THE VOYAGERS 



later, at the request of the English ambassador, he 



expounded his ideas at length. The world, he says, 



has been divided between the Kings of Spain and of 



Portugal, and he gives an account of the contested 



ownership of the Philippines, which he takes to be the 



richest prize of all. For ' the preciousness of these 



things is measured after the distance that is between 



us and the things that we have appetite unto ' ; moreover, 



the inhabitants of these spice islands ' set more by a 



knife and a nail of iron than by his quantity of gold.' 



But the way to these islands is barred to us. The The zvay to 



Spaniards hold the westward route, by the Straits of ^^^ ^^'^^ 



Magellan ; the Portuguese the eastward, by the Cape of 



Good Hope. The English have left to them but one 



way to discover, and that is by the North. If the seas 



toward the North be navigable, we may go to these 



spice islands a shorter way by two thousand leagues 



than Spain and Portugal, who have each of them more 



than four thousand leagues to traverse. 'And,* says 



Master Thorne, anticipating an objection which, forty 



years later, became a burning question of practical politics, 



' though we went not to the said islands, for that they 



are the Emperor's, or King's of Portingale, we should 



by the way, and coming once to the line equinoctial, 



find lands no less rich of gold and spicery, as all other 



lands are under the said line equinoctial ; and also should, 



if we may pass under the North, enjoy the navigation 



of all Tartary, which should be no less profitable to our 



commodities of cloth, than these spiceries to the Emperor 



and King of Portingale.' But the Northern seas, it 



may be objected, are blocked with ice ; and the Northern perils of the 



lands are too cold for man to dwell in. To which T^orth. 



21 



