city they travelled along with a caravan of Egyptian merchants, and embarking on the Red Sea, arrived at Aden in Arabia. There they separated; Payva sailed directly towards Abyssinia; Covillam embarked for the East Indies, and having visited Calecut, Goa, and other cities on the Malabar coast, returned to Sofala, on the east side of Africa, and thence to Grand Cairo, which Payva and he had fixed upon as their place of rendezvous. Unfortunately the former was cruelly murdered in Abyssinia; but Covillam found at Cairo two Portuguese Jews, whom John, whose provident sagacity attended to every circumstance that could facilitate the execution of his schemes, had dispatched after them, in order to receive a detail of their proceedings, and to communicate to them new instructions. By one of these Jews, Covillam transmitted to Portugal a journal of his travels by sea and land, his remarks upon the trade of India, together with exact maps of the coasts on which he had touched; and from what he himself had observed, as well as from the information of skilful seamen in different countries, he concluded, that by sailing round Africa, a passage might be found to the East Indies*.

The happy coincidence of Covillam's opinion and report, with the discoveries which Diaz had lately made, left hardly any shadow of doubt with respect to the possibility of sailing from Europe to India. But the vast length of the voyage, and the furious storms

* Faria y Sousa Port. Asia, vol. i. p. 27. Lafita Decouv. i. 48.

which Diaz had encountered near the Cape of Good Hope, alarmed and intimidated the Portuguese to such a degree, although by long experience they were now become adventurous and skilful mariners, that some time was requisite to prepare their minds for this dangerous and extraordinary voyage. The courage, however, and authority of the monarch, gradually dispelled the vain fears of his subjects, or made it necessary to conceal them. As John thought himself now upon the eve of accomplishing that great design, which had been the principal object of his reign, his earnestness in prosecuting it became so vehement, that it occupied his thoughts by day, and bereaved him of sleep through the night. While he was taking every precaution that his wisdom and experience could suggest, in order to ensure the success of the expedition, which was to decide concerning the fate of his favourite project, the fame of the vast discoveries which the Portuguese had already made, the reports concerning the extraordinary intelligence which they had received from the East, and the prospect of the voyage which they now meditated, drew the attention of all the European nations, and held them in suspense and expectation. By some, the maritime skill and navigations of the Portuguese were compared with those of the Phenecians and Carthaginians, and exalted above them. Others formed conjectures concerning the revolutions which the success of the Portuguese schemes might occasion in the course of trade, and the political state of Europe. The Venetians began to be disquieted with the apprehension of losing their Indian commerce, the monopoly of

1

which was the chief source of their power as well as opulence, and the Portuguese already enjoyed in fancy the wealth of the East. But during this interval, which gave such scope to the various workings of curiosity, of hope, and of fear, an account was brought to Europe of an event no less extraordinary than unexpected, the discovery of a New World situated in the West; and the eyes and admiration of mankind turned immediately towards that great object.

THE

HISTORY

OF

AMERICA.

BOOK II.

CONTENTS.

Birth and Education of Columbus-acquires Naval Skill in the Service of Portugal-conceives Hopes of reaching the East Indies by holding a westerly Course-his system founded on the Ideas of the Ancients and Knowledge of their Navigation and on the Discoveries of the Portuguese-His Negociations with different Courts-Obstacles which he had to surmount in Spain-Voyage of Discovery-Difficulties Success -Return to Spain-Astonishment of Mankind on this Discovery of a New World-Papal Grant of it-Second Voyage Colony settled-Further Discoveries-War with the Indians -First Tax imposed on them-Third Voyage He discovers the Continent-State of the Spanish Colony-Errors in the first System of colonizing-Voyage of the Portuguese to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope-Effects of this Discoveries made by private Adventurers in the New World-Name of America given to it-Machinations against Columbus-Disgraced and sent in Chains to Europe-Fourth Voyage of Columbus-His Discoveries-Disasters-Death.

AMONG the foreigners whom the fame of the discoveries made by the Portuguese allured into their service, was Christopher Colon, or Columbus, a subNeither the time ject of the republic of Genoa.