FOOTNOTES:
[20] Alcoran.
[21] Grapes in Messina I have known as big as a Pigeon's Egg; but they do not make Wine.
A Letter from Mr. John Monro to the Publisher, concerning the Catacombs of Rome and Naples.
SIR,
The Catacombs are an obscure Argument. I have seen those of Rome, I have seen those of Naples, and as they say there are Catacombs in the Neighbourhood of all the great Towns of that part of Italy, I had been glad to have seen them where-ever they are. They are an obscure argument indeed; but perhaps the greatest obscurity about them is, that a Matter that has so much exercis'd the Pens of the Moderns, shou'd be totally neglected by the Ancients: Neither the name nor the thing is found in the latter, whereas among the former, Antiquaries and Travellers are full of them. All they into whose way they come, think they do nothing if they do not exhaust them before they leave them; they take all their dimensions, and measure their height, their breadth and their length; they survey all the little Rooms, search every hole and corner, Criticize nicely on the quality, and calculate the Age of the poor Painting and Inscriptions, and make excursions into other Arguments, to find out the end for which they were made. The Catacombs are a narrow Gallery dug and carried a vast way under Ground, with an infinite number of others going off it on all hands, and an infinite number of little Rooms going off the Principal, and them too. Those commonly shew'd Strangers are those of San Sebastiano, those of San Lorenzo, those of San Agnese, and the others in the Fields a little off of Sant Agnese. They take their Names from the Churches in their Neighbourhood, and seem to divide the circumference of the City without the Walls between them, extending their Galleries every where under, and a vast way from it, so that all the Ground under, and for many Miles about it, is said to be hollow. Now there are two sorts of Authors that run into extravagance on this subject; the one will have them made by the Primitive Christians, adding, that in the times of Persecution they liv'd, held their Assemblies, and laid up the Bodies of their Martyrs and Confessors in them. This is the Account that prevails at Rome, and consequent to it there are Men kept constantly at Work in them. As soon as these Labourers discover a Repository, with any of the marks of a Saint about it, Intimation is given to the Cardinal Treasurer, who immediately sends Men of Probity and Reputation to the place, where they find a Palm painted or ingraven, or the Cypher XP, which is commonly read pro Christo, or a small round projection in the side of the Gallery, a little below the Repository; what is within it is carried to the Palace. Many of these Projections we have seen open, with pieces of the Vials in them; the Glass indeed was tinctur'd, and 'tis pretended that in these Vials was conserved the Blood of the Martyrs, which was thus laid up nigh their Bodies, towards the Head, to distinguish them from those of the others that were not called to the Honour of laying down their Lives for the Faith of the Gospel. After the Labourers have survey'd a Gallery, they do up the entry that leads into it; thus most of them are shut; nor are more left open than what is necessary to keep up the Trade of shewing them to Strangers, which they say is done to prevent what has often happen'd, I mean Peoples losing themselves in these subterraneous Labyrinths; by this conduct depriving us of the means of knowing whither and how far they were carried. To this it may be justly excepted, that allowing the Catacombs to be proper for the end for which they are presum'd to be made, and that the Christians of that Age were in a capacity of making that convenience, for themselves to live and assemble in below Ground, at a time when 'twas so very unsafe to appear above it; yet to suppose that a work of that Vastness and Importance cou'd be carried on without the knowledge of the Government, is to suppose the Government asleep, and that that was actually done under its Nose, that must necessarily have alarm'd it, had it been attempted on the frontiers of the Empire.
The other sort of Authors give indeed a mighty Idea of the Catacombs, represent them as a work of that Vastness, that the Christians in the persecuting times had not number enough to carry it on; but then most unadvisedly with the same breath they confound them with the Puticuli in Festus Pompeius, where, at the same time that the Ancient Romans us'd to burn the Bodies of their dead, the custom was, to avoid expence, to throw those of the Slaves to rot.
This is not all, the Roman Christians, say they, observing at length the great veneration that certain Places gain'd by the presence of Relicts, resolv'd to provide a stock for themselves; entring therefore the Catacombs, they made in some of them what Cyphers, what Inscriptions, what Painting they thought fit, and then shut them up; intending to open them again upon a Dream, or some other important incident. The few that were in the secret of this Artifice either dying, or as the Monks, who were the only Men that seem to have had Heads adapted to a thought of this quality, were subject to so many removes, being transported to other Places, the contrivance came to be forgot, and those Galleries continu'd shut, till Chance, the Parent often of great discoveries, open'd them at last. Thus they conclude, the Remains of the vilest part of Mankind are trump'd up in the Church for the Bodies of the most eminent Confessors and Martyrs.
To leave the latter part of this Tale to shift for it self as well as it can, either the Catacombs are not that great work they are represented to be, nor to be found every where about the City, or 'twas very improper in Festus Pompeius to call them by the little name of Puticuli, and so confine them to one place only, that I mean unknown now without the Esquilin-Gate. Indeed the Characters of the Places are so very unlike, that one wou'd wonder how a common Burying place, where in holes Bodies were thrown together to rot, came to be confounded with Repositories cut in the face of a long Gallery, one over another, sometimes to the number of seven, in which Bodies were singly laid, and handsomly done up again, so that nothing cou'd offend the view of those that went in, especially with the little Rooms of the fashion of Chappels, that have all the Appearances of being the Sepulchers of People of distinction.
The Remark, Puticulos Antiquissimum sepulturæ genus appellatos, quod ibi in puteis sepirentur homines, is that of an Etymologist, that would be now thought to speak against all the property of Language, if he apply'd the name to our Graves or Vaults, to which it may with more Justice and Reason be apply'd, than to the Galleries of the Catacombs, and the Rooms that go off them. What the particulars were is not difficult to define, after what we have seen so often. When the Persecutors spilt the Blood of so many Martyrs, they us'd to dig holes perpendicularly in the Ground, and to throw their Bodies promiscuously in them; of this the Memory is still conserv'd, Churches being built in the Places where the holes were made, and little Monuments erected over the holes themselves, to which the name of Putei is continued to this day.
