the Territories of Tartary as far as the Channel of Piecko and the Streight of Vries which separate it from the Land of Jesso this length would contain above thirty Degrees of Longitude more The Breadth of Asia without comprehending therein the Islands is seventy two Degrees which make above eighteen hundred of the forementioned Leagues and all this in the Northern Temperate Zone except some Peninsula's which are in the Torrid Zone Several do believe that the Terrestrial Paradice was in Asia and so that Adam was Created there Asia was the Lot of Sem the Eldest of Noah's Sons God has wrought herein the principal Mysteries of the ancient and new Law and therein Jesus Christ was born 'T was in Asia that Man did first breath From Asia came the Customs Religions Manners Laws and Learning which after the Universal Deluge spread themselves into other parts of the Earth Asia is famous for the Monarchies of the Assyrians Medes Babylonians Persians and Califfs for the Phoenician People who first taught the Greeks and other Nations a good part of the Arts and Sciences The four principal Religions are followed there The Jewish the Mahometan and Idolatrous more than the Christian Idolatry began there among the Assyrians Judaism amongst the Hebrews Christianity in the Holy Land and Mahometism in Arabia Several Missions have been established there by Christian Princes those of Turkey under the Protection of France those of the Indies under the Protection of Portugal those of the Philippines under the Protection of Castile There are four Archbishopricks and seven Bishopricks in the East-Indies where likewise the Jesuits have three Provinces that of Goa that of Malabar and that of Japan Since the Peace of the Year 1659 France sent thither the Bishops of Heliopolis Metellopolis Berite and Caesarea with design of setling Christianity and of carrying it as far as into China They have made considerable progresses notwithstanding the impositions of the Spaniards who would have impos'd on the Bishop of Heliopolis Intreagues of affairs of State and made him take a turn round the World without his desiring it Mahometism is receiv'd by the four principal Nations of Asia by the Turks Arabians Persians and Tartars The Turks in matters of Religion are the freest the Arabians the most superstitious the Persians the most rational and the Tartars the most simple Some make up the number of seventy two Sects of them which are commonly reduced to two to that of the Turks following the Doctrin of Homar and to that of the Persians according to the Doctrin of Hali. These last have their Patriarch at Ispahan the Turks have theirs at Bagdad The Greeks have theirs who bear the names of Antioch and Jerusalem There be still other Schismaticks Jacobites who have their Patriarch at Caramit Nestorians Cophites Georgiens Syrians who bear the name of their Chief and not of Syria And Armenians These last have two Patriarcks the one at Nassivan in Media the other at Ciz in Cilicia The Maronites have theirs at Canobin in Mount Libanus The Papists boast of having brought over several to their Church within a few years past Asia towards the West is separated from Africa by the Red Sea and by the Isthmus of Sues It is divided from Europe by several Seas and Streights which I shall enumerate in the Article upon Europe Towards the other Regions of the World Asia is environ'd with the Ocean known under the Name of Tartary towards the North under that of China towards the East and under that of the Indies towards the South Some have endeavoured to persuade us that the Hollanders have of late traded into Japan by the Sea of Tartary if this be true those people keep that Voyage very secret and are much afraid that other Nations should have any knowledge thereof The principal Seas within the Inland Country are the Caspian which now receives other Names from the Provinces and Cities which are near it It has salt Waters tho' it has the Fish of Fresh Waters This made the Ancients believe in that it communicated with the Ocean it may well communicate with some Sea by the subterraneous Meatus It receives several great Rivers and nevertheless does not swell The Sea El-Catif is that of Persia The Dead Sea is small in respect of others yet it is famous by reason of the Holy Land where it is It has this name of the Dead Sea given it because its Waters have no Motion The principal Rivers of Asia are the Euphrates Tigris Indus Ganges Quiam and Obi. Caucasus and Taurus so celebrated by the Ancients are the highest Mountains in this part of the World The Inhabitants of the Country have them under other Names The Air almost of all Asia is found to be temperate If we consider its Gold Silver precious Stones Drugs Spices Silk Stuffs we must own that it is the richest as well as the most temperate part of the World The fishing for Pearls is in three principal places at the Isle Baharem in the Persian Sea the Island Manar upon the Coast of the Indus and that of Ainan near China Amongst the Products of Asia they esteem the Diamonds of Golconda and Narsinâ—a the Pepper and Ginger of Malabar the Stuffs of Bengala the Rubies and Lacca of Pegu the Dainties and Knacks of China the Cinnamon of Ceilan the Gold of Sumatra the Camphire of Borneo the Cloves of the Molucco's the Nutmegs of Banda the Sanders of Timor Four of the seven Wonders of the World were in Asia the Temple of Diana at Ephesus the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus the Walls of Babylon the Colossus at Rhodes the Statue of Jupiter Olympicus was in Europe the Pharos and the Pyramids in Africa The Asiaticks have ever been a people addicted to pleasures except some Tartars who by their incursions incommode their Neighbours continually they love fish more than flesh wherefore Priests in their Fasts and Lents eat only flesh Asia is under the Dominion of Potent Monarchs who can easily bring great Armies on foot of whom those of the Turks are the best Disciplin'd The most considerable of those Sovereigns are the Grand Segnior who resides in Europe the King of Persia the Great Cham of Tartary at present King of China in part and the great Mogul Several other great Princes are in Georgia Arabia Tartary in the Indies and in most of the Islands Divers people maintain their liberty in the Mountains The principal place of the Conquests of Portugal is Goa that of the Hollandens Jacatra otherwise Batavia in the Isle of Java The English and the French have their chief place of Traffick at Surat The Spaniards possess the Philippine Islands the Moscovites sway the best part of the Desart of Tartary which commonly be attributed to Asia In the division of this part of the World some Authors make it to be Inferior and Exterior in respect of Mount Taurus By this same Mountain the Greeks have made it a Citerior or Northorn and
and those Teeth of Valrushes which some esteem as much as Ivory Spigelberg or Spitsbergen is a Countrey in our Hemisphere the most advanc'd toward the Artick Pole It produces only green Moss those that have been left there to make a full discovery of it perish'd through cold after having fought with White Bears who pretended a right to eat them Upon its Coasts Whales are taken of a prodigious bulk since from one alone has sometimes been drawn a a Hundred and twenty Tun of Oyl The English and Hollanders lay claim to the Dominion of it Nova Zembla is the Island Carambice of the Ancients very near our great Continent from whence one may pass to it upon the Ice and one way stretches as far as Spitsbergen nay and much farther so as it may probably be said that this is the place where those pass'd who first of all inhabited America the streight which parts it from the Terra firma has in its Eastern part high Mountains of Ice which are call'd Pater-nosters This Name of Nova Zembla is by reason of the Way that has been so long sought after along those Coasts to go to the East-Indies through the Tartarian-Sea In the year 1676. Capt. Wood that Ingenious and Industrious Seaman was again sent out by His Majesty King Charles the Second to make a more perfect Discovery of that North-East Passage perswaded unto it by diverse Relations of our own and Dutch Mariners who reported many things concerning it which Capt. Wood upon his own experience conceives to be false as that they were either under or near the Pole that it was there all thaw'd Water and the Weather as warm as at Amsterdam c. He saith further That he himself cou'd pass no further than 76 Deg. where he found the Sea as far as he cou'd discern entirely frozen without intermission That it is most likely that Nova Zembla and Greenland are the same Continent at least that there is no passage betwixt them for that he found scarce any Current And that little which was ran E.S.E. along the Ice and seem'd only to be a small Tide rising not above Eight Foot And whil'st he was in that Degree there were nothing but Frogs Frost and Snow and all imaginable ill Weather tho' at the same time the heat seem'd to be as great as at any time in England The Land of Jesso lyes between Asia and America being separated from each of those Continents by great Arms of the Sea Its Inhabitants exchange in those Cities of Japan that are nearest 'em their Fish their Skins the Tongues and the Fat of their Whales for other Merchandize which they fancy most The Planks of their Vessels are not nail'd they are sewed very dexterously with Ropes made of the Rind or Bark of Cocoes and they do not rot in the Water The Hollanders have been there several times Their Relations affirm That part of this Territory acknowledges the King of Japan for its Soveraign That the Commander in Chief of this Country who has his Residence at Matzimai carries that Monarch every year Silver Birds Feathers of several Colours with very fine Furs The Antartick Lands THe Antartick Land is often called Australis Magellanica Incognita We might with just title name them the Southern Indies and the third World Those who would engage Soveraign Princes to promote the discovery of these Lands say that they are of as great an extent as all America nor less Peopled or less Fertile than Europe They may have above Six thousand Miles of Coast in three several Zones of the Southern part of the World the Hot Temperate and Cold Perhaps Countreys might there be found of all manner of temperament tho' none have yet been beyond the 68 Degree of Southern Latitude Amongst the Streights that are there that of Magellan first afforded a way in the year 1523. to voyage it round the World through the South Sea this Streight is Two hundred Leagues in length in breadth in some places two three in others five six or ten Those who pass through it receive great inconveniencies by reason of the sinuosities and windings and the frequent storms that are there The Streights of Maire which were discovered in the year 1615. are much more commodious 't is but ten or twelve Leagues in length and as many in breadth That of Brouvers which was pass'd in the year 1643. is on the South-East and has the same advantages with that of Le Maire The English and Hollanders sometimes steer this Course to go to the East Indies Besides under the name of Antartick Lands are reckoned Countries which indeed are very far distant from the Southern Pole but which cannot be attributed to the other great parts of the World since they are separated from it by Seas of a vast extent New Guiney the Isles of Solomon New Zealand the Land of Fire the Land of Parrots New Holland There 's hardly any thing known of the other Southern Parts befides the Names of those who discovered them New Guiney towards the South of the Equinoxial Line and in the Inferiour Hemisphere is a very great Isle and bears this Name because it seems to be Diametrically opposite to the Guiney of Africa The Isles of Solomon are in the South Sea at ten or twelve Degrees of the Southern Latitude The Spaniards who have them in possession give them the name of Solomon to persuade the World that that wise King sent for his Gold from thence New Zealand is the Country where the Hollanders have met with scurvy usage when they would have setled themselves there There it is they say are great Men and of a huge stature whether they really be so or fear made them appear such at least each of their two Companies to the Indies avouched the same thing In all probability it was discovered by Fernandez de Quir who tells a thousand advantageous particulars of it He spent Fourteen Years in his Travels Fourteen Months at Court and presented in vain Eight Petitions to the King of Spain to persuade him to send Colonies thither Between New Zealand and the Streights of Magellan some have placed several small Islands which are said to have been discover'd in the Name of the King of Spain by Hernando Gallego in the year 1576. The Land of Fire on the South of America consists of several Islands that are called Magellanic and the Fires that were seen there the first time the Europeans went on shoar have given occasion to this Name The Land of Parrots is probably that which we call Terra Australis In the year 1504. a French-man called Gonneville went on shoar there and was kindly receiv'd by a petty King called Arosca After several Months abode he brought away with him some of the Inhabitants and amongst others one called Essomeriq a King's Son who has left of his Posterity in Normandy New Holland seems to be that Land or rather those two great Islands of Petan and the lesser
These Cities tho' built by People we stile Salvage and Barbarous yielded in nothing to those of Europe or for bigness or magnificence No Horses were in America An Indian of good sence reckoned a Horse in the number of the three things he most esteemed the two others were a new laid Egg and Light Horses gave so much terrour to the Americans that for above a hundred years they could not be prevailed with to mount ' em The Inhabitants are of four sorts Europeans Metis Negroes and Salvages Most of the Nations of Europe have Colonies in this Portion of the World which for the most part bear the Names of their respective Provinces and Cities The Spaniards stand possess'd of the greatest the richest and the fertilest Countreys of America Among others of Mexico and Peru formerly two famous Kingdoms the latter Hereditary the other Elective their King pretends a Right to All by vertue of the Donative of Pope Alexander the Sixth in the year 1493. But this other Nations do not allow of The Portugneezes have the Coasts of Brasile The French have Colonies in Canada in several Islands and upon the firm Land The English have fair and great Establishments all along the Coasts of Northern America and in the Islands The Metis are those who are born of the Europeans and Indians In the Territories conquered by the Spaniards they call Crioles those who are born of a Spanish Man and Woman and these are they whom the Spaniards of Europe have a mortal aversion to and whom they put by all great Offices for fear of a Revolt The Negroes are transported into America from Angola and other parts of Africa to labour in the Mines which drudgery the Americans are not able to support The Salvages here live commonly on Hunting Maiz Cassave which is their Corn. They have amongst 'em almost as many Tongues as Villages He who has the use of those of Mexico and Casco may make himself understood through all America This diversity of Tongues is the cause that we have little knowledge of their Origine They are all naturally dexterous and active good Runners and excellent Swimmers Several amongst 'em live like Beasts without King Policy or Law The Sun Moon nay and the Devil too are consider'd by them as so many Divinities The Sooth-sayers who are very numerous in these parts keep 'em in these Errours The Kings of Spain have caused five Arch-Bishopricks to be erected there and about thirty Episcopal Sees The French have one Bishop in Canada The Portugueezes have at this present three in Brasile under the Arch-Bishop of S. Salvador The other Nations who have Settlements in these Countreys have likewise establish'd there the Religion they profess America is not peopled comparatively with the parts of our Continent perhaps by reason of the continual Wars which the Inhabitants wage there against one another or else because of the cruel treatments the Indians have received from the Spaniards some Authors do attest they have put to Death there several Millions of Persons whether for Religion or for other Pretexts and that the Blood of those who have perished in the Mines where they have been forc'd to labour would weigh more than the Gold and Silver they have thence extracted The Spaniards met with no strong resistance in their Conquests where they found none to make head against 'em but naked People whose Armies were easily broken by the Noise only of a Canon-shot or at the sight of a Horse-man The poor Indians stedfastly believed that the Spaniards were the Masters of Thunder they thought 'em half Men and half Horses or some Sea-Monsters when they saw 'em on Horse-back And when they saw them on board their Ships eating Bisket and drinking Claret they said they were descended from Heaven upon a great Bird that they eat Stones and drank Blood If we confider the situation of the Islands of that part of the World we shall find that California is in the West of Northern America the New Lands the Bermudas and the Antilles towards the East The Mountains of the Andes Cross all Southern America from the North to the South That of Potosi in Peru is esteem'd the richest of all by reason of its Silver Mines The Spaniards would persuade us that there are others in the Neighbourhood at least as rich The North Sea is so call'd because it is on the North of the firm Land which makes part of the Southern America and was sooner discovered than the Northern America in regard of which it cannot bear the Name of the North Sea 'T is called the Green Sea towards the Tropick of Cancer by reason of the Herbs found there upon the Surface of the Waters The South Sea is really Southern in regard of that North Sea but if we consider all America both Northern and Southern we shall find that it is Western It 's often called Pacific by reason of its pertinacious Calms or else because very few Acts of Hostility are perform'd there Between Mexico and the Island of California 't is call'd the Vermillion Sea It hardly receives any considerable Rivers The Sweet Sea which is in Canada and the Parime Sea in Southern America bear the names of Lakes because they are in the midst of Lands Many are of opinion that by this Sweet Sea the Northorn Sea communicates with with the Southern Among the Rivers of America that of Canada or St. Lawrence is vulgarly call'd the Great River perhaps for that it receives above two thousand others great and small and that above five hundred Leagues above Quebeck its source has not yet been found out It makes some Lakes grow narrow sometimes it casts it self among the Rocks with such impetuosity that 't is impossible to pass there by reason of the number of Water-falls which they call Saults and Carriages because those who mean to go over must carry their little Boats upon their shoulders which they term Canoes It s ordinary breadth is full twelve or thirteen Leagues its depth does often exceed two hundred fathom it keeps its Waters clear as far as below Quebeck The River of Chayre upon the Confines of the two America's affords means for the Transportation of Merchandizes from one Sea to the other L'Orenoyu is the largest of all those of America The Amanzon is esteemed the greatest strongest and deepest of all those of these Countreys and one of the fiercest in the World In the Year 1638. the Portuguese who were then under the Crown of Spain remounted it up as far as Quito in Peru and came down again the following Year It has its Inundations as well as the Nile whereby the neighbouring Countrey is not incommoded with Insects Above a hundred and fifty several Nations have been observ'd to dwell in the Neighbourhood of this great River and those which fall into it La Plata has its Name from the Mines of Silver which are near it Towards its beginning it bears the Name of Paraguay after having
