130 



COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER. 



Among them was that of an admiral of Colum- 

 bus's own name, with whom he sailed. This 

 man and his nephew, also named Colombo, were 

 well-known seamen, and he was with one or the 

 other of them in many adventures for commerce 

 or conquest. Genoa had then appealed to Louis 

 XI of Prance, and was under his jurisdiction. 

 Additional proof that Columbus was engaged in 

 naval enterprises at that time enterprises that 

 sometimes led to conflicts with Spanish ships 

 lies in the fact that Ferdinand calls Columbus a 

 subject of Louis, and Isabella rebukes him for 

 having injured Spanish interests. 



In a letter to the King and Queen, later m life, 

 he says incidentally of this period : 



It happened to me that King Reinel (whom God 

 has taken to himself) sent me to Tunis to capture the 

 galley " Fernandina," and when I arrived off the 

 island of St. Pedro, in Sardinia, 1 was informed that 

 there were two ships and a carrack with the galley ; 

 by which intelligence my crew were so troubled that 

 they determined to proceed no further, but to return 

 to Marseilles for another vessel and more people. As 

 I could not by any means compel them, I assented 

 apparently to their wishes, altering the point of the 

 compass, and spreading all sail. It was then even- 

 ing, and next morning we were within the Cape of 

 Carthao'ena, while all were firmly of opinion that they 

 were sailing toward Marseilles. 



Not a glimpse is shown us of the result of this 

 bold method of dealing with a mutinous crew 

 on the part of a captain who must have been 

 young for such command, and as skillful and 

 confident in navigation as he was resolute in 

 spirit. In another letter he mentions the fact 

 that he had been at the island of Scio, and had 

 witnessed the process of getting mastic. 



Meantime, in the intervals of his maritime ex- 

 peditions, Columbus was a bookseller and chart- 

 maker in Genoa. In 1470 he signed a contract 

 to pay a wine merchant $60 for wine that he 

 would take on his vessel to sell. About 1471, 

 when Columbus was twenty-five years old, Do- 

 menico Colombo, the father, removed his business 

 and his family to Savona. In a will left two years 

 after that time, by Nicolo Monelone, the 6 wit- 

 nesses were 3 tailors, 1 bootmaker, 1 cloth dress- 

 er, and Christoforo Colombo, weaver, of Genoa. 

 A little later he, with his father, signed an agree- 

 ment to pay for wool in cloth. These two last 

 transactions must have taken place when Colum- 

 bus was at his father's house on visits during his 

 naval expeditions ; for Oviedo says that when on 

 shore he made maps and charts for the support 

 of his family. He was poor, but gave what he 

 could to his father to educate his brothers. In 

 1470 Columbus went to Portugal and joined his 

 brother Bartholomew, who was earning a living 

 in Lisbon as a chart draughtsman for the ad- 

 venturous navigators of that capital. Bartholo- 

 mew Columbus was an extraordinary man, over- 

 shadowed by the more remarkable brother to 

 whom he lent great assistance from the begin- 

 ning to the close of his life. Prince Henry, the 

 navigator, was pushing his explorations far and 

 near, especially along the coast of Africa. Co- 

 lumbus sailed in many of these expeditions, and 

 afterward said in one of his letters that during 

 this time he sailed east, west, north and south. 

 According to the descriptions given of Columbus, 

 he must have been, at this time, tall, well-formed 

 and muscular. He had a long face, neither lean 



nor full, fair and freckled complexion, somewhat 

 ruddy, aquiline nose, rather high cheek bones, 

 light-gray eyes, and light hair, turned white at 

 thirty. His carriage was dignified and lofty, his 

 temper quick, his eyes full of fire and enthusi- 

 asm. He was moderate and simple in diet and 

 apparel, eloquent in conversation, arid very affa- 

 ble. He was always devoutly religious, and on 

 coming to Lisbon attended services frequently 

 at the chapel of the Convent of All Saints. 

 Here he met Dona Pelipa Mom's de Perestrello, 

 who, with other young women of rank, was re- 

 ceived as a boarder at the convent. Columbus 

 formed an attachment for her and married her. 

 Her father, Bartolomeo MoQis de Perestrello, was 

 an Italian captain in the service of Prince Henry, 

 to whom the Prince had given the governorship of 

 the island of Porto Santo, of the Madeira group. 



On the death of the captain soon after their 

 marriage, Columbus and his wife took up their 

 residence with his mother-in-law on the little 

 property bequeathed to her in Porto Santo. 

 Here, in 1474, his son Diego was born, and here 

 Columbus studied the maps and charts of Pe- 

 restrello, and gleaned from his widow many an- 

 ecdotes and incidents of his voyages. His wife's 

 sister was married to a noted navigator, Pedro 

 Correo. Columbus had been speculating on these 

 matters, when it was reported to him that Paulo 

 Toscanelli, a savant of Florence, had sent to Fer- 

 nando Martinez, a learned canon of Lisbon, a 

 letter telling him that by sailing westward he 

 could reach India much quicker than by his pro- 

 posed route around Africa. He wrote to inquire 

 of Toscanelli, and in reply received a copy of 

 the letter and a map that represented India as 

 lying not far west from the coast of Spain. 



In the life of his father, Fernando Columbus 

 gives, as a summary from his father's notes and 

 papers, what he considers to be the causes that 

 acted upon Columbus, and led to his determina- 

 tion : 1, the nature of things ; 2, the authority 

 of learned writers ; 8, the reports of navigators. 

 Under the first he mentions his father's belief 

 that the earth was a terraqueous globe, which 

 might be traveled round from east to west, and 

 that, when opposite, men stood foot to foot. He 

 divided the circumference from east to west at 

 the equator into twenty-four hours, of 15 each. 

 Of these he thought 15 were known to the 

 ancients. Portugal had advanced the western 

 frontier equal to one hour more. There re- 

 mained, therefore, 8 unexplored. This space 

 might be nearly filled up with the eastern por- 

 tion of Asia. Thus, by sailing westward, a navi- 

 gator would find Asia and any intervening land. 

 Under the second head he mentions Aristotle, 

 Seneca, Pliny, Strabo, the travels of Marco Polo 

 and John Mandeville, as believing that the 

 space was not great between the land washed by 

 the other extremity of the one known ocean. 

 Under the last head" he mentions signs of land, 

 and even of civilization, that had been washed 

 upon islands, or upon the mainland of Europe. 

 He had a memorandum of these latter trophies 

 reeds, such as he believed to be described by 

 Eastern travelers, trunks of foreign trees, carved 

 wood, a strange iron instrument, bodies of two 

 men of unknown race, reports of mariners of 

 land seen at the westward, as well as the rumors 

 of fancied islands islands, indeed, which Tosca- 



