Taurus and that of Tygris on the other part of the same Mountaine tovvardes the South the sources of these two Riuers are distant the one froÌ„ the other 2500. stadies This is also affirmed by other Authors and Beda sayth It is a thing most notorious that those riuers which are said to come out of Paradise spring and ryse out of the earth Gion which is Ganges out of the hill Caucasus which is a part of the mountaine Taurus Fison which is Nilus not farre from the mountaine Atlas in Affrica towards the West and Tygris and Euphrates out of a part of Armenia which two Nylus as the Historiographers say hide themselues in many places vnder the earth Pomponiê° Solinus Ptolomie and the rest are of Bedas opinion as touching the rising of these Riuers and the words of Procopius are these Out of this Mountaine saith hee arise two Fountaines the which immediatly make two riuers of that on the right hand commeth Euphrates and of that on the left hand Tygris AN. I tolde you that whence soeuer these Riuers come so they enter thorough the prouince which they called Heden according to the opinion of Eugubinus they may enter into earthly Paradise and vvater it neyther for all thys leaueth it to agree with the text of Genesis especially making one whole riuer after they come to ioyne by Babylon LVD Leauing these two Riuers let vs speake of the other two seeing it is also notorious that Ganges taketh his beginning in the Mountaine Caucasus though some vvill say in the Mountaine Emodos whose height and sharpnesse is such that few haue been able to reach vnto the place where the source of the Riuer is whence some took occasion to say that Paradise was placed in the midst of those Rockes and rough vnaccessible crags and so shall you find it described in the most part of Mappes but is certaine that this consideration is false and leauing it for such I say that the streame of this Riuer discendeth from betweene the East the North and coÌ„meth running thorough many Countryes of the East-Indies euen till it enter into the Ocean Sea and contrarilie the Riuer Nilus ryseth as I haue sayde in Affrica neere the Mountaine Atlas and as some thinke towards the East though by the Nauigation of the Portugals which discouered it it seemeth that the rysing thereof shoulde bee in the Mountaine called De Luna bending towards the South But how soeuer it be his streame is contrary in opposit to the riuer Ganges and entred by a different and contrary way into the Redde Sea so that I see not how it may stand with reason that these two Riuers shoulde conforme themselues in theyr rysing or that they shoulde euer come both out of one part ANT. Haue patience awhile and perchaunce though now it seeme to you vnpossible you will straight be of a contrarie opinion First therefore you must suppose that there is eyther now a Paradise in the worlde or else that the same is through the waters of the Generall floode destroyed The will of him which planted and made it is not that we should haue thereof any notice not onely concealing from vs the place where it stoode and standeth but taking also from vs all signes and tokens whereby we might come to the knowledge and vnderstanding thereof So that though Paradise nowe remaine in such sort as when it vvas first made planted by the hands of GOD yet hath hee so diuerted from thence the current of those Riuers guiding them by vvayes different and contrary one to another that by them it is vnpossible to attain to the knowledge therof For it Paradise be in the East and vnder the Aequinoctiall according to the common opinion and that the foure Riuers ought to come from those parts and to deriue theyr streames from thence we now see that Nilus and Ganges are towards the West or rather South-west and Tygris and Euphrates though they come from the East-wardes yet is it by very contrary wayes the reason is because those Riuers at theyr comming foorth of Paradise or at least before they come to be knowne of vs doe hide themselues in the depths and veynes of the earth breaking out againe in other parts with new Springs and rysings the one beeing distant froÌ„ the other so many thousand leagues and that this may be so vvee see daily amongst our selues the experience thereof as for example the Riuer of Alpheus in the prouince of Achaia which entring into a coÌ„cauitie vnder the earth turneth to come out againe in the Spring of Arethusa neere Caragosa in Sicilia vvhich by this experience is apparantly knowne for all such thinges as are throwne into the same in Achaia beeing such as may swim and flote aboue water come foorth at the mouth of Arethusa passing not onely vnder the earth but also vnder the Mediterranean Sea as Plinie affirmeth saying There are many Riuers that hyding themselues vnder the earth come to appeare and runne anewe in other partes as the Riuer Licus in Asia Erasine in the region of Algorica and Tygris in Mesapotamia The like also doe the Riuers of Sil and Gaudiana in our Spaine although the space of grounde vnder which they runne hidden be not so great yet suffise they for examples of that which wee say And in thys manner doe the riuers which come from Paradise hide and put themselues in the concauities and hollowe veines of the earth and turne to breake out anew in other parts where of force they must alter and change the course and currant of theyr streames S. Augustine entreating of thys matter affirmeth the riuers of terrestriall Paradise to hide themselues vnder the earth Encisus in his Cosmography discoursing of Landes on the Coast of the Oryent reaching to the Golfe called the great Sea which by the same coast goeth towards the North in coÌ„ming to speak of the land called Anagora sayth From thys place forwards there is knowledge of no more Lands for no man hath sayled any farder and by Land it is vnaccessible for the Lande is full of Lakes and high rockie mountaines of meruailous greatnes where they say is the seate of earthly Paradise and that there is the Fountaine where the foure Riuers make a crosse and afterwards sinck into the earth going along by the hollow veynes vvhereof they come out againe the one at the Mountaine Emodos which is Ganges and the other in Ethiopia at the mountaine De Luna which is Nylus and the other two at the rough mountaines of Armenia which are Tygris and Euphrates All this is so easie for him which made the whole World of nothing of nothing created all thinges in the same that we ought not so to meruaile at this but as a thing vvhich may be Leauing thys opinion and returning to that of Eugubinus that Paradise should be planted in the prouince of Heden that through the waters of the
a part of the vvorlde where the dayes and nights equally endured sixe moneths a peece AN. This is the inconuenience that those which haue seene and reade these strange and wonderfull secrets may not make relation of them but in presence of those that are learned wise and of cleare vnderstanding so that these matters which we haue heere priuately discoursed are not to be rehearsed before other men the grosnes of whose ignorance would account vs more grosse and ignorant and inuenters of fables and nouelties neyther should it auaile vs to alleadge witnesses for they will say they knowe them not who nor whence they are yea though they be such Authors as neuer wrote with greater grauity and credite But seeing it is now so late and that we haue spent so great a part of the night me thinks it were not amisse if we retired our selues for this shall not be the last time God willing that we will meete together LV. This our communication hath been long though for my part I could haue been contented that it should haue lasted till to morrow morning and therefore Signior Anthonio afore we depart I will take your word that we shall to morrowe meete heere againe in the euening AN. Assure your selues Gentlemen that I will not faile for the profite heere of is mine LV. The pleasure you haue already done vs is not small neither shall that be lesse which we hope to receaue to morrow The end of the first Discourse The second Discourse contayning certaine properties and vertues of Springs Riuers and Lakes with some opinions touching terestriall Paradice and the foure Riuers that issue out from thence withall in what parts of the vvorld our Christian beleefe is professed Interlocutores LVDOVICO BERNARDO ANTHONIO LU. WHat thinke you Signior Bernardo had I not reason in commending Anthonio to be a man most accomplished in letters and ciuility and of a most sweete pleasing conuersation BER Truly I little thought him to be so sufficient in discourse as I perceaued yesterday that he is of which seeing I nowe begin to tast the sweetnes I should be exceedingly glad that it were our happe according to promise to meete together againe to day for our time cannot in my opinion be better employed then in his company who vnlesse I be deceaued goeth far beyond a great many which presume themselues to be great and learned Clarks LV. Beleeue me in this one thing which I will tell you it is sildome or neuer seene a foole to be curious folly and vertuous curiosity being two things directly repugnant contrary for wise men procure alwayes to extend their knowledge farther esteeming that which they already knowe and vnderstand to be little or nothing but fooles whose vnderstanding reacheth not to thinke that there is any farther knowledge to be had then that which they vnderstand and comprehend within the grosse compasse of their owne barraine capacity imagine that all wisedome knowledge maketh there an end so that bounding there their definitiue conclusion they argue and dispute without willing yeeld to any thing more then that whereto the dulnes of their sence reacheth whereas the vvise man for much that he knoweth thinketh alwaies that there is an other that knoweth more and neuer wedding him selfe to his owne fancy nor trusting his owne opinion and iudgement remitteth him selfe alwayes to those of more vnderstanding and this is the cause wherefore they erre so sildome whereas the other blockish dull heads neuer iudge a right in any thing because trusting opiniatiuely to their owne wit they neuer perswade them selues that they are deceaued whereby they remaine continually in error BER This which you haue sayd is so true that I must needes yeeld there-vnto vnlesse I would shew my selfe as ignorant and wilfull as those which you speake of but Lupus est in fabula for if I be not deceaued yonder commeth Signior Anthonio I should be glad that hee came vnaccombred with other matters to the ende we might haue his conuersation a while as yesterday we had LU. Though it were with deere price to be bought wee should not permit the contrary AN. A better encounter then this I could not haue wished in meeting you both together for being three I feared that we should not all haue met so conueniently LV. Neyther are we lesse glad of our good hap in meeting you in this place hoping that it shall please you to fauour vs in prosecuting that good conuersation with the which you left vs yesterday so engaged AN. You shall finde me ready wherein it shall please you to commaund me BER Lette vs then if you thinke good vvalke a while amongst these Vines the fragrant greenes and spreading of whose pleasant branches yeeld an ayre nothing inferiour in freshnes to that which yesterday refreshed vs by the Riuers side and a little beyond is a delicate Fountaine where being wearied with walking we may rest and repose our selues it is enuironed round about with greene trees whose shaddowe will serue to defend vs from the scorching of the sunne which also now beginneth to decline AN. Let vs goe whether it shall please you for in truth such is the sweete and delectable freshnes and verdure of these fields that it reuiueth a man that beholdeth them and it may serue for a motiue to lift vp our minds and to be thankfull vnto God which hath for our vse created them BER If our care were as great to consider of this as his is to blesse vs with his benefites wee should without ceasing prayse his Name and bee continuallie busied in the contemplation of his glorious workes but see here the Fountaine place most commodious for vs to repose in LVD Well let vs then sit downe together for thys very Fountaine wil yeeld vs sufficient matter of admiration whose water we see spring out so perfectly pure and cleere that it runneth as it vvere cheerfully smyling amongst the peble stones the which parting with his course the sands it leaueth bare and naked procuring with his christaline freshnes thirst to the beholders inuiting them as it were to drinke AN. God hath giuen to many things different force and qualitie so that few or none are without theyr particuler vertues if wee were able to attaine to the knowledge of them but chiefely hath he enriched the water ouer and aboue the generall vertue as beeing one of the 4. Elements concurring in the generation of all things created with sundry proper and particuler gifts vertues and operations the diuersities of which by experience we finde in Riuers Springs Fountaines Ponds Lakes and Floodes the cause whereof is though the water be all one proceed wholy from one beginning originall that the Sea passing through the veynes and concauities of the earth taketh and participateth the vertue nature and propertie of the same earth and minerals through which it passeth whereof it commeth that some Springs are hote some cold some bitter som sweet
Beleeue me the vertues of the water are no lesse then theyrs for as the herbes sucke and draw theyr propertie and vertue out of the earth which nourisheth and produceth them yeelding moisture and sustenaunce to their rootes so likewise the water draweth to it selfe the propertie of the earth minerals through which it passeth participating with thē of their vertues which beeing so deepe in earth are frō vs hidden vnknown But I know not whether the vertue of a Spring which Aristotle writeth to be in Sycilia in the Country of the Palisciens proceede of thys cause for the misterie which it contayneth is farre greater and so sayth Nicholaus Leonicus that it is a thing verie hardly credible for he affirmeth the propertie thereof to be such that who so taketh a solemne oath and the same oath be written in Tables and cast with certaine solemnities into the Fountaine If the oath contained therein be true the Tables remaine floating aloft vpon the water but if it be false they sink incontinently downe to the bottome And he which tooke the same is burned presently in the place and conuerted into ashes not without damage many times of those that were present They called this the holy Fountaine and appointed the charge and custody thereof to Priests which suffered no man to sweare vnlesse that hee first put in sureties that hee would content him selfe to passe by this triall LV. I rather thinke that Aristotle and those that wrote heereof were deceaued then otherwise because we heare not at this present that there is any such Fountaine knowne in Sicilia if there had beene in times past any of such force and vertue the memory thereof would be farre more rife and famous then it is BER Let vs neuer trouble our selues with the triall heereof for in this sort we may say the like of all those others which we haue not seen AN. The selfe same Nicolaus Leonicus writeth of another Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans nere to the Riuer Citheros into the which all the water that ranne there out degorged There stood by this Fountaine a sacred house the which they constantly affirmed to haue beene the habitation of foure Nimphs Caliphera Sinalasis Pegaea and Iasis All manner of diseased persons that bathed them selues in this Fountaine came there out whole and sound The like is written of two other Riuers the one in Italy called Alteno and the other called Alfeno in Arcadia But of no lesse wonder then all the before rehearsed is that which is vvritten of the Lake in Scithia in the Country of the Dyarbes neere to the Citty Teos the which besides the meruailous plenty of fish in which it aboundeth hath a property most admirable for in calme and warme weather there apeareth aboue the vvater great aboundance of a kind of liquor like vnto oyle which the inhabitants in Baotes made for the same purpose skimme off from the vvater and apply the same to their vses finding it to be as good and profitable as though it were very oyle in deede There is likewise in the Prouince of Lycia nere a Citty called Pataras a Fountaine the vvater that floweth from which looketh as though it were mingled with blood The cause whereof as the Country men say is through one Telephus who washing therein his wounds it hath euer since retained the colour of blood But the likeliest is that it passeth through some veine of red clay or coloured earth vvith the which mixing it selfe it commeth forth stained with that colour the Author hereof is Nicolaus Leonicus And Athenaeus Naucratites sayeth that in an Iland of the Cyclades called Tenaeus there is a Fountaine whose water will agree by no means to be mingled with vvine alwayes howsoeuer it be mingled or poured with vvine into any vessell it remaineth by it selfe a part so that it is to be taken vp as pure vnmedled as when it was poured forth yea though all possible diligence were vsed to ioyne and mingle them LV. There be a great many that would be glad that all water were of this condition by no means brooking the mixture therof with wine as a thing that keepes them somtimes sober against their wils AN. You say truth but leauing them with their fault which is none of the least but one of the greatest foulest that may be in any man pretending to beare honour or reputation I say there is in the Iland of Cuba according to the relation of many which haue seene the same a Fountaine which poureth forth a thick liquor like vnto Tarre which is of such force that they cauke and pitch their ships withall in such sort that they remaine as firme dight against the entry of water as though they were trimmed with the best sort of Pitch that we doe heere vse in these parts BER I haue heard say that there is in the same Iland a great Valley the stones that are found in which are all so round as if they had by Art euery one beene fashioned in the same forme LV. Perchaunce Nature hath so framed them for some effect of the which wee are ignorant seeing that few or none of her workes are without some secrete mistery and as well may these stones serue to some vse as the liquor of that Fountaine but let vs heerewith not trouble Signior Anthonio from prosecuting his discourse AN. Solinus discoursing of the Iland of Cerdonia saieth that it containeth many wholsome vvaters Springs amongst the rest one whose water healeth all infirmity of the eyes withall serueth for a discouery of theeues for whosoeuer by oath denieth the theft which he hath cōmitted in washing him selfe with that water loseth incontinent his fight if so be that his oath be true his eye siight is therby quickned made more sharp liuely but whosoeuer obstinately persisteth in denying his fault remaineth blind for euer But of this Fountaine there is now no notice at all for I haue beene long resident in that Iland during which time I neuer heard any such matter Many the like vnto these are written of by diuers Authors the which for their vncertainty I wil not weary my self in rehearsing only I wil tell you of a Lake which is in the Spanish Iland called S. Domingo in a mountaine very high vninhabited The Spaniards hauing conquered that Country found round about this mountaine no habitation of people through the cause of a hideous noise which was therein continually heard amazing making deafe the hearers therof the hiden cause secret mistery wherof no man being able to comprehend three Spaniards resolutly deliberated to goe vp into the height thereof to discouer if it were possible the occasion whence this continuall roaring proceeded so that prouiding them selues of all things necessary for the difficulty ragged sharpnes of the way being ful of craggy rocks shruby trees bushes
