honie and waxe which the Antes did make being somewhat bitter Vpon the sea coast also they found certaine fishes which commonly went vpright in the water hauing the faces and natures of women which the fishermen of those places were acquainted with In the yéere 355. before Christ it is said that the Spanyards sailed through the maine sea till they came vnto the flats of India Arabia and those coasts adioyning whereunto they caried diuers marchandises which trade they vsed in great ships And sailing to the northwest they came vnto certaine flats which with the flowing of the sea were couered and with the ebbe were discouered finding there many Tunnies of great bignes where they commonly vsed to fish them to their great profit because they were the first vntill that time that they had séene and were greatly esteemed The time of Alexander Magnus as appiereth by the ages of the world was before the comming of Christ 324. yéeres we all know that he was borne in Europe but he trauailed into Asia Africa and passed through Armenia Assyria Persia Bactria standing northerly in 44. degrées of latitude which is the farthest countrey in longitude wherein he was in all his iourneyes From thence he descended into India by the mountaines of Imaus and the valleyes of Paropanisus and prepared a nauie in the riuer Indus and therewith passed into the Ocean sea where he turned by the lands of Gedrosia Caramania Persia vnto the great citie of Babylon leauing Onesicritus and Nearcus captaines of his fléete which afterwards came vnto him by the straight of the Persian sea and vp the riuer of Euphrates leauing that countrey and coast discouered After this Ptolemey raigned king of Egypt who by some is reputed to haue béen bastard sonne vnto Philip father of the foresaid Alexander the great This Ptolemey imitating the forenamed kings Sesostris aud Darius made a trench or ditch of an hundred foote broad and of thirty foote déepe and ten or twelue leagues in length till he came to The bitter Welles pretending to haue his worke run into the sea from a mouth of the riuer Nilus called Pelusium passing now by the citie Damiata But this thing tooke none effect for that the Red sea was thought to be higher by thrée cubits then the land of Egypt which would haue ouerflowed all the countrey to the ruine and losse thereof In the yéere 277. before the incarnation succéeded in the gouernment of the kingdome one Philadelphus who brought to passe that the marchandises should come out of Europe to the citie of Alexandria vpwards by the riuer Nilus vnto a city named Coptus and from thence to be conueyed by land to a hauen standing vpon the Red sea called Myos-Hormos which way was trauailed in the night the pilots directing themselues by the stars which were expert in that practise And because water was scant that way they vsed to carrie it with them for all the companie till at the last to auoide that trouble they digged very déepe wels and made large cisterns for the receipt of raine water by which the way furnished with that commoditie which at the first it wanted grewe in continuance of time to be the more frequented But whereas the straight way was dangerons by reason of flats and islands the aforesaid king Philadelphus with his armies went on the side of Troglodytica and in an hauen called Berenice caused the ships to arriue which came out of India being a place of more suretie and lesse perill from whence they might easily carrie the wares to the citie of Coptus and so to Alexandria And by this meane Alexandria grew so famous and rich that in those daies there was no citie of the world comparable to it And to speake briefly and particularly of the abundance of trafficke there vsed it is left written for an assured truth that in the time of king Ptolemey Auletes father vnto Cleopatra it yéelded in customes vnto him yéerly seuen millions and an halfe of gold although the trafficke was not then scant twenty yéeres old by way of that citie But after that this prouince and countrey became subiect to the Emperours of Rome as they were greater in power and néerer in couetousnes so they enhansed the customes so that within a little time the citie yéelded double the foresaide summe For the traffike grew so excéeding great that they sent euery yéere into India 120. ships laden with wares which began to set saile from Myos-Hormos about the middle of Iuly and returned backe againe within one yéere The marchandise which they did carrie amounted vnto one million two hundred thousand crownes and there was made in returne of euery crowne an hundred In so much that by reason of this increase of wealth the matrones or noble women of that time and place spent infinitely in decking themselues with precious stones purple pearles muske amber and the like whereof the writers and historians of that age speake very greatly Cornelius Nepos alleaged by Plinie maketh report of a king of Egypt that raigned in his time called