Scandinavia, of unexplored magnitude, but which | tracts. The region of Atlas had been first penewas by many described as forming quite another trated in the reign of Claudlus, by Ædemon, an world. Thus Baltia and Scandinavia, approached adherent of the extinct family of the Ptolemies, from different points, are considered as two dis- who sought refuge there. Suetonius Paulinus, tinct insular territories, the vast extent of which with whom Pliny had conversed, found it of imappears to be better apprehended by Pliny than mense height, covered with snow even in summer ; by any other ancient writer. on one side rising from the sands, rough, horrid, and bare; on the other, covered with thick groves of unknown species of trees, and sparkling with fountains. An account is given of a voyage along the western coast, which Polybius had made by order of Scipio. Only the names of the places and the distances are given. The former coincide in a great measure with those of Hanno; and if Polybius was right in this coincidence, his report tends much to confirm M. Gosselin's view of the limited extent of Hanno's discoveries. In the time of Vespasian, another expedition, under Cornelius Balbus, penetrated into and conquered Garama (Germa), and Cydamus (Gadamis). The Romans here beheld with surprise houses built of salt, and on digging to a small depth, water sprung out of the sand. A number of names of conquered places are here given, which it is difficult to recognize; for it seems too hasty to identify Boin with Bornoo. A theory of the course of the Niger was formed by Pliny from these materials with considerable pains, but very imperfect success. Its source, according to King Juba, existed in Mauritania, and it is even said to have been found by Suetonius Paulinus after a few days' march to the south of the Atlas. The Niger springs here from a lake; but soon, indignant at flowing through sandy and squalid tracts, it passes under ground for several days, and emerges into another lake of Mauritania. After a circuit, however, of some extent, it again disappears, and having pursued a subterranean course of twenty days, reappears, Asia is delineated according to the general ideas of Strabo and Mela. The Caspian or Hycanian Sea is a gulf opening into the northern or Scythian ocean, which is in communication with that called Seric or Oriental. Pliny seems to have fuller information of the grandeur and wealth of India than any of his predecessors. Its inhabitants and its cities were innumerable, and it was reported on good authority to form a third of the whole world. It enjoyed gentle breezes, two summers, two harvests, one before, another after the periodical winds. Blessed with these advantages, this happy people were never known to emigrate beyond their own territories. He describes the marches of Alexander, from the measurements of Diognetus and Beton, and where these fail, he continues them by those of Seleucus, and by the embassy of Megasthenes, as far as the mouth of the Ganges. These itineraries seem very good. In treating of Taprobane, he observes, that it had been believed by some to be an opposite continent or earth, but that the inquiries of Alexander had clearly proved it to be an island. His report, however, that the country of the Seres was seen from it, implies a most inadeqate and erroneous conception of the eastern coasts of Asia. The Africa of Pliny does not differ in its general outline from that of Mela. His access, however, to the archives of the empire, and his acquaintance with some of the Roman generals, enabled him to give new details as to some of its most interior dividing Africa from Ethiopia. At last, in its passage through Ethiopia itself, it assumes the character of the Nile, first in two channels, Astusapes and Astaboras, enclosing the island of Meroe, and afterwards uniting to form the entire and proper Nile. This wild and absurd detail evidently includes the course of several rivers belonging to different and widely-remote regions of Africa. Only a few fragments of the itineraries which guided the "masters of the world" to conquest are now remaining: the most memorable is that which bears the name of Antoninus. It has been ascribed by some to Severus, by others to Theodosius, and in fact contains many particulars which could not have been written prior to the era of the last sovereigns; but it seems probable that there were successive editions, with such amendments and alterations as time suggested. It is a mere skeleton road-book, with nothing but the names of places and their distances from each other. The same may be said of Jerusalem Itenerary, exhibiting in great detail the route from Bordeaux to that city. The Peutingerian Table is a more remarkable monument, and may be considered, probably, as a specimen of the "painted roads" of the ancients. It forms a map of the world, constructed, however, on the most novel and peculiar principles. Its dimensions being twenty feet in length and one in breadth, an idea may be formed of the correctness with which the proportion of the different parts is exhibited. The high road which traversed the Roman empire in the general direction of east and west is made the first meridian, and to this every other part is subjected. The objects along this line are minutely and faithfully exhibited; of those lying to the north and south of it, only some general notion can be conveyed: these are all re presented, of course, most enormously extended in length and reduced in breadth. ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL. (TIIE SECOND.) Alexandria, by her contributions to geography supplied to a great extent the deficiencies of Rome; and, even in its subject condition, still retained the impulse received from the Ptolemies-continuing to be the second in magnitude and the foremost in learning of the vast Roman empire. In the second century a geographical school was established there and at Tyre, possessing more ample materials and resources, and connected together by more accurate and scientific arrangements, than any that had previously existed. To the itineraries of the Macedonian were now added those of the Roman conqueror, which, extending in a different direction, embraced many of the countries to the north and west-Gaul, Britain, Germany, Spain, and Mauritania-hitherto comparatively unknown to the Greeks. The method suggested by Hipparchus of subjecting the whole of geography to astronomical principles, and of fixing the position of every spot upon the globe according to its longitude and latiude, was now attempted to be carried into full effect. The attempt, however, was made in a rude manner, and upon a narrow basis of observation, and therefore not only presented a very imperfect edition of the new system, but involved errors which caused it in some respects to retrogade even from the rude state to which it had been brought by the former school. Notwithstanding the commercial greatness of Tyre, which suffered little, if any, diminution under the Roman empire, no system of geography seems to have been much cultivated either by its navigators or its merchants. Marinus, a native the astronomical principles of Hipparchus ; but as his labors were productive of little else than a scries of enormous exaggerations, we shall not burden our readers with any of the details. Tyrian, attempted to arrange geography into a | ture of the whole world, represented graphically new and more accurate form, to which he applied in outlines and numerically in determinations of places, according to their parallels of latitude and longitude, and to the length of the day; but, with all its constant references to the advantages of astronomical results over mere itinerary measurements by land and sea, it is unfortunately impossible to ascertain among these uncertain positions (upwards of 2,500 of which are given), the nature of the data on which they are based, and the relative probability which may be ascribed to them, from the itineraries then in existence. Though he did not actually introduce any new principle into geography, he was the first who combined together all the sound views of his predecessors, and formed out of them a just and harmonious delineation. Yet he was far from reaching his aim of forming a perfect system. He still retained the erroneous measurement of the degree formed by Posidonius, and of which Marinus had made so unfortunate a use. Hence, while he felt the extravagance of the distances assigned by his predecessor, in consequence of the adoption of the degree of 500 stadia, he extricated himself but partially from the same error. Among the numerous works of Ptolemy, who has been already noticed, the "Almegist" is the most valuable for geographical purposes: it treats of the relations of the earth and heaven; the effect of position upon the earth; the theory of the sun and moon, without which that of the stars cannot be undertaken; the sphere of the fixed stars, and those of the five stars called planets. His last great work, however, (Universal Geography) which is almost destitute of views of a truly physical character, and which may be regarded as the last attempt made by the ancients to form a complete geographical system, was accepted as the text-book of the science; and it maintained that position during the Middle Ages-at least until the sixteenth century—when the rapid progress of maritime discovery caused it to be partially superseded. We say "partially superseded," because it continued for a considerable period after to be the favorite guide to travelers, by whom every new discovery of places was supposed to be recognized in it under some other appellation. In the same manner as natural historians long continued to include all recently-discovered plants and animals under the classifying definitions of Linnæus, the earliest maps of the "New Continent" appeared in the Atlas of Ptolemy, which Agathodæmon prepared at the same time that, in the remotest part of Asia, among the highlycivilized Chinese, the western provinces of the empire were already marked in forty-four divisions! It had, indeed, the advantage of presenting a pic A reference to the Map of the World according to Ptolemy, here introduced, will show the particular features in which he differed from his intelligent predecessors; and wherever a material deviation occurs, especially when it is in the right direction, it may probably be ascribed to the superior facilities he derived from the additions which were constantly being made to the general stock of geographical knowledge. On the other hand, his errors, perhaps, were partially owing to the wilful misrepresentations or unconscious exaggerations of those upon whom he relied for information. |