ingender in them a certaine vvorme which by little and little becommeth great and feathered and at last lifteth vp the wings and flieth into the ayre Cassaneus in his Catalogue of the glory of the world in the twelfth part repeateth thys otherwise In times past sayth he there grew in England vpon a Riuers side a strange and wonderfull tree that brought forth a fruite like vnto Ducks the which being ripe and falling of those which fell on the Land side rotted and perished but those vvhich fell into the vvater receaued presently lyfe recouering feathers and wings and in short space became able to flie Others write that there were many of these Trees and so by consequence many such foules in great number But whether there be any such nowe or no I know not Besides these Authors I remember that I read in an Epitaphe which is written in the Map of the world printed by a Venetian called Andreas Valuasor that one Andrew Rosse cittizen of the same towne had at that present two of these foules about the bignes of two little Ducks the which were brought him out of Spayne but I think there was an error in the writing and that he should haue written England or Scotland for a thing so miraculous as this is cold not in Spayne be obscure vnknown BER Truly as you say this may wel be termed miraculous but mee thinks this disagreement of opinions maketh the matter seeme doubtfull LU. There is no mortall sin neither in beleeuing nor vnbeleeuing it but Nicolaê° Leonicê° affirmeth another thing as strange as this that in the Citty of Ambrosia situated at the foote of the hill Parnassus there should be a tree called Ys and by another name Cocus whose leaues are like those of the Dock and the fruite about the bignes of a Pease the which if it be not gathered in season engendreth a little flie like vnto a maget at the beginning which afterward coÌ„meth to haue wings flyeth away leauing the fruite hanging on the tree withered vp which some let perrish of purpose because the blood of those flyes is singulerly excellent to die silke withall AN. Of no lesse admiration are those trees of which Pigafeta in his relation to the Pope maketh mention whose leaues falling downe presently moue go as it were vpon 2. poynts which they haue on the one side like feete seeming to haue life he affirmeth to haue seen this himselfe Therefore whatsoeuer is said and affirmed by graue Authors we ought to beleeue that it may be for though some haue a fault in ouerreaching yet others will not register any thing but that which is true Turning therefore to our purpose of waters let vs not in silence passe ouer the greatnes of such Riuers as haue beene in our times discouered for till now Nylus Ganges Danubius and Boristhenes haue bin accounted great but at this present the greatest that is in all Asia Affricke or Europe is but a little streame in comparison of those vvhich by Nauigation are newly found out in the West Indies scarcely to be beleeued vvere they not sufficiently authorized by the infinite number of so manie vvitnesses As for example the riuer of Orellana so called by the name of him that first discouered it is so great that it beareth fifty leagues of breadth at the mouth where it entereth into the Sea and through the extreame furie vvith vvhich it forciblie passeth it pierceth in such sort through the vvaues of the salt vvater that the Saylers call that Coast the Sweete vvater Sea The Riuer Dela plata nowe inhabited by our Spanyards there as the Sea receaueth it containeth xxv leagues in breadth and the Riuers of Maranion fyfteene There are also many others of infinite largenesse whereby we may coniecture that there is a greater quantity of Lande theÌ„ that which is already discouered for it is not possible that such mighty Riuers shoulde rise out of any Spring but that many other Riuers shoulde fall into them and that out of diuers Regions but let vs leaue this till we meete another time when we shal haue more leysure BER First I pray you tell vs what is your opinion concerning the source and rising of Riuers both these and the rest and whence theyr spring issue and proceed for I haue heard herein diuers contrary opinions which cause me to be doubtfull I would be glad to be resolued AN. The opinion of Aristotle and others that imitate him is that the Riuers are engendred in the hollowe and hidden parts of the earth where the ayre through the great moysture coldnes conuerteth it selfe into water the which running along the veynes of the earth coÌ„meth at last to the height thereof where not being fully perfected it taketh thicknesse and issueth out discouering it selfe as well in great Riuers as in little streames and Fordes such as wee see Anaximander and many other Phylosophers with him affirmed that the earth hath within it selfe and in the midst thereof a belly full of water out of which breake forth all these Fountaines Riuers and Springs but the surer opinion and the truth indeed is that all Riuers streames and Fountaines and Lakes that come of flowing waters issue proceed out of the Sea as sayth Ecclesiastes in the first Chapter by these wordes All Riuers enter into the Sea and the Sea for al that encreaseth not and the Riuers returne to the same place out of which they issued and begin to runne anew BER You haue giuen vs very good satisfaction in this matter of vvhich we doubted onely one thing remaineth in which I beseech you to resolue vs concerning the foure Riuers that issue out of earthly Paradise for in all that I haue seene or read I haue onely founde the names of Tygris and Euphrates as for Gion and Fison I heare them not named in the world Besides I should take it that these Riuers must needs be of great vertue seeing their source Spring originall commeth out of Paradice AN. I would not willingly that you should engulfe either your selfe or mee in a matter so profound and deepe entring once into the which I know not how wee should gette out for of such difficulty is this poynt which you haue touched that he had neede of great vnderstanding and learning that should therein well resolue you which both are in mee wanting neyther being so great a Diuine or so well seene in the holy Scriptures that I can satisfie you without bringing you into many doubts whereas you haue nowe onely one For to discourse of these Riuers of force we must first declare that which may be said of Paradice of which when I set my selfe to consider my vnderstanding is in it selfe confounded for the disagreeing contrariety of Authors which haue written heereof is such that I know I should weary you with hearing them LU. I knowe not how wee may spend the time better then in searching
world this remained free for the waters were not able to ouercome the height thereof There is neyther languishing disease painefull old age nor consuming death No feare no greefe no coueting of riches no battailing no raging desire of death or vengeance bereaueth their repose Sorrowfull teares cruell necessities and carefull thoughts haue there no harbour No frozen dewe toucheth their earth no misty cloude couereth their fieldes neyther doe the heauens poure into them anie troubled waters onely in the midst thereof they haue a Fountaine which they call Uiba cleare pure aboundant of sweet vvaters which once a moneth moystneth the whole vvood The trees therein are of a meruailous height hang alwaies full of fruit in this delicious Paradice liueth the Phaenix the onely one bird of that kinde in the world c. BER Lactantius praiseth this Country very largely neither agreeth his opinion ill with Platos But he speaketh heere like a Philosopher and not like a Christian though perchaunce if hee had beene asked his opinion like a Christian in what part of the world he thought terestriall Paradice to be hee would haue described it in like sort But leauing these Philosophers Paradices seeming rather to be fictions then worthy of credite tell vs I pray you what the Doctors and Diuines say heerevnto whose diligence study and care hath beene greater in procuring to vnderstand write the veritie thereof AN. I will in few words tell you what some of them and those of the greatest authority haue written on thys matter S. Iohn Damascene in his second booke chap. 2. saith these words God being to make Man to his owne image likenes and to appoint him as King and ruler of the whole earth and all therin contained ordained him a sumptuous royall being place in the which he might leade a blessed happy glorious life and this is that diuine Paradise planted by his owne omnipotent hands in Heden a place of all pleasure and delight for Heden signifieth a delightfull place and hee placed him in the Oryent in the highest and most magnificent place of all the earth where there is a perfect temprature a pure and a delicate ayre and the plants continually greene fragrant it is alwayes replenished with sweet and odoriferous sauours a light most cleere and a beauty aboue mans vnderstanding a place truly onely fitte to be inhabited of him that was created to the image likenes of God himselfe LVD S. Iohn differeth not much in the situation and qualities hereof from the opinion of the others before alleadged but passe on I pray you with your discourse AN. Well be then attentife a while Venerable Bede handling this matter sayth Earthly Paradise is a place most delightfull beautified with a great abundance of fruitfull trees refreshed with a goodly fountaine The situation thereof is in the oryentall parts the ground of which is so high that the water of the flood could not ouer-reach the same and thys opinion holdeth Strabo the Theologian affirming that the height of the earth where Paradise is reacheth to the circle of the Moone through which cause it was not damnified by the flood the waters of which could not rise to the height thereof Those which follow this opinion might better conforme themselues with Origen who iudgeth that all this which is written of Paradise must bee taken allegorically and that it is not situate on the earth but in the third heauen whether S. Paule was lyfted in Spirit but leauing him because hee is alone in his opinion without hauing any that followeth him let vs returne to our alleaged Authors against whō S. Thomas and Scotus argue saying that Paradise can by no meanes reach vnto the circle of the Moone because the Region of the fire beeing in the midst the earth can by no meanes passe thorough the same without being burnt destroyed Besides this there are many other reasons sufficient to refute this opinion for so shold those Riuers which come from Paradise passe through the region of the fire which the contrariety of the two Elements being considered is absurd and besides if this ground vvere so high it could not chuse but be seene a farre of from manie parts of the world aswell by sea as by land and by this means also there should be a place in the worlde by the vvhich it seemes a man might goe vp into heauen so that this opinion is grounded vpon small reason and easie to be confuted Many other Authors there are which affirme Paradise to be in so high a part of the earth that the water of the Deluge could not reach vnto the top thereof to anoy it and to the obiection which may be made against them out of Moises which sayth that the waters thereof couered and ouerflowed the height of xv cubits all Mountaines vnder the vniuersall heauen they aunswer that these Mountaines are to be vnderstood such as are vnder the region of the Ayre where the clowdes are thickned and ingendered for Heauen is meant many times in the holy Scripture by this region as the royall Psalmist saith The foules of heauen the fishes of the Sea Where by this word heauen is vnderstoode the region of the ayre thorough which the birds flie so that according to their opinion the mount or place where Paradise is exceedeth is aboue this region of the ayre where there is neither blustering of winds nor gathering of cloudes so that it could not be endomaged by the waters of the flood This is the selfe same of which we discoursed yesterday as touching the mountains Olympus Athos Atlas that of Luna which in height according to the opinion of many exceedeth all the rest on the earth and many other like mountaines in the world ouer whose tops there is neither raine wind nor clowdes the ashes lying from one yere to another vnmooued because that the height of their tops exceedeth the midle region of the ayre pierceth thither where it is still pure without any mouing But S. Thomas also argueth this not to be tru saying that it is no conuenient place for Paradise to stand in the midst of the region of the ayre neither could it beeing there haue such qualities conditions as are necessary because the winds and waters would distemper it LU. This shold be so if it were in the midst of the region but you your selfe say that it passeth farder where the winds waters haue no force to worke any distemprature AN. If not the winds waters thē the fire wold work it for the farder it shooteth beyond the region of the ayre the neerer it approcheth the region of the fire BE. You speak against you self for yesterday you said that the city Acroton builded on the top of the mountain Athos being in the superior region of the ayre enioyed a singuler temperature AN. You say tru but things are not to be
may be gathered that put the case that Paradise stood towards any part of the East yet could not the same be far off frō the Citties of Ierusalem Tyre because he nameth iointly together Charam Heden being a thing most manifest that Charam is a Prouince in Chaldae or Mesopotamia which appeareth by the words of Genesis saying God took thē out of Vra Prouince of the Chaldaeans that they might go to Canaan they cam euen to Charam these are euident reasons to proue that Paradise stood in that Coūtry that if as yet it be it standeth there it maketh the better with this opinion because the two Riuers Tygris Euphrates bath and water that Prouince Besides we may suppose that the Arke of Noe during the 40. dayes of the flood while it floted vpō the water being so great huge built so monstrous as appeareth by the holy scripture to no other end then that it should not sink made no very long voyage which staying setling it selfe on the mountaines of Armenia is a token that Noes biding was not farre from thence of the other side it is certaine that his habitation was not far off from that part where Paradice was which by consequence could not be farre off from Armenia vpon which these prouinces before rehearsed doe border and that the Country where Paradice stood was enhabited appeareth by these words of S. Chrisostome Before the flood saith he men knew the place where Paradice stood the way to goe vnto the same But after the deluge they found thēselues out of the knowledge thereof neyther could Noe or any of his Successors remēber or find out the place where it had beene And seeing that Chrisostom saith that it was neuer afterwards knowne neither can we know if it still remained or if it were dissolued for standing in part where notice might haue been had thereof LV. Indeed if Paradice should be in a place so neere vnto vs how were it possible that no man should haue knowledge thereof or at the least of the place where it might stand AN. To this answereth Eugubinus that granting his former opiniō to be true or that Paradice was planted in a flat ground or at least not so high as other Doctors affirme then certainly it was destroyed by the waters of the flood God through our offences not permitting a thing so notable of so great perfection to remaine amongst vs in the world LV. It seemeth not vnto me that Eugubinus hath reason to gainsay the opinion of so many Doctors agreeing all in one Strabo being both a Historiographer and a Diuine writeth that the sword with which God placed the Seraphin at the gate of Paradice was called Versatilis which is as much to say as turning because it could turn back as it did when it gaue place of entry to Elias Enoch though the same be otherwise vnderstood of Nicolaus de Lyra who saith that Torrida Zona is the firy sword which the Seraphin held whose exceeding furious heate defended that passage frō all men liuing But this is out of date seeing the industry of this our age hath found the same to be passable BE. I dare not determinatly affirme whether Elias cam out of terestrial Paradice or any other place when he was speaking with Christ at his transfiguration for it is generally held as a thing most certain indubitable that Elias where so euer he be is in body and soule AN. Truly there are for the maintenance of each of these opinions so many reasons that it is best not to trouble our wits withall but to leaue the censure of thē to wiser men greater Doctors then we are only one thing remaineth the which truly if it were in my power I would not permit that so many fables shold be set forth divulged as there are as that which is written in the life of S. Amasus that hee stoode so many yeeres at the gates thereof and also in a treatise of S. Patricks Purgatory where it is written that a Gentleman entring in passed through the same into earthly Paradice for in such matters no man ought to be so hardy as to affirme any thing but that which is knowne to be true and approoued LV. In good sooth you haue great reason but now seeing you haue sayde as much as may be about the situation of Paradice goe forward with that of the Riuers which come from thence a matter vnlesse I be deceaued of no lesse difficulty then the before rehearsed AN. I assure you it is such that I should haue been glad if you had ouerslipped it doubting least I shall be vnable to satisfie your expectation for as Eugubinus sayeth there is so great and so intricate a difficulty heerein that he is hardly able to vnwinde him selfe there out whom of force in this matter I must follow for as for the other Authors which write heereof it seemeth that they stay at the halfe carere without reaching to the end of the course To begin therefore it is sayd in Genesis that there issued a Riuer out of Paradice deuiding it selfe into foure parts the which were Gion Fison Tygris and Euphrates But seeing the difficulty of the seate and place of paradice cannot clearely be determined much lesse can this be of the foure Riuers which issue thence especially knowing at this present that their Springs and risings are in diuers different parts of the world yet for all this sifting and bolting out the truth we will approach as neere it as we may This Riuer which deuided it selfe into foure first issued out of the place of delights which was according to Eugubinus the Prouince of Heden and from thence entered to inundate Paradice whence comming forth it made this deuision It is manifest that the first part therof called Gion is the same which we now call Ganges for this is it which watreth the land of Heuylath The second Riuer Fyson is without all doubt that which wee now call Nilus seeing there is no other which watereth and compasseth about the Land of Aethiopia as the text it selfe sayeth As for Tygris Euphrates they retaine yet their selfe same first names and runne along the Country of the Assirians and of these two last it may be sayde that they rise or at the least that the first Land which they water is the same which according to that before alleaged may be called the prouince of Heden BER These two Riuers are by all Cosmographers described to haue their risings in the Mountaine Taurus in Armenia and it is true that they vvater the prouince of the Assirians but theyr rysing and beginning is farre from thence as saith Strabo by these words Euphrates and Tygris rise in the Mountaine Taurus and compassing about Mesapotamia ioyne themselues together by Babylon and from thence goe to enter into the Persian Sea the spring of Euphrates is on the North side of
