THE STRANGE

VOYAGE and ADVENTURES

OF

DOMINGO GONSALES,

TO THE

WORLD in the MOON.

CONTAINING

An Account of the Island of St. HELLENA; the Place where he resided some Years in, and where he planned this Wonderful Voyage; his entering on Board one of the Homeward-bound East-India Ships for Spain; their running on the Rocks near the Pike of Teneriff, to avoid an English Squadron of Ships, that were in Pursuit of the Spanish Fleet; Gonsales had just Time to fix his Machine, which carried him in Safety to the Pike of Teneriff, having rested his Gansas on the Mountain, whence was pursued by the Savages; when giving the Signal to his Birds, they arose in the Air with him for their Journey to the Moon: The wonderful Apparitions and Devils he met with in his Progress; their Temptations to him, which he avoided, and their supplying him with choice Provisions; his leaving this Hellish Crew, and proceeding on his Voyage to the Moon; his safe Arrival there; the Manners, Customs, and Language of the Emperors, Kings, Princes and People: His short Stay there, to the great Grief of the Lunars; the inestimable Presents in Jewels the Author received at his Departure; his repassing to our Earthly Globe again, and was set down in China by his Birds; his being taken for a Magician by the Country People, and preserved from their Fury by a Chinese Mandarin; his going aboard an India Ship bound to Europe; his safe Arrival in his own Country, where he made his Discoveries to the King of Spain, who held several Cabinet Councils to deliberate on a proper Use to be made of these Discoveries.

With a Description of the Pike of Teneriff, as travelled up by some English Merchants.

The SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

Printed by John Lever, Bookseller, Stationer, and Printseller,
at Little Moorgate, next to London Wall, near Moorfields— 1768.

(Price One Shilling.)

THE STRANGE

VOYAGE and ADVENTURES

of

DOMINGO GONSALES,

TO THE

WORLD in the MOON,

BY THE

Several GANZA'S, or Large GEESE.

Before I come to relate our extraordinary Voyage of Domingo Gonzales to the World in the Moon, I will make a Halt at St. Hellens, or Hellena, which is now possest by the Honourable East-India Company. It is called the Sea Inn, because the English and other Nations stop there as a Place for Watering and Refreshment in their long Voyages to India. It was formerly seized by the Dutch, but retaken May 6th, 1673, by Captain Munday, with a Squadron of English Ships, and three rich Dutch East India Ships made Prizes in the Harbour; since which the Company have fortified and secured it, against any future Invasion of Dutch, Portuguese, or Spaniards. It was called Santa Helena by the Portuguese, who discovered it on St. Hellen's Day, being April 2.

There is no Island in the World so far distant from the Continent or main Land as this. It is about sixteen Leagues in Compass, in the Ethiopic Sea; in 16 Degrees of South Latitude; about 1500 Miles from the Cape of Good Hope; 360 from Angola in Africa; and 510 from Brasile in America. It lies high out of the Water; and surrounded on the Sea-coasts with steep Rocks, having within many Cliffs, Mountains and Vallies, of which one is named Church-Valley, where behind a small Church they climb up to the Mountains. To the South is Apple-Dale, so called from the abundance of Oranges, Lemons, and Pomegranates enough to furnish five or six Ships. On the West-side of the Church, Ships have good Anchorage close under the Shore, to prevent the Winds which blow fiercely from the adjacent high Mountains.

The Air seems temperate and healthful, so that sick Men brought ashore there, in a short Time recover; yet the Heat in the Vallies is as intolerable as the Cold upon the Mountains; it commonly rains there five or six Times a Day, so that the Barrenness of the Hills is not occasioned for the want of Water, of which it hath two or three good Springs for furnishing Ships with fresh Water; the Ground of its own Accord brings forth wild Pease and Beans, also whole Woods of Orange, Lemon, and Pomegranate Trees, all the Year long, laden both with Blossoms and Fruit, good Figs; abundance of Ebony and Rose-trees, Parsly, Mustard-seed, Purslain, Sorrel, and the like; the Woods and Mountains are full of Goats, large Rams, and wild Swine, but difficult to be taken. When the Portuguese discovered it, they found neither four-footed Beasts nor Fruit-trees, but only fresh Water; they afterward planted Fruit-trees, which so increased since, that all the Vallies stand full of them; Partridges, Pigeons, Moor-hens, and Peacocks breed here numerously, whereof a good Marksman may soon provide a Dinner for his Friends. On the Cliff-Islands, on the South, are thousands of grey and black Mews, or Sea-Pies, and white and coloured Birds, some, with long, others with short Necks, who lay their Eggs on the Rocks, and suffer themselves to be taken with the Hand, gazing at their Surprizers, till they are knocked on the Head with Sticks.

From the Salt-water beating against the Cliffs, a Froth or Scum remains in some Places, which the Heat of the Sun so purifies, that it becomes white and good Salt; some of the Mountains yield. Bole Armoniac, and a fat Earth like Terra Lemnia. The Sea will answer the Pains of a patient Fisherman, who must use an Angle, not a Net, because of the foul Ground and beating of the Waves; the chief are Mackrel, Roach, Carp, but differing in Colour from those among us; Eels as big, as a Man's Arm, and well tasted Crabs, Lobsters, Oysters and Mussels as good as English.

It is in this Island that the Scene of that notable Fancy, called, The Man in the Moon, or a Discourse of a Voyage thither, by Domingo Gonsales is laid, written by a learned Bishop, saith the ingenious Bishop Wilkins, who calls it a pleasant and well contrived Fancy, in his own Book, intituled, A Discourse of the New World, tending to prove that it is possible there may be another habitable World in the Moon; wherein among other curious Arguments he affirms, that this hath been the direct Opinion of divers antient, and some modern Mathematicians, and may probably be deduced from the Tenets of others, neither does it contradict any Principle of Reason nor Faith; and that as their World is our Moon, so our World is theirs.

Now this small Tract having so worthy a Person to vouch for it, and many of our English Historians having published for Truth, what is almost as improbable as this, as Sir John Mandavil in his Travels and others, and this having what they are utterly destitute of, that is, Invention mixed with Judgment; and was judged worthy to be Licensed fifty years ago, and not since reprinted, whereby it would be utterly lost. I have thought fit to republish the Substance thereof, wherein the Author says he does not design to discourse his Readers into a Belief of each particular Circumstance, but expects that his new Discovery of a new World, may find little better Entertainment than Columbus had in his first Discovery of America, though yet