Some Allege The Greeks, Others The Phenicians, While
Others Say The Egyptians.
The inhabitants of India, on the contrary,
pretend that they were the first navigators; particularly the Tabencos,
whom we
Now call Chinese; and allege in proof of this, that they were
lords of all the Indies, even to Cape Bona Speranca, and the island of St
Lawrence[2], which is inhabited by them; as likewise all the coasts of
the Indian seas, also the Javas, Timores, Celebes, Macassar, the Moluccas,
Borneo, Mindanao, Lucones, Lequeos, the Japans, and many other islands;
also the countries of Cochin-China, Laos, Bramas[3], Pegu, Arracones[4],
till you come quite to Bengala. Besides all these, New Spain, Peru,
Brazil, the Antilles, and all the adjoining lands, are possessed by the
same race, as appears by the fashions and manners both of the men and
women, who have small eyes, flat noses, with other proportions resembling
the Chinese. And to this day, many of these islands and countries are
called by such names, as Bato-China, Bocho-China, and the like,
indicating the countries of, or belonging to China.
It farther appears, that the ark of Noah rested upon the north part of
the mountains of Armenia, in 40 degrees of latitude or upwards; and that
Scythia, being a high land, and the first that appeared out of the
universal deluge, was first peopled. And as the province or country of
the Tabencos, or Chinese, is one of the chiefest of all Tartary, its
inhabitants may be considered as the most ancient nation, and the oldest
navigators. Their seas are calm; and, as lying between the tropics, their
days and nights are nearly equal, and their seasons differ little in
temperature; and as no outrageous winds swell their seas into storms,
navigation among them is safe and easy. Their small barks called
catamorans have only a large bough of a tree set up in the middle,
serving as mast and sail; the master steers only with an oar, and the
passengers sit on poles fastened to the bark.
It is said that the people of China were anciently lords of almost all
Scythia, and were in use to sail along that coast, which reaches from
east to west, in seventy degrees of north latitude. Cornelius Nepos says,
that, in the time when Metellus, the colleague of Afranius, was proconsul
of Gaul, the king of the Suevi sent to him certain Indians, who came to
his country in a ship by the north and the flats of Germany[5]. These
people probably came from China; as in that country, in the latitudes of
20, 30, and 40 degrees, they have strong and well-fastened ships, which
can bear the seas and encounter the severity of the northern climate.
Cambaia also has ships, and its inhabitants are said to have long used
the seas; but it is not likely they should have gone to Gaul; for they
only trade to Cairo, and are indeed a people of little trade and less
clothing.
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