generally vneuen and mountainous but the valleis are passing fertile and throughly inhabited and here is sowed abundance of rice and Saburro which groweth to ripenes in fortie daies Howbeit the soile will beare no wheat Here is store of cotton also the cloth whereof is dispersed along the coast of Africa The shee-gotes here as likewise in all the isles adiacent bring forth three and more kids at a birth euery foure moneths When the sunne is in Cancer it raineth here in a manner without ceasing To the west of Sant Iago stand the isles of Fogo and Braua being but of small importance albeit that of Fogo is in some parts thereof inhabited and to the North of the same is situate the isle of Maio where there is a lake of two leagues long which is full of salt the which is a common thing in all these islands but in one more then in any of the other in that it is full of such like salt pits and is therefore called The island of salt being destitute of all other liuing things saue onely of wild gotes The isle of Buena vista hath a name contrary to the quality for it is without all shew of beauty Of the others I haue nothing woorthie the obseruation Of the Isles of Arguin A Little to the south or on the backside of Cabo blanco within a certaine gulfe or baie which entereth thirtie miles into the maine lie the isles of Arguin which were discouered in the yeere 1443. so called after the name of the principall of them which hath great store of fresh water whereof all the residue are destitute Heere the king of Spaine hath a fortresse for the traffique of gold and other rich commodities of those countries These isles are sixe or seuen in number all little ones being inhabited by the Azanaghi who liue of fish whereof there is plentie in that baie They go to sea in certaine small botes which they call Almadies The names of the other isles as farre as I coniecture are The isle of Penguins The isles of Nar Tider and Adeget Of the Isles in the Atlantick Ocean and first of the Canaries FOr so the isles named of olde Insulae fortunatae which euer since the decay of the Romaine empire till within these two hundred yeeres lay vndiscouered are at this present called They are in number twelue although the ancient writers make mention but of sixe that is to say Canaria Lançarotta 〈◊〉 ventura Hierro Palma Gomera Santa Clara Isla de lobos La Roca Gratiosa Alegrança and Infierno They 〈◊〉 abound with barly sugar hony goates cheese hides and Orchel being herbe commodious to die cloth withall and whereof they make great merchandise Amongst other beasts they haue also camels The natural inhabitants of the countrey are of a good disposition and notable agilitie but before they were discouered they were so grosse and rude as they knewe not the vse of fire They beleeued in one creatour of the world who punished the 〈◊〉 and rewarded the good and in this point they all consented but in other matters they were very different They had no iron at all but yet esteemed it much when any came to their hands for the vse thereof They made no accoūt of gold or siluer iudging it a folly to esteem of that mettal which could not serue for mechanicall instruments Their weapons were stones and staues They shaued their heads with certaine sharpe stones like to 〈◊〉 The women would not willingly nurse their owne children but caused them to be suckled by goates They were and are at this day delighted with a kinde of dance which they vse also in Spaine and in other places and because it tooke originall from thence it is called The Canaries From hence also they bring certaine birds which sing at all times of the yeere The greatest of all these isles is the Gran Canaria containing fower-score and ten miles in circuit and it hath to the number of nine thousand inhabitants Tenerif is not altogither so great This is esteemed one of the highest islands in the world by reason of a mountaine therein of the forme of a diamond being as it is reported fifteene leagues high it may be seene more then threescore leagues off Hierro hath neither spring nor well but is miraculously furnished with water by a cloud which ouer-spreadeth a tree from whence distilleth so much moisture as sufficeth both for men and cattell This cloud ariseth an hower or two before the sunne and is dissolued two howers after sunne rising The water falleth into a ponde made at the foote of the tree The isle of Palma is little but beautifull and abundant in sugar wine flesh and cheese wherefore such ships as go from Spaine to Terra firma and Brasil do there ordinarily prouide themselues of fresh victuall It is from Lisbon a thousand miles by sea being much subiect to tempests and especially those which come from the northwest Of these islands Lançarota Hierro and Gomera are in the hands of priuate men the others belong to the crowne Of the Isles of Madera and Puerto santo MAdera is the greatest and most principal of all the isles in the Atlantick Ocean It standeth in two and thirtie degrees and an halfe fortie miles to the southwest of Puerto santo So it is called because at the first discouerie thereof it was all ouergrowen with mightie thick woods Wherfore to waste the said woods and to make it fit to be manured the first discouerers set them on fire which continued burning as some report for the space of certaine yeeres together whereupon it grew so exceeding fertile that of corne it yeeldeth sixtie folde for one and for a certaine space the fifte part of the sugars amounted yeerely to threescore thousand Arrouas one of which Arrouas containeth fiue and twentie pounds of sixteene ounces the pound but now it cometh not to the one halfe of that reckoning This isle containeth in compasse an hundred sixtie miles It is dided into foure regions or quarters that is to say Comerico Santa Cruz Funcial and Camara de los Lobos It aboundeth with water and besides diuiuers sundry fountaines it hath eight small riuers which make it as fruitfull and pleasant as a garden It yeeldeth euery thing in such perfection that Cadamosta in regard of their excellency affirmeth all commodities which are there gathered to be gold It produceth infinite store of fruits excellent wines and sugars which cannot be matched Heere is likewise great abundance of cedars whereof are made fine chestes and other works of account for which purpose there are diuers sawing milles vpon the foresaid riuers This isle is very scarce of oile and of corne The head or principall citie hereof is Funciall being the seat of an archbishop who hath 8000. ducates of reuenue Here are two fortresses built which command the hauen Fortie miles to the northeast of Madera lieth the isle of Puerto santo so called
camels backs At this towne of Suez they haue no fresh water but all their water is brought them from a place sixe miles distant vpon camels backs being notwithstanding brackish and bitter The western shore of the Red sea is inhabited with people called in old time Troglodytae which at this present do all of them yeelde obedience to the great Turke who considering that the fleets of the Portugales entered very often into the Red sea and were there receiued by the subiects of Prete Gianni and did him great domage hath thereupon taken occasion not onely to conquer the Troglodytae but also to wast and subdue a great part of Barnagasso the most Northerlie prouince of the said Prete So that the audacious attempts of the Portugales in those partes haue bred two most dangerous and bad effects the one is that the Arabians haue most strongly fortified all their sea-townes which before lay naked and without fortification the other for that the Turke also hath bin occasioned thereby to make warre against the Prete Wherefore they ought not to haue vndertaken any such enterprise but with full resolution and sufficient forces to accomplish the same for lesser attempts serue to no other end but onely to rouze and arme the enimie which was before secure and quiet Neither is it heere to be omitted that in the foresaide sea a man can saile in no ships nor barks but only those of the great Turke or at least with his licence paying vnto him for tribute a good part of the fraight For this purpose he hath certaine Magazines or store-houses of timber which is brought partly from the gulfe of Satalia and partly from Nicomedia and other places vpon the Euxin sea vnto Rosetto and Alexandria from whence it is afterward transported to Cairo and thence to Suez This sea is called the Red sea not in regard that the waters thereofbe all red but as some thinke from certaine red rushes which growe vpon the shore and as others are of opinion from a kinde of red earth which in sundry places it hath at the bottome which earth dieth not the very substance of the water red but by transparence causeth it especially neere the shore to appeere of that colour Africa Troglodytica THat sandie barren and desert part of Africa which lieth betweene Nilus and the Red sea especially to the south of the tropike was in old times inhabited by the Troglodytae a people so called bicause of their dwelling in caues vnder the ground Along this westerne coast of the Red sea runneth a ridge of mountaines which being an occasion that the inland riuers can not fall into the saide sea they are forced to discharge themselues into Nilus The foresaide mountaines and sea coast are now inhabited by Mahumetans being partly Arabians and partly Turkes which not many yeeres ago haue attempted to saile that sea and to inuade the regions adioining The naturall inhabitants are a rude barbarous people and very poore and beggerly The chiefe places of habitation are Corondol a speciall good porte Alcosser a place well knowne bicause that neere vnto it the saide mountaines open themselues and giue passage to the bringing in of the fruits and commodities of Abassia Suachen esteemed one of the principall ports in all the streights and being made by an island Here resideth the Bassa of the great Turke which is called the gouernour of Abassia with three thousand soldiers or thereabout Next followeth Ercoco the onely hauen towne of the Prete lying ouer against the little isle of Mazua and heere the mountaines make an other opening or passage for transporting of victuals out of the lande of the saide Prete Ianni From hence almost to the very entrance of the Red sea the coast is at this present vninhabited forlorne and desert Likewise from Suachen to Mazua is a continuall woode the trees whereof are but of small woorth Iust within the saide entrance standeth the towne and port of Vela vnder the iurisdiction of the king of Dancali a Moore Vpon all this west shore of the Red sea as likewise vpon the contrary east shore scarcitie of water is the cause why there are so fewe and so small places of habitation and the people runne and flocke togither where they may finde any pit or fountaine of water Some curious reader might here expect because I haue nowe passed so neere the frontiers of Egypt that I should make an exact description of that most famous and fruitefull prouince and likewise of the great city of Alcair and of the inundation and decrease of Nilus all which because they are expressed in most orient liuelie colours by our author Iohn Leo I should shew my selfe both iniurious to him and tedious to all iudiciall readers in anticipating and forestalling that before the beginning of his booke which he so neere the end doth in such large and particular wise intreate of Now therefore let vs proceed to the vpper or inner Ethiopia beginning with the first and most northerly prouince thereof called Nubia Nubia PAssing therefore westward from the Island of Siene you enter into the prouince of Nubia bordering on the west vpon Gaoga eastward vpon the riuer Nilus towards the North vpon Egypt and southward vpon the desert of Goran The inhabitants thereof called by Strabo 〈◊〉 liue at this present as Francisco Aluarez reporteth a most miserable and wretched kinde of life for hauing lost the sinceritie and light of the gospel they do embrace infinite corruptions of the Iewish and Mahumetan religions At the same time when the foresaid Aluarez was in Abassia there came certaine messengers out of Nubia to make suit vnto the Prete that he would send them priests and such persons as might preach and administer the sacraments vnto them But he returned answere that he coulde not in regard of the scarcitie of great cler-giemen in his dominions The said messengers reported that the Nubians had sent often to Rome for a bishop but being afterward by the inuasions of the Moores and the calamitie of warre cut short of that assistance they fell for want of teachers and ministers into extreme ignorance of Christian religion and by little and little were infected with the impious and abominable sects of the Iewes and Mahumetans Some Portugals trauailing to those parts sawe many churches destroied by the handes of the Arabians and in some places the pictures of saints painted vpon the wals They are gouerned by women and call their Queene Gaua Their principall citie called Dangala and consisting of about ten thousand housholds is a place of great traffike bicause it is so neere vnto Egypt and the riuer Nilus All their other habitations are villages and base cottages Their houses are built of claie and couered with strawe The chiefe commodities of this region are rice stone-sugar sanders iuorie for they take many elephants as likewise abundance of ciuet and golde in great plentie The countrey is for the most part sandie howbeit there
