it returned after a brief absence, the sailors having lost heart, and having refused to venture farther. Upon discovering this dishonourable transaction Columbus felt so outraged and indignant that he sent off his brother Bartholomew to England with letters for Henry VII., to whom he had communicated his ideas. He himself left Lisbon for Spain (1484), taking with him his son Diego, the only issue of his marriage with Felipa Munnis, who was by this time dead. He departed secretly, according to some writers, to give the slip to King John, according to others, to escape his creditors. Three years after (20th March 1488) a letter was sent by the king to "Christopher Colon, our especial friend," inviting him to return, and assuring him against arrest and proceedings of any kind ;
but it was then too late.Columbus next betook himself to the south of Spain, and seems to have proposed his plan first to the duke of Medina Sidonia (who was at first attracted by it, but finally threw it up as visionary and impracticable), and next to the duke of Medina Celi. The latter gave him great encouragement, entertained him for two years, and even determined to furnish him with the three or four caravals. Finally, however, being deterred by the con eideration that the enterprize was too vast for a subject, he turned his guest from the determination he had come to of making instant application at the court of France, by writing on his behalf to queen Isabella ; and Columbus repaired to the court at Cordova at her bidding.
It was an ill moment for the navigator s fortune. Castile and Leon were in the thick of that struggle which resulted in the final defeat of the Moors ; and neither Ferdinand nor Isabella had time to listen. The adventurer was in deed kindly received ; he was handed over to the care of Alonso de Quintanilla, whom he speedily converted into an enthusiastic supporter of his theory. He made many other friends, and here met with Beatriz Enriquez, the mother of his second son Fernando.
From Cordova Columbus followed the court to Salamanca, where he was introduced to the notice of the grand cardinal, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, " the third king of Spain." The cardinal, while approving the project, thought that it savoured strongly of heterodoxy ; but an interview with the projector brought him over, and through his influence Columbus at last got audience of the king. The matter was finally referred, however, to Fernando de Tala- vera. who in 1487 summoned a junta of astronomers and cosmographers to confer with Columbus, and examine his design and the arguments by which he supported it. The Dominicans of San Esteban in Salamanca entertained Columbus during the conference. The jurors, who were most of them ecclesiastics, were by no means unprejudiced, nor were they disposed to abandon their pretensions to knowledge without a struggle. Columbus argued his point, but was overwhelmed with Biblical texts, with quotations from the great divines, with theological objections; and in a short time the junta was adjourned. In 1489 Columbus, who had been following the court from place to place (billeted in towns as an officer of the king s, and gratified from time to time with sums of money toward his expenses), was present at the siege of Malaga. In 1490 the junta decided that his project was vain and impracticable, and that it did not become their highnesses to have anything to do with it ; and this was confirmed, with some reservation, by their highnesses themselves, at Seville.
Columbus was now in despair. He at once betook him self to Huelva, where his brother-in-law resided, with the intention of taking ship for France. He halted, however, at Palos, a little maritime town in Andalusia. At the monastery of La Rabida hs knocked and asked for bread and water for his boy Diego, and presently got into con versation with Juan Perez de Marcheua, the guardian, who invited him to take up his quarters in the monastery, and introduced him to Garci Fernandez, a physician and an ardent student of geography. To these good men did Columbus propound his theory and explain his plan. Juau Perez had been the queen s confessor; he wrote to her, and was summoned to her presence ; and money was sent to Columbus, to bring him once more to court. He reached Granada in time to witness the surrender of the city ; and negotiations were resumed. Columbus believed in his mission, and stood out for high terms; he asked the rank of Admiral at once, the vice-royalty of all he should dis cover, and a tenth of all the gain, by conquest or by trade. These conditions were rejected, and the negotiations were again interrupted. An interview with Mendoza appears to have followed ; but nothing came of it, and in January 1492 Columbus actually set out for France. At length, however, on the entreaty of Luis de Sautangel, receiver of the ecclesiastical revenues of the crown of Aragon, Isabella was induced to determine on the expedition. A messenger was sent after Columbus, and overtook him at the Bridge of Pines, about two leagues from Granada. He returned to the camp at Santa F6; and on 17th April 1492, the agreement between him and their Catholic majesties was signed and sealed.
His aims were nothing less than the discovery of the marvellous province of Cipango and the conversion to Christianity of the Grand Khan, to whom he received a royal letter of introduction. The town of Palos was ordered to find him two ships, and these were soon placed at his disposal. But no crews could be got together, in spite of the indemnity offered to all criminals and broken men who would serve on the expedition ; and had not Juan Perez succeeded in interesting Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yafiez Pinzon in the cause, Columbus s departure had been long delayed. At last, however, men, First ships, and stores were ready. The expedition consisted of y oyage. the " Santa Maria," a decked ship, with a crew of 50 men, commanded by the Admiral in person ; and of two caravels, the " Pinta," with 30 men, under Martin Pinzon, and the " Nina," with 24 men, under his brother Vicente Yafiez, afterwards (1499) the first to cross the line in the American Atlantic. The adventurers numbered 120 souls; and on Friday, 3d August 1492, at eight in the morning, the little fleet weighed anchor, and stood out for the Canary Islands.
lias Casas is yet extant ; and from it many particulars may be gleaned concerning this first voyage. Three days after the ships had set sail the "Pinta" lost her rudder; the Admiral was in some alarm, but comforted himself with the reflection that Martin Pinzon was energetic and ready-witted ; they had, however, to put in (August 9) at Teneriffe, to refit the caravel. On Gth September they weighed anchor once more with all haste, Columbus having been informed that three Portuguese caravels were on the look-out for him. On 13th September the variations of the magnetic needle were for the first time observed; on the 15th a wonderful meteor fell into the sea at four or five leagues distance. On the 16th they arrived at those vast plains of seaweed called the Sargasso Sea; and thenceforward, writes the Admiral, they had most temperate breezes, the sweetness of the mornings being most delightful, the weather like an Andalusian April, and only the song of the nightingale wanting. On the 17th the men began to murmur ; they were frightened by the strange phenomena of the variations of the compass, but the explanation Columbus gave restored their tranquil lity. On the 18th they saw many birds, and a great ridge of low-lying cloud ; and they expected to see land. On the 20th they saw two pelicans, and were sure the land
