The first thing required and presupposed in this matter of defining and determining the present case of the ownership of the Malucos is to ascertain where the divisional line passes; and secondly the location of the above-mentioned Malucos. As to the first—the location of the said line—we their Majesties' deputies declare: We have voted already for many reasons and causes that this line must pass west of the island of Sant Antonio, the measurement commencing from this place, as we have demonstrated by our words and drawings during the procedure of this case; and we declare the same now by our vote and decision. As to the second, we assert that the Malucos fall many degrees within their Majesties' demarcation. In verification of this assertion it is to be noted, that, since the sphere has a circumference of three hundred and sixty degrees, this number should, of necessity, correspond to the distance, demonstrated by the deputies of the King of Portugal, to be comprised between the meridian of the island of La Sal and the Malucos, plus our assertion of the distance westward to the same Malucos. And as this number of degrees not only is not attained in the said navigation, but the latter rather falls short of it by about fifty degrees, no other reason can be assigned for the shortage, except that it arises from the distance eastward being greater than they have shown it to be; and the error consists in their having shortened the said journey, which is suspected and proved conclusively according to the following.
First, because it is sufficiently clear evidence to note that, in the prosecution of this case, they attempted to make use of ends which were manifestly unjustifiable, and wished to delay and not arrive at a conclusion. This was quite apparent when they immediately refused to admit Simon de Alcazaba, because he had voyaged in those seas and lands with the Portuguese, and knew the truth concerning their distances, and the places where they shortened the distances; and because some days must pass before their Majesties' commission to elect another judge, could arrive from Búrgos. Item: because on Saturday, April 23, we [the Castilian deputies] voted upon the order of investigating the three points necessary in the prosecution of this case, namely, in what manner we should determine the demarcation,—whether on a plane or spherical surface,—what location we should assign to the Cabo Verde islands, and from which one of them we should commence to measure the three hundred and seventy leagues; they in a matter so apparent, and of so little inconvenience or room for speculation, would not vote until Wednesday, May 4, a space of eleven days, and in order to cause confusion they voted that the first thing to determine was from what island the three hundred and seventy leagues to the line were to be measured, it being beyond the bounds of reason to discuss such a thing before investigating or ascertaining the relative locations of these islands with regard to each other, examining them in some manner, in order afterwards to enable us to determine from which one such measurement should be made. This we showed most conclusively by the reasons brought forward in this case. But wishing the verification of the truth, we consented to proceed in the matter as they elected.
Item: when it came to a vote as to the island from which the three hundred and seventy leagues was to be measured, they voted for the islands of La Sal and Buena Vista. This was quite contrary to justice, inasmuch as the measurement should begin at the island of Sant Antonio, the most westerly of the Cabo Verde islands, as is apparent from reasons adduced by us. It is apparent also from these reasons that, at our last meeting in Yelves, they brought in a globe upon which the line of demarcation had been drawn by them twenty-one and one-half degrees west of the said island of Sant Antonio. This they tried to disavow so that the notaries could give no testimony regarding it, telling them they could give no other testimony than that they saw a reddish band just like many others on the globe. Nevertheless in downright truth, in a globe marked with the points of the compass as it was, on which the principal winds were shown in black, the mid winds in green, and the quadrants in lines of a reddish hue, there could not be a quadrant or colored band passing from pole to pole—especially since there was but one, all the others being black—which they were substituting for the north and south wind, blowing from one pole to the other, and which is placed on such globes instead of the wind or meridian line.
Therefore it is apparent from the above that they had drawn this line long before they voted for the line of demarcation, by the sphere which they showed to have been made long before; and which if it had other reddish lines girdling the sphere, these latter did not pass through the poles as this line did, but started from the center of the compasses placed on the equinoctial, and were in proportion to other circular lines. But this line was in proportion to no other line, saving one corresponding to the number of the three hundred and seventy leagues reckoned from the island of Sant Antonio, just as we voted it must be located. Therefore it is proved by this line and globe that the said line was in harmony with our vote in regard to the distance it must have from the said island of Sant Antonio and in regard to its passing from one pole to the other, according to the stipulation of the first treaty negotiated between the Catholic sovereigns and King Don Juan (may they rest in peace), and not in harmony with it, in regard to the other things maintained on this point in the said globe. Therefore it results that they voted contrary to justice, with intent to show that they had navigated a shorter distance, and to delay and cause disagreement in these negotiations because of this point. All the above is apparent and is proved by the records of this assembly, and it is inferred therefrom that they did not consider or regard as true the few degrees they had given out.
