continent in which they live passed under the name of
_India_, with the whole of the New World discovered at the close of the
fifteenth century. It is, of course, unnecessary to dwell upon the fact
of Columbus believing he had discovered a new route to India by sailing
due west; or upon the acquiescence of the whole world in that idea, the
effects of which have not yet passed away; for we not only hear in
Seville, even now, of the "India House" meaning house of management of
affairs for the "New World," but we even retain ourselves the name of
the West Indies, given as unwarrantably to the islands of the Caribbean
Sea. It is needless to do more than allude to this, and to other
misnomers still prevalent, notwithstanding the fact of the notions or
ideas under which the names were originally given having long since been
exploded; such as the "four quarters of the globe," the "four elements,"
&c. If your correspondent searches for the solution of his difficulty on
different grounds from those I have mentioned, it would not satisfy him
to be more diffuse; and if the whole reason be that which I conceive,
quite enough has been said upon the subject.

G.W.
89. Hamilton Terrace, St. John's Wood.

"Northman" is informed, that on the discovery of America by Columbus,
when he landed at Guanahani (now called Cat Island), he thought, in
conformity with his theory of the spherical shape of the earth, that he
had landed on one of the islands lying at the eastern extremity of
India; and with this belief he gave the inhabitants the name of Indians.
The following quotations will perhaps be interesting:--

"America persaepe dicitur, sed improprie, Indiae Occidentales,
_les Indes Occidentales_, Gallis, _West Inde_, Belgis: Non
tantum ab Hispanis, qui illam denominationem primi usurparunt,
sed etiam a Belgis, Anglis, et aliquando a Francis, quod eodem
fere tempore detecta sit ad occidentem, quo ad Orientem India
reperta est."--_Hofmanni Lexicon Univ._ 1677, sub titulo
"_America_."

"At eadem terra nonnullis _India Occidentalis_, nuncupatur, quia
eodem tempore, quo India Orientalis in Asia, haec etiam delecta
fuit; tum quod utriusque incolis similis ac pene eadern ivendi
ratio: nudi quippe utrique agunt."--_P. Clurerii Introduct. in
Univ. Geographiam_, Cap. xi (iv.) 1711.

"The most improper name of all, and yet not much less used than
that of _America_, is the _West Indies_: _