sailors
thought was never seen more than twenty-five leagues from land; but
it must be remembered, that, outside of the Mediterranean, few of the
sailors had ever been farther themselves. On the sixteenth they began
to meet "large patches of weeds, very green, which appeared to have been
recently washed away from land." This was their first knowledge of the
"Sargasso sea," a curious tract in mid-Atlantic which is always green
with floating seaweeds. "The continent we shall find farther on," wrote
the confident Admiral.

An observation of the sun on the seventeenth proved what had been
suspected before, that the needles of the compasses were not pointing
precisely to the north. The variation of the needle, since that time,
has been a recognized fact. But this observation at so critical a time
first disclosed it. The crew were naturally alarmed. Here was evidence
that, in the great ocean, common laws were not to be relied upon. But
they had great respect for Columbus's knowledge of such subjects. He
told them that it was not the north which had changed, nor the needle,
which was true to the north, but the polar star revolved, like other
stars, and for the time they were satisfied.

The same day they saw weeds which he was sure were land weeds. From them
he took a living crab, whose unintentional voyage eastward was a great
encouragement to the bolder adventurer westward. Columbus kept the crab,
saying that such were never found eighty leagues from land. In fact
this poor crab was at least nine hundred and seventy leagues from the
Bahamas, as this same journal proves. On the eighteenth the Pinta ran
ahead of the other vessels, Martin Alonso was so sure that he should
reach land that night. But it was not to come so soon.

Columbus every day announced to his crew a less distance as the result
of the day than they had really sailed. For he was afraid of their
distrust, and did not dare let them know how far they were from home.
The private journal, therefore, has such entries as this, "Sailed more
than fifty-five leagues, wrote down only forty-eight." That is, he wrote
on the daily log, which was open to inspection, a distance some leagues
less than they had really made.

On the twentieth pelicans are spoken of, on the twenty-first "such
abundance of weeds that the ocean seemed covered with them," "the sea
smooth as a river, and the finest air in the world. Saw a whale, an
indication of land, as they always keep near the