36 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



tion of such information. To base such a study on 

 these three key points would be one indication of the 

 mastery by Columbus of his problem. 



The Wind Belts of the North Atlantic 



The passage of the Atlantic had been recognized 

 from very early times as one dependent on the winds. 

 Seneca said in Book I of his ' ' Quaestiones natu- 

 rales " : " A ship may sail in a few days with a fair wind 

 from the coast of Spain to that of India. "^ This is 



Footnote 5, continued 



the accompanying map (PI. I) Cat Island is indicated as the landfall. 

 The reason therefor is briefly this. It does not seem probable that the 

 light seen by Columbus at 10 P.M., October 11 (Journal under October 

 11), if on land, could have been on the same island that was sighted at 

 2 A.M., October 12, two leagues, or 8 nautical miles away, in view of the 

 fact that the vessels had proceeded 48 miles on their due west course in 

 the intervening four hours. If the light was therefore on another island 

 from the eventual landfall, Watling Island, as the one projecting farthest 

 east from the chain, may be taken for the one on which the light was 

 seen. Cat Island is the next to the west, and would thus best correspond 

 to the landfall. 



It should be expressly stated, however, that it is not the intention to 

 enter into the controversy as to the identity of the landfall. The reader 

 who wishes to pursue the question further will find references to the pub- 

 lications of students of the problem on pp. 350-351 of G. V. Fox's above- 

 mentioned memoir; on pp. 52-56 of Vol. 2 of Justin Winsor: Narrative 

 and Critical History of America, Boston, 1886; in Ch. 5 (pp. 89-107) of 

 C. R. Markham's above-mentioned "Life of Christopher Columbus"; on 

 pp. 9-10 of Rudolf Cronau's "The Discovery of America and the Landfall 

 of Columbus; The Last Resting Place of Columbus: Two Monographs 

 Based on Personal Investigations," privately printed, New York, 1921. 



6 So quoted in Ferdinand Columbus: The History of the Life and 

 Actions of Adm. Christopher Columbus, and of His Discovery of the 

 West Indies, Call'd the New World, Now in Possession of His Catholick 

 Majesty, Written by His Own Son, in Awnsham Churchill and John 

 Churchill's "A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some Now First 

 Printed from Original Manuscripts, Others Now First Published in 



