At length Providence interpofed, to fave a life referved for other fervices. The wind abated, the fea became calm, and on the evening of the fifteenth, Columbus and his companions difcovered land; and though uncertain what it was, they made towards it. They foon knew it to be St. Mary, one of the Azores or western ifles, subject to the crown of Portugal. There, after a violent contest with the governor, in which Columbus difplayed no less spirit than prudence, he obtained a fupply of fresh provifions, and whatever else he needed. One circumstance, however, greatly difquieted him. The Pinta, of which he had loft fight on the first day of the hurricane, did not appear; he dreaded for fome time that she had foundered at fea, and that all her crew had perished: afterwards, his former fufpicions recurred, and he became apprehenfive that Pinzon had born away for Spain, that he might reach it before him, and, by giving the firft account of his difcoveries, might obtain fome fhare of his fame.

In order to prevent this, he left the Azores on the twenty-fourth of February, as foon as the weather would permit. At no great diftance from the coaft of Spain, when near the end of his voyage, and feem

me, which prevented them from returning as they had often refolved to have done. But befides all this, my forrow was greatly increased, by recollecting that I had left my two fons at school at Cordova, destitute of friends, in a foreign country, when it could not in all probability be known that I had done such services as might induce your highnesses to remember them. And though I comforted myself with the faith that our Lord would not permit that, which tended fo much to the glory of his church, and which I had brought about with fo much trouble, to remain imperfect, yet I confidered, that on ac count of my fins, it was his will to deprive me of that glory, which I might have attained in this world. While in this confufed state, I thought on the good fortune which accompanies your highnesses, and imagined, that although I should perish, and the vessel be loft, it was poffible that you might fomehow come to the knowledge of my voyage, and the fuccefs with which it was attended. For that reason I wrote upon parchment with the brevity which the fituation required, that I had discovered the lands which I promised, in how many days I had done it, and what course I had followed. I mentioned the goodness of the country, the character of the inhabitants, and that your highneffes fubjects were left in poffeffion of all that I had discovered. Having fealed this wri ting, I addressed it to your highnesses, and promised a thousand ducats to any person who fhould deliver it fealed, so that if any foreigners found it, the promised reward might prevail on them not to give the information to another. I then caused a great cask to be brought to me, and wrapping up the parchment in an oiled cloth, and, afterwards in a cake of wax, I put it into the cafk, and having ftopt it well, I caft it into the fea. All the men believed that it was fome act of devotion. Imagining that this might never chance to be taken up, as the ships approached nearer to Spain, I made another packet like the first, and placed it at the top of the poop, so that if the ship funk, the cask remaining above water might be committed to the guidance of fortune."

ingly beyond the reach of any difafter, another ftorm arofe, little inferior to the former in violence; and after driving before it during two days and two nights, he was forced to take shelter in the river Tagus. Upon application to the king of Portugal, on the fourth of March, one thousand four hundred and ninety-three, he was allowed to come up to Lifbon; and, notwithstanding the envy which it was natural for the Portuguese to feel, when they beheld another nation entering upon that province of discovery which they had hitherto deemed peculiarly their own, and in its firft effay, not only rivalling but eclipsing their fame, Columbus was received with all the marks of diftinction due to a man who had performed things fo extraordinary and unexpected. The king admitted him into his presence, treated him with the highest respect, and liftened to the account which he gave of his voyage with admiration mingled with regret. While Columbus, on his part, enjoyed the fatiffaction of defcribing the importance of his difcoveries, and of being now able to prove the folidity of his fchemes to thofe very perfons, who with an ignorance difgraceful to themfelves, and fatal to their country, had lately rejected them as the projects of a vifionary or defigning adven

turer.

Columbus was fo impatient to return to Spain, that he remained only five days in Lisbon. On the fifteenth of March he arrived in the port of Palos, feven months and eleven days from the time when he fet out thence upon his voyage. As foon as his fhip was difcovered approaching the port, all the inhabitants of Palos ran eagerly to the fhore, in order to welcome their relations and fellow-citizens, and to hear tidings of their voyage. When the profperous iffue of it was known, when they beheld the ftrange people, the unknown animals, and fingular productions brought from the countries which had been discovered, the effufion of joy was general and unbounded. The bells were rung, the cannon fired; Columbus was received at landing with royal honours, and ali the people, in folemn proceffion, accompanied him and his crew to the church, where they returned thanks to Heaven, which had fo wonderfully conducted and crowned with fuccefs, a voyage of greater length and of more importance, than had been attempted in any former age. On the evening of the fame day, he had the fatisfaction of feeing the Pinta, which the violence of the tempeft had driven far to the north, enter the harbour.

The firft care of Columbus was to inform the king and queen, who were then at Barcelona, of his arrival and fuccefs. Ferdinand and Ifabella, no lefs aftonifned than delighted with this unexpected event, de

