» * 
ree 
THE 
INTRODUCTION. 
“HE firlt Difcovery of the Weft-Indies, to me feems to 
have been accidental, as has happen’d in moft other 
great Difcoveries. Chriftopher Columbus, firlt folicited 
. the King of Portugal ro fet him out; but that Prince 
being wearied with the Difcoveries, and little Advantage of Guinea, 
would not meddle in it. Chriffopher then fent his Brother Bartho- 
lomew into England, on the fame Errand, in the Year 1488. Ihave 
made as good a fearch as I could, after a Map which was made at 
London, by this Bartholomew Columbus, whereby he would have induc'd 
King Henry VII, to have been the fitter of him out, buc I could not 
hear of it, neither at the Royal Library at. St. James's, nor any 
where elfe. This Map, and this Propofal were not regarded, and 
“tis a common Tradition, that inftead of difcovering the Weit- Indies, 
there wasbought at Antwerp, a Suit of fine Tapiftry Hangings, wich 
Money that had been fet apart, and thought fufhicient for that purpole, 
Thefe Hangings are now faid to remain at Hampton Court, This 
Map, which feems to me to have been made from the Letters of Col. cap. 8. 
Paolo Fifico of Florence, in.1 : | -Chare of the 
Parts of the World then known ; wherein thofe to the Weft were 
Ireland, the Azores, Cape Verd, andthe Coaft of Guinea. It-had to 
the Eaft, the Parts of China, then lately difcover’d, which they then 
_ thought were fifteen Hours Eaft of Portugal, and they were ftill 
of Opinion, that they had not reach’d the extreme Parts of the Ea/?- 
Indies or Gipango, call'd Japan, where, Report had told them, were 
great Riches. ‘Therefore, there being, as they thought, only about 
one third of the way to Cataio and China, if they went by the Welt, 
they concluded the beft and neareft way to take that Courle. On this 
miftaken Foundation, (China, by later Difcoveries, being only about 
eight Hours Eaft) and fome probabilities from fome Artiftal and Na- 
tural things, driven on Shore by the Winds and Currents on the Azores 
and Porto Santo, which came to the Knowledge of Columbus, (who 
had been wreck’d at Lisbon, and was married to the Widow of one 
(a) Pereftrello, 
