CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

 AND THE NEW WORLD OF HIS DISCOVERY

 A NARRATIVE BY FILSON YOUNG

 Volume 2

CHAPTER IX

WANDERINGS WITH AN IDEA

The man to whom Columbus proposed to address his request for means withwhich to make a voyage of discovery was no less a person than the newKing of Portugal. Columbus was never a man of petty or small ideas; ifhe were going to do a thing at all, he went about it in a large andcomprehensive way; and all his life he had a way of going to thefountainhead, and of making flights and leaps where other men would onlyclimb or walk, that had much to do with his ultimate success. King John, moreover, had shown himself thoroughly sympathetic to the spirit ofdiscovery; Columbus, as we have seen, had already been employed in atrusted capacity in one of the royal expeditions; and he rightly thoughtthat, since he had to ask the help of some one in his enterprise, hemight as well try to enlist the Crown itself in the service of his greatIdea. He was not prepared, however, to go directly to the King and askfor ships; his proposal would have to be put in a way that would appealto the royal ambition, and would also satisfy the King that there wasreally a destination in view for the expedition. In other words Columbushad to propose to go somewhere; it would not do to say that he was goingwest into the Atlantic Ocean to look about him. He therefore devoted allhis energies to putting his proposal on what is called a businessfooting, and expressing his vague, sublime Idea in common and practicalterms. 

The people who probably helped him most in this were his brotherBartholomew and Martin Behaim, the great authority on scientificnavigation, who had been living in Lisbon for some time and with whomColumbus was acquainted. Behaim, who was at this time about forty eightyears of age, was born at Nuremberg, and was a pupil of Regiomontanus, the great German astronomer. A very interesting man, this, if we coulddecipher his features and character; no mere star-gazing visionary, but aman of the world, whose scientific lore was combined with a wide andliberal experience of life. He was not only learned in cosmography andastronomy, but he had a genius for mechanics and made beautifulinstruments; he was a merchant also, and combined a little business withhis scientific travels. He had been employed at Lisbon in adapting theastrolabe of Regiomontanus for the use of sailors at sea; and in theselabours he was assisted by two people who were destined to have a weightyinfluence on the career of Columbus--Doctors Rodrigo and Joseph, physicians or advisers to the King, and men of great academic reputation. There was nothing known about cosmography or astronomy that Behaim didnot know; and he had just come back from an expedition on which he hadbeen despatched, with Rodrigo and Joseph, to take the altitude of the sunin Guinea. 

Columbus was not the man to neglect his opportunities, and there can beno doubt that as soon as his purpose had established itself in his mindhe made use of every opportunity that presented itself for improving hismeagre scientific knowledge, in order that his proposal might be setforth in a plausible form. In other words, he got up the subject. Thewhole of his geographical reading with regard to the Indies up to thistime had been in the travels of Marco Polo; the others--whose works hequoted from so freely in later years were then known to him only by name, if at all. Behaim, however, could tell him a good deal about thesupposed circumference of the earth, the extent of the Asiatic continent, and so on. Every new fact that Columbus heard he seized and pressed intothe service of his Idea; where there was a choice of facts, or adifference of opinion between scientists, he chose the facts that weremost convenient, and the opinions that fitted best with his own beliefs. The very word "Indies" was synonymous with unbounded wealth; therecertainly would be riches to tempt the King with; and Columbus, being areligious man, hit also on the happy idea of setting forth the spiritualglory of carrying the light of faith across the Sea of Darkness, andmaking of the heathen a heritage for the Christian Church. So that, whatwith one thing and another, he soon had his proposals formally arranged. 

Imagine him, then, actually at Court, and having an audience of the King, who could scarcely believe his ears. Here was a man, of whom he knewnothing but that his conduct of a caravel had been well spoken of in therecent expedition to Guinea, actually proposing to sail out west into theAtlantic and to cross the unknown part of the world. Certainly hisproposals seemed plausible, but still--. The earth was round, saidColumbus, and therefore there was a way from East to West and from Westto East. The prophet Esdras, a scientific authority that even HisMajesty would hardly venture to doubt, had laid it down that onlyone-seventh of the earth was covered by waters. From this fact Columbusdeduced that the maritime space extending westward between the shores ofEurope and eastern coast of Asia could not be large; and by sailingwestward he proposed to reach certain lands of which he claimed to haveknowledge. The sailors' tales, the logs of driftwood, the dead bodies, were all brought into the proposals; in short, if His Majesty would grantsome ships, and consent to making Columbus Admiral over all the islandsthat he might discover, with full viceregal state, authority, and profit, he would go and discover them. 

There are two different accounts of what the King said when this proposalwas made to him. According to some authorities, John was impressed byColumbus's proposals, and inclined to provide him with the necessaryships, but he could not assent to all the titles and rewards whichColumbus demanded as a price for his services. Barros, the Portuguesehistorian, on the other hand, represents that the whole idea was toofantastic to be seriously entertained by the King for a moment, and thatalthough he at once made up his mind to refuse the request he preferredto delegate his refusal to a commission. Whatever may be the truth as toKing John's opinions, the commission was certainly appointed, andconsisted of three persons, to wit: Master Rodrigo, Master Joseph theJew, and the Right Reverend Cazadilla, Bishop of Ceuta. 

Before these three learned men must Columbus now appear, a little lesshappy in his mind, and wishing that he knew more Latin. Master Rodrigo, Master Joseph the Jew, the Right Reverend Cazadilla: three pairs of coldeyes turned rather haughtily on the Genoese adventurer; three brains muchsteeped in learning, directed in judgment on the Idea of a man with nolearning at all. The Right Reverend Cazadilla, being the King'sconfessor, and a bishop into the bargain, could speak on that matter ofconverting the heathen; and he was of opinion that it could not be done. Joseph the Jew, having made voyages, and worked with Behaim at theastrolabe, was surely an authority on navigation; and he was of opinionthat it could not be done. Rodrigo, being also a very learned man, hadread many books which Columbus had not read; and he was of opinion thatit could not be done. Three learned opinions against one Idea; the Ideais bound to go. They would no doubt question Columbus on the scientificaspect of the matter, and would soon discover his grievous lack ofacademic knowledge. They would quote fluently passages from writers thathe had not heard of; if he had not heard of them, they seemed to imply, no wonder he made such foolish proposals. Poor Columbus stands therepuzzled, dissatisfied, tongue-tied. He cannot answer these wiseacres intheir own learned lingo; what they say, or what they quote, may be trueor it may not; but it has nothing to do with his Idea. If he opens hismouth to justify himself, they refute him with arguments that he does notunderstand; there is a wall between them. More than a wall; there is aworld between them! It is his 'credo' against their 'ignoro'; it is, his'expecto' against their 'non video'. Yet in his 'credo' there lies apower of which they do not dream; and it rings out in a trumpet noteacross the centuries, saluting the life force that opposes itsirresistible "I will" to the feeble "Thou canst not" of the worldly-wise. Thus, in about the year 1483, did three learned men sit in judgment uponour ignorant Christopher. Three learned men: Doctors Rodrigo, Joseph theJew, and the Right Reverend Cazadilla, Bishop of Ceuta; three risen, stuffed to the eyes and ears with learning; stuffed so full indeed thateyes and ears are closed with it. And three men, it would appear, whollydestitute of mother-wit. 

After all his preparations this rebuff must have been a serious blow toColumbus. It was not his only trouble, moreover. During the last yearhe had been earning nothing; he was already in imagination the Admiral ofthe Ocean Seas; and in the anticipation of the much higher duties towhich he hoped to be devoted it is not likely that he would continue athis humble task of making maps and charts. The result was that he gotinto debt, and it was absolutely necessary that something should be done. But a darker trouble had also almost certainly come to him about thistime. Neither the day nor the year of Philippa's death is known;but it is likely that it occurred soon after Columbus's failure at thePortuguese Court, and immediately before his departure into Spain. Thatanonymous life, fulfilling itself so obscurely in companionship andmotherhood, as softly as it floated upon the page of history, as softlyfades from it again. Those kind eyes, that encouraging voice, thathelping hand and friendly human soul are with him no longer; and afterthe interval of peace and restful growth that they afforded Christophermust strike his tent and go forth upon another stage of his pilgrimagewith a heavier and sterner heart. 

Two things are left to him: his son Diego, now an articulate littlecreature with character and personality of his own, and with strange, heart-breaking reminiscences of his mother in voice and countenance andmanner--that is one possession; the other is his Idea. Two things aliveand satisfactory, amid the ruin and loss of other possessions; tworeasons for living and prevailing. And these two possessions Columbustook with him when he set out for Spain in the year 1485. 

His first care was to take little Diego to the town of Huelva, wherethere lived a sister of Philippa's who had married a Spaniard namedMuliartes. This done, he was able to devote himself solely to thefurtherance of his Idea. For this purpose he went to Seville, where heattached himself for a little while to a group of his countrymen who weresettled there, among them Antonio and Alessandro Geraldini, and made suchmomentary living as was possible to him by his old trade. But the Ideawould not sleep. He talked of nothing else; and as men do who talk of anidea that possesses them wholly, and springs from the inner light offaith, he interested and impressed many of his hearers. Some of themsuggested one thing, some another; but every one was agreed that it wouldbe a good thing if he could enlist the services of the great Count(afterwards Duke) of Medini Celi, who had a palace at Rota, near Cadiz. 

This nobleman was one of the most famous of the grandees of Spain, andlived in mighty state upon his territory along the sea-shore, serving theCrown in its wars and expeditions with the power and dignity of an allyrather than of a subject. His domestic establishment was on a princelyscale, filled with chamberlains, gentlemen-at-arms, knights, retainers, and all the panoply of social dignity; and there was also place in hishousehold for persons of merit and in need of protection. To this greatman came Columbus with his Idea. It attracted the Count, who was a judgeof men and perhaps of ideas also; and Columbus, finding some hope at lastin his attitude, accepted the hospitality offered to him, and remained atRota through the winter of 1485-86. He had not been very hopeful when hearrived there, and had told the Count that he had thought of going to theKing of France and asking for help from him; but the Count, who foundsomething respectable and worthy of consideration in the Idea of a manwho thought nothing of a journey in its service from one country toanother and one sovereign to another, detained him, and played with theIdea himself. Three or four caravels were nothing to the Count of MedinaEeli; but on the other hand the man was a grandee and a diplomat, with anice sense of etiquette and of what was due to a reigning house. Eitherthere was nothing in this Idea, in which case his caravels would beemployed to no purpose, or there was so much in it that it was anundertaking, not merely for the Count of Medina Celi, but for the Crownof Castile. Lands across the ocean, and untold gold and riches of theIndies, suggested complications with foreign Powers, and transactionswith the Pope himself, that would probably be a little too much even forthe good Count; therefore with a curious mixture of far-sightedgenerosity and shrewd security he wrote to Queen Isabella, recommendingColumbus to her, and asking her to consider his Idea; asking her also, in case anything should come of it, to remember him (the Count), and tolet him have a finger in the pie. Thus, with much literary circumstanceand elaboration of politeness, the Count of Medina Celi to QueenIsabella. 

Follows an interval of suspense, the beginning of a long discipline ofsuspense to which Columbus was to be subjected; and presently comes afavourable reply from the Queen, commanding that Columbus should be sentto her. Early in 1486 he set out for Cordova, where the Court was thenestablished, bearing another letter from the Count in which his ownprivate requests were repeated, and perhaps a little emphasised. Columbus was lodged in the house of Alonso de Quintanilla, Treasurer tothe Crown of Castile, there to await an audience with Queen Isabella. 

While he is waiting, and getting accustomed to his new surroundings, letus consider these two monarchs in whose presence he is soon to appear, and upon whose decision hangs some part of the world's destiny. Isabellafirst; for in that strange duet of government it is her womanly sopranothat rings most clearly down the corridors of Time. We discern in her avery busy woman, living a difficult life with much tact and judgment, andexercising to some purpose that amiable taste for "doing good" that marksthe virtuous lady of station in every age. This, however, was a womanwho took risks with her eyes open, and steered herself cleverly inperilous situations, and guided others with a firm hand also, and inother ways made good her claim to be a ruler. The consent and the willof her people were her great strength; by them she dethroned her nieceand ascended the throne of Castile. She had the misfortune to be atvariance with her husband in almost every matter of policy dear to hisheart; she opposed the expulsion of the Jews and the establishment of theInquisition; but when she failed to get her way, she was still able topreserve her affectionate relations with her husband without disagreementand with happiness. If she had a fault it was the common one of beingtoo much under the influence of her confessors; but it was a fault thatwas rarely allowed to disturb the balance of her judgment. She likedclever people also; surrounded herself with men of letters and ofscience, fostered all learned institutions, and delighted in the detailsof civil administration. A very dignified and graceful figure, thatcould equally adorn a Court drawing-room or a field of battle; for sheactually went into the field, and wore armour as becomingly as silk andermine. Firm, constant, clever, alert, a little given to fussinessperhaps, but sympathetic and charming, with some claims to genius andsome approach to grandeur of soul: so much we may say truly of her innerself. Outwardly she was a woman well formed, of medium height, a verydignified and graceful carriage, eyes of a clear summer blue, and the redand gold of autumn in her hair--these last inherited from her Englishgrandmother. 

