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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Pelts and do nothing else than look to their Cattel Their Countrey has in all times been a Nursery of Men who under divers Names have made Conquests and establish'd Colonies in several places That great Wall which the Chineses had rais'd for the putting a stop to their incursions has not been capable of effecting that purpose They aaknowledge several Princes whom they call Cans They have sundry Hurdes that may be called Cantons Camps Tribes or Assemblies of Families The little knowledge we have of them is the reason we call them all under the general Name of Tartars They have the Owl in great veneration since that Cingis one of their Sovereigns was saved by the means of that Bird. They will not suffer they should be buried some amongst 'em make choice of a Tree and give order for their being hang'd up upon it after their death There be still among 'em Idolaters but they are for the most part Mahometans It has been observ'd that those who have conquered China have hardly any particular Religion tho' they practice several Moral Vertues Five great parts are commonly reckon'd in Asian Tartary Tartaria Deserta Giagathi Turquestan Northern Tartary and the Tartary of Kin. Desort Tartary is so called because that most of the Lands there are uncultivated It is for the most part subject to the Czars of Muscovy who draw fine and rich Furrs from thence and who with ease subdued the Inhabitants of it they being only Shepherds Its Gities of Casan and Astracan are near the Wolga which empties it self into the Caspian-Sea by seventy Mouths the Obi which in the same Countrey empties it self into the Ocean has six Astracan drives a great trade in Salt which the Inhabitants find in a neighbouring Mountain The Calmack People are Idolaters much like to the ancient Scythians by reason of their incursions their cruelty and their other ways of living Giagathai and Mawaralnahr have peculiar Chams The City of Samarchand is that where Tamerlane the great a Native of la Casta a day's journey from thence establish'd a famous University There is also one at Bockora which passes for the Countrey of Avicenna a famous Philosopher and Physician another at Orcange near the Caspian-Sea Alexandria of Sogdiana was formerly famous for the death of the Philosopher Calisthenes The Tribe of the Mogul is known by the rise of the Prince of the same Name whose Successours command a good part of India The Inhabitants of these Parts hunt wild Horses with Faulcons in some of these Countries they have such a disposition for Musick that their little Children sing instead of crying Those of Giagathai and Yousbeg do not call themselves Tartars being of the Mahometan Religion Turquestan is the Country from whence some make the Turks to come Thibet which is part of it has Musk Cinnamon Coral which serve for Money to it's Inhabitants The Tartars of Kin which some call Cathai is the most Potent State of all Tartary very Populous Rich and full of Great Cities Cambalu or rather Muoncheu is the Capital thereof Several Authors have told Wonders of this City making it known under the Names of Quinzai Xantum Suntien and Peguim Amongst other things they say that in the Palace Royal there are twenty four Pillars of fine Gold and another much greater of the same Metal with a Pine Apple beset with Jewels that are worth four Great Cities The Voyage of Cathai has been undertaken by several ways in hopes of finding Gold Musk Rhubarb and other Rich Commodities there several have gone thither by the Terra-firma others by the Northern Sea some by going up the Ganges The Tartars of this Country invaded China in our Time the King of Niuche called Xunchi is the same who made the Conquest of it at the Age of twelve years assisted with the good and faithful Councels of two of his Uncles Besides a continual success and happyness a great Moderation has been observ'd in this young Conquerour who has treated a Nation newly subdued with all the Lenity imaginable The old or true Tartary which the Arabians call after a different manner is towards the North and but very little known Salmanasar King of Assyria is said to have transported thither the Tribes which he carryed away Captive from the Holy Land and there are also said to be still at this day Hords of them who keep up their Names and follow their Manners It has Imaus one of greatest Mountains in the World China CHina which receiv'd almost as many Names as it has had Royal Families has ever pass'd for one of the most Considerable Kingdoms in the World by reason of it's bigness the Beauty of it's Cities the great number Politeness and Maximes of it's Inhabitants Printing the Manufacture of Silks Artillery Gunpowder and Chairs or Sedans are said to have been in use with them sooner than with us Besides what is necessary to the Life of Man China produces the most precious commodities of the East It seems as if Nature had bestow'd upon each of it's Provinces some peculiar Gift those who have dwelt in this Country do aver that all that is thought fine dispers'd in the rest of the World is collected in China That there is likewise a vast number of things which would be in vain sought for else-where So that it is no wonder if the Tartars found it so easy a matter to subdue a Nation subdued in delights before who having forgot to wear the sabre contented themselves with fighting at fisticuffs and with their Nails which they expresly let grow for that purpose and for tearing away their Flabels and their hair which was their Principal Ornament This oblig'd their Conquerours to call the Chineses the soft and easy and to make them enjoy the Pleasures of the Campagne which they had never done before that Conquest China is almost Quadrangular so Populous that there has been sometimes reckoned above Sixty Thousand Millions of Persons of those who might be assessed and pay Taxes It 's Rivers are so covered with Boats that there are held to be as many as in all the other Rivers of the World The Annual Revenue of it's King has ever been esteem'd a Hundred and Fifty Millions of Gold according to others Four Hundred Millions of Ducats The Chineses laugh'd at our Maps which plac'd their Kingdom at one of the ends of the World they say they are in the mid'st the Jews have pretended the same thing for Jerusalem the Greeks for Delphos the Moors for Granada They say also that they have two Eyes that the Europeans have but one and other People none at all Learned Men are oblig'd to them for that they have compiled their History which was brought into Europe by Martini the Jesuit It is esteemed so much the more faithful in that they made it but of their own Country and only for themselves They have always been so Jealous of the secrets of their Policy and of their other affairs that they did
