ts rays illumined, before the
eyes of the Spaniards, a flat grass-covered island which Columbus called
San Salvador or St. Saviour, after Him who had rescued them from the
perils of the sea. This island evidently lay north of Japan--at any
rate, it would appear so from Toscanelli's map. Little did Columbus and
his men suspect that a whole unknown continent and the world's greatest
ocean, the Pacific, still separated them from Japan. The small island
was one of the Bahama group, and is now known as Watling Island. If the
voyages of the Northmen five hundred years earlier be left out of
account, this island was the first point of the New World reached by
Europeans.

The great day was begun with the _Te Deum_. The officers congratulated
the Admiral, the sailors threw themselves at his feet and begged
forgiveness for their insubordination. A boat was lowered, into which
stepped Columbus with the flag of Castile in his hand, followed by the
Pinzon brothers with the Banner of the Cross, and a few others. Without
knowing it, Columbus stepped on to the soil of America. Solemnly he took
possession of San Salvador on behalf of the crown of Castile. A cross
was erected on an elevation on the shore in token that the island was in
Christian hands.

The natives must have been astonished when they saw the three wonderful
ships arrive off their coast and white men come ashore. At first they
held aloof, but with beads and other gifts the Spaniards soon gained
their confidence. They had only wooden javelins for weapons, did not
know iron, had long lanky hair, not woolly like the negroes, were naked,
and painted their bodies red and white. They knew gold, and that was
well, for it was gold, and gold above everything, that Columbus needed
to free the Holy Sepulchre from the Turks. These savages had gold rings
in their noses, and when the Spaniards inquired by signs where the gold
came from, they pointed towards the south-west.

Columbus, of course, called them Indians. Seven of them were taken on
board. They were to go to Spain and "learn to talk," so that they might
act as interpreters on subsequent voyages.

Then the voyage of discovery was resumed. The ships had to be sailed
with great caution, for dangerous reefs lay round the islands. According
to the signs made by the savages two large islands lay to the south. One
must be Japan, and when Columbus landed on the coast of Cuba and heard
of a prince named Kami, he thought that this