Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-07-26
ANCIENT MAPS
IN COLLECTION
OF UNCLE SAM
BY FREDrRICK J. HAsKIN

$50 many people come to my door
and read the sign Maps and
Charts and turn away" P. L.
Phillips, chief of the Map Di-
vision of the Library of Con-
gress made this remark, and he
made 1t rather sadly. There is
as much of the picturesque in
Mr.. Phillips division as in any
part of the great library But
the public thinks of a map as a
dull, abstract outline of coun-
try. So, more often than not.
visitors pass by and miss seeing
thea map with the picture of the
cneelegSed man holding his foot
over him like an umbrella.
This attractive novelty is just
inside the door. 1t is possible
that IL he were outside, below the
sign maps and>Charts," the one
legged gentleman might stimulate
the public imagination and Mr..
Phillips would be swamped with
visitors. But side-show advertis-
ing is beneath governmental dig
nifty. Mr.. Phillips has perhaps
gone as far as this dignity per-
mits when he placed a swinging
rack OF quaint old sixteenth CEN
tury maps just. inside his door.
The one-legged gentleman is In
this collection of valuable old
vellum charts. He is sitting bliss
fully in the shade or his huge
foot in Ethiopia "a region about
which very little was known when
the map was drawn. In another
of these maps q man with a
neck like camel is set down
somewhere in northern Europe.
! THESE freak humans were not
put there in any spirit of levity.
The map makers of the six
teenth century depended on ex-
plorers and travellers for infor-
nation about distant countries
lust as map makers do today.
Sometimes they were deceived.
Travellers exaggerated or reported
weird traditions as facts. Sir
John Vaudeville. famous travel
er of the fourteenth century, is
responsible for the one-legged
man. Mr.. Phillips points out that
Mandeville's book of travels con-
tains the same picture that the
map maker used a couple of CEN
turtles later. Mandevlle added a
description to his, picture, writ
ten in the quaint old English OF
his time.
Quaint Old English
.In Ethiope ben many diverse
folk: and Ethiope is clept (cal-
led) Gusts. In that Contres Der
folk that han but foot: and the
gon so fast that it is marvayle;
and the foot is so large that il
schadewethe allie the Body azer
the Some, whanne thei wole I've
and reste hem"
The man with the long, curved
neck Is another connection o.
some explorer. He adorns 155s
Sailing chart of the coast lines
OF the world. The map makers o.
that time often decorated theil
work with pictures of this sort
showing the natural exhibits ant
interesting features of the DIFF
ferent countries This chart shows
an excellently drawn elephant
camel, deer, unicorn, and othel
animals in Africa, for instance
and in Europe the principal cities
are marked by their coats of arm
and a tiny view of the city owe
the shield. Each of these, view
is no larger than a 25-cent, piece
Yet the towers and battlement
Of each city are distinctive. Tn
different countries ave marked b,
pictures of the rulers sitting o.
canopied thrones. The apparel Q
the kings and the colors and styl
in which they are drawn ar
strongly suggestive Of the royalt
on modern deck OF piayT'
cards.
This was a map Of 1859, more
colorful and fanciful affair thai
our current maps with their dot
for cities and wavy lines for noun
tains. Yet this map Is scarcely con
sidered old by cartography experts
A man made after 1850 is com
paratively modern. This is logi
cal when you consider that tn
Romans made charts in planning
their roads, and that records o
maps go back several centurie:
before Christ. Some Of the mos
interesting maps in the Library o
Congress, to Americans, at least
are not old by this standard.
A rare and unique map OF thu
country is one showing the names
proposed by jefferson for new
states in 1854. What is now thu
north central and northwestern
part of the United States was be
ginning to open up, and jefferson
proposed an ordinance to parcel /
off and name it. He suggested IL
his ordinance such namesf as Syl
* vania, Assenisippia, Polypotamia
.Cherronesus, Metropotamia, Mich
igania, Saratoga, Pelisipia, Illinoia
and Washington. Most of thes,
names were never taken seriously
One critic said of them, "Such
mixture of Greek, Latin. Englisl
and Indian perhaps was nevel
seen before" But the next yea
a publisher. printed a tiny poke
almanac containing picture o
the map as Jefferson wanted 1t.
Division Saves Billions.
Showing the public its enter
tanning exhibits is not, of course
the main function of the map di
vision. Mr.. Phillips has in hi
charge one of the largest collec
items of maps in the world, ant
the material is put to importan
uses. He says that his division
has saved the government billion
Of dollars.
When the United States was bar
gaining for ALASKA, the boundar,
line vase in dispute. and map
from the Library of Congress
showed the original line to whicl