Produced by Ron Swanson
[Frontispiece: PTOLEMY'S MAP OF THE WORLD, ORIGINALLY DRAWN ABOUT A.D.
150. From the first printed edition of 1472 (the first book to have
printed maps) and the famous Rome edition of 1508. It is only necessary
to compare this map with the mythical geography represented in a
mediaeval map such as the Hereford map of the world, made _eleven
centuries_ later to recognise the extraordinary accuracy and
scientific value of Ptolemy's geography.]
A BOOK OF DISCOVERY
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S EXPLORATION, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO
THE FINDING OF THE SOUTH POLE
By M. B. SYNGE, F.R.Hist.S.
AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF THE WORLD"
"A SHORT HISTORY OF SOCIAL LIFE IN ENGLAND" ETC.
_FULLY ILLUSTRATED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES AND WITH MAPS_
[Illustration: THE _GOLDEN HIND_ (_From the Chart of "Drake's
Voyages"_)]
LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK, LTD.
35 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C., & EDINBURGH
INTRODUCTION
"Hope went before them, and the world was wide."
Such was the spirit in which the exploration of the world was
accomplished. It was the inspiration that carried men of old far beyond
the sunrise into those magic and silent seas whereon no boat had ever
sailed. It is the incentive of those to-day with the wander-thirst
in their souls, who travel and suffer in the travelling, though there
are fewer prizes left to win. But
"The reward is in the doing,
And the rapture of pursuing
Is the prize."
"To travel hopefully," says Stevenson, "is a better thing than to
arrive." This would explain the fact that this Book of Discovery has
become a record of splendid endurance, of hardships bravely borne,
of silent toil, of courage and resolution unequalled in the annals
of mankind, of self-sacrifice unrivalled and faithful lives laid
ungrudgingly down. Of the many who went forth, the few only attained.
It is of these few that this book tells.
"All these," says the poet in Ecclesiastes--"all these were honoured
in their generation, and were the glory of their times ... their name
liveth for evermore."
But while we read of those master-spirits who succeeded, let us never
forget those who failed to achieve.
"Anybody might have found it, but the Whisper came to Me."
Enthusiasm too was the secret of their success. Among the best of crews
there was always some one who would have turned back, but the world
would never have been explored had it not been for those finer spirits
who resolutely went on--even to the death.
This is what carried Alexander the Great to the "earth's utmost verge,"
that drew Columbus across the trackless Atlantic, that nerved Vasco
da Gama to double the Stormy Cape, that induced Magellan to face the
dreaded straits now called by his name, that made it possible for men
to face without flinching the ice-bound regions of the far North.
"There is no land uninhabitable, nor sea unnavigable," asserted the
men of the sixteenth century, when England set herself to take
possession of her heritage in the North. Such an heroic temper could
overcome all things. But the cost was great, the sufferings intense.
"Having eaten our shoes and saddles boiled with a few wild herbs, we
set out to reach the kingdom of gold," says Orellana in 1540.
"We ate biscuit, but in truth it was biscuit no longer, but a powder
full of worms,--so great was the want of food, that we were forced
to eat the hides with which the mainyard was covered; but we had also
to make use of sawdust for food, and rats became a great delicacy,"
related Magellan, as he led his little ship across the unknown Pacific.
Again, there is Franklin returning from the Arctic coast, and stilling
the pangs of hunger with "pieces of singed hide mixed with lichen,"
varied with "the horns and bones of a dead deer fried with some old
shoes."
The dangers of the way were manifold.
For the early explorers had no land map or ocean chart to guide them,
there were no lighthouses to warn the strange mariner of dangerous
coast and angry surf, no books of travel to relate the weird doings
of fierce and inhospitable savages, no tinned foods to prevent the
terrible scourge of sailors, scurvy. In their little wooden sailing
ships the men of old faced every conceivable danger, and surmounted
obstacles unknown to modern civilisation.
"Now strike your Sails ye jolly Mariners,
For we be come into a quiet Rode."
For the most part we are struck with the light-heartedness of the olden
sailor, the shout of gladness with which men went forth on these
hazardous undertakings, knowing not how they would arrive, or what
might befall them by the way, went forth in the smallest of wooden
ships, with the most incompetent of crews, to face the dangers of
unknown seas and unsuspected lands, to chance the angry storm and the
hidden rock, to discover inhospitable shores and savage foes. Founded
on bitter experience is the old saying--
"A Passage Perilous makyth a Port Pleasant."
For the early navigators knew little of the art of navigation.
Pytheas, who discovered the British Isles, was "a great
mathematician." Diego Cam, who sailed to the mouth of the Congo, was
"a knight of the King's household." Sir Hugh Willoughby, "a most
valiant gentleman." Richard Chancellor, "a man of great estimation
for many good parts of wit in him." Anthony Jenkinson, a "resolute
and intelligent gentleman." Sir Walter Raleigh, an Elizabethan
courtier, and so forth.
It has been obviously impossible to include all the famous names that
belong to the history of exploration. Most of these explorers have
been chosen for some definite new discovery, some addition to the
world's geographical knowledge, or some great feat of endurance which
may serve to brace us to fresh effort as a nation famous for our seamen.
English navigators have been afforded the lion's share in the book,
partly because they took the lion's share in exploring, partly because
translations of foreign travel are difficult to transcribe. Most of
these stories have been taken from original sources, and most of the
explorers have been allowed to tell part of their own story in their
own words.
