Page:The life of Christopher Columbus.djvu/87

] To a rare fineness of hearing, he joined a keenness of sight that reached far, and gave him an exact knowledge of distances. His delicacy of taste enabled him to point out differences that were imperceptible to common people. But all these advantages yielded to his delicacy of smell, which discerned immediately the diverse combinations of odors. He admired with tenderness the works of the Creator, sought with eagerness for flowers, birds, and the productions of the sea, and enjoyed in a special manner the odors of vegetation.

Plain in his clothing, Columbus had no other finery of dress than cleanliness. In this he was exquisite. To the absence of stains or rents, or negligence in his clothing, which he knew how to preserve a long time, he endeavored to join whiteness, and often fineness of linen, always slightly perfumed. His attraction for sweet scents never became weakened. He delighted in odoriferous flowers, balsamic gums, perfumes in essence and in powders, and in scented waters.

This elegance of taste was natural to him, like his ability in horsemanship. His sole visage showed his nobleness of mind, and a certain air of authority that struck intelligent eyes. His whole demeanor denoted the perfect gentleman.

Although from the age of fourteen Columbus had been always at sea, or sojourning in the ports with the seamen, he did not participate in their ordinary vices. He detested swearing and indecent songs; drank but little wine; could not bear games of chance; despised effeminate pleasures; had no inclination for the pleasures of the table, and kept on land his frugal habits on shipboard. His extreme frugality made him prefer an almost vegetable regimen. He passed easily from the use of meats to live on bread, rice, eggs, fresh vegetables, dates, etc. To wine he preferred, as a drink, water sweetened with Canary sugar and some drops of orange-flower.

This frugality was accompanied with a habit of order, of arrangement and of punctuality, which prevented him from