ROUTE ON FIRST VOYAGE 43 



facts and understood them so thoroughly that he 

 did not make a single false move in the entire voyage. 

 We know from the catalogue of the evidences of land 

 in the west that Columbus knew of the prevailing 

 west winds and the easterly drift of the Atlantic in 

 the region of the Azores and north thereof. But we 

 have not even a mention of the belt of calms and 

 \-ariable winds between the Azores and the Canaries, 

 nor have we an}^ mention of the prevailing northeast 

 and east winds from the Canaries south. 



Columbus' Proficiency in Navigation 



We know from direct statements by Columbus that 

 he gave very careful thought to the study of the winds 

 and ocean currents. In a letter of 1501 he said:^^ 

 " I w^ent to sea very young, and have continued it to 

 this day; and this art inclines those that follow it to 

 be desirous to discover the secrets of this world; it 

 is now forty years that I ha\^e been sailing to all those 

 parts at present frequented; and I have dealt and 

 conversed with wise people, as well clergy as laity, 

 Latins, Greeks, Indians, and Moors, and many others 

 of other sects; and our Lord has been fa\'orable to 

 this my inclination, and I have received of him the 

 spirit of understanding. He has made me very skill- 

 ful in navigation, etc." In his letter known as the 

 Arte de Navegar letter^-^ he recalls that he had advised 



13 Ferdinand Columbus, English edition, pp. 506-507; Las Casas, 

 op. cit.. Book I, Ch. 3 (Vol. i, p. 47), 



"So called where first published, in: Cartas de Indias; publicalas 

 per primera vez el Ministerio de Fomento, Madrid, 1877, letter II. Also 

 in Raccolta, Part I, Vol. 2, pp. 161-163, and, in facsimile, with trans- 

 lation, in Thacher. op. cit.. \'ol. 3, pp. 226-241. 



