COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER. 



COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER. 



sea frown. He also visited the Portuguese fort of St. George la Mina, 

 o*> the toast of Quince. 



About UM year 1470, he settled at Lisbon, then the great resort of 

 travellers and navigator*, whom 1'rinoe H.nry highly enoouragid. 

 Here Columbus married the daughter of an Italian, called Patestrello, 

 who had colonised and who governed the island of Porto Santo, and 

 whose papers, chart*, and journals, went highly serviceable to 

 Columbus in hi* occasional expeditions to Madeira, the Canarira, tha 

 Asorea, and the Portuguese settlements of Africa, and for the con- 

 traction of maps and chart*, which he sold to support bis family, and 

 his ag*d father at Genoa, as well as to defray the education of his 

 Jiljl brothers. Columbus resided also some time at the island of 

 Porto Santo, which had not long been discovered, a circumstance 

 which at a period of great excitement and expectation a* to maritime 

 discovery, kindled hi* mud to enthusiasm, which was heightened by 

 the allusions in the Bible to the ultimate universal diffusion of tha 

 gospel, which Columbu* hoped that he was predestined to extend to 

 the f asteru extremity of A*ia> He considered his projected discoveries 

 ss only a means to this end, and also for supplying him with ample 

 treasures to furnish sn army of 50,000 foot soldiers and 6000 horse for 

 the recovery of the holy sepulchre. Moreover the legends of the island 

 of Cipango (Japan), of Mango (Southern Chins), and Cathay, the 

 opinion* of the ancients, the travel* of the moderns, the conjectured 

 sphericity of the earth, its supposed smallnesa, and the imaginary 

 prolongation of Asia to the rast, all this presumptive evidence, added 

 to the recent application of the astrolabe to navigation, gave him so 

 firm a conviction of the practicability of crossing the Atlantic, and of 

 leading on the eastern shores of Asia, that, after long delays, and 

 leyesUd disappointments and struggle* with poverty, he never made 

 any abatement in those condition* which appeared to all the state* 

 (Genoa, Portugal, Genoa again, Venice, France, England, and Spnin) 

 to whom he made proposal* to be the extravagant demand* of a mere 

 adventurer. John IL of Portugal, after having referred tha project 

 to a maritime junto, and to bis council, both of whom regarded it as 

 visionary, nevertheless sent a c*rvel under tha pretext of taking 

 provisions to the Cape Verd Islands, but with secret instructions to 

 try the route marked in the papers of Columbus. The pilots however 

 losing all courage, put back to Lisbon, and ri liculed the scheme. 

 Indignant at such duplicity, Columbus sought patronage elsewhere, 

 and sent bis brother Bartholomew to make proposals to Henry VIL 

 of England. 



In 1484 Columbus arrived at Palos de Moguer iu Andalusia. 

 Stopping one day at the Franciscan convent of La Rabida to beg some 

 breed and water for his child, the guardian or superior, Juan Perez 

 Marchena, pas-ing by, and entering into conversation with the stranger, 

 was so struck with the ifrandeur of his views, that he detained him as 

 a guest, and sent for the physician of Palos, Garcia Fernandez, to 

 discu'S the project. Now, for the first time, it began to be listened 

 to with admiration. Marchena, taking charge of the maintenance and 

 education of the young son of Columbus, gave the father a letter of 

 introduction to tha confessor of Isabella, Fernando de Talavera. This 

 expected patron treated the wandering petitioner as a dreaming specu- 

 lator, and a nesdy applicant for bread. His humble dress, and his 

 want of connection* and academic honours, formed, in the ryes of all 

 the courtiers, an inexplicable contrast with bis brilliant proposals and 

 aspiration*. But indigence, contumely, and indignities of all kinds, 

 could not shake the perseverance of Columbus. At last, through 

 Cardinl Mendota, he obtained an audience of King Ferdinand, who 

 referred UM matter to a conference of learned monks, which won held 

 in the convent of the Dominicans of St. Stephen at Salamanca, At 

 the very opening of th discussion Columbus wa- assailed with biblical 

 object ions, against which no mathematical demonstration was admitted: 

 but he met them on tb ir own ground. He poured forth teitt and 

 predictions as mystical types of bis proposed discovery. The inquiry 

 however, after intentional procrastination, ended in an unfavourable 

 report. After seven yean waited at the Spanish court in solicitation, 

 occasional hope, and bitter disappointment, a connection with a lady 

 of Cordoba, Beatrix Eoriquea, prevented bit entirely breaking with 

 Spain. She wa* tb* mother ol hi* second son, Ferdinand, who beoam 

 his historian, and whom h always treated on terms of perfect equality 

 with hi* legitimate eon Diogo. Coluiubui was now about to apply to 

 the French king, from whom he had received a letter of encourage- 

 ment ; when, returning for his eldest son, Diego, to La Rabida, the 

 warm-hearted friar Marchena endeavoured to dissuade him from this 

 project, sent again for the physician, Ovoia Fernandez, and also called 

 to their council Alonso Pinion. This diitinxuUhed navigator not 

 only approved of tha projected voyage, but offered to engage in it 

 with his money and in person, and even to defray the expenses of a 

 new application at court. 



