Chap. III. C H R I S T O P H E 
his Eyes grey, of a dear Complexion and ruddy, his 
“ Beard and Hair, when young, fair, though through 
“ many Hardihips they foon turned grey : He was a 
“ Man of Wit, pleafant and eloquent, moderately grave, 
“ affable to Strangers, and kind to his own Family : His 
“ Converfation difcreet, which gained him the Affedlion 
“ of thofe he had to deal with, and his Prefence attraded 
“ Refped, having an Air of Authority and Grandeur •, 
“ temperate in Eating and Drinking, and modeft in his 
“ Drefs, He was very ftrid in Religion according to the 
“ Mode of his Country, and obliged fiich as were under 
“ his Command to obferve the fame with Decency. In 
that RefpeCt, he fhewed an earneft Concern for theCon- 
“ verfion of the Indians to the Chriflian Faith, and en- 
‘‘ deavoured all he could to invite them thereto, by 
“ obliging the Spaniards to lead a Life, in fomie meafure, 
‘‘ agreeable to that Faith which they profeffed. In other 
“ Refpeds he was a Man of undaunted Courage and 
“ high Thoughts, fond of great Enterprizes j patient, 
“ ready to forgive Wrongs, and only defirous that Of- 
“ fenders fhould be fenfible of their Faults, unmoved in 
“ the many Troubles and Adverfities that attended him, 
‘‘ ever relying on Divine Providence. In fliort, had 
“ he performed fuch a wonderful Enterprize in the an- 
“ dent Days as theDifcovery of the new World, it is 
“ likely he would not only have had Statues, and even 
“ Temples, ereded to his Honour ; but that fome Star 
“ would have been dedicated to him, as was done to 
“ Hercules and Bacchus^ and among us his Name will be 
“ renowned whilft the World endures.” 
13. Such was the End of this great Man, to whom, 
in the flri6f:eft Senfe, the Spaniards are indebted for all that 
they poffefs in the new World, as will very clearly appear ; 
if we confider that he fettled Hifpaniola, took a View of 
Cuba., vifited Jamaica^ bellowed the Name of St. John 
on the Hand of Porto Rico., called formerly Borriquen, 
and difcovered almoft all that can properly be called 
the Weft Indies. As to the Continent, it mull be con- 
felfed that he barely faw it, but then he faw both Parts 
of it, and the Iflhmus that unites them ; and he left be- 
hind him Projebls for extending all thefe Difcoveries, 
and his Conje6lures of the Confequences that might at- 
tend them. He did ftill more than this, he declared 
pofitively, that there lay a Sea on the other Side of the 
Continent, through which there might be a Paffage dif- 
covered to the Eaft Indies j and accordingly, as we have 
hiewn elfewhere, that is, in the Hiflory of Magellan^ 
Voyage, this Paffage was adlually difcovered from the 
Lights given by him. 
It mull be confeffed, that for fuch Services fcarce any 
Rewards could be fufficient, much lefs too great ; and 
if it be remembered, he demanded nothing beyond his 
Brfl Contrad, notwithflanding that he performed much 
more than he promifed therein, one cannot help won- 
dering at the mean and fcandalous Behaviour of King 
.Ferdinand., who fo ungratefully endeavoured to deprive 
him, and his Family, of what were their juft Rights. 
R C O L U M B U S. 49 
His eldeft Son and Heir, James, or, as the Spaniard's 
ftile him, Don Diego Colon, inherited his Preteiifions, and 
inherited, likewife, the DiQike of Ferdmand, and- the Ha» 
tred of the Bifliop Fonfeca and though he endeavoured 
by Petitions, apd perfonal Applications, to obtain his 
Right, yet he never could receive any other Satisfaflion 
than fair Words and fine Promifes j with which being 
at laft quite tired out, he defired the King to leave his 
Demands to the Decifion of tlie Law, which, being what 
he could not decently deny, was granted. 
