niola, while with the other
three he kept on to the Cape Verde islands, whence he steered southwest
on the 4th of July. A week later, after a run of about 900 miles, his
astrolabe seemed to show that he was within five degrees of the
equator.[590] There were three reasons for going so far to the
south:--1, the natives of the islands already visited always pointed
in that direction when gold was mentioned; 2, a learned jeweller, who
had travelled in the East, had assured Columbus that gold and gems, as
well as spices and rare drugs, were to be found for the most part among
black people near the equator; 3, if he should not find any rich islands
on the way, a sufficiently long voyage would bring him to the coast of
Champa (Cochin China) at a lower point than he had reached on the
preceding voyage, and nearer to the Golden Chersonese (Malacca), by
doubling which he could enter the Indian ocean. It will be remembered
that he supposed the southwesterly curve in the Cuban coast, the
farthest point reached in his second voyage, to be the beginning of the
coast of Cochin China according to Marco Polo.

[Footnote 590: The figure given by Columbus is equivalent only
to 360 geographical miles (Navarrete, _Coleccion_, tom. i. p.
246), but as Las Casas (_Hist._ tom. ii. p. 226) already
noticed, there must be some mistake here, for on a S. W. course
from the Cape Verde islands it would require a distance of 900
geographical miles to cut the fifth parallel. From the weather
that followed, it is clear that Columbus stated his latitude
pretty correctly; he had come into the belt of calms. Therefore
his error must be in the distance run.]

[Sidenote: The belt of calms.]

Once more through ignorance of the atmospheric conditions of the regions
within the tropics Columbus encountered needless perils and hardships.
If he had steered from Ferro straight across the ocean a trifle south of
west-southwest, he might have made a quick and comfortable voyage, with
the trade-wind filling his sails, to the spot where he actually struck
land.[591] As it was, however, he naturally followed the custom then so
common, of first running to the parallel upon which he intended to sail.
This long southerly run brought him into the belt of calms or neutral
zone between the northern and southern trade-winds, a little north of
the equator.[592] No words can describe what followed