliefs Some Churches are at Toledo where they still perform the Mus-Arabick Office which is that which the Christians who liv'd amongst the Arabians used Several of their Sea-Ports are very considerable the Passage Saint Andre la Corune Cadiz Cartagena Alicant c. There are reckoned in Spain fifteen great Parts most of which had the Title of Kingdoms in the times of the Moors Five upon the Ocean Biscaya Asturia Galicia Portugal that hath its King Andalousia Five upon the Mediterranean-Sea Granada Murcia Valencia Catalonia the Isles of Majorca and Minorca Five within the Inland of the Country Aragon Navarre the two Castiles Leon. Biscay has Woods which furnish it with the conveniency of building Ships It has so great a quantity of Mines and Iron-Forges that the Spaniards call it the Defence of Castile It is separated from France by the small River of Bidassoa which forms a little Island Celebrated for the conclusion of the Peace in the Year 1659. between the Crown of Spain and France The Biscayans who are the ancient Cantabrians have great Priviledges and boast of never having been subdued The Land as well as in the Kingdom of Navarre is well Cultivated because there is neither Tax nor Tythes nor Right of Importation It s Capital Cities are Bilbao St. Sebastian both driving a great Trade especially in Wooll Great Ships cannot come up to Bilbao but at High-Water The Port of Saint Sebastian is of easie access its entrance is defended with two Castles that of the East upon a Height that of the West on a Level upon a Rock Saint Andero and le Passage are two excellent Sea-Ports in this Country Fonterabia the strongest place Guatari the Country of Sebastian Can he who first went round the World in the Ship called the Victory Asturia breeds Horses much esteemed for their strength it is the Title of the Prince of Spain whose younger Brothers are called Infants since the Reign of King John the First It has serv'd for a retreat to the Gothick Kings and to several Bishops during the irruption of the Moors wherefore Oviedo its Capital City is called the City of Kings and Bishops Galicia is more Populous than Fertile Compostella is known for the Pilgrimages of those who go thither to visit the Relick of Saint James the Patron of the Spaniards la Corune for the goodness and spaciousness of its Harbour The Silver Fleet rich above thirty Millions arrived there in the Year 1661. to avoid meeting with the English who for the surprizing it lay at watch upon all the Avenues of Cadiz They reckon in this Country above forty other Havens whereof that of Vigo is the most considerable Andalousia is so beautiful so abounding in Wines Corn Olives that it passes for the Granary and Store-house-of the Kingdom Sevil is the Magazine of the Riches of the New-World 'T is a Town so well Built that there is a Spanish Proverb which runs Qui en no ha visto Sevilla no ha visto maravilla It still keeps the remains of the City Italica the Native Town of Adrian Corduba which gave Lucan and the two Seneca's to Antiquity was much more considerable under the Moors than it is at present It s principal Church was formerly the greatest Mosque of the Mahometans after that of Mecca San-Lucar at the Mouth of Guadalquivir is a Town of great Trade The Ships which bring Gold and Silver from the West-Indies have sometimes cast Anchor near the Tower of the Port which is sometimes call'd the Tower of Gold This casting Anchor is more commonly performed at Cadiz and the Port Saint Mary which is near it Xeres de la Fontera is in the Neighbourhood of the Place where the Moors entirely defeated the Goths in the Year 712. After which they had the means of Ravaging all Spain as they did The Spaniards have been observ'd to have made no scruple of having Alliance with those Infidels because some of their Divines have maintain'd that they might be made use of as of Horses and Elephants Gibraltar gives its Name to the famous Streight which communicates the Ocean and Mediterranean-Seas and which separates Europe from Africa Palos is the Haven where Columbus embarked for the first Discovery of the New-World Cadiz as we have said is the most usual place of Resort for the Fleets which come from the West-Indies by reason of the conveniency of its Harbour It is of such importance that the Emperor Charles the Fifth recommended the preservation of it above all things to his Son Philip the Second with that of Flushing and la Goulete Antiquity shews here a Temple dedicated to Hercules with two Pillars either of Brass or Silver which are said to be the Pillars of that Hero as well as the two Mountains of the Streights of Gibraltar Julius Caesar is said to have wept in this Temple at the remembrance of the Prodigious Conquests which Alexander the Great had made at the Age of thirty three Years and whereof the consideration carried him to such high Enterprises as that of Xenophon's Cyrus had done Scipio The Name of Andalusians was given to the Moriscoes who were driven out of Andalousia and Granada that of Tagarins to those of Aragon and Catalonia The Kingdom of Granada under its last Moorish Kings who lost it in the Year 1421. was much Richer and more Populous than it is at present it was also much more fertile The Moors had a thousand Inventions to Water their Lands with Rivulets and Trenches by causing Water to be brought thither from great Ponds which they made in the Mountainâ— which are at the foot of la Sierra-Navada The Situation of this Kingdom and the Disposition of its Towns are conformable to the Description Julius Caesar gives
thereof The City of the same Name is the greatest of Spain The abode in it is so pleasant by reason of the pureness of its Air and its admirable Fountains that the Moors placed Paradise in that part part of Heaven which is upon its Zenith Malgus is known for the excellent Wines which it furnishes the World withal Almeria for its Commerce and its Harbour Monde for the Victory of Julius Caesar over Pompey's Sons He killed upon the place thirty thousand of his Enemies and afterwards made the Circumvallation of the Town with the Arms and Bodies of the Dead Murcia is called the Garden of Spain by reason of its excellent Fruits It s Town of the same Name drives a great Trade in Silk Carthagena is a good Sea-Port Valentia is the most agreeable Country of all Spain The City of the same Name has also those of Beautiful Great of Valencia del-Cid since its being taken by Rodrigo from the Moors Alicant is known for the Transportation of its good Wines Upon the Coast are seen in a place called Morvedre the Ruins of the ancient Sagonte the destruction whereof