This is the true notion of the Puticuli, holes dug perpendicularly in the Ground to throw Bodies indifferently and without any decency in; and according to the Argument this ought to be the conduct of the Ancient Romans, with Respect to their Slaves, as implying simplicity and the care to avoid a greater expence; but then what's all this to the Galleries and Chambers of the Catacombs, where decency and distinction of quality is nicely observ'd; and that, if they were look'd after, and kept in better repair, would be without dispute the noblest Burying-place this Day in the World? As often as they fall under my consideration, I cannot forbear thinking they were made for this end by the Ancient Romans, and made in consequence of these two Ancient opinions, that the shadows hate the light, and love to hover about the place where the Bodies are laid, they appear so easie and decent a resting-place for the one, without the least fear of being ever disturb'd, and at the same time there is provided a noble and a vast convenience full of variety for the others, to space themselves freely and with pleasure in.
I think 'twill not be denied, that laying up the Bodies in Caves was the original way of disposing of the dead; this was that of the Phænicians, and as they were the Men that with their Colonies peopled the Western parts of the World, 'tis more than probable they carried it along with them whither soever they went. Afterwards, as Men grew great and powerful, they erected noble and magnificent Monuments for themselves above ground; at length others of inferior degree imitated them, all leaving room enough and excluding the light: But then interring as we do now in the open Air, or in Temples, was never the manner till Christianity brought it in. Of the whole we have many Instances, and Il Signior Abbate Bencini, Bibliothecary of the Propaganda, a Gentleman of good Ancient Learning, assured me in the conversation I had with him on this Argument, that on the great Roads in most parts of Italy little Catacombs have been and are still found under ground, and that 'twas the Custom to build little Houses over them. This, and the testimony of the Labourers whom I consulted on the matter, made me abandon an opinion of which I was once fond, that the Catacombs are of the Nature of our Gravel-pits, as old as the City itself, and yet out of them was taken the Puzzolana, the famous Ingredient in the Roman Mortar. The same learned Gentleman added, relating to the marks of a Martyr, that they don't conclude much; that the so fam'd Cypher XP was in use among the Ancients long before Christianity begun: And when I ask'd him what the meaning of it might be among them? return'd, that 'twas compos'd of the two Greek Letters Χ Ρ, under which something mystical was comprehended, but that he met with no Author that gave account what the mystery was.
Thus, after a multitude of thoughts about the Catacombs, I'm forced to take up with this; so natural it is, arising from the sole Theory of the Place, and falls in so oppositely with the Religion and Practice of the Ancients, among whom the Dii Manes were the Tutelary Gods of the Country, and D. M. at the head of an Inscription, argues the Moles, the Sepulchre, the Monument, &c. was in the primary intention made for and dedicated to the Soul. Upon the same Maxims, in Foreign expeditions, when a Hero died or was kill'd, as the Body was liable to a quick corruption, and for that Reason unfit to be transported entire, they fell on the expedient of Burning, in order to bring home the Ashes, to oblige the Manes to follow, that so the Country might not be deprived of the Benefit of its tutelage. This I humbly conceive was the Original of Burning, which by Degrees became more and more universal, till at last the Pomp and Magnificence of it reconcil'd it to all that were able to go to the length of the expence.
As for the prejudice of the Silence of the Ancient Authors in this matter, 'tis easily removed, and to be regretted at the same time that the Authors of all Ages, too much neglect the customs of their own time. Writing for the satisfaction of their Cotemporaries, they think it impertinent to Trouble them with the Account of what they see Transacted every Day. By this means the Ancient Customs, with the Time, and Reasons of their disuse, are lost with Respect to us, and ours with the same Circumstances may come to be so with relation to Posterity. As the Authors are pleas'd to adopt them for their Children, one wou'd wonder greater care is not taken not to entail visible occasions of complaint on them; nay, one wou'd wonder more, to see these Gentlemen so little ambitious of a future reputation, when they may infallibly assure it themselves, without resigning the present, by transmitting the knowledge of things, the knowledge of which may in a small series of Years become otherwise irretrievable; they cannot but observe every Day what esteem is placed on those Authors, to whom we are forced to go, to find in them what cannot be found elsewhere, to compare with the others, in whom nothing is to be found, but what Men of Reason are able to find at home.
Upon the whole, the Catacombs I humbly conceive were the Burying-places of the Ancient Romans; at length the manner of Burning, which they received from the Græcians, coming by degrees to prevail universally, they fell under a total neglect. This is the State in which the Primitive Christians must be suppos'd to have found them; 'tis not to be imagin'd they could have made any use of them, at a time when 'twas the daily practice to lay up even the depositions of the Slaves in them; so that either the Christians made no use of them at all, or they never were the burying Place of the Slaves. Now as these are Suppositions that naturally destroy one another, one would count it more safe to follow the faint light of a glimmering tradition, than abandon ones self to the Conduct of an Ignis fatuus, that for ought a Man knows is actually misleading him, so I beg leave to call the Testimony of Festus Pompeius, that may rather be apply'd to any other thing than to the Galleries of the Catacombs, carry'd under ground, they say 20 Miles from the City in some places, and no Body knows how far in others, and to that vast number of Chambers that go off them. Thus therefore the Christians finding them in a state of neglect laid up the Bodies of their Dead in them; and perhaps when the Persecution was hot, conceal'd themselves and kept little separate Assemblies in their Chambers. At last the Empire turning Christians, they fell again in the old state of neglect, in which they continu'd till upon the reading of I have forgot what Author that makes mention of them, they came to be look'd into and search'd. What I have writ relates to the Catacombs of Rome, those of Naples are a quite other thing, of which per next. I am,
Sir,
Your most humble Servant,
Marseilles, Aug. 22.
1700.
