Newes and strange newes from St. Christophers of a tempestuous spirit, which is called by the Indians a hurry-cano or whirlewind Which hapneth in many of those ilands of America or the West-Indies, as it did in August last, about the 5. day. 1638. Blowing downe houses, tearing up trees by the rootes, and it did puffe men up from the earth, as they had beene feathers, killing divers men. Whereunto is added the true and last relation of the dreadfull accident which hapned at Withicombe in Devonshire the 21. of October last past.

Newes and strange newes from St. Christophers of a tempestuous spirit, which is called by the Indians a hurry-cano or whirlewind Which hapneth in many of those ilands of America or the West-Indies, as it did in August last, about the 5. day. 1638. Blowing downe houses, tearing up trees by the rootes, and it did puffe men up from the earth, as they had beene feathers, killing divers men. Whereunto is added the true and last relation of the dreadfull accident which hapned at Withicombe in Devonshire the 21. of October last past.

Table of contents

Title page

New and Strange News from St. Christophers, of a tempestuous Spirit, which is called by the Indians a Hurry Cano, which happeneth in many of those Islands of America, or the West-Indies, as it did in August last the 5. 1638.

A true Relation in Verse, of the strange accident which hapned at Wit by combe in Devon-shiere.

§

§

[Page]

[figure]

[Page]

Newes and strange Newes from St. Christophers of a tempestuous Spirit, which is called by the Indians a Hurry-Cano or whirlewind.

Which hapneth in many of those Ilands of America or the West-Indies, as it did in August last, about the 5. day. 1638.

Blowing downe houses, tearing up trees by the rootes, and it did puffe men up from the earth, as they had beene Feathers, killing divers men.

Whereunto is added the true and last relation of the dreadfull accident which hapned at Withicombe in Devonshire the 21. of October last past.

Imprinted at London by P. O. for Francis Coules dwelling in the Old-Baily. 1638.

New and Strange News from St. Christophers, of a tempestuous Spirit, which is called by the Indians a Hurry Cano, which happeneth in many of those Islands of America, or the West-Indies, as it did in August last the 5. 1638.

[Page]

[Page]

GOD, who is every way infinite and incomprehensible, is pleased sometimes in his just Judgments, to punish or restraine by Terrours and Affrightings, most obstinate and rebellious sinners: for those that will not lovingly be allured to obey him for his Goodnesse and unspeakable Mercies, will be fearefully inforced to abide the rigour of his most [Page] upright and severe Justice, by which meanes Hee makes his wayes to be knowne upon Earth, and his saving health amongst all Nations. And it is to be noted, that where God is least knowne and honoured, there the Devill hath most power and domination. But hee that drew light out of darknesse, hath often (and can when he wil) draw good out of evill? for through slavery and bondage many people and Nations that were Heathens, and barbarous, have beene happily brought to Civility and Christian Liberty. The Great Alexanders conquests, those whom hee overcame, learned to build Townes, Cities, and defencible places, to apparell their naked bodies, in their thraldome they found Religion: and whereas in their Freedomes they did use to kill their aged Parents inhumanely, to eate them with savadge, ravenous, [Page] most greedy Gormandizing, by Servitude they learned more reverend Duty; they were taught the Rites aud Lawes of Matrimony: And whereas in their licentious freedome, they bedded with their Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Neeces, not sparing any Kindred, Aliance, Propinquity, or any degree of blood or consanguinity, they by Servitude learned better life and manners; and also by being conquer'd and overcome, they were taught the use of Armes, the practice of Arts, and the laudable Experience of Tillage and Husbandry. And such as these rude people were in ancient times; even such were the first Inhabitants of this our Island of great Britaine, untill such time as more civiller Nations did conquer, tame, and teach us.

Yet in the latest Daies of the World all are not civilliz'd; there [Page] are yet many Heathens, Indians, and barbarous Nations unconverted: as for the knowne Examples in America, and in divers Islands adjacent, where this Hurri Cano is frequent; of which with the manner of the Description of it as followeth.

