America was discovered. They sailed south along its shore for a time,
hoping to find the pearls, but the farther they went the rougher the
great waves became,--mountainous, indeed,--forming actual lofty ridges
on the surface of the sea. Of this phenomenon Columbus wrote home to the
monarchs, "I shuddered lest the waters should have upset the vessel when
they came under its bows." The rush, as we now know, was made partly by
the delta of the Orinoco River and partly by the African current
squeezing itself into the narrow space between the continent and the
southern end of Trinidad, after which it curls itself into the Gulf of
Mexico and comes out again as the Gulf Stream.

Columbus, after buffeting these dangerous waters as long as he could,
turned north again along Trinidad and emerged out of the Gulf of Paria,
leaving the pearls behind him. Instead of landing and looking to see if
the natives spoke the truth, he started a hopeful letter to the
sovereigns, telling them what rich pearl fisheries he had discovered.
This time, however, Christopher's imagination really ran close to the
facts, for at their next landing, on the island of Margarita, north of
Venezuela, they actually bartered three pounds of large pearls from the
natives! Then they headed northwest for Haiti, reaching it the last of
August, 1498.

Nearly two and one half years had passed since he and Agnado had left
the island in the hands of their successor, Bartholomew Columbus. During
that time no change for the better had come to it. The mistakes on the
part of officers, and the rebellions on the part of the people, now made
a longer list than ever. Not a man among them, from Bartholomew down to
the meanest commoner, appeared to know how to build up a well-ordered,
self-respecting community. The spirit of cooperation was entirely
lacking. No one thought of the common good, only of his own interests;