Ferdinand of Aragon appears not quite so favourably in our pages, for henever thought well of Columbus or of his proposals; and when he finallyconsented to the expedition he did so with only half a heart, and againsthis judgment. He was an extremely enterprising, extremely subtle, extremely courageous, and according to our modern notions, an extremelydishonest man; that is to say, his standards of honour were not thosewhich we can accept nowadays. He thought nothing of going back on apromise, provided he got a priestly dispensation to do so; he juggledwith his cabinets, and stopped at nothing in order to get his way; he hada craving ambition, and was lacking in magnanimity; he loved dominion, and cared very little for glory. A very capable man; so capable that inspite of his defects he was regarded by his subjects as wise and prudent;so capable that he used his weaknesses of character to strengthen andfurther the purposes of his reign. A very cold man also, quick and surein his judgments, of wide understanding and grasp of affairs; simple andaustere in dress and diet, as austerity was counted in that period ofsplendour; extremely industrious, and close in his observations andjudgments of men. To the bodily eye he appeared as a man of middle size, sturdy and athletic, face burned a brick red with exposure to the sun andopen air; hair and eyebrows of a bright chestnut; a well-formed and notunkindly mouth; a voice sharp and unmelodious, issuing in quick fluentspeech. This was the man that earned from the Pope, for himself and hissuccessors, the title of "Most Catholic Majesty. "

The Queen was very busy indeed with military preparations; but in themidst of her interviews with nobles and officers, contractors and stateofficials, she snatched a moment to receive the person ChristopherColumbus. With that extreme mental agility which is characteristic ofbusy sovereigns all the force of this clever woman's mind was turned fora moment on Christopher, whose Idea had by this time invested him with adignity which no amount of regal state could abash. There was verylittle time. The Queen heard what Columbus had to say, cutting himshort, it is likely, with kindly tact, and suppressing his tendency tolaunch out into long-winded speeches. What she saw she liked; and, beingtoo busy to give to this proposal the attention that it obviouslymerited, she told Columbus that the matter would be fully gone into andthat in the meantime he must regard himself as the guest of the Court. And so, in the countenance of a smile and a promise, Columbus bowshimself out. For the present he must wait a little and his hot heartmust contain itself while other affairs, looming infinitely larger thanhis Idea on the royal horizon, receive the attention of the Court. 

It was not the happiest moment, indeed, in which to talk of ships andcharts, and lonely sea-roads, and faraway undiscovered shores. Things athome were very real and lively in those spring days at Cordova. The waragainst the Moors had reached a critical stage; King Ferdinand was awaylaying siege to the city of Loxa, and though the Queen was at Cordova shewas entirely occupied with the business of collecting and forwardingtroops and supplies to his aid. The streets were full of soldiers;nobles and grandees from all over the country were arriving daily withtheir retinues; glitter and splendour, and the pomp of warlikepreparation, filled the city. Early in June the Queen herself went tothe front and joined her husband in the siege of Moclin; and when thiswas victoriously ended, and they had returned in triumph to Cordova, theyhad to set out again for Gallicia to suppress a rebellion there. Whenthat was over they did not come back to Cordova at all, but repaired atonce to Salamanca to spend the winter there. 

At the house of Alonso de Quintanilla, however, Columbus was notaltogether wasting his time. He met there some of the great persons ofthe Court, among them the celebrated Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo and Grand Cardinal of Spain. This was far too greata man to be at this time anything like a friend of Columbus; but Columbushad been presented to him; the Cardinal would know his name, and what hisbusiness was; and that is always a step towards consideration. Cabrero, the royal Chamberlain, was also often a fellow-guest at the Treasurer'stable; and with him Columbus contracted something like a friendship. Every one who met him liked him; his dignity, his simplicity of thoughtand manner, his experience of the sea, and his calm certainty andconviction about the stupendous thing which he proposed to do, couldnot fail to attract the liking and admiration of those with whom he camein contact. In the meantime a committee appointed by the Queen sat uponhis proposals. The committee met under the presidentship of Hernando deTalavera, the prior of the monastery of Santa Maria del Prado, nearValladolid, a pious ecclesiastic, who had the rare quality of honesty, and who was therefore a favourite with Queen Isabella; she afterwardscreated him Archbishop of Granada. He was not, however, poor honestsoul! quite the man to grasp and grapple with this wild scheme for avoyage across the ocean. Once more Columbus, as in Portugal, set forthhis views with eloquence and conviction; and once more, at the tribunalof learning, his unlearned proposals were examined and condemned. Notonly was Columbus's Idea regarded as scientifically impossible, but itwas also held to come perilously near to heresy, in its assumption of astate of affairs that was clearly at variance with the writings of theFathers and the sacred Scriptures themselves. 

This new disappointment, bitter though it was, did not find Columbus insuch friendless and unhappy circumstances as those in which he leftPortugal. He had important friends now, who were willing and anxious tohelp him, and among them was one to whom he turned, in his profounddepression, for religious and friendly consolation. This was Diego deDEA, prior of the Dominican convent of San Estevan at Salamanca, who wasalso professor of theology in the university there and tutor to the youngPrince Juan. Of all those who came in contact with Columbus at this timethis man seems to have understood him best, and to have realised wherehis difficulty lay. Like many others who are consumed with a burningidea Columbus was very probably at this time in danger of becomingpossessed with it like a monomaniac; and his new friends saw that if hewere to make any impression upon the conservative learning of the time towhich a decision in such matters was always referred he must have someopportunity for friendly discussion with learned men who were notinimical to him, and who were not in the position of judges examining aman arraigned before them and pleading for benefits. 

When the Court went to Salamanca at the end of 1486, DEA arranged thatColumbus should go there too, and he lodged him in a country farm calledValcuebo, which belonged to his convent and was equi-distant from it andthe city. Here the good Dominican fathers came and visited him, bringingwith them professors from the university, who discussed patiently withColumbus his theories and ambitions, and, himself all conscious, communicated new knowledge to him, and quietly put him right on many ascientific point. There were professors of cosmography and astronomy inthe university, familiar with the works of Alfraganus and Regiomontanus. It is likely that it was at this time that Columbus became possessed ofd'Ailly's 'Imago Mundi', which little volume contained a popular resumeof the scientific views of Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, and others, and wasfrom this time forth Columbus's constant companion. 

Here at Valcuebo and later, when winter came, in the great hall of theDominican convent at Salamanca, known as the "De Profundis" hall, wherethe monks received guests and held discussions, the Idea of Columbus wasventilated and examined. He heard what friendly sceptics had to sayabout it; he saw the kind of argument that he would have to oppose to theexisting scientific and philosophical knowledge on cosmography. There isno doubt that he learnt a good deal at this time; and more important eventhan this, he got his project known and talked about; and he madepowerful friends, who were afterwards to be of great use to him. TheMarquesa de Moya, wife of his friend Cabrera, took a great liking to him;and as she was one of the oldest and closest friends of the Queen, it islikely that she spoke many a good word for Columbus in Isabella's ear. 

By the time the Court moved to Cordova early in 1487, Columbus was oncemore hopeful of getting a favourable hearing. He followed the Court toCordova, where he received a gracious message from the Queen to theeffect that she had not forgotten him, and that as soon as her militarypreoccupations permitted it, she would go once more, and more fully, intohis proposals. In the meantime he was attached to the Court, andreceived a quarterly payment of 3000 maravedis. It seemed as though theunfavourable decision of Talavera's committee had been forgotten. 

In the meantime he was to have a change of scene. Isabella followedFerdinand to the siege of Malaga, where the Court was established; and asthere were intervals in which other than military business might betransacted, Columbus was ordered to follow them in case his affairsshould come up for consideration. They did not; but the man himself hadan experience that may have helped to keep his thoughts from brooding toomuch on his unfulfilled ambition. Years afterwards, when far away onlonely seas, amid the squalor of a little ship and the staggering buffetsof a gale, there would surely sometimes leap into his memory a brightlycoloured picture of this scene in the fertile valley of Malaga: thesilken pavilions of the Court, the great encampment of nobility with itsarms and banners extending in a semicircle to the seashore, allglistening and moving in the bright sunshine. There was added excitementat this time at an attempt to assassinate Ferdinand and Isabella, afanatic Moor having crept up to one of the pavilions and aimed a blow attwo people whom he mistook for the King and Queen. They turned out to beDon Alvaro de Portugal, who was dangerously wounded, and Columbus'sfriend, the Marquesa de Moya, who was unhurt; but it was felt that theKing and Queen had had a narrow escape. The siege was raised on the 18thof August, and the sovereigns went to spend the winter at Zaragoza; andColumbus, once more condemned to wait, went back to Cordova. 

It was here that he contracted his second and, so far as we know, hislast romantic attachment. The long idle days of summer and autumn atCordova, empty of all serious occupation, gave nature an opportunity forindulging her passion for life and continuity. Among Christopher'sfriends at Cordova was the family of Arana, friendly hospitable souls, by some accounts noble and by others not noble, and certainly in somewhatpoor circumstances, who had welcomed him to their house, listened to hisplans with enthusiasm, and formed a life-long friendship with him. Threemembers of this family are known to us--two brothers, Diego and Pedro, both of whom commanded ships in Columbus's expeditions, and a sisterBeatriz. Columbus was now a man of six-and-thirty, while she was littlemore than a girl; he was handsome and winning, distinguished by thedaring and importance of his scheme, full of thrilling and romantic talkof distant lands; a very interesting companion, we may be sure. Nowonder she fell in love with Christopher; no wonder that he, feelinglonely and depressed by the many postponements of his suit at Court, andin need of sympathy and encouragement, fell in these blank summer daysinto an intimacy that flamed into a brief but happy passion. WhyColumbus never married Beatriz de Arana we cannot be sure, for it isalmost certain that his first wife had died some time before. Perhaps hefeared to involve himself in any new or embarrassing ties; perhaps heloved unwillingly, and against his reason; perhaps--although thesuggestion is not a happy one--he by this time did not think poor Beatrizgood enough for the Admiral-elect of the Ocean Seas; perhaps (and moreprobably) Beatriz was already married and deserted, for she bore thesurname of Enriquez; and in that case, there being no such thing as adivorce in the Catholic Church, she must either sin or be celibate. Buthowever that may be, there was an uncanonical alliance between them whichevidently did not in the least scandalise her brothers and which resultedin the birth of Ferdinand Columbus in the following year. Christopher, so communicative and discursive upon some of his affairs, is as reticentabout Beatriz as he was about Philippa. Beatriz shares with hislegitimate wife the curious distinction of being spoken of by Columbus toposterity only in his will, which was executed at Valladolid the daybefore he died. In the dry ink and vellum of that ancient legal documentis his only record of these two passions. The reference to Beatriz is asfollows:

 "And I direct him [Diego] to make provision for Beatriz Enriquez, mother of D. Fernando, my son, that she may be able to live honestly, being a person to whom I am under very great obligation. And this shall be done for the satisfaction of my conscience, because this matter weighs heavily upon my soul. The reason for which it is not fitting to write here. "

About the condition of Beatriz, temporal and spiritual, there has beenmuch controversy; but where the facts are all so buried and inaccessibleit is unseemly to agitate a veil which we cannot lift, and behind whichColumbus himself sheltered this incident of his life. "Acquainted withpoverty" is one fragment of fact concerning her that has come down to us;acquainted also with love and with happiness, it would seem, as many poorpersons undoubtedly are. Enough for us to know that in the city ofCordova there lived a woman, rich or poor, gentle or humble, married ornot married, who brought for a time love and friendly companionship intothe life of Columbus; that she gave what she had for giving, withoutstint or reserve, and that she became the mother of a son who inheritedmuch of what was best in his father, and but for whom the world would bein even greater darkness than it is on the subject of Christopherhimself. And so no more of Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, whom "God has inhis keeping"--and has had now these many centuries of Time. 

Thus passed the summer and autumn of 1487; precious months, preciousyears slipping by, and the great purpose as yet unfulfilled and seeminglyno nearer to fulfilment. It is likely that Columbus kept up hisapplications to the Court, and received polite and delaying replies. The next year came, and the Court migrated from Zaragoza to Murcia, fromMurcia to Valladolid, from Valladolid to Medina del Campo. Columbusattended it in one or other of these places, but without result. InAugust Beatriz gave birth to a son, who was christened Ferdinand, and wholived to be a great comfort to his father, if not to her also. But themiracle of paternity was not now so new and wonderful as it had been; thebattle of life, with its crosses and difficulties, was thick about him;and perhaps he looked into this new-comer's small face with conflictingthoughts, and memories of the long white beach and the crashing surf atPorto Santo, and regret for things lost--so strangely mingled andinconsistent are the threads of human thought. At last he decided toturn his face elsewhere. In September 1488 he went to Lisbon, for whatpurpose it is not certain; possibly in connection with the affairs of hisdead wife; and probably also in the expectation of seeing his brotherBartholomew, to whom we may now turn our attention for a moment. 

