6 



CONTENTS. 



Macedonian — Strange Phenomena in the Heavens — The Icthyophagi — Houses 

 built of the Bones of Whales — Fish Flour — A Battle with Whales — An Unex- 

 pected Meeting — The Distance traversed by Nearchus — The Voyage of 

 Eudoxus along the African Coast — State of Navigation at the Opening of the 

 Christian Era 



FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA TO THE APPLICATION OF 

 THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE TO EUROPEAN NAVIGATION, A.D. 1300. 



CHAPTER VIII. — Navigation during the Roman Empire — The Rise of Venice 

 and Genoa — The Crusades — Their Effect upon Commerce — Wedding of the 

 Adriatic — Creation of the French Navy — Introduction of Eastern Art into 

 Europe — Maps of the Middle Ages — Remote Effect of the Crusades upon 

 Geographical Science 96 



CHAPTER IX. — The Scandinavian Sailors — Their Piracies and Commerce — 

 The Anglo-Saxons — Alfred the Great a Ship-Builder — The Voyage of Beowulf 

 — Discovery of Iceland by the Danes — Discovery of Greenland — The Voyage 

 of Bjarni and Leif to the American Continent — Their Discovery of Newfound- 

 land, Nova Scotia, Nantucket, and Massachusetts — Adventures of Thorwald 

 and Thorfinn — Comparison of the Discoveries of the Northmen with those of 

 Columbus 104 



CHAPTER X— The Travels of Marco Polo— The First Mention of Japan in His- 

 tory — Kublai Khan — Marco Polo's Voyage from Amoy to Ormuz — Malacca — 

 Sumatra — Pygmies — Singular Stories of Diamonds — The Roe — Polo not recog- 

 nised upon his Return — His Imprisonment — The Publication of his Narrative 

 — The Interest awakened in China, Japan, and the Islands of Spices 113 



CHAPTER XL— The First Mention of the Loadstone in History— Its Early 

 Names — The First Mention of its Directive Power — A Poem upon the Compass 

 Six Hundred Years Old — Friar Bacon's Magnet — The Loadstone in Arabia — 

 An Eye-Witness of its Efficiency in the Syrian Waters in the Year 1240 — The 

 Magnet in China — Early Mention of it in Chinese Works — The Variation 

 noticed in the Twelfth Century — Other Discoveries made by the Chinese — 

 Modern Errors — Flavio Gioia — The Ai-ms of Amalfi — All Records lost of the 

 First Voyage made with the Compass by a European Ship 119 



FROM THE APPLICATION OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE TO EUROPEAN NAVIGATION 

 TO THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD UNDER MAGELLAN : 1300-1519. 



CHAPTER XIL— The Portuguese on the Coast of Africa— The Spaniards and 

 the Canary Isles — Don Henry of Portugal — The Terrible Cape, now Cape 

 Bojador — The Sacred Promontory — Discovery of the Madeiras — A Dreadful 

 Phenomenon — A Prolific Rabbit and a Wonderful Conflagration — Hostility of 

 the Portuguese to further Maritime Adventure — The Bay of Horses — The First 

 Gold-Dust seen in Europe — Discovery of Cape Verd and the Azores — The 

 Europeans approach the Equator — Journey of Cada-Mosto — Death of Don 

 Henry — Progress of Navigation under the Auspices of this Prince 128 



