136 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. n. 



discovered by Christopher Columbus, but had also 

 included the island of Jamaica, as a joint appendage 

 within the jurisdiction of each. These appointments 

 Diego Columbus considered as a manifest violation of 

 his own rights, and strenuously contended for the ex- 

 clusive privilege of nominating, in particular, to the 

 governments of Veragua and Jamaica, the prior dis- 

 covery of both those countries by his father being a 

 circumstance of universal notoriety. To secure hi 

 claim to Jamaica, in the month of November 1509, 

 lie sent thither Juan de Esquivel, with about seventy 

 men. Esquivel had acquired the reputation of a gal- 

 lant soldier, and it is still more to his honour, that he 

 was one of the very few Castillians, who, amidst all 

 the horrors of bloodshed and infectious rapine, were 

 distinguished for generosity and humanity. An emi- 

 nent instance of his greatness of mind is recorded by 

 Herrera. About the time that he sailed from Ilispa- 

 niola to take possession of his new government of 

 Jamaica, his competitor Ojeda was on his departure 

 to the continent. Ojeda violently opposed the in- 

 tended expedition of Esquivel, and publicly threat- 

 ened that if he should find him at Jamaica, on his re- 

 turn from the continent, he would hang him up as a 

 rebel. It happened that Ojeda' s voyage was un- 

 fortunate in the highest degree; for after sustaining a 

 series of unexampled calamities, he was shipwrecked 

 on the coast of Cuba, and was in danger of miserably 

 perishing for want of food. In his distress he called to 

 mind that Esquivel was in Jamaica, and he was now 

 reduced to the sad extremity of imploring succour from 

 the very man whose destruction he had meditated; 



