BELIEF IN ASIA 79 



ward beyond the Caribbean Sea and that the return 

 was made by way of the Bahamas. 



Examination of the Views of Harrisse 



We may now turn to examine the reasons which 

 have led Harrisse and Thacher to doubt that Colum- 

 bus believed himself on the coast of Asia in 1502. 



The first point urged by Harrisse is expressed as 

 follows :^^ 



True it is that, in 1494, he [Columbus] declared, and 

 compelled his crews to affirm before a royal notary, that 

 Cuba was a continent, and that it could be reached by 

 land: ... As late as 1503, he wrote to Ferdinand and 

 Isabella that he had actually reached the province of 

 Mango, adjoining Cathay:. . . Withal, the appearance 

 is that within himself he thought otherwise. Unfortu- 

 nately, to acknowledge his doubts in that respect would 

 have been belying the motives of his great enterprise, re- 

 ducing materially the importance of the results obtained, 

 and leading the Spanish government to discontinue the 

 attempt. 



It is true that one school of geographers did deny 

 that Columbus reached Asia; this group followed 

 Ptolemy and did not stretch Asia 45° eastward, as 

 did Marinus and Columbus. It is exactly this 45° 

 difference that separates Asia and the new discoveries 

 of Spain on the Waldseemiiller map of 1507.^^ On 

 the other hand, some Spanish authorities believed, in 



3' Harrisse, Discovery of North America, p. 104. 



38 Fischer and von VVieser, work cited above on p. 64, footnote 17. 



