[illustration]

AFRICA

Petrus Kaerius caelavit

[map of Africa]

The Description of AFRICA.

AFrica, as it lay nearest the seat of the first people, so questionless it was next inhabi∣ted: and therefore requires the second place in our Division. It is generally agreed upon, that the North parts were possest by the sons of Cham not long after the confu•i∣on. And so indeed that Kingly Prophet in the 78 Psalm, useth the tents of Cham for the Land of Egypt, which is that part of Africa which joyns upon the South west of Asia, and is divided from the Holy Land but by a small Isthmus. Give the people their own asking, and they will have the glory of the first Inhabitants of the world: and prove it too both from the temperature of their air, and fertility of their soil, which breeds and nourisheth not only Plants and fruits, but sends forth, of its own vertue, living creatures in such sort, as amazeth the be∣holder. We have a report (if you will belive it) that in a ground neer the River Nilus, there have been found Mice half made up, and Nature taken in the very nick, when she had already wrought life in the fore-parts, head and breast, the hinder joynts yet remaining in the form of earth. Thus I suppose they would have man at first grown out of their soil, without the immediate hand of God in his Creation. And it hath been the opinion of some vain Philosophers, that for this cause have made the Eihiopians to be the first people: for that there the Sun by his propinquity, wrought soonest upon the moisture of the ground, and made it fit for mortality to sprout in.

(2) But to leave these, without doubt Africa is of great antiquity, and so is allowed by all Historians of credit: In the year 1566 the people were increased to an exceeding multitude; and therefore were enforced to enlarge their bounds, upon their neighbouring Countries. For as it was of a most rare fertility; so it lay not any long way, and had free access to it by land from the garden of our first Pa∣rents.

Page  25(3) In the time of Abraham we have better assurance from the Word of God, that it was then a place of •ame, and the Inhabitants of some growth, for they were able to supply the wants of the Countries adjoyning by their store: and thither went Abraham out of the Land of Canaan, to avoid the great famine, Gen. 12. She had then her Princes, Pharaoh and his mighty men, that feared not to resist God, and were afterward made the instruments of his punishments upon the children of Israel: for they kept them in bondage four hundred years, as was foretold to Abraham in the 15 of Genesis.

(4) But this proof of Ancientry concerns not the whole Country: only those Regions which lie under the temperate Zone. The rest for a long time after were unknown to our Geographers, held not habitable, indeed, beyond mount Atlas, by reason of the extream heat. The reports which pass of it before Ptolomy's time were but at random, and by guess of such as had never •ailed it round, or scarce come within sight of it, but at a great distance, and by this means, either out of their own er∣rour, or else a desire of glory more than they had deserved: or perhaps a Travellers trick, to cheat the ignorant world that could not confute their reports, they spread many idle fables of monstro•s people without heads, with their eyes and mouths in their breasts, maintained to this day by some Au∣thors of good esteem. But for my part I hold it most reasonable to credit Saint Augustine, who was born and died in Africa. That he in his eighth Book De Civitate Dei, acknowledgeth no such crea∣tures; or if they be, they be not men, or if men, not born of Adam. And our later Discoveries joyn in with him, that report not (upon their own▪ experience) of any other people than such as our selves are: and yet I suppose they have seen more of the Country than ever any heretofore did. For they pass not now to sail it round once a year, by the Cape of good hope to the East-side of the very Ist•inus toward the Red-Sea.

(5) This course by the South was discovered by one Vasco de Gama, in the year 1497. and a way Page  26 found to the East Indies, by which the Princes of Portugal receive an infinite gain, both in Spices and other Merchandise. The hope of which first set them upon the Adventure. And in this one thing we owe much to our own Countrey, otherwise a detestable plague, that the in•atiate desire of wanton commodi•ies hath opened to us a large part of the world befo•• not known, and which we hope may hereafter increase the light of the Gospel, and the number of the Elect.

(6) If we compare her to the two other portions of the same Hemisphere, she is situated wholly South, and in part West-ward. It is divided on the North from Europe by the Mediterran•um Sea: On the South, where it runs into a kind of point at the C•pe of good Hope, it is bound with the vast Ocean, which in that part hath the name of the Athiopick Sea: on the East with the Red Sea, and on the West with the Atlantick Ocean, called there in our common Maps, Mare del North. So that in breif we reckon both her Longitude and Latitude in the largest parts to be near upon 4200. English miles.

