16. On landing, he threw himself on his knees, kissed the earth, and returned thanks to God with tears of joy. His example was followed by the rest, whose hearts, indeed, overflowed with the same feelings of gratitude. Columbus then rising, drew his sword, displayed the royal standard, and assembling round him all who had landed, took solemn possession in the name of the Castilian sovereigns, giving the island the name of San Salvador. Having complied with the requisite forms and ceremonies, he called upon all present to take the oath of obedience to him as admiral and viceroy, representing the persons of the sovereigns.

17. The feelings of the crew now burst forth in the most extravagant transports. They had recently considered themselves devoted men hurrying forward to destruction; they now looked upon themselves as favorites of fortune, and gave themselves up to the most unbounded joy. They thronged around the admiral with overflowing zeal, some embracing him, others kissing his hands. Those who had been most mutinous and turbulent during the voyage were now most devoted and enthusiastic. Some begged favors of him as if he had already wealth and honors in his gift. Many abject spirits, who had outraged him by their insolence, now crouched at his feet, begging pardon for all the trouble they had caused him, and promising the blindest obedience for the future." 18. Leaving San Salvador, Columbus soon discovered other islands, the largest being Cuba and His-pan-i-o-la (Little Spain). As he supposed that all these were outdiscoveries of lying islands of India, he called the natives Indians. "The islanders were friendly and gentle," says Irving, "and treated the Spaniards with kindness." 19. Leaving a small colony at Hispaniola, "in the month of January, 1493, Columbus embarked for Spain. One of his vessels had previously foundered, and another had deserted

Other

Columbus.

1 Hispaniola was afterwards called San Domingo. The name Hayti (hay'-te) was given to it after the French were expelled, in 1803.

1493

Return of Columbus to Spain.

Return

23

him; so that he was left alone to retrace his steps across the Atlantic. After a most tempestuous voyage, he was compelled to take shelter in the Tagus, sorely against his inclination. He experienced, however, the most of Columbus to Spain. honorable reception from the Portuguese monarch, John the Second, who did ample justice to the great qualities of Columbus, although he had failed to profit by them. After a brief delay the admiral (Columbus) resumed his voyage, and about noon on the 15th of March entered the harbor of Palos (pah'-los), being exactly seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port.

20. Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos as they beheld the well-known vessel of the admiral reentering the harbor. Their desponding imaginations had long since consigned him to a watery grave. Most of them had relatives or friends on board. They thronged immediately to the shore to assure themselves with their own eyes of the truth of their return. When they beheld their faces once more, and saw them accompanied by the numerous evidences which they brought back of the success of the expedition, they burst forth in acclamations of joy and gratulation. They awaited the landing of Columbus, when the whole population of the place accompanied him and his crew to the principal church, where solemn thanksgivings were offered up for their return; while every bell in the village sent forth a joyous peal in honor of the glorious event.

21. The admiral was too desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns to protract his stay long at Palos. He took with him on his journey specimens of the products of the newly-discovered regions. He was accompanied by several of the native islanders, arrayed in their simple barbaric costume, and decorated, as he passed through the principal cities, with collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, rudely fashioned. He exhibited also considerable quantities of the same metal in dust or in crude masses, numerous vegetable exotics possessed of aromatic virtue, and several

kinds of quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and birds whose various gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect to the pageant. The admiral's progress through the country was everywhere impeded by the multitudes thronging forth to gaze at the extraordinary spectacle, and the more extraordinary man, who, in the emphatic language of that time, which has now lost its force from its familiarity, first revealed the existence of a 'New World.' As he passed through the busy, populous city of Seville (sev'-il), every window, balcony, and housetop which could afford a glimpse of him is described to have been crowded with spectators.

22. It was the middle of April before Columbus reached Bar-ce-lo'-na. The nobility and cavaliers in attendance on the court, together with the authorities of the city, came to the gates to receive him and escort him to the royal presence. Ferdinand and Isabella were seated, with their son, Prince John, under a superb canopy of state awaiting his arrival. On his approach they rose from their seats, and, extending their hands to him to salute, caused him to be seated before them. These were unprecedented marks of condescension to a person of Columbus's rank in the haughty and ceremonious court of Castile.

