The messenger overtook him at
the bridge of Pinos, two leagues from Granada; and, though much concerned
to have been so much slighted, he returned to the city of Santa Fe, where
he was well received, and the secretary, John Coloma, was ordered to
prepare the contract and instructions, after he had spent eight years,
with much vexation and uneasiness, in soliciting to have his project
undertaken.
[1] We have here omitted two sections of very uninteresting cosmographical
observations on the antipodes, the torrid zone, the climate of the
Western hemisphere, and the peopling of America. - E.
[2] The author or translator has here committed a material arithmetical
error; as 180 degrees, multiplied by 17-1/2, only produce 3150
leagues. - E.
[3] This sum does not much exceed ten pounds of our present money; yet in
these days was thought a gift worthy of a queen. - Churchill.
The value of money must then have been much greater than now, perhaps
ten times; in which case this supply may have been equal to about 22
hundred guineas in effective value. - E.
[4] This is little above L.520 of our money, according to the present
computation.
