A NEW COSMOGRAPHY OR SURVEY Of the Whole WORLD In Six Ingenious and Comprehensive Discourses With a Previous Discourse being a New Project for bringing up Young Men to Learning Humbly Dedicated to the Honourable HENRY LYTTELTON Esq By GVY MIEGE Gent. LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset at the George in Fleet-street near St. Dunstans Church 1682. ADVERTISEMENT MR. Miege the Author of this Book Teaches Geography both at Home and Abroad with the Use of Globes and Maps This is that Noble Science which gives an Account of the World wherein we live of its several Countrys Mountains Capes Seas Lakes Rivers Towns and Citys Provinces States and Kingdoms A Science without which one cannot he a good Historian or a compleat Statesman and which is no small Ornament to any thing of a Gentleman Therefore it is so Taking beyond Sea but in France especially that there are few Men of any Note or Fortune but are brought up to it And we find by Experience that of all Study's Young Gentlemen are put upon None is so Acceptable and Welcome to 'em and indeed None so fit for Them as the Study of Geography For as it is not only Genteel and Useful but also very Delightful so a short Time with a little Application and Help will serve to conquer it Which makes me Confident 't will be well Relish'd Here especially if it be Seasoned with apposite History The Author lives at his House next to the Nags head in James-street Covent Garden Where he is now preparing for the Press a large English Dictionary of Geography both Ancient and Modern Inriched with History A Work that will be of great Use to all Gentlemen Scholars Merchants Travellers and generally all Lovers either of Geography or History The TABLE The First Discourse Being an Introductory Discourse or a new Project for bringing up Young Men to Learning Page 1. The Second Discourse Of the Heavens and the Stars thereof with a particular Account of the Sun and Moon p. 14. The Third Discourse Of the Air and Meteors p. 35. The Fourth Discourse Of the Terr-Aqueous Globe in General and the Earth in Particular p. 53. The Fifth Discourse Of the Waters p. 76. The Sixth Discourse Of the National Parts of the Earth p. 104. The Seventh Discourse Of the Use of Globes and Maps with their several Circles p. 129. A NEW COSMOGRAPHY OR SURVEY Of the whole World The First Discourse Being an Introductory Discourse or a New Project for bringing up Young Men to Learning PHilalethes What think you Sophronius of the Way used now adays to bring up Youth Sophronius 'T is doubtless an odd kind of way and if Men be out in any Thing 't is in this For 't is undeniably true that Children are brought up like Slaves till they come to the age of fourteen or fifteen years or thereabouts And what for to make them learn against the grain perhaps a mouth-full of Latin For of a hundred Scholars that spend the prime of their Age in this Torture I dare affirm there is not the tenth part that after seven years Apprenticeship can justly boast to have conquered that Language Phil. 'T is true enough and I found it so by my own experience They pester Youth with a pack of hard Words and Rules that confound their Memory and stun their little Intellectuals and all this under the Standart of the Rod. For my part I am quite besotted with it and with much ado shall I come to my self again Sophr. Thus they make of a fine Language the Terrour and the Plague of Youth Who being incapable of apprehending the beauty thereof look upon it as a meer Scare-crow The Reason is because they are put upon it before their Memory be strong enough to retain so many strange words and their Judgement ripe enough to apprehend the abstruse meaning of the Rules For it is not with the Latin Tongue as with Vulgar Languages which are learnt with much less difficulty because usually spoken Whereas the Latin Tongue as it is used now adays in England especially is in a manner but a Language for Books Phil. What course then my dear Sophronius would you have one to takes Sophr. This in my judgment would be the most proper way After that a young Lad has learnt to Read and Write and that he is pretty well instructed in the fundamental points of the Religion wherein he was born I would have him put upon some easie pleasant and useful Science until his Judgment were ripe for the Latin Tongue Phil. What is that you would have him learn Sophr. The State and History of the World and particularly of his own native Country A thing so easie to learn that it is not at all inconsistent with his tender Years So pleasant and so full of charming Variety that he cannot but be taken with it And withall so useful that he would lay this up as a Treasure to be used in his riper Years Thus I would have him to apply himself to two Things Geography and History Geography that would shew him the Extent of the habitable World it's Continents Islands States and Provinces Towns and Cities its famous