dmiral observed the latitude with great
care, and found a wonderful difference between the appearances there and
in the parallel of the Azores. For at the Azores, when the constellation
of the great bear was to the right or east, then the north star is lowest,
and from that time began to rise; so that when the great bear was over
head, the north star had risen two degrees and a half, and being passed,
that began again to descend the five degrees it had ascended. This he
observed very carefully, several times when the weather was very fit for
his purpose. But at the place where he now was in the torrid zone these
appearances were quite contrary; for when the great bear was at its
greatest elevation, he found the north star six degrees high; and when in
six hours the bear came to the west the north star was then eleven degrees
high; when the bear was quite depresssed and could not be seen because of
the obliquity of the pole, the north star was six degrees high, so that
the difference was ten degrees, and the north star described a circle
having a diameter of ten degrees; whereas, in other places, it made but
five, and in a different position as to the great bear, for at the Azores
the polar star was lowest when the bear was in the west, and here the
north star was lowest when the bear was at its greatest elevation. The
admiral, not being complete master of this subject, thought this of very
difficult comprehension; and observes that probably when at the
equinoctial, the full orbit of the star is seen; whereas, the nearer one
approaches the pole it seems the less, because the Heavens are more
oblique. As for the variation, I believe the star has the quality of all
the four quarters, like the needle, which if touched to the east
side points to the east, and so of the west, north, and south; wherefore,
he that makes a compass covers the loadstone with a cloth, all but its
north part, or that which has the power to make the needle point to the
north.

On Tuesday the 31st of July, 1498, having sailed many days west, insomuch
that the admiral believed the Caribbee islands were to the north, he
resolved to discontinue that western course, and to make for Hispaniola,
because he was greatly in want of water, and almost all his provisions had
perished, and because he was afraid lest some mutiny or disorder might
have broken out in the colony during his long absence, which in fact had
been the case as we shall shew hereafter. Theref