Discoverers and Explorers | Page 8

was made in 1493, Columbus discovered Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and some small islands in the Caribbean Sea.
On the island of Jamaica the Spaniards came upon the footprints of some strange animal which they thought to be a dragon. This dragon they believed was guarding the gold which they supposed was on the island. So they ran back to their ships in fear. Later on they became used to seeing these footprints, and found that they were those of alligators. At Puerto Rico they suffered from a savage attack made by the natives, who shot poisoned arrows and threw javelins at them. But in most other places the natives were very friendly.
Columbus thought this land was a part of the east coast of Asia, and he could not understand why he did not find cities such as Marco Polo had described.
Columbus then sailed to Hispaniola, where he planted a colony, of which he was made governor. It was not an easy matter to govern this island, because of the jealousies and quarrels of the Spaniards. At length Columbus returned to Spain, ill and discouraged.
Columbus made a third voyage in 1498, during which he sailed along the coast of Brazil, and discovered Trinidad Island. Here his ships encountered currents of fresh water which flowed with great force into the ocean. This led Columbus to think that so large a river must flow across a great continent, and strengthened his opinion that the land was a part of the great continent of Asia.
[Illustration: Map Showing how Columbus Discovered America.]
After sailing farther north along the Pearl Coast, which was so called because of the pearls found there, he returned to Hispaniola. Here he found the Spaniards engaged in an Indian war, and quarreling among themselves. Some officials became jealous of him, bound him with chains, and sent him back to Spain a prisoner. Ferdinand and Isabella were much displeased at this treatment of Columbus, and set him free.
A fourth voyage was made by Columbus in 1502, during which he explored the coast of Honduras in search of a strait leading to the Indian Ocean. In this venture he was unsuccessful. On his return to Spain he found his friend Queen Isabella very ill, and nineteen days after his arrival she died.
After Isabella's death the king treated Columbus cruelly and ungratefully. The people had become jealous of him, and his last days were spent in poverty and distress. He never knew that he had discovered a new continent, but supposed that he had found India.
Seven years after his death the king repented of his ingratitude, and caused the remains of Columbus to be removed from the little monastery in Valladolid to a monastery in Seville, where a magnificent monument was erected to his memory. In 1536 his bones were removed to the Cathedral of San Domingo in Hispaniola, and later they were taken to the cathedral in Havana.
When the United States took possession of Cuba, the Spanish disinterred the bones of Columbus again and carried them to Spain, placing them in the cathedral of Seville, where they now are.

VASCO DA GAMA.
Both the Spaniards and the Portuguese were cut off from trade with the East, because the Turks had taken possession of Constantinople. In consequence of this, the navigators of both countries were making earnest efforts to find a water route to India.
[Illustration: Vasco da Gama.]
Spain, as you know, had faith in Columbus, and helped him in his plan of trying to reach India by sailing westward. But the Portuguese had a different idea. They spent their time and money in trying to sail round the African coast, in the belief that India could be reached by means of a southeast passage.
This southeast passage could be found only by crossing the "burning zone," as the part of the earth near the equator was called; and all sailors feared to make the attempt.
It was thought almost impossible to cross this burning zone, and the few navigators who had ventured as far as the equator had turned back in fear of steaming whirlpools and of fiery belts of heat.
In 1486, six years before Columbus discovered America, the King of Portugal sent Bartholomew Diaz, a bold and daring navigator, to find the end of the African coast.
Bartholomew Diaz sailed through the fiery zone without meeting any of the dreadful misfortunes which the sailors so feared. When he had sailed beyond the tropic of Capricorn, a severe storm arose. The wind blew his three vessels directly south for thirteen days, during which time he lost sight of land. When the sun shone again, Diaz headed his vessels eastward, but as no land appeared, he again changed the direction, this time heading them toward the north. After sailing northward a short time, land was reached about two hundred miles east of