around the pole, and an account of their diameters and
semi-diameters, as may be seen in my _Quattro Giornate_, or
_Four Journeys_.

"We ran on this coast about seven hundred and fifty leagues:
one hundred and fifty from Cape St. Augustine towards the
west, and six hundred towards the south. If I were to relate
all the things that I saw on this coast, and others that we
passed, as many more sheets as I have already written upon
would not be sufficient for the purpose. We saw nothing of
utility here, save a great number of dye-wood and cassia
trees, and also of those trees which produce myrrh. There
were, however, many natural curiosities, which cannot be
recounted.

"Having been already full ten months on the voyage, and
seeing that we had found no minerals in the country, we
concluded to take leave of it, and attempt the ocean in some
other part. It was determined in council to pursue whatever
course of navigation appeared best to me, and I was invested
with full command of the fleet. I ordered that all the
people and the fleet should be provided with wood and water
for six months--as much as the officers of the ship should
deem prudent to sail with. Having laid in our provisions, we
commenced our navigation with a southeasterly wind, on the
15th of February, when the sun was already approaching the
equinoctial line, and tending towards this, our northern
hemisphere. We were in such high southern latitude at this
time that the south pole was elevated fifty-two degrees
above the horizon, and we no longer saw the stars either of
Ursa Minor or Major.

"On the 3d of April we had sailed five hundred leagues from
the port we had left, and on this day commenced a storm so
violent that we had to take in all our sails and run under
bare poles. It was so furious that the whole fleet was in
apprehension. The nights were very long, being fifteen hours
in duration, the sun then being in Aries, and winter
prevailing in this region. While driven by this storm, on
the 7th of April, we came in sight of new land, and ran
within twenty leagues of it, finding the coast wild, and
seeing neither harbor nor inhabitants. The cold was so
severe that no one in the fleet could withstand or endure
it--which I conceive to be the reason for thi