At last, on October 8th, 1492, after sixty-five days of navigation on unknown seas, they discovered land. It was not the American continent, but one of the Bahama Islands, to which Columbus reverently gave the name of St. Salvador. It was inhabited by Indians who received the strangers kindly. Columbus formally took possession of the country in the name of the Christian religion and the King and Queen of Spain. And thus the dream of his youth was fulfilled and the ambition of his manhood was accomplished. The Western World was discovered. Subsequently he visited Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, Porto Rico, and other islands, but did not reach the main land until his third voyage, when he visited Venezuela. He named the islands the West Indies, supposing them to be a part of the great East Indian Archipelago. In the month of April, 1493, he returned to the Spanish Court. The City of Barcelona was ablaze with flags and the air was vocal with the roar of artillery, while all the bells of the churches rang peals of triumph in his honor. Years before Columbus had come thither on foot and in rags, begging his bread. Now he rode the streets in more than royal pomp, crowned with the admiration and acclaim of all the populace. Seven natives of the Western World marched in his train, and there was an almost endless display of gold and gems, of carven idols and sculptured masks, of birds and beasts and reptiles, of trees and plants and fruits. Above all waved two banners, one that of Spain which he had unfurled above the new continent, and the other the admiral’s flag bearing in golden letters the inscription, Por Castilla y por Leon Nuevo Mundo hallo Colon,[A] or, For Castile and Leon Columbus has discovered a new world. Thus he came to the Court where the King and Queen awaited him, and was greeted by them as their equal. There, seated among the nobles of Spain, he gave a brief account of the most striking events of his voyage. The sovereigns listened to him with profound emotion and then fell on their knees to give thanks to God for so great an achievement. For the time being no honor was too great to bestow upon Columbus. He was commissioned to make other voyages to the New World and to take possession of all lands there in the name of Spain. Yet it was only a few years after that that the memory of his splendid services was outweighed by the malice of his foes. He was actually arrested, imprisoned and loaded with irons, and at the end died in disgrace and neglect, at Valladolid, May 20th, 1506.