'Some years travels into divers parts of Africa, and Asia the great. Describing more particularly the empires of Persia and Industan: interwoven with such remarkable occurrences as hapned in those parts during these later times. As also, many other rich and famous kingdoms in the oriental India, with the isles adjacent. Severally relating their religion, language, customs and habit: as also proper observations concerning them.' [‎8] (29/448)

s
Monsoon.
cloud exhaled by the Sun (a powerful Magnet) not agitated by the wind, but miffing
the retentive property in the lower Region, diftills not in moderate and condenfed
drops, but falls fo impetuoufly into the Ocean, that many fhips have been dalht and
funipaft all recovery * Lncan in his *lib. has this ingenious defcnption of it.
The fogs which India and Arabia make,
ExhaPd under the Sun a place do take.
But being fo huge, thofe clouds can hardly he
Involved in fuch fir ait room 'trnxt Earth and Skie.
For being fo crujht together, not in vain
CmtraBed in the air, they rod amain
In fearful gu jhing Jhowers.
And what's little lefs formidable, the ftinking rain is no fooner in the Sea, but (as a chur-
lifh farewell) a whirlewind ufually circles with fuch violence as helps the cloud to lafh
the murmuring Seas fo outragioufly, that oft-times the waves rebound top-gallant height,
as if it meant to retaliate the air in another Region. Pliny lib. 2. c. 49. treating of prodi-
gious kinds of Tempefts thus defcribes it: Ex eodemgenere & in longam veluti fiftulam Nu-
bes aquam trahit, and O/y^^W^ commenting upon Ariffi. meteors, thus, Arifloteles Ty-
phonem vocat Tyvonem, quod valide verberet frangatque folida corpora, Nauta Syphonem vocant,
quia in modum ffluU trahat aquam e mari. God be praifed, we mill the rage of rain, al
beit the guft fomewhat endangered us*, but it contraried Seneca's Philofophy, Finis al-
term mali gradm eft futuri: a pleafant breeze firft, increafmg into a profperous gale,
cooled the air and pofted us out of thofe exuberances of Nature; fo that on May-day we.
croft under the Equinodial ^ a Circle, which paifingEaft and Weft through the middle
of the Earth, is imagined to divide the whole Globe into two equal parts or Hemifpaeres,
from either Pole (in equidiftancy) 90 degrees, where we loft fight of the Sydm falutare,
the Pole-ftar, a ftar of a third magnitude fixt in the tip of the little Bears tail; the Sun at
thistime being in the 1.9. degree of Taurus, in Artick declination 17 degrees 31 minutes.
And here we may obferve, that by reafonof folong a calm the heat became outrageous y
neverthelefs experience alfured us, that the heat is notfo unfufferable under the fcqud-
tor as where more remote, and with good reafon too, feeing that the breezes be more
conftant towards Sun-fet, and greater where the motion of the air has greateft circles.
The nights alfoare equal there in length to the day, and ordinarily dewy, which refri
gerates and compenfates the heat of the day. Befides the heat is much abated by the two
Winters there, and as a learned and noble Perfon conceives, the extreme heat within
the Zodiaque attrads fuch ftreams of cold air or Atoms from each Pole into the torrid
Zone, as exceedingly qualifies the burning heat, and may peradventure caufe the con
ftant breezes which at 9 and 4 feldom fail, as do the rains which ordinarily fall at noon
when the beams are hotteft.
May 6. Wehad fome thunder and lightning or corpo fanUos, fuch as feem good Omens
to the fuperftitiousat night we paft by SanBo-Croix the holy Crofs, every hour exped-
ing the Monwon, an anniverfary wind that from one Rhomb conftantly blows one way fix
Months, beginning exadly from the Suns entrance into a fign of the Zodiack *, and the
other half year the contrary way, or till the Sun enter into the oppofite degree, and (as
commonly obferved) from 27.to 37 degrees lat. 'tis for the moftpart Wefterly, which if
Sea-men negled, they go near to lofe their paifage into India.
Now how prepofterous the year and wind proved elfewhere I know not, doubtlefs it is
the Emblem of inconftancy, experience taught it us but the weather fo long time proved
our Antagonift that our paifage to the Cape oigood Hope became fix weeks longer than
we looked for, fo as we were forc't to ran into much more longitude than we defired.
May 8. We had 8 degrees 10 minutes Antartick latitude, the Monomotapan on the one
fide, the Brafdian Coaft on the other, fiding us. The Africk^ fhore runs on in divers
names, Congo in 6 degrees, mucji of which was taught Chrift by Gonfaho de Sofa at the
command of John 2. Angola in 9. Manicongo, Loanga, Monomotapa, Benomotapa, and Caf
faria, an Arabick word, lignifying men without Law and Religion, full of black-skinn'd
wretches, rich in Earth, abounding with the beft Minerals, and with Elephants, butmi-
ferable in demonomy: The difcovery of thefe parts is attributed to fundry men (the
firft not agreed upon) fome to Petrus Cavillanius, others to Jacobus Camus, Bartholomeo de
Dyos, Vafco de Gama, fuch as John 2. King of Portugal employed about it, Anno 1497.
or thereabouts, this being memorable, that Dyos in a Fight he had with the Angolas
took fo many Negro's Prifoners, as having cut off their Nofes he fill'd two Butts, and
prefented
: .