the State with a Castle-Royal It is probably the City which several Authors call Cambalu what those Authors call Cathai is nothing else than Northern China In the Year 1644. This City was surpriz'd and pillag'd by a Rebel who dissipated in a few days all the Riches which sixteen Kings had heaped up during two hundred and fourscore Years Since that the Tartars of Niuche whom they call Kin have rendred themselves Masters of it and by the taking of Nakin and Canton have setled their Conquests in the great Kingdom of China India THe Name of India and that of Indostan is given to the Empire of the Mogul and has two great Peninsula's on this and on the other side the Ganges They call by the Name of Indies the Islands of the Oriental Sea the Coasts of Persia and Arabia and those of Africa towards the East The Coasts of Africa upon the Ocean on this side the Cape of Good Hope and of America are known under Name of the West-Indies by those who frequent the Sea The principal Tongues that have any vogue in the East-Indies are the Canarine in and about Goa the Malabar in the Countrey of the same Name the Guzerate in Cambaia Coromondel Bisnagar and Bengala the Malaize in Malucca Sumatra the Java's and the Moluccoes that of the Maldive Isles is wholly peculiar Arabick is employed only for Religion and the Sciences just as Latin is in Europe Portuguese is spoken in all the places which were first conquered by the Crown of Portugal tho' some of those places be at present possess'd by other Nations of Europe The Empire of the Mogul THis Empire comprehends the greatest part of the firm land of India between Persia Tartary and China The Mogul is the Sovereign thereof He has his Name and his Rise from a Tribe come from Giagathai a Countrey of Great Tartary He passes for the richest Prince in the World as to Jewels besides those of his Crown he has those of several Princes his Neighbours whose Predecessours had for a long while lived in and entertain'd the curiosity of having 'em Besides he inherits the Jewels of the Grandees of his Court He is Universal Heir to those he gives Pensions to all Houses before which he passes owe him a Present the Lands belong to him his Will serves for Law in the decision of Matters In this State People go under the Name of the Employment they possess and not of the Lands they enjoy Some Relations assert that this Monarch is every day shewn part of his Treasures sometimes his Elephants sometimes his Jewels another day somewhat else and that he commonly sees every thing but once a Year all the Treasure being divided into as many parts as there are days in the Year The day of his birth he is weighed and the feasting upon that occasion lasts five days then he receives sometimes the value of above thirty Millions and always something very rare The Civil War which arose between the four Sons of Scha-Jehan did not allow Aureng-zebe who rendred himself Master of 'em all to observe punctually these Diversions One of the Temples of this State is pav'd and imbowed with Plates of pure Gold In the Palace of Agra there are two Towers cover'd with sheets of massy Gold and a Throne enrich'd with Jewels with four Lyons of silver Vermilion guilt supporting a Canopy of massy Gold People talk at a much higher rate He is said to have two Bushels of Carbuncles five Bushels of Emeralds twelve Bushels of diverse sorts of Precious Stones twelve hundred Cutlasses whose Scabbards are of Gold and covered with Jewels They say moreover that the Treasure of Scha-Choram one of the late Moguls was of fifteen hundred Millions of Crowns What is certain is that Scha-Jehan who reign'd near forty Years left above five Millions of Crowns that the Throne which he caus'd to be made in his City of Jehan-Abad which is that of Delli came to above sixty Millions of Livers There are seven magnificent Thrones whereof the greatest was begun by Tamerlain The Money of this State is of good alloy great Justice is done the Europeans are in great consideration being by them call'd Francs They reckon the ways by Cosses each of which is a Mile and a half No Oats are allowed their Horses they give 'em Pease and a sort of Paste made of Sugar Flour and Butter They bathe themselves in Cysterns which they call Tanques in the Rivers there are Tuberons which eat Men. The Mogul upon occasion can arm two hundred thousand Horse He has but little Infantry and that too but bad He has a considerable number of Elephants of which Creatures he commonly keeps five or six hundred He draws great Services from these Creatures they are sure-footed rise and lye down easily tho' there be of 'em thirteen and fifteen foot high This Prince is of the Mahometan Religion of the Turkish Sect Most of his Vassals are Pagans The Gymnosophists and the Brachmans have formerly been esteem'd for Wisdom in India just as are the Bramins at this day The former were very cruel they caused old people and the diseased to be killed out of an opinion that they did them good service The Bramins exercise surprising Abstinences and Mortifications some amongst 'em will remain standing with their Arms up for ten or twelve Years They are as the Priests of the Countrey The Troopers and Soldiers are called Rezbutes There are several Mahometans in the Empire of the Mogul Above two thirds there are Gentiles or Banians or Persces The Banians are almost all Merchants sharp cunning and as sagacious as possible Hucksters by reason of their acquaintance in the Country where they live amongst the Mahometans as the Jews do among the Christians they make profession of doing no hurt to any Creature living of pardoning the injuries that are done them they believe the transmigration of Souls have Hospitals for Brutes more than for Men. One amongst 'em spent in one day above twelve thousand Ducats for the making the Nuptials of his Friend's Bull They have a Cow in great veneration They dare not eat of any thing that has had life not so much as Radishes for fear of eating the Soul of some of their Friends They do not willingly light Candles for the preventing the Gnats from burning themselves in 'em When the Portugueses who dwell there have no Money they endeavour to catch some Bird which they shew in the Streets saying they are going to have it roasted for their Supper and immediately the Banians do not fail to give them Money to redeem it out of their hands Marriage is with them in such consideration that when a young man is dead without having been married they cause some Maiden or other to lye with the Body to whom they give for that purpose a Dowry or Portion The Persees are descended from the ancient Persians who retired into those parts Never any of 'em are Farriers or Locksmiths for fear of
