right Name was Columbus or Colonus Nor whether the Quadripartite Division of the World is rational or any Equality to be found in it The Reader is suppos'd to have some acquaintance with these things and to know what is the meaning of the Meridian Aequator Zodiack Tropicks Polar Circles and Zones or at least without these Knowledges may reap benefit enough from this Book But tho' this Treatise doth not pretend to shew how the Latitude in the Abstract may be found either in the day-time by the Sun or in the night by the Stars though it doth not brag of having invented any new more certain and ready way than hitherto has been used for the finding out the Longitudes of Places yet in the Descriptions of the most considerable Regions the Longitudes and Latitudes of them are not past over but are very carefully set down There is one Exception more which I am to take notice of That whereas our Author having divided the World into Upper and Nether Hemisphere has considered the first with Relation to France which will not do exactly in England yet since that England for the most part is under the same Meridian with France I have made bold to venture all Countries so considered in English without any Change or Alteration because there will be no great Squares broken For the like reason and by a Pardonable figure of Speech I call Europe Asia and Africa our Continent though we live in an Island which yet as some have said and proved how truly I shall not here question to have been once joyned to the Terra Firma I said I had but one Exception more to wipe off for I am sorry I have not forgot that nice one which some Criticks may make that I say of different Places such a thing in such a Place is the best in the World But besides that some things may be best in different Prospects and Relations these sort of Expressions follow the French and are vulgarly us'd in our own Tongue and are of a very ancient Date as appearing frequently in the Lively Oracles of God when both Hezekiah and Joshua are commended To have had none like unto them neither before nor after them THE PRESENT STATE Of the Four Parts of the WORLD The Terrestrial World WE mean by the Terrestrial World this round Mass which Comprehends the Earth and Water The Earth whose Description is here intended consists principally of two great Continents and some Lands towards both Poles The first of these Continents has three great Parts to wit Africa Asia and Europe Africa lyes toward the South and the West Asia on the East Europe North-West These three great Parts are in our Hemisphere which we call Superiour and Oriental with regard had to that of the Americans which seems to be below us and is West of us America possesses the other great Continent in the Inferiour and Occidental Hemisphere The Lands near the Poles are of two sorts Artick and Antartick neither have they long been nor is there much of them discover'd than what 's along the Sea-Coasts The Antartick Lands are separated from the other great Continents by the Ocean the Turn that Merchants and Travellers take in circling the World from East to West thro' the South Seas having left no subject of doubt We cannot with certainty say the same thing of the Artick Coasts tho' some affirm the Northern Sea communicates with the Oriental towards the North-East of our Continent and with the South-Sea toward the North-West of Northern America The Artick Region THese Parts have been call'd by the name of Artick because they are near the Artick Pole they are called Northern because of the North in which they are scituated * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boreales from a Greek Word which signifies the North-Wind they consist of Islands and Peninsula's where there are Bears Foxes and Rain-Deer in abundance the Inhabitants living commonly on Hunting or Fishing The Seas of these Regions make a part of the the great Ocean which is here known under the name of Northern and Frozen The Ice there lasts a long time because to these Parts the Sun during several Months discovers not himself and when he appears he doth not heat or thaw it The Bays and Streights of Hudson Davis and Forbisher are in the Inferiour Hemisphere that of Weygats otherwise of Nassaw in the Superiour Hemisphere on the North of our Continent Cabot Willoughby Forbisher Davis Hudson and other English men have sought a Passage to the East-Indies through the three former Streights Barenson Heemskirk and other Hollanders have done the same thro' that of Weygats but all to no purpose by reason of the Ice which is almost continually there and stops Ships in their Navigation and this it is that has hindred 'em from going beyond the 80. Degree of North Latitude Three Courses have been commonly steer'd in these Northern Seas to Archangelo into Moscovy for Furs to Spigelberg and Greenland for Whales and into Norway for Herrings and Timber The Artick Lands are Estotiland Greenland Island Spigelberg Nova Zembla to which may be added the Land of Jesso tho' it be in the Northern temperate Zone Estotiland is towards the North of the great Continent of America Greenland is of a vast extent to the North of Estotiland Christian the Fourth King of Denmark call'd it His Philosophers Stone because the Ships he sent thither could hardly find it out His Successours keep a Governour there at Bearford The Greenlanders Cloaths are made of the Skins of Wild Beasts and their Wastcoats of Birds Skins garnish'd with their Feathers the Flour of the Bread they eat is made of Fishes Bones they drink Sea Water without receiving any inconvenience by so doing Iseland ISeland the Thule of the Ancients one of the greatest Islands in the World lyes towards the North in both Hemispheres where it is part of the Dominions of the Crown of Denmark This advantage it has of not having so many Rocks upon its Coasts as have the other Northern Countreys There are two Principal Villages Hola and Schalholt As for Cities it has none the Houses in other places are commonly of Wood cover'd with the Bark of Trees and with Turfs The Inhabitants are of the Confession of Augsbourg have no Physicians feed their Oxen and their Horses with dry Fish when they are in want of Hay They receive often great floats of Ice which are loosen'd from the Northern Shores whereon is Wood and several sorts of Creatures which they accommodate themselves withal Therefore they inhabit more willingly the Sea-Coasts than the inner part of the Island There are several Mountains whereof Mount Hecla is the most considerable It casts forth Fire and is not to be approached within six Miles distance Danish Hambourger and Lubecker Ships frequently refort thither with diverse Commodities of Europe which the Islanders stand in need of The Danes fetch from thence dryed Fish Whale-Oyl Butter Suet Sulphur Ox-Hides
and those Teeth of Valrushes which some esteem as much as Ivory Spigelberg or Spitsbergen is a Countrey in our Hemisphere the most advanc'd toward the Artick Pole It produces only green Moss those that have been left there to make a full discovery of it perish'd through cold after having fought with White Bears who pretended a right to eat them Upon its Coasts Whales are taken of a prodigious bulk since from one alone has sometimes been drawn a a Hundred and twenty Tun of Oyl The English and Hollanders lay claim to the Dominion of it Nova Zembla is the Island Carambice of the Ancients very near our great Continent from whence one may pass to it upon the Ice and one way stretches as far as Spitsbergen nay and much farther so as it may probably be said that this is the place where those pass'd who first of all inhabited America the streight which parts it from the Terra firma has in its Eastern part high Mountains of Ice which are call'd Pater-nosters This Name of Nova Zembla is by reason of the Way that has been so long sought after along those Coasts to go to the East-Indies through the Tartarian-Sea In the year 1676. Capt. Wood that Ingenious and Industrious Seaman was again sent out by His Majesty King Charles the Second to make a more perfect Discovery of that North-East Passage perswaded unto it by diverse Relations of our own and Dutch Mariners who reported many things concerning it which Capt. Wood upon his own experience conceives to be false as that they were either under or near the Pole that it was there all thaw'd Water and the Weather as warm as at Amsterdam c. He saith further That he himself cou'd pass no further than 76 Deg. where he found the Sea as far as he cou'd discern entirely frozen without intermission That it is most likely that Nova Zembla and Greenland are the same Continent at least that there is no passage betwixt them for that he found scarce any Current And that little which was ran E.S.E. along the Ice and seem'd only to be a small Tide rising not above Eight Foot And whil'st he was in that Degree there were nothing but Frogs Frost and Snow and all imaginable ill Weather tho' at the same time the heat seem'd to be as great as at any time in England The Land of Jesso lyes between Asia and America being separated from each of those Continents by great Arms of the Sea Its Inhabitants exchange in those Cities of Japan that are nearest 'em their Fish their Skins the Tongues and the Fat of their Whales for other Merchandize which they fancy most The Planks of their Vessels are not nail'd they are sewed very dexterously with Ropes made of the Rind or Bark of Cocoes and they do not rot in the Water The Hollanders have been there several times Their Relations affirm That part of this Territory acknowledges the King of Japan for its Soveraign That the Commander in Chief of this Country who has his Residence at Matzimai carries that Monarch every year Silver Birds Feathers of several Colours with very fine Furs The Antartick Lands THe Antartick Land is often called Australis Magellanica Incognita We might with just title name them the Southern Indies and the third World Those who would engage Soveraign Princes to promote the discovery of these Lands say that they are of as great an extent as all America nor less Peopled or less Fertile than Europe They may have above Six thousand Miles of Coast in three several Zones of the Southern part of the World the Hot Temperate and Cold Perhaps Countreys might there be found of all manner of temperament tho' none have yet been beyond the 68 Degree of Southern Latitude Amongst the Streights that are there that of Magellan first afforded a way in the year 1523. to voyage it round the World through the South Sea this Streight is Two hundred Leagues in length in breadth in some places two three in others five six or ten Those who pass through it receive great inconveniencies by reason of the sinuosities and windings and the frequent storms that are there The Streights of Maire which were discovered in the year 1615. are much more commodious 't is but ten or twelve Leagues in length and as many in breadth That of Brouvers which was pass'd in the year 1643. is on the South-East and has the same advantages