Generall flood it should be destroyed and ouerthrowne the selfe same consideration may serue for this of the Riuers not without proofes very euident and agreeable to reason for if it were destroyed with the Flood euen as it pleased God to permit the vndooing thereof so would hee also ordayne that all signes and markes of the same shoulde cease to the end that the peoples dwelling in the prouinces and borders thereabout shoulde haue no knowledge at all thereof that it should be no longer necessary for the Cherubin to remaine in garde thereof with a fierie Sworde as till that time hee had done But before wee come to handle the principall causes you shall vnderstande that there are some who holde opinion that all these foure Riuers rise neere the Land of Heden and come to ioyne in the same Leauing therefore a part Tygris and Euphrates because that of them seemeth in a manner verified as for Ganges the course therof is not so contrarie but that it may well meete where the other riuers doe and that any inconuenience eyther of lownes or highnes of the earth might bee sufficient to diuert or to cause the same to runne where it now doth But this is an argument that neyther concludeth nor carrieth any reason withall As for the Riuer Nilus they goe another way to worke saying that it is not the same which in the holy Scripture is called Fison for there are two Ethiopias say they the one in Affrica which is watred with Nilus the other in the West Indies in Asia beginning from the coast of Arabia folowing along the coast of the Ocean sea towards the East the which may be vnderstood by the holy Scriptures who call those of the Lande of Madian neere to Palestina Ethiopians Sephora also that was wife to Moises beeing natiue of that region was called Ethiopesse And with this agreeth a Glosse written in the margen of Caetano his discourse vppon thys matter by Anthonio de Fonseca a Frier of Portugall and a man very learned so that Fison may well be some Riuer of these which watereth this Country first discending by the Lande of Heden comming from the same to enter into the Ocean as Tygris and Euphrates and many other deepe riuers doe in the same maner may it be coniectured that Gion should bee some one of these riuers the one and the other through antiquity hauing lost theyr names and that it is not knowne because it cannot perfectly be prooued whether of these two Ethiopias is meant by the holy Scripture Aueneza saith it is a thing notorious that the Riuer Gion was not far from the Land of Israell according to that which is written in the third booke of Kings Thou shalt carry it into Gion although there be other Authors that vnderstande not Gion to be a Riuer but to be the Lake Siloe or else a Spring so called If that Gion were Ganges it is manifest that it runneth not so neere vnto Israel as it is heere said S. Isidore entreating of this matter sayeth that the Riuer called Araxes commeth out of Paradise which opinion is also maintained by Albertus Magnus Procopius writeth of another Riuer called Narsinus whose streame issueth from thence neere to the Riuer Euphrates some thinke that these are Gion and Fison though at this time their waters runne not through the same Lands These are the opinions of Ecclesiasticall Doctors labouring to discusse and sift out the truth of this secret But leauing them all I will tell you my opinion partly agreeing with Eugubinus and his followers that when it pleased God to drowne the whole worlde in time of the Patriarch Noe with a vniuersall flood mounting according to the sacred Text fifteene cubits in height aboue all the mountaines of the earth the same must of necessity make and vnmake change alter and ouerturne many things raysing valleyes abating mountaines altering the Deserts discouering many parts of the earth vnseene before and couering drowning many Citties and Regions which from thence forth remained vnder the water ouerwhelmed in the Sea or couered with Ponds and Lakes as we know that which without the flood happened to Sodome and Gomorrha with the rest which after they were burnt did sinke with them And we see oftentimes in the swelling and ouerflowing of great Riuers whole Countries drowned and made like vnto a Sea yea and sometimes mighty Riuers to lose their wonted passage and turne and change their course another way farre different from the first If I say the violent impetuosity of one onely riuer suffice to worke these effects What shall we then thinke was able to doe the incomparable fury and terrible swinging rage of the generall and vniuersall flood In the which as the same Text sayth all the Fountaines and Springs of the earth were broken vp by their bottomes and all the Conduits of heauen were opened that there might want no water eyther aboue or beneath If then the Springs so brake vp it could not be but that some of them were changed and passed into other places different from those in which they were before theyr streames scouring along through contrary wayes and veines of the earth In like manner might it happen to those which entered into terestriall Paradise issued forth to water those Lands named in the holy Text which eyther through the falling downe of huge mountaines and rocky hills or filling vp of lowe valleyes might be constrained to turne their streames farre differently to their former course or else by the permission and will of GOD which would haue vs to be ignorant of this secrete they changed their Springs and issues by hiding and shutting them selues in the bowels of the earth and running through the same many thousand miles and at last came to rush forth in other parts farre distant from those where they were before neyther passed they onely vnder a great quantity of Lands enhabited and vninhabited but the very Sea also whom they hold for mother Spring whence they proceede hideth them vnder her to the ende that they might returne to issue foorth where they were not knowne or if through some cause they were it should be vnto our greater admiration and meruaile as now it is Neyther wonder you at all if the generall flood wrought so great a mutation in the world for there haue not wanted graue men who affirme that the whole world before the time of the flood was plaine and leuell without any hill or valley at all and that by the waters thereof were made the diuersities of high and lowe places and the seperation of Ilands from firme Land And if these reasons suffice not let euery man thinke heerein what shall best agree with his owne fancy for in a mistery so doubtfull and secrete we may as well misse as hit and so S. Augustine thinking this to be a secret which God would not haue knowne but reserues it to himselfe saith that no
confound not with theyr intricate and obscure contrarieties it is best therefore that we referre our selues to the Church following for Pylots in this matter the holy Doctors who cleerelie expresse the pure truth hereof and so shall we attaine to the vnderstanding of that which we pretend BER You say well but first declare vnto vs whether Lucifer those other Angels that offended with him in ambition and pryde fell altogether into hell or no AN. They fell not altogether into the very Abysme of Hell though they all fell into the truest hell which is Punishment Those which remained in the places betweene was because they had not offended with so determinate an obstination and vehemence as the others had and they remained also there because it was necessary conuenient for our merite that we should haue Spirits for our enemies in such place where they might vexe vs with theyr temptations For which cause God permitted a great part of them to remaine in the ayre the earth and the water vvhere they shall continue till the day of iudgement and then they shall be all damned into the very dungeon of Hell so that we haue with them a continuall warre who though they be in the places which I haue said yet are they not out of Hell in respect of torment for theyr paine is all alike All this is out of S. Thomas in the first part Quest. 64. Ar. 4. The difference of the degrees of Spirits is rehearsed by Gaudencius Merula taking the same out of Pselius who maketh 6. kinds of Spirits betweene Heauen Hell The first who are those that remained in the highest region of the Ayre hee calleth Angels of fire because they are neere vnto that Region and perchance within it The second kinde saith hee is from the middle region of the Ayre downeward towardes the Earth The third on the earth it selfe The fourth in the waters The fift in the Caues and hollow vautes of the earth The sixt in the very dungeon and Abysme of Hell LU. In such sort that they are as it were enter-linked one with another but tell mee haue all these Spirits one selfe dutie and office AN. No if we will beleeue Gaudencius Merula but manie and those of diuers sorts For the cheefest greefe and paine of the first which vvere those that had least offended seeing themselues so neere Heauen is the contemplation that through theyr wickednes they haue lost so great a Beatitude though this be generall to them all and these are nothing so harmfull as the others are For those which are in the middle of the region of the Ayre and those that are vnder them neerer the earth are those which sometimes out of the ordinary operation of Nature doe mooue the windes with greater fury then they are accustomed doe out of season congele the clowes causing it to thunder lighten haile and to destroy the grasse Corne Vines and fruites of the earth and these are they whose helpe the Negromancers do often vse in their deuilish operations Amongst other things which are written in the Booke called Mallcus Maleficarum you shall finde that the Commissioners hauing apprehended certaine Sorceresses willed one of them to shew what she could doe assuring her life on condition that from thence forward shee should no more offend in the like Wherupon going out into the fields in presence of the Commissioners many other besides she made a pitte in the ground with her hands making her vvater into the same which being done she stirred about the vrine with one of her fingers out of the which by little little after shee had made certaine Characters and mumbled a few wordes there arose a vapour which ascending vpwarde like a smoake began to thicken of it selfe in the midst of the region of the ayre gathering and making there a blacke fearfull Clowde which cast out so many thunders lightnings that it seemed to be a thing hellish and infernall the vvoman remaining all thys while still asked at last the Commissioners where they woulde haue that clowde to discharge a great quantitie of stones they poynting her to a certaine place where it could doe no hurt at all the clowde of a suddaine began to moue it selfe with a great furious blustering of winds and in short space comming ouer the place appointed dyscharged a great number of stones like a violent shower directly within the compasse thereof And in this sort may the Witches and Negromancers worke many such like thinges through the help of those Spirits as we wil hereafter declare But turning to the third kind of Spirits beeing on the earth whose principall office function is to persecute men and to tempt and allure them to sinne and thereby to worke theyr damnation enuying that those glorious places which they once enioyed in heauen should bee possessed replenished with men These vex vs these trouble vs these deceiue vs and entise vs to all those wicked offences which we cōmit against the maiestie of him who made created vs of nothing these lie in waight day and night to entrap vs sleeping and waking they allure vs to euill thoughts and naughty works tempting our soules perswading vs to run the way of perdition the which because they are Spirits they may very well do in vexing and tempting our Spirit yea and many times so that wee are not not able to perceaue it And though Gaudencius Pselius attribute to sundry kindes of Spirits sundry functions in perticuler yet in generall each of thē can indifferently vse them though they be of another kinde For in dooing euill they agree all in one malice and most earnest desire to worke our damnation by all meanes possibly they may BER Is that true which they say that there is no man but hath at his right hand a good Angell and at his left hand a bad AN. Doubt not of this for as God for our good and benefit hath ordeyned to each one of vs a good Angel to accompanie vs whom we call our Angel of gard who as by the holy church we are taught keepeth defendeth vs frō many dangerous temptations by which the deuil procureth to work our damnation so also haue we at our left hand an ill Spirit which stil is solliciting perswading and alluring vs to sin and offend by all meanes possibly he may And the Gentiles though they were not so illuminated as we are yet did they in part acknow ledge this calling the good Angell Genium Hominis though this of the euill Angell I haue not found approoued by ame Author onely that it is an opinion which the common people holdeth and is generally allowed and besides the readines of them at hande to procure vs to sin is confirmed by the holy Scripture in sundry places BER What power hath God giuen vnto these good and bad Angels which wee carry daily in our company AN. That
lighteth amongst shallows sands where being not able to swim for want of water he is slaine of the fishers of whom great numbers comming in small boats strike him with hookes giuing him alwayes the lyne at will till they perceaue that hee is dead and then they pull him a Land and make great commodity of the oyle other things which they take out of his body Many doe affirme a thing which in my opinion seemeth hard to beleeue which is that the great Whales when the weather is any thing tempestucus plunge themselues with such violence from out the bottom of the Sea that their back appeareth aboue water like an Iland of sand or grauell insomuch that some sayling by Sea imagining the same many times to be an Iland in deede haue gone out of their ships made fire vpon it through the heat of which the Whale plunging himselfe into the water leaueth the men deceaued and in extreame great perril of death vnlesse they could saue thēselues by swimming to their ships This is written by many Authors of great estimation though to mee it seemeth a thing incredible and against all reason LV. It may be that such a wonder as this hath beene seene at some one time and as the manner of men especially trauailers is to ouer-reach they say it happeneth vsually and often BER For my part I will wonder at nothing neyther leaue to beleeue any thing that is possible which is written of these great fishes Sea-monsters seeing it is most approouedly knowne and verified and nowe lately also written and published by sundry mē of credit that in the yere 1537. there was taken in a Riuer of Germanie a Fish of a huge monstrous greatnes the fashion of whose head was like vnto that of a wilde Boare with two great tuscles shooting aboue foure spans out of his mouth he had foure great feete like to those with which you see Dragons vsually painted and besides the two eyes in his head hee had two others in his sides and one neere his nauill and on the ridge of his necke certaine long brisles as strong and hard as though they had beene of yron or steele This Sea-monster was carried for a wonder to Anwerp and there liue as yet many which will witnesse to haue seen the same But in such like things as these no man giueth vs more ample notice of things that are strange rare and merueilous then Olaus Magnus AN. There are also in these Seas many other strange and hurtfull fishes of which there is one called Monoceros of extreame greatnesse hauing in his forehead a mightie stiffe and sharpe horne with which hee giueth the shippes so forcible and violent a stroake that hee breaketh them and driueth them vnder water as though it were with a Canon shot but this is when the ships are becalmed which sildome happeneth vpon those Seas for it there blow but the least gale of winde that may be he is so lumpish and slow that they auoyde him easilie There is another fish called Serra because of a ranke of pricks which hee hath on his head so sharpe and hard as the poynts of Dyamants with which lurking vnder the shyppes hee saweth in sunder theyr keele which if it be not foreseene and remedied in time they perrish presently There is another fish called Xifia which is in a manner like vnto the Whale whose mouth beeing open is so wide and deepe that it astonisheth the beholders his eyes likewise of a most terrible aspect his backe sharpe as a sword with which lying vnderneath the shippes hee practiseth to cut or to ouerturne them to the end he may eate and deuoure the men that are within them There are also in this Sea fishes called Rayas of exceeding greatnes whose loue towards men is passing strange and admirable for if any man chance to fall into the sea neere where any of them is hee vnderproppeth him presently bearing him aboue the water and if any other fishes com to anoy or hurt him he defendeth him as much as he may euen to the death There is also another called Rosmarus whose propertie is very rare and strange he is about the bignes of an Elephant he is headed in maner like an Oxe his skin is of darke obscure colour full of stubbie haires as great as wheaten strawes he commeth often a shore where chauncing to see a man any thing neere he runneth at him with open mouth and if he catch him hee dismembreth him presently Hee is meruailous swift delighteth much to eate grasse and sedge that groweth in freshe water for which cause hee haunteth often to little riuers plashes that are on maine land wherewith when he is well satisfied and filled he climeth vp the Rocks by the help of his teeth which are passing sharp strong where he layeth him downe to sleepe so deeply profoundly that it is not possible with any rumour how great soeuer it be to awake him at which time the marriners peasants thereabouts boldly without feare binde great ropes to each part of his body the other ends of which they fasten vnto trees if there be any neere if not as well as they can to some place of the Rock and when as they thinke they haue entangled him sure enough they shoote at him a far of with bowes Crosbowes Harguebuzes chiefely at his head His strength is so great that awaking somtimes perceauing himselfe to be wounded he starteth vp with such violence that he breaketh all the cordes with which he is fastened but commonly he hath first his deaths wound so that after a little strugling hee turneth of the Cliffe downe into the Sea and dieth incontinent out of which they draw him with hookes and yrons dispoyling him cheefely of his bones and teeth which the Muscouites Tartarians Russians esteeme to be so good and true Iuorie as the Indians doe that of theyr Elephants Of all this Paulus Iouius maketh relation in an Epistle which he wrote to Pope Clement the seauenth being amply thereof enformed by one Demetrius a noble man and Lieuetenant generall vnder the Emperour or Duke of Russia But to our first purpose there are also founde in this Seas sundry kindes of fishes or rather beastes which liue both by water and land comming often a shoare to feede in the pastures thereby bearing the likenesse of Horses Oxen Hares Wolues Rats and of sundry other sorts which after they haue well fedde on the Land turne backe vnto the Sea againe the one being in a maner as naturall vnto them as the other But leauing to speake any farther thereof wee now will come to the Dolphins whose loue to musicke and children is a thing manifest notorious to all men and seeing it serueth to the purpose I will tell you a strange and true tale of one of them that beeing taken by fishermen when hee was very young
