Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/25

Rh Darien and looked off over the vast expanse of water toward the west, never realizing that he had discovered a new ocean or that the peak on which he stood formed part of the backbone of a new world. For many years after the western shore of the Atlantic was discovered all who landed upon it supposed they were in some part of Asia. They called those countries "the West Indies," and the people of both North and South America "Indians."

In 1502, Columbus was earnestly examining the coast of Central America, hoping to find some passage like the Straits of Gibraltar which would prove to be the long-looked-for gateway to the land of gold. Indeed, so eager was he in this vain pursuit that he lost sight of everything else.

It was during this voyage that Europeans obtained their first glimpse of Mexican wealth and civilization. One party from the little squadron had landed on an island near Cape Honduras to obtain a supply of fresh water. While on the beach they saw a canoe of unusual size making its way toward the point on which they stood. Its passengers and crew made a large company; they seemed to be strangers, and to have come from a long distance. Fernando Columbus, who was with his father at the time, describes the boat as "eight feet wide and as long as a galley, though formed of the trunk of a single tree and shaped like those common in the islands. In the middle of the canoe there was an awning made of palm-leaves, not unlike those of the Venetian gondolas, which formed so close a covering as to protect whatever it contained against the rain and waves. Under this awning were women and children, goods and merchandise. The canoe was rowed by twenty-five men."