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operation had worn away and inundated the borders of the mainland, gradually producing that fringe of islands which stretches from Trinidad to the Lucayos or Bahamas, and which, according to his idea, had originally been part of the solid continent. In corroboration of this opinion he notices the form of those islands; narrow from north to south, and extending in length from east to west in the direction of the current.*

The island of Beata, where he was anchored, is about thirty leagues to the west of the river Ozema, where he expected to find the new seaport which his brother had been instructed to establish. The strong and steady current from the east, however, and the prevalence of winds from that quarter might detain him for a long time at the island and render the remainder of his voyage slow and precarious. He sent a boat on shore, therefore, to procure an Indian messenger to take a letter to his brother, the Adelantado. Six of the natives came off to the ships, one of whom was armed with a Spanish cross-bow. The Admiral was alarmed at seeing a weapon of the kind in the possession of an Indian. It was not an article of traffic, and he feared * Letter to the King and Queen, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

could only have fallen into his hands by the death of some Spaniard.* He apprehended that further evils had befallen the settlement during his long absence, and that there had again been trouble with the natives.

Having despatched his messenger he made sail, and arrived off the mouth of the river on the 30th of August. He was met on the way by a caravel, on board of which was the Adelantado, who having received his letter, had hastened forth with affectionate ardor to welcome his arrival. The meeting of the brothers was a cause of mutual joy; they were strongly attached to each other, each had had his trials and sufferings during their long separation, and each looked with confidence to the other for comfort and relief. Don Bartholomew appears to have always had great deference for the brilliant genius, the enlarged mind, and the commanding reputation of his brother; while the latter placed great reliance in times of difficulty on the worldly knowledge, the indefatigable activity, and the lion-hearted courage of the Adelantado.

Columbus arrived almost the wreck of himself. His voyages were always of a nature to wear out the human frame, having to navigate amidst unknown dangers, and to keep anxious

* Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i., cap. 148.

watch at all hours and in all weathers. As age and infirmity increased upon him, these trials became the more severe. His constitution must originally have been wonderfully vigorous; but constitutions of this powerful kind, if exposed to severe hardships at an advanced period of life, when the frame has become somewhat rigid and unaccommodating, are apt to be suddenly broken up and to be a prey to violent aches and maladies. In this last voyage Columbus had been parched and consumed by fever, racked by gout and his whole system disordered by incessant watchfulness; he came into port haggard, emaciated, and almost blind. His spirit however was as usual superior to all bodily affliction or decay, and he looked forward with magnificent anticipations to the result of his recent discoveries, which he intended should be immediately prosecuted by his hardy and enterprising brother.

Chapter TV.

SPECULATIONS OF COLUMBUS CONCERNING THE COAST

T

OF PARIA.

[1498.]

HE natural phenomena of a great and striking nature presented to the ardent mind of Columbus in the course

of this voyage, led to certain sound deductions and imaginative speculations. The immense body of fresh water flowing into the gulf of Paria, and thence rushing into the ocean, was too vast to be produced by an island or by islands. It must be the congregated streams of a great extent of country pouring forth in one mighty river, and the land necessary to furnish such a river must be a continent. He now supposed that most of the tracts of land which he had seen about the gulf were connected; that the coast of Paria extended westward far beyond a chain of mountains which he had beheld afar off from

Margarita; and that the land opposite to Trinidad, instead of being an island, continued to the south, far beyond the equator, into that hemisphere hitherto unknown to civilized man. He considered all this an extension of the Asiatic continent; thus presuming that the greater part of the surface of the globe was firm land. In this last opinion he found himself supported by authors of the highest name, both ancient and modern; among whom he cites Aristotle and Seneca, St. Augustine and Cardinal Pedro de Aliaco. He lays particular stress also on the assertion of the apocryphal Esdras, that of seven parts of the world, six are dry land, and one part only is covered with

water.

The land, therefore, surrounding the gulf of Paria was but the border of an almost boundless continent, stretching far to the west and to the south, including the most precious regions of the earth, lying under the most auspicious stars and benignant skies, but as yet unknown and uncivilized, free to be discovered and appropriated by any Christian nation.

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May it please our Lord," he exclaims in his letter to the sovereigns, "to give long life and health to your highnesses, that you may prosecute this noble enterprise, in which, methinks, God will receive

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