All beyond these islands was wholly imagination.
It was the same with the sea-charts; no soundings or currents were
marked. As to instruments, there were the lodestone and the compass,
which had been known and used for several centuries; and the astrolabe,
a recent improvement on the primitive quadrant for taking the altitude
of the sun. The hourglass was the time measurer. In short, in that
wonderful fifteenth century, when the surface of the world was doubled,
there was nothing scientific about navigation.
Beyond these slight aids, Christopher Columbus had to rely on an
imperfect knowledge of astronomy and on those practical observations of
wind and weather and water that he had made during his own voyages. Such
slender equipment, plus the tub-like little caravels, would not have
invited many men to try unknown waters, unless such men had
Christopher's blessed gifts of imagination and persistency.
At last the solemn hour has come to those quaking Palos souls. It is
early dawn of August 3, and a Friday at that! The _Santa Maria_ and
the _Pinta_ and the _Nina_ are moored out in the copper-
colored river, ready to go with the tide. Last night the last sack of
flour and the last barrel of wine came aboard; likewise, the last
straggler of the crew, for they must be ready for the early tide.
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