FROM CORDOVA TO CATHAY.

The interior of the church is very plain, the chief ornament being an enor-
mous wooden image of St. George, the patron saint of the church, slaying a
terrible dragon. As St. George stood in a corner so dark that I could not
obtain a photograph of his cheerful countenance, the sacristan and his boy
obligingly trundled him out into the sunlight where he was visible.

It was with great reluctance that I left the church and turned my face again
toward Moguer; but the day was nearly ended, there was no accommodation of
any sort for a traveler at Palos, and the boy and the burro were anxious to be
away. Don Pedro of the inn received me cordially, spreading a table with fruit
of his garden and wine of his vineyard, and afterward invited me to come forth
and view the town. He first conducted me to the church, and then to the
house of the Pinzon family, still in possession of a descendant of the great Pin-
zon who sailed with Columbus. Over the doorway is their coat-of-arms. _I was
delighted to learn that the present representative of the family is prosperous,
and holds the position of admiral in the Spanish navy.

It was not my good fortune to be entertained, as Irving was, by a descend-
ant of the great Pinzon, though I should have valued that attention more highly
than any other in Spain; for it was to the two brothers Pinzon that Columbus
was indebted for success. When he came here, penniless and without authority,
they were prosperous citizens, men of influence over their neighbors, and we all
know the part they took in that first voyage, furnishing money, men and ves-
sels. Even the royal proclamation read in the church of St. George, was of no
less avail than their brave example. Badly treated as they were by Columbus
and by Ferdinand, yet posterity will not refuse them their meed of honor. In
truth, the deeds of the Genoese pale somewhat before their steady glow of sturdy
independence. The needy adventurer whom they befriended, and who treated
them so basely, has left no direct descendants, but the sturdy Pinzon stock still
flourishes in the birthplace of its progenitors.

Our next visit was to the convent-church of Santa-Clara, where Columbus
and his sailors fulfilled their vows after their return from the first voyage. You
will recall, perhaps, that they promised that, if they were saved from a dreadful
storm that threatened to destroy them, they would spend their first night ashore
in prayer. And it was in this very church that they performed their vows,
Columbus kneeling here all night on its cold marbles, and before the altar.

The day following, returning to Palos, a sturdy donkey boy attended me —
and we made the distance merrily, halting at the town only for a lunch. As the
place came into view, I drew up my donkey on the brow of the hill and looked
long at the white-walled Palos, so silent before me, so lifeless, so sad. I need
not tell the thoughts that possessed me, nor the pictures that rose before my
mental vision, for I am an American, and have a share in that common heritage
left us by Columbus.

Four hundred years only have passed since the great Genoese came, to