Jana Antarctic Pole Orientalis Part of a 20 90 Published as the Act directs, by John Murray. Albemarle Str: Feb 1830. to the province of Mangi, near Cathay, since ascertained to be the northern coast of China. Of this country a magnificent description was given according to Marco Polo, who extols the power and grandeur of its sovereign, the Great Khan, the splendour and magnitude of his capitals of Cambalu, and Quinsai, or Kinsay, and the wonders of the island of Cipango, or Zipangi, supposed to be Japan. This island he places opposite Cathay, far in the ocean, and represents it as abounding in gold, precious stones, and spices, and that the palace of the king was covered with plates of gold, as edifices in other countries are covered with sheets of lead. The work of Marco Polo is deserving of this particular mention, from being a key to many of the ideas and speculations of Columbus. The territories of the Grand Khan, as described by the Venetian, were the objects of his diligent search in all his voyages; and in his cruisings among the Antilles, he was continually flattering himself with the hopes of arriving at the opulent island of Cipango, and the shores of Mangi and Cathay. The letter of Paulo Toscanelli was accompanied by a map, projected partly according to Ptolemy, and partly according to the descriptions of Marco Polo. The eastern coast of Asia was depicted in front of the coasts of Africa and Europe, with a moderate space of ocean between them, in which were placed, at convenient distances, Cipango, Antilla, and the other islands. By this conjectural map Columbus governed himself in his first voyage. Beside these learned authorities, Columbus was attentive to every gleam of information bearing upon his theory, that might be derived from veteran mariners, and the inhabitants of the lately discovered islands, who were placed, in a manner, on the frontier posts of geographical knowledge. One Antonio Leone, an inhabitant of Madeira, told him, that in sailing westward one hundred leagues, he had seen three islands at a distance. A mariner of Port St. Mary, also, asserted, that in the course of a voyage to Ireland, he had seen land to the west, which the ship's company took for some extreme part of Tartary. One Martin Vicenti, a pilot in the service of the King of Portugal, assured Columbus that, after sailing four hundred and fifty leagues to the west of Cape St. Vincent, he had taken from the water a piece of carved wood, evidently not laboured with an iron instrument. As the wind had drifted it from the west, it might have come from some unknown land in that direction. Pedro Correo, brother-in-law of Columbus, also informed him, that he had seen a similar piece of wood, on the island of Porto Santo, which had drifted from the same quarter, and he had heard from the King of Portugal that reeds of an immense size had floated to those islands from the west, which Columbus supposed to be the kind of reeds of enormous magnitude described by Ptolemy as growing in India. Trunks of huge pine trees, of a kind that did not grow upon any of the islands, had been wafted to the Azores by westerly winds. The inhabitants also informed him that the bodies of two dead men had been cast upon the island of Flores, whose features had caused great wonder and speculation, being different from those of any known race of people. Such are the principal grounds on which, ac с |
