fruits and unknown trees; and Columbus, in great distress of mind, had to
give up his men for lost. He took in wood and water, and was on the
point of weighing anchor when the missing men appeared on the shore and
signalled for a boat. It appeared that they had got lost in a tangled
forest in the interior, that they had tried to climb the trees in order
to get their bearings by the stars, but without success; and that they
had finally struck the sea-shore and followed it until they had arrived
opposite the anchorage.

They brought some women and boys with them, and the fleet must now have
had a large number of these willing or unwilling captives. This was the
first organised transaction of slavery on the part of Columbus, whose
design was to send slaves regularly back to Spain in exchange for the
cattle and supplies necessary for the colonies. There was not very much
said now about religious conversion, but only about exchanging the
natives for cattle. The fine point of Christopher's philosophy on this
subject had been rubbed off; he had taken the first step a year ago on
the beach at Guanahani, and after that the road opened out broad before
him. Slaves for cattle, and cattle for the islands; and wealth from
cattle and islands for Spain, and payment from Spain for Columbus, and
money from Columbus for the redemption of the Holy Sepulchre--these were
the links in the chain of hope that bound him to his pious idea. He had
seen the same thing done by the Portuguese on the Guinea coast, and it
never occurred to him that there was anything the matter with it. On the
contrary, at this time his idea was only to take slaves from among the
Caribs and man-eating islanders as a punishment for their misdeeds; but
this, like his other fine ideas, soon had to give way before the tide of
greed and conquest.

The Admiral was now anxious to get back to La Navidad, and discover the