King Ferdinand received him graciously, but before coming to a decision he desired to lay the project before a council of his wisest men at Salamanca.

Columbus had to reply, not only to the scientific arguments laid before him, but to citations from the Bible.

The Spanish clergy declared that the theory of the antipodes was hostile to the faith.

The earth, they said, was an immense flat disk; and if there was a new earth beyond the ocean, then all men could not be descended from Adam.

_Columbus was considered a fool._ Still bent on his idea, he wrote to the King of England, then to the King of France, without effect.