City of all Nigritia Ardre towards the Coast has its King from whom there was an Ambassadour to the French King at Paris towards the latter end of the Year 1670 for the establishment of Traffick in its Dominions The Coast of Maleguetta is so call'd from a kind of Pepper which it produces and which is said to be better than that of the Indies Apes do them great service in Guinca Those that are called Barris fetch Water turn the Spit and serve too at Table Abissinia or Aethiopia THis Countrey is otherwise call'd Abech Abassia Abassinia the Empire of the Negus the Kingdom of Prester John the Middle-Indies the Southern-Indies the High or Great Aethiopia Those of the Countrey give their King the Name of Belulgian by reason of the Ring which the Queen of Sheba received from Salomon and which since that time has been Hereditary in that Royal Family Those who call him Prester-John do it upon this foundation that he sometimes carries a Cross in his hand The Popish Missionaries boast that some of the late Kings have been Catholicks But since the Jesuits who had been powerfully establisht in that Countrey have been Banish'd thence the Papists complain of the Persecution their followers have suffered in those parts The Abissins have a great number of Churches where Divine Service is performed much after the same manner it is here This Land is temperate unless in the Valleys where it is very hot and upon some Mountains where it is cold The Aethiopians are the most ancient People in the World and boast of having never been driven from their Countrey They are dexterous active blith and perform better than other people in great Employments The Mahometans are used to Spirit away the Abissin Children and go sell them to Indian Princes They are so-so Souldiers for Africans but they have not the Art of Building nor of Grinding their Corn and they often eat Cows flesh all raw with Salt and Pepper which they look upon as a peculiar Delicacy They have Civet-Cats and make use of Cloth Stones Salt and little pieces of Iron instead of money for which purpose they also use Gold which they give by weight They do not work in their Mines of Gold and Silver of Narea which has given occasion to say of their Prince That he might with his Treasures purchase whole Worlds The King of Abissinia to whom is also given the title of Emperour is Absolute in all the Territories of his Dominions And this it is that makes his principal Revenue He commonly keeps his Court in the open Field sometimes in one place sometimes an other He has few Cities but a great number of Villages Several places upon the Frontier of the Galles have been fortified for the security of the Inhabitants against the incursions of those people the capital Enemies of the Abissins The Turks hold the City of Suaquem upon the Red Sea whither the Vice-Roy of Barnagasse has commonly sent a Tribute of a thousand Ounces of Gold There are several Relations of Aethiopia and for the most part fabulous But the Jesuits pretend that the late ones they have published to be the most certain According to the Account of an Abissin Ambassadour sent to the Grand Seignior in the Year 1657 Gonthar was the abode of the Emperour Four Kings were tributary to him The King of Sennar which is a hot Country paid him his Tribute in Horses the King of Narea paid it him in Gold The Kings of Bugia and Doncala payed it him in Linnen and Cloth These Dominions are not of so great an extent nor of the same scituation they have hitherto been shown us The Galles on one side have subdued several great Provinces in the Southern part and the Moores have rendred themselves Masters of several places all along upon the Red Sea upon the Coast of Abex According to the late Relations the Sources of the Nile are placed in the Province of the Agaux at twelve Degrees of Northern Latitude which shows in the Cart the difference of above thirty of those Degrees That famous River goes first of all towards the North and then towards the East across the Lake of Bardambea from thence towards the South and towards the West so to return to take its Course pretty near its Sources towards the North and to continue it thro' Aegypt Twenty four small Kingdoms have been commonly accounted in Abissinia that of Amara has a Fortress upon a Mountain called Amba Guexem where formerly were kept the Princes of the Royal Blood Goyama is almost environed with the Nile Which has given some occasion to say that it is the Island Meroe There is in that of Tigermahon the City of Caxumo or Aceum which is said to have been the Residence of the Queen of Sheba several of the Abissin Kings have held their Coronation in that Town Dambea has the famous Lake Bar-Dambea and 's not very far off the City of Gorgora one of the last Residences of the Kings The Coast of Abex upon the Red Sea is full of Woods The tongue of the ancient Troglodites who inhabited it had this peculiarity that it resembled whistling Some have endeavoured to persuade the World that the King of the Abissins might very much incommode the Grand Seignior if he diverted the Waters of the Nile into the Red Sea and so render Aegypt dry This proposition has rendred them ridiculous because there are Mountains that must of necessity be cut through for the bringing this about and that these Mountains which have the Sources of several great Rivers make Aethiopia one of the highest Countreys of all Africa Albuquerque Vice-Roy of the East-Indies for the King of Portugal seems to have had the same design but he did not pursue the putting it into execution He it was who would have caused the Body of Mahomet to be stollen away and have pillaged Mocha with three hundred Horse which he had sent from Ormus upon Ships made on purpose for this Design Congo COngo is a temperate Countrey the Rains and Winds moderating the Heat which is insupportable in the adjacent parts Africa has no Regions that abound more in Rivers The Zaire which is the principal one of this Countrey is considerable for its rapidity and for the abundance of its Waters The Congolans know not how to make use of the Commodities of their Land and though they have Mines of Gold they have none but shells for Money Several amongst them have been converted to Christianity after the example of some of their Kings The Portugueses bring from thence Ivory and Slaves They have their establishment in the Royal City called San-Salvador and in that of St. Paul in the small Island of Loanda where they get fresh Water out of the holes they make in the sand They keep a Garrison in the Forts of Massagan and Cambambo in the Kingdom of Angola for the security of their Silver-Mines in which they work and here it is they assemble their
exact Discoveries of all the Eastern and Southern Coast of the Island The Isle of Bourbon called formerly Mascharenhe five and twenty Leagues in length and fourteen in breadth is in possession of the French It has a Vulcano that is to say a Mountain that spits and casts forth fire the rest of its Land is by much the best and finest Countrey in the World the Waters are very healthful and it has most of the Commodities that are in the Isle of Madagascar The Isle of Maltha MAltha about the midst of the mediterranean-Mediterranean-Sea was formerly call'd Melita by reason of its Honey 'T is attributed to Africk because nearer it than the firm Land of Europe and because the Maltheses have great conformity with the Africans in point of manners It s Land and its Stones have Vertues altogether singular if there be Serpents they have no venome Some appropriate to this Island the particulars of the Shipwrack of St. Paul and those of the little Dogs which others affirm to have been in the Isle of Melada in the Gulph of Venice The Isle of Maltha has often had the same Soveraigns with Sicily at present it is the abode of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem under a Prince whom they call the Great Master The Patron of the Order is St. John Baptist and nevertheless the Name of St. John was given it upon occasion of the place where that Order was first of all establish'd and by reason of a St. John Bishop of Alexandria celebrated for his great and bountiful Alms. The Emperour Charles the Fifth gave it to the Knights who had no setled abode since the loss of Rhodes and who before had resided at Jerusalem at Margat Acre and Limisso in the Isle of Cyprus The Order is compos'd of eight Tongues which are as many principal Nations Provence Auvergne France Italy Aragon England Germany and Castile To each of 'em belong some considerable Dignities Priories and Commanderies The three Tongues of France have full three hundred Commanderies and the five others together have not many more The Name of Knight was not in use in the beginning of the institution of the Order The Religious were then called Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem One of the Statutes of the Order bears That the Knights ought rather to lose their Lives than yield up the Places that are confided to their keeping The Island produces several good Fruits as it has little Corn and Wine to nourish seventy five or eighty thousand persons Sicily does commonly supply that want They make account there of fifteen thousand Men fit for service and they now keep there eight good Galleys It is but ten Leagues in length and five in breadth with several Harbours and Roads that are called Calles and Marsa It is the best fortified of the World as being the principal Rampart and Bulwark of Christendom and its Fortresses have above three hundred pieces of Canon By reason of its strength and the valour of its Knights they say Maltha fior del Mondo There are four Towns the City which is about the midst of the Island Valetta a new City the victorious Burg City which repulsed the Turks in the Year 1565 and St. Michael which is now called the Isle de la Sangle the three last are near one another and seem to make but one La Goza a small Island near that of Maltha affords good Hawks the Great Master styles himself the Prince of it They call those young Knights whom they mean to droll upon for their Bravading by the Title of Prince of Forfola which is a Rock near the Coast Of some other Islands of Africa MAdera eighteen Leagues in compass in the Atlantick and on the North of the Canaries belongs to the Crown of Portugal It enjoys a pleasant Air is not subject to excessive Heats but never feels any Cold. Seven or eight small Rivers contribute much to its temperature It is call'd the Queen of Islands by reason of its Beauty and the fertility of its Soil which produces excellent Wine Here grow also delicate Fruits and they make the best Sugar in the World which furnishes the means of preparing Marmalade Codinniack and other such like Preserves It has three Towns the principal is Funchal the Residence of the Governour and the Bishop 'T is at the foot of a Mountain which is full five Quarts of a League high with three Fortresses and an Harbour in form of a Crescent where Ships may come and lye at Anchor within Pistol-shot of the Town St. Thomas under the Equinoctial is rich in Sugar the Air bad for those Foreigners who go to dwell there they never grow bigger than they were at their first arrival there The Portuguese were the first who subdued it It s best Town is Pavoasan of about seven hundred Families with a Fortress in the Eastern part of the Island at present belonging to the Hollanders It has several Trees like to that of the Island of Fierro they have the same circumstance of distilling Water continually for the use of the Inhabitants Their Swines-flesh is more pleasant and more healthful than that of Fowl by reason that Creature is fed with Canes that produce Sugar The Prince's Island has had this Name since that its Revenue was set apart for the maintenance of the Prince of Portugal Annabon was so called having been first discovered on the first day of the Year The Portuguese have an Habitation there in its Northern part St. Helena of sixteen Leagues in compass is in the Ethiopick There is not an Island in the World farther distant from the Terra firma They call it the Sea's Inn because it has fresh Water in abundance and that those who come from the East-Indies are us'd to touch there to take it in It 's high and full of Mountains with a very clear Coast without Rocks where is even near the Rocks above ten fathom Water The English have found such great accommodation here that they have built a Fort in the Island Zocotora and Bebelmendel are towards the Red Sea this last in the Streight which receives its Name where the passage is most commodious on the side of Africa Zocotora near the Cap Guadarfu five and twenty Leagues in length and ten in breadth obeys a King that is an Arabian It has a good Road and Bays very commodious where Ships may ride safe at Anchor even near the Rocks Ships may Winter there more conveniently than at Mozambique or Mombaze the Air being healthful the Entrance of the Bar without danger and the Cattel in great plenty AsÃa THis part of the World which is called the Levant by reason of its scituation on the East of Europe and of Africa is the greatest of the three which compose our Continent It s Length from the West to the East is full two thousand five hundred French Leagues from the Western parts of Natolia to the most Eastern parts of China If we include herein
