Chap. III. AMERICA. 21 , 



a Stags Skin, fo cunningly, that it feems as if living, which they place near the 

 Rivers where the Deer generally come to drink, when on a fudden they fliooc 



them. 



Bag 



Their Priefts ferve in ftead of Chirurgeons, wherefore they always carry a *Md«u; 



g full of Herbs about with them, which are chiefly good againft venereal Di- SJt!j" 

 (tempers . for thefe People are exceeding libidinous \ nay, Sodomy and defiling of hve lon * 

 young Children is accounted no fin : Yet though they are much inclined to Wo- 

 men, they attain to a great Age. 



<%ene Laudoniere Landing not far from the City Augufline, fituate on the Banks of 

 the River May, met with the Floridan Governor Saturiona, who conducted him to the 

 French King's Court of Arms, erected two years before, which Saturiona, as a tefti- 

 mony of his zeal to the French, had Crown'd with Laurel and Flowers. Saturiona 

 had with him alfo his Son Moreus, who had begotten divers Children on his Mo- 

 ther ; whom his Father after that time no more acknowledging, refign'd her up 

 wholly to him : At which time alfo his great Grandfather being then living, was 

 above a hundred and fifty years old, and faw his <?hildrens Children to the fifth 

 Generation. 



The Religion in Florida is abominable, wicked, and cruel ; When they return TMfcnil 

 Conquerors from a Battel , the old Women rake oflf the dry'd Hair from the * d ** 11 ' ■ 

 fore-mention'd Poles, hold it aloft, and thank the Sun for their Victory. But the 

 Offerings of their firft-born Sons are terrible, for they knock out their Brains with 

 a Club in the prefence of the King. Their annual worfliipping of the Sun is alfo 

 very ridiculous . for filling the Skin of a Stag full of fweet.fmelling Herbs, they 

 hang the Horns and Neck with Garlands, and carry it with the noife of their kincl 

 of Vocal and Inftrumental Mufick, to a high Trunk or hollow Body of a Tree, on 

 which they place the ftufPdStag, with his Head towards the §un ; which done, they 

 falling down, defire that he would pleafe to afford them plenty of all ftfch Fruit as 

 they Offer^to him -, after which taking their leave, they let the fore-mention'd Skin 

 remain there till the following Year. 



The Spaniards fince their Defeat in the Fort Carolina, and their Engagement with 

 Sir Francis Drake, Anno 1585. have had little difturbanceon Florida. 



Drake having burnt and plundered Domingo and Carthagena, fteer'd along the Coaft i>r«fc's Ex- 

 of Florida, and difcover'd a Beacon on the fame 5 whereupon he fent out Spies, who ™/#. 

 fail'd a League up a River, on whofe Banks they faw a Fort, and fomewhat higher 

 the Town Augujline, built full of woodden Houfes • all which being related to 

 him, he fteer'd thicher, fiYd his Guns twice againft the Fort St. John-, which the 

 Spaniards anfwering onely with one Volley, fled, with their Commander Teter JMe- 

 nende^ ; when the Englijh prepar'd to Storm, a Prifoncr, being a Fmic/p-man, came in 

 a Boat from them to Drake, and inform'd him that the Spaniards had left the City 

 Augufline and Fort St. John ; to which Drake going, found there Pallifado's of picked 

 Boughs, cover* d with Earth, and a Cheft with two thoufand Pound, for the pay- 

 ment of the Soldiers, and fourteen Brafs Guns, with which he fet Sail from thence. 



The Mountains of this Countrey are onely the Apalatei, fuppos'd by the Na- 

 tives to have rich Mines of Gold in them, and which the Spaniards faw, but had 

 not time, nor other accommodation to flay and fearch them, by reafon they were 

 lb much wearied and wafted with a long March before they gat thither, and found 

 the People fo flout and obftinate thereabouts, that in ftead of entertaining them 

 with their Hens and Fowl, as other places had done, they were welcom'd with 

 Blows,and made to return, leaving not a few of their beft Soldiers behind. 



Rivers there are many, and thole very large and commodious, as ft <I(io Setco, 



or 



