SECTION I. Of the Country, Original, and Name of Admiral Christopher Columbus; with other particulars of his Life previous to his arrival in Portugal
   It is a material circumstance in the history of a great man to make known his country and original, as those are best esteemed in the world who are derived from noble cities and born of illustrious parents. Wherefore some would have engaged me to prove that the admiral my father was honourably descended, although his parents, through the fickleness of fortune, had fallen into great poverty. Those persons required me to prove that his ancestors descended from Junius Colomus, who, as Tacitus relates, brought Mithridates a prisoner to Rome, for which service he was raised by the Roman people to the consulate. They would likewise have induced me to give an account at large of the two illustrious Colomi his predecessors, who gained a great victory over the Venetians, as recorded by Sabellius, and which shall be mentioned in this work. But considering that my father seemed to have been peculiarly chosen by the Almighty for the great work which he performed, and may be considered in some measure as an apostle of the Lord by carrying the gospel among the heathen; and that the other apostles were called upon from the sea and the rivers, and not from courts and palaces, by him whose progenitors were of the royal blood of the Jews, yet who was pleased that they should be in a low and unknown estate: And seeing that God had gifted my father with those personal qualities which so well fitted him for so great an undertaking, he was himself inclined that his country and original might remain hidden and obscure.
   Some who would throw a cloud upon his fame, have alleged that he was from Nerni, others from Cuguero, and others from Bugiesco, all small towns in the Riviera of Genoa: While others again, who were disposed rather to exalt his origin, say that he was a native of Savona, others of Genoa, and some more vain, make him to have been a native of Placentia, where there are some honourable persons of the name, and several tombs having the arms and inscriptions of the family of Columbus, which was the usual sirname of his predecessors; but he, in compliance with the country where he went to reside, modelled the name in resemblance of the ancients to Colon, thereby distinguishing the direct descent from the collateral lines.
   Many names have been given by secret impulse, to denote the effects those persons were to produce; and as most of my fathers affairs were guarded by some special providence, his name and sirname were not without some mysterious significations. Thus, considering the sirname of his ancestors, Columbus or Columba, since he conveyed the grace of the Holy Ghost into that New World which he discovered, shewing the knowledge of the beloved Son of God to those people who knew him not, as was done by the Holy Ghost in the form of a Dove at the baptism of St John; and because, like Noahs dove, he carried the olive branch and the oil of baptism across the waters of the ocean, to denote the peace and union of those people with the church, which had long been shut up in the ark of darkness and ignorance. So likewise of the sirname of Colon which he revived, which was appropriate to him as signifying a member; and, in conjunction with his sirname of Christopher, denoted that he was a member of Christ, by whom salvation was to be conveyed to the heathen people whom he discovered. Thus, as St Christopher received that name because he carried Christ over the deep waters with great danger to himself; so the admiral Christopher Colonus, imploring the protection of Christ, safely carried himself and his people over the unknown ocean, that those Indian nations which he discovered might become citizens and inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem. For many souls, whom the Devil expected for his prey, were through his means passed through the water of baptism, and made inhabitants of the eternal glory of heaven.
   To return to the quality and persons of his progenitors; however considerable they may once have been, it is certain that they were reduced to poverty and want, through the long wars and factions in Lombardy. I have not been able to discover in what manner they lived; though in one of his letters the admiral asserted that his ancestors and himself had always traded by sea. While passing through Cuguero, I endeavoured to receive some information on this subject from two brothers of the Colombi, who were the richest in those parts, and who were reported to be somewhat related to him; but the youngest of them being above an hundred years old, they could give me no information. Neither do I conceive this any dishonour to us his descendants; as I think it better that all our honour be derived from his own person, without inquiring whether his father were a merchant, or a nobleman who kept hawks and hounds. There have been thousands such in all parts, whose memory was soon lost among their neighbours and kindred, so that no memorials remain of there ever having been such men. I am therefore of opinion, that the nobility of such men would reflect less lustre upon me than the honour I receive from such a father: And, since his honourable exploits made him stand in no need of the wealth of predecessors, who though poor were not destitute of virtue, he ought from his name and worth to have been raised by authors above the rank of mechanics or peasants.
   Should any one be disposed to affirm that the predecessors of my father were handicrafts, founding upon the assertion of Justiniani, I shall not engage to prove the contrary; for, as the writing of Justiniani is not to be considered as an article of faith, so I have received the contrary from a thousand persons. Neither shall I endeavour to prove the falsehood of his history from those other authors who have written concerning my father; but shall convict him of falsehood out of his own writings and by his own testimony; thus verifying proverb which says "that liars ought to have good memories," because otherwise they contradict themselves, as Justiniani has done in this case, of which I propose to exhibit sufficient proofs.
   In his comparison of the four languages, when commenting upon that passage in the psalms, "In omnem terrarum exivit sonus eorum," he says, "This Christopher Columbus having acquired some rudiments of learning in his tender years, applied himself to navigation when he came to manhood, and went to Lisbon, where he learned cosmography from a brother who there made sea charts; in consequence of which improvement, and by discoursing with those who had sailed to St George del Mina in Africa, and through his own reading in cosmography, he entertained thoughts of sailing towards those countries which he afterwards discovered." Hence, contrary to the assertion of Justiniani, it appears from his own words that my father followed no handicraft or mechanic employment, but devoted his childhood to learning, his youth to navigation and cosmography, and his riper years to discoveries. Thus Justiniani convicts himself of falsehood, and proves himself inconsiderate, rash, and malicious. When he had occasion to speak of so renowned a person who reflected so great honour on his country, although the admirals parents had even been very mean, it had been more decent in mentioning his origin, as other authors have done, to have said that he was of low parentage or come of very poor people, instead of falsely calling him a mechanic, as he did in his Psalter, and afterwards in his Chronicle. Even supposing he had not contradicted himself, reason might have shewn that a man who had been bred up in a mechanical employment, must grow old in it to become a perfect master, and could not from his youth have travelled into so many countries, or have attained so much knowledge and learning as his actions demonstrate; more especially in those four principal sciences which were so indispensably necessary to fit him for what he performed, astronomy, cosmography, geometry, and navigation. It is not much to be wondered that Justiniani should be guilty of untruth in this circumstance, which is hidden, since he has inserted above a dozen falsehoods in half a sheet of paper in his Psalter, in matters concerning this discovery and navigation, which are well known. These I shall briefly mention, without staying to give him any answer, that I may not interrupt the series of the history; and because from its tenor, and by what has been written by others on that subject, the falsehood of his writing will distinctly appear.
   The first falsehood is, that the admiral went to Lisbon to learn cosmography from a brother of his own who was settled in that place. This is utterly contrary to the truth; since he lived in that city before the arrival of his brother, and taught his brother what he knew instead of learning from him. The second falsehood is, that their Catholic majesties Ferdinand and Isabella accepted his proposal at his first coming to Castile, after it had been seven years bandied about and rejected by all men. The third, that he set out upon his discovery with two ships; whereas the truth is, that he had three caravels in his first voyage. The fourth, that his first discovery was Hispaniola; whereas the first land he came to was Guanahani, which he named St Salvador, or St Saviour. The fifth, that the island of Hispaniola was inhabited by cannibals; while the truth is, that its inhabitants were the best and most civilized people in all those parts. The sixth, that he took the canoe or Indian boat which he first saw by force of arms; whereas it is certain that he had no hostilities in the first voyage with any of the Indians, and continued in peace and amity with them until his departure from Hispaniola. The seventh, that he returned by way of the Canary Islands, which is by no means the proper route. The eighth, that he dispatched a messenger from the Canaries to their Catholic majesties; whereas it is certain he was not at these islands on his return, and that he was his own messenger. The ninth, that he went with twelve ships on his second voyage, while he actually had seventeen. The tenth, that he arrived at Hispaniola in twenty days, which is too short a time to reach the nearest islands; and he certainly did not perform the second voyage in two months, and besides went to other islands much farther distant before going to Hispaniola. The eleventh, that he immediately afterwards went from Hispaniola with two ships, whereas he certainly went to Cuba with three vessels. The twelfth falsehood is, that Hispaniola is four hours (difference in longitude) distant from Spain; while the admiral reckoned it to be five. The thirteenth, to add one to the dozen, is that the western point of Cuba is six hours distant from Hispaniola; making a farther distance of longitude from Hispaniola to Cuba, than from Spain to Hispaniola.
   By the foregoing examples of negligence, in inquiring into the truth of those particulars which are plain and easy to have been learnt, we may divine what inquiry he made into those which are obscure and in which he contradicts himself, as already proved. But, laying aside this fruitless controversy, I shall only add that, in consideration of the many falsehoods in the Chronicle and Psalter of Justiniani, the senate of Genoa have imposed a penalty upon any person within their jurisdiction who shall read or keep those books, and have ordered that they shall be carefully sought after and destroyed.
   To conclude this disquisition, I assert that the admiral, so far from being a person occupied with the vile employments of mechanics or handicraft trades, was a man of learning and experience, and entirely occupied in such studies and exercises as fitted him for and became the glory and renown of his most wonderful discoveries; and I shall close this chapter with an extract from a letter which he wrote to the nurse of Prince John of Castile. "I am not the first admiral of my family, let them give me what name they please. After all, that most prudent king David was first a shepherd, and was afterwards chosen king of Jerusalem; and I am a servant to the same Lord who raised him to so great dignity."
   In his person the admiral was above the middle stature and well shaped, having rather a long visage, with somewhat full cheeks, yet neither fat nor lean. His complexion was very fair with delicately red cheeks, having fair hair in his youth, which became entirely grey at thirty years of age. He had a hawk nose, with fair eyes. In his eating and drinking, and in his dress, he was always temperate and modest. In his demeanour he was affable to strangers and kind and condescending to his domestics and dependents, yet with a becoming modesty and dignified gravity of manner, tempered with easy politeness. His regard for religion was so strict and sincere, even in keeping the prescribed fasts and reciting all the offices of the church, that he might have been supposed professed in one of the religious orders; and so great was his abhorrence to profane swearing that I never heard him use any other oath than by St Ferdinand; and even in the greatest passion, his only imprecation was "God take you." When about to write, his usual way of trying his pen was in these words, Jesu cum Maria sit nobis in via; and in so fair a character as might have sufficed to gain his bread by writing.
   Passing over many particulars of his character, manners, and disposition, which will appear in the course of this history, I shall now only mention that, in his tender years he applied himself to such studies at Pavia as fitted him to understand cosmography, his favourite science; for which purpose he chiefly devoted himself to the study of geometry and astronomy, without which, it is impossible to make any proficiency in cosmography. And, because Ptolemy, in the preface to his cosmography, asserts that no person can be a good cosmographer without a thorough knowledge of drawing; he therefore learnt to draw, so as to be able to delineate not only the exact outlines of countries, but to express their cosmographical features, whether having plain surfaces or interspersed with hills and vallies.
   Having laid a foundation in the before-mentioned sciences, he went to sea, and made several voyages both to the east and west3: But of these, and many other circumstances respecting his early years I have no perfect knowledge. I was so young at his death, that owing to filial respect, I had not the boldness to ask an account from him of the incidents of his youth, and besides I was not then interested in such inquiries. But some account of these things may be gleaned from his letters to their Catholic majesties, to whom he would not dare to write any thing but the truth. In one of these letters, written in the year 1501, he says,
   "Most Serene Princes! I went to sea when very young, and have continued to the present day; and this art of navigation inclines those who follow it to be desirous of discovering the secrets of this world. It is now forty years4 that I have been sailing to all those parts of the world which are frequented at present; and I have conversed with many wise and learned men, both clergy and laity, Latins, Greeks, Indians and Moors, and of many other sects and nations. God has been favourable to my inclination, and has given me the spirit of understanding, so that I have become very skilful in navigation, with a competent knowledge in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, and both genius and skill to draw maps and charts of this world, with its cities, rivers, islands, and ports, all in their proper places and proportions. During my whole life, I have endeavoured to see and understand all books of cosmography, history, and philosophy; by which my understanding hath been enlightened so as to enable me to sail from Europe to the Indies, and God hath inclined me to put this design into execution. Filled with this desire I came to your highnesses; and after all who had heard an account of my proposed undertaking had rejected it with scorn and contempt as visionary and impracticable; in your highnesses alone I found judgment to believe in the practicability of my proposal, and constancy and spirit to put it into execution."
   In another letter, written in January 1495 from Hispaniola, to their Catholic majesties, in illustration of the errors and mistakes common in voyages and the piloting of ships, he thus writes, "I was formerly sent to Tunis by King Renee, whom God hath since taken to himself, to take the galeasse called Fernandina; and, when near the island of St Peter off Sardinia, I was informed that the Fernandina was accompanied by two ships and a carack. This intelligence dismayed my people, who refused to proceed in the enterprize, and demanded to go back to Marseilles for another ship and more men. Finding that it was impossible to go on against their inclinations, without a stratagem, I pretended to yield to their desires; but having altered the card of the ships compass, I set sail when it was late, under pretence of making for Marseilles. But next morning at day-break, when all on board believed we had been sailing for Marseilles, we found ourselves close in with Cape Carthagena5."
   In a memorandum or observation tending to prove that all the five zones are habitable by the experience of navigation, he thus writes: "In February 1467, I sailed an hundred leagues beyond Thule, or Iceland, the northern part of which is 73 degrees distant from the equinoctial, and not 63 degrees as some suppose; neither does it lie upon the line where Ptolemy begins the West, but considerably more to the westwards. To this island, which is as large as England, the English carry on trade, especially from the port of Bristol. When I was there the sea was not frozen, but the tides were so great that in some places it rose and fell twenty-six fathoms6. I have likewise been in the Portuguese fort of St George del Mina, under the equinoctial, and can witness that it is not uninhabitable, as some have supposed." In his book respecting his first voyage, he says that he saw some mermaids on the coast of Menegueta, but that they were not by any means so like ladies as represented in paintings. In another place he says, that, in several voyages between Lisbon and Guinea, he had observed that a degree on the earth corresponds to 56 miles and two thirds. He notices having seen mastick drawn from some trees in the island of Scio, one of the isles in the Greek Archipelago.
   In one place of his own writings he says that he had been at sea during twenty-three years, without being on shore for any length of time; and had seen all the countries of the east and west, and towards the north, particularly England and Guinea; yet had never seen any harbours that could be compared for goodness with those which he had discovered in the West Indies. He says farther, "I went first to sea at fourteen years of age, and have followed that profession ever since." In his note book of his second voyage he says, "I had two ships, one of which I left at Porto Sancto, for a certain reason, where it continued one day; and on the day following, I rejoined it at Lisbon7; because I encountered a storm, and had contrary winds at south-west, and the other ship had contrary winds at south-east." From these instances it may be inferred that he had great experience in sea affairs, and that he had visited many countries and places, before he undertook his great discovery.
   (Illustration: Chart of North Western Africa)

SECTION II. Of his first coming to Portugal, and the cause or motives of his proposing to discover the West Indies
   The occasion of his first coming into Portugal, arose from his attachment to a famous man of his name and family, named Columbus, long renowned on the sea as commander of a fleet against the infidels; insomuch that even in his own country his name was used to frighten young children. This man, known by the name of Columbus the young, to distinguish him from another great sea captain of the same name, was a person of great prowess, and must have commanded a goodly fleet, as he captured at one time four Venetian galleys, of such size and strength as I could not have believed unless I had seen them fitted out. Of this Columbus junior, Marc Anthony Sabellicus, the Livy of our age, says, in the eighth book of his tenth decade, that he lived at the time when Maximilian the son of the Emperor Frederick III. was chosen king of the Romans; and that Jerom Donato was sent ambassador from Venice to return thanks to John II. king of Portugal, for having relieved and clothed the crews of their great galleys so as to enable them to return to Venice. These galleys were returning from Flanders, when they were encountered and taken by the famous corsair Columbus junior, who stripped their whole crews and turned them ashore on the coast of Portugal.
   The authority of so grave an author as Sabellicus, sufficiently proves the malice of Justiniani who makes no mention whatever of this incident, evidently lest the family of Columbus might appear less obscure than he was disposed to hold it out to the world. If in this he erred through ignorance, he is not the less worthy of blame for having undertaken to write the history of his country without making himself acquainted with so signal a victory, of which even the enemies of Genoa make mention. Even Sabellicus in his eighth book, mentions the great discovery of the admiral, though less obliged to inquire into it, but without adding the twelve lies which Justiniani inserted.
   To return to the matter in hand. While the admiral my father sailed along with Columbus junior, which he long did, they received intelligence of four large Venetian galleys being on their voyage from Flanders, and going in quest of them, came up with them near Cape St Vincent on the coast of Portugal. A furious contest took place, in which the hostile vessels grappled with each other, and the crews fought with the utmost rage, not only using their hand weapons but artificial fire-works. The fight continued with great fury from morning till night; when the vessel in which my father was took fire, as did likewise a great Venetian galley to which she was fast grappled by strong iron hooks and chains. In this dreadful situation neither of them could be relieved, on account of the confusion and terror of fire, which increased so rapidly that all who were able of both crews leapt into the water, preferring that death to the torture of fire. In this emergency, my father being an excellent swimmer, and having the good fortune to lay hold of an oar, made for the land, which was little more than two leagues distant. Sometimes swimming, and at other times resting on the oar, it pleased God, who preserved him for the accomplishment of greater designs, that he had sufficient strength to attain the shore, but so exhausted by his exertions and by long continuance in the water that he had much ado to recover. Being not far from Lisbon, where he knew that many Genoese his countrymen then dwelt, he made all haste to that city; where making himself known, he was courteously received and entertained by the Genoese.
   After remaining some time at Lisbon, where he behaved himself honourably, being a man of comely appearance, it happened that Donna Felipa Moniz, a lady of good family, then a boarder in the nunnery of All-Saints whether my father used to go to mass, fell in love with him and married him. The father of his lady, Peter Moniz Perestrello, being dead, the newly married pair went to live with the widow; who seeing her son-in-law much addicted to cosmography, informed him that her husband, Perestrello, had been a great sea-faring man, and had gone with two other captains to make discoveries with the license of the king of Portugal, and under an agreement that they were to divide their discoveries into three portions, and each to have a share by lot. That accordingly they had sailed from Lisbon towards the south-west, where they discovered the islands of Madeira and Porto Sancto, places which had never been seen before. And as Madeira was the largest, they divided it into two portions, making Porto Sancto the third, which had fallen to the lot of her husband Perestrello, who continued in the government of that island till his death.
   The admiral being much delighted with the relations of sea voyages, his mother-in-law gave him the journals and sea charts which had been left by her husband, which excited his curiosity to make inquiry respecting the other voyages which the Portuguese had made to St George del Mina and the coast of Guinea, and he enjoyed great delight in discoursing with such as had sailed to those parts. I cannot certainly determine whether he ever went to Mina or Guinea during the life of this wife. But while he resided in Portugal he seriously reflected on the information he had thus received; and concluded, as the Portuguese had made discoveries so far to the southward, it was reasonable to conclude that land might be discovered by sailing to the westwards. To assist his judgment, he again went over the cosmographers which he had formerly studied, and considered maturely the astronomical reasons which corroborated this new opinion. He carefully weighed likewise the information and opinions on this subject of all with whom he conversed, particularly sailors. From an attentive consideration of all that occurred to him, he at length concluded that there must be many lands to the west of the Canary and Cape de Verd islands; and that it must be perfectly possible to sail to and discover them. But, that it may distinctly appear by what train of arguments he came to deduce so vast an undertaking, and that I may satisfy those who are curious to know the motives which induced him to encounter so great danger, and which led him to his great discovery, I shall now endeavour to relate what I have found among his own papers respecting this matter.
   The motives which induced my father to undertake the discovery of the West Indies were three. Natural reason, authority of authors, and the testimony of sailors. From natural reason my father concluded that the whole sea and land of this world composed a globe or sphere, which might assuredly be gone round, so that men should stand with their feet directly against the feet of other men, in any precisely opposite parts whatever. Secondly, he took it for granted upon the authority of approved authors that a great portion of our globe had been already travelled over and explored; and that it now only remained to discover the whole, so as to make known what was contained in the vacant space which remained, between the eastern boundaries of India which were known to Ptolemy and Marinus, and those our newly discovered western parts of the coast of Africa and the Azores and Cape Verd islands, the most westerly which were yet known. Thirdly, he concluded that this still unknown space, between the eastern limits known to Marinus and the Cape Verds, could not exceed a third part of the circumference of the globe; since Marinus had already described 15 hours towards the east, out of the 24 parts or hours into which the circumference of the world is divided by the diurnal course of the sun; and therefore to return in an easterly direction to the Cape Verd islands from the limits discovered by Marinus, or to proceed westerly from these islands to meet the eastern limits of Marinus, required only to pass over about 8 parts in 24 of the circumference of the earth8.
   He reckoned, fourthly, that as the cosmography of Marinus had given an account of fifteen hours or parts of the circumference of the globe eastwards, and had not yet attained to a knowledge of the eastern extremity of the land, it followed of course that this eastern extremity must be considerably beyond those known limits; and consequently, that the farther it extended eastwards, so much the nearer it must approach to the Cape Verd islands, or the then known western limits of the globe: And, if this space were sea, it might be easily sailed over in a short time; and if land, that it would be much sooner discovered by sailing to the west, since it must be much nearer to these islands in that direction. To this may be added what is related by Strabo in his Fifteenth Book, that no army ever penetrated to the eastern bounds of India, which according to Ctesias is as extensive as all the rest of Asia. Onesicritus affirms that India is a full third part of the world; and Nearchus says that it is four months journey in a straight line from west to east. Pliny, in the 17th Chap, of his 6th Book, says that India is a third part of the earth, and that consequently it must be nearer Spain in the western than in the eastern direction.
   The fifth argument which induced the admiral to believe that the distance in a western direction to India was small, was taken from the opinion of Alfragranus and his followers, who computed the circumference of the globe as much less than all other cosmographical writers, as they only allowed 56-2/3 miles to a degree of longitude. Whence my father inferred, that the whole globe being small, the extent of that third part which remained to be discovered must necessarily be proportionally small likewise; and might therefore be sailed over in a short time. And, as the eastern bounds of India were not yet discovered, and must lie considerably nearer us towards the west, he therefore considered that the lands which he might discover in his proposed expedition westwards might properly be denominated the Indies. Hence it appears how much Roderick the archdeacon of Seville was wrong in blaming the admiral for calling those parts the Indies which were not so. But the admiral did not call them the Indies as having been seen or discovered by any other person; but as being in his opinion the eastern part of India beyond the Ganges, to which no cosmographer had ever assigned any precise limits, or made it to border upon any other country farther to the east, considering those unknown parts of eastern India to border on the ocean. And because he believed those countries which he expected to discover formed the eastern and formerly unknown lands of India, and had no appropriate name of their own, he therefore gave them the name of the nearest known country, and called them the West Indies. He was, so much the more induced to choose this appellation that the riches and wealth of India were well known, and he thereby expected the more readily to induce their Catholic Majesties to accede to his proposed undertaking, of the success of which they were doubtful; by saying that he intended to discover the way to India by the west: And he was desirous of being employed in the service of the crown of Castile, in preference to any other.
   The second motive which encouraged the admiral to undertake his great enterprize, and which might reasonably induce him to call the countries he proposed to discover by the name of the Indies, was derived from the authority of learned men; who had affirmed that it was possible to sail from the western coast of Africa and Spain to the eastern bounds of India by the westwards, and that the sea which lay between these limits was of no great extent. This is affirmed by Aristotle, in his Second Book of the Heaven and of the World, as explained by Averroes; in which he says that a person may sail from India to Cadiz in a few days. Seneca, in his book of Nature, reflecting upon the knowledge of this world as insignificant in comparison with what shall be attained in a future life, says that a ship may sail in a few days with a fair wind from Spain to India. And if, as some suppose, the same Seneca were the author of the tragedies, he expresses himself to the same purpose in the following chorus of the Medea:
   Venient annis Secula feris, quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum laxat, et ingens Pateat tellus, Typhysque novos Detegat orbes, nec sit terris Ultima Thule.
   "There will come an age in latter times, when the ocean shall loosen the bonds of things, and a great country shall be discovered; when another Typhys shall find out new worlds, and Thule shall no longer remain the ultimate boundary of the earth."
