THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



The geo- 

 graphy of 

 Cosmas 

 Indico- 

 pleustes, 

 about 547 



A.D. 



accepted opinion, into exploration of the unknown con- 

 tinents of the spiritual world, we have Thomas Aquinas, 

 enthroned, foot on neck of heretic, Bible on knee, and voice 

 from heaven saying, " Well hast thou written of me, 

 Thomas ! " l The geography that interested was the 

 geography of Hell, of Purgatory, of Heaven. Earthly 

 geography must be learned from Scripture, or at least 

 must be consistent with Scripture. Jerusalem is the 

 centre of the earth, for "thus saith the Lord: 'This 

 is Jerusalem : I have set her in the midst of the nations, 

 and countries are round about her.' ' The last phrase 

 seems to indicate that the earth is round ; and this opinion 

 may seem to be confirmed by the statement that God 

 " sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and all the inhabi- 

 tants thereof are as grasshoppers." But doubt is thrown 

 on this interpretation by the fact that Isaiah continues : 

 " He stretcheth out the Heavens as a curtain and spreadeth 

 them as a tent to dwell in." And this doubt is increased 

 when we read that " the Son of Man shall send forth his 

 angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and shall gather 

 together his elect from the four angles." The earth is, 

 after all, a square rather than a round, and we shall most 

 truly conceive of it as a tent with curtains. 



The best illustration of this method of geographical 

 study is the book written in the Sixth Century (about 

 547 A.D.) by the monk who is known to us as Cosmas 

 Indicopleustes : a name which seems to be a nom de 

 plume, meaning the cosmographer who sailed to India. 

 For, in his younger days, Cosmas had been a merchant 

 in the Indian Ocean, and had obtained real knowledge 

 of Ceylon, and information even about China. But though 

 he claims that his geographical opinions are confirmed 

 by his experience, his main assertion is that they are wholly 

 independent of human knowledge, being based on a 

 careful study of the Scriptures. From this careful study 

 he has learned the great central truth, which explains 

 all geography, the fact that " the Tabernacle prepared 

 by Moses " is "a pattern of the whole world." The earth 



1 These are the main features of the famous picture. 