little was by them brought and put into a pond or standing water in the Iland of S. Domingo a little after the conquest thereof by the Spaniards Being in which fresh water in short space hee encreased to such greatnes that hee became bigger then any horse and withall so familiar that calling him by a name which they had giuen him he would come ashore and receaue at theyr handes such thinges as they brought him to eate as though he had beene some tame domesticall beast The boyes among other sportes and pastimes they vsed with him woulde sometimes gette vp vppon his bace and hee swimme all ouer the Lake with them without euer dooing harme or once dyuing vnder the water with any one of thē One day certaine Spanyards comming to see him one of them smote him with a pyke staffe which he had in his hand from which time forward hee knewe the Spanyards so vvell by theyr garments that if any one had beene therby when the other people called him hee woulde not come ashore otherwise still continuing with those of the Country his vvonted familiaritie Hauing thus remained in this Lake a long space the water vpon a tyme through an extreamitie of raine rose so high that the one side of the Lake ouerflowed and brake into the Sea from which time forward he was seen no more Thys is written by the Gouernour of the fortresse of that Iland in a Chronicle which he made Leauing them therefore now I will briefely speake of certaine notable Fish coasts from the West of Ireland forwards winding about towardes the North For it is a thing notorious that many Kingdoms Regions Prouinces haue their prouisions of Fish frō thence of which our Spaine can giue good testimonie the great commodity considered that it receaueth yeerely thereby To beginne therefore the farther forth this way that you goe the greater plenty you shall finde of fishe many of those Prouinces vsing no other trade forraine Merchants bringing into them other necessary thinges in exchange thereof The chiefest store whereof is founde on the Coast of Bothnia which deuideth it selfe into three Prouinces East West and North-Bothnia The last whereof is different farre from the other two for it is a plaine Champaine Land seated as it were in a Valley betweene great and high Mountaines The ayre thereof is so wholesome the Climat so fauourable that it may be well termed one of the most pleasant and delightfull places of the world for it is neither hote nor cold but of so iust a temperature that it seemeth a thing incredible the Countries lying about it beeing so rigorously cold couered with Snow congealed with a continuall Ise. The fields of themselues produce all pleasant varietie of hearbes and fruites The woods and trees are replenished with Birdes whose sweet charmes melodious tunes breedeth incredible delectation to the hearers but wherein the greatest excellencie and blessing of this Land consisteth is that amongst so great a quantitie of Beasts and Fowles of which the Hilles Woods Fieldes and Valleyes are full it breedeth not nourisheth or maintaineth not any one that is harmefull or venemous neyther doe such kindes of Fishes as are in the Sea hurtfull approach theyr shoares which otherwise abound with Fishes of all sorts so that it is in the fishers handes to take as many and as few as they list The cause of which plentie is as they say that diuers forts of Fishes flying the colde come flocking in multitudes into these temperate waters Neyther bapneth this onely on theyr Sea-shoare but in theyr Lakes Riuers within the Land also which swarme as thicke with fishes great and little of diuers kindes as they can hold The enhabitants liue very long neuer or sildome feeling any infirmity which surely may serue for an argument seeing it is so approouedly knowne to be true to confirme that which is written concerning the vpper Byarmya which though it be seated in the midst of vntemperate cold countries couered and frozen with continuall Snow and Ice yet is it selfe so temperate and vnder so fauourable a Climate and constellation that truly the Authors may well call it as they doe a happy and blessed soile whose people hauing within thēselues all things necessary for the sustentation of humaine life are so hidden sequestred from other parts of the world hauing of themselues euery thing so aboundantly that they haue no need to traffique or conuerse with forraine Regions And this I take to be the cause that we haue no better knowledge of some people that liue vppon the Hyperbores who though they liue not with such pollicy as we doe it is because the plenty of all thinges giueth them no occasion to sharpe their wits or to be carefull for any thing so that they leade a simple and rustique life without curiosity deuoyd of all kind of trouble care or trauaile whereas those who liue in Countries where for their substentation maintenance it behooueth them to seeke needefull prouisions in forraine Landes what with care of auoiding dangers well dispatching their affaires and daily practising with diuers dispositions of men they cannot but becom industrious pollitique and cautelous And hence came it that in the Kingdome of China there was a Law and statute prohibiting and defending those that went to seeke other Countries euermore to returne into the same accounting them vnworthy to liue in so pleasant and fertile a soile that willingly forsooke the same in searching an other But returning to our purpose in this North Bothnya which is beyond Norway is taken incredible store of fish which they carry some fresh some salted to a Citty called Torna situated in manner of an Iland betweene two great Riuers that discende out of the Septentrionall mountaines where they hold their Fayre and Staple many and diuers Nations resorting thither who in exchange of theyr fish accommodate them with such other prouisions as their Country wanteth so that they care not to labour or till their grounds which if at any time they doe the fertillity thereof is such that there is no Country in the worlde able to exceede the same The people is so iust that they know not howe to offende or offer iniurie to any man they obserue with such integrity the Christian fayth that they haue him in horrour and destentation that committeth a mortall sinne They are enemies of vice and louers and embracers of vertue and truth They correct and chasten with all seuerity and rigour those that are offendours insomuch that though a thing bee lost in the streete or field no man dareth take it vp till the owner come himselfe There are also other Prouinces maintayned in a manner wholely by fishing as that of Laponia in the vvhich are manie Lakes both great and little infinitelie replenished with all sorts of excellent fishes and that of Fylandia which is very neere or to say better vnder the Pole The
women of Egipt are so fruitefull that they haue often 3. or 4. children at a burden and though he expresseth not so much yet we must imagine that many of them liue and doe well or otherwise hee would neuer make so often mention of them In this our Spayne we haue often seene a woman deliuered of three children at once and one in a Village not far hence of 4. and in Medina del campo some yeres passed it was publiquely reported that a certain principal woman was brought a bed of 7. at once and it is said that a Bookebinders wife of Salamanca was deliuered of 9. and we must thinke that in other Countries haue hapned the like of as great greater admiration though we as they say being in one ende of the world haue had no notice nor knowledge of them LV. Plinie saith it is certaine that sixe children may be borne at one birth which is most strange vnlesse it be in Egypt where the women bring sildome one alone into the worlde In Ostia there was a woman that had at one burden two sonnes and two daughters all liuing and doing well Besides in Peloponeso a woman was 4 times deliuered each time of 5. sonnes the most part of which liued Trogus Pompeius writing of the Egiptian women saith that they are often deliuered of 7. sons at once of which some are Hermophrodits Also Paulus the Lawyer writeth that there was brought from Alexandria to Adrian the Emperor a woman to be seene which had fiue liuing children 4. of the which were borne in one day the 5. foure daies after the deliuery of the first Iulius Capitolinus writeth the like of a woman deliuered of 5. sons in the time of Anth. Pius so that the matter which signior Bernardo rehersed of the woman with 3. liuing children is not so newe nor strange Besides it is coÌ„firmed with the publique fame of that which hapned to a lady one of the greatest of this land which being in trauaile it was told her husband that she was deliuered of one son within a little space of one more within few houres they told him that shee had brought him forth 4. more which were 6. in all who answered merily to those that brought him the newes if you can wring her well I warrant you qd hee you shal get more out of her This is no fable but a matter known to be true AN. Seeing we are falne into the discourse of prodigious births I can by no means passe ouer with silence that which Nicholaus de florentia writeth alledging the authority of Auicenna in Nono de animalibus that a woman miscaried at one time of 70. proportioned children the same author alledgeth Albertê° Magnê° which said that a certaine Phisition told him for assured trueth that beeing sent for into Almaigne to cure a gentlewoman hee sawe her deliuered of a 150. children wrapt all in a net each of them so great as ones little finger all borne aliue proporcioned I know well that these thinges are almost incredible to those which haue not seene theÌ„ yet is this one thing so notorious wel known that it coÌ„firmeth the possibility of the rest though it be far more admirable then any of theÌ„ all That which hapned to the lady Margaret of Holland which brought forth at one burden 306. children all liuing about the bignes of little mise which were christned by the hands of a Bishop in a bason or vessel of siluer which as yet for memory remaineth in a Church of the same Prouince the which our most victorious Emperor Charles the fift hath had in his hands this is affirmed to be true by many and graue witnesses Sundry authors write hereof especially Henricus Huceburgensis Baptista Fulgoso Lodo. Viues which saith that the cause of this monstrous birth was the curse of a poore woman which coÌ„ming to the gates of this great Lady to demaund almes in steede of bestowing her charity she reuiled taunted her reprochfully calling her naughty pack asking her how many fathers shee had for her children wherat the poore woman taking griefe beseeched God on her knees to send vnto this Lady so many children at a burden that she might be able neyther to know theÌ„ nor to nourish them BE. I think there neuer was the like of this seene or heard of in the world and truly herein Nature exceeded much her accustomed limites the iudgment thereof let vs referre to the Almightie who suffered permitted her to conceaue so many creatures which seeing it comes so well to purpose I will tell you what I haue heard of som men of credit such as wold not report any vntruth which is that in the kingdom of Naples or in diuers places therof the childbirth is passing dangerous to the Mothers because there issueth out before the childe appeare a little beast of the fashion bignes of a little frog or little toade and somtimes 2. or 3. at once if any of the which through negligence come to touch the grounde they hold it for a rule infallible that the woman which is in trauaile dieth presently which because so soone as it coÌ„meth out of the wombe it creepeth that swiftly they haue the bed stopt round about besides the ground wals so couered that it cannot by any means com to tuoch the earth besides they haue alwaies ready a bason of water wherein they presently put those litle beasts couering it so close that they cannot get out carry theÌ„ therin to some riuer or to the sea wherein to auoide the danger they cast theÌ„ and though I haue not seen any Author which writ so much yet all those that haue been in those countries confirme the same so that there is no doubt to be made thereof but that it is as true as strange and though it may seeme that I vse some digression froÌ„ the matter yet me thinks that it is not amisse that we should vnderstand what Aristotle writeth in his 3. booke de animalibus of a he Goat which as it seemed was euen ready to coÌ„ceaue if nature would haue giuen him therto any place for he had teates like vnto the femals great full of milk so that they milked him it came froÌ„ him in such quantity that they made cheese thereof AN. Meruaile not much at this for if you read the booke which Andreas Mateolus of Siena made de epistolis medecinalibus you shal find that he saith hee saw himselfe in Bohemia 3. of the same sort of the which hee himselfe had one for his proper vse whose milke he found by experience to bee the best medicine of all for those which were troubled with the Apoplexy or falling sicknes BER There must be some cause for which Nature in such a thing as this exceeded her accustomed order and perchance it was to bring a
furiously sallied dooing great hurt and damage in the Country killing and wounding the passengers and destroying the fruits laboured grounds Ixion seeing that the people hereby endamaged exclaimed vpoÌ„ him resoluing to take some order for the destruction of these Bulls made it be proclaimed that he would giue rich rewards great recompences to who so euer should kil any of them There were at that time in a Citty called Nephele certaine young men of great courage which were taught instructed by those of the same towne to breake tame horses to mount vpon their backs sometimes assailing and sometimes flying as neede required These vndertooke this enterpise to destroy these Bulls and through the aduantage of their horses the vertue of theyr own courage slew tooke daily so many of them that at last they cleared deliuered the Country of this anoyance Ixion accomplished his promise so that these young men remained not only rich but mighty formidable through the aduantage they had of other meÌ„ with this vse redines of their horses neuer till that time seen or known before They retained still the name of Centaures which signifieth wounders of Bulls They grew at last into such haughtines pride that they neither esteemed the King nor any man else doing what they list them selues so that beeing one day inuited to a certaine mariage in the towne of Larissa being wel tipled they determined to rauish the dames and Ladies there assembled which they barbarously accomplished rising of a sodaine and taking the Gentlewomen behind them on their horses riding away with theÌ„ for which cause the wars began betweene them the Lapiths for so were the men of that Country called The Centaures gathering theÌ„selues to the mountains by night came down to rob spoile stil sauing theÌ„selues throgh the swiftnes of their horses Those of the Countries there about which neuer til that time had seen any horsman thought that the maÌ„ the horse had ben all one because the town whence they issued to make their warres was called Nephele which is as much to say as a cloud the fable was inuented saying that the Centaures discended out of the clouds Ouid in his Meramorphosis entreateth hereof say that it was at the mariage of Perithous with Hypodameya daughter to Ixion he nameth also many of the Centaures by whoÌ„ this tumult was committed but the pure truth is that which Eginius writeth LV. It is no meruaile if the people in those dayes were so deceaued hauing neuer before seen horses broken tamed nor men sitting on their backs the strange nouelty whereof they could not otherwise vnderstand for proofe wherof we know that in the Ilands of the vvest-Indies the Indians when they first saw the Spaniards mounted vpon horses thought sure that the man and the horse had beene all one creature the feare conceaued through which amazement was cause that in many places they rendered themselues with more facillity then they would haue done if they had knowne the trueth thereof But withall you must vnderstand that the Auncients called old men also Centaures that were Tutors of noble mens Sonnes and so was Chiron called the maister of Achilles through which name diuers being deceaued painted him forth halfe like a man halfe like a horse BER I was much troubled with this matter of Centaures wherefore I am glad that you haue made me vnderstand so much therof but withall I would that Signior Anthonio would tell vs what his opinion is of Sea men for diuers affirme that there are such and that they want nothing but reason so like are they in all proportions to bee accounted perfect men as wee are AN. It is true indeede there are many graue sincere writers which affirme that there is in the Sea a kind of fish which