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the lookout aloft that land was in sight. Straining 

 their eyes westward they saw three peaks rising from 

 the sea. They deemed the vision an answer to prayer, 

 for the expedition had been undertaken in the name of 

 The Holy Trinity, and here were three mountains 

 joined in one at their roots rising out of the ocean before 

 them. They called the land "The Island of the Holy 

 Trinity,' which is perpetuated in the name it bears 

 to-day. The mountains upon which the eyes of 

 Columbus and his comrades rested are known to-day 

 as "The Three Sisters." They are landmarks for the 

 seaman who enters the Gulf of Paria from the south, by 

 way of the Serpent's Mouth, the narrow strait which 

 separates Trinidad from the Venezuelan mainland. 

 Columbus had become so accustomed to finding islands, 

 that it did not enter into his head that the land he saw 

 to the south was continental in its vastness. He called 

 it Isla Sancta, the Holy Island. That was the first 

 name given to America. Columbus and his shipmates 

 had the misfortune to be caught in the bore, or tidal 

 wave, which to this day rushes through the Serpent's 

 Mouth, and one of the ships lost an anchor in con- 

 sequence. About fifty years ago an old Spanish anchor 

 was fished up by a dredger near the spot where this 

 mishap is said to have occurred, and to-day it is treas- 

 ured at the Victoria Institute in Port of Spain, and is 

 shown to visitors as the anchor of the immortal explorer. 

 Perhaps it is, Quien sabe ? Columbus did not find gold. 

 The natives were not friendly. The explorer was sick 

 in body and sick at heart. The beauty of the region 

 fascinated him, nevertheless. He likened it in his 

 thoughts to the Garden of Eden, and reported to Queen 

 Isabella that at last he had found Paradise. Like 

 Paradise the island looked on the morning of the nth 