   This prophecy has now certainly been fulfilled by my father. In the first book of his cosmography, Strabo says that the ocean encompasses the whole earth; that in the east it washes the shores of India, and in the west those of Mauritania and Spain; and that if it were not for the vast magnitude of the Atlantic, men might easily sail in a short time from the one to the other upon the same parallel; and he repeats the same opinion in his second book. Pliny, in the Second Book of his Natural History, Chap. iii. says that the ocean surrounds all the earth, and extends from east to west between India and Cadiz. The same author, in his Sixth Book, Chap. xxxi. and Solinus in the sixty-eight chapter of the Remarkable Things of the World, say that, from the islands of the Gorgonides, which are supposed to be those of Cape Verd, it was forty days sail across the Atlantic Ocean to the Hesperides; which islands the admiral concluded were those of the West Indies. Marco Polo the Venetian traveller, and Sir John Mandeville, say that they went much farther eastward than was known to Ptolemy and Marinus. Perhaps these travellers do not mention any eastern sea beyond their discoveries; yet from the accounts which they give of the east, it may be reasonably inferred that India is not far distant from Spain and Africa. Peter Aliacus, in his treatise on the Figure of the Earth, in the eighth Chapter respecting the extent of habitable land, and Julius Capitolinus upon inhabitable places, and in several other treatises, both assert that Spain and India are neighbours towards the west. The latter author, in the nineteenth Chapter of his Cosmography says, according to the opinion of Pliny and other philosophers, the ocean which stretches from the western shores of Spain and Africa to the eastern limits of India is of no great extent, and might certainly be sailed over in a few days with a fair wind; and therefore that the beginning of India eastwards cannot be far distant from the western limits of Africa.
   From these and similar authorities of eminent writers, the admiral was led to believe that he had formed a sound opinion on this subject; and he was much encouraged to undertake his proposed voyage of discovery by his contemporary Paul, physician to Signior Dominico of Florence. This Paul corresponded with Ferdinand Lopez, a canon of Lisbon, concerning the voyages which had been undertaken to Guinea in the reign of King Alphonzo of Portugal, and concerning future discoveries which might be made to the westwards. The admiral, who was always exceedingly ardent in inquiries on these topics, came to the knowledge of this correspondence; and soon afterwards, by means of Laurentio Girarde, a Florentine who then resided in Lisbon, entered into correspondence with Paul on this subject, acquainting him with his design, and sending him a small terrestrial globe. The communications from Paul on this subject are as follow:
   "To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physician wisheth health. I perceive the noble and earnest desire which you entertain to sail to those parts which produce spices; and therefore, in answer to your letter, I send you one which I wrote some time ago to a friend of mine, a servant to the king of Portugal, before the wars of Castile, in answer to one he had written to me by the order of his highness upon this same subject; and I send you a sea chart similar to the one I sent to him, which will satisfy your demands. The copy of that letter is this!"
   "To Ferdinand Martinez, Paul the physician wisheth health. -I rejoice to learn the familiarity which you have with your most serene and magnificent king; and although I have often discoursed concerning the short way by sea from hence to the Indies where spice is produced, which I consider to be shorter than that you now take by the coast of Guinea; yet you now inform me that his highness requires me to explain and demonstrate this my opinion, so that it may be understood and reduced to practice. Therefore, though I could better shew it with a globe in my hand, so as to make him sensible of the figure and dimensions of the world; yet I have resolved to make it as easy and intelligible as possible by delineating this way upon a chart, such as is used in navigation. Wherefore I now send one to his majesty, drawn by my own hand; in which I have set down the utmost bounds of the west, from Ireland in the north to the farthest parts of Guinea, with all the islands that lie in the way: Opposite to which western coast, the beginning of the Indies is delineated, with the islands and places to which you may go, and how far you may bend from the north pole towards the equinoctial, and for how long a time; that is, how many leagues you must sail before you arrive at those places which are most fruitful in all sorts of spice, in jewels and precious stones.
   "Do not wonder that I term the country where the spice is produced in the west, because that production has been generally ascribed to the east: Since those who may sail to the westward will always find those places in the west, which those who travel by land eastwards must find in the east. The straight lines that run lengthways in the chart shew the distances from east to west, and the other lines which cross these at right angles shew the distances from north to south. I have likewise represented in the chart, several places in India where ships may take shelter in any storm or contrary wind, or on occasion of any unforeseen accident. Moreover, to give you full information respecting all those places of which you inquire, you must understand that none but traders reside in these islands, in which as great a number of ships and mariners, and as great quantities of merchandize is to be found, as in any other part of the world; more particularly in a most noble port called Zacton9, where there are every year 100 large ships loaded and unloaded with pepper, besides many other ships which take in other kinds of spice. This country is exceedingly populous, and contains many provinces and kingdoms and cities innumerable, under the dominion of a sovereign called the Great Cham, which title signifies the King of kings, who usually resides in the province of Cathay10.
   "The predecessors of the great cham were very desirous to have amity and commerce with the Christians; and 200 years ago sent ambassadors to the pope, desiring him to send many learned men and doctors to instruct them in our holy faith; but by reason of some obstacles which these ambassadors encountered, they returned back without coming to Rome. There came however in our day an ambassador from those parts to Pope Eugenius IV. who told him of the great friendship which subsisted between these princes and their people with the Christians. I discoursed at large with this person upon several matters, respecting the splendour of their royal buildings, the great length and breadth of their rivers, and many other topics. He told me many wonderful things of the multitude of cities and towns along the banks of the rivers; insomuch that there were 200 cities upon one river alone, having marble bridges over it of wonderful length and breadth, and adorned with numerous pillars. This country deserves as well as any other to be explored; and great profit may be made by trading thither, as it abounds in many valuable commodities, and with gold, silver, all kinds of precious stones, and spices of all sorts. It is likewise certain that many wise men, philosophers, astronomers, and others, exceedingly ingenious and skilled in the arts and sciences, govern the numerous provinces of that mighty empire, and command its armies.
   "From Lisbon directly westwards, there are in the chart which I now transmit twenty-six spaces, each of which contains 250 miles, or 6500 miles in all, to the vast and most noble city of Quisay11, which is 100 miles or thirty-five leagues in compass. Its name signifies the heavenly city, and wonderful things are reported respecting the magnificence of its buildings, the prodigious amount of its revenues, and the multitude and ingenuity of its inhabitants. This city is in, the province of Mango12, bordering on that of Cathay where the king resides. And the before mentioned distance between Lisbon and that city westwards, is almost a third part of the circumference of the globe. From the island of Antilia, which you call the Seven Cities, and of which you have some knowledge, there are ten spaces in the chart to the most noble island of Cipango, which make 2500 miles or 875 leagues13. The island of Cipango abounds in gold, pearls and precious stones, and the people even cover their temples and palaces with plates of pure gold14. But, for want of knowing the way, all these wonderful things remain hidden and concealed, although they might easily be gone to with safety. Much more might be said, but as you are a wise and judicious person, and I have already told you of what is most material, I am satisfied that you will fully understand the whole, and I shall not therefore be more prolix. What I have written may satisfy your curiosity, and is as much as the shortness of the time and my business will admit. Therefore I remain most ready to satisfy his majesty to the utmost of my abilities in all commands which he may be pleased to lay upon me."
   Paul the Physician afterwards wrote the following letter to my father. -"I received your letter with those things you sent me, which I esteem a great favour, and I greatly commend your noble and ardent desire of sailing from the east to the west, as marked out in the chart which I sent you; but which would be much better demonstrated in the form of a globe. I am rejoiced that it is well understood, that the voyage laid down is not only possible but true, certain, honourable, advantageous, and most glorious among Christians. You can only become perfect in the knowledge of it by practice and experience, which I have had in some measure, especially by the solid and true information of many worthy and wise men who came from those parts to the court of Rome, and from merchants who are persons of good reputation and have long traded to those regions. Hence, when the voyage shall be performed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and to most noble provinces and cities, rich, flourishing, and abounding in all those commodities of which we are in need: particularly in great quantities of all sorts of spice, and in great store of jewels. It will likewise be very grateful to the kings and princes of those parts, who are exceedingly desirous to have intercourse and trade with the Christians; whether that some of them are inclined to become Christians, or else desire to communicate with the wise and learned men of Europe, as well in regard to religion, as in all the sciences, by reason of the extraordinary accounts they have received of the kingdoms and governments and learning of our part of the world. On all which accounts, and others which might be alleged, it is reasonable that your own magnanimity, and the whole Portuguese nation, ever renowned for great men, and memorable in all their undertakings, should be eagerly bent upon performing this voyage."
   By this letter, as has been before observed, the admiral was greatly encouraged to go upon his discovery, although the learned physician was mistaken in believing that Cathay and the empire of the great Cham was the first land to be met with in sailing towards the west; for experience has made it appear, that the distance from the West Indies to that country is greater than from Europe to the West Indies.
   The third and last motive by which the admiral was incited to the discovery of the West Indies, was the hope of finding in his way to India some very beneficial island or continent, from whence he might the better be enabled to pursue his main design. This hope was founded upon the authority and opinion of many wise and learned men, who believed that the greatest part of the surface of the terraqueous globe was composed of land, or that there certainly was more earth than sea. If that were the case, he concluded that, between the coast of Spain and the then known bounds of India, there must be many islands and a great extent of continent interposed, which experience has since demonstrated to be true. In this opinion he was confirmed by many fabulous stories which he had heard from sailors and others who had sailed to the islands and western coast of Africa, and to Madeira; and as these testimonies, though false, tended to confirm the purpose he had so long and ardently cherished, they the more readily gained his assent; and, to satisfy the curiosity of such as are curious in these matters, I shall here relate them.
   One Martin Vicente, a pilot in the service of the king of Portugal, related to the admiral, that, being once 450 leagues to the westward of Cape St Vincent, he had found a piece of wood most curiously curved, but not with iron; and seeing that the winds had blown for many days previously from the west, he conjectured that the carved wood must have been drifted from some island in that direction. One Peter Correa, who had married a sister of the admirals wife, told him of having seen another piece of wood which had been brought to the island of Porto Sancto by the same westerly wind, and of certain drifted canes, so thick that every joint was large enough to contain four quarts of wine. These he alleged to have shewn to the king of Portugal, and as there were no such canes in our parts of the world, he believed that the winds must have wafted them from some distant islands in the west, or else from India: More especially as Ptolemy, in the first book of his cosmography, and chapter 17. says, that such canes grow in the eastern parts of India; and some of the islanders, particularly those in the Azores, informed Correa that when the west wind blew long together, the sea sometimes drove pine trees on the islands Gratioso and Fayal, where no such trees were otherwise to be found. He was likewise told that the sea had cast upon the island of Flores, another of the Azores, the dead bodies of two men, having very broad visages, and very different in their appearance from Europeans.
   It was likewise reported to the admiral that the people about Cape Verga had once seen some almadias or covered boats, which it was believed had been driven thither by stress of weather while going from one of these supposed islands in the west to another island. One Anthony Leme, who was married and settled in the island of Madeira, told the admiral that, having once made a considerable run to the westward, he had descried three islands. To this information, however, he gave little credit, as by his own account Leme had not sailed above 100 leagues to the west, and might have been deceived by some rocks; or what he had seen might have been some of those floating islands, called Aguades by the sailors, of which Pliny makes mention in the 97th chapter of the first book of his natural history. Pliny says that some spots of land are seen in the northern parts of the ocean on which there are deep-rooted trees, and that these parcels of land are carried about like floats, or islands swimming upon the water. Seneca, in his third book, endeavouring to give a probable reason for the existence of such islands, alleges that there are certain rocks so light and spongy in their substance, that islands in India which are composed of such do actually swim upon the water. Therefore, even if it were actually the case that Leme had seen the three islands, the admiral, was of opinion that they must have been of that kind, such as those called the islands of St Brandan are supposed to be, where many wonders are reported to have been seen. Accounts have also been propagated of other islands, which are continually burning, and which lie far to the northward15.
   Juventius Fortunatus mentions an account of two floating islands considerably to the west, and more southward than those of Cape Verd. These and such like reports, might induce several of the inhabitants of Ferro and Gomera, and of the Azores, to affirm that they saw islands towards the west every year; of which they were so thoroughly convinced, that many reputable persons swore that it was true. The same Fortunatus relates, that a person came from Madeira to Portugal in the year 1484, to beg a caravel from the king in which he might go in quest of an island which he made oath that he saw every year, and always after the exact same manner; with whom others agreed, who declared that they had seen the same land from the Azores.
   On these grounds, in all the former maps and charts, certain islands were placed in that direction. In his book concerning the wonderful things of nature, Aristotle informs us of a report, that some Carthaginian merchants had sailed across the Atlantic to a most beautiful and fertile island, of which we shall give a more particular account hereafter. Some Portuguese cosmographers have inserted this island in their maps under the name of Antilla; though they do not agree with Aristotle in regard to its situation, yet none have placed it more than 200 leagues due west from the Canaries and Azores. This they assert to be certainly the island of the seven cities, which is said to have been peopled by the Portuguese in the year 714, at the time when Spain was conquered by the Moors. At that time, according to the legend, seven bishops with their people sailed to this island, where each of them built a city; and, that none of their people might ever think of returning to Spain, they burnt their ships with all the tackling, and destroyed every thing that was necessary for navigation. There are who affirm that several Portuguese mariners have been to that island, but could never find their way back to it again. It is said particularly, that in the time of Don Henry, infant of Portugal, a Portuguese ship was driven by stress of weather upon this island of Antilla, where the men went on shore, and were led by the islanders to a church, that they might see whether they were Christians and observed the ceremonies of the Roman worship; and perceiving that they did, the islanders requested them to remain till their lord should return, who happened to be then absent, but who would be very kind to them, and give them many presents. But the master and seamen were afraid of being detained, and suspected that the islanders had no mind to be discovered, and might burn their vessel; wherefore they sailed back to Portugal, hoping to be rewarded for their discovery by Don Henry. But he reproved them severely, and ordered them to return quickly; wherefore the master and all his crew escaped from Portugal with their ship, and never returned. It is likewise reported, that while the master and seamen of this vessel were at church in the foresaid island, the boys of the ship gathered sand for the cook room, a third part of which was found to be pure gold.
   Among others who set out to discover this island was one Jattes de Fiene, whose pilot Peter Velasquez, of the town of Palos de Moguer, told the admiral in the monastery of St Mary de la Rabida, that they sailed 150 leagues south-west from Fayal, and discovered the island of Flores in their return, to which they were led by observing numbers of birds to fly in that direction, and because these were land birds they concluded that they were making for land, as they could not rest upon the waters. Leaving Flores, they sailed so far to the north-east, that they came to Cape Clear in the west of Ireland, where they met with a stiff western gale and yet a smooth sea, whence they concluded that there must be land in that direction by which the sea was sheltered from the effects of the west wind; but it being then the month of August, they did not venture to proceed in search of that supposed island, for fear of winter. This happened about forty years before the discovery of the West Indies.
   The foregoing account was confirmed to the admiral by the relation of a mariner whom he met with at Port St Mary, who told him that, once in a voyage to Ireland he saw that western land, which he then supposed to be a part of Tartary stretching out towards the west, but could not come near it on account of bad weather. But it is probable that this must have been the land now called Bacallaos, or Newfoundland. This was farther confirmed by what was related to him by one Peter de Velasco of Galicia, whom he met with in the city of Murcia in Spain: who, in sailing for Ireland, went so far to the north-west, that he discovered land far to the west of Ireland; which he believes to have been the same which one Femaldolmos endeavoured to discover in the following manner, as set down in my fathers writings, that it may appear how some men build great and important matters upon very slight foundations. Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, in his natural history of the Indies, says that the admiral had a letter in which the Indies were described by one who had before discovered them; which was by no means the case, but only thus: Vincent Diaz, a Portuguese of Tavira, on his return from Guinea to the Tercera islands, and having passed the island of Madeira, which he left to the east, saw, or imagined that he saw something which he certainly concluded to be land. On his arrival at Tercera, he told this to one Luke de Cazzana, a Genoese merchant, his friend, and a very rich man, and endeavoured to persuade him to fit out a vessel for the conquest of this place: This Cazzana agreed to, and obtained a license from the king of Portugal for the purpose. He wrote accordingly to his brother Francis de Cazzana, who resided at Seville, to fit out a vessel with all expedition for Diaz; but Francis made light of the matter, and Luke de Cazzana actually fitted out a vessel from Tercera, in which the before named pilot sailed from 120 to 130 leagues, but all in vain, for he found no land. Yet neither he nor his partner Cazzana desisted from the enterprize till death closed their hopes. The before mentioned Francis de Cazzana likewise informed the admiral, that he knew two sons of the pilot who discovered the island of Tercera, named Michael and Jasper Cortereal, who went several times in search of that land, and at last perished one after the other in the year 1502, without having ever been heard of since, as was well known to many credible persons.
   If all that has been said above concerning so many imaginary islands and continents appears to be mere fable and folly, how much more reason have we to consider that as false which Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo conceits in his Natural History of the Indies, "That there was another discoverer of this navigation of the ocean, and that the Spaniards held anciently the dominion of these lands." He pretended to make out this assertion from what Aristotle wrote concerning the island of Atalantis, and Sebosus of the Hesperides. Thus, looking upon his own imagination as a certain standard of truth, he affirms upon the judgment of some persons whose writings I have duly weighed and attentively examined. I should have omitted to enlarge on this subject, to avoid tiring the reader, and that I might not be obliged to condemn the opinions of others, were it not that many persons, to detract from the honour and reputation of the admiral, have made great account of these notions. Besides, it appeared that I should not fully perform my duty by merely recounting with all sincerity and truth, the motives and incitements which inclined the admiral my father to undertake his unparalleled enterprize, if I should suffer what I know to be a manifest falsehood to pass uncensured. Wherefore, the better to detect the mistake of Oviedo, I shall first state what Aristotle has said on this subject, as related by F. Theophilus de Ferrariis, among the problems of Aristotle which he collected in a book entitled De Admirandis in Natura auditis, in the following strain:
   "Beyond the pillars of Hercules, it is reported that certain Carthaginian merchants discovered an island in the Atlantic, which had never before been inhabited except by beasts. This island was not many days sail from the continent, was entirely covered over with trees, and abounded in all the usual productions of nature, having a considerable number of navigable rivers. Finding this a beautiful country, possessing it fertile soil and salubrious atmosphere, these Carthaginians began to people it; but the senate of Carthage, offended with this procedure, passed a decree forbidding any person to go to that island under pain of death, and they ordered all those who had already gone there to be slain; meaning thereby to prevent all other nations from acquiring any knowledge of the place, lest some other and more powerful state might take possession, to the detriment of their liberty and commercial interest."
   Oviedo had no just grounds for asserting that this island must have been Hispaniola or Cuba. As he was ignorant of Latin, he was obliged to take such interpretation of this story as he could procure from some other person, who certainly was very ill qualified for the task, since the Latin text has been altered and misinterpreted in several particulars. This may have misled Oviedo, and induced him to believe that the foregoing quotation referred to some island in the West Indies. In the Latin text we do not read of the Carthaginian merchants going out of the straits of Gibraltar as Oviedo writes16. Neither is it said that the island was extensive, or its trees large, but only that it was much wooded. Nor do we find that the rivers were wonderful, or the soil fat, or that the island was more remote from Africa than from Europe; but merely that it was remote from the continent. It is not said in the original that any towns were built here, and indeed it is not likely that these traders should build much; neither is the place said to have become famous, as we see on the contrary that the Carthaginians were careful to prevent its fame from spreading among the nations. Thus the translator being ignorant, led Oviedo to believe quite a different story from the reality17.
   It is quite ridiculous to suppose that Carthaginian merchants could possibly be carried so far out of their way as Hispaniola or Cuba; neither could they have arrived at either of those islands without meeting with the many other islands which surround them. It is more probable that the island discovered by the Carthaginians was one of the Azores; for though Ferrarius speaks of navigable rivers, he might possibly have written ad navigandum instead of potandum, and have thereby corrupted the meaning of his author, that the island had plenty of streams fit for drinking, into abundance of rivers adapted for navigation18. Oviedo falls into a similar error in supposing this island of the Carthaginians to have been the same with that mentioned by Seneca in his fourth book; where he tells us that Seneca speaks of an island named Atlantica, which was entirely or mostly drowned in the time of the Peloponnesian war; and of which island Plato likewise makes mention in his Timaeus: But we have already dwelt too long on these fables.
   Oviedo insists that the Spaniards had the entire dominion of these islands, which he was pleased to consider as the same with our West Indies. He grounds this opinion on what is said by Statius and Sebosus, that certain islands called Hesperides lay forty days sail west from the Gorgonian islands on the coast of Africa. Hence he argued, that these islands must necessarily be the West Indies, and were called Hesperides from Hesperes king of Spain, who consequently with the Spaniards his subjects were lords of these islands. But I am quite tired of this dispute, and shall now proceed to the history of the admirals discovery.

SECTION III. The Admiral, being disgusted by the procedure of the King of Portugal, in regard to the proposed Discovery, offers his services to the Court of Spain
   Having fully satisfied himself of the practicability of his long considered project of discovering the route to India by the west, as already explained, the admiral resolved to put his scheme into execution; and being sensible that the undertaking was only fit for a prince who was able to go through with the expence, and to maintain the dominion of the discovery when made, he thought it proper to propose it to the king of Portugal, because he then lived under his government and protection. And, though King John who then reigned gave a favourable ear to his arguments and proposals, he yet seemed backward in acceding to them, on account of the great expence and trouble he was then at in carrying on the discovery and conquest of Guinea on the western coast of Africa, which had not yet been crowned with any considerable success; not having been hitherto able to double the Cape of Good Hope, which name had been given to this cape instead of its original denomination, Agesingue; as some say because the Portuguese had no hope of ever extending their discoveries and conquests any farther, while others assert it was so called on account of their hopes of better navigation and of discovering more valuable countries beyond. However this may have been, the king of Portugal was little inclined to expend more money in prosecuting discoveries; yet he was so far prevailed upon by the excellent reasons adduced by the admiral in favour of his proposed undertaking, that the only remaining difficulty was in complying with the terms my father demanded for himself in case of success: For my father, who was a man of a noble and dignified spirit, insisted upon conditions which should redound to his honour and reputation; being resolved to leave behind him such a reputation, and so considerable a family as he deemed due to his merits and the actions which he confidently expected to perform.
   While matters were in this train, by the advice of one Doctor Calzadilla in whom he reposed great confidence, the king of Portugal resolved to dispatch a caravel in secret to attempt making the discovery which my father had proposed to him; as, if he could make the discovery in this clandestine manner, he should be freed from the obligation of bestowing any great reward on the occasion. Accordingly, a caravel was fitted out under pretence of carrying supplies to the Cape Verd islands, with private instructions to sail in the direction in which my father had proposed to go upon his intended discovery. But the people who were sent upon this expedition did not possess sufficient knowledge or spirit; and, after wandering many days in the Atlantic, they returned to the Cape Verd islands, laughing at the undertaking as ridiculous and impracticable, and declaring that there could not possibly be any land in that direction or in those seas. When this scandalous underhand dealing came to my fathers ears, he took a great aversion to Lisbon and the Portuguese nation; and, his wife being dead, he resolved to repair into Castile, with his son Don James Columbus, then a little boy, who has since inherited his fathers estate. But, lest the sovereign of Castile might not consent to his proposal, and he might be under the necessity of applying to some other prince, by which much time might be lost, he dispatched his brother Bartholomew Columbus from Lisbon to make similar proposals to the king of England. Bartholomew, though no Latin scholar, was skilful and experienced in sea affairs, and had been instructed by the admiral in the construction of sea charts, globes, and other nautical instruments. While on his way to England, Bartholomew Columbus had the misfortune to be taken by pirates, who stript him and all the rest of the ships company of every thing they had of value. On this account he arrived in England in such great poverty, and that aggravated by sickness, that he was unable to deliver his message until he had recruited his finances by the sale of sea charts of his own construction, by which a long time was lost He then began to make proposals to Henry VII. who then reigned in England, to whom he presented a map of the world, on which the following verses and inscription were written:
   Terrarum quicunque cupis feliciter oras Noscere, cuncta decens docte pictura docebit, Quando Strabo affirmat, Ptolomaeus, Plinius, atque Isiodorus, non una tamen sententia quisque. Pingitur hic etiam nuper sulcata carinis Hispanis zona illa, prius incognita genti, Torrida, quae tandem minet est notissima multis.
