CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 283 



In the long list of honoured names who have made geographical discovery their aim, 

 none shines with a greater effulgence than that of Columbus, and although in his old age 

 he was disgracefully ignored and even maltreated, succeeding times have done full justice 

 to his memory. The present writer has gone to the fountain source for his information ; 

 the whole of the narrative to follow is taken from the history written by his son, Don 

 Ferdinand Columbus. It would be easy, from the many popular biographies written by 

 well-known authors, to compile a more fanciful and readable story, but some, at least, of 

 these writers have not strictly adhered to facts, but have wandered somewhat into the 

 region of the imagination. The account given to the world by the son of the great 

 navigator was compiled from the original letters and documents, from actual information 

 obtained direct, and from personal observation. 



The narrative of Don Ferdinand commences amusingly. He avers that many would 

 have him prove a highly honourable descent for the admiral his father, and because on 

 his arrival in Portugal he had assumed the name of Colon,* prove that he had come in 

 direct line from Junius Colonus, who brought Mithridates a prisoner to Rome, or from the 

 two illustrious Coloni, who gained a great victory over the Venetians. The son is, 

 however, candid, and says, "that however considerable they (his progenitors) may once 

 have been, it is certain that they were reduced to poverty and want through the long 

 wars and factions in Lombardy. I have not been able to discover in what way they lived ; 

 though in one of his letters the admiral asserted that his ancestors and himself had 

 always traded by sea."f Don Ferdinand glories in his father as one of the people, who 

 had risen to his high estate by reason of honourable merit. But however poor, he 

 found means to leave his native city, Genoa, and study astronomy, geometry, and cosmo- 

 graphy, at the University of Pavia. He is believed to have gone to sea at as early an 

 age as fourteen. The date of his birth is uncertain, but is believed to have been in 1447. 

 Besides voyaging constantly in the Mediterranean, he, as elsewhere recorded, made a 

 northern voyage of some importance. He distinctly states that " In February, 1467, I 

 sailed an hundred leagues beyond Thule, or Iceland." 



In his person Columbus was "above the middle stature, and well shaped, having 

 rather a long visage, with somewhat full cheeks, yet neither fat nor lean. His complexion 

 was very fair with delicately red cheeks, having fair hair in his youth, which became 

 entirely grey at thirty years of age. He had a hawk nose, with fair eyes. In his eating 

 and drinking, and in his dress, he was always temperate and modest. In his demeanour 

 he was affable to strangers, and kind and condescending to his domestics and dependents, 

 yet with a becoming modesty and dignified gravity of manner, tempered with easy polite- 

 ness." His regard for religion was strict and sincere, and he had a great abhorrence of 

 profane language. In a word, Columbus was one of nature's truest gentlemen. 



His son states that the reason for his visit to Portugal "arose from his attachment 

 to a famous man of his name and family, named Columbus, long renowned on the sea as 



* Don Cristoval Colon. The port now generally termed Aspinwall, on tho Atlantic side of the Isthmus of 

 Panama, was long, and is sometimes nowadays known as Colon. 



t Translation of the history hy Don Ferdinand Columbus in Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels. 



