MISCELLANIES. 



593 



What an author so able and so 

 profoundly versed in these sub- 

 jects considers impossible, would 

 certainly be so for any other 

 person, and 1 should never have 

 thought of examining this point 

 in geography, if accident had 

 not thrown the original chart I 

 have mentioned into my hands, 

 as well as the description accom- 

 panying it. I shall employ both 

 in extending and rectifying 

 Kasmpfer's relation. 



In the first place, this learned 

 traveller speaks but of one large 

 island, while the Japanese geo- 

 grapher counts eighty-nine, the 

 largest of which does not exceed 

 the size of the island Fatsisio. 

 The relation of the German tra- 

 veller places the island discovered 

 by the Japanese three hundred 

 miles east of Fatsisio, and appears 

 to connect itself with the fables 

 reported of the gold and silver 

 islands, which common opinion 

 places in this direction. The 

 original description places the 

 Benin islands exactly to the 

 south of Fatsisio, at a distance of 

 about eighty leagues, which con- 

 firms and justifies one of Ksemp- 

 fer's conjectures. The name 

 Bunesima is corrupted ; it should 

 be written Benin Sima, or Mo 

 nin Sima, that is uninhabited 

 islands, literally islands destitute 

 of men. To render the descrip- 

 tion I have extracted and trans- 



M. Walckenaer. The useful infor- 

 mation which this learned geogra- 

 pher obligingly furnished has en- 

 abled me to determine the degree of 

 knowledge possessed by Europeans 

 of the latitudes where the Benin 

 islands are situated, with greater 

 precision than would have been 

 possible without his assistance. 

 Vol LX. 



lated from the Japanese, more 

 intelligible, I have annexed a 

 sketch of part of the general 

 chart, comprehending, in addition 

 to the new archipelago, the 

 southern coast of Japan and 

 Lieou Khieou to show the rela- 

 tive situation of these islands. I 

 have not deemed it necessary to 

 correct or add any thing to the 

 original by using our knowledge, 

 but have preferred enabling others 

 to judge of the knowledge of the 

 Japanese. The only change 

 made is, extending the gradua- 

 tion over all the chart which is 

 only marked on the edges in the 

 original. It is seen from this, 

 that the space occupied by all the 

 islands extends from the 25th to 

 the 29th parallel, which appears 

 very unlikely at the first glance, 

 and is opposed to the general 

 calculation of distances, and to 

 the particular chart where the 

 latitudes are marked on the two 

 principal islands. This last chart 

 also presents differences in the 

 configuration and position of the 

 islands. I have deemed it proper 

 to preserve these also, and have 

 placed an extract from the par- 

 ticular chart, which appears to 

 m§rit most confidence, at the 

 side of the general chart as an 

 illustration.* 



* The following approximative 

 calculation fully reconciles the ac- 

 counts furnished by the Japanese 

 geographer. Fatsisio, according to 

 Broughton and the Japanese, is in 

 33° north latitude — distance to the 

 first Benin island one hundred and 

 eighty Ri, or eighty leagues ; — un- 

 decided distance to the northern 

 island, and the size of the interme- 

 diate islands about twenty five 

 leagues; — latitude of the northern 

 2 Q It 