legions of soldiers which this emperour for the defence of his great estate is forced to maintaine his Amazones or women warriers before mentionied are the most valiant being indeed the very sinewes and chiefe strength of all his militarie forces These women after the manner of the ancient Scythish or Asiatike Amazones so much spoken of in histories of former times seare off their left paps that they might not be an hinderance vnto them in their shooting They are most expert in warlike stratagems and swift of foote Their weapons are bowes and arrowes At certaine times for generations sake they accompany with men sending the male children home to their fathers but keeping their daughters vnto themselues They inhabite towards the west not farre from the beginning of Nilus in certaine places which themselues make choise of and which are graunted vnto them by the fauour of the Emperour This empire of Monomotapa comprehendeth not onely the foresaid great island but stretcheth it selfe farther also toward the cape of Buena esperanca as farre as the kingdomes of Butua or Toroa which being gouerned by particular lords do acknowledge Monomotapa for their soueraigne Throughout all this emperours dominions is found infinite quantitie of gold in the earth in the rockes and in the riuers The gold-mines of this countrey neerest vnto Sofala are those of Manica vpon a plaine enuironed with mountaines and those also in the prouince of Matuca which is inhabited by the people called Battonghi and situate betweene the Equinoctiall line and the Tropique of Capricorne These mines are distant from Sofala betweene the space of 300. and sixe hundred miles but those of the prouinces of Boro and Quiticui are fifteene hundred miles distant towards the west Others there are also in the kingdomes of Toroa or Butua so that from hence or from Sofala or from some other part of Monomotapa some are of opinion that Salomons gold for the adorning of the temple at Ierusalem was brought by sea A thing in truth not very vnlikely for here in Toroa and in diuers places of Monomotapa are till this day remaining manie huge and ancient buildings of timber lime and stone being of singular workemanship the like whereof are not to be found in all the prouinces there abouts Heere is also a mightie wall of fiue and twentie spannes thicke which the people asoribe to the workemanship of the diuell being accounted from Sofala fiue hundred and ten miles the neerest way All other houses throughout this empire as is aforesaid consist of timber claie and thatch And heere I may boldly affirme that the ancient buildings of this part of Africa along the coast of the east Indies may not onely be compared but euen preferred before the buildings of Europe The authors of which ancient monuments are vnknowen but the later African buildings haue beene erected by the Arabians In the time of Sebastian king of Portugale the emperour of Monomotapa and many of his nobles were baptized howbeit afterward being seduced by certaine Moores hee put Gonsaluo Silua to death who conuerted him to the Christian religion Whereupon Sebastian king of Portugall sent against him an armie of sixteene thousand consisting for the most part of gentlemen and men of qualitie vnder the conduct of Francisco Barretto The Monomotapa being afraid of the Portugall forces offered Barretto as good and acceptable conditions of peace as might be desired but he not contented with reason was quite ouerthrowne not by his enimies but by the vnholesome aire of Ethiopia and by the manifold diseases which consumed his people Cafraria the fift generall part of the lower Ethiopia CAfraria or the land of the Cafri we esteeme to be both the coasts and inlands of the extreame southerly point of Africa beginning from the riuer Magnice and thence extending by Cabo da pescaria Terra do Natal Bahia da lagoa Bahia fermosa about the cape of Buena esperança by the bay called Agoada Saldanha and thence Northward along the westerne coast of Africa as far as Cabo Negro or the blacke cape which is situate verie neere vnto eighteene degrees of Southerly latitude The saide Cape of Buena esperança is deuided into three smaller headlands or capes The westermost being called Cabo de buena esperança or The cape of good hope after the name of the whole promontorie and being cut from the rest of the firme land The middlemost is named Cabo falso because the Portugales in their voiage homewards from the east Indies haue sometimes mistaken this for the true cape beforementioned betweene which two capes runneth into the sea a mightie riuer called by the Portugales Rio dolce where their caraks often take in fresh water and by the naturall inhabitants Camissa which springeth out of a small lake called Gale situate among The mountaines of the moon so much celebrated by ancient geographers The third and eastermost cape stretching farthest into the sea is called Cabo das Agulhas or the cape of Needles because there the needles of dialles touched with the loadstone stand directly North without any variation either to the east or to the west betweene this cape and the foresaid westermost cape which ly forth into the sea like two hornes is the bredth of this mightie promontorie containing about fiue and twentie leagues the length whereof from the riuer of Fernando Poo where it beginneth to iuttie forth into the sea along the westerne coast southward to the cape das Agulhas amounteth to two thousand two hundred Italian miles and from Cabo das Agulhas along the easterne shore northward to Cape Guardafu are three thousand three hundred of the same miles This cape at the first discouerie thereof was called by Nauigators The Lyon of the sea Cabo tormentoso or The tēpestuous cape not so much as I take it for the dangerous and stormie seas more about this cape then any other but partly in regard of the chargeable dangerous and long trauels of the Portugals before they could attaine vnto it and partly bicause of the great compasse which in their voiages outward they are constrained to fetch for the doubling thereof and partly also in regard of some tempestuous and stormie weather wherewith they haue beene encountered at this Cape which notwithstanding at certaine times is an ordinarie matter vpon all shores and promontories ouer the face of the whole earth And albeit some will not come within sight of this cape but keepe a great distance off for feare of the dangerous seas beating thereupon as namely Francis de Almeida who sailed aboue an hundred leagues to the south in fortie degrees of latitude Pedro de Agnaia in fortie fiue and Vasco Carualho in fortie seuen where in the moneth of Iuly eight of his men died for cold yet we finde by the late and moderne experience of sir Francis Drake master Candish master Lancaster in his returne from the east Indies and of the Hollanders in their nauigations thither begun in the yeere
coniecturing thereby that we were not farre distant from some habitation of people Wherefore out of hand we directed our course thitherwards being constrained to leade our horses through thicke woods and ouer steepe and craggie rocks to the great hazard and perill of our liues And at length after many labours wee found shepherds in a certaine caue who hauing with much paines brought their cattell in there had kindled a lustie fire for themselues which they were constrained by reason of the extreme cold daily to sit by Who vnderstanding our companie to be Arabians feared at the first that we would do them some mischiefe but afterward being perswaded that we were driuen thither by extremitie of cold and being more secure of vs they gaue vs most friendly entertainment For they set bread flesh and cheese before vs wherewith hauing ended our suppers we laid vs along each man to sleepe before the fire All of vs were as yet exceeding cold but especially my selfe who before with great horrour and trembling was stripped starke naked And so we continued with the said shepherds for the space of two daies all which time we could not set foorth by reason of continuall snowe But the thirde day so soone as they saw it leaue snowing with great labour they began to remooue that snowe which lay before the doore of their caue Which done they brought vs to our horses which we found well prouided of hay in another caue Being all mounted the shepherds accompanied vs some part of our way shewing vs where the snowe was of least depth and yet euen there it touched our horse bellies This day was so cleere that the sunne tooke away all the cold of the two daies going before At length entring into a certaine village neere vnto Fez we vnderstood that our cartes which passed by were ouerwhelmed with the snowe Then the Arabians seeing no hope of recompence for all the paines they had taken for they had defended our carts from theeues carried a certaine Iew of our companie with them as their captiue who had lost a great quantitie of dates by reason of the snowe aforesaid to the end that he might remaine as their prisoner till he had satisfied for all the residue From my selfe they tooke my horse and committed mee vnto the wide world and to fortune From whence riding vpon a mule within three daies I arriued at Fez where I heard dolefull newes of our merchants and wares that they were cast away in the snowe Yea they thought that I had beene destrosed with the rest but it seemed that God would haue it otherwise Now hauing finished the historie of mine owne misfortunes let vs returne vnto that discourse where we left Beyond Atlas there are certaine hot dry places moistened with very few riuers but those which flow out of Atlas it selfe some of which riuers running into the Libyan deserts are dried vp with the sands but others do ingender lakes Neither shal you finde in these countries any places apt to bring forth corne notwithstanding they haue dates in abundance There are also certaine other trees bearing fruit but in so small quantitie that no increase nor gaine is to be reaped by them You may see likewise in those partes of Numidia which border vpon Libya certaine barren hils destitute of trees vpon the lower parts whereof growe nothing but vnprofitable thornes and shrubs Amongst these mountaines you shall finde no riuers nor springs nor yet any waters at all except it be in certaine pits and wels almost vnknowen vnto the inhabitants of that region Moreouer in sixe or seuen daies iourney they haue not one drop of water but such as is brought vnto them by certaine merchants vpon camels backes And that especially in those places which lye vpon the maine road from Fez to Tombuto or from Tremizen to Agad That iourney likewise is verie dangerous which is of late found out by the merchants of our daies from Fez to Alcair ouer the deserts of Libya were it not for an huge lake in the way vpon the bankes whereof the Sinites and the Goranites doe inhabite But in the way which leadeth from Fez to Tombuto are certaine pits enuironed either with the hides or bones of camels Neither doe the merchants in sommer time passe that way without great danger of their liues for oftentimes it falleth out when the south winde bloweth that all those pits are stopped vp with sande And so the merchants when they can finde neither those pits nor any mention thereof must needes perish for extreame thirst whose carcases are afterward found lying scattered here and there and scorched with the heat of the sunne One remedie they haue in this case which is verie strange for when they are so grieuously oppressed with thirst they kill foorthwith some one of their camels out of whose bowels they wring and expresse some quantitie of water which water they they drinke and carrie about with them till they haue either found some pit of water or till they pine away for thirst In the desert which they cal Azaoad there are as yet extant two monuments built of marble vpon which marble is an Epitaphe engrauen signifying that one of the said monuments represented a most rich merchant and the other a carrier or transporter of wares Which wealthie merchant bought of the carrier a cup of water for tenne thousand ducates and yet this pretious water could suffice neither of them for both were consumed with thirst This desert likewise containeth sundry kinds of beasts which in the fourth part of this discourse concerning Libya and in our treatise of the beasts of Africa we will discourse of more at large I was determined to haue written more cōcerning those things which happened vnto my self the rest of my company trauelling through the Libyan deserts vnto Gualata For somtime being sore a thirst we could not find one drop of water partly because our guide strayed out of the direct course and partly because our enemies had cut off the springs and chanels of the foresaid pits and wels Insomuch that the small quantitie of water which we found was sparingly to be kept for that which would scarce suffice vs for fiue daies we were constrained to keepe for ten But if I should commit to writing all things woorthy of memorie a whole yeare were not sufficient for me The lande of Negros is extreme hot hauing some store of moysture also by reason of the riuer of Niger running through the midst thereof All places adioining vpon Niger doe mightily abound both with cattle corne No trees I saw there but only certain great ones bearing a kind of bitter fruit like vnto a chestnut which in their language is called Goron Likewise in the same regions grow Cocos cucumbers onions and such kinde of herbes and fruits in great abundance There are no mountaines at all either in Libya or in the land of Negros howbeit diuers fennes and lakes
