The Earth and its Inhabitants. The European section of the Universal Geography by E. Reclus. Edited by E. G. Ravenstein. Illustrated by ... engravings and maps

Front matter

m m THE HORSE-SHOE FALLS, NIAGARA — VIEW TAKEN FROM GOAT ISLAND. THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS THE UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY By elisee reclus EDITED By A. H. KEANE, B.A. MEMBER OF COUNCIL, ANTHROP. INSTITUTE; COR. MEMB. ITALIAN AND WASHINGTON ANTHROP. SOC, ETC. VOL. XV. NORTH AMERICA ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS LONDON J. S. VIRTUE & CO., Limited, 294, CITY ROAD LONDON : PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD CONTENTS. CHAP. piOE I. The New World 1—59 The Discovery, p. 2. Progress of Discovery along the Eastern Seaboard, p. 14. Discovery of the Pacific, p. 18. The North-west Passage, p. 20. Expeditions towards the North Pole, p. 26. Progress of Discovery on the Northern Continent, p. 32. Progress of Discovery on the Southern Continent, p. 34. Physical Features of the Twin Continents, p. 35.

Contrasts and Analogies between North and South, p. 3C. Geology of the New World, p. 38. Volcanic Systems, p. 40. Climate, Marine Currents, p. 42. Flora and Fauna, p. 46. Inhabitants, p. 47. Spread of Modern Culture in the New World, p. 48. Fate of the Aborigines, p. 49. Dominant Ethnical Elements, p. 51. European Immigration, p. 54. Decadence of the Spanish Power, p. 56. Ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxon Race, p. 57. II. Greenland 60 — 92 Historic Retrospect, p. 60. Progress of Discovery, p. 61. Extent, Physical Features, p. 63. Geological Formation, p. G6. The Inland Ice-Cap, p. 67. Glaciers and Icebergs, p. 70. Upheaval and Subsidence, p. 75. Marine Currents and Tides, p. 77. Fossil Remains, p. 78. Climate, p. 79. Flora and Fauna, p. 81. Inhabitants, p. 83. Topography, p. 88. III. The Arctic Archipelago 93 — 112 Insular Groups, p. 94.

Grant and Grinnell Lands, p. 97. Baffin Land, p. 99. The Western Insular Groups, p. 101. Climate, p. 102. Flora and Fauna, p. 104. Inhabitants, p. 106. Topography, p. 110. IV. .Alaska 113-147 Exploration, p. 114. The South Alaskan Coastlands and Islands, p. 11G. The Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands, p. 121. The Interior of Alaska, p. 124. Rivers, p. 125. Climate, p. 130. Flora, p. 132. Fauna, p. 133. Inhabitants, p. 134. Topography, p. 140. Administration, Instruction, Trade, p. 146. V. The Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland 148 — 418 1. General Considerations, p. 148. 2. British Columbia.— Physical Features of British Columbia, p. 151. Fjords and Glaciers, p. 156. Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands, p. 159. Columbian Lakes and Rivers, p. 160. Flora and Fauna, p. 166. Inhabitants, p. 168.

Chapter I. The New World

the names of the Old World continents — Europe, Asia, Africa vlfi***P*F*Vj — *^a^ °^ J^merica is shrouded in no mystery. The origin of the æIFSImkJ former has hitherto been a question of pure conjecture, whereas we XMkIjsjW^ knew for certain that the latter, as applied collectively to the whole *l'<^-^- ~TgjJ 0f New World, dates from 1507, appearing for the first time in a publication issued in that year at Saint- Die by the " Gymnase Vosgien," a group of savants and printers constituted under the patronage of the Duke of Lorraiue. It matters little whether this name, under its first form of Amerige (Amerigen), was introduced into Cosmographies Introductio by the French translator, Jean Basin de Sandocourt; or by the Suabian Waltzemuller (Hylaeomylus) ; the fact remains that, either by one or the other, the name was inscribed in the treatise in honour of Amerigo Vespucci, one of the first explorers of the New World, but also one whose fame is lost in the dazzling glory of Columbus.

The Latin text is decisive as to the precise meaning given to the recently discovered regions ; yet nothing can be advanced in support of the statement made so early as 15-33 by Schoner that Vespucci had any direct relations with the Saint- Die Society, and that he was base enough to claim the merit of the discovery by giving his Chris tian name to the New World. So far from this being the case Vespucci, like Columbus himself and all contemporary navigators, was unaware that his explorations had contributed to reveal any regions except those of the Asiatic Con tinent. 13 vol. The Discovery. In any case the name itself came but slowly into general use. The common appellation naturally continued for some time to be that which had been propa gated by the mistake made by Columbus regarding the true character of the lands discovered by him.

