For who ever believed that the Monosceli, or Sciapodes [one-legged men], the Scyrites, the Spithamaei [persons a span—­seven and one-half inches—­high], the Pigmies [height thirteen and one-half inches], and such-like were rather monsters than men?  Yet, although the Castilians in their voyages westwards, and the Portuguese sailing eastwards, have sought out, discovered, and surveyed so many places even beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, and now these countrymen of ours have sailed completely round the world, none of them have found any trustworthy evidence in favor of the existence of such monsters; and therefore all such accounts ought to be regarded as fabulous, and as old wives’ tales, handed down from one writer to another without any basis of truth.  But, as I have to make a voyage round the world, I will not extend my prefatory remarks, but will come at once to the point.

Some thirty years ago, when the Castilians in the West, and the Portuguese in the East, had begun to search after new and unknown lands, in order to avoid any interference of one with the other, the kings of these countries divided the whole world between them, by the authority probably of Pope Alexander VI, on this plan, that a line should be drawn from the north to the south pole through a point three hundred and sixty leagues west of the Hesperides which they now call Cape Verde Islands, which would divide the earth’s surface into two equal portions.  All unknown lands hereafter discovered to the east of this line were assigned to the Portuguese; all on the west to the Castilians.  Hence it came to pass that the Castilians always sailed southwest, and there discovered a very extensive continent, besides numerous large islands, abounding in gold, pearls, and other valuable commodities; and have quite recently discovered a large inland city named Tenoxtica [Mexico] situated in a lake like Venice.  Peter Martyr, [222] an author who is more careful as to the accuracy of his statements than of the elegance of his style, has given a full but truthful description of this city.  But the Portuguese sailing southward past the Hesperides [Cape Verde Islands] and the Fish-eating Ethiopians [West Coast of Africa], crossed the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, and sailing eastward discovered several, very large islands heretofore unknown, and also the sources of the Nile and the Troglodytes.  Thence, by way of the Arabian and Persian Gulfs, they arrived at the shores of India within the Ganges, where now there is the very great trading station and the kingdom of Calicut.  Hence they sailed to Taprobane which is now called Zamatara [Sumatra].  For where Ptolemy, Pliny, and other geographers placed Taprobane, there is now no island which can possibly be identified with it.  Thence they came to the Golden Chersonesus, where now stands the well-peopled city of Malacca, the principal place of business of the East.  After this they penetrated into a great gulf, as far as the nation of the Sinae, who are now called Schinae [Chinese], where they found a fair-complexioned and tolerably-civilized people, like our folks in Germany.  They believe that the Seres and Asiatic Scythians extend as far as these parts.