extended to the ends of the earth, and came to regard himself as the destined instrument of Heaven for that end. While in this frame, and assisting at the siege of Baza, in December, 1489, two pilgrims having brought to the camp the threat of the sultan of Egypt to raze the tomb of Christ, Columbus registered a vow to devote the proceeds of his discoveries to rescue the holy sepulchre. In 1488 he received a letter from John II. of Portugal, inviting him to return. Henry VII. of England also invited him by letter to that country, and held out promises of encouragement. In 1491 he set out to lay his project before Charles VIII. of France, who had also written to him. On his way he stopped at the gate of the Franciscan monastery of La Rabida, near the seaport of Palos de Moguer in Andalusia, and asked for some bread and water for his boy. The prior of the convent, Juan Perez de Marchena, became greatly interested by the conversation of Columbus, and detained him as his guest. The mariners of Palos were then the most enterprising of Spain, and Juan Perez, himself a learned man, took much interest in their adventures. Dazzled by the stupendous projects described to him, but distrusting his own judgment, the worthy prior consulted with his friend Garcia Fernandez, physician of the village, and also with Alonso Pinzon, an experienced navigator of Palos. Pinzon was enthusiastic, and offered not only to advance money, but to command a ship. Perez had been the queen's confessor, and presuming on this sacred relation, he wrote a letter to Isabella, which he sent by the hands of Sebastian Rodriguez, an influential navigator of Palos, beseeching her to grant him an interview. Receiving a favorable reply, the prior mounted his mule at midnight, and rode to the camp at Santa Fé, where the king and queen were, and procured for Columbus an opportunity to explain his views personally. Isabella, on appointing an interview, considerately sent Columbus 20,000 maravedis (about $216), to put himself in condition to appear at court. Columbus related his story before the king and queen; but the terms upon which he insisted were characterized as exorbitant and ridiculous by the queen's confessor, Fernando de Talavera, archbishop of Granada, who had been appointed one of the negotiators; they were accordingly rejected. Columbus had left the royal presence, and was already two leagues from Granada on his way to Cordova, whence he intended to depart for France, when a messenger from the queen summoned him to return to Santa Fe. The brief space of time that had intervened gave to Spain the empire of the new world. When Columbus left the queen's presence, Juan Perez, Alonso de Quintanilla, Luis de San Angel, receiver of ecclesiastical revenues of Aragon, and the lady Beatriz, marchioness of Moya, remonstrated. Ferdinand coldly signified that the exchequer was empty. Isabella exclaimed, “I undertake the enterprise for my VOL. V.-9

own crown of Castile, and will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary funds." The necessity of raising money by this means was obviated by San Angel offering to advance the funds on behalf of the crown of Castile, and 17,000 florins were advanced out of the treasury of Ferdinand. Accordingly, Columbus on his return had but to join their majesties in signing the agreement, on his own terms, as drawn up by Juan de Colonna, the royal secretary. This document, signed at Santa Fé, April 17, 1492, contained five articles: 1, that Columbus and his heirs male for ever should have the office of admiral over all lands he might discover, with honors equal to those of the grand admiral of Castile in his jurisdiction; 2, that he should be viceroy and governor general, with right to name governors for the sovereigns' approval; 3, that he should receive one tenth of the net value of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and merchandise obtained within his jurisdiction; 4, that he and his lieutenants should be the sole judges in all disputes that might arise between his jurisdiction and Spain; and 5, that he might at any time advance one eighth in any venture, and receive a corresponding share of the profits. A letter of privilege also permitted Columbus to take the title of don. The royal documents were signed both by Ferdinand and Isabella, but her separate crown of Castile defrayed all the expense; and during her life few persons except Castilians were permitted to establish themselves in the new territories. On May 8 young Diego was appointed page to Prince John, the heir apparent, and on May 12 Columbus took leave of the king and queen to superintend the fitting out of the expedition at Palos. He, with the aid of Perez and the brothers Pinzon, contributed an eighth of the expense. Trouble was found in procuring

crews.

