The Voyages Of
The Portuguese Also Towards The North-East, Beyond The Golden
Chersonese, Have Brought To Knowledge Many Cities
And provinces of
India, and many islands likewise, with those very names which our Author
applies to them; and again,
On reaching the Land of China, they have
ascertained from the people of that region (as we are told by Sign. John
de Barros, a Portuguese gentleman, in his Geography) that Canton, one of
the chief cities of that kingdom, is in 30-2/3 deg. of latitude, with the
coast running N.E. and S.W.; that after a distance of 275 leagues the
said coast turns towards the N.W.; and that there are three provinces
along the sea-board, Mangi, Zanton, and Quinzai, the last of which is
the principal city and the King's Residence, standing in 46 deg. of
latitude. And proceeding yet further the coast attains to 50 deg..[2] Seeing
then how many particulars are in our day becoming known of that part of
the world concerning which Messer Marco has written, I have deemed it
reasonable to publish his book, with the aid of several copies written
(as I judge) more than 200 years ago, in a perfectly accurate form, and
one vastly more faithful than that in which it has been heretofore read.
And thus the world shall not lose the fruit that may be gathered from so
much diligence and industry expended upon so honourable a branch of
knowledge."
4. Ramusio, then, after a brief apologetic parallel of the marvels related
by Polo with those related by the Ancients and by the modern discoverers
in the West, such as Columbus and Cortes, proceeds: -
[Sidenote: Ramusio compares Polo with Columbus.]
And often in my own mind, comparing the land explorations of these our
Venetian gentlemen with the sea explorations of the aforesaid Signor Don
Christopher, I have asked myself which of the two were really the more
marvellous. And if patriotic prejudice delude me not, methinks good
reason might be adduced for setting the land journey above the sea
voyage. Consider only what a height of courage was needed to undertake
and carry through so difficult an enterprise, over a route of such
desperate length and hardship, whereon it was sometimes necessary to
carry food for the supply of man and beast, not for days only but for
months together. Columbus, on the other hand, going by sea, readily
carried with him all necessary provision; and after a voyage of some 30
or 40 days was conveyed by the wind whither he desired to go, whilst the
Venetians again took a whole year's time to pass all those great deserts
and mighty rivers. Indeed that the difficulty of travelling to Cathay
was so much greater than that of reaching the New World, and the route
so much longer and more perilous, may be gathered from the fact that,
since those gentlemen twice made this journey, no one from Europe has
dared to repeat it,[3] whereas in the very year following the discovery
of the Western Indies many ships immediately retraced the voyage
thither, and up to the present day continue to do so, habitually and in
countless numbers.
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