Some effects of this discovery 333 Bartholomew Columbus took part in it 333 Connection between these voyages and the work of Christopher Columbus 334 CHAPTER V. THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES. _WESTWARD OR SPANISH ROUTE._ Sources of information concerning the life of Columbus; Las Casas and Ferdinand Columbus 335 The Biblioteca Colombina at Seville 336, 337 Bernaldez and Peter Martyr 338 Letters of Columbus 338 Defects in Ferdinand's information 339, 340 Researches of Henry Harrisse 341 Date of the birth of Columbus; archives of Savona 342 Statement of Bernaldez 343 Columbus's letter of September, 1501 344 The balance of probability is in favour of 1436 345 The family of Domenico Colombo, and its changes of residence 346, 347 Columbus tells us that he was born in the city of Genoa 348 His early years 349-351 Christopher and his brother Bartholomew at Lisbon 351, 352 Philippa Moniz de Perestrelo 352 Personal appearance of Columbus 353 His marriage, and life upon the island of Porto Santo 353, 354 The king of Portugal asks advice of the great astronomer Toscanelli 355 Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 356-361 His second letter to Columbus 361, 362 Who first suggested the feasibleness of a westward route to the Indies? Was it Columbus? 363 Perhaps it was Toscanelli 363, 364 Note on the date of Toscanelli's first letter to Columbus 365-367 The idea, being naturally suggested by the globular form of the earth, was as old as Aristotle 368, 369 Opinions of ancient writers 370 Opinions of Christian writers 371 The "Imago Mundi" of Petrus Alliacus 372, 373 Ancient estimates of the size of the globe and the length of the Oecumene 374 Toscanelli's calculation of the size of the earth, and of the position of Japan (Cipango) 375, 376