FROM CORDOVA TO CATHAY.

little from their companionship; but after an hour I sighted the hamlet. Palos,
the ancient port whence Columbus sailed on his first voyage to America, to-day
consists of a few mean houses scattered along a hillside, and one long straggling
street. It is nearly half a mile from the river now, but it was a port in the time

 

OUTSIDE THE CONVENT.

(“ Figs and oranges had possessed themselves of space for luxuriant growth.)

of Columbus, and is called so now. There may be some eight hundred inhab-
itants, all told, and not one of them, that I could find, was aware that the ham-
let had a history known to the world beyond its limits. Some of thei had
heard of Columbus, some remembered that it was said he had sailed hence, once
upon a time, to a country called America; but no one could tell me anything,
and I must see the cura — the parish priest — to know more.

After an hour of waiting I found that he knew no more than the others, but
the sacristan of the church, fortunately, was also the schoolmaster, and took an
interest in my mission. He took me to the church of St. George, the veritable
one in which Columbus read the royal commands to the terrified sailors of
Palos, and I found it as it doubtless stood then: a simple church of stone,
guarding the entrance of the town. I photographed its eastern front and also
its rear, where there is a Moorish doorway draped in vines.