74 



NA TURE 



[November 27, 1902 



alike. These missions, which are well described by 

 Mr. Beazley (p. 275 ff.), added to geographical know- 

 ledge the outlines of a new chapter, soon to be filled 

 up by Marco Polo. 



It is noticeable that one or two of these missions, 

 notably that of Rubruquis, were dispatched by Louis 

 IX., King of France. Here we have the first hint of a 

 new order of things ; the domination of the Mediter- 

 ranean republics in matters of commerce with, and dis- 

 covery in, far-away lands was already threatened as early 

 as the close of Mr. Beazley's period (about the middle of 

 the thirteenth century) by the rise of the new kingdoms 

 of Western Europe- 



"As this period draws to a close," writes Mr. Beazley 

 (p. 425), "the growth of great centralised inland kingdoms 

 both in France and Spain was already foreshadowing 

 a new period ; when the most wealthy and unscrupulous 

 of mercantile republics would find itself overmatched by 

 superior resources and equal craft ; and when, under the 

 patronage of the new continental States, navies of even 

 greater power would arise, and discoveries ruinous to 

 Italian trade would be made in distant seas." 



In fact, it was only the patronage of the Great States 

 that made the discoveries of Prince Henry, of Columbus 

 and of Cabot possible. 



This, then, is the period of which Mr. Beazley's second 

 volume treats ; it begins with the descent of the North- 

 men, its central point is the Crusades, its end is marked 

 by the impending eclipse of the trading republics by the 

 organised power of the continental kingdoms. All else 

 is in the nature of epilogue or addendum ; the chapter 

 on " Geographical Theory and Description" is as much 

 an appendix as the " Appendix on Maps." 



The author has known how to make his book ex- 

 tremely interesting ; this is especially the case in the sec- 

 tions which deal with the deeds of the Northmen. He 

 tells again the great story of the discovery of Vinland 

 by Leif Ericsson of Brattahlid, of the coming of Thorfinn 

 Karlsefne to Leif's Booths and the Long and Wonderful 

 Beaches, of the fights with the Skraelings, of the birth 

 of Snorre Thorfinnson, the first white American — that 

 " finest story in the world " which should be known by 

 heart by every Englishman, but which, we fear, is better 

 known in Vinland itself than it is in England. He tells 

 the tale well, and his discussion of the various theories 

 as to the position of Vinland is very useful ; he comes 

 to the conclusion that Thorfinn's furthest south is to be 

 placed at Mount Hope Bay in Massachusetts, in lat. 

 41° 24' 10". It is a pity that, as was of course to be 

 expected in America, so many cranks and inexperienced 

 'prentice hands have busied themselves with a question 

 which they are incompetent to solve, with the result that 

 scientific investigation has not seldom fought as shy of 

 Vinland as it has of Bacon-Shakespeare, anti-vivisection, 

 or any other pseudo-scientific folly. We must, then, 

 remember that even though the Writing Rock on the 

 Taunton River is not a Runic inscription, but an Indian 

 screed which " has certainly been tampered with in very 

 modern times" (p. 75), though the Old Stone Mill at 

 Newport is probably not more than two hundred years 

 old and Longfellow's "Man in Armour" is a very 

 doubtful piece of evidence, yet there is no doubt that the 

 Norsemen reached the mainland of America and in all 

 NO. 1726, VOL. 67] 



probability got as far south as Massachusetts, founding 

 settlements there — shortlived indeed — as early as the 

 closing years of the tenth century, and that the tradition 

 of their discovery was never lost by their descendants in 

 Europe. 



The adventures of the " Jorsalafarers," of Saewulf 

 the Englishman, of Sigurd Magnusson, King of Norway, 

 of the monk Daniel of Kiev, and many other pilgrims 

 to the Holy Places, are well told by Mr. Beazley ; the 

 gradual improvement in their geographical knowledge is 

 very noticeable. Of remarkable interest are the travels 

 of Benjamin of Tudela and his fellow-rabbi, Moses 

 Petachia, in the Levant towards the end of the twelfth 

 century ; to them Mr. Beazley devotes a special chapter 

 (p. 218 _ff). To his description of the adventures of 

 Rubruquis and other predecessors of Marco Polo in 

 Tartary we have already alluded ; in this connection we 

 cannot but regret that he has made so very summary a 

 reference to the very important journey of the Chinese 

 Nestorian Rabban Bar-Sauma, born at Pekin, who was 

 dispatched by the Tartar monarch Argon in 1287 on an 

 embassy to Constantinople, to the Pope and to the 

 monarchs of the West in order to negotiate with them 

 concerning an alliance for the reconquest of the Holy 

 Land. Mr. Beazley's reference simply consists of a few 

 lines in a footnote on p. 352, and he mentions Bar- 

 Sauma merely as having been allowed by the Pope to 

 celebrate Mass, &c. In reality his mission was very 

 important, and the story of his journey to the West, his 

 reception at Constantinople and at Rome, &c, as given 

 in the Syriac " History of .Mar Yahbh-Alkiha and of 

 Three Other Catholici and of One Priest and of Two 

 Nestorian Laymen," is of very great interest. In the 

 same note, Mr. Beazley spells the name of Mar Yahbh- 

 Allaha " Mar Jabalaba." Presumably the second b is 

 a misprint, but Mr. Beazley should have found out that 

 the French spelling "Jabalaha" is barbarous. In the 

 same way "Arghun" in the same note is wrong; it 

 should be Argon. 



This brings us to the weak point in Mr. Beazley's 

 work. He is manifestly unfamiliar at first hand with 

 oriental sources, and he never seems to devote sufficient 

 attention to what they can tell him about the period with 

 which he is dealing. Thus in this volume of his book 

 an account of Arab commercial activity and Arab con- 

 tributions to geographical knowledge in the early Middle 

 Ages is practically wanting ; the subject is almost entirely 

 relegated to a footnote on p. 462, and even there it is 

 treated in a most summary manner. In a second edition, 

 this note should be incorporated in the main text and 

 considerably expanded. On p. 240, Mr. Beazley, speak- 

 ing of the Assassins, says that 



" the title of Ismaelites or Ismaelians, also applied to 

 them, was derived from Ismael, seventh Imam in the 

 line of Ali, a descendant of whom became founder of 

 the Fatimites." 



This statement is incorrect so far as the descent of 

 the Fatimites is concerned. Mr. Beazley should know 

 that the Mahdi 'Obedallah, who founded the Fatimid 

 dynasty, was in all probability an impostor, his descent 

 from Ali being in the highest degree suspect. 



On p. 192, the words " God most High " are in a foot- 



