ful, and not injure the dignity of the Crown if it failed. In accordance with it, Columbus was required to give a detailed plan of his intended voyage with all his charts and maps, ostensibly to be examined by the council, whose decision he was to await. Having thus quieted him, the King fitted out a caravel, said to be laden with provisions for the Cape de Verde islands, but with secret instructions to sail westward in search of land, following the course laid down by Columbus. After a stormy voyage of several days the vessel returned to Lisbon, and the ridicule heaped on Columbus by the travelers was his first intimation of the deceit practiced upon him. He was deeply incensed, and immediately left a land that had proved so treacherous. This was in the latter part of 1484. His wife having died, he took with him his little son Diego, and set out secretly. Three years later King John wrote to him, addressing 'Christopher Colon, our especial friend," invited him to return, and promised him immunity from any civil or criminal suit that might be pending against him. It is needless to say that the offer met with no response. There is pretty good authority for believing that, before the negotiations with King John, Columbus had, by letter, offered his services to his native and beloved Genoa. The government had declined them, but on leaving Portugal he seems to have renewed the offer in person, with a like result, and to have lived some time with his father, making maps and charts for a livelihood. It is believed that at this time also he laid his plan before the little kingdom of Venice. That he did so at some time, is shown by a letter written by Columbus two days before he sailed from Saltes, addressed to Agostino Barbarigo, Doge of Venice. It runs: 66 MAGNIFICENT SIR: Since your republic has not deemed it convenient to accept my offers, and all the spite of my many enemies has been brought in force to oppose my petition, I have thrown myself into the arms of God, my Maker, and he, by the intercession of the saints, has caused the most clement King of Castile not to refuse generously to assist my project toward the discovery of a new world. And praising thereby the good God, I obtained the placing under my command of men and ships, and am about to set out on a voyage to that famous land, grace to which intent God has been pleased to bestow upon me. In 1485 Columbus set out to lay his plans before the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. On his way he stopped at the Convent of La Rabida, which was about a mile from the Andalusian seaport of Palos. He was traveling on foot, in poor clothing, accompanied by his lit tle son Diego. As he paused to ask a morsel of bread and a drink of water for the child, the prior of the convent, Juan Perez de Marchina, happened to pass the entrance. Struck by the appearance of Columbus, and noticing his foreign accent, he questioned him, and as a result of the interview sent for a friend of his, Garcia Fernandez, the physician of Palos, who was equally impressed. Several conferences were held in the cloisters, in which some of the ancient mariners of Palos felt a deep interest, and added to the excitement if not to the information that was filling the fervid mind of Columbus. One old tar, Pedro de Velasco, said that thirty years before he was carried by stress of weather so far to the northwest that Cape Clear, in Ireland, lay eastward of him. There, in a strong west wind, the sea was perfectly smooth, which he fancied must be caused by land that lay in that direction. In that shelter Columbus and his boy remained all winter. In the spring of 1486 the King and Queen established their court in Cordova, in order to raise an army for the coming campaign against the Moors. Furnished with a letter from Juan Perez to his intimate friend Fernando de Talavera, confessor to the Queen, Columbus left his boy in the prior's hands and went to court. So far from taking the view of the prior of La Rabida, Talavera pronounced the scheme absurd and impossible, and would not even secure a hearing for the applicant. Oviedo says: " Because he was a stranger and went but in simple apparel, not otherwise credited than by the letter of a gray friar, they believed him not, neither gave ear to his words, whereby he was greatly tormented in his imagination." The war against the Moors in their last stronghold of Granada was in full tide. Not only was Ferdinand busy with the unrelaxing energy that characterized him, but the Queen took up her residence in camp. The court moved with the shifting fortunes of the war. City after city fell, triumph after triumph followed with absorbing excitement. During the summer and autumn Columbus remained in Cordova, supporting himself in the familiar way, with map and chart making, meantime trying to make friends of influential persons. Among these was Alonzo de Quintanilla, controller of the finances of Castile, who took him into his house and became a warm supporter of his theories. Antonio Geraldinus, nuncio from the Pope, and his brother, Alexander Geraldinus, preceptor of the King's younger children, warmly espoused his cause. They introduced him to Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo and Grand Cardinal of Spain, who was called by Peter Martyr "the third King of Spain." He opposed the suggestions at first as heterodox, and it is infinitely to the credit both of Columbus and of this prelate, who knew more dogma than science, that he gave first an incredulous but respectful hearing, then earnest study, and finally the