that very night; he ordered, therefore, a vigilant lookout to be kept from the forecastle, promising, to whomsoever should make the discovery, a doublet of velvet, in addition to the pension to be given by the Sovereigns.

12. The breeze had been fresh all day, with more sea than usual, and they made great progress. At sunset they had stood again to the west, and were ploughing the waves at a rapid rate, the Pinta keeping the lead from her superior sailing. The greatest animation prevailed throughout the ships; not an eye was closed that night.

QUESTIONS. On what date did the Admiral's crew believe they saw land? What reward had Columbus promised to the one who should first see it? What circumstances led Columbus to think land was near? When he altered his course, in what direction did he steer? To which part of the sky did most of the birds fly? When the crew were disappointed in not finding land, upon what did they insist? How did Columbus pacify them? What fresh appearances of land were observed the next day? What did he also promise to the first man who saw land? Which vessel kept the lead? How did the sailors spend the night?

1. As the evening darkened, Columbus took his station on the top of the castle, or cabin, on the high part of his vessel. However he might carry a cheerful and confident countenance during the day, it was to him a time of the most painful anxiety; and now, when he was wrapped from observation by the shades of night, he maintained an intense and unremitting watch, ranging his eye along the dusky horizon, in search of the most vague indications of land. Suddenly, about ten o'clock, he thought he beheld a light glimmering at a distance.

2. Fearing that his eager hopes might deceive him, he called to a gentleman of the king's bedchamber, and inquired whether he saw a light in that direction; the latter replied in the affirmative. Columbus, yet doubtful whether it might not be some delusion of the fancy, called another gentleman, and made the same inquiry. By the time the latter had ascended the round house, the light had disappeared.

3. They saw it once or twice afterwards, in sudden and passing gleams, as if it were a torch in

the bark of a fisherman, rising and sinking with the waves; or in the hand of some person on shore, borne up and down as he walked from house to house. So transient and uncertain were these gleams, that few attached any importance to them; Columbus, however, considered them as certain signs of land; and, moreover, that the land was inhabited.

4. They continued their course until two in the morning, when a gun from the Pinta gave the joyful signal of land. It was first discovered by a mariner, but the reward was afterwards adjudged to the admiral, for having previously perceived the light. The land was now clearly seen about two leagues distant, whereupon they took in sail, and lay to, waiting impatiently for the dawn.

5. The thoughts and feeling of Columbus, in this little space of time, must have been intense. At length, in spite of every difficulty and danger, he had accomplished his object. The great mystery of the ocean was revealed; his theory, which had been the scoff of sages, was triumphantly established; he had secured to himself a glory which must be as durable as the world itself. It is difficult, even for the imagination, to conceive the feelings of such a man at the moment of so sublime a discovery.

6. What a bewildering crowd of conjectures must have thronged upon his mind as to the land which lay before him, covered with darkness ! That it was fruitful, was evident from the vegetables which floated from its shores. He thought, too, that he perceived in the balmy air all the fragrance of aromatic groves.

7. But what were its inhabitants? Were they like those of the other parts of the globe? or were they some strange and monstrous race, such as the imagination in those times was prone to give to all remote and unknown regions? Had he come upon some wild island far in the Indian Sea? or was this the famed Cipango itself, the object of his golden fancies?

8. A thousand speculations of the kind must have swarmed upon him, as, with his anxious crew, he waited for the night to pass away, wondering whether the morning light would reveal a savage wilderness, or dawn upon spicy groves, and glittering fanes, and gilded cities, and all the splendour of oriental civilization. It was on the morning of Friday, 12th of October, 1492, that Columbus first beheld the New World.

9. When the day dawned, he saw before him a level and beautiful island, several leagues in extent, of great freshness and verdure, and covered with trees like a continual orchard. Though everything appeared in the wild luxuriance of untamed nature, yet the island was populous, for the inhabitants were seen issuing from the woods, and running from all parts to the shore, where they stood gazing at the ships. They were perfectly naked; and, from their attitudes and gestures, appeared to be lost in astonishment. Columbus made a signal for the ships to cast anchor, and the boats to be manned and armed.

10. He entered his own boat, richly attired in scarlet, and bearing the royal standard; whilst