these Countreys onely give Animation and comfortable Enjoyment to all Living Creatures Moreover St. Austin in some places seems to clear his own Doubts saying That People if they could find a means to Sail those Vast and Undiscover'd Seas might make Land raising new Stars under another Sky How beasts came on remote Islands A Learned Father searching after the Original of all sorts of Beasts which multiply by Generation concludes That they must derive themselves from those that were sav'd with Noah in the Ark. But how came they to the Isles To those adjacent and near the Main Land they might easily Swim to the remoter they were Transported And chiefly the wild But this Doubt is not altogether clear'd for the Domestick and other Creatures fit for Humane use and Sustenance were thus brought thither Yet how comes it to pass that Voracious and Wild Creatures are also found there such as Wolves Tigers Lions and other Beasts of Prey This puzzle putting St. Austin to a stand he had no other means to get off but by saying that by God's Commands or Permission the Angels convey'd them thither If so why might not God please to Plant Men there in like manner and the rather the Earth being created for Humane use Austin is contradicted But what needed this when Men can in Ships Transport themselves either of their own accord for curious Inquest to find new Countreys or else enforc'd by stress of Weather to far remoter and altogether unknown Lands How men came to new Countreys Besides though the Earth is here and there divided by large Bays and vast Seas yet nevertheless in other places it is all continu'd Land or at least parted by some narrow In-let or Sea so that there was no difficulty for a crouded Plantation to go over and so ease themselves in another Countrey till then not Inhabited therefore none need to question but that from Adam or nearer from Noah's three Sons Sem Ham and Japhet those as well as we were extracted that Inhabit this our other World Reasons why America was so long unknown But one question is to be observ'd How first after the expiration of so many Ages in these our later times a New-World was discover'd altogether unknown to the Antients when they in the greatness of their Parts and Undertaking Prowess and Prudence were no ways inferior to the Modern and every way as fit for great Designs and grand Exploits Who first sail'd on the Ocean We need not scruple or make the least doubt but the Sea hath been Navigated of old but the first attempters set forth unexperienc'd Several opinions of the Antients concerning it in as pittiful and ill-contriv'd Vessels The Heathens ascribe the Art of Navigation first to the Cretans who under the Conduct of Neptune set forth a Navy to explore Foraign Countries But Pliny long before gives the Invention of this Art to Erythra King of Egypt who upon Pieces of Timber conjoyn'd and brac'd together crept along the Shores and ventur'd to Discover the Isles in the Red-Sea But others give that honor to the Trojans and Micians when with a Fleet by Sea they Invaded Thrace Others Brittains amongst the first Inventors of Navigation to the Brittains who made little Vessels of Leather and were the first that by this Invention found how to Float upon the Waters Some plead that the Samothracians were first Others that Danaeus before all found a way by Sea from Egypt to Greece But without all Contradiction Noah's Ark was the Pattern or Sample that succeeding Ages imitating built their Ships by and the more probable because his Offspring multiplying so fast that they were enforc'd to inlarge their Colonies by passing Seas and other broad Rivers to settle their Super-numeraries there The first Inventers of several things belonging to Shipping So Jason Invented a Ship which he call'd Argos which Sesostris King of Egypt took as his Pattern Next the Biremis a Galley with double Banks of Oar was made by the Erythreans with treble Banks by the Corinthian Amocles the addition of the Quadruple the Carthaginians boast of the Quinqueremis Nesichthon Alexander the Great brought them to twelve Banks Ptolomy Soter to fifteen Demetrius Antigonus Son doubled them to thirty Ptolomy Philadelphus to forty and last of all Philopater rais'd them to fifty Banks of Oars Hippus a Tirian was the first that set Ships upon the Stocks the Rhodians a Ketch and the Batavians a Boat the Copes made the first Oar Dedalus the Mast and Boltsprit Piscus the Beak the Tyrrheans the Anchor Tiphys the Rudder taking example from the motion of a Kites Stern Icarus found Sails fancy'd by the Poets for Wings though some ascribe that honor to his Father Dedalus Why in former Ages no remote Countreys were discover'd Minos was the first that Ingag'd in a Sea-Fight whereby we may easily conjecture that of old none adventur'd far into the Offin or to remote Countreys not daring to trust their so sleight contriv'd Vessels But these later times have strangely and suddenly improv'd this growing Art of Navigation yet pitch'd not to that height at first as boldly to adventure and loose sight of Land The manner of the Antients Sailing The Tyrians first understood how to Steer their Course by the North-Star and when dark and foul Weather had Clouded the Sky that they could neither see Heaven or Earth but onely Sea they directed their Course by the Wind and if they doubted the change thereof they let some Birds flie whom they follow'd supposing that they flood directly to the nearest Land But these are but poor helps and blind Guides to shew you Land from the middle of the boundless Ocean It is certain Of the Romans that the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus stretch'd the Bounds of that Empire Eastward to Euphrates Why America was so lately known the Rhyne and the Danube and Westward to the Ocean and Mount Atlas Sailing up and down the Mediterranean with great Fleets which stoutly endur'd the violence both of Waves and Weather but all this made them not so hardy as once to think or look after new Worlds But after the Roman power decreas'd by several Eruptions of the Goths Vandals Huns Normans Lumbards and other Northern Countreys which swarm'd with People that overflow'd all places like a Deluge so that Europe was every where puzzel'd and Imbroyl'd their whole business consisting in conjoyning Forces to withstand such bold Invaders and so vexatious an Enemy And farther East Asia was at the same time little better still trembling at the daily Alarms and Incursions of the Scythians Persians and Saracens and afterwards the Turks growing upon them more than any of the former expected no other than a sad Gatastrophe so that the known World had too much work cut out for them by these Distractions and Alterations of Government then to go in Quest of uncertainties to find they
generally computed to be from the utmost South of Terra Magellanica to the farthest North of Estotiland about six thousand English Miles reaching from about sixty Degrees of Northern to fifty three of Southern Latitude the breadth from St. Michael or Piura Westward to Parabaya a Town on the Coast of Brasile Eastward three thousand nine hundred Miles and the whole compass thirty thousand SECT II. Estotiland THat the English have been very great Undertakers of Voyages and Discoveries towards the North-West appears by the Denomination of divers Places both from the Persons which have Sail'd thitherward and also from such of our own Countrey Names as were thought fit to be there fix'd as beyond the Arctick Circle are Sir James Lancaster's Sound Sir Dudley Diggs's Cape Queen Annes Foreland Cumberland Isles Davis 's Straight c. on this side toward the Arctick Circle Button's and Brigg's Bay Hudson's Sea otherwise term'd Mare Christianum out of which more Westerly runs a narrow Sea call'd Hudson's Straight beyond Hudson's Sea towards the Arctick Circle is a place call'd New North-Wales and on this side answerable to it between Button's Bay and the Christian Sea lies New South-Wales all which places we find generally set down in the American Hemisphere but in the Geographical Discourses thereof little is said of them if so much as nam'd The farthest part of Land Northward between Hudson's Gulph and Hudson's Straight betwixt fifty seven and sixty Degrees of Northern Latitude goes generally by the Name of Estotiland I mean that properly so call'd for Estotiland is by some as largely taken as Canada by Cluverius Golnitzius Peter du Val and others namely for all that Tract of Land extending from that supposed Straight of Ansan which divides America from Asiatick Tartary as far as the utmost point of Land that shoots toward the Atlantick Ocean which Southerly towards Terra Laboratoris is bounded with a River vulgarly call'd Rio Nevado or The Snowy River Estotiland seems to have deriv'd its Name from its lying more Easterly than the rest of the Provinces and according as Nova Britannia is plac'd in some Charts might very well be taken for the same though it hath not been so term'd by any Author but rather Terra Laboratoris Cortereatis and Nova Britannia are generally receiv'd to be all one First discovery of Estotiland This Province is affirm'd by Matthias Quadus and J. Antonius Maginus to have been the first discover'd Countrey of the new World and that by Antonius Zeno a Patrician of Venice in the Year of our Lord 1390. which was long before the Expedition of Columbus through the encouragement of Zichmus King of the Isle of Friezland but by whomsoever found out or at whatsoever time it is commonly affirm'd to be not ill furnish'd with Provisions of all sorts as Beasts Birds Fish Fowl and Fruits having a Soil indifferent fertile in respect of the coldness of the Climate The Nature of the People The People in general for some there are that live wild and salvage up and down the Woods and go naked whereas the Clothing of the Countrey is the Skins of Beasts and of Sea-Calves call'd Morses are reported not onely tolerably civil but also ingenious and expert both in mechanick Arts and other necessary Faculties insomuch that the first Voyagers to this place are said to have observ'd of them upon this first Discovery That they sow'd Corn brew'd Beer and Ale and Traded by Sea to Greenland Friezland and other places to the distance of fifteen hundred Miles and that they were not altogether void of the use of Letters but that their Character was onely proper to themselves and not intelligible by any other Nation Moreover there is a certain Tradition that there was here and there some little knowledge of the Latine Tongue amongst them and that there were found divers Latine Books in a Library of one of their Kings the reason of which if true is conjectur'd to be from certain Europeans who understood that Language having in Ages past suffer'd shipwrack upon those Coasts where chancing to abide either through constraint or choice they might haply at their Decease leave behind them some Books and other Monuments of the Latine Tongue They were observ'd to use such a kind of Javelin or short Dart as was known to be us'd by the People of Java and some other Islands of the East-Indies whereupon it seems not wholly improbable that they might for a long time have entertain'd Traffick and Correspondence with them Description of the Morses The Morses or Sea-Calves before mention'd are about the bigness of a young Heifer the Hunting of which by the Natives who take them in great numbers is to them in the stead of Whale-fishing which is not there so good for they draw a great quantity of Train-Oyl out of them On each side of the Jaw of this amphibious Creature for it is said to live very much on the Land as well as in the Water there sticks out a crooked Tusk winding downward like an Elephants Proboscis above a Cubit in length and as white and hard as Ivory It is esteem'd of great venue at least it passes for such among those who take it for other than what it is for it is frequently vended for Unicorns-horn of which imposture Dr. Brown takes notice and gives a Caution against in his Vulgar Errors This Countrey is suppos'd and that probably enough to have store of Brass and Iron Mines but for the Mines of Gold and Silver which some have imagin'd there the Northerly Situation of the Countrey and by consequence the coldness of the Climate give sufficient cause to question the truth of any such assertion What chief Towns Cities Rivers and Mountains there are in this Province is not yet deliver'd by any onely Maginus and Quadus make mention of four principal Rivers which disperse themselves through the Countrey and take their source out of a great Mountain in the midst thereof SECT III. Terra Laboratoris TErra Laboratoris Situation by some call'd Nova Britannia by others Corterealis though there are some who make Laboratoris and Corterealis two distinct Countreys comprehended according to Peter du Val under Nova Britannia as the more general Province or according to Cluverius under Canada lies from about fifty four to fifty seven Degrees of Northern Latitude between Estotiland and the River Canada which Maginus and some others though for what reason is not express'd name Fretum trium Fratrum The Bay of the three Brethren others The River of St. Laurence and is according to the said Author of so vast a bigness that the Mouth of it extends it self thirty five Italian Miles wide likewise of such a length as to have been navigated a continu'd Voyage of eight hundred Miles The denomination of Terra de Laborador or Laboratoris seems probably enough conjectur'd to be from the cultivability if one may so term it of the Soil or its
largest In this Province is the Rio de lo Spirito Santo The Soyl though it produces Indian Wheat twice a year yet it is never Dung'd but when the Corn which is planted in March and June is in they burn the Weeds the Ashes of which serves them in stead of Soil The King divides the Corn according to every Mans Family In the Winter they dwell four Moneths in the Woods where they build small Huts of Palm-boughs feed on Venison smoak'd Fish and Crocodiles which have pure white Flesh and are caught after this manner Their manner of taking Crocodiles On the Shore of the Rivers they build little Houses full of round Holes in which they place a Watch who is to give notice to ten or twelve Associates cover'd all over with Boughs full of little sharp Prickles which they thrust into the Crocodiles Throat who with open Mouth comes running at them and so throwing him on his Back stick his Belly full of Arrows and kill him with Clubs But with more subtilty and art they take their Deer As also their Deer viz. They hide themselves unde a Stags Skin so cunningly that it seems as if living which they place near the Rivers where the Deer generally come to drink when on a sudden they shoot them Floridans though libidinous yet live long Their Priests serve in stead of Chirurgeons wherefore they always carry a Bag full of Herbs about with them which are chiefly good against venereal Distempers for these People are exceeding libidinous nay Sodomy and defiling of young Children is accounted no sin Yet though they are much inclin'd to Women they attain to a great Age. Rene Laudoniere Landing not far from the City Augustine situate on the Banks of the River May met with the Floridan Governor Saturiona who conducted him to the French King's Court of Arms erected two years before which Saturiona as a testimony of his zeal to the French had Crown'd with Laurel and Flowers Saturiona had with him also his Son Atoreus who had begotten divers Children on his Mother whom his Father after that time no more acknowledging resign'd her up wholly to him At which time also his great Grandfather being then living was above a hundred and fifty years old and saw his Childrens Children to the fifth Generation The Religion in Florida is abominable wicked and cruel Their horrid Religion When they return Conquerors from a Battel the old Women take off the dry'd Hair from the fore-mention'd Poles hold it aloft and thank the Sun for their Victory But the Offerings of their first-born Sons are terrible for they knock out their Brains with a Club in the presence of the King Their annual worshipping of the Sun is also very ridiculous for filling the Skin of a Stag full of sweet-smelling Herbs they hang the Horns and Neck with Garlands and carry it with the noise of their kind of Vocal and Instrumental Musick to a high Trunk or hollow Body of a Tree on which they place the stuff'd Stag with his Head towards the Sun which done they falling down desire that he would please to afford them plenty of all such Fruit as they Offer to him after which taking their leave they let the fore-mention'd Skin remain there till the following Year The Spaniards since their Defeat in the Fort Carolina and their Engagement with Sir Francis Drake Anno 1585. have had little disturbance on Florida Drake's Exploit on Florida Drake having burnt and plunder'd Domingo and Carthagena steer'd along the Coast of Florida and discover'd a Beacon on the same whereupon he sent out Spies who sail'd a League up a River on whose Banks they saw a Fort and somewhat higher the Town Augustine built full of woodden Houses all which being related to him he steer'd thither fir'd his Guns twice against the Fort St. John which the Spaniards answering onely with one Volley fled with their Commander Peter Menendez when the English prepar'd to Storm a Prisoner being a French-man came in a Boat from them to Drake and inform'd him that the Spaniards had left the City Augustine and Fort St. John to which Drake going found there Pallisado's of pleited Boughs cover'd with Earth and a Chest with two thousand Pound for the payment of the Soldiers and fourteen Brass Guns with which he set Sail from thence The Mountains of this Countrey are onely the Apalatei suppos'd by the Natives to have rich Mines of Gold in them and which the Spaniards saw but had not time nor other accommodation to stay and search them by reason they were so much wearied and wasted with a long March before they gat thither and found the People so stout and obstinate thereabouts that in stead of entertaining them with their Hens and Fowl as other places had done they were welcom'd with Blows and made to return leaving not a few of their best Soldiers behind Rivers there are many and those very large and commodious as 1â— Rio Secco or The Dry River so call'd by the Spaniards as some think because they could find no Gold in it 2. Rio Grande or The Great River 3. Ligeris 4. Garunna 5. Sequana c. These last so nam'd by the French who after the Spaniards for some time had but never held any long possession of the Countrey There are also Rio de Flores Rio de Nieves and Rio de Spirito Santo lesser Streams yet all of them with the rest falling at several places into the great Lake of Mexico and some of them not a little haunted by the Caymans or West-Indian Crocodiles a Creature as hath been said before dangerous both at Sea and Land The Natives who as yet hold Possession and Command of it for the most part are themselves generally sorted into certain Tribes or great Families all which are Govern'd severally by Chiefs of their own whom they call Paracoussi and by reason thereof are almost continually in Feud and War one with another The Towns and Places most known in this Province are 1. St. Helens seated on or near unto a Promontory of the same Name where this Countrey bordereth on Virginia 2. Fort Charles or Arx Carolina built and so nam'd by the French King but afterwards ruin'd by the Spaniards 3. Port Royal a well frequented Haven at the Mouth of a River which beareth the same Name More within Land there is 1. Apalache an old Town of the Natives formerly a Place of great resort but now a poor thing of about forty or fifty Cottages and yet as poor as it is Pamphilius Narvaez as before related when he search'd the Countrey found the Natives not willing to part with it for though he took it from them it was not without some resistance and they quickly recover'd it again and at the 2. nam'd Aute another old Town of theirs nine days March from the other they overtook him and fell so resolutely upon him that he left not a few of his best Soldiers dead
who was taken there in the Year 1665. which will give light to the knowledge of the present State not onely of Cuba but of some other parts of America belonging to the Spaniards which is as followeth Maj. Smith's Letter concerning Cuba and other Parts CUba is a very good Island and in it is generally the best Land for so large a Countrey as I have seen in America although I have travell'd the main Continent in several places and have cross'd from the North Sea to the South Sea as also the North side of Hispaniola and most parts of Jamaica Novissima et Accuratissima JAMAICAE DESCRIPTIO per JOHANNEM OGIâ—UIUM Cosmographum Regum I have seen other parts of the West-Indies where the Spaniards might be fleec'd of considerable quantities of Riches as at Panama where their Silver Bars lie pyl'd up in Heaps in the open Streets Day and Night without Guard for five or six Moneths together waiting the arrival of the Armado which when arriv'd in Puerto Bello they Transport it thither with so slender a Guard for so great a Treasure as would be an easie Prey to a thousand resolv'd Men although of extraordinary value for so small a Charge but here is no resting nor long remaining they being so numerous as in all other places of the main Land though of great Wealth and easily gotten with a Catch and away But to my purpose This Island of Cuba hath adjacent to it great Conveniences of Salt and Fishing and in it are very great plenty of Horses Neat Sheep and Hogs both wild and tame of a far larger and better breed than any other parts of America It hath also many very rich Mines of Copper already open and is the onely Place that supplies all the West-Indies with Metal for the infinite number of Ordnance they have in all their Ports and Castles both in the North and South Seas but whether it hath any Mines of Silver or Gold I know not but if there were any such they would not adventure their opening and discovery fearing the Invasion of that Island whereunto is so easie access by Sea and of so great import to their whole Interest in America for which reason also they refuse to work any Mines in Florida that are nigh the North Sea although they have there very many but do rather employ themselves about others farther up in the Countrey although with greater Labor and Cost for conveyance of the Product by Land to Mexico And lastly for its full praise this Island hath many very good Ports and Harbors of great advantage to Ships for safe passing the Gulf and should the Spaniards keep three or four Frigats always plying between the Western end of Cuba and that of Havana off and on it were impossible for any Ships of ours that came from Jamaica to escape them the Scales turn'd would be their Case to all America Neither wants it great Sugar-works which have Water-mills and Horse-mills and very many large Cocoa Walks the most and best Tobacco and in short it produceth all other Commodities that any of our American Islands have knowledge of CHAP. XVI Jamaica Situation and Extent of Jamaica THe Island of Jamaica lieth North from the Southern Continent of America in the Sea call'd Mare del Nort and South from the Isle of Cuba about twelve Leagues and West from Hispaniola twenty in eighteen Degrees of Northern Latitude and beareth from Rio de Hacha North-West a hundred and fifty Leagues from Santa Martha North North-West a hundred and thirty five from Rio Grande North-West a hundred and thirty from Carthagena North fourteen from Porto Bello North-East and by North a hundred and ninety from the Bay of Darien North and by East a hundred and seventy from the Bay of Mexico a hundred and fifty It is of Form something nearly resembling oval being in length from East to West about fifty four Leagues or a hundred and seventy Miles from North to South in the broadest and middlemost part about three and twenty Leagues or seventy Miles over and so groweth narrower and narrower towards each Extream in circumference about one hundred and fifty Leagues or four hundred and fifty English Miles Nature of the Countrey This Island is well water'd with Springs and Rivers and is all over especially in the Western parts full of high Hills and Mountains It is also well Wooded for the North and South parts chiefly abound with tall and large Woods Nor are there wanting every where Savanas or Pastures which are thought to have been Fields of Indian Maiz till the Spaniards arriving here brought in Horses Cows Hogs and Asinego 's to feed Temperature of the Air. The Air in this Place is more temperate and the Heat more tolerable than in any of the rest of the Barloventi by reason of the cool Breezes which constantly blow from the East and the frequency of Showers of Rain and refreshing Dews which fall in the Night This is also the onely Island of the Barloventi which is not subject to violent Storms and Hurricanes and the Diseases which are predominant here are onely bred by Intemperance as Surfets Feavers and Agues or occasion'd by ill Diet or Slothfulness Commodities of the Island The Commodities of this Island are very many and first for Vegetables the Sugars are so good that they now out-sell those of Barbado's 5 s. per Cent. Cocoa of which there are many large Walks and greater plenty by improvement may easily be produc'd Tobacco so good that the Merchants give Six pence a Pound for it and buy it faster than the Planters can make it Indigo is producible in great abundance if there were Hands sufficient employ'd about it The Cotton of this Place is accounted very firm and substantial and preferr'd before any that grows in the neighboring Islands Of Tortoise-shell there is also good store by reason that much of that sort of Tortoise is taken on this Coast Here are also great variety of Dye-woods as Brasiletto Fustwick Red-wood a kind of Log-wood and several others besides divers of those that are accounted the most curious and rich sorts of Woods as Cedar Mohogeney Lignum-vitae Ebony Granadilla and others which are frequently Exported Moreover there are very probable testimonies that there are Mines of Copper here since both there have been those who affirm to have seen the Oar wrought out of one of them and the Spaniards report the Bells that hang in the great Church to have been Cast out of this Island Copper As for Silver the English are said to have been shew'd a Silver-Mine behind the Mountains West of Cagway Ambergreece the Spaniards report to have been often found on this Coast Salt might be made here in great abundance there being three good Salt-pans and Salt-petre hath been found in many Parts Ginger is reported to grow better here than in most of the Caribbee Islands and Cod-pepper very plentifully and also a certain kind of
