¦ y^A %•*"•: YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Emperor'b palace at Pekin. fage 53. THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD h'^ By JULES VERNE FAMOUS TRAVELS AND TRAVELERS TE.i.7^SLATED BY SOR.i LEIGH ¦WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY L. BENlilTT AND P. PHILIPPOTEADX, AND FAC-SIMILES OP ANCIENT DEA'WINGS. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBISTEE'S SOISTS 743 AND 745 BROADWAY 1879 PREFACE. This narrative will comprehend not only all the explora tions made in past ages, but also all the new discoveries which have of late years so greatly interested the scientific world. In order to give to this work — enlarged perforce by the recent labours of modern travellers, — all the accuracy possible, I have called in the aid of a man whom I with justice regard as one of the most competent geographers of the present day : M. Gabriel Marcel, attached to the Bibliothequ'e Nationale. With the advantage of his acquaintance with several foreign languages which are unknown to me, we have been able to go to the fountain-head, and to derive all information from absolutely original documents. Our readers will, therefore, render to M. Marcel the credit due to him for his share in a work which will demon strate what manner of men the great travellers have beeUj from the time of Hanno and Herodotus down to that of Livingstone and Stanley. JULES VERNE. TABLE OF CONTENTS. FIRST PART. CHAPTER I. CELEBRATED TRAVELLEKS BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA. Hanno, 505 ; Hekodotus, 484 ; Pytheas, 340 ; Nbabchus, 326 ; Eudoxus, 146; Cmsau, 100; Stbabo, 50. TKOS Hanno the Carthaginian — Herodotus visits Egypt, Lyhia, Ethiopia, Phoenicia, Arabia, Babylon, Persia, India, Media, Colchis, the Caspian Sea, Scythia, Thrace, and Greece — Pytheas explores the coasts of Iberia and Gaul, the English Channel, the Isle of Albion, the Orkney Islands, and the land of Thule — Nearchus visits the Asiatic coast, from the Indus to the Persian Gulf — Eudoxus reconnoitres the West Coast of Africa — Csesar conquers Gaul and Great Britain — Strabo travels over the interior of Asia, and Egypt, Greece, and Italy 3 CHAPTER II. CELEBRATED TRAVELLERS FROM THE FIRST TO THE NINTH CENTURY. Pausanias, 174 ; Pa-Hian, 399 ; Cosmos Indicopleustes, 500 ; AeCOLPHE, 700; WiLLIBALD, 725; Soleyman, 851. Pliny, Hippalus, Arian, and Ptolemy — Pausanias visits Attiea, Corinth, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaia, Arcadia, Boeotia, and Phoeis — Pa-Hian explores Kan-tcheou, Tartary, Northern India, the Punjaub, Ceylon, and Java— Cosmos Indicopleustes, and the Christian Topography of the Universe — Arculphe describes. Jerusalem, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, Jericho, the river Jordan, Libanus, the Dead Sea, Capernaum, Nazareth, Mount Tabor, Damascus, Tyre, Alexandria, and Constantinople — Willibald and the Holy Land — Soleyman travels through Ceylon, and Sumatra, and crosses the Gulf of Siam and the China Sea 15 viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. CELEBRATED TRAVELLERS BETWEEN THE TENTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES. Benjamin of Tudela, 1159—1173 ; Plan db Caepin, oe Caepini, 1245— 1247; RuBKUQOis, 1253—1254. PAGE The Scandinavians in tbe North, Iceland and Greenland— Benjamin of Tudela visits Marseilles, Rome, Constantinople, the Archipelago, Palestine, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Damascus, Baalbec, Nineveh, Baghdad, Babylon, Bassorah, Ispahan, Shiraz, Samarcand, Thibet, Malabar, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Egypt, Sicily, Italy, Germany, and Prance — Carpini explores Tur kestan — Manners and customs of the Tartars — Rubruquis and the Sea of Azov, the Volga, Karakorum, Astrakhan, and Derbend . . . .26 CHAPTER IV. Maeco Polo, 1253—1324. I. The interest of the Genoese and Venetian merchants in encouraging the exploration of Central Asia — The family of Polo, and its position in Venice — Nicholas and Matteo Polo, the two brothers — ^They go from Constantinople to the Court of the Emperor of China — Their reception at the Court of Kublai-Khan — The Emperor appoints them his ambassadors to the Pope — Their return to Venice — Marco Polo — He leaves his father Nicholas and his uncle Matteo for the residence of the King of Tartary — The new Pope Gregory X. — The narrative of Marco P(jlo is written in French from his dictation, by Rusticien of Pisa 43 IL Armenia Minor — Armenia — Mount Ararat — Georgia — Mosul, Baghdad, Bussorah, Tauris — Persia — The Province of Kirman— Comadi— Ormuz — The Old Man of the Mountain— Cheburgan — Balkh — Cashmir — Kashgar Samarcand — Kotan — The Desert — Tangun — Kara-Korum — Signan-fu — The Great Wall— Chang-tou— The residence of Kublai-Khan— Cambaluo, now Pekin— The Emperor's fStes- His hunting— Description of Pekin Chinese Mint and bank-notes — The system of posts in the Empire . . 47 III. Tso-chen— Tai-yen-fou— Pin-yang-fou— The Yellow River— Signan-fou— Szutchouan — Ching-tn-fou — Thibet — Li-kiang-fou — Carajan — Yung- tchang— M ien— Bengal —Annam— Tai-ping — Cin tingui — Sindi foo— T^- cheu — Tsi-nan-fou — Lin-tsin-choo — Lin-sing — Mangi — Yang-tohea-fou Towns on the coast— Quin-say or Hang-tcheou-foo — Po-kien . . .69 IV. Japan— Departure of the three Venetians with the Emperor's daughter and the Persian ambassadors— Sai-gon— Java— Condor— Bintang— Sumatra TABLE OF CON'I'ENTS. ix —The Nicobar Islands — Ceylon — The Coromandel coast — The Malabar coast — The Sea of Oman — The island of Socotra — Madagascar — Zanzibar and the coast of Africa — Abyssinia — Yemen — Hadramaut and Oman — Ormuz — The return to Venice — A feast in the household of Polo — Marco Polo a Genoese prisoner — D.ath of Marco Polo about 1323 . . .67 CHAPTER V. Ibn Batcta, 1328—1353. Ibn Batuta — The Nile — Gaza, Tyre, Tiberias, Libanus, Baalbec, Damas cus, Meshid, Bussorah, Baghdad, Tabriz, Mecca and Medina — Yemen — Abyssinia — The country of the Bjrbers — Zanguebar — Ormuz — Syria — Anatolia — Asia Minor — Asti'akban — Constantinople — Turkestan — Herat — The Indus— Delhi — Malabar — TheMaldives — Ceylon — The Coromandel coa.-it — Bengal — The Nicobar Islands — Sumatra — China — Africa— The Niger — Timbuctoo .77 CHAPTER, VL Jea.v de Bethencouet, 1339 — 1425. I. The Norman cavalier — His ideas of conquest — What was known of the Canary Islands — Cadiz — The Canary Archipelago — Graciosa — Lancerota — Fortaventura — Jean de Bethencourt returns to Spain — Revolt of Ber- neval — His* interview with King Henry III. — Gadifer visits the Canary Archipelago — Canary Island or " Gran Canaria" — Ferro Island — Palma Island 84 II. The return of Jean de Bdthencourt — Gadifer's jealousy — Bdthencourt visits his archipelago — Gadifer goes to conquer Gran Canaria — Disagreement of the two commanders — Their return to Spain — Gadifer blamed by the King — Return of Bdthencourt. — The natives of Fortaventura are baptized — Bethencourt revisits Caux — Returns to Lancerota — Lands on the African coast — Conquest of Gran Canaria, Ferro, and Palma Islands — Maciot appointed Governor of the archipelago — Bdthencourt obtains the Pope's consent to the Canary Islands being made an Episcopal See — His return to his country and his death 92 CHAPTER VIL Cheistophbe Columbus, 1436 — 1506. I. Discovery of Madeira, Cape de Verd Islands, the Azores, Congo, and Guinea — Bartholomew Diaz — Cabot and Labrador— The geographical and com mercial tendencies of the middle ages — The erroneous idea of the distance between Europe and Asia — Birth of Christopher Columbus — His first voyages — His plans rejected — His sojourn at the Franciscan convent — TABLE OF CONTENTS. His reception by Prrdinand and Isabella— Treaty of the 17th of April, 1492— The brothers Pinzon— Three armed caravels at the port of Palos — Departure on the 3rd of August, 1492 101 II. First voyage : The Great Canary — Gomera — Magnetic variation — Symptoms of revolt — Land, land — San Salvador — Taking possession — Conception — Fernandina or Great Exuma — Isabella, or Long Island — The Mucaras — Cuba — Description of the island — Archipelago of Notre- Dame — Hispaniola or San Domingo — Tortuga Island — The cacique on board the Santa-Maria — The caravel of Columbus goes aground and cannot be floated off— Island of Monte-Christi — Return — Tempest- Arrival in Spain — Homage rendered to Christopher Columbus . .114 III. Second Voyage : Flotilla of seventeen vessels — Island of Ferro — Dominica — Marie-Galante — Guadaloupe — The Cannibals — Montserrat — Santa-Maria- la-Rodonda — St. Martin and Santa Cruz — Archipelago of the Eleven Thousand Virgins — The island of St. John Baptist, or Porto Rico — Hispaniola— ^The first Colonists massacred — Foundation of the town of Isabella — Twelve ships laden with treasure sent to Spain — Fort St. Thomas built in the Province of Cibao — Don Diego, Columbus' brother, named Governor of the Island — Jamaica — The Coast of Cuba — The Eemora — Return to Isabella — The Cacique made prisoner — Revolt of the Natives — Famine — Columbus traduced in Spain — Juan Aguado sent as Commissary to Isabella — Gold-mines — Departure of Columbus — His arrival at Cadiz . 131 IV. Third Voyage : Madeira— Santiago in the Cape Verd Archipelago — Trinidad — First sight of the American Coast in Venezuela, beyond the Orinoco, now the Province of Cumana — Gulf of Paria — ^The Gardens — Tobagn — Grenada — Margarita — Cubaga — Hispaniola during the absence of Columbus — Foundation of the town of San Domingo — Arrival of Columbus — In subordination in the Colony — Complaints in Spain — Bovadilla sent by (he king inquire into the conduct of Columbus — Columbus sent to Europe in fetters with his two brothers— His appearance before Ferdinand and Isa bella — Renewal of royal favour 143 V. Fourth Voyage : A Flotilla of four vessels— Canary Islands— Martinique- Dominica— Santa-Cruz — Porto- Rico — Hispaniola — Jamaica — Cayman Is land — Pinos Island— Island of Guanaja— Cape Honduras — The American Coast of Truxillo on the Gulf of Darien— The Limonare Islands— Huerta —The Coast of Veragua— Auriferous Strata— Revolt of the Natives— The Dream of Columbus— Porto-Bello— The Mulatas— Putting into port at Jamaica— Distress— Revolt of the Spaniards against Columbus— Lunar Eclipse -Arrival of Columbus at Hispaniola— Return of Columbus to Spain — His death, on the 20th o£ March, 1506 150 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER VIIL The Conquest of India, and of the Spice Countbibs. Covilham and Pai'va — Vasco da Gama— The Cape of Good Hope is doubled — Esoalfes at Sam-Braz — Mozambique, Mombaz, and Melinda — Arrival at Calicut — Treason of the Zamorin — Battles — Return to Europe — The scurvy — Death of Paul da Gama— Arrival at Lisbon .... 164 II. Alvar^s Cabral — Discovery of Brazil — The coast of Africa — Arrival at Calicut, Cochin, Cananore — Joao da Nova — Gama's second expedition — The King of Cochin — The early life of Albuquerque — The taking of Goa — The siege and capture of Malacca — Second expedition against Ormuz— Ceylon — The Moluccas — Death of Albuquerque- Fate of the Portuguese empire of the Indies 180 SECOND PART. CHAPTER I. The Conqueeobs of Central Ameeioa. I. Hojeda — Americus Vespucius — The New World named after him — Juan de la Cosa — Vincent Yanez Pinzon — Bastidas — Diego de Lepe — Diaz de Solis — Ponce de Leon and Florida — Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean — Gri- jalva explores the coast of Mexico 207 II. Ferdinand Cortfes — His character — His appointment — Preparations for the ex pedition, and attempts of Velasquez to stop it — Landing at Vera-Cruz — Mexico and the Emperor Montezuma — The republic of Tlascala — March upon Mexico — The Emperor is made prisoner — Narvaez defeated — The Noche Triste — Battle of Otumba — The second siege and taking of Mexico — ^Expedition to Honduras — Voyage to Spain — Expeditions on the Pacific Ocean — Second Voyage of Cortfes to Spain — His death .... 224 III. The triple alliance — Francisco Pizarro and his brothers— Don Diego d'Al< magro — First attempts — Peru, its extent, people, and kings — Capture of Atahualpa, his ransom and death — Pedro d' Alvarado — Almagro in Chili- Strife among the conquerors— Trial and execution of Almagro— Expedi tions of Gonzalo Pizarro and Orellana— Assassination of Francisco Pizarro — Rebellion and execution of his brother Gonzalo 253 CHAPTER II. The Fibst Voyage bound the Wobld. Magellan His early history — His disappointment — His change of nation- xn TABLE OP CONTENTS. . ality — Preparations for the expedition — Rio de Janeiro — St. Julian's Bay — Revolt of a part of the squadron — Terrible punishment of the guilty — Magellan's Strait — Patagonia — The Pacific — The Ladrone Islands — Zebu and the Philippine Islands — Death of Magellan — Borneo — The Moluccas and their Productions — Separation of the Trinidad and Victoria — Return to Europe by the Cape of Good Hope — Last misadventures , . . 279 CHAPTER IIL The PoLiE Expeditions and ran Seakch fob the Noeth-west Passage. I. The Northmen — Eric the Red — The Zenos — John Cabot — Cortereal — Sebastian Cabot — Willoughby — Chancellor 307 II. John Verrazzano — Jacques Cartier and his three voyages to Canada — The town of Hochelaga — Tobacco — The scurvy — Voyage of Roberval — Martin Frobisher and his voyages — John Davis — Barentz and Heemskerke ¦ — Spitzbergen — Winter season at Nova Zembla — Return to Europe — Relics of the Expedition 334 CHAPTER IV. Voyages of Adventure and Pkivatebeing Waefaeb. Drake— Cavendish— De Noort— Walter Raleigh 3G2 CHAPTER V. Missionaries and Setilbes. Meechants and Toueists. I. Distinguishing characteristics of the Seventeenth Century— The more thorough exploration of regions previously discovered— To the thirst for gold succeeds Apostolic zeal— Italian Missionaries in Congo— Portuguese Missionaries in Abyssinia— Brue in Senegal and Flacourt in Madagascar — The Apostles of India, of Indo-China, and of Japan .... 381 II. The Dutch in the Spice Islands— Lemaire and Schouten- Tasman— Men- dana— Queiros and Torres— Pyrard de Laval— Pietro della Valle— Tavernier-^Thdvenot— Bernier— Robert Knox— Chardin— De Bruyn— Kiempfer oyw CHAPTER VI. I. The Gbeat Coesais. William Dampier; or a Sea-King of the Seventeenth Century . . .409 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiu II. The Pole and Ameeioa. PAOI Hudson and Baffin — Champlain and La Sale — The English upon the coast of the Atlantic — The Spaniards in South America — Summary of the information acquired at the close of the 17th century — The measure of the terrestrial degree — Progress of cartography — Inauguration of Mathe matical Geography 416 FAMOUS TRAVELS AND TRAVELLERS. LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. PART I. .^_ ^-_ ' ^_ TO FAPP The Emperor's Palace at Pekin Frontispiece page The Marriage Ceremony 7 Nearchus leading on his followers against the Monsters of the Deep 13 Map of the World, as known to the Ancients 17 One of Fa-Hian's companions falls 17 Absalom's Tomb '. 20 Soleyman noticed a Shark in whose stomach they found a smaUer Shark.-. . . 24 The Approach to Constantinople. Prom Anselmi Banduri Imperium on'- ra^o/e. tome IL, p. 448. 2 vols, folio. Parisiis, 1711 38 The Tower of Babel 31 Benjamin of Tudela in the Desert of Sahara 33 The Tartars 37 Kublai'-Khan's Feast on the arrival of the Venetian Merchants 44 Marco Polo 47 Plan of Pekin in 1290. From vol. I., p. 333, of the Edition of Marco Polo published in London by Colonel Yule. 3 vols. Svo 53 The World of Marco Polo. Prom vol. 1., p. 134, of Colonel Yule's edition. . 56 A Pine Bridge of Stone built on twenty-four Arches 59 Marco Polo in the midst of the Forests 63 Kublai-Khan equips a fleet 68 This wonderful bird was probably the eppornis maximus 73 Ibn Batuta in Egypt" 77 Ibn Batuta's Vessel was seized by pirates 83 Jean de Bethencourt. Prom "The Discovery and Conquest of the Cana ries." Page 1. 13mo. Paris, 1630 84 Plan of Jerusalem. Prom " Narrative of the Journey beyond Seas to the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem," by Antoine Regnaut, p. 229. 4to. Lyons, 1573 88 Gadifer found himself in a lovely valley 89 The King of Maxorata arrives with his suite 95 Jean de Bethencourt makes his will 100 Prince Henry of Portugal— " the Navigator." Prom a miniature engi-aved in "The Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigator," by H. Major. 8vo. London, 1877 103 XV xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. TO FACE PAGE Christopher Columbus. Prom Vitce illustriwn Virorum, by Paul Jove. Polio. Basileae, Parma 108 A Spanish Port (Imaginary view of Seville). Prom Th. de^Bry's Grands Voyages, pi. I., part IV 109 Columbus knocks at a convent door 110 Building a Caravel. Prom de Bry's Gramds Voyages, Ameriem, part IV., plate XIX 113 Embarkation of Christopher Columbus. Ibid., plate VIII 114 Christopher Columbus on board his Caravel, lb., plate VI 114 What must have been the feelings in the breast of Columbus at that moment ? 117 Columbus named it the Vale of Paradise 135 The Sailors find some recently-severed heads 133 Fishermen on the Coast of Cuba 137 Gulf of Mexico and the AntUleg. Prom de Bry, Gramds Voyages, Americoe, part V. ¦ 144 Pearl Fishers. Ibid, part IV., plate XII 146 Columbus bound like a Pelon 148 Gold-Mines in Cuba. From de Bry, part V., plate 1 155 The Admiral is obliged to run the caravels aground 158 Indian Boats. Prom an old print 158 Vasco da Gama. From an engraving in the Cabinet des Bstampes of the BibliothSque Nationale 166 La Mina. Prom the Abbe Prevost's Histoire Generate des Voyages. 4to, 30 vols. Vol. IIL, p. 461, An. X., 1746 168 Mozambique Channel. Prom the same source 170 Map of the Bast Coast of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Cape del Gardo. Prom the French Map of the Eastern Ocean, published in 1740 by order of the Count de Maurepas 173 Gama's interview with the Zarnorin. Prom the Abbe Prevost's Histoire Generate des Voyages, 4to, 30 vols. Vol. L, p. 39, An. X., 1746 174 Cabral takes formal possession ol Brazil 183 Quiloa. Prom an engraving in the Cabinet des Estampes 183 Map of the Coasts of Persia, Guzerat, and Malabar. Prom the Comte de Maurepas' Map of 1740 186 Albuquerque before Ormuz 193 The Island of Ormuz. From Prevost's Histoire Gen, des Voyages, vol. IL, p. 98 300 Albuquerque had a quantity of bullets brought from his vessels 301 PART II. Americus Vespucius. Prom an engraving in the Cabinet des Estampes. Bib. Nationale 307 Indians devoured by Dogs. Prom de Bry, part IV., pi. XXII '. 315 Indians burnt alive. Prom Las Casas' Narratio regionvm indicantm per Hispanos quosdam devastafamm. 4to. Prancofurti, sumptibus Th. de Bry, 1698 315 Balboa discovering the Pacific Ocean 330 LIST OF ILLUSTKATTONS. Xvli TO FACE PAGE Ferdinand Cortes. Prom an engraving after Velasquez in the Cabinet des Bstampes, Bib. Nationale 335 Cortes receives provisions, clothing, a little gold, and twenty female slaves. . 338 Lake of Mexico. Prom Clavigero and Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Jourdanet's translation, 3nd edition 333 Death of Montezuma 339 Cortes at the Battle of Otumba 341 The Spaniards stir the fire below the Gridiron 346 Francis Pizarro. Prom an engraving in the Cabinet des Estampes, Bib. Nationale , 353 The Indians kill many of the Spaniards 355 Pizarro received by Charles V 357 Map of Peru. Prom Garcilasso de la Vega. History of the Incas, 4to. Bernard, Amsterdam, 1738 359 Atahualpa is made prisoner. Prom de Bry, part VI. , pi. VII 264 Pizarro and Almagro take an oath upon the Host 369 The shores of Rio-Napo 375 Death of Pizarro. Prom de Bry, part IV., pi. XV 377 Magellan on Board his Caravel. Ibid., part IV., pi. XV 380 John of Carthagena placed in the Stocks 385 The Coast of Brazil. Prom the Map called Henry the Second's, Bibliothfeque Nationale, Geog. Collections 386 The Ladrone Islands. Prom de Bry, part VIIL, p. 50 391 Death of Magellan 396 The Sultan Manzor 300 Norman Ships. 308 The Glaciers of Greenland 314 Sebastian Cabot. Prom a miniature engraved in "The remarkable Life, adventures, and discoveries of Sebastian Cabot." By NiohoUs. 8vo. London, 1869 319 Discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot. Prom a fragment of Cabot's Map. Geographical Collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale 335 Cabot presides over a Conference of Cosmographers 336 Chancellor received by the Czar 331 Wreck of the Bonaventure 333 Map of Newfoundland and Canada., Prom Lescarbot's Histoire de la JSfoit- velle France. 13mo. Perier. Paris, 1617 335 Two Canadian Kings 337 Jacques Cartier. After Charlevoix, "History and General Description of New Prance," translated by John Gilmary Shea, p. iii., 6 vols. 4to. Shea, New York, 1866 339 Barentz's Ship. Prom de Bry. Grands Voyages, tertia pars Indice Ori- entalis, pi. XLIV p52 Interior View of the House. Ibid., pi. XLVII 353 Exterior View of the House. Ibid., pi. XLVIII 356 Map of Nova Zembla. Ibid., pi. LIX 358 Elizabeth knighting Drake 368 A Sea-lion Hunt. Prom de Bry. Oecidentalis Indice pars VIII 373 XVlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. TO FACE PAGE Battle of Manilla. Prom de Bry, Grands Voyages. Historiantm Novi Orbis, part IX., book IL, p. 87 375 Sir Walter Raleigh. From an engraving in the Cabinet des Estampes, Bib. Nat 377 Raleigh Seizes Berreo. Prom de Bry, Grands Voyages, Occid. Ind., part VIIL, p. 64 378 The sea was so encumbered with whales 389 Three were killed by the natives without provocation 393 Dona Isabella consults the officers 397 Jean Chardin. Prom Voyages de M. le Chevalier Ghardin en Perse. Vol. I. 10 vols. 13mo. Perrand. Rouen, 1733 . . ". 405 Japanese Warrior. Prom a Japanese print engraved by Yule. Vol. ii., p. 306 ." 407 " Ah, Dampier, you would have afforded them but a sorry meal." 411 Battle in Slinger's Bay 413 Hudson Abandoned by his crew 418 Siege of a village by Champlain. Prom Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, p. 44. 12ino. CoUet. Paris, 1737 431 Assassination of La Sale 439 NAMES OF THE PRINCIPAL TRAVELLERS OP WHOM THE HISIOEY AND TRAVELS ARE BELATED IN THIS VOLUME. FIRST PART. Hanno — Hbeodotus — Pytheas — Nbabchus — Eudoxus — Cssae — Steabo — Pausanias — Fa-Hian — Cosmos Indicopleustes — Aeculphe — Willibald Soleyman — Benjamin of Tudela — Plan de Caepin — Rubeuquis — Maeco Polo — Ibn Batuta — Jean de Bethencouet — Chsistophee Columbus — Covilham and Paiva — Vasco da Gama — AlvaeJis Cabsal — Joao ba Nova — Da Cunha — Almeida — Albuqueequb. SECOND PART, Hojeda — Ameeicus Vespucius — Juan de la Cosa — Yanez Pinzon — Diaz db Solis — Ponce de Leon — Balboa — Geijalva — CoETis — Pizasbo — Almageo — Alvaeado — Oeellana — Magellan — Eeic the Red — The Zeni — The Coeteeeals— The Cabots — Willoughby — Chancblloe — Veb- BAZZANO — Jacques Caetibe — Feobishee — John Davis — Babentz and Heemskbeke — Dbakb — Cavendish — Db Nooet — W. Raleigh — Lbmaibb AND Schouten — Tasman — Mbndana — Quieos and ToEEis — Pyeaed db Laval — Pieteo della Valle — Taveenibe — Thevbnot — Beeniee — Robebi Knox — Chaedin — Db Beutn — K.»mpfee — William Dampieb — Hudson AND Baffin — Champlain and La Sale. CHAPTER L CELKBRATED TRAVELLERS BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA. Hanno, 505 ; Hbeodotus, 484 ; Pythias, 340 ; Nbabchus, 326 ; Eudoxus, 146 Cesae, 100 j Steabo, 50. Hanno, the Carthaginian — Herodotus visits Egypt, Lyhia, Ethiopia, Phoenicia, Arabia, Babylon, Persia, India, Media, Colchis, the Caspian Sea, Scythia, Thrace, and Greece — Pythias explores the coast of Iberia and Gaul, the English Channel, the Isle o£ Albion, the Orkney Islands, and the land of Thule — Nearchus visits the Asiatic coast, from the Indus to the Persian Gulf — Eudoxus reconnoitres the West Coast of Africa — CiBsar conquers Gaul and Great Britain — Strabo travels over the interior of Asia, and Egypt, Greece, and Italy. The first traveller of whom we have any account in history, is Hanno, who was sent by the Carthaginian senate to colonize some parts of the Western coast of Africa. The account of this expedition was written in the Carthaginian language and after wards translated into Greek. It is known to us now by the name of the " Peripl^s of Hanno." At what period this explorer lived, historians are not agreed^ but the most probable account assigns the date B.C. 605 to his exploration of the African coast. Hanno left Carthage with a fleet of sixty vessels of fifty oars each, carrying 30,000 persons, and provisions for a long voyage. These emigrants, for so we may cairthem, were destined to people the new towns that the Carthaginians hoped to found on the west coast of Libya, or as we now call it, Africa. The fleet successfully passed the Pillars of Hercules, the rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta which command the Strait, and ventured on the Atlantic, taking a southerly course. Two days after passing B 2 4 THE BXPLOEATION OF THE WORLD. the Straits, Hanno anchored on the coast, and laid the foundation of the town of Thumiaterion. Then he put to sea again, and doubling the cape of Solois, made fresh discoveries, and advanced to the mouth of a large African river, where he found a tribe of wandering shepherds camping on the banks. He only waited to conclude a treaty of alliance with them, before continuing his voyage southward. He next reached the Island of Cerne, situated in a bay, and measuring five stadia in circumference, or as we should say at the present day, nearly 925 yards. According to Hanno^s own account, this island should be placed, with regard to the Pillars of Hercules, at an equal distance to that which separates these Pillars from Carthage. They set sail again, and Hanno reached the mouth of the river Chretes, which forms a sort of natural harbour, but as they endeavoured to explore this river, they were assailed with showers of stones from the native negro race, inhabiting the surrounding country, and driven back, and after this inhospitable reception they returned to Cerne. We must not omit to add that Hanno mentions finding large numbers of crocodiles and hippopotami in this river. Twelve days after this unsuccessful expedition, the fleet reached a mountainous region, where fragrant trees and shrubs abounded, and it then entered a vast gulf which terminated in a plain. This region appeared quite calm during the day, but after nightfall it was illumined by tongues of flame, which might have proceeded from fires lighted by the natives, or from the natural ignition of the dry grass when the rainy season was over. In five days, Hanno doubled the Cape, known as the HesperaKeras, there, according to his own account, " he heard the •sound of fifes, cymbals, and tambourines, and the clamour of amultitude of people." The soothsayers, who accompanied the party of Carthaginian ex plorers, counselled flight from this land of terrors, and, in obedience to their advice, they set sail again, still taking a southerly course. They arrived at a cape, which, stretching southwards, formed a gulf, called Notu Keras, and, according to M. D'Avezac, this gulf must have been the mouth of the river Ouro, which falls into the Atlantic almost within the Tropic of Caticer. At the lower end of this gulf, they found an island inhabited by a vast number of gorillas, which the Carthaginians mistook for hairy savages. HERODOTUS. 6 They contrived to get possession of three female gorillas, but were obliged to kill them on account of their great ferocity. This Notu Keras must have been the extreme limit reached by the Carthaginian explorers, and though some historians incline to the belief that they only went to Bojador, which is two degrees North of the tropics, it is more probable that the former account is the true one, and that Hanno, findinghimself short of provisions, returned northwards to Carthage, where he had the account of his voyage engraved in the temple of Baal Moloch. After Hanno, the most illustrious of ancient travellers, was Hero dotus, who has been called the " Father of History," and who was the nephew of the poet Panya sis, whose poems ranked with those of Homer and Hesiod. It wiU serve our purpose better if we only speak of Herodotus as a traveller, not an historian, as we wish to follow him so far as possible through the countries that he traversed. Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus, a town in Asia Minor, in the year B.C. 484. His family were rich, and having large com mercial transactions they were able to - encourage the taste for explorations which he showed. At this time there were many diflerent opinions as to the shape of the earth : the Pythagorean. school having even then begun to teach that it must be round, but Herodotus took no part in this discussion, which was of the deepest interest to learned men of that time, and, still young, he left home with a view of exploring with great care all the then known world, and especially those parts of it of which there were but few and uncertain data. He left Halicarnassus in 464, being then twenty years of age, and probably directed his steps first to Egypt, visiting Memphis, Heliopolis, and Thebes. He seems to have specially turned his attention to the overflow of the banks of the Nile, and he gives an account of the different opinions held as to the source of this river, which the Egyptians worshipped as one of their deities. " When the Nile overflows its banks,'''' he says, "you can see nothing but the towns rising out of the water, and they appear like the islands in the ^gean Sea." He tells of the religious ceremonies among the Egyptians, their sacrifices, their ardour in celebrating the feasts in honour of their goddess Isis, which took place principally at Busiris (whose ruins may still be seen near Bushir), and of the veneration paid to both wild and tame animals, which were b THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. looked upon almost as sacred, and to whom they even rendered funeral ionours at their death. He depicts in the most faithful colours, the Nile crocodile, its form, habits, and the way in which it is caught, and the hippopotamus, the momot, the phoenix, the ibis, and the serpents that were consecrated to the god Jupiter. Nothing can be more life-like than his accounts of Egyptian custom.s, and the notices of their habits, their games, and their way of embalming the dead, in which the chemists of that period seem to have excelled. Then we have the history of the country from Menes, its first king, downwards to Herodotus' time, and he describes the building of the Pyramids under Cheops, the Labyrinth that was built a little above the Lake Moeris (of which the remains were discovered in a.d. 1799), Lake Moeris itself, ¦whose origin he ascribes to the hand of man, and the two Pyramids which are situated a little above the lake. He seems to have admired many of the Egyptian temples, and especially that of Minerva at Sais, and of Vulcan and Isis at Memphis, and the colossal monolith that was three years in course of transportation from Ulephantina to Sais, though 2000 men were employed on the gigantic work. After ha'ving carefully inspected everything of interest in Egypt, Herodotus went into Lybia, little thinking that the continent he was exploring, extended thence to the tropic of Cancer. He made special inquiries in Lybia as to the number of its inhabitants, who were a simple nomadic race principally li-ving near the sea-coast, and he speaks of the Ammonians, who possessed the celebrated tem ple of Jupiter Ammon, the remains of which have been discovered on the north-east side of the Lybian desert, about 300 miles from Cairo. Herodotus furnishes us with some very valuable information on Lybian customs ; he describes their habits ; speaks of the animals that infest the country, serpents of a prodigious size, lions, elephants, bears, asps, horned asses (probably the rhinoceros of the present day), and cynocephali, "animals with no heads, and whose eyes are placed on their chest," to use his own expression ; foxes, hyenas, porcupines, wild zarus, panthers, etc. He winds up his description by saying that the only two aboriginal nations that inhabit this region are the Lybians and Ethiopians. According to Herodotus the Ethiopians were at that time to be found above Elephantina, but commentators are induced to doubt The Marriage Ceremony. Pa^e 7. HERODOTUS. 