fect; yet, on the other hand, I reflected on my sins, for which he might intend as a punishment, that I should be deprived of the glory which would redound to me in this world."

The fury of the storm gradually abated, and on the morning of the 15th an island, to the great joy of all, was descried in the north-east. For two days longer, the continuance of the tempest kept them at sea; but on the 18th they were enabled to cast anchor under the lee of St. Mary's, a Portuguese island, the most southern of the Azores.

The colonists were astonished that so frail a vessel had been able to live through the fearful storms which for many days had been raging around their island. The greatest curiosity prevailed, and the governor dispatched presents and a courteous message to the admiral. This, it would seem, was merely a treacherous snare, as appeared by his subsequent conduct. Half the crew had landed, and were performing their vow, sans culottes, in the chapel of the Virgin, when the perfidious Portuguese, acting on the instructions of his court, surrounded the sacred building with an armed rabble, and took them all prisoners. The admiral, narrowly escaping a similar fate, was compelled, by the increasing tempest, to stand to sea, in great peril, for two days; and it was not until the 23d that the gov ernor, disappointed in his chief prey, consented to release his captives.

After this ungenerous reception at the hands of civilized men, the tempest-wearied voyagers, on the 24th, again set sail. Fresh storms soon overtook them, and for some days the prospect of reaching their native land seemed hopeless. Fresh vows and penances were undertaken; and on the 4th of March, 1493, the little bark, preserved from such unheard-of perils, anchored safely in the mouth of the Tagus. The admiral immediately dispatched a courier to the sovereigns with the tidings of his momentous discovery

The highest interest and curiosity were instantly excited throughout the vicinity: the Tagus was covered with boats: and Columbus was invited to appear before the king. Stifling

the distrust inspired by repeated treachery, he appeared in the royal presence; and was received with those high honors which John, himself an enthusiast in maritime enterprise, well knew were due to the discoverer of a world. The monarch, devoured by chagrin at the splendid prize which he had allowed to slip through his fingers, listened with deep interest and mortification to his wondrous story. "He was much concerned," says a Portuguese historian, "on perceiving that the natives of the newly-discovered countries were not black and wooly-headed, like those of Guinea, but similar in features, complexion, and hair to the people of India, where he was engaged in such important undertakings." Unwilling to relinquish all hold on these magnificent expectations, he raised a doubt whether the newly-found territories were not included within his own bull, issued by the pope, and granting him all lands which he might discover from Cape Non, in Africa, to the Indies. His counsellors, ever seconding his worst impulses, eagerly encouraged these ideas; and it is said that some proposed the villanous scheme of assassinating the great discoverer, and thus reaping the fruits of his enterprise. The king, however, was incapable of so cruel and inhospitable a deed; but he resolved forthwith to dispatch a powerful expedition to seize by force of arms on the tempting provinces which he had described.

CHAPTER VII.

ARRIVAL OF COLUMBUS AT PALOS-DEATH OF PINZON-ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION OF THE ADMIRAL-HONORS CONFERRED UPON HIM— PAPAL BULL-PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND EXPEdition.

ON the 15th of March, Columbus again cast anchor in the port of Palos, from which, a little more than seven months before, he had sailed on this most eventful and wonderful of

voyages. The people of that place, who had long given over their friends and relatives as lost in the obscurity of the unknown ocean, were filled with joy and exultation. The bells were rung, and a solemn procession was formed to the principal church. In the midst of this general rejoicing, Pinzon, who had made the port of Bayonne, and, coveting the chief honor of the exploit, had thence dispatched his tidings to the court, entered the harbor. When he saw the vessel of the admiral already at anchor, his heart died within him. He kept in private till Columbus had departed. A reproachful letter from the sovereigns added to his shame and remorse. In a few days he died of a broken heart, the prey of grief and humiliation. Such was the end of the man to whose daring, liberality, and enterprise, the discovery of America was, in a great degree, indebted; and who, if he had been content with his just share in the glory of the enterprise, would have held a place in the public estimation second only to his great commander.

