The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 541 pages of information about The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I..

The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 541 pages of information about The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I..

[Sidenote:  Lib. 2.  Meteor. cap 1.] The second part, namely that America and Asia cannot be one continent, may thus be prooued, [Greek:  kata taen taes gaes koilotaeta rhei kai ton potamon to plaethos.] The most Riuers take downe that way their course, where the earth is most hollow and deepe, writeth Aristotle:  and the Sea (sayeth he in the same place) as it goeth further, so it is found deeper.  Into what gulfe doe the Moscouian riuers Onega, Duina, Ob, powre out their streames Northward out of Moscouia into the sea?  Which way doeth that sea strike:  The South is maine land, the Easterne coast waxeth more and more shalow:  from the North, either naturally, because that part of the earth is higher Aristot. 2.  Met. cap. 1. or of necessitie, for that the forcible influence of some Northerne starres causeth the earth there to shake off the Sea, as some Philosophers doe thinke:  or finally for the great store of waters engendered in that frostie and colde climate, that the bankes are not able to holde them.  Alber, in 2.  Meteor. cap. 6.  From the North, I say, continually falleth downe great abundance of water.  So that this Northeasterne currant must at the length abruptly bow towards vs South on the West side of Finmarke and Norway:  or else strike downe Southwest aboue Groneland and Iseland, into the Northwest straight we speake of, as of congruence it doeth, if you marke the situation of that Region, and by the report of M. Frobisher experience teacheth vs.  And M. Frobisher the further he trauailed in the former passage, as he tolde me, the deeper always he found the Sea.  Lay you now the summe hereof together.  The riuers runne where the chanels are most hollow, the Sea in taking his course waxeth deeper, the Sea waters fall continually from the North Southward, the Northeasterne current striketh downe into the straight we speak of, and is there augmented with whole mointaines of yce and snowe falling downe furiously out from the land vnder the North pole. [Sidenote:  Plin. lib. 2. cap. 67] Where store of water is, there is it a thing impossible to want Sea, where Sea not onely doeth not want, but waxeth deeper, there can be discouered no land, finally, whence I pray you came the contrary tide, that M. Frobisher mette withall after he had sailed no small way in that passage, if there be any Isthmos or straight of land betwixt the aforesayd Northwesterne gulfe, and Mar del Zur, to ioyne Asia and America together?  That conclusion frequented in scholes Quicquid praeter, &c. was meant of the partes of the world then knowen, and so it is of right to be vnderstood.

[Sidenote:  Sol. 5.] The fift obiection requireth for answere wisdome and policie in the trauailer to winne the Barbarians fauour by some good meanes:  and so to arme and strengthen himselfe, that when he shal haue the repulse in one coast, he may safely trauaile to an other, commodiously taking his conuenient times, and discreetely making choise of them with whom hee will throughly deale.  To force a violent entry, would for vs Englishmen be very hard, considering the strength and valour of so great a Nation, farre distant from vs, and the attempt thereof might be most perilous vnto the doers, vnlesse their part were very good.

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