they call Tritons bearing in each point the shape humane the female sort thereof they call Nereydes of which Pero Mexias in his Forrest writeth a particuler Chapter alleadging Pliny which sayeth that those of the Citty of Lisboa aduertised Tiberius Caesar how that they had found one of those men in a Caue neere to the Sea making musick with the shell of a fish but he forgot an other no lesse strange which the same Author telleth in these very wordes My witnesses are men renowned in the order of Knighthood that on the Ocean Sea neere to Calays they saw come into their shippe about night time a Sea man whose shape without any difference at all was humaine he was so great and wayed so heauy that the boate began to sinke on that side where hee stoode and if hee had stayed any thing longer it had been drowned Theodore Gaze also alleadged by Alexander of Alexandria writeth that in his time one of these Sea men or rather men fishes accustomed to hide him selfe in a Caue vnder a Spring by the Sea side in Epirus where young maydens vsed to fetch their water of which seeing any one comming alone rising vp hee caught her in his armes and carried her into the Sea so that hauing in this sort carried away diuers the enhabitants being aduertised thereof set such grins for him that at last they tooke him kept him some dayes They offered him meat but he refused to eate and so at length beeing in an element contrary to his nature died The same Alexander speaketh of another Sea-monster which Bonifacius Neapolitanê° a man of great authority certified him that he saw brought out of Mauritania into Spain whose face was like a man some-what aged his beard haire curled and glistring his complexion and colour in a manner blew in all his members proportioned like a man though his stature were somewhat greater the onely difference vvas that he had certaine finnes with the which as it seemed he diuided the water as he swamme LVD It seemeth by this which you haue sayd of these monsters that there should be in them a kinde of reason seeing the one entred by night into the Shyp with intention to doe it damage and the other vsed such craft in his embuscades to entrappe those women AN. They are some likelihoods though they conclude not for as we see that there are heere on earth some beastes vvith more vigorous instinct of nature then others and neerer approching to the counterfaiting gestures of men as for example Apes and such like so is there also in this point difference among the Fishes of the Sea as the Dolphins vvhich are more warie and cautelous then the others as well in doing damage as in auoyding danger for Nature hath giuen all things a naturall and generall inclination to ayde help theÌ„selues withall Olaus Magnus handleth very copiously thys matter of Tritons or Sea-men of which in the Northerne Seas he sayth there is great abundance and that it is true that they vse to come into little Shyps of which with their weight
she willingly condiscending he led her into his Caue whether all the other Apes resorted prouiding her such victuals as they vsed where-with with the water of a Spring neere therevnto she maintained her life a certaine time during the which not being able to make resistance vnlesse she would haue presently been slaine she suffered the Ape to haue the vse of her body in such sort that she grew great and at two seuerall times was deliuered of two Sonnes the which as she her selfe saide and as it was by those that saw them afterwards affirmed spake and had the vse of reason These little boyes being the one of two the other of three yeeres aged it happened that a ship returning out of India passing thereby and being vnfurnished of fresh water the Marriners hauing notice of the Fountaine which was in that Iland and determining thereof to make their prouision set them selues a shore in a Cockbote which the apes perceauing fled into the thickest of the mountaine hiding themselues wherewith the woman emboldened and determining to forsake that abhominable life in the which she had so long time against her will continued ranne forth crying as loud as shee could vnto the Marriners who perceauing her to be a woman attended her and carried her with them to their ship which the Apes discouering gathered presently to the shore in so great a multitude that they seemed to be a whole Army the greater of which through the brutish loue and affection which he beare waded so farre into the Sea after her that hee was almost drowned manifesting by his shrikes and howling how greeuously he took this iniury done him but seeing that it booted not because the Marriners beganne to hoise their sailes and to depart he returned fetching the lesser of the two Boyes in his armes the which entring againe into the water as farre as he could he held a great while aloft aboue water and at last threw into the Sea where it was presently drowned which done he returned backe fetching the other and bringing it to the same place the which in like sort he held a great while aloft as it were threatning to drowne that as hee had done the other The Mariners moued with the Mothers compassion and taking pitty of the seely Boy which in cleare and perfect words cryed after her returned back to take him but the Ape daring not attend them letting the Boy fall into the water returned and fled towards the mountaines with the rest The Boy was drowned before the Marriners could succour him though they vsed their greatest diligence At their returne to the ship the vvoman made relation vnto them of all that happened to her in manner aboue rehearsed which hearing with great amazement they departed thence and at their arriuall in Portugall made report of all that they had seene or vnderstoode in this matter The woman was taken and examined who in each poynt confessing this fore-saide history to be true was condemned to be burnt aliue aswell for breaking the commaundement of her banishment as also for the committing of a sinne so enorme lothsome and detestable But Hieronimo capo de ferro who was afterwards made Cardinall beeing at that instant the Popes Nuncio in Portugall considering that the one of her faults was to saue her life and the other to deliuer her selfe out of the captiuity of these brute beastes and from a sinne so repugnant to her nature conscience humbly beseeched the King to pardon her which was graunted him on condition that shee should spende the rest of her life in a Cloyster seruing God and repenting her former offences AN. I haue hearde this history often and truelie in my iudgement it is no lesse strange then any of those before rehearsed or any other that euer hapned BER That which Iohn de Banos Chronicler of the King of Portugall writeth is no lesse meruailous but of as great or greater admiration then any of these if there were thereof so sufficient witnesses to proue it true Writing certaine memorable thinges of the Kingdomes of Pegu and Sian which are on the other side of the Riuer Ganges hee sayth that the people of those Kingdoms hold and affirme for a matter assured and indubitable that of long time that Country was vninhabited and so wild and desert and possessed of so many fierce and cruell beasts that if a whole Armie of men had come they could not haue preuailed against theyr multitude It hapned on a time that a ship comming from the Kingdome of Chinay was through a violent tempest driuen on that Coast among the Rocks so that all those that were therein perrished sauing onely one woman and a mighty great mastiue the which defended her from the furie of wilde beastes vsing daily with her fleshlie copulation in such sort that she became great and in proces of time was deliuered of a sonne she being at that present verie young the boy in space of time had also acquaintance with her and begat vpon her other children of whose multiplications those two kingdoms became to be inhabited and as yet at this day they haue dogs in great veneration as deriuing from them theyr originall beginning LV. If that of the Triton with the woman and that of the Beare with the mayden and that of the Ape be true there is no impossibilitie of this but let vs leaue heerein euery man to thinke as it pleaseth him without constraining him to beleeue or not to beleeue any thing but that whereto his iudgement shal most encline and though wee haue vsed a large digression yet let vs not so giue ouer the matter which we handled concerning Tritons or Seamen for I haue heard that there is a kinde of fish also called Mermaids resembling in theyr faces fayre and beautifull women the truth whereof I would be glad to vnderstand AN. It is true there is indeede much talke of the Mermaydes whom they say from the middle vpward to haue the shape of women and of a fish from thence downeward They are painted with a combe in one hand and a Looking-glasse in the other some say that they sing in so sweet melodious and delectable a tune that charming there-with the Shipmen asleepe they enter into their ship and bereaue them of their liues but to say the truth I haue neuer seen any Author worthy of credit that maketh mention hereof Onelie Pedro Mexias sayth that in a certaine strange and terrible tempest there was one of them amongst a number of other Fishes driuen a shoare on the Sea-coast hauing the visage of a vvoman most beautifull expressing in lamentable sort such sorrowe and griefe that shee mooued the beholders to compassion vvho gently turned her backe againe into the water vvhereinto shee willingly entred and swamme away vvithout being seene any more And though it may be that there is in the Sea such a kind of fish yet I account the sweetnes of their singing with
stopping their eares fast close with pelets of wax taking some few victuals with thē put themselues onward in their enterprize not without exceeding wearines trauel insomuch that the one fainting by the way was forced to bide behind The other two with chereful labor vertuous alacrity ouercōming all difficulties cam at last with much ado vnto the top of the mountain wher they found a great Plain without any trees in the midst a lake the water of which was obscure black as inke boiling bubling vp as though all the fire in the world had been flaming vnder it making a noise so terible thundring that though they had stopped their eares with all possible care diligence yet the intollerable roring noise thereof wrought such a humming and giddines in their heads that they were constrained with all possible hast to returne without bringing any certaine relation then this which you haue heard BE. Such a matter as this cannot be without great mistery for put case that there were vnderneath some mine of Sulphur or brimstone sufficient through the heat of the fiery matter therein to make the water seeth vp and boile yet could not the same cause a noyse so tempestuous horrible as you said the same is and besides me thinks this continuall boiling should in time consume the water and so the Lake by consequence become dry LU. Perchaunce there may be some Spring or Fountaine there neere which feedeth the Lake with as much warer as the fire consumeth by which meanes it can neuer be voyde or empty AN. Let vs leaue these secrets of Nature to him onely which hath made them for though we through some causes represented in our vnderstanding would seeke to yeeld reasons thereof yet when we thinke to hit the white we shall finde our selues far wide returning therefore to our former matter of Springs Waters me thinks it were not reason that speaking of things so farre off we should ouer-slip these which we haue heere at home in our owne Country hauing in this our Spaine two Fountaines whose effects are not a little to be admired at the one of which is in a Caue called de la Iudia by the Bridge of Talayuelas neere the Castle of Garcimunios which though I my selfe haue not seene yet I haue been thereof so certified that I assuredly know it to be true It yeeldeth a vvater which in falling congealeth and becommeth hard in manner of a stone which hardnes it alwayes after retaineth without dissoluing in such sort that they apply it to theyr buildinges BER It were neede of great Philosophy to know the mistery of this that vvater should in such sort harden that it should neuer afterwards dissolue the contrary reason whereof we see in great heapes of Ice which how hard so cuer they be yet change of weather maketh them to dissolue and melt LV. This is because the heat vndoeth that which is done by the cold as in snow haile ice which seeing it worketh not the like effect in these stones we may thereby gather that not the cold but som other secret to vs hidden vnknown is the cause of this obduration hardnes I haue heard with great credite affirmed that there is also neere the towne called Uilla Nueua del obyspo a Fountaine in which during sixe moneths of the yeare from such time as the sunne entreth into the signe of Lybra which beginneth about the midst of September called the Equinoctiall of the Autumne till the middest of March there is no one drop of water and all the other halfe yeare there runneth a most cleere abundant streame and thys is euery yere ordinary Of thys Fountaine maketh mention also Lucius Marineus Siculus Sinforianus Campegius wryteth of another in Sauoy which breedeth by miraculous operation stones of exceeding vertue BER If this be true then am I deceaued for I neuer thought that stones could be bred but that they were as the bones of the earth alwayes of one bignes neyther decreasing nor increasing for otherwise if stones should grow in time they would come to be of such quantitie and greatnes that they would be in diuer parts very combersome AN. And doubt you of this Assure your selfe that stones waxe and diminish according to the qualitie of which they are the place where they are and the property nature and condition of the earth where they are founde Though those which wee here call peble stones remaine alwayes in one greatnes or els grow so little and so slowly that it can in many yeeres hardly be perceaued yet all those stones which are any thing sandie contracting drawing the earth about them conuert the same into theyr owne nature hardning it in such sort that in short space a little stone becōmeth to be exceeding great yea and in such sort that sometimes we see things of different nature and kinde enclosed shut vp within them still retaining their owne substance and essence which if you desire better to vnderstand behold but the stone in the Earle Don Alonsos garden which hee hath caused to be placed there as a thing meruailous to be viewed of al men which though it be hard and sound hath in the midst therof a great bone seeming to be the shinbone of some beast which the same stone embraced by all likelihood lying neere it on the ground and continually growing came at last to compasse it rounde about which beeing afterwards carued by a Mason was found lying in the very bosome midst therof and that thys should be a very perfect bone there is no doubt to be made thereof for I my selfe haue made most sufficient proofe and try all of the same BER I haue also viewed it very narrowly and am of your opinion AN. Turning to our discourse of Fountaines I am perswaded that there are many of rare and great vertues vtterly to vs vnknowne and sometimes it hapneth that the vertue of the water worketh through the ayde of some other thing ioyntly together matters verie admirable as that which Alexander writeth in his booke De diebus genialibus that in those partes of England vvhich bende toward the West when any shyps are broken and the ribbes or planches of them remaine a while in the water that with the continuall moystnes they engender bring forth certaine Puscles like Mushromps which within fevve dayes seeme to be aliue and to haue motion and by little and little grow gather feathers That part wherewith they are fast to the rotten tymber is like vnto a water-foules bill which comming lose of it selfe thys miraculous foule beginneth to heaue it selfe vp and by little and little in short space of time to flie and mount into the ayre Pope Pius whose name was Aeneas Siluius rehearseth this in another sort saying that in Scotland vpon the bankes of a Riuer there growe certaine Trees whose leaues falling into the water and putrifying
