¶ Of the Diamande stone, called in Latine Adamas.

THe Diamande is engendred in the mynes of India, Ethiopia, Arabia, Macedonia, and Cyprus, and in the golde mynes of the same countries. That of India excelleth all other in beautie and clearenes: that which is of the coloure of yron, is called Siderites, The sto­ne [...]ide­rites. it is oftētymes found in colour like vn­to cristal, & though it be sometimes lyke therto in whytnes, yet doth it differ from cristall in hardnes, in so much that if it be layd vpō an anuil,The hardne [...] of the di­ [...]ond. and strongly strikē with a hammer, the anuyl and hammer shal soner be wounded and leape away, then the [Page] stone perished or diminished: it doth not onelye refuse the forse of Iron, but also resisteth the power of fyre, whose heate is so farre vnable to melte it, that it can not so muche as heate it, if we geue credit to Plinie, and is also rather made purer ther­by, then anye wayes defyled or cor­rupted: neuertheles,How the diam [...] ̄d is made softe. the singuler & and excellent hardnes of this stone, is made so softe with y^e hoate bloud of a Goate or a Lyon, that it maye be broken: and if it be put with mol­tē lead in hoate fornaces, it waxeth so hoate that it wylbe dissolued: yet are not a [...]l Diamādes of such hard­nesse, for that of Cyprus, and also that of the coloure of Iron called [...]iderites, may be broken with hammers and perced with another Diamand: his vertue is to be bewray poisons, and to frustrate thopperacion therof, and beeing therefore greatly estemed of Kinges and Princes, it hath euer [Page] been of g [...]eat price.The mō tayne of diaman­tes. The mountaine of India out of the which the Dia­mandes are digged, is compassed with a walle on euery syde, & kepte with a strong defence.

¶Of the kingdoms & cities of Narsinga and Canonor.

THe king of Narsinga, in riches and dominion excelleth all other Kinges in those partes. The chiefe cytie where the King is resident,The ci­tie of Narsin­ [...]. is in situa [...]ion and fynenes, much lyke vnto the cytie of Milayne, but that it s [...]andeth in a place somewhat de­clyning and lesse equall. This king hath euer in a red [...]nes manye thou­sandes of men of armes, as one that is euer at warre with other coun­treys, borderers nere aboute him. He is geuen to most vile Idolatrie, and honoureth the deuyll, euen as doth the king of Calicut. The maners and fashions of the inhabitātes, are after this sorte. The gentlemen or [Page] such as are of greatest reuenewes. vse to weare an inward cote or pe­ticote, not very long: hauing theyr heades bounde aboute with listes & rowles of sundry coloures after the maner of the Turkes. The cōmon people, couer onli their priuie parts and are besyde all together naked.The kinge of Narsinga The Kynge weareth on his head a stately cap made of the riche cloth of Asia, beyng two hādfulles in length. Whē he goeth to y^e warres, he wea­reth a vesture of y^e silke called Goss [...]m­pine, which he couereth with a cloke adorned w^t plates of gold: y^e hemme or edge of his cloke is beset with all maner of ouches & Iewelles.the riche trappīg of the kinge [...] horse. Hys horse is iudged to be of such valure if you respect y^e price, as is one of our cities. And this is by the meanes of y^e innumerable multitude & sundrie kindes of precious s [...]ones, & perles where with y^e [...]rappers, barbes, & o­ther furnitures of his horse are co­uered, w^t an incredible pōpe & glori. [Page] The soyle of Narsinga, beareth ne­ther wheate nor grapes, and [...]s in maner without al kinde of fruites, except [...]itrons and gourdes: the in­habitantes eate no bread, but ryce, fishe and fleshe, and also walnuttes, which that countrey beareth, there begin spyces to be found, [...]pices of Nar­si [...]ga. as ginger, pepper, mirabolanes, Cardamome, Cassia, and dyuers other kyndes of spyces.

The cy­tie of Ca [...]nor. Cananor is a very excellente cytie, fayre and beautifull in all thinges, sauing that the Kinge thereof is an Idolater. This citie hath a hauen whether the horses of Persia are brought, but theyr tribute or cu­stome, is excedinge great: the inha­bitantes lyue with ryce, flesshe, and fyshe as do they of Narsinga: in the warres they vse the sweorde, the round target, speares and bowes, & haue nowe also the vse of gonnes, they are all naked sauing their prie­uie [Page] partes, and go beare headed, ex­cept when they goe to the warres, for then they couer theyr heades with a redde hatte which thei folde double, and bind it fast with a lyst or bande. In the warres they vse nei­ther horse, mule, or asse, nether that kynde of camels which we cōmonly call dromedaries:The vse of [...]le­pha [...]t [...] in the warres. but vse onely E­lephātes. There is also in the king­dō of Narsinga another godly citie called Bisinagar:The [...] ­tie Bisi­nagar. it is cōpassed aboute with a walle, & situate on the side of a hyll, beeyng .viij. myles in circui­te hauinge also in it a famous mar­ket place. The soyle is very fruit­ful, there are all delicate thinges to be foūd that may encrease the plea­sures of this lyfe. There maye no where be foūd more pleasaūt feldes and woddes for hauking & hūtinge,Haukī [...] and hu [...] tinge. a man woulde thinke it were a very Paradyse of pleasure.The kinge of bisinagar The king of this citie is of great power, he kee­peth [Page] dayly many thousandes of mē at armes, vsinge Elephantes in the stede of horses. And hath euer foure hundreth Elephantes prepared for the warres.

¶How the Elephantes in In­dia are prepared to warre.

THe Elephāt is a beast very do­cible and apte to be taught, and little inferiour from humaine sense, excellinge all other beastes in forti­tude and strength. Therfore y^e In­dians, when they prepare them to the warres, put great packsaddels vpon thē, which they bind fast with two chaines of Iron, cōming vnder theyr belyes. Upō the packsaddels,The E­ [...]phāte [...] [...]wre. they haue on euery side a litle house or towre, or cage, (if you list so to cal it) made of wood These towres ar made fast to the necke of the beaste with certayne sawed bordes of the thickenes of halfe a hande breadth. Euery towre receyueth thre men. [Page] And betwene both the towres [...] vpō the back of the beast sytteth an In­dian, a man of that countrey which speaketh vnto the beaste.Elephā ­tes vn­derstan­deth the lāguage of th [...]yr coūtrei. For this beast hath marueylous vnderstan­ding of the language of hys natyue countrey, & doth wonderfulli beare in memorie benefytes shewed vnto him. It is also moste certayne that none other beast draweth so nere to the excellence of humayne sense or reason as doeth this beast, as maye most playnly appeare, yf we cōsidre, how he is geuē to loue & glory, to a certeyn frendly gentlenes & honest maners, ioyned with a marueylous discrecion, to know good from euil, more redy to recōpēce benefites thē reuēge iniuries, which excellēt pro­perties are not to be found in other brute beastes. Therfore whē the E­lephantes go forward to y^e warres,Seuē ar­med mē vpō one Elephāt seuē armed mē are appoynted to be caried vpon one Elephant, bearing [Page] with thē, bowes, iauelins, sweordes and targettes: also the lōge snout of the Elephāt (which thei cal his hād) is armed with a sweorde of two cu­bites in length, and in bredth & thic­kenes a handfull, standinge righte forth, tyed faste to the snowte of the beast, & thus beeing furnished, they procede to the battaile: and where­as occasiō requyreth to go forward or backwarde, the ruler of the beast geueth him warninge, whose voyce he vnderstandeth & o [...]eyeth:The ru­ler spea­keth to the Ele­phant. stryke hym, sayth the ruler, forbeare hym, be fearse agaynst these, abstayne frō these, the beaste obeyeth hym in all thinges, as though he had humayn reason, but yf it so chaunce that being made afrayd with fire (which thinge they feare aboue all other) they beginne to flye, th [...]y can by no meanes bee allured to stoppe theyr course, or retourne agayne, for the people of that naciō, can with many [Page] subtyl deuises as oftē as thē listeth, raise vp fires to make those beastes afrayde.The E­lephātes ioynte [...]. There be some men which thincke that Elephantes haue no ioyntes in theyr legges, which opi­nion other affirme to be vntrue, for they haue ioyntes as haue other beastes, but that they are very low & almost at their fete. The females are of greater fiercenesse then the males, and of much greater strēgth to beare burdēs: they are sometime taken with madnes, declaring the same by theyr furious running. An Elephāt excedeth in greatnes thre wilde oxen called Bubali, The big­nes and shape of the Ele­phant [...] and is much lyke of heare, and eyed lyke a swine, hauing a long snout, hāging down­ward, with the which he putteth in­to his mouth whatsoeuer he eateth or drinketh, for his mouth is vnder his throte, not muche vnlyke the mouth of a swyne: his snowte hath holes in it, and is holowe within, [Page] with this they ouerthrow y^e stūpes of trees: & that of suche bignes, that the forse of .xxiiij. men is not able to do the same. The two great tuskes which they haue cōming farre [...]ute of theyr mouth,the pain­ters erre herein. or placed in the vp­per iawe, hauinge on euerye syde lappes hanging downe of the big­nes of two hand breath. Theyr fete are roūd like vnto a flat trene dishe, hauing fyue toes like hoeues vnde­uided, of the bignes of great oyster­shelles.Vnder­stāde the hande­bredth w^t the thū ­be stret­ched forth. Theyr tayles are lyke vnto the tayles of wilde oxen, thre hand­ful in lēgth, hauing but few heares. The males are hygher then the fe­males. They are of sundry bignes: some are of .xiij [...] hādfulles hye, some of .xiiij. and some .xvi. Their pase in goyng,the Ele­phantes pa [...]e. is somewhat slowe and wa­lowinge, by reason whereof, some whiche ryde on them and haue not been accustomed therto, are prouo­ked to vomitte, euen as they were [Page] tossed on the sea. Yet it is great ple­sure to ride on the yong Elephātes, for they goe as softely as ambeling moiles. When you attempt to geat vp, to ryde on thē, they bow downe toward you, as though they would [...]ase you with a sterope, that you may the easelier geat vp, which ne­uertheles cannot wel be done with out helpe. They are all vnbrideled, hauinge neither withe nor coller a­boute theyr neckes, but goe with theyr heades altogether lose. And because they are not couered with bristels or bigge heares, they haue not so muche as in theyr tayle anye helpe to dryue awaye flyes.The E­lephante is vexed w^t flyes. For euen this greate beaste also (sayeth Plinie) is troubled with this lyttle vermyne. Theyr skinne is verye rowghe, and full of chappes, and riftes, like the barke of a tree, being somwhat filthye and full of swette, [Page] whiche by heate resolued into va­poure, by sauour draweth flyes vn­to it:How the Elephāt kylleth flyes. therefore when any flyes or o­ther creping vermē are entered in­to the sayde riftes of theyr skinnes, sodeynly bending and drawing to­gether their skinne, they hold them fast and kyl them, and this is to thē in the stede of a tayle, a mane, or rough and bristeled heare.

¶ Of the beaste called Rhinoceros.

Rhinoceros is comonly found in the same countrey, where Elephantes are engendred,Enmitie betwene the Ele­phant & Rhinoce­ros. and is borne an ene­my to the Elephāt (as saith Plinie) no lesse seking his destruction then doth the dragon: wherfore the Ro­maynes considering the natures of these beastes, were wont to put thē together vpon the theater or stage, for a spectable, therby to declare the natures of enemies.The Rhi­noceros ii. hornes This Rhinoceros hath two hornes, whereof the one [Page] is of notable bignes, growing oute of his nosethrilles, and is of flatte forme, and as harde as Iron. The other groweth aboue in his necke, and is but a little one, but wonder­ful strong: when this beast attemp­teth to inuade the Elephant, he fy­leth & whetteth his horne on a stone and stryke that the belly of the Ele­phant, which place he knoweth to be most open to his stripes, and easyest to receaue hurt, because of the softe­nes thereof, which he cutteth with his horne as with a sweord.the fight betwene Rhinoc [...] ­ros & the Elephāt Some auctours write that Rhinoceros is vn­equall in bignes to the Elephante: but [...]ulius Solinus saith, that he is as lōg as the Elephante, but hath [...]horter legges: whē Rhinoceros therfore & the Elephant ioyne together in fighte, they vse theyr naturall weapons: the Rhinoceros his horne, and the Ele­phante his tuskes, wherewith he so violentlye beateth and teareth the [Page] [...]kinne of Rhinoceros being as harde as horne or shell,Rhinoce­ [...]os natu­rally ar­ [...]ed. & scarcelye able to be pearsed with a dart, that he neuer­theles enforseth him to fall downe. Rhinoceros agayne on the other partie so woundeth the belye of the Ele­phante with the horne of hys nose­thrilles, yf he doe not preuente hys strokes, y^t he fainteth with bleding. In the yere of Christ .1513. the first day of Maye, was broughte oute of India to Emanuel the king of Por­tugale RhinoceroS alyue,Rhinoce­ [...]os sene in Por­tugale. of the coloure of boxe, somwhat variable and as it wer chekered, couered with shelles lyke scales, or rather lyke shieldes. This beast was in bignes equall to an Elephāt, but had shorter legges, and was armed on euery parte. He had a stronge & sharpe horne in his nosethrilles, the whiche (as I haue sayde) he fyleth, when he prepareth him to fight. All this great hatered betwene these two beastes, is for y^e [Page] best pastures which one striueth to take frō the other as some wryters saye. In the yeare of Christe .1515. King Emanuel, set forth a spectacle in the citie of Lisbona, in which was a combat betwene the Elephant and Rhinoceros. Rhinoce­ros ouer­cometh the Ele­phant. A sight doubtlesse worthy great admiraciō. But in this fight, the Elephant had the ouerthrowe.

¶Of Calicut, the most famous market towne of India.

THe cytie of Calicut is in the conti­nente or mayne lande. And the houses therof adioyning to the sea, It is not walled about but contey­neth in circuite .vi. thousād houses, not adherēt together as the maner of bylding is with vs, but one being distant frō another, a further space. It is extēded in length a thousand pases. The houses thereof,Lowe & simple houses. are but simple and very lowe, not passinge the heygth of a manne of horse­backe from the grounde.

[Page]In the stede of a roofe, they are co­uered with bowes of trees, harde & thicke couched together, the cause hereof is, that yf the earth there be in anye place digged fyue handfull depth, the water springeth forth, by reason wherof they can lay no depe foundacions for theyr houses, suffi­ciente to beare anye heauye roofe. The Kinge of thys citie is geuen to Idolatrie,The [...]ing ho­ [...]oreth [...]he deuil & honoureth the deuyll himself. Yet he denieth not but that there is a God which made heauen and earth. And the same to be the chiefe auctone and fyrste cause of all thinges. But sayth that he hath cō ­mitted the rule and iudgemente of the world, to the deuil, to whom he hath ge [...]en power to rewarde men with good or bad according to their desert [...]s. This deuil they cal Deumo, but the mightie God and maker of the world, they cal Iamerani, The I­mage of the deuil The king hath in his Chappell the Image of [Page] this deuyl Deumi, sytting with a dia­deme or crowne on his head, much lyke vnto the myter which the Ro­mayne Bishoppes weare,The bis­shop of Romes vicar at Calicut. saue that this deuils myter hath foure nota­ble hornes. He sytteth gapinge and hath a greate wyde mouthe, with foure teeth & a deformed nose, low­ringe eyes, a grimme, terrible, and threatening coūtenaūce, with hoo­ked handes lyke fleshehookes, and feete not much vnlyke the feete of a cocke. Al such as behold this horri­ble monster, are sodeynly astonied. For it is surely a thing most vyle to beholde, and no lesse terrible. The chappel is on euery syde ful of pain­ted deuyls: & in euery corner there­of sytteth a deuyll made of copper, and that so workemanly handeled, that he semeth like flaming fire,The de­uil eateth soules. mi­serably consuming the soules of mē. This deuyl with his righte hande, putteth a soule to his mouth, & with [Page] his lefte hand, he taketh another frō a place beneth. Euery mornīg their Priestes (called Bramini) washe the I­mage of the deuyll with rose water,The de­ [...]illes chaplins or such other swete liquoure, & per­fume hym with dyuerse swete sa­uours, kneling on theyr knees and praying vnto him.Sacrifi­ce to the deuyl. Euerye seuenth day, thei take the bloud of a cocke & put it in a siluer vessel, ful of burning coales: addinge thereunto innume­rable odoriferous gummes & pou­ders to make a swete smoke or fu­migacion. Then the Prieste taketh his senser with burning coles, put­ting therto frankencense, and thus maketh his oblacion to Sathā, du­ring which tyme of sacrifice, a lyttle syluer bell, is ronge continuallye. The king sytteth not downe to his meate,the chapleins of­fer to the deuyl. vntyll foure of his chapleins haue offred parte of the same meate to the deuyl. And when the Kynge goeth to dyner, he sytteth on the [Page] grounde withoute eyther carpet or table cloth. And as he sytteth at di­ner, foure of the priestes wayte vpō him standing:The priestes wait on the kyng. not approchinge nere vnto hym by the distaunce of foure pases, geuing reuerent attendaūce vnto the kinges talke. Whē he hath dyned, the Priestes take the meate that is left,Crowes had in e­stimaciō & geue it to the crowes to eate: whiche byrdes they haue in such estimacion, y^t it is not lawful to hurt thē. Whē the king shal marie a wife, he goeth not to bed w^t her, vn­til she be defloured of y^e high Priest,The priestes de­floure y^e quene. whō the king for his paines rewar­deth with .v.C. pieces of golde.