(7) Not withstanding this vast extent of ground, yet we of Europe still keep our own, and by au∣thority of the most and best Geographers, exceed as much for number, as either this or Asia do for room. Cause enough there is why Africa indeed should come short of bo•h: for in most parts she hath scarce plenty sufficient to maintain Inhabitants, and where there is, we shall meet with multitudes of ravening Beasts, or other horrible Monsters, enough to devour both it and us. In a word, there is no Region of the world so great an enemy to mans commerce: there is such scarcity of water, that no creature almost could live, had not nature provided thereafter; that the grea•er part of them endures not drink in the very midst of Summer. So Pliny reports. And if, as sometimes they be inforced by such as take them, they suddenly perish. Thus we see how God gives a property to each place, that may make up her defects, lest it should be left as well by beasts as men. Their Land is full of sandy deserts w•ich •e open to the winds and storms, and ofttimes are thrown up into Billows like waves of the Page  27 Sea, and indeed are no less dangerous. Straho writes that Cambyses his Army was thus hazarded in Ae•hi∣opia. And Herodotus, that the Psilli, an ancient but foolish Nation (it seem•) in Africa, as they marched toward the South, to revenge themselves upon the winds for drying up their Rivers, were over-whelmed with sand, and so died in their graves. Besides these annoyances, it is so full of a venomous kind of Serpent, that in some places they dare not dress their Land, unless they first sence their legs with Boots against the sting. Other wild creatures there are which range about, and possess to themselves a great portion of this Country, and make a Wilderness of Lions, Leopards, Elephants, and in some places Crocodiles, Hyenaes, Basilisks, and indeed Monsters without either number or name. Afr•ca now every year produceth some strange creature before not heard of, peradventure not extant. For so Pl•ny thi•ks that for want of water, creatures of all kinds at some times of the year gather to those few Rivers that are, to quench their thirst: And then the Males promiscuously enforcing the Females of every Species which comes next him, produceth this variety of forms; and would be a grace to Af•ica, were it not so full of danger to the Inhabitants, which, as Salus•t reports, die more by Beasts than by diseases, And those Tracts about Barbary are every tenth year, 15 or 25, visited with a great plague, and continually infected with the French disease, in such violence, that few recover, unless by change of Air into Numidia, or the Land of Negro•s, whose very temper is said to be a proper Antid•te against those diseases.

(8) But among all these inconveniences, commodities are found of good worth; and the very evils yield at last their benefit, both to their own Country and other Parts of the world. The Elephant, a doci∣ble creature and exceeding useful for Battel: The Camel, which affords much riches to the Arabian: The Bar•ary Horse, which we our selves commend: the Ram, that besides his flesh gives twenty pound of wool from his very tail: The Bull, painful, and able to do best service in their tillage. And so most of their worst, alive or dead, yield us their medicinal parts, which the World could not well want.

Page  28(9) In her division we will follow our later Masters in this Art, whom time at least and experience, if no other worth, have made more authentick, and those divide it into seven parts. (1) Barbary or Mauritania. (2) Numidia. (3) Lybia or Africa p•opria. (4) Nigritarum Terra. (5) Aethiopia su∣perior. (6) Aethiopia inferior. (7) Aegypt: and to these we add the (8) Islands belonging to Africa.

(10) Barbary is the first. The bounds of it are Northward the Mediterraneum, Westward the Atlantick: On the South the Mountain Atlas, and on the East Aegypt. It is estee•ed the most noble part of all Africa: and hath its name from an Arabick word Barbara, that signifies a kind of rude sound, for such the Arabians took their language to be: and thence the Grecians call them Barbarians that speak a ha•sher language than themselves. Aft•r the Latines, and now we, esteem the people of our own Nation barbarous, if they ever so little differ from the rudeness either of our Tongue or Man¦n•rs. The Inhabitants are noted to be faithful in their course: but yet crafty in promising, and per forming too: for they are covetous, ambitious, jealous of their Wives beyond measure. Their Coun∣try yields, Oranges, Dates, Olives, •igs, and a certain kind of Goat, whose hair makes a Stuff as fir• as S••k. It contains in it the Kingdoms of •unnis, Algeires, •esse, and Morocho▪ (1) Tunnis, is fa∣mous for several places mentioned of old. Here was Dona where Augustine was B•shop▪ and Hippo his birth-place. And Tunnis a City five miles in compass, and old Carthage built by Virgils Dido, Romes am•la for wealth, valour, and ambition of the universal Empire. It was twenty two miles in c•rcuit: And Vtica, memorable for Cato's death. (2) Algeires contains in it a strange harbour for the Turkish Pirats; and is of note for the resistance it made Charls the Fifth; who received be∣fore the chief Towns in this Region an innumerable loss of Ships, Horses, O•dnance and Men. (3)Eesse hath a City in it with seven hundred Churches, and one of them a m•le and half in coni∣•ass (Stafford): And in this Country was our English Stukely slain. (4) Morocho, where the chief Town of the same name hath a Church larger than that of •ess•, and hath a Tower so high that Page  29 you may discern from the top of the hills of Azasi at an hundred and thiry miles distance. Here is likewise a Castle of great same, for their Globes of pure gold that stand upon the top of it, and weighing 130000 Barbary Duckets.

