not aided us in giving us good weather to refresh ourselves with provisions and other things, we should all have died of hunger in this very vast sea, and I think that never man will undertake to perform such a voyage.
When we had gone out of this strait, if we had always navigated to the west we should have gone[1] without finding any land except the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, which is the eastern head of the strait in the ocean sea, with the Cape of Desire at the west in the Pacific sea. These two capes are exactly in fifty-two degrees of latitude of the antarctic pole.
The antarctic pole is not so covered with stars as the arctic, for there are to be seen there many small stars congregated together, which are like to two clouds a little separated from one another, and a little dimmed,[2] in the midst of which are two stars, not very large, nor very brilliant, and they move but little:[3] these two stars are the antarctic pole. Our compass needle still pointed a little to its arctic pole; nevertheless it had not as much power as on its own side and region.[4] Yet when we were in the open sea,[5] the captain-general[6] asked of all the pilots, whilst still
- ↑ The Milan edition has here the words: "All round the earth," which makes the meaning clearer.
- ↑ "Car on y veoit plusieurs estoilles petites congregées ensemble qui sont en guise de deux nuées ung peu separées l'une de l'autre, et ung peu obfusquées." The Magellanic clouds.
- ↑ "Au milieu desquelles sont deux estelles non trop grandes ne moult reluysantes, et petitement se mouvent." The Milan edition has: "Due stelle molto grande e rilucenti, che hanno poco moto."
- ↑ "Nostre calamite ung peu tiroit toujours a son pol arctique. Neantmoins navoit point tant de force comme de son coste et sa bande." Milan edition has: "La nostra calamita volgeasi sempre al polo artico, deviando però alcun poco dal punto del settentrione."
- ↑ "Goulfe, in mezzo al mare."
- ↑ "Le captaine-general demanda a tous les pillotz aflant tousiours a la voyle par quel chemyn nauigant on puntuast es cartes. Lesquelz tous respondirent par sa voye punctuellement donnée. Et il respondit quilz punctuoyent faulsement (chose qui estoit ainsi), et quil conuenoit
