234 



NATURE 



{Jan. II, 1877 



(for Argire), in allusion to the region of gold and silver of 

 the ancients, in trans-Gangetic India ; on the north-east 

 the Island of Tule, which recalls the famous Thul^ ; 

 Britannia ; then the Island of Scotia, which, however, is 

 not Scotland, as many might be apt to think, but the 

 original home of the Scots, Ireland ; for it was not till 

 about the twelfth century that the name was fairly trans- 

 ferred to North Britain. 



The orography of Europe is shown, partly in enormous 

 cones, partly in elongated masses, five principal chains, 

 of which only one is named, the Mountains of Gaul 

 {Mojites Galliariini), without doubt, the Pyrenees. The 

 hydrography is wretchedly meagre. The largest river is 



correctly set down as the Danube (Danubu), but what a 

 curious course is given to it ! The second in extent is the 

 Tagus, under the name of Taviis, which in utter contempt 

 of geography, discharges itself into the Mediterranean. 

 What considerable river is that which flows towards the 

 east under the name of Eitsis, a name still applied in Asia 

 to a large river situated almost opposite to this one ? 

 Perhaps it may be meant for the Pontus Euxinus itself, 

 the Black Sea ; for to mistake a sea for a river was not 

 an uncommon thing with these old geographers. 



The political geography is of a higher kind than the 

 physical geography. To speak only of Gaul we find 

 mention made of Aquitaine, Toulouse, Gallia Lugdunensis, 



Fig. 1. — Map of the world contained in Beatus's Commentary on the Apocalypse (loth c.)- 



and Gallia Belgia ; we also find Francia, which, however, 

 does not stand for France but for Franconia. 



In Asia, on the spot, no doubt, where Paradise was 

 supposed to have been placed, appear Adam and Eve, in 

 a grotesque position, and near them the serpent, who, 

 however, has nothing tempting about him. Ten conical 

 mountains surround this curious scene, without names 

 except Libanus, the Caucasus, Carmel, and Sinai. Only 

 three rivers flow in this vast space : first the Jordan, 

 which encompasses Mount Lebanon in a very strange 

 way ; the Euphrates, which, though it bears no name, 

 may be divined by the name Mesopotamia written on its 



banks ; and then the Eusis, that mysterious Eusis to 

 which we referred above. 



The countries and the towns are more abundantly^ 

 treated, though scattered pretty much at hazard. Jeru-tJ 

 salem holds the first place, under the abbreviation, Ihrlm ; 

 Judea, Ascalon, Sidon, Antioch, Asia Minor, Phrygia, 

 Mesopotamia, &c., are represented in situations more or 

 less inexact. 



In Africa, what strikes one at first is the Nile, the enor- 

 mous Nile, divided near its sources into two branches, 

 each issuing from a lake ; it falls into the sea by a mouth 

 larger than that of the Mediterranean itself. A note in- 



