370 NEW ATLANTIS. 



abroad,) sat down with him. And when we were 

 set, he began thus : &quot; We of this island of Bensalem,&quot; 

 (for so they call it in their language,) &quot; have this ; 

 that by means of our solitary situation, and of the 

 laws of secrecy which we have for our travellers, and 

 our rare admission of strangers, we know well most 

 part of the habitable world, and are ourselves unknown. 

 Therefore because he that knoweth least is fittest to 

 ask questions, it is more reason, for the entertainment 

 of the time, that ye ask me questions, than that I ask 

 you.&quot; We answered; &quot;That we humbly thanked 

 him that he would give us leave so to do : and that 

 we conceived by the taste we had already, that there 

 was no worldly thing on earth more worthy to be 

 known than the state of that happy land. But above 

 all,&quot; (we said,) &quot; since that we were met from the 

 several ends of the world, and hoped assuredly that 

 AVC should meet one day in the kingdom of heaven, 

 (for that we were both parts Christians,) we desired 

 to know (in respect that land was so remote, and so 

 divided by vast and unknown seas, from the land 

 where our Saviour walked on earth,) who was the 

 apostle of that nation, and how it was converted to 

 the faith ? &quot; It appeared in his face that he took great 

 contentment in this our question : he said, &quot; Ye knit 

 my heart to you, by asking this question in the first 

 place ; for it sheweth that you first seek the kingdom 

 of heaven ; and I shall gladly and briefly satisfy your 

 demand. 



&quot; About twenty years after the ascension of our 

 Saviour, it came to pass that there was seen by the 

 people of Renfusa, (a city upon the eastern coast of 

 our island,) within night, (the night was cloudy and 



