true courage. At length, in an obstinate engagement off the coast of Portugal with some Venetian caravels, the vessel on board which he served took fire, together with one of the enemy's ships to which it was fast grappled. In this dreadful extremity he threw himself into the sea, laid hold of a floating oar, and by the support of that, and his own dexterity in swimming, he reached the shore, and saved a life reserved for great undertakings.

As soon as he had recovered his strength for the journey, he repaired to Lisbon, where he married a Portuguese lady. This alliance, instead of detaching him from a seafaring life, contributed to enlarge the sphere of his naval knowledge, and to excite a desire of extending it still farther. His wife was daughter of an experienced navigator, from whose journals and charts Columbus learned the course which the Portuguese had held in making their discoveries, as well as the various circumstances which guided or encouraged them in their attempts. The study of these soothed and inflamed his favourite passion; and while he contemplated the maps, and read the descriptions of the new countries seen by his father-in-law, his impatience to visit them became irresistible. He made a voyage to Madeira, and for several years continued to trade with that island, with the Canaries, the Azores, the settlements in Guinea, and all the other places which the Portuguese had discovered on the continent of Africa.

To find out a passage by sea to the East-Indies was the great object in view at that period. From the time that the Portuguese doubled Cape de Verd, this was the point at which they aimed in all their navigations, and, in comparison with it, all their discoveries in Africa appeared as incon

frica;

siderable. The Portuguese, however, searched for it only by steering south, in hopes of arriving at India by turning to the east when they had sailed round the farther extremity of while Columbus, after revolving every circumstance suggested by his superior knowledge in the theory as well as the practice of navigation, after comparing attentively the observations of modern pilots with the hints and conjectures of ancient authors, concluded that by sailing directly towards the west across the Atlantic, new countries, which probably formed a part of India, must infallibly be discovered. In this opinion he was confirmed by the observations of his brother Bartholomew, who was a geographer by profession, and who, in drawing his maps of the world, was astonished that of 360 degrees of longitude only 180 at most were known; and, of course, there remained as much of the world to be discovered as had already been found out and as it seemed by no means proba ble that the ocean could extend, without any in. terruption, over one entire hemisphere, he maintained that, by keeping constantly west from the Canaries, they must infallibly come either to islands or to a continent. Facts were not wanting to strengthen this plausible theory: a Portuguese pilot having stretched farther to the west than was usual at that time, took up a piece of timber artificially carved, floating upon the sea; and as it was driven towards him by a westerly wind, he concluded that it came from some unknown land situated in that quarter. Columbus's brother-inlaw had found to the west of the Madeira isles a piece of timber fashioned in the same manner, and brought by the same wind Trees torn up by their roots were frequently driven by westerly

winds upon the coasts of the Azores, and at one time the dead bodies of two men, with singular features, resembling neither the inhabitants of Europe nor of Africa, were cast ashore there.

As the force of this united evidence, arising from theoretical principles and practical observations, led Columbus to expect the discovery of new countries in the Western Ocean, other reasons induced him to believe that these must be connected with the continent of India. He communicated his theory to Paul, a physician of Florence, eminent for his knowledge in the science of cosmography, who entered A. D. warmly into the views of Columbus, and encouraged him in an undertaking which promised so much benefit to the world.

1474.

Having satisfied his own mind with respect to the truth of his system, Columbus stood in need of no stimulus to urge him to reduce it to practice. His first step was to secure the patronage of some European power. To this end he laid his scheme before the senate of Genoa, making, as became a good citizen, his native land the first tender of his services. They rejected his propo sal, as the dream of a chimerical projector. He next applied to John II. king of Portugal, a monarch of enterprising genius, and no incompetent judge of naval affairs. The king listened to him in the most gracious manner, and referred the consideration of his plan to a number of eminent geographers, whom he was accustomed to consult in matters of this kind. These men, from mean and interested views, started innumerable objections, and asked many captious questions, in order to betray Columbus into a full explanation

of his system. Having in a great measure gained their ends, they advised the king to dispatch a vessel, secretly, to attempt the proposed discovery, by following exactly the course which this great man had pointed out. John, forgetting, on this occasion, the sentiments becoming a monarch, meanly adopted their perfidious counsel.

A. D.

Upon hearing of this dishonourable transaction, Columbus indignantly quitted the kingdom, and landed in Spain. Here he presented his 1484. scheme to Ferdinand and Isabella, who at that time governed the united kingdoms of Castile and Arragon. They injudiciously submitted it to the examination of unskilful judges, who, ignorant of the principles on which Columbus founded his theory, rejected it as absurd; maintaining that, if there were really any such countries as Columbus pretended, they would not have remained so long concealed; nor would the wisdom and sagacity of former ages have left the glory of this discovery to an obscure Genoese.

Columbus, who had experienced the uncertain issue of his applications, had taken the precaution of sending into England his brother Bartholomew, to whom he had fully communicated his ideas, to negociate the matter with Henry VII. On his voyage thither he fell into the hands of pirates, who stripped him of every thing, and detained him a prisoner several years. At length he made his escape, and arrived at London in extreme indigence, where he employed himself some time in selling maps. With his gains he purchased a decent dress, and in person presented to the king the proposals which his brother had intrusted to his management. Notwithstanding Henry's ex

cessive caution and parsimony, he received the plans of Columbus with more approbation than any monarch to whom they had been presented.

After several unsuccessful applications to other European powers of less note, he was induced, by the entreaty of Perez, a man of learning, and who had great influence with Isabella, to apply a second time to the court of Spain. Isabella became his munificent patroness, and to her ultimately he owed his success.

Though the name of Ferdinand appears conjoined with that of his queen in this transaction, yet his distrust of Columbus was still so violent, that he refused to take any part in the enterprise as king of Arragon. And as the whole expense of the expedition was to be defrayed by the crown of Castile, Isabella reserved to her subjects of that kingdom an exclusive right to all the benefits which might redound from its success.

As soon as the treaty was signed, Isabella, by her attention and activity in forwarding the preparations for the voyage, endeavoured to make some reparation to Columbus for the time which he had lost in fruitless solicitation. A squadron of three ships was fitted cut, victualled for twelve months, and furnished with ninety men. And on the third day of August he left Spain, in the presence of a crowd of spectators, who unit- 1492. ed their supplications to heaven for his success. He steered directly for the Canary islands, where he arrived and refitted, and on the 6th of September set sail in a due western course into an unknown ocean.

A. D.

Here the voyage of discovery may be said to begin. The first day, as it was very calm, he made but little progress; but on the second, he