The English-American his travail by sea and land: or, a new svrvey of the West-Indias. Containing a journall of three thousand and three hundred miles within the main land of America ... With a grammar, or some few rudiments of the Indian tongue, called, Poconchi. Of Pocoman / By the true and painfull endevours of Thomas Gage.

  • Thomas Gage
Date:
1648
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The English-American his travail by sea and land: or, a new svrvey of the West-Indias. Containing a journall of three thousand and three hundred miles within the main land of America ... With a grammar, or some few rudiments of the Indian tongue, called, Poconchi. Of Pocoman / By the true and painfull endevours of Thomas Gage. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    on)theCity of Guatemala landing higher and neerer to the Vulcan in that place and Town which to this day is called laCiudadVieja, or the old City,there lived in it then about the yeer 1534* a Gentlewoman called Vonna Maria de CafiHia, who having left her husband in the warres, and that lame yeer buriedalfo all her children, grew fo im- patient under thefe her erodes and aftli&ions, that impioufly (he defied God,laying. What can God do more unto me now then he hath done>he hath done his worft with¬ out it be to take away my lifealfo, which I now regard not. Upon thefe words there gufhed out of this Vulcan fuch a flood of water as carried away this woman with the ftreame, ruined many of the houfes, andcauled the inhabitants to remove to the place where now ftandeth Guatemala. This is the Spaniards own Tradition,which if true, fhould be our example to learne to teare and nottodefie God, when his judgements (hew him to us angry and a God that will overcome, when he judgeth.Fromtbat time, and from this their Tradition is the Towne nowftanding where firft flood Guatemala, called la Ciudad Vieja0 or the old City, and hath continued a river which before was not knownc, having its head and fpiingfrom this high Vulcan, whofe pleafant fprings, gardens, fruits, flowers and every green and flourilhing profpe£t might be a fair objeft to a Martials wit, who here would fancie a new Varnaffus^ find out new fteps of flying Pegafus, and greet the Nymphes and nine Sifters with this their never yet difeovered and American habitation. This Vulcan or meuntaine is not fo pleating to the fight ( whofe height is judged full nine miles unto the top ) butthe other which ftandeth on the other fide of the valley oppofite unto it,is tinpleafing and more dreadfull to behold, for here are allies for beauty,ftoncs and flints for fruits and flowers.baldnefle for green- nefle,barrennefle for fruitful nefle, for water whifperings andfountaine murmurs, noile of thunders and roaring of conluming metals,for running dreams,flafhings of fire,for tall and mighty trees and Cedars,1Cattles of lmoak rifing in height to out-dare the skie and firmament, for fweet and odoriferous and fragrant fmels,a ftink of fire and brim- ftone, which are ftil in a&ion ftriving within the bowels of that ever burning and fiery Vulcan.Thus is Guatemala feated in the midft of a Paradife on the one fide and a hell on the other, yet never hatbjthis hell broke fo loofe as to confume that flourifhing City. True it is formerly many yeersagoe it opened a wide mouth on the top, and breathed Olft fuch fiery allies as filiedifhe houfes of Guatemala zx\<\ the Country about, and par¬ ched all the plants and fruits, and fpued out fuch ftones and rockes which had they fallen upon the City would have cruftied it to pieces, but they fell not farre from it,but to this day lie about the bottome and fides of it,caufing wonder to thole that behold them,and taking away admiration from them that admire the force and ftrength office and powder in carrying on a weighty bullet from the mouth of a cannon,whereas here the fire of this mountaine hath caft upinto the aire and tumbled dowfle to thebottom of it fuch rockes as in hignelfe exceed a reafonable boufe, and which not the ftrength of any twenty Mules ( as hath been tried ) have been able to remove. The fire which fifti¬ eth outof the top ofthis mountain is fometimes more and fometimes ldfe.yet while I lived in the City, on a certaine time for the fpace of three or foure dayes and nights it did foburne that my friend Mr.Cabannas confidently avouched to mee and others, that handing one night in his window he had with the light of that fire read a letter, the diftance being above three Englijh miles. The roaring alfo of this monftrous beaft is notconftantly alike, but is greater in the fummer time then imthe winter, that iSjfrom OElober to the end of Aprils then all the reft of the yeer; for then it feems,the winds entring into thofe con cavities fet the fire on work harder then at other times,and caule the mountaine to roare and the earth about to quake.There was a time three yeers before my commingto that City, when the inhabitants expend nothing but utter ruineand deftruftion,and durft not abide within their houfes for nine dayes(the earth¬ quakes continuingand increafing more and more)but made bowers and arbours in the Market place,placing there their Idoll Saints and Images,efpecklly St.5e^]l^«3whom they hoped would deliver them from that judgement, and tor this purpofe they day ly carried him through the ftreets in folemn and idolatrous proceflion and adoration.But all the while I lived there the noife within the mountaine, the fmoake and flalhes of fire without, and theSummer earth-quakes were fuch that with the ufe and cuftotne of them I never feared any thing,but thoughtthatCity the healthieft and pleafanceft place - of d welling that ever 1 came into in all my travels. The climate is very temperate,farre exceeding either Mexico or Quaxaca, Neither are the two fore-named Cities better \ . w , ftored