with that of Le Maire The English and Hollanders sometimes steer this Course to go to the East Indies Besides under the name of Antartick Lands are reckoned Countries which indeed are very far distant from the Southern Pole but which cannot be attributed to the other great parts of the World since they are separated from it by Seas of a vast extent New Guiney the Isles of Solomon New Zealand the Land of Fire the Land of Parrots New Holland There 's hardly any thing known of the other Southern Parts befides the Names of those who discovered them New Guiney towards the South of the Equinoxial Line and in the Inferiour Hemisphere is a very great Isle and bears this Name because it seems to be Diametrically opposite to the Guiney of Africa The Isles of Solomon are in the South Sea at ten or twelve Degrees of the Southern Latitude The Spaniards who have them in possession give them the name of Solomon to persuade the World that that wise King sent for his Gold from thence New Zealand is the Country where the Hollanders have met with scurvy usage when they would have setled themselves there There it is they say are great Men and of a huge stature whether they really be so or fear made them appear such at least each of their two Companies to the Indies avouched the same thing In all probability it was discovered by Fernandez de Quir who tells a thousand advantageous particulars of it He spent Fourteen Years in his Travels Fourteen Months at Court and presented in vain Eight Petitions to the King of Spain to persuade him to send Colonies thither Between New Zealand and the Streights of Magellan some have placed several small Islands which are said to have been discover'd in the Name of the King of Spain by Hernando Gallego in the year 1576. The Land of Fire on the South of America consists of several Islands that are called Magellanic and the Fires that were seen there the first time the Europeans went on shoar have given occasion to this Name The Land of Parrots is probably that which we call Terra Australis In the year 1504. a French-man called Gonneville went on shoar there and was kindly receiv'd by a petty King called Arosca After several Months abode he brought away with him some of the Inhabitants and amongst others one called Essomeriq a King's Son who has left of his Posterity in Normandy New Holland seems to be that Land or rather those two great Islands of Petan and the lesser
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
These Cities tho' built by People we stile Salvage and Barbarous yielded in nothing to those of Europe or for bigness or magnificence No Horses were in America An Indian of good sence reckoned a Horse in the number of the three things he most esteemed the two others were a new laid Egg and Light Horses gave so much terrour to the Americans that for above a hundred years they could not be prevailed with to mount ' em The Inhabitants are of four sorts Europeans Metis Negroes and Salvages Most of the Nations of Europe have Colonies in this Portion of the World which for the most part bear the Names of their respective Provinces and Cities The Spaniards stand possess'd of the greatest the richest and the fertilest Countreys of America Among others of Mexico and Peru formerly two famous Kingdoms the latter Hereditary the other Elective their King pretends a Right to All by vertue of the Donative of Pope Alexander the Sixth in the year 1493. But this other Nations do not allow of The Portugneezes have the Coasts of Brasile The French have Colonies in Canada in several Islands and upon the firm Land The English have fair and great Establishments all along the Coasts of Northern America and in the Islands The Metis are those who are born of the Europeans and Indians In the Territories conquered by the Spaniards they call Crioles those who are born of a Spanish Man and Woman and these are they whom the Spaniards of Europe have a mortal aversion to and whom they put by all great Offices for fear of a Revolt The Negroes are transported into America from Angola and other parts of Africa to labour in the Mines which drudgery the Americans are not able to support The Salvages here live commonly on Hunting Maiz Cassave which is their Corn. They have amongst 'em almost as many Tongues as Villages He who has the use of those of Mexico and Casco may make himself understood through all America This diversity of Tongues is the cause that we have little knowledge of their Origine They are all naturally dexterous and active good Runners and excellent Swimmers Several amongst 'em live like Beasts without King Policy or Law The Sun Moon nay and the Devil too are consider'd by them as so many Divinities The Sooth-sayers who are very numerous in these parts keep 'em in these Errours The Kings of Spain have caused five Arch-Bishopricks to be erected there and about thirty Episcopal Sees The French have one Bishop in Canada The Portugueezes have at this present three in Brasile under the Arch-Bishop of S. Salvador The other Nations who have Settlements in these Countreys have likewise establish'd there the Religion they profess America is not peopled comparatively with the parts of our Continent perhaps by reason of the continual Wars which the Inhabitants wage there against one another or else because of the cruel treatments the Indians have received from the Spaniards some Authors do attest they have put to Death there several Millions of Persons whether for Religion or for other Pretexts and that the Blood of those who have perished in the Mines where they have been forc'd to labour would weigh more than the Gold and Silver they have thence extracted The Spaniards met with no strong resistance in their Conquests where they found none to make head against 'em but naked People whose Armies were easily broken by the Noise only of a Canon-shot or at the sight of a Horse-man The poor Indians stedfastly believed that the Spaniards were the Masters of Thunder they thought 'em half Men and half Horses or some Sea-Monsters when they saw 'em on Horse-back And when they saw them on board their Ships eating Bisket and drinking Claret they said they were descended from Heaven upon a great Bird that they eat Stones and drank Blood If we confider the situation of the Islands of that part of the World we shall find that California is in the West of Northern America the New Lands the Bermudas and the Antilles towards the East The Mountains of the Andes Cross all Southern America from the North to the South That of Potosi in Peru is esteem'd the richest of all by reason of its Silver Mines The Spaniards would persuade us that there are others in the Neighbourhood at least as rich The North Sea is so call'd because it is on the North of the firm Land which makes part of the Southern America and was sooner discovered than the Northern America in regard of which it cannot bear the Name of the North Sea 'T is called the Green Sea towards the Tropick of Cancer by reason of the Herbs found there upon the Surface of the Waters The South Sea is really Southern in regard of that North Sea but if we consider all America both Northern and Southern we shall find that it is Western It 's often called Pacific by reason of its pertinacious Calms or else because very few Acts of Hostility are perform'd there Between Mexico and the Island of California 't is call'd the Vermillion Sea It hardly receives any considerable Rivers The Sweet Sea which is in Canada and the Parime Sea in Southern America bear the names of Lakes because they are in the midst of Lands Many are of opinion that by this Sweet Sea the Northorn Sea communicates with with the Southern Among the Rivers of America that of Canada or St. Lawrence is vulgarly call'd the Great River perhaps for that it receives above two thousand others great and small and that above five hundred Leagues above Quebeck its source has not yet been found out It makes some Lakes grow narrow sometimes it casts it self among the Rocks with such impetuosity that 't is impossible to pass there by reason of the number of Water-falls which they call Saults and Carriages because those who mean to go over must carry their little Boats upon their shoulders which they term Canoes It s ordinary breadth is full twelve or thirteen Leagues its depth does often exceed two hundred fathom it keeps its Waters clear as far as below Quebeck The River of Chayre upon the Confines of the two America's affords means for the Transportation of Merchandizes from one Sea to the other L'Orenoyu is the largest of all those of America The Amanzon is esteemed the greatest strongest and deepest of all those of these Countreys and one of the fiercest in the World In the Year 1638. the Portuguese who were then under the Crown of Spain remounted it up as far as Quito in Peru and came down again the following Year It has its Inundations as well as the Nile whereby the neighbouring Countrey is not incommoded with Insects Above a hundred and fifty several Nations have been observ'd to dwell in the Neighbourhood of this great River and those which fall into it La Plata has its Name from the Mines of Silver which are near it Towards its beginning it bears the Name of Paraguay after having
Virginia They would make us believe that there is a flying Squirrel which makes use of its paws as if they were wings The Inhabitants of Virginia love to make good Cheer are Idolaters and have divers Lords whom they call Werouns Their Towns which they surround with Pallisadoes have only 18 or 20 Houses Pomeiock and James-Town are the Principal places of this Region The Bay of Chesapeack is very considerable being seventy five Leagues in length for the most part six or seven broad and ten or twelve towards its entrance The Ships sail up above sixty Leagues for it is often fifteen or sixteen fathom deep and six or seven where it is most shallow The Islands of Barmudas or Summer Isles are under the same Crown and almost in the same Parallel with Virginia distant above three hundred Leagues from the Continent of America They are several in number around the principal one and almost all invironed with Rocks and sufficiently known for the Shipwracks that happen there The Merchants bring thence Cocheneal Tobacco Pearls and Amber there are found Tortoises of an excessive bigness and Spiders without venom extraordinary large of a streak'd colour which spin Webs capable of holding little Birds In the Year 1516. five men being imbarked at the Barmudas in a little Pinnace traversed above twelve hundred Leagues at Sea and by a singular happiness arrived in Ireland In the Year 1525. a Portuguez who was in the East Indies being desirous to do a notable piece of service to his Prince undertook a Voyage which was no less perilous for with a small Gally but sixteen foot long and six-broad he departed from Cochim and having traversed the Occan and all its particular Seas at last he arrived at Lisbon where he brought the King of Portugal the news of the building a Cittadel at Diu a piece of news which was