Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/625

 morning of the 6th of September, bidding farewell to these frontier islands of the Old World, and striking out into unknown seas to discover a New World which seems destined to eclipse every other nation of ancient or of modern times. For three days he lay becalmed, and it was not until Tuesday, the 9th of September, that he lost sight of land. Then the hearts of the sailors failed them; behind them lay everything dear to them on earth; before them all was mystery, chaos, and peril.

The cheering hopes held out by Columbus, with the certainty of great rewards when they reached the land of Cathay, where gold and precious stones were said to be found in vast abundance, had no effect on these disconsolate men, many of whom shed tears, while others broke into loud lamentations, refusing to be comforted. Two days after, they had lost sight of the Canaries, and when, about one hundred and fifty leagues to the westward of Ferro, they fell in with the part of a mast, covered with shells and seaweed, the fears of the trembling crew were increased; till at length, when, on the 13th of September, Columbus, for the first time, noticed that the variation of the needle increased as he advanced to the westward, the great navigator himself became really alarmed, though he did not make known his doubts and fears. But the variation of the compass soon attracted the attention of the pilots and filled them with consternation. The very laws of nature they thought were changing as they proceeded westward. That instrument they felt was about to lose its mysterious virtues, and without it they would, on such a vast and trackless ocean, be lost for ever. Though Columbus