CHAP.
CHRISTOPHER
II.]
COLUMBUS.
131
C H A P T E R II.
CONTINUATION OF THE
VOYAGE.-
FIRST NOTICE OF THE
VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE. [1492.]
E A R L Y in the morning of the 6th of September, Columbus set sail from the island of Gomera, and now might be said first to strike into the region of discovery; taking leave of these frontier islands of the old world, and steering westward for the unknown parts of the Atlantic.
For three days, however, a profound calm
kept the vessels loitering with flagging sails, within a short dis tance of the land.
This was a tantalizing delay to Columbus,
who was impatient to find himself far out of sight of either land or sail; which, in the pure atmospheres of these latitudes, may be descried at an immense distance.
On the following Sunday,
the 9th of September, at daybreak, he beheld Ferro, the last of the Canary islands, about nine leagues distant.
This was the
island whence the Portuguese caravels had been seen; he was therefore in the very neighborhood of danger.
Fortunately a
breeze sprang up with the sun, their sails were once more filled, and in the course of the day the heights of Ferro gradually faded from the horizon. On losing sight of this last trace of land, the hearts of the
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