re
wealth was to be gathered at every step, for the purpose of
seeking a strait which, however it might produce vast benefit
to mankind, could yield little else to himself than the glory
of the discovery." Irving's _Columbus_, vol. ii. p. 406. In
this voyage, however, the express purpose from the start was to
find the strait of Malacca as a passage to the very same
regions which had been visited by Gama, and Columbus expected
thus to get wealth enough to equip an army of Crusaders.
Irving's statement does not correctly describe the Admiral's
purpose, and as savouring of misplaced eulogy, is sure to
provoke a reaction on the part of captious critics.]

[Footnote 615: A graphic account of these scenes, in which he
took part, is given by Ferdinand Columbus, _Vita dell'
Ammiraglio_, cap. xciii.-cvi.]

[Sidenote: A year of misery.]

[Sidenote: Last return to Spain.]

It was a terrible year that Columbus spent upon the wild coast of
Jamaica. To all the horrors inseparable from such a situation there was
added the horror of mutiny. The year did not end until there had been a
pitched battle, in which the doughty Bartholomew was, as usual,
victorious. The ringleader was captured, and of the other mutineers such
as were not slain in the fight were humbled and pardoned. At length
Ovando's conduct began to arouse indignation in San Domingo, and was
openly condemned from the pulpit; so that, late in June, 1504, he sent
over to Jamaica a couple of ships which brought away the Admiral and his
starving party. Ovando greeted the brothers Columbus with his customary
hypocritical courtesy, which they well understood. During the past year
the island of Hispaniola had been the scene of atrocities such as have
scarcely been surpassed in history. I shall give a brief account of them
in a future chapter. Columbus was not cheered by what he saw and heard,
and lost no time in starting for Spain. On the 7th of November, 1504,
after a tempestuous voyage and narrow escape from shipwreck, he landed
at San Lucar de Barrameda and made his way to Seville. Queen Isabella
was then on her death-bed, and breathed her last just nineteen days
later.

[Sidenote: Death of Columbus.]

The death of the queen deprived Columbus of the only protector who could
stand between him and Fonseca. The reimbursement for the wrongs which he
h