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 best and most frequented Havens of the Isle of Java Borneo is the greatest Island of all Asia fertile in Merabolans and Camphire It has several good Roads but few good Towns Some say it is the Java Major of Marc-Pol of Venice and Java Minor is that we have just before made mention of The City of Borneo is built upon Posts in the Sea at the Mouth of a River where is a Great and Commodious Haven It has its particular King as well as Bender-Massin Sabas is the Capital of a Kingdom which affords Diamonds The Isles of Japan THere be several Islands known under this name The three most considerable are Niphon Ximo and Xicoco Niphon much larger than the rest is separated from the firm Land by an Arm of the Sea about ten Leagues in breadth some say that it is joyn'd to it but that by the difficulties of the ways the Japans chuse rather to go thither by Sea All these Islands have a temperate Air abound in Rice Pearls and Mines of Silver very much esteemed Their Pearls are large but are found to have too much of Red in them In this Country is a very extraordinary Tree it becomes dry when they wet it and to nourish it they must put into a hole they make in it filings of Iron with Sand very dry and to make its Branches green and gain and exert its Leaves they are to be fastened with a Nail The Japaneses are Idolaters good Soldiers and very patient Notwithstanding the dangers of the neighbouring Sea they have sometimes taken the Peninsula of Corca from the Chineses They have the most happy memories in the World and a very abounding Tongue for each thing they have several names some for Contempt others of Honour some for the Princes others for the People Their Customs and Manners are wholly contrary to ours They drink Warm water and they give this reason for their so doing that the Cold is binding provokes Coughing and the Distempers of the Stomach but that the Warm nourishes the Natural heat of the Body that the passages are opened by it and that the thirst is the more easily quenched They give such Potions to the Sick as are very sweet and odoriferous They never let Blood because they would spare their Blood as the Vehicle of Life They esteem black Teeth the finest They mount on Horseback on the right side Salute by a shaking of the Feet To treat the King of Japan who calls himself Cube or Caesar three Years are said to be required for Preparations and that the Feasts last full three Months The Jesuites Cordeliers Jacobites and Augustines have been very busie here and are said to have considerably promoted their Religion In the Year 1596. there were reckoned to be six hundred thousand Christians since the Year 1614. they have been extraordinarily persecuted and none dare make Profession of Christianity now there but in private In the Year 1636. the Jesuites the Spaniards and Portugals were entirely driven thence where the Hollanders alone have had the Liberty of Commerce because when they came into those Parts they forbid their Men above all things speaking of Religion They have several particular Tones or Princes the most part of whom confine their Power within the Circle of a Town This Custom is generally receiv'd that when one of those Tones loses his Dominions his Subjects lose likewise their Estates The Capital City is Meaco which is said to contain sixty thousand Housholds Yendo is a Royal Castle Sazay a famous Sea-Port In the Year 1658. a Fire happened at Yendo which occasioned the loss of above forty eight Millions of Gold The Spaniards Sail along these Islands when they return from the Philippines to Mexico and Peru. The Hollanders are said to go now to Japan by the North passing West of the Land of Jeso The Philippine Islands THe King of Spain Philip the Second has given his Name to these Islands which are to the number of forty or fifty this is to be understood of the greatest for if we reckon'd all the small ones they would be found to be above eleven thousand Most of these Isles are fruitful furnish Gold wherewith the Inhabitants pay their Tribute The Council of Spain for the Indies has often propos'd to abandon them by reason of the too great expence of the Garrisons that are necessary to be kept there because they contribute to the Commerce that is driven with China and the Molucco's his Catholick Majesty has thought fit to keep them The Islanders are valiant and defend their Freedoms in several places Lusson otherwise New Castile is the greatest of all the Philippine Islands The City of Manilhe which gives its Name to the whole body of these Islands is the abode of a Governour and an Archbishop 'T is small but beautiful and well fortified the two thirds of its compass are along a River which carries Barks and the third part towards the Sea Besides the Spaniards and Indians it has many Chineses who have taken refuge there as in a Town where is the Magazine of one of the richest Commerces in the World Cavite two Leagues from the Town is the principal Haven secure from great winds and defended by two Forts The Bay is forty Leagues in compass where they have the conveniency of building great Galeons but it is beaten by the Northern Winds the bottom is bad and the entrance difficult Here did the Spaniards detain a French Bishop Titular of Heliopolis to make him afterwards take a turn round the World before that he return'd into Europe from whence that Prelate is departed for the third time with the Apostolical Missions of the See of Rome The Isle of Mindanao was not subdued by the Spaniards till a long while after that of Lusson that of Paragoya obeys still their own Kings that of Tendaye bears the Name of Philippine as having been first discover'd Cebu and Matan are known the first for Magellan's arrival there in the Year 1520 the last for the death of the said Magellan This was the first time that the Voyage had been perform'd round the World which was done in the Ship of this Captain who had put himself into the Service of the King of Castile for that the King of Portugal whose Subject he was had refus'd half a Ducate a Month above his constant Pay The Spaniards who sail to the Philippines do not go through our Hemisphere They go thither by Mexico and the South-Sea For which reason they would fain comprehend these Islands as well as the Moluccoes in the bounds of their West-Indies which they extend for that reason as far as Malacca The Moluccoe Islands THere are five of these Isles with the particular Name of the Moluccoes in the head of several others much greater which receive from them their Name These five Isles are very small and in a situation near the Equinoctial Line where it is unwholsom living for those who go to settle themselves there
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
