ANTILLIA 69
The first appearance of that island thus far reported, as we
have seen in the preceding chapter, is on the map of Dalorto 8
(dated 1325; Fig. 4) as a disc of land well at sea, westward from
Hibernian Munster; but the Catalan map of I375 3 (Fig. 5) and
at least one other 4 turn the disc into a ring surrounding a body
of water which is studded with small islands apparently nine
in the Catalan map photographically reproduced by Norden-
skiold, though Dr. Kretschmer draws seven on the other. These
miniature islands have sometimes been thought 6 to represent the
seven cities of the old legend; but islets are not cities, and there
seems no reason why each city should require an islet. However,
the coincidence of number, exact or approximate, is suggestive.
ANTILLIA
Antillia (variously spelled) was a home for the elusive cities
more favored than Brazil by cartography and tradition. In
1474 Toscanelli, a cosmographer of Florence, being consulted
by Christopher Columbus as to the prospects of a westward
voyage, sent him a copy of a letter which he had written to a
friend in the service of the King of Portugal. Its authenticity
has been questioned, but it is still believed in by the majority of
inquirers and may be accepted provisionally. In it occurs this
passage:
From the island Antilia, which you call the seven cities, and whereof
you have some knowledge, to the most noble island of Cipango [Japan],
are ten spaces, which make 2,500 miles. 6
- Alberto Magnaghi: La carta nautica costruita nel 1325 da Angelino Dalorto,
with facsimile, Florence, 1898 (published on the occasion of the Third Italian Geo- graphical Congress). Cf. also: idem: II mappamondo del genovese Angellinus de Dalorto (1325): Contributo alia storia della cartografia mediovale, Atti del Terzo Congr. Geogr. Italiano, tenuto in Firenze dal 12 al 17 Aprile, i8g8, Florence, 1899, Vol. 2, pp. 506-543; and idem: Angellinus de Dalorco (sic), cartografo italiano della primametadelsecoloXIV, Riv.Geogr. ltaliana,Vo.4, 1897, pp. 282-294 and 36 1-369. 3 A. E. Nordenskiold : Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of Charts and Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm, 1897, PL 2. 4 Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerika's in ihrer Bedeutung fiir die Geschichte des Weltbildes, 2 vols. (text and atlas), Berlin, 1892; reference in atlas, PI. 4, map 8. E. g. by Nordenskiold, op. cit., p. 164. Ferdinand Columbus: The History of the Life and Actions of Adm. Christopher Columbus, and of His Discovery of the West-Indies, Call'd the New World, Now
