We have already seen that the death of Columbus attracted no general attention and awakened no general comment. This remarkable fact was in strict consonance with the spirit of the time, for the exploits of other voyagers had already caught the public ear and monopolized public attention. Americus Vespucius had returned from his second voyage and had aroused the attention of all Europe by means of his glowing accounts of the new continent. The Cabots from England had at least skirted along the coasts of what is now known as North America. The Portuguese had discovered a safe passage to the Indies by sailing to the south and east, and had begun to raise the question of their rights in consequence of the independent discovery of Brazil, in the year 1500, by Pedro Cabral. Pizarro had learned the art of war under the unscrupulous Ojeda, and Cortez had had the schooling of long interviews with Columbus at San Domingo. Balboa and Magellan had already completed their apprenticeship, and were now about to astonish the world by revealing to it the Pacific Ocean. In the very year of Columbus’s death, fishermen from Portugal were already plying their vocation with profit on the banks of Newfoundland; and less than a year later, the Spaniard Velasco had entered the St. Lawrence. Within the short life of one generation the whole coast from Cape Breton to the Straits of Magellan became the scene of maritime activity. In all parts of the Old World, as well as of the New, it was evident that Columbus had kindled a fire in every mariner’s heart. That fire was the harbinger of a new era, for it was not to be extinguished. INDEX. Agnado, Don John, appointed inspector, 166. Assistance, obstacles to, 44; arguments at Salamanca, 52. Barcelona, Columbus’s reception at, 118. Bobadilla, Francis de, 198; brutal energy of, 203. Boyle, Father, mutinous spirit of, 166. Brooks, W. K., account of the Lucayan Indians, 149. Bull of demarcation, 122. Cabral, Pedro, discovers Brazil, 214. Caonabo, bravery of, 142, 157. Caribbean Sea, visit to, 131. Caribs, discovery of, 106; character of, 132. Catilina, loss of, 138. Columbus, Bartholomew, his birth, 6; abode at Lisbon, 16; goes to England and France, 42; in charge at Isabella, 169; authority confirmed, 173; disasters, 184.