Such was the state, and such the prospect, of literature and science about the middle of the seventh century. There was still one country, however, which had not yet felt the shock of revolution, and from which the light of science was again destined to emanate. Arabia, from time imme morial, had preserved its independence ; and while the rest of the civilized world was hurrying into decay, it continued to enjoy its ancient laws and privileges, and made consi derable progress in many of the useful arts. Even the es tablishment of Nlahometanism, at first so fatal in its opera tion, and which, like every other false system of religion, might been supposed inimical to the progress of science, eventually contributed to the advancement of geo graphical knowledge. The Arabians, possessing a great extent of sea-coast, had from a very early period carried on an extensive trade, which was considerably increased by the conquests of Mahomet and Iris immediate successors. In their eagerness to propagate the doctrines of Islamism, the Arabian caliphs extended their arms to the pillars. of Hercules in the west, and the banks of the Ganges in the cast, and thus geographical discovery was once more asso ciated with its most powerful ally, a spirit of military and commercial adventure. By the middle of the ninth centu ry, the Arabians had formed settlements in different parts of China, and established an intercourse with Madagascar, the Maldives, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, and other oriental islands. Nor was it to geography, considered in a commer cial point of view, that their attention was exclusively di rected. Their generals had orders to procure geographi cal accounts of all the countries which they subdued ; and we find the Caliph Al Mamon, as early as 833, obtaining the measurement of a degree of latitude in the desert of Sandgair, for the purpose of a5certaining the magnitude of the earth.
While the followers of Mahomet were thus extending the boundaries of geography in Asia, a spirit of enterprise seemed for a time to break out in the north of Europe. The earliest account of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, on which any reliance can be placed, is that given by Al fred king of England, towards the end of the 9th century. This account is chiefly founded on the information of cer tain Norman adventurers, who finding the southern parts of Europe already in possession of their own country men, were forced to betake themselves to maritime expe ditions in quest of new settlements. These adventurers gradually extending their researches into the Northern Ocean, discovered Greenland and the Shetland isles, on both of which they planted colonies, about the end of the 10th century. In the year 1001, Biorn, a Norman navigator, while steering round the coast of Greenland in search of his father, was driven by a storm a considerable way to the south-west, where he fell in with land, afterwards called Vinland, and supposed to be part of North America. Sub sequent voyages to the same place tend to confirm this opi nion, particularly that of the Zeni, two noble Venetian bro thers, who, in the account of their adventure in 1390, de scribe a country called by them Estotiland, corresponding in every respect with Vinland, and agreeing in many points also with Newfoundland in North America. From this circumstance it has been inferred, that Columbus, in his anticipations of a western continent, was guided by some thing more decisive than bare conjecture. But whatever truth there may be in this supposition, it seems to be' ge nerally admitted, that the Normans had at a very early pe riod landed on the coast of America. The consequences of the discovery, however, were neither interesting nor im portant. Europe still continued ignorant and inactive, or engaged in pursuits suited only to an age of ignorance and barbarism. Even when her energies were awakened by the crusading mania towards the end of the Ilth century, they promised to be productive of little benefit to the cause of literature and science. The professed object of the cru
sades was in itself chimerical, and it is difficult to say what advantage would have resulted from them, had they been completely successful. But though the immediate effects of these fanatical expeditions arc still somewhat problema tical, there can be no doubt that they were ultimately bene •ficial in a commercial point of view. It was in order to supply the crusaders with stoles and ammunition, that the Genoese were first tempted to cultivate the art of ship building, which for many centuries had been alnu5st totally neglected, and to extend their short coasting expeditions to the most distant extremity of the Mediterranean. The same enterprising people having afterwards succeeded in re-es tablishing the Greeks on the throne of Constantinople, were rewarded with certain exclusive privileges in the way of commerce. By this event, their rivals the Venetians, who had shared with them the advantages of a trade with India nearly by the same route as was formerly known to the Ro mans, were excluded front the navigation of the Black Sea. The monopoly, however, was in this case beneficial to the cause of commerce. The Venetians, by concluding a treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, opened a communication with India by the Red Sea ; and Alexandria soon became the grand depot of commerce, as it had formerly been the re treat of literature and science.
While the consequences of the crusades were thus ap parent in exciting a spirit of enterprise in the commercial world, there were not wanting men who, actuated by mo tives very different from those of avarice, or even curiosity, contributed from time to time to extend the boundaries of geography in the East. These consisted of ecclesiastics, who, animated by a sincere though mistaken zeal for pro moting the doctrines of a corrupted church, undertook long and painful journies into countries which European commerce had not yet reached, and endeavoured, by the more captivating method of persuasion, to propagate opi nions, which the sword had in vain attempted to impose. From the accounts of these missionaries, scanty and unsa tisfactory as they frequently were, a great deal of informa tion was obtained respecting the interior of Asia, particu larly the north of India and Tartary. Among those who chiefly distinguished themselves in these expeditions, the first place is due to Marc-Paul, a noble Venetian of the 13th century. This celebrated traveller set out with his father Nicolas Paul, who had already acquired considerable reputation as a missionary to the East, and some Domini can monks, in 1271, and after 26 years spent in unremitted labour, during which time he not only traversed those countries that were already known, and explored many new regions on the continent of Asia, but also visited Borneo, Java, Sumatra, the Nicobar islands, Ceylon, Madagascar, and other islands in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, till then unknown to Europeans, returned to Italy, where he was soon after made prisoner in a war with the Genoese. It was during his captivity in Genoa, that he wrote the account of his travels ; a work which, though composed in a very irre gular and confused manner, continued long to be the guide of Europeans in all matters relating to oriental countries. Of himself and his writings it has been justly observed, that he was the father of the modern geography of Asia, the Humboldt of the 13th century, though the misfortunes of the latter part of his life, by preventing him from publishing a more accurate and systematic account of his travels, have thrown a shade over the glory of his own name, and robbed science of the advantages which she might otherwise have derived from his labours.