Text, scholarly version, translated from the 1590 Latin 4 Add., 1591 German 4 Add., 1592 Latin, 1595 Latin, 1601 Latin, 1602 German, 1602 Spanish, 1603 Latin, 1606 English, 1608/1612 Italian, 1609/1612/1641 Spanish and 1609/1612 Latin edition:
12.1. {1590L4Add{The peaceful {1606E only{or the South}1606E only} Sea, or {1606E only{by the Spaniards called MAR}1606E only} DEL ZVR.
12.2. Although this sea was unknown to the ancients, it was not without a name. For Plinius calls it Eoum {1608/1612I only{which is Greek}1608/1612I only}, and Orosius [calls it] Orientale, the East sea. Ptolemĉus incorrectly calls it Sinum Magnum, the great bay, whereas he should have called it Mare Magnum, the Great Sea. For of all the seas in the world, this is the largest and the widest. In Paulus Venetus {1608/1612I instead{Marco Polo from Venice}1608/1612I instead} it has been described under the name Mare Cin, {1606E only{(that is, as I interpret the Nubian Arabs, Bahci'Itzni vel alkini, Mare Sinarum, The Sea of China),}1606E only} and in Haithon the Armenian (whom we elsewhere more truthfully call Antonius Curchinus) by the name of Mare Cathay. Therefore, it might well have been mentioned by the ancient and medieval writers, but it was never fully known and discovered until Ferdinando Magellan of Portugal explored it. It was seen indeed, and as it were greeted in the year 1513 by Vasco Nunnez, from the coast of Peru.
12.3. But Magellan, in the year {1606E only{of our salutation}1606E only} 1520, having found and passed the straights named after him, (which name has been retained ever since, as every common mariner calls it the strait of Magellan) with a heroic and Herculian courage entered this sea of which it is uncertain whether any ship before him had ever sailed it. Intending a voyage to the isles of the Moluccas, which the Portuguese usually reached by sailing from the West to the East, and aiming to make a shortcut by sailing from the East to the West, he finally reached this destination via this sea.
12.4. On one of its islands, {not in 1591G4Add & 1602G{{called Machian}not in 1591G4Add & 1602G} he was killed in a skirmish and died. The course of his voyage was as follows: departing from Hispala {1602S, 1608/1612I and 1609/1612/1641S instead{Sevilla}1602S, 1608/1612I and 1609/1612/1641S instead} {1591G4Add & 1602G{a city in Spain}1591G4Add & 1602G only} with five ships, including one of his own, called in good foreknowledge Victoria [Victory], he first came to the Fortunate or Canary-isles, then to the Gorgones or Hesperides, now termed the isles of Cap Verde, and from there to the Straits just mentioned. After he had found these and passed through them, he entered into this sea.
12.5. He sailed with a good and fortunate wind for 40 days altogether, seeing nothing but sea everywhere, and sea again. When he crossed the tropic of Capricorn {1606E instead{South tropic}1606E instead}, he discovered two small barren and uninhabited islands. In spite of this, because they found it was a good fishing area there, they stayed for two days and then left, calling these islands the Unfortunate Isles. They are now known by the name Tuberones and the Isles of St. Peter. He then continued his voyage, and in the course of 3 months and 20 days, after having covered over this vast ocean no less than 24000 leagues [sea miles] {1591G4Add & 1602G instead{4000 miles}1591G4Add & 1602G instead}{1606E instead{2400 leagues}1606E instead}, he finally reached the equinoctial, and from there the desired Moluccos.
12.6. And because (as we have said) he mostly had a fortunate and untempestuous wind, he named this Mare Pacificum or the Peaceful Sea, now by common sailors called the South Sea, or Mar del Zur. Those who have written about the New World say that the sea around the Unfortunate Isles is exceedingly deep, and that near the coast of Peru it yields pearls.
12.7. There are 7440 {1606E instead{7449}1606E instead} islands in it, so that some in our times have appropriately called the Western part of this sea archipelago or sea densely covered with islands. This sea, like the Egean sea {1591G4Add & 1602G only{opposite Greece towards Asia}1591G4Add & 1602G only} (which is covered with the Cyclades, the Sporades and many other islands, and is called Archipelago in Italian) is full of islands.
