"On thy unaltering blaze
The half-wrecked mariner, his compass lost,
Fixes his steady gaze,
And steers, undoubting, to the friendly coast;
And they who stray in perilous wastes, by night,
Are glad when thou dost shine to guide their footsteps right."
Hymn to the North Star.
The following day was Saturday, the 15th, when the little fleet was ten
days from Gomera; or it was the sixth morning since the adventurers had
lost sight of the land. The last week had been one of melancholy
forebodings, though habit was beginning to assert its influence, and the
men manifested openly less uneasiness than they had done in the three or
four previous days. Their apprehensions were getting to be dormant for
want of any exciting and apparent stimulus, though they existed as
latent impulses, in readiness to be roused at the occurrence of any
untoward event. The wind continued fair, though light--the whole
twenty-four hours' work showing considerably less than a hundred miles,
as the true progress west. All this time Columbus kept his attention
fastened on the needles, and he perceived that as the vessels slowly
made their westing, the magnets pointed more and more, though by
scarcely palpable changes, in the same direction.
The admiral and Luis, by this time, had fallen into such habits of close
communication, that they usually rose and slept at the same time. Though
far too ignorant of the hazards he ran to feel uneasiness, and
constitutionally, as well as morally, superior to idle alarms, the young
man had got to feel a sort of sportsman's excitement in the result; and,
by this time, had not Mercedes existed, he would have been as reluctant
to return without seeing Cathay, as Columbus himself. They conversed
together of their progress and their hopes, without ceasing, and Luis
took so much interest in his situation as to begin to learn how to
discriminate in matters that might be supposed to affect its duration
and ends.
On the night of the Saturday just mentioned, Columbus and his reputed
secretary were alone on the poop, conversing, as usual, on the signs of
the times, and of the events of the day.
"The Nina had something to say to you, last evening, Don Christopher,"
observed the young man; "I was occupied in the cabin, with my journal,
and had no opportunity of knowing what passed."
"Her people had seen a bird or two, that are thought never to go far
from the land. It is possible that islands are at no great distance, for
man hath nowhere passed over any very great extent of sea without
meeting with them. We cannot, however, waste the time necessary for a
search, since the glory and profit of ascertaining the situation of a
group of islands would be but a poor compensation for the loss of a
continent."
"Do you still remark those unaccountable changes in the needles, Senor?"
"In this respect there is no change, except that which goeth to
corroborate the phenomenon. My chief apprehension is of the effect on
the people, when the circumstance shall be known."
"Are there no means to persuade them that the needle pointeth thus west,
as a sign Providence willeth they should pursue that course, by
persevering in the voyage?"
"This might do, Luis," answered the admiral, smiling, "had not fear so
sharpened their wits, that their first question would be an inquiry why
Providence should deprive us of the means of knowing whither we are
travelling, when it so much wisheth us to go in any particular
direction."
A cry from the watch on deck arrested the discourse, while a sudden
brightness broke on the night, illuminating the vessels and the ocean,
as if a thousand lamps were shedding their brilliancy upon the
surrounding portion of the sphere. A ball of fire was glancing athwart
the heavens, and seemed to fall into the sea, at the distance of a few
leagues, or at the limits of the visible horizon. Its disappearance was
followed by a gloom as profound as the extraordinary and fleeting light
had been brilliant. This was only the passage of a meteor; but it was
such a meteor as men do not see more than once in their lives--if it is
seen as often; and the superstitious mariners did not fail to note the
incident among the extraordinary omens that accompanied the voyage; some
auguring good, and others evil, from the event.
"By St. Iago!" exclaimed Luis, as soon as the light had vanished, "Senor
Don Christopher, this voyage of ours doth not seem fated to pass away
unheeded by the elements and other notable powers! Whether these
portents speak in our favor, or not, they speak us any thing but men
engaged in an every-day occupation."
"Thus it is with the human mind!" returned Columbus. "Let but its owner
pass beyond the limits of his ordinary habits and duties, and he sees
marvels in the most simple changes of the weather--in a flash of
lightning--a blast of air--or the passage of a meteor; little heeding
that these miracles exist in his own consciousness, and have no
connection with the every-day laws of nature. These sights are by no
means uncommon, especially in low latitudes; and they augur neither for
nor against our enterprise."
