THE ROSE OF THE WINDS. 189 



ornaments, and bearing a resemblance to the Rose of the 

 Winds, which, as I have already pointed out, seems too 

 close in detail to make denial of some relationship between 

 the two designs altogether reasonable. The invention of 

 the needle turning on a fixed pivot seems to follow that 

 of the card as a matter of course ; for, by that means, the 

 needle could be brought much nearer to the surface of the 

 card below it than if it were on the long pivot shaft which 

 Peregrinus employed to bring it near to the graduated 

 edge of the bowl which was above it. 



I have already stated that the first authentic descrip- 

 tion of the Chinese marine compass is of later date than 

 the appearance of the instrument in Northern Europe. 

 It is found in a work 1 known to have been written in 1297 

 under the reign of the Mongol Emperor Timour Khan, 

 and is therefore after the letter of Peregrinus. In this 

 the sailing directions for ships are indicated by the rhumbs 

 or diagonal lines of the compass card. 



It is undoubtedly true that, at this time, the Chinese 

 were making voyages of great extent and duration. That 

 famous traveler, Marco Polo, (whom Gilbert, 2 and other 

 writers on the magnet in the ijth and i8th centuries, 

 erroneously insist first brought the knowledge of the com- 

 pass from China to Europe) describes a great expedition 

 from the Pei-ho river, which occupied three months in 

 making the journey to Java, and afterwards wandered for 

 eighteen months in Indian seas before reaching u the place 

 of their destination in the territory of King Arghun." 

 Polo also records the enterprises of Kubla Khan against 

 Madagascar. 



1 Chrestomathie Chinoise. Paris, 1833, p. 21. 



2 De Magnate, 1600, p. 4. There is not a word in Polo's narrative 

 which describes the compass, and no evidence that he imparted other- 

 wise any information on the subject. Furthermore his travels occurred 

 between 1271 and 1295, and hence had not begun in 1260, the date when 

 Gilbert says he learned of the compass from the Chinese. Gilbert also 

 speaks of Polo as Paulus Venetus, which is an error, the latter being the 

 name commonly given, not to Polo (Messer Million), but t'o Fra Paolo 

 vSarpi. 



