ndred men, accompanied by his brothers Bartholomew and Diego Columbus,
with many other knights, gentlemen of the law, and priests; having
chalices, crosses, and other rich religious ornaments, and with great
power and dignity from the Pope. The tenth day after commencing their
voyage, they reached the Canaries; and from thence, in twenty-five or
thirty days, they sailed to the Antilles, the first island they saw being
in 14 deg. N. due west from Cape de Verd in Africa. They called this island
Deseada[5], or the _desired island_, which is said to be 800 leagues from
the Canaries. They afterwards discovered many more islands, which they
called the Virgins, but which are named the Caribbee islands by the
natives, from a nation of that name, who are bold warriors, and excellent
marksmen with bows and arrows. They poison their arrows with the juice of
a certain herb, and whoever is wounded with these is sure to die, biting
himself like a mad dog. From thence they went to the principal island in
these parts, named Boriquen by the natives, and St John by the Spaniards;
and thence to Hispaniola, or Isabella, where they found all the men dead
whom they had left on returning from the former voyage. Columbus left
most of his people here to establish a colony, under the command of his
brothers; and went with two ships to continue his discovery of Cuba and
Jamaica. All these islands are between 16 and 20 degrees of northern
latitude[6]. While the admiral was sailing in quest of discoveries, his
brethren and those who were left in Hispaniola, were much incommoded by
an insurrection among the savages; and Columbus went back to Spain, to
give an account of his proceedings to the king and queen.

In January 1494, a congress of ambassadors from Spain and Portugal was
held at Tordesillas, for the settlement of all disputes between the two
countries respecting the new discoveries. The plenipotentiaries from
Spain were Don Henry Henriques, Don John de Cardenas, and the Doctor
Maldonado; those from Portugal, Ruy de Sosa, his son Don John, and the
doctor Ayres de Almada. After some conference, these plenipotentiaries
divided the world between the two crowns, by a meridian line drawn from
north to south, 300 leagues to the west of the islands of Cape Verd, all
to the east of this line being appropriated to Portugal, and all to the
west to Spain; leaving, however, the liberty of navigation equally to
both[7]. In 1495, John II. King of Portugal, d