by Hannibal gave occasion to the second Punick War The Principality of Catalonia the most important Province of Spain produces Wine Oyl Corn and Fruits in abundance The Neighbourhood of the Pyrenees furnish it with very fine Marble Jaspar and Azure Those who make Spain the Head of the Catholick King 's Dominions say Catalonia is one of its Ears and Portugal the other Ten Cities are reckoned in this Province seventeen Vigueries or great Baily-wicks with above a hundred Walled Towns whereof the most part were taken and re-taken in the late Wars Barcelona the Capital City has good Edifices by reason of the conveniency it has of being furnished with Stone from Mount-Juy Tarragona whereof the greatest part of Spain has born formerly the Name is more Ancient and Strong than it is Beautiful Tortosa upon the end of the Ebre The French gained near this Town a famous Victory over the Sarazens in the time of Charlemain Larida has susteined several Sieges and seen several Battels fought in our time Caesar formerly defeated near this place Aframius and Petreius of Pompey's Party Gironne is a Principality whereof the Eldest Sons of the Kings of Aragon bore the Title Cordene a famous Dutchy has a Mountain of Salt which seems of all sorts of Colours but becomes white when it is pounded Problet a rich Monastery was the Sepulchre of the King 's of Aragon That of our Lady at Montferrat is known for its great Solitude for its Pilgrimages and the Presents that are made there Roses the strongest and most important of the Sea-Towns The Isles of Majorca and Minorca are the ancient Baleares where the Inhabitants were heretofore as good Slingers and great Pyrats as it this day They obliged their Children to fight for their Break-fast with their Slings notwithstanding their activity they were constrain'd to demand help of Augustus against the Rabbets which harassed their Country The Books of Raymundus Lullius are read and studied in the University of Majorca as Aristotle's Des-Cartes's are in other places The Isle of Minorca has good Havens whereof the most considerable is that of Mahon with Avenues well Fortified The Territory of Yvica has this particularity of killing Serpents which are in great numbers in the Isle Formentera Aragon has no good Towns but Saragossa Ainsa and Benavari have been the Capitaâ—s of two small Kingdoms Sobrarbe and Ribagorce Monzon is a place where the States of Aragon did formerly assemble Navarre consists in six Merindades or Governments whereof the Capital is Pamplune There is on this side the Pyrenees one of those Governments which is call'd of Low-Navarre in the hands of the French King The French say That the Genealogy-Table shews the Rights which his most Christian Majesty has over the Kingdom of Navarre which was Usurp'd from his Predecessors about the Year 1512. without any other ground than that of Vis Arma. Old-Castile has receiv'd its Name from a Castle whose Figure is seen in the first Quarter of the Arms of the King of Spain Burgos is the Metropolitan City thereof with a strong Castle and a fine Church Valladolid has been the abode of the Kings the Ruins of the ancient Numantia are still seen towards the Sources of the Donere near Soria where is kept the Great Standard of the Kingdom The Inhabitants of Calahorre were formerly in such esteem for their Fidelity and Loyalty that the Emperor Augustus Caesar chose his Life-Guard out of those People Both Castiles as well as all the other Inland Provinces are extraordinary full of Mountains New-Castile has the Capital Cities of the Kingdom Madrid and Toledo Madrid is adorn'd with beautiful Fabricks as being the most usual Seat of the King Toledo is very ancient in the midst of Spain where some Gothick Kings had then their abode It s Clergy is reckoned the richest of Christendom the Sword-blades which are made in this Town are in very great esteem The Escurial standing seven or eight Leagues from Madrid passes amongst the Spaniards for an eighth Wonder of the World it costing King Philip the Second above twenty Millions of Gold but 't is true that this expence was not extraordinay for a Prince who is said to have spent above seven hundred Millions of Gold during his Reign In the Year 1671. this admirable House was very much endamaged by a Fire Badajox is upon the Frontier of Portugal in Estramadura The small Territory of la Manche is made the Native Country of Don Quixot The Kingdom of Leon was the first which the Christians did establish after the Invasion of the Moors It s Town of the same Name has a Cathedral Church renowned for its Beauty That of Toledo is esteemed for its Riches of Sevil for its Bigness of Salamanca for its Strength The City of Salamanca has a Celebrated University which has the Priviledg of Teaching the Hebrew Greek Arabick and Chaldean Tongues Mention is made of the Vallies of Vatuegas Inhabited by a kind of Patoacas or Savage People never heard of in Spain before the late discovery of 'em in the Mountains of the Kingdom of Leon. The occasion this An Hawk of the Duke of Alva's which he very much valued flew over those Mountains and his Man not being able to find her at first they were sent back by the Duke to seek her Clambring from one Hill to another they hapned at last upon a large and pleasant Valley where they spied a Company of Naked Savage People hemm'd about amongst many Craggy Rocks the Savages gazing a while upon them ran into their Caves made in the hollows of the Rocks the best Houses they had which being observed by the Falconers they return again to their Lord telling him that instead of a Falcon they had brought him news of a new World in the midst of Spain and of a Race of People which came in with