mountaine of Iron commonly called Gebelelhadih THis mountaine is not to be accounted any part of Atlas for it beginneth northward from the Ocean and southward it extendeth to the riuer of Tensift and diuideth Hea from Duccala and Maroco The inhabitants are called Regraga Vpon this hill are waste deserts cleere fountaines and abundance of hony and of oyle Arganick but of corne and pulse great scarcitie vnlesse they make prouision thereof out of Duccala Few rich men are heere to be founde but they are all most deuout and religious after their manner Vpon the toppe of this mountaine are many Hermites which liue onely vpon the fruits of certaine trees and drinke water They are a most faithfull and peaceable nation Whosoeuer among them is apprehended for theft or any other crime is foorthwith banished the countrey for certaine yeeres So great is their simplicitie that whatsoeuer they see the Hermites do they esteeme it as a miracle They are much oppressed with the often inuasions of their neighbours the Arabians wherefore this quiet nation choose rather to pay yeerely tribute then to maintaine warre Against the saide Arabians Mahumet the King of Fez directed his troupes insomuch that they were constrained to leaue their owne countrey and to flee into the mountaines But the people of the mountaines being aided with Mahumet his forces vanquished the Arabians so that three thousand of them were slaine and fower-score of their horses were brought vnto K. Mahumet After which prosperous battaile the said mountainers remained free from all tribute I my selfe while these things were a dooing serued the king It was in the yeere of the Hegeira 921. that is to say in the yeere of our Lord 1512. When this people vndertake any warre they bring commonly into the fielde an armie of twelue thousand men Of the region of Sus. NOw comes the region of Sus to be considered of being situate beyond Atlas ouer against the territorie of Hea that is to say in the extreme part of Africa Westward it beginneth from the Ocean sea and southward from the sandie deserts on the north it is bounded with the vtmost towne of Hea and on the east with that mightie riuer whereof the whole region is named Wherefore beginning from the west wee will describe all those cities and places which shall seeme to be woorthy of memorie Of the towne of Messa THree small townes were built by the ancient Africans vpon the sea shoare each being a mile distant from other in that very place where Atlas takes his beginning all which three are called by one onely name to wit Messa and are enuironed with a wall builte of white stones Through these three runneth a certaine great riuer called Sus in their language this riuer in sommer is so destitute of water that a man may easilie without perill passe ouer it on foote but it is not so in the winter time They haue then certaine small barkes which are not meete to saile vpon this riuer The place where the foresaide three townes are situate aboundeth greatly with palme trees neither haue they in a manner any other wealth and yet their dates are but of small woorth because they will not last aboue one yeere All the inhabitants exercise husbandry especially in the moneths of September and Aprill what time their riuer encreaseth And in May their corne groweth to ripenes But if in the two foresaide moneths the riuer encreaseth not according to the woonted manner their haruest is then nothing woorth Cattell are very scarce among them Not farre from the sea side they haue a temple which they greatly esteeme and honour Out of which Historiographers say that the same prophet of whom their great Mahumet foretold shoulde proceed Yea some there are which sticke not to affirme that the prophet Ionas was cast foorth by the whale vpon the shoare of Messa when as he was sent to preach vnto the Niniuites The rafters and beames of the saide temple are of whales bone And it is a vsuall thing amongst them to see whales of an huge and monstrous bignes cast vp dead vpon their shore which by reason of their hugenes and strange deformitie may terrifie and astonish the beholders The common people imagine that by reason of a certaine secret power and vertue infused from heauen by God vpon the saide temple each whale which woulde swim past it can by no meanes escape death Which opinion had almost perswaded me especially when at my being there I my selfe sawe a mightie whale cast vp vnlesse a certaine Iewe had tolde me that it was no such strange matter for quoth he there lie certaine rockes two miles into the sea on either side and as the sea mooues so the whales mooue also and if they chaunce to light vpon a rock they are easily wounded to death and so are cast vpon the next shore This reason more preuailed with me then the opinion of the people My selfe I remember being in this region at the same time when my Lord the Seriffo bare rule ouer it was inuited by a certaine gentleman and was by him conducted into a garden where he shewed me a whales rib of so great a size that lying vpon the grounde with the conuexe or bowing side vpwarde in manner of an arche it resembled a gate the hollow or inwarde part whereof aloft we could not touch with our heads as we rode vpon our camels backs this rib he said had lien there aboue an hundred yeeres and was kept as a miracle Here may you finde vpon the sea-shore great store of amber which the Portugal Fessan merchāts fetch from thence for a very meane price for they scarcely pay a duckat for a whole ounce of most choise and excellent amber Amber as some thinke is made of whales dung and as others suppose of their Sperma or seede which being consolidate and hardened by the sea is cast vpon the next shore Of Teijeut an ancient towne of Sus. TEijeut being as the report goeth built by the ancient Africans in a most pleasant place is diuided into three partes whereof each one is almost a mile distant from another and they all make a triangle or three-square This Teijeut containeth fower thousand families and standeth not farre from the riuer of Sus. The soile adiacent is most fruitfull for graine for barlie and for all kinde of pulse They haue here likewise a good quantitie of sugar growing howbeit because they know not how to presse boyle and trim it they cannot haue it but blacke and vnsauourie wherefore so much as they can spare they sell vnto the merchants of Maroco of Fez and of the land of Negros Of dates likewise they haue plentie neither vse they any money besides the gold which is digged out of their owne natiue soile The women weare vpon their heads a peece of cloth woorth a duckat Siluer they haue none but such as their women adorne themselues with The least iron-coine
the kings brother will make a truce Which the Portugals no sooner yeelded vnto but the sauage and merciles Moores put them euery one to the sword sauing three or fower onely who were saued at the request of a captaine in the Moores campe The Portugals Generall being sore dismaied with this slaughter for thereby he had lost all his principal soldiers craued aide of a certaine other captaine which by chance arriued there with a mightie fleete being accompanied with a great number of noblemen and gentlemen Howbeit he was so hindred by the Moores who daily did him all the villanie they could and sunke diuers of his ships that he was not able to performe that which he desired In the meane space newes was published among the Portugals of the king of Spaines death whereupon diuers ships were prouided and many Portugals were sent into Spaine Likewise the captaine of the said new forte seeing himselfe destitute of all succour leauing the forte embarked himselfe in those ships which then lay vpon the riuer But the greatest part of the fleete were cast away at their setting foorth and the residue to escape the Moores shot ran themselues a-ground on the flats and shouldes of the riuer and were there miserably slaine by the Moores Many of their ships were here burnt and their ordinance sunke in the sea So many Christians were then slaine some say to the number of ten thousand that the sea-sea-water in that place continued red with their blood for three daies after Soone after the Moores tooke vp fower hundred great peeces of brasse out of the sea This huge calamitie befell the Portugals for two causes first because they would with such a small number make so rash an assault vpon the Moores whom they knew to be so strong and secondly whereas the Portugall-king might at his owne cost haue sent another fleete for a new supply he would by no meanes ioine his owne people and Castilians together For by reason of the diuersitie of counsels and of people there is nothing more pernicious then for an armie to consist of two nations yea the Moores certainly expect the vpper hand when they are to fight with such an armie I my selfe was present in the foresaid warre and sawe each particular accident a little before my voyage to Constantinople Of the towne called Tefelfelt THis towne is situate vpon a sandie plaine fifteene miles eastward of Mahmora and almost twelue miles from the Ocean sea Not far from this towne runneth a certaine riuer on both sides whereof are thicke woods haunted with more fierce and cruell lions then the last before mentioned which greatly endanger those trauellers that haue occasion to lodge thereabout Without this towne vpon the high way to Fez standeth an olde cottage with a plancherd chamber therein here the mulettiers and carriers are said to take vp their lodging but the doore of the said cottage they stop as sure as they can with boughes and thornes Some affirme that this rotten cottage while the towne was inhabited was a most stately inne But it was defaced in the foresaid war of Sahid A description of Mecnase THis towne was so called after the name of the Mecnasites who were the founders thereof From Fez it is 36. miles about fiftie from Sella and from Atlas almost 15. miles distant It is exceeding rich and containeth families to the number of six thousand The inhabitants hereof while they dwelt in the fields liued a most peaceable life howbeit at length they fell to dissension among themselues and the weaker part hauing all their cattell taken from them and hauing nothing in the fields to maintaine their estaste agreed among themselues to build this citie of Mecnase in a most beautifull plaine Neere vnto this towne runneth a little riuer and within three miles thereof are most pleasant gardens replenished with all manner of fruits Quinces there are of great bignes and of a most fragrant smell and pomegranates likewise which being very great and most pleasant in taste haue no stones within them and yet they are sold exceeding cheape Likewise here are plentie of damascens of white plums and of the fruite called Iujuba which being dried in the sunne they eate in the spring and carrie a great number of them to Fez. They haue likewise great store of figs and grapes which are not to be eaten but while they are greene new for their figs being dried become so brittle that they waste all to powder and their grapes when they are made raisins prooue vnsauorie Peaches and oranges they haue in so great quantitie that they make no store of them but their limons are waterish and vnpleasant Oliues are sold among them for a duckat and a halfe the Cantharo which measure containeth a hundred pounds Italian Moreouer their fields yeeld them great plentie of hempe and flaxe which they sell at Fez and Sela. In this towne are most stately and beautifull temples three colleges and ten bath-stoues Euery monday they haue a great market without the towne-walles whereunto the bordering Arabians doe vsually resort Here are oxen sheepe and other such beastes to be sold butter and wooll are here plentifull and at an easie rate In my time the king bestowed this towne vpon a certaine noble man of his where as much fruits are reaped as in the third part of the whole kingdome of Fez. This towne hath beene so afflicted by warres that the yeerely tribute thereof hath beene diminished sometime fortie thousand and fiftie thousand duckats and somtimes more and I haue red that it hath beene besieged for sixe or seuen yeeres together In my time the gouernour thereof the king of Fez his cozen relying vpon the fauour of the people rebelled against his kinsman and soueraigne Whereupon the Fessan king with a great armie besieged the towne two moneths together and because it would not yeeld so wasted and destroied all the countrie thereabout that the gouernour lost by that means fiue and twentie thousand duckats of yeerely reuenue What then shall we thinke of the sixe and seuen yeeres siege before mentioned At length those citizens which fauoured the king of Fez opened the gates and stoutly resisting the contrarie faction gaue the king and his soldiers entrance Thus by their meanes the king wan the citie carrying home to Fez the rebellious gouernour captiue who within fewe daies escaped from him This most strong and beautifull citie hath many faire streetes whereinto by conducts from a fountaine three miles distant is conueied most sweet and holesome water which serueth all the whole citie The mils are two miles distant from the towne The inhabitants are most valiant warlike liberall and ciuill people but their wits are not so refined as others some of them are merchants some artificers and the residue gentlemen They count it vnseemely for any man to send an horse-lode of seede to his husbandman or farmer They are at continuall iarre with the citizens of Fez