Admiral Vice-Admiral Gallion Teresia and several other Gallions sunk with at least two thousand Men a great number of Persons of Quality and amongst the rest the Marquess Salinas who was most treacherously slain by thirty Persons The Marquess Salinas murther'd for his Jewels who made themselves Masters of a Sloop into which he went for fafety out of the sinking Admiral Juseppe That which instigated them to this horrid Act was the sight of a small Trunk of Jewels which he carry'd into the Sloop Not long after falling out amongst themselves about dividing the Spoil several of them were discover'd apprehended and put to death This Fleet weighed Anchor the day after their Admiral Miguel de Echacareta was buried who dy'd so suddenly that he could make no Will. A few days after the departure of the Fleet a hundred and seventy Houses were burnt at Juan de Lua It appears that the Spaniards out of fear of the Netherlanders set Sail on the tenth of October notwithstanding it was at an inconvenient time because about that Season the Hurricanes rage most terribly in the Bay of Vera Crux By a Letter from the Treasurer Franciscus Suarez it appears that the two Regiments in the City St. Salvador the one Commanded by Christopher Mexia Bocanegra consisting of nine Companies each of sixty Men and the other Commanded by Vasco de Mascarennas consisting of thirteen Companies cost the King of Spain yearly 21515 l. to maintain them Walbeck's Exploits The Netherland Council at Reciffa no way discourag'd by their successless Attempts made the last Year on Rio Grande sent thirteen Companies of Soldiers aboard of seventeen Vessels to build a Fort at the River Formosa where the Portuguese being too weak to resist them set fire on a Store-house with three hundred Chests of Sugar and fled Walbeck was Commander in Chief in this Design who Landing on Formosa found no fit place to build a Fort in because the Shore not being above a Musquet-shot broad was inclos'd with Woods behind which lay high Mountains that Commanded the Shore therefore marching to Serinhain he burnt several Houses and a new Sugar-Mill near which in a Store-house he took twelve hundred Chests of Sugar which for want of Carts he could not carry to his Ships Also before Porto Calvo he burnt a Carvel and took a great number of Cattel on Camarigibi and return'd without any farther Exploits to Reciffa where the Cruisers had brought in several Prizes during his absence The Council resolving not to sit idle set out another Fleet of eighteen Ships under the Command of Martin Thyszoon with a Regiment of fourteen Companies under Stein Callenfels The Expedition of Martin Thyszoon and Stein Callenfels This Fleet approaching Cape Augustin they found a ridge of Rocks along the Shore against which the Sea beat with great vehemency at length they came before a small Inlet at whose Mouth lay a small Fort from which the Enemy fir'd upon the Mann'd Boats which Row'd by the same at some distance they discern'd two Breastworks one rais'd above the other near the Shore on which when the Hollanders thought to Land three hundred Portuguses fir'd at once upon them and on a Hill not far from thence appear'd more Men which amaz'd the Council of War for the Inlet was so narrow that not above six Boats could Land at once and it was evident that though the Enemy should chance to be beaten from behind his Breastworks yet the Hollanders would lie expos'd to the Enemy's Guns from the Fort Nazareth built on the Mountain besides Nazareth if gain'd could scarce be defended unless the whole Mountain were Intrench'd round which would not onely be very chargeable but also impossible because of the red Earth altogether unfit for Fortifications and the barren Mountain afforded neither Wood nor any thing else besides the Storming of it would be very dangerous The Entrance into the Haven was difficult because a stonie Bank before the same suffer'd no Passage but betwixt small Openings the chiefest whereof was guarded by a Water-Castle and farther within by the Fort Puntael Along the Sea-shore their Landing was prevented by the violent beating of the Waves and a great square Tower on the Way up to the Fort Nazareth whose Church is seen at a great distance off at Sea All which consider'd they judg'd it best to draw off their Men again and so they return'd without having effected any thing to the purpose onely Captain Schuppe took two Carvels with five hundred Chests of Sugar in the River Formosa Soon after Martin Thyszoon being sent out with twenty two Sail sent four Ships for Holland with the Lieutenant-Colonel Stein Callenfels and the Councellor Serooskerken yet thirteen Sail remain'd still before the Coast of Brasile under the Command of Captain John Mast who whilest he stood to and again from the Shore and Cruising up and down the Governor of Reciffa and Colonel Rembach march'd with five hundred Men and forty Negro's from Reciffa about six a Clock at Night by Olinda along the Shore Whereupon the Portuguese Horse-watch ran instantly to Real two Leagues from Olinda to give notice thereof to Albuquerque but they surmounted all the Difficulties they met with by the Way which were the greater in regard of the abundance of Rain that had lately fall'n and on the first of May 1632. came to the City Garasu about Noon The City of Garasu surpris'd by the Hollanders where whilest Rembach stood still in good order with three Companies the Governor of Reciffa fell upon the Town with three Companies The Inhabitants had not the least thoughts of being molested by the Netherlanders there because they judg'd the Ways which led thither could not be pass'd in that rainy Season In the first Onset a hundred Portugueses most of them great Merchants were slain they being come thither with their Goods from Olinda and amongst the Prisoners which they took were six Franciscans This Victory the Hollanders obtain'd with the loss but of eight Men and twenty five wounded besides Captain Rembach who was also wounded The Governor of Reciffa entering the City stav'd two hundred Pipes of Wine to keep his Soldiers from over-drinking and because there were many fair Women there he caus'd them all to be lock'd up in the Church of St. Cosmo to preserve them from the Soldiers outrages Description of Garasu The Priest Duarte Mendez Serraon a Letter of whose John de Laet quotes values the Booty carry'd away by the Hollanders from Garasu at 9000 l. Sterl besides the damage which the Place suffer'd being almost ruin'd He relates farther That the City call'd Villa de Santo Cosmo de Garasu lay five Leagues to the Northward from Olinda and that in it were three Churches viz. Cosmus Misericordia and Heremitage de Santa Crux as also two Cloysters viz. Invocation de Antonio inhabited by Capuchins and another dedicated to Franciscus inhabited by Persons of his Order That the chief Church
brown others white and others sallow some had long and lank others short and curl'd Hair They acknowledg'd no King or supream Governor nor were Govern'd by any Laws neither had they any Wall'd Towns or Forts but being divided amongst themselves they continually Encountred one another with Darts Clubs and Staves Their Houses built of Wood were cover'd with the Leaves of Palm-Trees Their Housholdstuff consisted in Earthen Dishes Pots Ropes Fish-nets Flutes Drums and varnish'd Spoons Their Gardens were neatly kept Near their Temples were Burying-places They Row'd very swift in little Boats Their Bread well tasted was made of long thick Roots either roasted or boyl'd Fertility Plenty and Riches of the Countrey Here also grow six sorts of Platano's great abundance of Almonds Oranges Cittrons thick Sugar-Canes Palm-Trees which yield Wine Cocoa's and Obos in taste not much unlike Quinces but the greatest benefit which they receive is from the Cocoa Nuts the Pulp whereof is delicious Meat and Drink the outermost Shells whereof serve for Cups or Dishes the inner for Ropes and Cordage of the Leaves they make Sails and Mats and cover their Houses with the same of the Body Oars Clubs Pikes and Props for their Houses Besides several sorts of Pot-herbs here grow very high Coleworts and Bledo's The Countrey also abounds with Pigeons Partridges Ducks Goats Hogs and other ordinary Cattel and Fowls The Rivers afford them Souls Salmon Thornback Sea-Cocks Eels Gurnets and several other unknown Fishes very delicate and wholsom This Countrey also produces Nutmegs Mastick Peppers Ginger Cinamon Gold Silver Pearls Silk Sugar Anniseed Honey Wax Ebony-wood Turpentine Lime-pits and Marble Philips-Bay bends twenty Leagues into the Countrey hath a safe Harbor and excellent Ground consisting of black Sand. Two great Rivers discharge their Waters into the said Bay round about which are pleasant Woods full of Quails Parrakito's Parrots Nightingales and Bulfinches which Sing very sweetly The Blossoms especially of Orange-Trees and the Herb Alvaca yield an odoriferous smell The wholsom Air adds vigor to aged People Fernandes de Quir delivering the fore-mention'd Account to Philip the Second King of Spain mov'd him to Plant the unknown South-Land and the rather because he had not found any snowy Mountains drown'd Land Crocodiles Muschito's or any hurtful Creature yet was not regarded so that no Spaniard hath since that time set Foot on the unknown South-Land Abel Tasman 's Expedition to Terra Australis Incognita But the East-India Company undertaking the Design with great eagerness sent thither two Ships viz. the Hemskerk and Sea-Cock under the Command of Abel Tasman to make a farther Discovery of the said South-Land Anno 1642. on the twelfth of August they weigh'd Anchor from Batavia Sail'd through the Straights of Sunda to Maurice-Island where they Anchor'd in the North-West Haven before the Castle Frederick-Henrick on the fifth of September in the fore-mention'd Year On the eighth of Octob. Tasman stood over to the South-Land near which he was surpris'd by a violent Storm afterwards on the twenty fifth of November he discover'd a barren Shore against which the Sea beat very furiously and Steering along this Coast he found a convenient Inlet but was forc'd by the hard Weather to stand off to Sea again yet not long after approaching the Shore he saw great hollow Trees and round about them abundance of Mussle-shells and from the Wood heard a shrill noise of People Singing Going to the same place again he put the Orange Flag on a Pole Carv'd with the East-India Companies Arms and call'd the Inlet Frederick-Henrick 〈…〉 the whole Coast Anthony van Diemen Sailing from thence Eastward he on the eighteenth of December discover'd a convenient Haven where sending his Sloop to discover the Shore he came back in the Evening being follow'd by a Boat which approach'd nearer and nearer but Night coming upon him he could not well discern what they were that pursu'd him but heard the cry of hoarse Voices and a shrill noise like that of a Trumpet which the Netherland Seamen answer'd by hollowing and blowing on their Trumpets and at last firing a Gun the Southlanders made a hideous noise and blowing their Horns return'd ashore Tasman hereupon call'd his Watch laid Hangers Pikes and Musquets ready Charg'd upon the Decks The next day the Southlanders came in several Boats two and two ty'd together and cover'd with Planks towards the Ships The Southlanders desperate Attemp upon Tasman's Ships the Gunner of the Hemskerk going with six Men in a Boat to help mount some Guns in the Sea-Cock were betwixt both Ships set upon by the Southlanders who approacht with a hideous noise kill'd four of the Hollanders with long Poles and forc'd the other three to save themselves by swimming which they had no sooner done but they Row'd with incredible swiftness towards the Shore insomuch that they were out of the reach of their Guns before they could make ready to fire at them Tasman finding that there was no good to be done here since he hazarded the Lives of his Seamen against a company of wild People he set Sail but was follow'd by divers Boats at which he fir'd his After-Guns with pieces of Iron and Stones which killing some of them made the rest return In the midst of the Boats which were ty'd two and two together sat the Commander who encourag'd the Rowers they all us'd Clubs without Points These People were gross of Body undaunted strong and of a tawny colour the Hair of their Heads stroak'd up round was ty'd up on their Crown on which stuck a stiff white Feather about their Necks hung a square Plate they wore in stead of Cloaks square pieces of Cloth made fast before on their Breasts Tasman by reason of his rough Entertainment call'd this Harbor Murderers-Bay and afterwards Sail'd along the Shore till the fifth of January 1643. on which Day he dropt Anchor near a little Rocky Island from which fell two Streams with a great noise into the Sea The Inhabitants a strong People beckned to the Seamen to come on Shore some lean'd on thick Clubs others Fenc'd one with another Tasman sending his Sloop ashore for Water with two Drakes return'd without any not being able to Land by reason of the hollow Sea near the Shore wherefore Sailing from thence he discover'd two low Isles which were full of Woods of very tall Trees from the biggest whereof came a little Boat sharp before and behind in which three sallow Men sitting behind one another Row'd with great swiftness towards the Hemskerk whereupon Tasman commanded all his Men to go under the Hatches that the three Southlanders might not be afraid to come aboard he also threw a piece of Linnen out of his Cabbin Window which one of them leaping into the Sea took up and as a sign of thankfulness laid the same on his Head and being hereby emboldned they came nearer the Rudder where they took up a Knife ty'd to a piece of
several People with Sticks on which hung white Cloths some of them came aboard and brought with them what Provisions the Island afforded The Inhabitants barter'd Clappes Pisang Fowls Hogs Mother-of-Pearl Fish-hooks Stone Axes little Stools great Clubs with a black Point as long as a Man's Arm and hooked against Trifles The Hollanders were also stor'd here with fresh Water The People both in Language Habit rud Customs were very like those of the first Island but were not altogether so courteous One of the Southlanders stealing a Half-pike out of the Boat was forc'd by his Companions to restore the same The fore-mention'd Haelbos relates That going ashore with some Soldiers he saw their Houses which he found to be built after a strange manner viz. some of them were round like Towers Wider at top than at bottom and without any Holes for Air but all built close of Canes which were stuck in the Ground other Huts were cover'd with a long Roof of Pisang or Clappes Leaves resting on Posts under which kind of Building Haelbos shelter'd himself against a mighty Shower of Rain found divers young Men and Women sitting on Mats and an old Woman blind through Age lying by them on the Ground and Fanning her self with Pisang Leaves The Men going away signifi'd thereby a kind of Invitation to the Hollanders to go to the Women who not receiving the Entertainment they expected rose altogether on a sudden and Singing Danc'd about the Hollanders The Men had on their Shoulders and Breasts Scars of half an Inch deep and an Inch long upon some of which being fresh and bleeding the Flyes sat They eat after a strange manner for stripping off the outmost Rinds of the Clappes with their Teeth and breaking the hard Shell against their Elbows they pull out the Kernel and eat the same Whatever Flesh-meat they eat they never throughly boyl or roast it but make it onely just warm They sleep on the Ground upon Mats and lay their Heads on a little woodden Cricket with four Feet They take great pride in their Hair and those that have not long Hair of their own use Perukes Tasman steering his Course towards the high Coast that lay before this Island was follow'd by several small Vessels from the adjacent Shore of which some carry'd a Bough of Clappes or Pisang with white Veins at the ends but seeing the Ships Sail from them they threw the same overboard Tasman standing Westerly discover'd three Isles near the last whereof the Sea broke exceedingly which the Hollanders not without great danger had approached in the Night after which they discover'd to Leeward of them a high Coast which extended it self a great way but the Sea went so rough that they durst not venture near the Land besides the Sea went very high on a Bank first ten then five three and a half and again ten fourteen and seven Fathom deep and oftentimes a Man might see the Ground insomuch that they kept out the Boats belonging to the Hemskerk which was in most danger to carry them aboard of the Sea-Cock if the first should chance to split Lastly getting over the Bank they saw very high Land to Windward and many hilly Isles to Leeward the Sea also was full of blind Rocks and Shelves so that they were in danger every hour and the rather because the Wind blew hard every day yet at last losing sight of Land they steer'd their Course Westerly in five Degrees Southward of the Line towards New Guinee On the two and twentieth of March they discover'd low Land full of Woods of tall Trees surrounded with a company of Isles against some of which the Sea brake with great violence insomuch that they were again in great danger especially when they were got amongst eighteen Isles between which the Water being shallow and the Current running very strongly drove the Ships towards the Shore Whilest they were Tacking to and again to get beyond the Shelves a little Vessel carrying a great Weather-cock on her Star-board came from the Shore Row'd by seven Men who sat on Boards which lay over the same they were of a brown Complexion onely girt about with a hairy Girdle made fast on the top of their Heads under their Feet they also wore something in stead of Shoes about their Necks hung Flowers and their Bodies were Painted black Among the seven one who was very fat and whose Head was adorn'd with two Feathers stood up and proffer'd the Seamen two Clappes in return whereof Tasman gave them a Box of Nails and a piece of Sail-cloth which sinking under Water an aged Man div'd for the same and bringing it up gave it to his six Companions who made no shew of thankfulness Their Arms consisted in Bowes and Arrows Their Clappes they call'd Anieuw as the other Islanders had done Sailing from hence they discover'd two low Islands full of Trees and three Leagues from them on their Star-board a high Coast and on the other side a great Island whither they drove with a small Gale approaching the same two very small Boats came towards the Hemskerk the biggest of the two carry'd six Men and the least three all of them very deform'd they went stark naked onely their Yards were ty'd up with a String on their Bellies and about their Arms hung Chains of Mother-of-Pearl they were Coal-black onely red about the Mouth which redness was occasion'd by the chewing of Pisang in their Hair stuck woodden Combs and on their Foreheads green Leaves but in each Boat was one who had a bruised Reed made fast in his Neck like a Plume the biggest Vessel was Painted with strange Shapes of Men and Beasts they us'd red Bowes and Arrows and having call'd to the Seamen they Row'd back again to the Shore which Tasman left a Stern of him and ran between the Main Coast by all suppos'd to be New Guinee and several great Islands that lay scatter'd along before the Main Coast from whence came four small Boats adorn'd with Imagery like Serpents but kept without Gun-shot from the Ships at last one leaping overboard swam to the smallest Boat out of which one swam back in his stead to the other and afterwards came to the Hemskerks side he was a black Man wore Leaves before his Privities and Armlets about his Elbows through the Gristle of his Nose stuck a white Bone Bodkin sharp at the ends and of a Fingers length and about his Neck a String full of Cockle-shells Tasman Sailing on along the Main Coast met with eighteen Boats more the Rowers whereof laid their Oars upon their Heads and not without strange Gestures call'd aloud and invited the Hollanders to come ashore On the Sterns and Heads of these Boats were likewise divers Shapes Painted upon a white Ground in some were two and in others three four and five Men eight of them going into the Hollanders Boats were made Drunk with Arrack These Southlanders went stark naked some onely covering their secret Parts
such a bustle amongst the Learned that several tired themselves about the explanation of the suppos'd Sibylline Prediction CHAP. II. Of the Original of the Americans whence they came when how and from what People Planted The original of the Americans much disputed on ABout the Original of the Americans the Learned Dispute so much that they find nothing more difficult in Story than to clear that Point for whether inquiry be made after the time when the Americans first settled themselves where they now inhabit or after what manner they came thither either by Shipping or by Land on purpose or accidentally driven by Storm or else forc'd by a more powerful People to remove from their old Plantations and seek for new or if any one should be yet more curious asking the way that directed them out of another Countrey to this New World or else enquire for those People from whom the Americans deriv'd themselves He will find several Opinions and the Learned still Jangling The first Doubt is concerning the time Voyagel l. 1. c. 8. Mr. Purchas where-ever he had the Hint endeavors to prove that America hath been but lately Planted for which he thus argues That if Asia or Europe furnish'd America with People in Abraham's time or at least before the Birth of our Saviour then it must upon necessity by the Expiration of so many Ages have been much more Populous then the Spaniards found when first they discover'd it The time when America was first Peopled Besides the vast Territories yet unhabited says he are sufficient testimonies that this New World hath been Planted but scatteringly and not many Ages since else the Countrey would have more abounded with Inhabitants because the fertility of the Soyl was able plentifully to maintain Millions more then were there when first discover'd And what Marks are better to know a new People by in any Countrey than a rude Life and unsettled Government just like a Family removing to another House which takes no short time to settle their Goods and Houshold-stuff in a handsome and convenient Order The condition of the first World after the Floud When Noah went out of the Ark on Mount Ararat and not long after saw his Seed spread over Armenia and Assyria the new Generation of People consisted in Shepherds and Husbandmen that setled themselves near Lakes and Rivers Villages Cities and much less whole Kingdoms were scarce found on the Face of the Earth and as little of Trade or Commerce Riches Division of Lands costly Garments and Furniture for Houses were not then in use but the works of long settlements in happy Peace To curb growing-Wickedness and the Pride of Libertines who incroach'd upon their weaker Neighbors Laws were invented by which Bridle the unbroke or wild World grew tamer And first the Assyrians were brought to endure the Bit and answer the Reins of Government then Egypt next Greece and after that the Romans who spreading their Power by Arms and Martial Discipline first civiliz'd the Gauls Spain Brittain and lastly Germany But because a Countrey or Pastoral Life knowing no Commerce but mean Hovels and to dwell in Huts priding in poor and no Habits despising all greatness unlimited by Laws and all things else which the People observ'd presently after the Flood is now found among the Americans who will take them for ought else but new Comers to that Land as themselves acknowledge For the Mexicans boast that they are the eldest there and that from them Peru Chili Chika and other Countreys towards the South had their Colonies and yet the oldest Chronicles of Mexico reckon not above a thousand Years Thus far Mr. Purchas But certainly all this Muster of appearing Reasons is not able to vanquish single Truth For grant that America was not very Populous when the Spaniards first arrived there America was Peopled many Ages ago must this needs prove that it was never well inhabited before Perhaps the Civil Wars which have been always destructive to this Nation have much hindred the increase of People and the more because their Salvage Nature is such that in several places they account Man's Flesh Broil'd a very great Dainty Purchas contradicted And suppose such Prodigal Excess of their Humane Bankets were not us'd in America as indeed they are Is it wonder that such a great part of the World not onely exceeding Europe in bigness but Asia also should here and there have a Tract of Land uninhabited These might by reason of their Barrenness be useless as many such places are found in the midst of the most Populous and fertile Countreys But above all this it is certain that America to this day notwithstanding almost innumerable thousands of Indians formerly Slain arid Massacred by the Spaniards is so well inhabited that it may stand in Competition with either Asia or Europe And how could such vast multitudes Plant the far-spreading Countrey of America without the help of many Ages Moreover This truth is not without sufficient Testimonies when any one looks on the Islands with which America lies incompass'd he may suppose they did not willingly go from the Main Continent to the Isles but were driven thither by Wars among themselves or as most times it happens because of the vast increase of the Natives the Countrey must discharge its burden Hereto is added the several Languages us'd in America as in Europe or any other part of the known World whereby we may easily guess that America was Peopled presently after the Confusion of Tongues at Babel Furthermore If the Americans live a Rude Life go meanly Habited be without stately Houses such Customs are even among us observ'd by several People as the Tartars Numidians and others which made their Antiquity be call'd in question He also must needs have no knowledge of the Arts and Mechanick Sciences us'd by the Americans who concludes that they setled but lately in America One Argument at present will be sufficient to contradict them all and in the further Description the contrary will be more manifest American Gold-Smiths Hieronimus Benso relates That he stood amaz'd at the Gold and Silver Smiths in the Territory of Chito who without any Iron Tools made Images and all manner of Vessels Which work they performed thus First they made an Oval Crucible of a good Look round about Pasted with Earth embody'd with the Powder of Wood Coals which Crucible being Bak'd very hard in the Sun they fill with Pieces of Gold or Silver and put in the Fire about which standing with five six or more Pipes made of Canes they blow the Fire so long till the Mettal melts which others sitting on the ground run it into Moulds of black Stone and so with little trouble Cast into what shape they please Lastly Though Mexico can reckon but a thousand years must it therefore follow that the Inhabitants are no older How many famous places even among our selves have no longer Registers and
if they have they are commonly Fabulous few Nations boasting truly their own Original which Argument not onely contradicts as we suppose Mr. Purchas but all others ascribing the Plantation of America to our later times SECT I. After what manner the Inhabitants of America came thither ¶ IN the next place let us enquire how the Americans were transmitted thither whether by Sea or Land Both which are feasible two several ways if they made an Expedition thither as Discoverers or were driven on those Coasts by stress of Weather But some will say How liv'd the little Boats and how indur'd they in such a continual Tempest and were not either swallow'd up amidst the Waves or starv'd for want of Provision which their hollow Troughs could not contain The first doubt is the least for there are Examples enough by which appear that oftentimes great Ships Bulging are over-set or sunk in the Sea by foul Weather when the Mariners escape in their Cock-Boat and if they were but thinly Victual'd for so long a Voyage questionless that little which they had they spun out and made it last while the impetuous Storm shortned the passage which fair Weather would have made much longer Pliny tells us of Annius Plocquius Plin l. 5. c. 22. General of the Red-Sea That one of his Slaves being Enfranchiz'd Strange voyage of a Roman Slave Sailing down towards the Arabian Gulf was carry'd by a violent Tempest from the North beyond Caramania and on the fifteenth day came to an Anchor in Hippuros a Haven of Taprobane which Ortelius judges to be Sumatra but Mercator and Cluverius on better grounds Zeylon which is no less than three thousand English Miles In like manner Joseph de Acosta tells us That in fifteen days time he got with a Northerly Wind from the Canaries to America and his Voyage had been shorter durst he have born more Sails which may partly clear the former doubts The Peruvians opinion concerning antient Sea-Vogayes Moreover the Peruvians themselves give some small Testimony in their antient Records of a few that Landed of old upon their Coasts which were as they say mighty and cruel Giants committing much Bloodshed Slaughtering the Natives every where and having subdu'd the whole Countrey built stately Edifices of which remain yet the Ruines of some Foundations very Artificial and Costly They also shew near Manta and Puerto Viejo many huge Bones as they believe of Giants three times longer and thicker than an ordinary Mans. They also tell us that many Ages since one Ica and Arica Sail'd Westward thither upon Sea Wolves Skins blown up like Bladders But however Acosta Histor Nat. l. 1 c. 12. without contradiction the Americans never knew much less built any such Vessels with which they durst venture to the Offin out of sight of Land their Balsas Periagos and Canoos will not all amount to the Bulk of one of our small Barques wherefore the Inhabitants of Tumbez when they descry'd the Spanish Fleet sent to discover Peru were amaz'd at the high Masts spreading Sails and bigness of the Ships judging them first to be Rocks cast up out of the Sea but observing them to approach their Coast and that they were full of Bearded-Men Ridicolous opinion of the Americans thought the Gods were walking in them by our Modern Poet Mr Dryden in his Indian Emperor thus Elegantly describ'd Guyomar to Montezuma I went in order Sir to your Command To view the utmost Limits of the Land To see that Shore where no more World is found But Foamy Billows breaking on the ground Where for a while my Eyes no Object met But distant Skies that in the Ocean set And low-hung Clouds that dipt themselves in Rain To shake their Fleeces on the Earth again At last as far as I could cast my Eyes Upon the Sea somewhat methought did rise Like Bluish Mists which still appearing more Took dreadful Shapes and mov'd towards the Shore Mont. What Forms did these new Wonders represent Guy More strange than what your Wonder can invent The Object I could first distinctly view Was tall straight Trees which on the Waters flew Wing on their sides in stead of Leaves did grow Which gather'd all the Breath the Winds could blow And at their Roots grew floatingg Palaces Whose out-blow'n Bellies cut the yielding Seas Mont. What Divine Monsters O ye Gods were these That float in Air and fly upon the Seas Came they alive or dead upon the Shore Guy Alas they liv'd too sure I heard them roar All turn'd their sides and to each other spoke I saw their Words break out in Fire and Smoke Sure 't is their Voice that Thunders from on high Or these the younger Brothers of the Skie Deaf with the noise I took my hasty Flight No Mortal Courage can support the Fright But the resolving these Doubts starts a harder Question viz. Grant that the Americans were by Tempest driven thither How then came the Beasts thither It is certain that those which are beneficial for humane use as Dogs for to Hunt great Cattel Sheep for Food and other Necessaries might easily be carry'd thither for so the Spaniards brought Cows Horses Swine and other Cattel Spaniards carry Oxen and Sheep to the American Isles and also Poultery from Spain to the new-discover'd Isles Cuba Hispaniola Jamaica Margaretta and La Dominica when at their arrival formerly no four-footed Beasts were found there whose fertile Soyl hath so multiply'd their increase that the Doggs running Wilde and breeding as fast do great hurt to the Grazing Herds which they onely shoot for their Skins leaving their Flesh the best of Meats onely to Manure the Ground on which they lie The Transporting of tame and profitable Cattel might easily be allow'd of but who would load their Ships with Lions Tygers Bears Wolves Foxes and other Serpents and Voracious Beasts it is certain that some may be tam'd before they were Ship'd How wild Beasts came in America and the Isles In vita Heliogabali Lampridius relates That Heliogabalus the Roman Emperor took great pleasure in Domestick Lions and Leopards to frighten his Guests withal for with the third Course they were all brought in and sate betwixt the Invited a Man and a Beast Lib. 2. cap. 17. The great Cham as Paulus Venetus an Eye-witness attests Rides on Hunting Strange Hunting attended in couples with tame Leopards The King of Camboja in like manner is serv'd with Panthers Scaliger adds also That they went not unprovided of a Lamb or Goat to give the Panther lest falling into his natural ferocity provok'd by hunger he should make the Huntsmen his Quarry if he had no other Prey But notwithstanding some wilde Beasts seem to forget their Voracious Nature yet there ought great care to be taken in the Transporting of them because they oftentimes grow wild again which France can witness Strange accident of two Leopards where two Leopards a Male and a Female