agreeably received in that Court Florida THe Spaniards and French the Discoverers of this Province have but very small knowledge of it as not having been very far in the Country the Spaniards under divers Leaders and principally under Soto made some Expeditions into it but both he and most of his men dyed in the prosecution of their design The Name of Florida was given it either upon the account of its Flowers which it produces in great abundance or by reason of the first Discovery of some of its parts which was on a Palm Sunday The French that setled themselves in that part which lies towards the North-East had left there the names of the Scine Lonaloire Garrone Gironde Chorcute to the Rivers they met withal in those parts But the Spaniards jealous of the French Names having given them others and the English who have lately setled several Colonies here do still at this day Christen them anew In the Year 1562. John Ribaud caus'd to be built upon the River of Port-Royal the Fortress of Charles's Fort which he called by that Name in consideration of King Charles the Ninth of France Two years after one Laudonier built the Fort of Carolina upon the River of May Now by the way it is to be observ'd that several Geographers do not give to these two Places their true Position Since which the French were constrained to abandon 'em both upon the account of the Civil Wars which arose in France and of the jealousie of the Spaniards who could not well bear with the Frenchmen having footing in Florida The Spaniards made Florida much greater than it really is for they attribute to it Virginia and New France perhaps not to prejudice the Pretentions of their Soveraign who attributes to himself all America tho' his Subjects have only appear'd in some of its Provinces Others give only this Name of Florida to the Peninsula of Tegesta which advances to the South and contributes to form the great and famous Gulph of Mexico and the Channel of Bahama The Air of Florida is so temperate that there has been often seen old Men at the Age of Two hundred and fifty years whilst the Children of five Generations are all alive at the same time The Land is fertile full of Fruit-trees and its Towns the best peopled of all America having in several places rich Furs and an immense quantity of Pearls It s Mountain Apalatei produces abundance of Copper It s principal River is that of Spirito Sancto or Chucagua which falls into the Mexican Gulph The Coast is not over convenient for great Ships because the Sea is but very shallow The Inland parts are possess'd by the Savages under the Government and Jurisdiction of divers Paroustis or Caciques who are their Lords Relations acquaint us with the Brave Resistance they made against the Spaniards These Savages adore the Sun and Moon Upon the Coast the Spaniard holds St. Austin and St. Matthews two Colonies of small consideration tho' in each there be a Castle St. Austin is of the greatest importance by reason of its Haven and its nearness to the Channel of Bahama where the Spanish-Fleets commonly pass when with their Cargoes they return from Havana into Europe New Mexico THis Mexico is call'd New because it was one of the last Conquests of the Spaniards in Northern America not being subdued till after the Year 1583. 'T is the Ancient Mexico according to some Authors who say its Inhabitants people part of New Spain The scarcity of Victuals and other inconveniencies of this Countrey have not hindred the Spaniards from going to search for Mines in its Entrals The Natives are Idolaters and call their Chiefs Caciques New Mexico California Anien Quivira and Cibola are its principal parts and Santafe the most considerable Town California on whose Coasts some Pearls are found is one of the greatest Islands in the World Anian gives its Name to a famous Streight beyond which is the Land of Jesso The Wealth of Quivira consists in certain Bulls or Oxen which are very benificial to the Inhabitants their Flesh is their Food of their Skins they make Cloaths and Coverings for their Houses Thread of their Hair Bow-strings of their Nerves Awls and Bodkins of their Bones Trumpets and Bugles of their Horns they preserve Water in their Bladders and make Fewel of their Dung dryed This Creature has something of the Lyon the Camel the Goat and the Sheep There is in Cibola Grandeda Acoma and some other Fortresses upon the Mountains with Palisado's and Ditches which shew that the Americans were not ignorant of the Art of Fortifying such places as they meant or stood in need to defend Other Enumerations are made of the Countreys of New Mexico but very uncertain are they the Inhabitants commonly have no setled abode give the Names of their Chiefs to their Villages and those Names only subsists during the Life of each of those Leaders New Spain THe Indians name this Countrey Mexico and the Spaniards New Spain so that hereby they call their King the King of Spains The Spaniards here establish'd in this Countrey several
that they keep Registers of their Race which are from time to time approv'd of by the Judges Horses of the most noble and commonly Mares are sometimes sold for three or four thousand Piasters The Arabians eat their Meals crouching upon their Heels whereas the Turks eat upon Cushions cross-legg'd the oldest among 'em wear the finest Cloaths and the gaudiest Colours Their Predecessours prohibited Buildings and the tilling of Lands for that those who stood possess'd of great stocks if they meant to enjoy 'em were easily constrain'd to obey them who aim'd at subduing ' em They made also that Member of the Noble Race Successour of the Kingdom who came first into the World after the proclaiming of the King In the comparison of the Manners and Maximes of the Levantine Nations with those of Europe the Arabians are made to resemble the Italians the Persians the French the Turks the Spaniards Arabia in general is subject to such great heats that they are constrain'd to keep the Markets by night There is a great number of Mountains and few Rivers It is divided into three parts Petraea Deserta and Foelix the two former is almost wholly in the possession of the Turks Arabia Foelix has several petty Sovereigns Arabia Petraea was inhabited by the Madianites Moabites Amalekites and Idumeans Nations of whom mention is often made in the Holy Oracles Its Inhabitants pay Tribute to the Bashaw of Cairo Crac otherwise Montreal formerly call'd Petra has communicated to it its Name Busseret is the Countrey of Philip the Roman Emperour who is said to have embrac'd Christianity Tor upon the Red-Sea is a Port defended by a four-square Castle There are in the places adjacent found petrified Mushrooms white Corral Chagrin small Oysters and sometimes Sea-men or such people as are bred and live in the Sea 'T is said the Red-Sea is but three Leagues broad in that place and that the Children of Israel pass'd it over there dry-shod when they came out of Aegypt that it was one of the Ports from whence Solomon sent his Fleets into Ophir to fetch Gold Pegs of Wood are put into the Ships of the Places that belong to this Sea because little Iron is to be found there Those who have a mind to impose Talk as that if they made use of Iron Nails instead of Pegs the Ships would be attacked and stopp'd by the Loadstone that is found in the neighbouring Mountains Mount Oreb is famous in the Holy Writ for the burning Bush wherein God appear'd to Moses Sinai is illustrious for the Decalogue or Ten Commandments which this Prophet receiv'd It is extraordinary high and nevertheless the Mount St. Catherine which is near it is much higher Arabia Deserta is a Countrey where they often want good Water tho' there be some Wells the Water for the most part is hardly worth any thing Ana upon the Euphrates has an Arabian Emir There is a King in this Arabia who has a moving and portative City which consists in Tents and he causes it to be carried whither he pleaseth He takes this course to avoid being surpriz'd by the Turks Sumiscasac is esteem'd the ancient Saba from whence departed the three Kings or rather wise Men to come and adore the Saviour of the World in Bethlehem Arabia Faelix goes under that Name as being a good Countrey It has Horses very much esteem'd Manna Cinnamon Myrrh Balm Benjamin Incense and other Perfumes There is so great a quantity of Incense that from the Port of Dolfar the Inhabitants furnish the principal parts of the World Aden is a City of great trade in a small Peninsula at the foot of a Mountain with two Castles towards the North and a small Fortress at the entrance of the Harbour The Portugals at the time of their establishment in the East Indies had Orders to make themselves Masters of Aden Ormus and Malaca by reason of their important situations The Turks prevented them at Aden whose King they caused to be hang'd on the Mast of their Captain 's Galley Since that time there have been some Revolutions those of the Countrey having dispossess'd the Turks Ormus and Malaca have been in the power of the Portuguese the Persians have taken from them Ormus by the help of the English and the Hollanders Malaca Mecha and Medina are famous for the Pilgrimages of the Mahometans who are in great esteem after such a Journey they go particularly to Mecha to pay their devotion to Kiaabee the four-square House which they call the House of God as having been built by Abraham This City about as big as York as containing about six thousand Houses is a days journey distant from the Red-Sea the place of the Birth of Mahomet whose body was as some Authors say transferred to Medina when Albaquerque the Portuguese would have surpriz'd the Port of Ziden otherwise called Gidde with design to go with Cavalry and fetch away that Mahometan Relick The Countrey about Mecha produces in abundance that sort of Berry which serves to make the Drink called Coffee so much us'd in the Levant by reason of its virtue to fortifie the Stomach and facilitate Digestion Medina three days journey from the Red-Sea is the place where that pretended Prophet lyes buryed Endeavours have been used to make his Tomb pass for a Wonder as if it was suspended in the Air by the means of the Load-stone this is not only found to be a fallacy but Antiquity shews us such like things Democritus the Athenian by order of Ptolomey King of Aegypt undertook to make the Statue of Arsinoe all of Iron for to dispose it after the like manner and in the Temple of Serapis in Alexandria they formerly hung up the same way a Sun made of a very delicate Iron The Prince of Mecha called Sultan Scherif is one of the most Potent of all Arabia His most usual Residence is in Almacharana The Grand Seignior makes him often Presents and causes part of the Revenue of Aegypt to be given him by reason that he 's of the Race of Mahomet and to oblige him to defend the Turkish Pilgrims The Arabians call Scherifs the Relations of Mahomet the Turks call them Emirs Fartach Caxem Gubel-haman Alibinali Amanzirifdin Masfa Mascalat Jemen are as many Sultanies or small Kingdoms in Arabia-Felix Mascate formerly belonging to the Portugals has for a long while carried on the trade from the Indies to the Mecha by the means of the Cities El-Catif and Lehsa Sohar in the Eastern part drove the Commerce which has since been to Ormus and to Gombru Mocha upon the Red Sea is an open Town with a small Castle By reason of the goodness of its Haven there resort thither Ships from all parts of the East-Indies with Merchandizes to take in those of Europe which are in like manner brought thither There are Jews Persians Armenians Indians Banians It is the place where the Pilgrims disembark who go from the Indies to Mecha 'T is much augmented since the
