Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1907-12-04
than they went from England to

Joppa then.
The unfolding OF physical laws has
dissipated the artificial terrors of the
ocean, but in the time of Columbus
there, making 1t truly a "sea of dark
ness" which the imagination only
had pierced.
The world is not indebted to the
wisdom Of the learned for the event
full voyage that opened these oceans
to commerce, and continents to trade
and settlement. TO Columbus be-
longs this inestimable boon. He in
spired the wise and good Queen lisa
bella equally with the humble SAL
lors of Palos to llt their trust in his
scheme. He was as persistent in.
maintaining 1t through the rebuffs of
in holding to his predetermined
course across the Atlantic.
The landfall Of Columbus on the
18th of October, 1892, is universally
recognized as the grandest event in
secular history. 1t opened the door
to influence, infinite in extent and
beneficence: measure them, describe
them, picture them, you cannot.
The first land seen was one of the
Bahama Islands, far east of the pc
ninsula Of Florida, and on the same
uhy sSS Ihe uiSCOSSEy uS ludOo sisS ISE-
NAL landing which is thus described
I'm Las Casas's narrative, made from
Columbus's log of the first voyage:
The Admiral took the Royal stand
ard and the captains with two ban
ners or the Green Cross, which the
Admiral carried on all the ships as
distinguishing flag having an f and a
Y; each letter surmounted with it's
crown, one at one arm OF the cross,
and the other at the other arm. AS
soon as they had landed they saw
trees of a brilliant green, abundance
Of water, and fruits of various kinds.
The Admiral called the two captains
and the rest who had come on shore,
and Rodrigo Descovedo, the notary
of all the fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez
de Segovia, and he called them as
witnesses to certify that he in the
presence of them all, was taking, as
he in fact took possession Of said is
land for the King and Queen, his
masters. making the declarations
that were required as they will be
found more fully in the atteStations
then taken down in writing. Soon
after large crowd of natives congre-
gated there. What follows are the
Admiral's own words in his book on
the first voyage and discovery of
these Indies:
''In order to win the friendship
and affection Of that people, and be-
cause l was convinced that their con-
version to our Holy Faith would be
better promoted through love than
through force, | presented some of
them with red caps and some with
strings of glass beads, which they
placed around their necks, and with
other trifes Of insignificant worth
that delighted them, and by which
we have got a wonderful, hold, on
their affections. They afterwards
came to the boats of the vessels swim
thread in balls and cloth, spears, and
many other things which they bar
tered for others we gave them, as
glass beads and little bells. Finally
they received everything and gave
whatever they had with good will"
= "Their hair is as coarse
as the hair Of a horses tail and cut
! short; they wear their hair over their
| eyebrows except little behind which
they wear long, and which they never
| cut; some Of them paint themselves
| black. and they are Of the color of
| the Canary islanders, neither black
nor white, and some paint themselves
| white, and some red, and some with
| whatever they find, and some paint
| their faces and some the whole body,
| and some their eyes only, and some
| their noses only. They do not carry
| arms and have no knowledge of
| them. for when | showed them the
| swords they took them by the edge,
and through ignorance cut them
| selves. They have no iron their
| spears consist of staffs without iron,
some Of them having a 'fish's tooth
| at the end, and others, other things.
AS body they are Of good size, good
| demeanor, and we'll formed; I saw
some with scars on their bodies, and
| to my signs asking them what these
| meant, they answered in the same
manner, that people from neighbor-
| ing islands wanted to capture them,
and they bad defended themselves.
In this exchange Of gifts we find
balls Of cotton yarn and cotton
cloth" among the articles. The cot
ton plant has been Indigenous in all
inter-tropical regions from the earli-
est times. 1t was also recognized by
the discoverer, the raw material and
the product being present on the is
land. But whence came the knowl-
edge Of spinning and weaving? Since
first reading of this incident, many
years ago, that landfall has been i'm
pressed upon my thoughts for that
incident, and | have fingered over it
many times as a mysterious physical
fact, to be only traced from the pre-
historic times, in the far eastern