burnt by order of Alexander the Great at the end of a Feast It has still full ten thousand Houses a Proverb of the Countrey goes thus That if Schiras was Schiras that is to say what it was formerly Grand Cairo would pass but for its Suburbs The Ruins of this Persepolis are called Chilminar i. e. Forty Columns which seem to be the remains of the Palace of Cyrus the Great the most beautiful of all the East The Neighbours of those Ruins endeavour to destroy 'em entirely to free themselves from the importunities of strangers who go to see them upon that account What remains of 'em shews a great antiquity of habits for Personages and an extraordinary magnificence in the stones of the building Those who have seen them say that they surpass the Antiquities of Rome and the Wonders of Aegypt The abode of Schiras is so agreeable that Mahomet according to what the Persians say would not go thither for fear of being charm'd with the Beauty of the Ladies and that if he had tasted the delights of that Town he would have made it his request to God never to have died The Government of Schiras is the most considerable of all Persia it affords excellent Wines and that Mummy or Counter-poyson which serves for Medicament to all manner of Wounds Susa was the Court of Ahasucrus and some other Kings Alexander the Great married Statira there He gave ten thousand Talents for the acquitting the Debts of those who had a mind to return into Greece and receiv'd there thirty thousand young Men of Recruits for his Army This is also the place where the fair Esther obtain'd favour for the Jews and where Mordecai was put into the place of Haman who was hanged after that he would have caus'd Mordecai to have undergone his own Fate The Palace of Susa built by Darius is said to have been enrich'd by Memnon with the Spoils of the great Thebes in Aegypt and 't is famed that the stones were cemented with Gold After Persepolis it is reckoned amongst the magnificent Works of the Kings of Persia as well as the delicious Gardens of Cyrus the younger in Lydia Congue Bender Congo is a City upon the Gulph of Bassora much like that of Thoulon in Provence 'T is much augmented since the ruine of Ormus as well as Gombru It has a Demesne which the Persians and the Portugals have the Revenue of by halves Lar communicates its Name to a sort of silver Money that is coin'd there five of those Larins make but one Piaster the City has full four thousand Houses and a small Cittadel Some believe it the ancient Passagarde where the grand Cyrus having overcome Astiages transferred the Empire of the Medes to the Persians Calanus the Indian Philosopher did voluntarily suffer death there in the sight of all the Macedonian Army It has several very learn'd Inhabitants the Earthquakes which are frequent in these parts render it the less populous The Frontiers of Persia towards Turkey have a warlike People called Curdes whose Countrey had been the field of several Battels Alexander the great overcame Darius at Arbela and they would persuade us that there were four hundred thousand Persians killed and only three hundred Macedonians the Caliphs won there the Battel of Moraga which made them Masters of Persia Near Chuy Selim defeated Ismael Sophi who before had always been his Conquerour Tabris or Tauris drives an extraordinary Trade and the first of Persia it has Walls and Towers of cut stone of a vast heighth Ardebil is the staple of the Silks of the Countrey and the place of burial of several Kings of Persia amongst others of Cha-Sefi who has a magnificent Tomb there Bakuie gives sometimes its Name to the Caspian-Sea It has in its neighbourhood a source of Oyl which serves to burn throughout all Persia Kirman towards the Ocean yields Wools and very fine Steel whereof Arms are made that are in great vogue a Cymeter of that steel does easily cut a Helmet through without striking hard Moghostan is a Countrey which contains the Amadizes and the Gauls very warlike Nations who have perhaps furnish'd Matter to make the Fables of Amadis de Gaule Ormus has had the Title of a Kingdom the Soyl of this Island is subject to great heats and produces only Salt it has not a drop of fresh Water but what it borrows The Portuguese being Masters of it had caus'd a Fort to be made in the Isle of Kesem for the having this conveniency The excellent scituation of Ormus gave occasion formerly to this saying That if the World was a Ring Ormus was the precious Stone in it In the year 1622 the King Scha-Abbas took it by help of the English and after having caused the Fortress of it to be razed transferred the Commerce to Gombru which he caus'd to be called by his own Name Bender-Abassi The Portuguese lost by the taking of that Town to the value of seven or eight Millions Thus Gombru grew great from the ruins of Ormus The Castles which defend Gombru are fortified after the ancient manner The Road is commodious riding safe at anchor in five or six fathom Water All Nations who trade upon the indian-Indian-Seas except the Portuguese carry their Commodities thither and bring Velvet Taffaties raw Silks and other Commodities from Persia The English have half of the Customs and the right of exporting some Horses which the Persians have granted them in acknowledgment of the Men and Ships wherewith they assisted them for the taking of Ormus Bahrem upon the Coast of Arabia and of the Dependances of Persia is an Island known for the Springs of fresh Water which it has at the bottom of the Sea and for the Pearls that are fished there which are the best the greatest and the roundest of all the East Giask upon that Coast is a place where is droven the greatest Commerce for Silk Candahar upon the Confines of the Mogul is a Conquest of the late Kings of Persia Tartary THis is the vastest Region of our Continent Equals in bigness all Europe and possesses all the Northern part of Asia The Name of Tartary which has succeeded that of Scythia is come from the River Tatar which the Chineses name Tata because they do not make use of the Letter R. The Tartars are a warlike People the best Archers of the World but cruel and barbarous they make War almost ever to the disadvantage of those they visit and to the confusion of those who attack them Cyrus at the passage of the Araxes Darius Histaspes in his march against the Scythians of Europe Alexander the great when he was beyond the Oxus have been constrain'd to yield to the Tartars In our time the great Kingdom of China has been forc'd to own them its Masters Their Cavalry does most execution in their Battels on the contrary to what is practised in Europe it is it which first attacks places The most peaceable of the Tartars inhabit Tents of
Arabians of the Neighbourhood call Chat or Xat as they do the other Great Rivers is two Miles in breadth and about six Fathom deep It is something like the Rhosne in France less rapid and more abounding in Fish its Water tho' somewhat brackish is nevertheless mighty good to drink It forms several Branches because that the Land is low there and sandy In the Way they take to China through the Territories of the Levant they are to be at Aleppo towards the end of the Month August for to take there in September the conveniency of the Caravans which bring them in November to Bagdad From Bagdad they are ten days in going to Bassora twelve in going from Bassora to Gombru where they almost daily meet with conveniencies in Barks called Tranquins In January and February the Muesson stands right for Surat where they commonly Embark upon English Ships or Moorish Vessels which go that Voyage in five and twenty days This way is look'd upon as much the same with that from Marseilles to Alexandretta At Surat they take their Way by Land spend therein forty small days Journies as far as Mazulpatan a City upon the Gulph of Bengala and this about the Month of March From Mazulpatan they go to Tanazarin by Sea from thence to Sian from Sian to China in all Seasons This way did the three French Bishops go who were Missionaries into China They make mention of another way to China thro' Candahar Agra Pathna Niepal Pitan c. this way is gone by Land no Inn to be found few Villages great Desarts hideous Mountains where they make use of great Goats to carry their things There are also some of those Mountains so steep that to pass them they are forc'd to wrap themselves up in Carpets and put themselves into the hands of certain People who lay you upon their Shoulders to carry you through those difficult places Those who dwell upon the Shore of the Black-Sea remount the Faze get to Arais the Caspian-Sea Albiamu from whence they go by Land to the Indus or the Ganges those Rivers carry them to the Ocean Nicanor King of Syria had projected to joyn Pontus Euxinus and the Caspian-Sea The Genoueses have a long while held the City of Caffa for the maintaining this Commerce There is for those of those parts another way by Trebrizond Erzerum and the Euphrates which lead to Bi r from thence as we have said into the Sea of the Indies The Moscovites have the conveniency of the Volga the Caspian-Sea Albiamu and the Indies For to return into the City of Mosco they go up the Volga Ocea and the Mosca These are the common ways that are taken for the going to the East-Indies and which now render that Country as famous as did formerly the Military Expeditions of Bacchus and Alexander the Great Now follow those which have since with great care been sought out for the same design The Romans went to Alexandria of Egypt ascended the Nile as far as Coptos now Cana and by Land went to Berenice which is Cossir where they had the conveniency of the Red-Sea and the Ocean Under the Soldans of Egypt Sues and Arden were the Magazines of the Indian Merchandizes which were Transported to Cairo by means of the Nile then they had in Europe fresher Spices than they have now the Venetians and Genoueses brought them thither by the Mediterranean-Sea France TThe Kingdom of France is at this day one of the most flourishing States of Christendom in the midst of the Northern temperate Zone where its People breath a very favourable Air. The French call it the Eye and Pearl of the World and say that it is to Europe what Europe is to other parts of the Earth it is Rich Fertile very Populous there being reckoned above four thousand good Towns in it It 's above two hundred and twenty Leagues in length and full as many in breadth The French-men value most of their Towns to be worth Provinces their Provinces to be worth Kingdoms Their Corn Wine Salt and Linnen do very much enrich the Inhabitants France was formerly known under the name of Gaul which was carried into several places of Europe nay into Asia when the Gauls made War in that part of the World The extent of Gaul hath been divers The French may well boast that this King's Conquests have not been bounded neither by the Rhine nor the Ocean nor the Pyrenees nor the Alps. The Crown is Hereditary and according to the Salick Law the Female never succeeds upon the Throne The French King's eldest Son is called Dauphin This Monarchy is said to have subsisted since the Year 420. The three Royal Races of Merovers Charlemaigne Hugh Capet have furnished it with sixty five Kings Amongst other Titles its Princes take upon them that of Most Christian and Eldest Son of the Church They pretend to Precedence before all other Kings upon a pretext of being the most Noble and the Most Ancient of Europe Their Arms are Azure with three Flower-de-luces d' Or since Charles the Ninth The Kingdom is composed of three Orders or States the Clergy the Nobility and the third Estate There are reckoned seventeen Arch-Bishopricks a hundred and six Bishopricks besides the Arch-Bishopricks of Cambray Besanzon the Bishopricks of Arras St. Omar Tournay Ipres Perpignan sixteen Abbayes Heads of the Order or of the Congregation about fifty thousand Curates besides other Ecclesiastical Dignities several General and Particular Governments Thirty two great Provinces Twelve ancient Peerages several of new Creation A great number of Principalities Dutchies Marquisates Counties Baronies and other Lordships Eleven Parliaments besides those of the Conquer'd Countrys eight Chambers of Accounts twenty two Generalities There are four Principal Rivers the Seine whose Water is esteem'd the strongest in the World and more healthful to drink than that of Fountains the Loire the King of the French Rivers la Garonne the most Navigable the Rhosne the most Rapid Several Divisions are made of France which regard the Church the Nobility the Justice and the Finances It is sufficient to say here that the States-General of the Kingdom were held in the Year 1614. that then all the Provinces appear'd under twelve Great Governments four of those Governments are towards the North the Seine and the Rivers which fall into it Picardy Normandy the Isle of France and Champaign Four towards the midst near the Loire Brittany Orleanois Burgundy and Lyonnois The four others towards the South and near the Garonne or the Rosne Guyenne Languedoc Dauphine Provence With Orleanois they then conjoyned le Mains le Perche la Beauce on this side the River of Loire Nivernois Tourain Anjoy above the said River beyond it Poictou Angoumois Berri Burgundy had la Bresse as it has still at present Under Lyonnois were Lyonnois Avergne Bourbonnois la Marche In Guyenne was Bearne Gascogne true Guyenne beyond the Garonne and on this side Saintogne Perigort Limosin Querci Rouergue Then as well
right Name was Columbus or Colonus Nor whether the Quadripartite Division of the World is rational or any Equality to be found in it The Reader is suppos'd to have some acquaintance with these things and to know what is the meaning of the Meridian Aequator Zodiack Tropicks Polar Circles and Zones or at least without these Knowledges may reap benefit enough from this Book But tho' this Treatise doth not pretend to shew how the Latitude in the Abstract may be found either in the day-time by the Sun or in the night by the Stars though it doth not brag of having invented any new more certain and ready way than hitherto has been used for the finding out the Longitudes of Places yet in the Descriptions of the most considerable Regions the Longitudes and Latitudes of them are not past over but are very carefully set down There is one Exception more which I am to take notice of That whereas our Author having divided the World into Upper and Nether Hemisphere has considered the first with Relation to France which will not do exactly in England yet since that England for the most part is under the same Meridian with France I have made bold to venture all Countries so considered in English without any Change or Alteration because there will be no great Squares broken For the like reason and by a Pardonable figure of Speech I call Europe Asia and Africa our Continent though we live in an Island which yet as some have said and proved how truly I shall not here question to have been once joyned to the Terra Firma I said I had but one Exception more to wipe off for I am sorry I have not forgot that nice one which some Criticks may make that I say of different Places such a thing in such a Place is the best in the World But besides that some things may be best in different Prospects and Relations these sort of Expressions follow the French and are vulgarly us'd in our own Tongue and are of a very ancient Date as appearing frequently in the Lively Oracles of God when both Hezekiah and Joshua are commended To have had none like unto them neither before nor after them THE PRESENT STATE Of the Four Parts of the WORLD The Terrestrial World WE mean by the Terrestrial World this round Mass which Comprehends the Earth and Water The Earth whose Description is here intended consists principally of two great Continents and some Lands towards both Poles The first of these Continents has three great Parts to wit Africa Asia and Europe Africa lyes toward the South and the West Asia on the East Europe North-West These three great Parts are in our Hemisphere which we call Superiour and Oriental with regard had to that of the Americans which seems to be below us and is West of us America possesses the other great Continent in the Inferiour and Occidental Hemisphere The Lands near the Poles are of two sorts Artick and Antartick neither have they long been nor is there much of them discover'd than what 's along the Sea-Coasts The Antartick Lands are separated from the other great Continents by the Ocean the Turn that Merchants and Travellers take in circling the World from East to West thro' the South Seas having left no subject of doubt We cannot with certainty say the same thing of the Artick Coasts tho' some affirm the Northern Sea communicates with the Oriental towards the North-East of our Continent and with the South-Sea toward the North-West of Northern America The Artick Region THese Parts have been call'd by the name of Artick because they are near the Artick Pole they are called Northern because of the North in which they are scituated * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boreales from a Greek Word which signifies the North-Wind they consist of Islands and Peninsula's where there are Bears Foxes and Rain-Deer in abundance the Inhabitants living commonly on Hunting or Fishing The Seas of these Regions make a part of the the great Ocean which is here known under the name of Northern and Frozen The Ice there lasts a long time because to these Parts the Sun during several Months discovers not himself and when he appears he doth not heat or thaw it The Bays and Streights of Hudson Davis and Forbisher are in the Inferiour Hemisphere that of Weygats otherwise of Nassaw in the Superiour Hemisphere on the North of our Continent Cabot Willoughby Forbisher Davis Hudson and other English men have sought a Passage to the East-Indies through the three former Streights Barenson Heemskirk and other Hollanders have done the same thro' that of Weygats but all to no purpose by reason of the Ice which is almost continually there and stops Ships in their Navigation and this it is that has hindred 'em from going beyond the 80. Degree of North Latitude Three Courses have been commonly steer'd in these Northern Seas to Archangelo into Moscovy for Furs to Spigelberg and Greenland for Whales and into Norway for Herrings and Timber The Artick Lands are Estotiland Greenland Island Spigelberg Nova Zembla to which may be added the Land of Jesso tho' it be in the Northern temperate Zone Estotiland is towards the North of the great Continent of America Greenland is of a vast extent to the North of Estotiland Christian the Fourth King of Denmark call'd it His Philosophers Stone because the Ships he sent thither could hardly find it out His Successours keep a Governour there at Bearford The Greenlanders Cloaths are made of the Skins of Wild Beasts and their Wastcoats of Birds Skins garnish'd with their Feathers the Flour of the Bread they eat is made of Fishes Bones they drink Sea Water without receiving any inconvenience by so doing Iseland ISeland the Thule of the Ancients one of the greatest Islands in the World lyes towards the North in both Hemispheres where it is part of the Dominions of the Crown of Denmark This advantage it has of not having so many Rocks upon its Coasts as have the other Northern Countreys There are two Principal Villages Hola and Schalholt As for Cities it has none the Houses in other places are commonly of Wood cover'd with the Bark of Trees and with Turfs The Inhabitants are of the Confession of Augsbourg have no Physicians feed their Oxen and their Horses with dry Fish when they are in want of Hay They receive often great floats of Ice which are loosen'd from the Northern Shores whereon is Wood and several sorts of Creatures which they accommodate themselves withal Therefore they inhabit more willingly the Sea-Coasts than the inner part of the Island There are several Mountains whereof Mount Hecla is the most considerable It casts forth Fire and is not to be approached within six Miles distance Danish Hambourger and Lubecker Ships frequently refort thither with diverse Commodities of Europe which the Islanders stand in need of The Danes fetch from thence dryed Fish Whale-Oyl Butter Suet Sulphur Ox-Hides
