A WONDERFUL COINCIDENCE. 



175 



till the 30th of May, 1498, that he sailed again for his dis- 

 coveries in the West. He left San Lucar with six caravels, three 

 laden with supplies and reinforcements for the colony at Isabella, 

 and three intended to accompany himself upon a search for the 

 mainland, which he believed to exist west of Hispaniola, Cuba, 

 and Jamaica. On the 15th of July, in the latitude of Sierra 

 Leone, they came into the region of calms, where the water 

 seemed like molten silver beneath a tropical sun. Not a breath 

 of air stirred, not a cloud intercepted the fiery rays which fell 

 vertically upon them from the skies. The provisions decayed in 

 the hold, the pitch and tar boiled upon the ropes. The barrels 

 of wine and water opened in wide seams, and scattered their 

 precious contents to waste. The grains of wheat were wrinkled 

 and shrivelled as if roasting before the fire. For eight days this 

 incandescence lasted, till an east wind sprang up and wafted 

 them to a more temperate spot in the torrid zone. 



On the 31st of July land was discovered in the west, — three 

 mountain peaks seeming to ascend from one and the same base. 

 Columbus had made a vow to give the name of the Trinity to 

 the first land he should discover, and this singular triune form 

 of the land now before them was noticed as a wonderful coinci- 

 dence by all on board. It was named, therefore, Trinidad ; it 

 lies off the northern coast of Venezuela, in the Continent of 

 South America. The innumerable islands, formed by the forty 

 mouths of the Orinoco, were next discovered, and shortly after- 

 wards the continent to the north, which Columbus judged to be 

 the mainland from the volume of water brought to the sea by 

 the Orinoco. Columbus was not the first to set foot upon the 

 New World he had discovered : being confined to his cabin by 

 an attack of ophthalmia, he sent Pedro de Terreros to take 

 possession in his stead. This discovery of the Southern portion 

 of the Western Continent was, however, as we shall soon have 

 occasion to show, subsequent to that of the Northern portion by 

 John Cabot, who visited Labrador in 1497. 



