t the south. And when
men from the west showed us maps on which such a sea was put down, we
thought they had made a mistake from ignorance of the Chinese language,
and had transferred to the south what ought to be in the north. But when
we inquired about this subject of an American named Abeel (a missionary
at Amoy), he said that the fact was certain, and now it indeed appears
to us undeniable. The provinces of Kwang-tong and Foh-kien are mostly
situated under the Kwang-tau (tropic) of the north, and when we compare
them with the northern provinces in respect of heat, the temperature is
found to be very different. At the time when we did not know that the
sun passed over the middle of the globe, this fact caused us to believe
that the farther one went to the south, the greater was the heat, and
that at the south pole the stones ran in a melted state like a stream of
gold. But this is not so; persons who go from Kwang-tong or Foh-kien,
will find at the distance of five or six thousand _li_ the island of
Borneo, which lies exactly under the Shih-tau (equator), and where the
winter is like our summer. Going thence to the south-west the voyager
reaches the south of Africa, where hail and snow are known; still
farther on is Patagonia or the southern point of South America, near to
the Hih-tau (polar circle) of the south, where ice is continual. Thus
these warm and cold regions are successive, and therefore the region of
the south pole is spoken of as a sea of ice. And why should the Chinese
doubt this, because their ships have never gone so far and the province
of Kwang-tong lies at the frontier of their country? In truth, we must
listen to and accept this explanation."

From this simple piece of instruction, the author of the new Geography
proceeds to describe the regions to the west. We give a specimen from
his account of Europe: "Europe lies at the north-west of Asia, from
which it is separated by the Ural mountains, but is only one quarter as
large. Before the dynasty Hia (2469 B.C.), the inhabitants lived by
hunting, and were clothed in the skins of the animals they killed, as is
the way of the Mongols. But toward the middle of that dynasty (2000
B.C.), civilization, agriculture and the arts began in the states of
Greece, situated at the eastern end of the continent." This is followed
by a very brief review of the rise and decay of the Roman Empire, of the
rise of Moslemism and of the conquests of Tamerlane; next comes a