But what of all this? Who finds in any of these Writings, any Marks of _America_, or the least Description thereof? Though we cannot deny that the Antient Sages and Wise Philosophers of former times might easily make out, and no question did, that the Earth and Sea made the perfect Figure of a Globe; first from the round Shadow of the Earth that Ecclipses the Moon; the different Risings and Settings of the Celestial Luminaries; and the still Variation of the Pole; so that the Earth and Sea making one Ball, they might easily conjecture, that the South-side of the Equinoctial might be Inhabited as well as the North: But all this was more grounded upon Natural Reason and Right Judgement, than any Experience of theirs, or the least certain knowledge thereof, which since these later times had the first happiness to obtain; so laying these Conjectures aside, there have been none more grosly erroneous, and so utterly mistaken in this Point, than some of the Ancients, and especially the Fathers of the Church. [Sidenote: _Lactant._ l. 3. c. 24.] _Lactantius Firmianus_, and St. _Austin_, who strangely jear’d at as ridiculous, and not thinking fit for a Serious Answer the Foolish Opinion of _Antipodes_, or another Habitable World beyond the _Equator_: At which, _Lactantius_ Drolling, says, _What, Forsooth, here is a fine Opinion broach’d indeed; an_ Antipodes! _heigh-day! People whose Feet tread with ours, and walk Foot to Foot with us; their Heads downwards, and yet drop not into the Sky! There, yes, very likely, the Trees loaden with Fruit grow downwards, and it Rains, Hails, and Snows upwards; the Roofs and Spires of Cities, tops of Mountains, point at the Sky beneath them, and the Rivers revers’d topsi-turvy, ready to flow into the Air out of their Channels!_ [Sidenote: _Lactant._ error concerning our _Antipodes_.] [Sidenote: As also St. _Austin. de Civit. Dei_ l. 16. c. 9.]