7 if this learned explorer ever really visited Ethiopia, and if he did not, he may easily have learnt from the Egyptians the details that he gives of its capital, Meroe, of the worship of Jupiter and Bacchus, and the longevity of the natives. There can be no doubt, however, that he set sail for Tyre in Phoenicia, and that he was much struck with the beauty of the two magnificent temples of Hercules. He next visited Tarsus and took advantage of the information gathered on the spot, to write a short history of Phoenicia, Syria, and Palestine. We next find that he went southward to Arabia, and he calls it the Ethiopia of Asia, for he thought the southern parts of Arabia were the limits of human habitation. He tells us of the remark able way in which the Arabs kept any vow that they might have made ; that their two deities were TJranius and Bacchus, and of the abundant growth of myrrh, cinnamon and other spices, and he gives a very interesting account of their culture and prepara tion. We cannot be quite sure which country he next visited, as he calls it both Assyria and Babylonia, but he gives a most minute account of the splendid city of Babylon (which was the home of the monarchs of that country, after the destruction of Nineveh), and whose ruins are now only in scattered heaps on either side of the Euphrates, which flowed a broad, deep, rapid river, dividing the city into two parts. On one side of the river the fortified palace of the king stood, and on the other the temple of Jupiter Belus, which may have been built on the site of the Tower of Babel. Herodotus next speaks of the two queens, Semiramis and Nitocris, telling us of all the means taken by the latter to increase the prosperity and safety of her capital, and passing on to speak of the natural products of the country, the wheat, barley, millet, sesame, the vine, fig-tree and palm-tree. He winds up with a description of the costume of the Babylonians, and their customs, especially that of celebrating their marriages by the public crier. Af-ter exploring Babylonia he went to Persia, and as the express purpose of his travels was to collect all the information he could relating to the lengthy wars that had taken place between the Persians and Grecians, he was most anxious to visit the spots where the battles had been fought. He sets out by remarking 8 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. upon the custom prevalent in Persia, of not clothing their deities in any human form, nor erecting • temples nor altars where they might be worshipped, but contenting themselves with adoring them on the tops of the mountains. He notes their domestic habits, their disdain of animal food, their taste for delicacies, their passion for wine, and their custom of transacting business of the utmost importance when they had been drinking to excess ; their curiosity as to the habits of other nations, their love of pleasure, their warlike qualities, their anxiety for the education of their children, their respect for the lives of all their fellow-creatures, even of their slaves, their horror both of debt and lying, and their repugnance to the disease of leprosy which they thought proved that the sufferer " had sinned in some way against the sun." The India of Herodotus, according'to M. Vivien de St. Martin, only con sisted of that part of the country that is watered by the five rivers of the Punjaub, adjoining Afghanistan, and this was the region where the young traveller turned his steps on leaving Persia. He thought that the population of India waa larger than that of any other country, and he divided it into two classes, the first having settled habitations, the second leading a nomadic life. Those who lived in the eastern part of the country killed their sick and aged people, and ate them, while those in the north, who were a finer, braver, and more industrious race, employed themselves in collecting the auriferous sands. India was then the most easterly extremity of the inhabited world, as he thought, and he observes, " that the two extremities of the world seem to have shared nature's best gifts, as Greece enjoyed the most agreeable temperature possible," and that was his idea of the western limits of the world. ' <^!tf,Clt<-uUKJ -i^ ihvAoi^^^^ /il^j^.:' <.C..yi\- Media is the next country^isited by this indefatigable traveller, and he gives the history of the Medes, the nation which was the first to shake off the Assyrian yoke. They founded the great city of Ecbatana, and surrounded it with seven concentric walls. They -became a separate nation in the reign of Deioces. After crossing the mountains that separate Media from Colchis, the Greek traveller entered the country, made famous by the valour of Jason, and studied its manners and customs with the care and attention that were among his most striking characteristics. Herodotus seems to have been well acquainted with the HERODOTUS. 9 geography of the Caspian Sea, for he speaks of it as a Sea " quite by itself" and having no communication with any other. He considered that it was bounded on the west by the Caucasian Mountains and on the east by a great plain inhabited by the Massagetse, who, both Arian and Diodorus Siculus think, may haveTjeen Scythians. These Massagetse worshipped the Sun as their only deity, and sacrificed horses in its honour. He speaks here of two large rivers, one of which, the Araxes, would be the Volga, and the other, that he calls the Ista, must be the Danube. The traveller then went into Scythia, and he thought that the Scythians were the diflerent tribes inhabiting the country that lay between the Danube and the Don, in fact a considerable portion of Euro pean Russia. He found the barbarous custom of putting out the eyes of their prisoners was practised among them, and he notices that they only wandered from place to place without caring to cultivate their land. Herodotus relates many of the fables that make the origin of the Scythian nation so obscure, and in which Hercules plays a prominent part. He adds a list of the different tribes that composed the Scythian nation, but he does not seem to have visited the country lying to the north of the Euxine, or Black Sea. He gives a minute description of the habits of these people, and expresses his admiration for the Pontus Euxinus. The dimensions that he gives of the Black Sea, the Bosphorus, of the Propontis, the Palus Maeotis and of the .Mge&n Sea, are almost exactly the same as those given by geographers of the present day. He also names the large rivers that flow into these seas. The Ister or Danube, the Borysthenes or Dnieper, the Tanais, or Don ; and he finishes by relating how the alliance, and afterwards the union between the Scythians and Amazons took place, which explains the reason why the young women of that country are not allowed to marry before they have killed an enemy and established their character for valour. After a short stay in Thrace, during which he was convinced that the Getse were the bravest portion of this race, Herodotus arrived in Greece, which was to be the termination of his travels, to the country where he hoped to collect the only documents still wanting to complete his "history, and he visited all the spots that had become illustrious by the great battles fought between the Greeks and Persians. He gives a minute description of the Pass of 10 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. Thermopylae, and of his visit to the plain of Marathon, the battle field of Platsea, and his return to Asia Minor, whence he passed along the coast on which the Greeks had established several colonies. Herodotus can only have been twenty-eight years of age when he returned to Halicarnassus in Caria, for it was in B.C. 456 that he read the history of his travels at the Olympic Games. His country was at that time oppressed by Lygdamis, and he was exiled to Samos ; but though he soon after rose in arms to over throw the tyrant, the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens obliged him to return into exile. In 444 he took part in the games at the Pantheon, and there he read his completed work, which was received with enthusiasm, and towards the end of his life he retired to Thurium in Italy, where he died, B.C. 406, leaving behind him the reputation of being the greatest traveller and the most celebrated historian of antiquity. After Herodotus we must pass over a century and a half, and only note, in passing, the Physician Ctesias, a contemporary of Xenophon, who published the account of a voyage to India that he really never made ; and we shall come in chronological order to Pythias, who was at once a traveller, geographer, and historian, one of the most celebrated men of his time. It was about the year B.C. 340 that Pythias set out from the columns of Hercules with a single vessel, but instead of taking a southerly course like his Carthaginian predecessors, he went northwards, passing by the coasts of Iberia and Gaul to the furthest points which now form the Cape of Finisterre, and then he entered the English Channel and came upon the English coast — the British Isles— of which he was to be the first explorer. He disembarked at various points on the coast and made friends with the simple, honest, sober, industrious inhabitants, who traded largely in tin. Pythias ventured still further north, and went beyond the Orcades Islands to the furthest point of Scotland, and he must have reached a very high latitude, for during the summer the night only lasted two hours. After six days further sailing, he came to lands which he calls Thule, probably the Jutland or Norway of the present day, beyond which he could not pass, for he says, " there was neither land, sea, nor air there." He retraced his course^ and changing it slightly, he came to the mouth of the Ehine, to the country of the'Ostians, and, further inland, to Germany. Thence NEARCHUS. 1 1 he visited the mouth of the Tanais, that is supposed to be the Elbe or the Oder, and he retuned to Marseilles, just a year after leaving his native town. Pythias, besides being such a brave sailor, was a remarkably scientific man : he was the first to discover the influ ence that the moon exercises on the tides^ and to notice that the polar star is not situated at the exact spot at which the axis of the globe is supposed to be. Some years after the time of Pythias, about B.C. 326 a Greek traveller made his name famous. This was Nearchus, a native of Crete, one of Alexander's admirals, and he was charged to visit all the coast of Asia from the mouth of the Indus to that of the Euphrates. When Alexander first resolved that this expedition should take place, which had for its object the opening up of a communication between India and Egypt, he -was at the upper part of the Indus. He furnished Nearchus with a fleet of thirty-three galleys, of some vessels with two decks, and a great number of transport ships, and 2000 men. Nearchus came down the Indus in about four months, escorted on either bank of the river by Alexander's armies, and after spending seven months in exploring the Delta, he set sail and followed the west line of what we call Beloochistan in the present day. He put to sea on the second of October, a month before the winter storms had taken a direction that was favourable to his purpose, so that the commencement of his voyage was disastrous, and in forty days he had scarcely made eighty miles in a westerly direction. He touched first at Stura and at Corestis, which do not seem to answer to any of the now-existing villages on the coast ; then at the Island of Crocala, which forms the bay of Caranthia. Beaten back by contrary winds, after doubling the cape of Monze, the fleet took refuge in a natural harbour that its commander thought that he could fortify as a defence against the attacks of the barbarous natives, who, even at the present day, keep up their character as pirates. After spending twenty-four days in this harbour, Nearchus put to sea again on the 3rd of November. Severe gales often obliged him to keep very near the coast, and when this was the case he was obliged to take all possible precautions to defend himself from the attacks of the ferocious Beloochees, who are described by eastern historians " as a barbarous nation, with long dishevelled hair, and long flowing beards, who are more like bears or satyrs than 12 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. human beings.^' Up to this time, however, no serious disaster had happened to the fleet, but on the 10th of November in a heavy gale two galleys and a ship sank. Nearchus then anchored at Crocala, and there he was met by a ship laden with corn that Alexander had sent out to him, and he was able to supply each vessel with provisions for ten days. After many disasters and k skirmish with some of the natives, Nearchus reached the extreme point of the land of the Orites, which is marked in modern geography by Cape Morant. Here, he states in his narrative that the rays of the sun at mid-day are vertical, and therefore there are no shadows of any kind ; but this is surely a mistake, for at this time in the Southern hemisphere the sun is in the Tropic of Capricorn ; and, beyond this, his vessels were always some degrees distant from the Tropic of Cancer, therefore even in the height of summer this phenomenon could not have taken place, and we know that his voyage was in winter. Circumstances seemed now rather more in his favour ; for the time of the eastern monsoon was over, when he sailed along the coast which is inhabited by a tribe called Ichthyophagi, who subsist solely on fish, and from the failure of all vegetation are obliged to feed even their sheep upon the same food. The fleet was now becoming very short of provisions ; so after doubling Cape Posmi Nearchus took a pilot from those shores on board his own vessel, and with the wind in their favour they made rapid progress, finding the country less bare as they advanced, a few scattered trees and shrubs being visible from the shore. They reached a little town, of the name of which we have no record, and as they were almost without food Nearchus surprised and took possession of it, the inhabitants making but little resistance. Canasida, oi Churbar as we call it, was their next resting-place, and at the pre sent day the ruins of a town are still visible in the bay. But their corn was now entirely exhausted, and though they tried successively at Canate, Trois, and Dagasira for further supplies, it was all in vain, these miserable little towns not being able to fur nish more than enough for their own consumption. The fleet had neither corn nor meat, and they could not make up their minds to feed upon the tortoises that abound in that part of the coast. Just as they entered the Persian Gulf they encountered an immense number of whales, and the sailors were so terrified by Nearchus leading on his followers against the monsters of the deep. Page 12. NEAROHUS. 13 their size and number, that they wished to fly ; it was not with out much difficulty that Nearchus at last prevailed upon them to advance boldly, and they soon scattered their formidable enemies. Having changed their westerly course for a north-easterly one, they soon came upon fertile shores, and their eyes were refreshed by the sight of corn-fields and pasture-lands, interspersed with all kinds of fruit-trees except the olive. They put into Badis or Jask, and after leaving it and passing Maceta or Mussendon, they came in sight of the Persian Gulf, to which Nearchus, following the geography of the Arabs, gave the misnomer of the Red Sea. They sailed up the gulf, and after one halt reached Harmozia, which has since given its name to the little island of Ormuz. There he learnt that Alexander's army was only five days' march from him, and he disembarked at once, and hastened to meet it. No news of the fleet having reached the army for twenty-one weeks, they had given up all hope of seeing it again, and great was Alexander's joy when Nearchus appeared before him, though the hardships he had endured had altered him almost beyond recog nition. Alexander ordered games to be celebrated and sacrifices offered up to the gods ; then Nearchus returned to Harmozia, as he wished to go as far as Susa with the fleet, and set sail again, having invoked Jupiter the Deliverer. He touched at some of the neighbouring islands, probably those of Arek and Kismis, and soon afterwards the vessels ran aground, but the advancing tide floated them again, and after passing Bestion, they arrived at the island of Keish, that is sacred to Mercury and Venus. This was the boundary-line between Karmania and Persia. As they advanced along the Persian coast, they visited different places, Gillam, Indarabia, Shevou, &c., and at the last-named was found a quantity of wheat which Alexander had sent for the use of the explorers. Some days after this they came to the mouth of the river Araxes, that separates Persia from Susiana, and thence they reached a large lake situated in the country now called Dorghestan, and finally anchored near the village of Degela, at the source of the Euphrates, having accomplished their project of visiting all the coast lying between the Euphrates and Indus. Nearchus returned a second time to Alexander, who rewarded him magnificently, and placed him in command of his fleet. Alexander's wish, that the 14 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. whole of the Arabian coast should be explored as far as the Red Sea, was never fulfilled, as he died before the expedition was arranged. Itis said that Nearchus became governor of Lysia and Pamphylia, but in his leisure time he wrote an account of his travels, which has unfortunately perished, though not before Arian had made a com plete analysis of it in his Historia Indica. It seems probable that Nearchus fell in the battle of Ipsu, leaving behind him the reputa tion of being a very able commander ; his voyage may be looked upon as an event of no small importance in the history of navigation. We must not omit to mention a most hazardous attempt made in B.C. 146, by Eudoxus of Cyzicus, a geographer living at the court of Euergetes II, to sail round Africa. He had visited Egypt and the coast of India, when this far greater project occurred to him, one which was only accomplished sixteen hundred years later by Vaeco de Gama. Eudoxus fitted out a large vessel and two smaller ones, and set sail upon the unknown waters of the Atlantic. How far he took these vessels we do not know, but after having had communication with some natives, whom he thought were Ethiopians, he returned to Mauritania. Thence he went to Tiberia, and made preparations for another attempt to circumnavigate Africa, but whether he ever set out upon thia voyage is not known ; in fact some learned men are even inclined to consider Eudoxus an impostor. We have still to mention two names of illustrious travellers, living before the Christian era ; those of Csesar and Strabo. Csesar, born B.C. 100, was pre-eminently a conqueror, not an explorer, but we must remember, that in the year B.C. 58, he under took the conquest of Gaul, and during the ten years that were occupied in this vast enterprise, he led his victorious Legions to the shores of Great Britain, where the inhabitants were of German extraction. As to Strabo, who was born in Cappadocia b.c. 50, he dis tinguished himself more as a geographer than a traveller, but»he travelled through the interior of Asia, and visited Egypt, Greece, and Italy, living many years in Rome, and dying there in the latter part of the reign of Tiberius. Strabo wrote a Geography in seventeen Books, of which the greater part has come down to us, and this work, with that of Ptolemy, are the two most valuable legacies of ancient to modern Geographers. CHAPTER IL celebrated travellers from the first to the ninth CENTURY. PAtrsANiAS, 174; Pa-Hian, 399; Cosmos Indicopletjstes, 500; Aeculphb, 700; Willibald, 725; Soleyman, 851. Pliny, Hippalus, Arian, and Ptolemy — Pausanias visits Attica, Corinth, Laconia, MfSsenia, Elis, Achaia, Arcadia, Boeotia, and Phoeis — Pa-Hian explores Kan-tcheou, Tartary, Northern India, the Punjauh, Ceylon, and Java — Cosmos Indicopleustes, and the Christian Topography of the Universe — Arculphe describes Jerusalem, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, Jericho, the river Jordan, Libanus, the Dead Sea, Capernaum, Nazareth, Mount Tabor, Damascus, Tyre, Alexandria, and Constantinople — • Willibald and the Holy Land — Soleyman travels through Ceylon, and Sumatra, and crosses the Gulf of Siam and the Ciiina Sea. In the first two centuries of the Christian era, the study of geography received a great stimulus from the advance of other branches of science, but travellers, or rather explorers of new countries were very few in number. Pliny in the year a.d. 23, devoted the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth books of his Natural History to geography, and in a.d. 50, Hippalus, a clever navigator, discovered the laws governing the monsoon in the Indian Ocean, "and taught sailors how they might deviate from their usual course, so as to make these winds subservient to their being able to go to and return from India in one year. Arian, a Greek historian, born A.D. 105, wrote an account of the navigation of the Euxine or Black Sea, and pointed out as nearly as possible, the countries that had been discovered by explorers who had lived before his time ; and Ptolemy the Egyptian, about a.d. 175, making use of the writings of his predecessors, published a celebrated geography, in which, for the first time," places and cities were marked in their relative latitude and longitude on a mathematical plan. The first traveller of the Christian era, whose name has been handed down to us, was Pausanias, a Greek writer, living in Rome 16 THE EXPLORATlCri OP THE WORLD. in the second century, and whose account of his travels bears the date of a.d. 175. Pausanias did for ancient Greece what Joanne, the industrious and clever Frenchman did for the other countries of Europe, in compiling the " Traveller's Guide." His account, a most reliable one on all points, and most exact even in details, was one upon which travellers of the second century might safely depend in their journeys through the different parts of Greece. Pausanias gives a minute description of Attica, and especially of Athens and its monuments, tombs, temples, citadel, academy, columns, and of the Areopagus. From Attica Pausanias went to Corinth, and then explored the Islands ofjEgina and Methana, Sparta, the Island of Cerigo, Messene, Achaia, Arcadia, Bceotia, and Phoeis. The roads in the provinces and even the streets in the towns, are mentioned in his narrative, as well as the general character of the country through which he passed ; although we can scarcely say that he added any fresh dis coveries to those already made, he was one of those careful travellers whose object was more to obtain exact information, than to make new discoveries. His narrative has been of the greatest use to all geographers and writers upon Greece and the Peloponnesus, and an author of the sixteenth century has truly said that this book is " a most ancient and rare specimen of erudition." It was about a hundred and thirty years after the Greek histo rian, in the fourth century, that a Chinese monk undertook the exploration of the countries lying to the west of China. The account of his travels is still extant, and we may well agree with M. Charton when he says that " this is a most valuable work, carrying us beyond our , ordinarily narrow view* of western civiliza tion." Fa-Hian, the traveller, was accompanied by several monks; wishing to leave China by the west, they crossed more than one chain of mountains, and reached the country now called Kan- tchou, which is not far from the great wall. They crossed the river Cha- ho, and a desert that Marco Polo was to explore eight hundred years later. After seventeen days' march they reached the Lake of Lobnor in Turkestan. From this point all the countries that the monks visited were alike as to manners and customs, the languages alone differing. Being dissatisfied with the reception .a t I One of Fa-Hian"s companions falls. Puse 17. ^o So Bo JO 80 gc IOO no TECS W@aL® AS KNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. fa-uian. 1 7 that they met with in the country of the Ourgas, who are not a hospitable people, they took a south-easterly course towards a desert country, where they had great difficulty in crossing the rivers ; and, after a thirty-five days' march, the little caravan reached Tartary in the kingdom of Khotan, which contained, according to Fa-Hian, " Many times ten thousand holy men." Here they met with a cordial welcome, and after a residence of three months were allowed to assist at the " Procession of the Images," a great feast, in which both Brahmins and Buddhists join, when all the idols are placed upon magnificently decorated cars, and paraded through streets strewn with flowers, amid clouds of incense. The feast over, the monks left Khotan for Koukonyar, and after resting there fifteen days, we find them further south in the Balistan country of the present day, a cold and mountainous district, where wheat was the only grain cultivated, and where Fa-Hian found in use the curious cylinders on which prayers are written, and which are turned by the faithful with the most extraordinary rapidity. Thence they went to the eastern part of Afghanistan; it took them four weeks to cross the mountains, in the midst of which, and the never- melting snow they are said to have found venomous dragons. On the further side of this rocky chain the travellers found themselves in Northern India, where the country is watered by the streams which, further on, form the Sinde or Indus. After traversing the kingdoms of On-tchang, Sii-ho-to, and Kian- tho-wei, they arrived at Fo-loo-cha, which must be the town of Peshawur, standing between Cabul and the Indus, and twenty- four leagues farther west, they came to the town of Hilo, built on the banks of a tributary of the river Kabout. In these towns Fa-Hian specially notices the feasts and religion ceremonies practised in the worship of Fo or Buddha. When the monks left Kito, they were obliged to cross the Hindoo-Koosh mountains, lying between Turkestan and the Gandhara, the cold being so intense that one of their party sank under it. After enduring great hardships they reached Banco, a town that is still standing, and then, after again crossing the Indus, they entered the Punjaub. Thence, descending towards the south east, with a view of crossing the northern part of the Indian c 18 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. Peninsula, they reached Mathura, a town in the province of Agra, and crossing the great salt desert which lies to the east of the Indus, travelled through a country that Fa-Hian calls " a happy kingdom, where the inhabitants are good and honest, needing neither laws nor magistrates, and indebted to none for their support ; without markets or wine merchants, and living happily, with plenty of all that they required, where the temperature was neither hot nor cold." This happy kingdom was India. Fa-Hian followed a south-easterly route, and came to Feroukh-abad, where Buddha is said to have alighted as he came down from heaven, the Chinese traveller dwelling much upon the Buddhist Creed. Thence he visited the town of Kanoji, standing on the right bank of the Ganges, that he calls Heng, and this is the very centre of Buddhism. Wherever Buddha is supposed to have rested, his followers have erected high towers in his honour. The travellers visited the temple of Tchihouan, where for twenty-five years Fo practised the most severe mortifications, and where he is said to have given sight to five hundred blind men. They are said to have been much moved by the sight of this temple. They set out again, passing Kapila and Goruckpoor, on the fron tier of Nepaul, all made famous by Fo's miracles, and then reached the celebrated town of Palian-foo, in the delta of the Ganges, in the kingdom of Magadha. This was a fertile tract of country in habited by a civilized, upright people, who loved all philosophic researches. After climbing the peak of Vautour, which stands at the source of the Dyardanes and Bapourah rivers, Fa-Hian descended the Ganges, visited the temple of Issi-paten that was frequented by magicians and astrologers, reached Benares, "the kingdom of splendours," and a little lower down, the town of Tomo-li-ti, situated at the mouth of the river, a short distance from the site of Calcutta in the present day. Fa-Hian found a party of merchants just preparing to put to sea with the intention of going to Ceylon ; he sailed with them, and in fourteen days landed on the shores of the ancient Tapro bana, of which the Greek merchant, Jamboulos, had given a curious account some centuries previously. Here the Chinese monk found all the traditions and legends regarding the god Fo, and passed two years in searching ancient manuscripts. He left Ceylon for Java, where he landed after a very rough voyage, in COSMOS INDICOPLEUSTES. 19 the course of which, when the sky was overclouded, he says, " we saw nothing but great waves dashing one against another, light ning, crocodiles, tortoises, and monsters of the deep." He spent five months in Java, and then set sail *for Canton ; but the winds were again unfavourable, and after undergoing great hardships he landed at the town of Chantoung of the present day ; then having spent some time at Nankin he returnee^ to Fi-an-foo, his native town, after an absence of eighteen- whiitrm!!. Such is the account of Fa-Hian's travels, which have been well translated by M. Abel de Remusat, and which give very interesting details of Indian and Tartar customs, especially those relating to their religious ceremonies. The next traveller to the Chinese monk, in chronological order, is an Egyptian called Cosmos Indicopleustes, a name that M. Charton renders as " Cosmographic traveller in India." He lived in the sixth century, and was a merchant of Alexandria, who, on his return from visiting Ethiopia and part of Asia, entered a monastery. His narrative is called the " Christian Topography of the Uni verse." It gives no details of its author's voyages, but begins with cosmographic discussions, to prove that the world is square, and enclosed in a great oblong coffer with all the other planets. This is followed by some dissertations on the function of the angels, and a description of the dress of the Jewish Priests. Cosmos also gives the natural history of the animals of India and Ceylon, and notices the rhinoceros and buffalo, which can be made of use for domestic purposes, the giraffe, the wild ox, the musk that is hunted for its " perfumed blood," the unicorn, which he considers a real animal and not a myth, the wild boar, the hippopotamus, the phoca, the dolphin, and the tortoise. Afterwards, Cosmos describes the pepper-plant, as a frail and delicate shrub, like the smallest tendrils of the vine, and the cocoa-tree, whose fruit has a fragrance " equal to that of a nut." From the earliest times of the Christian era there has been a great love for visiting the Holy Land, the cradle of the new relio-ion. These pilgrimages became more and more frequent, and we have many names left to us of those who visited Palestine during the first centuries of Christianity. One of these pilgrims, the French Bishop Arculphe, who lived c 2 20 THE EXPr^ORATlON OF THE WORLD. towards the end of the seventh century, has left us an account of his travels. He sets out by giving a topographical description of the site of Jerusalem, aiid describes the wall that surrounds the holy city, then the circular church built over the Holy Sepulchre, the tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the stone that closed it, the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the church built upon Calvary, and the basilica of Constantine on the site of the place where the real cross was found. These various churches are united in one building, which also encloses the Tomb of Christ, and Calvary, where our Lord was crucified. Arculphe then descended into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is situated to the east of the city, and contains the church that covers the tomb of the Virgin ; he also saw that of Absalom, which he calls the Tower of Jehoshaphat. He describes the Mount of Olives that faces the city beyond the valley, and he prayed in the cave where Jesus prayed. He also went to Mount Zion, which stands outside the town on the south side; he notices the gigantic fig-tree, on which, according to tradition, Judas Iscariot hanged himself, and he visited the church of the guest-chamber, now destroyed. After making the tour of the city by the Valley of Siloam, and ascending by the brook Cedron, the bishop returned to the Mount of Olives, which was covered with waving wheat and barley, grass and wild flowers, and he describes the place where Christ ascended from the summit of the mountain. On this spot a large church has been built, with three arched porticoes that are not roofed over or covered in any way, but are open to the sky. " They have not roofed in this church," says the bishop, " because it was the place whence our Saviour ascended upon a cloud, and the space open to heaven allows the prayers of the faithful to ascend thither. For when they paved this church they could not lay the pavement over the place where our Lord's feet had rested, as, when the stones were laid upon that spot, the earth, as though impatient of anything not divine resting upon it, threw them up again before the workmen. Beyond this, the dust bears the impress of the divine feet, and though, day by day, the faithful who visit the spot efface the marks, they immediately reappear and may be seen perpetually." t \ ,1 hL -•^-'^ Absalom's Tomb. Pa^^ 20. AROULPIJE. 