Chapter VIII: Section I

_Epitome of the Ancient and Modern Discoveries of the World, chiefly by means of Navigation, from the Flood to the close of the Fifteenth Century._

When I first desired to compose an account of the ancient and modern discoveries by sea and land, with their true dates and situations, these two principal circumstances seemed involved in such difficulty and confusion, that I had almost desisted from the attempt. Even in regard to the date of the flood, the Hebrews reckon that event to have happened 1656 years after the creation: while the seventy interpreters make it 2242; and St Augustine extends the time to 2262 years[1]. In regard to geographical situations, likewise, there are many differences; for there never sailed ten or an hundred pilots in one fleet, but they made their reckonings in almost as many different longitudes. But considering that all these difficulties might be surmounted, by just comparison, and the exercise of judgment, I at length resolved to persist in my undertaking.

Some allege that the world was fully known in ancient times; for, as it was peopled and inhabited, it must have been navigable and frequented; and because the ancient people were of longer lives, and had all one law and one language, they could not fail to be acquainted with the whole world. Others again believe, that though the world might be once universally known by mankind, yet, by the wickedness of man, and the want of justice among nations, that knowledge has been lost. But as all the most important discoveries have been made by sea, and that chiefly in our own times, it were desirable to learn who were the first discoverers since the flood. Some allege the Greeks, others the Phenicians, while others say the Egyptians. The inhabitants of India, on the contrary, pretend that they were the first navigators; particularly the Tabencos, whom we now call Chinese; and allege in proof of this, that they were lords of all the Indies, even to Cape Bona Speranca, and the island of St Lawrence[2], which is inhabited by them; as likewise all the coasts of the Indian seas, also the Javas, Timores, Celebes, Macassar, the Moluccas, Borneo, Mindanao, Luçones, Lequeos, the Japans, and many other islands; also the countries of Cochin-China, Laos, Bramas[3], Pegu, Arracones[4], till you come quite to Bengala. Besides all these, New Spain, Peru, Brazil, the Antilles, and all the adjoining lands, are possessed by the same race, as appears by the fashions and manners both of the men and women, who have small eyes, flat noses, with other proportions resembling the Chinese. And to this day, many of these islands and countries are called by such names, as Bato-China, Bocho-China, and the like, indicating the countries of, or belonging to China.

It farther appears, that the ark of Noah rested upon the north part of the mountains of Armenia, in 40 degrees of latitude or upwards; and that Scythia, being a high land, and the first that appeared out of the universal deluge, was first peopled. And as the province or country of the Tabencos, or Chinese, is one of the chiefest of all Tartary, its inhabitants may be considered as the most ancient nation, and the oldest navigators. Their seas are calm; and, as lying between the tropics, their days and nights are nearly equal, and their seasons differ little in temperature; and as no outrageous winds swell their seas into storms, navigation among them is safe and easy. Their small barks called catamorans have only a large bough of a tree set up in the middle, serving as mast and sail; the master steers only with an oar, and the passengers sit on poles fastened to the bark.

It is said that the people of China were anciently lords of almost all Scythia, and were in use to sail along that coast, which reaches from east to west, in seventy degrees of north latitude. Cornelius Nepos says, that, in the time when Metellus, the colleague of Afranius, was proconsul of Gaul, the king of the Suevi sent to him certain Indians, who came to his country in a ship by the north and the flats of Germany[5]. These people probably came from China; as in that country, in the latitudes of 20, 30, and 40 degrees, they have strong and well-fastened ships, which can bear the seas and encounter the severity of the northern climate. Cambaia also has ships, and its inhabitants are said to have long used the seas; but it is not likely they should have gone to Gaul; for they only trade to Cairo, and are indeed a people of little trade and less clothing.

