Paul the Physician afterwards wrote the following letter to my father.—­“I received your letter with those things you sent me, which I esteem a great favour, and I greatly commend your noble and ardent desire of sailing from the east to the west, as marked out in the chart which I sent you; but which would be much better demonstrated in the form of a globe.  I am rejoiced that it is well understood, that the voyage laid down is not only possible but true, certain, honourable, advantageous, and most glorious among Christians.  You can only become perfect in the knowledge of it by practice and experience, which I have had in some measure, especially by the solid and true information of many worthy and wise men who came from those parts to the court of Rome, and from merchants who are persons of good reputation and have long traded to those regions.  Hence, when the voyage shall be performed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and to most noble provinces and cities, rich, flourishing, and abounding in all those commodities of which we are in need:  particularly in great quantities of all sorts of spice, and in great store of jewels.  It will likewise be very grateful to the kings and princes of those parts, who are exceedingly desirous to have intercourse and trade with the Christians; whether that some of them are inclined to become Christians, or else desire to communicate with the wise and learned men of Europe, as well in regard to religion, as in all the sciences, by reason of the extraordinary accounts they have received of the kingdoms and governments and learning of our part of the world.  On all which accounts, and others which might be alleged, it is reasonable that your own magnanimity, and the whole Portuguese nation, ever renowned for great men, and memorable in all their undertakings, should be eagerly bent upon performing this voyage.”

By this letter, as has been before observed, the admiral was greatly encouraged to go upon his discovery, although the learned physician was mistaken in believing that Cathay and the empire of the great Cham was the first land to be met with in sailing towards the west; for experience has made it appear, that the distance from the West Indies to that country is greater than from Europe to the West Indies.

The third and last motive by which the admiral was incited to the discovery of the West Indies, was the hope of finding in his way to India some very beneficial island or continent, from whence he might the better be enabled to pursue his main design.  This hope was founded upon the authority and opinion of many wise and learned men, who believed that the greatest part of the surface of the terraqueous globe was composed of land, or that there certainly was more earth than sea.  If that were the case, he concluded that, between the coast of Spain and the then known bounds of India, there must be many islands and a great extent of continent interposed, which experience has since demonstrated to be true.