of but the most part tooke it to be the iust iudgement of God vvhom it pleased to make this man an example to the vvorld in suffering him to end his dayes so miserably and to haue his tong torne out of his head and carried away for he vvas noted to be a great outragious swearer and blasphemer of Gods holy name vvhile hee liued LU. And may it not be that the vvhirle-vvind catching this man in the midst thereof might haue povver to vvorke these effects as vvell as vvhole Rocks to be vvhirled vp and trees to be turned vp by the rootes by the furious buffing together of vvindes when they meete AN. I confesse vnto you that the force of whirle-windes are very great and that they worke often very dangerous and damageabe effects as that which destroyed Algadefres ouerthrowing the houses and buildings and making them all flat with the earth in like sort it is passing dangerous at Sea when two contrary winds take a ship betweene them for sildome or neuer any shippe so taken escapeth but as for this which happened in Benauides I cannot iudge it to be other then the worke of the deuill through the permission of God as by two reasons it appeareth the first that they being two men together the one was saued the other that the dead mans tongue was wanting could not be found LU. You haue satisfied vs as concerning the power which the deuil hath and the limitation thereof therfore passe on I pray you with your former discourse AN. The fourth kind of Spirits are those which are in the waters as well the Sea as Floods Riuers and Lakes these neuer cease to raise damps and stormes persecuting those which saile putting them in great and fearefull dangers through violent and raging tempests procuring to destroy and drowne the ships also through the ayde of monsters rocks and shallowes which are in the Sea the like doe those of the Riuers guiding in such sort the Boates that they make them to ouerturne and causing those that swimme to entangle them selues in sedge or weeds or bringing them into some pits or holes where they cannot get out and finally by all meanes possible they persecute and molest them so far as the limitation of their power extendeth The fifth kind of Spirits are those which are in the Caues vautes of the earth where they lie in waite to entrap those that digge in Mines and Wells and other workes vnder the ground whose death and destruction they couet and procure as much as they may These cause the motions and tremblings of the earth through the ayde of the windes which are therein enclosed whereby whole Citties are often in danger to be swallowed vp especially those which are built neere the Sea whole mountaines are heereby throwne downe infinite peoples destroyed yea and sometimes the Sea heereby breaketh into the Land wasting deuouring whatsoeuer it findeth before it The sixth and last kinde of Spirits are those who are in the Abysmes place whose name is Hell whose principall and proper office is besides the paines which they endure to torment the damned soules This is the place where is no order at all as sayth Iob but continuall feare horror and amazement BE. Seeing you haue declared vnto vs how many sorts of Spirits there are tell vs also I pray you whether they haue bodies or no because I haue often beaten my braines about this secrete without finding any man that could herein resolue me AN. You may well call it a secret considering the diuers opinions that are thereof for many say that they are pure Spirits as Apuleius who made himselfe so well acquainted with them writeth that there is a kinde of Spirits who are alwayes free from the strings and bonds of the body of vvhich number is Sleepe and Loue whom he termeth spirits vvhereby he seemeth to confesse that there are others which haue bodyes so thinketh S. Basile who attributeth bodies not only to these Spirits but also to the Angels The like is vnderstood by the words of Pselius They who followe this opinion alleage for the maintenance thereof the wordes of the Prophet Dauid where he saith He which maketh his Angels spirits and his ministers of fire c. They alleage also S. Augustine to haue beene of the same opinion saying that the Angels before theyr fall had all their bodies formed of the superior purest part of the Ayre and such those haue as yet which remained guiltlesse of Lucifers offence the bodies of whose followers were turned into a thicker and grosser ayre to the end they might be therein more tormented But the Maister of Sentences sayth in his second booke that this is not Saint Augustines opinion but falsely attributed vnto him and so the common opinion of all the holy Doctors is that both the Angels and deuils are pure Spirits as S. Thomas and Saint Iohn Damascene and S. Gregory who aunswere most sufficientlie to such doubts as may herevpon be mooued as how they may feele suffer and receaue punishment though Gaudencius Merula defend the contrary saying that thinges incorporat cannot onely suffer or receaue feeling of any bodily paine but that also to feele them in vnderstanding is vnpossible But as for this opinion holde it for a manifest error for truly Gaudencius in some of his opinions goeth farre vvide of the marke If I should heere rehearse each of the seuerall Doctors opinions I should beginne an endlesse worke leauing them therefore I will come to the poynt indeed that which the rest confesse to be the generall opinion as I sayde before of all or the most part of the holy Doctors of the Church which is that the Angels when it is necessarie doe fashion make vnto thēselues visible bodies for the effects which they pretend as we finde in many places of the holie Scripture whether it be of ayre thickned of fire or of earth it maketh no matter but that so it is see what is written of the three Angels that came to the house of Abraham in the likenesse of three beautifull young men and the Angell Gabriell appeared to the glorious virgine in a most goodlie forme and figure when he brought her the salutation The selfe same is permitted to deuils in their operations whose bodies though we call fantasticall because they vanish presentlie away yet they verily are visible bodies formed of some such substance as I said before but the same is so fine and delicate that it straight dissolueth vanisheth And because this is to the purpose of that which you asked mee and which we now discourse of I haue so lightlie passed ouer all the rest for there haue not wanted Doctors vvhich affirme the deuils to be in such manner bodily that they haue neede of foode vvherewith to sustaine themselues and that they feare stoute men and flie from theyr sharpe vveapons and that beeing striken they
all that vvhich is forthward betweene these two Prouinces the Sea Northward Of Scithia hee sayth the same in his seauenth Table of Asia that on the North-side it hath vnknowne Lande in his third Table that all that part of the Mountaynes towardes the North is vndiscouered and in comming to India to the kingdome of Chyna hee hath no knowledge at all of that which is thence forwarde to the East where is so great a multitude and diuersitie of Countries Prouinces and Kingdoms as in a manner remaineth behind on this side yet truly there was neuer any man equall vnto Ptolomie in that which he knew and all both Auncients and Moderns doe follovve him as the truest Geographer though hee were many tymes deceaued as in saying that the Indian Sea is wholy closed and separated from the Ocean it beeing afterwards founde that from the Cape of Bona Speranza to Calycut there is more then a thousand leagues of water the which according to his opinion should be enuironed with firme land Strabo also in his seauenth booke saith that the same Region which turneth towards the Aquylon pertayneth to the Ocean sea for they are sufficiently known who take their beginning from the rising of the riuer of Rheyne forth to the riuer of Albis of which the most famous are the Sugambij the Cymbri but the stripe that reacheth out on the other side of the riuer Albis to vs is wholy vndiscouered vnknowne and a little farther Those saith he which will goe to the rysing of the Riuer Boristhenes to those parts from whence the winde Boreas commeth all those Regions are manifest by the Clymes and Paraleils but what Countries people those are which are on the other side of Almania and in what sort they are placed which are nowe called Bastarni as many doe suppose or Intermedij or Lasigae or Raxaili or others that vse the couerings of Wagons for the roofes of theyr houses I cannot easily say neither whetheir their country extendeth it selfe to the Ocean or whether through the extreame cold it be vnenhabitable or whether there be anie other linage of men between the sea those Almaines which are towards the part of the Ponyent By these authorities you may vnderstande that Strabo though hee were so great a Cosmographer had no knowledge of all those Countries which are on the other side of Almaine towards the Septentryon or North-pole But you must vnderstand that they made Almaine extende it selfe much farther then we now adayes doe bringing within the limits thereof all those Countries euen vnto Scithia in which seeing Strabo was ignorant it is not much if the other Cosmographers were ignorant of that which is vnder the vtmost Zone it selfe As for Strabo he confesseth not only his ignorance in those parts but also in speaking of the Getes There are saith he certaine mountaines which reach Northward euen to the Tyrregetes to the knowledge of whose bounds ends we cannot attaine the ignorance of which hath made vs admit many fables that are reported of the Hiperbores and Ryphaean mountaines But let vs leaue these men yea and Pytheas Marsiliensis also with his lyes which he wrote of the Ocean Sea and if Sophocles saide any thing in his tragicall verses of Oricia that she was carried of the wind Boreas ouer the whole Sea and transported to the vtmost bounds of the whole world to the fountaines of the Night to the height of the Heauen and to the old Garden of Apollo let vs leaue him also and come to the trueth of that which is in deede knowne in this our age BER Strabo hath cleerely giuen to vnderstand in these speeches the small knowledge he had of those Countries which are towards the North and of the other side of the Hiperborean and Ryphaean mountaines which being included in the vtmost Zone where as you say vnknowne to all the Auncients but I wonder at nothing more then that the vvorld hauing dured so many yeeres before them there was neuer any that could attaine to the light and cleare certainty thereof AN. There hath not wanted some which in som sort though doubtingly haue roued therat as Pliny who though he denied as I said a little before the vtmost Zones to be enhabited yet comming to speake of the mountaines of Rypheus hee discouereth the contrary of that which hee had saide before turning to vse these wordes The Arimasps being past there are straight at hand the Ryphaean mountaines and a Country through the continuall falling of snow like feathers called Pterophoros the which is a part of the world condemned of Nature beeing seated in a place of obscurity darknes we cannot place these mountains any where then in the very rigour of Nature it selfe and in the very seate and bowels of the Aquilon on the other side of the Aquilon liueth if we wil beleeue it a verie happy people whom they call Hyperboreans whose life they say lasteth many yeres and of whom are reported many fabulous miracles it is thought that there are the vtmost barres of the world and the farthest compasse of the starres it is 6. months light with them one only day of the Sun contrary not as som ignorantly say from the Winter Equinoctiall to the Autumne only once a yere doth the sunne rise vnto them in the Solstitio and only once a yere set in the Winter Their region is warme of a wholsome temprature without any noysome ayres the mountaines woods serue them for houses they worship their gods in troupes ioyntly flocking together there is neuer amongst them any discord debate sicknes or infirmity Death neuer ouertaketh them til being through olde age weary of liuing they throw themselues from the top of some high Rock down headlong into the sea this they account the happiest sepulchre that may be Some writers haue placed thē in the first part of Asia and not of Europe because there are some in situation likenes resembling them called Attacori others haue placed them in the midst betweene either Sunne which is Sun-setting of the Antypodes and the rising thereof with vs which can by no way be so beeing so great and huge a sea between Those who place them there where they haue but one day in the yere continuing sixe months say that they sow their corne in the morning and reape it at midday and that when the Sunne forsaketh them they gather the fruit of their trees and during the space of theyr night they hide thēselues in Caues This people is not to be doubted of seeing so many Authors haue written that they were wont to sende their first fruites to the Temple of Apollo in Delos vvhom they cheefely adored All this is out of Plinie who as you see discourseth confessing and denying for one while he sayth if we will beleeue it making it ambiguous and then presentlie he turneth to say that it is not to be doubted of LVD I alwayes vnderstood
when he riseth to take his course through the heauen ouer vs and so at last to set himselfe in the contrary place so with those which are vnder the Poles in his rising afterwards his setting in a far different sort For the first day that he riseth there appeareth but a point of him which can scarcely be discouered and goeth so round about their Orizon in which going about hee sheweth himselfe alwaies in one sort without encreasing vnlesse it be a very little casting all alike brightnes forth At the second turne he goeth discouering himselfe a little more and so at the third and fourth and all the rest encreasing from degree in degree and giuing turnes round about the heauen vpwards in which he continueth three moneths and the shadow of all that vppon which his beames doe strike goeth round about and is when he beginneth to rise very great and the higher he mounteth the shorter it waxeth and afterward when he turneth to come downward in which he dureth other three moneths it is contrary euen till hee come to hide himselfe vnder the earth at which time as hee goeth hiding himselfe to those of the one pole so goeth hee shewing and discouering himselfe to those of the other LV. The vnderstanding of this mistery is not without some difficulty especially to vs which till this time haue not had thereof any notice yet I now begin by little and little to comprehend the same onely one doubt remaineth which somwhat troubleth mee which is if the whole Land from that place where the dayes are of 24. houres length which according as I vnderstand is from the I le of Thule and the other Prouinces that are on firme Land till you come to that which you say is vnder the Pole be enhabited of men or Desert without habitation AN. I make no doubt but that all this Land is enhabited in parts though not so populously in all places as this of ours in this the Authors doe not so plainly declare themselues that we may thereby receaue cleare and particuler vnderstanding thereof though some of them goe on setting vs in the right way to knowe the same For Encisus following the discouery of the Coast which goeth towards the Sunne-setting giuing a turne to the North he goeth discouering by the same many Prouinces amongst which I remember hee speaketh of two the one called Pyla Pylanter and the other which is somwhat farther Euge Velanter in which he saith the dayes encrease to two moneths and a halfe and the night as much which though it be a Land enhabited yet through the extreame and terrible cold thereof the Riuers and Waters are in such sort frozen that the enhabitants haue much adoe to get any vvater for their Ices are so thicke strong and hard that they cannot be broken without infinite paine trauaile They waite many times til the Ice be opened by certaine wild Beasts which they haue amongst them white of colour and proportioned much like vnto Beares whose nature is as well to liue by water as by land whose feete are armed with such terrible sharpe great and strong nailes that they breake therewith the Ice how thicke so euer it be vnder the which plunging themselues they swim along the water and pray vpon such fishes as they finde leauing the holes whereat they entred open at which the enhabitants come incontinently to draw water endeuouring with all dilligence to keepe them open least otherwise they freeze and close together againe as fast as they were before They hang in at them their baits and Angling hookes with the which also they take fish for their sustenance As for me I assuredly thinke that these Prouinces are those which Gemma Frigius calleth Pilapia and Vilapia though he say that the dayes in them encrease no farther then to a moneth the nights as much But let vs not wonder if in such things as these so farre distant seperated from vs we finde no witnesses of such conformity but that they differ in somwhat Olaus Magnus giueth vs though in briefe words some neerer notice of this matter for before he come to discourse more particulerly of the Prouinces vnder the same Pole he vseth these words Those of Laponia saith he of Bothnya Byarmya and the Ifladians haue their dayes and nights halfe a yeere long a peece Those of Elsingia Angermania and part of Swethland haue them fiue moneths long and those of Gothland Muscouia Russia and Liuonia haue them three moneths long Which Author being naturall of Gothland and Bishop of Vpsala it is to be thought that hee knew the truth thereof But these Countries being so neere vnto ours I meruaile that there is no greater notice of them and that there are not many more Authors that doe write of them Truth it is as I vnderstand that this encreasing of daies and nights should not bee generall throughout the vvhole Country but onely in part thereof which may be gathered out of that which he sayth of the Kingdome of Norway that in the entry and first parts of the same the dayes are as they are heere with vs But going on forth to the blacke Castell and from thence forwarde there is so great a change as you haue heard before the like may also be in other Countries By these before rehearsed authorities we may vnderstand the resolution of the doubt by you proposed that all the Lande betweene vs and the North is enhabited at least in parts therof heere and there so that it may be trauailed through ouer all BER My head is greatly troubled about this encreasing decreasing of the dayes and nights so much because the farther we goe from the Aequinoctial the longer we find them yet the common opinion of all Cosmographers is that in one degree are reckoned sixteene leagues and a halfe or somwhat more which being so it seemeth meruailous that in two degrees which are but 23. leagues or very little more the day and successiuely the night should encrease so much time as is a moneth according to your former computation and that when it were day in the one part it should be night in the other they being so neere together AN. You haue some reason to doubt but as these Lands goe alwaies downehill or slopewise in respect of the course of the Sun so in little space the same both hideth discouereth it selfe vnto them in great quantity this you may partly vnderstand by that which happeneth to trauailers who hauing the Sunne in their eye a little before the setting thereof in passing ouer a Plaine and champaine place lose presently the sight thereof in comming to the foote of a hill as though he were sodainly set yet if they make hast when they get vp to the top of the hill they finde him not fully downe recouering againe day though but a little yet somwhat longer But for all this I blame you not in wondring at a thing
