_ 97 _ the sins that exist in the world, as I shall explain later. In this land the atmosphere is so sultry and hot, that those who have been to Mina(A), Guinea and São Tomé(B) and also Melinde, say that it is below the celestial equator, and that theirs is nothing compared with the heat of that place(C). I cannot find any other natural explanation for this, except that it is very much under the influence of extremely hot, dry emissions, because the island is composed of salt and it has great rivers of salt, which move about forming huge dunes. With one mound of salt barely dissolved, another forms on the same spot. In winter the rivers seem like petrified icicles. This salt is so strong that it is impossible to season anything with it that it does not turn bitter(D). Thus it is not exploited. It is called rock-salt. Also on this island there are many sulphur mines, and it is said that everything burned for a period of seven years, and this is credible, because the tops of the mounds are so (A) Mina in sub-equatorial west Africa; today the Gold Coast (Ghana). (B) São Tomé, a Portuguese island in sub-equatorial west Africa. (C) Marco polo also wrote about the excessive heat, which he experienced in ormuz (cf.. II milione, cap. 199, Ed. L. Foscolo Benedetto (florence 1928 216). (D) Correia who went to Ormuz, wrote: “The land itself is saline and in some places water flows turning into very strong salt, much stronger than sea salt” (I 815).
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