ROUTE OX FIRST \()\'A(;E 39 



A certain captain, Martin Vicente, told Columbus 

 that, being 450 leagues west of Cape St. Vincent, he 

 had picked up from the water a piece of wood curi- 

 ously car\'ed. He reported the winds had been west 

 for many days. Pero Correa had reported to Colum- 

 bus that in the island of Porto Santo of the Madeira 

 group he had seen another piece of wood brought by 

 the same winds. Other reports were about reeds of 

 such a size that one joint would hold upwards of four 

 quarts of wine. Xo such reeds grew in western Europe 

 or Africa. Most of these things are mentioned in 

 connection with the west winds. The almadias and 

 the dead bodies, though, were brought by the sea. 

 \\'e are probably warranted in interpreting this as 

 having reference to the currents from the west which 

 pass the Azores. Of the stories listed above four 

 are connected directly with the Azores and one w^ith 

 the island of Porto Santo, while the story of the 

 reeds is not located. From these facts, then, it 

 seems that it may legitimately be inferred that Colum- 

 bus had his attention definitely called to the existence 

 both of the prevailing west winds and of the east- 

 erly drift of the ocean currents in the latitude of the 

 Azores. 



As regards knowledge of the sea farther south, we 

 have to infer from other matters. Columbus discred- 

 ited the story of Antonio Leme^ that he had seen 

 islands west of Madeira because by his own story he 

 had not sailed 100 leagues westward. At least if 



8 Ferdinand Columbus, English edition, op. cit., p. 513; Las Casas. 

 op. cil.. Book I, Ch. 13 (\'ol. i, pp. 98-00). 