12.8. Francis Vlloa and Antonius Pigafetta {1608/1612I only{who sailed with Magellan}1608/1612I only} report that at the bottom of the sea weeds grow 14 or 15 fathoms high in the water, and rise above the water to a height of another 4 or 5 fathoms. Sometimes it seems that you are not sailing through the sea but rather through green meadows.
12.9. {1601L, 1603L, 1606E & 1609/1612L, just before paragraph 10; not in 1602G & 1606E{This is also reported by Iornandes at the beginning of his Getish {1608/1612I only{or Gothic}1608/1612I only} history, where he writes that no one could sail the ocean since it was unpassable because of weeds and turf, of which the cause is unknown}1601L, 1603L, 1606E & 1609/1612L just before paragraph 10}. Plinius and Antigonus of Megasthenes have left records that all over the Eastern ocean there are plenty of trees}not in 1602G & 1608/1612I}. The position Aristoteles takes in his book De Admirandis [About admirable things] &c. does not disagree with this, where he writes about the Phnicians {1591G4Add & 1602G only{of Syria}1591G4Add & 1602G only} who inhabited Gadyra {1602S & 1609/1612/1641S have instead{Isla de Cales Malis}1602S & 1609/1612/1641S instead} [Cadiz], he tells that they sailed for a while outside the pillars of Hercules [Gibraltar], and arrived at certain regions which abounded with weeds and slime, covered by the tides of the sea. {1595L, not in 1602G{And that the sea near Portugal is supposed to have oaks full of acorns is reported by Polybius in Athenĉus' book 7}1595L}.
12.10. {1601L, not in 1602G{The same authors confirm on the credit of Pythagoras}not in 1602G} {not in 1606E{book four}not in 1606E} that there are bay trees growing in the Red sea}1601L, not in 1602G}. {1595L, not in 1602G{To these testimonies we may add those of Theophrastus in his 4th book on the History of Plants, chapter 7, 8 and 9, and the testimony of Ĉlianus, book 13, De Animalibus [about animals] chapter 3, {1595L, not in 1602G & 1606E{& Arrianus in his De Indicis, [About the Indies]}1595L, not in 1602G & 1606E} also Strabo, Book 16 and Plinius, Book 2, chapter 103, Book 6, chapter 22, and Book 13, chapter 25, and in Plutarchus in his Physical Investigations concerning the Face on the Moon}1595L, not in 1602G}.
12.11. All these are in some form confirmed in Platoes Fables or Histories in his Timĉus concerning the island Atlantis. He confirms that the sea there is unnavigable because of slime remaining after the island went under. But concerning the ship called La Victoria, please note the following: quite rightly it has been said that names often resemble the things they refer to. This becomes manifest for this ship with its lucky name, because it was the first ship ever that on its very first voyage in many hundreds of years carried away the victory of sailing all the way over the main ocean.
12.12. It departed from Spain, came via the Strait of Magellan to the Moluccan Islands, from there it rounded the Cape of Good Hope and returned to where it started. Thus it was the first of all ships in all times that ever went around the whole earth. The same ship departed from Spain for a second voyage as far as St. Domingo and back home again.
12.13. From there a third voyage was undertaken, but while trying the way back, the ship was lost and it was never known what became of it. In antiquity it would have been claimed that it went up into the skies, to be placed among stellar constellations, like another Argo. Nor had this prophetic verse of the peerless poet {1591G4Add & 1602G only{Vergilius}1591G4Add & 1602G only} [Eclogs, 4.34, Aeneas Bk. 2] been unfittingly recommended: Then comes another Tiphys, another ship Argo.
12.14. Let Plinius now cease to marvel that out of a small hemp seed should grow that which it was forced to carry up and down the globe of [his] earth. We have, in our age, seen the very same thing, namely that this world of ours, much greater than his, has been circumnavigated.
12.15. Our world, I say {1591G4Add & 1602G only{so that our beloved reader will better understand, I refer to the first ancient map [Ort186, Aevi Veteris, World Map of the Ancients] so that he can see the difference}1591G4Add & 1602G only which end here}. For a more perfect understanding of it, compare the first map of our Theatre [Ort3, the World] {not in 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S{with the first of our Parergon, or accessory work, [Ort186, the Ancient World]}not in 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S} and you shall see the difference}1591G4Add ends here}.
12.16. And here, I hope, I shall add certain details, not commonly known, but not wrongly or foolishly, concerning the first discovery of the New World, which, by all our modern writers is deservedly ascribed to Christopher Columbus.
