ROUTE ON FIRST \'OYAGE 49 



captains of the three boats who were on the first voy- 

 age concerted among themselves and demanded of the 

 Admiral that he should return to Castile, because, 

 considering the times the east winds prevailed on the 

 sea, they did not believe if they went any farther they 

 would be able to return to Spain, and the said Ad- 

 miral answered them that they should not concern 

 themselves in such matters, that God who gave them 

 these times would give to them another to return." 

 Testimony on the same point was also given by Juan 

 Roldan of Moguer in 1535."^ 



By the choice of the latitude of the Canaries for 

 his route westward Columbus avoided the belt of 

 calms and variable winds between the Azores and the 

 Canaries. He chose a route that was well within the 

 northern limit of the northeast trade winds at that 

 season, as shown on the adjoining map (PI. I). He 

 also very nearly traveled the road marked on the 

 same map for the present customary sailing route 

 by way of the trades for the month of August. In 

 other words, over four hundred years of experience 

 in sailing the Atlantic has not suggested any material 

 change in the route chosen by Columbus on his first 



sy mas adelante yva de poder bolver en Espana, y quel dicho Almirante 

 le respondio que no curasen de aquello, que Dios que les daba aquel tienpo 

 ies daria otra para bolver" (Cesareo Fernandez Duro: De los pleitos de 

 Colon, 2 vols., Madrid, 1892-94, in "Coleccion de documentos ineditos 

 relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organizacion de las antiguas 

 posesiones espanolas de ultra-mar," 2nd Series, Vols. 7 and 8, Real 

 Academia de Historia, Madrid, reference in Vol. 7, p. 421.) 



26 Deposition of Juan Roldan of Moguer at Seville, Dec. 22, 1535 

 (Fernandez Duro, Colon y Pinzon, p. 260). 



