The Golden Americas. A story of great discoveries and daring deeds. Illustrated, etc

Chapter I

Golden Ophir — Prince Henry — The Impassable Cape — Christopher Columbus — The Council of Salamanca — The Discovery of the West Indies and Mainland of America — The. Penalty of Success — Nunez and the South Sea . Page 1

Chapter II

The Messengers of Nunez arrive too late— Pedrarias de Avila — Fifteen Hundred Gentlemen on the Look-out for Gold — Famine — The Requisition — Caribs — A Little Affair at Santa Martha — Nunez Summoned to the Presence of the Governor — Burning a Cacique — Caspar de Morales in the Quest of Pearls- Promotion of Nunez — A New Governor — Nunez Beheaded — Spanish Cruelties — Las Casas — Cardinal Ximenes — His Benevolent Intentions with regard to the Indians — The Pope's Bull— Magellan 33

Chapter III

Herman Cortes finds favour with Ovando — Serves under Velasquez — The Exploring of Mexico — Touches at Cozumel — Finds an Interpreter — Tabasco — A Battle and a Victory — Female Slaves — San Juan de Ulloa — Deputies — A Message to the King — The King's Answer — The March upon Mexico — Montezuma — A Bold Expedient — Battles — Triumph of the Spanish Arms in Mexico —End of Cortes 59

Chapter IV

Francisco Pizarro and the Discovery of Peru— Advances into the Country— The Incas — March upon St. Miguel de Caxamarca— Description of the City — The Meeting with the Inca— Pizarro' s Perfidy— Cruel Massacre of the Peruvians — Seizure and Imprisonment of the Inca — Enormous Eausom Demanded and Agreed to— Pizarro' s Refusal to fulfil his Promise— Fate of the Inca— Berralcazar attacks Quito— Quarrel with Alvarado — Arrangements for the Government of Peru— Almagro Marches on Chili— The Siege of Cuzeo— Negotiations between Pizarro and Almagro — Treachery — End of Pizarro . .92 CONTENTS. VI

Chapter V

"Gaping" after the Wealth o£ the Incas— Proposition of Martin de Suza- Concerning Alexis Garcia— Lost— George Sedentio in Search of Garcia— A Deceitful Act— Discovery of the Silver River— Taking Possession— Wild Stories of the Gold Regions— Mendoza and his Followers— Some Account of Buenos Ayres as it was— The Story of Maldeneda— Lion's Gratitude— How St. Blaze fought for Corpus Christi— A Solemn Fast— The Religious Element in the Search for Gold— Up the River— Paradise and its People . Page HI

Chapter VI

The Aztecs— Great Civilisation among the People — Manners, Government, Laws, Literature, Art, Religion— The Spanish Conquest— Rule of the Spaniards- Sad Condition of the People— Three Hundred Years of Oppression— State of the Country — Physical Geography, &c. — Maximilian — Narrative of the Countess of Kollonitz 131

Chapter VII

The Golden Brazils— Extent of the Country— Political Division of Caste3 -Idleness and Vanity— Sugar Plantations— The Pardos, or Mulattoes— Creoles— Slavery — Mode of obtaining Liberty — Wild Hordes, their Habits, &e. — Explorations by Mr. Bates— Primeval Forests— Afloat on the King of Rivers— Concerning the Fauna of the Country 172

Chapter VIII

Ab rut the Discovery of the Brazils — Yanez Pincon; also concerning Alvarez Cabral and the King of Portugal — A Promising Cargo — Amerigo Vespucci — Prosperity of the Settlements — Bahia — Rio — Customs of the Country — Natives — River Nanny — Man-eaters — Nothing in the Way of Trade — Forest Land — Odd Sort of Etiquette — Amazons— Disagreeable Predicament with the Ladies 193

Chapter IX

What we knew of the Fauna of Brazil Two Hundred Years Ago — Indian Salamander — Serpents — Rattlesnake — Its Poisonous Sting — The Serpent Quaker — A Big Swallow — Good for Food— A Sting and its Cure — Like Cures Like — Cobra Verde— The Kaniana — The Iron Pig of Brazil — All about Everything in Brazil, but according to a Very Old Authority 216

