had been accustomed to reverence, were weighty and persuasive, and not only restrained them from those violent excesses which they meditated, but prevailed with them to accompany their admiral for some time longer.

14. As they proceeded, the indications of approaching land seemed to be more certain, and excited hope in proportion. The birds began to appear in flocks, making toward the southwest. Columbus, in imitation of the Portuguese navigators, who had been guided in several of their discoveries by the motion of birds, altered his course from due west toward that quarter whither they pointed their flight. But, after holding on for several days in this new direction, without any better success than formerly, having seen no object during thirty days, but the sea and the sky, the hopes of his companions subsided faster than they had risen; their fears revived with additional force; impatience, rage, and despair appeared in every countenance.

15. All sense of subordination" was lost; the officers, who had hitherto concurred with Columbus in opinion, and supported his authority, now took part with the private men; they assembled tumultuously on the deck, expostulated with their commander, mingled threats with their expostulations, and required him instantly to tack about and return to Europe. Columbus perceived that it would be of no avail to have recourse to any of his former arts, which, having been tried so often, had lost their effect. He therefore promised solemnly to his men that he would comply with their request, provided they would accompany him and obey his command for three days longer; and if, during that time, land was not discovered, he would then abandon the enterprise, and direct his course toward Spain.

16. Enraged as the sailors were, and impatient to turn their faces again toward their native country, this proposition did not appear to them unreasonable.* Nor did Columbus hazard

The statement that Columbus thus capitulated with his mutinous companions, rests upon the authority of a single Spanish writer, but is positively contradicted by others, who affirm that he, from first to last, expressed an unalterable determination to persevere, in defiance of every danger and

much in confining himself to a term so short. The presages" of discovering land were now so numerous and promising, that he deemed them infallible. For some days the sounding-line reached the bottom, and the soil which it brought up indicated land to be at no great distance. The flocks of birds increased, and were composed not only of sea-fowl, but of such land birds as could not be supposed to fly far from the shore.

17. The crew of the Pinta observed a cane floating, which seemed to have been newly cut, and likewise a piece of timber artificially carved. The sailors aboard the Nigna took up the branch of a tree with red berries, perfectly fresh. The clouds around the setting sun assumed a new appearance; the air was more mild and warm; and, during night, the wind became unequal and variable. From all these symptoms, Columbus was so confident of being near land, that on the evening of the 11th of October, after public prayers for success, he ordered the sails to be furled, and the ships to lie to, keeping strict watch lest they should be driven ashore in the night.

18. A little after midnight* the joyful sound of land! land! was heard from the Pinta, which kept always ahead of the other ships. But having been so often deceived by fallacious" appearances, every man was now slow of belief, and waited in all the anguish of uncertainty and impatience for the return of day. As soon as morning dawned, all doubts and fears were dispelled. From every ship an island was seen about two leagues to the north, whose flat and verdant fields, well stored with wood, and watered with many rivulets, presented the aspect of a delightful country.

19. The crew of the Pinta instantly began the Te Deum", as a hymn of thanksgiving to God, and were joined by those of the other ships, with tears of joy and transports of congratulation. This oflice of gratitude to heaven was followed by an act of justice to their commander. They threw themselves at the feet of Columbus, with feelings of self-condemnation min

difficulty. It is reasonable to believe, however, that he bade them wait two or three days before compelling him to return, feeling the assurance that land would be discovered within the time.

Columbus himself, at ten o'clock in the evening, had seen a light gleaming at a great distance, and called the attention of some of his officers to it; but no public announcement of land was made.

gled with reverence. And passing, in the warmth of their admiration, from one extreme to another, they now pronounced the man whom they had so lately reviled and threatened, to be a person inspired by heaven with sagacity and fortitude more than human, in order to accomplish a design so far beyond the ideas and conceptions of all former ages.

III. THE MUTINY, SIGHT OF LAND, ETC.-Rogers.

[From the "Voyage of Columbus," a poem by Samuel Rogers.]

ALL melt in tears! but what can tears avail?

