the search was fruitless, but
footprints of alligators, interpreted as footprints of griffins guarding
hoarded gold,[567] frightened the men back to their ships. From the
natives, with whom the Spaniards could converse only by signs, they
seemed to learn that they were going toward the realm of Prester
John;[568] and in such wise did they creep along the coast to the point,
some fifty miles west of Broa Bay, where it begins to trend decidedly to
the southwest. Before they had reached Point Mangles, a hundred miles
farther on, inasmuch as they found this southwesterly trend persistent,
the proof that they were upon the coast of the Asiatic continent began
to seem complete. Columbus thought that they had passed the point (lat.
23 deg., long. 145 deg. on Toscanelli's map) where the coast of Asia began to
trend steadily toward the southwest.[569] By pursuing this coast he felt
sure that he would eventually reach the peninsula (Malacca) which
Ptolemy, who knew of it only by vague hearsay, called the Golden
Chersonese.[570] An immense idea now flitted through the mind of
Columbus. If he could reach and double that peninsula he could then find
his way to the mouth of the Ganges river; thence he might cross the
Indian ocean, pass the Cape of Good Hope (for Dias had surely shown that
the way was open), and return that way to Spain after circumnavigating
the globe! But fate had reserved this achievement for another man of
great heart and lofty thoughts, a quarter of a century later, who should
indeed accomplish what Columbus dreamed, but only after crossing another
Sea of Darkness, the most stupendous body of water on our globe, the
mere existence of which until after Columbus had died no European ever
suspected.[571] If Columbus had now sailed about a hundred miles
farther, he would have found the end of Cuba, and might perhaps have
skirted the northern shore of Yucatan and come upon the barbaric
splendours of Uxmal and Campeche. The excitement which such news would
have caused in Spain might perhaps have changed all the rest of his life
and saved him from the worst of his troubles. But the crews were now
unwilling to go farther, and the Admiral realized that it would be
impossible to undertake such a voyage as he had in mind with no more
than their present outfit. So it was decided to return to Hispaniola.

[Footnote 566: These tropical birds are called _soldados_, or
"soldiers," because their stately attitude