tings of another,
may judge me so wanting in judgment as to believe all the tales people
tell me.

I have described the great estuary formed by the junction of this
immense volume of fresh water with the sea, and I believe this to be
the result of the union of a number of rivers coming together in the
form of a lake, rather than a river, as is claimed. I also think the
fresh water rushes down from very high mountains, and pours into the
salt waters beneath, with such violence that the sea-water cannot
penetrate unto the bay. Doubtless there will be found people who will
express astonishment at my imagination, and throw ridicule on me,
saying, "Why does he repeat this, as though it were a miracle? Has not
Italy the Po, which illustrious writers have named the king of rivers?
Are not other regions watered by great rivers, such as the Don, the
Ganges, the Danube, whose waters drive back those of the sea with such
force that fresh, potable water is still found forty miles from their
mouths?" I would answer their objections as follows: in the Alpine
chain rising behind the Po and separating Italy from France, Germany,
and Austria, water never fails. The long valley of the Po also
receives the waters of the Ticino and many other streams flowing
towards the Adriatic; and the same may be said of the other rivers
mentioned. But these rivers of the new continent, as the caciques
informed the Spaniards, flow through greater and shorter channels into
the ocean. Some people believe that the continent is very narrow in
this part, and that it spreads; out considerably in other places.
Another argument, which I hold to be a poor one, I must nevertheless
mention. This continent is narrow, but its length extends for an
immense distance from the east to the west. Just as is recounted of
the river Alpheus of Elide, which disappears in channels under the sea
to reappear in Sicily at the fountain of Arethusa, so there may exist
in the mountains of this continent a vast network of subterranean
passages in such wise that the waters produced by the rains we have
mentioned may be collected. Those who explain phenomena by common
sense, and those who enjoy criticism may choose the theory which best
pleases them. For the moment there is nothing more I can add on this
subject. When we shall learn more, we shall faithfully relate it. We
have already dwelt sufficiently upon the width of this continent, and
it is now time to consider its form and leng