国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
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The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 | |
マルコ=ポーロ卿の記録 : vol.1 |
132
INTRODUCTION
nothing. He himself, whilst still somewhat burdened by the
authoritative dicta of " saints and sages " of past times, ven-
tures at least to criticise some of the latter, such as Pliny and
Ptolemy, and declares his intention to have recourse to the in-
formation of those who have travelled most extensively over the
Earth's surface. And judging from the good use he makes, in
his description of the northern parts of the world, of the Travels
of Rubruquis, whom he had known and questioned, besides dili-
gently studying his narrative,* We might have expected much in
Geography from this great man, had similar materials been
available to him for other parts of the earth. He did attempt a
map with mathematical determination of places, but it has not
been preserved.-
It may be said with general truth that the world-maps
current up to the end of the i 3th century had more analogy to
the mythical cosmography of the Hindus than to any thing
properly geographical. Both, no doubt, were originally based in
the main on real features. In the Hindu cosmography these
genuine features are symmetrised as in a kaleidoscope ; in the
European cartography they are squeezed together in a manner
that one can only compare to a pig in brawn. Here and there
some feature strangely compressed and distorted is just
recognisable. A splendid example of this kind of map is that
famous one at Hereford, executed about A.D. 1275, of which a
facsimile has lately been published, accompanied by a highly
meritorious illustrative Essay4
82. Among the Arabs many able men, from the early days
of Islam, took an interest in Geography, and devoted labour to
geographical compilations, in which they often made use of their
own observations, of the itineraries of travellers, and of other
fresh knowledge. But somehow or other their maps were always
far behind their books. Though they appear to have had an
early translation of Ptolemy, and elaborate Tables of Latitudes
and Longitudes form a prominent feature in many of their
geographical treatises, there appears to be no Arabic map in
,
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* Opus Majus, Venice ed. pp. 142, seqq. t Peschel, p. 195. This had escaped me.
+ By the Rev. W. L. Bevan, M.A., and the Rev. H. W. Phillott, M.A. In
Asia, they point out, the only name showing any recognition of modern knowledge is Samarcand.
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