red. Immediately after Columbus's third,
voyage, in 1498, and after the news of Vasco da Gama's successful
passage to the Indies had made it necessary to discover some strait
leading from the "West Indies" to India itself, a Spanish gentleman,
named Hojeda, fitted out an expedition at his own expense, with
an Italian pilot on board, named Amerigo Vespucci, and tried once
more to find a strait to India near Trinidad. They were, of course,
unsuccessful, but they coasted along and landed on the north coast
of South America, which, from certain resemblances, they termed
Little Venice (Venezuela). Next year, as we have seen, Cabral,
in following Vasco da Gama, hit upon Brazil, which turned out to
be within the Portuguese "sphere of influence," as determined by
the line of demarcation.

But, three months previous to Cabral's touching upon Brazil, one of
Columbus's companions on his first voyage, Vincenta Yanez Pinzon,
had touched on the coast of Brazil, eight degrees south of the
line, and from there had worked northward, seeking for a passage
which would lead west to the Indies. He discovered the mouth of
the Amazon, but, losing two of his vessels, returned to Palos,
which he reached in September 1500.

This discovery of an unknown and unsuspected continent so far south
of the line created great interest, and shortly after Cabral's
return Amerigo Vespucci was sent out in 1501 by the King of Portugal
as pilot of a fleet which should explore the new land discovered
by Cabral and claim it for the Crown of Portugal. His instructions
were to ascertain how much of it was within the line of demarcation.
Vespucci reached the Brazilian coast at Cape St. Roque, and then
explored it very thoroughly right down to the river La Plata, which
was too far west to come within the Portuguese sphere. Amerigo
and his companions struck out south-eastward till they reached
the island of St. Georgia, 1200 miles east of Cape Horn, where
the cold and the floating ice drove them back, and they returned
to Lisbon, after having gone farthest south up to their time.

[Illustration: AMERIGO VESPUCCI.]

This voyage of Amerigo threw a new light upon the nature of the
discovery made by Columbus. Whereas he had thought he had discovered
a route to India and had touched upon Farther India, Amerigo and
his companions had shown that there was a hitherto unsuspected land
intervening between Columbus's discoveries and the long-desired Spice
Islands of Farthe