On his return from
India, he fell in with another island in the Atlantic in 17 deg. S. called St
Helena, which, though very small, is yet of great importance from its
situation. In the month of May of the same year 1501, three ships were
sent from Lisbon by King Emanuel, to make a discovery of the coast of
Brazil, which had been accidentally fallen in with, by Cabral: Passing by
the Canaries, they stopped for refreshments at the town of Bezequiche in
the Cape Verds; and passing southwards from thence beyond the line, they
fell in with Brazil in five degrees of south latitude, at Cape St Roquo,
and sailed along the coast southwards, till they reckoned themselves to
have reached 32 deg. S. Finding the weather cold and tempestuous, they turned
back in the month of April 1502, and got to Lisbon In September of that
year, having been out fifteen months on their voyage.

In the same year 1502, Alfonso Hojeda went to discover the Terra Firma,
and followed its coast till he came to the province of Uraba I7. In 1503,
Roderigo Bastidas of Seville went with two caravels at his own cost, to
the Antilles, where he first came to the Isla Verde, or the Green island,
close by Guadaloupe; whence he sailed westwards to Santa Martha and Cape
do la Vela, and to the Rio Grande or Great river. He afterwards
discovered the haven of Zamba, the Coradas, Carthagena, the islands of S.
Bernard de Baru, the Islas de Arenas, Isla Fuerta, and the Point of
Caribana, at the end of the Gulf of Uraba, where he had sight of the
Farrallones, close by the river of Darien. From Cape de la Vela to this
last place, which is in lat. 9 deg. 40' N. is 200 leagues. From thence he
stood over to Jamaica for refreshments. In Hispaniola he had to lay his
ships on the ground to repair their bottoms, because a certain species of
worms had eaten many holes in the planks. In this voyage Bastidas
procured _four hundred marks_[18] of gold; though the people were very
warlike, and used poisoned arrows.

In the same year 1502, Columbus entered upon his fourth voyage of
discovery, with four ships, taking with him his son Don Ferdinando. The
particular object of this voyage, by command of King Ferdinand, was to look
out for the strait which was supposed to penetrate across the continent
of the new world, and by which a route to India by the west was expected
to be discovered. He sailed by Hispaniola and Jamaica to the river Azua,
Cape Higueras, the Gamares islands, and to Cape