The following is an extract from "A NEW DESCRIPTION OF THE
WORLD,--London, printed for Hen. Rhodes, next door to the Swan
Tavern, near Brides-Lane, in Fleet-Street, 1689."
_NEW ENGLAND_, an _English_ Colony in America, is bounded on
the North-East with _Novumbegua_, on the Southwest with _Novum
Belgium_; and on the other parts by the Woods and Sea coast;
scituate in the middle of Temperate Zone, between the degrees
of 41 and 44, equally distant from the Artick Circle, and the
Tropick of _Cancer_; which renders it very temperate and very
agreeable to the Constitution of _English_ Bodies, the Soil being
alike Fruitful, if not in some places exceeding ours; all sorts
of Grain and Fruit trees common with us growing kindly there; The
Woods there are very great, wherein for the most part the Native
_Indians_ dwell Fortefying themselves as in Towns or places of
defence, living upon Deer and such other Creatures, as those vast
Wildernesses whose extents are unknown to the _English_ abound
with; there are in this Country store of Ducks, Geese, Turkies,
Pigeons, Cranes, Swans, Partridges, and almost all sort of Fowl,
and Cattle, common to us in _Old England_; together with Furs,
Amber, Flax, Pitch, Cables, Mast, and in brief whatever may
conduce to profit and pleasure; the Native _Indians_, in these
parts are more tractable, if well used, than in any other; many
of them though unconverted, often saying, that our God is a good
God, but their _Tanto_ evil, which _Tanto_ is no other than the
Devil, or a wicked Spirit that haunts them every Moon, which
obliges them to Worship him for fear, though to those that are
converted to Christianity he never appears.
This _English_ Colony after many Attempts and bad Successes was
firmly Established 1620, at what time _New Plymouth_ was Built
and Fortified; so that the _Indians_ thereby being over-aw'd,
suffered the Planters without controul to Build other Towns, the
chief of which are _Bristol_, _Boston_, _Barnstaple_, and others,
alluding to the Names of Sea Towns in _Old England_; and are
accommodated with many curious Havens commodious for Shipping,
and the Country watered with pleasant Rivers of extraordinary
largeness; so abounding with Fish, that they are not taken for
dainties; and for a long time they were all Governed at their own
dispose, and Laws made by a Convocation of Planters, _&c._ but of
late they have submitted to receive a Governor from _England_.
_NOVUM BELGIUM_, or the _New Neitherlands_, lies in this tract
on the South of _New England_, extending from 38 to 41 degrees
North Latitude; a place into which the _Hollanders_ intruded
themselves, considerable Woody; which Woods naturally abound with
Nuts and wild Grapes, replenished with Deer, and such Creatures
as yield them store of Furrs, as the Rivers and Plains do Fish
and Fowl; rich Pastures, and Trees of extraordinary bigness,
with Flax, Hemp, and Herbage; the ground very kindly bearing
the Product of _Europe_; and here the Natives, such as live in
Hutts and Woods, go clad in Beasts Skins, their Household goods
consisting of a Wooden dish, a Tobacco Pipe, and a Hatchet made
of a sharp Flint Stone, their Weapons Bows and Arrows; though
the _Dutch_ unfairly to their cost, out of a covetous Humor,
traded with them for Guns, Swords, _&c._, shewing the use of them
which the _Indians_ turning upon their quondam Owners, found an
opportunity to send 400 of their new Guests into the other World;
and here the chief Town is _New Amsterdam_, commodiously Scituate
for Trade, and the Reception of Shipping.