WAS AUSTRALIA KNOWN ? 



103 



" Magellanican Sea," Finaeus writes the amazing words 

 " REGIO PATALIS." The words are amazing because 

 REGIO PATALIS means the region of Patala, the town 

 which Alexander the Great had founded at the mouth 

 of the Indus ! Names in those days travelled the 



PATALIS REGIO 



MAP OF I522. x (From Nordenskiold's Facsimile Atlas, p. 36.) 



world in invisible coat and in shoes of swiftness, and 

 we cannot always watch their strides. But in this case 

 what happened is pretty clear. Patala crossed the ocean 

 from India to Antarctica by the bridge built by the words 

 of Roger Bacon : " The Southern front of India, in the 

 region of Pathalis and the neighbouring land, runs out 

 towards the Tropic of Capricorn." l We can even, to some 

 extent, watch its progress. Its route seems to have been 



1 See above, p. 17. 