possessed by the Crown of Sueden Of Denmark THE Danes make the Name of their Country come from Dan one of the Successors of Noah They make all their Kings to descend from him to Christian the Fifth now Reigning Grandson of Christian the Fourth who had the happiness to sway the Scepter above sixty Years The King of Denmark commands Countries of vast extent which for the most part are cold by reason of their Situation towards the North full of Mountains and Woods and Ice and Snow Of this Number are the Kingdom of Norway Greenland the Isles of Island and of Fero. Towards the North of America there be some Lands which bear the Name of New-Denmark Some Fortresses in Guinea Krankebar in Coromandel in the East-Indies acknowledg subjection to his Majesty of Denmark What is particularly comprehended under the Name of Denmark is the best inhabited the finest and the most fertile It is an Hereditary Kingdom since the Year 1660. before it was Elective the Nobility being now stript of the Prerogative it formerly possessed The King of Denmark styles himself Count of Oldembourg and Delmenhorst as the Eighth King of that Family into which the Crown of Denmark came in the Year 1448. by the Election of Christian I. He is now in possession of it and caused to be built there in the Year 1681. a new City with a Sea-Port under the Name of Christiana The Opinion of Luther is followed in Denmark since the Reign of King Frederiek Elected in the Year 1523. There is no great Trade drove in Denmark but there is a fine Revenue arising from the Customs which the Merchandizes pay that pass through the Streight of the Sound the Key of the Baltick-Sea This Streight is a Mile in breadth and the Course which the Ships there steer with the most safety and conveniency is nearer Cronembourg than Elsenbourg which belongs to the Crown of Sueden This Revenue is no longer so considerable since the Suedes do not pay there now what they did formerly and it would be less if the design was brought about that has been entertain'd of joyning the Baltick Sea to the Elve by the Lake of Swerin if the transportation of Commodities be continued by Land from Hambourg to Lubeck and if the Elector of Brandenbourg brings to perfection the Chanel which he has begun at Mulras for the transporting the Merchandizes of Poland and Silesia from the Oder into the Elve Ships of ordinary Bulk which take their way through the Streight of the Belt cast Anchor before Nibourg and there pay the Impost This Streight is broader but not so deep as that of the Sound by which means the Sea is there very rough the great Ships meet with several Islands there and do not willingly steer their Course that way which they take more directly and more conveniently through the Sound The King of Denmark raises also a great Revenue from the Cattel of his Dominions which afford 'em both very fat and in great plenty The Germans carry away from thence every Year above fifty thousand Oxen into their own Country Other Foreigners go into Denmark to buy Horses Such abundance is there of Deer that three or four hundred are sometimes killed in one Chace alone the Danes are us'd to salt and barrel 'em up for the victualling as they say the King's Ships the hunting of those Creatures is commonly perform'd in Chariots or a sort of running Waggons by reason these Machines do not fright away the Deer The Ports of Denmark are the Peninsula of Jutland and the Islands near the Streight of the Belt Schonen was yielded up to the Crown of Sueden by the late Treaties of Peace Jutland was the abode of Cimbres who have made Conquest in most of the Regions of Europe and who before they were defeated by Marius gave furious Alarums to the Romans There is somewhat Martial found at this day in the Danish Ladies they love Hunting and receive at Table rather than in their Chambers those persons who make 'em visits In Jutland there be four Diocesses towards the North Ripen Arhusen Alborg Viborg two Dutchies towards the South Sleswick and Holstein Those who inhabit near the Coast are at small Charges in making their Houses for that the Wind does often carry there such drifts of Sand as to constrain 'em to get out at the top of their Houses Kolding is the place of Custom for the Cattel Frederic-Ode which is now called Frederic for the rendring the termination of it the more different from that of Frederick-Ohrt in Holstein is in so important a situation that Charles Gustavus King of Sueden having taken it in the late Wars had then the means of making his Army pass over the Ice into all the Neighbouring Islands and go give the Alarum to Copenhagen which was an Action as bold as that never the like was heard of this Prince made the Cavalry march and lead the Artillery over great Arms of the Sea where before a Man on foot would have been afraid of venturing himself True it is that formerly some Battels have been fought there upon the Ice but commonly the War was made in those Parts by Land in Winter and by Sea in Summer The Dutchy of Sleswick was the ancient abode of the English It belongs to the Duke of Holstein who has his Residence at Gottorp and holds of the Crown of Denmark The City of Sleswick has the remains of the Re-intrenchments which were made there at divers times to hinder entrance into the Peninsula One of the late Dukes of Holstein caused Frederickstadt to be built upon the Eider with design of setling there the Guild-Trade He sent in the Year 1633. for that purpose a signal Embassie into Russia and Persia whereof we have both a fine and an exact Relation drawn up by Olearius Secretary of the Embassie Holstein otherwise Holsatia belongs to the King of Denmark and to the Duke of Holstein who have hitherto done Homage for it to the Emperor as Fief of the Empire and have had alternately the administration of Justice the Session in the Assemblies of the Empire and in all the Rights of Regality By the Peace of the Empire with Sueden Protection is granted the Duke against the King of Denmark which was of no use to him in the late Wars and he was only re-established in his Dominions by the Peace of Nimmighen His Riches consist in the Fishery and in the Transportation of Swine which are fatned in the Woods Some Lands in this Country bring forth for three years together the three years following they are covered with Water by the means of Ponds that are made to overflow The Principal Town is Riel which is near the Port of Christianpreis which was Fortified and near which has lately been built the Fortress of Frederick-Ohrt The greatest Isles of Denmark are Zealand and Fionia Copenhagen in Zealand is a Town of great Commerce the usual abode of the King It has a fine Castle-Royal
