E. not very inferior to the above
estimate; but including the immeasurable bounds of its dependencies,
Chinese Tartary, Thibet, and almost the whole of central Asia, it
prodigiously exceeds the magnitude here assigned by Galvano. - E.
[29] Castagnada, I. 4. c. 36. 37. Osorius, I. 11. f. 315. p. 2.
[30] Pet. Mart. IV. iv. Gomar. II. xiv. and xvii.
[31] The text is obscure, and seems to indicate that they were unable to
pass between the island of Ascension and the main of Yucatan. The
latitudes are extremely erroneous: Cozumel is in lat. 20 deg. N. The
island of Ambergris, perhaps the Ascension of the text, is in 18 deg. 30'.
From errors in latitude and alterations of nomenclature, it is often
impossible to follow distinctly the routes of these early voyagers. - E.
[32] Pet. Mart. IV. vi. Gomar. II. xviii, &c.
[33] Gomar. II. xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxiv.
[34] This certainly ought to be called the Molucca islands; but Galvano
uniformly applies the same name, Malacca, both to the spice islands
and the city of Malacca on the Continent. - E.
[35] Gomar. IV. iii. Pet. Mart. V. vii.
[36] Ramusio, I. 874.
[37] This seems to mean the Straits of Babelmandel. Having lost sight of
Prester John in Tartary, the Portuguese were delighted with the
discovery of a Christian king in Africa, the Negus of Abyssinia; and
transferred to him that popular fable. - E.
[38] These countries, with the river and cape mentioned in the text, are
now unknown, these arbitrary names having merged in the nomenclature
of more recent settlers.
