60 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



and other places, Armalec arA Hamil, for instance, have been 

 similarly displaced. As on the Catalan Atlas, the kingdom of 

 Tenduc has been relegated to the north, in proximity to the 

 'enclosed tribes'. 



On the whole, however, a fair knowledge of China is 

 displayed; the mid-nineteenth century certainly knew less of 

 the interior of Central Africa than the fifteenth century did of 

 the interior of China. 



Yule believed that Conti had probably supplied Fra Mauro 

 verbally with information on south-east Asia, additional to 

 that contained in his published narrative. In Burma, for 

 instance, there are the cities of Perhe (the correct Burmese 

 form), Pochang (Pagan, the ancient capital) and Moquan 

 (Mogoung). In the upper course of the Irrawaddy there is a 

 note testifying to knowledge of commercial routes: ''Here 

 goods are transferred from river to river, and so go on into 

 Cathay." 



India is also rich in towns, but for the reasons already dis- 

 cussed, their relative positions are faulty. Orica, Sonargauam, 

 and Satgauam (Satganev), all in the Ganges delta, are probably 

 due to Conti. Goa, later to become the centre of Portuguese 

 power in India, is entered under its earlier name of Boa 

 Zandapur. 



Africa in outline resembles the representation on the Este 

 map, save that it is not almost severed in two by the pro- 

 longation of the 'Sinus Ethiopicus'. Details of Abyssinian 

 topography have been expanded to cover most of the centre 

 and south, except for the southernmost extremity, which is 

 separated by a river or channel from the main, and named 

 'Diab\ The detailed knowledge of the north-east African 

 interior extends as far as the river Zebe (?Webi Shebeli). The 

 Nile (Blue Nile) is shown rising near a lake, undoubtedly Lake 

 Tana, in the fountain of Geneth, a name for the source which 

 was still in use in James Bruce's time, more than three hundred 

 years later. Fra Mauro states that he obtained this information 

 from natives of the country "who with their own hands had 

 drawn for me all these provinces and cities, rivers and moun- 

 tains, with their names — all of which I have not been able to 

 set down in proper order from lack of space". It has been 



