ROUTE ON FIRST VOYAGE 37 



cited by Ferdinand Columbus as one of the opinions 

 of learned men which influenced his father in the 

 formulation of his plan and shows that he had given 

 specific thought to this aspect of the problem. With- 

 out such favorable winds it is questionable whether 

 any crew could have been found sufficiently coura- 

 geous to have endured the voyage, given the condi- 

 tions confronting the world in 1492. Now, a study 

 of the accompanying map will show that, roughly, 

 north of the Azores was a belt of prevailing west 

 w^nds and currents making extremely unlikely the 

 conditions laid down by Seneca. Between the Azores 

 and the Canaries was a belt with a high percentage 

 of calms. The winds were variable, without a pre- 

 vailing east wind. But the Canary Islands mark 

 in a general way the northern limit of the north- 

 east trade winds. There is no obstruction to a west- 

 ward voyage by the ocean currents. These winds 



English" (8 vols., London, 1707-1748), Vol. 2, pp. 501-628; reference on 

 p. 510. (The first published version is in Italian, translated from the lost 

 Spanish original, and was printed in Venice in 1571. It is entitled: 

 "Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo nelle quali s'ha particolare e vera 

 relatione della vita e de' fatti dell' ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, 

 suo padre, e dello scoprimento ch'egli fece dell' Indie occidentali, detto 

 Mondo Nuovo, hora possedute dal S. Re Catolico, nuovamente di lingua 

 spagnuola tradotte nell' italiana dal sig. Alfonso Ulloa.") The standard 

 current edition of the Italian version is that edited by Giulio Antimaco 

 and published in London in 1867. 



The Latin original of Seneca reads: "Quantum enim est quod ab 

 ultimis litoribus Hispaniae usque ad Indos iacet? Paucissimorum dierum 

 spatium, si navem suus ferat ventus, implebit." While Seneca's main 

 point was that the distance was short, Columbus probably regarded 

 that as incidental, as he had his ow^n views as to the distance, and seized 

 rather upon the reference to the fair wind, as an important element in 

 his plans. 



