(B. Mus., Add. mss., 28, 681). A good illustration of
the circular type of mediaeval map, which is sometimes
little better than a panorama of legends and monsters.
Christ at the top; the dragons crushed beneath him at the
bottom; Jerusalem, the navel of the earth, in the middle
as a sort of bull's-eye to a target, all show a "religious"
geography. The line of queer figures, on the right side,
figuring the S. coast of Africa, suggests a parallel with the
still more fanciful Mappe-Monde of Hereford. (For copy
see Bevan and Phillott's edition of the Hereford map).

THE S.W., OR AFRICAN SECTION OF THE HEREFORD
MAP _c._ 1275-1300 106

(B. Mus., King's Lib., XXIII). The S. coast of Africa,
as in the Psalter map, is fringed with monstrous tribes;
monstrous animals fill up a good deal of the interior; half
of the wheel representing Jerusalem in the middle of the
world appears in the N.E. corner; and the designer's idea
of the Mediterranean and Atlantic islands is specially noteworthy.
The Hereford map is a specimen of the thoroughly
traditional and unpractical school of mediaeval geographers
who based their work on books, or fashionable collections
of travellers' tales--such as Pliny, Solinus, or Martianus
Capella--and who are to be distinguished from the scientific
school of the same period, whose best works were the
Portolani, or coast-charts of the early 14th century.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MARINO SANUTO. _c._ A.D. 1306 114

(B. Mus., King's Lib., 149 F. 2 p. 282). The shape of
Africa in this map is supposed by some to be valuable in the
history of geographical advance, as suggesting the possibility
of getting round from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean.

SKETCH MAP OF DULCERT'S PORTOLANO OF 1339 116

(From Nordenskjoeld's fac-simile atlas). This illustrates
the accuracy of the 14th century coast-charts, especially in
the Mediterranean.

THE LAURENTIAN PORTOLANO OF 1351 120

(From the Medicean Lib. at Florence; reproduced in
B. Mus., Map room, shelf 158, 22, 23). This is the most
remarkable of all the Portolani of the 14th century, as
giving a view of the world, and especially Africa, which is
far nearer the actual truth than could be expected. Especially
its outline of S. Africa and of the bend of the Guinea
coast, is surprisingly near the truth,