"Except, Senor Almirante, as they may beset the spirits and haunt the
imaginations of the men. Sancho telleth me, that a brooding discontent
is growing among them; and that, while they seem so tranquil, their
disrelish of the voyage is hourly getting to be more and more decided."
Notwithstanding this opinion of the admiral, and some pains that he
afterward took to explain the phenomenon to the people on deck, the
passage of the meteor had, indeed, not only produced a deep impression
on them, but its history went from watch to watch, and was the subject
of earnest discourse throughout the night. But the incident produced no
open manifestation of discontent; a few deeming it a propitious omen,
though most secretly considered it an admonition from heaven against any
impious attempts to pry into those mysteries of nature that, according
to their notions, God, in his providence, had not seen fit to reveal to
man.
All this time the vessels were making a steady progress toward the west.
The wind had often varied, both in force and direction, but never in a
manner to compel the ships to shorten sail, or to deviate from what the
admiral believed to be the proper course. They supposed themselves to be
steering due west, but, owing to the variation, were in fact now holding
a west-and-by-south course, and were gradually getting nearer to the
trades; a movement in which they had also been materially aided by the
force of the currents. In the course of the 15th and 16th of the month,
the fleet had got about two hundred miles further from Europe, Columbus
taking the usual precaution to lessen the distance in the public
reckoning. The latter day was a Sunday; and the religious offices, which
were then seldom neglected in a Christian ship, produced a deep and
sublime effect on the feelings of the adventurers. Hitherto the weather
had partaken of the usual character of the season, and a few clouds,
with a slight drizzling rain, had relieved the heat; but these soon
passed away, and were succeeded by a soft south-east wind, that seemed
to come charged with the fragrance of the land. The men united in the
evening chants, under these propitious circumstances; the vessels
drawing near each other, as if it might be to form one temple in honor
of God, amid the vast solitudes of an ocean that had seldom, if ever,
been whitened by a sail. Cheerfulness and hope succeeded to this act of
devotion, and both were speedily heightened by a cry from the look-out
aloft, who pointed ahead and to leeward, as if he beheld some object of
peculiar interest in that quarter. The helms were varied a little; and
in a few minutes the vessels entered into a field of sea-weed, that
covered the ocean for miles. This sign of the vicinity of land was
received by the mariners with a shout; and the very beings who had so
shortly before been balancing on the verge of despair, now became elate
with joy.
These weeds were indeed of a character to awaken hope in the bosom of
the most experienced mariner. Although some had lost their freshness, a
great proportion of them were still green, and had the appearance of
having been quite recently separated from their parent rocks, or the
earth that had nourished them. No doubt was now entertained, even by the
pilots, of the vicinity of land. Tunny-fish were also seen in numbers,
and the people of the Nina were sufficiently fortunate to strike one.
The seamen embraced each other, with tears in their eyes, and many a
hand was squeezed in friendly congratulation, that the previous day
would have been withheld in surly misanthropy.
"And do you partake of all this hope, Don Christopher?" demanded Luis;
"are we really to expect the Indies as a consequence of these marine
plants, or is the expectation idle?"
"The people deceive themselves in supposing our voyage near an end.
Cathay must yet be very distant from us. We have come but three hundred
and sixty leagues since losing sight of Ferro, which, according to my
computations, cannot be much more than a third of our journey. Aristotle
mentioned that certain vessels of Cadiz were forced westward by heavy
gales, until they reached a sea covered with weeds, a spot where the
tunny-fish abounded. This is the fish, thou must know, Luis, that the
ancients fancied could see better with the right eye than with the left,
because it hath been noted that, in passing the Bosphorus, they ever
take the right shore in proceeding toward the Euxine, and the left in
returning"--
"By St. Francis! there can be no wonder if creatures so one-sided in
their vision, should have strayed thus far from home," interrupted the
light-hearted Luis, laughing. "Doth Aristotle, or the other ancients,
tell us how they regarded beauty; or whether their notions of justice
were like those of the magistrate who hath been fed by both parties?"
"Aristotle speaketh only of the presence of the fish in the weedy ocean,
as we see them before us. The mariners of Cadiz fancied themselves in
the neighborhood of sunken islands, and, the wind permitting, made the
best of their way back to their own shores. Thia place, in my judgment,
we have now reached; but I expect to meet with no land, unless, indeed,
we may happen to fall in with some island that lieth off here in the
ocean, as a sort of beacon between the shore of Europe and that of Asia.