change the ignominious name of the place which when the king had condescended vnto they caused according to their custome a companie of rams to be slaine and certaine bladders and vessels to be filled with milke to serue for the kings breakfast the morrow after But because the said vessels were very large 〈◊〉 consulted together to put in halfe milke and halfe water hoping that 〈◊〉 king should neuer perceiue it The day following albeit the king was not very hastie of his breakfast yet his seruants vrging him thereunto he perceiued the milke to be halfe water whereat smiling he said Friends that which nature hath giuen no man can 〈◊〉 away And with that saying he departed Now this castle is razed to the ground vtterly destroied but the territorie thereof is occupied by certaine miserable Arabians Of the region of Beni Guariten THe region of Beni Guariten lieth eastward of 〈◊〉 about eighteene miles It is altogether hillie and mountainous abounding with all kind of pulse and with store of good pasture and medow-ground and containing almost two hundred villages Their houses are in all places rudely built and the inhabitants are base people neither haue they any vineyards or gardens nor any tree that beareth fruit This region the king of Fez vsually diuideth among his youngest brothers and sisters The inhabitants haue great store of corne and wooll and albeit they are passing rich yet go they very meanly attired they ride onely vpon asses for which cause they are had in great derision by their neighbours Of the region called Aseis THis region is distant to the west of Fez almost twentie miles and is by the inhabitants called Aseis it consisteth of a perpetuall plaine wherupon some coniecture that it hath had in olde time many villages and castles whereof now there is no mention at all nor so much as a signe of any building onely the names of places yet remaine This region extendeth westward eighteene and southward almost twenty miles The soile is most fertile and bringeth foorth blacke and small graines Wels and fountaines are here very rare It was woont to be subiect vnto certaine Arabian husbandmen but now it is assigned by the king vnto the gouernor of that citie Of mount Togat THis mountaine standeth almost seuen miles westward of Fez being very high and but of small bredth Eastward it extendeth to the riuer Bunafe being about fiue miles distant All that side which looketh towards Fez and the top thereof and that part which lieth ouer against Essich are woonderfully replenished with vines and with all kinde of graine Vpon the top of this mountaine are diuers caues and hollow places where the searchers of treasure suppose that the Romans hid vp their wealth as we haue before signified The said treasure-searchers so soone as the vintage is past vse to take great paines in digging of the rocke and albeit they finde nothing yet will they not giue ouer All the fruits of this mountaine are most vnpleasant both to the 〈◊〉 and to the taste and yet they are sooner ripe then the fruits of other places thereabout Of mount Guraigura THis mountaine being neer vnto Atlas is almost fortie miles distant from Fez. From hence springeth a certaine riuer which running westward falleth into the riuer Bath This mountaine standeth betweene two most large and spatious plaines whereof the one to Fez ward is as we haue before said called Aseis and the other lying southward is named Adecsen Which Adecsen is most fertile both for corne and pasture And they are possessed by certaine Arabians called Zuhair being vassals vnto the king of Fez but the king assigneth for the most part this plaine vnto his brother or some other of his kinsfolkes out of which they yeerely gather ten thousand duckats The foresaid Arabians are continually molested by certaine other Arabians called Elhusein which liue in the deserts for in summer-time they vsually inuade the plaines wherefore the king of Fez for the defence of this region maintaineth a certaine number of horsemen and of crossebowes This plaine is watered with christall-fountaines and pleasant riuers Neere vnto the said plaine are diuers woods and forrests where lions keepe which are so gentle and tame that any man may driue them away with a staffe neither doe they any harme at all Now let vs proceede vnto the description of Azgara A description of Azgara one of the seuen principall regions belonging to the kingdome of Fez. THis region bordereth northward vpon the Ocean-sea westward vpon the riuer of Buragrag eastward vpon the mountaines partly of Gumera partly of Zarhon and partly of Zalag and southward it is inclosed with the riuer of Bunasar This region consisteth altogether of plaine ground being a most fertile soile and in olde time very populous and adorned with many townes and castles which are now so defaced and ruined by reason of wars that small villages onely are left for the inhabitants to hide their heads in The length of this region is about fowerscore and the bredth almost three score miles Through the midst thereof runneth the riuer of Subu The Arabian inhabitants are called Elculoth being descended from the familie of Muntafic they are subiect to the king of Fez and pay vnto him large tributes howbeit they are rich and curious in their apparell and are such valiant soldiers that the king of Fez leuieth his whole armie of them onely when he hath any warres of great moment to atchieue This region abundantly furnisheth not onely Fez but all the mountaines of Gumera with victuals horses and other cattell and here the king of Fez vsually remaineth all winter and the spring by reason of the temperature and holesomnes of the aire Here is great plentie of roes and hares and yet very few woods Of Giumha a towne in Azgara THis towne the Africans built in our time by a riuers side vpon that plaine ouer which the way lieth from Fez to the citie of Harais and it is distant from Fez about thirtie miles It was in times past very populous but now it lieth so desolate by reason of the war of Sahid that it serueth onely for caues and receptacles for the Arabians to lay vp their corne in for the sauegard whereof they pitch certaine tents neere vnto the place Of the towne of Harais THis towne was founded by the ancient Africans vpon the Ocean sea shore neere vnto the mouth of the riuer Luccus one side thereof adioining vpon the said riuer and the other side vpon the maine Ocean When the Moores were lords of Arzilla and Tangia this towne was well inhabited but those two townes being woon by the Christians Harais remained destitute of inhabitants almost twentie yeeres together howbeit afterward the king of Fez his sonne fearing the Portugals inuasion caused it strongly to bee fortified and kept with a perpetuall garrison The passage vnto this towne by the riuers mouth is very dangerous and difficult Likewise the kings sonne caused a castle
nothing but water in the said fountaines they returned backe againe the same way that they came and they had scarce gone halfe way but their other light also was blowen out with a sudden blast Afterward seeking earnestly vp and downe and being wearie of manie falles that they caught among the rockes they found that there was no hope of returne wherefore in this desperate case committing themselues with teares into the hands of God they vowed if they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this danger neuer to aduenture any more They that stood at the 〈◊〉 mouth being ignorant of their companions mishappe expected their 〈◊〉 and hauing staide ouer long at length they let downe themselues by the rope and began with lights to seeke their fellowes making a great noise and at length found them heauie and sad But the third who was wandring vp and downe those darke places they could by no meanes finde wherefore leauing him they returned foorth of the caue And he that was left behinde heard at length a noise like the barking of little dogs and shaping his course toward them he found immediately fower strange and as it should seeme new-borne beasts after which followed the damme being not much vnlike to a shee-woolfe sauing that she was bigger wherefore he began exceedingly to feare howbeit there was no danger for being about to flee the beast came towards him fawning gently vpon him with her taile And so at length after long seeking he found the holes mouth with great ioy and escaped the danger For within a while he saide that he began to see some glimmering of light as they do which haue long bin in the darke But after a certaine time this caue was filled with water vp to the top Of the mountaine of rauens called Cunaigel Gherben THis mountaine standeth verie neere the former and is full of woods and lions Here is no citie nor any other place of habitation perhaps by reason of the extreme coldnes of the place From this mountaine runneth a certaine little riuer and here is a rocke of an exceeding height whereupon keepe infinit swarmes of crowes and rauens which some thinke to haue beene the occasion of the name of this mountaine Sometime the terrible northerly windes bring such abundance of snow vpon this mountaine that such as trauell from Numidia towards Fez loose their liues thereby as hath beene signified in the first booke Euerie sommer the Arabians next inhabiting beeing called Beni Essen vsually resort vnto this mountaine in regard of the coole water and pleasant shadowes notwithstanding they knowe it to be haunted with great store of lions and leopards Of the towne of Tezerghe THis little towne was by the Africans built in manner of a fort vpon the side of a small riuer which runneth by the foote of the foresaid mountaine both the inhabitants and their houses are most base and destitute of all ciuilitie Their fields being enuironed with the mountaines adioyning bring foorth some small quantitie of barley and peaches The inhabitants are all subiect vnto certaine Arabians called Deuil Chusein Of the towne called Vmen Giunaibe THis auncient towne beeing destroyed by the Arabians was situate about twelue miles from Tezerghe vpon the south side of Atlas It is so dangerous a place by reason of the often inuasions of certaine Arabians that none almost dare trauell that way There lyeth a way neere this towne which a man may not passe without dauncing and leaping vnlesse he will fall into an ague the certaintie where of I haue heard many auouch Of mount Beni Merasen THe inhabitants of this exceeding high and colde mountaine haue great plentie of horses and asses here are store of mules likewise which carie wares vp and downe without either bridle or saddle Their houses are built not with walles of stone but of rushes The people are very rich and pay no tribute to the king perhaps in regard of the strong situation of their mountaine Of mount Mesettaza THis mountaine extendeth in length from east to west almost thirtie miles and twelue miles in bredth The west part thereof adioineth vpon the plaine of Edecsen which bordereth vpon Temesna It is like vnto the foresaid mountaine both in regard of the inhabitants and also for plentie of horses and mules At Fez there are great store of learned men which were borne in this mountaine they pay no tribute at all but onely send the king such gifts as themselues please Of the mountaines of Ziz. THese mountaines are thought to haue borrowed their name from a certaine riuer springing out of them Eastward they begin at Mesettaza and extend westward to the mountaines of Tedla and Dedis southward they border vpon that part of Numidia which is called Segelmesse and northward vpon the plaines of 〈◊〉 and Guregra in length they containe an hundred and in bredth almost fortie miles in number they are fifteene being extremely cold and difficult to ascend and sending foorth many streames of water The inhabitants are called Sanaga and are men most patient of all boisterous and cold weather They weare but one coate at all seasons of the yeere ouer which they cast a kinde of cloke or mantle their legs and 〈◊〉 they wrap in certaine clothes as it were in swathing bands and they goe at all times bare-headed In this mountaine are great store of mules asses and other cattell but very few deserts The inhabitants are a most lewd and villanous generation being wholy addicted to theft and robberie They are at continuall dissension with the Arabians and practise daily mischiefes and inconueniences against them and to the end they may prouoke them to greater furie they will sometimes throwe their camels downe headlong from the top of some high mountaine In these mountains there happeneth a certaine strange and incredible matter for there are serpents so familiar with men that at dinner-time they wil come like dogs cats and gather vp the crums vnder the table neither wil they hurt any body vnlesse they be offered some iniurie The walles of their houses are made of chalke and the roofes are couered with thatch There are also another kinde of inhabitants in these mountaines who possesse more droues of cattell then the former and dwell for the most part in cottages made of rushes And these carrie vnto Segelmese butter and wool to be sold but at that time only when the Arabians inhabite the deserts for it often falleth out that they are encoūtred by them spoiled of their goods These people are most valiant warriours for they will fight euen to the last gaspe rather then be taken of their enemies they carrie fower or fiue iauelins about with them wherewith they know right well how to defend themselues from the enemie They fight alwaies on foote neither can they be vanquished but with a great number of horsemen and they vse to carrie swords and daggers with them also In my time they obtained safe conduct of the Arabians and the Arabians of
