The Life of Columbus | Page 4

with the terrors of the supernatural, and to deter the explorer
of the great ocean. The half-decked vessels that crept along the
Mediterranean shores were but ill-fitted to bear the brunt of the furious
waves of the Atlantic. The now indispensable sextant was but clumsily
anticipated by the newly invented astrolabe. The use of the compass
had scarcely become familiar to navigators, who indeed but imperfectly
understood its properties. And who could tell, it was objected, that a
ship which might succeed in sailing down the waste of waters would
ever be able to return, for would not the voyage home be a perpetual
journey up a mountain of sea?
INCITEMENTS TO DISCOVERY.
But the same tradition which set forth the difficulties of reaching the
undiscovered countries promised a splendid reward to the successful
voyager. Rivers rolling down golden sand, mountains shining with
priceless gems, forests fragrant with rich spices were among the
substantial advantages to be expected as the result of the enterprise.
"Our quest there," said Peter Martyr, "is not for the vulgar products of
Europe." The proverb "Omne ignotum pro magnifico" [Transcribers's
note: Everything unknown is taken for magnificent.] was abundantly
illustrated. And there was another object, besides gain, which was
predominant in the minds of almost all the early explorers, namely, the
spread of the Christian religion. This desire of theirs, too, seems to
have been thoroughly genuine and deep-seated; and it may be doubted
whether the discoveries would have been made at that period but for

the impulse given to them by the most religious minds longing to
promote, by all means in their power, the spread of what, to them, was
the only true and saving faith. "I do not," says a candid historian [Faria
y Sousa] of that age, "imagine that I shall persuade the world that our
intent was only to be preachers; but on the other hand the world must
not fancy that our intent was merely to be traders," There is much to
blame in the conduct of the first discoverers in Africa and America; it is,
however, but just to acknowledge that the love of gold was by no
means the only motive which urged them to such endeavours as theirs.
To appreciate justly the intensity of their anxiety for the conversion of
the heathen, we must keep in our minds the views then universally
entertained of the merits and efficacy of mere formal communion with
the Church, and the fatal consequences of not being within that
communion.
EARLY ADVENTURERS.
This will go a long way towards explaining the wonderful
inconsistency, as it seems to us, of the most cruel and wicked men
believing themselves to be good Christians and eminent promoters of
the faith, if only they baptized, before they slew, their fellow-creatures.
And the maintenance of such church principles will altogether account
for the strange oversights which pure and high minds have made in the
means of carrying out those principles, fascinated as they were by the
brilliancy and magnitude of the main object they had in view.
But while piety, sometimes debased into religious fanaticism, had a
large part in these undertakings, doubtless the love of adventure and the
craving for novelty had their influence also. And what adventure it was!
New trees, new men, new animals, new stars; nothing bounded, nothing
trite, nothing which had the bloom taken off it by much previous
description! The early voyagers moreover, were like children coming
out to take their first gaze into the world, with ready credulity and
unlimited fancy, willing to believe in fairies and demons, Amazons and
mystic islands, "forms of a lower hemisphere," and fountains of
perpetual youth.
MEDIAEVAL MAP OF THE WORLD; THE ROMAN DOMINION.

The known world, in the time of Prince Henry of Portugal (at whose
discoveries it will be convenient to take a preliminary glance), was a
very small one indeed. The first thing for us to do is to study our maps
and charts. Without frequent reference to these, a narrative like the
present forms in our mind only a mirage of names and dates and facts,
is wrongly apprehended even while we are regarding it, and soon
vanishes away. The map of the world being before us, let us reduce it to
the proportions it filled in Prince Henry's time; let us look at our infant
world. First take away those two continents, for so we may almost call
them, each much larger than a Europe, to the far west. Then cancel that
square massive looking piece to the extreme south-east; its days of
penal settlements and of golden fortunes are yet to come. Then turn to
Africa; instead of that form of inverted cone which it presents, and
which we now know there are physical reasons for its presenting, make