er we
were going if I had not provided, in season for my own
safety and that of my companions, the astrolabe and
quadrant, my astrological instruments. On this occasion I
acquired no little glory for myself, so that from that time
forward I was held in such estimation by my companions as
the learned are held in by people of quality....

"This continent commences at eight degrees south of the
equinoctial line, and we sailed so far along the coast that
we passed seventeen degrees beyond the winter tropic,
towards the antarctic pole, which was here elevated fifty
degrees above the horizon. The things which I saw here are
unknown to the men of our times. That is, the people, their
customs, their humanity, the fertility of the soil, the
mildness of the atmosphere, the celestial bodies, and, above
all, the fixed stars of the eighth sphere, of which no
mention has ever been made. In fact, until now they have
never been known, even by the most learned of the ancients,
and I shall speak of them, therefore, more particularly....
The climate is very temperate and the country supremely
delightful. Although it has many hills, yet it is watered by
a great number of springs and rivers, and the forests are so
closely studded that one cannot pass through them, on
account of the thickly standing trees. Among these ramble
ferocious animals of various kinds.... The country produces
no metal except gold; and though we in this first voyage
have brought home none, yet all the people certified to the
fact, affirming that the region abounded in gold, and saying
that among them it was little esteemed and nearly valueless.
They have many pearls and precious stones, as we have
recorded before. Now, though I should be willing to describe
all these things particularly, yet, from the great number
of them and their diverse nature, this history would become
too extensive a work. Pliny, a most learned man, who
compiled histories of many things, did not imagine the
thousandth part of these. If he had treated of each one of
them, he would have made a much larger but in truth a very
perfect work....

"If there is a terrestrial paradise in the world, it cannot
be far from this region. The country, as I have said before,
facing the south, has such a tempera