CHAPTER XI.--The First Mention of the Loadstone in History--Its Early

Names--The First Mention of its Directive Power--A Poem upon the Compass Six Hundred Years Old--Friar Bacon's Magnet--The Loadstone in Arabia--An Eye-Witness of its Efficiency in the Syrian Waters in the Year 1240--The Magnet in China--Early Mention of it in Chinese Works--The Variation noticed in the Twelfth Century--Other Discoveries made by the Chinese--Modern Errors--Flavio Gioia--The Arms of Amalfi--All Records lost of the First Voyage made with the Compass by a European Ship 113

SECTION III.

FROM THE APPLICATION OF THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE TO EUROPEAN NAVIGATION TO THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD UNDER MAGELLAN: 1300-1519.