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
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
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
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
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
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
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
not willingly allow Strangers entrance into their Country The great Wall or rather the Intrenchment of above four hundred Leagues which they caused formerly to be made is a Work that has had more Renown than Effect the Tartars have often over-run China notwithstanding this Obstacle Those who have said that China is but one City by reason of the Numerousness of it's People have likewise said that a no less considerable Wall was requir'd to be proportionable to the Grandeur of such a Town 'T is hardly credible that in this Fortification the Stones be seven Fathom high and five broad as they are said to be by the Chineses If we may believe their History the Hostilities of the Tartars have been exercised for above four thousand years the Chinese Horses cannot endure the sight of those of Tartary The late years have caused strange Revolutions in this Kingdome After that the Rebels had acted as Soveraigns the Tartars under their Emperour Xunchi have conquer'd all their Country in less then seven years Time and that since the year 1643 the Militia was not very considerable Men of Learning domineer'd over Men of the Sword From whence it came that the State only subsisted by Policy by numerous Armys and not by the valour of it's People The principal Chiefs were called Mandarins at present the Tartar has Tartarian Officers and Chinese Officers below his Vice-Roys of whom some are for Arms and others for Learning This change has the Sword wrought over the Gown and the poor Mandarins are no longer in a state to do Justice with so much Pomp and Pride as they formerly did Paganisme is there generally received nevertheless Vertue amongst them is in an high esteem The Publick is more Rich proportionably as particular Persons are Writing is managed from the top to the bottom It has above sixty thousand Letters and has not three hundred thousand Words which are almost all Monosyllables whereas the Europeans have many Words few Letters the Chineses have many Letters and few VVords which they pronounce with divers Tones according to their signification So as we may say their Speech is only singing It 's Great Cities are called Fu the lesser Câ—u The Chineses love their Hair to that Degree that several amongst them choose rather to dye than to be shav'd conformably to the Tartars commands Swines Flesh is with them a most exquisite Dish Before the coming of the Tartars Yellow was the Kings and Black the Peoples usual wear All China is divided into sixteen Provinces each of which are worth more than large Kingdoms Ten of 'em lye towards the South Yunnan Quansi Canton Fuquiem Chequiam Nanxin Kiamsi Huquam Suscuem and Quicheu The six towards the North are Xensi Sciansi Honan Xantung Pekin and Leaorung which several have called Cathai whereas they give the name of Mangi to the Southern Provinces Canton has a Town of the greatest Trade and Riches of all the Kingdom from thence are transported Rice Sugar Varnish which is drawn from the Rinds of Trees and Pearls that are fish'd near the Isle of Ainaon Macao in an Island of the same Name surrounded with several other small Islands and Rocks is peopled with Portugals who have fortified it after an extraordinary manner since they were attack'd by the Hollanders in the Year 1622. This City entertains a great Commerce between China and Europe this Commerce is much diminish't they have no longer two hundred for a hundred profit as they had formerly and now the Hollanders have got footing in the Kingdom whereas they were formerly excluded from thence because the Chineses had a Prophesie that they should be subdued by people who have blue Eyes This has been verified by the coming of the Tartars The Right alone for the Trade of Salt is worth every Year above fifteen hundred thousand Livers to the King of China The small Isle of Sanchoan is known for the death of the Popish Saint Xavier Fuquiem produces pure Gold Pepper Sugar and Calamint The Gold and Silver of China is not so good as that we have they esteem the Pistols and Rials of Spain The Island Formosa has a Mine of Gold which the Hollanders had in possession for a long while In the Year 1661 they were drove thence by a Chinese called Coceinga a Taylor 's Son The Isle of Tayouan half a League from Formosa is an Island whither People resort in all Seasons of the Year without being oblig'd to wait for the Monzoon In the Year 1632 the Hollanders made a Fort there of four Bastions faced with hew'd stone which serv'd them to take the Isle of Formosa Chequiam has Temples wherein are rich Idols Nankin has a Town of the same Name formerly the abode of the Court the most esteemed of China upon the account of its Beauty the fertility of its Soyl its fine Edifices its great Commerce the River Kiang which we call the