Peter Parleys Tales About America and Australia | Page 7

treated with all the
marks of distinction due to a man who had performed things so
extraordinary and unexpected. The king admitted him into his presence,
and listened with admiration to the account which he gave of his
voyage, while Columbus enjoyed the satisfaction of being able to prove
the solidity of his schemes to those very persons who had with
disgraceful ignorance rejected them as the projects of a visionary
adventurer.
Columbus was so impatient to return to Spain that he remained only
five days in Lisbon. On the 15th of March he arrived at Palos, seven
months and eleven days from the time when he set out from thence
upon his voyage.
When the prosperous issue of it was known, when they beheld the
strange people, the unknown animals, and singular productions brought
from the countries he had discovered, the joy was unbounded; all the
bells were rung, the cannons were fired, and he was welcomed with all
the acclamations which the people are ever ready to bestow on great
and glorious characters. They flocked in crowds to the harbour to see
him land, and nothing but Columbus and the New World, as the
Spaniards called it, was talked of.

He was desired by Ferdinand and Isabella in the most respectful terms
to repair to court, that they might receive from his own mouth, an
account of his wonderful discoveries.
On his arrival at Barcelona the king and queen received him clad in
their royal robes, seated upon a throne, and surrounded by their nobles.
[Illustration]
When he approached, they commanded him to take his seat upon a
chair prepared for him, and to give a circumstantial account of his
voyage, which he related with a gravity suitable to the dignity of the
audience he addressed, and with that modesty which ever accompanies
superior merit.
Every mark of honour that gratitude or admiration could suggest, was
conferred upon him; his family was ennobled, and, as a mark of
particular favour, Isabella appointed his son Diego, the boy, who, you
remember, had been left at the convent, page to prince Juan, the heir
apparent, an honour only granted to sons of persons of distinguished
rank.
The king and queen, and, after their example, the courtiers treated him
with all the respect paid to persons of the highest rank. Yet some of
these courtiers were his bitterest enemies, and did every thing they
could, in his absence, to poison the minds of the king and queen against
him, and to cause his downfall.
The favour shown Columbus by the sovereigns insured him for a time
the caresses of the nobility, for in court every one is eager to lavish
attentions upon the man "whom the king delighteth to honour."
At one of the banquets which were given him occured the well known
circumstance of the egg.
[Illustration]
A shallow courtier present, impatient of the honours paid to Columbus,

and meanly jealous of him as a foreigner, abruptly asked him, whether
he thought that, in case he had not discovered the Indies, there would
have been wanting men in Spain capable of the enterprise.
To this Columbus made no direct reply but, taking an egg, invited the
company to make it stand on one end. Every one attempted it, but in
vain; whereupon he struck it upon the table, broke one end, and left it
standing on the broken part; illustrating, in this simple manner, that
when he had once shown the way to the new world, nothing was easier
than to follow it.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV.
COLUMBUS PREPARES FOR ANOTHER VOYAGE.
Columbus was now anxious to set out on another voyage to proceed
with his discoveries, and the king and queen gave orders that every
thing should be done to further his wishes.
By his exertions a fleet of seventeen sail, large and small, was soon in a
state of forwardness; labourers and artificers of all kinds were engaged
for the projected colonies, and an ample supply was provided of
whatever was necessary for the cultivation of the soil, the working of
the mines, and for traffic with the natives.
He now found no difficulty in getting sailors to accompany him, and
the account he gave of the countries he had discovered, and particularly
the intelligence that they abounded with gold, excited the avarice and
rapacity of the Spaniards, and numbers of needy adventurers of ruined
fortunes and desperate circumstances, were eager to share in the spoil.
Many persons of distinction, thinking to become rich by the same
means, also volunteered to enlist, and many got on board of the ships
by stealth, so that about 1500 set sail in the fleet, though only a
thousand were originally permitted to embark.

The departure of Columbus on his second voyage presented a brilliant
contrast