better country in the world; ... their conversation is the sweetest
and mildest in the world, and always accompanied with a smile. The
king is served with great state, and his behavior is so decent that
it is pleasant to see him.

The admiral had previously described the Indians of Cuba as equally
simple and friendly, telling how they had "honored the strangers as
sacred beings allied to heaven." The pity of it, and the shame, is that
those frank, unsuspicious, islanders had no notion or foresight of the
cruel desolation which their gallant guests were presently to bring upon
the native races--death, and torture, and extermination!

A harbor in Cuba is thus described by Columbus in a letter to Ferdinand
and Isabella:

I discovered a river which a galley might easily enter.... I found
from five to eight fathoms of water. Having proceeded a
considerable way up the river, everything invited me to settle
there. The beauty of the river, the clearness of the water, the
multitude of palm-trees and an infinite number of other large and
flourishing trees, the birds and the verdure of the plains, ... I
am so much amazed at the sight of such beauty, that I know not how
to describe it.

Having lost his flag-ship, Columbus returned to Spain with the two small
caravels that remained from his petty fleet of three, arriving in the
port of Palos March 15, 1493. The reception of the successful explorer
was a national event. He entered Barcelona to be presented at court with
every circumstance of honor and triumph. Sitting in presence of the king
and queen he related his wondrous tale, while his attendants showed the
gold, the cotton, the parrots and other unknown birds, the curious arms
and plants, and above all the nine "Indians" with their outlandish
trappings--brought to be made Christians by baptism. Ferdinand and
Isabella heaped honors upon the successful navigator; and in return he
promised them the untold riches of Zipango and Cathay. A new fleet,
larger and better equipped, was soon found for a second voyage.

With his new ships, in 1498, Columbus again stood due west from the
Canaries; and at last discovering an island with three mountain summits
he named it Trinidad (i. e., "Trinity") without knowing that he was then
coasting the great continent of South America. A few days later he and
the crew were amazed by a tumult of waves caused by the fresh water of a
great r