From whence the name of it is derived, I know not; but the Indians doe call it Hurri Cano, or Hurri Caenae, or Cani: some say that it comes to the same place once in five yeares, but that is uncertaine, for it hath no certaine or set times of either yeares or dayes for the comming of it. It is held by the Natives to be a Spirit, it comes with such an extraordinary violence, with Thunder, Lightning, and impetuous gusts of winde, (as it hath done many times) for it touches not all places there, but sometimes it comes but once, or never in a mans age to one place, [Page] and more often to another, according as it is sway'd or hurried with its owne robustuous motion, or as the influences and force of the Planets doe drive it: and the Indians are so skilfull, that they doe know two or three or foure dayes before hand of the comming of it, and then they doe make provision to prevent the harme which it may doe unto them, by such meanes as shall be related in the latter end of this Treatise: the Indians doe know when it will come, by the markes or signes here mentioned. They doe observe that just so many daies as it will be before the Hurri Cano doth come, so many Circles will bee as it were fringed and gleaming about the Moone: as if it bee but one day before it come, then there will be but one Circle; if two Circles, then it wil be two daies; and so perhaps three or foure Circles, as it did lately [Page] at Saint Christophers, where it came in that fearefull and unresistable fury, on the fifth day of August last, 1638. Where, although that the Dutch and English had warning of the comming of it, by the knowledge that the Indians had by observation of the Moone and the Circles, and that all possible meanes was used for the safeguard of men ships, and goods, yet when it came, the force of it was so great, and continued so vehemently the space of foure dayes and nights without intermission, that maugre all the industry that could be, it sunke five Shipps, whereof two were English, and three were Dutch; and of Englishmen, Dutchmen, and Indians, it did drowne and kill to the number of Seventy and five persons, besides the harme it did to many Houses and goods.

[Page]Where the Here or Hurri Cano comes, the Winde doth blow so strong and forcible, that it will puffe men from the ground into the Aire five or sixe foote high, as if they were no more but ragges, clouts, or feathers; and so violent it is, that it leaves not a lease upon any Bough or Tree: and likewise it overthroweth many Trees, rending them up by the roots, so that the Inhabitants (when they are warned of the comming of the Hurri Cano by the Circles about the Moone) they doe lop off the limbes and great heads off from the Trees, because the violent and outragious Tempest of the tempestuous Windes shall have the lesse force and power to overturne them; and especially those Trees which they doe intend to preserve and keepe for bearing of fruite, they doe commonly cut off, and graffe them againe by our English advice.

[Page]The people all of them forsake their Houses, as not daring to remaine in them for feare that they should be blown down about their eares; at which dangerous times they do creep for safety into holes Caves, pits, Dens and hollow places of the earth, which are either naturall of themselves, or digged and framed by Art or laborious industry of man, which places are good harbours and defences against the Hurry-Cano. They doe likewise tye or make fast Hamackoes or hanging Cabin unto two Trees that are lopy'd, and then the people do get into those Cabins, & so they do lye downe in them, being hang'd above the ground sixe or seaven foot, eyther with strong Ropes or iron chaines; and so they swing two and againe like a Bell when it is rung, when this tempest is; their Hamackoes are made either of course linning [Page] cloath, or of strong stuffe made of twisted threads spun out of the rindes of trees; some who have not these Cabins, do for feare bind themselves with cords, singlely or severally to divers trees, and so they do remaine bound untill the fury of the Hurry-Cano is past. And this is the true relation of the nature and quality of it, and also partly of the harmes which it did in the moneth of August last past. The Indians do fore-know it by certain circles which appear about the Moone, and those Indians that are servants under our English, did give some notice, or else far more hurt had insued; and is when the Moon hath divers circles like mists and fogs about it, and of a flaming colour, and by some other signes, the people doe sometimes save themselves and their goods, in making caves or cellers in the ground, or else they loose all.

