or Baris, in forty-three and forty-four and a half; and the Gordiæan mountains in thirty-nine and a half; from the northernmost of which did the Georgians take their names, who were first Gordians and then Georgians, who, amidst all the strength of the greatest infidels of Persia and Turkey, do still remain Christians. Concerning the other suppositions, that the mountains of Gordiæi, otherwise Baris, Kardu, or Lubar, (which Ptolemy calleth Torgodiaion,) are the highest of the world, the same is absolutely false.

§. II.

Of Caucasus, and divers far higher hills than the Armenian. FOR the best cosmographers, with others that have seen the mountains of Armenia, find them far inferior, and underset to divers other mountains even in that part of the world, and elsewhere; as the mountain Athos between Macedon and Thrace, which Ptolemy calls Olympus, now called Lacas, saith Castaldus, is far surmounting any mountain that ever hath been seen in Armenia; for it casteth shade three hundred furlongs, which is thirty-seven miles and upwards; of which Plutarch, m Athos adumbrat latera Lemniæ bovis; "Athos shadoweth the cow of Lemnos." Also the mount of Olympus in Thessaly is said to be of that height, as neither the winds, clouds, or rain overtop it. Again, the mountain of Antandrus in Mysia, not far from Ida, whence the river Scamandrus floweth, which runneth through Troy, is also of a far more admiration than any in Armenia, and may be seen from Constantinople. There are also in Mauritania, near the sea, the famous mountains of Atlas, of which Herodotus: Extat in hoc mari mons, cui nomen Atlas, ita sublimis esse dicitur, ut ad illius verticem oculi mortalium pervenire non possint; "Upon this "coast there is a mountain called Atlas, whose height is "said to be such as the eye of no mortal man can discern the "top thereof." And if we may believe Aristotle, then are all these inferior to Caucasus, which he maketh the most no

m Plutar. Munst. Cosm.

torious both for breadth and height. Caucasus `mons omnium maximus, qui æstivum ad ortum sunt, acumine atque latitudine, cujus juga a sole radiantur usque ad conticinium ab ortu: et iterum ab occasu. "Caucasus," saith Ari"stotle, is the greatest mountain both for breadth and height "of all those in the north-east, whose tops are lightened by "the sunbeams, usque ad conticinium," which is, saith Macrobius, between the first crowing after midnight and the break of day: others affirm, that the top of this mountain holds the sunbeams when it is dark in the valley; but I cannot believe either: for the highest mountain of the world known is that of Teneriff in the Canaries; which although it hath nothing to the westward of it for one thousand leagues together but the ocean sea, yet doth it not enjoy the sun's company at any such late hours. Besides, these mountains which Aristotle calleth Caucasi, are those which separate Colchis from Iberia; though indeed Caucasus doth divide both Colchis, Iberia, and Albania, from Sarmatia; for he acknowledgeth that the river of Phasis riseth in the same mountain, which himself calleth Caucasus, and that Phasis springeth from those hills which sunder Colchis from Iberia, falling afterwards into Euxinus; which river, it is manifest, yieldeth itself to the sea two degrees to the north of Trapezus, now Trabesunda, howsoever Mercator brings it from Paryardes.

§. 12.

Of divers incongruities, if in this story we should take Ararat for

Armenia.

SO as it doth first appear, that there is no certainty what mountain Ararat was; for the books of the sibyls set it in Phrygia, and Berosus in Armenia; and as for Berosus's authority, those men have great want of proofs that borrow from thence.

Secondly, That Baris was the highest hill, and therefore most likely that the ark grounded thereon, the assertion and supposition have equal credit; for there are many hills

" Aristot. Met. cor. 1. 1. c. 13.

which exceed all those of Armenia; and if they did not, yet it doth not follow, as is before written, that the ark should sit on the highest.

Thirdly, It cannot be proved that there is any such hill in Armenia, or in rerum natura, as Baris; for Baris, saith Jerome, signifieth high towers; and so may all high hills be called indifferently; and therefore we may better give the name of Baris to the hills of Caucasus, (out of which Indus riseth,) than to any hills of Armenia. For those of Caucasus in the east are undoubtedly the highest of Asia.

Fourthly, The authors themselves do not agree in what region the mountains Gordiæi stand; for Ptolemy distinguisheth the mountains of Armenia from the Gordiean, and calleth those of Armenia Moschici and Paryardes, as aforesaid. Now Paryardes is seated near the middle of Armenia, out of which on the west side riseth Euphrates, and out of the east side Araxis: and the mountains Moschici are those hills which disjoin Colchis, Iberia, and Albania (now the country of the Georgians) from Armenia.

