Stories of Discovery Told by Discoverers Author:Edward Everett Hale General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1883 Original Publisher: Roberts Brothers Subjects: Discoveries in geography Discoveries (in geography) Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of thi... more »s book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: MAGALHAENS AND THE PACIFIC. BEDFORD had drawn out quite a large map of the world, on Mercator's projection. It had America on the east and Europe on the west, with the Pacific Ocean between them. Bedford said he thought this would clear his head. The maps generally put the Atlantic in the middle. But Bedford said he should try it the other way. " Perhaps," said Uncle Fritz, " the Pacific is to be the centre of the civilization of the future. The Mediterranean Sea has long since ceased to be the sea of the 'middle of the world,' though that is what its name means. The Atlantic has been the Middle-of-the-World Sea for three centuries." Bedford was pleased at Uncle Fritz's interest in his map, and so he asked why the Pacific Ocean should not be the next middle of the world. " I do not know but it will be," said Uncle Fritz. " It is a subject on which I have thought a great deal. Here is this great energetic Australia, a country of large men and great possibilities; here is Chili, California, and Oregon; and here is this very efficient Japan, a country which has clone many things in the last forty years which were never done before. "On the other hand, China is badly behind, with a very poor race of men, who have a very poor language. " Wise men will tell you that nothing can be done in China, with so poor a language. " And you must observe, on the map, that on the American side the large rivers flow into the Atlantic. " Now, though the Pacific Ocean is very large, it is men who win, not space. If y...« less