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V.

THE AMBARKANTA.

This very short work, of cardinal interest (and not least in the
associated maps), is entitled at the beginning of the text 'Of the
Fashion of the World', on a title-page loose from but obviously
belonging with the work is written:

Ambarkanta.

The Shape of the World.

Rumil.

together with the word Ambarkanta in tengwar. This is the first
appearance of Rumil since the Lost Tales; but he is not men-
tioned in the text itself.
That the Ambarkanta is later than the Quenta (perhaps by
several years) cannot be doubted. The reappearance of the
name Utumna is an advance on Q, where also the term
'Middle-earth' does not appear; Eruman is (aberrantly) the
name in Q of the land where Men awoke (pp. 119, 205),
whereas in the Ambarkanta its name is for the first time
Hildorien; and there are several cases where the Ambarkanta
has names and details that are only found in Q by emendation
(for example, Elvenhome p. 289, but Bay of Faerie > Bay of
Elvenhome in Q (II), p. 186 note 12).
The text consists of six pages of fine manuscript in ink, with
very little emendation; I give the final forms throughout, with
all rejected readings in the notes that follow the text. Closely
associated with the work and here reproduced from the origi-
nals are three diagrams of the World, here numbered I, II, and
III, and two maps, numbered IV and V (see insert). On the
pages facing these reproductions I note changes made to



names. The text begins with a list of cosmographical words,
with explanations; this I give on pp. 294 - 6.

OF THE FASHION OF THE WORLD.

About all the World are the Ilurambar, or Walls of the
World. They are as ice and glass and steel, being above all
imagination of the Children of Earth cold, transparent, and
hard. They cannot be seen, nor can they be passed, save by
the Door of Night.
Within these walls the Earth is globed: above, below, and
upon all sides is Vaiya, the Enfolding Ocean. But this is