J. Monro.
An accurate Description of the Lake of Geneva, not long since made by a Person that had visited it divers times in the pleasantest season of the Year; and communicated to the Publisher by one of his Parisian Correspondents: English'd as followeth.
You have reason, Sir, to demand of me an Account of the Lake of Geneva, which, in my opinion, about this Season of the Year (in June) is one of the most pleasant Places of the World. This is the Third time I have visited it, and I am, if I may say so, more charmed with it than the first.
I shall say nothing of the Alpes, nor of mount Jura, which do environ it, which by this Lake as by a large Ditch, are separated from one another: For that would not give you a sufficiently fair Idea of the Country. Be pleased therefore to represent unto your self a Croissant of Water, one extremity whereof is Eighteen Leagues distant from the other, and the Banks of which are gently raised to some heights, then to collines, and at length to stupendous Mountains; which yet are not so linked to one another but that they leave betwixt them interstices of Fifteen or Twenty Leagues prospects, checkered by Meadows, Corn-Fields, Orchards, Vines, Forrests of Fir-Trees, Snow lying on the sides of the Rocks. All these Objects, which at a distance are confounded, and seem to make but one, have near hand their several Beauties: So well is the Country intersected by Rivulets, which, after they have served to make Iron, Paper, &c.; run into the Lake, carrying with them very many Fountains.
But leaving these Things, I shall now content my self to entertain your Curiosity by giving you a candid Relation of what I have there observed in the space of Four Months.
Although I have told you, that this Lake hath the figure of a Croissant, yet that point, where is Geneva, is somewhat longer and more extended than the other. This Croissant where 'tis largest, which is from Morges to Thonon, is about Five good Leagues over. That which hinders from making an exact estimate of its Largeness in other places, is, that the Winds by driving the Water toward the Banks have made certain points, which advance far into the Lake, in such sort that when one happens to be opposite to the other, the Lake seems to be narrow: As may be observed in going from Geneva to Nion, where it seems as if the Pharus or watch Tower of Prangin, which is in Suisse, did almost touch Savoy; whereas yet one is a League distant from the other. And, what is remarkable, is, that at the coming out of this Streight, the Lake hath there almost its greatest breadth and depth.
The Water of this Lake is very good to drink, and ever so limpid, that even in the rolling of the Waves, which sometimes go high enough, the Water is not troubled but along the Banks. And if one do attentively look down from the Castle of Chilon or from any of the neighbouring heights into the bottom of the Lake, he may see high Mountains under the Water. And the Water is so Deep before Veuvay, that the sounding Line at the end of four hundred Fathoms seems, because it will not stay, to Touch upon something slippery. 'Tis held to be 500 Fathoms deep before Roole; and 'tis affirm'd, that near this great Depth there may be seen a kind of Isle under Water.
The Rhone enters at one of the Points of the Croissant into the Lake, and issueth out at the other; but with this Difference, that whereas he comes in Dirty and Miry, he ever goes out so Pure and Clear, that under the Bridge of Geneva, where the Water is deep twenty five Feet in Summer, you may well discern the smallest Stones at the bottom. And the same Water, which in this Place appears of a Saphyring Blew in the shade of the Houses, appears altogether Green, nor is so Transparent, when the Sun shines on it.
There is a great diversity of Opinions as to the Current of the Rhone in the Lake; some maintaining, that it may be discerned, others denying it. Having heard the Sentiments of the Curious of Lausanne and Geneva, and the Opinions of the most knowing Fishermen that are there in great Number, and especially at Coupet, I believe with the latter; that, although the Rhone entring into the Lake loseth its Violence, yet doth he still keep some sensible Motion in some places, and every were observable, and that no Trouts are taken any were in this Lake, but in this Current of the Rhone; which is what these Fishermen call, to go and Fish sur le mont.
Others there are, that go further and say, that one may every where distinguish the Water of the Lake from that of the Rhone: But the Fishermen will not allow this, but assert, that there is no other Mark than those lately alledged, viz. of the Trouts, and the Current; and that the latter of these is alone sufficient, in calm Weather, to observe the Current of the Rhone from the place of his entring the Lake unto that of his going out.
The Water of this Lake commonly begins to Increase about the end of January, or the beginning of February, and continues to do so unto the twentieth of July, and often unto the very Month of August; and then it insensibly decreaseth, so that the Water is less high in Winter than Summer by twelve or fifteen Feet; the Frosts draining the Springs, or rather Freezing the Waters that issue out of them.
About this Increase of the Water there are also different Opinions. 'Tis true, they all believe in general, that the principal cause of the Increase of the Water is the melting of the Snow, and of the Mountainous Ice, that is in the Winter form'd of the Waters of the Springs and Torrents, which the Frost fixeth. This is so true, that when there is much Snow in Winter, the Waters are very high the ensuing Summer. But when great Rains chance to fall in January, then the Snow, not yet being well hardened, melteth on a sudden altogether. And when this melting is not so violent, all the Snow that will melt, melts at the end of May or at the beginning of June; so that, there remaining but the stock of Ice for entertaining the Increase of the Water unto the Month of August, some have thence been induced to say, that this Increase, which amounts, as has been said, to 15 Feet Water generally all over the Lake, is caused by the Herbs, growing, as they pretend, at its bottom in great abundance; and that these Herbs, whilst growing, do force the Water upwards, and dying in Autumn make the Water to sink lower. Which is not satisfactory to me, because there are no Herbs seen upon the Lake, and very little within it, and the Banks being very dry.
Others there are, that will have this Water rarified by the Heat of the Sun, and thereupon swell'd on the Borders, hot Water not being so high in the middle as cold.
This is certain, that all the Rivers and Torrents, that fall into this Lake, carry with them store of Stones and Earth, which may indeed enlarge and raise it: But such an augmentation or rise cannot be sensible but from Age to Age; not to mention, that in Winter, whilst the Water is low, the Stones of the Lakes are carried away for building or fortifying at Geneva.
