



Plimcs Naturall Hiftone* 



A warred in thofe partSjthe markes and cdkcnSjby report, were feen remaining after the Spaniard^ 

 {hipwracke.^4»ff^ hkewife^in the time that Carthage flourifiied in piiiifance, failed round aboue 

 from Gades to the utmoft bounds and lands-end of Arabia, and fctdownethat navigation and 

 voiage of his in writing : like as alio Himtlco^ at the fame time was lent out in a vbiage to difco- 

 ver the utter coafts of Europe.MdrecjvcrjOr^^/zV/^ IZN^f^^^ writeth, that in his time on tl- jdoxm 

 (a greatfailer) at what time as hee fled from king Ldthjrm^ departed out ol the Arabian guHe, 

 and held on his courfe as farrc as Gadesi Yea, and CceltM^ yirttipater long before hinij rcportcili. 

 That he faw the man who had failed out of Spaincinto Ethiopia for trafficke of meirchandifeo 

 The fame ?iepos maketh report as touching the compaifing about of the Nor thjthat unto J^. 

 (J^tetellm Celer (Colleague to C.^/r^»//^intheConfuUhip, but at th*: time Proconfullin 

 B Gaule)certaine Indians were given by a king of the Sucvians^who as they failed out of India for 

 traffickejas merchants,were driven by tempeft,and caft upon Germanie. Thus the feas flowing 

 on every fide about this globe of the earth,divided and cut intd parcels, bereave us of a part of 

 the world: as neithertirom thence hether^nor from hence thither, ihereis a thorowfaire and 

 • paifage.The contemplation wherof,ferving fit to difcover and open the vanitie of ti)en/eemerh 

 lo require and challenge of me,that I fliould projedi to the view of the eie, how great all this is 

 whatfocver it bee,and wherein there is nothing fufticient to fatisfie and content the feverail ap- 

 petite of each man. 



Chap, lxviii. 



C What prticrf of the earth is habitable^ 



lOw firft and formoft me thinkes, men make this reckoning of the earth,as if it 

 were the jufthalfe of the globe, and that no portion of it were cutoff byrhe 

 Ocean :which notwithftanding, clafping round about all the middeft there- 

 of, yeelding forth and receiving againe all other waters befides, and what ex- 

 halations foever that go out for clouds jUnd feeding withall the very ftarres, fo 

 many as they be,and of fo great bignelTe 5 what a mighcie fpace thinkc ybUjwi! 

 it be thought to take up and inhabitCjand how litde can there be left for men to inhabite ? Sure- 

 ly the poflclfion of fo vaft and huge adeale,muft needs bee exceeding great and infinite. What 

 P lay you then to this,That of the earth which is leftjthe heaven hath takea away the more part?Foi: 

 whereas there bee of the heaven fivcpartSjwhich they call Zones : all that lieth under the two ut- 

 moft, towit,onboth fides about the poles, namely, this here which is called i'^'/'/f^/w, /.the 

 North,and the other overagainll: it,named the South,it is overcharged with extreme and rigo- 

 rous cold, yea,and with pcrpetuallfroft and yce. In both Zones, it isalwaies dim and darke,and 

 byreafonthattheafpedof the more mild andpleafant planets is diverted cleane from thence, 

 the light that is,fhewerh little or nothing,^ appeareth white,with the froft onely.Now,the mid- 

 dle of the earth,wheras the Sunnc hath his way,and keepeth his courfe,{corched and burnt with 

 flamesjis even parched and fried againe,with the bote gleames thereof jbeing fo jieer.Thofe two 

 onely on either fide about it, namely,betweene this burnt Zone and the two frozen ,a re tempe- 

 E rate; and even thofe have not accelfe and paffage the one to the other, by reafon of the burning 

 heat of the faid pianet.Thus you fee,that the heaven hath taken from the earth three parts : ^iid 

 what the Ocean hath plucked from it befides,no man knoweth. And even that one portion re- 

 maining unto us,I wot not whether it be not in greater danger alfo.Forjthe fame Ocean en tring 

 (as we wil (hew)into many armes and creekes,keepeth a roaring againft the other gulfes and feas 

 within the earth,&fo ncer commeth unto them,that the Arabian gulfe is not from the^Egyptian 

 fea above 115 miles : the Calpian likewife from the Ponticke but 375.Yea,and the fame flowcth 

 b€tweene,and entreth into fo many armes,as that thereby it devideth Affricke,Europc,and A- 

 fia afunder.Now,what a quantitie of the land it taketh up,may be colleded and reckoned at this 

 j: day by the meafure and proportion of fo many rivers, and fo great Meres* Adde thereto both 

 lakes and pooles : and withall take from the earth the high mountaines, bearing up their heads 

 aloft into the skic,fo as hardly the cie can reach theit heigths : the woods befidcs, and fteep dil^ 

 cents of the vallies,the wilderncflcs, and waft wilds left delert upon a thoufand caufes. Thefe fo 

 many peeccs of the carth^or rather as moft have writtcn,this little pricke of the world(for furcly 

 the earth is nothing els in comparifon of the whole)is the onely matter of our glorie.ThiSjI fay* 