Having set out to reach the Indies he supposed he had redis covered them, and the term India consequently continued to be applied to the New World both in current literature and still more in official documents. Even after further exploration had established the vast distance separating India and China from the Columbian lands, and after a clear distinction had been established between the " East Indies," reached chiefly by the oriental route, and the " West Indies," lying across the track of vessels sailing westwards, the Spanish Government persisted in designating as las Indian its trans- Atlantic possessions. Even to this day the term " Indians " is that which is still most commonly applied to the American aborigines, and in regions where the Spanish language prevails they are even called Chinos, or " Chinese."

On relatively few maps of the sixteenth century the new lands bear the name of America, or are even skowu to be geographically independent of Asia. The first sheet of certain date on which the name itself occurs was engraved by Petrus Apianus in 1520, eight years after the death of Vespucci, and where the word elsewhere appears it is nearly always associated with others, such as Newfoundland, Brazil, Holy Cross, Atlautica or Atlantis, Peruvia, New Indies, and the like. It is obvious that no one designation had yet been sufficiently established to claim a decided preference on the part of cartographists. Not till the seventeenth century, over a hundred years after the discovery, did the term America acquire a definite predominance everywhere except in Spain. Its gradual adoption was clearly due, not to official pressure or to the influence of great writers, but to popular feeling itself, nor can there be any doubt that euphony had much to do with its favourable reception in the leading Euroj^ean languages.

Thanks to its felicitous form it harmoniously rounded off the enumeration of the continents : Europe, Asia, Africa, America. Thus it happened, not for the first time in the records of humanity, that alliterative cadence contributed to pBrpetuate a manifest injus tice. In the face of authentic documents there might seem to be little room for doubt on the subject under consideration. Yet there already exists a copious literature composed by writers who have vainly essayed to assign a purely local origin to the name by which the New World is now designated. When certain erudite Teutons claim it as of German origin we may cease to be surprised that the Americans, on their part, feel a pleasurable gratification in researches which trace it to their native hind itself. On several occasions certain resemblances have been pointed out between Vespucci's Christian name and thc local designation of some American rivers or ranges, but no attempt was made to treat the question seriously till the year 1875, when the geologist, Marcou, suggested that the term was derived from the Amerrique Mountains, skirting the east side of Lake Nicaragua THE NEW WORLD. between the towns of Juigalpa and Libertad.* This range, whose crests rise above 3,500 feet, forms part of the watershed between the streams flowing to Lake Nicaragua and the Blewfields river, is one of the largest in the Mosquito territory.

Auriferous deposits occur in the eastern valleys of the range, which remained unknown to geographers till the year 1874, when mention was first made of it by the naturalist, Thomas Belt.t Marcou advances the hypothesis that, during the voyage of 1502 along the shores of the Caribbean Sea, Columbus, ever eager in the search for treasures, heard rumours of these goldfields, which lay about 100 miles inland, and which belonged to a tribe of like name, who may have traded with the coast. Amerigo Vespucci would appear to have twice visited the Mosquito seaboard, and may have also heard of the mines of the Sierra Amerrique, whose name was afterwards extended to the whole continent. But all this is pure hypothesis, although it has pleased the vanity of local patriotism, and has, in fact, been adopted by several American authors.

One of these, however, writing under the various names of Hurlbut, Byrne, de Bris, and Lambert, claims for the term America a more illustrious origin, tracing it to a word in the language of the Incas, meaning the " Great Land of the Sun," or the "Holy Land.": The first discoverers, amongst whom was Vespucci himself, could scarcely avoid using the expression, "New World," without thereby necessarily implying that America was geographically distinct from Asia. Nevertheless it is in this latter sense that the expression has been perpetuated to the present time, nor can it be denied that it is sufficiently justified by the comparatively brief interval that has elapsed since the American populations have entered into the common history of humanity. But the same can scarcely7 be said of another expression, that of the " Western " World, which is also occasionally applied to the American continent, but which is purely relative and true only in a transitory sense.

