A Geographical AND Historical Description OF THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE, In its Particular Countries, Provinces, Ci­ties, Towns, &c.

THE Flourishing Kingdom of France, being the nearest part of the Continent on which we border; I have thought, for the observing the most regular method, to begin this History of the World, with the De­scription of it, and its appendances.

[Page 2] As for France, or so much as is generally under­stood of it; it is bounded on the East with a branch of the Alps, passing between Dauphin and Peimont. Switzerland, Savoy, some part of Germany, and the Neitherlands; on the West with a Branch of the Py­reenian Mountains, dividing Spaine, and with the A­quitane Ocean; on the North with the Brittish Seas, and part of Belgium, and has on the South the rest of the Pyreenian Mountains, and the Mediter­ranian Sea, being in a manner Square; accounted in Length, from Calais to Toulon 620 Miles, reckoning 73 to a Degree, and in Breadth from the borders of Lorain to Brest, or from Nice in Peimont to Bay­on 492 Miles, though of late the Teretories have been much inlarged by the new Conquests and Ac­quisitions, but being to speak of them in the Coun­rries where they properly have their Scituation, I willingly here omit them.

This Country is called by the English France, by the Italians Francia, and so by the Spaniards; by the Germans Franckreich, by the Turks Alfrangua, and is the antient Gallia of Caesar and Pliny; lying excellently in Compaction, between the most Flou­rishing Kingdoms and States of Europe, Scituate in the middle of the North Temperate Zone, between the middle Parralells of the Fifth Clime, where the longest Day is 13 Hours; and the middle Parralell of the Eighth Clime, where they extend to 16 Hours and a half: So that the Air is very Health­ful, the Country every where Rich and Fertile, and the People numerous; as likewise the Cities and Towns, no less than 4000 being reckon'd of note, e­specially the greatest part of them, and was Distin­guished by four Parts or Divisions, when the Ro­mans (not without great blood-shed) brought it under their Subjection, viz.

1. The Narbonensis, or Bracatta, containing Dau­phir, Languedock, and a part of Savoy. 2. Aquita­nica, [Page 3] taking its denomination from the City Aquae Augusta, and now known by that of d' Aeque, con­taining Gascoigne, Limoisin, Guinne, Sanctogne, Querci, Peregort, Bourbonnois and Aurergne.

3. Celtica, comprehending the Provinces of Nor­mandy, Britagne, Anjou, Tourain, Maine, Labeause, part of Campagne, the Isles of France, the Dukedom of Burgundy, and the County of Lionoise. 4. Belgica, containing Picardy, a part of Campaigne, Burgundy, and the Spanish Netherlands: But in the time of Ho­norius the Emperor, the Goths having over-run Spain and Italy, sent their Forces to Invade the Norbonensian Gauls, and having Subdued them, cal­led their Country Langue de Goth, and from thence Languedock; nor did they stay here, but extended their Conquests to the River Ligeris, now the Fa­mous Loire, founding themselves a Kingdom, and making Tholouse the Regal Residence; nor was it long before the Burgundiones, or Burgundians, who had Seated themselves in a part of the Country of Ca­ssubii, and some of the Teretories of Brandenburg, joyning with the Vandles and Sweths, seized upon other parts of France, and grasped them with so hard a hand, that they in spight of Opposition founded themselves a Kingdom, called the King­dom of Burgundy, but afterward reduced to a Duke­dom, and now in the hands or possession of the pre­sent French King.

The Kingdom of France is Hereditary to the Males, but not to the Females, who are disabled by the Sali (que) Law, and the Heir or Eldest Son is stil­ed Dauphin of France; nor can the Younger Son of the King, by the Law of Apennages, have any part in the Government with the Elder: And this Mo­narchy has been upheld ever since the Year 420, by the Races of Three Kings, viz. the Moravinian, Carolinian and Capitine, in a Descent of 63 Kings; and here the Christian Religion is held to be first [Page 4] Planted amongst the Gaules by Martialis, but a­mongst the French, or the latter setled People of the Kingdom, by Remigius, much latter: as for the Arms Royal, now boren by the Kings, they are Three Flower de Luces Azure, in a Field Or, be­ing a Device taken by Charles the Sixth.

This Kingdom is composed of Estates, and Orders threefold, viz. the Clergy, the Nobility, and the Commons; and here are usually found 16 Arch-Bi­shops, and 106 Bishops, not accounting those of Ar­ras, Tournay, and Perpignan; 16 Abbots Heads of Orders and Congregations, and about 30000 Cu­rate-ships: and not accounting other Governments, there are 12 Peers chiefly appointed, or ancient Peer-ships, besides others of new Creation, and the Order is that of the Holy Ghost. There are like­wise 11 Parliaments, 8 Chambers of Accounts, 22 Publick Places of Receipt, or Generalities of the Kings Revenues.

The Rivers of this Kingdom are principally Four, viz. the Rhone, or Rosne, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Seine; who receive into them many other Ri­vers, and wash the Walls of the chief Cities and Towns, &c. the first arising about 3 Miles from the head of the River Rhine, the second about the Mountains of Avergne, the third from the Pyree­nian Hills, and the Fourth has its Spring in Bur­gundy.

The Mountains of most note are those of Averg­ne, part of the Alps, and the Pyreenes, on the lat­ter of which Nature strangely expresses her self, for that part of those Mountains toward rich and wealthy France, are altogether barren, but that to­wards Spain exceeding Fruitful, as if it had divested it self to cloath the one, and robbed the other.

In the Year 1614 Lovis the 13 convened the E­states of the Provinces under 12 Heads, or great Governments, four of which lying towards the North, [Page 5] border upon the Seine, and the other Rivers that augment its Stream, viz. Picardy, Normandy, the Isles of France and Campaigne, adjoyning towards the middle to the Loire, Orlenoise, Britagne, Burgundy, and Lionoise; and the other Four towards the South, near the Garonne, viz. Dauphin, Guienne, Laugue­dock and Provence; and under the Orlenoise are con­tained Maine, Perche and Beauce: on the hither side of the Loire, Nievernois, Anjou and Touraine; and above this River beyond Poctou, Berrey, and Burgundy, hath Bresti, and under Lionoise, are com­prehended Lionois, Auvergne, Burbounois, and Mar­che; under Guienne is Bearne, Gascogne, and Guien­ne, Saintogne, Perigort, Limosin, Querci, and Rover­gne; and under Languedock is found Cevenes.

The chief Cities are, 1. Paris, situate in the Isle of France, anciently called Lutetia, by reason of the Clayeness of the Ground about it; which for Riches, Stateliness of Building, the many Magni­ficent Pallaces and Churches, that every where adorne it, and the Fruitfulness of the Soil about it and number of its Inhabitants, may compare with most in Europe. 2. Lions, or Lugdunum. 3. Orle­ance. 4. Bullogne, taken by Henry the [...]ighth of England 1544. 5. Amiens. 6. St. Quintiens, where the English Forces under the Command of the Earl of Pembrook, in the Quarrel of Philip the Second of Spain, overthrew the French, Anno 1557. 7. Bur­deaux. 8. Roane or Rovenysenlis. 10. Rhemes. 11. Claremont. 12. Tholouse. 13 Calais, which being taken by Edward the 3 of England, remained in the hands of the English 220 Years, and was lost in the reign of Queen Mary, soon after the Battle of St. Quinti­nes, and the occasion, as many conjecture of hast­ning her end, she giving out, That if she were open­ed when dead, they might find Calais written on her Heart, &c. Many other Cities and Towns there are of note, whose names for brevities sake I must o­mit [Page 6] and in general proceed to say; there is no Kingdom better stored with considerable places, nor more abounding in plenty of what ever may conduce, to the Commodity and suport of Humane Life; a­bounding with almost all the sundry sorts of Fruits that Europe produces, as also store of River and Sea-Fish; a great number of Cattle, plenty of Wine, Corn, Salt, Linnen Cloth, Flax, Hemp, Wool, Saf­fron, Paper, and many other Products and Manu­factories, very considerable; for which the Na­tives, &c. as it were command the Commodi­ties, or ready Money of most Countries; as for the Coins those chiefly in use, are the Pistole of Gold, and the Crown of Silver.

As for the people of this Kingdom, they are great pretenders to Antiquity, deriving their Original, as to the Inhabitants of the Country from Meseck the sixt Son of Japhet, though the first Inhabitants mentioned with any credit in History, were the anti­ent Gauls, a people thrifty and valiant; who under the leading of Bellovessus, conquered the heither part of Italy called Gallia Cisalpina, and soon after under the conduct of Segovesus, subdued a great part of Germany, nor resting there, under Brennus another of their Commanders; they discomfited the Ro­man Army and Sacked even Rome it self, and so pas­sed Conquering on into Asia, where they fixed a Government, calling it Gaul-Asia, since corruptly Gallatia, on which the Learned Dubartas discants, viz.

[Page 7] The present Inhabitants though somewhat fan­tastick, are generaly of a free and curteous Beha­haviour, kind to strangers, and extremely given to Complement; the Women are likewise wonderful­ly familiar even with Strangers especially in Speech, taking it for a great peice of breeding, not to be too Austere or Reserved.

Their Apparel for the most part is rather Gay than Costly, made of light Stuffs and slight Silks, &c. though the Country people are distinguished from others; by the Men's wearing a large pair of Breeches and a Coat to their Knees; and the Womens attire­ing their Heads, or rather wraping them in Linnen, and these are in a manner Drudges, or Slaves, to the Gentry, especially such as are their Land-lords, they being all of them Tenants at Will, and have their Rent raised as the Land improves, or as the Lord thinks fit; which is the occasion of their great Po­verty; for although many of them hold Farms of Wine and Corn, they have scarce the happiness to tast the first, or eat any good Bread made of the latter.

In Arts and Manufactury, the French are very In­genious, and in War very furious, at the first onset, but with the change of Fortune their courage soon abates; though Caesar confessed that he slew 110000. of them before he could bring them into subjection; yet by a small power of the English, they were frequently worsted; in the Reign of Edward the Third, and almost the whole Kingdom, after the Fortunate Battle of Azin-court, Conquored and brought under subjection by Henry the fifth, who with 15000. men, only overthrew an Army of above 100000. in which the flower of their Nobili­ty were either Slain, or taken Prisoners: Nor is it less the Fortune, or rather misfortune in all Battles, to have the greatest storm of War fall upon their Nobility.

[Page 8] The things worthy of Note in this Illustruous Kingdom, are the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin in Paris, Vulgarly called Notrodam; suppor­ted by 120. Pillars, whereof 12. are very great, but the remainder indifferently large, and in the midst of the Church is a Chancel, accounted 71 paces in length, and 60 in bredth; and in the Circuit or Circumference, it hath 45 Chappels, and is closed with Iron Gates, and two double doors in the front, adorn'd with the Statues of 28 Kings; and on the sides are four Towers of Bell-fries of 44 Cubits in height, and a Bell so large called St. Mary, that 24 Men are required to Ring it out. The Seven Wonders of Dauphin, viz. The burnig Fountain, the Inac­cessable Mountain, the Tower of Sanevenin, the Wine-fats of Sassinage, the Wine Fountain, the Manna of Briancon, and the Fountain of Barberon; which Rarities see at large in Allard Sylva: The Statue of Joan the Peucelle, who assisted the French against the English, and raised the Seige of Orleance, acting many Wonders in feats of Arms, till taken by the English and burnt for a Witch: As for the Building, in Cities and considerable Towns, it is mostly of rough Stone, Plastered and rough cast over flat roofed; and commonly 4, 5, and 6 Stories. And now to France I might add the new aquisitions, but more of them hereafter.

The chief Islands are Rhee the out-work of Rochle, in attempting the Relief of which the English lost many brave men in the year 1627. The strong Bell Isle, Venetica San. Colosus, Salt, Nermoustier, Ole­ron Vliaras, where our King Richard the Third, as Lord of the Sea, gave those Laws Marine so much in request, and known as the Laws of Olerone, Rochle, famous for the siege it sustained against the whole power of France; Ovissant over against the Lizard, and in the Mediterranian are the Isles of de Eres by Ptolomie, called the Staaechades.

The Discription of the Kingdom of Spain, in its Provinces, &c.

SPain is acknowledged the most Western part of Europe, formerly called by the Greeks Iberia and Hsperia enviornd on every side by the Sea, except towards France; from which it is parted only by the Pyreenian Mountains: The Seas that bound it are the Cantabrian on the North, the Atlantick Ocean on the West, and the Straights of Gibraltar, on the South; on the East with the Mediterranian; the Pyreenians bearing only to the North East, and is formed by Strabo, in the shape of an Oxes Hide; containing as well Portugal as Spain, Scituated in the most Southern part of the Northern Temperate Zone; so that the longest day exceeds not 15 hours, accounted 760 miles in length, and 600 in bredth.

As for the Original of this People in Relation to their possessing the Country, Authors differ; for some will have them to be of the Progeny of Tubal Son of Japhat, as being the decendants of the Iberij who entred the Kingdom under Pannus: Others that they are derived from the Celtae, a powerful people decended from Alchenaz, who first peopling it, called the whole Country Celtiberia; but more certain it is, that the Phoenicians failing from Tyre, planted Collonies here, and after them the Rhodians; nor did the Carthagenians fail in a manner to subdue it, till being worsted in the second Punick War, it be­came Tributary to the Romans, who devided it into 3 Provinces, viz. Boetica, Lusitanica and Ter­raconensis; the [...]irst of these containing the King­doms of Andeluzia and Granata; part of New Ca­stile and Estremadure, Inhabited by the Turdulie Eastward, and by the Celti towards the West; Lu­sitania [Page 10] contained Portugal, and part of Old and New Castile, and the remaining part was comprehended in Terragon; and again they laid it into two parts, comprehending the two first Provinces in one; and so it remained till the time of Honorius the Emperor, when Gundericus King of the Vandels, broke in and over-run it with a numerous Army, Anno 400; but had not well settled themselves before the Goths In­vaded, it and drove the new possessors into Affrica; and in the year 720. under the conduct of Musa and Tarrif, who were invited in by Julian, with a great Army of Moors and Saracens entred warring up­on the Goths and after a Battle of seven days became Victorious dividing the Countrey amongst them; so that at last it fell into 12 divisions, viz. Leon Oviedo, Navarre, Corduba, Gallicta, Bisca, Tolledo, Murica, Ca­stile, Portugal, Valentia, Catalonia and Aragon; and so they stand at this day: wherefore I proceed to speak of them in their order and due places.

Leon had heretofore the Name of Austria, and is a very pleasant Country, yielding Mines of pre­cious Mettal, some Gold, Red Lead, and Vermil­lion, though otherwise not very fruitful, as being some-what Mountainous, yet gives Title to the Eldest Son of Castile, notwithstanding few Towns of note are found in it.

Navarr is a Kingdom of great Antiquity, boun­ded on the East, with the Pyreenian Mountains, on the West with Iberius, North Biscay, and South Aragon; being a Campaign Country, not subject to Woods, or Inclosures, yet abounds with Trees in the nature of Hedg-rows, considerably fruitful, and has for Its chief Cities, Victoria, Sanguessij, Viana, and Pam­pelune, Garisoned as the chief defence of the Spani­ards, against the Incursions of the French in time of War, who's King, though wanting the Possession, has the Title of that Kingdom, the Revenues where­of has been estimated at One hundred Thousand Duckets.

[Page 11] Corduba, is a very fruitful Province, accounted and judged, (as it is) the richest in all Spain, abounding in Cordivant Skins, Mallago, Sherry, Oranges, Cattle, Fish, Corn, great store of Fowl; and has in it di­vers fair Cities; as 1st, Corduba the Principal from which it takes its Name. 2d. Xeres. 3d. Sevil. 4th. Granada. 5th. Mallaga. 6th. Almeria. 7th. Guadalcanal, where the rich Mines are found.

Galicia, is a Country very Mountainous, many of which cannot be passed without great difficulty, and others by reason of their Craggyness, held not passi­ble; yet in this Province are found the Cities of Compostella, the Seat of an Arch-Bishop, called St. Jago, in Honour of St. James the Apostle, whom they impute to be buryed here; Bajonna a place ve­ry pleasant for its Scituation, and Corronna, or Groynne. This Country is held the Principal in Spain, for the breed of Jennets; and here is found the Promon­tory Nerius, formerly held to be the Ne plus ultra.

Bisca, makes a Famons Bay into the Ocean, yet many times proves dangerous to Sailers; and al­though the Country is Mountainous, yet it has many pleasant Valleys, and is adorned with Cities, and Towns of note, as St. Sebastian, Tholosa, Fonterabia, Bilboa, &c. And from the Mountains of this Coun­try, the Rivers that water the greatest part of Spain have their Springs, being accounted no less than One hundred and fifty; and great store of Timber for Shipping is found in those parts, with some Iron Mines, &c.

Toledo, a part of New Castile, takes its name from the principal City, scituate on the banks of Tagus or Taio, exceeding pleasant, and is ordinarily the Residence of the Nobility, and of Merchants that Trade in these Parts; being the See of an Arch-Bi­shop, who is above the rest of the Bishops of that Kingdom, his Revenue being accounted Three hun­dred thousand Crowns; and here the Kings of the [Page 12] Goths and Moors held their Courts: there are like­wise found the Cities of Calatrava and Talboia, one scituate on the Ava, and the other on the Tagus.

Murica, contains the City Murica, the Town of Alicant, and New Carthage, being a Country very plentiful, though thinly peopled; and hence come the Alicant wines and curious Earthen Vessels, with much fine silks: Nor did the Romans in their Conquest for some time reap a less benefit than Twenty five thou­sand drams of Silver a week, from this Country only.

Castile Old and New contain the Towns of Soria, Segovia, Valodolid, Salamanca, a University, &c. Madrid the Kings Principal Seat; Alcala and Alcal­tura, most of them very pleasantly scituate, as be­ing posited in the heart of the Kingdom of Spain, abounding with Corn, Fruits, and Cattle; and the latter watered with the River Tagus and Ava, which much inrich the Country. As for Portugal it is now a separate Kingdom, wherefore I intend to speak of it in its due place, as more proper in a work of this Nature.

The Principal Rivers appropiated to Spain, are the Tagus or Taio, the Duero or Duerius, the Guiadi­ana or Anas, which for a good space Ingulfs it self, and runs under ground, giving the Spaniards Occa­sion to boast, that they have one of the fairest Bridges, in the World, on which Ten thousand Cattle feed, and over which an Army with extended Wings may March; the other Rivers of note are Gualdahquiver, and the Ebro, called by Strabo, Baetis, and Iberus. As fot the Mountains they are distinguished into six great Ridges, continued knit together, whereof the lesser are but parts, the chief of which are the Py­reenians that extend from the Cantabrian▪ Ocean to the Mediterranian Sea.

[Page 13] As for the People of Spain, they are swarthy of Complexion, black-Hair, and of a good Proportion, stately in their Actions, and grave of Deportment, very serious in their Carriage, and Offices, much ad­dicted to Religion, and very Observant and Faith­ful to their Prince, not prone to alter their Determi­nation, but patient in Adversity, in War they are very Deliberate and Cautious, not much regarding Arts, but adict themselves much to Women, and are generally very much conceited of themselves; As for the Women they carry themselves very sober and discreet, and are tolerably handsome: Those that are marryed are in great Subjection to their Hus­bands, and extream loving; though the men are na­turally Jealous. In matters of Religion, they are Roman Catholicks, only there are some Churches of Toledo, where the Mus-Arabick Office is used. As for the Language, it is not all the same, for in some parts, it has a mixture of French, in others much of the Moorish, and in some again the Gothish Arabick, but generally and vulgarly, the Old Spanish is used, which has much Affinity with the Latin; and as for the Civil and Imperial Laws used amongst them, they are intermixed with many Customs of the Goths, and the King governs his Provinces by Vice-Roys, or Ministers of State; and though this Couu­try is not very fruitful in Corn and Cattle, yet it generally abounds in Wines, Oyls, Sugars, Rice, Silk, Liquoras, Honey, Wax, Saffron, Anniseeds, Rosin, Almonds, Oranges, Lemmons, Cakes, Soap, Anchovies, Soda, Barrilla, Shumack, Wool, Lamb-Skins, Tobacco, besides the great Treasures of Gold and Silver that comes from America, from whence it is conjectured since the first discovery, that above Fifteen hundred thirty six Millions of Gold has been brought into Spain.

[Page 14] As for the Buildings, they are every where more solid and durable, than stately and magnificent, un­less at Sevil; in Relation to which, the Spaniards usually say, he that has not been at Sevil, has seen no stately Building. As for Apparrel, they affect rather Gravity than Gaudiness; and their Diet is as sparing, consisting for the most part of Herbs, made into Pottage, with minced Meats and Salads; though there is scarcely a Mechanick in any noted Town, but when he goes abroad, has his Cloak on, and his Ra­pier by his side, and walks in as much State as the greatest Don in the Kingdom.

A Description of the Kingdom of Portugal.

THIS Kingdom was in the time of the Ro­man Conquests accounted a Province of Spain, but since, been a Kingdom of about Five hun­dred years standing, bounded on the North, with the River Minio, and Ava, which parts it from Gal­licia; on the East with the two Castles, and Estre­madure; on the South, with Algarve; and on the West, with the Atlantick Ocean; and was anciently called Lusitania, deriving its present Name from Porto, a Haven Town, scituate in the mouth of the River Dueras, the usual Landing place of the Gauls; and thence corruptly called Portugal, or the Gauls Port; and is accounted to be in length, from North to South, about Six score Leagues, running along the Sea-Coast; and consequently, not answerable in breadth, in which it disproportions, as in some places Twenty five, some Thirty, and in other Fifty Leagues.

[Page 15] This Kingdom, especially of late years, has made its self famously known throughout the World, by its Discoveries, and Trafficks, in Navigation; so that no Trading part of the Universe, has escaped its Knowledge. As for the Provinces attributed to Por­tugal, they are principally Six, which are as many General Governments, Inter-Dueras, and Minho, Tra­los-Montes, Beyra, Estremadure, Aleuteio, and the Kingdom of Algarue; and of these, Inter-Dueras, and Minho, are the most noted, as being exceeding Fruitful, and well Peopled, that for Eighteen Leagues in length, and Twelve in bredth, it posses­ses One hundred and thirty Monasteries, One Thou­sand four hundred and sixty Parishes, Five Thousand Fountains, or Springs of Water, Two hundred Stone-Bridges, and Six Sea Ports: The chief City in these Parts, is Porto, called by the English Port à Port, from its delightful Scituation, and the Advantage of the Commodities of the Country, there in abundance found; this place contains Four thousand Houses, and is much traded to by divers Nations; the next to this is Braga, famed for the many Councils held there.

