The Life of Christopher Columbus from his own Letters and Journals | Page 8

on to the Red Sea, after he made the great discovery of the
Cape of Good Hope, but his crews mutinied, after he had gone much
farther than his predecessors, and compelled him to return. He passed
the southern cape of Africa and went forty miles farther. He called it
the Cape of Torments, "Cabo Tormentoso," so terrible were the storms
he met there. But when King John heard his report he gave it that name
of good omen which it has borne ever since, the name of the "Cape of
Good Hope."
In the midst of such endeavors to reach the East Indies by the long
voyage down the coast of Africa and across an unknown ocean,
Columbus was urging all people who cared, to try the route directly
west. If the world was round, as the sun and moon were, and as so
many men of learning believed, India or the Indies must be to the west
of Portugal. The value of direct trade with the Indies would be
enormous. Europe had already acquired a taste for the spices of India
and had confidence in the drugs of India. The silks and other articles of
clothing made in India, and the carpets of India, were well known and
prized. Marco Polo and others had given an impression that there was
much gold in India; and the pearls and precious stones of India excited
the imagination of all who read his travels.

The immense value of such a commerce may be estimated from one
fact. When, a generation after this time, one ship only of all the
squadron of Magellan returned to Cadiz, after the first voyage round
the world, she was loaded with spices from the Moluccas. These spices
were sold by the Spanish government for so large a sum of money that
the king was remunerated for the whole cost of the expedition, and
even made a very large profit from a transaction which had cost a great
deal in its outfit.
Columbus was able, therefore, to offer mercantile adventurers the
promise of great profit in case of success; and at this time kings were
willing to take their share of such profits as might accrue.
The letter of Toscanelli, the Italian geographer, which has been spoken
of, was addressed to Alphonso V, the King of Portugal. To him and his
successor, John the Second, Columbus explained the probability of
success, and each of them, as it would seem, had confidence in it. But
King John made the great mistake of intrusting Columbus's plan to
another person for experiment. He was selfish enough, and mean
enough, to fit out a ship privately and intrust its command to another
seaman, bidding him sail west in search of the Indies, while he
pretended that he was on a voyage to the Cape de Verde Islands. He
was, in fact, to follow the route indicated by Columbus. The vessel
sailed. But, fortunately for the fame of Columbus, she met a terrible
storm, and her officers, in terror, turned from the unknown ocean and
returned to Lisbon. Columbus himself tells this story. It was in disgust
with the bad faith the king showed in this transaction that he left Lisbon
to offer his great project to the King and Queen of Spain.
In a similar way, a generation afterward, Magellan, who was in the
service of the King of Portugal, was disgusted by insults which he
received at his court, and exiled himself to Spain. He offered to the
Spanish king his plan for sailing round the world and it was accepted.
He sailed in a Spanish fleet, and to his discoveries Spain owes the
possession of the Philippine Islands. Twice, therefore, did kings of
Portugal lose for themselves, their children and their kingdom, the fame
and the recompense which belong to such great discoveries.

The wife of Columbus had died and he was without a home. He left
Lisbon with his only son, Diego, in or near the end of the year 1484.
CHAPTER II.
HIS PLANS FOR DISCOVERY. COLUMBUS LEAVES LISBON,
AND VISITS GENOA--VISITS GREAT SPANISH DUKES--FOR
SIX YEARS IS AT THE COURT OF FERDINAND AND
ISABELLA--THE COUNCIL OF SALAMANCA--HIS PETITION IS
AT LAST GRANTED --SQUADRON MADE READY.
It has been supposed that when Columbus left Lisbon he was oppressed
by debts. At a subsequent period, when King John wanted to recall him,
he offered to protect him against any creditors. But on the other hand, it
is thought that at this time he visited Genoa, and made some provision
for the comfort of his father, who was now an old man. Christopher
Columbus, himself, according to the usual opinion regarding his birth,
was now almost fifty years old.
It is probable that at this time he urged on his countrymen,