SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE ENTERPRISES. SPAIN, which now appears so weak and dependant, was a few years ago the greatest power in Europe. In maritime enterprise as in military ardour, the Spanish empire decidedly took the lead of all nations. In the seventeenth century that empire was of almost incredible extent. Spanish America formed one unbroken line, extending over nearly seventy-seven degrees of latitude. It was divided into two enormous governments, that of Mexico, comprehending all the territory in North America; and that of Peru, from the Isthmus of Darien to about thirty-eight degrees south of the line. Mexico was often called the G kingdom of New Spain. The capital of Peru was Lima. These mighty acquisitions were won,-and most of them lost also,-by a series of adventurous exploits surpassing any thing ever invented in romance. The discoveries of Columbus first opened the door to a crowd of mercenary and ambitious adventurers, who vied with each other in their rage for wealth and conquest, in pursuit of which they knew neither pity, fear, nor conscience. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE discoverer of the New World, was born of humble parentage at Genoa, a mercantile city of the Italian sea-coast. He was almost entirely self-educated, and being a youth of great spirit and intrepidity, he passed through many dangers and privations in his early career. After meeting with many strange adventures in different countries, Columbus reached Portugal, having swam ashore after bearing his part in a most determined sea-fight on the coast, in which both vessels were burnt and sunk. In Portugal he married a lady of rank, by whom he had a son. But neither his wanderings nor his trials were at an end. He had come to the conclusion that it was possible by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, a thing which no one had then dared to attempt,-to reach India by an easy and short route. He tried in many ways to obtain the means of accomplishing this. On one occasion during his wanderings, Juan Peres, the Prior of St. Mary's Convent, at Palos, a sea-port town in Andalusia, was struck by the noble air and dignity of a poor stranger who stopped at the Convent gate to ask for a little bread and water for his child. This was Columbus, with his little son, Diego. The Prior entered into conversation with Columbus, and such was his zeal and influence, that to this chance interview he owed the accomplishment of his wishes long afterwards, in obtaining the vessels and crews by means of which he discovered America. FRANCESCO PIZARRO, THE Conqueror of PERU, WAS a poor Spanish swineherd. He had a |