B BOOK VI ASING my belief upon serious arguments, I believe, pass without other islands being discovered, either under the equator on one side or the other of that line; just as the Moluccas and other islands described in my preceding works were discovered. For if it is a fact that the sun's rays, falling upon a favourable soil well disposed to receive the gifts of Heaven, impart their aromatic flavour to the trees in countries under the equator; and if, moreover, other neighbouring islands possess rich auriferous sands, who will venture to accuse bounteous nature of such forgetfulness as to affirm that in the small area occupied by the Moluccas (corresponding to the little finger of a giant when compared with the immensity of the whole globe) she has exhausted her forces, and that from her womb she could only put forth so small a child? I will explain the reasons I have myself evolved and presented to my colleagues of the India Council, and I have enclosed a copy to make my meaning clear. It seems to me that I have already submitted these reasons to Pope Adrian, but I do not remember clearly, for I am nearly seventy years old, and my memory has been dulled with age and cares; moreover, the repetition of these arguments does not usually displease, although they may already have been seen elsewhere, and in a measure outside their proper connection. During ten years, I enjoyed Roman life under the pontificates of Sixtus IV. and Innocent VIII., either in the city or in its environs. When news came of the wars against the Moors of Granada I betook myself to Spain, and upon leaving Rome I travelled through the rest of Italy, passing through the part of France lying south of the Alps and bathed by our sea. During the thirty-seven years I have lived in Spain, where the flattering promises and honourable reception and intimacy of Ferdinand and Isabella have kept me, I have travelled throughout the entire country. You may ask, Most Illustrious Prince, what good purpose these oratorical preliminaries thus dragged in are supposed to serve? In travelling throughout Spain I found in some places oak forests, in others pine forests, separated by mountains or by plains, by rivers or by swamps. After which I beheld vast tracts occupied with other kinds of trees, growing wild, and I finally observed forests of oaks and pines resembling the former; rivers, lakes and plains similar to the first mentioned. The character of the soil was alone responsible for this variety. In the same way, Most Illustrious Prince, both on this and the other side of the equator, from the Tropic of Cancer to that of the Capricorn (that is to say, within the space which the majority of philosophers have wrongly considered to be consumed by the sun's rays, falling directly upon it, and therefore deserted) extend vast stretches of land and of sea; in fact, the greater part of the terrestrial sphere, embracing in its greatest length the entire universe, lies there. This equatorial circle is the largest of all terrestrial circles. Consequently, if within the small extent of land I have mentioned, the productive action of nature is such that within a small portion of the same region, and in another enjoying the same climate, the same products are found, who will doubt that in the case of spices, heavenly power has enabled other islands besides the Moluccas and neighbouring islands to grow the same spices-for example, countries situated under the equator and those which extend directly to the north or to the south of that equatorial line? One of my colleagues in the council shrugged his shoulders. He wished to appear more wise by refuting my arguments, saying: "If they exist, as you say, either we or some other nation would know them." This objection, proceeding from ignorance of the ancients, especially of philosophy, and which only rests upon defective experience, I have easily refuted, earning the approbation of the Grand Chancellor who is such a devoted friend of Your Excellency, and of my other associates. I answered: "We need not be astonished that the Moluccas and neighbouring islands are known, while other countries are not. The Moluccas form in some wise part of trans-Gangetic India, and may be compared to suburbs of China, of the great Gulf of Cattigara, and other well-known countries. They are not very distant from the Persian Gulf and Arabia, mistakenly called Arabia Felix. Little by little these foreigners have known them, and from the date of Rome's luxury they have, so to say, glided into our ken, not without serious consequences to us; for characters soften, men become effeminate, virtue weakens, and people are seduced by these voluptuous odours, perfumes, and spices. As for the other unknown islands, the reasons why they have not been heretofore discovered may be easily demonstrated. They are neighbours of these continents, which by the design of Divine Providence have remained hidden until our epoch." Reflecting thus that if these lands are like palaces of the universe, is it astonishing that as long as the palaces were undiscovered, these neighbouring islands corresponding to the courts and ante-chambers should have remained unexplored? For we have only found the palaces by discovering these immensities of space, so vast that they exceed three times the extent of Europe. And we only reckon from the extremity of the continent discovered in our times, and called Cape San Augustin, as far as the Panuco River, situated about sixty leagues distant from the great lake city of Temistitan. I have more fully demonstrated this. We may rest assured, therefore, that the other parts of the palace will be discovered. Perhaps we are not far from the realisation of our desires. In fact, we hope that Sebastian Cabot, the discoverer of the country of Baccalaos, will return more quickly and under better auspices than the Victory, the only one out of five vessels to return to Spain with a cargo of cloves, after encircling the world. About the calends of September the India Council, in response to his solicitation authorised him to undertake the voyage of exploration. I have told this story in its proper place. Cabot had asked from the imperial treasury the equipment of a fleet of four ships, completely furnished and provided with cannon. He said he had found partners at Hispalis, -otherwise called Seville,-a great port whence ships sail for India. Animated by the hope of large profits, his partners had themselves proposed to furnish him with the sum of ten thousand ducats for the expenses of the fleet; and at the ides of September we sent Cabot back so that he might settle his business with these men, each of whom will have a proportionate part of the profit if, as it is hoped, the undertaking succeeds. It remains for me, Most Illustrious Prince, to show by some reasonable arguments why I am right in saying that Cabot should come back more quickly than did the Victory, and why we believe that the expedition will be fortunate; otherwise you may accuse me of presumption for indulging in prophecy. Cabot should start next August, in 1525. His departure will not take place sooner, because he cannot provide what is required for such a great undertaking before that date, nor would the season be propitious for sailing before that epoch. For he must go towards the equator when our summer draws to its close and the days diminish in length. He must, in fact, not only cross the Tropic of Cancer and the equator, but he must follow a direct line across the Tropic of Capricorn to the fifty-fourth degree towards the antarctic pole, where the Strait of Magellan opens. The opening of this route cost dear, and caused the deaths of many people. Cabot will not have to creep from coast to coast, nor stop, nor double back on his track, as Magellan had to do, who for three years endured cruel fatigues and bitter calamities during his voyage. He lost four out of five ships of his squadron and most of his companions, and he himself perished. I have dilated on this point in the description of the voyage around the world, which I dedicated to Pope Adrian. Cabot will, therefore, take less time on his voyage, since the regions he will traverse and which were so long unknown, are now very well known. I must, however, sum up the arguments which enable me to hope that Cabot will start under better auspices and end more happily. At the period when northern peoples have the shortest days, Cabot will have the longest. He will thus easily follow the coasts until after passing the tortuous Strait of Magellan, near the constellation of Argo. He will guide the prows of his ships to the right behind the new continent, of which I have spoken so fully in my first Decades addressed to your uncle, Ascanio, and to the Popes Leo and Adrian. He will again cross the Tropic of Capricorn and return to the equator. In the course of this voyage he will discover numberless islands scattered through the immensity of the ocean. Learn now why we hope that Cabot will collect great wealth. After losing many men, Magellan's vessels sailed through the strait they sought, and passed by all the islands they discovered right and left as well as those they beheld in the distance, without stopping. Their one VOL. 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