DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

At the age of thirty-four he arrived at Lisbon, after having been wrecked in a sea-fight, escaping on a plank to the land. For the next four years he listened to those marvellous tales about the mythical Cathay, which old seamen poured into his ready ears, pondered over the maps and charts he drew to make a livelihood, and finally arrived at the con- clusion that the discovery could be made, and that he was the man to make it. Weare unable to follow the steps of Columbus one by one during the next eighteen years—years of toil, anguish, deception, and hardship, patiently and perseveringly endured. To accomplish his design the concurrence of some state or sovereign was necessary. His country- men, the Genoese, turned a deaf ear to his entreaties. The King of Portugal played him false and sent out an expedition behind his back, which returned after a brief absence, the sailors having lost heart. He then betook himself to Spain, where he fruitlessly dogged the footsteps of the court. His plans were submitted to a theological assembly, which rejected them with scorn. Columbus was in despair, and meant to try his luck in France. A weary, footsore wanderer, he knocked at the door of the monastery of La Rabida, which is situated on the southern coast of Spain. The Prior, a generous and noble - hearted man, D