interest born of conviction. He obtained Columbus an interview with the sovereigns, and the result was that Talavera was ordered to convene a council of learned men to listen and report. In the Dominican Convent of St. Stephen, Salamanca, where Columbus was maintained meanwhile, was held the conference of worldwide renown. Few in it but came with deepseated prejudice against the man they were to hear. In fact, at first a few scientific friars were all who paid any attention to him. When they finally listened it was to pour forth on him a torrent of contradiction. The Old Testament and the New Testament, the ancient fathers and the modern Popes, were cited to prove the impossibility and absurdity of his conclusions. From Lactantius was the following: "Is there any one so foolish as to believe that there are antipodes with their feet opposite to ours-people who walk with their heels upward and their heads hanging down? that there is a part of the world in which all things are topsy-turvy, and where it rains, hails, and snows upward? The idea of the roundness of the earth was the cause of inventing this fable of the antipodes, with their heels in the air; for these philosophers, having once erred, go on in their absurdities defending one another." That the earth was flat, they proved from a hundred passages of Scripture, as where the Psalmist and St. Paul both describe the heavens as spread out like a canopy. Columbus, the devout, was in danger of the Inquisition for heresy, when some of the more enlightened prelates came to his relief. They admitted that the earth might be round, but said that the heat of the torrid zone would be insupportable; that it was only habitable in the northern hemisphere; that if a ship could reach India it could never get back, for the roundness of the earth would present a kind of mountain up which it would be impossible to sail. To these objections Columbus answered, with profound reverence for the Scripture, held as sacred by him as by them, that the inspired writers were not speaking as cosmographers, using the language of science, but figuratively, as appeared to the eye and could be understood by all. When he came to the men who did profess so to write he took another tone. There he stood upon surer ground than they. He told them how he had himself proved the half truths of the ancients and had disproved their mistakes; that he had sailed the coast of Guinea, almost under the equator, and found abundant life and beauty. His eloquence, his ferver, his learning, his piety, his commanding presence and dignity of thought, silenced if it did not persuade, and some few were thoroughly convinced. Conference after conference followed, dragged out by counsel darkened by words with out knowledge. The time wore on, now with faint hope to Columbus that he was on the eve of a decisive interview at court, again with such evident forgetfulness of his cause and wishes that he became the laughing stock of the very children in the street. The wandering and warlike sovereigns now and then called him to attend their suite and forwarded the money for his proper presentment, but the hoped-for interview never came. Among the memorandums of these years by which Columbus may be traced is a record of Diego Ortiz de Zuñiga, of Seville, which says that, in response to a command of the sovereigns, the city furnished entertainment for Christopher Columbus, who came to the city on matters of importance, and he adds: "The same Columbus was found fighting, giving proofs of the distinguished valor which accompanied his wisdom and his lofty desires." He repaired there with renewed hope, only to be told by them that they must decline to listen further until a more convenient season. Five years had passed between the time when Columbus entered Cordova and the time when, in despair, he once more left the Spanish court, resolving never to return. Meantime, in Cordova he had formed an alliance with a lady of high lineage, Beatrix Enriquez, by whom he had a son Fernando. Of her he says in the will that was executed the day before he died: "And I direct him [his son Diego] that he shall have special care for Beatrix Enriquez, the mother of Don Ferdinand, my son; that he shall provide for her so that she may live comfortably, as a person should for whom I have so much regard. And this shall be done for the ease of my conscience, because this has weighed heavily on my soul. The reason therefor it is not proper to mention here." The son Ferdinand he took legal measures to have acknowledged, and in every way possible made him equal to his legitimate child. Thus in 1491 Columbus left the royal presence, but so great was the interest he had awakened that he was loath to relinquish it by leaving Spain. There were noblemen of maritime enterprise, scientific attainment, and vast resources. To one of these, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, he now applied. At first he was listened to with eagerness, but Gomera persuaded him not to be dazzled by CONVENT OF LA RABIDA. the dream of an Italian visionary. It seemed indeed that in the next nobleman to whom he ap pealed, the Duke of Medina Coeli, he had found the needed friend; but just as he was actually on the point of dispatching Columbus with four caravels, he withdrew from the undertaking as one too great to be accomplished by a subject, and urged Columbus again to appeal to Ferdinand and Isabella. But Columbus had not only had enough of hanging upon the uncertain favor of a court that was a camp, but had meantime received a kindly letter from