At the issuing out of the Barres, that form Geneva, on the side of the Lake, are seen in the Water two or three huge Flints, standing out of the Water; the chief of which they call Niton: And the Tradition is, that it formerly was an Altar consecrated to Neptune; there being also a place cut out in the middle, which they take to have been the place for the Sacrifice. On this Flint seven or eight Persons can sit; and sometimes, when the Waters are very low, there are found about it Knives, and Needles as thick as Bodkins of tweeses, and much longer; both of Brass, well enough made, and esteemed to have served for the Sacrifices.
This Lake in serene and calm Weather appears sometimes, and that even before Sun-rising, as if it were made of divers pieces, differently coloured; part of it being Browner than the rest, which seems to be caused by a Breath of Wind passing thorough the Water, coming either from the bottom of the Lake, or from above; tho' others think this gentle agitation to proceed from some Springs that are at the bottom, making the Water shiver above. But that part of the Water, that is not moved, appears as even and smooth as a Looking-Glass, or like Water traced by a Ship. And as for the Colours, they are, in my Opinion, an effect of the neighbouring Mountains, the different Images of which, being confounded in the Water, make an appearance of very pale Colours.
After that the Rhone is entred into the Lake, he retakes not his impetuous course before a quarter of a Mile's distance from its coming forth again, that is, above Geneva. And the nearer he comes to that Town, the more his Bed becomes narrow, and consequently his course more Rapid. Yet this Rapidness hath been in our times once surmounted by Wind, and once by Water. To understand which, you may imagine, that in Geneva there is a streak of Land about an hundred Fathoms long, which divides the Rhone into two parts, passing under four Bridges, then covered with Houses. From the Point of this Isle unto several ranks of Stakes on that side of the Town, there are about a Thousand common Paces. This whole space of Water, which makes the figure of an V (whereof the Isle is the Point, and the Town forms the sides, and the Stakes the empty place of the end) hath been once laid dry by a violent Wind, after this manner. One Day in the Winter of the Year 1645. there arose in the Morning about 9 a clock so furious a Wind, that not only it uncovered the Houses, but also laid dry the Bed of the Rhone above the Bridges, so that many, in the view of all the Town crossed quite over it dry-foot, and one of the Sons of M. D. Aubigny took up some Medals, which he found in his way. This passage was free during an Hours time; at the end of which the River retook its course. At that Season the Water being very low, and a West-Wind, to arrive at Geneva, being pressed by the high Mountains that bring it upon the Town as by the nose of a pair of Bellows; it came to pass, that that Wind did violently bear upon the Water near the said Bars keeping suspended the Water that was beyond, and those Waters, that were beneath, running away downwards by a declivity, and under the shelter of the Houses. Whilst I was scrupling at this Relation, they brought me Gallasius his Commentary upon Exodus, Printed 1560. where 'tis recorded, that the like accident had fallen out at Geneva at the time when that Minister lived there, a South West Wind having made the Rhone to recoil into the Lake, and many People having thereupon passed over dry for an Hours time.
Concerning the other Accident; you may remember, that the River Arve, which is a kind of Torrent falls into the Rhone, about a 1000 Paces beneath Geneva. In the Month of December in the Year 1652. the said Arve did so extraordinarily swell, that not only it over-run its Banks with impetuosity, but also interrupted the course of the Rhone, and forc'd it to re-enter into the Lake for the space of fourteen hours; though some do esteem, that the Arve dis-gorged it self for that time into the Lake, by passing over the Water of the Rhone, which, in their Opinion, continued his course under the Water of the Arve. However the Water was seen at Geneva to re-enter into the Lake.
But to conclude, this Lake doth very much abound in Fish; but that which is observable is, that those Fishes have as 'twere cantonized themselves, and divided the Lake among them. The Trouts are not to be found there, but, as hath been already mentioned, in the Current of the Rhone: The Carps have taken up their quarter towards Veuvay: The Pikes and Pearches have also their Habitations apart. But some other Fish, that are but Passengers, not living constantly in the Lake, spread themselves almost every where indifferently.
The great Trouts pass out of the Lake for four Months of the Summer, and are taken in Autumn when they are returning thither. The Fishing is farmed out at Geneva; and there are Conservatories where many of those big Trouts are kept, among which there are some that weigh fifty pounds. Sometimes they catch Pikes there of eighty pounds weight; and a pound weight at Geneva you know to be eighteen Ounces.
In the Months of July and August they fish there for the Fry of Pearches, at a time when they are no bigger than the smallest Taggs. These are a very delicious Dish, there called Mille Cantons.
I shall add no more than put you in mind of that Duke of Savoy, who renounced his Crown and the Pontificat it self, to pass deliciously the rest of his Days at Ripialles, where he made so good cheer to all that visited him, that to express a very merry Entertainment, they say still, faire Ripialles.
Part of a Journal kept from Scotland to New Caledonia in Darien, with a short Account of that Country. Communicated by Dr. Wallace, F. R. S.
September 2. we weighed at Maderas, and were under the Tropic of Cancer by the 10th of the Month, at which time the usual Ceremony of Ducking from the Yards-arm was performed on those that could not pay their Tropick Bottle. All this time we had a brisk and constant Trade-wind, which lasted three days more, but afterwards we had it more variable than is usual in that place of the Sea.
