The king and queen were then in the city of Barcelona,[17] a long distance from Palos.  To that city Columbus now went.  He entered it on horseback, attended by the proudest and richest noblemen of Spain.  He brought with him six Indians from the West Indies.  They were gaily painted and wore bright feathers in their hair.  Then a number of men followed, carrying rare birds and plants, with gold and silver ornaments, all found in the New World.  These were presents for the king and queen.  Ferdinand and Isabella received Columbus with great honor.  When he had told them the story of his wonderful voyage, they sank on their knees and gave praise to God; all who were present followed their example.

[Illustration:  Columbus received by the king and queen of Spain.]

[Footnote 17:  Barcelona (Bar-se-lo’na); see map in paragraph 12.]

17.  The last voyages of Columbus.—­Columbus made three more voyages across the Atlantic.  He discovered more islands near the coast of America, and he touched the coast of Central America and of South America, but that was all.  He never set foot on any part of what is now the United States, and he always thought that the land he had reached was part of Asia.  He had found a new world, but he did not know it:  all that he knew was how to get to it and how to show others the way.

[Illustration:  The light parts of this map show how much of America Columbus discovered. (The long island is Cuba; the large one to the right is San Domingo.)]

18.  Columbus in his old age.—­The last days of this great man were very sorrowful.  The king was disappointed because he brought back no gold to amount to anything.  The Spanish governor of San Domingo hated Columbus, and when he landed at that island on one of his voyages, he arrested him and sent him back to Spain in chains.  He was at once set at liberty; but he could not forget the insult.  He kept the chains hanging on the wall of his room, and asked to have them buried with him.

Columbus was now an old man; his health was broken, he was poor, in debt, and without a home.  Once he wrote to the king and queen, saying, “I have not a hair upon me that is not gray, my body is weak, and all that was left to me ... has been taken away and sold, even to the coat which I wore.”

Not long after he had come back to Spain to stay, the queen died.  Then Columbus felt that he had lost his best friend.  He gave up hope, and said, “I have done all that I could do:  I leave the rest to God.”

19.  His death and burial.—­Columbus died full of disappointment and sorrow—­perhaps it would not be too much to say that he died of a broken heart.

He was at first buried in Spain; then his body was taken up and carried to San Domingo, where he had wished to be buried.  Whether it rests there to-day, or whether it was carried to Havana[18] and deposited in the cathedral or great church of that city, no one can positively say.  But wherever the grave of the great sailor may be, his memory will live in every heart capable of respecting a brave man; for he first dared to cross the “Sea of Darkness,” and he discovered America.