In many respects, and especially in its relief, the form and disposition of its seaboard, America should rather be called the " Eastern " continent, for it lies east of the Old World, with which it is connected by the islands, peninsulas, marine beds, and pack ice of the Bering Sea. Taken as a whole, the American mainland constitutes, in fact, a geographic unit, disposed in a vast semi-circle around the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean. The Capes of Good Hope and Horn terminate on either side the immense amphitheatre of the continents, which follow in succession round the abysmal waters, and which raise their loftiest crests in proximity to their oceanic seaboards. The main relief of the earth's crust may in a general way be regarded as disposed in a continuous semicircle, sweeping round the great marine basin of the globe, the African and Asiatic highlands constituting the western, the American the eastern arc of this mighty curve, where the ranges of Alaska and British Columbia merely form a prolongation of those of Manchuria and Kamchatka. * * " Sur l'Origine du nom d'Amerique," in the Bui. de la Soc. de Geographie, vol. ix. t The Naturalist in Nicaragua.

X "The Origin of the Name of America," in the Bui. ofthe Am. Geograph. Soc, 1883, No. 1. And within the circle of mountains now quiescent there is developed a second circle of active volcanoes, whose fiery curves are disposed in festoons connecting the Indonesian archipelagoes with the Asiatic seaboard, and at last merging in the western coast ranges of the American highland systems. Evidently the volcanoes of the New World form part of the same " fiery circle " as the flaming craters of the Philippines, of Japan, and the Kurile Islands, of which they form in fact the eastern section. In exceptionally clear weather the most westerly headland of North America is visible from the extreme north-east promontory of Asia across the intervening strait scarcely 60 miles wide. The Aleutian Islands also stretch from the Alaskan Peninsula for hundreds of miles towards the Asiatic mainland, while in winter the opposite shores of the two worlds are connected by irregular masses of pack or floating ice roughly thrown together by the contending currents, counter-currents, and eddies of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

Even in mid summer steamers at times find it difficult to force their way in the intervening strait through the drifting fragments of these glacial masses. The Bering Strait itself has an extreme depth of not more than 30 fathoms and even far from the coast whalers find good anchorage in depths of little over 20 fathoms. In the very midst of the strait itself rises the group of the Gvozdeva or Diomede islets, serving as an intermediate station for men and animals passing to and fro between the continents, from Cape East on the Asiatic to Cape West (Prince of Wales) on the American side. Hence, as already remarked by Adalbert de Chamisso, the geodetic triangles of the Old. World might easily be connected with those of the New World, which in fact forms its eastern prolongation. On the other hand America is separated from European lands, by a space of 900 miles across the narrowest part of the North Atlantic.

Nevertheless the striking analogy of the rocks between Labrador, Greenland, the northern archipelagoes and Norway, justifies the hypothesis that at some remote epoch all these reo-ions formed continuous dry land. Greenland is still united with Scotland, and Cape Wrath with the Lindesnaes by a submarine bank less than 350 fathoms deep. Historically also America is largely a dependency of Asia, and should consequently be regarded as an eastern land. The Asiatics had no need to discover America, nor the Americans Asia, seeing that where they approach nearest the continents are visible from shore to shore. Even without the aid of kayaks (boats) the natives of both regions have been able to cross to the opposite sides of Bering Strait. South of this strait the seaboard is indented with numerous inlets as far as Oregon, all affording refuge to Asiatic craft drifting eastwards ; hence the state ment that the American continent " turns its back on Asia " does not apply to the northern section of the New World.

Although contested byr Pink, Morton, and other anthropologists, the view ia now generally7 accepted that the hyperborean populations of America are of Asiatic descent, and along both sides of Bering Strait the resemblance of physical types, speech and usages is such that their racial unity can be scarcely called in question.* Consequently those who regard the kinship of the Eskimo and Mongoloid Siberian * Chamisso, Waitz, Peschel, Petitot, Whymper. VIEW TAKEN ON THE BERING SEA. THE NEW WORLD. 5 as established naturally infer the western or Asiatic origin of the population occupying the northern section of North America. Polynesian influences are also recognised in the customs, structures, and ornamental work of the islanders along the north-west coast of America from Alaska to Oregon. Moreover, the " Black Stream " which traverses the North Pacific has frequently carried Japanese flotsam to the opposite seaboard ; over sixty instances of this sort have been recorded since the beginning of the seventeenth century.* The same current has even occasionally borne junks and shipwrecked crews from one continent to the other, as, for instance, in the year 1875.

