[1] Oxford Collection, II. 353. Clarke, Progr. of Marit. Disc. I. App 1.

[2] Oxford Collection, I. viii.



SECTION I.

_Epitome of the Ancient and Modern Discoveries of the World, chiefly by
means of Navigation, from the Flood to the close of the Fifteenth
Century._

When I first desired to compose an account of the ancient and modern
discoveries by sea and land, with their true dates and situations, these
two principal circumstances seemed involved in such difficulty and
confusion, that I had almost desisted from the attempt. 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