542 ROYAL SOCIEIY OF CANADA 



370 leagues equal to twenty-three degrees, or 16'|;, leagues to each degree on 

 that parallel. Very soon after (Feb. 28) their Majesties wrote as follows : 



By the Kix; and tiii: Qukk.n — To Jaime Ferrer, their Subject. 



The King and the Queen. Jaime Ferrer. We saw your letter and the 

 inclosuie you sent us therein, which seems to us very good. We consider 

 your having sent it as a service; but for the understanding of it, it is neces- 

 sary you should be here, and, for our service, that you should put your com- 

 ing into effect so that you shall be here at latest on the first of May. In 

 which you will do us service. 



From Madrid on the 2Sth day of February, 1495. 



I THE King — I the Queen. 



By order of the King and Queen. 

 Joan de la Parra. 



There is no date attached to the following formal opinion, but, taken in 

 connection with the preceding letters, it must have been presented sometime 

 during the first half of 1495. It also is in Navarrete (Vol. 2, p. 113) as fol- 

 lows. The calculations and the nautical statements in sections 4 to 6 do not 

 impress the reader with a high opinion of Ferrer's attainments; but that may 

 partly be accounted for by errors in copying or printing. 



The opinion and judgment of Mossen Jaume Ferrer regarding the Treaty 

 made between the Most Catholic Sovereigns and the King of Portugal ; in 

 which is shown that the author was a great cosmographer and a wonderful 

 expert on the sea. 



1. The manner of determining the terminus or end of the three hundred 

 and seventy leagues, starting from the Islands of Cape Verde on a westerly 

 line is as follows : 



2. First, it must be noted that the said Cape Verde and its islands lie 

 fifteen degrees from the equator, and it is likewise to be noted that the said 

 370 leagues, starting from the said islands, comprise to the west eighteen 

 degrees, and each degree on that parallel contains twenty leagues and five- 

 eighths. Moreover, it is necessary to make a straight line, in latitude (sic) 

 from pole to pole only in this our hemisphere, intersecting the said parallel 

 exactly at the end of the said eighteen degrees; and everything lying within 

 this line on the left hand, turning towards (he side of Guinea, will belong to 

 the Kii;g cf I'ortugai, and the other part by the West as far as it turns by the 

 East towards the Arabian Gulf will belong to the Kings our Lords, if their 

 Bhips first sail thither. And this is what I understand by the treaty made by 

 your Highnesses with the King of Portugal. 



3. And a truth it is and a chief principle in cosmography that in sailing 

 on one same parallel the said terminus can never be ascertained by means of 

 the elevation of the Pole-star (Polus mundi); and the reason is this, that in 

 Bailing always by the same parallel the said Pole-star (Polus) maintains the 

 same elevation through all the circumference of the said parallel. And that 

 is true. 



4. Nevertheless, I say, that it is possible and a very certain thing that 

 the said terminus and extremity of the said 370 leagues can be ascertained by 

 the North star by the following rule and practical method. 



It is necessary for the vessel leaving the Cape Verde islands in search of 

 the said terminus to leave the western parallel or line upon the left hand and 

 to take her course by the quarter of the West towards the Northwest, and to 

 continue to sail in that direction until the Pole-star rises eighteen degrees 

 and one-third, and then tlie said vessel will be exactly on the aforesaid line 

 which passes from pole to pole at the extremity of the 370 leagues. And from 