The court of Castile and Arragon had been filled with exultation at the letter of the admiral. This splendid addition to the empire was regarded as an immediate gift of Providence, the reward of their pious crusade against the Moors. Columbus was enjoined to make immediate preparation for another and a more important expedition, and then to present himself before the sovereigns at Barcelona. His journey thither resembled a triumphal procession. The roads were thronged with people, eager to catch a glimpse of the trophies, the Indians, and, above all, of the great discoverer.

As he approached the city, a number of noble cavaliers, with a great multitude of the citizens, came forth to meet him. The streets were almost impassable with the crowd, and all gazed with insatiable curiosity on the productions of the new world triumphantly paraded before him-the ornaments and coronets of gold, the gift of Indian princes; the bright birds from the equatorial forests; and, more than all, the six natives, so different from aught that European eyes had yet beheld. All the ceremonial was on the grandest and most imposing scale. The

sovereigns, in a great public assembly, rose from their thrones to receive him, and bade him be seated in their presencehonors, according to the proud etiquette of the age, due only to the visits of royalty.

When he had finished his eloquent and engrossing narration, the sovereigns and the whole court fell on their knees, and returned thanks to God for so signal a dispensation-all were moved to tears-and the Te Deum, solemnly chanted by the royal choir, seemed the fittest expression of the overflowing emotions which this grand event so naturally excited.

All was now sunshine and prosperity with the fortunate adventurer, so long the victim of poverty, obscurity, and neglect. Wherever he went, multitudes of admiring gazers surrounded him. He received the highest personal honors and privileges from the elated sovereigns. To his own proper coat of arms were added those of the royal family, and a group of islands, surrounded by the waves, with the proud inscription

"POR CASTILLA Y POR LEON,

NUEVO MUNDO HALLO COLON."*

The tidings of his vast discovery spread rapidly through Europe, and were received with ecstasy by the learned and generous of every nation. It is evident that he greatly enjoyed the splendid success which he had merited so nobly; yet his mind still dwelt eagerly on further and more extensive explorations, and on the grand object to which he had vowed the profits of his enterprise-the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre.

The real magnitude of his discovery, indeed, was as yet unknown and even unconjectured. It was supposod, as a matter of course, that Columbus had touched on the islands or perhaps the mainland of India (as all Asia was then called); and the exultation of mankind seems to have been principally founded on this practical proof that the earth was round, and that its continents were accessible from opposite quarters.

*"For Castile and for Leon

Columbus found a new world."

The Spanish government took immediate and vigorous precautions to insure possession of their new discovery. In accordance with the custom of the time, the Pope, at the request of the sovereigns, issued a bull, granting to the crown of Spain the full possession of all territories which they should discover to the westward of a line of longitude, drawn an hundred leagues west of the Azores. The Portuguese, in fulfilment of a previous bull, were to enjoy the right of discovery in all the vast oceans eastward of this line. His Holiness does not appear to have anticipated the possibility of the rival nations meeting by too persevering a search in their allotted directions. As for any claim which the native inhabitants of these undiscovered lands might have upon them, no scruple seems to have troubled any of the high contracting parties. They were sure to be pagans and heathen, if nothing worse, and the obligation to Christianize them, stipulated in the two bulls, seems to have been considered ample compensation for any temporal loss, however grievous.

Portugal, indeed, despite this pious arrangement, continued to regard the new enterprise with the deepest jealousy; and John even went so far as to fit out a powerful armament for the seizure of these tempting possessions. Circumstances, however, led him to prefer negotiation, and in the following year, after an infinity of intrigue and finesse, a treaty was signed, by which the papal line of partition, by mutual agreement, was removed to three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Azores.

Meanwhile, the greatest activity was used by Columbus and the royal commissioners in fitting out a second and more extensive expedition. The principal control of Indian affairs in Spain, then, as for thirty years afterwards, was vested in the bishop Fonseca, an able, but unscrupulous man, whose treachery and prejudice were the cause of great misfortunes, not only to Columbus, but to the extensive regions over whose interests he had control. In accordance with the arbitrary character of the government and the age, almost unlimited authority over