Ii.—Second voyage of Columbus.
[this description is taken from a letter by Dr. Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus, to the authorities of Seville, Dr. Chanca's residence.]On the first Sunday after All Saints, namely, the 3d of November, 1493], about dawn, a pilot of the ship Capitana cried out, ‘The reward! I see the land!’ The joy of the people was so great, that it was wonderful to hear their cries and exclamations of pleasure. And they had good reason to be delighted; for they had become so wearied of bad living, and of working the water out of the ships, that all sighed most anxiously for land . . . . On the morning of the aforesaid Sunday, we saw lying before us an island;1 and soon on the right hand another appeared: the first was high and mountainous, on the side nearest to us; the other flat, and very thickly wooded. As soon as it became lighter, other islands began to appear on both sides; so that on that day there were six islands to be seen lying in different directions, and most of them of considerable size. We directed our course towards that which we had first