After the failure of Columbus's proposals to the King of Portugal in1486, and the break-up of his home there, Bartholomew had also leftLisbon. Bartholomew Diaz, a famous Portuguese navigator, was leaving forthe African coast in August, and Bartholomew Columbus is said to havejoined his small expedition of three caravels. As they neared thelatitude of the Cape which he was trying to make, he ran into a galewhich drove him a long way out of his course, west and south. 

The wind veered round from north-east to north-west, and he did notstrike the land again until May 1487. When he did so his crew insistedupon his returning, as they declined to go any further south. Hetherefore turned to the west, and then made the startling discovery thatin the course of the tempest he had been blown round the Cape, and thatthe land he had made was to the eastward of it; and he therefore roundedit on his way home. He arrived back in Lisbon in December 1488, whenColumbus met his brother again, and was present at the reception of Diazby the King of Portugal. They had a great deal to tell each other, thesetwo brothers; in the two years and a half that had gone since they hadparted a great deal had happened to them; and they both knew a good dealmore about the great question in which they, were interested than theyhad known when last they talked. 

It is to this period that I attribute the inception, if not theexecution, of the forgery of the Toscanelli correspondence, if, as Ibelieve, it was a forgery. Christopher's unpleasant experiences beforelearned committees and commissions had convinced him that unless he werearmed with some authoritative and documentary support for his theoriesthey had little chance of acceptance by the learned. The, Idea wasright; he knew that; but before he could convince the academic mind, hefelt that it must have the imprimatur of a mind whose learning could notbe impugned. Therefore it is not an unfair guess--and it can be nothingmore than a guess--that Christopher and Bartholomew at this point laidtheir heads together, and decided that the next time Christopher had toappear before a commission he would, so to speak, have something "up hissleeve. " It was a risky thing to do, and must in any case be used onlyas a very last resource; which would account for the fact that theToscanelli correspondence was never used at all, and is not mentioned inany document known to men written until long after Columbus's death. 

But these summers and winters of suspense are at last drawing to a close, and we must follow Christopher rapidly through them until the hour of histriumph. He was back in Spain in the spring of 1489, his travellingexpenses being defrayed out of the royal purse; and a little later he wasonce more amid scenes of war at the siege of Baza, and, if report istrue, taking a hand himself, not without distinction. It was there thathe saw the two friars from the convent of the Holy Sepulchre atJerusalem, who brought a message from the Grand Soldan of Egypt, threatening the destruction of the Sepulchre if the Spanish sovereignsdid not desist from the war against Granada; and it was there that in hissimple and pious mind he formed the resolve that if ever his effortsshould be crowned with success, and he himself become rich and powerful, he would send a crusade for the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre. And it wasthere that, on the 22nd of December, he saw Boabdil, the elder of the tworival Kings of Granada, surrender all his rights and claims to Spain. Surely now there will be a chance for him? No; there is anotherinterruption, this time occasioned by the royal preparations for themarriage of the Princess Isabella to the heir of Portugal. PoorColumbus, sickened and disappointed by these continual delays, irritatedby a sense of the waste of his precious time, follows the Court aboutfrom one place to another, raising a smile here and a scoff there, andpointed at by children in the street. There, is nothing so ludicrous asan Idea to those who do not share it. 

Another summer, another winter, lost out of a life made up of a limitednumber of summers and winters; a few more winters and summers, thinksChristopher, and I shall be in a world where Ideas are not needed, andwhere there is nothing left to discover! Something had to be done. Inthe beginning of 1491 there was only one thing spoken of at Court--thepreparations for the siege of Granada, which did not interest Columbus atall. The camp of King Ferdinand was situated at Santa Fe, a few miles tothe westward of Granada, and Columbus came here late in the year, determined to get a final answer one way or the other to his question. He made his application, and the busy monarchs once more adopted theirusual polite tactics. They appointed a junta, which was presided over byno less a person than the Cardinal of Spain, Gonzales de Mendoza: Oncemore the weary business was gone through, but Columbus must have had somehopes of success, since he did not produce his forged Toscanellicorrespondence. It was no scruple of conscience that held him back, wemay be sure; the crafty Genoese knew nothing about such scruples in theattainment of a great object; he would not have hesitated to adopt anymeans to secure an end which he felt to be so desirable. So it isprobable that either he was not quite sure of his ground and his couragefailed him, or that he had hopes, owing to his friendship with so many ofthe members of the junta, that a favourable decision would at last bearrived at. In this he was mistaken. The Spanish prelates again quotedthe Fathers of the Church, and disposed of his proposals simply on theground that they were heretical. Much talk, and much wagging of learnedheads; and still no mother-wit or gleam of light on this obscurity oflearning. The junta decided against the proposals, and reported itsdecision to the King and Queen. The monarchs, true to their somewhathedging methods when there was anything to be gained by hedging, informedColumbus that at present they were too much occupied with the war togrant his requests; but that, when the preoccupations and expenses of thecampaign were a thing of the past, they might again turn their attentionto his very interesting suggestion. 

It was at this point that the patience of Columbus broke down. Too manypromises had been made to him, and hope had been held out to him toooften for him to believe any more in it. Spain, he decided, was useless;he would try France; at least he would be no worse off there. But he hadfirst of all to settle his affairs as well as possible. Diego, now agrowing boy nearly eleven years old, had been staying with Beatriz atCordova, and going to school there; Christopher would take him back tohis aunt's at Huelva before he went away. He set out with a heavy heart, but with purpose and determination unimpaired. 

CHAPTER X

OUR LADY OF LA RABIDA

It is a long road from Santa Fe to Huelva, a long journey to make onfoot, and the company of a sad heart and a little talking boy, prone tosudden weariness and the asking of innumerable difficult questions, wouldnot make it very much shorter. Every step that Christopher took carriedhim farther away from the glittering scene where his hopes had once beenso bright, and were now fallen to the dust; and every step brought himnearer that unknown destiny as to which he was in great darkness of mind, and certain only that there was some small next thing constantly to bedone: the putting down of one foot after another, the request for foodand lodging at the end of each short day's march, the setting out againin the morning. That walk from Santa Fe, so real and painful andwearisome and long a thing to Christopher and Diego, is utterly blank andobliterated for us. What he thought and felt and suffered are thingsquite dead; what he did-namely, to go and do the immediate thing that itseemed possible and right for him to do--is a living fact to-day, for itbrought him, as all brave and honest doing will, a little nearer to hisdestiny, a little nearer to the truthful realisation of what was in him. 

At about a day's journey from Huelva, where the general slope of the landbegins to fall towards the sea, two small rivers, the Odiel and theTinto, which have hitherto been making music each for itself through thepleasant valleys and vineyards of Andalusia, join forces, and run with adeeper stream towards the sea at Palos. The town of Palos lay on thebanks of the river; a little to the south of it, and on the brow of arocky promontory dark with pine trees, there stood the convent of OurLady of La Rabida. Stood, on this November evening in the year 1491;had stood in some form or other, and used for varying purposes, for manyyears and centuries before that, even to the time of the Romans; andstill stands, a silent and neglected place, yet to be visited and seen bysuch as are curious. To the door of this place comes Christopher asdarkness falls, urged thereto by the plight of Diego, who is tired andhungry. Christopher rings the bell, and asks the porter for a littlebread and water for the child, and a lodging for them both. There issome talk at the door; the Franciscan lay brother being given, at alltimes in the history of his order, to the pleasant indulgence ofgossiping conversation, when that is lawful; and the presence of astranger, who speaks with a foreign accent, being at all times a incidentof interest and even of excitement in the quiet life of a monastery. Themoment is one big with import to the human race; it marks a period in thehistory of our man; the scene is worth calling up. Dark night, with seabreezes moaning in the pine trees, outside; raying light from withinfalling on the lay brother leaning in the doorway and on the two figuresstanding without: on Christopher, grave, subdued, weary, yet now asalways of pleasant and impressive address, and on the small boy whostands beside him round-eyed and expectant, his fatigue for the momentforgotten in curiosity and anticipation. 

While they are talking comes no less a person than the Prior of themonastery, Friar Juan Perez, bustling round, good-natured busybody thathe is, to see what is all this talk at the door. The Prior, as is thehabit of monks, begins by asking questions. What is the stranger's name?Where does he come from? Where is he going to? What is his business?Is the little boy his son? He has actually come from Santa Fe? ThePrior, loving talk after the manner of his kind, sees in this grave andsmooth-spoken stranger rich possibilities of talk; possibilities thatcannot possibly be exhausted to-night, it being now hard on the hour ofCompline; the stranger must come in and rest for tonight at least, andpossibly for several nights. There is much bustle and preparation; thetravellers are welcomed with monkish hospitality; Christopher, we may besure, goes and hears the convent singing Compline, and offers up devoutprayers for a quiet night and for safe conduct through this vale oftears; and goes thankfully to bed with the plainsong echoing in his ears, and some stoic sense that all days, however hard, have an evening, andall journeys an end. 

Next morning the talk begins in earnest, and Christopher, never a veryreserved man, finds in the friendly curiosity of the monks abundantencouragement to talk; and before very long he is in full swing with hisoft-told story. The Prior is delighted with it; he has not heardanything so interesting for a long time. Moreover, he has not alwaysbeen in a convent; he was not so long ago confessor to Queen Isabellaherself, and has much to communicate and ask concerning that lady. Columbus's proposal does not strike him as being unreasonable at all;but he has a friend in Palos, a very learned man indeed, Doctor GarciaHernandez, who often comes and has a talk with him; he knows all aboutastronomy and cosmography; the Prior will send for him. And meanwhilethere must be no word of Columbus's departure for a few days at any rate. 

Presently Doctor Garcia Hernandez arrives, and the whole story is goneover again. They go at it hammer and tongs, arguments andcounter-arguments, reasons for and against, encouragements, andobjections. The result is that Doctor Garcia Hernandez, whose learningseems not yet quite to have blinded or deafened him, thinks well of thescheme; thinks so well of it that he protests it will be a thousandpities if the chance of carrying it out is lost to Spain. The worthyPrior, who has been somewhat out of it while the talk about degrees andlatitudes has been going on, here strikes in again; he will use hisinfluence. Perhaps the good man, living up here among the pine treesand the sea winds, and involved in the monotonous round of Prime, Lauds, Nones, Vespers, has a regretful thought or two of the time when he movedin the splendid intricacy of Court life; at any rate he is not sorry tohave an opportunity of recalling himself to the attention of HerMajesty, for the spiritual safety of whose soul he was once responsible;perhaps, being (in spite of his Nones and Vespers) a human soul, he isglad of an opportunity of opposing the counsels of his successor, Talavera. In a word, he will use his Influence. Then follow muchdrafting of letters, and laying of heads together, and clatter ofmonkish tongues; the upshot of which is that a letter is written inwhich Perez urges his daughter in the Lord in the strongest possibleterms not to let slip so glorious an opportunity, not only of fame andincrement to her kingdom, but of service to the Church and the kingdomof Heaven itself. He assures her that Columbus is indeed about todepart from the country, but that he (Perez) will detain him at LaRabida until he has an answer from the Queen. 

A messenger to carry the letter was found in the person of SebastianRodriguez, a pilot of the port, who immediately set off to Santa Fe. It is not likely that Columbus, after so many rebuffs, was very hopeful;but in the meantime, here he was amid the pious surroundings in which thereligious part of him delighted, and in a haven of rest after all histurmoils and trials. He could look out to sea over the flecked waters ofthat Atlantic whose secrets he longed to discover; or he could look downinto the busy little port of Palos, and watch the ships sailing in andout across the bar of Saltes. He could let his soul, much battered andtorn of late by trials and disappointments, rest for a time on the rockof religion; he could snuff the incense in the chapel to his heart'scontent, and mingle his rough top-gallant voice with the harsh croak ofthe monks in the daily cycle of prayer and praise. He could walk withDiego through the sandy roads beneath the pine trees, or through thefields and vineyards below; and above all he could talk to the companythat good Perez invited to meet him--among them merchants and sailorsfrom Palos, of whom the chief was Martin Alonso Pinzon, a wealthylandowner and navigator, whose family lived then at Palos, owning thevineyards round about, and whose descendants live there to this day. Pinzon was a listener after Columbus's own heart; he not only believed inhis project, but offered to assist it with money, and even to accompanythe expedition himself. Altogether a happy and peaceful time, in whichhopes revived, and the inner light that, although it had now and thenflickered, had never gone out, burned up again in a bright and steadyflame. 

