lished from the revealed Word (II Esdras vi.
42) that the ocean only covered one-seventh of the globe, and that the
other six-sevenths was dry land. Moreover, his splendid intellect was
united with a powerful imagination. When he had grasped the facts with
masterly intuition, his fancy often raised upon them some strange theory,
derived partly from his extensive reading, partly from his own teeming
brain. Thinking that a long and rapid course was insufficient to account
for the volume of water and the violence of the currents, he conceived
the idea that the earth, though round, was not a perfect sphere, and that
it rose in one part of the equinoctial line so as to be somewhat of a
pear shape. Thus he accounted for the exceptional volume of water by the
motion of rivers flowing down from the end of the pear. One step farther
in the realms of fancy, and he indulged in a dream that this centre and
apex of the earth's surface, with its mighty rivers, could be no other
than the terrestrial paradise. Writing as one thought coursed after
another in his teeming fancy, we find these passing whims of a vivid
imagination embodied in the journal intended for the information of the
sovereigns.

But time was passing on, and it was important that he should convey the
provisions with which his vessels were loaded to his infant colony. He
had seen that another narrow channel led from the northern side of the
gulf, and had named it "Boca del Dragon." On August 12th he had piloted
his vessels to the Punta de Paria, and prepared to pass through the
channel. At that critical moment it fell calm, while the two currents
flowed violently toward the opening, where they met and formed a broken,
confused sea. But the admiral made use of the currents, and by the
exercise of consummate seamanship took his three vessels clear of the
danger and out into the open sea. The islands of Tobago and Granada were
sighted, receiving the names of "Asuncion" and "Concepcion." Then the
rocks and islets to the westward came in view, named the "Testigos" and
"Guardias," and the island "Margarita." The latter name shows that the
admiral had obtained the correct information from the natives of Paria
respecting the locality of the pearl-fishery.

The admiral now crowded all sail to reach Espanola, intending to make a
landfall at the mouth of the river Azuma, where he knew that his brother,
the Adelantado (Governor), had founded the new city, and named it Santo
Domin