d bedizened
barbarians, the survivors of ten with whom he had started from
Hispaniola. Since in the vague terminology of that time the remote and
scarcely known parts of Asia were called the Indies, and since the
islands and coasts just discovered were Indies, of course these red men
must be Indians. So Columbus had already named them in his first letter
written from the Nina, off the Azores, sent by special messenger from
Palos, and now in April, 1493, printed at Barcelona, containing the
particulars of his discovery,--a letter appropriately addressed to the
worthy Santangel but for whose timely intervention he might have ridden
many a weary league on that mule of his to no good purpose.[528] It was
generally assumed without question that the Admiral's theory of his
discovery must be correct, that the coast of Cuba must be the eastern
extremity of China, that the coast of Hispaniola must be the northern
extremity of Cipango, and that a direct route--much shorter than that
which Portugal had so long been seeking--had now been found to those
lands of illimitable wealth described by Marco Polo.[529] To be sure
Columbus had not as yet seen the evidences of this Oriental splendour,
and had been puzzled at not finding them, but he felt confident that he
had come very near them and would come full upon them in a second
voyage. There was nobody who knew enough to refute these opinions,[530]
and really why should not this great geographer, who had accomplished so
much already which people had scouted as impossible,--why should he not
know what he was about? It was easy enough now to get men and money for
the second voyage. When the Admiral sailed from Cadiz on September 25,
1493, it was with seventeen ships carrying 1,500 men. Their dreams were
of the marble palaces of Quinsay, of isles of spices, and the treasures
of Prester John. The sovereigns wept for joy as they thought that such
untold riches were vouchsafed them by the special decree of Heaven, as a
reward for having overcome the Moor at Granada and banished the Jews
from Spain.[531] Columbus shared these views and regarded himself as a
special instrument for executing the divine decrees. He renewed his vow
to rescue the Holy Sepulchre, promising within the next seven years to
equip at his own expense a crusading army of 50,000 foot and 4,000
horse; within five years thereafter he would follow this with a second
army of like dimensions.

[Footnote 526: Charlevoi