... In that Kingdom, the Art of Cartography achieved such Perfection that a Map of a single Province occupied a whole City, and a Map of the Kingdom, a whole Province. With time, those Disproportionate Maps did not satisfy and the Schools of Cartography erected a Map of the Kingdom that was the Size of the Kingdom and coincided with it point by point. Less Addicted to the Study of Cartography, the Following Generations understood that the extended Map was Useless and not without Impiety turned it over to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the Orient, torn Ruins of the Map perdure, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in the whole Country there is no other relic of the Geographical Disciplines.
SUÁREZ MIRANDA, Journeys of Prudent Gentlemen
Book Four, Chapter XLV, Lérida, 1658.
by Jorge Luis Borges, The Maker, 1960
translated by AE
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