A M E%JL C A. 



21 



Chap. II. 



jEquinoctiaULine • however in long Procefs of time, divers Experiments vvere 

 made, which have now Co much improv'd the Arc of Navigation. 



Hanno's Voyage was four hundred years before the Birth of our Savior < Tenimony that Amnic* 

 therefore if none have been further than Homo, until the time the Tortuguefe "^^ **; 

 fail'd beyond Cape de Bona Efperan^a, how could America be difcover'd by Sea? 

 How did they fteer from the Salt-ljlands, or St. Thomas, out of fight of Land, 

 through the Main Ocean, to an unknown World ? Hanno himfelf, who was the 

 ftouteft of all Ancient Navigators, not only crept along the African Coaft, 

 which made him fpend fo much time j but not daring to crofs over thofc wide 

 fpreading Bays he found, left not his hold of the Shore, and meafur'd and 

 fearch'd every winding Inlet and Creek : And if he found a New World, why 

 was it not known ? The more, becaufe his Ambition carry'd him on to get a 

 Name and Reputation by fuch Naval Difcoverics. And how true the Relati- 

 on of this Expedition is, Pliny tells us, faying, The Journal-Books were then 

 to be feen which Hanno writ in that his African Expedition : Though many of 

 the Greeks, and alio of our Moderns, following Hanno, have found feveral 

 things contrary to his Obfervations, wherein he makes mention of feveral i 

 Cities built by him, which none ever fince heard of, or any have fccti, neither 

 is there the leaft Marks of their Ruines to be found. 



This large Relation ferves for nothing elfe, but to fliew that they feekin 

 vain herein to give the Honor of the Difcovery of America to the Ancients ♦ 

 And as little do thofe Teftimonies fignifie that are taken out of Diodorm Sicu* 

 Im, Pliny, Pomponius Mela, and JElian. It will be worth our time to hear every 

 one of them particularly. 



Firft, Diodorus faith, * Beyond Lybia, in the Ocean, lies a very great ^?; ft 7 ^ ony; ^ 

 " Ifland, feveral days failing in Circumference, having a very fruitful Soil,and Zml^pZicZl^ 

 " pleafant Meadows, diftinguifh'd by Hills, and moiftned by Navigable Ri* 

 " vers, unknown in Ancient Times, becaufe it feems to be feparatcd from the 

 "other World, and was thus found: The Pbenicians failing along the Lybian 

 " Coaft, were feveral days and nights tofs'd with perpetual Tempefts, and at 

 €c laft driven to theforemention'd Ifland, where Anchoring, and obferving the 

 " pleafant Sckuation thereof, made it known to their Magiftrates. 



But how comes this namelefs Ifland to be America ? What Man would take i"©ntra<uaej. 

 that for an Ifland, which far exceeds the main Continent of Afia ? And have 

 the Pbenicians afcrib'd the finding of this New World to any i Whence then 

 proceeds fuch great filence amongft all the Ancient Writers of a whole World, 

 who otherwife us'd to give Denominations to the leaft remote Village, or 

 Mountain, or River ? 



Winy fpeaks after the fame manner, faying, " The Writers make mention, 

 tC that Adas rifes out of the middle of the Sands,with a Shrubby and Bufliy top 

 <c towards the Sky, on the Shore of the Ocean to which he gives his Denomi- 

 "nation . That it is full of Woods, and water'd by feveral Fountains on that 

 cc fide towards Africa, by which means it bears all manner bf Fruit. In the 

 " Day-time none of the Inhabitants appear, all things being in filence, as in 

 <c the middle of a Dcfart . the Approacher is ftruck with fudden amazement. 

 <c And befidesits exceffive high Crown, reaching above the Clouds,and neigh- 

 u boring, as they fay, the Circle of the Moon^ appears in the Night as if it 

 " were all in a Flame, refounding far and near with Pipes,Trumpets,and Cymv 

 li bals ; and the Journey up thither, very long and dangerous^ 



I cannot underftand that Pliny can mean America by thisy becaufe himfelf, in 



the 



Iii.f. cap. i. 



