discovery.

Among others, Yanez Pinzon, one of the brave companions of Columbus,
undertook a voyage to the new world in 1499.

This navigator suffered much from storms, and having sailed southward,
he crossed the equator and lost sight of the polar star.

The sailors were exceedingly alarmed at this circumstance, as the polar
star was relied upon by them as one of their surest guides; not knowing
the shape of the earth, they thought that some prominence hid this star
from their view.

The first land that Pinzon discovered, after crossing the line, was Cape
St. Augustine, in eight degrees south latitude, the most projecting part
of the extensive country of Brazil.

As the fierceness of the natives made it unsafe to land on this coast,
he continued his voyage to the north-west, and fell in with the mighty
river Amazon, which is nearly under the equinoctial line.

The mouth of this river is more than thirty leagues in breadth, and its
waters enter more than forty leagues into the ocean without losing its
freshness.

He now recrossed the line, and coming again in sight of the polar star,
he pursued his course along the coast, passed the mouth of the Oronoko,
and entered the Gulph of Paria, after which he returned to Spain.

Ojeda also undertook a voyage expressly to found a settlement; but as