Som animadversions and observations upon Sr. Walter Raleigh's Historie of the world wherein his mistakes are noted and som doubtful passages cleered / by Alexander Ross.

Lib. 4. cap. 2. § 15.

WEe may give credit to Writers, making men∣tion of such Amazons] I see no ground why wee should give credit to those Autors who write of the Amazons, seeing they never saw anie, but only write upon hear-saie: & wee know how manie fictions and fabulous stories are communicated by traditi∣on from one to another. It is true, there have been in all ages warlike women; but that there should bee a particular race of women, who domineer'd over their husbands, commanding them to spin and card, and look to houshold business, whilst they did wage watts abroad; that give themselvs but once a year to copulation, that onely educa∣ted their daughters in militarie emploiements, and either killed or maimed their ions, that cut off their right brest and such like stuff, is all ridiculous, and no more to bee credited then the stories of tbe Gor∣gones, Harpies, and Sirenes: for to what end should they cut off a pap or breast, seeing the breast is no hindrance to shooting; for wee read of women that have been excelient Archers, and yet have had both their breasts: neigher do I think that they were called Amazones from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the pap, but from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and this from the Hebrew Mazzah, which is a cake, or loaf made of meal and water, or milk, which the Amazones never used, but conten∣ted

themselvs with Snails, Lisards, and such kinde of food; therefore poor people that could not reach to eat bread, were called Amazones. And the less credit wee are to give to them that write of those Amazons, becaus they cannot agree where they dwelt: for Diodorus placeth them in Lybia, and in the Atlantic Ocean; Trogus, and Justin make them Scythians; Ptolomie, and Curtius place them near the Caspian sea; others will have them to dwel near the river Thermodoon: Goropius will have them to bee Cimbrians, or Sarmatians: Lopez will have them to bee in Congo, and in America, where the river of Amazons is so called from this fiction: others again bestow upon them a great part of the Kingdom of Monomotapa: but the truth is, they were never anie where; and of this minde is Strabo, lib. 11. Diodorus Siculus, lib. 2. cap. 11. and Palephatus, lib. 1. of whose opinion I am, That the Amazones were nothing els but Thiacian men close shaven, and wearing long garments like women, which gave the occasion to this Fiction.