fred Columbus, in terms the most respectful and flattering, to repair immediately to court, that from his own mouth they might receive a full detail of his extraordinary fervices and difcoveries. During his journey to Barcelona, the people crowded from the adjacent country, following him every where with admiration and applaufe. His entrance into the city was conducted, by order of Ferdinand and Ifabella, with pomp fuitable to the great event, which added such distinguished luftre to their reign. The people whom he brought along with him from the countries which he had difcovered, marched firft, and by their fingular complexion, the wild peculiarity of their features, and uncouth finery, appeared like men of another species. Next to them were carried the ornaments of gold, fashioned by the rude art of the natives, the grains of gold found in the mountains, and duft of the fame metal gathered in the rivers. After these, appeared the various commodities of the new discovered countries, together with their curious productions. Columbus himself clofed the proceffion, and attracted the eyes of all the fpectators, who gazed with admiration on the extraordinary man, whofe fuperior fagacity and fortitude had conducted their countrymen, by a route concealed from past ages, to the knowledge of a new world. Ferdinand and Isabella received him clad in their royal robes, and feated upon a throne, under a magnificent canopy. When he approached they ftood up, and raifing him as he kneeled to kiss their hands, commanded him to take his feat upon a chair prepared for him, and to give a circumftantial account of his voyage. He delivered it with a gravity and compofure no lefs fuitable to the difpofition of the Spanish nation, than to the dignity of the audience in which he spoke, and with that modest fimplicity which characteriies men of fuperior minds; who, fatisfied with having performed great actions, court not vain applause by an oftentatious difplay of their exploits. When he had finished his narration, the king and queen, kneeling down, offered up folemn thanks to Almighty God for the difcovery of thofe new regions, from which they expected fo many advantages to flow in upon the kingdoms fubject to their government. Every mark of honour that gratitude or admiration could fuggeft was conferred upon Columbus. Letters patent were iffued, confirming to him and to his heirs all the privileges contained in the capitulation concluded at Santa Fé; his family was ennobled; the king and queen, and, after their example, the courtiers, treated him, on every occafion, with all the ceremonious refpect paid to perfons of the highest rank. But what pleafed him moft, as it gratified his active mind, bent continually upon great objects, was, an order to equip, without delay, an armament of fuch force, as might enable him not only

to

to take poffeffion of the countries which he had already difcovered, but to go in fearch of those more opulent regions, which he still confidently expected to find.

While preparations were making for this expedition, the fame of Columbus's fuccefsful voyage fpread over Europe, and excited general attention. The multitude, ftruck with amazement when they heard that a new world had been found, could hardly believe an event fo much above their conception. Men of science, capable of comprehending the nature, and of difcerning the effects, of this great difcovery, received the account of it with admiration and joy. They spoke of his voyage with rapture, and congratulated one another upon their felicity, in having lived in the period when, by this extraordinary event, the boundaries of human knowledge were fo much extended, and fuch a new field of inquiry and obfervation opened, as would lead mankind to a perfect acquaintance with the structure and productions of the habitable globe. Various opinions and conjectures were formed concerning the new-found countries, and what divifion of the earth they belonged to. Columbus adhered tenacioufly to his original opinion, that they should be reckoned a part of thofe vaft regions in Afia, comprehended under the general name of India. This fentiment was confirmed by the observations which he made concerning the productions of the countries he had discovered. Gold was known to abound in India, and he had met with fuch promifing famples of it in the islands which he vifited, as led him to believe that rich mines of it might be found. Cotton, another production of the Eaft Indies, was common there. The pimento of the islands he imagined to be a fpecies of the Eaft-Indian pepper. He miftook a root, fomewhat refembling rhubarb, for that valuable drug, which was then fuppofed to be a plant peculiar to the Eaft Indies. The birds brought home by him were adorned with the fame rich plumage which diftinguishes thofe of India. The alligator of the one country appeared to be the fame with the crocodile of the other. After weighing all these circumstances, not only the Spaniards, but the other nations of Europe, feem to have adopted the opinion of Columbus. The countries which he had difcovered were confidered as a part of India. In confequence of this notion, the name of Indies is given to them by Ferdinand and Ifabella, in a ratification of their former agreement, which was granted to Columbus upon his return. Even after the error which gave rife to this opinion was detected, and the true pofition of the New World was afcertained, the name has remained, and the appellation of West Indies is given by all the people of Europe to the coun try, and that of Indians to its inhabitants.

The

the

voyage.

The name by which Columbus diftinguished the countries which he had discovered was fo inviting, the fpecimens of their riches and fertility, which he produced, were fo confiderable, and the reports of his companions, delivered frequently with the exaggeration natural to travellers, fo favourable, as to excite a wonderful spirit of enterprise among the Spaniards. Though little accustomed to naval expeditions, they were impatient to set out upon Volunteers of every rank folicited to be employed. Allured by the inviting profpects which opened to their ambition and avarice, neither the length nor danger of the navigation intimidated them. Cautious as Ferdinand was, and averse to every thing new and adventurous, he seems to have catched the fame spirit with his fubjects. Under its influence, preparations for a fecond expedition were carried on with a rapidity unusual in Spain, and to an extent that would be deemed not inconfiderable in the present age. The fleet confifted of feventeen fhips, fome of which were of good burden. It had on board fifteen hundred perfons, among whom were many of noble families, who had ferved in honourable stations. The greater part of these being destined to remain in the country, were furnished with every thing requifite for conqueft or fettlement, with all kinds of European domestic animals, with fuch feeds and plants as were most likely to thrive in the climate of the West Indies, with utenfils and inftruments of every fort, and with such artificers as might be most ufeful in an infant colony.

But, formidable and well provided as this fleet was, Ferdinand and Isabella did not reft their title to the poffeffion of the newly-difcovered countries upon its operations alone. The example of the Portuguese, as well as the fuperftition of the age, made it neceffary to obtain from the Roman pontiff a grant of those territories which they wished to occupy. The Pope, as the vicar and representative of Jesus Christ, was supposed to have a right of dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth. Alexander VI. a pontiff infamous for every crime which difgraces humanity, filled the papal throne at that time. As he was born Ferdinand's fubject, and very folicitous to fecure the protection of Spain, in order to facilitate the execution of his ambitious fchemes in favour of his own family, he was extremely willing to gratify the Spanish monarchs. By an act of liberality which cost him nothing, and that ferved to establish the jurisdiction and pretenfions of the papal fee, he granted in full right to Ferdinand and Ifabella all the countries inhabited by Infidels, which they had discovered, or fhould difcover; and, in virtue of that power which he derived from Jefus Chrift, he conferred on the crown of Caftile vaft regions, to the poffeffion of which he himself was so far

from