Perhaps the most graphic of all explorations is that written by a native
of West Australia, who accompanied an exploring party searching for
an English lad named Smith, who had been starved to death.
"Away, away, away, away; we reach the water of Djunjup; we shoot game.
Away, away, away through a forest away, through a forest away; we see
no water. Through a forest away, along our tracks away; hills ascending,
then pleasantly away, away, through a forest away. We see a
water--along the river away--a short distance we go, then away, away,
away through a forest away. Then along another river away, across the
river away. Still we go onwards, along the sea away, through the bush
away, then along the sea away. We sleep near the sea. I see Mr. Smith's
footsteps ascending a sandhill; onwards I go regarding his footsteps.
I see Mr. Smith dead. Two sleeps had he been dead; greatly did I weep,
and much I grieved. In his blanket folding him, we scraped away the
earth. The sun had inclined to the westward as we laid him in the
ground."
The book is illustrated with reproductions from old maps--old
primitive maps, with a real Adam and Eve standing in the Garden of
Eden, with Pillars of Hercules guarding the Straits of Gibraltar, with
Paradise in the east, a realistic Jerusalem in the centre, the island
of Thule in the north, and St. Brandon's Isles of the Blest in the
west.
Beautifully coloured were the maps of the Middle Ages, "joyous charts
all glorious with gold and vermilion, compasses and crests and flying
banners, with mountains of red and gold." The seas are full of
ships--"brave beflagged vessels with swelling sails." The land is
ablaze with kings and potentates on golden thrones under canopies of
angels. While over all presides the Madonna in her golden chair.
The Hereford Mappa Mundi, drawn in the thirteenth century on a fine
sheet of vellum, circular in form, is among the most interesting of
the mediaeval maps. It must once have been gorgeous, with its gold
letters and scarlet towns, its green seas and its blue rivers. The
Red Sea is still red, but the Mediterranean is chocolate brown, and
all the green has disappeared. The mounted figure in the lower
right-hand corner is probably the author, Richard de Haldingham. The
map is surmounted by a representation of the Last Judgment, below which
is Paradise as a circular island, with the four rivers and the figures
of Adam and Eve. In the centre is Jerusalem. The world is divided into
three--Asia, "Affrica," and Europe. Around this earth-island flows
the ocean. America is, of course, absent; the East is placed at Paradise
and the West at the Pillars of Hercules. North and South are left to
the imagination.
And what of the famous map of Juan de la Cosa, once pilot to Columbus,
drawn in the fifteenth century, with St. Christopher carrying the
infant Christ across the water, supposed to be a portrait of
Christopher Columbus carrying the gospel to America? It is the first
map in which a dim outline appears of the New World.
The early maps of "Apphrica" are filled with camels and unicorns, lions
and tigers, veiled figures and the turrets and spires of strange
buildings--
"Geographers in Afric maps
With savage pictures fill their gaps."
"Surely," says a modern writer,--"surely the old cartographer was less
concerned to fill his gaps than to express the poetry of geography."
And to-day, there are still gaps in the most modern maps of Africa,
where one-eleventh of the whole area remains unexplored. Further, in
Asia the problem of the Brahmaputra Falls is yet unsolved; there are
shores untrodden and rivers unsurveyed.
"God hath given us some things, and not all things, that our successors
also might have somewhat to do," wrote Barents in the sixteenth century.
There may not be much left, but with the words of Kipling's _Explorer_
we may fitly conclude--
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges--
Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"
Thanks are due to Mr. S. G. Stubbs for valuable assistance in the
selection and preparation of the illustrations, which, with few
exceptions, have been executed under his directions.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. A LITTLE OLD WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. EARLY MARINERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
III. IS THE WORLD FLAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
IV. HERODOTUS--THE TRAVELLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
V. ALEXANDER THE GREAT EXPLORES INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . 35
VI. PYTHEAS FINDS THE BRITISH ISLES . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
VII. JULIUS CAESAR AS EXPLORER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
VIII. STRABO'S GEOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
IX. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND PLINY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
X. PTOLEMY'S MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
XI. PILGRIM TRAVELLERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
XII. IRISH EXPLORERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
XIII. AFTER MOHAMMED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
XIV. THE VIKINGS SAIL THE NORTHERN SEAS . . . . . . . . . . . 93
XV. ARAB WAYFARERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
XVI. TRAVELLERS TO THE EAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
XVII. MARCO POLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
XVIII. THE END OF MEDIAEVAL EXPLORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
XIX. MEDIAEVAL MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
XX. PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
XXI. BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ REACHES THE STORMY CAPE . . . . . . . . 150
XXII. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
XXIII. A GREAT NEW WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
XXIV. VASCO DA GAMA REACHES INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
XXV. DISCOVERY OF THE SPICE ISLANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
XXVI. BALBOA SEES THE PACIFIC OCEAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
XXVII. MAGELLAN SAILS ROUND THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
XXVIII. CORTES EXPLORES AND CONQUERS MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . 205
XXIX. EXPLORERS IN SOUTH AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
XXX. CABOT SAILS TO NEWFOUNDLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
XXXI. JACQUES CARTIER EXPLORES CANADA . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
XXXII. SEARCH FOR A NORTH-EAST PASSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
XXXIII. MARTIN FROBISHER SEARCHES FOR A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE . . . 245
XXXIV. DRAKE'S FAMOUS VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . 249