   Pro Auctore, sive Pictore. Janua cui patria est nomen, cui Bartholomaeus Columbus de Terra-rubra, opus edidit istud, Londiniis Ann. Dom. 1480, atque insuper anno, Octavo decimaque die cum tertia mensis Februarii. Laudes Christi cantentur abunde.
   The sense of the first verses is to this effect: "Whosoever thou art who desirest to know the coasts of countries, must be taught by this draught what has been affirmed by Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny, and Isiodorus; although they do not in all things agree. Here is also set down the formerly unknown torrid zone, lately visited by vessels from Spain, and now well known to many." The second inscription has the following signification: "As to the author or painter of this chart; he is Bartholomew Columbus of the red earth, a Genoese, who published this work at London on the 21st of February in the year 1480. Praised be Christ abundantly."
   It may be observed here, that I have seen some subscriptions of my father, the admiral, in which he designs himself Christopher Columbus de Terra-rubra; but this was before he acquired his title of admiral. But to return to Bartholomew: The king of England graciously received the map; and having favourably listened to the admirals proposals, which my uncle had laid before him, readily agreed to the conditions demanded, and ordered my father to be invited into England. But Providence had determined that the advantage of this great discovery should belong to Castile; and by this time my father had gone upon his first voyage, from which he was already returned with success, as shall be shewn in its proper place.
   About the end of the year 1484 the admiral stole away privately from Lisbon with his son James, as he was afraid of being detained by the king of Portugal. For, being sensible of the misconduct of the people whom he had sent in the caravel already mentioned, the king was desirous to restore the admiral to favour, and to renew the conferences respecting the proposed discovery. But as he did not use as much diligence in executing this new resolution as the admiral did in withdrawing himself, he lost the opportunity, and the admiral got into Castile, where better fortune awaited him. Leaving therefore his son James in the monastery of La Rabida at Palos, he went to the court of their Catholic majesties at Cordova. Being of affable manners and pleasant conversation, he soon acquired the intimacy of such persons as he found best inclined to favour his views, and fittest to persuade the king to embrace his proposed undertaking. Among these was Lewis de Santangel an Arragonese gentleman, who was clerk of the allowances in the royal household, a man of great prudence and reputation. But, as a matter of such importance required to be learnedly investigated, and not merely by empty words and the favourable reports of courtiers, their majesties referred it to the consideration of the prior of Prado, afterwards archbishop of Granada; ordering him to take the assistance of some cosmographers, and after a full investigation of the whole affair, to make a report of their opinion on its practicability. There were few cosmographers then in Spain, and those who were convened on this occasion were far from skilful: And besides, warned by the trick which had been attempted in Portugal, the admiral did not explain himself so fully as he might, lest he should lose his reward. On these accounts, the report which they gave to their Catholic majesties was as various as their several judgments and opinions, and by no means favourable to the projected enterprize.
   Some alleged, that since so many skilful sailors, during the many thousand years which had elapsed from the creation of the world, had not acquired any knowledge whatever of these countries, it was not at all probable that he should know more of the matter than all who had gone before or who now existed. Others, pretending to ground their opinion upon cosmographical arguments, said that the world was of such prodigious size that they questioned if it were possible to sail in three years to the eastern extremity of India, whither he proposed to go; and they endeavoured to confirm this opinion by the authority of Seneca, who says in one of his works, "That many wise men disagreed about whether the ocean were of infinite extent, and doubted whether it were navigable, and whether habitable lands existed on its other side; and, even if so, whether it were possible to go to these." They added, that only a small proportion of this terraqueous globe, which had remained in our hemisphere above the water, was habitable; and that all the rest was sea, which was not sussceptible of being navigated, except near the coasts and rivers; and that wise men denied the possibility of sailing from the coast of Spain to the farthest parts of the west. Others argued nearly in the same manner as had been formerly done by the Portuguese in regard to the navigation along the western coast of Africa: That if any one should sail due westwards, as proposed by the admiral, it would certainly be impossible to return again to Spain; because whoever should sail beyond the hemisphere which was known to Ptolemy, would then go downwards upon the rotundity of the globe, and then it would be impossible to sail up again on their return, which would necessarily be to climb up hill, and which no ship could accomplish even with the stiffest gale. Although the admiral gave perfectly valid answers to all these objections; yet, such was the ignorance of these people, that the more his reasons were powerful and conclusive so much the less were they understood: For when people have grown old in prejudices and false notions of philosophy and mathematics, these get such firm hold of the mind that true and just principles are utterly unintelligible.
   The prior and his coadjutors were all influenced by a Spanish proverb, which, though contradictory to reason and common sense, says Dubitat Augustinus, or it is contradicted by St Augustine; who, in the 9th chapter of the 21st book of his city of God, denies the possibility of the Antipodes, or that any person should be able to go from one hemisphere into the other. They farther urged against the admiral the commonly received opinions concerning the five zones, by which the torrid zone is declared utterly uninhabitable, and many other arguments equally absurd and ridiculous. Upon the whole, they concluded to give judgment against the enterprize as vain and impracticable, and that it did not become the state and dignity of such great princes to act upon such weak information as they conceived to have been communicated. Therefore, after much time spent in the business, the admiral received for answer that their Catholic majesties were then occupied in many other wars, and particularly in the conquest of Granada then going on, and could not therefore conveniently attend to this new undertaking; but that on some future opportunity of greater leisure and convenience, they would have more time to examine into his proposal. To conclude, their majesties refused to listen to the great proposals which the admiral made to them.
   While these matters were in agitation, their Catholic majesties had not been always resident in one place, owing to the war of Granada in which they were then engaged, by which a long time was lost before they had formed a final resolution and given their answer. The admiral went therefore to Seville, where he still found their majesties as unresolved as before. He then gave an account of his projected expedition to the duke of Medina Sidonia; but, after many conferences finding no likelihood of success, he resolved to make application to the king of France, to whom he had already written on the subject; and, if he should not succeed there, he proposed to have gone next into England to seek his brother, from whom he had not hitherto received any intelligence. In this resolution, he went to the monastery of Rabida, whence he proposed to have sent his son James to Cordova, and to have then proceeded on his journey into France. But Providence having decreed otherwise, occasioned the cementation of so great friendship between the admiral and John Perez, the father guardian of that monastery, who was so thoroughly assured of the excellence and practicability of the project, that he was deeply concerned at the resolution my father had adopted, and for the loss which Spain would sustain by his departure. Perez earnestly entreated the admiral to postpone his intended departure; saying, that as he was confessor to the queen, he was resolved to make an essay to persuade her to compliance, and hoped that she would give credit to his representations.
   Although the admiral was much disgusted with the irresolution and want of judgment which he had encountered among the Spanish councillors, and was quite out of hope of success; yet considering himself in a great measure as a Spaniard, owing to his long residence in the country, he was desirous that Spain rather than any other country, might reap the benefit of his undertaking. Another reason of the preference was that his children were then resident in Spain. In a letter which he wrote about this time to their Catholic majesties he said: "That I might serve your highnesses, I have refused the offers of France, England, and Portugal, as may be seen by the letters of these princes, which I have deposited in the hands of the doctor Villalan."
   Gained by the pressing instances of Perez, the admiral departed from the monastery of Rabida, accompanied by that ecclesiastic, and went to the camp of St Faith, where their Catholic majesties were then carrying on the siege of Granada. Perez here made such pressing instances to Isabella, that she was pleased to order a renewal of the conferences, which were still held with the prior of Prado and his former coadjutors, who were still irresolute and contradictory in their opinions. Besides Columbus was high in his demands of honour and emolument, requiring that he should be appointed admiral and viceroy of all the countries he might discover, together with other important concessions. The Spanish councillors deemed his demands too high to be granted, as too considerable even in the event of success; and, in case of disappointment, they thought it would reflect ridicule and the imputation of folly upon the court to have conceded such high titles. Owing to these considerations the business again came to nothing.
   I cannot forbear expressing my sense of the admirals wisdom and high spirit, as well as his foresight and resolution on this trying occasion. Besides his earnest desire to go upon his great undertaking, and his wish that it might be in the service of Spain for the reasons formerly mentioned, he was now so exceedingly reduced in his circumstances, that any ordinary person would have been glad to accept of almost any offer whatever. But he would not accept any terms short of the high titles and honours, and those other conditions of eventual emolument which he had demanded, as if foreseeing with assured certainty the entire success of his project. Hence by his spirited determination they were at the last obliged to concede to all his demands: that he should be admiral on the ocean of all the seas and lands which he might discorer, with all the allowances, privileges, and prerogatives enjoyed by the admirals of Castile and Leon in their several seas; that all civil employments, as well of government as in the administration of justice, should be entirely at his disposal in all the islands and continents which he was to discover; that all governments should be given to one of three persons to be named by him; and that he should appoint judges in all parts of Spain trading to the Indies, to decide upon all causes relating to that trade and to those parts. Besides the salary and perquisites belonging to the offices of admiral, viceroy, and governor-general over all his discoveries, he demanded to have one tenth of all that should be bought, bartered, found, or procured in any manner of way within the bounds of his authority, abating only the charges attending the discovery and conquest; so that if 1000 ducats were acquired in any island or place, 100 of these were to belong to him. Besides all this, as his adversaries alleged that he ventured nothing in the undertaking, and had the command of the fleet during the expedition, he offered to be at one eighth part of the expence, for which he demanded to receive the eighth part of what he should bring home in the fleet. As these high conditions were refused, the admiral took leave of all his friends, and began his journey to Cordova, with the intention of making preparations for going to France; being resolved not to return into Portugal, although the king had invited him back.
   The admiral departed from the camp of St Faith in the month of January 1492 on his intended journey; and on the same day Lewis de Santangel, formerly mentioned, who was exceedingly anxious to forward his project, obtained an audience of the queen of Castile, and used every argument he could devise to persuade her to adopt the undertaking and to comply with the terms required. He expressed his astonishment that she, who had always evinced much greatness of soul in all important matters, should now want spirit to venture upon an undertaking where so little was to be risked, and which might redound so highly to the glory of God and the propagation of the faith, not without great benefit and honour to her kingdoms and dominions. That, should any other prince accept the offer of Columbus, the injury which her crown would sustain was very obvious; and that then she would justly incur much blame from her friends and servants, and would be reproached by her enemies, and all the world would say that she deserved the misfortune and disappointment; and, although she might never be sensible of the evil consequences of her refusal, her successors must. That, since the proposal seemed well grounded in reason and sound argument, and was made by a man of wisdom and knowledge, who demanded no other reward but what might arise from his discoveries, and who was willing to bear a proportion of the charges, and to adventure his own personal safety on the event, her majesty ought certainly to make the attempt. That she ought not to believe the undertaking was such an impossibility as had been alleged by those learned men to whom the proposal had been referred, neither to consider its possible failure as any reflection upon her wisdom; for in his opinion it would be universally looked upon as a mark of generous magnanimity to attempt discovering the secret wonders of the world, as had been done by other monarchs to their great honour and advantage. That, however uncertain the event might be, even a considerable sum of money would be well employed in the endeavour to ascertain the certainty of so very important an affair; whereas the admiral only required 2500 crowns to fit out a fleet for the discovery; and that therefore she ought not to allow it to be said hereafter that the fear of losing so small a sum had kept her from patronizing the enterprise.
   The queen was much impressed by these representations of Santangel, of whose sincere attachment to her service and honour she was extremely sensible. She thanked him for his good counsel, and said that she was willing to accede to the proposed enterprise, providing that the execution were delayed until she might have a little time to recruit her finances after the conclusion of the present war. Yet, if he thought it necessary to proceed immediately, she was willing that the requisite funds should be borrowed on the credit of her jewels. Upon this condescension to his advice which she had refused to all other persons, Santangel immediately replied, that there was no necessity to pawn her jewels on the occasion, as he would readily advance his own money to do such a service to her majesty. Upon this resolution, the queen immediately sent an officer to bring the admiral back, who had already reached the bridge of Pinos, two leagues from Granada. Though much mortified at the difficulties and delays he had met with hitherto, yet, on receiving intimation of the queens willingness to comply with his proposals, he returned immediately to the camp of St Faith, where he was honourably received by their majesties. The dispatch of the articles of agreement was commited to John Coloma the secretary, and every thing which he had demanded, as has been mentioned before, without alteration or diminution, was granted under the hands and seals of their Catholic majesties.

SECTION IV19. Narrative of the first voyage of Columbus, in which he actually discovered the New World
   All the conditions which the admiral demanded being conceded by their Catholic majesties, he set out from Granada on the 21st May 1492 for Palos, where he was to fit out the ships for his intended expedition. That town was bound to serve the crown for three months with two caravels, which were ordered to be given to Columbus; and he fitted out these and a third vessel with all care and diligence. The ship in which he personally embarked was called the St Mary; the second vessel named the Pinta, was commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon; and the third named the Nina, which had square sails, was under the command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon, the brother of Alonzo, both of whom were inhabitants of Palos. Being furnished with all necessaries, and having 90 men to navigate the three vessels, Columbus set sail from Palos on the 3d of August 1492, shaping his course directly for the Canaries.
   During this voyage, and indeed in all the four voyages which he made from Spain to the West Indies, the admiral was very careful to keep an exact journal of every occurrence which took place; always specifying what winds blew, how far he sailed with each particular wind, what currents were found, and every thing that was seen by the way, whether birds, fishes, or any other thing. Although to note all these particulars with a minute relation of every thing that happened, shewing what impressions and effects answered to the course and aspect of the stars, and the differences between the seas which he sailed and those of our countries, might all be useful; yet as I conceive that the relation of these particulars might now be tiresome to the reader, I shall only give an account of what appears to me necessary and convenient to be known.
   On Saturday the 4th of August, the next day after sailing from Palos, the rudder of the Pinta broke loose. The admiral strongly suspected that this was occasioned by the contrivance of the master on purpose to avoid proceeding on the voyage, which he had endeavoured to do before they left Spain, and he therefore ranged up along side of the disabled vessel to give every assistance in his power, but the wind blew so hard that he was unable to afford any aid. Pinzon, however, being an experienced seamen, soon made a temporary repair by means of ropes, and they proceeded on their voyage. But on the following Tuesday, the weather becoming rough and boisterous, the fastenings gave way, and the squadron was obliged to lay to for some time to renew the repairs. From this misfortune of twice breaking the rudder, a superstitious person might have foreboded the future disobedience of Pinzon to the admiral; as through his malice the Pinta twice separated from the squadron, as shall be afterwards related. Having applied the best remedy they could to the disabled state of the rudder, the squadron continued its voyage, and came in sight of the Canaries at daybreak of Thursday the 9th of August; but, owing to contrary winds, they were unable to come to anchor at Gran Canaria until the 12th. The admiral left Pinzon at Gran Canaria to endeavour to procure another vessel instead of that which was disabled, and went himself with the Nina on the same errand to Gomera.
   The admiral arrived at Gomera on Sunday the 12th of August, and sent a boat on shore to inquire if any vessel could be procured there for his purpose. The boat returned next morning, and brought intelligence that no vessel was then at that island, but that Donna Beatrix de Bobadilla, the propriatrix of the island, was then at Gran Canaria in a hired vessel of 40 tons belonging to one Gradeuna of Seville, which would probably suit his purpose and might perhaps be got. He therefore determined to await the arrival of that vessel at Gomera, believing that Pinzon might have secured a vessel for himself at Gran Canaria, if he had not been able to repair his own. After waiting two days, he dispatched one of his people in a bark which was bound from Gomera to Gran Canaria, to acquaint Pinzon where he lay, and to assist him in repairing and fixing the rudder.
   Having waited a considerable time for an answer to his letter, he sailed with the two vessels from Gomera on the 23d August for Gran Canaria, and fell in with the bark on the following day, which had been detained all that time on its voyage by contrary winds. He now took his man from the bark, and sailing in the night past the island of Teneriffe, the people were much astonished at observing flames bursting out of the lofty mountain called El Pico, or the peak of Teneriffe. On this occasion the admiral was at great pains to explain the nature of this phenomenon to the people, by instancing the example of Etna and several other known volcanos.
   Passing by Teneriffe, they arrived at Gran Canaria on Saturday the 25th August; and found that Pinzon had only got in there the day before. From him the admiral was informed that Donna Beatrix had sailed for Gomera on the 20th with the vessel which he was so anxious to obtain. His officers were much troubled at the disappointment; but he, who always endeavoured to make the best of every occurrence, observed to them that since it had not pleased God that they should get this vessel it was perhaps better for them; as they might have encountered much opposition in pressing it into the service, and might have lost a great deal of time in shipping and unshipping the goods. Wherefore, lest he might again miss it if he returned to Gomera, he resolved to make a new rudder for the Pinta at Gran Canaria, and ordered the square sails of the Nina to be changed to round ones, like those of the other two vessels, that she might be able to accompany them with less danger and agitation.
   The vessels being all refitted, the admiral weighed anchor from Gran Canaria on Saturday the first of September, and arrived next day at Gomera, where four days were employed in completing their stores of provisions and of wood and water. On the morning of Thursday the sixth of September 1492, the admiral took his departure from Gomera, and commenced his great undertaking by standing directly westwards, but made very slow progress at first on account of calms. On Sunday the ninth of September, about day-break, they were nine leagues west of the island of Ferro. Now losing sight of land and stretching out into utterly unknown seas, many of the people expressed their anxiety and fear that it might be long before they should see land again; but the admiral used every endeavour to comfort them with the assurance of soon finding the land he was in search of, and raised their hopes of acquiring wealth and honour by the discovery. To lessen the fear which they entertained of the length of way they had to sail, he gave out that they had only proceeded fifteen leagues that day, when the actual distance sailed was eighteen; and to induce the people to believe that they were not so far from Spain as they really were, he resolved to keep considerably short in his reckoning during the whole voyage, though he carefully recorded the true reckoning every day in private.
   On Wednesday the twelfth September, having got to about 150 leagues west of Ferro, they discovered a large trunk of a tree, sufficient to have been the mast to a vessel of 120 tons, and which seemed to have been a long time in the water. At this distance from Ferro, and for somewhat farther on, the current was found to set strongly to the north-east. Next day, when they had run fifty leagues farther westwards, the needle was observed to vary half a point to the eastward of north, and next morning the variation was a whole point east. This variation of the compas had never been before observed, and therefore the admiral was much surprised at the phenomenon, and concluded that the needle did not actually point towards the polar star, but to some other fixed point. Three days afterwards, when almost 100 leagues farther west, he was still more astonished at the irregularity of the variation; for having observed the needle to vary a whole point to the eastwards at night, it pointed directly northwards in the morning. On the night of Saturday the fifteenth of September, being then almost 300 leagues west of Ferro, they saw a prodigious flash of light, or fire-ball, drop from the sky into the sea, at four or five leagues distance from the ships towards the south-west. The weather was then quite fair and serene like April, the sea perfectly calm, the wind favourable from the north-east, and the current setting to the north-east The people in the Nina told the admiral that they had seen the day before a heron, and another bird which they called Rabo-de-junco20. These were the first birds which had been seen during the voyage, and were considered as indications of approaching land.
   But they were more agreeably surprised next day, Sunday sixteenth September, by seeing great abundance of yellowish green sea weeds, which appeared as if newly washed away from some rock or island. Next day the sea weed was seen in much greater quantity, and a small live lobster was observed among the weeds: From this circumstance many affirmed that they were certainly near the land. The sea water was afterwards noticed to be only half so salt as before; and great numbers of tunny fish were seen swimming about, some of which came so near the vessel, that one was killed by a bearded iron. Being now 360 leagues west from Ferro, another of the birds called Rabo-de-junco was seen. On Tuesday the eighteenth September, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who had gone a-head of the admiral in the Pinta, which was an excellent sailer, lay to for the admiral to come up, and told him that he had seen a great number of birds fly away westwards, for which reason he was in great hope to see land that night. Pinzon even thought that he saw land that night about fifteen leagues distant to the northwards, which appeared very black and covered with clouds. All the people would have persuaded the admiral to try for land in that direction; but, being certainly assured that it was not land, and having not yet reached the distance at which he expected to find the land, he would not consent to lose time in altering his course in that direction. But as the wind now freshened, he gave orders to take in the top-sails at night, having now sailed eleven days before the wind due westwards with all their sails up.
   All the people in the squadron being utterly unacquainted with the seas they now traversed, fearful of their danger at such unusual distance from any relief, and seeing nothing around but sky and water, began to mutter among themselves, and anxiously observed every appearance. On the nineteenth September, a kind of sea-gull called Alcatraz flew over the admirals ship, and several others were seen in the afternoon of that day; and as the admiral conceived that these birds would not fly far from land, he entertained hopes of soon seeing what he was in quest of. He therefore ordered a line of 200 fathoms to be tried, but without finding any bottom. The current was now found to set to the south-west.
   On Thursday the twentieth of September, two alcatrazes came near the ship about two hours before noon, and soon afterwards a third. On this day likewise they took a bird resembling a heron, of a black colour, with a white tuft on its head, and having webbed feet like a duck. Abundance of weeds were seen floating in the sea, and one small fish was taken. About evening three land birds settled on the rigging of the ship and began to sing. These flew away at day-break, which was considered a strong indication of approaching the land, as these little birds could not have come from any far distant country; whereas the other large fowls, being used to water, might much better go far from land. The same day an alcatraz was seen.
   Friday the twenty-first another alcatraz and a rabo de junco were seen, and vast quantities of weeds as far as the eye could carry towards the north. These appearances were sometimes a comfort to the people, giving them hopes of nearing the wished-for land; while at other times the weeds were so thick as in some measure to impede the progress of the vessels, and to occasion terror lest what is fabulously reported of St Amaro, in the frozen sea, might happen to them, that they might be so enveloped in the weeds as to be unable to move backwards or forwards; wherefore they steered away from those shoals of weeds as much as they could.
   Next day, being Saturday the twenty-second September, they saw a whale and several small birds. The wind now veered to the south-west, sometimes more and sometimes less to the westwards; and, though this was adverse to the direction of their proposed voyage, the admiral to comfort the people, alleged that this was a favourable circumstance; because among other causes of fear, they had formerly said they should never have a wind to carry them back to Spain, as it had always blown from the east ever since they left Ferro. They still continued however to murmur, alleging that this south-west wind was by no means a settled one, and as it never blew strong enough to swell the sea, it would not serve to carry them back again through so great an extent of sea as they had now passed over. In spite of every argument used by the admiral, assuring them that the alterations in the wind were occasioned by the vicinity of the land, by which likewise the waves were prevented from rising to any height, they were still dissatisfied and terrified.
   On Sunday the twenty-third of September, a brisk gale sprung up at W.N.W. with a rolling sea, such as the people had wished for. Three hours before noon a turtle-dove was observed to fly over the ship; towards evening an alcatraz, a river fowl, and several white birds were seen flying about, and some crabs were observed among the weeds. Next day another alcatraz was seen and several small birds which came from the west. Numbers of small fishes were seen swimming about, some of which ware struck with harpoons, as they would not bite at the hook.
   The more that the tokens mentioned above were observed, and found not to be followed by the so anxiously looked-for land, the more the people became fearful of the event, and entered into cabals against the admiral, who they said was desirous to make himself a great lord at the expence of their danger. They represented that they had already sufficiently performed their duty in adventuring farther from land and all possibility of succour than had ever been done before, and that they ought not to proceed on the voyage to their manifest destruction. If they did they would soon have reason to repent their temerity, as provisions would soon fall short, the ships were already faulty and would soon fail, and it would be extremely difficult to get back so far as they had already gone. None could condemn them in their own opinion for now turning back, but all must consider them as brave men for having gone upon such an enterprize and venturing so far. That the admiral was a foreigner who had no favour at court; and as so many wise and learned men had already condemned his opinions and enterprize as visionary and impossible, there would be none to favour or defend him, and they were sure to find more credit if they accused him of ignorance and mismanagement than he would do, whatsoever he might now say for himself against them. Some even proceeded so far as to propose, in case the admiral should refuse to acquiesce in their proposals, that they might make a short end of all disputes by throwing him overboard; after which they could give out that he had fallen over while making his observations, and no one would ever think of inquiring, into the truth. They thus went on day after day, muttering, complaining, and consulting together; and though the admiral was not fully aware of the extent of their cabals, he was not entirely without apprehensions of their inconstancy in the present trying situation, and of their evil intentions towards him. He therefore exerted himself to the utmost to quiet their apprehensions and to suppress their evil design, sometimes using fair words, and at other times fully resolved to expose his life rather than abandon the enterprize; he put them in mind of the due punishment they would subject themselves to if they obstructed the voyage. To confirm their hopes, he recapitulated all the favourable signs and indications which had been lately observed, assuring them that they might soon expect to see the land. But they, who were ever attentive to these tokens, thought every hour a year in their anxiety to see the wished-for land.
