journal, "I armed three vessels very fit for such an enterprise." He
had left Grenada as late as the twelfth of May. He had crossed Spain to
Palos,(*) and in less than three months had fitted out the ships and was
ready for sea.

(*) Palos is now so insignificant a place that on some
important maps of Spain it will not be found. It is on the
east side of the Tinto river; and Huelva, on the west side,
has taken its place.

The harbor of Palos is now ruined. Mud and gravel, brought down by the
River Tinto, have filled up the bay, so that even small boats cannot
approach the shore. The traveler finds, however, the island of Saltes,
quite outside the bay, much as Columbus left it. It is a small spit of
sand, covered with shells and with a few seashore herbs. His own account
of the great voyage begins with the words:

"Friday, August 3, 1492. Set sail from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock,
and proceeded with a strong breeze till sunset sixty miles, or fifteen
leagues south, afterward southwest and south by west, which is in the
direction of the Canaries."

It appears, therefore, that the great voyage, the most important and
successful ever made, began on Friday, the day which is said to be so
much disliked by sailors. Columbus never alludes to this superstition.

He had always meant to sail first for the Canaries, which were the most
western land then known in the latitude of his voyage. From Lisbon to
the famous city of "Quisay," or "Quinsay," in Asia, Toscanelli, his
learned correspondent, supposed the distance to be less than one