Plimcs Naturall Hiftorie. 57 



A gtons5the people have white skins^bairc growing long downewardjl^ yellow i h ut they be fierce 

 & cruell by reafoii of the rigorous cold aire ; howbcit^the one as wel as the other in this change 

 and mutabilitiCjare dull and grofle : and the very legs doe argue the cernperatdre. For in the M- 

 thyopians the juice or bloud is drawne upward again by the nature of heat : but among the nar 

 tions Septentrionall, the fame is driven to the inferiour parts^ by reafon of moifture apt to fall 

 downeward. Here there breed noifome and hurtfull wild beafts: but there.bceengendred crea- 

 tures of fundrie and divers (Lapes^ efpeciallyfoules and birds of many formes and figures. Tall 

 they are of bodily ftatureaas well in one part as the other .: in the bote regions^by occafion of the 

 naturall motion of fire-, in tlic other^for the no.urifhment by moifture.But. in the middefi: of the 

 carthjthere is an holefome mixture from both fides : the whole trad is fertile and fruitfidl for all 



g things, the habite of mens bodies of a meane and indifferent conftitution. In the colour alio 

 there iheweth a great temperature. The fafhions and manners of the people are civile arid gen- 

 tlCj their fences deare and hghtfome^ their wits pregnant andcapableof all things within thq 

 compalfe of Nature.Thcy alio beare foveraigne rule^and fway Empires and Monarchies, which 

 thole uttermoft nations never had: yet true it is^ that even they who arc out of the temperate 

 Zonesj may not abide to bee fubjecl nor accommodate themfelves unto thefe : for fuch is thcit 

 favage and brutilh nature that it urgeth them to^liv&'g fblitarie by themfelves. 



Chap. LXXiiti 

 ^ of Eanhquakesl 



C 



THe Babylonians were of this opinion^that earthquakes and gaping chinkcs, and all other 

 accidents of that nature^are occafioned by the power and influence of the Planets : but of 

 thoie three onely/o which they attribute lightenings. And by this meanSjUamclyjasthcy 

 kcepc their courfe mxh the Sunne^or meet with him : and efpecialiy when this concun-ence is a- 

 bout the quadratures of the heaven. And furely if it be true that is reported oiAfjaxirndf^der the 

 Milefian naturall Philofop her/his preicience and foreknowledge of thiogs^was excellent & wor- 

 thie of iiiimortalitie : who^as they fay /ore-warned the Lacedcemonians to looke well unto their 

 citieanddwellinghoufes, for that there was an earthquake toward : which fell out accordingly 

 when not onely their whole citie was fhakcnjoverthrownejan^ fell downe^biit alfo a greacpart of 

 J) the mountaine Tay getus, which bare out like to the poupe of a iliip, broken as it were from the 

 reff ,came downe too^and with the falLcovered all over the forelaid ruins. There is reported ano- 

 ther flirewd gueflc of Pherccjdes^ who was Pyihr,gora6 his maiiler , and the fame likewife divine 

 and propheticall : hce by drawing water out of a pit, both forefiw and alfo forcnold an earth- 

 quake there.Which if they be truejhow farre off, 1 pray you, may fuch men fccme to bee from 

 GodjCven whiles they live here upon earth ?But as for thefe things vcnlvjl leave it free for every 

 man to weigh and deeme of them according to their ownc judgenicnt : and for mine ownc pare 

 i fuppofe that without all doub t the winds arc the cauie thereof. For never beginneth the earth 

 to quakejbut vshcn the fea is flillj and the weather fo calme withal}^ that the birds in.their flying 

 cannot hover and hang in the aire,by reafon that al the fjiirit and wind which fliouki bearc them 

 £ upjis withdrawne from them : ne yet at any time^but after the winds arc laid, naniclyj when the 

 blafi is pent and hidden within the veines and hollow caves of the earth. Neither is this i qaking 

 in the earth any other thingjthan is thunder in the cloud : nor the gaping chinkc thereof ought 

 eis^but like the clifc whereout the lightening bre^keth^whcn the fpiric enclolcd withinjfttuggkth 

 and flirf eth to goe forth at iibertie. 



Char LXXXi 

 ^ of tkgapif?^ ch'wkes of tk earih. 



A Ftermany and fundrieforts the earth therefore is lliakenjand thereupon cnfucwondroui) 

 t /A efieds. In one place the walls of cities are laid along: in another they be fwMlowed up ina 

 deepc and wide chawirie: here are cafl up mightie heapesof earth 5there,are let out rivers 

 of water syeajandfometimes fire doth breath forthjand bote fprings ifTue abroad: and in ano- 

 ther place the courfe and channell of rivers is turned clean away^and forced backward .There go- 

 cth before and commechwithit a terrible noife; one while a r umbling more like the ioo wing 



E and 



