"FLORIDA" ON CANTINO MAP 99 



from south to north, over a space covering more than 

 twenty degrees of latitude. 



The reason for such an impossibility is obvious. In 

 November, 1492, the great Genoese had ranged the 

 northern coast of that island, first on the north side, 

 westward, beyond Nuevitas del Principe; then eastward 

 as far as Cape Maysi; and in the summer of 1494 on the 

 south side, from its eastern extremity to beyond what 

 he called the Isla Evangelista, which, Las Casas says, is 

 the Isla de Pinos. It follows that when Columbus de- 

 picted Cuba, assuming that he gave it a continental 

 aspect, he must have represented that region, so early 

 as 1494 or 1495, not as it is on the Cantino chart, viz: 

 in the shape of a continent extending straight from south 

 to north, but, on the contrary, in the form of a long 

 peninsula, running from east to west, and for a very great 

 distance, as he claimed to have coasted the region west- 

 ward more than three hundred and thirty-five leagues 

 ... a statement which is hyperbolical, as the entire 

 length of the island from east to west is only two hundred 

 and thirty-five leagues, but which implies nevertheless 

 a considerable ranging of the Cuban coast. 



Nor, when coming to depict the point where the pe- 

 ninsula was supposed to be soldered to the continent, 

 would Columbus or his followers have made the coast 

 line trend due north, and especially for a distance em- 

 bracing at least twxnty degrees of latitude. On the 

 contrary, his coast could but run southward, for such was 

 his decided opinion, clearly expressed in June, 1494. 

 Speaking of the alleged western terminus of Cuba, 

 Columbus said: "From this point onward, the coast ex- 

 tends southwardly" . . . and he compelled all his 

 pilots, Francisco Nifio, Alonso Medel, Bartolome Perez, 