Chapter X

A Voyage in the ship Phantasm — The Organ Mountains — Splendid Panorama — Taking in Coal — Exempt from Customs — Hospitable Entertainment — A Dance of "Niggers" — The Bay— The Peak of Corcovado — Railways— Rio— In the Markets — In the Woods — Amongst the Palms — A Forest Full of Monkeys — Out on the broad Amazon — Native Indians — A Dance and a Challenge — Religious Festivity — The Altar of the Household — Turtle's Eggs— Aquatic Birds— On the Negro — Victoria Regia— The Land of Palms . . . CONTENTS. VII

Chapter XI

A Land but Little Known— More about Chili- Pizarro and Almagro— Climate — Earthquakes— Volcanoes— The Mines— Ascent of the Cordilleras— Physical Geography of the Country— Modes of Communication — Rope Bridges — Rugged Roads — Travelling on Man-back — Utility of the Banana— Valparaiso — Mineral Wealth of the High Chains of the Andes— Oddities in Farmlne Page 263

Chapter XII

South American Llanos — Herds of Oxen— The Mirage — Wild Horses — Dry and Rainy Seasons— Overflow of the Rivers — Crocodile and Jaguar — The Gymnotus — The Pampas — Sir Francis Head's Account — The Gauchos Preparing for War — A Fierce Encounter^Killing the Christians, ccc. . . . 303

Chapter XIII

Colombia— Its Political Divisions— Aspect of the Country — Its Mountain Range — Pampas, Llanos, Savannahs — Wealth of the Country — The Pearl Fishery — Agriculture — Great Natural Riches— Ecuador — New Granada — Venezuela 318

Chapter XIV

Brazil again — Rio de Janeiro — Coffee Grounds — How Coffee is Grown in South America — Something about the Silver River — Something about Patagonia ... ... . ... . . .331 vsVr

Chapter XV

About California — Its Discovery — How it attained to Notoriety, and won Golden Opinions of all Men — Concerning the Gold Regions — Mr. Butler King's Report — How the Gold was Found — How the News Spread— How the People Gathered — How Fortunes were Made and Lost — Billionaires and Bankrupts — Fraser River — How California got its Name — Gold ! Gold ! — The Ship Canal— Something About San Francisco . . . .346 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Lisbon 4 Salamanca ..... 5 Teneriffe, the Largest of the Canary Islands ... 8 The Arms of Spain ... 9 Labourer in the Gold Mines . 13 An Indian Labourer ... 16 Indian Sepulchres ... 17 Humility — Washing the Feet of the Poor 20 Native Indian Children . . 21 Granada 24 In the Land of Gold . . .25 A Spanish Settlement iu the Indies 23 Gigantic Trees of America . . 29 Spanish Soldier of the Sixteenth Century 32 Carthagena . . ' . .33 Spanish Ships of the Fifteenth Century 36 South American Indians . . 37 A Mexican Girl .... 40 An Indian Village ... 41 Near the Island of Pearls . . 45 Indian Labourer .... 48 Indian Labourer .... 49 Ordinary Reed-House in South America 52 Cardinal Ximenes ... 53 An Indian Settlement ... 56 On the Rio de la Plata . . 57 Christopher Columbus . .

CO Columbus at the Council of Salamanca ..... 61 Settlement near Zempoalla . . 65 Hernan Cortes .... 68 Montezuma 69 TACE. Mexican Idols and Altar . . 73 Entrance to an Ancient Mexican Temple 77 Colossal Head of a Mexican Deity 80 Plan of the City of Mexico . . 81 Grand Fountain in the City of Mexico 85 Grand Square, Mexico . . 89 The Andes 93 Francisco Pizarro . . . 9G Cuzco 101 House of Pizarro at Cuzco . . 105 The Escurial, Madrid . . . 108 Heraldic Arms of Peru . .110 Cadiz H2 Native Artisan . . . .117 Charles V. of Germany . .120 Paraguayans .... 121 A Settlement on the Banks of La Plata 125 Peruvian Gold-Miner's Hut . 133 Ancient Mexican Architecture . 137 Mexican Woman of the Labouring Class 145 Mexican Agricultural Labourer . 149 Travelling in Mexico . . . 153 Mexican Porter .... 1C1 View of Modern Mexico . . 165 Mexican Native Soldiers . . 109 A Brazilian Plantation on the Right Bank of the Lower Amazons 173 View of the River Navay, a tributary of the Amazons . .177 South American Forest . . 184 Arrival at a Native Village on the Amazons LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

