gate questions of the kind, and to explore the wonders and secrets of the universe.

These, and many more arguments were urged, with that persuasive power which honest zeal imparts. The generous spirit of Isabella was enkindled, and it seemed as if the subject, for the first time, broke upon her mind in its real grandeur. She declared her resolution to undertake the enterprise, but paused for a moment, remembering that King Ferdinand looked coldly on the affair, and that the royal treasury was absolutely drained by the war. Her suspense was but momentary. With an enthusiasm worthy of herself and of the cause, she exclaimed, " I undertake the enterprise for my own crown of Castile, and will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary funds." This was the proudest moment in the life of Isabella; it stamped her renown for ever as the patroness of the discovery of the New World.

St. Angel, eager to secure this favourable resolution, assured her majesty that there would be no need of pledging her jewels, as he was ready to advance the necessary funds, as a loan from the treasury of Arragon: his offer was gladly accepted.

Columbus had proceeded on his solitary journey across the vega of Granada, and had reached the bridge of Pinos, about two leagues from that city, a pass famous for bloody encounters during the Moorish wars. Here he was overtaken by a courier sent after him in all speed by the queen, requesting him to return to Santa Fé. He hesitated for a moment, to subject himself again to

the delays and equivocations of the court; but when he was informed that Isabella had positively undertaken the enterprise, and pledged her royal word, every doubt was dispelled; he turned the reins of his mule, and hastened back joyfully to Santa Fé, confiding implicitly in the noble probity of that princess.

CHAPTER IX.

Arrangement with the Spanish Sovereigns-Preparations for the Expedition at the Port of Palos. [1492.]

On arriving at Santa Fé, Columbus had an immediate audience of the queen, and the benignity with which she received him atoned for all past neglect. Through deference to the zeal she thus suddenly displayed, the king yielded his tardy concurrence, but Isabella was the soul of this grand enterprise. She was prompted by lofty and generous enthusiasm, while the king remained cold and calculating, in this as in all his other undertakings.

A perfect understanding being thus effected with the sovereigns, articles of agreement were drawn out by Juan de Coloma, the royal secretary. They were to the following effect :

1. That Columbus should have, for himself during his life, and his heirs and successors for ever, the office of high admiral in all the seas, lands, and continents, he might discover, with similar honours and prerogatives to those enjoyed by the high admiral of Castile, in his district.

2. That he should be viceroy and governor general over all the said lands and continents, with the privilege of nominating three candidates

for the government of each island or province, one of whom should be selected by the sovereigns.

3. That he should be entitled to one tenth of all free profits, arising from the merchandise and productions of the countries within his admiralty.

4. That he, or his lieutenant, should be the sole judge of all causes and disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain.

5. That he might then, and at all after times, contribute an eighth part of the expense of expeditions to sail to the countries he expected to discover, and should receive in consequence an eighth part of the profits.

These capitulations were signed by Ferdinand and Isabella, at the city of Santa Fé, in the vega or plain of Granada, on the 17th of April, 1492. All the royal documents, issued in consequence, bore equally the signatures of Ferdinand and Isabella, but her separate crown of Castile defrayed all the expense. As to the money advanced by St. Angel out of the treasury of King Ferdinand, that prudent monarch indemnified himself, some few years afterwards, by employing some of the first gold brought by Columbus from the New World to gild the vaults and ceilings of the grand saloon, in his royal palace of Saragoza, in Arragon.

One of the great objects held out by Columbus in his undertaking, was the propagation of the christian faith. He expected to arrive at the extremity of Asia, or India, as it was then generally termed, at the vast empire of the Grand Khan, of whose maritime provinces of Mangi and Cathay, and their dependent islands, since ascertained to be a part of the kingdom of China, the most mag

nificent accounts had been given by Marco Polo. Various missions had been sent, in former times, by popes and pious sovereigns, to instruct this oriental potentate, and his subjects, in the doctrines of Christianity. Columbus hoped to effect this grand work, and to spread the light of the true faith among the barbarous countries and nations that were to be discovered in the unknown parts of the east. Isabella, from pious zeal, and Ferdinand from mingled notions of bigotry and ambition, accorded with his views, and when he afterwards departed on this voyage, letters were actually given him, by the sovereigns, for the Grand Khan of Tartary.

The ardent enthusiasm of Columbus did not stop here. Recollecting the insolent threat once made by the Soldan of Egypt, to destroy the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem, he proposed that the profits which might arise from his discoveries should be consecrated to a crusade for the rescue of the holy edifice from the power of the infidels. The sovereigns smiled at this sally of the imagination, and expressed themselves well pleased with the idea; but what they may have considered a mere momentary thought was a deep and cherished design of Columbus. It is a curious and characteristic fact, which has never been particularly noticed, that the recovery of the holy sepulchre was the leading object of his ambition, meditated throughout the remainder of his life, and solemnly provided for in his will, and that he considered his great discovery but as a preparatory dispensation of Providence, to furnish means for its accomplishment.

The port of Palos de Moguer, in Andalusia, was fixed upon as the place where the armament for the