128 HISTORY OF THIi [BOOK. 11. 



to the New world. In his former voyage he had ex- 

 plored the north-eastern part of Cuba, proceeding 

 from thence to HispaniWi; but he had returned to 

 Europe in doubt whether Cuba was an island only, or 

 part of some great continent, of which he had recei- 

 ved obscure accounts from the natives. To satisfy 

 himself in this particular, he determined, soon after 

 his arrival a second time at Hispaniola, on another 

 voyage to Cuba, by a south-westerly course, and, in 

 pursuance of this resolution, on the 24th of April, 

 1494, Columbus sailed from the port of Isabella, with 

 one ship and two shallops. On Tuesday the 29th, 

 he anchored in the harbour of St. Nicholas. From 

 thence he crossed over to Cuba, and coasted along 

 the southern side of that island, surrounded by many 

 thousand canoes filled with Indians, whom curiosity 

 and admiration had brought together. In this navi- 



tbereon depending in America. By these DEPENDENCIES were meant the 

 British settlements on the Musquito shore, and in the bay of Honduras : 

 But his jurisdiction over those settlements having been imperfectly defi- 

 ned, was seldom acknowledged by the settlers j except when they wish- 

 ed to plead it in bar of the authority claimed by their respective superin- 

 tendants. On such occasions they admitted a superior jurisdiction in the 

 governor of Jamaica, and applied to him for commissions civil and mili- 

 tary. As both the settlements were surrendered to the crown of Spain 

 by the Spanish convention signed at London on the i4'.h of July 1786, 

 it comes not within the plan of my work to enter on a display of their 

 past or present state. I formerly drew up a memorial concerning the 

 settlement on the Musquito-shore, wherein an account was given of 

 the country, its inhabitants and productions, and the question between 

 Great Britain and Spain, as to the territorial right, pretty fully discussed. 

 This memorial having been laid before the House of Commons in 1777 

 (by Governor Johnstone) was soon afterwards published in Almon's 

 Parliamentary Register for that year. 



