Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-10-01
Ancient and Modern knowledge.

A newspaper correspondent who has
vlsited Florence, Italy, seems overcome
with wonder, because he found there, in
the Laurentian Library. "a map of the
world, drawn in 141O, which shows
clearly the course of the Nile, its divi-
sion into streams, and its connection
with the two great lakes," lie does not
understand how it was possible, 467
years ago, for European msp-maker
TO have an accurate knowledge of the
river Nile and its sources, This is know
ledge which the royal geographical so.
oieties, and the African explorers, of
modern times. have sought for years;
and, even now, they are only beginning
to design accurate maps of the Nile
Nevertheless, there, in library of Flor
ence, he found proof that some of the
scholars of Europe had all the know
ledge necessary for the construction of
such maps, nearly five centuries ago.
Probably this writer is one of those who
have been taught to believe, that the
knowledge of mankind was not of much
account, previous to our time. This is
one Of those delusions of modern ego
tism, which have done more than any
thing else to obstruct intelligent and
successful study of ancient history,
whether in the books or in the revela-
Five hundred and four hundred wears
ago, the people of Europe had no know
ledge of Central and Southern Africa,
except what they could get from Ptole-
my's geography and from reports of the
Arabians. They had some knowledge
of Lower Egypt. and of the so. called
Barbary States. Beyond this they knew
nothing from their own observation. In
constructing maps Of the Nile and of the
southern coast of Africa, they followed
Ptolemy but his work was a reproduc-
ton of the geography of Marinus of
Tyre; that is to say, it was revised
edition of an old geography of the
Phoenicians, who had an accurate know.
ledge of Central and Southern Africa,
Including the river Nile and its sources.
Their Biographies described and named
the Mountains of the Moon," which
the geographers of modern Europe are
not yet able to locate with certainty
Modern travellers tells US that the region
around the great lakes is still called
"Moonland," by the natives. Speke
says: "U-nyamuezi, or the Country of
the Moon, must have been one of the
largest Kingdoms of Africa" The same
ancient knowledge of Central Africa is
found in some of the old Sanskrit Pura-
mas, which describe this "Moonland,n
and give an accurate account of the
sources and flow of the Nile. They say.
the Nile rises in the Lakes ofthe Gods"
and give particular account of its
course, until it reaches the Mediterrane-
an.
This ancient knowledge of Africa and
the Nile, preserved in Ptolemy's geog-
raphy, made it possible in Europe, five
hundred years ago, to construct such
maps of the Nile as that found in the
Laurentian Library, at Florence. Long
before Vasco da CANA sailed round the
Cape of Good Hope, there were, in the
libraries Of Italy, accurate maps of this
cape and of the southern portion of
Africa, drawn from geographical know
ledge derived from the Arabians. Hum
boldt mentions and describes several of
"planisphere of Sanuto," which was
made in 1906. Another, constructed by
Genoese, was made in 1851. The
"Planisferio de Ia Palatina," made at
Florence in 1417, presents one of these
maps. The largest, most particular, and
most complete of them, perhaps, appears
in Fra Mauro's famous "Map of the
World" which was constructed in the
years 1457 and 1850. No more accurate
map of the southern cape and coasts of
Africa can be drawn now. What we
call the Cape of Good Hope, was called
Cape Dsiab," by the Arabians. In the
Italian maps it is called "Cape Diab."-
Pedreio Covilhan, having visited India,
and SOfala in Africa, wrote to King John
of Portugal, in 1887, that he had learned
from the Arabians that the Portuguese
could sail round Africa to India and he
gave specific directions for a voyage
from Portugal to Madagascar. A few
years after this letter was written, Da
CANA sailed round Africa, reached So.
fala, and went to India.
Much is lost, and our study ofthe past
is seriously Obstructed, by that egotis.
tical assumption of the mo0erns, which
denies the knowledge of the ancients,
or greatly undertakes it. Capacity to
acquire. knowledge, disposition to in
vestigate, genius for invention, and in
genuity to contrive appliances of civil
ization, did not wait until our time, 20
make their first appearance in the
world. 1t should not be difficult for us
to believe. that the great manufacturing,
commercial, and colonizing people of
antiquity, acquired accurate and extern
sive geographical knowledge of the
countries with which they had fixed and
long continued relations. If the moderns
could have had faith enough in the ge-
Ography of Marinus, as revised by Ptole-
my, to use it as trustworthy guide,
their progress in knowledge of Africa
would have been vastly more rapid, the
sources of the Nile would have been
shown accurately in our maps, year
ago, and the pursuit of this knowledge
would not have cost so many lives, so
much suffering, nor so much money
Massachusetts, .Sl)U