etween
the extreme eastern part of the Indies and the Canary Islands. In fact,
as we now know, the distance is one hundred and eighty degrees, half the
world's circumference. Had Columbus believed there was any such immense
distance, he would never have undertaken his voyage.

Almost all the detailed knowledge of the Indies which the people of
his time had, was given by the explorations of Marco Polo, a Venetian
traveler of the thirteenth century, whose book had long been in the
possession of European readers. It is a very entertaining book now, and
may well be recommended to young people who like stories of adventure.
Marco Polo had visited the court of the Great Khan of Tartary at Pekin,
the prince who brought the Chinese Empire into very much the condition
in which it now is. He had, also, given accounts of Japan or Cipango,
which he had himself never visited. Columbus knew, therefore, that,
well east of the Indies, was the island of Cipango, and he aimed at that
island, because he supposed that that was the nearest point to Europe,
as in fact it is. And when finally he arrived at Cuba, as the reader
will see, he thought he was in Japan.

Columbus's father-in-law had himself been the Portuguese governor of the
island of Porto Santo, where he had founded a colony. He, therefore,
was interested in western explorations, and probably from him Columbus
collected some of the statements which are known to have influenced
him, with regard to floating matters from the West, which are constantly
borne upon that island by the great currents of the sea.

The historians are fond of bringing together all the intimations which
are given in the Greek and Latin classics, and in later authors, with
regard to a land beyond Asia. Perhaps the most famous of them is that of
Seneca, "In the later years there shall come days in which Ocean shall
loose his chains, and a great land shall appear . . . and Thule shall
not be the last of the worlds."

In a letter which Toscanelli wrote to Columbus in 1474, he inclosed a
copy of a letter which he had already sent to an officer of Alphonso V,
the King of Portugal. In writing to Columbus, he says, "I see that you
have a great and noble desire to go into that country (of the East)
where the spices come from, and in reply to your letter I send you a
copy of that which I addressed some years ago to my attached friend in
the service of the most serene King of Portugal. He had an order from
his High