21 After having explored the neighbourhood of Bethany in the midst of the grove of olives, where the grave of Lazarus is said to be, and where the church, standing on the right hand is supposed to mark the spot where our Lord usually conversed with His disciples, Arculphe went to Bethlehem, which is a short distance from the holy city. He describes the birthplace of our Lord, a natural cave, hollowed out of the rock at the eastern end of the village, the church, built by St. Helena, the tombs of the three shepherds, upon whom the heavenly light shone at the birth of our Saviour, the burial-places of the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac. and Jacob, and that of Rachel, and he visited the oak of Mamre, under which Abraham received the visit of the angels. Thence, Arculphe went to Jericho, or rather the place where the town once stood, whose walls fell at the sound of Joshua's trumpets. He explored the place where the children of Israel first rested in the land of Canaan after crossing the river Jordan, and he speaks of the church of Galgala, where the twelve stones are placed, which the children of Israel took from the river when they entered the promised land. He followed the course of the Jordan, and found near one of the bends of the river on the right bank, and among the most beautiful scenery, about an hour's walk from the Dead Sea, the place where our Lord was baptized by St. John the Baptist. A cross is placed to mark the spot, but when the river is swollen, it is covered by the water. After examining the banks of the Dead Sea and tasting its brackish water, he viewed the source of the Jordan, at the foot of Libanus, and explored the greater part of the Lake of Tiberias, visiting the well where the woman of Samaria gave our Lord the water He so much needed, seeing the fountain in the desert of which St. John the Baptist drank, and the great plain of Gaza, where our Lord blessed the five loaves and two fishes, and fed the multitude. Next he went down to Capernaum, of which there are now no remains ; then visited Nazareth, where our Lord spent His childhood, and ended his journey at Mount Tabor in Galilee. The bishop's narrative contains both geographical and historical accounts of other places, beyond those immediately connected with our Lord's life on earth. He visited the royal city of Damascus, which is watered by four large rivers. Also Tyre, the chief town of 22 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. Phoenicia, which, though once separated from the mainland, was joined to it again by the jetty or pier made by the orders of Nabuchodonosor. He speaks of Alexandria, once the capital of Egypt, which he reached forty days after leaving Jaffa, and lastly, of Constantinople, where he often visited the large church in which "the wood of the cross is preserved, upon which the Saviour suffered for the salvation of the human race." The account of this journey was written by the Abb6 de St. Columban at the dictation of the bishop, and not many years afterwards the same journey was undertaken by an English pil grim, and accomplished in much the same way. The name of this pilgrinj was Willibald, a member of a rich family living at Southampton, who, on his recovery from a long illness, dedicated him to God's service. All his early life was spent in holy exercises in the monastery of Woltheim; when he was grown up he had the most intense wish to see St. Peter's at Rome, and was so set upon this, that it induced his father, brother, and young sister to wish to go there also ; they embarked at Southampton in the spring of 721, and making their way up the Seine, they landed at Rouen. We have but few details of the journey to Rome, but Willibald mentions that after passing through Cortona and Lucca, at which latter place his father sank under the fatigue of the journey and died, he reached Rome in safety with his brother and sister, and passed the winter there, but they were all in turn attacked with fever. When Willibald regained his health, he determined to continue his journey to the Holy Land. He sent his brother and sister back to England, while he joined some monks who were going in the same direction as himself. They went by Terracina and Gaeta to Naples, and set sail for Reggio in Calabria, and Catania and Syracuse in Sicily, whence they again embarked, and, after touching at Cos and Samos, landed at Ephesus in Asia Minor, where they visited the tombs of St. John the Evan gelist, of Mary Magdalene, and of the seven sleepers of Ephesus, that is, seven Christians martyred in the time of the Emperor Decius. They made some stay at Patara and at Mitylene, and then went to Cyprus and Paphos ; we next find the party, seven in number, at Edessa, visiting the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle. Here they were arrested as spies, and thrown into prison by the SOLEYMAN. 28 Saracens, but the king, on the petition of a Spaniard, set them at liberty. As soon as they were set free they left the town in great haste, and from that time their route is almost the same as that of the Bishop Arculphe ; they visited Damascus, Nazareth, Cana, where they saw a wonderful amphora on Mount Tabor, where our Lord was transfigured, and the Lake of Tiberias, where St. Peter walked upon the water ; Magdala, where Lazarus and his sister dwelt ; Capernaum, where our Lord raised to life the son of the nobleman ; Bethsaida in Galilee, the native place of St. Peter and St. Andrew ; Chorazin, where our Lord cured those possessed with devils ; Caesarea, and the spot where our Lord was baptized, as well as Jericho and Jerusalem. They also went to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Mount of Olives, and to Bethlehem, the scene of the murder of the Innocents by Herod, and Gaza. While they were at Gaza, Willibald tells us that he suddenly became blind, while he was in the church of St. Matthias, and only recovered his sight two months afterwards, as he entered the church of the Holy Cross at Jerusalem. He went through the valley of Diospolis or Lydda, ten miles from Jerusalem, and then went to Tyre and Sidon, and thence, by Libanus, Damascus, Csesarea, and Emmaus, back to Jerusalem, where the travellers spent the winter. This was not to be the limit of their exploration, for we hear of them at Ptolemais, Emesa, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Samaria, where St. John the Baptist is said to have been buried, and at Tyre, where it must be confessed that Willibald defrauded the revenue of that time by smuggling some balsam that was very celebrated, and on which a duty was levied. On quitting Tyre they went to Constantinople and lived there for two years before returning by Sicily, Calabria, Naples, and Capua. The English pilgrim reached the monastry of Monte Cassino, just ten years after his first setting out on his travels ; but his time of rest had not yet come, as he was appointed to a bishopric in Franconia by Pope Gregory III. He was forty-one years of age when he was made bishop, and he lived forty years afterwards. In 938 he was canonized by Leo VII. We will conclude the list of celebrated travellers living between the first and ninth centuries, by giving a short account of Soleyman, a merchant of Bassorah, who, starting from the Persian Gulf, 24 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. arrived eventually on the shores of China. This narrative is in two distinct parts, one written in 851, by Soleyman himself, who was the traveller, and the other in 878 by a geographer named Abou-Zeyd Hassan with the view of completing the first. Renaud, the orientalist, is of opinion that this narrative " has thrown quite a new light on the commercial transactions that existed in the nintli century between Egypt, Arabia, and the countries bordering on the Persian Gulf on one side, and the vast provinces of India and China on the other." Soleyman, as we have said, started from the Persian Gulf after having taken in a good supply of fresh water at Muscat, and visited first, the second sea, or that of Oman. He noticed a fish of enormous size, probably a spermaceti, whale, which the seamen endeavoured to frighten away by ringing a bell, then a shark, in whose stomach they found a smaller shark, enclosing in its turn one still smaller, " both alive," says the traveller, which is manifestly an exaggeration ; then, after describing the remora, the dactyloptera, and the porpoise, he speaks of the, sea near the Maldive Islands in which he counted an enormous number of islands, a.mong them he mentions Ceylon by its Arabian name, with its pearl fisheries ; Sumatra, inhabited by cannibals, and rich in gold mines ; Nicobar, and the Andaman Islands, where cannibalism still exists even at the present day. " This sea," he says, "is subject to - fearful water-spouts which wreck the ships, and throw on its shores an immense number of dead fish and sometimes even large stones. When these tempests are at their height the sea seethes and boils." Soleyman imagined it to be infested by a sort of monster who preyed upon human beings ; this is thought to have been a kind of dog-fish. Arrived at Nicobar, Soleyman traded with the inhabitants, bartering some iron for cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, bananas, &c. ; he then crossed the sea, and seems to have made for Singapore, and northwards by the Gulf of Siam. Soleyman put into a harbour, near Cape Varella, to revictual his ships, and thence he went by the China Sea to Jehan-fou the port of the present town of Tche-kiang. The remainder of the account of Soleyman's travels, written by Abou-Zeyd-Hassan, contains a detailed account 01 the manners and customs of the Indians and Chinese ; but it is not the traveller himself who is speaking, and we shall find the Soleyman noticed a shark in whose stomach they found a smaller shark. Page 24. SOLEYMAN. 23 same subjects spoken of in a more interesting manner by, later authors. We must add, in reviewing the discoveries made by travellers sixteen centuries before, and nine centuries after, the Christian era, that from Norway to the extreme boundaries of China, taking a line through the Atlantic ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Sea of China, the immense extent of coast bordering these seas had been in a great measure visited. Some explorations had been attempted in the interior of these countries ; for instance, in Egypt as far as Ethiopia, in Asia Minor to the Caucasus, in India and China ; and if these old travellers may not have quite understood mathematical precision, as to some of the points they visited, at all events the manners and customs of the inhabitants, the productions of the different countries, the mode of trading with them, and their religious customs, were quite sufficiently understood. Ships could sail with more safety when the change of winds was no longer a subject of mere specula tion, the caravans could take a more direct route in the interior of the countries, and the great increase of trade which took place in the middle ages is surely owing to the facilities afforded by the ¦writings of travellers. 26 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. CHAPTER III. CELEBRATED TRAVELLERS BETWEEN THE TENTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES. Benjamin or Tudela, 1159 — 1173; Plan de Caepin, ob Caepini, 1245 — 1247; Rubeuquis 1253—1254. The Scandinavians in the North, Iceland and Greenland— Benjamin of Tudela visits Marseilles, Kome, Constantinople, the Archipelago, Palestine, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Damascus, Baalbec, Nineveh, Baghdad, Babylon, Bassorah, Ispahan, Shiraz, Samarcand, Thibet, Malabar, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Egypt, Sicily, Italy, Germany, and France — Carpini explores Turkestan — ^Manners and customs of the Tartars — Rubruquis and the Sea of Azov, the Yolga, Karakorum, Astrakhan, and Derhend. In the course of the tenth, and at the beginning of the eleventh century, a considerable amount of ardour for exploration had arisen in Northern Europe. Some Norwegians and adventurous Gauls had penetrated to the Northern seas, and, if we may trust to some accounts, they had gone as far as the White Sea and -visited the country of the Samoyedes. . Some documents say that Prince Madoc may have explored the American continent. At all- events we may be tolerably certain that Iceland was discovered about a.d. 861 by some Scandinavian adventurers, and that it was soon after colonized by Normans. About this same time a Norwegian had taken refuge on a newly discovered land, and surprised by its verdure he gave it the name of Greenland. The communication with this portion of the American continent was difficult and uncertain, and one geographer says " it took five years for a vessel to go from Norway to Greenland, and to return from Greenland to Norway." Sometimes in severe winters the Northern Ocean was completely frozen over, and a certain Hollur- Geit, guided by a goat, was able to cross on foot from Norway to Greenland. We should keep in mind that the period of which BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. 27 we are speaking Is the time when legends and traditions were very plentiful, and gained ready credence. Let us return to well-authenticated facts, and relate the journey of a Spanish Jew, whose truthfulness is beyond question. This Jew was the son of a rabbi of Tudela, a town in Navarre, and he was called Benjamin of Tudela. It seems probable that the object of his voyage was to make a census of his brother Jews scattered over the surface of the Globe, but whatever may have been his motive, he spent thirteen years, from 1160 — 1173, explor ing nearly all the known world, and his narrative was considered the great authority on this subject up to the sixteenth century. Benjamin of Tudela left Barcelona, and travelling by Tarragona, Gironde, Narbonne, Beziers, Montpellier, Sunel, Pousquiers, St. GUles, and Aries, reached Marseilles. Here he visited the two synagogues in the town and the principal Jews, and then set sail for Genoa, arriving there in four days. The Genoese were masters of the sea at that time, and were at war with the people of Pisa, a brave people, who, like the Genoese, says the traveller, " owned neither kings nor princes, but only the judges whom they appointed at their own pleasure." After visiting Lucca, Benjamin of Tudela went to Rome. Alexander III. was Pope at that time, and according to this traveller, he included some Jews among his ministers. Among the monuments of special interest in the eternal city, he mentions St. Peter's and St. John Lateran, but his descriptions are not interesting. From Rome by Capua, and Pozzuoli, then partly inundated, he went to Naples, where he seems to have seen nothing but the five hundred Jews living there ; then by Salerno, Amalfi, Benevento, Ascoli, Trani, St. Nicholas of Bari, and Brindisi, he arrived at Otranto, having crossed Italy and yet found nothing interesting to relate of this splendid country. The list of the places Benjamin of Tudela visited, is not interesting, but we must not omit to mention one of them, for his narrative is most precise, and it is useful to follow his route by the maps specially prepared for this purpose by Lelewel. From Otranto to Zeitun, his halting-places were Corfu, the Gulf of Arta, Achelous, an ancient town in ^tolia, Anatolia in Greece, on the Gulf of Patras, Patras, Lepanto, Crissa, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, Corinth, Thebes, whose two thousand Jewish 28 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. inhabitant^ were the best makers of silk and purple in Greece, Negropont and Zeitoun. Here, according to the Spanish traveller, is the boundary-line of Wallachia ; he says the Wallachians are as ' nimble as goats, and come down from the mountains to pillage the neighbouring Greek towns. Benjamin of Tudela went on to Constantinople by way of Gardiki, a small township on the Gulf of Volo, Armyros, a port much frequented by the Venetians and Genoese, Bissina, a town of which no traces are left, Salonica, the ancient Thessalonica, and Abydos. He gives us some details of Constantinople ; the Emperor Emmanuel Comnenus was reigning at that time and lived in a palace that he had built upon the sea-shore, containing columns of pure gold and silver, and " the golden throne studded with precious stones, above which a golden crown is suspended by a chain of the same precious metal, which rests upon the monarch's head as he sits upon the throne." In this crown are many precious stones, and one of priceless worth : " so brilliant are they," says this traveller, " that at night, there is no occasion for any further light than that thrown back by these jewels." He adds that there is a large population in the city, and for the number of merchants from all countries who assemble there, it can only be compared to Baghdad. The inhabitants are principally dressed in embroidered silk robes enriched with golden fringes, and to see them thus attired and mounted upon their horses, one would take them for princes, but they are not brave warriors, and they keep mercenaries from all nations to fight for them. One regret he expresses, and that is, that there are no Jews left in the City, and that they have all been transported to Galata, near the entrance of the port, where are nearly two thousand five hundred of the sects (Rabbinitea and Caraites), and among them many rich merchants and silk manufacturers, but the Turks have a bitter hatred for them, and treat them with great severity. Only one of these rich Jews was allowed to ride on horseback, he was the Emperor's physician, Solomon, the Egyptian. As to the remark able buildings of Constantinople, he mentions the Mosque of St. Sophia, in which the number of altars answers to the number of days in a year, and the columns and gold and silver candlesticks, are too numerous to be counted ; also the Hippodrome, which at the present day is used as a horse-market, but was then the Constantmople — -Z^^- ^ J ..:.JyoL ^roponticLe oia. Sfl&r de&Ua/rmLO n The approach to Constantinople. Page 28. BENJAMIN OP TUDELA. 29 scene of combats between " lions, bears, tigers, other wild beasts, and even birds." When Benjamin of Tudela left Constantinople, he visited Galli- poli and Kilia, a port on the Eastern coast, and went to the islands in the. Archipelago, Mitylene, Chios, whence thpre was much trade in the juice of the pistachio-tree, Samos, Rhodes, and Cyprus. As he sailed towards the land of Aram, he passed by Messis, by Antioch, where he admired the arrangements for supplying the city with water, and by Latakia on his way to Tripoli, which he found had been recently shaken by an earthquake, that had been felt for miles round. We next hear of him at Beyrout, at Sidon, and Tyre, celebrated for its glass manufactory, at Acre, at Jafi'a near Mount Carmel, at Capernaum, at the beautiful town of Csesarea, at Samaria, which is built in the midst of a fertile tract, where are vineyards, gardens, orchards, and olive-yards, at Nablous, at Gibeon, and then at Jerusalem. In the holy city, it was but natural that the Jew could see nothing that would have interested a Christian visitor. For him, Jerusalem appeared only a small town, defended by three walls and peopled with Jews, Syrians, Greeks, Georgians, and Franks of all languages and nations. He found four hundred horse-soldiers in the city ready for war at any moment, a great temple in which is the tomb of " that man," as the Talmud styles our Saviour, and a house in which the Jews had the privilege of carrying on the work of dyeing ; but they were few in number, scarcely two hundred, and they lived under the tower of David at one corner of the city. Out side Jerusalem, the traveller mentions the tomb of Absalom, the sepulchre of Osias, the pool of Siloam, near the brook Cedron, the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the Mount of Olives, from whose summit one can see the Dead Sea. Two leagues from it stands the pillar of Lot's wife, and the traveller adds, "that though the flocks and herds which pass this pillar of salt are continually licking it, yet it never diminishes in size." From Jerusalem, Benjamin of Tudela went to Bethlehem, and inscribed his name on Rachel's tomb, as it was customary for all Jews to do who passed by it ; and from Bethlehem, after counting twelve Jewish dyeing establishments, he went on to Hebron, which is now deserted and in ruins. After visiting, in the plain of Machpelah, the tombs of Abraham, 30 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah, and passing by Beth- Jairim, Scilo, Mount Moriah, Beth-Nubi, Ramah, Joppa, Jabneh, Azotus, Ascalon, built by Esdras, Lud, Tiberias, where are some hot springs, Gish and Merom, which is still a spot visited by Jewish pilgrims, Kedesh and Laish, near the cavern, where the Jordan takes its rise, the traveller left the land of Israel, and entered Damascus. The following is his description of this city, where the Turkish rule begins. " It is a very large and beautiful city, walled round, and outside the walls for fifteen miles are gardens and orchards, and ol all the surrounding country, this is the most fertile spot. The town stands at the foot ol Mount Hermon, whence rise the two rivers, Abana and Pharpar ; the first passes through the city, and its waters are taken into the larger houses by means of aqueducts, as well as through the streets and markets. This town trades with all the world. The river Pharpar fertilizes the orchards and gardens outside the town. There is an Ishmaelitish mosque, called Goman-Dammesec, meaning the synagogue of Damascus, and this building has not its equal ; it Is said to have been Benhadad's palace, and it contains a glass wall, built apparently by magic. This wall has 365 holes in it, answering to the days of the year ; as the sun rises and sets it shines through one or other of these holes, so that the hour of the day may thus always be known. Inside the palace or mosque are gold and silver houses, large enough to hold two or three persons at a time, if they wish to wash or bathe in them." After going to Galad and Salkah, which are two days' journey from Damascus, Benjamin reached Baalbec, the Heliopolis of the Greeks and Romans, built by Solomon, in the valley of the Libanus, then to Tadmor, which Is Palmyra, also built entirely of great stones. Then passing by Cariatin, he stopped at Hamah, which was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1157, which over threw many of the Syrian towns. Now comes in the narrative a list of names, which are of no great interest : we may mention among them, Nineveh, whence the traveller returned towards the Euphrates ; and finally that he reached Baghdad, the residence of the Caliph. Baghdad was of great Interest to the Jewish traveller ; he says The Tower of Babel. Page 31. BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. 31 it Is a large town three miles in circumference, containing a hospital both for Jews and sick people of any nation. It is the centre for learned men, philosophers, and magicians from all parts of the world. It is the residence of the Caliph, who at this time was probably Mostaidjed, whose dominion Included western Persia and the banks of the Tigris. He had a vast palace, stand ing in a park watered by a tributary of the Tigris and filled with wild beasts, he may be taken as a model sovereign on some points ; he was a good and very truthful man, kind and considerate to all with whom he came in contact. He lived on the produce of his own toil, and made blankets, which, marked with his own seal, were sold in the market by the princes of his court, to defray the expense of his living. He only left his palace once a year, at the feast of Ramadan, when he went to the mosque near the Bassorah gate, and there acting as Iman, he explained the law to his people. He returned to his palace by a diflerent route which was carefully guarded all the rest of the year, so that no other passer by might profane the marks of his footsteps. All the brothers of the Caliph inhabit the same palace as he does ; they are all treated with much respect, and have the government of provinces and towns In their hands, the revenues from them enabling them to pass a pleasant life ; only, as they once rebelled against their sovereign, they are now all fettered with chains of iron, and have guards mounted before their houses. Benjamin of Tudela visited that part of Turkey in Asia which is watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, and saw the ruined city of Babylon, passing by what is said to be the furnace Into which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown, and the tower of Babel, which he describes as follows. " The tower built by the tribes that were dispersed is of bricks ; its ' largest ground work must be two miles in circumference ; its length is two hundred and forty cubits. At every ten cubits there is a passage leading to a spiral staircase, which goes to the upper part of the building; from the tower there is a vl^w of the surrounding country for twenty miles ; but the wrath of God fell upon it and it is now only a heap of ruins." From Babel the traveller went to the Synagogue of Ezekiel, situated on the Euphrates, a real sanctuary where believers con gregate to read the book written by the prophet. Then traversing 82 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. Alkotzonath, &c., to Sura, once the site of a celebrated Jewish college, and Shafjathib, whose synagogue is built with stones from Jerusalem, and crossing the desert of Yemen he passed Themar, Tilimar, and Chalbar which contained a great number of Jewish inhabitants, to Waseth; and thence to Bassorah on the Tigris, nearly at the end of the Persian Gulf. He gives no account of this important town; and thence he seems to have gone to Kama, to visit the tomb of the prophet Esdras ; then he entered Persia and sojourned at Chuzestan, a large town, partly in ruins, which the river Tigris divides into two parts, one rich the other poor, joined by a bridge, over which hangs the coffin of Daniel the prophet. He went to Amaria, which is the boundary of Media, where he says the Impostor Davld-el-rol appeared, the worker of false miracles, who is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, but called among the Jews of that part by the former name. Then he went to Hamadan, where the tombs of Mordecai and Esther are found, and by Dabrestan he reached Ispahan, the capital of the kingdom, a city measuring twelve miles in circumference. At this point the narrative of the traveller becomes somewhat obscure ; according to his notes we find him at Shiraz, then at Samarcand, then at the foot of the mountains in Thibet. This seems to have been his farthest point towards the north-east ; he must have come back to Nizapur and Chuzestan on the banks of the Tigris ; thence after a sea voyage of two days to El-Cachif, an Arabian town on the Persian Gulf, where the pearl fishery is carried on. Then, after another voyage of seven days and crossing the Sea of Oman, he seems to have reached Quilon on the coast of Malabar. He was at last in India, the kingdom of the worshippers of the Sun and of the descendants of Cush. This country produces pepper, ginger, and cinnamon. Twenty days after leaving Quilon he was among the fire-worshippers in Ceylon, and thence, perhaps, he went to China. He thought this voyage a very perilous one, and says that many vessels are lost on It, giving the following singular expedient for averting the danger. " You should take on board with you several skins of oxen, and, If the wind rises and threatens the vessel with danger, all who wish to escape envelope themselves each in a skin, sew up this skin so as to make It as far as possible water-tight, then throw themselves into the sea, and flocks of the great eagles Benjamin of Tudela in the Desert of Sahara. Page 33. benjamin ok TUDELA. 88 called griffins, thinking that they are really oxen, will descend and bear them on their wings to some mountain or valley, there to devour their prey. Immediately on reaching land the man will kill the eagle with his knife, and leaving the skin, will walk towards the nearest habitation ; " many people," he adds, " have been saved by this means." We find Benjamin of Tudela again at Ceylon, then at the Island of Socotra in the Persian Gulf, and after crossing the Red Sea he arrives in Abyssinia, which he styles "the India that is on terra firma." Thence he goes down the Nile, crosses the country of Assouan, reaches the town of Holvan, and by the Sahara, where the sand swallows up whole caravans, he goes to Zairlah, Kous, Faiouna and Misraim or Cairo. This last is a large town containing fine squares and shops. It never rains there, but this want is supplied by the overflow of the Nile once a year, which waters the country and renders it very fertile. He passed Gizeh on leaving Misraim but does not mention the pyramids, and just names Ain-Schams, Boutig, Zefita, and Damira ; he stopped at Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great, a city of great commerce, frequented by merchants from all parts of the world. Its uquares and streets are thronged with people, and so long that one cannot see from one end to another. A dike or causeway runs out a mile into the sea, on which a high tower was built by the conqueror, and on the top of it a glass mirror was placed, by which all vessels could be seen while still fifty days' sail away, coming from Greece or the east on their way to make war upon or otherwise harm the town. " This tower," if we may credit the writer, " is still of use as a signal to vessels coming to Alexandria, for it can be seen night or day, a great flaming torch being kept lighted at night, visible 100 miles off! " What are our light-houses when even with the electric light they are only visible thirty miles away? From Damietta, the traveller visited several neighbouring towns, then returning there he embarked on board a vessel and twenty days afterwards landed at Messina. He wished to continue the census that he was making, so by way of Rome and Lucca he went to St. Bernard. He mentions visiting several towns both in Germany and France, where Jews had settled, and according to Chateaubriand's account, Benjamin of Tudela's computation brought the number of Jews to about 768,165. D 34 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. In conclusion the traveller speaks of Paris, which he seems to have visited ; he says, "This great town numbers among its inhabi tants some remarkably learned men, who are unequalled for learn ing by any in the world ; they spend all their time studying law, and at the same time are very hospitable to all strangers, but especially to all their Jewish brethren." Such is the account of Benjamin of Tudela's travels ; they form an important part of the geographical science of the middle of the twelth century. As we have used the modern names, it is easy to follow the short account of his route that we have given, on any atlas of the present day. Next in order of succession we come to the name of Jean du Plan de Carpin, or as some authors render it simply, Carpini. He was a Franciscan or Grey Friar, born in 1182, at Perugia in Italy. It is well known what inroads the Mongolians had made under Gengis- Khan, and in 1206 this chieftain had made Karakorum, an ancient Turkish town, his capital. This town was a little north of China. His successor Ojadai', extended the Mongolian dominion into the centre of China, and, after raising an army of 600,000 men, he even Invaded Europe. Russia, Georgia, Poland, Moravia, Silesia, and Hungary, all became the scenes of sanguinary conflicts which almost always ended in favour of the invaders. The Mongols were looked upon as demons possessed with superhuman power, and Western Europe was terrified at their approach. Pope Innocent IV. sent an ambassador to the Tartars, but he was treated with arrogance ; at the same time h,e sent other ambassadors to the Tartars living in North- Eastern Tartary, in the hope of stopping the Mongolian invasion, and as chief in this mission, the Franciscan Carpini was chosen, being known to be a clever and intelligent diplomatist. Carpini was accompanied by Stephen, a Bohemian ; they set out on the 6th of April, 1245, and went first to Bohemia, where the king gave them letters to some relations living in Poland, who he hoped might facilitate their entrance into Russia. Carpini had no difficulty in reaching the territory of the Archduke of Russia, and by his advice they bought beaver and other furs as presents for the Tartar chiefs. Thus provided, they took a north-easterly route to Kiev, then the chief town of Russia and now the seat of Government of that part, but they travelled iu fear of the Lithuanians, who scoured the country at that time. CARPINI. 35 The Governor of Kiev advised the Pope's envoys to exchange their own for Tartar horses, who were accustomed to seek for their food under the snow, and thus mounted they had no difliculty in getting as far as Danilisha. There they both were attacked by severe illness ; when nearly recovered they bought a carriage, and in spite of the Intense cold set out again. Arrived at Kaniev, on the Dnieper, they found themselves in the frontier town of the Mongol empire, and hence they were conducted to the Tartar camp by one of the chiefs, whom they had made their friend by gifts. In the camp they were badly received at first, but being directed to the Duke of Corrensa, who commanded an army of 60,000 men forming the advanced guard : this general sent them with an escort of three Tartars to Prince Bathy , the next in command to the Emperor himself. Relays of horses were prepared for them on the road, they travelled night and day, and thus passed through the Comans' countrj' lying between the Dnieper, the Tanais, the Volga, and the Yaik, frequently having to cross the frozen rivers, and finally reaching the court of Prince Bathy on ithe frontiers of the Comans' country. " As we were being conducted to the prince," says Carpini, "we were told that we should have to pass between two fires, in order to purify us from any infection we might carry, and also to do away with any evil designs we might have towards the prince, which we agreed to do that we might be freed from all suspicion." The prince was seated on his throne in the midst of his courtiers and officers in a magnificent tent made of fine linen. He had the reputation of being a just and kind ruler of his people, but very cruel in war. Carpini and Stephen were placed on the left of the throne, and the papal letters, translated into a language composed of Tartar and Arabic, were presented to the prince. He read them attentively and then dismissed the envoys to their tents, where their only refreshment was a little porringer full of millet. This interview took place on Good Friday, and the next day Bathy sent for the envoys, and told them they must go to the Emperor. They set out on Easter -day with two. guides ; but having lived upon nothing but millet, water, and salt, the travellers were but little fit for a journey ; nevertheless their guides obliged them to travel very quickly, changing horses five or six times in a day. d 2 36 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. They passed through almost a desert country, the Tartars having driven away nearly all the inhabitants. They came next to the country of the Kangites to the east of Comania, where there ' was a great deficiency of water ; in this province the people were mostly herdsmen, under the hard yoke of the Mongolians. Carpini was travelling from Easter tiU Ascension-Day through the land of the Kangites, and thence he came into the Biserlum country, or what we call Turkestan in the present day; on all sides the eye rested on towns and villages in ruins. After cross ing a chain of mountains the envoys entered Kara-Katy on the 1st of July; here the governor received them very hospitably, and made his sons and the principal officers of his court dance before them for their amusement. On leaving Kara-Katy the envoys rode for some days along the banks of a lake lying to the north of the town of Zeman, which must be, according to M. de Remusat, the Lake Balkash. There lived Ordu, the eldest of the Tartar captains, and here Carpini and Stephen took a day's rest before encountering the cold and mountainous country of the Maimans, a nomadic people living in tents. After some days the travellers reached the country of the Mongols, and on the 22nd of July arrived at the place where the Emperor was, or rather he who was to be Emperor, the election having not yet taken place. This future Emperor was named Cunius ; he received the' envoys in a most friendly manner, a letter from Prince Bathy having explained to him the object of their visit; not being j'et Emperor he could not entertain them nor take any part in public affairs, but from the time of Ojadai's death, his widow, the mother of Prince Cunius had been Regent ; she received the travellers in a purple and white tent capable of holding 2000 persons. Carpini gives the following account of tbe interview : " When we arrived we saw a large assembly of dukes and princes who had come from all parts with their attendants, who were on horseback in the neighbouring fields and on the hills. The first day thev were all dressed in white and purple, on the second when Cunius appeared in the tent, in red, on the third day they wore violet, and on the fourth, scarlet, or crimson. Outside the tent, in the surrounding palisade were two great gates, by one of which the Emperor alone might enter ; it was unguarded, but none dared to The Tartars. Page 37. CARPINI. 