ABSTRACT
The Christians said to my companion: “ O my friend, take this news to your country, and take this other also which we will show you. Look there, now that it is mid day, turn your eyes towards where the sun sets.” And raising our eyes we saw that the sun cast a shadow to the left more than a palmo? And by this we understood that we were far distant from our country, at which we remained exceedingly astonished. And, according to what my com panion said, I think that this was the month of June ; for I had lost our months, and sometimes the name of the day. You must know that there is little difference between the cold with us and here. Having seen the customs of this island, it appeared to us that there was not much reason to remain in it, because it was necessary to be all night on guard for fear some wretch should come and carry us off to eat us. Wherefore, having called the Christians, we told them that, as soon as they could, we would return to our country. Before we departed, however, my companion
1 In the original, “ fa spera,” but in the edition of Ramus,io of 1613 it is rendered “ faceva ombra.” This is undoubtedly a gloss, but the meaning is preserved.
