Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/130

126 COLUMBUS ocean which washed India on the east and Spain and Mauritania on the west. Moreover, various indications of land in the west had heen -found. A Portuguese pilot had taken from the water, 450 leagues west of Portugal, a piece of curiously carved wood, while a simi- lar piece which had drifted from the same quarter was seen on the island of Porto Santo. Canes of tropical growth had heen washed on the Madeiras, huge pine trees on the Azores, and even two drowned men, of appearance un- like Europeans, had been found on the island of Flores all from the west. The precise time when Columbus first conceived the design of seeking a western route to India cannot be determined; but in the summer of 1474 he opened a correspondence upon this subject with Paulo Toscanelli, a learned cosmographer of Florence, who had already, in a letter to Alfonso V. of Portugal, expressed his views on a western passage to India. In reply to Columbus he said : "I praise your desire to navigate toward the west; the expedition you wish to undertake is not easy, but the route from the- west coasts of Europe to the spice In- dies is certain, if the tracks I have marked be followed." He also sent him a map projected partly according to Ptolemy and partly accord- ing to the descriptions of Marco Polo. On this map Asia was laid down in front of the western coasts of Africa and Europe, with a moderate space of ocean between them, in which were placed Cipango (supposed to be Japan), Antilla, and other islands. This map, by which Columbus sailed upon his first voyage of discovery, has been lost. In 1477 he made a voyage, apparently of exploration, to the northwest, 100 leagues beyond " the island of Thule," supposed to have been Iceland, into lat. 73, where he was astonished to find the sea not frozen. Next he is reported to have visited the Portuguese settlement of San Jorge da Mina, on the coast of Guinea. It is asserted that Columbus first applied for aid in his under- taking to his native country, Genoa, but with- out success ; and he is supposed to have vainly solicited the patronage of Portugal before the death of Alfonso. But the first application for royal patronage of which there is any clear and indisputable record was made to John II., who ascended the throne of Portugal in 1481. This monarch had imbibed the passion for dis- covery from his grand-uncle Prince Henry, and with his reign all its activity revived. King John seems to have received the proposition with favor, and referred it to a learned body charged with all matters relating to maritime discovery, and subsequently to a council com- posed of prelates and persons of the greatest learning in the kingdom, both of which treat- ed the project as extravagant and visionary. Meantime he sent a caravel with the ostensible design of carrying provisions to the Cape Verd islands, but with secret instructions to pursue the route indicated by Columbus. After cruis- ing for several days the caravel returned with the report that no indications of land had been seen. The king was not yet inclined to aban- don the project, but Columbus, who had lost his wife and was now reduced to poverty, de- termined to abandon Portugal and seek else- where for # patronage. Accordingly, with his son Diego, he left Lisbon for Spain toward the end of 1484, secretly, lest his departure should be prevented by King John, or, as some have asserted, by his creditors. He had already en- gaged his brother Bartolommeo to apply for aid to the king of England, though he does not appear to have entertained great hope from that quarter. It is said that Columbus leaving Portugal made proposals to the govern- ment of Genoa for the second time, and al to Venice, which were declined. In 1485 was in the south of Spain, where he endeavor to interest the dukes of Medina Sidonia ai Medina Celi. The latter recommended th< project to Queen Isabella, who requested tht Columbus might be sent to her. Having rived at Cordova, and while waiting for opportunity to appear at court, Columbus came attached to Dona Beatriz Enriquez, whom he had a son, Fernando, born in 1487, who became the historian of his father, lumbus followed the court to Salamanca, whei he was introduced to the king by Pedro G( zalez de Mendoza, grand cardinal of Spaii the most important personage about the court Ferdinand heard him without disfavor, and ferred the matter to a council of learned mei mostly ecclesiastics, under the presidency the confessor of the queen. The conferenc< assembled in the Dominican convent of Sai Estevan at Salamanca, but, instead of investi- gating the project on scientific grounds, cont verted it by Scriptural texts ; and it was n( till 1491, after many renewed applications, tin the commission reported "the project in qu< tion vain and impossible, and not becomii great princes to engage in on such slendt grounds as had been adduced." Columbi however, appears, during the seven years h< attended the court, to have experienced per sonally the favor of the king and queen, and have had frequent communication with thei although the king at least could not be brought to believe in his wonderful projects. The Spi ish sovereigns were during this period engag in the war against the Moors of Granada, ar Columbus seems to have borne arms as a vol- unteer. A passage in Diego Ortiz's " Ai of Seville " incidentally mentions his bravery. Records are also extant of his having been pr< vided with free quarters at the king's char with pay equal to his personal expenses. Du ring this period of hope deferred, Columbus sm tained himself with undiminished confidem Endued with a poetic temperament, the augi ries he sought for in the mystic language of th< Scriptures gave a bias to his mind, which his later years amounted almost to delusior He sought in prophecy for assurance that th< time had come when Christianity should