Departure of Columbus.

The voyage.

Discovery of land.

larger one. With this little fleet, bearing one hundred and twenty persons, he left Palos, on the Tinto river in Andalusia, on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, to explore the stormy Atlantic.'

9. It was a voyage of great trial for the navigator, after leaving the Canary Islands. His theory taught him to believe that he would reach Asia in the course of a few days. But weeks wore away; the needle became unfaithful;2

alarm and discontent prevailed, and several times his followers were on the point of compelling him to turn back.

10. On the evening of the 11th of October, the perfumes of flowers came upon the night breeze, as tokens of approach to land. Yet they hesitated to believe, for twice before they had been mocked by other indications of

land being near.3 But at dawn the next morning their delighted eyes saw green forests stretching along the horizon; and as they approached, they were greeted by the songs of birds and the murmur of human voices.

11. Dressed in scarlet, and bearing his sword in one hand, and the banner of the expedition in the other, Columbus landed with his followers, and in the midst of the gorgeous scenery and the incense of myriads of flowers, they all knelt down and chanted a hymn of thanksgiving to God. The natives had gathered in wonder and awe, in the grove near by, regarding the Europeans as children of their great Deity, the Sun.* Little did they comprehend the fatal significance to them, of the act of Columbus, when he set up a rude cross

upon the spot where he landed, and took formal

1. Columbus was appointed high-admiral of all seas which he might discover, with the attendant honors. Also viceroy of all lands discovered. He was to have one tenth of all profits of the first voyage, and by contributing an eighth of the expense of future voyages, was to have an eighth of all the profits. Although Isabella paid the whole expense, the contract was signed, also, by her husband.

2. Needle, or pointer, of the mariner's compass. This instrument was first known in Europe, at Amalfi, about 1302. The Chinese claim to have possessed a knowledge of it more than 1100 years before the birth of Christ. The needle was supposed to point toward the north star at all times. There is a continual variation from this line, now easily calculated, but unknown until discovered by Columbus. It perplexed but did not dismay him.

3. They had seen birds, but they proved to be the petrel, an ocean fowl. Bits of wood and sea-weeds had also been seen. For an explanation of the latter, see Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea.

4. Almost all the natives of the torrid zone of America, worshiped the Sun as their chief visible deity. The great temples of the Sun in Mexico and Peru, were among the most magnificent structures of the Americans, when Europeans came.

QUESTIONS.-8. With what sort of a fleet did Columbus leave Spain? When and from whence did he sail? 9. What occurred during the voyage? 10. What gave indications of land? When was it discovered! 11. Relate the incidents of the landing of Columbus.

Columbus among the West India Islands.

possession of the beautiful country in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella.1

12. The land first discovered by Columbus was one of the Bahamas, now known as Cat Island. The navigator named it San Salvador (holy Saviour); and believing it to be near the coast of farther India, he called the natives Indians. This name was afterward applied to all the natives of the adjacent continent.2

13. After spending some time in becoming acquainted with the island, and natives, and unsuccessfully searching for "the gold, and pearls, and spices of Zipangi," he sailed southward, and discovered several other small islands. He finally discovered Cuba and St. Domingo, where he was told of immense goldbearing regions in the interior. Impressed with the belief that he had discovered Ophir of the ancients, he returned to Spain, where he arived in March, 1493.

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14. Columbus was received with great honors, but considerations of State policy induced the Spanish government to conceal the importance of his discovery from other nations. This policy, and the jealousy which the sudden elevation of a foreigner inspired in the Spaniards, deprived him of the honor of having the New World called by his name. Americus Vespucius, a Florentine, unfairly won the prize. In company with Ojeda, a companion of Columbus during his first voyage, Americus visited the West Indies, and discovered and explored the eastern coast of South America, north of the Oronoco, in 1499. He published a glowing account [1504] of the lands he had visited," and that being the first formal announcement to the world of the great discovery, and as he claimed to have first set foot upon the Continent of the West, it was called AMERICA, in honor of the Florentine.

15. Columbus made three other voyages to the West Indies, established settlements, and in August, 1498, he discovered the continent at the mouth of the Oronoco. This, too, he supposed to be an island near the coast of Asia, and he lived and died in ignorance of the real grandeur of his discoveries. During his absence, jealous and unscrupulous men poisoned the minds of the king and queen with false statements concerning the ambitious designs of Columbus, and he was sent back to Spain in chains. Isabella was soon unde

1. It was a common practice then, as now, for the discoverer of new lands, to erect some monument and to proclaim the title of his sovereign to the territories so discovered. The banner of the expedition borne on shore by Columbus, was a white one, with a green cross. Over the initials, F. and Y. (Ferdinand and Ysabella) were golden mural crowns. 2. Verse 2, page 7. 3. Note 5, page 29. 4. Columbus carried back with him several of the natives, and a variety of the animals, birds, and plants of the New World. They excited the greatest astonishment. His journey from Palos to Barcelona, to meet the sovereigns, was like the march of a king. His reception was still more magnificent. The throne of the monarch was placed in a public square, and the great of the kingdom were there to do homage to the navigator. The highest honors were bestowed upon Columbus; and the sovereigns granted him a coat of arms bearing royal devices, and the motto, "To Castile and Leon, Columbus gave a New World."

