was rewarded. Here one and there one was convinced by his persistence and his undaunted confidence. His best friends were in the monastery of La Rábida, not far from the seaport of Palos. The story goes that when, worn out with his disappointments in Spain, he was about to set out for England, he stopped at the monastery with his son, a boy of eleven or twelve. Here he met the prior of the monastery, Juan Perez, who had been the father confessor of Queen Isabella.

1

Perez became greatly interested, and sent to Palos for two men of importance: one was a physician who was very curious in geographical matters; the other was a shipowner and captain, Martin Pinzon. So deeply did Columbus impress them,

that the prior set off to the camp of the Spanish armies, for Spain was then waging war with the Moors, who had long before come over into the Spanish peninsula from Africa. There he saw Isabella, and persuaded her to send money to Columbus and invite him to appear before her.

5. The Queen of Spain is won over. The queen and her counsellors were so convinced by the arguments of Columbus, that she promised to take up the matter in earnest just as soon as the Moors had been conquered. On the second day of January, 1492, the Moors surrendered Granada, and Columbus was summoned to the court.

He went, but not as a suppliant.

So filled was he with the

1 This boy, Diego, afterward became page to Queen Isabella.

2 One of Washington Irving's most captivating books is The Conquest of Granada. Irving was United States minister to Spain, and he wrote with the added charm of one who knew the country well.

magnitude of his enterprise that he demanded great power and honor for himself. The king and queen turned away from this dreamer, and Columbus, once more baffled, mounted his mule and set off this time for France. But the friends of Columbus, who had influence at court, could not bear that Spain should lose the glory so nearly in her grasp. They redoubled their appeals to the queen, and she, moved by their zeal, sent a messenger after Columbus. She would herself bear a large part of the expense, and an agreement was made between this adventurer and the crown of Spain.

This agreement is an interesting one, for it shows what was in the minds of those who made it. Columbus was to have for himself and heirs the office of admiral; he was to be governor general over all the lands and continent he might discover or acquire; he was to reserve for himself one tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and all other articles of merchandise obtained within his government; he might share in the expense of the enterprise with his sovereigns to the extent of one eighth and receive one eighth of the profit. Add to this that the king and queen gave Columbus a royal letter to the Great Khan, a vaguely known potentate of Asia, and that Columbus was to devote the wealth gained to fitting out a new crusade for the rescue of the Holy Sepulcher,' and it will be seen that this voyage of discovery was in the minds of all a great religious enterprise.

The one eighth of the expense which Columbus was to bear was lent to him by the brothers Pinzon, who were of the greatest service; for it was very difficult to find sailors ready to venture out into the Sea of Darkness, as they called the unknown Atlantic, and the Pinzons by taking command of two of the three vessels of the fleet gave courage to their townsmen. The Santa Maria, the largest of the three, was commanded by the Admiral, as Columbus was now called. It was only about sixty-three feet long, twenty feet broad at the

1 For four hundred years the Christians of Europe had been engaged in an attempt to recover Jerusalem from the Mohammedans.

widest part, and ten feet deep; indeed, no one of the three was larger than a small coasting schooner. In the whole expedition were ninety sailors and thirty gentlemen and priests, and provisions were carried for a year.1

6. The Sailing of the Fleet. On the third day of August, 1492, the fleet set sail from Palos and steered for the Canary Islands, which were under the control of Spain. By the map of Toscanelli, which Columbus is believed to have taken with him, if they sailed due west, on the 28th parallel of latitude,

they would strike the northern end of Cipango, or Japan. One of the caravels, as the vessels were called, lost her rudder on the way, and the fleet remained in port a month for repairs. On the 6th of September, they left the Canary Islands and sailed westward over the unknown seas.

Terrors of the Voyage. -Ten days later they entered the vast tract of seaweed which forms what is known as the Sargasso Sea. The sailors were terrified, for they thought they must be

1 It is interesting to see just what was the fullest knowledge scholars had of the globe in the year when Columbus made his first voyage, and this can be seen by consulting the globe made by Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg, in 1492. It is not impossible that Columbus met Behaim in Lisbon.

over a reef or in shoal water, but when the vessels sailed on without harm, they took fresh heart, and believed themselves. to be near land. More trustworthy signs of land appeared. They caught a crab; they saw birds, among them a pelican, which they thought never flew more than sixty miles from shore; there was drizzling rain without wind, and that, they

said, meant that land was near. Still they sailed on without coming to land.

Then distant clouds looked like solid earth, but vanished as the vessels approached. The sailors, who had not the faith of Columbus, were dismayed by this wild voyage; every day brought some new alarm or cause for despair; they were mocked by the signs of land, when yet there was no land.

So desperate did the men become, that they began to plot against Columbus; and some went so far as to propose to throw him into the sea and return to Spain with the story that he had fallen overboard. But they feared that they had gone beyond the reach of any wind that could carry them back to their homes. Columbus used all his arts to govern the unruly sailors and discontented gentlemen. Sometimes he encouraged them with gentle words, telling them what great fame and riches would be theirs if they kept on, or what honor they would have in the Church. Sometimes he threatened them with the displeasure of the king if they disobeyed him.1

7. The End of the Voyage. Five weeks, to a day, after leaving the Canary Islands there were unmistakable signs of land. A stick carved by hand was picked up from the water, and a branch with berries upon it. A reward in money had been offered to the first person who should see land, and all were now on the lookout. About ten o'clock at night, Columbus, standing on one of the castles of his vessel, saw a light in the distance. The light moved, and he called two of his companions to see it. It may have been a light in a boat. Land was near and, at two in the morning, was seen in the moonlight by a sailor who was on the lookout in one of the other vessels.

2

It was Friday, the twelfth day of October, 1492. Columbus, in a full suit of armor, carrying in his hand the royal banner of Spain, landed upon the island and planted the cross. He was attended by officers and gentlemen, and by many of the crew; and as soon as they touched the shore, they all fell upon their knees and with tears of joy gave thanks to Almighty God.

1 Columbus feared that if his crew knew how far they were from the land they had left, they might become desperate and mutiny; accordingly, he kept two reckonings: one true, for himself, the other a pretended one, which made the distance sailed each day less; this was for the officers and crew.

2 The castle was a structure like a raised deck, built at either end of the vessel. Hence the term "forecastle" in modern ships.