Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/566

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

returneth toward the Equinoctiall line, till that it commeth to the headland called Calicut aforesayd, and from, thence the coast making a gulfe, where is the river of Ganges, returneth toward the line to a headland called Malaca, where is the principal Spicerie: and from this Cape returneth and maketh a great gulfe, and after the coast goeth right toward the Orient, and over against this last gulfe and coast be many Islands, which be Islandes of the Spiceries of the Emperour. Upon which the Portingals and he be at variance.

The said coast goeth toward the Orient, and endeth right against the 155 degrees, and after returneth toward the Occident northward: which coast not yet plainely knowen, I may joyne to the New found lande found by us that I spake of before. So that I finish with this briefe declaration of the Card aforesayd. Well I know I should also have declared how the coasts within the straights of the Sea of Italie runne. It is playne that passing the straights on the north side of that Sea after the coast of Granado, and with that which pertaines to Spaine, is the coast of that which France hath in Italie. And then followeth in one piece all Italie, which land hath an arme of the sea, with a gulfe which is called Mare Adriaticum. And in the bottome of this gulfe is the citie of Venice. And on the other part of the sayd gulfe is Sclavonia, and next Grecia, then the streights of Constantinople, and then the sea called Euxinus, which is within the sayd streights: and coming out of the said streights, followeth Turciamaior (though now on both sides it is called Turcia). And so the coast runneth southward to Syria, and over against the sayd Turcia are the Islands of Rhodes, Candie, and Cyprus. And over against Italie are the Islands of Sicilia and Sardinia. And over against Spaine is Majorca and Minorca. In the ende of the gulfe of Syria is Judea. And from thence returneth the coast toward the Occident, till it commeth to the streights where we began, which all is the coast of Affrike and Barbarie. Also your Lordship shall understand that the coastes of the sea throughout all the world, I have colored with yellow, for that it may appeare that all that is within the line colored yellow is to be imagined to be maine land or Islands, and all without the line so coloured to bee Sea: whereby it is easie and light to know it. Albeit in this little roome any other descriptions would rather have made it obscure than cleere. And the sayd coasts of the sea are all set justly after the maner and forme as they lie, as the navigation approveth them throughout all the Card, save