Crescent very capacious deep and secure for Ships being big enough to secure five hundred Vessels at once from all storms The Town is long containing several Streets and adorned with abundance of well built Houses being the place of Residence of the Governour or His Deputy where the Courts of Judicature are kept It hath two strong Forts opposite to each other for its defence and the security of the Ships but the Town is ill seated the Ground being lower than the Banks of the Sea Little Bristol formerly Sprights Bay scituate about four Leagues from St. Michael a commodious Road for Ships well frequented and defended by two strong Forts St. James formerly called the Hall seated not far from Bristol here is a good Road for Ships also and is a place of considerable Trade Also Charles-Town about two Leagues from St. Michael where are kept weekly Markets and Monthly Courts for the Precincts there are also several good Bays belonging to this Island as Fowle-Bay Austins-Bay Maxwel-Bay c. and here are divers Caves some of which are very deep and large enough to hold five hundred men and those Caves are often the Sanctuaries of such Negro slaves as run away and it is supposed that these Caves were the Habitations of the Natives The Riches and Commodities of the Island consist in Indico Cotton and Ginger in great abundance Logwood Fustick Lignumvitae and Sugars whereof there is so great a quantity that they freight above a hundred Ships with it every year the Inhabitants truck it for other Commodities at the rate of thirty shillings the Quintal this Isle is so very fertil that it bears Crops all the year long The Trees Fields and Woods being alwayes in their Summer Livery They have here in their Seas several sorts of Fish as Cavalos Cong-fish Green Turtles c. which of all other are the most delicious with several other sorts appropriate to this and the rest of the Caribby Isles Here are also almost all sorts of English Herbs and Roots and several sorts of Fowls and great variety of small Birds but no Beasts or Cattel but what are tame and imported as Camels Horses Asnegroes Oxen Bulls Cows Sheep Goats and Hoggs in great plenty here are also Snakes a yard and a half long Scorpions as big as Rats and Lizzards but neither of them hurtful to Man or Beast Musketoes Cock-Roches and Merry-Wings which are very troublesom in the night in stinging and here are Land Crabs in great abundance which are found good to eat and a small Flie called Cayo whose Wings in the night as it flies affords a mighty lustre and the Indians do commonly catch them and tye them to their hands and feet and make use of them instead of Comets which are forbidden them here are also abundance of Fruits as Dates Oranges Pomgranates Citrons Lemmons Icacos Cherries Raisins Indian Figgs Pine-Apples the rarest Fruit in the Indies with several other sorts and for Trees here are great varieties fit for several uses as the Locusts Mastick Red-wood the Prickle Yellow-wood Ironwood-tree Cedar Cassia Fistula Colloquintida Tamorins Cassary Poyson-tree Physick-Nut Calabash the shells of which Tree serveth them for Troughs to carry liquid things in and the Roneon of whose Bark is made Ropes and also Flax Lignum-vitae with several others The other Antilles Islands which are Inhabited have Colonies either of English French or Hollanders There are some other Isles along the Coasts of Terra-firma which are called Sotavento because that in respect of the others which are on the North-East and which go under the Name of Barlovento they are below the Wind which blows commonly from the East to the West Margareta and Cubagua had formerly the Fishing of Pearls which prov'd very profitable to the Spaniads having used all imaginable stratagems to Fish there for those Oysters wherein they found the Pearls Tobago which has given its name to Tobacco or else has received its own from that weed has a Colony of Zelanders Tobacco was formerly called the Nicotion Herb by reason one Doctor Nicot was the first who introduced the use of it into Europe Those who call'd it the Queens Herb gave it that name as having been first presented to a Queen of Spain Castella Aurea CAstella Aurea so called from the Gold which the Spaniards found there in so great abundance that in the Year 1514. several of their Country-men would needs go thither in the Opinion that it was there to be Fisht for with Nets Its Inhabitants eat Crocodiles Serpents whose flesh they find very delicate Food The Spaniards have there several Provinces Terra-firma Cartagena Sancka Martha the Rio de la Hacha Venezuela New Andalousia Popayen and the New Kingdom of Granada The Terra-firma lies near the Isthmus which joyns the two America's It is different from the great Terra-firma which makes part of the Northern America upon the North Sea It s called so as being the first Land of the Continent of America that was discovered after the Islands It s City of Panama upon the South Sea is the Store-House or Magazine of the Gold and Silver of Peru which is afterwards carried by Land to Porto Belo which is sixteen or eighteen Leagues from thence upon the North Sea which is much augmented from the ruins of the City of Nombre de Dios which the ill Air had caused the Spaniards to abandon At Porto-Belo this Gold and Silver is put on board of Ships which carry it into Spain In the way from Panama to Porto-Belo they have the conveniency of the River of Chagre if they please to make use of it and then departing from Panama you have but five Leagues by Land after which they Embark upon that River By the same way do they bring their Merchandizes out of Spain into Peru. In the Year 1668. the English plundered Porto Belo exacted very considerable summs from the Spaniards before they would restore it them The Buccaniers and other Privateers have done the like Cartagena affords Balm Rosin and several sorts of Gums Its Inhabitants had formerly peculiar places whither they carried the Bodies of their Dead with their Gold their Necklaces and other most precious Ornaments The Spaniards to take advantage of this have shown those Relicks the light for the second time the City which is in a Peninsula has had its Name from the resemblance of its Harbour with that of Cartagena in Europe 'T is one of the best of America the Rendezvouze of the Fleets which come from Cadiz for the Terra-firma Sancta Martha produces almost all the sorts of Fruits that are had in Spain and there you see the beginning of those High Mountains which under the Names of Andes advance towards the South The Rio de la Hacha no longer affords the fishing of Pearls in its Neighbourhood Venezuela had this Name from a Town that was found built there upon Piles of Wood in the midst of Waters When this Countrey was Discovered the Germans to
give away what belonged not to him and that he the said Atabalippa had right to prefer the Divinity of the Sun before that of a Crucified Man He likewise threw down upon the ground a Breviary that was offered him because it spoke not a word and they had made him hope it would tell him fine things This unhappy Prince having been defeated and taken by the Spaniards at Camamalca offered as much Gold as a Room seven and twenty foot in length could hold seventeen in breadth and proportionably high to the half of its height Notwithstanding which he was put to death as a Conspiratour and a Tyrant It is not to be wondred at the abundance of the Incas Gold and Silver since they had in Gold all the Animals and Plants they had the knowledge of and had Temples where they plac'd a number of Statues of pure Gold and an infinite company of Precious Stones those rich Fabricks have been demolish'd by the Spaniards in hopes of finding Gold in the Materials and joyning of the stones which were cemented with it tho' they were of a prodigious bigness The Provinces of Peru are Quito los Reyes los Charcas la Sierra Quito has a great deal of Gold Cotton and Medicinal Herbs and a Town of the same Name the ancient abode of the Inca Guainacapa The Province de los Reyes has the finest Cities of the Countrey Lima and Cusco Lima is new and one of the best of all America It s great Trade as well as the Residence of the Vice-Roy and of the Arch-bishop have rendred it the Capital of Peru. Callao a Sea-port Town two Leagues from Lima is capable of receiving and securing several Ships Cusco built four hundred years before the Spaniards took it is very Populous because the Kings kept commonly their Court there and oblig'd the Caciques or Lords of the Countrey to build each a House there and make it the place of their Childrens Residence There is in the Province de los Charcas the Cities de la Plata and Petosi this last one of the best inhabited in all the West Indies It has all the Conveniencies and Delights of Life and for that reason several persons go to dwell there The Silver Mines of its Mountain are really the richest in the World they are in no wise subject to the Inconveniencies of the Waters which commonly incommode other Mines The King of Spain drew thence formerly every year above a Million of Ducuts for his Fifth but since they are much diminished The Spaniards are not sparing of proclaiming from time to time the discovery of other Mines in their Provinces of America Chili CHili derives its Name from that of one of its Valleys or from the Cold which people suffer in its Mountains that environ it towards the North and East The difficulty of passing through these Mountains obliges the Spaniards of Peru when they go thither to take their way by Sea They have had it in possession since the year 1554. Some parts of this Countrey are so fruitful and pleasant chiefly to'wards the Sea-Coasts that there are none of all America that better resemble those of Europe which we esteem the finest They have Ostridges Copper and the purest Gold in the World there are so many Mines of that precious Metal that Chili is compared to a golden Sheet which has made the King of Spain resolve to keep it tho' what he holds there costs him more to defend than the rest he has in America The Cold is excessive Almagre lost more Men and Horses by the Cold than by the Sword At the four Months end after he had invaded this Countrey they found some of his Troopers dead in the same posture and as fresh as if they had but just mounted on Horse-back The Rivers only run in the day time and remain frozen during the night This does not hinder but there are a number of Vulcano's or Mountains belching forth fire The Spaniards have a Governour who depends on the Vice-Roy of Peru. The Arauques made such a Resistance against them that in the year 1641 they were constrain'd to make Peace with them There is not in all America a more Warlike and Valiant People than these Arauques they know how to make Swords Muskets and Cuirasses they have the dexterity to draw up in Battel to Attack fight in a Retreat to Encamp advantagiously to build Forts and they put in practice most of the stratagems of War which they have learnt in having seen them but once used They have often surpriz'd and ruin'd Cities massacred Garrisons they have also demolished the Fortresses of Arauco Turen Tucapel An Arauque makes no difficulty to attack a Spaniard San Jago the Conception and the Imperial are the principal Cities of Chili San Jago has its Sea-Port called Valparaiso the Conception is the abode of the Governour by reason of the Neighbourhood of the Arauques La Mocha at five Leagues distance from the Terra firma is a small Isle where the Ships go often to take in fresh Water and where several Inhabitants of Chili have taken refuge to exempt themselves from the rigour of the Spanish Yoke Magellanica MAgellanica is at the point of Southern America near the Streights of Magellan 'T is sometimes called Chica and the Country of the Patagons 'T is is a Land very poor and subject to cold by reason of its high Mountains whereon Snow is almost ever lying The Natives dwell in Dens where they adore the Devil for fear he should do them some mischief The English Spaniards and Hollanders have given very different Names to the places to which they have resorted The Spaniards in the time of their King Philip the Second built Ciudad del Rey Filippe and some other Fortresses at the Eastern entrance of the Streight of Magellan with design to hinder their Enemies from passing into the South-Sea But the Channel was found too large for the compassing such an Enterprize and the want of Victuals caus'd that Colony to perish there So that Ciudad was called Puerto del fame The Haven of St. Julian where Magellan wintered and punished his Mutineers and the wish'd-for Haven are upon the Eastern Coast Here is Sweet Water wherewith most Ships have provided themselves as those of Magellan Drake Candish Olivier de Nort le Maire Schouten and others that have touch'd there The Spanish Relations affirm there are Men called Patagons ten foot high that will thrust Arrows of two foot and a half long down to the bottom of their stomach and drew 'em out again without receiving any harm that eat at one Meal a great Basket full of Bisket and drink as much Wine as a Horse can drink Water that one alone can carry a Tun of Wine that three or four of 'em can launch a Ship into the Sea that they run as swift as Staggs and lastly that fifty Spaniards can hardly bind one of these Patà gons The English who have since landed in Magellanica
Fernambuca is esteemed a Terrestrial Paradice by reason of the Beauty of its Territory Bahia de todos os Santos to the City of San-Salvador at present an Archbishops See and the Residence of the Governour It was taken in the Year 1624 by the Hollanders who got such a Booty there that each Souldier had for his share above fifteen thousand Crowns This good fortune occasion'd their Retreat and their Retreat gave occasion to the Spaniards and Portugueses to retake it The Capitania of Rio-Janeiro which the Savages call Ganabara has a great resort of Ships by means of a Navigable River or rather of an Arm of the Sea which advances full twelve Leagues within the Land and is seven or eight in Breadth In the Year 1658 a Mine of Silver was found in the Capitania The City of Santos can receive Ships of two hundred Tun by means of its River As concerning the inward part of Brasile it is not much known but what is known take as followeth The Inhabitants there go naked for the most part and have the dexterity of passing great Rivers by the help of a Panyer and a Rope Three Letters of our Alphabet are of no use amongst them F L R Some say it s because they have neither Faith nor Law nor Ruler The Principal nations amongst them are the Toupinambous the Morguices the Tapuyes and others who differ in Manners and in Language and commonly are distinguish'd by divers Head-Gears and Forms of Hair they wear Their number was much greater before the coming of the Portuguese among 'em several Toupinambous to preserve their freedom have traversed great Desarts and are gone to dwell near the River Maranhaon The Tapuyes are more hard to be Civiliz'd than the Brasilians who inhabit Aldea's These Aldea's are Villages which have but five or six Houses but very long and each capable of containing five or six hundred Persons Most of the Inhabitants of Brasile have made a brave Defence notwithstanding the Wars they make among themselves they have hindred the Europeans from making any progress in the Inlands of their Countrey and have often ruined the Towns and Sugar-Engines which the Christians had made along the Coast Africa THat which the Romans call'd Africa was known among the Greeks under the Name of Libya Thus these two Nations styled the Provinces that were opposite to them towards the South on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea and these Names were afterwards communicated to the rest of Africa The Writers of Holy Matters call it the Country of Cham because that in the Division made by the Children of Noah it fell to Cham's share Africa is a great Peninsula which represents in some manner the Figure either of a Heart Pyramid or Triangle Those who compare it to a Bow say that the Cape of Sierra-Leona and that of Good Hope are the two ends of it that the Isle of St. Thomas in the Ethiopick Sea is the Middle of the string where they put the Arrow whose Heel they place at the Isthmus of Sues in Egypt This part of the World advances thirty five Degrees beyond the Equator and as many on this side the same Line and yet the Inhabitants of the Southern parts are much blacker and less Politick than those of the Northern It s length is from West to the East from Cape Verd to that of Guardafuy which are above two thousand Leagues distant from one another Eighteen hundred are reckon'd from Cape Boa towards the midst of the Coast of Barbary as far as the Cape of Good Hope The Portuguese were the first who discovered the African Coasts upon the Ocean Some say it was first sail'd round under the Ptolemeys