The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-07-14
Mediterranean sea- although England was

Mediterranean sea. although England was
| a considerable power. and the Scandina-
vians were great maritime people. But
Europeans at that time knew but little of
Asia and but little of Africa. and America,
OF course. was undreamed of. Even after
Columbus had discovered the latter CONT
nent he was very OblviOus OF the fact. He
thought Hayti was Cipango. or Japan, and
for long time regarded Cuba as a part of
the mainland OF Asia.
Medieval Europe knew but very little of
Eastern and Northeastern Asia. Many of
the most learned cOsmOgraphers of the time
taught that Asia stretched eastward indef-
initely, and no one imagined that it had an
eastern coast washed by the ocean. 1t was
seriously taught that Eastern Asia was
land of vast swampS inhabited by monster
serpents and dragons. This was the Opin-
ion that still prevailed up to within 200
years of the time of Columbus.
At this time two Venetian merchants by
the name of Polo went on vast trading
expedition to the uttermOst parts of Asia.
They were gone many years. Upon their
return the son of one of them. a young man
named Marco Polo. wrote out full account
OF their travels. described the empire of the
kahn-the Chinese emperOr-and revealed
the fact that Asia was bounded on the east
coast minutely. with all its vast cities and
its wealth of precious stones and spices.
1t was from reading this book that the
imagination of Columbus was fired. and he
conceived the bold conception of reaching
this eastern coast of Asia by sailing toward
the west, around the earth.
So when he discovered Cuba he had not
doubt but he had landed upon the coast
of Asia and that he looked upon the same
scenes that Marco Polo had gaZed upon 200
years before.
Africa was an unknown continent. as
well as Asia. Until few years after the
great discovery of Columbus no one had
sailed around it. and it was quite generally
thought. as it had previously been thought
in regard to Asia. that the African continent
extended on and on indefinitely. 1t was
supposed that far to the south was the zone
of heat. in which no human being could live.
This was by no means an unreasonable in.
ference to the ancients. They knew that
the farther they sailed to the north the COL
der it grew, and that in the extreme north
was a region of perpetual snow and ice.
They also knew that the farther they sailed
to the south the warmer it grew; and what
was more natural for them to suppose than.
if they went far enough in that direction.
they would come upon lands that were parch-
ed and baked, and upon seas that boiled,
where nothing could live but salamanders.
The ancents peopled all distant lands
with monsters and all distant seas with hor-
rors. Unknown and distant countries were
to their superstition. peOpled with ''gOrgOns.
hydras and chimeras DIRE The distant
seas were filled with mOnstrOus dragons and
serpents. of which the sea serpent is to day,
perhaps. survival. The unknown oceans
were filled with whirlpOOls that sucked in
mariners who were sacrilegious enough to
approach them to an awful death.
Perhaps these superstitiOns. as much as
any one thing. kept the world for so many
centuries an UNEMPLOYED and unknown
WOrld.-Yankee Blade.