37 enter or leave by It ; while the other, which was the general entrance, was guarded by soldiers with swords, and bows and arrows ; if any one approached within the prescribed limits he was beaten, or else shot to death with arrows. We noticed several horsemen there, on whose harness cannot have been less than twenty marks' worth of silver." A wliole month passed away before Cunius was proclaimed Emperor, and the envoys were obliged to wait patiently for this before they could be received by him. Carpini turned this leisure time to account by studying the habits of the people ; he has given much interesting information on the subject in his account of his travels. The country seemed to him to be principally very hilly and the soil sandy, with but little vegetation. There is scarce any wood ; but all classes are content with dung for fuel. Though the country Is so bare, sheep seem to do well. The climate is very changeable; in summer, storms are very frequent, many fall victims to the -vivid lightning, and the wind is often so strong as even to blow over men on horseback : during the winter there is no rain, which all falls in the summer, and then scarcely enough to lay the dust, while the storms of hail are terrible; during Carpini's residence in the country they were so severe that once 140 persons were drowned by the melting of the enormous mass of hail-stones that had fallen. It is a very extensive country, but miserable beyond expression. Carpini who seems to have been a man of great discernment took a very just idea of the Tartars themselves. He says, " Their eyes are set very far apart ; they have very high cheek-bones, their noses are small and flat ; their eyes small, and their eye-lashes and eyebrows seem to meet ; they are of middle height with slender waists, they have small beards, some wear moustaches, and what are now called imperials. On the top of the head the hair Is shaved off like monks, and to the width of three fingers between their ears they also shave off the hair, letting what is between the tonsure and the back of the head grow to some length ; In fact It is as long as a woman's in many cases, and plaited and tied in two tails behind the ear. They have small feet. He says there is but little difference perceptible in the dress of the men and women, all alike wearing long robes 38 THE EXPLORATION OF THE "WORLD. trimmed with fur, and high buckram caps enlarged towards the upper part. Their houses are built like tents of rods and stakes, so that they can be easily taken down and packed on the beasts of burden. Other larger dwellings are sometimes carried whole as they stand, on carts, and thus follow their owner about the country. " The Tartars believe in God as the Creator of the universe and as the Rewarder and Avenger of all, but they also worship the sun, moon, fire, earth, and water, and idols made in felt, like human beings. They have little toleration, and put Michael of Turnigoo and Feodor to death for not worshipping the sun at midday at the command of Prince Bathy. They are a superstitious people, believing in enchantment and sorcery, and looking upon fire as the purifier of all things. When one of their chiefs dies he is buried with a horse saddled and bridled, a table, a dish of meat, a cup of mare's milk, and a mare and foal. "The Tartars are most obedient to their chiefs, and are truthful and not quarrelsome ; murders and deeds of violence are rare, there is very little robbery, and articles of value are never guarded. They bear great fatigue and hunger without complaint, as well as heat and cold, singing and dancing under the most adverse circumstances. They are much prone to drink to excess ; they are very proud and disdainful to strangers, and have no respect for the lives of human beings." Carpini completes his sketch of the Tartar character by adding that they eat all kinds of animals, dogs, wolves, foxes, horses, and even sometimes their fellow-creatures. Their principal beverage is the milk of the mare, sheep, goat, cow, and camel. They have neither wine, cervisia, (a beverage composed of grain and herbs,) nor mead, but only intoxicating liquors. They are very dirty in their habits, scarcely ever washing their porringers, or only doing so in their broth ; they hardly ever wash their clothes, more especially "when there is thunder about;" and they eat rats, mice, &c., if they are badly off for other food. The men are not brought up to any manual labour, their whole occupation consisting In hunting, shooting with bow and arrows, watching the flocks, and riding. The women and girls are very athletic and very brave, they prepare furs and make clothes, drive carts and camels, and as polygamy Is practised among them, and a man buys as many OAKPINI. 39 wives as he can keep, there are enough women for all these employments. Such is the r6sum6 of Carpini's observations rnade during his residence at Syra-Orda while he was awaiting the Eraper.or's election. Soon he found that the election was about to take place ; he noticed that the courtiers always sang before Cunius when he came out of his tent, and bowed down before him with beautiful little wands in their hands, having small pieces of scarlet wool attached to tbem. On a plain about four leagues from Syra-Orda, beside a stream, a tent was prepared for the Coronation, carpeted with scarlet, and supported on columns covered with gold. On St. Bartholomew's day a large concourse of people assembled, each one fell on his knees as he arrived, and remained praying towards the sun ; but Carpini and his companion refused to join in this idolatrous worship of the sun. Then Cunius was placed on the imperial throne, and the dukes and all the assembled multitudes having done homage to hipi, he was consecrated. As soon as this ceremony was over, Carpini and Stephen were commanded to appear before the Emperor. They were first searched and then entered the imperial presence at the same time as other Ambassadors, the bearers of rich presents ; the poor papal envoys had nothing to present ; whether this had anything to do with the length of time they had to wait before his Imperial Majesty could attend to their affairs we do not know ; but days passed slowly by, and they were nearly dying of hunger and thirst, before they received a summons to appear before the Secretary of the Emperor, and letters to the Pope were given to them, ending with these words, " we worship God, and by His help we shall destroy the whole earth from east to west." The envoys had now nothing to wait for, and during the whole of the winter they travelled across icy deserts. About May they again arrived at the court of Prince Bathy, who gave them free passes, and they reached Kiev about the middle of June, 1247. On the 9th of October of the same year the Pope made Carpini Bishop of Antivari in Dalmatia, and this celebrated traveller died at Rome about the year 1251. Carpini's mission was not of much use, and the Tartars remained much as they were before, a savage and ferocious tribe ; but six years after his return another monk of the minor order of Francis- 40 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. cans, named William Rubruquis, of Belgian origin, was sent to the barbarians who lived in the country between the Volga and the Don. The object of this journey was as follows, — St. Louis was waging war against the Saracens of Syria at this time, and while he was engaging the Infidels, Erkalty, a Mongol prince, attacked them on the side nearest to Persia, and thus caused a diversion that was in favour of the King of France. The report arose that Prince Erkalty had become a Christian, and St. Louis, anxious to prove the truth of it, charged Rubruquis to go into the prince's own country and there make what observations he could upon the subject. In the month of June 1253, Rubruquis and his companions em barked for Constantinople. From thence they reached the mouth of the river Don on the Sea of Azov where they found a great number of Goths. On their arrival among the Tartars, their reception was at first very inhospitable, but after presenting the letters with which they were furnished, Zagathal, the governor of that pro vince, gave them waggons, horses, and oxen for their journey. Thus equipped they set out and were much surprised next day by meeting a moving village ; that is to say, all the huts were placed on waggons and were being moved away. During the ten days that Rubruquis and his companions were passing through this part of the country they were very badly treated, and had it not been for their own store of biscuits, they must have died of starvation. After passing by the end of the Sea of Azov they went in an easterly direction and crossed a sandy desert on which neither tree nor stone was visible.. This was the country of the Comans that Carpini had traversed, but in a more northerly part. Rubruquis left the mountains inhabited by the Circassians to the south, and after a wearisome journey of two months arrived at the camp of Prince Sartach on the banks of the Volga. This was the court of the prince, the son of Baatu-Khan ; he had six wives, each of whom possessed a palace of her own, some houses, and a great number of chariots, some of them very large, being drawn by a team of twenty-two oxen harnessed in pairs. Sartach received the envoysof the King of France very graciously, and seeing their poverty, he supplied them with all that they required. They were to be presented to the prince in their sacer dotal dress, when, bearing on a cushion a splendid Bible, the gift f the King of France, a Psalter given by the Queen, a Missal, ao RUBRUQUIS. 41 crucifix and a censer, they entered the royal presence, taking good care not to touch the threshold of the door, which would have been considered profanation. Once in the royal presence, they sang the " Salve Regina." After the prince and those of the princesses who were present at the ceremony had examined the books, &c., that the monks had brought with them, the envoys were allowed to retire; it being impossible for Rubruquis to form any opinion as to Sartach's being a Christian, or not ; but his work was not yet finished, the prince having pressed the envoys to go to his father's court. Rubruquis complied with the request, and crossing the country lying between the Volga and the Don, they arrived at their destination. There the same ceremonies had to be gone through as at the court of Prince Sartach. The monks had to piepare their books, &c., and be presented to the Khan, who was seated on a large gilded throne, but not wishing to treat with the envoys himself, he sent them to Karakorum, to the court of Mangu-khan. They crossed the country of the Bashkirs and visited Kenchat, Talach, passed the Axlartes and reached Equius, a town of which the position cannot be accurately ascertained in the present day ; then by the land of Organum, by the Lake of Balkash, and the territory of the Uigurs, they arrived at Karakorum, the capital of the Mongolian empire, where Carpini had stopped with out entering the town. This town, says Rubruquis, was surrounded with walls of earth, and had four gates in the walls. The principal buildings it contained were two mosques and a Christian church. While in this city, the monk made many interesting observations on the surrounding people, especially upon the Tangurs, whose oxen, of a remarkable race, are no other than the Yaks, so celebrated in Thibet. In speaking of -the Thibetans he notices their most extraordinary custom of eating the bodies of their fathers and mothers, in order to secure their having an honourable sepulture. When Rubruquis and his companions reached Karakorum, they found that the great khan was not in his capital, but in one of his palaces which was situated on the further side of the mountains which rise in the northern part of the country. They followed him there, and the next day after their arrival presented themselves before him with bare feet, according to the Franciscan custom, so securing for themselves frozen toes. Rubruquis thus 42 THE EXPLORATION OF THE -WORLD. describes the interview : "Mangu-Khan is a man of middle height with a flat nose ; he was lying on a couch clad in a robe of bright fur, which was speckled like the skin of a sea-calf." He was surrounded with falcons and other birds. Several kinds of beverages, arrack punch, fermented mare's milk, and ball, a kind of mead, were offered to the envoys ; but they refused them all. The khan, less prudent than they, soon became intoxicated on these drinks, and the audience had to be ended without any result being arrived at. Rubruquis remained several days at Mangu-Khan's court; he found there a great number of German and French prisoners, mostly employed in making different kinds of arms, or in working the mines of Bocol. The prisoners were well treated by the Tartars, and did not complain of their lot. After several inter-^dews with the great khan, Rubruquis gained permissioq to leave, and he returned to Karakorum. Near this town stood a magnificent palace, belonging to the khan ; it was like a large church with nave and double aisles, here the sovereign sits at the northern end on a raised platform, the gentlemen being seated on his right, and the ladies on his left hand. It Is at this palace that twice every year splendid f^tes are given, when all the nobles of the country are assembled round their sovereign. While at Karakorum, Rubruquis collected many interesting documents relating to the Chinese, their customs, literature, &c. ; then leaving the capital of the Mongols, he returned by the same route as he had come, as far as Astrakhan ; but there he branched to the south and went to Syria with a Turkish escort, which was rendered necessary by the presence of tribes bent on pillage. He visited Derhend, and went thence by Nakshlvan, Erzeroum, Sivas, Csesarea, and Iconium, to the port of Kertch, whence he embarked for his own country. His route was much the same as that of Carpini, but his narrative is less interesting, and the Belgian does not seem to have been gifted with the spirit of observation which characterized the Italian monk. With Carpini and Rubruquis closes the list of celebrated travellers of the thirteenth century, but we have the brilliant career of Marco Polo now before us, whose travels extended over part of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. CHAPTER IV. Makco Polo, 1253—1324. The interest of the Genoese and Venetian merchants in encouraging the explora tion of Central Asia — The family of Polo, and its position in Venice- Nicholas and Matteo Polo, the two brothers — They go from Constantinople to the Court of the Emperor of China — Their reception at the Court of Kublai-Khan — The Emperor appoints them his ambassadors to the Pope — Their return to Venice — Marco Polo— He leaves his father Nicholas and his uncle Matteo for the residence of the King of Tartary — The new Pope Gregory X. — The narrative of Marco Polo is written in French from his dictation, by Rusticien of Pisa. The Genoese and Venetian merchants could not fail to be much interested in the explorations of the brave travellers in Central Asia, India, and China, for they saw that these countries would give them new openings for disposing of their merchandise, and also the great benefit to be derived by the West from being supplied with the productions of the East. The interests of commerce stimulated fresh explorations, and it was this motive that actuated two noble Venetians to leave their homes, and brave all the fatigue and danger of a perilous journey. These two Venetians belonged to the family of Polo, which had come originally from Dalmatia, and, owing to successful trading, had become so opulent as to be reckoned among the patrician families of Venice. In 1260 the two brothers, Nicolas and Matteo, who had lived for some years in Constantinople, where they had established a branch house, went to the Crimea, with a considerable stock of precious stones, where their eldest brother, Andrea Polo, had his place of business. Thence, taking a north-easterly direction and crossing the country of the Comans, they reached the camp of Barkai-Khan on the Volga. This Mongol prince received the two merchants very kindly, and bought all the jewels they offered him at double their value. 44 THE EXPLORATlOy OF THE WORLD. Niccolo and Matteo remained a year in the Mongolian camp, but a war breaking out at this time between Barkai, and Houlagou, the conqueror of Persia, the two brothers, not wishing to be in the midst of a country where war was being waged, went to Bokhara, and there they remained three years. But when Barka'i was vanquished and his capital taken, the partisans of Houlagou induced the two Venetians to follow them to the residence of the grand Khan of Tartary, who was sure to give them a hearty welcome. This Kublai-Khan, the fourth son of Gengis-Khan, was Emperor of China, and was then at his summer-palace in Mongolia, on the frontier of the Chinese empire. The Venetian merchants set out, and wei'e a whole year crossing the immense extent of country lying between Bokhara and the northern limits of China. Kublai-Khan was much pleased to receive these strangers from the distant West. He f^ted them, and asked, with much eagerness, for any information that they could give him of what was happening in P]urope, requiring details of the government of the various kings and emperors, and their methods of making war; and he then conversed at some length about the Pope and the state of the Latin Church. Matteo and Nicolo fortunately spoke the Tartar language fluently, so they could freely answer all the emperor's questions. It had occurred to Kublai-Khan to send messengers to the Pope; and he seized the opportunity to beg the two brothers to act as his ambassadors to his Holiness. The merchants thankfully accepted his proposal, for they foresaw that this new character would be very advantageous to them. The emperor had some charters drawn up in the Turkish language, asking the Pope to send a hundred learned men to convert his people to Christianity ; then he appointed one of his barons named Cogatal to accompany them, and he charged them to bring him some oil from the sacred lamp, which is perpetually burning before the tomb of Christ at Jerusalem. The two brothers took leave of the khan, having been furnished with passports by him, which put both men and horses at their disposal throughout the empire, and in 1266 they set out on their journey. Soon the baron Cogatal fell ill, and the Venetians were obliged to leave him and continue their journey ; but in spite of all the aid that had been given to them, they were three years in Kubbi-Khan's feast on the arrival of the Venetian. Merchants. Pnge 44. MARCO POLO. 45 reaching the port of Lai'as, in Armenia, now known by the name of Issus. Leaving this port, they arrived at Acre in 1269, where they heard of the death of Pope Clement IV., to whom they were sent, but the legate Theobald lived in Acre and received the Venetians ; learning what was the object of their mission he begged thera to wait for the election of the new Pope. The brothers had been absent from their country for fifteen years, so they resolved to return to Venice, and at Negropont they embarked on board a vessel that was going direct to their native town. On landing there, Nicolo was met by news of the death of his wife, and of the birth of his son, who had been born shortly after his departure in 1 254 ; this son was the celebrated Marco Polo. The two brothers waited at Venice for the election of the Pope, but at the end of two years, as it had not taken place, they thought they could no longer defer their return to the Emperor of the Mongols ; accordingly they started for Acre, taking Marco Polo with them, who could not then have been more than seventeen. At Acre they had an interview with the legate Theobald, who authorized them to go to Jerusalem and there to procure some of the sacred oil. This mission accomplished, the Venetians returned to Acre and asked the legate to give them letters to Kublai-Khan, mentioning the death of Pope Clement IV.; he complied with their request, and they returned to Laias or Issus. There, to their great joy, they learnt that the legate Theobald had just been made Pope with the title of Gregory X., on the 1st of September, 1271. The newly-elected Pope sent at once for the Venetian envoys, and the King of Armenia placed a galley at their disposal to expedite their return to Acre. The Pope received them with much affection, and gave them letters to the Emperor of China; he added two preaching friars, Nicholas of Vicenza and William of Tripoli, to their party, and gave them his blessing on their departure. They went back to Lalas, but had scarcely arrived before they were made prisoners by the soldiers of the Mameluke Sultan Bibars, who was then ravaging Armenia. The two preaching friars were so discouraged at this outset of the expedition that they gave up all idea of going to China, and left the two Venetians and Marco Polo to prosecute the journey together as best they could. Here begins' what may properly be called Marco Polo's travels- 46 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. It is a question if he really visited all the places that he describes, and it seems probable that he did not ; in fact, in the narrative written at his dictation by Rusticien of Pisa it is stated "Marco-Polo, a wise and noble citizen of Venice, saw nearly all herein described with his own ej'es, and what he did not see he learnt from the lips of truth ful and credible witnesses;" but we must add that the greater part of the kingdoms and towns spoken of by Marco Polo he certainly did visit. We will follow the route he describes, simply pointing out what the traveller learnt by hear say, during the important missions with which he was charged by Kublai-Khan. During this second journey the travellers did not follow exactly the same road as on the first occasion of their visit to the Emperor of China. They had lengthened their route by passing to the north of the celestial mountains, but now they turned to the south of them, and though this route was shorter than the other, they were three years and a half In accomplishing their journey, being much Impeded by the rains and the dlflSculty of crossing the great rivers. Their course may be easily followed with the help of a map of Asia, as we have substituted the modern names In place of the ancient ones used by Marco Polo in his narrative Marco Polo Page 47. Marco Polo. Armenia Minor — Armenia — Mount Ararat — Georgia — Mosul, Baghdad, Bussorah, Tauris — Persia — The Province of Kirman — Comadi — Ormuz — The Old Man of the Mountain — Cheburgan — Balkh — Cashmir — Kashgar — Samarcand— Kotan — The Desert — Tangun — Kara-Korum — Signan-fu — The Great Wall — Chang-tou — The residence of Kublai-Khan — Cambaluc, now Pekin — The Emperor's fStes — His hunting — Description of Pekin — Chinese Mint and hank-notes — The system of posts in the Empire. Makco Polo left the town of Issus ; he describes Armenia Minor as a very unhealthy place, the inhabitants of which, though once valiant, are now cowardly and wretched, their only talent seeming to lie In their capacity for drinking to excess. From Armenia Minor he went to Turcomania, whose inhabitants, though some what of savages, are clever in cultivating pastures and breeding horses and mules ; and the townspeople excel in the manufacture of carpets and silk. Armenia Proper, that Marco Polo next visited, affords a good camping-ground to the Tartar armies during the summer. There the traveller saw Mount Ararat, where Noah's Ark rested after the Deluge. He noticed that the lands bordering on the Caspian Sea afford large supplies of naphtha, which forms an important item in the trade of that neighbourhood. When he left Armenia he took a north-easterly course towards Georgia, a kingdom lying on the south side of the Caucasus, whose ancient kings, says the legend, " were born with an eagle traced on their right shoulders." The Georgians, he describes as good archers and men of war, and also as clever in working in gold and manufacturing silk. Here is a cele brated defile, four leagues in length, which lies between the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, that the Turks call the Iron Door, and Europeans the Pass of Derbend, and here too is the miraculous lake, where fish are said to exist only during Lent. Hence the travellers descended towards the kingdom of Mosul, and arrived at the town of the same name on the right bank of the Tigris, thence going to Baghdad, the residence of the Caliph of all 48 THE EXPLORATIO>' OE THE WORLD. the Saracens. Marco Polo gives an account of the taking of Baghdad by the Tartars in 1255 ; mentioning a wonderful story In , support of the Christian idea of Faith, "that can remove mountains ;" he points out the route from this town to the Persian Gulf, which may be reached in eighteen days by the river, passing Bussorah, the country of dates. From this point to Tauris, a Persian town in the province of Adzer-baidjan, Marco Polo's route seems to be doubtful. He takes .up his narrative at Tauris, which he describes as a large flourishing town built in the midst of beautiful gardens and carrying on a great traffic in precious stones and other valuable merchandise, but its Saracen inhabitants are disloyal and treacherous. Here he seems' to divide Persia geographically Into eight provinces. The natives of Persia, according to him, are formidable enemies to the mer chants, who are obliged to travel armed with bows and arrows. The principal trade of the country seems to be in horses and asses, which are sent to Kis or Ormuz and thence to India. The natural productions of the country are wheat, barley, millet, and grapes, which grow in abundance. Marco Polo went next to Yezd, the most easterly town of Persia Proper ; on leaving it, after a ride of seven days through magnificent forests abounding in game, he came to the province of Kirman. Here the mines yield large quantities of turquoise, as well as iron and antimony ; the manufacture of arms and harness as well as embroidery and the training of falcons for hunting occupy a great number of the inhabitants. On leaving Kirman Marco Polo and his two companions set out on a nine days' journey across a rich and populous country to the town of Comadi, which is supposed to be the Memaun of the present day, and was even then sinking into decay. The country was superb ; on all sides were to be seen fine fat sheep, great oxen, white as snow, with short strong horns, and thousands of domestic fowls and other birds; also there were magnificent date, orange, and pistachio trees. After travelling for five days they entered the beautiful and well watered plain of Cormos or Ormuz, and after two days' further march they reached the shores of the Persian Gulf and the town of Ormuz, which forms the sea-port of the kingdom of Kirman. This country they found very warm and unhealthy, but rich in date and spice trees, in grain. MARCO POLO. 49 precious stones, silk and golden stuffs, and elephants* tusks, wine made from the date and other merchandise being brought into the town ready for shipment on board ships with but one mast, which came in numbers to the port ; but many were lost on the voyage to India, as they were only built with wooden pegs, not iron nails, to fasten them together. From Ormuz, Marco Polo, going up again towards the north east, visited Kirman ; then he ventured by dangerous roads across a sandy desert, where there was only brackish water to be found, the desert across which, 1500 years before, Alexander had led his army to meet Nearchus. Seven days afterwards he entered the town of Khabis. On leaving this town he crossed for eight days the great plains to Tonokan, the capital of the province of Kumis, probably Damaghan. At this point of his narrative Marco Polo gives an account of the " Old Man of the Mountain," the chief of the Mahometan sect called the Hashishins, who were neted for their religious fanaticism and terrible cruelty. He next visited the Khorassan town of Cheburgan, a city celebrated far Its sweet melons, and then the noble city of Balkh, situated near the* source of the Oxus. Next he crossed a country infested by lions to Taikan, a great salt-market frequented by a large number of merchants, and to Scasem ; this town seems to be the Kashme spoken of by Marsden, the Kishin or Krishin of Hiouen-Tsang, which Sir Henry Rawlinson has identified with the hill of Kharesm of Zend-Avesta, that some commentators think must be the modern Koundouz. In this part of the country he says porcu pines abound, and when they are hunted they curl themselves up, darting out the prickles on their sides and backs at the dogs that are hunting them. We now know how much faith to put in this pretended power of defence said to be possessed by the porcupine. Marco Polo now entered the rocky mountainous kingdom of the Balkhs, whose kings claim descent from Alexander the Great ; a cold country, producing good fast horses, excellent falcons, and all kinds of game. Here, too, are prolific ruby-mines worked by the king and which yield large quantities, but they are so strictly enclosed that no one on pain of death may set foot on the Sighinan mountain containing the mines. In other places silver is found, and many precious stones, of which he says " they make 60 THE EXPLORATION OE THE "WORLD. the finest azure in the world," meaning lapis-lazuli ; his stay in this part of the country must have been a long one to have enabled him to observe so many of its characteristics. Ten days' journey froin hence he entered a province which must be the Peshawur of the present day, whose dark-skinned inhabitants were idolaters ; then after sevens days' further march, about mid day he came to the kingdom of Cashmere, where the tem,perature is cool, and towns and villages are very numerous. Had Marco Polo continued his route In the same direction he would soon have reached the territory of India, but instead of that he took a northerly course, and in twelve days was in Vaccan, a land watered by the Upper Oxus, which runs through splendid pastures, where feed immense flocks of wild sheep, called mufflons. Thence he went through a mountainous country, lying between the Altai and Himalayan ranges to Kashgar. Here Marco Polo's route is the same as that of his uncle and his father during their first voyage, when from Bokhara they were taken to the residence of the great khan. From Kashgar, Marco Polo diverged a little to the west, to Samarcand, a large town inhabited by Saracens and Christians, then to Yarkand, a city frequented by caravans trading beween India and Northern Asia ; passing by Khotan, the capital of the province of that name, and by Pein, a town whose situation is uncertain, but in a part of the country where chalcedony and jasper abound. He came to the kingdom of Kharachar, which extends along the borders of the desert of Jobe ; then after five days* further travelling over sandy plains, where there was no water fit to drink, he rested for eight days in the city of Lob, a place now in ruins, while he prepared to cross the desert lying to the east, " so great a desert," he says, " that it would require a year to traverse its whole length, a haunted wilderness, where drums and other instruments are heard, though invisible." After spending a year crossing this desert, Marco Polo reaqhed Tcha-tcheou, in the province of Tangaut, a town built on the western