ensive. Their vague fears were much
increased when, on the 16th of September, they reached the Sargasso Sea,
in which floating weeds were so densely matted that they impeded the
progress of the ships. Whispered tales now passed from one sailor to
another of legends they had heard of seas full of shoals and treacherous
quicksands upon which ships had been found stranded with their sails
flapping idly in the wind, and manned by skeleton crews. Columbus, ever
cheerful and even-tempered, answered these idle tales by sounding the
ocean and showing that no bottom could be reached.

DESIGN FOR THE SOUVENIR COINS.[57]

A decision has been reached by the World's Fair management in relation
to the designs for the souvenir coins authorized by Congress at its last
session, and a radical change has been determined upon regarding these
coins. Several days ago Secretary Leach of the United States Mint sent
to the Fair officials a copy of the medal struck recently at Madrid,
Spain, in commemoration of Columbus' discovery of America. This medal
was illustrated in a Spanish-American paper of July, 1892, and showed a
remarkably fine profile head of the great explorer. It was deemed
superior to the Lotto portrait previously submitted for the obverse of
the coin, and the Fair directors have concluded that the Madrid medal
furnishes the best head obtainable, and have accordingly adopted it. For
the reverse of the coin a change has also been decided upon by the
substitution of a representation of the western continent instead of a
fac-simile of the Government building at Jackson Park, as originally
intended. It was suggested by experts, artists, and designers at the
Philadelphia mint that the representation of a building would not make a
very good showing on a coin, and in consequence of these expressions of
opinion it was decided to make the change proposed. Now that the
Director of the Mint knows what the Fair management wishes for a
souvenir coin, he will inaugurate the preparations of the dies and
plates as promptly as possible. Just as soon as the designs are
finished, work will be begun on the coins, which can be struck at the
rate of 60,000 daily, and it is quite likely that the deliveries of the
souvenir coins will be completed early in the spring.

[Illustration: From Harper's Weekly.

Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Brothers.

BAS-RELIEF--THE SIGHTING OF THE NEW WORLD. From the Columbus Monument in
New York City. (See page 244.)