¶Of the maners of the In­dians in Calicut.

NExt after the King, y^e priestes which serue y^e Idols,Priestes are had in chiefe reuerence. Nexte vnto them, the Magistrates,Magi­strates. called Ner [...], are no lesse estemed then amonge vs Senatoures or Lordes of the [Page] counsayl. When these goe abroade, they cary with them swordes, tar­gettes, bowes & iauelins. Such as are counted of the thyrde order, are in like place with them,Artifi­cers. as are Arti­ficers with vs. They of the fourth order, lyue by fishinge. And to them of the fyfthe order, [...]a [...]ou­rers. perteyneth the gathering of pepper, wyne, & wal­nuttes. The basest and poorest sort, are they which sowe & gather ryce, beyng contēned both of the priestes and Senatours. The Kinge, the Quene, and the inhabitantes of the cytie, haue almost no apparel, coue­ring onely theyr fylthy partes with cotton of the tree called Gossampine, and not with silke: and are beside al together naked. They goe barefo­ted and bareheaded.The suc­cessiō of the kingdom. Whē the King is dead, yf there remayne alyue any heyres, males, either childrē or bre­thren, or br [...]thers childrē, they suc­c [...]de not in the kingdome: for by cu­stome [Page] of the countreye, the systers sonnes are inheritours to y^e crown: but yf there bee no suche lyuinge, he succedeth in the kingdom which is nearest of bloud to y^e king, of whiche costume, the reason is (as they saye) beecause the Priestes defloure the Quenes.As are y^e priestes, such is y^e people, Whē the King taketh any farre iourney, or rydeth a hunting, the Priestes wayte vpō the Quene at home, and kepe her company: for nothinge can be more thankefull to the kynge,The priestes kepe y^e que [...]e. then to haue the Quene thus accustomed in adulterye with the Priestes by whiche cōmon pro­stitucion of the quene, he maye well iudge that the chyldrē borne of her, are not to be estemed as his owne: and therfore assigneth the right of his inheritaunce to his systers chil­dren, as to the nerest of his bloude, because his brothers children (as is sayd before) may not succede him in the kingdome by the custome of the [Page] countrey. The noble men and mar­chauntes vse this fashion amōg thē selues. Such as haue wiues,Exchaū ginge of wyues. do of­ten tymes chaunge theyr wyues, one frende with an other for then­crease of further frēdship. At which exchaunging of wyues, one of them speaketh to another after this ma­ner. Forasmuch as you are my veri frend, let vs chaūge wyues: on such cōdicion, that I maye haue yours & you myne. The other asketh him yf he speake in earneste. He sweareth yea: let vs goe thē (sayth his felow) to my house: when they are come thether, the good man calleth forth his wife, saying vnto her: Woman, come hether & folow this mā: for he shall frō henceforth be thy husband. She asketh him yf he speake in ear­nest:Obedi­ence in [...]uyll. he answereth, in good earnest. Thē sayth the womā: I wil folowe him gladly. He taketh her away w^t him, and in lyke maner sendeth his [Page] wyfe to his frende. And this is the custome which thei vse in chaūging of wyues. But the childrē remaine with theyr fyrste father. Other of these Idolaters vse dyuerse other customes. For among some of them,One woman maried to seuē mē. one woman is maried to seuen hus­bādes, which lie with her by course one after another. And when she hath broughte forth a child, she sen­deth it to whiche of her seuen hus­bādes she list: who maye in no case refuse it. When they eate, they lye along on the grounde, & haue theyr meate in greate disshes, or treys of copper. In the stede of spones, they vse leaues of trees. Their meate, is ryce, fishe, spyces, and fruites of the cōmon sorte.The pu­nishmēt of mur­ther. Yf any man committe murther, and bee apprehended, he is punisshed after this maner.

They haue a kynde of gallowes made, with a poste of the lengthe of foure pases: On the whyche, not [Page] farre frō the toppe, are fastened two staues w^t sharpe endes, y^e one lying ouer the other after the maner of a crosse: thē the body of y^e offender is thrust through vpō one of y^e staues. And so the miserable wretche han­geth vntyll he haue geuen vppe the ghost.Sinne redemed for mo­ney. But yf any man wound ano­ther, or beate hym with a staffe, he redemeth thoffence, payinge to the king a certayn of golde. When they pray,Super­stition [...] they go fyrst before the rysing of the sunne, to some ryuer or stan­dinge water, wherein they plunge thēselues, to thintent to washe thē cleane:Oute­ward clē lynes. And so beeinge washed, they touche nothing vntyll they haue at home at theyr houses, poured forth theyr prayers before theyr Idols.Deuy­lishe ge­stures. When they laye them selues down on the grounde, secretely to praye, they make certayne deuylishe ge­stures lyke vnto madde mē, staring with theyr eyes, & turning them in­ward [Page] after a straūge sorte, wyth no lesse deforminge their countenaūce, very monstrous to beholde. When the king prepareth him to y^e warres he hath in a readynesse a hundreth thousand fotemen. For of horsemen they haue no vse, but only of such as fyght on Elephantes. All that are of the Kinges bande, haue a silken fyl­let of scarlet colour, tied about their heades. Whē thei go to the warres they vse round sweordes, targets, iauelins, and bowes.

¶Of Pepper and other spi­ces which growe in the regi­on of Calicut.

PEpper groweth in y^e suburbes of the citie of Calicut. There is some also gathered within the citie. The stalke of pepper is veri weake:Howe pepper groweth so that it can not stande vpryghte, without a stake or proppe to sustein it, as haue y^e vynes. It is not much vnlike vnto Iuie: and in like maner [Page] crepeth & stretcheth forth it self: em­brasing & ouerspreading such t [...]ees as grow nere vnto it. This tree (or rather shrubbe) is deuided into ma­ny braunches, of the lengthe of two or thre hand bredth. His leaues are lyke the leaues of an Orenge tree: sauinge that these are somewhat grosser & fatter, wi [...]h small vaynes running betwene on the contrarye side. On euery twigge ther hāgeth sixe thicke clusters of beries, a hand breadth in length, and of the colour of wild grapes. They are gathered in the monethes of October & No­uember: Inclininge yet to a grene colour, and so laying thē on mattes or couerlettes, they set them in the sunne to be dried: where, within the space of thre dayes, it waxeth black, euen as it is brought hether. They vse neyther cutting nor digging, or other tillage,Fruitful grounde without tillag [...] but onely the simple & pure fruitfulnes and encrease of the [Page] earth. Plinie sayth that the trees of pepper are lyke vnto oure iuniper trees. And that in his time, some af­fyrmed y^t they were brought foorth only in the front of y^e mount Calicasus on the southsyde toward the sonne. But the Portugals, whiche in this our daies sayle into the Eastpartes, haue found it otherwise. The regi­on of Calicut, beareth also Ginger:Ginger. which doubtles is a roote, & is oftē tymes founde of the weighte of .xij. vnces: but al are not of lyke bignes. This roote entreth no deper into y^e groūd, thē .iii. or .iiii. hādbredth, like vnto the rede. When ginger is dig­ged out of y^e ground,A ro [...]e for a sed [...] they leaue the knotte or ioynte of the roote, in the pytte out of which they digged the ginger: couering y^e same with earth as a sede, agaynst the next yeare to encrease & bring forth more ginger. It is foūd in playn groūd of a redde erth, as ar Mirabalanes. Ther groweth [Page] also diuers other frutes & shrubbes vnknowen to vs,Fruytes vnkno­wen to vs. as laceri, graccara, am­ba, Carocapel, Comolanga, and such other of which some haue the taste and sa­uours of quinces, some of peaches, some of damaske prunes, some of melones, and some of figges, &c. Aloe groweth also in that regiō:Aloe. and is a certayn gumme, gathered frō a litle tree, which is fastened in the earth, onely with one roote after y^e maner of a staffe, pytched in the grounde. The bodie of the tree, is tender and redde, of strong sauour & bitter tast. It somtyme putteth forth droppes of gumme withoute anye cuttinge. And this of India, is muche better then that which groweth in Iudea.

¶Of byrdes & beastes which are found in the region of Cali­cut: and of the wyne of the mer­ueylous tree.

THere is found in Calicut, diuers & sundry kyndes of foure footed [Page] beastes and foules. As lions, wilde boores, hartes, hyndes, wolues, kyne, wylde oxen, goates, and Ele­phātes: whych neuertheles are not engendred there, but brought the­ther. There bee also grene popin­giays,Papin­giayes of diuers kyndes. & some white fethers of va­riable colours, lying like scoutchins Some also of purple coloure. Of these there is such plentie, that they are fayne to appoint mē to kepe thē from the rice which groweth there in the feldes. They are merueilous chatteringe & of small price. There are also birdes called Sarau, Sweete si [...]ginge of [...]irdes somwhat lesse then popingiayes, but make a much sweter noyse. There are also manye other kyndes of byrdes vn­lyke vnto oures: Of which, euerye morning & euening is hearde suche a harmonie & so swete a noyse, that nothing can be more delectable: In so little mouthes cōsisteth in maner al musicke, and therfore the inhabi­tauntes [Page] lyue in greate pleasure, as though they were in an earthly pa­radise,Earthly paradise where floures are euer springing, and trees cōtinue grene al the hole yeare. The heauen is benefici­all vnto thē, and the ayre most tem­perate cōtinually.tēperate ayre. So that thei are nether bytten with colde in winter nor burnt with heate in somer, but lyue as it were in continual springe tyme.Cōtinu­al spring The same regiō brīgeth forth also Marmasets & Munkeys,Mun­keys. whi­che are great hinderaunce to y^e men of the countrey: and specially to the poore sorte, beecanse they clyme the walnut trees, and spylle the sweete liquoure of the fruyte thereof, of which the Indians make most plea­saunt wyne. For these Indiās haue a tree most excellent aboue all other trees of the world, which bringeth foorth dates lyke vnto the Palme tree.A tree of sundrye commo­dit [...]es [...] This tree serueth thē for fire­wood: [Page] and beareth a kynde of wal­nuttes most delicate to be eatē: Al­so a kind of cordes, softe cloth, wine, oyle, and suger. But chiefly it brin­geth foorth this excellent kynde of nuttes like vnto dates. From these they take awaye the fyrste rynde or barke & cast it in the fire. The other fruite is not muche vnlyke Gossampin [...] cotton, or sylke.Silke of trees. Of the floures they make cloth lyke silke: the flaxe whi­che is lefte, they spinne agayne, and make therof smal roopes or cordes.Ropes of trees. The last barke or rinde, conteineth the nutte, whose thickenesse is no more thē the lyttle fynger of a mās hande. Furthermore the sweete li­quoure or wyne,Wyne of trees. is engendered with the nutte, so that as the nutte groweth, the liquoure also encrea­seth: In so much that when the nut is full growen, the lyquoure fyl­lethe the inne warde partes of [Page] of the same. And thys liquoure or wyne, is most cleare, not muche vn­lyke vnto rosewater: Of which ne­uertheles is made a very fatte oile.Oyle of water. They cut also the trunke or stocke of the tree in y^e morning & euening: by whiche meanes they gather a most excellent liquour, which they seeth on the fyre, and make thereof so merueylous a drinke, that if a mā drinke therof beyond measure, he is drieuen into furie & madnes. This liquour is vsed there in the stede of wyne. But let vs nowe returne to the beastes which are foūd in Calicut. Serpentes growe there vnto such houdge greatnesse,Serpēts as bigge as swine that they are in maner as bigge as swyne. They haue heades much larger thē bores heades. Thei are foure foted, foure cubites in length, engendered & cō ­uersaunte in fennie and marrishe groundes.Serpēts without [...]oyso [...]. The men of that coūtrei saye that these beastes are without [Page] poyson. There are also found other kyndes of serpentes: of the whiche one kynde hath so mortall venime, that yf they drawe neuer so lyttle blud, it causeth presēt death. There are other serpentes which in quāti­te represent the serpent called Aspis. Again, othersome are much higher of whiche there are greate plentie. The men of the countrey thinke y^t they are spirites fallen frō heauen:Serpēt [...] counted for hea­uēly spi­rites. and therfore haue them in great re­uerence. Thei haue conceaued this opinion of them, becau [...]e that in ma­ner with touching, they bringe pre­sēt death. And this is the cause whi there is so great abundaunt of ser­pentes, that by the kinges cōmaun­dement it is not lawful to hurt thē: and therefore they wander safelye where them listeth, and are estemed of them as thinges that bring good fortune. For whereas the men of y^e countrey, goe abroade aboute anye [Page] busines, thei take it for good luck to mete any of them by the waye. The popingiayes of India, grene popingaies are for the most part, of grene colour besyde y^e head, which is ether redde or yelowe like golde. They haue a great and large toung, and are therfore of a louder voyce, & speake more plainly. They learne the fyrst & second yeare such thinges as are taughte them. And beare them lōger in memory. They drinke wyne, & vse theyr fete in the stede of handes when they feede.

¶Of the sundrye kindes of Spices, which are founde in Calicut, and from whence they are brought thyther.

GInger groweth in Calicut, yet is there much broughte thether from the cytie of Canonor. Canonor,

Cinamome commeth from the Ilande of Zaylon, Zaylon whyche is fyftye [Page] leages beeyonde Calicut Eastwarde.

Pepper groweth in Calicut: but muche more is broughte thether from Corimucol, Corimu­col. whiche is .xij. leages beyonde Calicut.

Cloues are gathered in a place, called Meluza, Meluza, certayn leages distant from Calicut.

Nutmegges and Mace, growe in Molucha, Molucha beyng distante from Calicut hundreth and thre score leages, and somewhat more.

Muske & Castoreum, is brought from the region of Pego, Pego, which is frō Calicut, almoste hundreth and fyftye leages.

Pearles of the biggest sorte, are gathered neare vnto the Iland and cytie of Ormus, Ormus, situate in the goulfe called Sinus Persicus: And are sente from thence to Calicut, as to the ge­nerall market towne of all the East partes.

[Page]Spikenarde, & Mirabalanes, as brought from Cambaia to Calicut. Cambaia.

Frankencense, and Myrre, come from Arabia. Arabia.

Aloe, and Camphyre, are brought frō Kyui, or China .l. l [...]ages from Calicut. China.

Samoto [...].Long pepper cometh frō Samotor. Cardamome y^e greater, is brought from Canonor.

Darnasseri. Presilium, or brasyll, cometh frō Dar­nasseri, otherwyse called Tarmasseri, al­most .CC. leages from Calicut.

¶Of the Iland of Zaylon, and of Cinomome found there.

ZAylon is a very large region [...] & bringeth foorth chefelye Ele­phantes in greate plentie.Elephā ­tes. It hath also Mountaynes of merueylous lēgth: at the rootes wherof ar foūd Rubines, Hiacinthes, Saphyres, Topases,precious stones. and suche other precious stones. In this Iland groweth the Cinomome tree,Cinomo­me. not much vnlyke y^• bayetree, specially in the leaues. It [Page] bringeth forth graynes much lyke vnto baye beries, but somwhat lesse and whytishe. That which we com­monly call Cinomome, is nothinge els but the barke or rynde of a tree, which is gathered after this maner Euery thyrde yeare they cut of the braunches of the trees, and take of the barke or rynde therof, which is our Cinomome. They cut not the body of the tree, but only the bran­ches. When it is first gathered, it is grene, & not perfectly swete vntyll it be kept a moneth. This Iland is situate vnder the Equinoctial line,The E­quinoc­tial ly [...]e where is continuall springe all the yeare. The inhabitauntes weare clokes, with one arme oute vncoue­red, & haue clothe made of Gossampine cotton, or of silke.weapō [...] of redes A rede is to them in the stede of sworde, rapyre, & ia­uelyne. And are therefore seldome slayne in the warres.

¶ Of the cytie of Tarnasseri, & the maner of the cytezins there.

NarsingaTHe cytie of Tarnasseri, is distaunte from the Kingdome of Narsinga .xiiij. dayes sayling Estward, & hath a king of great puyssaūce and mar­ueylous riche. The soyle of this ci­tie, bringeth forth wheate, cotton of Gossampine trees, & plētie of silke. The fieldes bringe foorthe all kindes of fruites: quinces also and oranges. It is replenisshed with manye and sundrye kyndes of beastes aswell wyld as tame, as kyne, shepe, gotes swyne, hartes, hyndes, wolues and lyons. There are also seene those kyndes of cattes whiche beare the riche furres called Zibellim, [...]he beast whiche beareth the furre called Sable [...]. which we call Sables. In all the fieldes and woodes of this region are founde many Peacockes, Faulcons, & most fayre Popingiayes of white colour intermingled with seuen variable coloures. There is also maruelous [Page] plentye of hares and partryches. There are manye other straunge kyndes of foules:Foule [...] of meruelous bignes. and specially such as lyue by praye, whiche are muche higher then Eagles: whose vpper beakes are of suche bignes & hard­nes, that handles for sweordes are made thereof. Also the cockes and hennes of thys region are muche hygher and bigger then ours. Whē the people of the countreye goe to theyr meate, they lye downe on the grounde withoute carpet or cloth: Yet vse they woodden vesselles. workemanlye made. Theyr drinke is water myxte with suger: but the poorer sorte, drinke onelye water. Their beddes are made of Gossam­pine cotton,Bedde [...] of silke. wyth couerlettes al­so of cotton or sylke. They goe all in generall barefooted excepte the Priestes.Priestes The Kynge of this cytye, doeth not commytte his wife [Page] to the Priestes to bee defloured, as doth the king of Calicut, the que­ne de­floured of white menne. but to whyte men, as are the christiās & Turkes. For this office is not committed to the Idoloters. But after that the new maried quene hath been thus defloured the fyrst night, yf euer af­ter she doe dishonour the Kyng her husbād, by violating the faith made to him,Adulteri punis­shed w^t death from thencefoorth neuer to knowe any other man carnally, her punishment is death incontinently. When the Kynges or the Priestes dye, their bodies are laid on a great fyre, and the asshes therof reserued in erthen pottes, putting thereto a porcion of salte petre, and buryinge the same in theyr owne houses.How the kinge is buried.