the 2d Emperour of the Turks Pella was the Birth-place of that ancient Conquerour Edissa the abode of King Philip his Father who was there assassinated Philippi is famous for the defeat of Cassius and Brutus Monte-Santo otherwise Athos for the great number of its Caloyers religious Greeks who chose it for the Place of their abiding by reason of the goodness of the Air. Its shadow reaches to the Isle of Lemnos which is seen from Mount Ida in Asia Xerxes had the satisfaction to make it his Island Stesicrates a Sculpturean proposed to Alexander the Great to make of it a very extraordianry Statue with one hand it should have poured a great River into the Sea with the other it should have held a considerable City Thessalonica or Saloniki has had Kings of its own Albania is renowned for its good Cavalry where Valone is accompanyed with good harbour from whence the passage is easie into Italy Pyrrhus King of Epirus had a thought of making a Bridge of Boats from that Coast to Otranto in Italy During the War against the Pyrates Terentius Varro Pompeys Lievtenant had the same design Durazzo is noted for the encampments of Gaesar and of Pompey Groye for being the brave Scanderbegs Native Place that Flail of the Ottoman Empire whose Armies he defeated in two and twenty set Battails Scutari was a long while besieged by the Forces of Mahomet the 2d who shot therein so many Arrows that they furnished the Garrison with Wood sufficient to warm themselves with all the Winter Epirus has had the Title of a Kingdom Prevesa was the best Town it was formerly Nicopolis built by order of Augustus in memory of the Naval Victory which he gained over Marc-Antony and Cleopatra near Actium Larta is the ancient Ambracia which served for Residence to King Pyrrhus Near that place dwells the Acarnanes the best Slingers of Greece the only People which did not assist the Greeks in their Trojan War The Epirots were the first People of Greece who made War upon the Romans and who made use of Elephants against them unknown before to Italy Thessalia has had several Tyrants amongst others Jason of Pheres There be the Cities of Larisse the Native place of Achilles where Mahomet the 4th for some time made his Abode during the last War of Candia Armira Volo with their Sea Ports Tricca the Episcopal Title of Heliodorus who chose rather to lose his Bishoprirk thandisown his Romance of Theagenes and Chariclea Achaia has two Cities Setines and Stives the former was the most flourishing Republick of the World the Abridgment of all Greece the other as we have said has dared to aspire to the general Dominion of the Countrey Sparta is famous for the signal Victory of the Christians over the Turks in the year 1671. In that engagement a hundred and eighty nine Turkish Galleys were lost five and twenty thousand Turks killed four thousand made Prisoners twelve thousand Christians freed This City is in the Countrey of the ancient Aetolians who despised the orders of Alexander the Great during his greatest Conquests Negrepont formerly Euboae is only seperated from Achaia by a Strait called otherwise Euripe This Euripe has given a good deal of Exercise to Philosophers who have sought out the cause of its ebbing and flowing those who seem to have examined it best say that it is regular towards the days of the New and Full Moon that is to say in twenty four or twenty five hours it has twice its ebbing and flowing as the Ocean and that it is irregular towards the dayes of the first and last quarter of the Moon that is to say that in twenty four or in twenty five hours it has 11 12 13 or 14 times Floud and as often an Ebb. The Peloponesus the most renowned Peninsula in the World is joyned to the rest of Greece by a Neck of Land of about six thousand paces in breadth which several Kings and Emperors have in vain endeavored to dig through It was a saying fodere Isthmum when they meant to express nenterprize which had no probability of being effected The Christians who called it Morea upon the account of its Mulberries have made there retrenchments in divers times against the Turks who won them under Amurath the 2d and under Mahomet the 2d The midst of that Peninsula was formerly inhabited by the Arcadians who had in their Countrey the finest Asses in the World and who neglected to learn Astrology when the other Greeks received it because they esteemed themselves more ancient than the Moon Patras where St. Andrew was put upon the Cross is one of its best Towns Modon the abode of the Sangiacbey or Governour of the Province Maina gives its Name to a Petty Countrey which has no longer the Liberty it a long time maintained against the Turks by favour of the Sea and the sharpness and steepness of the Mountains Napoli of Romania and Malvasia are peopled on the score of their Sea-Ports where a great Trade is droven Corinth now ruined was formerly named the Rich the conveniency of its Scituation made it be called the Market of Greece Its Inhabitants invented the Greek Galleys after that it was burnt by the Romans there came a mixture of its melted Mettals which has retained the Name of Corinthian Brass Philip King of Macedon esteemed three places in Greece for strength the Castle of Corinth Demetrias and Calcis The Castle of Corinth named the Acrocorinth and Ithoma near Messena by reason of their Scituations were called the two Horns of the Peloponesus Mesitra is the ancient Sparta otherwise called Lacedemon whose power was particularly upon Land whereas that of Athens was upon the Sea It s most Noble Citizens were called Spartiates the others Lacedemonians perhaps with the same difference that is put between the Castillans and the Spaniards The Government of this State consisted in few persons they observed there a stile in speaking and writing which expressed much in few Words Olympies was noted for the Temple and Oracle and Statue of Jupiter the Olympian one of the seven Wonders of the World for the Olympyads which were reckoned from four to four years after the celebration of the Olimpick Games The Ceremonies where of were kept until the Countrey was subdued by the Romans Sicion had its Kings almost as soon as the Assyrians The Ancients did affirm that the River Alpheus which passes in the Peloponesus went under the Sea to the Fountain Arethusa in Sicily Besides the Dominions of the Grand Seignior which we have mentioned in Africa in Asia and Europe His Highness possesses Suaquem upon the Red Sea Teflis in Georgia Asoph at the Mouth of the Dom. Themon and Temroch near the Palus Maeotides on the side of Asia Arabia Petrea part of desart Arabia The Kingdoms of Zibit and Ziden in Arabiafoelix with the Towns of Dolfar and El-catif In Europe Bessarabia Ocziacou Dassain towards the Mouths of the Nieper Gaffa and other places
