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Strange rumors reached them of a people living in houses of sculptured stone, and occupied in the arts of peace. Columbus could not be diverted from his purpose.

The season was that of gales, and the little fleet was shut in the beautiful harbor of Porto Bello.

The Norther ceasing, the voyage continued as far as the little, craggy Bay of El Retreate; here, near the present Puerto de Mosquitoes, Columbus reached the westward limit of his last voyage of discovery.

Sixty-six years of sorrow and disappointment, of disinterested purposes maliciously opposed, of bold designs ignorantly thwarted, of a pure and illustrious character misjudged and traduced, had humbled the pride and subdued the enthusiasm of that aspiring intellect; and now, at the close of a career of vast and useful discoveries, he was called on to face a trial which Goëthe has affirmed to be the severest and most inexorable of life.

Welcomed with the approving plaudits of his king and countrymen, or loaded with ignominious chains, he had ever kept one object constantly in view. This object, pursued with unexampled courage, self-abnegation, and constancy, he was now called on to renounce. Who will venture to depict the thoughts of this remarkable man as he turned to retrace his path, leaving behind him the prospect of discoveries far greater than those which had cast the hallow of immortal fame around his name?