Item: having agreed that we should bring good maps on which we would show our voyages westward, and they theirs eastward, they produced a map, upon which were shown only a few points and principal capes, and those lately inserted thereon; so that their voyages could not be ascertained. Neither was it possible to verify in such a map what they compressed in it. As the said distance of degrees given by them was not true, as would be quite apparent if they brought a good map, and one made some time before, in which their said navigation should be contained, and as they had no just excuse to palliate such contention, they said that they brought the said maps only to locate the Cabo Verde islands, which by the very same map was proved to be contrary to the truth and was not a sufficient excuse, since the said islands were not located on this map, as is evident from the judicial records. Therefore because of all the above reasons, and because it might not be possible to verify later what had passed, they would not permit the judges and notaries of the case to examine the said map. More than this, having decided afterwards upon the location of the said islands, we were in agreement with a map on which they had located them. As the decision was not unanimous they locked up the said map and would not produce it again, although they were requested to do so by us. And therefore, they voted afterwards upon the location of the said islands contrary to their own determination of them in the said map, and contrary to what we voted in the said case. They did this contrary to all reason and right, as was proved afterwards by a globe that they showed, on which both the island of Sant Antonio and that of La Sal were exactly where we located them, as is evident from the judicial records of this case. Consequently they acted contrary to what they had declared and voted. In the same way it was proved by the said globe [the first one] that the voyage eastward from the said island of La Sal to the Malucos, was greater than they had declared at first; and the said globe did not conform with the map they had shown first, nor even with another globe they produced. It is adduced from all the above by, evidence and clear demonstration, that the said distance of degrees asserted by them is untrue. Therefore they sought and tried to delay these negotiations, alleging that maps and globes were insufficient instruments from which to ascertain the truth, and that the demarcation could not be determined by them. They begged insistently that other methods of eclipses and fixed stars be sought, not taking into account, as we have said, that these are causes for great delay; for the consideration of such eclipses, and the movement of the moon, and its visual conjunction with any fixed star, and all other like mathematical considerations can at present be of no advantage to us, because of our being limited to such a brief period as two months, in examining and determining this matter. From this [the short time] it is seen that it was not the intention of those sending us that such expedients should be sought or pursued. It can be well said from the above that he who has a poor proof, shows in detail the witnesses to that fact, and therefore, we shall demonstrate in the following more fully and specifically that the said distance is not what they assert, and that all reason, every document, and all experience contradict it.
First it is proved that they have on their part, lessened the number of degrees, for the voyage from Guinea to Calicut is shown to be greater than they assert or show, because from the time those lands were discovered until now, the said Portuguese have been shortening and lessening the said distance. [This assertion is proved by the various discoveries eastward made by the Portuguese navigators from the time of the Infante Don Enrique, (Prince Henry the Navigator) namely, Cadamosto, the Venetian; Antonieto, the Genoese; Pedro Zinzio; Diego Cano; Bartolomé Diaz; and Vasco da Gama. [185] The distances navigated by these men are given as they themselves recorded them.] Therefore with apparent reason the Itinerario Portugallensium, translated from Portuguese into Latin by Archangelo Madrignano, and which was printed in 1508, [186] in chapter sixty, reckons a distance of three thousand eight hundred leagues, or fifteen thousand miles from Lisbona to Calicut, and declares in the last chapter that it is a three months' voyage from Calicut to Zamotra.
Item. the said distance is proved to be much greater, as we assert, because of certain persons who traveled through and navigated the lands and seas eastward from the sea Rojo [Red Sea] and recorded their voyages at a time when there was no suspicion of a discussion like the present. [Gerónimo de Santisteban, a Genoese, is given as an example. He sailed from Aden to Calicut in thirty days, and in eighty-three days from Calicut to Zaumotra (Sumatra), a distance of about fourteen hundred leagues. "With this number agree Marco Paulo (Marco Polo) and Juan de Mandevilla (John Mandeville) in the self-same voyages and travels made by them, as is stated very diffusely in their books." The three-year voyage of King Solomon's ships, as recorded in "the third book of the Kings" [187] to "Ofir and Zetin whence they brought the gold to build the Temple," and which places "all writers upon the sacred scriptures assert" to be "toward the most eastern part of India," agree with the same figures.] From all the above, therefore it is inferred that the navigation from the said Mar Rubro [Red Sea] to the eastern part of India is a much greater distance than the Portuguese say.