Ptolemaeus Lathyrus from whom one Eudoxus fled vpon occasion and the better to auoid and escape his hands he passed through the Arabicke gulfe and the sea all along the coast of Africa and the Cape of Bona Sperança till he came vnto the Island of Cadiz and this nauigation by that course was in those daies as often vsed as now it is if we may giue credit to the histories Which appiereth the more manifest by this that Caius Caesar the sonne of Augustus going into Arabia did finde in the Red sea certaine péeces of those ships which came thither out of Spaine It was a vse also long after those daies to passe to India by land For so did the kings of the Soldans and the princes of Bactria and other famous captaines who trauailing thither and into Scythia by land had the view of those prouinces and countreyes so farre till they came that way vnto the * West and to the seas thereof on the north part whereunto many marchants then did trauaile Marcus Paulus Venetus writeth much hereof And although at the first his booke was taken for a fabulous thing yet now there is better credit giuen vnto it for that by the late experiences of the trauailers and marchants of these daies into those parts the names of the countreyes cities and townes with their situations latitudes and commodities are now found true as he and other historiographers of that time haue reported In the 200. yéere before the incarnation it is written that the Romanes sent an armie by sea into India against the great Can of Cathaia which passing through the straight of Gibraltar and running to the northwest found right ouer against the Cape Finisterre ten Islands wherein was much tinne And they may be those which were called the Cassiterides being come to 50. degrées of
Andes which diuide Brasill from the empire of the Ingas After this maner the mountaines of Taurus and Imaus diuide Asia into two parts which mountaines begin in 36. and 37. degrées of northerly latitude at the end of the Mediterran sea ouer against the Isles of Rhodes and Cyprus running still towards the East vnto the sea of China And so likewise the mountaines of Atlas in Africa diuide the tawnie Moores from the blacke Moores which haue frisled haire beginning at mount Meâ—es about the desert of Barca and running along vnder the Tropicke of Cancer vnto the Atlanticke Ocean The mountains of the Andes be high ragged and in some places barren without trées or grasse whereon it raineth and snoweth most commonly Vpon them are windes and sudden blastes there is likewise such scarcitie of wood that they make fire of turffes as they do in Flanders In some places of these mountaines and countries the earth is of diuers colours as blacke white red gréene blew yellow and violet wherewith they die colours without any other mixture From the bottomes of these mountaines spring many small and great riuers principally from the east side as appéereth by the riuers of the Amazones of S. Francis of Plata and many others which runne through the countrey of Brasil being larger then those of Peru or those of Castilia del oro There grow on these mountaines many turneps rapes and other such like rootes and herbes One there is like vnto Aipo or Rue which beareth a yellow flower and healeth all kinde of rotten sores and if you apply it vnto whole and cleane flesh it will eate it vnto the bone so that it is good for the vnsound and naught for the whole They say there be in these mountains tigers lions beares woolues wilde cats foxes Dante 's Ounces hogs and déere birdes as well rauenous as others and the most part of them are blacke as vnder the North both beasts birdes be white Also there be great terrible snakes which destroied a whole armie of the Ingas passing that way yet they say that an olde woman did inchant them in such sort that they became so gentle that a man might sit vpon one of them The countrey of Peru adioining vnto the mountaines of Andes westward toward the sea and containing 15. or 20. leagues in bredth is all of very hot sand yet fresh bringing foorth many good trées and fruites because it is well watered where there growe abundance of flags rushes herbes and trées so slender and loose that laying your hands vpon them the leaues will fall off And among these herbes and fresh flowers the men and women liue and abide without any houses or bedding euen as the cattell doe in the fields and some of them haue tailes They be grosse and weare long haire They haue no beards yet haue they diuers languages Those which liue on the tops of these mountains of Andes betwéene the cold and the heate for the most part be blinde of one eie and some altogether blinde and scarce you shall finde two men of them together but one of them is halfe blinde Also there groweth in these fields notwithstanding the great heate of the sand good Maiz and Potatos and an herbe which they name Coca which they carrie continually in their mouthes as in the East India they vse another