The 28th we made Deseada, a small high Island, about a league in length and as much in breadth; it is full of Trees, but whether it affords Water or not I know not. It is uninhabited. Next morning we were betwixt Antego and Montserat, belonging to the English, both pretty large and mountainous. Antego is Peopled with English for the most part, and Montserat by a mixture of English and Irish. Their Product is Sugar and Tobacco. We were in the afternoon close by Redonda, a small Rock about a mile long, inhabited only by Noddies and Boobies. When we were some leagues from Redonda, we saw at the same time Antego, Montserat, Redonda, Nevis, St. Christophers, and Statia. We sailed close by Nevis, it bearing North of us; it is a small well Peopled Island, its Product is Sugar. They twisted the Flag at the Harbour, and we shew'd them the Company's Colours. St. Christophers is a large Island, ill Peopled, belongs half to the English, half to the French. Night parted us from these Islands, and next day, which was the 30th, we came in sight of Santa Cruz, belonging to the Spaniards. When we were within four leagues they held a Council. The Unicorn and Snow were sent to St. Thomas, a small Island belonging to the Danes; it is a free Port, and they say is well fortified. We went on to the Southward of the Island, and next Day, being October 1. we were about 12 a clock past the S. W. corner. It is very level towards the South. That Night we got a sight of Crab Island, and next Day
October 2. we came into it, and sent some of our People ashore, and took possession of it in the Companies name. October the 4th we stood to the Leeward, hearing there was a Harbour there; when we came we saw the Danes Colours flying on the Shore, for the Governour of St. Thomas had sent 14 Men and a Captain to take possession of it in the King of Denmark's name. Our Councellors sent to know his Business there, and he told them this, but we found that we had taken possession of the Place before they came from St. Thomas. They gave in their Protest, yet seem'd to be glad enough of our Neighbourhood. We had notwithstanding our Flag upon the Shore all the while we stay'd, with 100 Men, and Captain Melean Governour; they stayed till we were gone, but would certainly March next Day, otherwise the Spaniards of Porto Rico would not miss to take them off.
The 6th, Captain Pinkerton and the Snow came in from St. Thomas, with old Captain Alison along with them for a Pilot. On the 8th we left this place, and on the 17th made Nostra Signiora della Popa, we lay aside there along the Coast, until the 3d Day of November, generally losing by Night what we had gain'd all Day.
Crab Island is about 6 Leagues long, and in some places 5 broad, the Soil is very good. It's all full of Trees; all the South side is full of Bays, very fit for anchoring in, but the best of all is to the Leeward, where the Dane hoised his Colours. It would have been worth our while to possess it, had we not been a coming to a better Country. It has this Inconvenience, that nothing but strength of Men, or Peace with every Body, can render it secure. It is called Crab Island, from the multitude of Land-Crabs there.
November 3. We anchored before Golden Island, and sent in our Pinnace to the Bay. The Natives had hoised a White Flag in sign of Peace, and told us a great many Stories of Captain Swan, Captain Davies, and others, for they took us for English, by reason of our red Fly; but we took no notice of the Men they nam'd. At last they ask'd us our Business? we told them we designed to settle among them, and to be their Friends. They told us we were very welcome, and that by prediction they had expected us these two Years; for they say that two Years ago it was foretold them that a People should come and live among them, that would treat them civilly, and teach them good manners. We conversed some time with them, and after viewing the Harbour came aboard.
The 4th we came into the great Harbour of Caledonia: It is a most excellent one, for it is about a League in length from N. W. to S. E. It is about half a Mile broad at the Mouth, and in some places a Mile and more farther in. It is large enough to contain 500 sail of Ships. The greatest part of it is Land-lock'd, so that it is safe, and cannot be toucht by any Wind that can blow the Harbour, and the Sea makes the Land that lies betwixt them a Peninsula. There is a Point of the Peninsula at the Mouth of the Harbour, that may be fortified against a Navy. This Point secures the Harbour, so that no Ship can enter but must be within reach of their Guns. It likewise defends half of the Peninsula, for no Guns from the other side of the Harbour can touch it, and no Ship carrying Guns dare enter for the Breast-work at the Point. The other side of the Peninsula is either a Precipice, or defended against Ships by Shoals and Breaches, so that there remains only the narrow Neck that is not naturally fortify'd; and if 30 Leagues of a Wilderness will not do that, it may be artificially fortified 20 ways. In short, it may be made impregnable, and there is Bounds enough within it, if it were all cultivated, to afford 10000 Hogsheads of Sugar every Year. The Soil is rich, the Air good and temperate, the Water is sweet, and every thing contributes to make it healthful and convenient. The Product of this Place, I mean in the Harbour and Creeks hereabouts, is Turtle, Manatee, and a vast variety of very good small Fish, from the bigness of a Salmon to that of a Perch. The Land affords Monkeys of different sorts, Wild-Deer, Indian Rabbit, Wild Hog, Parrots of many kinds, Parakites, Macaws, Pelicans, and a hundred more Birds we have got no name to. There are moreover Land-Crabs, Souldiers, Land-Turtle, Lizards, Guanha's, Cock-Lizards, and Scorpions: I had almost forgot Partridges, Pheasants, and a kind of Turkey. All the Birds in this Country are beautiful, but none of them that I could observe have any Notes. We have a Monkey aboard that chirms like a Lark, it will never be bigger than a Rat. This Place affords legions of monstrous Plants, enough to confound all the Methods of Botany ever hitherto thought upon. However, I found a shift to make some Specimens, and that is all I can do. I say some Specimens, because if I should gather all, 'twould be enough to load the St. Andrew, for some of their Leaves exceed three Ells in length, and are very broad; besides these Monsters, reducible to no Tribe, there are here a great many of the European kindred, (but still something odd about them) as Lingua Cervina of different kinds, Filix of different kinds, Polypodium, several of the Plantæ Papilonaceæ, Musci, Fungi, Convolvuli, and a great many more I cannot now remember. Now come we to their People. The Men are generally very Civil and Sagacious, have all of them good Faces, are of low stature, but very well built; they are of a Copper Colour, and have black Hair; they us'd to go naked, but are now as well Cloath'd as our selves; they wear a Plate of Gold in their Nose, and a great many rows of Beads about their Neck and Wrists. They cover their Yard with a piece of Bark, or sometimes Silver, of the very shape and bigness of that Paper-case we use to put a dose of Pills in; they seem to be very ill furnish'd, for I never saw any of them have it half an Inch long, yet no doubt it's longer, but I fancy they sheath it up, as Dogs and Horses do. The Women are generally the most pitiful like things that ever Man saw; their Habit differs from the Men, for they ordinarily