Some authorities even go so far as to assert that the Buddhist propaganda, and consequently Asiatic civilisation, exercised a direct influence on the inhabitants of Mexico and of Central America during the first centuries of the Christian era. Amongst the sculptures of Copan and Palenque mystic images have been found closely resembling those of Eastern Asia ; such especially is the taiki, the most venerated symbol of the Chinese, which, according to Haniy, represents " the combination of force and matter, of the active and the passive, of the male and female principles." But, whatever is to be said of these pretended Buddhistic influences, there can be little doubt that the earliest transoceanic relations of the American continent must be referred, not to Europe or Africa, but to Asia, that is, to the West.

The case, however, is reversed when we come to the recent history of the New World. If in remote ages the march of civilisation or immigration was from west to east, its direction has been from east to west, from the Nile to the Mediterranean, and thence towards the ocean, and from the eastern to the western shores of the Atlantic, within the strictly historic period. Attempts have even been made to reduce this western movement of the cultured peoples to a fixed principle. " Westward rolls the star of empire," is a familiar saj'ing amongst English speaking nations. Anyhow, the fact remains that throughout modern times America has been, relative]}7 to Europe, emphatically the western world, the " West " in the simple language of British seafarers. Beyond the Mississippi the vast plains and highlands stretching away to the Pacific Ocean are also commonly designated by the name of the " Far West."

Possibly at some remote epoch vessels from the eastern hemisphere may have reached this western world. Mention has been made of Phœnician navigators, and the Greek legends have been revived touching the mythical land of the Atlantes. Eeference is also still made to the old Welsh traditions regarding Madoc ap Owen's discovery of the western lands wrapped in the perennial fogs of the great ocean. The Irish have similar legends, such as that associated with the name of St. Brendan ; but the marvellous accounts of their bards are unsupported by a single fact which could give them a character of certainty. The first authentic documents on the existence of a new world beyond the Atlantic date no further back than about a thousand years ago, coinciding with the epoch of the great Scandinavian migrations.

Even in Italy itself, jealous of * Brooks, Comptes Eendus de la Soc. de Geographie, July, 188G. the fame of Columbus and Vespucci, no writer any longer doubts that North America was discovered by the Norse seafarers. The northern waters, scoured in all directions by the fearless Vikings, naturally offered the greatest facilities for exploration and conquest, for here the opposite seaboards of the Old and New Worlds approach nearest to each other. Since the time of the Greek navigator, Pytheas, these seas were doubtless much dreaded, owing to the dense fogs moving alonothe surface like whitish walls. Seafarers also feared to penetrate through the "nostrils of the earth " amid the ice-encircled shoals and waters half solidified by those masses of unmolten snow which gave rise to the legend of a " Viscous Ocean," or " Sea of Glue."

Vague reports described the northern seas as shallow lagoons, or even nothing more than vast morasses, or else Troldboten, or a region of magicians haunted by supernatural monsters. Nevertheless, a belief also prevailed that beyond this world of spirits there stretched the shores of continuous land. On all the charts inspired by the geography of Homer the great " Ocean Stream " is represented as encircled by a narrow margin of coastlands. But, whether the land designated by the ancients by the name of Ultima Tlmle is to be identified with Iceland or the Faroe Islands, there can be no doubt that this familiar station had long been known as a natural starting-point for the discovery of the western continent. The Irish monks, settled in Iceland towards the end of the eighth century, were followed a hundred years later by the Scan dinavian Gardas, from whom the island received its present name.

At that time two-thirds of the extreme northern waters had already been traversed, and here the Norse mariners also possessed the intermediate stations of the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe archipelagoes. Navigators frequenting the seas between these insular groups could scarcely fail sooner or later to reach the shores of Greenland, driven westwards by storms or marine currents. As early as the year 977 Gunnbjbrn sighted from a distance the snowy crests of a western land, and gave his name to some rocky heights or headlands projecting from the shores of the New World. Five years later Erik the Eed, banished from Iceland for murder, sailed in the direction of those remote mountains of Mid-Jokul, and on a sub sequent voyage built himself a fortified dwelling on the coast of the west, beyond the Hvarf or southern point of the great land.