or happy conclusion of so desperate a Voyage so rashly undertaken and found now so full of eminent danger Yet Columbus bore bravely up and weather'd all their Exclamations although they threatned no less than his Murder At last Articling they came to this Agreement That if after sailing forwards three days more no Land were discover'd they should return But about two a Clock the next Night Columbus saw a glimmering like Fire in the Sky and in the Morning found himself close aboard a most pleasant Coast where Landing with twelve Men he erected a Cross cut out of a Tree Thence he sail'd over to Cuba where the Sea was so rough that he was forc'd to stand off fearing Rocks and Shallow Water Soon after he got to the Northward of the Island Haytin Discovers Hispaniola which he call'd Hispaniola Here his best Ship was bulged upon a Rock on which they had all perish'd had it not been flat on the top so that the Soldiers and the whole Crew of Sea-men were sav'd by the two Vessels The Inhabitants stark naked seeing these Strangers fled to the Woods but the Spaniards overtaking a Woman they entertain'd her with Sweet-meats and Spanish Wine and putting her on a white Shirt sent her again to the rest of the Natives where return'd she told what good Entertainment she had had to her Companions whereupon divers of the Islanders came aboard of the Spaniards Trades with the Natives in Boats made of one piece of Wood where they barter'd Gold for Beads pieces of Glass Knives Shells and other Trifles The King of Guaccanarillo gave testimony of peculiar inclination to the Spaniards helping them to Fish up the remaining Goods of the Wreck and inform'd them That some Rivers flowing from the tops of high Mountains wash'd down the Gold amongst the Sand notwithstanding a strange Prophecy had been told to these Islanders namely That Bearded Men out of remote Countries should destroy their Goods take their Land and massacre their Children He also told them what made them fly and betake them to their Heels at the arrival of the Spaniards because they were oftentimes surpris'd by the Cannibals who snatch'd up all they could lay hold on Their Boys and Striplings they gelded cooping and cramming them up as we our Capons for Feasts The young and well-grown Men they chopp'd to pieces salted and Barrel'd up Young Women they preserv'd for breed and old ones they made Slaves These Cannibals were so terrible to the Inhabitants of Haytin that a thousand of them durst not venture to engage against ten but would run every way dispers'd like Flocks of Sheep before the Wolf Lastly Their King permitted the Spaniards to build a Lodge or Hovel wherein thirty or forty of them might shelter but indeed so taking possession in right of the King of Spain Mean while Columbus return'd in safety to Spain Returns to Spain and was receiv'd with great joy King Ferdinand making him Admiral of the Sea Is highly honor'd and sending his Brother Bartholomew Governor to Haytin now call'd Hispaniola The Gold Parrots Mastick Aloes the strange Bread Jucca whose extracted Juyce is rank Poyson but the Body makes good Meal which kneaded and bak'd yields a fine Manchet and wholesom Food they look'd upon with great delight and admiration but two of the Natives being naked with Gold Rings through their Noses and Ears Ornaments with them of high esteem and signifying their no mean Quality the People old and young came in Throngs to wonder at never weary of gazing upon them But the King encourag'd by this Success took no dilatory Course but suddenly and before any could expect built fourteen stout Carvels and three Frigats Goes with seventeen Sail a second time to Hispaniola and as soon mann'd them with twelve hundred Soldiers besides a great number of Artificers of all forts with their Wives and Children freighting them with Horses Swine Goats Cattel for Breed all sorts of European Corn to sow Fruit-Trees and Vines to plant and some Priests to instruct and convert the Natives to their Religion The second of September Anno 1493. they set sail from Cadiz and Anchor'd before Ferreo the last and furthest of the Canary-Islands where they could get no Water but what dropp'd from the Dew hanging on Trees into Troughs After that Columbus came on the one and twentieth day amongst the Caribby-Islands where he dropp'd Anchor before one which he Call'd Dominico The Barbadoes St. Christophers c. but finding it desolate set sail further and discover'd several other Coasts where he likewise found nothing but very great Porcupines or Hedg-hogs arid sweet-smelling Trees Steering forward he found the Coasts of the Cannibals which inhabited along the Shore in little Huts or Hovels built round of Wood The Huts of the Cannibals and stak'd about on the out-side with long Poles like Palisado's They have also Posts within which are shorter pleited and fastned together with Cotton or long Roots of Trees plyant like our Osiars over which they hang Cloths painted with horrible Figures and strange Representations The Roofs rise like our Canopy'd Tents highest in the middle cover'd with Palm-Tree Leaves to keep off the Rain At the Entrances hang two Hairy Images on Poles not for Religion sake but Ornament Their Bed-steads being high from the Ground are fill'd with a kind of Straw and in long Hovels fitted for that purpose they store their Sugar Columbus landing here found all the Cannibals fled but their Houses full of Stone Vessels Cruises Pans and Pots boyling with Mens Flesh Parrots and Wild-foul the Hanches and Sides of young Men on Spits roasting at the Fire with the Splinters of whose broken Bones they headed their Arrows This Island by the Inhabitants call'd Carucueria Columbus chang'd to Guadalupe because the Mountains rise up with their tops not unlike Estremadura in Spain Island Guadalupe famous there for the wonderful Representation of our Lady as that of the Lady of Loretto in Italy Thirty Women which he had taken from the neighboring Isles he sent with Presents to the fled Canibals which the next day returning made a great appearance hear the Shore but when they had gaz'd a while upon the Spaniards looking stedfastly on one another they suddenly ran back again sheltring themselves in the Covert of the Woods Columbus thinking it not worth his while to expect their return seeing their barbarous Life burnt and destroy'd all their Boats and spoiling whatever ht could sail'd to Matanino Strange Women in Matanino The releas'd Women in Guadalupe that came back again inform'd the Spaniards That Matanino was an Isle onely inhabited by Women which at accustom'd times row'd over to these Cannibals where a while they drove a Trade and Commerce of Love the Product of which if Girls they kept but the Boys they sent over to their Fathers They live in Caves the Mouths and Entrances of which they maintain and stoutly make good with their
Wedding which occasion'd a murmur as if Cortez had poyson'd him to rid himself of a Partner in his Government Cortez his Ambition for it had been generally observ'd that his Ambition suffer'd no Equal The Americans fell all down before him all were Servants alike The Court which he kept swarm'd with Attendance on which he spent vast Sums of Money yet his Incomes were able to bear such excessive Disbursements He kept in constant Pay five thousand Soldiers and several Ships ready rigg'd and prepar'd on all occasions to hold in awe the enslav'd People or else for the Discovery of New Countreys Yet after all these extraordinary Charges defray'd to shew his Wealth and Greatness he caus'd a Piece of Cannon to be cast all of massie Gold for the Kings which formerly acknowledg'd Montezuma for their Sovereign gave him a yearly Revenue most of which were valu'd to be worth twenty three Tun of Gold for so much the King of Tescuscus a stately City paid whose Houses Plaister'd with White-Lime seem'd afar off to be rather a Chalky Hill or Mountain cover'd with Snow Full as much did the King pay which reigned in Otumba notwithstanding he had receiv'd with his Christianity the Name of Ferdinand Cortez yet others gave less The King Guacinalgo with his Mother and some Slaves bringing Gold came to present it to Cortez and entring the Palace through a Guard of five hundred Horse and four Hundred Foot which were always ready Arm'd for fear of Insurrections he fell down prostrate on the Ground Thus all things even out-went whatever he could desire hope for or imagine And Alvaredo one of his Commanders being sent Eastwardly brought great Treasures back with him which the conquer'd Kings were forc'd to raise His Misfortunes But Fortune who seldom continues her Favors long at last began to frown for Cortez having sent an unvaluable Treasure of Gold and Pearls to the Emperor Charles the Fifth Floryn the French Pyrate met with and took it which went so much to his Heart that for a considerable time he sent no Advice to the Spanish Court which made them grow jealous of him doubting that he intended to make himself King over New-Spain and this Suspicion was not a little augmented by his Enemies During the time that the Spanish Officers had these Civil Broyls one against another Lodowick Pontaeus a Man well experienc'd in the Law came from Spain to America there in the Emperors Name to settle all things in good order having also particular Instructions to shew great kindness to Cortez and to make him a Knight of the Order of St. James that by that means the Emperor might be the more esteem'd for his Noble Subjects and Servants amongst the Mexicans who are themselves of a proud and ambitious spirit and chiefly the Nobility which doth manifestly appear by their Apparel more gorgeous than the meaner sort of Americans and though the Slaves go stark naked having onely a Cloth tied about their Privities and with a Bowe and Arrows walk before their Lords Mexicans Apparel yet the Better Sort go very costly Habited for about their Necks they wear Strings of Pearl on their Heads a Cap from whence hang down two Scarfs one longer than the other then a party-colour'd Cotton Coat covers their whole Bodies to their Knees under which they wear a Vest girt about their Middle But at last after all these Services Cortez disagreeing with the Vice-Roy Don Antonio Mendoza being about that time sent over went male-contented into Spain SECT XI Diego Gottierez his Expedition ANno 1540. Gottierez being chosen Governor of New Carthage weigh'd Anchor from Cadiz and sailing to Nombre de Dios upon his Landing clash'd with Roderick Contreras Gottierez contests with Contreras in whose Place he was sent to succeed Two Years he spent without effecting any thing but at last coming to Agreement with Contreras he took the Governorship upon him having first forewarn'd him not to depend too much upon his Authority for the Countrey being full of Woods and Mountains might hide many of his Enemies But he not regarding the Advice went a Journey from New Granada and having march'd fifty Leagues Easterly he cross'd into the River Suere with sixty Spaniards and was presented by the Princes of the Countrey with as much Gold as amounted to seven thousand Duckets Here he spent some Weeks effecting little but now all things growing scarce though he was very earnest with the Natives for Provisions yet he could get little which kind of Life the Soldiers disliking and growing weary of went away in the Night to Nicaragua Is forsaken of all Gottierez thus left alone got into a Boat with intent to follow them and being just put off from the Shore was met by Captain Barjanto who brought new Forces and fresh Provisions with him This wrought upon him to stay there Not long after Alphonso de Pisa went with twenty seven Men from Nombre de Dios to the same River Suere but it being then very rough at the Entrance he was necessitated to pass on to a small uninhabited Isle where whilst he lay at an Anchor the Weather began to grow worse and worse the Gusts of Wind Great Tempest mix'd with Showres of Rain Thunder and Lightning seem'd to threaten a general Destruction for in the Ship two Spaniards and one Moor were kill'd by the Lightning In seventy two Days the Sun did not shine four Hours At last weighing Anchor he sail'd over to the Main Land where he saw nothing but vast Mountains and Wildernesses Here for a time they liv'd upon Cockles found on the Shore and wild Fruits in the Woods At length coming to Gottierez he sent him with his People in five Boats to fetch new Forces from Nombre de Dios. In his way thither he saw a House built of Canes cover'd with Palm-leaves forty five Paces long and built after an Oval fashion Round about it stood several lesser Hovels all which making up a Village the Spaniards nam'd Francisco because they came thither on St. Francis Day Village Francisco About half way they met with the Lords of Suere and Chiuppa going to attend Gottierez to whom being admitted and sitting with him at Table he gave them as a Dainty rosted Chickens and fresh Pork but they gave it to their Servants Strange manner of eating not delighting in the taste of such Victuals Gottierez by means of an Interpreter told them concerning the Christian-Religion at which they bow'd their Heads without making any Answer But how little mind they had to embrace it quickly appear'd for not long after they set their Villages on fire and all the Provisions which they could not carry with them they spoil'd and so retiring hid themselves upon inaccessible Mountains Another Incentive leading them to this Fight was because the Governor Camachiren and his Deputy notwithstanding he had given Gottierez as much Gold when he came first into the Countrey as amounted
to England Not many Months after he renew'd his Voyage Queen Elizabeth having rigg'd out and sent under his Command one Frigat and two Ketches Mann'd with a hundred and forty Men The twenty sixth of May hâ— weigh'd Anchor and sail'd to the Orkenies lying to the North of Scotland where landing he found the poor Islanders fled out of their Huts into Caves and Dens among the Rocks From thence he steer'd North-North-West through abundance of floating Pieces of Timber which oftentimes gave him great stops The fourth of July he made Friezland where he met with a great Storm of Hail mix'd with Snow Before the Shore lay a great Ridge of Ice which hindred for a while their Landing Here he saw several Wild People but could not come to speak with them for upon the least approach they fled yet when they saw any advantage made resistance At last three of them came unarm'd to the Shore beckoning Forbisher to come to them which he had done had not great numbers of the Natives appear'd too soon from an Ambuscade in a Wood and behind a Hill who seeing themselves discover'd march'd up into the Countrey three onely staying on the Shore of whom the middlemost feigning to be lame at last fell down whom his Companions took up and carried a little way but then forsook by which the English observing their Design shot that the Sand flew all about him whereupon forgetting his Lameness he ran as swift as a Deer up a Hill Forbisher's Men had by this time fill'd two Barrels with a Mineral not unlike Gold but was afterwards found to be of little value Nothing else of Remark did he find here except great long-hair'd Men who being exceeding salvage subtilly plot nothing else but to murder lurking for Men like Wild Beasts for their Prey whom when caught they tear in pieces Close fitted to their Bodies they wore the Skins of several Wild Beasts priding in the Tails which hung down betwixt their Legs Their Tents are of conjoyn'd Whalebones cover'd over with the like Skins the Entrance always facing the South They use Bowes Arrows Slings and two sorts of Boats In the biggest they can carry seventeen Men which are made of several Wooden Planks clinch'd together and cased on both sides with Leather The smallest ones are cover'd just in the same manner much resembling a Weavers Shuttle having in the middle a Hole wherein a Man sits who drawing the Cover of the Boat about his Waste by Strings with one Oar makes swift Passage The Countrey it self is barren yet feeds abundance of Deer Hares Wolves Bears and Dogs like Wolves whose Flesh serves the Inhabitants for Food This Countrey seems to be exceedingly troubled with great Earthquakes because several pieces of Rocks and whole Mountains rent asunder may be seen in divers places Sir Francis Drake's Expedition At the same time when Forbisher sail'd Northerly Sir Francis Drake also fitted out by Queen Elizabeth steer'd another Course sailing by Cape Blanko and Cape Verde along the African Coast to Brasile where he caught several Sea-Wolves and Anchoring in the River La Plata furnish'd himself with Fresh Water Then proceeding on his Voyage through the crooked Straights of Magellan he came to an Anchor before Moucha wash'd by the South Sea The Islanders receiv'd him very courteously because they were inform'd that the English were at great Wars with the Spaniards to avoid whose Cruelties they had deserted the main Continent and setled on Moucha One of these Mouchaners going aboard serv'd them for a Pilot to the Haven Valparizo where Drake burnt the St. Jago a small Village and plundring all the Countrey about it got together a great Treasure of Gold and Silver Before Arica he took three Spanish Ships richly laden and before Lima four more having an unvaluable Treasure of Pearls and Gold aboard them Thus inrich'd he steer'd his Course Northerly to forty two Degrees but the Cold forcing him to fall four Degrees to the Southward he discover'd a very pleasant and inhabited Coast the People whereof shew'd him great kindness The King himself coming aboard with a great Train set a Crown of Gold upon Drakes Head and gave him a Golden Scepter and an Ivory Chain After this he inspected the Islands Tidor Ternata Java Zeilon and Cape de Bona Esperanza from whence after a three Years Voyage having encompass'd the World he came safe to London where he rested not long for sailing Anno 1585. to America he took great Prizes from the Cities St. Jago St. Domingo St. Augustin and Carthagena setting them all on Fire Thus again returning home victoriously and after the famous defeat of the Spanish Armado he rigg'd out a new Fleet having for his Vice-Admiral Captain Hawkins Their Design was to have sail'd to Panama but both dying and so the Commission ceasing the expected great and golden Project also died with them Candish his Expedition A Year after the death of these famous Navigators Captain Thomas Candish Mann'd with a hundred and twenty Men and Provisions for two Year setting sail in a lucky Hour a second time encompass'd the World passing the Straights of Magellan in which Voyage having got above ten times the value of his Charge by taking the Spanish Carrack St. Anna valued at twenty Tun of Gold and at last freighted with a Mass of Treasure he came safe into the River of Thames But much worse success had Captain John Smith Smith's Voyage who weigh'd Anchor Anno 1614. with two Ships fitted out by several Merchants in London for New England and on the Island Monachigga to load Copper Gold and other Minerals that were to be had there and also to fish for Whales But there were no such Minerals to be found there nor any Whales to be taken on the Coast because the time of the Year was past so that he return'd home without Success However not long after they undertook the same Expedition a second time but with worse Fortune for being gotten in sight of Virginia he was treacherously set upon and taken by the French who accus'd him that he had destroy'd the Plantations in Nova Francia and unless he would make satisfaction for the Damage they threatned him with death He was carried Prisoner to Rochel in a French Ship but not far from thence surpris'd by a mighty Storm Smith finding an opportunity leap'd into the Boat and driving betwixt the Waves at last half dead was thrown upon the Island of Oleron whom afterwards having lost all an English Ship took in and brought to his Native Countrey SECT XV. Netherland Expedition by Jaques Mahu and Simon de Cordes FIve Ships being fitted out at Rotterdam Mahu's Voyage the Command of them was given to Jaques Mahu and Simon de Cordes who on the twenty seventh of June Anno 1598. weigh'd Anchor from the Goree and sail'd on an immense Voyage at last landing at the Island St. Jago they won a strong Castle there and took two Barques
Degrees and some odd Seconds where they easily went on Shore In the Year 1608. the Commander of the Colony deceasing and not long after him the Lord Chief Justice who had been the chief that had furnish'd them with fresh Supplies they return'd for England in those Ships that had been sent them with Succours At which unexpected return the Patrons of the Design were so offended that for a certain time they desisted from their Enterprizes In the mean while the French making use of this occasion Planted Colonies in divers places when Sir Samuel Argal from Virginia disturb'd their Designs and brought away Prisoners all he could lay hold on Suddenly after Captain Hobson and divers others were set out with very great Preparations and with them two of the Natives which had been detain'd for some time in England whom they thought to have made use of the better to draw the rest of the Natives to their Commerce but because a little before twenty four of them had been treacherously dealt with by one Hunt they contracted from thence so great an animosity towards the English that Captain Hobson was constrain'd to return without effecting any thing In the Year 1614. Captain John Smith being sent to Fish for Whales and seek after Mines of Gold and Silver Landed upon the Island of Monahiggan where he found some store of Whales but not such as those by whose Oyl they use to make so much profit About the same time two of the Natives being recover'd Erpenow of Capawick that had escap'd from Captain Hobson and Assacumet of Pemmaquid one of those that had been taken Prisoners with Chaloung Captain Harly with Necessaries convenient for such a Voyage was dispatch'd away by Sir Ferdinando Gorges the Earl of Southampton favouring the Design and furnishing him with some Land-Soldiers under the Command of Captain Hobson who not discourag'd with his former ill Success resolv'd upon a second Adventure In the Year 1615. Sir Richard Hakings undertook a Voyage into those Parts by authority of the Council of the second Colony but by reason of the great Wars among the Natives his Observations could not be such as might give any farther light than what had been already receiv'd Soon after which Captain Dormer coming for England from New-found-Land and Landing at Plymouth apply'd himself to the Governor by whom he was dispatch'd away with Direction to meet Captain Rocroft sent away a little before but Rocroft being dead by that time Dormer could come after him to Virginia where he heard he was he returning to Capawick was there set upon by Erpenow the foremention'd Salvage and other Indians that were Conspirators with him and within a short while after at Virginia whither he went to be cur'd of the Wounds he receiv'd in that Assassination he fell sick and died About the Year 1623. Captain Robert Gorges newly come out of the Venetian War was employ'd by the Council of New Englands Affairs as the Lieutenant-General to regulate the Abuses of divers Fisher-men and other Interlopers who without License frequented those Coasts for which Service he had assign'd to him all that part of the main Land situate upon the North-East side of the Bay of the Messachasets By these several Colonies sent so thick one after another both a full Discovery of the Countrey came to be made and a large gap open'd to the free possession thereof yet in regard of the many disappointments and misfortunes the several Companies sent over met with and counting the vast Charges their setting forth cost the Undertakers which would have been still increas'd by the need of continu'd Supplies in all probability New England would have been but thinly peopled to this day had not a great Tide of People possess'd with an aversion to the Church-Government of England and fled into Holland for Liberty of Conscience eagerly taken hold of this opportunity to make themselves Masters of their own Opinions and of a Place where they might erect a Government suitable thereunto and though at first there were some Exceptions taken as if this Countrey was to be made a Receptacle of Sectaries and such as condemn'd the Ecclesiastical Government of the Nation insomuch that Sir Ferdinando Gorges to whom they apply'd themselves desiring him to mediate for them to the Council of New Englands Affairs when they perceiv'd the Authority they had from the Virginia Company could not warrant their abode there had enough to do notwithstanding his Apology That these things hapned contrary to his expectation to wipe away the jealousie which was entertain'd of him it being Order'd that no more should be suffer'd to pass into New England but such as should take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy yet at last there was little notice taken who went perhaps upon consideration that the vast resort of People thither would be of greater advantage to the Plantations than their different Opinions at so remote a distance could be prejudicial so long as they acknowledg'd Obedience to the King and Civil Power However Sir Ferdinando to clear himself the better mov'd those Lords that were the chief Actors in the Business to resign their Grand Patent to the King and pass particular Patents to themselves of such part of the Countrey along the Sea-Coast as might be sufficient for them To this Motion there being a general Assent given by the Lords and a Day appointed for the conclusion thereof an Act was made for the Resignation of the Patent alloting to each Man their several Bounds From the uttermost parts began the Limits of the Lord Mougrave and ended at Hudson's River To the Eastward of which River for the space of sixty Miles in length was plac'd the Duke of Richmond's Assignment Next to him was setled the Earl of Carlile Next him the Lord Edward Gorges Next the Marquess of Hamilton Then Captain John Mason And lastly his own which extended to the great River Sagadehoc being sixty Miles and so up into the Main Land a hundred and twenty Miles which he was pleas'd to call by the Name of The Province of Main The Landing of the English in Plymouth Plantation was very much facilitated by the great Mortality that hapned amongst the Indians about that time amongst the Pecods Narragansets Nianticks Tarantines Wippanaps and those of Abargini Agissawang and Pockanekie their Powwows or Doctors seeing with amazement their Wigwams or Streets lie full of dead Bodies and in vain expecting help from Squantam their good or Abbamoch their bad God Not long before that blazing Comet so much talk'd of in Europe apppear'd after Sun-setting in their Horizon South-West for the space of thirty Sleeps for so they reckon their Days They Landed at first with little or no resistance a handful of Men onely being sent before to keep possession for their Companions who arriv'd eight days after when the Natives appearing with their Bowes and Arrows let flie their long Shafts amongst them whereupon one Captain Miles Standish with his Fowling-piece
