Pilgrimage, Book 7 · Chapter 12
CHAP. 12.
Of the Ilands of Africa, from the Cape hitherwards.
ON this side the the Cape aLinschot.l.1.94.Hist. of China.part.3.c.vlt.is the Iland of St. Helena, in 16. degrees and 1/4. of Southerly Latitude. It is very high and hilly: the name was giuen of the Saint, on whose day it was discouered. It hath in it store of Goates, Hogs, Hens, and other creatures, which the Portugalls hauehave there left to multiply: for before there was none of them: there also they hauehave planted Figs, Oranges, Limons, and such like, whereof the Vallies are full: that it seemeth an earrhly Paradise, the fruit growing all the yeare long. They hauehave great store of fish, of which with crooked nailes they take great plentie: the Rocks yeeld salt for the furthering of their prouision. It seemes God hath planted it in conuenient place, for the long and dangerous. Indian Nauigations. There the Portugalls leaue their sick, which stay till other ships come the next year to take them. It was neuer inhabited: only an Heremite dwelt there, who vnderunder pretence of mortifying his flesh by penance, butchered the flesh of the Goats and Bucks so fast for their skinnes, that the King sent for him home, & will suffer none to dwell there. Abraham Kendall put in there about the yeare 1591. and left on shore one Segar a sicke man, whom aEdm.Barker. Hak lo.2 part.2Edmund Barker 18. moneths after found there in good plight; but their vnexpected comming, as it seemeth, so rauished his weake spirits with ioy, that it distracted him, and being otherwise of bodily constitution very well, he died eight daies after. The like I hauehave read of a Portugall in the same place. North-west from hence are the Iles of Ascension, not inhabited. Of Loanda, nigh to, or rather a peece of Congo, is already spoken. Ouer against the Cape of Lopo Gonsalues, is the Ile of Nobon: and not farre from thence bNauigat … all …iola di S. … part. 1.f.116.St. Thomas, 180. miles from the shore, and so much also in compasse, right vnderunder the line. At the first discouerie it was a wood: now inhabited by Portugalls and Negro's. These line 100. yeares: but few borne in Europe exceede 50. It is vnholsome, through exceeding heat, vntounto Europaeans especially, which in December, Ianuarie, and Februarie *The windes which at other times refresh them, then by nature imprisoned in their homes., can scarsly walke vp and downe for saintnesse. In the midst is a woodie Mountaine, continually ouershadowed with a thick cloude, which so moistens the Trees that grow in great abundance thereon, that from hence droppeth water sufficient for the watering of all their fields of Sugar Canes. They hauehave 70. Ingenios or Sugar houses, each of which hath two or three hundred slaues belonging thereto; wheat, here sowne, becommeth all blade, without ripening any corne. No fruit which hath a stone in it will here prosper. The Towne which hath about 700. Families, and the Castle, was taken by the Hollanders, 1599.
The Ile Del Principe cHoll.Na…ig., was so called, because the reuennues thereof were in times past allowed to the Prince of Portugal. It standeth in three degrees Northerly latitude: I…lian Clerchagen tooke the same 1598. The Iles of St. Mathew, Santa Cruz, St.Paul, and Conceptio… yeeld small matter of historie. Next to Cape Verde stand seuen Ilands, full of Birds, emptie of Inhabitants, called Barbacen…. But those that are called the Iles of C. Verde are nine, situate betweene the Greene and White Capes: Linschoten reckons ten. They were first discouered by Antonio di Nolli, a Genoway, 1440. None of them are inhabited, but the Iles of Iago, & Del Fogo: both which were taken, 1596. by Sr Antonie dSr. …. Sher. … ….3. pag 600.S…erly: who had one night a shower of ashes from that Iland of Fogo or Fuego, or of Fire, so called, because it continually burneth, which fell so thick on their ship that you might write your name with your finger vponupon the vpper deck. St. Iago was taken and burnt by Sir Francis eSr Fr. Drake.Drake, 1585. Braua and Buena Vista, hauehave brauer and goodlier names then nature. Maio yeelds salt in a Lake of two leagues long, the Sunne congealing and turning the waters into salt. From thence is passed into the Sea, called Sargasso f…inschot.lib.1 cap 95., because it is couered with hearbs, like to the hearbe Sargasso in the Portugall Wells, like to Sarrper, yellow of colour, with emptie Berries like Gooseberries: which beginneth at 20. degrees, & continueth till 34. farre off in the Sea: for the ships in their going to India keeping neare the shore meet not with any. The Sea seemeth as a greene field, so thick that a man cannot see the water, and hindreth the ships passage, except they hauehave a strong winde. The coast of Africa is 400. miles distant, neither is any Iland neare: saue that these weeds seeme to make many Ilands. Thus doe men in ships behold the wonders of the Lord in the deepe, no Land being nigh, nor no ground to be found, although it is thought to come from the ground. And indeede all those Seas are full of wonders, as they passe along the coast toward the Indies. Tho. gTh. Steuens. Hak lo.2. part.2Steuens complaineth of the continuall thunders, lightnings, and vnholsome raines which there they met: the raine water, if it stands a litle, conuerting presently to wormes, and filling the meat, hanged vp, with wormes. An hearbe also swamme vponupon the face of the waters like a Cocks-combe, so venimous, that it can scarse be touched without perill: Fishes, called Sharks, most rauenous deuourers, which had other six or seuen smaller fishes, guarded with blew and greene, attending like Seruing-men. Fishes also (as bigge as a Hering) with wings, which doe not so much helpe them by flying to escape an other greater fish, that pursueth them by Sea, as endanger them to a Sea-Fowle, which waits that opportunitie. Neither can it flie high or farre, or longer then the wings are wet: not swimme fast, hauing exchanged finnes for wings. So hauehave I seene men thriue worse that hauehave two trades, then such as hauehave been skillfull & thriftie in one. Lerius hLa ij na. in Brasil.c.3.addeth the like wonder of certaine Birds, so tame that they would light vponupon the Hatches, and suffer themselues to bee taken. These are the same Birds which pursue those flying fishes, wiser to hunt them, then to saue themselues: as bigge as Crowes in fethers, in flesh little bigger then a Sparrow, and farre lesse then the fish which they take and deuoure. To returne to our discouerie from Iago where wee left: here the Negro's iNau.all Is di S. T…ome.were wont to bring slaues to fell to the Portugalls for beads, and other trifles, and cottons, with other base commodities: and them not such alone as they tooke in war, but their fathers and mothers, thinking they did them a benefit, to cause them thus to bee conuayed into better Countries: they brought them naked. The Iles of Arguin are six or seuen, inhabited by the Azanhagi, where the King of Spaine hath a Fortresse: concerning the trade wherof you may reade the letter of Melchior kMel. Peton. Hak. part.2.Petoney. Further into the Sea are the Canaries: which are commonly reckoned seuen; Canaria, Teneriff, Palma, Gomera, Hierro, Lansarotte, & Fuerte, Ventura: Theuet lA.Theuet.c.5.ads 3; others, more; L…bos, R…ca, Gratiosa: St, Clara, Alegranca, & Infierno. The Inhabitants were so grosse before they were discouered, that they knew not the vse of fire. They beleeued in one Creator of the world, who punished the euill, and rewarded the good: herein they all consented, in other things disagreed: their weapons were stones and staues. They shaued their heads with sharpe stones like flints. Yron they had not: gold they respected not. The women nursed not their children, but commonly committed that office to their Goats. They as much delighted in dancing, as the Birds mCanari… Birds.which beare their name, in singing. They were vnknowne from the times of the Roman Empire nG.B.B. part.1 Vol.2. Bar.Dec.1.l.1.at which time they were called Fortunatae till either an English or French ship by misfortune lighted on them. An. 1405. Io Bentacor conquered them, & after him 1444. Henrie, the Infanta of Portugall, that day-starre, which by his industrie made way to the present Sun-shine of discoueries, whereby the world in her last daies hath fullest view of her selfe. Galuano oA. Galuano Discoueries. Luys Orda, Anno 1334. assailed Gomera, but in vaine. And 1393. the Spaniards committed great spoiles in this Iland. Descrip. Canar. cap. Caluetonem.calleth that Frenchman Io. Bettancourt, & saith, he was sent by Iohn the second of Castile, An. 1417. who being slaine in the action, his son sold them to Perter Barba a Spaniard, & he to Don Henrie. He saith the people were Idolaters, and did eate their flesh raw for want of fire: they tilled the ground with Oxe & Goats-hornes. They had many wiues, but deliuered them to the Superiors to lie with them, before they lay with them. Don Henrie conquered the rest which Batancourt had not possessed. Their former gouernement was by 190. persons, which ruled also in matters of religion, prescribing to the people their faith, and worship. They had in higher name of authority a King, and a Duke. To flay a beast was esteemed the basest office in the world, & therefore committed to their prisoners: they which did this, liued separate from the people: Thus was it in the Gran Canaria. In Gomera pCadamosto., they vsed for hospitality to let their friends lie with their wiues, and receiuing theirs in like courtesie: and therfore, as in India, the Sisters sonne inherited.