12.17. For in the year 1492, he was the first man that laid it open and made it known, and communicated its use and benefits to the Christian world. I find that the Northern part of America (which lies closest to Europe and to some European islands, namely Greenland, Iceland, and Friesland, also called Estotiland) was long before that discovered by certain fishermen of the isle of Friesland, driven to that coast by a storm. And later, around the year 1390, it was revisited once more by Antonius Zeno, a gentleman of Venice. This is reported on the authority of Zichmus, then king of the island of Friesland just mentioned, a king who at that time was very brave and famous all over that sea for his wars and victories. Concerning this expedition of his, certain Eclogs or excerpts drawn up in Italian by Franciscus Marcolinus on the basis of the letters of Nicolaus and Antonius Zeno, noblemen from Venice who lived in these parts, which still survive. {not in 1608/1612I, where it is incorporated at the end of paragraph 12.21, in right margin here{In order to understand this better, also consult in this Theatrum the maps of Scandia [Ort160] and America [Ort9,10,11]}not in 1608/1612I, where it is incorporated at the end of paragraph 12.21}.
12.18. From these Excerpts I relate here the following, which deals with the description of the region: Estotiland (he says) abounds with all things necessary for mankind. In the middle, there stands an extremely high mountain, from which four rivers spring that provide water to the whole country. The inhabitants are clever, and highly skilled in all kinds of handicraft. They have their own language and alphabet. In the kings library there are even certain books in Latin, which they cannot understand, that may in previous times have been left there by some of the European merchants that were in commercial contact with them. They have all kinds of metal, but especially gold, which they have in great abundance. They exercise trade with the people of Greenland, from where they obtain {not in 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S{hides,}not in 1602S & 1609/1612/1641S} tar and brimstone.
12.19. The inhabitants say that towards the South there are countries rich with gold and full of inhabitants. There are also numerous large forests, from which they obtain material for building ships and cities, of which, next to fortifications, they have plenty. {Not in 1608/1612I{They are utterly ignorant of the load stones [compasses] used in navigation}not in 1608/1612I}. They also mention Drogium, a region towards the South inhabited by cannibals who are delighted to eat human flesh.
12.20. If they do not have that, they live on fish, which is in common use. Beyond this, there are large countries and another New World. But its inhabitants are barbarous, and go naked. They protect themselves against the cold of winter with animal skins. These know no kind of metal. They live by hunting. For weapons they use long sharp arrows and bows. They make war with one another. They have governors and laws to which they obey. Facing Africa {1602S & 1609/1612/1641S have instead{Eastwards}1602S & 1609/1612/1641S instead}{1606E instead{Southwards}1606E instead}, people live in a more temperate climate, have cities and temples to worship idols, in which they sacrifice living people, whose flesh they devour afterwards.
12.21. These make use of gold and silver. So far for this region of land, based on the abstracts mentioned. From these, it is also worth noting that even then our European navigators with the help of the load stone [compass] sailed those seas. I think one cannot find in any history a more ancient reference touching upon the use of this stone. I was the more eager to attach these things to this map since I note that none of those that have written histories on the New World have mentioned this matter so much as just once.
12.22. But concerning the compass, you are to understand that the person who first invented it was Flavio Gioja, a citizen of Amalfitane whom Alexander Sardus in his book De Inventoribus Rerum [about matters of inventions] calls Flavius Campanus. For that is what the Italians write, and so much has been confirmed by Antonius Panormitanus in his verse: First Amalfi sailors taught [sailors] how to use the load stone, which was in the year of our Saviour 1300.
12.23. This Melfi, called Amalphis in Latin, is a town situated at the sea shore of Lucania {1602S & 1609/1612/1641S have instead{the kingdom of Naples}1602S & 1609/1612/1641S instead} {1608/1612I instead{of the Abruzzo}1608/1612I instead}. Our Goropius attributes the discovery of this secret of the loadstone to our Danes or Dutchmen, which sounds probable since the 32 winds are described in Dutch, which is used by all sailors, be they French, Spanish or from other nations, they always pronounce them in Dutch.
