352 



N0TE3 AW QUERIEJS. 



t2n'» S. V. 122., May 1. 'o8. 



dians were inhabitants of Labrador or Greenland, 

 who were mistaken for Indians on account of 

 their dark-coloured skin. It should be observed 

 that the war elephants of the ancients came from 

 India (Aristot., H. A. ix. 2.), and were driven by 

 Indians. Hence 'li/Sbs was the general name of 

 an elephant driver (see Polyb,, i. 40.; iii. 46.; 

 xi. 1.). 



In the description of Dionysius Periegetes (v. 

 587-93.), a ship which has left the Britannic 

 islands and Thule, traverses the Scythian Ocean, 

 and thus gains the Eastern Sea, where the Golden 

 Island adjoins the rising of the sun ; it then makes 

 a turn, and reaches the island of Taprobane. By 

 the " Golden Island," or Chersonese, the peninsula 

 of Malacca is meant. 



From the passages which have been adduced, 

 it is apparent that there is nothing in the concep- 

 tion of a northern sea running from the Caspian 

 to the Straits of Gibraltar, which is inconsistent 

 with a late date for the composition of the Trea- 

 tise de Mundo. 



Taprobane became known to the Greeks through 

 the expedition of Alexander ; but what this writer 

 call mean by Phebol, an island in the Arabian 

 Gulf as large as Britain, is an enigma. The pas- 

 sage of the Aristotelic treatise is repeated in Latin 

 by Apuleius de Mundo (p. 716., ed. Oudendorp) ; 

 where the name Phebol reappears. It has been 

 conjectured that Socotra, or Madagascar, is sig- 

 nified by this unknown name ; but Salmasius 

 (Exerc. Plin. ad Solin., c. 53. p. 782.) is doubtless 

 correct in treating it as corrupt, and in substitut- 

 ing for it YejSo) — the name of a lake and an island 

 beyond Meroe in Upper Egypt. This lake is 

 identified with Lake Tsana in Abyssinia, which is 

 stated to contain eleven islands (see Strab., xvii. 2. 

 § 3. ; Steph. Byz. in v.). No corruptions ^re so 

 common in manuscripts as those of proper names. 

 The form of the name in Strabo is V€j3»a ; which 

 was probably that used by the author of the Trea- 

 tise de Mundo : 'FEBHA might have been easily 

 corrupted into *EBOA, What inaccurate reports 

 could have induced this writer to believe that the 

 island in Lake Pseboa was as large as Britain 

 cannot now be ascertained. The ten largest 

 islands and peninsulas, according to the received 

 belief of his time, are enumerated in their order 

 by Ptolemy ; he places Taprobane first, and Al- 

 bion second, but he says nothing of Pseboa {Qeogr. 

 vii. 5. § 11.). 



The mention of lerne in the passage cited 

 above may be considered as a sure indication that 

 the Treatise de Mundo is the production of a 

 writer posterior to Caesar.* It may be added that 

 the name Albion ( AKffiov) seems to betray a Latin 

 derivation : it is at least very improbable that its 

 origin was not the adjective albus, — the white 



* The spuriousness of the work de Mundo is recognised 

 by Forbiger {ib. vol. i. p. 163.). 



cliffs on the southern coast, in the narrowest part 

 of the Channel, being the object which would 

 naturally first strike a navigator crossing from 

 Gaul. Pliny says that Albion was the peculiar 

 name of England; whereas the whole group of 

 islands were called Britannic (iv. 30.). The form 

 used by Ptolemy is 'AXowW, equivalent to Alvion 

 (ii. 3.). Stephanus of Byzantium has 'PiXfiiwv. It 

 may be observed that the "AXireis, which were like- 

 wise named from their whiteness, had not the 

 Latin form (Strab., iv. 6. § 1.; Steph. Byz. in 

 ''AATreta). L. 



THE MSS. OF THE COMPLTJTENSIAN POLYGLOT. 



In Prescott's History of the Reign of Ferdinand 

 and Isabella of Spain, in the chapter on Cardinal 

 Ximenes, 1508 — 1510, an account is given of the 

 Complutensian Polyglot, which was printed at the 

 expense and under the immediate auspices of that 

 munificent prelate — the Richelieu of Spain. 



Noticing the critical value of the MSS. em- 

 ployed, Prescott writes : — 



" Unfortunately, the destruction of the original MSS. 

 in a manner which forms one of the most whimsical 

 anecdotes in literary history, makes it impossible to set- 

 tle the question satisfactorily." 



Mf. Prescott supports this statement by the 

 following note : — 



" Professor Moldenhawer, of Germany, visited Alcala 

 in 1784 for the interesting purpose of examining the 

 MSS. used in the Complutensian Polyglot. He there 

 learnt th£^t they had all been disposed of as so much 

 waste paper, — membranas inutiles, — by the librarian of 

 that time, to a rocket-maker of that town, who soon 

 worked them up in the regular way of his vocation. He 

 assigns no reasons for doubting the truth of the story. 

 The name of the librarian unfortunately is not recorded. 

 It would have been as imperishable as that of Omar." — 

 Michaelis (Marsh), vpl. ii. pt. i. chap. xii. pp. 440, 441. 

 1793. 



Mr. Ford, Hand-book of Spain (part ii. p. 827.), 

 relates with greater accuracy the anecdote : — 



" Our German (Moldenhawer) at last discovered that 

 the librarian, about thirty-five years before, when wanting 

 room for some modern trash, had sold the parchments to 

 one Tokyo, a sad radical and firework maker, who used 

 them up for rocket cases. The sale of the item was en- 

 tered in the official accounts, * como membranas inutiles,' 

 and the quantity sold was so great that it was paid for 

 at separate times. But all this thing of Spain is denied, 

 and we believe with reason, by Puig Blanc in his Opvs- 

 culos, and see Biblical Review, xv. 186." 



Now although from the general details above 

 given, from what we know of the inert indiffer- 

 ence, the neglect, and bad management of public 

 bodies in Spain at the period referred to, and 

 from the fact that other countries and public 

 institutions have wasted public documents and 

 valuable MSS. who nevertheless toss the right of 

 censure with great freedom about, we may be dis- 

 posed to admit the truth of the statement, yet 



