him, as on his first visit to Cuba, that their land was surrounded by
water; but Alonzo de Ojeda, who was with Columbus, said, "These are a
stupid race who think that all the world is an island, and do not know
what a continent is!" Columbus too did not wish to believe the savages;
he preferred to believe that Cuba was the continent. Yet as a navigator
Columbus was honest, and no doubt would have gone farther and proved the
natives right had he not been pestered by a grumbling crew. His men were
dissatisfied at the long tropic voyage which never appeared to bring
them one inch nearer wealth, and they clamored to return to Isabella. So
mutinous did they become that he decided to turn back, but it was with a
heavy heart. Again he must write to the sovereigns and report that he
had not yet found a land of wealth. The very thought of this next letter
made him miserable.

In fact, our enterprising Admiral was in a very bad way by this time. We
recall how he was ill when the new settlement of Isabella was started,
and how he nevertheless personally superintended the work. Always a
tremendous worker on sea or land, always at his post, meeting his heavy
responsibilities as best he knew how, it was nothing but work and worry
for the harassed Christopher Columbus; and now when he, a sick man, had
undertaken this voyage to the mainland, the natives had declared that
Cuba was only a big island!

Columbus lay down in his bunk, broken-hearted. A fever seized him and he
raved for several days; and in his ravings he hit upon a plan which was
so childish that one would laugh were it not also so pitiful. He decided
to write that he had discovered the mainland of Asia, but not yet
Cathay, as Cathay lay far inland. To prove that Cuba was really Asia, he
called together his crew of eighty men and made them swear before a
notary that not only had they cruised along the mainland, but they had