At the end of a fortnight, and much sooner than had been expected, theworthy pilot returned with a letter from the Queen. Eager hands seizedit and opened it; delight beamed from the eyes of the good Prior. TheQueen was most cordial to him, thanked him for his intervention, wasready to listen to him and even to be convinced by him; and in themeantime commanded his immediate appearance at the Court, asking thatColumbus would be so good as to wait at La Rabida until he should hearfurther from her. Then followed such a fussing and fuming, such arunning hither and thither, and giving and taking of instructions andclatter of tongues as even the convent of La Rabida had probably neverknown. Nothing will serve the good old busybody, although it is now nearmidnight, but that he must depart at once. He will not wait fordaylight; he will not, the good honest soul! wait at all. He must be offat once; he must have this, he must have that; he will take this, hewill leave that behind; or no, he will take that, and leave this behind. He must have a mule, for his old feet will not bear him fast enough;ex-confessors of Her Majesty, moreover, do not travel on foot; and aftermore fussing and running hither and thither a mule is borrowed from oneJuan Rodriguez Cabezudo of Moguer; and with a God-speed from the groupstanding round the lighted doorway, the old monk sets forth into thenight. 

It is a strange thing to consider what unimportant flotsam sometimesfloats visibly upon the stream of history, while the gravest events aresunk deep beneath its flood. We would give a king's ransom to knowevents that must have taken place in any one of twenty years in the lifeof Columbus, but there is no sign of them on the surface of the stream, nor will any fishing bring them to light. Yet here, bobbing up like acork, comes the name of Juan Rodriguez Cabezudo of Moguer, doubtless agood worthy soul, but, since he has been dead these four centuries andmore, of no interest or importance to any human being; yet of whose lifeone trivial act, surviving the flood of time which has engulfed all elsethat he thought important, falls here to be recorded: that he did, towards midnight of a day late in December 1491 lend a mule to Friar JuanPerez. 

Of that heroic mule journey we have no record; but it brought resultsenough to compensate the good Prior for all his aching bones andrheumatic joints. He was welcomed by the Queen, who had never quite losther belief in Columbus, but who had hitherto deferred to the apathy ofFerdinand and the disapproval--of her learned advisers. Now, however, the matter was reopened. She, who sometimes listened to priests withresults other than good, heard this worthy priest to good purpose. Thefeminine friends of Columbus who remembered him at Court also spoke upfor him, among them the Marquesa de Moya, with whom he had always been afavourite; and it was decided that his request should be granted andthree vessels equipped for the expedition, "that he might go and makediscoveries and prove true the words he had spoken. "--Moreover, themachinery that had been so hard to move before, turned swiftly now. Diego Prieto, one of the magistrates of Palos, was sent to Columbus at LaRabida, bearing 20, 000 maravedis with which he was to buy a mule anddecent clothing for himself, and repair immediately to the Court at SantaFe. Old Perez was in high feather, and busy with his pen. He wrote toDoctor Garcia Hernandez, and also to Columbus, in whose letter thefollowing pleasant passage occurs:

 "Our Lord has listened to the prayers of His servant. The wise and virtuous Isabella, touched by the grace of Heaven, gave a favourable hearing to the words of this poor monk. All has turned out well. Far from despising your project, she has adopted it from this time, and she has summoned you to Court to propose the means which seem best to you for the execution of the designs of Providence. My heart swims in a sea of comfort, and my spirit leaps with joy in the Lord. Start at once, for the Queen waits for you, and I much more than she. Commend me to the prayers of my brethren, and of your little Diego. The grace of God be with you, and may Our Lady of La Rabida accompany you. "

The news of that day must have come upon Columbus like a burst ofsunshine after rain. I like to think how bright must have seemed to himthe broad view of land and sea, how deeply the solemn words of the lastoffice which he attended must have sunk into his soul, how great and glada thing life must have been to him, and how lightly the miles must havepassed beneath the feet of his mule as he jogged out on the long road toSanta Fe. 

CHAPTER XI

THE CONSENT OF SPAIN

Once more; in the last days of the year 1491, Columbus rode into thebrilliant camp which he had quitted a few weeks before with so heavy aheart. Things were changed now. Instead of being a suitor, making anuisance of himself, and forcing his affairs on the attention ofunwilling officials, he was now an invited and honoured guest; much morethan that, he was in the position of one who believed that he had a greatservice to render to the Crown, and who was at last to be permitted torender it. 

Even now, at the eleventh hour, there was one more brief interruption. On the 1st of January 1492 the last of the Moorish kings sent in hissurrender to King Ferdinand, whom he invited to come and take possessionof the city of Granada; and on the next day the Spanish army marched intothat city, where, in front of the Alhambra, King Ferdinand received thekeys of the castle and the homage of the Moorish king. The wars of eightcenturies were at an end, and the Christian banner of Spain floated atlast over the whole land. Victory and success were in the air, and thehumble Genoese adventurer was to have his share in them. Negotiations ofa practical nature were now begun; old friends--Talavera, Luis deSantangel, and the Grand Cardinal himself--were all brought intoconsultation with the result that matters soon got to the documentarystage. Here, however, there was a slight hitch. It was not simply amatter of granting two, or three ships. The Genoese was making abargain, and asking an impossible price. Even the great grandees andCourt officials, accustomed to the glitter and dignity of titles, rubbedtheir eyes with astonishment, when they saw what Columbus was demanding. He who had been suing for privileges was now making conditions. And whatconditions! He must be created Admiral of all the Ocean Seas and of thenew lands, with equal privileges and prerogatives as those appertainingto the High Admiral of Castile, the supreme naval officer of Spain. Not content with sea dignities, he was also to be Viceroy andGovernor-General in all islands or mainlands that he might acquire; hewanted a tenth part of the profits resulting from his discoveries, inperpetuity; and he must have the permanent right of contributing aneighth part of the cost of the equipment and have an additional eighthpart of the profits; and all his heirs and descendants for ever were tohave the same privileges. These conditions were on such a scale as nosovereign could readily approve. Columbus's lack of pedigree, and thefact also that he was a foreigner, made them seem the more preposterous;for although he might receive kindness and even friendship from some ofthe grand Spaniards with whom he associated, that friendship andkindness were given condescendingly and with a smile. He was delightfulwhen he was merely proposing as a mariner to confer additional grandeurand glory on the Crown; but when it came to demanding titles andprivileges which would make him rank with the highest grandees in, theland, the matter took on quite a different colour. It was nonsense; itcould not be allowed; and many were the friendly hints that Columbusdoubtless received at this time to relinquish his wild demands and notto overreach himself. 

But to the surprise and dismay of his friends, who really wished him tohave a chance of distinguishing himself, and were shocked at theimpediments he was now putting in his own way, the man from Genoa stoodfirm. What he proposed to do, he said, was worthy of the rewards that heasked; they were due to the importance and grandeur of his scheme, and soon. Nor did he fail to point out that the bestowal of them was a matteraltogether contingent on results; if there were no results, there wouldbe no rewards; if there were results, they would be worthy of therewards. This action of Columbus's deserves close study. He had come toa turning-point in his life. He had been asking, asking, asking, for sixyears; he had been put off and refused over and over again; people werebeginning to laugh at him for a madman; and now, when a combination oflucky chances had brought him to the very door of success, he stoodoutside the threshold bargaining for a preposterous price before he wouldcome in. It seemed like the densest stupidity. What is the explanationof it?

The only explanation of it is to be found in the character of Columbus. We must try to see him as he is in this forty-second year of his life, bargaining with notaries, bishops, and treasurers; we must try to seewhere these forty years have brought him, and what they have made of him. Remember the little boy that played in the Vico Dritto di Ponticello, acquainted with poverty, but with a soul in him that could rise beyond itand acquire something of the dignity of that Genoa, arrogant, splendidand devout, which surrounded him during his early years. Remember hislong life of obscurity at sea, and the slow kindling of the light offaith in something beyond the familiar horizons; remember the socialinequality of his marriage, his long struggle with poverty, his longfamiliarity with the position of one who asked and did not receive; themany rebuffs and indignities which his Ligurian pride must have receivedat the hands of all those Spanish dignitaries and grandees--remember allthis, and then you will perhaps not wonder so much that Columbus, who wasbeginning to believe himself appointed by Heaven to this task ofdiscovery, felt that he had much to pay himself back for. One mustrecognise him frankly for what he was, and for no conventional hero ofromance; a man who would reconcile his conscience with anything, andwould stop at nothing in the furtherance of what he deemed a good object;and a man at the same time who had a conscience to reconcile, and would, whenever it was necessary, laboriously and elaborately perform the act ofreconciliation. When he made these huge demands in Granada he wasgambling with his chances; but he was a calculating gambler, just aboutas cunning and crafty in the weighing of one chance against another as agambler with a conscience can be; and he evidently realised that his ownvaluation of the services he proposed to render would not be without itsinfluence on his sovereign's estimate of them. At any rate he wasjustified by the results, for on the 17th of April 1492, after a deal oftalk and bargaining, but apparently without any yielding on Columbus'spart, articles of capitulation were drawn up in which the followingprovisions were made:--

First, that Columbus and his heirs for ever should have the title andoffice of Admiral in all the islands and continents of the ocean that heor they might discover, with similar honours and prerogatives to thoseenjoyed by the High Admiral of Castile. 

Second, that he and his heirs should be Viceroys and Governors-Generalover all the said lands and continents, with the right of nominatingthree candidates for the governing of each island or province, one ofwhom should be appointed by the Crown. 

Third, that he end his heirs should be entitled to one-tenth of allprecious stones, metals, spices, and other merchandises, howeveracquired, within his Admiralty, the cost of acquisition being firstdeducted. 

Fourth, that he or his lieutenants in their districts, and the HighAdmiral of Castile in his district, should be the sole judge in alldisputes arising out of traffic between Spain and the new countries. 

Fifth, that he now, and he and his heirs at all times, should have theright to contribute the eighth part of the expense of fitting outexpeditions, and receive the eighth part of the profits. 

In addition to these articles there was another document drawn up on the30th of April, which after an infinite preamble about the nature of theHoly Trinity, of the Apostle Saint James, and of the Saints of Godgenerally in their relations to Princes, and with a splendid trailing ofgorgeous Spanish names and titles across the page, confers upon ourhitherto humble Christopher the right to call himself "Don, " and finallyraises him, in his own estimation at any rate, to a social level with hisproud Spanish friends. It is probably from this time that he adopted theSpanish form of his name, Christoval Colon; but in this narrative I shallretain the more universal form in which it has become familiar to theEnglish-speaking world. 

He was now upon a Pisgah height, from which in imagination he could lookforth and see his Land of Promise. We also may climb up with him, andstand beside him as he looks westward. We shall not see so clearly as hesees, for we have not his inner light; and it is probable that even hedoes not see the road at all, but only the goal, a single point of lightshining across a gulf of darkness. But from Pisgah there is a viewbackward as well as forward, and, we may look back for a moment on thislast period of Christopher's life in Spain, inwardly to him so full oftrouble and difficulty and disappointment, outwardly so brave andglittering, musical with high-sounding names and the clash of arms; gaywith sun and shine and colour. The brilliant Court moving from camp tocamp with its gorgeous retinues and silken pavilions and uniforms anddresses and armours; the excitement of war, the intrigues of theantechamber--these are the bright fabric of the latter years; and againstit, as against a background, stand out the beautiful names of the Spanishassociates of Columbus at this time--Medina Celi, Alonso de Quintanilla, Cabrero, Arana, DEA, Hernando de Talavera, Gonzales de Mendoza, Alonso deCardenas, Perez, Hernandez, Luis de Santangel, and Rodriguez deMaldonado--names that now, in his hour of triumph, are like bannersstreaming in the wind against a summer sky. 

CHAPTER XII

THE PREPARATIONS AT PALOS

The Palos that witnessed the fitting out of the ships of Columbus existsno longer. The soul is gone from it; the trade that in those days madeit great and busy has floated away from it into other channels; and ithas dwindled and shrunk, until to-day it consists of nothing but a doublestreet of poor white houses, such almost as you may see in any sea-coastvillage in Ireland. The slow salt tides of the Atlantic come flooding inover the Manto bank, across the bar of Saltes, and, dividing at thetongue of land that separates the two rivers, creep up the mud banks ofthe Tinto and the Odiel until they lie deep beside the wharves of Huelvaand Palos; but although Huelva still has a trade the tides bring nothingto Palos, and take nothing away with them again. From La Rabida now youcan no longer see, as Columbus saw, fleets of caravels lying-to andstanding off and on outside the bar waiting for the flood tide; only afew poor boats fishing for tunny in the empty sunny waters, or the smokeof a steamer standing on her course for the Guadalquiver or Cadiz. 

But in those spring days of 1492 there was a great stir and bustle ofpreparation in Palos. As soon as the legal documents had been signedColumbus returned there and, taking up his quarters at La Rabida, setabout fitting out his expedition. The reason Palos was chosen was aneconomical one. The port, for some misdemeanour, had lately beencondemned to provide two caravels for the service of the Crown for aperiod of twelve months; and in the impoverished state of the royalexchequer this free service came in very usefully in fitting out theexpedition of discovery. Columbus was quite satisfied, since he had suchgood friends at Palos; and he immediately set about choosing the ships. 

