346 PTOLEMY AND LATER GEOGRAPHERS. [CHAP,
were of slight importance in comparison with those which he
introduced in the eastern and south-eastern portion of his map,-
and for which he was largely indebted to Marinus. The great-
extension which had come to be attributed to eastern Asia, owing
to reports which had reached the West of distant countries in that
quarter, induced him to refuse to believe in the existence of a sea
which form.ed the boundary in that direction. Again, when
traders extended their voyages beyond India, and intelligence was
brought of a great gulf on the further side of the Golden
Chersonese—by which perhaps the gulf of Siam may have
been meant—and it was further rumoured that the coast of
Asia in this part, instead of turning northwards, as had previously
been supposed, trended towards the south; on the strength of
these intimations Ptolemy adopted the view, not only that the
land advanced still further in that direction, but that Asia was
connected by an unbroken line of continent with the south-
east of Africa. From this assumption it followed that the
Indian Ocean was surrounded by land—a view which had long
before been advanced as a hypothesis by Hipparchus, but after
his time had been generally rejected.
Ptolemy commences his tables with the British Islands,
Ivernia and Albion, the native name being used
in the latter case instead of that of Britannia
apparently for the sake of distinction. In the
account which is here given we trace a striking advance in the
knowledge of Britain, corresponding to the more intimate ac-
quaintance of the Romans with the island, which was the
natural result of the progress of their arms, and of the numerous
settlements which they had established there1. A marked dis-
tinction, however, in respect of accuracy is to be drawn between
the geography of the coast and that of the interior. The two were
evidently derived from different sources, and those which furnished
the materials for the latter were of a decidedly inferior character.
Accurate ^ we construct a maP fr°m the latitudes and longi-
tudes furnished by Ptolemy, we find that the outline
/• T\ • • i • i •
of Britain which is thus drawn corresponds very
1 PtoL «. 3.