1501. THE CORTEREALS. 45 



As Gaspar Cortereal was fully persuaded that a 

 north-west passage to India might be found, and 

 that its discovery would be honourable to himself 

 and highly advantageous to his country, he con- 

 tinued his preparations for a second expedition, 

 to which he had no difficulty in obtaining the 

 king's consent ; and he sailed, accompanied by the 

 anxious prayers and hopes of his countrymen, 

 from the port of Lisbon, on the 15th of May, 150 1^ 

 with two vessels. 



The voyage is said to have been prosperous 

 until they reached Terra Verde; but here he 

 was separated by bad weather from his consort, 

 who, after having long searched and waited 

 for him in vain, returned to Lisbon, with the 

 melancholy tidings of what had happened. It 

 is stated, in several of the collections of voyages, 

 that the name of Anian was given to the Strait 

 supposed to have been discovered by Gaspar, in 

 honour of two brothers \\\\o accompanied him ; 

 but there are no grounds whatever for such a sup- 

 position, nor for that of other geographers who 

 pretend that the name of Ania^ as applicable to the 

 north-western extremity of America, is mentioned 

 by Marco Polo as a province of China, there being 

 no such province in China, nor any such men- 

 tioned by Marco Polo. The origin of the word 

 is, in fact, utterly unknown.* 



* 111 the earliest maps Ania is marked as the name of the north- 

 western part of America. Ani in the Japanese language is said 

 to signify brother ; hence probably the mistake. 



