BOOK III.] History of Nature. 151 



before any Acts were done ; and as if they had indeed an 

 Enduement of Names, but respective only to the World and 

 Nature of Things. 



The whole Globe of the Earth is divided into three Parts, 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Beginning we take from the 

 West and the Straits of Gades, where the Atlantic Ocean 

 breaking in, is spread into the inland Seas. Entering there, 

 Africa is on the right Hand, Europe on the left, and Asia 

 between them. The Bounds confining these are the Rivers 

 Tanais and Nil us. The Mouth of the Ocean of which I spoke 

 lyeth out in Length fifteen Miles, and in Breadth five, from 

 a Village in Spain called Mellaria to the Promontory of 

 Africa called the White, as Turannius Graccula, who was 

 born there, writeth. T. Livius and Nepos Cornelius have 

 reported, that the Breadth, where it is narrowest, is seven 

 Miles, and ten Miles where it is broadest. From so small a 

 Mouth spreadeth so vast an Expanse of Waters ; nor doth 

 such exceeding Depth lessen the Wonder. In the very 

 Mouth of it are many Shelves of white Sands, to the great 

 Terror of Ships passing that Way. And therefore, many 

 have called those Straits the Entry of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 Near to the Sides of this Gullet, are set two Mountains, one 

 on each Side, as Barriers to shut all in : which are, Abila for 

 Africa, and Calpe for Europe, the Limits of the Labours of 

 Hercules. For which Cause, the Inhabitants of those Parts 

 call them the Pillars of that God ; and they believe, that 

 by Ditches digged within the Continent, the Ocean, before 

 excluded, was let in ; and so the Face of the Earth was 

 changed. 



CHAPTER I. 



Of Europe 1 . 



AND first, of Europe, the Nurse of that People which is 

 the Conqueror of all Nations ; and of all Lands by many 



1 This claim of superiority is advanced by the Roman, in the con- 

 sciousness of his country's power and greatness; and although 1800 years 



