This is not a mere question of places and dates. These facts enable us to form an idea of the circ.u.mstances surrounding the youth and early manhood of the future discoverer, of his training, of the fuel which lighted the fire of his genius, and of the difficulties which surrounded him. Moreover, a knowledge of the real facts serves to clear away all the misleading fables about student life at Pavia, about service with imaginary uncles who were corsairs or admirals, and about galleys commanded for King Rene. Some of these fables are due to the mistaken piety of the great discoverer"s son Hernando, and to others, who seem to have thought that they were doing honor to the memory of the Admiral by surrounding his youth with romantic stories. But the simple truth is far more honorable, and, indeed, far more romantic. It shows us the young weaver loving his home and serving his parents with filial devotion, but at the same time preparing, with zeal and industry, to become an expert in the profession for which he was best fitted, and even in his earliest youth making ready to fulfill his high destiny.
I believe that Columbus had conceived the idea of sailing westward to the Indies even before he left his home at Savona. My reason is, that his correspondence with Toscanelli on the subject took place in the very year of his arrival in Portugal. That fact alone involves the position that the young weaver had not only become a practical seaman--well versed in all the astronomical knowledge necessary for his profession--a cosmographer, and a draughtsman, but also that he had carefully digested what he had learned, and had formed original conceptions. It seems wonderful that a humble weaver"s apprentice could have done all this in the intervals of his regular work. a.s.suredly it is most wonderful; but I submit that his correspondence with Toscanelli in 1474 proves it to be a fact. We know that there were the means of acquiring such knowledge at Genoa in those days; that city was indeed the center of the nautical science of the day. Benincasa, whose beautiful _Portolani_ may still be seen at the British Museum, and in other collections, was in the height of his fame as a draughtsman at Genoa during the youth of Columbus; so was Pareto. In the workrooms of these famous cartographers the young aspirant would see the most accurate charts that could then be produced, very beautifully executed; and his imagination would be excited by the appearance of all the fabulous islands on the verge of the unknown ocean.
When the time arrived for Columbus to leave his home, he naturally chose Lisbon as the point from whence he could best enlarge his experience and mature his plans. Ever since he could remember he had seen the inscriptions respecting members of the Pasagni family, as we may see them now, carved on the white courses of the west front of San Stefano, his parish church. These Genoese Pasagni had been hereditary Admirals of Portugal; they had brought many Genoese seamen to Lisbon; the Cross of St. George marked their exploits on the _Portolani_, and Portugal was thus closely connected with the tradition of Genoese enterprise. So it was to Lisbon that Columbus and his brother made their way, and it was during the ten years of his connection with Portugal that his cosmographical studies, and his ocean voyages from the equator to the arctic circle, _combined with his genius to make Columbus the greatest seaman of his age_.
Capt. Duro, of the Spanish navy, has investigated all questions relating to the ships of the Columbian period and their equipment with great care; and the learning he has brought to bear on the subject has produced very interesting results. The two small caravels provided for the voyage of Columbus by the town of Palos were only partially decked.
The Pinta was strongly built, and was originally lateen-rigged on all three masts, and she was the fastest sailer in the expedition; but she was only fifty tons burden, with a complement of eighteen men. The Nina, so-called after the Nino family of Palos, who owned her, was still smaller, being only forty tons. These two vessels were commanded by the Pinzons, and entirely manned by natives of the province of Huelva. The third vessel was much larger, and did not belong to Palos. She was called a "nao," or ship, and was of about one hundred tons burden, completely decked, with a high p.o.o.p and forecastle. Her length has been variously estimated. Two of her masts had square sails, the mizzen being lateen-rigged. The foremast had a square foresail, the mainmast a mainsail and maintopsail, and there was a spritsail on the bowsprit. The courses were enlarged, in fair weather, by lacing strips of canvas to their leeches, called _bonetas_. There appear to have been two boats, one with a sail, and the ship was armed with lombards. The rigs of these vessels were admirably adapted for their purpose. The large courses of the caravels enabled their commanders to lay their courses nearer to the wind than any clipper ship of modern times. The crew of the ship Santa Maria numbered fifty-two men all told, including the Admiral. She was owned by the renowned pilot Juan de la Cosa of Santona, who sailed with Columbus on both his first and second voyages, and was the best draughtsman in Spain. Mr. Harrisse, and even earlier writers, such as Vianello, call him a Basque pilot, apparently because he came from the north of Spain; but Santona, his birthplace, although on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, is not in the Basque provinces; and if Juan de la Cosa was a native of Santona he was not a Basque. While the crews of the two caravels all came from Palos or its neighborhood, the men of the Santa Maria were recruited from all parts of Spain, two from Santona besides Juan de la Cosa, which was natural enough, and several others from northern ports, likewise attracted, in all probability, by the fame of the Santona pilot. Among these it is very interesting to find an Englishman, who came from the little town of Lajes, near Coruna.