shot the stoutest Sachem amongst the Indians as he was reaching an Arrow from his Quiver which the rest seeing fled into the Woods and Thickets The same Year the Merchant-Advenurers in England sent forth store of Servants to provide against the Wants of that place amongst whom came over a mix'd Multitude who setled themselves in the Bosom of the Cape now call'd Gloucester About the Year 1651. there fled to the English at Water-town the Indians that dwelt thereabouts for protection against the Tarratines a sort of cruel and salvage Cannibals by whom near the Town of Saugust in the very dead time of the Night one Lieutenant Walker being on a sudden alarm'd was shot through his Coat and Buff Jacket with two Indian Arrows That Night the English stood upon their Guard and the next Morning sent word to other parts who gather'd together and taking counsel how to quit themselves of these Indians agreed to discharge their great Guns whose redoubled noise ratling in the Rocks struck terror into the Indians and caus'd them to betake themselves to flight The Autumn following others of the Indians who till then had held a good correspondence with the Planters began to quarrel about the Bounds of their Land but a great Mortality by the raging of the Small-Pox breaking out amongst them put an end to that Controversie There died amongst the rest one of the chief of the Sagamores of the Mattachusets call'd Sagamore John who before his Death had been instructed in the Christian Faith and took care that his two Sons should be nurtur'd therein In the Year 1635. there arrived several Ships with great plenty of Provisions and many Persons of good Quality and amongst the rest Sir Henry Vane The same Year the People of Cambridge otherwise call'd New-town hearing of a fertile place upon the River Canectico remov'd thither and erected anew Corporation by the Name of Banectico being encourag'd thereunto by the Lord Say and the Lord Brooks and planting a Forrest at the mouth of the River call'd it Saybrook Forrest About the Year 1638. the Pequods a stout and Warlike Nation lying to the South-West of the Mattachusets were discover'd upon their March within some few Miles of Hartford Their coming very much terrifi'd all that inhabited thereabouts but they took onely three Women and return'd one of whom making a violent resistance had her Brains beaten out the other two they carried away with them without abusing their Persons as it was suppos'd they would for they esteem'd their own Shaws being black beyond our Women Their chief Design was to learn to make Gunpowder which seeing they could not effect they look'd upon their Prize as nothing so precious as they imagin'd A little after another Indian War threatning the English they resolv'd together to send an Ambassador to Cannonicus chief Sachem of the Naragansits endeavoring to prevent him from confederating with the Pequods who as they had Intelligence were about sending to him to joyn with them Cannonicus being grown old had resign'd the Government to his Nephew Mantinemo a stern Man and of a cruel Nature The Ambassadors arriving at his Court which was about eighty Miles from Boston the Indian Prince assembled his chief Councellors and having Entertain'd the Ambassadors Magnificently and Feasted them Royally gave them Audience in his State-house where the Sachem to manifest his greater State lay along upon the Ground with all his Nobility sitting about him with their Legs doubled up and their Knees touching their Chin The English Interpreter having made his Speech in the Name of the rest both Cannonicus and the young King gave discreet Answers signifying their Resolutions to keep a fair Correspondence with the English and yet not to fall out with the Pequods Who a little after making also their Addresses to the same King he disswaded them by many Reasons from making War with the English and to deliver into their hands those Persons that had murther'd any of them The Pequods nevertheless though they seem'd inclinable to his Counsel yet they acted as Enemies for when the English sent a Company of Soldiers into their Countrey to treat with them about delivering up the Murtherers they made shew of willingness but spying their advantage betook themselves to their Heels and whomsoever they took stragling by surprise they revil'd and insulted over in a most cruel manner vilifying the Christian Religion and uttering all the Blasphemies they could invent Whereupon they rais'd fresh Souldiers for the War to the number of four score out of the several Towns in the Mattachusets and with some Indian Guides came to their Fort within which they had pitch'd their Wigwams the Entrance being on two sides with intricate Meanders to enter at which were plac'd Indian Bowe-men who shot the foremost of the English yet they had little to boast of in the end for the English rushing in through the winding Ways and placing themselves round the Wigwams made a very prosperous Shot by directing the Muzzles of their Musquets against the Indians which lay sleeping on the Ground In the midst of which rouzing terror and confusion they were defeated with little ado most of them being either wounded kill'd or taken The English thus animated with the first Victory send their Prisoners to the Pinnaces and prosecute the War in Hand marching against the next Body of the Indians which lay Encamp'd on a Hill about two Miles distant where they gave them a second Overthrow slaying many more than in the first Engagement the rest flying to a very thick inaccessible Swamp or Bog were there besieg'd by the English and skulking up and down as they saw their opportunity they would Shoot at them with their Arrows and then suddenly fall flat along in the Water at last the English finding out a Passage into the Swamp utterly defeated them and put an end to the War with the loss of few Mens Lives and not many wounded In the Year 1640. there came over a fresh Supply of People into New England and finding no place to settle in within any of the former erected Colonies they repair'd to a place call'd Long Island sever'd from the Continent of New-Haven about sixty Miles off the Sea The Year following the four Colonies namely the Massachusets Plymouth Canectico and New-Haven taking into consideration the many Nations that were on all sides of them as the French Dutch Jews and native Indians as also how the three first went to lay claim to Lands they never had any right to and the last to be continually quarrelling and contending where they saw any hopes of prevailing by Commissioners chosen from the respective Colonies concluded a firm Confederation to assist each other in all just and lawful Wars upon which there came in certain Indian Sachems as Pomham Miantonemo Soccanocoh and Uncas who not onely submitted to the English Government but also if occasion were in matters of Controversie submitted to their Arbitration But the Contest between
and Beaver Skins sew'd together others Otter Skins and Rackoon Skins most of them in the Winter having his deep Furr'd Cat Skin like a large Muff which he shifts to that Arm which lieth most expos'd to the Wind. Although they are poor yet is there in them the sparks of natural Pride which appears in their longing desire after many kind of Ornaments wearing Pendants in their Ears in form of Birds Beasts and Fishes Carv'd out of Bone Shells and Stone with long Bracelets of their curious wrought Wampompeage and Mowhackees which they put about their Necks and Loins these they count a rare kind of Decking many of the better sort bearing upon their Cheeks certain Pourtraitures of Beasts as Bears Deers Mooses Wolves c. some of Fowls as of Eagles Hawks c. which is not a superficial Painting but a certain Incision or else a raising of their Skin by a small sharp Instrument under which they convey a certain kind of black unchangeable Ink which makes the desir'd form apparent and permanent Others have certain round Impressions down the outside of their Arms and Breasts in form of Mullets or Spur-rowels which they imprint by searing Irons Wâ—ether these be Foils to illustrate their unparallel'd Beauty as they deem it or Arms to blazon their antique Gentility cannot easily be determin'd But a Segamore with a Humbird in his Ear for a Pendant a black Hawk on his Head for his Plume Mowhackees for his Gold Chain good store of Wampompeage begirting his Loins his Bowe in his Hand his Quiver at his Back with six naked Indian Lacquies at his Heels for his Guard thinks himself little Inferior to the great Cham. Their Diet Cookery Meal-times and Hospitality at their Kettles In Winter time they have all manner of Fowls and Beasts of the Land and Water Pond-fish with Cathaires and other Roots Indian Beans and Clamms in the Summer they have all manner of Sea-fish with all sorts of Berries For the ordering of their Victuals they Boil or Roast them having large Kettles which they Traded for with the French long since and do still buy of the English as their need requires before they had substantial Earthen Pots of their own making Their Spits are no other than cloven Sticks sharpen'd at one end to thrust into the ground into these cloven Sticks they thrust the Flesh or Fish they would have Roasted behemming a round fire with a dozen of Spits at a time turning them as they see occasion They seldom or never make Bread of their Indian Corn but seethe it whole like Beans eating three or four Corns with a mouthful of Fish or Flesh sometimes eating Meat first and Corns after filling the Chinks with their Broth. In Summer when their Corn is spent Sqoutersquashes is their best Bread a Fruit like a young Pumpion But as all are fellows at Foot-ball so they all meet Friends at the Kettle saving their Wives that Dance a Spaniel-like attendance at their Backs for their Fragments If their occasions cause them to Travel the best of their Victuals for their Journey is Nocake as they call it which is nothing but Indian Corn parch'd in the hot Ashes the Ashes being sifted from it it is afterwards beaten to Powder and put into a long Leathern Bag truss'd at their Back like a Knapsack out of which they take thrice three Spoonfuls a day dividing it into three Meals If it be Winter and Snow be on the ground they can eat when they please making use of Snow for their Drink in Summer they must stay till they meet with a Spring or Brook with this strange viaticum they will travel four or five days together They keep no Set-Meals their Store being spent they champ on the Bit till they meet with fresh Supplies either from their own endeavors or their Wives industry who trudge to the Clam-banks when all other means fail Though they are sometimes scanted yet are they as free as Emperors both to their Countreymen and English be he stranger or near acquaintance counting it a great discourtesie not to eat of their high-conceited Delicates Of their hardiness Their hardiness is much to be admir'd no ordinary pains making them so much as alter their countenance beat them whip them punch them if they put on a resolution they will not winch for it whether it be their benumm'd insensibleness of smart or their hardy resolutions is hard to resolve It might be a Perillus his Bull or the Rack might force an out-cry from them but a Turkish drubbing would not move them the unexpected approach of a mortal Wound by a Bullet Arrow or Sword striking no more terror nor causing no more exclamation in them than if it had been a shot into the body of a Tree such Wounds as would be sudden death to an English Man would be nothing to them whether it be that by their rare skill in the use of Vegetatives or by Diabolical Charms they cure them nevertheless the very name and thoughts of death is so hideous to them or any thing that presents it so terrible that a hundred of them will run from two or three arm'd with Guns In the Night they need not to be feared for they will not budge from their own Dwellings for fear of their Abamacho the Devil whom they much fear specially in evil enterprizes they will rather lie by an English fire than go a quarter of a Mile in the dark to their own Dwellings but they are well freed from this Scare-crow since the coming of the English and less care for his delusions Of their Kings Government and Subjects obedience Now for the matter of Government amongst them it is the custom of their Kings to inherit the Son always taking the Kingdom after his Fathers death If there be no Son then the Queen rules if no Queen the next to the Blood-Royal who comes in otherwise is but counted an usurping Intruder if his fair carriage bear him not out the better they will soon Unscepter him Some say the chief Powahe is next in Dignity and Authority to the King and when he dies Marries the Squasachem or Queen The Kings have no Laws to Command by nor have they any annual Revenues yet commonly are they so either fear'd or belov'd that half their Subjects estate is at their Service and their Persons at his Command by which Command he is better known than by any thing else for though he hath no Kingly Robes to make him glorious in the view of his Subjects nor daily Guards to succor his Person nor Court-like attendance nor sumptuous Palaces yet do they yield all submissive subjection to him accounting him their Soveraign going at his Command and coming at his Beck not so much as expostulating the cause though it be in matters thwarting their wills he being accounted a disloyal Subject that will not effect what his Prince Commands Whosoever is known to Plot Treason or to lay violent hands
live without the help of any other Countrey for their Clothing for Tradesmen there are none but live happily there as Carpenters Blacksmiths Masons Taylors Weavers Shoemakers Tanners Brickmakers and so any other Trade Them that have no Trade betake themselves to Husbandry get Land of their own and live exceeding well We shall conclude our Discourse of this Countrey with a notable Character given thereof by a late Writer as to the great advantage of happy living in all respects for whosoever shall be pleas'd to betake himself thither to live The Character of a happy Countrey IF there be any terrestrial happiness saith he to be had by any People especially of an inferior rank it must certainly be here Here any one may furnish himself with Land and live Rent-free yea with such a quantity of Land that he may weary himself with walking over his Fields of Corn and all sorts of Grain and let his Stock amount to some hundreds he needs not fear there want of Pasture in the Summer or Fodder in the Winter the Woods affording sufficient supply where you have Grass as high as a Man's Knees nay as high as his Waste interlac'd with Pea-Vines and other Weeds that Cattel much delight in as much as a Man can pass through And these Woods also every Mile or half-Mile are furnish'd with fresh Ponds Brooks or Rivers where all sorts of Cattel during the heat of the day do quench their thirst and cool themselves These Brooks and Rivers being inviron'd of each side with several sorts of Trees and Grape-Vines Arbor-like interchanging places and croding these Rivers do shade and shelter them from the scorching beams of the Sun Such as by their utmost Labors can scarcely get a Living may here procure Inheritances of Lands and Possessions stock themselves with all sorts of Cattel enjoy the benefit of them whilst they live and leave them to their Children when they die Here you need not trouble the Shambles for Meat nor Bakers and Brewers for Beer and Bread nor run to a Linnen-Draper for a supply every one making their own Linnen and a great part of their woollen Cloth for their ordinary wearing And how prodigal if I may so say hath Nature been to furnish this Countrey with all sorts of wild Beasts and Fowl which every one hath an interest in and may Hunt at his pleasure where besides the pleasure in Hunting he may furnish his House with excellent fat Venison Turkies Geese Heath-hens Cranes Swans Ducks Pigeons and the like and wearied with that he may go a Fishing where the Rivers are so furnish'd that he may supply himself with Fish before he can leave off the Recreation Here one may travel by Land upon the same Continent hundreds of Miles and pass through Towns and Villages and never hear the least complaint for want nor hear any ask him for a Farthing Here one may lodge in the Fields and Woods travel from one end of the Countrey to another with as much security as if he were lock'd within his own Chamber And if one chance to meet with an Indian Town they shall give him the best Entertainment they have and upon his desire direct him on his Way But that which adds happiness to all the rest is the healthfulness of the Place where many People in twenty years time never know what Sickness is where they look upon it as a great Mortality if two or three die out of a Town in a years time Besides the sweetness of the Air the Countrey it self sends forth such a fragrant smell that it may be perceiv'd at Sea before they can make the Land No evil Fog or Vapor doth any sooner appear but a North-West or Westerly Wind immediately dissolves it and drives it away Moreover you shall scarce see a House but the South-side is begirt with Hives of Bees which increase after an incredible manner So that if there be any terrestrial Canaan 't is surely here where the Land floweth with Milk and Honey Noua TERRA-MARIAE tabula This Northerne part of Virginia the limitts whereof extend farther Southwards is heere inserted for the better description of the entrance into the Bay of Chesapeack A NEW DESCRIPTION OF MARY-LAND SECT III. BEfore We proceed to the Description of this Countrey it will be first requisite to relate the true occasion and means whereby this part of America came to be erected into a Province and call'd Mary-land In the Year of our Lord 1631. George Lord Baltimore obtain'd of King Charles the First of Great Brittain c. a Grant of that part of America first discover'd by the English which lies between the Degrees of thirty seven and fifty Minutes or thereabouts and forty of Northerly Latitude which is bounded on the South by Virginia on the North by New England and New Jersey The situation part of New York lying on the East side of Delaware Bay on the East by the Ocean and on the West by that part of the Continent which lies in the Longitude of the first Fountains of the River call'd Patomeck In pursuance of this Grant to his said Lordship a Bill was prepar'd and brought to His Majesty to Sign who first ask'd his Lordship what he should call it there being a Blank in the Bill designedly left for the Name which his Lordship intended should have been Crescentia but his Lordship leaving it to His Majesty to give it a Name the King propos'd to have it call'd Terra-Mariae in English Mary-land in honor of his Queen whose Name was Mary which was concluded on and inserted into the Bill which the King then Sign'd and thereby the said Tract of Land was erected into a Province by that Name His Lordship somewhat delaying the speedy passing of it under the Great Seal of England dy'd in the interim before the said Patent was perfected whereupon a Patent of the said Province was shortly afterwards pass'd to his Son and Heir who was Christen'd by the Name of Coecil but afterwards confirm'd by the Name of Coecilius the now Lord Baltemore under the Great Seal of England bearing Date June 20. 1632. in the eighth Year of His said Majesties Reign with all Royal Jurisdictions and Prerogatives both Military and Civil in the said Province as Power to Enact Laws Power of pardoning all manner of Offences Power to confer Honors c. to be held of His said Majesty His Heirs and Successors Kings of England in common Soccage as of His Majesties Honor of Windsor in the County of Berks in England yielding and paying yearly for the same to His Majesty and to His Heirs and Successors for ever two Indian Arrows of those parts at the Castle of Windsor aforesaid on Tuesday in Easter Week and the fifth part of all Gold and Silver Oar which shall happen to be found in the said Province The Bounds By the said Patent is Granted to his Lorship his Heirs and Assigns all that part of a Peninsula lying
and quantity onely in such things as require more Sun and that may be produc'd by Industry there may be some little difference because Virginia is somewhat more to the Southward of mary-Mary-land as in Vines Oranges Lemmons Olives Silk c. There is a Plant grows naturally in this Countrey Silk-Grass and in Mary-land call'd Silk-Grass which will make a fine Stuff with a silky Gloss and better Cordage than Hemp or Flax both for strength and durance The wild Beasts Birds and Fish are much the same also in this Countrey as are before describ'd in the precedent Description of Mary-land Nevertheless we shall think it proper not to omit some Fruits Plants Beasts c. mention'd by the most authentick Describers of New England Fruits peculiar to Virginia as peculiar to that Countrey The Fruits are their Putchamines which are a kind of Damsons Messamines a kind of Grapes Chechinquamins a sort of Fruit resembling a Chesnut Rawcomens a Fruit resembling a Gooser-berry Macoquer a kind of Apple Mettaquesunnauks a sort of Fruit resembling Inkian Figs Morococks resembling a Straw-berry besides a Berry which they call Ocoughtanamnis somewhat like to Capers Their peculiar Roots are Tockawaugh Roots good to eat Wichsacan of great vertue in healing of Wounds Pocones good to asswage Swellings and Aches Musquaspen wherewith they Paint their Targets and Mats Also they have in great request a Pulse call'd Assentamen and the Plant Mattouna of which they make Bread Their peculiar Beasts are Beasts the Aroughena resembling a Badger the Assapanick or Flying-Squerril Opassum a certain Beast having a Bag under her Belly wherein she carrieth and suckleth her Young Mussascus which smelling strong of Musk resembleth a Water-Rat Utchunquois a kind of wild Cat. Their peculiar Fish are Stingrais On the West side of the Bay of Chesapeak between Cape Henry and the Southerly Bank of the River of Patomeck are three fair Navigable Rivers as is before mention'd into which the other small Rivulets fall Rivulets which here we will give some account of as also of the Indian or antient Names by which these three principal Rivers were formerly known The first whereof is Powhatan now call'd James-River according to the Name of a large and considerable Territory that lieth upon it The Rivers that fall into this Southward are Apamatuck Eastward Quiyonycohanuc Nansamund and Chesopeak and Northward Chickamahania The second Navigable River is Pamaunkee by the English now term'd York-River The Rivulet that falls into this is Poyankatanck The third which is before describ'd and usually known by the Name of Rappahanoc was formerly term'd Toppahanoc This we thought fit here to insert to the end no colour of mistake might remain to after Ages concerning the derivation or original change of such proper Names especially being Places of great advantage to the Colony Several People of the ancient Natives of Virginia The chiefest of those Tribes or Divisions of People among the Indians that were by Name known to the English at their first arrival were upon the River Pouhatan the Kecoughtans the Paspaheghes on whose Land is seated James-Town the Weanocks Arrohatocks the Appametocks the Nandsamunds the Chesapeacks c. On the River Pamaunkee are the Younghtanunds the Mattapaments c. On the River Toppahanoc the Manahoacks the Moraughtacunds and the Cuttatawomens On the River Patawomek the Wighcocomocans the Onawmanients and the Moyanances On the River Pawtuxunt the Acquintacsuacs the Pawtuxunts and the Matapunients On the River Bolus the Sasquesabanoes Southward from the Bay the Chawonocks the Mangoacks the Monacans the Mannahocks the Masawomecks the Atquanahucks and the Kuscarawaocks besides a number not material to be nam'd as having had little of Transaction that we hear of with the Planters Number of Inhabitants The number of English Inhabitants in this Countrey are in this present Year 1671. about thirty or forty thousand who are plentifully stock'd with all sorts of tame Cattel as Cows Sheep Horses Swine c. and all sorts of English Grain great store of brave Orchards for Fruit whereof they make great quantities of Cyder and Perry They have been much oblig'd by that worthy Gentleman Mr. Edward Digges Son of Sir Dudley Digges who was Master of the Rolls and a Privy Councellor to King Charles the First of Great Brittain c. For the said Mr. Digges at his great Charge and Industry hath very much advanc'd the making of Silk in this Countrey for which purpose he hath sent for several Persons out of Armenia to teach them that Art and how to wind it off the Cods of the Silk-Worms and hath made at his own Plantation in this Colony for some years last past considerable quantities of Silk which is found to be as good Silk as any is in the World which hath encourag'd divers others to prosecute that Work The Commodities of Virginia Though this Countrey be capable of producing many other good Commodities yet the Planters have hitherto imploy'd themselves for the most part in Planting of Tobacco as they do in Mary-land whereof there are two sorts one which is call'd Sweet-scented and the other call'd Oranoack or Bright and Large which is much more in quantity but of lesser Price than the former and the Plantations upon York River are esteem'd to produce the best of that sort of Sweet-scented There is so much of this Commodity Planted in Virginia and Imported from thence into England that the Custom and Excize paid in England for it yields the King about fifty or threescore thousand Pounds Sterling per annum With this Commodity the Planter buys of the Ships that come thither for it which are above a hundred Sail yearly from England and other English Plantations all Necessaries of Clothing and other Utensils of Houshold-stuff c. which they want though they make some Shoes and Linnen and Woollen Cloth in some parts of Virginia of the growth and Manufacture of the Countrey and if they would Plant less Tobacco as it is probable they will e're long find it convenient for them to do it being now grown a Drug of very low value by reason of the vast quantities Planted of it they might in a little time provide themselves of all Necessaries of Livelyhood and produce much richer and more Staple-Commodities for their advantage Their usual way of Traffique in buying and selling is by exchange of one Commodity for another and Tobacco is the general Standard by which all other Commodities receive their value but they have some English and foreign Coyns which serve them upon many occasions The Government is by a Governor and Council Appointed and Authoriz'd from time to time by immediate Commission from the King of Great Brittain And Laws are made by the Governor with the consent of a General Assembly which consists of two Houses an Upper and a Lower the first consists of the Council and the latter of the Burgesses chosen by the Freemen of the Countrey and Laws