Those who escaped from the flood kept the hills, not daring for a long time to descend into the plains and low countries; and Nimrod, an hundred and thirty years afterwards, built the tower of Babel, intending it as a refuge in case of any future deluge[6]. Upon the whole, it seems probable that the inhabitants of China and the east were the first sailors; though others think the inhabitants of the west, particularly of Syria, were the first to use the sea[7]. This contest about the antiquity of navigation, I leave to the Scythians and Egyptians, who each challenge the honour to themselves. But leaving all contested points in this matter, I now apply to my proposed deduction, resting only upon what has been recorded in authentic histories. Ancient history says that Tubal, in the hundred and forty-third year after the flood, came by sea into Spain[8]; whence it appears that in these early times navigation was usual from Ethiopia to our parts of western Europe. It is also said, that Semiramis invaded the country on the river Indus, whence the Indians derive their name, and gave battle to king Stabrobates, in which he lost a thousand ships[9]; by which it clearly appears there were then many ships in those parts; and that the seas were much frequented.

In the six hundred and fiftieth year after the flood, there was a king in Spain named Hesperus[10]; and Gonsalvo Fernandez de Oviedo, the chronicler of antiquities[11], affirms that he made discoveries by sea as far as Cape Verde and the Isle of St Thomas, of which he was prince, and that in his time the islands of the West Indies were discovered, and called the Hesperides, after his name. He alleges many reasons in proof of this assertion, and even says particularly, that these early navigators sailed in forty days from Cape Verde to these islands. Others say, that the islands of St Thomas and de Principe are the Hesperides, and not the Antilles; which is the more probable, as these ancient navigators only sailed along the coast, not daring to pass through the main ocean, having no compass, nor any means of taking altitudes for their guidance. It is not to be denied that many countries, islands, capes, isthmuses, and points, the names of which are found in histories, are now unknown; because, in course of ages, the force of the waters has wasted and consumed them, and has separated countries from each other formerly joined, both in Europe, Asia, Africa, New Spain, Peru, and other places.

In his dialogue called Timaeus, Plato says there was anciently a great country and large islands in the Atlantic, named Atlantides, greater than Europe and Africa, and that the kings of these parts were lords of a great part of Spain; but that, by the force of great tempests, the sea had overflowed the country, leaving nothing but banks of mud and gravel, so that no ships could pass that way for long after. It is also recorded by Pliny[12], that close by the island of Cadiz, there was a well inhabited island called Aphrodisias, towards the Straits of Gibraltar, abounding in gardens and orchards; but we have now no knowledge of this island, except from the bare mention of it in ancient authors. The Isle of Cadiz is said to have been anciently so large as to join the continent of Spain. The Açores are held to have been a continuation of the mountains of Estrella, which join the sea coast beside the town of Cintra; and the Sierra Verde, or Green-mountains, which reach the coast, near the city of _Sasin_ in the land of _Cucu_, or the island of Moudim in which Algarbe is situated, are supposed to have reached to Porto Santo and Madeira. For it is considered as an indubitable fact, that all islands derive their roots from the firm land or continent, however distant, as otherwise they could not stand firm. Other authors say, that from Spain to Ceuta in Barbary, people sometimes travelled on foot on dry land; that the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were once joined; that Sicily was united with Italy, and the Negropont with Greece[13]. We read also of the hulls of ships, iron anchors, and other remnants of shipping, having been found on the mountains of Susa, far inland, where there is now no appearance of the sea having ever been. Many writers affirm, that in India and Malabar, which now abounds in people, the sea once reached the foot of the mountains; and that Cape Comorin and the island of Ceylon were once united; also that Sumatra once joined with Malacca, by the shoals of Caypasia; and not far from thence there is a small island which, only a few years ago, was joined to the opposite coast. Ptolemy advances the point of Malacca three or four degrees to the south of the line; whereas its most southerly point, now called Jentana, is in one degree of north latitude, by which people pass daily the straits of Cincapura to the coasts of Siam and China; and the island of Aynan is said to have formerly joined the land of China; the southern extremity of which Ptolomey placed far to the south of the line, though it now only reaches to twentieth degree of north latitude.