While the bodies are burning, they cast into the fyre al kyndes of swete sauouring gummes, and spices: as Aloe, Frankencense, Myrre, Sto­rax, Coralle, sandalles, and suche o­ther innumerable: In the meane [Page] tyme blowing trūpets & shawmes,M [...] ­stre is [...] after the maner of thē which amōge the gentiles were canonized into y^e numbre of the goddes. And within xv. dayes after y^e husbandes death,the que [...]ne dyeth willing [...]ly. the wyfe calleth to her all her kins­folkes, bidding them to a banket: & fo being decked with al her iewels, she procedeth with thē to the place where her husbande was buried, where a graue is redye digged for her, inclosed about with silkē cloth, hauinge in it a fyre made of sweete wood. When the woman hath thus feasted her kynsfolkes, she eateth much of the herbe called Betola, the her [...] Betola [...] wherby she is driuen into a madnes. In thys meane whyle, innumerable trūpetters (wearing such vestures as they vse in the deuyls seruice) go as it were on procession aboute the graue, while the womā runneth vp and down, daunsing cōtinually like a frantike bodie. And thus whē the [Page] ceremonies are fynished, she casteth her selfe headlong into the fyre and graue:What [...]reduli­tie maye doe in false religion, and that with no lesse chere­fulnes thē yf she should be receaued into heauen. And vnlesse the womā shoulde performe thys custome, she should incurre most vyle infamie, & be a mocking stocke to all her naciō,Honour dere boughte as one that loued not her husband. But the cōmon people vse not thys custome: but only the rulers & prin­ces. And therfore the king him selfe is often tymes presente at these so­lemnities.

¶Of the kingdoms and cities of Pego and Bangella.

the king & citie of BangellaFRom the cytie of Iarnasseri, to the cytie of Bangalla, is .xi. dayes say­linge. This cytie hath a kynge: and the countrey is very fruyteful with great plentie of wheat, fleshe, suger, ginger, and gossampine cotton: and hath therfore very rich marchātes. There yearely passeth from this ci­tie [Page] fyftie shyppes frayghted wyth gossampine cottō, and silke clothes:Sil [...] which are caried from thence to the Turkes, Syrians, Arabians, Per­sians, Ethiopians, & Indians. Here are also founde certayne Christian merchaunt men, which come out of Thempire of the great Cham of Cathay:Chr [...]i [...] men of Cathay bringing with them Aloe, Castoreū and the swete gūme called Laserpitium, with other swete sauours. In this cytie, the men spinne and carde and make clothe, and not the womenne. From this cytie Eastwarde, is ano­ther great citie called Pego,The [...] of [...] beyng situate by a verye fayre ryuer. The Kinge of thys cytie, is an Idolater, and hathe innumerable menne of worre, both horsemenne and foote­menne. The soyle beareth wheate plentifullye: and bringeth foorth in maner all kyndes of beastes, & hath therfore great abundaunce of fleshe [Page] Yet are there but fewe Elephants: But of other beastes and foules, greate plentie as is at Calicut: & speci­allye of popingiayes, whiche are of louder voice thē in any other place. There is little trafficque or mar­chaundise in this region,Ru [...]ies shyning by night except ie­wels & precious stones and special­lye Rubies, called Pyropi, whiche are broughte thether from the cytie of Capelan. Lacha, Lacca, or [...]acta [...] is [...] tree [...]. These precious stones shyne so brighte in the darke nyghte, as thoughe it were the sonne beames. The countrey adioyning, bringeth forth Lacha, Sandalum, called saunders: Also brasile, gossampine cotton and sylke. [...]laccha Frō Pego to the cytie of Malaccha (whiche some call Melaqua) is eyghe [...] dayes saylinge: where on the other syde is sene a great Iland called Su­matra, [...]matra. otherwise Samotra, & was in time paste called Taprobana. [...]aproba­ [...]a. This Malaccha, hath a goodly & cōmodious hauen: by reasō wherof, moe shippes arriue [Page] there then in any other place: brin­ginge with them spyces and other marchaundise in great abundance. The region is not generally fruyt­ful, yet hath it wheat and f [...]eshe: but greate scarcenesse of wood. The soules wander in the feldes as they doe in the region of Calicut. But the popingiayes are here much fayrer. It bringeth foorth also spices, saun­ders, tinne, elephātes, horses, shepe wilde oxē, pecockes, and such other kyndes of beastes. It is not lawfull there to bye and sell [...] except you bye spices and sylke. It is also there ve­ry daungerous to walke in the citie in the nighte season, beecause of the theft & cruelnes of the inhabitātes, which kil one another like dogges. And therfore the marchaund straū ­gers lodge not out of their shippes. How the Portugales subdued Ma­laccha, shalbe said hereafter in the de­scripcion of the newe Ilandes.

¶Of the greate and ryche I­lande of Sumatra, or Samotra, some­tyme called Tabrobana.

[...]he Ilād of Tapro­bana.SOme thinke this Sumatra, to be that Iland which of the old wri­ters is called Tabrobana. It is verye great and riche: and hath in it foure Kinges crowned with Diademes. They are Idolaters: in religion, maner of lyuinge, and apparell, not muche vnlyke the Kinge of Tarnasseri. They exceade all other men in big­nesse of bodie. They haue greye or blewe eyes, and are of cruell coun­tenaunce, and terrible voyce. They are long lyued,Mē of a hūdreth [...]eres of age. and lyue euen vntyl an hundreth yeares of age. The sea in certaine chanels is of such heigth and depth, that no anker may come to the bottome therof. The inhabi­tantes are great fyshers on the sea, and haue great pleasure to take the shelle fysshe, called the Tortoyse of the sea: of whiche, some are of suche [Page] houdge bignes, that the shelle of one of them may suffise to make a house well able to receaue a hole famelie.Shelle [...] of fishe [...] for hou­ses. For some of them beare shelles of xv. cubites in length: and are there­fore apt for that purpose. The most part of this Ilande is burnte with heate, and hath in it many desolate places and wildernesses. There are founde many and greate Pearles.Great pearles [...] For theyr money,Coyned golde & siluer for moneye they vse coyned golde, syluer and tynne. The goldē coyne, hath on the one syde a deuils head grauen, and on the othersyde a chariot which Elephantes draw. This region bringeth foorth more plentie of Elephantes, of greater stature, & a better broede, then are found in any other place. In the sea about this Ilande, are often tymes sene the great monstrous fysshes,Fishes of mon­strous bignesse & kynde of Whales, called Balene, which bring many incōmodities to the inhabitantes. They are of such [Page] monstrous bignes, that when they approche to the Sea bankes, they seeme lyke vnto hylles: they haue rough backes full of sharpe prickes. And except men walke very ware­ly by the sea bankes, they are in daū ger to be sodeynly swalowed vp of these monsters. Some of thē haue so greate and wyde mouthes, that they sometymes swallowe whole shippes with the mē. This coūtrey bringeth foorthe Lacha, Lacca, or Lacta, [...]. which steyneth silke & cloth in high redde or crimison coloure. It is en­gendred in a tree, not much vnlyke vnto our walnut trees. Ther is al­so great plēty of pepper, higher thē is founde in other places. In [...]heir mother tōge pepper is called Molaga. It is solde there by measure,Pepper solde by measure as wheat is with vs, & not by weight. There is so great plētie hereof, that there are yearely certayne shippes ladē therwith to Cathay Cathay. where y^e aire [Page] is colder. From Sumetra to the Iland of Banda,the Il̄ad of banda which is but rude and barren, and of playne and lowe grounde, whose inhabitantes are barbarous, & little differinge from beastes, hauing lowe houses, and no apparell but shertes, barefoted and bareheaded, with long heare, of de­spicable stature, dulle witted, of no strength, and Idolaters. The soyle of this countrey, bringeth forth no­thīg but nutmegges, & a few other fruites. The s [...]alke or bodi of y^e nut­meg tree,The nutmeg tree is not much vnlike y^e stalke of a peache tree, bringing forth lyke braunches and leaues, but some­what narower. Before these nutts be rype, y^e mace crepeth on the tree, lyke a florishing rose.Mace And when the nutte waxeth rype, the mace em­braseth it round about. And so they gather both together in commune, at a tyme appointed: for they vse no distribucion thereof, but he that ga­thereth [Page] most, hath most. This tree bringeth forth his fruyte plentiful­ly without any arte of husbandrye or tyllage. They are gathered at such time as we gather chestnuttes From this Iland within sixe dayes sayling, is the Iland of Monoch, the Ilād of Mo­ [...]och. in the which cloues are founde, as also in other Ilandes, therto adioyninge. The tree whiche beareth cloues, hath his stalke not much vnlike vn­to the boxe tree, with leaues lyke the Cinomome tree, but somewhat rounder.Cloues. And when the cloues be­ginne to waxe rype, they beate the trees with redes, spreding fyrst co­uerlettes or mattes vnder y^e same. The grounde where these trees grow, is of y^e colour of cleye or sand. This regiō is situate so low, that y^e seuē starres called Septen [...]riones (being not farre frō Vrsa maior, Charles Waine. called charles wayne) cā not there be sene,Pole An­tartike. because y^• south pole (called pole Antartike) [Page] appeareth aboue the earth.

¶Of the Ilande of Bornei.

THe Ilād of Bornei (which some call Porne) is distant frō Monoch fiftie leages. The inhabitantes are Idolaters,Idolo­ters. very quick witted, and of maner of liuing not greatly to be discommended. Thei vse not al one kynde of apparell. Some weare shertes of gossampine cotton, some beastes skinnes, & some high cappes lyke myters, of redde colour. This Iland bringeth forth yearely great plentie of Camphora, called camphyre,Cāphire whiche they affirme to be the gūme of a certayn tree. Of this Ilande I wil speake more hereafter in the na­uigacions toward the East partes.

¶ Of the Iland of Giaua.

The Iland of Gyaua, is distant frō Bornei, v. dayes sayling towarde the south. This Ilād is so great, y^t it cō ­teineth in it many kingdōs: y^• inhabi­tātes a [...] geuē to idolatri. It brigeth [Page] forth silke,Silke groweth in woo­des. which of it selfe groweth there plentifullye in the wooddes. The precyous stone called Sma­ragdus (which is y^e true Emerode) is found there more excellent,The [...]maragde or emerode Golde & copper. then in any other place of the worlde. It hath abundaunce of golde & copper of the best kynd. The soyle beareth wheat & other corne, withal kindes of fruites in great plentie. Whē the men of this countrie goe to the sea, theyr weapons are bowes,arrowes of redes and ar­rowes of redes. They vse also to infect theyr arrowes with venime,arrowes infected with ve­nime. and to blowe them oute of a trunke as we doe pellets of claye: with the which yf they drawe neuer so little bloud, presente death foloweth im­medialye. They haue also this cu­stome,A strāge custome that when they see theyr pa­rentes by reason of age to be vnpro­fitable, they bring thē to the market towne, and there sell them to the people called Anthropophagi, Anthro­pophagi which eat [Page] [...]leshe, of whom they are incontinēt­ly slay [...]e, and eaten. The same doe the [...] with the yonger forte also, yf they fall into any desperate disease.

¶Of the Iland of Iaua.

THere are two Ilandes of thys name, as Iaua the more & Ia­ua the lesse. The biggest reacheth forth toward the South, & is sayd to haue in it many kingdoms. The inhabitantes are Idolaters & haue a peculier language. In this Iland is greate plentie of pepper,Spyce [...] Nutte­megges, Spikenarde, Galangale, & other spices. Mani marchauntes of other countreies are wont to re­sorte thether, & geat great riches by y^e spices which they carie frō thense. In this Iland also are people called Anthropophagi, which are wont to eate mens fleshe.

¶ Of the Iland of Madagascar.

THis Iland is counted to be one of the greatest and rycheste I­landes [Page] of the worlde. The inhabi­tantes are of Mahumets secte as are the Turkes.Mahu­metistes It bringeth forth many Elephantes,Elephā ­tes. by reason wher­of there is greate plentie of Iuerye which is the Elephantes to the. For it is thought that there is no grea­ter plentie of Iuerie,Iuerie thē in this I­land & in the Iland of Cuzibet. the Ilād of Cuzi­bet. They eate the fleshe of none other beastes, but onely of Camels,Camels fleshe eate [...]. because the I­lande is full thereof, & also that it is founde to be more holesome for the people of that countrey then any o­ther fleshe. There are also in this Iland manye woddes that bringe foorth redde sanders,woddes of redde Sāders for the which many marchauntes resort thether. In the sea about this Iland [...] great whales are taken,Whales Amber, out of the which amber is gathered. There are liōs, leopardes,Lions & Leopar­des. hartes, hyndes, goates, and many other beastes and foules, by reason whereof, they vse muche [Page] haukinge and huntinge.

¶Of the Iland of Zanzibar.

THe Ilande of Zanzibar, hath a peculier Kinge and language. The inhabitantes are idolaters, & are of grosse and shorte stature:Bigge men of low sta­ture. but yf theyr heygth dydde aunswere to theyr thickenesse and breadth, they mighte seme to be giauntes. They are all blacke, and goe naked, onely couering theyr pryuie partes. The heare of theyr heades, is meruey­louslye corlde.Peopl [...] defor­med. They haue greate mouthes, nosethrilles flyrtting vp­warde and wyde, with great eares and cruell eyes. Theyr women are deformed by reason of theyr greate eyes, greate mouthes, and greate nosethrilles. They liue with milke, flesshe, ryce, and dates.Ryce & Dates. They lacke wyne: Yet they make a [Page] pleasaunt drinke of ryce, suger, and other spices. [...]rinke of spices Many marchauntes resorte thether for yuerie & Amber,Amber. for there is greate plentye of Ele­phantes and great whales.

¶Of the two Ilandes, in one of the which dwell onely men, and in the other onely womē.

IN the mayne sea, there are two Ilandes, distante the one frō the other aboute .viij. or .ix. leages to­ward the south, situate betwene the cytie of Aden and Calicut. In one of the which dwel onely men without the company of womē, and is called the Ilande of men.the Ilād of men. And in the other dwell onely women, without men, and is called the Ilande of women.the Ilād of womē They are Christians,christiās and contract matrimonie. The women neuer come to the Ilande of men, but the men are accustomed to vysyte the women once in the yeare, and tarye with them thre monethes continu­ally, [Page] euery man with his owne wife in his owne house: after which time they returne agayn to her owne I­lande, where they remayne all the yere after. The women kepe the mē children with them vntyll they bee xv. yeares of age, & then send them to theyr fathers. The women haue nought els to do, but to take charge of their children, and to gather cer­tayne fruites. But the men labour and haue care how they may fynde theyr wyfe and chyldren. They are exercysed in fyshing,Fishing and sell fyshes both newe taken and olde dryed, to marchaunte straungers, whereby they receaue great commoditios.

¶Of the greate Empyre of Cathay, being vnder the domi­niō of the great Cham (whi­che some call the great Can) Emperoure of Tartaria, in olde tyme called Scythia.