Tralos Montes, is a part of this Kingdom, stored with Rich Mines, and in it is found the City of Bra­ganca, the Capital of the Dukedom of that Title, be­sides which there are Towns of lesser note, and the Princes who are derived from this Title usually reside at Villa-Viciosa, being now in Possession of the Crown; and had before their coming to it, a Prerogative, be­yond the Grandees of Spain, to sit in publick under the Royal Canopie of the Spanish Kings; Beyra ano­ther part of this Kingdom is exceeding fertile, pro­ducing store of Millet, Rye, Apples, Chestnuts, Ca­tle, Corn, &c. And in it is scituate the Famous City of Coimbra, noted for its University, and the See of a Bishop, &c. Estremadure abounds in Wines, Oyls, Salt, and Honey, gathered from Citron Flow­ers; [Page 16] and in it is seated Lisbon the Principal City of the Kingdom, upon five little rising Hills; on the Right bank of the River Tagus, or Taio, and Arch-Bishops See, the usual Residence of the Kings of Por­tugal, and a City of great Trade, having the Ad­vantage of the Ebing and Flowing of the Sea, as be­ing but Five Miles from it, held to contain Thirty two Parishes, Three hundred fifty Streets, Eleven thousand Houses, and One hundred sixty thousand Inhabitants; the Compas computed to be near Se­ven Miles accounting the Subburbs, and was once the greatest Emporium of Europe. Santarim, a place much in Request for the abundance of Olives, that grow about it; insomuch, that the Natives boast, but how truly, I know not, that they could make a River, as big as the Tagus of their Oyl: Setuba, an other Town in this Tract, is accommodated with one of the best Havens in the Kingdom, being no less than Thirty Miles long, and Three broad, aboun­ding with Salt-Pits, and Wine, which bring a great Revenue into the Kings Coffers. Alenteio, extream­ly abounds with Corn, insomuch, that it is held to be the Grainery of the Kingdom, and has in it the City of Elvara, the second to that of Lisbon, near which, the Portuguez won a considerable Victory a­gainst the Spaniards in 1663. And next this, Elvas claims Place, for the many Sieges it has held out a­gainst the Spaniard, and the plenty of Oyls the Neighbourhoods produce, &c. Ourique is the place, near to which was fought the Famous Battle, which occasioned the proclaiming the King of Portugal of the House of Braganca, Portelegar, is a Bishops See. Algarve, though little in extent, has the Title of a Kingdom, and was re-united to the Crown by the Marriage of Alphonse the Third, with Beatrice of Ca­stile, abounding in Eggs, Almonds, Olives, Wines, Corn. Cattle, &c. And for the Chief Towns, they are Tavila, Faro, Silves, and Lagos.

[Page 17] The Natives of this Kingdom, are very frugal, yet live in much plenty, the Earth producing every where abundance: Nor did their Navigation in for­mer days, less conduce to their Support and Gran­deur; being held the first Europeans that publickly Trafficked into the remote parts of the World, to bring it to any considerable Perfection. The Peo­ple are generally straight Limbed, and well propor­tioned, very soft skinned, but somewhat inclined to swarthiness, by reason of the heat in those parts; the Air is very healthy, and the Country for the most part Hilly, though few of note.

The Roman Catholick Religion, is only publick­ly professed. There are three Arch-Bishopricks, viz. at Lisbon, Braga, and Elvora; and Ten Bisho­pricks. They have Parliaments as occasion requires it, held at Lisbon and Porto, and Twenty seven pla­ces have their Generalities; and the Revenues of the Kingdom is held to be about Ten Millions of Livers, not accounting their Collonies in the East-Indies: And although Portugal was seized on by the King of Spain, after the fatal Battle of Alcazar in Affrick, and the Death of King Henry, who Succee­ded Sabastian, slain by the Moors; it revolted in the year, 1640. And is governed by a King of its own, as a separate Kingdom from Spain, and thus much for Portugal,

A Description of Italy, In its Kingdoms and Dominions, &c.

ITaly is a very Fruitful Country, and held for its Pleasantness to be the Mistriss of all Countries, as it once was Empress of the World, and is incom­passed with the Adriatick, Jonian, and Tyrrian Seas: Except, towards France and Germany, from which it is parted by the Alps, which renders it in a man­ner [Page 18] a Penjusula, but more peculiarly, it has on the East the lower part of the Adriatick, and the Jonian Sea, deviding it from Greece; on the West, it has the River Varus, and some part of the Alps, parting it from France; on the North, a part of the Alps divides it from Germany, and on the other parts, the Adriatique Sea devides it from Dalmatia, being held by the Antients to be in form like an Oak-Leaf.

This Country branched out into sundry principa­lities and Provinces, is scituate in a most Fruitful and temperate Air, under the fifth climate of the North temperate Zone, which is totally taken up; so that the Longest day is 15 hours, and three fifth parts of an hour, Northward and Southward, not much above 14 hours, and the parts mentioned; and is reckoned in length, from Augusta Praetoria, now called Aost, unto Otranto the most Easternly part of Naples 1020 miles, and in bredth from the River Varo, which parts it from that Province to the Mouth of the River Arsa in Friuli; where it is the broadest 410 miles, and where the narrowest, which is about Otranto, exceeds not 23. so that the whole compass by Sea, reckoning windings and turnings, is held to be 3448 miles, but reckoned in a straight line upon the coast, it falls much short as not above 2550.

As for the first Inhabiters of this Country, they remaine doubtful, for as soon as Historians make a­ny considerable mention of it, we find it Inhabited by divers Nations, held to be Greek Colonies, who transported themselves at sundry times; the peo­ple of the Sea Coast being said to come thither un­der Janus, Anno Mundi, 1925. After them Saturn out of Creet; then Evander or Oenotrus out of Arca­dia, and then Aeneas with his Trojans, with many o­thers; but after the Romans grew powerful, they brought the whole Country into subjection, and, held it in spite of the frequent Invasions of Phyrus [Page 19] Hanibal, the Gauls, Cimbri, and others, till the time of Honorius the Emperor, at what time the Goths Vandals, Herulies, Huns, and other Barbarous Nati­ons, passing the Alps, rent it from the Empire, and de­vided it amongst themselves establishing many King­doms and Principalities; and when these were in a manner subdued by the Valour and Conduct of Nar­ses, Bellarius, and other Imperial Generals. Alboni­us King of the Lumbards, seized upon the greatest part of it calling it Longobardia, vulgarly Lumbardy; but they a considerable time after were brought un­der by Pepin King of France, called in by the Bishop of Rome, who reduced their Kingdom to a straight compass; after which the seat of the Roman Empire was fixed in Germany, and Italy, parcell'd out a­mongst sundry Princes, and the usual Division is into six parts viz. Lumbardy, the Land of the Church, Nap [...]ls, [...]ascany, Genoa, the Signory of Venice; but more particularly into five greater and six lesser; as for the first, the Kingdom of Naples, the Papacy, the Signory of Venice, the Dukedom of Florence, and the Dukedom of Millain, the lesser are the Duke­doms of Mantoua, Vrbine, Modena, Parma, with the States of Genoa and Luca; and of these in their Order.

A Description of Belgium, or the Nei­therland Provinces, &c.

THE Tract now called Belgium or the Neither­lands, is bounded on the East with Westphalia, Gulick, Cleve, Triers, and the Provinces of the higher Germany, on the West with the main Ocean, which divides it from Brittain, &c. on the North with the River Ems, which parts it from East Friez­land, and on the South with Picardy and Campaign, two French Provinces, and upon the South-East with the Dukedom of Lorain; and as for the Coun­try in its present Estate, it is divided into 17 Pro­vinces, viz. The Dukedoms of Limburg, Luxenburg, Gelderland, Brabant, the Marquisate of the Holy Em­pire, the Earldoms of Flanders, Artois, Hatndult, Namurre, Zutphan, Holland, Zealand, the Barronies of West Friezland, Vtrecht, Overysel, Machlyn, and Groyning, or Groningen, and of these in their Order.

A Description, particularly of the Low-Countries.

ZEaland or Sealand, is a Country standing upon 7 Islands Northward in the Sea▪ commodiously scituate for Shipping, and Harbours, so that it may in a manner be questioned, whether the Inhabitants live on the Water or on the Land, and though it consists of 7 Islands only at present, it formerly was 15 whereof 8 have been swallowed up by the Waves, with their Towns and Cities, so that we may well alude.

The chief Towns of this Province, are Middleburg, Famous for Traffick, and the Staple for French and Spanish Wines; Flushing, a strong and fortified Sea Town. All the Islands are fertile, much abounding with Pastures, Corn, and plenty of Cattle, yield­ing a great deal of Madder, for dying, Wooll, &c.

[Page 49] HOLLAND, (the chief of the Provinces, under the Denomination of which the rest are vulgarly called, and is the most powerful in Shipping, and Navigati­on,) comprehends the Famous City of Amsterdam, by which the River Tay flows like a large Sea, and is one of the chief Empories of Europe, Rotterdam, Leyden an University, Doort, Delph, Harlem, and other places of note, as the Hague, &c. the which, though but an In­land Village, is much honoured by the Concourse, resorting thither, and the frequent assembling of the Estates; and this, more than any other part, abounds with Woods, esteemed though but small, to contian 400 Villages, and 20 walled Towns in its Jurisdiction.

VTRECHT, another of these Provinces has five considerable Towns in it, of which Vtrecht, Mont-fort, and Rhenen, are the principal; as also 70 Villages, many of them very fair and pleasant, all well water­ed, and accommodated with Gardens, Pasturages, and other things necessary for the use of Man; the Province was anciently called Antonia, but since took its Name from a Ferry that was kept there, for the Transportation of Passengers, &c.

OVER-YSSEL, another of the Provinces, is memorable for the City of Daventree, won by Ro­bert Earl of Leicester, an English Peer, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, from the Spaniard, and deli­vered to the States, and has besides 11 good Towns of which Campene, Swall, and Daventree are the chief, 101 Villages, and abounds with good Pasture [...], Med­dows, Corn and Cattle, producing yearly a [...] extra­ordinary quantity of Butter and Cheese, and the ra­ther Fruitful, as being well watered by the River Ys­sel, from which it appears to take its name.

ZVTPHEN, though it claims the Jurisdiction of a Province, yet it is no more than a Town in Guel­derland, free, and independent, before which (to the great Grief of all good Men) the Famous and Learned Sir Philip Sidney, received the Mortal [Page 50] wound of which he dyed, though the Town was notwithstanding won by his Conduct and Valour, be­ing a very antient Earldom.

GVELDERLAND is a Dukedom of considerable note, abounding with Plenty of all sorts of Provisi­ons, and many curious Manufactures, and is held to contain 24 Towns, and 300 Villages. The chief of the Towns being Nimegen, seated on a branch of the River Rhine, and much noted for the Treaty held there, Ruremond and Arnheim, and is recounted in Historians to take its name from Geluba; once a famous Town Scituate in the Province, but now alto­gether ruined or reduced to a strait compass.

GROINING or GRONINGEN, is a Barrony of West Friezland, so large that under its Jurisdiction it has 154 Towns and Villages, the principal being Old Haven and Keikerk, and boasts of great Plenty and much Riches.

FRIEZLAND contains 11 chief Towns, the most considerable being Harlingem, Lewarden, and Zwichen, with about 345 Villages, Incompassed with Excellent Pasture grounds, abounding in Herds of Cattle, of a more then ordinary bigness, and is in a manner, every where refresh'd with pleasant Streams; and not far from it is the Island of Scelinck, on the Coast whereof the Fishing trade is continually main­tained; and there are found Dog-Fish in abun­dance.

The Air in these, and the other Provinces, is at this day very temperate; so that, although the Win­ters last long, yet are they not excessive; and as for the Summer it is gentle and mild, resembling the Spring, in the more Southern Countries; as for the People they are generally corpulent, well pro­portioned, and great Artists, being quick of Inven­tion, and very curious Artificers. The Women are for the most part tolerably handsome, and constant House-wifes much in subjection to their Husbands, [Page 51] and very careful in the management of such Af­fairs as they understand: They are (both Men and Women) frequently great drinkers; nor do they come behind hand, especially those of the 7 Pro­vinces last mentioned, in eating; and as for their Warfare they are better Soldiers, and more fortu­nate by Sea then Land, for indeed Navigation is in a manner their greatest business; many of those, we properly call the Dutch, being born on Ship-board, and there brought up; their Parents hav­ing no Land, Houses or Tenements, but live on board for the most part, and are seldom in Lodgings which is all they take care for, rejecting any settlement; and thus much in brief for the 17 Provinces, or Lower Germany, from whence I proceed to the Higher, &c.

Germany, properly so call'd, Described in its Province and Principalitie.

GERMANY, in which at this day the Roman Empire has its Establishment, is bounded on the East with Prussia, Poland and Hungary, on the West with Belgium and France, on the North with Denmark, and the Main Sea called the Ger­man Ocean, and on the South with the Alps, and is Scituate in the Northern Temperate Zone, under the 7 and 11 Climates having 17 hours and a half in the longest day Northward, and 14 and a half Southward; the compass of this spacious Country, being accounted 2600 English miles, held to be ef­fectually the largest in Europe, and in most Parts is exceeding Fruitful, the Air wholsom; and conse­quently the Natives (were they more tempe­rate) would be exceeding healthful; however the Inhabitants for honesty of conversation and firmness to their Governors, are much to be ap­plauded; [Page 52] Valiant they are, and very deliberate in their Actions; the Women are corpulent and to­lerably handsome great breeders, and very fruitful; though for the Vulgar sort they are generally poor, notwithstanding they are curious in invention, and performance of Arts; and the World is beholding (if we may rightly so term it) to this Nation for the Invention of Printing and Gun-powder.

GERMANY is exceeding fertile, many parts of it abounding with Corn, Wine, Cattle, Mine­rals, as Tin, Copper, Silver, and some Gold, Quicksilver, Linnen Cloath, Allom, and many o­ther valuable Commodities, and is properly divid­ed into the upper and lower Germany. The first of these more bordering upon the Alps, may be reckon­ed to contain Austria, Bavaria, Suevia, Helvetia, Switzer land and Alsatia; and of these in their order, &c.

Sweedland Described, in its Countryes and Provinces, &c.

SWEEDEN, or Sweedland, is a Famous Northern Country, renowned for its many great Enter­prizes, and Undertakings; and is bounded on the West with the Dosrin Hills, dividing it from Nor­way; and on the North with the Frozen Ocean; on the South with Denmark, Leifland, and the Baltick Sea, taking, as many hold, its Name from Sueci, Suetheans, or Suethedie; and is in length from Stockholm to the Borders of Lapland 1000 Itali [...]n Miles, and about 600 in breadth, reaching in a manner, from the first Parallel of the Twelfth Clime where the Pole is elevated 38 Degrees, and 26 Mi [...]nutes, as far as to the 71 degrees of Latitude, [...] which account, the longest day in the Souther [...] point, exceeds not 18 Hours, though in the ex [...]treamest Northern parts, they have scarcely [...] Night for Two Months; and this Kingdom, tho [...]g [...] posited in an extream cold Region, is notwithstand [...]ing kept so warm by the Mists that arise from the I [...]slands, that much of the Rigor other Countries [...] the same Latitude suffer is abated, and is a Monar­chy, one of the Antientest in the Northern Parts [...] the World (if their report be true who boa [...] th [...] immediate Succession, from above 100 Kings; an [...] that the first amongst them was the Son of Japhet, one of the Sons of Noah.)

As for the Kings of Sweedland, they stile them­selves Kings of Sweeds, Vandals, Goths; great Prin­ces of Finland, Dukes of Estonia and Carolia; Lords of Ingria, and bear three Royal Crowns for their Arms; and the present King of this Country is [Page 66] Charles the 11. of the Family of the Palatine of Deuxponts; as for the Soil (by the industry of the people) it is render'd exceeding fertile, and the Air very healthful; unless in places where the Moorish damps arise from Fenns, by the neglect of not open­ing the Water course; so that the Inhabitants ge­nerally live to an extream old Age: And as for the Country it abounds with Corn, Cattle, Fruits and Minerals as Silver, Copper, Lead: There are found considerable quantities of Furs, and other Commodities, and is divided into, or distinguished by the Provinces of Lapland, Gothland, Finland, and Sweeden.

LAPLAND or LAPPIA is the most Northern Part of Scandia, and is divided into the Eastern and Western parts: The first containing Biarmia and [...]orolia, which properly appertains to Russia, or the Jurisdiction of the Czars of Muscovy, and the latter comprehending Lappia and Scrisinia, under the Government of the King of Sweeden; and the people in many parts, especially the most extream are Heathen Idolaters, or such as pay Adoration to Creatures; especially such as they first see in the Morning, and are held to deal in Magick and Witchcraft, and to sell Winds to Saylors that Na­vigate those Seas; however they are miserably poor, as living in the most barren part of the Coun­try, and pay their acknowledgement or Tribute only in Furs of Foxes, Martins &c. which tolera­bly abound in those parts; and they dwell for the most part in Cotts, where they are by reason of their Temperance very Healthful; some of them living to 140 years.

Next to the before mentioned Division is Fin­land, between the Finland Bay and the Baltick Ocean of considerable Extent, and is full of plea­sant Pastures, yielding very much Corn and Fruits, and is properly a Dutchy which some of the Swee­dish [Page 67] Kings were wont to assign, for the security of their Brothers Portions; and has for its chief Cities Albo, a Bishops See, Viburg or Viborch, a Fortress of considerable Strength; Narve, Rangia and Castle-Helm, and near a place called Razeburg; in this Country is a Province in which the Needle-touch by a Load-stone keeps continually turning.

GOTHLAND held to be the Birth-place of the antient Goths, is accounted one of the most fertil Provinces appertaining to this Monarchy, partici­pating both of Island and Continent; as being di­vided into both the Islands, lying in the Baltick Sea, being the biggest in these parts, containing five or six commodious Ports; and on some of the Rocks appear yet divers Inscriptions (by way of Monuments) in the Antient Gothish Characters, one Isle being 18 miles in length, and 5 in breadth; and as for what is of this Province, on the main Land, it is posited in the hithermost part of Scandia border­ing on Denmark, where is Seated the noted City of Norkoping, commodiously on the Sea, the place from when abundance of Copper is brought: Lo­duvisa a place much traded to, Colmar, fortified with a very strong Castle, Waldburg and others, and is in all parts very fruitful; so that it is called by many of the Sweeds Goodland, instead of Goth­land.

SWEDLAND properly so called, though con­tributing its name in general to the rest of the Provinces is fertil in many parts; but it holds not throughout by reason of the many Rocks and barren Hills, and the chief City is Stockholm, or Holmia, defended with a Castle Royal on a Sea Port, at the Mouth of the Lake Meler, which some of the Sweedish Kings designed to cut into the Wen­ner, or Lake, thereby to have joyned the Baltick and the Ocean, frustrating thereby the Passage of the Sound, but it proved a Work of so much Difficulty, [Page 68] that it was laid aside; and this Lake is held to re­ceive Twenty Four Rivers, and disburthens it self with such noise and fury, that it is by some called Devils Mouth: But as for the Kings Ships, and Vessels of great Burthen, they generally lye at Elsenore, de­fended by a strong Castle, and so shelter'd from the Wind, that they may lye without Anchors. Vpsal contains the Metropolitan Church, where the Kings are usually Crowned, and formerly held their Court; and is a University of this Kingdom, and the most remarkable Mart; Carlstat upon the Wenner, abounds with Brass and Copper: Strongues is a Bi­shops See.

There are yet two other Provinces, or Divisions of this Kingdom; viz. Livonia, by the Germans called Liefland and Ingria, vulgarly Ingermanland; the first deliver'd by the Poles upon treaty, and the last taken from the Muscovites, and are both of them indifferently fruitful, and have in them many con­siderable Villages and some Towns of note.

The Commodities of these Countries, in general are Copper, Brass, Lead, Ox-hides, Tallow, Furs, Goat-skins, Elks-skins, the Skins of Deer; Honey, Allom, Corn; and in many places there are Silver Mines, but of no consider able advantage. The men are Active, Naturally strong, indifferent good Seamen, and resolute Soldiers; Industrious, Inge­nious, and very courteous to strangers; and had the Christian Faith first planted amongst them, by Ausgarius Arch-Bishop of Bremen; and in matters of Judicature, or deciding Controversies, each re­spective Territory has its Viscount, every Province its Lans-men, or Consul, and every Town it's Lay-man or Consul; and there lyeth an Appeal from the Consul to the Laymen, and from the Lay men to the Viscount, and from him to the King, in whose only power it is absolutely to determine the matter. As for the Women they are generally [Page 69] well featured, proper in person, very modest and courteous, loving to their Husbands, and affable to strangers.

A Description of Denmark, in its Coun­tries, Provinces, &c.

DENMARK, Quasi, Danes-Mark, comprehend­ing its intire Circuit or Territories, is bound­ed on the East with the Baltick Sea, and a part of Sweedland, on the West with the Main Ocean on the North East, with another part of Sweedland, full North with the Frozen Ocean, and on the South with Germany; lying partly on the North temperate Zone, and partly within the Artick Cir­cle; extending from the middle Parallel of the tenth Clime, or 55 degrees of Latitude, where it joyneth to Germany, and 71 where the Frozen Ocean bounds it; the longest day in the most Southern parts, being 17 hours and a quarter; but for 2 Months and 3 Weeks they have no Night at all in the extream North, and is commonly distin­guished in these parts, comprehending the Appendances.

The Dukedom of Holstein, containing Wagerland Dithmarsh, Stormaria and Holstein. The Kingdom of Denmark containing the two Juitlands, and the Hemodes or Baltick Islands, and the Kingdom o [...] Norway (now in subjection to the Danes) with the Islands in the North Sea, &c. that properly belong to it; and of these in their order.

The Cimbrick Chersonese, in which the two Juit­lands, and the Dukedom of Holstein are contained, is in length 120 miles, and in breadth 80, and accounted to have within that Tract of Land; be­ing in a manner a Peninsula, 20 Royal Castles and Pallaces; 28 Cities of note; 4 Bishop Sees, and a [Page 70] considerable number of Villages; in many places very Fruitful, and affording sundry curious Havens; and on the South East is Wagerland, and has for its chief Towns Hamburg on the Elbe. Lubeck seat­ed on the confluence of the Trave and Billew, near the fall of that River into the Baltick Sea; much traded to by sundry Merchants, where they find great store of the Commodities of those Countries which are accounted the most fertile.

Dithmarsh spreads the West side of the Chersone­sus, Scituate between the River Albis and Endera, giving Title to the Eldest Son of the King of Den­mark, and has Meldrop and Marnes for its principal Towns; and although by reason of the many Mari­shes and Moorish grounds, the soil in many places is not commodious for Tillage, yet nevertheless it feeds great store of Cattle.

STORMARIA or STORMARSH lying betwen the River Elbe, and the Rivers Billew and Store, and has for its chief Towns Crampe on the Bank of a lit­tle River of the same name, falling into the Store, and is well fortified and reckoned one of the Keys of the Kingdom; nor less noted for the great re­sistance it made against Walestein the Imperi­al General; who's powerful Army it resisted 13 Months, and at last brought him to good terms of Composition. Tychenburgh on the Banks of the River Elbe; Bredenburg, Jetzebo, Gulick [...]tadt and others.

South Juitland, or the Dukedom of Sleswick, is that part of the Chersonesus that lyes next to Hol­stein; having for its chief Towns, Fleusburg on the Baltick shoar Scituate amongst high Mountains: Sleswick on the River Slea; from which the Duke­dom of Sleswick has its name, Goterp and Londen a Haven Town upon the Banks of the River Ender.

North Juitland is the most Northern part of the Ch [...]rsonesus and has for it's chief Towns Halne, Rir­copen, [Page 71] Arhausen and Nicopen; the soil very Fruitful, and much abounding with Wheat, Barly, Rice; store of Cattle, producing Butter and Cheese in great abundance; and able Horses for War, or any other service, here are also found Rich Furs.