12.24. This I concede to be true, except for the Italians. For they both write and speak of the 32 winds in their own native language. In view of the fact that all navigators of Europe, be they Spaniards, French, English or Germans, express themselves in our language [Dutch], I am truly of the opinion that it was first found and used by the Amalfians or Italians, especially within their own Mediterranean sea. This knowledge was then borrowed from them by the Netherlands people, notably those from Brugge, a city which at that time (before trade was shifted to Antwerp) was a famous market town, visited by the Italians, especially those from Venice, as the Zenoes just mentioned tell us. See also the testimony of Peter Quirinus, Christopher Fioravanti and Nicolas Michaëlio, who in this, our ocean, suffered a horrible shipwreck we can read about in their {1606E only{Italian}1606E only} writings.
12.25. Witness also Aloysius Cadamosta, who in his Epistles, written in about 1454, confirms this city of Brugge to be a market inferior to none in all the Northern parts of the world. This is how the citizens of Brugge adopted the use of sea compasses from the Italians, and translated from Italian the names of the winds into their own language. I do not see how it can be denied that the other nations just mentioned who live on the ocean shore borrowed this knowledge}1590L4Add & 1592L end here}. {1595L{About the nature and admirable virtues of the loadstone you may read noteworthy things in Livius Sanutus' description of Africa, printed in Italian in Venice.
12.26. The isles of Solomon which you see depicted on this map close to New Guinea, were discovered not long ago by Alvaro Mendanio who had led his fleet out of the port called Lima of Peru, & had sailed over this huge ocean, as I find recorded in Iosephus Acosta's first book, 17th chapter De natura novi orbis [On the nature of the New World]}1601L, 1602S, 1603L, 1606E, 1608/1612I, 1609/1612L & 1609/1612/1641S end here}. {1595L only{The same person, in the same book, expresses the opinion that America was first inhabited by the Indians, arguing that they were propelled across the South Sea by the power of the winds, (with some other explanations added to this). In the same manner, according to Zeno's history mentioned above, a multitude of Europeans have settled on the islands of Greenland, Iceland and Friesland many centuries ago. These, it must be conceded, are closer than is the case for the Indians, whose islands cannot be found on this map, because of the vastness of this Ocean}1595L only, which ends here}.
Vernacular text version, as occurring in 1598/1610/1613 Dutch and the 1598 French text version.
12.27. {1598/1610/1613D{MAR DEL ZVR.
12.28. Although this sea was unknown to the ancients, it was not without a name. For Plinius calls it Eoum, and Orosius [calls it] Orientale [the East sea]. Ptolemĉus incorrectly calls it Sinus Magnus, the Great Bay, whereas he should have called it Mare Magnus, the Great Sea. For of all the seas in the world, this is the greatest and the widest. In Paulus {1598F{Venetus}1598F} [Marco Polo] it is described under the name Mare Cin, and in Haithon the Armenian {not in 1598F{(whom we elsewhere more truthfully call Antonius Curchinus)}not in 1598F} by the name of Sea of Cathay. Therefore, it might well have been mentioned by the ancient and medieval writers, but it was never fully known and discovered until Ferdinandus Magellan of Portugal explored it. It was seen indeed, and as it were greeted in the year 1531 {1598F instead{1523}1598F instead} by Vascus Nunnius, from the coast of Peru.
12.29. But Magellanus, in the year {1598F{of Jesus Christ}1598F} 1520, having found and passed the straits named after him, which name has been retained ever since, (as everyone calls it the Strait of Magellanes) with Herculian courage entered this sea of which it is uncertain whether any ship before him had ever sailed it. Intending a voyage to the isles of the Moluccan islands, which the Portuguese usually reached by sailing from the West to the East, and aiming to make a shortcut by sailing from the East to the West.
12.30. On one of these islands, called Machian he was killed. The course of his voyage was as follows: departing from Sivïl [Sevilla] with five ships, including one called in good foreknowledge Victoria [Victory], he first came to the Fortunate or Canary Isles, then to the Gorgones {not in 1598F{or Hesperides}not in 1598F}, now termed the isles of Cap Verde, and from there to the Straits just mentioned.
12.31. Then he sailed with a fresh and strong wind for 40 days altogether, seeing nothing but the flat sea. When he crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, he discovered two small barren and islands. Because they found it was a good fishing area there, they stayed for two days and then left, calling these islands the Unfortunate Isles. They are now known by the name Tuberones and the isles of St. Peter. He then continued his voyage, and in the course of 3 months and 20 days, after having covered over this sea no less than 24000 leagues [sea miles], he finally reached the equinoctial, and then the desired Moluccans.