(11)Numidia was the second part in our division of Africa, and hath on the West the Atlantick, on the East Egypt, on the North Atlas, and the Deserts of Lybia on the South. It is called likewise Regio Dactylifera, from the abundance of Dates; for they feed upon them only; and people, Idolaters, Ideots, Thieves, Murderers, except some few Arabians that are mingled among them of ingenious disposition, and addicted much to Poetry. They seldome stay longer in one place than the eating down of the grass: and this wandering course makes but few Cities, and those in some places three hundred miles distant.

(12)Lybia, the third, is limited on the East with Nilus, Westward with the Atlantick, on the No•th with Numidia, and the South with Terra Nigritarum. It was called Sarra, as much as Desert: For so it is, and a dry one too, such as can afford no water to a Traveller sometimes in seven days Iourney. The Inhabitants are much like to the Numidians, live without any Law almost of Nature. Yet in this place were two of the Sibyls, which prophesied of Christ, and Arrius the Heretick. About Lybia were the Garamantes, and the Psilli mentioned before for their simple attempts against the South-wind.

(13)Terra Nigritarum, the Land of Negroes is the fourth, and hath on the West the Atlantick, on the East Aethiopia superior, on the North Lybia, on the South Kingdom of Manilong• in the in∣feri•r Aethiopia. It hath the Name either from the colour of the people, which are black, or from the River Niger, famous as Nilus almost, for her over-flowing, insomuch that they pass at some times in Boats through the whole Country. It is full of Gold and Silver, and other Commodities▪ but the Inhabitants most barbarous. They draw their Original form Ch•s, and have er•ertained all Religi∣ons Page  30 that came in their way. First their own, then the Iews, the Mahometans, and some of them the Christian. For the most part they live not as if Reason guided their actions. Maginus numbers twenty five Provinces of this Country, which have had their several Governours. Now it knoweth but four Kings▪ and those are (1) The King of Tombulum, and he is an infinite rich Monarch, hates a Iew to the death of his Subject that converseth with him: keeps a Guard of three thousand Horsemen be∣sides Foot. (2) Of Bornaum, where the people have no proper Names, no Wives peculiar, and there∣fore no Children which they call their own. (3) Of Gonga, who hath no estate but from his Subjects as he spends it. (4) Gualatum, a poor Country, God wot, not worth either Gentry of Laws, or in∣deed the name of a Kingdom.

(14) Aethiopia Superior the fifth, and is called likewise the Kingdom of the Abyssines. It is limited on the North with Aegypt, on the South with the Montes Lunae, on the East with the Red-Sea, and on the West with the Kingdom of the Nigers and Manilongo. It is distinct from the Aethiopia so often mentioned in Scripture; For by all probability that was in another quarter of the world, and teach∣eth from the Red-Sea to the Persian Gulf. It is governed by one of the mightiest Emperors in the world: For his power reacheth almost to each Tropick, and is called by us Presbyter Iohn. He is the only white man amongst them, and draws his Line from Solomon, and the Queen of the South. His Court rests not long in one place, but his moving as well for Housing as Retinue. For it consists of Tents only to the number of six thousand, and incompasseth in, about twelve or thirteen miles. He hath under him seventy Kings, which have their several Laws and Customes: Among these the Pro∣vince of Dobas hath one, that no man marry till he hath killed twelve Christians. The Inhabitants of the whole Region are generally base and idle: the better sort have the modesty to attire themselves though it be but in Lyons and Tygers skins, Their Religion is mixt. Christians they have, but yet differ from us; For they circumcise both Sects. Their Oath is by the life of their King, whom they ne∣ver Page  31 see but at Christmas, Easter, and Holy Rood. Their Commodities are Oranges, Lemmons, Ci∣trons, Barley, Sugar, Honey, &c.

