place of his birth are known with certainty'; but he was defcended of an honourable family, though reduced to indigence by various misfortunes. His ancestors having betaken themselves for fubfiftence to a fea-faring life, Columbus difcovered, in his early youth, the peculiar character and talents which mark out a man for that profeffion. His parents, instead of thwarting this original propenfity of his mind, feem to have encouraged and confirmed it, by the education which they gave him. After acquiring fome knowledge of the Latin tongue, the only language in which science was taught at that time, he was instructed in geometry, cofmography, aftronomy, and the art of drawing. To the fe he applied with fuch ardour and predilection, on account of their connection with navigation, his favourite object, that he advanced with rapid proficiency in the ftudy of them. Thus qualified, in the year 1461, he went to fea at the age of fourteen, and began his career on that element which conducted him to fo much glory. His early voyages were to thofe ports in the Mediterranean which his countrymen the Genoefe frequented. This being a fphere too narrow for his active mind, he made an excurfion to the northern feas, in 1467, and vifited the coafts of Iceland, to which the English and other nations had begun to refort on account of its fishery. As navigation, in every direction, was now become enterprifing, he proceeded beyond that island, the Thule of the ancients, and advanced feveral degrees within the polar circle. Having satisfied his curiofity by a voyage which tended more to enlarge his knowledge of naval affairs, than to improve his fortune, he entered into the service of a famous fea-captain, of his own name and family. This man commanded a small squadron, fitted out at his own expence, and by cruifing fometimes against the Mahometans, fometimes against the Venetians, the rivals of his country in trade, had acquired both wealth and reputation. With him Columbus continued for feveral years, no lefs diftinguished for his courage, than for his experience as a failor. At length, in an obftinate engagement, off the coaft of Portugal, with fome Venetian Caravels, returning richly laden from the Low Countries, the veffel on board which he ferved 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 swimming, he reached the fhore, though above two leagues diftant, and faved a life referved for great undertakings.

As foon as he recovered ftrength for the journey, he repaired to Lisbon, where many of his countrymen were fettled. They foon con

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ceived

ceived fuch a favourable opinion of his merit, as well as talents, that they warmly folicited him to remain in that kingdom, where his naval skill and experience could not fail of rendering him confpicuous. To every adventurer, animated either with curiofity to vifit new countries, or with ambition to diftinguish himself, the Portuguese service was at that time extremely inviting. Columbus liftened with a favourable ear to the advice of his friends, and having gained the efteem of a Portuguese lady, whom he married, fixed his refidence in Lisbon. This alliance, instead of detaching him from a fea-faring life, contributed to enlarge the fphere of his naval knowledge, and to excite a defire of extending it ftill farther. His wife was a daughter of Eartholomew Pereftrello, one of the captains employed by prince Henry in his early navigations, and who, under his protection, had difcovered 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 dif coveries, as well as the various circumftances which guided or encouraged them in their attempts. The ftudy of thefe foothed and inflamed his favourite paffion; and while he contemplated the maps, and read the defcriptions of the new countries which Pereftrello had feen, 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 ifland, with the Canaries, the Azores, the fettlements in Guinea, 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 intercourfe was carried on by fea, he was now become one of the most skilful navigators in Europe. But, not fatisfied with that praife, his ambition aimed at fomething more. The fuccefsful progrefs of the Portuguese navigators had awakened a spirit of curiofity and emulation, which fet every man of fcience upon examining all the circumftances that led to the difcoveries which they had made, or that afforded a profpect 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 Portuguefe had founded their fchemes of dif covery, and the mode in which they had carried them on, that he gradu ally began to form an idea of improving upon their plan, and of accomplishing difcoveries which hitherto they had attempted in vain.

To find out a paffage by fea to the Eaft Indies, was the great object in view at that period. From the time that the Portuguefe doubled Cape de

Verd,

Verd, this was the point at which they aimed in all their navigations, and, in comparison with it, all their difcoveries in Africa appeared in confiderable. 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 arising from their having engroffed this trade, had raised the envy of all nations. But how intent foever the Portuguese were upon discovering a new route to thofe defirable regions, they fearched for it only by steering towards the fouth, in hopes of arriving at India, by turning to the east, after they had failed round the farther extremity of Africa, This courfe was ftill unknown, and, even if difcovered, 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 extenfive navigation from that to India could be accomplished. Thefe reflections upon the uncertainty, the danger and tedioufnefs of the course which the Portuguese were purfuing, naturally led Columbus to confider whether a fhorter and more direct paffage to the Eaft Indies might not be found out. After revolving long and ferioufly every circumftance fuggefted by his fuperior knowledge in the theory as well as practice of navigation, after comparing attentively the obfervations 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 difcovered.

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 fpherical 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 small 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 vaft space, ftill unexplored, was not covered entirely by a waste unprofit able ocean, but occupied by countries fit for the habitation of man. It appeared likewife extremely probable, that the continent, on this fide of the globe, was balanced by a porportional quantity of land in the other hemifphere. These conclufions concerning the existence of another continent, drawn from the figure and structure of the globe, were confirmed by the obfervations and conjectures of modern navigators. A Portuguese

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Portuguese pilot, having ftretched 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 feen likewife canes of an enormons fize floating upon the waves, which refembled thofe defcribed by Ptolemy, as productions peculiar to the Eaft Indies. 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, resembling neither the inhabitants of Europe nor of Africa, were caft afhore there.

As the force of this united evidence, arifing 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 naturalift follows, contended that it was equal to a third part of the inhabitable 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 thefe 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 vaft extent. From thefe accounts, which, however defective, were the most accurate that the people of Europe had received at that period, with refpect to the remote parts of the Eaft, Columbus drew a juft conclufion. He contended, that, in proportion as the continent of India ftretched out towards the Eaft, it muft, in confequence of the spherical figure of the earth, approach nearer to the islands which had lately been discovered to the weft 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 Eaft, was to be found by failing due weft. This notion concerning the vicinity of India to the

western

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 tenet. Ariftotle 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 ftill more explicit, affirms, that, with a fair wind, one might fail from Spain to India in a few days. The famous Atlantic island described by Plato, and supposed by many to be a real country, beyond which an unknown continent was fituated, is reprefented by him as lying at no great diftance from Spain. After weighing all thefe particulars, Columbus, in whofe character the modefty 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 thoufand four hundred and seventy-four, he communicated his ideas concerning the probability of difcovering new countries, by failing weftwards, to Paul, a phyfician 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 intitled to the confidence which Columbus placed in him. He warmly approved of the plan, függested feveral facts in confirmation of it, and encouraged Columbus to perfe vere in an undertaking fo laudable, and which muft redound fo much to the honour of his country, and the benefit of Europe.

To a mind lefs 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. discourse, or fanciful conjecture. But with his fanguine and enterprising temper, fpeculation led directly to action. Fully fatisfied himself with refpect to the truth of his fyftem, he was impatient to bring it to the teft of experiment, and to fet 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 should reap the fruits of his labours and invention. With this view, he laid his fcheme before the fenate of Genoa, and making his country the firft tender of his fervice, offered to fail under the banners of the republic, in queft of the new regions which

he