XXXV. DAVIS STRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
XXXVI. BARENTS SAILS TO SPITZBERGEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
XXXVII. HUDSON FINDS HIS BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
XXXVIII. BAFFIN FINDS HIS BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
XXXIX. SIR WALTER RALEIGH SEARCHES FOR EL DORADO . . . . . . . 285
XL. CHAMPLAIN DISCOVERS LAKE ONTARIO . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
XLI. EARLY DISCOVERERS OF AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
XLII. TASMAN FINDS TASMANIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
XLIII. DAMPIER DISCOVERS HIS STRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
XLIV. BEHRING FINDS HIS STRAIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
XLV. COOK DISCOVERS NEW ZEALAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
XLVI. COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE AND DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
XLVII. BRUCE'S TRAVELS IN ABYSSINIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
XLVIII. MUNGO PARK AND THE NIGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
XLIX. VANCOUVER DISCOVERS HIS ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
L. MACKENZIE AND HIS RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
LI. PARRY DISCOVERS LANCASTER SOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
LII. THE FROZEN NORTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
LIII. FRANKLIN'S LAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTH . . . . . . . . . . 382
LIV. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
LV. THE SEARCH FOR TIMBUKTU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
LVI. RICHARD AND JOHN LANDER DISCOVER THE MOUTH OF THE NIGER 399
LVII. ROSS DISCOVERS THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE . . . . . . . . . 403
LVIII. FLINDERS NAMES AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
LIX. STURT'S DISCOVERIES IN AUSTRALIA . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
LX. ROSS MAKES DISCOVERIES IN THE ANTARCTIC SEAS . . . . . . 428
LXI. FRANKLIN DISCOVERS THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE . . . . . . . 432
LXII. DAVID LIVINGSTONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
LXIII. BURTON AND SPEKE IN CENTRAL AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . 450
LXIV. LIVINGSTONE TRACES LAKE SHIRWA AND NYASSA . . . . . . . 456
LXV. EXPEDITION TO VICTORIA NYANZA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
LXVI. BAKER FINDS ALBERT NYANZA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
LXVII. LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
LXVIII. THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
LXIX. NORDENSKIOLD ACCOMPLISHES THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE . . . . 501
LXX. THE EXPLORATION OF TIBET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
LXXI. NANSEN REACHES FARTHEST NORTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
LXXII. PEARY REACHES THE NORTH POLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
LXXIII. THE QUEST FOR THE SOUTH POLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
DATES OF CHIEF EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
Ptolemy's Map of the World about A.D. 150 . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
Taken from the first printed edition of 1472 and the Rome
edition of 1508.
FACING PAGE
The Polos leaving Venice for their Travels to the Far East . . . 118
From a Miniature at the head of a late 14th century MS. of the
_Travels of Marco Polo_, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
The Hereford Mappa Mundi of 1280 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
The original, made by RICHARD DE HALDINGHAM, Prebendary of
Hereford, hangs in the Chapter House Library, Hereford
Cathedral.
Map of the World drawn in 1500, the first to show America . . . . 168
By JUAN DE LA COSA.
The Dauphin Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Made by PIERRE DESCELLIERS 1546, by order of Francis I. for
the Dauphin (Henri II.) of France.
Barents's Ship among the Arctic Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
From a coloured woodcut in Barents's _Three Voyages_
(De Veer), published in 1598.
Ross's Winter Quarters in Felix Harbour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
The First Communication With Eskimos at Boothia Felix, 1830 . . . 404
From Drawings by ROSS in the _Narrative of his Expedition to
the North Magnetic Pole, A Second Voyage in Search of a
North-West Passage_, 1829-33.
Shackleton's Ship, the _Nimrod_, among the Ice in McMurdo Sound . 538
From _The Heart of the Antarctic_ (published by Heinemann), by
kind permission of Sir ERNEST SHACKLETON.
BLACK & WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of
Homer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of
Ptolemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the end of
the 13th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
The Best Portrait of Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
From the original Painting by an unknown artist in the Naval
Museum, Madrid.
The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of
Columbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Amerigo Vespucci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
From the Sculpture by GRAZZINI at the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence.
Ferdinand Magellan, the first Circumnavigator . . . . . . . . . . 198
From the Engraving by FERDINAND SELMA.
Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail round the World . 252
After the Engraving attributed to HONDIUS.
The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of
Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Karakakova Bay, where Captain Cook was murdered . . . . . . . . . 334
From the Engraving in the Atlas to COOK'S _Voyages_.
The Unrolling of the Clouds: the World as known at the time of
Cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Mungo Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
From the Engraving in PARK'S _Travels into the Interior of
Africa_, 1799.
Search for a North-West Passage: Parry's Ships cutting through
the Ice into Winter Harbour, 1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
From a Drawing by WILLIAM WESTALL, A.R.A., of a Sketch by
Lieut. BEECHEY, a member of the expedition. From PARRY'S
_Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of the North-West
Passage_.
Lhasa and the Potala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
From a Photograph by a member of Younghusband's Expedition to
Thibet.
At the North Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
From the Photograph in Admiral PEARY'S book _The North Pole_.
Captain Roald Amundsen taking Sights at the South Pole . . . . . 544
From a Photograph.
