[152]: It appears doubtful whether Columbus was acquainted with the exact particulars of that voyage, as they could scarcely have reached Spain previously to his sailing. Bastides had been seized in Hispaniola by Bobadilla, and was on board of that very fleet which was wrecked at the time that Columbus arrived off San Domingo. He escaped the fate that attended most of his companions, and returned to Spain, where he was rewarded by the sovereigns for his enterprise. Though some of his seamen had reached Spain previous to the sailing of Columbus, and had given a general idea of the voyage, it is doubtful whether he had transmitted his papers and charts. Porras, in his journal of the voyage of Columbus, states that they arrived at the place where the discoveries of Bastides terminated; but this information he may have obtained subsequently at San Domingo.
[153]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 24. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 90.
[154]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 94.
[155]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 94.
[156]: A superstitious notion with respect to gold appears to have been very prevalent among the natives. The Indians of Hispaniola observed the same privations when they sought for it, abstaining from food and from sexual intercourse. Columbus, who seemed to look upon gold as one of the sacred and mystic treasures of the earth, wished to encourage similar observances among the Spaniards; exhorting them to purify themselves for the research of the mines by fasting, prayer, and chastity. It is scarcely necessary to add, that his advice was but little attended to by his rapacious and sensual followers.
[157]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.
[158]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.
[159]: Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv.
[160]: Letter of the Admiral from Jamaica.
[161]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.