Arabians of the Neighbourhood call Chat or Xat as they do the other Great Rivers is two Miles in breadth and about six Fathom deep It is something like the Rhosne in France less rapid and more abounding in Fish its Water tho' somewhat brackish is nevertheless mighty good to drink It forms several Branches because that the Land is low there and sandy In the Way they take to China through the Territories of the Levant they are to be at Aleppo towards the end of the Month August for to take there in September the conveniency of the Caravans which bring them in November to Bagdad From Bagdad they are ten days in going to Bassora twelve in going from Bassora to Gombru where they almost daily meet with conveniencies in Barks called Tranquins In January and February the Muesson stands right for Surat where they commonly Embark upon English Ships or Moorish Vessels which go that Voyage in five and twenty days This way is look'd upon as much the same with that from Marseilles to Alexandretta At Surat they take their Way by Land spend therein forty small days Journies as far as Mazulpatan a City upon the Gulph of Bengala and this about the Month of March From Mazulpatan they go to Tanazarin by Sea from thence to Sian from Sian to China in all Seasons This way did the three French Bishops go who were Missionaries into China They make mention of another way to China thro' Candahar Agra Pathna Niepal Pitan c. this way is gone by Land no Inn to be found few Villages great Desarts hideous Mountains where they make use of great Goats to carry their things There are also some of those Mountains so steep that to pass them they are forc'd to wrap themselves up in Carpets and put themselves into the hands of certain People who lay you upon their Shoulders to carry you through those difficult places Those who dwell upon the Shore of the Black-Sea remount the Faze get to Arais the Caspian-Sea Albiamu from whence they go by Land to the Indus or the Ganges those Rivers carry them to the Ocean Nicanor King of Syria had projected to joyn Pontus Euxinus and the Caspian-Sea The Genoueses have a long while held the City of Caffa for the maintaining this Commerce There is for those of those parts another way by Trebrizond Erzerum and the Euphrates which lead to Bi r from thence as we have said into the Sea of the Indies The Moscovites have the conveniency of the Volga the Caspian-Sea Albiamu and the Indies For to return into the City of Mosco they go up the Volga Ocea and the Mosca These are the common ways that are taken for the going to the East-Indies and which now render that Country as famous as did formerly the Military Expeditions of Bacchus and Alexander the Great Now follow those which have since with great care been sought out for the same design The Romans went to Alexandria of Egypt ascended the Nile as far as Coptos now Cana and by Land went to Berenice which is Cossir where they had the conveniency of the Red-Sea and the Ocean Under the Soldans of Egypt Sues and Arden were the Magazines of the Indian Merchandizes which were Transported to Cairo by means of the Nile then they had in Europe fresher Spices than they have now the Venetians and Genoueses brought them thither by the Mediterranean-Sea France TThe Kingdom of France is at this day one of the most flourishing States of Christendom in the midst of the Northern temperate Zone where its People breath a very favourable Air. The French call it the Eye and Pearl of the World and say that it is to Europe what Europe is to other parts of the Earth it is Rich Fertile very Populous there being reckoned above four thousand good Towns in it It 's above two hundred and twenty Leagues in length and full as many in breadth The French-men value most of their Towns to be worth Provinces their Provinces to be worth Kingdoms Their Corn Wine Salt and Linnen do very much enrich the Inhabitants France was formerly known under the name of Gaul which was carried into several places of Europe nay into Asia when the Gauls made War in that part of the World The extent of Gaul hath been divers The French may well boast that this King's Conquests have not been bounded neither by the Rhine nor the Ocean nor the Pyrenees nor the Alps. The Crown is Hereditary and according to the Salick Law the Female never succeeds upon the Throne The French King's eldest Son is called Dauphin This Monarchy is said to have subsisted since the Year 420. The three Royal Races of Merovers Charlemaigne Hugh Capet have furnished it with sixty five Kings Amongst other Titles its Princes take upon them that of Most Christian and Eldest Son of the Church They pretend to Precedence before all other Kings upon a pretext of being the most Noble and the Most Ancient of Europe Their Arms are Azure with three Flower-de-luces d' Or since Charles the Ninth The Kingdom is composed of three Orders or States the Clergy the Nobility and the third Estate There are reckoned seventeen Arch-Bishopricks a hundred and six Bishopricks besides the Arch-Bishopricks of Cambray Besanzon the Bishopricks of Arras St. Omar Tournay Ipres Perpignan sixteen Abbayes Heads of the Order or of the Congregation about fifty thousand Curates besides other Ecclesiastical Dignities several General and Particular Governments Thirty two great Provinces Twelve ancient Peerages several of new Creation A great number of Principalities Dutchies Marquisates Counties Baronies and other Lordships Eleven Parliaments besides those of the Conquer'd Countrys eight Chambers of Accounts twenty two Generalities There are four Principal Rivers the Seine whose Water is esteem'd the strongest in the World and more healthful to drink than that of Fountains the Loire the King of the French Rivers la Garonne the most Navigable the Rhosne the most Rapid Several Divisions are made of France which regard the Church the Nobility the Justice and the Finances It is sufficient to say here that the States-General of the Kingdom were held in the Year 1614. that then all the Provinces appear'd under twelve Great Governments four of those Governments are towards the North the Seine and the Rivers which fall into it Picardy Normandy the Isle of France and Champaign Four towards the midst near the Loire Brittany Orleanois Burgundy and Lyonnois The four others towards the South and near the Garonne or the Rosne Guyenne Languedoc Dauphine Provence With Orleanois they then conjoyned le Mains le Perche la Beauce on this side the River of Loire Nivernois Tourain Anjoy above the said River beyond it Poictou Angoumois Berri Burgundy had la Bresse as it has still at present Under Lyonnois were Lyonnois Avergne Bourbonnois la Marche In Guyenne was Bearne Gascogne true Guyenne beyond the Garonne and on this side Saintogne Perigort Limosin Querci Rouergue Then as well
