638 COSMOS. 



would appear from La& Casas' manuscript history, which I 

 have examined, that this was the same " carta de marear," 

 which the admiral shewed to Martin Alonzo Pinzon on the 

 25th of September, 1492, and on which many prominent 

 islands were delineated. Had Columbus, however, alone 

 followed the chart of his counsellor and adviser, Toscanelli, 

 he would have kept a more northern course in the parallel of 

 Lisbon; but instead of this, he steered half the way in the 

 latitude of Gomera, one of the Canaries, in the hope of more 

 speedily reaching Zipangu (Japan) ; and subsequently keep- 

 ing a less high latitude, he found himself on the 7th of Octo- 

 ber, 1492, in the parallel of 25 30'. Uneasy at not disco- 

 vering the coast of Zipangu, which, according to his reckon- 

 ing, ought to lie 216 nautical miles further to the east, he 

 yielded, after long contention, to the commander of the 

 caravel Pinta, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, of whom we have 

 already spoken (one of three wealthy and influential brothers, 

 hostile to him), and steered towards the south-west. This 

 change of direction led, on the 12th of October, to the dis- 

 covery of Guanahani. 



We must here pause to consider the wonderfiil concatenation 

 of trivial circumstances which undeniably exercised an influence 

 on the course of the world's destiny. The talented and ingenious 

 Washington Irving has justly observed, that if Columbus had 

 resisted the counsel of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and continued 

 to steer westward, he would have entered the Gulf Stream, 

 and been borne to Florida, and from thence probably to Cape 

 Hatteras and Virginia, a circumstance of incalculable im- 

 portance, since it might have been the means of giving to 

 the United States of North America a catholic Spanish popu- 

 lation, in the place of the protestant English one by which 

 those regions were subsequently colonized. " It seems to 

 me like an inspiration," said Pinzon to the Admiral, " that 

 my heart dictates to me (el corazon me da} that we ought 

 to steer in a different direction." It was on the strength of 

 this circumstance, that in the celebrated lawsuit which Pinzon 

 carried on against the heirs of Columbus, between 1513 and 

 1515, he maintained that the discovery of America was alone 

 due to him. This inspiration, emanating from the heart, 

 Pinzon owed, as was related by an old sailor of Moguez, at 

 the same trial, to the flight of a flock of parrots which he had 



