deans, Arabians; so as almost all nations of might and fame resorted hither, of whom we have some stirps and little tribes with us at this day. And for our own ships, they went sundry voyages, as well to your straits, which you call the Pillars of Hercules, as to other parts in the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas; as to Pegu, which is the same with Cambalu, and Quinsay upon the Oriential seas, as far as to the borders of East Tartary.

"At the same time, and an age after or more, the inhabitants of the great Atlantis did flourish. For though the narration and description which is made by a great man 14 with you, of the descendants of Neptune planted there, and of the magnificent temple, palace, city, and hill, and the manifold streams of goodly navigable rivers which (as so many chains) environed the same site and temple, and the several degrees of ascent whereby men did climb up to the same, as if it had been a

14 Plato, in whose Critias all these marvellous descriptions may be seen. It sometimes seems to me not a little extraordinary that persons roaming through literature in search of pleasure, should so seldom enter upon the domains of this Archimago, where so many magical sights and shows abound. Spenser is not more fanciful, Shakspeare not more imaginative, Milton not more sublime. Our ancestors differed from us on this point. The traces of Plato are everywhere visible upon their thoughts, whether they philosophize, or launch forth into the wilds of fiction. There was a statue of Eros in the groves of the Academy, and he appears to have waved his wings, and shed his "purple light" over the language of Plato, and this may possibly constitute the spell which he casts on all who attain to know him. He can be an object of indifference only to strangers.

scala cæli, be all poetical and fabulous; yet so much is true, that the said country of Atlantis, as well as that of Peru, then called Coya, as that of Mexico, then named Tyrambel, were mighty and proud kingdoms in arms, shipping, and riches; so mighty, as at one time (or at least within the space of ten years) they both made two great expeditions: they of Tyrambel through the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea, and they of Coya, through the South Sea, upon this our island. And for the former of these, which was into Europe, the same author amongst you (as it seemeth) had some relation from the Egyptian priest whom he citeth, for assuredly such a thing there was. But whether it were the ancient Athenians that had the glory of the repulse and resistance of those forces, I can say nothing; but certain it is, there never came back either ship or man from that voyage. Neither had the other voyage of those of Coya upon us had better fortune, if they had not met with enemies of greater clemency. For the king of this island, (by name Altabin,) a wise man and a great warrior, knowing well both his own strength and that of his enemies, handled the matter so, as he cut off their land-forces from their ships, and entoiled both their navy and their camp with a greater power than theirs, both by sea and land, and compelled them to render themselves without striking stroke; and after they were at his mercy, contenting himself only with their oath that they should no more bear arms against him, dismissed them all in safety. But the Divine revenge overtook not long

after those proud enterprises; for within less than the space of one hundred years, the great Atlantis was utterly lost and destroyed, not by a great earthquake, as your man saith, 15 (for that whole tract is little subject to earthquakes,) but by a particular deluge or inundation, those countries having at this day far greater rivers, and far higher mountains to pour down waters, than any part of the old world. But it is true, that the same inundation was not deep, not past forty foot in most places from the ground; so that although it destroyed man and beasts generally, yet some few wild inhabitants of the wood escaped: birds also were saved by flying to the high trees and woods. For as for men, although they had buildings in many places higher than the depth of the water, yet that inundation, though it were shallow, had a long continuance, whereby they of the vale that were not drowned, perished for want of food, and other things necessary. So as marvel you not at the thin population of America, nor at the rudeness and ignorance of the people, for you must account your inhabitants of America as a young people,

15 Here I will take the "man's" word in preference to the Atlantean priest's. The western coast of America is liable still more than the western coast of Europe to the shock of earthquakes. Indeed, it might almost he said that the earthquake has its home among the Andes, where it has, within the memory of men now living, wrought fearful havoc, and effected wonderful changes in the aspect of the globe. For an account of some of these, the reader may be referred to Von Humboldt's description of the country round Chimborazo, whose unscaleable peak a bold party of travellers some years ago attempted to ascend.

younger a thousand years at the least than the rest of the world, for that there was so much time between the universal flood and their particular inundation. For the poor remnant of human seed which remained in their mountains, peopled the country again slowly by little and little; and being simple and a savage people, (not like Noah and his sons, 16 which was the chief family of the earth,) they were not able to leave letters, arts, and civility to their posterity. And having likewise, in their mountainous habitations been used (in respect of the extreme cold of those regions) to clothe themselves with the skins of tigers,17 bears, and great hairy goats that they have in those parts; when after they came down into the valley, and found the intolerable heats which are there, and knew no means of lighter apparel, they were forced to begin the custom of going naked, which continueth at this day; only they take great pride and delight in the feathers of birds; and this also they took from those their ancestors of the mountains, who were invited unto it by the infinite flight of birds that came up to the high grounds while the waters stood below. So you see by this main accident of time we lost our traffic with the Americans, with whom, of all others, in regard they lay nearest to us, we had most commerce. As for the

19 His lordship's brevity here borders on obscurity. Were the aboriginal Americans, in his opinion, of a race different from the Noachidæ ?

17 The tiger is not a native of the American continent; but this had not been ascertained in Bacon's time.

other parts of the world, it is most manifest that in the ages following (whether it were in respect of wars, or by a natural revolution of time,) navigation did everywhere greatly decay, and especially far voyages (the rather by the use of galleys and such vessels as could hardly brook the ocean) were altogether left and omitted. So then, that part of intercourse which could be from other nations to sail to us, you see how it hath long since ceased, except it were by some rare accident, as this of yours. But now of the cessation of that other part of intercourse, which might be by our sailing to other nations, I must yield you some other cause; for I cannot say (if I would say truly) but our shipping for number, strength, mariners, pilots, and all things that appertain to navigation, is as great as ever; and therefore why we should sit at home I shall now give you an account by itself, and it will draw nearer to give you satisfaction to your principal question.

"There reigned in this island, about one thousand nine hundred years ago, a king, whose memory of all others we most adore, not superstitiously, but as a divine instrument, though a mortal man: his name was Salomona, and we esteem him as the lawgiver of our nation. This king had a large heart, inscrutable for good, and was wholly bent to make his kingdom and people happy. He therefore, taking into consideration how sufficient and substantive this land was to maintain itself without any aid at all of the foreigner, being five thousand six hundred miles in circuit, and of rare