nd had hardly dreamt.

CHAPTER XXII

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Every event in the eventful life of Christopher Columbus is of supreme
interest. We linger over all that leads up to the momentous start
westwards: we recall his birth and early life at Genoa towards the
middle of the fifteenth century, his apprenticeship to his father as
a weaver of cloth, his devotion to the sea, his love of the little
sailing ships that passed in and out of the busy Genoese harbour from
all parts of the known world. At the age of fourteen the little
Christoforo went to sea--a red-haired, sunburnt boy with bright blue
eyes. He learnt the art of navigation, he saw foreign countries, he
learnt to chart the seas, to draw maps, and possibly worked with some
of the noted Italian draughtsmen. At the age of twenty-eight, in 1474,
he left Genoa for Portugal, famous throughout the world for her recent
discoveries, though as yet the Stormy Cape lay veiled in mystery.
Columbus wanted to learn all he could about these discoveries; he made
voyages to Guinea, Madeira, and Porto Santo. He also went to England
and "sailed a hundred leagues to the island of Thule in 1477."

He was now a recognised seaman of distinction, with courteous manners
and fine appearance. He set himself to study maps and charts at Lisbon,
giving special attention to instruments for making observations at
sea. For many long years he had been revolving a scheme for reaching
India by sailing westward instead of the route by Africa. The more
he studied these things the more convinced he became that he was right.

"What if wise men had, as far back as Ptolemy,
Judged that the earth like an orange was round.
None of them ever said, 'Come along, follow me,
Sail to the West and the East will be found.'"

It was not till the year 1480 that Columbus proposed to the King of
Portugal his idea of sailing westwards. He explained his reasons: how
there were grounds for thinking there was an unknown land to the west,
how artistically sculptured pieces of wood had been driven across the
ocean by the west wind, suggesting islands not yet discovered, how
once the corpses of two men with broad faces, unlike Europeans, had
been washed ashore, how on the west coast of Ireland seeds of tropical
plants had been discovered.

The King listened and was inclined to believe Columbus. But his
councillors persuaded him to get from the Genoese navigator his plans,
and while they kept C