Minor expeditions.
We know not what unexpected developments may further have sprung from obscure and furtive explorations, which were now beginning to be common, and of which the record is often nothing more than an inference. Stories of gold and pearls were great incentives. The age was full of a spirit of private adventure. The voyages of Ojeda, Niño, and Pinzon were but the more conspicuous.
[CHAPTER XVII.]
THE DEGRADATION AND DISHEARTENMENT OF COLUMBUS.
1500.
Columbus, writing to the Spanish sovereigns from Española, said, in reference to the lifelong opposition which he had encountered:—
Opponents of Columbus.
"May it please the Lord to forgive those who have calumniated and still calumniate this excellent enterprise of mine, and oppose and have opposed its advancement, without considering how much glory and greatness will accrue from it to your Highnesses throughout all the world. They cannot state anything in disparagement of it except its expense, and that I have not immediately sent back the ships loaded with gold."