The tliir J Booke of 



T H E T H I R O B O. O K E ol 



THE HISTORIE O F NATVRE,:^ 



WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS 



SECVNbVS. 

 ^ The, T^rome, or Treface, 



ft hem have me written of the pofttion dnd wonders of the EarthyWaters^ and 

 , Starr es .: alfo we have treated in generall tearmes^ of the proportion and meafure 

 \ ofthe whole world. Now if followethy todifcoitrfe of the parts thereof: albeit this 

 ' dlfo he iudgcd an infinite peece ofworke^ nor lightlj can be handled without fome ^ 

 ' reprehenfton : and yet in no kind of enterprife pardon is mere due , fmce it is no ^' 

 : marvaile at all^ if he who is borne a mortall man^ knoweth not all things belonging 

 to man. And therefore will not follow one Author more than another, but every one as ifliall think 

 him mojl true in the defcription of each part. For as much as this hath been a thing common in man- 

 ner to them ally namely, to learne ordefcribethefttuations of ihofe places mofl exactly , where them- 

 fches were either borne , or which they had dijcoveredandfeene: andtherefwe,neither will I blame 

 nor reproove any man. The bare names of places jJjall be fimply fet downe in this my Geographic 5 and 

 that with as great brevitte as lean : theexcellencie,asalfo thecaufes and occaftons thereof, jlyall be 

 deferred to their fever all and particular ireafifes :for now the (juefiion is as touching the whole earth 

 ingeneralitie, which mine intent is to reprefent unto your eyes : and therefore I would have things 

 ihiis to be taken, as if the names of .countries were put downe naked ^ and void ofrenowme and fame, ^ 

 md fitch onely as they were in the beginning, before any a5les there done ; ind as if they had indeed a» 

 endament of names, but refpcciiue onely to the world and univerfall nature ofalU 



lim the whole globe of the earth is divided into three parts, Europe, Afia, and Africa Xhe begin- 

 n/ngwe take from the Wesl and the Firth of Gades, even whereas theAtlanticke Ocean breaking 

 in, is fpred into the Inland and Mediteranean feas. Make your entrance there,! meane at the S treights 

 of Gibraltar^ and then Africke is on the right hand, Europe on the left, and Ajia bef ore you iufi be- 

 iweene. The bounds confining thefe, are the rivers T anais and Nilrn^ The mouth of the Ocean at 

 Gades (whereof I fpake before) lyeth out in length 15 miles,andjiretcheth forth in breadth but five j 

 from a village in Spaine called Mellaria,to the promontoric of K^fncke, called the WhicCj^i- Turan- 

 iiius Graccula borne thereby, doth write, T. Livius and Nepos Cornelius have reported, that the ^ 

 breadth thereof where it is narrowefl, is feven miles over, but ten miles where it is broadesi. From fo 

 fmilla mouth (a wonder to confider) fpreadeth the fea fo huge and fo vafl as wee fee 3 and withalljo 

 exceeding despe, as the marvaile is no Icffe in that regard. For why ? in the very mouth thereof, are to 

 be feene many barres and flullow fl^elves of white funds ( fo ebbe is the water) to the great terrour of 

 flnppes andSaHerspafing that way. And therefore many have called thofe S treights oj Gibraltar ^he 

 entrieofihe CMediteraneanfea, of both fides of this gullet , mere unto it y are twomountainesfet as 

 frontiers and r ampler s to keepe allin : namely y Abilafor Africke, Calpe for Europe, the utmofl end of 

 Herciijes Labours, For which caufe, the inhabitants of thofe parts call them,The two pillars of that 

 God and doe verily beleeve, that by certainedraines and ditches digged within the Continent, the 

 maine Ocean, before exchided,made way and was let in, to make the Mediteranean feas, where before M 

 was fir me land attdfo by that meanes the very face of the whole earth is ekane altered . 