notorious as are these mountaines being situated in a Country of Christians or at least confining there-vpon for the Country where the Auncients desribing them is nowe called Muscouia hardly can they write truly of other thinges which are farther off and in Countries of which we haue not so great knowledge as wee haue of this But turning to that which we entreated of I say that those thinges can hardly be verified which are written by the Auncients concerning these Northern Lands not so much for the small notice we haue of them as for that the names are altered of Kingdoms Prouinces Citties mountaines and Riuers in such sort that it is hard to know which is the one and which is the other for you shall scarcely finde any one that retaineth his olde name and though by signes and coniectures wee hit right vpon some of thē yet it is impossible but that we should erre in many in taking one for another the experience wherof we may see here in our owne Country of Spayne the principall townes of which are by Ptolomie and Plinie vvhich write particulerly of them called by names to vs now vtterlie vnknowne neyther doe we vnderstand which is which they are so altred changed So fareth it with the auncient Geography which though there be many that do practise vnderstand according to the antique yet if you aske them many things according to that now in vre with the moderns so are things in these our times altered and innouated they cannot yeeld you a reason thereof if they doe it shall be such that thereout will result greater doubts But leauing this I will as touching the Lands of which we entreate conclude with that which some Historiographers of our time haue made mention namely Iohan. Magnus Gothus Albertus Cranzius Iohan. Saxo Polonius Muscouita and chiefely Olaus Magnus Archbishop of Vpsala of whō we haue made heere before often mention who in a Chronicle of those lands of the North the particularities of them though beeing borne and brought vp in those Regions should seeme to haue great knowledge of such thinges as are in the same yet is he meruailous briefe cōcerning that which is vnder the same Pole He saith that there is a Prouince called Byarmia whose Orizon is the Equinoctiall circle it selfe and as this circle deuideth the heauen in the midst so vvhen the Sunne declineth to this part of the Pole the day is halfe a yeere long and when he turneth to decline on the side of the other Pole he causeth the contrary effect the night enduring as much This Prouince of Byarmya deuideth it selfe into two parts the one high and the other low in the lower are many hills perpetually couered with Snow neuer feeling any warmth yet in the valleys below there are many Woods and Fields full of hearbes and pastures and in them great aboundance of wild Beasts and high swelling Riuers as well through the Springs whence they rise as through the Snow that tumbleth downe from the hills In the higher Byarmya he saith there are strange and admirable nouelties to enter into which there is not any knowne way for the passages are all closed vp to attempt through which hee termeth it a danger and difficulty insuperable so that no man can come to haue knowledge thereof without the greatest ieopardy that may possibly be deuised or imagined For the greater part of the way is continually couered with deepe Snow by no meanes passable vnlesse it be vpon Beasts like vnto Stags called Rangifery so abounding in those Regions that many doe nourish and tame them Their lightnes though it seeme incredible is such that they runne vpon the frozen Snow vnto the top of high hills downe againe into the deepe Valleyes Iohn Saxon saith that there was a King of Swethland called Hatherus who being aduertised that there dwelt in a Valley betweene those mountaines a Satire called Memingus that possessed infinite riches with many other resolute men in his company all mounted vpon Rangifers domesticall Onagres made a Roade into his Valley and returned laden with rich and inestimable spoiles BER Was he a right Satire indeede or else a man so called AN. The Author explaneth it not but by that which he saith a little after that in that Country are many Satires Faunes we may gather that hee was a right Satire and that the Satires are men of reason and not vnreasonable creatures according to our disputation the other day and in a Country full of such nouelties such a thing as this is not to be wondred at But returning to our commenced purpose I say that this superiour Byarmya of which Olaus Magnus speaketh to vs so vnknowne by all likelyhoode should be that blessed soile mentioned by Pliny Soline Pomponius Mela whose Clymate is so temperate whose ayre so wholesome and whose enhabitants doe liue so long that they willingly receaue death by casting themselues into the Sea of which Land being so meruailous and being as it seemeth seated on the farther side of the Pole the properties are not so particulerly knowne and so he saith that there are many strange people nouelties and wonders But leauing this comming to the lower Olaus saith that the Valleyes thereof if they were sowed are very apt and ready to bring foorth fruite but the enhabitants doe not giue themselues to tillage because the fieldes and Forrests are replenished with Beasts the Riuers with Fishes so that with hunting and fishing they maintaine their lyues hauing no vse of bread neyther scarcely knowledge thereof When they are at warre or difference with any of their neighbours they sildom vse Armes for they are so great Negromancers Enchaunters that with wordes onely when they list they will make it raine thunder and lighten so impetuously as though heauen and earth should goe together and with their Witchcraftes and Charmes they binde and entangle men in such sort that they bereaue them of all power to doe them any harme yea and many times of their sences also and lyues making them to dye mad Iohn Saxon writeth that there was once a King of Denmarke called Rogumer who purposing to subdue the Byarmyans went against them with a mighty and puissant Army which they vnderstanding had recourse to no other defence then to their Enchantments raising such terrible tempests winds and waters that through the violent fury thereof the Riuers ouerflowed and became vnpassable vpon which of a sodaine they caused such an vnkindly heat that the King and all his Army were fryed almost to death so that the same was farre more greeuous to suffer then the cold and through the distemperature and corruption thereof there ensued such a mortality that the King was forced to returne but he knowing that this happened not through the nature of the Land but through coniuration and sorcerie came vpon them another time so sodainly that hee was amongst them
it freeze and become more hard and cleare vsing the same in certaine warlike pastimes they haue in steede of a Castell of lyme or stone one troupe entereth there-into to defende the same and another bideth without to besiege assault or surprize it and this in most solemne sort with all engines stratagems and manners of vvarfare great prices being ordained for those that shall obtayne the conquest besides the tryumph wherein the conquerours doe glory ouer the vanquished Who so amongst them is found to be fearefull or not forward in executing that which he is commaunded is by his companions stuft full of Snow vnder his garments and somtimes tumbled starke naked in great heapes of the same enuring them therby better to abide hardnes another time These Septentrionall Lands haue many Lakes and standing waters of great largenes som of the which are a hundred miles long These are at somtimes so frozen that they trauaile ouer them both a foote and horsebacke In the Countries of East and Westgothland there are Lakes vpon which great troupes of horsmen meete and runne for wagers their horses are in such sort shod that they sildome slide or fall in time of warre they skirmish often vpon these frozen Lakes yea and sometimes fight maine battailes vpon them At sundry seasons they hold vpoÌ„ them also certaine Faires to which there resorteth a great concourse of strange Nations the beginning of which custome was ordained as saith Iohn Archbishoppe of Vpsala Predicessour to Olaus by a Queene of Swethland called Disa who being a woman of great wisedome commaunded her Subiects on a certaine yeere in which her dominions were afflicted with extreame dearth scarsity of graines to goe vnto the bordering Regions carrying with them such merchandize as their Country yeelded and to bring with them in exchange thereof Corne and graine withall to publish franchize to all such as should bring thither any victual to be sold where-vpon many strangers repairing thither at such time and season as the Lake was frozen she appointed them that place for holding of their Faire from which time till this day that custome hath continued Northward of these Regions there are many great and meruailous Lakes such as scarcely the like are to be found in any other part of the world that is peopled of which leauing apart one that is neere the Pole is called the white Lake which is in maner an other Caspian Sea yeelding great commodities of fowle and fish to the adioyning Prouinces part of the same reaching out euen to the Muscouites There are in the Regions of Bothnia Lakes of 300. 400. miles long where there is such quantity of fish taken that if they could conueniently be carried about they would serue for prouision to halfe the world Thereby also are many other notable Lakes of which the three most famous are as the Authors write Vener Meler and Veher Vener containeth in length 130. miles which are about 44. leagues as much in breadth within it it hath sundry Ilands well peopled with Citties Townes and Fortresses Churches and Monasteries for all those three Lakes are in Country of Christians though we haue heere little notice of them Into this Lake enter 24. deepe Riuers all which haue but one only issue which maketh so terrible a noyse amongst certayne Rocks falling from one to another that it is heard by night six or seauen leagues of making deafe those that dwell neere there abouts so that it is sayd there are certaine little Villages and Cottages thereby the enhabitants of which are all deafe They call the issue of these Riuers in their Country language Frolletta which is as much to say as the deuils head The second Lake called Meler is betweene Gothland and Swethland hath in the shore thereof many mynerals of mettals both of siluer and others the treasures gathered out of which enricheth greatly the Kinges of those Countries The third also called Veher aboundeth in mines on the North side thereof The waters thereof are so pure cleare that casting there-into an egge or a white stone you may see it lye in the bottome though it be very deep as well as though there were no water betweene Within this Lake are many peopled Ilands in one of which wherin are two great Parish Churches Olaus writeth that there happened a thing very meruailous and strange There liued in this Iland saith hee a man called Catyllus so famous in the Art of Negromancie that in the whole worlde his like was scarcely to be found Hee had a Scholler called Gilbertus whom hee had in that wicked Science so deepely instructed that hee dared so farre presume as to contend with him being his Maister yea and in som things seeme to surpasse him at which shamelesse ingratitude of his Catyllus taking great indignation as alwayes Maisters vse to reserue vnto themselues certaine secrete points with onely wordes and charmes without other band fetter or prison he bound him in an instant both body hands and feete in such sort that he could not wag himselfe in which plight he conuayed him into a deepe Caue vnder one of the Churches of the same Iland where he remaineth till this day according to the common opinion is alwayes liuing Thither vsed darly to resort many not only of that Country people but strangers also to see him and to demaund questions of him They entred with many Torches and Lanternes and with a clew of threed of which they fasten one end to the dore whereat they enter vnwiding the same still as they goe for the better assurance of finding their way out the Caue being full of many deepe pits crooked turnings and corners But at length because the moisture dampish cold thereof with a lothsome stench besides anoyed so much those that entred that some of them came out halfe dead they made a law that on greeuous paine none of the Countrimen should froÌ„ that time forward resort nor enter into that Caue neither giue counsaile aide or assistance to strangers which for curiosities sake shold atempt the same LV. This is without doubt the worke of the deuil who the same Gilbertê° dying perchance presently entered into his putrified stinking carkasse abusing the people aunswered to their demands For though the force of enchauntments be great yet can they not preserue life any longer then the time fixed appointed by God AN. You haue reason and in truth it seemeth that the deuill is there more lose and at greater liberty then in other parts so that som wil say the principall habitation of deuils to be in the North according to the authority of holy Scripture All euill shal come discouer it selfe from the Aquilon Zachary Chap. 2. crieth ho ho flie from the land of the Aquilon howbeit that these authorties are vnderstoode coÌ„monly in that Antichrist shal come from those parts whose like was neuer in persecuting the people of
continually hearde so great hideous a noyse that no man dareth to approch neer it by three or foure leagues The shyppes keepe alwayes a loofe of fearing and flying that Coast as death it selfe There is seene amongst those trees such an abundance of great black fowles that they seeme in a manner to couer them who rysing vp into the ayre doe make so great a clowde that they obscure in a manner the cleerenesse of the Sunne theyr crying or rather roring is so horrible and fearefull that such as heare them though verie farre of are constrayned to stoppe theyr eares They neuer flie out of the precincts of thys Iland the same beeing alwayes shadowed with a kinde of obscuritie in manner like a Clowde diuersifying it froÌ„ the Land neere vnto it Some saith he doe affirme this Mountaine to be a part of Hell where the condemned soules are tormented vvhich opinion though it bee ridiculous yet the propertie of this Mountaine is strange and in the cause thereof some hidden mysterie which we comprehend not BER These are matters the secrecie of whose causes are not to be sifted out like vnto that of the Mountaines of Angernamia one of the farthest of those Northerne Prouinces which are so high that they are seene a farre of by those that sayle on the Bothnycke Sea and by them with great care and diligence auoyded through a wonderfull secret in them contayned which causeth a noyse so hideous violent feareful and full of astonishment that it is heard many leagues of and if that by force of tempest driuen or otherwise through ignoraunce vnwitting any ship passeth neere thereunto the horror thereof is so great that many die presently through the penetrating sharpnes and vntollerable violence of the same many remaine euer after deafe or diseased and out of theyr wits Neyther are they that trauaile by Land lesse carefull in auoyding these Mountaines Once certaine young men of great courage beeing curious to discouer the cause heereof stopping theyr eares as artificially as they coulde deuise attempted in little Boates to rowe neere these mountaines and to view the particularities of them but they all perrished in that attempt by theyr desastre leauing an example and warning to others not to hazard themselues in like danger That which we may hereafter imagine is that there are some clefts or Caues within the Rocks of these Mountaines and that the flowing and ebbing of the water striuing with the wind and hauing no aspyration out causeth that fearefull rumbling and hideous noyse and this is vnderstood because the greater the tempest is at Sea the greater is the noyse in those Mountains the same being in calme and milde weather nothing so loude and violent Of these mountains Vincentiê° maketh mention in his glasse of Histories though he write not so particulerlie of them as some moderne Authors doe which affirme that they haue seene them LV. Me thinks this place is as perrillous as that of Charibdis and rather more considering the sharpnes and terror of the noyse which penetrateth so farre and in my iudgement the flowing and ebbing of the water should draw vnto it the shippes and make them perrish though you made therof no mention AN. It seemeth vnto me that you also haue read these Authors which treat of the Septentrional Countries seeing it commeth now to purpose I will tell you one no lesse admirable then the rest which is that in a citty called Viurgo neere the prouince of Muscouia there is a Caue called Esmelen of so secret a vertue that no man hath hetherto been able to comprehend the mistery and cause thereof which is that casting any quicke beast into the same there issueth out presently a sound so terrible as though 3000. great Canons were discharged and shot off together the effect of which is such that the hearers thereof if they haue not their eares very well stopt closed do fall presently down depriued of all feeling sence like dead men out of which mortall traunce som neuer reuiue some do but froÌ„ that time forward so long as they liue they detaine som defect or other The greater the beast is that is throwne thereinto the greater is the noyse and roaring that resoundeth out This Caue is compast about with a verie strong wall and the mouth thereof shut vp with a mightie strong doore hauing many Lockes of vvhich the Gouernour hath one Key in his keeping and the rest of the Magistrates each of them a seuerall least otherwise some desastre might fall out by which the Citty might come to be dispeopled which though it be very strong both of walles and Ramparts yet the greatest strength thereof consisteth in the Caue neyther is there any enemy so mightie or puissant that dareth to besiege it hauing before his eyes the ruine of great Armies that haue attempted the same before by which after the Citty was brought into some extreamitie the Cittizens bethinking themselues of the propertie of the Caue coÌ„maunded by publique proclamation all those of the towne to stop theyr eares and one night vnawares to the enemie they cast into the Caue a great number of liuing beasts vpon vvhich there presently issued forth such a hideous infernall noyse and the violence thereof strooke such amazement into the enemies that some fell downe in a traunce and others throwing away theyr Armes fledde out of theyr Cabbines trenches the most confusedly that might bee and withall to encrease theyr misery the Cittizens issuing out massacred the greater part of them by that meanes deliuering theyr Cittie from seruitude And though they could not but receaue som inconuenience through the horrour of that hellish noyse though theyr eares were neuer so well closed yet through the ioy of theyr victory and recouered libertie they made small account of the same since which time all the borderers there abouts fearing the effect of theyr Caue doe liue in league amitie with them BER In truth this is a matter of great admiration and such that though diuers very great secretes both of heauen and earth are comprehended yet the curiositie of no wit how perfect soeuer can reach to giue heereof anie reason LVD Let vs leaue these secrets to him that made them whose will perchance is to conceale theyr causes froÌ„ vs. AN. You say well and in truth the more wee should beat our wits about them the lesse we should be able to vnderstand them it suffiseth therefore for vs to knowe that these are the secrete and wonderfull workes of God shewen by Nature the vnderstanding whereof is aboue our reach and capacitie But to follow on our discourse of the wonders of this Countrey you shal vnderstand that in those standing waters frozen Lakes of which wee spake before the ayre remaineth oftentimes shut in and inclosed the which moouing it selfe and running vp down vnder the Ise seeking vent causeth such roring and noyse that it were able to amaze