in lesser Tartary The Isle of Gandia Waradin in Transilvania The Scituations of these Countreys and places is to be seen in the Map to know the importance of them Transilvania Valachia Moldavia lesser Tartary the Republick of Ragusa the Corsairs of Barbary and others hold of the Turks Of Hungary Hungary seems to have been so called from the Huns a People noted for the Devastations they have made in several Regions of Europe principally under Attila one of their Kings Most of the Towns of this Country have Names that have very little affinity one with another because the Nations who gave them at their setling themselves there had very different Tongues Hungary is commonly divided into High and Low the last towards the South is almost wholly in possession of the Turks the former towards the North for the most part in the hands of the House of Austria unless it be such places as have been lately seized or revolted with Count Teckley Two parts of it have been sometimes made separated from one another by the Danube the one to the West known under the Name of Pannonia the other to the East making part of ancient Dacia There be several Countreys the enumeration whereof is not here very material The House of Austria has there four General Ships the Turks four Bachalics or great Governments When the Realm of Hungary was in its Splendour it extended to the very Adriatick Sea as far as Greece and comprehended Transilvania Walachia and Moldavia from whence it came that the Emperour as King of Hungary pretends that the Princes of those three States be allowed of by him The Grand Seignior has maintained his pretension better in that point The Soyl of Hungary is fertile the Plains are beautiful and afford plenty of Corn the Hills Wine which is transported into Poland and other places where it is accounted excellent that of Tokay is in most esteem It also affords Salt and other Conveniencies of Life Several Great Rivers contribute to this abundance the Danube Drave Save which have their Sources in Germany the Teyss which is entirely Hungarian The Danube leads its Waters from the West to the East through the midst of the Countrey with less swiftnes towards Noon than towards the Evening and the Morning after a course of above six hundred Leagues it falls into the Black Sea by several Mouths The Teyss can carry Boats four Leagues from its Source It abounds so in Fish that they are said to make the third part of its Bed for which reason it often casts abundance of them upon the Neighbouring Plains and that in the publick Markets of the Towns those who retire into the Countrey have order to take them away Formerly the Hungarians put the Figure of the above mentioned Rivers in their Ensigns or Colours and since they have carryed the Cross therein having embrac'd Christianity under their Prince Esthienne who for that consideration obtained of Pope Silvester the 2d the Title of King and was crowned in the year 1001. The highest Mountains of Hungary are towards Poland and Transilvania the Richest between Buda and Strigonia The Hungarians are Warlike neither their Garments nor their Manners be very different from those of the Turks Their Tongues is almost wholly peculiar to themselves and nevertheless the Latine Sclavonian German and Turkish are in use among them The Emperour Ferdinand the 2d allowed the liberty of Religion in this Realm in the year 1622. The Revocation of that Toleration has occasioned perpetual Revolts and is the source of that great War it is now the Scene of This Realm has two Archbishopricks Strigonia or Gran and â—oloâ—â—a with ten Bishopricks the half of which is in the Infidels hands Four orders of Persons have Sessions in the States the Prelates the Barons the Nobles and the Burgesses of Free and Royal Cities The Dignity of Palatine is there the most considerable after that of King who if he acts in any wise against their Priviledges may be opposed by force if the Palatine consent thereto The Hungarians will not suffer to have any Palatines but of their own Nation The Archbishop of Strigonia is Prince and perpetual Chancellour of the Kingdom he Crowns the King after his election These two Officers have almost all the Authority Hungary has had eight Kings of the House of Austria from Ferdinand the â— Brother of the Emperour Charles the 5th unto Leopold-Ignace Though the Hungarian Nobility do not love the Germans yet they have not opposed this Election for the sheltering themselves against the oppression of the Turks who respect a Peasant as much as they do a Gentleman The greatest strength of the Countrey consists in light Horse the Troopers be called Hussars the Foot Soldiers Heidukes Besides extraordinaries the Emperour draws from what he possesses in Hungary about a million of Livers every year He raises this Money from the Mines by an imposition on each Horse and by the exportation of Cattle The Grand Seignior has there his Caraz which is four Livers a Head of those under his Sway This is so small a matter for either of those Princes that for the preservation of what they hold there they are obliged to employ their other Revenues The Turk pretends to all Hungary and the States which depend thereon by virtue of a Cession which was made thereof to Soliman the 2d by John Sigismond Son of King John Count de Cepuse and by the Queen his Mother In Upper Hungary there be several Free Towns which form thirteen Communities The King of Poland holds half of Cepuse with a dozen of Cities Most of the Frontiers are untilled and overgrown with Shrubs and Weeds Tho there be a Truce between the Austrians and the Ottomans yet they fail not of making incursions upon one another In the year 1642. the Truce was made between the two Empires for twenty-years In the year 1664. after two years War it was renewed the Turk remaining Master of the Fortress of Waradin and Newheusel this last in the very middle of all Europe The most considerable Cities of Hungary are Presbourg Cassovia Esperies Buda Agria Temesvar Kanise Presbourg is the Capital of all the House of Austria possesses in this Realm Since the loss of Albe Royale it has been the place of Election and Coronation of their Kings Cassovia is towards the Mountains with the finest Arcenal of the Country Esperies has Fairs which render it very populous The strongest places of the House of Austria are Javarin and Komorra the Bulwarks of Christendom Javarin is in a vast Plain environed with the Danube and the Raab which sometimes gives it its Name defended with several Bastions faced with Brick with Ravelins between both Having formerly been taken by the Turks it was petarded and retaken with as much happiness as boldness by a French Gentleman called Vaubecour Komorra has the Danube for its Moat or Ditch and cannot be besieged but by three Bodies of Armies The Isle of the
