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228 DISSERTATION OF JOHN ISAAC PONTANUS,
as we fhall mention in its place. It was faid to be impoffible to pafs twice under the
line, that the hope was too flender, and the danger too great and certain. Thefe ob-
jections and fome others did not diffuade Emanuel King of Portugal from his defign ;
and he completed the difcovery of that courfe through the ocean, which a year before
had been fhewn by his predeceffor to the Cape of Good Hope.
This prince having given the command of the fleet which he fent to the Indies to
Velafco de Gama, who accepted it, this commander embarked in 1497 at Califmalis, or
Cadiz.* He directed. his courfe towards Arabia, doubled the Cape of Good Hope,
made all the neceflary difcoveries, and arrived at the kingdom of Calicut. At his return
he related in prefence of the King every thing he had performed. For befides the tefti-
monies of the ancients, they had entertained frefh hopes of fucceeding in this naviga-
tion from the account of certain perfons whom the King had fent to Alexandria, with
orders to pafs from that place into Mauritania, which is above Egypt, whence they were
to proceed towards Italy, in order to learn in all thofe places trom the moft able per-
fons what route fhould be taken, after having pafled around the Cape of Good Hope,
in order to reach the Indies.
With refpeé& to the ancients, it is true it feems probable that the route by this Cape
may have been unknown to Ptolemy ; ; but Pliny exprefsly relates feveral circumftances,
from which it appears that the inhabitants of Cadiz formerly much frequented the parts
on this fide of the Cape: for he fays, that when C. Czefar, fon of Auguttus, waged war
on the Red Sea, wrecks of Spanifh veflels were obferved ; and that during the flou-
rifhing days of Carthage, when its power was dreaded, Hanno having failed from Cadiz
to the extremity of Arabia, had given a defcription of ‘that voyage. Befides, it may be
inferred from Cornelius Nepos, that this fame route was alfo known to the Arabs: for
he relates that in his time one Eudoxus, who fled from Lathyrus King of Alexandria,
having returned by the Red Sea, pafled to Cadiz; which is alfo precifely mentioned
by Pliny.
But és mutt finifh this digreflion, and return to our fubje&t. If therefore the Por-
tuguefe, from lending faith to thefe teftimonies of the ancients, have met with a happy
fuccefs, why fhall we pay no regard to what thefe fame ancients have related of the
navigation by the north? Their teftimonies and the thing itfelf well deferve that we
fhould make every imaginable attempt.
I pafs in filence what the chronicles of France and Denmark have faid of thofe of
Greenland; which chronicles of Denmark, Anfgarius, and after him Albert, minifters
of the gofpel, have publifhed at Hamburg, though at prefent their name is fcarcely
known; but thefe things will appear in a new light, if they be compared with what
has been related by Pliny already cited. This author tells us, on the faith of Cornelius
Nepos, that formerly there was a famous navigation made by the north, and he ad-
vances this proof: that when Q. Metellus Celer was conful with C. Afranius, being
alfo governor of the Gauls, the King of the Suabians made him a prefent of fome
Indians, who being at fea for traffic, had been forced by a tempeft and caft on Ger-
many: he underftands that part of Germany where the Wefer and Elbe difcharge
themfelves into the fea; for we have demonttrated elfewhere that the dominion of the
ancient Suabians extended to that place. It may be conjectured that thefe Indians had
parted from Cape ‘Tabin, which is in the north of Tartary, and is called Mount Tabin
by Pliny ; and that they were of Serés, a neighbouring country, and where at prefent
are the frontiers of Cathay, on the fide of the Dead Sea, thus named, or Sea of Mar-
*This paper is only inferted on account of its curiofity. Pontanus muft have been a miferable
geographer.
I mora;
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