are of such courage in defending themselues against the Wolfes that they are sildome by them assailed for their hornes are so sharpe and strong and withall doe grow in such order as though Nature had of purpose planted them there for their defence LU. I haue seene often some with 4. hornes but neuer any with 8. BER Nay more then this they say there are also Weathers of 5. quarters for the taile waieth more then any of the other 4. therfore may wel be taken for one Of these I my selfe sawe certaine in Rome which whether they were brought thence or no I know not but surely they seemed vnto me wonderfully strange AN. But let vs now come to say somwhat of the fishes that are fouud in those parts seeing of their Beastes we haue sufficiently discoursed Notwithstanding that we all knowe that the Sea is the Mother of Monsters and that therein are contained so many kinds and sorts of fishes as there are Beasts on the earth or Fowles in the ayre Yet seeing there are some very strange and of which the Authors Historiographers make particuler relation I cannot but say somewhat of them Amongst the rest there is one to whom for the horrible and hideous forme thereof they giue no other name then Monster His length is commonly fifty cubites which is but little in comparison of the greatnes and deformity of his proportion and members his head is as great as halfe his body and round about full of hornes as great and long or rather more then those of an Oxe The greatnes and manner of his eyes is meruailous for the onely apple is a cubite in length and as much in breadth which by night glistereth in such sort that a farre off it resembleth a flame of fire His teeth are great sharpe his tayle forked containing from one point to the other fifteene cubites his body full of haires resembling the wing-feathers of a Goose beeing stript and his colour is as blacke as any Iet in the world may be The violence force of this Monster is such that with great facility in a trice hee will ouer-turne the greatest shippe that vsually crosseth those Seas neither can the resistance of the Marriners though they be many in number auaile The Archbishop of Nydrosia and Primate of the Kingdome of Norway called Henry Falchendor writing a Letter to Pope Leo the tenth sent him withall the head of one of these Monsters which was a long time kept for a wonder in Rome There are other Sea-Monsters called Fisiters no lesse dangerous to those that saile then the other their length is commonly 200. cubits the head and mouth proportionable to the same The tayle is also forked in the midst and containeth from one point to another a hundreth feete their belly is exceeding great and wide nosthrils they haue none but in steede thereof two deepe open holes aboue the forehead out of which they spout out such a quantity of water that shipps haue beene many times through the violent fall thereof in danger of drowning vvhich if that suffice not they throw halfe their body vpon the sides of the shippe ouerwhelming it with the waight thereof neyther is their tayle lesse dangerous with which they giue so mighty a blow that it is able to smite any ship in peeces The domage were infinite that these deformed Monsters would doe but that it hath pleased God that a remedy should be found out to preuent their mischiefe for they flie the sound of Trumpets and the thundering of Artillerie as death it selfe and this is the onely meane which the Marriners doe vse in driuing them away There was one of these Fisiters found on the way towards India with which happened a notable chaunce in this sort A Galley in which Ruynas Pereyra went for Captaine sayling neere the Cape of Bona Speransa with a reasonable good winde and all her sayles out stoode of a sodaine still so that the Marriners thought she had stroken a ground and were in great feare of their liues But dooing their diligence to redresse the danger in which they were they perceaued the Galley to haue water enough onely that she was deteyned by one of these Fisiters which had clasped himselfe about her keele thrusting vp of a sodaine certaine finnes that reached aboue water euen to the mizzen sayle vpon which many of them layd their hands and some would haue striken him with their Iauelins others would haue shot at him with Muskets or discharged a peece of Artillery to neyther of which counsailes the Captaine would by any meanes consent least through the strugling and tossing of the Monster being wounded the Galley should be in hazard of drowning The onely remedy therfore that he had refuge vnto was to desire the Chaplain of the company to reuest himselfe in his Priestly habite and with humble Prayers to beseech the Maiestie Diuine to deliuer them from that imminent danger In the midst of whose deuotions it pleased God that the fish by little and little vnwound himselfe and diued downeward into the water the last that was seene of him was his head being of an incredible greatnes out of the holes of which he launced out so much water and so high that the same in falling resembled a mighty cloude dissolued into rayne and there-with he went his wayes those of the ship infinitely praysing God for this their miraculous deliuery There is also in the West part of this Northerne Sea a great number of VVhales which though they be hurtful of great terror yet are they nothing so much feared as the others before named There are of thē two kinds of which the skin of the one is couered with great thick haires these are far greater then the other in so much that there haue been of them taken 900. or 1000. foote long the other whose skinnes are smooth and plaine are nothing so great But seeing there are many of them in this Sea of ours and their shape and proportion is so well knowne vnto vs it were time lost to describe particulerly the manner of them Onely I will tell you what Olaus Magnus writeth of one taken in those Countries which seemeth a thing if not incredible yet passing admirable the which is that his eyes were so great that twenty men sitting within the circle of one of them did scarcely fill it vp according to which the other parts of his body carried full prorortion and conformity The greatest enemy they haue and of greatest courage in daring to assaile them and by whom they are many times conquered and slaine is a fish called Orca though not great and huge yet passing fierce and cruel and extreamely swift and nimble his teeth are long and sharpe as Sizers with which comming vnder the Whale being heauy and sluggish he rippeth vp his belly Of all others this fish the Whale dareth not abide and oftentimes in flying him
greatest part of this Prouince obeyeth the King of Swethen vvho hath in the frontyers thereof one of the best and strongest Castels in the worlde called Newcastle which is situated vppon a high Rocke accessible onely of one side and that with great difficulty At the foote of this Rocke runneth a great and deepe Riuer in such sort that in some places it is hard to sound any bottome the waters of which and all the fishes therein are so blacke that it is therefore called the blacke Riuer it discendeth from the Aquilonar mountaynes commeth along through such desert and craggie Landes that no manne knoweth where the head thereof riseth onely it is thought that it commeth out of Lacus Albus waxing black by reason of the soile through which it commeth There is in this Riuer great aboundance of Salmons and of other fishes of such excellent relish and pleasing tast that there can in no part of the world be found any better They serue not onely for prouision to the Country it selfe but are carried thence into many farre places Amongst the rest there is found a fish called Treuius which in the Winter is blacke and in the Sommer white whose meruailous property is such that binding him fast with a corde and letting him downe into the bottome of a Riuer if there be any gold in the sands thereof the same cleaueth fast to his skin which how great soeuer the peeces be fall not off from him till they be taken off so that some vse no other occupation to winne theyr lyuing with then this It is sayde for an assured certainty that sometimes there is openly seene a man goe in the middle of the streame playing most sweetely vppon an Instrument like a trebble Viall which at such time as men beholde him with greatest delight of a sodaine sinketh downe into the water There are also often heard vppon the shore Trumpets Drummes and other loud Instruments without seeing those that sound them vvhich when it happeneth they holde the same for a signe or presage of some harme or disastre that is to ensue to some principall person of the gard of this Fortresse which they haue often found true by experience But leauing to speake of the great plenty of fish which is in these Countries Now I will come to say somewhat of the Birdes and Fovvles which are in these parts of which there are many kinds farre differing from those which we haue heere among the rest some as great or rather greater then Patridges whose feathers are diuersified with beautifull colours chiefely white blacke and yellow called Raynbirds because towardes rayne they cry otherwise holding continually their peace It is held for a certainty that they liue by the ayre for being very fatte they are neuer seene eate at any time neyther when they kill them doe they finde any sustenance at all in theyr belly or mawe Theyr flesh is of a very sauourie taste and much esteemed There are other Birdes found on the high and rough mountaynes such as are for the most part continually couered with Snowe somewhat bigger then Thrushes which are in the Sommer white and all the Winter long blacke Their feete neuer change culour which is a most perfect yellovv They sleepe and shroude themselues for the most part alwayes in trees But when they see any Hawke or Fowle that lyueth by pray they choppe dovvne into the Snovve fluttering the same ouer them with theyr vvinges in such sort that they leaue no part of them vndiscouered preseruing thereby theyr lyfe Of all other Fovvles they are hardlyest taken they hide themselues so artificially in the Snow and therefore they call them Snow-birds Of Falcons there is passing great store ouer all these Northerne Countries and of many sorts At such time as the day lasteth the whole Sommer long in those Regions neere the Pole fewe or none remaine in the bordering Lands but flie all thither returning thence againe when the night commeth about Amongst these there are certaine white which pray both on fowles and fishes which Riuers for their pleasure doe reclaime taking with them both fish and fowle Their two feete are of sundry and seuerall fashions the one with long sharpe talents with which they seaze their pray the other like vnto a Goose the talents whereof are nothing so long The Rauens in these Lands are so great and harmfull that they kill not onely Hares and Fawnes but also Lambs and Pigs of which they make so great spoile and destruction that there are Lawes made by the which there is a reward appointed to such as shall kill them so much for the head of euery one About the Sea shore and Lakes there are many which they call Sea-Crowes and of diuers kindes some are great and haue sawes in their beakes in manner of teeth with which they sheare the fishes asunder Their principal foode is Eeles which if they be not very great they swallow in whole and many times slice them out againe behind afore they be fully dead There is an other sort of them somvvhat lesse otherwise of small difference which in seauen dayes make their nests and lay their egges and in other seauen dayes hatch their young-ones There are other Birdes called Plateae which are alwaies houering also ouer Lakes Ponds they haue mortall warres with the Crowes and with all other fowles that liue by fish of which if they see any haue in his beake or talent any pray they make him let it goe or otherwise they kill him for they haue of them a great aduantage through the sharpnes of their beake and talents Of Ducks wilde tame there is such infinite abundance in these prouinces that they couer the Lakes and waters no other foule being any thing neere in so great quantity especially where there are any veynes of warme water which keepe the Lakes longer without freezing where when they doe freeze yet the Ise is so thin that it may easily be broken They are of diuers colours and sizes otherwise all of one making Certaine Authors which write of these Countries affirme that one kinde of these Duckes is of those which are bred of the leaues of certaine trees in Scotland which falling into the water take life as in manner aboue saide becomming first a worme then getting winges and feathers at last flying vp into the ayre Olaus saith that he hath seene Scottish authors which affirme that these trees are principally in the Ilandes called Orcades They affirme also that there are Geese bredde and engendred in the same manner betweene whom and the other there is great difference both in colour many other particularities And seeing this wonder is by the testimonie of so many Authors confirmed I see no reason but that vvee may well beleeue it without offending and that also vvhich they write of a towne in the vtmost parts Northward of that Kingdome
340. yeeres old had foure times renued his age A Moore in the Citty of Vengala 300. yeeres olde The lawes both of Gētiles and Moores permitteth to take manie wiues A man that had liued 340. yeres The long life of those that liue on the other side of the Mountaines Hyperbores Cornelius Tacitus writeth that in Illiria a man called Dondomio liued 500. yeeres Long life not to be desired Centauri vel Sagitarij The History of the Centaures Those of Nephele first learned to ride horses The cause of the warrs betweene the Lapiths the Centaures The Indians thoght that the man and the horse had been all one creature Chiron the Tutor of Achilles Tritons or Sea men Nereides A strange History of a Sea man A Sea man brought out of Mauritania into Spaine The Dolphins more cautelous then other Fishes A race of men in Galicia discended of a Triton Reasons refuting the former storie of men called Marini An answere to those refutations A most strange and admirable History of a Virgine deflowred by a Beare The most wonderfull History of a woman begotten with child by an Ape A strange history of the first inhabitation of the Kingdoms of Pegu Sian Mermaids A mermayd driuen a shore on the Sea-coast Tyresias the Theban Prophet The daughter of Casin changed into a man The like of a woman in Argos The like of a woman in the Citty of Caeta A gentlemans daugh ter of Portugall changed her sex The like of a woman called Phaetula The like of a Husbandmans wife in Spaine Strange things not to be told but before such as are learned and wise The cause of the diuersitie of the taste properties of waters The Fountaine of Epirus The Fountaine Eleusidis Iacobs Wel in Sichar The Lake Silias Sundry Springs of different natures in a valley of Iury neer Macherunte The most strange nature propertie of the herbe Baharas The vertue thereof A Spring in Sycilia most admirable A Fountaine in the Country of the Elyans The Fountaines Alteno Alfeno A Lake 〈◊〉 in Scithia A Fountaine in Licia Water of the Fountaine Tenaeus that will by no meanes be mingled with wine A Fountaine in the Iland of Cuba Stones in a Valley of the same Iland all round A strange Fountaine in the Iland of Cerdonia A Lake on the top of a mountaine in the I le of S. Domingo Two Fountaines in Spaine of strange effect A Fountaine in Sauoy breeding stones of great vertue A strange stone in the Earle of Beneuenta his Garden These Fouls are in English called Barnakles The Author is heerin deceaued for these are 2. seuerall stories both very true The strange fruite of a tree in the citty of Ambrosia A strange tree mentioned in Pigafetas relation to the Pope Certaine riuers of incredible greatnesse found out in the West Indyes Aristotles opiniō of the source of Riuers The opinion of Anaximander his followers The surest opinion cōfirmed by Scripture What the word of Paradice generally taken signifieth The Philosophers opinions concerning Paradice Where the Gentiles supposed the Elisian fields to be Thule is thought to be the same which is now called Iseland Plato The Phaenix renueth of her owne ashes Lactantius Firmianus discourse of Paradice S. Iohn Damascenes opinion of Paradise Venerable Bedes opinion Strabo the Theologians opinion Origens opinion These opinions refuted by S. Thomas Scotus Heauen taken for the regiō of the ayre in many places of Scripture Suidas a greek Author Arrianus a Greeke Historiographer The strange aduenture happening to Hanno a Carthagenian Captaine Nicolaus de lyra Ioha de Pechan Opinions of Caetanus Eugubinus touching terestriall Paradice S. Chrisost. The Seraphin with the fiery sword placed before Paradise Fables touching Paradice The foure Riuers that issue out of Paradice The rysing of the riuers Tygris and Euphrates The sources of Ganges and Nylus The mountaine Emodos The mountaine of the Moone The Riuers that come frō Paradise hide themselues in the hollowes of the earth The Riuer Alpheus Sundry Riuers that hiding themselues vnder the earth come to rise out in newe springs The Gulfe called Mare magnum Encisus touching Paradise Some hold opinion that Nilus is not the same w t is in the holy Scripture called Fison The Authors conclusion concerning the foure Riuers The opinion of som who thought the world to be plaine and leuel before the time of the vniuersall flood Three principall sects of Erronius Religions in the world The originall of Idols The olde philosophers in theyr secret conceit detested the adoration of the feyned Gods The cause why the gētiles adore the deuill The Mahometists will neither hear nor answer any man in disputation against theyr religion Many learned Authors that vnrip lay open the beastly absurdities of Mahomets Secte The wise learned men amongst thē what shewe soeuer they make in publique do in secret detest his abusions Mahomets confession touching our Sauiour Iesus Christ our blessed Lady the Gospell and our Christian Beleefe The slauery and seruitude which the Iewes haue endured since the deniall of our Sauiour the true Messias is an euident argument to confute their obstinate blindnes The name of Prester Iohn is rightly Belulgian An egregious fiction of the Papists The place where Saint Thomas the Apostle died The Church holdeth that S. Thomas was slayne with a knife by an idolatrous Priest The beginning of the name and authority of Prester Iohn Prester Iohn is not hee which is in Aethiopia but he who was in the East Indies conquered by the great Chā though the other be now throgh error so called A Prouince of Christians called Georgia Sundry Prouinces kingdoms and Ilands of Christians Christianity goeth compassing roūd about the whole world The deuill speaketh nor appeareth no more to those Gentiles that begin to embrace the Christian fayth The newe conuerted Countries cleer without heresie A man that could by no meanes endure the sight of a Rat. A Noble man that if you shut by night any doore of the house wold be ready to throw him selfe out at the window A strange melancholly humor of a Gentlewoman which by reason discretion she violently suppressed Illusions and apparitions of Spirits do chiefly proceede of the deuill Democrites would by no meanes beleeue that there were any deuils The olde philosophers opinon touching those that were possessed with Spirits Lemures et Lamiae The fabulus fictiō of the old Phylosophers Daemonia Whether Lucifer and those other Angels that offended w t him fell altogether into Hell or no. Sixe degees of Spirits The deuils haue seuerall and sundry offices A strange story written in the book called The Hammer of Witches The office function of the thirde degree of Spirits The deuils malice against vs proceedeth onely of enuie The deuils though of different kindes yet in malice desire to doe euill are all alike Euery man hath a good Angell and a bad attendant vpon him Genium Hominis