Some were induced to join by four months' pay in advance, and by a decree that volunteers should be free from arrest for two months after their return. The complement was made up by impressment. Three ships, the Santa Maria, a decked vessel, and two caravels, or undecked boats, the Pinta and Niña, were fitted out. The Santa Maria was of 90 ft. keel and had four masts, of which two were square-rigged, and two fitted with lateen sails. It was decked from stem to stern, having besides a poop 26 ft. in length, beneath which was the armament of heavy guns, with small pieces forward, for throwing stones and grape. It was provided with eight anchors and carried 66 seamen. The other two vessels were of small size, which was considered an advantage for exploring rivers and coasts. Columbus commanded the Santa Maria; Martin Alonso Pinzon, having his second brother, Francisco Martin, for pilot, the Pinta; and the third brother, Vicente Yañez Pinzon, the Niña. Three other pilots were attached to the expedition, namely: Sancho Ruiz, Pedro Alonso Niño, and Bartolomé Roldan. Rodriguez San

sought, but afterward concluded it was the mainland of India. He also discovered Hayti, which he thought was the Ophir of Solomon, but which he called Hispaniola, or Little Spain. On the bay, since called bay of Caracola, of this island, he built a fort with the timbers of the Santa Maria, and leaving in it 39 men, sailed on Jan 4, 1493, for Spain, taking with him several natives in the Niña, Martin Pinzon having already gone in search of gold on his own account in the Pinta. During the voyage a storm threatened the Niña with destruction. Columbus, fearful lest the knowledge of his discovery should perish, prepared a written statement of it, and heading it up in a cask committed it to the deep. On March 15, 1493, the ship reached the port of Palos, having a few days before been driven by storm into the Tagus, where he was favorably entertained by King John. The Spanish sovereigns, then at Barcelona, received him with great relaxation of court etiquette, ordered him to relate his adventures seated in their presence, confirmed all the dignities previously bestowed, and placed him in command of a fleet of 17 ships and 1,500 men, to prosecute the discovery. With this fleet he sailed from Cadiz, Sept. 25, 1493. From this day his good fortune forsook him. Many of those who sailed with him were adventurers in search of gold. Mutinies and quarrels broke out, and many of those who expected to find fortunes, but met nothing bat disappointment, threw the blame on the admiral. Having discovered the Windward islands, Jamaica, and Porto Rico, and founded a colony in Hispaniola, of which he left his brother Bartolommeo adelantado, or lieutenant governor, he returned home against the trade winds, and reached Cadiz June 11, 1496. He was successful in clearing himself of the clamor against him. On some courtiers depreciating the value of his discovery, he invited them to make an egg stand on end. When they had exhausted their efforts to accomplish the feat, Columbus struck the egg on the table, breaking the shell, and thus left it upright. "Any one can do that!" cried the courtiers. "When I have shown you the way," replied Columbus, leaving them to make the application. Columbus sailed on his third voyage to the new world, May 30, 1498, from San Lucar de Barrameda, with six ships. On this occasion he kept further to the south, discovering the mouth of the Orinoco, which he imagined was the great river Gihon, having its rise in the garden of Eden; also the coast of Pará, and the islands of Trinidad, Margarita, and Cubaqua; then he bore away to Hispaniola, there to recruit his enfeebled health. He found the colony disorganized, and in his efforts to restore it became again the victim of malice and misrepresentation. A commissioner, Francisco de Bobadilla, was sent from Spain ostensibly to inquire into the difficulties. His first act Was to put Columbus and his brother in chains, and send them to Spain. The account given

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of this indignity is touching. "Are you taking me to death, Vallejo?" inquired Columbus sadly, when that officer came to lead him from his cell. 'Your excellency is to be conducted to Spain," replied the officer, whereupon the admiral relapsed into silence. The officers of the ship offering to liberate him from his fetters, he replied proudly that the chains had been put upon him by authority of their majesties, and he added, "I will wear them until they shall order them to be taken off, and I will preserve them afterward as relics and memorials of the reward of my services." The indignation expressed throughout Spain at this outrage caused the king to disclaim having authorized it; but it is evident that the nobles were jealous of the superior rank of the admiral, and the king dissatisfied with the unproductiveness of the new countries. After nine months' polite evasion of his entreaties for redress, Ferdinand appointed Nicolas Ovando governor of Hispaniola in his stead. Bobadilla had meantime been recalled, and was drowned on the way. The only subsequent employment of Columbus, now old, was the command of four caravels with 150 men, to search for a passage through the sea now known as the gulf of Mexico to the East Indies. He sailed from Cadiz, May 9, 1502; was refused permission to refit at his own colony, Hispaniola; coasted the south side of the gulf of Mexico; and after much suffering from famine and hardship returned home, reaching San Lucar Nov. 7, 1504. He lay sick some months at Seville, and recovered only to have his claims for redress finally rejected by the king, Queen Isabella being now dead. An old man, broken in body, although in full possession of his mental faculties, having, in his own words, "no place to repair to except an inn, and often with nothing to pay for his sustenance," the discoverer of the new world died, in the act of repeating the words, in Latin: "Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Seven years afterward a marble tomb was placed over his remains, with an inscription ordered by the king: Á Castilla y & Leon Nuevo mundo dio Colon.