[Page]But for a late remarkable proofe of Gods mercy and power, in drawing good out of Evill; I desire the Reader to note that in the year 1609. eight ships were bound from London unto Virginia, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir George Sommers Knights, were General and Admirall of the Fleete, and Captaine Newport was Vice-Admirall. The Admirall Ship, wherin Sir George Sommers was, was by a Hurry-Cano disperst and sundred from the rest of the Fleete, and with the greatnesse of the storme driven between two rocks at the Iland of Bermudas, where his ship stucke fast, and was there lost and split. But hee landed all his men safe, with some of his chiefest goods, where hee found good reliefe of Swine, Fish, and Fowle. But Sir Thomas Gates and the other Ships did give Sir George with his men to be utterly lost & [Page] cast away, but he made such shift, that with Timber that hee found, and fell'd in the Island, he caused two Ships to be built, with the which he sayled from the Bermudaes to Virginia, (after hee had beene tenne Moneths supposed dead) where he was most joyfully welcomed: and thus out of this great danger (which in mans imagination was evill) God was graciously pleased to make it the happy finding and discovery of that good and fruitfull Island, the Plantation whereof is now so profitable and beneficiall to the English Adventures; and the Bermudaes, with some other Islands, are at this time called the Sommer Islands, in memory of Sir George Sommers, who was the first discoverer of them: and thus much shall suffice for the true Report and Description of the Hurri Cano.

[Page]Innumerable of other the like of such things as these, I have formerly related, and many of them are Recorded in our owne Histories, to have happened in our owne Country, which who so doe desire to read more, may see them amply and truely recorded in the workes of the learned Cambden, painefull Speed, Stowe, and Howes, Histories and Chronicles, wherein they may bee certainely inform'd, that former Times have afforded as strange and fearefull Signes and warnings, as this prodigious Tempest and lamentable Accident at Worthycombe, neare Dartmoores in Devonshiere, as you may read in these ensuing Verses the whole truth, as followeth.

A true Relation in Verse, of the strange accident which hapned at Wit by combe in Devon-shiere.

[Page]

TH' Almighty was, is, shall bee still the same,

Who with his word did all of nothing frame;

Whose glory lightens all, whose Voyce is Thunder.

Whose mercy's ore his works, each work a wonder

Whose Powerfull Arme's not shortned, but his Wil,

(Unlimited) is as his pleasure still.

The sacred Text unto our Faith presents,

How God plagu'd sinners with the Elements

Of Water, Earth, Ayre, and consuming Fire,

All Creatures are his Souldiers, in his Ire;

With means, with small means, with no means at al

He ayds his flocke; and gives his foes the fall:

With Water he did first the World confound,

Eight Persons only sav'd, the rest were drown'd;

When Sodoms crying sins, to Heaven assum'd,

By fire from Heaven they were consum'd: Inburn'd.

Samaria's Captaines with their fifties, slaine

By fire, when they Elias would have tane;

When Corah did rebell (with heart unhallow'd)

Th'earth gap'd, him wth his cōpanions swallow'd.

[Page]By putred Ayre (for Ishaies offence)

Dy'd seventy thousand of the Pestilence;

Hee's Lord of Hosts, and when man runs amisse.

The meanest thing Gods mighty Souldier is;

Plagues, Botches, Blaines, all mortall Malladies;

Grashoppers, Darknes, Murrain, Frogs, Lice, Flies,

With Gedeons Pitchers, and with Shamgars Goade,

His Enemies he under foot hath troad;

With Foxes, and the Iaw-bone of an Affe,

He mighty Myracles hath brought to passe,

Thus with Contemptible despised things,

He tameth Tyrans; and He Conquers Kings:

Thus Heaven, Earth, Hel, Seas, and th'ut most Coasts

Declare him still to be the Lord of Hoasts:

His Power, by Iudeth (a weake womans hand)

Slew Holophornes, foyl'd the Assyrian Band,

By Iacls hammer'd Naile, and Davids Sling,

God doth his foes to fell confusion bring:

Hee's still the same he was, and changeth never,

But yesterday, to day, the same for ever.

And now (good Reader) with attentive minde,

Reade these ensuing lines, and thou shalt finde

Strange Prodiges, full of amazing feare

I' the Church of Withy-combe, in Devonshiere.

Tis worthy thy best considerations weight,

One Thousand Sixteene hundred, thirty eight,

These signes and sights of terrour chanc'd upon

A Sunday last, Octobers twenty one;

[Page]A short space after Service did begin,

(And our best prai'rs are mix'd with too much sin)

An extreame Darknesse did begin to fill

The Church, which more and more encreased still,

In such Cymerian manner it did spread,

That none assembled there could see to reade:

The people (all astonish'd) straite way heares

Most dreadfull Thundring, ratling in their eares,

With horride sounds, in such a fearefull sort,

As Cannons or great Ordnance in Report,

Attended with such direfull Lightning flashes,

As if the world should straight be turn'd to ashes.