   On Tuesday the twenty-fifth of September near sun-set, as the admiral was discoursing with Pinzon, whose ship was then very near, Pinzon suddenly called out, "Land! land, Sir! let not my good news miscarry." And pointed out a large mass in the S.W. about twenty-five leagues distant, which seemed very like an island. This was so pleasing to the people, that they returned thanks to God for the pleasing discovery; and, although the admiral was by no means satisfied of the truth of Pinzons observation, yet to please the men, and that they might not obstruct the voyage, he altered his course and stood in that direction a great part of the night. Next morning, the twenty-sixth, they had the mortification to find the supposed land was only composed of clouds, which often put on the appearance of distant land; and, to their great dissatisfaction, the stems of the ships were again turned directly westwards, as they always were unless when hindered by the wind. Continuing their course, and still attentively watching for signs of land, they saw this day an alcatraz, a rabo de junco, and other birds as formerly mentioned.
   On Thursday the twenty-seventh of September they saw another alcatraz coming from the westwards and flying towards the east, and great numbers of fish were seen with gilt backs, one of which they struck with a harpoon. A rabo de junco likewise flew past; the currents for some of the last days were not so regular as before, but changed with the tide, and the weeds were not nearly so abundant.
   On Friday the twenty-eighth all the vessels took some of the fishes with gilt backs; and on Saturday the twenty-ninth they saw a rabo de junco, which, although a sea-fowl, never rests on the waves, but always flies in the air, pursuing the alcatrazes till it causes them to mute for fear, which it catches in the air for nourishment. Many of these birds are said to frequent the Cape de Verd islands. They soon afterwards saw two other alcatrazes, and great numbers of flying-fishes. These last are about a span long, and have two little membranous wings like those of a bat, by means of which they fly about a pike-length high from the water and a musket-shot in length, and sometimes drop upon the ships. In the afternoon of this day they saw abundance of weeds lying in length north and south, and three alcatrazes pursued by a rabo de junco.
   On the morning of Sunday the thirtieth of September four rabo de juncos came to the ship; and from so many of them coming together it was thought the land could not be far distant, especially as four alcatrazes followed soon afterwards. Great quantities of weeds were seen in a line stretching from W.N.W. to E.N.E. and a great number of the fishes which are called Emperadores, which have a very hard skin and are not fit to eat. Though the admiral paid every attention to these indications, he never neglected those in the heavens, and carefully observed the course of the stars. He was now greatly surprised to notice at this time that the Charles wain or Ursa Major constellation appeared at night in the west, and was N.E. in the morning: He thence concluded that their whole nights course was only nine hours, or so many parts in twenty-four of a great circle; and this he observed to be the case regularly every night. It was likewise noticed that the compass varied a whole point to the N.W. at night-fall, and came due north every morning at day-break. As this unheard-of circumstance confounded and perplexed the pilots, who apprehended danger in these strange regions and at such unusual distance from home, the admiral endeavoured to calm their fears by assigning a cause for this wonderful phenomenon: He alleged that it was occasioned by the polar star making a circuit round the pole, by which they were not a little satisfied.
   Soon after sunrise on Monday the first of October, an alcatraz came to the ship, and two more about ten in the morning, and long streams of weeds floated from east to west. That morning the pilot of the admirals ship said that they were now 578 leagues west from the island of Ferro. In his public account the admiral said they were 584 leagues to the west; but in his private journal he made the real distance 707 leagues, or 129 more than was reckoned by the pilot. The other two ships differed much in their computation from each other and from the admirals pilot. The pilot of Nina in the afternoon of the Wednesday following said they had only sailed 540 leagues, and the pilot of the Pinta reckoned 634. Thus they were all much short of the truth; but the admiral winked at the gross mistake, that the men, not thinking themselves so far from home, might be the less dejected.
   The next day, being Tuesday the second of October, they saw abundance of fish, caught one small tunny, and saw a white bird with many other small birds, and the weeds appeared much withered and almost fallen to powder. Next day, seeing no birds, they suspected that they had passed between some islands on both hands, and had slipped through without seeing them, as they guessed that the many birds which they had seen might have been passing from one island to another. On this account they were very earnest to have the course altered one way or the other, in quest of these imaginary lands: But the admiral, unwilling to lose the advantage of the fair wind which carried him due west, which he accounted his surest course, and afraid to lessen his reputation by deviating from course to course in search of land, which he always affirmed that he well knew where to find, refused his consent to any change. On this the people were again ready to mutiny, and resumed their murmurs and cabals against him. But it pleased God to aid his authority by fresh indications of land.
   On Thursday the fourth of October, in the afternoon, above forty sparrows together and two alcatrazes flew so near the ship that a seaman killed one of them with a stone. Several other birds were seen at this time, and many flying-fish fell into the ships. Next day there came a rabo de junco and an alcatraz from the westwards, and many sparrows were seen. About sunrise on Sunday the seventh of October, some signs of land appeared to the westwards, but being imperfect no person would mention the circumstance. This was owing to fear of losing the reward of thirty crowns yearly for life which had been promised by their Catholic majesties to whoever should first discover land; and to prevent them from calling out land, land, at every turn without just cause, it was made a condition that whoever said he saw land should lose the reward if it were not made out in three days, even if he should afterwards actually prove the first discoverer. All on board the admirals ship being thus forewarned, were exceedingly careful not to cry out land upon uncertain tokens; but those in the Nina, which sailed better and always kept a-head, believing that they certainly saw land, fired a gun and hung out their colours in token of the discovery; but the farther they sailed the more the joyful appearance lessened, till at last it vanished away. But they soon afterwards derived much comfort by observing great flights of large fowl and others of small birds going from the west towards the south-west.
   Being now at a vast distance from Spain, and well assured that such small birds would not go far from land, the admiral now altered his course from due west which had been hitherto, and steered to the south-west. He assigned as a reason for now changing his course, although deviating little from his original design, that he followed the example of the Portuguese, who had discovered most of their islands by attending to the flight of birds, and because these they now saw flew almost uniformly in one direction. He said likewise that he had always expected to discover land about the situation in which they now were, having often told them that he must not look to find land until they should get 750 leagues to the westwards of the Canaries; about which distance he expected to fall in with Hispaniola which he then called Cipango, and there is no doubt that he would have found this island by his direct course, if it had not been that it was reported to extend from north to south21. Owing therefore to his not having inclined more to the south he had missed that and others of the Caribbee islands whither those birds were now bending their flight, and which had been for some time upon his larboard hand. It was from being so near the land that they continually saw such great numbers of birds; and on Monday the eighth of October twelve singing birds of various colours came to the ship, and after flying round it for a short time held on their way. Many other birds were seen from the ship flying towards the south-west, and that same night great numbers of large fowl were seen, and flocks of small birds proceeding from the northwards, and all going to the south-west. In the morning a jay was seen, with an alcatraz, several ducks, and many small birds, all flying the same way with the others, and the air was perceived to be fresh and odoriferous as it is at Seville in the month of April. But the people were now so eager to see land and had been so often dissappointed, that they ceased to give faith to these continual indications; insomuch that on Wednesday the tenth, although abundance of birds were continually passing both by day and night, they never ceased to complain. The admiral upbraided their want of resolution, and declared that they must persist in their endeavours to discover the Indies, for which he and they had been sent out by their Catholic majesties.
   It would have been impossible for the admiral to have much longer withstood the numbers which now opposed him; but it pleased God that, in the afternoon of Thursday the eleventh of October, such manifest tokens of being near the land appeared, that the men took courage and rejoiced at their good fortune as much as they had been before distressed. From the admirals ship a green rush was seen to float past, and one of those green fish which never go far from the rocks. The people in the Pinta saw a cane and a staff in the water, and took up another staff very curiously carved, and a small board, and great plenty of weeds were seen which seemed to have been recently torn from the rocks. Those of the Nina, besides similar signs of land, saw a branch of a thorn full of red berries, which seemed to have been newly torn from the tree. From all these indications the admiral was convinced that he now drew near to the land, and after the evening prayers he made a speech to the men, in which be reminded them of the mercy of God in having brought them so long a voyage with such favourable weather, and in comforting them with so many tokens of a successful issue to their enterprize, which were now every day becoming plainer and less equivocal. He besought them to be exceedingly watchful during the night, as they well knew that in the first article of the instructions which he had given to all the three ships before leaving the Canaries, they were enjoined, when they should have sailed 700 leagues west without discovering land, to lay to every night, from midnight till day-break. And, as he had very confident hopes of discovering land that night, he required every one to keep watch at their quarters; and, besides the gratuity of thirty crowns a-year for life, which had been graciously promised by their sovereigns to him that first saw the land, he engaged to give the fortunate discoverer a velvet doublet from himself.
   After this, as the admiral was in his cabin about ten o'clock at night, he saw a light on shore; but it was so unsteady that he could not certainly affirm that it came from land. He called to one Peter Gutierres and desired him to try if he could perceive the same light, who said he did; but one Roderick Sanchez of Segovia, on being desired to look the same way could not see it, because he was not up time enough, as neither the admiral nor Gutierres could see it again above once or twice for a short space, which made them judge it to proceed from a candle or torch belonging to some fisherman or traveller, who lifted it up occasionally and lowered it again, or perhaps from people going from one house to another, because it appeared and vanished again so suddenly. Being now very much on their guard, they still held on their course until about two in the morning of Friday the twelfth of October, when the Pinta which was always far a-head, owing to her superior sailing, made the signal of seeing land, which was first discovered by Roderick de Triana at about two leagues from the ship. But the thirty crowns a-year were afterwards granted to the admiral, who had seen the light in the midst of darkness, a type of the spiritual light which he was the happy means of spreading in these dark regions of error. Being now so near land, all the ships lay to; every one thinking it long till daylight, that they might enjoy the sight they had so long and anxiously desired22.
   When day light appeared, the newly discovered land was perceived to consist of a flat island fifteen leagues in length, without any hills, all covered with trees, and having a great lake in the middle. The island was inhabited by great abundance of people, who ran down to the shore filled with wonder and admiration at the sight of the ships, which they conceived to be some unknown animals. The Christians were not less curious to know what kind of people they had fallen in with, and the curiosity on both sides was soon satisfied, as the ships soon came to anchor. The admiral went on shore with his boat well armed, and having the royal standard of Castile and Leon displayed, accompanied by the commanders of the other two vessels, each in his own boat, carrying the particular colours which had been allotted for the enterprize, which were white with a green cross and the letter F. on one side, and on the other the names of Ferdinand and Isabella crowned.
   The whole company kneeled on the shore and kissed the ground for joy, returning God thanks for the great mercy they had experienced during their long voyage through seas hitherto unpassed, and their now happy discovery of an unknown land. The admiral then stood up, and took formal possession in the usual words for their Catholic majesties of this inland, to which he gave the name of St Salvador. All the Christians present admitted Columbus to the authority and dignity of admiral and viceroy, pursuant to the commission which he had received to that effect, and all made oath to obey him as the legitimate representative of their Catholic majesties, with such expressions of joy and acknowledgment as became their mighty success; and they all implored his forgiveness of the many affronts he had received from them through their fears and want of confidence. Numbers of the Indians or natives of the island were present at these ceremonies; and perceiving them to be peaceable, quiet, and simple people, the admiral distributed several presents among them. To some he gave red caps, and to others strings of glass beads, which they hung about their necks, and various other things of small value, which they valued as if they had been jewels of high price.
   After the ceremonies, the admiral went off in his boat, and the Indians followed him even to the ships, some by swimming and others in their canoes, carrying parrots, clews of spun cotton yarn, javelins, and other such trifling articles, to barter for glass beads, bells, and other things of small value. Like people in the original simplicity of nature, they were all naked, and even a woman who was among them was entirely destitute of clothing. Most of them were young, seemingly not above thirty years of age; of a good stature, with very thick black lank hair, mostly cut short above their ears, though some had it down to their shoulders, tied up with a string about their head like womens tresses. Their countenances were mild and agreeable and their features good; but their foreheads were too high, which gave them rather a wild appearance. They were of a middle stature, plump, and well shaped, but of an olive complexion, like the inhabitants of the Canaries, or sunburnt peasants. Some were painted with black, others with white, and others again with red: In some the whole body was painted, in others only the face, and some only the nose and eyes. They had no weapons like those of Europe, neither had they any knowledge of such; for when our people shewed them a naked sword, they ignorantly grasped it by the edge. Neither had they any knowledge of iron; as their javelins were merely constructed of wood, having their points hardened in the fire, and armed with a piece of fish-bone. Some of them had scars of wounds on different parts, and being asked by signs how these had been got, they answered by signs that people from other islands came to take them away, and that they had been wounded in their own defence. They seemed ingenious and of a voluble tongue; as they readily repeated such words as they once heard. There were no kind of animals among them excepting parrots, which they carried to barter with the Christians among the articles already mentioned, and in this trade they continued on board the ships till night, when they all returned to the shore.
   In the morning of the next day, being the 13th of October, many of the natives returned on board the ships in their boats or canoes, which were all of one piece hollowed like a tray from the trunk of a tree; some of these were so large as to contain forty or forty-five men, while others were so small as only to hold one person, with many intermediate sizes between these extremes. These they worked along with paddles formed like a bakers peel or the implement which is used in dressing hemp. These oars or paddles were not fixed by pins to the sides of the canoes like ours; but were dipped into the water and pulled backwards as if digging. Their canoes are so light and artfully constructed, that if overset they soon turn them right again by swimming; and they empty out the water by throwing them from side to side like a weavers shuttle, and when half emptied they lade out the rest with dried calabashes cut in two, which they carry for that purpose.
   This second day the natives, as said before, brought various articles to barter for such small things as they could procure in exchange. Jewels or metals of any kind were not seen among them, except some small plates of gold which hung from their nostrils; and on being questioned from whence they procured the gold, they answered by signs that they had it from the south, where there was a king who possessed abundance of pieces and vessels of gold; and they made our people to understand that there were many other islands and large countries to the south and south-west. They were very covetous to get possession of any thing which belonged to the Christians, and being themselves very poor, with nothing of value to give in exchange, as soon as they got on board, if they could lay hold of any thing which struck their fancy, though it were only a piece of a broken glazed earthen dish or porringer, they leaped with it into the sea and swam on shore with their prize. If they brought any thing on board they would barter it for any thing whatever belonging to our people, even for a piece of broken glass; insomuch that some gave sixteen large clews of well spun cotton yarn, weighing twenty-five pounds, for three small pieces of Portuguese brass coin not worth a farthing. Their liberality in dealing did not proceed from their putting any great value on the things themselves which they received from our people in return, but because they valued them as belonging to the Christians, whom they believed certainly to have come down from Heaven, and they therefore earnestly desired to have something from them as a memorial. In this manner all this day was spent, and the islanders as before went all on shore at night.
   Next Sunday, being the 15th of October, the admiral sailed in his boats along the coast of the island of St Salvador towards the north-west, to examine its nature and extent, and discovered a bay of sufficient capacity to contain all the ships in Christendom. As he rowed along the coast, the people ran after him on shore inviting him to land with offers of provisions, and calling to each other to come and see the people who had come down from Heaven to visit the earth, and lifting up their hands to Heaven as if giving thanks for their arrival. Many of them in their canoes, or by swimming as they best could, came to the boats asking by signs whether they came down from Heaven, and entreating them to come on shore to rest and refresh themselves. The admiral gave to all of them glass beads, pins and other trifles, being much pleased at their simplicity; and at length came to a peninsula having a good harbour, and where a good fort might have been made. He there saw six of the Indian houses, having gardens about them as pleasant as those of Castile in the month of May, though now well advanced in October. But the people being fatigued with rowing, and finding no land so inviting as to induce him to make any longer stay, he returned to his ships, taking seven of the Indians along with him to serve as interpreters, and made sail for certain other islands which he had seen from the peninsula, which all appeared to be plain and green and full of inhabitants.
   The next day, being Monday the 16th of October, he came to an island which was six leagues from St Salvador, to which he gave the name of St Mary of the Conception. That side of this second island which is nearest to St Salvador extended north-west about five leagues; but the side to which the admiral went lies east and west, and is about ten leagues long. Casting anchor off the west point of this island, he landed and took possession. Here the people flocked to see the Christians, expressing their wonder and admiration as had been done in the former island.

   Perceiving that this was entirely similar to St Salvador, he sailed on the 17th from this island, and went westwards to another island considerably larger, being above twenty-eight leagues from north-west to south-east. This like the others was quite plain and had a fine beach of easy access, and he named it Fernandina. While sailing between the island of Conception and Fernandina they found a man paddling along in a small canoe, who had with him a piece of their bread, a calabash full of water, a small quantity of a red earth like vermilion, with which these people paint themselves, and some dried leaves which they value for their sweet scent and as being very wholesome; and in a little basket he had a string of green glass beads and two small pieces of Portuguese coin: Whence it was concluded that he had come from St Salvador past the Conception, and was going in all haste to Fernandina to carry the news of the appearance of the Christians. But as the way was long and he was weary, he came to the ships and was taken on board, both himself and his canoe, and was courteously treated by the admiral, who sent him on shore as soon as he came to land, that he might spread the news. The favourable account he gave caused the people of Fernandina to come on board in their canoes, to exchange the same kind of things as had been done at the two former islands; and when the boats went on shore for water, the Indians both readily shewed where it was to be got, and carried the small casks full on their shoulders to fill the hogsheads in the boats.
   The inhabitants of Fernandina seemed to be a wiser and discreeter people than those in the two former islands, as they bargained harder for what they exchanged; they had cotton cloth in their houses as bed-clothes, and some of the women wore short cotton cloths to cover their nakedness, while others had a sort of swathe for the same purpose. Among other things worthy of remark in this island, certain trees had the appearance of being engrafted, as they had leaves and branches of four or five different sorts, and were yet quite natural. They saw fishes of several sorts, ornamented with fine colours; but no sort of land animals except lizards and serpents. The better to observe this island, the admiral sailed along its coast to the north-west, and came to anchor at the mouth of a most beautiful harbour, at the entrance of which a small island prevented the access of ships. In that neighbourhood was one of the largest towns they had ever yet seen, consisting of twelve or fifteen houses together, built like tents or round pavilions, but in which were no other ornaments or moveables besides those which have been already mentioned as offered in barter. Their beds were like nets, drawn together in the nature of a sling, and tied to two posts in their houses. In this island they saw some dogs resembling mastiffs, and others like beagles, but none of them barked.
   Finding nothing of value in Fernandina, the admiral sailed thence on Friday the 19th October to another island called Saomotto by the natives, to which, that he might proceed regularly in his nomenclature, he gave the name of Isabella. Thus to his first discovery called Guanahani by the natives, he gave the name of St Salvador or St Saviour, in honour of God who had delivered him from so many dangers, and had providentially pointed out the way for its discovery. On account of his particular devotion to the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, and because she is the great patroness of the Christians, he named the second island St Mary of the Conception. The third he named Fernandina in honour of the Catholic king; the fourth Isabella in honour of the Catholic queen; and the next island which he discovered, called Cuba by the natives, he named Joanna in respect to prince John the heir of Castile, having in these several names given due regard to both spirituals and temporals. Of the four islands hitherto discovered, St Salvador, the Conception, Fernandina, and Isabella, Fernandina far exceeded all the others in extent, goodness, and beauty, and abounded more in delicious waters, pleasant meadows, and beautiful trees, among which were many aloes. It had likewise some hills, which were not to be seen in these other islands. Being much taken with its beauty, the admiral landed to perform the ceremony of taking possession in some meadows as pleasant and delightful as those of Spain in April, where nightingales and other birds sung in the most cheerful manner, both in the trees and flying about in such numbers as almost to darken the sun; but most of them differed much from our birds in Spain.
   In this island there were great abundance of waters and lakes, and in one of them our people saw a sort of alligator seven feet long and above a foot wide at the belly. This animal being disturbed threw itself into the lake, which was by no means deep; and though somewhat alarmed by its frightful appearance and fierceness, our people killed it with their spears. The Spaniards learnt afterwards to consider the alligator as a dainty, and even as the best food possessed by the Indians; as when its horrid-looking skin, all covered with scales, is removed, the flesh is very white and delicious. The alligator is called yvana by the Indians.
   As it grew late, our people left the alligator where it was slain, and returned to the ships; but being desirous to explore the country somewhat farther, they landed again next day, when they killed another alligator in the same place. Travelling thence into the interior of the island they found a town or village, whence the natives fled at their approach, carrying off as much of their goods as they were able. The admiral would not suffer any part of what they had left to be taken away, lest the natives should consider the Spaniards as thieves; wherefore their fears soon abated, and they came to the ships to barter their commodities as the other Indians had done.
   Having examined the nature and products of the island of Isabella and the manners of its inhabitants, the admiral determined to waste no more time in exploring the remaining islands in this numerous group, more especially as he was informed by the Indians that they all resembled each other. He therefore shaped his course for a large island to the southwards, which the Indians named Cuba, and which was much applauded by them all. Accordingly, on Sunday the 28th of October, he arrived on its northern coast. At first sight this island appeared to be better and richer than those which he had visited before; from the great extent of its coasts, the size of its rivers, the beauty and variety of its hills and mountains, and the extent of its plains, all clothed with an infinite variety of trees. He was therefore desirous to get some knowledge of its people, and came to anchor in the mouth of a large river, the banks of which were richly adorned with thick and tall trees, all covered with fruit and blossoms very different from those of Spain. The place was in every respect delicious, and abounded in tall grass, and herbs of a vast variety of kinds, mostly differing from those of Europe, and the woods were thronged with birds of various plumage. On going to two houses at a short distance, the inhabitants were found to have fled, leaving their nets and other fishing tackle, together with a dog which did not bark. As the admiral had given strict orders that nothing should be carried away, they soon returned to the ships.
   Leaving this river, the squadron continued its course along the coast to the westwards, and came to another river, which the admiral named Rio de Mares, or the river of the seas. This was much larger than the former river, as a ship was able to turn up its channel, and its banks were thickly inhabited; but all the natives fled towards the mountains on first perceiving the approach of our ships; carrying away every thing they were able to remove. These mountains appeared of a round or conical form, very lofty, and entirely covered with trees and an infinite variety of beautiful plants. Finding himself disappointed, through the fears of the natives, of learning what he wished respecting the nature and productions of the island, and the manners of the people, and considering that he should increase their terrors if be were to land a great number of men, he resolved to send two Spaniards into the interior, accompanied by one of the natives of St Salvador, whom he had brought along with him from that island, and a native of Cuba who had ventured aboard in his canoe. He instructed these men to travel up into the country, and to caress and conciliate as much as possible any of the natives they might fall in with. And that no time might be lost during their absence, he ordered the ships to be laid on shore to careen their bottoms. It was observed in this place that all the firewood they used was from a tree in every respect resembling the mastic, but much larger than those of Europe.
   The ships being repaired and ready for sailing on the 5th of November, the two Spaniards who had been sent into the interior returned, bringing two of the natives along with them. They reported that they had travelled twelve leagues up the country, where they came to a town of fifty pretty large houses, all constructed of timber in a round form and thatched with straw, resembling so many tents or pavilions. According to their estimation, this place might contain 1000 inhabitants, as all that belonged to one family dwelt together in one house. The principal people of the place came out to meet them, and led them by the arms into the town, giving them one of the large houses to lodge in during their stay. They were there seated upon wooden stools made of one piece, in very strange shapes, almost resembling some living creature with four very short legs. The tail was lifted up, and as broad as the seat, to serve for the convenience of leaning against; and the front was carved into the resemblance of a head, having golden eyes and ears. The Spaniards being seated on those stools or chairs, which the Indians called duchi, all the natives sat about them on the ground, and came one by one to kiss their hands with great respect, believing them to have come from Heaven. They were presented with some boiled roots to eat, not unlike chesnuts in taste; and as the two Indians who had accompanied them had given an excellent character of the strangers, they were entreated to remain among them, or at least to rest themselves for some days. Soon afterwards the men went out from the house, and many women came to see them, who all respectfully kissed their hands and feet, and offered them presents of various articles.