same Name otherwise called of Schut where the Turks were routed by the Imperialists in a late Action to the loss of many of their Men has above three hundred Villages or Boroughs above fifteen thousand Inhabitants with the convenience of hunting and fishing Leopolstad Fillek Tokay Zatmar and Kalo have likewise been fortified by order from the Emperour Buda is divided into High and Low Town the Germans call it Offen that is to say Court because it was the abode of the Kings and the Capital of all the Kingdom it has the most honourable Beglerbyat of all Turkey though it be not the most gainful its Bashaw has more Authority than others Its usual Garrison is of eight or ten thousand Men. Agria Temesvar Kanisa have in like manner Bashaws as being upon the Frontier The Turks call Temesvar the invincible The Emperour Ferdinand the 2d besieged Kanise being then but Arch-Duke and could not take it Leopold-Ignace was not more happy in the year 1664. The Retreat from Kanise by the Duke of Mercoeur is one of the the finest Actions of our Age. People also esteem that from Mayence by the Cardinal de la Valette that from Torgow by the Suedish General Banier that from Dundee by the Marquiss of Montross Five Churches is the place where Solyman the Great dyed during the Siege he laid to Zygeth in the year 1566. Mogacz is noted for the defeat of the Christians in the year 1526. The Bridge of Esseck for the exploit of Count Peter de Serin who burnt it in sight of the Turks Armies Of Transilvania Walaciha and Moldavia TRansilvania is so called because it is seated beyond the Woods which separate it from Hungary It is sometimes called Sevenburgen because of the Cities which the Saxons built therein to the number of seven Hermanstat Cronstat Nosenstat Medwish Scespurg Clausembourg Weissembourg The People of this State are of three sorts Cicules or Zeckels Saxons Hungarians who give each different Names to each City of the Countrey The Zeckels are come from Tartary or rather are the remains of the Huns who laid aside their Name that they might not be odious to their Neighbours They have setled themselves principally in seven places at Sepsi at Orbay at Kisdi at Czick at Girgio at Marcos at Aranias their Capital City is Newmark The Saxons are Originaries of Germany the Hungarians stile themselves the Nobles of the Country Hermanstad the residence of the Prince is a strong Town Waradin was fortifyed by the Turks who usurped it in the year 1660. One of the Principal Revenues of Transilvania consists in Salt which is principally got at Torda it is sent into Hungary by the River of Marish There be Mines of Gold and Silver and sometimes Pieces of pure Gold are found in the Rivers which weigh above half a pound So as the Hungarians being Masters of Transilvania called it their Treasure There be several sorts of Religion the Catholicks Lutherans Calvinists have had there the free exercise of theirs towards the beginning of this Age. The Families of Bathori and of Ragotski have bestowed several Princes upon this Countrey which was made a Soveraignty in the year 1512. for John Zapolia upon condition of holding of Hungary The last Ragotski who was killed in Battel against the Turks in the year 1659. was the fourteenth Prince thereof he stiled himself By the Grace of God Prince of the Kingdom of Transilvania Lord of a part of Hungary and Count of the Siculi He paid the Grand Seignior annually a Tribute of fifty thousand Livers the Ministers of the Port have made it mount to a hundred thousand Rixdollers The Emperour as King of Hungary pretends to have right to the installation of the Prince of Transilvania the Emperour Rodolphus II. having establisht there Botskai upon condition of Return upon the Males failing Walachia which offers it self on the North East of Transilvania along and on the North of the Danube was called petty and Transalpina for the distinguishing it from Moldavia It is watred with a great number of Rivers some of its Mountains have great Mines of Gold its Horses are by many accounted the best in Europe It s Prince called Hospodar sometimes Vaivode that is to say Head of the Troops resides at Tergowis and pays the Grand Seignior a hundred and twenty thousand Livers of annual Tribute Moldavia has been sometimes known under the Name of Great Walachia and of Walachia Cis-Alpina It is rich in Wax and in Honey out of which it raises every year about 2 hundred thousand Crowns only for the tenths of the Prince There are several Heaps of Stones which are said to have been set up by order of Darius King of Persia who made war upon the Scithians It s capital Cities are Yasi and Sockou Choczin near the Niester is the place where a Polish Army was defeated under King Sigismond-Augustus and where King John Sobieski a little before his election gained over the Turks a Victory the most memorable of our age The Eastern part called Bessarabia butts upon the Black Sea and belongs to the Grand Seignior who is Master of the Mouths of the Danube and of the Niester and who takes all possible means to subdue those of the Nieper and subject entirely the rich Province of the Ukrain The Champaign of Budziac is twelve Leagues in length ten in breadth is possessed by the Dobruck Tartars who are the greatest Robbers of all those parts They are said to amount to above 15000. They inhabit the Country round about Bialigrod About the year 1500. a Governour of Moldavia called Estienne rendred himself the Soveraign thereof and at several times vanquished the Turks the Lesser Tartars and the Polanders His Successours have played there as it were at Bo-peep and several of them have been massacred by their Subjects upon the account of their Cruelties Of a score of its Princes which be there called Waivodes not two of them succeeded their Fathers They did for sometime hold of Poland now of the Turk at disposal The ordinary Tribute was a hundred and fourscore thousand Livers The Port augments from time to time the Tribute of the Moldavians as well as that of the Walachians for the rendring them poor and obedient if it protects in appearance their Princes who are commonly of low Birth it imitates those who defend Sheep and suffer Bees to live upon the account of the Wool and the Honey they afford Of Lesser Tartary LEsser Tartary which lies in Europe is so called for distinction sake from the Great which makes part of Asia It is also named Percopense and Crimee from its principal Cities scituated in the Peninsula called formerly Taurica The Nogay Tartars may be there comprehended between the Tanais and the Boristhenes the Tartars of Ocziakou between the Mouths of the Boristhenes and the Niester and also the Tartars of Budziack above mentioned on the East of Moldavia between the Mouths of the Niester and of the Danube Besides all
