In this Time by my own Industry, and the Assistance of those who accompanied me, I learnt to speak indifferently the Language of that Province, (for almost every Province in China hath its proper Tongue) whereat I perceived they were much pleased: At length I was permitted to take the Air, and brought into the spacious Garden of that Palace, a Place of extraordinary Pleasure and Delight, adorned with Herbs and Flowers of admible Sweetness and Beauty, with almost infinite Variety of fruits, European and others, all composed with that rare Curiosity, as even ravished my Senses in the Contemplation of such delightful Objects; I had not long recreated myself here, when theMandarinentered the Garden on that Side I was walking, of which having Notice by his Servants, and that I ought to kneel to him (a usual Reverence I found toward great Officers) I did so, and humbly intreated his savour toward a poor Stranger, who arrived in these Parts not designedly, but by the secret Disposal of the Heavens, he answered in a different Language which I hear all theMandarinsuse, and like that of theLunarsconsisting chiefly of Tunes, which was interpreted by one of his Attendants, wishing me to be of good Comfort, since he intended no Harm to me. Next Day I was ordered to come before him, and being conducted into a noble Dining-room exquisitely painted, theMandarincommanding all to avoid, vouchsafed to confer with me in the vulgar Language, enquiring into the State of my Country, the Power of my Prince, and the Religion and Manners of the People; wherein having satisfied him, he asked me about my Education, and what brought me into this remote Country; I then declared to him the Adventures of my Life, omitting what I thought convenient, and especially forbearing to mention the Stories given me byIrdonozur.
The Strangeness of my Story did much amaze him, and finding in all my Discourse nothing tending to Magick, wherein he hoped by my Means to be intruded, he began to admire the Excellency of my Wit, applauding me for the happiest Man that this World ever saw, and wishing me to repose myself after my long Narration, he for that Time dismissed me. After which theMandarintook so much Delight in me, that no Day passed wherein he did not fend for me: At length he advised me to cloath myself in the Habit of that Country, which I willingly did, and gave me not only the Liberty of his House, but took me also with him when he went toPequin, whereby I had Opportunity to learn the Disposition of the People, and the Policy of the Country, neither did I by my Attendance on him, gain only the Knowledge of these Things, but the Possibility likewise of being restored to my native Soil, and to those dear Pledges which I value above the World, even my Wise and Children: for by often frequentingPequin, I at length heard of some fathers of the Society ofJesus, who were become famous for their extraordinary savour with the King, to whom they had presented someEuropean, as Clocks, Watches, Dials, and the like, which by them were counted exquisite Curiosities. To these by theMandarin's Leave I repaired, and was welcomed by them, they much wondering to see a LaySpaniardthere, whither they had with so much Difficulty obtained Leave to arrive. There did I relate to fatherPontojaand others of the Society the forementioned Adventures, by whose Directions I put them in Writing, and sent this Story of my fortunes toMacoa, from thence to be conveyed toSpain, as a forerunner of my Return; and theMandarinbeing indulgent to me, I came often to the Fathers, with whom I consulted about many Secrets, and with them also laid the Foundation of my Return, the blessed Hour whereof I do with Patience expect, that by enriching my Country with the Knowledge of these hidden Mysteries, I may at last reap the Glory of my fortunate Misfortunes.
A Journey of severalEnglishMerchants fromOratavainTeneriff,one of the Canary Islands on the Coast ofAfrica,to the top of the Pike in that Island, with the Observations they made there.
Mention being made in the preceding Story of thePikeofTeneriff, it may be some Diversion to insert the following little Journey performed by diversEnglishmena few Years since to the Top, who published the following Account thereof.
ThePikeofTeneriffis thought not to have its Equal in the World for Height, its Top being so much above the Clouds, that in clear Weather it may be seen sixtyDutchLeagues at Sea.
It cannot be ascended but inJulyandAugust, lying all the other Months covered with Snow, though upon this and the near adjacent Islands none is to be seen: It requires three Days travel to come to the top: The Merchants and other worthy Persons who undertook this Journey proceed thus. Having furnished ourselves with a Guide, Servants, and Horses to carry our Wine and Provision, we set forth fromOratava, a Port Town in the Island ofTeneriff, situate on the North Side, two Mile distant from the main Sea, and travelled from twelve at Night till eight in the Morning, by which Time we got to the Top of the first Mountain toward thePico de Terraira; there under a very large and conspicuous Pine Tree we took our Breakfast, dined, and refresht ourselves till two in the Afternoon. Then we passed through many sandy Ways, over many lofty Mountains, but naked and bare, and not covered with Pine Trees as our first Night's Passage was; this exposed us to excessive Heat, till we arrived to the Foot of thePico, where we found divers huge Stones, which seemed to have fallen from some upper Part: About six in the Evening we began to ascend up thePico, but were scarce advanced a Mile, when the Way being no more passable for Horses, we left them with our Servants. In the Ascent of one Mile, some of our Company grew very saint and sick, disordered by fluxes, Vomitings, and agueish Distempers, our Horses Hair standing up like Bristles, and calling for some of our Wine carried in small Barrels on an Horse, we found it so wonderfully cold, that we could not drink it till we had made a fire to warm it, notwithstanding the Air was very calm and moderate, but when the Sun was set, it began to blow with such Violence, and grew so cold, that taking up our Lodging among the hollow Rocks, we were necessitated to keep fires in the Mouths of them all Night.