so made are in Force there till His Majesty thinks fit to alter them The Chief Court of Judicature is call'd The Quarter-Court because it is held every quarter of a Year where all Causes Criminal and Civil are heard and determin'd and the Judges of this Court are the Governor and Council The present Governor in this Year 1671. is Sir William Berkley who was made Governor by King Charles the First of Great Brittain c. in the Year 1640. And those of the Council are Sir Henry Chichesly who is one of the greatest and most considerable Planters there and Mr. Edward Diggs before-mention'd Mr. Thomas Ludwel Secretary Major-General Robert Smith and divers other worthy Gentlemen That part of the Countrey where the English are Planted is divided into nineteen Counties viz. Northampton-County in Acomack on the Eastern shore and on the Western shore Corotuck Lower-Norfolk Nansemund Isle of Wight Surry Warwick Henerico James Charles York New-Kent Gloucester Middlesex Lancaster Northumberland Westmoreland Rappahanock and Harford-Counties In every one of these Counties there are inferior County-Courts kept every Moneth these take no Cognizance of Causes relating to Life or Member or exceeding a certain limited Value such being refer'd to the Quarter-Courts only to which likewise there lie Appeals from their Inferior Courts There are Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and other Officers in every respective County appointed by the Governor for the Administration of Justice who sit there according to his Order and whereof these County-Courts are chiefly compos'd There are few Towns as yet erected in this Colony the Principal Seat of the English there is at a place call'd James-City in Honor of King James of Great Brittain c. This is situated in a Peninsula on the North side of James-River and has in it many fair Brick and other good Houses In this place are held the Quarter-Courts General Assemblies the Secretary's Office and all other Affairs and greatest Concerns of the Colony are here dispatch'd On the same side nearer the Mouth of this River stands Elizabeth-City containing also several good Houses of Brick and Timber Sir William Berkley the present Governor resides at a place somewhat distant from James-City call'd Green-Spring a fair Brick House which he himself caus'd to be built The other Towns of Note belonging to the English only Henricopolis or Henry's-Town so nam'd from Prince Henry then living built in a very convenient place more within Land about eighty Miles distant from James-City and Dale's-Gift so nam'd and Planted at the Charges of Sir Thomas Dale Deputy-Governor of the Countrey about the Year 1610. Of the Indians of Virginia The Indians of Virginia in Stature Complexion and Disposition differ very little from those of mary-Mary-land Their Laws and Customs their way of Living and Apparel their Religion Money and manner of Burial are the same in both places all which are more particularly express'd in the precedent Description of that Province to which we refer the Reader Yet these Indians far exceed those of Mary-land in Treachery and Cruelty to the English there as will appear by this following Relation of their Proceedings towards them since the first Seating of that Colony wherein nevertheless the Civility of some particular Persons at their first Landing is not to be omitted Transactions between the English and the Natives Upon the first arrival of Captain Amidas and Captain Barlow in Wingandacoa now Virginia they were accosted by Granganimeo the King's Brother of that Countrey who attended with a Train of forty or fifty Men came in a very civil manner to Treat about a Commerce of Trade and Traffick which immediately began between them and several Barters were made Granganimeo who was very just of his Word and always kept his promis'd Day of meeting fancying most a Pewter Dish gave twenty Deer-skins for it and boring a Hole therein hung it about his Neck for a Breast-plate afterwards he with his whole Company and his Wife and Children frequently and familiarly did eat and drink aboard the English Ships the King himself call'd Wingina lying sick at his chief Town six days Journey off of a dangerous Wound which he had receiv'd from a neighboring King his mortal Enemy Some of the English going to Land upon the Isle of Roanoack were met by Granganimeo's Wife who her Husband being absent commanded her Servants some to draw their Boat ashore some to carry them on their Backs to Land others to carry in their Oars into the House for fear of stealing and having caus'd a great Fire to be made to warm them and to dry those that had been wet in their Voyage she afterwards Entertain'd them with a very plentiful Feast or Banquet after that Countrey fashion and when they took alarm at the coming of two or three of her Men with Bowes and Arrows she caus'd the Bowes to be broken and the Men to be beaten out of the House besides several other demonstrations of extraordinary civility and when notwithstanding all this they could not be perswaded to Lodge any where but in their Boat she us'd all means imaginable to make them quit their jealousie and accept of a Lodging in the House In the Year 1585. a Company that went over with Sir Richard Greenvill burnt the Town of Aquascogoc by reason of a Silver Cup that was stoln by some of the Indians took Prisoner Menatonon King of Chawonoc who gave a large Relation of another King about three days Journey off who possess'd an Island wonderfully rich in Pearl which was taken in great abundance in a deep Water that inviron'd it Going towards the Countrey of the Mangoacks among whom in the Province of Chaunis Temoatan they heard of a Mine of strange Copper call'd Wassador with Skiko the King of Chowonock's Son and Manteo a faithful Salvage for their Guide they were treacherously dealt with by Wingina alias Pemissapan for so his Brother Granganimeo being lately dead he had alter'd his Name who endeavor'd to stir up a Confederacy of the Chawonocks Moratocks and Mangoacks against them yet by the urgent perswasions of Ensenore his Father the truest Friend the English had after the death of Granganimeo and seeing them safe return'd from their Journey wherein he thought they had all perish'd and especially upon Menatonon's sending Messengers to them with Pearl and Okisco King of Weopomeock to yield himself Vassal to the Queen of England his Hatred was somewhat cool'd but Ensenore deceasing soon after he return'd to his old treacherous Practises again and in the end while he was contriving mischief against the Planters he himself was shot taken Prisoner and beheaded After the Company left upon Virginia by Sir Richard Greenwill for he himself was return'd tir'd out with hunger hardship and the many extremities they were at last reduc'd to had deserted the Place and obtain'd Passage for England through the civility of Sir Francis Drake pitying their distress fifty Men more were Landed upon Roanoack-Isle by the
along with him with undaunted courage and resolution marches against Narvaez and such was his good fortune that not onely Narvaez became his Prisoner without much blood-shed but likewise all his Men joyn'd with him in his Design through the favour of the Chancery or supream Court of St. Domingo and by the procurement of the Licentiat Vasquez de Ayllon a Judge of it who was sent with Narvaez to accommodate the Differences With this Recruit Cortesius marches back again to Mexico but at his coming finds things in a very bad condition for the Citizens gather'd together under the Command of one Quicuxtemoc had recourse to Arms and for three days and three Nights vex'd the Spaniards with continual Stormings notwithstanding what-ever Commands they had to the contrary from their imprison'd King who at last looking out of a Window endeavoring to appease them was hurt with a Stone of which he soon after died as they say who would not have the Spaniards thought to have murder'd him as the Mexicans say they did with divers other Noble-men and some of his Children the very Night they fled However it were not long after his Death out of extream necessity and chiefly for want of Victuals the Spaniards were forc'd to leave the City in the night-time and with the loss of four hundred and fifty of their Men who were either slain or taken Prisoners at the passing of a Draw-bridge the rest making a heavy Retreat to their Friends at Tlascalla There is standing at this day in Mexico upon the place where so many of them were kill'd a certain Hermitage which they call Los Martyres or The Hermitage of the Martyrs though but improperly if upon that occasion as one of their own Writers confesses though he alledges no other reason This Retreat of the Spaniards out of Mexico hapned to be upon the tenth of July after mid-night in the Year 1520. which the Spaniards at Mexico call The Doleful Night Nevertheless the undaunted Cortesius being got though with much difficulty and trouble by reason of the pursuit of the Mexicans for a good part of the Way to his sure Friends of Tlascalla neither lost his Courage nor gave over his Resolution of yet gaining Mexico especially the way being now laid open and sufficient occasion given by the Death of Muteczuma and the provocations of the Mexicans themselves to make himself absolute and sole Lord of the Place wherefore having sent for and procur'd a competent Supply of fresh Soldiers from Santo Domingo or Hispaniola Almeria Cuba and other places being in all nine hundred Foot eight hundred Horse and seventeen Pieces of Ordnance he joyns himself with the Auxiliary Forces of Tlascalla which were no less than a hundred thousand Men Arm'd with Bowes and Arrows and with this Army marches again towards Mexico and Besieges it both by Land and Water viz. with the help of thirteen Brigantines or Galliots which he had built upon the Lake and six thousand Canoos or little Boats which his Friends and Confederates had procur'd him By which means and by his Army on Land in a short time he cut off all Provision from the City and after a Siege of full three Months or more and a most stout and obstinate resistance made by the People within in which they are said to have lost above a hundred thousand Men beside those which perish'd by Famine Sickness or otherwise Mexico taken by the Spaniards he took it by Storm upon Tuesday the thirteenth of August 1521. Sackt it first and then burnt it to the Ground yet afterwards he caus'd it to be Re-built again far more Beautiful than at first it was as in due place we shall further see They speak not of above fifty Spaniards slain during the whole Siege six Horses and not many Tlascaltecans In this manner and with so little Charges to the Conqueror there fell to the Crown of Spain the richest and goodliest Kingdom one of them of the whole World viz. the Kingdom of Mexico which the Conquerors presently nam'd New Spain and in reference to which name the Catholick King hath ever since stil'd himself in the plural number Hispaniarum Rex or King of both Spains and all by the Valor Prudence Cortez advanc'd to Honors admirable Resolution and happy Conduct of Cortez who was at first but a private Adventurer in the American Plantations and Discoveries though otherwise a Gentleman of a good Family in Spain born at Medellin in the Country of Estramedura The Emperor Charles the Fifth who was also then King of Spain for his great Services endow'd him deservedly with many great and rich Territories in the Provinces of Tlascalla Mechoacan and other parts thereabouts made him Marquess of the Valley viz. of Guaxata which is his chief Title a rich and flourishing Province of that Countrey Captain General or Commander in Chief of all the Military Forces of New-Spain and General Discoverer of all the Maritime parts and Coasts of America towards the South-Sea assigning him in propriety the twelfth part of whatsoever should be discover'd to him and his Heirs for ever but deny'd him the Government of Mexico out of reason of State though 't is said he much desir'd it Among the famous Havens which lie along the South Sea and Northern Ocean the chiefest is Acapulco before-mention'd The grand Haven Acapulco whither all Merchandize is sent to be transported to China which is above two thousand Leagues distant from thence in which Voyage they generally spend fourteen Months four Sail each of eight hundred Tun appointed for this Trade generally two of them set Sail to China in March and returning in Summer have no sooner drop'd their Anchors but the other two set out from Acapulco from whence the way by Land to Mexico is seventy two Leagues over steep Mountains dangerous Rocks and several Rivers the chiefest whereof are first Del Papagayo or De las Balsas which runs exceeding strong which the Indians cross on bundles of Canes ty'd upon Callabashes Next San Francisco which though the biggest yet hath many shallow places to wade over The Mustichoes are no small Plagues to those that travel this way for their Poysonous Stings are the occasions of many Ulcerated Wounds and oft-times Death it self In this way lies also the Countrey del Valle from which Ferdinand Cortesius receiv'd the Title of Earl PORTUS ACAPULCO The Mouth of the Haven Acapulco gapes a full League North and South and within exceeding large hath a nook call'd Boca Grande where the Ships Ride safe at an Anchor More Easterly appears a Land Inlet by the Spaniards call'd Puerto del Marques secur'd against all Winds near which is the City of San Diego to which belongs a Fort with six Bulwarks lying on a Promontory the main of the City is one large Street consisting of fair and stately Houses and leading directly to the Haven the Church which is of an oblong square hath a high Steeple in the middle
follow fled to the Mountains from whence they could not be enticed whilst the Spaniards found their Houses full of Provisions and some Minerals Now those being dead whom they sought for some though it convenient to return but Espejus and Beltran perswaded the contrary alledging That farther up according to the Indians information lay several Provinces which were worth the discovery and advis'd that the chiefest part of their Forces might stay there whilst they and some few resolute Men went farther upon the Discovery which accordingly was perform'd Espejus having travell'd two days came into a fruitful Province jutting against Cibola in which he found eleven Villages inhabited by above fourteen thousand People who were clad in Skins and Cotton worshipp'd many Idols and receiv'd the Spaniards with great Civility The like Entertainment they met withall in the Countrey Los Quires wash'd by the River Del Norte near which stood five Villages inhabited by about fifteen thousand People Thirteen Leagues farther they found De los Cunames having also five Villages the chiefest of which being Cia boasted as above mention'd eight Market-places The Houses made of Lime were neatly Painted and compris'd in all above twenty thousand Persons and civil People who presented Espejus and his Company with handsom Cloaks set good boyl'd Meat before them and shew'd them rich Minerals and the Mountains out of which they got the same Of the like Constitution were the Inhabitants De los Amires which being thirty thousand in number resided in seven well built Villages lying North-West from Cunames After this they march'd Westward and found the eminent Village Acoma mention'd before built on an exceeding high Rock to which led onely a narrow Path up a pair of Stairs cut in the Rock as also many Wells to receive Rain besides what they have out of a River led by moats round about their Plough'd Lands The Spaniards staying here three days were Entertain'd with all sorts of good Meat Dances and Drolls From hence travelling twenty four Leagues more Westerly they entred the Province of Zuny where the erected Crosses which had remain'd there till that time were sufficient testimonies of Cornaro's having been there after he was deserted by Andreas de Cuyocan Casper de Mexico and Antonius de Guadalajara being setled on Zuny otherwise call'd Cibola and speaking the Indian Tongue better than their Native Language inform'd Espejus that sixty days Journey farther lay a great Lake whose Shores were crown'd with many brave Villages inhabited by a People which wore Golden Armlets and Ear-rings whither Franciscus Vasquez had gone a second time had not Death prevented him This Information so encourag'd Espejus that notwithstanding it was so great a Journey yet he resolv'd to venture thither though the Monk Beltran and most of his Company perswaded him to the contrary whereupon Beltran return'd After which Espejus went on to the said Lake wither he was accompanied with a hundred and fifty Indians Having gone twenty six Leagues he found a populous Province whose Borders he no sooner approach'd but he was told That if he was willing to lose his Life he and his Party might enter into a forbidden Dominion yet notwithstanding this threatnign Message he wrought so much upon the Casique by the Presents which he sent him that he was permitted to come in freely nay the Inhabitants of Zaguato strow'd Meal on the Earth for the Spaniards to go over and presented Espejus at his departure with forty thousand Cotton Cloaks and a considerable quantity of Plate which he sent with five of his Soldiers and all the Cibolan Indians back to Cibola keeping onely four Companions and one Guide with whom he travell'd forty one Leagues Westward where he found a Mountain to the top whereof led a broad Path which ascending he took up Silver Oar with his own Hand The several sorts of People that inhabited here were all civil and courteous living in good fashion in pretty large Houses built on the Banks of a pleasant River shaded with Vines and Nut-Trees and thick planted with Flax They inform'd Espejus that near a River which runs eight Miles towards the North Sea were such stately Places as could not be beheld without great admiration But Espejus going back a plain Road to Cibola found not onely those whom he had sent from Zaguato but also Beltran with the other Soldiers who having been detained where by the Civilities and kind Entertainments of the Indians were now upon returning home so that Espejus was left alone with eight Soldiers who resolv'd to venture their Lives and Fortunes with him They travell'd along the River Del Norte through the Provinces De los Guires and Habutas whose Mountains over-spread with Pine-Trees and Cedars have many rich Mines The Natives wore painted Cotton Cloaks and dwelt in stately Houses five Stories high At the Borders of the Realm Los Tamos they were stopt and not permitted to come on farther wherefore being but few in number and several of them sick they judg'd it convenient to cross the River De las Vaccas so call'd from the abundance of Cows that were thereabouts to the River Conchos and the Village Bartholomew where Espejus was inform'd that Beltran was long before his arrival gone to Guadiana And now that we may have the better Account of New Mexico which Ruyz Espejus and Beltran endeavor'd to discover it will be necessary to begin with the first original thereof according as several ancient Histories make mention First original of the New Mexicans The most ancient Possessors of that part of Northern America call'd New Spain were for their fierce and salvage Nature call'd Chichimecae who dwelling in Caves fed on Moles Rabbets Hedghogs Serpents Roots and Herbs Whilst the Women accompanied their Husbands in their Travels the Children were put into Baskets and hang'd in a Tree No manner of Government was to be found amongst them They never Till'd their Ground till the Navatlacans came from New Mexico which was anciently divided into two Countreys Aztlan and Teuculhuacan to New Spain after which they Sow'd their Lands The Navatlacans who us'd to dwell in Houses worship Images plough their Lands and obey their Governors were divided into six Tribes each Tribe possessing their limited Bounds and there goes a Tradition That out of six Pits that are to be seen in New Mexico the Navatlacans had their original The time when they deserted New Mexico as their most authentick Histories or Records declare was according to our computation Anno 940. and they farther affirm that they spent forty years in a Journey which might have been travell'd in a Moneth The reason of which tediousness was because they rested in all places where they found a fruitful Countrey but as they had advice from their diabolical Spirits which as they say appear'd visibly to them they still went on farther and farther yet left behind those that were aged sick and decrepid building convenient Houses for them and appointing Overseers to look after
Seas to Sail to it there being not any Islands Rocks or Sands between the Lands-End in England and New-found Land and for the most part it is not above three or four Weeks Sail thither and less coming back and is the most commodiously situated for the discovering of the North-West Passage and other Inlets into the South Sea whereby the ordinary Voyages to China Japan and the East-Indies are much eas'd in the expence of Time and Charge and the most open to Trade to all Parts of any Island of the West-Indies On the East side of the Land are the Bays of Trinity and Conception which stretch themselves towards the South-West Tor-Bay and Capelin-Bay lying also on the East stretch themselves towards the West The Bays of Trespassey St. Mary Borrel and Plaisance on the South part of the Land extend their Arms towards the North. The great Bay of St. Peters lying on the South-West side of the Land and Southerly from the great River of Canada being about twenty Leagues distant the same stretcheth toward the East Trinity Harbour lies in near forty nine Degrees of North Latitude being very commodiously seated to receive Shipping in seasonable Weather both to Anchor in and from thence to Sail towards either the East West or South It hath three Arms or Rivers long and large enough for many hundred Sail of Ships to moare fast at Anchor near a Mile from the Harbours Mouth Close adjoyning to the Rivers side and within the Harbour is much open Land well stor'd with Grass sufficient Winter and Summer to maintain great store of ordinary Cattel besides Hogs and Goats if such Beasts were carried thither and it standeth North most of any Harbor in the Land where our Nation practiseth Fishing It is near unto a great Bay lying on the North side of it call'd The Bay of Flowers to which Place no Ships repair to Fish in regard of sundry Rocks and Ledges lying even with the Water and full of danger The bottom of the Bay of Trinity lieth within four Leagues through the Land South-West Southerly from Trinity as by experience is found and it comes near unto the Bay of Trespassey and the bottom of some other Bays Trespassey in like manner is as commodious a Harbour lying in a more temperate Climate almost in forty six Degrees of North Latitude and is both fair and pleasant and a wholsom Coast free from Rocks and Shelves so that of all other Harbours it lies the most South of any in the Land and most conveniently to receive our Shipping passing to and from Virginia and the Bermuda Islands and also any other Shipping that shall pass to and from the River of Canada and the Coast thereof because they usually pass and so return in the sight of the Land of Trespassey and also for some other purposes as shall be partly declar'd in the following Discourse The Soil of this Countrey in the Valleys and sides of the Mountains is so fruitful Fruitful Soil as that in divers places the Summer naturally produceth without Tillage great plenty of green Pease and Fitches fair round full and as wholsom as ours in England Berries and Fruits Of Berries and Fruits there grows Strawberries red and white and as fair Raspice-berries and Goose-berries as there be in England as also Bilberries which are call'd by some Whortes and many other delicate Berries peculiar to the Countrey in great abundance Likewise small Pears Cherries Filberds c. Herbs and Flowers There are also Herbs for Sallets and Broth as Parsly Alexander Sorrel c. and also Flowers as the red and white Damask Rose with other kinds which are most beautiful and delightful both to the sight and smell And questionless the Countrey is stor'd with many Physical Herbs though their Vertues are not known When Corn was first Sow'n here it was observ'd to grow very fair the increase was great and the Grain very good and several sorts of Kitchin Plants that have been Set here have prov'd very well In divers parts of the Countrey there is great store of Deer Beasts and some Hares many Foxes Squerrils Beavers Martins and Otters yielding excellent Furrs Wolves and Bears with other sorts of Beasts serving as well for Necessity as for Profit and Delight Variety both of Land and Water-Fowl is in this Countrey infinite Birds The chief Land-Fowl besides a great number of small Birds that live by scraping their Food from the Earth in the hardest Winter are Hawks great and small Partridges Thrush and Thrussels abundance very fat as also Filladies Nightingales and such like which sing most pleasantly There are also Birds that live by prey as Ravens Gripes Crows c. For Water-Fowl there is certainly so good and as much variety as in any part of the World as Geese Ducks Pigeons Gulls Penguins and many other sorts These Penguins are as big as Geese but do not flye for they have but a little short Wing and they multiply so infinitely upon a certain flat Island that men drive them from thence upon a Board into their Boats by hundreds at a time as if God had made the innocency of so poor a Creature to become such an admirable Instrument for the sustentation of Man And also Godwits Curlews and such like which Fowl do not onely serve those that Trade thither for Food but also they are a great furthering to divers Ships Voyages because the abundance of them is such that the Fisher-men do bait their Hooks with the quarters of Sea-Fowl on them and therewith some Ships do yearly take a great part of their Fishing Voyages with such Bait before they can get others The fresh Waters and Springs of that Countrey are many in number Springs and withall so very pleasant delightful and wholsom that no Countrey in the World hath better And Fewel for Fireing no where more plentiful In like manner there is great abundance of Trees fit to be employ'd in other serviceable uses Trees There are Fir and Spruce-Trees sound good and fit to Mast Ships with and as commodious for Boards and Buildings as those of Norway and out of these come abundance of Turpentine Moreover the Pine and Birch-Trees here are scarce to be compar'd for heighth and greatness The Rivers also and Harbours are generally stor'd with delicate Fish as Salmons Peals Eels Herrings Mackrel Flounders Launce Capelin Cod and Trouts the fairest fattest and sweetest that ever were seen in these Parts The like for Lobsters Cra-fish Mussles and other variety of Shell-fish The Seas likewise all along the Coast do plentifully abound in other sorts of Fish as Whales Spanish Mackrel Dorrel Pales Herrings Hogs Porposes Seals and such like Royal Fish c. But the chief Commodity of New found Land yet known and which is grown to be a setled Trade and that it may be much better'd by an ordinary Plantation there if the Traders thither will take some better course than formerly they have