Our countryman is called in the list, "Tallarte de Lajes" (Ingles). It is not unlikely that an English sailor, making voyages from Bristol or from one of the Cinque Ports to Coruna, may have married and settled at Lajes. But what can we make of "Tallarte"? Spaniards would be likely enough to prefix a "T" to any English name beginning with a vowel, and they would be pretty sure to give the word a vowel termination. So, getting rid of these initial and terminal superfluities, there remains Allart, or Alard. This was a famous name among the sailors of the Cinque Ports. Gervaise Alard of Winchelsea in 1306 was the first English admiral; and there were Alards of Winchelsea for several generations, who were renowned as expert and daring sailors. One of them, I believe, sailed with Columbus on his first voyage, and perished at Navidad.
Columbus took with him the map furnished by Toscanelli. It is unfortunately lost. But the globe of Martin Behaim, drawn in 1492--the very year of the sailing of Columbus--shows the state of knowledge on the eve of the discovery of America. The lost map of Toscanelli must have been very like it, with its islands in mid-Atlantic, and its archipelago grouped round c.i.p.ango, near the coast of Cathay. This globe deserves close attention, for its details must be impressed on the minds of all who would understand what were the ideas and hopes of Columbus when he sailed from Palos.
Friday, August 3, 1492, when the three little vessels sailed over the bar of Saltes, was a memorable day in the world"s history. It had been prepared for by many years of study and labor, by long years of disappointment and anxiety, rewarded at length by success. The proof was to be made at last. To the incidents of that famous voyage nothing can be added. But we may, at least, settle the long-disputed question of the landfall of Columbus. It is certainly an important question. There are the materials for a final decision, and we ought to know for certain on what spot of land it was that the Admiral knelt when he sprang from the boat on that famous 12th of October, 1492.
The learned have disputed over the matter for a century, and no less than five islands of the Bahama group have had their advocates. This is not the fault of Columbus, albeit we only have an abstract of his journal. The island is there fully and clearly described, and courses and distances are given thence to Cuba, which furnish data for fixing the landfall with precision. Here it is not a case for the learning and erudition of Navarretes, Humboldts, and Varnhagens. It is a sailor"s question. If the materials from the journal were placed in the hands of any midshipman in her Majesty"s navy, he would put his finger on the true landfall within half an hour. When sailors took the matter in hand, such as Admiral Becher, of the Hydrographic Office, and Lieut. Murdoch, of the United States navy, they did so.
Our lamented a.s.sociate, Mr. R. H. Major, read a paper on this interesting subject on May 8, 1871, in which he proved that Watling"s Island was the Guanahani, or San Salvador, of Columbus. He did so by two lines of argument--the first being the exact agreement between the description of Guanahani, in the journal of Columbus, and Watling"s Island, a description which can not be referred to any other island in the Bahama group; and the second being a comparison of the maps of Juan de la Cosa and of Herrera with modern charts. He showed that out of twenty-four islands on the Herrera map of 1600, ten retain the same names as they then had, thus affording stations for comparison; and the relative bearings of these ten islands lead us to the accurate identification of the rest. The shapes are not correct, but the relative bearings are, and the Guanahani of the Herrera map is thus identified with the present Watling"s Island. Mr. Major, by careful and minute attention to the words of the journal of Columbus, also established the exact position of the first anchorage as having been a little to the west of the southeast point of Watling"s Island.