[Page]THe superiour or high India, whi­che is nowe called Cathay, is a re­gion excedinge large and of greate power, whose Emperour is y^e great Cham of Tartaria, the great Cham of Tartari hauinge vnder him many Prouinces, people and Prin­ces, and innumerable Ilādes in the great East sea, called the greate O­cean. He hath vnder his dominion great & famous cities,Famous cities vnder the greate Cham. as are these: Cambalu, Quenquinafu, Mi [...]n, Cacausu, Canglu, T [...] dinfu, Tingui, and dyuers other. Amōg the people of this countrey, one mā hath manye wyues,manye wyues. whiche declare theyr loue to their husbandes after this sort. Whē the husband is dead, euery one of his wiues pleade their cause before a iudge,What naturall affectiō may doe to proue which of them was most louing to her hus­band & beste beloued of him: so y^t she which by the sentence of the iudges is found to haue been most faythful and diligēte, decketh herselfe moste gorgiously in all her sumptuous a­raye, & procedeth like a Virago stout­ly [Page] & cherefully to the fire, where the corps of her husbande was burnte, castinge her selfe into the same fyre, embrasing and kissing the dead bodi of her husband, vntyll she also be cō ­sumed by the fyre, whiche she repu­teth for an honourable sepulture: whereas his other wyues are este­med to lyue in shame and infamie. They ioyne in mariage, neyther in respect of riches or nobilite, but on­lye for loue & beautie: & rather for y^e encrease of posteritie, then for plea­ [...]ure. There is also another straūge custome amōg these Indians:A strāg [...] custome & y^t is, that wheras the poorer sort are not able to geue any dowry with theyr doughters to mariage, they bringe thē forth, euē in y^e floure of their age to y^e market place, with trūpettes & such other instrumētes as they vse in the warres. Where, the multi­tude beynge called together, the maydes fyrste of all, discouere theyr [Page] backe partes, euen vp to the shoul­ders, & afterward theyr forepartes in lyke maners. And vpon this de­claring their pouertie & nakednes, are maried to such as lyke thē best. This people of Cathay, The people of Cathay. are of the na­cion of thē which in tyme past were called Scythians, a kind of men (as saith Haitho) of subtill wyt: affyrming that onely they see with two eies, & that all other men besyde them are blind of the one eye. Theyr quickenes of witte is great, but their boasting is more. The hole naciō is perswaded that they greatly excel all other mē in subteltie of wit and knowledge. The inhabitantes are whyte men, with small eyes, withoute beardes, & vtterly voyde of all godly know­ledge.Idolo­tours. For some of them pray to the sunne, some to the mone, some to I­mages, some to an oxe, and some to other monsters of theyr phantasti­call supersticion. They haue no law [Page] written, and are of no faith. And al­beit that in workemāship and artes they are marueylous wyttie, yet haue they no knowledge of dyuine or godly thinges. It is a timorous kynde of men, and greatly fearinge death. And are therefore in theyr warres, more politike then valient. In the warres, they vse arrowes, & certayne other kyndes of weapons vnknowē to men of other coūtreis. The monie which they vse,Money of paper is made of a certayne paper, beeinge foure square, with y^e Kinges ymage prin­ted theron. Theyr housholde stuffe is of golde & syluer & other metals.Golde & Syluer [...] they haue greate scarcenes of oyle. The great Emperour of Cathay, kee­peth his courte in the riche & migh­tie cytie called Cambalu, the cytie of Cam­balu. being the che­fest citie of all the Empyre, & of such greatnesse that it conteyneth in cir­cuite sixe l [...]ages. This citie is foure square, so that euery quadrature or [Page] syde of the wall, hath in it thre prin­cipal portes or gates. Also in all the corners of the walles, are veri faire palaces, in which the artillery or ar­mure of the cytie is reserued. The stretes are made very streyght and right forth: so that frō any one gate to the other beinge directly ouer a­gainst the same, a man may se plain­ly through the cytie, hauing y^e hou­ses on euery syde lyke palaces, pla­ced in goodly ordre, most beautifull to behold. Without the cytie, there are twelue great suburbes, adherēt to the .xii. gates of y^e cytie, whether the marchaūtes & straungers,Marchā [...]yse. haue their cōtinual recourse as to y^e burse or strete. It can not be spoken what great abundaunce of marchaundise and riches is brought to his citie: a man wold thinke that it were suffi­cient to serue all the worlde. Preci­ous stones,precious stones & spyces. pearles, silke, and spices of dyuers kindes are brought the­ther, [Page] from India and Mangi, & other re­gions. There passeth not a daye in the yeare in which there are not a­bout a thousand waynes ladē with silke which are brought to this citie by straunge marchauntes.No [...]e. What greate pompe, glory, & forniture of all thinges, is obserued in the Em­perours courte,the king of Cathay his court it can not be spokē. He hath in his courte twelue thou­sand horsemen, whiche haue the cu­stodie of his body: & distribute their waytinge dayes after this order, y^t whereas one of y^e captaynes of this garisō with his thre thousand soul­diers hath wayted vpō the kinges personne, three dayes, another cap­tayne in lyke order wyth as manye menne succedeth in hys rowme for other three dayes, and lykewyse an other after hym, executethe the same offyce. When the Em­peroure maketh anye bankette, [Page] it cannot be said what great pompe is obserued. He hath sytting at his lefte hand his chefest quene whō he most estemeth:The Quene. and at his right hād hys sonnes, a [...]d suche as are of the kinges bloud: but thei syt somwhat lower & further of. The other no­ble men which wayte not, sytte in a place yet somewhat lower. All such as in the court syt at meat, vse none other drinking cuppes then of goldGolden plate. The Princes whiche wayte on the Emperoure at hys meate,worldly glory. haue all theyr mouthes couered with fyne silken clothes, least in any case they should blow or breath on the kinges meate or drinke. And whē the Em­perour lifteth vp his cup to drinke, al the musicions and minstrels that stand about him, playe on theyr in­strumētes, while in the meane time all suche as wayte on hym, stoupe downe & make lowe curtesie. How great honoure is exhibited to this [Page] Emperour', & howe many precious and riche presentes are offred vnto him by his Princes, Dukes, Leaue tenauntes and presydentes of pro­uinces, and rulers of cities, no man is able to expresse, forasmuche as he hath vnder him in maner innume­rable Kingdomes, Prouinces, Na­cions and Dominiōs, which are on euery syde about Cathay, & acknowe­ledge him to be theyr onelye Lorde and King, whom they honoure and reuerence as a great God & mighti Mahumet.A liuing Idol. In what pompe & tri­umphant magnificence he sheweth him self when he goeth to hauke or hunt, and how many tentes he pit­cheth in the felde, which being sene a farre of, a man would thinke to be a greate cytie, he that desyreth to knowe, let him reade Paulus Venetus, Paulu [...] venetu [...] in the second boke of hys nauigacions into India, where he shal find thinges to marueyl at. In Cathay they make a [Page] pleasaunt drinke of ryce & certayne spyces,Drinke of rice & spyces. which in drinking excelleth the swetenes of wine. In many pla­ces they haue great lacke of wood: In the stede wherof,Digged cole. they digge out of the mountaynes a certayn kinde of blacke stone whiche burne in the fyre like coles, and continue so long, that yf they be kyndled ouer night, they kepe fyre vnto the morning.

¶Of certaine Prouinces and regions subiect vnder the do­minion of the greate Cham Emperour of Cathay.

THere passeth through the king­dom of Cathay, a certayne greate ryuer called Pulisachnites, which emp­tieth it selfe in the great Ocean sea, by the whiche ryuer, shyppes haue their passage into that lande. Ouer this ryuer is a very fayre bridge of marble,A greate bridge of marble. beyng in length three hun­dreth [Page] pases, and in breadth, eyghte pases, with .xxiiii. arches, and gra­uen Liōs on euery syde, adourning the rayles or highest margentes of the same. From hence it is not farre to the fayre and greate kingdom of [...]ainfu, the ki [...]gdome of Tainfu. in the which are many goodli vynes. For in the kingdom of Cathay there groweth no wyne, but is brought the ther from this region. In this kingdome is greate vse of marchaundyse, and hath plentie of conning artificers,Cōnyng artifi­cers. so that al the ar­mure which the great Cham vseth in his warres, is made there. To­ward the region of Mangi, is situate the ryuer Caromoram, whiche for the greate breadth and depth, hath no bridge. In this region is greate a­bundaunce of Ginger,Ginger. silke, byrdes, and speciallye Phesantes. Some­what beyonde this, is the great cy­tie of Quenquinafu, Quenquinafu. beynge the chief cytie of the same kingdome. In this [Page] region are founde many muskeca [...] ­tes.the mus­ [...]e catte. This beast in this countreye, is but lyttle and fayre, aboute the big­nesse of a meane catte, with grosse heare lyke a harte, hauinge blunte clawes on his fete, with two longe teeth in the vpper iawe, and two in the nether iawe: and hath nere vn­to the nauell a bladder full of a cer­tayne matter like vnto bloud, being of wonderful [...]tagrant sauoure,Siuet or muske. and is the true muske.

¶Of the Prouince of Mangi, and merueylous cyties con­teyned in the same.

THe Prouince of Mangi, hath in it many notable and great cities, in the whiche is greate exercyse of marchaundyse:Mar­chādyse. and specially in the citie of Conigangui, is solde great plen­tie of salt. [...]alte. In the cytie of Panchi, there is great sale of silke.Sylke. In the cytie of Sianfu, Cloth of golde. is made great plētie of clothes of golde and silke. In the cytie singui, [Page] is a famous market where great a­bundāce of marchaūdise is brought by the ryuer. Nere vnto the citie of Caigui, groweth plentie of blade and ryce,Ryce. that it is caried from thence to the court of the greate Cham. In y^e citie of singui, are nūbred to be about sixe thousande bridges of stone,VI. [...] bridges of stone. ha­uinge so highe arches, that greate shippes maye passe vnder the same without bowing down of the mast. There is another citie called Quinsai, the great citie of Quinsai. which is so fayre & great, that there is thought to be no bigger in al the worlde. It conteyneth in circuite, a hūdreth Italien miles, which make xxv. leages. It hath twelue thou­sande bridges of stone,Xij. M [...] bridges of stone. and those so highe that greate shippes with the maste standing vp right, maye passe vnder. This cytie is situate in a marrishe ground, muche lyke vnto venes. Therfore if they should lack bridges, they coulde not passe ouer [Page] frō the one syde of the streete to the other.Artifi­cers. It hath innumerable artifi­cers and many marchauntes.Mar­chaūtes The cytezins lyue pleasantly, and speci­ally the womē, which are fayrer thē in other partes of [...]ndia. Toward the South syde of the cytye, there is a great lake or poole within y^e walles of the cytie, whiche cōteyneth in cir­cuitie about .viii. leages, hauinge a­bout the bankes therof many noble mens houses, very fayre both with­out and within.E [...]mmō bāketi [...] ge hou­ses. In the middeste of this lake, there are two litle Ilādes and in euery of thē a goodly palace, in y^• which are reserued al suche or­namentes & vessels as they vse for theyr mariages & solemne feastes [...] for whereas any of the cytezins en­tende to make any great banket, or feast, they bring theyr gestes to one of these palaces, where they are ho­norably enterteined. In the stretes of y^e citie, are certaine comō towres, [Page] into y^• which,A good prouysiō again [...]te fyre. al such as dwell neare therto, carie theyr goodes & stuffe, yf it so chaunce, y^e fyre be in the citie. The inhabitantes are Idoloters: & eate the fleshe of horses & camels,Flesh of horses eaten. & of other vnclene beastes. The great Cham hath in this cyt [...]e a myghtie garison to the intente to auoyde re­bellion,A p [...]oui­sion a­ga [...]nst rebellion. thefte & murther. For on e­uery bridge there wayteth dayly & nightlye .x. watchmen for the same purpose: and because the Prouince of Mangi is exceding large, the great Cham hath deuyded it into nyne Kingdomes, assigninge vnto eue­rye one a peculier Kynge: whiche are al of greate powre, and yet sub­iecte to the greate Cham. One of them dwelleth in the citie of Quin­sai. In thys Prouince of Mangi,Anthro­pophagi. is an other Kyngdome, called Fugui, in whiche the people eate mannes flesshe, so that they dye [Page] not of any disease. They drinke the bloud and eate the fleshe of such as are slayne in y^e warres.Hennes hauinge heare in the stede of fe­thers. There are hennes found in this region, which in the stede of fethers, haue heare much lyke cattes heare of blacke co­lour: And laye very good egges.

¶Of the regiō of Tangut, and of the great desertes, & voy­ces of deuylles hearde in the same, & of the Salamandra.

the way frō Per­sia to Cathay.FRom the Kingdome of Persia, there are two iourneyes to the region of Cathay. For either the south side must be obserued towarde India, or elles to passe by the prouinces of Carcham, Cotam & Peim, North­eastwarde to the citie of Lop, the cytie of Lop. beynge the greatest and most notable cytie in all that region, lying betwene the East and the North at the entraūce at the great desert. In this cytie, al suche marchauntes,The ior­ney by y^e desertes as entende to passe the desertes, make preparaciō [Page] for all thinges necessarye for their yourneye: And rest in the same, vn­till they are well prouided of strong asses and camels to carye there vi­tayles. And when in y^e desert their vitayles begin to fayle thē, they kyl theyr asses or leaue thē there in the wyldernes, because they can no lon­ger prouide them of pasture, vntyll they haue passed ouer the deserte. But they preserue theyr camelles, beecause they are susteyned wyth lesse meate, and beare greater bur­thens. In this deserte are often tymes founde bytter waters:Bitter waters [...] but more often fresshe and sweete wa­ters: so that in maner euerye daye for the space of thyrtye dayes, a man maye fynde fresshe water, but that in so lyttle quantitie that it doeth not suffice al the marchaūtes whiche passe that waye together. That deserte is verye full of [Page] of mountaynes. And when you are come to the lowe and playn groūd, the residue of the iourney is all to­gether by the sandes: it is through out baren and saluage, so that it is not able to nourishe any beastes for lacke of pasture. In this wildernes are often tymes heard and sene, as well by daye as by night,Illusiōs of euyl spirites. sundrie il­lusions of euyl spirites. And there­fore suche as trauayle throughe the same, haue nede to take great hede least they disseuer or depart farre in sundre, or leaste any linger behynde his companie, aswel for that he may hereby lose the sight of them by rea­son of mountaynes or hilles, lyinge beetwene, as also because there are heard voyces of deuyls,voices of deuyls. calling thē that wander alone, by theyr proper names, conterfeyting the voyces of theyr companie that goeth beefore, by this meanes withdrawing them from the right waye, and bringinge [Page] them to destruccion. There is often tymes heard in the ayre, as it were a noyse of musicall instrumētes:Straūge noises in the ayre. but more often like the sounde of drum­slades or timbrels. This great de­sert being passed ouer, they come to the cytie called Sachion, the citie of Sach [...]ō which is situ­ate in the enteraunce of the greate Prouince of Tangut, where amonge certayne Mahumetistes, are found a fewe Christian men called Nestoriani of the secte of Nestorius. christiās of the heresie of Nestori­us. There are al­so manye Idoloters, hauinge theyr monasteries consecrated to dyuers Idols,Mona­steries of Idolo­ters. to which they offre many sa­crifices, and attribute greate honor to deuyls. And when a man hath a sonne borne, he forthwith commen­deth him to some Idol,A strāge custome in whose ho­nour he nourisheth a ramme al that yeare, which after that his sonne be twelue monethes olde, at the nexte feaste of the same Idoll, he and his sonne offre with many ceremonies. [Page] When this oblacion is finished, thei bringe the sacrificed f [...]eshe to a place appoynted, where al his kinsfolkes being gathered together, they eate that fleshe with great religion, and kepe the bones reuerently in a cer­tayn vessell: but in the funeralles of the dead, they vse these ceremonies and supersticions.Ceremonies in funerals Al the neighbors of the dead, prouyde that the dead corps be burned: which custome all the people of the East partes do ob­serue. Yet some of thē kepe y^e dead bodye by them certayne dayes bee­fore they burne it: As some, seuen daies, some for the space of a moneth and some sixe monethes, preparing for the same a close cheste, so inuolu­inge wyth cereclothe, and ponde­ringe with spyces the bodye there­in inclosed, that no euyll sauoure maye passe foorth. Thys done, they paynte the cheste verye curiouslye, and couer it with a precious clothe, [Page] placinge theyr dyninge table harde by the same, where they dyne con­tinuallye as long as the dead bodie is thus reserued at home.A grosse & vayne perswa­sion. And in the dyner tyme for the space of one hole houre, they sette wyne & meat vpon the cheste, supposing the soule of the dead bodye to be partaker of the same. The Region of Tangut, the regi­on of Ta [...] gut. is verye large, and conteyneth in it manye priuate Prouinces, as the Prouince of Camul, of Cinchital, and Su­chur, wyth dyuerse fayre Cyties, whiche are all Subiecte and obeye to the great Cham of Cathay. Some of the inhabitantes beleue in Ma­humet:Mahu­metistes some acknowledge Christe after the heresye of Nestorius. In the lande of Chinchital, is a Mountayne oute of the whyche is dygged the myne of stele and Audanici.Stele. There is also founde the Ser­pente called Salamandra, Salama [...] ­dra. which lyueth in the fyre wythoute anye hurte. [Page] Of the heare of this serpēt, is made a certayne cloth, which being cast in the fyre when it is foule, is thereby made cleane and very white if it re­maine there for y^e space of an houre. Suche other innumerable & mar­ueilous thinges,Paulus Venetus. writeth Paulus [...]enetus that he hath sene and founde in his nauigacions into these partes: of whom also I haue gathered thus muche, lettinge passe manye other thinges whereof he speaketh more at large.

¶Of the two Ilandes Iohanna and Hispana.