of raising Forces by Sea and Land of making Peace or War with the command of the Castles of the Cittadels and Garrisons of the Kingdom The richness of the Countrey consists in Wool in Cattle and Salt-Fish It s Land has several Mines of Lead Iron Sulphur Azure and Coal It s principal Rivers have a prodigious Quantity of Salmon All Scotland is divided into two great parts by the River of Tay the one Northern the other Southern Northern Scotland contained under the name of High-lands is that where the Romans could not carry their Armies and where in our times the English Parliamentaries had not all the Success they had promised to themselves It was the abode of the ancient Scots whose Kings had their residence at Dunstafag The Robberies of the Inhabitants have been there formerly so frequent principally in the Province of Albania that if by the Law any one of the Province had committed a Robbery he amongst them whom a man could seize of was obliged to repair the loss or to lose his Life Aberdeen is the most considerable City of this Country by reason of its University and of its Pearls which are found in its little River and of the Salmons that are taken in its Neighbourhood where three hundred are said to be sometimes taken at one Cast of the Net The Southern part of Scotland which is called Lower is a better Country than the upper There is to be seen Edenborough the Capital of the Kingdom the abode of the late Kings St. Andrew and Glascow have the Title of Archbishopricks St. Andrew has also a famous University I say famous for such a Kingdom as that of Scotland where Glascow passes for a Paradise Abernethi was the abode of the King of the Picts Duns upon the Marches of England is the place of Birth of the subtil Doctor Scotus Leith the Sea-port of Edinborough St. Johns Town a new City near the ruins of the ancient Perth which the Sea has ruined It is defended with good Walls whereas most of the other Cities of the Kingdom have none at all The Coronation of the Kings of Scotland is performed at Scone near St. Johns-Town There was in this Abby a Marble Chair from which the Royalty of Scotland was esteemed inseparable but the King of England Edward the 4th having transferred it to London it looks as if King James the 6th was as it were forced to go thither That Chair had been before in the Country of Argyle Dunbar is an old Castle the Fortifications whereof have been destroyed The English Parliamentaries won a Battail there in the year 1650. Dunbarton is a Fortress upon a Rock near a Lake where the Fish are said to have no bones The Isles of May and Bass have Castles situated upon inaccessible Rocks The Garrison of that of Bass receives great conveniencyes from the Geese Sea Coots or Moor-hens which go there to make their Nests these Fowls furnish abundance of Wood for Fewel Among the Islands which depend on Scotland The Hebrides are on the West the Orcades on the North of that Kingdom The Inhabitants of the Orcades keep carefully the Cup of St. Magnus whom they name their Apostle With this Cup they try their Bishops and hope for abundance of good from 'em when those Prelates empty it quite They are of so good a complexion that they never take Physick Towards the North of the Orcades there be the Isles of Scetland which we have said to depend on the Crown of Denmark The Insularies there are so healthful and so vigorous that they make no scruple of marrying when they are a hundred years old Nay they go a fishing at the age of a hundred and thirty and a hundred and forty Zeal one of these Islands suffers no Forreign Animals they dye as soon as they come there Ireland IReland formerly called Ivernia and Hibernia is on the West of Great Brittain from which it is separated by a Sea full of Shelves and Rocks where there is a concourse of several Rivers which fall in there with great Rapidity There is little sayling there but with Ships of a middle Bulk yet Ireland has the finest Harbours and the greatest number in the World The Irish are tall and well proportioned love Repose and Liberty most of them are Catholicks During the usurpation of the Royal Authority in England by the two Houses and by Cromwel most of the Papists were brought to condign Punishment for their execrable Massacres and Bloudshed and the Irish Nobility pen'd up in a corner of the Kingdom between the River of Shennon and the Sea The Physitians there are received by Succession The Riches of this Realm consists in Butter Suet Wool Hides Frizes Coverlets Cheeses and Salmon The English who reside there drive almost all the Trade Though this Island be full of Lakes Ponds Marshes Mountains it is nevertheless very healthful and is said neither to produce or suffer any thing that 's venemous The Wood or Timber that 's cut there engenders neither Worms nor Spiders Of this Nature is the Timber Work of the Pallace of Westminster and that of the Town-House of the Hague in Holland Of late time several of its Marshes have been drained and dryed up and the Countrey which was formerly only Forrests is at present so disgarnished of Woods that they are constrained to make use of Turfe instead of it for Firing All along the Coast is great plenty of those Fowl we call Soland-Geese they are produced of the Wood of the Ships which rot in the Sea There be also Pearls which float in company as Bees follow their King but are not of a fine Water Ireland is divided according to the Dispositions of the Regions of the World into four parts Leinster Ulster Cannaught and Munster formerly Meeth was reckoned for a fifth but is now accounted a Member of Leinster There is still another Division which divides all Ireland into two parts whereof the one is the Province of the English the other the Country of the true Irish though the whole Country has been subdued and there is almost every where English and Scotch Collonies The Province of the English has in like manner four Countreys Lease Meth Dublin Kildare-Monmouth is the best Country with the finest Havens of the Kingdom Leinster drives the greatest Trade the two other Ports are not so considerable Mead passes for the Granary of Ireland by reason of its Corn. There be few good Towns Armagh in Ulster which was formerly the principal in all the Island has now nothing more than the Ruines with the Title of the Primary and the Archbishops See London-Derry is much more considerable Drogday is strong and trading a Proverb runs that Wexford was in vogue that Dublin is so and that Drogdah shall be The Hole of St. Patrick has Circumstances which have furnished matter to the making of Books Amongst other Fables which be told thereof is the descent of Souls into Purgatory and into Hell through