Mountains Seas Lakes Rivers and other Curiosities By History he should see the different manner of living amongst Men their several Languages Religions and Governments together with the various Changes and Revolutions of States Phil. Oh! had I but taken this course I should not have been laugh'd at as I was not long since in a Company for confounding by meer Ignorance Swethland with Switzerland I should not be puzzled as I am reading the Gazette to know whether such a Place lies North or South and whither it is in Spain or Moscovy This is not all I am so little acquainted with the publick Concerns of the World that I am quickly mumped when there arises any Discourse of that kind in Company Sophr. Thus it is to be ill brought up in his Youth For my part I cannot conceive how any man that pretends to good Education can be so narrow-Soul'd as to live in this World as if it were all shut up in his Neighbour-hood nor how he can be satisfied if he read either History or Forreign News without some Knowledge of those Places which happen to be there mentioned Phil. The Truth is without it one is but half an Historian and to live in the World without a competent knowledge of the same is properly to see no further than his Nose and not to know whereabouts one is This is I confess my Case and truly I blush at it But if ever I have a Son to bring up I am resolved it shall not be so with him Sophr. Thus where a Young Man has made a considerable Progress both in Geography and History wherein young people take delight I would have him disposed of for the Latin Tongue especially if his Fancy should lead him to it Phil. But can no Expedient be found out to learn it in less time
true that towards Euphrates and near the Mountains of Arabia foelix it has some few Towns resorted to by Merchants But this is only in those Parts North-West of China there 's a notable Desart a Sandy one called Xamo Desertum the Desart of Lop or Xamo through some part of which runs Hoang the great River of China As for Africk Desarts are as common there as Forrests in Europe And there is a good Part of it lying betwixt Biledulgerid Northward and the Negroes Land Southward that is but a continual Desart 'T is that we call in Latin Lybia Deserta or by the name of the Country Zara which signifies a Desart or Wilderness In America 't is said there are likewise vast Desarts but we have as yet no good Account of them So Philalethes I shall conclude with these Reflections upon the different Nature of Country's as Parts of the Earth For whereas some Country's are Flat and only set out with some pleasant little Hills here and there others are Mountainous full of huge Hills and dreadful Precipices Some are Fat and Marshy when others are Sand or Stony Some Country's are fruitful irrigated with fair and Navigable Rivers and in short bless'd with all Necessaries whilst others are barren unhappy and full of Desarts fit only to bring forth wild and venomous Beasts Some produce one Thing some another according to that of Ovid Nec eadem Tellus parit omnia Vitibus illa Convenit haec Oleis hîc bene Farra virent Some Country's injoy a Temperate Air as most Country's of Europe whilst some are e'en Scorched by an extream Heat of the Sun and others Frozen up almost all the Year round And here it is that they have almost a continual Day-light for six Months and as long a time of continual Darkness whilst most part of the World enjoys in the space of 24 hours the more convenient and daily Vicissitude of Day and Night more or less Again some Country's but Islands especially are extremely subject to Fogs Winds Rain and Change of Weather whilst Country's remote from the Sea do commonly enjoy a purer Air a more Serene Sky and such Weather as is suitable to the Season Those are commonly Unhealthful and subject to divers Diseases These nothing near so much In fine some Country's as in the East are much subject to Earth-quakes some as the Caribby Islands to Hurricanes and dreadful Tempests and others as Sicily and Iseland to Deluges of Fire The Fifth Discourse Of the Waters SOphr In our last Discourse I have given you Philalethes such an Account of the visible Earth as might fill your Expectation Now I shall make it my business to be as Accurate in the Description of the Waters which as I said before make up together with the Earth the Terr-Aqueous Globe In order to which I must tell you in the first place that as the Earth is chiefly divided into Continents Islands and Peninsules so are the Waters principally divided into Seas Lakes and Rivers By the Sea in general is meant that great Body of Waters which is thought to incompass the Earth on every side and is properly called by the Name of Ocean But there are particular Seas which flow out of the Ocean through a narrow Passage and stretch themselves a long way through several Country's therefore called Inland Seas as the Mediterranean the Baltick and Red-Sea of which