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
relate things quite contrary to what is before specified and say that the Inhabitants there are not bigger than the Europeans Tucuman TVcuman is a temperate Countrey interlaced with several Rivers which after having watered the Plains fall into the great River de la Plata Its Inhabitants are docible and ingenious being more given to Peace than War the Spanish Captain who subdued them stood in no need of very considerable Troops for that purpose They obey Caciques their Lords their Riches consist in Cattle The Spaniards have there a Governour and their principal Town is San-Jago d' El-Estero Cordoua is the next best Town of Tucuman Chaco and Trapalanda are two of its principal Countreys It s People Quirandies towards the Southern part have much of the Scythian humour they have their moveable Habitations and have always made a great resistance against the Spaniard La Plata THe Name of La Plata was given by the Spaniards to this Countrey and a great River which waters it in consideration of the Silver they received there and of the Mines they found This Countrey is pleasant and fertilâ— It has a good Corn-Soil Vineyards fruitful Trees and Cattle in abundance It has a Rock which by Antithesis is called Poor Several Europeans have had a passionate desire to settle themselves here in hopes of finding great Treasures The King of Spain is acknowledg'd in most of the places of De la Plata Wherefore in the year 1680 the Colonies of the Countrey sent Men to hinder the settlement of the Portuguese in the Isles S. Gabriel near Buenosaires The Spanish Governour has his Residence in the City of the Assumption wherein there is a Garrison The true Paraguay is towards the beginning of the great River of the same Name which in our Tongue signifies the River of Feathers Parana is along the River which has Cataracts or falls of Water near two hundred Yards high Buenos-aires is one of the best Spanish Colonies by reason of the Commerce it drives in Brasile from whence it receives the Merchandizes of Europe which has invited the Spaniards of Potosi to go often thither to furnish themselves with Necessaries in exchange for their Ingots of Silver notwithstanding the rigorous Prohibitions of their King whose Rights are lost by these means A Proposal was made to his Catholick Majesty to have his Silver of Peru brought this way which is much nearer and shorter than that of Panama But he thought not fitting to consent to it for fear his Subjects should communicate their Commerce of Silver with the Portuguese of Brasile The Inhabitants have great Trees which they call Zaines whereof they make Boats all of a piece They shew the right wayes to several places by the felling of Trees and as those Trees are some green others either black yellow or red the Forests are agreeably diversifyed by them The Orechons are there remarkable for the bigness of their Ears According to the Relations of the Year 1627 there are in La Plata People more Civiliz'd and more succeptible of our Arts and Religion than in the other parts of America they say that according to a Tradition left their Fore-Fathers by St. Thomas whom they call St. Sume Priests should come into their Countrey with the Cross to instruct them and teach them their salvation Brasile BRasile has its Name common with a sort of Wood which it furnishes in abundance It was called the Country of the Holy Cross when discovered in the Year 1501 in the Name of the King of Portugal It extends along the North Sea towards the North. It has great Rocks under Water whose Mouths make several good Harbours Its Bounds towards the West are unknown those it has towards the South are placed diversly according to the will of the Castilians and Portuguez who explain their own way the Regulation of the Year 1493 Each pretending the Possession of the River La Plata with that of the Molucco Islands and causing Geographical Cards to be made for that purpose to their own advantage By the Regulation above mentioned Alexander the 6th whom Sixtus the 5th Lists in the Rank of the three greatest Popes of the Church invested Ferdinand King of Arragon and Isabella Queen of Castile his Wife in all the Lands which they should cause to be Discovered on the West of a Line which was imaginarily to be drawn from one Pole to the other a hundred Leagues beyond the Islands Azores What was to Discover on the East of that Line was to belong to the King of Portugal Now the difficulty was in the Execution the Castilians would reckon those hundred Leagues from the most Western of the Azores the Portuguese from the most Eastern with design of making pass for what they abandoned within the Desarts of America the rich Possession of the Molucco's which since was pawned to their King by the Emperour Charles V. for Three hundred and fifty thousand Ducats In short these two Nations not agreeing in this affair no more than in several others the Portuguez reckon'd as Brasile all that extends from the River Maranon unto that of La Plata and the Spaniards plac'd the Southern Bounds of it at the Capitania of St. Vincent In the Year 1680. the Portuguezes have shown by their Descent into the Islands of St. Gabriel that they mean not to abate the least of their Pretensions Tho' Brasile be under the Torrid Zone its Air is temperate its Waters the best in the World Its Inhabitants live often a hundred and fifty years and more Besides the Woods of Brasile there is Amber Balm Tobacco Whale-Oyl Cattel Confitures Sugar in abundance the Engines with which they prepare it being of great value There are such Animals Trees Fruits and Roots as are not seen in other parts The Serpents Adders Water-Snakes and Toads have no Venome and serve for Food for the Inhabitants The Fields are destined to Sugars the Mountains for Woods and the Valleys for Tobacco for Fruits and for Mandioche which is a kind of Root which the Inhabitants make their Bread of In this Region is an Herb called Viva which if toucht will shut up as a Dazy in the night and will not open till the Party that injured it be out of fight Most of the Towns are not of above a hundred or an hundred and twenty Houses The Coast of Brasile is divided into fourteen Praefectures or Lordships which are called Capitania's and belong at present all to the Portuguese In the Year 1654 the Hollanders lost all they had Conquered in these parts the War they had then with England not suffering them to send succours thither and the Portuguese Colonies were there much better established than theirs In the Year 1662 the Portuguese entred into Treaty with them to give them satisfaction that they might not have them their Enemies at the same time they were to defend themselves against the Spaniards Amongst the Capitanias Tamuraca is the most ancient tho' the smallest
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
of the Turks upon the Red Sea The Governour keeps two small Galleys and some Ships to make himself considerable upon the Red Sea The Merchandizes of the East-Indies bound for Europe came thither formerly for which reason the Turks have not without regret seen the Establishment of the Europeans in those Indies But they still bring Spices to truck with the Inhabitants for Corral Cossir formerly Berenice was the Resort of the Commodities which the Romans fetch'd from the East-Indies and which from thence were carried to the nearest part of the Nile in the City of Coptos now called Cana. Buge in the most Southern part of Egypt is a Kingdom tributary to the Abyssins according to the Relations of 1657. Biledulgerid and Zaara BIledulgerid is the Numidia of the Moderns and more Southern than the ancient Numidia The Name of Biledulgerid speaks a Land fruitful in Dates A Fruit which the Numidians gather tho' they be short-sighted by reason of the Sand which the Wind brings in their Eyes This part of Africk extends from the West to the East almost as far as Barbary Some Kings there are of the Mahometan Religion whose power is but very inconsiderable The Arabians under their Cheiques or Chiefs are strong in Cavalry and capable of great Enterprizes if they had not War amongst themselves They sometimes assist the Turks and at other times the Kings of Morocco and Fez the changes of Soveraigns and the diversity of Tongues have often caus'd the Names of Cities to be changed The Arabians in these parts hunt after Ostriches because they make great advantages of 'em they sell their Feathers eat their Flesh and order their Skins for their Baggage they make their Witchcrafts and Incantations of the Heart their Medicaments of the Fat and their Ear-Pendants of the Horn or Beak Suz the best peopled Countrey of all Biledulgerid has the City of Tarudante where the greatest Traffick is of Sugar and where began the Dominion of the Cherifs The River of Suz renders the Land fruitful by its inundation The Sea-Towns are Cartguessem of the Conquests of Portugal and Messa with a Temple near which the Inhabitants believe that Jonas was cast up out of the Whales belly They say that all the Whales approaching it die immediately and that from this Temple must come forth a great Pontif. The Cape of Guer which is not very far distant from it has near it the City of the Holy Cross formerly called Agades and Darrumia It was built by the Portugals but the Moors have it in possession and the Christians have nothing more remaining there than some Magazines in its neighbourhood Tesset is a Countrey of small product and thinly inhabited Daru has some fortified Places and amongst others that of Tigumedet the native Countrey of the Cherifs who having first of all obtain'd from the King of Fez a Drum and an Ensign under pretext of making War against the Christians dethron'd at length the King of the Countrey which happen'd towards the beginning of the last Age. Segelmessa abounds in hurtful Animals Tegorarina has plenty of Dates Zeb wants Water and those who inhabit it in Summer yield their abode to the Scorpions Biledulgerid communicates its Name to all the Countrey Fessen has a Town of the same Name The Desart of Barca consists in Plains of Sand where was formerly seen the Temple of Jupiter Hammon notorious for its Oracles for the Fountain of the Sun for the loss of the Army of Cambyses King of Persia and for the happy Journey of that of Alexander the Great Bacchus Perseus and Hercules are said to