45 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



who told him the story. He gives full details of the phoenix 

 rising from its own ashes. But all culminates at the Dead Sea. 



He tells us that masses of fiery matter are every day thrown 

 up from it as large as a horse ; that, though it contains no living 

 thing, it has been shown that men thrown into it can not die ; and 

 finally, as if to prove the worthlessness of devout testimony to the 

 miraculous, he says : " And whoever throws a piece of iron therein, 

 it floats ; and whoever throws a feather therein, it sinks to the 

 bottom ; and, because that is contrary to nature, I was not willing 

 to believe it until I saw it." 



He of course mentions Lot's wife, and says that the pillar of 

 salt " stands there to-day," and " has a right salty taste." 



Great injustice has been done to Maundeville in holding him 

 a liar of the first magnitude. Never was man further from the 

 thought of lying. He simply abhorred skepticism, and thought it 

 meritorious to believe all pious legends. The ideal Maundeville 

 was a man of overmastering faith, and resembled Tertullian in 

 believing things " because they are impossible " ; he was entirely 

 conscientious; the solemn ending of the book shows that he 

 listened, observed, and wrote under the deepest conviction, and 

 those who re-edited his book were probably just as honest in add- 

 ing the later stories of pious travelers. 



The " Travels of Sir John Maundeville," thus appealing to the 

 popular heart, were most widely read in the monasteries and re- 

 peated among the people. Innumerable copies were made in 

 manuscript, and finally in print, and so the old myths received 

 a new life.* 



In the fifteenth century wonders were increased. In 1418 we 

 have the Lord of Caumont, who makes a pilgrimage and gives us 



* For Fulk of Chartres and Crusading travelers generally, see Bongar's " Gesta Dei per 

 Francos," passim ; also histories of the Crusades by Wilkins, Poujoulat, and others. See also 

 Robinson, "Biblical Researches," ii, 109, and Tobler, " Bibliographia Geographica Pales- 

 tine," 1867, p. 12. For Benjamin of Tudela's statement, see Wright's " Collection of 

 Travels in Palestine," p. 84, and Asher's edition of Benjamin of Tudela's travels, vol i, 

 pp. 71, 72 ; also Charton, vol. i, p. 180. For Borchard or Burchard, see full text in the. 

 "Reyssebuch dess Heyligen Landes"; also Grynseus, "Nov. Orbis," Basil., 1B82, folio 298, 

 329. For Ernoul, see his " L'Estat de la Cite de Ilierusalem," in Michelin and Raynaud, 

 " Itineraires Francaises au 12me et lome Siecles." For Petrus Diaconus, see " Petri Diaconi 

 de Locis Sanctis," edited by Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, pp. 12fi, 127. For Maundeville I have 

 compared several editions, especially those in the " Reyssebuch," in Canisius and in Wright, 

 with Ilalliwell's reprint and with the rare Strasburg edition of 1484 in the Cornell Univer- 

 sity Library : the whole statement regarding the experiment with iron and feathers is given 

 differently in different copies. The statement that he saw the feathers sink and the iron 

 Bwim is made in the Reyssebuch edition, Frankfort, 1584. The story, like the saints' 

 legends, evidently grew as time went on, but is none the less interesting as showing the 

 general credulity. Since writing the above I have been glad to find my view of Maunde- 

 ville's honesty confirmed by the Rev. Dr. Robinson, and by Mr. Gage in his edition of Hit- 

 ter's "Palestine." 



