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THE DEMARCATION LINE OF POPE ALEXANDER VI.

history of the Line of Demarcation established by Pope Alexander VI., separating the Spanish and Portuguese fields of discovery and colonization, has received comparatively little attention from English writers. So far as I have been able to learn, no satisfactory or reasonably complete single account of the subject from beginning to end exists in the language. In view of the approaching period of Columbian anniversaries and the reawakened interest in all things pertaining to the discovery of the New World, a brief history of this curious yet momentous transaction will be appropriate.

Columbus, upon his return from his first voyage, landed near Palos, March 15, 1493. He promptly despatched a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella giving an account of his discoveries. They replied March 30, and by the middle of