The Opelousas courier., 1893-02-11
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
WHY HE BELIEVED THERE WAS
AN UNDIscovER Ed COUNTRY.
Evidences Which He Unearthed That
by Sailing Westward From Eu-
rope Land Would be Reached.

Dlcs u1St IEhCuSu tuc COu'
"" clusion that land lay wes
of Europe shortly after his
marriage to Donna Felipa, the daughter
IF Palestrello. This union was q happy
one for him, for it brought him into as
sociations that stimulated his ambitions
as a navigator; and to it, perhaps, in no
small measure his success was due. His
wife was the daughter of one of the
most distinguished captains who had
served under Prince Henry of Portugal.
He had discovered the islands of Porto
5anto and Madeira, and had settled col.
onies on them. At his death, which oc.
cured before Columbus married his
laughter, he left a large number of notes,
maps, and manuscripts. These came in.
10 the hands of Columbus, who carefully
studied them, and found out from them
The routes the Portuguese had followed
in their voyages. and the plans they had
adopted in searching for the route to In.
lila.
Columbus soon formed an opinion that
Asia might be reached by q more direct
way than the Portuguese were trying to
'ollow, that is, by sailing directly west
cross the Atlantic. He was not content
o hold this opinion as a mere theory; as
zone learned men before him had done;
out, on every side, he sought evidence
TO confirm it.
1t is interesting at the present day to
follow, al we'll as We can, the growth of
his idea In the mind of Columbus from
;he time he first entertained it till it be-
came so firmly fixed in his thoughts that
the desire of his life was to test its truth.
We will accordingly take a brief glance
st some Of the evidence to which he
trusted.
We find he believed the earth was a
globe, and he was acquainted with the
calculations that had been made in re-
gard to its magnitude. The estimates
made of its size differed considerably.
Columbus adopted one that made the
earth much smaller than it really is. But
even upon his view of the earth's II.
face Europe, Asia and Africa, as far as
known, formed only a small part of it.
What, then, lay beyond the Atlantica
Was there no opposite shore2 Columbus
believed the ocean was hemmed in by
land. The theory that the earth was
spherical was sufficient to suggest this
idea to him. His knowledge of geog-
raphy made him think the land on the
other side would belong to Asia:
He looked into the evidence which
had come from ancient times to support
the opinion that land could be found
west of Europe. 1t was a known fact
that the Carthaginians had ventured a
little way out in the Atlantic. They
had discovered the Canary Isles, and
perhaps also the Madeira Islands and the
Azores.
Columbus did not pay much attention
to the myths that had come down from
times, nor to those that were
in his day. They were of
value to him only because they showed
that from d very early period in the
worlds history the opinion had been
held that the Atlantic was not simply a
waste of waters with no western shore.
But his belief in the existence of west
ern lands was greatly strengthened By
evidence the waves themselves gave in
bringing drift-wood and other strange |
to the shores of Europe. This |
evidence he eagerly collected from sailors |
vino returned from long voyages, and
from the inhabitants of the Atlantic
His brother -in-law, Pedro Correa, had
himself seen something which bore sig
,ifcant testimony. He had picked up
lpon the coast of the Island of Madeira
fragment of wood that showed signs
If having come from a strange country.
t was carved in q most singular manner;
it was evident, too, that no instru-
nent of iron had been used to fashion it.
A pilot, Martin Vincent, courageously
allied further westward than others had
Before his return, he had seen
upon the waves a similar piece
f wood, which was driven to him by a
trong western wind.
The inhabitants of the Azores stated
hat pine trees, unlike any they had seen,
been cast upon their shores when the
wind blew from the west. From the
'ame direction great reeds also, like
hose which were known to grow in the
Indies, had come to their islands.
But the most remarkable incident of
Ill was the fact that the bodies OF two
nen had been brought by the waves to
ne island of Flores. The men had
TRANCE features, and were, in appear
nee, altogether unlike any men known
n Europe.
Such indications as these had much in.
uence upon the thoughtful mind of
Columbus. He became convinced that
lest of Europe there was an undiscov-
red country, which he thought would
to be the eastern part of Asia
{, Nicholas.