124 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



Portugal.*^ La Cosa called it Punta de Cuba (Fig. 1 1). 

 Las Casas tells us that Columbus regarded this cape 

 as the Cape of the land of the Great Khan, i. e. the 

 mainland of Asia. On the second voyage Columbus 

 left the city of Isabella on the northern coast of 

 Espafiola (Haiti) on April 24, 1494, and arrived at 

 the port of San Nicolas at the western extremity of 

 the island on April 29 1'^^ hence the crossing of the 

 strait between Espaiiola and Cuba came on April 

 30. The name "Cabo do fim do Abrill" seems to have 

 been derived from this fact. 



The name must have been communicated to the 

 map-maker by some one not well informed as to the 

 first voyage; but this presents no difficulty, since it 

 is apparent from the study of the names so far con- 

 sidered that the maker of the Cantino map did not 

 have at hand the maps of Columbus and La Cosa 

 nor any of the accounts used by scholars in criticiz- 

 ing the so-called "Florida" of the Cantino map. 

 Harrisse and others, in considering only the written 

 accounts and maps and neglecting the possibility of 



42 Las Casas, op. cit., Book I, Ch. 50 (Vol. i, p. 360); Ferdinand 

 Columbus, op. cit., Ch. 30, i. e. Ch. 31 (Italian edition, London, 1867, p. 

 93; English translation in Churchill's Voyages, p. 535); Peter Martyr: 

 De Orbe Novo, First Decade, Book III (translation by MacNutt, op. 

 cit., p. 92); Andres Bernaldez, op. cit., Seville edition, Vol. 2, p. 41 (also 

 in Raccolta. Part I, Vol. i, p. 241). 



Ferdinand Columbus says the cape was named Cape Alpha and gives 

 no explanation of the meaning of the name. Peter Martyr and Andres 

 Bernaldez, while explaining the meaning, attribute the name to the 

 second voyage. 



« Las Casas, op. cit., Book I. Ch. 94 (Vol. 2, p. 51). 



