name?

His letters sent off to court by fast courier, the Admiral himself said
good-by to Friar Juan and leisurely followed them. Ferdinand and
Isabella, at this time, happened to be in the remotest possible point
from Palos, in Barcelona, the great seaport of northeastern Spain. It
was a long, long land journey for a seaman to make, but Christopher
Columbus did not mind, for every step of it was glory and triumph. He
who had once wandered over this same land from city to city, obscure,
suspected of being either a visionary or an adventurer, had returned as
a great personage, an Admiral of Spain, a Viceroy, a Governor; and, best
of all, a practical discoverer instead of a mere dreamer. Every town he
passed through acclaimed him a most wonderful man.

Besides, he had brought them proofs of his discovery--those six strange
people called "Indians"; these, along with an iguana and some red
flamingoes, parrots, and unfamiliar plants, were exhibited in every
town, and every town gaped in wonder, and crowded close to get a view of
the Admiral and his _Indios_, and to whisper in awed tones, "and
there is much gold, too, but he is not showing that!"

All this was very gratifying to the Admiral; but even more so was his
reception when he arrived finally at Barcelona. Here he was met at the
city gates by a brilliant company of _caballeros_, or Spanish
nobility, who escorted him and his extraordinary procession through the
streets of the quaint old town. We may be sure that the authorities made
the most of what the discoverer had brought back; the Indians were
ordered to decorate themselves with every kind of color and every kind
of feather. The tropical plants were borne aloft, and it was rumored
that merely to touch them would heal any sort of malady.