5. See portrait at the head of this Chapter. The Italians spell his name Amerigo Vespucci [Am-e-ree-go Ves-pute-se]. He died while in the service of the king of Spain, in 1514.

6. First in a letter to Lorenzo de Medici, and then [1507] in a volume dedicated to the Duke of Lorraine. These publications revealed what the Spanish government wished to conceal. Note 5, page 46.

7. In his second voyage [1493], Columbus took with him several horses, a bull, and some cows. These were the first animals taken from Europe to America.

QUESTIONS.-12. Where did Columbus first land, and what did he suppose it to be? 13. What did Columbus do, soon after landing? 14. How came Columbus to lose the honor of having his name given to America? Why was it called America?

Other voyages by Columbus.

The Fountain of Youth.

Florida.

ceived, and Columbus was allowed to depart on a fourth voyage. When he returned the queen was dead, his enemies were in power, and he who had shed such luster upon the Spanish name, and added a new hemisphere to the Spanish realm, was allowed to sink into the grave in obscurity and neglect. He died at Valladolid on the 20th of May, 1506. His body was buried in a convent, from which it was afterward carried to St. Domingo, and subsequently to Havana, in Cuba, where it remains.

16. The larger islands of the West India group were soon colonized by the Spaniards; and the happy natives were speedily reduced to slavery. Bending beneath the weight of Spanish cruelty and wrong, they soon sunk into degradation. The women were compelled to intermarry with their oppressors, and from this union came many of the present race of Creoles, who form the numerical strength of Cuba and other West India islands. 17. Tales of gold-bearing regions inflamed the avarice and cupidity of the

BALBOA.

Spaniards, and exploring voyages from Cuba, St. Domingo, and Porto Rico, were undertaken. The eastern coast of Yucatan was discovered in 1506; and in 1510, Balboa, with a colony, settled upon the Isthmus of Darien. This was the first colony planted on the American continent. Crossing the Isthmus, in search of gold, Balboa1 saw [1513] the Pacific Ocean in a southerly direction, from the top of a high mountain, and he called it the South Sea. In full costume, and bearing the Spanish flag, he entered its waters, and took possession of the "seas, lands," etc., "of the South," in the name of his sovereign.

18. FLORIDA was discovered in 1512 by John Ponce de Leon, an old visionary who had been governor of Porto Rico. He sailed for the Bahamas in search of a fountain supposed to exist there, and whose waters possessed the quality of restoring old age to the bloom of youth, and making the recipient immortal.

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19. On Easter Sunday,' the Pasquas de Flores3 of the Spaniards, Ponce de Leon approached the shores of the great southern peninsula of the United States, and landed [March 27, 1512], near the site of St. Augustine. The forests and the green banks were laden with flowers; and when, soon after landing, Ponce took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, this fact and the holy day were regarded, and he called the beautiful domain FLORIDA. He continued his searches for the Fountain of Youth all along the

1. The picture gives a correct representation of those armed Spaniards who attempted conquests in the New World. Balboa's fellow adventurers became jealous of his fame, and on their accusations he was put to death by the governor of Darien, in 1517.

2. The day on which is commemorated the resurrection of Christ. 3. Feast of flowers.

4. Verse 15, page 39.

QUESTIONS.-15. Relate the chief incidents of the remainder of his life. Where did he die? Where are his remains? 16. What befell the natives of the islands discovered by Columbus? 17. What other explorations were made? 18. What led to the discovery of Florida? 19. What can you tell of the discovery and naming of Florida?

Discovery of South Carolina.

Discovery of Mexico.

Cortez.

coast of Florida, and among the Tortugas Islands, but without success; and he returned to Porto Rico an older, if not a wiser man.

20. During Ponce de Leon's absence in Europe, some wealthy owners of plantations and mines in St. Domingo, sent D'Ayllon, one of their number, with two ships, to seize natives of the Bermudas, and bring them home for laborers. It was an unholy mission. A storm drove the voyagers into St. Helen's Sound, on the coast of South Carolina, and they anchored [1520] at the mouth of the Combahee river. The natives were kind and generous; and, judging their visitors by their own simple standard of honor, they unsuspectingly went upon the ship in crowds, to gratify their curiosity. While below, the hatches were closed, the sails were immediately spread, and those free children of the forest were borne away to work as bond-slaves in the mines of St. Domingo. But the perpetrators of the outrage did not accomplish their designs. One of the vessels was destroyed by a storm; and almost every prisoner in the other refused to take food, and died. This act made the Indians hate the white people intensely.

