As He Had Ascertained That
The Object Of The Portuguese Was To Reach India By The Southern Part Of
Africa, He Concluded, That, Unless He Could Devise Or Suggest Some Other
Route, Little Attention Would Be Paid To Him.
He, therefore, turned his
thoughts to the practicability of reaching India by sailing to the west.
At
this time the rotundity of the earth was generally admitted. The ancients,
whose opinions on the extent and direction of the countries which formed
the terrestrial globe, still retained their hold on the minds even of
scientific men, had believed that the ocean encompassed the whole earth;
the natural and unavoidable conclusion was, that by sailing to the west,
India would be reached. An error of Ptolemy's, to which we have already
adverted, contributed to the belief that this voyage could not be very
long; for, according to that geographer, (and his authority was implicitly
acceded to,) the space to be sailed over was sixty degrees less than it
actually proved to be, - a space equal to three-fourths, of the Pacific
Ocean. From considering Marco Polo's account of his travels in the east of
Asia, Columbus also derived great encouragement; for, according to him,
Cathay and Zepango stretched out to a great extent in an easterly
direction; of course they must approach so much the more towards the west
of Europe. It is probable, also, that Columbus flattered himself, that if
he did not reach India by a western course, he would, perhaps, discover the
Atlantis, which was placed by Plato and Aristotle in the ocean, to the west
of Europe.
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