ROUTE ON FIRST VOYAGE 41 



20th and 35th parallels of north latitude and between 

 the 38th and 74th meridians west of Greenwich. ^^ 

 The position varies slightly with the winds and the 

 currents. 



Such is the evidence collected by Columbus before 

 his voyage. There were rumors about the Island 

 of the Seven Cities^^ and other mythical lands, but 

 these need not detain us. Columbus probably had 

 more evidence than was catalogued by his son and 

 by Las Casas. But it has not come down to us. It 

 should be particularly noted once more that neither 

 Las Casas nor Ferdinand Columbus devote any space 

 to discussing the problem of navigating the Atlantic 

 from the seaman's standpoint. Therefore, whatever 

 we learn on this point will be incidental to the other 

 information they gave. It is by subjecting this in- 

 formation to anal^^sis that we come into possession 

 of the knowledge Columbus had. 



The Problem of Navigating the Atlantic in the 

 Light of Contemporary Knowledge 



Now, if we imagine a present-day scientist study- 

 ing the problem of navigating the Atlantic under the 

 conditions that faced Columbus in 1492, the question 

 arises, Just what information could he gather that 

 would assist him in the solution of his problem? We 



11 See the map of the Sargasso Sea in W. H. Babcock: Legendary Islands 

 of the Atlantic: A Study in Medieval Geography, Afner. Geogr. Soc. Re- 

 search Series No. 8, New York, 1922, p. 28, and the authorities there cited 

 on p. 30, footnote. See also PI. I of the present work for its total area. 



'2 On this topic, see Babcock, op. cit., Ch. 5. 



