Three days later they
saw large patches of seaweed and judged they would soon see at least a
tiny island. On the 18th the mended _Pinta_, which had run ahead of
the other two boats, reported that a large flock of birds had flown
past; next day two pelicans hovered around, and all the sailors declared
that a pelican never flew more than sixty or seventy miles from home. On
September 21 a whale was seen--"an indication of land," wrote the
commander, "as whales always keep near the coast." The next day there
was a strong head wind, and though it kept them back from the promised
land, Columbus was glad it blew. "This head wind was very necessary for
me," he wrote, "because the crew dreaded that they might never meet in
these seas with a fair wind to drive them back to Spain."
Soon they were passing through the Sargasso Sea (named from the
Portuguese word meaning "floating seaweed"). Its thick masses of
drifting vegetation reassured them, for the silly legend that it could
surround and embed a ship had not then found believers. Many years after
it was discovered that several undercurrents met there and died down,
leaving all their seaweed to linger on the calm, currentless surface.
But back in 1492 the thicker the seaweed, the surer were those sailors
that it indicated land.
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