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
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
Neuchatel Wallangery Biel Geneva Mulhausen Rotweil The six first Protestants and Rotweil Catholick Geneva is the best Fortified of all the Burghers or Citizens keep a very exact Guard for the preservation of their Liberty and that of Religion which is Reformed In the Year 1663. the French King obtain'd freedom for the Catholicks to say Mass in that Town where it had not been Celebrated in this Age. The Lake of Geneva is crossed by the Rhosne which mixeth not with its Waters there sometimes arise Tempests even in clear fair Weather because it abutts at the foot of the Mountains In the Country it s said that Julius Caesar caused his Treasures to be cast into this Lake when he was pursued by the Switzers hitherto they have been sought for to no purpose Savoy THis Country formerly the abode of the Allobroges is said to have been called Savoy after one of its Princes had drove away the Robbers It is full of Mountains which we generally call the Alpes tho' several Branches there have their peculiar Names Mount Cenis and the lesser St. Bernard make the two principal Passages for Italy 'T is very cold in these parts the Inhabitants by reason of their drinking the Snow-water are subject to the Goitre which is a swelling of the Throat proceeding from the crudity of that Water Nevertheless there are several Places in this Country both very pleasant and very fertile The Mountains have Marmotes which are seldom seen elsewhere they are great Rats who have short Legs rugged Hair the Mouth and Ears of a Squirrel four Teeth long and cutting they sleep full six Months of the Year without taking in any Food or Nourishment Savoy is reckon'd for the Principal and most Noble Dutchy of Christendom It 's certain that its Dukes have had Alliances with all that 's Royal in Europe After the Houses of England and France that of Savoy is one of the most ancient Ame the eighth had reason to say that he had Princes to his Vassals Most of the Gentlemen of his Dominions come from the Emperours of the East and West from the Kings of Italy from the Princes of Morea from the Counts of Geneva The Power of the Dukes of Savoy is so much the more considerable in that they are Masters of several Passages from France into Italy by the possession of Piedmont of the County of Niece and other Seigneuries Under Savoy is comprehended Genevois Choblais Faussigni Tarentaise Maurienne part of Bugey Chambri is the Capital of the Dutchy and the Seat of a Parliament Montmelion is the strongest in it with a Cittadel which covers the head of almost an inaccessible Mountain where the Keys of Savoy are said to be kept Anneci is the Residence of the Bishop of Geneva Ripaille was the retreat of Felix the Fourth before and after his Pontificate This Prince liv'd there with his Friends in such a disapplication from Affairs that since People say Faire Ripaille when they are merry and without disquiet Italy AMong the Authors who have written concerning Italy few there are but represent it as the most beautiful best and most delicious Country in the World Its situation towards the midst of the temperate Zone affords it all these advantages It is commonly compared to a Boot the figure whereof it does really resemble lying between the Mediterranean-Sea and the Gulph of Venice The Alpes which Livy calls the Walls of Italy and Rome are at those places where it touches France Savoy Suisserland Germany the Appennine Mountain runs quite through it The Po Adige Tiber and Arne are the greatest Rivers of this Country There is not one in the World observ'd in so short a course to have so much encrease as the Po and which is so inconvenient by its over-flowings notwithstanding the Dikes that have been raised for prevention The People of Italy are polite dextrous subtile and prudent extream in their Manners they were formerly Masters of the most considerable Empire that has been seen since the Creation of the World And now stand possess'd of the chiefest Dignity of the Roman-Catholick Church They obey divers Princes who are all Papists but very different in Power and Interests We are oblig'd to the Italians for the Discovery of the New World Columbus was a Genouese Americus Vespucius a Florentine The Cities of Italy are so much the more beautiful and better built in that the Nobility have commonly their abode in ' em Their Churches and other Edifices are adorned with excellent Pictures for which reason the Men and Houses are said to be all painted The Italian Tongue is deriv'd from the Latin Tuscan is received in the Court of Rome and amongst the well-bred people Their way of reckoning the Hours is very different from ours they regulating it according to the Sun 's setting then they count four and twenty Hours and at the entrance of the Night they begin to reckon the Hours of a New Day Insomuch that the number of the Hours at Noon rises and falls according to the Seasons tho' there are always four and twenty Hours for the Civil Day that is for the Day and Night together For Example On the twelfth day of August at Noon which we reckon twelve a Clock the Italians reckon seventeen and so what remains to finish the Civil Day of four and twenty Hours comprehends seven Hours which make up just the time which the Sun employs that day the twelfth of August since the Hour of Noon unto its setting The Sovereign Princes of Italy are the Pope the King of Spain who possess almost half of it the Duke of Savoy the great Duke of Florence the Republick of Genoa the Duke of Mantua the Duke of Modena the Duke of Parma the Bishop of Trent the Republick of Lucca The other Princes are call'd Petty by reason of the small extent of their Dominions The Republick of Venice is independent most of the other States depend either on the Church or the Empire for some Fiefs The Quality of Duke is in Italy more considerable than of Prince bating in the Territories of the King of Spain There are so many Archbishopricks and Bishopricks that the Kingdom of Naples alone has more than all France hath the truth is most of 'em have not so good a Revenue as our Country Curates Italy is divided into three great parts the High which may be called Lombardy the Middle and the Low According to this division there is found in the High Piemont Montferrat Milantz the Coast of Genoa Parmezan Modenois Mantouan the Domain of Venice Trentin The State of the Church Tuscany Lucquois are in the Middle the Kingdom of Naples possesses the rest There is a fourth part if we may add the Isles thereto Piemont according to the saying of a Piemontin is a City of three hundred Miles in compass One and the same Land produces Corn Wine and Fruits Turin the abode of the Dukes of Savoy is a lovely Town accompanied with a strong Cittadel It