As for those that are called the Baltick Islands; properly belonging to the King of Denmark though they are 35 in number dispersed in the Baltick Sea, many of them are Inconsiderable, and some not In­habited; the chief are Zeland, Fionia, or Funen; Arsen or Aria, Langland, Laland, Falster, Mone, Heuen or Wern, Island and Bornholme; of which on­ly the first is very considerable, as having in it 13 Cities, the chief of which is Copenhagen the Resi­dence of the Danish Kings; where the Regal Pal­lace, though not very stately, is seated; and is a City of considerable Trade, though the Buildings are generally mean, as Erected of Loam and Tim­ber; there is a Market constantly kept, and is the only University within the Government; it is de­fended with a strong Wall and a Castle, and thi­ther are brought all sorts of Commodities the King­dom affords.

SCANDIA that part which appertains to Den­mark, is in the South of a Peninsula, divided into three Provinces; as Scandia, Hallandia, and Blesci­da; the first of these is 72 Miles in length and 48 in breadth, reckoned the most fruitful and plea­sant of all the Countries lying about it, as being on three parts bounded by Sea, and has for its prin­cipal Towns, Lonpen a spacious Haven. Falskerbode, Elbogue and Elsinburg one of the Keys of the Sound.

HALLANDIA is but a small Tract of Land, yet yields much Fruits and Corn▪ many Cattle, and lying South of Scania, has Halaenego for its principal Town, from which it seems to take its name; and is well watered with pleasant Streams.

[Page 72] BLESCIDA lies North of Sweedland, and though it has many fertile Plains, yet it is generally Moun­tainous or Craggy hilled, having for its chief Trade­ing Town, Malmogia and Colmar, a strong Fortress bordering on Sweedland.

A Discription of Norway.

NORWAY, though under the King of Denmark, is however a Kingdom of it self, being boun­ded on the East with Denmark, on the West with the Ocean, on the North with Lappia or Lapland, and on the South with Sweeden; but lying so much in the extremities of cold, though it is a vast tract of Land, it is for the most part Rocky, Mountainous and Barren, not being furnished with stores of its one Production, fit for the support of these few Peo­ple it contains, the greatest Commodity it affords being Stock-Fish, Ship Masts, Deal Boards, Tackle for Shipping, Pitch, Tann'd Leather, Train Oyl, Furrs, and Tallow. As for the Towns or Villages, they are very thinn, and the Houses for a great part are made of Dirt and Hurdles, covered with Thatch, and windowed with Lattice; and the whole Country is divided into 5 Praefectures or Governments, ac­cording to the Number of the Royal Castles, built for the defence of the Country, known by the Names of Bohus, Ager-Huis, Agger-Huse, Trundheim, and Ward-Huis. The chief Towns in these several Jurisdictions, are Anslo or Astoia, on a Bay opposite to Juitland, an Episcopal See, Bergen, an Episcopal Sea, and the ordinary Residence of the Governour for the King of Denmark; Marstrand seated in a half Island amongst Rocks &c. Trandiheim, Antient­ly Nidrosia an Arch-Bishops See who is Metropo­litan [Page 73] of Norway; and Ward-huis seated in the Island of Ward; and although the Country (abounding with horrid Woods, and desolate Mountains) is naturally Poor, yet at certain Seasons little Beasts, about the bigness of Field Mice, over-spread like Locusts the Fertile Parts of the Field, &c. and con­sume every thing that's green or pleasant in their way, and then gathering together they die in heaps, thereby occasioning a Pestilential Noisomness, that much afflicts the Inhabitants with Diseases; and these they call Lemmers, affirming them to be dropt out of the Clouds in Tempestuous Weather: Nor do the Whales, that appear on that Coast in great number, less disturb their Fishing Trade, by the indangering the sinking of their Boats and small Vessels; which monstrous Creatures they have lately found the Art of chasing away, by throwing Oyl of Castor into the Sea, at the Scent whereof they fly: And though the People are miserable Poor, they nevertheless hate dishonesty, and greatly delight in Plain Dealing.

A Description of Russia, comprehending the Dukedom of Muscovy.

THIS large Tract of Land is bounded on the West with Livonia and Finland; on the East with Tartary; on the North by the Frozen Ocean, and part of Lapland; on the South with Li­thuania, [...]rim Taytary, and the Euxine Sea; and is accounted in its greatest length from East to West 3300 Miles, and in breadth 3065, being subject to the Czar of Muscovy, or great Duke, who not­withstanding stiles himself Emperor of Russia, or Russland, which is part in Europe, and part in Asia, divided by the River Tanais, the boundard of two parts of the World.

[Page 74] The chief City is Mosco, the Seat of the great Duke, and the Patriarch, and of most of the No­bility, being very large, though not stately; there are besides this of note, Roscovia, and Novograd, Archepiscopal Sees, Vologda, Smolensko, and Ples­covia, held to be the only walled Town in Muscovy, Vstium, Mosayce, St. Nicholas, Sugana, Gragapolis, and the chief Maritime Port is Arch-Angel, seated in the proper Russia, whither our Merchants Trade, and the Russia Company have a Factory, the Country yielding store of Furrs, as Sables, White Fox, Martins, Black Fox, Honey, Wax, Cattle, Tallow, Red Deer-skins, Hides, Hemp, Flax, Tar, Brimstone, Salt Petre, Train Oyl, Tongues, and the like; and the Soil towards the Southern Parts is exceeding Fruitful, producing abundance of Corn, and rich Pastures, with Fruits of various Kinds, watered by the River Volga, that passes from thence through a part of Tartary; but to the Extream North, which lies in upward of 76 Degrees, the Weather is so Cold, that lit­tle but Rocks, Woods, Mountains, and Ice are found there, containing a Vicissitude of Light and Darkness; for the Day, if we have a respect to the Twy-light, lasts six Months, and a great part of the other six they see not the Sun, but have the Country covered with Snows and during Frosts, the Sea being never free from Rocks and Moun­tains of Ice, over great Arms of which the Inhabi­tants pass with Wagons, Sleads, and other Carria­ges: Nor are there found any Inhabitants in those desolate Parts during the Winter Season, but in that little Summer they have, the Shepherds and Fishermen, set up Hutts or Tents, though in the Woods on this Coast, are the tallest Trees in Europe.

[Page 75] The Inhabitants of this Country are Thick, not tall, but rather square, habiting themselves in Furrs, course Cloth, and Feeding to excess, given greatly to Drinking, though it be strictly forbid, and are generally False and Perfidious, nor re­garding their Words, but studying to Over-reach, or Cozen all they can, insomuch that being in other Countries, they strive to dissemble their own, the better to be Credited: The Women are tolerably handsome, well Limbed and Propor­tioned, and have a strange Custom amongst them, not to think their Husbands either Love or Re­gard them, unless they once or twice a day Cud­gel their Sides. Their Religion in most things a­grees with that of the Greek Church, not making any acknowledgment to the Pope, or See of Rome, but have a Patriarch of their own, to whom all their Ecclesiasticks submit: And as for the Go­vernment it is absolute, the Czar, who is by the People in extraordinary Esteem and Veneration, having in his Hands the Power of Life and Death, disposing at his Pleasure both of the Body and Goods of his Subjects, and is seldom out of War with the Tartars, a Roving People that border upon the most Fruitful part of his Country; and though the Armies of the Muscovites are generally numerous, yet are they composed for the most part of stragling People, and seldom answer in va­lour the least that may be expected from them, as has not only in times past, but lately been ma­nifest, and the reason is, because they go poor, and unfurnished into the Field.

A Description of Poland, &c.

POLAND is a very considerable Kingdom, bounded on the East with the River Boris­thenes, on the West with the Vistula; on the South with Hungary; and on the North with the Baltick Sea; and is for the most part plain and level, tho' in some places there are little rising Hills, abound­ing with Woods, and is properly divided into the Provinces of Livonia, Lithuania, Volhinia, Samogitia, Prussia, Massovia, Podalia, Russia Nigri, Podlassia, and Poland; and the chief Cities are, Guesna, an Archiepiscopal See, Posnavia, Cadissia, Siradia, V­ladistavia, Crac [...]via, and Caminiec; the latter in the Possession of the Turks, who hold it as their Frontier in those parts; and in Cracovia is a famous University.

The Buildings in this Kingdom, and the Pro­vinces that compose it, are for the most part of Timber and Loam; the Land full of Forrests, with many Rivers, yielding notwithstanding abundance of Corn, but is defective in Wine; Honey and Wax, are likewise found in great store, with Fruits of divers Kinds, and a great Number of Cattle and wild Beasts; there are also Salt-pits, and in some places Mines of Brimstone, Copper and Iron. The Polanders are generally Tall, well Proportioned, Courteous, and Pleasant of Behaviour; their Gar­ments are rich, and of divers Colours, being much conceited of their own worth, and loving to be Praised, or rather Flattered: As for Lithuania, one of the Provinces of this Kingdom, though it is a very large one, yet it is so full of Fenns, and pe­stered by the over-flowing of Rivers, that it is not currantly passable, but when the Frosts are great, at what time they have no hindrance, neither by [Page 77] Rivers nor Fenns, and their greatest Wealth con­sists in Cattle, Honey, Wax and Furrs: As for the Language generally spoken, it is the Sclavonian; and in the North Extremities, where Villages and Towns are very scarce, the People dwell in Hutts of Straw and Loam, with Holes at the top of them to let in the Light, and give vent to the Smoak, living in miserable Poverty, as do (for the major part) the Peasants or inferiour People, being in a manner Slaves to the great ones, whose Tenants they are, though the Richer Sort are very Profuse and Expensive, rather Prodigal than Liberal, Im­patient of Injuries, Delicious in Diet, and costly in Attire, often shaving their Heads, except one Lock, which they preserve with great care, being gene­rally good Soldiers, and much Glory if they can kill a Turk in Battle, and bring off his Head, in Token of which, they wear Feathers in their Caps.

Theft in these Parts is very rare, especially to be committed by a Native Polander, and all Crimes are severely punished: As for the Religion they Profess, in Relation to the Government, it is that of the Romish Church, though the Reformed way of Worship is allowed and tolerated; and the King is of late Elective; the Women are tolera­bly Fair and well Proportioned, very Witty and Ingenious, great admirers, and observers, of their Husbands, and very neat in their Houses. A Pea­sant in this Country (unless in time of great Dan­ger or Invasion) is not suffered to bear Arms; and when the Gospel is Read in the Churches, the Gen­try and Nobility draw their Swords, in token that they are ready to defend it with their Lives. As for the Circumference of this Kingdom, and the Provinces appertaining to it, some Account it 2600 Miles, and is Scituate under the 8 and 12 Climates: So that the longest Day Southward, is 16 Hours, [Page 78] and Northward 18; bordering upon it are the huge Carpathian Mountains, where sundry Rivers have their Springs, that Water the Provinces, and pass through many Countries.

A Description of the Kingdom of Hungary, &c.

HVNGARY, one of the Fruitfullest Countries of Europe, before Wasted and De­stroyed by a Tedious War, is bounded on the East with Transilvania and Wallachia, on the West Sti­ria, Austria, and Moravia, on the North with the Carpathian Mountains, on the South with Sclavo­nia, and some part of Dacia; accounted in Length 300 English Miles, and 109 in Breadth, lying in the North Temperate Zone, between the middle Parallels of the 7 and 9 Climates, so that the longest Day in the South is 15 Hours and a half, and 16 in the North, and was Anciently called Pan­nonia.

The People of this Country are strong of Body, boisterous of Behaviour, and have no great re­gard to Liberal Arts, or Mechanick Occupations, as giving themselves mostly to War, and taking it for the greatest Affront Imaginable to be esteemed a Coward, which they find no other way to ob­literate, but by killing a Turk, after which they have the Liberty of wearing a Feather, as a Tro­phee of their Exploit; and though they are ex­treamly Covetous, they are no ways willing to Labour, but rather desire to live upon the Spoil: As for the Females they have no claim to any In­heritance, so that the Male Line failing, the Estate goes to the common Treasury; nor have the Daughters any other Portion given them, than a Wedding Garment, and are for the most part o­bliged [Page 79] to lie on hard Quilts, till such time as they are Married. As for their Cities and Towns, they are fortified for War, as having for upward of two Hundred Years been Imbroiled with the Turks, Transilvanians; and other Neighbouring Nations; the chief of which are, Presburg, Buda, Belgrade, Gran, New-hausel, Great Warradine, Alba Regalis, Raab, Commora, Temeswar, Gyula, Agria, Esseck, Pest, &c. which have strugled with various For­tunes and Success, though at present most of the strong Holds of this Kingdom, through the late good success are in the Imperialists hands; the King­dom being Hereditary to the House of Austria, of which Joseph the Emperor's Son, and Arch-duke of Austria, is now Crowned King.

The Soil, though for the most part Untilled, is notwithstanding wonderful Fruitful, yielding Corn where they Till it, thrice in a Year, and in some places the Pastures are so rank for want of Feed­ing, that it rises the height of a Man; it abounds likewise with Fruits of all Kinds, especially abun­dance of Rich Vines, of whose Grapes rich Wine is made, and Deer, Goats, Hares, Conies, and wild Foul are here in great Plenty, though none be for­bidden to take them; there are likewise Mines of Silver, and in some places Gold is found; and in time of Peace the Cattle so multiply, that they are obliged to send great store of them into divers parts of Europe, to prevent their over-running the Country.

The Religion Established in the Kingdom of Hungary, is that of the Romish Communion, though at present the Reformed Worship is Tollerated: The chief Rivers are the Danube, the Gran, the Waag, and the Nitrea; though many other Water this Fruitful Country; but for Mountains there are none considerable, the Country being generally plain, unless a few pleasant rising Hills, many of [Page 80] them Crowned with Vines; and here is the Fa­mous Bridg of Esseck, 7 Miles in Length: passing over 3 Rivers, and divers Marshes, though lately it has been much ruined and destroyed.

The Description of Sclavonia.

SCLAVONIA is a considerable Country, bordering on Hungary, which bounds it on the North; as the Adriatick Sea does on the South; Carniola, Histria, and the Seignory of Venice on the West; and Servia, Epirus, and Macedonia on the East; accounted in Length 480 Miles, and in Breadth 325, of Italian Measure, Scituate in the North Temperate Zone, between the Middle Par­allels of the 6 and 7 Climates; so that the longest Day exceeds not 15 Hours and a half.

This Country contains many small Provinces or Divisions, as Windishland, Croatia, Bosnia, Dalma­tia, Contado-Dizara, and the Sclavonian Islands; and the chief Cities or Towns are, Zatha, Zaca­ocz, Windisgretz, Sagona, Ragusa, scituate on the Adriatick, being a place of great Traffick, Sebeni­cum or Sicum, Zara or Jadera, Scodra or Scutary, before which the Turks lost 100000 Men, Lissa, Gradiska, Buman, Novigrad, and Sisseg, or Sisseck, with others of lesser Note, scatter'd throughout the Provinces, which are partly in the Hands of the Turks, and partly in the Possession of the Imperia­lists and Venetians.

These Countries for the most part afford abun­dance of good Pasture, abound in Fruits, and are rich in Corn, yielding some Mines, and great store of Cattle, watered in many places by the Danube, Save, Drave, and other Rivers of note; and as for the People they are hardy, and inured either to War or Labour; and though they give themselves [Page 81] not much to Till the Ground, because the Turks and Venetians for the most part, reap the Benefit of their Labours, yet they want nothing that is ne­cessary for the support of Humane Life; forasmuch as the Cattle and Sheep bring forth their Young twice in the Year; and although Corn be but bare­ly cast on the Ground, without Tillage, it will bring forth Increase.

As for the People, though they are stubborn, and much addicted to Pride, yet are they put to many servile Labours, by their more proud Conquerors, who Lord it over them as if they were no other than their Drudges; for which reason the Word Slave, is derived from these Sclaves, through the unmerciful Usage they found at the hands of the Venetians, when they were first brought into Sub­jection by the Seigniory of Venice: As for their Re­ligious Worship, it is in most parts according to that of the Greek Church, whose Patriarch they ac­knowledg Supream in Ecclesiastical Matters; and here they permit their Women very rarely to marry, till they are 24 years of Age, nor the Men till 30. And at this time, the Venetians have 3000 Sclavonian Horse-men Inrolled amongst their Mili­tia, and have at all times drained this People to assist in their Wars against the Turks and neighbour­ing Christians: And as for the Native Sclaves, their Garb is half Sleeved Gowns, of violet Cloth, and a Bonnet of the same, much like to that of the Scots▪ shaving their Heads all but a Lock of Hair on their Crown, after the Fashion of the Turks; the Wo­men likewise cut their Hair indifferent short, and if so it be not naturally Black, they use Art to ren­der it of that Colour.

A Description of Dacia, in its sundry Prin­cipalities and Provinces, &c.

DACIA, properly so held in the time of the flourishing Roman Empire, is bounded on the North with Podolia, and some other part of the Realm of Poland; on the South with part of Thrace and Macedonia; on the East with the rest of Thrace; and on the West with Hungary and Sclavonia; held at present to comprehend the Principalities of Transilvania, Moldavia, Wallachia, Rascia, Servia and Bulgaria; extending from the 7 to the 10 Clime, so that in the most Southern parts, the days are 15 hours 3 quarters at the longest, and 17 in the most Northern.

TRANSILVANIA the first Division of Dacia, takes its name from its lying behind the great Hun­garian Woods, and is in time of Peace an exceed­ing Fruitful Country; abounding in Fruits, Corn, Cattle, Fish, Salt-pits, Stone-quarries, Mines of Gold and Silver, Quicksilver, and other Metals; and in the Woods are found many wild Bulls, and wild Cattle; and the Pastures breed many fair Horses, the best for War in all those parts; and in the Frontiers they have Seven Towers to guard the approach from Hungary, which gives the Dutch occasion to call it Seven-Burg; though the chief Towns are Clusenburg, Carolstaat, Harmanstadt, and many o­thers, and are Governed by a Prince of their own, who has a long time been Tributary to the Turks; but since their late bad success, put himself and his Country under the Protection of the Em­peror.

MOLDAVIA Quasi Maetavia, said so to be called from its nearness to the Fenns of Maeotis, is a Coun­try abounding with Woods, yet very plenteous in [Page 83] Wine, Corn and Pastures, producing great store of Cattle though thinly peopled, by which means it is but slenderly Tilled; however they have out of this small Province, supplyed the great and populous City of Constantinople, with store of Provisions; so that together with what they send to Poland, the tenth Peny, by way of Custom, a­mounts to 150000 Crowns yearly, though the Gentry and Clergy are excused from paying any thing of this nature, Constantinople receiving from hence every year 500 Ship Loads of Provision only.

The chief Towns are Occaz [...]ma the Seat of the Vaivod or Prince Cotiim a strong Fortress Biolo­grade and Bender, and has in it two Arch-Bishops Sees; the people in Religious matters following the Traditions of the Greek Church.

WALACHIA is another Province of Dacia, held to derive its name from Flacous, a noble Roman, who was Governor of it in the time of Trajan the Emperor; so that the people at this day speak a kind of a corrupt Latin or Italian; and this Country is in length 500 miles, in breadth 120, be­ing for the most part plain and full of Pastures, flourishing Medows which feed a great many Cat­tle, and bring up excellent Horses for War and Service of any kind; here are found likewise Salt-pits and Iron Mines; Mines of Gold and Silver▪ the which for fear it should entice the Turks to [...] their Country, they keep for the most part con­cealed; they also in sundry places have store of Vines, yielding plenty of Wine; and have for their chief Towns Galatza on the Influx of the Ri­ver Pruth, into the Danube; Frescortum, Prai [...]aba, and Zorza; and is watered with the Rivers Danube, Teln, Alluta, Fulmina, Stertius and Herasius; and is as the former, Gove [...] [...] a Vai [...]od▪ and de­pendant in Religious [...]gean and [...] Church; [Page 84] the Ecclesiastical Affairs being Governed by an Arch-Bishop and two Bishops, and pays at this day Tribute to the Turks.

RASCIA, another Province of Dacia, has in it the Towns of Bodon, Zarnovia, Covin, Novebard, Severine, Colambes and Columbella; but continually lying in the way of War; the Turks and Tartars, by their often marching through it, have by the Waste and Plunder they made, so impoverished the In­habitants, that the Towns and Villages are ex­treamly thin; and although the Soil is in many parts capable of producing Corn and Fruits, yet wanting men to Till it, it produces nothing mate­rial; nor are those that Inhabit it any ways incou­raged to Manure the Fields, as knowing others will reap the Fruits of their Labour.

SERVIA is a Country by Nature more Fruitful, and was Antiently very Rich and Flourishing, till the Turks made themselves masters of it, by the fa­tal overthrow of Lazarus the Despot, on the plains of Cossovia, and was well stored with Mines of Gold and Silver, especially near the Town▪ of Zor­benick [...]; but now they are either Exhausted, or thrown in, so that little advantage accrues by them; and the people indeed are degenerated from their former manners and behaviour, as being Rude, Gluttonous, and much given to Wine.

Their principal Towns are Nissa, Vidina, Cra­ [...], Zorbenic and Semunder, and the Province is commodiously watered by the Rivers Colubra, Lem, Ibra and Moravia, with some others, very pleasant and plentiful in many places.

BVLGARIA was Antiently a Kingdom, and called by the Romans Missa Inferior, as Servia was Missa Superior; and is a Country very Mountainous and full of rugged Hills, steep Rocks, and fearful Water-falls, taking its name from [...] Bulgars a Scythian people, who in the [...]g with Woo [...]d, upon it, driving out [Page 85] the Antient Inhabitants; and is divided from Thrace by the great Mountain Haemus, whose Spurs and Branches in a manner over-run it; yet the Kings hereof have been accounted very powerful; insomuch that they have worsted in sundry Battles, the Latin and Greek Emperors of Constantinople: and received the Christian Faith, towards the end of the Reign of Justinian the Second.

The places of most note are Mesembria, Divogatia, Axium, Nicopolis, Marcionopolis, and are watered by the Danube; which in part of this Country takes the name of Ister, and is now Tributary to the Turks; who for the most part imploy the Na­tives in their Wars, as being very Valiant and Daring,

A Description of Greece, in its Kingdoms and Provinces, as Antiently it stood, &c.

GREECE as we now must take it, is bounded on the East with the Propontick, Hellespont, and Aegean Seas; on the West with the Adriatick; and on the North with the Mount Haemus, parting it from Servia and Bulgaria, and some part of Illiri­cum; and on the South with the Ionian Sea; being in a manner a Peninsula, or rather a half Island, commodiously Scituate for Navigation, and has had divers notable Revolutions, being now inti [...] [...] the possession of the Turks, unless what the [...]eneti­ans have preserved, or wrested from them; and as this large Country properly stands at present, I think it highly necessary, for the better conveniency of describing it, to divide it into respective Pro­vinces and Countries, &c.

1. Peloponesus. 2. Achaia. 3. Epirus. 4. Al­bania. 5. Macedonia: 6. Thrace, and as for the Islands of the Ionian, Aegean and Propontick Seas; [Page 86] together with the famous Creet, I shall leave them to a particular description of all the Islands of note, &c.

