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Rh and Berbera in Somaliland; he then (early in 1504?) ran across to the Indian port of Diu in Gujarat, afterwards famous as a Portuguese fortress. From Diu he sailed up the Gulf of Cambay to Gogo, and thence turning back towards the Persian Gulf made Julfar (just within the entrance of the gulf), Muscat and Ormuz. From Ormuz he seems to have journeyed across Persia to Herat, returning thence south-west to Shiraz, where he entered into partnership with a Persian merchant, who accompanied him during nearly all his travels in South Asia. After an unsuccessful attempt to reach Samarkand, the two returned to Shiraz, came down to Ormuz, and took ship for India. From the mouth of the Indus Varthema coasted down the whole west coast of India, touching at Cambay and Chaul; at Goa, whence he made an excursion inland to Bijapur; at Cannanore, from which he again struck into the interior to visit Vijayanagar on the Tungabudra; and at Calicut (1505?), where he stops to describe the society, manners and customs of Malabar, as well as the topography and trade of the city, the court and government of its sovereign (the Zamorin), its justice, religion, navigation and military organization. No- where do Varthema's accuracy and observing power show themselves more strikingly. Passing on by the " backwater of Cochin," and calling at Kulam (Quilon), he rounded Cape Comorin, and passed over to Ceylon (1506?). Though his stay here was brief (at Colombo?), he learnt a good deal about the island, from which he sailed to Pulicat, slightly north of Madras, then subject to Vijayanagar. Thence he crossed over to Tenasserim in the Malay Peninsula, to Banghella, perhaps near Chittagong, at the head of the Bay of Bengal, and to Pegu, in the company of his Persian friend and of two Chinese Christians (Nestorians ?) whom he met at Banghella. After some successful trading with the king of Pegu, Varthema and his party sailed on to Malacca, crossed over to Pider (Pedir) in Sumatra, and thence proceeded to Bandan (Banda) and Monoch (one of the Moluccas), the farthest eastward points reached by the Italian traveller. From the Moluccas he returned westward, touched at Borneo, and there chartered a vessel for Java, the "largest of islands," as his Christian companions reckoned it. He notes the use of compass and chart by the native captain on the transit from Bornei to Giava, and preserves a curious, more than half-mythical, reference to supposed Far Southern lands. From Java he crossed over to Malacca, where he and his Persian ally parted from the Chinese Christians; from Malacca he returned to the Coromandel coast, and from Negapatam (?) in Coromandel he voyaged back, round Cape Comorin, to Kulam and Calicut. Varthema was now anxious to resume Christianity and return to Europe; after some time he succeeded in desert- ing to the Portuguese garrison at Cannanore (early in 1506?). He fought for the Portuguese in various engagements, and was knighted by the viceroy Francisco d' Almeida, the navigator Tristan da Cunha being his "sponsor." For a year and a half he acted as Portuguese factor at Cochin, and on the 6th of December 1507 (?) he finally left India for Europe by the Cape route. Sailing from Cannanore, Varthema apparently struck Africa about Malindi, and (probably) coasting by Mombasa and Kilwa arrived at Mozambique, where he notices the Portuguese fortress then building, and describes with his usual accuracy the negroes of the mainland. Beyond the Cape of Good Hope he encountered furious storms, but arrived safely in Lisbon after sighting St Helena and Ascension, and touching at the Azores. In Portugal the king received him cordially, kept him some days at court "to learn about India," and confirmed the knighthood conferred by d'Almeida. His narrative finally brings him to Rome, where he takes leave of the reader. As Richard Burton says {Pilgrimage to. . . Meccah, 1855, vol. ii. p. 352): "For correctness of observation and readiness of wit " Varthema " stands in the foremost rank of the old Oriental travellers." In Arabia and in the Indian archipelago east of Java he is (for Europe and Christendom) a real discoverer. Even where passing over ground traversed by earlier European explorers, his keen intelligence frequently adds valuable original notes on peoples, manners, customs, laws, religions, products, trade, methods of war, &c.

