78 COXCEPTIOXS OF COLUMBUS 



the voyage to have been made and the route to have 

 led through the Strait of Yucatan, around the GuU' 

 of Mexico, and out by the Strait of Florida. But 

 granted the probability of the voyage, this route does 

 not seem likely. Columbus could not have retained 

 his theories of Asiatic geography if his friend \'es- 

 pucius or anyone else, before 1502, had proved Cuba 

 to be an island. It is decidedly improbable that if 

 a friend like Vespucius had made a \-o}^age through 

 the Straits of Yucatan and Florida in 1497 Columbus 

 would not have known about it in 1502. It is true 

 that Juan de la Cosa depicts Cuba as an island in 

 1500 (PL II and Figs. 10 and 11) ; but that is onl}' a 

 theoretical delineation. Such a striking feature as 

 the Florida peninsula could hardly ha\'e escaped no- 

 tice if the coast lines had been drawn as the result of 

 actual discovery. This part of the La Cosa map is 

 easily understood if we assume it to have been drawn 

 as a result of hearsay evidence obtained from the 

 Indians. The Indians told Columbus on his first voy- 

 age that Cuba was an island. ^^ 



From the possible connection of some of the names 

 on the Cantino map with the 1497 voyage of Ves- 

 pucius, it seems more probable, as is discussed later 

 (pp. 136-138), that this voyage did not extend west- 



Footnote 35, continued 



idem: Le premier voyage de Amerigo Vespucci definitivement explique 

 dans ses details, Vienna, 1869; idem: Nouvelles recherches sur les derniers 

 voyages du navigateur florentin et le reste des documents et eclaircisse- 

 ments sur lui, Vienna, 1870. 



s« Major, op. cit., p. 3 fRaccolta, Part I, Vol. i, p. 122). 