Peloponesus is in a manner inclosed by the Sea, only where by a small Isthmus it is joyned to the European Continent, of no more than six miles in breadth; which the Grecians and Venetians formerly fortified with a great Wall and five Castles, Anti­ently called Hexamillium; but in the Wars with A­murath the second Turkish Emperor they were o­verthrown; and this Country is accounted 600 miles in circuit, and though it has passed under divers names, it is now called the Morea, and held to be the most pleasant Country of Greece, abound­ing in fruitfulness, and all things necessary for the support of Human Life; adorned with many good­ly Plains and pleasant rising Hills, furnished on e­very side with sundry commodious Ports and Ha­vens; and though for the bigness of it no Country has suffered more in the ruin of so many stately Ci­ties, yet it remains at this day, the most populous and best Inhabited of all the Grecian Continent; and near the middle of it, in Laconia is the Mount Tay­getus, the top whereof gives a prospect over the whole Country, which is properly divided into 7 Provinces, viz. Achaia-Propria, Elis, Messene, Ar­cadia, Laconia, Argolis and Corinthia.

Achaia-Propria has on the East for its boundard Argolis and Corinth; on the West the Ionian Sea; on the North the Gulf of Lepanto; on the South Elis; so named from the Achaei once Inhabiting it; the Adjuncta Propria being added to difference it from Achaia in the main Land or Continent of Greece.

In this part the considerable places are Chiarenza Antiently Dymae, Scituate in the most Western point of it, on or near the Promontory, Araxum, Aegria, once the chief City of this Tract, now called Xilocastro, Chaminisa, Antiently Olneus, Patreae, a [Page 87] pleasant Town Scituate opposit to the Mouth of the Gulf Lepanto; being a place of considerable Trade, and most note on the Bay of Corinth, from whence it is called Golfo-di-Patras and here the English had once a Consul for the establishment of Trade, called the Consul of the Morea, and is memorable for the death of St Andrew, the Apostle, who there suffer'd Martyrdom; and next to these are Pellene, Hellice, Buris, the latter two much ruined or rather sunk in the Sea by a Tempest, about the time of the Battle of Leuctres; Tritaea and Phera; but the chief Town which separated from the rest, we may term a Pro­vince is Sicyon, Scituate in the most Eastern part, and gives name to the Country of Sicyonia abound­ing in Olives, Wine, and Iron Mines; the Inha­bitants whereof count themselves the Antientest of Greece, and have been Governed by a Succession of 26 Kings, before they fell into other Methods of Government.

The Country of Elis, is bounded on the East with Arcadia, on the West with the Ionian Sea, on the North with Achaia-Propria, and on the South Messenia; and has for its chief City Elis, giving name to the Province, and was founded as some Hi­storians have it, by Elisha Son of Javan, and Grand­child of Japhet; and near unto it runs the River Alpheus: In this Tract is found Olympia, near to which once stood the Statue of Jupiter [...] 60 Cubits in heighth, and every way proportionable, composed of Gold and Ivory, by Phidias; and here were held the Olympic Games, Instituted by Her­cules.

MESSENIA is seated in the most Southern part of the Peninsula, and takes its name from the City of Messene Scituate on Sinus Messenaicus now called Golfo-di-Corone, lately taken and posse [...]led by the Vene [...]ians; in this Tract stood Pylos the chief City of King Nestor, but now called Navarino, a small [Page 88] Village of little note Metron or Methone, is commo­dionsly seated in a half Island, and has on the South side a capacious Bay about 3 miles over, fit for the reception of great Vessels. Corone the City that gives name to the Golfo-di-Corone, &c. Cyparissi now called Arcudia, from which the Bay adjoyning takes its name; and although this Province abound­ing with Corn, Cattle and Fruits, was taken by the Turks in the year 1500, yet in this last War it is mostly recovered by the Venetians.

ARCADIA is bounded on the East with Laconia, on the West with Elis and Messene, on the North with Achaia-Propria; and on the South with the Sea; and is said to take its name from Arcas the Son of Jupiter and Calisto, called before that Pe­l [...]gia, and has for its chief City Mantinia; near unto which the Thebans in a mortal Battle, over­threw the Spartans and Athenians; and then Epa­minondas that famous Leader received his Mortal wound. This Province is exceeding fertil, a­bounding in Cattle and rich Pastures, Fruits of sundry kinds, and divers Minerals; insomuch that for its pleasantness, many curious fancies have been [...]abled upon it; and in this Country Sir Philip Sidney layed the Seene of his famous work.

LACONIA has on the East and South the Sea, on the West Arcadia, and on the North Argolis, Antiently called Lelegia; and was once reckoned to [...]ontain 100 Cities, though now it comes very short of that number: The chief are Leuctres, Amyclae, Thulana, near to which Hercules is said to kill the Hydra; Salass [...]a, Epidaurus seated on the Bay of Malvasia, a Town well Built and Fortified; and Sparta so called from Spartus a Prince of Argos; as for this part it is wonderful fruitful, and lies ve­ry commodious for Traffick and Navigation, greatly abounding in all the Commodities common to Greece; being pleasantly watered with the River [Page 89] Eurotas, and other Streams of lesser note; having many fair Promontories, Bays, and Havens.

ARGOLIS is bounded on the South with Laco­nia, on the West with Corinthia and Achaia-Propria, and on the East and North with the Sea; taking its name from the City Argos, its Metropolis, once the Head of a famous Kingdom; and in this City King Pyrrhus the great Grecian Conqueror, after he had Victoriously forced his entrance, was slain with a Tile thrown at him by an old Woman, from the top of a House; and besides this, it has Traezan, Tyrinthia, Nemea, and some others; and grew in times past from a small Province, to a powerful Kingdom; being once the chiefest of Greece in strength giving Birth to many renowned persons, and the most famed for the breed of Horses.

CORINTHIA, though but a little Region, is yet nevertheless exceeding pleasant and fruitful, lying towards the Istmus or neck of Land that joyns the rest of Greece to Peloponesus, between Argolis▪ and Achaia Propria; containing only the Territories of Corinth, and the chief Towns are Cincrea, Corinth, memorable for the Epistles Saint Paul wrote to the Inhabitants; commodiously Scituate for the com­mand of all Greece, but that the Inhabitants give themselves more to Merchandise than War; and although it has been a long time in the hands of the Turks, it was the last year taken by the Veneti­ans; and is Seated on the bottom of the neck or Istmus, the Ionian Sea being on the West, and the Aegean on the East, washing its walls; and make­ing on each side a Capacious Haven, and was for­merly exceedingly Fortified but of latter times the Security the Turks supposed themselves in, on that part of their Empire, made them little mind keeping it from running to decay.

[Page 90] And thus much may briefly suffice, as for that part of Greece called Peloponesus.

As for the other Achaia, it is properly divided into Attica, Megaris, Baetia, Phocis, Aetolia, Doris, Locris; and the chief City accounted amongst these is Athens, once the head of a famous Com­mon-wealth, and sometime a Kingdom; and is Seated very advantagiously, making a Port into the Sea, and was once the Mistriss of Arts and Arms; and in St. Pauls time, who wrote his first and second Epistle from hence to the Thessalo­nians a very flourishing City, but by the Wars and Misfortunes it has sustained, is now only no­ted, for what it has been, more than for what it is.

MEGARIS is but a small Region, yet very plea­sant and much abounding in Corn and Fruits, and has for its chief City Magaria.

BAETIA is much larger than the former, and was once all the Dominion or Kingdom of Thebes, that famous City, so much noted to be built by Cadmus the Phaenician, being the Metropolis: and in this Tract are found likewise Aulis and Platea, and is watered with divers pleasant streams.

PHOCIS is memorable for the Mountain Par­nassus, and was much noted for the Temple of A­pollo at the foot of it, but now that stately Structure where the Delphic Oracle gave Answers is ruined, and scarcely any part of it remaining.

AETOLIA is another considerable part of this Tract, divided by the River Pindus from Epirus; once a country of great note, and full of Towns and places of strength, but now retains at present few of note except Chalcis and Thermum; however the whole Country is pleasant, abounding in Pastures, watered with many Rivers, yielding some Mines, and great store of Cattle.

[Page 91] LOCRIS though it is but a small Region, yet lies Commodiously on the Sea Coast, and has for its chief Town Lepanto; in sight of which was fought the famous Battle or Sea fight, between the Turks, Venetians, and consederate Christians; in which 29000 of the Turks were killed, 4000 taken Prisoners, 140 Gallies Burnt, Taken, and Sunk, and 1200 Christian Slaves rescued, in the year 1571. and as for the Trade here, it consists in Leather, Oyl, Tobacco, Furrs, Wheat, Barly, Rice, &c. And is again in the Possession or under the Power of the Venetians.

DORIS is a small Province bounding upon, or rather appertaining to Locris, and has for its chief Town or City, Amphissa, bordering upon the Moun­tain Parnassus; here is also found Guidas, where the stately Temple of Venus stood, and where St. Paul continued a long time: And as for this Tract it is very Pleasant and Fruitful, watered with small Rivers, but none of note.

Epirus, was once a Famous Kingdom, of which Pyrrhus (who Invaded the Romans in Italy) was King, but more memorable for being under the Regency of the great Scanderbeg, who with a handful of Men stood out against the whole Power of the Turkish Empire, in the Reigns of Amurath the Second, and Mahomet the great, defeating and destroying Prodigious Armies of the Infidels; and has for its chief Cities Cro [...]ja, Petrela, Petra, Alba, and Stelusia; the Country is very Fruitful, tho' somewhat Mountainous, and was once accounted next to Macedon, the most powerful in Greece, and at this day greatly abounds in Cattle, rich Pastures and Corn.

ALBANIA is bounded with Macedon, Sclavonia, Epirus, and the Adriatick Sea, and has for its chief Cities Durazzo, and Albinopolis, memorable for its Breed of Horses, which the Turks use mostly in [Page 92] their Wars, and the Courage of its Inhabitants, whose Country being but Indifferently Fruitful, and too strait for the Inhabitants, they like the Swiss, rather choose the Exercise of Arms, than Husbandry.

MACEDON, once Famous for being Head of the Greek Empire, is bounded with Missa Superior, Migdonia, Epirus, and Achaia, and is a very Rich and Flourishing Country, though the Turks great­ly oppress the Native Greeks, and make them la­bour that they may reap the greatest Profit, and abounds not only with Cattle, Corn, and some Wine, but in it are found Mines of Gold, and o­ther Mettals; and of this Country Alexander the Great was King, who not only Conquered the greatest part of Asia, but brought all Greece into Subjection, founding here the third Empire of the World: And as for the chief Cities, they are Aedassa, Andrastus, Eriba, Scidra, and Philippus, or Philipopolis, Built by Philip the Father of Alexan­der; and to the People of this City it was, that St. Paul Wrote his Epistle.

THESSALY was once likewise a Kingdom, lying on the South of Macedon, abounding with Pleasant Valleys and Hills, and amongst the latter are found that of Olympus, so famed for Transcending the Clouds, Othris, Pelion, and Ossa, so often struck with Thunder, and Fabled to be laid one upon the other, when the Giants went about to Storm the Skies. The Country indeed is very Fruitful in ma­ny Parts, and produces an Excellent Breed of Hor­ses, the Natives being held first to Invent the Art of Breaking and Backing them: and here Achilles Reigned, who was Slain at the Siege of Troy: The chief Towns of this Country are La [...]ia, Tric­ca, Pharsalia, on whose large Plains Caesar and Pom­pey fought for the Empire of the World; as also [Page 93] Philippi, in whose Fields Augustus Caesar and Marcus Antonius, overthrew Brutus and Cassius.

MIGDONIA is a small Country, and accounted by most a part of Thrace, and famous for nothing more than the Hill Athos, held to be the highest in the World, as being 3 days Journey in Ascent, and 75 Miles in Circuit; so that its shadow reach­es (upon the declining of the Sun) 40 Miles: nor are there wanting in this Country Cities and Towns of considerable Note, as Thessalonica, commonly called Salonica (to whose Inhabitants two of St. Pauls Epistles are directed) Appollonia, Nicladia, and others.

THRACE, properly so called, though now Ro­maniae, as it lies at present circum scribed is within these Boundards, viz. on the East the Euxine, or black Sea, the Propontis and Hellespont; on the West with Macedon; on the South with the Aegean Sea, and part of Macedon, and on the North with the large Hill Haemus; and is a large and goodly Pro­vince, accounted 20 Days Journey in Length, and 6 in Breadth, and in Relation to the Heavens reach­eth unto 44 Degrees North Latitude, so that the longest Day in Summer is about 15 Hours, and 3 Quarters; and in this Country is Scituate the great City of Constantinople, so Named by Constantine the Great, and made by him the Capital of the Roman Empire, and is now the like to the Turkish Em­pire, and the chief Residence of the Grand Seig­niour; Built in a Triangular manner, the one Angle thrusting into the Main Land, and the other two bordering upon the Sea; Adrianople, Built by Adrian the Emperor, and Trajanopolis, Found­ed by the Emperor Trajan; with others of lesser Note.

This Country as to the Soil, is very Fruitful, but by Reason of the sharp cold Air coming off the Seas, they ripen not kindly, nor do the Inhabi­tants [Page 94] trouble themselves much with Husbandry, as knowing they labour but for others; however in their Gardens towards the Sea, they are very cu­rious, so that much Wine is produced from the Grapes that grow there, which is properly called Greek Wine, and mostly sent into other Countries, the Turks by their Law being forbidden to Drink it: They have large Plains likewise where Corn grows indifferently Plentiful, but more Pulse which is amongst them in great use. The Natives of this Country, as indeed of all Greece, are much declined from what they formerly were, in Learn­ing, Arts, and Arms, as being no better than Slaves to the Imperious Turks, who Lord it over them, whereby they are discouraged and dulled, even to a kind of Stupidity; nor does the Elo­quence of their Original Language continue pure amongst them, but is mostly corrupted, insomuch that they in few parts perfectly understand the Antient Greek.

The Commodities found in the Principal Trad­ing Towns of this, and other Sea Provinces, are Grograms, Carpets, Silks, Drugs, Leather, Cham­lets; and indeed the chief Commodities of Eu­rope and Asia, which Pay great Customs to the Grand Seigniour. And thus much for the main Land of Europe, whose Islands we shall hereafter consider, with those of the other Three Parts of the World, when we come to treat of the Re­spective Seas in which they are posited, and there­fore, for Orders Sake, Omit them here, and pro­ceed to Asia.

Asia Minor, or Anatolia, described, in its Kingdoms, and Provinces, &c.

ASIA MINOR, or Anatolia, is bounded on the East, with the River Euphrates; on the West, with the Thracian Bosphorus, Propontis, Hel­lespont, and the Aegean Sea, parted by them from Europe; on the North with Pontus Euxinus, or the Black Sea; on the South by the Rhodian, Lydian, and Pamphilian Seas, and several parts of the Medi­terranean; extending from 51 to 72 degrees, of Lon­gitude; and from 36 to 45 degrees of Latitude, and is accounted in length, from the Hellespont to the Euphrates 630 Miles, and in breadth from Tra­bezond, a City so called to Sinus Issicus in Cilicia, 210, and is under the middle Parallel of the Fourth, to [Page 98] the Sixth Clime, by reason of which, the longest Day in the Summer Southward, is but 14 Hours and a half, and differs not above an Hour in the extreamest North, which is longer, insomuch that the Air is very Temperate, and the Soil very fit for any sort of Grain or Fruit; but that Husbandry is neglected by reason of its being under the Turk­ish Yoak, though the Rich Pasture of its own ac­cord breeds great store of Cattle, and an excel­lent Race of Horses; and here stood the Famous City of Troy, so much renowned for its sustaining Ten Years Siege, against the whole Power of Greece: nor did this Country formerly boast of less than 4000 Cities and Towns, but at this day most of them are found to be Ruined by War and Earth quakes.

As for the Division of this part of Asia, it is properly divided into Bythinia, Pontus, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Armenia minor, Phrygia minor, Phrygia major, the greater and the lesser Missias, Aeolis, and Ionia, Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Lycaonia, Pisidia, Pamphilia; and what in the time it apper­tained to the Roman and Greek Empires, were un­der the Province of the Rhodes; and of these in their Order.

BITHYNIA, is a very pleasant Province of Asia minor, formerly called Bebrycia, and afterwards Mig­donia, taking the present Name from one Bithynius, who was King thereof when a Kingdom, though [...] will have this Name derived from Thyni a Peo­ple of Thrace, who Subdued and Possessed it. The Country is naturally Rich on that part bordering upon the Bosphorus, opposite to Constantinople, which is Scituate on the European Shoar, full of little rising Hills, and grassy Plains, and was once the De­light of such as sailed those Seas, or Streights; but the Turks (who affect neither Art nor Sumptuous­ness in their Retirements or Recreation) have nei­ther [Page 99] Improved, nor kept up the pleasant Gardens and Pallaces they found in it.

The Principal Towns of Bithynia, are Scutari, facing Constantinople, Chalcedon, memorable for the Fourth General Council there Assembled, for the Suppression of the Nestorian Hereticks, Nicomede, so named from Nicomedes once King of Bithynia, Libus­sa, memorable for the Death and Sepulchre of the Famous Hannibal, the Carthaginian General, who fell by Poison, Prusa, once a considerable City, and the Residence of the Turkish Kings, till Mahomet the First removed to Adrianople: Nice, or Nicaea, Sci­tuate on the Fenns of the River Ascanius, Famous for nothing more, than the first General Council held there under Constantine the Great, Anno 314. to Settle the Peace of the Church, greatly disturb­ed and put out of Order by the Arian Heresie, where there Assembled no more than 318 Bishops, yet in such Esteem for Learning and Piety, that to this Day, it is highly approved by all good Men; and here after the taking of Constantinople by the Latin Princes, the Greek Emperor held his Residence; and the Rivers of this Province are Phillis, Ascamius, Sangaris, or Sangri, but for Hills or Mountains none of note appear.

PONTVS, or Metapontus is a Bordering Province on Bithynia, has for its chief Cities Flaviopolis, Clau­diopolis, Juliopolis, Diospolis, Heraclea, Amastris, Phillium, and others formerly very famous, but o [...] later Times not of much note; and in that Part called the Eastern Pontus, is Sinope, pleasantly seated on a long Promontory, shooting into the Main, and memoralble for the Sepulchre of King Mi­thridates, who held a Forty Years War against the Romans; Themisciyra, now called Fanogoria; Ama­sia, the Birth Place of Strabo the Geographer; Ca­bira, afterward called Diopolis, noted for the over­throw Lucullus gave King Mithridates near it, when [Page 100] to retard the Pursuit of his Enemies, he was obli­ged to scatter his Treasure in the way, and thereby escaped their Hands, with the greatest part of his Forces: As for the Rivers in these Parts, or any o­ther Division of Pontus, they are not (except Thermodon, on whose Banks the Amazonians former­ly Inhabited) of any considerable note.

PAPHLAGONIA, though a Country of little compass, yet once was the chief Seat of a Powerful People, but ruined by Cyrus for their Assisting the Lydians against him, and the Principal Cities were Gangra, now memorable for nothing more than the Council held there in the Year 339. Conica, or Co­niata, Pompeiopolis, Germanopolis, Xoana, and An­drapa; and from this Country the Venetians had their Original, as sprung from a People called He­neti, antiently Inhabiting a part of it; and, as the rest, the Soil is very Fruitful in places where it is Manured: The Inhabitants are a mixture of Greeks and Turks, with some Christians and Jews amongst them, but not very many; nor have they any con­siderable Traffick at Sea, which renders the Province poor.

GALATIA, deriving its Name from the Gauls, when they over-ran these Parts, who called it Gaul-Asia, and corruptly Galatia; it was likewise called Gallo-Graecia, from the mixture of Galls and Greci­ans; and here to this day the Antient Language of [...] Galls is much spoken, or at least mixed with that of the Greek.

This Country (above what we have mentioned) is very plentiful in Fruits, and other things necessa­ry for the Support of Man-kind; and in this part only is the Amethist (that great Preservative against Drunkenness) found; and here the People of Old had the Vanity to throw Written Papers into the Fu­neral Fires of their Friends, as conceiting they would read them in the other World, and thereby [Page 101] know the Sorrow they made for their Departure; and were so much given to Sacrifices, that it is No­ted by Athenaeus, how a Rich Galatian for the space of a Year, Feasted the whole Province with the Flesh of such Beasts, as were ordained for Sa­crifices. To perswade them from which, and con­firm them in a more Glorious Religion, St Paul Wrote his Epistle to this People: As for Rivers of note, there are none that rise in this Country, how­ever it is supplyed with refreshing Streams, from Halys and Sangarius.

The chief Cities are An [...]yrana, now called An­gauri, Olenus, Agriama, Tavium, or Tanium, An­drossi [...], Fabarena, Thermae, and Talachbacora; there are likewise sundry lesser Towns and Villages, but of no Note.

CAPPADOCIA, is on the East of Galatia, and is a Country abounding with Wine, and sundry kinds of curious Fruits, many Mines of Brass, Iron, Sil­ver, and other Minerals in the Mountains, and o­ther Parts, as also store of Allom, and Alabaster; more­over the Chrystal, Jasper, and Onyx Stone; it af­fords a great number of Cattle, but more especially a great many Horses, insomuch that they are sent into most parts of Asia; and as a boundard of this Country is the Famous Ante-Taurus, a ridg or chain of Mountains, bending towards the North, and in it were Born most of the noted Ring-leaders of those Sects of Hereticks, that so much opposed the Church in its Infancy, insomuch that it grew into a custom, to call a wicked Man a Cappadocian; and has for its Principal Cities and Towns Erzirium, up­on the Borders of the great Armenia, where the Turkish Army usually Wintered in their return from the Persian Expeditions, and is the Seat of a Bassa. Mazaca once the Residence of St. Basil: Se­bastia, so named in Honour of Augustus, whom the Greeks called Sebastas; Trepesus or Trepesond, once [Page 102] the Seat of an Empire, but now under the power of the Turks, where the Amazons were said to In­habit, at the time Troy was razed by the Greeks, and till displaced by Alexander the Great.

ARMENIA MINOR, though somewhat mountai­nous, is however a very fertile Country; and is held by some to be that Ararat, upon whose Hills Noah's Ark rested after the Deluge; and so con­sequently first to have been peopled after that Uni­versal Calamity, and is only parted from Armenia Major by the famous River Euphrates, and is so in­closed in most parts, with that and the Mountains Taurus and Ante-Taurus, that it is difficult to be en­tred, though in other places it is delightful, and well watered by pleasant Streams issuing out of the Mountains; the chief being Melas, which falls into Euphrates, and is so called from the blackness of the Waters.

This Country was once a part of Cappadocia, till the Armenians wrested it by force, and planted their Colonies here, from whom it took the pre­sent name; and has for its chief Cities Nicopolis, Suur, antiently Melitene, Oromandus, built by Pom­pey the Great, in token of his Victory over Tigranes the Syrian King, under whom was both the Arme­nia's, Garnace, Caucusum, and Arbyss [...]s, whither St. Chrysistom was Banished by the means of the Em­press Eudoxia, who took part with the Hereticks: and these Countries had the Blessing to be con­verted to the Christian Faith, by St. Paul and St. Peter, as appears by the Epistle of the first to the Galatians, and of the last to the Strangers scattered or dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, &c. And what remains is more pro­perly called Asia, though circumscribed in Anato­lia, or Asia Minor, viz.