X PAGE. PACE. Cotton Plant . . • • 261 Monkeys 188 The White Water-Lily . • 263 Settlement on the Amazons ■ 189 Water-Course in the Forest . 265 A Ship of the Eighteenth Century 193 Seville !96 A Lake in the Forest . . ■ 269 A Chilian Miner . . . .272 Antwerp Cathedral . . • 197 A Volcano in the Cordillera3 . 273 A Settler's Home . • .201 Heraldic Shield of Brazil . . 208 Chilian Savages .... 276 Street Scene in Valparaiso . . 277 Isabella II 209 A Fishing Village . . .281 The Flag of Brazil . . ■ 213 Rock Snake, Cobra di Capello, and Boa Constrictor . . 217 Jaguar ..... 285 A Chilian Mother . . .289 Crocodile, Alligator, and Lizards. 221 Ancient Indian Monumental Remains ..... 293 Ant-Eater 225 Tortoise 227 In the Regions of Gold . . 297 Horse-Hunting in the Wilderness 301 South American Forest . . 229 The Road to Valparaiso . . 233 The Wellingtonia Gigantea . 237 Crocodile and Jaguar . . . 305 An Indian Farm . . . .313 South American Puma . . 317 Negro 240 Primitive Bridge . . . .241 South American Belle . . 329 Singular Rock Formation . . 333 Hindoo 244 On the River . . . .2-15 Sketch in Rio . . . • 337 A Brazilian Belle ... 249 Coffee Plantation . . ■ 344 Turtle 252 At the Diggings .... 353 Aquatic Birds .... 256 On the Coast .... 361 Forest Scene . . . .257 In California .... 365 Sugar Plantation . . .260 Sketch in the Chinese Quarter .

LIST OF SEPARATE ILLUSTRATIONS. TAGE. The Punishment of a Man-Eater Frontispiece. No Hope of Rescue 32 Cortez Approaching the City of Mexico 64 Port of Santiago % Mexican Dancers 123 Virgin Forest in the Brazils 160 A Christmas Ceremony in Brazil 176 Dance of the Bayente ey the Yahnas 102 A Lay Brother of Peras Transacting Business .... 203 Turtle Inclosure 225 Native Boat on the Amazon 240 Travelling in the Andes 250 Hunting the Guanaco 272 A Spanish Settlement on the Amazon 238 Native Indians Working a Spell 304 Fishing in the Brazils ..... .... 320 A Raft on the River A STORY OF GREAT DISCOVERIES AND DARING DEEDS.

Chapter I

Gold— Ophir, Where Is It?— Feet to Feet— Prince Harry— Map of Africa and Elsewhere, with Much Left Out— The Impassable Cape— Virtuous Obstinacy — Perestrelo's Son-in-Law— The Council of Salamanca— A Voyage — The Penalty of Success — The Triumph of Inferiority— Savage Independence — Auriferous Lands —Nunez —The South Sea. TN every age and in every clime gold has been precious. If the wandering Israelites demand an idol, it is a golden calf ; if Nebu chadnezzar proclaims a new and material divinity, it takes the form of an image of gold ; if a house be built for the Lord, it must be overlaid with pure gold; the altar must be of gold, and the cherubim stretching their wings over it must be covered with gold ; " and the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers and the lamps and the tongs of gold, and the bowls and the snuffers, and the basins and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold ; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors and for the inner house of the most holy place."

Golden Solomon luxuriated in auriferous treasure, and Hiram's fleet brought gold from Ophir in great plenty, and " King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one target ; and he made three hundred shields of beaten gold ; three pounds of gold went to one shield." And his throne was of ivory overlaid with gold; "and all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold, none were of silver ; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon ;" for the king " made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones." All the dreams of richest royalty are outrivalled by this wondrous monarch — great king of splen dour, blest above all men with a golden genius, and wisdom that is better than gold -the golden sceptre-bearer of a golden age.