limits of the Chinese empire. There are but few merchants here, the greater part of the population being agricultural. The custom that seems to have struck him the most In the province of Tangaut, was that of burning their dead only on a day fixed by the astrologers; " all the time that the dead remain in their houses, the relations stay there with them, preparing a place at each meal MARCO POLO. 51 as well as providing both food and drink for the corpse, as though it were still alive." Marco Polo and his companions made an excursion to the north east, to the city of Amil, going on as far as Ginchlntalas, a town inhabited by idolaters, Mahometans, and Nestorian Christians, whose situation is disputed. From this town Marco Polo returned to Tcha-tcheou, and went eastward across Tangaut, by the town of So-ceu, over a tract of country particularly favourable to the culti vation of rhubarb, and by Kanpiceon, the Khan-tcheou of the Chinese, then the capital of the province of Tangaut, an important town, whose numerous chiefs are idolaters and polygamists. The three Venetians remained a year in this large city ; it is easy to understand, from their long halts and deviations, why they required three 5rears for their journey across Central Asia. , They left Khan-tcheou, and after riding for twelve days they reached the borders of a sandy desert, and entered the city of Etzina. This was another detour, as it lay directly north of their route, but they wished to visit Kara-Korum, the celebrated capital of Tartary, where Rubruquis had been in 1254. Marco Polo was certainly an explorer by nature ; fatigue was nothing to him if he had any geographical studies to complete, which is proved by his spending forty days crossing an uninhabited desert without vegetation, in order to reach the Tartar town. When he arrived there, he found a city measuring three miles in circumference, which had been for a long time the capital of the Empire, before it was- conquered by Gengis-Khan, the grand father of the reigning emperor. Here Marco Polo makes an historical digression, in which he gives an account of the wars of the Tartar chiefs against the famous Prester John who held all this part of the country under his dominion. Marco Polo after returning to Khan-tcheou left it agaluj marching five days towards the east, and arriving at the town of Erginul. Thence he went a little to the south to visit Sining-foo, across a tract of country where grazed great wild oxen and the valuable species of goat which is called the "musk-bearer." Returning to Erginul, they went eastward to Cialis, where there is the best manufactory of cloth made from camels' hair in the world, to Tenduc, a town in the province of the same name, where a descendant of Prester John reigned, but who had given in 52 THE EXPLORATION OF THE "WORLD. his submission to the great khan ; this was a busy flourishing town : from hence the travellers went to Sinda-tchou, and on beyond the great wall of China as far as Ciagannor, which must be Tzin-balgassa, a pretty town where the emperor lives when he wishes to hawk; for cranes, storks, pheasants, and partridges abound in this neighbourhood. At last Marco Polo, his father, and his uncle, reached Ciandu or Tchan-tchou of the present day, called elsewhere in this narrative Clemen-foo. Here Kublai-Khan received the papal envoys, for he was occupying his summer palace beyond the great wall, north of Pekin, which was then the capital of the empire. The traveller does not tell us what reception he met with, but he describes most carefully the palace, the grandeur of the building of stone and marble, standing In the middle of a park surrounded by walls, enclosing menageries and fountains. Also a building made of reeds, so closely interlaced as to be impenetrable to water ; It was a sort of movable kiosk that the great khan inhabited during the fine months of June, July, and August. The weather during the emperor's sojourn in this summer palace could not but be beautiful, for, according to Marco Polo, the astrologers who were attached to the khan's court were charged to scatter all rain and fog by their sorcery, and the travellers seem to believe In the power of these magicians. " These astrologers," he says, " belono to two races, both Idolaters ; they are learned in all magic and enchantments, above any other men, and what they do is done by the aid of the devil, but they make others believe that they owe their power to the help of God, and their own holiness. These people have the following strange custom : when a man has been condemned and put to death, they take the body, cook, ¦ and eat it ; but in the case of a natural death they do not eat the body. And you must know that these people of whom I am speaking, who know so many kinds of enchantments, work the wonder I am about to relate. When the great khan Is seated at dinner In the principal dinlng-hall, the table of which is eight cubits in length, and the cups are on the floor ten paces from the table, filled with wine, milk, and other good beverages, these clever magicians, by their arts, make these cups rise by themselves, and without any one touching them, they are placed before the great khan. This has been done before an Immense \\rAUBOURIi ? Kini te, \\ yRGan-cJiin- iwancf-hi . I Plan of Pekin. Pr^ge 53- MARCO POLO. 63 number of people, and is the exact truth; and those skilled in necromancy will tell you that it is quite possible to do this." Marco Polo next gives a history of Kublal, whom he considers to possess more lands and treasures than any man since our first father, Adam. He tells how the great khan ascended the throne in the year 1256, being then eighty-five ; he was a man of middle height, rather stout, but of a fine figure, with a good complexion and black eyes. He was a good commander in war, and his talents were put to the proof when his uncle Naian, having rebelled against him, wished to dispute his power at the head of 400,000 cavalry. Kublai-Khan collected (in secret) a force of 300,000 horsemen, and 100,000 foot-soldiers, and marched against his uncle. The battle was a most terrible one, so many men being killed, but the khan was victorious, and Nalan, as a prince of the blood royal, was condemned to be sewn up tightly in a carpet, and died In great suffering. After his victory the khan made a triumphal entry into Cathay, capital of Cambaluc, or, as it is now called, Pekin. When Marco Polo arrived at this city he made a long stay there, remaining until the emperor needed his services to undertake various missions into the Interior of China. The emperor had a splendid palace at Cambaluc, and the traveller gives so graphic an account of the riches and magnificence of the Mongol sovereigns, that we give it word for word. " The palace is surrounded by a great wall, a mile long each way, four miles in length altogether, very thick, ten feet in height, all white and battlemented. At each corner of this wall is a palace beautiful and rich, in which all the trappings of war belonging to the great khan are kept ; his bows, quivers, the saddles and bridles of the horses, the bow-strings, in fact everything that would be wanted in time of war ; in the midst of each square is another building, like those at the corner, so that there are eight In all, and each building contains one particular kind of harness or trapping. In the wall on the south side are five doors, the middle or large door only being opened when the emperor wishes to go In or out ; near this great gate on either side is a smaller one through which other people may pass, and two others for the same purpose. Inside this wall is another, having also eight buildings to be used in the same manner." Thus we see that all these buildings constituted the emperor's 54 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. armoury and harness-store; we shall not be surprised that- there was so much harness to be kept when we know that the. emperor possessed a race of horses white as snow, and among ^ them ten thousand mares, whose milk was reserved for the sole^ use of princes of the blood royal. Marco Polo continues his narrative thus :— " The inner wall has - five gates on the south side, answering to those in the outer wall, but on the other sides the walls have only one gate each. In the centre of the enclosure made by these walls, stands the palace, the largest in the world. It has no second story, but the ground-floor is raised about eight feet above the ground. The roof is very high, the walls of the rooms are covered with gold and silver, and on this gold and silver are paintings of dragons, birds, horses, and other animals, so that nothing can be seen but gilding and pictures. The dining-hall is large enough to hold 6000 men, and the number of other rooms is marvellous, and all is so well arranged that it could not be improved. The ceilings are painted vermillion, green, blue, yellow, and all kinds of colours, varnished so as to shine like crystal, and the roof is so well built that it will last for many years. Between the two walls the land is laid out in fields with fine trees in them, containing different species of animals, the musk-ox, white deer, roe-buck, fallow-deer, and other animals, who fill the space between the walls, except the roads reserved for human beings. On the north-western side is a great lake, full of fishes of divers kinds, for the great kh^n has had several species placed there, and each time that he desires it to be done, he has his will in it. A river rises In this lake and flows out from the grounds of the palace, but no fish -escape iu it, there being iron and brass nets to prevent their doing so. On the northern side, near an arched doorway, the emperor has had a mound made, a hundred feet in height and more than a mile in circumference ; it is covered with evergreen trees, and the emperor, being very fond of horticulture, whenever he hears of a fine tree, sends for it and has it brought by his elephants,'with the roots and surrounding soil, the size of the tree being no impediment, and thus he has the finest collection of trees in the world. The hill is called 'green hill,' from Its being covered with evergreen trees and green turf, and on the top of the hill is a house. This hill is altogether so beautiful that it is the admiration of every one." MAUCO POLO. 55 After Marco Polo has concluded his description of this palace, he gives one of that of the emperor's son and heir ; then he speaks of the town of Cambaluc, the old town which is separated from the modern town of Taidu by a canal, the same which divides the Chinese and Tartar quarters of Pekin. The traveller gives many particulars of the emperor's habits, and among other things, he says that Kublai-Khan has a body-guard of 2000 horse-soldiers; but he adds, " it is not fear that causes him to keep this guard." His meals are real ceremonies, and etiquette is most rigidly enforced. His table is raised above the others, and he always sits on the north side with his principal wife on his right, and lower down his sons, nephews, and relations ; he is waited upon by noble barons, who are careful to envelope their mouths and noses in fine cloth of gold, "so that their breath and their odour may not con taminate the food or drink of their lord." When the emperor is about to drink, a band of music plays, and when he takes the cup in his hand, all the barons and every one present, fall on their knees. The principal fetes given by the grand khan were on the anniversary of his birth, and on the first day of the year. At the first, 12,000 barons were accustomed to assemble round the throne, and to them were presented annually 150,000 garments made of gold and silk and ornamented with pearls, whilst the subjects, idolaters as well as Christians, offered up public prayers. At the second of these fetes, on the first day of the jea.r, the whole population, men and women alike, appeared dressed in white, following the tradi tion that white brings good fortune, and every one brought gifts to the king of great value. One hundred thousand richly- caparisoned horses, five thousand elephants covered with handsome cloths and carrying the Imperial plate, as well as a large number of camels, passed In procession before the emperor. During the three winter months of December, January, and February, when the khan is living in his winter palace, all the nobles within a radius of sixty days' march are obliged to supply him with boars, stags, fallow-deer, roes, and bears. Besides, Kublai is a great huntsman himself, and his hunting-train is superbly mounted and kept up. He has leopards, lynxes and fine lions trained to hunt for wild animals, eagles strong enough to chase wolves, foxes, fallow and roe-deer, and, as Marco Polo says, "often to take them too," and his dogs may be counted by 66 THE EXPLORATION OF THE "WORLD. thousands. It is about March when the emperor begins his principal hunting in the direction of the sea, and he is accompanied by no less than 10,000 falconers, 500 gerfalcons, and many goshawks, peregrine, and sacred falcons. During the hunting excursion, a portable palace, covered outside with lions' skins and inside with cloth • of gold, and carried on four elephants harnessed together, accompanies the emperor everywhere, who seems to enjoy all this oriental pomp and display. He goes as far as the camp of Chachiri-Mongou, which is situated on a stream, a tributary of the river Amoor, and the tent Is set up, which is large enough to hold ten thousand nobles. This is his reception- saloon where he gives audiences ; and when he wishes to sleep he goes into a tent which is hung all round with ermine and, sable furs of almost priceless value. The emperor lives thus till about Easter, hunting cranes, swans, hares, stags, roebucks, &c., and then returns to his capital, Cambaluc. Marco Polo now completes his description of this fine city and enumerates the twelve quarters It contains, in many of which the rich merchants have their palatial houses, for commerce flourishes in this town, and more valuable merchandise is brought to it than to any other In the world. It is the depot and market lor the richest productions of India, such as pearls and precious stones, and merchants come from long distances round to purchase them. The khan has established a mint here for the benefit of trade, and it Is an Inexhaustible source of revenue to him. The bank-notes, sealed with the emperor's seal, are made of a kind of card-board manufactured from the bark of the mulberry-tree. The card-board thus prepared is cut into various thicknesses according to the value of the money it is supposed to represent. The currency of this money is enforced, none daring to refuse It "on pain of death ;" the emperor using It in all his payments, and enforcing its circulation throughout his dominions. Besides this, several times In the year the possessors of precious stones, pearls, gold, or silver, are obliged, to bring their treasures to the mint and receive in exchange for them these pieces of card-board, so that, In fact, the emperor becomes the possessor of all tho riches in his empire. According to Marco Polo the system of the Imperial Government was wonderfully centi-alized. " The kingdom is divided into thirty- four provinces, and is governed bv twelve of the greatest barons The World of Marco Polo. Page 56. MARCO POLO. 67 living in Cambaluc ; in the same palace also reside the intendants and secretaries, who conduct the business of each province. From this central city a great number of roads diverge to the various parts of the kingdom, and on these roads are now post-houses stationed at Intervals of twenty-two miles, where well-mounted messengers are always ready to carry the emperor's messages. Besides this, at every three miles on the road there is a little hamlet of about fourteen houses where the couriers live, who carry messages on foot ; these men wear a belt round their waists and have a girdle with bells attached to it, that are heard at a long distance ; they start at a gallop, quickly accomplishing the three miles and giving the message to the courier who is waiting for it at the next hamlet ; thus the emperor receives news from places at long distances from the capital in a comparatively short time." This mode of communication also involved but small expense to Kublai-Khan, as the only remuneration he gave these couriers was their exemption from taxation, and as to the horses, they were furnished gratuitously by the provinces. But if the emperor used his power in this manner to lay heavy burdens upon his subjects, he exerted himself actively for their good, and was always ready to help them ; for instance, when their crops were damaged by hail-storms, he not only remitted all taxes, but gave them corn from his own stores, and when there was any great mortality among the flocks and herds In any particular province, he always replaced them at his own expense. He was careful to have a large quantity of wheat, barley, millet, and rice, stored up in years of abundant harvest, so as to keep the price of grain at a uniform rate when the harvest failed. He was particularly careful of the poor who lived in Cambaluc. " He had a list made of all the poorest houses in the town, where they were usually short of food, and supplied them liberally with wheat and other grain according to the size of their families, and bread was never refused to any applying at the palace for it ; it Is computed that at least 30,000 persons avail themselves of this daily throughout the year. His kindness to his poor subjects makes them almost worship him." The whole affairs of the empire are admililstered with great care, the roads well kept up and planted with fine trees, so that from a distance their direction can easily be traced. There is no want of wood, and in Cathay 58 I'HE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. they work a number of coal-pits which supply abundance of coal. Marco Polo remained a long time at Cambaluc, and his intelli gence, spirit, and readiness in adapting himself, made him a great favourite with the emperor. He was intrusted with various missions, not only in China, but also to places on the coast of India, Ceylon, the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, and a part of Cochin-China near Cambogia, and between the years 1277 and 1280 he was made governor of Yang-tcheou, and of twenty- seven other towns which were joined with it under the same government. Thanks to the missions on which he was sent, he travelled over an immense extent of country, and gained a great amount of ethno logical and geographical knowledge. We can now follow him map in hand through some of these journeys, which were of the greatest service to science A fine bridge of stone built on twenty-four arches. P.it;,- 59. in. Marco Polo. Tso-cheu — Tai-yen-fou — Pin-yang-fou — The Yellow Eiver— Signan-fou — Szu tchouan — Ching-tu-fou — Thibet — Li-kiang-fou — Carajau — I'ung-tchang — Mien — Bengal — Annam — Tai-ping— Cintingui — Sindifoo — T^ cheu — Tsi- nan-fou — Lin-tsin-choo —Lin-sing — Mangi — Yang-tcheu-lou — Towns on the coast — Qain-say or Hang-tcheou-foo — Po-kien. Whev Marco Polo had been at Cambaluc some time, he was sent on a mission that kept him absent from the capital for four months. Ten miles southwards from Cambaluc, he crossed the fine river Pe-ho-nor (which he calls the Pulisanghi), by a stone bridge of twenty-four arches, and 300 feet in length, which was then without parallel in the world. Thirty miles further on he came to the town of Tso-cheu, where a large trade in sandal-wood Is carried on ; at ten days' journey from hence he came to the modern town of Tai-yen-fou, which was once the seat of -an independent government. All the province of Shan-si seemed rich in vines and mulberry-trees ; the principal industry in the towns was the making of armour for the emperor's use. Seven days' journey further on they came to the beautiful commercial city of Pianfou, now called Pin-yang-foo, where the manufacture of silk was carried on. He soon afterwards came to the banks of the Yellow River, which he calls Caramoran or Black River, probably on account of its waters being darkened by the aquatic plants growing In them ; at two days' journey from hence he came to the town of Cacianfu, whose position is not now clearly defined. He found nothing remarkable in this town, and leaving it he rode across a beautiful country, covered with towns, country-houses, and gardens, and abounding In game. In eight days he reached the fine city of Quangianfoo, the ancient capital of the Tang dynasty, now called SIgnanfoo, and the capital of Shensi ; here reigned Prince Mangalai, the emperor's son, an upright and amiable prince, much loved by his people. He lived in a magnificent palace outside the town, built in the 60 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. midst of a park, of which the battlemented wall cannot have been less than five miles in circumference. From Signanfoo, the traveller went towards Thibet, across the modern province of Szu-tchouan, a mountainous country inter sected by deep valleys, where lions, bears, lynxes, &c., abounded, and after twenty-eight days' march he found himself on the borders of the great plain of Acmelic-mangi. This is a fertile country and produces all kinds of vegetation ; ginger is especially cultivated ; there is sufficient to supply all the province of Cathay, and so fertile is the soil that according to a French traveller, M. E. Simon, an acre is now worth 15,000 francs, or three francs the metre. In the thirteenth century this plain was covered with towns and country-houses, and the inhabitants lived upon the fruits of the ground, and the produce of their flocks and herds, while the large quantity of game furnished hunters with abundant occupation. Marco Polo next visited the town of Sindafou (now Tching-too- foo), the capital of the province of Se-tchu-an, whose population at the present day exceeds 1,500,000 souls. Sindafu, measuring at that time twenty miles round, was divided Into three parts, each surrounded with Its own wall, and each part had a king of its own before Kublai-Khan took possession of the town. The great river Kiang ran through the town : It contained large quantities. of fish, and from its size resembled a sea more than a river; its waters were covered by a vast number of vessels. Five days after leaving this busy, thriving town Marco Polo reached the province of Thibet, which he says "is very desolate, for it has been destroyed by the war." Thibet abounds in lions, bears, and other savage animals, from which the travellers would have much difficulty in defending themselves had it not been for the quantity of large thick canes that grow there, which are probably bamboos: he says, "the merchants and travellers passing through these countries at night collect a quantity of these canes and make a large fire of them, for when they are burning they make such a noise and crackle so rauch, that the lions, bears, and other wild beasts take flight to a distance, and would not approach these fires on any account ; thus both men, horses, and camels are safe. In another way, too, protection is afforded by throwing a number of these canes on a MARCO POLO. 61 wood fire, and when they become heated and split, and the sap hisses, the sound is heard at least ten miles off. When any one is not accustomed to this noise, it Is so terrifying that even the horses will break away from their cords and tethers; so their owners often bandage their eyes and tie their feet together to prevent their running away." This method of burning canes is still used in countries where the bamboo grows, and indeed the noise may be compared to the loudest explosion of fire-works. According to Marco Polo, Thibet Is a very large province, having its own language ; and its inhabitants, who are idolaters, are a race of bold thieves. A large river, the Khin-cha-kiang, flows over auriferous sands through the province ; a quantity of coral is found in it which is much used for Idols, and for the adornment of the women. Thibet was at this time under the dominion of the great khan. The traveller took a westerly direction when he left Sindafou, and crossing the kingdom of Gaindu he must have come to Li- kiang-foo, the capital of the country that is now called Tsi-mong. In this province he visited a beautiful lake which produces pearl- oysters ; the fishing is the emperor's property ; he also found great quantities of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and other spices under cultivation. After leaving the province of Gaindu, and crossing a large river, probably the Irrawady, Marco Polo took a south-easterly course to the province of Carajan, which probably forms the north-western part of Yunnan. According to his account all the inhabitants of this province, who are mostly great riders, live on the raw flesh of fowls, sheep, buffaloes, and oxen ; the rich seasoning their raw meat with garlic sauce and good spices. This country is infested with great adders, and serpents, " hideous to look upon." These reptiles, probably alligators, were ten feet long, had two legs armed with claws, and with their large heads and great jaws could at one gulp swallow a man. Five days' journey west of Carajan, Marco Polo took a new route to the south, and entered the province of Zardandan, whose capital Noclan, is the modern town of Yung-chang. All the inhabitants of the city had teeth of gold ; that is to say, they covered their teeth with little plates of- gold which they removed before eating. The men of this province employed themselves only in hunting, 62 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. catching birds, and making war, the hard work all devolving upon the women and slaves. These Zardanians have neither idols nor churches, but they each worship their ancestor, the patriarch of the family. Their tradesmen carry their goods about on bar»ows like the bakers in France. They have no doctors, but only en chanters, who jump, dance, and play musical Instruments around the invalid's bed till he either dies or recovers. Leaving these people with gilded teeth, Marco Polo took the great road which conveys all the traffic between India and Indo- ¦ China, and passed by Bhamo, where a market is held three times a week, which attracts merchants from the most distant countries. After riding for fifteen days through forests filled with elephants, unicorns, and other wild animals, he came to the great city of Mien ; that is to say, to that part of Upper Burmah, of which the present capital, of recent erection, is. called Amarapura. This city of Mien, which may be, perhaps, the old town of Ava now in ruins, or the old town of Paghan situated on the Irrawaddy, possessed a veritable architectural marvel, in two towers, one built of fine stone, and entirely covered with a coating of gold about an inch in thickness, and the other, also of stone, coated with silver, both intended to serve as a tomb for the king of Mien,, before his kingdom fell under the dominion of the khan. After visiting this pxovince, the traveller went to Bangala, the Bengal of the present day, which at this time, 1290, did not belong to Kublai- Khan. The emperor's forces were then engaged in trying to conquer this fertile country, rich in cotton , plants, in sugar-canes, &c., and whose magnificent oxen were like elephants in height. From thence, the traveller ventured as far as the city of Cancigu, in the province of the same name, probably the modern town of Kassaye. The natives here tattooed their bodies, and with needles drew pictures of lions, dragons, and birds on their faces, necks, bellies, hands, legs, and bodies, and he who had the greatest number of these pictures they considered the most beautiful of human beings. Cancigu was the most southerly point "visited by Marco Polo, during this journey. Leaving this city, he went towards the north east, and by the country of Amu, Anam, and Tonkin, he reached Toloman, now called Tai-ping, after fifteen days' march. There he found that fine race of men, of dark colour, who have crowned Marco Polo in the midst of the forests. Page 62. MARCO POLO. 63 their mountains with strong CHstles, and whose ordinary food is the flesh of animals, milk, rice, and spices. On leaving Toloman, he followed the course of a river for twelve days, and found numerous towns on its banks. Here, as M. Charton truly observes, the traveller is leaving the country known as India beyond the Ganges, and returning towards China. In fact, Marco Polo after leaving Toloman visited the province of Guigul with its capital of the same name, and what struck him most in this country, (and we cannot but think that the bold explorer was also" a keen hunter) was the great number of lions that were to be seen about Its mountains and plains. Only, com mentators are of opinion that the lions he speaks of must have been tigers, for no lions are found in China, but we will give his own words : he says, " There are so many lions in this country, that it is not safe to sleep out of doors for fear of being devoured. And when you are on the river and stop for the night, you must be careful to anchor far from land, for otherwise the lions come to the vessel, seize upon a man, and devour him. The Inhab' .'.nts of this part of the country are well aware of this, and so take measures to guard against it. These lions are very large and very dangerous, but there are dogs in this country-brave enough to attack these lions ; it requires two dogs and a man to overcome each lion." From this province Marco Polo returned to SIndlfu, the capital of the province of Se-chuen, whence he had started on his excursion into Thibet ; and retracing the route by which he had set out, he returned to Kublai'-Khan, after ha-ving brought his mission to Indo-China to a satisfactory termination. It was probably at this time that the traveller was first entrusted by the emperor with another mission to the south-east of China. M. Pauthier, in his fine work upon the Venetian traveller, speaks of this south-easterly part of China as "the richest and most flourishing quarter of this vast empire and that also about which, since the 16th century, Europeans have had the most Information.'