of which I am now speaking, from the altar of Saint Peter, and give
them to the Moors, they could not show greater enmity towards me in
Spain. Who would believe such a thing where there was always so
much magnanimity?

"I should have much desired to free myself from this affair had it
been honourable towards my Queen to do so. The support of our Lord
and of her Highness made me persevere: and to alleviate in some
measure the sorrows which death had caused her, I undertook a fresh
voyage to the new heaven and earth which up to that time had
remained hidden; and if it is not held there in esteem like the
other voyages to the Indies, that is no wonder, because it came to
be looked upon as my work.

"The Holy Spirit inflamed Saint Peter and twelve others with him,
and they all contended here below, and their toils and hardships
were many, but last of all they gained the victory.

"This voyage to Paria I thought would somewhat appease them on
account of the pearls, and of the discovery of gold in Espanola.
I ordered the pearls to be collected and fished for by people with
whom an arrangement was made that I should return for them, and, as
I understood, they were to be measured by the bushel. If I did not
write about this to their Highnesses, it was because I wished to
have first of all done the same thing with the gold.

"The result to me in this has been the same as in many other things;
I should not have lost them nor my honour, if I had sought my own
advantage, and had allowed Espanola to be ruined, or if my
privileges and contracts had been observed. And I say just the same