I am not to be accused, Oh Devatdar, of idleness, as your chidings seem to hint; but your excessive love for me, which gave rise to the benefits you have conferred on me [Footnote 55] is that which has also compelled me to the utmost painstaking in seeking out and diligently investigating the cause of so great and stupendous an effect.  And this could not be done without time; now, in order to satisfy you fully as to the cause of so great an effect, it is requisite that I should explain to you the form of the place, and then I will proceed to the effect, by which I believe you will be amply satisfied.

[Footnote 36:  Tagliata di Monte Tauro.  The Euphrates flows through the Taurus range near the influx of the Kura Shai; it rushes through a rift in the wildest cliffs from 2000 to 3000 feet high and runs on for 90 miles in 300 falls or rapids till it reaches Telek, near which at a spot called Gleikash, or the Hart’s leap, it measures only 35 paces across.  Compare the map on Pl.  CXIX and the explanation for it on p. 391.]

[Footnote 54:  The foregoing sketch of a letter, lines 5. 18, appears to have remained a fragment when Leonardo received pressing orders which caused him to write immediately and fully on the subject mentioned in line 43.]

[Footnote 59:  This passage was evidently intended as an improvement on that immediately preceding it.  The purport of both is essentially the same, but the first is pitched in a key of ill-disguised annoyance which is absent from the second.  I do not see how these two versions can be reconciled with the romance-theory held by Prof.  Govi.] Do not be aggrieved, O Devatdar, by my delay in responding to your pressing request, for those things which you require of me are of such a nature that they cannot be well expressed without some lapse of time; particularly because, in order to explain the cause of so great an effect, it is necessary to describe with accuracy the nature of the place; and by this means I can afterwards easily satisfy your above-mentioned request. [Footnote 62:  This passage was evidently intended as an improvement on that immediately preceding it.  The purport of both is essentially the same, but the first is pitched in a key of ill-disguised annoyance which is absent from the second.  I do not see how these two versions can be reconciled with the romance-theory held by Prof.  Govi.]

I will pass over any description of the form of Asia Minor, or as to what seas or lands form the limits of its outline and extent, because I know that by your own diligence and carefulness in your studies you have not remained in ignorance of these matters [65]; and I will go on to describe the true form of the Taurus Mountain which is the cause of this stupendous and harmful marvel, and which will serve to advance us in our purpose [66].  This Taurus is that mountain which, with many others is said to be the ridge of Mount Caucasus; but wishing to be very clear about