* As we return to the route that M. Pauthier has traced on his map, we find that Marco Polo went southwards to Ciangll, probably the town ofTi-choo, and at six days' journey from thence he came to Condinfoo, the present city of Tsi-nan, the capital of the province of Shan-tung, the birthplace of Confucius. It was 64 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. at that time a fine town and much frequented by silk-merchants, and Its beautiful gardens produced abundance of excellent fruit. Three days' march from hence, the traveller came to the town of Lin-tsing, standing at the mouth of the Yu-ho canal, the principal rendezvous for the Innumerable boats that carry so much merchandise to the provinces of Mangi and Cathay. Eight tiays afterwards he passed by Ligui, which seems to correspond to the modern town of Lin-tsin, and the town of Piceu, the first city in the province of Tchang-su; then by the town of Cingui, he arrived at Caramoran, the Yellow river, which he had crossed higher up when he was on his way to Indo-China ; here Marco Polo was not more than a league from the mouth of this great river. After crossing It he was in the province of Mangi, a territory included in the Empire of the Soongs. Before this province of Mangi belonged to Kublai-Khan It was governed by a very pacific king, who shunned war, and was very merciful to all his subjects. Marco Polo describes him so well that we will quote his own words. " This last emperor of the Soong dynasty^was most generous, and I will cite but two noble traits to show this ; every year he had nearly 20,000 infants brought up at the royal charge, for it was the custom in these provinces, when a poor woman could not bring up a child herself, to cast it away as soon as it was born, to die. The king had all these children taken care of, and a record kept of the sign and the planet under which each was born, and then they were sent to different places to be brought up, for there are a quantity of nurses. When a rich man had no sons, he came to the king' and asked of him some of .his wards, who were immediately given to him. As the children grew up they intermarried, and the king gave them sufficient incomes to live upon. When he went through his dominions and saw a small house among several much larger ones, he inquired why this house was smaller than those near it, and if he found it was on account of the poverty of the owner, he Immediately had it made as large as the others at his own expense. He was always waited upon by a thousand pages and a thousand girls. He kept up such rigorous discipline throughout his kingdom that there was never any crime ; at night, houses and shops remained open, and nothing was taken from them, and travelling was as safe by night as by day." MARCO POLO. 65 Marco Polo came first to the town of Coigangui, now called Hoang-fou, on the banks of the Yellow River, where the principal Industry is the preparation of the salt found in the salt marshes. One day's journey from this town he came to Pau-in-chen, famous for its cloth of gold, and the town of Caiu, now Kao-yu, whose inhabitants are clever fishermen and hunters, then to the city of Tai-cheu, where numerous vessels are generally to be found, and at last to the city of Yangui. This town of Yangui, of which Marco Polo was the governor for three years, is the modern Yang-tchou ; it is a very populous and busy town, and cannot be less than two leagues in circum ference. It was from Yangui that the traveller set out on the various expeditions which enabled him to see so much of the Inland and sea-coast towns. First, the traveller went westward to Nan-ghin, which must not be confounded with Nan-kin of the present day. Its modern name is Ngan-khing, and it stands In the midst of a remarkably fertile province. Further on in the same direction he came to Saianfu, which is now called Siang-yang, and is built In the northern part of the province of Hou-pe. This was the last town In the province of Mangi that resisted the do-minion of Kublai- Khan ; he besieged it for three years, and he owed his taking it at last to the help of the three Polos, who constructed some powerful balistas and crushed the besieged under a perfect hail-storm of stones, some of which weighed as much as three hundred pounds. From Saianfu Marco Polo retraced his steps that he might visit ' some of the towns on the sea-coast. He visited Kui-kiang on the river Kiang, which is very broad here, and upon which 5000 ships can sail at the same moment ; Kain-gui, which supplies the Emperor's palace with corn ; Ching-kiang where are two Nestorian Christian churches ; GInguigui, now Tchang-tcheou, a busy thriving city ; and Singui, now called Soo-choo, a large town, which, according to the very exaggerated account of the Venetian traveller, has no less than 6000 bridges. After spending some time at Vugui, probably Hou-tcheou, and at Ciangan, now Kia-hing, Marco Polo reached the fine city of Quinsay,. after three days' march. This name means the " City of Heaven," but it is now called Hang-chow-foo. It is six leagues round ; the river Tsien-tang-kiang flows through it, and by its P 66 THE EXPLORATIOJ OE THE "WORLD. constant windings, makes Quinsay almost a second Venice. This ancient capif;al of the Soongs is almost as populous as Pekin ; Its streets are paved with stones aud bricks, and If we may credit Marco Polo's statement. It contained " 600,000 houses, 4000 bathing establishments, and 12,000 stone bridges." In this city dwell the richest merchants in the world with their wives, who are "beautiful and angelic creatures. It Is the residence of a viceroy, who has besides, 140 other cities under his dominion. Here was to be seen also the palace of the Mangi sovereigns surrounded by beautiful gardens, lakes, and fountains, the palace itself containing more than a thousand rooms. Kublai-Khan draws Immense revenues from this town and province, and it is by tens of thousands of pounds we must reckon the income derived from the sugar, salt, spices, and silk, which form the principal productions of this country. At one day's journey south from Quinsay, Marco Polo visited Chao- hing, Vugui, or Hou-tcheou, Ghengui or Kui-tcheou, Cianscian or Yo-tcheou-fou (according to M. Charton), and Soni-tchang-fou (according to M. Pauthier), and Cugui or Kiou-tcheou, the last town in the kingdom of Quinsay ; thence he entered the kingdom of Fugui, whose chief town of the same name Is now called Fou-tcheou-foo, the capital of the province of Fo-kien. According to Marco Polo, the inhabitants of this province are a cruel warlike race, never sparing their enemies, of whom, after they have killed them, they drink the blood and eat the flesh. After passing by Quenlifu, now Kien-ning-foo, and TJnguen, the traveller entered Fugui, probably the modern town of Kuant- tcheou (called Canton amongst us), and the chief town of the . province^ where a large trade in pearls and precious stones was cariied on, and in five days he reached the port of Zaitem, probably the Chinese town of Tsiuen-tcheou, which was the extreme point reached by him in this exploration of south-eastern China. IV. Maeco Polo, Japan — Departure of the three Venetians with the Emperor's daughter and the Persian ambassadors — Sai-gon — Java — Condor — Bintang — Sumatra — The Nicobar Islands — Ceylon — The Coromandel coast — The Malabar coast — The Sea of Oman — The island of Socotra — Madagascar — Zanzibar and the coast of Africa — Abyssinia — Yemen — Hadramaut and Oman — Ormuz — The return to Venice — A feast in the household of Polo — Marco Polo a Genoese prisoner — Death of Marco Polo about 1323. Marco Polo returned to the court of Kublai-Khan when he had finished the expedition of which we spoke in the last chapter. He was then entrusted with several ether missions, in which he found his knowledge of the Turkish, Chinese, Mongolian, and Mantchorian languages of the greatest use. He seems to have taken part in an expedition to the islands in the Indian Ocean, and he brought back a detailed account of this hitherto little known sea. There is a want of clearness as to dates at this part of his life, which makes it difficult to give a correct narrative of these voyages in their right order. He gives a circumstantial account of the Island of Cipango, a name applying to the group of islands which make up Japan ; but it does not appear that he actually entered that kingdom. This country was famous for Its wealth, and about 1264, some years before Marco Polo arrived at the Tartar court, Kublai-Khan had tried to conquer it and sent his fleet there with that purpose. They had taken possession of a citadel and put all Its valiant defenders to the edge of the sword, but just at the moment of apparent victory a storm arose and dispersed alt the enemy's fleet, and thus the expedition -was useless. Marco Polo gives a long account of this attempt, and adds many curious particulars as to Japanese customs. Marco Polo, with his father and uncle, had now been seventeen years In the service of Kublai-Khan, and even longer absent from their own country ; they had a great wish to revisit it, but the F 2 68 THE BXPLORA.TION OP THE WORLD. Emperor had become so much attached to them, and valued their services so highly, that he could not make up his mind to part with them. He tried In every way to shake their resolution, offering them riches and honour if' only they would remain with him, but they still held to their plan of returning to Europe ; the Emperor then absolutely refused to allow them to go, and Marco Polo could find no means of eluding the surveillance of which he was the object, until circumstances arose which quite changed Kublai- Khan's resolution. A Mongol prince, named Arghun, whose dominions were in Persia, had sent an ambassador to ^the Emperor to ask one of the princesses of the blood royal, in marriage. Kublai'-Khan acceded to his request and sent off his daughter Cogatra to Prince Arghun, attended by a numerous suite ; but the countries by which they endeavoured to travel were not safe ; the caravan was soon stopped by disturbances and rebellions, and after some months was obliged to return to the Emperor's palace. The Persian ambassadors had heard Marco Polo spoken of as a clever navigator who had had some experience of the Indian Ocean, and they begged the Emperor to confide the Princess Cogatra to his care, that he might conduct her to her future husband, thinking that the voyage by sea would probably be attended by less danger than a land journey. After some demur Kublai-Khan acceded to their request, and equipped a fleet of forty four-masted vessels, provisioning them for two years. Some of these were very large, having a crew of 250 men, for this was an important expedition worthy of the opulent Emperor of China. Matteo, Nicolo, and Marco Polo set out with the Chinese princess and the Persian ambassadors, and it was during this voyage, which lasted eighteen months, that it seems most probable that Marco Polo visited the islands of Sunda and other islands In the Indian Ocean, as well as Ceylon and the towns on the coast of India. We will follow him in his voyage and give his description of the places that he visited in this hitherto little known portion of the globe. It must have been about 1291 or 1292 that the fleet left the port of Zaitem, under the command of Marco Polo. He steered first for Tchampa, a great country situated at the south of Cochin China, and which contains the present province of Saigon, Kublai-Khan equip:: a fleet. Foge 6S- MARCO POLO. 69 belonging to France. This was not a new couniry to Marco Polo, as he had visited it about 1280, when he was on a mission for the Emperor. At this time, Tchampa was under the dominion of the grand khan, and paid him an annual tribute in elephants ; when Marco Polo visited this country before its conquest by Kublai-Khan, he found the reigning king had no less than 326 children, of whom 150 were old enough to carry arms. Leaving the peninsula of Cambodia, the fleet went In the direction of Java, the rich island that Kublai'-Khan had never been able to subjugate, where abundance of pepper, cloves, nutmegs, &c., grew. After putting into port at Condor and Sandur, at the extremity of the peninsular of Cochin China, they reached the Island of Pentam (Bintang) , situated near the eastern entrance of the straits of Malacca, and the island of Sumatra, called Little Java. " This island Is so much in the south," he says, " that they never see there the polar star," which is true as far as the inhabitants of the southern part are concerned. It is very fertile, aloes growing most luxuriantly ; and here wild elephants and rhinoceroses (called by Marco Polo unicorns) are found, and apes, too, In large numbers. The fleet was detained five months on these shores by contrary winds, and the traveller made the most of his time in visiting the principal provinces of the island, such as Samara, Dagraian, and Labrin (which boasts a great number of men with tails — evidently apes), and the island of Fandur or Panchor, where the sago-tree grows, from which a kind of flour is obtained that makes very good bread. At last the wind changed, and enabled the vessels to leave Little Java, and after touching at Necaran, which must be one of the Nicobar Islands, and at the Andaman group, whose inhabitants are still cannibals, as they were In the time of Marco Polo, the fleet took a south-westerly course and arrived on the coast of Ceylon. " This Island," says the traveller in his narrative, " was once much larger, for according to the map of the world that the pilots of these seas carry, it was once 3600 miles in circumference but the north wind blows with such force in these parts that It caused a part of the island to be submerged." This tradition is still held by the Inhabitants of Ceylon. Here are collected in abundance, rubies, sapphires, topaz, amethysts, and other precious stones, such as garnets, opals, agates, and sardonyx. The king of 70 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. the country was the possessor at this time of a most splendid ruby as long as the palm of the hand, as thick as a man's arm, and red as fire, which excited the envy of the grand khan, who vainly tried to induce its possessor to part with it, offering a whole city In exchange, but that could not tempt the King to let him have the jewel. Sixty miles west of Ceylon the travellers came to Maabar, a great province on the coast of India. This must not be mistaken for Malabar, which is situated on the west coast of the Indian peninsula. This Maabar forms the southern part of the Coromandel coast, and is celebrated for its pearl fisheries. Here the magicians are at work, and are said to render the monsters of the deep harmless to the fishermen ; they are astrologers whose race is perpetuated even to modern times. Marco Polo gives some in teresting details of the customs of the natives, one is that when a king dies, tho nobles throw themselves into the fire in his honour ; another strange custom is that of the religious purifications twice every day, and their blind faith in astrologers and diviners ; he also speaks of the frequency of religious suicides, and the sacrifice of widows whom the funeral pile awaits on the death of their husbands. He also notices the skill in physiognomy evinced by the natives. The next resting-place of the fleet was Muftili, of which the capital is now called Masulipatam, the chief city of the kingdom of Golconda. This country was well governed by a queen, a widow for forty years, who desired to remain faithful to the memory of her husband. The country contained manj"^ valuable diamond mines, but these were unfortunately among mountains where serpents abounded ; the miners had recourse to a strange device when collecting the precious stones, to protect themselves from these reptiles, which we may believe or not as we choose. Marco Polo says : " They take several pieces of meat, and throw them among the pointed rocks, where no man can go, and the meat, falling upon the diamonds, they become attached to it. Now, among these mountains live a number of white eagles, who hunt the serpents, and when they see the meat at the foot of the precipices they swoop down and carry it away. At the moment the men who have been following the eagles' movements see them alight to eat the meat, they raise fearful cries, the meat Is dropped MAROO POLO. 71 and the eagles take to flight, and thus the men have no difficulty in taking the diamonds that are attached to the meat. Diamonds are often found on the mountains, mingled with the excrement of the eagles." After visiting the small town of St. Thomas, situated some miles to the south of Madras, where St. Thomas the apostle is said to be buried, the travellers explored the kingdom of Maabar and especially the province of Lar, from whence spring all the " Ahrahamites " of the world, probably the Brahmins. These men, he says, live to a great age, owing to their abstinence and sobriety ; some have been known to attain 150 and even 200 years of age ; their diet Is principally rice and milk, and they drink a mixture of sulphur and quicksilver. These " Ahrahamites " are clever merchants, super stitious, however, but remarkably sincere, and never guilty of theft of any kind ; they never kill any living thing, and. they worship the ox, which is a sacred animal among them. The fleet now returned to Ceylon, where in 1284 Kublal-Khan had sent an ambassador who had brought him back some pretended relics of Adam, and among other things two of his molar teeth ; for, if we can believe the Saracen traditions, the tomb of our first father must have been on the summit of one of the precipitous mountains, which forms the highest ground In the island. After losing sight of Ceylon, Marco Polo went to Call, a port that we do not find marked on any of the modern maps, but a place where all the vessels touched coming from Ormuz, Kiss, Aden, and the coasts of Arabia. Thence doubling Cape Comorin they came to Coilum, now Quilon, which was a very thriving city In the thirteenth century. It is there that a great quantity of sandal-wood and indigo is found, and merchants come in large numbers from the Levant and from the West to trade in both. The country of Malabar produces a great quantity of rice, and wild animals are found there, such as leopards, which Marco Polo calls " black lions," also peacocks of much greater beauty than those of Europe, as well as different kinds of parroquets. The fleet, leaving Coilum, and advancing northwards along the Malabar coast, arrived at the shores of the kingdom of Maun- dallay, which derives Its name from a mountain situated on the borders of Kanara and Malabar; here pepper, ginger, saffron, and other spices abound. To the north of this kingdom extended that 72 THE EXPLORATION OF THE "WORLD. country which the Venetian traveller calls Melibar, and which is situated to the north of Malabar proper. The vessels of the Man ga lore merchants came here to trade with the natives of this part of India for cargoes of spices, a fine kind of cloth called buckram and other valuable wares ; but their vessels were frequently attacked, and too often pillaged by the pirates who infested these seas, and who were justly regarded as formidable enemies. These pirates princi pally inhabit the peninsula of Gohourat, now called Gujerat, where the fleet was on its way after calling at Tana — a country where is collected the frankincense — and Canboat, now Kambay, a town where there is a great trade in leather. Visiting Sumenath, a city of the peninsula, whose inhabitants are cruel, ferocious, and idolaters, and Kesmacoran, the modern city of Kedje, the capital of Makran, situated on the Indus near the sea, and the last town in India on the northwest, Marco Polo went westward across the sea of Oman, instead of going to Persia, which was the destination of the princess. His insatiable love of exploration led him 500 miles away to the shores of Arabia, where he stopped at the Male and Female Islands, so called from the men usually living on one island, and their wives on the other. Thence they sailed to the south towards the island of Socotra, at the entrance of the Gulf of Aden, which Marco Polo partially explored. He speaks of the Inhabitants of Socotra as clever magicians, who, by their enchantments, obtain the fulfilment of all their wishes as well as the power of stilling storms and tempests. Then, taking a southerly course of 1000 miles, he arrived at the shores of Madagascar. This island appeared to him to be one of the grandest in the world. Its inhabitants are very much occupied with commerce, especially In elephants' tusks. They live principally upon camels' flesh, which is better and more wholesome food than any other. The merchants on their way from the coast of India are usually only twenty days crossing the Sea of Oman ; but when they return they are often three months on the voyage on account of the opposing currents which take them always southwards. Nevertheless, they visit Madagascar very constantly, for there are whole forests of sandal wood, and amber Is also found there, from which they can obtain great profit by bartering It for gold and silk stuffs. Wild animals and game are plentiful ; according to Marco Polo, leopards, bears, This wonderful bird was probably the eppornis maximus. Page 73. MARCO POLO. 73 lions, wild boars, giraffes, wild asses, roebucks, deer, stags, and cattle were to be found in great numbers ; but what seemed most marvellous of all to him was the fabulous griffin, the roc, of which we hear so much in the " Thousand and one Nights," which is not, he says, ' an animal, half-lion and half-bird, able to raise and carry away an elephant in its claws." It was probably the "epjjornis maximus," for some eggs of this bird are still to be found In Madagascar. From this island Marco Polo went in a north-westerly direction to Zanzibar and the coast of Africa. The inhabitants seemed to him remarkably 'stout, but strong and able to carry the burdens of four ordinary men, " which is not strange," he says, " for they each eat as much as five other men ;'* these natives were black and wore no clothing, they had large mouths and turned-up noses, thick lips, and large eyes, a description that agrees exactly with that of the natives of that part of Africa now. They live upon rice, meat, milk, and dates, and make a kind of wine of rice, sugar, and spices. They are brave warriors and fearless of death ; they are usually in war mounted on camels and elephants, and armed with a leathern shield, a sword, and a lance ; they give their animals an intoxicating drink to excite them on going into action. In Marco Polo's time, says M. Charton, the countries comprised under the title of India were divided into three parts ; Greater India or Hindostan, that is, the country lying between the Indus and the Ganges ; Lesser India, that is, all the country lying beyond the Ganges, between the western coast of the peninsula and the coast of Cochin China ; lastly. Middle India, that Is, Abyssinia and the Arabian coast to the Persian Gulf. After leaving Zanzibar it , was Middle India whose coast Marco Polo explored, sailing towards the north, and first Abassy or Abyssinia, a fertile country where the manufacture of fine cotton cloths and buckram is largely carried on. Then the fleet went to Zaila, almost at the entrance of the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and at last by the coast of Yemen and Hadramaut the}"- came to Aden, the port frequented by all the ships trading with India and China ; then to Escier, whence a great quantity of fine horses are exported ; Dafar, which produces incense of the finest quality, and Galatu, now Kalajate, on the coast of Oman ; then to Ormuz, that Marco Polo had visited once before when he was on his way from Venice to the court of 74 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. Kubla'1-Khan. This was the furthest point that the fleet had to reach, as the princess was now on the borders of Persia, after a voyage of eighteen months. But on their arrival they were met by the sad news of the death of Prince Arghun, the fiance of the princess, and they found the country involved in civil war. The poor princess was put under the care of Prince Ghazan, the son of Prince Arghun, who did not ascend the throne until 1295, when his uncle, the usurper, was strangled. What became of the princess we do not hear, but on parting with Nicolo, Matteo, and Marco Polo, she bestowed on them great marks of favour. It was probably during Marco Polo's residence in Persia that he collected some curious documents upon Turkey in Asia ; they are disconnected pieces, which he gives at the close of his narrative, and they form a genuine history of the Mongol Khans of Persia. His travels for exploration were at an end, and after taking leave of the Tartar princess, the three Venetians well escorted, and with all expenses paid, set out on their way home. They went to Trebizond, then to Constantinople, and thence to Negropont, where they embarked for Venice. It was in the year 1295, twenty-four years after leaving it, that Marco Polo and his companions returned to their native town. They were bronzed by exposure to the air and sun, coarsely clad In Tartar costume, and both in manners and language were so much more Mongolian than Venetian, that even their nearest relatives failed to recognize them. Beyond this, a report had been widely spread that they were dead, and It had gained so much credence that their friends never expected to see them again. They went to their own house In the part of Venice called St. John Chrysostom, and found It occupied by different members of the Polo family, who received the travellers with every mark of distrust, which their pitiable appearance did not tend to lessen, and placed no faith In the somewhat marvellous stories related to them by Marco Polo. After some persuasion, however, they gained admittance Into their own house. When they had been a few days in Venice, the three travellers gave a magnificent banquet, followed by a splendid f^te, to do away with any remaining doubts as to their identity. They Invited the nobility of Venice and all the members of their own family, and when all the guests were assembled the three hosts appeared dressed in crimson satin MAROO POLO. 75 robes; the guests then entered the dining-room, and the feast began. After the first course was over the three travellers retired for a few moments and then reappeared, clad in robes of splendid silk damask, which they proceeded to tear, and to present each of their guests with a piece. After the second course they dressed themselves in even more splendid robes of crimson velvet, which they wore until the feast was over, when they appeared in simple Venetian costume. The astonished guests marvelled at the magnificence of these garments, and wondered what their hosts would next show them ; then the coarse rough clothes that they had worn on the voyage were brought in, and when the linings and seams were undone, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and carbuncles of great value were poured forth from them ; great riches had been hidden in these rags. This unexpected sight cleared away all doubt ; the three travellers were recognized at once as Marco, Nicolo, and Matteo Polo, and congratulations upon their return were showered upon them. So celebrated a man as Marco Polo could not escape civic honours. He was made first magistrate in Venice, and as he was continually speaking of the " millions " of the Grand Khan, who commanded " millions " of subjects, he gained the soubriquet of Signor Million. It was about 1296 that a war broke out between Venice and Genoa. A Genoese fleet under the command of Lamba Doria crossed the Adriatic, and threatened the sea coast. The Venetian Admiral Andrea Dandolo Immediately manned a larger fleet and entrusted the command of a galley to Marco Polo who was justly considered an able commander. The Venetians were beaten in a naval battle on the Sth of September, 1296, and Marco Polo, badly wounded, fell Into the hands of the Genoese, who, knowing and appreciating the value of their prisoner, treated him with great kindness. He was taken to Genoa, and there met with a hearty welcome from the most distinguished people, who were anxious to hear the account of his travels. It was during his captivity, in 1298, that he made acquaintance with Pisano Rusticien, and, tired of repeating his story again and again, dictated his narrative to him. About 1299 Marco Polo was set at liberty ; he returned to Venice, and there married, From this time we hear no more of tbe incidents of his life, and only know from his will that he left 76 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. three daughters ; he Is thought to have died about the 9th of January, 1323, at the age of seventy. Such is the life of this celebrated traveller, whose narrative had a marked Influence on the progress of geographical science. He was gifted with great power of observation, and could see and describe equally well ; and all later explorers have confirmed the truth of his statements. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, the documents founded on this narrative formed the basis of geographical books, and were used as a guide in commercial expedi tions to China, India, and Central Asia. Posterit)' will concur in the suitability of the title that the first copyists gave to Marco Polo's work, that of " The Book of the Wonders of the World.'* Ibn Batuta in Egypt. Page 77. CHAPTER V. .Ibn B.ithta, 1328—1353. Ibii Batuta — The Nile — Gaza, Tyre, Tiberias, Libanus, Baalbec, Damascus, Meshid, Bussorah, Bagdad, Tabriz, Mecca and Medina — Yemen — Abyssinia — Tbe country of the Berbers — Zanguebar — Ormuz — Syria — Anatolia — Asia Minor — Astrakhan — Constantinople — Turkestan — Herat — The Indus — Delhi — Malabar- — The Maldives — Ceylon — The Coromandel Coast — Bengal — The Nicobar Islands — Sumatra— China — Africa— The Niger — Timbuctoo. Marco Polo had returned -to his native land now nearly twenty- five years, when a Franciscan monk traversed the whole of Asia, from the Black Sea to the extreme limits of China, passing by Trebizond, Mount Ararat, Babel, and the island of Java ; but he was so credulous of aU that was told him, and his narrative Is so confused, that but little reliance can be placed upon it. It is the same with the fabulous travels of Jean de Mandeville. Cooley says of them, " They are so utterly untrue, that they have not their parallel In any language." But we find a worthy successor to the Venetian traveller in an Arabian theologian, named Abdallah El Lawati, better known by the name of Ibn Batuta. He did for Egypt, Arahia, Anatolia, Tartary, India, China, Bengal, and Soudan, what Marco Polo had done for Central Asia, and he is worthy to be placed in the foremost rank as a brave traveller and bold explorer. In the year 1324, the 725th year of the Hegira, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and starting from Tangier, his native town, he went first to Alexandria, and thence to Cairo. During his stay in Egypt he turned his attention to the Nile, and especially to the Delta ; then he tried to sail up the river, but being stopped by disturbances on the Nubian frontier, he was obliged to return to the mouth of the river, and then set sail for Asia Minor. After visiting Gaza, the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Tyre, then strongly fortified and unassailable on three sides, and 78 THE EXPLORATIO \ OF THE WORLD. Tiberias, which was in ruins, and whose celebrated baths were completely destroyed, Ibn Batuta was attracted by the wonders of Lebanon, the centre for all the hermits of that day, who had judiciously chosen one of the most lovely spots in the whole world wherein to end their days. Then passing Baalbec, and going on to Damascus, he found the city (in the year 1345) decimated by the plague. This fearful scourge devoured " 24,000 persons daily,'-' if we may believe his report, and Damascus would have been depopulated, had not the prayers of all the people offered up in the mosque containing the stone with the print of Moses' foot upon it, been heard and answered. On leaving Damascus, Ibn Batuta went to Mesjid, where he visited the tomb of Ali, which attracts a large number of paralytic pilgrims who need only to spend one night in prayer beside it, to be completely cured. Batuta does not seem to doubt the authenticity of this miracle, well known in the East under the title of " the Night of Cure." From Mesjid, the traveller went to Bussorah, and entered the kingdom of Ispahan, and then the province of Shiraz, where he wished to converse with the celebrated worker of miracles, Magd Oddin. From Shiraz he went to Bagdad, to Tabriz, then to Medina, where he prayed beside the tomb of the Prophet, and finally to Mecca, where he remained three years. It is well known that from Mecca, caravans are continually starting for the sur rounding country, and it was in company with some of these bold merchants that Ibn Batuta was able to visit the towns of Yemen. He went as far as Aden, at the moyth of the Red Sea, and embarked for Zaila, one of the Abyssinian ports. He was now once more on African ground, and advanced into the country of the Berbers, that he might study the manners and customs of those dirty and repulsive tribes ; he found their diet consisted wholly of fish and camels' flesh. But in the town of Makdasbu, there was an attempt at comfort and civilization, presenting a most agreeable contrast with the surrounding squalor. The inhabitants were very fat, each of them, to use Ibn's own expression, " eating enough to feed a convent ;" they were very fond of delicacies, such as plantains boiled In milk, preserved citrons, pods of fresh pepper, and green ginger. After seeing all he wished of the country of the Berbers, chiefly IBN BATUTA. 79 on the coast, he resolved to go to Zanguebar, and then, crossing the Red Sea and following the coast of Arabia, he came to Zafar, a town situated upon the Indian Ocean. The vegetation of this country is most luxuriant, the betel, cocoa-nut, and Incense-trees forming there great forests ; still the traveller pushed on, and came to Ormuz on the Persian Gulf, and passed through several provinces of Persia. We find him a second time at Mecca in the year 1332, three years after he had left it. But this was only to be a short rest for the traveller, for now, leaving Asia for Africa, he went to Upper Egypt, a region but little known, and thence to Cairo. He next visited Syria, making a short stay at Jerusalem and Tripoli, and thence he visited the Turkomans of Anatolia, where the " confraternity of young men " gave him a most hearty welcome. After Anatolia, the Arabian narrative speaks of Asia Minor. Ibn Batuta advanced as far as Erzeroum, where he was shown an aerolite weighing 620 pounds. Then, crossing the Black Sea, he visited, the Crimea, Kaffa, and Bulgar, a town of sufficiently high latitude for the unequal length of day and night to be very marked ; and at last he reached Astrakhan, at the mouth of the Volga, where the Khan of Tartary lived during the winter months The Princess Bailun, the wife of the khan, and daughter of the Emperor of Constantinople, was wishing to visit her father, and it was an opportunity not to be lost by Ibn Batuta for exploring Turkey In Europe ; he gained permission to accompany the princess, who set out attended by 5000 men, and followed by a portable mosque, which was set up at every place where they stayed. The princess's reception at Constantinople was very mag nificent, the bells being rung with such spirit that he says, " even the horizon seemed full of the vibration." The welcome given to the theologian by the princes of the country was worthy of his fame ; he remained in the city thirty-six days, so that he was able to study It in all its details. This was a time when communication between the different countries was both dangerous and difficult, and Ibn Batuta was considered a very bold traveller. Egypt, Arabia, Turkey in Asia, the Caucasian provinces had all in turn been explored by him. After such hard work he might well have taken rest and been satisfied with the laurels that he had gained, for he was without 80 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. doubt the most celebrated traveller of the fourteenth century ; but his insatiable passion for travelling remained, and the circle of his explorations was still to widen considerably. On leaving Constantinople, Ibn Batuta went again to Astrakhan, thence crossing the sandy wastes of the present Turkestan, he arrived at Khovarezen, a large populous town, then at Bokhara, half destroyed by the armies of Gengis-Khan. Some time after we hear of him at Samarcand, a religious town which greatly pleased the learned traveller, and then at Balkh which he could not reach without crossing the desert of Khorassan. This town was all in ruins and desolate, for the armies of the barbarians had been there, and Ibn Batuta could not remain in it, but wished to go westward to the frontier of Afghanistan. The mountainous country, near the Hindoo Koosh range, confronted him, but this was no barrier to him, and after great fatigue, which he bore with equal patience and good-humour, he reached the important town of Herat. This was the most westerly point reached by the traveller ; he now 'resolved to change his course for an easterly one, and in going to the extreme limits of Asia, to reach the shores of the Pacific: if he could succeed in this he would pass the bounds of the explorations of the celebrated Marco Polo. He set out, and following the course of the river Kabul and the frontiers of Afghanistan, he came to the Sindhu, the modern Indus, and descended it to its mouth. From the town of Lahore, he went to Delhi, which great and beautiful city had been deserted by its Inhabitants, who had fled from the Emperor Mohammed. This tyrant, who was occasionally both generous and mag nificent, received the Arabian traveller very well, made him a judge in Delhi, and gave him a grant of land with some pecuniary advantages that were attached to the post, but these honours were not to be of any long duration, for Ibn Batuta being implicated In a pretended conspiracy, thought it best to give up his place, and make himself a fakir to escape the Emperor's displeasure. Mohammed, however, pardoned him, and made him his ambassador to China. Fortune again smiled upon the courageous traveller, and he had now the prospect of seeing these distant lands under excep tionally good and safe circumstances. He was charged with IBN BATUTA. 