Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 16.djvu/515

 As these maps have not come down to us, it is supposed that they were rare, and were not intended for practical use, but constructed to aid the inquiries of the learned; for the Arabians pursued the study of geography mainly in its connection with astronomy, and were not, as we would understand the term, topographers, or only to a very limited



extent. It is rather for the preservation of what was previously known that we are indebted to the Arabs; for, though they studied geography with great assiduity, they can not be said to have greatly advanced it as a science.

Leaving the Arabs and their labors for the present, we will now return to the growth of cartography in Europe. We have maps designed to represent the earth as known, or particular parts of it, from the ninth to the fifteenth century; and which, from the rude efforts in the ninth century, exhibit the widest diversity in plan and execution. Some consist of straight parallel lines drawn across a circle, with the names of countries or places arranged along the lines. In others, the position of the Mediterranean is indicated simply by the name of the sea, and the names of countries and places are grouped about it in