Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/195

 CHAP. v. 16. INTRODUCTION. 181 forms a narrow promontory receding towards the east and south, and becoming slightly broader, till it touches upon the western Ethiopians, who are the last l of the nations situated below Carthage, and adjoin the parallel of the Cinnamon Coun- try. They, on the contrary, who sail from the Sacred Promon- tory, 2 towards the Artabri, 3 journey northwards, having Lusitania 4 on the right hand. The remaining portion forms an obtuse angle towards the east as far as the extremities of the Pyrenees which terminate at the ocean. North- ward and opposite to this are the western coasts of Britain. Northward and opposite to the Artabri are the islands de- nominated Cassiterides, 5 situated in the high seas, but under nearly the same latitude as Britain. From this it appears to what a degree the extremities of the habitable earth are nar- rowed by the surrounding sea. 16. Such being the configuration of the whole earth, it will be convenient to take two straight lines, cutting each other at right angles, and running the one through its greatest length, and the other through its breadth. The former of these lines will represent one of the parallels, and the latter one of the meridians. 6 Afterwards we must imagine other lines parallel to either of these respectively, and dividing both the 1 The most southern. 2 Cape St. Vincent. 3 The Artabri inhabited the country around Cape Finisterre. 4 Principally contained in the modern kingdom of Portugal. 5 The Scilly Islands off the Cornwall coast. 6 We have long had the custom of tracing on every map the parallels of latitude and longitude at every degree, or every five or ten degrees, as the case may be. By means of these lines drawn at equal distances, the eye at once recognises the relative position of any place in the map. This method was not in use when Strabo wrote : at that time it was customary to draw a meridian or longitude, and a parallel of latitude, for ^every important place of which the position was considered as determined. This was certainly an obscure way of dividing the globe ; nevertheless it is requisite to keep it in mind, in order that we may the more readily understand the general language of our geographer, who instead of simply stating the latitude and longitude of places, says such a place is situated under the same latitude, or about the same latitude, as such another place, &c. Ptolemy seems to have been the first who freed the study of geogra- phy from the confusion inseparable from the ancient method. He substi- tuted tables easy of construction and amendment ; where the position of each place was marked by isolated numbers, which denoted the exact latitude and longitude.