38 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



vary seasonally. The conditions herein mentioned 

 prevail farthest south in December and farthest north 

 in July. In mid- Atlantic the northern limit of the 

 trades varies between the 25th and 28th parallels. 

 Near the European shore they vary from Lisbon in 

 latitude 38° to Mogador on the Moroccan coast 

 in 32° N. 



Evidences of Land in the \A'est 



Columbus gathered all the information he could 

 concerning the evidences of land to the westward. 

 Both Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus devote 

 considerable space to cataloguing this information.^ 

 But neither says anything about the problem of ocean 

 navigation. Whatever we may learn of this phase 

 of the problem we can only infer by calling attention 

 to the natural phenomena in comparison with Co- 

 lumbus' conduct of his voyage. However, there are 

 important consequences that may legitimately be 

 inferred from the material catalogued by Las Casas 

 and Ferdinand Columbus. According to them the 

 people of the Azores had reported that once when the 

 wTud had blown many days from the west it had cast 

 upon their shores pines of a kind which did not grow 

 on their islands. At another time the sea brought 

 the bodies of two men of strange race to the island of 

 Flores, one of the Azores. Still another time covered 

 boats, or al madias, had been cast upon the shore. 



^Ferdinand Columbus, op. cit., Ch. 9 (English edition, pp. 513-515); 

 Las Casas, op. cit.. Book I. Ch. 13 (\'ol. i. pp. 97-102). 



