Authentic Letters of Columbus, 125 



Sailors are people who are fond of making money and of return- 

 ing home, and under the spur of these two feelings are apt to venture 

 all and not wait for the good weather, unless reluctantly. I, myself, 

 as I have said to Your Highnesses on another occasion, once made 

 this voyage, being forced to keep my bed on account of sickness, and 

 when the sun had alread}' left Taurus, and we were in the midst of a 

 severe and dangerous winter. If the winds are favorable the dis- 

 tance is traveled quickly; but no one must start without being sure 

 of the weather, and this assurance can be obtained by observing the 

 sky, and finding out that this is very clear and that the wind comes 

 from the side of the northern star, and blows for some days always 

 in the same direction. 



Your Highnesses know well v/hat happened in the year 1497, 

 while Your Highnesses were at Burgos, and the people were kept in 

 such a state of anxiety on account of the severe storms which raged 

 there continuallv one after another. The weather was so annoving 

 that Your Highnesses decided to leave Burgos and go to Loria. In 

 pursuance of this plan the whole court moved for the latter city on 

 the appointed day, which was a Saturday, it being the intention of 

 Your Highnesses to follow on the next Monday. Biit that very night 

 Your Highnesses received a letter of mine in which I said : The 

 wind began to blow on such and such a day, the fleet cannot have set 

 sail that day, but must have waited until the weather settles, which 

 probably has been on Wednesday. If the fleet started then, it will 

 reach the Island of Huict on Thursday or Friday, and if it does not 

 stop there it will enter Laredo next Monday, or all the sailors' calcula- 

 tions will prove to be false. This letter of mine, coupled with the 

 desire of Your Highnesses to see the Princess sooner, caused Your 

 Highnesses to abandon the idea of going to Loria, and put to test the 

 opinion of the sailor. On Monday, indeed, one of the vessels which 

 had refused to stop at Huict, because of the scarcity of her provis- 

 ions, entered the port of Laredo. 



Many predictions of this kind can be made, and in fact have 

 always been made both on land and on the sea. They certainly will 

 be repeated now, among the many who will navigate between here 

 and the newly discovered islands. The route is known ; 'but if the 

 instruments as well as the rigging and equipment of the vessels are 

 improved, those who will engage in this business will know moret han 

 all others about those lands, and the winds and the times which are 

 more suitable for their purposes, and for the safety of their persons. 



May the Holy Trinity preserve Your Highnesses, as I wish and 

 we all need, with all your great states and dominions. 



Granada, February 6th, 1502. S. 



Endorsement upon enclosure of -No. III. 

 Memorial of the Admiral to Their Highnesses. 

 He came to Valladolid in the year of 



S. A. S. 

 X. M. Y. 



Xpo Ferens. 