I can not leave the subject of Mr. Major"s admirable paper without expressing my sense of the loss sustained by comparative geography when his well-known face, so genial and sympathetic, disappeared from among us. The biographer of Prince Henry the Navigator, Major did more than any other Englishman of this century to bring the authentic history of Columbus within the reach of his countrymen. His translations of the letters of the ill.u.s.trious Genoese, and the excellent critical essay which preceded them, are indispensable to every English student of the history of geographical discovery who is not familiar with the Spanish language, and most useful even to Spanish scholars. His knowledge of the history of cartography, his extensive and accurate scholarship, and his readiness to impart his knowledge to others, made him a most valuable member of the council of this society, and one whose place is not easy to fill; while there are not a few among the Fellows who, like myself, sincerely mourn the loss of a true and warmhearted friend.
When we warmly applauded the close reasoning and the una.s.sailable conclusions of Major"s paper, we supposed that the question was at length settled; but as time went on, arguments in favor of other islands continued to appear, and an American in a high official position even started a new island, contending that Samana was the landfall. But Fox"s Samana and Varnhagen"s Mayaguana must be ruled out of court without further discussion, for they both occur on the maps of Juan de la Cosa and Herrera, on which Guanahani also appears. It is obvious that they can not be Guanahani and themselves at the same time; and it is perhaps needless to add that they do not answer to the description of Guanahani by Columbus, and meet none of the other requirements.
On this occasion it may be well to identify the landfall by another method, and thus furnish some further strength to the arguments which ought to put an end to the controversy. Major established the landfall by showing the ident.i.ty between the Guanahani of Columbus and Watling"s Island, and by the evidence of early maps. There is still another method, which was adopted by Lieut. Murdoch, of the United States navy, in his very able paper. Columbus left Guanahani and sailed to his second island, which he called Santa Maria de la Concepcion; and he gives the bearing and distance. He gives the bearing and distance from this second island to the north end of a third, which he called Fernandina. He gives the length of Fernandina. He gives the bearing and distance from the south end of Fernandina to a fourth island named Isabella, from Isabella to some rocks called Islas de Arena, and from Islas de Arena to Cuba.
It is obvious that if we trace these bearings and distances backward from Cuba, they will bring us to an island which must necessarily be the Guanahani, or San Salvador, of Columbus. This is the sailor"s method: On October 27th, when Columbus sighted Cuba at a distance of 20 miles, the bearing of his anchorage at sunrise of the same day, off the Islas de Arena, was N. E. 58 miles, and from the point reached in Cuba it was N.
E. 75 miles. The Ragged Islands are 75 miles from Cuba, therefore the Islas de Arena of Columbus are identified with the Ragged Islands of modern charts. The Islas de Arena were sighted when Columbus was 56 miles from the south end of Fernandina, and E.N.E. from Isabella. These bearings show that Fernandina was Long Island, and that Isabella was Crooked Island, of modern charts. Fernandina was 20 leagues long N. N.
W. and S. S. E.; Long Island is 20 leagues long N. N. W. and S. S. E.
Santa Maria de la Concepcion was several miles east of the north end of Fernandina, but in sight. Rum Cay is several miles east of the north end of Long Island, but in sight. Rum Cay is, therefore, the Santa Maria of Columbus. San Salvador, or Guanahani, was 21 miles N. W. from Santa Maria de la Concepcion. Watling"s Island is 21 miles N. W. from Rum Cay; Watling"s Island is, therefore, proved to be the San Salvador, or Guanahani, of Columbus.
