492 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the profound impression then made on the minds of that small com- 

 pany, alone on an unknown ocean where no keel had ever before sailed, 

 when the couijiass, their sole hope for retracinfr their course, befjan, 

 as they thou«jht, to fail tliem. Curiosity and wonder filled the mind 

 of the admiral and constermition the hearts of the men at crossin^r the 

 threshold of a mysterious ro^rion wliero hidden and unknown forces 

 commenced to operate. In a letter to the Catholic sovereigns, written 

 in 1498, the admiral set forth his views as follows : — 



" When I sailed from Spain to the Indies, I found th'at as soon as 

 "I had passed a hundred leanfues westward of the Azores, there was a 

 "very «rreat ciiiinEfe in the sky and the stars, in the tempei*aturp of the 

 "air and in the water of the sea ; and I have been very diligent in ob- 

 " serving these things. I remarked that from north to south, in travers- 

 '■ ing these hundred leagues from the said islands, the needle of the com- 

 " pass which hitherto had turned to the northeast, turned a full quarter 

 "of the wind to the northwest, and this took place from the tinu> we 

 " reached that line."" 



lie then went on to describe the Sargasso sea and other remark- 

 able appearances which, under the tension of his first voyage, made an 

 indclil)lc impression ujion his mind. Whetlier, in the light of our present 

 knowledge, his views were correct or not, is beside the question. lie 

 held them to the last day of his life and we must take account of 

 them. 



With this tixed opinion Columbus returned from his tirst voyage 

 and, driven by stress of weather into the Tagus, he went, in response to 

 an invitation he dared not disobey, to visit the King of Portugal whom 

 he found full of chagrin at the success of the expedition, las indeed he 

 well might be, for, as every one then thought, the Indies, which in fifty 

 years of continuous effort the Portuguese had not reached, by the south 

 and east around Africa, had been reached on a course ^almost directly 

 to the west. In that interview Columbus learned that the King in- 

 tended to lay claim to the whole of the supposed Indies and ladjacent 

 seas in virtue of iiulls issued at various dates from 1443 to 1484 as well 

 as under existing treaties between the two kingdoms. This interview- 

 took place on March 10. The news went direct to Eome, then the 

 centre of all intelligence, and reached there on April 11, before Colum- 

 bus got to liarcelona to report in person to the Spanish sovereigns. 

 lie arrived at Palos on March 15, and from thence he sent an express 

 to tlieir Majesties witii the news. He could not have failed to warn 

 them of the claims made by the King of Portugal under the Papal 

 Bulls, nor could he have failed to suggest so obvious a precaution as 

 that of obtaining, at the earliest moment, a decision of tlie Pope to 

 confirm Spain in the possession of the newly discovered lands. Con- 