Asia Propria, was formerly held to be the most rich and flourishing part of this Peninsula, as Tully [Page 103] affirms, when he certifies that the Roman Tributes from other parts were but sufficient to defray the charges of keeping them; but Asia says he, is so Fertile and Rich, that for the fruitfulness of the Fields, variety of Fruits, largeness of Pastures, and quantity of Commodities, which were brought from thence, it abundantly excelled all other Coun­tries; and it properly includes Phrygia Minor, Phrygia Major, Mysia, Aeolis, Ionia, Lydia and Cario.

Phrygia Minor, so called, as many hold it, from the River Phryx, descending from the greater Phrygia, is a very fruitful Country, mostly Cham­paign, and watered with sundry noted Rivers, as Scamander, Xanthus, Simois, and others so much renowned by Homer. In this Country, upon the Banks of Scamander, stood the famous City of Troy, whose goodly Ruins, appear in some sort, to this day; and from the Inhabitants of which City most Nations labour to fetch their Original. Near to it stands Troas or New Troy, begun by Alex­ander the Great, and finished by Lysimachus, one of his Captains, who yet named it Troas Alexandri, in honour of his Master. Here are found likewise the Ports of Lyrnessus and Sigaeum, with many other things, upon which the Poets especially have been large, who keep them alive even in their Ruins; for indeed little else remains at this day; for as Ovid has it,

PHRYGIA MAJOR, joyns to the former, and is a very fruitful Country, abounding with some Corn, Wine, and some Olive-Yards well watered, by the River Sangarius and Marsyas; the former [Page 104] taking its Spring in this Country, discharges it self into the Euxine Sea. And the Towns are Gordian, once the Residence of Gordius, who of a Husband­man being made King, hung up the Furniture of his Waggons and Ploughs in the Temple of Apollo, tied in such a Knot, that an old Prophecy run, That he who could unty it should be Monarch of the World; which Alexander the Great, upon his com­ing thither, trying to do and failing therein, cut it in sunder with his Sword, shewing thereby, what Policy could not do Force should effect. Colosse, where the Colossians, to whom St. Paul wrote one of his Epistles dwelt: Miedaeum, once the Seat of Midas; Pesinus where the Statue of Cibele was held in great Veneration, and being from thence shipped for Rome, the Ship by no means could be brought to pass up the Tiber, till a Vestal Virgin, who had been accused of Incontinency, to clear her Inno­cence, by fastning her Girdle to it (if you will believe the Story) drew it up the River; and the reason why the Romans so coveted it was, that the Empire of the World had been promised to those that could get it into their possession.

MYSIA is a Country lying, as it were, between the Phrygia's, supposed antiently to be a Phrygian Nation, being much the same for Fertility: And here is found the Asian Olympus, a vast Mountain, but inferior to that of the same name in Greece, and has, for Rivers of note Cacus and Aesopus; on the Banks of the former stands the once famous City of Pergamus, but now of little note. There is like­wise the River Granicus, having its Fountain in Mysia Major, and falling into the Propontis, on the Banks of which Alexander gained the first Victory against Darius the Persian King; who upon his first coming into Asia, had made so little account of him, that he sent Order to his Lieutenant in Anato­lia to take him alive, and after having whipped [Page 105] him with Rods, to send him bound to his Presence. And this Mysia is divided into the lesser and greater; and here stands the Tower of Abydos, over against Sestos in Thrace, memorable for the Story of Hero and Leander; with many other things more re­markable; as the Inhabitants slaying themselves, to prevent falling into the hands of Philip the Father of Persaeus King of Macedon, its being betrayed to the Turks by the Daughter of the Governour, upon her falling in Love with Abderachmen, a Turkish Of­ficer; upon her Dreaming she fell into a miry place, and he coming by took her up and wiped her clean, &c. Cyzicus, famous for its Port, Marble Towns and stately Buildings, &c. And in Mysia Major are found Apollonia, Dainta, Trajanopolis, Alydda, and others.

AEOLIS and IONIA Are generally conjunct, as Countreys much depending on each other, indif­ferently Fruitful, and contain sundry good Har­bours. The principal places in the first are Pitana, Acarnea, Elaea, Myrina, now Sebastopolis, Cene the the chief in this part; Cumaea the Birth-place of one of the Sybils, and Phaecia; and the People are held by Josephus to descend from Elisha the Son of Javan, but by the many Conquests that have been made of this and other Countreys, whereby the People have been either destroyed or carried away, and others planted in their steads, such Originals must needs be uncertain.

IONIA, Has for its principal Cities Mias on an Arm of the Sea, which Artaxerxes assigned to The­mistocles the noble Athenian, when the ingrateful City of Athens had banished him after the glorious Con­quests he had Atchieved in their behalf. Erythra, memorable for the Habitation of one of the Sybils, Lebedus, Clazomene and others, especially Smyrna, a fair Haven City, on a Bay named from it the Bay of Smyrna, and is not only famous for compre­hending [Page 106] one of the Seven Churches of Asia, written to by St. John, but is at present a place of great Traffick, where the English have a Factory, and most Europeans trade for Chamlets, Grogran, and other Stuffs, Drugs, with many such like Com­modities: The Grand Signior having there a Custom-House which brings in a vast Revenue; and in old times there stood a goodly Temple, dedicated to Homer the Greek Poet, as supposed to be the place of his Birth. In this Tract is likewise found the City of Ephesus, so renowned for the Temple of Diana, accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and was in its Splendour 425 feet in length, and in breadth 220, supported with 127 Pillars of polish'd Marble, curiously wrought, and was indeed a very goodly Structure, and so it had need, for after it was modelled by Ctesiphon, a most expert Architect, it was 200 years in Building, though Burnt in one day by Erastrotus, on purpose, as he alledged to get him a Name, though of Infamy.

LYDIA once a famous Kingdom till ruined by the Persians, under the leading of Cyrus; took its name, as many Historians will have it, from Lud the Son of Sem; the People of which Country are said to be the first Coiners of Monies, and Inventers of sundry Games; and here is the Mountain Tomalus covered naturally with Vines and Sipylus; and which are very fruitful Valleys; and yield the best Saffron of Asia: the Rivers of note are Hermus, which taking its source in Phrygia Major, passes by the skirts of Lydia, pleasantly watering the Pa­stures, &c. and falls into a fair Bay of the Aegean Sea, opening towards the Island of Clazomene; like­wise Pactolus Castros, and the Meander; the which though upon a direct line not exceeding 60 miles is nevertheless in measuring the winding, accounted 600 which greatly [...]etters the Country; in which are found Mines of Gold and Silver, and some [Page 107] Stone of considerable value; and has for it's chief City Sardis, seated on the River Pactalus. Phila­delphia near to the bank of the River Caistras: Thy­atyra, Laodicea and others; nothing more renown­ed than to be of the number of the 7 Churches, to which St. John wrote his Apocalypse; and of this Country Croesus the Rich was King, who was de­ceived by the Oracle, in these words, viz.

Thus Englished:

Which he Interpreting according to his own hopes, crossed the River, and was vanquished and taken Prisoner by Cyrus; overthrowing indeed his own People, and was the last King of Lydia.

Caria is on the North of Lydia, in which is the Hill Latmus, where Endimion retired for the better privacy in the study of Astrology, and there finding out the course of the Moon and her changes, gave occasion to the Fable of his being beloved by her and her kissing him, &c. and the River Salmacis which enfeebles any Person that enters into it or drinks of the water; and has for its chief Cities, &c. Miletus, Mindus, Heraclea and Latmum, Borgilia or Borgilos, Milusa, Primassus, and others; and in the Southwest of this Province, thrusting it self into the Sea like a Promontory, stands the little Country of Doris; so called from Dores a Greek people that first Inhabited it; and has for its chief Cities Cni­dus, Cressa, formerly a noted Haven Town; Hali­carnassus, where Queen Arthemisia in Memory of King Mausolus her Husband, raised at vast expence a Monument, accounted one of the 7 Wonders of [Page 108] the World, from which all great Structures of that kind are called Mausoles.

As for the people of Caria, their name or deno­mination, is conjectured to be derived from Cares the Son of Pharoneus King of Argos; though Bochar­tus rather alludes it to the Phaenician word Car, sig­nifying a sheep or Ram, because they were former­ly dealers in Flocks, with which their Country a­bounded, and is indeed full of rich Pastures.

LYCIA lyes on the West of Caria; said to take its name from Lycius, Son to Pandion King of Athens; and is a Country inclosed in a manner with Sea and Mountains; the principal Mountain being Taurus, the biggest in Asia; which begins in this Province, and extends to the Eastern Sea; one of its branches in this Country is the Chimaera, casting out Flames like Mount Aetna; which gave occasion to the Fablers of former times, to render it dreadful, by likening it to a Monstrous Beast, with a Head like a Lyon, a Belly like a Goat, and a Tail like a Serpent; though some to justifie this Fiction, will have it to be infested at the bottom by Serpents, grazed in the middle by Goats, and containing nearer to the top, dens of Lions, altogether framing the Monster, said to be destroyed by Bellerophon; which indeed tended to nothing more than that he first caused the Mountain to be Inhabited, and this Country in former days was so opulent, that 60 Cities of note were found in it, but now most of them Ruined; the chief in it being Are, Phaselis, Myra, Solima, Rhodia, Pataras, Mylios, and Pode­lia; and so powerful were the Lycians in the time of Cyrus the Persian, that they were not without great difficulty brought under, but from thence forward followed the Fortune of the Conquerors as the Greeks, Romans and Turks, &c.

[Page 109] LYCAONIA is a Country so named from the Ly­caones, a people of Lycia; or from the Lycaonians a people, the Inhabitants of Lyconia a Town in Phrygia Major; and has for its chief Cities Iconium, once the chief Residence of the Caramanian Kings, who so stoutly opposed in its beginning the Growth of the Ottoman Empire; Lystra, the birth place of Timothy the Evangelist; and here it was that the superstitious people would have done divine Sacri­fice to Paul and Barnabas; Darbe, Laranda, Para­lais, Adopissus, Canna and Caratha; but as for the Inhabitants, they are not found in History to be of any considerable note; nor does their Country much abound in Fruits or Corn, for want of Conve­nient streams to water it.

PISIDIA is on the South of Lycaonia, and is a small Country, yet furnished with great plenty of all things necessary for Human subsistance; where the Plains extend themselves, though in some parts it is much Incumbered with Barren Mountains; and has in it the Towns or Cities of Antioch, Seleu­cia, Lysinnia, Selge, Sagalassa, Cremna, Termessus, Olbanassa and Plutanessus; the Antient Inhabitants being said to descend from the Solimi, a people on the Borders of Lycia; and were formerly daring and valiant, as appeared in their opposing Cyrus, and did more wonders than any of their more powerful Neighbours, but now being in subjection to the Turks, who hold them as Vassals or Slaves, they have lost much of their Courage and Industry.

PAMPHYLIA has Pisidia on the North, and is separated from it by the Mountain Taurus; and its held to take its name from its being Inhabited by a mixture of Nations; which word in the Greek expresses no less, and is much over-run with the Spurs or Branches of Taurus; rendering it Barren in many places; yet on those Mountainous parts a­bundance of Goats are fed, whose Flesh serves for [Page 110] Food, Hair for making Chamlets, and Skins for Leather; yet that part which is the Sea coast, and runs 150 miles on the Mediterranean, is well In­habited, and enjoys sundry Towns of Note, as Attalia, Perge, Side, Magidis, Aspendas, Oliba, Ca­racensium, Colobrassus, Cretopolis, and Menedemium, and is watered with the Rivers Cestrus, Cataractus, and Eurymedon; and since they first planted this Country, they have been frequently brought un­der subjection by the Pontois, Persians, Romans and lastly by the Turks, who at present remain Lords of all the lesser Asia, and good part of the greater.

CILICIA has Pamphylia on the West, and is a very fruitful Country, especially on the Eastern part; and is said to take its name from Cilice the Brother of Cadmus; and though it is but meanly Inhabited, yet it is much traded to; and has in it many Towns of Note, as Tarsus the Birth place of St. Paul, Anchiala, Epiphania, Adena, Mopsuestia, Nicopolis, Amavara, Scandelora, and others watered with the River Pyramus, now called Mal­mistra, Orismagdus, Calicadnus, and the famous Cydnus, whose waters are so Cool, and withal so Rapid that they had like to have proved fatal to Alexander the Great, and did so to Fredrick the first German Emperor; for whilst he was bathing in the stream, he was carried away by the violence of the Current, and smothered in the waves. As for the chief Mountains they are Amanus and Tau­rus accounted the largest in the world.

ISAVRICA is a distinct Province from the for­mer seated on both sides of Taurus, which renders it altogether Mountainous, being East to Pamphylia; parted in the midst by the River Calecadnus on whose banks are many Vines and pleasant Pastures and has for its principal City and Towns Seleucia, I [...]auria, and Claudiopolis; and as for this and the [Page 111] Province of Cilicia, they were Anciently famous for Piracies; but Pompey breaking their power at Sea placed them in a more Inland Country, and especially on these Mountains in a strait compass, but they have since inlarged their borders.

And thus for Anatolia or Asia Minor, except such Islands as are reputed to appertain to it, which shall be treated of in another place; it being our de­sign that nothing shall be omitted, though we are obliged to be brief, constrained to it by the nar­rowness of our compass; only note that it is wholly subject to the Turks.

The Kingdoms and Provinces of the greater Asia Described.

AS to the Boundards and Scituation of this Part of the World, it has been already laid down in general, wherefore now nothing remains, but to describe it in particular, &c. and to do this in order, we will begin with▪

A Description of Egypt, &c.

EGYPT, once a Famous and Flourishing King­dom, now in the hand of the Turks; is bound­ed on the East with Idumaea, and the Arabian Bay; on the West with Numidia, Barbary, and part of [Page 158] Lybia; on the North with the Mediterranean Sea; and on the South with Aethiopia Superiour, contain­ing in length from the Mediterranean to the City of Asua or Syene bordering on Aethiopia, 562 Italian Miles, and in breadth from Roseta to Damiatia, or from the most Western Branch of Nile to the far­thest East 160 of the like Miles; said to be first In­habited by Misraim the Son of Chus, and Grand­child to Cham, scituate under the Second and Fifth Climates, making the longest Summers day but 13 hours and a half, and altho by reason of its Souther­ly scituation, it must consequently be in a hot and sultry Air; it has nevertheless fresh Gales of Wind to temperate it, and once a Year [...] over-flowing of the River Nilus, which renders it so Fruitful, that it abounds with rich Pastures, store of Camels, Horses, Oxen, Asses, Sheep and Goats of extraor­dinary growth; also with infinite store of Wild and Tame Fowl, with plenty of Minerals, Precious Stones, Wine, Choice Fruits, as Oranges, Le­mons, Citrons, Pomegranats, Cherries, &c. and has Palm Trees in great numbers growing Male and Female, and the Female bears not unless she grows by the Male; a Tree universally useful, as serv­ing to above twenty ends.

As for the People, they are of a Swarthy or Tawny Complexion, very much inured to Labour, tho the Countrey yields great Encrease of its own accord; very servile and obedient to their Conquer­ers, who Lord it over them; the Richer sort gene­rally addicting themselves to Necromancy and Sorcery, and are said first to Teach the use of Letters to the Phaenicians, though the Magi, and those that were stiled their Priests, strugled all that in them lay to obscure Learning, by representing the meaning of what they intended to express in Hieroglyphicks, shadowing it under divers forms of Birds and Beast, &c. and here are to be found the Ruins of mighty [Page 159] Structures, as the Pyramids and Tower of Pharo's built of Marble, exceeding high, nightly hung with Lights, as a Sea-mark to Sailors, and many o­ther rare Matters to demonstrate the Magnificence of a Plenteous Kingdom.

As for the Cities of Egypt, they are generally built upon Hills or high rising Ground, to stand dry du­ring the over-flowing of Nilus, from whose Waters the Countrey receives its Fertility; so that whilst it carries its Stream over the Land, they Commerce with each other by little Boats, which beginning on the 15th of June, lasts 40 days, standing 15 Cu­bits in many places, and in 40 more gathers its Wa­ters within the Banks, by which means the Earth is so well tempered (for in this Kingdom there falls no Rain) that the Encrease is sixty and eighty fold, their Harvest being commonly in our March and April; and if the River flows too scanty or too immoderate, then it betokens scarcity or some misfortune to the Prince, Governour, or State, and whilst its Waters are abroad, which at the first issuing create a Plague for the space of a day: The Cattle feed on the Hills; and when the Famine was here in the Reign of Pharaoh, this River refused to pass its bounds, or give any Assistance to the Thirsty Land.

This Countrey was formerly divided into two parts, viz. Delta and Thebais; the first lying be­tween the two extream Branches of the River Ni­lus, in form of the greek Letter, from whence it takes it's name, and the last taking name from the City of Thebes, containing all the rest of the Rivers Course; and these again with some odd Angles, are divided by some into many Parts, Shires, or Coun­ties, and is said in the time of King Amasis the Se­cond to contain 20000 Cities, Towns, and consi­derable Castles, but now a far less number, as be­ing ruined in their several Wars, &c. they being [Page 160] Cairo or Grand Cair, Alexandria, Pelusium, since called Damiatia, taken and possessed by the Christi­ans in the Holy War, yet held out so obstinately upon the Siege, that 70000 persons died of the Famine and Pestilence: Heros or Heroum, scituate on the Arabian Isthmus, at the very bottom of the Golf, where Jacob and Joseph had their first in­terview: Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, now call­ed Betsames in the Land of Goshen: Arsinoe, on the Shoar of the Red Sea, Cleopatris built by Queen Cleopatra: Gleba Rubra, by the Greeks called Hiera­bolus, and sometimes Erithia Bolus, of which there goes a Story, That King Amenophis the Fifth being Blind, was informed by one of his Magi, that if he could procure the Water or Urine of a Woman that had been Married a Twelve-month and upward, who had known no Man but her Husband, it would re­store him to Sight, when having tried in vain a great number, at last one was found, whose Urine effected it, upon which he took her as a mark of Honour, to be his Queen, and caused the rest to be brought into this Town, and to be burnt toge­ther with it.

As for the Egyptians, they are a great many of them Mahometans, and some maintain their first I­dolatrous Custom, in Worshipping an Ox, Onions, Leeks, and other Foolish Matters, and when they have a great Increase, they Offer to the God Ni­lus, as they term the River, in which Feast the poorer sort spend almost all they have Laboured for through the course of the Year; and indeed, this Country in Fruitfulness, occasioned by that River, affords them no small Store, alluding to which, thus the Poet Lucan;

And one thing extraordinary in this Kingdom, we think not fit to pass by, which if true (as indeed it is confirmed by People of known Credit) may just­ly create a wonder in all, coming to pass by a super­natural means, and not the work of Art and Na­ture, viz. about five Miles from Cair, there is said to be a place which every Good Friday shews the appearance of the Heads, Legs, Arms, &c. of Men and Children, as if rising out of the Ground, to a very great Number; however if any Person ap­proach them, they shrink in again: A strange fore­runner, or earnest, if true, of the Resurrection of the whole Body, presented Yearly by the rising of the Members; and to confirm the Truth hereof, Stephen Dupleis (held to be a sober discerning Man) affirms to be an Eye Witness of the Wonder, and that he had touched diverse of the rising Members, and as he was once about to do it to the Head of a Child, a Carian forbad it, telling him he knew not what he did. Another Wonder is the Crocodile, which coming from a small Egg, not exceeding the bigness of a Turkies, grows to be 30 Feet in length and proportionable in thickness, living at Plea­sure in the Water, or on the Land, destroying not only Fish, but Men and Beasts; and with these the Nilus abounds, as also with a Fish called the River Horse; and thus much for Egypt.

A Description of Barbary.

BARBARY, (a considerable part of Africk, so called) is bounded on the East with Cyre­naica; on the West with the Atlantick Ocean; on the North with the Streights of Gibraltar, and some part of the Atlantick Ocean; on the South with Mount Atlas, separated by that Mount from the Desarts of Lybia, scituate under the third and fourth Climates, so that the longest Summers Day in the most Southern parts, amounts to 13 Hours 3 Quarters, but in the North 4 and a Quarter, ac­counted in Length 1500 Miles, and in Breadth in some places 100, and in others near 300 Miles, tak­ing its Name from the Word Bar made double signifying in the Saracens Language a Desart.

The Part of Barbary lying towards the Mediterra­nean, is full of craggy Hills and Mountains, shaded on the Top with Woods, where Lyons and other Beasts of Prey shelter themselves, though the Val­leys are very Fruitful, but deficient in Wheat, in­somuch that the Inhabitants Eat Barley Bread, yet between these and Mount Atlas, the Country is Champian, watered with many Pleasant Rivers, issuing from that Mountain, rendering the Soil rich and fertile, so that it affords great store of Plums, Pears, Figs, Cherries, Apples of sundry Kinds, Oyl, Honey, Sugar, and some Mines of Gold, called Barbary Gold, being the finest of all other: And Pliny reports that near Leptis we may behold a Date Tree over-shadowing an Olive, and under the O­live a Fig-Tree, and under the Fig, a Pomegra­nate-Tree, and under that a Vine, and under the the Vine, Pease or Corn, &c. all Flourishing at the same time, and this they do the rather, that they may shelter each other from the heat of the Sun.

[Page 163] The People are of a Dusky Colour, inclining to Blackness, held to Descend from the Arabians, so that the Language they Speak in most parts is the Arabick, or so bordering upon it that it may be ea­sily understood, and are Impatient of Labour, Co­vetous of Honour, Crafty and Deceitful, yet studi­ous in matters of their Law, and some Sciences, more especially Philosophy and the Mathematicks, and are in Religion generally Mahometans; they are al­so stately of Gate, exceeding Mistrustful, Impla­cable in their Hatred, and Jealous beyond compare; for the Women indeed are comely of Body, well Featured, delicate, soft Skinn'd, and want nothing but Colour to make them Accomplish'd Beauties; nor has this Country failed to produce Persons, not only Famous for Arts and Arms, but for Piety and Learning, as, Amilcar, Hannibal, Septimus Severus, Massinissa, Tertullian, Cyprian, Arnobius, Lactantius, Augustine, and others of no less Note; and here once Ruled Queen Dido in the Famous City of Carthage, which City so long and strongly con­tended with Rome for the Empire of the World, but at last was destroyed through the Importunity of Cato, at which time there was found in it (not­withstanding the charge of a tedious War) 470000 pound weight of Silver.

As for the whole Country, called Barbar, it was Divided into 7 Parts, viz. Africa Propria, cal­led also Zugitania, Byzantena, Tripolitana, Numi­dia, Mauritania, Caesariensis, Sitisensis, and T [...]gi­tania, under diverse Kings and Governours, who then held it as Tributaries to the Roman Empe­rors, but since reduced to four Divisions, viz. Tu­nis, Tremesen or Algiers, Fesso, and Morocco; and of these in their order.