Although not yet identified, the ruins of this stronghold of Brattahlida may one day perhaps be found on the Igaliko fjord, erected here over nine hundred y7ears ago. Ever since the arrival of Erik Greenland has always had inhabitants of European origin, and direct relations have been maintained at various epochs between the Scandinavian settlers in the west and the mother country. The Christian communities administered by the See of Greenland were even tributary to Rome, and the ecclesiastical annals make mention of furs and walrus ivory regularly shipped to Europe in payment of the "Peter's Pence." The Crusades themselves were preached in these Arctic lands,* and even after the occupation of the West Indies and mainland by the Spaniards the Norse bishopric of Gardar continued to be maintained in Greenland.

Nevertheless, during the course of centuries the rela- * P. Riant, Expeditions et Pelerinages des Scandinaves. THE NEW WORLD. 7 tions became constantly less frequent between the opposite coasts of the North Atlantic. For some time after the discovery the spirit of adventure and conquest was kept alive amongst the intrepid Norse seafarers. Impatient of control the young men took to the high seas in order to escape the oppression of their rulers, and in their turn to found new states on those distant shores. But in the y7ear 1261 Greenland fell uuder the direct political sway of the king of Norway ; trade became a royal monopoly ; expeditions across the Atlantic consequently7 grew less frequent, until at last both the Danes and Norwegians completely7 neglected those transmarine colonies which had been acquired by their enterprising forefathers.

South Greenland had not been the only western region discovered by7 the Norse explorers. Various expeditions had coasted the west side of the great island bey7ond 72° north latitude to the points w7here were found the human habitations lying nearest to the pole. But their voy7ages of discovery were directed chiefly to the south of Greenland. Even before the y7ear 1000 Bjarn Heriulfson, who was sailing towards Greenland, had taken a too southerly course, thus sighting some forest-clad hills, which probably formed part of the American continent, but which he did not venture to approach. He was followed by Leif, son of Erik the Ped, who first discovered the desolate ice-bound stony region of Hellu-land, which should probably be identified with the Labrador coast, although referred by most Scandinavian writers to the island of Newfoundland.

He then pushed farther southwards to a wooded coast, which he named Markland, and which is supposed by Rafn, Kohl, and others to be the seaboard of Acadia or Nova Scotia. This view has been generally accepted by the commentators on the Norse Sagas, who identify the present Rhode Island between 41° and 42° north latitude with the Vineland also discovered by Leif at the end of the year 1000. An " inscribed stone " is even shown on the banks of the Taunton River opposite the village of Dighton in Massachusetts, which the interpreters tell us relates the conquest of the surrounding territory by7 Thorfin of Iceland.* It is obvious, however, that a passage in the old Norse texts referring to the length of the day in Vineland has been interpreted by Rafn in a sense too favourable to the importance of the discoveries made by his fellow-countrymen on the east coast of.

North America. All things considered, the Vineland of the Norse records should more probably be placed about the northern limit of the range of the wild vine, that is, in Nova Scotia or New Bruns wick, where also grows the " wild wheat " {zizania aquatica), mentioned in the same records. t But however this be, the fact is placed beyond all doubt that the Scandinavians founded regular colonies on the American mainland, the annals of which cover a period of from a hundred to a hundred and thirty years. After taking possession of the land by kindling great bonfires, which proclaimed their arrival far and wide, it was their custom to set their mark on the trees and rocks, to plant their arms on the headlands and to erect strong houses and outposts at their stations. The Sagas also speak of children born in these settlements, as well as of conflicts and of * Rafn, Antiqtiitates Americana-, t Haliburton, Proceedings of the _R, Geo, Soc., January, 1885. warriors killed in battle; graves also are amongst the remains of the old structures attributed to these Norsemen.

Like all subsequent European invaders, the Vikings massacred the natives for the sole pleasure of shedding blood, so that the work of extermination began with the first arrival of the whites. The old accounts, how ever, which were handed down from mouth to mouth, diversely intermingled truth and legend, and many stirring episodes appear to have been inspired only by the love of the marvellous. One of the northern regions discovered by the Vikings, and since rendered uninhabitable by the cold, bears the name of Furdustrandir ("Wonder-strand "), so named from the strange visions conjured up by the evil genii of the place. According to the legend, the new arrivals had to contend not only with the Skrallinger — a general name indifferently applied to all the aborigines whether Eskimo or Redskins — but also with white populations, or peoples " dressed in white," that is, certain Irish Christians living on the southern coastlands, or in the interior towards the west.