Acknowledgment is due to the courtesy of Mr. John Murray and the
_Illustrated London News_ for the photograph taken at the South Pole,
facing page 544; to Admiral Peary for that taken at the North Pole,
facing page 534; and to Sir Ernest Shackleton and Mr. Heinemann for
the colour-plate of the _Nimrod_. Permissions have also been granted
by Mr. John Murray (for illustrations from Livingstone's books and
Admiral McClintock's _Voyage of the Fox_); by Messrs. Macmillan (for
the colour-plate of the Polos leaving Venice, from the Bodleian); and
by Messrs. Sampson, Low, Marston, & Co. (for illustrations from Sir
H. M. Stanley's books).
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PAGE
The Garden of Eden with its Four Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
From the Hereford Map of the World.
Babylonian Map of the World on Clay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
In the British Museum.
The oldest known Ships: between 6000 and 5000 B.C. . . . . . . . 4
From a pre-Egyptian Vase-painting.
Egyptian Ship of the Expedition to Punt, about 1600 B.C. . . . . 7
From a Rock-carving at Der el Bahari.
The Ark on Ararat, and the Cities of Nineveh and Babylon . . . . 8
From LEONARDO DATI'S Map of 1422.
A Phoenician Ship, about 700 B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
From a Bas-relief at Nineveh.
Map of the Voyage of the Argonauts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Pillars of Hercules, as shown in a Mediaeval Map . . . . . . 20
HIGDEN'S Map of the World. 1360 A.D.
The Pillars of Hercules, as shown in the Anglo-Saxon Map of the
World, 10th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
A Greek Galley, about 500 B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
From a Vase-painting.
Jerusalem, the Centre of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
From the Hereford Map of the World, 13th century.
A Merchant-Ship of Athens, about 500 B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
From a Vase-painting.
The Coast of Africa, after Ptolemy (Mercator's Edition), showing
Hanno's Voyage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
A Sketch Map of Alexander's Chief Exploratory Marches from Athens
to Hyderabad and Gaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Alexandria in Pizzigani's Map, 14th century . . . . . . . . . . . 44
North Britain and the Island of Thule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
From MERCATOR'S edition of Ptolemy's Map.
A Portion of an old Roman Map of the World, showing the roads
through the Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
From the Peutinger Table.
The World-Island according to Strabo, 18 A.D. . . . . . . . . . . 65
Hull of a Roman Merchant-Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
From a Roman model at Greenwich.
A Roman Galley, about 110 A.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
From Trajan's Column at Rome.
The First Stages of a Mediaeval Pilgrimage, London to Dover . . . 78
From MATTHEW OF PARIS'S _Itinerary_, 13th century.
Jerusalem and the East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
From MATTHEW OF PARIS'S _Itinerary_, 13th century.
Ireland and St. Brandon's Isle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
From the Catalan Map, 1375.
The Mysterious Isle of St. Brandon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
From MARTIN BEHAIM'S Map, 1492.
The World-Map of Cosmas, 6th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The oldest Christian Map.
The Mountain of Cosmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
A Viking Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
From Professor MONTELIUS'S book on Scandinavian archaeology.
A Khalif on his Throne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
From the Ancona Map, 1497.
A Chinese Emperor giving Audience, 9th century . . . . . . . . . 100
From an old Chinese MS. at Paris.
The Scene of Sindbad's Voyages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
From EDRISI'S Map, 1154.
Sindbad's Giant Roc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
From an Oriental Miniature Painting.
Jerusalem and the Pilgrims' Ways to it, 12th century . . . . . . 109
From a Map of the 12th century at Brussels.
Two Emperors of Tartary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
From the Catalan Map, 1375.
A Tartar Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
From the Borgian Map, 1453.
Initial Letter from the MS. of Rubruquis at Cambridge . . . . . . 113
How the Brothers Polo set out from Constantinople with their
nephew Marco for China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
From a Miniature Painting in 14th century _Livre des
Merveilles_.
Marco Polo lands at Ormuz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
From a Miniature in the _Livre des Merveilles_.
Kublai Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
From an old Chinese Encyclopaedia at Paris.
Marco Polo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
From a Woodcut in the first printed edition of MARCO POLO'S
_Travels_, 1477.
A Japanese Fight against the Chinese at the time when Marco Polo
first saw the Japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
From an ancient Japanese Painting.
Sir John Mandeville on his Travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
From a MS. in the British Museum.
An Emperor of Tartary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
From the Map ascribed to SEBASTIAN CABOT, 1544.
A Caravan in Cathay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
From the Catalan Map, 1375.
The Turin Map of the World, 8th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
A T-map, 10th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
A T-map, 13th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
The Kaiser holding the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
From a 12th-century MS.
The "Anglo-Saxon" Map of the World, drawn about 990 A.D. . . . . 137
From the Cotton MSS. in the British Museum.
Africa--from Ceuta to Madeira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
From FRA MAURO'S Map, 1457.
The Voyage to Cape Blanco from Cape Bojador . . . . . . . . . . . 142
From FRA MAURO'S Map, 1457.
A Portion of Africa illustrating Cadamosto's Voyage beyond Cape
Blanco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
From FRA MAURO'S Map, 1457.
Sketch of Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
From FRA MAURO'S Map of the World, 1457.
Negro Boys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
From CABOT'S Map, 1544.
The West Coast of Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
From MARTIN BEHAIM'S Map, 1492.
The Parting of Columbus with Ferdinand and Isabella, 3rd August
1492 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
From DE BRY'S account of the _Voyages to India_, 1601.
Columbus's Ship, the _Santa Maria_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
From a Woodcut of 1493, supposed to be after a Drawing by
COLUMBUS.
Columbus landing on Hispaniola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
From a Woodcut of 1494.
The first Representation of the People of the New World . . . . . 163
From a Woodcut published at Augsburg between 1497 and 1504.