have been there before this Conquerour and three High-ways are reported to have led thither the first from Memphis the second from Paretonium and the third from Cyrene Mount Atlas advances several of its Branches into Biledulgerid The Cap of Non upon the Ocean was for a long while the limit of the Navigations of the Portugueses who call'd it in that manner for that they at that time pass'd no farther The Name of Zaara signifies Desart and that of Libya which is also given to this Countrey is a Greek word which was first of all attributed to Africa Little is to be seen in the Zaara but Sand Monsters and Scorpions for which reason the Inhabitants wear Boots for a defence against the stings and bitings of those Creatures The Air is healthful and the sick of the neighbouring Countreys are brought thither for the Recovery of their health The Arabians consider there three sorts of Countreys the Cehel where is small Sand without any Verdure the Zaara where is Gravel and a little Verdure and the Asgar where are Marshes Herbs and Bushes Travellers before-hand make provision of all things necessary for the Life of Man for the Houses and Wells are at such a distance from one another that they go often a hundred Leagues without finding either Abode or Water A Merchant formerly endured there so much thirst that he gave ten thousand Ducats for a Cup of Water and yet he di'd as well as the person who receiv'd his Money for the giving him Drink People are sometimes constrain'd to bury themselves in the Sand to avoid meeting with Lyons and other wild Beasts which make a horrible noise every night The Inhabitants are for the most part Shepherds and the best Hunters in the World but very miserable Some amongst 'em follow the Religion of Mahomet and the greatest number lead a libertine kind of life Several small Sovereigns receive the Tribute of the Caravans which pass thro' their Dominions Their other Revenues consist in Cattel and when mention is made of their Riches they ask how many Camels they have Five principal Desarts are reckon'd Zanhaga Zuenziga where are Salt-Pits Targa Lempta and Berdoa The Ghir which is the greatest River of it forms some pretty considerable Lakes and loses its self in the Sand in several places of its course and comes out again presently after the Rio Ouro which is empty'd into the Ocean and was so call'd by the Portuguese by reason of the Gold they found there when they made their first Voyages along that Coast This River runs under the Tropick thro' desart Countreys with ten or twelve fathom water towards its entrance into the Sea The Coast as far as Cape Boiador has high white and grey Hills or Downs with a desart Countrey o'rspred with Sand and wild Rushes Nigritia NIgritia is so called from its ancient People the Nigritae who reciprocally seem to have had their Name from their black Colour or from that of their Land which in some places is all burnt by the excessive heat which contributes to the blackning both the Sand and the Inhabitants They who attribute this blackness to the Race of Cham say that people of other Countreys preserve their whiteness in Nigritia and that the Asiaticks and the Americans who are in the same Zone with the Negroes are not naturally black The Niger does somewhat temper the Country
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
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
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
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
the Flemmings wedded to Commerce to Manufacture and Navigation Both People are industrious in making Handy-craft-Works They have two sorts of Tongues the Walloon which is a corrupted French and which becomes purer since the French King's Conquests and the Flemming or Low Dutch The first is particularly in Artois in French-Flanders and in Haynault The Vnited Provinces and the Provinces of the King of Spain were in War until the Year 1609. when they made a Truce of Twelve Years His Catholick Majesty did then treat with the States General of the Vnited Provinces in quality and as holding them for Free-Countrys Provinces and States to whom he had no Pretension In the Year 1648. the Peace was made there before that of the Empire which was concluded at Munster in the same Year And since the Spaniards of Flanders and the Hollanders have thought fit to live neighbourly and in good intelligence nay to confederate together for their mutual defence The War having been declared by the French King upon the Hollanders in the Year 1672. the Spaniards fail'd not to take part in it for the traversing the Conquests of his Christian Majesty which cost them very considerable Cities and Provinces whereas the Hollanders recover'd what they had lost The Princes of Orange of the House of Nassau have almost ever had the Military and Civil Government in the Vnited Provinces The Vnited Provinces of the Low-Countries THe Vnited Provinces are so call'd from their Union at Vtrecht in the Year 1579. They are commonly called Holland that being the richest most populous Province of 'em all Their situation is towards the end of the Rivers Rhine and Meuse in the Northern part of the Low Countries between the Dominions of the King of Spain in Flanders England which is separated from 'em by the Sea and several Principalities of the Empire The Princes of the Empire who are their Neighbours are the Duke of Newbourg in his Dutchy of Juliers and his Barony of Ravestein the Elector of Brandenbourg in his Dutchy of Cleves the Elector of Cologn the Bishop of Munster the Count de Bentheim the Prince of East-Friesland in the Territories of the same Name The Vnited Provinces which before owed subjection to the King of Spain have since been independent of one another or to say rather as many Republicks which altogether make now but one under the Name of the States General of the Vnited Provinces of the Low Countries The Dignity of this State residing in the States General the Absolute authority over things reserved by reason of the alliance has remained in the States of each Province The Seal of the Republick is a Lion holding a Bundle of Seven bound Arrows with allusion to as many confederated Provinces these Provinces as the Politicians say have not always been so well united but that they resembled a Body which has several Heads some of which would draw it on one side while the others endeavour to tug it on the other There is no State in the World of so small an Extent which has so great a number of Fortresses and which seems better defended by the Nature of the Places than this It has the See and several Rivers which defend it the Rhine the Meuse the Waal the Issel Notwithstanding all these Defences the French King made surprising Conquests in the Year 1672. by the reduction of three Provinces and sixty considerable Towns which proceeded from raw unexpert meer Citizens sons being imploid in the Soldiery Besides the Vnited Previnces and the Places that are in them the States General have in Flanders the Cities of Sluyce Middlebourg Ardembourg Sasvan Gaunt Axel Hulst in Brabant Lisle Bergen-ap-Zoom Breda Boisleduc Grave and they have Maestricht in the Bishoprick of Liege Dalem Fauquemont Bolduc in the Land of Outre Meuse These Places were taken by the French King but restor'd to them by his Majesty in consideration of the Peace of 1678. In Germany they had upon the Rhine Orsoy Wesel Reez Emerik Genep in the Dutchy of Cleves Rhineberg in the Electorate of Cologn these are return'd into the hands of its true Masters in consideration of the aforesaid Peace Towards Westphalia the States General have Garrisons in the City of Embden in the Forts of Eideler and Leer-ort which belong to the Prince of East-Friesland There are in Holland two Companies of Merchants the one for the East-Indies the other for the West The first of these Companies seems it self to be a Potent Republick It boasts of having subdued more Leagues of Country than there are Acres of Land in all Holland Of having fourteen or fifteen thousand Soldiers and a Number of Ships in its Service Of employing commonly above fourscore thousand Men. It had long since above twenty very considerable Fortresses as many Magazines upon the Coasts of the Indian-Sea where it has endeavour'd to constrain several Petty Kings not to receive into their States any other Nations of Europe than their own The West-India Company is weak and feeble in respect of the other whether that the Portugals have had more right and more strength than the Hollanders in Brazil Or the term of the Concession of Priviledg obtained by these from their Sovereign be expired Or in short that the Company of the East-Indies has us'd all its efforts to ruin the other The Hollanders have hitherto been Powerful at Sea have often beaten the French the Spanish Fleets nay made Head against the English who are Sovereigns of the Sea The Number of their Ships is so great that if we may believe their Partizans it equals that of the rest of Europe They have always in their own Country wherewith to Equip a great Number tho' their Land neither produces Wood nor other things necessary for that purpose They are able to Arm out above a hundred to Sea if they had but the Mariners and Soldiers they had formerly At their first Establishment they only pretended to Fishing and Trading from Port to Port since they have drove the richest Commerce that is carried on at Sea Amongst the Vnited-Provinces there are four towards the West Holland Zealand Vtrecht Guelderland Four towards the East Zutphen Over-Yssel or Trans-Isalane Friesland Groninghen Those who reckon but seven make but one of that of Guelderland and Zutphen In the Assemblies these Provinces have ever given their Votes in the following Order Guelderland with Zutphen first of all then Holland Zealand Vtrecht Friesland Over-Yssel finally Groninghen with the Ommelands Each of 'em sends its Deputies to the Hague where are form'd three Colledges or Assemblies of them the States-General the Council of State and the Chamber of Accounts In the Assembly of the States-General all the Provinces above-mention'd must consent in General and in Particular to the Resolutions that are taken therein and do not follow the plurality of Voices Each Province may send thither one two three four or five Deputies but all these Deputies have together but one Voice and have right to