wear a Ring in their Nose; they have Petticoats and a Veil over their Face. They are under no formal Government, but every Captain commands his own River, Bay or Island, where he lives; the greatest of them all is one Captain Ambrosio, he commands particularly the Country about the Samballoes Point, but when he pleases he can Levy all the Men betwixt that and the Gulf about 20 Leagues. There is another Captain Pedro, that lives in the House with Ambrosio, and is his Nephew and Son in Law; there is a 3d Captain Andreas that commands the River Das armas; a 4th Captain Brandy, that commands about the Golden Island; a 5th Captain Andreas, that commands the Country adjoining to our Settlement; and a 6th Captain Pedro his Consort; a 7th Captain Pacigo, who commands at Carret Bay, and Captain Diego that commands the Gulph. Ambrosio seems to be the greatest, and Diego next, both old Men; they are all very much our Friends, and fond of us. All have been frequently here except Captain Diego who is Goutish. Some of these Captains wear the Scots Flag in their Canoa's. There is no such thing as a King or Emperor of Darien, nor, so far as we can gather from all the chief Men hereabout, has been these 40 or 50 Years: The old Men remember such a Man, they say he was a Tyrant, would take as many Wives as he pleased, and allow them but one, and therefore they cut him off. This derogates much from the reputation of the History of the Buccaneers. If there were such a Man, he has been an Indian made Emperor by themselves, I mean by the Buccaneers. This Country certainly affords Gold enough, for besides that the Natives constantly assure us, that they know several Gold Mines on this side; besides that, I say, the Plates they wear in their Noses, and the quantity of Gold that is among them, is enough to perswade any Man of the truth of it. There was one Night aboard here some Indians that had a hundred Ounces of Gold about them. We are certainly much bound to Providence in this affair; for as we were searching for the place we were directed to, we found this, and though the Privateers had been so often at Golden Island, and though English, Dutch and French had been all over this Coast, from Portobelo to Cartegena, yet never one of them made the discovery; even the Spaniards themselves never knew of this place. Besides, for as great a secret as we thought the Project, it was known all the West Indies over, and yet it was not in their power to crush it. At Madera they seem'd to know it, at St. Thomas I'm sure they knew it; at Portobelo their Intelligence was so good, that they knew the names of all our Councellors and Captains of Ships before we landed, and had that particular observation, that there were four Roberts among them. Our circumstances are in some Respects very good, for we have advice by the way of Portobelo, that there is a great Rebellion in Mexico, and Captain Diego and all the Indians about him are at present at War with the Spaniards. Captain Ambrosio is going to his assistance, and that will divert them on that side; but which is better than all, that we are now in a posture of defence against all the Spanish force in America. I have seen already Dutch, French, and English all at the same time in our Harbour, and all of them wonder what the rest of the World have been thinking on, when we came hither to the best Harbour of America, in the best place of it. Captain Long came in eight days after, and I believe we were a great Eye-sore to him, tho' he said nothing. He commanded the Rupert Prize, a small English Man of War, fitted out by the King, upon what design we know not, but he pretends it was to search for a Silver Wreck; he was on this coast a Month before sounding it; and conversing with the Natives, he put ashore Men in some places, to take possession for the King of Great Britain, but none of them within 15 Leagues of us. Hearing by the Natives that we were here, he came in with his Long-Boat, as he said to see us, but I believe it was only to know the certainty of what he feared was too true. He had told all the Indian Captains that he came only to try their inclinations, and that there was a great Fleet coming with a great many People to settle among them, and defend them against their enemies, he meant English that were to come by his direction; but our Fleet coming within a Month after, they all lookt upon us to be the People he spoke of; so that whatever Presents he made them before that time, was as much for our Advantage as if our selves had given them. He pretends to be a Conjurer, and to foretel things; but that was the truest Prophecy ever he spoke, though he knew not whom he spoke of.
A DISCOURSE tending to prove at what Time and Place, Julius Cesar made his first Descent upon Britain: Read before the Royal Society by E. Halley.
Though Chronological and Historical Matters, may not seem so properly the Subject of these Tracts, yet there having, in one of the late Meetings of the Royal Society, been some Discourse about the Place where Julius Cesar Landed in Britain, and it having been required of me to shew the Reason why I concluded it to have been in the Downs; in doing thereof, I have had the good Fortune so far to please those worthy Patrons of Learning I have the Honour to serve, that they thought fit to command it to be inserted in the Philosophical Transactions, as an instance of the great Use of Astronomical Computation for fixing and ascertaining the Times of memorable Actions, when omitted or not duly delivered by the Historian.
1. The Authors that mention this Expedition with any Circumstances, are Cæsar in his Commentaries lib. 4, and Dion Cassius in lib. 39; Livy's account being lost, in whose 105th. Book might possibly have been found the Story more at large. It is certain that this Expedition of Cæsars, was in the Year of the Consulate of Pompey and Crassus, which was in the Year of Rome 699. or the 55th before the usual Æra of Christ: And as to the time of the Year, Cæsar says that Exigua parte æstatis reliqua, he came over only with two Legions, viz. the 7th and 10th and all Foot, in about 80 Sail of Merchant Ships, 18 Sail that were ordered to carry the Horse not being able to get out at the same time from another Port, where they lay Wind-bound. He says that he arrived about the 4th hour of the Day, viz. between Nine and Ten in the Morning, on the Coast of Britain, where he found the Enemy drawn up on the Cliffs ready to repel him, which place he thus describes. Loci hæc erat natura, adeo montibus augustis mare continebatur ut ex locis superioribus in littus telum adjicit possit, by which the Cliffs of Dover and the South Foreland are justly described, and could be no other Land, being he says in the 5th Book of his Commentaries, in Britanniam trajectum esse cognoverit circitur millium passum triginta à continenti, the Cliffs of the North-Foreland being at a much greater distance. Here he says he came to an Anchor, and staid till the 9th hour, or till about between Three and Four in the Afternoon, expecting till his whole Fleet was come up; and in the mean time called a Council of War, and advertised his Officers, after what manner they were to make their Descent, particularly in relation to the Stuff of the Sea, whose motion he calls celerem atq. instabilem, quick and uneven. Then, viz. about Three in the Afternoon he weighed Anchor, and having gotten the Wind and Tide with him, he Sail'd about Eight Miles from the first place, and Anchor'd against an open and plain Shore.
