Chap. 1!L 
Christopher C o l u m b u s. 
by the Pcrtuguefe had been granted to the Crown of Por~ 
h and by another Bull dated the next Day, granted 
their Catholic Majefties all tliat had been, or ftioiild be, 
difcovered, drawing a Line from Pole to Pole, at the 
Diftance of ico Leagues Weftward from the Azores, ov 
fs'Oiii the, Cape de Iflands. As foon as thefe Eiills, 
v/liether important or impertinent we need not ftay to 
determine, v/ere once arrived from Rome, their Catholic 
Majefties were very defirous the Admiral ftioiild fail on 
his fecond Voyage, for which reafon they haftened him 
away to Seville,, where he found another Sort of a Fleet 
prepared than he had commanded in his firft Voyage. 
For now there were feventeen Sail of Ships of feveral Si- 
zes, and no lefs than fifteen hundred Men, many of them 
Gentlemen of good Families, offered to go over, and 
took an Oath of Obedience, not only to their Catholic 
Majefties, but to the Admiral T>or Chrifiopher Columbus 
likewife. 
Thefe Preparations, which could not be concealed from 
the King of Portugal, raifed great Uneafinefs at that 
Court, which was not to be quieted by the Pope’s Bulls, 
his Portuguefe Majefty apprehending that they were found- 
ed on undue Suggeftions, and himfelf and his Subjefts 
thereby much wronged. This he refolved to expoftu- 
late with their Catholic Majefties, and named an Am- 
baffador for that Purpofe •, but they, having Intelligence 
of his Proceedings, lent an Ambaffador to him under 
Colour of juftifying the Meafures they had taken but, in 
Reality, to patch up Matters in any Manner, fo as to 
hinder that Monarch from obftrufling Columbus in his 
fecond Voyage. In the mean Time the Admiral being 
come to Seville, and having received with his laft Difpatch- 
es his Commiffion, fetting forth the Limits of his Go- 
vernment, which extended over all that the Apoftolical 
Conceffion extended to j and having left his two Sons, 
Don James and Don Ferdinand, to be Pages to Prince 
John, he applied himfelf to pick out the ableft Pilots, and 
in muftering the Men that had been raifed in the Pre- 
fence of the Comptroller. For the fake of Difcipline, all 
Perfons were forbid carrying any Goods, and it was order- 
ed, that all belonging to his Highnefs, and to private Men, 
fhould be entered before they left Spain, and the fame to 
be done when they arrived in the Indies ; and that all that 
fhould appear not to have been fo entered, ftiould be con- 
ftfcated. The Admiral was ordered, as foon as he came 
to Hifpaniola, to imifter the Men, and after that, as often 
as he fhould think fit ; and that they fhould be paid by his 
DireSlionj .and that he fhould appoint Alcaldes and Al- 
guazlls in the Iflands, and other Parts, to try civil and 
criminal Caufes, and the Appeals from them to be to 
him, and that in Cafe it was requifite to appoint Regidores, 
Jurats, and Officers for the Government of the People, 
or of any Colony that fhould be planted, the Admiral 
ftiould nominate three Perfons to every Employment, 
for their HighnefTes to choofe one of them, but that the 
ftrft time he might name them. That ail Proclamations 
fhould be in the Names of their Flighnefles ; that he 
ihould have the eighth Part of all that was gained, pay- 
ing the eighth part of all that was carried over, firft de- 
ducing the tenth Part he was to have of the whole, pur- 
fuant to the ContraC made •, and that if it were requifite 
to fend Ships and Men to any Parts, he might do it. 
