I'm a little late in the game on this one, but in the earlier images, the only thing indicating where the land was to me was the mountain placement; otherwise I would have swapped them.

After you added the woodcut, that completely reversed, though, so now I see the seas as seas, despite the gradient still being in the same place. Very interesting..

I think I also prefer the shaded mountains in the South.

The symbols in the latest map are pretty amazing, as well. Are these ones you made, yourself? I especially like the texture-symbol used for the marshes; very nice.

-asp