It may even have been that Malacca and China, as Ptolemy sets forth, extended beyond the line to the south; as Malacca might join with the land called Jentana, and the islands of Bintam, Banca, and Salistres, and the land might be all slime and ouze; likewise China might be united with the Luçones, Borneo, Lequeuo, Mindanao, and others. Some are of opinion, that Sumatra joined with Java, across what is now the Straits of Sunda; and that Java also joined with the islands of Bali, Anjave, Cambava, Solor, Hogalcao, Maulva, Vintara, Rosalaguin, and others in that range, all of which are so near as to appear continuous, when seen from a small distance; and they still are so near together, that in passing through the channels which divide them, the boughs of the trees on each side may be touched by the hands. It is not long since several of the islands of Banda in the east were drowned by the sea overflowing them; and in China, about 180 miles of firm land are said to have become a lake. All these things are to be considered as coming within the limits of probability, especially when we take into account what has been related of similar events by Ptolemy and others, but which I here omit to return to my subject.

About 800 years after the deluge, the city of Troy was built by the Dardanians; and even before that time, spices, drugs, and many other kinds of merchandize, which were then more abundant than now, were brought from India to Europe, by the Red Sea. Hence, if credit can be given to these accounts, we may conclude, that the sea of old was much frequented, those of the east bringing their commodities to the haven of Arsinoe in the Arabian Gulf, now called Suez[14], in lat. 30° N. and at the northern extremity of the Arabian Gulf; from whence the goods were carried by caravans, upon camels, asses, and mules, to Cassou, a city on the coast of the Levant sea, in lat. 32° N. Allowing seventeen leagues and a half to every degree of latitude, these two cities are said to have been 35 leagues, or 105[15] miles distant from each other. On account of the heat, these caravans, or great companies of carriers, travelled only in the night, directing themselves by the stars, and by land-marks fixed in the ground for that purpose. But finding this journey attended with many inconveniencies, the course was twice altered in search of a more commodious route[16]. About nine hundred years after the flood, and previous to the destruction of Troy, Egypt was ruled by a king named Sesostris, who caused a canal to be cut from the Red Sea to that arm of the Nile which flows past the city of Heroum, that ships might pass and repass between India and Europe, to avoid the expence and trouble of carrying merchandize by land across the isthmus of Suez; and Sesostris had large caraks or ships built for this purpose[17]. This enterprize, however, did not completely succeed; for, if it had, Africa would have been converted into an island, as there are even now only twenty leagues or sixty miles of land between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

About this time the Grecians gathered a fleet and army, called the Argonautic expedition, under the command of Jason and Alceus[18]. Some say they sailed from Crete, and others from Greece; but they passed through the Propontis and the _sleeve_ of St George into the Euxine, where some of the vessels perished, and Jason returned back to Greece. Alceus reported that he was driven by a tempest to the Palus Maeotis, where he was deserted by all his company; and those who escaped had to travel by land to the German ocean, where they procured shipping; and sailing past the coasts of Saxony, Friesland, Holland, Flanders, France, Spain, and Italy, returned to the Peloponnesus and Greece, after discovering a great portion of the coast of Europe.

Strabo, on the authority of Aristonicus the grammarian, says, that king Menelaus, after the destruction of Troy, sailed from the Grecian sea to the Atlantic, coasted along Africa and Guinea, doubled the Cape Bona Sperança, and arrived in India[19]; concerning which voyage many other particulars might be collected from the writings of the ancients. This Mediterranean Sea was sometimes called the Adriatic, the Aegean, and the Herculean Sea; and had other names, according to the lands, coasts, and islands, which it skirted, till, running through the Straits of Hercules, between Spain and Africa, it communicated with the great Atlantic Ocean. Thirteen hundred years after the flood, Solomon caused a navy to be constructed at Ezion-geber on the Red Sea, which sailed to Tharsis and Ophir, which some believe to have been islands in the East Indies. This fleet was three years on its voyage, and on its return brought gold, silver, cypress-wood, and other commodities[20]. The islands to which the navy of Solomon traded were probably those we now call the Luçones, the Lequeos, and China; for we know of few other places whence some of the things mentioned as forming their cargoes can be had, or where navigation has been so long practised.

Necho, one of the kings of Egypt, was desirous to have joined the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, and is said in history to have commanded some Phenicians to sail from the Red Sea by the Straits of Mecca, and to endeavour to return to Egypt by the Mediterranean[21]. This they accomplished, and sailed along the coast of Melinda, Quiloa, and Sofala, till they reached the Cape of Good Hope, which they doubled; and, continuing their course to the north, they sailed along the coast of Guinea all the way to the Mediterranean, and returned to Egypt after two years absence, being the first who had circumnavigated Africa.

