This sums up briefly a few of the more significant original ideas that the Moslems added to twelfth-century geographical knowledge in the West. By way of contrast, it is not out of place briefly to recall what they had actually accomplished in the field of geographical investigation.[364] Moslem trade between the seventh and ninth centuries reached China by sea and by land; southward it tapped the more distant coasts of Africa, including Zanzibar; northward it penetrated Russia;[365] westward Mohammedan navigators saw the unknown and dreaded waters of the Atlantic. Al-Masʿūdī speaks of the presence of Moslem traders in the heart of Europe, in a country to which he gave the name Ad-Dir (probably Bohemia).[366] Arabic literature abounds with descriptions of the lands within these wide borders; of their products and kingdoms and marvels, true and fanciful. But all this was destined to remain a sealed book to the man of the Latin Occident,[367] who as a rule felt little genuine interest in the world beyond his immediate ken. He looked to Arabic books for practical aid in making calendars and star tables and horoscopes; he looked to Arabic translations and commentaries on Aristotle for help toward a better understanding of the dark and hidden meaning in the words of Scripture. The geographical knowledge which he acquired from the Moslems during our period was merely incidental to other interests, a sort of flotsam borne in on the great wave of astrologic and Aristotelian lore sweeping into Europe at this time. CHAPTER IV THE SOURCES FOR THE PERIOD 1100–1250 A. D. _INTRODUCTION_ To gain anything approaching complete understanding of the status of the geographical lore in Western Europe during the Crusading period, one would be obliged to undertake the colossal task of ransacking practically all the available literature of this age. From an examination of selected specimens of various types of document, however, we may arrive at a fairly correct conception of the kind of geographical thought and information that was current. Certainly our view of the subject would not be materially modified by the further accumulation of illustrative examples. We must, none the less, look to a large variety of sources: to the writings of theologians, philosophers, historians, chroniclers, and topographers; to maps, poetry, romances, and even to works of art. These show us what the sedentary man of the Middle Ages could learn of geography through reading and study. Pilgrim narratives, letters, commercial and diplomatic treaties, and many other miscellaneous documents throw light upon the actual extent of travel during this century and a half.