BOOK Countries fit for the habitation of man. H. It ap peared likewise extremely probable, that the continent, on this fide of the globe, was balanced by a proportional quantity of land in the other hemifphere. Thefe conclufions concerning the existence of another continent, drawn from the figure and structure of the globe, were confirmed by the observations and conjectures of modern navigators. A Portuguese pilot, having stretched farther to the weft than was usual at that time, took up a piece of timber artificially carved, floating upon the fea; and as it was driven towards him by a wefterly wind, he concluded that it came from fome unknown land fituated in that quarter. Columbus's brother-in-law had found, to the weft of the Madeira ifles, a piece of timber fashioned in the fame manner, and brought by the fame wind; and had seen likewife canes of an enormous fize floating upon the waves, which refembled those described by Ptolemy as productions peculiar to the East Indies d. After a courfe of wefterly winds, trees, torn up by the roots, were often driven upon the coafts of the Azores; and at one time, the dead bodies of two men with fingular features, refembling neither the inhabitants of Europe nor of Africa, were caft afhore there. II. As the force of this united evidence, arifing BOOK from theoretical principles and practical obfervations, led Columbus to expect the discovery of new countries in the western ocean, other reasons induced him to believe that these must be connected with the continent of India. Though the ancients had hardly ever penetrated into India farther than the banks of the Ganges, yet fome Greek authors had ventured to defcribe the provinces beyond that river. As men are prone, and at liberty, to magnify what is remote or unknown, they represented them as regions of an immenfe extent, Ctefias affirmed that India was as large as all the rest of Afia. Oneficritus, whom Pliny the naturalist follows, contended that it was equal to a third part of the habitable earth. Nearchus afferted, that it would take four months to march in a straight line from one extremity of India to the other. The journal of Marco Polo, who had proceeded towards the Eaft far beyond the limits to which any European had ever advanced, feemed to confirm these exaggerated accounts of the ancients. By his magnificent defcriptions of the kingdoms of Cathay and Cipango, and of many other countries, the names of which were unknown in Europe, India appeared to be a region of vast e Nat. Hift. lib. vi. c. 17. f Strab. Geogr. lib. xv. p. 1011. extent. A II. BOOK extent. From thefe accounts, which, however defective, were the most accurate that the people of Europe had received at that period, with respect to the remote parts of the East, Columbus drew a just conclufion. He contended, that, in proportion as the continent of India stretched out towards the Eaft, it must, in confequence of the spherical figure of the earth, approach nearer to the islands which had lately been discovered to the west of Africa; that the distance from the one to the other was probably not very confiderable; and that the most direct, as well as shortest course to the remote regions of the east, was to be found by failing due weft 8. This notion concerning the vicinity of India to the western parts of our continent, was countenanced by fome eminent writers among the ancients, the fanction of whofe authority was neceffary, in that age, to procure a favourable reception to any Aristotle thought it probable that the Columns of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar, were not far removed from the East Indies, and that there might be a communication by fea between them". Seneca, in terms still more explicit, affirms, that, with a fair wind, one tenet. * See NOTE XII. Ariftot. de Cœlo, lib. ii. c. 14. edit. Du Val, Par. 1629. vol. i. p. 472. II. might fail from Spain to India, in a few days. BOOK The famous Atlantic island defcribed by Plato, and fuppofed by many to be a real country, beyond which an unknown continent was fituated, is represented by him as lying at no great distance from Spain. After weighing all these particulars, Columbus, in whofe character the modesty and diffidence of true genius was united with the ardent enthusiasm of a projector, did not reft with fuch abfolute affurance either upon his own arguments, or upon the authority of the ancients, as not to confult fuch of his contemporaries as were capable of comprehending the nature of the evidence which he produced in fupport of his opinion. As early as the year one thousand four hundred and feventy-four, he communicated his ideas concerning the proba bility of discovering new countries, by failing weftwards, to Paul, a physician of Florence, eminent for his knowledge of cofmography, and who, from the learning as well as candour which he difcovers in his reply, appears to have been well entitled to the confidence which Columbus placed in him. He warmly approved of the plan, fuggefted feveral facts in confirmation of it, and encouraged Columbus to perfevere in an undertaking fo laudable, and which must ན Senec. Quæft. Natur. lib.i. in proem. redound BOOK redound fo much to the honour of his country, and the benefit of Europe *. II. His schemes for carrying it into execution. He applies to the Ge noese ; To a mind less capable of forming and of executing great defigns than that of Columbus, all those reasonings, and obfervations, and authorities, would have ferved only as the foundation of fome plaufible and fruitless theory, which might have furnished matter for ingenious difcourfe or fanciful conjecture. But with his fanguine and enterprifing temper, fpeculation led directly to action. Fully fatisfied himself with refpect to the truth of his system, he was impatient to bring it to the test of experiment, and to set out upon a voyage of discovery. The first step towards this was to fecure the patronage of fome of the confiderable powers in Europe, capable of undertaking fuch an enterprise. As long abfence had not extinguished the affection. which he bore to his native country, he wished that it fhould reap the fruits of his labours and invention. With this view, he laid his scheme before the Senate of Genoa, and making his country the first tender of his fervice, offered to fail under the banners of the republic, in queft of the new regions which he expected to dif cover. But Columbus had refided for fo many * Life of Columbus, c. viii. years |