In the year 590 before the Incarnation, a fleet belonging to Carthaginian merchants sailed from Cadiz through the ocean, to the west, in search of land[22]. They proceeded so far that they came to the islands now called the Antilles, and to New Spain[23]. This is given on the authority of Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, in his General History, who says that these countries were then discovered; and that Christopher Columbus, by his voyages in after times, only acquired more exact knowledge of them, and hath left us a more precise notice of their situation, and of the way to them. But all those historians who formerly wrote concerning the Antilles, as of doubtful and uncertain existence, now plainly allow them to be the same with New Spain and the West Indies. In the year 520 before Christ, Cambyses, king of Persia, conquered Egypt, and was succeeded by Darius, the son of Hystaspes. This latter prince determined upon completing the projects of Sesostris and Necho, by digging a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile: But, being assured that the Red Sea was higher than the Nile, and that its salt water would overflow and ruin the whole land of Egypt, he abandoned his purpose, lest that fine province should be destroyed by famine and the want of fresh water[24]; for the fresh water of the Nile overflows the whole country, and the inhabitants have no other water to drink.

It may not be too great a digression from the subject, to say a few words concerning Egypt. The natives allege that they have in their country certain animals, of which one half of their bodies seem earth, and the other like rats, one species of which keeps continually in the water, while another species lives on the land. In my opinion, it is these animals which break the serpents eggs, of which there are many in the Nile, but which serpents are also called crocodiles. It is said, that in ancient times these animals were inchanted, so that they could not do harm to any one: But since they have been freed from the power of inchantment, by the arts and learning of the Egyptians decaying, they have done much hurt, by killing people, wild beasts, and cattle, more especially those which live in the water and come often on land. Those that live continually on the land become strongly venomous[25]. The people beyond the city of Cairo used to catch these animals, and even to eat them, setting up their heads on the walls of the city. Concerning these crocodiles, it is related[26] that they often lie along the shores of the river with their mouths wide open; on which occasion, certain white birds, little larger than our thrushes, fly into the mouths of the crocodiles, and pick out the filth from between his teeth, to the great delight of the crocodile; which, however, would surely close his mouth and devour the bird, had not nature provided the bird with a sharp sting, growing from the top of his head, which pricks the roof of the crocodiles mouth, and forces him to gape, so that the bird flies away unhurt. In this manner, by means of a succession of these birds, the crocodiles get their teeth cleansed. In this same river, there are many beasts resembling horses; and upon the land, there are certain birds like our cranes, which continually make war upon the serpents, which come thither out of Arabia: Which birds, and likewise the rats, which eat the eggs of the crocodiles, are held in great reverence and estimation, by the Egyptians.

But now, to return to my subject of discoveries. In the year 485 before Christ, Xerxes, king of Persia, sent his nephew Sataspis to discover India; who sailed from the Mediterranean through the Straits of Hercules, and passed the promontory of Africa, which we now call the Cape of Good Hope; but, wearying of the length of the voyage, he returned back again, as Bartholomew Diaz did in our days[27]. In 443 A. C. Hamilco and Hanno, two Carthaginian commanders who governed that part of Spain now called Andalusia, sailed from thence with two squadrons. Hamilco, sailing towards the north, discovered the coasts of Spain, France, England, Flanders, and Germany; and some allege that he sailed to Gothland, and even to Thule or Iceland, standing under the Arctic circle, in 64 degrees north, and continued his voyage during two years, till he came to that northern island, where the day in June continues for twenty-two hours, and the nights in December are of a similar length; on account of which it is there wonderfully cold. His brother, Hanno, took his course to the south, along the coast of Africa and Guinea, and discovered the Fortunate Islands, now the Canaries, and the Orcades, Hesperides, and Gorgades, now called the Cape de Verde islands. Proceeding onwards, Hanno doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and went along the eastern coast of Africa to another cape, called Aromaticum, now called Gardafu, and thence to the coast of Arabia, and was five years employed in this voyage before his return to Spain[28]. Others allege, that Hanno proceeded no farther than Sierra Leona, which he colonized, and afterwards discovered as far as the equinoctial line; but it would rather appear, from the length of time he employed, that he must have accomplished the more extended navigation.

