296 THE SEA. 



king. The popular view, as adopted by most writers, is that he regarded Columbus as 

 having served his day : the ladder had fulfilled its use, and might now be kicked down. 

 It is, perhaps, more reasonable to believe that Ferdinand hardly knew how to act, with 

 his queen still firmly believing in the great discoverer, and so much pressure in other 

 directions being brought to bear from the court and outside. It was determined to send 

 out a commissioner to investigate the affairs of the colony, and the person chosen seems 

 to have been a most unfit agent. Ho was one Francisco de Bobadilla, a poor knight of 

 Calatrava, who, puffed up with arrogance at his sudden elevation, seems from the first to 

 have regarded Columbus in the light of a convicted criminal. On his arrival in San 

 Domingo he immediately commanded the admiral to appear before him, and without even 

 pretence of legal inquiry, put him in chains, and thrust him into prison. His two 

 brothers, Bartolomeo and Diego, suffered the same indignities. Bobadilla gave orders 

 that he should be kept strictly in irons during the passage ; " afraid," says his son 

 Ferdinand, satirically, " that he might by any chance swim back again to the island." 

 It is recorded that the officers who had him in charge would have removed them, but 

 Columbus proudly and bitterly told them, " I will wear them till the king orders other- 

 wise, and will preserve them as memorials of his gratitude/' On arrival at Cadiz, it is 

 not to be wondered that the popular indignation burst forth like a torrent, and was 

 re-echoed through Spain; all seemed to feel it as a national dishonour that such indignities 

 should be heaped on the greatest discoverer of his day. Ferdinand understood the weight 

 of obloquy which, rightly or wrongly, would rest upon him, and sent to Cadiz immediately 

 to release him. The king disclaimed all share in the shameful act; while the queen, who 

 was at least honest in the matter, shed tears when the old man came into her presence, 

 and endeavoured to cheer his wounded spirit. But Ferdinand had no intention of re- 

 instating him in his former power, and Columbus wasted nine months in vain solicitations 

 for redress. At the end of this time, another governor of Hispaniola was appointed in his 

 place. During this time Columbus was reduced to poverty, and we have his own statement 

 to the effect that "he had no place to repair to except an inn, and very frequently had 

 not wherewithal to pay his reckoning." 



Later he was indeed employed on a fourth voyage, but with greatly curtailed powers. 

 He imagined that there might be a passage through the Isthmus of Darien, which would 

 shorten the passage to the East Indies. It need not be stated that he did not find it, 

 although a ship canal through that neck of land has been and is now being mooted, and may 

 some day become an accomplished fact. He, however, discovered parts of the coasts of Honduras, 

 the Mosquito coast, and Costa Rica. Again we find him making his way to Hispaniola, 

 on this occasion with only two over-crowded vessels, almost wrecks in fact, out of the four 

 with which he had sailed from Cadiz. Here he exhausted his funds in procuring necessaries 

 and comforts for his men, even for those who had on the voyage been the ringleaders of 

 vexatious and outrageous mutinies. At length he returned to Spain, where he learned of the 

 death of Queen Isabella, his warm patron. Wearied with illness and disappointment, 

 it was some months before he could proceed on his journey to the court, then at Segovia. 

 Columbus at this period of his life he was not far from seventy years of age suffered 

 severely from gout. When he did meet Ferdinand, that monarch gave him fair words, 



