The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 102 _ of Prester John. Its waters begin inland near the Cape(A), and flow through subterranean passages(B) to reappear suddenly in Egypt, where the lands of Prester John end. We know for a fact that it is the Nile that passes through Egypt because of the crocodiles. Thus, in summer, it arrives very muddy and swollen, irrigating the whole of Egypt and producing fine crops, because at that time it is winter in the Cape of Good Hope. It arrives very clear in Egypt during the winter because it is then summer in the Cape. The fourth River of Paradise is the Ganges. This passes through Bengal to the place where Alexander the Great arrived(C) and where he turned back because of the great resistance that he encountered. south of Africa; thus, for example, in the work Mappamundo, D. Ribeiro (1529) “the marshes of the Nile” are sited at the Cape of Good Hope itself (cf. RUGE, The Age of Discovery 438); also, according to Abraham Ortelius (1571), the sources of the river were in the south of Africa. (A) This was not true. (B) This fact does not correspond. (C) Alexander the Great, was indeed remarkable. They say he penetrated far into the Punjab region, but did not actually go all the way to the Ganges.

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