ROUTE ON FIRST VOYAGE 47 



about the proximity of the Indies borrowed or stolen 

 from a savant whose knowledge one has misunder- 

 stood in attributing it to him. If it had been so, 

 the great e\'ent which has revealed the existence of 

 another world would have been due to nothing but a 

 happy chance." Then choice of the parallel of the 

 Canaries for the voyage was either a happy chance 

 or due to the story of the "unknown pilot." But if 

 the success of the voyage is due to the unknown pilot 

 then the happy chance is only once removed. How 

 shall we explain the happy chance of the pilot's return, 

 something the best navigators of Spain failed to ac- 

 complish for forty-five years on the Pacific ; and how 

 shall we explain the happy chance that enabled Co- 

 lumbus without error to pick the proper return route 

 across the Atlantic on his first vo^^age? 



But if both of Mgnaud's contentions are rejected 

 and in their stead we credit Columbus with a scien- 

 tific study of his problem, we are not driven from one 

 explanation to another like the Hindu philosopher 

 in explaining what held the world in place. Coming 

 back to Columbus' westward route, inspection of the 

 accompanying map (PL I) will show that no other 

 route farther north could ha\^e been chosen which 

 would comport with either the condition of the an- 

 cients or with the necessity of making the greatest 

 distance in the shortest possible time. The choice 

 of the parallel of the Canaries comports perfectly 

 with the knowledge we ha\^e shown every navigator 

 concerned had of the Atlantic immediatelv w^est of 



