ive days the caravels ran into smooth water again. But as
their distance from Spain grew greater, the spirit of protest and mutiny
grew louder. Columbus needed all of his invincible constancy and
firmness of purpose to quell and to animate his despairing crews. At
last, October 21, 1492--day ever memorable in the annals of this
world--the unknown land rose from the bosom of the water. It was named
by its pious discoverer San Salvador--Holy Saviour. The charm of climate
and of landscape enchanted all, and fear and despondency gave way to
delight and joy and the most extravagant anticipations. The subsequent
history of this first voyage, the wreck of the admiral's flag-ship Santa
Maria, the base desertion of Pinzon, and his baffled attempt to
forestall Columbus in the credit of the discovery, the triumphal honors
paid to the successful admiral, and the pope's bull conferring upon
Spain all lands west of a meridian one hundred leagues from the
Azores--all this is familiar to most readers. The actual discoveries of
the first voyage included Cuba and Hispaniola (or Haiti), with some
little islands of the Bahama group, of small importance.

On his second voyage Columbus found no difficulty in collecting
seventeen ships and 1,500 adventurers, so popular had the new way to the
Indies become when the way was once found. He set sail six months after
his return to Spain, or on September 15, 1493. He returned in June,
1496, after three years of explorations, interrupted by a long illness,
and having discovered Jamaica, Porto Rico, Santa Cruz, Antigua,
Montserrat, Dominica, and Guadaloupe.

The third voyage began May 30, 1498, and embraced six vessels and 200
men. Columbus struck southwestward from the Cape Verde Islands and ran
nearly to the equator, into a region of torrid heat, discovering
Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, and the Gulf of Paria, and making his first
landing on the continent, at the Pearl Coast, near the mouth of the
Orinoco, in what is now Venezuela. This voyage witnessed many
disasters--the rebellion of Roldan, the severe prostration of the
admiral by fever, and his seizure and imprisonment in chains by the
infamous Bobadilla.

The fourth and last voyage of Columbus, with four small caravels and 150
men, was begun May 11, 1502. On this voyage he discovered Martinique and
the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Veragua, on the mainland,
returning to Spain, after untold disasters and miseries, on November 7,
1504. Then