Columbus was, not that of teaching, but that of unteaching: not of
promulgating his own theory, but of eradicating the erroneous convictions
of the judges before whom he had to plead his cause. In fine, the junta
decided that the project was "vain and impossible, and that it did not
belong to the majesty of such great princes to determine anything upon
such weak grounds of information."

Ferdinand and Isabella seem not to have taken the extremely unfavourable
view of the matter entertained by the junta of cosmographers, or at least
to have been willing to dismiss Columbus gently, for they merely said
that, with the wars at present on their hands, and especially that of
Granada, they could not undertake any new expenses, but when that war was
ended, they would examine his plan more carefully.


TEDIOUNESS OF COLUMBUS'S SUIT

Thus terminated a solicitation at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella
which, according to some authorities, lasted five years; for the facts
above mentioned, though short in narration, occupied no little time in
transaction. During the whole of this period, Columbus appears to have
followed the sovereigns in the movements which the war necessitated, and
to have been treated by them with much consideration. Sums were from time
to time granted from the royal treasury for his private expenses, and he
was billeted as a public functionary in the various towns of Andalusia,
where the court rested. But his must have been a very up-hill task. Las
Casas, who, from an experience larger even than that which fell to the lot
of Columbus, knew what it was to endure the cold and indolent neglect of
superficial men in small authority, and all the vast delay, which cannot
be comprehended except by those who have suffered under it, that belongs