ournal. _Columbus was the true father of what we call proper
pilotage._

It is most interesting to watch the consequences of this seaman-like and
most conscientious care in the results of his voyages of discovery. We
have seen with what accuracy he made his landfall at the Azores, on his
return from his first and most memorable voyage. The incidents of his
second voyage are equally instructive. He had heard from the natives of
the eastern end of Espanola that there were numerous islands to the
southeast inhabited by savage tribes of Caribs, and when he sailed from
Spain on his second voyage he resolved to ascertain the truth of the
report before proceeding to his settlement at Navidad. He shaped such a
course as to hit upon Dominica, and within a few weeks he discovered the
whole of the Windward Islands, thence to Puerto Rico. On his return his
spirit of investigation led him to try the possibility of making a
passage in the teeth of the trade-wind. It was a long voyage, and his
people were reduced to the last extremity, even threatening to eat the
Indians who were on board. One night, to the surprise of all the
company, the Admiral gave the order to shorten sail. Next morning, at
dawn, Cape St. Vincent was in sight. This is a remarkable proof of the
care with which his reckoning must have been kept, and of his consummate
skill as a navigator. On his third voyage he decided, for various
reasons, to make further discoveries nearer to the equator, the result
of his decision being the exploration of the Gulf of Paria, including
the coast of Trinidad and of the continent. His speculations, although
sometimes fantastic, and originating in a too vivid imagination, were
usually shrewd and carefully thought out. Thus they led from one
discovery to another; and even when, through want of complete knowledge,
there was a flaw in the chain of his reasoning, the results were equally
valuable.

A memorable example of an able and acute train of thought, based on
observations at sea, was that which led to his last voyage in search of
a strait. He had watched the gulf stream constantly flowing in a
westerly direction, and he thought that he had ascertained, as the
result of careful observation, that the islands in the course of the
current had their lengths east and west, owing to erosion on their north
and south sides. From this fact he deduced the constancy of the current.
His own pilot, Juan de la Cosa, serving under Ojeda and Basti