286 



A VISIT TO PALOS. 



residence of Martin Alonzo or Vicente Yafiez Pinzon, 

 in the time of Columbus. 



We now arrived at the church of St. George, in the 

 porch of which Columbus first proclaimed to the inhabi- 

 tants of Palos the order of the sovereigns, that they 

 should furnish him with ships for his great voyage of dis- 

 covery. This edifice has lately been thoroughly repaired, 

 and, being of sohd mason-work, promises to stand for 

 ages, a monument of the discoverers. It stands outside 

 of the village, on the brow of a hill, looking along a little 

 valley toward the river. The remains of a Moorish 

 arch prove it to have been a mosque in former times ; 

 just above it, on the crest of the hill, is the ruin of a 

 Moorish castle. 



I paused in the porch, and endeavored to recall the 

 interesting scene that had taken place there, when Co- 

 lumbus, accompanied by the zealous friar Juan Perez, 

 caused the public notary to read the royal order in pres- 

 ence of the astonished alcaldes, regidors, and alguazils ; 

 but it is difficult to conceive the consternation that must 

 have been struck into so remote a little community, by 

 this sudden apparition of an entire stranger among them, 

 bearing a command that they should put their persons 

 and ships at his disposal, and sail with him away into the 

 unknown wilderness of the ocean. 



The interior of the church has nothing remarkable, 



