Page:Dawn and the Dons.pdf/24

 was the world at the dawn of the fifteenth century. Outside these narrow limits, all was surmise, conjecture and speculation.

By 1492, however, the belief had become fairly general, at least among the learned men, that the world was round; but it was still universally believed that the world stood still, and that the heavens revolved about the earth. Copernicus had not yet advanced his heliocentric theory.

Word had also reached this little Mediterranean world of a distant land called India, where great riches awaited those who might adventure thither. The wonderful stories of this eastern country related by Marco Polo, the great explorer of his time, gained rapid currency, and finally got into book form through the then newly invented printing press.

Polo had penetrated the lands lying eastward of Europe, and had been royally entertained by the great Kublai Khan; had traversed Asia, and encountered what appeared to be a vast ocean—in reality the Pacific Ocean—that looked toward the east; had sailed on this ocean southward along the eastern coast of Asia, and into the Indian Ocean; and had finally reached Persia, whence he returned by land to his native city of Venice. His explorations occupied some twenty-four years, and covered lands hitherto unknown to Europe, which came to be designated by the general name of India.

Polo pictured in glowing terms the fabulous wealth of the Far East. One of his stories, typical of the rest,