more afterwards A Lake is a considerable Body of Waters having no visible Intercourse with the Sea or influx into it as the Lake of Geneva A River is a Water-course issuing from some Spring or Lake and continually running in its proper Channel till it emptys it self either into the Sea immediately or else into a greater River The Place where it begins is called Spring Head or Source where it runs into another Fall Influx or Confluence and where it loses it self in any Sea that is properly termed the Mouth of the River But next to Seas Lakes and Rivers I must explain unto you these Words Viz. Gulf. Bay Creek Streight Haven Pond Torrent Brook Spring A Gulf is properly a part of the Sea that makes a crooked or circling Shore of a large extent as the Gulf of Bengala in the East-Indies and that of Mexico in America A Bay is nothing else but a midling sort of Gulf Though I confess there are great Gulfs which bear the name of Bay as North of America Baffins Hudsons and Buttons Bay A Creek is a little Bay A Streight is an Arm or a narrow Passage of a Sea as the Streights of Magellan Gibraltar and the Hellespont A Haven or an Harbour is a safe Place for Ships to ride at Anchor A Pond or Pool is but a small Body of standing Waters apt to be dryed up in Summer if not fed with some Spring or other A Torrent is a rapid Water caused by some great Rain or Thaw and so rushing down the Hills with great swiftness A Brook or Rivulet is but a little running Stream of a small extent And by a Spring or Fountain is meant a little Stream immediately Springing out of the Ground Now to follow the same Method we used in the Description of the Earth I must give you Philalethes a particular Account of the Seas Lakes Rivers c. The Ocean which surrounds the World may be divided according to its four Quarters into Northern Eastern Southern Western The Northern Ocean is that which lies North of Europe Asia and the Northern America and so parts them from Terra Borealis But it is also called the Frozen Sea as being commonly clogged with Ice in Winter-time The Eastern lyes between Asia and America called Eastern in respect to Asia But about the Southern America it is best known by the name of Mar del zur or South Sea or by the name of Pacifick The Southern Ocean ly's South of Asia Africk and America and so parts them from Terra Australis The Western lies betwixt Europe and Africk of one side and America on the other side called Western because it ly's West of Europe and Africk But towards America it is named Mar del North or the North Sea Now the Ocean has several particular Names commonly taken from the adjacent Country's So about Brittain it is called the Brittish Sea about Ireland Irish Sea about the lower Germany the German Sea or the German Ocean and about Spain the Spanish Sea Towards the East-Indies it is named the Indian Sea On the West side of Africk from Atlas the great African Mountain it bears the name of Atlantick Sea or Atlantick Ocean and towards Aethiopia it is from hence called Aethiopick But besides the Ocean there are some Inland Seas into which the Ocean diffuses it self As the Mediterranean which runs Eastward from the Streights of Gibraltar above a thousand Leagues betwixt Europe Northwards and Africk Southwards as far as the Shore of Asia Therefore 't is called the Mediterranean that is the Midland Sea from the Latin Mare
to the general Rule Some Rivers run under Ground more or less in the midst of their Course and at last come up again as new Rivers Such are the Guadiana and the Rhone in Europe Tigris in Asia Niger and Nubia in Africk Some spread themselves into the form of a Lake as the Tanais and Oby And others cross a Lake with so swift a course that they preserve themselves distinct from the Waters of it as the. Rhone aforesaid which coming down the Alpes falls into the Lake Leman and having run through the whole length of it from East to West comes out at Geneva Some Rivers have great Cataracts or Falls as the Rhine betwixt Bilefelt and Shaffausen the Rhone betwixt Geneva and Lyon and la Somme betwixt Amiens and Abbeville So 't is said of the River Nilus in Africk that in two several places it falls amongst Rocks with so terrible a noise that the Neighbouring People grow deaf with it Phil. Pray let us hear something of their Fall into the Sea Sophr. Many of the greatest Rivers fall in through several Mouths as the Danube and Nilus which have no less than seven each of them And Olearius in his Travels through Tartary to Persia tells us of 70. Mouths through which the River Volga that I have been upon several times disburdeneth it self after a winding Course of a thousand leagues into the Caspian Sea But there are some Rivers and commonly small ones that neither fall into other Rivers nor yet into the Sea but either lose themselves in the Ground or turn into a Lake Phil. Are all Rivers of the same Colour as ours are Sophr. They are generally so But