principal author of the war, were both slain; besides which, he conquered their fortresses, and compelled them all to submit to the obedience and service of our sovereign. In this war, two great and wonderful events took place: the _first_, that all the chiefs and kings of these islands united against us, who used ever to be at variance among themselves; and _secondly_, that Galvano, with only the ordinary garrison, should obtain the victory against so great a combination. It has happened to other governors of the Moluccas, with an extraordinary number of European troops, and assisted by all the other native lords, to go to war with one king only, and to come back with loss; whereas he, with a small and inadequate force, successfully waged war against a confederacy of all the lords of these islands.

"Three brilliant exploits have been performed in India, beyond all others. The capture of Muar by Emanuel Falcon; the winning of Bitam by Peter Mascarenas; and this victory obtained by Galvano. Besides this great exploit, his father and four brothers were all slain in the kings service; and he, being the last of his lineage, carried with him about 10,000 crusadoes into the Moluccas, all of which he expended in propagating our holy faith, and in preserving these valuable islands, using all his power and influence to bring all the cloves into the kings coffers, by which he added 500,000 crusadoes yearly to the royal revenue. Had he gathered cloves on his own account, as other governors of the Moluccas have done, he might have come home very rich; but returning poor, and, in the simplicity of his nature, expecting to be rewarded for his honest services, he was entirely neglected, and had to take refuge in an hospital, where he remained seventeen years, till his death, when he was 2000 crusadoes in debt; partly for demands upon him from India, and partly borrowed from his friends to maintain him in the hospital. After his death, the cardinal desired me to give his other writings to Damien de Goes, promising to content me for them, which otherwise I should not have done; yet hitherto I have not received any thing with which to execute his will. Yet, for all this, as in the prosperity of his victories he made no boast, so, in his adversity, he always preserved an unabated spirit. Your grace, therefore, may perceive, that this treatise, and his other works, were written under great afflictions; yet was he not willing to use the remedy of Zelim, the son of the great Turk Mahomet, who took Constantinople, and died in Rome, who used to make himself drunk, that he might forget the high estate from which he had fallen. Neither would he follow the councils of many of his friends, in withdrawing from the kingdom; saying, he had rather resemble Timocles the Athenian, than the Roman Coriolanus. For all which, this treatise ought to receive favour from your grace, allowing for any oversights of the author, if there be any such, as I am unfit to detect or correct then. God prosper your grace with long life, and increase of honour."

[1] Oxford Collection, II. 353. Clarke, Progr. of Marit. Disc. I. App 1.

[2] Oxford Collection, I. viii.

SECTION I.

_Epitome of the Ancient and Modern Discoveries of the World, chiefly by means of Navigation, from the Flood to the close of the Fifteenth Century._

When I first desired to compose an account of the ancient and modern discoveries by sea and land, with their true dates and situations, these two principal circumstances seemed involved in such difficulty and confusion, that I had almost desisted from the attempt. Even in regard to the date of the flood, the Hebrews reckon that event to have happened 1656 years after the creation: while the seventy interpreters make it 2242; and St Augustine extends the time to 2262 years[1]. In regard to geographical situations, likewise, there are many differences; for there