45 



they contended that it had been discovered many ages 

 earlier, and was in fact the Golden Ophir, whither the fleets 

 of Solomon and Hiram were accustomed to resort. Influ- 

 enced by such considerations, they determined, in despight 

 of all clangers, to set sail in quest of this unknown land. 

 A day being fixed, they embarked on board of the good ship 

 " Fancy," having first agreed that each should call to take 

 leave of his friends. On reaching the Dutch coast, how- 

 ever, Droge was unwillingly detained by his anxious rela- 

 tives, and the same thing happened to Beroalde, when the 

 vessel touched on the shores of Aquitaine. Nothing 

 daunted, the author pursues his enterprise alone, passes the 

 Canary Islands — traverses the whole coast of Africa — and 

 leaving behind him the Cape of Good Hope, arrives in two 

 years at the " Black Promontory'' of Crapulia, the northern- 

 most point of the Terra Australis, and lying in a longitude 

 midway between Africa and America. A thirty years' resi- 

 dence enables him to give the following account of the 

 great continent of 



TERRA AUSTRALIS. 



This country is divided into four large territories (de- 

 scribed in the same number of books), their names being 

 as follows: Crapulia,* Viraginia,t Moronia,J and Lavernia.§ 



Crapulia (the region of intemperance) is subdivided into 

 two provinces — Pamphagonia and Yvronia — names indicat- 

 ing respectively the land of gluttony and that of drunken- 

 ness. Prom these countries proceeds the enormous bird 

 called the Ruck, mentioned in the Arabian Nights, and 

 delineated by geographers in the act of carrying off in its 

 claws a live elephant for its repast. 



" The climate and soil arc delightful, insomuch that the 

 " birds which resort thither in flocks, after remaining three 



* The Laud of Intemperance i ft Termagants — } of Fools — § and 

 of Thieves. 



