COLUMBUS' CONDITIONS. 



151 



Columbus, to whom she sent twenty thousand maravedis — 

 seventy dollars, nearly — with which to purchase a horse and 

 a proper dress in which to appear before her. 



Columbus arrived at Santa Fe just before the surrender of 

 Grenada and the termination of the struggle between the Cres- 

 cent and the Cross. He was present at the delivery of the keys 

 of the city and the abandonment of the Alhambra to Isabella 

 hy the Moorish king, Boabdil el Chico. After the official re* 

 joicings, the queen gave audience to Columbus. As she already 

 believed in the practicability of the scheme, the only subjects to 

 he discussed were the means of execution, and the recompense to 

 be awarded to Columbus in case of success. A committee was 

 appointed to consider this latter point. Columbus fixed his con- 

 ditions as follows : 



He should receive the title of Grand Admiral of the Ocean : 



He should be Viceroy and Governor-General of all islands and 

 mainlands he might discover : 



He should levy a tax for his own benefit upon all productions 

 — whether spices, fruits, perfumes, gold, silver, pearls, or dia- 

 monds — discovered in, or exported from, the lands under his 

 authority: 



And his titles should be transmissible in his family, forever, 

 by the laws of primogeniture. 



These conditions, being such as would place the threadbare 

 solicitor above the noblest house in Spain, were treated with de- 

 rision by the committee, and Columbus was regarded as an in- 

 solent braggart. He would not abate one tittle of his claims, 

 though, after eighteen years of fruitless effort, he now saw all his 

 hopes at the point of being again dashed to earth. He mounted 

 his mule, and departed for Cordova before quitting Spain for- 

 ever. 



Two friends of the queen now represented the departure of 

 Columbus as an immense and irreparable loss, and, by their sup- 

 plications and protestations, induced her once more to consider 



