ANTIPODAL SOUTHERN CONTINENT. 447 



in 1497, after a long" series of fruitless eft'orts. The 

 Spaniards did tlie latter, and in the attempt chanced to fall 

 in with America on the way. The vast extension which 

 Marco Polo's travels had given to Asia towards the east 

 helped to implant in the mind of Columbus the idea of 

 reaching it by sailing to the Avest, and the new world of 

 Columbus was never more to him than the easternmost por- 

 tion of the old. The subsequent discoveries of the S})aniards 

 and Portuguese altered many of the Ptolemaean ideas about 

 the configuration of the southern hemisphere. It was now 

 seen that there was no eastward extension of the African 

 continent ; the Indian Ocean was not a mare clmisum ; Asia 

 did not unite with an extended Africa ; Ceylon was not of 

 equal extent with the Indian Peninsula; Taprobana was 

 removed from Ceylon to Sumatra; Catigara from the 

 imaginary Southern Asia to Cape Comorin, and thence to 

 unexplored Southern America, 



Columbus and Bartholomew Diaz were the precursors of 

 a host of Spanish and Portuguese discoverers. These nations 

 were strong enough to keep the other maritime powers in 

 check, and France in the early part of the sixteentb century 

 had to content herself with stealthy expeditions undertaken 

 by private individuals or syndicates, whilst England shortly 

 began to play the part of the bold buccaneer. All charts 

 and sailing directions were carefully conserved, and only 

 general descriptive narratives were allowed to circulate out- 

 side of Spain or Portugal. " Manuel, King of Portugal," 

 says Lelewel, "in his letter of 29th July, 1501, informed 

 Ferdinand of the discovery of Brazil by Cabral, but he 

 secreted all the nautical charts ; they were deposited in the 

 record office of the Admiralty, and could not be removed 

 from the kingdom. All publicity was given to the glory 

 and renow^n of the state and its navigators. Narratives of 

 the voyages were scattered abroad in brochures and fly- 

 leaves. People found in these the adventures of the 

 travellers and everything that could astonish their minds, but 

 they could find nothing there that would enable them to 

 determine geographical positions with certainty. Charts 

 were drawn which gave a [licture of the discoveries, but they 

 were destitute of every indication which could instruct 

 mariners regarding the dangers or the direction of the 

 voyages." {Geographie du Moyen Age, ii., pp. 141-142.) 

 The same remarks hold good of the pohcy of Spain, and 

 only a few original records of her discoveries give details 