2. Here he made his Descent, and having told us the opposition that was made, and the means he used to get on Shore, he comes to say, that after he had been Four Days in Britain, the 18 Ships with his Horse put to Sea, and were come in sight of his Camp, when a suddain Tempest arose, with contrary Wind, so that some of the Ships put back again, others were driven to the Westwards, not without great danger, and coming to Anchor, they found they could not ride it out: so when Night came on, they put off to Sea and returned from whence they came. That same Night it was Full-Moon, which makes the greatest Tides in the Ocean, and they being ignorant thereof, their Gallies, which were drawn on Shore, were filled by the Tide, &c.
3. Then he says that the Day of the Autumnal Equinox being at hand, after some Days stay, wherein there passed no Action because he kept close in his Camp by the shore; and not thinking it proper to stay till the Winter came on, he returned into Gallia: The next Year he made a further Expedition with 5 Legions and a good Body of Horse, but there is but little in the History thereof serving to our purpose, excepting that he says he set Sail from the Portus Icius about Sun Set, with a gentle S. W. Wind, leni Africo profectus; that about Midnight it fell Calm, and being carried away with the Tide, by the time it was Day, he found he had left Britain on the left hand; but then the Tide turning they fell to their Oars, and by Noon reached that part of the Island where he Landed before, and came on Shore without opposition: and then March'd up into the Country, leaving his Ships at Anchor in littora molli & aperto.
4. This is all in Cæsar that is any thing pertinent, and I find no where else any thing to guide us farther, except one passage in Dion Cassius, who speaking of the first Landing of Cæsar, says οὐ μέντοι καὶ ᾗ ἔδει προσέσχεν, that is, as I Translate it. But he Landed not where he intended, for that the Britains hearing of his coming, had possest all usual Places of Landing Ἄκραν οὖν τινὰ προέχουσαν περιπλεύσας ἑτέρωσε παρεκομίσθη. Κἀνταῦθα τοὺς προσμίξαντάς οἱ ἐς τὰ τενάγη ἀποβαίνοντι νικήσας, ἔφθη τῆς γῆς κρατήσας, in my English. Wherefore doubling a certain head Land, he made to the Shore on the other side, where he overcame those that Skirmished with him at the Waters edg, and so got well on Land. Here I make bold to translate the Words ἐς τὰ τενάγη, at the water edge, which in H. Stephens Edition is interpreted in paludibus, but I have the Authority of Suidas, who says τέναγος, πελαγία ἰλὺς, or the Sea Mud, and is therefore properly the Ouse on the Sea Shore, and by an easie Figure may be put for the Shore it self, where such Ouse commonly is found.
5. From these data, That it was in the Year of the Consulate of Pompey, and Crassus; That it was Exigua parte æstatis reliqua, and Four Days before a Full-Moon, which fell out in the Night time. The time of this Invasion will be determined to a Day: For by the Eclipse of the Moon, whereof Drusus made so good use to quiet a Mutiny in the Pannonian Army, upon the News of the Death of Augustus, it follows that Augustus Died Anno Christi 14. which was reckoned Anno Vrbis conditæ 767. and that this Action was 68 Years before, viz. in the 55th Year before Christ Current. In which Year the Full Moon fell out August 30. after Midnight, or 31 in the Morning before Day; and the preceeding Full-Moon, was August 1. soon after Noon; so that this could not be the Full-Moon mentioned, as falling in the Day time: nor that in the beginning of July, it being not 10 Days after the Summer solstice, when it would not have been said exigua parte æstatis reliqua. It follows therefore that the Full-Moon spoken of, was on August 30. at Night, and that the Landing on Britain was August 26. in the Afternoon, about a Month before the Autumnal equinox; which agrees to all the Circumstances of the Story in point of Time.
6. As to the Place, the high Land and Cliffs described, could be no other than those of Dover, and are allowed to have been so by all, it remains only to examine whether the Descent was made to the Northward or Southward of the place where he first Anchored. The data to determine this are first that it was Four Days before the Full-Moon. 2. That that Day by Three of the Clock in the Afternoon the Tide ran the same way he Sail'd. 3dly. That a S. by E. Moon makes High-Water on all that Coast, the Flood coming from the Southward: hence it will follow, that that Day it was High-Water there about Eight in the Morning, and consequently Low-Water about Two, wherefore by Three the Tide of Flood was well made up, and it is plain that Cæsar went with it, and the Flood setting to the Northward shews that the open plain Shore where he Landed was to the Northward of the Cliffs, and must be in the Downs; and this I take to be little less than Demonstration. A second Argument is drawn from the Wind wherewith he set out on his second Expedition, viz. S. W. as appears by the Words leni Africo profectus, with which the Navigation of those times would hardly permit a Ship to Sail nearer the Wind than Eight Points, or a N. W. Course; which would serve indeed to go into the Downs, but would by no means fetch the Low-land towards Dengyness, which is much about West from Calais, and not more than W. N. W. from Boulogne, if it shall be said that that was the Portus Icius from which Cæsar set out. Whence I take it to be evident that if Cæsar was not bound more Northerly than the South-Foreland, he could not have thought the Africus or S. W. Wind proper for his passage, which was then intended for the place where he first Landed the year before.