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
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
resolution of its Citizens to maintain the Authority of their King against the Suedes without being prevail'd with to accept the Neutrality was the cause of the preservation of the whole Realm under King Gasimir Lithuania is the greatest Province of those which compose the States of the Crown of Poland It has the title of the Great Dutchy wherein there is still at this day as many Chief Officers as in the Kingdom of Poland and of three General Dyets of the States one is to be held in Lithuania This Countrey is so full of Marshes and of Boggs that there is no travelling there but in Winter and that by means of the Ice Vilna its Capital City contains so many sorts of Religions that there is not a City in the World where God is praised in more several manners There be reckoned three Sabbaths that of ours that of the Turks which is Friday that of the Jews which is Saturday Samogitia is a Country where the Inhabitants live very poorly Polachia communicates its name to the Polanders who call themselves Polaques as being descended from Lechus their first Prince Lesser Russia has several other names It is called Black by reason of its Woods Red by reason of the Colour of its Earth Southern by reason of its scituation towards the South Leopold which put a stop to the progresses of the Turks is the principal City thereof Samoski the strongest Volhinia has for its Capital Kiou an ancient City upon the Boristhenes where the Cossaques have had often their Retreats It is now in the hands of the Muscovite who makes a scruple of restoring it to the Polanders Podolia has Gaminiec a Fortress which formerly resisted the Armies of the Turks of the lesser Tartars of the Transilvanians of the Walachians and which at length submitted to the Armies of the Grand Seignior in the year 1672. Ducal Prussia wherein stands Konigsberg belongs to the Elector of Brandenburg who now possesses its Soveraignty and independantly on Poland This City is so much the greater in that it contains two others in one and the same compass of Walls Pilau and Memel are two Maritime Fortresses the most important of this State There it was the Elector caused Frigats four years ago to be fitted out which have very much incommoded the Commerce of the Subjects of Spain Gourland is a Dutchy whose Duke of the House of Ketler does Homage to the Crown of Poland His Residence is at Mitaw Of Muscovy THis is the vastest Country of all Europe stiled formerly Sarmatia now Muscovy It is called Great and White Russia from the name of the ancient Roxolan People and upon the account of its great extent and of the Snow which so covers the Ground near two thirds of the year that to Travel there at that time one would have occasion to veil ones Eyes with black Crape so as formerly Xenophon made his Souldiers do in the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks The Soyl of Muscovy is cold humid full of Woods and Bogs which make it little inhabited What makes it believed that it is better populated than it really is is that the Country People by express order go to the avenues of the Citties through which the Embassadours of forreign Princes pass The cold there does often hinder the Corn from coming to its perfection It is there sometimes so violent that the Earth is wholly opened by it the Inhabitants find it no extraordinary matter to see their Nose Ears and Feet frozen they only sow in them parts in the Month of June the heats of July and of August do visibly forward the Harvest The Muscovites do not willingly afford the entrance of their Countrey to other Nations they care not to know any other Tongues than their own they only have their Children taught to write and read that is sufficient to be a Doctor They take for their Sirname the proper Name of their Father they write upon Roles of Paper cut into Welts and glued together to the length of twenty or five and twenty Yards they reckon the first day of the Month of September for the first of the Year they wear long Garments and put their Girdle below their Belly Their Collations are performed with the Bread of Spices of Brandy and of Honey The Peasants have recourse to somewhat an extraordinary means for the securing themselves from the quartering of Souldiers they provoke and set upon them their Bees The Office of Executioner is not dishonourable amongst the Muscovites od â—ir Armies are offten of a hundred and two hundred thousand Men. They are divided into five Bodies as ours are into three Boris Foederowits Great Duke of Muscovy towards the beginning of this age saw himself in the Head of an Army of three hundred thousand Men. Alexis Michaelowits after the defeat of Stepan Radzin had no less considerable Army when the Desiign was to hinder the Progress of the Turks The Infantry is there in more esteem than the Cavalry It sustains well a Siege and suffers patiently all imaginable hardship rather than yield which it did in our time in the Castle of Vilna and in the Fortress of Noteburg As for besieging of a Town the Muscovites understand nothing at all of that Art which they have made evident before Smolensko in 1633. before Riga in the year 1656. before Azac in the year 1673. Their Forts are commonly of Wood and of Earth upon the sinuosities of Rivers or else in Lakes The greatest strength of the State consists in forreign Troops and good pay and Pensions are given to the Officers when they have occasion for them The Prince has the Title of the Great Duke says he is discended from Augustus stiles himself Grand Tzaar or Gzar that is to say Gaesar and Emperour The Habiliments he is bound to wear make him appear like a Prelate When the Ministers of Forreign Princes are to treat with his Embassadours they have all the pain imaginable to agree upon his Titles by reason of his extraordinary Pretensions In the year 1654. for the making war in Poland and for supporting the Rebel Gosaques thener at Duke took for Pretext that some Polisheek â—ords had not given him his due Titles and that they had caused to be printed in Poland Books to his disadvantage One of the two present Zars Predecessours was so cruel as to cause an Italian Embassadours Hat to be nailed to his Head for that he had put it on in his Presence His Government is Despotick the Muscovites call themselves Slaves and he calls them out of conrempt by a diminutive Name little John little Peter his will alone is the Rule of his Subjects who hold themselves certain that the will of God and of the Grand Duke are immutable The Zarrs Treasures are said to be great he shuts up the most he can of Gold and Silver in his Fortresses of Bioliczero and Vologde and only makes his Presents and his Payments in Skins and Fish or in giving
