[1] Almost Seven Months And A Half; Or More Precisely Thirty-Two Weeks, Being Seven Kalendar Months And Twelve Days.

- E.

[2] In this bull, following the vague language of Columbus, the great discoverer, the New World is called the Indies, slightly distinguished, in grammatical number only, from India in south-eastern Asia. - E.

[3] In the bull, as reported by Herrera, all that should be discovered to the west and south of the meridianal line from pole to pole is granted to the crown of Castile and Leon. It is hard to say what portion of the globe was conceived to be to the south of such a demarcation. But it is obvious that in granting all to the west of this line to Spain, and all to the east of it to Portugal, the pope and cardinals granted the whole circumference of the globe reciprocally to both crowns. The sacred college had not hitherto adopted the geographical heresy of Galileo, and still entertained vague notions of the true figure of the earth. - E.

[4] This probably alludes to the foul means then employed in Spain for converting the Moors and Jews, by means of the holy office of the Inquisition. - E.

[5] Perhaps this expression mean knights, or fidalgos; men of family and substance: yet it probably means nothing more than that twenty volunteer cavalry formed part of the military force of the expedition. - E.

[6] I am apt to suspect the real sense of this passage ought to be, "requiring the court of Spain not to send off Columbus for sixty days." - E.

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