and New Testaments, the heavens were compared to a tent extended over its surface. Others, admitting the possibility of its sphericity, maintained that it was encircled by the torrid zone, an impassable barrier of heat, precluding all communication between the antipodes. Epicurus had affirmed that the southern hemisphere was a mere chaos, and Lactantius Firmianus had denied that there were antipodes at all. If there were, and if a ship could really slide in safety over the enormous round, how was she ever to get up hill again? In short, the majority of his learned auditors "entrenched themselves behind one dogged position; that after so many profound philosophers and cosmographers had been studying the form of the world, and so many able navigators had been sailing about it for several thousand years, it was great presumption in an ordinary man to suppose that there remained such a vast discovery for him to make." So great, in fine, were the prejudice, bigotry, and ignorance of a majority of the council, that, though a few of the more intelligent were convinced by his arguments or persuaded by his eloquence, the great body of the assembly, after several fruitless conferences, utterly refused to risk their reputation by any countenance to such an unheard-of innovation. CHAPTER II. DELAY AND DISAPPOINTMENT EXPERIENCED BY COLUMBUS.--HIS YEARS passed by, and Columbus, the victim of hope deferred, still protracted his attendance at the Spanish court, gleaning a precarious support from his industry, and occasionally assisted by the liberality of his patrons. He fought against the Moors in the campaign of 1489, and, it is said, with distinguished courage; but was repeatedly disappointed in his hopes of obtaining a fresh interview with the sovereigns. Rejecting, from a stern remembrance of past treachery, the renewed overtures of John II., he dispatched his brother Bartholomew to England, to seek the aid of Henry VII., in prosecution of his enterprise. He also made application to the powerful dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Cali; but, after receiving some encouragement, was again thwarted in his wishes, and sick at heart, took his way back to the convent of Rabida. The worthy prior, grieved and scandalized at his ill-success, again bestirred himself. Mounting his mule, he betook himself to court, and by his eloquence so wrought upon the queen (whose confessor he had formerly been) that she at once recalled Columbus to her presence. The sovereigns, with their army, were then encamped before Granada, the last stronghold of the unfortunate Moors; and he arrived in time to witness its memorable surrender. This long and exhausting contest finally decided, they found more leisure to listen to schemes of enterprise, and accordingly appointed agents (among them Talavera, archbishop of Granada) to confer with the persevering projector. At first all negotiation seemed fruitless, for these high dignitaries, offended at the conditions attached to his posal, utterly refused acceding to terms which they considered pre sumptuous and arrogant in the extreme. Argument was in vain. He would yield absolutely nothing. Seven years had been wasted at the Spanish court, and he was now far advanced in life; yet this indefatigable man, on learning their adverse decision, forthwith mounted his beast, and set off, to carry his scheme and his services to the court of France. pro At this unfortunate issue, the few friends of science and enterprise were overwhelmed with mortification. They hastened to the queen, and besought her that no unnecessary scruples should transfer to other hands a project so momentous to the interests of Spain and the extension of Christianity. Moved by their eloquence, she fully resolved in favour of the scheme, and with a generous and queenly enthusiasm, resolved that, if needful, the very jewels of her crown should be pledged to procure means for the expedition. An express was immediately dispatched after Columbus, and soon overtook him. on the road to France. After hesitating a moment, reluctant to trust himself again to the mercies of the court, he turned the head of his mule, and journeyed back to Granada. The interest and ambition of the sovereigns were now fully excited, and the terms demanded by the adventurer were at once acceded to. These were, indeed, of a princely and magnificent nature, and, had good faith been observed by the crown, would have resulted in the foundation of family honours and authorities greater than any subject ever received at the hands of a sovereign. He and his heirs for ever were to enjoy the title of "High Admiral of the Ocean Sea" in all the lands and seas which he should discover, with the office of viceroy and governor-general, invested with almost absolute authority; and for the due support of these high dignities, were to receive an eighth of all profits accruing from the anticipated discoveries (April, 1492). To the honour of Columbus, it must be said, that with him these splendid offices and prospective emoluments were not, in themselves, the ultimate reward of his exertions; but only the means by which grander and more worthy schemes (to his view) were to be accomplished. The Grand Khan, with the immense regions under his sway, was to be converted to Christianity—perhaps brought under allegiance to their Most Catholic Majesties. The Holy Sepulchre, by the aid of the expected treasure, was to be rescued from the infidels, and the Faith was to triumph throughout the remotest regions of the earth. The little sea-port of Palos, in consequence of some offence to the crown, had been condemned by the council to furnish, when required, two caravels, or small undecked vessels, for the public service. These little craft, with their crews, were now, by a royal order, placed at the disposition of Columbus. The mariners of that port were among the boldest and most skilful of any who ventured into the dreaded waters of the Atlantic, or coasted along the newlyexplored shores of Africa; but when the nature of the proposed expedition was made known, a general thrill of horror ran through the whole community. To sail into an unknown, untraversed sea, with no certain land to steer to, seemed, even to the boldest, the enterprise of madness and a mere tempting of Providence. Every frightful contingency which ignorance and superstition could suggest, or ancient rumor confirm, was eagerly adduced against the audacious project. Neither vessels nor mariners, despite the peremptory orders of a despotic court, could be procured, and the enterprise seemed at a stand, when the wealth and influence of a single family came successfully to its aid. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, one of the ablest navigators of the place, and his brother Vicente, persuaded by the arguments of Columbus, now came forward, and threw all their weight in favour of the undertaking. They furnished at least one vessel from their private means, and by their influence and authority the work went rapidly forward. Every encouragement to those engaged in the project, even to an exemption from the consequences of crime, was afforded by the court, and by the beginning of August, 1492, three small vessels were ready for sea. Aboard the Santa Maria, the largest of these and the only one completely decked, Columbus hoisted his flag; another, the Pinta, which had been pressed into the service, was commanded by Alonzo Pinzon; and the third, a little caravel called the Nina, by his brother Vicente. The crews amounted to an hundred and twenty souls. Letters were prepared by the sovereigns for delivery to the Grand Khan, on whose territories it was supposed the expedition would first light, and whose conversion, (an object of pious, but unrequited zeal, to many devout sovereigns,) it was now confidently expected, would be triumphantly brought about. Columbus, with all his people, performed the solemn rites of confession and communion, amid the lamentations of the whole community, most of whom had relations aboard, and regarded them as sailing, on a cruise of insanity, to assured destruction. On Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, at eight o'clock in the morning, this little squadron set sail, on an enterprise the most venturesome and momentous ever undertaken by man. By the 9th of August, Columbus arrived at the Canary islands, where he remained three weeks to repair and to take in supplies, and whence, on the 6th of September, amid the tears and lamentations of his crews, he again set forth in quest of an undiscovered world. He steered due westward, charging the other commanders to keep in company with him, and, after sailing seven hundred leagues, to lay to at night, lest they should strike on the coast of India or Japan. Besides his accurate reckoning, he kept for inspection of the crew a fictitious record, in which a considerable distance was daily subtracted from the actual progress, lest they should become disheartened at seeing the entire tract of ocean which intervened between them and their homes. After sailing two hundred leagues, a variation of the needle was observed, and excited much alarm among his people; but a plausible explanation allayed their fears. They were soon in the trade-winds, and for many days sped westward with a smooth and steady motion, which, almost imperceptibly, bore them hundreds of leagues directly on their course. The weather was delightfully mild and refreshing. Day after day passed by, and no land met the gaze of the eager and anxious mariners. They began to fear that, in these unknown regions of the ocean, the wind might always blow from the eastward, and forbid the possibility of return. Great alarm was also excited by the appearance of vast meadows of floating sea-weed, through whose thick and tangled masses the ships with difficulty forced their way. Involved in these treacherous nets of the sea, or stranded on submerged rocks beneath, far from any firm land, they would never, they cried, be able to regain their homes. The position of Columbus was now critical and perilous in the extreme. His ignorant followers, regarding him as a maniac, or as one whom ambition had made careless of life, were repeatedly on the verge of mutiny. A plan, it is said, was formed for throwing him into the sea, and alleging, on their return, that he had fallen overboard by chance while surveying the heavens and the altitudes of the stars. Nothing saved him but the calm and resolute authority which he maintained, cheering the timid by persuasive arguments, inciting the sanguine with promises, and awing the refractory with open threats. By the first of October he had sailed seven hundred leagues west of the Canaries, though his crew supposed the distance to be considerably less. On the 7th he altered his course, and steered for three days southwest. No land appeared, and the crews, in a mutinous manner, clamored for return. It has been told, and often repeated, that, to appease their impatience, he promised, if no land appeared in three days, to turn his prows to the eastward; but this story appears to have been reported without sufficient ground. On the contrary, finding his persuasions ineffectual, he told them sternly that he had been sent to seek the Indies, and, till they were found, nothing should induce him to retrace his course. Overawed by his firmness and dignity, they yielded a sullen submission. On the evening of the 11th, the course was again altered to the westward. Occasional specimens of fresh vegetation, and a staff artificially carved, had been lately picked up, and added greatly to the encouragement of their hopes. Every eye was now strained with eager expectation, and Columbus passed the night on the high cabin of his vessel, anxious to be the personal discoverer of the expected land. About ten o'clock, he saw a faintly gleaming and occasionally hidden light in the west, which he regarded as the certain indication of an inhabited land. At two in the following morning (October 12th,) the Pinta, which was ahead of the rest, fired a gun, the signal of |