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
that Strait Galloway in Connaught the most considerable after Dublin trafficks principally into Spain Altone an important passage upon the Shennon was fortified by Queen Elizabeth who intended to have made it the Residence of her Lord Lieutenant Waterford in Munster is esteemed the third in the Kingdom near the meeting of the three Rivers which are called the three Sisters Limerick and Cork are considerable Dublin in Leinster is the Capital of all Ireland the Residence of the Lord Leiutenant and of the principal Officers of Justice with an University the only one of the Kingdom Kilkenni is esteemed the finest of the Cities in the Inlands of the Countrey Sicily SIcily is the greatest and best of all the Islands of the Mediterranane Sea its fertility occasioned it formerly to be called the Granary of Rome It was first of all inhabited by the Cyclops afterwards most of the Cities were swayed by some Princes or other and the Republick of Syracuse was very considerable The Carthaginians Greeks and Romans made War there during a long while these last made it their first Conquest when they began to stir out of Italy The Sarazins Normans Swabians French and Spaniards have been successively Masters of it It has bore the Name of Trinacria by reason of its triangular Figure which makes three great Promontories at equal distance From the most Western called Lilybee may be discovered Cap Bon in Africa though it be a hundred Miles off Mount Aetna now called Mount Gibel casts forth Fire and Flames continually in the midst of Snow sometimes more sometimes less and some years since it vomited Water in a bundance The Emperour Adrian had one day the curiosity to mount it to see those Fires and consider the Sun rising which is said to appear from that Mountain like a Rain-Bow painted with several colours In Sicily did the Ancients place the Birth-place of Ceres and the Rape of Proserpine The whole Island is divided into three great Valleyes Val di Demona Val di Mazara Val di Noto The places which are not upon the Coast are almost all built upon Mountains Messina the greatest and richest of all has had great Priviledges and ever drove a great Trade of Corn and Silk The Spaniards remembring the ill Treatments they received there in 1674. have taken from it all the advantages which it had kept during several Ages It is near the Pharos or Streight of the same Name where the Ancients placed the two Mountains of Scylla and Charybdis the former in Italy the latter near Sicily The Fable runs that Charybdis was a Thief who stole away Hercules his Heifers and for that reason was changed into a Sea-Monster The Port of Messina seem'd to have been made of the Compass The Younger Pompey assembled there his Fleet the Christians Fleet before the Battle of Lepanto had there its Rendezvouz Palermo is the Capital of the Island formerly the abode of the Kings and the usual Residence of the Vice-Roy for the King of Spain who does Homage to the Pope for his Kingdom Augusta is considerable for its Scituation and for its Port all defended by three Fortresses Syragousa or rather Saracousa formerly Syracusa one of the best Cities of the Roman Empire is noted in History for its Wars for its Tyrants for its Fountain Arethusa for the brave resistance which it made against the Romans under Marcellus by the help of the Machines which the famous Archimedes had raised there for the defence of his Countrey It had before shewed its Puissance against the Athenians who at the Solicitation of the Segestains had besieged it The Tyranny of Phalaris and the invention of the Brazen Bull by Perillus has made Gergenti renowned Noto has in its Neighbourhood a River where there are said to have been tame Fish which eat out of Mens Hands Comarana is near that ancient Moor or Lake the draining whereof contrary to the advice of the Oracle brought upon its Inhabitants a Pestilence and the Invasion of their Enemies Trapano accompanyed with its Port was noted by the Ancients for the Death of Anchises the Father of Aeneas it is known by the Moderns for its Salt-Pits for the fishing of Corail and of tunny-fishies which is performed there Mont-real an Archbishops See has a fine Cathedral Church built by the Normans Melazzo still preserves the first Monastery of the Fathers Minims whom the Popish Saint Francis de Paula caused to be built The Spaniards did particularly make use of this place for the Reduction of Messina Near Melazzo was Sextus Pompeius defeated by Augustus On the North or rather on the West of Sicily are the Islands of Lapari renowned for the Fable of Aeolus for the first Naval Victory of the ancient Romans and some Mountains which by their Fires and Flames gave Means to the Inhabitants to foretel Tempests Towards the West are the ancient Aegades where Catullus defeated the Carthaginians at Sea during the first Punique War Sardinia as well as Sicily belongs to the King of Spain it lies in the same Sea which is the Mediterranean but more towards the West It s Capital City is Gallari the Residence of a Vice-Roy and an Archbishops See and there is gathered that Sardonique Herb which makes People dye laughing because that it contracts the Nerves and Muscles particularly those of the Mouth When the Ionians were subdued by the Persians Bias one of the seven Sages of Greece proposed to them the Inhabiting of Sardinia because of the Convenience of its Situation The Isle of Corsica is on the South of the Seigneury of Genoa the Mistress of it An Italian Proverb runs that a Corsican is not to be trusted alive or dead The Corsicans as their Enemies say have so great an inclination to thievery that if they do not steal in their life-time they willingly rise out of their Tombs to steal after their death they also say that their ancient Pyracies did occasion the name of Corsaires to Pyrates and Sea-Robbers In this Island is found the Stone Catochite which sticks to Peoples hands like glue when they touch it The City of Bastia is the abode of the Governour whom the Genoeses call Vice-Roy The Ancients reckoned in this Island above thirty good Cities which have been for the most part ruined Boniface is now the most commodious Haven with a Fortress esteemed one of the best of Europe by reason of its advantageous Situation in the Peninsula The Isle of Candia CAndia formerly Crete is one of the greatest Islands of the Mediterranean Sea with the Title of Kingdom at the entrance of the Archipelago in the sight of Europe of Asia and Africa Upon the consideration of so advantageous a Situation Aristotle was perswaded that it might be made the Seat of the universal Empire It is above two hundred Miles in length about forty five or fifty in breadth It has had full a hundred Cities tho' it has now more than four which be any thing eminent It was renowned