This, however, did not prove to be quite such a straightforward businessas might have been expected. The truth is that, whatever a few monks andphysicians may have thought of it, the proposed expedition terrified theordinary seafaring population of Palos. It was thought to be the wildestand maddest scheme that any one had ever heard of. All that was knownabout the Atlantic west of the Azores was that it was a sea of darkness, inhabited by monsters and furrowed by enormous waves, and that it felldown the slope of the world so steeply that no ship having once gone downcould ever climb up it again. And not only was there reluctance on thepart of mariners to engage themselves for the expedition, but also agreat shyness on the part of ship-owners to provide ships. Thisreluctance proved so formidable an impediment that Columbus had tocommunicate with the King and Queen; with the result that on the 23rd ofMay the population was summoned to the church of Saint George, where theNotary Public read aloud to them the letter from the sovereignscommanding the port to furnish ships and men, and an additional ordersummoning the town to obey it immediately. An inducement was provided inthe offer of a free pardon to all criminals and persons under sentencewho chose to enlist. 

Still the thing hung fire; and on June 20 a new and peremptory order wasissued by the Crown authorising Columbus to impress the vessels and crewif necessary. Time was slipping away; and in his difficulty Columbusturned to Martin Alonso Pinzon, upon whose influence and power in thetown he could count. There were three brothers then in thisfamily--Martin Alonso, Vincenti Yanez, and Francisco Martin, all pilotsthemselves and owners of ships. These three brothers saw some hope ofprofit out of the enterprise, and they exerted themselves onChristopher's behalf so thoroughly that, not only did they afford himhelp in the obtaining of ships, men, and supplies, but they all threedecided to go with him. 

There was one more financial question to be settled--a question thatremains for us in considerable obscurity, but was in all probabilitypartly settled by the aid of these brothers. The total cost of theexpedition, consisting of three ships, wages of the crew, stores andprovisions, was 1, 167, 542 maravedis, about L950(in 1900). After allthese years of pleading at Court, all the disappointments and deferredhopes and sacrifices made by Columbus, the smallness of this sum cannotbut strike us with amazement. Many a nobleman that Columbus must haverubbed shoulders with in his years at Court could have furnished thewhole sum out of his pocket and never missed it; yet Columbus had to waityears and years before he could get it from the Crown. Still moreamazing, this sum was not all provided by the Crown; 167, 000 maravediswere found by Columbus, and the Crown only contributed one millionmaravedis. One can only assume that Columbus's pertinacity inpetitioning the King and Queen to undertake the expedition, when hecould with comparative ease have got the money from some of his nobleacquaintance, was due to three things--his faith and belief in his Idea, his personal ambition, and his personal greed. He believed in his Ideaso thoroughly that he knew he was going to find something across theAtlantic. Continents and islands cannot for long remain in thepossession of private persons; they are the currency of crowns; and hedid not want to be left in the lurch if the land he hoped to discovershould be seized or captured by Spain or Portugal. The result of hisdiscoveries, he was convinced, was going to be far too large a thing tobe retained and controlled by any machinery less powerful than that of akingdom; therefore he was unwilling to accept either preliminaryassistance or subsequent rewards from any but the same powerful hand. Admiralties, moreover, and Governor-Generalships and Viceroyships cannotbe conferred by counts and dukes, however powerful; the very title Doncould only be conferred by one power in Spain; and all the other titlesand dignities that Columbus craved with all his Genoese soul were to behad from the hands of kings, and not from plutocrats. It wascharacteristic of him all his life never to deal with subordinates, butalways to go direct to the head man; and when the whole purpose andambition of his life was to be put to the test it was only consistent inhim, since he could not be independent, to go forth under the protectionof the united Crown of Aragon and Castile. Where or how he raised hisshare of the cost is not known; it is possible that his old friend theDuke of Medina Celi came to his help, or that the Pinzon family, whobelieved enough in the expedition to risk their lives in it, lent some ofthe necessary money. 

Ever since ships were in danger of going to sea short-handed methods ofrecruiting and manning them have been very much the same; and there musthave been some hot work about the harbour of Palos in the summer of 1492. The place was in a panic. It is highly probable that many of thevolunteers were a ruffianly riff-raff from the prisons, to whom personalfreedom meant nothing but a chance of plunder; and the recruiting officein Palos must have seen many a picturesque scoundrel coming and takingthe oath and making his mark. The presence of these adventurers, many ofthem entirely ignorant of the sea, would not be exactly an encouragementto the ordinary seaman. It is here very likely that the influence of thePinzon family was usefully applied. I call it influence, since that is apolite term which covers the application of force in varying degrees;and it was an awkward thing for a Palos sailor to offend the Pinzons, who owned and controlled so much of the shipping in the port. Little bylittle the preparations went on. In the purchasing of provisions andstores the Pinzons were most helpful to Columbus and, it is notimprobable, to themselves also. They also procured the ships;altogether, in the whole history of the fitting out of expeditions, I know nothing since the voyage of the Ark which was so well kept withinone family. Moreover it is interesting to notice, since we know thenames and places of residence of all the members of the expedition, that the Pinzons, who personally commanded two of the caravels, had themalmost exclusively manned by sailors from Palos, while the Admiral's shipwas manned by a miscellaneous crew from other places. To be sure theygave the Admiral the biggest ship, but (in his own words) it proved "adull sailer and unfit for discovery"; while they commanded the twocaravels, small and open, but much faster and handier. Clearly thesePinzons will take no harm from a little watching. They may be honestsouls enough, but their conduct is just a little suspicious, and wecannot be too careful. 

Three vessels were at last secured. The first, named the Santa Maria, was the largest, and was chosen to be the flagship of Columbus. She wasof about one hundred tons burden, and would be about ninety feet inlength by twenty feet beam. She was decked over, and had a high poopastern and a high forecastle in the bows. She had three masts, two ofthem square-rigged, with a latine sail on the mizzen mast; and shecarried a crew of fifty-two persons. Where and how they all stowedthemselves away is a matter upon which we can only make wonderingguesses; for this ship was about the size of an ordinary small coastingschooner, such as is worked about the coasts of these islands with a crewof six or eight men. The next largest ship was the Pinta, which wascommanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon, who took his brother Francisco withhim as sailing-master. The Pinta was of fifty tons burden, decked onlyat the bow and stern, and the fastest of the three ships; she also hadthree masts. The third ship was a caravel of forty tons and called theNina; she belonged to Juan Nino of Palos. She was commanded by VincentiPinzon, and had a complement of eighteen men. Among the crew of theflagship, whose names and places of residence are to be found in theAppendix, were an Englishman and an Irishman. The Englishman is enteredas Tallarte de Lajes (Ingles), who has been ingeniously identified with apossible Allard or AEthelwald of Winchelsea, there having been severalgenerations of Allards who were sailors of Winchelsea in the fifteenthcentury. Sir Clements Markham thinks that this Allard may have beentrading to Coruna and have married and settled down at Lajes. There isalso Guillermo Ires, an Irishman from Galway. 

Allard and William, shuffling into the recruiting office in Palos, doubtless think that this is a strange place for them to meet, and rathera wild business that they are embarked upon, among all these bloodySpaniards. Some how I feel more confidence in Allard than in William, knowing, as I do so well, this William of Galway, whether on his nativeheath or in the strange and distant parts of the world to which hissanguine temperament leads him. Alas, William, you are but the first ofa mighty stream that will leave the Old Country for the New World; theworld destined to be good for the fortunes of many from the Old Country, but for the Old Country itself not good. Little does he know, drunkenWilliam, willing to be on hand where there is adventure brewing, and tobe after going with the boys and getting his health on the salt water, what a path of hope for those who go, and of heaviness for those who staybehind, he is opening up . . . . Farewell, William; I hope you werenot one of those whom they let out of gaol. 

June slid into July, and still the preparations were not complete. Downon the mud banks of the Tinto, where at low water the vessels were lefthigh and dry, and where the caulking and refitting were in hand, therewas trouble with the workmen. Gomaz Rascon and Christoval Quintero, theowners of the Pinta, who had resented her being pressed into the service, were at the bottom of a good deal of it. Things could not be found; gearmysteriously gave way after it had been set up; the caulking was found tohave been carelessly and imperfectly done; and when the caulkers werecommanded to do it over again they decamped. Even the few volunteers, the picked hands upon whom Columbus was relying, gave trouble. In thosedays of waiting there was too much opportunity for talk in the shore-sidewine-shops; some of the volunteers repented and tried to cry off theirbargains; others were dissuaded by their relatives, and deserted and hidthemselves. No mild measures were of any use; a reign of terror had tobe established; and nothing short of the influence of the Pinzons wassevere enough to hold the company together. To these vigorous measures, however, all opposition gradually yielded. By the end of July theprovisions and stores were on board, the whole complement of eighty-sevenpersons collected and enlisted, and only the finishing touches left forColumbus. It is a sign of the distrust and fear evinced with regard tothis expedition, that no priest accompanied it--something of a sorrow topious Christopher, who would have liked his chaplain. There were twosurgeons, or barbers, and a physician; there were an overseer, asecretary, a master-at-arms; there was an interpreter to speak to thenatives of the new lands in Hebrew, Greek, German, Chaldean or Arabic;and there was an assayer and silversmith to test the quality of theprecious metals that they were sure to find. Up at La Rabida, with thebusy and affectionate assistance of the old Prior, Columbus made hisfinal preparations. Ferdinand was to stay at Cordova with Beatriz, andto go to school there; while Diego was already embarked upon his life'svoyage, having been appointed a page to the Queen's son, Prince Juan, andhanded over to the care of some of the Court ladies. The course to besailed was talked over and over again; the bearings and notes of thepilot at Porto Santo consulted and discussed; and a chart was made byColumbus himself, and copied with his own hands for use on the threeships. 

On the 2nd of August everything was ready; the ships moored out in thestream, the last stragglers of the crew on board, the last sack of flourand barrel of beef stowed away. Columbus confessed himself to the Priorof La Rabida--a solemn moment for him in the little chapel up on thepine-clad hill. His last evening ashore would certainly be spent at themonastery, and his last counsels taken with Perez and Doctor Hernandez. We can hardly realise the feelings of Christopher on the eve of hisdeparture from the land where all his roots were, to a land of mere faithand conjecture. Even today, when the ocean is furrowed by crowdedhighways, and the earth is girdled with speaking wires, and distances areso divided and reduced that the traveller need never be very long out oftouch with his home, few people can set out on a long voyage without someemotional disturbance, however slight it may be; and to Columbus on thisnight the little town upon which he looked down from the monastery, whichhad been the scene of so many delays and difficulties and vexations, musthave seemed suddenly dear and familiar to him as he realised that afterto-morrow its busy and well-known scenes might be for ever a thing of thepast to him. Behind him, living or dead, lay all he humanly loved andcared for; before him lay a voyage full of certain difficulties anddangers; dangers from the ships, dangers from the crews, dangers fromthe weather, dangers from the unknown path itself; and beyond them, atwinkling star on the horizon of his hopes, lay the land of his belief. That he meant to arrive there and to get back again was beyond all doubthis firm intention; and in the simple grandeur of that determination theweaknesses of character that were grouped about it seem unimportant. Inthis starlit hour among the pine woods his life came to its meridian;everything that was him was at its best and greatest there. Beneath him, on the talking tide of the river, lay the ships and equipment thatrepresented years of steady effort and persistence; before him lay thepathless ocean which he meant to cross by the inner light of his faith. What he had suffered, he had suffered by himself; what he had won, he hadwon by himself; what he was to finish, he would finish by himself. 

But the time for meditations grows short. Lights are moving about in thetown beneath; there is an unwonted midnight stir and bustle; the wholepopulation is up and about, running hither and thither with lamps andtorches through the starlit night. The tide is flowing; it will be highwater before dawn; and with the first of the ebb the little fleet is toset sail. The stream of hurrying sailors and townspeople sets towardsthe church of Saint George, where mass is to be said and the Sacramentadministered to the voyagers. The calls and shouts die away; the bellstops ringing; and the low muttering voice of the priest is heardbeginning the Office. The light of the candles shines upon the gaudyroof, and over the altar upon the wooden image of Saint Georgevanquishing the dragon, upon which the eyes of Christopher rested duringsome part of the service, and where to-day your eyes may rest also if youmake that pilgrimage. The moment approaches; the bread and the wine areconsecrated; there is a shuffling of knees and feet; and then a pause. The clear notes of the bell ring out upon the warm dusky silence--once, twice, thrice; the living God and the cold presence of dawn enter thechurch together. Every head is bowed; and for once at least every heartof that company beats in unison with the rest. And then the Office goeson, and the dark-skinned congregation streams up to the sanctuary andreceives the Communion, while the blue light of dawn increases and thecandles pale before the coming day. And then out again to the boats withshoutings and farewells, for the tide has now turned; hoisting of sailsand tripping of anchors and breaking out of gorgeous ensigns; and theships are moving! The Maria leads, with the sign of the Redemptionpainted on her mainsail and the standard of Castile flying at her mizzen;and there is cheering from ships and from shore, and a faint sound ofbells from the town of Huelva. 

