102 tlbe (Barfcen 



of the best and noblest fruits in the world. 

 The reason of it can be no other, than that of 

 an excellent and proper soil, being there 

 extended under the best climate for the produc- 

 tion of all sorts of the best fruits ; which seems 

 to be from about twenty-five to about thirty-five 

 degrees of latitude. Now the regions under 

 this climate, in the present Persian empire 

 (which comprehends most of the other two, 

 called anciently Assyria ^and Media), are com- 

 posed of many provinces full of great and 

 fertile plains, bounded by high mountains, 

 especially to the north ; watered naturally with 

 many rivers, and those, by art and labor, 

 derived into many more and smaller streams, 

 which all conspire to form a country, in all 

 circumstances, the most proper and agreeable 

 for the production of the best and noblest 

 fruits. Whereas if we survey the regions of the 

 western world, lying in the same latitude be- 

 tween twenty-five and thirty-five degrees, we 

 shall find them extended either over the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, the ocean, or the sandy barren 

 countries of Africa ; and that no part of the 

 continent of Europe lies so southward as thirty- 

 five degrees. Which may serve to discover the 

 true genuine reason, why the fruits of the east 

 have been always observed and agreed to trans- 

 cend those of the west. 



