Note 467 — Chapter II
Reading edition
[Vespucci himself says that his mission was “per ajutare a discoprire.” An astronomer was an important officer of all these early expeditions. Isabella urged Columbus not to go without one on his second voyage; and in his narrative of his fourth voyage, Columbus contends that there is but one infallible method of making a ship’s reckoning, that employed by astronomers. Cf. Humboldt, Cosmos, Eng. tr., ii. 671.—Ed.]