ter,
was very much smaller than the earth. The earth was, according to
him, a moderately sized plane, the inhabited parts of which were
separated from the antediluvian world by the ocean, and at the
four corners of the whole were the pillars which supported the
heavens, so that the whole universe was something like a big glass
exhibition case, on the top of which was the firmament, dividing
the waters above and below it, according to the first chapter of
Genesis.

[Illustration: THE HEREFORD MAP.]

Cosmas' views, however interesting and amusing they are, were too
extreme to gain much credence or attention even from the mediaeval
monks, and we find no reference to them in the various _mappoe
mundi_ which sum up their knowledge, or rather ignorance, about the
world. One of the most remarkable of these maps exists in England
at Hereford, and the plan of it given on p. 53 will convey as much
information as to early mediaeval geography as the ordinary reader
will require. In the extreme east, _i.e._ at the top, is represented
the Terrestrial Paradise; in the centre is Jerusalem; beneath this,
the Mediterranean extends to the lower edge of the map, with its
islands very carefully particularised. Much attention is given
to the rivers throughout, but very little to the mountains. The
only real increase of actual knowledge represented in the map is
that of the north-east of Europe, which had I naturally become
better known by the invasion of the Norsemen. But how little real
knowledge was possessed of this portion of Europe is proved by
the fact that the mapmaker placed near Norway the Cynocephali, or
dog-headed men, probably derived from some confused accounts of
Indian monkeys. Near them are placed the Gryphons, "men most wicked,
for among their misdeeds they also make garments for themselves and
their horses out of the skins of their enemies." Here, too, is
placed the home of the Seven Sleepers, who lived for ever as a
standing miracle to convert the heathen. The shape given to the
British Islands will be observed as due to the necessity of keeping
the circular form of the inhabited world. Other details about England
we may leave for the present.

It is obvious that maps such as the Hereford one would be of no
practical utility to travellers who desired to pass from one country
to another; indeed, they were not intended for any such purpose.
Geography had ceased to be in any sense a practical science; it
only ministered