River Blew and the Chinese the Son of the Sea because that its common breadth exceeds two of our Leagues With the River Jaune and the Royal Channel it affords the means of going to Pekin by Boat and of trading to Pekin by Rivers disembarking only at the Mountain Muilin There is near Nankin a Tower of Porcelain nine Stories or Vaults above one another with a hundred and fourscore and four steps Schanchay is the most usual station of the King's Fleets Kiamzi passes for the most populous Province It alone has Water proper for the perfection of Porcelain when they apply to it the Tincture of Azure Vermilion or Yellow The late Voyages that have been made into the Inlands of China have inform'd us that Porcelain-Ware is not made of the shells of the Sea nor of Egg-shells pounded as several have believed it is made by the means of Sand or Earth peculiar to certain Cantons of the Countrey where it is found in Rocks for the making it 't is not necessary that this Earth remain buried an Age as some have thought fit to affirm The Chineses knead this Sand and make Cups of it which they set a baking in Ovens for the space of fifteen days and give them several Figures The application of Colours is one of the principal Secrets which the Chineses have thought fit to keep conceal'd from strangers Huquam yields so much Rice and Oyl that the Chineses have it in a Proverb That they draw but one Collation from each of the other Provinces of China but from Huquam they have wherewith to live on a whole Year Xensi does particularly furnish Musk Its City of Cancheu has a great confluence of Caravans Siganfu has very ancient Remnants of Christianity Sciansi hath Vineyards from whence the Jesuits had the Wine they stood in need of for the celebrating the Mass before they were driven thence in the Year 1665. Honan produces the best Fruits in the World and in great quantity Pekin otherwise Peguin has a City of the same Name the Capital of all
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
good Fortifications which afforded its Inhabitants the means of repulsing the Suedes in the late Wars It has also one of the finest Arsenals of Europe wherein is kept a Celestial Globe of six foot Diameter made by Tycho-Brahe the famous Mathematician who made curious observations in the Castle of Vranibourg in the Isle of Vren Vranibourg is really the pleasantest Situated in the World Besides the Prospect they have from thence of the Royal-City of the two Coasts of Zealand and of Schonen they have a full view of all the Ships which pass and repass the Sound from the one Sea to the other Roskild is the Mausoleum of the Kings Elsenour is near the strong Castle of Cronembourg whose Fortifications have lately been augmented The Isle of Fionia is the Appennage of the Prince of Denmark It s City of Ottensec was the place of holding the General Assemblies of the Kingdom which since the Year 1660. are to be held at Copenhagen The Isle of Bornholm was yielded to the Crown of Sueden by the last Treaty of Peace since which the Danes have given in Exchange of that Island an equivalent by the Propriety of several Lords in Schonen Norway possesses the Western part of the great Peninsula of Scandinovia whereof Sueden makes the Eastern A long ledg of Hills which divide 'em into two leaving Norway towards the Ocean Sueden towards the Baltick-Sea From hence they Transport Whale-Oyl dry'd Fish called Stock-Fish abundance of Timber for the building of Ships for the making of Masts and Sail-Yards It s Coast though of a vast extent has few good Harbours by reason of the small Islands Rocks and Shelves wherewith they are environed The Gulph of Maclstroon is also said to swallow up the Ships which approach it What is towards the Pole is full of Forests and of Mountains which have some Mines of Iron and of Copper In the Year 1646. near Opslo was a Mine of Gold discovered which gave the Inhabitants occasion to Publish abroad That they had the Northern-Indies this advantage lasted but as long as the Mine which was afterwards quickly at an end by over-much working This Kingdom has five Governments with as many Castles Bahus Aggerhus Barghenhus Dronthem Vardhus That of Bahus with a Castle of the same Name upon a Rock was yielded to the Suedes by the late Peace Berghen is the best City the Residence of the Vice-roy with the new Fortress Bourg and a Sea-Port where the Ships do easily touch and are safe from all Winds by the means of high Mountains wherewith it is surrounded The Merchants of the Anseatick Towns have their Magazines Dronthem the abode of the ancient Kings of Norway is very much decayed It has still the Title of an Arch-Bisho prick with the remains of one of the Finest and most Magnificent Churches in the North. Ships are secure in that Harbour but have occasion for good Pilots to bring 'em in The other Principal Havens of this Kingdom are in the Western part In some Countries of this Region is Bread made of the flower of Barley and Oats which they bake between two hollow Flints this Bread will keep as they say thirty or forty years The Norwegians are little subject to discourses of such a constitution