he sent some of his men on shore, who were very well received and
entertained by two of the principal Indians. It is needless to dwell upon
this part of the narrative. Very few of the places retain the names which
the admiral gave them, and, consequently, it is difficult to trace his
progress. He began to conjecture, from the immense amount of fresh water
brought down by the rivers into the Gulf of Paria, that the land which he
had been calling the island of Gracia was not an island, but a continent,
of which fact he afterwards became more convinced. But little time was
given him for research of any kind. He was anxious to reach Hispaniola, in
order to see after his colonists there, and to bring them the stores which
he had in charge; and so, after passing through the "Boca del Drago," and
reconnoitring the island of Margarita, which he named, he was compelled
to go on his way to Hispaniola. We are hardly so much concerned with what
the admiral saw and heard, as with what he afterwards thought and
reported. To understand this, it will be desirable to enter somewhat into
the scientific questions which occupied the mind of this great mariner and
most observant man.


THE ADMIRAL'S REASONING ABOUT THE CONTINENT.

The discovery of the continent of America by Columbus, in his third
voyage, was the result of a distinct intention on his part to discover
some new land, and cannot be attributed to chance. It would be difficult
to define precisely the train of ideas which led Columbus to this
discovery. The Portuguese navigations were one compelling cause. Then the
change, already alluded to, which Columbus had noticed in his voyages to
the Indies, on passing a line a hundred leagues west of the Azores, was in
his mind, as it was in reality, a circumstance of great moment[21] and
significance. It was not a change of temperature alone that he noticed,