12.32. And because as we have said he mostly had a fortunate and calm wind, he named this sea Mare Pacificum or the Peaceful Sea, now by common sailors called the South Sea, or Mar del Zur. Those who have written about the New World say that the sea around the Unfortunate Isles is exceedingly deep, and that near the coast of Peru it yields pearls.
12.33. There are 7440 islands in it, so that some in our times have appropriately called the Western part of it Archipelago or sea densely covered with islands. This sea is like the Greek Archipelago which is also covered with islands {1598F instead{has more islands than the Aegean sea, which in common Italian is called Archipelago because it contains the Cyclades, Sporades and various other islands}1598F instead}.
12.34. Francis Ulloa and Antonius Pigafetta report that at the bottom of the sea there grow weeds, 14 or 15 fathoms deep in the water, and they also rise above the water to a height of another 4 or 5 fathoms. Sometimes it seems that you are not sailing through the sea but rather through a green meadow or a pleasant grove.
12.35. Plinius and Antigonus from Megasthenes have left records that all over the Eastern {1598F{or Indian}1598F} ocean there are plenty of trees. The position Aristoteles takes in his book De Admirandis &c. [About Wonders] does not disagree with this, where he writes about the Phnicians who inhabited Gadyra {1598F instead{the isle of Cales Malis}1598F instead} [Cadiz]. He tells that they sailed for a while outside the pillars of Hercules [Gibraltar], and arrived at certain regions which abounded with weeds and slime, covered by the tides of the sea. {1598F{And that the sea near Portugal is supposed to have oaks full of acorns is reported by Polybius in Athenĉus.
12.36. To these testimonies we may add those of Theophrastus in his 4th book on the History of Plants, chapter 7, 8 and 9, and the testimony of Ĉlianus, book 13, De Animalibus [about animals] chapter 3, & Arrianus in his De Indicis, [About the Indies] and Strabo, Book 16 and Plinius, Book 2, chapter 103, Book 6, chapter 22, and Book 13, chapter 25, and in Plutarchus in his Physical Investigations and his work concerning the Face on the Moon}1598F}.
12.37. All these are in some form confirmed in Platoes fables in his Timĉus concerning the island Atlantis. He confirms that the sea there is unnavigable because of slime remaining after the island went under. But concerning the ship called Victoria, please note the following: quite rightly it has been said that simple names often resemble the things they refer to. This becomes manifest for this ship with its lucky name, because it was the first ship ever that on its very first voyage carried away the victory of sailing all the way over the entire ocean.
12.38. It departed from Spain, went via the Strait of Magellan to the Moluccan Islands, from there it rounded the Cape of Good Hope and returned to where it started. Thus it was the first of all ships in all times that ever went around the whole earth. The same ship departed from Spain for a second voyage as far as the city of St. Domingo and back home again.
12.39. From there a third voyage was undertaken, but on the way back the ship was lost and it was never known what became of it. In antiquity it would have been claimed that it went up into the skies, like another Argo. Nor had this prophetic verse of the peerless poet [Vergilius] been unfittingly recommended Alter erit iam Tiphys & altera quĉ vehat Argo [Then comes another Tiphys, another adducted Argo].
12.40. Let Plinius now cease to marvel that out of a small hemp seed should grow that which it was forced to carry up and down the globe of [his] earth. We have, in our age, seen the very same thing that this world of ours, much greater than his, has been circumnavigated {1598F{as you can see on our first map}1598F}.
12.41. And here I will add certain details, not commonly known and not unfittingly and not unlike those by all our modern writers correctly ascribed to Christopher Columbus.
12.42. For in the year 1492, he was the first man that laid it open and made it known, communicated its use and benefits to the Christian world. Anyway, I find that the Northern part of America which lies closest to Europe and to Greenland, Iceland, and Friesland, and is called Estotiland was long before that discovered by certain fishermen from the isla of Frisia, driven to that coast by a storm. And later, around the year 1390, it was rediscovered by Antonius Zeno, a gentleman of Venice. This is reported on the authority of Zichmus, then king of the island of Friesland just mentioned, a prince who at that time was very brave and famous all over that sea for his wars and victories. Concerning this expedition of his, certain Eclogs [collections] drawn up in Italian by Franciscus Marcolini out of the letters of Nicolaus and Antonius Zeno, noblemen from Venice who lived in these parts.