Doubtless land is not distant, whence these weeds have drifted, but I
attach little importance to its sight, or discovery. Cathay is my aim,
Don Luis, and I am a searcher for continents, not islands."
It is now known that while Columbus was right in his expectations of not
finding a continent so early, he was mistaken in supposing land to lie
any where in that vicinity. Whether these weeds are collected by the
course of the currents, or whether they rise from the bottom, torn from
their beds by the action of the water, is not yet absolutely
ascertained, though the latter is the most common opinion, extensive
shoals existing in this quarter of the ocean. Under the latter
supposition, the mariners of Cadiz were nearer the truth than is first
apparent, a sunken island having all the characteristics of a shoal, but
those which may be supposed to be connected with the mode of formation.
No land was seen. The vessels continued their progress at a rate but
little varying from five miles the hour, shoving aside the weeds, which
at times accumulated in masses, under their bows, but which could offer
no serious obstacle to their progress. As for the admiral, so lofty were
his views, so steady his opinions concerning the great geographical
problem he was about to solve, and so determined his resolution to
persevere to the end, that he rather hoped to miss than to fall in with
the islands, that he fancied could be at no great distance. The day and
night carried the vessels rather more than one hundred miles to the
westward, placing the fleet not far from midway between the meridians
that bounded the extreme western and eastern margins of the two
continents, though still much nearer to Africa than to America,
following the parallel of latitude on which it was sailing. As the wind
continued steady, and the sea was as smooth as a river, the three
vessels kept close together, the Pinta, the swiftest craft, reducing her
canvas for that purpose. During the afternoon's watch of the day that
succeeded that of the meeting with the weeds, which was Monday, the 17th
September, or the eighth day after losing sight of Ferro, Martin Alonzo
Pinzon hailed the Santa Maria, and acquainted the pilot on deck of his
intention to get the amplitude of the sun, as soon as the luminary
should be low enough, with a view to ascertain how far his needles
retained their virtue. This observation, one of no unusual occurrence
among mariners, it was thought had better be made in all the caravels
simultaneously, that any error of one might be corrected by the greater
accuracy of the rest.
Columbus and Luis were in a profound sleep in their cots, taking their
siestas, when the former was awakened by such a shake of the shoulder as
seamen are wont to give, and are content to receive. It never required
more than a minute to arouse the great navigator from his deepest
slumbers to the fullest possession of his faculties, and he was awake in
an instant.
"Senor Don Almirante," said Sancho, who was the intruder, "it is time to
be stirring: all the pilots are on deck in readiness to measure the
amplitude of the sun, as soon as the heavenly bodies are in their right
places. The west is already beginning to look like a dying dolphin, and
ere many minutes it will be gilded like the helmet of a Moorish Sultan."
"An amplitude measured!" exclaimed Columbus, quitting his cot on the
instant. "This is news, indeed! Now we may look for such a stir among
the people, as hath not been witnessed since we left Cadiz!"
"So it hath appeared to me, your Excellency, for the mariner hath some
such faith in the needle as the churchman bestoweth on the goodness of
the Son of God. The people are in a happy humor at this moment, but the
saints only know what is to come!"
The admiral awoke Luis, and in five minutes both were at their customary
station on the poop. Columbus had gained so high a reputation for skill
in navigation, his judgment invariably proving right, even when opposed
to those of all the pilots in the fleet, that the latter were not sorry
to perceive he had no intention to take an instrument in hand, but
seemed disposed to leave the issue to their own skill and practice. The
sun slowly settled, the proper time was watched, and then these rude
mariners set about their task, in the mode that was practised in their
time. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the most ready and best taught of them all,
was soonest through with his task. From his lofty stand, the admiral
could overlook the deck of the Pinta, which vessel was sailing but a few
hundred yards from the Santa Maria, and it was not long before he
observed her commander moving from one compass to another, in the manner
of a man who was disturbed. Another minute or two elapsed, when the
skiff of the caravel was launched; a sign was made for the admiral's
vessel to shorten sail, and Martin Alonzo was soon forcing his way
through the weeds that still covered the surface of the ocean, toward
the Santa Maria. As he gained the deck of the latter ship, on one of her
sides, his kinsman, Vicente Yanez, the commander of the Nina, did the
same thing on the other. In the next instant both were at the side of
the great navigator, on the poop, whither they had been followed by
Sancho Ruiz and Bartolemeo Roldan, the two pilots of the admiral.
