He was delighted.

Success, he felt, was not far off.

Japan was near, China was near, India was near.

Of this he was certain; and even until he died Columbus did not have any idea that he had found a new world--such as America really was.

He was sure that he had simply landed upon the eastern coasts of Asia and that he had found what he set out to discover--the nearest route to the Indies.
The next day Columbus pulled up his anchors, and having seized and carried off to his ships some of the poor natives who had welcomed him so gladly, he commenced a cruise among the islands of the group he had discovered.
Day after day he sailed among these beautiful tropic islands, and of them and of the people who lived upon them he wrote to the king and queen of Spain: "This country excels all others as far as the day surpasses the night in splendor.