FIFTEENTH-CENTURY WORLD MAPS 59 



point: just to the north of Java major is a small island *isola 

 de Zimpagu'. Can this be Cipangu (Japan), and thus the first 

 appearance of the name on a map? It is certainly far from its 

 correct position, but, as the cartographer has had to omit 

 many islands for lack of room and doubtless pressed others 

 together, this name may easily have been misplaced. If 'J^va 

 major' is not Java, but another island closer to Zaiton, the 

 possibility is greater. All this information on the spice islands 

 and their trade is taken from the Conti document. 



For the representation of China, a great deal has been drawn 

 from Marco Polo's narrative, as for the Catalan Atlas. Fra 

 Mauro's delineation however differs from that of the latter in 

 two respects: the coast of China is broken by several long and 

 narrow gulfs, which on inspection are seen to be merely 

 over-emphasized estuaries or important ports such as Zaiton. 

 Of more interest is the improved hydrographic system. Instead 

 of the rivers radiating from a point near Cambalec, the two 

 principal rivers are shown with some approach to reality. The 

 upper course of the Quiam (the Yangtse Kiang), ''the greatest 

 river in the world", it is true, is brought too far south, but the 

 Hwang ho has its great upper bend clearly drawn. (There is 

 no question, of course, of these rivers being drawn 'true to 

 scale'.) 



The towns, and the numerous annotations, are taken 

 directly, it would appear, from Polo's narrative. Most of those, 

 for instance, which occur in his itinerary from Cambalec to 

 Zaiton, are to be found on the map, though in no very com- 

 prehensible order, often accompanied by a drawing of a feature 

 mentioned by Polo, or his comments, e.g. on the gold and silk 

 of this city, or the porcelain of that; the sugar for which this 

 district is noted or the gigantic reeds which grow in another. 

 In the western regions, the picture is confused owing to the 

 inadequate space allotted to them. Fra Mauro seems to have 

 been interested in Persia and Mesopotamia and to have drawn 

 maps of these countries before beginning his world map. This 

 probably explains why they figure so conspicuously on the 

 latter, at the expense of the features of eastern Asia. Thus the 

 Issik Kul, approximately in its correct relative position on 

 the Catalan Atlas, is shown almost neighbouring on Cambalec, 



