In the mean time Columbus, after surmounting several discouragements and difficulties, found employment in the service of Spain. Queen Isabella agreed with him on his own terms, and went so far as to sell her jewels in order to furnish him with every thing requisite for his intended expedition. Accordingly he embarked in August 1492, and sailed from Palos on one of the greatest enterprises ever undertaken by man. Steering towards the west, through what was then deemed a boundless ocean, he found abundance of scope for all the arts of navigation of which he was possessed; and, after surmounting numberless difficulties, from a mutinous crew and the length of the voyage, he discovered one of the Bahama islands. Here he landed, and, after falling on his knees and thanking God for his success, he erected the royal standard of Spain in the western world, and returned to Europe. [Sidenote] 1494. [Sidenote] The discovery of John Cabot. Upon his arrival in Spain, the fame of this bold adventurer and the success of his voyage, quickly spread through Europe, and excited general inquiry and admiration. John Cabot, a native of Venice, (at that time one of the most flourishing commercial states of the world), resided at Bristol in England, and, having heard of the territories in the west, fitted out a ship at his own expence and steered to that quarter on a voyage of discovery. Directing his course more to the northward, he was equally successful, and, in the year 1494, discovered the island of Newfoundland. He went ashore on another island, which he called St. John's, because discovered on the festival of St. John the Baptist. Here he found inhabitants clothed with skins, who made use of darts, bows and arrows, and had the address to persuade some of them to sail with him to England. On his return to Bristol he was knighted by the king, and reported that the land appeared rocky and barren, but that the sea abounded with fish of various kinds.