rs' report, the north star rises
to the 36th degree, whereas at Madeira it is in the 32d. Madeira was,
therefore, his first stop, and from thence he despatched five or six
ships loaded with provisions directly to Hispaniola, only keeping for
himself one ship with decks and two merchant caravels. He laid his
course due south and reached the equinoctial line, which he purposed
to follow directly to the west, making new discoveries and leaving
Hispaniola to the north on his starboard side. The thirteen islands
of the Hesperides lie in the track of this voyage. They belong to the
Portuguese, and all, save one, are inhabited. They are called the Cape
Verde islands, and are distant only a day's sail from the western part
of Ethiopia. To one of these islands the Portuguese have given the
name of Bona Vista[2]; and each year numerous lepers are cured of
their malady by eating the turtles of this island.

[Note 1: The date was May 30, 1498, and the number of ships under
his command was six, instead of eight. Much delay had occurred in
fitting out the fleet for the voyage, owing to the poor management of
the royal functionaries, especially the Bishop of Burgos, whose enmity
towards Columbus was from thenceforward relentless.]

[Note 2: Properly _Boavista_. A leper colony had been established
here by the Portuguese.]

The climate being very bad, the Admiral quickly left the archipelago
behind, and sailed 480 miles towards the west-south-west. He reports
that the dead calms and the fierce heat of the June sun caused such
sufferings that his ships almost took fire. The hoops of his water
barrels burst, and the water leaked out. His men found this heat
intolerable. The pole star was then at an elevation of five degrees.
Of the eight days during which they endured these sufferings only the
first was clear; the others being cloudy and rainy, but not on that
account less oppressive. More than once, indeed, did he repent having
taken this course. After eight days of these miseries a favourable
wind rose from the south-west, by which the Admiral profited to sail
directly west, and under this parallel he observed new stars in the
heavens, and experienced a more agreeable temperature. In fact,
all his men agree in saying that after three days' sailing in that
direction, the air was much cooler. The Admiral affirms that, while
he was in the region of dead calms and torrid heat, the ship always
mounted the back of the sea, just as when cli