ott, History
of Ferdinand and Isabella, London, 1870; Major, Select Letters of
Columbus, Hakluyt Society, London, 1847, and "On the Landfall of
Columbus," in Journal of Royal Geographical Society for 1871; Sir Arthur
Helps, Life of Columbus, London, 1868; Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages y
Descubrimientos desde Fines del Siglo XV., Madrid, 1825; Ticknor,
History of Spanish Literature, London, 1863.

See also Pietro Martire d'Anghiera, Opus Epistolarum, 1530, and De Rebus
Oceanicis et de Orbe Novo, 1511; Gomora, in Historiadores Primitivos de
Indias, vol. xxii of Rivadaneyra's collection; Oveido y Valdes, Cronica
de las Indias, Salamanca, 1547; Ramusio, Raccolta delle Navigatione et
viaggi iii, Venetia, 1575; Herrera de Tordesillas, Historia de las
Indias Occidentales, 1601; Antonio Leon Pinelo, Epitome de la Biblioteca
Oriental y Occidental, Madrid, 1623; Munoz, Historia del Nuevo Mundo,
Madrid, 1793; Cancellieri, Notizia di Christoforo Colombo, 1809; Bossi,
Vita di Christoforo Colombo, 1819; Charlevoix, Histoire de San Domingo;
Lamartine, Christoph Colomb, Paris, 1862 (Spanish translation, 1865);
Crompton, Life of Columbus, London, 1859; Voyages and Discoveries of
Columbus, sixth edition, London, 1857; H. R. St. John, Life of Columbus,
London, 1850.]

Selected Letters of Columbus

Translation of the letter of Christopher Columbus offering his services
to King Ferdinand of Spain:

_Most Serene Prince: I have been engaged in navigating from my
youth. I have voyaged on the seas for nearly forty years. I have
visited all known quarters of the world and have conversed with a
great number of learned men--with ecclesiastics, with seculars,
with Latins, with Greeks, with Moors, and with persons of all sorts
of religions. I have acquired some knowledge of navigation, of
astronomy, and of geometry. I am sufficiently expert in designing
the chart of the earth to place the cities, the rivers, and the
mountains where they are situated. I have applied myself to the
study of works on cosmography, on history, and on philosophy. I
feel myself at present strongly urged to undertake the discovery of
the Indies; and I come to your Highness to supplicate you to favor
my enterprise. I doubt not that those who hear it will turn it into
ridicule; but if your Highness will give me the means of executing
it, whatever the obstacles may be I hope to be able to ma