Modern research tends to upset many a cherished ideal. One
of the most remarkable is that of the man whom we have all revered as the discoverer of the New World, the intrepid sailor who brought the wealth of the Indies into the coffers of Spain. In his Christopher Columbus (Knopf, 21s.), M. Marius Andre depicts him as a bombastic adventurer, a man who was no navigator and who could not command the loyalty of the men be was set over. According to the author, Cabot, in 1497, was the actual discoverer of America. The book, which is well documented, takes the modern view of this momentous period of history, but surely no other writer has painted Columbus in such dark colours ? Whether his name was CristObal Colon and he was a Galician, or whether, as he afterwards stated, it was Colombo and he was a descendant of Genoese Counts, matters little enough ; what does matter is the fact that he himself created the myth that surrounds his name. His latest biographer gives good authority for his facts, but we are not yet wholly convinced., • *
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