The spot where Columbus first landed in the New World is the eastern end of the south side of Watling"s Island. This has been established by the arguments of Major, and by the calculations of Murdoch, beyond all controversy. The evidence is overwhelming. Watling"s Island answers to every requirement and every test, whether based on the Admiral"s description of the island itself, on the courses and distances thence to Cuba, or on the evidence of early maps. We have thus reached a final and satisfactory conclusion, and we can look back on that momentous event in the world"s history with the certainty that we know the exact spot on which it occurred--on which Columbus touched the land when he sprang from his boat with the standard waving over his head.[48]
The discoveries of Columbus during his first voyage, as recorded in his journal, included part of the north coast of Cuba, and the whole of the north coast of Espanola. The journal shows the care with which the navigation was conducted, how observations for lat.i.tude were taken, how the coasts were laid down--every promontory and bay receiving a name--and with what diligence each new feature of the land and its inhabitants was examined and recorded. The genius of Columbus would not have been of the same service to mankind if it had not been combined with great capacity for taking trouble, and with habits of order and accuracy. In considering the qualities of the great Genoese as a seaman and an explorer, we can not fail to be impressed with this accuracy, the result of incessant watchfulness and of orderly habits. Yet it is his accuracy which has been called in question by some modern writers, on the ground of pa.s.sages in his letters which they have misinterpreted, or failed to understand. In every instance the blunder has not been committed by Columbus, but by his critics.
The Admiral"s letters do not show him to be either careless or inaccurate. On the contrary, they bear witness to his watchfulness, to his methodical habits, and to his attention to details; although at the same time they are full of speculations, and of the thoughts which followed each other so rapidly in his imaginative brain. It was, indeed, the combination of these two qualities, of practical and methodical habits of thought with a vivid imagination, which const.i.tuted his genius--a combination as rare as it is valuable. It created the thoughts which conceived the great discovery, as well as the skill and ability which achieved it.
Unfortunately, the journals and charts of Columbus are lost. But we have the full abstract of the journal of his first voyage, made by Las Casas, we have his letters and dispatches, and we have the map of his discoveries, except those made during his last voyage, drawn by his own pilot and draughtsman, Juan de la Cosa. We are thus able to obtain a sufficient insight into the system on which his exploring voyages were conducted, and into the sequence in which his discoveries followed each other. This is the point of view from which the labors of the Admiral are most interesting to geographers. The deficient means at the disposal of a navigator in the end of the fifteenth century increase the necessity for a long apprenticeship. It is much easier to become a navigator with the aid of modern instruments constructed with extreme accuracy, and with tables of logarithms, nautical almanacs, and admiralty charts. With ruder appliances Columbus and his contemporaries had to trust far more to their own personal skill and watchfulness, and to ways of handling and using such instruments as they possessed, which could only be acquired by constant practice and the experience of a lifetime. _Even then, an insight and ability which few men possess were required to make such a navigator as Columbus._
[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF ANTONIO DE HERRERA, THE HISTORIAN OF COLUMBUS.
(See page 220.)]
The first necessity for a pilot who conducts a ship across the ocean, when he is for many days out of sight of land, is the means of checking his dead reckoning by observations of the heavenly bodies. But in the days of Columbus such appliances were very defective, and, at times, altogether useless. There was an astrolabe adapted for use at sea by Martin Behaim, but it was very difficult to get a decent sight with it, and Vasco da Gama actually went on sh.o.r.e and rigged a triangle when he wanted to observe for lat.i.tude. If this was necessary, the instrument was useless as a guide across the pathless ocean. Columbus, of course, used it, but he seems to have relied more upon the old quadrant which he had used for long years before Behaim invented his adaption of the astrolabe. It was this instrument, the value of which received such warm testimony from Diogo Gomez, one of Prince Henry"s navigators; and it was larger and easier to handle than the astrolabe.
But the difficulty, as regards both these instruments,[49] was the necessity for keeping them perpendicular to the horizon when the observation is taken, in one case by means of a ring working freely, and in the other by a plummet line. The instruction of old Martin Cortes was to sit down with your back against the mainmast; but in reality the only man who obtained results of any use from such instruments was he who had been constantly working with them from early boyhood. In those days, far more than now, a good pilot had to be brought up at sea from his youth.
