Life 'and Character of Columbus. 7 



Orient and the Mediterranean, but also of the possibility of 

 reaching those countries and obtaining that trade for Spain by 

 sailing west rather than by circumnavigating Africa. The actual 

 distance from Europe in a due west line to Cipango is nearly 

 tAvelve thousand miles ; Toscanelli estimated it as 100° or nearly 

 five thousand miles, but his map showed islands on the route 

 which would reduce the distance between any two lands to about 

 2,000 miles/^ 



Columbus Avas a devout Catholic, holding to the teachings 

 of the church. In the book of Esdras he read that God on 

 the third day of the creation made the earth, six parts of land 

 and one-seventh water. He knew the vast extent of the Atlantic 

 north and south, and reasoning from these facts he thought it 

 could not be over 2,000 or 2,500 miles to Cipango, though he 

 actually sailed 3,230 miles before he reached a new world. 



After Columbus determined to cross the Atlantic he applied 

 for help to the king of Portugal. He wrote, " They took my 

 charts and writings from me, saying they would ponder them, 

 but secretly they sent out the ships they had denied me. God 

 drove them back on their own coasts and punished their 

 treachery, but I could no longer trust them." He therefore left 

 Portugal for Sjjain. Las Casas describes him at this time as a 

 man of noble and commanding presence, tall and well built, with 

 a ruddy complexion, keen, blue-gray eyes that often kindled, 

 while his waving white hair made him quite picturesque ; his 

 manner courteous and his conversation charming. He had an 

 indefinable air of authority, as became a man of great heart and 

 lofty thoughts. It was thi;^ commanding presence which enabled 

 him to stand before Ferdinand and Isabella as their equal. 



In 1484 he arrived in Spain a foreigner, poor and in debt. A 

 stranger and friendless, he appeared at the court of the proudest 

 sovereigns of Europe. Yet such was his bearing and the effect 

 produced upon the king and queen by his eloquence that they ap- 

 pointed several learned men to consider his project. Some few 

 believed, many remained in doubt, but most laughed at him as 

 visionary and ridiculed his proposals as the dream of a mad- 

 man. Those that were convinced by his reasoning became his 

 firm friends. For seven years he waited patiently at the court, 

 renewing his suit from time to time, until Grenada was conquered, 

 when Isabella had promised to listen to him. A man less con- 



* Plate 3. 



