The Northern, North-Western, North-Eastern, And East Parts Of Asia Were
Almost Utterly Unknown To The Romans; But They Possessed Tolerably Accurate
Information Regarding The Whole Hither Peninsula Of India, From The Indus
To The Ganges, And Some Partial And Unconnected Notices Of The Farther
Peninsula And Of China.
[5] The most probable opinion is, that they were made of fluat of
lime, or Derbyshire spar.
CHAPTER IV.
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY AND OF COMMERCIAL
ENTERPRISE, FROM THE TIME OF PTOLEMY TILL THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY.
Although the period, which the present chapter embraces, extends to
thirteen centuries, yet, as it is by no means rich or fruitful either in
discovery or commercial enterprise, it will not detain us long. The
luxuries and wealth of the east, which, in all ages of the world and to all
nations have been so fascinating, had, as we have already seen, drawn to
them the interest and the enterprise of the Romans, in the height of their
conquests; and towards the east, with few exceptions, discovery and
commerce pointed, during the whole of the period which this chapter
embraces. Yet, notwithstanding this powerful attraction, geography made
comparatively little progress: the love of luxury did not benefit it nearly
so much as the love of science. The geography of Ptolemy, and the
description of Greece by Pausanias, are, as Malte Brun justly remarks, the
last works in which the light of antiquity shines on geography. We may
further observe, that as circumstances directed the route to the east,
during the middle ages, principally through the central parts of Asia, the
countries thus explored, or visited, were among the least interesting in
this quarter of the globe, and those of which we possess, even at the
present day, very obscure and imperfect information.
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