"You sail north
about 150 miles and find two Islands, one called Necouran and the other
Gauenispola." Ramusio does not mention Gauenispola, but says in the former
passage: "I will tell you of a small Island called Nocueran"--and then:
"You find two islands, one called Nocueran and the other Angaman."

Knowing the position of Gauenispola there is no difficulty in seeing how
the passage should be explained. Something has interrupted the dictation
after the last chapter. Polo asks Rusticiano, "Where were we?" "Leaving
the Great Island." Polo forgets the "very small Island called
Gauenispola," and passes to the north, where he has to tell us of two
islands, "one called Necuveran and the other Angamanain." So, I do not
doubt, the passage should run.

Let us observe that his point of departure in sailing north to the Nicobar
Islands was the _Kingdom of Lambri_. This seems to indicate that Lambri
included Achin Head or came very near it, an indication which we shall
presently see confirmed.

As regards Gauenispola, of which he promised to tell us and forgot his
promise, its name has disappeared from our modern maps, but it is easily
traced in the maps of the 16th and 17th centuries, and in the books of
navigators of that time. The latest in which I have observed it is the
_Neptune Oriental_, Paris 1775, which calls it _Pulo Gommes_. The name is
there applied to a small island off Achin Head, outside of which lie the
somewhat larger Islands of Pulo Nankai (or Nasi) and Pulo Bras, whilst
Pulo Wai lies further east.[1] I imagine, however, that the name was by
the older navigators applied to the larger Island of Pulo Bras, or to the
whole group. Thus Alexander Hamilton, who calls it _Gomus_ and _Pulo
Gomuis_, says that "from the Island of Gomus and Pulo Wey ... the
southernmost of the Nicobars may be seen." Dampier most precisely applies
the name of Pulo Gomez to the larger island which modern charts call Pulo
Bras. So also Beaulieu couples the islands of "_Gomispoda_ and Pulo Way"
in front of the roadstead of Achin. De Barros mentions that Gaspar
d'Acosta was lost on the Island of _Gomispola_. Linschoten, describing the
course from Cochin to Malacca, says: "You take your course towards the
small Isles of GOMESPOLA, which are in 6 deg., near the corner of Achin in
the Island of Sumatra." And the Turkish author of the _Mohit_, in speaking
of the same navigation, says: "If you wish to reach Malacca, guard against
seeing JAMISFULA