that when they are in a Feaver a slice of a Gammon of Bacon does 'em more good than a new-laid Egg the inclination of several of them to Sorcery makes 'em have the reputation of selling Winds to Saylors Finmarck which makes part of Lapland advances into the cold Zone so as the day and night last there seven Months together The Inhabitants of this Country have nothing in property they accomodate themselves with the first place they like now in one place to morrow in another They live on their Fishing and their Hunting and only pay the Tribute of some Skins to the King of Denmark they carry their Fish to sell at Berg. The Castle of Wardhus with a Burough of three hundred Houses the most Northern of all our Continent is in the midst of a small Island where it serves to exact some Customs from those who go to Trade by the Ocean at Arch-Angel in Muscovy It s Port is in the Western part of the Island which is separated from the Continent by a Streight of a quarter of a League in breadth where there is passage for Ships It s Neighbourhood is not subject to Ice so as are the other parts of that Sea Of Sueden THe Monarchy of Sueden is the most ancient of Europe if it be true that it has had above a hundred and fifty Kings and that the first of 'em was the Son of Japhet one of the Sons of Noah Upon this foundation perhaps it was that in the Council of Basle a Bishop of Sueden demanded of the Presidents of the Assembly the Precedence for his King over other Christian Princes The most authentick Historians begin the enumeration of the Kings of Sueden at Biorno who was Crowned towards the year eight hundred and shew that the Kingdome was Elective til the Reign of Gustavus de Vaga who rendred it Hereditary in his Family in the year 1544. and who at the same time abolished there the Roman Catholick Religion to follow the Sect of Luther This pretext of Religion did likewise very much serve his Son Charles the 9th called of Sudermania when he deprived his Nephew Sigismond of the Crown who had been Elected King of Poland the third of that name and whose Successors unto Casimir the third did keep the Title of Sueden The King of Sueden stiles himself King of the Suedes of the Goths and Vandals Great Prince of Finland Duke of Schonen Estonia Livonia Carelia Bremen Verden Stein Pomerania Gassubia Vandalia Prince and Lord of Ingria He bears in his Arms three Crowns which sometimes have been Contested with him by the Kings of Denmark the present King is Charles the 11th of the Palatine House of Deux Ponts or Twee-brugge The Goths and Vandales are noted in History for their Conquests the modern Suedes for the Valour of their late Kings and for their acquisitions over their Neighbours which render 'em very Potent on the Baltick Sea where they have more Coasts than all the Princes together who confine upon it The Peace of Bromsbroo in the year 1645. obliges the King of Denmark to restore Jempterland and Herendal to Sueden to yield to it the Isles of Gotland and of Oeland to perpetuity with the Province of Halland for thirty years The Peace of Rotschil in the year 1658. does entirely cede to Sueden Halland Schonen wherein Landscroon is become a very considerable Town Bleking wherein is the new Port of Carlscroon the Isle of Bornholme which is since returned to Denmark by the exchange of other Lands the Fortress of Bahus and the Bayliwick of Dronthem That of Copenhagen in the year 1660. confirms the Treaty of Roschild with reserve of the Bayliwick of Drontheim and purchases the Isle of Ween The
acquisitions of Sueden over the Empire by the Peace of Osnabrug are the Dutchy of Pomerania Citerior and in the Ulterior Stetin Gartz Dam Golnau The Isle and Principality of Rugen the Isles and the Mouths of the Oder the Dutchies of Bremen and of Verden the City the Seigniory and the Port of Wismar Wildhusen in Westphalia certain Customs in the Rest of Pomerania and in the new Marquisate of Brandenbourg The War declared in the year 1675 by the King of Denmark and several Princes of the Empire deprived Sueden of many of these acquisitions which it was restored to by the Peace of Nimeguen in the year 1679. The Treaty of Oliva in the year 1660. was so advantageous to Sueden that the King of Poland did there make renunciation of the Title of King of Sueden for the future reserving only to himself the Title during his life to other Princes and likewise consented that Lifeland should henceforward be Hereditary to the Crown of Sueden This is to be understood of Lifeland on the North of the Duna where the only place of Dunembourg was reserved to the Crown of Poland conformable to the Truce made at Stumsdorf for twenty six years in the year 1635. The Peace with the Muscovites procured restitution to Sueden of all the Grand Duke or Zar had taken in Lifeland The King of Sueden has lately very much augmented his Revenue by the re-union to his Demesne of several Lands which had been Alienated from it He pretends to the Succession of Gleves and of Juliers by the means of his great Grandfather John Duke of Deux-Ponts who married Magdelain the third Sister of the Duke of John William In the