It is reported that the inhabitants of the country at the Cape of Good Hope are great witches, and by inchantment bring certain serpents so much under command, that they preserve their churches, churchyards, gardens, orchards, barns, and cattle, both from wild beasts and thieves. When these serpents see any person doing or intending to do harm, they wind themselves in such a manner around them as to make them prisoners, and then command their young ones to give notice to their masters, that they may come and secure the thieves. But if the thieves be numerous, or the wild beasts of too much strength, so that the serpents dare not encounter them, they go to their masters house, and if it happen to be in the night, they give many strokes with their tails, so as to awaken their masters, that they may provide for their defence[29].

A certain Italian, named Aloisius Cadamosta, relates, that when he was upon the discovery of Guinea, and resided in the house of Bisboral, the grandson of king Budomel, he heard one night, when in bed, a great noise and many blows given about the house, upon which Bisboral arose and went out; and, upon his return, Cadamosta demanded of him where he had been, and he answered that he had been with his cobras or snakes, which called him[30]. In the Indies there are many snakes, and some of them very full of poison; yet the Indians carry them about their necks, and put them in their bosoms, and under their arms, without fear or injury; and at certain sounds, the snakes will dance, and do many other strange things at command.

I was informed by a certain Portuguese, who had been beyond the Cape of Good Hope, towards Sofala, Quiloa, and Melinda, that there were certain birds in that country, which would come to the negroes on a call, and as the negroes moved on through the woods, the birds would do the same from tree to tree, till at length they would alight on a tree whence they would not remove: And, on examining that tree, the negroes were sure to find wax and honey, but knew not whether it grew there naturally or not[31]. In the same country, they find much wax and honey in ant-holes, made by the ants, but somewhat bitter. In the seas of that coast, there are certain fish, known to the fishermen, which commonly swim upright in the water, having the faces and breasts of women[32].

In the year 355 before Christ, the Spaniards are said to have gone by sea to the flats of India, Arabia, and the adjoining coasts, to which they carried various merchandizes in great ships; and sailing to the north- west they came to certain flats which are covered by the tide, and left bare by the ebb, where they caught many _tunnies_ of great size; which fishing turned out to their great profit, as they were very abundant and much esteemed[33].

Alexander, who flourished 324 years before Christ, travelled from Europe into Asia and Africa, passed through Armenia, Assyria, Persia, and Bactria; whence he descended by the mountains of Imaus and the vallies of Parapomissus, into India, and prepared a navy on the river Indus, with which he passed into the ocean. He there turned by the lands of Gedrosia, Caramania, and Persia, to the great city of Babylon, leaving the command of his fleet to Onesicratus and Nearchus, who sailed through the straits of the Persian Sea and up the river Euphrates, discovering the whole coast between the Indus and that river.

After the death of Alexander, Ptolemy became king of Egypt, who by some was reputed to have been the bastard son of Philip, the father of Alexander: He, imitating the before named kings, Sesostris and Darius, caused dig a canal from the branch of the Nile which passed by Pelusium, now by the city of Damieta[34]. This canal of Ptolemy was an hundred feet broad and thirty feet deep, and extended ten or twelve leagues in length, till it came to the _bitter wells_. He meant to have continued it to the Red Sea; but desisted on the idea that the Red Sea was three cubits higher than the land of Egypt, and would have overflowed all the country, to its entire ruin.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the year 277 before Christ, changed the direction of the Indian traffic. The goods from Europe, by his orders, were carried up the Nile from Alexandria to the city of Coptus, and conveyed across the desert from thence to the sea-port of Myos-Hormos on the Red-sea[35]. To avoid the excessive heat, the caravans travelled only in the night, directing their course by the stars; and water being very scarce in the desert, they had to carry a sufficient quantity with them for the journey. Afterwards, to avoid this trouble, deep wells were dug at certain intervals; and in other places large cisterns or reservoirs were constructed for the reception of rain water. Still later, in consideration of the dangers attending the port of Myos-Hormos, on account of flats and islands, Philadelphus sent an army into Troglodytica, where he constructed a haven called Berenice, in which the ships engaged in the Indian commerce took shelter, as a place of greater security. From thence the goods were transported to the city of Coptus, and afterwards to Alexandria, which became rich and famous, through its trade with India, beyond any other city in the world; insomuch that it is asserted that the customs of Alexandria yielded every year to Ptolemy Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, seven millions and a half of gold, though the traffic had then scarcely subsisted in that direction for twenty years[36]. After the reduction of Egypt and Alexandria under the power of the Romans, the customs are said to have advanced to double that amount; and the trade was so great, that 120 ships used to be sent yearly from Myos-Hormos to India. The ships set sail every year from Myos-Hormos about the middle of July, and returned back within the year[37]. The merchandize they carried amounted to the value of one million two hundred thousand crowns; and the returns were an hundred for one; and through this prodigious increase of wealth, the matrons and noble ladies of those days in Alexandria, were exceedingly profuse in decorating themselves with purple, pearls, and precious stones, and in the use of musk, amber, and other rich perfumes of various kinds; of all which the historians and other writers of that age treat at great length[38].