The Town of Isabella and the Colony founded by Columbus . . . . . 166
From a Woodcut of 1494.
Vasco da Gama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
From a contemporary Portrait.
Africa as it was known after da Gama's Expeditions . . . . . . . 175
From JUAN DE LA COSA'S Map of 1500.
Calicut and the Southern Indian Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
From JUAN DE LA COSA'S Map, 1500.
The Malabar Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
From FRA MAURO'S Map.
A Ship of Albuquerque's Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
From a very fine Woodcut in the British Museum.
A Ship of Java and the China Seas in the 16th century . . . . . . 187
From LINSCHOTEN'S _Navigatio ac Itinerarium_, 1598.
One of the first Maps of the Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
From DIEGO RIBERO'S Map, 1529.
Magellan's Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
From MERCATOR'S _Mappe Monde_, 1569.
A Ship of the 16th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
From AMORETTI'S translation of _Magellan's Voyage round the
World_.
"Hondius his Map of the Magellan Streight" . . . . . . . . . . . 201
From a Map by JODOCUS HONDIUS, about 1590.
The first Ship that sailed round the World . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Magellan's _Victoria_, from HULSIUS'S _Collection of Voyages_,
1602.
Hernando Cortes, Conqueror of Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
After the original Portrait at Mexico.
The Battles of the Spaniards in Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
From an ancient Aztec Drawing.
Pizarro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
From the Portrait at Cuzco.
Peru and South America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
From the Map of the World, 1544, usually ascribed to SEBASTIAN
CABOT.
Peruvian Warriors of the Inca Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
From an ancient Peruvian Painting.
Part of North America, showing Sebastian Cabot's Voyage to
Newfoundland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
From the Map of 1544, usually ascribed to CABOT.
Jacques Cartier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
From an old Pen-drawing at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
Canada and the River St. Lawrence, showing Quebec . . . . . . . . 231
From LESCARBOT'S _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, 1609.
New France, showing Newfoundland, Labrador, and the St. Lawrence 233
From JOCOMO DI GASTALDI'S Map, about 1550.
Ivan Vasiliwich, King of Muscovie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
From an old Woodcut.
Anthony Jenkinson's Map of Russia, Muscovy, and Tartary . . . . 242-3
Published in 1562.
Greenlanders as seen by Martin Frobisher . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
From Captain BESTE'S Account of Frobisher's _Voyages_, 1578.
Sir Francis Drake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
From HOLLAND'S _Heroologia_, 1620.
The Silver Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
From Medallion in British Museum.
The Silver Map of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
From Medallion in British Museum.
The _Golden Hind_ at New Albion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
From the Chart of Drake's _Voyages_.
The _Golden Hind_ at Java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
From the Chart of Drake's _Voyages_.
An Eskimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
From a Water-colour Drawing by JOHN WHITE, about 1585.
A Ship of the late 16th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
From Ortelius, 1598.
Nova Zembla and the Arctic Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
From a Map in DE BRY'S _Grands Voyages_, 1598.
Barents in the Arctic--"Hut wherein we wintered" . . . . . . . . 269
From DE VEER'S Account of the _Voyages of Barents_, 1598.
Hudson's Map of his Voyages in the Arctic . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
From his Book published in 1612.
A Ship of Hudson's Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
From his _Voyages_, 1612.
Baffin's Map of his Voyages to the North . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
From original MS., drawn by BAFFIN, in the British Museum.
Sir Walter Raleigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Raleigh's Map of Guinea, El Dorado, and the Orinoco Coast . . . . 289
From the original Map, drawn by RALEIGH, in British Museum.
The first Settlement at Quebec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
From CHAMPLAIN'S _Voyages_, 1613.
The Defeat of the Iroquois by Champlain . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
From a Drawing in CHAMPLAIN'S _Voyages_, 1613.
An early Map of "Terra Australis" called "Java la Grande" . . . . 297
From the "Dauphin" Map of 1546.
The Wreck of Captain Pelsart's Ship, the _Batavia_, on the Coast
of New Holland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
From the Dutch account of PELSART'S _Voyages_, 1647.
Van Diemen's Land and two of Tasman's Ships . . . . . . . . . . . 304
From the Map drawn by TASMAN in his "Journal."
Dampier's Ship, the _Cygnet_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
From a Drawing in the Dutch edition of his _Voyage Round the
World_, 1698.
Dampier's Strait and the Island of New Britain . . . . . . . . . 311
From a Map in DAMPIER'S _Voyages_, 1697.
Chart of Behring's Voyage from Kamtchatka to North America . . . 317
From a Chart drawn in 1741 by Lieut. WAXELL.
The Island of Otaheite, or St. George . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
From a Painting by WILLIAM HODGES.
A Maori Fort on the Coast between Poverty Bay and Cape Turnagain 323
From an Engraving in the Atlas to COOK'S first _Voyage_.
Captain Cook's Vessel beached at the Entrance of Endeavour River 327
From an Engraving in the Atlas to COOK'S first _Voyage_.
Captain James Cook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
From the Painting by DANCE in the Gallery of Greenwich
Hospital.
Port Jackson and Sydney Cove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
From the Atlas to the _Voyage de l'Astrolabe_.
A Nile Boat, or Canja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
From BRUCE'S _Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile_.
An Arab Sheikh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
From BRUCE'S _Travels_.
The Camp of Ali, the Mohammedan Chief, at Benown . . . . . . . . 353
From a Sketch by MUNGO PARK.