States or Parliament Dokum the Admiralty of the Province Schelling is an Island upon the Coast where are some Towns which serve to give signal to the Ships They Hunt the Sea-Dogs there after a pleasing manner The Men who mean to take them disguise themselves like Drummers and with a thousand Apish Tricks do insensibly attract towards the midst of the Island those poor Creatures who are over-joy'd to see them but in the mean while Nets are laid which hinder their returning to the Sea The Passage between this Island and that of the Vlie is much frequented out there go thence Ships which are bound for the North and the Baltick-Sea Groninghen which has the last Voice in the Assemblies of the States-General has but two Cities Groninghen and Dam. Groninghen is in so important a Situation by reason of the Frontier that the Duke of Alva projected the. making a Cittadel there In the Year 1672 after the taking of several Places the Bishop of Munster had the displeasure of not being able to compass his Design upon this The Province has Pasturages wherein Turfs are made which serve for Fewel It has several Navigable Chanels the Key whereof seems to be contain'd in the Fortress of Delfzil at the Mouth of the Ems. The Ommelands which make a part of it towards the East have frequent Disputes with this Province and would willingly pretend to make the eighth of the Vnited-Provinces The Provinces of the Spanish-Netherlands THese Provinces are called Catholick because the Roman-Catholick Religion only is exercised therein They have often the Name of Flanders given them which is the most Beautiful the Richest and most Populous part of 'em Those People have been called Walloons who border upon France The Provinces which these People Inhabit being at present possess'd by the most Christian King the French call 'em the New-Conquests Amongst the Catholick Provinces there are four Frontiers of France the Counties of Flanders Artois Hainault the Dutchy of Luxembourg Five within the Lands the Dutchy of Brabant the Marquisate of the Holy-Empire round about Antwerp the Barony of Mechelen the County of Namur the Dutchy of Limbourg There is also the Bishoprick of Liege which is of the Empire and Cambresis The French King and the King of Spain are at present Masters of these Provinces for the preservation of which the Spaniards have employ'd a good part of the Gold and Silver of their Indies The Hollanders possess also some Towns in ' em The County of Flanders is so full of People that we may say it is but one City and the finest County of Christendom It s Coast has Downs of Sand which cover the rich Plains Formerly Flanders was divided into Gallican Flemming and Imperial now into three parts one French one Spanish and the other Holland which is of small extent The principal Towns of all the Country are Gaunt Bruges Ypres Lille the two former belonging to Spain and the two others possess'd by France as well as Tournay Doway and Dunkirk Gaunt is one of the greatest Cities of Europe tho' it has several Rivers which still maintain its Commerce it has not now the thirty five thousand Houses which it had when it was able to have put fourscore thousand Men in Arms. The French King who had possess'd himself of it was oblig'd to restore it in consideration of the Peace The Spaniards who saw the Chanel of this Town stopp'd up by the taking of Sluce have made there a new one which can receive stopp'd Ships after they are come to Ostend a Town whose Port could not be stopt up when when it was the stage of War and that it sustain'd a Siege of above three Years together Ypres has several Chanels and Conduits of Water under Earth Lille is one of the best of the Low Countries both for its Commerce and its Riches In the Year 1667. the French King made it his Principal Conquest since which he has caus'd a strong Cittadel to be made in it All the other Places of Flanders are generally considerable either for their Beauty or their Fortresses or the Sieges and Battels Tournay is very ancient beautiful spacious strong rich and populous It is the first City of the Low Countries which in the Year 1667. submitted to the French Monarch His Majesty establish'd a Parliament there and caused a Cittadel to be made It is observ'd of Tournay that it was taken four several times on the very day of St. Andrew 1. By Henry the Seventh King of England 2. By the Emperour Maximilian 3. By the Emperour Charles the Fifth And 4. By the Duke of Parma Doway upon the Scharp on the Confines of Artois and Haynault is meanly fortified The Church of Our Lady is there twelve hundred Years old There is a Staple of Corn an University and lately Navigation by sailing up the Scharp as far as Arras Dunkrk a very trading Town by reason of its Haven is one of the most considerable Possessions of France Graveling is an extraordinary strong place Furnes was the abode of the French King Lewis the Eleventh during his retreat to the Duke of Burgundy Artois now reunited to the Crown of France from which the French say it was dismembred is a Province extraordinary fertile in Corn. Arras its Metropolis is compos'd of a high and low Town both well fortified Hesdin is a regular Hexagone and its River has been lately rendred Navigable as far as Montreuil Bapaume is an advantagious situation Lens is known for the Victory of the French in the Year 1648. Bethune for its good Cheeses Terouenne for its Ruins St. Omar is environ'd with Marshes where are floating Islands Aire is important for the Navigation of the Lys. Hainault according to the Archives of the Province owns none but God and the Sun for ruling Lords Nevertheless it has two other Masters the Kings of France and Spain Mons the capital City defended by three good Ditches has a Soveraign Council independent of that of the Parliament of Mechelin It has also Chanoinesses who make proof of Nobility of Eight Races and who have the liberty to Marry Valenciennes is large sumptuous well fortified upon the Scheld It was taken by force in the Year 1677. by the French King's Army commanded in person by that Prince Quesnoy Landrecy Avesne Philippeville Mariembourg Conde Bouchain are strong places in the hands of the French King Luxembourg has its capital City of the same Name Thionville Montmedi Damvilliers are possess'd by the French Some Lands there are in the Forest of Ardennes belonging to the Bishoprick of Liege Bouillon with the Title of a Dutchy and a strong Castle upon the Rock St. Hubert where the Hunters have a peculiar Devotion Rochefort which saw the Battel of Avein in the Year 1675. between the Spaniards and French By the Peace of Nimmeghen the Dutchy of Bouillon was restor'd to France who has put the Prince of that Name into possesion of it Brabant which is about
only Temporal Princes and that the Diocesses of the same Name which acknowledge their Bishop for Spirituals have very different bounds In the Year 1680. several places depending on these Bishopricks and which had been dismembred from 'em at diverse times have been adjoyned to the Crown of France The Rivers of Meuse Moselle Saone and Sare have their beginning in Lorrain Under the Emperour Nero they had a design of communicating the Ocean and the Mediterranean-Sea by a Chanel drawn from the Moselle into the Soan which is but very little distant from it and which falls into the Rhosne The Sare is navigable and gives its Name to several places by and through which it passes The French King has caused Sar-Louis and other Fortresses to be built there for the securing the Frontiers of his Dominions Nancy the Capital of the whole Dutchy has had the best Fortifications and Works that were ever seen in Europe Without all these Defences it did gloriously resist Charles Duke of Burgundy who lost the Battel and his Life near the Walls in the Year 1477. In the Battel of Morat in the Year 1476. which followed that of Granson and preceded that of Nancy the Diamond of this warlike and unfortunate Prince fell into the hands of a Suiss who thought himself well payed in having for it a Florin of Gold tho' this Diamond was one of the finest things of the kind in Europe Another Suiss was so lucky in the same Battel as to find the Collar of the Golden Fleece of an inestimable value which the Duke of Burgundy was wont to wear and contented himself with two Crowns that were given him for it in Milan whither he went to sell it at the dearest rate he could Now Nancy is in possession of the French King who offers to yield up Toul to the Duke of Lorrain in case he will sign the Treaty of Nimmeghen The Burrough of St. Nicholas keeps the Relick of its Patron which occasions a great concourse of people to that Town as well as its Fair. Rozieres and Dieuse have Salt-Pits of a great Revenue as have also Marsal Chasteau-Salins and Moyenvik The Annual Revenue of the Salt-Pits of Marsal has commonly been three hundred thousand Livres Luneville has a fine House Remiremont a famous Abby of Ladies Plombieres which is not wall'd is known for its Baths The Dutchy of Barr has the Cities of Barleduc St. Mihel and Pont-a-Mousson Vaucouleurs one of the adjacent Territories is noted for the Birth of the Maid of Orleans in a neighbouring Burrough called Arques Mets Toul and Verdun have been more strictly united to the Crown of France by the Treaty of Munster by that of the Pyrences and by good Cittadels Metz had formerly the Title of a Kingdom which was that of Austrasia with the right of coining Money it is now the Residence of a Parliament 'T is of a large circuit and nevertheless in the Year 1552. it gloriously repuls'd the Emperour Charles the Fifth who besieg'd it with an Army of a hundred thousand men from thence came the Proverb amongst those of the Country when any one undertakes any difficult matter they say He will do e'en as much as the Emperour before Metz. This Disgrace stuck so sensibly close to that glorious Prince's heart that there happening presently after the insult he receiv'd from Duke Maurice of Saxony it 's said to have obliged him to resign his Dominions to his Son and his Brother and make the retreat he did in the Monastery of St. Just in Castille to the amazement of the whole World The Dukes of Lorrain have hitherto styled themselves Princes of the Empire and the Empire has pretended Right of Sovereignty over their Dutchy of Lorrain Nevertheless they pretend to be exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Imperial Chamber of Spire and from all the Contributions by the Empire They have neglected to assist at the Dyets of the Empire that so they might not be bound to give place to such Princes as they esteemed less than themselves The Dutchy of Barr is a Fief depending on the Crown of France and chiefly what is on this side the Meuse as for what is beyond it he pretends its dependence on him under the Title of Marquisate of Pont or Ponta-Mousson From whence it comes that the Inhabitants Barrois are esteemed Natural Frenchmen Anthony Francis Charles the Third Dukes of Lorrain did Homage for it to the French Kings The War of Lorrain which followed that of Italy was made upon the account of this Homage not being paid The Dutchy of Barr was afterwards united to the Crown of France Since which there have been several Treaties between the French Kings and the Dukes of Lorrain The Franche-County THis Country which made part of Great-Burgundy is known under the Name of High-Burgundy by reason of the Course of its Rivers and under that of Franche-Comte by reason its Inhabitants have pretended several exemptions and that in possessing those Lands they might dispose of them without having any regard to Wife Children or any other Relatiions It is a Province very Populous and wholly Roman-Catholick