B Whence came all this gold to golden Solomon ? Where was this golden Ophir which yielded its abundant treasure to the King of Israel ? It was somewhere in the golden east, but where ? Three years the argosies were on their voyage, and brought back produce, which it is said clearly settles that it could not be in Western Asia, or on the continent of Europe, and makes it doubtful whether it could be any where on the coast of Africa. There seems more reason to suppose that it was in the East Indies, and Ceylon is the site selected by Emerson Tennent. But as seven cities contended for the honour of being the birthplace of Homer, and seven cities boast of the tomb of the patriarch Job, so sixteen different places have been from time to time regarded as the land of Ophir, and no man knows its accurate position to this day. , Men dreamed of gold, and found it more or less, and valued it exceedingly.

The splendour of the golden sunshine, the beauty of the golden corn, the golden glory of the sunlit sea, all seemed made to render homage to the precious metal, as if the Mighty Architect meant to set forth gold as the most glorious of all created things, and overlaid the things of earth and sea and sky, His universal temple, with symbols of gold — images also of that golden city where saints with golden crowns shall tread a golden pavement. O that long-lost land of gold, the Ophir of King Solomon ! Is it lost for ever, like Eden, and do cherubim with flaming swords keep the gates that lead to it? Is it to be found in the lost Atlantis — in the mysterious island each night swallowed up in the devil's hand ? Has all the world been searched — is every place known — or is there, as some visionaries contend, a world yet undiscovered — a world beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the end of the earth ?

It is a difficult matter for us to conceive of the world with the Americas and Australia left out. Four hundred years ago the larger portion of the world was entirely unknown. Learned men had satisfac torily to their own minds settled its form and its foundations. It was a vast plane of land and water, with the heavens stretched over it like a canopy. That instead of this it should be a ball suspended in mid-air, whirling on its own axis with tremendous rapidity, and flyin<> through space with inconceivable velocity, was foreseen four centuries ago by blind guessers at the truth, whom authority would have delighted to discredit for their audacity, and to have knocked on the head like querulous, carping dogs, and put to eternal silence. But there are some men who will think in spite of authority — who will not be silenced, and who escape being knocked on the head.

There were those who guessed that the Straits of Gibraltar and Hercules' Pillars were not the boundary of the habitable world. " Know that this theory is false ; his bark The daring mariner shall urge far o'er The western wave, a smooth and level plane, Albeit the earth is fashioned like a wheel. Man was in ancient days of grosser mould, And Hercules might blush to learn how far Beyond the limits he had vainly set The dullest sea-boat soon should wing her way ! Man shall descry another hemisphere, Since to one common centre all things tend ; So earth, by curious mystery divine, Well balanced hangs amid the starry spheres. At our antipodes are cities, states, And thronged empires ne'er divined of yore." Foremost among those who pushed forward the discovery are the Portuguese with Prince Henry at their head ; then there are Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus, and the whole band of brave captains after him, who found out and added a new world to the old in the discovery of the " Golden Americas.'-' Prince Henry of Portugal (born in 1394) was the third son of John tho First of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, so he had got Planta genet blood in his veins.

He was well educated, so far as education was then understood, aud he had a mighty liking for that learned treatise of which so many people have heard and comparatively so few have seen — the Imago Mundi of Cardinal Petro de Aliaco. He was very sure that the world was not all discovered — that all mundane conquests had not been achieved ; and so he sat down to study his maps, and found a very infant world indeed. We have heard of a Chinese map of the world which represented the Celestial continent only, witha few islands for the barbarians ; we have heard also of a Presbyterian minister in one of the Shetlands who used to pray for his own place " and the adjacent islands of Great Britain and Ireland !" The maps four hundred years ago were of this calmly self-asserting character. These maps are most fantastic and miserably incomplete.

More than half the world is absent. What is represented is misrepresented, but what is wanting in accuracy is attempted to be made up in picto rial detail. All the principal cities are denoted by little houses and a church or two ; Jerusalem occupies the centre of the globe ; Paradise is surrounded with foliage, impenetrable brushwood ; the winds arc shown by fabulous deities sitting on leather bottles all round the earth. Western Africa terminates at Cape Nun, or Not, and there is no hint of a world beyond that forbidding negative ; the statue of the Canaries flourishes its club ; Prester John, signifying Abyssinia, wears a tower ing mitre of which even Theodore might have been proud ; and all the other countries of Africa are represented by their kings in royal costume, which is quite unlike the original, and we have over it all — scattered here and there according to the artist's humour — Portuguese camps and LISBON. little black men, and giraffes and camels.

