[395-3] I.e., in being on either side of a peninsula, Tortosa and Fontarabia being on opposite sides of the narrowest part of the Spanish peninsula.
[395-4] See [p. 300, note 1].
[396-1] The Spanish reads, “Lo que yo sé es que el año de noventa y cuatro en veinte y cuatros grados al Poniente en termino de nueve horas.” The translation in the text and that in Thacher (II. 687) of the Italian makes nonsense. The translation should be “what I know is that in the year ’94 (1494) I sailed westward on the 24th parallel (lit. on 24 degrees) a total of nine hours (lit. to a limit of nine hours).” That is, he reckoned that he had gone 9/24 round the world on the 24th parallel, and he knew it because there was an eclipse by which he found out the difference in time between Europe and where he was. The “termino” of nine hours refers to the western limit of his exploration of the southern coast of Cuba when he concluded it was a projection of the mainland of Asia. After reaching the conclusion that this is the correct interpretation of this passage, I discovered that it had been given by Humboldt in his Kritische Untersuchungen über die historische Entwickelung der geographischen Kenntnisse von der Neuen Welt, I. 553, and by Peschel in his Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 97, note 2. It may be objected to this explanation that in reality Columbus had only gone about 75 degrees west of Cape St. Vincent in Portugal. The accurate calculation of longitude at that time, however, was impossible, and as will be seen in the following note Columbus’s calculation was biassed by powerful preconceptions.
[396-2] In his Libro de Profecias Columbus recorded the data of this eclipse which took place February 29, 1494, from which he drew the conclusion, “The difference between the middle of the island Jamaica in the Indies and the island of Cadiz in Spain is seven hours and fifteen minutes.” Navarrete, Viages, II. 272.
[396-3] Reading remendiado or remendado instead of remedado.
[396-4] Catigara was in China on the east side of the Gulf of Tonquin.
[396-5] Marinus of Tyre divided the earth into 24 meridians, 15 degrees or one hour apart. His first meridian passed the Fortunate Isles, which he supposed to be 2 1/2 degrees west of Cape St. Vincent, and his fifteenth through Catigara, southeastern China. The inhabited world embraced fifteen of these lines, 225 degrees, and the unknown portion east of India and west of Spain, nine lines, or hours, or 135 degrees. Cf. Vignaud, Toscanelli and Columbus, p. 74; Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, II. 519 et seqq. Columbus, therefore, according to his calculations, had in 1494 completely covered this unknown section and reached India (or China), and so had demonstrated the correctness of Marinus’s views. In reality his strong preconceptions as to where he was distorted his calculations of the longitude. Ptolemy corrected Marinus’s estimate of 225 degrees from Cape St. Vincent to Sera in China, and, as noted in Columbus’s letter, placed Catigara in China (on the east side of the Gulf of Tonquin) at twelve lines or 180 degrees west of his meridian (2 1/2 degrees west of Cape St. Vincent). If Ptolemy was right, Columbus had not reached India (or more exactly China) or come, on his own calculation, within 45 degrees or 2700 geographical miles of it measured on the equator. The outline reproduction of the map of Bartholomew Columbus made after his return from this voyage given in Channing’s Student’s History of the United States, p. 27 (photographic reproduction in Bourne, Spain in America, p. 96) illustrates the Admiral’s ideas and conclusions. This region (i.e., Costa Rica and Panama) is a southern extension of Cochin-China and Cambodia and is connected with Mondo Novo, i.e., South America.
[397-1] The translation here adopts the emended text of Lollis, substituting “ali[e]nde” for “al Indo” in the sentence “Marino en Ethiopía escribe al Indo la línea equinoçial.” Raccolta Colombiana, parte I., tomo II., p. 184. The translation of the unamended text as printed by Major was “the same author describes the Indus in Ethiopia as being more than four and twenty degrees from the equinoctial line.” Apparently the 24 should be 44. With these changes the statements in the text agree with Columbus’s marginalia to the Imago Mundi, where he notes that the Cape of Good Hope is Agesinba and that Bartholomew Diaz found it to be 45 degrees south of the equator. “This,” he goes on, “agrees with the dictum of Marinus, whom Ptolemy corrects, in regard to the expedition to the Garamantes, who said it traversed 27,500 stadia beyond the equinoctial.” Raccolta Colombiana, parte II., tomo II., p. 377. On Marinus’s exaggerated estimate of the distance covered by the Romans in tropical Africa, see Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, II. 524.
[397-2] This is unintelligible. The Spanish is, “Tolomeo diz que la tierra mas austral es el plazo primero.” The meaning of plazo is not “boundary” but “term” (allotted time). The reading should be: “la tierra mas austral es el praso promontorio,” and the translation should be, “Ptolemy says that the most southern land is the promontory of Prasum,” etc. Prasum promontorium was Ptolemy’s southern limit of the world. He placed it at about 16 degrees south latitude. See Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, II. 572, and Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, art. “Prasum Promontorium”; also Ptolemy’s Geography, bk. IV., ch. IX., the descriptive matter relating to Map 4 on Africa.
[398-1] II. Esdras, VI. 42, see [p. 358, note 1].