Kamalia, a Native Village near the Southern Course of the Niger . 355
From a Sketch by MUNGO PARK.
A Native Woman washing Gold in Senegal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
From a Sketch by MUNGO PARK, made on his last expedition.
Vancouver's Ship, the _Discovery_, on the Rocks in Queen
Charlotte's Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
From a Drawing in VANCOUVER'S _Voyage_, 1798.
Parry's Ships, the _Hecla_ and _Griper_, in Winter Harbour . . . 369
From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Voyage for the North-West Passage_,
1821.
The North Shore of Lancaster Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Voyage for the North-West Passage_,
1821.
A Winter View of Fort Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
From a Drawing, by WILLIAM BACK, in Franklin's _Journey to the
Polar Sea_, 1823.
Franklin's Expedition to the Polar Sea on the Ice . . . . . . . . 377
From a Drawing, by WILLIAM BACK, in Franklin's _Journey to the
Polar Sea_, 1823.
An Eskimo watching a Seal Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Second Voyage for a North-West
Passage_, 1824.
Fort Franklin, on the Great Bear Lake, in the Winter . . . . . . 383
From a Drawing in FRANKLIN'S _Second Expedition to the Polar
Sea_, 1828.
Franklin's Expedition crossing Back's Inlet . . . . . . . . . . . 385
From a Drawing, by Lieut. BACK, in Franklin's _Second
Expedition to the Polar Sea_, 1828.
The Boats of Parry's Expedition hauled up on the Ice for the
Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
From a Drawing in PARRY'S _Attempt to Reach the North Pole_,
1828.
Major Denham and his Party received by the Sheikh of Bornu . . . 393
From a Drawing by Major DENHAM.
The first European Picture of Timbuktu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
From a Drawing in CAILLE'S _Tomboctou_, 1829.
Richard and John Lander paddling down the Niger . . . . . . . . . 401
From a Drawing in the account of LANDER'S _Travels_, 1835.
The Rosses on their Journey to the North Magnetic Pole . . . . . 407
From a Drawing in ROSS'S _Second Voyage for a North-West
Passage_, 1835.
"Somerset House," Ross's Winter Quarters on Fury Beach . . . . . 409
From a Drawing in ROSS'S _Second Voyage for a North-West
Passage_, 1835.
Matthew Flinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Cape Catastrophe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
From FLINDERS' _Voyages_.
The Huts of the Crew of the _Porpoise_ on the Sandbank, Wreck
Reef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
From FLINDERS' _Voyages_.
Captain Sturt at the Junction of the Rivers Darling and Murray . 423
From the _Narrative of Sturt's Expedition_.
The Burke and Wills Expedition leaving Melbourne, 1860 . . . . . 425
From a Drawing by WILLIAM STRUTT, an acquaintance of Burke.
Burke and Wills at Cooper's Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
From a Woodcut in a contemporary Australian account of the
expedition.
Part of the Great Southern Ice Barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
From ROSS'S _Voyage in the Antarctic Regions_.
Eskimos at Cape York watching the approach of the _Fox_ . . . . . 434
From McCLINTOCK'S _Voyage in Search of Franklin_.
The Three Graves on Beechey Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
From McCLINTOCK'S _Voyage in Search of Franklin_.
Exploring Parties starting from the _Fox_ . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
From McCLINTOCK'S _Voyage in Search of Franklin_.
Livingstone, with his Wife and Family, at the Discovery of Lake
Ngami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
From LIVINGSTONE'S _Missionary Travels_.
The "Smoke" of the Zambesi (Victoria) Falls . . . . . . . . . . . 447
After a Drawing in LIVINGSTONE'S _Missionary Travels_.
Burton in a Dug-out on Lake Tanganyika . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
After a Drawing by BURTON.
Burton and his Companions on the march to Victoria Nyanza . . . . 453
From a Humorous Sketch by BURTON.
The _Ma-Robert_ on the Zambesi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
After a Drawing in LIVINGSTONE'S _Expedition to the Zambesi_.
M'tesa, King of Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
From SPEKE'S _Journey to Discover the Source of the Nile_.
The Ripon Falls on the Victoria Nyanza . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
From SPEKE'S _Journey to Discover the Source of the Nile_.
Captains Speke and Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Baker and his Wife crossing the Nubian Desert . . . . . . . . . . 469
From BAKER'S _Travels_.
Baker's Boat in a Storm on Lake Albert Nyanza . . . . . . . . . . 471
From BAKER'S _Albert Nyanza_.
The Discovery of Lake Bangweolo, 1868 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
From LIVINGSTONE'S _Last Journals_, by permission of Mr. John
Murray.
Livingstone at Work on his Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
From a Sketch by H. M. STANLEY.
Livingstone entering the Hut at Ilala on the Night that he Died . 483
From LIVINGSTONE'S _Last Journals_, by permission of Mr. John
Murray.
The last Entries in Livingstone's Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Susi, Livingstone's Servant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
From a Sketch by H. M. STANLEY.
Stanley and his Men marching through Unyoro . . . . . . . . . . . 489
From a Sketch, by STANLEY, in _Through the Dark Continent_.
"Towards the Unknown": Stanley's Canoes starting from Vinya
Njara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
From _Through the Dark Continent_.
The Seventh Cataract--Stanley Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
From _Through the Dark Continent_.
The Fight below the Confluence of the Aruwimi and Livingstone
Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
From a Sketch, by STANLEY, in _Through the Dark Continent_.
