132 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



Greenland (Fig. 8), the Cantino map contains a 

 legend as follows :^^ 



Esta terra he descober[ta] per mandado do muy es- 

 celentissimo p[ri]ncepe dom Manuel Rey de portugall 

 aquall se cree ser esta a ponta dasia. E os que a des- 

 cobriram nam chegaro a terra mais vironla z nam viram 

 senam serras muyto espessas polla quail segum a opinyom 

 dos cosmofircos se cree ser a ponta dasia. (This land 

 was discovered by order of the very excellent Prince Dom 

 Manoel, King of Portugal, which is believed to be the 

 extremity of Asia. Those who discovered it did not go 

 ashore but saw the land and saw nothing but very ser- 

 rated mountains; it is for this reason, according to the 

 opinion of cosmographers, that it is believed to be the 

 extremity of Asia.) 



The facts rehearsed were a puzzle to cartographers; 

 for they were called upon to delineate a land at once 

 400 leagues from England, 700 leagues from Bristol, 

 and 1800 or 2800 miles from Lisbon; a land that was 

 the mainland of Asia and that could be coasted west- 

 w^ard "to the East" until one w^as opposite the island 

 of Cipangu; and a land w^here the Portuguese maps 

 indicated the discoveries of the Corte-Reals on a 

 coast extending north and south so as to join the 

 Andilie land and the land of Papaga. 



The cartographer who made the Cantino map put 

 this material together by stripping all the names from 

 the coast of the Terra de Corte-Real, as he had done 



55 Stevenson, Maps Illustrating Early Discover3% Portfolio i. Legend 

 deciphered in Harrisse, Discovery of North America, p. 67. 



