Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 01).djvu/310

 from truth, that the very regions, in which they asserted that these spices were produced, are scarcely less distant from the countries in which it is now ascertained that they grow, than we are ourselves.

For, not to mention others, Herodotus, in other respects a very good authority, states that cinnamon was found in birds' nests, into which the birds had brought it from very distant regions, among which birds he mentions especially the Phœnix—and I know not who has ever seen the nest of a Phœnix. But Pliny, who might have been thought to have had better means of knowing the facts, since long before his time many discoveries had been made by the fleets of Alexander the Great, and by other expeditions, states that cinnamon was produced in Ethiopia, on the borders of the land of the Troglodytes. Whereas we know now that cinnamon is produced at a very great distance from any part of Ethiopia, and especially from the country of the Troglodytes, i. e. dwellers in subterraneous caves.

Now it was necessary for our sailors, who have recently returned, who knew more about Ethiopia than about other countries, to sail round the whole world and that in a very wide circuit, before they discovered these islands and returned to Europe; and, since this voyage was a very remarkable one, and neither in our own time, nor in any former age, has such a voyage been accomplished, or even attempted, I have determined to send your Lordship a full and accurate account of the expedition.

I have taken much care in obtaining an account of the facts from the commanding officer of the squadron, and from the individual sailors who have