II. fometimes against the Venetians, the rivals of BOOK his country in trade, had acquired both wealth and reputation. With him Columbus continued for feveral years, no lefs distinguished for his courage, than for his experience as a failor. At length, in an obftinate engagement off the coast of Portugal, with fome Venetian caravals, returning richly laden from the Low Countries, the veffel on board which he served took fire, together with one of the enemy's fhips, to which it was faft grappled. In this dreadful extremity his intrepidity and presence of mind did not forfake him. He threw himself into the fea, laid hold of a floating oar, and by the fupport of it, and his dexterity in fwimming, he reached the shore, though above two leagues distant, and faved a life referved for great undertakings". into the Portuguese fervice. As foon as he recovered ftrength for the He enters journey, he repaired to Lisbon, where many of his countrymen were fettled. They foon conceived fuch a favourable opinion of his merit, as well as talents, that they warmly folicited him to remain in that kingdom, where his naval fkill and experience could not fail of rendering him confpicuous. To every adventurer, ani BOOK mated either with curiofity to vifit new coun II. tries, or with ambition to distinguish himself, the. Portuguese fervice was at that time extremely inviting. Columbus liftened with a favourable ear to the advice of his friends, and having gained the esteem of a Portuguese lady, whom he married, fixed his refidence in Lisbon. This alliance, inftead of detaching him from a fea-faring life, contributed to enlarge the sphere of his naval knowledge, and to excite a defire of extending it ftill farther. His wife was a daughter of Bartholomew Pereftrello, one of the captains employed by Prince Henry in his early navigations, and who, under his protection, had discovered and planted the islands of Porto Santo and Madeira. Columbus got poffeffion of the journals and charts of this experienced navigator, and from them he learned the course which the Portuguese had held in making their discoveries, as well as the various circumstances which guided or encouraged them in their attempts. The ftudy of these foothed and inflamed his favourite paffion; and while he contemplated the maps, and read the defcriptions of the new countries which Pereftrello had seen, his impatience to vifit them became irrefiftible. In order to indulge it, he made a voyage to Madeira, and continued during feveral years to trade with that island, with the Canaries, 8 II. Canaries, the Azores, the fettlements in Guinea, BOOK and all the other places which the Portuguese had discovered on the continent of Africa". By the experience which Columbus acquired, during such a variety of voyages, to almost every part of the globe with which, at that time, any intercourse was carried on by fea, he was now become one of the most skilful na vigators in Europe. But, not fatisfied with that praise, his ambition aimed at fomething more.. The fuccessful progrefs of the Portuguese navigators had awakened a spirit of curiofity and emulation, which fet every man of science upon examining all the circumftances that led to the discoveries which they had made, or that afforded a prospect of fucceeding in any new and bolder undertaking. The mind of Columbus, naturally inquifitive, capable of deep reflection, and turned to fpeculations of this kind, was fo often employed in revolving the principles upon which the Portuguese had founded their schemes of discovery, and the mode on which they had carried them on, that he gradually began to form an idea of improving upon their plan, and of accomplishing difcoveries which hitherto they had attempted in vain, Life of Columbus, c. iv. v. Το The effects coveries upon him, of their dif BOOK 11. He forms a new courfe to India. 1 To find out a paffage by fea to the East Indies, was the great object in view at that the idea of period. From the time that the Portuguese doubled Cape de Verd, this was the point at which they aimed in all their navigations, and, in comparison with it, all their difcoveries in Africa appeared inconfiderable. The fertility and riches of India had been known for many ages; its spices and other valuable commodities were in high request throughout Europe, and the vast wealth of the Venetians arifing from their having engroffed this trade, had raised the envy of all nations. But how intent foever the Portuguese were upon difcovering a new route to thofe defirable regions, they fearched for it only by steering towards the south, in hopes of arriving at India, by turning to the eaft, after they had failed round the farther extremity of Africa. This course was still unknown, and, even if discovered, was of fuch immenfe length, that a voyage from Europe to India must have appeared, at that period, an undertaking, extremely arduous, and of very uncertain iffue. More than half a century had been employed in advancing from Cape Non to the equator; a much longer space of time might elapfe before the more extensive navigation from that to India could be accomplished. These reflections upon the uncertainty, the danger, and tedioufness of the courfe which the Portuguese were purfuing, naturally led Columbus to confider whether a fhorter and more direct paffage to the East Indies might not be found out. After revolving long and seriously every circumstance fuggefted by his fuperior knowledge in the theory as well as practice of navigation; after comparing attentively the observations of modern pilots with the hints and conjectures of ancient authors, he at laft concluded, that by failing directly towards the west, across the Atlantic ocean, new countries, which probably formed a part of the great continent of India, must infallibly be discovered. PRINCIPLES and arguments of various kinds, and derived from different fources, induced him to adopt this opinion, feemingly as chimerical as it was new and extraordinary. The spherical figure of the earth was known, and its magnitude afcertained with fome degree of accuracy. From this it was evident, that the continents of Europe, Afia, and Africa, as far as they were known at that time, formed but a fmall portion of the terraqueous globe. It was fuitable to our ideas concerning the wisdom and beneficence of the Author of Nature, to believe that the vast space still unexplored was not covered entirely by a waste unprofitable ocean, but occupied by countries |