re it is
probably the silver mark as a measure of value, which was about $3.25. If
the word is used as a measure of weight of gold, it would be about $150.

[375-3] Bobadilla arrived at Santo Domingo August 23, 1500.

[375-4] Bartholomew Columbus.

[377-1] Juan Aguado arrived from Spain in October, 1495. Las Casas,
_Historia de las Indias_, II. 109 _et seqq._, gives a full account of his
mission. See also Irving, _Columbus_, ed. 1868, II. 77 _et seqq._

[378-1] Cf. _Daniel_, chs. III. and VI.

[378-2] The castellano was one-sixth of an ounce, or in value about $3.

[378-3] See Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 50, for Columbus's bitter
characterization of the Spaniards in Espanola in 1498, and p. 46 for the
royal authorization in June, 1497, to transport criminals to the island.
The terrible consequences of this policy led the Spanish government later
to adopt the strictest regulations controlling emigration to the New
World. _Cf._ _Spain in America_, ch. XVI.

[378-4] Bobadilla was a knight commander of the military order of
Calatrava.

[379-1] Diego Columbus had been appointed a page to Prince John in 1492.
Navarrete, _Viages_, II. 17. At this time, 1500, both Diego and Ferdinand
were pages in the Queen's household. _Historie_, ed. 1867, p. 276.

[380-1] The younger brother of the Admiral.

[381-1] _Un otro mundo._ See note, p. 352 above.

[381-2] _Caballeros de conquistas y del uso, y no de letras._ This should
be: "Knights of Conquests and by profession and not of letters." _I.e._,
by nobles that have actually been conquerors and had conquered territory
awarded to them and who are knights by practice or profession and not
gentlemen of letters.

[381-3] What this means is not altogether clear. Apparently Columbus
means that men of letters or lawyers in Greece and Rome, great conquering
nations, would know what standards to apply in his case, and that there
were some such men of breadth in Spain.

LETTER OF COLUMBUS ON THE FOURTH VOYAGE

INTRODUCTION

The letter on Columbus's last voyage when he explored the coast of
Central America and of the Isthmus of Panama was written when he was
shipwrecked on the island of Jamaica, 1503. It is his last important
writing and one of great significance in understanding his geographical
conceptions.

The Spanish text of this letter is not older than the sixteenth century
and perhaps not older than the seventeenth. The Spanish text was first
published