Whilft the Admiral was at Seville expediting his Af- 
fairs, he received a Letter from their Majefties, dated at 
Barcelona, directing him, before his Departure, to caufe a 
Sea-chart to be drawn with the Rumbs and other Parti- 
culars requifite for the Voyage to the Indies, and to haften 
his Departure, ftill promifmg him mighty Rewards, be- 
caufe that Affair of the Difcovery daily appeared to be of 
fo great Confequence •, acquainting him that nothing was 
yet concluded y/ith the King of Portugal, though it was 
believed he would be brought to Reafon. The Admiral 
caufed many Plants and Trees to be put aboard, and 
LATeat, Barley, Oats, Rye, and ail Sorts of Seeds, as alfo 
Cows, Lime, Bricks, and ail Sorts of Materials for building •, 
and having embarked the Men, on the 2 5th of September, 
1493, before Sun-rifmg failed from the Bay of Cadiz: He 
fleered Soiith-vvreft for the Canaries, and arrived at Grand 
Canaria on the 2d of Odiohcr, and on the 5th anchored at 
VoL. IL Numb. LX.XL 
Corner where he ftaid two Days taking in ■V/'ateL 
Wood, and Cattle^ and eight Sows at the Rate of fe-* 
venty Marvedies a-iiead, from vffiich afterwards were 
produced all that haVe been fince in the Indks. They alfo 
took in Flens and other Creatures, as alfo Seeds for faF 
lading, and all other Sorts of Garden-ftufft 
On the yth of Odlober the Admiral continued his 
Voyage towards the Indies, having firft delivered Inftmc- 
tions, fealed, to every Ship, commanding them not to ' 
open them unlefs they were Separated from him by ftrefs 
of Weather; for as in thofe Letters he gave an Account 
of the Courfe they were to fteer, to come to the Town of 
the Nativity, in Hifpaniola, he would' not have that 
Courfe known to any unlefs neceffary. Thus failing with 
a fair Gale till the 24th, when being 460 Leagues Weft, 
of Corner a, he yet met with none of the Weeds he had 
feen the firft Voyage ; when he was out but 2 50 Leagues, 
to the great Aftonhliment of tliem all. That Day and the 
next a Swallow flew about the Fleet. On Saturday, at 
Night, the Corps of St. Elmo was feen, with Seven Lights, 
on the round Top, and there followed mighty Rains, and 
frightful Thunder. On the 2d of November, at Night, 
the Admiral, perceiving a great Alteration in the Sky and 
Winds, and taking notice of the heavy Rains, con- 
cluded that lie was near fome Land, and for this Reafon 
caufed moft of the Sails to be furled ; and ordered all to 
be upon the Watch, not without Caufe, for that Night 
they fpied Land Seven Leagues to the Weftward, which 
was a very high mountainous Ifland, and he called it Do- 
minica, becaufe difcovered upon Sunday Morning. A 
while after he difcovered another Ifland Nortli-eaft of 
Dominica, and then another, and a third after that, more 
to the Northward, for which Mercy God had been pleaf- 
ed to beftow upon them, all the Men, aflembling in the 
Poop, fung the Salve Regina and other Prayers, and 
Hymns, very devoutly giving Thanks to God, for that, 
in twenty Days after departing from Gomera, they had 
made that Land; judging the Diftance to be about 750 or 
800 Leagues, and finding no convenient Place to come 
to an Anchor on the Eaft-fide of the Ifland Dominica, 
they ftood over to another Ifland which the Admiral 
called Marigalante, that being his Ship’s Name. Here 
landing, he with all neceifary Solem.nity again repeat- 
ed the Pofleftion he had in his firft Voyage taken of all 
the Hands and Continents of the Wefi Indies, for their Ca- 
tholic Majefties. 
On the Ath the Admiral failed from the Hand Mari- 
i 
galante Northwards, by another great Ifland he called Sta. 
Maria Guadalupe, at the Requeft of the Friars of the 
Houfe of that Name, to whom he had made a Promife 
to call fome Ifland by the Name of their Monaftery ; be- 
fore he came to it, by two Leagues Diftance, they dift 
covered a very high Rock, ending in a Point, whence 
iffued a Stream of Water, which falling, made Such a 
Noife that it was heard aboard of the Ships, though many 
affirmed that it was only a white Vein in the Rock : The 
Water was fo white and frothy by reafon of its Fall. Going 
afiiore in the Boat to view a Sort of a Town they faw 
from the Shore, they found no body there, the People 
being fled to the Woods, except fome Children, to whofe 
Arms they tied fome Baubles to pleafe their Parents when 
they returned ; in the Houfes they found Geefe and 
abundance of Parrots with red, green, blew, and white 
Feathers, as big as common Cocks; they alfo found 
Pompions, and a fort of Fruit which look like our green 
Pine-apples, but much bigger, and within full of folid 
Meat like a Mellon, and much fweeter both in Tafte and 
Smell, which grow on long Sticks like Aloes wild about 
the Fields, and are better than thofe produced by Art. 
They alfo faw other Sorts ol Fruits and Herbs, different 
from ours; Beds of Cotton Nets, that is, Hamocks, 
Bows and Arrows, and other things of v/hich they took 
none, that the Indians might be the lefs afraid of the 
Chriftians. The next Day, which was the 5th of Novem- 
ber, the Admiral again fent two Boats afiiore to endeavour 
to take fome body that miglit give an Account of the 
Country, and. inform him how far off, and which way, 
Hifpaniola lay; each of the Boats brought back a Youth, 
who agreed in. faving they were not of that Ifland, but 
F ■ of- 