Spaine returned with his armie ouer the sea and bent his course towarde Cairaoan And being in the meane space sent for by the letters of Qualid Califa he sailed into Egypt but arriuing at Alexandria it was tolde him by one Hescian brother vnto the saide Califa that the Califa his brother was fallen into a most dangerous disease wherefore he wished him not to goe presently vnto Damasco for feare least if the Califa died in the meane season those rich and sumptuous spoiles should be wasted and dispersed to no ende But Muse little regarding this counsell proceeded on to Damasco and presented all his spoiles to the Califa who within fiue daies after deceased After whom his brother succeeding Califa depriued Muse of his dignitie and substituted one Iezul into his roome whose sonne brother and nephewes succeeding gouerned the citie of Cairaoan till such time as the familie of Qualid was depriued of that dignitie and one Elagleb was appointed lieutenant who gouerned not the towne as a Califa from that time the Mahumetan Califas leauing Damasco remooued vnto Bagaded as we find recorded in a certaine Chronicle After the decease of Elagleb succeeded his sonne and the gouernment remained vnto his posteritie for an hundred threescore and ten yeeres till such time as they were depriued thereof by one Mahdi Califa But at the same time when Elagleb was gouernour the citie of Cairaoan was so increased both with inhabitants and buildings that a towne called Recheda was built next vnto it where the prince with his nobles vsed to remaine In his time also the Isle of Sicilia was woone for Elagleb sent thither a certaine captaine called Halcama who built vpon the said Island a towne in stead of a forte calling it according to his owne name Halcama which name is vsed by the Sicilians euen till this present Afterward this new towne was besieged by certaine people that came to aide the Sicilians Whereupon one Ased was sent with an armie so the Moores forces being augmented they conquered the residue of Sicilia by which meanes the dominions of Cairaoan began woonderfully to increase The citie of Cairaoan standeth vpon a sandie and desert plaine which beareth no trees nor yet any corne at all Corne is brought thither from Susa from Monaster and from Mahdia all which townes are within the space of forty miles About twelue miles from Cairaoan standeth a certaine mountaine called Gueslet where some of the Romaines buildings are as yet extant this mountaine aboundeth with springs of water and carobs which springs runne downe to Cairaoan where otherwise they shoulde haue no water but such as is kept in cesternes Without the wals of this citie raine water is to be found in certaine cesternes onely till the beginning of Iune In sommer time the Arabians vse to resort vnto the plaines adioining vpon this towne who bring great dearth of corne and water but exceeding plentie of dates and flesh with them and that out of Numidia which region is almost an hundred threescore and ten miles distant In this citie for certaine yeeres the studie of the Mahumetan lawe mightily flourished so that heere were the most famous lawyers in all Africa It was at length destroied and replanted againe with newe inhabitants but it coulde neuer attaine vnto the former estate At this present it is inhabited by none but leather-dressers who sende their leather vnto the cities of Numidia and exchange it also for cloth of Europe Howbeit they are so continually oppressed by the king of Tunis that now they are brought vnto extreme miserie Of the citie of Capes THis ancient citie built by the Romaines vpon the Mediterran sea was fortified with most high and stately walles and with a strong castle Iust by it runneth a certaine riuer of hot and salt water It hath continually beene so molested by the Arabians that the inhabitants abandoning their citie resorted vnto certaine plaines replenished with great abundance of dates which by a certaine arte are preserued all the yeere long Heere is also digged out of the grounde a kinde of fruite about the bignes of a beane and in taste resembling an almond This fruite being ordinarie ouer all the kingdome of Tunis is called by the Arabians Habhaziz The inhabitants of the foresaide plaine are blacke people being all of them either fishers or husbandmen Of the towne called El Hamma THis most ancient towne founded also by the Romans and being distant from Capes almost fifteene miles is enuironed with most stately and strong walles and vpon certaine marble stones therein are engrauen diuers monuments of antiquitie The streets and buildings of this towne are verie base and the inhabitants miserable and addicted to robberie Their fields are barren and vnprofitable and will bring foorth nought but certaine vnsauorie dates A mile and a halfe to the south of this towne beginneth a certaine riuer of hot water to spring which being brought thorough the midst of the citie by certaine chanels is so deepe that it will reach vp to a mans nauell howbeit by reason of the extreme heat of the water there are but few that will enter thereinto And yet the inhabitants vse it for drinke hauing set it a cooling almost an whole day At length this riuer not far from the towne maketh a certaine lake which is called the lake of leapers for it is of woonderfull force to heale the disease of leprosie and to cure leprous sores wherefore neere vnto it are diuers cottages of lepers some of whom are restored to their health The saide water tasteth in a manner like brimstone so that it will nothing at all quench a mans thirst whereof I my selfe haue had often triall Of the castle of Machres THe castle of Machres was built by the Africans in my time vpon the entrance of the gulfe of Capes to defend the same region from the inuasion of the enemie It is almost fiue hundred miles distant from the isle of Gerbi All the inhabitants are either weauers shipwrights or fishermen and haue traffick recourse ouer all the foresaid isle They haue al the same language that the people of the isle of Gerbi vse but because they want grounds and possessions al of them saue the weauers liue only vpon theft robbery Of the isle of Gerbior Zerbi where Iohn Leo the Author of this Historie was taken by Italian pirates and carried thence to Rome THis isle being neere vnto the firme land of Africa and consisting of a plaine and sandie ground aboundeth exceedingly with dates vines oliues and other fruits and containeth about eighteen miles in compasse It hath also certaine farmes and granges which are so farre distant asunder that you shall scarce finde two or three in one village Their ground is drie and barren which though it be neuer so well tilled will yeeld but a little barlie And here corne and flesh is alwaies at an 〈◊〉 rate At the sea shore standeth a strong castle wherin the gouernour
vnto Tunis standeth another high and colde mountaine called Zagoan inhabitants heere are none at all but a fewe that tende the Bee-hiues and gather some quantitie of barly Vpon the toppe of this mountaine the Romaines built certaine forts the ruines whereof are yet to be seene hauing 〈◊〉 engrauen vpon them in Latine letters From this mountaine vnto Carthage water is conueighed by certaine passages vnder the ground Of the mountaines of Beni Tefren and Nufusa THese high and colde mountaines are distant from the desert from Gerbi and from Asfacus almost thirtie miles and yeelde very small store of barly The inhabitants being valiant and renouncing the law of Mahumet do follow the doctrine of the patriarke of Cairaoan in most points neither is there any other nation among the Arabians that obserue the same doctrine In Tunis and other cities these people earne their liuing by most base occupations neither dare they openly professe their religion Of mount Garian THis high and cold mountaine containing in length fortie in bredth fifteene miles and being separated from other mountaines by a sandie desert is distant from Tripolis almost fiftie miles It yeeldeth great plentie of barly and of dates which vnlesse they be spent while they are new will soone prooue rotten Heere are likewise abundance of oliues Wherefore from this mountaine vnto Alexandria and other cities there is much oile conueighed There is not better saffron to be found in any part of the worlde besides which in regard of the goodnesse is solde very deere For yeerely tribute there is gathered out of this mountaine threescore thousand ducates and as much saffron as fifteene mules can carrie They are continually oppressed with the exactions of the Arabians and of the king of Tunis They haue certaine base villages vpon this mountaine Of mount Beni Guarid THis mountaine being almost an hundred miles distant from Tripolis is inhabited with most valiant stout people which liue at their owne libertie and are at continual war with the people of the next mountaines of the Numidian desert Of the castle called Casr Acmed THis castle builte vpon the Mediterran sea by a captaine which came with an armie into Africa standeth not farre from Tripolis and was at the last laide waste by the Arabians Of the castle of 〈◊〉 THe castle of Subeica erected about the same time when the Mahumetans came into Africa was in times past wel furnished with inhabitants being afterward destroied by the Arabians and nowe it 〈◊〉 a fewe fishers onely Of the Castle called Casr Hessin THis castle was founded by the Mahumetans vpon the Mediterran sea and was afterward destroyed by the Arabians Here endeth the fifth booke IOHN LEO HIS SIXTH BOOKE OF the Historie of Africa and of the memorable things contained therein Of the village called Gar. HAuing hitherto intreated of the mountaines it now remaineth that we say somewhat as touching 〈◊〉 villages hamlets and territories and afterward we will describe in order the cities of Numidia And first the village of Gar situate vpon the Mediterran sea and abounding with dates offereth it selfe the fields thereto belonging are drie and barren and yet bring they foorth some quantitie of barley for the sustenance of the inhabitants Of Garell Gare. IT is a certaine little territorie or Grange containing caues of a maruellous depth whence they say the stones were taken wherewith olde Tripolis was built because it is not far distant from that citie Of the village of Sarman THis large village standing not farre from old Tripolis aboundeth with dates but no corne will grow there Of the village called Zauiat Ben Iarbuh THis village being situate neer vnto the Mediterran sea yeeldeth great plentie of dates but no corne at all and is inhabited by certaine religious persons Of the village of Zanzor THis village also standing neere vnto the Mediterran sea within twelue miles of Tripolis is inhabited by sundrie artificers and aboundeth with great store of dates pomegranats and peaches The inhabitants haue beene verie miserable euer since Tripolis was taken by the Christians and yet they traffique with the citizens of Tripolis and carrie dates thither to sell. Of the village of Hamrozo IT standeth sixe miles from Tripolis and the gardens there of bring forth great plentie of dates and of all other kinde of fruits Of the plaine of Taiora THis plaine standing two miles eastward of Tripolis containeth many granges exceedingly replenished with dates and other fruits The surprise of Tripolis was verie profitable for this place for then many principall citizens fled hither for refuge The inhabitants being ignorant and rude people and altogither addicted to theft and robberie build their cottages with the boughes of palme-trees Their food is barley bread and Bezin before described all round about are subiect vnto the king of Tunis and the Arabians saue those onely that inhabit vpon this plaine Of the Prouince of Mesellata THis Prouince standing vpon the Mediterran sea about fiue and thirtie miles from Tripolis and being fraught with rich villages castles and inhabitants aboundeth also with great plentie of oliues and dates The inhabitants being free from all forren authoritie haue a Captaine among themselues which gouerneth their common-wealth and fighteth their battles against the Arabians and the soldiers of this Prouince are about 5000. Of the Prouince of Mesrata THis Prouince being situate also vpon the Mediterran sea about an hundreth miles from Tripolis hath manie villages both vpon the plaines and mountaines The inhabitants are rich and pay no tribute at all and exercise traffique with the Venetians resorting to this Prouince with their galleies carrying the Venetian wares to Numidia and there exchanging the same for slaues muske and ciuet which is brought thither out of Ethiopia Of the desert of Barca THis desert beginning at the vtmost frontire of Mesrata and extending eastward as farre as the confines of Alexandria containeth in length a thousand and three hundreth and in bredth about 200. miles It is a rough and vnpleasant place being almost vtterly destitute of water and corne Before the Arabians inuaded Africa this region was void of inhabitants but now certaine Arabians lead here a miserable and hungrie life being a great way distant from all places of habitation neither haue they any corne growing at all But corne and other necessaries are brought vnto them by sea from Sicilia which that euerie of them may purchase they are constrained to lay their sonnes to gage and then goe rob and rifle trauellers to redeeme them againe Neuer did you heare of more cruell and bloodie theeues for after they haue robbed merchants of all their goods and apparell they powre warme milke downe their throats hanging them vp by the heeles vpon some tree and forcing them to cast their gorge wherein the lewd varlets search diligently for gold suspecting that the merchants swallowed vp all their crownes before they entred that dangerous desert Of the citie of Tesset in Numidia IN the
