Pix Of The Day: Special Nature Of Extremities
CREDIT: © Michael S. Yamashita /NationalGeographic.com
WHERE: Hainan, China. WHAT: China's southernmost point.
MAP: Hainan, China. Thumbnail click pops-up larger image on source page.

Manitou was the Algonquian Native American spirit of place, a supernatural power that permeates the world, possessed in varying degrees by both spiritual and human beings. Persons invested, or with an awareness, of such powers, 'fey' is the word they use in Scotland, will have experienced the sensation of the presence of manitou in many places. As a working knowledge of the geographical relationships between places began to develop, especially through the work of early cartographers, then some places became endowed with a sense of such a special nature, simply because of their relationship to other places.

The Viking Ultima Thule, and the Roman Cape Finisterre, come to mind as examples. When Medieval monks in northern England expanded their domains, they called the area Furness (a contraction of Further Ness). Land's End and Lizard Point, in the English county of Cornwall, have been featured here in past issues.

We will be featuring a variety of geographical extremities in forthcoming items. Today's picture shows the southernmost tip of China, on the island of Hainan, traditionally considered the end of the civilized world. Accessorizing a yellow chiffon outfit with white heels and a mauve umbrella does seem to prove the point. For a brief moment we thought that might even be our own dear Queen, then we saw that without a hat that could not be the case.

On a serious note, we will be delighted if someone is able to inform us on the meaning of the inscription on the rock. We thought perhaps it might be the Chinese characters for 'Land's End', if this is correct, we thought that would make a nice photographic pairing with the well known English signpost equivalent.

[top ] posted 00:01GMT - item permalink [daily] [monthly] archive