The darknesse still increas'd, that mist and smother

Was wax'd so thicke, one could not see each other:

The smell like Brimstone, and the fire & smoake

Th'affrighted Congregation seem'd to choake;

With darknes, smoak, stench,, lightning & thunder;

Their soules and bodies almost seem'd to sunder.

Most lamentable were the cases then,

The cryes of children, women, and of men;

Dispersed in their seates in divers places,

Some all astonisht groveling on their faces:

Some on their Knees, did humbly God intrete,

To grant them Mercy from his Mercy Seate

Some, one upon another tumbling lay,

Expecting that should be their latest day;

Some burnt, & some with scaldings over-spread,

And every one gave up themselves for dead.

[Page]The Pastor of the Parish (Master Lyde)

With Christian courage Reading did abide

And heard and saw, all that was seene and heard

And was not hurt or bruised; nor sing'd or fear'd,

But praying for himselfe and for the rest,

The duty of a good Divine exprest.

He after saw a lamentable sight,

His poore Wife in a sad perplexed plight

In many parts, lightning her body burn'd,

Her Ruffe and garments were into ashes turn'd:

To thinke upon the torments that she felt,

Will make a heart of stone, relent or melt:

One Mistresse Disford with her then was fate

Within her Powe, and tasted of like fate;

She was much scalded, but yet not so bad

As was the harme that Mistresse Lyde than had.

But God that saveth those that he will save,

Unto her Maide and child, such favour gave,

That though the Mistresse was hurt very sore,

The Maide and child were safe at the Pew doore;

Which shewes our lives & healths are no way fixt

'Twixt death and life, oft but aboord betwixt.

Two women were burnt, scalded, torne, and rent

The flesh quite from the bones; incontinent

Or in a moment, that with paines opprest:

The one of them that very night deceast:

The other may perhaps againe be cur'd,

Hope is her comfort, nothing is assur'd;

[Page]For like to flowers, we bud, we spread, and fade,

To day a Man, tomorrow but a shade.

One Master Hill, (a Gentleman of fame

And worth) was strucken with the Sulphur flame

As in the Chauncell, he was in his seate,

The great tempestuous violence was so great,

It beate his head; against the stony wall

That he surrendr'd up his life withall:

And yet his Corps was found unscorch'd & cleare

For no hurt on his body did appeare.

A worthy Knight (Sir Richard Reynolds nam'd)

(Who for good House-keeping is lov'd & fam'd

His Warriner that time, his Scull was cleft

Three severall waies, his braines beate out and lef [...]

Whole on the ground; against a Pillar there

Was forcibly beate of his Scalpe and Haire,

And there it cleaves fast for a memory,

And there that man (untimely) then did dye.

There were some others that were scorch'd, & frid [...]

In Lightning flashes, which since then have dy'd;

Some were but frighted, & scarce harm'd or touch [...]

Some were a little Scalded and besmutch'd,

Some had their cloathes burnt, and their bodies no [...]

Some had their bodies burnt, their cloaths no jot

Was touch'd at all; thus God in judgement then

Remembred Mercy amongst sinfull men.

There were some Seates or Pewes there over-thrown

And violently turned up-side-downe;

[Page]And yet scarce any Person, great or small

Was either burnt, or bruis'd; or hurt at all:

There was one man in this amazed route,

That neere the Chauncell doore was going out,

His Dog was with a Whirle-wind whisked round,

And presently fell dead upon the ground.

The man perceiv'd his dog dead suddenly,

Steot backe in feare and haste, unhurt thereby.

The Church in many a place was rent and torne,

And sundry pieces from their places borne:

And likewise (with the lightning and the thunder)

A beame of Timber was burst quite in sunder:

Betwixt the Minister and the Clarke it flew,

And hurt them not, but onely brake a Pew.

Also a mighty Stone the storme did teare,

That fixed was the Churches bottome neare.