("To Castile and Leon a new world gave Colon.") Death did not end his voyages. His remains, first deposited in the convent of St. Francis, were transferred in 1513 to the Carthusian monastery of Las Cuevas; were taken in 1536 to Santo Domingo, and deposited in the cathedral of that city; thence were conveyed with great pomp in 1796 to the cathedral of Havana, where they now repose.-The character of Columbus is impressed on his life: lofty, daring, and ambitious in design, indomitable in conduct, moderate in success, undepressed in adversity, and in all imbued with a spirit of devotion. In person he was above the middle height, his countenance oval, with aquiline nose, bluish gray eyes, and fresh complexion. His hair had been auburn in youth,

COLZA OIL. See RAPE, a plant. COMA (Gr. kōμa, lethargy), a condition resembling profound sleep, in which the activity of the sensory ganglia is more or less completely suspended. The sensorium consists of the ganglionic masses lying along the basis of the skull in man, and partly included in the medulla oblongata, described in the article BRAIN, as the tubercula quadrigemina, olfactory lobes, corpora striata, and optic thalami, in which the nerves of special sense and of common sensation have their central terminations. In complete coma the activity of these ganglia is suspended, so that the individual is neither conscious of impressions derived from the organs of sense, nor has any perception of self-existence from the recognition of cerebral changes; shut off from the external world, and from internal sensation, his existence is to all intents and purposes a nonentity, a state of psychical annihilation. In the simpler forms of coma there is only a suspension, not a perversion, of the cerebral functions; but in the graver cases the accompanying delirium shows an affection of the hemispheres. Coma may be produced by congestion or hæmorrhage in the brain, by any abnormal pressure on this organ, by the agency of narcotic poisons and alcohol, by exhaustion from loss of blood, by concussion of the brain, and by action on the blood of various morbid products generated within the system. Slight coma differs but little from profound sleep; the heavy sleep of the drunkard, or that after severe and long mental or physical exertion, is almost comatose, the person being quite in sensible to ordinary external stimuli; this condition cannot be regarded as disease, but as the rest required for the regeneration of the body by the slow and unobstructed performance of the nutritive processes; so in the coma from concussion or deficient supply of blood to the brain, the person cannot be aroused from his deep sleep without danger of violent and perhaps fatal reaction. Medical writers describe two varieties or stages of coma: coma vigil, in

COMACCHIO, a fortified town of Italy, in the province and 28 m. S. E. of the city of Ferrara, 3 m. from the Adriatic; pop. about 6,500. It is the seat of a bishop. The chief occupation of the inhabitants is pisciculture. A series of canals has been constructed to connect the lagoon in the midst of which the town is situated with the Adriatic, so as to admit the fry of the eel, the mullet, the sole, and other fishes into the lagoon, where they are fattened. The an

manufacture of salt is also of importance, about 2,000,000 lbs. being obtained annually.

COMAL, a S. W. central county of Texas, bounded S. W. by the Cibolo river, and intersected by the Guadalupe; area, 575 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 5,283, of whom 377 were colored. The surface is rolling, and in some parts mountainous; live oak and mezquite cover about one third of the land. The soil is fertile in the valleys, but fit only for grazing elsewhere. The county was settled by Germans. The chief productions in 1870 were 169,250 bushels of Indian corn, 3,972 of rye, 8,913 of sweet potatoes, 1,309 tons of hay, 69,305 lbs. of butter, and 1,303 bales of cotton. There were 3,993 horses, 5,978 milch cows, 15,413 other cattle, 1,783 sheep, and 2,671 swine; 1 cotton and woollen mill, 3 flour mills, 1 saw mill, 5 tanneries, and 15 manufactories of saddles and harness. Capital, New Braunfels.

COMANA. I. An ancient city of Cappadocia (supposed to be the modern Bostan), on the river Sarus, celebrated in antiquity for its temple of Ma (the moon-goddess), or according to others of Enyo (Bellona), and for the great devotion of its inhabitants to the worship of that goddess. Over 6,000 persons were engaged in the service of the temple. The city was governed by the high priest, who was always a member of the reigning family, and took rank next to the king, if he did not exercise royal functions himself. II. A city of Pontus, on the river Iris, devoted to the same goddess as the Cappadocian Comana, of which it was believed to be a colony. On its site is now Gümenek, about 7 m. N. E. of Tokat, and about 70 m. S. S. E. of Samsun on the Black sea.

COMANCHE. I. A N. W. central county of Texas, intersected by Leon river; area, 1,050 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 1,001, of whom 24 were colored. A mountain ridge forms its S. W. boundary; the rest of the surface is generally undulating and well timbered, about a third part being covered with oak, ash, elm, &c. The soil is fertile in the river bottoms, but unproductive in other places. Stock raising is the leading occupation. The native mustang grape