Chap. I. 



*A M E %_l C A. 



127 



Foreland, Cumberla?id Ijles, DjW/s Straight, &c. on this fide toward the Artlick Circle, 

 {Button's and Brigg's (Bay, HudjonsSea, ochcrwife term'd Mare Chrijlianum, out of 

 which more Wefterly runs a narrow Sea call'd Hudfons Straight : beyond Hudfons 

 Sea towards the Arclick Circle is a place call'd Ney> North-Walts ; and on this fide an- 

 fwcrablc to it, between (Button's Bay and the Chrifiian Sea, lies I^ew South-Wales j all 

 which places we find generally let down in the American Hemifphere, but in the 

 Geographical Difcourfes thereof little is faid of them, if fo much as nam'd. The 

 fartheft part of Land Northward, between Hudfons Gtdph and Hudfons Straight, 

 betwixt fifty feven and fixty Degrees of Northern Latitude, goes generally by the 

 Name of Fflotiland, I mean that properly fo call'd (for EJlotiland is by fome as 

 largely taken as Qanada, by CluVerius, Golmt^ins, Peter du Val, and others, namely for 

 all that Tract of Land extending from that fuppo fed Straight of Jnfan, which di- 

 vides America from Jfiatick Tartary, as far as the utmoft point of Land that {hoots 

 toward the Jtlantick Ocean) which Southerly towards Terra Laboratom is bounded 

 with a River vulgarly call'd <l{io T^evado, or Tl?e Snowy <l{iver. EJlotiland feems to 

 have dcriv'd its Name from its lying more Eafterly than the reft of the Provinces, 

 and, according as Nova (Britannia is plac'd in fome Charts, might very well be taken 

 for the fame, though it hath not been fo term'd by any Author, but rather Terra 

 Laboratory, Cortereatis, and Nova (Britannia are generally receiv'd to be all one. 



This Province is affirmed by Matthias Quadus y and J. Antoniu* Maginus, to have ^^fe? 

 been the firft difcover'd Countrey of the new World, and that by Antomus Zeno, a iMi - 

 Patrician of Venice, in the Year of our Lord 1390. which was long before the Ex- 

 pedition of Columbus, through the encouragement oiZichmus, King of the Ifle of 

 Friezland . but by whomfoever found out, or at whatfocver time, it is commonly 

 affirm'd to be not ill furnifli'd with Provifions of all forts, as Beafts, Birds, Fifh, 

 Fowl, and Fruits, having a Soil indifferent fertile, in refpect of thecoldnefs of the 

 Climate. The People in general (for fome there are that live wild and falvage up The Nature 

 and down the Woods, and go naked, whereas the Clothing of the Countrey is the 

 Skins of Beafts and of Sea*Calves, call'd Morfes) are reported not onely tolerably 

 civil, but alfo ingenious and expert both in mechanick Arts, and other neceffary 

 Faculties, infomuch that the firft Voyagers to this place are faid to have obferv'd of 

 them upon this firft Difcovery, That they fow'd Corn, brew'd Beer and Ale, and 

 Traded by Sea to Greenland, Frie^land, and other places, to the diftance of fifteen 

 hundred Miles ; and that they were not altogether void of the ufe of Letters, but 

 that their Character was onely proper to themfelves and not intelligible by any 

 other Nation : Mof eover,there is a certain Tradition,that there was here and there 

 fome little knowledge of the Latine Tongue amongft them, and that there were 

 found divers Latine Books in a Library of one of their Kings - the teafon of which, 

 if true, is conjectur'd to be from certain Europeans who underftood that Language, 

 having in Ages paft fufFer'd (hip wrack upon thofc Coafts, where chancing to abide 

 either through conftraint or choice, they might haply at their Deceafe leave behind 

 them fome Books and other Monuments of the Latine Tongue. They were ob- 

 ferv'd to ufe fucha kind of Javelin or fhort Dart, as was known to be us'd by the 

 People of Java, and fome other Wands of the EaJlAndies ; whereupon it feems not 

 wholly improbable, that they might for a long time have entertain'd Traffick and 

 Correspondence with them. 



The Morfes, or Sea-Calves before mention'd, are about the bignefs of a young fcefoiptf*. 

 Heifer, the Hunting of which by the Natives, who take them in great numbers, is 

 to them in the ftead of Whale-fifliing, which is not there fo good, for they draw a 

 great quantity of TrahvOyl out of them. On each fide of the Jaw of this amphi- 

 bious 





4» 



I 



itt 



of the Morfts 



