186 ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY 
his view of the situation and geographic relations of Serica it- 
self. 
The first proof to which we shall attend is that derived from 
his longitudes. These are universally allowed to carry Serica 
very far beyond Thibet or Eastern Tartary. 'M. Gossexi, 
however, insists, that as they carry it-beyond China also, and 
into the very heart of the Pacific, no regard whatever can be 
paid to them. That eminent writer, however, has here re- 
markably overlooked his own important illustrations of the 
mathematical geography of Protemy. He has shewn, that the 
errors of that ancient writer, whether they reside in the value 
of the itinerary stadium, or, as I rather suspect, in the measure- 
ment of the great circle of the earth, are not random errors ; 
that they proceed in a regular train, and that there exist data 
by which they may be calculated. It appears, that by redu- 
cing his longitudes in the relation of seven to five, they will 
all approximate pretty nearly to the truth. Now the remotest 
longitude given in Serica is 180 degrees east from the suppo- 
sed meridian of the Fortunate Islands, which was fixed 23 de- 
grees to the west of Cape St Vincent. 180°, reduced in. the 
above ratio, will give 128° 30’, or 117° from the meridian of 
London, which is three or four within the eastern frontier of 
‘China. It thus falls short. of the ocean, which, will account for 
the only circumstance ascribed to Serica which does not agree 
with China, that of its being bounded on the east. by unknown 
lands. The truth is, a bounding éerra incognita was, quite a 
theory of the school of Marinus, which they everywhere made 
to sueceed to, the original theory of a circumambient ocean. 
If the narrow peninsula of Malacca was considered as stretch- 
ing into an unknown extent of continent, much more might 
this be supposed of an empire so yast as China, and of which 
the interior was so little explored. But Mera, Puiwy, and 
in 
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