They feede their goates with the nuts or stones of their dates beaten to powder whereby they grow exceeding fat yeeld great quantitie of milke Their owne foode is the flesh of camels and goates being vnsanorie and displeasant in taste Likewise they kill and eate ostriches the flesh whereof tasteth not much vnlike to the flesh of a dunghill-cocke sauing that it is more tough and of a stronger smell especially the ostriches leg which consisteth of slimie flesh Their women are faire fat and courteous and they keepe diuers slaues which are brought out of the land of Negros Of the prouince of Segelmesse THis prouince called Segelmesse according to the name of the principall citie therein contained beginneth not farre from the towne of Gherseluin and stretcheth southward by the riuer of Ziz an hundred and twentie miles euen to the confines of the Libyan deserts The said prouince is inhabited by certaine barbarous people of the families of Zeneta Zanhagia and Haoara and was in times past subiect vnto a certaine prince which bare rule ouer the same prouince onely Afterward it fell into the possession of king Ioseph of the Luntune-family and then into the hands of one Muahidin and not long after it was enioied by the king of Fez his sonne But since that time the prince of this region was slaine in a rebellion and the citie of Segelmesse was destroied and till this day remaineth desolate Afterward the inhabitants built certaine castles whereof some are at libertie and others are subiect to the Arabians Of the prouince of Cheneg THis region extending it selfe by the riuer of Ziz vnto mount Atlas containeth many castles and bringeth forth great abundance of dates which dates are but of small value Their fields are barren and of little circuit saue onely betweene the riuer Ziz and the foote of mount Atlas where some store of barlie vseth to grow The inhabitants are some of them subiect to the Arabians others to the citie of Gherseluin and the residue liue at their owne libertie And vnto these the high way leading from Segelmesse to Fez is subiect and they exact great tribute of the merchants trauelling the same way Neere vnto the said high way stand three castles the first whereof being situate vpon an exceeding high rocke seemeth to touch the cloudes Vnder this castle there is a certaine house where a garde of soldiers continually stand who for the load of euery camell that passeth by demand one fourth part of a duckat The second castle being fifteene miles distant from the first standeth not vpon an hill but on a plaine and is farre more stately and rich then the former The thirde castle called Tammaracrost is situate vpon the common high way about twenty miles southward of the second There are certaine villages also and other castles of meaner account Corne is maruellous scarce among them but they haue goates great plentie which in winter they keepe in certaine large caues as in places of greatest safetie whereinto they enter by a most narrow passage Likewise the entrance into this region for the space of fortie miles is so narrow that two or three armed men onely may withstand mighty forces Of the region of Matgara THis region beginning southward from the region last described containeth many castles built vpon the riuer of Ziz the principall whereof is called Helel wherein remaineth the gouernour of the whole region being an Arabian by birth The soldiers of this Arabian gouernour dwell in tents vpon the plaines and he hath other soldiers attending vpon his owne person also who will suffer no man to passe but vnder safe conduct without depriuing him of all his goods Here are likewise diuers other villages and castles which not being woorthy the naming I haue of purpose omitted Of the territorie of Retel REtel bordering vpon the region last described extendeth also fiftie miles southward along the riuer of Ziz euen to the confines of Segelmesse It containeth many castles and yeeldeth plentie of dates The inhabitants are subiect vnto the Arabians being extremely couetous and so faint harted that an hundred of them dare scarce oppose themselues against ten Arabians they till the Arabians ground also as if they were their slaues The east part of Retel bordereth vpon a certaine desolate mountaine and the west part vpon a desert and sandie plaine whereunto the Arabians returning home from the wildernes do resort Of the territorie of Segelmesse THis territorie extending it selfe along the riuer of Ziz from north to south almost twenty miles containeth about three hundred and fiftie castles besides villages and hamlets three of which castles are more principall then the rest The first called Tenegent and consisting of a thousand and moe families standeth neere vnto the citie of Segelmesse and is inhabited with great store of artificers The second called Tebuhasan standeth about eight miles to the south of Tenegent being furnished also with greater numbers of inhabitants and so frequented with merchants that there is not in that respect the like place to be found in all the whole region besides The third called 〈◊〉 is resorted vnto by sundry merchants both Iewes and Moores These three castles haue three seuerall gouernours who are at great dissension among themselues They will oftentimes destroy one anothers chanels whereby their fieldes are watered which cannot without great cost be repaired againe They will stow the palme-trees also to the very stocks and vnto them a companie of lewd Arabians associate themselues They coine both siluer and gold-money but their gold is not very speciall Their siluer coine weigheth fower graines 〈◊〉 eightie of which peeces are esteemed to be woorth one peece of their gold-coine The Iewes and Arabians pay excessiue tribute here Some of their principall men are exceeding rich and vse great traffique vnto the land of Negros whither they transport wares of Barbarie exchanging the same for gold and slaues The greatest part of them liue vpon dates except it be in certaine places where some corne grow Here are infinite numbers of scorpions but no flies at all In summer-time this region is extremely hot and then are the riuers so destitute of water that the people are constrained to draw salt water out of certaine pits The said territorie containeth in circuit about eightie miles all which after the destruction of Segelmesse the inhabitants with small cost walled round about to the ende they might not be molested by continuall inrodes of horsemen While they liued all at vnitie and concord they retained their libertie but since they fell to mutuall debate their wall was razed and each faction inuited the Arabians to helpe them vnder whom by little and little they were brought in subiection Of the towne or citie of Segelmesse SOme are of opinion that this towne was built by a certaine Romaine captaine who hauing conducted his troupes foorth of Mauritania conquered all Numidia and marching westward built a towne and called it 〈◊〉 bicause it stoode
in singing and dancing through all the streets of the citie they keepe great store of men and women slaues and their towne is much in danger of fire at my second being there halfe the town almost was burnt in fiue howers space Without the suburbs there are no gardens nor orchards at all Of the towne of Cabra THis large towne built without walles in manner of a village standeth about twelue miles from Tombuto vpon the riuer Niger and here such merchants as trauel vnto the kingdomes of Ghinea and Melli 〈◊〉 themselues Neither are the people or buildings of this towne any 〈◊〉 inferiour to the people and buildings of Tombuto and hither the Negros resort in great numbers by water In this towne the king of Tombuto appointeth a iudge to decide all controuerfies for it were tedious to goe 〈◊〉 so oft as need should require I my selfe am acquainted with Abu Bacr sirnamed Pargama the kings brother who is blacke in colour but most beautifull in minde and conditions Here breed many diseases which exceedingly diminish the people and that by reason of the fond and loathsome mixture of their meats for they mingle fish milke butter and flesh altogither And this is the ordinarie food also in Tombuto Of the towne and kingdome of Gago THE great towne of Gago being vnwalled also is distant southward of Tombuto almost fower hundred miles and enclineth somewhat to the southeast The houses thereof are but meane except those wherein the king and his courtiers remaine Here are exceeding rich merchants and hither continually resort great store of Negros which buy cloth here brought out of Barbarie and Europe This towne aboundeth with corne and flesh but is much destitute of wine trees and fruits Howbeit here is plentie of melons citrons and rice here are many welles also containing most sweete and holesome water Here is likewise a certaine place where slaues are to be sold especially vpon such daies as the merchants vse to assemble and a yoong slaue of fifteene yeeres age is sold for sixe ducates and so are children sold also The king of this region hath a certaine priuate palace wherein he maintaineth a great number of concubines and slaues which are kept by eunuches and for the guard of his owne person he keepeth a sufficient troupe of horsemen and footmen Betweene the first gate of the palace and the inner part thereof there is a place walled round about wherein the king himselfe decideth all his subiects controuersies and albeit the king be in this function most diligent and performeth all things thereto appertayning yet hath he about him his counsellors other officers as namely his secretaries treasurers factors and auditors It is a woonder to see what plentie of Merchandize is dayly brought hither and how costly and sumptuous all things be Horses bought in Europe for ten ducates are here sold againe for fortie and sometimes for fiftie ducates a piece There is not any cloth of Europe so course which will not here be sold for fower ducates an elle and if it be any thing fine they will giue fifteene ducates for an ell and an ell of the scarlet of Venice or of Turkie-cloath is here worth thirtie ducates A sword is here valued at three or fower crownes and so likewise are spurs bridles with other like commodities and spices also are sold at an high rate but of al other commodities salt is most extremelie deere The residue of this kingdome containeth nought but villages and hamlets inhabited by husbandmen and shepherds who in winter couer their bodies with beasts skins but in sommer they goe all naked saue their priuie members and sometimes they weare vpon their feet certaine shooes made of camels leather They are ignorant and rude people and you shall scarce finde one learned man in the space of an hundred miles They are continually burthened with grieuous exactions so that they haue scarce any thing remaining to liue vpon Of the kingdome of Guber IT standeth eastward of the kingdome of Gago almost three hundred miles betweene which two kingdomes lieth a vast desert being much destitute of water for it is about fortie miles distant from Niger The kingdome of Guber is enuironed withhigh mountaines and containeth many villages inhabited by shepherds and other herdsmen Abundance of cattell here are both great and small but of a lower stature then the cattell in other places Heere are also great store of artificers and linnen weauers and heere are such shooes made as the ancient Romans were woont to weare the greatest part whereof be carried to Tombuto and Gago Likewise heere is abundance of rice and of certaine other graine and pulse the like whereof I neuer saw in Italie But I thinke it groweth in some places of Spaine At the inundation of Niger all the fields of this region are ouerflowed and then the inhabitants cast their seede into the water onely In this region there is a certaine great village containing almost sixe thousand families being inhabited with all kinde of merchants and here was in times past the court of a certaine king who in my time was slaine by Izchia the king of Tombuto and his sonnes were gelt and accounted among the number of the kings eunuches Afterward he sent gouernours hither who mightily oppressed and impouerished the people that were before rich and most part of the inhabitants were carried captiue and kept for slaues by the said Izchia Of the citie and kingdome of Agadez THe citie of Agadez standing neere vnto Lybia was not long since walled round about by a certaine king The inhabitants are all whiter then other Negros and their houses are stately built after the fashion of Barbarie The greatest part of the citizens are forren merchants and the residue be either artificers or stipendaries to the king Euery merchant hath a great many of seruants and slaues who attend vpon them as they trauell from Cano to Borno for in that iourney they are exceedingly molested by certaine theeues called Zingani insomuch that they dare not trauell the same way vnlesse they be well appointed in my time they vsed crossebowes for their defence when the said merchants be arriued at any towne they presently employ all their slaues about some busines to the end they may not liue in idlenes ten or twelue they keepe to attend vpon themselues and their wares The king of this citie hath alwaies a notable garde about him and continueth for the most part at a certaine palace in the midst of the citie He hath greatest regarde vnto his subiects that inhabite in the deserts and fields for they will sometime expell their king and choose another fo that he which pleaseth the inhabitants of the desert best is sure to be king of Agadez The residue of this kingdome lying southward is inhabited by shepherds and herdsmen who dwell in certaine cottages made of boughes which cottages they carrie about vpon oxen from place to place They erect their
