sbon, Columbus made up his mind to try to
do what no other man, at that time, dared attempt,--that was to cross
the Atlantic Ocean. He thought that by doing so he could get directly
to Asia and the Indies, which, he believed, were opposite Portugal
and Spain. If successful, he could open up a very profitable trade
with the rich countries of the East, from which spices, drugs, and
silk were brought to Europe. The people of Europe could not reach
those countries directly by ships, because they had not then found
their way round the southern point of Africa.

[Illustration: This map shows how Columbus (not knowing that America
lay in the way) hoped to reach Asia and the East Indies by sailing
west.]

6. Columbus tries to get help in carrying out his plans.--Columbus
was too poor to fit out even a single ship to undertake such a voyage
as he had planned. He asked the king of Portugal to furnish some money
or vessels toward it, but he received no encouragement. At length
he determined to go to Spain and see if he could get help there.

On the southern coast of Spain there is a small port named Palos.[9]
Within sight of the village of Palos, and also within plain sight
of the ocean, there was a convent,[10]--which is still
standing,--called the Convent of Saint Mary.

One morning a tall, fine-looking man, leading a little boy by the
hand, knocked at the door of this convent and begged for a piece of
bread and a cup of water for the child. The man was Columbus,--whose
wife was now dead,--and the boy was his son.

It chanced that the guardian of the convent noticed Columbus standing
at the door. He liked his appearance, and coming up, began to talk
with him. Columbus frankly told him what he was trying to do. The
guardian of the convent listened with great interest; then he gave
him a letter to a friend who he thought would help him to lay his
plans before Ferdinand and Isabella,[11] the king and queen of Spain.

[Footnote 9: Palos (Pa'los); see map in paragraph 12.]

[Footnote 10: Convent: a house in which a number of people live who
devote themselves to a religious life.]

[Footnote 11: Isabella (Iz-ah-bel'ah).]

7. Columbus gets help for his great voyage.--Columbus left his son
at the convent, and set forward on his journey full of bright hopes.
But Ferdinand and Isabella could not then see him; and after waiting
a long time, the traveller was told that he might go before a number
of learned men and tell them