AS Columbus came to the Ilande whiche he called Iohanna,Iohanna he hearde a merueylous sweete noyse of innumerable byrdes, and espe­ciallye of Nightingales whiche wandred in the thicke wooddes in the Moneth of Nouembre. He founde also mooste fayre Ryuers, swete to drinke, & many goodly ha­uēs. And as he sayled by the costes of the Ilande Southweste warde, [Page] and could fynd no ende, he thought it had been the mayne land, & ther­fore determyned to drawe backe, being partly enforsed by roughnes of the sea: and thus returning some what Eastward, he came to an Ilād whiche he afterwarde called Hispana, Hispana, or Hispaniola. where arriuing to the land, he & his companye was sene of the Inhabi­tantes of the Iland, which sodeinly fled into the thicke woodes: whom the Spanyardes pursewinge, toke a womanne whom they brought to theyr shippe, entreatinge her verye gentillye, fyllinge her with delicate meates and wyne, and clothing her in fayre apparel, & so let her depart: for thei goe naked, and are not vsed to delicates. And as this womanne returned to her companie, some be­ynge moued by the lyberalitie de­cla [...]ed vnto her, came by greate multitudes to the sea bankes, brin­ginge golde with them, which they [Page] chaunged for earthen pottes, and drinkinge glasses.gold for earth & glasse. Thus a fur­ther frendship by this meanes con­tracted, the Spanyardes begonne more diligētly to searche theyr ma­ner of lyuinge and maners, & so vn­derstode that they had a king.the king of the I­land. And therefore entering further into the Iland, they were honorably recey­ued of the king. Thei vewyde their houses, and merueyled to see them so bylded without the vse of Iron,Bylding without the vse of Iron. which they are vtterly without: in the stede wherof they vse a certeyn stone, wherwith they cut and sawe theyr timbre.

¶Of the people called Canibales or Anthropophagi, which are accu­stomed to eate mans fleshe.

WHeras the people of the fore­named Ilādes, fled at the sight of our menne, the cause thereof was, that they suspected them to [Page] haue been Canibals, C [...]nibales Anthro­pophagi. that cruel & fearse people which eate mās fleshe, which nacion our men had ouerpassed, lea­ninge them on the southsyde. But after they had knowledge of the cō ­trary, they made greuous cōplaynt to our men, of the beastly and fearse maners of these Canibales, the fear­senes of the cani­bales. which were no lesse cruel agaynst them, thē the Tyger or the Lyon agaynste tame beastes. Declaring furthermore, y^t when soeuer they take any of them vnder the age of .xiiij. yeares, they vse to gelde them, & francke thē vn­tyll they be very fat, as we are wōt to doe with capons or hennes: and as for suche as drawe towarde .xx. yeare olde, to kyll them forthwith and pull out theyr guttes, and eate the same freshe and newe, wyth o­ther extreme partes of the bodye,mās fle­she pou­dered. poudering the residue with salte, or keping it in a certayne pickle as we do iegottes or sansages. Yet eate [Page] they not the womē, but reserue thē to encrease, as we doe hennes to lay egges. And if thei take any old wo­mē, they kepe thē for drudges. And therfore whē the Canibales make incursion, the people of these Ilādes flye with all spede. For albeit they vse arrowes, yet are they not able to resyste theyr fearsenes.

¶Of the maners of the inha­bitantes of the Iland of Hispana and of suche thynges as are found there.

THe inhabitātes of this Ilande,Roates in y^e stede of bread vse in y^e stede of bread, certayne rotes like vnto nauie rotes, hauing the tast of soft & grene chestnuttes. Gold w^t thē is in estimaciō,Gold i [...] estimacion. for they hāge certayne peces therof at their eares: they go not out of y^e limities yf their own cōtrie, nor exercise any marchādise w^t strāgers:Howe golde i [...] gathred. thei gather gold in y^e sādes of a certē riuer which springeth out of veri high mōtaines [Page] They gather it with great laboure and melte it and caste it, fyrste into masses or wedges, and afterwarde into brode plates. They haue no foure foted beastes, except connies: they haue serpentes of monstrous greatnes,Serpēts wythout ve [...]. but without hurte or ve­nime. They haue also wylde turtle doues & duckes, muche greater thē ours, & gese whyter then swannes, sauing y^t they haue redde heades. Thei haue also many popingiayes:Popin­giayes. some grene, some yelowe, and some not muche vnlyke them of India, w^t redde circles about their neckes This Iland bringeth forth also Ma­stix, Aloe, Spices & Gū [...]es and suche other gūmes: and especially certayne redde graynes, which are sharper then pepper.

¶How Columbus, after he had found new Ilādes, returned agayne to Spayne, where preparinge a newe nauie, he toke his viage to y^e Canibales.

[Page] COlumbus, not a little ioyeful of the landes newly found, the spring tyme drawing nere, he determined [...]o returne to his countrey: leauing with the king of the Iland .38. men which should diligently searche the situacion of the Ilande, the maners of the people, & the natures of trees and fruites. But he, soyseninge vp his sayles, directed hys viage to­warde Spayne, bringing with him tenne menne of the sayd Ilande,The Indian tōg to thende that they mighte learne the Spanishe tonge, which they might easely doe, because al the wordes of theyr language may well be writtē with our letters. Columbus, Colūbus, at his re­turne, i [...] made after thys his returne, and fortunate successe in his fyrste viage, was honorablye receyued of the Kynge and Quene, and greatlye magnified with innu­merable glorious tittles: willinge that he should no more thenceforth be called Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean sea. but the Admiral of [Page] the great Ocean sea: and prepared for him towarde his second viage .xvij. foistes and .xij. brigātines,The se­cond viage of Columbus wel furnished with al kynd of artillerye and plentie of vitayles, and in them twelue hundreth men wel appoyn­ted: Corne also to sowe, & al kindes of seedes and plantes. For, excepte pine apple trees & date trees, there growe none in these Ilandes that are knowen to vs. The Admirall toke also with him al sortes of Iron tooles to thintent to byld townes & fortresses where his men might lye in safegarde. Therfore the first day of September departing from the Ilandes called Gades, Gades. with a prospe­rous wind he arryued at the Iland of Canaria the fyrst daye of October:The Ilā des of Canaria. from whense directing his viage towarde the lefte hande, he sayled to­ward y^e South, & at y^e length came to the Ilādes of the Canibals. And be­cause he came thether on the Sun­days [Page] called the Dominical day,the Ilā [...] of Dom [...] nica [...] he called the Ilād where he arryued, Dominica: which when he perceyued to be but saluage and rude, he sayled on fur­ther: and in twentie dayes sayling, came to another Iland replenished w^t al kindes of trees,Insulae Crucis. frō which came a marueylous fragrant sauour: By reason whereof, some being allured by the pleasantnes of the place, wēt a land, where they sawe no kynde of lyuinge beastes,Lisertes sauinge lysertes of wonderful houdge greatnes. This Ilande he called Insula Crucis, whiche was also an Ilande of the Canibales, as afterward they proued in dede. For as they sayled about the Ilād, they found certayne lowe cotages made of trees,Houses of trees [...] lyke vnto stagies. For they set trees vpright in order round a­bout, fastening postes in them crosse ouer, where vnto the trees cleaue faste, so that by this meanes they cā not fall. They frame the roofes of [Page] the [...]e cotages, with sharpe toppes after the maner of rownde tentes. And last of al, they inclose and couer these trees thus set in order, wyth the leaues of date trees, and certen other trees, to thintent to make thē a stronger defence agaynst wynd & wether. And within the cotage, they tye the postes together with ropes of bombage cotton, and a cer­tayne longe roote. They haue cou­ches made, one aboue another, the flowres whereof they strawe wyth heye and cotton. And as soone as they hadde spied our men, they fled incontinente. And when oure men came into theyr houses, they found in them certayne young men bound to postes,Younge men stalle [...] to be made fatte. and kept to be made fatte and lykewyse many o [...]de womenne which these Canibales kepte to be their drudges.Fi [...]e co­ [...]e [...]pe. They founde there also earthen vesselles of all sortes, in which they sodde mens fleshe with [Page] poping [...]ayes, geese, & duckes fleshe, al to gether in one v [...]ssell. They ro­sted also mans fleshe vpon spyttes. reseruing the bones of the armes & legges, whiche they vse in the stede of Iron, to piece & typpe theyr ar­rowes. For they are vtterlye with­out Iron. The found also the head of a yong mā, yet bleding and faste­ned to a poste. But certayne wo­menne whiche had fledde from the Canibales to oure menne, the Admiral commaunded to be gorgiously dec­ked after the maner of our women, and with many rewardes to be sent agayne to theyr owne companye. By meanes whereof,Canibales allured with ly [...]beral [...]te [...] the Canibales be­ynge allured by the lyberalitie and gyftes of our men, hoping that they also shoulde be lykewyse rewarded, came running toward our men: but whē they drew somwhat nere vnto them, they fled immediatly into the nexte wooddes. And thus our men [Page] departing from thence, returned to the Ilande of Hispana.

¶How the Admirall passed manye Ilandes, and what thynges chaunced to hym & his companie in that viage.

AS the Admirall departed frō the Iland of the Canibales, & wēt foreward on his viage, he passed by many Ilandes: among the whiche was one called Matinina, Matinina An Ilād of womē onelye. in whyche dwell only women, after the maner of thē, called Amazones, as he learned of the men of the Ilandes which he brought with him into Spayne at his fyrste viage, and saued them frō the fearsenes of the Canibales. He pas­sed also innumerable other Ilādes, of which to some he gaue names,The na­mes of sundrye Ilandes as Mons Farratus, Sancta Maria rotunda, Sancta Mar­tinus, Sancta Maria antiqua, and Sancta Crux, Into the which oure men entering to thintente to fetche freshe water, found foure Canibales, which had takē [Page] foure yonge women: who, as soone as thei had spied our men, wringed theyr handes, seming therby to de­syre ayde of oure men: at whose co­ming to delyuer them, the men fled into the woodes and left the womē. Shortly after, our men saw a bote coming on the sea with .viij. mē and as many women: with whom oure men bickeringe lost one of theyr cō ­panions, by reason that these bar­bariens are accustomed to infecte theyr arrowes w^t venime:arrowes infected w^t veni­me. yet oure men preuayled and slewe parte of them, and broughte the resydue by forse to the Admyrall. As they de­parted from hence, they found ma­ny other Ilandes, but such as they could not come to for the roughnes of the sea and multitude of rockes. But some of the smallest brigātines which drewe no great depth, went somewhat nearer, and noumbred a­boue seuen and fortie Ilandes, and [Page] called the place Archipelagus. Archipe­logus. Sayling from hence, they found another I­land called Buchema, Buchema into the whiche y^e Canibales make sundry incursions, by reason wherof the inhabitantes are at continual warre with thē. Thus at the length, the Admiral with his hole nauie returned to the Iland of Hispana: but in an euyl tyme. For they whiche he hadde lefte there for a garrison, were all dead: as were al­so they whiche he toke with him frō the same Ilande into Spayne to vse them for intrepretours. Of whiche seuen dyed by chaunge of the ayre.Change of ayre is daun­gerous. One of them was per­mitted of the Admirall to departe, when the nauie came neare to hys countrey. The residue stole awaye priu [...]lye, and swamme to lande: but the Admirall doubting whether all his men were dead or no, whiche he left in the Iland, commaunded cer­tayne ordinaunce to be shot of, that [Page] by the noyse thereof they myghte haue warning to come forth, yf any [...]aye lurkinge in corners: but none appeared, whose fa [...]tall dayes had fynisshed theyr lyfe. At the length,the king dissem­bleth w^t the Ad­myrall. the kyng of the Ilande beyng ther­to enforsed, declared the hole mat­ter to the Admyrall as well as he coulde by interpretours: affyrming that there were in the Iland other Kinges besyde him: and of greater power then he, which were sore of­fended that the Spaniardes hadde subdued the Ilandes: & in reuenge therof, came to the town where the Spaniardes lay, which they ouer­came & burnt, & slew al the mē ther­in: and that he also at the same con­flicte, taking part with our mē, was sore woūded with an arrow on the arme, for the better tryall where­of he bore hys arme in a towell, because it was not yet hole of that wounde. But shortelye after [Page] they had knowledge, that the King fayned this tale: so that he hardely escaped the handes of the Admiral, who was determyned wyth some kynd of punishment to haue exami­ned him further. But he suspecting the matter, fled into y^e inner partes of the Iland, declaring therby, that he was the destruction of our men: whō, certayn of our companie, pur­suinge, founde manye marueylous thinges:Golde found in riuers & moūtai­nes. and especiallye ryuers in which is founde muche golde, and a moun [...]ayne, whose sande is sparke­led with gold. In this place, the Admiral bylded a citie, which he com­passed about with a walle. And de­parting from hence, he searched al­most all the Iland: in y^e inner partes wherof he bylded a towre, & named it, S. Thomas towre, whiche he made to thintent that he might the more safely searche out the secretes of so plentifull a region, and especi­ally [Page] the gold mines of the same: and thus leauinge a garrison there, he departed, takinge with him three foystes, wherwith he sayled to seke newe Ilandes,the Ilandes of Cuba and Iamiaca. and came first to the Ilande of Cuba, and from thence to Iamiaca, being greater then Sicilia, very fruytful and wel inhabited. Which, whē he had vewed, he departed frō thence, & sayled about the sea costes where he sawe innumerable other small Ilandes,A multitude of Ilandes standinge so thicke, that the ship was in maner borne a lande: and was therfore enforsed to returne home, the same way which he came.

¶How the Spaniardes a­bused the submissiō & frende­shippe of the inhabitantes of the Ilandes.

IN this meane tyme, the Spani­ardes which the admiral had left in the Iland of Hispana, had euyll en­treated the inhabitauntes: so that [Page] for wante of vitayles & foode, they begonne to famyne: imputinge the fault hereof vnto the Christian mē,The crueltie of the Christian mē which had digged vp al the rootes wherwith thei were accustomed to make theyr bread. And whereas they yet perceaued, that y^e Christien men entended to cōtinue there, thei sent an ambassadour to the admiral to desyre him to restrayne the out­ragiousnes and crueltie of his men, at whose hādes they sustained such iniuries and violēce, as they scarce­ly loked for at the handes of mortal enemies. Declaringe further, that vnder the pretēce of seking for gold they cōmitted innumerable wrōges and mischieuous actes,Crueltie of coue­ [...]ousnes. spoyl [...]ng in maner all the hole region: and that for the auoyding of such enormities and oppressions, they hadde rather paye tribute, then to be thus dayly vexed with incursiōs, & neuer to be at quiete. Upon this complaynte it [Page] was agreed, that they shoulde paye yearely tribute to the Christiā king & that they should applie thē selues to gather and encrease theyr rotes,Bread of rotes. whiche were to them in the stede of flowre and wheat: and so consumed that with great labour they coulde scarcely fynde any in the wooddes. They payde therefore for their tri­bute,The tri­bute of the bar­barians euery thre monethes, certayn pound weyghtes of gold: but suche as had no gold, payde spyces, & gos­sampine cotton. In the meane time the Spaniardes, who should haue been occupied in digging for golde,Disobe­diēce [...]o­loweth Idlenes gaue thē selues to play, wantōnes & idlenes, cōtemning, & falling into hatered w^t their gouernour, by which theyr licēciousnes, the people of the Ilād beyng prouoked, became more disobedient & wyld, degeneratinge frō al kind of honestie & faithfulnes: yea y^• spaniardes also became so negligēt in seking for gold, y^t sometyme [Page] the charges exceaded the gaynes. Neuerthelesse in the yere of Christ, 1501. they gathered within y^e space of two monethes twelue thousand poundes weyght of golde.Note. But the Admirall appoyntinge his brother Bartholomeus Columbus, Bartholo­meus Colūbus, to be gouernour of the Iland, he in the yeare .1495. determined to returne to Spayne, to certifye the kyng of al these mat­ters. In which viage, he manfullye defended him self in battayl against the rebelles of certayne other I­landes which had cōspyred agaynst the Spanyardes.

¶How the Portugals sought new Ilādes in the East partes, and how they came to Calicut.

