Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/132

 128 COLUMBUS chez was inspector general of the fleet ; Diego de Arana, principal alguazil ; Kodrigo de Esco- bar, royal notary. There were also a surgeon, a physician, some few adventurers, and 90 sea- men ; in all, 120 souls. There were provisions for one year. Before leaving, Columbus, with most of his officers and crew, confessed to Juan Perez, and received the sacrament ; and from the roads of Saltez, near Palos, on Friday morning, Aug. 3, 1492, they set sail on their expedition. They reached the Canaries with- out incident, except an accident to the Pinta's rudder, but hastened their departure from those islands, Sept. 6, on learning that a Portuguese fleet of three frigates was near, which the admiral was apprehensive might have been sent to intercept him. When night fell, and they lost sight of the last land on the ma'rgin of the sea of darkness, the full measure of their hardihood burst on the adventurers. Many wept, and declared they should never re- turn. Columbus calmed their fears, and ex- cited their cupidity by picturing the gorgeous regions of the east, drawing for descriptions on his imagination of Cathay. 'After leaving the Canaries the winds were light and baffling, but always from the east. On Sept. 11 they saw floating a tree, or mast, as of a vessel of 120 tons. On the afternoon of the 13th Columbus was startled to find a variance of the needle, which no longer pointed to the pole. The crew becoming alarmed, he invented a plausible theory about the attraction of the polar star, which quieted the pilots' fears. He also took observations of the sun evefry day with an as- trolabe, and kept two logs, one correct for himself, and the other, showing a smaller pro- gress, for his crew, thus keeping them in igno- rance of the great distance they were from Spain. As they advanced, the oldest sailors were deceived by frequent indications of land. On the night of the 15th a meteor fell within five lengths of the admiral's ship. On the 16th the ships entered into the region of the trade winds. "This day, and all the following," says Columbus, " the air was so mild that it wanted but the song of nightingales to make it like the month of April in Andalusia." The same day they came into the sea of seaweed, yet known as the Sargasso sea; and on the 18th Martin Alonso, who had been ahead in the Pinta, assured Columbus that, from indications, they would see the land next day. The 19th was calm ; they sounded, and found no bottom at 200 fathoms. On the 20th a change of wind to the S. W. cheered the crews with the belief that they were not urged forward by an ever- blowing east wind, against which it would be impossible to return. On the 23d was a storm, during which the crews insisted that the ad- miral should tempt Providence no further. On the 25th the wind became favorable. Colum- bus was studying a chart in his cabin, when Martin Pinzon cried " Land ! " pointing to the S. W., where a dark mass was visible at the apparent distance of 25 leagues. The Gloria in excelsis was sung in all the ships, and the course was altered, only to find on the morrow that they had mistaken a cloud for the shore. For several days they sailed due west with a favoring breeze. On Oct. 1 Columbus estima- ted that he was 707 leagues from the Azores, and that in 40 more he would make some part of Asia. On the Yth the Nina gave the signal for land ; but this was again an illusion. The crews had long been in a state of mutiny, often despairing, at other times turbulent, and even plotting to throw the admiral overboard. Columbus never swerved. Impressed by the one great idea of Asia to the westward, he re- fused to turn from the course, not even in search of islands which the pilots imagined to be near. During the 8th, 9th, and 10th they sailed W. S. W., following the flight of birds. On the llth the Pinta picked up a piece of wood rudely carved, and the Nina a branch of thorn, with red berries. As night set in, th< course was again changed due west. Af evening prayer the admiral ordered a double watch to be set, and promised a silken doublet, in addition to the 10,000 maravedis guaranteed by the Crown, to him who should first see the. land. At 10 o'clock P. M. Columbus was seated on his deck, gazing wistfully seaward, when he saw a light. He called to Pedro Gutierrez, who also saw it, but Rodriguez San- chez did not. No one slept that night. At o'clock A. M. of Friday, Oct. 12, 1492, after having been 71 days at sea, the Pinta fired a gun, the signal for land. Rodrigo Triana, a sailor of the Pinta, was the first who saw the new world ; but the reward was afterward ad- judged to Columbus, for having previously perceived the light. When morning dawned a wooded island was seen about two leagues distant, with crowds of natives running along the beach. At sunrise, the boats being low- ered, Columbus with the royal standard of Castile, and the brothers Pinzon bearing each a flag with a green cross, were rowed to th< shore. Columbus first stepped on the beach. All knelt down, kissing the ground with tears and thanks to God. Then rising and drawing his sword, Columbus, as grand admiral and viceroy, unfurled the royal banner, took pos- session in the name of the crown of Castile, and named the island (one of the Bahama group) San Salvador. The astonished natives gazed in silence at their visitors, whom they imagined to be gods come down from heaven. Presents were exchanged of toys and trinkets for cotton yarn and cassava bread. Some of the natives, who wore ornaments of gold, on being interrogated whence the metal came, in- dicated by gestures a country in the south, whereon Columbus carried off seven of them and set out in search of this auriferous region, which he supposed to be Cipango. In the search, which proved fruitless as far as golc was concerned, he discovered the islands of Conception, Exuma, Isla Larga, and Cuba. The last he at first thought was the Cipango he