In Tenarise they had two Kings, one dead, an other aliue: when a new King was crowned some man to honor his entrance, offered himselfe to voluntarie death: when the King was buried, the noblest men carried him on their shoulders, and putting him into the graue, said, Depart in peace O blessed soule. Theuet qA.Theuet. New-found World. cap.5.affirmeth, that the Canaries are so called of the Canes and Reedes that grow there: that they worshipped the Sunne, Moone, and Planets. Of these Ilands, Thomas Nichols rThe. Nichols.an English man, hath composed a Treatise extant, in Master Hakluyts voyages, To….2. Part.2. Hee saith they dwelt in Caues, supposed to descend of such, as the Romans in Africa had exiled, and cut their tongues out for blasphemie against their Gods. The pike or high Hill of Tenarise, is after Theuets measure foure and fiftie miles.Thomas Byam, sTh. Byam. Some say it may be seene two hundred and fiftie Deser.can. Caluet.a friend of mine, told me, that he hath seene it eight and forty leagues into the Sea, in cleare weather. Here before the conquest were seuen Kings, which with their people dwelt in Caues. Their buriall was, to be set vponupon his feet naked in a Caue, propped against the wall: and if he were a man of authority, he had a staffe in his hand, and a vessell of Milke standing by him. I hauehave seene, saith Nichols, three hundred of these corpses together, the flesh dried vp, the body light as Parchment. I my selfe saw two of those bodies in London.
Canaria, Tenerif, and Palma, hauehave one Bishop, who hath twelue thousand Ducats reuennue: which place was not long since possessed by Melchior tM. Canus. Loc. Theolog.lib.12.Canus, a great Writer in defence of the falling Babylon. They pay to the King fiftie thousand Ducats. Hierro, or the Iland of yron, is by the multitudes of Authors uBeuzo.&c.affirmed to hauehave in it no fresh water, but what falleth from the leaues of a certaine Tree, which is alwaies greene, and couered with cloudes, and vnderunder-neath the same is a Cisterne to receiue the water, for the vse both of Men and Beasts, throughout that Iland: a whole wood of such Trees we mentioned in Saint Thomas Iland, which yeeld from their dropping leaues Rills of water downe all sides of the Hill, where they grow. In this Iland here is but one: and that very ancient. It is in seuen and twentie degrees. This, and Gomera, and Lancarota, are in the handes of priuate men.
Madera standeth in two and thirtie degrees, it is the greatest of all the Atlantike Iles xA. Galuano.. It was discouered by one Macham an English man: who arriued there by tempest, Anno 1344. together with a Woman, whom hee there buried, and on her Tombe did write his comming, and the cause thereof, with his and her names, and was occasion to the King of Spaine to discouer that and the Canaries. It was called Madera, of the wildernesses of Trees there growing; Here is a City called Fouchal. The Ile containeth in compasse a hundred and fortie miles. The woods yA. Cadamosto.which gaue name to the Iland were fiered, and burnt so furiously, that the people for a time were forced to goe some space into the Sea, from the violent heat, which caused such fatnesse to the soile, that at first it yeelded threescore fold: since, halfe so much. The excellent Wines were of Vines, first brought from Candie. They bring forth more grapes (saith he) then leaues, and clusters of two, three, and foure *Palmi.spannes long. At first, the Pidgeons suffered themselues to bee taken, not knowing, and therefore not fearing a man.
