you
wish to undertake is not easy, but the route from the west coasts of
Europe to the spice Indies is certain if the tracks I have marked be
followed.

A VISIT TO PALOS.

GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND. In a letter to the Philadelphia _Times_.

From one of the hillocks behind the hotel at Huelva you can see in the
distance East Rabida, Palos, Moguer, San Juan del Porto, and the sea,
where the three birds of good omen went skimming past in the vague
morning light 400 years ago, lest they might be seen by the Portuguese.
Columbus means dove, and the arms of Columbus contained three doves.
From Huelva I sailed to Rabida first. Rabida is on the last point of the
promontory, nearest the sea, and Palos is inland from it three miles
north, and is near half a mile from the Tinto. Passing down the oozy
Odiel, we soon saw a watering place on the beach outside just where
Columbus put to sea. We could also see the scaffolding around the
Columbus monument they were building by Rabida.

After inspecting the convent at Rabida, I bade my skipper wait for flood
tide to sail round to Palos, while I proceeded by land.

They brought me at Palos an old man who was extremely polite, but not
one word could we understand of each other, until finally I took him by
the arm and walked him in the direction of the church, whereupon
suppressed exclamations of delight broke forth; the American savage had
guessed the old man out. In point of fact, this old man was waiting all
the time to take me to the church, and was the father of the boy behind
whom I had ridden. Between the church and the beach rose a high hillock
covered with grass, and as high as the church tower. In old times this
was a mosque of military work, and it had not very long been Christian
when Columbus came here; possibly it had been Christian in his day 150
years. It stands quite alone, is of rude construction, and has at the
back of it some few graves--perhaps of priests. In the back part is a
very good Moorish arch, which they still show with admiration. The front
proper has a big door, barred strongly, as if the church might have been
in piratical times a place of refuge for the population up in the hills.
To the right of the entrance is the tower, which is buttressed, and its
spire is made of blue and colored tiles, which have thoroughly kept
their colors. A bell in this tower may have rung the inhabitants to
church when Columbus announced that he meant to impress the Palos