40 IDENTIFICATION OF TARSHISH. 



CHAP. xiv. What Tharsis and Opliir signifie in the holy 

 Scripture. 



LIB. i. if evcl y mans coniecture and opinion may be allowed, 

 for my part I hold that in the holy scripture these words of 

 Tharsis and Ophir most commonly do not signifie any 

 certaine place ; but it is a word and signification generall 

 to the Hebrewes, as in our vulgar tongue this word of 

 Indies is generall vnto vs in our vsuall maner of speech ; 

 for wee meane by the Indies those rich countries which are 

 farre off, and strange vnto vs. So we Spaniards do in 

 differently call Indies, the countries of Peru, Mexico, China, 

 Malaca, and Bresil ; and from what parts soever of these 

 any letters come, wee say they bee from the Indies, which 

 countries be farre distant and different one from another. 

 Yet we cannot denie but that name of Indies is properly 

 to be vnderstood of the East Indies. And for that in olde 

 time they did speake of these Indies as of a countrie farre off, 

 so likewise in the discoverie of other remote lands, they 

 have given them the names of Indies, being distant from 

 the rest, and held as the end of the world. Even so, in 

 my iudgement, Tharsis in the holy scripture doth not 

 signifie any certaine and determined place, but onely regions 

 a farre off, and according to the vulgar opinion, very rich 

 and strange ; for that which losephus and some others 

 would affirme, that Tharsis is Tarsus, according to the 

 meaning of the scripture, in my opinion hath bene well 



a?-ceMn re f u ted by S. lerome, not onely for that these wordes are 



tomo. wr itten with divers letters, the one with an aspiration, the 

 other without ; but also that many things are written of 

 Tharsis, which cannot agree with Tarsus, a Citie in Cilicia. 

 It is true, that in some places of the scripture, Tharsis is 

 said to be in Cilicia, the which you shall find in the booke 



:dith ii. of ludith, speaking of Holophernes, who having passed the 



