[398-2] See the Letter of Columbus on his Third Voyage. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, p. 141.
[398-3] Ptolemy reckoned the length of the degree on the equator at 62 1/2 miles. The shorter measurement of 56 2/3 was the estimate adopted by the Arab astronomer Alfragan in the ninth century and known to Columbus through Cardinal d’Ailly’s Imago Mundi, the source of much if not most of his information on the geographical knowledge and opinions of former times. Cardinal d’Ailly’s source of information about Alfragan was Roger Bacon’s Opus Majus. Columbus was deeply impressed with Alfragan’s estimate of the length of the degree and annotated the passages in the Imago Mundi. Cf. Raccolta Colombiana, Parte I., tomo II., pp. 378, 407, and frequently. See this whole question in Vignaud, Toscanelli and Columbus, p. 79 et seqq.
[398-4] In Puerto Bello. See [p. 394, note 2]. Porto Bello, to use the Anglicized form, became the great shipping port on the north side of the isthmus for the trade with Peru. Cf. Bourne, Spain in America, p. 292.
[399-1] Columbus left Porto Bello November 9 and went eight leagues, but the next day he turned back four and took refuge at what is now Nombre de Dios. From the abundance of maize fields he named it Port of Provisions (Puerto de Bastimentos). Historie, p. 306.
[399-2] Me reposó atrás il viento, etc. For reposó the text apparently should be either repuso, “put back,” or rempujó, “drove back,” and the translation is based on this supposition.
[399-3] They remained at Bastimentos till November 23, when they went on to Guiga, but did not tarry but pushed on to a little harbor (November 26), which the Admiral called Retrete (Closet) because it was so small that it could hold only five or six vessels and the entrance was only fifteen or twenty paces wide. Historie, p. 306.
[399-4] That is, Columbus turns back to explore the mines on account of the violence of the east and northeast winds. This was December 5. Historie, p. 309.
[400-1] Not mentioned in the Historie by name. It was the place where they stayed from December 26 to January 3 to repair the ship Gallega as appears in the Probanzas del Almirante. Navarrete, Viages, III. 600. It was between Rio de los Lagartos and Puerto Bello. Lollis, Raccolta Colombiana, Parte I., tomo II., p. 187.
[400-2] Adopting de Lollis’s text and punctuation.
[400-3] La oposicion de Saturno con Marte tan desvaratado en costa brava, adopting de Lollis’s text following the suggestion of the contemporary Italian translation. According to the doctrines of astrology the influence of Saturn was malign. “When Saturn is in the first degree of Aries, and any other Planet in the first degree of Libra, they being now an hundred and eighty degrees each from other, are said to be in Opposition: A bad Aspect.” William Lilly, Christian Astrology (London, 1647), p. 27.