I then left him, and returned to the ships, and related all this to my lord the admiral, who was not a little pleased when he heard all these circumstances, and the things that had happened to me. He ordered a large stock of provisions to be put into the ships, and into certain straw houses that we had built there, with a view that I should remain, with some of the men, to examine and ascertain the secrets of the country. The next morning his lordship called me to ask my advice as to what ought to be done. My opinion was, that we ought to seize that chief and all his captains, because, when they were taken, great numbers of the people would submit. His lordship was of the same opinion. I then submitted the stratagem and plan by which this might be accomplished; and his lordship ordered that the adelantado,61 his brother, and I, accompanied by eighty men, should go to put it into execution. We went; and our Lord gave us such good fortune, that we took the cacique, and most of his captains, his wives, sons, and grandsons, with all the princes of his race; but in sending them to the ships, thus captured, the cacique extricated himself from the too slight grasp of the man who held him—a circumstance which afterwards caused us much injury. At this moment it pleased God to cause it to rain very heavily, occasioning a great flood, by which the mouth of the harbor was opened, and the admiral enabled to draw out the ships to sea, in order to proceed to Spain; I, meanwhile, remaining on land as accountant of his Highness, with seventy men, and the greater part of the provisions of biscuit, wine, oil, and vinegar being left with me.
VII.—How Diego Mendez got Food for Columbus.
[Also taken from the last will of Diego Mendez.]
On the last day of April, in the year fifteen hundred and three, we left Veragua, with three ships, intending to make our passage homeward to Spain; but, as the ships were all pierced and eaten by the teredo,62 we could not keep them above water. We abandoned one of them after we had proceeded thirty leagues: the two which remained were even in a worse condition than that; so that all the hands were not sufficient, with the use of pumps and kettles and pans, to draw off the water that came through the holes made by the worms. In this state, with the utmost toil and danger, we sailed for thirty-five days, thinking to reach Spain; and at the end of this time we arrived at the lowest point of the island of Cuba, at the province of Homo, where the city of Trinidad now stands; so that we were three hundred leagues farther from Spain than when we left Veragua for the purpose of proceeding thither—and this, as I have said, with the vessels in very bad condition, unfit to encounter the sea, and our provisions nearly gone. It pleased God that we were enabled to reach the island of Jamaica, where we drove the two ships on shore, and made of them two cabins, thatched with straw, in which we took up our dwelling; not, however, without considerable danger from the natives, who were not yet subdued, and who might easily set fire to our habitation in the night, in spite of the greatest watchfulness. It was there that I gave out the last ration of biscuit and wine.
I then took a sword in my hand, three men only accompanying me, and advanced into the island; for no one else dared go to seek food for the admiral and those who were with him. It pleased God that I found some people who were very gentle, and did us no harm, but received us cheerfully, and gave us food with hearty good-will. I then made a stipulation with the Indians who lived in a village called Aguacadiba, and with their cacique, that they should make cassava bread, and that they should hunt and fish to supply the admiral every day with a sufficient quantity of provisions, which they were to bring to the ships, where I promised there should be a person ready to pay them in blue beads, combs and knives, hawks-bells and fish-hooks, and other such articles, which we had with us for that purpose. With this understanding, I despatched one of the Spaniards whom I had brought with me to the admiral, in order that he might send a person to pay for the provisions, and secure their being sent. From thence I went to another village, at three leagues’ distance from the former, and made a similar agreement with the natives and their cacique, and then despatched another Spaniard to the admiral, begging him to send another person with a similar object to this village. After this I went farther on, and came to a great cacique named Huarco, living in a place which is now called Melilla, thirteen leagues from where the ships lay. I was very well received by him. He gave me plenty to eat, and ordered all his subjects to bring together, in the course of three days, a great quantity of provisions, which they did, and laid them before him, whereupon I paid him for them to his full satisfaction. I stipulated with him that they should furnish a constant supply, and engaged that there should be a person appointed to pay them.
Having made this arrangement, I sent the other Spaniard to the admiral, with the provisions they had given me, and then begged the cacique to allow me two Indians to go with me to the extremity of the island—one to carry the hammock in which I slept, and the other carrying the food. In this manner I journeyed eastward to the end of the island, and came to a cacique who was named Ameyro, with whom I entered into close friendship. I gave him my name, and took his, which, amongst this people, is regarded as an evidence of brotherly attachment. I bought of him a very good canoe, and gave him in exchange an excellent brass helmet that I carried in a bag, a frock, and one of the two shirts that I had with me: I then put out to sea in this canoe, in search of the place that I had left, the cacique having given me six Indians to assist in guiding the canoe.
When I reached the spot to which I had despatched the provisions, I found there the Spaniards whom the admiral had sent; and I loaded them with the victuals which I had brought with me, and went myself to the admiral, who gave me a very cordial reception. He was not satisfied with seeing and embracing me, but asked me respecting every thing that had occurred in the voyage, and offered up thanks to God for having delivered me in safety from so barbarous a people. The men rejoiced greatly at my arrival; for there was not a loaf left in the ships when I returned to them with the means of allaying their hunger. This, and every day after that, the Indians came to the ships, loaded with provisions from the places where I had made the agreements; so that there was enough for the two hundred and thirty people who were with the admiral.
VIII.—How Diego Mendez saved Columbus.
[From the same narrative.]
Ten days after this, the admiral called me aside, and spoke to me of the great peril he was in, addressing me as follows: “Diego Mendez, my son, not one of those whom I have here with me has any idea of the great danger in which we stand, except myself and you; for we are but few in number, and these wild Indians are numerous, and very fickle and capricious; and whenever they may take it into their heads to come and burn us in our two ships, which we have made into straw-thatched cabins, they may easily do so by setting fire to them on the land side, and so destroy us all. The arrangement you have made with them for the supply of food, to which they agreed with such good-will, may soon prove disagreeable to them; and it would not be surprising, if, on the morrow, they were not to bring us any thing at all. In such case,