when they experienced their first tropical rain and thunder-storm, and
the Admiral ordered litanies. On November 2d he signaled to the fleet
to shorten sail, and on the morning of the 3d fifteen hundred pairs of
wondering eyes beheld the mountains of an island mysteriously hidden
till then in the bosom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Among the spectators were Bernal Diaz de Pisa, accountant of the
fleet, the first conspirator in America; thirteen Benedictine friars,
with Boil at their head, who, with Morén Pedro de Margarit, the
strategist, respectively represented the religious and military
powers; there was Roldán, another insubordinate, the first alcalde of
the Española; there were Alonzo de Ojeda and Guevára, true
knights-errant, who were soon to distinguish themselves: the first by
the capture of the chief Caonabó, the second by his romantic
love-affair with Higuemota, the daughter of the chiefess Anacaóna.
There was Adrian Mojíca, destined shortly to be hanged on the ramparts
of Fort Concepción by order of the Viceroy. There was Juan de
Esquivél, the future conqueror of Jamaica; Sebastian Olano, receiver
of the royal share of the gold and other riches that no one doubted to
find; Father Marchena, the Admiral's first protector, friend, and
counselor; the two knight commanders of military orders Gallego and
Arroyo; the fleet's physician, Chanca; the queen's three servants,
Navarro, Peña-soto, and Girau; the pilot, Antonio de Torres, who was
to return to Spain with the Admiral's ship and first despatches.
There was Juan de la Cosa, cartographer, who traced the first map of
the Antilles; there were the father and uncle of Bartolomé de las
Casas, the apostle of the Indies; Diego de Peñalosa, the first notary
public; Fermin Jedo, the metallurgist, and Villacorta, the mechanical
engineer. Luis de Ariega, afterward famous as the defender of the fort
at Magdalena; Diego Velasquez, the future conqueror of Cuba; Vega,