LETTEES FROM ALABAMA. 11 
latitudes;” and after we had exercised patience 
awhile, we were favoured with a fair easterly breeze, 
which soon freshened, and proted the regular trade- 
wind. You are aware that on both sides of the 
equator, within the tropics, the wind constantly 
blows from the eastward with great regularity ; 
a circumstance which, if Columbus had been ac- 
quainted with it, might have materially shortened 
his voyage, and saved him much anxiety of mind 
and many a sleepless night. 
Borne on the wings of this welcome gale, we soon 
caught sight of Abaco, one of the Bahamas, which 
we rapidly passed at about two miles’ distance. I 
looked on this spot with very peculiar feelings ; 
the sight of land after a voyage is always grateful, 
but these southern islands, with their rich and 
splendid productions, had ever been clothed in 
my imagination with a halo that made them fairy- 
land. Then, too, the poetic associations of their 
history : this was the first group that gladdened 
the heart of the chivalric Woeld-Finder, — the 
first-fruits of that vast continent, which the genius 
and daring of one master-mind opened to admiring 
Europe. Here he found the meed of his toils, the 
recompense of his sufferings ; here his mighty 
spirit triumphed, exulted, in the realization of his 
fondest dreams, and in that hour he lived a life ; 
and here I looked on the very scene of his glory. 
I had lived to behold the Bahamas ; it was an era 
in my existence ! My eyes were strained to their 
utmost, that I might lose no constituent of the 
landscape, and yet they were not satisfied with 
seeing.” I looked eagerly to see any feature of a 
tropical landscape, and I was gratified by the sight 
of some of the palms, a low species, with large. 
