The story of Columbus . le the air was so sweet and mild that Co-lumbus said it would have been like April in Andalusiaor southern Spain if one might but have heard the songof the nightingale. A heron and a water-wagtail flewover the vessels and rejoiced the hearts of the men, forthey thought that these birds would not fly far awayfrom land. The ships at length began to sail past great patchesof green and yellow weeds floating on the water. Sure-ly these weeds must have come from some island orreef. On one of the patches Columbus found a live 54 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. crab. He kept it very car
The story of Columbus . le the air was so sweet and mild that Co-lumbus said it would have been like April in Andalusiaor southern Spain if one might but have heard the songof the nightingale. A heron and a water-wagtail flewover the vessels and rejoiced the hearts of the men, forthey thought that these birds would not fly far awayfrom land. The ships at length began to sail past great patchesof green and yellow weeds floating on the water. Sure-ly these weeds must have come from some island orreef. On one of the patches Columbus found a live 54 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. crab. He kept it very carefully, for it was encouragingto see life in this great waste of waters. When nightcame on the sliips plowed through schools of tunny fish,and the sailors amused themselves by throwing the har-poon at them. The crew of the Nina succeeded in kill-ing one of these fish with a harpoon. The smallest things were noticed on this first advent-urous voyage. At three hundred and sixty leagues .TlHanric Ocean 0C7Rcut|]C. Canary J. THE CANARY ISLANDS AND THE AZORES from the Canaries another water-wagtail was seen. Theweather continued to be mild. There w^as a gentlebreeze, while Columbus said that the sea was as calm asthe river Guadahjuiver at Seville. The Pinta, being thebest sailer, pushed ahead. Presently she waited for theadmirals ship, and Pinzon, who was lier captain, calledout that he had seen a great many birds flying toward THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 55 the sunset and also that he had seen land covered withclouds to the north; but Columbus would not turn outof his course to look for land, though his men wantedhim to. He believed in land to the west, and he did notwish to waste his time in sailing hither and wind began to freshen and the sailors had to short-en sail for the first time in a dozen days. The next day there were drizzling showers, TvhichColumbus thought were a sign that land was pelicans lit on the ships, and he told his men thatthese birds di
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcolumbuschristopher
