granted all discoveries to the west to Spain, leaving it to be understood that all to the east belonged to Portugal.

The line of demarcation was an imaginary one drawn from pole to pole, and passing one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, which were supposed, in the inaccurate geography of the time, to be in the same meridian.

In the following year the Portuguese monarch applied for a revision of the _raya_, as this would keep him out of all discovered in the New World altogether; and the line of demarcation was then shifted 270 leagues westward, or altogether 1110 miles west of the Cape Verdes.

By a curious coincidence, within six years Cabral had discovered Brazil, which fell within the angle thus cut off by the _raya_ from South America.

Or was it entirely a coincidence?
May not Cabral have been directed to take this unusually westward course in order to ascertain if any land fell within the Portuguese claims?
When, however, the Spice Islands were discovered, it remained to be discussed whether the line of demarcation, when continued on the other side of the globe, brought them within the Spanish or Portuguese "sphere of influence," as we should say nowadays.
By a curious chance they happened to be very near the line, and, with the inaccurate maps of the period, a pretty subject of quarrel was afforded between the Portuguese and Spanish commissioners who met at Badajos to determine the question.