"What meaneth this haste, good Martin Alonzo?" calmly asked Columbus:
"thou and thy brother, Vicente Yanez, and these honest pilots, hurry
toward me as if ye had cheering tidings from Cathay."
"God only knoweth, Senor Almirante, if any of us are ever to be
permitted to see that distant land, or any shore that is only to be
reached by mariners through the aid of a needle," answered the elder
Pinzon, with a haste that almost rendered him breathless. "Here have we
all been at the comparison of the instruments, and we find them, without
a single exception, varying from the true north, by, at least, a full
point!"
"That would be a marvel, truly! Ye have made some oversight in your
observations, or have been heedless in the estimates."
"Not so, noble admiral," put in Vicente Yanez, to sustain his brother.
"Even the magnets are becoming false to us; and as I mentioned the
circumstance to the oldest steersman of my craft, he assures me that the
north star did not tally with his instrument throughout the night!"
"Others say the same, here," added Ruiz--"nay, some are ready to swear
that the wonder hath been noted ever since we entered the sea of weeds!"
"This may be so, Senores," answered Columbus, with an undisturbed mien,
"and yet no evil follow. We all know that the heavenly bodies have their
revolutions, some of which no doubt are irregular, while others are more
in conformity with certain settled rules. Thus it is with the sun
himself, which passeth once around the earth in the short space of
twenty-four hours, while no doubt he hath other, and more subtile
movements, that are unknown to us, on account of the exceeding distance
at which he is placed in the heavens. Many astronomers have thought that
they have been able to detect these variations, spots having been seen
on the disc of the orb at times, which have disappeared, as if hid
behind the body of the luminary. I think it will be found that the north
star hath made some slight deviation in its position, and that it will
continue thus to move for some short period, after which, no doubt, it
will be found returning to its customary position, when it will be seen
that its temporary eccentricity hath in no manner disturbed its usual
harmony with the needles. Note the star well throughout the night, and
in the morning let the amplitude be again taken, when I think the truth
of my conjecture will be proved by the regularity of the movement of the
heavenly body. So far from being discouraged by this sign, we ought
rather to rejoice that we have made a discovery, which, of itself, will
entitle the expedition to the credit of having added materially to the
stores of science!"
The pilots were fain to be satisfied with this solution of their doubts,
in the absence of any other means of accounting for them. They remained
long on the poop discoursing of the strange occurrence; and as men, even
in their blindest moods, usually reason themselves into either
tranquillity or apprehension, they fortunately succeeded in doing the
first on this occasion. With the men there was more difficulty, for when
it became known to the crews of the three vessels that the needles had
begun to deviate from their usual direction, a feeling akin to despair
seized on them, almost without exception. Here Sancho was of material
service. When the panic was at its height, and the people were on the
point of presenting themselves to the admiral, with a demand that the
heads of the caravels should be immediately turned toward the
north-east, he interposed with his knowledge and influence to calm the
tumult. The first means this trusty follower had recourse to, in order
to bring his shipmates back to reason, was to swear, without
reservation, that he had frequently known the needle and the north star
to vary, having witnessed the fact with his own eyes on twenty previous
occasions, and no harm to come of it. He invited the elder and more
experienced seamen to make an accurate observation of the difference
which already existed, which was quite a point of the compass, and then
to see, in the morning, if this difference had not increased in the same
direction.
"This," he continued, "will be a certain sign, my friends, that the star
is in motion, since we can all see that the compasses are just where
they have been ever since we left Palos de Moguer. When one of two
things is in motion, and it is certain which stands still, there can be
no great difficulty in saying which is the uneasy one. Now, look thou
here, Martin Martinez," who was one of the most factious of the
disaffected; "words are of little use when men can prove their meaning
by experiments like this. Thou seest two balls of spun-yarn on this
windlass; well, it is wanted to be known which of them remains there,
and which is taken away. I remove the smallest ball, thou perceivest,
and the largest remains; from which it followeth, as only one can
remain, and that one is the larger ball, why the smaller must be taken
away. I hold no man fit to steer a caravel, by needle or by star, who
will deny a thing that is proven as plainly and as simply as this!"
