Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/186

162 162 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. PART I. Jnyous re- ception (if Columbus. brief delay, the admiral resumed his voyage, and crossing the bar of Saltes entered the harbour of Palos about noon, on the 15th of March, 1493, be- ing exactly seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port.^ Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos, as they beheld the well-known vessel of the admiral reentering their harbour. Their de- sponding imaginations had long since consigned him to a watery grave ; for, in addition to the preternatural horrors which hung over the voyage, they had experienced the most stormy and disas- trous winter within the recollection of the oldest ed of this, commanded him into his presence ; and appeared to be an- noyed and vexed, as well from the belief that the said discovery was made within the seas and bounda- ries of his seigniory of Guinea, — which might give rise to disputes, — as because the said admiral, having become somewhat haughty by his situation, and in the relation of his adventures always exceeding the bounds of truth, made this af- fair, as to gold, silver, and riches, much greater than it was. Espe- cially did the king accuse himself of negligence, in having declined this enterprise, when Columbus first came to ask his assistance, from want of credit and confidence in it. And, notwithstanding the king was importuned to kill him on the spot ; since with his death the prosecution of the undertaking, so far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned, would cease, from want of a suitable person to take charge of it ; and notwithstanding this might be done without suspi- cion of the king's being privy to it, — for inasmuch as the admiral was overbearing and puffed up by his success, they could easily bring it about, that his own indiscretion should appear the occasion of his death, — yet the king, as he was a prince greatly fearing God, not only forbade this, but even showed the admiral honor and much fa- vor, and therewith dismissed him." Ruy de Pina, Chronica d'el Rei Dom Joao II., cap. 66, apud Collec- cao de Livros Ineditos de Historia tortugueza, (Lisboa, 1790-93,) tom. ii. 8 Fernando Colon, Hist, del Al- mirante, cap. 40, 41. — Charle- voix, liistoire de S. Domingue, (Paris, 1730,) tom. i. pp. 84-90. — Primer Viage de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. — La C16de, Hist, de Por- tugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58. Columbus sailed from Spain on Friday, discovered land on Friday, and reentered the port of Palos on Friday. These curious coinci- dences should have sufficed, one might think, to dispel, especially with American mariners, the su- perstitious dread, still so prevalent.