These climb the mast, and shift the swelling sail.
These snatch the helm; and round me now I hear
Smiting of hands, outcries of grief and fear,
(That in the aisles at midnight haunt me still,
Turning my lonely thoughts from good to ill.)
"Were there no graves-none in our land," they cry,
"That thou hast brought us on the deep to die?"
Silent with sorrow, long within his cloak
His face he muffled-then the Hero spoke:
"Generous and brave! when God himself is here,
Why shake at shadows in your mad career?
He can suspend the laws himself design'd,
He walks the waters, and the winged wind;
Himself your guide! and yours the high behest,
To lift your voice, and bid a world be blest!
And can you shrink?—to you, to you consign'd
The glorious privilege to serve mankind!
Oh had I perish'd, when my failing frame
Clung to the shatter'd oar 'mid wrecks of flame?
-Was it for this I linger'd life away,
The scorn of Folly, and of Fraud the prey;
Bow'd down my mind, the gift His bounty gave,
At courts a suitor, and to slaves a slave?
-Yet in His name whom only we should fear,
('Tis all, all I shall ask, or you shall hear,)

Grant but three days."-He spoke not uninspired;
And each in silence to his watch retired.

"

Although among us came an unknown Voice!
'Go, if ye will; and, if ye can, rejoice:

Go, with unbidden guests the banquet share;
In his own shape shall Death receive you there."

Twice in the zenith blazed the orb of light;
No shade, all sun, insufferably bright!
Then the long line found rest-in coral groves,
Silent and dark, where the sea-lion roves:-
And all on deck, kindling to life again,
Sent forth their anxious spirits o'er the main.

"Oh whence, as wafted from Elysium, whence
These perfumes, strangers to the raptured sense?
These boughs of gold, and fruits of heavenly hue,
Tingeing with vermeil light the billows blue?
And (thrice, thrice blessèd is the eye that spied,
The hand that snatch'd it sparkling in the tide)
Whose cunning carved this vegetable bowl,
Symbol of social rites, and intercourse of soul?"
Such to their grateful ear the gush of springs,
Who course the ostrich, as away she wings;
Sons of the desert! who delight to dwell
'Mid kneeling camels round the sacred well;
Who, ere the terrors of his pomp be past,
Fall to the demon in the redd'ning blast.

The sails were furl'd: with many a melting close,
Solemn and slow the evening anthem rose,—
Rose to the Virgin. 'Twas the hour of day,
When setting suns o'er summer seas display
A path of glory, opening in the west
To golden climes, and islands of the blest;
And human voices, on the silent air,
Went o'er the waves in songs of gladness there!

Chosen of men! 'twas thine, at noon of night,
First from the prow to hail the glimmering light;
(Emblem of Truth divine, whose secret ray
Enters the soul, and makes the darkness day!)
"Pedro! Rodrigo! there, methought, it shone!
There in the west! and now, alas! 'tis gone!—
'Twas all a dream! we gaze and gaze in vain!
-But mark, and speak not, there it comes again!
It moves!-what form unseen, what being there
With torch-like lustre fires the murky air?
His instincts, passions, say how like our own!
Oh! when will day reveal a world unknown?"

Long on the wave the morning mists reposed, Then broke—and, melting into light, disclosed

Half-circling hills, whose everlasting woods
Sweep with their sable skirts the shadowy floods;
And, say, when all, to holy transport given,
Embraced and wept, as at the gates of Heaven,
When one and all of us, repentant, ran,

And, on our faces, bless'd the wondrous man;
Say, was I then deceived, or from the skies
Burst on my ear seraphic harmonies?
"Glory to God!" unnumber'd voices sung,
Glory to God!" the vales and mountains rung,
Voices that hail'd creation's primal morn,
And to the Shepherds sung a Saviour born.

IV. FIRST LANDING OF COLUMBUS.-Irving.

[From the "Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus," by Washington Irving.] 1. It was on Friday morning, the 12th of October, 1492, that Columbus first beheld the New World. As the day dawned he saw before him a level island, several leagues in extent, and covered with trees like a continual orchard. Though apparently uncultivated, it was populous, for the inhabitants. were seen issuing from all parts of the woods and running to the shore. They were perfectly naked, and, as they stood gazing at the ships, appeared by their attitudes and gestures to be lost in astonishment.

2. Columbus made signals for the ships to cast anchor, and the boats to be manned and armed. He entered his own boat, richly attired in scarlet, and holding the royal standard; whilst Martin Alonzo Pinzon and Vincent Yañez his brother, put off in company in their boats, each with a banner of the enterprise emblazoned with a green cross, having on either side the letters F. and Y., the initials of the Castilian monarchs Fernando and Ysabel, surmounted by crowns.

3. As he approached the shore, Columbus, who was disposed for all kinds of agreeable impressions, was delighted with the purity and suavity" of the atmosphere, the crystal transparency of the sea, and the extraordinary beauty of the vegetation. He beheld, also, fruits of an unknown kind upon the trees which overhung the shores. On landing, he threw himself on his