whereof most of the Inhabitants are very rich by reason of Corn Wine and particularly by Salt which made them formely be called The Salted or Pickled Burgundians The Woods raise 'em also a good Revenue and we may say That their Land is no less good now than in the time of Julius Caesar In the Year 1668. the French King pretending the Right of the Queen his Wife made the Conquest with a surprizing Success it being then under the Protection of the Crown of Spain but was bound to restore this Province in consideration of the Peace of Aix la Chapelle The Spaniards kept it until the Year 1674. when having declar'd War upon France the French rendred themselves Masters of it again and were confirm'd in their possession of it by the Peace of Nimmeghen This Province is divided into three parts the High-County of Amont the Middle one of Dole and the Lower one of Aval Grey is in the Upper part Dole or Besanzon is in the Middle Salins in the Nether Grey is very strong upon the River Saon Dole was the Capital of all the County the Seat of a Parliament wherefore the Emperor Charles the Fifth made it be Fortified with seven Bastions Besanzon is both ancient and strong now with a Cittadel The Fertility of the Lands about it have given occasion to the calling it the Granary of the Country It s Archbishop styles himself a Prince of the Holy-Empire but the Germans do not grant him Session in the Imperial Diets The City was Imperial unto the Year 1652. when it became Spanish in exchange for the City of Frankendael which the Spaniards restored in executing the Treaty of Munster the French King has caused the Parliament of the Province to be transferred thither Salins so called from its Salt-Pits is defended by two Castles Its Salt-Garner is a very remarkable
keeps in its Metropolitan Church call'd the Dome the Relick of St. Suaire wherein the Face of our Lord is imprinted with most of his Body It boasts of having of all the Cities of Italy brought the Press into use Nice near the Sea has several Roman Antiquities and a Cittadel which seems inaccessible by reason of its situation upon a Rock Montferrat has most of its Towns upon Hills very fertile in Corn and Wine By the Peace of Quieras a part of that Country was yielded to the Duke of Savoy the other remaining the Duke of Mantua's who possesses Casal near the Po. This Town is fortified with several Bulwarks and Half-moons with a Castle and a strong Cittadel composed of six great Bastions The Land of Milan is the most beautiful Country of all Lombardy and the finest Dutchy of Christendom now possess'd by the King of Spain The Ways are pleasant almost all in a direct line with Chanels of Spring-Water on both sides and rows and plantations of Trees which make them resemble Alleys and Walks The Champain of Milan is so fertile that there is not an Inch of Land but brings forth twice a Year The Nobility as well as in the Kingdom of Naples does not meddle with Commerce as does that of the other neighbouring States The City of Milan is called Great because it is full ten Miles in compass wherein it contains above two hundred and thirty Churches ninety six Parishes as many Convents and above a hundred Fraternities It is a general Mart of the Merchandizes of France of Spain of Italy of Germany so great a number of Artizans it has of all sorts that the Italians have it for a Proverb That Milan must be ruin'd if they would accommodate Italy with them It has ever passed for a second Rome tho' it has been besieged forty times and taken two and twenty Its strength consists rather in its Men than in its Walls it being reckoned to contain above three hundred thousand persons It s Castle is one of the finest Fortresses of Europe of six great Bastions Royal invested with Brick with Grafts and Ditches full of running Water The Coast of Genoa formerly called Liguria produces Muscate-Wines Olives in abundance all manner of good Fruits the Western part particularly is full of Lemmon Orange Fig Palm and Cedar-trees the Inland of the Country is mountainous full of Woods which furnish Materials for the making of Ships and Galleys The Situation of Genoa is upon the Sea-shore part in Plains part in Hills The City is full five Miles round and has Fortifications which are yet much greater in circuit for which reason it is the greatest the most trading and the most important of all Italy towards the West The Buildings and Structures of this Town are so magnificent and so beautiful that it is called the Stately tho' very much endamag'd by the late Batteries of the French One of the principal Revenues of its Inhabitants consists in the transportation of Silk-stuffs Parma the Capital of Parmezan is the common abode of the Duke of that Name of the House of the Farnezes a Feudatory of the Church It has a Cittadel whereon Money has not been sparing for the rendring it good and a fair Palace for its Princes dwelling Modena is the Capital of the Dutchy of the same Name fortified with Bulwarks after the ancient manner inhabited by above thirty five thousand Souls In Modena it was that Brutus was in vain besieged by Mark Anthony after the Murder of Julius Caesar Octavius having happily defeated the Army of him who would by this Siege have renewed the Civil Wars Mantua is seated in the Waters of a Lake of twenty Miles in circuit which only affords entrance by Causeys into the Town Its Mills do raise a good Revenue to this Duke the Jews who are there very numerous pay him a great Tribute The Ducal Palace is one of the finest and best furnish'd in all Italy The Demesn of Venice has so many Rivers Canals and Navigable Lakes that Merchandizes are easily conveyed into all its places The Republick is independent above twelve hundred Years standing the Bulwark of Christendom against the Turks The City of Venice is one of the greatest of Europe so populous that there are reckoned above three hundred thousand persons Those who have seen it may boast of having seen one of the Wonders of the World It s Arcenal is the finest the greatest and the best furnished upon Earth The Isles whereof the City is composed are separated from one another by Chanels wherein there be above fifteen thousand Boats which they call Gondoles The Church and Palace of St. Mark are very fine Structures the Treasury of St. Mark contains immense Riches The Bishoprick of Trent which belongs to its Bishop is under the Protection of the House of Austria The City of Trent is ancient inhabited both by Italians and Germans renowned for-holding the last General Council The state of the Church is look'd upon as so much the more considerable in that the Pope who is the Temporal and Spiritual Prince of it pretends to be the Chief and Soveraign Pontife of all Christendom the Patriarch of Rome and of the West Primate and Exarch of Italy Metropolitan of the Suffragan Bishops of Rome Bishop of St. John de Lateran Rome formerly the Capital of the finest greatest and most considerable Empire of the Universe was once the Mistress of the better part of the World famous for excellent Men who have surpassed others in Valour in Piety in Justice and Temperance It has had in its beginning Kings Consuls and Emperours the Papists call it Rome the Holy by reason of the Residence of the Popes We may say it has few Equals if we consider its Antiquities Churches Palaces and Curiosities Tuscany has three principal Cities Florence Siena Pisa formerly as many Republicks Florence the Capital of this State renowned upon the account of its Beauty is large and very populous The Palace of the Great Duke has fine Pictures Jewels of great value several Rarities Lucca fortified with eleven regular Bastions is famous for its Silks and Olives The Head of this Republick is a Gonfalonier or Chief-Standard-Bearer whose Charge lasts but two Months The Kingdom of Naples is the greatest State of Italy it belongs to the King of Spain who pays for it every Year a white Hobbey to the Pope with seven thousand Ducats The Spring is there so long and so full of Flowers the Autumn so loaded with Fruits that it is esteemed a Paradise The City of Naples is the abode of several Gentlemen which makes it be called the Gentile It is situated so advantagiously that it seems an abridgment of all the Beauties of Italy There are few Cities in Europe who have so many Churches and so many Cittadels as has Naples Germany GErmany has very fertile Provinces and a great number of fine Cities The Corn Fruits Salt and other Commodities afford a very considerable
Revenue It is now an Elective Empire wherein is a vast number of Sovereign States of which the Emperour is the chief The Laws of this Empire do allow of three Religions the Roman Catholick the Lutheran and Evangelical and the Calvinist or Reformed Nevertheless there be several other Sects tho' the Germans do almost all follow the belief of their Princes Germany has this advantage that it is in the midst of Europe and serves for the Seat of the Empire the Emperor governs it by the means of Diets which are much like Parliaments The principal Articles of the Government are contained in the Golden Bull which treats of the Election of the King of the Romans of the Duty of Electors of their Priviledges of the Authority of the Emperor of the means of preserving the Repose and Peace in the Empire This Bull is a small Book whose Original written in Parchment contains four and twenty Leaves and thirty Chapters It has a great round Seal of pure Gold fasten'd to strings of yellow and red Silk It has on the one side the Portrait of Charles the Fourth on the other a Castle with two Towers with these Words Aurea Roma The Election of the Emperor ought to be made at Francfort upon the Mein but this was not observed in the late Elections Besides the Assemblies which concern the Affairs of the Empire in general there be three sorts of 'em those of the Electors for the chusing of the Emperor those of the Deputies whereto the Emperor sends his Commissioner those of the Circles like to the Assemblies of the States of our great Provinces There be ten Circles in the Empire those of Austria of Bavaria of Suabia of Alsatia or of the High Rhine the Electoral or of the Low Rhine of Westphalia of High Saxony of Low Saxony of Franconia of Burgundy this last is no longer Convened Each Circle has an Ecclesiastick and a Secular Director who preside together in the Assemblies two or three Circles may assemble when one of 'em is attacked from abroad or disturbed with intestine troubles The Empire is much the same with that of the Romans tho' it does not comprehend so great an extent of Land the Princes or States whereof it is composed are of five forts the Emperor now of the House of Austria the Electors the Ecclesiastick Princes the Secular Princes and the Free Towns In the General Dyets there be three Bodies that of the Electors that of the Princes that of the Imperial Cities There are reckoned to be above three hundred Sovereignties in Germany who acknowledge the Emperor no farther than homage and in Resort The Dominions of the House of