The Steeple was most strange defac'd & shatter'd,

And pieces falling down the Church much batterd.

A Pinacle was, by th' Tempests forced power,

Beate through the Church, that fel frō off the tower

And frō the tower the stones so thick were thrown

As if a handred men had hurld them downe.

Yet `tis not knowne that any hurt was done

To any one, by fall of wood or stone,

Onely from Manaton there came a Maid,

That by a Stone was kill'd, as some men said.

And where the Church was broke, 'tis manifest

There 'twas hurt most, there people were hurt least.

[Page]The Pulpit to a Pillar there is plac'd,

Which Pillar is by Lightning much defac'd:

'Twas newly whited, but with violence blasting.

It hath a blacke and Sulphury overcasting.

One in the Chancell happened to espye

Neare to the Churches neather-end to flye,

Some things like dust or lyme, which did arise,

And suddenly it flew into his eyes,

Where hee for twelve houres space was blinded quite,

And (by Gods mercy) then regain'd his sight.

The Thunder and the Lightning being past,

The people all into amazement cast,

As if stupidious feare did them benumb,

Unable scarce to speake, as 'twere strooke dumb.

Then Master Rowse, a Vintner there,

Said, Neighbours, in the Name of God let's cheers

Our drooping spirits, you see the Church much broken,

Which doth much danger unto us beroken:

And therefore I doe hope, without offence,

In Gods Name we may venture to go e-hence

These, or the like, spake Rowse, but Master Lyde

With courage (as beseem'd his place) reply'd,

Beloved, of our prayers amend let's make,

And all of us to God our selves betake:

Where can we better our soules recommend

To Him, whose glory never shall have end?

Let us beg mercy from the Throne of Grace,

We cannot better dye than in this place.

[Page]These good words frō this good man did proceed

But yet the Congregation all agreed,

(Because the Church was torne, and fearing more

Would fall downe from the Roofe unto the floore)

All to avoide the danger imminent,

And so with speed each party homeward went.

Without, or neare the Church-yard was a Greene

Or Bowling-place, or Alloy, which was seene

Turn'd up in pits and heapes, so that it show'd

[...]n forme and shape, like Land that's newly plow'd.

About that time, of Haile a mighty shower

Did fall, and most impetuously downe powre:

The Haile-stones, bigge as Turkies Eggs to sight,

Some, five, or sixe, and some seven Ounces weight.

At Brix [...]n, neare to Plimmouth, this befell,

What harme it did, Report will after tell.

Tis said, that in the County Sommerset,

At Norton, how the Church was hurt much, yet

Because thereof no certainty we have,

To future time I will Relation leave.

FINIS.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

Newes and strange newes from St. Christophers of a tempestuous spirit, which is called by the Indians a hurry-cano or whirlewind Which hapneth in many of those ilands of America or the West-Indies, as it did in August last, about the 5. day. 1638. Blowing downe houses, tearing up trees by the rootes, and it did puffe men up from the earth, as they had beene feathers, killing divers men. Whereunto is added the true and last relation of the dreadfull accident which hapned at Withicombe in Devonshire the 21. of October last past.

Taylor, John, 1580-1653.

Edition statement

1638

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A13477

ID [STC]

STC 23778.5

ID [STC]

ESTC S110796

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99846270

ID [PROQUEST]

99846270

ID [VID]

11226

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A13477)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 11226)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1005:05)

Source

— Newes and strange newes from St. Christophers of a tempestuous spirit, which is called by the Indians a hurry-cano or whirlewind Which hapneth in many of those ilands of America or the West-Indies, as it did in August last, about the 5. day. 1638. Blowing downe houses, tearing up trees by the rootes, and it did puffe men up from the earth, as they had beene feathers, killing divers men. Whereunto is added the true and last relation of the dreadfull accident which hapned at Withicombe in Devonshire the 21. of October last past., Taylor, John, 1580-1653..

Extent

[4], 20 p. : ill. (woodcut)

By I[ohn] O[kes] for Francis Coules dwelling in the Old-Baily,. Imprinted at London :: 1638.. (By John Taylor.) (Partly in verse.) (Printer's name from STC.) (Identified as STC 21558 on UMI microfilm.) (Reproduction of a photostat of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.