(15) Aethiopia inferior the sixth part of Africa, is on every side begirt with Sea, except toward the North; that way it is severed form the Abissines by the Montes Lunae. The government of this Region is under five free Kings, (1) of Aiana, which contains in it two petty Kingdoms of Adel and Adia, and abounds with Flesh, Honey, Wax, Gold, Ivory, Corn, very large Sheep. (2) Zanguebar, in this stands Mesambique, called by Ptolomy, Prassum Promontorium, and was the utmost part South ward of the old world. The Inhabitants are practised much in South-saying, indeed Witch▪ craft. (3) Of Mo∣nomol•pa, in which is reported to be three thousand Mines of Gold. Here there lives a kind of Amazons as valiant as men. Their King is served in great pomp, and hath a guard of two hundred Mastives. (4)Cafraia, whose people live in the Woods without Laws like brutes. And here stands the Cape of good Hope. about which the Sea is always rough and dangerous: It hath been especially so to the Spaniard. It is their own note; in so much; that one was very angry with God, that he suffered the English He∣reticks to pass so easily over, and not give his good Catholikes the like speed. (5)Manicongo, whose In∣habitants are in some parts Christians, but in other By-Provinces Anthropophagi, and have shambles of mans flesh, as we have for meat. They kill their own children in the birth, to avoid the trouble of breeding them, and preserve their Nation with stoln brats from their nighbouring Countries.

(16) Aegypt is the seventh and last part of the African Continent, which deserves a larger Tract than we can here afford it: But for the present be content with brief Survey; and satisfie your self more particularly in the many several Authours that write her story. It hath on the East the Red Sea Barbary on the West: on the North, the Mediterraneum, and Aethiopia Superior on the South, It was first possest by Cham, and therefore called Chemia• in their own antique Stories: Or at least by Page  32 Mitzraim his Grand-child, and is so agreed upon by most. For plenty it was called Orbis h•rr•um, yet it had very seldom any rain, but that defect was supplied by the River Nilus: The places of note are, Caire and Alexandria. The first was heretofore Memphis. Some say Babylon, whither the Virgin 〈◊〉 to escape Herods tyranny intended to our Saviour: and blush not to shew the very Cave where •he had hid her Babe. In a desert about four miles distant stand the Pyramids, esteemed rightly one of the seven wonders of the world. Al•zandria was a mangnificent City, and the place where Ptolomy took his Observations, and was famous for the rarest Library in the world. To the Inhabitants of this Country we owe the invention of Astrology, Physick, writing on Paper. Their Kings names were Pharaoh toward the beginning, now what the Turks pleaseth.

(17) And this is as far as we may travel by Land: it remains that we lose out into the bordering Sea, and descry what Islands we can, neer those parts of Africa which we have here mentioned. And these lie either South-ward in the Aethi••pick Sea, or else West-ward in the Atlantick Ocean.

(18) The Aethiopick Islands are only two. (1) The Islands of S. Lawrence of Madagascar, four thousand miles in compass, and the length more than Italy, rich in all Commodities almost that man can use. The Inhabitants are very barbarous, most of them black, some white there are, supposed to have been transplanted out of China. (2) Zocratina at the mouth of the Red-Sea, in length sixty, in breadth •wenty five miles. It lieth open to sharp winds, and by that means is extream dry and barren. Yet it hath good Drugs, and form hence comes the Alo• Zocratina. The people are Christians and adore the Cross most superstititously, and give themselves much to Inchantments.

(19) The Atlantick Islands are (1) S. Thomas Island, and lyeth directly under the Aequator, it was made habitable by the Portugals, which found it nothing but a Wood. It is full of Sugar, little •ther Commodities, (2) Prince. Island, between the Aequator and Tropick of Capricorn: It is rich •nough for the owner, though I find no great report of it, (3) The Gorgades, of old the Gorgoss, Page  33 where Medusa and her two fisters dwelt; I forbear the fable, they are nine in number, and because neer to Cape Virid•, in the Land of Negroes, the have a second name of Insulae Capitis Viridis. They abound with Goats; and the chief of them is called Saint Iames. (4) The Canaries called for their fertility, The Fortunate IsIands, and was the place of the first Meridian, with the ancient Geographers, to divide the world into the East and West, and from thence the to measure earths Longitude: but now it is removed into the next Islands more North, which are the Azores, and belong properly to Europe as lying neerer Spain than any other Continent. The number of the Canaries are seven. The chief Canary, next Palus, where our Ships touch to refresh themselves in their voyage toward •merica. Then Tanariffa, which hath no water but from a cloud, that hangs over a tree, and at noon dissolves, and so is conveyed into several parts. The other four are Gomera Hieior, Lansarat, and Fu•rl• ventura, some few other not worth note or name. The men lend their Wives like Horses or any other Com∣modity. (5) Lastly, the H•sperides, not far from the Gorgad•s, they are often mentioned by our an∣cient Poets in the fable of Atlas his Daughters. It was supposed to be their seat of their blessed, which they called the Elizian field. And indeed it is a very happy soyl, the weather continually fair, the seasons all temperate, the air never extream. To conclude, Africa affords not a sweeter place to rest in.