Authentic Letters of Columbus. 175 



A man fits out a vessel and says to one of his sen^ants : I make 

 you master of this vessel ; go, and you shall have one-third of all the 

 profits. Then he calls another servant and says to him: Go on 

 board the vessel to be the purser and you shall have the tenth. Fin- 

 ally he calls a third servant and tells him : Go as a clerk, and whereas 

 you have contributed one-eighth of the expenses yoii shall have also 

 the eighth part of the profits. 



The vessel sailed, and on her return it was found out that the 

 profits amounted to ten ducats. The master says then to the man who 

 fitted out the vessel: " Sir, the profits amount to ten ducats, order 

 the third part of that sum to be given to me as promised," and so he 

 ordered. Then comes the purser and says : ' ' Sir, the profits were 

 ten ducats ; order a tenth of that sum to be given to me as prom- 

 ised," and so he ordered. Finally the clerk comes and says: " Sir, 

 I contributed one-eighth of the expenses to fit out this vessel; the 

 profits made by her are ten ducats, cause one-eighth of these ten 

 ducats to be given to me," and so he did. 



An account like this is to be made to liquidate the share which, 

 under the concessions made in your favor in this business of the In- 

 dies, belongs to you. It would be wrong to give you the tenth of 

 the whole, and then the eighth of the balance, not of the whole, and 

 then the third of the second balance, and not also of the whole. 

 Such a manner of making the calculation would be unacceptable, as 

 each chapter of heading clearly fixes the portion which imder it must 

 be paid to you. 



In regard to the expenses my opinion is that as our Lord has 

 given enough in this business to pay amply all those which have been 

 incurred, you might as well be satisfied with seeing them paid, if so 

 pleases their Highnesses, out of the gold or anything else of value 

 which may be found there, and with having your share of the profits 

 paid to you by their Highnesses out of the net balance. 



I have noticed that your deeds contain a provision, made by 

 their Highnesses, ordering that nothing must be done in regard to 

 the Indies without your personal intervention or the intervention of 

 a person having your power of attorney. 



I have also noticed another provision under which nothing can 

 be sent to the Indies without your signature and the signature of the 

 person appointed at Cadiz for such purposes by their Highnesses, 

 nor can anything brought from the Indies be received here without 

 the signature both of the said person and of the deputy comptroller. 



I have seen also a bull of the Holy Father which is on file among 

 your papers, which states that you were and are the one who discov- 

 ered and won those Indies as a ser^^ant of their Highnesses. 



From all your letters of privileges and concessions it appears, as 

 already stated, that you must have by reason of your rights, equal to 

 those of the Lord Admiral of Castile, one-third of everything 

 obtained within the limits placed imder your jurisdiction as Admiral 

 of the Ocean vSea, and by reason of your other concessions the eighth 

 and the tenth of the same. If their Highnesses make some other 

 concessions in the Indies without saying what is yours a wrong will 



