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. Besides,
the similarity of words is too trivial a circumstance on which to
establish a foundation for a superstructure of such importance.
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