Hence it follows that the sea of Azov is the highest part of the Mediterranean sea, being at a distance of 3500 miles from the Straits of Gibraltar, as is shown by the map for navigation; and it has 3500 braccia of descent, that is, one mile and 1/6; therefore it is higher than any mountains which exist in the West.
[Footnote: The passage before this, in the original, treats of the exit of the waters from Lakes in general.]
Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.