herbe named Betele which also they say satisfieth both hunger and thirst Also there are other kindes of graines and rootes whereon they féede Moreouer there is plentie of wheate barly millet vines and fruitful trées which are brought out of Spaine and planted there For all these things prooue well in this countrey because it is so commodiously watered Also they sow much cotton wooll which of nature is white red blacke gréene yellow orange tawnie and of diuers other colours Likewise they affirme that from Tumbez southward it doth neither raine thunder nor lighten for the space of fiue hundred leagues of land but at some times there falleth some little shower Also it is reported that from Tumbez to Chili there breede no peacocks hennes cocks nor eagles falcons haukes kites nor any other kinde of rauening fowles and yet there are of them in all other regions and countreies but there are many duckes géese herous pigeons partriges quailes and many other kindes of birdes There are also a certaine kinde of fowle like vnto a ducke which hath no wings to flie withall but it hath fine thinne feathers which all the body Likewise there are bitters that make war with the seale or sea wolfe for finding them out of the water they will labour to picke out their eies that they may not sée to get to the water againe and then they doe kill them They say it is a pleasant sight to behold the fight betwéene the said bitters and seales With the beards of these seales men make cleane their téeth because they be wholesome for the toothach There are certaine beastes which those of the countrey call Xacos and the Spanyards shéepe because they beare wooll like vnto a shéepe but are made much like vnto a déere hauing a a saddle backe like vnto a camell They will carrie the burteen of 100. weight The Spanyards ride vpon them and when they be wearie they will turne their heads backward and void out of their mouthes a woonderful stinking water From the riuer of Plata and Lima southward there bréede no crocodiles nor lizards no snakes nor any kinde of vene mous vermine but great store of good fishes bréede in those riuers On the coast of Saint Michael in The South sea there are many rocks of salt couered with egges On the point of Saint Helena are certaine Well springs which cast foorth a liquor that serueth in stead of pitch and tarre They say that in Chili there is a fountaine the water whereof will conuert wood into stone In the hauen of Truxillo there is a lake of fresh water and the bottome thereof is of good hard salt In the Andes beyond Xauxa there is a riuer of fresh water in the bottome whereof there lieth white salt Also they affirme by the report of those of the countrey that there haue dwelt giants in Peru of whose statures they found in Porto viejo and in the hauen of Truxillo bones and iawes with téeth which were thrée and fower fingers long In the yeere 1540. the captaine Ferdinando Alorchon went by the commandement of the Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoça with two ships to discouer the bottome of the gulfe of California and diuers other countries In this yeere 1540. Gonsaluo Pisarro went out of the citie of Quito to discouer the countrey of Canell or Cinamome a thing of great fame in that countrey He had with him two hundred Spanyards horsemen and footemen and thrée hundred Indians to carrie burthens He went forward til he came to Guixos which is the farthest place gouerned by the Ingas where there happened a great
lowe countreies but kept the hils And we reade of Nimrode who 130. yéeres after the flood built the Tower of Babell intending thereby to saue himselfe if there should come any more such floods Therefore it seemeth that they which first came to be sailers were those which dwell in the east in the prouince of China although others contrariwise hold them which dwell in the west as in Syria to haue vsed the trade of the sea soonest after the flood But this contention about the antiquitie of nauigation I leaue to the Scythians and Egyptians who were at great variance and difference in this matter for each of them chalenged vnto themselues the honour of the first sea trauaile But omitting all iars and differences thereabouts I will apply my selfe to my purposed discourse and speake of that which histories haue left in record THere be some wel séene in Antiquities which say that in the 143. yéere after the flood Tubal came by sea into Spaine whereby it séemeth that in those times nauigations were vsed into our parts out of Ethiopia And they also say farther that not long after this the Quéene Semyramis went against the Indians in that riuer wherof they tooke their name and therein gaue battaile vnto the king Stabrobates wherin he lost a thousand ships Which being credible by the ancient historie prooueth manifestly that in those parts in those times were many ships and the seas frequented in good numbers In the 650. yéere after the flood there was a king