Even In Regard To
The Date Of The Flood, The Hebrews Reckon That Event To Have Happened
1656 Years After The Creation:
While the seventy interpreters make it
2242; and St Augustine extends the time to 2262 years[1].
In regard to
geographical situations, likewise, there are many differences; for there
never sailed ten or an hundred pilots in one fleet, but they made their
reckonings in almost as many different longitudes. But considering that
all these difficulties might be surmounted, by just comparison, and the
exercise of judgment, I at length resolved to persist in my undertaking.
Some allege that the world was fully known in ancient times; for, as it
was peopled and inhabited, it must have been navigable and frequented;
and because the ancient people were of longer lives, and had all one law
and one language, they could not fail to be acquainted with the whole
world. Others again believe, that though the world might be once
universally known by mankind, yet, by the wickedness of man, and the want
of justice among nations, that knowledge has been lost. But as all the
most important discoveries have been made by sea, and that chiefly in our
own times, it were desirable to learn who were the first discoverers
since the flood. 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.
Those who escaped from the flood kept the hills, not daring for a long
time to descend into the plains and low countries; and Nimrod, an hundred
and thirty years afterwards, built the tower of Babel, intending it as a
refuge in case of any future deluge[6]. Upon the whole, it seems probable
that the inhabitants of China and the east were the first sailors; though
others think the inhabitants of the west, particularly of Syria, were the
first to use the sea[7]. This contest about the antiquity of navigation,
I leave to the Scythians and Egyptians, who each challenge the honour to
themselves. But leaving all contested points in this matter, I now apply
to my proposed deduction, resting only upon what has been recorded in
authentic histories. Ancient history says that Tubal, in the hundred and
forty-third year after the flood, came by sea into Spain[8]; whence it
appears that in these early times navigation was usual from Ethiopia to
our parts of western Europe. It is also said, that Semiramis invaded the
country on the river Indus, whence the Indians derive their name, and
gave battle to king Stabrobates, in which he lost a thousand ships[9]; by
which it clearly appears there were then many ships in those parts; and
that the seas were much frequented.
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.
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