THE VOYAGERS 



that he was near it when, on his third voyage, he came 



to the mouths of the Orinoco, and found a mild climate, 



green hills, fresh foliage, and a people light in colour 



and graceful in form. The earth, he explains, is probably Columbus on 



not spherical, but elongated like a pear, and on the ^^^P^ ^/^^^ 



summit of the protuberance is situated the Earthly 



Paradise, * whither no one can go but by God's 



permission.' ' I think also,' he goes on, ' that the 



water I have described may proceed from it, though 



it be far off, and that stopping at the place I have just 



left, it forms this lake. There are great indications of 



this being the terrestrial paradise, for its site coincides 



with the opinion of the holy and wise theologians 



whom I have mentioned ; and moreover, the other 



evidences agree with the supposition, for I have never 



either read or heard of fresh water coming in so large 



a quantity, in close conjunction with the water of the 



sea; the idea is also corroborated by the blandness of 



the temperature ; and if the water of which I speak, 



does not proceed from the Earthly Paradise, it appears 



to be still more marvellous, for I do not believe that 



there is any river in the world so large or so deep.' 



Whether approached by the East or by the West, this 



Earthly Paradise was to be sought, all were agreed, in 



the neighbourhood of Cathay. 



This great kingdom of the East had long been dimly 

 known as an object of curiosity and wonder. By the 

 revival of Christianity at the time of St. Francis and St. Franciscan 

 Dominic a great impulse was given to missionary travel, ^^"^°^^^^^^' 

 and the marvellous tales brought back by wandering 

 friars took a firm hold on the imagination of Europe. 

 Rubruquis, a Flemish Franciscan, who, about the middle 



II 



