The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Volume II)

from the Island of Navasa there gushes up in the sea a pure fountain of fresh water that sweetens the surface for some distance: this circumstance was of course unknown to the Spaniards at the time. (Oviedo, Cronica, lib. vi. cap. 12.)
    [196]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 105. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 31. Testament of Diego Mendez. Navarrete, tom. i.
    [197]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 106.
    [198]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 106. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35.
    [199]: At present Mammee Bay.
    [200]: Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.
    [201]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 107. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib ii. cap. 35.
    [202]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 35.
    [203]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 32.
    [204]: Some brief notice of the further fortunes of Diego Mendez may be interesting to the reader. When King Ferdinand heard of his faithful services, says Oviedo, he bestowed rewards upon Mendez, and permitted him to bear a canoe in his coat of arms, as a memento of his loyalty. He continued devotedly attached to the admiral, serving him zealously after his return to Spain, and during his last illness. Columbus retained the most grateful and affectionate sense of his fidelity. On his death-bed he promised Mendez that, in reward for his services, he should be appointed principal Alguazil of the island of Hispaniola; an engagement which the admiral’s son, Don Diego, who was present, cheerfully undertook to perform. A few years afterwards, when the latter succeeded to the office of his father, Mendez reminded him of the promise, but Don Diego informed him that he had given the office to his uncle Don Bartholomew; he assured him, however, that he should receive something equivalent. Mendez shrewdly replied, that the equivalent had better be given to Don Bartholomew, and the office to himself, according to agreement. The promise, however, remained unperformed, and Diego Mendez unrewarded. He was afterwards engaged on voyages of discovery in vessels of his own, but met with many vicissitudes, and appears to have died in impoverished circumstances. His last will, from which these particulars are principally gathered, was dated in Valladolid, the 19th of June, 1536, by which it is evident he must have been in the prime of life at the time of his voyage with the admiral. In this will he requested that the reward which had been promised to him should be paid to his children, by making his eldest son principal Alguazil for life of the city of San Domingo, and his other son lieutenant to the admiral for the same city. It does not appear whether this request was complied with under the successors of Don Diego.
    In another clause of his will, he desired that a large stone should be placed upon his sepulchre, on which should be engraved, “Here lies the honorable Cavalier Diego Mendez, who served greatly the royal crown of Spain, in the conquest of the Indies, with the admiral Don Christopher Columbus, of glorious memory, who made the discovery; and afterwards by himself, with ships at his own cost. He died, &c., &c. Bestow in charity a Paternoster, and an Ave Maria.”
    He ordered that in the midst of this stone there should be carved an Indian canoe, as given him by the king for armorial bearings in memorial of his voyage from Jamaica to Hispaniola, and above it should be engraved in large letters the word “CANOA.” He enjoined upon his heirs to be loyal to the admiral (Don Diego Columbus), and his lady, and gave them much ghostly counsel, mingled with pious benedictions. As an heirloom in his family, he bequeathed his library, consisting of a few volumes, which accompanied him in his wanderings; viz. “The Art of Holy Dying, by Erasmus; A sermon of the same author, in Spanish; The Lingua, and the Colloquies of the same; The History of Josephus; The Moral Philosophy of Aristotle; The Book of the Holy Land; A Book called the Contemplation of the Passion of our Savior; A Tract on the Vengeance of the Death of Agamemnon, and several other short treatises.” This curious and characteristic testament is in the archives of the Duke of Veragua in Madrid.
    [205]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 6.
    [206]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 14, MS.
    [207]: Idem, ubi sup.
    [208]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.
    [209]: Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12.
    [210]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.
    [211]: Charlevoix, Hist. San Domingo, lib. xxiv. p. 235.
    [212]: Relacion hecha