Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/629

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eye in either vessel closed that night. About ten o'clock he thought he saw a light glimmering in the distance, but it soon disappeared. Again it appeared in a sudden and passing gleam. Others saw it as well as himself; it looked like the torch of some fishing boat, rising and falling with the roll of the ocean. Steadily they proceeded on their course till midnight. Soon afterwards the loom of land could be faintly traced. With feelings of the most intense anxiety they waited for the dawn. As the first rays of the morning light broke slowly through the clouds and haze which hung. about the horizon, the land became clearly visible. The life-inspiring cry of "Land" now rang from ship to ship, till at last there was no deception: the land lay not more than two leagues distant. On the morning of Friday, 12th of October, 1492, the great navigator first beheld one of the many islands which lie contiguous to a new and now mighty world.

The land thus discovered proved to be Guanahani, one of the south-eastern of the great cluster of the Lucayos or Bahama Islands, which stretch southeast and north-west from the coast of Florida to Hispaniola, covering the northern coast of Cuba. There are few islands more naturally rich or beautiful. The verdure everywhere is green and luxuriant, and the whole island from the sea looks like a highly cultivated garden. Well might every one on board