ones, which may cause the needle in the compass
still to bend that way, and what should be the true cause of the variation
of the compass, [2998]is it a magnetical rock, or the pole-star, as Cardan
will; or some other star in the bear, as Marsilius Ficinus; or a magnetical
meridian, as Maurolieus; _Vel situs in vena terrae_, as Agricola; or the
nearness of the next continent, as Cabeus will; or some other cause, as
Scaliger, Cortesius, Conimbricenses, Peregrinus contend; why at the Azores
it looks directly north, otherwise not? In the Mediterranean or Levant (as
some observe) it varies 7. grad. by and by 12. and then 22. In the Baltic
Seas, near Rasceburg in Finland, the needle runs round, if any ships come
that way, though [2999]Martin Ridley write otherwise, that the needle near
the Pole will hardly be forced from his direction. 'Tis fit to be inquired
whether certain rules may be made of it, as _11. grad. Lond. variat. alibi
36._ &c. and that which is more prodigious, the variation varies in the
same place, now taken accurately, 'tis so much after a few years quite
altered from that it was: till we have better intelligence, let our Dr.
Gilbert, and Nicholas [3000]Cabeus the Jesuit, that have both written great
volumes of this subject, satisfy these inquisitors. Whether the sea be open
and navigable by the Pole arctic, and which is the likeliest way, that of
Bartison the Hollander, under the Pole itself, which for some reasons I
hold best: or by Fretum Davis, or Nova Zembla. Whether [3001]Hudson's
discovery be true of a new found ocean, any likelihood of Button's Bay in
50. degrees, Hubberd's Hope in 60. that of _ut ultra_ near Sir Thomas Roe's
welcome in Northwest Fox, being that the sea ebbs and flows constantly
there 15. foot in 12. hours, as our [3002]new cards inform us that
California is not a cape, but an island, and the west winds make the neap
tides equal to the spring, or that there be any probability to pass by the
straits of Anian to China, by the promontory of Tabin. If there be, I shall
soon perceive whether [3003]Marcus Polus the Venetian's narration be true
or false, of that great city of Quinsay and Cambalu; whether there be any
such places, or that as [3004]Matth. Riccius the Jesuit hath written, China
and Cataia be all one, the great Cham of Tartary and the king of China be
the same; Xuntain and Quinsay, and the city of Cambalu be that new Peking,
or such a wall 400 leagues long to part China from Tarta