Hi/lorie of the Indies, lib. it 47 



fication generall to the Hebrewes , as in our vulgar 

 tongue, this word of Indies 3 is generall vntovs in our 

 vfuallmaneroffpeech : for wee meaneby the Indies, 

 thoferich countries which are farre off, and ftrange 

 vntovs. SoweSpaniardsdoindifferemly call Indies, 

 the countries of Ptru,Mcxico, China, Malaca^ and Brefil: 

 and from what parts foever of thefe any letters come, 

 wee fay they bee from the Indies. , which coun 

 tries be farre diftant and different one from another. 

 Yet we cannot denie ,. but that name of * Indies , is pro 

 perly to bevnderftood of the Eaft Indies. And for that 

 in olde time they did fpeake of thefe Indies , as of a 

 countrie farre off r fo like wife, in the difcoverie of o- 

 iher remote lands, they have given them the names 

 of Indies , being diftant from the reft , and held as the 

 end of the world. Even fo, in my Judgement, Tkarfis 

 in the holy, fcripture, doth not fignifie any certaine 

 and determined place, but onely regions a farre off, 

 and (according to the vulgar opinion,) very rich and 

 ftrange: for that which lofepbus and fbme others would 

 affirme , that Tharfis is Tarfo, according to the ro^- 

 ning of the fcripture , in my opinion hath bene well 

 refutcdby S. Jerome : not onely for that thefe wordes 

 are written with divers letters , the one with an afpi. 

 ration, the other without : butalfo, that many things 

 are written ofTharJis, which cannot agree with Tarfo, 

 a Citie in Cilicia . It is true , that in fbme places of the 

 fcripture, Tharfis is faid to be in Cilicia, the which you 

 fhall find in the booke c&Ittdith , fpeaking of Holopker- 

 ne\ who having pafled the limits of Apyria&t came to 

 the great mountaines tfAnge, ( which perchance is 

 Taunt*,} which hillesbe on the left hand ofCifoia 9 and 

 that he entred into all the Caftells^where he afTerabled 



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