and sugar-cane, seeds of all kinds, and provisions ready for use. The
fleet carried nearly fifteen hundred persons,--three hundred more than
had been arranged for, but the enthusiasm in Spain was boundless. It
carried also the embittered hatred of Fonseca. The Bishop, having been
the Queen's confessor, naturally became head of the Department of the
Indies in order to forward with all zeal the conversion of the native
races. But when he tried to assert his authority over the Admiral and
appealed to Fernando and Ysabel to support him, he was told mildly but
firmly that in the equipment and command of the fleet Colón's judgment
was best. This royal snub Fonseca never forgave, and he was one of those
persons who revenge a slight on some one else rather than the one who
inflicted it. It was also his nature never to forgive any one for
succeeding in an undertaking which he himself had prophesied would fail.

All seemed in order on the morning of the embarkation. At this time of
year storms were unlikely, and there was no severity of climate to be
feared. Half Castile and Aragon had come to see the expedition off. The
young cavaliers' heads were filled with visions of rich dukedoms and
principalities in the golden empire upon whose coast the discovered
islands hung, like pendants of pearl and gold upon the robe of a
monarch.

The first incident of the voyage was not, however, romantic. The fleet
touched at the Canary Islands to take on board more animals--goats,
sheep, swine and fowls, for the Admiral had seen none of these in any of
the islands he had visited. In fact the people had no domestic animal
whatever except their strange dumb dogs. The cavaliers, glad of a chance
to stretch their legs in a space a little greater than the deck of a
crowded ship, strolled about discussing past and future with large
freedom.