Pliny[39], on the authority of Cornelius Nepos, says that one Eudoxus, flying from Ptolemy Lathyrus, passed by sea through the gulf of Arabia, and sailing along the eastern coast of Africa, doubled the cape of Bona Sperança arrived by the Atlantic at Cadiz; and it would appear that this navigation was as often used in those days as it now is. Caius Caesar, the son of Augustus, going into Arabia, found in the Red Sea certain pieces of the ships which had gone thither from Spain.

Long after these days it was usual to pass to India by land. This was done by the kings of the Sogdians, the princes of Bactria, and other famous captains and many merchants, who travelled thither and into Scythia by land. Marcus Paulus Venetus writes largely of these countries; and though his book at first was reckoned fabulous, yet what he and others have reported is now found true, by the experience of travellers, and merchants who have since been to the same parts.

It is reported that the Romans sent an army by sea to India, against the great khan of Cathaia, 200 years before the Incarnation; which, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, and running to the north-west, found ten islands opposite to Cape Finisterre; producing large quantities of tin, which perhaps may have been those afterwards called the Cassiterides. Being come to 50 degrees of latitude, they found a strait passing to the west, through which they arrived in India, and gave battle to the king of Cathaia, after which they returned to Rome. Whether this story may appear possible or not, true or false, I can only say that I give it as I found it written in the histories of these times.

In the year 100 after the incarnation of Christ, the emperor Trajan fitted out a fleet on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, whence he sailed to the islands of Zyzara; and passing the straits of Persia, entered into the ocean, by which he sailed along the coast to India, till he came to the place where Alexander had been. He there took some ships which came from Bengal, and learned the state of the country from the mariners. But being in years, and weary of the sea, and because he found it difficult to procure necessaries for his army, he returned back to Assyria[40].

After the Romans had subdued most part of the world, many notable discoveries were made. But then came the Goths, Moors, and other barbarous nations, who destroyed all A.D. 412, the Goths took the city of Rome. Thereafter the Vandals went out of Spain, and conquered Africa. In 450, Attila destroyed many cities in Italy, at which time Venice began; and in this age the Franks and Vandals entered into France. In 474, the empire of Rome was lost, and fell from the Romans to the Goths. In 560, the Lombards came into Italy. About this time the sect of the Arians prevailed greatly, and Merlin the English prophet flourished. In 611, the Mahometan sect sprung up, and the Moresco government, which invaded both Africa and Spain. By this it may appear that all the world was in a state of war, and all places so very tumultuous, that traffic and merchandize ceased, no nation daring to trade with another by sea or land; nothing remaining stedfast, neither in kingdoms, signories, religions, laws, arts, sciences, or navigation. Even the records and writings of these things were burnt and destroyed by the barbarous power of the Goths, who proposed to themselves to begin a new world, and to root out the memory and knowledge of all other nations.

