76 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUiMBUS 



and Ophir, through which flows the river Ganges or the 

 water of Gion, belonged together. 



With this belief, why did Columbus not go on and 

 reach the Ganges country? He tells us why.-^- 

 "With one month of fair weather I shall complete 

 my voyage. As I was deficient in ships, I did not 

 persist in delaying my course." He returned to 

 Espafiola because his boats were in such condition 

 that he simply could go no farther. The voyage 

 was pressed to the extreme limit of endurance. In 

 fact, two of his vessels had to be abandoned on the 

 coast of Veragua. The other two had to be beached 

 in Jamaica before reaching Espanola. 



The principal discrepancy between what Colum- 

 bus found and what he expected to find was the 

 absence of the great cities and the great trading 

 fleets. On this score he writes^^ that the absence of 

 horses with saddles and poitrels and bridles of gold 

 "is not to be wondered at, for the lands on the sea- 

 coast are only inhabited by fishermen, and moreover 

 I made no stay there, because I was in haste to 

 proceed on my voyage.'* 



Hitherto the question as to whether Columbus did 

 or did not believe that he had reached the coast of 



32 Major, op. cit., p. 206 (Raccolta, Part I, Vol. 2, p. 202). Cf. also 

 Major, p. 193 (Raccolta, Part I, Vol. 2, p. 194). 



33 Major, op. cit., p. 199 (Raccolta, Part I, Vol. 2, p. 198). On the 

 Catalan atlas of 1375 (fascimile in "Choix de documents geographiques 

 conserves a la Bibliotheque Nationale," Paris, 1883, Pis. 9-20; also in 

 Nordenskiold's "Periplus," Pis. 11-14) the southeastern coast of Asia is 

 depicted with naked fishermen in the sea. 