others that Solomon sent Fleets to Ophir which having been fitted out in the Red Sea return'd to Joppa in the Holy Land by the Mediterranean Sea Three famous Seas serve for its Bounds as the main Ocean the Mediterranean and the Red Sea The Ocean communicates it self to the Mediterranean Sea by the Streights of Gibraltar and to the Red Sea by that of Babel-Mandel Several Opinions walk about touching the rise of the Name of the Red Sea the Vulgar believe this Sea to be so call'd by reason of its red sand some assert that the reflection of the Mountains which seem reddish burnt and glowing communicates that Colour to it Others attribute it to the rain-Rain-Waters and to those of a Fountain which run into that Sea from the Coasts of Arabia Probably this Name of Red and that of Rubrum which the Latins have given the Gulph of Arabia came from that of Erithrean which is Greek and was peeuliar to that Gulph which was known to us sooner than the other parts of the Erithrean Sea The Red Sea is very long and narrow full of Rocks and divided into three Channels according to its length The middle one called the Long Sea is from twenty five to fifty Fathoms deep Navigable by night and day the two others along the Shoars are so full of Rocks small Islands and Woods that they are only to be sail'd in the day time nor that neither without having Pilots which are taken at Babel-Mandel or Zeilan This Sea receives no considerable Rivers There is green and red Corral and they fish and take some Pearls near the Island Dalaca The ebbing and flowing is so great that some Naturalists have affirmed that the Children of Israel past it dry-foot during the Ebb and that the Egyptians having not well nicked their time were overtaken and lost by the return of the Tide But the Holy Scripture tells us that the Sea divided it self for the facilitating the passage to the Israelites and the Arabians still show the place of their passage between Azirut and El-Tor The greatest Rivers of Africa are the Nile and the Niger The Nile according to the newest Relations has its Sourse in Abyssinia at twelve Degrees of Northern Latitude and runs a Course of full five hundred Leagues after having pass'd thro' the Lake Bar-Dambea Its Cataracts or Water-falls are towards its Source and in the Confines of Aethiopia and Egypt its Mouths make their influx into the Mediterranean Sea out of Egypt where the Ancients have left seven and the Neotericks four Tho' indeed there are but two of them now unless there 's an Inundation Its Waters enrich and fatten the Land and nourish Egypt by their regular Overflowing It s ufual height and encrease is to sixteen Cubits more or less proves inconvenient It is to be perceived by the retreat of the Cattel by the marks which are in the Pits and by the heaviness of the Rivers Mud which they expose in the night out o' doors to receive moisture or Dew which precedes and foreshews this Overflowing The cause of it has been diversly alledged some have said this River communicates its self with the Ocean by the Lake and River of Zaire and that the storms of the Sea cause its Waters to swell Others affirm that the sand
which gathers towards its Mouths stops them and that the Northerly Winds drove them up Several Moderns believe that these Waters encrease from the thawed Snow and from the Rains which fall regularly and abundantly in Ethiopia It has lately been found out that the Nitre wherewith the Nile abounds so much is the cause of all these wonderful effects and that being heated by the Sun it mingles it self with the Water renders it troubled swells it and makes it pass over its Banks insomuch that the Mud which the Nile conveyes does not come from elsewhere nor does it make its Banks the higher The Niger keeps its ancient Name which it received from the people whose Countrey it Waters It sometimes goes under the Earth and before it empties it self into the Atlantick Sea it forms three principal Branches the Senega Gambia and Rio Grande It fertilizes all the places it passes through and an abundance of Grains of Gold are found in its Sand. The Zaire is considerable for the rapidity and plenty of its Waters the Zambre forms three Branches Cuama Spiritu-Santo and Rio-de los Infantes The Ghir often loses it self in the Sand and almost as often gets out thence again The three greatest Lakes are Zaire Zembre and Zaflan all three in Ethiopia Amongst the Mountains of Africa none are more renown'd than Atlas and those of the Moon The Poets have feign'd that Heaven was supported by Atlas by reason of its excessive height or else upon the account of a King of Mauritania called Atlas who was one of the first that studied Astrology Antiquity thought this Mountain to be the boundary of the World In respect of its scituation the Romans have divided all Africa into Citerior and Vlterior and those of the Countrey divide it into Interior and Exterior Strabo and Mela separate Africa from Asia by the Nile some Arabian Geographers shut it up between the Mediterranean the Ocean and the Rivers Zaire and Nile In matter of division it seems more proper to follow the Seas than Rivers The Isthmus of Sues which hinders Africa from being an Isle is of about nine Leagues between the Red Sea and the nearest Channel of the Nile for from one Sea to the other there is above twenty five Leagues or three days journey by Camels They say that one of the Ptolemeyes Queen Cleopatra some Sultans and other Soveraign Princes of Egypt have endeavour'd to no purpose to pierce or cut the Neck of this Isthmus and that they have been discouraged from their undertaking by the vastness of the Work and by the damage the Waters of the Red Sea might do being found higher than those of the Mediterranean and so might have corrupted by their bitterness that of the Nile the only Water that 's drunk in Egypt Ptolomey intended a Memorable Work in making Africa an Island Cleopatra's design was to make her Ships pass into the Red Sea that she might have escap'd falling into Augustus's hands The Sultan's meant to facilitate the Commerce of the Europeans through their Dominions towards the constant Levy of a vast Tribute The Africans exact great Services from their Elephants their Camels and their huge Apes Dromedaries they call a sort of Camels smaller and swifter than the others they have wild Asses Unicorns Barbes Cameleons Marmousets and Parrots They get fine Feathers from their Ostriches and their Civit Cats are much esteem'd for their scents There is no living-Creature in the World that becomes so great from so small a beginning as does the Crocodile it is form'd of an Egg and still grows as long as it lives insomuch that there are those that attain to twenty five or thirty Cubits The scituation of Africa under the Torrid Zone and the abundance of its burning Sand occasions insupportable heats principally towards the Tropicks and make it the least fertile and worst peopled part of our Continent It s greatest Rivers have Crocodiles Its Mountains and Desarts are full of Lions and other wild Beasts The lack and scarcity of Water produces several Monsters Creatures of several kinds coupling commonly at the Watering-places where they meet The Anthropophagi or Man-eaters that have been found in those parts and the Slaves that are daily transported from thence do also very much contribute to the rendring it desart The Africans to consider them in general are no great Soldiers and their Armies are more numerous than good Their Combats are perform'd on Horse-back with the Lance and confusedly The Arabians who have taken up their Habitations in Africk trust in their dexterity and Address their being harden'd and enur'd to labour and their long habit of fighting renders 'em formidable to their Neighbours Some say there 's no Nation but has some good and evil but that the Africans have nothing that 's good As concerning Religion there are Idolaters Cafres without Law Mahometans Jews and Christians of several sorts The Portuguese have some Bishopricks in those places where they have made any Establishments We may consider Africa under a treble respect the Countrey of the Whites that of the Blacks and Ethiopians the Islands make a fourth The Countrey of the Whites comprehends Barbary Egypt Biledulgerid and the Zaara or Desart The Countrey of the Blacks has three parts Nigritia Nubia and Guiney Ethiopia is of two sorts Higher and Lower Ethiopia Superior is much of Abyssinia in the inward part of the Countrey Ethiopia Inferior contains Congo Cafreria with Monomotapa and Zanguebar The Islands attributed to Africk are either in the Ocean as the Tercera's Madera the Canaries the Isles of Cap-verd Madagascar and others or in the Mediterranean Sea as Maltha We are not acquainted with those of the Red Sea The Island Gueguere is within the Arms of the Nile Egypt and almost all Barbary belongs to the Turk with exception to the Kingdoms of Morocco and Fez which have a Prince of their own and to the Cities of the Corsairs and some Towns of the Christians upon the Coast Abissinia Nubia Congo and Mono-motapa have their peculiar Kings There are Arabian Cheiques in Numidia and in Libya The rest of Africa belongs to several little petty Soveraigns some of whose Dominions extend no farther than the compass of one Town or Burrough But to speak the truth we have but little knowledge of the inward part of the Countrey The Monarchs of England Spain and Portugal and the States-General of the Vnited Provinces have some Places upon the Coast which furnish 'em with the means of carrying on the Commerce with the inland parts of the Countrey The French have some places of Traffick in Barbary in Guiney and in the Isle of Madagascar which they have called the Isle Dauphine The Great Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem is Prince of the Isle of Maltha Barbary THe Ancients knew in Africa under the Name of Barbary what we call Zanguebar whereas the Modern Barbary is all along the Mediterranean-Sea where it comprehends the best Countrey of all Africk
of the Turks upon the Red Sea The Governour keeps two small Galleys and some Ships to make himself considerable upon the Red Sea The Merchandizes of the East-Indies bound for Europe came thither formerly for which reason the Turks have not without regret seen the Establishment of the Europeans in those Indies But they still bring Spices to truck with the Inhabitants for Corral Cossir formerly Berenice was the Resort of the Commodities which the Romans fetch'd from the East-Indies and which from thence were carried to the nearest part of the Nile in the City of Coptos now called Cana. Buge in the most Southern part of Egypt is a Kingdom tributary to the Abyssins according to the Relations of 1657. Biledulgerid and Zaara BIledulgerid is the Numidia of the Moderns and more Southern than the ancient Numidia The Name of Biledulgerid speaks a Land fruitful in Dates A Fruit which the Numidians gather tho' they be short-sighted by reason of the Sand which the Wind brings in their Eyes This part of Africk extends from the West to the East almost as far as Barbary Some Kings there are of the Mahometan Religion whose power is but very inconsiderable The Arabians under their Cheiques or Chiefs are strong in Cavalry and capable of great Enterprizes if they had not War amongst themselves They sometimes assist the Turks and at other times the Kings of Morocco and Fez the changes of Soveraigns and the diversity of Tongues have often caus'd the Names of Cities to be changed The Arabians in these parts hunt after Ostriches because they make great advantages of 'em they sell their Feathers eat their Flesh and order their Skins for their Baggage they make their Witchcrafts and Incantations of the Heart their Medicaments of the Fat and their Ear-Pendants of the Horn or Beak Suz the best peopled Countrey of all Biledulgerid has the City of Tarudante where the greatest Traffick is of Sugar and where began the Dominion of the Cherifs The River of Suz renders the Land fruitful by its inundation The Sea-Towns are Cartguessem of the Conquests of Portugal and Messa with a Temple near which the Inhabitants believe that Jonas was cast up out of the Whales belly They say that all the Whales approaching it die immediately and that from this Temple must come forth a great Pontif. The Cape of Guer which is not very far distant from it has near it the City of the Holy Cross formerly called Agades and Darrumia It was built by the Portugals but the Moors have it in possession and the Christians have nothing more remaining there than some Magazines in its neighbourhood Tesset is a Countrey of small product and thinly inhabited Daru has some fortified Places and amongst others that of Tigumedet the native Countrey of the Cherifs who having first of all obtain'd from the King of Fez a Drum and an Ensign under pretext of making War against the Christians dethron'd at length the King of the Countrey which happen'd towards the beginning of the last Age. Segelmessa abounds in hurtful Animals Tegorarina has plenty of Dates Zeb wants Water and those who inhabit it in Summer yield their abode to the Scorpions Biledulgerid communicates its Name to all the Countrey Fessen has a Town of the same Name The Desart of Barca consists in Plains of Sand where was formerly seen the Temple of Jupiter Hammon notorious for its Oracles for the Fountain of the Sun for the loss of the Army of Cambyses King of Persia and for the happy Journey of that of Alexander the Great Bacchus Perseus and Hercules are said to have been there before this Conquerour and three High-ways are reported to have led thither the first from Memphis the second from Paretonium and the third from Cyrene Mount Atlas advances several of its Branches into Biledulgerid The Cap of Non upon the Ocean was for a long while the limit of the Navigations of the Portugueses who call'd it in that manner for that they at that time pass'd no farther The Name of Zaara signifies Desart and that of Libya which is also given to this Countrey is a Greek word which was first of all attributed to Africa Little is to be seen in the Zaara but Sand Monsters and Scorpions for which reason the Inhabitants wear Boots for a defence against the stings and bitings of those Creatures The Air is healthful and the sick of the neighbouring Countreys are brought thither for the Recovery of their health The Arabians consider there three sorts of Countreys the Cehel where is small Sand without any Verdure the Zaara where is Gravel and a little Verdure and the Asgar where are Marshes Herbs and Bushes Travellers before-hand make provision of all things necessary for the Life of Man for the Houses and Wells are at such a distance from one another that they go often a hundred Leagues without finding either Abode or Water A Merchant formerly endured there so much thirst that he gave ten thousand Ducats for a Cup of Water and yet he di'd as well as the person who receiv'd his Money for the giving him Drink People are sometimes constrain'd to bury themselves in the Sand to avoid meeting with Lyons and other wild Beasts which make a horrible noise every night The Inhabitants are for the most part Shepherds and the best Hunters in the World but very miserable Some amongst 'em follow the Religion of Mahomet and the greatest number lead a libertine kind of life Several small Sovereigns receive the Tribute of the Caravans which pass thro' their Dominions Their other Revenues consist in Cattel and when mention is made of their Riches they ask how many Camels they have Five principal Desarts are reckon'd Zanhaga Zuenziga where are Salt-Pits Targa Lempta and Berdoa The Ghir which is the greatest River of it forms some pretty considerable Lakes and loses its self in the Sand in several places of its course and comes out again presently after the Rio Ouro which is empty'd into the Ocean and was so call'd by the Portuguese by reason of the Gold they found there when they made their first Voyages along that Coast This River runs under the Tropick thro' desart Countreys with ten or twelve fathom water towards its entrance into the Sea The Coast as far as Cape Boiador has high white and grey Hills or Downs with a desart Countrey o'rspred with Sand and wild Rushes Nigritia NIgritia is so called from its ancient People the Nigritae who reciprocally seem to have had their Name from their black Colour or from that of their Land which in some places is all burnt by the excessive heat which contributes to the blackning both the Sand and the Inhabitants They who attribute this blackness to the Race of Cham say that people of other Countreys preserve their whiteness in Nigritia and that the Asiaticks and the Americans who are in the same Zone with the Negroes are not naturally black The Niger does somewhat temper the Country
