42 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



must imagine such a person confined entirely to the 

 eastern side of the Atlantic for all of his information. 

 He could make his calculation of the size of the earth. 

 He could inform himself as to the extent of land be- 

 tween the known West and the known East. From 

 these data he could make a calculation as to the prob- 

 able distance across the Atlantic. We know that 

 Columbus did this. Such a scientist would also take 

 into account his means of travel. If confined to 

 sails, then he would inquire into the matter of helps 

 and hindrances to such travel, in other words he 

 would study the winds and ocean currents. He 

 would learn that there was a belt of prevailing wes- 

 terly winds north of the Azores. Between the Azores 

 and the Canaries there was a belt of calms and vari- 

 able winds, including a goodly percentage of head 

 winds unsuited to rapid progress. South from the 

 Canaries there was a belt of prevailing northeast and 

 east winds, with a low percentage of calms and very 

 few head winds. As for the ocean currents, there 

 was an easterh' drift of the ocean north of the 

 Azores. This current turned south along the coast 

 of Portugal and North Africa and again mo\ed 

 westward between the Canaries and the Cape Verde 

 Islands. Unless the inquiry were extended to the far 

 north and south, this would include substantially all 

 that our assumed present-day scientist could learn 

 short of crossing the ocean. If we apply this in- 

 quiry to the Columbus problem we shall see that 

 Columbus apparently was in possession of all of these 