Austria be of three sorts those of Austria which are Hereditary to it those of Bohemia where it has the same Right those of Hungary which it has by Election The Emperor does commonly obtain either his Son or his Brother or his nearest Relation to be chosen King of Hungary in his Life-time afterwards has him Crowned King of Bohemia and if he finds any disposition has him Elected King of the Romans that is to say his perpetual Vicar and presumptive Successor to the Empire Without the Revenue of his Hereditary Countries the Emperor would not have wherewith to maintain a very considerable Train he does not possess any Land under the Title of Imperial Majesty His Principal Rights are the Erection and Investiture of Fiefs the granting of Priviledges the Right of Legitimation He may make Laws give Safe-Guards establish Posts make Parliaments compose Universities erect Burroughs into Cities create Offices puts Towns into the Ban of the Empire In short he may make Kings Dukes Marquesses and has the Superiority over all the Princes of the Empire who upon this account pay him a great respect The Electors are to the number of eight the Arch-Bishop of Mayence the Arch-Bishop of Treves the Arch-Bishop of Cologne the King of Bohemia the Duke of Bavaria the Duke of Saxony the Marquess of Brandenbourg the Prince Palatine These Electors Chuse and Crown the Emperor the Pope confirms this Election and Coronation Four Voices are sufficient to raise any one to the Imperial Dignity and at present the King of Bohemia has only his Session in the Election The Secular Electors may nominate themselves The Lands or their Electorates cannot be dismembred In the House of Saxony the Electorate is for the eldest alone who shares the other Seigniories with his Brothers The Elector of Brandenboug is the most Potent and possesses the most Land of all those Princes his States are above two hundred German Leagues in length for the most part separated from one another yet a Courier may go from one end to another and always lye upon this Electors Land The Ecclesiastick Princes are of several sorts the Arch-Bishop of Salzbourg the Grand Master of the Teutonick Order several Bishops and other great Prelates Abbots Abbesses who have no Voice but in Body These Princes are almost all absolute over the Temporality of their Benefices and Christendom has no Prelates so Potent as they are The Election of most of their Dignities belongs to the Chapters without the Popes or Emperors being to concern themselves therein As Germany is divided for Religion there remain some Lutheran Bishops who have the Title of Bishops until that they have Contracted Marriage and when they are Married they are called Administrators Among the secular Princes are the Arch-Duke of Austria the Princes of the Electoral Houses some Dukes Marquesses and Land-Graves There be also Counts and Barons who differ little but in Name and who have immediate Dependency on the Empire They have Session in Body which has four Voices in the States of the Empire they have each their own in their particular Assemblies several amongst them Coin Monies Nobles there be in Suevia or Schwaben in Franconia in the Land of the Rhine who are absolute over their Lands as the greatest Lords of the Empire are over theirs Several Principalities of Germany are often possess'd by one sole Prince and sometimes one Principality alone belongs there to several The youngest Brothers have almost the same Titles with the eldest The Free Towns which are as many small Republicks be principally of two sorts Imperial and Anseatick The Imperial have the Eagle of the Empire in their Arms either whole or divided have Right to send to the Diet where their Body has two Voices they are considered upon the Bank of Suevia and upon the Bank of the Rhine Thus are they divided by reason of the Benches where the Deputies of those Cities have their Seats The Deputy of the City of Cologne holds the first Rank of the Bench of the Rhine that of Ratisbon has the first place of that of Suevia Some have Noble Families by which they are Governed others have a Popular Government The Hans-Towns are Confederated together for the mutually succouring one another upon occasion against their Enemies for maintaining the Liberty of the Commerce for
the 2d Emperour of the Turks Pella was the Birth-place of that ancient Conquerour Edissa the abode of King Philip his Father who was there assassinated Philippi is famous for the defeat of Cassius and Brutus Monte-Santo otherwise Athos for the great number of its Caloyers religious Greeks who chose it for the Place of their abiding by reason of the goodness of the Air. Its shadow reaches to the Isle of Lemnos which is seen from Mount Ida in Asia Xerxes had the satisfaction to make it his Island Stesicrates a Sculpturean proposed to Alexander the Great to make of it a very extraordianry Statue with one hand it should have poured a great River into the Sea with the other it should have held a considerable City Thessalonica or Saloniki has had Kings of its own Albania is renowned for its good Cavalry where Valone is accompanyed with good harbour from whence the passage is easie into Italy Pyrrhus King of Epirus had a thought of making a Bridge of Boats from that Coast to Otranto in Italy During the War against the Pyrates Terentius Varro Pompeys Lievtenant had the same design Durazzo is noted for the encampments of Gaesar and of Pompey Groye for being the brave Scanderbegs Native Place that Flail of the Ottoman Empire whose Armies he defeated in two and twenty set Battails Scutari was a long while besieged by the Forces of Mahomet the 2d who shot therein so many Arrows that they furnished the Garrison with Wood sufficient to warm themselves with all the Winter Epirus has had the Title of a Kingdom Prevesa was the best Town it was formerly Nicopolis built by order of Augustus in memory of the Naval Victory which he gained over Marc-Antony and Cleopatra near Actium Larta is the ancient Ambracia which served for Residence to King Pyrrhus Near that place dwells the Acarnanes the best Slingers of Greece the only People which did not assist the Greeks in their Trojan War The Epirots were the first People of Greece who made War upon the Romans and who made use of Elephants against them unknown before to Italy Thessalia has had several Tyrants amongst others Jason of Pheres There be the Cities of Larisse the Native place of Achilles where Mahomet the 4th for some time made his Abode during the last War of Candia Armira Volo with their Sea Ports Tricca the Episcopal Title of Heliodorus who chose rather to lose his Bishoprirk thandisown his Romance of Theagenes and Chariclea Achaia has two Cities Setines and Stives the former was the most flourishing Republick of the World the Abridgment of all Greece the other as we have said has dared to aspire to the general Dominion of the Countrey Sparta is famous for the signal Victory of the Christians over the Turks in the year 1671. In that engagement a hundred and eighty nine Turkish Galleys were lost five and twenty thousand Turks killed four thousand made Prisoners twelve thousand Christians freed This City is in the Countrey of the ancient Aetolians who despised the orders of Alexander the Great during his greatest Conquests Negrepont formerly Euboae is only seperated from Achaia by a Strait called otherwise Euripe This Euripe has given a good deal of Exercise to Philosophers who have sought out the cause of its ebbing and flowing those who seem to have examined it best say that it is regular towards the days of the New and Full Moon that is to say in twenty four or twenty five hours it has twice its ebbing and flowing as the Ocean and that it is irregular towards the dayes of the first and last quarter of the Moon that is to say that in twenty four or in twenty five hours it has 11 12 13 or 14 times Floud and as often an Ebb. The Peloponesus the most renowned Peninsula in the World is joyned to the rest of Greece by a Neck of Land of about six thousand paces in breadth which several Kings and Emperors have in vain endeavored to dig through It was a saying fodere Isthmum when they meant to express nenterprize which had no probability of being effected The Christians who called it Morea upon the account of its Mulberries have made there retrenchments in divers times against the Turks who won them under Amurath the 2d and under Mahomet the 2d The midst of that Peninsula was formerly inhabited by the Arcadians who had in their Countrey the finest Asses in the World and who neglected to learn Astrology when the other Greeks received it because they esteemed themselves more ancient than the Moon Patras where St. Andrew was put upon the Cross is one of its best Towns Modon the abode of the Sangiacbey or Governour of the Province Maina gives its Name to a Petty Countrey which has no longer the Liberty it a long time maintained against the Turks by favour of the Sea and the sharpness and steepness of the Mountains Napoli of Romania and Malvasia are peopled on the score of their Sea-Ports where a great Trade is droven Corinth now ruined was formerly named the Rich the conveniency of its Scituation made it be called the Market of Greece Its Inhabitants invented the Greek Galleys after that it was burnt by the Romans there came a mixture of its melted Mettals which has retained the Name of Corinthian Brass Philip King of Macedon esteemed three places in Greece for strength the Castle of Corinth Demetrias and Calcis The Castle of Corinth named the Acrocorinth and Ithoma near Messena by reason of their Scituations were called the two Horns of the Peloponesus Mesitra is the ancient Sparta otherwise called Lacedemon whose power was particularly upon Land whereas that of Athens was upon the Sea It s most Noble Citizens were called Spartiates the others Lacedemonians perhaps with the same difference that is put between the Castillans and the Spaniards The Government of this State consisted in few persons they observed there a stile in speaking and writing which expressed much in few Words Olympies was noted for the Temple and Oracle and Statue of Jupiter the Olympian one of the seven Wonders of the World for the Olympyads which were reckoned from four to four years after the celebration of the Olimpick Games The Ceremonies where of were kept until the Countrey was subdued by the Romans Sicion had its Kings almost as soon as the Assyrians The Ancients did affirm that the River Alpheus which passes in the Peloponesus went under the Sea to the Fountain Arethusa in Sicily Besides the Dominions of the Grand Seignior which we have mentioned in Africa in Asia and Europe His Highness possesses Suaquem upon the Red Sea Teflis in Georgia Asoph at the Mouth of the Dom. Themon and Temroch near the Palus Maeotides on the side of Asia Arabia Petrea part of desart Arabia The Kingdoms of Zibit and Ziden in Arabiafoelix with the Towns of Dolfar and El-catif In Europe Bessarabia Ocziacou Dassain towards the Mouths of the Nieper Gaffa and other places