PIGAFETTA S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

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places, for want of thefe rules being thoroughly comprehended they were but littleregarded. To the general ignorance at this time therefore of the dimenfions of theearth, and of the longitude of places, is to be afcribed the expectation of reaching in aIhort time, by a weftern courfe, thofe iflands, the diftance of which from Europe wasonly known towards the eaft and the fouth.

IV. The mind of Chriftopher Colon was wholly occupied by reflection on thismatter; this great man, who combined with a theoretic and practical knowledgeof navigation all the information that could be gathered from preceding navigators,2nd the intrepidity requifite for a grand enterprize, this great man, convinced of thefpherical form of the earth, faw no difficulty in crofling the Atlantic Ocean by meansof the compafs, with the variation of which, and with the means of correcting it he'vas acquainted *. He applied to the Genoefe, who had no other means of revivingtheir commerce, for {hips and means of putting his plan into execution ; but the Ge-noefe, occupied on trivial fpeculations, and perpetually embroiled by domeftic fadions,which rendered them now fubjeCt to the Kings of France , and at other times to theDukes of Milan, refufed him affiftance. To the King of Portugal he next made appli-cation, but ineffectually, as, intent on reaching the Moluccas by doubling the foutherncape of Africa , his propofition was not regarded by this monarch ; at length, after longand repeated memorials, the court of Spain refolved on trufting him with fome {hips.Still Colon merely touched at the iflands of America (the difcovery of that continent

. being referved for his fucceffors), and flattered himfelf in vain with finding a paffageto the weft of Mexico, and by the ifthmus of Panama .

V. The voyage of Colon engendered difputes between the Spaniards and Portuguefefelpe&ing certain iflands difcovered by them, and {till more refpeCting the lands whichthey hoped to difcover in future. The latter, on undertaking their voyages along thecoaft of Africa , had the forefight to avail themfelves of the general opinion of thetune, that the fucceffor of St. Peter, as the vicar of Jefus Chrift, had the power of dif-Pofing of fuch kingdoms as did not pertain to Chriftian potentates. The Popes ,•Martin V. Eugenius IV. and Nicholas V. had already inverted Portugal with the empire

all the countries they had hitherto difcovered on the coaft of Africa. Alexander VI. to whom, after the voyage of Colon, Spain and Portugal preferred at the fame inftanttheir different pretenfions, marked out a line .which traverfing the two poles, dividedthe terreftrial globe. The ifland Ferro, one of the Canaries, through which paffed theorft meridian of Ptolemy , was the point through which this line, called the Line of•demarcation, ran to either pole. From this line all eaftward was granted by the Popeto the Portuguefe, to the Spaniards all they fhould difcover weft. But when the

p r nc ®< the tides of the great pyramid, according to the French geometricians, meafure at prefent 716CQ nc h h-'et 6 inches, or 764-7 Englifh feet, without the cafing of marble with which it was formerlyf eet red > with that cafing it is competed to have meafured 734 French feet 6 inches, or 782 x 9 0 Englilhkti'" a talcing the latter measurement, the proportion of the fide of the great pyramid to a degree in. thirty degrees will be nearly as 1 to 464, and not as 1 to 500. Eng. Tr..tu de 1S l ^ oreover known that Hypparchus, three centuries before the vulgar acra had determined the lati-th e an< t longitude of feveral ftars; and that Ptolemy in the fecond century afeertarned by his methodWerf ^e® ra l ) ^' ca f pofition of feveral places on the earth with a nicety from which we may infer that theyInch, e re fult of aftronomical obfervations. Rolertfon. An Hiftorical Difquifition refpefting AncientSetf. If. French . Tr.

needle cra ”f c hi- Storia delle Lettere Ital. Tomo vi. However, the knowledge of the variation of thenude at this time have been far from generally diffufed, fince it was unknown to the pilots of theron of Magellan . {See forward Book II.)

PP2

Portuguefe