in Spaine named Hesperus who in his time as it is reported went and discouered as far as Cape Verde the Island of S. Thomas whereof he was prince And Gonsaluo Fernandes of Ouiedo the Chronicler of Antiquities affirmeth that in his time the Islands of the West Indies were discouered and called somewhat after his name Heâ—perides and he alleageth many reasons to prooue it reporting particularly that in 40. daies they sailed from Cape Verde vnto those Islands There are others that say that the like was done from this Cape vnto the Islands of S. Thomas and the Isle De Principe and that they be the Hesperides and not the Anâ—iles And they doe not differ far from reason seeing in those times and many yeeres after they did vse to saile onely along the coast not passing through the maine Ocean sea for they had neither altitude nor compasse then in vse nor any mariners so expert It cannot be denied but that there were many countries Islands Capes Isâ—hmos and points which now are grown out of knowledge because the names of them are found in histories But the age of the world and force of waters haue wâ—sted and consumed them and separated one countrey from another both in Europe Asia Afâ—ica New Spaine Peru and other places Plato saith in his dialogue of Timaeus that there were in ancient times in the Ocean sea Atlanticke certaine great Islands and countries named Atlantides greater then Afrike and Europe and that the kings of those parts were Lords of a great part of this our countrey but with certaine great tempests the sea did ouerflow it and it remained as mud and shingle so that in a long time after no ships could passe that way It is also recorded in histories that fast by the Island of Cadiz towards the Straights of Gibraltar there was a certaine Island which was called Aphrodisias well inhabited and planted with many gardens and orchards and yet at this day we haue no knowledge of this Aphrodisias but only a bare mention of it in ancient authors The said Island of Cadiz is further said to haue béen so large and big that it did ioine with the firme land of Spaine The Islands of the Açores were sometimes a point of the mountaines of Estrella which ioine vnto the sea ouer the towne of Syntra And also from Sierra Verde or the gréene mountaine which adioineth vnto the water hard by the citie of Sasin in the land of Cucu which is the selfe same Island of Mouchin where Algarbe is come the Islands of Porto Santo and Madera For it is held as a true and vndoubted veritie that all Islands haue their roots running from the firme land though they be neuer so farre from the continent for otherwise they could not stand firme There are other histories which say that from Spaine vnto Ceuta in Barbarie men sometimes trauailed on foote vpon drie land and that the Islands of Sardinia and Corsica did ioine the one with the other as also did Sicilia with Italie and Negroponto with Graecia We reade also that there were found hulles of ships ankers of iron and other memorials of shipping vpon the mountaines of Sussa farre within the land where as it seemeth now no salt water or sea euer came In India also and in the land of Malabar although now there be great store of people yet many writers affirme that it was once a maine sea vnto the foote of the mountaines and that the Cape of Comarim and the Island of Zeilan were all one thing As also that the Island of Samatra did ioine with the land of Malacca by the flats of Caypasia and not farre froÌ„ thence there stands now a little Island which few yéeres past was part of the firme land that is ouer against it Furthermore it is to be séene how Ptolemey in his tables dotâ— set the land of Malacca to the south of the line in thrée or fower degrées of latitude whereas now it is at the point thereof being called â—entana in one degrée on the north side as appéereth in the Straight of Cincapura where daily they doe passe through vnto the coast of Sian and China where the Island of Aynan standeth which also they say did ioine hard to the land of China and Ptolemey placeth it on the north side far from the line standing now aboue 20. degrées from it towards the north as Asia and Europe now stand Well it may be that in time past the land of Malacca and China did end beyond the line on the south side as Ptolemey doth set them foorth because it might ioine with the point of the land called â—entana with the Islands of Biâ—tan Banca Salitres being many that waies the land might be all slime oaze And so the point of China might ioine with the Islands of the Luçones Borneos Lequeos Mindanaos others which stand in this parallele they also as yet hauing in opinion that the Island of Samatra did ioine with Iaua by the chanell of Sunda and the Islands of Bali Aujaue çambaua Solor Hogaleao Maulua Vintara Rosalaguin and others that be in this parallele and altitude did all ioine with Iaua and so they séeme outwardly to those that descrie them For at this day the Islands stand so néere the one to the other that they séeme all but one firme land and whosoeuer passeth betwéene some of them
