iance with Christendom; they sent to the pope and asked for a number
of persons learned in the faith, that they might be enlightened; but
those who were sent, having encountered obstacles on the way,
returned.[437] Even in the time of Eugenius[438] there came one to
Eugenius and made a declaration concerning their great goodwill toward
Christians, and I had a long talk with him about many things, about the
great size of their royal palaces and the remarkable length and breadth
of their rivers, and the multitude of cities on the banks of the rivers,
such that on one river there are about two hundred cities, with marble
bridges very long and wide and everywhere adorned with columns. This
country is worth seeking by the Latins, not only because great treasures
may be obtained from it,--gold, silver, and all sorts of jewels and
spices,--but on account of its learned men, philosophers, and skilled
astrologers, and [in order that we may see] with what arts and devices
so powerful and splendid a province is governed, and also [how] they
conduct their wars. This for some sort of answer to his request, so far
as haste and my occupations have allowed, ready in future to make
further response to his royal majesty as much as he may wish. Given at
Florence 25th June, 1474.'

[Footnote 430: See above, p. 330.]

[Footnote 431: I translate this prologue from the Italian text
of the _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. viii. The original Latin
has nowhere been found. A Spanish version of the whole may be
found in Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. pp. 92-96. Las Casas,
by a mere slip of the pen, calls "Paul, the physicist," _Marco
Paulo_, and fifty years later Mariana calls him _Marco Polo,
physician_: "por aviso que le dio un cierto Marco Polo medico
Florentin," etc. _Historia de Espana_, tom. viii. p. 343. Thus
step by step doth error grow.]

[Footnote 432: He means that his friend Martinez has been a
member of King Alfonso's household ever since the time before
the civil wars that began with the attempted deposition of
Henry IV. in 1465 and can hardly be said to have come to an end
before the death of that prince in December, 1474. See
Humboldt, _Examen critique_, tom. i. p. 225.]

[Footnote 433: I translate this enclosed letter from the
original Latin text, as found, a few years ag