Now that I have reached the city of Popayan, and described its site, neighbourhood, founding, and people, it seems well that I should give an account of the river which flows near it, and which is one of the two branches which form the great river of Santa Martha. Before treating of this river, however, I will relate what I find in the Scriptures concerning the four principal rivers mentioned there, which are, first, the Ganges, flowing through the East Indies; second, the Nile, separating Asia from Africa, and watering the land of Egypt; third and fourth, the Tigris and Euphrates, which encircle the two regions of Mesopotamia and Cappadocia. These are the four which are said, in the Holy Scriptures, to issue out of the earthly paradise. I also find that mention is made of three others, which are the river Indus, whence India takes its name; the river Danube, being the principal in Europe; and the river Tanais, dividing Europe from Asia. Of all these, the greatest is the Ganges, concerning which Ptolemy says, in his book of geography, that the narrowest part is eight thousand paces, and the broadest twenty thousand paces across. According to this, the broadest part of the Ganges is seven leagues across. This is the extreme breadth of the largest river in the world, that was known before the discovery of these Indies.