precisely resembles the constellation in the zodiac at the head of this volume, and though the lower part of this sign exhibits the whole body of a bull for of a horse, which last its prototype is little less like) in the Egyptian zodiac and on other occasions, yet I conceive that it was not merely owing to the accident of this part of the globe, on which the Vatican zodiac is engraved, resting upon the shoulders of Atlas its supporter, as mentioned in a note on the next sign; but that it was from design, that no more of the bull is drawn on that globe than what is above pointed out; no more of a resemblance to the shape of a bull being in fact to be found in that sea. In respect of the human arms of the figure and the bow and arrow with which they are furnished, the prototypes of the former are to be seen in the lower part of Italy and in Malta, while the bow is formed by the island of Sicily, and the arrows by the volcano of Etna; it being observable that this sign is often represented as shooting backwards, in conformity to which the stones and other matter thrown from that volcano, fall back again to the ground, from whence they are cast. The reader may possibly incline to give a larger range to the bow, so as to include in its line the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and then take in the volcanoes in the Lipari Isles, and that of Vesuvius, as additional

arrows; this, when the figure is not considered, or drawn as shooting backwards, would seem to be necessary. Capricornus.

There has hitherto been little

reference to the vast continent of Africa, but this sign, I apprehend, has an especial relation to it; for its eastern and southern outlines, together with the great isle of Madagascar, exhibit the likeness of a goat's head; and by the head alone of that animal it should seem that the sign ought to be marked. If the east side of Africa be placed uppermost, such a head may be seen facing the south: the eye at lake Maravi; the left horn formed by the isle of Madagascar, the right by the country of Ajan, towards the mouth of the Arabian gulf; and the neck extending downwards to the coast of Guinea, the whole as drawn in

Fig. 159.

and here again am I inclined to think it not to be the effect of the accident before mentioned,* but of design, that no more than the head of the goat is exhibited in the zodiac in the Frontispiece, since no more is in fact apparent in the prototype; though doubtless in the Egyptian zodiac and on most other occasions, this sign is made up of a compound of such a head united to the fore-fins and tail of an amphibious fish, by which an allusion would seem to be intended to the extensive deserts of sand and vast marshes of the interior of Africa. It remains only to be observed that as the sun comes to the winter tropic in this sign, so, the line of that tropic will be seen to cross the goats' head in the map; and as Africa runs out into a horn (cornu) at its southern extremity, and as the line in question crosses the country of the Caffres, those two circumstances together may have contributed to give the name of Capricorn to this sign.

Aquarius. If it should be thought that so im

*

Only the head of Capricorn appears here; all the other parts of him are hid by the Farnese globe's This is an resting, in that part, on Atlas's shoulders. inconvenience that was not to be avoided; it must rest somewhere; and something must be lost by that means.Spence's Polymetis, 172.

mense a tract of country as the continent of Ame rica would have been likely to be brought more into view than it has hitherto been, in an arrangement proceeding on the principles above supposed, so natural an expectation will not be disappointed, in tracing the prototype of this next sign, which exhibits the figure of a young man, drawn sometimes in the act of pouring out water from two vessels, and sometimes only from one. This sign (when considered as bearing one water vessel only) is to be ascribed to the largest river in the world, the Plate, which vast weαnos TOTμos might well merit so much notice as to constitute one of the twelve signs; but as in respect of its bearing two water vessels, a larger portion of the continent of South America must be supposed to be taken in, so as to comprize the river Amazon as constituting the second vessel. In respect of the first case, if the map be turned upside down and inspected backwards (and it is observable that the sign in the frontispiece has his back turned to us) there may be seen in the country situate at the mouth of the River Plate the likeness of a young man, as copied in

Fig. 160

pouring out water from an urn over his head; his left hand being at the Lake de los Patos; his eye looking eastward at, Lake Merin; the urn formed by the embouchure of the river; and his right hand by the tract of country situate where the Parana coming from Lake Xaraye falls into the Plate, which tract is called Charruas; and in those names of Xaraye and Charruas it is impossible not to perceive the prototype of that of the sign itself Aquarius. The following lines concerning Aquarius copied from Spence's Polymetis, serve further to fix the prototype for him which is above assigned.