21. Soon after D'Ayllon's voyage, Ponce de Leon, as governor of Florida, proceeded to plant settlements there. In attempts to do so, the angry natives, who had heard of the treachery of the Spaniards, attacked him furiously. He was mortally wounded, and almost all of his followers were killed. D'Ayllon was then appointed governor of the country which he had discovered and named Chicora. He went thither to conquer it, and was received with apparent friendship by the natives on the banks of the Combahee.' Many of the men were induced to visit a village in the interior, when the natives practiced the lesson of treachery which D'Ayllon had taught them, and massacred the whole party. The commander himself was attacked upon his own ship, and it was with difficulty that he escaped.

22. In 1517, Cordova commanded an expedition from Cuba, and discovered Mexico. His report of a people half civilized, and possessing treasures in cities, awakened the keenest cupidity of the Spaniards; and the following year Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, sent another expedition to Mexico, under Grijalva. That captain returned with much treasure, obtained by trafficking with the Mexicans.

23. Velasquez now determined to conquer the Mexicans, and possess himself of their sources of wealth. An expedition, consisting of eleven vessels, and more than six hundred armed men, was placed under the command of Fernando Cortez, a brave but treacherous and cruel leader. He landed first at Tobasco, and then at San Juan d'Ulloa,' near Vera Cruz [April 12, 1519], where he received a friendly deputation from Montezuma, the emperor of the nation. By falsehood and duplicity, Cortez and his armed companions were 1. D'Ayllon named this river Jordan, for he regarded the country as the new Land of Promise. 2. Pronounced San-whan-da-Ooloo-ah. Verse 24, page 329.

3. The Mexicans, at that time, were making rapid advances in the march of civilization. They were acQUESTIONS.-20. Who else made a voyage to Florida? What was the result? 21. What was the result of efforts to conquer the natives of Florida? 22. When was Mexico discovered, and by whom? 23. What efforts were made to conquer Mexico?

Conquest of Mexico.

Spanish expeditions in Florida.

The Mississippi.

allowed to march to Mexico, the capital. By stratagem and boldness, and the aid of native tribes who were hostile to the Mexican dynasty, Cortez' succeeded, after many bloody contests during almost two years, in subduing the people. The city of Mexico surrendered to him [August 23, 1521], and the vast and populous empire of Montezuma became a Spanish province. 24. Seven years later [1528], Narvaez having been appointed governor of Florida, went from Cuba, with three hundred men,' to conquer it. Hoping to find a wealthy empire, like Mexico, he penetrated the unknown interior as far as the southern borders of Georgia. Instead of cities filled with treasures, he found villages of huts, and the monarch of the country living in a wigwam.3 Disappointed, and continually annoyed by hostile savages, who had heard of the treachery at the Combahee, he turned southward, and reaching the shores of Apallachee Bay, near St. Marks, he constructed rude boats, and embarked for Cuba. The commander and most of his followers perished.

25. The misfortunes of Narvaez did not suppress the spirit of adventure, and FLORIDA (the name applied to all North America), was still regarded by the Spaniards as the new Land of Promise. All believed that in the vast interior were mines as rich, and people as wealthy, as those of Mexico and Yucatan. Among the most sanguine of these, was De Soto, a brave cavalier who had gained riches and military honors, with Pizarro, in Peru.5

26. De Soto obtained permission of the Spanish emperor to conquer FLORIDA at his own expense. He was appointed governor of Cuba, and also of Florida, and with ten vessels and six hundred men, all clad in armor, he sailed for the New World. Leaving his wife to govern Cuba, he proceeded to Florida, landed on the shores of Tampa Bay [June 10, 1539], sent most of his vessels back, and then made his way, among hostile savages, toward the interior of the fancied land of gold. In the spring they crossed the Apallachian mountains, and penetrated the beautiful country of the Cherokees."

DE SOTO.

27. For several months De Soto and his followers wandered over the hills and valleys of Alabama, in vain searches for treasure, fighting the fierce Mobilian tribes, and becoming diminished in numbers by battle and disease. They passed the winter in the land of the Chickasaws; and in the spring of

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quainted with many of the useful arts of enlightened nations, and appear to have been as far advanced in science, law, religion, and domestic and public organization, as were the Romans at the close of the republic. See note 1, page 331.

1. Born, 1485, in Estramadura, Spain. Died in 1554. He committed many crimes in Mexico.

3. Verse 7, page 9.

2. They took with them about forty horses, the first ever landed upon the soil of the present United States. These all perished by starvation, or the weapons of the Indians, 4. Verse 20, page 33. 5. Pizarro was a follower of Balboa. He discovered Peru in 1524, and conquered it in 1532, after much bloodshed. He was born in Estramadura, Spain, in 1475. Was murdered at Lima, in Peru, in 1541. 6. De Soto had a large number of horses. He also landed some swine. These rapidly increased in the forests. They were the first of their species seen in America. 7. Verse 1, page 20. 9. Verse 6, page 23. QUESTIONS.-24. What can you tell of another Spanish expedition to conquer Florida? 25. What opinion of Florida did the Spaniards possess? 26. What were the principal incidents of the first year of De Soto's expedition to Florida?

8. Sec. VIII., page 22.