Book IV chapter 18

On the variation in the Mediterranean¹ Sea.

S icilian and Italian sailors think that in the Sicilian Sea and toward the east up to the meridian² of the Peloponnesus (as Franciscus Maurolycus relates) the magnetick needle "græcizes," that is, turns from the pole toward what is called the greek wind or Boreas; that on the shore of the Peloponnesus it looks toward the true pole; but that when they have proceeded further east, then it "mistralizes," because it tends from the pole toward the mistral or north-west wind: which agrees with our rule for the variation. For as the Mediterranean Sea is extended toward the west from that meridian, so on the side toward the east the Mediterranean Sea lies open as far as Palestine; as toward North and East lie open the whole Archipelago and the neighbouring Black Sea. From the Peloponnesus toward the north pole the meridian passes through the largest and most elevated regions of all Europe; through Achaia, Macedonia, Hungary, Transylvania, Lithuania, Novogardia, Corelia and Biarmia.

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。