r discovered. It had been found
accidentally, by an Indian woman at the mines, while listlessly moving her
rake to and fro in the water one day during dinner time. Its value was
estimated at 1,350,000 maravedis;[About 416 English Pounds] and in the
festivities which took place on the occasion, it was used as a dish for a
roast pig, the miners saying that no king of Castile has ever feasted from
a dish of such value. We do not find that the poor Indian woman had any
part in the good fortune. Indeed, as Las Casas observes, she was fortunate
if she had any portion of the meat, not to speak of the dish. Bobadilla
had purchased the nugget for Ferdinand and Isabella, and had shipped it
with other treasure valuable enough to go a long way towards compensating
the sovereigns for all their expenditure on the new colony--if the fleet
could only reach Spain in safety.

But on the second day after its departure the Admiral's prediction became
terribly verified. A tornado of unexampled fury swept over the seas; and
those on shore could judge of the fate that was likely to befall the
unfortunate squadron, as many of the buildings and trees on the island
were levelled with the ground by the force of the tempest. Of all the
ships, only one--and that the frailest of the fleet--was able to
accomplish the voyage to Spain. A few vessels managed to return, in dire
distress, to the island; but by far the greater number foundered at sea.
The historians of the period do not fail to remark that, while the ship
which reached Spain safely was the one carrying the admiral's property, a
special providence decreed that his enemies--Bobadilla, Roldan, and their
associates in cruelty and plunder--should perish with their ill-gotten
gains.

Like Cassandra, Columbus witnessed the discomfiture of the disbelievers in
his prophecy: like her he was denied the right of sanctuary upon the
occurrence of the disaster which he had foretold. Repulsed from port by
Ovando, however, the admiral sailed along the coast, and succeeded in
bringing his own ship under the lee of the land when the storm came on.
But the three other caravels were in no little danger (particularly the
disabled one, which was commanded by the Adelantado), and some days
elapsed before the little squadron was re-united in the port of Azua, to
the west of San Domingo.

JAMIAICA PASSED.

Thence he proceeded to Jaquimo, on the extremity of the same coast, and
after refitting his ships, se