81 presents for the Emperor of China, and 2000 horse-soldiers were given him as an escort. But Ibn Batuta had not thought of the Insurgents who occupied the surrounding countries ; a skirmish took place between the escort and the Hindoos, and the traveller, being separated from his companions, was taken prisoner, robbed, gavotted, and carried off' he knew not whither ; but his courage and hopefulness did not forsake him, and he contrived to escape from the hands of these robbers. After wandering about for seven days, he was received Into his house by a negro, who at length led him back to the emperor's palace at Delhi. Mohammed fitted out another expedition, and again appointed the Arabian traveller as his ambassador. This time they passed through the enemy's country without molestation, and by way of Kanoje, Mersa, Gwalior, and Barun, they reached Malabar. Some time after, they arrived at the great port of Calicut, an impor tant place which became afterwards the chief town of Malabar ; here they were detained by contrary winds for three months, and made use of this time to study the Chinese mercantile marine which frequented this port. Ibn speaks with great admiration of these junks which are like floating gardens, where ginger and herbs are grown on deck ; they are each like a separate village, and some merchants were the possessors of a great number of these junks. At last the wind changed ; Ibn Batuta chose a small junk well fitted up, to take him to China, and had all his property put on board. Thirteen other junks were to receive the presents sent by the King of Delhi to the Emperor of China, but during the night a violent storm arose, and all the vessels sank. Fortu nately for Ibn he had remained on shore to attend the service at the mosque, and thus his piety saved his life, but he had lost everything except " the carpet which he used at his devotions." After this second misfortune he could not make up his mind to appear before the King of Delhi. This catastrophe was enough to weary the patience of a more long-suffering emperor than Mohammed. Ibn soon made up his mind what to do. Leaving the service of the emperor, and the advantages attaching to the post of ambassador, he embarked for the Maldive Islands, which were 82 THE EXPLORATION OE THE "WORLD. governed by a woman, and where a large trade in cocoa was carried on. Here he was again made a judge, but this was only of short duration, for the vizier became jealous of his success, and, after marrying three wives, Ibn was obliged to take refuge In flight. He hoped to reach the Coromandel coast, but contrary winds drove his vessel towards Ceylon, where he was very well received, and gained the king's permission to climb the sacred mountain of Serendid, or Adam's Peak. His object was to see the wonderful impression of a foot at the summit, which the Hindoos call " Buddha's," and the Mahometans " Adam's, foot." He pre tends, in his narrative, that this impression measures eleven hands in length, a very different account from that of an historian of the ninth century, who declared It to be seventy-nine cubits long ! This historian also adds that while one of the feet of our forefather rested on the mountain, the other was in the Indian ocean. Ibn Batuta speaks also of large bearded apes, forming a con siderable item in the population of the island, and said to be under a king of their own, crowned -with leaves. We can give what credit we like to such fables as these, which were propagated by the credulity of the Hindoos. From Ceylon, the traveller made his way to the Coromandel coast, but not without experiencing some severe storms. He crossed to the other side of the Indian peninsula, and again embarked. But his vessel was seized by pirates, and Ibn Batuta arrived at Calicut almost without clothes, robbed, and worn out with fatigue. No misfortune could damp his ardour, his was one of those great spirits which seem only invigorated by trouble and disasters. As soon as he was enabled by the kindness of some Delhi merchants to resume his travels, he embarked for the Maldive Islands, went on to Bengal, there set sail for Sumatra, and disembarked at one of the Nicobar Islands after a very bad passage which had lasted fifty days. Fifteen days afterwards he arrived at Sumatra, where the king gave him a hearty welcome and furnished him with means to continue his journey to China. A junk took him in seventy-one days to the port Kalluka, capital of a country somewhat problematical, of which the brave and hand some inhabitants excelled in making arms. From Kailuka, Ibn Ibn Batuta's vessel was seized by pirates. Page 82. IBN BATUTA. 83 passed into the Chinese provinces, and went first to the splendid town of Zaitem, probably the present Tsieun-tcheou of the Chinese, a little to the north of Nankin. He passed through various cities of this great empire, studying the customs of the people and admiring everywhere the riches, industry, and civilization that he found, but he did not get as far as the Great Wall, which he calls " The obstacle of Gog and Magog." It was while he was exploring this Immense tract of country that he made a short stay in the city of Tchensi, which Is composed of six fortified towns standing together. It happened that during his wanderings he was able to be present at the funeral of a khan, who was buried with four slaves, six of his favourites, and four horses. In the meanwhile, disturbances had occurred at Zaitem, which obliged Ibn to leave this town, so he set sail for Sumatra, and then after touching at Calicut and Ormuz, he returned to Mecca In 1348, having made the tour of Persia and Syria. But the time of rest had not yet come for this indefatigable explorer ; the following year he revisited his native place Tangier, and then after travelling in the southern countries of Europe he returned to Morocco, went to Soudan and the countries watered by the Niger, crossed the Great Desert and entered Timbuctoo, thus making a journey which would "have rendered illustrious a less ambitious traveller. This was to be his last expedition. In 1353, twenty-nine years after leaving Tangier for the first time, he returned to Morocco, and settled at Fez. He has earned the reputation of being the most intrepid explorer of the fourteenth century, and well merits to be ranked next after Marco Polo, the illustrious Venetian. 84 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. CHAPTER VI. Jean de Bethencouet, 1339 — 1425. The Norman cavalier — His ideas of conquest — "What was known of the Canary Islands — Cadiz — The Canary Archipelago — Graciosa — Lancerota^-Foi-ta- ventura— Jean de Bethencourt returns to Spain— Eevolt of Berneval— His interview with King Henry IIL— Gadifer visits the Canary Archi pelago — Canary Island or " Gran Canaria " — Ferro Island— Palma Island. IAN DE Bethencourt was born about the year 1339, at Eu in Normandy. He was of good family, and Baron of St. Martin-le- Gaillard, and had distinguished himself both as a navigator and warrior ; he was made chamberlain to Charles VI. But his tastes were more for travelling than a life at court ; he resolved to make himself a still more illustrious name by further conquests, and soon an opportunity offered for him to carry out his plans. On the coast of Africa there is a group of islands called the Canaries, which were once known as the Fortunate Islands. Juba, a son of one of the Numidian kings, is said to have been their first explorer, about the year of Rome 776. In the middle ages, according to some accounts, Arabs, Genoese, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Biscayans, had partially visited this interesting group of islands. In 1393, a Spanish gentleman named Almonaster, who was commanding an expedition, succeeded in landing on Lancerota, one of these islands, and brought back, with several prisoners, some produce which was a sufficient guarantee of J;he fertility of this archipelago. The Norman cavalier now found the opening that he sought, and he determined to conquer the Canary Islands and try to convert the inhabitants to the Catholic faith* He was as intelligent, brave, and full of resources as he was energetic; and leaving his house of Grainville-la-Teinturiere at Caux, he went to La Rochelle, where he met the Chevalier Gadifer de la Salle, and having explained his project to him, they decided to go to the Canary Islands together. Jean (Jp Bdthencourt. Page 84. JEAN DE b:^thencourt. 85 Jean de Bdthencourt having collected an army and made his pre parations, and had vessels fitted out and manned, Gadifer and he set sail; after experiencing adverse winds on the way to the He deRe, and being much harassed by the constant dissensions on board, they arrived at Vivero, and then at Corunna. Here they remained eight days, then set sail again, and doubling Cape Finisterre, followed the Portuguese coast to Cape St. Vincent, and arrived at Cadiz, where they made a longer stay. Here Bdthencourt had a dispute with some Genoese merchants, who accused him of having taken their vessel, and he had to go to Seville, where King Henry III. heard his complaint and acquitted him from all blame. On his return to Cadiz he found part of his crew in open mutiny, and some of his sailors so frightened that they refused to continue the voyage, so the chevalier sent back the cowardly sailors, and set sail with those who were more courageous. The vessel in which Jean de Bethencourt sailed was becalmed for three days, then, the weather improving, he reached the island of Graziosa, one of the smaller of the Canary group, in five days, and then the larger island of Lancerota, which is nearly the same size as the island of Rhodes. Lancerota has excellent pasturage, and arable land, which Is particularly good for the cultivation of barley ; its numerous fountains and cisterns are well supplied with excellent water. The orchilla, which is so much used in dyeing, grows abundantly here. The inhabitants of this island, who as a rule wear scarce any clothing, are tall and well-made, and the women, who wear leathern great-coats reaching to the ground, are very good-looking and honest. The traveller, prior to disclosing his plans of conquest, wished to possess himself of some of the natives, but his ignorance of the country made this a difficult matter, so, anchoring under the shelter of a small Island in the archipelago, he called a meeting of his companions to decide upon a plan of action. They all agreed that the only thing to be done was to take some of the natives by fair means or foul. Guardafia, the king of the island, treated Bdthencourt more as a friend than a subject. A castle or rather fort was built at the south-western extremity of the 'island, and some men left there under the command of Berthin de Berneval, while Bethencourt set out with the rest of his followers for the island of Erbania or Fortaventura. Gadifer counselled a debar- 86 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WOIUd). cation by night, which was done, and then he took the command of a small body of men and scoured the island with them for eight days without meeting one native, they having all fled to the mountains. Provisions failing, Gadifer was forced to return, and he went to the island of Lobos between Lancerota and Fortaventura; but there his chief sailor mutinied and It was not without difficulty that Gadifer and Bethencourt reached the fort on Lancerota. Bethencourt resolved to return to Spain to get provisions and a new contingent of soldiers, for his crew he could not depend upon ; so he left Gadifer in command and set sail for Spain In one of Gadifer's ships. It will be remembered that Berthin de Berneval had been left in command of the fort on Lancerota Island. Unfortunately he was Gadifer's bitter enemy, and no sooner had Bethencourt set out than he tried to poison the minds of Gadifer's men against him ; he succeeded in inducing some, especially the Gascons, to revolt against the governor, who, quite innocent of Berneval's base designs, was spending his time hunting sea-wolves on the island of Lobos with Remonnet de Leveden and several others. Remonnet having been sent to Lancerota for provisions, found no Berneval there, he having deserted the Island with his accomplices for a port on Graziosa, where a coxswain, deceived by his promises, had placed his vessel at his disposal. From Graziosa, the traitor Berneval returned to Lancerota, and put the finishing stroke to his villany b}' pretending to make an alliance with the king of the island. The king, thinking that no officer of B6thencourt's, in whom he had implicit confidence, could deceive him, came with twenty-four of his subjects to see Berneval, who seized them when asleep, had them bound, and then carried them off to Graziosa. The king managed to break his bonds, set three of his men free, and succeeded in escaping, but the remainder of his unfortunate com panions were still prisoners, and Berneval gave them up to some Spanish thieves, who took them away to sell In a foreign land. Berneval's evil deeds did not stop here. By his order the vessel that Gadifer had sent to the fort at Lancerota was seized ; Re monnet tried resistance, but his numbers were too small, and his supplications were useless to prevent Berneval's men, and even Berneval himself, from destroying all the arms, furniture, and goods, which Bethencourt had placed in the fort at Lancerota. JEAN DE BETHENCOURT. 87 Insults were showered upon the governor, and Berneval cried, " T should like Gadifer de la Salle to know that if he were as younw as I, I would kill him, but as he is not, I will spare him. If he is put above me I shall have him drowned, and then he can fish for sea-wolves." Meanwhile, Gadifer and his ten companions were In danger of perishing on the island of Lobos for want of food and fresh water, but happily the two chaplains of the fort of Lancerota had gone to Graziosa, and met the coxswain, who had been the victim of Ber neval's treason, and he sent one of his men named Ximenes with them back to Lancerota. There they found a small boat which they filled with provisions, and embarking with four men who were faithful to Gadifer, they succeeded In reaching Lobos, four leagues off, after a most dangerous passage. Gadifer and his companions were suffering fearfully from hunger and thirst, when Ximenes arrived jiist in time to save them from perishing, and the governor learning Berneval's treachery embarked in the boat for Lancerota, as soon as he was a little restored to health. He was grieved at Berneval's conduct towards the poor islanders whom Bethencourt and he had sworn to protect. No ! he never could have expected such wickedness in one who was looked upon as the most able of the whole band. But what was Berneval doing meanwhile? After having betrayed his master, he did the same to the companions who had aided him In his evil deeds ; he had twelve of them killed and then he set out for Spain to rejoin Bethencourt and make his own case good by representing all that had happened in his own way. It was to his interest to get rid of inconvenient witnesses, and therefore he abandoned his companions. These unfortunate men at first meditated imploring the pardon of the governor ; they confessed all to the chaplains, but then, fearing the consequences of their deeds, they seized a boat and fled towards Morocco. The boat reached the coast of Barbary, where ten of the crew were drowned and the two others taken for slaves. While all this was happening at Lancerota, Bethencourt arrived at Cadiz, where he took strong measures against his mutinous crew, and had the ringleaders imprisoned. Then he sent his vessel to Seville, where King Henry III. was at that time ; but the ship sank in the Guadalquiver, a great loss to Gadifer, her owner. 88 THE EXPLORATION OP THE -WORLD. Bethencourt having arrived at Seville, met a certain Franclsque Calve who had lately come from the Canaries, and who offered to return thither with all the things needed by the governor, but Bethencourt could not agree to this proposal before he had seen the king. Just at this time, Berneval arrived with some of his 'accomplices, and some islanders whom he intended to sell as slaves. He hoped to be able to deceive Bethencourt, but he had not reckoned upon a certain Courtille who was with him, who lost no time in denouncing the villany of Berneval, and on whose word the traitors were all imprisoned at Cadiz. Courtille also told of the treatment that the poor islanders had received ; as B6thencourt could not leave Seville till he had had an audience with the king, he gave orders that they should receive every kindness, but while these pre liminaries were being concluded, the vessel that contained them was taken to Aragon, and they were sold for slaves. Bethencourt obtained the audience that he sought with the king of Castillo, and after telling him the result of his expedition he said, " Sire, I come to ask your assistance and your leave to con quer the Canary Islands for the Catholic faith, and as you are king and lord of all the surrounding country, and the nearest Christian king to these islands, I beg you to receive the homage of your humble servant." The king was very gracious to him and gave him dominion over these islands, and beyond this, a fifth of all the merchandise that should be brought from them to Spain. He gave him 20,000 maravedis, about 600/., to buy all that he needed, and also the right to coin money In the Canary Islands. Most unfortunately these 20,000 maravedis were confided to the care of a dishonest man, who fled to France, carrying the money with him. However, Henry III. gave B6thencourt a well-rigged vessel manned by eighty men, and stocked with provisions, arms, &c. He was most grateful for this fresh bounty, and sent Gadifer an account of all that had happened, and his extreme disappointment and disgust at Berneval's conduct, In whom he had so much confi dence, announcing at the same time the speedy departure of the vessel given by the King of Castillo. But meanwhile very serious troubles had arisen on Lancerota. King Guardafia was so hurt at Berneval's conduct that he had t Porte deJaf fa.. h.lfS^CmacLe IsLUmMiqueHscine] iXe ChcLteaiU 1k''^i'r^F.it^U"S^j^£--^e ie.kpretoiredemate S.CoLiventd-CordeUerj. n. sBij!e?ir' ''^"""^ n.kmaimd'Herod&. UMseduSfsepidcre.ie.LcLrontainedeSLLoe.. Ml'ArcdePdatc ^.lcumi5ond,7ebedee IT-k hntain.tdelfj)ame. 'iSJelJISPr'A^S^l"^'''^^'"^ e.laPorte Ftrret. K.Tortt SterquilLne. 50^lmonCyre'ru.e Z la maison^eSfMarc. W. I'MiuMJ'reientlfJI- 3i.Maii<"iciuma«Mjncne. 8.lo.maimd.S^Thomai. lO.CcLplaceduTemple. 52.mai.ionduHharisLen.. 9l'SgLbede5^ja.ciTue^. llTunpledeSaLomon 33.k/mipn'i'-yefvmfui io&mdmS'AnnepMUfe 2Z-. laparte dor&t. ^kTorteJudiaaLre. 77. la parte deDavid.. 23. laparte S'^S.tienne. 3/. Vorte d'iptiraLrn..^ \z.lammond. Caiptie^^-iyineirame. j3G Place da marcAe^ Plan of Jerusalem. Pagei Gadifer found himself in a lovely valley. Page Sqb JEAN DE BDTHENCOURT. 89 revolted, and some of Gadifer's companions had been killed by the Islanders. Gadifer Insisted upon these subjects being punished, when one of the king's relations named Ache, came to him proposing to dethrone the king, and put himself in his place. This Ache was a villain, who after having betrayed his king, proposed to betray the Normans, and to chase them from the country. Gadifer had no suspicion of his motives ; wishing to avenge the death of his men, he accepted Ache's proposal, and a short time afterwards, on the vigil of St. Catherine's day, the king was seized, and conveyed to the fort in chains. Some days afterwards. Ache, the new king of the island attacked Gadifer's companions, mortally wounding several of them, but the following night Guardafia having made his escape from the fort seized Ache, had him stoned to death, and his body burnt. The governor ( Gadifer) was so grieved by these scenes of violence, which were renewed daily, that he resolved to kill all the men on the island, and save only the women and children, whom he hoped to have baptized. But just at this time, the vessel that Bdthencourt had freighted for the governor arrived, and brought besides the eighty men, provisions, &c., a letter which told him among other things that Bethencourt had done homage to the King of Castille for the Canary Islands. The governor was not well pleased at this news, for he thought that he ought to have had his share in the islands ; but he concealed his displeasure, and gave the new comers a heart}'- welcome. The arms were at once disembarked, and then Gadifer went on board the vessel to explore the neighbouring islands. Remonnet and several others joined him In this expedition, and they took two of the islanders with them to serve as guides. They arrived safely at Fortaventura island ; a few days after landing on the island, Gadifer set out with thirty- five men to explore the country ; but soon the greater part of his followers deserted him, only thirteen men. Including two archeis, remaining with him. But he did not give up his project ; after wading through a large stream, he found himself in a lovely valley shaded by numberless palm-trees ; here having rested and refreshed himself, he set out again and climbed a hill. At the summit he found about fifty natives, who surrounded the small party and threatened to murder them. Gadifer and his companions showed 90 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. no signs of fear, and succeeded in putting their enemies to flight ; by the evening they were able to regain their vessel, carrying away four of the native women as prisoners. The next day Gadifer left the Island and went to the Gran Canaria Island anchoring in a large harbour lying between Telde and Argonney. Five hundred of the natives confronted them, but apparently with no hostile Intentions ; they gave them some fish-hooks and old Iron In exchange for some of the natural pro ductions of the Island, such as figs, and dragon's blood, a resinous substance taken from the dragon-tree, which has a very pleasant balsamic odour. The natives were very much on their guard with the strangers, for twenty years before this some of Captain Lopez' men had invaded the island ; so they would not allow Gadifer to land. The governor was obliged to weigh anchor- without exploring the island ; he went to Ferro Island, and coasting along it arrived next at Gomera ; It was night, and the sailors were attracted by the fires that the natives had lighted on the shore. When day broke Gadifer and his companions wished to land ; but the Islanders would not allow them to proceed when they reached the shore, and drove them back to their vessel. Much disappointed by his reception, Gadifer determined to make another attempt at Ferro Island ; there he found that he could land without opposition, and he remained on the Island twenty-two days. The interior of the island was very beautiful. Pine-trees grew In abundance, and clear streams of water added to Its fertility. Quails were found In large numbers, as well as pigs, goats, and sheep. From this fertile island the party of explorers went to Palma, and anchored in a harbour situated to the right of a large river. This is the furthest Island of the Canary group ; it Is covered with pine and dragon-trees ; from the abundance of fresh water the pasturage Is excellent and the land might be cultivated with much- profit. Its inhabitants are a tall, robust race, well made, with good features and very white skin. Gadifer remained a short time on this Island ; on leaving It he spent two days and two nights sailing round the other islands, and then returned to tbe fort on Lancerota. They had been absent three months. In the meantime, those of the partj"^ who had been left in the fort had JEAN DE Bl^THENOOURT. 91 waged a petty war with the natives, and had made a great number of prisoners. The Canarians, demoralized, now came daily to cast themselves on their mercy, and to pray for the consecration of baptism. Gadifer was so pleased to hear of this, that he sent one of his companions to Spain to Inform Bethencourt of the state of the colony. 92 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. Jean db Bethencouet. The return of Jean de Bdthencourt — Gadifer's jealousy — Bdthencourt visits his archipelago — Gadifer goes to conquer Gran Canaria — ^Disagreement of the two commanders — Their return to Spain — Gadifer hlamed hj the King — Eeturn of Bdthencourt^ — The natives of Fortaventura are baptized — Bdthen court revisits Caux — Returns to Lancerota — Lands on the African coast — Conquest of Gran Canaria, Ferro, and Palma Islands — Maciot appointed Governor of the archipelago — Bdthencourt obtains the Pope's consent to the Canary Islands being made an Episcopal See — His return to his country and his death. The envoy had not reached Cadiz when Bdthencourt landed at the fort on Lancerota. Gadifer gave him a hearty welcome, and so did the Canary islanders who had been baptized. A few • days afterwards. King Guardafia came and threw himself on their mercy. He was baptized on the 20th of February, 1404, with all his followers. Bethencourt's chaplains drew up a very simple form of instruction for their use, embracing the principal elements of Christianity, the creation, Adam and Eve's fall, the history of Noah, the lives of the patriarchs, the life of our Saviour and His crucifixion by the Jews, finishing with an exhortation to believe the ten commandments, the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Easter, confession, and some other points. Bethencourt was an ambitious man. Not content with having explored, and so to speak, gained possession of the Canary Islands, he desired to conquer the African countries bordering on the ocean. This was his secret wish in returning to Lancerota, and meanwhile, he had full occupation in establishing his authority in these islands, of which he was only the nominal sovereign. He gave himself wholly to the task, and first visited the Islands which Gadifer had explored. But before he set out, a conversation took place between Gadifer and himself, which we must not omit to notice. Gadifer began JEAN DE b:^.thenoourt. 93 boasting of all he had done, and asked for the gift of Fortaventura Teneriffe, and Gomera Islands, as a recompense. "My friend," replied Bethencourt, "the Islands that you ask me to give you are not yet conquered, but I do not intend you to be at any loss for your trouble, nor that you should be unrequited ; but let us accomplish our project, and meanwhile remain the friends we have always been." " That is all very well," replied Gadifer, " but there is one point on which I do not feel at all satisfied, and that is that you have done homage to the King of Castille for these islands, and so you call j'ourself absolute master over them." " With regard to that," said Bethencourt, " I certainly have done homage for them, and so I am their rightful master, but if you will only patiently wait the end of our affair, I will give you what I feel sure will quite content you." "I shall not remain here," replied Gadifer, "I am going back to France, and have no wish to be here any longer." TTpon this they separated, but Gadifer gradually cooled down and agreed to accompany Bethencourt in his exploration of the islands. They set out for Fortaventura well armed and with plenty of provisions. They remained there three months, and began by seizing a number of the natives, and sending them to Lancerota. This was such a usual mode of proceeding at that time that we are less surprised at it than we should be at the present day. The whole Island was explored and a fort named Richeroque built on the slope of a high mountain; traces of it may still be found in a hamlet there. Just at this time, and when h6 had scarcely had time to forget his grievances and ill-humour, Gadifer accepted the command of a small band of men who were to conquer Gran Canaria. He set out on the 25th July, 1404, but this expedition was not fated to meet with any good results, -winds and waves were against it. At last they reached the port of Telde, but as it was nearly dark and a strong wind blowing they dared not land, and they went on to the little town of Aginmez, where they remained eleven days at anchor ; the natives, encouraged by their king, laid an ambush for Gadifer and his followers ; there was a skirmish, blood was shed, and the Castilians, feeling themselves outnum bered, went to Telde for two days, and thence to Lancerota. 94 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. Gadifer was much disappointed at his want of success, and began to be discontented with everything around him. Above all, his jealousy of Bdthencourt increased daily, and he gave way to violent recriminations, saying openly that the chief had not done every thing himself, and that things would not have been In so advanced a stage as they were if others had not aided him. This reached Bethencourt's ears ; he was much incensed, and reproached Gadifer. High words followed, Gadifer Insisted upon leaving the country, and as Bethencourt had just made arrangements for returning to Spain, he proposed to Gadifer to accompany him, that their cause of disagreement might be Inquired into. This proposal being accepted, they set sail, but each in his own ship. When they reached Seville, Gadifer laid his complaints before the king, but as the king gave judgment against him, fully approving of Bethencourt's conduct, he left Spain, and returning to France, never revisited the Canary Islands which he had so fondly hoped to conquer for himself. Bethencourt took leave of the king almost at the same time, for the new colony demanded his immediate presence there ; but before he left, the inhabitants of Seville, with whom he was a great favourite, showed him much kindness; what he valued more highly than anything else was the supply of arms, gold, silver, and provisions that they gave him. He went to Fortaventura, where his companions were delighted to see him. Gadifer had left his son Hannibal in his place, but Bdthencourt treated him with much cordiality. The first days of the Installation of Bethencourt were far from peaceful; skirmishes were of constant occurrence, the natives even destroying the fortress of Richeroque, after burning and pillaging a chapel. Bethencourt was determiped to overcome them, and in the end succeeded. He sent for several of his men from Lancerota, and gave orders that the fortress should be rebuilt. In spite of all this the combats began again, and many, of the islanders fell, among others a giant of nine feet high, whom Bethen court would have liked to have made prisoner. The governor could not trust Gadifer's son nor the men who followed him, for Hannibal seemed to have Inherited his father's jealousy, but as Bethencourt needed his help, he concealed his distrust. Happily, The King of Maxorata arrived -with his suite. Page 95. JEAN DE BETHENCOURT. 96 Bethencourt's men outnumbered those who were faithful to Gadifer, but Hannibal's taunts became so unbearable that Jean de Gourtois was sent to remind him of his oath of obedience and to advise him to keep it. Courtois was very badly received, he having a crow to pick with Hannibal with regard to some native prisoners whom Gadifer's followers had kept and would not give up. Hannibal was obliged to obey the orders, but Courtois represented his conduct to Bethen court on his return in the very worst light, and tried to excite his master's anger against him. "No, sir," answered the upright Bethencourt, " I do not wish him to be wronged, we must never carry our power to its utmost limits, we should always endeavour to control ourselves and preserve our honour rather than seek for profit." In spite of these intestine discords, the war continued between the natives and the conquerors, but the latter being well-armed always came off victorious. The kings of Fortaventura sent a native to Bethencourt saying that they wished to make peace with him, and to become Christians. This news delighted the conqueror, and he sent word that they would be well received if- they would come to him. Almost immediately on receiving this reply. King Maxorata, who governed the north-westerly part of the island, set out, and with his suite of twenty-two persons, was baptized on the 18th of January, 1405. Three days afterwards twenty- two other natives received the sacrament of baptism. On the 25th of January the king who governed the peninsula of Handia, the south-eastern part of the island, came with twenty-six of his subjects, and was baptized. In a short time all the Inhabitants of Fortaventura had embraced the Christian religion. Bethencourt was so elated with these happy results, that he arranged to revisit his own country, leaving Courtois as governor during his absence. He set out on the last day of January amid the prayers and blessings of his people, taking with him three native men and one woman, to whom he wished to show something of France. He reached Harfleur in twenty-one days, and two days later was at his own house, where he only intended making a short stay, and then returning to the Canary Islands. He met with a very warm reception from everybody. One of his chief motives in returning to France was the hope of 96 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. finding people of all classes ready to return with him, on the promise of grants of land in the island. He succeeded in finding a certain number of emigrants, amongst whom were twenty-eight soldiers, of whom twenty-three took their wives. Two vessels were prepared to transport the party, and the 6th of May was the day named for them to set out. On the 9 th of May they set sail, and landed on Lancerota just four months and a half after Bethencourt had quitted it. He was received with trumpets, clarionets, tambourines, harps, and other musical Instruments. Thunder could scarcely have been heard above the .sound of this music. The natives celebrated his return by dancing and singing, and crying out, " Here comes our king." Jean de Courtois hastened to welcome his master, who asked him how everything was going on ; he replied, " Sir, all Is going on as well as possible." B6thencourt's companions stayed with him at the fort of Lancerota ; they appeared much pleased with the country, enjoying the dates and other fruits on the island, " and nothing seemed to harm them.'