regards maps as reliable representations of geographic knowledge, so much so that he stakes the veracity of his literary work on them. Their authority is equal to that of firsthand observation. We may recall that it was a prime concern of Pei Xiu (223-71) to make maps that conformed to observed reality, and Zuo Si happens to be roughly contemporaneous with Pei. A similar belief in the verisimilitude of maps is perhaps expressed by Tao Qian (365-427) in two lines from the first of his series of poems on reading the Shanhai jing (Classic of mountains and seas). In these lines, Tao describes the Shanhai jing, a geographic work, as containing illustrations of some kind: "I glance over the pictures [maps?] of mountains and seas. / In the space of a nod, I completely [comprehend] the universe."19 The graph translated as "pictures," tu, can also mean "maps," but the context of the poem does not make clear whether maps are specified. What is clear is that Tao Qian takes for granted the verisimilitude of the illustrations, their correspondence to reality. In other words, they have mimetic (in a sense closer to Aristotelian as opposed to Platonic usage) and consequently cognitive value. Although much of the material in the Shanhai jing is considered mythical, Tao clearly does not treat it as such. He regards the illustrations in the book as providing knowledge of the universe by their ability to convey reality. From the text of the Shanhai jing, it is not difficult to divine why Tao might have been impressed by the work. The Shanhai jing, the present text of which was first edited by Liu Xin (ca. 50 B.C.-A.D. 23), describes the hydrography, minerals, fauna, and flora of various mountain systems. The geographic information contained in the text may have served as glosses to illustrations, or perhaps maps.20 These illustrations do not survive; whatever illustrations extant editions may contain are renditions of artists after the Song (960-1279). Nevertheless, as scholars since the Song have observed, some passages in the book read much like the descriptive notes found on a map, or like captions pointing to items in an illustration.21 The following excerpt-besides exemplifying the kind of mineralogical, botanical, and zoological information to be found in the Shanhai jing-reads as if one were moving eastward across a map or illustration drawn on a scroll:[The head of the Que mountain range] overlooks the western sea. It produces much cinnamon and much gold and jade. There is a plant there whose shape resembles scallions and that has blue blossoms. Its name is zhuyu, and if one eats it, one will not starve.... And 300 Ii to the east is the mountain called Tangting, which has many yan-fruit trees, many white gibbons, much crystal, and much gold. Another 380