§. 13.

Of the contrary situation of Armenia to the place noted in the text; and that it is no marvel that the same ledge of hills running from Armenia to India should keep the same name all along; and even in India be called Ararat.

LASTLY, We must blow up this mountain Ararat itself, or else we must dig it down, and carry it out of Armenia; or find it elsewhere, and in a warmer country, and, withal, set it east from Shinaar; or else we shall wound the truth itself with the weapons of our own vain imaginations.

Therefore to make the mistaking open to every eye, we must understand that Ararat (named by Moses) is not any one hill, so called, no more than any one hill among those mountains which divide Italy from France is called the Alps; or any one among those which part France from Spain is the Pyrenean; but as these, being continuations of many hills, keep one name in divers countries; so all that long ledge of mountains, which Pliny calleth by one name

Taurus, and Ptolemy both Taurus, Niphates, Coatras, Coronus, Sariphi, until they encounter and cross the mountains of the great Imaus, are of one general name, and are called the mountains of Ararat or Armenia, because from thence, or thereabouts, they seem to arise. So all these mountains of Hyrcania, Armenia, Coraxis, Caspii, Moschici, Amazonici, Eniochi, Scythici, (thus diversely called by Pliny and others,) Ptolemy calls by one name Caucasus, lying between the seas Caspium and Euxinus; as all those mountains which cut asunder America, even from the new kingdom of Granado, to the strait of Magellan, are by one name called Andes. And as these mountains of Ararat run east and west, so do those marvellous mountains of Imaus stretch themselves north and south; and being of like extent, well near, are called by the name of Imaus, even as Pliny calleth these former hills Taurus, and Moses the hills of Ararat. The reason of several names given by Ptolemy was, thereby the better to distinguish the great regions and kingdoms which these great mountains bound and dissever; as Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Susiana, Persia, Parthia, Caramania, Aria, Margiana, Bactria, Sogdiana, and Paropanisus; having all these kingdoms either on the north or south side of them. For all the mountains of Asia (both the Less and the Greater) have three general names, to wit, Taurus, Imaus, and Caucasus; and they receive other titles, as they sever and divide par ticular places and regions. For these mountains which sunder Cilicia from the rest of Asia the Less on the north side are called Taurus; and those mountains which part it from Comagena (a province of Syria) are called Amanus; the mountains called Taurus running east and west, as Imaus doth north and south. Though Taurus, the river of Euphrates, forceth her passage, leaving the name of Amanus to the mountains on her west bank; and on her east side the mountains are sometimes known by the name of Taurus, (as in Ptolemy's three Tables of Asia,) and some

Pliny in his description of Lycia, 1. 5. c. 27.

RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. I.

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times Niphates, (as in the fourth,) retaining that uncertain appellation so long as they bound Armenia from Mesopotamia; and after the river of Tigris cutteth them asunder, they then take the name of Niphates altogether, until they separate Assyria and Media; but then they call themselves Coatras, though between the upper and nether Media they do not appear, but altogether discontinue. For at Mazada in Media they are not found, but run through the eastern Media by pieces; in the middle of which region they call themselves Orontes, and towards the east part Coronus; out of the southern part whereof the river of Bagradus riseth, which divideth the ancient Persia from Caramania; and then continuing their course eastward by the name of Coronus, they give to the Parthians and Hyrcanians their proper countries. This done, they change themselves into the mountains of Sariphi, out of which riseth the river Margus, afterwards yielding herself to Oxus, (now Abia,) and drawing now near their ways end, they first make themselves the south border of Bactria, and are then honoured with the title of Paropanisus; and lastly of Caucasia, even where the famous river of Indus with his principal companions Hydaspis and Zarædrus spring forth, and take beginning. And here do these mountains build themselves exceeding high, to equal the strong hills called Imaus of Scythia, which encounter each other in thirty-five, thirtysix, and thirty-seven degrees of latitude, and in one hundred and forty of longitude; of the which the west parts are now called Lelanguer, and the rest Nagracot; and these mountains in this place only are properly called Caucasi, saith PPtolemy, that is, between Paropanisus and Imaus; and improperly, between the two seas of Caspium and Pontus.

§. 14.

Of the best vine naturally growing on the south side of the moun– tains Caucasi, and towards the East Indies; and of other excellencies of the soil.

NOW in this part of the world it is where the mountain

P Ptol. Tab. Asiæ.