the King of France, and to that country he determined to repair. Before going he visited the Convent of La Rabida for the purpose of bringing his son Diego to Cordova, to be left with Ferdinand. His old friend the friar welcomed him after the seven years of absence, but as he looked sadly at his humble, dust-stained garments and mournful countenance he was deeply moved, and begged him to relate his adventures. When Columbus told him that he was on the point of leaving Spain to offer to France his great project, the prior begged him to delay until they could call some counsel. He sent again for the physician Garcia Fernandez, and for Martin Alonzo Pinzon, which Sant-angel immediately assured her would not be needed. She sent a swift messenger to recall Columbus, and it was well that she sent an eloquent one, for Columbus at first refused to go back, and was only persuaded on learning that the Queen had given positive assurance. On his return he was well received, and in due time articles containing the following agreements were signed by both parties: the head of a distinguished family of navigators. Pinzon was so earnest in his faith and interest that he offered to pay Columbus's expenses if he would once more apply at court. This so strengthened the views of the prior that he wrote a letter to Isabella, and obtained the promise of Columbus to await its answer at the convent. The answer invited the former father confessor to attend her at Santa Fé, the camp city that had been built in the Vega before Granada, 1. That Columbus was to have, for himself which capital they were then besieging, and the during his life, and his heirs and successors forfriar lost not a moment in complying with the ever, the office of admiral in all the lands and request. The result of the visit was that Colum- continents which he might discover or acquire bus, furnished with money by the Queen, once in the ocean sea, with similar honors and premore set out to seek an audience at court. He rogatives to those enjoyed by the High Admiral reached his destination in time to witness the of Castile in his district. surrender of the last of the Moorish kings, and amid the ceremonies and revelry of rejoicing he was forgotten. A Spanish writer gives us the picture: "A man obscure and but little known followed at this time the court. Confounded in the crowd of importunate applicants, feeding his imagination in the corners of antechambers with the pompous project of discovering a world, melancholy and dejected amid the general rejoicing, he beheld with indifference, and almost with contempt, the conclusion of a conquest which swelled all bosoms with jubilee, and seemed to have reached the utmost bounds of desire. That man was Christopher Columbus." When the festivities were at an end, Talavera, now Archbishop of Granada, was appointed to negotiate with Columbus the terms on which he should be sent forth. What was his amazement to hear the needy adventurer claim that, as the first step, he should be made admiral and viceroy of the countries he should discover, and be given one tenth of all gains whether by trade or conquest. To the torrent of ridicule at his pretensions, and the sneer that he would at least gain a title and lose nothing, he replied that he would furnish one eighth of the cost on receiving promise of one eighth of the profits. His terms were promptly rejected by Talavera, and the powerful prelate had no difficulty in convincing the Queen that to bestow such honor on a nameless stranger would make him too powerful if successful, and render the sovereigns absurd in case of his failure. Terms deemed more suitable were offered to Columbus, but he refused them with equal determination. He mounted his horse and in February, 1492, once more set out for France, intending to make a brief stay at Cordova. No sooner did the news go out that Columbus had departed, than the men of influence and intelligence who had early espoused his cause and longed for its accomplishment, came to court and begged for his recall. Luis de Sant-angel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of Arragon, especially pleaded his cause with eloquence, warmly seconded by the Marchioness of Moya. Although the so-called calm judgment of history has professed to set aside as untrue the incident of Isabella's warm-hearted offer of her jewels to pay the cost of the expedition, when for the first time she realized the greatness of the enterprise and the cold attitude of Ferdinand regarding it, it remains undenied that she assumed the charges for her own Kingdom of Castile, and her private coffers if necessary, 2. That he should be viceroy and governorgeneral over all the said lands and continents, with the privilege of nominating 3 candidates for the government of each island or province, one of whom should be selected by the sovereigns. 3. That he should be entitled to reserve for himself one tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and all other articles and merchandises, in whatever manner found, bought, bartered, or gained within his admiralty, the costs being first deducted. 4. That he, or his lieutenant, should be the sole judge in all causes and disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain, provided the High Admiral of Castile had similar jurisdiction in his district. 