yet there be some of a blackish colour some whitish and others reddish Of this last sort was the Adonis a River of Phaenicia in Syria which rises out of Mount Libanus and falls into the Sea 6. miles South of Barut This River in Summer-time used to contract a kind of Redness occasioned by the Winds which then blowing most vehemently did thereby carry down the Stream a great quantity of minium or red Earth from the sides of the Hills wherewith the Water was discoloured Phil. Is not this the River which was reported as Lucian has it to stream blood when the obsequies of Adonis the Darling of Venus were yearly celebrated Sophr. The very same Thus a natural Accident was made use of to give the better colour to the Superstition as if Adonis's Wounds did bleed every year Phil. Now as to the Tast of River-Water are all Rivers sweet as ours are Sophr. 'T is to be observed first that all Rivers subject to the Tide have a Tast of the Sea-water especially near their Fall into the Sea and so far as the Tide go's they have a brackish kind of Tast But there are other Rivers that have a brackish and mineral Tast upon another Account that is from such Minerals as they meet in their Course Phil. You know that Rivers are apt to overflow after a great Rain or Thaw as it frequently happens either at the beginning or at the latter end of Winter But I have heard of a more general and constant Overflowing of some great Rivers beyond Sea which I much admire at Sophr. 'T is this overflowing upon which depends the Want or Plenty of those Countrys And the River Nilus amongst others is as famous for that as it is for its Crocodiles In May says Thevenot it begins to flow and so increases every day some Inches till die latter end of September or the beginning of October At which time it begins to fall and is as long ebbing as flowing In the Year 1658. it increased according to the same Author who was then in the great Caire to the height of almost 22 Pics each Pic at 24 Inches And then the River began to decrease the 23d of September Phil. What becomes in the mean time of the Inhabitants and their Cattle during this great Land-Flood For Egypt at that time must needs look like a Sea Sophr. They retire upon Hills and there abide till the decrease of the Waters holding still a Commerce by the Intercourse of Boats Now as it happens sometimes that we have some Years too wet and others too dry so if Nilus overflows too much or too little Aegypt do's suffer for 't Unless it rise to 16 Pics 't is a bad Year and when it do's rise to 24. 't is as bad But if it chance at any time not to overflow at all 't is worst of all For then it does not only presage a Famine in Egypt but as some will have it prognosticates a Change in the State And accordingly 't is said that in the tenth and eleventh Years of Cleopatra a little before her Fall with her Sweet-heart Antonius the River increased not at all Phil. This is indeed very Remarkable But when the Water of Nilus is withdrawn to its natural Channel I suppose the Ground is very Slimy having lain so long under Water Sophr. So very Slimy that whereas we are fain to dung our Grounds the Egyptians throw Sand upon theirs before they Sow or Plant any thing And of this Slime is ingendred many living Creatures and as some say such innumerable heaps of Frogs that if the Country were not furnished as it is with a proportionable number of Storks by whom they are greedily devoured the Plague of Frogs would come a second time upon the Inhabitants Phil. Is it true that it never rains in Egypt Sophr. T is a Vulgar Error strongly confuted by Monsieur Thevenot Who affirms that it rains much in Alexandria and Rosetta but not indeed so much in the City of Caire However he says that he has seen it rain there two days together very hard and with great Thunder-claps in the Month of December The Sixth Discourse Of the National Tarts of the Earth SOphr Besides the Natural Division of the World into Earth and Waters there is a National Division of it which is to be the Subject of our present Discourse And to make it clear to ye you must know first the World is divided into two Principal Parts the Known and the Unknown World The Unknown World or that Part of the World which is yet Unknown to us lies about the Poles but the greater Part towards the Southern Pole That Part which lies towards the North Pole is called in Latin Terra Borealis or Terra Polaris Arctica and the other Part that lies towards the South Pole Terra Australis or Terra Polaris Antarctica The Known World is usually divided into four Parts Europe Asia Africk and America But it is a most unequal Division and I think it more rational to divide it thus Viz. the Known World first into two Parts the Old and the New World then the Old World into three Europe Asia and Africa and the New into two the Northern and Southern America For as the Old World do's visibly consist of three distinct Peninsules so is