fresco. The chief object of interest, however, and which will not fail
to attract the attention, is a tablet of marble inlaid in the wall at
the right of the altar, having upon its face the image of Christopher
Columbus, and forming the entrance to the tomb where rest the ashes of
this discoverer of a western world; here, too, are the iron chains with
which an ungrateful sovereign once loaded him. How great the contrast
presented to the mind between those chains and the reverence bestowed
upon this tomb![23]

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA.]

The story of the great Genoese possesses a more thrilling interest than
any narrative which the imagination of poet or romancer has ever
conceived. The tales of the Arabian Nights, with all their wealth of
fancy, are insipid and insignificant compared with the authentic
narrative of the adventures of the Italian mariner and his sublime
discovery. Familiar as we are with it from childhood, from the greatness
of the empire he gave to Christendom, the tale has still a fascination,
however often repeated, while the visible memorials of his greatness and
his trials revive all our veneration for his intellect and all our
interest in the story of his career. His name flashes a bright ray over
the mental darkness of the period in which he lived, for men generally
were then but just awakening from the dark sleep of the middle ages. The
discovery of printing heralded the new birth of the republic of letters,
and maritime enterprise received a vigorous impulse. The shores of the
Mediterranean, thoroughly explored and developed, had endowed the
Italian states with extraordinary wealth, and built up a very
respectable mercantile marine, considering the period. The Portuguese
mariners were venturing farther and farther from the peninsula ports,
and traded with different stations on the coast of Africa.

But to the _west_ lay what men supposed to be an illimitable ocean, full
of mystery, peril and death. A vague conception that islands, hitherto
unknown, might be met with afar off on that strange wilderness of
waters, like oases in a desert, was entertained by some minds, but no
one thought of venturing in quest of them. Columbus alone, regarded
merely as a brave and intelligent seaman and pilot, conceived the idea
that the earth was spherical, and that the East Indies, the great El
Dorado of the century, might be reached by circumnavigating the globe.
If we picture to ourselves the men