TVNIS is accounted a Kingdom, containing whatever the Antients called Africa Propria, or Mi­nor, and Numidia Antiqua, the Air very Tempe­rate, [Page 164] considering the degree it lyes in; the Soil very Fruitful, divided again into 5 parts, viz. Bugia, Constantia, Tunis, Tripoley and Ezab, accommoda­ted with many curious Havens, the chief being Tripoley, where the Turkish Bassa resides; and Tunis a considerable City giving Name to the Kingdom, supposed to be founded on the ruins of the Antient Carthage; and hath in it a Temple of singular Beauty and Greatness.

TREMESEN, or the Kingdom of Algiers, com­monly called Argie, now in the hands of the Pira­tical Turks; has for its chief City Algiers, from which the Country takes its name, Scituate near the Sea in the form of a Triangle with a Haven, but neither great nor secure from the fury of the North Winds; though the City is strong and beautiful, having not only in it spacious Inns, but Baths, and Mosques, very commodious and sumptuous; and here every Trade takes a Street to themselves; the Streets standing even one above another, upon the rising of the Hill; which renders it a very plea­sant prospect, to such as sail by it, and the Harbour or Mole defended with strong Castles, and other works, which render the Approach inaccessible and was formerly a place to which Merchants traded; but now only a nest of Pirates, studying and striv­ing all they can, to endamage and molest, such as sail those Straits or Seas; and though they have been often curbed by the English, French, and Dutch, &c. and brought to terms of Peace; yet like thorow paced Thieves, they never kept it longer than they found an opportunity, to break it to their advantage; and were in the year 1688; so resolute when the French Fleet lay before it, and had with their Bombs fired the Town about their Ears, not only to reject the offer made, but in contempt to that puissant Monarch, to shoot his Consul out of a Mortar, or piece of Cannon to­wards [Page 165] the French Ships in the Road, &c. As for the Upland Country, it has many pleasant Towns and Villages in it, abounding with Gardens, Vine­yards, Pastures, Cattle, Corn-Fields, and Fruits of sundry kinds.

FEZ and MOROCCO, are now joyned under one King, who fondly stiles himself Emperor; and contain the whole Country of Mauritania, pro­perly so called, which took its name from the Mauri, a people that Antiently Inhabited it; and the first of these has Fez for its chief City, giving name to the Kingdom; and here was scituate the City of Tangier, lately demolished by the English, as not worth the keeping; nor is the Country wanting in large Forrests, Green Fields, Vineyards, flourishing Gardens, abounding with Fruits, and producing an infinite number of Cattle, a breed of ex­cellent Horses, and the Mountains many wild Beasts, watered with the Rivers Buringrug and Inavis for the space of 100 Miles.

MOROCCO is Scituate in a warm breathing Air, which renders the Country very fertile; so that it abounds with Figs, Dates, Grapes, Apples, Olives, Honey, Sugar, and Cattle; the whole Country being divided into 7 parts, viz. Guzzula, Mo­rocco, Hea, Duccala, Hascorasus and Tedles, all hold­ing under the King of Morocco, and paying him Tribute, his Power being Absolute and Tyrannical; insomuch that he causes whom he pleases to be put to Death, that is, cast to the Lyons, or other wild Beasts, to make him sport; nor can any of his Subjects, account what he has his own; as for the Profession of Religion these people make, it is Ma­hometism, though there are a great many Jews, and some Christians, living amongst them; as for Rivers there are not many in this Country, the Land being watered mostly by Brooks, and little [Page 166] Springs; nor do they know in most parts what Winter means as never having seen Ice or Snow, but what hangs on the Top of the Atlas a huge Mountain, held to Transcend the Clouds; the top of it Crowned with Pines, and so steep and rugged, that it cannot but with great diffi­culty be ascended; lying in the upper part, so near the Cold Region; that not withstand­ing the people beneath fry with the scorching heat of the Sun; it is covered with Snow and Ice: of which Virgil thus writes.

Lybia Interior Described, &c.

LYBIA INTERIOR, has for its Northern bound Mount Atlas, parted by it from Barbary and Cyrenaica on the East; Lybia Marmarica on the South; Aethiopia Inferior, and the Land of Negro's and bounded with the Atlantick Ocean on the West distinguished from the other Lybia by interior, as lying more in the main Land of Africk.

[Page 167] This Countrey, however it anciently was distin­guished into parts, stands now divided into Biledu­gerid or Numidia; Lybia Deserta, or Sarra, and a considerable Portion of the Countrey called Terra Negritarum, or the Negro's Countrey; and as for Numidia, it abounds in many places with Cattle, Palm Trees, and Forrests of Wild Beasts, not more Salvage than the People, who live for the most part by Rapine and Murther, inhospitable to Strangers, neglecting Tillage, and giving themselves up chiefly to the feeding of Cattle upon the Mountains, Car­rying like the Tartars their Families and Tents, with other Provisions from place to place, by reason of the scarceness of Water; for where this day a Spring is found, the next it may perhaps be sunk a­gain; yet near the River Dara, and in some other parts, the Countrey people have scattered Villages, and those of better Rank Castles. As for the Towns we find of Note, they are or were Timugedit, Tafi­letae; Talfet, a Town of 400 Houses, but no place considerable near it in 300 Miles: Techort, where inhabit the most Courteous People of all the Coun­trey, and chose rather to Marry their Daughters to Strangers than to Natives, with some other of lesser note, not worth mention, as being exceeded by most of our Countrey Villages.

LYBIA DESERTA, is a place so destitute and poor, by reason it mostly consists of wide Desarts, and barren Sands, breeding numbers of Poisonous Serpents, that few People Inhabit it, unless Thieves and Robbers, who live upon the Spoil of those that attempt to pass them; yet near the Borders, where there is any Green, they have some petty Towns, such as go for Cities in those Parts, as Ta­gaza, 20 Days Journey from any other Peopled Place, yet affords Veins of Salt, which they Ex­change for Victuals with the Tombutan Merchants, or else must Perish for want, and are many times [Page 168] over-whelm'd with the Sands, driven like Clouds upon them by the South Wind; Guargata, Scitu­ate on the Brink of a Lake; Huaden, and Tombu­raum; nor was this Country ever fought after by the great Conquerors, as not being worth their Travel, &c.

TERR-ANIGRITARUM, or the Land of Negroes, is partly in Libya Interior, and partly without it, and is exceeding Hot, by Reason of its Scituation under the Torrid Zone, yet full of Black People; and though a great part of it be Desart, yet some places by the favour of Springs are so well knit and fastened, that they appear Green and Flourishing, and especially those that lye within the compass of the over-flowing of the River Niger, insomuch that they have Pleasant Gardens, Pastures, Corn Fields, and store of Cattle, Woods full of Ele­phants, and other wild Beasts, whose Flesh they Eat, when taken by Hunting, and Clothe them­selves with their Skins, but have very few Fruit-Trees, unless such as bear a kind of a Fruit like a Chesnut, very bitter, nor have they, unless very rarely, any Rain in this Country, but are sup­ply'd, like Egypt, by Dews, and the over-flowing of Niger.

The People of this Tract were so simple, that at the first coming of the Portugals hither to trade, they took their Ships to be great Birds, with white Wings, and the Roaring of their Guns to be the Voice of the Devil; nor could they conceit their Bag-pipes to be any thing but Living Crea­tures, and when they were permitted to convince themselves of the contrary, they would not yet be beaten out of it, but that they were Immediately the Work of God's own Hands; yet are they ve­ry Reverent or Respectful to their King, who ex­ceeds not in Manners, or Breeding one of our Coblers, never daring when they come before him [Page 169] to look in his Face, but cast their Eyes down­ward, and when they sit, though the chiefest of his Favourites, it is at his Feet, Flat on their Buttocks.

As for the Religion (if it may be so termed) of these Negroes, it is a mixture of Idolatry and Ma­hometism, though formerly, as appears by some footsteps yet left, Christianity was predomi­nant in divers parts of the Land; and through this Countrey the River Nilus passes, and 'tis Watered likewise with Senaga, a River arising out of the Lake Guaga, little inferior to the former, and has divers Mountains, as Arualtes, Arangus, and Deorum Currus, thrusting into the Sea, and reaching in a manner the Clouds.

The chief Cities of this Countrey in the time of Ptolomy, were Nigra, Thumondacana, Malachath, Seleuce, An [...]gath, Panagra, with some few of lesser note, but most of them are ruined, and scarce any thing but their names remaining; however there are some crept up in their steads, but those not many, as Argina, Porto Dio Porto del Riscato, ei­ther built or so named by the Portugals.

In this Tract (for it is a very large one, taking up above a third part of Africk) are Guinea, ex­tended from Sierra Leona in the 10th Degree of Longitude, to Benin in the 30th. where they have the Juice of a Tree as strong as Wine, as also Mines of Gold: A place very Fruitful, and much abound­ing in Rice, Barley, Ivory, and Guinea Pepper.

TOMBVTVM, a Kingdom of it self, very Rich in Mines of Gold, yet a greater store is gained by his Warring on his Neighbours; as also Mell, Can [...], Gialosia, Guber, Gua [...]gara, Gaoga, Gambra or G [...]m­bea, Gialosi, Bito, Temiano, Zegzeg, Zaffara, Ge­than, Medna, Daum, Gualta, Agadez, Cano, Cas [...]n [...], Savaga, most of them Petty Princes, not of any considerable Note.

[Page 170] BORNVM, a large and populous Countrey, ac­counted 500 Miles in Length, yet mostly Inhabited by keepers of Cattle that abound here, by reason of the abundance of Pastures; and here they use no Marriage, but mix together as they think conveni­ent, giving their Children Names by some mark or token of their Body; however the Kings Revenues are great, his very Dogs being coupled in Chains of Gold.

BENIN, Eastward of Guinea; the King whereof hath 600 Wives, with whom he Marches in State Twice a Year to show them to Strangers, and the Subjects following the Example of their Prince, get as many as they can, few having less than Ten, and here the Men and Women go naked till they are Married, and then have only a Covering from the Waste downward, Superstitiously raising the Skin with three slashes of a Knife, from the Navel to the Privy Parts, as a mark of their hopes of Salva­tion.

NVBIA, a considerable Countrey, stretching from Gaoga to Nilus, has Dangula for its chief Town and some other of lesser note, and affords, amongst o­ther Drugs the mortalest of Poysons; insomuch that the tenth part of a Grain will dispatch a Man in a quarter of an hour; and affords moreover Ci­vit, Sugar, Sanders, Ivory, &c. The Kingdom ta­king its Name from the Nubiaea, a certain people that inhabit it, and is well refreshed with Rivers and Lakes, and the people were generally Christians, a strong and potent Nation, well Skill'd in War, in so much that Cyriacus one of their Kings, hearing the Christians were oppressed in Egypt, raised an Army of 100000 Horse to succour them, but being about to enter that Kingdom, to the great Terrour of the Turks and Sarazens, he was met by the Pa­triarch of Alexandria, at whose Supplication and Entrcaty he returned, without enterprizing any [Page 171] thing Memorable, nor has it been long since they, for want of Spiritual Guides to strengthen and confirm them, have faln off from the Christian Faith, and embraced the Superstitions of Mahomet.

Aethiopia Superior described in its King­doms and Provinces.

AETHIOPIA SVPERIOR has on the East Sinus Barbaricus, and the Red Sea; on the West, Lybia Interior and the Kingdom of Nubia; and part of Congo in the other Aethiopia on the North; E­gypt and Lybia Marmarica on the South; the Moun­tains of the Moon parting it from Aethiopia Inferiour, and had its present name from the Grecians, and is scituate on both sides the Equinoctial, extending from the South Parrallel of 7 Degrees to the North end of the Isle Meroe, scituate under the Fifth Pa­rallel on the North of that Circle, being account­ed in length about 1500 Miles, and in breadth a­bout half as much, in Circumference 4300 Miles; containing the whole Countrey of Aethiopia, as be­fore limited; the greatest part of it being the Abyssine Empire or Dominion of Prestor John; the rest comprehending the Kingdoms of Adel and Adea, the Provinces Quiola and Melindi, though the last are reckoned parts of Aethiopia Inferior; the Island of Meroe in the North possessed by Mahome­tans Enemies to Prestor John, all on the South of Nubia and the West of Nilus, is Inhabited by the Anzichi, a Cannibal and Idolatrous People, who have a King of their own; and all the Coast of the Red Sea, as well within the Coast of Babel-mandel, the Port of Erocco only excepted, is in the Possession of Moors and Arabians, who pay Homage to the Kings of Adel and Adea.

[Page 172] As for the People of Aethiopia, properly so cal­led, they were formerly held to be great Astrolo­gers, the first Ordainers of Sacred Ceremonies, from whom the Egyptians had their Instructions, al­ways counted good Archers, yet Treacherously shooting with Poisoned Arrows; they go ill Cloathed, and as bad Housed, for the most part extreamly inclined to Barbarisin, and unless they Swear by the Life of their Emperor, not to be credited in matters of Weight; their Colour is an Olive Taw­ny, inclining more to Swarthiness, except their Emperor, who as a mark of the true Prince, and are held to be Converted to the Christian Faith, by the Eunuch of Queen Candace, Converted by St. Philip the Evangelist, which Flourishes amongst them to this day, and comes very near in all the Material Points, to the Orthodox Religion of the Reformed European Church, &c. and are under a Patriarch.

The Country of the Aethiops, is like all other Countries in this Tract, Fruitful in some Places, and Barren in others, yet it generally abounds in Rice, Barley, Beans, Pease, Sugars, Minerals of all kinds, Cattle, viz. Goats, Oxen, Sheep, Horses; and have great store of Flax and Vines, yet make neither Cloth nor Wine, unless peculiarly for the Emperor, Patriarch, or great Men, being much given to Sloth; nor do they indeed know how to bring their Minerals to Perfection, nor will they trouble themselves to Fish or Hunt, tho' the Woods and Rivers are infinitely stored with Fish and Ve­nison.

As for the Provinces comprehended at this time within the bounds or limits of Aethiopia, they are, Guagere, Tigremaon, Angote, Damut, Amma, Baga­medrum, Goijami, Adel, Adea, Barnagassum, Dan­culi, D [...]bas, Fatigar, Xoa, and Barus; though not all, as I intimated within the Circuit of the A­bassine [Page 173] Empire; and of Note amongst these are, viz.

BARNAGOSVM Scituate upon the Red Sea, ex­tending from Suachen, almost to the Mou [...] of the Streights, and hath for its Sea Port Frooco, the on­ly Port of the Empire, held Tributary from the Turks, who sometimes since took it from the Aethi­opians, with the Town of Suachen, for which they pay yearly 1000 ounces of Gold.

TIGRAMAON, lying between Nilus, Marabo and Angote, is a pleasant Kingdom, though of no great extent, and has for its chief City Cazunia, supposed to be the Regal Seat of Queen Candace, whose E­nuch St. Philip Baptized.

ANGOTE is a Province considerably Barren, lying between Tigramaon and Amare; insomuch that be­ing deficient of Gold or Silver, or any other valua­ble Commodities, Iron, Plate, or Rings, and hard Loaves of Salt, made to sundry degrees of bigness, pass as Current.

XOA is more Fertile than the former, as having many green Pastures, where a great Number of Cattle Feed, as likewise abounding with Fruits, and is almost in all parts Grateful to the Husband­man.

FATIGAR is noted for having in it a Lake of that Name 12 Miles in compass, being on the Top of a high Mountain, from whence divers Rivers, well stored with Fish, descend to water the Coun­try.

GOIJAMI is famed for the Mines of Gold found, as also for the Unicorn, who makes his abode in the Hills of the Moon, large Mountains so called, be­cause the Moon upon her rising, appears first from behind them to that Country; and although the Beasts are rarely taken by reason of their Swiftness, yet their Horns, so famous for expelling Poison are [Page 174] found, which at a certain Period of Time they shed.

GVGERA, otherways Meroe, is an Island of which we intend to speak hereafter; and in this Country is found the Hill Amara, which is a Days Journey to ascend, and 30 Miles in compass, in Form round, and on the top of it are sundry plea­sant Plains and Pallaces, the Air being much cool­er than that beneath, and here the Princes of the Blood dwell. As for the Emperors Stile, by rea­son of the strangeness of it, we think fit to insert it, viz.

P. I. Supream of his Kingdoms, and the Beloved of God, the Pillar of Faith, sprung from the Stock of Judah, the Son of David, the Son of Solomon, the Son of the Column of Sion, the Son of the Seed of Ja­cob, and the Son of the Hand-maid of Mary, the Son of Nahu, after the Flesh, the Son of St. Peter, and St. Paul, after the Spirit, Emperor of the higher and les­ser Aethiopia, and of the most mighty Kingdoms, Do­minions, and Countries of Xoa, Goa, Caffares, Fa­tigar, Angote, Balignazo, Adea, Vangue, Goijami, (where are the Fountains of Nile) Amara, Bangua­medron, Ambea, Vangucum, Tigremean, Sabaim, (the Birth-place of the Queen of Saba) Barnagosum; and Lord of all the Region unto the Confines of E­gypt.

And is said to have for his Arms, a Lyon Ram­pant, in a Field Or, with this Motto, viz. The Ly­on of the Tribe of Judah shall overcome. Which gives many occasion to think, he either descended of the Jewish Race, from the Stock of David, or from the Off-spring of the Queen of Sheba, or Saba, called the Queen of the South, supposed to be Begotten by Solomon; but leaving these Conjectures to those [Page 175] that are disposed to make a more strict Inquiry into them, we proceed to the Inferior Aethio­pia.

Aethiopia Inferior Described, in its King­doms and Provinces, &c.

AETHIOPIA Inferior has on the East the Red Sea; on the West the Aethiopick Ocean; on the North the Higher Aethiopia, and Terra Ni­gritarum; and on the South the Main Ocean, part­ing it from Terra Australis Incognita; being lower in Scituation than the former; a Country but little known to the Ancients, but since more fully Dis­covered, and is divided properly into 4 Parts, viz. Zang [...]bar, Monomotapa, Cafraria, and Manicongo; and as for the People, they differ little from the o­ther Aethiopia, either in Customs or Manners, going Clad with striped Plads, or Skins of Beasts, part Mahometans and part Idolaters.

ZANGEBAR is a Country Low and Fenny, by reason of the over-flowing of the Rivers, and so pestered with Woods and Forrests, that for wa [...] of the free motion of the Air it is very unwholsome; and so little are the people skilled in Shipping, that the Moors who dwell on the Sea Coasts use to ad­venture in little Vessels sowed together with Lea­ther Thongs, and Caulk'd with Gum, having no other Sails than the Leaves of Palm Trees; and this Province contains 15 lesser Provinces, as Melindi, Mombaza, Quiola, Mosambique, a very Fruitful, Po­pulous Countrey; Sofala, supposed the Ophir [...] of Solomon for its store of Gold, Ivory, and other Rich Commodities; Moenhemago or Monemug, an Inland Province, affording Mines of Gold, which the People barter with the Portugals for Silks, Taffa­ta's, and the like, Moeneremage, Corova, Calen, [Page 176] Anzuga, Mombira, Mombiza, Bandi, Monzala, Ma­ [...]oas, Benda and Embreo, and has for its Chief Ci­ties or Places of resort, Mombaza, Ampaza, both taken by the Portugals; Quiola, Mosambique, Safola, and others of lesser note; and in this Region are di­vers Cannibals of a black and horrid Aspect, who War upon their Neighbours for no other end than that they may eat them when they take them Cap­tive; and amongst others, having taken Mombaza, they made a great Feast of the King and such Citizens as escaped not their hands, and would have no Com­merce held with them, were not their Countrey ex­ceeding Rich.

MONOMOPATA lies mostly upon the Sea, and is in Circuit 3250 Italian Miles; the Air very Tem­perate, and wholsome and pleasant, and is Watered with the Rivers, Panami, Aurug, Luan­ga, Mangeano, in whose Sands is found much Gold, and as for the people of this Tract, they are black of Complexion, mean of Stature, swift of Foot, and very strong, covering themselves only with Cotton Cloath, and diet upon Flesh, Fish, Milk, Rice and Oyl of Susiman, being Pagans in Religion, Wor­shipping a God called Mozimo, yet invisible, for they hate Idols; and here above all Countreys in Africk, the Women have the greatest priviledges. They punish Theft, Adultery, and Witch-craft with Death, yet have no Prisons, but execute the Offenders as soon as taken; and the lesser Provin­ces into which this greater is divided, are Motuca, Rich in Mines of Gold, Torra or Butna, Boro, Quiti­cut, Inhambran, and some others of lesser note, they being all very Fruitful, but most famed for their Mines of Gold; but their Towns are very in­considerable, the people mostly living in stragling Cotts, the meaner sort not suffered to have any Doors.

[Page 177] CAFRARIA, A third Division of this Aethiopia, is a Country greatly abounding with Herds of Cattle, Deer, Antelopes, Baboons, Foxes, Hares, [...]elicans, Ostriches, Herons, Ducks, Geese, Pheasants, Par­tridges; exceeding well watered, but deficient in Corn, by the neglect of the Natives, who choose ra­ther to live idly upon the bounty of Nature, than to improve it by Art; making their Aboads in Woods and Forrests, and building, for the most part, their Houses of Branches of Trees, interwo­ven Hurdle-waies, and are black of Colour, thick Lipped, flat Nosed, long Headed, but longer Eared, which reach beneath their Shoulders, occasioned by their hanging extraordinary Weights in them for Ornaments, as Rings, Chains, &c. And to ren­der themselves more beautiful, slash their Skins in divers parts, carving it out into sundry Forms, in imitation of the Antient Britains; and the better to show it in all parts, they go mostly naked, unless a piece of a Beast's Skin over their Privities; and those that go best attired, it is only in Skins of Beasts, rough as they take them off, their Dyet being raw Flesh, and with the Guts of Be [...]sts they adorn themselves, by hanging them about their Necks, and indeed are altogether Brutal and Bestial. And in this Tract live the Imb [...]ans, not far from the Cape of Good-hope, Tall, and o [...] conside­rable Strength, living by War and Rapine▪ feeding on the Flesh of their conquered En [...]mies and dying Friends, whose Deaths they hasten, that they may the sooner Eat them, and make Drink­ing Cups of their Sculls; and in their War▪ they fight with Poisoned Arrows, and a long Pol [...], har­dened at the end with Fire, carrying likewise Fire before them, signifying thereby that they intend to Roast and Boil all they shall overcome; and these were they that Eat up the King of Mam­baza and his People; their King if such a Monster [Page 178] deserve that sacred Epithete, accounting himself Lord of all the Earth; and when at any time the Heat or Rain offends him, he darts his Poisoned Arrows at Heaven, by way of defiance: As for Towns, they have none of any note, living in Hutts, strag­ling Villages, aud Woods; and in these parts is the Cape of Good-hope, frequently touch'd by such as Sail to the East-Indies; and the better to dis­cover the customs of these People, in the beastly and inhumane condition they live in, take the following account, viz. It happened that some English Ships, in their way home from the Indies, [...]ortuned to take two of the Natives, near the Bay of Soldania, in order to learn from them, when they could be brought to speak English, a farther account of the Country, and one of them, named Coore, they brought to London, the other dying by the way, when the better to please him, they not only arayed him in fine Cloaths, but gave him Beads, Bells, and other things, wherein the Natives of his Countrey most delighted. yet not these, nor the sumptuous Fare he met with, could alter his inclination, for he altogether appeared Dogged and Melancholy; and when he had a smat­tering of English, he would often throw himself upon the Ground, in a melancholy posture, and passionately cry'd out, Home go Saldania, go Coore home, go. So that all hopes being lost of bringing him to any better manners, than what he had na­turally im [...]ibed, they sent him back again by the next Ships, and set him, to his no small joy, on Shore where they found him: So that at any time when he saw Ships with English Colours, he would come running to the Bay with Gut and Garbidg about his Neck, to them, doing them all the good Offices he could, being more pleased with that Beastly manner of Living than any other.

