 | Songs of a Stranger |  |
THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF COLUMBUS
“Friday, August 3d, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos.
They had hard winds at first, which they considered ominous.
—11th. They had sight of the Canaries.—September 7. They
lost sight of land with sighs and tears; many fearing never to
see it again.—14th. Columbus observed the variation of the
compass, which no man, till then, had considered; and which
every day appeared more evident.—16th. They saw pieces
of grass or herbs on the water, of a pale green colour; and on
one of them a grasshopper alive; and these signs of land approaching
made some believe they had seen it. Suddenly,
Columbus called out, ‘Land! land!’ but it proved but clouds.
Murmurs were now very great against that ‘bold Italian,’
his prayers, and promises; and the crew determined to wait
but three days before they will return. The first of these
days he perceived, by the sunset, that land was near, and
commanded that they should abate their sails in the night: in
which night he spied light. Two hours after midnight,
Roderigo de Triana descried land on the 11th of October,
1492, which, when it was day, they saw to be an island of
fifteen leagues compass, plain and woody, with a great pool of
fresh water; the naked people wondering on the shore, thinking
their ships were living creatures. They went on land,
and termed it Saint Salvador, by the inhabitants called Guanahani,
one of the isles Lucayos, nine hundred and fifty leagues
from the Canaries.”—Purchas his Pilgrimes.
“Friday, August 3d, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos. They had hard winds at first, which they considered ominous. —11th. They had sight of the Canaries.—September 7. They lost sight of land with sighs and tears; many fearing never to see it again.—14th. Columbus observed the variation of the compass, which no man, till then, had considered; and which every day appeared more evident.—16th. They saw pieces of grass or herbs on the water, of a pale green colour; and on one of them a grasshopper alive; and these signs of land approaching made some believe they had seen it. Suddenly, Columbus called out, ‘Land! land!’ but it proved but clouds. Murmurs were now very great against that ‘bold Italian,’ his prayers, and promises; and the crew determined to wait but three days before they will return. The first of these days he perceived, by the sunset, that land was near, and commanded that they should abate their sails in the night: in which night he spied light. Two hours after midnight, Roderigo de Triana descried land on the 11th of October, 1492, which, when it was day, they saw to be an island of fifteen leagues compass, plain and woody, with a great pool of fresh water; the naked people wondering on the shore, thinking their ships were living creatures. They went on land, and termed it Saint Salvador, by the inhabitants called Guanahani, one of the isles Lucayos, nine hundred and fifty leagues from the Canaries.”—Purchas his Pilgrimes.
Oh, turn our wand'ring vessel to harbour once again!
Why to this ‘bold Italian’ our lives, our hopes confide?
No golden land awaits us beyond the shoreless tide.
How long shall he deceive us with boasting, vain and loud?
And when we gaze for land he can show us but a cloud!”
Though he saw their furious glances, and their daggers half display'd;
No fear was in his soul—but his heart was wrung with woe—
Shall he quail before their murmurs, and his glorious meed forego?
Had he braved the ocean's terrors in tempest and in night—
And shall he furl his sails with the promised goal in sight?
And by its ruddy light he knew his toil was done.
'Twas in the deepest midnight, as they cut the yielding wave,
When not a star was shining to guide them, or to save—
As in awful, hopeless, silence their onward course they steer,
Far in the murky distance—lo! glimmering lights appear!
And with the morning rises their rapturous certainty:
Through the silvery vapour gleaming extends the welcome strand,
And trees, and rocks, and mountains, before their view expand:
They breast the foaming surges, and shouting leap to shore,
While every echo answers, “God, and Saint Salvador!”
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