The doctors were noted
students of geography, yet they declared the scheme to be impossible,
and Columbus to be a "visionary."
That such an answer could have been made by men whose nation had been so
bold on the sea for fifty years past is at first glance surprising. But
one must remember that the Portuguese had been merely feeling their way
along Africa. They had perfect confidence in a southern route that
hugged the shore. South was safe; but west beyond the Azores, where
there was no shore to hug, was quite another matter; they felt that
their own navigators, in finding the Azores, had reached the ultimate
limits in that direction. Their disagreement may not have been caused by
fear, but by realizing that the instruments and ships of the day were
not sufficient for such hazardous undertakings. This fact Columbus
realized too, and hence his greater bravery. Besides, argued the
Portuguese, would there be any profit at the end of the enterprise? They
felt sure that at the end of their own southern expeditions lay those
same rich (but vague) Indies which Arab merchants reached by going
overland southeast through Asia or south through Egypt; it was all "the
Indies" to them, and their navigators were sure to come in touch with
it. But who could possibly predict what would be reached far off in the
vast west! Why, they wondered, was this Italian so sure of himself (for
the story of the shipwrecked pilot had not yet come to their ears); and
why, they further wondered, should he ask such large rewards for finding
islands that would probably be nothing more than rocky points in the
ocean, like the Azores.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47