the benevolent Isabella, Queen of Spain. She offered to pledge her private jewels to obtain means to defray the expenses of the expedition. Thus the blessings, which have accrued to the world from the discovery of America, may be traced to the beneficence of one of the noblest of women.

After numerous delays and many disappointments, on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492, Columbus sailed from the little port of Palos, in Spain.

He confidently launched forth upon the unknown ocean. His three little vessels were mere sail-boats compared with the magnificent ships that now pass over the same waters. He sailed on and on, day after day, and at length came within the influence of the trade winds, which without intermission urged his vessels toward the west. The sailors began to fearif these winds continued, they never could return. They noticed the variation of the compass; it no longer pointed to the pole,-was this mysterious, but hitherto trusty friend, about to fail them?

Ten weeks had already elapsed, and the winds were still bearing them farther and farther from their homes. It is true, there were many indications that land was near; land birds were seen; land weeds, a bush with fresh berries upon it, and a cane curiously carved, were found floating in the water. Again and again, from those on the watch, was heard the cry of land, but as often the morning sun dispelled the illusion; they had been deceived by the evening clouds that fringed the western horizon. Now, the sailors, terror-stricken, became mutinous, and clamored to return. They thought they had sinned in venturing so far from land, and as a punishment were thus lured on to perish amid the dangers with which their imaginations had filled the waste of waters.

Columbus alone was calm and hopeful; in the midst

of all these difficulties, he preserved the courage and noble self-control that so dignifies his character. His confidence in the success of his enterprise, was not the idle dream of a mere enthusiast; it was founded in reason, it was based on science. His courage was the courage of one, who, in the earnest pursuit of truth, loses sight of every personal consideration. He asked only for a little more time, that he might prove to others the truth of what he himself so firmly believed. When lo! the following night the land breeze, fragrant with the perfume of flowers, greeted them; never was it more grateful to the worn and weary sailor. The ships were ordered to lie to, lest they should run upon rocks. Suddenly the ever watchful eye of Columbus saw a light, a moving light! The alternations of hope and fear, the visions of fame and greatness, or the higher aspirations that may have filled his soul on that eventful night, are more easily imagined than described.

The next morning, they saw lying before them in all its luxuriant beauty an island, called by the natives Guanahani, but renamed by Columbus, San Salvador, or Holy Saviour.

With a portion of his crew he landed. Falling on their knees, they offered thanksgivings to God, who had crowned their labors with success.

Columbus raised a banner, and planted a cross, and thus took formal possession of the land in the names of his sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. The awestricken natives watched the ceremony from amid the groves; they thought the white strangers were the children of the sun, their great deity. Alas! the cross did not prove to them the emblem of peace and good-will!

Columbus explored this island-one of the Bahama group-and discovered others, now known as the West Indies. Thus he spent three months; then

taking with him seven of the natives, he sailed for home. On the 15th of March he arrived at Palos. From that port to the court at Barcelona, his progress was a triumphal procession. He was graciously received by the King and Queen, who appointed him Viceroy or Governor of all the countries he had or should discover. They conferred upon him and his families titles of nobility, and permission to use a coat of arms. The day he made his discovery, was the day of his triumph; this day was the recognition of it by his patrons and by the world. His past life had been one of unremitting toil and hope deferred; but in the future were bright prospects for himself and his family. But his title, the object of his honorable ambition, proved the occasion of all his after sorrows. The honors so justly conferred upon him, excited the jealousy of the Spanish nobility.

From this time his life was one continued contest with his enemies. He made more voyages, and more discoveries. On his third voyage he saw the mainland at the mouth of the Orinoco. It seems never to have occurred to him, that a river so large must necessarily drain a vast territory. He supposed the lands he had discovered were islands belonging to Cathay, or Farther India; from this circumstance the natives of the New World were called Indians. It is more than probable Columbus died without knowing that he had found a great continent.

After a few years his enemies so far prevailed, that on a false accusation he was sent home in chains from the island of Hispaniola. Isabella, indignant at the treatment he had received, ordered them to be taken off, and all his rights and honors restored. Ferdinand promised to aid her in rendering him justice, and in punishing his enemies; but, double-dealing and ungenerous, he did neither. To the misfortunes of Columbus was added the death of Isabella,

his kind and generous patroness. And now he was openly maligned and persecuted. Their work was soon done; in a short time he died, worn out by disease and disappointment. His last words were: "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."

His body was deposited in a convent in Spain. Ferdinand, it is said, ordered a monument to his memory. The justice he had denied him in life he was willing to inscribe upon his tomb,-it was to bear the inscription: "Columbus has given a world to Castile and Leon."

The body of Columbus was afterward conveyed to Hispaniola. After a lapse of almost three hundred years that island passed into the hands of the French. Generations had come and gone, but the Spanish nation remembered that Columbus had "Given a world to Castile and Leon;" and they wished to retain his remains within their own territories. They disinterred them, and with imposing ceremonies transferred them to Havana in the island of Cuba, where they still remain.

About seven years after the first voyage of Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine gentleman, visited the West Indies, and also landed on the eastern coast of South America. On his return he published a glowing description of the newly discovered countries. From this circumstance the name America was given to the New World by a German writer on Geography, who may have been ignorant of the claims of Columbus.

CHAPTER II

AMERICAN PREHISTORIC RACES

The Origin of the American Indians

Who were the first human beings on the American continent? How did they get there? In these questions we have the two-fold aspect of a problem which, from the time of Columbus to our own day, has proved of absorbing interest to every type of mind. The many attempts at a solution of this problem resolve themselves into three distinct theories. The first of them that gained general currency regarded the aboriginal Americans as descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. This view was certainly stimulating to the imagination, and its very picturesqueness must have contributed immensely to its diffusion. Even the scientific and skeptical critic found in the idea an incentive to careful study of the manners and customs of the natives of our continent, in the hope of thus discovering analogies that would lead ultimately to the truth. But science has slowly but surely undermined the foundations-such as they wereof this belief, and it remains today what it was in the beginning a mere assumption and nothing more.

The second theory takes us back to one of the famous legends of the ancient Greeks. This is the legend of Atlantis, an island realm of the western seas, of which Plato gives us a splendid vision in one of his most impressive passages. To state this theory in its crudest but simplest form, Atlantis must have been a vast land area, or series of land areas, extending from Europe to the continent of America.