metrically, and with the explanation of
them neatly written and contained each in a little verse. There are
definitions and propositions, etc. On the exterior convex wall is first
an immense drawing of the whole earth, given at one view. Following upon
this, there are tablets setting forth for every separate country the
customs both public and private, the laws, the origins and the power of
the inhabitants; and the alphabets the different people use can be seen
above that of the City of the Sun.

On the inside of the second circuit, that is to say of the second ring
of buildings, paintings of all kinds of precious and common stones, of
minerals and metals, are seen; and a little piece of the metal itself
is also there with an apposite explanation in two small verses for each
metal or stone. On the outside are marked all the seas, rivers, lakes,
and streams which are on the face of the earth; as are also the wines
and the oils and the different liquids, with the sources from which the
last are extracted, their qualities and strength. There are also vessels
built into the wall above the arches, and these are full of liquids from
one to 300 years old, which cure all diseases. Hail and snow, storms and
thunder, and whatever else takes place in the air, are represented with
suitable figures and little verses. The inhabitants even have the art
of representing in stone all the phenomena of the air, such as the wind,
rain, thunder, the rainbow, etc.

On the interior of the third circuit all the different families of trees
and herbs are depicted, and there is a live specimen of each plant in
earthenware vessels placed upon the outer partition of the arches. With
the specimens there are explanations as to where they were first found,
what are their powers and natures, and resemblances to celestial things
and to metals, to parts of the human body and to things in the sea, and
also as to their uses in medicine, etc. On the exterior wall are all
the races of fish found in rivers, lakes, and seas, and their habits
and values, and ways of breeding, training, and living, the purposes
for which they exist in the world, and their uses to man. Further,
their resemblances to celestial and terrestrial things, produced both
by nature and art, are so given that I was astonished when I saw a fish
which was like a bishop, one like a chain, another like a garment, a
fourth like a nail, a fifth like a star, and others like images of those
things