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. No, they concluded, the Italian was a
"visionary," and the Council for Geographical Affairs advised the king
accordingly.

Seeing that nothing was to be gained by remaining in Portugal, and
having become involved soon after in some political trouble, Columbus
decided to leave for Spain, and offer to Ferdinand and Isabella the
western lands which King John of Portugal had refused.




CHAPTER V

A SEASON OF WAITING