Those who succeeded in the government of Europe, perceiving the great losses of the Christian world by want of traffic and the stoppage of navigation, began to devise a way of passing into India, quite different from the route of the Nile and the Red Sea, and much longer and more costly[41]. The goods of India were brought up the river Indus as far as it was navigable. They were then carried by land in caravans through the country of Parapomissus into the province of Bactria, and shipped on the river Oxus, which falls into the Caspian, and thence across that sea to the haven of Citracan, or Astracan, on the river Rha, or Volga. Thence up that river, and to the city of Novogrod, in the province of Resan, which now belongs to the great duke of Muscovy, in lat. 54° N. The goods were carried thence overland to the province of Sarmatia and the river Tanais or Don, which is the division between Europe and Asia. Being there loaded in barks, they were carried down the stream of that river into the Paulus Maeotis to the city of Caffa, anciently called Theodosia, which then belonged to the Genoese, who came thither by sea in _galliasses_, or great ships, and distributed Indian commodities through Europe.

In the reign of Commodita, emperor of Armenia, a better course was provided for this traffic: The goods being transported by land from the Caspian, through the country of Hiberia, now Georgia, and thence by the Phasis into the Euxine, and to the city of Trebisond, they were thence shipped for the various parts of Europe[42]. It is recorded that Demetrius Nicanor determined, or actually began, to open a canal of above 120 miles in length between the Caspian and Euxine, for the greater convenience of the Indian trade. But he was slain by Ptolemy Ceraunos, and this famous enterprize fell to nothing[43].

All other ways being lost, by reason of the wars of the Turks, the spiceries of the Indian Islands, particularly of Java, Sumatra, and the city of Malacca, were carried up the river Ganges, in Bengal, to the city of Agra; thence they were carried by land to another city near the Indus, named Boghar, where they were discharged, because the city of Cabor, or Laor, the principal city of the Mogores, stands too far within the land. From thence they were carried to the great city of Samarcand in Bactria, in which the merchants of India, Persia, and Turkey met together with their several commodities, as cloth of gold, velvets, camblets, scarlet and woollen cloths, which were carried to Cathay and the great kingdom of China; whence they brought back gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, silk, musk, rhubarb, and many other things of great value.

In after times these merchandizes, drugs, and spiceries, were carried in ships from India to the Straits of Ormus, and the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and were unladen at the city of Basora; from whence they were carried overland to Aleppo, Damascus, and Barutti; and there the Venetian galliasses, which transported pilgrims to the Holy Land, came and received the goods.

In the year 1153, in the time of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, it is said there came to the city of Lubeck, in Germany, a canoe like a long barge, with certain Indians, who were supposed to have come from the coast of Baccalaos[44], which is in the same latitude with Lubeck. The Germans greatly wondered to see such a boat and strange people, not knowing whence they came, nor being able to understand their language, especially as there was then no knowledge of their country. Although the boat was small in comparison with the seas it had to cross, it is yet possible that it might have been conveyed by the winds and waves; for in our days the _almadias_ of the negroes, which are very small boats, venture to navigate from Quiloa, Mosambique, and Sofala, around the Cape of Good Hope, even to the island of St Helena, a very small spot in the ocean, at a great distance from land.

In the year 1300 after Christ, the great soldan of Cairo restored the trade of spiceries, drugs, and merchandize from India, by the Red Sea; at which time they unloaded the goods at the port of Judea[45], and carried them to Mecca; whence they were distributed by the Mahometan pilgrims[46], so that each prince endeavoured to increase the honour and profit of his own country. The soldans translated this trade to their own city of Cairo; whence the goods were carried to the countries of Egypt, Lybia, Africa, Tunis, Tremessen, Fez, Morocco, and Suz; and some of them were carried beyond the mountains of Atlas, to the city of Tombuto, and the kingdom of the Jalophos; till afterwards the Portuguese brought the Indian trade round the Cape of Good Hope to Lisbon, as we propose to shew more at large in a convenient place.

