dence for
this except the identity of the name. Against the supposition are the
facts that neither Columbus, Las Casas, nor Ferdinand remark upon this
meeting with the most eminent Portuguese navigator of the time, and that
this Diaz is a subordinate officer on this ship who is sent to summon
Columbus to report to the captain. That the great admiral of 1486-1487
would in 1493 be a simple _Patron_ on a single ship is incredible.

[253-2] Joao II.

[254-1] The treaty of Alcacovas signed by Portugal September 8, 1479, and
by Spain March 6, 1480. In it Ferdinand and Isabella relinquished all
rights to make discoveries along the coast of Africa and retained of the
African islands only the Canaries. The Spanish text is printed in _Alguns
Documentos da Torre do Tombo_ (Lisbon, 1892), pp. 45-46. See also
Vignaud, _Toscanelli and Columbus_, pp. 61-64.

[254-2] "The Mine," more commonly El Mina, a station established on the
Gold Coast by Diogo de Azambuja in 1482. The full name in Portuguese was
S. Jorge da Mina, St. George of the Mine.

[255-1] The Portuguese historian Ruide Pina, in his _Cronica D'El Rey
Joao_, gives an account of Columbus's meeting with the king which is
contemporary. From his official position as chief chronicler and head of
the national archives and from the details which he mentions it is safe
to conclude that he was an eye-witness.

"In the following year, 1493, while the king was in the place of the Val
do Paraiso which is above the Monastery of Sancta Maria das Vertudes, on
account of the great pestilences which prevailed in the principal places
in this district, on the sixth of March there arrived at Restello in
Lisbon Christovam Colombo, an Italian who came from the discovery of the
islands of Cipango and Antilia which he had accomplished by the command
of the sovereigns of Castile from which land he brought with him the
first specimens of the people, gold and some other things that they have;
and he was entitled Admiral of them. And the king being informed of this,
commanded him to come before him and he showed that he felt disgusted and
grieved because he believed that this discovery was made within the seas
and bounds of his lordship of Guinea which was prohibited and likewise
because the said Admiral was somewhat raised from his condition and in
the account of his affairs always went beyond the bounds of the truth and
made this thing in gold, silver, and riches much greater than it was. The
ki