iled were as blue, clear, and
tranquil as when he first admired their delightful serenity; the islands
they visited were as flowery and as fertile as when they first blessed
the sight of the enterprising sailor; if the iron hand of Christian
civilization had, here and there, broken down the gentle and benevolent
spirit of the naked beings who wandered through a life of inglorious
bliss, in their remote and peaceful regions, there were yet haunts
undiscovered where they might roam in undisturbed security--there were
yet bays over which they might dart unobstructed their light
canoes--green and shady forests beneath which they might chant their
songs, and rich valleys not yet searched for gold. But yet with all
this, he, the master spirit, is no longer among the voyagers. There is
no longer the novelty of a vast discovery. The way has been opened by
the daring pioneer, and we are now only to follow in the plain track his
genius conceived, discovered, and marked out. We can merely watch the
footsteps of those who followed the triumphal chariot; the hero of the
ovation has already passed along, and our eyes are still dazzled with
his splendour--our minds are still filled with admiration of his genius,
his enterprise, his undaunted and noble spirit. We are to turn from
those loftier efforts of human intellect and perseverance, which mark,
now and then, a human being, as a beacon in the midst of his fellow men,
to the more common, though it is true, the bold and spirited adventures
which attend the fortunes of many in the career of life. The story of
these adventures is indeed full of interest, but it is an interest less
in degree; and we can no more venture to compare it with that which
attends the actions and fortunes of him who seeks and finds a new world,
than we can compare the patient inquirer, who nightly searches through
his telescope for new stars in the vast firmament, with him who
proclaimed and proved the theory of the universe--than we can see in
every military exploit of Parmenio and Seleucus, the master spirit that
planned and effected the subjugation of the world.

Yet the pen which has described with so much felicity the life of
Columbus, cannot fail to impart great attraction to an account of those
who followed in the career they had commenced with him; who were
emboldened by the energy they had witnessed, and the success in which
they had partaken; and who completed the discovery of those regions,
which he