About four in the Morning we began to mount again, and being come another Mile up, one of our Company failed and was able to proceed no further: Here began theblack Rocks; the rest of us pursued our Journey till we came to theSugar Loaf, where we began to travel again in a white Sand, being fitted with Shoes, whose single Soles are made a finger broader than the upper Leathers, to encounter this difficult Passage: Having ascended as far theblack Rocks, which lay all flat like a plain floor, we climbed within a Mile of the very Top of thePico, and at last we attained theSummit, where we found no such Smoak as appeared a little below, but a continual Perspiration of a hot and sulphureous Vapour that made our faces extremely sore; all this way we found no considerable Alteration of the Air, and very little Wind, but on the Top it was so impetuous, that we had much ado to stand against it whilst we drank K.CharlesII. Health, and fired each of us a Gun. Here also we took our Dinner, but found that our strong Waters had lost their Virtue, and were almost insipid, while our Wine was more brisk and spirituous than before: The Top on which we stood being not above a Yard broad, is the Brink of a Pit called theCaldera, which we judged to be a Musket Shot over, and near fourscore Yards deep, in form of a Cone, hollow within like a Kettle, and covered over with small loose Stones mixed with Sulphur and Sand, from among which issued divers Spiracles of Smoak and Heat, which being stirred with any Thing puffs and makes a Noise, and is so offensive, that we were even suffocated with the sudden rising of Vapors, upon removing one of these Stones, which were so hot as not easily to be handled; we descended not above sour or five Yards into theCalderaor Caldron, because of the Slipperiness under foot, and the Difficulty; but some have adventured to the Bottom: Other Matters observable we discovered none, besides a clear sort ofSulphurwhich lay like Salt upon the Stones: from this renownedPicowe could see theGrand Canariesfourteen Leagues, distant,Palmaeighteen, andGomeraseven, which Interval of Sea seemed not much wider than theThamesaboutLondon; we discerned also theHerro, being distant about twenty Leagues, and so to the utmost Limits of the Sea much farther: As soon as the Sun appeared, the Shadow of thePicoseemed to cover not only the whole Island and theGrand Canaries, but the Sea to the very Horizon, where the Top of theSugar-LoaforPicovisibly appeared to turn up, and cast its Shade into the Air itself, at which we were much surprized.
But the Sun was not far ascended when the Clouds began to rise so fast, as intercepted our Prospect both of the Sea and the whole Island, except the Tops only of the subjacent Mountains, which seemed to pierce them through; whether these Clouds do ever surmount thePicowe cannot say, but to such as are far below they seem sometimes to hang above it, or rather wrap themselves about it, constantly when the West Winds blow; this they call the Cap, and is an infallible Prognostick of ensuing Storms: One of our Company who made this Journey again two Years after, arriving at the Top of thePicobefore Day, and creeping under a great Stone to shroud himself from the cold Air, after a little Space found himself all wet, and perceived it to come from a perpetual trickling of the Water from the Rocks above him: Many excellent and exuberant Springs we found issuing from the Tops of most of the other Mountains, gushing out in great Spouts, almost as far as the huge Pine Tree we mentioned before; having stayed a while at the Top, we all descended the sandy Way till we came to the foot of theSugar-Loafwhich being steep even almost to a Perpendicular we soon parted, and here we met with a Cave about ten Yards deep and fifteen broad, being in Shape like an Oven orCupola, having a Hole at the Top near eight Yards over; this we descended by a Rope that our Servants held fast on the Top, while with the other End being fastened about our Middles we swung ourselves, till being over a Bank of Snow we slid down, lighting upon it; we were forced to swing thus in the Descent, because in the Midst of the Bottom of this Cave opposite to the Overture at the Top, is a round Pit of Water like a Well, the surface whereof is about a Yard lower, but as wide as the Mouth at Top, and about six fathom deep; we supposed this Water was not a Spring, but dissolved Snow blown in, or Water trickling through the Rocks; about the Sides of the Grott for some Height there is Ice and Isicles hanging down to the Snow.