Item: it is well-known that the Portuguese themselves confessed that the said Maluco islands were so far to the eastward that they fell within their Majesties' territories. And this was so apparent that one of the deputies acting now in this cause for the said King, by name Master Margallo, in a philosophical book written by him, and but lately out of press, in showing the division between Castilla and Portugal, proves that the said Malucos fall and are within their Majesties' limits. And too, when they were discovered by the Castilian fleet, the King of Portugal desiring to have information regarding their location and boundary, considered himself perfectly assured when all those whom he ordered to assemble for this purpose concluded that they lay within the Castilian boundaries. And therefore the more than great caution exercised up to that time in not permitting sea charts to be taken from his realms was thereafter observed much more strictly, and many maps were burned, destroyed, and seized, and an order was sent forth that the routes in all maps should be shortened. And those maps they do give out for purposes of navigation, to those who must sail toward India, they give on account, so that they must be returned to the treasury in order that there might be no information in other places as to the longitude of this route. And all the abovesaid is confirmed more clearly, because, notwithstanding the great caution exercised in Portugal in not allowing maps to be taken outside of the kingdom, certain Portuguese and Castilians have taken and possessed some maps. We, the said deputies of their Majesties, wishing to become better informed concerning these maps, in order to pronounce better and more truly upon this case, for the greater assurance of our consciences, and for the purpose of securing the most indubitable knowledge in regard to this matter, summoned before us certain pilots and men, skilled both in navigation and in making maps, globes, and mappamundos. These men have always tried to inform themselves with great care, concerning the distances and routes of the said voyage, both of those who made the voyage, and of those who delineated and located the lands comprehended in the voyage. They stated under oath and before two notaries and the secretary of this case, that they knew that the said navigation and the location of these lands comprised more degrees than was declared and demonstrated by the said deputies of the King of Portugal, by their globes and maps. So much greater was the distance that it was evident they were now trying to shorten the said voyage again by more than twenty-five degrees of longitude of the distance until now declared by them.
Therefore, as is apparent from the said information of modern navigators and cosmographers, both Portuguese and those of other nations, and from the relation of the said pilots and sailors, it has been proved completely that the said distances and routes, declared by the said deputies of Portugal, are neither just nor true, and that the deputies have reported them much shorter than, in sober truth, they are. From this it can be presumed, that inasmuch as they shorten the said route each day, the said mistake of fifty degrees proceeds doubtless from their eastern part and not from our western part.
Item: it is to be observed that, notwithstanding the said distances, expressed, as is shown by the said pilots who determined them, as they should, on a spherical body, the said Malucos fall many degrees within the limits of our lord, the Emperor, and that they lie a much greater number of degrees east of the island of La Sal, than they had declared, inasmuch as, according to geometrical reasoning, the lands situated along the said eastern voyage, placed on a plane surface, and the number of leagues being reckoned by equinoctial degrees, are not in their proper location as regards the number and quantity of their degrees, for it is well known in cosmography that a lesser number of leagues along parallels other than the equinoctial, occupy a greater quantity of degrees. Now then as almost all the lands from the Cabo Verde islands to the Malucos, are, for the most part quite distinct from the equinoctial, it will take a much greater number of degrees when they are transferred and drawn on the spherical body. Calculating by geometrical proportion, with the arc and chord, whereby we pass from a plane to a spherical surface, so that each parallel is just so much less as its distance from the equinoctial is increased, the number of degrees in the said maps is much greater than the said pilots confess, and consequently these lands fall by a greater number of degrees inside their Majesties' limits. In order to verify the above we must examine the itineraries and navigation routes, and the angles and intersections made by the routes with the meridians and parallels encountered, which are styled angles positionis among cosmographers. This is the most certain method of determining lands on a spherical body, when calculating them from the plane surface, as the following will show.