IN this meane tyme that y^e Spa­nyardes soughte newe and vn­knowen landes in the West partes, the Portugales attempted to doe the same in the Easte partes. And least one of them should be a lette or [Page] hinderaūce to the other, they deuy­ded the world betwene them by the aucthoritie of the Bishop of Rome,The bis­shop of rome deuideth y^e world. Alexāder the .vi. of that name. And that on this condicion,,hesperi­des, or Caput u [...]ri­de. that frō the Ilandes called Hesperides (whiche are now called Caput ueride) the one should sayle Westwarde, and the other to­warde the South pole,How the Spany­ardes & y^• Portugales deuided the world betwene them. thus deuy­ding the world betwene thē in two equal partes. So that whatsoeuer vnknowen landes shoulde be disco­uered in the Easte partes, the same to be dewe to the Portugales: And all suche as shoulde be founde in the Weste partes, to appertayne to the Spanyardes. Whereby it came to passe, that the Spaniardes, euer by the South, sayled into the Weste, where they founde a large mayne lād, with Ilādes great & litle innu­merable, hauing in them great plē ­tie of golde and pearles,Golde & Pearles and other great riches. But the Portugales, [Page] by the Southe, and costes of the I­landes called Hesperides, and Equinoctial lyne,The E­quinoctial ly [...]e. & Tropicus Capricorni, came y^• into East, by th [...] goul [...]e called Sinus Persicus, euen vnto the costes of India, with in the riuer of Ganges, The ry­uer of Ganges wheras is now the great market towne, & kingedō of Calicut. Calicut. And frō thence to the Ilād of Taprobana, Taprobana (now called Sumetra, Zamara or Samotra Samotra.) & so forth to Aurea Chersonesus, whereas is nowe the great cytie of Malaccha, the great cy [...]ie of Malaccha beyng one of y^e most famous market townes of al y^e East partes. From Malaccha, they entered into a great goulfe, by which they came to the region of [...]inar [...]m. the regiō of [...]inarū Not farre from Malaccha, are the Ilandes called Molucca, the Ilandes of Molucca in which al kyndes of spyces growe and are brought to the cytie of Malaccha. But the Spany [...]rdes hauing knowledge what greate cō ­moditie the Portugales had recey­ued by the Ilandes of Molucca, attem­ted [Page] to proue yf they also might find the same Ilandes in sayling so farre Westward,Sayling into the East by the west that they mighte at the length by West and southwest come into the East, as by good reasō they presupposed the roundnesse of the earth would permitte,the ro [...] ̄d [...]es of [...]he erth. if they were not otherwyse lette by the fyrme or mayne land lyinge in the waye and stoppinge theyr passage,The fir­me land whereof as yet was no certeyntie knowē. And this dydde they to thintent that by this meanes they myghte more ea­selye and wyth lesse charge bringe spyces from thence into Spayne.Spice [...] the vi [...]ge from the West in to the Easte. Therefore, the maner of this viage was, that they shoulde sayle from the Weste, vnder the lowest hemis­pherye or halfe cōpasse of the earth, & so to come into the East. A thinge surelye that myghte seeme verye harde to attempte, beecause it was [Page] vncertaine whether that, most pru­dente and beneficiall nature, (who worketh al thinges with most high prouidence) had not so deuided and seperated the East from the West, partely by sea, and partely by land, that there might by this way haue been no passage into the East. For it was not yet knowen, whether that great region of America, America. (whiche they call the fyrme or mayne lande) dyd seperate the Weste sea frō the East:The fir­me land. But it was founde that that fyrme lande extēded from the West to the South: And that also towarde the North partes were foūd two other regiōs, whereof the one is called Re­gio Baccalearum, Regio Baccalearum. & the other Terra Florida:Terra Florida. which, if they were adherent to the sayde fyrme land, there could be no passage by the Weste seas into the East India, forasmuch as ther was not yet founde any strayghte of the sea, wherby any enteraunce mighte [Page] be opē into the East. In this meane while,the king o [...] spay [...] sendeth foorth shippes. the kyng of Spayne beynge elected Emperoure, prepared a na [...]uie of fyue shippes, ouer the whiche he appointed one Magellanus to be cap­tayne,The viage of Magellanus, by the west in­to y^e east. commaundinge him that he should sayle towarde the coastes of the sayd fyrme land, dyrectinge his viage by the south partes thereof, vntyl he had eyther found the ende of the same, or elles some streyghte wherby he mighte passe to those o­doriferous Ilandes of Molucca, The Ilā des of Molucca. so fa­mously spoken of for the great abū ­daunce of swete sauours and spices founde therein. The shippes there­fore, beyng well furnisshed with all thinges necessarie, Magellanus depar­tinge from Ciuile in Spayne, the tenth day of August, in the yeare of Christ .1519. came fyrst to y^e Ilādes of Canaria, The Il [...] des of c [...] naria. and from thence to the I­landes called Hesperides: from whiche dyrectinge hys course betwene the [Page] West and the East toward the sayd fyrme land, in few dayes with pros­perous sayling, he discouered a cor­ner or poynt of the sayd mayne lād, called Promontorium S, Muriae, Promon­torium s. Marie. where the people dwell, called Canibales, Canibales whiche are accustomed to eate mans fleshe. Frō hence he sayled on southwarde by the long tracte of this firme lād, which reacheth so farre into y^e south and extendeth so many degrees be­yond y^e circle called Tropicus Capricorni, y^t the south pole (called pole Antar­tike) is there eleuated fortie & syxe degrees.The ele­uaciō of the south pole, 46 degrees And thus beyng brought into the East, they saw certayn In­dians gatheringe shel fyshes by the sea bankes:The Region of giaūtes. beyng men of very high stature, clothed w^t beastes skinnes. To whom, wheras certayne of the Spaniardes went a land, & shewed them belles & paynted papers, they begon to daunce & leape aboute the Spaniardes, with a rude and mur­muring songe. At the length there [Page] came three other, as thoughe they were ambassadours, whiche by cer­tayn signes desyred y^e Spaniardes to go with thē further into the lād, making a countenaunce as though thei wold intertayn thē wel, where vpō, y^e captayne Magellanus sent w^t thē vii. mē well instructed, to thintēt to [...]earche y^e regiō & maners of the people. And thus they went w^t thē into y^e desertes,Cotages couered w^t bea­stes ski [...] nes. wher they came to a low cotage couered with wylde beastes skinnes, hauing in it two māsiōs, in one of y^t which were womē & childrē & in the other only mē. They inter­teined their gestes after a barbaros & beastly maner, which neuertheles semed to thē princelike:Onager. for they kil­led a beast, not much vnlike a wylde asse, whose flesshe (but halfe rosted) they set before our mē, without any other kind of meate or drinke. Here were our mē of necessitie cōstrained to lye al night vnder these skinnes, [Page] by reason of the great abundaunce of snowe and wynde.Abūdaū ce of s [...]owe & wynde. And when it was day, our mē were very earnest with them, & would in maner haue enforsed them to goe with them to the shippe: which thing thei percea­uing, couered them selu [...]s from the head to the foote with certayn hor­rible beastes skinnes, and paynted theyr faces with sundrye colours. Thus taking theyr bowes and ar­rowes, & bringing with them other of theyr companie, of much greater stature and terrible aspect, thē they were, they shewed them selues to oure men in araye, as thoughe they were ready to fight. But the Spa­nyardes, whiche thoughte that the matter would haue comen to hand strokes, commaunded a piece of or­dinaunce to be shotte of. The which although it dyd no hurte, yet these hardy giauntes,The Gi­aūtes ar putte to [...]yght. which a litle before semed to be as bold as though they [Page] durst haue made warre against Iu­piter, were by the noyse there of put in suche feare, that they foorthwith beganne to entreate of peace. Our men entēded to haue brought some of these Gyauntes wyth them into Spayne for the straungenes of the thinge: but they all escaped oute of theyr handes. Magell [...]nus therfore vn­derstandinge that it were vnprofy­table to tarie there any longer, and that also the sea was very rough, & the wether stormie and boysteous, and that furthermore the firme lād extēded further toward the south, it so muche, that the further they sayled that waye, they should fynde in so much y^e colder, he deferred hys proceding vnto the moneth of may,extreme winter in maye. at whiche time, y^e sharpenes of win­ter, exceadeth with th [...]m, when as with vs, sommer is begon. He foūd there greate plentie of wood. The sea also ministred vnto them great [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [Page] abundaūce of shelfishe, besyde other fyshes of sundrie kynd [...]s. He found lykewyse many springes of freshe & holesome waters: and vsed hūtinge and taking of foules. Only bread & wyne, was lackinge in the shippe. The south pole was there eleuated fortie degrees. [...]he south pole ele­uate .xl. degrees

¶How Magella [...]us by a strayght or narrow arme of the sea, say­led by the west into the East to dyuers Ilandes: where also he was slayne.

THe wynter now being past, the xxiiij. day of Auguste, Magellanus departed frō the place aforesayde, & styll folowed the tracte of the firme land toward the south, vntyl at the length, the .xxvi. day of Nouember, he found in that firme land,The [...]rayght of Magel [...]anus. certayn open places lyke vnto strayghtes or narrow seas. Into the which en­tring with his nauie, he cōmaunded that certayn shippes should searche [Page] the goulfes on euerye syde, yf anye way or passage might be found into the East. At the length, they foūd a certayn depe straight, by the which they were perswaded y^t there was enteraunce into some other mayne sea, in so much that Magellanus attemp­ted to sear [...]he y^e same. This straight was foūd to be somtime of y^e bredth of thre Italian myles, sometyme of two, & sometime of tenne, & reached somwhat toward the West. The al­titude or eleuacion of the south pole in this place,The altitude of the south pole .li [...]. degrees. was foūde to be .lii. de­grees. They coulde see no people stering in the costes of this entraūce Therfore Magellanus seing thys lande to be rough & saluage, & vnpleasaūt to abide in, by reasō of extreme cold, he thought it not worthye the tra­uayle, to spend any time in serching the same. Therfore sailing forward in his viage thus attēpted by y^e said strayghte, (which is now called the [Page] strayght of Magellanus) he was therby brought into another mayn sea, [...]he main sea be­yond the straygh­tes. ve­rye great and large. The length of this strayght or narrow sea, is este­med to be a hūdreth spanishe miles. The land which he had on his right hande, he doubted not to be mayne lande:The fyr­me land and that on the left hand, he supposed to bee Ilandes. Magellanus sawe lykewyse the fyrme land to be extended directly toward y^e North: wherefore letting passe that greate lande, he sayled by that greate and large sea betwene the West and the North: & that for this intente, that at the length he might by the West come into the East, and agayne vn­der the burning lyne called Zona Tor­rida, The burning line Torrida Zona [...] beynge well assured that the I­landes of Molucca (which he soughte) were in the Easte,The Ilā des of Molucca and not farre frō the Equinoctial lyne. When they hadde thus sayled for [...]ie dayes, and came now agayne vnder the line or circle [Page] called Tropicus Capricorni, Tropicus capricor­ni. they founde two lyttle Ilandes inhabyted, but very barren, and therfore called thē infortunate Ilandes. Departinge frō thence, they sailed on for a great space, and found a certayne Ilande which y^e inhabitantes called Inuagana, the Ilād of Inua­gana. where the eleuacion of the Northe pole, (called pole Artike) was .xij. degrees: And the length from the Ilandes called Gades, The Ilā des of Gades called Ca­les Ma­les. by the Weste, was iudged to bee c.lviii. degrees. Thus proceding, they saw dyuers other Ilandes, and that so manye, that they supposed they had been brought into a great sea lyke vnto that called Archipelagus, Archipe­lagus. where with sygnes & poyntinges (as the dūme are wōt to speake with the dumme) they asked of these Indians, the names of the Ilandes, wherby they learned that thei were in Acatan, Acatan. and not farre frō the Ilande called Selani, Selani. wel inhabited and replenished with [Page] abundaunce of al thinges necessarie for the cōmodities of this life. Say­ling therfore toward the Ilande of Selani, thei were with a cōtrary wind drieuen on the Iland of Massana, [...]assana. from whense they came to the greate I­land a [...] Subuth, S [...]buth where y^e Spanyardes were wel enterteyned of the Kinge of the Iland, who brought thē into a certayn cotage, and set before thē such delicates as he hadde. Theyr bread,Bread of the trūke of trees. was of the trunke of a certen tree, cut in pieces, & fried with oyle. Theyr drinke was of the humoure [...]r ioyse which droppeth out of the braunches of the date trees,Drinke of the droppīg of date [...]es. when they are cutte. Theyr meate was suche as they toke by foulinge, with such fruites as the contrei brought forth. This Ilande was very riche of gold and ginger.Golde & Ginger In these partes Magellanus made warre agaynste the inhabitauntes of certayne other I­landes: In which conflicte, the spa­niardes [Page] hauing the ouerthrow Ma­gellanus was slayne with seuen of hys men.Magella­nus is slayne. When the Spaniardes hadde thus lost theyr captayne, they elec­ted a new gouernoure of theyr na­uie, appointing one Iohannes Serranus to that office.the new captai [...]e Serranus is betraied of his bondmā Magallanus had also a bond man borne in the Ilandes of Molucca, whom he had bought in the citie of Malaccha. This bondman vnderstode the Spanishe tonge: and where as the captayn Serranus could do nothing without him, who now lay sicke by reason of the woūdes which he had receaued in the said conflicte, so that he was fayne to speake sharpely to him and threaten to beate him or he could geat him out of the shyppe, he here vpon conceaued so great hate­red and indignacion agaynste the Spanyardes,the king of Subuth cōspy­reth a­gaynst the Spanyardes that he wente imme­diatlye to the Kinge of Subuth, decla­ring the couetousnes of the Spani­ardes to be vnsaciable, & y^t thei wold [Page] shortely vse crueltie against him al­so, and bring him into s [...]biectiō and seruitude. The barbarous king be­leued his wordes, & therwith pry­uelye with the ayde of the other I­landes, conspired against the Spa­nyardes, and toke or slew as many of them as came to a banket where­unto they were bidden vnder pre­tence of frendship.The captayne Serra­nus is takē pri­soner. Amōg the which also, Serranus the Captaine was taken priesoner. But the resydue of the Spanyardes which remayned in the shippes, beyng taught & war­ned by the euyll chaunce which be­fell to theyr cōpanions, and fearing greater deceytes and conspiracies, lyft vp their ankers and gaue wind to their sayles. In the meane tyme was Serranus brought bound to the sea bankes, desiring his compa­nions to delyuer or redeme him frō that horrible cap [...]iuitie of hys ene­mies. But the Spaniardes, albeit [Page] they toke it for a dishonour, to leaue or forsake theyr Captayne, yet fea­ring fraude or further dissimulaciō, they sayled asyde from that Iland, and came to the Ilandes of Gibeth & Porne. The Il [...] des of Gibeth & Porne. In this mayne sea, were two great Ilandes, wherof the one was called Siloli, Siloli. & the other Porne the lesse, where our mē were wel entreated. The inhabitantes of Porne honoure the sunne and the mone: they keepe also a certayn ciuile iustice & frēd [...]y loue one to another. And aboue all thinges, desyre peace and ydlenes.Peace & Idlene [...] Therfore their chiefe studie is, in no case to moleste their neygboures or straungers, or to be iniurious to a­nye man. They haue lyttle houses, made of earth and wood, and coue­red partely with rubbishe, & partly with y^e bowes of date trees. They take as manye wyues as they are able to kepe. Theyr comon meat, is such as they take by foulinge or fis­shinge. [Page] They make bread of ryce:Bread of Rice. [...] drinke, of the liquour whiche drop­peth frō the braūches of date trees, cutte. Some vse marchaundyse in the Ilandes nere about them: some applie thē selues to huntinge & fys­shing, and some to husbādry. Theyr apparell, is of Gossampine cotton. They haue greate abundaunce of camphyre,Cāphire ginger and cinomome.

¶How the Spaniardes came to the Ilandes of Molucca, and of the people with great hanging eares.

THe Spaniardes takinge theyr leaue of the king of Porne, depar­ted: dyrecting theyr viage towarde the Ilandes of Molucca, whiche were shewed vnto thē by the same King. They came fyrst to the costes of the Ilande called Solo, where are found Pearles as bygge as turtle doues egges:Pearles as bigge as turtle doues egges [...] but they are gathered in the depth of the sea. The inhabitantes [Page] of this Ilande, at suche tyme as the Spanyardes came thether, toke a shelfysshe of suche houdge bignes,A maruelous bi [...] shelfish [...] y^t the fleshe therof wayed .xlvij. poūd weyght. Wherby it is apparaunt y^e great pearles should be found there forasmuch as pearles are the byrth of certayn shelfishes. Frō hence thei came to the Iland of Gilona, Gilona. in which are certayn people hauing hanging eares of such length,Men w^t hanging eares. that they hang downe to theyr shoulders. Wherat as the Spaniardes marueyled, the men of the Iland tolde thē, that not farre frō thence was another Ilād in which were a kind of mē, not one­ly with hāging eares, but also with eares of suche breadth and length, that with one of them they myghte couer theyr hole head. But the Spanyardes,The sp [...] nyardes arriue a [...] the Ilandes of Molucca. who soughte for golde and spyces, and not for mon­sters, sayled dyrectly to the Ilādes of Molucca, where they arryued, [Page] the eyghte moneth after the death of their gouernour Magellanus. These Ilandes are fyue in noumbre, the names wherof are these. Tharant, Mu­thil, Thedori, Mare, and Mathien. Some of them are sytuate on thys syde the Equinoctiall lyne, some vnder it, & some beyonde it. Some beare cloues, some Nutmegges, and some Cino­mome. They are not farre distaunt the one from the other. They are but little and narowe. The inhabi­tantes are very poore, because ther is no encrease of anye other thinge sauing onely of spyces. They lyue with bread and fyshe, and sometime popingiayes. They lurke in lowe cotages: And in fyne, all thinges w^t them are despicable and vile, beside peace, idlenes, and spices. In Thedori is great plentie of cloues, as also in Tarante and Mathien. The trees which bringe forth cloues,The tree that bea [...]eth clo­ [...]es. growe not, but on rockes and broken cliffes, where [Page] sometime they grow so thicke, that they appeare lyke a lyttle wood or groue. This tree, bothe in leaues, biggenes, and heyght, is much lyke vnto the baye tree. It beareth the fruite in y^e toppes of euery braūche. The budde springeth out fyrst, and thē in it the floure, not much vnlike the floure of an orange tree. The cloue is fyrst redde: but after beyng scorched by the heate of the sonne, it is made blacke. The inhabitauntes deuide the groues of these trees be­twene them, as we doe the vynes. The Iland of Muthil, bringeth forth cinomome. This tree,the cino­mome tree. is ful of small braunches & baren, beste lyking in a drye soyle, and is very like vnto the tree, that beareth the pomgranate. The barke of this tree, by reason of the great heate of the sonne, rysing from the braunches, or bodie of the same, is gathered and dried at the sonne, and is so made perfecte cino­nomome. [Page] Neare vnto this, is ano­ther Iland, called Beda, greater and larger, then anye of the Ilandes of Molucca. In this Iland groweth the Nutmegge,The nutmeg tree whose tree is bigge & highe, and much lyke vnto the wal­nutte tree, for as is the walnutte, so is this fruite defended with a dou­ble couering, as fyrste with a grene huske, vnder the whiche is a thinne skinne or rimme like a nette, encom­passing the shell of the nutte: which skinne we call the flowre of the nut­megge, but of the Spanyardes, it is called mace,Mace. an excellent and hole some spyce. The other couering, is the shell of the nutte, within the which is the fruite it selfe, which we call y^e nutmegge.The nutmegge Ginger Ginger groweth here and there in all the Ilandes of this Archipelagus, or mayne sea. Of the whiche, some is sowen, and some groweth of it selfe. But that which is sowen, is the better. The herbe [Page] of this, is lyke vnto that which bea­reth saffrane, and hath hys roote, (which is Ginger,) much lyke vnto the same. In this meane time came two other shyppes out of Spayne: whereof the one sayled directely to the poynte of Aphrica, Promon [...] torium bon [...] sp [...] called Promontoriū bone sp [...]i: And the other by the greate mayne South sea, to the coastes of that continent or fyrme land wher­of we haue spoken here beefore. It shall suffyse that we haue hetherto declared of the nauigacions whiche the Spanyardes attempted by the Weste to sayle into the Easte, by the straygh [...]e of Magellanus, where the passage by Sea is open into the Easte, by the continente or fyrme lande of the newe worlde, called America. Nowe therefore lette vs retourne to the other Nauigaci­ons of Columbus, Colūbus the adm [...] ral, fyrst finder of the new Ilande [...] otherwyse called the Admyrall, who longe beefore [Page] was the fyrst fynder of the newe I­landes, and of the sayde mayne or fyrme land, and yet founde not that strayght or narow sea, by the which Magellanus sayled from the West into the East.