the Flemmings wedded to Commerce to Manufacture and Navigation Both People are industrious in making Handy-craft-Works They have two sorts of Tongues the Walloon which is a corrupted French and which becomes purer since the French King's Conquests and the Flemming or Low Dutch The first is particularly in Artois in French-Flanders and in Haynault The Vnited Provinces and the Provinces of the King of Spain were in War until the Year 1609. when they made a Truce of Twelve Years His Catholick Majesty did then treat with the States General of the Vnited Provinces in quality and as holding them for Free-Countrys Provinces and States to whom he had no Pretension In the Year 1648. the Peace was made there before that of the Empire which was concluded at Munster in the same Year And since the Spaniards of Flanders and the Hollanders have thought fit to live neighbourly and in good intelligence nay to confederate together for their mutual defence The War having been declared by the French King upon the Hollanders in the Year 1672. the Spaniards fail'd not to take part in it for the traversing the Conquests of his Christian Majesty which cost them very considerable Cities and Provinces whereas the Hollanders recover'd what they had lost The Princes of Orange of the House of Nassau have almost ever had the Military and Civil Government in the Vnited Provinces The Vnited Provinces of the Low-Countries THe Vnited Provinces are so call'd from their Union at Vtrecht in the Year 1579. They are commonly called Holland that being the richest most populous Province of 'em all Their situation is towards the end of the Rivers Rhine and Meuse in the Northern part of the Low Countries between the Dominions of the King of Spain in Flanders England which is separated from 'em by the Sea and several Principalities of the Empire The Princes of the Empire who are their Neighbours are the Duke of Newbourg in his Dutchy of Juliers and his Barony of Ravestein the Elector of Brandenbourg in his Dutchy of Cleves the Elector of Cologn the Bishop of Munster the Count de Bentheim the Prince of East-Friesland in the Territories of the same Name The Vnited Provinces which before owed subjection to the King of Spain have since been independent of one another or to say rather as many Republicks which altogether make now but one under the Name of the States General of the Vnited Provinces of the Low Countries The Dignity of this State residing in the States General the Absolute authority over things reserved by reason of the alliance has remained in the States of each Province The Seal of the Republick is a Lion holding a Bundle of Seven bound Arrows with allusion to as many confederated Provinces these Provinces as the Politicians say have not always been so well united but that they resembled a Body which has several Heads some of which would draw it on one side while the others endeavour to tug it on the other There is no State in the World of so small an Extent which has so great a number of Fortresses and which seems better defended by the Nature of the Places than this It has the See and several Rivers which defend it the Rhine the Meuse the Waal the Issel Notwithstanding all these Defences the French King made surprising Conquests in the Year 1672. by the reduction of three Provinces and sixty considerable Towns which proceeded from raw unexpert meer Citizens sons being imploid in the Soldiery Besides the Vnited Previnces and the Places that are in them the States General have in Flanders the Cities of Sluyce Middlebourg Ardembourg Sasvan Gaunt Axel Hulst in Brabant Lisle Bergen-ap-Zoom Breda Boisleduc Grave and they have Maestricht in the Bishoprick of Liege Dalem Fauquemont Bolduc in the Land of Outre Meuse These Places were taken by the French King but restor'd to them by his Majesty in consideration of the Peace of 1678. In Germany they had upon the Rhine Orsoy Wesel Reez Emerik Genep in the Dutchy of Cleves Rhineberg in the Electorate of Cologn these are return'd into the hands of its true Masters in consideration of the aforesaid Peace Towards Westphalia the States General have Garrisons in the City of Embden in the Forts of Eideler and Leer-ort which belong to the Prince of East-Friesland There are in Holland two Companies of Merchants the one for the East-Indies the other for the West The first of these Companies seems it self to be a Potent Republick It boasts of having subdued more Leagues of Country than there are Acres of Land in all Holland Of having fourteen or fifteen thousand Soldiers and a Number of Ships in its Service Of employing commonly above fourscore thousand Men. It had long since above twenty very considerable Fortresses as many Magazines upon the Coasts of the Indian-Sea where it has endeavour'd to constrain several Petty Kings not to receive into their States any other Nations of Europe than their own The West-India Company is weak and feeble in respect of the other whether that the Portugals have had more right and more strength than the Hollanders in Brazil Or the term of the Concession of Priviledg obtained by these from their Sovereign be expired Or in short that the Company of the East-Indies has us'd all its efforts to ruin the other The Hollanders have hitherto been Powerful at Sea have often beaten the French the Spanish Fleets nay made Head against the English who are Sovereigns of the Sea The Number of their Ships is so great that if we may believe their Partizans it equals that of the rest of Europe They have always in their own Country wherewith to Equip a great Number tho' their Land neither produces Wood nor other things necessary for that purpose They are able to Arm out above a hundred to Sea if they had but the Mariners and Soldiers they had formerly At their first Establishment they only pretended to Fishing and Trading from Port to Port since they have drove the richest Commerce that is carried on at Sea Amongst the Vnited-Provinces there are four towards the West Holland Zealand Vtrecht Guelderland Four towards the East Zutphen Over-Yssel or Trans-Isalane Friesland Groninghen Those who reckon but seven make but one of that of Guelderland and Zutphen In the Assemblies these Provinces have ever given their Votes in the following Order Guelderland with Zutphen first of all then Holland Zealand Vtrecht Friesland Over-Yssel finally Groninghen with the Ommelands Each of 'em sends its Deputies to the Hague where are form'd three Colledges or Assemblies of them the States-General the Council of State and the Chamber of Accounts In the Assembly of the States-General all the Provinces above-mention'd must consent in General and in Particular to the Resolutions that are taken therein and do not follow the plurality of Voices Each Province may send thither one two three four or five Deputies but all these Deputies have together but one Voice and have right to