-" .After they had been a short time at "Lancerota, Bethencourt went with them to see Fortaventura, and here his reception was as warm as it had been at Lancerota, especially from the islanders and their two kings. The kings supped with them at the fortress of Richeroque, which Courtois had rebuilt. B6thencourt announced his intention of conquering Gran Canaria Island, as he had done Lancerota and Fortaventura; his hope was that his nephew Maciot, whom he had brought with him from France, would succeed him in the government of these islands, so that the name of B6thencourt might be perpetuated there. He imparted his project to Courtois, who highly approved of it, and added, " Sir, when you return to France, I will go with you. I am a bad husband. It is five years since I saw my wife, and, by my troth, she did not much care about It." The 6th of October, 1405, was the day fixed for starting for Gran Canaria, but contrary winds carried the ships towards the African coast, and they passed by Cape Bojador, where Bethencourt landed. He made an expedition twenty-four miles Inland, and seized some natives and a great number of camels that he took to his vessels. They put as many of the camels as possible on board. JEAN DE bIthBNOOURT. 97 wishing to acclimatize them in the Canary Islands, and the baron set sail again, leaving Cape Bojador, which he had the honour of seeing thirty years before the Portuguese navigators. During this voyage from the coast of Africa to Gran Canaria, the three vessels were separated in stormy weather, one going to Palma, and another to Fortaventura, but finally they all reached Gran Canaria. This island is sixty miles long and thirty-six miles broad ; at the northern end it is flat, but very hilly towards the south. Firs, dragon-trees, olive, fig, and date-trees form large forests, and sheep, goats, and wild dogs are found here in large numbers. The soil is very fertile, and produces two crops of corn every year, and that without any means of improving it. Its inhabitants form a large body of people, and consider themselves all on an equality. When Bethencourt had landed he set to work at once to conquer the island. Unfortunately his Norman soldiers were so proud of their success on the coast of Africa, that they thought they could conquer this island with its ten thousand natives, with a mere handful of men. Bethencourt seeing that they were so confident of success, recommended them to be prudent, but they took no heed of this and bitterly they rued their confidence. After a skirmish, in which they seemed to have got the better of the Islanders, they had left their ranks, when the natives surprised them, massacring twenty-two of them, including Jean de Courtois and Hannibal, Gadifer's son. After this sad affair Bethencourt left Gran Canaria and went to try to subdue Palma. The natives of this island were very clever in slinging stones, rarely missing their aim, and In the encounters with these islanders many fell on both sides, but more natives than Normans, whose loss, however, amounted to one hundred. After six weeks of skirmishing, Bethencourt left Palma, and went to Ferro for three months, a large Island twenty-one miles long and fifteen broad. It is a flat table-land, and large woods of pine and laurel-trees shade it In many places. The mists, which are frequent, moisten the soil and make it especially favourable for the cultivation of corn and the vine. Game is abundant ; pigs, goats, and sheep run wild about the country ; there are also great lizards in shape like the Iguana of America. The inhabitants 98 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. both men and women are a very fine race, healthy, lively, agile and particularly well made, in fact Ferro is one of the pleasantest islands of the group. Bethencourt returned to Fortaventura with his ships after conquering Ferro and Palma. This island is fifty one miles iu length by twenty-four in breadth, and has high mountains as well as large plains, but its surface is less undulating than that of the other islands. Large streams of fresh water run through the island ; the euphorbia, a deadly poison, grows largely here, and date and olive-trees are abundant, as well as a plant that is invaluable for dyeing and whose cultivation would be most remunerative. The coast of Fortaventura has no good harbours for large vessels, but small ones can anchor there quite safely. It was in this island that Bethencourt began to make a partition of land to the colonists, and he succeeded in doing it so evenly that every one was satisfied with his portion. Those colonists whom he had brought with him were to be exempted from taxes for nine years. The question of religion, and religious administration could not fail to be of the deepest interest to so pious a man as Bethen court, so he resolved to go to Rome and try to obtain a bishop for this country, who " would order and adorn the Roman Catholic faith." Before setting out he appointed his nephew Maciot as lieutenant and governor of the islands. Under his orders two sergeants were to act, and enforce justice ; he desired that twice a year news of the colony should be sent to him In Normandy, and the revenue from Lancerota and Fortaventura was to be devoted to building two churches. He said to his nephew Maciot, " I give you full authority In everything to do whatever you think best, and I believe you will do all for my honour and to my advantage. Follow as nearly as possible Norman and French customs, especially In the administration of justice. Above all things, try and keep peace and unity among yourselves, and care for each other as brothers, and specially try that there shall be no rivalry among the gentlemen ; I have given to each one his share and the country is quite large enough for each to have his own sphere. I can tell you nothing further beyond again impressing the importance of your all living as good friends together, and then all will be well." JEAN DE BlSTHENCOURT. 99 Bdthencourt remained three months in Fortaventura and the other islands. He rode about among the people on his mule, and found many of the natives beginning to speak Norman-French. Maciot and the other gentlemen accompanied him, he pointing out what was best to be done and the most honest way of doing it. Then he gave notice that he would set out for Rome on the ensuing 15th of December. Returning to Lancerota, he remained there till his departure, and ordered all the gentlemen he had brought with him, the workmen, and the three kings to appear before him two days before his departure, to tell them what he wished done, and to commend himself and them to God's protection. None failed to appear at this meeting ; they were all received at the fort on Lancerota, and sumptuously entertained. When the repast was over, he spoke to them, especially impressing the duty of obedience to his nephew Maciot upon them, the retention of the fifth of everything for himself, and also the exercise of all Christian virtues and of fervent love to God. This done, he chose those who were to accompany him to Rome, and prepared to set out. His vessel had scarcely set sail when cries and groans were heard on all sides, both Europeans and natives alike regretting this just master, who they feared would never return to them. A great number waded into the water, and tried to stop the vessel that carried him away from them, but the sails were set and Bdthencourt was really gone. " May God keep him safe from all harm," was the utterance of many that daj'. In a week he was at Seville, from thence he went to Valladolid, where the king received him very graciously. He related the narrative of his conquests to the king, and requested from him letters recommending him to the Pope, that he might have a bishop appointed for the islands. The king gave him the letters, and loaded him with gifts, and then Bethencourt set out for Rome with a numerous retinue. He remained three weeks in the eternal city, and was admitted to kiss Pope Innocent VII.'s foot, who complimented him on his having made so many proselytes to the Christian faith, and on his bravery in having ventured so far from his native country. When the bulls were- prepared as Bethencourt had requested, and Albert des Maisons was appointed Bishop of the Canary Islands, the Norman took leave of the Pope after receiving his blessing. The new prelate took leave of Bethencourt, and set out at once 100 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. for his diocese. He went by way of Spain, taking with him some letters from Bethencourt to the king. Then he set sail for Fortaventura and arrived there without any obstacle. Maciot gave him a cordial reception, and the bishop at once began to organize his diocese, governing with gentleness and courtesy, preaching now in one island, now in another, and offering up public prayers for Bethencourt's safety. Maciot was universally beloved, but especially by the natives. This happy, peaceful time only lasted for five years, for later on, Maciot began to abuse his unlimited power, and levied such heav}' exactions that he was obliged to fly the country to save his life. Bethencourt after leaving Rome went to Florence and to Paris, and then to his own chateau, where a great number of people came to pay their respects to the king of the Canary Islands, and if on his return the first time he was much thought of, his reception this second time far exceeded it. Bethencourt established himself at Grainville; although he was an old man, his wife was still young. He had frequent accounts from Maciot of his beloved Islands, and he hoped one day to return to his kingdom, but God willed other wise. One day in the year 1425 he was seized with what proved to be fatal illness ; he was aware that the end was near ; and after making his will and receiving the last sacraments of the church he passed away. " May God keep him and pardon his sins," says the narrative of his life ; " he is buried in the church of Grainville la Telnturi^re, in front of the high altar." Jean de Bethencourt makes his will. Ptige IOO. CHAPTER VII. Cheistopheb Columbds, 1436—1506. Discovery of Madeira, Cape de Verd Islands, the Azores, Congo, and Guinea — Bartholomew Diaz - Cabot and Labrador — The geographical aud commercial tendencies of the middle ages — The erroneous idea of the distance between Europe and Asia — Birth of Christopher Columbus — His first voyages — His plans rejected — His sojourn at the Franciscan convent — His rcQeption by Ferdinand and Isabella — Treaty of the 17th of April, 1492— The brothers Pinzon — Three armed caravels at the port of Palos — Departure on the 3rd of August, 1492. The year 1492 is an era in geographical annals. It is the date of the discovery of America. The genius of one man was fated to complete the terrestrial globe, and to show the truth of Gagliuffi's saying, — Unus erat mundus ; duo sint, ait iste ; fuere. The old world was to be entrusted with the moral and political education of the new. Was it equal to the task, with Its ideas still limited, its tendencies still semi- barbarous, and Its bitter religious animosities ? We must leave the answer to these questions to the facts that follow. Between the year 1405, when Bethencourt had just accomplished the colonlzatidn of the Canary Islands, and the year 1492, what had taken place ? We will give a short sketch of the geo graphical enterprise of the intervening years. A considerable impetus had been given to science by the Arabs (who were soon to be expelled from Spain), and had spread throughout the peninsula. In all the ports, but more especially in those of Portugal, there was much talk of the continent of Africa, and the rich and wonderful countries beyond the sea. "A thousand anecdotes," says Michelet, " stimulated curiosity, valour and avarice, every one wishing to see these mysterious countries where monsters abounded and gold was scattered over the surface of the land." A young 102 THE EXPLORATION OE THE WORLD. prince, Don Ilenr}^, duke of Viseu, third son of John I., who was very fond of the study of astronomy and geography, exercised a considerable influence over his contemporaries ; it is to him that Portugal owes her colonial power and wealth and the expeditions so repeatedly made, which were vividly described, and their results spoken of as so wonderful, that they may have aided in awakening Columbus' love of adventure. Don Henry had an observatory built in the southern part of the province of Algarve, at Sagres, commanding a most splendid view over the sea, and seeming as though it must have been placed there to «eek for some unknown land ; he also established a naval college, where learned geographers traced correct maps and taught the use of the mariner's compass. The young prince surrounded himself with Jearned men, and especially gathered all the information he could as to the possibility of circumnavigating AfHca, and thus reaching India. Though he had never taken part in any maritime expedition, his encouragement and care for seamen gave him the soubriquet or " the Navigator," by which name he is kii9wn ir. history. Two gentlem.en belonging to Don Henry's court, Juan Gonzales Zarco, and Tristram Vaz Teixeira had passed Cape Nun, the terror of ancient navigators, when they were carried out to sea and passed near an island to which they gave the name of Porto-Santo. Sometime afterwards, as they were sailing towards a black point that remained on the horizon, they came to a large island covered with splendid forests ; this was Madeira. In 1433, Cape Bojador, which had for long been such a diffi culty to navigators, was first doubled by the two Portuguese sailors, Gillianfes and Gonzales Baldaya, who passed more than forty leagues beyond it. Encouraged by their example, Antonio Gonzalfes, and Nuno Tristram, in 1441, sailed as far as Cape Blanco, "a feat," says Faria y Souza "that is generally looked upon as being little short of the labours of Hercules," and they brought back with them t« Lisbon some gold-dust taken from the Rio del Ouro. In a second voyage Tristram noticed some of the Cape de Yerd Islands, and went as far south as Sierra Leone. In the course of this ex pedition, he bought from some Moors off the coast of Guinea, ten negroes, whom he took back with him to Lisbon and parted with for a very high price, they having cwlted great curiosity. This Prince Henry of Portugal- " The Navigator." Page loa. CHRtSTOPHER COLUMBUS. 103 .vas the origin of the slave-trade in Europe, which for the next 400 years robbed Africa of so many of her people, and was a disgrace to humanity. In 1441, Cada Mosto doubled Cape Verd, and explored a part of the coast below It. About 1446, the Portuguese, advancing further into the open sea than their predecessors, came upon the group of the Azores. From this time all fear vanished, for the formidable line had been passed, beyond which the air was said to scorch like fire; expeditions succeeded each other without intermission, and each brought home accounts of newly-discovered regions. It seemed as if the African continent was really endless, for the further they advanced towards the south, the further the cape they sought appeared to recede. Some little time before this King John II. had added the title of Seigneur of Guinea to his other titles, and to the discovery of Congo had been added that of some stars in the southern hemisphere hitherto unknown, when Diogo Cam, in three successive voyages, went further south than any preceding navigator, and bore away from Diaz the honour of being the discoverer of the southern point of the African continent. This cape is called Cape Cross, and here he raised a monument called a padrao or padron in memory of his discovery, which is still standing. On his way back, he visited the King of Congo in his capital, and took back with him an ambassador and numerous suite of natives, who were all baptized, and taught the elements of the Christian religion, which they were to propagate on their return to Congo. A short time after Diogo Cam's return in the month of August, 1487, three caravels left the Tagus under the command of Bartho lomew Diaz, a gentleman attached to the king's household, and an old sailor on the Guinea seas. He had an experienced mariner under him, and the smallest of the three vessels freighted with provisions, was commanded by his brother Pedro Diaz. We have no record of the earlier part of this expedition ; we only know, from Joao de Barros, to whom we owe nearly all we learn of Portuguese navigation, that beyond Congo he followed the coast for some distance, and came to an anchorage that he named " Das Voltas " on account of the manner in which he had to tack to reach it, and there he left the smallest of the caravels under the care of nine sailors. After having been detained here five days by stress 104 THE EXPLORATIOy CF THE WORLD. of weather, Diaz stood out to sea, and took- a southerly course, but for thirteen days his vessels were tossed hither and thither by the tempest. As he went further south the temperature fell and the air became very cold ; at last the fury of the elements abated, and Diaz took an easterly course hoping to sight the land, but after several days had passed, and being in about 42° south latitude, he anchored in the bay " dos Yaquieros," so named from the num bers of horned animals and shepherds, who fled inland at the sight of the two vessels. At this time Diaz was about 120 miles east of the Cape of Good Hope, which he had doubled without seeing It. They then went to Sam Braz (now MosSel) bay, and coasted as far as Algoa bay and to an island called Da Cruz where they set up a padrao. But here the crews being much discouraged by the dangers they had passed through, and feeling much the scarcity and bad quality of the provisions, refused to go any farther. "Besides," they said, " as the land is now on our left, let us go back and see the Cape, which we have doubled without knowing it. Diaz called a council, and decided that they should go forwards in a north-easterly direction for two or three days longer. We owe It to his firmness of purpose that he was able to reach a river, 75 miles from Da Cruz that he called Rio Infante, but then the crew refusing to go farther, Diaz was obliged to return to Europe. Barros says, " When Diaz left the pillar that he had erected, it was with such sorrow and so much bitterness, that it seemed almost as though he were leaving an exiled son, and especially when he thought of all the dangers that he and his companions had passed through, and' the long distance which they had come with only this memorial as a remembrance : It was indeed painful to break off when the task was but half completed." At last they saw the Cape of Good Hope, or as Diaz and his followers called it then, the " Cape of Torments," in remembrance of all the storms and tempests they had passed through before they could double it. With the foresight which so often accompanies genius, John II. substituted for the " Cape of Torments," the name of the " Cape of Good Hope," for he saw that now the route to India was open at last, and his vast plans for the extension of the commerce and influence of his country were about to be realized. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 105 On the 24th of August, 1488, Diaz returned to Angra das Voltas, where he had left his smallest caravel. He found six of his nine men dead, and the seventh was so overcome with joy at seeing his companions again that he died also. No particular incident mar.ved the voyage home ; they reached Lisbon in Decem ber, 1488, after staying at Benin, where they traded, and at La Mina to receive the money gained by the commerce of the colon}'. It is strange but true, that Diaz not only received no reward of any kind for this voyage which had been so successful, but he seemed to be treated rather as though he had disgraced himself, for he was not employed again for ten years. More than this the command of the expedition that was sent to double the cape which Diaz had discovered, was given to Vasco da Gama, and Diaz was only to accompany it to La Mina holding a subordinate posi tion. He was to hear of the marvellous campaign of his success ful rival in India, and to see what an effect such an event would have upon the destiny of his country. He took part in Oabral's expedition which discovered Brazil, but he had not the pleasure of seeing the shores to which he had been the pioneer, for the fleet had only just left the American shore, when a fearful storm arose ; four vessels sank, and among them the one that Diaz commanded. It is in allusion to his sad fate that Camoens puts the following .prediction into the mouth of Adamastor, the spirit of the Cape- of Tempests. " I will make a terrible example of the first fleet that shall pass near these rocks, and I will wreak my vengeance on him who first comes to brave me in my dwelling." In fact it was only in 1497, maybe five years after the discovery of America, that the southern point of Africa was passed by Vasco da Gama, and it may be affirmed that If this latter had preceded Columbus, the discovery of the new continent might have been delayed for several centuries. The navigators of this period were very timorous, and did not dare to sail out into mid-ocean ; not liking to venture upon seas that were but little known, they always followed the coast-line of Africa, rather than go further from land. If the Cape of Tempests had been doubled, the sailors would have gone by this route to India, and none would have thought of going to the " Land of Spices," that Is to say Asia, by venturing across 100 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. the Atlantic. Who, in fact, would have thought of seeking for the east by the route to the west ? But in truth this was the great Idea of that day, for Cooley says, ^"The principal object of Portuguese maritime enterprise in the fifteenth century was to search for a passage to India by the Ocean." The most learned men had not gone so far as to imagine the existence of another continent to complete the equilibrium and balance of the terrestial globe. Some parts of the American continent had been already discovered, for an Italian navigator Sebastian Cabot had landed on- Labrador in 1487, and the Scandinavians had certainly dis embarked on this unknown land. The colonists of Greenland, too had explored Winland, but so little disposition was there at this time to believe in the existence of a new world, that Greenland Winland, and Labrador were all thought to be a continuation of the European continent. The main question before the navigators of the fifteenth cen tury was the opening up of an easier communication with the shores of Asia. The route to India, China, and Japan (countries already known through the wonderful narrative of Marco Polo), via Asia Minor, Persia, and Tartary, was long and dangerous. The transport of goods was too difficult and costly for these " ways terrestrial " ever to become roads for commerce. A more practicable means of communication must be found. Thus all the dwellers on the coasts, from England to Spain, as well as the people living on the shores of the Mediterranean, seeing the great Atlantic ocean open to their vessels, began to inquire, whether indeed this new route might not conduct them to the shores of Asia. / The sphericity of the Globe being established, this reasoning was correct, for going always westward, the traveller must neces sarily at last reach the east, and as to the route across the ocean, it would certainlj' be open. Who could, indeed, have suspected the existence of an obstacle 9750 miles in length, lying between Europe and Asia, and called America ? ; We must observe also that the scientific men of the Middle A ges believed that the shores of Asia were not more than 6000 miles distant from those of Europe. - Aristotle supposed the ter restial globe to be smaller than it really Is. Seneca said " How far is it from the shores of Spain to India ? A very few days' sail, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 107 should the wind be favourable." This was also the opinion of Strabo. So it seemed that the route between Europe and Asia must be short, and there being such places for ships to touch at as the Azores and Antilles, of whioh the existence was known in the fifteenth century, the transoceanic communication promised not to be difficult. This popular error as to distance had the happy eff'ect of inducing navigators to try to cross the Atlantic, a feat which, had they been aware of the 15,000 miles of ocean separating Europe from Asia, they would scarcely have dared to attempt. We must in justice allow that certain facts gave, or seemed to ^ive, reason to the partisans of Aristotle and Strabo for their belief in the proximity of the eastern shores. Thus, a pilot in the ser vice of the King of Portugal, while sailing at 1350 miles' distance from Cape St. Vincent, the south-western point of the Portuguese province of Algarve, met with a piece of wood ornamented with ancient sculptures, which he considered must have come from a continent not far off. Again, some fishermen had found near the island of Madeira, a sculptured post and some bamboos, which in shape resembled those found in India. The inhabitants of the Azores also, often picked up gigantic pine-trees, of an unknown species, and one day two human bodies were cast upon their shores, " corpses with broad faces,^' says the chronicler Herrera, " and not resembling Christians." These various facts tended to inflame imagination. As in the fifteenth century men had no knowledge of that great Gulf-stream, which, in nearing the European coasts, brings with it waifs and strays from America, so they could only imagine that these various debris must come from Asia. Therefore, they argued, Asia could not be far off, and the communication between these two extremes of the old continent must be easy. One point must be clearly borne in mind, no geographer of this period had any notion of the existence of a new world ; It was not even a desire of adding to geographical knowledge which led to the exploration of the western route. It was the men of commerce who were the leaders in this movement, and who first undertook to cross the Atlantic. Their only thought was of traffic, and of carrying it on by the ."shortest road. The mariner's compass, invented, according to the generally 108 THE EXPLORATION OP THE WORLD. received opinion, about 1302, by one FL)vio Gioja of Amalfi, enabled vessels to sail at a distance from the coasts, and to guide themselves when out of sight of land. Martin Behaim, with two physicians in the service of Prince Henry of Portugal, had also added to nautical science by discovering the way of directing the voyager's course according to the position of the sun in the heavens, and by applying the astrolabe to the purposes of navigation. These improvements being adopted, the commercial question of the western route increased daily in importance in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, countries in which three-quarters of the science is made up of imagination. There was discussion, there were ^writings. I The excited world of commerce disputed with the world of science. Facts, systems, doctrines, were grouped toge ther. The time was come when there was needed one single in telligence to collect together and assim'ilate the various floating ideas. This intelligence was found. At length all the scattered notions were gathered together in the mind of one man, who pos sessed in a remarkable degree genius, perseverance, and bold ness. This man was no other than Christopher Columbus, born, pro- hMy near Genoa, about the year 1436. We say " probabl_y," for the towns of Cogoreo and Nervi dispute with Savona and Genoa, the honour of having given him birth. The date of his ,birth varies, with different biographers, from 1430 to 1445, but the year 1436 would appear to be the correct one, according to the most reliable documents. The family of Columbus was of humble origin ; his father, Domenic Columbus, a manufacturer of woollen stuffs, seems, however, to have been in sufficiently easy circum stances to enable him to give his children a more than ordinarily good education. The young Christopher, the eldest of the family, was sent to the University of Pavia, there to study Grammar, Latin, .Geographj', Astronomy, and Navigation. At fourteen years of age Christopher left school and went to sea ; from this time until 1487, very little is known of his career. It is interesting to give the remark of Humboldt on this subject, as reported by M. Charton ; he said, " that he regretted the more this uncertainty about the early life of Columbus when he remem bered all that the chroniclers have so minutely preserved for us ipon the life of the dog Becerillo, or the elephant Aboulababat, /n'l.trfyij- Christopher Columbus, Page loS. A SpanisJi Port. Page 109. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 109 which Haroun-al-Raschid sent to Charlemagne ! " The most pro bable account to be gathered from contemporary documents and from the writings of Columbus himself, is that the young sailor visited the Levant, the west, the north, England several times, Portugal, the coast of Guinea, and the islands of Africa, perhaps even Greenland, for, by the age of forty " he had sailed to every part that had ever been sailed to before." He was looked upon as a thoroughly competent mariner, and his reputation led to his being chosen for the command of the Genoese galleys, in the war which that Republic was waging against Venice. He afterwards made an expedition, In the service of Rene, king of Anjou, to the coasts of Barbary, and in 1477, he went to explore the countries beyond Iceland. This voyage being successfully terminated, Christopher Columbus returned to his home at Lisbon. He there married the daughter of an Italian gentleman, Bartolomeo Munez Perestrello, a sailor like himself and deeply interested in the geographical ideas of the day. The wife of Columbus, Dona Filippa, was without fortune, and Columbus, having none himself, felt he must work for the support of himself and his family. The future discoverer, therefore, set to work to make picture-books, terrestrial globes, maps, and nautical charts, and continued in this employment until 148 1, but without at the same time abandoning his scientific and literary pursuits. It seems probable even, that during this period he studied deeply, and attained to knowledge far beyond that possessed by most of the sailors of his time. Can it have been that at this time " the Great Idea " first arose in his mind ? It may well have been' so. He was following assiduously the discussions relative to the western routes, and the facility of communication by the west, between Europe and Asia. His correspondence proves that he shared the opinion of Aristotle as to the relatively short distance separating the extreme shores of the old Continent. He wrote frequently to the most distinguished savants of his time. Martin Behaim, of whom we have already spoken, was amongst his correspondents, and also the celebrated Florentine astronortier, Toscanelli, whose opinions in some degree influenced those of Columbus. At this time Cclumbus, according to the portrait of him given by his biographer Washington Irving, was a tall man, of robust and noble presence. His face was long, he had an aquiline nose, high 110 THE EXPLORATION OF THE WORLD. « cheek bones, eyes clear and full of fire ; he had a bright com plexion, and his face was much covered with freckles. He was a truly Christian man, and it was with the liveliest faith that he fulfilled all the duties of the Catholic religion. At the time when Christopher Columbus was In correspondence with the astronomer Toscanelli, he learnt that the latter, at the request of Alphonso V., King of Portugal, had sent to the king a learned Memoir upon the possibility of reaching the Indies by the western route. Columbus was consulted, and supported the ideas of Toscanelli with all his influence ; but without result, for the King of Portugal, who was engaged at the time in war with Spain, died, without having been able t