by means of its Waters but the Rains which fall there occasion several Diseases As Commerce is now in high consideration amongst the European Nations it is not improper to say somewhat of the Coast of Nigritia Cap Blanc is a tongue of Land as hard as a Rock ten or twelve fathom high with a very spacious Haven where Ships are safe against most Winds Arguin a Castle in a little Island belongs to the Hollanders The Barks may enter into the River of St. John and treat with the Negroes for Ostridge-Feathers Gums Amber and some small Gold Senega one of the principal Branches of the Niger is not a League in breadth at its disemboguing it self into the Sea The Coast on the North of Senega is very low and hardly to be kenn'd by those that are twelve Leagues distant at Sea The Road of Cape-Verd has twelve or thirteen fathom water upon a bottom of grey Sand. The Island belonging to the Flemmings called Gorea has a Plat-form flank'd by four Bastions of Earth with a Dungeon of Bricks which did not hinder it from being insulted in the late Wars The entrance into it is on the West of the Island where Ships of a hundred Tun may touch and ride The Road is good but no fresh water to be had Rufisca is a retreat commodious enough Gambia is about five Leagues broad at its influx into the Sea but it is not Navigable for Barks above sixty Leagues 'T is said that the Portugals have remounted the Niger sometimes as far as the Kingdom of Benin in the space of above eighteen hundred Leagues that the Danes have formerly possess'd Cantozi towards the place where the Niger divides it self and that this Niger forms great Lakes upon the Banks of which there are several good Cities from whence go Caravans as far as Tripoli of Barbary The English in hopes of getting some of the Gold of the Countrey had a design to go up the Senega with several light Ships but the excessive heats the insults of the Negroes accompanied with some Portugueses made them lay aside the thoughts of their Enterprize The Negroes are commonly simple and candid Idolaters towards the Sea Mahometans in the inland Countrey They have three pretty considerable Kingdoms Tombut Borno and Gaoga Most of their Cities are not to be compared with our Towns the Houses being only built of Wood Chalk and Straw and often one of these Cities makes a Kingdom The last Kings of Tombut whom they call Tombouctou have had the reputation of possessing a great quantity of Gold in Bars and Ingots They are said to have this Gold from the Kingdom of Gago and that from the Kingdoms of Morocco and Sus there go often several Cafiles or Caravans for the bringing it thence The Kingdom of Gualata produces Milet. That of Agades has a City indifferently well built Borno formerly the abode of the Garamantes is inhabited by a People who live in common private persons there acknowledge for their Children those who resemble them and the flattest nosed are the handsomest and greatest Beauties Several Nations are between the branches of the Niger where some Authors place the Gardens of the Hesperides Those of Senega send abroad Slaves Gold in dust Hides Gums and Civit Cats The Negroes are very strong and are more sought after and bought up by the Europeans than those of other Countreys They of Guiney are docible for which reason they are commonly made domestick servants Those of Angola are employed in cultivating of Land by reason of their strength 'T is a saying That he who expects to have any service from his Negro must give him Food enough a great deal of Work and many Blows On the South of the Niger are several other small Kingdomsâ— that of Melli with a City of six thousand Houses Gago rich in Gold as we have said Zegzeg considerable for its Commerce Zanfara fertile in Corn. The enumeration of the other places would be here as tedious as it is unnecessary since they are neither strong nor well peopled and but a very little trade is driven by ' em The Portugals have yielded up to the English some Fortresses which they had towards the Mouths of the Niger which has given our Nation the means of trafficking here and making Enterprizes as do also the Hollanders Nubia NVbia is three hundred and fifty Leagues in length and two hundred in breadth It retains some remnants of Christianity in its old Churches and in the Ceremonies of Baptism that is there administred The Nubians obey a King who commonly keeps Cavalry upon the Frontiers of his Dominions because he hath potent Enemies for his Neighbours the Abissin and the Turk Histories affirm That an Army of a hundred thousand Horse was formerly Levyed and led by a King of Nubia against the Governour of Aegypt Gold Civet Sandal-Wood Ivory Arms and Linnen are Transported from this Country The Commerce of the Nubians is most especially with those of Cairo and the other Cities of Aegypt They have a strong subtle and penetrating Poyson in this Countrey the tenth part of a Grain of which will kill a man in a quarter of an hour and the Ounce is valued at a hundred Ducats One of the King 's principal Revenues consists in the Receipt of the Right of Exportation 'T is sold to Strangers but upon condition of not making use of it but out of the Kingdom The Inhabitants have Sugar-Canes but they know not how to improve them They have amongst them Bereberes of the Mahometan Religion who go in Troops to Cairo and return from thence when they have gotten ten or twelve Piasters The capital Cities are Nubia and Dancala near the Nile the others are but little known to us A Relation of the Year 1657 affirms That the King of Dancala pays a Tribute in Cloths to the King of the Abissins Geography in some sort is indebted to this Countrey since it presented the World with the Author of the famous Geography of Nubia the Cherif-Alderisi Guiney GViney is subject to such great Heats that were it not for the Rains and the coolness of the Night it would be uninhabitable It sends abroad Parrots Apes White-Salt Ivory Skins Wax Amber-Greece Gold and Slaves Its Inhabitants have the repute of being presumptuous thievish Idolatrous and extreamly superstitious It s best Town is St. George de la Mina now in Possession of the Hollanders The English have amongst others Cabo Corso and the Danes Fredericksbourg Most of the Portugals who succeeded the French in that Colony have been compelled by reason of their small numbers to retire into the Inlands during the Wars with Spain The Castle of La Mina having been so called from the Mines of Gold which are in its Neighbourhood the name of St. George was given it by John the Second King of Portugal who after having made the Conquest of it conceal'd the Commerce thereof as long as he could Benin is a particular Kingdom with the best
Vlterior or Southern in respect of them we divide it into Terra-firma and Islands The Countrys of the Terra firma are towards the West the Asian Turky Georgia and Arabia towards the middle Persia towards the North Tartary towards the East China towards the South India divided into Terra-firma which is the Empire of the Mogul and into two Peninsula's the one on this and the other on that side the Ganges The Islands are in the Eastern Sea that is that of the Indies where are found to be the greatest Riches and perhaps in greater number than in all the rest of the Universe These Islands are the Maldives Ceilan those of the Sound and Japan the Philippins and the Moluccoes There are some Islands of Asia in the Mediterranean Sea Cyprus Rhodes and others in the Archipelago Turkey in Asia WHat belongs to the Turk in Asia comprehends much about the same Provinces which the ancient Romans had in that part of the World and besides that those of Armenia and Assyria 'T was formerly adorned with a great number of brave Cities The conduct of the Turks and the laziness of the Inhabitants have quite ruined most of them One wou'd think this Countrey ought to be very populous by reason of the freedom which Men enjoy there of having several Wives yet it 's certain it has very few people if we consider its large extent There seldom pass five or six years together without several thousands of persons being swept away by the Plague What is considerable is that along the Coasts where the Echelles that is to say places of Trade inrich themselves by the transportation of the Levantine Merchandizes which consist in Skins Cotton Tapistry Camlets and other like Stuffs These Echelles have this in particular that they have Consuls for the Nations of Europe And in consideration of the Christian Princes the Knights of Maltha do not commonly form any enterprizes thereabouts The Merchants who dwell there send and receive their Letters by a sort of Pigeons called Carriers which they keep and which they send for that purpose to the places where they have been brought up The Grand Seigniour has his Bashaws there who keep the people under extream subjection The Mahometan Religion is received in most places Where are also to be seen Jews and Christians of the Greek Church As for manners a Cadi or Judge has judiciously observ'd That amongst the Nations who inhabit this Region the Turks were blameable for their Whoring the Jews for their Superstition and the Christians for their Litigiousness This Turkey is certainly in a choice scituation in the midst of our Continent and in the Temperate Zone it has the Course of the Euphrates and Tigris with the conveniency of four Seas the Mediterranean the Black Sea the Caspian and that of El-Catif which open to it the Commerce of the principal Regions of the World and particularly that of the East-Indies The Euphrates having pass'd near the ruins of the ancient Babylon joins it self to the Tigris below Bagdad It s Channel is inconsiderable in those parts by reason of the many Islets that are made there It has this advantage that it joins the Traffick of the Black Sea which is not far distant from its Sources with that of the East-Indies The Tigris forms several Lakes sometimes going under the Earth and after having passed by Bagdad mixing with Euphrates The Waters of these two Rivers fall into the Sea El-Catif formerly under the name of Euphrates now under that of Tigris or rather under that of Chat which is called the Arabick River The Countrey which they Water is so beautiful and so fertil that several place therein the Terrestrial Paradice There are hardly any Stone Bridges upon the Tigris and by reason of its inundations they commonly make their Bridges of Boats Four great Provinces are in this Turkey Natolia Turcomania Dierbech and Souria Natolia formerly Asia Minor is a Peninsula much more long than broad between the Black Sea the Archipelago the Mediterranean and the River of Euphrates The ancient Greeks sent thither several Colonies Cyrus the Great thought his Empire would not be considerable unless he had Asia Minor Mighty Battails have often been fought for the preserving this Province and for the Conquering it There are reckoned four Beglerbeyats or general Governments that of Natolia at Chioutaye Caramania at Cogni Amasi at Tocat and Aladuli at Maraz The City of Burse has been successively the Residence of the Kings of Bithynia and of some Greek Emperours and Turkish ones too before they passed into Europe The first Ottomans have their Tombs there Soliman the First would needs be buryed at the neck of the Dardanelles near Gallipoli Burse yields little but to Conscantinople for its Riches and its multitudes of people Nice is known for the holding the first General Council and for the Residence of the Greek Emperours after that the French had taken Constantinople in the Year 1201. Angoure is famous for the Victory of Tamberlane over Bajazet Emperour of the Turks and before for that of Pompey over Mithridates Tocat is the Appennage of the Sultan-Mothers The Countrey round about it produces Saffron Troy Pergamus Sardis have been Royal Cities Troy famous by reason of its being taken by the Greeks after a Siege often Years or rather for Homer's immortal Banter has its ruins mingled with the decays of some Modern works It was called Dardania upon the account of Dardanus its first King Ilium by reason of its Castle of Priam. The City of Pergamos is highly renowned for the riches of King Attalus and the invention of Parchment Sardis for the Residence of the ancient Kings of Lydia Dinobi upon the Black Sea has Copper Mines in its Neighbourhood which are perhaps the only ones in Asia It has been the abode of Mithridates the most formidable Enemy of the Romans who notwithstanding his defeat had the thought of traversing Lacholcide Soythia and Illyria to come and attack Italy Chalcedon is the place where was held the Fourth General Council As its ancient Inhabitants were cracking that their City was built before Bizantium a Persian told them judiciously that its Founders had been blind to choose so incommodious a scituation in respect of that of Bizantium Avido one of the Castles that are called Dardanelles upon the Hellespont has seen the swimming Amours of Hero and Leander as also the passage of that prodigious Army of Xerxes King of Persia upon a Bridge of six hundred and seventy four Galleys Fogia Smyrna Ephesus Milazo and Halicarnassus are upon the Coast of the Archipelago Fogia formerly Phocee the Mother of Marscilles is the first City that was taken in a form'd Siege and the taking of it was Harpagus his Act General under Cyrus the great Smyrna which is often called the Smirnes and which contains above ninety thousand Souls is in a fertile ground and drives one of the greatest Commerces in the Mediteranean-Sea The English French and
reason there having been reckoned above five hundred and seventy It s extent from the South to the North is about seventy Leagues Its breadth thirty somewhere more somewhere less according as it is bounded either by the Mountains of Arabia or by Jordan What is there call'd the Desart is so stiled in that it has not all the fertility that is found in the Countreys which are near it It s modern Division is into three Principalities Sayd Cossaria and Gaza Two Governments are under the Bashaw of Damascus Jerusalem and Naplouse Jerusalem tho' fallen from its ancient Lustre still preserves those places which Jesus Christ was pleas'd to honour with his presence It has been famous for the bigness beauty and riches of its Temple for its Kings for its High-Priests and for other particularities It was ruined by Nebuchadnezzar by Vespasian and Titus These two last saw the Death of Eleven hundred thousand Persons There are eight Nations of Christians who are rank'd in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Roman Catholicks the Maronites the Greeks the Armenians the Syrians or Jacobites the Copties or Aegyptians and the Georgians One of the Gates of the City called the Eye of a Needle has given occasion to the Proverb that a Camel may as soon pass through the Eye of a Needle as a Rich man enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Nazareth is the place where the Saviour of the World was conceived Bethlem that where he was born There are an infinite number of rare things to be remark'd upon these Cities of the Holy Land The misfortune is that they are hardly any longer to be known Some Islands in the Mediterranean Sea belong to the Turks whereof that of Cyprus is the greatest It has the Title of a Kingdom and formerly contained nine Nicosia is the Capital City of the Island Famagusta the Principal Sea-Port This Famagusta was the last place which the Venetians defended there against the Turks who took it at last after a Siege of seventy dayes and above a hundred and forty thousand Shot made against the Town The Grotto of the seven Sleepers is near the City of Baffo In an Abbey near Limisso they keep Cats brought up to the hunting of Serpents after which they return back thither at the ringing of a Bell. The Isle of Rhodes is famous for the ancient abode of the Knights of the same Name who were constrained to yield it to the Turk in the Year 1522 For the Colossus of the Sun which was so prodigious that few persons could embrace the thumb of it Great Ships passed easily with full Sails between its Leggs When the Sarazens caused the Copper of it to be carried into Aegypt they found it to load above nine hundred Camels The Isles of Chio and Metilin are in the Archipelago Chio one of the most fertile and most delicious in the World produces excellent Fruits Malmsy Wine and particularly Mastick It has the High and Low Town and in both are reckoned above twenty thousand Mortals They are almost all Christians Greeks and Latins and there is not a place under the Turk where the Christians have more freedom Metelin affords excellent Wines And the Nightingales are said to sing more melodiously there than elsewhere It s ancient Inhabitants have had the reputation of being very expert Mariners In the last Age the famous Barberossa who is said to have been a Native of this Island rendred himself formidable to all Christendom Patmos or Palmosa is known for the Exile and the Grotto of St. John the Evangelist The Isle of Lango under the Name of Cos has passed for the native Countrey of Hippocrates and Appelles The enviers of Hippocrates attribute all his knowledge to Medicinal Receipts which were brought into the Temple of Aesculapius Apelles observ'd proportion in his Pictures whereas Zeuxis made them greater than Nature for the giving them Majesty The Inhabitants of Lango are said to have found out the first use of Silk-Worms Not far from thence there is a little Island called Caloiero which is almost impregnable It is only a steep Rock where the Monks and those who inhabit it draw up their Boats after them with Ropes Georgia UNder the Name of Georgia we bring Mingrelia Gurgistan Zuiria and Circassia Provinces where the ancient Romans were not able to establish their Empire by reason of the sharpness of the Mountains known by the Ancients under the Name of Caucasus celebrated in the fable of Prometheus All these Provinces lie between the Black and Caspian Seas which are thought to communicate with one another because they have Fish of the same kinds and that those Territories which lie between both seem to have a superficies of but little depth principally when they go on Horse-back there From thence they transport Silk Stuffs Wax Honey Little Money is made use of most of the Georgians being so poor that they often sell their Children to have wherewith to subsist on An Inhabitant has been known there to exchange his Mother for a Turkish Horse that was to his mind There are in Georgia several Christians and some Mahometans The true Natives have a peculiar tongue Several amongst them are free some have their Kings others acknowledge either the Turk or the Persian according to the necessity of their affairs Those who obey the Turk have great Priviledges in his Dominions they pay him but a very inconsiderable Tribute may enter armed and with displayed Ensigns into Jerusalem Teflis has a particular King who owns Allegigiance to him of Persia Derbent often disputed by the Turks and the Persians is in the Passage that is called the Port of Iron these are the Remnants of the Caspian Ports that are seen upon Mount Barmach with some Springs of Medicinal Oyl The Tartars of Dagestan who are near it are commanded by the Schemkal a Prince whose Dignity depends on fate when he is dead those who pretend to have his Place assemble around and a Priest cafts a Golden Apple in the midst of them which makes him Prince it touches for they don't scramble for Sovereignty Mingrelia otherwise Imereti and Basciaciuch lies near the Black Sea at the place where that Sea receives the Faze which contrary to other Rivers has fresh waters above and salt below In the Countrey about Faze Pheasants were first of all had There are caught several other sorts of Birds especially Crows and Jackdaws In the Year 1642 those Birds eat a prodigious quantity of Herrings which the Sea had cast upon the Coast to the height of a foot and half There are White Bears which prove that those Creatures form a particular sort of Bears Mingrelia upon the Eastern part of the Black Sea is the ancient Colches famous for the Amour of Jason and Medea and the coming thither of the Argonautes to sharpe the Golden Fleece This Fleece when the Metaphor is shorn off is thought by the wise to have consisted in the Mines of Gold or else in the