Long habit could alone make up, to a partial extent, for defective means.
Columbus regularly observed for lat.i.tude when the weather rendered it possible, and he occasionally attempted to find the longitude by observing eclipses of the moon with the aid of tables calculated by old Regiomonta.n.u.s, whose declination tables also enabled the Admiral to work out his meridian alt.i.tudes. But the explorer"s main reliance was on the skill and care with which he calculated his dead reckoning, watching every sign offered by sea and sky by day and night, allowing for currents, for leeway, for every cause that could affect the movement of his ship, noting with infinite pains the bearings and the variation of his compa.s.s, and constantly recording all phenomena on his card and in his journal. _Columbus was the true father of what we call proper pilotage._
It is most interesting to watch the consequences of this seaman-like and most conscientious care in the results of his voyages of discovery. We have seen with what accuracy he made his landfall at the Azores, on his return from his first and most memorable voyage. The incidents of his second voyage are equally instructive. He had heard from the natives of the eastern end of Espanola that there were numerous islands to the southeast inhabited by savage tribes of Caribs, and when he sailed from Spain on his second voyage he resolved to ascertain the truth of the report before proceeding to his settlement at Navidad. He shaped such a course as to hit upon Dominica, and within a few weeks he discovered the whole of the Windward Islands, thence to Puerto Rico. On his return his spirit of investigation led him to try the possibility of making a pa.s.sage in the teeth of the trade-wind. It was a long voyage, and his people were reduced to the last extremity, even threatening to eat the Indians who were on board. One night, to the surprise of all the company, the Admiral gave the order to shorten sail. Next morning, at dawn, Cape St. Vincent was in sight. This is a remarkable proof of the care with which his reckoning must have been kept, and of his consummate skill as a navigator. On his third voyage he decided, for various reasons, to make further discoveries nearer to the equator, the result of his decision being the exploration of the Gulf of Paria, including the coast of Trinidad and of the continent. His speculations, although sometimes fantastic, and originating in a too vivid imagination, were usually shrewd and carefully thought out. Thus they led from one discovery to another; and even when, through want of complete knowledge, there was a flaw in the chain of his reasoning, the results were equally valuable.
A memorable example of an able and acute train of thought, based on observations at sea, was that which led to his last voyage in search of a strait. He had watched the gulf stream constantly flowing in a westerly direction, and he thought that he had ascertained, as the result of careful observation, that the islands in the course of the current had their lengths east and west, owing to erosion on their north and south sides. From this fact he deduced the constancy of the current.
His own pilot, Juan de la Cosa, serving under Ojeda and Bastidas, had established the continuity of land from the Gulf of Paria to Darien. The Admiral himself had explored the coast of Cuba, both on the north and south sides, for so great a distance that he concluded it must surely be a promontory connected with the continent. The conclusion was that, as it could not turn to north or south, this current, ever flowing in one direction, must pa.s.s through a strait. The argument was perfectly sound except in one point--the continental character of Cuba was an hypothesis, not an ascertained fact.
Still, it was a brilliant chain of reasoning, and it led to a great result, though not to the expected result. Just as the search for the philosopher"s stone led to valuable discoveries in chemistry, and as the search for El Dorado revealed the courses of the two largest rivers in South America, so the Admiral"s heroic effort to discover a strait in the face of appalling difficulties, in advancing years and failing health, made known the coast of the continent from Honduras to Darien.
All the discoveries made by others, in the lifetime of Columbus, on the coasts of the western continent (except that of Cabral) were directly due to the first voyage of the Admiral, to his marvelous prevision in boldly sailing westward across the sea of darkness, and are to be cla.s.sed as Columbian discoveries. This was clearly laid down by Las Casas, in a n.o.ble pa.s.sage. "The Admiral was the first to open the gates of that ocean which had been closed for so many thousands of years before," exclaimed the good bishop. "He it was who gave the light by which all others might see how to discover. It can not be denied to the Admiral, except with great injustice, that _as_ he was the first discoverer of those Indies, _so_ he was really of all the mainland; and to him the credit is due. For it was he that put the thread into the hands of the rest by which they found the clew to more distant parts. It was not necessary for this that he should personally visit every part, any more than it is necessary to do so in taking possession of an estate; as the jurists hold." This generous protest by Las Casas should receive the a.s.sent of all geographers. The pupils and followers of Columbus, such as Pinzon, Ojeda, Nino, and La Cosa, discovered all the continent from 8 deg. S. of the equator to Darien, thus supplementing their great master"s work; while he himself led the way, and showed the light both to the islands and to the continent.
