CHAP, i.] WEST INDIES, 131 



After the death of this illustrious discoverer,, the 

 transactions of the Spaniards, during a century and a 

 half, in the settlement of Jamaica, have scarcely ob~ 



transactions in the first settlement of the colony. In this book is to be 

 found the translation of a letter to the king of Spain, said to be written 

 by Columbus during his confinement on this island. As it appears to me 

 to bear marks of authenticity, I shall present it to my readers. It was 

 written probably about eight months after the departure of his messenger 

 Diego Mendez, who had attempted to reach Hispaniola in an Indian ca- 

 noe. Hearing nothing from him in that interval, Columbus seems to 

 have relinquished every hope of relief, and to have written this letter in an 

 hour of despondency, not as having any probable means of sending it to 

 Spain, but on the idea that it would be found after his death. It is as 

 follows : 



A Letter from CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, in Jamaica, to King 



FERDINAND. 



" Jamaica, 1504. 



** Diego Mendes, and the papers I sent by him, will shew your high- 

 ness what rich mines of gold I have discovered in Veragua, and how I 

 intended to have left my brother at the river Belin, if the judgments of 

 Heaven and the greatest misfortunes in the world had not prevented it. 

 However it is sufficient that your highness and your successors will have 

 the glory and advantage of all, and that the full discovery and settlement 

 are reserved for happier persons than the unfortunate Columbus. It 

 God be so merciful to me as to conduct Mendes to Spain, I doubt not 

 but he will convince your highness and my great mistress, that this will 

 not only be a Castile and Leon, but a discovery of a world of subjects, 

 lands and wealth, greater than man's unbounded fancy could ever com- 

 prehend, or avarice itself covet: but neither he, this paper, nor the tongue 

 of mortal man, can express the anguish and afflictions of my body and 

 mind; nor the misery and dangers of my son, brother and friends ! Al- 

 ready have we been confined ten months in this place, lodged on the open 

 decks of our ships, that are run on shore and lashed together j those of 