Nordenskiold's Ship, the _Vega_, saluting Cape Chelyuskin . . . . 505
From a Drawing in HOVGAARD'S _Nordenskiold's Voyage_.
Menka, Chief of the Chukches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
The _Vega_ frozen in for the Winter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
From a Drawing in HOVGAARD'S _Nordenskiold's Voyage_.
The Potala at Lhasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
From KIRCHER'S _China Illustrata_.
Dr. Nansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
After a Photograph.
The Ship that went Farthest North: the _Fram_ . . . . . . . . . . 527
From a Photograph.
A BOOK OF DISCOVERY
CHAPTER I
A LITTLE OLD WORLD
No story is complete unless it begins at the very beginning. But where
is the beginning? Where is the dawn of geography--the knowledge of
our earth? What was it like before the first explorers made their way
into distant lands? Every day that passes we are gaining fresh
knowledge of the dim and silent past.
Every day men are patiently digging in the old heaps that were once
the sites of busy cities, and, as a result of their unwearying toil,
they are revealing to us the life-stories of those who dwelt therein;
they are disclosing secrets writ on weather-worn stones and tablets,
bricks and cylinders, never before even guessed at.
Thus we read the wondrous story of ancient days, and breathlessly
wonder what marvellous discovery will thrill us next.
For the earliest account of the old world--a world made up apparently
of a little land and a little water--we turn to an old papyrus, the
oldest in existence, which tells us in familiar words, unsurpassed
for their exquisite poetry and wondrous simplicity, of that great
dateless time so full of mystery and awe.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth
was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and
the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.... And God said,
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide
the waters from the waters. And God ... divided the waters which were
under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament....
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one
place, and let the dry land appear.... And God called the dry land
Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas."
Thus beautifully did the children of men express their earliest idea
of the world's distribution of land and water.
And where, on our modern maps, was this little earth, and what was
it like? Did trees and flowers cover the land? Did rivers flow into
the sea? Listen again to the old tradition that still rings down the
ages--
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden ... and a river
went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted,
and became four heads. The name of the first is Pison ... and the name
of the second river is Gihon; the name of the third river is Hiddekel
(Tigris). And the fourth river is Euphrates."
[Illustration: THE GARDEN OF EDEN WITH ITS FOUR RIVERS. From the
Hereford Map of the World.]
Now look at a modern map of Asia. Between Arabia and Persia there is
a long valley watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers which rise
in Armenia and flow into the Persian Gulf. This region was the
traditional "cradle of the human race." Around and beyond was a great
world, a world with great surging seas, with lands of trees and flowers,
a world with continents and lakes and bays and capes, with islands
and mountains and rivers.
There were vast deserts of sand rolling away to right and to left;
there were mountains up which no man had climbed; there were stormy
seas over which no ship had ever sailed. But these men of old had never
explored far. They believed that their world was just a very little
world with no other occupants than themselves. They believed it to
be flat, with mountains at either end on which rested a solid metal
dome known as the "firmament."
In this shining circle were windows, in and out of which the sun would
creep by day and the moon and stars by night. And the whole of this
world was, they thought, balanced on the waters. There was water above,
the "waters that be above the firmament," and water below, and water
all round.
[Illustration: BABYLONIAN MAP OF THE WORLD ON CLAY. Showing the ocean
surrounding the world and the position of Babylon on the Euphrates.
In the British Museum.]
Long ages pass away. Let us look again at the green valley of the
Euphrates and Tigris. It has been called the "nursery of
nations"--names have been given to various regions round about, and
cities have arisen on the banks of the rivers. Babylonia, Mesopotamia,
Chaldea, Assyria--all these long names belonged to this region, and
around each centres some of the most interesting history and legend
in the world.
Rafts on the river and caravans on the land carried merchandise far
and wide--men made their way to the "Sea of the Rising Sun," as they
called the Persian Gulf, and to the "Sea of the Setting Sun," as they
called the Mediterranean. They settled on the shores of the Caspian
Sea, on the shores of the Black Sea, on the shores of the Red Sea.
They carried on magnificent trade--cedar, pine, and cypress were
brought from Lebanon to Chaldea, limestone and marble from Syria,
copper and lead from the shores of the Black Sea.
And these dwellers about Babylonia built up a wonderful civilisation.
They had temples and brick-built houses, libraries of tablets
revealing knowledge of astronomy and astrology; they had a literature
of their own. Suddenly from out the city of Ur (Kerbela), near the
ancient mouth of the Euphrates, appears a traveller. There had
doubtless been many before, but records are scanty and hard to piece
together, and a detailed account of a traveller with a name is very
interesting.
"Abram went ... forth to go into the land of Canaan.... And Abram
journeyed, going on still toward the South. And there was a famine
in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." He would
have travelled by the chief caravan routes of Syria into Egypt. Here
about the fertile mouth of the Nile he would have found an ancient
civilisation as wonderful as that to which he was accustomed in
Babylonia. It was a grain-growing country, and when there was famine
in other lands, there was always "corn in Egypt"--thanks to the mighty
life-giving Nile.
But we must not linger over the old civilisation, over the wonderful
Empire governed by the Pharaohs or kings, first from Memphis (Cairo)
and then from the hundred-gated Thebes; must not linger over these
old pyramid builders, the temple, sphinxes, and statues of ancient
Egypt. Before even Abram came into their country we find the Egyptians
famous for their shipping and navigation. Old pictures and tombs
recently discovered tell us this.
