him Victuals and other necessaries It happened that about the Dogg-days sweet Wine being brought in an Earthen Vessel into the Field to the Mowers near the place where this Leaper was placed he that brought it set it not far from them and went his way being gon and some of them being thirsty came and took up the Pitcher to pour out some Wine into a Bowl half full of Water which they mixed with their Wine and out falls a drowned Viper from the Pitcher into the Bowl hereupon the men being amazed let the Wine alone and drank and contented themselves with Water but when they had finished their days work and were to go out of the Field as it were out of pity they gave to the Leprous man the Wine wherein the Viper was drowned supposing it better for him to dye than to live in that misery but he when he had drank it was as it were miraculously cured for all that thick and most loathsom scabby swelling of the Disease that covered him over fell a-away from him like the hard outside of a Crab-Fish and new skin and flesh succeeding underneath in the place another example hereof though upon an unlike occasion happened in Mysia a Town of Asia CHAP. XLII ANZIEHANA in Aethiopia ANziehana in Aethiopia hath on the west part of it Songo and Loango extended thence to the East as far almost as the Lake of Zembre the Inhabitants of it the cruellest Canibals in the World for they do not only eat their Enemies but their Friends and Kinds-folk also and that they may be sure not to want these Dainties they have shambles of mans Flesh as in other places of Beef and Mutton so covetous with all that if their Slaves will but yield a penny more when fold joynt by joynt then if sold alive they will kill and cut them out in pieces and sell them so upon their Shambles CHAP. XLIII SYRIA IN Syria are said to be a choice of Religions as a Christian Mahometan Pagan and one Compound out of them all which is that of the Drusians The Mahometans embraced by the generality of the People throughout the whole and by all that are in Office or Authority is only countenanced and approved though all the rest be tollerated The Pagan entertained only in the mountanous Country bordering on America Inhabited by a sort of People whom they call Curdi or the Curdens supposed to be so descended from the Ancient Parthians as being very expert in Bows and Arrows their most usual Armes A Race of People who are said to worship alike both God and the Devil the one that they may receive Benefits from him the other that he may not hurt them but their principal Devotions are addressed to the Devil only and that upon good reasons as themselves conceive for God they say is a good man and will do no Body harm but the Devil is a mischievious fellow and must be pleased with Sacrifices that he do not hurt them CHAP. XLIIII THEBET THebet is a fenny Region of Tartaria full of Woods rich in Corral which they find on the Sea-shores and use it instead of Money so named from the chief City of it the ordinary seat of the Abassi or Pope of this Idolatrous People much reverenced and having in his power the disposing of all Affairs which concern the Service of their Idols They have also good store of Musick and abundance of wild Beasts bred in their Forersts but no Beast wilder then the People who in times past if not at present use to bury their Parents in their own bowels and to make drinking cups of their skuls for fear least in the midst of their Jollity they should forget their Progenitors Yet not more barbarous then Immodest it being contrary to their Custom to take a Wife that is a Virgin and therefore the mothers use to prostitute their Daughters to the Merchant-strangers who having had their pleasures of them gratifie them with a Jewel or some other present which they wear on their Wedding-day she being the most acceptable Bride to her Husband who bringeth the greatest Dowry with her of these base rewards CHAP. XLV PATAVIVM in Italy THere was found in the Territory of Patavium in Italy in former Ages a very antient Monument wherein were two Urnes a greater and a less both made of Earth the bigger contained the less now in the less was found a Lamp burning between two Viols the one of Gold the other of Silver and both full of a most excellent Liquor by the Benefit of which it was supposed to have burned many years The learned coming to the Monument affirmed it to be that perpetual Fire invented by the wonderful Industry of the antient Phylosophers which would endure so many years In which opinion they were confirmed by verses written on both Urnes which seemed to be of great Antiquity The like Ludovicus Vives reports in his time to have been found in antient Graves which by Inscription had burnt above five hundred years St. Augustine likewise affirms that in the Temple of Venus was a Lamp that never went out which he supposed to have been done either by Art Magical or by the Industry of some man who had put Lapidem Asbestum or the unchangeable burning stone within the said Lamp and in the time of Pope Paulus the Third the Grave of Tullio Cicero's Daughter was found wherein was the like Lamp burning but as soon as 't was opened that the Air came to it it presently went out This Lamp had burnt there 15 hundred years CHAP. XLVI CRETE T Is observable that in CRETE there is bred no Serpents