"If there is a terrestrial paradise in the world, it cannot be far from this region. The country, as I have said before, facing the south, has such a temperate climate that in winter they have no cold and in summer are not troubled with heat. The sky and atmosphere are seldom overshadowed with clouds, and the days are almost always serene. Dew sometimes falls, but very lightly, and only for the space of three or four hours, and then vanishes like mist. They have scarcely any vapors, and the sky is splendidly adorned with stars unknown to us, of which I have retained a particular remembrance, and have enumerated as many as twenty whose brightness is equal to that of Venus or Jupiter. I considered also their circuit and their various motions, and, having a knowledge of geometry, I easily measured their circumference and diameter, and am certain, therefore, that they are of much greater magnitude than men imagine. Among the others, I saw three _Canopi_, two being very bright, while the third was dim and unlike the others.
"The antarctic pole has not the Ursa Major and Minor, which can be seen at our arctic pole; neither are there any bright stars touching the pole, but of those which revolve around it there are four, in the form of a quadrangle. While these are rising, there is seen at the left a brilliant Canopus, of admirable magnitude, which, having reached mid-sky, forms the figure of a triangle. To these succeed three other brilliant stars, of which the one placed in the centre has twelve degrees of circumference. In the midst of them is another brilliant Canopus. After these follow six other bright stars, whose splendor surpasses that of all others in the eighth sphere.... These are all to be seen in the Milky Way, and when they arrive at the meridian show the figure of a triangle, but have two sides longer than the other. I saw there many other stars, and carefully observed their various motions, composing a book which treats of them particularly. In this book I have related almost all the remarkable things which I have encountered in the course of my navigation, and with which I have become acquainted. The book is at present in the possession of the king, and I hope he will return it soon into my hands.