ware in this citie vnto the merchants and butchers of Cairo to the end they may auoide the trouble of passing ouer the riuer The temple and other principall buildings of this citie stand vpon the shore of Nilus On all sides of the citie there are gardens and grounds of dates Such as come hither in the morning 〈◊〉 Cairo to buy 〈◊〉 sell vse not to returne home againe till the euening This way they trauell ouer a sandie desert vnto the Pyramides and sepulchers of the ancient Egyptian kings in which place they affirme the stately citie of Memphis to haue stoode in times past And albeit the way thither be very troublesome in regard of the manifold lakes and pits made by the inundation of Nilus yet by the direction of a trustie and expert guide it may easily be trauailed Of the towne of Muhallaca THis little towne built vpon the banke of Nilus by the ancient Egyptians and standing three miles from the olde citie hath a most beautifull temple situate vpon the shore of Nilus and diuers other stately buildings therein It aboundeth with dates and with certaine fruites called Egyptian figs and the inhabitants vse the very same rites and customs that are obserued by the citizens of Cairo Of the citie of Chanca THe great citie of Chanca situate about sixe miles from Cairo at the verie entrance of the desert lying in the way to mount Sinai is replenished with most stately houses temples and colleges All the fields betweene Cairo and this citie abound with great plentie of dates but from Chanca to mount Sinai which is an hundred and fortie miles there are no places of habitation at all The inhabitants are but of meane wealth for when any carouan is to passe into Syria hither resort a company of people from Cairo to prouide things necessarie for their iourney bicause the villages adioining yeeld 〈◊〉 but dates Through this citie lie two maine roade 〈◊〉 the one leading to 〈◊〉 and the other to Arabia This citie hath 〈◊〉 other water but such as remaineth in certaine chanels after the inundation of Nilus which chanels being broken the water runneth foorth into the plaines and there maketh a number of small lakes from whence it is conueighed backe by certaine sluces into the cesterns of the citie Of the citie of Muhaisira THis little citie built vpon the riuer of Nilus miles eastward of Cairo aboundeth greatly with the graine or seed called Sesama and containeth sundrie milles to grinde oile out of the same seede The inhabitants are most of them husbandmen except a fewe that exercise trade of merchandise Of the towne of Benisuaif THis towne being situate on the west side of Nilus is distant from Cairo 120. miles The plaines adiacent abound exceedingly with flaxe and hempe which is so excellent that it is carried from thence as farre as Tunis in Barbarie And this towne furnisheth all Egypt with flaxe whereof they make very fine and strong cloth The fields of the same are continually worne diminished and especially at this present by the inundation of Nilus for now their date-groundes are halfe consumed The inhabitants for the most part are emploied about their flaxe And beyond this towne there are found Crocodiles that will eate mans flesh as we will declare in our historie of liuing creatures Of the citie of Munia VPon the same side of Nilus standeth the faire citie of Munia which was built in the time of the Mahumetans by one Chasib a lieutenant and courtier of the Califa of Bagdet vpon an high place Here are most excellent grapes and abundance of all kinde of fruite which albeit they are carried to Cairo yet can they not come thither fresh and newe by reason that this citie is distant from Cairo an hundred and fower-score miles It is adorned with most stately temples and other buildings and here are to be seene at this present sundry ruines of the ancient Egyptian buildings The inhabitants are rich for they trauaile for their gaine as farre as Gaoga a kingdome of the land of Negros Of the citie of El Fium THis ancient citie was founded by one of the Pharaos vpon a little branch of Nilus and on a high ground at the same time when the Israelites departed out of Egypt whom the said Pharao greatly oppressed with making of bricke and with other seruile occupations In this citie they say that Ioseph the sonne of Iacob was buried and that his bones were digged vp by Moses and the Israelites when they departed Fruits heere grow great plentie and especially oliues which are good to eate but vnprofitable to make oile of It is a well gouerned and populous citie and containeth many artificers especially weauers Of the citie of Manf Loth. THis great and ancient citie was built by the Egyptians destroied by the Romains and reedified by the Mahumetans but not in so stately manner as it was first built At this present there are found certaine huge and high pillers and porches whereon are verses engrauen in the Egyptian toong Neere vnto Nilus stand the ruines of a stately building which seemeth to haue beene a temple in times past among which ruines the citizens finde sometimes coine of siluer sometimes of gold and sometimes of lead hauing on the one side hiely graphick notes and on the other side the pictures of ancient kings The fields adiacent being very fruitefull are extremely scorched by the heate of the sunne and much haunted with Crocodiles which was the occasion as some thinke why the Romaines abandoned this citie The inhabitants are men of indifferent wealth for they exercise traffike in the land of Negros Of the citie of Azioth THis ancient city founded by the Egyptians vpon the banke of Nilus two hundred and fiftie miles from Cairo is most admirable in regard of the hugenes and of the varietie of old buildings and of epitaphes engrauen in Egyptian letters although at this present the greatest part therof lyeth desolate When the Mahumetans were first Lords of this city it was inhabited by honorable personages and continueth as yet famous in regard of the nobilitie and great wealth of the citizens There are in this citie almost an hundred families of christians three or fower churches still remaining and without the citie standeth a monasterie containing mo then an hundred monks who eate neither flesh nor fish but onely herbes bread and oliues And yet haue they daintie cates without any fatte among them This monasterie is very rich and giueth three daies entertainment to all strangers that resort thither for the welcomming of whom they bring vp great store of doues of chickens and of such like commodities Of the citie of Ichmin IChmin being the most ancient citie in all Egypt was built by Ichmin the son of Misraim the sonne of Chus which was the son of Hen vpon the banke of Nilus next vnto Asia and three hundred miles eastwarde from Cairo This citie the Mahumetans
forth of the mountaines of Gumera and stretching westward ouer the plaines of Habat and Azgar passeth by the city of Casar Elcabir and neare vnto Harais a city of Azgar vpon the borders of Habat dischargeth it selfe into the main-Ocean in the mouth of this riuer lyeth the hauen of the foresaid city being very difficult to enter Of the riuer of Mulullo MVlullo arising out of mount Atlas betweene the cities of Teza and Dubdu runneth through the desert and barren plaines of Terrest and Tafrata and at length exonerateth it selfe into the riuer Muluia Of the riuer of Muluua THe famous riuer of Muluua taking his originall from that part of Atlas which is situate in the region of Cheuz about fiue and twentie miles from the citie of Gherseluin and passing ouer dishabited and drieplaines as also amidst the deserts of Angad and of Garet and by the foote of mount Beni Ieznaten falleth not farre from the towne of Chasasa into the Mediterran sea This riuer a man may wade ouer alwaies in sommer in the mouth whereof are caught most excellent fishes Of the riuer of Za. THis riuer springing out of mount Atlas runneth through a certaine plaine of the desert of Angad whereas the kingdomes of Fez and of Telensin confine one vpon an other which though it be exceeding deepe yet neuer did I see the water thereof thicke or muddie It aboundeth with fishes but the inhabitants being destitute of fit instruments can not take them neither indeed be the waters conuenient to fish vpon bicause they are so cleere Of the riuer of Tefne THe small riuer of Tefne issuing foorth of the mountaines bordering vpon Numidia and continuing a northerly course ouer the desert of Angad falleth into the Mediterran sea about fifteene miles from Telensin and it affourdeth nought but a fewe small fishes Of the riuer Mina THis riuer flowing out of certaine mountaines neere vnto Tegdent passeth through the fieldes of the citie of Batha and thence runneth northerly into the Mediterran sea Of the riuer Selef THis great riuer falling from the mountaines of Guanseris and descending through barren plaines to the confines of the kingdomes of Telensin and Tenez separateth Mezagran from Mustuganin and then entreth into the Mediterran sea in the mouth of which riuer are caught very excellent fishes of diuers kinds Of the riuer Sefsaia THis small riuer beginning from mount Atlas passeth ouer the plaine of Mettegia neere vnto Alger and not farre from the ancient towne of Temendefust dischargeth it selfe into the Mediterran sea Of that which is called The great riuer THis riuer ariseth out of the mountaines adioining vpon the region of Zeb from whence running along it disemboqueth into the Mediterran sea about three miles from Bugia It ouerfloweth not but in rainie and snowie weather neither vse the people of Bugia to fish therein hauing the sea so neere them Of the riuer called Sufgmare IT springeth out of the mountaines bordering vpon mount Auras and passeth on through the barren fields vnto the territorie of the citie Constantina and gliding along by the borders thereof it receiueth a small riuer and so holding a Northerly course it falleth into the Mediterran sea about the same place where it separateth the fields of Chollo from the fieldes of the castle called Iegel Of the riuer Iadog THis small riuer issuing foorth of the mountaines neere Constantina and stretching by the same mountaines towards the east disburdeneth it selfe into the sea not farre from the citie of Bona. Of the riuer called Guadilbarbar IT proceedeth out of certaine mountaines adioining vpon the fieldes of the citie called Vrbs and gliding by the hils and mountaines it runneth in such a crooked chanell that such as trauell from Bona to Tunis must crosse ouer it without either boates or bridges aboue twentie times And so at length it falleth into the sea not farre from the forsaken port of Tabraca and about fifteene miles from the citie of Bege Of the riuer of Megerada THe mightie riuer of Megerada springing foorth of the mountaines neere vnto the citie Tebessa vpon the borders of the prouince of Zeb continueth a northerly course vntill at a place called Gharel Meleh fortie miles distant from Tunis it exonerateth itselfe into the Mediterran sea In rainie weather it so increaseth that trauellers bicause there are neither boates nor bridges are constrained to staie two or three daies by the riuers side till it be decreased especially within sixe miles of Tunis And hereby you may see how the Africans of these times degenerate both in wit and courage from the ancient Africans who made the people of Rome to tremble so often at their valour Of the riuer of Capis IT proceedeth from a certaine southerne desert and passing through sandie plaines falleth into the sea by a towne of that very name The water thereof is salt and so hot that whosoeuer listeth to drinke of it must set it a cooling for the space of an hower Thus much concerning the principall riuers of Barbarie let vs nowe proceede on to describe the Numidian riuers Of the riuers of Numidia and first of the riuer called Sus. THe great riuer of Sus flowing out of the mountaines of Atlas that separate the two prouinces of Hea and Sus in sunder runneth southward among the saide mountaines stretching into the fields of the foresaid region and from thence trending westward vnto a place called Gurtuessen where it dischargeth itselfe into the maine Ocean In winter time it mightily ouerfloweth but in sommer it is verie shallow Of the riuer of Darha THis riuer taking his originall from mount Atlas about the confines of Hascora passeth southward to the prouince called Darha from whence proceeding through the deserts it is dispersed among certaine fieldes and pastures where bicause of the abundance of grasse the Arabians feede their camels In sommer it is so dried vp that a man shall not wet his shooes in going ouer it but it so increaseth in winter that it cannot be passed ouer in boats And by extreme heate of the sunne the waters thereof prooue bitter Of the riuer of Ziz. THis riuer springing out of the mountaines of Atlas inhabited by the people called Zanaga and running along by many other mountaines and by the city of Gherseluin holdeth on his course through the fields of Cheneg Metgara and Reteb and entreth the territorie of the city Segelmesse from whence it proceedeth by the desert castle of Sugaihila and beyond the said castle falleth into a lake amidst the sandie deserts where no inhabitants are to be found whither notwithstanding the Arabian hunters vsually resort for that they finde great store of game there Of the riuer of Ghir THe riuer of Ghir issuing also forth of mount Atlas stretcheth southward by certaine deserts and then passing through the region of Beni-gumi transformeth it selfe likewise into a lake in the very midst of the deserts Whereas in the beginning of this my discourse intreating of the
