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Navigation is very an- 

 cient. 



Qtograph. Jib. i. 



<JL M E%I C A. Chap. I. 



Of old, by an inviolable Law, made by Cuftom, according to TUny, Vwtius 

 and others, the Sea was lock'd up, from the eleventh of October , to. the tenth of 

 ' March, no Ships daring to venture forth, dreading flioit Nights, and foul Wea- 

 ther j neither in Summer, did they fo much as once offer , unlefs driven by 

 Storms , to attempt the Ojftn, or loofe fight of Land 3 yet there is no cjueilion, 

 but that feveral Nations in former Ages, made it their bufineis, fpending their 

 whole time, and wearying themfelves in the Practical Art of Navigation.' 



The Sacred Scripture teftifies , That the Kings of Judea, Solomon, Jebofapbat, 

 Ozjas, and others , prepaid feveral Fleets that SaiFd through remote Seas, 

 freighting themfelves with Gold from Ophir , and other Rarities, which were 

 Imported to fupply and enrich the Holy-Land. And Strabo alfo tells us > That 

 King Solomon being contemporary with Homer, then difcover'd India. And Tfaiy 

 relates/That the ^mans, in the Reign of Auguftus, palling the Straights of Gibraltar, 

 &fi.m$M*$#ij and fleighting the Neplus ultra, Coafted Spain, France,2.xic\ 2e/gi«»i,leaving not at 

 the Promontory of the Cumbrians (now call'd Sbager-^jj} ) but alfo ventur'd in- 

 to the Northern Ocean , which waflies Norwy and Lapland : But long before 

 this , as AthenAus relates , (phileas Taurom'tnites , a Grecian Captain , and feveral 

 others pafs'd the Herculean-Millars, penetrating the Northern Seas as far as ®Wf. 

 t™Ttetifclt*'tfl ta * n > am * adventuring, made the firft Difcovery of Tbule : And to the South- 

 er. ^ ward the African Coafts without Gibraltar, and beyond A,.werenow and 

 then explored by feveral expert Captains. But more remarkable is the Voyage 

 Thevoyageofttw Q f n mm a Carthaginian , who out-fail'd thefe , and infpe&ed the Coafts of 

 oi£udoxus, strat.it. Jfrica, as far as the Gorgades : And Eudoxus Cy^icenus, flying from King Latbyrus, 

 fet Sail from the Arabian Gulph, and paifing the GreauCape, came to an Anchor 

 atlaftinthe Mouth of Gibraltar •, having difcover'd all the Eaftern, Southern, 

 and Weftern parts of Africa. 



Moreover, it deferves fpecial obfervation , That an antient S^ediJI? King, as 

 Cornelius 2s(epos relates, fent as a Rarity and great Prefent to the %oman Conful 

 iJS! BeVoWoffim,c Metellus Celer , fame Indians > who loofing their courfe, hatterM up and down 

 with perpetual Storms and ftrefs of Weather, were at laft driven into the Nor- 

 thern Ocean, where they fuffer'd Shipwrack 5 yet laving themfelves, Landed 

 on his Coaft: Ariftonicus Gramaticus relates, That Menelaus Sailing from the Sack 

 of Troy , became fo great a Voyager, that leaving the Straights, he furrounded 

 Africa, and difcovering India, after eight years re-meafuring the fame way he 

 went, returned with great Riches in fafety to his own Kingdom: Which is 

 confentaneous to Homer, who faith, Odyjf. 1. 4. 



Of Menelaus'. 





. -None mufi compare 



Manjions with Jove, his Seats Celeftial are: 

 (But with me any may, who eight years toft 

 Through Worlds of Miferies from Coaft to Coaft, 

 'MongH unknown Seas, of my %eturn fmall hope, 

 Cyprus, Phoenicia, i£gypt, w /Ethiope, 

 Sidon, Erembos/owzd, and Lybia, ivbere 

 Their Lambs are hornd, their Ews teem thrice a year. 



3 ASzIvcctqi yxlp <mvy Sbygi v,&i xJri/j^T ictciiu 

 'Av^pwy £' 7\YAV TIS fJQl IgA^tlcu riey y&i *V< 



'Hy&ypfjfyj ep vYiuaii hc/a oyobccTco tret nhSov 



AiSiomls 3>' tyt^fJiluff X& 1 cnSbvlas q&i lpg ( u,£vs 

 Kali hiGuu/j, 'ivcc t &pvev <*-¥<*■? vjoqjiq) tsA«G«ot> 

 T&s ya,p ii)c7« //wAa- TFAgu^ogpp eis htocvloy. 



(A) The Commentators on Homer have been very inqmfitive to find out Menelam Voyage into Ethiopia. Crates fupposM that he pafs'd out at the Straight/} 

 doubled the Southern Cape, and fo arrivd thither. Eratojtbenes conjectures , that in the time o\ Homer the Straights Mouth was an Iithmus , and the JEvyptian 

 Iithmus overflow'd by the Sea, wh-ch afforded him a fhorter pafTage, But that is moft probable which Strabo delivers , that he then went to the borders of JEtbiepi*, 

 when he pafs'd up Rgypt to the City of J hebes - } the Bolder s of Ethiopia being not far dulant from thence in Strabo* tjme, probably very near it in Hemtr's, 



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