Quando fussimi vsciti da questo strecto Se hauessemo nauigato Sempre aL ponẽte haueressemo dato vna volta aL mondo senza trouare terra niuna Se nō el capo deli xjos vergine che he capo de questo strecto aL mare occeanno leuante ponẽte cō Lo capo deseado del mare pacifico liqalli dui capi stanno in cinquāta duy gradi di latitudine puntualmente aL polo antarticho.
JL polo antartico no ne cosi stellato como Lo artico se vede molto stelle picolle congregate insieme ɋ fanno in guiza de due nebulle poco separate luna de lalta et vno poco ofusche in mezo de leqalle stanno due stelle molto grandi ne molto relucenti et poco se moueno. Queste due stelle sonno iL polo antarticho La Calamita nostra Zauariando vno sempre tiraua aL suo polo artico niente de meno non haueua tanta forza como de la banda Sua. Et pero Quando eramo in Questo golfo iL Capo generalle domando a tucti li piloti andando sempre a la vela þ qaL Camino nauigando pontasemo nele carte risposero tucti þ la Sua via puntaLmẽte datta li risposi ɋ pontauano falso cosi como era et che conueniua agiutare la guchia deL nauegare þ che nō receueua tanta forza da la parte sua. Quando eramo in mezo di questo golpho Vedessemo vna croce de cinque stelle lucidissime drito aL ponente, et Suono iustissime luna cō lalta.
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When we left that strait, if we had sailed continuously westward we would have circumnavigated the world without finding other land than the cape of the xi thousand Virgins. The latter is a cape of that strait at the Ocean Sea, straight east and west with Cape Deseado of the Pacific Sea. Both of those capes lie in a latitude of exactly fifty-two degrees toward the Antarctic Pole.
The Antarctic Pole is not so starry as the Arctic. Many small stars clustered together are seen, which have the appearance of two clouds of mist. There is but little distance between them, and they are somewhat dim. In the midst of them are two large and not very luminous stars, which move only slightly. Those two stars are the Antarctic Pole. Our loadstone, although it moved hither and thither, always pointed toward its own Arctic Pole, although it did not have so much strength as on its own side. And on that account when we were in that open expanse, the captain-general, asking all the pilots whether they were always sailing forward in the course which we had laid down on the maps, all replied: «By your course exactly as laid down.» He answered them that they were pointing wrongly – which was a fact – and that it would be fitting to adjust the needle of navigation, for it was not receiving so much force from its side. When we were in the midst of that open expanse, we saw a cross with five extremely bright stars straight toward the west, those stars being exactly placed with regard to one another.
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