Thus, the sea being--calm, and a fresh breeze blowing off the land, didChristopher Columbus set sail from Palos at sunrise on Friday the 3rd ofAugust 1492. 

CHAPTER XIII

EVENTS OF THE FIRST VOYAGE

 "In nomine D. N. Jesu Christi--Friday, August 3, 1492, at eight o'clock we started from the bar of Saltes. We went with a strong sea breeze sixty miles, --[Columbus reckoned in Italian miles, of which four = one league. ]--which are fifteen leagues, towards the south, until sunset: afterwards to the south-west and to the south, quarter south-west, which was the way to the Canaries. "

With these rousing words the Journal

 [The account of Columbus's first voyage is taken from a Journal written by himself, but which in its original form does not exist. Las Casas had it in his possession, but as he regarded it (no doubt with justice) as too voluminous and discursive to be interesting, he made an abridged edition, in which the exact words of Columbus were sometimes quoted, but which for the most part is condensed into a narrative in the third person. This abridged Journal, consisting of seventy-six closely written folios, was first published by Navarrette in 1825. When Las Casas wrote his 'Historie, ' however, he appears here and there to have restored sections of the original Journal into the abridged one; and many of these restorations are of importance. If the whole account of his voyage written by Columbus himself were available in its exact form I would print it here; but as it is not, I think it better to continue my narrative, simply using the Journal of Las Casas as a document. ]

of Columbus's voyage begins; and they sound a salt and mighty chord whichcontains the true diapason of the symphony of his voyages. There couldnot have been a more fortunate beginning, with clear weather and a calmsea, and the wind in exactly the right quarter. On Saturday and Sundaythe same conditions held, so there was time and opportunity for the threevery miscellaneous ships' companies to shake down into something likeorder, and for all the elaborate discipline of sea life to be arrangedand established; and we may employ the interval by noting what aids tonavigation Columbus had at his disposal. 

The chief instrument was the astrolabe, which was an improvement on theprimitive quadrant then in use for taking the altitude of the sun. Theastrolabe, it will be remembered, had been greatly improved, by MartinBehaim and the Portuguese Commission in 1840--[1440 D. W. ]; and it wasthis instrument, a simplification of the astrolabe used in astronomyashore, that Columbus chiefly used in getting his solar altitudes. Aswill be seen from the illustration, its broad principle was that of ametal circle with a graduated circumference and two arms pivoted in thecentre. It was made as heavy as possible; and in using it the observersat on deck with his back against the mainmast and with his left handheld up the instrument by the ring at the top. The long arm was movedround until the two sights fixed upon it were on with the sun. The pointwhere the other arm then cut the circle gave the altitude. Inconjunction with this instrument were used the tables of solardeclination compiled by Regiomontanus, and covering the sun's declinationbetween the years 1475 and 1566. 

The compass in Columbus's day existed, so far as all essentials areconcerned, as it exists to-day. Although it lacked the refinementsintroduced by Lord Kelvin it was swung in double-cradles, and had thethirty-two points painted upon a card. The discovery of the compass, andeven of the lodestone, are things wrapt in obscurity; but the lodestonehad been known since at least the eleventh century, and the compasscertainly since the thirteenth. With the compass were used the seacharts, which were simply maps on a rather larger and more exact scalethan the land maps of the period. There were no soundings or currentsmarked on the old charts, which were drawn on a plane projection; andthey can have been of little--practical use to navigators except in thecase of coasts which were elaborately charted on a large scale. Thechart of Columbus, in so far as it was concerned with the ocean westwardof the Azores, can of course have contained nothing except theconjectured islands or lands which he hoped to find; possibly the landseen by the shipwrecked pilot may have been marked on it, and his failureto find that land may have been the reason why, as we shall see, hechanged his course to the southward on the 7th of October. It must beremembered that Columbus's conception of the world was that of thePortuguese Mappemonde of 1490, a sketch of which is here reproduced. This conception of the world excluded the Pacific Ocean and the continentof North and South America, and made it reasonable to suppose that anyone who sailed westward long enough from Spain would ultimately reachCathay and the Indies. Behaim's globe, which was completed in the year1492, represented the farthest point that geographical knowledge hadreached previous to the discoveries of Columbus, and on it is shown theisland of Cipango or Japan. 

By far the most important element in the navigation of Columbus, in sofar as estimating his position was concerned, was what is known as"dead-reckoning" that is to say, the computation of the distancetravelled by the ship through the water. At present this distance ismeasured by a patent log, which in its commonest form is apropeller-shaped instrument trailed through the water at the end of along wire or cord the inboard end of which is attached to a registeringclock. On being dragged through the water the propeller spins round andthe twisting action is communicated by the cord to the clock-workmachinery which counts the miles. In the case of powerful steamers andin ordinary weather dead-reckoning is very accurately calculated by thenumber of revolutions of the propellers recorded in the engine-room; anda device not unlike this was known to the Romans in the time of theRepublic. They attached small wheels about four feet in diameter to thesides of their ships; the passage of the water turned the wheels, and avery simple gearing was arranged which threw a pebble into a tallypot ateach revolution. This device, however, seems to have been abandoned orforgotten in Columbus's day, when there was no more exact method ofestimating dead-reckoning than the primitive one of spitting over theside in calm weather, or at other times throwing some object into thewater and estimating the rate of progress by its speed in passing theship's side. The hour-glass, which was used to get the multiple forlong distances, was of course the only portable time measurer availablefor Columbus. These, with a rough knowledge of astronomy, and thetaking of the altitude of the polar star, were the only known means forascertaining the position of his ship at sea. 

The first mishap occurred on Monday, August 6th, when the Pinta carriedaway her rudder. The Pinta, it will be remembered, was commanded byMartin Alonso Pinzon, and was owned by Gomaz Rascon and ChristovalQuintero, who had been at the bottom of some of the troubles ashore; andit was thought highly probable that these two rascals had something to dowith the mishap, which they had engineered in the hope that their vesselwould be left behind at the Canaries. Martin Alonso, however, proved aman of resource, and rigged up a sort of steering gear with ropes. Therewas a choppy sea, and Columbus could not bring his own vessel near enoughto render any assistance, though he doubtless bawled his directions toPinzon, and looked with a troubled eye on the commotion going on on boardthe Pinta. On the next day the jury-rigged rudder carried away again, and was again repaired, but it was decided to try and make the island ofLanzarote in the Canaries, and to get another caravel to replace thePinta. All through the next day the Santa Maria and the Nina had toshorten sail in order not to leave the damaged Pinta behind; the threecaptains had a discussion and difference of opinion as to where theywere; but Columbus, who was a genius at dead-reckoning, proved to beright in his surmise, and they came in sight of the Canaries on Thursdaymorning, August 9th. 

Columbus left Pinzon on the Grand Canary with orders to try to obtain acaravel there, while he sailed on to Gomera, which he reached on Sundaynight, with a similar purpose. As he was unsuccessful he sent a messageby a boat that was going back to tell Pinzon to beach the Pinta andrepair her rudder; and having spent more days in fruitless search for avessel, he started back to join Pinzon on August 23rd. During the nighthe passed the Peak of Teneriffe, which was then in eruption. The repairsto the Pinta, doubtless in no way expedited by Messrs. Rascon andQuintera, took longer than had been expected; it was found necessary tomake an entirely new rudder for her; and advantage was taken of the delayto make some alterations in the rig of the Nina, which was changed from alatine rig to a square rig, so that she might be better able to keep upwith the others. September had come before these two jobs werecompleted; and on the 2nd of September the three ships sailed for Gomera, the most westerly of the islands, where they anchored in the north-eastbay. The Admiral was in a great hurry to get away from the islands andfrom the track of merchant ships, for he had none too much confidence inthe integrity of his crews, which were already murmuring and findingevery mishap a warning sign from God. He therefore only stayed longenough at Gomera to take in wood and water and provisions, and set sailfrom that island on the 6th of September. 

The wind fell lighter and lighter, and on Friday the little fleet laybecalmed within sight of Ferro. But on Saturday evening north-east airssprang up again, and they were able to make nine leagues of westing. OnSunday they had lost sight of land; and at thus finding their ships threelonely specks in the waste of ocean the crew lost heart and began tolament. There was something like a panic, many of the sailors burstinginto tears and imploring Columbus to take them home again. To us it mayseem a rather childish exhibition; but it must be remembered that thesesailors were unwillingly embarked upon a voyage which they believed wouldonly lead to death and disaster. The bravest of us to-day, if he foundhimself press-ganged on board a balloon and embarked upon a journey, theobject of which was to land upon Mars or the moon, might find itdifficult to preserve his composure on losing sight of the earth; and theparallel is not too extreme to indicate the light in which their presententerprise must have appeared to many of the Admiral's crew. 

Columbus gave orders to the captains of the other two ships that, in caseof separation, they were to sail westward for 700 leagues-that being thedistance at which he evidently expected to find land--and there to lie-tofrom midnight until morning. On this day also, seeing the temper of thesailors, he began one of the crafty stratagems upon which he pridedhimself, and which were often undoubtedly of great use to him; he kepttwo reckonings, one a true one, which he entered in his log, and one afalse one, by means of which the distance run was made out to be lessthan what it actually was, so that in case he could not make land as soonas he hoped the crew would not be unduly discouraged. In other words, hewished to have a margin at the other end, for he did not want a mutinywhen he was perhaps within a few leagues of his destination. On this dayhe notes that the raw and inexperienced seamen were giving trouble inother ways, and steering very badly, continually letting the ship'shead fall off to the north; and many must have been the angry remonstrancesfrom the captain to the man at the wheel. Altogether rather a trying dayfor Christopher, who surely has about as much on his hands as ever mortalhad; but he knows how to handle ships and how to handle sailors, and solong as this ten-knot breeze lasts, he can walk the high poop of theSanta Maria with serenity, and snap his fingers at the dirty rabblebelow. 

On Monday they made sixty leagues, the Admiral duly announcingforty-eight; on Tuesday twenty leagues, published as sixteen; and onthis day they saw a large piece of a mast which had evidently belongedto a ship of at least 120 tons burden. This was not an altogethercheerful sight for the eighteen souls on board the little Nina, whowondered ruefully what was going to happen to them of forty tons whenships three times their size had evidently been unable to live in thisabominable sea!

On Thursday, September 13th, when Columbus took his observations, he madea great scientific discovery, although he did not know it at the time. He noticed that the needle of the compass was declining to the west ofnorth instead of having a slight declination to the east of north, as allmariners knew it to have. In other words, he had passed the line of truenorth and of no variation, and must therefore have been in latitude28 deg. N. And longitude 29 deg. 37' W. Of Greenwich. With his usualsecrecy he said nothing about it; perhaps he was waiting to see if thepilots on the other ships had noticed it, but apparently they were not soexact in their observations as he was. On the next day, Friday, the windfalling a little lighter, they, made only twenty leagues. "Here thepersons on the caravel Nina said they had seen a jay and a ringtail, andthese birds never come more than twenty-five leagues from land at most. "--Unhappy "persons on the Nina"! Nineteen souls, including the captain, afloat in a very small boat, and arguing God knows what from the factthat a jay and a ringtail never went more than twenty-five leagues fromland!--The next day also was not without its incident; for on Saturdayevening they saw a meteor, or "marvellous branch of fire" falling fromthe serene violet of the sky into the sea. 

They were now well within the influence of the trade-wind, which in thesemonths blows steadily from the east, and maintains an exquisite and balmyclimate. Even the Admiral, never very communicative about hissensations, deigns to mention them here, and is reported to have saidthat "it was a great pleasure to enjoy the morning; that nothing waslacking except to hear the nightingales, and that the weather was likeApril in Andalusia. " On this day they saw some green grasses, which theAdmiral considered must have floated off from some island; "not thecontinent, " says the Admiral, whose theories are not to be disturbed by apiece of grass, "because I make the continental land farther onward. "The crew, ready to take the most depressing and pessimistic view ofeverything, considered that the lumps of grass belonged to rocks orsubmerged lands, and murmured disparaging things about the Admiral. As a matter of fact these grasses were masses of seaweed detached fromthe Sargasso Sea, which they were soon to enter. 

On Monday, September 17th, four days after Columbus had noted it, theother pilots noted the declination of the needle, which they had found ontaking the position of the North star. They did not like it; andColumbus, whose knowledge of astronomy came to his aid, ordered them totake the position of the North star at dawn again, which they did, andfound that the needles were true. He evidently thought it useless tocommunicate to them his scientific speculations, so he explained to themthat it was the North star which was moving in its circle, and not thecompass. One is compelled to admit that in these little matters ofdeceit the Admiral always shone. To-day, among the seaweed on the ship'sside, he picked up a little crayfish, which he kept for several days, presumably in a bottle in his cabin; and perhaps afterwards ate. 