fifteen hundred in number inhabited twenty Leagues of Land in length Forts built upon the Bermudas On the longest Island call'd St. George for the Bermudas consists of several Islands great and small they built Warwick and Dover Forts with other Fortifications and Towers which had their Denominations from those Noble-men and Gentlemen that were Undertakers in this Plantation as Cavendish Paget Herbert c. from the Earl of Devonshire the Lord Paget the Earl of Pembroke and others â—orts and Havens Amongst the Havens the eminentest are Southampton the Inlet Harrington and the Great Sound All these Islands lying together resemble a Half-Moon and are surrounded with Rocks which appear at Low-water and at High lie but shallow for it seldom Ebbs or Flows above five Foot The Shore for the most part Rocky and hardned by the Sun and Wind receives no damage by the Waves which continually beat against the same Nature of the Soil The Ground it self differs for in some places it is sandy or clayie and in others partly black and partly white or Ash-colour'd Earth which last is accounted the worst and the black the best Three Foot deep under the Ash-colour'd Earth lie great Slates and under the black a white spungie Stone like the Pumice in whose moist Crevises Trees take root The Pits or Wells though they Ebb and Flow with the Sea yet produce a wholsom and sweet Water Temperature of the Air. The Skie is generally serene but when over-cast with Clouds is subject to Lightning and Thunder yet the Air is of a good temper being neither exceeding cold nor excessive hot for which reason the European Fruits grow better there than in their natural Soil Their Harvest is twice a year for that which they Sowe in March is ripe and gather'd in June then what they Sowe again in August they gather in January Productions of the Countrey These Islands breed no hurtful Creatures nay the yellow Spider which spins silken Cobwebs is free from Poyson The Plant Nuchtly which bears speckled Pears grows betwixt the Rocks which are drench'd with Sea-water The Hogs which above a hundred and fifty years since swam ashore out of the Spanish Wrack are exceedingly increas'd there but because of their poorness are scarce eatable they feeding onely on the sweet Berries which fall from the Palmito-Trees About the white and red Mulberries which grow plentifully there breed thousands of Silk-worms which spin Silk according to the colour of the Mulberries The Sea produces some quantity of Pearls and Ambergreece From the beginning of the year till May the Whales are seen to swim not far from the Shore A strange sort of Sea-Fowl breed in Holes like Rabbets and amongst other Birds here are also store of Cranes The Tobacco which the English have planted here grows very well Tortoises Laying of Eggs. Here are likewise great Tortoises which Lay their Eggs in the Sand on the Shore where they are Hatch'd by the Beams of the Sun and are taken after this manner In the Night some are set to watch where they Land and whilest they are digging a deep Hole in the Ground are thrown on their Backs and not being able to get upon their Legs again they lie and groan very pitifully some of them having above two Basons full of Eggs in their Bellies which being about the bigness of a Tennis-Ball have a thin Shell which incloseth a Yolk and White If these Eggs lie buried six years then the young Tortoises breaking the Shell come out of the Sand and instantly creep into the Sea Their Flesh is not onely wholsom but toothsom The Oyl made of them is not inferior to Butter Cedars of an excellent kind Moreover the Bermudas produce Cedars the like of which are not to be found in the whole World The Leaves are douny and prickly at the ends almost like those of the Juniper Tree The Wood hath a sweet smell and the Berries which are like the Myrtle of a pale Red inclose four white Kernels the outermost Skin whereof is sweet the innermost which covers the Kernel sharp and the Pulp tartish The Trees are always flourishing being at the same time full of Blossoms green and ripe Fruit The Berries when grown ripe begin to gape and fall off in rainy Weather leaving a round Stalk on the Boughs which loses not its Rind till two years after half which time the Berry requires before it attains to its perfect ripeness which generally happens in the Winter The Boughs shoot straight upwards and become in time so heavy that they cause the Body of the Tree to bend This most excellent Wood grows in divers places of the Bermudas We shall conclude with the resolute Exploit of five Sea-men Anno 1616. who to the great admiration of all People set Sail from thence in an open Vessel of three Tun through the main Ocean and after having suffer'd terrible Tempests arriv'd in the space of seven Weeks safe in Ireland These Islands are remarkable for divers sorts of Plants unknown in other Parts as the Prickle Pear Poyson Weed Red Weed Purging Bean Costive Tree Red Pepper and the Sea Feather Also several strange Birds as the Egg Bird Cahow Tropick Bird and the Pemlico which presageth Storms CHAP. XIII Hispaniola THe Islands call'd De Barlovento by which are understood Hispaniola Cuba Jamaica and Boriquen as also the Lucaies with the Caribes and lastly the Isles call'd De Sotavento viz. Margareta Cabagua and Tabago are by some comprehended all under the general Name of The Isles Antilles though others reckon the Antilles to be the same with the Caribes onely But leaving this Controversie undecided we shall begin with the Isles De Barlovento the chief whereof is Hispaniola Bounds and Description of Hispaniola Hispaniola or Little Spain as Columbus nam'd it is though not the largest yet the fairest and goodliest of all the American Islands call'd by the Natives anciently Hayti and Quisqueia It lieth about fifteen Leagues Westward of Porto Rico and distant from the main Land of America about one hundred and twenty 't is of a triangular form the sharpest Point whereof is that towards Porto Rico which they call Cabo de Enganno that towards the West inclines to a Semi-circle containing a good and convenient Bay betwixt the two Points viz. St. Nicholas to the North and Cabo de Donna Maria towards the South It is not thought to be less than a hundred and fifty Leagues in length and in breadth from threescore to thirty and to contain in the compass of the whole four hundred Leagues at least lying betwixt eighteen and twenty Degrees of Northern Latitude having an Air somewhat infested with the Morning Heats but well cool'd again in the Afternoon by a constant Wind from the Sea which they call there Virason It is for the fertility of the Soil one of the richest and most flourishing Countreys in the World the Trees and all things else there continually
into the Water to try whether he would drown or not and seeing him wholly depriv'd of Life he concluded by consequence that the rest of them were mortal and thereupon he set upon them when they were seeking for Gold and kill'd above a hundred and fifty of them Peter Martyr relates farther That these People though very expert in Arms yet were oftentimes beaten by the Cannibals who at one time carried above five thousand People out of Porto Rico for their Winter Provisions The Avarice and Cruelty of the Spaniards Nor was their Condition better'd after the Spaniards conquer'd the Island for those that could not furnish them with Gold were certain of Death Nor were their Cruelties in other places undivulg'd to this People before their Arrival whereupon as is related by Peter Ordonnez de Carellos the Casique Hatvey being inform'd of the Spaniards Approach took an Oath from his Subjects That they should never discover where the Gold lay though they should be put to death for it For said he Gold is their God for which they make so many cursed Blood-baths where-ever they come therefore throw the Gold into some very deep Waters for when the Spanish God is sunk the Spaniards will lose their Courage and not plague us so much for it Ceremonies of the old Natives Many were the Idolatrous Ceremonies of the old Natives of this Place which would be too tedious to relate but amongst the rest they annually kept a great Feast at which the Casiques summon'd all their Subjects to a Temple appointed for that purpose where the Priests had prepar'd an Idol ready set forth in all its Pageantry near which the Casique plac'd himself when upon the beating of a Drum all the Commonalty came also into the Temple the Men painted with divers Colours having on their Heads Plumes of Feathers about their Necks Legs and Arms Strings of Sea-shells The Married Women had a light Covering about their Middle but the Maids went stark naked all of them Dancing and Singing Songs in praise of the Idol after which having saluted the Casique they thrust little Sticks down their Throats so to bring up all they had upon their Stomachs which done and sitting down with their Legs under them they began to Sing anew often bowing and shewing Reverence to the Casique whilest some Women carried Baskets of Bread amongst those that Sang and utter'd certain Prayers which were answer'd by some of the Men the Bread being bless'd by the Priests they gave every one a piece with which they return'd home very merry and jocund But the God of this Island whoever he was hath been a long time left without Worshippers for those that were left by the Invading Cannibals were cruelly massacred by the Spaniards insomuch that they have been thereby necessitated to furnish themselves with Negro's to work in their Mines and Sugar-Mills and these also not able to endure such hard Entertainment ran most of them away for when a Negro did not bring Gold enough home at Night his Master tying him naked to a Stake or Post and beat him with Rods or Switches so long till the Blood ran down his Back then pour'd boyling Oyl into the Wounds and then threw Pepper and Salt into them and so let him lie or else put him into a Pit out of which his Head appear'd onely But those that fled gathering together sometimes met with the Spaniards and paid them in their own Coin The Islands Mona and Monico EAstward of Porto Rico and betwixt it and Hispaniola there lieth a little but fruitful Island call'd Mona and Westward of that another call'd Monico or Monetta which last the English when time was found so admirably stor'd with a sort of wild Fowl that the huge Flights of them seem'd to darken the Air over their Heads and upon their Landing found such plenty of their Eggs upon the Shore and Ground thereabouts that they presently laded two of their Boats with them But how peopled or possess'd not so well known CHAP. XV. Cuba The several Names of Cuba VVEstward or rather to the North-West of Hispaniola lieth Cuba accounted one of the four Isles of Barlovento and by Columbus upon his first Discovery call'd Joanna afterwards Fernandina then Alpha and Omega till at last the present Name prevail'd it is parted from the other by a Frith or narrow Channel which runneth betwixt the Capes of St. Nicholas belonging to Hispaniola and that call'd Mayzi belonging to Cuba Its Bounds On the North it hath a Frie of little Islands call'd The Leucayae Islands of which more in their proper place so many and so thick scatter'd that they serve for no small Security and Defence of the Island on that side besides a part of the Peninsula of Florida which Coasteth it likewise Northward on the West it hath the Countrey of Jucatan which is part of the Continent but at a distance of forty or fifty Leagues and on the South Jamaica It is reckon'd to be in length from Cape Mayzi which looks towards Hispaniola to the Cape of St. Anthony which is upon the Bay of Mexico two hundred and thirty Leagues but in breadth in some places not above fifteen or sixteen Leagues over in the broadest place from Jardines to Lucanaca not above forty in others sixty five But for fertility of Soil contending with Hispaniola it self and for temperature and healthiness of Air much exceeding it nor less rich formerly in good Mines both of Gold and Silver and plentifully stor'd at present not onely with Sugar-Canes of the best Growth but likewise with abundance of Ginger-Roots Cassia-Fistula Mastick Aloes Cinamon Long-Pepper of America as they call it and divers other sorts of Spices The Pastures no less abounding with Cattel of all sorts especially of European Breed the Rivers and Coasts of the Sea with good Fish no scarcity of Fowl whether wild or tame good Brass and Iron still found with some Gold in the Rivers especially those which fall into the Bay Xagua on the South side of the Island the chiefest thereof are Arimao La Luna De Mares and Cauto the biggest of them falls Southward into the Sea all of them breed store of Crocodiles which have oftentimes seiz'd both upon Men and Beasts and carrying them into the Water devour'd them there The Cedars breathe forth a most excellent sweet smell Trees and grow so large that out of the single Trunks of some of them Boats are said to have been made capable to hold forty sometimes sixty Men. There are also many other very odoriferous Trees yielding a certain Rozen or Gum no less precious than the Storax But nothing grows here more plentifully than Vines Birds the Bodies or Stocks of which are as thick as a Man 's Middle and bear excellent Grapes Besides Partridges Turtle-Doves and other Fowl the Sea-shore breeds thousands of Cranes which when young are white but when old become of several Colours they stand commonly
is every where good Anchorage the Road being so deep that a Ship of a thousand Tun may lay his sides to the Shore of the Point and load and unload with Planks afloat 4. On the West is Point Megrill a Port very convenient and secure to Windward from which a little North-West is the Seat of the old Town of Mellilla founded by Columbus as afore mention'd The chief Plantations of this Island are 1. Portmorant above the Harbor before mention'd and by the two Rivers that run into it Here are good Plantations of Sugars Cottons Tobacco's c. 2. Hence about ten Miles lieth Morant where a thousand Acres of Land have been taken up for my Lord Willoughby and a Company of Merchants 3. Hence farther Leeward lieth Yallow having good Plantations of Cotton Tobacco and other Provisions excellent Savana's and some store of tame Cattel 4. Thirty Miles hence on the North side of Cagway is Ligonce where are excellent Plantations of Sugar Cotton and Tobacco very pleasant Savana's and some store of wild Cattel 5. Twenty Miles farther West nines Miles from the Harbor of Cagway is Los Angelos having some Plantations of Sugar Cacao and Tobacco all which were old Spanish Plantations and are less considerable than those made by the English in other places 6. Eight Miles from hence North-West is Guanaboa where likewise were some Spanish Plantations since improv'd by the English who have very many excellent Plantations of Sugar Cacao c. 7. Hence West South-West lieth Guatabacoa a most pleasant rich and fertile part of the Countrey abounding with Cattel and excellent Savana's Here the Negro's setled that revolted from the Spaniards who are endeavouring to make some Plantations of Tobacco's and Provisions and with them are setled some few English who have divers Walks of Cacao The several Governors of the English in Jamaica The several Governors of this Island since the taking of it by the English are as followeth General Robert Venables staid upon the Place about three Moneths after the taking of it and at his coming away for England he left the chief Command to Major General Richard Fortescue who liv'd Governor about three Moneths after which Lieutenant General Edward Doyly was by the Army elected President but upon his coming away soon after for England Lieutenant General William Brain was sent over Governor in his room who living in the Government about three quarters of a year did as it were bequeathe it again to Doyly for he was chosen by vertue of a Blank Commission wherein Brain had inserted his Name whom he would have succeed and remain'd Commander in Chief both by Land and Sea till His Majesty's Restauration and then by His Majesty's Letters Patents was confirm'd in the Government and so was the first that was Governor there for His Majesty The next that succeeded was the Lord Windsor upon whose coming away Sit Thomas Muddiford was sent Governor and after him Sir Thomas Linch who remains Governor at present CHAP. XVII The Islands call'd the Lucaies Situation and Description of the Lucaies HAving done with the four Islands of Barlovento as they are term'd viz. Hispaniola Cuba Porto Rico and Jamaica we come next to the Lucaies so call'd as some think from Lucaioneque one of the biggest of them they lie over against Florida Westward from the Bermudas South-West and North of Hispaniola and the rest of the Barloventi and because they are but small ones and lie so near the Continent Geographers sometimes describe them as a part or appertaining to the Continent The chiefest of these Islands are Lucaioneque afore-mention'd Bahama and Guanahani Lucaioneque is accounted the biggest of them all and lieth in twenty seven Degrees between Bahama and Guanahani Bahama lies nearest to the Coast of Florida and gives Name to the Straights so call'd which run between the Cape of Florida and it with such a violent Course and Torrent that although it be above sixteen Miles broad yet many times neither Wind nor Oars can prevail against it that though the Winds be prosperous Ships cannot enter it and if it be cross they go with the Current yet those Straights the Spanish Fleet must pass in their Return from the Havana towards Spain Guanahani was the first piece of American Ground discover'd by Christopher Columbus and therefore by him call'd San Salvador or St. Saviour because that thereby he was deliver'd from the mutinous rage of the Seamen who threatned to throw him over-board if they discover'd not Land in such a time There are besides a number of small Isles scatter'd up and down which are generally comprehended in the number of the Lucaies one is Little Island encompass'd with a company of Shelves call'd the Bimini so that it is hardly accessible there goes a Tradition that it hath been inhabited by very beautiful Women the fame of whom drew many to attempt to Land there and take up their Habitation in which Attempt many were cast away There is said to be a Fountain in the midst of it of such a Vertue that whosoever drank of the Waters of it had their Youth renew'd Also three Islands or rather Rocks call'd Los Martyres lying to the South-East of Cape Florida and cover'd for the most part with a whitish Sand and a few Bushes growing on them they seem at a distance to bear a resemblance of Men impal'd or bound to Stakes as the Martyrs in the primitive Times usually were which occasion'd the Spaniards so to Name them 't is very dangerous to come too near them but to have sight of them is of great use to Men at Sea for by passing these Rocks and leaving them on the South-East they certainly know that they are now entred the Straights of Bahama that is that they have left the Ocean and are fall'n in amongst those many Islands which do as it were Barracado and Block up the Eastern Coasts of America towards Nombre de Dios and Terra Firma as they call it through which the Continent is sometimes dangerous by reason of contrary Winds and always such that it requires the skill and care of an experienc'd Pilot to conduct the Ships well thither The rest are Abacoa twelve Leagues long Yuma twenty Leagues in length and eight in breadth between twenty four and twenty five Degrees Yumeata fifteen Leagues in length between twenty three and twenty four Degrees Jamana seven Leagues every way Yabague ten Leagues likewise and lying between twenty two and twenty three Degrees Magaguana twenty Leagues long and ten broad Quagua ten Leagues every way and lying between twenty and one and twenty Degrees Caycos five Leagues in length and in the one and twentieth Degree Mackre in the twentieth Degree encompass'd with Shelves Abreo environ'd also with Shelves and fifteen Leagues long also Guatao Cigateo Guanima Jabaka Triangulo and several others The Lucales left desolate by the Spaniards On these Islands are no Inhabitants those that did live there were a harmless simple
little the richest of them have Hammocks in stead of Beds the meaner sort use Sticks laid cross one another and cover'd thick with the Leaves of the Banana-Tree made fast at the four corners with Cords Hollow Calabashes and Earthen Ware call'd Canaris serve them for their Kitchin Utensils In the little Canaris they prepare their Tumalis or Pepper-pottage and in the biggest their Liquor Ovicou Their Cleanliness may appear by this that when they go to ease Nature they make a Hole in the Ground with a Stick and after they have done stop it up again burying their Excrement that it may not be seen Round about their Huts feed many Hens and Turkies which they breed not so much for their own use as to exchange for Iron They remove their Habitations very often either out of fear of being haunted by the Ghost of some deceased Person or to avoid some Smell which they find noisom and offensive or because their Hut hath been set on fire by Lightning Their Houshold Affairs and Diet. The Women are always employ'd to keep their Families in good order to prepare Venison and Fish for the Mens Tables to spin Cotton Comb their Husbands and paint them Red. The Men spend their time in the Wars Hunting or Fishing They have also learn'd of the Europeans to burn Train-Oyl in Lamps in the Night when as before they burnt Twigs of a gummy Shrub before mention'd which for that reason the Hollanders call'd Candle-Wood Each hath a little Stool and a Table call'd Mantoutou on which he eats his Meat when he pleases having no set-Meals The broad Banana-Leaves serve them for Napkins and Table-clothes Their chiefest Dainty is Crabs roasted in the Shell with the Juice of Lemmon and Pyman At great Feasts they dress their Meat with the Fat of their Enemies being the Arovages Their usual Drink is Mabby made of Potato's which refreshes and is good against the Phlegm also another Liquor call'd Oko made of steep'd Cassadar and is like Beer in taste strength and colour They also by making an incision into the Palm-Trees tap a Liquor from the same in Calabashes like White-wine They use little of the Drink Couscou because it swells the Body notwithstanding it is pleasing to the Palate But the Liquor which is most esteem'd amongst them is the Wine made of the Sugar-Canes which are squeez'd in Mills made for that purpose and then boyl'd in great Kettles During the dressing of their Meat which being done leisurely is sometimes half a day before it is ready they Sing and Dance to the Time which one keeps with a Calabash fill'd full of little Stones in which they believe the greatest happiness they shall enjoy in the other World consists But the Caribbeeans never Dance more antique than when they meet in the Carbet which is a publick House of Entertainment whether the Women carry a Drink made of Cassave which makes Drunk as soon as Wine The Men bring Fish and Hedge-hogs all of them painted with Roucou and adorn'd with Plumes of Feathers commit all manner of Debaucheries At other times they also keep Feast-days which is either when they are preferr'd to some Office or Place of Honor or when they have defeated their Enemies or when they mourn for the Death of one of their nearest Relations Their Boats which they call Periaquo's are made of single hollow Trees Their Beast full of Benches and painted with several strange Shapes and are able each to carry fifty or sixty Men. Their Musical Instruments Their Musical Instruments in which they take most delight are Drums Strings of Silk-grass stretcht upon Calabashes and Flutes made of the Bones of their Enemies Their watchfulness against Enemies They keep Watches on high Hills to descry the Ships off at Sea and no sooner have they espy'd one but they immediately give notice to one another whereupon those that are most valiant put off to Sea in their Canoos and know by the Languages to distinguish between a Spaniard French-man English-man and Hollander If they find that 't is an Enemy who Lands on their Coasts they guard all their Avenues lie in Ambuscades and gather together in by-ways and where they see any advantage they shoot thousands of Arrows which done they fall in amongst them with great Clubs but if they chance to be defeated then they lurk behind Bramble-bushes or climb up inaccessible Mountains or else if near the Sea they save themselves by Diving and Swimming under Water above two hundred Paces before they appear again and if a Party of them chance to meet together afterwards they venture a second Engagement Their Entertainment of Friend But if those that come on their Coasts are Friends they Swim or go in their Boats to meet them climb up their Ships and carry the Sea-men on their Shoulders ashore where the Casique in the Name of the whole Island bids them welcome and conducts them to the Carbet where an antient Man salutes the old Men and a Youth the young Men after which asking their Names the Couban calls himself by that Name ever after and desires the Strangers to accept of his Name during which their changing of Names they use many Ceremonies of Friendship this done they proffer them Cotton Hammocks to rest themselves in and pleasant Fruit to eat till they have prepar'd other Meat which is no sooner Ready but a little Table is set before every one of them and a Dish of Meat consisting of boyl'd Hedge-hogs boyl'd Crabs and Pot-herbs which if the Guests do not eat heartily or drink up all the Liquor which they give them they take it as a great Affront but if they eat and drink heartily they take it kindly and shew great sorrow at their departure Their Offices of Government have been usually three the meanest belong'd to the Tiouboulihauthe whose Place was to Govern over the Carbet a House where Strangers were Entertain'd Matters of War disputed of and publick Feasts kept Tiouboutonti Commanded the Canoos in the time of War that is under the Nahalene who Commanded the whole Fleet But the chiefest Officer of all was the Ouboutou to which degree of Honor none attain'd unless he had kill'd several Arovages or at least a Governor When the Caribbeeans drew all their Forces out of the Islands to a Battel then they chose one out of the Ouboutou who during their March Commanded the Army as General which his Office ended with the War and extended no farther than his own Island Their warlike Consultations Their warlike Consultations were no less observable for the Ouboutou appointed a Day on which the Islanders met at a Feast in the Carbet whither they accordingly came all at the time appointed and having Eat and Drunk and Danc'd a considerable time an antient Woman with tears in her Eyes and mournful Countenance enter'd the Carbet and desir'd Audience which being granted her and every one silent she began to relate the Damages which