This Suit, as may be well fuppofed, was tedious and 
troublefome, but, at laft, he obtained a clear Decifion in 
his Favour, and was re-eftablifhed, by the Judges, in all 
his Fathers Pretenfions ; notwithflanding which, the King 
and the Bifhop found Ways and Means to delay the Ex- 
ecution of the Judgment ; fo that he obtained nothing 
thereby, except the Recognition of a Right, which was 
fufticiently clear before. To ftrengthen his Intereft, there- 
fore, he thought fit to marry, which he accordingly did, 
into one of the moft illuftrious Families in Spain-, efpou- 
fing Mary de Toledo, Daughter to Don Ferdinand, Bro- 
ther to the Duke of Alva, and Coufin to his Catholic 
Majefty. By the Afliftance of his Wife’s Relations, he 
at laft obtained the Government of Hifpaniola fucceed- 
ing the great Enemy of his Father, Nicholas de Obando, 
but with the Title only of Governor, and not of Viceroy, 
which was his Right. 
He went thither in 1508, with his Wife, his Brother, 
Don Ferdinand, who wrote the Life of his Father, of 
which we have made ufe in the foregoing Sedlions, and 
his Uncles, Bartholomew and James Columbus *, together 
with many young Noblemen, and feveral young Ladies 
of good Families, by which the Luftre of the Spanijh 
Settlement, in Hifpaniola, was reftored, and encreafed. 
Yet his PowTr was not at all greater than that of his 
Predeceffor ; and the little he had was foon after re- 
ftrained by the fettling of a new Court, at Santo Domingo, 
under the Title of the Royal Audience, to which Appeals 
were allowed from all Parts of the Indies. Here then 
we are to clofe our Accounts of this illuftrious Perfon and 
the State of his Family at his Deceafe. 
In the next Seblion we fhall give a fuccin6l Account 
of the manner in which the Spaniards profecuted the Dif- 
covery of the Indies, to the time of thofe two ■ great Ex- 
peditions, for the Conqueft of Mexico and Peru of which, 
as of the moft memorable and extraordinary Tranfacftions 
that have happened in this Part of the World, and which 
have contributed moft to make it known, we fhall 
give a larger and more particular Account ; and, indeed, 
if we refledb, that in all Senfes whatever, the Conquefts of 
the Spaniards, in the new World, have been the greateft 
in themfelves, and more beneficial in their Confequences, 
than thofe of any European Nation, we cannot, certainly, 
think that time ill employed, which is fjpent in acquiring 
a circumftantial Account of them ; more efpecially as the 
Events therein are more curious and entertaining than 
thofe that occur in any other Hiflory whatever. 
SECTION VI. 
Tdb Hijlory of the feveral Difcoveries.^ Settlements, and Conquefs made by the Spa- 
niards, in the Weft Indies, after the Death of the Admiral Don Christopher 
Columbus, to the Expeditiott of Ferdinand, or Hernan Cortes. ' 
Fhe Improvements made by Nicholas de Obando in the If and (^/'Hifpaniola, a?id the great Value of the 
Gold Mines wrought there. 2. Dhe Expedition of Don Juan Ponce de Leon into Puerto Rico, and his 
Coftqueft of that Ifland. 3. A Settlement made on the [mail If and of Cubagua, the vajl Fijhery for 
Pearls there, and the Occafion of lofng it entirely. 4. Alonfo de Flojeda, a 7 id Diego de Nicueffa, com- 
mif toned to make Difcoveries, and Jail with that View to the Indies. 5. Hojedah unfotFunate Expedi- 
tion to Carthagena, he had been deftroyed, but for the timely Aflfance afforded him by Nicuefta. 
6. Afterwards fixes the Settlement of Sii. Sebaftian, his Misfortunes and Death, together %mth the Fate 
of his new Colony before mentioned. 7. Dhe Hiflory of Vai'quez Nugnez de Balboa, and of his furpriz- 
tng Exploits in the Indies. 8. Fhe Hiflory op Don Diego de Nicueffa re fumed j he founds the Colony , of 
■ Nombre de Dios, his fubfequent Misfortunes and miferable Death, g. Fhe Conqueft of the great Ifland 
VoL. II. Numb. LXXIII. ‘ O oj 