But being quickly weary of this excessive cold Place, and drawn up again, we continued our Descent from the Mountains by the fame Passage we went up the Day before, and so about five in the Evening arrived atOratava, from whence we set forth; our Faces were so red and sore that to cool them we were forced to wash and bathe them in whites of Eggs: The whole Height of thePicoin Perpendicular is vulgarly esteemed to be two Miles and an half. No Trees, Herbs nor Shrubs did we find in all the Passage, but Pines, and among the whiter Sands a kind of Broom being a bushy Plant: It is the Opinion of some ingenious Persons who have lived twenty Years upon the Place, that the whole Island being a Soil mightily impregnated with Brimstone, did in former Times take Fire, and blow up all or near all at the same Time; and that many Mountains of huge Stones calcined and burnt, which appear all over this Island, especially in the South-West Part of it, were cast up and raised out of the Bowels of the Earth at the Time of that general Conflagration; and that the greatest Quantity of thisSulphurlying about the Center of the Island raised up the Pico to that Height at which it now is seen; which appears by the Situation of those Rocks that lye three or four Miles round the Bottom of thePico, and in such Order one above another almost to theSugar-Loaf, as it is called, as if the whole ground swelling and rising up together by the Ascension of the Brimstone, the Torrents and Rivers of it did with a sudden Eruption roul and tumble them down from the rest of the Rocks; especially to the South-West, where from the Top of thePicoto the Sea coast lie huge Heaps of these burnt Rocks one under another, and there still remain the very Tracks of the Brimstone Rivers as they ran over this Quarter, of the Island which Hath so wasted the Ground, beyond Recovery, that nothing can be made to grow there but Broom.
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1. The wonderful, surprizing and uncommon Voyages and Adventures of Captain Jones to Patagonia, relating His Adventures to Sea, his first Landing, and strange Combat with a mighty Bear, his furious Battle with his six and thirty Men, against an Army of eleven Kings, with their Overthrow and Deaths; his relieving Kemper Castle, his strange and admirable Sea-Fight, with six huge Gallies of Spain, and nine thousand Soldiers; his being taken a Prisoner and hard Usage; his being set at Liberty by the King's Command in Exchange for twenty-four Spanish Captains, and Return for England, A comical Description of Captain Jones's ruby Nose. Part the Second. His incredible Adventures by Sea and Land, particularly his miraculous Deliverance from a Wreck at Sea by the Support of a Dolphin; his several desperate Duels, his Combat with Baadercham, a Giant of the Race of Og, his overcoming the Giant Neerapenny, his Loves with the Queen of Noland, his barely leaving her, his deep Employments and happy Success in Business of State; all which, and more, is but the Title of his own Relation until he grew speechless and died, with his Elegy and Epitaph, the second Edition, adorned with a curious Cut of Captain Jones in Combat with the King of the Giants &c. &c. Price only 1 s.
2. Low Life, or one half of the World knows not how the other half live, being a critical Account of what is transacted by People of almost all Religions, Nations, Circumstances, and Sizes of Understanding, in the twenty-four Hours, between Saturday Night and Monday Morning; in a true Description of a Sunday, as is usually spent within the Bills of Mortality, calculated for the 21st of June, with an Address to Mr. Hogarth, "let Fancy guess, the rest," Buckingham. The third Edition, adorned with a droll humorous Print of St. Monday. Price only 1s. 6d.
3. The secret History of Betty Ireland, who was trepanned into Marriage at the Age of fourteen, and debauched by Beau M—te, &c. &c. A Book full of surprizing Incidents in the gay Life she passed through, her Misfortunes, with her Penitence and sudden Death. This Book is a proper Present to young People, to deter them from such Scenes of Life, that too many of the Young and Gay of both Sexes run into. The seventh Edition, with a beautiful Frontispiece of a Scene in gay Life. Price only 6 d.
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9. A Parallel of the ancient Architecture with the Modern, in a Collection of ten principal Authors, who have written upon the five Orders, viz. Palladio and Scamozzi, Sertio and Vignola, De Barbaro and Cataneo, L. B. Alberti and Viola, Bullant and De Lorme; the Greek Orders, Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, compose the first Part of this Treatise, and the two Latin, Tuscan and Composite, the latter. Written in French by Roland Freart Sieur de Chambray, made English for the Benefit of Builders. To which is added an Account of Architects and Architecture, by an historical and etymological Explanation of certain Terms, particularly affected by Architects; with Leontista Alberti's Treatise of Statues. By John Evelyn, Esq; Fellow of the Royal Society. The fourth Edition, with the Addition of the Elements of Architecture, collected by Sir Henry Wootten, Knt. from the best Authors and Examples, and also other large Editions. Folio. Price 12 s.
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[*] The many Thousands sold of the above Books in a few Months Time is a sufficient Testimony of the Publick's Approbation.]
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