villages such as the later English and Dutch colonists were content
with--and a handsome cathedral was to be begun in Haiti, and filled
with paintings and carvings and other works of art. In fact, no material
detail was overlooked to make the new settlements worthy of their mother
country. Where the effort failed was in selecting the men to be sent
out, not in the things sent. If only the proper individuals had been
sent to Columbus's islands, all these other details might have taken
care of themselves in the course of time.

The second expedition was to be on a very large scale. It had to be
assembled quickly lest other nations, learning of the discovery, or the
one nation that had already learned of it, might get there first;
wherefore Fonseca and Columbus were authorized to buy, at their own
price, any boat lying in any port of Andalusia that was suitable for the
long journey; if its owner protested against the price named, they had
authority to seize it. The same system applied to provisions and other
equipment for the voyage--these must be given at the government's price,
else the government, represented by Columbus and Fonseca, would seize
them. Lastly, these two could compel any mariner to embark on the fleet,
and could fix his wages, whether he wished to go or not.

The money for this second expedition came from a source which Spain has
no reason to be proud of today, but which she had small reason to be
ashamed of in the sixteenth century. It was the confiscated wealth of
the Jews who, as enemies of Christianity, had been banished from the
kingdom the year before. Columbus's "one eighth of the expense," which
by the contract of Santa Fe he was bound to supply, he had no means of
furnishing, since he had not yet reached lands rich enough to yield it.

It was at the end of May that Columbus left Barcelona, hoping soon to