days, the North Star on his right hand. And having wandered about
considerably, at last he fell in with _terra firma_, where, having
planted the Royal banner and taken possession in the behalf of this
King; and having taken several tokens, he has returned thence. The
said Master John, as being foreign-born and poor, would not be
believed, if his comrades, who are almost all Englishmen and from
Bristol, did not testify that what he says is true.

"This Master John has the description of the world in a chart, and
also in a solid globe which he has made, and he [or it] shows where
he landed, and that going toward the east [again for west] he passed
considerably beyond the country of the Tansis. And they say that it is
a very good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil wood and
silks grow there; and they affirm that that sea is covered with
fishes, which are caught not only with the net but with baskets, a
stone being tied to them in order that the baskets may sink in the
water. And this I heard the said Master John relate, and the aforesaid
Englishmen, his comrades, say that they will bring so many fish, that
this kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country
there comes a very great store of fish called stock-fish
('stockfissi'). But Master John has set his mind on something greater;
for he expects to go further on towards the east [again for west] from
that place already occupied, constantly hugging the shore, until he
shall be over against [or on the other side of] an island, by him
called Cimpango, situated in the equinoctial region, where he thinks
all the spices of the world and also the precious stones originate.
And he says that in former times he was at Mecca, whither spices are
brought by caravans from distant countries, and these [caravans] again
say that they are brought to them from other remote regions. And he
argues thus--that if the Orientals affirmed to the Southerners that
these things come from a distance from them, and so from hand to
hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the
last ones get them at the north, toward the west. And he said it in
such a way that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I too believe
it; and, what is more, the King here, who is wise and not lavish,
likewise puts some faith in him; for, since his return he has made
good provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is
said that in the spring His Majesty afore