Spain, he received princely honours all his way to Barcelona. His entrance here, with some of the natives, and with the arms and utensils of the discovered islands, was a triumph as striking and more glorious than that of a conqueror. Ferdinand and Isabella received him clad in their royal robes, and seated on a throne under a magnificent canopy. When he approached, they stood up; and, raising him as he kneeled to kiss their hands, desired him to take his seat upon a chair prepared for him, and to give a circumstantial account of his voyage. When he had finished his oration, which he delivered with much modesty and simplicity, their Majesties, kneeling down, offered up solemn thanks to God for the discovery. Every possible mark of honour that could be suggested by gratitude or admiration, was conferred on Columbus; the former capitulation was confirmed, his family was ennobled, and a fleet was ordered to be equipped, to enable him to go in quest of those more opulent countries which he still confidently expected to find.
On the 25th of September 1493, Columbus left Cadiz, on a second expedition, with seventeen ships and 1500 men. He diseovered the Caribbee Islands, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica; and after repeated mutinies of his colonists, and great hardships, he returned against the trade-winds to Cadiz, June 11, 1496. Having dispelled all the calumnies that had been accumulated upon him, Columbus embarked the 30th of May 1498, at San Lucar de Barrameda, on a third expedition, with only six vessels. On the 1st of August, he attained the great object of his ambition, by discovering the continent of America, near the mouth of the
