The expedition comprised one hundred and twenty men, in three small vessels, the _Santa María_, decked, and carrying the flag of the admiral, and the _Pinta_ and _Niña_, open caravels, commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez Pinzon respectively. Among others were the inspector-general of the armament, Rodrigo Sanchez; the chief alguacil, Diego de Arana; the royal notary, Rodrigo de Escobar; and four pilots, Francisco Martin Pinzon, Sancho Ruiz, Pedro Alonso Niño, and Bartolomé Roldan. The commander-in-chief with his tall, enduring form bowed by an idea; his long, thin face, with its large, round eyes, high forehead, straight, pointed nose; features, in which tenacity and gloom struggled for the predominance, surrounded by thin locks and gray beard—was scarcely a personage either to inspire confidence or win affection. The squadron sailed from the port of Palos August 3, 1492. But for the fact that it was the first, the voyage was quite commonplace; the most serious occurrences being the breaking of a rudder, which obliged the expedition to put in at the Canaries for repairs, and the variation of the needle, which caused a little fright among the pilots. The sea was tranquil, toward the last extremely so, and the wind generally favorable; yet no small trepidation attended this gradual loosening of hold upon the substantial world, and the drifting daily farther and farther into the fathomless unknown. Hence it was with the wildest joy that early in the morning of the 12th of October the cry of Land! was heard, and that soon afterward the venturesome navigators felt beneath their feet the indubitable isle to which they gave the name San Salvador, taking possession for Castile. Now the sovereigns had promised that he who first saw land should be recompensed by a pension of ten thousand maravedís, equivalent to thirty-six dollars. It was at two o'clock in the morning that Rodrigo de Triana, a mariner on board the _Pinta_, gave the signal, the first that proved true after several had been mistakenly made; whereupon he claimed the reward. But previously, during the night, Columbus had fancied he descried a fitful light that should be on some shore. On the strength of this surmise he secured to himself the insignificant sum, which, to say nothing of its justness, was not a very magnanimous proceeding in so great a discoverer. We are told of Triana, that, burning under a sense of wrong, after returning to Spain, he passed into Africa and turned Mahometan. However this may have been, dawn had shown them the island, which seemed itself but dawn, to be dispelled by the full sun's rays when the night's dream had passed. Over the trackless waste of sea, suspended between earth and sky, the good ships had felt their way, until now, like goddesses, they sat at anchor on the other side of Ocean. * * * * *