[Page 179] MANICONGO, is a very temperate Regi­on, free from extream Colds, as being sci­tuate under the Equator, rendring by that means the Soil exceeding fruitful, affording Fruits, Plants, Herbs, store of Pasturage; abundance of Bulls, Cows, Goats, Hares, Deer, Elephants, and Serpents so large that they will swallow a Man; Fowl of sundry kinds, they have in great plenty, both wild and tame, as being watered with the Rivers Coanza, Bengo, Barbela, Ambrizi, Dande, Loza, and Zare, and has in it the Mountains of Siera, Complida, the Chrystalline Mountain, where great store of Chrystal is found, the Mountains of the Sun, the Mountains of Sal Nitri affording great quantities of that kind of Minerals, and the Mountains of Cabambe, rich in Mines of Silver. And this Province of Manicongo, contains sundry lesser; the King stiles himself, King of Bomba, Congo, Sango, Sundi, Bangu, Batti, Pemba, Abundi, Matana, Quisoma, Angolu, and Cacanga, Lord of Congemes, Amolaze, Langelum, Anzuichi, Chucchi, and Zoanghi, though several of them are undisco­vered to the Europeans, the whole Coast being first discovered by the Portugals, who o [...]ened a way on this side of Afric, to the Wealth of India in Asia; and although the King of Congo, has no other Current Money but Cockle Shells, yet his Revenues are great by Presents, for none may come to him empty handed, as also by his share of Gold and Silver, digged out of the Mines; and in this Tract are sundry Nations of Cannibals who greedily devour Mans Flesh, rather than that of Beasts, and of these there are the Igges, or Giachi, inhabiting the Mountains of the Sun, the which though they have Wives 10 or 20 a piece, yet have they no Children to be their Heirs, for they unnaturally strangle them as soon as Born, and Eat them as Dainties, supplying the Decrease [Page 180] in number by such as they take Prisoners of either Sex, stealing none under 16 or 20 years of Age, which by force and custom they bring to be as bad as themselves, against whom the Batti, a neigh­bouring Province, keeps 70000 Men in Arms, to prevent the Stealing or Eating the rest. Ano­ther sort there are of these Monsters in Zazichana, who Eat not only their Enemies but their Friends and Kinsfolks; and if at any time they can make to the value of a penny more of a Slave Dead than Alive, they kill him, and cut out his Body in Joynts, selling it publickly in their Shambles, as Beef and Mutton with us; and when they have any that are Lean, they fat them for the Slaughter. And great pitty it is, that so good and fruitful a Country, as these Regions of Africk, should be possessed with such impious Wretches; wherefore lest a further Relation of such a bar­barous People, should prove ingrateful to the Reader, we will put a period to the Discourse of this Country, and of Africa, till we come to the Islands, and so proceed to the Description of A­merica, the fourth and last part of the World, yet discovered Continent, &c.

Estotiland, and its Regions described.

UNder the name of Estotiland we comprehend the Northern Regions of the Mexican Province, as also those on the East; and 'tis bounded Eastward with the Main Ocean; on the South with Canida, or Nova Francia; on the West with undiscovered Tracts of Land; and on the North with an Inlet or Bay of the Sea, called Hudsons Bay, taking its name from Henry Hudson an Englishman, who first discovered it.

ESTOTILAND, properly so called, is the most Northern Region on the East side of America, the Soil sufficiently inriched by Nature; the Natives Rude and void of Civility, Arts, or Tractableness, going many of them Named, notwithstanding the extream Cold, living by the Flesh of Wild Beasts they kill in the Woods, and is but little Inhabited but by the Natives, by reason of the lasting Winters; the greatest Advantage drawn from this extream Region, being the Fishing Trade, where in the Ri­vers at the Season, are such a Number of Cod, called New-land-fish, that with a red Rag and a Hook, a Man may catch forty or fifty in an hour, [Page 185] which dried and salted, are brought into England and other parts of Europe; besides they Trade some­times with the Natives for Feathers, Furs and Skins of Beasts; and the most noted places (for Cities you must expect none) are such as have been named by the English, viz. Prince Henry's Fore-land, Charles Cape, King's Fore-land, and Cape Wolstenham at the end thereof, where the Streights open in a large and spacious Bay, called Hudsons Bay; but to come more Southward, the next Region is Terra Corterialis.

In Terra Corterialis, the people are found to be of a little better Understanding, Cloathing them­selves more decently in Skins of Beasts, and such other Garments as they can conveniently obtain, being generally good Archers, getting their Pro­vision thereby, yet Strangers to Towns and Cities, as living in Caves and Swamps, or fortified Woods, to which they gave the Names of Towns or Villages; not Marrying, but living Common, most of them Idolaters, and those that are their Guides, pretend­ers to Southsaying and Witchcraft, much delighting in Fish, which they eat more gladly than any thing▪ though a French Colony setling here, have built some inconsiderable Towns, indifferently Inhabited, as Brest, Cabo-Marzo, Sancta Maria, and some others; and this part was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot in the Year 1499, at the Charge of King Henry the Seventh, though not Improved, but took soon after its name from Gaspar Corterialis a Portugal, who some years after, Sailing upon Discovery, fell in with it; and here are found Staggs, White Bears, and Scut-fish a Yard long, and such shoals of Cod-fish upon the Coast, that they retard the Sailing of the Ships.

[Page 186] NEW-FOVND-LAND, another part of this Tract lies on the South of Corterialis, parted from it by the Frith or Streight, called Golfes des Cha­steaux, pretty well Inhabited, though not free from the Extremities of Cold, and has on the Coast such abundance of Cod-fish, Herrings, Salmon, Mussles, with Pearls in their Shells, &c. that it is to be wondered at; as also Thornbacks, Smelts and Oy­sters; the up-land Country well Manured, produ­cing naturally Roses, and bears Pease in extraordi­nary Crops, Flourishing with Trees of sundry kinds, as well for Fruits as Shades; and in these Parts the Natives, scaping the Bloody Cruelty of the Spani­ards, are pretty Numerous, being of a reasonable Stature, broad Eye'd, full Faced, and Beardless, their Complexion the Colour of Oaker, and their Houses for the most part made of Pol [...]s, their Tops meeting together, and covered over with Skins, their Hearth, or Fire-place in the middle, after the manner of the Laplanders; their Boats, with which they Sail in the Rivers, and on the Sea near the Shoar, are made of the Bark of a Tree, that Country affords, 20 Feet in Length and 4 in Bredth, yet one of them weighs not 1 Hundred Weight; and on this Coast are many curious Bays, safe for Ships; and before this Part, which some term an Island, as being divided by the Frith from the Con­tinent, lyeth a long Bank or ridg of Ground of many Hundred Leagues extent, but not above 24 at the Broadest, and all about Islands, called by some Cabo Baccalaos, from the Swarms of Cod fish found about it, which by the Natives are called Baccalaos, so that the Bears frequently pull them out of the Water with their Paws and eat them: As for the Natives (upon the coming of the Christians▪) they Inhabited the Sea-Coast, but now for the most part have betaken themselves to the Woods and Fast­nesses, and used to express their Duty and Rever­ence [Page 187] towards their King, by stroaking their Fore­heads, and rubbing their Noses which if the King accepted, or was well pleased with the Par­ty, he turned his Head to his left Shoulder, as a mark of Favour: And at this day the Fishery for Ling and Cod, chiefly draws the English thither, though some Furrs and Civit are likewise to be found, which the Colonies there setled have much improved.

A Description of the Peruanian Province, or the Second De­vision of America.

THis great Province, divided into many lesser, resembles a Pyramid Reverse more properly so than Africk, joyned to that we have mentioned by the Isth­mus or Streights of Darien, deriving its Name from Peru the Chief Province of the whole, which stands thus divided, as far as is hitherto Inhabited by the Spaniards or other Europeans, viz. Castela Aurea, the new Realm of Granada, Peru, Chiel, Paragnay, Brasil, Guyana, and Paria, not account­ing the Islands, which are reserved for another place; and as for the boundards in general, having already described them; we now proceed to de­scribe the particular Provinces, and of them in their order, viz.

[Page 201] CASTELA DELORE, or Castela Aurea, is bound­ed on the West with Mare del Zur and some part of Virginia; on the South with the New Realm of Granada; on the East and North with Mare del Noort, called Castile, in reference to that in Spain, as being discovered by the Influence of those Kings, and Aurea added, by reason of the abun­dance of Gold found there, and contains Pana­ma, Darien, Nova, Andaluzia, St. Martha, and the Provinces De La Hacha, the Air in most parts is very Healthful, especially to those that have been there for any considerable time, or born there; howe­ver the In-land Countrey is thinly peopled, by reason the Spaniards upon their first settling there, destroy­ed in a manner the whole Race of the Natives, whose Assistance now they want to Manure the Soil; there were likewise found at their first Coming, an extra­ordinary number of Swine, which they also destroy­ed and suffered to rot upon the ground in such multi­tudes, that now, tho they would fain retrieve that loss, it is not in their power; however the Earth brings forth a considerable Encrease, where the Fields and Valleys are found, tho the Countrey a­bounds with barren Mountains and Woods, so that in this Province, besides the Mines of Gold and Silver that are found, enriching the people with great Treasure; they have Corn, Wine, Oyl, Mel­lons, Balsom, sundry sorts of Drugs and Trees of sundry kinds, producing Fruits different from what are found in Europe; and in the Province of A dalu­zia, the Spaniards upon their Arrival, greedy of Gold, found in the Graves of the Dead, which were brought from all parts to be buried there, as held to be the most Sacred ground, so much Treasure, that for a time they took no care to dig it out of the Mountains: As for the People Inhabiting this Tract, they are mostly Spaniards, those few Natives that are left, being in a manner their Slaves: The [Page 202] Countrey is full of great Rivers, as Rio de Lagartus, the River of Crocodiles; Sardinila, Sardino, Rio­de Comagres, Rio de Colubros, and others, being in many places overspread by the Spurs of the great Mountain Andes, held to be as big as any in the World.

The Chief Towns in this Province are Panama, Da­rien, on the bank of the Gulf of Vmbra; Carthage­ [...]a, scituate in a Sandy Peninsula, and consisting of 500 Houses; St. Martha scituate on the shoars of the Ocean; Lahach, scituate upon a River of that name; all of them under the Power of the Spaniards, governed according to the Laws of Spain, to which the Natives are obliged to submit.

NOVA GRANADA, or the New Realm of Gra­nada, lies on the North of Castela Aurea, being a­bout 130 Leagues in Length, and not much less in Breadth, and is divided into Granada and Popaya­na; the Air for the most part well, with a mixture of Heat and Cold, but more of the former; neither differ the days any thing considerably in length; the Countrey extreamly Woody, and somewhat Mountainous; yet stored with Fertile Plains, and breeds a number of Cattle, affording Veins of Gold and other Mettals, and in a part of it called Tunia, are found Emeralds of great value: The Natives that are yet remaining, go very decent, and are by their Conversation with the Spaniards (amongst whom they live in small Towns) much Civiliz'd; the Women being more White and Comly than in any other part, very Industrious, Tall, and well Proportioned, most of them embracing the Roman Catholick Religion, much delighting in Singing and Dancing▪ and as for the Chief Towns in this Pro­vince, are they St. Foy an Arch-bishops See; St. Mi­chael a Market Town, well Traded to; Trinidado seated on the River of that name; whose Fields are ful [...] of Vines of Chrystal, Emeralds, Adaments, and [Page 203] Chalcedons; Tunia, Pampelonia, Papayan, the u [...] ­al Residence of a Governour, and a Bishops See: Antiochia, Carthage, Sebastian de la Plata, so called from the Silver Mines in its Neighbourhood, with some others of less note: As for the Rivers and Mountains, most of them want names, wherefore for brevities sake, we pass over any tedious Enqui­ry into them.

As for this Province, it had its Name given by Gons [...]lvo Ximenes de Quesada, in reference to Granada in Spain, who having Murthered (contra­ry to Faith given) Sangipa the last King of Bagota, whom he had made use of in subduing the Panches, he seized his Treasure, which amounted to 191294 Pezoes of fine Gold, 35000 of courser Allay, and 1800 large Emeralds; by which the Riches of the Province may be guessed.

PERV lying South of the former Province, is accounted in Length 700 Leagues, but disproporti­onal in Breadth, as not exceeding in some places 60 and 40 Leagues, tho in others 100, and is di­vided into three parts, but so differing in nature and quality, as if they were at a larger dis [...]ance from each other, being called the Plains, th [...] Hill Countreys and the Andes; the first extending on the Sea shore, in all places level, without Hills; the second composed of Hills and Plains, stre [...]ching out from North to South; the whole Length of the Province; and the third a continual Ridg o [...] huge Mountains without any Valleys; however, [...]ho the Mountains and Hills are Woody, or otherways Barren, by reason of their Minerals, yet the Plains and Valleys produce store of Corn, Fruit, and Herbage, Flourishing with an Eternal Spring, the Southerly Wind continually blowing on them, bringing no Rain, though on the Mountains all manner of Winds have power, and bring Rain, Thunder, and Fair Weather by turns, as in other [Page 204] Countries, and to supply the want of Cattle, they have in the Woods and Mountains, a Beast like a Goat called Vicagues, and a kind of Sheep as big as young Bullocks; bearing large Fleeces, which they use as Horses, to carry their burthens; but if at any time they find themselves over-laden, neither force nor fair means can oblige them to move forward, be­fore they are alleviated, living upon slender diet, and will sometimes Journy three days without Wa­ter; and amongst Plants, the Fig-Tree in this Country has a strange effect, viz. the North part looking towards the Mountains, bringeth forth Fruit in the Summer only, and the South part looking towards the Sea in the Winter; and in this Province grow Coco's in great plenty, whose Leaves dryed in little Pellets, satisfie Hunger and Thirst, and are a great part of the diet the Spaniards afford their poor Slaves in the Mines, so that it is said 100000 Baskets full of them have been devoured in a year at the Mines of Petosia; and a plant they have, by which they try sick Persons, whe­ther they will live or dye, for if the Patient look chearful when it is fast grasped in his hand, then is it a sign of Recovery, but if sad, the contrary; and have Beasts called a Huanacu's, the Males of which stand Centinals upon the Mountains, whilest the Females descend and feed in the Valleys; and if they perceive any man approaching them, they give warning, by making a terrible noise; and hastily running to their assistance, interpose their Bodies till they make their retreat; and many other things are found worthy of note; and the whole Province is divided properly into three juri­dical Resorts, viz. Quito, Lima and Charcas, these having under them other Divisions of lesser note, as Las-Quixos, Cusco, Collao, &c.

[Page 205] As for the People they were not so ignorant, upon the first Arrival of the Spaniards, of Letters, whereby they might acquaint themselves with o­ther parts of the World, but that they labour to keep them so still, that they through Ignorance may the better brook their Yoak; however they are couragious and industrious, fearless of Death, animated to contemn Life in hopes in the other World to live in Luxury and Riot, and injoy deli­cate Women; so that when any of their Chiefs or petty Princes die, some of his Servants willingly submit to be Buried with him, that they may wait upon him afterward; some of them dwelling in the most Mountainous parts, go half naked; but the rest have long Mantles reaching to their heels, though in dressing their Heads they differ, each having a peculiar Fashion: And to guess at the Riches of this Country by some part of it, 'tis affirmed, that the Mines of Petozi, discovered in the year 1545. afforded for the Kings Fifth's pay­able to his Exchequer 111 Millions of Pezoes of Silver, every one valued at 6 s. 6 d. of our money, and yet a third part of the whole was discharged of that payment; and in some parts as much Gold is digged as Earth, &c. As for the Rivers of most note, they are St. Jago, Tombez, Guagaquil, and others of lesser note. The Towns are principally Carangues, Peru, Cusco, Andreo, Truxilo, Archidona, Baeza, Lima, Collao, Potozi, Plata, Chiquita, with others; but to draw to a conclusion of this rich Province, we need only say for a further Demon­stration, that when Atabalaba was overcome by Pizarro and his Spaniards, he gave (besides what infinite Sums the Spaniards had plundered before) for his Ransom, a large Room full of Gold piled up to the Ceiling; yet this prevailed not with those Unchristian like Christians, for falling out about the sharing, and willing to conceal it from the [Page 206] King of Spain; they notwithstanding contrary to their Oaths and promises, Strangled that poor Peruanian Prince, the last of the Race of the Inga's, or Emperors of Peru; for which violation and perfidy, God was not slow in punishing them all that were concerned in it, dying a miserable and untimely death: And in this Kings Pallace at Cusco, all his Utensils were of Gold and Silver, even to his Kitchen Furniture, and in his Ward-robe were found Statues of Giants, the Figures of Beasts, Fish, Birds, Plants, &c. in their proper shape and largeness of the same Mettal; and thus much for Peru, &c. whose Gold proved the ruin of the Natives, and the Impoverishment of Old Spain.

CHILE, is on the North bounded with the Desart of Alacama Interposing between it and Peru; on the West with Mare del Zur; on the South with the Magellan Streights; and on the East as far as Rio dela Plata, with the main At­lantick Ocean, Scituate in the temperate Zone, beyond the Tropick of Capricorn; if we reckoned to it some other Countries bordering on the Atlan­tick, not yet fully discovered called Chile or Chil from the extream cold it indures, when the Sun is in our Summer Solstice, that it is reported Horses and Riders in the extream parts are often Frozen to death, or lost in the Snows, which extreams on this side, and beyond the Equinoctial demonstrates the Continent of America to be larger than Asia; the Soil of this Tract in the mid-land parts is Mountainous and unfruitful, but towards the Sea­side, level and full of Trees abounding with Gold Silver, Honey, Cattle, Wine, Maize, Corn, &c. The Natives are of a Gigantick Stature, but very civil, if not too much provoked; cloathing them­selves with Skins of Beasts, and Arming with Bows and Arrows; shaggy Haired, and whiter of Complexion than any we have yet spoken of [Page 207] in the Peruanan Provin [...]s; and the Countrey is Watered with the Rivers of Rio de Copayapo, Rio de Coquimbo, La Ligna, Canten, Cacapool, Topocalma, and some others of lesser note, especially one, though we find not the name, which falls into the Sea with a violent Torrent all day, but in the night its Channel is dry, and the reason is, it has its Wa­ters from the melted Snow falling from the Moun­tains, which cease when the Sun is gone down: The Towns of note in Chile and Magellanica, for into these two parts is the Province divided, are St. Ja­go the Chief, tho not above 80 Houses in it, be­cause it is the Residence of the Governour and Court of Judicature. Serena on the Sea-shoar, ha­ving in it about 200 Houses, and near it many Mines of Gold Conception. Delos Confines, Imperi­ale and some few more in the part called Chile, but in Magellanica, we find nothing but Capes and Ri­vers Inhabited, a Savage and Barbarous People af­flicted with sharp Winds, and the Mountains con­tinually covered with Snow, wherefore as a Coun­trey not fit for Commerce, we leave, it and proceed to Brasil.

BRASIL is a large Tract, reaching from 29 to 30 degrees South Latitude, 1500 miles in Length, and 500 in Breadth, bounded on the East with Mare del Noort or the Main Atlantick; on the West with undiscovered Countreys, on the North with Guiana, and on the South with Paragua, or the Province of Rio de la Plata, and is a great part of it possessed by the Portugals and Dutch: The Countrey intermixed with Rivers, Mountains, Woods, and pleasant Plains; the Air wholsome, by reason of the purg­ing Winds which rise from the Southern Coast, e­very day about Ten in the Morning; the Countrey yielding great store of Sugar Canes, which is brought to perfection by the working of many Thou­sands of Slaves, so that the Portugals brought thence [Page 208] in few Years 150000 Arobes of that Commodity, each Arobe containing 25 Bushels of our Measure; and here it is the Brasil Wood grows, whereof there are Trees of such bigness, that when the Rivers o­verflow, as frequently they do in the level Coun­trey, the Inhabitants dwell in the Branches of them, like Birds in their Nests, till the Waters abate.

The People in this Tract nearest the Line, are of a reasonable Understanding, wearing Apparel, but further off they are Barbarous, both Men and Women going stark naked, gladly eating Humane Flesh, insomuch that when they can privately catch any of the Christians, they Roast them, and invite all their Friends, feasting on the Flesh, with great Merriment; and here the Women are wonderful quick, and easie at Child-bearing, never lying by it, but in two or three days seem as well as ever: Beasts are found in this Tract of strange forms; one with the head of an Ape, the Body of a Man, and the feet and paws of a Lyon; a Plant they have called Copiba, the back of which being slit, affords a preci­ous Balm, which is so well known by the Beasts of the Forrests, that when they have taken in any Poison, or are bit by Serpents or other Venemous Creatures, they fly to it for succour, as to a Sanctu­ary for Life, and by sucking in the Antidote, find a speedy Cure: An Herb they have, that being rough­ly touched, as in Modesty, shrinketh in its branch­ing Leaves, and opens them not till the party who offends is gone out of sight. The People in this Tract, both Men and Women, are good Swimmers, and so used to Diving, that they will remain under Wa­ter an hour without respiration, and many of them are so over-grown with Hair, that they seem rather Beasts than Men; the Divisions of Brasil are Sr. Vincent, Rio de Janeiro, Del Spiritu Santo, Porto Se­guro, Des Ilheos, Todas Los Santos, Paraguay, Rio [Page 209] de la Plata, Tucaman, St. Crux de Siera, a Province full of Palm Trees; Fernambuck rich in Tobacco and Sugar; Tamaraca, Paraiba, Rio-grande, Siara, Maragnon, and Para, being termed Captainships or Praefectures, possessed by the Portugals, Spaniards, French, Dutch and other Nations, who in some places live promiscuously with the Natives, and in others, some coming in search of Adventures, o­thers driven by Distress, as being not suffered to live quietly at home; insomuch that tho the Bra­silians had but few Houses and fewer Towns, yet now the encrease of them has rendered it in many parts a pleasant Countrey, the Plains enriched like those of Egypt, by the overflowing of the Rivers, which are exceeding large.

GVIANA is another Tract of this Peruanian Con­tinent, bounded on the East with the Main Atlan­tick Ocean; and on the West with the Mountains of Peru, or an undiscovered Countrey interposing be­tween them; on the North with the River, Orenoque; and on the South, as some will have it with the Amazons; tho indeed we find no such Countrey; however it is undiscovered, and there­fore Travellers have liberty to name it as they please.

Tho Guiana is scituate on both sides the Line, ex­tending from the Fourth degree of Southern to the Eighth degree of Northern Latitude; notwithstand­ing by reason of the fresh Winds and cool Air that comes off the Sea and Rivers, it is indifferently Temperate; towards the Sea side it is level, but the Inland swelled with rising Hills, and the Trees and Fields wearing a lasting green, as knowing no Win­ter, there being always ripe and green Fruits and Blossoms at the same time; so that it may be com­pared for pleasantness, with any we have yet named in this Tract.

