142
LIFE A N D V O Y A G E S
OF
[BOOK
III.
multiplies and varies the forms of ideal danger, a thousand times faster than the most active wisdom can dispel them.
The more
Columbus argued, the more boisterous became the murmurs of his crew, until, on Sunday, the 25th of September, there came on a heavy swell of the sea, unaccompanied by wind.
This phe-
nomenon often occurs in the broad ocean; being either the expiring undulations of some past gale, or the movement given to the sea by some distant current of wind; it was, nevertheless, regarded with astonishment by the mariners, and dispelled the imaginary terrors occasioned by the calm. Columbus, who as usual considered himself under the immediate eye and guardianship of Heaven in this solemn enterprise, intimates in his journal that this swelling of the sea seemed providentially ordered to allay the rising clamors of his crew; comparing it to that which so miraculously aided Moses when conducting the children of Israel out of the captivity of Egypt.* * “ Como la mar estuviese mansa y liana murmuraba la gente diciendo que, pues por alli no habia mar grande que nunca ventaria para volver
áEspaña ;
pero despues alzóse mucho la mar y sin viento, que los asombraba ; por lo cual dice aqui el Almirante ; asi que muy necesario me fué la mar alta, que no parecio, salvo el tiempo de los Judios cuando salieron de Egipto contra Moyses que los sacaoa ae capriverio.” — Journal of Columb. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 12.