between the line and the tropics.  But, in the present voyage, they were never able to procure a favourable wind, and were therefore forced back to the Moluccas, where they arrived in great affliction, as Saavedra died by the way[64].  Had Saavedra lived, he intended to have opened a navigable communication from sea to sea, through the land of Castilia del Oro and New Spain, which might have been done in one or other of the following places:—­1.  From the gulph of St Michael to Uraba, which is 25 leagues, or 100 miles. 2.  From Panama to Nombre de Dios, which is 17 leagues, or 68 miles, much the greater part consisting of the river Chagre, navigable for small craft. 3.  Through the river Xaquator, now St Juan, in the province of Nicaragua, which springs out of a lake that reaches to within three or four leagues of the South Sea, and falls into the North Sea, being navigable by large boats and lighters. 4.  The other place is from Tecoantepec, through a river, to Verdadera Cruz, in the bay of Honduras[65].

In the year 1529, Damiano de Goes, a Portuguese, travelled over all Spain, and went from Flanders into England and Scotland, being at the courts of the kings of these countries; after that he returned into Flanders, and travelled through Zealand, Holland, Brabant, Luxemburgh, Switzerland, and through the cities of Cologne, Spires, Strasburg, Basil, and other parts of Germany, and so back to Flanders.  He went thence into France, through Piccardy, Normandy, Champagne, Burgundy, the dukedom of Bourbon, Gascony, Languedoc, Dauphiny, and Savoy; passing into Italy by Milan, Ferrara, and Lombardy, to Venice.  Turning back, he passed through the territory of Genoa, the dukedom of Florence, and all Tuscany, to Rome and Naples.  Thence back, through Italy, to Ulm, in Germany, and through Swabia, Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary, to the confines of Greece.  Thence through Poland, Prussia, and Livonia, to the great dukedom of Moscovy; and thence back into Germany, and through the dominions of the Landgrave, and the dukedom of Saxony, into Denmark, Gothland, and Norway, penetrating to lat. 70 deg..N.  In the course of these travels, which occupied him during 22 years, he saw, spoke to, and was conversant with, all the kings, princes, nobles, and chief cities of all Christendom; for which reason, I thought the great extent of his travels was worthy of remembrance.

In 1529 or 1530, Melchior de Sosa Tavarez went from Ormus to Bassora, and the islands of Gissara, with some ships of war, and sailed up to where the Euphrates and Tigris unite together, being the first of the Portuguese who had sailed so far on the fresh water in these parts.  Not long after this, a Portuguese, named Ferdinando Coutinho, being at Ormus, determined to return overland from thence to Portugal.  For this purpose he went to Arabia, and up the river Euphrates, for the space of a month, and saw many countries and kingdoms that had not been before visited by the Portuguese.