and came to an anker in an hauen of it called Guliguli where they went on land and tooke a village standing by the riuer where they found dead men hanging in the houses for the people there are eaters of mans flesh Here the Portugals burnt the ship wherein Francis Serrano was for she was old and rotten They went to a place on the other side standing in 8. degrées toward the south where they laded cloues nutmegs and mace in a Iunco or barke which Francis Serrano bought here They say that not farre from the Islands of Banda there is an Island where there bréedeth nothing else but snakes and the most are in one caue in the middest of the land This is a thing not much to be woondred at for as much as in the Leuant sea hard by the Isles of Maiorca and Minorca there is another Island of old named Ophiâ—sa and now Formentera wherein there is great abundance of these vermine and in the rest of the Islands lying by it there are none In the yéere 1512. they departed from Banda toward Malacea and on the baxos or flats of Luçapinho Francis Serrano perished in his Iunke or barke from whence escaped vnto the Isle of Mindanao nine or ten Portugals which were with him and the kings of Maluco sent for them These were the first Portugals that came to the Islands of Cloues which stand from the Equinoctiall line towardes the north in one degrée where they liued seuen or eight yeeres The Island of Gumnape now called Ternate is much to be admired for that it casteth out fire There were some princes of the Moores and couragious Portugals which determined to goe néere to the firie place to sée what it was but they could neuer come néere it But Antonie Galuano hearing of it vndertooke to goe vp to it and did so and found a riuer so extreme cold that he could not suffer his hand in it nor yet put any of the water in his mouth And yet this place standeth vnder the line where the sunne continually burneth In these Islands of Maluco there is a kinde of men that haue spurres on their ankles like vnto cocks And it was told me by the king of Tydore that in the Islands of Batochina there were people that had tailes and had a thing like vnto a dug betwéen their cods out of the which there came milke There are smal hennes also which lay their egges vnder the ground aboue a fathome and an halfe and the egges are bigger then ducks egges and many of these hennes are blacke in their flesh There are hogs also with hornes and parats which prattle much which they call Noris There is also a riuer of water so hot that whatsoeuer liuing creature coÌ„meth into it their skins will come off and yet fish bréede in it There are crabs which be very swéete and so strong in their clawes that they will breake the iron of a pikâ—axe There be others also in the sea little and hairie but whosoeuer eateth of them dieth immediately There be likewise certaine oisters which they doe call Bras the shels whereof haue so large a compasse that they doe Christen in them In the sea also there are liuely stones which doe grow and increase like vnto fish whereof very good lime is made and if they let it lie when it is taken out of the water it looseth the strength and it neuer burneth after There is also a certaine trée which beareth flowers at the sunne set which fall downe as soone as they be growne There is a fruit also as they say whereof if a woman that is conceaued of childe eateth the childe by by mooueth There is further a kinde of herbe there growing which followeth the sunne and remooueth after it which is a very strange and maruailous thing In the yéere 1512. in the moneth of Ianuarie Alfonsus de Albuquerque went backe from Malaca vnto Goa and the ship wherein he went was lost and the rest went from his companie Simon de Andrada and a few Portugals were driuen vnto the Islands of Maldiua being many full of palme trées and they stand lowe by the water which staied there till they knew what was become of their gouernour These were the first Portugals that had séene those Islands wherein there growe Cocos which are very good against all kinde of poison In this yéere 1512. there went out of Castile one Iohn de Solis borne in Lisbon and chiefe pilot vnto Don Fernando And he hauing licence went to discouer the coast of Brasill He tooke the like course that the Pinsons had done he went also to the Cape of S. Augustine and went forwards to the south coasting the shore and land and he came vnto The Port De Lagoa and in 35. degrées of southerly latitude he found a riuer which they of Brasill call Parana-guaçu that is The great Water He sawe there signes of siluer and therefore called it Rio de Plata that is The Riuer of siluer And it is said that at that time he went farther because he liked the countrey well but he returned backe againe into Spaine and made account of all things to Don Fernando