So for several days this calm and serene progress westward wasmaintained. The trade-wind blew steady and true, balmy and warm also;the sky was cloudless, except at morning and evening dusk; and there werefor scenery those dazzling expanses of sea and sky, and those gorgeoushues of dawn and sunset, which are only to be found in the happylatitudes. The things that happened to them, the bits of seaweed andfishes that they saw in the water, the birds that flew around them, wereobserved with a wondering attention and wistful yearning after theirmeaning such as is known only to children and to sailors adventuring onuncharted seas. The breezes were milder even than those of the Canaries, and the waters always less salt; and the men, forgetting their fears ofthe monsters of the Sea of Darkness, would bathe alongside in the limpidblue. The little crayfish was a "sure indication of land"; a tunny fish, killed by the company on the Nina, was taken to be an indication from thewest, "where I hope in that exalted God, in whose hands are allvictories, that land will very soon appear"; they saw another ringtail, "which is not accustomed to sleep on the sea"; two pelicans came to theship, "which was an indication that land was near"; a large dark cloudappeared to the north, "which is a sign that land is near"; they saw oneday a great deal of grass, "although the previous day they had not seenany"; they took a bird with their hands which was like a jay; "it was ariver bird and not a sea bird"; they saw a whale, "which is an indicationthat they are near land, because they always remain near it"; afterwardsa pelican came from the west-north-west and went to the south-east, "which was an indication that it left land to the west-north-west, because these birds sleep on land and in the morning they come to the seain search of food, and do not go twenty leagues from land. " And "at dawntwo or three small land birds came singing to the ships; and afterwardsdisappeared before sunrise. "

Such beautiful signs, interpreted by the light of their wishes, were theevents of this part of the voyage. In the meantime, they have theirlittle differences. Martin Alonso Pinzon, on Tuesday, September 18th, speaks from the Pinta to the Santa Maria, and says that he will not waitfor the others, but will go and make the land, since it is so near; butapparently he does not get very far out of the way, the wind which waftshim wafting also the Santa Maria and the Nina. 

On September the 19th there was a comparison of dead-reckonings. TheNina's pilot made it 440 leagues from the Canaries, the Pinta's 420leagues, and the Admiral's pilot, doubtless instructed by the Admiral, made it 400. On Sunday the 23rd they were getting into the seaweed andfinding crayfish again; and there being no reasonable cause for complainta scare was got up among the crew on an exceedingly ingenious point. Thewind having blown steadily from the east for a matter of three weeks, they said that it would never blow in any other direction, and that theywould never be able to get back to Spain; but later in the afternoon thesea got up from the westward, as though in answer to their fears, and asif to prove that somewhere or other ahead of them there was a west windblowing; and the Admiral remarks that "the high sea was very necessary tome, as it came to pass once before in the time when the Jews went out ofEgypt with Moses, who took them from captivity. " And indeed there wassomething of Moses in this man, who thus led his little rabble from aSpanish seaport out across the salt wilderness of the ocean, andinterpreted the signs for them, and stood between them and the powers ofvengeance and terror that were set about their uncharted path. 

But it appears that the good Admiral had gone just a little too far ininterpreting everything they saw as a sign that they were approachingland; for his miserable crew, instead of being comforted by this fact, now took the opportunity to be angry because the signs were notfulfilled. The more the signs pointed to their nearness to land, themore they began to murmur and complain because they did not see it. Theybegan to form together in little groups--always an ominous sign at sea--and even at night those who were not on deck got together in murmuringcompanies. Some, of the things that they said, indeed, were not very farfrom the truth; among others, that it was "a great madness on their partto venture their lives in following out the madness of a foreigner who tomake himself a great lord had risked his life, and now saw himself andall of them in great exigency and was deceiving so many people. " Theyremembered that his proposition, or "dream" as they not inaptly call it, had been contradicted by many great and lettered men; and then followedsome very ominous words indeed. They held

 [The substance of these murmurings is not in the abridged Journal, but is given by Las Casas under the date of September 24. ]

that "it was enough to excuse them from whatever might be done in thematter that they had arrived where man had never dared to navigate, andthat they were not obliged to go to the end of the world, especially as, if they delayed more, they would not be able to have provisions toreturn. " In short, the best thing would be to throw him into the seasome night, and make a story that he had fallen, into the water whiletaking the position of a star with his astrolabe; and no one would askany questions, as he was a foreigner. They carried this talk to thePinzons, who listened to them; after all, we have not had to wait longfor trouble with the Pinzons! "Of these Pinzons Christopher Columbuscomplains greatly, and of the trouble they had given him. "

There is only one method of keeping down mutiny at sea, and of preservingdiscipline. It is hard enough where the mutineers are all on one shipand the commander's officers are loyal to him; but when they aredistributed over three ships, the captains of two of which are willing tolisten to them, the problem becomes grave indeed. We have no details ofhow Columbus quieted them; but it is probable that his strong personalityawed them, while his clever and plausible words persuaded them. He wasthe best sailor of them all and they knew it; and in a matter of thiskind the best and strongest man always wins, and can only in a pass ofthis kind maintain his authority by proving his absolute right to it. So he talked and persuaded and bullied and encouraged and cheered them;"laughing with them, " as Las Casas says, "while he was weeping at heart. "

Probably as a result of this unpleasantness there was on the followingday, Tuesday, September 25th, a consultation between: Martin AlonsoPinzon and the Admiral. The Santa Maria closed up with the Pinta, and achart was passed over on a cord. There were islands marked on the chartin this region, possibly the islands reported by the shipwrecked pilot, possibly the island of Antilla; and Pinzon said he thought that they weresomewhere in the region of them, and the Admiral said that he thought sotoo. There was a deal of talk and pricking of positions on charts; andthen, just as the sun was setting, Martin Alonso, standing on the sternof the Pinta, raised a shout and said that he saw land; asking(business-like Martin) at the same time for the reward which had beenpromised to the first one who should see land: They all saw it, a lowcloud to the southwest, apparently about twenty-five leagues distant;and honest Christopher, in the emotion of the moment, fell on his kneesin gratitude to God. The crimson sunset of that evening saw the riggingof the three ships black with eager figures, and on the quiet air wereborne the sounds of the Gloria in Excelsis, which was repeated by eachship's company. 

The course was altered to the south-west, and they sailed in thatdirection seventeen leagues during the night; but in the morning therewas no land to be seen. The sunset clouds that had so often deceived thedwellers in the Canaries and the Azores, and that in some form or otherhover at times upon all eagerly scanned horizons, had also deceivedColumbus and every one of his people; but they created a diversion whichwas of help to the Admiral in getting things quiet again, for which inhis devout soul he thanked the merciful providence of God. 

And so they sailed on again on a westward course. They were still in theSargasso Sea, and could watch the beautiful golden floating mass of thegulf-weed, covered with berries and showing, a little way under the clearwater, bright green leaves. The sea was as smooth as the river inSeville; there were frigate pelicans flying about, and John Dorys in thewater; several gulls were seen; and a youth on board the Nina killed apelican with a stone. On Monday, October 1st, there was a heavy showerof rain; and Juan de la Cosa, Columbus's pilot, came up to him with thedoleful information that they had run 578 leagues from the island ofFerro. According to Christopher's doctored reckoning the distancepublished was 584 leagues; but his true reckoning, about which he saidnothing to a soul, showed that they had gone 707 leagues. The breezestill kept steady and the sea calm; and day after day, with the temper ofthe crews getting uglier and uglier, the three little vessels forgedwestward through the blue, weed-strewn waters, their tracks lyingundisturbed far behind them. On Saturday, October 6th, the Admiral wassignalled by Alonso Pinzon, who wanted to change the course to thesouth-west. It appears that, having failed to find the, islands of theshipwrecked pilot, they were now making for the island of Cipango, andthat this request of Pinzon had something to do with some theory of histhat they had better turn to the south to reach that island; whileColumbus's idea now evidently was--to push straight on to the mainland ofCathay. Columbus had his way; but the grumbling and murmuring in creasedamong the crew. 

On the next day, Sunday, and perhaps just in time to avert anotheroutbreak, there was heard the sound of a gun, and the watchers on theSanta Maria and the Pinta saw a puff of smoke coming from the Nina, whichwas sailing ahead, and hoisting a flag on her masthead. This was thesignal agreed upon for the discovery of land, and it seemed as thoughtheir search was at last at an end. But it was a mistake. In theafternoon the land that the people of the Nina thought they had seen haddisappeared, and the horizon was empty except for a great flight of birdsthat was seen passing from the north to the south-west. The Admiral, remembering how often birds had guided the Portuguese in the islands intheir possessions, argued that the birds were either going to sleep onland or were perhaps flying from winter, which he assumed to beapproaching in the land from whence they came. He therefore altered. His course from west to west-south-west. This course was entered upon anhour before sunset and continued throughout the night and the next day. "The sea was like the river of Seville, " says the Admiral; "the breezesas soft as at Seville in April, and very fragrant. " More birds were tobe seen, and there were many signs of land; but the crew, so oftendisappointed in their hopeful interpretations of the phenomenasurrounding them, kept on murmuring and complaining. On Tuesday, October9th, the wind chopped round a little and the course was altered, first tosouth-west and then at evening to a point north of west; and the journalrecords that "all night they heard birds passing. " The next day Columbusresumed the west-southwesterly course and made a run of fifty-nineleagues; but the mariners broke out afresh in their discontent, anddeclined to go any farther. They complained of the long voyage, andexpressed their views strongly to the commander. But they had to dealwith a man who was determined to begin with, and who saw in the manysigns of land that they had met with only an additional inducement to goon. He told them firmly that with or without their consent he intendedto go on until he had found the land he had come to seek. 

The next day, Thursday, October 11th, was destined to be for evermemorable in the history of the world. It began ordinarily enough, witha west-south-west wind blowing fresh, and on a sea rather rougher thanthey had had lately. The people on the Santa Maria saw some petrels anda green branch in the water; the Pinta saw a reed and two small stickscarved with iron, and one or two other pieces of reeds and grasses thathad been grown on shore, as well as a small board. Most wonderful ofall, the people of the Nina saw "a little branch full of dog roses"; andit would be hard to estimate the sweet significance of this fragment of awild plant from land to the senses of men who had been so long upon a seafrom which they had thought never to land alive. The day drew to itsclose; and after nightfall, according to their custom, the crew of theships repeated the Salve Regina. Afterwards the Admiral addressed thepeople and sailors of his ship, "very merry and pleasant, " reminding themof the favours God had shown them with regard to the weather, and beggingthem, as they hoped to see land very soon, within an hour or so, to keepan extra good look-out that night from the forward forecastle; and addingto the reward of an annuity of 10, 000 maravedis, offered by the Queen towhoever should sight land first, a gift on his own account of a silkdoublet. 

The moon was in its third quarter, and did not rise until eleven o'clock. The first part of the night was dark, and there was only a faintstarlight into which the anxious eyes of the look-out men peered from theforecastles of the three ships. At ten o'clock Columbus was walking onthe poop of his vessel, when he suddenly saw a light right ahead. Thelight seemed to rise and fall as though it were a candle or a lanternheld in some one's hand and waved up and down. The Admiral called PedroGutierrez to him and asked him whether he saw anything; and he also sawthe light. Then he sent for Rodrigo Sanchez and asked him if he saw thelight; but he did not, perhaps because from where he was standing it wasocculted. But the others were left in no doubt, for the light was seenonce or twice more, and to the eyes of the anxious little group standingon the high stern deck of the Santa Maria it appeared unmistakably. TheNina was not close at hand, and the Pinta had gone on in front hoping tomake good her mistake; but there was no doubt on board the Santa Mariathat the light which they had seen was a light like a candle or a torchwaved slowly up and down. They lost the light again; and as the hours inthat night stole away and the moon rose slowly in the sky the seamen onthe Santa Maria must have almost held their breath. 

At about two o'clock in the morning the sound of a gun was heard from thePinta, who could be seen hoisting her flags; Rodrigo de Triana, thelook-out on board of her, having reported land in sight; and there sureenough in the dim light lay the low shores of an island a few miles aheadof them. 

Immediately all sails were lowered, except a small trysail which enabledthe ships to lie-to and stand slowly off and on, waiting for thedaylight. I suppose there was never a longer night than that; but dawncame at last, flooding the sky with lemon and saffron and scarlet andorange, until at last the pure gold of the sun glittered on the water. And when it rose it showed the sea-weary mariners an island lying in theblue sea ahead of them: the island of Guanahani; San Salvador, as it waschristened by Columbus; or, to give it its modern name, Watling's Island. 

