CARTOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT DISCOVERIES 91 



Africa and the west and south-east coasts of the Indian penin- 

 sula is very fair. Prominent in the Indian Ocean are the Maldive 

 Islands, running N.W.-S.E., as on the Fra Mauro map. Beyond 

 south-east India there is a great gap ; then in the south-east is 

 a portion of the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula 

 with the large island of Taprobana (Sumatra) to the west of 

 it, between 1° 20' and 9° 30' S. 



Some of the latitudes shown on the chart are quite accurate, 

 the Cape of Good Hope is placed in 35° S. (for 34° 20' S.); 

 Goa in 15° N. (for 15° 30' N.) and Cape Comorin in 7° 15' N. 

 (for 8° 12' N.). On the other hand, the Malay peninsula is 

 brought south to 16° S. (instead of 2° N.), though Sumatra is 

 only some 5° too far south. The Portuguese were now placing 

 these eastern islands fairly accurately. The longitudinal extent 

 of the Indian Ocean along the Equator, from north-east Africa 

 to Sumatra, is shown as 54° 20', the actual figure being approx. 

 52°. The eastern portion of the ocean is, however, contracted 

 (Maldives- Sumatra is 17°, instead of 22°), while the western 

 portion, probably under the influence of Ptolemy, is enlarged 

 (East Africa-Maldives is 37°, instead of 30°). Over the Malay 

 peninsula the cartographer writes: "Has not been reached 

 yet." 



Within two years of the construction of this chart, the 

 Portuguese were in possession of a remarkable source of 

 information, described in a letter from the Viceroy, Albu- 

 querque, to King Manoel. This was no less than a large map 

 with the names in Javanese, done by a Javanese pilot; it 

 contained the Cape of Good Hope, Portugal and the land of 

 Brazil, the Red Sea and the Sea of Persia, the Clove Islands, 

 the navigation of the Chinese and the Gores, ^ with their 

 rhumbs and direct routes followed by the ships, and the 

 hinterland, and how the kingdoms border on each other. In 

 Albuquerque's words "this was the best thing I have ever 

 seen". This map was lost in a shipwreck in 1511, but a tracing 

 of a portion, the most important portion, had been made by 



^Tome Pires identified the Gores with the inhabitants of the Liukiu 

 Islands, in which Formosa was then apparently included. For Pires, Rod- 

 riguez, and the Javanese map see A. Cortesao, 'The Suma Oriental of Tome 

 Pires, etc' {Hakluyt Soc, Ser. 2, vols. 89 and 90, 1944.) The quotation in the 

 text is by courtesy of the editor. 



