urned.

THE GREAT RIVER AMAZON, AND EL DORADO.

As you may imagine, there was great excitement and curiosity in Spain,
after the voyages of Columbus, about the new lands beyond the Western
Ocean.

Several of the men who had sailed with Columbus were ready to undertake
new voyages of discovery. Among them was Yanez Pinzon.

You will remember that when Columbus made his first voyage he set out
with three vessels. One of these was the _Nina_. It was commanded by
Yanez Pinzon.

[Illustration: The Nina.]

After Columbus had returned from his second voyage, Yanez Pinzon
succeeded in fitting out a fleet to go to the New World.

In 1499 he sailed with four caravels from Palos, the same port from
which Columbus had sailed. Pinzon took with him some of the sailors
who had been with Columbus, and also his three principal pilots. These
pilots were men who understood how to use the astrolabe and to tell
the course of the ship at sea.

Pinzon's fleet sailed toward the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, and
after passing them its course was southwest across the Atlantic. At
length the fleet crossed the equator, and Pinzon was the first explorer
to cross the line in the western Atlantic.

The fleet sailed on for nearly five hundred miles to the southward.
Here Pinzon met a terrific storm, which came very near sending his
whole fleet to the bottom. He was now not far from the coast, and after
the storm was over he discovered land. The land proved to be the most
eastern point of South America. This was in the month of January, in
the year 1500.

Pinzon and a company of his men went ashore. They did not remain long,
however, as they found the Indians very hostile. The Indians attacked
the Spaniards and killed several of their number. They were so furious
that, after chasing the Spaniards to their boats, they waded into the
sea and fought to get the oars. The Indians captured one of the rowboats,
but the Spaniards at last got off to their vessels.

Pinzon then set sail and steered northward along the coast.

When his fleet came near the equator, he noticed that the water was
very fresh. Accordingly he gave orders to fill the water casks of his
fleet. The freshness of the water of the sea led him to sail in toward
the shore.

At length he discovered whence the large volume of fresh water came.
It flowed out of the mouth of a great river.

It was the mouth of the river Amazon, and so great is the volume of
water which