THE UNIVERSE. OCEANIC DISCOVERIES. 263 



steadfastly pursued plan. He had indeed on board, the sea- 

 chart which the Florentine physician and astronomer, Tos- 

 canelli, had sent to him in 1477, and which fifty-three years 

 after his death was still in the possession of Bartholomew 

 de las Casas. According to the manuscript history of las Casas 

 which I have examined, this was the Carta de Marear, ( 41 ) 

 which the Admiral shewed, on the 25th of September, 1492, 

 to Martin Alonso Pinzon, and on which several out-lying 

 islands were drawn. But if Columbus had only followed 

 the chart of his counsellor Toscanelli, he would have held a 

 more northern course, and have kept along a parallel of 

 latitude from Lisbon ; instead of this, in the hope of reaching 

 Zipangu (Japan) more quickly, he sailed for half the distance 

 in the latitude of Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, and 

 subsequently diminishing his latitude, found himself on the 

 7th of October 1492, in 25^. Uneasy at not having yet 

 discovered the coasts of Zipangu, which according to his 

 reckoning he should have met with two hundred and sixteen 

 nautical miles more to the East, he, after a long debate, gave 

 way to the commander of the Caravel Pinta, Martin Alonso 

 Pinzon, (one of the three rich and influential brothers who 

 were hostile to Columbus), and steered towards the south- 

 west. The course thus altered, led on the 12th of October, 

 to the discovery of Guanahaiii. 



We must here pause a while, in order to notice a very 

 remarkable instance of the wonderful enchainment and 

 connection, which links small and apparently trivial occur- 

 rences with great events affecting the world's destiny. 

 Washington Irving has justly stated, that if Columbus, resist- 

 ing the counsel of Martin Alonso Pinzon, had continued to sail 

 on towards the west, he would have entered the warm current 



