1ZZ 



AMERICA 



Chap. III. 



or The Dry %iver, fo call'dby the Spaniards (as feme think) becaufe they could find 

 no Gold in it. x.^o Grande, ox The Great ^ver. y Ugeri*. 4- Garunna. 5. Sequana, 

 tyc. Thcfe laft, fo nam'd by the French, who, after the Spaniards, for fomc time had, 

 but never held any long poffeflion of the Countrey. There are alfo flfco de Bores, 

 <%iode Nieces, wd<I(iodeSpirito Santo, leffcr Streams, yet all of them, with the reft, 

 falling at feveral places into the great Lake of Mexico . and fome of them not a little 

 haunted by the Caymans or Weft-Indian Crocodiles, a Creature, as hath been faid be- 

 fore, dangerous both at Sea and Land. 



The Natives, who as yet hold Poffeflion and Command of it for the moft part, 

 are themfelves generally forted into certain Tribes or great Families ; all which are 

 Govern'd fcverally by Chiefs of their own, whom they call Taracoufti, and by rea- 

 fon thereof are almoft continually in Feud and War one with another. 



Th^Towns and Places moft known in this Province, are t. St. Helens, feated on 

 or near unto a Promontory of the fame Name, where this Countrey bordereth on 

 Virginia, z. Fort Charles, or Jrx Carolina, built and fo nam'd by the French King, but 

 afterwards ruin'd by the Spaniards. y<Port<%oyal, a well frequented Haven, at the 

 Mouth of a River which beareth the fame Name. More within Land there is, 

 1. JpaUhe, an old Town of the Natives, formerly a Place of great rcfort, but now 

 a poor thing of about forty or fifty Cottages ; and yet as poor as it is, Vamphilius 

 2^arVae^, as before related, when he fearch'd the Countrey, found the Natives 

 not willing to part with it : for though he took it from them, it was not without 

 fome refiftance, and they quickly recover'd it again : and at the 2. nam'd Jute, an- 

 other old Town of theirs, nine days March from the other, they overtook him, and 

 fell fo refolutely upon him, that he left not a few of his beft Soldiers dead upon the 

 place, and was content himfelf to march quietly away with the reft. 3. Ochal'vs, a 

 Town confifting of about five or fix hundred Sheds and Cottages likewifc of the 

 Natives. 4. Vittacuche, a Burrough of two hundred Houfes. 



There is alfo on the the Eaftern Shore of this feninfula, St. Matthews, a Place pof- 

 fefs'd and well fortifi'd by the Spaniards . and St. Auguft'mes on the fame Shore, but 

 lying fomewhat more Southerly than the other, at the Mouth of a River of the 

 fame Name, taken and fack'd by Sir Francis Drake in the Year 1585. 



Sect. II. 



Jucatan. 



JUcatan is a Tenin/ula, or half-Ifland, being encompafs'd with the Sea on all fides, 

 fave oncly to the South- Weft, where it is joyn'd to Guaxata, its farther and 

 more Eafterly Point looking towards Cuba. The knowledge of, when, and 

 by whom this Province was difcover'd, is included in that of New Spain, of which 

 fome will have it to be a part. The whole Province contains in compafs nine hun- 

 dred Miles or more, and lies between eighteen and twenty two Degrees of Nor- 

 thern Latitude, or thereabouts, the Air fomewhat hot, and the Soil not altogether 

 fo fertile as fome other parts of New Spain are ; but in recompence thereof the 

 People are fo much the more induftrious, living for the moft part by Handicraft 

 Trades. Neither is it altogether unftor'd with Corn and divers forts of Fruks,be- 

 fides what it hath of Fowl and Beafts, as Geefe, Hens, Deer, <&c. particularly it 

 yieldeth plenty of Wax and Honey, by reafon of its frequent Swarms of Bees. 

 They report fome fpecial things of this Province, as namely, tjhat the People of the 

 Countrey us'd generally, and long before thc-Spaniards came thither, a certain Ce- 

 remony 