Martin Martinez, though a singularly disaffected man, was no logician;
and, Sancho's oaths backing his demonstrations to the letter, his party
soon became the most numerous. As there is nothing so encouraging to the
dull-minded and discontented mutineer, as to perceive that he is of the
strongest side, so is there nothing so discouraging as to find himself
in the minority; and Sancho so far prevailed as to bring most of his
fellows round to a belief in the expediency of waiting to ascertain the
state of things in the morning, before they committed themselves by any
act of rashness.
"Thou hast done well, Sancho," said Columbus, an hour later, when the
mariner came secretly to make his nightly report of the state of feeling
among the people. "Thou hast done well in all but these oaths, taken to
prove that thou hast witnessed this phenomenon before. Much as I have
navigated the earth, and careful as have been my observations, and ample
as have been my means, never before have I known the needle to vary from
its direction toward the north star: and I think that which hath escaped
my notice would not be apt to attract thine."
"You do me injustice, Senor Don Almirante, and have inflicted a wound
touching my honesty, that a dobla only can cure"--
"Thou knowest, Sancho, that no one felt more alarm when the deviation of
the needle was first noted, than thyself. So great, in sooth, was thy
apprehension, that thou even refused to receive gold, a weakness of
which thou art usually exceedingly innocent."
"When the deviation was first noted, your Excellency, this was true
enough; for, not to attempt to mislead one who hath more penetration
than befalleth ordinary men, I did fancy that our hopes of ever seeing
Spain or St. Clara de Moguer again, were so trifling as to make it of no
great consequence who was admiral, and who a simple helmsman."
"And yet thou wouldst now brazen it out, and deny thy terror! Didst thou
not swear to thy fellows, that thou hadst often seen this deviation
before; ay, even on as many as twenty occasions?"
"Well, Excellency, this is a proof that a cavalier may make a very
capital viceroy and admiral, and know all about Cathay, without having
the clearest notions of history! I told my shipmates, Don Christopher,
that I had noted these changes before this night, and if tied to the
stake to be burnt as a martyr, as I sometimes think will one day be the
fate of all of us superfluously honest men, I would call on yourself,
Senor Almirante, as the witness of the truth of what I had sworn to."
"Thou wouldst, then, summon a most unfortunate witness, Sancho, since I
neither practise false oaths myself, nor encourage their use in others."
"Don Luis de Bobadilla y Pedro de Munos, here, would then be my
reliance," said the imperturbable Sancho; "for proof a man hath a right
to, when wrongfully accused, and proof I will have. Your Excellency will
please to remember that it was on the night of Saturday, the 15th, that
I first notified your worship of this very change, and that we are now
at the night of Monday, the 17th. I swore to twenty times noting this
phenomenon, as it is called, in those eight-and-forty hours, when it
would have been nearer the truth had I said two hundred times. Santa
Maria! I did nothing but note it for the first few hours!"
"Go to, Sancho; thy conscience hath its latitude as well as its
longitude; but thou hast thy uses. Now, that thou understandest the
reason of the variation, however, thou wilt encourage thy fellows, as
well as keep up thy spirits."
"I make no question that it is all as your Excellency sayeth about the
star's travelling," returned Sancho; "and it hath crossed my mind that
it is possible we are nearer Cathay than we have thought; this movement
being made by some evil-disposed spirits on purpose to make us lose the
way."
"Go to thy hammock, knave, and bethink thee of thy sins; leaving the
reasons of these mysteries to those who are better taught. There is thy
dobla, and see that thou art discreet."
In the morning every being in the three caravels waited impatiently for
the results of the new observations. As the wind continued favorable,
though far from fresh, and a current was found setting to the westward,
the vessels had made, in the course of twenty-four hours, more than a
hundred and fifty miles, which rendered the increase in the variation
perceptible, thus corroborating a prophecy of Columbus, that had been
ventured on previous observation. So easily are the ignorant the dupes
of the plausible, that this solution temporarily satisfied all doubts,
and it was generally believed that the star had moved, while the needle
remained true.