7. Justly to determine which the Portus Icius was I find no where sufficient grounds; only Ptolemy calls the Promontory of Calais-Cliffs by the name of Ἴκιον ἄκρον, whence there is reason to conjecture, that the Portus Icius was very near thereto, and that it was either Ambletuse on one side, or Calais on the other. The same Ptolemy places Γισοῤῥίακον ἐπίνειον in the same Latitude with the ἴκιον ἄκρον, but something more to the East, which seems to refute those that have supposed the Ancient Port of Gessoriacum to have been Boulogne, whereas by Ptolemy's position, it must be either Dunkirk or Graveling, but the former most likely, both by the distance from the Ἴκιον ἄκρον, being about 20 Miles or half a degree of Longitude to the East, or ⅔ of the whole Coast of Flanders, which he makes but a degree and quarter from the Acron Icion to the mouth of the Scheld which he calls Ostia Tabudæ: As also for that Pliny l. 4. c. 16. speaking of Gessoriacum, says the Proximus Trajectus into Britain from thence is 50 Miles, which is too much unless Gessoriacum were something more Easterly than Calais. Dion Cassius makes the distance between France and Britain 450 stadia or 56 Miles, and says likewise 'tis the nearest, τὸ Συντομώτατον. But this is in part amended by the explication given in the Itinerary of Antoninus, where the space between Gessacorum and Rutupium is said to be 450 stadia (for this was the ordinary passage of the Romans into Britain,) Rutupium being more Northerly and Gessoriacum more Easterly than the termini of Cæsars Voyage, and consequently the distance greater than 30 Miles which Cæsar had observ'd; and now lately an accurate Survey has proved the distance between Land and Land to be 26 English Miles or 28½ Roman Miles, which shews how near Cæsars estimate was to the Truth.
A farther Argument (but not of equal force with the former because of the modernness of the Author, who writ above 250 Years after) may be drawn from the words of Dion Cassius, where he says ἄκραν τινὰ προέχουσαν περιπλεύσας ἑτέρωσε παρεκομίσθη, that after his first Anchoring he Sail'd about a Promontory to the place where he Landed: Now there are no other Promontories on all that Coast but the South-Foreland and Dengyness; the latter of which it could not be, because Cæsar says he Sail'd but 8 Miles, and the Ness it self is about 10 Miles from the South and nearest end of the Chalk-Cliffs by the Town of Hith; and to have gone round that Point to the other side, the distance must have been much greater. So that the Promontory spoken of by Dion, must needs be the South-Foreland, and Cæsar must Anchor near over against Dover, from whence Sailing 8 Miles, he would double a Head-land and come to the Downs; which is such a Coast as he describes in one place by apertum ac planum littus, and in his 5th Book by molle ac apertum littus. As to Dions word εἰς τὰ τενάγη, what I have already said about it seems sufficient to prove that he means no more than the Waters edg; and the Etymologists derive it from τέγγω madefacio, because the wash and breach of the Sea does always keep it wet. And this word τὰ τενάγη is used by Polybius for the Sea Ouse; and in another place he speaks of the difficulty of Landing at the mouth of a River, Διὰ τὴν τεναγώδη πάροδον, ob limosum accessum, so that it is not to be doubted that it ought to be rendred in this place, ad vadum maris rather than in paludibus. And so this objection against the assertion that Cæsar Landed in the Downs, which is known to be a firm Champain Country without Fenns and Morasses, will be removed; and the whole Argument will 'tis hoped be admitted by the Curious.
FINIS.
Books Printed for, and Sold by Jeffery Wale, at the Angel, in St. Paul's Church-Yard.
Miscellany Poems, as Saytyrs, Epistles, Love Verses, Songs, Sonnets, &c. by William Wycherley, Esq.; Fol.
A Supplement to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase and Annotations of the New Testament, by Mr. L'Clerk. Quarto. To which is perfix'd a Letter from the Author to a Friend in England, occasioned by this Translation.
The Posthumous Works of Mr. de St. Evermont, containing variety of elegant Essays, Letters, and Poems; and other Miscellaneous Pieces on several curious Subjects. Vol. III.
The plain Man's Guide to Heaven. By Dr. Lucas. In 12s.
The practice of Physick reduced to the ancient way of Observations, containing a just parallel between the Wisdom and Experience of the Ancients, and the Hypothesis of Modern Phisicians, with new and curious Observations on the Tarantula. Octavo.
A Treatise of the Two Covenants, by J. Parker. Octavo.
An impartial Account of the Affairs of Scotland, from the Death of King James V. to the Tragical Exit of the Earl of Murray Regent of Scotland, a Person of Quality. Octavo.
The Church of England proved to be Conformable to, and Approved by all the Protestant Churches in Europe. In Octavo Price 6d.
The History of the famous Knight Don Quixot de la Mancha, Vol III. by Capt. John Stevens. Never before done into English.
Books and Maps Sold by John Senex, next the Fleece-Tavern in Cornhil.
Atlas Cœlestis: Containing the Systems and Theories of the Planets, the Constellations of the Stars, and other Phenomena's of the Heavens. Price 5 s.
A Pocket-Book, containing several choice Collections in Arithmetick, Astronomy, Geometry, Surveying, Dialing, Navigation, Astrology, Geography, Measuring, Gauging, &c. Price 5 s.
The Theory of the Handling or Working of Ships at Sea, the like never before published.
A New Pair of Globes, Twelve Inches Diameter. The Terrestrial is laid down according to the newest Discoveries, and from the most exact Observations, with a general view of the Trade Winds and Moonsoon's. The Cœlestial has the Stars Places, from the Correct Tables of M. Hevelii, Capt. Halley, &c. the like never before extant, Price 3 l.
A New System of Geography, design'd in a most plain and easie Method for the better understanding that Science: Accommodated with new Maps of all the Empires, Kingdoms, Principalities, Dukedoms, Provinces and Countries in the whole World; with Geographical Tables, explaining the Divisions in each Map. The Third Edition. To which is added, An Introduction to that Science. Price 6 s.
Where may be had all Sorts of Mathematical Books, Maps and Instruments, for the Sea or Land.