or Venomous Beasts or Worms Ravenous or hurtful Creatures so that their Sheep Graze very securely without any Shepheard yet if a Woman happen to bite a Man any thing hard he will hardly be cured of it which if true then the last part of the Priviledge foregoing of breeding no hurtful Creature must needs be false They have an Herb called Alimos which if one chew in his mouth he shall feel no hunger for that day Here is besides many Medicinal Herbs that is called Dictamnum or Dictamnas of special virtue against Poyson either by way of Prevention or present Cure peculiar only to this Island It affordeth great store of Laudanum a Juice or Gum forced with incredible labour out of a certain Tree Cisto of which the Mountains yield abundance good to cause sleep if immoderately taken but if not very well prepared and taken with moderation it brings the last sleep upon a man out of which not to be awakened till the sound of the last Trumpet raise him CHAP. XLVII HVNGARIA IN HVNGARIA are said to be many Medicinal Waters and more hot Baths then in any one Countrey in Europe some Waters also of a strange Nature whereof some falling on the ground is turned into a Stone others about the Town of Smalnice which falling into Ditches makes up a kind of mud out of
another they happened at last upon a large and pleasant valley where they spied a company of naked salvage People hemmed in amongst many craggy Rocks The Salvages gazing a while upon them ran into their Caves made in the hollows of the Rocks the best Houses they had which being observed by the Faulconers they returned again to their Lord telling him that instead of a Faulcon they had brought him news of a new World in the midst of Spain and of a Race of People which came in with Tuball strongly affirming what they said they obtained Belief and the Duke shortly after went with a company of Musketteers and subdued them easily they having no offensive Weapons but only Slings They worshipped the Sun and Moon fed upon nothing that had life but had good store of excellent Fruits Roots and Springs of water wherewith a Nature was well content and though their Language was not altogether understood by any yet many of their words were found to be purely Busquish reduced on this discovery to Christianity but easily discernable by all other Spaniards by their rawney complexions occasioned by the Reverberation of the Sun-beams from those rocky Mountains wherewith on all sides they are incompassed CHAP. XXI NORWEY IN Norwey there is a little sort of Beast called by the name of Lemers about the bigness of a Mouse and are by the Inhabitants said to drop out of the Clouds in tempestious Weather like the Locusts they devour every green thing on the Earth and at a certain time die all in heaps as it were together and with their stench so poyson the Air that the poor People are long after troubled with the Jaundies and a giddiness in the Head But these Beast come not so often to infect the Land as the Whales do to terrifie the shores the Seas being there so deep and therefore a fit habitation for those great Leviathans against whose violence and fury the People of the Sea-coast have found a remedy which is by casting some water intermixt with Oyle of Castor the smell whereof forces them immediately to retire without this help there were no Fishing on the Coasts CHAP. XXII ZISCA a Bohemian Cap. WE read of one Zisca a Bohemian Captain who in eleven Battells fought in defence of the Hussites against the Pope and his Confederates prevailed and went away victorious Insomuch that at his Death he willed the Behemians to flea him and make a Drum of his skin perswading himself if they so did they would never be overcome a fancy no less Idle then strange In some of the Forrests of Bohemia there is a little Beast called LOMIE which hath hanging under its neck a Bladder always full of scalding water with which when she is hunted she so tortureth the Dogs that she thereby easily makes her escape CHAP. XXIII ASSIRIA THe Country of Assiria is said to be so fertile that the Hedges on the high way sides afford very good Fruit and the adjoyning Fields affords to the Passengers the shades of Fig-trees were it not naturally so it would not be much helped by Art or Industry as being but meanly peopled and those few without any encouragement either to the planting Fruits or manuring the Land Their Sheep are commonly fat and fair but so over-laded on the Tail both with Flesh and Fleece that they hang in long wreaths to the ground dragged after them with no small difficulty the Tails of these Sheep frequently weighing thirty pounds or upward 'T is said that the Assirians have a strange way of contracting their Mariages their Wives they never see till the day of their Marriage but hearing a good report of them they negotiate with her Friends and when agreed they meet in the Chancell of the Church wherein there is a partition with a hole in it The Bridegroom and his Friends standing on one side and the Bride and her kindred on the other then that Church-man biddeth the Bridgeroom to put his hand through the hole in the partition and take his Bride by the hand which he doth accordingly the mother of the Bride with a sharp pointed Instrument made of purpose pricking the Bridegrooms hand all over with sufficient eagerness