Spaniards. Disaster had
overtaken the colony, and the deserted men had been killed by the
natives who had apparently been so friendly. Another spot was selected
by Columbus, and a town was soon built to which he gave the name of
Isabella.

[Illustration: THE TOWN OF ISABELLA AND THE COLONY FOUNDED BY COLUMBUS.
From a woodcut of 1494.]

This is not the place to tell of the miserable disputes and squabbles
that befell the little Spanish colony. We are here concerned with the
fuller exploration of the West Indies by Columbus. Taking three ships
provisioned for six months, with a crew of fifty-two, he set out for
the coast of Cathay. Instead of this, he found the island of Jamaica,
with its low, hazy, blue coast of extreme beauty. Still convinced that
he was near the territory of the Great Khan, he explored the coast
of Cuba, not realising that it was an island. He sailed about among
the islands, till he became very ill, fever seized him, and at last
his men carried him ashore at Isabella, thinking that he must die.
He recovered to find a discontented colony, members of which had
already sent back stories to Spain of the misdeeds of their founder.
Columbus made up his mind to return to Spain to carry a true report
of the difficulties of colonisation in the Indies.

"It was June 1496 before he found himself again in the harbour of Cadiz.
People had crowded down to greet the great discoverer, but instead
of a joyous crew, flushed with new success and rich with the spoils
of the golden Indies, a feeble train of wretched men crawled on
shore--thin, miserable, and ill. Columbus himself was dressed as a
monk, in a long gown girded with a cord. His beard was long and unshaven.
The whole man was utterly broken down with all he had been through."

But after a stay of two years in Spain, Columbus again started off
on his third voyage. With six ships he now took a more southerly
direction, hoping to find land to the south of the West Indies. And
this he did, but he never lived to know that it was the great continent
of South America. Through scorching heat, which melted the tar of their
rigging, they sailed onwards till they were rewarded by the sight of
land at last. Columbus had promised to dedicate the first land he saw
to the Holy Trinity. What, then, was his surprise when land appeared
from which arose three distinct peaks, which he at once named La
Trinidad. The luxuriance of the island pleased the Spaniards, and as
they m