who was murdered, together with the ship’s captain, Andre Moranes, by the natives of Caramaira, near the port of Carthagena, as we have already recounted.  Both these men not only possessed great experience of these regions, where they were as well acquainted with every bit of the coast as with the rooms of their own houses, but they were likewise reputed to be experts in naval cosmography.  When all these maps were spread out before us, and upon each a scale was marked in the Spanish fashion, not in miles but in leagues, we set to work to measure the coasts with a compass, in the following order: 

From the cape or point[1] we have mentioned as being on this side of the Portuguese line drawn one hundred leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, in the countries thus far visited on both sides of that line, we measured three hundred leagues to the mouth of the Maragnon River.  From the mouth of this river to Boca de la Sierpe the distance on some maps is a little less than seven hundred leagues, for all these charts do not agree, since the Spaniards sometimes reckoned by marine leagues of four thousand paces, and sometimes by land leagues of three thousand paces.  From Boca de la Sierpe to Cape Cuchibacoa, near which the coast line bends to the left, we measured about three thousand leagues.  From the promontory of Cuchibacoa to the region of Caramaira, where the port of Carthagena is, the distance is about one hundred and seventy leagues.  From Caramaira to the island of La Fuerte it is fifty leagues, after which, to the entrance of the Gulf of Uraba where the village of Santa Maria Antigua actually stands, it is only thirty-five leagues.  Between Darien in Uraba, and Veragua where Nicuesa would have settled, but that the gods decided otherwise, we measured the distance to be one hundred and thirty leagues.  From Veragua to the river named by Columbus, San Matteo, on whose banks Nicuesa wasted so much time and suffered such hardships after losing his caravel, the map showed only one hundred and forty leagues, but many of the men who have returned from there say the distance is really considerably greater.  Many rivers are indicated just there:  for example, the Aburema, before which lies the island called the Scudo di Cateba—­whose cacique was nicknamed Burnt Face:  the Zobrabaoe—­the Urida, and the Doraba with rich gold deposits.  Many remarkable ports are also marked on that coast; among them Cesabaron and Hiebra, as they are called by the natives.  Adding these figures together, Most Holy Father, you will reach a total of fifteen hundred and twenty-five leagues or five thousand seven hundred miles from the cape to the Gulf of San Matteo, which is also called the Gulf of Perdidos.

[Note 1:  The most eastern cape on the Brazil coast is Cape San Rocco.]

But this is not all.  A certain Asturian of Oviedo, Juan de Solis,[2] but who declares that he was born at Nebrissa, the country of illustrious savants, asserts that he sailed westward from San Matteo a distance of many leagues.  As the coast, bends towards the north, it is consequently difficult to give exact figures, but three hundred leagues may be approximately estimated.  From the foregoing you may perceive, Most Holy Father, the length of the continent over which your authority is destined to extend.  Some day we shall doubtless clearly understand its width.