CHAPTER XIV

LANDFALL

During the night the ships had drifted a little with the current, andbefore the north-east wind. When the look-out man on the Pinta firstreported land in sight it was probably the north-east corner of theisland, where the land rises to a height of 120 feet, that he saw. Theactual anchorage of Columbus was most likely to the westward of theisland; for there was a strong north-easterly breeze, and as the whole ofthe eastern coast is fringed by a barrier reef, he would not risk hisships on a lee shore. Finding himself off the north end of the island atsunrise, the most natural thing for him to do, on making sail again, would be to stand southward along the west side of the island looking foran anchorage. The first few miles of the shore have rocky exposedpoints, and the bank where there is shoal water only extends half a milefrom the shore. Immediately beyond that the bottom shelves rapidly downto a depth of 2000 fathoms, so that if Columbus was sounding as he camesouth he would find no bottom there. Below what are called the RidingsRocks, however, the land sweeps to the south and east in a long shelteredbay, and to the south of these rocks there is good anchorage and firmholding-ground in about eight fathoms of water. 

We may picture them, therefore, approaching this land in the brightsunshine of the early morning, their ears, that had so long heard nothingbut the slat of canvas and the rush and bubble of water under the prows, filled at last with the great resounding roar of the breakers on thecoral reef; their eyes, that had so long looked upon blue emptiness andthe star-spangled violet arch of night, feasting upon the living green ofthe foliage ashore; and the easterly breeze carrying to their eagernostrils the perfumes of land. Amid an excitement and joyfulanticipation that it is exhilarating even to think about the cables weregot up and served and coiled on deck, and the anchors, which some of themhad thought would never grip the bottom again, unstopped and cleared. The leadsman of the Santa Maria, who has been finding no bottom with hisforty-fathom line, suddenly gets a sounding; the water shoals rapidlyuntil the nine-fathom mark is unwetted, and the lead comes up with itsbottom covered with brown ooze. Sail is shortened; one after another thegreat ungainly sheets of canvas are clewed up or lowered down on deck;one after another the three helms are starboarded, and the three shipsbrought up to the wind. Then with three mighty splashes that send thesea birds whirling and screaming above the rocks the anchors go down; andthe Admiral stands on his high poop-deck, and looks long and searchinglyat the fragment of earth, rock-rimmed, surf-fringed, and tree-crowned, ofwhich he is Viceroy and Governor-General. 

Watling's Island, as it is now called, or San Salvador, as Columbus namedit, or Guanahani, as it was known to the aborigines, is situated inlatitude 24 deg. 6' N. , and longitude 74 deg 26' W. , and is anirregularly shaped white sandstone islet in about the middle of the greatBahama Bank. The space occupied by the whole group is shaped like anirregular triangle extending from the Navidad Bank in the Caribbean Seaat the south-east corner, to Bahama Island in Florida Strait on thenorth, about 200 miles. The south side trends west by north for 600miles, and the north side north-west by north 720 miles. Most of theislands and small rocks in this group, called Keys or Cays, are very low, and rise only a few feet above the sea; the highest is about 400 feethigh. They are generally situated on the edge of coral and sand banks, some of which are of a very dangerous character. They are thinly wooded, except in the case of one or two of the larger islands which containtimber of moderate dimensions. The climate of the Bahamas is mild andtemperate, with refreshing sea breezes in the hottest months; and thereis a mean temperature of 75 deg. From November to April. Watling'sIsland is about twelve miles in length by six in breadth, with rockyshores slightly indented. The greater part of its area is occupied bysalt-water lagoons, separated from one another by small wooded hills fromtoo to 140 feet high. There is plenty of grass; indeed the island is nowconsidered to be the most fertile in the Bahamas, and raises an excellentbreed of cattle and sheep. In common with the other islands of the groupit was originally settled by the Spaniards, and afterwards by the British, who were driven from the Bahamas again by the Spanish in the year 1641. After a great deal of changing hands they were ceded to Great Britain in1783, and have remained in her possession ever since. In 1897 thepopulation of the whole group was estimated at 52, 000 the whites being inthe proportion of one to six of the coloured population. Watling'sIsland contains about 600 inhabitants scattered over the surface, with asmall settlement called Cockburn Town on the west side, nearly oppositethe landfall of Columbus. The seat of the local government is in theisland of New Providence, and the inhabitants of Watling's Island and ofRum Cay unite in sending one representative to the House of Assembly. Itis high water, full and change, at Watling's Island at 7 h. 40 m. , as itwas in the days of Columbus; and these facts form about the sum of theworld's knowledge of and interest in Watling's Island to-day. 

But it was a different matter on Friday morning, October 12, 1492, [This date is reckoned in the old style. The true astronomical date would be October 21st, which is the modern anniversary of the discovery]

when, all having been made snug on board the Santa Maria, the Admiral ofthe Ocean Seas put on his armour and his scarlet cloak over it andprepared to go ashore. The boat was lowered and manned by a crew wellarmed, and Columbus took with him Rodrigo de Escovedo, the secretary tothe expedition, and Rodrigo Sanchez his overseer; they also took on boardMartin Alonso Pinzon and Vincenti Yanez Pinzon, the captains of the othertwo ships. As they rowed towards the shore they saw a few nakedinhabitants, who hid themselves at their approach. Columbus carried withhim the royal standard, and the two captains each had a banner of theexpedition, which was a square flag with an "F" and a "Y" upon eitherside, each letter being surmounted by the crown of the sovereigns and agreen cross covering the whole. Columbus assembled his little bandaround him and called upon them to bear witness that in the presence ofthem all he was taking possession of the island for the King and Queen ofSpain; duly making depositions in writing on the spot, and having themsigned and witnessed. Then he gave the name of San Salvador to theisland and said a prayer; and while this solemn little ceremony was inprogress, the astonished natives crept out of their hiding and surroundedthe strange white men. They gesticulated and grovelled and pointedupwards, as though this gang of armed and bearded Spaniards, with thetall white-bearded Italian in the midst of them, had fallen from theskies. 

The first interest of the voyagers was in the inhabitants of thisdelightful land. They found them well built, athletic-looking men, mostof them young, with handsome bodies and intelligent faces. Columbus, eager to begin his missionary work, gave them some red caps and someglass beads, with which he found them so delighted that he had good hopesof making converts, and from which he argued that "they were a people whowould better be freed and converted to our Holy Faith by love than byforce, " which sentence of his contains within itself the whole missionaryspirit of the time. These natives, who were the freest people in theworld, were to be "freed"; freed or saved from the darkness of theirhappy innocence and brought to the light of a religion that had justevolved the Inquisition; freed by love if possible, and by red caps andglass beads; if not possible, then freed by force and with guns; butfreed they were to be at all costs. It is a tragic thought that, at thevery first impact of the Old World upon this Eden of the West, thisdismal error was set on foot and the first links in the chain of slaveryforged. But for the moment nothing of it was perceptible; nothing butred caps and glass beads, and trinkets and toys, and freeing by love. The sword that Columbus held out to them, in order to find out if theyknew the use of weapons, they innocently grasped by the blade and so cuttheir fingers; and that sword, extended with knowledge and grasped withfearless ignorance, is surely an emblem of the spread of civilisation andof its doubtful blessings in the early stages. Let us hear Columbushimself, as he recorded his first impression of Guanahani:

 "Further, it appeared to me that they were a very poor people, in everything. They all go naked as their mothers gave them birth, and the women also, although I only saw one of the latter who was very young, and all those whom I saw were young men, none more than thirty years of age. They were very well built with very handsome bodies, and very good faces. Their hair was almost as coarse as horses' tails, and short, and they wear it over the eyebrows, except a small quantity behind, which they wear long and never cut. Some paint themselves blackish, and they are of the colour of the inhabitants of the Canaries, neither black nor white, and some paint themselves white, some red, some whatever colour they find: and some paint their faces, some all the body, some only the eyes, and some only the nose. They do not carry arms nor know what they are, because I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and ignorantly cut themselves. They have no iron: their spears are sticks without iron, and some of them have a fish's tooth at the end and others have other things. They are all generally of good height, of pleasing appearance and well built: I saw some who had indications of wounds on their bodies, and I asked them by signs if it was that, and they showed me that other people came there from other islands near by and wished to capture them and they defended themselves: and I believed and believe, that they come here from the continental land to take them captive. They must be good servants and intelligent, as I see that they very quickly say all that is said to them, and I believe that they would easily become Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no sect. If it please our Lord, at the time of my departure, I will take six of them from here to your Highnesses that they may learn to speak. I saw no beast of any kind except parrots on this island. "

They very quickly say all that is said to them, and they will very easilybecome good slaves; good Christians also it appears, since the Admiral'sresearch does not reveal the trace of any religious sect. And finally"I will take six of them"; ostensibly that they may learn to speak thelanguage, but really that they may form the vanguard of cargo after cargoof slaves ravished from their happy islands of dreams and sunshine andplenty to learn the blessings of Christianity under the whip and thesword. It is all, alas, inevitable; was inevitable from the moment thatthe keel of Columbus's boat grated upon the shingle of Guanahani. Thegreater must prey upon the less, the stronger must absorb and dominatethe weaker; and the happy gardens of the Golden Cyclades must be spoiledand wasted for the pleasure and enrichment of a corrupting civilisation. But while we recognise the inevitable, and enter into the joy and prideof Columbus and his followers on this first happy morning of theirlanding, we may give a moment's remembrance to the other side of thepicture, and admit that for this generation of innocents the discoverythat was to be all gain for the Old World was to be all loss to them. In the meantime, decrees the Admiral, they are to be freed and converted;and "I will take six of them that they may learn to speak. "

There are no paths or footprints left in the sea, and the water furrowedon that morning more than four hundred years ago by the keels ofColumbus's little fleet is as smooth and trackless as it was before theyclove it. Yet if you approach Guanahani from the east during the hoursof darkness you also will see a light that waxes and wanes on thehorizon. What the light was that Columbus saw is not certain; it wasprobably the light from a torch held by some native woman from the doorof her hut; but the light that you will see is from the lighthouse onDixon Hill, where a tower of coral holds a lamp one hundred and sixtyfeet above the sea at the north-east point of the island. It was erectedin no sentimental spirit, but for very practical purposes, and at a datewhen Watling's Island had not been identified with the Guanahani ofColumbus's landfall; and yet of all the monuments that have been raisedto him I can think of nothing more appropriate than this lonely towerthat stands by day amid the bright sunshine in the track of the tradewind, and by night throws its powerful double flash every half-minuteacross the dark lonely sea. For it was by a light, although not of man'skindling, that Columbus was guided upon his lonely voyage and through hismany difficulties; amid all his trials and disappointments, dimly as itmust have burned sometimes, it never quite went out. Darkness was thename of the sea across which he took his way; darkness, from hisreligious point of view, was the state of the lands to which hejourneyed; and, whatever its subsequent worth may have been, it was aburning fragment from the living torch of the Christian religion that hecarried across the world with him, and by which he sought to kindle thefire of faith in the lands of his discovery. So that there is a profoundsymbolism in those raying beams that now, night after night, month bymonth, and year after year, shine out across the sea from Watling'sIsland in the direction of the Old World. 

In the preparations for this voyage, and in the conduct andaccomplishment of it, the personality of the man Columbus stands clearlyrevealed. He was seen at his best, as all men are who have a chance ofdoing the thing for which they are best fitted. The singleness of aimthat can accomplish so much is made manifest in his dogged search formeans with which to make his voyage; and his Italian quality ofunscrupulousness in the means employed to attain a good end was exercisedto the full. The, practical seaman in him carried him through theeasiest part of his task, which was the actual sailing of his ships fromPalos to Guanahani; Martin Alonso Pinzon could have done as much as that. But no Martin Alonso Pinzon or any other man of that time known tohistory had the necessary combination of defective and effectivequalities that made Columbus, once he had conceived his glorious hazyidea, spend the best years of his life, first in acquiring the positionthat would make him listened to by people powerful enough to help him, and then in besieging them in the face of every rebuff anddiscouragement. Another man, proposing to venture across the unknownocean to unknown lands, would have required a fleet for his conveyance, and an army for his protection; but Columbus asked for what he thought hehad some chance of getting, and for the barest equipment that would carryhim across the water. Another man would at least have had a bodyguard;but Columbus relied upon himself, and alone held his motley crew in thebonds of discipline. A Pinzon could have navigated the fleet from Palosto Guanahani; but only a Columbus, only a man burning with belief ishimself and in his quest, could have kept that superstitious crowd ofloafers and malefactors and gaol-birds to their duties, and bent them tohis will. He was destined in after years for situations which werebeyond his power to deal with, and for problems that were beyond hisgrasp; but here at least he was supreme, master of himself and of hismaterial, and a ruler over circumstances. The supreme thing that he hadprofessed to be able to do and which he had guaranteed to do was, in thesublime simplicity of his own phrase, "to discover new lands, " and luckor no luck, help or hindrance, he did it at the very first attempt and inthe space of thirty-five days. And although it was from the Pinta thatthe gun was fired, and the first loom of the actual land seen in theearly morning, I am glad to think that, of all the number of eagerwatching men, it was Columbus who first saw the dim tossing light thattold him his journey was at an end.