Inconveniences which he suffer'd for want of Provisions and trouble of travelling over the high Mountains had necessitated him to return had he not been resolutely bent to discover the Countrey to which purpose marching on leisurely he came into the heart of Popayan where his wearied People sufficiently resting themselves amidst a fruitful Countrey where they found pleasant Fruit-Trees Houses full of Provisions and fresh Rivers which glided from the Mountain Andes and some of the Rivulets also affording Gold were encourag'd to build several Villages in which nevertheless they made no Settlement either because they could not get Gold enough or else being driven from thence by the valiant Natives Cities and Towns of chief note The Places of chief note in it are 1. Popayan situate on the Banks of a fair River but not nam'd and in the midst of a Plain in a place of great Wealth and enjoying a good Air. The original of the Name Popayan is from the Casique who Govern'd there at the time of the Spaniards first Arrival It is a Bishop's See and the ordinary Residence of the Governor of the Province The chief Buildings are the Cathedral and a Monastery of the Fryers De la Merced The Savanna Grounds towards the North feed many fat Cattel The Fields produce the best American Maiz. Some of the adjacent Mountains either vomit Smoak Flames great Stones or scalding Water leaving a Salt behind it Beyond the City Popayan the great River Magdalena takes its original in the Valley Cali where several Brooks gliding from the Mountain Andes inhabited by the Cocunocos unite their Waters 2. Antiochia otherwise call'd St. Fides de Antiochia on the Borders of New Andaluzia and about a hundred Leagues from Popayan In the midst of a small Territory to which it gives Name in the Valley Nore between the River Magdalena and Daria wash'd by Rivulets whose Sands are Golden and whose Banks are shaded with all sorts of Fruit-Trees The Inhabitants white and very rational sleep in the Night under the open Skye Their Houses are built a good distance from the High-ways near which the Pastures feed abundance of Sheep The Pools breed plenty of Fish and the Mines store of Gold especially in the Mountain Buritica 3. Caramanta seated likewise on the Banks of the River St. Martha within a little Province also of the same Name the Inhabitants whereof being valiant and strong go naked and dwell in little Huts make white Salt out of a Fountain and a little Lake they generally go to Antiochia in six hours which is forty five Leagues so swift runs the Stream 4. St. Anne in the Cantred or Hundred of Anzerma a Town neatly situate upon the side of an Hill betwixt two Rivers and in the midst of Plain no less pleasant than fertile It was so call'd by Bevalcazar because the Indians of this Place name the Salt Anzer it is surrounded with Villages and Woods on a high Plain between two Rivers The Air being exceeding hot lightens generally every day 5. The Village Pueblo Llana which is inhabited by little People who Trade in Salt and have also Golden Rivulets Near this Place is the Valley Aburra consisting of many fruitful Plains moistned by several Rivers the Inhabitants whereof at the Spaniards first coming thither hang'd themselves with their Wives and Children 6. St. Jago de Arma built in a Wood of Palm-Trees so nam'd from the Territory in which it standeth rich and famous for its Mines of Gold which it is said to have many and very good The Ground round about being Mountainous hath several Rivers the chiefest whereof call'd Di Arma is dangerous to cross especially in Winter The unwholsom Air hereabouts occasions many Sicknesses Amongst other Fruits that grow in this County is the Pytahaya which whoe're eats voids Urine as red as Blood Adjacent to it are the little Provinces Paucuran Pozo and Picara which possess Golden Mines also the Territory Carrapa which hath high and rugged Land and many Rivulets likewise the County Quimbaya which abounds with thick and long Canes wherewith the Natives build their Houses in the hollow Bodies of these Canes the wild Bees gather store of Honey and amongst them breed also exceeding great Lyons the four-footed Beast Chuca which carries its Young in a Bag Stags Rabbets and Guadaquinajes which being bigger than Hares are exceeding good Meat The Mountain Nevada wonderful high and smoaking continually produces the golden Rivers Tacurumbi De la Cequo Twenty Leagues or more distant from St. Jago is 7. Carthago the chief City of Quimbayaes and by which the aforesaid Rivers run The temperate Climate here gives Health and long Life to the Inhabitants who have several Fountains of salt Water and the Fruit Caymito not unlike a Peach black within having little Kernels and a Juice which Dyes so deep that it can scarce be wash'd off Horses and Cows they have likewise very plentiful Carthago it self stands in a pleasant Plain between two Rivulets the Ways that lead to the same are very dirty because of the continual Rain which falls there with Lightning and Thunder A League beyond the City flows the Stream Consota near which lies a Lake out of which Salt is made 8. The City Cali the Residence for the Governor and Collector lying under a hot Climate in a plain Valley at a River which falling from the Mountain glides to the Stream Magdalena Round about the same dwelt antiently several People viz. the Gorrones so call'd because they nam'd a Fish Gorron the Chancos Giants with long Faces and broad Foreheads the Aarbacoas Agnales and Los Timbas inhabiting among barren Mountains but most of them were slain by the Spaniards or destroy'd by one another few onely escaping to the tops of the Mountains The Countrey also swarms with wild Beasts which have also devour'd many of the Inhabitants both Indians and Spaniards 9. The Haven Bonaventure situate in a deep Inlet about which live some Families which send the Commodities that come from New Spain to Popayan Cali and other Places and though there be a Way along by the River Dagua convenient for Mules and Horses to travel yet it is seldom us'd because the Cattel are so wearied out with the long Journey that they cannot go through with their Loads wherefore they employ the Indians to carry their heavy Burthens over the Mountains which they do for a small Reward 10. St. Juan de Pasto giving Denomination to the Countrey about it and being built on the pleasant Plains of the Valley Atris is situate in a wholsom Climate and is moistned by several Fountains and the River Angasmayo the Boundary of Peru. The Spaniards have several Houses here and breed store of Cattel and especially Hogs They have likewise Sugar-Mills with which they make abundance of Sugar The antient Inhabitants were salvage deform'd and of little Reason 11. Timana giving Denomination to the Countrey about is plac'd under a hot Climate yet the Inhabitants live
3. La Parilla otherwise call'd Santa fourteen Leagues beyond Truxillo Southward wash'd by the Southern Ocean and one side by a fresh-water Stream which being inclos'd between stony Cliffs makes a secure Harbor 4. Arnedo seated ten Leagues Northward from Lima amongst the Vineyards of the Valley Chancas otherwise having no great matter in it remarkable but a fair Dominican Cloyster 5. Lima by the Spaniards commonly call'd La Cividad de los Reyes or The City of Kings so nam'd because Pizarro who built it laid the first Stone on Twelfth-day Anno 1553. which they call The Feast of the Kings It is seated in the Valley of Lima from whence the City is also so denominated one of the fruitfullest Parts of all Peru and so neatly built that all the chief Streets of the City open upon a fair Market-place or Piazza of such a large Square that upon the sides thereof are built in a stately and convenient manner the Cathedral the Palace of the Archbishop the Vice-Roy's Palace and Courts of Justice with the Exchequer or Publick Treasury the Town-house or place where the City Magistrates meet and hold their Courts the Publick Armory or Magazine and a Free-School wherein are taught by the Jesuits all Arts and Sciences and also the Indian Language and divers other fair Buildings of the Nobility and better sort of Citizens No Countrey under the Heavens affords a more fruitful or pleasanter Place than this the temperate Climate neither troubling the Inhabitants with excessive Heats or great Colds nor terrifying them with Thunder or Lightning but having almost perpetual Sun-shine and fair Weather onely the three Winter Moneths wherein there falls a sweet-smelling Dew which cures the Head-ache and there die but very few of pestilential Distempers The Countrey about the City is pleasant without exception The Pigeons which are kept here in curious Houses built on purpose flie a thousand in a Flight The Fields abound also with Cattel The Orchards and Gardens flourish with all sorts of Trees and Plants whereof those that are brought hither from Spain grow better than in their natural Countrey The West side of the City is wash'd by a pure clear Stream which stores the Market with great plenty of good Fish it being distant but a Musquet shot especially when the Water rises This River is of great consequence for it not onely waters the whole Valley of Lima with its several Branches but also runs under every House in the City being built on Stone Arches they are onely one Story high because there is no Wood to be had in the Valley of Lima but what in three years becomes all Woorm-eaten nevertheless the Houses are very beautiful both within and without the Walls being very thick and strong have curious Arbors of green Boughs on the top in which the Owners shade themselves from the Sun Most of the Houses built in the high Streets have pleasant Turrets which face the Market-place where all sorts of Provisions are brought to Sale as Oxen Sheep Venison Sugar Oranges Cittrons Grapes and Wheat which is ground in Water-Mills built near the River This City is inhabited by many able Merchants which often load Ships to Panama that are valu'd at above two hundred thousand Ducats To the Arch-bishop's See of this Place belongs the Bishopricks of Chili Charcas Quito Cusco Truxillo Guanuco Popaian San Francisco Panama Nicaragua and Rio de la Plata The City is also adorn'd with two fair Churches besides the Cathedral and also other lesser Churches four stately Cloysters two Nunneries and the Jesuits Palace which is very magnificent The Haven two Leagues distant from it and call'd Callao de Lima is large and secure for Ships Anno 1579. Sir Francis Drake took twelve Ships from hence Prizes taken here by Sir Fran. Drake one whereof was laden with Linnen and Silk besides a great Chest full of Silver Which Inconvenience to prevent for the future the Spaniards have built two strong Forts and fortifi'd them with Brass Guns Thirty years after Sir Francis Drake's Exploit Joris Spilbergen coming to Anchor here found the Place all inhabited Spilbergen attempts the Place in vain a Fort well stor'd with Guns and a strong Castle before the Mouth of the Harbor from whence they shot Bullets of thirty six Pound weight at the Hollanders and so shatter'd their Frigat call'd The Hunter that she could scarce-keep above Water Fourteen Spanish Merchant-men lying near the Shore receiv'd little damage Spilbergen not being able for Shelves to get to them neither did he judge it convenient to Land the Vice-Roy having at that time above four thousand Men in Arms besides several Troops of Horse wherefore after having fir'd several Guns on the Fort and against the Church he set Sail to Guarmey 6. Cannete otherwise call'd Guarco from the Valley wherein it is situate It was built by the Spaniards out of the Treasure which they found in the Castle afore spoken of in the same Valley 7. Valverde situate in a Valley of the same Name where excellent Fruit may be had for a small Price it is a well Traded and rich Town about sixteen Leagues distant from the Sea 8. Pachacama situate in a Territory of the same Name four Leagues Southward of Lima memorable chiefly for Pizarro's good fortune here who is reported to have found in one onely old Temple of the Natives the quantity of nine hundred thousand Ducats of Gold and Silver besides what his Soldiers are suppos'd to have seiz'd on and convey'd away before he came 9. Castro Verreina threescore Leagues distant from Lima to the South-East It lieth in the Valley of Chocolocha and is a rich Place by reason of the good Mines of Silver which are about it and abundance of the best sort of Tobacco 10. Miguel de la Ribera in the Valley of Camana The Inhabitants whereof drive a great Trade in Wine Figs and Raisins 11. The City Arequipa which extends up towards the Mountains is built in the Dale Quilca which runs eleven Leagues from the Sea under a healthful Climate but in the Year 1582. it was wholly ruin'd by an Earthquake the reason whereof is ascrib'd to the wet sulphurous Mountains which burns continually and sometimes vomits out Flames and Ashes The Marquess Pizarro built this City forty six years before the fore-mention'd Earthquake since which being re-built again soon attain'd to three hundred Houses besides a Church and Cloyster and though it be but a small Town yet it is of a great resort because the Gold and Silver is brought hither from the Mines Chancos Porco and Potosi and from thence sent down the River Quilca which washing the City Walls runs into the South Sea to Los Reyos and from thence to Panama Nombre de Dios and New Spain The Jurisdiction of this City Arequipa extends it self a vast way viz. over the spacious Valleys between Hacari and Tampaca and up in the Countrey beyond the County Condesuyo full of Hamlets and
its hardness The first Vein which Gualpa search'd after stood upright from the bottom of the Mine and contain'd above three hundred Foot in length and thirteen in breadth and continuing good for two hundred Foot in depth after which the Silver begins to lessen The Peruvians relate That the Ingas first began to dig in Potosi but gave it over because the Workmen heard a terrible Voice saying Leave off doing what you are about the Treasures which lie hid here are reserv'd for a People out of foreign Countreys These Mines produce yearly for the King 's fifth part forty thousand Pieces of Silver each valu'd at thirteen Ryals each Ryal being four Shillings besides what he is defrauded of which is perhaps half as much more The Mines of Potosi exceed all other because the Diggers never meet with any Water notwithstanding they work above two hundred Fathom under Ground whereas the other Silver Mines suffer great damage by the Water which was also the reason why the Spaniards left off digging of Silver in Porco because they were not onely forc'd to cut through hard Rocks but ran greater danger or at least bestow'd extraordinary labor to get out the Water which broke in upon them Four Silver Veins with their several Divisions The four Silver Veins of Potosi viz. The Rich Centeno Del Estanno and Mendieta lie on the East-side of the Mountain and extend North and South The great Veins produce lesser not unlike the Body of a Tree from which shoot forth several degrees of Boughs Each Vein is divided into several parts possess'd by several Owners the least part is open'd four Rods and the biggest eighty for none are permitted by the Law to open a bigger Hole In the time of the Jesuit Joseph de Acosta an Eye-witness who Anno 1587. went from Peru to Spain the Rich Vein was reckon'd to contain eighty seven Mines of which some were digg'd two hundred Fathom deep The Spaniards judge that at the Root of the Rich Vein is an incredible Treasure though Experience hath hitherto taught us that the Silver lessens in price and quantity the deeper they dig in the Ground The Socabonos or Trenâ—hes with the manner of Mining For the more easie working in the Mines the Spaniards have digg'd Trenches which they call Socabonos at the Foot of the Mountain towards the West cross through the Mountain to the Mine each of them being eight Foot broad and a Fathom deep and lock'd up with Gates through which the Silver is carried out whereof the Owner of the Socahon receives a fifth part The Socabon which leads to the Rich Vein was begun Anno 1556. and finish'd in twenty nine years extends it self two hundred and fifty Rods in length The Miners work by Candle-light both Day and Night by turns those that work in the Day sleep in the Night and those that work in the Night sleep in the Day The Oar which is as hard as a Stone is cut out with Pick-axes beaten in pieces with an Iron Crow and carried upon their Backs on Ladders made of Leather Each Ladder hath three Fastnings about the thickness of a Cable stretch'd out by Sticks so that one goes up on one side whilest another comes down on the other Each Ladder being ten Fathom long is pitch'd upon its several Floor on which the Laborers rest before they go up higher for they make divers Floors according to the depth of the Mine The Laborers carry the Oar in Bags fastned before oh their Breasts and falling back over their Shoulders three and three together the foremost whereof ties a lighted Candle to his Thumb and thus they help themselves with both Hands It is a wonderful thing to consider how the Peruvians are able to scramble up and down continually a hundred and fifty Fathom But besides many other Inconveniences the Mines often fall in or at least great pieces which bury all the Diggers The Mines also being excessive cold occasion to those that are not us'd to them a Vertigo in the Head and Vomiting The Silver runs for the most part between two Rocks as it were in a long Channel of which one side is as hard as Flint and the other much softer This Silver is of different value the belt call'd Cacilla or Tacana resembles Amber in colour the worser sort is blackish and sometimes of an Ash-colour The pieces of Oar are carry'd on the Backs of the Sheep Pacos to the Mill where being ground to Powder they are put into Furnaces to melt of which there were once above six thousand on the top of Potosi but since the Quicksilver was found to cleanse the same not a third part remains pure In former times the Mines at Porco two Leagues from the little Lake Aulagas produc'd those vast Treasures gather'd by the Ingas which afterwards for the most part fell into the Spaniards Hands Port-Towns Rivers and Havens of Los Charcas As concerning the Sea-Coast of Los Charcas it lies as followeth Southerly from the River Tambopalla puts forth a three-pointed Rock into the Ocean and makes the Haven De Ylo into which falls a fresh River Next follow the round Hill Morro de los Diabolos and the Inlet before the Town Arica secur'd from all except a Westerly Wind where the Silver that comes from Potosi is Shipp'd for Lima. Since the English Admiral Sir Francis Drake took three Barks out of this Inlet it is fortifi'd with a Castle which is stor'd with Brass Guns Nine Leagues Southward the Pissaqua falls into the Ocean and next you come to the little Village Hicahic situate on a high and barren Tract of Land as also the Haven Terrapaca which by an Inland is made very secure Not far from hence appears the Foot of Piqua where the Coast begins to rise very high the Head of Tacama the Stream Lottoya otherwise call'd De Loa whose Banks are inhabited by poor People the River Montelo the Promontory Morro Moreno beyond whose utmost Point opens a Bay secur'd from all Winds by an Island The Inhabitants here feed on raw Fish Next the River Claru comes in view which is taken for a Boundary between Peru and Chili Eastward up into the Countrey you come to Santa Cruiz built at the Foot of a Mountain in a Plain near a Brook which rushing forth from a Rock glides through the City to a Lake full of delicious Fish The Houses of Stone are covered with Palm-Tree Leaves and besides the Church there is also a Cloyster inhabited by the Monks De la Merced In former times the Peruvian Houses were built of Clay and were often destroy'd by their Neighbors the Cheriguanacs and Titanes who made Feasts with as many as they took of them The People about this Place are meek and poor spirited and speak besides four Languages the Diagnitan Tongue common amongst all of them Before the Arrival of the Spaniards they went Cloth'd in Ostritch'es Feathers but since taught to weave Cotton they
might make way for the Seamen to Land if the Netherland Forces should chance to guard the Sea-Coast thereabouts and to joyn with them as soon as they were Landed But Grave Maurice encourag'd by his late Victory at Sea immediately sent the Field-Marshal Coin against Cameron who diviidng his Army into small Companies had distributed them through the Woods Cameron's Forces and Barbalio's put to flight by Coin in which Coin follow'd his Example and with divided Forces pursu'd Cameron's Army and overtook his Captain Tak and two hundred Men at Poyuca whereof Lopes Barbalio was Governor who fled notwithstanding he Commanded six hundred Men. Soon after which the Muster-master Mansveld met him near the Village St. Laurence Engag'd him and putting him to flight found several Papers of Concern that he had left behind Portugueses Plot against the Netherlanders discover'd and amongst others a Letter in which Barbalio was commanded to spare neither Brasilians nor Netherlanders alive but to kill all without regard either to their Age or Quality except the Portuguese Moreover Andries Vidal urg'd the Owners of the Sugar-Mills in the Netherlanders Brasile immediately to take up Arms to regain their ancient Freedom as soon as Mascarenhas appear'd with the Spanish Fleet on the Coast of Brasile Thus Vidal by Letters and private Conferences prevail'd so much that most of the Portuguese were ready against their Oaths to root out the Netherlanders The sign when they should be ready was the burning of some Sugar-Mills Vidal imagining thereby to have drawn the Netherlanders from the Sea-side and so made the Sea-Coast free for the Spaniards to Land securely in But the Garrison under Coin along the Sea-shore near Alexis not ignorant of the Enemy's Plot kept their Stations and suffer'd the Mills to burn The like did Craey at the Promontory of St. Augustine Picard at Paomarello Captain Day at Cantolaria and Donker on Goyana Hoogstraet kept Guard up in the Countrey Tourlon also sent out by Maurice against Francisco Sosa and Henrick Dias who had pillag'd all the Countrey about the River Conajou fell upon them in such a manner that he destroy'd eighty seven of them and wounded a considerable number more of them made the rest flie to St. Salvador Two Moneths before the Spanish Fleet set Sail from Todos los Sanctos three thousand Tapuyans came to Rio Grande with their Wives and Children from an unknown Countrey remote from the Sea Grave Maurice requested their King John de Wy that he would please to keep Watch along the Sea-Coast and prevent the Landing of the Spanish Seamen Whereupon De Wy sent his Son to the Castle Ceulen making solemn Protestations that he was ready to lose his Life and Fortune for the Netherlanders in helping them to drive the Portuguese out of Brasile Maurice also joyn'd two thousand Brasilians and Colonel Garstman with sixty Netherlanders to the Tapuyans that so he might train them up in Martial Discipline whilest the Tapuyans Wives and Children were plac'd on the Island Tamarica About the beginning of the Year 1640. Houte-been and Lichthart brought a considerable Fleet from the Netherlands to an Anchor at Reciffa where a Consutation was held whither these Ships might be sent to do most Service every one had an Eye on St. Salvador not long since Storm'd in vain but Maurice judg'd that they had not Forces enough to undertake so grand a Design but thought it would be better to Land some fresh Forces near St. Salvador that there they might burn the Sugar-Mills and destroy all things they could find in revenge of what the Enemy had done at Parayba Whereupon Tourlon and Lichthart set Sail with twenty Ships Mann'd with two thousand five hundred Men to the Inlet Todos los Sanctos where they burnt all the Portuguese Sugar-Mills Houses and Villages neither did their Swords spare any alive but Women and Infants The Cattel which they found they carry'd aboard of their Ships and burnt all other Provisions In the mean time Houte-been and Coin fell upon Porto Franco where they ruin'd all things to no other end but that the Enemy might call home his Forces out of the Netherlanders Brasile to defend the Province Todos los Sanctos Capt. Brand taken Prisoner But Captain Brand going up too far into the Countrey with his Army was suddenly set upon had a hundred of his Men slain on the Spot and was himself taken Prisoner together with many more Also the Storming of the Town Spirito Sancto by Coin prov'd unsuccessful Coin unsuccessfully Storms Spirito Sancto because he led an undisciplin'd Company and wanted little Vessels to Land in on a sudden for the Enemy having had timely notice immediately rais'd a Sconce about the Town and with five Brass Guns fir'd stoutly on him who endeavor'd to climb up the Hill but was forc'd to sound a Retreat his Men failing in their Courage yet at last breaking into the Town he set some of the Houses on fire which being built of Stone resisted the Flame so burning onely four hundred and fifty Chests of Sugar he left sixty Men kill'd and brought back eighty wounded Lichthart in the mean time made great havock about St. Salvador In this Conjuncture the West-India Company suffer'd much by Robberies and Spoils committed up and down the Countrey by the setting their Woods of Brasile on fire by a company of Negro's Woods of Brasile set on fire by Peter Vist the chief Ring-leader of whom was one call'd Peter Vist who from Caves and almost inaccessible Ways came forth in the Night and set fire on whatsoever places he came to notwithstanding a hundred Negro's of his crew were soon after caught which he at several times had by force taken out of their Masters Sugars-Mills which Grave Maurice prevented as much as possible by keeping Soldiers up and down in Arms. He also us'd the Portuguese very civilly who though they promis'd Obedience because they liv'd under the Jurisdiction of the West-India Company yet were ready on all occasions to shew the contrary wherefore Grave Maurice sending for the chief of them to Reciffa from Pernambuco Itamaraca and Parayba told them before the Privy Council that they might easily see how vainly they expected that the Spanish Crown should take Brasile from the Netherlanders that formerly they depended on the Spanish Fleet Commanded by Mascarenhas but that being destroy'd by a small Force that hope Was lost therefore if henceforward they would Trade on their own Accounts they might be assur'd they should not suffer in the least either in their Goods Religion or Persons Hector de Calce taken Pâ—isoner The Neopolitan Field-Marshal Hector de la Calce setting Sail from the Haven Todos los Sanctos with an old Ship carrying six hundred Men was forc'd to run aground in the Haven of Parayba where he and the chief Commanders were taken Prisoners whilest the Common Soldiers by reason of the scarcity of Provisions were set at liberty Houte-been
Schouten found the same Anno 1616. who Sailing from Porto Desire left the Straights of Magellan on the right-hand and Sail'd Southerly through whitish Water and in fifty four Degrees discover'd a Channel eight Leagues broad through which ran a strong Current The Coast rose with high Mountains whose tops were cover'd with Snow The utmost Point was call'd Mauritius from the Prince of Orange the broken Coast on the other side The States-Island and the Straights it self Le Maire upon the Request of the Merchant Jacob Le Maire whose Father Isaac was chief owner of the two Ships of which Schouten was Commander who found so many Whales here that he could scarce Steer clear of them they swimming by hundreds in a Shoal The Sea-pies much bigger than Swans suffer'd themselves to be caught by the Hands of the Sea-men Moreover he call'd the barren grey Rocks and others lesser lying North-East from the Promontory Hoorn Barnevields Isles Sailing beyond the Point Hoorn he was toss'd by the vast Billows that came rowling out of the West It was no sooner nois'd abroad that the Netherlanders had found the Straights Le Maire but the Spanish King Philip immediately sent two Carvels thither under the Command of Garcias de Nodal who took an exact Account of the Heads Roads and Inlets belonging to the fore-mention'd Straights and return'd without performing any other Exploits Diego Flores his unsuccessful Voyage to the Straigts of Magellan Diego Flores Steer'd four years before Candish to the Straights of Magellan with twenty three Sail of Ships Mann'd with three thousand five hundred Seamen besides five hundred old Netherland Soldiers with which he unhappily weigh'd Anchor from Cales for before he got out of sight of the Spanish Coast he lost five of his Ships and eight hundred Men yet prosecuting his Voyage he stay'd during the Winter Season on the Coast of Brasile and was surpris'd by so vehement a Storm near the Island Catalina that a company of Women sent under the Charge of Peter Sarmiento to Settle in the Straights of Magellan were all cast away with the greatest part of the Ammunition and Provisions The English Admiral Fenton took three Ships of this Fleet from Flores two were cast away in the River La Plata and one ran back to Spain whilest Flores came into the Straights of Magellan on the last day of March at which time the whole Countrey lay cover'd with Snow wherefore seeing no hopes of finding out any place to Settle Sarmiento upon he stood back with eight Sail to Brasile and in his Return burnt three French Ships took two more and Sail'd home But his Lieutenant Diego Ribera and the Governor Peter Sarmiento Landed the Year after Flores his departure with four hundred Men thirty Women and Provisions for eight Moneths in the Straights of Magellan from whence Ribera Sail'd back whilest Sarmiento built on the North side of the Mouth of the Straights the Town Nombre de Jesus and fifty Leagues farther in the narrowest place Philip-stadt with four Bulwarks the Inhabitants of which as is before related were destroy'd by Famine Description of Terra del Fugo Terra del Fuego already mention'd opposite to the Countrey of the Patagones lyin the South between the Straights of Magellan is a broken Countrey with high Mountains full of Trees and wash'd by pleasant Rivulets four Foot deep in the Ground it begins to be all Rocky The Air is troubled with exceeding great Winds out of the West The Inhabitants are pale Countenanc'd but Paint their Bodies with divers Colours they have long thick and black Hair and very sharp Teeth the Men go stark naked the Women cover their secret Parts with a piece of Leather and wear Strings full of Shells about their Necks some also Mantle themselves with the Skins of wild Beasts which affords but little warmth against the Cold that is here in Winter Their Huts consist of Trees and are made round at bottom and sharp on the top like a Tent having onely a Hole for the Smoak to go out at they are digg'd three Foot deep into the Ground and also heap'd round with Earth within the Huts nothing is to be found but Baskets with Fishing Utensils and Stone Hooks Their offensive Arms the Men always carry about with them because they always maintain Wars with their Neighbors They handle a Quarter-staff very dexterously are good Slingers and Bowemen they also use Lances with sharp Stone Points Moreover they make Boats of the Bark of Trees which they first cut out into a Form then sewing it together bow the same after the manner of a Boat which rises before and behind and being fifteen or sixteen Foot long can carry eight Men going exceeding swift These People are not onely beastial in their Practices but also Murderers Lastly besides the Straights of Le Maire Henrick Brewer hath found a new Passage to the Eastward above the States-Island out of the Northern Ocean to the South Sea CHAP. IV. The unknown south-South-Land THe unknown south-South-Land extends with several Points to the Southern Ocean which have been more seen than discover'd by divers Nations Opposite to the East-India Island Gilolo lies Terra des Papous to which Jacob Le Maire gave the Denomination of New Guinee The English Commander Richard Hawkins Sailing to the Southward behind Papou found the Inhabitants black like Negro's round about appear several Isles and convenient Harbors Herrera places here on the East the Countrey Agnada the Road St. Jago the Island Los Crespos the Haven Andreas the River Virginum and the little Isle La Vellena before the Mouth of the Stream Augustine Next you meet Easterly with the Rivers St. Peter and St. Paul the Havens Hieronymus the Isles Punta Salida Abrigo Malagente and Maure de Dios inhabited by white People Discoveries in Terra Australis Incognâ—a The first that discover'd New Guinee Anno 1529. was Alvares de Savedra who as also several others besides him suppos'd that some of the Islands Solomons border New Guinee Eighteen of the many Solomon Isles exceed the rest of which some are three hundred Leagues in circumference some two hundred others one hundred and some fifty All that are inhabited have a fruitful Soil producing all manner of Provisions particularly Hogs and Poultrey The Natives differ very much one from another for some are black others white or tawny The fore-mention'd Hawkins in his Voyage towards the Straights of Magellan supposing it by estimation to be fifty Leagues from the Main Coast of America discover'd forty Degrees to the Southward of the Equinoctial Line with a Westerly Wind the unknown south-South-Land which he found to consist of low Land and to be inhabited by reason of the many Fires which he saw ashore in the Night The Spanish Commander Peter Fernandes de Quiro and the Admiral Lodowick Paes de Torres have made a farther Discovery of this Countrey for Landing on the South-Land they met with several People some whereof were