The ardent friar lost no time in writing directly to Queen Isabella, and 

 a* her requesting a verbal explanation of the subject, ho immediately 

 went to Santa ft. where she was then su|>erinUmding with Ferdinand 

 the oloe* investment of Granada. I-abrlla. who had never heard the 

 proposition urged with such honest seal, enthusiasm, and eloquence, and 

 who wa* beside* more open to noble impul.es than her husband, was 

 at last moved in behalf of Columbus, but her favour wa* checked by 

 her confessor Talavera. who, being now raised to the see of O ran a la, 

 was more astonished than ever at the lofty claims of this indigent and 



threadbare solicitor. Those claim* would be exorbitant in ease of 

 success, he observed; how unreasonable then wmild they appear in 

 cane of failure, which wa* almost sure to bsppcn, and which would 

 prove the gross credulity of the Spanish monarch*. More moderate, 

 yet highly honourable and advantageous term* were offered to 

 Columbus, but he considered them beneath the dignity of his enter- 

 prise, and determined once more to abandon Spain for ever. 



Some friends, who considered hi* departure as an irreparable loss, 

 onoa more remonttrated with Isabella, who at last offered her own 

 jewels to defray the expenses of the expedition, and thus overcame 

 the coolness of Ferdinand. Accordingly a messenger was sent to 

 overtake Columbu*, who, after some hesitation, returned to Santa Fd. 

 Stipulations were at last signed by Ferdinand and Isabella at Granada 

 on the 17th of April 1492. 



On Friday, the 3rd of August 1492, Columbus, as admiral of the 

 seas and lands which be expected to discover, set sail from tha bar of 

 Saltea, near Palos, with three vessels and 120 men, who were full of 

 doubts and fears, and were partly pressed into the service. Two of 

 these vessels were caravels, or light barque*, no better than our river 

 and coasting craft This however Columbus considered an advantage, 

 a* it would afford him the mean* of examining shallow river* and 

 harbours. On the 5th one of the vessels had her rudder broken ; but 

 fortunately on the 6th he perceived, as he expected, the Canaries, 

 where he refitted. On the 6th of September he ha-tily quitted Goinera, 

 to avoid three frigates which were sent against him by the king of 

 Portugal from spite at seeing Columbus engaged in the Spani-h service. 

 As soon as the Canaries were out of sight, consternation and despair 

 spread among the crews, aud the admiral was obliged to leave them 

 in ignorance of the progress they were making. The stratagem he 

 adopted for this purpose, and iu which he persevered throughout the 

 voyage, was that of keeping two reckonings, one true and private for 

 his own guidance, the other merely for the crews, to kep them in 

 ignorance of the great distance) they were advancing. He also forbade 

 the variation of the needle, which he observed on the 13th of Sep- 

 tember, about 200 leagues west of the island of Ferro, to be mentioned 

 to the crew, till it was noticed also by his pilots, when he succeeded 

 in allaying their terrors with bis ready ingenuity to me~t any emer- 

 gency, by ascribing the phenomenon to the movement of the pole star. 

 The whole expedition being founded on the presumption of finding 

 land to the west, Columbu* kept steadily to this course, lest ha should 

 appear to doubt aud waver, and never went in tearch of islands, which 

 floating weeds, birds, and other indications gave him reason to believe 

 were not far off. 



On the 20th of September the wind veered round to the south-west; 

 and although unfavourable to the expedition, this circumstance cheered 

 the dismayed crew, who were alarmed at its continuance from the east, 

 which seemed to preclude all hope of their return. Repealed dioap- 

 pointments made the crews at last regard all signs of land us mera 

 delusions. On the evening of the 10th of October they exclaimed 

 more violently than ever against the obstinacy of an ambitious des- 

 perado, in tempting fate on a boundless sea ; they even meditated 

 throwing the admiral overboard and directing their course homeward. 

 Columbus, for the last time, tried to pacify them in a friendly manner ; 

 but this only increased their clamour. He then assumed a decided 

 tone, acted m open defiance of his crews, and his situation became 

 desperate. That he ever yielded to his men, rests on no other 

 authority than that of Oviedo, a writer of inferior credit, who was 

 grossly mUled by a pilot of the name of Hernea Perez Matheos, an 

 enemy to Columbus. Fortunately, on the llth, the manifestations of 

 land were such ns to convince the most dejected. Accordingly, uf, er 

 the evening prayer, Columbus ordered a careful look-out, and himself 

 remained on the high stern of his vessel from ten o'clock, when he 

 observe I glimmerings of light, as he supposed, on shore, till two in 

 the morning, when the foremost vessel fired a gun as a signal of land 

 having b-ru discovered. Not an eye was closed that night, all waiting 

 with intense feeling for the dawn of the 12th of October 1492, which 

 was to reveal the great mystery of the ocean, whether it w.is bounded 

 by a savage wild- rue**, or by spicy groves aud spleudiil cit 

 the very Cipango, the constant object of the golden fauci a of the 

 admiral With tears of joy, after fervid ibaulcgiving9, Columbus 

 kissed the earth on which he landed, aud with great solemnity planted 

 the cross in the New World at Quuuahaiii, or San Salvador, one of the 

 Oucayos, Lucayan, or Bahama Inlands. Those who bad lately been 

 most iu despair were now the most extravagant in their joy. The 

 most mutinous and outrageous thronged closest round the admiral, 

 and crouched at the feet of a man who in their eyes had already 

 wealth and honours in his gift. 



The naked and painted natives, when they had recovered from their 

 fright, regarded the white men, by whose confidence they were soon 

 won, a* visitors from the skies which bounded their hoi i/.mi ; they 

 received from them with transport toy* and trinket', fragments of 

 gla*-, and earthenware, as celestial present* possessing a supernatural 

 virtue. They brought in exchange cotton-yarn and cassava bread, 

 which, as it keeps longer than wheaten bread, was highly acceptable to 

 the Spaniards. 



On the 24th Columbus set out in quest of gold and Cipango. 

 After discovering Concepcion, Exuma, and Isla Larga, Cuba broke 

 upon him tike an elysium ; he no longer doubted that this beautiful 



