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Was not fit that their Catholic Majeilies iliould know he 
had been the P^ing-Ieader of fuch a Mutiny, he fought 
plaufible Pretences to cover his Defigns; he perfuaded 
the People that the bell V/ay to fecure the Friendfhip 
of the Indians^ was to quit them ot the Tribute: And 
Advice being brought that Guarinoei^'’^ Indians did not 
pay the Tribute, and that they gave Tokens of Unea- 
fiiiefs, Don James Columbus^ thinking to put Roldan out 
'of the A¥ay, fent him with a confiderable Part of the 
Men to the Conception.^ v/here he carried on the Mutiny 
more effedually, and difarmed thofe that would not 
follow. Returning to Ifabella., having by Force taken 
the Key of the Magazine, he broke the Locks in Pieces, 
and crying long live the King., took all the Arms and 
Provifions he thought fit for his Followers, and fet up 
for himfelf. Don James attempted to appeafe the Mu- 
tiny, but Francis Roldan behaved himfelf fo infolently, 
that he thought fit to retire into the Fort. 
The Mutineers went where the King’s Cattle were, 
and, having taken what Cows, Mares, and Colts they 
thought fit, they went amongft the Towns, giving 
out that they had quarrelled with the Admiral’s Bro- 
thers, on Account of the Tribute they exacted, perfuad- 
ed them not to pay any, and they would defend them. 
The true Reafon this Fellow behaved in this infolent 
and rebellious Manner, was the Projedl he had formed 
of fecuring ail to himfelf, by feizing the Perfon of Don 
Bartholomew \ for he made no Queflion that the Admi- 
ral’s Enemies would hinder him from returning into the 
Indies ; and, perhaps, he had given them fome Reafon to 
hope, that he would from time to time tranfmit them 
fuch Relations as might ferve to juftify their Profecution 
of Columbus. 
But while things were in this Situation, there arrived 
at Santo Domingo., on the 3d of February., 1498, the 
Ship which the Admiral, with much Difficulty, had pro- 
cured Leave to fend to the Indies. Both Parties endea- 
voured to make themfelves Mailers of this Ship, which, 
however, by the Care of the Inhabitants of the Place where 
it arrived, was fecured for Don Bartholomew \ who, upon 
opening his Difpatches found, that though their Catho- 
lic Majeflies were at firft doubtful whether the Admi- 
ral had a Power to appoint a Lieutenant, and rather 
inclined to think he had not, by Virtue of his Com- 
miffion, yet upon his reprefenting that it was for their 
Majefties Service he had taken this Step ; and that their 
Affairs in the new World muft have fallen into great 
Confufion without it ; they were pleafed to confirm Don 
Bartholomew in his Title of Adelantado *, which having 
publiflied, it greatly promoted his Authority, and enabled 
him to enter into a War with the Indians, though it was 
begun upon very unjuftifiable Motives, in as much as 
the Spaniards had laid upon them Burthens they were un- 
able to bear: This War Don Bartholomew conduded 
with great Succefs againfl thofe unhappy People ; but 
with Refped to the revolted Spaniards under Roldan, 
he could neither engage them by fair Means to return to 
their Duty, nor was it in his Power to reduce them by 
Force. As we have now run through the Fliflory of the 
Spanijh Colonies, during the Abfence of the Admiral we 
are at Liberty to purfue the proper Defign of this Sec- 
tion, and to enter on the Admiral’s third Voyage into 
thefe Parts. 
3. The Admiral failed over the Bar of San Lucar, 
on the 1 8th of May, with fix Ships, and as there was 
Intelligence that a Portuguefe Fleet lay at Cape St. Vin- 
cent, he, giving them the Slip, flood away for the Eland 
of Madera, touched at Puerto Santo on the 7th of June, 
and found the Inhabitants exceedingly frighted, ima- 
gining that his Ships had been French he wooded and 
watered and then proceeded to Madera, where he w^as 
joyfully received, becaufe they knew him. On the 
19th he arrived at Comer a, where he found 3. French 
Ship with two Spa7tiJ]o,Pn\iiQ]i they had taken: He re- 
took one of them, and fent after the Frenchman, and 
fix Spaniards that were on board the others, feeing their 
Relief at hand, drove the French that guarded them un- 
der Hatches, and failed away to the Admiral Fie re- 
foived to fend from Gomera the three Ships with Provifions 
to Hifpaniola, believing the People there muil be in 
Want, and appointed Alorjo de Carvajal, a v/orthy 
Man, Captain of the firfl ot them ; Petei' de Alena, a 
Native of Cordova, Kinfman to Captain Alana, who had 
been left Governor of the Fort of the Nativity, at the firft 
Difeovery, Commander of the fecond; and in the third 
he placed John Anthony Columhis, a Relation of his own, " 
a Man of Capacity and Judgment; he gave them In- 
ftrudlions, and ordered that each of them flioiild com- 
mand a Week in Chief, and carrying the I>ight, they , 
fhoLild fail Weft by South 850 Leagues, and then they 
v/ould fall in with the Eland Dosninica ; \vhence they 
fhould fleer Weft North- v/eft, to fall in v,dth the Eland 
of St. John ; then keep along the South-fide of it, that ^ 
being the true Courfe for the New Ifahella,' ov Santo 
Domingo. 