   When they proposed returning to the ships, many of the Indians wanted to accompany them, but they would only accept of the king, his son, and one servant, whom the admiral received with every demonstration of honour and respect. The Spaniards farther reported that they had fallen in with several other towns, both in their going out and returning, in all of which they had been entertained with the same courtesy; but that none of these other towns contained above five houses. That they met many people by the way, all of whom carried a lighted fire-brand, to light fires, by means of which they perfumed themselves with certain odoriferous herbs, or roasted some of the roots mentioned before, which seemed to be their principal food. They saw during their journey many kinds of trees and plants different from those which grew on the coast, and great variety of birds altogether different from those of Europe; but among the rest were partridges and nightingales; and they had seen no species of quadruped in the country, except the dumb dogs formerly mentioned. They found a good deal of cultivated land, some of which was planted with the roots before mentioned, some with a species of bean, and some sown with a sort of grain called maiz, which was very well tasted either baked or dried, and ground to flour. They saw vast quantities of well spun cotton yarn, made up into balls or clews; insomuch, that in one house only they had seen 12,500 pounds of that commodity23. The plants from which the cotton is procured grow naturally about the fields, like rose bushes, and are not cultivated or planted by the natives. When ripe, the pods open of themselves, but not all at one time; for upon the same plant young buds, others beginning to open, and others almost entirely ripe are seen at the same time. Of these pods the Indians afterwards carried large quantities on board the ships, and gave a whole basket-full for a thong of leather: Yet none of them used this substance to clothe themselves with, but only to make nets to serve them for beds, which they call hamacas, and in weaving aprons for the women, all the men going entirely naked. On being asked whether they possessed any gold, or pearls, or spice, they made answer by signs that there was great plenty towards the east, in a country which they named Bohio, which was afterwards supposed to be the island of Hispaniola, but it has never been certainly ascertained what place they meant to indicate.
   After receiving this account, the admiral resolved to remain no longer in the Rio de Mares, and ordered some of the natives of Cuba to be seized, as he intended to carry some from all parts of his discoveries into Spain. Accordingly twelve were seized, men women and children; and this was done with so little disturbance, and occasioned so little terror, that when the ships were about to sail, the husband of one of the women and father of two children, who had been carried on board, came off in a canoe, requesting to go along with his wife and children. This circumstance gave great satisfaction to the admiral, who ordered him to be taken on board, and they were all treated with great kindness.
   On the 13th of November the squadron weighed from the Rio de Mares and stood to the eastwards, intending to proceed in search of the island called Bohio by the Indians; but the wind blowing hard from the north, they were constrained to come to an anchor among some high islands on the coast of Cuba, near a large port which the admiral named Puerta del Principe, or the Princes Port, and he called the sea among these islands the Sea of our Lady. These islands lay so thick and close together, that most of them were only a musket-shot asunder, and the farthest not more than the quarter of a league. The channels between these islands were so deep, and the shores so beautifully adorned with trees and plants of infinite varieties, that it was quite delightful to sail among them. Among the multitude of other trees, there were great numbers of mastic, aloes, and palms, with long smooth green trunks, and other plants innumerable. Though these islands were not inhabited, there were seen the remains of many fires which had been made by the fishermen; for it appeared afterwards, that the people of Cuba were in use to go over in great numbers in their canoes to these islands, and to a great number of other uninhabited islets in these seas, to live upon fish, which they catch in great abundance, and upon birds, crabs, and other things which they find on the land. The Indians are by no means nice in their choice of food, but eat many things which are abhorred by us Europeans, such as large spiders, the worms that breed in rotten wood and other corrupt places, and devour their fish almost raw; for before roasting a fish, they scoop out the eyes and eat them. The Indians follow this employment of fishing and bird-catching according to the seasons, sometimes in one island, sometimes in another, as a person changes his diet when weary of living on one kind of food.
   In one of the islands in the Sea of our Lady, the Spaniards killed a quadruped resembling a badger, and in the sea they found considerable quantities of mother-of-pearl. Among other fish which they caught in their nets, was one resembling a swine, which was covered all over with a very hard skin except the tail, which was quite soft. In this sea among the islands, the tide was observed to rise and fall much more than in the other places where they had been hitherto; and was quite contrary to ours in Spain, as it was low water when the moon was S.W. and by S.
   On Monday the 19th November, the admiral departed from the Princes Port in Cuba and the Sea of our Lady, and steered eastwards in search of Bohio; but owing to contrary winds, he was forced to ply two or three days between the island of Isabella, called Saomotto by the Indians, and the Puerta del Principe, which lie almost due north and south, at about twenty-five leagues distance. In this sea he still found traces of those weeds which he had seen in the ocean, and perceived that they always swam with the current and never athwart.
   At this time Martin Alonzo Pinzon, being informed by certain Indians whom he had concealed in his caravel, that abundance of gold was to be had in the island of Bohio, and blinded by covetousness, he deserted the admiral on Wednesday the 21st of November, without being constrained by any stress of weather, or other necessity whatever, as he could easily have come up with him before the wind. Taking advantage of the superior sailing of his vessel the Pinta, he made all sail during the next day, and when night came on of the 22d, he was entirely out of sight. Thus left with only two ships, and the weather being unfavourable for proceeding on his way in search of Bohio, the admiral was obliged to return to Cuba, where he came to anchor in a harbour which he called St Catherines, not far from the Princes Port, and there took in wood and water. In this port he accidentally saw signs of gold on some stones in the river where they were taking in water. The mountains in the interior were full of such tall pine trees as were fit to make masts for the largest ships; neither was there any scarcity of wood for plank to build as many ships as might be wished, and among these were oaks and other trees resembling those in Castile. But perceiving that all the Indians still directed him to Bohio and the eastwards as the country of gold, he ran ten or twelve leagues farther to the east along the coast of Cuba, meeting all the way with excellent harbours and many large rivers. In one of his letters to their Catholic majesties, he says so much of the delightfulness and beauty of the country, that I have thought fit to give an extract in his own words. Writing concerning the mouth of a river which forms a harbour which he named Puerto Santo, or the Holy Harbour, he says thus:
   "When I went with the boats before me to the mouth of the harbour towards the south, I found a river up the mouth of which a galley could row easily; and it was so land-locked that its entrance could not be discovered unless when close at hand. The beauty of this river induced me to go up a short distance, where I found from five to eight fathoms water. Coming to anchor, I proceeded a considerable way up the river with the boats; and such was the delightfulness of the place that I could have been tempted to remain there for ever. The water was so clear that we could see the sand at the bottom. The finest and tallest palm trees I had ever seen were in great abundance on either shore, with an infinite number of large verdant trees of other kinds. The soil seemed exceedingly fertile, being every where covered by the most luxuriant verdure, and the woods abounded in vast varieties of birds of rich and variegated plumage. This country, most serene princes, is so wonderfully fine, and so far excels all others in beauty and delightfulness as the day exceeds the night; wherefore I have often told my companions that though I should exert my utmost endeavours to give your highness a perfect account of it, my tongue and pen must ever fall short of the truth. I was astonished at the sight of so much beauty, and know not how to describe it. I have formerly written of other countries, describing their trees, and fruits, and plants, and harbours, and all belonging to them as largely as I could, yet not so as I ought, as all our people affirmed that no others could possibly be more delightful. But this so far excels every other which I have seen, that I am constrained to be silent; wishing that others may see it and give its description, that they may prove how little credit is to be got, more than I have done, in writing and speaking on this subject so far inferior to what it deserves."
   While going up this river in the boat, the admiral saw a canoe hauled on shore among the trees and under cover of a bower or roof, which was as large as a twelve-oared barge, and yet hollowed out of the trunk of one tree. In a house hard by they found a ball of wax and a mans skull, each, in a basket, hanging to a post, and the same was afterwards found in another house; and our people surmized that these might be the skulls of the founders of these two houses. No people could be found in this place to give any information, as all the inhabitants fled from their houses on the appearance of the Spaniards. They afterwards found another canoe all of one piece, about seventy feet long, which would have carried fifty persons.
   Having sailed 106 leagues eastwards along the coast of Cuba, the admiral at length reached the eastmost point of that island, to which he gave the name of Cape Alpha; and on Wednesday the fifth December he struck across the channel between Cuba and Hispaniola, which islands are sixteen leagues asunder; but owing to contrary currents, was unable to reach the coast of Hispaniola until the next day, when he entered a harbour which he named Port St Nicholas, in honour of the saint on whose festival he made the discovery. This port is large, deep, safe, and encompassed with many tall trees; but the country is more rocky and the trees less than in Cuba, and more like those in Castile: among the trees were many small oaks, with myrtles and other shrubs, and a pleasant river ran along a plain towards the port, all round which were seen large canoes as big as those they had found in Puerto Santo. Not being able to meet with any of the inhabitants, the admiral quitted St Nicholas and stretched along the coast to the northwards, till he came to another port which he named the Conception, which lies almost due south from a small island about the size of the Gran Canaria, and which was afterwards named Tortuga. Perceiving that this island, which they believed to be Bohio, was very large, that the land and trees resembled Spain, and that in fishing they caught several fishes much like those in Spain, as soles, salmon, pilchards, crabs and the like, on Sunday the ninth of December the admiral gave it the name of Espannola, or little Spain, or as it is called in English Hispaniola.
   Being desirous of making inquiry into the nature of this country and its inhabitants, three of the Spaniards travelled up the mountain and fell in with a considerable number of Indians, who were all naked like those they had seen at the other islands; these immediately ran off into the thickest parts of the wood on seeing the Spaniards draw near, and they could only overtake one young woman, who had a plate of gold hanging from her nose. She was carried to the admiral, who gave her some baubles, as bells and glass beads, and then sent her on shore without any injury being offered to her; and three of the Indians who had been brought from the other islands, with three Spaniards, were ordered to accompany her to her dwelling-place. Next day he sent eleven men on shore well armed, with directions to explore the country. After travelling about four leagues they found a sort of town or village, consisting of about a thousand houses, scattered about a large valley. The inhabitants all fled on seeing the Spaniards; but one of the Indians brought from St Salvador went after them, and persuaded them to return, by assuring them that the Spaniards were people who had come down from Heaven. Having laid aside their fears they were full of admiration at the appearance of the strangers, and would lay their hands on their heads to do them honour; they brought food to our people and gave them every thing they asked, requiring nothing in return, and entreated them to remain all night in their village. The Spaniards would not accept the invitation, but returned to the ships with the news that the country was very pleasant and abounded in provisions; that the people were whiter and handsomer than any they had seen in the other islands, and were very courteous and tractable. To the constant question respecting gold, they answered, like all the rest, that the country where it was found lay farther to the eastwards.
   On receiving this intelligence, although the wind was adverse, the admiral set sail immediately; and on the following Sunday the sixteenth of December, while plying between Tortuga and Hispaniola, he found one man alone in a small canoe, which they all wondered was not swallowed up by the waves, as the wind and sea were then very tempestuous. This man was taken into the ship and carried to Hispaniola, where he was set on shore with several gifts. He told the Indians how kindly he had been treated, and spoke so well of the Spaniards that numbers of the natives came presently on board; but they brought nothing of value, except some small grains of gold hanging from their ears and noses, and being asked whence they procured the gold, they made signs that there was a great deal to be had higher up the country.
   Next day, while the cacique or lord of that part of Hispaniola was on the beach bartering a plate of gold, there came a large canoe with forty men on board from the island of Tortuga to near the place where the admiral lay at anchor. When the cacique and his people saw the canoe approach, they all sat down on the ground, as a sign that they were unwilling to fight. Almost all the people from the canoe immediately landed; on which the Hispaniola chief started up alone, and with threatening words and gestures made them return to their canoe. He then threw water after them, and cast stones into the sea towards the canoe; and when they had all most submissively returned into their canoe, he delivered a stone to one of the Spanish officers, making signs to him to throw it at those in the canoe, as if to express that he took part with the Spaniards against the Indians of Tortuga; but the officer, seeing that they retired quietly, did not throw the stone24. While afterwards discoursing the friendly cacique affirmed that it contained more gold than all Hispaniola; but that in Bohio, which was fifteen days journey from the place they were then in, there was more than in any other land.
   On Tuesday the eighteenth of December, the cacique who came the day before to where the canoe of Tortuga was, and who lived about five leagues from where the ships lay, came in the morning to a town near the sea, where some Spaniards then were by order of the admiral to see if the natives brought any more gold. These men came off to the admiral to acquaint him of the arrival of the king, who was accompanied by above 200 men, and who though very young, was carried by four men in a kind of palanquin. Having rested a little, the king drew near the ships with all his people, but I shall give an account of the interview in the admiral's own words addressed to their Catholic majesties.
   "There is no doubt that your highnesses would have been much pleased to have seen the gravity of his deportment, and the respect with which he was treated by his people, though all we saw were entirely naked. When he came on deck and understood that I was below at dinner, he surprized me by sitting down at my side without giving me time to go out to receive him or even to rise from table. When he came down, he made signs to all his followers to remain above, which they did with the utmost respect, sitting down quietly on the deck, excepting two old men who seemed to be his councillors, who came down along with him and sat down at his feet. Being informed of his quality, I ordered some meat which I was eating at the time to be offered him. He and his councillors just tasted it, and then sent it to their men upon deck, who all eat of it. The same thing they did in regard to drink; for they only kissed the cup, and then handed it about. Their deportment was wonderfully grave, and they used but few words, which were uttered very deliberately and with much decorum. After eating, one of his attendants brought him a girdle not much unlike those used in Castile, but wrought of different materials, this they very respectfully delivered into his hand, and he presented it to me with two very thin pieces of wrought-gold. Of this gold I believe there is but little here, though I suspect there is a place at no great distance which produces a great deal, and whence they procure it. Believing he might like a carpet or counterpane which lay on my bed, I presented it to him, together with some fine amber beads which I wore about my neck, a pair of red shoes, and a bottle of orange-flower water, with all of which he seemed very much pleased. The two old men who sat at his feet, seemed to watch the motions of the kings lips, and spoke both for and to him; and both he and they expressed much concern because they did not understand me or I them, though I made out that if I wanted any thing all the island was at my command. I brought out a casket in which was a gold medal weighing four ducats, on which were the portraits of your highnesses, and shewed it to him, endeavouring to make him sensible that your highnesses were mighty princes, and sovereigns of the best part of the world. I shewed him likewise the royal standard, and the standard of the cross, which he made great account of. Turning to his councillors, he said that your highnesses must certainly be great princes, who had sent me so far as from Heaven thither without fear. Much more passed between us which I did not understand; but could easily perceive that they greatly admired every thing they saw. It being now late, and seeming anxious to be gone, I sent him on shore very honourably in my boat, and caused several guns to be fired. When ashore, he got into his palanquin attended by above two hundred people, and a son whom he had along with him was carried on the shoulders of one of his principal people. He ordered all the Spaniards who were on shore to have provisions given to them, and that they should be very courteously used.
   "Afterwards I was told by a sailor who met him on his way into the country, that every one of the things I had given him were carried before him by a person of note; that his son did not accompany him on the road, but was carried at some distance behind with as many attendants as he had; and that a brother of his, with almost as many more followed on foot, led by two principal people supporting him under the arms. The brother had been on board along with the king, and to him likewise I had made some trifling presents."
   In continuance of the foregoing account of his proceedings, the admiral gives the following narrative of the unfortunate loss of his own caravel the St Mary:
   "Having put to sea, the weather was very calm on Monday the twenty-fourth December, with hardly any wind; but what little there was carried me from the sea of St Thomas to Punta Santa or the Holy Cape, off which we lay at about the distance of a league. About eleven at night, being very much fatigued, as I had not slept for two days and a night, I went to bed; and the seaman who was at the helm left it to a grummet25, although I had given strict injunctions that this should never be done during the whole voyage, whether the wind blew or not. To say the truth I thought we were perfectly safe from all danger of rocks and shoals; as on that Sunday when I sent my boats to the king of the island, they went at least three leagues and a half beyond Punta Santa, and the seamen had carefully examined all the coast, and noted certain shoals which lie three leagues E.S.E. of that cape, and observed which way we might sail in safety, a degree of precaution which I had not before taken during the whole voyage. It pleased God at midnight, while all the men were asleep, that the current gently carried our ship upon one of the shoals, which made such a roaring noise that it might have been heard and discovered at the distance of a league. Then the fellow who felt the rudder strike and heard the noise, immediately began to cry out, and I hearing him got up immediately, for no one had as yet perceived that we were aground. Presently the master whose watch it was came upon deck, and I ordered him and other sailors to take the boat and carry out an anchor astern, hoping thereby to warp off the ship. Thereupon he and others leapt into the boat, as I believed to carry my orders into execution; but they immediately rowed away to the other caravel which was half a league from us. On perceiving that the boat had deserted us, and the water ebbed apace to the manifest danger of our ship, I caused the masts to be cut away, and lightened her as much as possible in hopes to get her off. But the water still ebbed, and the caravel remained fast in the shoal, and turning athwart the stream the seams opened and all below deck became filled with water."
   "Meanwhile, the boat returned from the other caravel to our relief, for the people in the Nina, perceiving they had fled, refused to receive them, and obliged them to return to our ship. No hopes of saving the ship appearing, I went away to the other caravel to save the lives of the people; and great part of the night was already spent, while yet we knew not which way to get from among the shoals, I lay to with the Nina till daylight, and then drew towards the land within the shoals. I then dispatched James de Arana the provost, and Peter Gutieres, your highnesses secretary, to acquaint the king with what had happened, and to inform him, that as I was bound to his own port to pay him a visit, according to his desire, I had lost my ship on a flat opposite his town. On receiving this intelligence, with tears in his eyes, the king expressed much grief for our loss, and immediately sent off all the people in the place with many large canoes to our assistance. We accordingly began immediately to unload, and with our own boats and their canoes, we soon carried on shore every thing that was on the deck. The aid given us on this occasion by the king was very great; and he afterwards, with the assistance of his brothers and kindred, took all possible care, both on board and ashore, that every thing should be conducted and preserved in the most orderly manner. From time to time he sent some of his people to me weeping, to beg me not to be dejected, as he would give me everything he possessed. I assure your highnesses that better order could not have been taken in any port in Castile to preserve our things, for we did not lose the value of a pin. He caused all our clothes and other articles to be laid together in one place near his own residence, and appointed armed men to watch them day and night, until the houses which he had allotted for our accommodation could be emptied and got in readiness for our reception. All the people lamented our misfortune as if the loss had been their own. So kindly, tractable, and free from covetousness are these good Indians, that I swear to your highnesses there are no better people, nor is there a better country in the world. They love their neighbours as themselves, and their conversation is the sweetest that can be conceived, always pleasant and always smiling. It is true that both men and women go entirely naked, yet your highnesses may rest assured that they have very commendable customs. The king is served with much state and ceremonious respect, and his manners are so staid that it is very pleasing to see him. They have wonderfully good memories, and are of quick apprehension, and were extremely desirous to know every thing, asking many questions, and inquiring into the causes and effects of every thing they saw."
   The chief king of the country came on board to visit the admiral on Wednesday the 26th of December, and expressed much sorrow for his misfortune, and endeavoured to comfort him by promising to give him every thing that he might desire. He said that he had already given three houses to the Spaniards to lay up every thing which had been saved from the ship and was ready to give them as many more as they might require. In the mean time, a canoe came from a neighbouring island, bringing some plates of gold to exchange for small bells, which the Indians valued above every thing; and our seamen from the shore informed the admiral that many Indians resorted from other places to the town, who brought several articles made of gold which they bartered for points and other things of small value, and offering to bring much more gold if the Christians desired. The king or great cacique perceiving that the admiral was much gratified by this information, told him he would give orders to bring a great quantity of gold from a place called Cibao, where it was to be had in great abundance. Afterwards, when the admiral was on shore, the cacique invited him to eat axis and cazabi, which formed the principal diet of the Indians26. He likewise presented him with some masks or vizors, having their eyes, noses, and ears, made of gold, and many pretty ornaments of that metal which the Indians wore about their necks.

   The cacique complained to the admiral of a nation called the Caribs, who used often to carry away his men to make slaves of or to eat them; and he was greatly rejoiced when the admiral shewed him the superiority of the European weapons, and promised to defend him and his people against the Caribs. He was much astonished at our cannon, which so terrified the natives that they fell down as if dead on hearing the report. Finding therefore so much kindness among these people, and such strong indications of gold, the admiral almost forgot his grief for the loss of his ship, thinking that God had so ordered on purpose to fix a colony of Christians in that place, where they might trade and acquire a thorough knowledge of the country and people, by learning the language and conversing with the natives; so that when he returned from Spain with succours and reinforcements, he might have several persons qualified to assist and direct him in subduing and peopling the country; and he was the more inclined to this measure, that many of the people voluntarily offered to remain and inhabit the place. For this reason he determined to build a fort or blockhouse from the timber of the ship which had been wrecked, all of which had been saved and was now put to that use.
   While employed in this plan, he received intelligence on Thursday the 27th December, that the missing caravel, the Pinta, was in a river towards the east point of Hispaniola. To be assured of the truth of this report, the cacique, whose name was Guacanagari, sent a canoe with some Indians and one Spaniard to make inquiry. These people went twenty leagues along the coast, and returned without being able to hear any thing of the Pinta; for which reason no credit was given to another Indian, who reported that he had seen that vessel a few days before. The admiral still persisted, however, in his resolution of leaving some Christians in that place, being still more sensible of the goodness and wealth of the country, as the Indians frequently brought masks and other articles of gold, and told them of several districts in the island where that metal was to be procured.
   Being now nearly ready to depart, the admiral took occasion to discourse with the cacique about the Caribs or Cannibals, of whom they complained and were in great dread; and therefore, as if to please him, he offered to leave some Christians behind for their protection. At the same time, to impress him with awe in regard to our weapons, he caused a gun to be fired against the side of the ship, when the bullet went quite through and fell into the water, at which the cacique was much amazed. The admiral shewed him all our other weapons, and explained to him both how the Spaniards were able to offend others, and to defend themselves in a very superior manner; telling him, that since such people with such weapons were to be left for his protection, he need be in no fear of the Caribs, as the Christians would destroy them all; and that he would leave him a sufficient guard, while he returned to Castile for jewels and other things to give him.
   The admiral particularly recommended to the attention of the cacique James de Arana, son to Roderick de Arana of Cordova, of whom mention has been formerly made in this narrative. To him, with Peter Gutierres and Roderick de Eskovedo, he left the government of the fort, with a garrison of thirty-six men, with abundance of commodities, provisions, arms, and cannon, the boat which had belonged to the lost ship, with carpenters, caulkers, a surgeon and gunner, and all other necessaries for settling commodiously. All this being settled, he determined to return with all speed to Castile without attempting to make any farther discoveries; fearing, as he had now but one ship remaining, that some other misfortune might befal him by which their Catholic majesties would be deprived of the knowledge of those new kingdoms which he had acquired for them.
   On Friday the 4th of January 1493, the admiral set sail at sun-rise, standing to the north-west, having the boats a-head to lead him safe cut of shoal water. He named the port which he now quitted Navidad, or the Nativity, because he had landed there on Christmas day, escaping the dangers of the sea, and because he began there to build the first Christian colony in the new world which he had discovered. The flats through which he now sailed reach from Cape Santo to Cape Serpe, which forms an extent of six leagues, and they run above three leagues out to sea. All the coast to the north-west and south-east, is an open beach, and continues plain and level for four leagues into the country, where high mountains begin, and the villages were more numerous than are to be seen in the other islands. Having got past the shoals, the admiral sailed towards a high mountain, which he called Monte Christo, eighteen leagues east of Cape Santo. Whosoever wishes to arrive at the Nativity from the eastwards, most first make Monte Christo, which is a rock of a round or conical form, almost like a pavilion. Keeping two leagues out to sea from this mountain, he must sail west till he comes to Cape Santo, whence the Nativity is five leagues distant, and to reach which place, certain channels among the shoals which lie before it must be passed through. The admiral chose to particularize these marks that it might be known where the first Christian habitation had been established in these parts.
