h century. For, of
the 498 specimens of this kind of practical map now left to us, there is
not one of earlier date than the year 1311. Among these specimens not
merely the mass of materials, but the most important examples, not
merely 413 out of 498, but all the more famous and perfect of the 498
are Italian. The course begins with Vesconte's chart, of the year 1311,
and with Dulcert's of 1339, and the outlines of these two are faithfully
reproduced, for instance, in the great Dutch map of the Barentszoons
(_c._ 1594), for the type once fixed in the fourteenth century, recurs
steadily throughout the fifteenth, and sixteenth. The type was so
permanent because it was so reliable; every part of the Mediterranean
coast was sketched without serious mistake or disproportion, even from a
modern point of view, while the fulness and detail of the work gave
everything that was wanted by practical seamen. Of course this detail
was in the coast lines, river mouths, and promontories; it only touched
the land features as they touched the seas. For the Portolani were never
meant to be more than mariners' charts, and became less and less
trustworthy if they tried to fill up the inland spaces usually left
blank. For this, we must look to the highest class of mediaeval
theoretical maps, those founded on Portolani, but taking into their view
land as well as water and coast line. And such were the celebrated
examples[29] we have noticed already.

[Footnote 29: _Of_ 1306, 1351, 1367, 1375, 1380, 1436, 1448, 1459.]

* * * * *

NOTE.--It was a man of theory, Raymond Lulli (1235-1315), of Majorca,
the famous Alchemist, who is credited with the first suggestion of the
idea of seeking a way to India by rounding Africa on the West and South.

CHAPTER VI.

PORTUGAL TO 1400.

1095-1400.

Henry the Navigator is the Hero of Portugal, as well as of discovery,
the chief figure in his country's history, as well as the first leader
of the great European expansion; and the national growth of three
hundred years is quite as much a part of his life, quite as much a cause
of his forward movement, as the growth of Christendom towards a living
interest in the unknown or half-known world around.

The chief points of interest in the story of Portugal are first the
stubborn restless independence of the people, always rising into fresh
vigour after a seeming overthrow, and secondly their instinct for
seamanship, wh