Note 322-3 — NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS AS CONTAINED IN LAS CASAS’S HISTORY

The correct form of this name is Gargades. Columbus’s knowledge of them was derived indirectly from Pliny’s Natural History, book VI., XXXVII., through Cardinal d’Ailly’s Imago Mundi. Cf. Columbus’s marginal note to ch. XXXXI. of that work: “De situ Gorgodum insule nunc de Capite Viride vel Antonii dicitur.” Raccolta Colombiana, parte I., vol. II., p. 395. According to Pliny’s location of them they were probably the Canaries. Pliny’s knowledge of the location of the Hesperides is naturally vague, but his text would support their identification with the Cape Verde Islands.