d coat of arms. Nor were their Catholic Highnesses
less busy on their own account than on that of their servant. On May 3d
and 4th, Alexander VI. granted bulls confirming to the crowns of
Castille and Leon all the lands discovered,[9] or to be discovered,
beyond a certain line of demarcation, on the same terms as those on
which the Portuguese held their colonies along the African coast. A new
expedition was got in readiness with all possible dispatch to secure and
extend the discoveries already made.

[Illustration: THE DE BRY PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS.]

After several delays the fleet weighed anchor on September 25th and
steered westward. It consisted of three great carracks (galleons) and
fourteen caravels (light frigates), having on board about 1,500 men,
besides the animals and materials necessary for colonization. Twelve
missionaries accompanied the expedition, under the orders of Bernardo
Boyle, a Benedictine friar; and Columbus had been directed (May 29,
1493) to endeavor by all means in his power to christianize the
inhabitants of the islands, to make them presents, and to "honor them
much," while all under him were commanded to treat them "well and
lovingly," under pain of severe punishment. On October 13th the ships,
which had put in at the Canaries, left Ferrol, and so early as Sunday,
November 3d, after a single storm, "by the goodness of God and the wise
management of the Admiral," land was sighted to the west, which was
named Dominica. Northward from this new-found island the isles of Maria
Galante and Guadaloupe were discovered and named; and on the
northwestern course to La Navidad, those of Montserrat, Antigua, San
Martin, and Santa Cruz were sighted, and the island now called Puerto
Rico was touched at, hurriedly explored, and named San Juan. On November
22d Columbus came in sight of Espanola, and, sailing eastward to La
Navidad, found the fort burned and the colony dispersed. He decided on
building a second fort, and, coasting on forty miles east of Cape
Haytien, he pitched on a spot, where he founded the city and settlement
of Isabella.

It is remarkable that the first notice of india rubber on record is
given by Herrera, who, in the second voyage of Columbus, observed that
the natives of Haiti "played a game with balls made of the gum of a
tree."

The character in which Columbus had appeared had till now been that of
the greatest of mariners; but from this point forward his claims to
supremacy are e