Adopting, Therefore The Truth Of This Historical Fact, It Must
Be Granted That This Island Of Atlantis, Beginning From The Straits Of
Gibraltar Near Cadiz, Must Have Stretched A Vast Way From North To South,
And From East To West, Since It Was Larger Than All Asia And Africa.
The
_other_ islands in the neighbourhood must have been those now named
Hispaniola, Cuba, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and others
Of the West Indies; and
the _Firm Land_, that part of the Continent to which we still give the
name of _Tierra Firma_, together with the other countries and provinces of
America, from the Straits of Magellan in the south to the extreme north;
as Peru, Popayan, Golden Castille, Veragua, Nicaragua, Guatimala, New
Spain, _the Seven Cities_, Florida, _Baccalaos_, and so on along the north
to Norway. The authority of Plato is conclusive that the _New World_ which
has been discovered in our time, is the same Continent or Firm Land
mentioned by that philosopher; and his _True Sea_ must be that which we
name the _South Sea_, or Pacific Ocean; for the whole Mediterranean, and
all that was before known of the Ocean, which we call the _North Sea_, can
only be considered as rivers or lakes in comparison with the vast extent
of that other sea. After these explanations, it is not difficult to
conceive how mankind in ancient times may have passed from the great
island of _Atlantis_ and the _other_ neighbouring isles, to what we now
call the Tierra Firma, or _Firm Land_, and thence by land, or by the South
Sea, into Peru:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 520 of 796
Words from 144039 to 144304
of 221091
