ard the right by
Nature's light.

And their wonder at the novelties in climate and vegetation, the
strange forests, brilliant birds, and splendid stars of the tropics,
must have been no less.

Yet it is one thing to feel, and another to find words to convey the
feeling to others; and the explorers often expressed regret for their
lack of skill in this respect.

Also, and this is more important in criticizing what they wrote,
these seamen were mostly simple, unlettered folk, to whom a country's
wealth in natural products and their practical value made the
strongest appeal, and whose admiration of bays, harbours, trees,
fields of grain, etc., was measured by the same standard of utility.
Even such unskilled reporters did not entirely fail to refer to the
beauty of Nature; but had it not been for the original and powerful
mind of Christopher Columbus, we should have had little more in the
way of description than 'pleasant,' 'pretty,' and such words.

Marco Polo described his journey to the coast of Cormos[2] in very
matter-of-fact fashion, but not without a touch of satisfaction at
the peculiarities of the place:

You then approach the very beautiful plain of Formosa, watered by
fine rivers, with plantations of the date palms, and having the
air filled with francolins, parrots, and other birds unknown to
our climate. You ride two days to it, and then arrive at the
ocean, on which there is a city and a fort named Cormos. The
ships of India bring thither all kinds of spiceries, precious
stones, and pearls, cloths of silk and gold, elephants' teeth,
and many other articles.... They sow wheat, barley, and other
kinds of grain in the month of November, and reap them in March,
when they become ripe and perfect; but none except the date will
endure till May, being dried up by the extreme heat.

Elsewhere he wrote of scenery in the same strain: of the Persian
deserts, and the green table-lands and wild gorges of Badachshan,
Japan with its golden roofed palaces, paradisaical Sunda Islands with
their 'abundance of treasure and costly spices,' Java the less with
its eight kingdoms, etc.; but naturally his chief interest was given
to the manners and customs of the various races, and the fertility
and uses of their countries.

In Bishop Osorio's _History of Emmanuel, King of Portugal_, we see
some pleasure in the beauties of Nature peeping through the
matter-of-fact tone of the