   While sailing eastwards from Monte Christo with a contrary wind on Sunday, the 6th of January, a sailor from the round top discovered in the morning the caravel Pinta coming down westward, right before the wind. As soon as it came up with the admiral, the captain Martin Alonzo Pinzon came on board, and began to give reasons and excuses for leaving the squadron, alleging that it had been against his will. Though the admiral was satisfied that it had proceeded from evil intentions, well remembering the bold and mutinous proceedings of Pinzon during the voyage, he yet concealed his displeasure and accepted the excuses, lest he might ruin the voyage, as most of the crew were Martins countrymen, and several of them his relations. The truth is, that when Martin Alonzo forsook the admiral at Cuba, he went purposely away with the design of sailing to Bohio, where he learned from the Indians on board his caravel that plenty of gold was to be found. But not finding the object of his search, he had returned to Hispaniola where other Indians informed him there was much gold, and had spent twenty days in sailing not above fifteen leagues east of the Nativity, where he had lain sixteen days in a river, which the admiral called the river of Grace, and had there procured a considerable quantity of gold for things of small value, as the admiral had done at the Nativity. He distributed half of this gold among his crew, that he might gain them to his purposes, and concealed the rest for his own emolument, pretending to the admiral that he had not got any. Finding the wind still contrary, the admiral came to an anchor under Monte Christo, and went in his boat up a river to the south-west of that mountain, where he discovered signs of gold in the sand, on which account he called it the river of gold. This river is seventeen leagues east of the Nativity, and is not much less than the Guadalquivir which runs past Cordova.
   Proceeding afterwards on the voyage, and being off Cape Enamorado, or the Lovers Cape, on Sunday the 13th of January, the admiral sent the boat on shore to examine the nature of the country. Our people there found a considerable number of fierce looking Indians, armed with bows and arrows, who seemed disposed to enter into hostilities, yet considerably alarmed at the appearance of the Spaniards. After some conference, our people bought two of their bows and some arrows, and with much difficulty prevailed on one of them to go on board the admiral. These people appeared much fiercer than any of the natives who had been hitherto seen; and their faces were all daubed over with charcoal; their hair was very long, and hung in a bag made of parrots feathers. Their mode of speech resembled the fierceness of their aspect and demeanour, and one of them, standing completely naked before the admiral, said in a lofty tone that all in these parts went in the same manner. Thinking this Indian was one of those called Caribs, and that the bay they were now in divided that race from the other inhabitants of Hispaniola, the admiral asked him where the Caribs dwelt. Pointing with his finger, the Indian expressed by signs that they inhabited another island to the eastwards, in which there were pieces of guanin27 as large as half the stern of the caravel. He said moreover, that the island of Matinino was entirely inhabited by women, with whom the Caribs cohabited at a certain season; and that such sons as they brought forth were afterwards carried away by the fathers, while the daughters remained with their mothers28. Having answered all the questions, partly by signs, and partly by means of what little of their language the Indians from St Salvador could understand, the admiral gave this person to eat, and presented him with some baubles, such as glass beads and slips of green and red cloth, and sent him on shore, desiring that his companions would bring gold to barter as had been done by the other Indians.
   When our people landed with this man, they found fifty-five other Indians among the trees near the shore, all of them armed with bows and arrows, perfectly naked and having their long hair tied into a large knot on the crown of the head, as worn by the women in Spain, and decorated with plumes of various feathers. The man who had been on board prevailed upon them to lay down their bows and arrows and great clubs, which they carry instead of swords. The Christians stept on shore, and began to trade for bows and arrows, as ordered by the admiral; but after selling two, they scornfully refused to part with any more, and even made demonstrations to seize the Spaniards, running to where they had left their arms, and taking up ropes as if to bind our men. They being now on their guard, and seeing the Indians coming furiously to attack them, although only seven, fell courageously upon them, and cut one with a sword on the buttock, and shot another in the breast with an arrow. Astonished at the resolution of our men, and terrified at the effect of our weapons, the Indians fled, leaving most of their bows and arrows behind; and great numbers of them would certainly have been killed, but the pilot of the caravel, who commanded the boats crew, restrained our people from any farther vengeance. The admiral was not at all displeased at this skirmish, as he imagined these Indians were Caribs, so much dreaded by all the other natives of Hispaniola; or at least, being a bold and resolute people, that they bordered on that race; and he hoped that the islanders on hearing how seven Spaniards had so easily defeated fifty-five fierce Indians, would give the more honour and respect to our men who had been left at the Nativity.
   Afterwards about the evening, these people made a smoke as if in defiance; but on sending a boat on shore to see what they wanted, they could not be brought to venture near our people, and the boat returned. Their bows were of a wood resembling yew, and almost as large and strong as those of France and England; the arrows of small twigs which grow from the ends of the canes, massive and very solid, about the length of a mans arm and a half; the head is made of a small stick hardened in the fire, about three-eighths of a yard long, tipped with a fishes tooth, or sharpened bone, and smeared with poison. On this account, the admiral named the bay in which he then was Golpho de Flechas, or Gulf of arrows; the Indians called it Samana. This place appeared to produce great quantities of fine cotton, and the plant named axi by the Indians, which is their pepper and is very hot, some of which is long and others round29. Near the land where the water was shallow, there grew large quantities of those weeds which had formerly been seen in such abundance on the ocean; whence it was concluded that it all grew near the land, and broke loose when ripe, floating out to sea with the currents.
   On Wednesday the 16th of January 1493, the admiral set sail from the Gulf of Arrows, or Samana, with a fair wind for Spain, both caravels being now very leaky and requiring much labour at the pumps to keep them right. Cape Santelmo was the last land they saw; twenty leagues north-east of it there appeared great abundance of weeds, and twenty leagues still farther on the whole sea was covered with multitudes of small tunny fishes, and they saw great numbers of them on the two following days, the 19th and 20th of January, followed by great flocks of sea-fowl; and all the weeds ran with the currents in long ropes east and west; for they always found that the current takes these weeds a great way out to sea, and that they do not continue long in the same direction, as they sometimes go one way, and sometimes another, as carried by the changes of the currents; and these weeds continued to accompany them for many days, until they were almost half way across the Atlantic.
   Holding on their course steadily with a fair wind, they made such way, that on the 9th of February, the pilots believed they had got to the south of the Azores; but in the opinion of the admiral, they were still 150 leagues to the west of these islands, and his reckoning turned out to be true. They still found abundance of weeds, which, when they formerly sailed to the West Indies, had not been seen until they were 263 leagues west from the island of Ferro. As they sailed thus onwards with fair weather and favourable winds, the wind began to rise, and increased from day to day with a high sea, till at length they could hardly live upon it. The storm had so increased on Thursday the 14th of February, that they could no longer carry sail, and had to drive whichever way the wind blew; but the Pinta, unable to lie athwart the sea, bore away due north before the wind, which now came from the south; and though the admiral always carried a light, she was entirely out of sight next morning. Considering their consort to be certainly lost, and believing themselves in imminent hazard, the whole company betook themselves to prayers, and cast lots which of them should go on pilgrimage for the whole crew to the shrine of our Lady of Guadaloupe, which fell upon the admiral. They afterwards drew for another to go to Loretto, and the lot fell upon Peter de Villa, a seaman of Port St Mary; and they cast lots for a third to watch all night at the shrine of St Olave of Moguer. The storm still increasing, they all made a vow to go barefooted, and in their shirts, to some church of our Lady at the first land they might come to. Besides these general vows, several others were made by individuals. The tempest was now very violent, and the admirals ship could hardly withstand its fury for want of ballast, which was fallen very short in consequence of the provisions and water being mostly expended. To supply this want, they filled all the empty casks in the ship with sea water, which was some help and made the ship to bear more upright, and be in less danger of oversetting. Of this violent storm the admiral wrote thus to their Catholic majesties:
   "I had been less concerned at the tempest had I alone been in danger, for I know that I owe my life to my Creator, and I have often been so near death that only the slightest circumstance was wanting to its completion. But, since it had pleased God to give me faith and assurance to go upon this my undertaking in which I have been completely successful, I was exceedingly distressed lest the fruits of my discoveries might be lost to your highnesses by my death; whereas if I survived, those who opposed my proposal would be convinced, and your highnesses served by me with honour and increase of your royal state. I was therefore much grieved and troubled lest the Divine Majesty should please to obstruct all this by my death, which had yet been more tolerable to contemplate if it were not attended with the loss of all those men I had carried with me upon promise of happy success. They, seeing themselves in so great jeopardy, did not only curse their setting out upon the expedition, but the fear and awe which I had impressed upon them, to dissuade them from returning when outward bound, as they had several times resolved upon. Above all, my sorrow was redoubled by the remembrance of two sons whom I had left at school in Cordova, destitute of friends and in a strange country, before I had done, or at least before it could be known that I had performed any service which might incline your majesties to remember and protect them."
   "Though I comforted myself with the hope that God would not allow a matter which tended so much to the exaltation of his church to be left imperfect, when I had through so much opposition and trouble brought it almost to perfection; yet I considered that it might be his will that I should not be permitted to obtain such honour in this world, because of my demerits. In this perplexity, I remembered your highnesses good fortune; which, though I were dead and the ship lost, might yet find some means that a conquest so nearly achieved should not be lost, and that possibly the success of my voyage might come to your knowledge by some means or other. With this view, as briefly as the time would permit, I wrote upon parchment that I had discovered the lands which I had promised; likewise how many days were employed on the voyage, the direction in which I had sailed, the goodness of the country, the nature of the inhabitants, and how some of your highnesses subjects were left in possession of my discoveries. Which writing I folded and sealed up and superscribed to your highnesses, promising a reward of 1000 ducats to whoever might deliver it sealed into your hands; that, in case it might be found by a foreigner, the promised reward might induce him not to communicate the intelligence. I then caused a great cask to be brought to me, and having wrapped the writing in oiled cloth, which I surrounded with a cake of wax, I placed the whole in the cask: I then carefully closed up the bung-hole and threw the cask into the sea, all the people fancying that it was some act of devotion. Apprehending that this might never be taken up, and the ship coming still nearer to Spain, I made another packet like the first, which I placed on the poop, that when the ship sunk the cask might float upon the water, and take its chance of being found."
   Sailing on in such extreme danger, at break of day on Friday the 15th of February, one Ruy Garcia saw land from the round top bearing E.N.E. The pilot and seamen judged it might be the rock of Lisbon, but the admiral concluded that it was one of the Azores. Yet though at no great distance, they could not come to anchor there that day because of the weather, and the wind being easterly, they lost sight of that island, and got sight of another, towards which they used every effort to approach, struggling with continual labour against wind and weather, but unable to reach the land. In his journal, the admiral says that on the night of Saturday the 16th of February he arrived at one of the Azores, but could not tell which; and having had no rest from the foregoing Wednesday, and being lame in both legs by being continually wet and in the open air, he took some sleep that night. Even provisions were now scanty. Having come to anchor on Monday the 18th February, he learnt from some of the inhabitants that it was the island of St Mary, one of the Azores, and the inhabitants expressed great surprize that the ship had weathered the storm, which had continued fifteen days in these parts without intermission.
   Learning the great discovery which the admiral had made, the inhabitants of St Mary seemed greatly to rejoice, giving praise to God, and three of them came on board with some fresh provisions, and with many compliments from the commander of the island, who resided at the town not far from thence. About this place nothing was seen but a hermitage, said to be dedicated to the Blessed virgin; whereupon the admiral and all the crew, bearing in remembrance the vow which they had made on the Thursday before, to go barefooted and in their shirts to some church of our Lady at the first land, were of opinion that they ought here to discharge their vow, especially as the governor and people expressed so much kindness for them, and as they belonged to a king who was in perfect amity with Castile. The admiral therefore requested these three men to repair to the town and cause a chaplain to come to the hermitage to say mass for them. To this these men consented, and went on shore in the caravels boat with half the crew, that they might perform their vow, meaning on their return that the other half of the ships company should then go on shore in their turn. They accordingly landed, and proceeded according to their vow barefooted and in their shirts towards the hermitage; but the governor and many people from the town, who lay in ambush, suddenly rushed out upon them and made them all prisoners, taking away their boat at the same time, without which they believed it impossible for the admiral to get away from thence.
   It being now noon, and thinking that the people staid too long on shore as they went off before day-break, the admiral began to suspect that some misfortune had befallen them either by land or sea; but not being able to see the hermitage from the place where he then lay, he sailed round a point which intervened, and then saw a multitude of people on horseback, who dismounted and went into the boat to attack the caravel. Suspecting what had really happened, the admiral ordered all his remaining hands to quarters well armed, but made no shew of resistance that the Portuguese might come near. When they were near the admiral, the chief man among them stood up and demanded a parley, which the admiral agreed to in hope that he might come on board and might be secured without any breach of faith, considering that he had seized the Spaniards without any just cause. But the Portuguese would not venture nearer than was sufficient for being heard; whereupon the admiral told him that he was surprised at his irregular proceedings, and that none of his men had come off in the boat, since they had gone ashore upon assurance of safety and offers of assistance, and more especially as the governor of the island had sent to welcome him. He desired him to consider that their conduct was contrary to the laws of honour, such as even enemies would, not have been guilty of, and at which the king of Portugal would be highly offended; since when any of his subjects landed in the dominions of their Catholic majesties or resided there, even without any safe conduct, they were perfectly safe and were treated with all manner of civility. Besides, he declared that their Catholic majesties had given him letters of recommendation to all princes potentates and other persons in the world, which he was ready to shew if he would come on board; and as such letters were received in all places with respect, and he and the subjects of their Catholic majesties always well treated on their account, much more ought they to be so in the dominions of Portugal, their sovereigns being such near neighbours and allies; and as he was their great admiral of the ocean and viceroy of the Indies which he had discovered, he was ready to shew him all this under their highnesses hands and seals. Accordingly at that distance he exhibited his commissions, and told him he might draw near without any apprehension, as he was commanded to pay the utmost civility to such Portuguese ships as he might fall in with. He added, that even if they should persist in detaining his men, this should not prevent his return to Spain, as he still had a sufficient number, not only to return to Seville, but if need were to punish his treacherous conduct which he well deserved; besides that he would be assuredly punished by his own king, for giving a cause of war between Spain and Portugal

   The Portuguese captain and his men made answer, that they neither knew their Catholic majesties or their letters, neither did they fear them, and would make him to know what Portugal was. From this answer, the admiral suspected that some breach had occurred between the crowns since his departure, and therefore gave him such an answer as his folly deserved. At last when about to depart, the captain stood up and said that the admiral might go with his caravel to the harbour, as all he had done was by order of the king his master. The admiral desired all his ships company to bear witness to this, and then calling out to the Portuguese, declared he would not leave his caravel till he had taken an hundred Portuguese to carry prisoners to Castile, and that he would utterly destroy the whole island. This said, the Portuguese went away to the land, and the admiral came to anchor in the port where he had first arrived, being obliged by the wind to do so. But the wind increasing next day and the place being unsafe, he lost his anchors and was obliged to stand out to sea towards the island of St Michael; resolving, in case he might be unable to come to anchor there, to stand out to sea notwithstanding the danger, and that he now had only three able seamen left and some grummets, all the rest of the crew being landsmen and Indians who knew nothing of sea affairs. Supplying the want of the absent hands by his own continual personal attention, he passed the whole of that night in much danger and anxiety, and when day appeared he perceived that the had lost sight of the island of St Michael. The weather being now calmer, he resolved to return to St Mary that he might endeavour to recover his men, anchors, and boat.
   On Thursday the twenty-first of February in the afternoon he got back to the island of St Mary, and a boat soon afterwards came off with five men and a notary, who all came on board upon assurance of safety, and staid all night, it being then too late to return safely to the shore. Next day the notary declared that they came from the governor to be certainly informed whence the ship came, and whether it had a commission from their Catholic majesties, and that being fully satisfied on these points the admiral might depend upon receiving every friendly assistance; but all this was merely because they could not succeed in seizing the ship and the admiral, and were therefore afraid of the consequences of what they had already done. The admiral suppressed his resentment and thanked them for their civil offers; and since they now proceeded according to the maritime rules and customs, declared his readiness to satisfy them. He accordingly shewed them the letters of their Catholic majesties directed to all their own subjects and to those of other princes, and his own commission for the voyage; upon which the Portuguese went on shore quite satisfied, and soon dismissed the Spanish boat and all the seamen. From them the admiral learnt that it was reported in the island, that the king of Portugal had sent orders to all his subjects to secure the person of the admiral wherever he might be found.
   The admiral sailed from the island of St Mary for Spain on Sunday the twenty-fourth of February, being still much in want of wood and ballast, which he could not take in because of the badness of the weather; but the wind being fair he was unwilling to make any longer delay. Being about 100 leagues from the nearest land, a swallow came on board the ship, driven out to sea as was believed by a storm; and this was the more probable as a great many more swallows and other land birds came onboard next day, the twenty-eighth February, and a whale was seen. On the third of March about midnight it blew so great a storm as to split their sails; and being in great danger of perishing, they made a vow to send one of their number on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Neustra Senhora de Cintra at Guelva, and the lot fell again on the admiral, shewing that his offerings were more acceptable than those of others. While thus driving on under bare poles, amid high winds, a raging sea, and frightful thunder and lightning, it pleased God to give them a sight of land about midnight. But this threatened them with new danger; and to avoid being beaten to pieces on the rocks, or running into some unknown place whence they might not be able to get off, they were under the necessity to make some sail and to beat up against the storm till day. When day appeared they found themselves close in with the rock of Lisbon, and were forced to put in there for present safety. The people and seamen of that country were much astonished at the news, and flocked from all parts to behold the wonder; for such they considered a ship which had escaped so terrible a storm, as they had heard of many vessels having perished about the coast of Flanders and other parts at this time. The admiral came to anchor in the river Tagus on Monday the fourth of March, and immediately sent off an express to their Catholic majesties with an account of his arrival, and another to the king of Portugal asking leave to come to anchor off the city of Lisbon; for he did not consider himself in safety where he then lay, especially from any that might entertain evil designs against him, who might believe that in destroying him they did acceptable service to their own king by obstructing the success of the court of Spain.
   On Tuesday the fifth of March, the master of a large guard-ship which lay in the Tagus came in his boat filled with armed men to the admirals caravel, and required him to go with him to the kings officers to give an account of himself, as was the custom of all ships that came to this port. To this he answered, that the admirals of their Catholic majesties, one of whom he was, were not bound to obey any such summons, nor to quit their ships to give an account of themselves to any one, and that he was resolved to do his duty. The master then desired him to send his boatswain to make the report. To this the admiral replied that it was the some thing whether he sent even a grummet or went himself, and it was therefore in vain to desire him to send any person. Being sensible that the admiral was right, the master now requested to see the letter of their Catholic majesties, that he might be able to satisfy his own captain; and this request being entirely reasonable, the admiral produced that letter, with which he was entirely satisfied, and went back to his ship to give an account to his captain Alvaro de Acunna, who immediately came on board in great state, with trumpets, drums, and fifes, expressing much kindness and offering every service in his power.
   Next day, it being known at Lisbon that the ship came from the Indies, such throngs of people went on board to see the Indians that the caravel could not contain them all, and the water was covered over with boats. Some praised God for the happy discovery, while others expressed their severe regret that their country should have been deprived of that vast acquisition through the incredulousness of their king. On the next day the king of Portugal gave orders to present the admiral with every kind of refreshment, and all things he might need for himself or his people, without taking any payment in return. He at the same time wrote to the admiral a congratulatory letter on his safe arrival, and desiring that he would come to see him. The admiral was doubtful how he should proceed in this case; but considering that the king of Portugal was in amity with their Catholic majesties and had treated him courteously, he consented to go to Valparaiso, nine leagues from Lisbon, where the king then was. He accordingly went there on Saturday night the ninth of March, and the king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to meet him; and when the admiral came into the presence, the king received him with great honour, commanding him to put on his cap and to sit down: and having listened with a pleasant countenance to a recital of his successful voyage, made offer of supplying with every thing he might stand in need of for the service of their Catholic majesties. The king then alleged, as Columbus had been a captain in the service of the crown of Portugal, that the discovery and conquest of the new found Indies ought to belong to him. To this the admiral answered, that he knew of no agreement to that effect, and that he had strictly obeyed his orders, which were not to go to the Portuguese mines nor to the coast of Guinea. The king then observed that all was well, and he had no doubt that justice would be done between the two countries. Having spent a long time in discourse, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest person then in the presence, to entertain the admiral and to shew him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly.
   The admiral remained at Valparaiso all the Sunday and Monday till after mass, when he took leave of the king, who expressed great kindness and made him great proffers; and ordered Don Martin de Noronha to accompany him. Many other gentlemen went along with him to do him honour, and from curiosity to hear an account of the voyage. While on his way to Lisbon, the admiral had to pass a monastery where the queen then resided, who earnestly entreated him not to pass without seeing her. She received him with all the favour and honour which is due to the greatest lord. That night a gentleman brought a message from the king to inform the admiral that if he chose to go by land into Spain, he had orders to attend him, and to provide lodgings and every thing he might want by the way, as far as the frontiers of Portugal. But the admiral chose to return by sea.
   On Wednesday the thirteenth of March, two hours after day-break, the admiral sailed from Lisbon, and on the following Friday, the fifteenth of March 1493, he arrived at Saltes about noon, and came to an anchor in the port of Palos, whence he had set out on the preceding third of August 1492, having been absent seven months and twelve days upon his expedition. He was there received by all the people in solemn procession, giving thanks to God for his prosperous voyage and glorious discovery, which it was hoped would greatly redound to the propagation of Christianity, and the extension of their Catholic majesties dominions. All the inhabitants considered it as a great honour to their city that the admiral had sailed from thence, and that most of his men belonged to the place, although many of them, through the instigations of Pinzon, had been mutinous and disobedient.
   It so happened that about the same time that the admiral arrived at Palos, Pinzon had arrived with the Pinta in Galicia, and designed to have gone by himself to Barcelona to carry the news of the expedition to their Catholic majesties. But he received orders not to come to court, unless along with the admiral with whom he had been sent upon the discovery; at which he was so mortified and disappointed that he returned indisposed to his native country, where he died shortly after of grief. But before Pinzon got to Palos the admiral had set out for Seville, designing to go from thence to Barcelona where their majesties then resided, and he was forced to make several short stops by the way, to gratify the importunate curiosity and admiration of the people, who flocked from all the towns in the neighbourhood wherever he went, to see him and the Indians and the other things he had brought with him. Thus holding on his way, the admiral reached Barcelona about the middle of April, having before sent to their highnesses on account of the happy success of his voyage. This was very pleasing to them, and they ordered him to be received in the most distinguished manner, as a person who had done them such signal service. All the court and city went out to meet and welcome him, and to escort him in honourable triumph to the royal presence. Their Catholic majesties sat in public with great state on rich chairs under a canopy of cloth of gold to receive him; and when he advanced to kiss their hands, they stood up as if to receive a great lord, even making a difficulty in giving him their hands to kiss, and then caused him to sit down in their presence. Having given a brief account of his voyage, they gave him leave to retire to his apartment, whither he was attended by the whole court; and so great was the favour and honour shewn him, that when the king rode about Barcelona, the admiral rode on one side of him and the Infante Fortuna on the other; whereas before no one rode along-side of the king except the Infante, who was his near kinsman.

SECTION VI. Second Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies
   Orders were issued from Barcelona to prepare with all care and expedition for the return of the admiral to Hispaniola, as well to relieve those Christians who had been left there as to enlarge the colony and subdue the island, with the rest that were and should be discovered. To strengthen and confirm their title to the newly discovered regions, their Catholic majesties by the advice of the admiral, procured the approbation and consent of the pope for the conquest of the Indies, which was readily granted by Alexander VI, who then governed the church; and the bull to this effect was not only for what was already discovered, but for all that might be discovered westwards, until they should come to the East, where any Christian prince was then actually in possession, and forbidding all persons whomsoever to intrude within these bounds. And this concession and exclusive right was again confirmed in the year following in the most ample terms. Sensible that all this favourable grant from the pope was due to the admiral, by whose discovery they had become entitled to the possession of all these parts, their majesties were pleased, on the twenty-eighth of May, at Barcelona, to ratify, renew, confirm, and explain the privileges and prerogatives which they had granted him before, by granting them of new, so as explicitly to define how far the bounds of his admiralty and viceroyalty extended, being over all which had been granted to them by his holiness, of which grant the tenor follows:
   Original Grant to Columbus in 1492, before the Discovery.
