“The necessity for attaching a special and well-informed astronomer to every great expedition was so generally felt that Queen Isabella wrote to Columbus on the 5th of September, 1493, ‘that although he had shown in his undertakings that he knew more than any other living being (_que ninguno de los nacidos_), she counselled him, nevertheless, to take with him Fray Antonio de Marchena, as being a learned and skillful astronomer.’ Columbus writes in the narrative of his fourth voyage that ‘there was only one infallible method of taking a ship’s reckoning, viz., that employed by astronomers. He who understands it may rest satisfied; for that which it yields is like unto a prophetic vision (_vision profetica_). Our ignorant pilots, when they have lost sight of land for several days know not where they are. They would not be able to find the countries again which I have discovered. To navigate a ship requires the compass (_compas y arte_) and the knowledge or art of the astronomer.’”—Humboldt: Cosmos. Otté’s trans. vol. ii. pp. 671-673. [186] “That any individual among our subjects and natives, that desires, may go hereafter (according to our pleasure and will) to discover islands and the mainland in the said part of the aforesaid Indies, either to those already discovered or to any other, and to traffic in them, provided it be not in the aforesaid island of Española. He may buy from the Christians there or from those who may hereafter be there any article and merchandise, provided it be not gold; and this he may and shall do with any suitable ship, provided that at the time he leaves our kingdom he depart from the city of Cadiz, and there present himself before our officers. And they must carry thence in each of such vessels one or two persons named by our officers.... And it is our will and pleasure that of all which the said persons shall find in the aforesaid islands and mainland they shall have for themselves nine parts, and the tenth shall be our part.”—_Vide_ Memorials of Columbus; or a collection of authentic documents of that celebrated navigator. London, 1823. pp. 88-95. [187] Amerigo Vespucci, the third son of Anastasio Vespucci and Elizabetta Mina, was born in Florence, March 9, 1451. In his boyhood he attended the school taught by his uncle, Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a monk of the order of St. Mark. About the year 1493 Vespucci went to Seville, and engaged in the business of furnishing and equipping vessels for voyages of discovery. He died in Seville, February 22, 1512.—_Vide_ The life and voyages of Americus Vepucius. By C. Edwards Lester and Andrew Foster. New York, 1846. Amerigo Vespucci. Son caractère, ses écrits (même les moins authentiques), sa vie, et ses navigations, par F. A. de Varnhagen. Lima, 1865. [188] _Vide_ Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima.—A description of works relating to America published between the years 1492 and 1551. [By Henry Harrisse.] New York, 1866. pp. 55-68.