Note 1 — Chapter I
Reading edition
: For an account of Ceylon as it is figured in the Mappe-mondes of the Middle Ages, see the Essai of the VICOMTE DE SANTAREM, Sur la Cosmographie et Cartographie, tom. iii. p. 335, &c.
2: MARCO POLO, p. 2, c. 148. A later authority than Marco Polo, PORCACCHI, in his Isolario, or "Description of the most celebrated Islands in the World," which was published at Venice in A.D. 1576, laments his inability even at that time to obtain any authentic information as to the boundaries and dimensions of Ceylon; and, relying on the representations of the Moors, who then carried on an active trade around its coasts, he describes it as lying under the equinoctial line, and possessing a circuit of 2100 miles. "Ella gira di circuito, secondo il calcole fatto da Mori, che modernamente l'hanno nauigato d'ogn'intorno due mila et cento miglia et corre mæstro e sirocco; et per il mezo d'essa passa la linea equinottiale et è el principio del primo clima al terzo paralello."—L'Isole piu Famose del Monde, descritte da THOMASO PORCACCHI, lib. iii. p. 30.