44. 
The one and thirtieth Booke 
item, let downe into the {ea within {mall nets,certaine pellets of wax thatbe hollow, or any other 
void and emptie veffels well clofed and luted they will eather within them waterthatis freth and 
potable : for we may fee the experience hereof upon the land: take fea water & letitrun through 
cley,it will become {weet and frefh, a 
Butto proceed unto the other medicinable properties of water: let there be anydiflocation 
in man ot beaft; by che {wimming in water (it mattersnot of whatkind it be) thebones will very 
quickely and with great eafe be reduced into joynt againe. | 
Itfallech our many times that travailers be in feare and daunger of fome fickneffe, by change 
of waters,and fuchelpecially as they know not the qualitie and nature of.To preventthisincon- 
venience, they drinke the water cold which they doubt and{ufpe@, fo foon as ever they be come 
out of the baine jfor then they fhall find it prefently. ¢ 
Astouching the moffe which is found in the water, foveraigne it is for the gout, in cafeit bee 
applied outwardly : mix oile thereto,and reduce it into the forme of acataplafme or Jiniment, it 
eafeth the paine,and taketh downe the {welling of the feet about the ankles. The fome and froth . 
that Aoteth above the water,caufeth werts to fall off, if they be well rubbed therewith. 
The very fand likewife upon the fea fhore,ef{pecially that which is {mall and fine and the fame 
burnt as it were with the heat of the Sun, is afoveraigne remedie to drie up the waterie humors 
ina dropfie, if the bodie bee covered all over therewith; and to that purpofe it ferveth alfo for 
rheums and catarrhs, Thus much may fuffice concerning water it felfe sit remaineth now to treat 
of fuch things as the water yeeldeth. In which difcourfe,begin I will(as my order and maner hath 
ben in all the reft)with chofe matters which be chiefe and principal and namely, Salt & Spunges. 
Cuap, vin 
ee The fandrie kinds of Salt. the making thereof : the vertues medicinable of Salt : - 
and divers o:ber confiderations re[pective thereto. 
Altis either artificial or naturall: and both the oneand the other is to be confidered in ma- 
S ay and divers forts, which may be reduced all into two caufes: for faltcommeth either of an 
humor congealed, or els dried. In the gulfe or lake of Tarentum, the fale is made of the fea 
water dried by the heat of the fummer fun ; for then you fhall {ee the whole poole converted in- 
to amaffe of falt: and verely the water there,is otherwife verie low and ebb, and not above knee- 
high. The like is to be feene in Sicilie within a lake called Cocanicus; as alfoin another neare 
unto Gekas :but in thefe,the brims and fides onely about the banks, wax drie and turne into fale, 
like as in the falt-pits about Phrygia and Cappadocia, But at Afpenchum, there ismore plentie 
of falt gathered within the poole there, for you fhallhave the fame turne into falt, eventhe one 
halfe thereof to the verie mids. In which lake, there is one ftrange and wonderfull thing befides, 
for looke how much falta man taketh our of ir in the day,fo much ordinarily will gather again by 
night. All the fale of this fort is finall, and not growne togither in lumps. Now there is another 
kind of falt, which ofthe owne accord commeth of fea water, and itis no more but the fome or 
froth which isleft behind fticking to the edges of the banks,or to rocks. Both the one & the other 
become thicke and hard in manner and forme of acandied dew: howbeit that whichis found in 
the rocks, is more quicke and biting than theother. These is befides of falt naturall, a third di- 
ftinét{orz ftom the former: for in the Ba&tcians country therebe two greatand huge lakes which | 
naturally do caft up a mightie quantitie of fale: the one lieth coward the Scythians, andthe other 
bendeth to the Arians countrey : like as neare unto Citium,a citie in the Ifle Cypros, and about 
Memphis in Egypt they draw foorth falt out of lakes, andafterwards drie the fame in the Sun. 
Moreover, there be certaine rivers which beare falt, and the fame congealed aloft in their upper 
part,in manner ofice,and yet the water runneth underneath and keepeth the courfe well enough: 
As for example, about the fluces and ftreights of the mount Cafpius; and thereupon they bee 
called the Rivers of falt:as alfo in other rivers of Armenia, and.abouc the Mardians countrey. 
Moreover, Oxvs and Orhus, two rivers paffing through the region Baétriana, carrie ordinarily 
downe with them in their ftreame, great peeces and fragments of falt,which fall from the moun- 
tains adjoyning unto them. There are befides in Barbarie,other lakes, and thofe verely thicke 
and trowbled, which engender and bearefalr. But what will youfay, if there bee certaine foun- 
taines of hote waters which breed fale? and yetfuch beethe baines or {prings called ier 
if us 
aS 
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