Young folks' history of the United States . ; and it shows, moreover, how near at handthey were supposed to be, when the navigators of thosedays w^ere making the maps. Columbus studied such maps, or helped to draw conclusionthem, and grew more and more convinced, that, if he co^umbus?could only cross the unknown ocean, he would findIndia on the other side. Things often happened toconfirm him in this opinion. Sailors from the CanaryIslands told him of seeing land far in the west. Hisbrother-in-law had seen a piece of curiously-carvedwood, that had been washed on shore in Portugal, aftera wester
Young folks' history of the United States . ; and it shows, moreover, how near at handthey were supposed to be, when the navigators of thosedays w^ere making the maps. Columbus studied such maps, or helped to draw conclusionthem, and grew more and more convinced, that, if he co^umbus?could only cross the unknown ocean, he would findIndia on the other side. Things often happened toconfirm him in this opinion. Sailors from the CanaryIslands told him of seeing land far in the west. Hisbrother-in-law had seen a piece of curiously-carvedwood, that had been washed on shore in Portugal, aftera westerly gale. An old pilot had picked up a carvedpaddle at sea, a thousand miles west of the Europeancoast. At Madeira, Columbus heard of pine trees thathad been washed up ; and at the Azores they had foundtropical cane-stalks on the beach ; and once the bodiesof two men, of foreign dress and aspect, had been caston shore. Then it is supposed that Columbus went toIceland ; and there he may have heard legends of theearly expeditions to THE COMING OF COLUMBUS. 35 For ten years he endeavored to persuade some Euro- Efforts ofpean government to send him on a voyage of discovery S^obteta^across the Atlantic Ocean. First he tried the repubUc *^*of Genoa, then the repubUc of Venice, and then thecourt of Portugal. For seven years he tried to interestthe two sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and last they gave him an audience, and liked his plansvery much ; but the Archbishop of Granada, who waspresent, thought that Columbus asked for too muchpower over the lands he expected to discover : so thearchbishop objected. Columbus refused to lower hisclaims, and left the court. He had gone two leagues(six miles), when the queen sent for him to return;and, when he had done so, the king and queen signedan agreement with him on his own terms. Isabelladecided to fit out the expedition at the expense of herown kingdom of Castile, the chief of the kingdoms ofwhich Spain was composed. In
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