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. 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.
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.
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