820 Henry Stevens's Historical and Geographical 
There is little doubt that, at the time of the publication of 
this most important map, the author was still under the belief 
that all these new main lands somehow pertained to the conti- 
nent of Asia. It is true, he informs us that some philosophers, 
and he leaves us to infer that he was one of them, had their sus- 
 aeiidos that Columbus was mistaken in his opinion of its being 
athay, that the globe was larger than Columbus supposed, and 
that he had not really reached the antipodes, or the kingdom of 
the Grand Khan. But when Columbus, in his fourth voyage, 
brought home some poppinjays, and exhibited their brilliant 
aaeese at the court, the good old gossipping letter-writer ac- 
owledged that the great Discoverer was right, that such beau- 
tiful birds could come only from the East. Hence, probably on 
this map the lines west of Beimeni and north of Yucatan are 
m lines from Marco Polo. Indeed, Peter Martyr says, in 
his first decade, finished in 1510 and printed shortly after, that 
all these provinces of Paria, Cariena, Canehiet, Cuquibacoa, 
Uraba, Veragua, and others, are supposed to pertain to the con- 
tinent of India. Florida and Beimini forgotten by Marco Polo, 
and left out of his report! Shade of Sebastian Cabot! 
Tn 1511 Cuba was settled under favorable auspices, and with 
Diego Velasquez as governor over well-to-do colonists, it became 
the base of operations for extensive explorations. On the 8th 
of February, 1517, Francisco Hernandez de Cordova, accom- 
panied by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, he of the True History, and 
Antonio Alaminos as pilot, who as a boy had sailed with Colum- 
bus, set out on an exploring expedition to the west, to look for 
trade, gold, and the long-sought passage to the land of promise. 
He went by Cape Catoche, the bay of Campeche, as far as Cham- 
ton, and returned. -The next year, 1518, on the 5th of A ril, 
uan de Grijalva set out on the same route, with a better fleet 
and fuller instructions, accompanied by Bernal Diaz, Pedro de 
Alvarado, and the ever faithful Palinurus, Alaminos. They 
Panuco. Alvarado was sent back with the sick and heaps of ; 
gold, but Grijalva himself did not return to Cuba till the 15th ~ 
by the chaplain, Diez, was first published in Italian b 
enice in 1520, as an appendage to the Jtinerario of 
ys after Grijalva’s return, Hernan 
see per eS 
