y most Excellent Patron, Lorenzo:_

"My last letter to your excellency was written from a place
on the coast of Guinea called Cape Verde, and in it you were
informed of the commencement of my voyage. The present
letter will advise you of its continuation and termination.

"We started from the above-mentioned cape, having first
taken in all necessary supplies of wood, water, etc., to
discover new lands in the ocean. We sailed on a
southwesterly course until, at the end of sixty-four days,
we discovered land, which, on many accounts, we concluded to
be Terra Firma. We coasted this land about eight hundred
leagues, in a direction west by south. It was well
inhabited, and I noticed many remarkable things, which I
will attempt to narrate.

"We sailed in those seas until we entered the torrid zone,
and passed to the south of the equinoctial line and the
tropic of Capricorn, so that we were fifty degrees south of
the line. We navigated four months and twenty-seven days,
seeing neither the arctic pole nor Ursa Major or Minor. We
discovered here many beautiful constellations, invisible in
the northern hemisphere, and noted their marvellous
movements and their grandeur.... To proceed, now, to a
description of the country, the plants therein, and of the
customs of the inhabitants, I would observe that this region
is most delightful, and covered with immense forests which
never lose their foliage, and throughout the year yield
aromatic odors and produce an infinite variety of fruit,
grateful to the taste and healthful for the body. In the
fields flourish so many sweet flowers and herbs, and the
fruits are so delicious and fragrant, that I fancied myself
near the terrestrial paradise. What shall I tell you of the
birds and the brilliant colors of their plumage? What of
their variety, their sweet songs, and their beauty? I dare
not enlarge upon this theme, for I fear I should not be
believed. How shall I enumerate the infinite variety of
sylvan animals: lions, catamounts, panthers--though not like
those of our regions--wolves, stags, and baboons of all
kinds? We saw more wild animals--such as wild hogs, kids,
deer, hares, and rabbits--than could ever have entered the
ark of Noah; but we saw no domestic animals whatever.

"Now, con