Although none of the charts of Columbus have come down to us, there still exists a map of all discoveries up to the year 1500, drawn by the pilot Juan de la Cosa, who accompanied him in his first and second voyages, and sailed with Ojeda on a separate expedition in 1499, when the coast of the continent was explored from the Gulf of Paria to Cabo de la Vela. Juan de la Cosa drew this famous map of the world (which is preserved at Madrid) at Santa Maria, in the Bay of Cadiz, when he returned from his expedition with Ojeda in 1500. It is drawn in color, on oxhide, and measures 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 2 inches. La Cosa shows the islands discovered by Columbus, but it is difficult to understand what he could have been thinking about in placing them north of the tropic of cancer. The continent is delineated from 8 deg. S. of the equator to Cabo de la Vela, which was the extreme point to which discovery had reached in 1500; and over the undiscovered part to the west, which the Admiral himself was destined to bring to the knowledge of the world a few years afterward, Juan de la Cosa painted a vignette of St. Christopher bearing the infant Christ across the ocean. But the most important part of the map is that on which the discoveries of John Cabot are shown, for this is the only map which shows them. It is true that a map, or a copy of a map, of 1542, by Sebastian Cabot, was discovered of late years, and is now at Paris, and that it indicates the "Prima Vista," the first land seen by Cabot on his voyage of 1497; but it shows the later work of Jacques Cartier and other explorers, and does not show what part was due to Cabot. Juan de la Cosa, however, must have received, through the Spanish amba.s.sador in London, the original chart of Cabot, showing his discoveries during his second voyage in 1498, and was enabled thus to include the new coast-line on his great map.
The gigantic labor wore out his body. But his mind was as active as ever. He had planned an attempt to recover the Holy Sepulcher. He had thought out a scheme for an Arctic expedition, including a plan for reaching the north pole, which he deposited in the monastery of Mejorada. It was not to be. When he returned from his last voyage, he came home to die. We gather some idea of the Admiral"s personal appearance from the descriptions of Las Casas and Oviedo. He was a man of middle height, with courteous manners and n.o.ble bearing. His face was oval, with a pleasing expression; the nose aquiline, the eyes blue, and the complexion fair and inclined to ruddiness. The hair was red, though it became gray soon after he was thirty. Only one authentic portrait of Columbus is known to have been painted. The Italian historian, Paulus Jovius, who was his contemporary, collected a gallery of portraits of worthies of his time at his villa on the Lake of Como. Among them was a portrait of the Admiral. There is an early engraving from it, and very indifferent copies in the Uffizi at Florence, and at Madrid. But until quite recently I do not think that the original was known to exist. It, however, never left the family, and when the last Giovio died it was inherited by her grandson, the n.o.bile de Orche, who is the present possessor. We have the head of a venerable man, with thin gray hair, the forehead high, the eyes pensive and rather melancholy. It was thus that he doubtless appeared during the period that he was in Spain, after his return in chains, or during the last year of his life.