¶The thyrde nauigacion of Christophorus Columbus.

IN the yeare of Christ .1498. Co­lumbus the Admiral departed from Spayne with eyght foistes, and ar­ryued fyrst at the Ilandes of Medera, the Ilandes of Medera where he deuyded hys nauie into two partes. For .v. of these shippes he directed to the Iland of Hispana:Hispana, or Hispa­niola. & with the residue, he sailed towarde the south, entendinge to passe ouer the AEquinoctial line, and from thense to turne towarde the West, to searche suche landes as were hetherto vn­knowen to the Christian men. Co­ming therfore to Caput ueride, he sailed to the burning line,Greate heate vnder the burning lyne. called Torrida zona where he found so great heate, that [Page] he was in daunger of death: but re­turninge his shyppes towarde the West, he found a more holsome ayre and (as God woulde) came at the length to a lande well inhabyted, where there came agaynst him and his, a bote with .xxiiij. young men, armed with bowes, arrowes, and shieldes, couering only theyr priuie membres with a clothe of Gossam­pine cotton, hauing also very longe heare. The admirall, (as well as he could by signes) allured them to cō ­municacion.Signes & pointing But they trusted not our men, fearing some deceate. The Admirall perceauing that he could nought preuayle, by signes and to­kens, he determined with Musical instrumentes to appeale their wild­nesse. As the minstrelles therefore blewe theyr shaulmes, the barba­rous people drew neare, suspecting that noyse to bee a token of warre, whereupon they made ready theyr [Page] bowes and arrowes. But the Spaniardes drawinge nearer vnto thē, caste certayne apparell into theyr bote, willing by this token of frend­shippe to concile them, although all were in vayne. For they fled all a­waye. Wherefore the Admyrall de­parting frō thence, came to a region called Parias, [...]he faire [...]egiō of Parias wel inhabited & ful of ci­uile people, declaring muche huma­nitie toward straūgers. They she­wed our men Pearles and Gold,Golde & Pearles & such other riches, desyring them to come a land, where they gētelly en­treated them. When our mē asked them where they had suche plentie of golde: they (with home poynting was in the [...]tede of speach) declared by signes and tokens, that thei had it in certayne mountaines, and that thei could not without great daun­ger resort thether, by reason of cer­taine fearse beastes in those partes, [...]earse [...]ea [...]t [...]s, and also because of the cruell people [Page] called Canibales, Canibales whiche inhabite those mountaynes. But the Admiral, be­cause his wheate fayled, was enfor­sed to departe thence. Dyrectinge therfore his viage toward y^e North easte, he came to the Iland of Hispana, where he found all thinges confoū ­ded and out of ordre. For the Spa­nyardes which were lefte in the I­landes, refused to obeye the Admi­rall and his brother,the Spanyardes refuse to obey the admiral mouinge gre­uous cōplayntes agaynste them be­fore the King of Spaine, and at the length sente them thether bound.

¶Howe Petrus Alonsus soughte newe Ilandes.

AFter that the Admyrall hadde incurred the indignacion of the Kynge, manye of hys compani­ons, suche as hadde been broughte vppe with him, and were experte Sea menne, decreede to searche other partes of the worlde yet vn­vnknowen. [Page] Among which number was Petrus Alonsus, who with a shippe wel furnished, sayled to Parias, Parias. & from thence to Curtana, Curtana. where he begon to exercyse marchaundise with the in­habitantes, receauinge Pearles for belles and nedles.Pearles forbelles & nedles Entring also in­to the land, he was honourably en­tertayned. In their woodes, he saw innumerable Peacockes,Peacoc­kes. nothinge vnlyke vnto oures, sauing that the males differ litle from the females. In this region are great plentie of Phesantes.Phesāts Alonsus departinge from hense, sailed to the regiō of Canchietes, The Region of Cāchietes beyng sixe dayes sayling frō Curtana, toward the West. In this region is great abundaunce of golde, Popin­giayes, Gossampine cotton, & moste temperate ayre. From hence he say­led into another fruiteful regiō, but inhabited with wilde menne, which could by no gentilnes be allured to frendshippe. Departinge therefore [Page] from thence, he came to the region of Ciniana, The re­gion of Ciniana. whereas pearles are found in great plentie: but before he came there, he chaunced to come amonge the Canibales: agaynst whom, dischar­geing a piece of ordinaūce, he droue thē easely to flight. But Alonsus thus laden with pearles,Pearle [...] returned home into Spayne.

¶Howe Pinzonus, companion to the Admirall, sought newe I­landes.

VIncētius, otherwise called Pinzonus in the yeare of Christe .1499. prepared foure brigantines, & sailed fyrst to the Ilandes of Canaria, & from thence to Caput ueride. Frō whence di­recting his viage toward the south farre beyonde the Equinoctial lyne, he found men in a certayne Iland, but such as he could by no meanes con­cyle vnto him. Therefore leauinge them, he came to another lande, in whiche were innumerable nakedNaked people. [Page] people, dissimuling that thei desired to ioyne frendship with the Spani­ardes. And whereas one of our mē caste a bell amonge them oute of the [...]hippe,Gold for belles. they againe cast to the Spa­nyardes a masse or piece of golde: which, one of oure companye some­what to bolde, attemptinge to take vp, they sodeynlye toke him and ca­ried him awaye with merueylous swiftenes: but our mē leauing their shippes, made hast to help theyr fel­lowe, in so muche that the matter came to handstrokes. This conflict was so sharpe,A cōflict betwene the wild men and the Spaniardes. that our men hadde muche a doe to escape with theyr lyues, by reason of the fearsenes of the barbarians. Departing there­fore frō thence, they sayled toward the Northeaste, and came to the re­gion of Payra, The Region of Payra. & to the Ilandes neare aboute the same in the whiche are woodes of sanders wherewith the marchaūtes lade theyr shippes,woodes of Sa [...] ­ders. and [Page] carie it into other conntreys. In this Region also growe the trees, whiche beare Cassia fistula of the beste kynd.The tree y^• beareth Cassia fi­stulae. There is also founde a foure foted beast of mōstrous shape,A mōste­rous beast [...] whose former parte is lyke vnto a wolfe, sauing that the feete are lyke vnto the fete of a man, with eares like an owle: Hauinge also beneath his co­mon belye, an other belye lyke vnto a purse or bagge, in which he kepeth his yonge whelpes so longe, vntyll they be able safely to wāder abrode alone, and to geat theyr meate with oute the he [...]pe of theyr parentes.

The whelpes while they are verye yong, neuer come out of this bagge but when they sucke. This porten­tous beast with her three whelpes, was broughte to Ciu [...]le in Spaine, and from thence to Granata.

¶Of the foure nauigacions of Americus uesputius to the newe Ilandes.

AMericus uesputius, beyng sent with Christophorus Columbus, in the yeare of Christ .M.cccc.xcij. at the com­maundement of Ferdinando King of Castile,Ferdinā do kinge of castile to seke vnknowē landes, and wel instructed in sayling on the sea, after a fewe yeares, set forward fowre viages of hys owne proper charges. That is to witte, two vn­der the sayd King Ferdinando, and two other vnder Emanuel, king of Portugale, of the which he himselfe wryteth after this maner.

¶The fyrste viage of Americus uesputius.

IN the yere of christ, M.cccc.xcvij the .xx. daye of Maye, we came with foure shippes, to the fortunate Ilandes, called Insulae fortunatae, Insulae fortunate where the North pole hath his eleuacion. xxvij. degrees, & .xl. minutes. And [Page] frō thence within the space of .xxvij dayes, we came to a lād more West­warde then the fortunate Ilandes, where the North pole was eleuate xvi. degrees: where also we founde a nacion of naked people,Naked menne. of innume­rable multitude, whiche as sone as they sawe vs, fled to the next moū ­tayne. Frō hence within two dayes sayling, we came to a safe port wher we founde manye men, which with much adoe, we could scarcely allure to communicaciō, although we pro­fered them belles, lokinge glasses, cristallyne cuppes, and suche other iewelles. But at the length percea­uing our good wyll and liberalitie towarde them,Wylde men allured with gētlenes they came to vs by heapes, and ioyned frendshyp with vs without all feare. They goe all as naked as they came forth of their mothers wombe. They suffre no heare on their bodie sauing only on theyr head, in so much that they pul [Page] of y^e heares of their browes. They are all so perfectelye ex [...]rcysed in swimminge,People, expert i [...] swimminge. that they can continue therein, for the space of two leages without any thinge to beare thē vp and especiallye the women. Theyr weapons are bowes and arrowes. They arme theyr arrowes with y^e teeth of beastes and fyshes, bycause they lack Irō & other metals. They kepe warre against their borderers whiche are of straunge language. They fyght not for the enlargeing of theyr dominion, forasmuche as they haue no Magistrates: nor yet for thincrease of riches, because thei are contente with their owne com­modities: but onely to reuenge the death of theyr predicessours. At theyr meate, they vse rude and bar­berous fashions, lying on the groūd without any table clothe,Cabens hanging betwene tree [...]. or couer­let. They slepe in certayne greate nettes made of Gossampine cotton [Page] and hanged a lofte in the ayre bee­twene trees. Theyr bodies are ve­rye smothe and clene by reason of theyr often washinge. They are in other thinges fylthy and withoute shame.Wom [...] in cōm [...]. Thei vse no lawful coniunc­cion of mariage, but euery one hath as many women as him listeth, and leaueth them agayn at his pleasure The women are very fruiteful, and refuse no laboure al the whyle they are with childe.Wom [...] very strō ge and fruitful [...] They trauayle in maner withoute payne, so that the nexte day they are cherefull and a­ble to walke. Neyther haue they theyr bellies wrimpeled, or loose, & hanginge pappes, by reason of bea­ringe manye chyldren. Theyr houses and cabbens, are all in com­mon.Ho [...]ses, made of trees. Theyr houses are fas­shyoned lyke vnto belles: and made of greate trees fastened to­gether, couered wyth the leaues [Page] of date trees, and made very strōge against wind and tempestes.Houses of maruelous bignes. They are also in some places so great, that in one of them sixe hūdreth persons may lodge. Thei vse euery seuenth or eyght yeare, to remoue & chaūge theyr dwelling places, because that by theyr longe continuaunce in one place, the ayre shoulde bee infected. They vse no kynd of marchaundise or bying and selling, beyng content onely with that which nature hath lefte them.Ryches & super­fluities cōtēned As for Golde, Pearles, precious stones, iewelles, and suche other thinges, which we in Europa esteme as pleasures and delicates, they sette noughte by. They haue no kynde of corne.Bread of a certain roote. Theyr common fedinge, is a certayne roote whiche they drye and beate & make floure or meale therof. They eate no kynd of fleshe except mans fleshe:Mans [...]lesh eatē for they eate all suche as they ky [...]l in theyr warres, or oherwise take by chaūce [Page] When he had thus vewed the coun­treye, and cōsydered the maners of the people, we determyned to sayle further, downe by the landes syde, and came after a few daies, to a cer­tayne hauen, where we sawe about twentie greate houses, raysed vppe muche after the fasshion of belles [...] There came vnto vs a great multi­tude of mē vnder pretense of frend­shyp. Some swimminge, and some in botes. Who, as sone as thei drew neare vnto vs,A cōflict sodeynly bent theyr bowes against vs, where we defen­ded oure selues manfully. In this bickeringe, we slewe of them about twentie, beesyde manye that were wounded: But of our mē, were on­lye fyue hurte, whiche were all per­fectelye healed. Thus departinge from this hauen, we sayled on [...] and came to another nacion, in cōuersa­ [...]ion and tongue vtterlye differing from the fyrst. For comming oute of [Page] our shippe,A gentle nacion we were very frēdly en­treated of thē, where we continued for the space of nyne dayes.Parias This region is very fayre, and fruitefull, hauinge manye pleasaunt woodes, which continue grene all the yeare longe. They haue fruites innume­rable, vtterlye vnlyke vnto oures.Fruites vnlike vnto oures. The Region is situate dyrectelye vnder the lyne, called Tropicus Cancri. The inhabitantes them selues, call it Parias. Saylinge farre beyond this Region, and ouerpassinge manye countreyes and nacions, fyndinge Gold euery where,Gold e­uery where [...] (but in no great quantitie) we came to another na­cion full of gentlenesse and humani­tie, where we rested .xxxvij. dayes. These people made greuous com­playnte vnto vs, that there was,Canibales not farre frō them, a certayne fearse and cruell nacion, whiche vexed thē sore, and made incursion into theyr [Page] [...]ountreye at a certayne tyme of the yeare, kyllinge them and violentlye carying them awaye, to thintent to eate th [...]m, in so muche that they were not able to defend them selues agaynste theyr fearsenesse. Whiche thinge when they hadde so lamen­tablye declared vnto vs, and we hadde made them promyse that we woulde reuenge theyr so manye iniuries, they ioyned vnto oure company seuen of theyr men. Thus we wente forward: and after seuen dayes, came to an Ilande, called [...]ty [...] where these fearse people dwelte.An expe­dicion a­gaynst y^e Canibal [...] Who, as sone as they hadde espyed vs, came armed agaynste vs. We ioyned with them in battaile, which contynued for the space of twoo houres. At the length we droue them to flyghte, and slewe and wounded a greate numbre of them, [Page] and toke .xxv captiues. But of our men was onely one slayne, and .xxi. wounded, & shortely after restored to health. We gaue to those seuē mē which went with vs, thre menne of oure prisonners and foure women, whom with greate reioysinge they caried with them into theyr coun­treye: and we returninge home to­ward Spaine, with many captiues came fyrste to a porte of Spayne called Calicium, where we solde oure priesoners, and were ioyefullye re­ceaued: In the yeare of Christ .M. cccc.xcix. the .xv. daye of Octobre.

¶The seconde viage of Vesputius.

IN the moneth of May folowing Vesputius attempted another viage and came by the Ilādes of Canaria, euen vnto the burninge lyne, called Torrida zona, and founde a lande bee­yonde the Equinoctial line,the Equi­noctial line. toward the [Page] South, where the South pole is eleuate fyue degrees. And wheras he coulde fynde no apte enteraunce into the land, and sayled vp & down alonge by the same, he espyed a bote in which was aboute twentie men: who, as sone as they saw the Spa­nyardes, lepte into the Sea and e­scaped all, excepte two, which they toke. In theyr bote which they for­soke, were founde foure young men which they had by force taken oute of another countrey, hauinge theyr priuie memb [...]rs newelye cutte of. These, Vesputius toke into his shippes and learned by theyr signes and to­kens, that they hadde been taken of the Canibales, Canibales and should shortly haue been eaten. But departinge from these costes, & saylinge on forward, they came to a commodious hauen, where they founde muche people, with whom they ioyned frendshyp, and fell to chaungeinge of ware, re­ceauinge [Page] for one bell,fyue hundreth pearles for one bell. fyue hundreth Pearles. In this lande they drinke a certayne kynde of wyne, made of the iuyse of fruites and sedes, being lyke whyte and redde sydar.Wine of the iuyse o [...] fr [...]tes De­partinge from hence, and saylinge yet further, they founde a certayne Ilande in which was a beastly kind of people, and simple, yet very gen­tle. In this Ilande is no freshe wa­ter:An Ilād wythout fresh water. but they gather the dew which in the night season falleth vpon cer­tayne leaues muche lyke vnto the eare of an Asse. They lyue for the moste parte, by sea fishe. They haue no cotages of houses: but haue cer­tayne broade leaues,Broade [...]aues. wherewith they defende them selues from the heate of the Sunne, but not from showres: but it is verye lykely, that it rayneth but lyttle in that Iland. Vesputi [...]s wyth his companye depar­tinge from hence, sayled vnto ano­ther Ilande: into the whiche when [Page] he hadde entered, he founde cer­tayne cotages, and in them [...]wo old women, and three young wenches, whiche were of so greate stature, that they marueyled thereat.The lād of Gi­aunte [...]. And whereas oure menne stryued with them to bringe them to the shyppe, to thintente to haue caryed them into Spayne, they espyed cominge toward them syxe and thyrtie men, yet of muche greater stature then were the women, bearing with thē bowes, arrowes, and great stakes lyke vnto clubbes: at the syghte of whome, oure menne beinge afrayd, made haste to theyr shyppes. But these Gyauntes folowinge them euen to the Sea syde, bended theyr arrowes towardes the Spany­ardes, vntyll they discharged two pieces of ordinaunces, wyth the horryble sounde whereof, they were immediatly drieuen to flight. Oure menne therefore departinge [Page] from thence, called that Ilande, the Ilande of Giauntes. And came to another nacion, which frendlye en­treated them, and offered them ma­ny Pearles:Pearles in so muche that they boughte .xix. markes weyghte of pearles,A hun­dreth & xxx. pearles in one shel­fishe. for a smal price. They gaue vs also certayne shelfysshes, of the whiche some conteyned in them a hundreth and thyrtie Pearles, and some fewer. Departinge frō thence they came to the Ilande of An [...]iglia, Antiglia. which Columbus had discouered a few yeares before. Leauinge this, they sayled directely to Calicium, Calicium a porte of Spayne, where they were honour­ablye r [...]ceaued.

