CHRISTOPHER
CHAP. II ]
COLUMBUS
171
Polo, he concluded that this island must be Cipango, and the merchant ships mentioned must be those of the Grand Khan, who maintained an extensive commerce in these seas.
He
formed his plan accordingly, determining to sail immediately for this island, and make himself acquainted with its ports, cities, and productions, for the purpose of establishing relations of traffic. He would then seek another great island called Bohio, of which the natives gave likewise marvelous accounts.
His sojourn in
those islands would depend upon the quantities of gold, spices, precious stones, and other objects of oriental trade which he should find there.
After this he would proceed to the main-land
of India, which must be within ten days' sail, seek the city Quinsai, which, according to Marco Polo, was one of the most magni ficent capitals in the world; he would there deliver in person the letters of the Castilian sovereigns to the Grand Khan, and, when he received his reply, return triumphantly to Spain with this document, to prove that he had accomplished the great object of his voyage.*
Such was the splendid scheme with which Colum
bus fed his imagination, when about to leave the Bahamas in quest of the island of Cuba. * Journal of Columbus.
Navarrete, tom. i.