ring. The want of ballast
increased the danger of the ship, which had become light, owing to the
consumption of the provisions and water. On account of the favorable
weather enjoyed among the islands, the Admiral had omitted to make
provision for this need, thinking that ballast might be taken on board at
the island inhabited by women, which he had intended to visit. The only
thing to do was to fill the barrels that had contained wine or fresh
water with water from the sea, and this supplied a remedy.

Here the Admiral writes of the causes which made him fear that he would
perish, and of others that gave him hope that God would work his
salvation, in order that such news as he was bringing to the Sovereigns
might not be lost. It seemed to him that the strong desire he felt to
bring such great news, and to show that all he had said and offered to
discover had turned out true, suggested the fear that he would not be
able to do so, and that each stinging insect would be able to thwart and
impede the work. He attributes this fear to his little faith, and to his
want of confidence in Divine Providence.

He was comforted, on the other hand, by the mercies of God in having
vouchsafed him such a victory, in the discoveries he had made, and in
that God had complied with all his desires in Castile, after much
adversity and many misfortunes. As he had before put all his trust in
God, who had heard him and granted all he sought, he ought now to believe
that God would permit the completion of what had been begun, and ordain
that he should be saved. Especially as he had freed him on the voyage
out, when he had still greater reason to fear, from the trouble caused by
the sailors and people of his company, who all with one voice declared
their intention to return, and protested that they would rise against
him.[240-1] But the eternal God gave him force and valor to withstand
them all, and in many other marvellous ways had God shown his will in
this voyage besides those known to their Highnesses. Thus he ought not to
fear the present tempest, though his weakness and anxiety prevent him
from giving tranquillity to his mind. He says further that it gave him
great sorrow to think of the two sons he left at their studies in
Cordova, who would be left orphans, without father or mother,[241-1] in
a strange land; while the Sovereigns would not know of the services he
had performed in this voyage, nor would they receive the prosperous news
whi