COLUMBUS. 



Columbus, some have supposed." Life of Cohtmb. Churchill's 

 S """"V"""' Voyages, vol. ii. In this voyage, the fortune of Co- 

 lumbus, as a merchant, was not increased in any re- 

 markable degree, but he derived from it a large acces- 

 sion of skill and experience in the nautical art ; and he 

 now began, perhaps for the first time, to taste the sweets 

 of reputation, and to know something of the inexpres- 

 sible pleasure which results from the assurance of ha- 

 ving done what no one has ever executed or even at- 

 tempted before. The next adventure of Columbus 

 which his biographers have recorded, was of a kind 

 somewhat different. Not long after his return from the 

 northern ocean, he appears to have entered the service 

 of Columbus junior, as he was called, a famous sea-cap- 

 tain of those times, but in what capacity our adventurer 

 was employed, we have not been able to learn. The 

 officer alluded to, who was of the same family as well 

 as of the same name with the discoverer of America, 

 commanded a small squadron fitted out at his own ex- 

 pence, and carried on a piratical warfare against the 

 Venetians and the Turks, the rivals of the Genoese at 

 this period, in the commerce and the sovereignty of the 

 Mediterranean. In the service of the captain just men- 

 tioned, Columbus established his character, not only for 

 skill and dexterity in naval affairs, but also for courage. 

 His valour Avas tried in many severe conflicts, and his 

 life often exposed to danger. On one hazardous occa- 

 sion in particular, he escaped with great difficulty. 

 Having attacked, along with the rest of the fleet under 

 the orders of his relative, some Venetian galleys which 

 were returning, deeply and richly laden from the coast 

 of Flanders, in the ardour of the combat, he grappled 

 with one of the enemy's vessels, and in this situation, 

 fast locked to his antagonist by means of strong iron 

 hooks and chains, the ship in which he served unfor- 

 tunately took fire. In a moment, all was terror, and 

 outcry and confusion. But Columbus, distinguished as 

 much by his coolness and presence of mind, as by his 

 bravery in action, threw himself into the sea, and partly 

 by swimming, and partly by the support of an oar which 

 he found accidentally within his reach, got safe to land. 

 This engagement took place not far from the harbour 

 of Lisbon, and the distance between the vessel and the 

 shore is said to have been more than two leagues. 



Quitting the dangerous, and judging by our ideas of 

 piratical warfare, the less honourable service of his re- 

 lative, Columbus, as soon as his health was established, 

 repaired to Lisbon. The encouragement given by Don 

 Henry of Portugal, to every person at all skilled in the 

 art of navigation, and animated with the love of disco- 

 very, was at this time exceedingly great. To Colum- 

 bus, therefore, still young, ardent, enterprising and ac- 

 tive, the service of the Portuguese appeared every way 

 desirable. He readily yielded to the solicitations of his 

 friends, and consented to fix his residence in Lisbon ; 

 and having about the same time married a Portuguese 

 lady, by name Donna Felipa Moniz Perestrello, he seems 

 to have considered liimself as a regular and recognised 

 subject of Portugal. Nor did the circumstance of his 

 marriage either detach him altogether from sea affairs, or 

 suppress within him the desire of honourable reputation. 

 The lady in question was the daughter of Peter Moniz 

 Perestrello, himself a sailor, and one who had been em- 

 ployed in the earlier navigations of Don Henry, and 

 had discovered, under the license and patronage of that 

 prince, the islands of Puerto Sancto and Madeira. In 

 the eye of Columbus, therefore, a connection with such 

 a family appeared not only highly reputable in itself, 

 but likely to be of essential service to him in hia future 



pursuits. By means of his wife, he got possession of Columbus, 

 the journals, sea-charts, and other papers which had «-y—' 

 belonged to her father Perestrello ; and he easily learn- 

 ed from them what object the Portuguese rulers had in 

 view in prosecuting their navigations towards the south. 

 This object was nothing else than to discover a passage, 

 to the East Indies, in order to secure to their country 

 the profitable commerce with the spice islands, which 

 had hitherto been engrossed by the Venetians : And it 

 was proposed to reach those distant parts by sailing 

 round the continent of Africa, or at least by doubling 

 its most southern cape. 



After Columbus had made himself acquainted with 

 these and other particulars, the thought of finding a 

 shorter and safer passage to the East Indies, appears 

 gradually to have arisen in his mind. In the discovery 

 of the New World, little is* to be ascribed to accident, 

 or to any thing bearing the name and character of ac- 

 cident. It was the result of diligent enquiry and pa- 

 tient comparison ; it was a conclusion attained by suc- 

 cessive steps and profound and elaborate reflection; the 

 legitimate issue of those rational faculties which the 

 Almighty has implanted in man ; the exclusive pro- 

 perty, as well as the boast of our intellectual nature. 

 The rotundity of the planet on which we live was 

 known. Upon the authority of the ancients, an autho- 

 rity highly respected and valued in the 15th century, 

 it was believed that the ocean encompassed the whole 

 earth, and in particular that it extended in a direction 

 from east to west, between the coast of Spain lying 

 nearest the Atlantic, and the shores of India. Marco 

 Polo, a noble Venetian, and other travellers of modern 

 times, had asserted, that the countries which they had 

 visited beyond those of Persia and India, and to which 

 they gave the names of Cathay and Zipango, stretch- 

 ed out in a wonderful manner towards the east. The 

 inference therefore was, and Columbus readily drew it, 

 that in proportion as those countries extended towards 

 the east, they must approach what we should now call 

 the western longitude, or pass into it altogether ; and, 

 therefore, that to sail directly west, was the shortest 

 as well as the most obvious and certain course, in order 

 to reach them. This result was strengthened, in a great 

 degree, by the errors into which the ancient geogra- 

 phers had fallen, with regard to the countries situated 

 beyond the eastern limit of the Persian empire. They 

 had placed these countries much farther from the first 

 meridian which passed through the Fortunate Islands, 

 than their real position. According to Marinus Tyrius, 

 one of the most distinguished of the ancient geogra- 

 phers, the country of the Sinae, or Chinese, was situ- 

 ated at no less a distance from the meridian alluded to, 

 than 15 hours, or 225 degrees : And beyond the Chi- 

 nese lay the kingdoms of Cathay and Zipango, extend- 

 ing still farther in an easterly direction. The conclusion, 

 therefore, from the whole, seemed to be irresistible and 

 sure, that the countries in question might be visited by 

 sailing in a westerly course : and, moreover, that these 

 countries would actually be found to lie within a dis- 

 tance, by no means considerable, from the Canary Is- 

 lands, or even from the coast of Africa. 



In the conclusion now mentioned, Columbus was still 

 more firmly established, by the communications which 

 he had with his cotemporary Paul, a physician of Flo- 

 rence, a man well known for his acquaintance with geo- 

 metry and cosmography, and for his inquiries into the 

 results, whether certain or only probable, which had 

 followed from the Portuguese navigations. This learn- 

 ed person stated several facts in confirmation of the 



