ng was accused of negligence in withdrawing from him for not giving him
credit and authority in regard to this discovery for which he had first
come to make request of him. And although the king was urged to consent
to have him slain there, since with his death the prosecution of this
enterprise so far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned would cease
on account of the decease of the discoverer; and that this could be done
without suspicion if he consented and ordered it, since as he was
discourteous and greatly elated they could get involved with him in such
a way that each one of these his faults would seem to be the true cause
of his death; yet the king like a most God-fearing prince not only
forbade this but on the contrary did him honor and showed him kindness
and therewith sent him away." _Colleccao de Livros Ineditos de Historia
Portugueza_, II. 178-179. It will be noted that according to this account
Columbus said he had discovered Cipango and Antilia, a mythical island
which is represented on the maps of the fifteenth century, and that
Columbus is called Colombo his Italian name, and not Colom or Colon.

[256-1] This may have been her brother, the Duke of Bejar, afterwards
King Manoel.

[256-2] _Espadim_: a Portuguese gold piece coined by Joao II. Las Casas,
I. 466, says: "20 _Espadinos_, a matter of 20 ducats." The Espadim
contained 58 to 65 grains of gold. W.C. Hazlitt, _Coinage of European
Nations, sub voce_. King Joao II. gave Columbus's pilot almost exactly
the sum which Henry VII. gave to John Cabot, which was L10. In the French
translation and the translation in J.B. Thacher's _Christopher Columbus_
the word _espadines_ is erroneously taken to be Spanish and rendered
"_Epees_," and "small short swords."

[257-1] Having been absent 225 days.

LETTER FROM COLUMBUS TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL

INTRODUCTION

This letter, the earliest published narrative of Columbus's first voyage,
was issued in Barcelona in April, 1493, not far from the time when the
discoverer was received in state by the King and Queen. The _Escribano de
Racion_, to whom it was addressed, was Luis de Santangel, who had deeply
interested himself in the project of Columbus and had advanced money to
enable Queen Isabella to meet the expenses of the voyage. He, no doubt,
placed a copy in the hands of the printer. Only two printed copies of
this Spanish letter, as it is called, have come down to us. One is a
folio of the firs