s remind one of
sentinels on duty. The whole town of Angostura, in Venezuela,
was one day frightened out of its wits by the sudden appearance
of a flock of these cranes on the summit of a neighbouring
hill. They were mistaken for a war-party of Indians. Humboldt,
_Voyage aux regions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent_, tom.
ii. p. 314.]

[Footnote 567: See above, p. 287, note.]

[Footnote 568: For these events, see Bernaldez, _Reyes
Catolicos_, cap. cxxiii.; F. Columbus, _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_,
cap. lvi.; Munoz, _Historia del Nuevo Mundo_, lib. v. Sec. 16;
Humboldt, _Examen critique_, tom. iv. pp. 237-263; Irving's
_Columbus_, vol. i. pp. 491-504.]

[Footnote 569: That is to say, he thought he had passed the
coast of Mangi (southern China) and reached the beginning of
the coast of Champa (Cochin China; see Yule's _Marco Polo_,
vol. ii. p. 213). The name Champa, coming to European writers
through an Italian source, was written Ciampa and Ciamba. See
its position on the Behaim and Toscanelli maps, and also on
Ruysch's map, 1508, below, vol. ii. p. 114. Peter Martyr says
that Columbus was sure that he had reached the coast of
Gangetic (i. e. what we call Farther) India: "Indiae Gangetidis
continentem eam (Cubae) plagam esse contendit Colonus." _Epist._
xciii. _ad Bernardinum_. Of course Columbus understood that
this region, while agreeing well enough with Toscanelli's
latitude, was far from agreeing with his longitude. But from
the moment when he turned eastward on his first voyage he seems
to have made up his mind that Toscanelli's longitudes needed
serious amendment. Indeed he had always used different
measurements from Toscanelli.]

[Footnote 570: For an account of Ptolemy's almost purely
hypothetical and curiously distorted notions about southeastern
Asia, see Bunbury's _History of Ancient Geography_, vol. ii.
pp. 604-608.]

[Footnote 571: See below, vol. ii. pp. 200-210.]

Upon consultation with La Cosa and others, it was unanimously agreed
that they were upon the coast of the continent of Asia. The evidence
seemed conclusive. From Cape Mayzi (Alpha and Omega) they had observed,
upon their own reckoning, 335 le