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| PTOLEMY'S MAP OF THE WORLD, ORIGINALLY DRAWN ABOUT A.D. 150. |
| From the first printed edition of 1472 (the first book to haveprinted maps) and the famous Rome edition of 1508. It is only necessaryto compare this map with the mythical geography represented in amediæval map such as the Hereford map of the world, made elevencenturies later to recognise the extraordinary accuracy andscientific value of Ptolemy's geography. |
A BOOK OF DISCOVERY
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S EXPLORATION, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TOTHE FINDING OF THE SOUTH POLE
By M. B. SYNGE, F.R.Hist.S.
"A SHORT HISTORY OF SOCIAL LIFE IN ENGLAND" ETC.
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| THE GOLDEN HIND (From the Chart of "Drake's Voyages") |
35 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C., & EDINBURGH
INTRODUCTION
Such was the spirit in which the exploration of the world wasaccomplished. It was the inspiration that carried men of old far beyondthe sunrise into those magic and silent seas whereon no boat had eversailed. It is the incentive of those to-day with the wander-thirstin their souls, who travel and suffer in the travelling, though thereare fewer prizes left to win. But
| "The reward is in the doing, And the rapture of pursuing Is the prize." |
"To travel hopefully," says Stevenson, "is a better thing than toarrive." This would explain the fact that this Book of Discovery hasbecome a record of splendid endurance, of hardships bravely borne,of silent toil, of courage and resolution unequalled in the annalsof mankind, of self-sacrifice unrivalled and faithful lives laidungrudgingly down. Of the many who went forth, the few only attained.It is of these few that this book tells.
"All these," says the poet in Ecclesiastes—"all these were honouredin their generation, and were the glory of their times ... their nameliveth for evermore."
But while we read of those master