there
the sea was not frozen. In some places the tide rose and fell twenty-six
fathoms. It is true that the Thule mentioned by Ptolemy lies where he
says it does, and this by the moderns is called Frislanda."[467]

[Footnote 466: _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. iv.; Las Casas,
_Historia_, tom. i. p. 49.]

[Footnote 467: "Io navigai l' anno M CCCC LXXVII nel mese di
Febraio oltra Tile isola cento leghe, la cui parte Australe e
lontana dall' Equinottiale settantatre gradi, e non
sessantatre, come alcuni vogliono; ne giace dentro della linea,
che include l' Occidente di Tolomeo, ma e molto piu
Occidentale. Et a questa isola, che e tanto grande, come
l'Inghilterra, vanno gl' Inglesi con le loro mercatantie,
specialmente quelli di Bristol. Et al tempo che io vi andai,
non era congelato il mare, quantunque vi fossero si grosse
maree, che in alcuni luoghi ascendeva ventisei braccia, e
discendeva altretanti in altezza. E bene il vero, che Tile,
quella, di cui Tolomeo fa mentione, giace dove egli dice; &
questa da' moderni e chiamata Frislanda." _Vita dell'
Ammiraglio_, cap. iv. In the original edition of 1571, there
are no quotation-marks; and in some modern editions, where
these are supplied, the quotation is wrongly made to end just
before the last sentence, so as to make it appear like a gloss
of Ferdinand's. This is, however, impossible. Ferdinand died in
1539, and the Zeno narrative of Frislanda was not published
till 1558, so that the only source from which that name could
have come into his book was his father's document. The
genuineness of the passage is proved by its recurrence, almost
word for word, in Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. i. p. 48.]

[Sidenote: He may have reached Jan Mayen island,]

[Sidenote: and stopped at Iceland.]

Taken as it stands this passage is so bewildering that we can hardly
suppose it to have come in just this shape from the pen of Columbus. It
looks as if it had been abridged from some diary of his by some person
unfamiliar with the Arctic seas; and I have ventured to insert in
brackets a little preposition which may perhaps help to straighten out
the meaning. By Thule Columbus doubtless means Iceland, which lies
between latitudes 64 deg. and 67 deg., and it looks as if h