48 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



count of the country of which he is the official 

 head. 



It may be remembered that Columbus, in his first 

 three voyages, did not reach the Continent of Amer- 

 ica. On his fourth, final, and ill-fated expedition, 

 " after sixty days of tempestuous w^eather, w^ithout 

 seeing sun or stars," he discovered a small island, 

 called by the Indians Guanaja, supposed to be that 

 now laid down on some maps as the island of Bon- 

 aca. While on shore at this island, he saw coming 

 from the west a canoe of large size, filled with In- 

 dians, who appeared to be a more civilized people 

 than any the Spaniards had yet encountered. In 

 return to the inquiries of the Spaniards for gold, 

 they pointed toward the west, and endeavoured to 

 persuade them to steer in that direction. 



" Well would it have been for Columbus," says 

 Mr. Irving, " had he followed their advice. Within 

 a day or two he would have arrived at Yucatan ; 

 the discovery of Mexico and the other opulent coun- 

 tries of New Spain would have necessari]/ followed. 

 The Southern Ocean would have been disclosed to 

 him, and a succession of splendid discoveries would 

 have shed fresh glory on his declining age, instead 

 of its sinking amid gloom, neglect, and disappoint- 

 ment." 



Four years afterward, in the year 1506, Juan 

 Dias de Solis, in company with Vincent Yanez 

 Pinzon, one of the companions of Columbus on his 

 last voyage, held the same course to the island of 



