What a contrast to the time of his depar-
ture, when every tongue was uttering lamen-
tations or abuse!

When the king and queen heard of his
return and success, they ordered great pre-
parations to be made for welcoming him,
and he was every where surrounded by a
wondering and admiring multitude. Who
would have thought that he was the same
Columbus, who but a few years before, had
stood at the convent gate, begging bread
and water for his child ! In the course of
the next twelve years, he made four more
very important voyages, and if" honour had
been given to whom honour is due,** all the



1 2 INTRODUCTION. ,

newly found world would have been caUed
Columbia. He was deprived of this merited
honour by a rich merchant of Italy, named
Amerigo Vespucio, who sailed with a large

1 'SOI ^^^U and aided by the publications
and maps of Columbus, reached a
more southern part of the continent than he
had visited, and gave so interesting an ac-
count of his voyage, and of the country he
had seen, that his name was given to it, as
if he had been its discoverer. Only a small
district of North America is called Coluin*
bia; but the city of Washington, the se^t of
government, is built in it, and thus the
names of Columbus and Washington are
connected.
