t is
called, because of its size, Rio Grande. An immense number of huge
crocodiles live in the waters of this stream, which, as we know,
is the case with the Nile; particularly I, who have ascended and
descended that river on my embassy to the Sultan.[5]

[Note 5: See _De Legatione Babylonica_.]

I hardly know, after reading the writings of many men remarkable for
their knowledge and veracity, what to think of the Nile. It is claimed
that there are really two Niles, which take their rise either in the
Mountains of the Sun or of the Moon, or in the rugged Sierras of
Ethiopia. The waters of these streams, whatever be their source,
modify the nature of the land they traverse. One of the two flows to
the north and empties into the Egyptian Sea: the other empties into
the southern ocean. What conclusion shall we draw? We are not puzzled
by the Nile of Egypt, and the southern Nile has been discovered by the
Portuguese, who, in the course of their amazing expeditions, ventured
beyond the equinoctial line into the country of the negroes, and as
far as Melinde. They affirm that it rises in the Mountains of the
Moon, and that it is another Nile, since crocodiles are seen there,
and crocodiles only live in streams belonging to the basin of the
Nile. The Portuguese have named that river Senegal. It traverses the
country of the negroes, and the country on its northern banks is
admirable, while that on its southern banks is sandy and arid. From
time to time crocodiles are seen.

What shall we now say about this third, or in fact, this fourth Nile?
These animals, covered with scales as hard as the tortoise-shell the
Spaniards under Columbus found in that river, and which, as we have
said, caused them to name that stream Los Lagartos, are certainly
crocodiles. Shall we declare that these Niles rise in the Mountains of
the Moon? Certainly not, Most Holy Father. Other waters than those
of the Nile may produce crocodiles, and our recent explorers have
supplied proof of this fact, for the rivers do not flow from the
Mountains of the Moon, nor can they have the same source as the
Egyptian Nile, or the Nile of Negricia or of Melinde; for they flow
down from the mountains we have mentioned, rising between the north
and south sea, and which separate the two oceans by a very small
distance.

The swamps of Darien and the lands which are covered with water after
the inundations, are full of pheasants, peacocks of sober colours,
and many oth