if when he feeleth the smart he lets go her hand they take it for a Sign that he will not love her but if he hold her fast and wring her hand so hard till She cry again they take it as a very good Omen and are glad they have so well bestowed her After the Marriage is consummate if a Male child be born unto them the Father looseth his own name and is called after his Sons name so as if the Fathers name be Moses and his Sons name Ioseph the Father is no more called Moses but Abba Ioseph or the Father of Ioseph so highly do they reverence Marriage and the Fruits thereof Posterity CHAP. XXIIII QVIVIRA in Califormia THe Province of Quivira in Califormia is a Country full of Herbage breeding great store of Cattel differing not much in bigness from those of Europe but that they have an high Bunch betwixt their shoulders bristled on the back like Bores which somewhat resemble the mane of a Horse their legs short and clad with Fetlocks their Horns short but sharp the whole Beast of so horrid an aspect that a Horse will not venture near him till well acquainted yet in this Beast lyes all the Riches of the Inhabitants of the Country for they are to them as Ale to Drunkards Meat Drink and Cloath and more too for the Hides yield them houses or at least the covering of them their Bones Bodkins their Hair Thread their Sinewes Ropes their Hornes Mawes and Bladders Vessels their Dung Fire their Calfskins Budgets to draw and keep water in their Blood Drink and their Flesh Meat There is also said to be a Cave between two Mountains from which the Rain descending turns into Alablaster naturally fashioned into Pillars and other Portraitures CHAP. XXV GERMANY IN Germany once lived an EARL whose Wife was called Iermentrudis having accused a poor Woman of Adultery and caused her to be grievously punnished for having twelve Children at a birth was afterwards her self delivered of the same number and all of them Sons her Husband being absent at the time of her delivery She commanded the Nurse to kill eleven of them fearing it seems the like shame and punishment as by her Instigation was inflicted on the poor Woman The Nurse going to perform this wicked command was met by the old Earl then returning home-ward who asked her what she had in her Apron she made answer whelps he desired to see them she denied him angry at this refusal he opened her Apron and there found eleven of his own sweet Babes and most of them of promising countenances examining the matter he found out the truth and enjoyning the old Nurse to be secret in it he put the children out to Nurse six years being expired the Earl invited to a Feast most of
his own and his Ladies kindred and attiring the young Boys all alike presented them to their Mother who suspecting by the number of them what the matter was confest her offense is pardoned by a good old Earl and carefully educates her children whom the Father commanded to be called Guelps alluding to Whelps or the Puppis which the Nurse told him she had in her Apron CHAP. XXVI NOVA ZELINA NOva Zelina is one of the Russian Islands scituate on the East of Willoughby Island so called from Sir Hugh Willoughby because he first discovered it and was hereabout found frozen to Death the next year following and was first discovered by such adventurers as followed Willoughby's design Famous for having a Race of short statuted men not above four foot high a degree above the height of Pigmies who by the relation of the Russes have neither Laws nor Religion or Civility but that they worshipped the Sun Moon and Northern Star to which they offer a yearly Sacrifice of their Deer and that the Island is a woody Desart and not easie for travel having in it neither green Bough nor Grass yet there are abundance of Bears and such ravenous Beasts CHAP. XXVII SAMOGITIA in Poland SAmogitia is a small Province in Poland the People thereof supposed to be of the Saxon race of a good stature well set bold and apt for War but withall boysterous rude and barbarous Christians in general but many who retain still their old Idolatries nourishing amongst them a kind of four-footed Serpents above three handfuls in length which they worship as their houshould Gods mending them with fear and reverence when they call them out to their repasts and if any mischance do happen to any of their Family it is imputed presently to some want of due observations of these ugly Creatures naturally inclined to Divinations Charms and Sorceries frequently abused as for the most part such People are by Diabolical Illusions They have some customes also as unprofitable as these are heathenish breaking up their Grounds as they do in Muscovy with Spades or Stocks and when one of their Governours observing the Husbandry of other Countries had brought them the use of the Plough It fortuned that for two or three years either by the Indisposition of the Weather or some other accident they had not so much Corn as they used to have which want the People attributed to the use of the Plough and not believing that there was any other cause of it grew so much incensed that the Governour fearing some Sedition like to follow on it was forced to leave them to the old way which before they went An humour like to that of the present Irish in plowing with their Horses tails CHAP. XXVIII LIVONIA IN some part