1588. MaldoiVado. 129 



authenticity" of the va§('age in question in the 

 person of M. Buache, the French geographer, who 

 read a memoir on the subject, before the French 

 Academy of Sciences, as far back as 1790. The 

 forgery, however, is incontrovertibly proved from 

 all the circumstances therein mentioned beiuQ- 

 wholly at variance with our present knowledge of 

 things as they actually exist. It cannot possibly 

 now mislead any one not grossly ignorant of geo- 

 graphy ; and its numerous anachronisms might have 

 led to its detection even at the time the voyage is 

 stated to have been made ; but the truth seems to be 

 that this manuscript, like many others, was locked 

 up among the musty records of the state, and kept 

 so long concealed, that, when again brought to 

 light, it was as new to the Spaniards as to the rest 

 of the w^orld. It evidently appears to have been 

 fabricated many years subsequent to the date of 

 the supposed voyage, as it notices the discoveries 

 of Quiros, which were not known till the year 

 1607- Captain Burney has conjectured that it is 

 the fabrication of some Fleming, as the reckoning 

 of distances is in German leagues, fifteen to the 

 degree, and not in the Spanish league of 171 to a 

 degree. As this " Relation" is at any rate a curi- 

 ous document, and has never appeared in the 

 English language, a translation from a Spanish 

 copy of the original manuscript, in the possession 

 of the Due d'Infantado, will be found in the 



VOL. I. K 