[Page 210] The People (Natives of Guiana) have no settled Government, yet reduce themselves into Tribes, under several Heads or Chiefs, though this is left to their own discretion, and every one may sepa­rate when he pleases, and all the punishment they have for Offenders, is only in case of Adultery and Murther, for which when proved, the Criminal makes an Expiation with his Life; the poorer sort are allowed but one Wise, and the rich two or three; not owning any God, but either not re­garding from whence they had their being, and are by Power sustained, or Atheistically ascribing all to Fate and Chance: As for their Accompts they keep them in bundles of Sticks, which they in­crease or diminish according as the Debt or Busi­ness grows more or less; and at their Funerals the Women howl extreamly, whilst the Men on the contrary are Singing and Feasting.

This Country is divided into the Provinces of Rio-de-Las, Amazons, Wiapoco, or Guiana, proper­ly so called, Orenoque, Trinidado, and Tobago; and are full of great Rivers stored abundantly with Fish, and wild Fowl, but most of all they refresh the Gountries with the Dews that arise from them and the principal of these are Orenoque, Arrawari, Cona­wini, Caspurough, or Cassipure, falling into the At­lantick Ocean, Wiapoco, the River of the Amazons, and a great many of lesser note; and in this Tract are said to be Mountains of intire Chrystal; Mines there are of Gold and Silver, with many strange Plants, Fruits, and Beasts; as also Tobacco and Sugar Canes, and at Comolaha, on the South of Arenoque, they hold a Fair for the Sale of Women, only where an English-man left by Sir Walter Ra­l [...]igh, reports to have bought 8 for a three half-penny red hafted Knife, the eldest not exceeding 18 Years, which he says without making any Bur­glarys upon their Virginities, he liberally bestowed [Page 211] in Marriage on sundry of the Natives: And near this place is the mighty Water-fall, or Cataract of the River Arenoque, whose horrid noise makes the Mountains tremble, which may well fit the Words of the Poet, viz.

In an other part of this Province they have a strange custom with their Dead, for when the Flesh is worn off the Bones by Putrefaction, they hang up the Skeleton in the Chamber or House where the party died, decking the Skull with Feathers of divers Colours, and hanging Jewels and Plates of Gold, about the Arm and Thigh Bones. As for the Towns of note in this Tract, they are Mano, called by the Spaniards El'Dorado, from the abundance of Gold and Silver Coin, Ar­mour, and Utensils found there, held to be the largest of all the Country, though some question the Truth of this place; Caripo, Gomeribo, Tanpa­ranume, Morequuto, St. Thome, and St. Joseph, with some others of lesser note, which they are obliged to build upon Hills, Rocks, or the like advantageous Places, forasmuch as the Rivers yearly overflow a great part of the Country, obliging the Natives to live in Trees with their Families, building them Hutts in the Branches like Birds Nests.

PARIA, another considerable Province, lies on the West of Guiana, divided into the lesser Countries of Cumana, Venezuela, St. Margaita, Cu­bagna, [Page 212] and some Islands; and here the Nature of the Soil and People are different, though in general the Country is very Pleasant, being watered with the Rivers of Rio-de-Cacioas, Rio-de-Neveri, Cumana de Bardones, and others of lesser note, and has for its chief Towns, Maracapana (once a Spanish Gar­rison) Venezuela, New Cadiz, and some others; and in this Tract the Pearl Fishery is used, those valuable Commodities being gotten by Diving, and they bring up a Fish much like an Oyster, out of the Shells of which they take the Pearls, supposed to be Ingendred there by the falling of Dews, when the Fish opens to receive the Air upon the Shoar: and though the People in the Province of Cumana have Plenty of Fruits and Cattle, with other things whereby to subsist even to Riot, yet they rather chuse to feed upon Insects and Vermin, as Batts, Spiders, Horse-leaches, Worms, &c. each Man being allowed as many Wives as he can maintain, though they never have the Maidenheads of any, prostituting them the first Night to their Piacos, or Priests, or their appointment, who for small matters turn over that Drudgery to Strangers; nor do they at any time think their Guests welcome, unless they will do the Office of Men to their Wives, Sisters, &c. blackning their Teeth, and Painting their Bodies of diverse Colours; in this Tract are found diverse Mines of Gold, some of Silver, and other Minerals; and here the Spaniards met with many disasters, as well the Ecclesiasticks, as Military, being frequently expulsed or cut off by the Salvages, who are in general a Stout and Warlike People; and here are found the Capa, a Beast, the Soles of whose Feet are like a Shooe, and a Hog of monstrous size, with Horns like a Goat, living altogether upon Ants, Pismires, Par­rots, and Batts; and could I have added to this Bill of Fair, Booksellers and Printers, the World [Page 213] might have taken this Monster for a meer Robin Hog, &c.

Cattle this Country affords in great Quantities, insomuch that Instructed by the Europeans, they make Butter and Cheese of their Milk, in sundry places, which the Natives take as the Prince of Ra­rities. And thus much Reader may suffice for the Empires, Kingdoms, Provinces, and States of the Universe, relating to the Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, from which we proceed (for the greater Satisfaction of the Curious) to the De­scription of the Islands scattered in the several Seas, attributed to the four Parts of the World; and of these in their Order.

Great Britain Described.

GREAT BRITAIN, being in a man­ner known to most that Inhabit it, may occasion some to reflect upon this brief Description as superfluous; however, having undertaken to omit nothing material in this great Undertaking, which indeed wanted nothing but the permission of a larger Scope, to render it more Illustrious, we will not be wanting to give a [Page 214] modest Account of the Princess of Islands, or Epi­tome of the Universe, being properly, and not without just Reason stiled, the World Minature; and in this case we must divide it into two Parts, viz. England, Wales, &c. and Scotland, comprehend­ing the Ocean Islands.

A Description of the Isle of Creet, and other Islands.

THe Isle of Creet was very famous in former times, for being Mistress of those Seas, nor less for its Fruitfulness, and commodious Scituation for Traffick, as being posited between the Ionian, Li­byque, Aegean, and Carpathian Seas, and is now better known by the name of Candia, taken at seve­ral times by the Turks from the Venetians; and is in [Page 222] circuit about 650 Miles, abounding with Oyl, Wine, Corn, Cattle, and many other things of value, which made the Turks contend with the loss of much Blood, to possess themselves of the whole, when they had found the sweetness of a part of it: As for Hills, Mountains, and Rivers of note, this Island affords not many, but has for its Chief Cities Rhetimo, Candia, and Canea, or New Candy, built by the Turks to secure their first possession in the Island; and in this plenteous Countrey Titus was Bishop: As for the other Islands lying about it there are only Claudia and Egelia; very Fruitful by reason of their scituation, but not considerable by reason of their smallness.

The Islands in the Ionian Sea described, &c.

THe Islands in this Sea are chiefly these, viz. CYTHERA commonly called Serigo, held Sacred by the Poets to Venus, who took her other name from hence, lying about 5 Miles from Cape Mello in Peloponnesus; and altho it is not above 60 Miles in Compass, yet it yields such store of Fruits, Corn, and other Commodities of value, that it is esteemed the Jewel of this Sea, and was formerly called Porphyrus from the abundance of that sort of Stone digged out of its Mountains; and has for its Chief Town Capsalo, scituate on a small Haven, tho not so much frequented, by reason of its shallow­ness.

The Strophades are a brace of Islands, where V­lisses and Aeneas are said to find the Harpy's, and in­deed fit for such kind of Creatures only, by reason of their Rockiness, which renders them so barren, that only a few Greeks, and some others (out of a desire to exercise their Religion without molestation) pos­sess them.

ZANT, an Island of the Venetians, not exceed­ing 60 Miles in Circumference, is yet so abundant­ly [Page 223] Fruitful, that it almost exceeds the credit of Re­port, producing the Grocery sort of Currants, for which it is famed above all other Places; also Pomegranates, Citrons, Oranges, Lemons, Olives, Granadires, Grapes, that make strong Wine, both white and red, and has for the Defence of its Ha­ven a strong City and Castle, Inhabited by Greeks and Venetians, yet has the Misfortune to be subject to Earth-quakes, though not extraordinary; and indeed the Country is not so Fruitful, but the ma­jor part of the Inhabitants are as wicked, not mak­ing it a scruple to Murther any, against whom they have conceived a Grudge.

The Echinades are five small Islands, supposed to be made by the Seas casting up Sand Banks, and the Mud that comes out of the River Achelous, ac­cording to Poets speaking in the Name of that River, viz.

And indeed they are rather Rocks, or hardened Earth, than any Island of note and so we leave them.

CEPHALONIA is in Circumference about 156 Miles, and contrary to the Echinades, very Fruitful, as yielding Figgs, Olives, Rasins, Currants, Hony, Sweet Water, Mulberries, Pine, Date, Malvasi, Muscadel, Vino Leatico, Wooll, Cheese, Turkeys, Drugs, and Dyes, besides Cattle, Corn, and Rich Pastures; and has for its chief Towns, held under the Venetians, Guiscardo, Nolo, and Argostoli, In­habited [Page 224] by Greeks and Venetians; the people Civil, and very honest Dealers.

CORFV is another Island in the Ionian Sea, 44 Miles in Length, and 24 in Breadth; taking its name from the City of Corfu, seated at the foot of a large Mountain, on which to strengthen it, tho strong in it self, are two Fortresses, but chiefly out of the na­tural Rock; and tho the Southern part of this I­sland be mountainous and subject to hot Blasts, yet the whole in general produces Corn, Oranges, Le­mons, Pomegranets, Fig Trees, Olives, Wax, Ho­ney, some Drugs, and many other pleasant Fruits, tho it has not in it any Rivers of note.

ITHACA is a small Island giving a name to Vlysses, who was born there, tho now it has lost its own name, and is called Val de Campare; in compass not above 56 Miles, and of little note, unless for the Reception of Pyrats that haunt this Sea.

St. MAVRO, formerly called Leucadia, is a small Island inhabited mostly by Jews, formerly the Vene­tians, but taken from them by the Turks; and altho at present it is not much set by, yet formerly was it of such esteem, that the Inhabitants cut an Isthmus of Two Miles breadth, that joyned it to the Continent, and was famous for the Temple of Apollo seated in it; from the top of which, those that leaped into the Sea were held to be cured of extravagant Love; bet­ter believed than experienced.

Of the Adriatick Sea, and the Islands therein.

THe Adriatick Sea is that at the bottom of which the City of Venice is seated, it being accounted 700 Miles in Length, and 104 in Breadth, and has in it these Isles, viz.

MESINA, an Island about 150 Miles in Circumfe­rence, yielding considerable Plenty, and has only [Page 225] a strong Fortress for its Defence, the Towns being mostly unwalled, and but indifferently stored with Houses or Inhabitants.

LISSA or Clissa, is another of the Adriatick Islands 20 Miles over, and 60 in Circumference, very Fruitful, and in Subjection to the Venetians, who only defend the Sea Ports, and by that means hold the rest in Subjection.

CVRZOLA a place not exceeding 60 Miles in Circumference, yet of great moment to the Veneti­ans in rendring them Wood sufficient to build their Ships and Galleys; having the Chief Town of the same name with the Island, defended by Two strong Fortresses, Commanded by a Governour, revoked or changed yearly; and altho the Island it self affords no extraordinary Merchandise, yet it lies Commo­dious for Ships Trading in those parts.

The Mediterranean Sea Considered, toge­ther with the Islands therein.

THe Mediteranean Sea is so called from its Midland Scituation, as being environed with the Earth, &c. and in it are found these Islands of Note, viz.

SICILY, about 700 Miles in Circumference, fam­ed throughout the World for its Fertility, produ­cing Oyl, Corn, Wine, Rice, Sugar, Alloms, Salts, Fruits, Mettals, Corral; and of Cattle such abundance, that it feeds not only it self but a great part of Italy and other Neighbouring Countries, and was ac­counted the Granary of ancient Rome; nor can the New well subsist without its supplies: And here is found the Flaming Mount Aetna, which frequently has such horrible Eruptions, that it not only sends Stones and Cinders with Fire into the Air an in­credible height, which scatter over many parts of the Countrey, but to the great Misfortune of the Inhabitants, and many times to the overthrow of Towns and Cities, emitteth streams of Liquid Fire [Page 226] or melted Minerals, which have been known to run in a Fiery Torrent a mile into the Sea, before the Waves could extinguish them; and here the Chief Cities are Mesina and Syracuse; and the whole Coun­trey at present is under the King of Spain, tho formerly it was an entire Kingdom Governed by a King of its own; the Kings of Sicily, lately stiling themselves Kings of Jerusalem; and the people are much of the nature of those in Italy, from which the Island is divided by a small Arm of the Sea only.

MALTA, anciently Melita, the Landing Place of St. Paul in his way to Rome, when the Viper clave to his hand, and he shook it into the Fire, is a fair Island, tho but little in Compass, yielding store of Oranges, Lemons, Figgs, Citrons, Cottoons, Pom­granats, and many other delicious Fruits; but is so unhappy to be mostly deficient in Wine and Corn, by which it is supplied from Sicily and other parts; however it is one of the Chief Sea Fortresses or Bulwarks of Christendom against the Turks, Com­manded by an Order of Knights, called the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, tho vulgarly termed or named the Knights of Malta; the whole Territory being 10 Leagues in Length and 4 in Breadth, yet contains 60 Villages, and 4 principal Cities; the Chief Valet, a strong and well Fortified City, where­in the great Master of the Order has his Palace, and the Knights their Chambers; as also a Tower from whence a Prospect may be taken of the whole Island.

CORSICA, Scituate over against Genoa, being 325 Miles in Circumference, and of a very Fruitful Product, yielding Corn, Wine, Figgs, Raisins and Hony, and has in it Iron Mines, Mines of Allom, and other Minerals, and has for its chief Cities, Ba­stia, (pleasantly seated on the North East part of the Island, on a commodious Haven) Mara, Galle­ra, St. Florence, St. Boniface, and some others of lesser note, and is under the Government of Genoa, [Page 227] and affords a Beast, rarely found but in this Island, called Mufoli, with a Skin like a Deer, but harder by many Degrees, and Horns like a Ram; and here are bred an Excellent Race of good Horses, and is an Island much noted for its good Havens, upon the Account of the Reception for Shipping, Trading in the Mediterranean.

SARDINIA is another Island of this Tract, not above 7 Miles distant from the former, though much larger, as not held to be less than 560 Miles in compass, abounding with Corn and Fruit, as being but little troubled with Hills; and though the Soil is Rich, yet no Poisonous nor Offensive thing is found in the Island, having for its principal Cities Coliaris, (well Inhabited and Fortified, seated upon a good Haven, being an Arch-Bishops See) Repa­rata, Bossa, and Aquilastra, and in the whole Island are two other Arch-Bishops, and 15 Suffraga [...] Bi­shops; the People throughout this Island demean­ing themselves courteous to Strangers, and are very just in their dealings.

The Baleares are sundry Islands found in this Sea, and the greatest of these are Majorca and Minorca.

MAJORCA is an Island about 300 Miles in Cir­cumference, lying about 60 Miles from the Coast of Spain, all the Borders of it being Mountainous, and for the most part Barren, but the Inland Countrey Fruitful, bearing Corn, Olives, Grapes, Fruits of sundry Kinds, and has in it the City of Majorca, a University; and that of Palma.

MINORCA is about 9 miles distant from the for­mer, and 150 miles in Circumference, having for its Principal Cities or Towns, Minorca, and Javan, and is a Flourishing Island, especially the Inland Parts, both of them under the King of Spain: near to these are two other small Islands, viz. Ebrisa, and Olihusa, considerably Fertile, but not large, well Inhabited, or of any considerable Trade, [Page 228] there are moreover the lesser Islands dispersed abroad as the Vulcanian or Aeolian Islands, on the Sioilian Shoar; the principal of which is Lipra, not ex­ceeding 10 miles in Circumference, and are both properly called the Liparean Islands, and abound with Sulphur, Allom, Bitumen, hot Baths, and some Fruits, though not much, as being very Rockey and Mountainous, yet Inhabited by some Spaniards.

VVLCANIA, formerly held to be the Forge of Vulcan, where he made Thunder-bolts for Jupi­ter, by reason it cast out Fire in three rising Hills, like the Funnels of Chimneys, casting up Stones, and horribly Roaring like a Smiths Forge.

STROMBOLO is another Aelian Island, or rather a Burning Mountain in the Sea, carrying its Flames and Fire so bright, that it appears like a Beacon, and may be seen in the dark for many Leagues; held by some who know no better, to be the mouth of Hell; when indeed this and all other Burning Mountains are occasioned by the firing of Minerals, or the unctuous Quality of the Earth; thro the ve­hement Agitation of Heat and Cold, strugling for mastery in the vacant Caverns, &c.

There are in this Tract 18 Islands, called the Isles of Naples, but only Isica, and Capra, and Ae­naia are of any moment, and these so small, that they render little Trade: There are others called the Ligurian Islands, viz. Elba and Gallinara and some others, rather Rocks than Islands; wherefore we pass them over as unworthy a place in this Book; and thus much to these Islands.

The Oriental Islands are those of the Eastern Seas, and to these by many (tho somewhat improperly) are reckoned Rhodes and Cyprus, Two famous Islands in the Mediterranean, exceedingly abounding in all manner of Plenty, and have for their Chief Cities Famagusta and Rhodes, both Famous for their [Page 229] Strength, and the Sieges they sustained against the whole Power of the Turks.

ORMVS, lying upon the Aethiopian Coast, and a place much frequented, spoken of before.

ZELON, a Famous Island for Plenty, lying not far from the Indian Coast called Cape Comerein.

MOLOCCOES, Six Islands in Chief, but have many other subject to them, viz. Tidar, Tarnate, Macir, Rachian, Machin, and Bottone, the only I­slands, fruitfully abounding with Cloves, Nutmegs, Ginger, Cinamon, Aloes, and Pepper, for which they are much Traded to by the Europeans.

AMBOYNA is an Island Fruitful in Lemons, Oranges, Cloves, Cocoa's, Bonanus Sugar Canes, and other valuable Commodities; and here it was the Dutch executed their Inhumane Cruelties on the English, and is called one of the Islands of Sindae or Selebes; the other Three being the Selebes, Magassar, and Gilolo, considerably Rich and Plentiful, but Inha­bited partly by Canibals, and partly by a rude sort of people, little inferiour to them; and next to these is Banta or Banda, abounding with Nut­megs.

JAVAMAJOR and Minor, are Two extraordina­ry Islands abounding with Spices, Rice, and Cot­ton, and all other things necessary for the subsistance of Life, Governed by many Kings, which are in continual War with each other; and in this Tract are Bala and Madara, Bocuro, Burneo.

SVMATRA, is a very pleasant Island of East In­dia, as indeed are most of the Oriental Islands nam­ed, 700 Miles in Length, and 200 in Breadth; and to these of this Tract we may add the Philippine I­slands, many in number, but most of them small spots or specks in the Sea; and the Chief of these Islands, being in the possession of the Spaniards, are Minbanao, Lusson, Tandain, and Pollohan, abound­ing with Fruit, Cattle, pleasant Rivers, Fowls, &c. [Page 230] Here are also the two Islands of Avirae, lying West ward of Sumatra.

The Islands of Africa Described.

MADAGASCAR, a large Island of 1000 Miles in Length, and 230 Miles over, Inhabited by Negroes, where either Sex go Naked, and con­sequently there is no Imployment for Taylors; yet with the Natives the Europeans Trade, tho mostly for Slaves, Copper, Gold, Silver, &c. and in this Tract are found the Islands of Chameree, Meottey, Mohelia, Mauritius, Johanan, an a Woody Island, called Englands Forrest, but of no Trade, though considerably Fruitful.

Socotora, is an Island lying at the Mouth of the Red Sea, 60 miles in length, and 64 in breadth, abounding with Gums, Alloes, Spices, &c. Here are also the Island of St. Thomas, the Princes Island, and the Gorgades, in number 9, viz. St. Vincent, St. Anthony, St. Lucius; Buenavisita, Insula, Salis, Del [...]ogo, St. Nicholas, St. James, and St. Majo.

The Canary Islands are in number 7, viz. The Grand Canary, La Palma, Teneriffa, Lancerota, Hie­orro, Forte Ventura, and La Gomera; all of them very plentiful, abounding with Fruits, Cattle, &c. But above all, the Canarys yield us the Wine, taking its name from the Country; and in one of them is found the Mount Teneriff, much transcending the Clouds, as being 15 miles in ascent.

Maedera is a famous Island, first discovered by an English Ship, cast away upon the Coast, now a­bounding with Corn, Wine, Honey, Sugar Canes, and Madder, used in Dying: and upon the Coast is Holy Port, an Island, though but 15 miles in com­pass, very fruitful and pleasant.

[Page 231] The Azores are 9 in number, viz. Tercera, the principal, St. Michael, St. George, St. Mary, Fyall, Gratiosa, Pico, Corno, and Flores, not being very Fruitful, except the first.

Hesperides, or the Hesperian Islands, are 3 in num­ber, viz. Buanista, Mayo, and Sal, lying about an 100 miles from the Continent of Africk, being in themselves not only Fruitful, but exceeding plea­sant, by reason of the temperate Air, which oc­casioned the Poetical Fictions, of their being the Elizium Fields, or aboad of happy Souls after their departure.

The American Islands, &c.

JAMAICA, now an English Colony, lately taken from the Spaniards, is 170 miles in length, and 70 in breadth, very pleasant and temperate, consider­ably Fruitful, abounding with Oranges, Lemons, Cocoa Nuts, Pomgranates, and other curious Fruits, abounding with Cattle as England, the Trees al­waies Green, &c.

BARBADOES, an other English Colony, is very well inhabited, yielding store of Sugar, Cat­tle, Corn, &c. though not exceeding 14 or 15 miles in length.

BERMVDES, called the Summer Islands, are very pleasant, abounding with Oranges, Sugar, and other Commodities, breeding in their Mulberry Trees, great store of Silk-worms, which return to considerable account.

ST. CHRISTOPHERS is a small Island, yet produces store of Tobacco, Cotton, Ginger, full of Woods and steep Mountains, and is possessed by the English and French.

NEVIS, about 18 miles in circumference, is a Colony of the English, and produces Cotton, Sugar, Ginger, &c.

[Page 232] ANTEGO is about 7 Leagues in length, and as much in breadth, with very rocky Shoars, unsafe for Shipping, yet abounding in Fruit, Fish, Venison, Tobacco, Indico, Sugar, &c.

HISPANIOLA, 350 Leagues in Circumfe­rence, very Fruitful, as are all the Islands in this Tract, viz. Cuba, Laba, Balima, Lucayoneque, Abacoo, Biminy, Labaquene, Viemo, Curateo, Gotao, Oquaato, Samana, St. Salvador, Le Triangulo, St. Vincent, Dominica, Anguila, and some others, scarcely taken notice of by Historians, as for the most part not in­habited, yet visited frequently by the Neighbou­ring Islanders, upon the account of the wild Cattle and Fruits found in them; and for the conveniency of the Fishing Trade. And upon these Coasts of America, are lately setled two Colonies of English, in Pensylvania and Carolina, very prosperous and thriving: But not having more room for a further Description, we must, after having thus far proceed­ed, put a period to this our History of the Universe.