LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 371 



But neither the people nor the sovereigns of Spain 

 were prepared for this step : and upon the arrival of Co- 

 lumbus on the shores of that kingdom in the condition 

 just mentioned, a universal burst of indignation was excit- 

 ed. The king and queen, too, received the admiral, now 

 liberated, with a kindness which overcame him more than 

 all his calamities ; he threw himself upon his knees before 

 them, and for some time could not utter a word for the 

 violence of his tears and sobbings. But gracious as they 

 were, and respectfully as they listened to his request that 

 preparations might be made for a fourth expedition under 

 his command, various obstacles stood in his way, as usual, 

 not the least of which was probably a suppressed jeal- 

 ousy of the king. But an armament was at last com- 

 pleted, consisting of four small caravels and one hundred 

 and fifty men : and the admiral, with his brother and son, 

 leaving Cadiz once more, in May, 1502, arrived upon the 

 shores of San Domingo about the last of June. Here, 

 notwithstanding the apparent approach of a storm, Bo- 

 badilla's successor, the governor of the Colony, refused 

 him even shelter for his vessels, a measure attributed by 

 some writers to the circumstances that large numbers of 

 the colonists were at this time the inveterate enemies of 

 the admiral, and mij?ht be expected to treat him with 

 violence. His excellent seamanship saved him, however r 

 from the storm y terrible as it was ; while Bobadilla and 

 many others of his worst enemies who had rashly em- 

 barked for Spain, regardless of his prediction, with all 

 the ill-gotten wealth with which they loaded their vessels, 

 were overwhelmed, and perished in the strife of the ele- 

 ments. After this, the admiral coasted along the shores 

 of Honduras, the Musquito coast, and Costa Rica in the 

 vain hope of discovering a strait between North and South 

 America. Meanwhile, he discovered Porto-Bello r explor- 

 ed various sections of the main land, and attempted the 

 formation of a settlement. Compelled after incredible ex- 

 ertions and sufferings to abandon these projects, he return- 

 ed towards Jamaica ; nothing being now left of his sea- 

 stores but a little oil, biscuit, and vinegar, while his men 

 were obliged to labor incessantly at the pumps to keep 

 their crazy vessel from sinking. In this condition, they 



