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ly by fteering towards the fouth, in hopes of arriving at India, by turning to the eaft, after they had failed round the farther extremity of Africa. This courfe was ftill unknown, and, even if discovered, was of fuch immenfe length, that a voyage from Europe to India muft have appeared an undertaking extremely arduous, and of very uncertain iffue. More than half a cen

tury had been employed in advancing from Cape Non to the equator; a much longer space of time might elapfe before the more extenfive navigation from that to India could be accomplifhed. These reflections upon the uncertainty, the danger and tedioufnefs of the courfe which the Portuguese were pursuing, naturally led Columbus to confider whether a fhorter and more direct paffage to the East Indies might not be found out. After revolving long and ferioufly every circumftance fuggefted by his fuperior knowledge in the theory as well as practice of navigation, after comparing attentively the observations of modern pilots which the hints and conjectures of ancient authors, he at laft concluded, that by failing directly towards the weft, across the Atlantic ocean, new countries, which probably formed a part of the vaft continent of India, must infallibly be discovered.

The principles on which his theory was founded.

Principles and arguments of various kinds, and derived from different fources, induced him

to adopt this opinion, feemingly as chimerical as it was new and extraordinary. The fpherical figure of the earth was known, and its magnitude afcertained with fome degree of accuracy. From this it was evident, that the continent of Europe, Afia, and Africa, formed but a fmall portion of the terraqueous globe. It was fuitable to our ideas concerning the wifdom and beneficence of the Author of Nature, to believe that the vaft space, ftill unexplored, was not covered entirely by a waste unprofitable ocean, but occupied by countries fit for the habitation of man. It appeared likewise extremely probable, that the continent, on this fide of the globe, was balanced by a proportional quantity of land in the other hemifphere. These conclufions concerning the existence of another continent, drawn from the figure and ftructure of the globe, were confirmed by the obfervations and conjectures of modern navigators. A Portuguese pilot, having ftretched farther to the weft than was ufual at that time, took up a piece of timber artificially carved, floating upon the fea; and as it was driven towards him by a we fterly wind, he concluded that it came from fome unknown land, fituated in that quarter. Columbus brother in law had found, to the weft of the Madeira ifles, a piece of timber fashioned in the fame manner, and brought by the famɔ wind; and had feen likewife canes of an enorm⚫us fize floating upon the waves, which reFa

fembled those described by Ptolemy as productions peculiar to the East Indies d). After a courfe of wefterly winds, trees torn up by the roots, were often driven upon the coafts of the Azores, and at one time the dead bodies of two men, with fingular features, refembling neither the inhabitants of Europe nor of Africa, were caft afhore there.

As the force of this united evidence, arifing from theoretical principles and practical obfervations, led Columbus to expect the discovery of new countries in the Western Ocean, other reafons induced him to believe that thefe muft be connected with the continent of India. Though the ancients had hardly ever penetrated into India farther than the banks of the Ganges, yet fome Greek authors had ventured to describe the provinces beyond that river. As men are prone, and in liberty, to magnify what is remote or unknown, they reprefented them as regions of an immenfe extent. Ctefias affirmed that India 'was as large as all the reft of Afia. Oneficritus, whom Pliny the naturalift follows e), contended that it was equal to a third part of the habitable earth. Nearchus afferted, that it would take four months to march in a straight line from one extremity of it to the other f). The journal of Marco Polo, who had proceeded towards the

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Eaft far beyond the limits to which any European had ever advanced, feemed to confirm these exaggerated accounts of the ancients. By his magnificent descriptions of the kingdoms of Cathay and Cipango, and of many other countries, the names of which were unknown in Europe, India appeared to be a region of vaft extent. From these accounts, which, however defective, were the most accurate that the people of Europe had at that period received, with refpe&t to the remote parts of the Eaft, Columbus drew a juft conclufion. He contended, that, in proportion as the continent of India ftretched out towards the Eaft, it muft, in confequence of the spherical figure of the earth, approach nea→ rer to the islands which had lately been difcovered to the weft of Africa; that the distance from the one to the other was probably not very confiderable, and that the moft direct, as well as fhorteft course, to the remote regions of the Eaft, was to be found by failing to the weft g). This notion concerning the vicinity of India to the western parts of our continent, was countenanced by fome eminent writers among the ancients, the fanétion of whofe authority was neceffary in that age, to procure a favourable reception to any tenet. Ariftotle thought it probable that the Columns of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar, were not far removed from the East Indies, and that there might be a communica

g) See NOTE XII.

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tion by fea between them h). Seneca, in terms ftill more explicit, affirms, that, with a fair wind, one might fail from Spain to India in a few days i). The famous Atlantic ifland described by Plato, and fuppofed by many to be a real country, beyond which a vaft unknown continent was fituated, is reprefented by him as lying at no great diftance from Spain. After weighing all thefe particulars, Columbus, in whofe character the modefty and diffidence of true genius was united with the ardent enthufiafm of a projector, did not reft with such abfolute affurance either upon his own arguments, or upon the authority of the ancients, as not to confult fuch of his contemporaries as were capable of comprehending the nature of the evidence which he produced in fupport of his opinion. As early as the year one thousand four hundred and feventy-four, he communicated his ideas concerning the probability of difcovering new countries, by failing weftwards, to Paul, a phyfician of Florence, eminent for his knowledge of cofmography, and who, from the learning as well as candour which he difcovers in his reply, appears to have been well intitled to the confidence which Columbus placed in him. He warmly approved of the plan, fuggefted feveral facts in confirmation of it, and encouraged Co

h) Ariftot. de cœlo, lib. ii. c. 14. edit. Du Val, Par. 1629. vol. 1, p. 472.

i) Senec, Quæft. Natur. lib. I. in proem.

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