The

when the streets were bright with torches, the Pinta, believed to have been lost, also sailed into the harbor.

Columbus immediately wrote a letter to the king and queen, who bade him hasten to them in Barcelona. All along his way, even the villages and the country roads swarmed with people anxious to see the great discoverer and to look upon the strange people and the queer products which he had brought from India, as they thought.

As he came near the city, a large company of fine people rode out to give him welcome. He entered the city like a hero. The streets, the balconies, the doors, reception the windows, the very housetops were crowded with happy people eager to catch sight of the great hero.

people's

In a great room of the palace, Ferdinand and Isabella

had placed their throne. Into this room marched Recep

Columbus surrounded by

COLUMBUS IN CHAINS

the noblest people of
Spain, but none more noble
looking than the hero.
The king and queen arose
and Columbus fell upon
his knees and kissed their
hands. They gave him a
seat near them and bade
him tell the strange story
of his wonderful voyage.
When he finished, the
king and queen fell upon their knees and raised their
hands in thanksgiving. All the people did the same,
and a great choir filled the room with a song of praise.
The reception was now over and the people, shouting
and cheering, followed Columbus to his home. How like
a dream it must have seemed to Columbus, who only a
year or so before, in threadbare clothes, was begging
bread at the monastery near Palos!

tion by

the king

and

queen

10. The Second Voyage. But all Spain was on fire for another expedition. Every seaport was now anxious to furnish ships, and every bold sailor was eager to go. In a few months a fleet of seventeen fine ships and fifteen hundred people sailed away under the command of Columbus (1493) to search for the rich cities of their dreams. After four years of exploration and discovery among the Fails to islands that soon after began to be called the West Indies, cities Columbus sailed back to Spain greatly disappointed. He had found no rich cities or mines of gold and silver.

find rich

Death of Columbus

Naming the

country

Honor to

II. The Third and Fourth Voyages. On his third voyage (1498) Columbus sailed along the northern shores

THE HOUSE IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED

This house is in Valladolid, Spain, and
stands in a street named after
the great discoverer

of South America, but when he reached the West Indies the Spaniards who had settled there refused to obey him, seized him, put him in chains, and sent him back to Spain. But the good queen set Columbus free and sent him on his fourth voyage (1502). He explored the coast of what is now Central America, but

afterward met shipwreck on the island of Jamaica. He returned to Spain a broken-hearted man because he had failed to find the fabled riches of India. He died soon afterward, not knowing that he had discovered a new world.

In 1501 Amerigo Vespucci made a voyage to South America. He was sent out by Portugal. It was thought that Vespucci had discovered a different land than that seen by Columbus. Without intending to wrong Columbus, the country he saw, and afterward all land to the northward, was called America.

Spain was too busy exploring the new lands to give proper heed to the death of the man whose discoveries would, after a few years, make the kingdom richer even than India. But it was left to the greatest nation in his mem- all the western world to do full honor to the memory of Columbus in the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1892-1893).

ory

PONCE DE LEON, WHO SOUGHT A MARVELOUS LAND
AND WAS DISAPPOINTED

12. Ponce de Leon. When the Spaniards came to America they were told many strange stories by the A magic Indians about many marvelous places. Perhaps most fountain wonderful of all was the story of Bimini, where every day was perfect and every one was happy. Here was also the magic fountain which would make old men young once more, and keep young men from growing old.

When Columbus sailed to America for the second time he brought with him a brave and able soldier, named Ponce de Leon. De Leon spent many years on the new continent fighting for his king against the Indians. After a while he was made governor of Porto Rico. While thus serving his country he too heard the story of this wonderful land which no white man had explored. Like most Spaniards, he loved adventure. Also he was weary of the cares of his office, and soon resolved to find this land and to explore it.

sets out

In the spring of 1513 De Leon set sail with three ships from Porto Rico. Somewhere to the north lay this land of perfect days. Northward he steered for many days, De Leon past lovely tropical islands. At last, on Easter Sunday, to find an unknown shore appeared. On its banks were splendid Bimini trees. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and clear streams came gently down to the sea. De Leon named the new land Florida and took possession of it for the King of Spain.

Various duties kept him away from the new land for eight years after its discovery. In 1521 he again set out from Porto Rico, with priests and soldiers, and amply provided with cattle and horses and goods. He wrote

The first

settlement in America founded

Cortés

sank his

ships

to the King of Spain: "Now I return to that island, if it please God's will, to settle it." He was an old man then and hoped to found a peaceful and prosperous colony of which he was to be governor. But Indians attacked his settlement and sickness laid low many of his men. He had been in Florida only a short time when he himself was wounded in a fight with the Indians. Feeling that he would soon die, he hastily set sail with all his men for Cuba, where he died shortly after.

De Leon had failed to find the wonderful things of which the Indians had told him. He had failed even to establish the colony of which he was to be governor. But De Leon did discover a new and great land which now forms one of the states of the Union. To him also goes the honor of having been the first man to make a settlement in what is now a part of the United States.

CORTÉS, WHO FOUND THE RICH CITY OF MEXICO 13. Cortés Invades Mexico. Columbus died disappointed because he had not found the rich cities which everybody believed were somewhere in India. Foremost among Spanish soldiers was Hernando Cortés, who, in 1519, sailed with twelve ships from Cuba to the coast of what is now Mexico. His soldiers and sailors were hardly on land before he sank every one of his ships. His men now had to fight. They wore coats of iron, were armed with swords and guns, and they had a few cannon and horses. Every few miles they saw villages and now and then cities. The Indians wore cotton clothes, and in their ears and around their necks and their ankles they had gold and silver ornaments. The Spaniards could hardly keep their hands off these ornaments, they