Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 7]
without a name - the principal of which however he calls Mahal, *
[In margin] * I think he means the Mal-dives, & if this should seem extraordinary I have an Arabian Map which I think places the great Pepper Island S: W: of Africa i.e. Ceylon, - or Sumatra.
meaning perhaps Madagassier finally, his limit on the south East is the Island of Columbo.
From these observations of Fra Mauro & the limits of his Planisphere, it appears clearly, that he is not a mere copier of others, but the real Composer & Author of this Map, & upon these Grounds, the assertion of Ramusio, Vol 11. ought to be corrected, when he says, that Fra Mauro composed his Planisphere from a Map which Marco Polo a Venetian Nobleman brought out of Catai (China) into Italy; who, in company with his Father, had visited the most distant Counties of the East. For tho' we may allow that Fra Mauro made some use of the travels of Marco Polo particularly in regard to Catai; yet it is most evident, that he added much, & had acquired fresh information from the Account of those who were inhabitants of the Country & other reports which he received of a later date than Marco Polo's.
But besides this, Marco Polo never says in his own account of his travels, that he had composed a general Map of the World; & Fra Mauro never mentions the name of Marco Polo in his observations which are very numerous, & notice several Natives of the Countries he describes with whom he had conversed.
We ought likewise to remember that this Planisphere was not the only work of Fra Mauro. for he produced several other large