100 
plint's natueal histoet. 
[Eook II. 
pletely round the globe, and divide it, as it were, into two 
parts \ exclude us from one part of it, as there is no way open 
to it on either side. And as the contemplation of these 
things is adapted to detect the vanity of mortals, it seems 
incumbent on me to display, and lay open to our eyes, the 
whole of it, whatever it be, in which there is nothing which 
can satisfy the desires of certain individuals. 
CHAP. 68. (68.) — WHAT PAET OP THE EABTH IS INHABITED. 
In the first place, then, it appears, that this should be esti- 
mated at half the globe^, as if no portion of this half was 
encroached upon by the ocean. Eut surrounding as it does 
the whole of the land, pouring out and receiving all the other 
waters, furnishing whatever goes to the clouds, and feeding the 
stars themselves, so numerous and of such great size as they 
are, what a great space must we not suppose it to occupy ! 
This vast mass must fill up and occupy an infinite extent. 
To this we must add that portion of the remainder which the 
heavens^ take from us. For the globe is divided into five 
parts^, termed zones, and all that portion is subject to severe 
cold and perpetual frost which is under the two extremities, 
about each of the poles, the nearer of which is called the 
north, and the opposite the south, pole. In all these regions 
there is perpetual darkness, and, in consequence of the aspect 
of the milder stars being turned from them, the light is ma- 
lignant, and only like the whiteness which is produced by"" 
hoar frost. The middle of the earth, over which is the orbit 
of the sun, is parched and burned by the flame, and is con- 
sumed by being so near the heat. There are only two of the 
zones which are temperate, those which lie between the torrid 
and the frigid zones, and these are separated from each other, 
in consequence of the scorching heat of the heavenly bodies. 
be incorrect ; the reader who may be disposed to learn the opinions of 
the commentators on this point, may consult the notes in Poinsmet and 
Lemaire in loco. 
1 Dividuo globo ; " Eoas partes a vespertinis dividente oceano." Alex- 
andre in Lemaire, i. 380. 
2 " Jam primum in dimidio computari videtur." > 
3 " Coelnm the rigour of the climate. 
^ The division of the globe into five zones is referred to by Yirgil, Geor. 
i. 233-239, and by Ovid, Met. i. 45, 46. 