How far Columbus was misled by his own logic in this affair, is still a
matter of doubt. That he resorted to deceptions which might be
considered innocent, in order to keep up the courage of his companions,
is seen in the fact of the false, or public reckoning; but there is no
proof that this was one of the instances in which he had recourse to
such means. No person of any science believed, even when the variation
of the compass was unknown, that the needle pointed necessarily to the
polar star; the coincidence in the direction of the magnetic needle and
the position of the heavenly body, being thought accidental; and there
is nothing extravagant in supposing that the admiral--who had the
instrument in his possession, and was able to ascertain that none of its
virtue was visibly lost, while he could only reason from supposed
analogy concerning the evolutions of the star--should imagine that a
friend he had ever found so faithful, had now deserted him, leaving him
disposed to throw the whole mystery of the phenomenon on the more
distant dwellers in space. Two opinions have been ventured concerning
the belief of the celebrated navigator, in the theory he advanced on
this occasion; the one affirming, and the other denying his good faith
in urging the doctrine he had laid down. Those who assert the latter,
however, would seem to reason a little loosely themselves, their
argument mainly resting on the improbability of a man like Columbus
uttering so gross a scientific error, at a time when science itself knew
no more of the existence of the phenomenon, than is known to-day of its
cause. Still it is possible that the admiral may not have had any
settled notions on the subject, even while he was half inclined to hope
his explanation was correct; for it is certain that, in the midst of the
astronomical and geographical ignorance of his age, this extraordinary
man had many accurate and sublime glimpses of truths that were still in
embryo as respected their development and demonstration by the lights of
precise and inductive reasoning.
Fortunately, if the light brought with it the means of ascertaining with
certainty the variation of the needle, it also brought the means of
perceiving that the sea was still covered with weeds, and other signs
that were thought to be encouraging, as connected with the vicinity of
land. The current being now in the same direction as the wind, the
surface of the ocean was literally as smooth as that of an inland sheet
of water, and the vessels were enabled to sail, without danger, within a
few fathoms of each other.
"This weed, Senor Almirante," called out the elder Pinzon, "hath the
appearance of that which groweth on the banks of streams, and I doubt
that we are near to the mouth of some exceeding great river!"
"This may be so," returned Columbus; "than which there can be no more
certain sign than may be found in the taste of the water. Let a bucket
be drawn, that we may know."
While Pepe was busied in executing this order, waiting until the vessel
had passed through a large body of weeds for that purpose, the quick eye
of the admiral detected a crab struggling on the surface of the
fresh-looking plants, and he called to the helmsman in sufficient
season, to enable him so far to vary his course, as to allow the animal
to be taken.
"Here is a most precious prize, good Martin Alonzo," said Columbus,
holding the crab between a finger and thumb, that the other might see
it. "These animals are never known to go further than some eighty
leagues from the land; and see, Senor, yonder is one of the white tropic
birds, which, it is said, never sleep on the water! Truly, God favoreth
us; and what rendereth all these tokens more grateful, is the
circumstance of their coming from the west--the hidden, unknown,
mysterious west!"
A common shout burst from the crews at the appearance of these signs,
and again the beings who lately had been on the verge of despair, were
buoyed up with hope, and ready to see propitious omens in even the most
common occurrences of the ocean. All the vessels had hauled up buckets
of water, and fifty mouths were immediately wet with the brine; and so
general was the infatuation, that every man declared the sea far less
salt than usual. So complete, indeed, was the delusion created by these
cheerful expectations, and so thoroughly had all concern in connection
with the moving star been removed by the sophism of Sancho, that even
Columbus, habitually so wary, so reasoning, so calm, amid his loftiest
views, yielded to his native enthusiasm, and fancied that he was about
to discover some vast island, placed midway between Asia and Europe; an
honor not to be despised, though it fell so far short of his higher
expectations.
"Truly, friend Martin Alonzo," he said, "this water seemeth to have less
of the savor of the sea, than is customary at a distance from the outlet
of large rivers!"
"My palate telleth the same tale, Senor Almirante. As a further sign,
the Nina hath struck another tunny, and her people are at this moment
hoisting it in."
Shout succeeded shout, as each new encouraging proof appeared; and the
admiral, yielding to the ardor of the crews, ordered sail to be pressed
on all the vessels, that each might endeavor to outstrip the others, in
the hope of being the first to discover the expected island. This strife
soon separated the caravels, the Pinta easily outsailing the other two,
while the Santa Maria and the Nina came on more slowly, in her rear. All
was gaiety and mirth, the livelong day, on board those isolated vessels,
that, unknown to those they held, were navigating the middle of the
Atlantic, with horizon extending beyond horizon, without change in the
watery boundary, as circle would form without circle, on the same
element, were a vast mass of solid matter suddenly dropped into the sea.
[Illustration]