merce may be estimated from one fact.
When, a generation after this time, one ship only of all the squadron of
Magellan returned to Cadiz, after the first voyage round the world, she
was loaded with spices from the Moluccas. These spices were sold by
the Spanish government for so large a sum of money that the king was
remunerated for the whole cost of the expedition, and even made a very
large profit from a transaction which had cost a great deal in its
outfit.

Columbus was able, therefore, to offer mercantile adventurers the
promise of great profit in case of success; and at this time kings were
willing to take their share of such profits as might accrue.

The letter of Toscanelli, the Italian geographer, which has been spoken
of, was addressed to Alphonso V, the King of Portugal. To him and
his successor, John the Second, Columbus explained the probability of
success, and each of them, as it would seem, had confidence in it.
But King John made the great mistake of intrusting Columbus's plan to
another person for experiment. He was selfish enough, and mean enough,
to fit out a ship privately and intrust its command to another seaman,
bidding him sail west in search of the Indies, while he pretended that
he was on a voyage to the Cape de Verde Islands. He was, in fact,
to follow the route indicated by Columbus. The vessel sailed. But,
fortunately for the fame of Columbus, she met a terrible storm, and
her officers, in terror, turned from the unknown ocean and returned to
Lisbon. Columbus himself tells this story. It was in disgust with the
bad faith the king showed in this transaction that he left Lisbon to
offer his great project to the King and Queen of Spain.

In a similar way, a generation afterward, Magellan, who was in the
service of the King of Portugal, was disgusted by insults which he
received at his court, and exiled himself to Spain. He offered to the
Spanish king his plan for sailing round the world and it was accepted.
He sailed in a Spanish fleet, and to his discoveries Spain owes the
possession of the Philippine Islands. Twice, therefore, did kings of
Portugal lose for themselves, their children and their kingdom, the fame
and the recompense which belong to such great discoveries.

The wife of Columbus had died and he was without a home. He left Lisbon
with his only son, Diego, in or near the end of the year 1484.

CHAPTER II. -- HIS PLANS FOR DISCOVERY.

COLUMBUS LEAVES LISBON, AND VISITS GEN