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¶The Situacion and byggenes of the earth.
IT may to sume seeme a vaine thyng to seke the situacion and byggenes of the earth, although it bee easy to knowe, forasmuche as it is situ∣ate in the myddeste of the worlde as the center of the same,* 1.1 beinge enuironed and as it were borne vp of the sea which cōpa••seth it abowt. Mela sayth that the pyllers that susteyne it, are Easte, West, North, and South: which sayinge Dauyd confirmeth in the C.vi. psalme.* 1.2 These foure are the most notable pyllers or su∣stentacions that the earth hath in heauen, accordynge to the motions wherof, all vyages are ruled on the earthe, frome whense they haue theyr originall, as engendered of the dy∣uers qualities of vapoures & exhalations raysed by the sonne and otherwy••e. Eratosthenes put none other sustentacions then the north and south poles,* 1.3 and parteth the earth by the course of the soonne: which particion Marcus Uarro dooth greatly commende as agreable to reason. The poles are firme and immouable as an exeltre abowt the which the heauen mo¦neth and is th••rby susteyned. They furthermore declare vn∣to vs vnder what parte of heauen wee bee, howe farre, and wh••ch way wee go, with also the largenes of heauen and cō¦mensuration of the earth. As for exemple: the streyght of Gibraltar (accomptynge from Spayne) is from the north,* 1.4 or to speake more playnely from the poynte of the earthe that is or may be directly vnde•• the north ••ole, abowt .liiii. degrees which make .ix. hundreth and .lxxx. leaques according to the common computaciō of th•• Cosmographers and Astronomers: And is from the Equinoctiall line .xxxvi. degrees▪ which ad¦ded to the other .liiii make .xxx. degrees, beinge the hole distance from the north poyn••e to the Equinoc••iall l••ne diuy∣dynge the earth by the myddeste, and the quarter or fourthe parte of the hole circumference of the earth: the whiche how great it is in compasse and how many le••ques or myles it con¦teynethe, is easy to perceaue accomptyng•• euery degree .lx. myles. But that yowe may the bet••er perceaue wh••t degrees are, I haue thowght good to speake sumwhat more hereof.