A.D. 1344, Peter IV. reigned in Arragon, and the chronicles of his reign report that Don Lewis de Cerda, grandson of Don John de Corda, requested his aid to go and conquer the Canary Islands, which had been gifted to him by Pope Clement VI. a Frenchman. About this time, too, the island of Madeira is said to have been discovered by an Englishman named Macham; who, sailing from England into Spain with a lady whom he loved, was driven out of his course by a tempest, and arrived in a harbour of that island, now called Machico, after his name. The lady being oppressed with seasickness, Macham landed with her on the island, accompanied by some of his people; but in the mean time the ship weighed anchor and stood to sea, leaving them behind. On this the lady died of grief, and Macham, who was passionately fond of her, erected a chapel or hermitage on the island, which he named the chapel of Jesus, and there deposited her remains, engraving both their names and the cause of their coming to this place on a monumental stone. After this, he and his companions made a boat or canoe out of a large tree, and putting to sea without sails or oars, got over to the coast of Africa. The Moors among whom he arrived, considering their passage as miraculous, sent him to their king, who transmitted both him and his company to the king of Castile.

In 1395, while Henry III. reigned in Castile, in consequence of information given by Macham respecting this island, many persons of France and Castile were induced to attempt its discovery, and that of the Grand Canary. Those who went on this expedition were principally from Andalusia, Biscay, and Guipuscoa, who carried thither many men and horses; but I know not whether this was done at their own charge, or that of the king. But however that might be, these people seem to have been the first discoverers of the Canaries; where they took 150 of the islanders prisoners. There is some difference among authors respecting the time of this discovery, as some affirm that it did not take place till the year 1405.

[1] August. de Civit. Dic. I. 15. c. 20.

[2] The Cape of Good Hope, and the island of Madagascar--E.

[3] Birmahs

[4] Arracan

[5] Pompon. Mela, I. 3. Plin. I. 2. c. 67.

[6] Joseph: Ant. Jud. I. 1. c. 5.

[7] Justin, I. 1.

[8] Berosus.

[9] Diod. Sic. I. 2. c. 5.

[10] Berosus.

[11] Gons. Fern. I. 2. c. 3. Plin. I. 6. c. 31.

[12] Plin. I. 4. c. 22.

[13] Eratosth. ap. Strab. I. 1. p. 26.

[14] Plin. I. 6. c. 29.

[15] The miles here used are three to the league; but the league of the
text is nearly equal to four English miles, and the assumed distance
of these two ports 140 of our miles--E.

[16] Strab. I. 17. p. 560.

[17] Plin. I. 6. c. 29.

[18] Diod. Sic. I. 4. c. 4.

[19] Strab. I. 1. p. 26.

[20] Kings, I. 9. Chron. II. 8.

[21] Herodot. I. 4.

[22] Arist. de Mirand.

[23] Gonz. Fern. Ovied. I. 2. c. 3.

[24] Plin. I. 9. c. 58. de Maribus Nili.

[25] Joan. Leo Afric. I. 9. de Nilo.--Our author has got into a strange
dilemma, by confounding crocodiles and serpents under one denomination.
--E.

[26] Plin. and Leo, ub. cit.

[27] Plin. I. 2. c. 67.

[28] Plin. I. 6. c. 31. This subject will be discussed in the _Fifth_ Part
of our work; being much too extensive to admit of elucidation in a
note.--E.

[29] Hasty readers will have the justice to give the honour of this story
to Galvano.--E.

[30] This story will be found hereafter very differently related by Cada
Mosto himself, but with a sufficient spice of the marvellous.--E.

[31] The Honey-guide, or Cuculus Indicator, will be noticed more
particularly in the Travels through the Colony of the Cape.--E.

[32] The Philosophers of the _nineteenth_ century have _fortunately_
rediscovered the _Mermaid_ in the north of Scotland! Hitherto,
wonderful things used to be confined to barbarous regions and ignorant
ages.--E.

[33] Arist. de Mirand. Strabo, I. 2. p. 68.

[34] Plin. I. 6. c. 29.

[35] Strabo, I. 17. p. 560, 561.

[36] Strab. I. 17. p. 549.

[37] Plin. I. 6. c. 23.

[38] Id. I. 12. c. 18.

[39] Id. I. 2. c. 67.

[40] Ziphilin. in vit. Traj.

[41] Ramusio, V. f. 372. p. 2

[42] Strabo, I. 11.

[43] Plin. I. 6. c. 11.

[44] Newfoundland?

[45] Jidda.

[46] Leo Afric. Ramus. v. 1. f. 373.