demaunding of the king the gouernment thereof which the king granted him Whereupon he prouided thrée ships and with them in the yéere 1515. he went againe into that kingdome but he was there slaine These Solisses were great discouerers in those partes and spent therein their liues and goods In the same yéere 1512. Iohn Ponce of Leon which had béene goueruour of the Isle of S. Iohn armed two ships and went to séeke the Isle of Boyuca where the naturals of the countrey reported to be a Wel which maketh old men yoong Whereupon he laboured to finde it out and was in searching of it the space of sixe monethes but could finde no such thing He entred into the Isle of Bimini and discouered a point of the firme land standing in 25. degrées towards the north vpon Easter day and therefore he named it Florida And because the land séemed to yeeld gold and siluer and great riches he begged it of the king Don Fernando but he died in the discouerie of it as many more haue done In the yéere 1513. Vasco Nunnes de Valboa hearing spéech and newes of The south sea determined to goe thither although his companie dissuaded him from that action But being a man of good valure with those soldiers that he had being 290. he resolued to put himselfe into that ieoperdie He went therefore from Dariene the first day of September carrying some Indians of the countrey with him to be his guides and he marched ouerthwart the land sometimes quietly sometimes in war and in a certaine place called Careca he found Negroes captiues with curled haire This Valboa came to the sight of the South Sea on the 25. day of the said
may touch with their hand the boughs of the trées on the one and on the other side also And to come néerer to the matter it is not long since that in the east the Islands of Banda were diuers of them ouerflowen and drowned by the sea And so likewise in China about nine score miles of firme ground is now become a lake as it is reported Which is not to be thought maruellous considering that which Ptolemey and others haue written in such cases which here I omit to returne to my purpose After the flood 800. yéeres we reade that the citie of Troy was builded by the Dardans and that before that time they brought out of the Indies into Europe by the Red sea spices drugs and many other kindes of marchandises which were there more abundant then now they be Whereunto if credit may be giuen we may conceaue that the sea was of old haunted and frequented séeing that then they of the East had so much and so great trafficke with them of the West that they brought their marchandise vnto an hauen which was named Arsinoe being that which at this day is called Suez standing in 30. degrées on the north part of the Arabian Gulfe It is also by authors farther written that from this hauen of Arsinoe or Suez these marchandises were carried by Carauans or great companies of carriers vpon camels asses and mules vnto the Leuant sea vnto a city called Cassou standing on the coast in 32. degrées of latitude yeelding vnto euery degrée 17. leagues and an halfe as the maner is And there are by account from the one sea to the other 35. leagues or 105. miles These carriers by reason of the heate of the countrey trauailed in the night onely directing themselues by stars and by marks of postes and canes which they vsed to sticke in the ground as they went But after that because this course and iourney had many inconueniences they changed and altered the same twise to finde out the most commodious way 900. yéeres or there about after the flood and before the destruction of Troy there was a king in Egypt called Sesostris who perceiuing that the former courses and passages for the carrying of marchandises by men beasts were chargeable to the one most painfull to the other prouided to haue a way or streame cut out of the land from the Red sea vnto an arme of the riuer Nilus which rūneth vnto the Citie Heroum that by the meanes thereof ships might passe and repasse with their marchandises from India into Europe and not be discharged till they came into Italie So that this Sesostris was the first king which built great caracks to trauaile this way But this enterprise for all that tooke little effect For if it had Africa had then béen made as an Island all compassed with water being no more ground betweene sea and sea then the space of 20. leagues or 60. miles About this time the Graecians gathered together an army or fléete which now is called Argonautica whereof Iason and Alceus were captains general Some say they went from the Isle of Creta others from Graecia But whence soeuer they departed they sailed through the Proponticke sea and Saint Georges Sleeue vnto the Euxine sea where some perished and Iason thereupon returned backe into Greece Alceus reported that he was driuen with a tempest to the lake Maeotis where he was forsaken of al his company and they which escaped with great trauaile passed through by land vnto the