58 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



But more than half of the space which it had occupied in 

 Ptolemy's map is occupied in Behaim's globe by Marco 

 Polo's islands of Madagascar and Zanzibar, islands which 

 stretch their huge length from West to East, reaching 

 towards the shattered end of Ptolemy's great South-East 

 extension of Asia. This great South-East extension is 

 marked by names learned from Marco Polo or de Conti, or 

 other recent travellers in the East. Here, for example, 

 is India Patalis, the India of the town which Alexander the 

 Great had founded at the mouth of the Indus ! By its 

 side is Moabar, a province on the East coast of India. 

 Further South in about 25 S. Lat. is St. Thomas, the 

 famous town near Madras. Still further to the South-East 

 is Ceylon, a huge island stretching as far South as about 

 38 S. Lat., a latitude further South than Sydney ! Marco 

 Polo's islands of Pentam and Neucuram, which in real 

 geography existed respectively near the Straits of Malacca 

 and in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, are placed near 

 together in a position which roughly corresponds to the 

 position actually occupied by the Eastern coast of Australia. 

 A place is found for Marco Polo's Java Minor, really 

 Sumatra, somewhere in the region of Tasmania : while 

 Anguana, the home of the dog-faced men in the Bay of 

 Bengal, is placed in a position which to Mr. Collingridge 

 suggests New Zealand ! Again, it is perfectly clear 

 that the map-maker had no knowledge whatever of 

 lands South of the equator. He is trying to bring 

 Ptolemy up to date by finding places in his map for 

 lands described by recent travellers. And, as we have 

 seen, those travellers had told their story in such disorderly 

 sequence that the geographical relations of the places 

 described had been misunderstood in a most extraordinary 

 way. 



Varthema's meeting with the Portuguese in India is a 

 reminder that we have reached the end of a chapter of our 

 story, and are about to open another chapter of very 

 different characteristics. Before passing on, let us try to 

 sum up the main results of the speculations and travels of 

 the period we leave. What was the condition of knowledge 



