The Coast Of Coromandel,
As Well As The Interior, Was Unknown To Them.
On the west or Malabar coast,
their information was full and accurate; but it terminated at Cape Comorin.
While part of the forces of the Caliph Walid were employed in the conquest
of Spain, another part succeeded in reducing Multan and Lahore; and the
Arabian geographers, always ready to take advantage of the success of their
arms, to promote geographical knowledge, describe their new eastern
conquests, and the countries which bordered on them, in the most glowing
language. The valley of Cashmere, in particular, affords ample matter for
their panegyrics. The towns of Guzerat, Cambay, and Narwhorra are
described: in the last resided the most powerful king of India; his kingdom
extended from Guzerat and Concan to the Ganges. The city of Benares,
celebrated as a school of Indian philosophy, and the almost impregnable
fortress of Gevatior, are mentioned by them, as well as a colony of Jews in
Cochin, and the Maldive islands: these they frequented to obtain cowries,
which then, as now, were used as money.
It is supposed that the isle of Sumatra is described by them under the name
of Lumery; for the peculiar productions are the same, and Sumatra was known
under the name of Lambry in the time of Marc Paul, and Mandeville. Java is
evidently meant by Al D'Javah: it is represented as rich in spices, but
subject to volcanic eruptions; circumstances by which it is yet
distinguished. A short period before the Portuguese reached these seas,
Arabian colonists established themselves at Ternate and some of the other
spice islands; and their language, religious opinions, and customs, may
clearly be traced in the Philippine islands.
From the geographical discoveries, the travels by sea and land, and the
commercial enterprize of the Arabians, we pass to those of the
Scandinavians; under that appellation, including not only the
Scandinavians, properly so called, who inhabited the shores of the Baltic
and the coasts of Norway, but also those people who dwelt on the northern
shores of the German Ocean; for they were of the same origin as the Baltic
nations, and resembled them in manners and pursuits.
By an inspection of the map it will appear, that all these tribes were
situated nearly as favorably for maritime enterprize as the nations which
inhabited the shores of the Mediterranean; and though their earliest
expeditions by sea were not stimulated by the same cause, commercial
pursuits, yet they arose from causes equally efficient. While the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean were blessed with a fertile soil and a mild
climate, those on the Baltic were comparatively barren and ungenial; their
inhabitants, therefore, induced by their situation to attend to maritime
affairs, were further led to employ their skill and power by sea, in
endeavouring to establish themselves in more favored countries, or, at
least, to draw from them by plunder, what they could not obtain in their
own.
We have already mentioned the maritime expeditions of the Saxons, which
struck terror into the Romans, during the decline of their empire. The
other Scandinavian nations were acted on by the same causes and motives.
Neglecting the peaceful art of agriculture, inured to the sea from their
earliest years, and the profession and practice of piracy being regarded as
actually honourable by them, it is no wonder that their whole lives were
spent in planning or executing maritime expeditions. Their internal wars
also, by depriving many of their power or their property, compelled them to
seek abroad that which they had lost at home. No sooner had a prince
reached his eighteenth year, than he was entrusted by his father with a
fleet; and by means of it he was ordered and expected to add to his glory
and his wealth, by plunder and victory. Lands were divided into certain
portions, and from each portion a certain number of ships were to be fully
equipped for sea. Their vessels, as well as themselves, were admirably
adapted to the grand object of their lives; the former were well supplied
with stones, arrows, and strong ropes, with which they overset small
vessels, and with grappling irons to board them; and every individual was
skilful in swimming. Each band possessed its own ports, magazines, &c.
Their ships were at first small, being only a kind of twelve-oared barks;
they were afterwards so much enlarged, that they were capable of containing
100 or 120 men.
It is not our intention to notice the piratical expeditions of
Scandinavians, except so far as they tended to discovery, or commerce, or
were productive of permanent effects. Among the first countries to which
they directed themselves, and where they settled permanently, were England
and Ireland; the result of their settlement in England was the
establishment of the Anglo-Saxon dominion power in that kingdom; the result
of their expeditions to Ireland was their settlement on its eastern coasts.
In the middle of the ninth century, the native Irish had been driven by
them into the central and western parts of the country, while the
Scandinavian conquerors, under the appellation of Ostmen, or Eastmen,
possessed of all the maritime cities, carried on an extensive and lucrative
commerce, not only with their native land, but also with other places in
the west of Europe. Their settlements on the Shetland, Orkney, and western
islands of Scotland, are only mentioned, because in these last the
Scandinavians seem to have established and encouraged manufactures, the
forerunner and support of commerce; for towards the end of the ninth
century, the drapery of the Suderyans, (for so the inhabitants were called,
as their country lay to the south of Shetland and Orkney,) was much
celebrated and sought after.
About this period the Scandinavian nations began to mingle commerce and
discovery with their piratical expeditions. Alfred, king of England,
obliged to attend to maritime affairs, to defend his territories from the
Danes, turned his ardent and penetrating mind to every thing connected with
this important subject.
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