288 EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF THE CONTEMPLATION OP 



to tlie navigators and land travellers of the period of which 

 we are treating, the magnificent spectacle of the southern 

 constellations, longer and more frequently than could have 

 been the case in the time of Hiram or of the Ptole- 

 mies, or under the Roman Empire, or in the course of 

 the commerce of the Arabians in the Bed Sea, and in the 

 Indian Ocean between the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and 

 the western peninsula of India. Amerigo Vespucci, in his 

 letters, Yicente Yanez Pinzon, Pigafetta who accompanied 

 Magellan and Elcano, as well as Andrea Corsali in his 

 voyage to Cochin in Eastern India in the beginning of the 

 16th century, have given us a record of the vivid impressions 

 produced by the earliest contemplation of the southern 

 heavens beyond the feet of the Centaur, and the fine 

 constellation of the Ship. Amerigo, who had more literary ac- 

 quirement than the others, but who was also more inclined to a 

 vain-glorious display, praises not unpleasingly the brightness, 

 the picturesque beauty, and the novel aspect of the constella- 

 tions which circle round the southern pole, of which the 

 more immediate vicinity is poor in stars. He affirms in his 

 letter to Pierfrancesco de Medici, that on his third voyage 

 he occupied himself carefully with observing the southern 

 constellations, measuring the polar distance of the principal 

 amongst them, and making drawings of them. .What he 

 communicates on the subject does not indeed lead us greatly 

 to regret the loss of his measurements. 



I find the first description of the enigmatical black 

 patches, (Coalbags) given by Anghiera in 1510. They ha4 

 been remarked as early as 1499 by the companions of 

 Yicente Yanez Pinzon, on the expedition which went from 

 Palos and took possession of the Brazilian Cape St. 



