[8] Berosus.
[9] Diod. Sic. I. 2. c. 5.
In the six hundred and fiftieth year after the flood, there was a king in Spain named Hesperus[10]; and Gonsalvo Fernandez de Oviedo, the chronicler of antiquities[11], affirms that he made discoveries by sea as far as Cape Verde and the Isle of St Thomas, of which he was prince, and that in his time the islands of the West Indies were discovered, and called the Hesperides, after his name. He alleges many reasons in proof of this assertion, and even says particularly, that these early navigators sailed in forty days from Cape Verde to these islands. Others say, that the islands of St Thomas and de Principe are the Hesperides, and not the Antilles; which is the more probable, as these ancient navigators only sailed along the coast, not daring to pass through the main ocean, having no compass, nor any means of taking altitudes for their guidance. It is not to be denied that many countries, islands, capes, isthmuses, and points, the names of which are found in histories, are now unknown; because, in course of ages, the force of the waters has wasted and consumed them, and has separated countries from each other formerly joined, both in Europe, Asia, Africa, New Spain, Peru, and other places.
[10] Berosus.
[11] Gons. Fern. I. 2. c. 3. Plin. I. 6. c. 31.
In his dialogue called Timaeus, Plato says there was anciently a great country and large islands in the Atlantic, named Atlantides, greater than Europe and Africa, and that the kings of these parts were lords of a great part of Spain; but that, by the force of great tempests, the sea had overflowed the country, leaving nothing but banks of mud and gravel, so that no ships could pass that way for long after. It is also recorded by Pliny[12], that close by the island of Cadiz, there was a well inhabited island called Aphrodisias, towards the Straits of Gibraltar, abounding in gardens and orchards; but we have now no knowledge of this island, except from the bare mention of it in ancient authors. The Isle of Cadiz is said to have been anciently so large as to join the continent of Spain. The Açores are held to have been a continuation of the mountains of Estrella, which join the sea coast beside the town of Cintra; and the Sierra Verde, or Green-mountains, which reach the coast, near the city of Sasin in the land of Cucu , or the island of Moudim in which Algarbe is situated, are supposed to have reached to Porto Santo and Madeira. For it is considered as an indubitable fact, that all islands derive their roots from the firm land or continent, however distant, as otherwise they could not stand firm. Other authors say, that from Spain to Ceuta in Barbary, people sometimes travelled on foot on dry land; that the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were once joined; that Sicily was united with Italy, and the Negropont with Greece[13]. We read also of the hulls of ships, iron anchors, and other remnants of shipping, having been found on the mountains of Susa, far inland, where there is now no appearance of the sea having ever been. Many writers affirm, that in India and Malabar, which now abounds in people, the sea once reached the foot of the mountains; and that Cape Comorin and the island of Ceylon were once united; also that Sumatra once joined with Malacca, by the shoals of Caypasia; and not far from thence there is a small island which, only a few years ago, was joined to the opposite coast. Ptolemy advances the point of Malacca three or four degrees to the south of the line; whereas its most southerly point, now called Jentana, is in one degree of north latitude, by which people pass daily the straits of Cincapura to the coasts of Siam and China; and the island of Aynan is said to have formerly joined the land of China; the southern extremity of which Ptolomey placed far to the south of the line, though it now only reaches to twentieth degree of north latitude.
[12] Plin. I. 4. c. 22.
[13] Eratosth. ap. Strab. I. 1. p. 26.
It may even have been that Malacca and China, as Ptolemy sets forth, extended beyond the line to the south; as Malacca might join with the land called Jentana, and the islands of Bintam, Banca, and Salistres, and the land might be all slime and ouze; likewise China might be united with the Luçones, Borneo, Lequeuo, Mindanao, and others. Some are of opinion, that Sumatra joined with Java, across what is now the Straits of Sunda; and that Java also joined with the islands of Bali, Anjave, Cambava, Solor, Hogalcao, Maulva, Vintara, Rosalaguin, and others in that range, all of which are so near as to appear continuous, when seen from a small distance; and they still are so near together, that in passing through the channels which divide them, the boughs of the trees on each side may be touched by the hands. It is not long since several of the islands of Banda in the east were drowned by the sea overflowing them; and in China, about 180 miles of firm land are said to have become a lake. All these things are to be considered as coming within the limits of probability, especially when we take into account what has been related of similar events by Ptolemy and others, but which I here omit to return to my subject.
About 800 years after the deluge, the city of Troy was built by the Dardanians; and even before that time, spices, drugs, and many other kinds of merchandize, which were then more abundant than now, were brought from India to Europe, by the Red Sea. Hence, if credit can be given to these accounts, we may conclude, that the sea of old was much frequented, those of the east bringing their commodities to the haven of Arsinoe in the Arabian Gulf, now called Suez[14], in lat. 30° N. and at the northern extremity of the Arabian Gulf; from whence the goods were carried by caravans, upon camels, asses, and mules, to Cassou, a city on the coast of the Levant sea, in lat. 32° N. Allowing seventeen leagues and a half to every degree of latitude, these two cities are said to have been 35 leagues, or 105[15] miles distant from each other. On account of the heat, these caravans, or great companies of carriers, travelled only in the night, directing themselves by the stars, and by land-marks fixed in the ground for that purpose. But finding this journey attended with many inconveniencies, the course was twice altered in search of a more commodious route[16]. About nine hundred years after the flood, and previous to the destruction of Troy, Egypt was ruled by a king named Sesostris, who caused a canal to be cut from the Red Sea to that arm of the Nile which flows past the city of Heroum, that ships might pass and repass between India and Europe, to avoid the expence and trouble of carrying merchandize by land across the isthmus of Suez; and Sesostris had large caraks or ships built for this purpose[17]. This enterprize, however, did not completely succeed; for, if it had, Africa would have been converted into an island, as there are even now only twenty leagues or sixty miles of land between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.