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Jovius fays, that Pigafetta (whom by miftake he denominate Jerome) prefented him,as well in painting as in writing, the moft remarkable things belonging to the countrieshe vifited *. Add to this that our learned librarian Safli, who in 1712 formed acatalogue of our manufcripts, wrote againft the title of this: it is perhaps theoriginal. Yet, notwithftanding all thefe conjeflmres, I think our manufcript is but acopy of thofe prefented to the illuftrious perfons of whom I fpeak, and on theie•grounds do I found my opinion. Firft, at the title page, and at the head of the De-dicatory Epiftle I fee the name of the author written Pigafeta, at the bottom of theletter it is given Pagapheta, and at the end of the Treatife on Navigation, Pigaphetta ;■fecondly, the manufcript is fo defective in orthography, language, fyntax, andlogic, as oftentimes to have no meaning, as will be feen by reference to the paffages Ifliall occafionally quote in the notes; thirdly, a third part of the volume confifts ofblank paper, which gives room for conjecture that this copy was defigned for fomeone who wifhed to add other matters, and that the Cavallero Pigafetta never even faw■it; for had he, affuredly he would have corrected the groffer faults, and would not■probably have added his Treatife on Navigation ; or, if he had, he would not haveomitted to have given in this laft work the figure to which he refers the reader, andwhich does not appear.
XXVI. But, though this manufcript fhould not be of the hand-writing of Pigafetta ,it is not the lefs valuable ; fince it was, as we fhall prefently fee, written in the life-time of that celebrated traveller, and fince it is authentic, as will be gathered fromits accordance with all we know of this voyage, and the countries of which it fpeaks.This accordance, moreover, is efpecially diftinguifhable in the vocabularies. Indeedthe errors themfelves, and the fables contained in the work, prove the authenticity ofthe writer, who has detailed the relations made to him, and the phenomena heobferved, as they prefented themfelves to his fenles. Finally, this manufcript isunique. I have been unable to learn whence the Cardinal Frederic Barromeo, (a nameever dear to fcience,) and above all, thofe interefted in the library he founded, obtainedthis manufcript. I Ihall merely obferve, that on the infide of the cover is written,“ Ce livre eft du Chevalier Forrete:” and, as the hiftory of Malta informs us, that,at the time of the Grand Mafter Villers De L’lfle-Adam, and of Pigafetta , there weretwo knights of Jerufalem, by name de Forret and de la Foreft f, it probably belongedto either one or the other of thefe.
XXVII. Now, the tranflation of this manufcript is what I am about to publilh. Ihave, if fuch an expreffion be permitted, tranflated it into pure Italian , from theoriginal idiom, which is a mixture of Italian , Venetian, and Spanilh ; for, had Ipublifhed it as it appears in the manufcript, inftead of affording inftrudlion andamufement, this voyage would affuredly at once have tired and difgufted the reader.From the Italian I tranflated it into French ; but in the notes I have frequentlygiven the paffages in the very manner they occur in the manufcript. I have madeufe of the fame names given by the author, in fpeaking of the new countrieshe faw, pointing out in the notes thofe by which they are at prefent known. Forthe fame reafon as influenced me in this inftance, I have left the errors in phyfics andnatural hiftory as I found them in Pigafetta , contenting myfelf with pointing themout to the reader. Certain cuftoms, which the author relates to have either feenhimfelf or to have heard related, where the language was too loofe for the prefent age,
* Malta admiranda obfervandaque pollens piftura et fcriptis adnotata depofuit lococitato.
f Philibert de la Foreft lived in 15ID and Jean de Forret was in Rhodes when that place was befieged-in 152.2. Boflfo, Iftoria della facra religione e ill-s raa m'lizia Gerofoliraitana, part ii.
have