At the Canaries they heard stories of lands seen to the westward, to which Columbus refers in his journal.

On the sixth of September they sailed from Gomera and on the eighth they lost sight of land.

Nor did they see land again for thirty-three days.
Such was the length of the great voyage.

All the time, most naturally, they were wishing for signs, not of land perhaps, but which might show whether this great ocean were really different from other seas.

On the whole the voyage was not a dangerous one.
According to the Admiral's reckoning--and in his own journal Columbus always calls himself the Admiral--its length was one thousand and eighty-nine leagues.