Instead, he accepted a measure of relief from the obligations incurred by
his eighth share in the many unprofitable expeditions that had been sent
out during the last three years, agreeing for the next three years to
receive an eighth share of the gross income, and a tenth of the net
profits, without contributing anything to the cost. His appointment of
Bartholomew to the office of Adelantado, which had annoyed Ferdinand, was
now confirmed; the universal license which had been granted to Spanish
subjects to settle in the new lands was revoked in so far as it infringed
the Admiral's privileges; and he was granted a force of 330 officers,
soldiers, and artificers to be at his personal disposal in the
prosecution of his next voyage.

The death of Prince Juan in October 1497 once more distracted the
attention of the Court from all but personal matters; and Columbus
employed the time of waiting in drafting a testamentary document in which
he was permitted to create an entail on his title and estates in favour
of his two sons and their heirs for ever. This did not represent his
complete or final testament, for he added codicils at various times,
the latest being executed the day before his death. The document is
worth studying; it reveals something of the laborious, painstaking mind
reaching out down the rivers and streams of the future that were to flow
from the fountain of his own greatness; it reveals also his triple
conception of the obligations of human life in this world--the
cultivation and retention of temporal dignity, the performance of pious
and charitable acts, and the recognition of duty to one's family. It was
in this document that Columbus formulated the curious cipher which he
always now used in signing his name, and of which various readings are
given in the Appendix. He also enjoined upon his heir the duty of using
the simple title which he himself loved and used most--"The Admiral."