Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-12-17
LIES THE MAPS TELL
NOT ABOUT LOCATION, BUT IN THE
MATTER OF NAMES.

German. and IL Isn't an Ocean.
In few places will you find more
healthy, robust lies to the square incn
than an average map, and this is the
document that is daily placed in the
hands of orr young.
Begin up north and take Greenland
Was there ever more fragrant impos-
ture than the name of this country!
1t isn't green and never was green ana
never will be green. Here is what the
gazetteer says about this green" coun-
try:
cit is high and rocky and barren. Ii
is covered with eternal snow ana ga
ciers. July is the only month in whlch
there is no snow" There's picture or
greenness for you!
How did 1t get called green? Well |
by an INSCRIPTIONS falsehood Oh the
part of tenth century reprobate ,
called Eric the Red of Iceland. rms
ancient shark accidentally ran against
the ice patch in question with rev
other Icelanders of his own kidney. !
He cut back to Iceland and doomed .
1t for all he was worth.
He called it Greenland and to delude
the Iceland investors and general pup
lie said it was a wonderful green couh-
fry. which he wished them to visit
with their families and take shares III
some mines he had discovered. WE'LL
some of the deluded creatures went.
They never returned TO good old Ice
land Gny more.
But there are plenty of equally gross
impostures. Take the Black sea, for
instance. Why black? Who said II
was black? 1t is no more black than
It is pink or purple. The ancients call
cd If the "Euxine"-which means in
hospitable That was announcer
good old fiction. 1t is not at all an III
hospitable sea, for having no tides, 1t
Is one of the easiest to navigate. NOW
and again there are big storms, just 10
give the sea a realistic touch, but gen
orally speaking it isn't black ana II
isn't inhospitable.
The Cape Of Good Hope! Good
Hone. indeed Ask anybody who has
been round that prOmontOry what they
think of it. The only good hope they
experience is a good hope that they
will soon get ashore, for it is one or
the toughest and stOrmiest places
known to mariners. What we should
call a cyclone on the North sea would
be smiled at round the cape as Dit OF
breeze. The gentleman who called IL
Cape of Good Hope was a crude sort
of humorist He made his money IN
the king business, styling himself John
IL. of Portugal His faithful subject
DiaZ discovered it and told his majesty
that he lad called it the stormy
cane" But the king would have none
of if. He said that he hoped Dlaz
would find something else round the
other side next time he went to the
cane. so lie called it Cape Of Good
Hope.
WHY the Dead sea? The locality
may be as dead as doornall, but the
sea itself is pretty lively. 1t is the
safest piece of water on the face OF
the earth. ten times as salt as the
ocean. OF course there is no particular
vegetation roundabout, and the sea Is
free from monsters, but that doesn't
make the sea itself dead 1t Is really
most live sea.
Why English channel? It's no more
English than it's French. The French
themselves don't call it English at all,
but simply La Manche."
ohC 1r6 n
given to that bit of water which sepa-
rates England from Holland, called
the German ocean? Why German
There's nothing German about it and
never has been. Dutch, Belgian or
British, If you like, but not German.
Then why ocean? 1t is not an ocean at
all. There is a piece of water that size
between Australia and Tasmania, II
anything rather wider, which they call
strait-Bass strait. Just fancy the
absurdity of teaching the child mind to
think that crossing to Ostend or Ant
werp is an ocean trip.
North sea, too. is absurd. Why north
1t is not north of anything in particu-
lar. 1t is east of Britain, west or HOl-
land. Belgium and Denmark and south
of Norway and Sweden. 1t is not a
north sea at all.
There are some islands in the Pacific
why Pacific, by the way? Where
does the peace come in on that desc
late. typhoony, billowy, tidal wavy vii
derness called the Friendly islands
Look at the encyclopedias version OF
their friendliness: They are volcanic
and earthquakes are frequent. Islands
are frequently upheaved. Hurricanes
are corstant." Then the friendly ma
tivesi The sole reason the islands were
called Friendly is because when Cap
tain Cook visited them he found the
natives had not got any arms. So they
were friendly. No doubt! But Whel
the missionaries tried to convert then
they had q different tale to tell. FO
thirty years they endured "a perilou
struggle with the savage paganisn o
the inhabitants"
could call your attention to dozen
more Of cases Of mOnstrOus mendacit!
on the part of the map. But the edlto
has Just taken away my atlas.-Pear
sons Weekly.