who would leave to another the prospect of perishing in carrying it out,
but am ready to sacrifice my life as an example to the world in doing
so. If I do not reach the shores of Asia by sea, it will be because the
Atlantic has other boundaries in the west, and these boundaries I will
discover._

THE TRUST OF COLUMBUS.

From a letter of Columbus to a friend:

_For me to contend for the contrary, would be to contend with the wind.
I have done all that I could do. I leave the rest to God, whom I have
ever found propitious to me in my necessities._

SIGNATURE OF COLUMBUS.

_S. i. e. Servidor_
_S. A. S. Sus Altezas Sacras_
_X. M. Y. Jesus Maria Ysabel_
_Xpo. FERENS Christo-pher_
_El Almirante El Almirante._

In English: Servant--of their Sacred Highnesses--Jesus, Mary, and
Isabella--Christopher--The Admiral.

--BECHER.

THE LAST WORDS OF COLUMBUS.

_Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 14: This letter received no answer.]

[Footnote 15: Columbus left the Canary Isles September 8th, made the
land October 11th--thirty-three days.]

[Footnote 16: Watling's Island.]

[Footnote 17: These canes are probably the flowering stems of large
grasses, similar to the bamboo or to the _arundinaria_ used by the
natives of Guiana for blowing arrows.]

[Footnote 18: An old Spanish coin, equal to the fiftieth part of a mark
of gold.]

[Footnote 19: Small copper coins, equal to about the quarter of a
farthing.]

[Footnote 20: One arroba weighs twenty-five pounds.]

[Footnote 21: There appears to be a doubt as to the exact number of men
left by Columbus at Espanola, different accounts variously giving it as
thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and forty. There is, however, a
list of their names included in one of the diplomatic documents printed
on Navarrete's work, which makes the number amount to forty, independent
of the Governor Diego de Arana and his two lieutenants, Pedro Gutierrez
and Rodrigo de Escobedo. All these men were Spaniards, with the
exception of two; one an Irishman named William Ires, a native of
Galway, and one an Englishman, whose name was given as Tallarte de
Lajes, but whose native designation it is difficult to guess at. The
document in question was a proclamation to the effect that the heirs of
those men should, on presenting at the office of public busin