bounded on the west either by India itself, or by some continent not far
distant from it.

This illustrious navigator, who was then about twenty-seven years of age,
appears to have possessed every talent requisite to form and execute the
greatest enterprises. He was early educated in such of the useful sciences
as were taught in that day. He had made great proficiency in geography,
astronomy and drawing, as they were necessary to his favorite pursuit of
navigation. He had been a number of years in the service of the Portuguese,
and had acquired all the experience that their voyages and discoveries
could afford. His courage had been put to the severest test; and the
exercise of every amiable as well as heroic virtue, the kindred qualities
of a great mind, had secured him an extensive reputation. He had married a
Portuguese lady, by whom he had two sons, Diego and Ferdinand; the younger
of these is the historian of his life.

Such was the situation of Columbus, when he formed and digested a plan,
which, in its operation and consequences, has unfolded to the view of
mankind one half of the globe, diffused wealth and industry over the other,
and is extending commerce and civilization thro the whole. To corroborate
the theory he had formed of the existence of a western continent, his
discerning mind, which knew the application of every circumstance that fell
in his way, had observed several facts which by others would have passed
unnoticed. In his voyages to the African islands he had found, floating
ashore after a long western storm, pieces of wood carved in a curious
manner, canes of a size unknown in that quarter of the world, and human
bodies with very singular features.

The opinion being well established in his mind that a considerable portion
of the earth still remained to be discovered, his temper was too vigorous