2,8 
i:he VOYAGES of Book !. 
1. ^he Difficulties the Admiral had to furrnount^ in procuring a Fleet fifficient for his inte?tded Return to 
Hifpaniola. 2. A complete View of the FranfadHons in the ^^ 2 Lm{h Colonies, and of the Rebellion that 
happened there durmg the Admiral' s Abfence. 3 . What happened to the Admiral in the Profecution of the 
Voyage^ and the Meafures he took for Jei-iding Supplies. 4. Fhe Admiral fteers a 7 iew Comfe for Difcovery^ 
and adhially falls m with Part of the Continent^ now called the Province of Paria. 5. Fxamines it^ and 
enters into CorrefpondSnce with the Natives and yet was not clearly convinced whether it was the ContP 
7ient or not. 6 . Paffies through the Boca del Drago, aitd refolves to fleer diredilyfor St. Domingo, y. The 
Arrival of the Store-fmps before the Admiraf and bis coming to the Iflaftd. 8. A fuccmB lltfiory of the 
Troubles in Hifpaniola, and of the Admiral’s Endeavours to pacify them ^ which however prove altogether 
ineffi'edtual. 9. The Court op Spain, being alarmed at the many Complaifits fejjt from the Indies, depute a 
Perfofi to go thither, with full Power to hear and determine the?n. 10. I?i conjequence op' this extraordi- 
naty Commiffion, the Admiral is fe?2t home in Iro?2s, a?2d his two Brothers with him. 1 1 . His Arrival 
in Spain, and the Reception he met with. 12. The true State of the Difcoveries made to this time by the 
Spaniards, and their Importance, 13. Remarks and Obfervatio22S on the foregoing SeBion, a'ad cn the 
Accidents that prove co?nmonly det2dmental to Difcoveries. 
1. Accounts given by the Admiral Don 
X h>her Columbus, both of the Indies in general, and 
of his own Condu£f in particular, proved fo fatisfaftory 
to their Majefties, and to the principal Perfons who com- 
pofed their Council, that ’twas refolved to fend him back 
again, as he propofed, vefted with fuch Powers, and fur- 
nilhed with fuch Supplies, as he judged requifite ; for, 
when they came to be examined by competent Judges, 
the Complaints of his Enemies appeared to be as ill- 
founded, as the Calumnies invented by mean Minds 
againft Perfons of diftinguifhed Merit ufually are. But 
tho’ his Enemies were not able either to deprive him of 
his Authority, or to hinder him from returning with a 
greater Meafure thereof to the Indies than he enjoyed when 
there before, yet they had Intereft fufficient to throw great 
Obftacles in his Way, and to delay from time to time 
the Performance of thofe Promifes that had been made 
him. The Succours he demanded were, eight good Ships, 
five hundred Men, and a fufficient Quantity of Provifions 
of all Sorts, of which he gave in a very clear and parti- 
cular Eftimate, amounting in the whole to fix Millions of 
Marvedies, which make fomething more than 4,500/. 
of our Money. But as he well enough knew that fuch an 
Embarkation could not be foon made, and was fenfible 
alfo of the Diftrefs to which the Spa^iijh Colonies might be 
expofed by the Delays that might attend it, he defired 
that two Ships laden with Provifions might be firft fent, 
and that he might go in Perfon with the other fix, as foon 
as they could be got ready. 
This as a thing reafonable in itfelf their Catholic Maje- 
fties very readily confented to, and yet it was a long time 
before he could procure the two firft Ships to be fent 
away •, and as for the other Ships, the equipping of them 
went on fo fiowly, and the Money neceffary for that Ser- 
vice was ifiTued fo negligently, that the Admiral found 
even his large Stock of Patience almoft exhaufted before 
this Fleet was ready to fail. This was chiefly owing to 
the Ill-v/ill of Don Juan Fonfeca, Archdeacon of Seville 
and afterwards Biffiop of Burgos, who had been formerly 
one of the beft Friends the Admiral had, but was now en- 
tirely gained over by his Enemies, chiefly by the Intrigues 
of Father Boyl, and proved afterwards himfelf the moft 
violent Enemy the Admiral had. But how much foever 
thefe Difcouragers might perplex and difturb the Mind of 
this great Man, they were far enough from diverting him 
from his Purpofe, or even from leffening that Zeal and 
Diligence with which he had hitherto profecuted this great 
Affair : On the contrary, the more Trouble he met with, 
the more Impediments were thrown in his Way, with fo 
much the greater Vigor, with fo much the more Con- 
ftancy, he applied himfelf to the Performance of what 
was requifite to accomplifn it. 
