pigaeetta’s voyage round the world. 41-3

have gathered the tale from Jerome Benzon, whofe book was not publifhed at the timeof Poftell advancing the affertion. In his Cofmographica Difciplina, he fays *:—

“ With the very flight exception of the lands immediately under, or adjacent to thefouth pole, and the Chamafian and South Atlantic promontories, oppofite to eachother, beyond the equators, this firetching as far as 54 degrees, the latitude of MartinHohein’s Strait, denominated by fome the Strait of Magaglan from the Portuguefe ofthat name, and that to 35 degrees, the parallel of the Cape of Good Hope , the wholeface of the earth, interfered only by two divifions of the fea, may be faid to fpreadalmoft uninterruptedly from eafl to weft, and be prominent towards the northern partof the globe.

In the firft book De Univerfitate, the following paffage occurs:—

“ There is a portion of land hitherto undifcovered at the Nadir or on the meridianwhich forms the antipodes of our regions, which, however it may be, whether or netpertaining to the Atlantic continent, being almoft adherent to it at Martin BohenTsnrait, we annex to that land which forms a part of the new world f. In the fecondbook Poftel repeats what he had faid before : “ But the new world,” he fays, “ ftretchesh°m pole to pole uninterruptedly except where the connexion is broken by MartinHohem’s Strait, at 55 degrees beyond the equator, through which Strait Magalen paffedto circumnavigate the world, and from which he failed to the Moluccas J.”

After the publication of this book of Poftel, Benzon produced his Hiftory of theNew World §, which he dedicated to Pope Pius IV . This book was printed at GenevaLatin, in 1578, 1581, 1586, 1600, and 1670, in 8vo. under the title Novas OrbisLhftorias, &c. Benzon likewife tranflated this book into French , and editions in thatlanguage in 8vo. appeared in 1579 and 1580. It was publifhed in German at Bafle, inI°lio, in 1579 ; in Dutch at Amfterdam, in 4to. 1650. It was likewife given in Englifh<ft London , in folio, in 1625 ; and is inferted book iv. page 1448, of the new edition ofFurchas’s Collection of Voyages, publilhed alfo in London , 4to. 1773.

In the work of Benzon himfelf no mention is made of Martin Behaim , but he isalluded to in the Latin remarks of Chauveton, in words of which the following is ainflation:—

“■ The exploration of this Strait is to be attributed to Magellan , for the commanders°1 the other veffels were of opinion that the fea here afforded no paffage, and merelyOpened into a bay Magellan however knew that it was a ftrait, owing, as is faid, (thise might have heard from Poftel) to his having feen it laid down in a lea chart of thatcelebrated navigator Martin Bohem, prefervedin the mufeum of the King of Por-tugal ||. & 6

1 his ftatement was copied by Theodore de Bry , in his America 5 T, and is inferted ine French tranflation of Penzon, 1579 From Chauveton alfo, Metellus, who isftnoted by Wagenfeil, extracted the obfervation, and in fhort all fucceeding authors,e one copying the other. Indeed Chauveton is the perfon who has given the greateft

Publifhed at Bade in 4to. and Ludg. Batav. 1636, i6mo. edit. tert. c. ii. p. xxii.

P x .liel. Pollelli. de Univerfitate liber. Parifrs, 1563, 4to. lib. ii. Lugd. Batav. 1635, edit. tert. lib. ii.

t Ibid. p. cclvi.

illor t''°V e Orbis Hiftorite, i. e. Rerum ab Hifpanfs in India Occidental! hadtenus gefiarum, et de acerbof Cr - rum ,n eas gentes dominatu libri tres, primum ab Hieronymo Benzone, Italico fermone con-'P'*’ "unc in Latinum tranflatae et notis illuttratte ab Urbane Calvatone.fee ir ee , book *• °f the Voyage by Pigafetta, page 316. where this ftatement is made by Pigafetta himfelf;a °the remarks of Signor Amoretti, parag. xii. of the Introdudiion to the Voyage. Eng. Trans.

” "raocof. ad Meen. 1594,1596, and 1599) in folio, part iv. p. Ixvi. ** Page cxxxvi.

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