“This morning the Dutch compasses varied as they used to do a whole point, while those of Genoa, which used to agree with them, varied but a very little, though afterwards sailing farther east they varied more, which is a sign that we were 100 leagues west of the Azores or somewhat more; for when we were just 100 leagues there were only a few scattered weeds to be seen, the Dutch needles varying a point while those of Genoa pointed due north; and when we got somewhat farther E.N.E. they altered again.”  This idea was verified on the twenty-second of May, when by exact reckoning the admiral found that he was 100 leagues to the west of the Azores.  He was much astonished at this singular difference between the two kinds of compasses, which he was disposed to attribute to their having been made by different kinds of loadstones; for until they had arrived at that longitude they all varied a point from the true north, and some of them continued to do so even there, while those constructed at Genoa, now pointed due north, and the same remarkable discrepancy continued upon the twenty-fourth of May.

They thus continued their course, all the pilots going on with blind confidence, till on Wednseday the 8th of June they came in sight of Odemira, between Lisbon and Cape St Vincent; but the admiral, confident that they were near that cape, slackened sail the night before, though laughed at by many, some affirming that they were in the English channel, while those who erred least believed themselves on the coast of Galicia.  The scarcity was now become so great that many objected to shortening sail, alleging that it were better to run the risk of perishing at once by running on shore than to starve miserably on the sea; and many, like the canibals, were for eating the Indians who where on board, or at least were for throwing them overboard, on purpose to make some small saving of the provisions which remained; and this would certainly have been done if the admiral had not exerted his whole authority to save them, as human creatures who ought not to be worse used than the rest.  At length it pleased God to reward him with the sight of land in the morning, according to his promise the preceding evening; for which he was ever afterwards considered by the seamen as most expert and almost prophetical in maritime affairs.

Having landed in Spain the admiral went to Burgos, where he was very favourably received by their Catholic majesties, who were then at that place celebrating the marriage of their son Prince John with Margaret of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian.  That princess was conducted into Spain with great splendour, and received by most of the nobility and by the greatest concourse of persons of quality that ever had been seen together in Spain.  But though I was present on the occasion as page to prince John, I shall not enter into the particulars of this solemnity, since it does not belong to the history I have undertaken to write, and because the royal historiographers will have doubtless taken care to record this event.