iMtf GEOGKAPHICAL TABLET. 



been made, one of the Impreffions of which Is in the poflefr 



The dcfign is fion of the author of the Memoir. This remarkable monu- 



dTametcr"and ^^"^ '* "^^ ^ '■'^^'^^ drawn by the pen, bat a round tablet, of 



done in coloured which the deiign occupies a fpaoe about two feet in diameter, 



enamel, jj„ which the hemifphere, known at that time, is reprefented 



limits of the in coloiifcd ena.nel, h'ke a round fiirlace. The countries and 



countries not j|^g places are marked by their proper names, but the limits 



marked, „ f . -^ , , ■ , ■ 



accounts inferted Of the countries are not traced; the mountam^, the rivers, 



in it of various {he people, and all the things remarkable (as the animals, the 



things. battles, the caravans, the bazars, the camps, the wandering 



tribes, &c.) are reprefented and explained on it by infcrip* 



tlons in the latin tongue, but written in German charaders. 



It may be conceived from this firfl: view how interefting this 



monument is, and alfo with what art it is executed, fo that 



it is impoffible to fuppofe, that it was made for the ule qf a 



private perfon. Its date is not mentioned, but it may b.Q 



determined with certainty that it was conftrucled in the firft- 



Why fuppofed to half of the fifteenth century. In reality, the moft recent 



iiTthe firft ha^f ^^^"* marked on it is the victory of jTamerlane over Bajazet 



»f the fifteenth in 1402 ; there is no mention of the taking of Conftanlinople, 



century. ^^ j[^^ j^^^ trace of any of the difcoveries of the Portuguefe. 



It is theoldeft Of the geographical charts known at prefent, that of Marino 



jKographicai Sanudcf at the commencement of the fourteenth century is 

 •eiign, except . . •' 



the chart of ^''^ only one certainly more ancient ; but that of Andre Bianco 

 Sanado. j,f 143^^ which Fqnnaleoni has made known, is very nearly 



of tl)e fame; time as this monument. No general fource of 

 imformation can be difcovered by which the author of the 

 tablet has been aflifted. It is not made according to docu- 

 ments from Ptolemy; it more follows thofe of the Arabians, 

 efpecially with regard to Africa ; of the names which are 

 ibund in the works of Marco Paolo, and the other more 

 ancient travellers in Afia, only fome are feen on that part of 

 Uie world. The extent of Europe is reprefented as much 

 greater than that of Africa, and at lead as large as that of 

 Sweden ci!IcJ Atla. Tiie following are forae of the mofl remarkable par- 

 MagnaGothu ticulars of it: Sweden is fet down under the name of Magna 

 Denmark omit:- Got/iia, and Penmark is wanting. In PrutTia, the feat of the 

 ed, Lithuanians wars of the Teutonic order with the Lithuanians, reprefent- 

 ^'"'* ed with this infcnptlon : Hicfunt conjiina pagaiwrum ct Chrif- 

 tiuiiorum, qui in Prufia adinvicem continuo bdlant. It may bo 

 perceived by this, that the Lithuanians were therein con- 



fidered 



