'Tis a continent whose vast extent was never yet known, and may
contain more noble earth than all the universe beside; for, they
say, it reaches from east to west one way as far as China, and another
to Peru: it affords all things both for beauty and use; 'tis there
eternal spring, always the very months of April, May, and June; the
shades are perpetual, the trees bearing at once all degrees of
leaves and fruit, from blooming buds to ripe autumn: groves of
oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, nutmegs, and noble aromatics
continually bearing their fragrancies. The trees appearing all like
nosegays adorned with flowers of different kinds; some are all
white, some purple, some scarlet, some blue, some yellow; bearing at
the same time ripe fruit, and blooming young, or producing every day
new. The very wood of all these trees has an intrinsic value above
common timber; for they are, when cut, of different colors, glorious
to behold, and bear a price considerable, to inlay withal. Besides
this, they yield rich balm and gums; so that we make our candles of
such an aromatic substance as does not only give a sufficient light,
but, as they burn, they cast their perfumes all about. Cedar is the
common firing, and all the houses are built with it. The very meat
we eat, when set on the table, if it be native, I mean of the country,
perfumes the whole room; especially a little beast called an
armadillo, a thing which I can liken to nothing so well as a
rhinoceros; 'tis all in white armor, so jointed that it moves as
well in it as if it had nothing on: this beast is about the bigness of
a pig of six weeks old.
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