"There Is No Sailing Upon The Ocean,
Because Its Entrance Is Shut Up By The Pillars Of Hercules.
Yet there had
formerly been an island in that ocean, larger than all Europe, Asia, and
Africa in one;
And from thence a passage to other islands, for such as
went in search of them, and from these other inlands people might go to
all the opposite continent, near the true ocean." These detractors from
the honour of Columbus, in explaining the words of Plato after their own
manner, evince more wit than truth, when they insist that the shut up
passage is the strait of Gibraltar, the gulf the great ocean, the great
island Atlantis, the other islands beyond that the leeward and windward
islands, the continent opposite them the land of Peru, and the true ocean
the great South Sea, so called from its vast extent. It is certain that no
one had any clear knowledge of these matters: and what they now allege
consists merely of notions and guesses, patched together since the actual
discovery; for the ancients concluded there was no possibility of sailing
across the ocean on account of its vast extent. These men, however, labour
to confirm their opinions, by alleging that the ancients possessed much
knowledge of the torrid zone; as they insit that Hano the Carthaginian
coasted round Africa, from the straits of Gibraltar to the Red Sea, and
that Eudoxias navigated in the contrary direction from the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean. They allege farther, that both Ovid and Pliny make mention
of the island of Trapobano, now Zumatra[2] which is under the line.
All this however is nothing to the purpose. The expression of Seneca is
not applicable; for his proposed discovery is towards the north, whereas
ours is to the westwards. The coasting of Africa, as said to have been
performed by the ancients, is widely different from traversing the vast
ocean, as was accomplished by Columbus, and by the Spaniards after his
example. If any notice is due to ancient hints, that only is worthy of
observation which we find in the twenty-eighth chapter of the book of Job,
in which it seems predicted that God would keep this new world concealed
from the knowledge of men, until it should please his inscrutable
providence to bestow its dominion to the Spaniards. No attention is due to
the opinions of those who would endeavour to establish the Ophir of the
Scriptures in Peru, and who even allege that it was called Peru at the
time when the holy text was penned. For, neither is that name of Peru so
ancient, nor does it properly belong to that great country as its
universal appellation. It has been a general practice among discoverers to
apply names to new found ports and lands, just as occasion offered, or
accident or caprice directed; and accordingly, the Spaniards who made the
first discovery of that kingdom, applied to it the name of the river they
first landed at, or that of the cacique who governed the district.
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