In his latter years we see Columbus, although as full as ever of his great mission, thinking more and more of the transmission of his rights and his property intact to his children. He had always loved his home, and his amiable and affectionate disposition made many and lasting friendships in all ranks of life, from Queen Isabella and Archbishop Deza to the humblest _grumete_. We find his shipmates serving with him over and over again. Terreros, the Admiral"s steward, and Salcedo, his servant, were with him in his first voyage and in his last. His faithful captains, Mendez and Fieschi, risked life and limb for him, and attended him on his deathbed. Columbus was also blessed with two loving and devoted brothers. In one of his letters to his son Diego, he said, "Never have I found better friends, on my right hand and on my left, than my brothers." Bartholomew, especially, was his trusty and gallant defender and counselor in his darkest hours of difficulty and distress, his nurse in sickness, and his helpful companion in health. The enduring affection of these two brothers, from the cradle to the grave, is most touching. Columbus was happy too in his handsome, promising young sons, who were ever dutiful, and whose welfare was his fondest care; they fulfilled all his hopes. One recovered the Admiral"s rights, while the other studied his father"s professional work, preserved his memorials, and wrote his life. Columbus never forgot his old home at Genoa, and the most precious treasures of the proud city are the doc.u.ments which her ill.u.s.trious son confided to her charge, and the letters in which he expressed his affection for his native town. Columbus was a man to reverence, but he was still more a man to love.
The great discoverer"s genius was a gift which is only produced once in an age, and it is that which has given rise to the enthusiastic celebration of the fourth centenary of his achievement. To geographers and sailors the careful study of his life will always be useful and instructive. They will be led to ponder over the deep sense of duty and responsibility which produced his unceasing and untiring watchfulness when at sea, over the long training which could alone produce so consummate a navigator, and over that perseverance and capacity for taking trouble which we should all not only admire but strive to imitate. I can not better conclude this very inadequate attempt to do justice to a great subject than by quoting the words of a geographer, whose loss from among us we still continue to feel--the late Sir Henry Yule. He said of Columbus: "His genius and lofty enthusiasm, his ardent and justified previsions, mark the great Admiral as one of the lights of the human race."
A DISCOVERY GREATER THAN THE LABORS OF HERCULES.
PIETRO MARTIRE DE ANGHIERA (usually called Peter Martyr), an Italian scholar, statesman, and historian. Born at Arona, on Lake Maggiore, in 1455; died at Granada, Spain, 1526.
To declare my opinion herein, whatsoever hath heretofore been discovered by the famous travayles of Saturnus and Hercules, with such other whom the antiquitie for their heroical acts honoured as G.o.ds, seemeth but little and obscure if it be compared to the victorious labours of the Spanyards.
--Decad. ii, cap. 4, Lok"s Translation.
GENIUS TRAVELED WESTWARD.
WILLIAM MASON, an English poet. Born at Hull, 1725; died in 1797.
Old England"s genius turns with scorn away, Ascends his sacred bark, the sails unfurled, And steers his state to the wide Western World.
MISSION AND REWARD.
J. N. MATTHEWS, in Chicago _Tribune_, 1892.
Sailing before the silver shafts of morn, He bore the White Christ over alien seas-- The swart Columbus--into "lands forlorn,"
That lay beyond the dim Hesperides.
Humbly he gathered up the broken chain Of human knowledge, and, with sails unfurled, He drew it westward from the coast of Spain, And linked it firmly to another world.
Tho" blinding tempests drove his ships astray, And on the decks conspiring Spaniards grew More mutinous and dangerous, day by day, Than did the deadly winds that round him blew, Yet the bluff captain, with his bearded lip, His lordly purpose, and his high disdain, Stood like a master with uplifted whip, And urged his mad sea-horses o"er the main.
Onward and onward thro" the blue profound, Into the west a thousand leagues or more, His caravels cut the billows till they ground Upon the shallows of San Salvador.
Then, robed in scarlet like a rising morn, He climbed ash.o.r.e and on the shining sod He gave to man a continent new-born; Then, kneeling, gave his grat.i.tude to G.o.d.
And his reward? In all the books of fate There is no page so pitiful as this-- A cruel dungeon, and a monarch"s hate, And penury and calumny were his; Robbed of his honors in his feeble age, Despoiled of glory, the old Genoese Withdrew at length from life"s ungrateful stage, To try the waves of other unknown seas.
EAGER TO SHARE THE REWARD.
Letter written by the Duke of MEDINA CELI to the Grand Cardinal of Spain, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, dated March 19, 1493.