During his sojourn at Barcelona the sovereigns took every occasion to bestow on Columbus personal marks of their high consideration. Frequently the King appeared on horseback, with Prince Juan on one side and Columbus on the other.
To perpetuate in his family the glory of his achievement, a coat of arms was assigned him, in which the royal arms—the castle and lion—were quartered with his proper bearings, which were a group of islands surrounded by waves. To these arms were added the words—
“A Castella y a Leon Nuevo Mundo dio Colon.”
“To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new world.”
Chapter Four.
Second Voyage of Columbus—A.D. 1403.
Preparations for another voyage rapidly made—Foneseca appointed to superintend the expedition—Indians brought home baptised—Fleet sails from Bay of Cadiz on the 25th of September, 1493—Steers for the Canaries—Ordered to rendezvous at Navidad—Fine passage across the Atlantic—On Sunday, 3rd of November, a lofty island seen, and therefore called Dominica—The Antilles—Lands near a Carib village—Pineapples first seen—Supposed cannibals—Diego Marques and eight men missing—Ojeda goes in search of them—The missing party returns—Land at Santa Cruz—Caribs in a canoe fiercely attack the Spaniards—Fleet comes off Porto Rico—A neat village visited—Fleet reaches Hispamola—Invitations from a cacique to remain—A supposed Indian convert escapes—Two dead bodies of white men discovered—Painful suspicions aroused—Fleet arrives off La Navidad at night—Canoe comes off, and Columbus hears of the destruction of the settlement—Sails from La Navidad and founds the town of Isabella—Expedition of Ojeda to the Golden Mountains—Ships sent home—Proposal to exchange Caribs for cattle—A mutiny suppressed—Diaz imprisoned—Columbus makes an expedition into the interior—Forts built—Columbus proceeds on a voyage of discovery—Surveys south coast of Cuba—Friendly meeting with natives—Enters the harbour of Jago de Cuba—First sight of Jamaica, called by Columbus Santiago—Hostility of the natives—Attacked by the Spaniards—Bloodhounds first used—Canoes formed of enormous trees.
We must briefly follow the adventures of Columbus to their termination. In spite of the efforts of Don John, King of Portugal, to reap advantage from the discovery of Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella obtained from the Pope a bull, making over the newly-discovered lands and all such others as might be discovered to the crown of Castile. The utmost exertions were at once made to fit out a second expedition. The affairs of the New World were placed under the superintendence of Juan Rodrigues de Foneseca, Archdeacon of Seville, who was finally appointed Patriarch of the Indies. He was a worldly man, malignant and vindictive. He not only wronged the early discoverers, but frequently impeded the progress of their enterprises. Other men of similar character were associated with him.