   "FERDINAND and ISABELLA, by the grace of God, King and Queen of Castile, Leon, Arragon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Minorca, Seville, Sardinia, Jaen, Algarve, Algezira, Gibraltar, and the Canary islands, Lord and Lady of Biscay and Molina, Duke and Duchess of Athens and Neopatria, Count and Countess of Boussillon and Cerdagne, Marquis and Marchioness of Oristan and Gociano, &c."
   "Forasmuch as you CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS are going by our command, and with some of our ships and men to discover and subdue certain islands and continents in the ocean, and it is hoped by Gods assistance that some of those islands and continents will be discovered by your means and conduct, it is therefore just and reasonable, since you expose yourself to such dangers in our service, that you be suitably rewarded. And willing to honour and favour you for the reasons aforesaid, our will is that you Christopher Columbus, after discovering and conquering the said islands and continent, in the said ocean, or any of them, shall be our admiral of all such islands and continent as you shall so discover and conquer, and that you be our admiral, viceroy, and governor in them: that for the future you may call and style yourself Don Christopher Columbus; and that your sons and successors in the said employment may call themselves dons, admirals, viceroys, and governors, in the same: That you may exercise the charge of admiral, viceroy, and governor of the said islands and continent which you or your lieutenants shall conquer, and shall freely decide all causes, civil and criminal, appertaining to the said employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, as you think fit according to justice, and as the admirals of our kingdom are in use to do: That you shall have power to punish all offenders: That you and your lieutenants may exercise the employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, in all things belonging to the said offices, or any of them, and that you shall enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employments and to each of them, in the same manner that the high admiral of our kingdom does at present."
   "By this our letter, or by a copy thereof signed by a public notary, We command prince John, our dearly beloved son the Infante, dukes, prelates, marquisses, great masters, and military orders, priors, commanderies, or councillors, judges, and others our officers of justice whomsoever, belonging to our household, courts, and chancery, and constables of castles, commanders of forts and others, and all corporations, mayors, bailiffs, and magistrates, governors, judges, commanders, and sea officers; the aldermen, common councillors, officers, and good people, of all cities, towns, lands, and places in our kingdoms and dominions, and in those which you shall discover and subdue; and the captains, masters, mates, and all other officers and sailors, our natural subjects at present, or who shall so become hereafter, all or any of them, that when you shall have so discovered the said islands and continent in the ocean, and you or any that have your commission shall have taken the oaths usual in such cases, that they shall look upon you for the future so long as you live, and after you your son and heir, and so on from one heir to another for ever, as our admiral, viceroy, and governor of the said islands and continent by you Christopher Columbus to be discovered and conquered; and that they treat you, and your lieutenants by you appointed for executing the employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, as such in all respects; and shall give you all the perquisites and other things belonging and appertaining to the said offices; and shall allow and cause to be allowed you, all honours, graces, concessions, preeminences, prerogatives, immunities, and other things, or any of them, which are due to you by virtue of your commands of admiral, viceroy, and governor, all to be observed completely, so that nothing shall be diminished: That they shall raise no objection to this or any part of it, nor suffer any such to be made; forasmuch as we by this our letter bestow on you the employments of admiral, viceroy and governor forever, and have put you in possession of the said offices and all of them, with full power to use and exercise them, and to receive the perquisites and salaries belonging to them, or any of them, as above said."
   "Concerning all which things if it be requisite and you shall desire it, We command our chancellors, notaries, and other officers, to pass, seal, and deliver to you our letter of privilege, in such firm and legal manner as you shall require and stand in need of. And that none presume to do any thing to the contrary upon pain of our displeasure, and the forfeiture of thirty ducats for each offence. And we command him who shall shew them this our letter, that he shall summon them to appear before us at our court wherever we shall then be, within fifteen days after such summons under the foresaid penalty. Under which same penalty we also command any public notary whomsoever, that he give to him that shews it to him a certificate under his seal, that we may know how our command is obeyed."
   "Given at Granada on the thirtieth of April in the year of our Lord 1492." "I the King.I the Queen. "
   Confirmation in 1493.
   After a preamble, as in the original grant, it proceeds thus:
   "And now, forasmuch as it has pleased GOD that you have discovered several of the said islands, as we still hope you will proceed by his grace to discover others, and the continent in the said ocean, and those parts of the Indies, and seeing that you have desired us to confirm to you our said grant here recapitulated, and all the contents thereof, to the end that you and your children, heirs, and successors, one after another, and after your days, may have and enjoy the said employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor of the said ocean, islands, and continent, as well of those you have already found and discovered as of those you shall hereafter find and discover, with all the powers, preeminence, privileges, and prerogatives as the admirals, viceroys, and governors in our kingdoms of Castile and Leon do actually enjoy; and that all the perquisites and salaries, appertaining and belonging to the said offices, and granted and allowed to our admirals, viceroys, and governors, may be made good to you, or that we shall make such provision in this case as in our goodness we may think fit."
   "And, having regard to the fatigues and dangers which you have exposed yourself to in our service, in going to discover and find out the said islands, and that which you now run in attempting to find out the other islands and continent, wherein we have been and hope to be by you well served; we, to requite and reward you, do by these presents confirm to you and your children, heirs, and successors, one after another, now and for ever, the said employments of admiral of the said ocean, and viceroy and governor of the said islands and continent, by you discovered and found out, and of the other islands and continent that shall be by you, or by your industry found or discovered in those parts of the Indies. And it is our will, that you, and after you your children, heirs, and successors, one after the other, enjoy the said employment of admiral of the said ocean which is ours, and which commences at a line which we have caused to be drawn from the Azores islands to the islands of Cape Verd, and so from pole to pole north and south, so that all beyond the said line westwards is ours and belongs to us. And we accordingly constitute you our admiral, and your sons and successors one after another, of all that part for ever. And we appoint you, and your sons, heirs, and successors, one after another, viceroy and governor of the said islands and continent discovered, and to be discovered in the said ocean, and in those parts of the Indies aforesaid; and we grant you the possession of all the said employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor for ever, with full commission and authority to use and exercise in the said ocean the office of admiral in all things, and in the same manner and form, and with the rights and privileges, perquisites and salaries as our admirals of Castile and Leon now use, have, and enjoy, or have enjoyed, as well in the said islands and continent already discovered, as in those which shall hereafter be discovered in the said ocean, and in the said parts of the Indies, that the planters or colonists of the same may be the better governed."
   "And we grant you such power and authority, that you, as our viceroy and governor, and your lieutenants, commanders, and officers, by you created, may exercise the civil and criminal jurisdiction, the supreme and mean authority, and the absolute and mixed command. And in those places you may remove, turn out, and put in others in their places, as often as you please, and may find convenient. And they shall have power to hear, judge, and determine, all suits or causes, civil and criminal, that shall occur or arise in said islands and continent, and they shall have and receive the fees and salaries usually annexed and pertaining to those employments in our kingdoms of Castile and Leon. And you our said viceroy and governor, may hear and determine all the said causes or any of them, whensoever you please, upon the first motion, or by way of appeal or complaint, and may examine, determine, and decide them as our viceroy and governor: and you and your children may do all that is reasonable in such cases, and in all other things pertaining to the office of viceroy and governor; and you and your lieutenants and officers, may take such cognizance and use such methods as you shall think proper for our service and the due execution of justice. All which you and they may do, and perform lawfully and effectually, as they might and ought to do, had the said officers been appointed by us. And our will and pleasure is, that all such letters-patent as you shall grant, be drawn and granted in our names with these words, Ferdinand and Isabella, by the grace of GOD, king and queen of Castile and Leon, &c. and shall be sealed with our seal, which we shall cause to be given you for the said islands and continent. And we command all the people and inhabitants, and other persons in the said islands and continent, to obey you as our viceroy and governor of the same, and all those who sail on the said seas, to obey you as our admiral of the said ocean; and that all of them shall execute your letters and orders, and shall take part with you and your officers for the due execution of our justice, and shall give and cause to be given you all the aid and assistance you shall require and stand in need of, upon such penalties as you shall impose upon them, which by these presents we do impose upon them, and declare to be imposed; and we grant you authority to execute the same, upon their persons and goods."
   "And it also is our will, that if you shall find it for our service, and the due execution of justice to cause any person who shall be in the said islands and continent to depart therefrom, and not to stay or return thereto, and that they shall come and appear before us; you may, in our name command and make them depart accordingly, all whom we by these presents command, that they presently perform, execute, and put in practice all that has been enjoined, without looking farther or asking advice in the same, not expecting any other letter or command from us, and notwithstanding any appeal or petition which they may make or present to us against your said order. For all which things, and any other due or belonging to the said offices of our admiral, viceroy, and governor, we give you sufficient authority in all incidents, dependencies, and emergencies, that may occur. Concerning all which, if you shall so desire, we command our chancellor, notaries, and others, our officers belonging to our seals, that they give, pass, dispatch, and seal for you, our letters of privilege, in as strong, firm, and effective manner as you may require of them and stand in need of, and that none of them do any thing to the contrary, upon pain of our displeasure, and of thirty ducats to be paid to our treasury by every one who may be guilty to the contrary hereof."
   "And besides, we command him that shall shew them30 this our letter to summon them to appear before us in our court wheresoever we may happen to be, within fifteen days, under the same penalty. Under which we also command any public notary, who may be called for such purpose, that he give to him who shall produce these letters to him a certificate, signed under his hand, that we may know how our commands are obeyed31.
   "Given in our city of Barcelona, this 28th of May, in the year of our Lord 1493." "I the King.I the Queen. "
   "By their majesties order, Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, secretary to the king and queen." "Peter Gutierres, Chancellor: Without fees for seal or entry." "Delivered by Roderick Doctor." "Entered, Alonzo Perez."
   Orders having been issued to make all necessary preparations for the establishment of a permanent colony in the new discovery, the admiral went from Barcelona to Seville in June 1493, and so diligently solicited the fitting out of the fleet which their Catholic majesties had directed to be provided, that in a short time seventeen vessels of various sizes were got ready, well stored with provisions and with all things deemed necessary for the intended colonization. Handicrafts of all sorts, with peasants or farmers to till the ground, and a variety of labourers, were engaged to accompany the expedition. The fame of the gold and other rarities which the newly discovered region produced, had induced so many gentlemen and other persons of respectability to offer themselves, that it became necessary to limit the numbers who could be permitted to embark, and not to allow all who were eager to transport themselves to the new world to go there, until time should make it appear how matters might succeed, and the colony might be somewhat settled. Yet so eager were the adventurers to engage in the scheme of this new colony, that 1500 persons of all sorts went upon the expedition; of whom some carried out horses, asses, and other kinds of cattle, which were afterwards of most important benefit to the colony.
   All things being prepared, the admiral weighed anchor from the road of Cadiz, where the fleet had been prepared, upon Wednesday the 25th of September 1493, an hour before sun-rising, and stood to the southwards for the Canary islands, designing to procure some necessary refreshments there32. On the 28th of September, being then 100 leagues from Spain, great numbers of land birds, among which were turtle-doves, and many small birds, came aboard the admirals ship, which were supposed to come from the Azores, and to be on their passage to Africa to pass the winter. Holding on their course, the fleet came to anchor at Gran Canaria on Wednesday the 2d of October, and sailed again at midnight for Gomera, where it arrived on the 5th of October. The admiral issued orders for every thing of which the fleet might stand in need to be provided with all possible dispatch.
   On Monday the 7th of October, the admiral continued his voyage for the West Indies, having first delivered sealed orders to every ship in the fleet, with strict injunctions that they were not to be opened unless separated from him by stress of weather. In these he gave directions for the course which they were to steer for attaining the town of the Nativity in Hispaniola, and he did not wish that course should be known by any one without urgent necessity. Having sailed on with a fair wind until Thursday the 24th of October, when they were by estimation 400 leagues west from Gomera, all were astonished at not finding any of the weeds which had been met with on the former voyage when only 250 leagues advanced into the Atlantic. On that day and the next a swallow was seen flying about the fleet. On the night of Saturday the 26th, the body of St Elmo, with seven lighted candles, was seen on the round top, which was followed by prodigious torrents of rain and frightful thunder and lightning. I mean those lights were seen which the seamen affirm to be the body of St Elmo, to whom they sing litanies and prayers upon these occasions, and they firmly believe that there can be no danger from those storms in which that phenomenon occurs. According to Pliny, when such lights appeared to the Roman sailors they were said to be Castor and Pollux, of which Seneca likewise makes mention in the beginning of his Book of Nature.33
   On Saturday the 2d of November, the admiral observed a great alteration in the appearance of the sky and in the winds, and concluded from these, and the prevalence of heavy rains, that he was certainly approaching the land, and therefore ordered most of the sails to be furled, and all the people to be on the watch, and to keep a strict look out. This precaution was exceedingly necessary; for next morning, just as day began to dawn, a high mountainous island was discovered about seven leagues to the west, to which the admiral gave the name of Dominica, because discovered on Sunday. Soon afterwards another island was seen to the north-east of Dominica, and then another, and another after that more to the northwards.34 On this joyful occasion, all the crew assembled on the poop, and devoutly sung the salve regina, and other hymns, giving thanks to God that in twenty days after their departure from Gomera they had safely made the land, judging the distance between Gomera and Dominica to be between 750 and 800 leagues. Finding no convenient place for anchoring on the east side of Dominica, the admiral stood over to another island which he named Marigalante after his own ship. Landing here, he again confirmed with all due solemnity, the possession which he had taken in his first voyage of all the islands and continent of the West Indies for their Catholic majesties.
   On Monday the 4th of November, the admiral sailed northwards past another large island, which he named St Mary of Guadalupe, partly by reason of his own especial devotion to the holy Virgin, and because he had made a promise to the friars of that monastery to name some island after their house. Before they came to it, and about two leagues distance from its coast, they discovered a very high rock ending in a point, whence issued a stream of water as thick as a large barrel, which made so great a noise in its fall as to be heard on board the ships; yet many affirmed that it was only a white vein in the rock, the water was so white and frothy by reason of its rapid fall. Going on shore to view a kind of town, they found no parson there except some children, all the people having fled into the woods. To the arms of these children they tied some baubles, to allure their fathers when they returned.
   In the houses our people found some geese like those of Spain, and abundance of parrots as large as common cocks, having red, green, blue, and white feathers. They also found pompions, and a sort of fruit resembling our green pine apples, but much larger, which were full of a solid fruit like melons, but much sweeter both in taste and smell, and far better than those which are brought up by art. This fruit grew on long stalks, like lilies or aloes, wild about the fields. They also saw other sorts of fruits and herbs different from ours. In the houses there were beds or hammocks made of cotton nets, with bows and arrows, and other articles; but our people took none of these things away, that the Indians might be the less afraid of the Christians. What they most admired and wondered at was that they found an iron pan in one of the houses; though I am disposed to believe that the rocks and fire-stones of the country being of the colour of bright iron, a person of indifferent judgment may have taken it for iron without sufficient examination; for there never was any iron found afterwards among these people, and I find no authority from the admiral for this incident on his own knowledge, and as he used to write down daily whatever happened and was reported to him, he may have set down this among other particulars related by those who had been on shore.35 Even if it actually were iron, it may be thus accounted for: The natives of Guadaloup, being Caribs, were accustomed to make plundering expeditions as far as Hispaniola, and might have procured that pan from the Christians or the natives of that island. It is likewise possible that they might have carried off some of the iron from the wreck of the admirals former ship; or some of that wreck containing iron might have been drifted by the winds and currents from Hispaniola. Be this as it may, the people neither took away the pan nor any thing else.
   Next day the admiral sent two boats on shore, to endeavour to procure some person who might be able to give him some account of the country, and to inform him in what direction Hispaniola lay. Each of the boats brought off a youth, who agreed in saying that they were not of that island, but of another which they called Borriquen, now St John; and that the inhabitants of Guadaloupe were Caribs or Canibals, and had taken them prisoners from their own island. Soon afterwards, the boats returned on shore to bring off some Christians who had been left, and found six women who had fled to them from the Caribs, and came off willingly to the ships. To allure the Indians, the admiral would not keep them, but set them on shore against their wills, giving them some glass beads and bells. This was not done unadvisedly, for as soon as they landed, the Caribs even in sight of the Christians, took away all the trinkets which had been given them. Therefore, either through hatred or fear of the Caribs, when the boats returned some time afterwards for wood and water, the women got into them and requested to be carried back to the ships, and gave the seamen to understand by signs that those people eat men and make slaves of the women, and therefore they would not remain with them. Yielding to their entreaties, the seamen brought them back, with two children and a young man who had escaped from the Caribs; these people thinking themselves safer in the hands of strangers whom they had never seen or heard of, than among the cruel and wicked Caribs who had eaten their husbands and children, but who are said not to eat women, whom they keep as slaves. One of the women said there were many islands to the south, some inhabited and others not, which they severally named Giamachi, Cairvaco, Huino, Buriari, Arubeira, and Sixibei. They said that the continent was very large, and both they and the inhabitants of Hispaniola named it Zuanta; saying, that in former times canoes had come from that land to the islands to barter with abundance of lads, of whom there were two thirds in an island not far distant36. They also said that the king of the island, from which they fled, was gone with ten large canoes and 300 men to make incursions into the neighbouring islands to take prisoners to eat. The women likewise gave information where Hispaniola lay; for though the admiral had inserted it in his chart, yet he was inclined to hear what the natives of these islands knew respecting it for his better guidance.
   The admiral now wished to proceed on his voyage, but was told that one Captain Mark had gone on shore before day with eight men without his leave, and had not yet returned. He was therefore obliged to send out to look for him, though in vain, by reason of the thickness of the trees. Therefore, that they might not be lost or be obliged to leave a ship for them, which might afterwards miss its way to Hispaniola, the admiral resolved to remain till next day; and because the country was full of extensive and thick woods, he ordered them to be carefully sought after, making a great noise with trumpets and muskets to lead them on the right way. But the people having searched the whole day ineffectually, returned to the ships in the evening without finding them, or hearing any thing of them. It was now Thursday morning, and no news had been heard of them since Tuesday; and considering that they had gone without leave, the admiral declared his resolution to continue the voyage, or at least made a shew of doing so to deter others from doing the like in future; but he allowed himself to be prevailed on by some of the kindred and friends of the stragglers to stay a little longer, and gave orders in the meantime for all the ships to complete their wood and water, and for the people to wash their linens; and he sent Captain Hojeda with forty men to look out for those who were amissing, and to examine into the nature of the country. Hojeda found mastick, aloes, sandal, ginger, frankincense, and some trees resembling cinnamon in taste and smell, and abundance of cotton. He saw many falcons, and two of them pursuing the other birds; also kites, herons, daws, turtles, partridges, geese, and nightingales; and he affirmed, that in travelling six leagues they had crossed twenty-six rivers, several of which were very deep; but I am apt to believe, as the country was very woody and uneven, that they had often crossed the same river. While the party under Hojeda were admiring the beauties of the country, and other parties were going about in all directions in search of the stragglers, they returned to the ship on Friday the 8th of November without having been met by any of those who looked for them. They excused themselves by saying that they had lost their way in the woods; but to punish their presumption, the admiral ordered the captain to be put in irons, and that the rest should have their allowance of provisions retrenched. The admiral then landed and went to some of the houses, where he saw all the particulars which have been already mentioned; likewise abundance of cotton, both spun and unspun, and looms for weaving, many human skulls hung up, and baskets full of human bones. The houses in this island were better, and more plentifully furnished with provisions and other things used by the Indians, than any which he had seen in his first voyage.
   On Sunday the 10th of November the admiral weighed anchor, standing with the whole fleet towards the N.W. along the coast of Guadaloupe, and came to an island which he named Monseratte on account of its height; and was informed by the Indians on board that the Caribs had entirely dispeopled it by devouring all the inhabitants. He thence proceeded by St Mary Redonda, so named on account of its round and upright shape, insomuch, that there seemed no possibility of getting up to it without ladders. It was called Ocamaniro by the Indians. He next came to St Maria la Antigua, which is about twenty-eight leagues in extent. Still holding on his course to the N.W. there appeared several other islands towards the north, and in the N.W. and S.E. all very high and woody; at one of these he cast anchor and named it St Martin. They here took up some pieces of coral sticking to the flukes of the anchors, which made them hope to find other useful articles of commerce in these islands. Though the admiral was always anxious to examine into every place which he discovered, he yet resolved to hold on his course towards Hispaniola, that he might carry relief to the people who had been left there. But the weather being bad, he was obliged to come to anchor at an island on the 14th of November, where he gave orders to take some of the inhabitants, that he might learn whereabout he then was. As the boat was returning to the fleet with four women and three children whom they had taken, it met a canoe in which were four men and a woman; who perceiving that they could not escape, stood upon their defence, and hit two of the Spaniards with their arrows, which they discharged with such force and dexterity that the woman pierced a target quite through. The Spaniards attempted to board, and the canoe was overset, so that all the Indians were taken swimming in the water; and one of them shot several arrows while swimming, as dexterously as if he had been on dry land.
   These people were found to be castrated; for they had been made prisoners by the Caribs in some other islands, who had so used them as we do capons, that they might become fatter and better food. Departing from thence, the admiral continued his voyage W.N.W. where he fell in with a cluster of above fifty islands, which he left to the northward of his course. The largest of these he named the island of St. Ursula, and the others he called the Eleven Thousand Virgins. He next came to the island called Borriquen by the Indians, but which he named St John the Baptist, in a bay on the west side of which the fleet came to anchor, where they caught several sorts of fish, as skate, olaves, pilchards, and shads. On the land they saw falcons, and bushes resembling wild vines. More to the eastwards some Spaniards went to certain houses well built after the Indian fashion, having a square before them and a broad road down to the sea, with bowers on each side made of canes, and curiously interwoven with evergreens, such as are seen in the gardens of Valencia. At the end of the road next the sea there was a raised stage or balcony, lofty and well built, capable of containing ten or twelve men.

   On Friday the fifteenth of November the admiral reached the north side of Hispaniola, and immediately sent on shore at Samana one of the natives of the island who had been in Spain, and who being converted to our holy faith, offered to engage all his countrymen to submit to the Christians. The admiral continued his voyage to the Nativity, and off Cape Angel some Indians came on board to barter their commodities. Coming to anchor in the bay of Monte Christo a boat was sent on shore, the people of which found two dead men lying near a river. One of these seemed to be young and the other old, having a rope made of a substance like Spanish broom round his neck, and his arms extended and tied to a piece of wood in the form of a cross. Having been long dead, it could not be known whether these people were Christians or Indians, but it was considered an evil omen. The next day, twenty-sixth November, the admiral sent on shore in several places, and the Indians came boldly and freely to converse with the Spaniards, touching their shirts and doublets, and naming these articles in the Spanish language. This confidence and friendly behaviour relieved the admiral from the fears which he had conceived on account of the dead men; believing that if the natives had injured the Christians whom he had left, they would not have come so boldly on board the ships. But next day, coming to anchor about midnight near the town of Nauidad or the Nativity, a canoe came to the fleet and asked for the admiral, and being bid to come on board, they refused to do so till they should see him. The admiral therefore went to the ships side to hear what they had to say, and then two men from the canoe went up with two marks of gold, which they presented with many compliments to the admiral as from the cacique Guacanagari. Being asked concerning the Christians who were left at the Nativity, they answered that some of them had died of distempers, some had parted from the company and had gone into other parts of the country, and that all of them had four or five wives. Though it appeared from the way in which these Indians spoke, that all or most of the colonists were dead, yet the admiral did not think fit to take much notice of the circumtance at the time; he therefore dismissed the messengers with some brass trinkets and other baubles for Guacanagari, and a few to themselves.
   Towards evening on Thursday the twenty-eighth November the admiral came with all the fleet into the harbour of the Nativity, and found the whole town burnt, and no person whatever could be seen about the place. Next morning the admiral landed, and was much concerned to find the fort and houses entirely destroyed, and nothing left which had belonged to the Christians, except some tattered garments and other broken articles of no value. Finding no person at whom he could make inquiries, he went up a river in the neighbourhood with several boats, leaving orders to clean out the well which he had dug in the fort, as he had directed the colonists to throw all the gold they could get into that well, to be prepared against the worst that might happen; but nothing of the kind could be found. On his way up the river he could meet with none of the Indians, who all fled from their houses into the woods on his approach. He therefore returned to Nauidad, where eight of the Christians had been discovered and three others in the fields, who were recognized by the remnants of their apparel, and seemed to have been a month dead. While prosecuting this melancholy search, a brother of the cacique Guacanagari came, accompanied by some Indians, to the admiral. These men could speak a few words of Spanish, and knew the names of all the Christians who had been left there. They said that those Spaniards had soon fallen out among themselves after the departure of the admiral, everyone taking for himself as much gold and as many women as he could procure. That Gutierres and Escovedo killed one named James, and then went away with nine others and all their women to the territories of a cacique named Caunabo who was lord of the mines, and by whom they had all been killed. That many days afterwards Caunabo came with a great number of men to Nauidad, where only James de Arana remained with ten men to guard the fort, all the rest of the Spaniards having dispersed about the island. Caunabo came by night and set fire to the houses where the Christians resided with their women, all of whom fled to the sea, where eight of them were drowned, three of them being slain on shore. That Guacanagari, in fighting against Caunabo in defence of the Christians, had been wounded and fled.
