journals filled his mind with an unquenchable desire for discovery.

He applied to the senate of his native city for ships, but in vain. He next sought the patronage of the king of Portugal, but was disappointed. In 1484 he turned to Spain, and procured an interview with Ferdinand, king of Aragon. The cautious monarch heard his story, and referred his theory to the learned men of the University of Salamanca. Some of these wise men concluded that if there were indeed land on the other side of the globe the people there must be obliged to walk about with heads downward, as their feet would be pointed upward; and as this would not be an agreeable country to explore, they dismissed the subject.

But, at last, Columbus obtained a hearing of a more susceptible auditor at the Spanish court. Queen Isabella heard his story and favored his cause. She is said to have parted with some of her jewels to procure ships for the enthusiastic adventurer. To one woman, his wife, Columbus owed the fostering of his inspiration, and to another, the Spanish queen, the means of carrying forward his plans and fulfilling his dreams.

No sailor of our time would cross the Atlantic in such ships as were given to Columbus. In size they resembled the smaller of our river and coasting vessels. Only one of them was decked. The others were open, save at the prow and stern, where cabins were built for the crew. The sailors went unwillingly and in much fear, compelled by an order from the king.

And now the feeble squadron of three ships is on the sea, and the prows are turned toward the waste of waters, in whose mysterious distances the sun seemed to set. It is Friday, Aug. 3, 1492. On Sunday, September 9, the timid crews passed the farthest known island. Out on the unknown sea, the mariners' compass no longer pointed directly north,

1492.

The Story of Columbus.

35

and awe and terror seized the sailors, as the distance between them and the land grew wider and wider.

The ships moved on under serene skies. Trade winds blew from east to west. The air at last grew balmy, and fields of sea-weed began to appear. Land birds lit upon the spars.

One evening, just at sunset, —it was September 25,Martin Alonzo Pinzon mounted the stern of the Pinta, and peered into the far distance. A reward had been offered to the person who should first discover land. Pinzon descried a shadowy appearance far over the western sea, and cried out in great excitement, —

"Land Land!"

land! I claim the promised reward, Señor.

Columbus threw himself upon his knees and led the crews in singing Gloria in excelsis.

In the morning after the supposed discovery nothing but the wide waters appeared. The supposed island was but a cloud.

For a fortnight more the ships drifted on over the quiet waters. The seamen lost heart again and again in this awful unexplored space. They mutinied, but the lofty spirit of their leader disarmed them. At last, birds came singing again; a branch of thorn with berries floated by the ships. A vesper hymn to the Virgin was sung in the evening that these indications of land were discovered.

"We shall see land in the morning," said Columbus.

He stood upon the deck all that night peering into the dim starlit spaces. At midnight he beheld a light. The morning came. Beautifully wooded shores rose in view. Birds of gorgeous plumage hovered around them. The crews set off from the ships in small boats. Columbus first stepped upon the shore.

The crews knelt on the strand and kissed the earth. They wept and chanted hymns of praise.

Then Columbus unfurled the banner of Spain, and claimed the land in the name of the Spanish sovereigns. The triumph was a realization of all the navigator's visions and dreams.

Columbus knew not the magnitude of his discovery. He died in the belief that he had merely discovered a shorter route to India. He never enjoyed that which would have been the best recompense for all his toil, — the knowledge that he had added a vast continent to the possessions of civilized men.

The revelation by Columbus of the amazing fact that there were lands beyond the great ocean, inhabited by strange races of human beings, roused to a passionate eagerness the thirst for fresh discoveries. The splendors of the newly found world were indeed difficult to be resisted. Wealth beyond the wildest dreams of avarice could be had, it was said, for the gathering. The sands of every river sparkled with gold. The very color of the ground showed that gold was profusely abundant. The meanest of the Indians ornamented himself with gold and jewels. The walls of the houses glittered with pearls. There was a fountain, if one might but find it, whose waters bestowed perpetual youth upon the bather. The wildest romances were greedily received, and the Old World, with its familiar and painful realities, seemed mean and hateful beside the fabled glories of the New.

The men of the nations of Europe whose trade was fighting turned gladly to the world where boundless wealth was to be wrung from the grasp of unwarlike barbarians. England and France had missed the splendid prize which Columbus had won for Spain. They hastened now to secure what they could.

A merchant of Bristol, John Cabot, obtained permission from the king of England to make discoveries in the northern parts of America. Cabot was to bear all expenses, and the king was to receive one-fifth of the gains of the adventure. Taking with him his son Sebastian, John Cabot sailed straight