It was with this View that he went himfelf to Seville, 
to haften the Preparations that were making there, and 
to give fuch Direftions as he thought might moft contri- 
bute to render thefe Preparations effeftual. Yet it is more 
than probable, that, vdth all this Activity and Diligence, 
he would fcarce have been able to have carried his third 
Expedition into Execution, if it had not been for the 
Countenance and Protedion afforded him by Queen Ifa- 
hella, who was a Princefs of vaft Underftanding, and of 
a generous and magnanimous Difpofition •, whereas her 
Hufband King Ferdi72and, though he was undoubtedly a 
great Politician, yet there was fuch a Darknefs in his 
Temper, and fuch a Doubienefs in his Condudf, that 
there was no great Caufe to wonder that the Admiral was 
not much in his Favour, or that the King did not ftand 
very high in his Efteem. But before we come to fpeak 
direftly of the Admiral’s Voyage, it will be neceffary to 
give the Reader an Account of what paffed in the Indies 
during his Abfence. 
2. The three Ships the Admiral fent from Cadiz arrived 
at Ifabella about the Beginning of July 1496, to the great 
Joy of the People for the Provifions they brought, and 
the News of the Admiral’s fafe Arrival' in Spain ; for 
Hunger being the greateft Diftemper among them, no- 
thing ib much rejoiced them as Ships coming with Pro- 
vifions from home. Don Bartholomew Columbus difpatched 
the Ships for their Return, and fent aboard them three 
hundred h 2 dian Slaves, becaufe their Majefties having 
been informed that fome Caziques killed the Spaniards, 
they ordered that all who were guilty fhould be fent into 
Spain. And forafmuch as the Admiral had alfo ac- 
quainted their Majefties, that upon his Return from his 
Difcovery along the Ifiands of Cuba and Ja77iaica, as he 
failed along the South Coaft of Hifpaniola, it had appeared 
to him a moft beautiful Country, and that there were fine 
Inlets which he thought might be good Harbours, and 
could not b6 far from the beft Mines he had difcovered, 
which he called St. Chrijtophef s, their Highneffes, in the 
Letter he found at Cadiz, anfwered him, that he might 
do as he thought beft in that Cafe, which they would ap- 
prove of, as done for their Service. Hereupon the Ad- 
miral wrote from Cadiz to his Brother Don Bartholomew; 
ordering him immediately to go over to the South Side, 
and find a convenient Harbour ; and if the Place was 
good, to carry away all that was at Ifabella, and aban- 
don it. 
Accordingly Don Bamtholcmew, leaving his Brother Don 
James in his Place, fet out with the ableft Men for the 
Mines of St. Chriftopher, and arriving at the River Ozat 2 ta, 
fo called by the Indians, found it very agreeable, and inha- 
bited on both Sides. He viewed and founded, and found that 
Ships of above three hundred Tons Burthen might come 
up it. Whereupon he refolved to build a Fort of Earth 
on the marffiy Part of the River, at the Mouth of the 
Harbour on the Eaft Side. He fent for Men from Ifa- 
bslla to begin the Settlement, and gave it the Name of 
Santa Domingo, either becaufe he came thither on St. Do- 
mmic's, Day, or on a Sunday, called in Spanifo Domingo, or 
becaufe his Father’s Name was Dominic •, and tho’ the Ad- 
miral always called it the New Ifabella, yet the other Name 
has prevailed. There remained at the Old Ifabella the 
People that were building tv/o Caravels, and fome otner 
Men : The Work being begun, Doil Bartholomew re- 
folved to view the Kingdom Xaragua, of whofe State and 
Government he had heard much Difcourfe. Having left 
Santa Domingo, thirty Leagues from thence he came to 
the great River Neyba, where a numerous Army of Indi- 
ans were drawn up j for Bohechko King of Xaragua, be- 
c 
