I think did not cost us the value of
forty ducats. We gave them nothing whatever but bells,
looking-glasses, beads, and brass plates; for a bell one
would give all he had.

"We learned from them how and where they fished for these
pearls, and they gave us many oysters in which they grew. We
procured one oyster in which a hundred and thirty pearls
were growing, but in others there were less number. The one
with the hundred and thirty the queen took from me, but the
others I kept to myself, that she might not see them. Your
excellency must know that if the pearls are not ripe and
loose in the shell they do not last, because they are soon
spoiled. Of this I have seen many examples. When they are
ripe they are loose in the oyster, mingled with the flesh,
and then are good. Even the bad ones which they had, which
for the most part were rough, were nevertheless worth a
considerable sum.

"At the end of forty-seven days we left these people, in
great friendship with us, and from the want of provisions
went to the island of Antilla [meaning Hispaniola], which
was discovered some years before by Christopher Columbus.
Here we obtained many supplies and stayed two months and
seventeen days. We passed through many dangers and troubles
with the Christians, who were settled in this island with
Columbus (I think through their envy), the relation of
which, in order not to be tedious, I omit. We left there on
the 22d of April, and, after sailing a month and a half,
entered the port of Cadiz, where we were received with much
honor on the 8th day of June. Thus terminated, by the favor
of God, my second voyage."

X

FAMOUS FELLOW-VOYAGERS

1497-1500

Though Amerigo Vespucci was on occasions intimately associated with
Christopher Columbus, conversed with him, corresponded, and had much
to do with the outfitting of his ships, it cannot be shown that the
two ever went on a voyage together. Some have asserted that the
Florentine accompanied the Genoese on his second voyage, in 1493, but
such is not the case. From the friendship that existed between the
two, it would doubtless have been gratifying to both could they have
explored the New World in company, for each was a complement of the
other, and much might have resulted from their conjoined efforts.

Still, while the great Admira