HOW THE EARTH WAS FIRST MAPPED OUT.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2468, 15 April 1880, Page 2

HOW THE EARTH WAS FIRST MAPPED OUT.

What these early maps wero wo do not know, but we can form a reasonable oonjocturo. The earth at that timo ras supposed to be a flat circular plain, or duo, the broadest part being from enqb to weit, which was entirely a,urr<n\nded by an ocean, or great river, that trained it upon all sides. la about the centre of this plain Greoco was supposed to be situated. The great central «ea of the inhabited region was the Mediterranean. The farthest point known at the west was tho Str.iit of Gibraltar, then oalled the Pillars of Hercules. Tho southern part comprised the north of Africa as far as the deserts ; while the region north embraced, the countries bordering upon the Medi* terranean, and an unknown hypprhorean land farther tq the north, with the Euxine, and Oaapian seaa at the south-east, Tho farthest eastern point known waa about the western limit of India. This was what would then be contained in a mrp as a representation of thooartll. Tho nun was supposed to pass under and around thin flat plain, which was then the mode of accounting for the ohangea of day and night. The space boneath was Bupposed* to be a great vault, called Tartarus, thdi abode of tho spirits of tho wicked among men, as the region corresponding to it, abovo tho plain, was the heaven or abqde of tho gods, fhe unknown region beyqnd; tho Pillars ot Hercules waa filled up with the creations of tho fertile uaagination of tho Greeks. To the north- wWt and north wero tho Cimmerians, a people living in perpetual darkneas j and the Hyperboreans, a raoe supposed to be exempt from toil, di^oase, or wars, who enjoyed life fop a thousand years in a state of undiatuphed serenity, To the west of Sicily wore the en* chanted ialanda of Oirce and Oalypao, and tho floating island of E]olua. A littlo to tho north of the Pillars of Hercules was the entrance to the infernal regions ; and far out in the weatern ooean, beyond the limits of the known earth, was the happy region called Elysium, a land of perpetual aummer, where ft gentle zephyr always blew, where tempeata were unknown, and where the spirita of thoae whose lives had been approved by tho gods dwelt in perpetual felicity. Here, also, were the Gardens of the Hesporides, with their golden apples guarded by the singing nymphs, who dwelt on the river Ooeanus, whioh waa in the extreme weat, and the position of whioh' waa constantly shifted as geographical knowledge increased. — Chief Justice Daly in Popular Science Monthly for jfebruary. ' ' -