Ocean sea of Almaine where they tooke shipping passing the coasts of Saxonie Frisland Holland Flanders France Spaine Italie and so returned vnto Peloponesus and Greece discouering the most part of the coast of Europe Strabo alleaging Aristonicus the Grammarian sheweth that after the destruction of Troy Menelaus the king came out of the straights of the Leuant seas into the sea Atlanticke and coasted Africa and Guinea and doubled the Cape of Bona Sperança and so in time arriued in India Of which voyage of his there may be many more particulars gathered out of the histories This Mediterrane sea was also sometimes called The Adriaticke The Aegaean and the Herculean sea with other names according to the lands coasts Islands which it passeth by running into the great sea Atlanticke along the coast of Africa In the yéere 1300. after the flood Solomon caused a nauie to be prepared on the Red sea at an hauen called Ezeon Geber to saile to the East India where by opinion stande the Islands called Tharsis and Ophir This nauie was thrée yéeres on this voyage and then returned and brought with them gold siluer cypres c. Whereby it séemeth that those places and Islands were those which now be called the Luçones Lequeos and Chinaes For we know few other parts from whence some of those things are brought or wherein nauigation was so long since vsed It is left vs also in histories that a king of Egypt called Neco desiring greatly to ioyne the Red sea with the riuer Nilus commanded the Phoenicians to saile from the straight of Mecca to the farther end of the Mediterrane sea to sée if it did make any turne backe againe vnto Egypt Which commandement they obeied sailing towards the south all along the coast and countrey of Melinde Quiloa Sofala till they came to the Cape of Bona Esperança finding the sea continually on the left hand But when they had doubled the Cape and found the coast continually on the right hand they maruailed much at it Notwithstanding they continued their course forward toward the north al along the coast of Guiney and the Mediterrane sea till they came backe againe into Egypt whence they first went out In which discouerie they remained two yéeres And these are thought to be the first that compassed by sea all the coast of Afrike and sailed round about it In the yéere 590. before the incarnation of Christ there went out of Spaine a fléete of Carthaginian marchants vpon their owne proper costs and charges which sailed toward the west through the high seas to sée if they could finde any land and they sailed so farre that they found at last the Islands which we now call the Antiles and Noua Spagna which Gonzalo Fernandes de Quiedo saith were then discouered although Christopher Columbus afterwards by his trauaile got more exact knowledge of them and hath left vs an euident notice where they be But all these historians which wrote of these Antiles before as of doubtfull and vncertaine things and of places vndiscouered doe now plainly confesse the same to be the countrey of Noua Spagna In the yéere 520. before the incarnation and after the setting out of the aforesaid army Cambyses king of Persia tooke Egypt after whom succéeded Darius the sonne of Histaspis and he determined to make an end of the enterprise which king Sesostris had begun
a towne vpon the riuer of Cira and called it Saint Michael of Tangarara which was the first towne inhabited by Christians in those partes whereof Sebastian de Benalcazar was appointed captaine Then he searched out a good and sure hauen for his ships and found that of Payta to be an excellent harbour In this same yéere 1531. there went one Diego de Ordas to be gouernour in the riuer of Maragnon with thrée ships sixe hundred soldiers and 35. horses He died by the way so that the intention came to none effect After that in the yéere 1534. there was sent thither one Hierome Artal with 130. soldiers yet he came not to the riuer but peopled Saint Michael de Neueri and other places in Paria Also there went vnto this riuer Maragnon a Portugall gentleman named Aries Dacugna and he had with him ten ships nine hundred Portugals and 130. horses He spent much but he that lost most was one Iohn de Barros This riuer standeth in thrée degrées toward the South hauing at the entrance of it 15. leagues of breadth and many Islands inhabited wherein grow trées that beare incence of a greater bignes then in Arabia gold rich stones and one emeraud was found there as big as the palme of a mans hand The people of the countrey make their drinke of a kinde of dates which are as big as quinces In the yéere 1531. one Nunnez de Gusman went from the citie of Mexico towards the northwest to discouer and conquer the countreies of Xalisco Ceintiliquipac Ciametlan Toualla Cnixco Ciamolla Culhuacan and other places And to doe this he caried with him 250. horses and fiue hundred soldiers He went through the countrey of Mechuacan where he had much gold ten thousand