THE KING'S MIRROR 15 



It was commonly held in the middle ages that the 

 earth is divided into five zones, only two of which may 

 be inhabited. This was a theory advanced by a Greek 

 scientist in the fifth century before our era,* and was 

 given currency in medieval times chiefly, perhaps, 

 through the works of Macrobius.f At first these zones 

 were conceived as belts drawn across the heavens; later 

 they came to be considered as divisions of the earth's 

 surface. It will be noted that our author uses the older 

 terminology and speaks of the zones as belts on the 

 heaven; { it may be inferred, therefore, that he derived 

 his information from one of the earlier Latin treatises 

 on the nature of the universe. For two thousand years 

 it was believed that human life could not exist in the 

 polar and torrid zones. Even as late as the fifteenth 

 century European navigators had great fear of travel 

 into the torrid zone, where the heat was thought to 

 grow more intense as one traveled south, until a point 

 might be reached where water in the sea would boil. 

 Tfrp p.i]f f hm* of t.hf> King's Mirrnr sppms t.n rfpnbt all this. 

 He regards the polar zones as generally uninhabitable; 

 still, he is sure that Greenland lies within the arctic 

 zone; and yet, Greenland " has beautiful sunshine and 

 is said to have a rather pleasant climate." || He sees 

 Henrly th.it the phyairn.1 nnture of n. rountry mny 



TTin^h to do V*k Himptir nrm Hit inns Thfi cold of 



Iceland he ascribes in great part to its position near 



* Parmenides of Ela (ca. 480 B.C.). Nansen, In Northern Mists, I, 12. 



t See below, p. 147 (c. xix). Cf. Ibid., 123. 



J C. xix. 



Probably from the writings of Isidore, who speaks of the zones as belts on 



the heavens. Etymologiae, iii, c. xliv; xiii, c. vi; De Natura Rentm, c. x. 



II C.xix. 



