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18 by a vessel from Europe steered due west across the Atlantic Ocean.

For eighteen long years Columbus talked and dreamed of this voyage. At last, in the year 1492, after many disheartening delays, he sailed from the harbor of Palos, in Spain, with a little fleet of vessels provided by his sovereigns, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, king and queen of the united Spains. It was on this voyage to India that Columbus discovered the little island of Guana-hane, one of the Bahamas, named by him "San Salvador." He supposed it to be one of the outlying islands of Asia, and that by pushing on still farther toward the west he would soon reach that continent. His great desire was to open up to his countrymen a new path to the Spice Islands, the pearl-fisheries and the mines of gold, silver and precious stones of which they so fondly dreamed, and, better still—for Columbus was an earnest Christian—to tell the story of the cross to its heathen people. He hoped also to build up a new empire for Spain and to become its viceroy, with power to transmit the office to his posterity. He returned to Spain with the news of his discovery, but went back once and again to pursue his search for India, expecting to find some gate through these western islands to that country. How strong was his hope is shown by the fact that on his third and last voyage he took with him Arabic interpreters, so that when he met any Mohammedans—at that time the rulers of India—he would be able to hold conversations with them in a language understood by all followers of Mohammed.

We can scarcely imagine the ignorance of those times. In 1502, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer, climbed to the top of the mountains on the Isthmus of