which if they be able to performe they are esteemed woorth a thousand ducats or an hundred camels Howbeit very fewe of these horses are brought vp in Barbarie but the Arabians that inhabite the deserts and the people of Libya bring vp great numbers of them vsing them not for trauell or warfare but onely for hunting neither do they giue them any other meate but the milke of camels and that twise euery day and night to the end they may keepe them nimble liuely and of spare flesh and in the time of grasse they suffer them to feede in pastures but then they ride not vpon them But those that the princes of Barbarie bring vp are not of such swiftnes but being fedde with prouender are more beautifull and comely to the eie and these they vse vpon an vrgent necessitie when they woulde escape the danger of their enimies Of the wilde horse THe wilde horse is one of those beasts that come seldome in sight The Arabians of the deserts take the wilde horse and eate him saying that the yoonger the horse be the sweeter is his flesh but he will hardly be taken either with horses or dogs In the waters where this beast keepeth they lay certaine snares couering them ouer with sand wherein his foote being caught he is intangled and slaine Of the beast called Lant or Dant THis beast in shape resembleth an oxe sauing that he hath smaller legs and comelier horns His haire is white and his hoofs are as blacke as 〈◊〉 and he is so exceeding swift that no beast can ouertake him but onely the Barbary horse as is beforesaid He is easlier caught in sommer then in winter because that in regard of the extreme fretting heat of the sand his hoofs are then strained and set awry by which meanes his swiftnes is abated like as the 〈◊〉 of stagges roe-deer Of the hide of this beast are made shields and targets of great defence which will not be pierced but onely with the forcible shot of a bullet but they are sold at an extreame price Of the wilde oxe IT resembleth the tame oxe saue that it is lesse in stature being of a gray or ashe-colour and of great swiftnes It haunteth either the deserts or the confines of the deserts And the flesh thereof they say is very sauory Of the wild asse THis beast also being found either in the deserts or vpon the borders thereof is of an ash-colour In swiftnes they are surpassed onelie by the Barbary horses and when they see a man they bray out a loude kicking and wincing with their heeles and standing stone-still till one approcheth so near them that he may touch them with his hand then they betake themselues to flight By the Arabians of the deserts they are caught with snares and other engines They goe in companies either when they feede or water themselues Their flesh is hot and vnsauorie and hath a wilde tast but being set a cooling two dayes after it is sodden it becommeth very sauory and pleasant Of the oxen vpon the mountaines of Africa ALl the oxen vpon the mountaines of Africa being tame cattell are of so meane a stature that in comparison of other oxen they seeme to be but heifers of two yeeres old but the mountainers vsing them to the plough say that they are strong and will indure much labour Of the beast called Adimmain IT is a tame beast beeing shaped like a ramme and of the stature of an asse and hauing long and dangle eares The Libyans vse these beasts instead of kine and make of their milke great store of cheese and butter They haue some wooll though it be but short I my selfe vpon a time being merily disposed road a quarter of a mile vpon the backe of one of these beasts Very many of them there are in the deserts of Libya and but few in other places and it is a rare matter to see one of them in the Numidian fields Of the African Ramme THere is no difference betweene these rammes of Africa and others saue onely in their tailes which are of a great thicknes being by so much the grosser by how much they are more fatte so that some of their tailes waigh tenne and other twentie pounds a peece and they become fatte of their owne naturall inclination but in Egypt there are diuers that feede them fatte with bran and barly vntill their tailes growe so bigge that they cannot remooue themselues from place to place insomuch that those which take charge of them are faine to binde little carts vnder their tailes to the end they may haue strength to walke I my selfe sawe at a citie in Egypt called Asiot and standing vpon Nilus about an hundred and fiftie miles from Cairo one of the saide rams tailes that weighed fower-score pounds and others affirmed that they had seene one of those tailes of an hundred and fiftie pounds weight All the fatte therefore of this beast consisteth in his taile neither is there any of them to be founde but onely in Tunis and in Egypt Of the Lyon THe 〈◊〉 is a most fierce and cruell beast being hurtfull vnto all other beasts and excelling them both in strength courage and crueltie neither is he onely a deuourer of beasts but of men also In some places one Lyon will boldly encounter two hundred horsemen They range without all feare among the flocks and droues of cattell and whatsoeuer beast they can lay holde on they cary it into the next woode vnto their whelpes yea some Lyons there are as I haue before said that will vanquish and kill fiue or sixe horsemen in one companie Howbeit such Lyons as liue vpon the colde mountaines are not so outragious and cruell but the hotter the places be where they keepe the more rauenous and bolde are they as namely vpon the frontiers of Temesna and of the kingdome of Fez in the desert of Angad neere Telensin and betweene the citie of Bona and Tunis all which are accounted the most famous and fierce Lyons in all Africa In the spring while they are giuen to lust and venerie they haue most fierce and bloudie conflicts one with an other eight or twelue Lions following after one Lyonesse I haue heard many both men and women report that if a woman chanceth to meete with a Lyon and sheweth him her priuie parts he will with crying and roaringe cast his eies vpon the grounde and so depart Beleeue it they that list But this I am well assured of that whatsoeuer a Lyon getteth in his pawes though it be a camell he will carrie it away I my selfe was twise in great hazard to haue beene deuoured of Lyons but by the goodnes of God I escaped them Of the Leopard THese beasts liuing in the woods of Barbarie will not for all their great strength and crueltie hurt any man vnlesse it be very seldome when as they meete with a man in a narrow passage and cannot shun him or when they are
therewith but the lande of Negros and especially the inner part of Ethiopia is so destitute thereof that a pound of salt is there solde for halfe a ducate And the people of the saide regions vse not to 〈◊〉 salt vpon their tables but holding a crum of salte in hands they licke the same at euery morsell of meate which they put in their mouthes In certaine lakes of Barbarie all the sommer time there is faire and white salt congealed or kerned as namely in diuers places neere vnto the citie of Fez. Of the minerall called Antimonie THis minerall growing in many places of Africa in the lead-mines is separated from the lead by the helpe of brimstone Great plentie of this minerall is digged out of the bottome of mount Atlas especially where Numidia bordereth vpon the kingdome of Fez. Brimstone likewise is digged in great abundance out of other places of Africa Of 〈◊〉 EVphorbium is the iuice or gumme of a certaine herbe growing like the head of a wilde thistle betweene the branches wherof grow certain fruits as big in compasse as a greene cucumber after which shape or likenes it beareth certain 〈◊〉 graines or 〈◊〉 and some of the said fruits are an elle long and some are longer They grow not out of the branches of the herbe but spring out of the firme ground and out of one flag you shall see sometimes 20. and somtimes 30. of them issue foorth The people of the same region when the said fruits are once ripe do prick them with their kniues and out of the holes proceedeth a liquor or iuice much like vnto milke which by little and little groweth thick and slimy And so being growen thick they take it off with their kniues putting it in bladders drying it And the plant or herb it selfe is full of sharp prickles Of pitch OF pitch there are two kindes the one being naturall and taken out of certaine stones which are in fountaines the water wherof retaineth the 〈◊〉 smell and 〈◊〉 of the same and the other being artificial and proceeding out of the iuniper or pine-tree and this artificiall pitch I saw made vpon mount Atlas in manner following They make a deepe and round furnace with an hole in the bottome through which hole the pitch may fall downe into an hollow place within the ground being made in form of a little vessel and putting into the said furnace the boughes of the foresaid trees broken into small pieces they close vp the mouth of the furnace and make a fire vnder it by the heate wherof the pitch distilleth forth of the wood through the bottome of the furnace into the foresaide hollow place and so it is taken vp and put in bladders or bagges Of the fruite called Maus or Musa THis fruite growing vpon a smal tree which beareth large and broade leaues of a cubite long hath a most excellent and delicate taste and springeth forth about the bignes of a small cucumber The Mahumetan doctours affirme that this was the fruite which God forbad our first parents to eat in Paradise which when they had eaten they couered their nakednes with leaues of the same fruit as being of all other leaues most meete for that purpose They grow in great abundance at Sela a towne of the kingdome of Fez but in farre greater plenty in the land of Egypt and especially at Damiara Of Cassia THe trees bearing Cassia are of great thicknes hauing leaues like vnto the mulberie-tree They bear a broad and white blossome and are so laden with fruits that they are constrained to gather great store before they be ripe least the tree should breake with ouermuch waight And this kinde of tree groweth onely in Egypt Of the fruit called Terfez TErfez is to be called rather by the name of a root then of a fruit and is like vnto a mushrom or toad-stoole but that it is somewhat bigger It is enclosed with a white rinde and groweth in hot and sandy places Where it lyeth it may 〈◊〉 be perceiued by the swelling and opening of the ground Some of them are as bigge as a walnut and others as a 〈◊〉 The phisicians which call it Camha affirme it to be a refrigeratiue or cooling fruit It groweth in great plenty vpon the Numidian deserts and the Arabians take as great delight in eating of the same as in eating of sugar This fruit being stued vpon the coles and afterward made cleane and sodden in fat broath they esteeme for great dainties Also the Arabians seeth it in water and milk and so eat it It groweth likewise plentifullie in the sandes neare vnto the towne of Sela. Of the date or palme-tree because we haue 〈◊〉 spoken in our description of Segelmesse in Numidia we will here in this place say nothing at all Of the Egyptian figg called by the Egyptians themselues Giumeiz THe tree of this figg resembleth other fig-trees both in outward forme and in leaues but it is of an exceeding height neither doth the fruit grow among the leaues or vpon the ends of the twigs but out of the very body of the tree where no leaues at all grow These figs tast like vnto other figes but they haue a thicker skin and are of a tawnie colour Of the tree called Ettalche IT is an high and a thornie tree hauing such leaues as the iuniper hath and bearing a gum like vnto mastick wherwith the African apothecaries vse to mingle and adulterate their mastick because it hath the same colour and yealdeth some smell also There are found likewise such trees in 〈◊〉 Numidian and Lybian deserts and in the land of Negros but the trees of Numidia being cut in the midst consist of white wood like vnto the trees beforenamed and the Lybian trees of a browne or tawnie wood but the trees of the land of Negros are extreame black within And that black pith or hart of this tree wherof musical instruments are made is called by the Italians Sangu That wood which is of the browne or tawnie colour is vsed by the African phisicians for the curing of the French poxe wherupon it is commonly called by the name of pock-wood Of the root called Tauzarghente THis root growing in the westerne part of Africa vpon the Ocean sea shore yeeldeth a fragrant and odoriferous smel And the merchants of Mauritania carry the same into the land of Negros where the people vse it for a most excellent perfume and yet they neither burne it nor put any-fire at all thereto for being kept onely in an house it yeeldeth a naturall sent of it selfe In Mauritania they sell a bunche of these rootes for halfe a ducate which being carried to the land of Negros is sold again for eightie or one hundred ducates and sometimes for more Of the roote called Addad THe herbe therof is bitter and the root it selfe is so venemous that one drop of the water distilled therout will kill a man within the space of an hower which is commonly knowen