The Admiral, himfelf, being furniilied with what he 
Wanted, failed on the 12th 01 June, for the Eland of Hi- 
erro, one of the Canary Ifiands, the fartheft to the Weft- 
ward : Fie defigned in the Name of the holy Trinity^ 
as he always was wont to fay, to fail to the Southward 
of them, till he came under the Equinodlial, and fo 
proceed to the Wellward, till the Eland of Hifpaniola 
lliould bear North-weft from him, to fee what Ifiands 
or Continent lay in that Part. Fie faid it was his Opinion 
no Man had ever failed that Courfe, and that the Sea 
there was utterly unknown. When pafl the Ifiand 
Hierro he difmiifcd the three Ships ; and with one Ship 
and two Caravels flood away for the Ifiands of Cabo 
Verde, which he ufed to fay was a falfe Name, for he 
had always found them dry and barren. 
On the 27th of June he difeovered the firft of them, 
called de la Sal, which is fmail ; he proceeded to that of 
Buena Vifia, anchored clofe by a fmail Ifiand, to which 
all the Lepers in Portugal were fent to be cured, by eat- 
ing the Fiefh of the Tortoifes, and frequently walhing 
with their Blood; for in the Months of June, July, 
and Augujl, abundance of them refbrt thither from the 
Continent to lay their Eggs in the Sand ; where they 
fcratch a Hole, and leave above five hundred Eggs as 
big as a Hen’s, which being covered with Sand, are 
hatched by the Sun, and the little Tortoifes run into the 
Sea. The Men there waiting for the Tortoifes, turn 
them on their Backs, and then they cannot recover 
themfelves. The healthy People living on that Ifiand, 
were only fix or feven, whofe whole Employment was to 
kill wild Goats, and fend their Skins, well cured, into 
Portugal-, and fometimes they killed fo many in a Year, 
that they were worth 2000 Ducats. 
The Admiral failed from thence on the 30th, for the 
Ifiand ol Santiago, being 28 Leagues diftant, and is the 
Chief of them. He thought to have taken Cows aboard, 
to carry to the Ifiand Hifpaniola, becaufe their Ma- 
jefties had ordered him fo to do, but was obliged to 
abandon that Defign, becaufe the Air of that Ifiand be- 
ing very unhealthy, the Men began to ficken, befides 
he refolved to fail to the Southward, to find out whe- 
ther King John of Portugal had been miftaken, who 
affirmed there was a Continent to the Southward. On 
the 4th of July he fteered South-weft, having never feen 
the Sun or Stars, fince his Arrival at the Ifiands of Cabo 
Verde, the Sky being continually covered v/ith a thick 
Fog. He gave another Reafon for holding that Courfe, 
viz. to find out the Truth of what the Indians of the 
Ifiand Hifpaniola reported : That there had come thither 
from the South-eaft a black People, v/ho had the Pleads 
of their Javelins of a Sort of Metal which they called 
Guanin, fome of which he had fent to their Majefties ; 
and the EfTay of it being taken, it appeared that, of 
thirty two Parts, eighteen were Gold, fix Silver, and 
the remaining eight Copper ; a plain Proof that the IV ifi- 
Indies had been vifited by other People before the Spa- 
niards. 
4. The Admiral purfuing his Courfe South-weft, he 
found fome of thofe' Weeds he had met with in the Way 
to Hifpaniola ; having iailed one hundred and twenty 
Leagues, as foon as it was Night he took the Latitude, 
and on the 13th of July the Fleat was fo violent he was 
afraid the Ships would take Fire, and the Men periffi; 
and fo fuddeniy the Wind ceafed, and the exceffiveHeat 
enfued, that no Man durft go down between Decks to 
take 
