Nina hoisted a flag and fired a gun. On the 11th the Pinta
fished up a cane, a log of wood, a stick wrought with iron, and a board,
and the Nina sighted a branch of hawthorne laden with ripe luscious
berries, "and with these signs all of them breathed and were glad." At
8 o'clock on that night, Columbus perceived and pointed out a light
ahead,[4] Pedro Gutierrez also seeing it; and at 2 in the morning of
Friday, October 12, 1492, Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor aboard the Nina, a
native of Seville, announced the appearance of what proved to be the New
World.[5] The land sighted was an island called by the Indians
Guanahani, and named by Columbus San Salvador.[6]

The same morning Columbus landed, richly clad, and bearing the royal
banner of Spain. He was accompanied by the brothers Pinzon, bearing
banners of the Green Cross, a device of his own, and by great part of
the crew. When they had all "given thanks to God, kneeling down upon the
shore, and kissed the ground with tears of joy, for the great mercy
received," the Admiral named the island, and took solemn possession of
it for their Catholic Majesties of Castille and Leon. At the same time
such of the crews as had shown themselves doubtful and mutinous sought
his pardon weeping, and prostrated themselves at his feet. Had Columbus
kept the course he laid on leaving Ferrol, says Castelar, his landfall
would have been in the Florida of to-day, that is, upon the main
continent; but, owing to the deflection suggested by the Pinzons, and
tardily accepted by him, it was his hap to strike an island, very fair
to look upon, but small and insignificant when compared with the vast
island-world in whose waters he was already sailing.

Into the details of this voyage, of highest interest as it is, it is
impossible to go further. The letter of Columbus, hereinafter printed,
gives further and most interesting details. It will be enough to say
here that it resulted in the discovery of the islands of Santa Maria del
Concepcion, Exuma, Isabella, Juana or Cuba, Bohio, the Cuban Archipelago
(named by its finder the Jardin del Rey), the island of Santa Catalina,
and that of Espanola, now called Haiti or San Domingo. Off the last of
these the Santa Maria went aground, owing to the carelessness of the
steersman. No lives were lost, but the ship had to be unloaded and
abandoned; and Columbus, who was anxious to return to Europe with the
news of his achievement, resolved to plant a colony on th