Aquilone —­North, Antitaurus Antitaurus psis mo (probably meant for Thospitis = Lake Van, Arm.  Dgov Vanai, Tospoi, and the Mountain range to the South); Gordis mo (Mountains of Gordyaea), the birth place of the Tigris; Oriente —­East; Tigris, and then, to the left, Eufrates.  Then, above to the left Argeo mo (now Erdshigas, an extinct volcano, 12000 feet high); Celeno mo (no doubt Sultan Dagh in Pisidia).  Celeno is the Greek town of KeAouvat—­ see Arian I, 29, I—­now the ruins of Dineir); oriente —­East; africo libezco (for libeccio—­South West).  In the middle of the Euphrates river on this small map we see a shaded portion surrounded by mountains, perhaps to indicate the inundation mentioned in l. 35.  The affluent to the Euphrates shown as coming with many windings from the high land of ‘Argeo’ on the West, is the Tochma Su, which joins the main river at Malatie.  I have not been able to discover any map of Armenia of the XVth or XVIth century in which the course of the Euphrates is laid down with any thing like the correctness displayed in this sketch.  The best I have seen is the Catalonian Portulan of Olivez de Majorca, executed in 1584, and it is far behind Leonardo’s.].  This mountain, at its base, is inhabited by a very rich population and is full of most beautiful springs and rivers, and is fertile and abounding in all good produce, particularly in those parts which face to the South.  But after mounting about three miles we begin to find forests of great fir trees, and beech and other similar trees; after this, for a space of three more miles, there are meadows and vast pastures; and all the rest, as far as the beginning of the Taurus, is eternal snows which never disappear at any time, and extend to a height of about fourteen miles in all.  From this beginning of the Taurus up to the height of a mile the clouds never pass away; thus we have fifteen miles, that is, a height of about five miles in a straight line; and the summit of the peaks of the Taurus are as much, or about that.  There, half way up, we begin to find a scorching air and never feel a breath of wind; but nothing can live long there; there nothing is brought forth save a few birds of prey which breed in the high fissures of Taurus and descend below the clouds to seek their prey.  Above the wooded hills all is bare rock, that is, from the clouds upwards; and the rock is the purest white.  And it is impossible to walk to the high summit on account of the rough and perilous ascent.

1337.

[Footnote:  1337.  On comparing this commencement of a letter l. 1-2 with that in l. 3 and 4 of No. 1336 it is quite evident that both refer to the same event. (Compare also No. 1337 l. 10-l2 and 17 with No. 1336 l. 23, 24 and 32.) But the text No. 1336, including the fragment l. 3-4, was obviously written later than the draft here reproduced.  The Diodario is not directly addressed—­the person addressed indeed is not known—­and it seems to me highly probable that it was written to some other patron and friend whose name and position are not mentioned.]