Columbus having, at the age of twenty-one, sailed, as we have said, to Iceland, “to see if it were inhabited,” returned to Spain resolved to navigate the great Western Sea, and discover the land which lay beyond. He was one of the elect of Providence, men of the time and the hour, whose work is appointed them to do, and spite of impediment, discouragement, and adversity, who must succeed in doing it. The history of his eventful life is well known; with inflexible resolution and deep religious ardour, he pursued his object, and finally won the ear of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. On August 3rd, 1492, he set sail as Admiral of the Seas and Lands which he expected to discover, and on October 11, after a tedious voyage and long anxiety, stepped on shore of one of the Bahama Islands with tears of joy and fervent thanksgiving; and after kissing the soil of the New World, he planted here the cross, in token of Christian possession. Gold dust and Japan, or Cipango, as it was called, were the objects of search, and Columbus, after twelve days, again set sail in the hope of finding them. He found several other of the West India Islands, and finally the beautiful Cuba, the most beautiful island in the world. He believed that now indeed he had found the long-sought-for Cipango; and San Domingo, which he next discovered, he imagined to be the ancient Ophir, the source of all the riches of Solomon. Columbus’s discoveries were confined principally to the West India Islands; nor was it till his third voyage that he touched the mainland, near the mouth of the river Oronoco. The Cabots, as we have seen, enterprising merchants of Bristol, which was at that time the second port in England, and accustomed to the navigation of the northern seas, had discovered, in 1496, the coast of Labrador—a country which could neither be mistaken for Cipango nor for Ophir—a savage arctic region, abounding in white bears and deer of a gigantic size, and inhabited by men clad in skins and armed with bows and clubs. About two years afterwards, Sebastian Cabot, the son, again sailed for Labrador, by way of Iceland, and thence proceeding southward along the shores of the new country advanced into a more hospitable climate, until want of provisions compelled him to return. On a subsequent voyage, steering still to his favourite north, in search of a north-west passage, he entered Hudson’s Bay, but was now compelled to return in consequence of insubordination among his crews. In 1526, having gone to Spain, he was nominated by Charles V. as pilot-major of the kingdom, and in the April of this year, proceeding across the Atlantic, explored the river La Plata and some of its tributaries, erecting forts, and endeavouring, but unsuccessfully, to plant colonies.