not willingly allow Strangers entrance into their Country The great Wall or rather the Intrenchment of above four hundred Leagues which they caused formerly to be made is a Work that has had more Renown than Effect the Tartars have often over-run China notwithstanding this Obstacle Those who have said that China is but one City by reason of the Numerousness of it's People have likewise said that a no less considerable Wall was requir'd to be proportionable to the Grandeur of such a Town 'T is hardly credible that in this Fortification the Stones be seven Fathom high and five broad as they are said to be by the Chineses If we may believe their History the Hostilities of the Tartars have been exercised for above four thousand years the Chinese Horses cannot endure the sight of those of Tartary The late years have caused strange Revolutions in this Kingdome After that the Rebels had acted as Soveraigns the Tartars under their Emperour Xunchi have conquer'd all their Country in less then seven years Time and that since the year 1643 the Militia was not very considerable Men of Learning domineer'd over Men of the Sword From whence it came that the State only subsisted by Policy by numerous Armys and not by the valour of it's People The principal Chiefs were called Mandarins at present the Tartar has Tartarian Officers and Chinese Officers below his Vice-Roys of whom some are for Arms and others for Learning This change has the Sword wrought over the Gown and the poor Mandarins are no longer in a state to do Justice with so much Pomp and Pride as they formerly did Paganisme is there generally received nevertheless Vertue amongst them is in an high esteem The Publick is more Rich proportionably as particular Persons are Writing is managed from the top to the bottom It has above sixty thousand Letters and has not three hundred thousand Words which are almost all Monosyllables whereas the Europeans have many Words few Letters the Chineses have many Letters and few VVords which they pronounce with divers Tones according to their signification So as we may say their Speech is only singing It 's Great Cities are called Fu the lesser Câ—u The Chineses love their Hair to that Degree that several amongst them choose rather to dye than to be shav'd conformably to the Tartars commands Swines Flesh is with them a most exquisite Dish Before the coming of the Tartars Yellow was the Kings and Black the Peoples usual wear All China is divided into sixteen Provinces each of which are worth more than large Kingdoms Ten of 'em lye towards the South Yunnan Quansi Canton Fuquiem Chequiam Nanxin Kiamsi Huquam Suscuem and Quicheu The six towards the North are Xensi Sciansi Honan Xantung Pekin and Leaorung which several have called Cathai whereas they give the name of Mangi to the Southern Provinces Canton has a Town of the greatest Trade and Riches of all the Kingdom from thence are transported Rice Sugar Varnish which is drawn from the Rinds of Trees and Pearls that are fish'd near the Isle of Ainaon Macao in an Island of the same Name surrounded with several other small Islands and Rocks is peopled with Portugals who have fortified it after an extraordinary manner since they were attack'd by the Hollanders in the Year 1622. This City entertains a great Commerce between China and Europe this Commerce is much diminish't they have no longer two hundred for a hundred profit as they had formerly and now the Hollanders have got footing in the Kingdom whereas they were formerly excluded from thence because the Chineses had a Prophesie that they should be subdued by people who have blue Eyes This has been verified by the coming of the Tartars The Right alone for the Trade of Salt is worth every Year above fifteen hundred thousand Livers to the King of China The small Isle of Sanchoan is known for the death of the Popish Saint Xavier Fuquiem produces pure Gold Pepper Sugar and Calamint The Gold and Silver of China is not so good as that we have they esteem the Pistols and Rials of Spain The Island Formosa has a Mine of Gold which the Hollanders had in possession for a long while In the Year 1661 they were drove thence by a Chinese called Coceinga a Taylor 's Son The Isle of Tayouan half a League from Formosa is an Island whither People resort in all Seasons of the Year without being oblig'd to wait for the Monzoon In the Year 1632 the Hollanders made a Fort there of four Bastions faced with hew'd stone which serv'd them to take the Isle of Formosa Chequiam has Temples wherein are rich Idols Nankin has a Town of the same Name formerly the abode of the Court the most esteemed of China upon the account of its Beauty the fertility of its Soyl its fine Edifices its great Commerce the River Kiang which we call the River Blew and the Chinese the Son of the Sea because that its common breadth exceeds two of our Leagues With the River Jaune and the Royal Channel it affords the means of going to Pekin by Boat and of trading to Pekin by Rivers disembarking only at the Mountain Muilin There is near Nankin a Tower of Porcelain nine Stories or Vaults above one another with a hundred and fourscore and four steps Schanchay is the most usual station of the King's Fleets Kiamzi passes for the most populous Province It alone has Water proper for the perfection of Porcelain when they apply to it the Tincture of Azure Vermilion or Yellow The late Voyages that have been made into the Inlands of China have inform'd us that Porcelain-Ware is not made of the shells of the Sea nor of Egg-shells pounded as several have believed it is made by the means of Sand or Earth peculiar to certain Cantons of the Countrey where it is found in Rocks for the making it 't is not necessary that this Earth remain buried an Age as some have thought fit to affirm The Chineses knead this Sand and make Cups of it which they set a baking in Ovens for the space of fifteen days and give them several Figures The application of Colours is one of the principal Secrets which the Chineses have thought fit to keep conceal'd from strangers Huquam yields so much Rice and Oyl that the Chineses have it in a Proverb That they draw but one Collation from each of the other Provinces of China but from Huquam they have wherewith to live on a whole Year Xensi does particularly furnish Musk Its City of Cancheu has a great confluence of Caravans Siganfu has very ancient Remnants of Christianity Sciansi hath Vineyards from whence the Jesuits had the Wine they stood in need of for the celebrating the Mass before they were driven thence in the Year 1665. Honan produces the best Fruits in the World and in great quantity Pekin otherwise Peguin has a City of the same Name the Capital of all
King of Narsinga who is the Raja of Velou whose Territories advance towards Cape Comorin stiles himself the King of Kings and the Husband of a thousand Wives The City of Bisnagar is upon a Mountain with a Cittadel There are on this Coast the Naiques or Princes of Madura Tanaior and Gingi and in their Dominions Inhabitants who have pleasant Imaginations they make the number of their Gods mount to thirty three Millions They say that the Globe of the Earth is supported with a Serpent arm'd with a thousand Heads on which all the World is pois'd that this Serpent is born by eight Elephants who stand upon the Back-bone of a Tortoise which of its self remains firm and motionless even with the Water They also multiply the Seas and make seven different ones of them the one of Water the other of Milk the third of Cream the fourth of Butter the fifth of Salt the sixth of Sugar and the seventh of Wine These small States have rose out of the ruins of that of Narsinga The late Relations make mention of the Kingdom of Messur bordering upon that of Madura of the Moravan People being very Warlike and of the Land of Thieves There are several Apes in the Woods of this Country where People take the Diversion of making them fight to get Rice Golconda belongs to a Mahometan King of the Sect of the Persiaens there is a Mine of Diamonds so abounding that in the Year 1622. the King caused it to be stopped up for some time for fear that the too great quantity would render them common or that the Mogul might have a desire to possess it This Mine is at the foot of a Mountain where are sometimes a hundred thousand Workmen There are also Mines of Iron and Steel the Steel that is drawn from thence passes for the best of all the Levant The Inhabitants of this Countrey are very much addicted to Traffick though the Countrey be Mountainous and Sandy yet it produces great plenty of Rice The King has so many Customs and Imposts that there accrue to him from thence above twenty Millions They speak Talenga in this Kingdom and reckon by Gauts each of which comes to six thousand paces The City of Golconda is one of the most beautiful and strongest of all India it is also one of the greatest being divided into three Citites Badnaguar otherwise Hidraband where is the King's Palace though it be without Walls Golconda where is the Cittadel Emanjour upon a River which separates it from the former The King's Palace is the most magnificent of all those of India it is twelve Miles compass Gold is there employed to such uses as we employ Iron for Mazalpatan an unwalled Town has narrow Streets and low Houses it is strong by Situation in a marshy place where it has a Bridg of fifteen thousand paces in length It s Harbour or Road is half a League from the City commodious for all sorts of Ships most Europeans have their Factors here The Inhabitants of the Town drive a great Trade in Stained or Painted Cloaths and other Works of Cotton so delicately wrought and with such lively Colours that they are more esteemed than those of Silk The Fortress of Condapoli has six Fortifications one upon another each with its conveniency and Lands capable of nourishing its Garrison There are sixty other places of defence in the Kingdom of Golconda The Peninsula of India extra Gangem IN this part of India is a great number of good and great Rivers which render it fertile by their Inundations and which afford the means of Transporting thence the same Merchandizes as from the Neighbouring Countries The Elephants do great service principally when Fire has seized on any place for then they pull down with a wonderful dispatch and dexterity the Houses neighbouring on those which are burning upon a certain signal from him who governs them they take away with their Trunk the Roof of the House that is shew'd them and Butt down the Walls that remain without going beyond the Order that is given them The Inhabitants of these Countries are for the most part Pagans and live in a state of War under divers Kings in whose Dominions are daily wrought some Changes or other the most powerful still becoming Masters of the weakest Aracan is fertile in Grains and Silver-Mines Pegu was very considerable when it comprehended two Emperors and twenty six Kingdoms It is much decayed and fallen from its grandeur through the Wars it sustain'd against the King of Siam for the maintaining itself in the possession of a White Elephant This Elephant was in so much the greater esteem amongst the Indians in that they firmly believed that their Xaca or Prophet was Metamorphosed into such an Animal In the Year 1661. the Tartar Victorious over China push'd on his Conquests thither in pursuing Constantin the last King of the Chineses The Glasses of the Pagods which are the Churches of the City of Pegu are of Tortoise-shells so as those of Goa are of Mother of Pearl The City of Siam which is otherwise called Odia or India is twenty Leagues from the Sea upon the Menan River which overflows every six Months the Indians call it in this manner as if it was the Mother of Waters This River has three Mouths whereof the most Eastern is the most commodious Several Ships come to the City of Bankok six Leagues from the Sea from thence their Boats and Pinnaces go twenty Leagues as far as the City of Siam The King of Siam has been very absolute has had several small Tributary Princes but has since own'd Homage to the Tartar Master of China He is an Idolater and nevertheless allows of the Building of some Christian Churches in his Capital Cities nay he himself has caused some to be Built at his own cost He himself Trades out of his Dominons are Transported Buck-skins Benjamin and all other precious Merchandises of India The Siamois contrary to other Orientals dispose their Writing after the same manner as do the other Orientals Tanacerin near an Isthmus Ligor and Patane drive a great Trade This Country is fertile temperate and brings forth Fruits every Month of the Year Hens Geese and Ducks lay often their Eggs twice a day insomuch that Victuals are in abundance and at easie rates Malaca with a strong Castle is as the Centre of the East-Indies where you may wait for Winds fair for the Navigation you intend to make Barks may enter into it by the River but great Ships cast anchor between the two Islands that are in the mouth of the River The City ows its rise to Fishermen of Pegu Siam and Bengala who frequented it establishing there at the same time a new Tongue which is at present receiv'd in several parts of India The Portugals gave out that the Air hereof was unwholsome which was to prevent all desire in other Nations of setling themselves here In the Year 1641 the Hollanders made themselves Masters