States of the Kingdom the Peasants make a Body as well as the other Orders Sueden possesses part of Scandinavia which is the best of it as being towards the East The Cold is somewhat long in this Country often very sharp to provide themselves against it the Inhabitants do not make use of Furres as they do in Germany they have only Night-Caps Gloves of Wool Waist-Coats and make great Fires of the Fewel they have plenty of They have so few sick People in their Countrey that the Physitians and Apothecaries have hardly practice among 'em whereas Barbers are there in great request The Ministers and Officers of Justice do there keep Inns. The Inhabitants of this Province are all equally rich their greatest Revenues consist in Mines of Copper from whence most of the Europeans are furnish'd wherewith to make money their Canons and their Bells The City of Stockholme alone has in its Castle above a hundred pieces of great Artillery and there are held to be above eight Thousand in the Kingdom In the review of the Militia which was made in the year 1661. there were reckoned above Fourscore Thousand Men in Arms. This Countrey being full of Woods and Mountains affords very little Corn in time of scarcity the Poor eat often very bad Bread It furnishes Butter Suet Hides Skins Pitch Rosin Masts Posts and Planks The Towns are subject to Fire the Houses being only built of Wood. The Lakes and Gulphs are there more considerable than the Rivers Trade being only drove upon the Coasts neither dare the Ships venture upon that without a Pylot by reason of the number of Rockswith which it is beset The Ice is here so strong and firm in Winter that when it is but two Inches thick it is said to be able to bear a Man on Foot Waggons go on it with safety when it is half a foot thick The Snow does there afford the means of travelling in Sledges The Horses in this Countrey are proper for War they are very easily reared and rarely sick they see as well almost by night as by day they carry their man swimming with ease they leap great Ditches they have so much courage and agility that they attack with their Feet and Teeth the Enemies of those who mount them Six great Regions are principally known under the name of Sueden Gotia Sueden Lapland Finland Ingria Lifeland the three former towards the West the three other towards the East the Gulph of Finland between both and besides these the modern acquisitions before specified Gotia is divided into Ostro-Gotia and Westro-Gotia this last towards the Ocean the former upon the Baltick Sea According to the like division the Goths who subdued Italy were called Ostro-Goths and those who rendred themselves Masters of Spain Visi-Goths Calmar is a strong Town and the place where the Suedes until now did embark for Germany It s Cittadel was esteemed in the Northern Countreys as much as that of Milan in Italy Norkoping has works and forges of Copper which afford the Europeans the conveniency of coming to load Cannon there Lindkoping the Countrey of the Historian Olaus-Magnus is remarkable for the Victory of Charles of Sudermania since King of Sueden There be several Cities in these parts whose names be thus terminated in Koping which signifies the places where the market is kept Gottembourg a new Town and has its Sea-Port upon the Ocean Sueden properly taken communicates its name to the other Provinces of this State Stockholme is the Capital City of all the Kingdom accompanied with a Royal Castle and a Sea-Port at the disgorging of the Lake of Meler whereof was formerly the conjunction proposed with that of Wener for the communicating the Ocean and Baltick Seas and thus be exempted from the passage of the Sound This Town is now better built and much richer than it was before the War of the Suedes in Germany In the year 1641. they began to make the Streets in Right Lines and to build their Houses of one and the same Structure It is a safe Harbour for Ships which may ride there in security without Anchor There be three Channels which lead thither between several Isles and Rocks The Kings Ships remain at Elsnappen The Country round about is beautify'd with several fine Houses which the Soveraigns and most of the Senators have caus'd to be built Upsal accompanied with a great Castle is the Metropolitan and formerly the place of the Coronation of their Kings whose abode it formerly was When in Sueden were several Kingdoms that of Upsal was ever the most considerable of 'em This City has an University and the most renowned Fairs of all those parts It s principall Church was a stately Building and is said to have been embelish'd and wainscoted with Gold now it is covered with Copper Lapland has no Towns only some Habitations divided into five Countries which bear the name of their Rivers The Laplanders are very low of Stature the tallest among them not exceeding four Foot in height They have no other Cloaths than of Skins and when they are young they are so hardned to the cold that they afterwards undergo it with ease when without habilliments They have neither Wool nor Flax nor Hemp they have blades of Copper which they call Cipons which they exchange for