{{EB1911 Fine Print|Varthema's work {''Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese. . . ) was first published in Italian at Rome in 15 10 (ad instdtia de Lodouico de Henricis da Corneto Vicetino). Other Italian editions appeared at Rome, 1517, at Venice, 1518, 1535, 1563, 1589, &c., at Milan, 1519, 1523, 1525, &c. Latin translations appeared at Milan, 1511 (by Archangelus Madrignanus) ; and at Nuremberg, 1610 (Frankfort, 1611); as well as in the Novus Orbis of Simon Grynaeus (Basel, 1532). German versions came out at Augsburg, 1515 (Strassburg, 1516); at Strassburg, by Michael Herr, in his New Welt, from Grynaeus, 1534; at Leipzig, by Hieronymus Megiserus, 1610 (and 1615), &c. A Spanish translation was issued at Seville, 1520 (from the Latin), and a French at Lyons, 1556. Dutch versions were printed at Antwerp, 1563 (from Grynaeus), at Utrecht, 1615 (from the Leipzig German of 1610), and again at Utrecht, 1655. The first English translation was of 1576-1577 (in Richard Eden's History of Travayle); an extract from Varthema was inserted in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage (London, 1625-1626); and in 1863 appeared the Hakluyt Society edition by J. W. Jones and G. P. Badger (Travels of Ludovico di Varthema'', London).}} (C. R. B.)

VARUNA, in early Hindu mythology, the greatest, with Indra, of the gods of the Rig Veda. He is invoked with his double Mitra in some dozen hymns. As contrasted with Indra the war god, Varuna is the lord of the natural laws, the up- holder of the physical and moral order of the universe. His power is limitless, his anger at wrong-doing unassuageable, and he is omniscient. He makes the sunshine; the wind is his breath; river valleys are hollowed out at his command. Unlike Indra, Varuna has no myths related of him. In the later Vedic period he is specially connected with the nocturnal heavens. Ultimately in post-Vedic mythology he becomes the Hindu Neptune. The earlier conception of Varuna is singularly similar to that of Ahuramazda, of the Avesta. The name Varuna may be Indo-European, identifiable, some believe, with the Greek ovpavbs (Uranus), and ultimately referable to a root var, "to cover," Varuna thus meaning "the Encompasser." Among Varuna's aliases are Jalapati, "Lord of Water," and Amburaja, " King of Water."

VASA, or Nikolaistad, in the grand duchy of Finland, capital of the province of Vasa, on the east coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, 327 m. by rail north-west of Helsingfors. Pop. (1904) 18,028. It has two classical lyceums for boys and three for girls, a school of navigation, and a large number of primary schools. There is a shipyard and a considerable export trade. Vasa was founded on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia in 1606, but after the great fire of 1852, as the sea had already receded for a considerable distance, the town was rebuilt nearer to the shore and received the official name of Nikolaistad. The population of the province (1904) was 295,187.

VASARI, GIORGIO (1511-1571), Italian painter and architect, whose main distinction, however, rests on his valuable history of Italian art, was born at Arezzo on the 30th of July 1511. At a very early age he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, a very skilful painter of stained glass, to whom he was recommended by his own kinsman, the painter Luca Signorelli. At the age of sixteen he went to Florence, where he studied under Michelangelo and Andrea del Sarto, aided by the patronage of the Medici princes. In 1529 he visited Rome and studied the works of Raphael and others of his school. The paintings of Vasari were much admired by the rapidly degenerating taste of the ifith century; but they possess the smallest amount of merit, being in the main feeble parodies of the powerful works of Michelangelo. Vasari was largely employed in Florence, Rome, Naples, Arezzo and other places. Many of his pictures still exist, the most important being the wall and ceiling paintings in the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and his frescoes on the cupola of the cathedral, which, however, were not completed at the time of his death. As an architect he was perhaps more successful: the loggia of the Uffizi by the Arno, and the long passage connecting it with the Pitti Palace, are his chief works. Unhappily he did much to injure the fine medieval churches of S. Maria Novella and Santa Croce, from both of which he removed the original rood-screen and loft, and remodelled the retro-choir in the degraded taste of his time. Vasari enjoyed a very high repute