Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 42.3.7

42.3.7

As to the men of America, the country designed both by the words of a Newfoundland, and also by those of Yenghi-Dunia, that is New World, they are themselves of English extraction and of English blood: they are the sons and children of the English. It must be observed that the astronomers and geographers of that nation, after many researches and observations, have found out a great number of differences between their remarks and the opinions of the ancients. Amongst these differences, the principal one is this, that the circumference and figure of the land and water in our globe are not as they were thought heretofore. They say that the latter seems to encompass the former as a girdle, and they add, that in the same manner as a portion of ground has emerged out of the waters on our side, and is become dry and habitable in seven several climates; in like manner another portion has risen opposite to it, and is become habitable by mankind. Whence it might happen, that the feet of the inhabitants of the two portions would meet sole to sole, were the earth to be withdrawn from between, whilst their heads would continue to look towards heaven. To conclude, it may be said that the two portions or hemispheres seem inclined towards each other;