your Majesty of two routes which can be explored at little expense and are short and easy. The first is by the strait which is called Danian [i. e., Anian], which lies between the farthest land of China and the regions of Nueva España . . . a relation which I [received] there, which was left in manuscript by Fray Martin de Rada, of the order of St. Augustine, a great mathematician, of whom your Majesty had information in this . . . of the letter.
A worthy Vizcayan, named Juanes de Ribas, a native of San Sebastian, told me that while he was going after whales to Terranova [i. e., Newfoundland] he received information that in the year forty-five some Bretons were carried [by storms] from the cape of Breton, which lies about eighty leguas west of the cape of Bacallaos, which lies in forty-nine or fifty degrees of latitude. He said that in latitude fifty-two degrees, after sailing to the northwest a hundred leguas, they encountered a strait. And, according to this relation, some Portuguese came to India and China; they say that in forty-five days they arrived from Ucheo at Lisboa; and, believing that the king would show them favor, they gave him an account of it. But he threw them into prison, and they died there. One of the Portuguese who went in that ship afterward came to Nueva España and accompanied Francisco de Ivarra in the exploration of Nueva Viscaya.[1] The said Francisco de Ivarra intended to go to explore this strait, but there were difficulties in the way, and they did not accomplish it. This Vizcayan and the Portuguese became friendly
- ↑ Francisco de Ibarra was a prominent Spanish officer in Mexico (1554-72); he subjected to the dominion of Spain the province of Copala, which he named Nueva Vizcaya, founding therein the cities of Durango, Sinaloa, and others.