[Illustration: THE OLDEST KNOWN SHIPS: BETWEEN 6000 AND 5000 B.C. From
a pre-Egyptian vase-painting.]
On the coast of the Red Sea they built their long, narrow ships, which
were rowed by some twenty paddlers on either side, and steered by three
men standing in the stern. With one mast and a large sail they flew
before the wind. They had to go far afield for their wood; we find
an Egyptian being sent "to cut down four forests in the South in order
to build three large vessels ... out of acacia wood."
Petrie tells us of an Egyptian sailor who was sent to Punt or Somaliland
"to fetch for Pharaoh sweet-smelling spices." He was shipwrecked on
the way, and this is the account of his adventures--
"'I was going,' he relates, 'to the mines of Pharaoh and I went down
on the sea on a ship with a hundred and fifty sailors of the best of
Egypt, whose hearts were stronger than lions. They had said that the
wind would be contrary, or that there would be none. But as we
approached the land the wind rose and threw up high waves. As for me,
I seized a piece of wood; but those who were in the vessel perished,
without one remaining. A wave threw me on an island; after that I had
been three days alone without a companion beside my own heart, I laid
me in a thicket, and the shadow covered me. I found figs and grapes,
all manner of good herbs, berries and grain, melons of all kinds, fishes
and birds. I lighted a fire and I made a burnt-offering unto the gods.
Suddenly I heard a noise as of thunder, which I thought to be that
of a wave of the sea. The trees shook and the earth was moved. I
uncovered my eyes and I saw that a serpent drew near; his body was
as if overlaid with gold, and his colour as that of true lazuli.'
"'What has brought thee here, little one, to this isle, which is in
the sea and of which the shores are in the midst of the waves?' asked
the serpent.
"The sailor told his story kneeling on his knees, with his face bowed
to the ground.
"'Fear not, little one, and make not thy face sad,' continued the
serpent, 'for it is God who has brought thee to this isle of the blest,
where nothing is lacking and which is filled with all good things.
Thou shalt be four months in this isle. Then a ship shall come from
thy land with sailors, and thou shalt go to thy country. As for me,
I am a prince of the land of Punt. I am here with my brethren and children
around me; we are seventy-five serpents, children and kindred.'
"Then the grateful sailor promised to bring all the treasures of Egypt
back to Punt, and 'I shall tell of thy presence unto Pharaoh; I shall
make him to know of thy greatness,' said the Egyptian stranger.
"But the strange prince of Punt only smiled.
"'Thou shalt never more see this isle,' he said; 'it shall be changed
into waves.'"
Everything came to pass as the serpent said. The ship came, gifts were
lavished on the sailor from Egypt, perfumes of cassia, of sweet woods,
of cypress, incense, ivory tusks, baboons, and apes, and thus laden
he sailed home to his own people.
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SHIP OF THE EXPEDITION TO PUNT, ABOUT 1600
B.C. From a rock-carving at Der el Bahari.]
Long centuries after this we get another glimpse at the land of Punt.
This time it is in the reign of Queen Hatshepsu, who sent a great trading
expedition into this famous country. Five ships started from Thebes,
sailing down the river Nile and probably reaching the Red Sea by means
of a canal. Navigation in the Red Sea was difficult; the coast was
steep and inhospitable; no rivers ran into it. Only a few fishing
villages lay along the coasts used by Egyptian merchants as markets
for mother-of-pearl, emeralds, gold, and sweet-smelling perfumes.
Thence the ships continued their way, the whole voyage taking about
two months. Arrived at Punt, the Egyptian commander pitched his tents
upon the shore, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants.
"Why have ye come hither unto this land, which the people of Egypt
know not?" asked the Chief of Punt. "Have ye come through the sky?
Did ye sail upon the waters or upon the sea?"
Presents from the Queen of Egypt were at once laid before the Chief
of Punt, and soon the seashore was alive with people. The ships were
drawn up, gang-planks were very heavily laden with "marvels of the
country of Punt." There were heaps of myrrh, resin, of fresh myrrh
trees, ebony and pure ivory, cinnamon wood, incense, baboons, monkeys,
dogs, natives, and children. "Never was the like brought to any king
of Egypt since the world stands." And the ships voyaged safely back
to Thebes with all their booty and with pleasant recollections of the
people of Somaliland.
[Illustration: THE ARK ON ARARAT AND THE CITIES OF NINEVEH AND BABYLON.
From Leonardo Dati's map of 1422.]
In spite of these little expeditions the Egyptian world seemed still
very small. The Egyptians thought of the earth with its land and sea
as a long, oblong sort of box, the centre of which was Egypt. The sky
stretched over it like an iron ceiling, the part toward the earth being
sprinkled with lamps hung from strong cables lighted by night and
extinguished by day. Four forked trunks of trees upheld the sky roof.
But lest some storm should overthrow these tree trunks there were four
lofty peaks connected by chains of mountains. The southern peak was
known as the "Horn of the Earth," the eastern, the "Mountain of Birth,"
the western, the "Region of Life," the northern was invisible. And
why? Because they thought the Great Sea, the "Very Green," the
Mediterranean, lay between it and Egypt. Beyond these mountain peaks,
supporting the world, rolled a great river, an ocean stream, and the
sun was as a ball of fire placed on a boat and carried round the ramparts
of the world by the all-encircling water.
So we realise that the people living in Babylonia about the river
Euphrates, and those living in Egypt about the river Nile, had very
strange ideas about the little old world around them.