. Our country in story . oveted treasures of Asia could be brought tothe very doors of Europe; and by means of them theHoly Sepulchre of our Lord could be rescued from theinfidel Turks. Who knows but that in this far westerncountry live millions of human beings who have neverheard of God and His love for mankind? We shall bringto them the light of the Christian Faith. Such were the motives and such the plans of Columbusas he eagerly set about drawing a map of a westwardroute to the shores of Asia. On this map he located a A PATHWAY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC 27 great many guesswork islands in the Atl
. Our country in story . oveted treasures of Asia could be brought tothe very doors of Europe; and by means of them theHoly Sepulchre of our Lord could be rescued from theinfidel Turks. Who knows but that in this far westerncountry live millions of human beings who have neverheard of God and His love for mankind? We shall bringto them the light of the Christian Faith. Such were the motives and such the plans of Columbusas he eagerly set about drawing a map of a westwardroute to the shores of Asia. On this map he located a A PATHWAY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC 27 great many guesswork islands in the Atlantic, and a shortdistance beyond these, about where America is, he drewthe eastern coast of Asia, never dreaming of the existenceof another continent lying between western Europe andeastern Asia. While Columbus was still busy at his map, he heard ofa great astronomer named Toscanelli, living at Florence,Italy. Eager to know what this learned man mightthink of his plans, Columbus wrote and asked him what 140 1^0 1-20 110. TOSCANELLI s MAP he thought of the idea of sailing by a westward route tothe kingdom of the Great Khan. In return, Toscanellisent Columbus a map and also a letter, in which he assuredthe great navigator that his ideas were correct and thathe could undoubtedly reach India by sailing west. Encouraged by the famous astronomers letter, Colum-bus hastened home from Portugal to tell the people ofhis native town that he would find a new waterway toIndia for them if they would but give him ships andmoney for the purpose. The Genoese people, however,were too poor to help Columbus in his enterprise. Be-sides, they thought his plans foolhardy and sent himaway as a worthless dreamer. 28 OUR COUNTRY IN STORY Columbus then went back to Portugal and laid his plansbefore King John. The king favored the idea of a west-ward voyage to India, but did something very unworthyof himself: he fitted out a ship and gave the captain thecharts of Columbus, with orders to sail westward to
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