12.43. From these collections I relate here the following, which deals with the description of the region: Estotiland, he says, abounds with all things necessary for mankind. In the middle, there stands a high mountain, from which four rivers spring that provide water to the whole country. The inhabitants are clever, and highly skilled in all kinds of handicraft. They have their own language and alphabet. In the kings library there are even certain books in Latin, which they cannot understand, that may in previous times have been left by some of their Christian merchants that were in contact with them. They have all kinds of metal, but especially gold, which they have in great abundance. They exercise trade with the people of Greenland, from where they obtain hides, tar and brimstone.
12.44. The inhabitants say that towards the South there are countries rich with gold and full of inhabitants. There are also numerous large forests, from which they obtain material for building {1598F{houses}1598F}, cities and fortifications. They are utterly ignorant of compasses used in navigation. They also mention Drogium, a region towards the South inhabited by cannibals who are delighted to eat human flesh.
12.45. If they do not have that, they live on fish, which is caught in abundance here. Beyond this, there are large countries and another New World. But the inhabitants are barbarous, and go naked. They protect themselves against the cold of winter with animal skins. These know no kind of metal. They live by hunting. For weapons they use long sharp spears and also arrows. They make war with one another. They have governors and laws to which they obey. To the Southwest {1598F instead{East}1598F instead} of this, people live in a more temperate climate, have cities and temples to worship idols, where they sacrifice living people, whose flesh they devour afterwards.
12.46. These make use of gold and silver. So far for this region of land, based on the abstracts mentioned. From these, it is also worth noting that even then our European pilots with the help of the compass sailed those seas. I think one cannot find in any history a more ancient reference touching upon the use of this [compass]. I was the more eager to attach these things to this map since I note that none of those that have written histories about the New World have not mentioned this matter.
12.47. But concerning the load stone or sea compass, you are to understand that the person who first invented it was Ioannes Goia, a citizen of Melphi [Amalfi]. For that is what the Italians write, and this has been confirmed by Antonius Panormitanus in his writing: Prima dedit nautis usum Magnetis Amalphis [First Amalfi taught sailors how to use the compass], which was supposed to be in the year 1300. This Melphi is a town situated at the sea shore of the kingdom of Naples. Our Goropius attributes the invention of the compass to our Danes or Dutchmen, which he proves by the names of the 32 winds are described in Dutch, which is used by all sailors, such as the French, Spanish or from other nations, which they always pronounce in Dutch.
12.48. This is true, except for the Italians. For they describe the 32 winds in their own language. Nevertheless, I also observe that all other nations of Europe, be they Spaniards, French, English or Germans, designate the winds in our language [Dutch], I am truly of the opinion that it was first found and used by the Amalfians or Italians within their own Mediterranean sea. This then became known to our Netherlands people, and primarily those of Brugge, a city which at that time (before trade was shifted to Antwerp) was a famous market town, visited by the Italians, especially those from Venice, as the Zeno just mentioned tells us. See also the testimony of Peter Quirinus, Christopher Fiorovantio and Nicolao Michaëlio, who in this, our ocean, suffered a horrible shipwreck we can read about.
12.49. See also Aloysius Cadamostus, who in his Epistles {1598F{written around 1454}1598F} confirms this city of Brugge to be a market inferior to none in all the Northern parts of the world. That the citizens of Brugge have adopted the use of sea compasses from the Italians, and have translated from Italian the names of the winds into their own language is something that cannot be denied, nor that the other nations just mentioned who live on the ocean shore borrowed this knowledge}1598/1610/1613D ends here}.
12.50. About the nature and admirable virtues of the compass you may read noteworthy things in Livius Sanutus' description of Africa, printed in Italian in Venice. Concerning the isles of Salomon which you see depicted on this map close to New Guinea, as I find recorded in Iosephus Acosta's first book, 17th chapter De natura novi orbis [On the nature of the New World], it is certain that they have been discovered by Alvarus Mendano, who had led his fleet out of the port called Lima of Peru, & had sailed over this huge ocean. The same Acosta, in the same book, expresses the opinion that America was first inhabited by the Indians, arguing that they were propelled across the South Sea by the power of the winds, (with some other explanations added to this). But it seems more probable to me, convinced as I am by Zeno's history mentioned above, that a multitude of Europeans have settled on the islands of Greenland, Iceland and Friesland many centuries ago. These, it must be conceded, are closer than is the case for the Indians, whose islands cannot be found on this map, because of the vastness of this Ocean}1598F ends here}.