to the Sea thereabouts Not having the use of the Mariners Compass he made use of Ravens for the steering of his Course and having sent forth two without success by the guidance of the third he had sight of the Eastern side of the Island and Steering Southward he found a very wide Bay between the Promontories Renkanes and Snaefesness which Bay from Faxa a Scottish Mariner that accompany'd him he nam'd Faxaos that is The Mouth of Faxa though from its many Havens it came afterwards to be term'd Hafnafiordur Sailing along the West side of the Island he entred the Bay Bredafiord and took up his Quarters at Watnesfiordur a Haven in the Province Bardostraund for by these Names these Places came afterwards to be known Having stay'd here two Winters he return'd back into Norway and is said to have been the first that gave this Countrey the Name of Iseland from the great quantities of Ice which fill'd the Seas thereabouts he also gave it the Name of Rafnaftock from the Ravens which serv'd him in stead of a Compass A Plantation setled in Ise by Ingulphus and Hiorleifus The last and most considerable Adventurer was Ingulfus the Son of Orn Duke of Fyrdafilace in Norway who together with his Cousin Hiorleifus that Marry'd his Sister Helca being adjudg'd to Banishment by Halsten to the Award of whose Judgment they had submitted themselves upon the slaughter of his two Brethren Holmsten and Hersten these three Brethren were the Sons of Atlas one of the prime Noblemen of Norway in a Quarrel wherein Halsten was chosen Umpire and also detesting the Tyranny of Haraldus Pulchricomus King of Norway went over Gonfaloniere or chief Leader of a great Colony of People whom he rais'd for the setling of a Plantation in some foreign Countrey Accompany'd with his Cousin Hiorleifus he took Shipping for Iseland in the Year of our Lord 854. having been over to visit it about four years before he Landed at a Promontory on the South Shore which from him took the Name of Ingulfholde and Reicharwick setled his Habitation while Hiorleifus seated himself at the Promontory by him call'd Hiorleifholda where he built two very large Houses each being about a hundred and thirty Foot long then he set himself to Manure and Till the Ground employing in that Work ten Slaves whom he brought with him for that purpose out of Norway but it was not long ere they traiterously set upon him and slew him by an Ambuscade which they had laid for him after which they betook themselves to certain little Isles which were nam'd Westmafyar where before they had well nestled themselves the whole Race of them were rooted out by Ingulphus in revenge of his Kinsman's Death After this the Island grew daily more and more populous by the coming over of new Families from Norway so that at this day it is a Place not the least considerable belonging to the Kings of Denmark The ancient Inhabitants of this Place for it is to be suppos'd that there were People here before the coming over of Ingulfus were call'd Papae or Pappae and the East side of the Island Papey which agrees very well with the Names of two little Islands on the Coast of Scotland Pappa and Westrepappa from which many conjecture as also from several Crosses and Bells found upon the Place that there hath been in former Ages a resort of the Irish and of the People of the North-West parts of Scotland The Division of Iseland The Eastern bound of Iseland is call'd Austurborn the Western Randesandur the Northern Langanes and the Southern Reicranes The Island being divided according to the four Quarters of the World North-Island is sever'd from East-Island by the aforesaid Promontory of Langanes from West-Island by Rutafiordur Bay from South-Island by vast and unpassable Desarts Between South-Island and East-Island runneth the River Jocolsu through the Desarts of Solseimasande Between South-Island and West-Island a famous River nam'd Albis which emptieth it self into the Bay of Bargarfiord Schetland the Thule of the Ancients 'T is a vulgar Opinion that this Island is the same which the Ancients call'd Thule but upon consideration it will appear that by the Ultima Thule taken notice of by Virgil Claudian Statius Pythias Massiliensis Pliny Seneca Solinus Tacitus and others is meant one of the British Isles amongst which were comprehended the Isles on the North of Scotland as the Orcades and some others the utmost of which we call Schetland and is very probable to be this Ultima Thule of the Ancients Nova Zembla when first discover'd Nova Zembla lying under seventy six Degrees of Northern Latitude and a hundred and twelve Degrees and twenty five Minutes of Longitude and being reckon'd above two hundred Miles in length was together with the River Puora and Straights of Weygats discover'd and as it is thought first of all by Stephen Burrough who was sent out by the Muscovia Company in the Year 1556. to find out a Way to Cathay by the North-East Afterwards one Oliver Burel a Dutch-man mov'd with the hope of Gain went from Enkhuissen to Pecora where having first discover'd Costinfarca in Nova Zembla he lost all by Shipwrack The States-General nothing discourag'd with the little success of these two Voyagers sent forth two Ships under the Command of Hugo Linschot to the Straights of Weygats and two others under William Barrents who were to go directly Northwards for Nova Zembla Linschot went fifty Miles beyond the Straights but the Northerly Winds and late Season of the year forc'd him to hasten back with all possible speed William Barents and his Company were necessitated in the Year 1596. being not able to get off in regard the Ice increas'd upon them more and more to take up their Winter Quarters there in a Cottage which they made a shift to cast up for their present necessity having much ado to defend themselves against the Bears that continually assaulted them Dâ—scription of the Countrey This Countrey is generally deliver'd to be a barren and desart Countrey full of Wood indeed but the Boughs as bare of Leaves as the Ground of Grass also very incommodious to be travell'd through by reason of its desartness and the danger of Bears great fierce Foxes and such like ravenous Beasts which feed onely upon Flesh and which are the onely Beasts this Countrey harbors In a Journal of Mr. Henry Hudson there is to be found a much more favorable Description of the Countrey Generally saith he the Land of Nova Zembla that we have seen is to a Man's Eye a pleasant Land much Main High-land with no Snow on it looking in some places green and Deer feeding thereon and the Hills partly cover'd with Snow and partly bare It should seem to have beery a receiv'd Opinion from the first Discovery of Nova Zembla that it was inhabited by Pygmies it being several times in the Journals of some Voyages mention'd particularly by the Name of
The Land of Pygmies but upon what certain Ground cannot in the least be discover'd for we find not from the Russians to whom the Place by reason of its Vicinity is probable to have been first known any other Account of the Inhabitants but that they are a People wholly destitute of civil Manners and unlimited by Law or Religion saving that they seem to give some kind of Adoration to the Sun Moon and North-star and have some Qualities which speak them national Creatures whereas the Pygmies if there be any such Creatures are thought to have nothing of Humane but their Shape onely Willoughby-Island Besides Nova Zembla there is not far from it another Island known by the Name of Willoughby-Island from Sir Hugh Willoughby the first Discoverer they both are of the Dominions of the Czar of Russia Several Attempts for the discovery of the North-West Passage WHat hath been discover'd of Sea in the North or South parts of the World is of no less Consequence than what hath been discover'd of Land and the Straight of Hudson Northward is no less considerable than the Straight of Magellan South we shall therefore compleat this Discourse of the Artick Region with a brief Mention of what Capes Bays Sounds c. have been found out by those that have attempted to find a Passage by the North-West to the East-Indies Not to insist upon the fabulous Stories of King Arthur's first conquering Ireland and then Sailing into the Northern Seas and subduing Scantia Iseland Groenland and as the Story saith many other Islands beyond Norway even under the Pole or of Malgo's subduing Ireland Iseland the Orcades and Norway or Octher's Reports to King Alfred of his Voyages to the North-East parts beyond Norway or the Voyages of the two famous Venetian Brethren Nicolo and Antonio Zeni or of Marcus Paulus Venetus Odoricus and Vertomannus the first English-man we hear of that made an Expedition into those Northern Seas was Sir Hugh Willoughby before taken notice of for the Discovery of King James's Newland and Willoughby-Island in the Year of our Lord 1553. Stephen Burroughs as hath been intimated discover'd amongst other Places about the Year 1556. the Straight of Vaigats In the Year 1576. Sir Martin Forbisher setting forth with two Barques after he had been out about five Weeks had sight of a High-land which he nam'd Queen Elizabeths Foreland Queen Elizabeths Foreland Thence Sailing more Northerly to the heighth of about sixty two Degrees he descry'd a great Sea or Inlet which he entred and thence it took the Appellation of Forbisher's Straight Forbister's Straight About two years after proceeding to a farther discovery of it he entred a good way into it and took possession of the utmost Place he went to for Queen Elizabeth who thereupon gave it the Name of Meta Incognita Anno 1580. Arthur Pett and Charles Jackman were sent out by the Russian Company to make a Discovery of the River Ob and passing the Straight of Waigats took particular observation of the Islands and Places there but not being able to pass much farther by reason of the Ice towards the latter end of the year they return'd In prosecution of this Discovery to the North-West Captain John Davis of Sandruge in Devonshire made three Voyages his first Anno 1585. his second 1587. in which he met with many strange Adventures but the main thing that accru'd from these Voyages was finding of a mighty Through-let between vast and desart Islands to which his Name gave the Appellation of Fretum Davis Davis's Straight or Davis's Straight The next that went upon this Design was Captain George Weymouth who from the Year 1585 to 1602 made several Expeditions which produc'd large Relations of strange Accidents that befell them but little of Discovery farther than what had been made before Mr. James Hall very noted for his Voyages to Groenland which before was by Captain Davis call'd Desolation at his falling in with that Place nam'd a head-Head-land from then King of Denmark Cape Christianus Cape Christianus which some think to be no other than Cape Farewel Anno 1606. Mr. John Knight was set out by the King of Denmark of the Passages of whose Voyage little or nothing memorable is recorded The next and most famous Attempter in the discovery of the North-Wast Passage was Henry Hudson who is said to have discover'd farther Northward to the Pole than any before him From the Year 1607 to 1610 he made several Voyages being set out by Sir Thomas Smith Sir Dudley Diggs and Mr. John Wostenholm with others that were his great Friends and Advancers of such publick Designs In his last Voyage the Isles of Gods Mercy Prince Henry's Foreland King James's Cape Queen Annes Cape Digg's Island Cape Wostenholm The King 's Foreland Mount Charles Cape Salisbury c. were first taken notice of and nam'd and which were his principal Discoveries and therefore worthily retaining his Name Hudson's Straight and Bay Hudson's Straight and Bay but in his return homeward he was set upon in his Cabbin by one Green Wilson and others of their Conspiracy and together with his Son John Hudson Tho. Widdows Arn. Ludlow Sidrach Faner and two or three more was put over into a small Shallop in which they were forc'd to seek their Fortune and in all likelihood perish'd for they were never heard of after Nor long after Green going on Shore upon a strange Island was shot from an Ambuscade of Salvages into the Heart the like End has Wilson and three more of the Conspirators dy'd of their mortal Wounds the rest with much ado got home in a very sick and weak Condition through the Hardships the had sustain'd and want of Provisions There was also another Hudson who Anno 1608. went to the height of eighty one Degrees and gave Names to certain Places which continue to this day as Whale-Bay Hackluit's Headland and Hudson's Touches By the Assistance of Prince Henry and those other Noble Persons above mention'd Captain Thomas Button set out in the Year 1612. and is said to have pass'd Hudson's Straight and leaving Hudson's Bay to the South to have Sail'd two hundred Leagues South-Westward over a Sea above eighty Fathoms deep which at length he discover'd to be another great Bay since call'd Button's Bay Button's Bay He is said also to have discover'd a great Continent which he call'd New Wales Several other Voyagers there were in this great Attempt of the North-West Passage as Captain Gibbons Robert Bylot William Baffins and Captain William Hawkridge who though they all came short of the main Enterprize yet every one found out some new Cape Bay or Promontory or open'd a farther Passage than had been before as Bylot made known Cape Comfort Baffin Baffin's Bay the Inlet call'd from him Baffins Bay as also Sir James Lancaster's Sound Hawkridge a farther Passage into Lumly's Inlet From the Year 1616. to 1631. the Business slept and then a Voyage
act Warlike postures and then they come in painted for War with their Faces black and red or some all black some all red with some streaks of white under their Eyes and so jump and leap up and down without any order uttering many Expressions of their intended Valour For other Dances they onely shew what antick Tricks their ignorance will lead them to wringing of their Bodies and Faces after a strange manner sometimes jumping into the Fire sometimes catching up a Firebrand and biting off a live Coal with many such tricks that will affright rather than please an English-man to look upon them resembling rather a company of infernal Furies than Men. Their sitting in Council When their King or Sachem sits in Council he hath a Company of Arm'd Men to guard his Person great respect being shewn him by the People which is principally manifested by their silence After he hath declared the cause of their Convention he demands their Opinion ordering who shall begin The Person order'd to speak after he hath declar'd his mind tells them he hath done no Man ever interrupting any Person in his Speech nor offering to speak though he make never so many long stops till he says he hath no more to say The Council having all declar'd their Opinions the King after some pause gives the definitive Sentence which is commonly seconded with a shout from the People every one seeming to applaud and manifest their Assent to what is determin'd If any Person be condemn'd to die which is seldom unless for Murther or In cest the King himself goes out in Person for you must understand they have no Prisons and the guilty Person flies into the Woods where they go in quest of him and-having found him the King shoots first though at never such a distance and then happy is the Man that can shoot him down for he that hath the fortune to be Executioner is for his pains made some Captain or other Military Officer They grease their Bodies and Hair very often and paint their Faces with several Colours as black white red yellow blue c. which they take great pride in every one being painted in a several manner Within two Leagues of New York lieth Staten-Island it bears from New York West something Southerly It is about twenty Miles long and four or five broad mosr of it very good Land full of Timber and producing all such Commodities as Long-Island doth besides Tin and store of Iron Oar and the Calamine Stone is said likewise to be found there There is but one Town upon it consisting of English and French but it is capable of entertaining more Inhabitants Betwixt this and Long-Island is a large Bay which is the coming in for all Ships and Vessels out of the Sea On the North-side of this Island After-skull River puts into the Main Land on the West-side whereof there are two or three Towns but on the East-side but one There are very great Marshes or Meadows on both sides of it excellent good Land and good convenience for the setling of several Towns There grows black Walnut and Locust as there doth in Virginia with mighty tall streight Timber as good as any in the North of America It produceth any Commodity which Long-Island doth Hudson's River runs by New York Northward into the Countrey towards the Head of which is seated New Albany a Place of great Trade with the Indians betwixt which and New York being above a hundred Miles is as good Corn-Land as the World affords enough to entertain hundreds of Families which in the time of the Dutch Government of these Parts could not be setled by reason of the Indians excepting one Place call'd The Sopers which was kept by a Garrison but since the Reducement of these Parts under His Majesties Obedience and a Patent granted to his Royal Highness the Duke of York which is about six years by the care and diligence of the Honorable Collonel Nichols sent thither as Deputy to his Highness such a League of Peace was made and Friendship concluded betwixt that Colony and the Indians that they have not resisted or disturb'd any Christians there in the setling or peaceable possessing of any Lands within that Government but every Man hath sat under his own Vine and hath peaceably reap'd and enjoy'd the Fruits of their own Labors which God continue Raritan-River Westward of After-skull River before mention'd about eighteen or twenty Miles runs in Raritan River Northward into the Countrey some scores of Miles both sides of which River are adorn'd with spacious Meadows enough to feed thousands of Cattel The Wood-Land is very good for Corn and stor'd with wild Beasts as Deer Elks and an innumerable multitude of Fowl as in other parts of the Countrey This River is thought very capable for the erecting of several Towns and Villages on each side of it no place in the North of America having better convenience for the maintaining of all sorts of Cattel for Winter and Summer Food Upon this River is no Town setled onely one at the Mouth of it but next to it Westward is a Place call'd Newasons where are two or three Towns and Villages setled upon the Sea-side but none betwixt that and Delaware-Bay which is about sixty Miles all which is a rich Champain Countrey free from Stones and indifferent level having store of excellent good Timber and very well water'd having Brooks or Rivers ordinarily one or more in every Miles travel This Countrey is peopled onely with wild Beasts as Deer Elks Bears and other Creatures so that in a whole days Journey you shall meet with no Inhabitants except a few Indians It is also full of stately Oaks whose broad-branch'd tops serve for no other use but to keep off the Suns heat from the wild Beasts of the Wilderness where is Grass as high as a Man 's Middle which serves for no other end except to maintain the Elks and Deer who never devour a hundredth part of it than to be burnt every Spring to make way for new How many poor People in the World would think themselves happy had they an Acre or two of Land whilst here is hundreds nay thousands of Acres that would invite Inhabitants Delaware Bay the Mouth of the River Delaware-Bay lieth about the mid way betwixt New York and the Capes of Virginia The best Commodities for any to carry with them to this Countrey is Clothing the Countrey being full of all sorts of Cattel which they may furnish themselves withal at an easie Rate for any sort of English Goods as likewise Instruments for Husbandry and Building with Nails Hinges Glass and the like They get a Livelihood principally by Corn and Cattel which will there fetch them any Commodities Likewise they Sowe store of Flax which they make every one Cloth of for their own wearing as also Woollen Cloth and Linsey-woolsey and had they more Tradesmen amongst them they would in a little time
there Captain Francis Drake set Sail from Plymouth Anno 1577. and after much hardship getting through the Straights of Magellan arriv'd in the Haven Guatulco having before his coming thither taken as many rich Spanish Ships in the Southern Ocean as he could possibly have wish'd for so that his onely care now needed to have been how to get safe home yet he put on a Resolution not to come short of Ferdinandus Magellanus who Saild about the World Which brave Resolution of Drake's was approv'd of by all his Sea-men whereupon he set Sail along the North of California the fifth of June being gotten into forty two Degrees which was the farthest that Cabrillo went he came on a sudden out of a warm Air into so frigid a Climate that the Sea-men were almost kill'd with Cold and the farther they went the colder it grew wherefore falling down three Degrees more Southerly they got into a convenient Haven where the Natives who liv'd along the Shore brought them Presents which Drake left not unrequited by returning them others that were to them more novel and not unuseful Nature and Habit of the People These People are exceeding hardy for notwithstanding the extraordinary coldness of the Climate the Men go naked but the Women wear Garments of pleited Flags or Rushes which being put about their Middle hang down to their Ancles on their Stomachs hang the ends of a hairy Skin ty'd together which hanging also over their Shoulders cover their hinder Parts They shew great Respect and Obedience to their Husbands Each House is surrounded with an Earthen Wall and all the Corners thereof being close stopp'd and Fires made in the midst of them they are very warm Rushes and Flags strow'd thick on the Ground near the Walls serve them in stead of Beds Drake's Entertainment by the King of the Countrey The rumour of these Strangers arrival spreading all over the Countrey made the Inhabitants far and near desirous to see them the King himself sending Ambassadors to Drake to inform him that he was on the Way coming to see him all which the Agents related at large and desir'd some Presents as a testimony that their King should be welcome which he being assur'd of came with a Retinue of above twelve thousand Men before whom walk'd one of a Gygantick size carrying a costly Scepter on which by three long Chains made of Bones hung a great and a small Crown made of Feathers next follow'd the King himself in a Sute of Cony-Skins then came a great confus'd company of People each of them carrying a Present whereupon Drake putting his Men into good order march'd to meet the King at which the Mace-bearer made a long Preamble and when he had done Danc'd to the Tune of a Song which he Sung himself then the King and his whole Retinue also fell a Singing and Dancing so long till being weary the King went to Drake and humbly desir'd of him that he would accept of the Realm assuring him that all the People should be under his Obedience which said he put the fore-mention'd Crown on his Head and hanging three double Chains about his Neck call'd him Hioh whereupon Drake took possession of the Countrey in Queen Elizabeths Name The King staying alone with Drake his Retinue went amongst the English every one looking very earnestly upon them and to those whom they lik'd best being the youngest they falling down and crying proffer'd Offerings as to Gods and held their Cheeks to draw Blood out of them which the English refusing they desisted but shew'd them great Wounds and desir'd some Plaisters of them which they suppli'd them with The English going up into the Countrey found the same well grown with Woods which abounded with Coneys whose Heads differ'd little from the European but having Feet like Moles long Tails like Rats and in their Sides a Bag wherein when they had fill'd their Bellies they put the remainder They also saw numerous Herds of Deer with whose Flesh having been courteously Entertain'd in several Villages they return'd to the Fleet. Drake just before he weighed Anchor caus'd a Pillar to be set in the Ground with a Silver Plate on the same A Monument erected by Drake before his departure with an Inscription mentioning the Day of his Arrival Name and Arms of Queen Elizabeth and free delivering of that Realm to him by the Indians he also nail'd a Sixpence with the Queens Effigies on the Plate under which he caus'd his own Name to be Engraven THE ISLANDS OF Northern America CHAP. XI Terra Nova or New-found Land with the Island of Assumption HAving treated at large of all the several Regions and Provinces of the North part of the Continent of America we come now to those Islands that lie within the same Degrees of Northern Latitude with that part of the Continent The first is Terre Neuve or New-found Land discover'd together with several other Parts upon the Continent before mention'd by Sir Sebastian Cabott by the Countenance and Charge of King Henry the Seventh of England whereupon a rightful Claim thereunto and Interest therein hath been own'd by the succeeding Kings of England as hereafter shall be more particularly related Situation and bound of New-found Land New-found Land is situated betwixt the Degrees of forty six and fifty three of Northern Latitude and is divided from the Continent of America by an Arm of the Sea in like distance as England is from France The Island is as large as England in length greater in breadth and lies near the Course that Ships usually hold in their Return from the West-Indies and is near the mid-way between Ireland and Virginia INSULAE AMERICANAE IN OCEANO SEPTENTRIONALI cum Terris adiacentibus We shall not much need to commend the wholsom temperature of this Countrey Temperature seeing the greatest part thereof lieth above three Degrees nearer to the South than any part of England doth so that even in the Winter it is pleasant and healthful as England is Nature of the Inhabitants The natural Inhabitants of the Countrey as they are but few in number so are they something a rude and salvage People having neither knowledge of God nor living under any kind of Civil Government In their Habits Customs and Manners they resemble the Indians of the Continent from whence it is to be suppos'd they come they live altogether in the North and West part of the Countrey which is seldom frequented by the English but the French and Biscainers who resort thither yearly for the Whale-fishing and also for the Cod-fish report them to be an ingenuous and tractable People being well us'd and very ready to assist them with great labour and patience in the killing cutting and boyling of Whales and making the Trayn-Oyl without expectation of other Reward than a little Bread or some such small Hire It hath the most commodious Harbours in the World Commodious Harbors and the most safe