tion for courage and enterprise, and hence had no
difficulty in finding moneyed associates among the rich merchants of
Seville, who, in that age of discovery, were ever ready to stake their
property upon the schemes of roving navigators. With such assistance
he soon equipped a squadron of four vessels, at Port St. Mary,
opposite Cadiz.

Among the seamen who engaged with him were several who had just
returned from accompanying Columbus in his voyage to this very coast
of Paria. The principal associate of Ojeda, and one on whom he placed
great reliance, was Juan de la Cosa, who went with him as first mate,
or, as it was termed, chief pilot. This was a bold Biscayan who may be
regarded as a disciple of Columbus, with whom he had sailed on his
second voyage, when he coasted Cuba and Jamaica, and he had also
accompanied Rodrigo de Bastidas, in his expedition along the coast of
Terra Firma. The hardy veteran was looked up to by his contemporaries
as an oracle of the seas, and was pronounced one of the most able
mariners of the day. He may be excused, therefore, if in his harmless
vanity he considered himself on a par even with Columbus.

Another conspicuous associate of Ojeda on this voyage was Amerigo
Vespucci, _a Florentine merchant, induced by broken fortunes and a
rambling disposition to seek adventures in the New World_. Whether he
had any pecuniary interest in the expedition, and in what capacity he
sailed, does not appear. His importance has entirely arisen from
subsequent circumstances--from his having written and published a
narrative of his voyages, and from his name having eventually been
given to the New World.

[Illustration: OJEDA'S FIRST VOYAGE]

Ojeda sailed from Port St. Mary on May 20, 1499, and, having touched
for supplies at the Canaries, took a departure from Gomera, pursuing
the route of Columbus in his third voyage, being guided by the
chart he had sent home, as well as by the mariners who had accompanied
him on that occasion. At the end of twenty-four days he reached the
continent of the New World, about two hundred leagues farther south
than the part discovered by Columbus, being, as it is supposed, on the
coast of Surinam. Hence he ran along the coast to the Gulf of Paria,
passing the mouths of many rivers, but especially those of the Esquivo
and the Orinoco. These, to the astonishment of the Spaniards,
unaccustomed as yet to the mighty rivers of the New World, poured
forth such a prodigious vol