of Livonia are a sort of People so simple in point of Religion and the like that when they bury any of their Dead every one drinks one health to him and poureth his part upon him when his trun comes to drink putting into the grave with him an Hatchet Wine Meat and some Money for his Voyage And yet they are great lovers of Confession esteemers of Holy Water and diligent Frequenters of their Churches but so Ignorant in matters of Religion that there is hardly one in a Village can say his Pater Noster CHAP. XXIX SODOM THe Country where the Cities of Sodom and Gomorra once stood was called the valley of Sidim which was exceeding fruitful Insomuch that 't was compared to an Earthly Paradise but this place so beautified and adorned with such a wonderful Richness of Soil and other pleasures that might make glad the heart of man through the sinfulness of the Inhabitants is so changed that after the Cities and Fields were destroyed by Fire and Brimstone from Heaven the whole Country was turned into a most horrid stinking Lake called Mare mortuum or the dead Sea The Waters whereof most thick stinking bitter and salt beyond any Sea-water whatsoever wherein no Creature liveth or can live therefore called the dead Sea The River Iordan runs into it and is infected by it Insomuch that the Fish of that River shun the Lake as a deadly Poyson and if at any time by the swiftness of the River they are driven into it they immediately die No living thing can be drowned in it which Vespasian being desirous to make trial of came in person to see it and caused some Persons altogether Ignorant in swimming to be bound with their hands behind them and thrown into the Lake but was as it were repulsed by a certain Spirit of the Water and like a Rock they floated upon the superficies of the Water Every fair Sun-shiny day it changeth the colour thrice by reason of the Sun Beams falling either Rightly or Oblickly upon it as at Morning Noon and Sun set according to which it varieth the colour and yields a certain Pitchy substance called in Latin Bitumen which swims upon the top of the Lake in great abundance some pieces as big as an Ox and is of such a Nature that if any small Ships come near to fetch it away they are caught and drawn away by the Tenacity or Limy catching hold thereof and not to be loosed again but by application of Urine Tui menses mulierbres permixti sunt saith mine Author and with this only the Bitumen is dissolved It sendeth up a most Pestilent Air insomuch that one would think the very stream of Hell fire were beneath it hereupon the Banks and Neighbouring Mountains are quite barren if but an Aple grow near it it is by Nature such that it speaks the Anger of God for without 't is beautiful and Red but within nothing but dusty Smoak and Cinders the like saith Tacitus CHAP. XXX ANATOLIA IN ANATOLIA stands the Mountain Taurus a Branch whereof called by the name of Chimaera vomiting flames of fire like Sicilian Aetna the bottom whereof infested with Serpents the middle part grazed upon with Goats and the higher parts made dangerous by the dens of Lyons hence by the Poets made a Monster having the head of a Lyon the Body of a Goat and the Tail of a Serpent The City Cyzieus in this Countrey famous in its time for having a Glorious Temple in it the Pillars whereof being Four Cubits thick and 50 Cubits high were each of an Intire Stone only the whole Fabrick all of polished Marble every Stone joyned to the other with a line of Gold but at last ruined by an Earth-quake CHAP. XXXI SCHELINK in Sevenwolden IN the Isle SCHELINK in the Province of Sevenwolden in West Friezland the Shores and said to be well stored with Dogg-Fish which the Inhabitants take after this manner the Men attire themselves with the Skins of Beasts which they have made for that purpose then going to the Sea side fall a Dancing with which sport the silly Fish being much delighted presently make out of the water towards them and Nets are immediately pitched betwixt them and
the water which done the men put off their disguises which when the affrighted Fishes see Post towards the Sea and so are caught in the Coyles CHAP. XXXII BEGORRE IN the Earldom of BEGORRE near the Pyrenaean Mountains are said to live a Leprous and Infectious sort of People of noisom Breaths deformed Bodies and gastly Visages in which regard not suffered to have commerce with other People nor to Inherit any Lands but only to apply themselves to drudgery and the basest of Mechanick Trades from their great mis-shapen heads called Capets or Gabets CHAP. XXXIII CASCAR CASCAR a Province in Altay in Tartaria the People thereof Generally Rude and Barbarious insomuch that in some parts both Sexes Indulge themselves this mutual Priviledge that if the Husband or Wife be absent twenty dayes the other party is at Liberty again to Marry Chesmur Lopp and Camull three other Provinces in the said Countrey whereof the Inhabitants of the first are generally both Idolaters and Inchanters causing the dumb Idols to speak the Winds to rise and the Sun to be darkened for studying which Black-Art if it comes to them by Study they have many Monasteries in which their Hermits or Monasticks live a strickt kind of life The Province of Lopp memorable for having a great Desart of 30 days Journey in it so true a Desart that