Knowledge of tlhc SphcriciU] of tJie Eartli. 183 



although it was not called l)y the name of " public opinion," as 

 nowadays, directed the people of all nations with irresistible 

 force. For that reason Columl)us came to Spain ; for that rea- 

 son he was obliged to wait until Spain could undertake the 

 voyage of discovery, and for that reason he found owners of 

 ships and rich sailors who risked willingly life and i:)roperty in 

 the enterprise. 



Only ignorance can see miracles and wonders instead of the 

 natural development of facts, science, navigation, astronomy, 

 cartography and preparatory voyages to Africa, the Canary and 

 Azores islands and Iceland. All these made ripe the fruit of 

 crossing the ocean toward the west, and the praise belongs to 

 the tree where that fruit was most ripe. That tree was Spain, 

 where Columbus brought the fortunate error of Toscanelli, be- 

 lieving the distance about one-fourth of what it is. He expected 

 to arrive at Cathay, and so the discovery was made by Spain, 

 and could not have been done by any other nation without com- 

 mitting Providence to historical injustice. 



But when we speak of La Rabida, allow me to tell you how 

 much you are indebted to Mr Curtis for that wonder. Let me 

 call it a wonder, for the work could not have been better done. 

 It is not a copy ; it is the same, stone by stone, the original 

 building of La Rabida. 



The great discovery was not appreciated in all its InqDortance 

 until twenty years after, when more and more new lands and 

 great empires were explored ; and the voyage of the Victoria, com- 

 manded by Sebastian Elcano, went around the world, and whose 

 family yet use for a coat-of-arms a globe with the lem primus me 

 circumdedisti ; all that made us think what Spain had in her 

 hand. In behalf of that opinion I am going to quote the pro- 

 banza of 1513 and 1515, in the lawsuit against Diego Colon, son 

 of the admiral (volume 3 of Navarrete, page 538), documents of 

 my private library ; but I offer them with pleasure to the mem- 

 bers of the congress who wish to consult them. Those probanzas^ 

 that today would be called inquests, were to clear up the par- 

 ticulars of the discovery, and there were heard more than fifty 

 witnesses, some speaking of what they had seen, others of what 

 they had heard from this same Columbus. Among other curi- 

 ous details it is perfectly proved that Columbus contracted with 

 Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, to divide with him 

 in equal parts honors and profits if they succeeded, which con- 