Long after the issue of the map before us, Swift wrote — " Geographers in Afric's maps With savage pictures fill their gaps, And o'er uninhabitable downs Place elephants for want of towns." And yet it was with a chart such as we have described that Columbu; set sail. Prince Henry of Portugal studied his maps, and thought of Ophir, and El Dorado, and the Garden of the Hesperides, where gold inexhaustible awaited the happy finder. Where was Prester John, the mythical pontifical prince who, it was asserted, governed first beyond Armenia, and then in Abyssinia? Would that almost omnipotent being ever be found ? Would El Dorado ever be entered ? Well, not if we stopped this side Cape Not. So Prince Henry sent out his captains to molest the Moors and make discoveries. The Portuguese mariners, we are told, had a proverb, " He who would pass Cape Not, either will return or not" (Quern passar o Cabo de Nam, ou tornara ou nam), intimating that if he did not turn before passing the cape he would never turn at all.

But it was passed by two of Prince Henry's captains, Johann Goncalvez Zara and Tristram Vaz. These sea worthies were driven out of their course by storms, and accidentally discovered a little island where they took refuge, and from that reason called the island of Porto Santo. They found there a race of people by no means altogether barbarous, and possessing " a kindly SALAMANCA. and fertile soil." The prince was delighted with the news his captains brought him, more on account of its promise than its substance ; and in the same year he sent them out again together with a third captain, Bartolomeo Perestrelo, assigning a separate ship to each, to discover more islands, and improve Porto Santo. From Porto Santo, Goncalvez Zara and Tristram Vaz saw something that seemed like a cloud, made for it in two boats, and found it to be an island very abundant in trees, and thence called Madeira (wood).

Prince Henry was still further pleased with his captains' successes, and made them rulers over the island of Madeira, while the governorship of Porto Santo was given to Perestrelo. This Perestrelo is interesting to us as being the father-in-law of Columbus, who indeed lived at Porto Santo for some time, meditating new discoveries. Other adventurers there were who got as far as Cape Bojador, but shrank from going farther, because, they said, "it is clear that beyond this cape there is no people whatever ; the land is as bare as Lybia ; no water, no trees, no grass ; the sea so shallow that a league from the land it is only a fathom deep ; the currents so fierce that the ship which passes that cape will never return." The people at home, of course being farther off from the strange land, and knowing less about it, exaggerated these reports, and declared that the men who arrived in those foreign parts turned from white to black ; that the natives, if any, were cannibals, and that the Portuguese were not required to supply those savages with fresh meat ; that it was very plain those far-off countries were only meant for wild beasts, and that to attempt the civilisation of such lands was to strive to change the decrees of Providence.

But Prince Henry had in him the incitement of what has been called " a virtuous obstinacy." He was not to be overawed by vulgar and ignorant criticism, so he sent out other expeditions that sailed far beyond Cape Bojador, and came back with good news. Who should say but that they were straight on the way to the El Dorado ? Then Prince Henry applied to Pope Martin the Fifth, praying that his holiness would grant to the Portuguese crown all that it should conquer from Bojador to the Indies, together with plenary indulgence for those who should die in the attempt. The pope granted this. " And now," says a Portuguese historian, " with this apostolic grace, with the bounty of royal favour, and already with the applause of the people, the prince pursued his purpose with more courage and with greater outlay."

Goncalvez obtained some gold-dust. — real gold — " Gold, gold, gold, gold, Hard and yellow, shining and cold" — and expectation was on tiptoe. He got some black slaves also, which were very much admired for their colour. As to the gold, we are told by an historian (Faria y Sousa), "it awakened, as always, covetousness." A sad thing, we suppose, but nothing is more true. Mammon was the "least erected spirit that fell from heaven," ever going with downcast eyes — " admiring more the riches of heaven's pavement — trodden gold — than aught divine or holy." Perhaps the Portuguese had found a richer treasure for the time in seizing slaves than Guinea gold, and they worked this mine — man-stealing — with considerable success, sustaining themselves for a cruel traffic by reflecting — or per suading themselves — that in thus enslaving the bodies they were freeing the souls of the poor heathen.