of it People observe there for a rarity the doleful Tree whose Flowers only come by Night and fall at the sight of the Sun Ihor in the most Southern part of India is built upon Posts near a River which divides it into two Ports Cambodia whose King is a Vassal of that of China drives a great Trade The City of the same Name is sixty Leagues from the Sea built in length upon a rising ground to exempt it self from the Inundation of its River The Mecon which passes by it has two principal Mouths which separate themselves afterwards into two others It is Navigable In the Year 1644 four Holland Ships entred it and got out again notwithstanding the endeavours and oppositions of the King of that Countrey who would have hindred them from so doing Cochinchina is one of the best Kingdoms of all India A great number of Galleys are kept there where the Office of Rower is more sought after than in Europe the French Bishops have been busie there to promote the Catholick Religion Tunquim or Tonkin has its peculiar King as well as Cochinchina and Cambodia Upon the Confines of China and India there are People called Maug Timocoves Gueyes and others The Tunquiners are the best Fire arms-men of all Asia instead of Purses they have little Strings whereon they file their Copper Money which are round pieces pierced thro' the middle distinguish'd from sixty to sixty by certain marks they carry them upon their shoulders or else around their arms The Country of Tunquim is boggish watry and interlaced with above thirty Rivers which fall into the Sea the Air is nevertheless very pure They reckoâ— they have aobut twenty thousand Villages and six great Provinces wherein are said to be two hundred thousand Christians The capital City is esteemed twenty Miles in circuit wherein it contains above a Million of Persons There are upon the Frontiers Forests full of Apes who go sometimes to the number of three or four hundred and ravage the fields from whence they carry a prodigious quantity of Rice which they fasten between their skin and a girdle of straw which they make for that purpose This Country has no wall'd Towns or Fortresses The King of Tunquim has above fifty thousand Soldiers for this guard and keeps above sixty thousand upon the Frontiers of Cachinchina with whose Prince he is often at Dagger's drawing He is said to have above five hundred Elephants about as many Galleys most of em well fitted and finely guilt It is by the means of the Elephants that the Tunquiners have maintain'd themselves against the Chineses who did domineer over 'em for somewhile The most modern Relations make seven Kingdoms pass under the Name of Tunquim Tunquim Cochinchina Ciucanghe or Caubang the small Bao the little Lao and the Mountains of Rumoy or Kemois where there is a little King of Fire and another of Water They likewise make mention of the great Kingdom of Lao which extends from fourteen Degrees to two and twenty and a half of Northern Latitude upon a breadth of fifty Miles along a River of same Name where Langione at eighteen Degrees of Latitude is the capital City They likewise mention that its King has for Tributaries those of Bao Ciocangue Ava and that there are full five hundred thousand Men capable of Service in his Dominions The Maldive Islands THe Maldive's Islands situate on the South of India both on this and the other side the Equinoctial have this Name from their City called Male and from Dive which signifies Island in the Language of the Country They are said to be twelve thousand in all which is spoke at hazard and an uncertain number is taken for a certain These Islands are dispers'd from the North-East to the South-East into thirteen Provinces which the Inhabitants call Atollons whereof each has a Bank for its Ramparts Some of 'em are only Rocks or heaps of Sand and all are very small That of Male which is the Principal is not a League in compass They are interlaced with several Arms of the Sea environed with Rocks which render 'em of very difficult access It has been the good pleasure of Divine Providence that there are four Ports or four Openings to the Issues of each Atollon that those Ports corresponding to one another the Inhabitants might communicate together Without this help the Ships would be hurried away by the great Currents of the Sea for above seven or eight hundred Leagues from the Maldives These Currents go six Months towards the East six Months towards the West sometimes more sometimes less The Chanels through which the Ships may pass most easily are those of Malos-Madou of Adou and Sovadou this is twenty Leagues broad As the Sea is but shallow in these parts and there are commonly high Winds and few Commodities few Europeans resort to these Islands The King of Maldives is called Rascan His Revenue consists in the Misfortunes of others that is to say it accrews from the Shipwracks of Vessels that are cast away in those parts Certain it is there is no trust to be put in the Pilots of those Islands they often cause the Ships to be cast away that are left to their conduct that so the profit thereof may redound to their King This Prince has a Custom to Caress strangers and invite them into his Island that so by their dwelling there for some while they may die of the Disease that reigns in those parts The Insularies are of a low Stature of a tawny Complexion of the Mahometan Religion subject to several Evils by reason of the excessive heats which reign there and Feavers which seldom abandon their Islands They shave themselves with cold water catch Fish by swimming go easily to the bottom of the Sea choose a convenient place for the Anchors of their Ships will with an incredible facility weigh up from thence burdens of a hundred thousand pounds weight by the means of a Cable and some pieces of their Woods of Condou Their Cocoes furnish them with great Conveniencies they make of 'em Wine Honey Sugar Milk and Butter they eat Almonds instead of Bread with all sorts of Meats they place each Trade in a particular Island Now to exempt ' emselves from the Vermin which might spoil and destroy their Commodities they have their Ware houses and Magazines set up in the Sea upon Posts and Pillars at two or three hundred Paces from their Islands The Isle of Ceylan CEylan is said by the Insularies to have been much greater formerly than it is at this day of four hundred Miles which it was then in compass it is not now above three hundred 'T is made to resemble a Pearl and several do believe that it is the Taprobana of the Ancients It s Air is the purest and most healthful that is in all India Some call it the Land of Delights and say that it is the place where was the Terrestrial Paradise that the Pico of Adam whither
some Hides or Cloaths of Gold They have in esteem the Corn of Resan and of Volodimere the Hides of Jaroslau the Wax and Honey of Plescou the Suet of Vologde The Oyl of the Country about the Wolga the Flax and Hemp of great Novogorod the Pitch of Duvine the Salt of Astracan the Sables and other Furrs of Siberia where the Hunters have the dexterity to hit the Beast upon its Nose for the having the Spoils entire The Country bordering upon the lesser Tartars is wholly Desart by the incursions of those People who go thither to make Slaves to sell them in the Crim from whence they are led to Constantinople as there are very handsom Women amongst those slaves they ever meet with Chapmen who take them off their hands The Palisado'd Hedges of Wood and the Ditch that was made a hundred Leagues in length have not been capable to stop those Incursions They have treated the Russians with so many indignities in the foregoing ages that besides the Tribute the Prince of Muscovy was bound to light off his Horse before the Embassadour of Tartary to offer him a Dish of Milck to lick up what by chance might fall upon the Horses Crest to keep standing and bare headed the Tartar being seated The Religion of the Muscovite is little different from that of the Greeks all their Images are in Board Pictures St. Nicholas is the Protectour of their Nation they have seldom any Festivals but on the day of the Blessed Virgins Anunciation they have at Mosco a Patriarch the head of their Religion three Archbishops and Metropolitans at Rosthou at Susdal and at Great Novogorode Bishop of Wologda Resan Susdal Tuvere Tobelesca Astracan Casan Plescou Colomna and almost in all the Provinces of the Great Duke where they are chosen out of the Body of the Monks The Muscovites have this good property as they do not constrain any body for Religion they hate the Roman Catholicks because of the excesses committed by the Polanders when they rendred themselves Masters of Moscow in the year 1611. There be still some Idolaters towards the North. Muscovy is divided into two parts Southern and Northern the former towards the Wolga the latter towares the Duvine which Wolga the greatest River of Europe falls into the Caspian Sea after having run a course of about seven hundred Leagues The Duvine which waters the most trading Towns of Muscovy empties it self by six or seven Mouths into the Gulph of St. Nicholas which is called the White Sea by reason of the Snow of the Country thereabouts The Dom which seperates Europe from Asia has its beginning a hundred Leagues from its end its Course is about six hundred Leagues first towards the East afterwards towards the West the conjunction of these three Rivers was formerly proposed for the communication of the principal Seas of our Continent that is to say for the facillitating the Commerce of the Ocean Mediterranean and Caspian Seas But this design did not succeed by reason of the divers Interests of the Neighbouring Princes The Rivers of Muscovy have this in particular that they have not any Carps There be few good Towns in all those Parts they are not paved some that are boarded with Wood nor walled for the most part the Lands being till'd and plow'd between the streets the Houses below made of Wood and Mud in the Markets their Houses are to be sold wholly prepared and ready to be set up There often happen Fires by reason of that combustible matter which is easily lighted and enflamed by the number of Candles that are lighted before the Images and which the Muscovites who are commonly drunk do not take care to extinguish Mosco the Capital City and the Residence of the Great Duke seems rather a heap of several Boroughs than a good City It has had forty thousand Houses but has less since it has been pillaged at divers times by the lesser Tartars by the Polanders and since the late burning down of most part of its Houses It s two Castles were built by Italian Ingeniers after the Model of that of Milan Volodimere the Residence of the Prince before that of Moscow is in the most fertile part of all Muscovy accompanied with a Castle The Rivers of Moscow and of Occa furnish the Inhabitants of Moscow with the means of making their Merchandize descend upon the Volga The lesser Novogorod is the last City of Europe towards the East Plescou is well fortifyed as being a Bulwark against the Polanders and the Suedes Great Novogorod was one of the four Magazines of the Hanse-Towns and a Town so rich and puissant that it was formerly a saying of its Citizens that nothing could oppose God or great Novogorod In the year 1577. the Great Duke took it and is said to have carried away from thence three hundred Waggons loaded with Gold and Silver It is still at this day a Town of great Commerce Archangel or St. Michael the Archangel is the staple of all Muscovy by reason of its Sea-Port The Customs there mount to above six hundred thousand Crowns a year This place was both first discovered and first frequented by the English Ships but have been followed by other Nations of Europe Before the Commerce of Muscovy was carryed on by passing through the Sound and resorting to Nerva the great Impositions laid upon Merchandize by the Princes through whose Territories they were to pass have made Merchants abandon that way St. Nicholas drives also a great Trade at the entrance of the Duvin these are the only good Places of the Grea Duke upon the Ocean Colmogorod is noted for the faires that are held there in Winter The Duvine there receives great Ships Oustioug is in the Center of the Countrey where its traffick is pretty considerable by means of its Scituation at the meeting of two Rivers The Interest of the Great Duke of Muscovy would be to have a place upon the Baltick Sea for the Cannons Muskets and other ammunition of War which he has brought him from Hamburgh and Lubeck are conveyed by the North of Norway with extraordinary pain and trouble Besides the White Sea has Banks and Rocks at its entrance the Snow thaw'd and melted and the Torrents which augment it in the Spring carry its Waters with such impetuosity that the Ships can hardly enter therein true it is that abundance of Salmon are taken there Kola and Pitzora in Lapland receive Merchants Ships As concerning the Conquest of the Great Duke in Asiatick Tartary there is principally Astracan and Casan with Titles of Kingdoms and the Hurdes of Zavolha and Nagaia Astracan towards the Mouth of the Wolga drives a great traffick upon the Caspian Sea In this Country is the Plant Zoophite which resembles a Lamb it eats the Herbs round about its Root and if it be cut it casts forth a red Liquor like to bloud the Wolves devour it with as much greediness and avidity as if it were a Sheep Locomoria
in lesser Tartary The Isle of Gandia Waradin in Transilvania The Scituations of these Countreys and places is to be seen in the Map to know the importance of them Transilvania Valachia Moldavia lesser Tartary the Republick of Ragusa the Corsairs of Barbary and others hold of the Turks Of Hungary Hungary seems to have been so called from the Huns a People noted for the Devastations they have made in several Regions of Europe principally under Attila one of their Kings Most of the Towns of this Country have Names that have very little affinity one with another because the Nations who gave them at their setling themselves there had very different Tongues Hungary is commonly divided into High and Low the last towards the South is almost wholly in possession of the Turks the former towards the North for the most part in the hands of the House of Austria unless it be such places as have been lately seized or revolted with Count Teckley Two parts of it have been sometimes made separated from one another by the Danube the one to the West known under the Name of Pannonia the other to the East making part of ancient Dacia There be several Countreys the enumeration whereof is not here very material The House of Austria has there four General Ships the Turks four Bachalics or great Governments When the Realm of Hungary was in its Splendour it extended to the very Adriatick Sea as far as Greece and comprehended Transilvania Walachia and Moldavia from whence it came that the Emperour as King of Hungary pretends that the Princes of those three States be allowed of by him The Grand Seignior has maintained his pretension better in that point The Soyl of Hungary is fertile the Plains are beautiful and afford plenty of Corn the Hills Wine which is transported into Poland and other places where it is accounted excellent that of Tokay is in most esteem It also affords Salt and other Conveniencies of Life Several Great Rivers contribute to this abundance the Danube Drave Save which have their Sources in Germany the Teyss which is entirely Hungarian The Danube leads its Waters from the West to the East through the midst of the Countrey with less swiftnes towards Noon than towards the Evening and the Morning after a course of above six hundred Leagues it falls into the Black Sea by several Mouths The Teyss can carry Boats four Leagues from its Source It abounds so in Fish that they are said to make the third part of its Bed for which reason it often casts abundance of them upon the Neighbouring Plains and that in the publick Markets of the Towns those who retire into the Countrey have order to take them away Formerly the Hungarians put the Figure of the above mentioned Rivers in their Ensigns or Colours and since they have carryed the Cross therein having embrac'd Christianity under their Prince Esthienne who for that consideration obtained of Pope Silvester the 2d the Title of King and was crowned in the year 1001. The highest Mountains of Hungary are towards Poland and Transilvania the Richest between Buda and Strigonia The Hungarians are Warlike neither their Garments nor their Manners be very different from those of the Turks Their Tongues is almost wholly peculiar to themselves and nevertheless the Latine Sclavonian German and Turkish are in use among them The Emperour Ferdinand the 2d allowed the liberty of Religion in this Realm in the year 1622. The Revocation of that Toleration has occasioned perpetual Revolts and is the source of that great War it is now the Scene of This Realm has two Archbishopricks Strigonia or Gran and â—oloâ—â—a with ten Bishopricks the half of which is in the Infidels hands Four orders of Persons have Sessions in the States the Prelates the Barons the Nobles and the Burgesses of Free and Royal Cities The Dignity of Palatine is there the most considerable after that of King who if he acts in any wise against their Priviledges may be opposed by force if the Palatine consent thereto The Hungarians will not suffer to have any Palatines but of their own Nation The Archbishop of Strigonia is Prince and perpetual Chancellour of the Kingdom he Crowns the King after his election These two Officers have almost all the Authority Hungary has had eight Kings of the House of Austria from Ferdinand the â— Brother of the Emperour Charles the 5th unto Leopold-Ignace Though the Hungarian Nobility do not love the Germans yet they have not opposed this Election for the sheltering themselves against the oppression of the Turks who respect a Peasant as much as they do a Gentleman The greatest strength of the Countrey consists in light Horse the Troopers be called Hussars the Foot Soldiers Heidukes Besides extraordinaries the Emperour draws from what he possesses in Hungary about a million of Livers every year He raises this Money from the Mines by an imposition on each Horse and by the exportation of Cattle The Grand Seignior has there his Caraz which is four Livers a Head of those under his Sway This is so small a matter for either of those Princes that for the preservation of what they hold there they are obliged to employ their other Revenues The Turk pretends to all Hungary and the States which depend thereon by virtue of a Cession which was made thereof to Soliman the 2d by John Sigismond Son of King John Count de Cepuse and by the Queen his Mother In Upper Hungary there be several Free Towns which form thirteen Communities The King of Poland holds half of Cepuse with a dozen of Cities Most of the Frontiers are untilled and overgrown with Shrubs and Weeds Tho there be a Truce between the Austrians and the Ottomans yet they fail not of making incursions upon one another In the year 1642. the Truce was made between the two Empires for twenty-years In the year 1664. after two years War it was renewed the Turk remaining Master of the Fortress of Waradin and Newheusel this last in the very middle of all Europe The most considerable Cities of Hungary are Presbourg Cassovia Esperies Buda Agria Temesvar Kanise Presbourg is the Capital of all the House of Austria possesses in this Realm Since the loss of Albe Royale it has been the place of Election and Coronation of their Kings Cassovia is towards the Mountains with the finest Arcenal of the Country Esperies has Fairs which render it very populous The strongest places of the House of Austria are Javarin and Komorra the Bulwarks of Christendom Javarin is in a vast Plain environed with the Danube and the Raab which sometimes gives it its Name defended with several Bastions faced with Brick with Ravelins between both Having formerly been taken by the Turks it was petarded and retaken with as much happiness as boldness by a French Gentleman called Vaubecour Komorra has the Danube for its Moat or Ditch and cannot be besieged but by three Bodies of Armies The Isle of the