Columbus recorded a shorter false distance to show the crew while privately keeping the true, longer tally, so that the sailors would not be frightened by how far from home they had sailed. The deception was aimed at managing morale rather than navigation.
Proximity to unseen land can be inferred from accumulating indirect signs: drifting branches, freshwater birds, floating vegetation, and shifts in wind and cloud. Columbus treated these converging cues as evidence to sustain a course even when no coast was visible.
Columbus described the first encountered inhabitants chiefly in terms of their usefulness: how easily they could be converted, commanded, or taken as servants, and whether they wore gold. The framing noted their gentleness and lack of weapons as features that made them easy to subjugate.
Facing a restless crew near the limit of endurance, Columbus announced that a silk doublet would go to whoever first sighted land, and the sovereigns had promised an annuity for the same. A concrete prize was used to convert collective anxiety into competitive vigilance.