whosoever means not to starve himself must carry all his victuals with him dangerous to Travellers if not before-hand made acquainted with their danger the evil Spirits calling Men by their names and so make them stray from their Company where they either perish with Famine or are devoured with wild Beasts Camull an Idolatrous Countrey the People whereof account it a great honour to them to have their Wives and Sisters at the pleasures of such as they entertain from which Bruitish Custom when restrained by Mango Cham they Petitioned at the three years end to be restored again to their former Liberty protesting they could never thrive since they left that Custom which desire of theirs was at last granted and is still in use CHAP. XXXIV MORAVIA IN MORAVIA amongst other things is said to grow great store of Frankincense and contrary to the Nature of it not on Trees but on the ground and that too which adds much to the Miracle in the shape and figure of those parts which Men and Women must endeavour to conceal In the same Countrey is a Town called Massa or Messa famous in Ancient time for having a Temple in it whose Beams and Rafters are of the Bones of Whales which usually are left dead on the Sea-shores CHAP. XXXV HASCORA in Morrocca IN the Province of HASCORA in Moroocca are said to grow a sort of Grapes as large as Pullets Eggs. And not far from a Town called Tedza in the said Countrey stands the hill Anchisa where 't is said that it Snoweth at all seasons of the year notwithstanding the Inhabitants go extreamly thin clad in the sharpest Winters CHAP. XXXVI TVNIS T Is reported that in the Kingdom of TVNIS Corn hath in former time been so plentiful that in the Reign of Augustus were 400 Ears growing upon one stalk And in the time of Domitius Nero were 360 more growing upon another and both sent to Rome CHAP. XXXVI GREECE IN GREECE are said to be two Rivers by name Cireus and Nileus both of that strange Nature that if a Sheep drink of the former his Wool turneth white and if of the latter it turns cole-black There is also a Stone called Aminthus which is drawn into Thread like Hemp and Cloth made thereof which when 't is foul instead of being cleansed with water as other Cloth is 't is thrown into the fire and so cleansed by burning it But more of this hereafter CHAP. XXXVIII IANGOMA IANGOMA in the Countrey of Laos is a mighty Nation and a stout sort of People by Religion Gentiles naked from the Wast upward russing up their Hair like Caps their Countrey very Rich and Level but very ill Neighboured by the Gneons who possess the Mountains whence falling into great Companies they hunt for men whom if they take they Kill and Eat as we do any sort of our Game with us CHAP. XXXIX CHALDAEA IN some part of CHALDAEA and other places 't is said that for Communicating the Success of their Affairs from Town to Town and Stage to Stage they make use of Pigeons as the speediest Messengers which is done after this manner When the Hen Pigeon sitteth or hath any young they take the Cock and set him in an open Cage whom when they have Travelled a days Journey they let go at Liberty and he straight flyeth home to his Mate when they have trained them thus from one place to another and that there be occasion to send any advertisements they tye a Letter about one of their Necks which at their return is taken off by some of the house advertised thereby of the State of other places the like is also used betwixt Ormius and Balfora CHAP. XL. Of Locusts and other strange Meats MOSES WE Read in the Law of MOSES Levit the 11. ver 22. That Locusts were allowed of to be eaten which surely had not been done had they not been good and fitting to eat Plinie tell us the Parthians fed upon them as dainties Strabo also affirm that the Aethiopians lived most upon them And Galon tell us that the Egyptians did use to eat Vipers and Adders as familiarly as we do Eels Besides St. Hierome affirmeth that in Pontus and Phrygia they usually eat those white Worms with black heads that lye in wood and between the bark of Trees And that by Tenants they were presented to Landlords as special dainties and some took them in Lieu of Rent The Assyrians were wont to eat Land Crocodiles and the Affricans Green Lizards Among others Dormise were accounted the daintiest meat In Cozumela and Iucatana Islands of the East-Indies and other places there-abouts they fat a king of Dog which cannot bark as we do Swine and eat them the Ancients also supposed sucking Whelps to be so clean and pure that they offered them their Gods in Sacrifice The Parian Indians did not only eat mans flesh but also as Apes do Lice Froggs Worms and such filthy things The Tartarians eat the Carrion Carcasses of dead Horses Camels Asses Cats and Dogs even when they stink and are full of Maggots and hold them as dainty as we do Venison CHAP. XLI GALEN GALEN tell us of a certain man that was extreamly sick of a Leprosie kept company a good time with some Companions of his till one above the rest was infected with the contagion of the Disease for he was not to be endured by reason of the loathsom stench that proceed from his unclean Body wherefore a Cottage was Built for him near a Town upon a Hill remote from People a fair spring running hard by and herein the Leaper was placed with a man attending him to carry