5. That he might then, and at all after times, contribute an eighth part of the expense in fitting out vessels to sail on this enterprise, and receive an eighth part of the profits. Later, on April 30, 1492, Columbus was also given a letter of privilege, in which the dignities and prerogatives of viceroy and governor were made hereditary in his family, and he and his heirs were allowed to entitle themselves Don. The seaport city of Palos, as punishment for some offense, had been ordered to furnish the Crown with 2 armed caravels. These ships the town was required to furnish within ten days, and to place them, with their crews, at the service of Columbus. He also set about procuring his vessel. All were to obey him implicitly, the only condition being that neither he nor they should go to St. George la Unia, nor any other Portuguese possession. All were commanded to furnish supplies at reasonable prices, and to any criminal willing to embark suspension of sentence was granted during the voyage and for two months after his return. At the same time the Queen appointed Diego Columbus page to her son Juan, the heir-apparent. A third time Columbus appeared before the convent gate of La Rabida, and thence the prior accompanied him to Palos. Here a new discouragement awaited Columbus. Such dread of the unknown ocean prevailed among seafaring men that not one could be induced to volunteer, even though it should be an escape from prison. Weeks passed, in which the utmost influence of Columbus produced no result toward getting vessels or men for the expedition. Then came a royal mandate ordering the magistrates to press into service the vessels of any Spanish subject they might think most available, and compelling their officers and crews to sail under the new admiral. The executor of this command was to receive 200 maravedis a day while carrying it out, payment to come from those who refused to obey it. This order produced as little effect as the other. After eighteen years of effort to prevail upon governments to allow him to collect men and vessels, Columbus was likely to fail utterly because not a man was willing to risk life or treasure. He had hoped to borrow the eighth part which he had assumed to bear in the expense from Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the rich mariner who had espoused his cause so warmly in the convent. Finally, this man came forward with an offer to add to the loan Columbus asked a second vessel and his personal service as its commander. This put a somewhat new face on the matter. Two vessels were fitted out, one by Columbus and a second by Pinzon. A third was impressed by the authorities, under the royal mandate. But the trouble was not ended. The calkers, on being compelled to do over again work which they had purposely slighted, ran away, seamen deserted and hid, and ingenuity was taxed to evade the law and hinder the expedition. It was August before 3 little vessels, the size of river steamers of our day, only one of them decked, were ready to set sail, with 120 persons on board, all told. When they crossed the bar of Saltes, Columbus was upon his flagship, the decked vessel he had fitted out, which he named the "Santa Maria," Martin Alonzo Pinzon commanded the "Pinta," the impressed vessel, while his brother, Francisco Martin, acted as pilot. The third vessel, the "Niña," furnished by the Pinzons, was commanded by a third brother, Vicente Yañez Pinzon. On the first day out, Columbus began a description of the journey, in the following manner: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas, Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King and Queen of Spain and of the Islands of the Sea, our Sovereigns, this present year, 1492, after your highnesses had terminated the war with the Moors reigning in Europe, the same having been brought to an end in the great city of Granada, where, on the second day of January, this present year, I saw the royal banners upon the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of that city, and saw the Moorish king come out at the gate of the city and kiss the band of your highnesses, and of the Prince, my sovereign; and in the present month, in consequence of the information which I had given your highnesses respecting the countries of India and of a prince King of Kings; how, at many times, he and his predecalled Great Khan, which in our language signifies cessors had sent to Rome soliciting instructors who might teach him our holy faith, and the Holy Father had never granted his request, whereby great numbers THE SANTA MARIA. of people were lost, believing in idolatry and doctrines of perdition. Your highnesses, as Catholic Christians and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and, furthermore, directed that I should not proceed by land to the east, as is customary, but by a westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone. So, after having expelled the Jews from your dominions, your highnesses, in the same month of January, ordered me to proceed with a sufficient armament to the said regions of India, and for that purpose granted me great favors, and ennobled me that thenceforth I might call myself Don, and be high admiral of the sea, and perpetual viceroy and governor in all the islands and conti nents which I might discover and acquire, or which may hereafter be discovered and acquired in the ocean; and that this dignity should be inherited by my eldest son, and thus descend from degree to degree forever. Hereupon I left the city of Granada, on Saturday, the twelfth day of May, 1492, and proceeded to Palos, a seaport, where I armed 3 vessels, very fit for such an enterprise, and having provided myself with abundance of stores and seamen, I set sail from the port on Friday, the 3d of August, half an hour before