   This account agreed with that which was received by some Spaniards whom the admiral had sent up into the country, and had gone to a town in the interior where the cacique lay ill of his wounds. This he said had prevented him from waiting upon the admiral and giving him an account of the catastrophe of the Christians, which he narrated exactly in conformity with the account given by his brother, and he requested that the admiral would go to see him as he was unable to be moved. The admiral went accordingly next day, and with great signs of sorrow the cacique related all that had happened, and that he and his men had all been wounded in endeavouring to defend the Christians, as appeared by their wounds, which had not been inflicted by Christian weapons, but with aragayas or wooden swords and arrows pointed with fish bones. At the end of his discourse the cacique presented to the admiral eight strings of small beads made of white, green, and red stones, a string of gold beads, a royal crown of gold, and three small calabashes full of gold dust, all of which might be about four marks weight of gold, the mark being half a pound. In return for all this the admiral gave him abundance of our baubles, which though not worth three ryals or eighteen-pence, he yet valued exceedingly. Although Guacanagari was very ill, he insisted upon going, with the admiral to see the fleet, where he was courteously entertained, and was much delighted to see the horses, of which he had received an account from the Christians. And as some of those who had been killed had given him a very erroneous account of our holy faith, the admiral used his best endeavours to instruct him, and prevailed with him to wear an image of the Virgin Mary suspended from his neck, which he had at first refused to receive.
   Reflecting on the disaster of the Christians at Nauidad, and his own misfortune in that neighbourhood by losing his ship, and considering that there were other places at no great distance more commodious for the establishment of a colony, he sailed on Saturday the seventh of December with the whole fleet to the eastwards, and about evening cast anchor not far from the islands of Monte Christo. And the next day removed to Monte Christo, among those seven low islands which were mentioned in the account of the former voyage. These little islands, although destitute of trees, are yet extremely pleasant; for in that season of winter they found a profusion of fine flowers, the nests had many of them eggs, and young birds in others, and all other things resembled the appearance of summer in Spain. Removing thence, he went to anchor before an Indian town where he had resolved to plant his colony, and landed all the men, provisions, utensils, and animals which had been brought on board the fleet. The place he now chose was a fine plain near a rock on which a fort might be very conveniently built for its defence; and here he immediately began to build a town which he named Isabella, in honour of the queen of Castile. The port of this place, though exposed to the N.W. was large and convenient, and had a most delicious river only a bow-shot distant, from which canals of water might be drawn for the use of the town, to run through the streets. Immediately beyond that river there lay a vast open plain, from the extremity of which the Indians said the gold mines of Cibao were not far remote. For all these reasons the admiral was so extremely intent upon settling the colony, that what with the fatigues which he had endured at sea and the labour he now encountered, he not only was unable to write down from day to day the occurrences as had been his usual custom, but he fell sick, by which causes his journal was interrupted from the eleventh of December 1493 till the twelfth of March 1494. During all this time however, he ordered the affairs of the colony to the best advantage, as far as he was able. In this interval likewise he detached Alonzo de Hojeda with an escort of fifteen men to explore the mines of Cibao. And afterwards he sent on the second of February twelve ships of his fleet back to Spain under the command of Captain Anthony de Torres, who was brother to the nurse of Don John prince of Spain. Torres was a man of great judgment and entire honour, in whom their Catholic majesties and the admiral reposed much confidence. With him the admiral sent a detailed account in writing of the nature of the country, and of every thing which was required for the assistance of the infant colony, as well as an ample account of every occurrence from the time the fleet had departed from Spain.
   Hojeda returned soon after the departure of the fleet, and gave an account of his journey. He reported that he halted on the second night of his journey at the pass of a mountain which was of very difficult access. That afterwards at many leagues distance, he found Indian villages and caciques who had been very kind to him; and that at the end of his sixth days journey he came to the mines of Cibao, were the Indians immediately took up gold in his presence from the bed of a small river, as they had done in many other places on his route, where he affirmed that there was plenty of gold. This news greatly rejoiced the admiral, who was now recovered from his sickness, and he resolved to go on shore to observe the nature of the country and the disposition of the inhabitants, that he might be the better able to judge of what ought to be done. Accordingly, on Wednesday the twelfth of March 1494, he set out from Isabella to inspect the mines of Cibao, taking all the people along with him who were in health, part on foot and part on horseback; leaving a good guard in the two ships and three caravels that remained of the fleet, and causing all the tackle and ammunition belonging to the other ships to be removed into his own.
   He took the above mentioned precaution to prevent any from rebelling during his absence and seizing the ships to return home, as several had attempted to do during his sickness. Many had embarked in this voyage under the belief that they might load themselves with gold as soon as they landed, and so return rich home in a short time. But gold wherever it is to be found requires time, trouble and labour to gather it; and matters not turning out according to their sanguine expectations, they became dissatisfied and offended, and weary of the fatigue attending the building of Isabella, and of the diseases which the climate and change of diet had engendered among them. One Bernard de Pisa, who had been an inferior officer of justice at court, and who had gone the voyage as comptroller for their Catholic majesties, was the ring-leader and head of these mutineers; therefore the admiral would not punish him any otherwise than by securing him on board ship, with the design of sending him home to Spain, with his process regularly drawn up, as well on account of his mutinous conduct as for having written a false information against the admiral, which he had hidden in the ship.
   Having properly ordered all these matters, and having left some persons in whom he could confide both at sea and on shore, to look to and secure the fleet under the charge of his brother Don James Columbus, he set out for Cibao, carrying with him all the necessary tools and implements for building a fort to keep that district under subjection, and for securing the Christians who might be left there to gather gold from any evil designs or attempts of the Indians. And the more to impress the natives with awe and respect, and to take away all hopes that they might be able to do now as they had done with Arana and the thirty-eight Christians who had been left with him at the Nativity, he carried all the men that he could along with him, that the natives might see and be sensible of the power of the Christians, and that if any injury should be offered even to a single individual of our people, there was a sufficient force to ensure due and severe chastisement. To appear the more formidable to the natives, when he set out from Isabella, and whenever he passed any of the Indian towns, he caused his men to march with their arms in rank and file as is usual in time of war, with trumpets sounding and colours flying. In this way he marched along the river, which lay about a musket-shot from Isabella; he crossed a smaller river about a league beyond, and halted for the night in a plain divided into pleasant fields about three leagues from Isabella, which reached to a craggy hill about two bow-shots high. To this place he gave the name of Puerta de los Hidalgos, or the Gentlemens Pass, because some gentlemen had been sent on before to order a road to be opened, which was the first road ever made in the Indies. The paths made by the Indians are only broad enough for one person to pass at a time.
   Beyond this pass he entered upon a large plain over which he marched five leagues the next day, and halted on the banks of a large river called the River of Canes, which falls into the sea at Monte Christo, and over which the people crossed on rafts and in canoes. In the course of the journey they passed many Indian towns, consisting of round thatched houses, with such small doors that it requires a person entering to stoop very low. As soon as the Indians from Isabella who accompanied the march entered any of those houses they took what they liked best, and yet the owners seemed not to be at all displeased, as if all things were in common among them. In like manner the people of the country were disposed to take from the Christians whatever they thought fit, thinking our things had been in common like theirs; but they were soon undeceived. In the course of this journey they passed over mountains most delightfully wooded, where there were wild vines, aloes, and cinnamon trees37; and another sort that produces a fruit resembling a fig, which were vastly thick at the foot, but had leaves like those of our apple trees.
   The admiral continued his march from the River of Canes on Friday the 14th March, and a league and a half beyond it he came to another which he called the River of Gold, because some grains of gold were gathered in passing. Having crossed this river with some difficulty, the admiral proceeded to a large town, whence many of the inhabitants fled to the mountains; but most of them fortified their houses by barring the doorways with large canes, as if that had been a sufficient defence to hinder any body from coming in; for according to their customs, no one dares to break in at a door that is barred up in this manner, as they have no wooden doors or any other means of shutting up their houses. From the river of gold the march was continued to another fine river, which was named Rio verde, or the Green River, at which the party halted for the night. Continuing the march next day, they passed several considerable towns, the inhabitants of which had barricadoed their doors with canes and sticks in the manner already mentioned. The whole party being fatigued with the march of this day, halted for the night at the foot of a rugged mountain, to which the admiral gave the name of Puerto de Cibao, or the Pass of Cibao, because the province or district of Cibao begins beyond that mountain. Betwixt the former ridge named the Hidalgos Pass and this of Cibao they had travelled directly south for eleven leagues over a fine level plain. From this place the admiral sent back a party with several mules to Isabella to bring a supply of bread and wine, as they began to want provisions; the Spaniards suffered the more on this long journey that they were not yet accustomed to the food of the country, which is more easy of digestion and agrees better with the constitution in that country than what is brought from Europe, according to the experience of those who now live and travel in these parts, though not so nourishing.
   The people who had been sent for provisions having returned, the admiral passed over the mountain along a path so narrow, steep, and winding, that the horses were led over with much difficulty. They now entered the district of Cibao, which is rough and stoney and full of gravel, yet plentifully covered with grass, and watered with several rivers in which gold is found. The farther they went in this country they found it the rougher and more uncouth, and everywhere encumbered with mountains, on the summits even of which they found grains of gold, which is washed down from the tops of these mountains by the great rains and torrents into the beds of the rivers, and there found in small dust, sand, or grains, interspersed with some of a larger size. This province is as large as Portugal, and abounds in mines and brooks producing gold; but for the most part has few trees, and these are mostly pines and palms of several sorts, growing on the banks of the rivers. As Ojeda had travelled before into this country, the Indians had some knowledge of the Christians; and understanding that they came in search of gold, the natives came to meet the admiral everywhere during the march with small quantities of gold which they had gathered, and bringing presents of provisions. Being now 18 leagues from Isabella38, and the country he had marched over from the Pass of Cibao very rugged, the admiral ordered a fort to be constructed in a strong and very pleasant situation, to command the country about the mines, and to protect the Christians that might be employed there in procuring gold, and gave it the name of the castle of St Thomas. He gave the command of this new fort to Don Pedro Margarite, with a garrison of 56 men, among whom were workmen of all kinds for building the castle, which was constructed of clay and timber, as of sufficient strength to resist the efforts of any number of Indians that might come against it. On breaking ground for the foundations of the fort, and cutting a rock to form its ditches, at two fathoms below the surface, they found several nests made of hay and straw, containing instead of eggs three or four round stones as large as oranges, as artificially made as if they had been cannon-balls39. In the river that runs at the foot of the hill on which the castle was built, they found stones of several colours, some of them large, of pure marble, and others of jasper.

   Leaving orders for finishing the fortifications of fort St Thomas, the admiral set out on his return for Isabella on Friday the 21st of March. Near the Green River he met the escort of mules with provisions, which he sent on to the fort40; and was constrained to remain some time at the green river on account of the excessive rains which then fell. While afterwards endeavouring to find the fords of the Rio Verde and Rio del Oro, which is larger than the Ebro, he had to remain for several days among the towns of the Indians, subsisting his whole party on the Indian bread and garlick, which the natives parted with for a small price. On Sunday the 29th of March he returned to Isabella, where melons were already grown and fit for eating, although the seed had only been put into the ground two months before. Cucumbers came up in twenty days. A wild vine of the country having been pruned, had produced large and excellent grapes. On the 30th of March a peasant gathered some ears of wheat which had only been sown in the latter end of January. There were vetches likewise, but much larger than the seed they had brought from Spain; these had sprung up in three days after they were sown, and the produce was fit to eat after twenty-five days. The stones of fruit set in the ground sprouted in seven days. Vine branches shot out in the same time, and in twenty-five days they gathered green grapes.
   Sugar canes budded in seven days. All this wonderful rapidity of vegetation proceeded from the temperature of the climate, which was not unlike that of the south of Spain, being rather cool than hot at the present season of the year. The waters likewise were cold, pure, and wholesome; so that upon the whole the admiral was well satisfied with the soil and air, and with the people of the country.
   On Tuesday the 1st of April, intelligence was brought by a messenger from fort St Thomas, that all the Indians of that country had withdrawn from the neighbourhood, and that a cacique named Caunabo was making preparations to attack the fort. Knowing how inconsiderable the people of that country were, the admiral was very little alarmed by this news, and was especially confident in the horses which were in that garrison, as he knew the Indians were particularly afraid of them, and would not enter a house where a horse stood lest they should be devoured. But, as he designed to go out from Isabella with the three caravels he had detained there on purpose to discover the continent, he thought fit to send more men and provisions to the fort, that every thing might remain quiet and safe during his absence. Wherefore, on Wednesday the 2d of April he sent 70 men with a supply of provisions and ammunition to fort St Thomas. Of these, 25 were appointed to strengthen the immediate garrison, and the others were directed to assist in making a new road between the puerto and the fort, the present one being very troublesome and difficult, as well as the fords of the rivers, which were ordered to be cleared. While the ships were fitting out to go upon the new discovery, the admiral attended to order all things necessary and useful for the town of Isabella, which he divided into regular streets, and provided with a convenient market-place. He likewise endeavoured to bring the river water to the town along a large canal, because the river being almost a gun-shot distant, occasioned much trouble to the people in supplying themselves with water; more especially as most of them were then weak and indisposed, owing to the sharpness of the air, which did not agree with them. They had now no other Spanish provisions except bread and wine, owing partly to the bad management of the captains of the ships, and partly because nothing keeps so well in that country as in Spain; and though they had abundance of the provisions of the country, yet not being used to that food it did not agree with them, and many of them were sick. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, he resolved to send back part of the people into Spain, retaining only 300 men in the island, which number he considered as quite sufficient for keeping the country under subjection. In the mean time, as biscuit began to grow scarce and they had no flour to make more, though wheat was in plenty, he resolved to construct some mills, although there was no fall of water fit for the purpose within less than a league from the town; in this and all other works he was under the necessity of constantly superintending the workmen, who all endeavoured to save themselves from any labour or fatigue.
   To husband the remaining provisions, Hojeda was sent from Isabella on Wednesday the 29th of April with 400 men, leaving none in the town who were in health except handicrafts and artificers. These were ordered to march about the country in various directions to strike terror into the Indians, to accustom them to subjection, and to enure the Spaniards to the food of country. Hojeda was ordered to march in the first place to fort St Thomas, of which he was to take the command as the first discoverer of the province of Cibao, which in the Indian language means the stony country. Don Pedro Marguerite was then to take charge of marching with this little army about the country. While on his outward march, Hojeda apprehended a cacique who resided on the other side of the Rio del Oro, together with his brother and nephew, sending them in irons to the admiral, and cut off the ears of one of his subjects in the great place of his town, for the following reason: This cacique had sent five Indians along with three Christians who were travelling from St Thomas to Isabella to carry their clothes over the river at the ford, and they being come to the middle of the river returned to the town with the clothes, when the cacique, instead of punishing the people for the robbery, took the clothes to himself and refused to restore them. Another cacique who dwelt beyond the river, relying on the service he had done the Christians, went along with the prisoners to Isabella to intercede with the admiral for their pardon. The admiral received him very courteously, but ordered that the prisoners should be brought out into the market-place with their hands bound, and sentenced them to die. On seeing this the friendly cacique petitioned for their lives with many tears, promising that they should never be guilty of any other offence; at length the admiral relented and discharged them all. Soon afterwards a person came on horseback from St Thomas, and reported that he had found five Christian prisoners in the town of the cacique who had just been pardoned, who had been taken by his subjects while going from Isabella; that by frightening the Indians with his horse he had obtained the relief of the prisoners, above 400 of the Indians running away from him alone, two of whom he wounded in the pursuit; and that when he crossed the river the Indians turned back upon the Christians to retake them, but by making as if he would go against them, they all ran away lest the horse should fly over the river.
   Before proceeding on his intended voyage for discovering the continent, the admiral appointed a council to govern the island in his absence, of which he appointed his brother Don James Columbus president: the others were F. Boyl and Peter Fernandez Coronell regents, together with Alonzo Sanchez de Caravajal, rector of Bracca, and Juan de Luxan of Madrid, gentleman to their Catholic majesties. That there might be no want of flour for supporting the people, he hastened the building of the mills, notwithstanding the rain and floods which very much obstructed the work. Owing to these rains, in the admirals opinion, the great fertility of the island proceeded. So wonderful is this fertility that they eat the fruits of the trees in the month of November, while at the same time they are blossoming afresh, by which it is evident that they bear fruit twice every year. But herbs and seeds grow at all times indiscriminately, and nests with eggs and young birds are found on the trees throughout the whole year. As the fruitfulness of the island appeared so extraordinary, so daily accounts arrived of its abundant wealth, and of the discovery of new mines, which coincided with the reports of the Indians concerning the great quantity of gold to be met with in several parts of the island41. But the admiral could not rest satisfied with these things, and resolved to prosecute his discoveries by sea, beginning with the coast of Cuba, not yet knowing whether it was an island or a continent.
   In the afternoon of Thursday the 24th of April 1494 the admiral sailed with three caravels from Isabella, and came to anchor that evening at Monte Christo, having shaped his course to the west. On Friday he went to Guacanagaris port, or the Nativity, thinking to find him there; but he fled, though his subjects falsely affirmed that he would soon return. Not caring to stay without sufficient cause, he departed on Saturday the 26th of April, and went to the island of Tortuga 6 leagues to the westwards. He lay here all that night in a calm with all his sails loose, the tide running back against the current. Next day the N.W. wind and a strong current setting to the west obliged him to go back to anchor in the river Guadalquiver in the same island, to wait for a wind sufficient to stem the current, which both then and the year before he found to run strong from the east. On Tuesday the 29th of April, the wind became fair and he was able to reach Cape St Nicholas, whence he crossed over to Cuba and run along its southern coast a league beyond Cape Fuerte, where he put into a large bay which he named Puerto Grande or the Great Harbour. The mouth of this port was 150 paces across, and had abundant depth of water. He cast anchor in this bay, where he procured refreshment of fish and oysters, which the Indians had in great abundance. On the first of May he continued his voyage along the coast, where he everywhere found commodious harbours, fine rivers, and lofty mountains. After leaving Tortuga the sea everywhere abounded with the same kind of weeds which he saw on the ocean in his voyages to and from Spain. While sailing along the coast many of the natives came off in their canoes, and thinking our people came down from heaven, freely bestowed their country bread and fish without asking any thing in return; but the admiral ordered them to be paid with beads, bells, and such like baubles, and sent them away well pleased.
   On Saturday the third of May, having heard that there was much gold in Jamaica, he stood over for that island, which he discovered on Sunday the fourth of May. Upon Monday he came to an anchor there, and thought it the most beautiful of any island he had yet seen in the West Indies, and was astonished at the multitudes of people who came off to the ships in large and small canoes. Next day he ran along the coast in search of harbours. The boats being sent in to examine a harbour which the admiral named Puerto Bueno or the Good Port, so many canoes came out filled with armed natives to defend their country, that our people thought proper to return towards the ships, to avoid any quarrel with these people; but considering that to shew any signs of fear would make the Indians proud, they returned again towards the port; and as the Indians came to drive them off they gave them a flight of arrows from their cross-bows, by which six or seven of them were wounded, and they all retired. The fight ended upon this, and afterwards many natives came off to the ships in a peaceable manner to see our people and to barter provisions and other articles for such trifles as our people offered. In this bay, which is in the form of a horse shoe, the admiral repaired his ship which was leaky; and then sailed on the ninth of May, keeping along shore to the westwards, the Indians following continually in their canoes to trade or barter with our people. The wind proving rather contrary, and not being able to make so much way as he wished, the admiral left the coast of Jamaica and stood over for Cuba, designing to keep along its coast for five or six hundred leagues, that he might be satisfied whether it were an island or the continent. That day while leaving Jamaica, a young Indian came on board desiring to be carried into Spain, and when several of his kindred and others entreated him to return he refused to change his resolution, and to avoid the importunities of his friends, and not to see his sisters cry and sob, he went where they could not come to him. The admiral admired his resolution, and gave orders that he should be civilly treated.
   Leaving Jamaica on Wednesday the 15th of May, the admiral came to that point of Cuba which he named Cabo de Santa Cruz, or Cape Holy Cross. In running along the coast they encountered a great storm of thunder and lightning which, combined with numerous flats and strong currents, occasioned much trouble and great danger, being obliged to struggle at the same time against two evils which required opposite remedies; for it is proper during thunder to strike the sails, whereas it is necessary to spread them to avoid the flats, and had this double calamity lasted for eight or ten leagues it had been quite insupportable. The worst of all was, that all over this sea, both northwards, and to the north-east, the farther they went the greater number of low little islands they met with, in some of which there were trees, but others were sandy and scarcely appeared above the surface of the water; some of these were a league in compass, some more and some less. The nearer they kept to the coast of Cuba the higher and pleasanter these small islands appeared; and it being difficult and useless to give names to every one, the admiral called them all in general Jardin de la Reyna, or the Queens Garden. They saw many more islands next day to the north-east, north-west, and south-west, insomuch that they counted 160 islands that day, all parted by deep channels, many of which the ships sailed through. In some of these islands they saw many cranes resembling those of Spain in shape and size, but of a scarlet colour42. In others they found great numbers of turtles, or sea tortoises, and immense quantities of their eggs, which are not unlike those of a hen but with much harder shells. The female turtle deposits her eggs in holes on the sand, and covering them up leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the sun, which brings forth the little turtles, which grow in time to be as large as a buckler or great target. In these islands they also saw crows and cranes like those of Spain, and sea crows, and infinite numbers of small birds which sung delightfully, and the very air was sweet, as if they had been among roses and the finest perfumes; yet the danger was very great on account of the innumerable channels among the islands, by which much time was spent in finding the way through.
   In one of these channels they observed a canoe with Indian fishermen, who very quietly awaited our boat coming towards them, and made signs not to approach near till they had done fishing. Their manner of fishing was so strange and new to our people that they willingly complied, and looked on with astonishment. They had tied certain small fishes which they call reves by the tail with a long line and let them into the water, where these reves attached themselves to other fishes, by means of a certain roughness which they have from the head to the middle of the back, and stick so fast that the Indians drew both up together. It was a turtle our men saw taken in this manner, and the reve clung close to its neck, which place they usually fasten upon because safe from being bitten by the other fish, and they sometimes fasten upon vast sharks. When the Indians in the canoe had thus taken the turtle, having already two others, they came in a very friendly manner to know what our men would have, and went by their direction on board the admiral who treated them courteously, and to whom they would have freely given all they had; but he would only allow their fish to be taken, and refused their nets, hooks, and calabashes full of water which they had on board to drink, for which he gave them some trifles with which they went away very well contented. From these Indians he learnt that there were an infinite multitude of islands in that sea, and he held on his course. But beginning to want provisions he could not continue much longer, otherwise he meant to have gone west about before returning to Hispaniola, although much spent, having never had it in his power to go to bed, except eight nights, from the time he left Hispaniola on the 24th of April till now, which was the 19th of May. He always had much care and anxiety in his voyages, but infinitely greater this time by reason of the innumerable islands among which he was sailing, insomuch that on the 20th of May they counted seventy-one, besides a great many more that were seen about sun-set. These islands are not only dangerous on account of their numbers, but there rises from them every night a heavy fog to the eastwards, so dismal to behold as if some great shower of hail would fall, and it is generally accompanied by violent thunder and lightning; but when the moon rises it all vanishes, partly turning to rain and wind. These phenomena are so natural and usual in these seas that they not only took place all those nights on which the admiral was there, but I saw the same among those islands in the year 1503 on my return from the discovery of Veragua; and generally, the wind here is every night from the north, coming from the island of Cuba, and afterwards when the sun rises it comes about east, and follows the sun till it comes to the west