153 



COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER; 



forms of religion. Solitary in my trouble, sick, and 

 in daily expectation of death, surrounded by millions 

 of hostile savages full of cruelty, and thus separated 

 from the blessed sacraments of our holy Church, how 

 will my soul be forgotten if it be separated from the 

 body in this foreign land? Weep for me whoever 

 has charity, truth, and justice ! I did not come out 

 on this voyage to gain to myself honor or wealth ; 

 this is a certain fact, for at that time all hope of such 

 a thing was dead. I do not lie when I say that I went 

 to your highnesses with honest purpose of heart and 

 sincere zeal in your cause. 1 humbly beseech your 

 highnesses, that if it please God to rescue me from 

 this place, you will graciously sanction my pilgrim- 

 age to Home and other holy places. May the holy 

 Trinity protect your highnesses' lives, and add to the 

 prosperity of your exalted position 1 



Done in the Indies, in the island of Jamaica, on the 

 7th of July, in the year one thousand five hundred 

 and three. 



Columbus was now ill almost to the point of 

 death, and with his brother and many of the 

 company, worn out by hardships, was living in 

 the houses built by lashing together portions of 

 the wrecks of their vessels. In this crisis Diego 

 Mendez returned one day from an excursion for 

 food, in a large canoe purchased from the In- 

 dians, and a daring expedient entered the mind 

 of Columbus. Summoning Mendez, he said: 

 " Diego Mendez, my son, nobody of all those I 

 have here understands the great peril in which 

 we are placed excepting you and myself. We 

 are few, and these savage Indians are many and 

 of fickle and irritable natures. On the least 

 provocation they may throw firebrands from 

 the shore and consume us in our straw-thatched 

 cabins. The arrangement which you have made 

 with them for provisions, and which at present 

 they fulfill so cheerfully, to-morrow they may 

 break in their caprice, and may refuse to bring 

 us anything ; nor have we the means to compel 

 them by force, but are entirely at their pleasure. 

 I have thought of a remedy, if it meets with 

 your views. In this canoe which you have pur- 

 chased some one may pass over to Hispaniola 

 and procure a ship, by which we may all be 

 delivered from this great peril into which we 

 have fallen. Tell me your opinion in the mat- 

 ter." " Senor," replied Mendez, " the danger 

 in which we are placed is far greater than is 

 easily conceived. As to passing from this island 

 to Hispaniola in so small a vessel as a canoe, I 

 hold it not merely as difficult, but impos- 

 sible, since it is necessary to traverse a gulf 

 of 40 leagues, and between islands where the 

 sea is extremely impetuous and seldom in 

 repose. I know not who there is would adven- 

 ture upon a peril so notorious." The silence of 

 Columbus showed plainly what was in his thought, 

 and Mendez added: "Sefior, I have many times 



Eut my life in peril of death to save you and all 

 ere, and God has hitherto preserved me in a 

 miraculous manner; there are, nevertheless, 

 murmurers, who say that your excellency in- 

 trusts to me all affairs wherein honor is to be 

 gained, while there are others in the company 

 who will execute them as well as I. I beg, 

 therefore, that you would summon all the people, 

 and propose this enterprise to thenvand see if 

 among them all there is any who will undertake 

 it, which 1 doubt. If all decline it, I will then 

 come forward and risk my life in your service, 

 as I many times have done." 



Columbus forthwith summoned the whole 

 company, and made the proposition, and all 

 pronounced it mad and impossible. Then Men- 

 dez stepped forward. " Senor," said he, " I 

 have but one life to lose, yet I am willing to 

 venture it upon your service." Columbus sent 

 by him a request to Ovando at Santo Domingo, 

 for a ship to be sent immediately, and also to 

 the sovereigns the letter that has been given 

 above. Mendez was absent so long that the 

 crew began to despair of his return, when two of 

 them, who had been intrusted with power, cir- 

 culated the report that Columbus had been 

 exiled from Spain and from Hispaniola, and 

 they led a mutiny, and, seizing the canoes that 

 Columbus had collected from the Indians for use 

 in case the wreck was set fire to, they escaped 

 to another part of the island. Eight months 

 after the departure of Mendez a ship appeared 

 in the offing, which bore a letter from Ovando 

 expressing his sympathy and asking Columbus 

 to accept a barrel of wine and a side of bacon. 

 Columbus wrote a letter making renewed 

 statements of the danger and distress of his 

 situation, and expressing his confidence that a 

 ship would be sent to his relief. 



In June, 1504, a year after his shipwreck in 

 Jamaica, two vessels arrived for his relief. One 

 of them had been fitted out and provisioned at 

 Columbus's expense by the faithful Diego Men- 

 dez, whose long journey of incredible hardship 

 is one of the strange annals of the time. The 

 other was ordered by Ovando from very shame 

 to be fitted out by the agent of Columbus in 

 Santo Domingo. The mutineers had long since 

 returned penitent, and the whole company set 

 sail for Santo Domingo. 



Meantime, in the colony matters had gone as 

 badly as cruelty, avarice, and ambition could 

 make them, and when the admiral's vessels ap- 

 peared in the harbor there was an ovation in his 

 honor, in which Ovando joined. On Sept. 12 

 Columbus embarked for Spain, taking his com- 

 pany in two vessels. Many of the crew were 

 left in Santo Domingo, the admiral paying their 

 expenses from his own purse, and furnishing 

 funds for those who wished to go with him. As 

 they were leaving port, a tempest wrecked one 

 of the ships, and, crowded into the other, he 

 with his son and brother reached Spain after 

 being driven and tossed by storms throughout 

 the voyage. 



Columbus found that his trials were still to 

 be severe. He wrote to his son Diego : " I have 

 nothing of the revenue due me. ... I live by 

 borrowing. . . . Little have I profited by twenty 

 years of service, with such toils and perils, since 

 at present I do not own a roof in Spain. If I 

 desire to eat or sleep, I have no resort but an 

 inn. and for the most part I have not where- 

 withal to pay my bill." Letter after letter he 

 wrote to the sovereigns in behalf of the sailors 

 who went with him, in terms like these, taken 

 from one letter : " They are poor, and it is 

 now nearly three years since they left their 

 homes. They have endured infinite toils and 

 perils, and they bring invaluable tidings, for 

 which their majesties ought to thank God and 

 rejoice." When he was reminded that he had 

 brought no gold from the mines of Veragua, 

 reported in his last journey, he answered : " I 