sunrise, and steered for the Canary islands of your highnesses, which are in the said ocean, thence to take my departure and proceed till I arrived at the Indies, and perform the embassy of your highnesses to the princes there, and discharge the orders given me. For this purpose I determined to keep an account of the voyage, and to write down punctually everything we performed or saw from day to day, as will hereafter appear. Moreover, Sovereign Princes, besides describing every night the occurrences of the day, and every day those of the preceding night, I intend to draw up a nautical chart, which shall contain the several parts of the ocean and land in their proper situations; and also to compose a book to represent the whole by picture, with latitudes and longitudes, on all which accounts it behooves me to abstain from my sleep and make many trials in navigation, which things will demand much labor. On the third day out the " Pinta" made a signal of distress, and reported that her rudder had been found broken and unshipped. The wind was blowing too hard to allow of the other vessels rendering any assistance to Pinzon, who had been put into this difficulty by the evident intention of the owners to unfit their caravel for the voyage, and thus secure their return before she had gone too far for their experience to be of avail in navigating her to Palos. But Pinzon had the broken rudder mended so that they could manage the vessel. The next day his device gave way, and the other ships were compelled to shorten sail while he secured the rudder firmly. Meantime, she had been found to be in such a leaky condition that Columbus resolved to leave her at the Canary islands and procure another caravel, and he announced that they were near those islands, from which opinion all the pilots dissented. On the morning of Aug. 9 they were sighted. For three weeks Columbus tried in vain to secure a ship; then a new rudder was made for the "Pinta," the lateen sails of the " Niña" were changed to square sails, and the little squadron again hoisted its canvas. While they were at the Canaries two events troubled Columbus. In sailing among the islands the crews came in sight of Teneriffe in active eruption, and were so filled with terror and gloomy predictions that it required the utmost effort to keep them from desertion. Columbus explained to them the supposed cause, and recalled descriptions of Mount Etna and other volcanoes. A far more serious danger presented itself in the report that reached him of Portuguese vessels that were waiting to attack his ships. He set out once more, on Sept. 6, but for three days his canvas fluttered idly. On Sept. 9 a breeze sprang up at sunrise, and soon the only enemy he had to fear was the one with whom he was embarked. After land was really lost to sight the hardiest among the crew shed tears like children, and filled the air with wailing. Their commander drew for their comfort the pictures that had so long warmed his own imagination-of vast splendor, gold, gems, and precious stones-to be found in the islands of the Indian sea. He sent orders to the Pinzons that, in case any accident should separate the vessels, they were to sail due westward for 700 leagues and then lie by from midnight until daylight, as at that distance they might look for land. At the same time, in order to guard against the effect of disappointment if his hopes failed of realization, he began to keep two reckonings, one giving the real distance traveled, the other making each day's journey shorter by some leagues, that the minds of his men might be less appalled as darkness fell and they realized each night the spaces that lay between them and home. On Sept. 11, the sight of the floating mast of a wrecked vessel alarmed them, and on the 13th Columbus himself was agitated on seeing that there was a variation in the needle; at nightfall it varied half a point from the north star, and still more on the following morning. For three days he watched the increasing change with wondering silence before the pilots of the other vessels observed it. Their terror was extreme; they had lost the one guide in the trackless waste. Tasking his utmost grasp of science for an explanation, he told them that the direction of the needle was not to the north star, which really had its revolutions and changes, going daily in a circle round the pole. They had such faith in his knowledge, that this description of the phenomenon quieted them, and he seems himself to have permanently accepted it. On the 14th a heron and a water wagtail hung about the ships, to the great delight of the sailors, who thought that neither of these birds ventured far out to sea. On the night of the 15th a meteor, which Columbus describes as a great flame of fire that seemed to fall from the sky into the sea a few leagues distant, startled and frightened the sailors. COLUMBUS'S ARMOR. They were now come to the region of the trade winds, and were carried swiftly and steadily on, without changing sail for many days. They began to see great fields of weeds of various colors, drifting westward. From one patch Columbus captured a live crab. They saw white birds and tunny fish, and Columbus called to mind Aristotle's description of the weedy sea from which mariners had turned back. On Sept. 18 the soft breeze from the east was filling every sail, and the crews, who had believed that the weeds indicated land, were more cheerful, when a hail from the "Pinto" brought news that Pinzon felt sure, from the bird flights, that there was land to the north. At sunset |