(In the original instrument, drawn on paper, the said year, in the presence of Fernand Alvarez of Toledo, secretary of the Catholic Sovereigns, and in the presence of Estevan Vaes, secretary of the king of Portogal, is found a confirmation by the Catholic Sovereigns.  The said instrument, drawn on parchment, in Arevalo, on the second of July, 1495, is fully signed by the Sovereigns.  The signature of the prince is found below.  The instrument is countersigned by the said secretary.  The seal was removed, but the cord to which it was attached remains.  The confirmation of the said instrument of Tordesillas by King Don Joan of Portogal is attested by a contract written on five pages of parchment, signed by the king, and countersigned by Martyn de Veyra.  The confirmation was given in Ebora on February 27, 1525)

[It] practically reads that on the seventh of June, one thousand four hundred and ninety-four, the attorneys of the Catholic Sovereigns and of the king of Portogal empowered by their masters met in Tordesillas, and drew up the said instrument.  The agreement reached was that a line or meridian was to be drawn from the Arctic to the Antarctic pole, three hundred and seventy leagues west of the islands of Cabo Verde.  Everything west of the said line or meridian was to belong to the kings of Castilla, and that east was to be the navigation, discovery, and conquest of the kings of Portogal.  The sea of the king of Portogal was open for navigation to the kings of Castilla, with the understanding that the latter should follow their course without any deviation.  Whatever should be found up to the twentieth of the said month of June in the first two hundred and fifty leagues of the three hundred and seventy, was to belong to the kings of Portogal; and that which should be found in the remaining hundred and twenty leagues was to belong to the king of Castilla.

Item, both parties agreed to send within ten months an equal number of ships, pilots, astrologers, and sailors to mark out the said line of demarcation.

It is not specified that within the said ten months they did send the said pilots, astrologers, and sailors to draw the said line of demarcation; on the contrary, it is clear that the said line was not drawn; for according to the copy of a decree and declaration of the Catholic Sovereigns given in Madrid on May the seventh, 1495, and signed by the secretary Samano, it is urged that the said line be drawn—­from which it is evident that the line had not been drawn within the ten months.  That this line had not been drawn appears also from the conferences and records concerning the possession and ownership of the Malucos, between the commissioners of both parties in the year twenty-four at the bridge of Acaya, Yelves, and Badajoz, where the determination of this line of demarcation was discussed; and the determination thereof, discussed under three heads.

First, whether a spherical or plane surface should be considered in drawing the line of demarcation.