So the prince carried on his work of discovery and conversion, got what gold he could, and slaves as good as gold in the market. He was not particularly successful ; his fleet of fourteen vessels came back with neither news nor produce ; and of the two gentlemen sent out to the Cape de Verde Islands, instructed to introduce the Christian religion, one was killed and the other glad to make his escape. We must hasten, however, with the narrative of African discovery, all of which tended to the discovery of America. We must leave Ca da Mosto, who has given the most valuable information with regard to Africa in those days ; we see the voyagers touching here and there along the coast from Cape Bojador — the once impassable " outstretcher" to Sierra Leone ; we see King Alfonso adopting a new system of African commerce ; we see Fernando Gomez, by his captains, Juan de Santarem and Pedro de Escobar, discovering the Gold Coast, which they call Ora de la Mina ; we see Don Juan the Second succeeding his father Alfonso on the throne, and his captains taking possession of the Gold Coast in his name as Lord of Guinea ; we see the discoverers extending still further to the Cape of Good Hope ; and then we turn away to Perestrelo's son-in-law — Columbus.

Col'^unbus was a native of Genoa, and born of humble parents. His father was a wool-comber, but he had the boy taught as well as his means would allow. He learned to read and write, obtained some knowledge of arithmetic, drawing, and painting, little Latin, and no Greek. But he loved the sea — the open sea— and as the habits of the people among whom he dwelt were nautical, and the age was one of adventure and discovery, the boy took very naturally to the ocean wave, and at fourteen years old began a seafaring life. Navigation in those days was but little understood ; to navigate meant to sail from some port of the Mediterranean — " hugging the shore," as the sailors say — and exposed all the while to the attacks of those water-rats the Barbary pirates, as merciless a set of villains as ever hoisted a black flag.

So amid these frequent cruisings from port to port, and frequent struggles with sea-robbers, Columbus passed the early days of his life. He made the best use he could of the scanty education which had been afforded him, treasured it up, and added to it every day ; and amid the greatest privations, and the uncongenial society of men who had no thought above the wants and duties of the hour, kept alive his lofty aspirations. People were talking of the admirable doings of Prince Henry of Portugal — of strange discoveries which had been made. They talked of countries where the rocks were red-hot, and the sea boiled — where menjwalked about with their heads under their arms. They talked of lands where the city streets were paved with gold, and jewels as common as] dewdrops ; and Columbus listened to it all and wondered.

He wondered whether there could be any truth in it. — whether there was land beyond the water, land not yet discovered, whence could have drifted the singular canes which he had heard of, and the pieces tenerlffe, the largest of the canary islands. of carved wood that had been cast ashore on the African coast. He wondered whether the earth was really a plain level, as was then believed ; and he thought of these things through the day, and dreamed of them through the night. Columbus went to Lisbon to hear more of the discoveries that had been made, and day after day you might have seen him, for he was a religious man, entering the Church of All Saints at prayer-time. Men noticed him; children looked curiously into his face; the eyes of a noble lady fell upon him; her heart was touched, she sought an inter view, and shortly afterwards they were married.

This marriage intro duced Columbus to those who were able to help him forward with his project. His father-in-law, Don Bartolomeo Manio de Perestrelo, had been one of Prince Henry's most distinguished officers, and the use of his maps, plans, and charts was of great service to Columbus, who now began to correspond with the learned men of the day. He felt thoroughly convinced that an undiscoveiel region lay beyond the Western Ocean ; he felt a deep impression that it was the will of God he should discover it : he determined to devote the whole of his life to that object. Trouble came upon him. Sickness and death were in his house. Trials and afflictions followed fast on one another. The grave closed over his wife. He lost his fortune in consequence of the war which then devastated the land, and quitted his house in deep poverty, with his little son for his only companion.

He was so poor that he begged at a monastic house, not so much for himself as for his boy ; but he never lost sight of the object of his life — to find a new world. Columbus suggested a plan to tho Portuguese court for the fitting out of an THE ARMS OF SPAIN. expedition to search for the continent which he himself felt firmly persuaded was to be found. But his proposal was coldly received, and ultimately rejected. He next determined to solicit help from the court of Spain, and began to beg his way to the capital. It was during this journey, that, weary and footsore, his child almost dead with fatigue, he craved a little bread and water at a convent door. The prior of the convent was interested in the noble-looking stranger, and began to talk to him. That conversation convinced the churchman that he had to deal with no common man.