marks of siluer and 6000. Indians to carrie burdens He conquered many countreyes called that of Xalisco Nueua Galicia because it is a ragged countrey and the people strong He builded a citie which he called Compostella and another named Guadalajara because he was borne in the citie of Guadalajara in Spaine He likewise builded the townes de Santo Espirito de la Conception and de San Miguel standing in 24. degrées of northerly latitude In the yéere 1532. Ferdinando Cortes sent one Diego Hurtado de Mendoça vnto Acapulco 70. leagues from Mexico where he had prepared a small fléete to discouer the coast of the South sea as he had promised the Emperour And finding two ships readie he went into them and sailed to the hauen of Xalisco where he would haue taken in water and wood but Nunnez de Gusman caused him to be resisted and so he went forward but some of his men mutined against him and he put them all into one of the ships and sent them backe into New Spaine They wanted water and going to take some in the bay of the Vanderas the Indians killed them But Diego Hurtado sailed 200. leagues along the coast yet did nothing woorth the writing In the yéere 1533. Francis Pisarro went from the citie of Tumbes to Caxamalca where he tooke the king Attabalipa who promised for his ransome much gold and siluer and to accomplish it there went to the citie of Cusco standing in 17. degrées on the South side Peter de Varco and Ferdinando de Sotto who discouered that iourney being 200. leagues all causies of stone and bridges was made of it and from one iourney to another lodgings made for the Yngas for so they call their kings Their armies are very great and monstrous For they bring aboue an hundred thousand fighting men to the field They lodge vpon these causies and haue there prouision sufficient and necessarie after the vse and custome of Chiâ—â—â— as it is said Ferdinando Pisarro with some horsemen went vnto Paciacama 100. leagues from Caxamalca and discouered that prouince And comming backe he vnderstood how Guascar brother to Attabalipa was by his commandement killed and how that his captaine Ruminaguy rose vp in armes with the citie of Quito After this Attabalipa was by the commandement of Pisarro strangled In the yéere 1534. Francis Pisarro séeing that the two kings were goue began to enlarge himselfe in his signiories and to build cities forts and townes to haue them more in subiection Likewise he sent Sebastian de Banalcazar the captaine of S. Michael of Tangarara against Ruminaguy vnto Quito He had with him two hundred footemen and 80. horsemen He went discouering and conquering 120. leagues from the one citie to the other east not farre from the Equinoctiall line where Peter Aluarado found mountaines full of snow and so cold that 70. of his men were frosen to death When he came vnto Quito he began to inhabite it and named it S. Francis In this countrey there is plentie of wheate barlie cattell and plants of Spaine which is very strange Pisarro went straight to the citie of Cusco and found by the way the captaine Quisquiz risen in armes whome shortly he defeated About this time there came vnto him a brother of Attabalipa named Mango whom he made Ynga or king of the countrey Thus marching forward on his iourney after certaine skirmishes he tooke that excéeding rich and wealthie citie of Culco In this same yéere 1534. a Briton called Iaques Cartier with thrée ships went to the land of Corterealis and the Bay of Sainâ— Laurence otherwise called Golfo Quadrato and fell in 48. degrées and an halfe towards the north and so he sailed till he came vnto 51. degrees hoping to haue passed that way to China and to bring thence drugs and other marchandise into France The next yéere after he made another voiage into those partes and found the countrey abounding with victuailes houses and good habitations with many and great riuers He sailed in one riuer toward the southwest 300. leagues and named the countrey thereabout Noua Francia at length finding the water fresh he perceiued he could not passe through to the South sea and hauing wintered in those parts the next yéere following he returned into France In the yéere 1535. or in the beginning of the yéere 1536. Don Antonie de Mendoça came vnto the citie of Mexico as Viceroy of New Spaine In the meane while Cortes was gone for more men to continue his discouerie which immediately he set in hand sending foorth two ships from Tecoantepec which he had made readie There went as captaines in them Fernando de Grijalua and Diego Bezerra de Mendoça and for pilots there went a Portugal named Acosta and the other Fortunio Ximenez a Biscaine The first night they deuided themselues Fortunio Ximenez killed his captaine Bezerra and hurt many of his confederacie and then he went on land to take water and wood in the Bay of Santa Cruz but the Indians there slue him and aboue 20. of his companie Two mariners which were in the boate escaped and went vnto