Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/60

40 drift-wood, and birds, and a stick carved by tool. On the night of Thursday, Oct. 11, 1492, Columbus, standing, near midnight, on the poop of his vessel, saw a moving light, which afterwards proved, as he surmised, to be a torch, carried from one hut to another, on the island which he named San Salvador. On the next morning, clad in complete, armor, with the banner of Spain, his captains around him, bearing the royal insignia of Ferdinand and Isabella, he landed on a spot which he says was fresh and fruitful like a garden full of trees. The natives in simple amazement looked on, as they lined the shores and saw their mysterious visitors kneel with devout tears on the earth.

And here is Columbus's report of his first impression from those whom he looked upon then as simply materials for making Christians: —