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Updated: June 24, 2025
Now, however, the existence of more heathen to the west of the Azores introduced a new complication, and Ferdinand sent a message to Pope Alexander VI. praying for a confirmation of the Spanish title to the new discoveries.
It is probable that their "land" was nothing more than clouds which, owing to certain winds of that particular region, lie low on the horizon for a long time; but the people of the Canaries, and of the Madeiras too, all firmly believed they saw Antilla and the other "western lands" of legend; and Columbus, nodding his head wisely, told how the king of Portugal had shown him some reeds, as large as those of India, that had been washed up on the western shore of the Azores.
By adding the information given by Marco Polo to the incorrect views of Ptolemy about the breadth of the inhabited world, Toscanelli reduced the distance from the Azores to 52°, or 3120 miles. Columbus always expressed his indebtedness to Toscanelli's map for his guidance, and, as we shall see, depended upon it very closely, both in steering, and in estimating the distance to be traversed.
We had played billiards in the Azores with balls that were not round and on an ancient table that was very little smoother than a brick pavement one of those wretched old things with dead cushions, and with patches in the faded cloth and invisible obstructions that made the balls describe the most astonishing and unsuspected angles and perform feats in the way of unlooked-for and almost impossible "scratches" that were perfectly bewildering.
While to crown all, the upper works of the vessel which had been caulked in the damp atmosphere of an English winter, had opened out under the hot sun of the Azores through every seam, and the eternal clank, clank of the pumps, which it was fondly hoped had been heard for the last time when the poor, worn-out little Sumter had been laid up, played throughout the long night a dismal accompaniment to the creaking of the labouring vessel, and the wild howling of an Atlantic gale.
He says that the name and country of the pilot were unknown, some terming him an Andalusian, sailing between the Canaries and Madeira, others a Biscayan, trading to England and France; and others a Portuguese, voyaging between Lisbon and Mina, on the coast of Guinea. He expresses equal uncertainty whether the pilot brought the caravel to Portugal, to Madeira, or to one of the Azores.
At the same time Don Alonso de Baçan sailed from Corunna for the Azores with 40 great ships of war, to wait for the fleets from the Spanish and Portuguese Indies, which, along with our Malacca goods when laden, he was to convoy to the Tagus. But, when he had been some days at sea, always with a contrary wind, only two of his ships could get to the islands, all the rest being scattered.
Their fleets, which touched at the port of Lisbon, aroused the commercial enterprise of the Portuguese, who soon began to undertake extended maritime expeditions. By the middle of the fourteenth century they had discovered the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores. Before this time no one had ventured along the coast of Africa beyond the arid region of Sahara.
"This morning the Dutch compasses varied as they used to do a whole point, while those of Genoa, which used to agree with them, varied but a very little, though afterwards sailing farther east they varied more, which is a sign that we were 100 leagues west of the Azores or somewhat more; for when we were just 100 leagues there were only a few scattered weeds to be seen, the Dutch needles varying a point while those of Genoa pointed due north; and when we got somewhat farther E.N.E. they altered again."
Rich valley-soils and sea-slopes, as at Cuban Vuelta de Abajo and Syrian Latakia, are the proper habitats of the 'holy herb. Here it is planted in the high dry grounds about the 'Peak Fort' and the uplands east of the city. Manure also is rare and dear, and so is water, which, by the by, is sadly wasted in Madeira for want of reservoirs. Consequently the peasants smoke tobacco from the Azores.
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