that the farther we went the less the Globe of the Earth appeared to us, and that of the Moon still larger: Again the Earth, which I had ever in mine Eye, seemed to made itself with a kind of Brightness like another Moon, and as we discern certain Spots or Clouds as it were in the Moon, so did I then see the like in the Earth; but whereas the Form of these Spots in the Moon are always the same, these on the Earth seemed by Degrees to change every Hour; the Reason whereof seems to be, that whereas the Earth according to his natural Motion (for such a Motion I am now satisfied she hath according to the Opinion of Copernicus) turns round upon her own Axis every four and twenty Hours from West to East) I should at first see in the Middle of the Body of this new Star the Earth, a Spot like a Pear, with a Morsel bit out on one Side, in some Hours I should observe this Spot move away toward the East: This no doubt was the main Land of Africa; then might I perceive a great shining Brightness in that Place which continued about the same Time, and was questionless the vast Atlantick Ocean: After this succeeded a Spot almost Oval, just as we see America described in our Maps, then another immense Clearness, representing Mare del zar or the South Sea; lastly, a number of Spots like the Countries and Islands in the East-Indies, so that it seemed to me no other than an huge mathematical Globe turned round leisurely before me, wherein successively all the Countries of our earthly World were within twenty-four Hours represented to my View, and this was all the Means I now had to number the Days, and reckon the Time.
I could now wish that Philosophers and Mathematicians would confess their own Blindness, who have hitherto made the World believe that the