Fortie miles to the Ile of Madera is the Ile of Puerto, or Porto Santo, called of all Saints day, in which it was first discouered, Anno 1428. It was taken by Sir Amias zSir Am. Preston Hak.Preston, 1596. Here are such store of Conies, bred of one shee-Conie, brought hither great with yong, that the Ilanders were out of hope almost to withstand and amend their damages by them sustayned. A litle Iland, neare to this, breedeth nothing else. And now we can accompany our Portugalls no further. A word of that which remayneth.
Within the Streights are no great Ilands belonging to Africa. Pennon, or the Rock against Velles de Gumera, the Ile of Gerbi, and some others. Malta, is the most famous, where in old time was the Temple of Iuno. spoiled by aCic.in Vert.6.Verres, supposed to be that Melita, where Paul suffered bAct.28.1.shipwrack: although there be an other Melita in the Adriatike Sea, …eare to Dalmatia: Polybius cPolybius.calls it Melytusa, as Volateranus dVolaterran.writeth. Ptolomie and Cicero name Melita, now called Malta, in this Ile of Malta. Some eOrtel. in Thcsaur.ascribe Pauls shipwrack to Melita in the Adriatike, neare to Dalmatia, whom Beza fBeza. Annot. Aret. in Arta.learnedly confuteth: and proueth it to be that Malta, which now the Knights hold against the Turke: whose valour in successe, in resisting that mightie Aduersarie gCurio Bellum.Melitense. Viperanus. Knolles, pag.796Curio, and Io. Antonius Viperanus, in their books of that Argument, Knolles in his Turkish Historie, Ri. Carre, and others, reiate at large. It was 1565. That which deceiueth those men in Malta, is the name of the Adriatike Sea, which now is giuen to the Gulfe of Venice, but then, as Beza and Aretius shew out of Strabo.lib. 3. was giuen to the Ionian Sea also, and further Southwards, Where Malta standeth: and Ortelius out of hOuid. Fast. 4. Philostrat. l.4.Ouid, and others, proueth the same.
Now a word of the ancient Nauigations about Africa. Hanno his voyage, sent Hanno.ap.R.forth by the Carthaginians, seemed fabulous, but Ramusius Sheweth eueryevery place by him mentioned, to agree with the later discoueries of the portugalls, and thinketh (guided by a Portugall Pilot, skillfull of those Seas, which skanned this Nauigation of Hanno) that he went as farre as St. Thome. Long before this, Homer reporteth of Homer. Odys. 8.Menelaeus, compassing the Aethiopians from Aegypt, which some interpret of sailing by the Cape of Good hope, as the Portugalls. Of this minde Strabo citeth Aristonichus. Of Salomon and Iehoshaphat is sayd before. Herodotus affirmeth the Phaenicians Herod.l.4.failing in the Red Sea in Cambyses time: but, this was vsuall and yearely, as Plinie sheweth, lib. 6. cap.23. The same Plinie alleageth out of Cornelius Nepos, the Plin. l.2.c.67.sayling of Eudoxus out of the Red Sea, round about Africa to Cales. The like may be shewed in some other instances, of which reade M. Hakl. his Epistle Dedicatorie Tom: I. and Ramus. Part. I. Pag. III. and Galvanus in his Discoueries of the World. Which I mention, not to disparage or weaken the Portugalls praises, but to giuegive Antiquitie their due; which, I thinke, could not ordinarily compasse so long a Nauigation for want of the compasse: yet we should iniurie our Authors if we should not beleeue somewhat: although not so much as they report.
That of Eudoxus is the most credible: but not without suspition in so long a voyage, of a priuate man.