Note 397-2 — THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS

This is unintelligible. The Spanish is, “Tolomeo diz que la tierra mas austral es el plazo primero.” The meaning of plazo is not “boundary” but “term” (allotted time). The reading should be: “la tierra mas austral es el praso promontorio,” and the translation should be, “Ptolemy says that the most southern land is the promontory of Prasum,” etc. Prasum promontorium was Ptolemy’s southern limit of the world. He placed it at about 16 degrees south latitude. See Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, II. 572, and Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, art. “Prasum Promontorium”; also Ptolemy’s Geography, bk. IV., ch. IX., the descriptive matter relating to Map 4 on Africa.