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עמוד:19
March 3 O \ 1521 My beloved Beatriz , It has been a long and difficult year eince I Ia 5 t wrote to you . Life at sea is hard . We feel miserable and lonely . Our living conditions are terrible . When we began our voyage , we had hopes and dreams . Now all we feel Is despair * . At the beginning of the voyage , the ships were full of supplies . Now , there is very little food or water . The sailors are often hungry and tired , but they must still carry out their duties . Many men have died of a terrible disease and others are dying . The symptoms are always the same . First they get terrible sores , mainly in their mouths . Their gums bleed and their teeth fall out . They get weaker and weaker until they eventually die . We are afraid of the unknown . However , we are discovering many new and interesting p laces , and that helps us carry on . Last October , we discovered a cape and gave It the name Cape Virgins . We also discovered a lot of islands that we can now add to our maps . I dream of seeing you again . With my fondest love , Antonio The islands The islands they discovered are known today as the Philippines . The Philippines comprise 7 , 107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean . Only 2 , 000 of these islands are inhabited . Food supplies Fresh water was the first thing the crew looked for whenever the ship reached land . Food included salted meat , cheese , onions , dried beans , chickpeas and hard biscuits made from flour and water . The terrible disease The terrible disease was scurvy , which only got its name in 1582 . Sailors suffered from the disease long before then . At the end of the 16 century , it was found that eating oranges and lemons prevented the disease . * despair —a feeling of no hope .
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