have been so natural to give the name of Columbus to the new
world which he gave to Castile and Leon, that much wonder has been
expressed that America was not called Columbia, and many efforts have
been made to give to the continent this name. The District of Columbia
was so named at a time when American writers of poetry, were determined
that "Columbia" should be the name of the continent. The ship Columbia,
from which the great river of the West takes that name, had received
this name under the same circumstances about the same time. The city
of Columbia, which is the capital of South Carolina, was named with the
same wish to do justice to the great navigator.

Side by side with the discussion as to the name, and sometimes making
a part of it, is the question whether Columbus himself was really the
first discoverer of the mainland. The reader has seen that he first saw
the mainland of South America in the beginning of August, 1498. It was
on the fifth, sixth or seventh day, according to Mr. Harrisse's accurate
study of the letters. Was this the first discovery by a European of the
mainland?

It is known that Ojeda, with whom the reader is familiar, also saw this
coast. With him, as passenger on his vessel, was Alberico Vespucci, and
at one time it was supposed that Vespucci had made some claim to be the
discoverer of the continent, on account of this voyage. But in truth
Ojeda himself says that before he sailed he had seen the map of the Gulf
of Paria which Columbus had sent home to the sovereigns after he made
that discovery. It also seems to be proved that Alberico Vespucci, as
he was then called, never made for himself any claim to the great
discovery.

Another question, of a certain interest to people proud of English
maritime science, is the question whether the Cabots did not see the
mainland before Columbus. It is admitted on all hands that they did not
make their first voyage till they knew of Columbus's first discoveries;
but it is supposed that in the first or second voyage of the Cabots,
they saw the mainland of North America. The dates of the Cabots' voyages
are unfortunately badly entangled. One of them is as early as 1494, but
this is generally rejected. It is more probable that the king's letters
patent, authorizing John Cabot and his three sons to go, with five
vessels, under the English flag, for the discovery of islands and
countries yet unknown, was dated the fifth of March, 1496. Whether,
howeve