Her sailors had
discovered the Madeira Islands, and crept little by little down the
coast of Africa, rounding this headland and that, searching always for a
passage to India, which they knew lay somewhere to the east, until, at
last, they had sailed triumphantly around the Cape of Good Hope. It is
worth remarking that Columbus's brother, Bartholomew, of whom we hear so
little, but who did so much for his brother's fame, was a member of that
expedition, and Columbus himself must have gathered no little
inspiration from it.
So to Lisbon Columbus went, and his ardent spirit found a great stimulus
in the adventurous atmosphere of that bustling city. He went to work as
a map-maker, marrying the daughter of one of the captains of Prince
Henry the Navigator, from whom he secured a great variety of maps,
charts and memoranda. His business kept him in close touch with both
mariners and astronomers, so that he was acquainted with every
development of both discovery and theory. In more than one mind the
conviction was growing up that the eastern shore of Asia could be
reached by sailing westward from Europe--a conviction springing
naturally enough from the belief that the earth was round, which was
steadily gaining wider and wider acceptance. In fact, a Florentine
astronomer named Toscanelli furnished Columbus with a map showing how
this voyage could be accomplished, and Columbus afterwards used this map
in determining his route.
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