[s. E. DAWSON-] THE LINES OF DEMARCATION S41 



APPENDIX D. 



Correspondence between the Sovereigns of Spain and Jaime Ferrer con- 

 cerning the position and the best manner of laying down the line of demarca- 

 tion of the treaty of Tordesillas, signed June 7, 1494. Extracted from 

 Navarrete Coleccion de los Tuijcs, vol. 2, p. 111. Translated with the aid of an 

 ofiâciaî expert translator of Spanish. 



January 27, 1495. 



To the very high and very puissant Sovereigns of Spain, &c., by the grace 

 of God our very righteous lords. 



Very high and very powerful Sovereigns: Don Juan de la Nussa, Lieu- 

 tenant of your Highnesses, has twice shown me some instructions in which 

 your Highnesses make known the decision regarding the partition your High- 

 nesses have made with the most illustrious king of Portugal upon the Ocean, 

 starting from Cape Verde in a westerly line for a distance of three hundred 

 and seventy leagues; and therefore, very high and most serene Sovereigns, 

 I have examined (the subject) to the extent of my humble understanding, 

 although late, and not so soon as I had wished, on account of a slight illness; 

 and therefore I send to your Highnesses, by a man of mine, a figure of the 

 world on a large scale on which may be seen the two hemispheres, to wit, 

 our Arctic and the opposite Antarctic one. And likev/ise you will see the 

 equinoctial circle and the two tropics of the declination of the sun, and the 

 seven climates, and each one of these circles put in its proper place as in the 

 treatise on the sphere and in the situ orbis learned men direct and divide into 

 degrees. And, in order that the distance may more clearly be seen of the 

 said three hundred and seventy leagues and how far they extend in a wes- 

 terly line starting from the said Cape Verde, I have intersected the said dis- 

 tance from pole to pole with red lines, which at the equator are twenty-three 

 degrees apart, and with acute angles, the said lines correspond to the poles 

 of the earth in this figure : — 



and all that is crossed by yellow lines will be what 

 belongs to the most illustrious King of Portugal, 

 turning in the direction of the Antarctic pole. And 

 this distance of sea completes the said three hun- 

 dred and seventy leagues which are, as I said above, 

 twenty-three degrees starting from Cape Verde in a 

 westerly line. 



And if in connection with this decision (treaty of partition) your High- 

 nesses should command that I should go thither (to Cape Verde) I will, of my 

 groat and obedient love, certainly go at my own expense and without any 

 pay. And in very truth my desire is that all I have in this world shall be 

 at the service of your Royal Highnesses — whom may the infinite Trinity ever 

 keep in guard and protection with very long and very prosperous life. 

 From Barcelona, January 27, 1495. 



Their Catholic Majesties did not understand the above letter, and indeed, 

 if the little figure above may be taken as an indication of what was on the 

 map sent, it is not to be wondered at. Ferrer counted the distance as from 

 Cape Verde, whereas it was from the islands off that cape, and he made the 



