Out of the experience of this voyage there came to Quiros the vision of a great antarctic continent stretching across the southern part of the earth from America to Asia. By proving to the world the existence of this continent he hoped to obtain for himself a place with Columbus and Da Gama in the list of the great discoverers. To acquire the means that would enable him to carry out his proposed undertaking he visited the viceroy in Lima, presented his project to the pope at Rome, and from Clement VIII and the duke Sesa he received letters recommending him to the Spanish government. In spite of the demoralization of the the court and the rapid decline of the government towards bankruptcy there remained still the hope of adding to the glory that Columbus had conferred upon the nation; and through the council of State the king issued an order to the viceroy of Peru instructing him to fit out two ships at Callao to enable Quiros to undertake a voyage for the discovery of the antarctic continent. The inevitable delays followed. Finally two ships were prepared, and in December, 1605, Quiros was ready to set sail to realize the object of his vision. A narrative of this voyage is found in the _Historia_ edited by Zaragoza.[135] Quiros’ return, his disappointment, the poverty of his later years, and his many vain appeals to the king for further assistance are incidents in the melancholy ending of a great visionary. [Sidenote: Pedro Gobeo de Victoria] The _Naufragio y viaje en las costas del Perú_, by Padre Pedro Gobeo de Victoria, was one of the more widely circulated narratives of personal adventure. The author, whose experience furnished abundant material for his story, was born in Seville in 1560. He went to America at the age of thirteen and during his journeys was at various times engaged in combats with pirates, suffered shipwreck, and encountered about all the other perils known to land or sea. After many years of a troubled existence, he entered the order of the Jesuits at Lima in 1597. For thirteen years he enjoyed a comparatively peaceful existence. He returned to Spain in 1610. He died at Seville at the age of seventy. His book has been translated into various languages. A Latin translation was published in 1647, of which a new edition was issued in 1688. The first edition in Spanish appeared in 1610.[136]