Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 01).djvu/202

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198
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
[Vol. 1

[The distances of these itineraries are shown in evidence of the preceding. Maps of India made in Portugal "at the time when there was no suspicion that so great a number of leagues was to be subtracted as is proved now to have been the case," are cited and distances taken therefrom in proof of the assertions made by the Castilian deputies. As a result of these distances it is shown that the distance between the Moluccas and the island of Sant Antonio would be one hundred and eighty-four degrees to the eastward, to which number "must be added the degrees contained in the said three hundred and seventy leagues from the island of Sant Antonio to the line of demarcation." The following deductions are made:]

It is quite evident from the above that the distance of the navigation eastward assigned by the Portuguese in the proceedings is short by more than fifty degrees, being proved by the said old Portuguese relations and maps, which are not to be doubted. And it is evident that our calculation is true, both eastward and westward, and that from the said divisional line commencing from the island of Sant Antonio, the distance westward to the Malucos is not more than the said one hundred and fifty degrees.

[At this point the aid of the old authors, Ptolemæus and Plinius, is invoked to prove more conclusively that the distance was shortened by the Portuguese. The summary of the document is as follows:]

Therefore in concluding, we assert, both on account of the reasons abovesaid, and for many others which incite us to this decision, that we find the location of the Malucos not to lie in the longitude declared by the deputies of the King of Portugal, but