To this region, placed somewhere on the New England seaboard, was given the name of Hvitramannaland ("White Men's Land") or Irland it Mikla ("Great Ireland"*). But if the Sagas that have been handed down to our time contain much that is marvellous, the)7 probably comprise but a small part of the real history of the Scandinavians in America. It is at least possible that a strain of Norse blood may still survive, even beyond Greenland, amongst the indigenous populations of the New World. After the Scandinavian explorations in the northern waters, the attention of the South European seafarers was mainly directed to the temperate and tropical regions beyond the Atlantic. The memory of the earlier expeditions appears never to have been entirely lost, or rather became intermingled with traditions of diverse origin.

Like the Welsh and Irish, the Arabs had also their legendarv navigators, the eio-ht Almagrurim, or " Wandering Brothers," who had sailed from Lisbon in the year 1170 under a vow never to return until they had reached the remote isles beyond the seas. Other " brothers," Frisians by birth, were rumoured to have soon after embarked at Bremen, and to have reached Greenland. Towards the end of the fourteenth century two Venetians, the brothers Zeni, visited the same region, by them called "Engroneland," and the particulars recorded by them, as well as certain details of their charts, leave scarcely any doubt regarding the truth of their narrative. Lastly, the Pole, John of Szkolno was sent straight to Greenland in the year 1476 for the express purpose of reopening the communications that had so long been interrupted.

Undoubtedly the report of all these voyages had spread from seaport to seaport, as attested by the contemporary marine charts, on which coastlines, although traced at haphazard, were at least justified by popular report. Moreover, the recent discoveries of Madeira, the Canaries, and the Azores in the Atlantic south west of Europe, had been more or less confused in thc imagination of seafarers with the ancient traditions regarding the "Fortunate Islands," and with the Christian myths about other islands inhabited by saints. All these scattered * Bcauvois, La Bicouverte du Nouveau Monde par les Irlaudais. LEGENDARY LANDS. archipelagoes could not fail to awaken visions of other still more remote islands, all the more that unknown plants, berries, and other flotsam were brought with the currents and cast ashore at various points.

At Flores were thus stranded two dead bodies, whose features in no respect resembled those of the inhabitants of the Azores. One of these visionary lands, compared by Columbus himself to " the illusion of a mirage," was the island of Saint Brendan, which was sought in every part of the Atlantic, and even in the Indian Ocean itself. Then the Sete Cidadcs, or island of the "Seven Cities," colonised by the followers of the seven legendary bishops, who had been expelled by the Moors from Portugal, had at last been identified with San Miguel, largest member of the Azores, where is now to be seen the lagoon or "cauldron" of the seven cities. Antilia, another holy island, regarded Fig. 1. — Discoveries or the Norsemen in the New World. Scale 1 60,000,000. at one time as distinct, at another associated either with Saint Brendan or the Seven Cities, continued to shift from place to place until it eventually gave its name to the Antilles.

Lastly, beyond the island of Brazil (isola de Brazi), supposed to have been found in the Azores, where a hill in Terceira still bears the name of Brazil, search continued to be made for the land of Verzin, or " Brazil Wood," a term which was universally applied to the vast region of Santa Cruz soon after its discovery. The mathematicians on their part also endeavoured to penetrate the my7stery of the equatorial seas by attempting to define the limits of the space comprised between the western shores of the Old World and the eastern seaboard of China. Thus, eighteen years before the discovery of the " West Indies " by Columbus, the VOL. XV. c Florentine astronomer, Toscanelli, was requested by a person at the court of Affonso V Kinof Portugal, to prepare a nautical memoir, according to which the city of Quinsay (Hangcheu), capital of the powerful empire of Cathay (China), was situated only 130° of west longitude from Lisbon.

Between these two points the Atlantic and the sea now known as the Pacific Ocean were merged m a common marine basin Off the east coast of China this space was further diminished at least 25° bythe great insular kingdom of Zipangu (Japan), a wrong interpretation of a passao-e in Marco Polo having enormously exaggerated the width of the strait flowinobetween China and the Japanese Archipelago. The Chinese miles (/_) of the text had been changed to Italian miles, and Zipangu was thus removed east wards to the position really occupied by California, or even still farther east to the Rocky Mountains. Toscanelli's now lost chart, which doubtless differed little from that of Martin Behaim still extant, also indicated the island of Antiglia as a station lying midway Fig. 2 -Form of the Ocean aocordinq to Toscanelli, Martin Behaim and Columbus. on the ocean route, which route might be further diminished by taking one of the western Canaries as the starting-point, as, in fact, was done by Columbus.