Crossing the Meridian o/180°, 195 



the necessity of the alteration, but their amazement reminds 

 me of the dismay of earlier Catholic navigators, when they 

 found they had been keeping irregular fast days. Thus, 

 when the first circumnavigation of the globe was made by 

 Magelhaen, who sailed in the 8an Lucas de Barrameda on 20th 

 September, 1519, he found on his return, after a three years' 

 cruise, to Santiago, one of the Cape De Verd Islands, that 

 the Portuguese there were keeping Thursday, the 10th July, 

 1522, whereas his log marked Wednesday, the 9th, he having 

 doubled the Horn and sailed from east to west. The idea 

 of having lost a day of their lives disquieted the worthy and 

 pious mariners far less than the fact that they had observed 

 Lady-day erroneously, and had eaten meat on fast days! 

 On their return to Spain they could not get credit for the 

 lost day, which was set down to an error in reckoning, the 

 meaning being that they had omitted the intercalary day 

 in February, 1520. Peter Martyr spoke concerning this to 

 the renowned Venetian ambassador, Contarini, who at once 

 pointed out that a day must necessarily be lost in the course 

 steered by the Victoria, while, on the other hand, a day would 

 have been gained by sailing from W. to E. One consequence 

 of this proof of the sphericity of the earth was, that it at 

 once became obviously necessary to draw a line of demarca- 

 tion between the Spanish and Portuguese settlements. Thus, 

 too. Captain Steen Bille relates, that when he sailed from 

 Tahiti he logged his departure as on Friday, 18th December, 

 whereas on the adjacent island of Borra-Borra they were 



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