Columbus takes possession of the island of Guanahani, in the name of Spain. of the expedition feel grateful to Columbus. After all their trials and dangers, they had at last reached, they thought, the fabled land of Cathay. We well know how pleasing are our sensations when we again see green fields and luxuriant trees after a long sea voyage, and therefore we can conceive the exquisite sense of enjoyment and delight of Columbus and his crew, when they cast anchor in the roadstead and surveyed the island they had, at length, reached. It was thickly inhabited. The natives knew not what to make of the strangers who had come among them, richly attired, while they were in a state of perfect nudity. From their attitudes and gestures, as they timidly issued from the woods, and approached the shore, they were apparently lost in wonder. The ships they had intently watched from the earliest dawn of day were supposed to be huge monsters of the sea and their crews supernatural beings. When the boats landed, they fled in great trepidation; but by means of friendly signs, and other tokens of goodwill, a few of the boldest of them were induced to draw near Columbus and his captains when he unfurled the standard of Spain, and took formal and solemn possession of the island in the name of the Castilian sovereigns.
Columbus, from his commanding height, authoritative manner, and splendid dress, attracted more especially the admiration of the natives, who frequently prostrated themselves on the earth before him with signs of adoration. Nor were his men who, only a few days before, had concocted schemes for massacring him, less subservient. They thronged around him before he left the ship in their over-
