Note 64 — Chapter I

It may have been on some island or in some canoe; or just as likely a mere delusion. The fact that Columbus at a later day set up a claim for the reward for the first discovery on the strength of this mysterious light, to the exclusion of the poor sailor who first actually saw land from the “Pinta,” has subjected his memory, not unnaturally, to some discredit at least with those who reckon magnanimity among the virtues. Cf. Navarrete, iii. 612.