The first is
inserted at Cape Diab; "here," says the author, about the year 1420, "an
Indian vessel, on her passage across the Indian ocean was caught by a
storm, and carried 2000 miles beyond this Cape to the west and south-west;
she was seventy days in returning to the Cape." This the author regards as
a full proof that Africa was circumnavigable on the south.
In the second passage, inserted on the margin, after observing that the
Portuguese had been round the continent of Africa, more than 2000 miles to
the south-west beyond the Straits of Gibraltar; that they found the
navigation easy and safe, and had made charts of their discoveries; he
adds, that he had talked with a person worthy of credit, who assured him he
had been carried by bad weather, in an Indian ship, out of the Indian
Ocean, for forty days, beyond Cape Sofala and the Green Islands, towards
the west and south-west, and that in the opinion of the astronomer on
board, (such as all Indian ships carry,) they had been hurried away 2000
miles. He concludes by expressing his firm belief that the sea surrounding
the southern and south-eastern part of the world is navigable; and that the
Indian Sea is ocean, and not a lake. We may observe, by the bye, that in
another passage inserted in the margin, he expressly declares that the
Indian ships had no compass, but were directed by an astronomer on board,
who was continually making his observations.
Pages:
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577