Macrob. in Somno Scip. lib. 2.
And Macrobius saith, “That the Equinoctial Circle, the Artick and Antartick Lines, bind the two Habitable Zones, and make Temperate by the excessive Neighboring Heats and Colds; and these Countreys onely give Animation, and comfortable Enjoyment to all Living Creatures.”
Moreover, St. Austin in some places seems to clear his own Doubts, saying, “That People, if they could find a means to Sail those Vast and Undiscover’d Seas, might make Land, raising new Stars under another Sky.”
How beasts came on remote Islands.
A Learned Father, searching after the Original of all sorts of Beasts which multiply by Generation, concludes, That they must derive themselves from those that were sav’d with Noah in the Ark. But how came they to the Isles? To those adjacent and near the Main Land, they might easily Swim; to the remoter, they were Transported.
And chiefly the wild.
Austin is contradicted.
How men came to new Countreys.
But this Doubt is not altogether clear’d, for the Domestick and other Creatures fit for Humane use and Sustenance were thus brought thither: Yet how comes it to pass, that Voracious and Wild Creatures are also found there, such as Wolves, Tigers, Lions, and other Beasts of Prey? This puzzle putting St. Austin to a stand, he had no other means to get off, but by saying, that by God’s Commands or Permission, the Angels convey’d them thither; If so, why might not God please to Plant Men there in like manner, and the rather, the Earth being created for Humane use? But what needed this, when Men can in Ships Transport themselves, either of their own accord for curious Inquest, to find new Countreys, or else enforc’d by stress of Weather, to far remoter, and altogether unknown Lands: Besides, though the Earth is here and there divided by large Bays and vast Seas, yet nevertheless, in other places it is all continu’d Land, or at least parted by some narrow In-let or Sea; so that there was no difficulty for a crouded Plantation to go over, and so ease themselves in another Countrey, till then not Inhabited; therefore none need to question, but that from Adam, or nearer, from Noah’s three Sons, Sem, Ham, and Japhet, those, as well as we, were extracted, that Inhabit this our other World.
Reasons why America was so long unknown.