¶ The thyrde viage of Vesputius.

VEsputius beyng called frō Castile to serue Emanuel the King of Portugale, in the yeare of Christe, M.ccccc.ij. the tenth daye of May, departed from the hauē of lisburne, [Page] and sayled downe by the coastes of the sea Atlantike,The sea Atlātike vntil he came vn­der the Equi [...]ctial lyne. And the .xvij. daye of Auguste, they arryued at a cer [...]ayne lande where they found a kind of beastly people. This land is situate toward the South, fyue de­grees beyonde the Equinoctial lyne. A greate multitude of the inhabitātes wer gathered together, and as wel as they coulde by signes and poyn­tinges, desired oure men to come a­lande & to see theyr coūtrey. There were two in the shippe,Thre [...] of the Spanyardes slayne & eaten. whiche toke vpon thē to vewe the land, & learne what spyces or other commodities might be had therein. They were appoynted to returne within the space of fiue daies at the vttermost. But when eyght dayes were now paste, they whiche remayned in the shippes, heard yet nothing of theyr returne: wheras in the meane time great multitudes of other people of [Page] the same lande resorted to the Sea syde, but could by no meanes be al­lured to communicacion. Yet at the length they broughte certayne women, which shewed them selues familier towarde the Spaniardes: Wherupon they sent forth a young man, beyng very strong and quicke, at whom as the women wondered, and stode ga [...]inge on him and feling his apparell:Fearse & cru [...]ll women. there came sodeynly a woman downe from a mountayne, bringing with her secretely a great stake, with which she gaue him such a stroke behynde, that he fell dead on the earth. The other womenne foorthwith toke him by the legges, and drewe him to the mountayne, whyle in the meane tyme the men of the countreye came foorth with bowes and arrowes, & shot at oure men. But the Spaniardes dischar­geing foure pieces of ordinaunce a­gaynst them, droue them to flighte. The women also which had slayne [Page] the yong man, cut him in pieces euē in the sight of the Spaniardes, she­winge them the pieces, and rosting them at a greate fyre. The mē also made certayn tokens, wherby they declared that not past .viij. daies before, they had in lyke maner serued other christiā mē. Wherfore y^e Spa­niardes hauinge thus sustayned so greuous iniuries vnreuenged, de­parted w^t euyl wil: sayling therfore further toward y^e south, they foūd a naciō of great multitude,A ciuil [...] people. & of much gēteler cōdicions, with whō thei re­mained .viij. daies, bartering & chā ­geing ware w^t thē. Sayling on yet farther, they wēt beyond y^e line cal­led Tropicus Capricorni, where the south pole is eleuate .32. degrees: & wher­as in those parts thei foūd no great riches, they sailed yet further south ward vntill y^• pole was eleuate .lij. degrees:the sout [...] pole ele­uate . [...] degrees. where thei came into such a tempeste, that they were enforsed to gather vppe theyr sayles, and [Page] to rowe only with the maste, direc­ting theyr viage toward the costes of Ethiopia, from whence they re­turned againe to Lisburne in Por­tugale.lisburne

¶ The fourth viage of Vesputius.

THis nauigaciō was attempted in the yeare of Christ. M.ccccc. iij. but was not brought to the ende hoped for, by reason of a misfortune which chaunced in the goulfe of the sea Atlantike. Vesputius entended in this viage to sayle to the Ilande of Melcha, the Ilād of melcha beyng in the East, in which is sayde to be great ryches, & the sta­cion of restinge place of all shippes comming frō the goulfe Gangeticus, & from the Indian sea. This Melcha, is situate more toward the West, and Calicut more enclininge towarde the south.Calicut. Vesputius came fyrst to y^• grene Ilādes, called Insulae uerides:Insulae uerides. and sayled from them to Serraliona, beynge in the [Page] Southe partes of Ethiopia: from whence saylinge on yet further, he sawe in the middest of the sea an I­land, high and merueylous: where also the M. Pilate of this nauie,A shippe wracke. lost his shippe by running vpon a rocke: but all the mariners escaped. This shippe was of thre hundreth tunne, and had in it al the power of the na­uie. When Vesputius had entered into the Iland, he found it rude and vn­habited: yet was it full of byrdes: but had no beastes except Lisertes with forked tayles,Liserte [...] and S [...]rpēts and S [...]rpētes. Thus makinge prouision for neces­saries, he was enforced to returne to portugale, failing of his purpose.

¶How the king of Portugale subdued certayn places in In­dia: and of the ryche Cytie of Malacha.

FOrasmuche as therefore in the yeares folowinge, there we [...]e more often nauigacions made from [Page] the West by the south into the East, and the Portugales had now foūde a safe passage by y^e sea,the Por­tugales bil [...] [...]or­tes in the East partes. they thought it expedient for theyr better safetie, to make certaine fortificacions and places of refuge in the Easte. The which theyr intent the better to ac­complishe, King Emanuel appoyn­ted one Alphonsus an exper [...]e man on the sea,Alphōsus to be captayne of this viage. Who, desyring to reuenge the losses and iniuries which the Portugales had before sustained, sayled directly to Aurea Chersonesus, Aure [...] chersone­sus. now called Malacha, a merueylous great and riche citie,the great & ryche cytie of Malach [...] whose king is an infydel of the secte of the Moores: for euen thus farre was the secte of Mahumet exten­ded. Alphonsus therfore at his coming thether besieged the cytie, & made warre agaynst the Saracens whi­che helde the same.Saracēs In this conflict a greate noumber of theyr enemies beynge slayne,Malacha besieged the Portugales [...]n­tred [Page] into the citie by forse, and kept the [...]am [...], permitting free libertie to theyr souldiers to spoyle, kyll,the ki [...] fighteth on an [...] ­lepha [...]t. and burne. The king himselfe, fyghting vpon an Elephante, and beyng sore wounded, fledde with the resydue of his companye. A greate numbre of the Moores were slaine with the losse of a fewe Portugales: manye were taken, and great spoyle caried awaye, in the whiche were seuen Elephantes, and all kyndes of ordi­naunces perteyning to the warres, made of copper, to the noumbre of two thousande pieces.Plēty of copper. The cytye beynge thus taken and sacked, and the enemyes drieuen to flyghte, Alphonsus the Capitayne the better to prouyde for the sauegarde of the Christians, buylded a stronge forte at the mouth or entraunce of the ri­uer which runneth through y^e citie. At this time, that is to witte, in the [Page] yeare of Christ. M.ccccc.xij. there were in Malacha many straūgers and marchauntes of dyuerse nacions,Mar­chaūtes. whereby the cytie was replenished with great ryches and abundaunce of spyces.Spyces They of theyr owne mo­cion, desyred to make a leage with Alphonsus, and were of him gently re­ceaued: So that for theyr better safetie, he permitted them to [...]well in the houses neare about the forte. And by this meanes, this markette towne was re [...]dified and broughte to muche better state then euer it was before. These thīges thus happely atchiued, & al thinges in Malacha set in good order, Alphonsus leauing in the forte a garrison of .vi. hundreth valiante souldiours, returned into India,the cytie of Goa. where he besieged the chiefe castell of the cytie of Goa, which (he) a fewe yeares beefore, hadde with no smal daunger of our men, and great slaughter of their enemies, subdued [Page] the dominion of Emanuel kynge of Portugale, & was nowe possessed of the mores, he māfully recouered a­gayne, and enforsed them to render vp the same.The Ambassa­dors make a lea­ge wyth Alphōsus Also the ambassadours of the Kinge of Narsinga, the Kinge of Cambaia, and the King of Grosapha with the legates of dyuers other kinges and Princes, offered them selues to be at a leage wyth Alphonsus, & there­upon broughte theyr presentes vn­to hym. No lesse powre and domi­nion obtayned the king of Spayne in the Ilandes of the Weste partes:the west Ilandes In so muche that at his commaun­dement, were buylded sixe townes in the Ilandes of Cuba. Cuba. Lyke­wyse in the Ilande of Iucatana, Iucatana was buylded a greate cytie wyth fayre houses. The Ilande of Cozumella, Cozumella or Sancta Crux. the Spanyardes called Sancta Crux, bee­cause they came fyrste thether [Page] in Maye, on the daye of the Inuen­cion of the Crosse. In the Ilande of Hispana or Hispaniola, Hispana. were erected .28. suger presses,Suger presses. to presse y^e sugre whi­che groweth plentifully in certaine canes or redes of the same coūtrey. Frō hence also is brought the wood of Guaiacum, The wood called Guaiacū. otherwyse called, Lignum sanctum, wherewith dyuerse diseases are healed by the order of the newe dyete.

¶Of the Iland of Medera, and the fortunate Ilādes, other­wyse called the Ilandes of Canaria.

BEtwene Spaine & the Ilādes of Canaria, is the Ilande of Medera, Medera, or Made­ra. which the Spaniardes in our time founde vnhabited and saluage. But perceauinge that the soyle thereof, was very fruitefull, they burnt the woodes, and made the ground apt to bringe foorth corne, and buylded many houses, and so tilled the same, [Page] that at this day is no where founde a more fruiteful lande. It hath in it many springes of fresshe water and goodly ryuers, vpon the which are bylded manye sawe mylles,Sawe milles. where­with manye fayre trees, lyke vnto Ceder & Cypresse trees,Fayre tree [...] are sawed and cut in sunder, wherof are made most fayre tables, coberdes, cofers, and chayres, and such other curious workes made of wood. These trees are of redde colour, & swete sauour, the bodies and braunches whereof are broughte into Spayne in great plentie. The Kynge of Portugale thought it good to plante in this I­land, that kynde of redes in which suger groweth:Suge [...]. wherin he was not deceaued in his opinion. For they growe there moste fruitefully, and beare suger which excelleth the su­gre of Candye or Sicilia. There were also vynes broughte out of Candye and planted in this Ilande,Vynes. where [Page] they prosper so wel, that for y^e moste part they bring forth more grapes then leaues, and those very great. In this Iland is also great plentie of Partriches, wyld doues, & Pea­cockes, wild bores, & diuers kindes of other beastes, which onely posses­sed the Iland before men dyd inha­bite the same. Also the Ilandes cal­led Insulae fortunatae, (whiche are nowe called Canaria, the Ilandes of Canaria. for the multitude of dogges which are in them) are sayd to be no lesse fruytefull. These I­landes are tenne in noumbre, of the which seuē are inhabited, & thre re­maine desolate. They which are in­habited, are called by these names: Fracta laucea, Magna sors, Grancanaria, Teneriffa Ginera, Palma, and Ferrum. At Columbus first comming thether, the inhabitantes went naked, without shame, religiō or knowledge of God. But in suc­cesse of time, foure of the greatest I­lādes embrased the Christian faith.christiās [Page] They haue eche of them a priuate language. Teneriffa and [...]rancanaria, are bigger then the other. Teneriffa maye be sene afarre of, to the distaunce of fiftie leages, in a fayre & clere daye. The reason whereof is, that in the middest of the Iland,A moūt of bur­ninge brim­stone. ryseth a mar­ueylous great & strong rock, which is thought to be .xv. leages high, & casteth [...]oorth continuallye greate flames of fyre & pieces of brimstone, as doth the monnt Etna in the Iland of Sicilia. The people of these Ilādes, lyue with barlye bread, flesshe, and mylke. They haue also greate plentie of Goates, wylde Asses, and Fygges.Fygges They lacke wyne and wheate.

¶ Whether vnder the AEqui­noctial circle or burninge lyne (called Torrida zona) be habita­ble Regions.

Libr. i. Capit. v. PIus secundus (otherwise called Eneas Siluius, of this question, wryteth in this maner. It hath been muche doubted whether habitable regiōs maye be founde vnder the Equinoctial lyne. Eratosthenes is of thoppinion,Eratosthenes. that the ayre is there verye temperate. So thinketh Polybius also,Polibius. affirming that the earth is there verye highe, and watered with many showres.Possido­nius. Possidonius supposed that there is no Mountaynes vnder the Equinoctial. Some thoughte that the Equinoctial lyne was extēded beyond the earth ouer the mayne Ocean sea:the Equinoctial lin [...] whiche thinge the Poet Homere semeth to insinuate,the poet Homere where he faineth that the horses which drawe the chariote of sunne, drinke of the Ocean sea [...] and the sunne it selfe to take his norishe­ment [Page] of the same. Whiche sentence Macrobius also foloweth.Macrobi­us. Neither was Albertus Magnus farre from this opiniō,Albertus Magnus. who supposeth y^t the sunne draweth vp so much moysture vnder the Equi­noctial circle, as engendreth the clou­des vnder the poles, where by rea­son of thexcedinge coldnesse, ayre is continualli turned into water. But Ptolomeus thinketh the earth to bee extended beyonde the Equinoctial, Ptolo­meus. whereas he placeth a part of [...]he I­land of Taprobana, Taprobana vnder the Equinoctial, & also many nacions of the Ethiopians. Ethiopes Many haue thought that thearth­ly Paradyse was sette vnder that lyne: which opinion is contrary to thauctoritie of holy scripture which witnesseth the two famous fluddes Tigris and Euphrates to springe oute of Paradise:Tigris & Euphra­tes. whiche neuerthelesse we know from the North partes to fal into the goulfe called Sinus Persicus:Sinus Pe [...] sicus. but as concerninge the heate vnder the [Page] Equinoctial lyne, the nearenesse of the sunne,The nearenes of the sūne. or the directe beames of the same, are no sufficiente causes why vnder that line should be no habita­ble regions, if we cōsider how those places are otherwyse shadowed,Tepera­te [...]es vnder the Equino­ctial. & tempered with the moystenes and dewes of the nightes, which are all the yeare throughe of equal length with the dayes. Yet wyl no mā de­nye,Torrida zona. but that vnder the Equinoctial throughoute all the burninge lyne there are manye wildernesses and desolate places, lacking water, and incommodious for the lyfe of man: Albeit euen in Ethiopia, Ethiopia people dwell neare to the ryuers and woodes. Plinie also sayth that one Dalion, Plinie. and and Aristocleon [...] and [...]ion, and Basilides, went Southward beyonde Meroae whiche is almoste vnder the Equinoctial. And that Simonides who writte the descripcion [Page] of Ethiopia, dwelte fyue yeres in Meroae:the Ilād of meroae whiche Ilande (beeynge in the fyrme lande and compassed a­boute wyth the Ryuer of Nilus) he affyrmed to bee situate .972. thou­sande pases beeyonde Syenes of Egypte,Syenes in Egipte. as the searchers of Nero declared. But at Sienes the Astronomers appoynte the sommer con­uersion of the sunne:The conuersiō of the sūue. and that there the burning lyne beginneth,Of the furlōge [...] of Italie viij. doe make o­ne Italiē myle, cō teyning a. m, pa­ses. beinge distaunte from the AEquinoctial foure and twētie degrees, that is, twelue thousande furlonges. Wherby we maye perceaue that Meroae is situate some what beeyonde the myddest betwene the Equinoctial and Sienes. Ptolomeus also descrybeth the Region of Agisimba to bee inhabited beeyonde the Equinoctial. Agisimba

Lykewyse the Mountaynes of the Mone, called Montes Luna,Montes Eanae. [Page] of the which, the fennes or marises of the riuer Nilus haue their spring & originall.Pal [...]des Nili. He addeth hereunto that there are certayne Ethiopians cal­led Anthropophagi, Ethiopes Anthro­pophagi. that is, such as eate mans fleshe, which inhabite regiōs beyond the Equinoctial about the space of .xvi. degrees.Gabi [...]a­ble regi­ons how farre [...]xtended. And thus the in­habitacion of men is found to be ex­tended .x. hundreth thousand pases beyonde the Equinoctial lyne. Whiche space conteyneth no lesse then two clymes of the earth.Cli [...]. And a clyme is a porcion of the worlde betwene South and North, wherein is variacion in length of of the daye, the space of halfe an houre.