The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Volume II)

transactions; requests that his son, Diego, might be sent out to him; sends Roldan to Alonzo de Ojeda, who has arrived on the western coast on a voyage of discovery; his indignation at the breach of prerogative implied by this voyage; hears of a conspiracy entered into against him by Guevara and Moxica; seizes Moxica; and orders him to be flung headlong from the battlements of Fort Conception; vigorous proceedings against the rebels; beneficial consequences; visionary fancy at night; representations at court against him; his sons insulted at Granada; the queen is offended at his pertinacity in making slaves of those taken in warfare; and consents to the sending out a commission to investigate his conduct; Bobadilla is sent out; and arrives at St. Domingo; his judgment formed before he leaves his ship; he seizes upon the government before he investigates the conduct of Columbus; Columbus is summoned to appear before Bobadilla; goes to St. Domingo without guards or retinue, and is put in irons and confined in the fortress; his magnanimity; charges against him; jubilee of miscreants on his degradation; his colloquy with Villejo, previous to their sailing; sails; arrives at Cadiz; sensation in Spain on his arrival in irons; sends a letter to Doña Juana de la Torre, with an account of his treatment; indignation of the sovereigns at reading this account; is invited to court; his gracious reception there; his emotion; is promised a full restitution of his privileges and dignities; disappointed in receiving them; causes; his interests ordered to be respected in Hispaniola by Ovando; remembers his vow to furnish an army wherewith to recover the Holy Sepulchre; endeavors to incite the sovereigns to the enterprise; forms a plan for a fourth voyage, which is to eclipse all former ones; writes to Pope Alexander VII.; manuscript copy of, note; takes measures to secure his fame by placing it under the guardianship of his native country; sails from Cadiz; arrives at Ercilla; at the Grand Canary; at St. Domingo; requests permission to shelter in the harbor, as he apprehends a storm; his request refused; a violent hurricane soon after sweeps the sea, in which he and his property are preserved, and several of his bitterest enemies overwhelmed; encounters another storm; discovers Guanaga; a Cacique eomes on board his ship with a multitude of articles, the produce of the country; selects some to send them to Spain; is within two days’ sail of Yucatan; natives different from any he had yet seen; voyages along the coast of Honduras; encounters violent storms of thunder and lightning; voyage along the Mosquito shore; passes a cluster of islands, to which he gives the name of Limonares; comes to an island, to which he gives the name of La Huerta, or the Garden; transactions at Cariari; voyage along Costa Rica; speculations concerning the isthmus of Veragua; discovery of Puerto Bello; discovery of El Retrete; disorders of his men at this port, and the consequences; relinquishes the further prosecution of his voyage eastward; returns to Puerto Bello; encounters a furious tempest; is near being drowned by a water-spout; returns to Veragua; regards gold as one of the mystic treasures, note; is nearly being wrecked in port; gives his name to the mountains of Veragua; sends his brother to explore the country; which appears to be impregnated with gold; believes that he has reached one of the most favored ports of the Asiatic continent; commences a settlement on the river Belen; determines on returning to Spain for reinforcements; is stopped by discovering a conspiracy of the natives; sends his brother to surprise Quibian; who is seized; and afterwards escapes; disasters at the settlement stop his sailing; some of his prisoners escape, and others destroy themselves; his anxiety produces delirium; is comforted by a vision; the settlement is abandoned, and the Spaniards embark for Spain; departure from the coast of Veragua; sails for Hispaniola; arrives at Puerto Bello: at the entrance of the Gulf of Darien; at the Queen’s Gardens; encounters another violent tempest; arrives at Cape Cruz; at Jamaica; runs his ships on shore; arranges with the natives for supplies of provisions; his conversation with Diego Mendez to induce him to go in a canoe to St. Domingo; Mendez offers to go; Columbus writes to Ovando for a ship to take him and his crew to Hispaniola; writes to the sovereigns; Mendez embarks; the Porras engage in a mutiny; the mutiny becomes