Chap. I. 



AMERICA 



Luilwt. error Conceril- 

 ing c ut Amipidts. 



another Habitable World beyond trie Equator : At which, Laclantius Drol- 

 ling, fays, What, Forjooth y here is a fine Opinion broad? \l indeed ; an Antipodes / 

 heigb-day I People Tohofe Feet tread 7&ith ours, and -walk Foot to Foot with us • their Heads 

 downwards, and yet drop not into the Sky ! There , yes, yery likely, the Trees loaden with 

 Fruit grow downwards, and it ^ains, Hails, and Sno^s upwards 5 the %pofs and Spires of 

 Cities, tops of Mountains, point at the Sky beneath them, and the Payers reVers'd topfi-turVy, 

 ready to flow into the Air out of their Channels ! 



But thefe Teeming witty Obfervations of laclantius , though they may ferve 

 for a Jeft, yet are not grounded on any fcrious Reafons . for the Earth and Sea 

 being Globular, making one llniverfal Ball • all Materials whatfoever that 

 belong to this great Body, fink by a natural Propenfity towards its Center . 

 fo that whenever we Travel , our Feet are downwards, and our Heads up- 

 wards, the Sky above, and the Earth beneath ; neither need they fear, that any 

 where the Earth mould Moulder and drop into the Clouds : But St. Aufiin .*?!&*£* *| 

 Reafons better , admitting that the Earth and Sea make a Univerfal Globe - 

 yet it no way follows , that inhabited Countreys mould lye oppofite to our 

 Northern, nay, altogether impotfible , feeing that fide which is our Antipodes 

 is all nothing but Sea ; and mould we allow, that there were Land and Water 

 mixt as ours is, who could prove, that they were Peopled ? or how could any 

 get thither, over fuch Vaft and Immenfe Seas? or.portibly pafs the extream 

 heat of the Torrid Zone, not to be endur'd by any living Creature ? And 

 what then becomes of Sacred Scripture, which fays pofitively,TW all Men -frere 

 deriVdfrom Adam, and after the Floud , from Noah and his three So?is ? Therefore 

 the Nations of the Antipodes- mud be of another Abftracl:, there being no pofli* 

 bility (as they fuppos'd) of paffing from this World to that : But fince the Dif* 

 covery of the Eaft and Weft-Indies ; Experience, the beftMiftrefs, hath taught, 

 that in the South are mighty Lands and vaft Territories, and that as far as they 

 have been Penetrated, are found to be full of People , extending their Domi* 

 nions from Eaft to Weft. And though St. Auftin deny'd this now welUknown 

 Truth, yet long before his time , Qcero , Pliny , and others amongft the Greeks 

 and <%gmans, divided the Earth under five Zones ; which Virgil defer ibes 

 thus : 



Five Zones the beaYns infold, hot Sun- beams Uat 

 Always on one, and bums with raging heat. 

 Tl?e two Extreams to this on each hand lies 

 Muffled with Storms, fetter d Spith cruel Ice. 

 'Twixt Cold and Heat, two more there are,th'aboads 

 Afiigndpoor Mortals by tV Immortal Gods. V 



Quinque tencnt caelum zonae :quarum una corufco 

 Semper Sole rubens,&, torrida Temper ab igni : 

 Quam circum extreme dextra,l#vaque trahumur 

 Catrulea glacie concrete, atque imbribus atris. 

 Has inter, mediamque, duae mortalibus xgris 

 Munere concefTae divum : via fe&a per ambas, 

 Obliquus qua fe fignorum verteret ordo. 



With Virgil, Pliny, and the Prince of Latin Orators agree who faith M <™i'*somnbsc;pio* 



O ' 7 WW. l.i.C.54 



a You fee, that thofe that inhabit the Earth dwell in Countreys fo feparated v^c^mt^og^K 

 ex one from another , that it is impoflible they mould have any Commerce • 

 " fome of them are our Antipodes, walking with their Heads downwards, fome 

 " their Feet againft our fides, others, as we, with their Heads upright. You fee 

 " how the fame Earth feems to be SwatrTd about with Rolls, of which, two 

 ct feparated by the other three , are at utmoft diftance one from the other, ly- 

 " ing equi-diftant under the Vcrtick Points of Heaven , always cover'd with 

 u Snow and Ice ; but the middlemoft and greateft is fcorch'd by the violent 



" heats 