23. It was indeed the proudest moment in the life of Columbus. He had fully established the truth of his long-contested theory, in the face of argument, sophistry, sneer, skepticism, and contempt. He had achieved this, not by chance, but by calculation, supported through the most adverse circumstances by consummate conduct. The honors paid him, which had hitherto been reserved only for rank, or fortune, or military success, purchased by the blood and tears of thousands, were in his case a homage to intellectual power successfully exerted in behalf of the noblest interests of humanity.

1 Columbus made three other voyages to the new world, in the first of which, as well as in the one described above, his discoveries were confined to the islands between North and South America. In his third voyage, made in 1498, he discovered the mainland at the mouth of the

The Indians.

24. 66 The continent of North America was then one continued forest. There were no horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, or tame beasts of any kind; but a plenty of deer, moose, bears, elks, buffaloes, and a variety of other wild animals. There was no domestic poultry; but the woods were full of turkeys, partridges, pigeons, and other birds. Wild-geese, ducks, teal, and other water-fowl abounded in the bays, creeks, rivers, and ponds. There were no gardens, orchards, public roads, meadows, or cultivated fields; but the Indians so often burned the woods that they could advantageously plant their patches of corn. They were clothed with the skins of wild beasts. Their houses were generally made of small young trees bent and twisted together, and so curiously covered with mats or bark as to be tolerably dry and

warm.

25. The Indians made their fire in the centre of the house, which had an opening at the top for the escape of the smoke. Their food was coarse and simple, without any kind of seasoning. They had neither spice, salt, bread, butter, cheese, nor milk. Their drink was water. They fed on the flesh and entrails of moose, deer, bears, beasts, and birds of all kinds; on fish, eels, and creeping things. Nothing came amiss. In the hunting and fishing seasons they had venison, moose, fat bears, raccoons, geese, turkeys, ducks, and fish of all kinds. In the summer they had green corn, beans, squashes, and the various fruits which the country naturally produced. In the winter they subsisted on corn, beans, fish, nuts, ground-nuts, and acorns.

26. They had not set meals, but ate when they were hungry and could find anything to satisfy the cravings of nature. Sometimes, from necessity, they lived without food for several

river O-ri-no'-co, in South America. He died in Spain, in 1506, at about the age of seventy, and his body was deposited in a convent at Val-lado-lid, Spain, but was afterward removed to Seville. Twenty-three years after, it was taken across the Atlantic to Hispaniola, and, finally, two hundred and sixty years later, was carried with great ceremony to the cathedral of Havana, Cuba, its present resting-place.

days; but when well supplied they gourmandized. Very little of their food was derived from the earth, except what it spontaneously produced. Indian corn, beans, and squashes were the chief articles for which they labored. The ground was both their seat and table. Trenchers, knives, forks, and napkins were unknown. Their best bed was a mat or a skin. They had neither chair nor a stool; but they sat upon the ground, commonly with their elbows on their knees. A few wooden and stone vessels and instruments served all the purposes of domestic life.

27. They had neither steel, iron, nor any metallic instrument. Their knife was a sharp stone, shell, or reed, which they sharpened in such a manner as to cut their hair and make their bows and arrows. They made their axes of stones. These they sharpened somewhat like common iron axes, with this difference that they were made with a neck instead of an eye, and fastened with a withe, like a blacksmith's chisel. They had mortars, stone pestles, and chisels. They dressed their corn with a clam-shell, or with a stick made flat and sharp at one end.

28. Their only weapons were bows and arrows, the tomahawk, and the wooden sword or spear. Their bow-strings were made of the sinews of deer or of Indian hemp. Their arrows were constructed of young elder or of other straight sticks and reeds. These were headed with a sharp flinty stone or with bones. The arrow was cleft at one end, and the stone or bone was put in and fastened with a small cord. The tomahawk was a stick of two or three feet in length with a knob at the end. Sometimes it was a stone hatchet, or a stick with a piece of deer's horn at one end. Their spear was a straight piece of wood sharpened and hardened in the fire or headed with bone or stone.

29. They had made no improvement in navigation beyond the construction and management of the hollow trough or canoe. They made their canoes of the chestnut, white-wood, and pine trees. As these grew straight to a great length, and