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
joyning the Nile and the Red Sea and made all Africa to be travell'd round about Under Amasis the Kingdom of Egypt fell into the hands of the Persians afterwards into those of the Greeks and then to the Romans and after the Romans it was swayed by the Califes whose abode was first of all at Medina then at Bagdad at Damas and at Caire The Sultans succeeded the Califes The Turks have had it in possession since the year 1518. They reckon there 18 Cassilifs or Governments where they are commanded by the Bashaw of Caire and the standing Soldiery there are the bravest and the most esteemed of all the Ottoman Empire And indeed this Government is the most honourable of all those that are out of the Port and the Grand Seignior receives every year from hence above a hundred and fifty thousand Piasters a Turkish Coin worth about 4 s. sterl The Egyptians are the best Swimmers in the World gay pleasant brisk and very ingenious The Invention of Astrology Arithmetick and Physick is attributed to 'em Wherefore Egypt is often called the Mother of Arts They say it was Ptolomey Philadelphus who took care to have the Version of the Bible out of Hebrew into Greek done by the serenty Interpreters and to make a Collection of above two hundred thousand Volumes There was also a prodigious number of Books in the Library of Alexandria which was unluckily burnt when Julius Caesar there made War The Natives of the Countrey have a peculiar way of hatching Chickens by means of Furnaces or Ovens wherein they put sometimes three or four thousand Eggs together and when they are hatch'd they sell them by the Bushel They are for the most part Mahometans but have amongst them Jews too and Christians known under the Name of Copties These Copties are Natives of Egypt they have a Tongue wholly peculiar and a way of Writing little different from that of the ancient Greeks The ancient Egyptians were so very superstitious that they had almost as many Gods as Animals and Plants whose Names they gave to their Cities Some Authors attribute this great number of their false Divinities to the Resolution they had taken of making and adoring the Figures of what had hindred them from following Pharaoh when he was drown'd in the Red Sea Egypt is commonly divided into four parts Sahid or High Egypt Bechria otherwise Demesor or Middle Egypt Erriff or Low Egypt and the Coast of the Red Sea Some make only two of it the one High and the other Low according to the Course of the Nile and say that the Hebrews inhabited the Higher which they pretend to prove by the coming of the Locusts from towards the East for the punishment of Pharaoh and by the way that Prince took when he pursued those same Hebrews Some Ancients have divided Egypt into Libyca or Africana and into Arabica or Asiatica in regard of the same River Amongst the Cities Cairo is called Great by reason of the advantages it has over all the other Cities of Africk It is on the other side the place where was the ancient Memphis and three Leagues lower to the East of the Nile Those who reckon in 't sixty thousand Mosquees comprehend in that number several heaps of stones They say also there are above twenty four thousand Contradoes or Quarters and about seven Millions of Persons whereof sixteen hundred thousand are Jews 'T is certain there are full three and twenty thousand Mosquees but some of 'em are not ten paces square It s Castle which stands upon a rising Hill has the rarest Prospect and the best Air in the World It is one of the finest and strongest that is seen tho' it be much impair'd from its ancient splendour 'T is not of marble as some Relations averr there are only several Mosaique Works The Water of the Nile is convey'd thither by an Aqueduct of three hundred and fifty Arches The People of Cairo must questionless be very numerous since we are assur'd that in three Months of the Year 1618 they buried there above six hundred thousand Persons that died of the Pestilence and that this sickness is not perceivable when it only sweeps away two hundred thousand in a year In short Cairo is said to have full two hundred thousand Houses eighteen thousand considerable Streets and twenty five or thirty Leagues in circumference But I speak this comprehending therein the old and new Cairo and the Boulac which are near it If new Cairo was only meant in this Account its bigness does not equal that of London They ride thro' the Streets upon Asses as People go here in Chairs and Coaches not but that there are Horses in Egypt but the Turks have introduced this Custom that they may keep them for their own use The Inhabitants of Cairo make those excellent Tapistries which we call Turky Carpets Besides the Pyramids that are three Leagues and the Mummys which are six from Caire the curious Travellers go to see the Granaries and Pits of Joseph Now it 's to be observ'd that what ever is beautiful and good of the Ancients in Egypt is attributed to Joseph and what is vilainous and infamous to Pharaoh They go also to see Matarea two Leagues from Cairo which serv'd for a retreat to the Virgin with the Fountain which with that of Caire is the only Spring-Water in all the Countrey Here is no longer to be seen the Plant of the true Balm which was brought thither from the Holy Land by the Cares of Cleopatra and the permission of Anthony Sahid formerly Thebes with an hundred Gates was the abode of the Kings of Egypt which was afterwards transferr'd to Alexandria then to Memphis and at last to Cairo It gives its name to the Thebaid which serv'd for a retreat to several Hermits The most modern Relations call this City Gergio and make it the Residence of a Bashaw Alexandria the Work of Alexander the Great formerly the best Town of all Africa after Carthage was the abode of the Ptolomeys and Cleopatra When it was subject to the Romans it contributed more in one Month alone than Jerusalem did in a whole Year It had in its Neighbourhood the Tower of Pharos one of the Seven Wonders of the World It drives some trade by means of its two Havens It is the chief of a Patriarchate of the same Name St. Mark hath made it renown'd in Holy History The Desarts of Macaire where were reckon'd above three hundred Monasteries were on the West of it Damietta is one of the Keys of the Countrey by reason of its Scituation and its Haven upon the Mediterranean-Sea which made the French King Lewis entituled the Saint resolve in his Expedition into the Holy Land to make himself Master of it Rosetta a modern City and pretty well built is the resort of several Ships upon the most frequented Channel of the Nile Sues which has not much above two hundred Houses with a sorry Port is nevertheless the Arsenal