76

fVhoCdkim-bus was.

Part of theAccount gi-ven by hisSon■

Naval Expeditions, &c of the EngliJh,

CHAP. XIX-

The Life, Adi ions and Discoveries of the famous Christopher

Columbus.

H E ensuing Reign of King

I Henry VII. is the proper Period,

dL from whence we may date theBeginning of those great and re-markable Expeditions, and Voyages ofDiscovery, which laid the Foundationto the prodigious Encreafe of our TradeandNavigation, in the following Reigns,and more especially in that of the ever-glorious Queen Elizabeth. To give theReader a brief Account of the Life andActions of the great Author and Begin-ner of them, Columbus, (tho’ not ourCountry Man) may not, therefore, bethought a difagreable or useless Digres-sion. I shall chiefly follow the Relati-on, we have in Anthony de Herrara'sHistory of the West Indies , and thatwritten by his own Son, Don FernandoColumbus , in Italian, compiled partlyfrom his Father’s original Papers, andLetters, and partly from his own Know-ledge and Experience, as an Eye-Wit-nels. I shall, however, at the sameTime, not omit some proper Observa-tions from other Historians.

Christopher Columbus, tho’ said tobe descended from a noble Family, cameinto the World, and was educated, ingreat Obscurity. He was born at Genoa,in which Particular, as well as that hisFather’s Name was Dominick, all thatwrite of him agree, and he himself, ownsit.

It is not certainly known what Pro-fession his Father was of, nor what Edu-cation he gave him. Mr. Tindal, inhis Notes on Rapin, upon what Autho-rity I do not find, fays, that Columbuswas the Son of a Wool-Comber, and hehimself followed that Business in hisyounger Years. His own Son, whowrote his Life, acknowledges his Igno-rance in these Points, and only lays,that in his younger Years he applyedhimself so much to Study at Pavia, aswas sufficient to understand Cosmography,to which Sort of Reading he was muchaddicted, and for that Reason he alsoapplied himself to Astrology and Geome-try. Having gained some Insight in theSciences, he began to apply himlelr toSea, and made some Voyages to theEast and West, of which, and many ci-

ther Things of his Youth, ( continues his6o«)Ihave no perfect Knowledge.Whathe farther adds is from his Father’s ori-ginal Letters. In one written to TheirCatholick Majesties, in 1501. He fays:" I went to Sea very young, and have" continued it to this Day; and this" Art inclines those who follow it to be" desirous of discovering the Secrets of" this World. It is now forty Years" that I have been sailing to all those" Parts, at present frequented; and I" have dealt and conversed with wise" People, as well Clergy as Laity," Latins, Greeks, Indians, and Moors," and many of other Sects. The Lord" has made me skilful in Navigation,“ knowing enough in Astrology, and" so in Geometry and Arithmetick." God has given me a Genius and" Hands fit to draw this Globe, and" on it the Cities, Rivers, Islands and" Ports, all in their proper Places. Dur-tC ing this Time I have seen, and endea-" vour’d to fee, all Books of Cofmogra-" phy, History and Philosophy, and

" of other Sciences.-Fill’d with a

" desire of sailing to the Indies, I came" to Your Highnesses. All that heard" of my Undertaking rejected it with" Contempt and Scorn ; In Your High-tc nesses alone Faith and Constancy had" their Seat.” In an Observation hemade, to shew, that all the fiveZones arehabitable he fays: " In February, 1467." I failed myself a Hundred Leagues" beyond Thule, (Iceland ) whose Nor-" them Part is feventy-three Degrees" distant from the Equinoctial, and not" sixty-three Degrees, as some willhave it to be ; Nor does it lie upon" th e Line where Ptolemy's West be-“ gins, but much more to the Westward ;

and to this Island, which is as big as“ England, the Englist trade, efpecial-" from Bristol. At the Time when" I was there, the Sea was not frozen" But the Tides were so great, that insome Places it swelled six and twenty" Fathom, and fell as much.” Toprove that the Land under the Equi-noctial is habitable he fays: " I was in" the Fort of St. George de la Mira, be-" longing to the King of Portugal,

" which