Young folks' history of the United States . nthese there was almost as much fighting as sailing ; forthat sea was full of pirates. On one occasion his shipwas burnt, and he swam six miles to shore with the aidof a spar. And throughout all these adventures he vrasgradually forming the plan of sailing farther west uponthe Atlantic than anyone had yet dared to But it must bc remembered that the people of Eu- ?he shape* ^opc, in thosc days, did not know the real shape of theof the earth, as it is now known. Most persons did not sup- pose it to be a sphere. They thought it was a flat su
Young folks' history of the United States . nthese there was almost as much fighting as sailing ; forthat sea was full of pirates. On one occasion his shipwas burnt, and he swam six miles to shore with the aidof a spar. And throughout all these adventures he vrasgradually forming the plan of sailing farther west uponthe Atlantic than anyone had yet dared to But it must bc remembered that the people of Eu- ?he shape* ^opc, in thosc days, did not know the real shape of theof the earth, as it is now known. Most persons did not sup- pose it to be a sphere. They thought it was a flat sur-face, with the ocean, like a great river, lying roundabout its edges. What was on the other side of thisWhat river, they hardly dared to guess. Yet some scientific J^g^^*^ men had got beyond this ignorant view; and they sup-thought. posed the earth to be a sphere, but thought it muchsmaller than it really was. They did not dream thatthere could be room on it for two wide oceans and fortwo great bodies of land. They thought that there was. f(^W^l^^/d F M E X I CMAP I. ABORIGINAL AMERICA. THE COMING OF COLUMBUS. 33 but one continent on the globe, and one great ocean,and that, by saiUng across the Atlantic, you wouldcome, after a time, to India and Tartary and Cathay (asthey called China) and Cipango (as they called Japan).Many beautiful things were brought from those coun-tries overland, — gold and pearls and beautiful silks;and so the kings of Europe would have been very gladto find a short way thither. This map shows clearlyhow the wisest men thought it might be done. Thedrawing was made by a friend of Columbus, in the veryyear when he made the first western voyage across theAtlantic. It shows the names of all the places justmentioned ; 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?co
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