Since the land is so fertile, it is desirable to sow as much as possible: and Don Juan de Fonseca has been desired to send over immediately everything requisite for that purpose.... (pp. 77, 78).
LETTER ABOUT THE THIRD VOYAGE
This enterprise to the Indies [i.e., the original discovery] ... those who heard of it looked upon it as impossible, for they fixed all their hopes on the favours of fortune, and pinned their faith solely upon chance. I gave to the subject six or seven years of great anxiety, explaining ... how great service might be done to Our Lord, by this undertaking, in promulgating his Sacred Name and most holy faith among so many nations.... It was also requisite to refer to the temporal prosperity which was foretold in the writings of so many trustworthy and wise historians, who related that great riches were to be found in these parts.... (p. 104).
In this your Highnesses exhibited the noble spirit which has always been manifested by you on every subject; for all others who had thought of the matter or heard it spoken of, unanimously treated it with contempt, with the exception of two friars ... I pushed on for Terra Firma, in spite of the wind and a fearful contrary current, against which I contended for sixty days, and during that time made only seventy leagues (p. 171) ... other tempests have been experienced but never of so long a duration or so fearful as this: many whom we looked upon as brave men, on several occasions showed considerable trepidation, but the distress of my son who was with me grieved me to the soul and the more when I considered his tender age for he was but thirteen years old, and he enduring so much toil for so long a time. The Lord however gave him strength even to enable him to encourage the rest, and he worked as if he had been eighty years at sea, and all this was a consolation to me. I myself had fallen sick and was many times at the point of death, but from a little cabin that I had caused to be constructed on deck I directed our course. My brother was in the ship that was in the worst condition and the most exposed to danger; and my grief on this account was the greater that I brought him with me against his will (p. 172). Such is my fate, that the twenty years of service through which I have passed with so much toil and danger, have profited me nothing, and at this very day I do not possess a roof in Castille that I can call my own; if I wish to eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go but to the inn or tavern, and most times lack wherewith to pay the bill. Another anxiety wrung my very heartstrings, which was the thought of my son Diege, whom I had left an orphan in Spain, and stripped of the honour and property which were due to him on my account.... (p. 173). I stopped to repair my vessels and take in provisions, as well as to afford relaxation to the men, who had become very weak ... two Indians conducted me to Carambaru, where the people (who go naked) wear golden mirrors round their necks.... They named to me many places on the sea-coast where there were both gold and mines. The last that they mentioned was Veragua, nine days’ journey across the country westward: they tell me there is a great quantity of gold, and that the inhabitants wear coral ornaments on their heads, and very large coral bracelets and anklets, with which article also they adorn and inlay their seats, boxes and tables. They also said that the women there wore necklaces hanging down to their shoulders (p. 175).... I had taken possession of land belonging to Quibian remained inside [the river mouth, which had silted up]. I was alone outside upon that dangerous coast, suffering from a severe fever and worn with fatigue. All hope of escape was gone and I toiled up to the highest part of the ship, and with a quivering voice and fast-falling tears, I called upon your Highnesses’ war-captains from each point of the compass to come to my succour, but there was no reply. [Columbus sleeps and sees a vision in which he is upbraided for want of faith] (p. 184).LETTER RELATING TO FOURTH VOYAGE