n thousand miles of sea; or, as an alternative, to die on the
passage with my son, my brother, and so many of my people. Let those who
are accustomed to finding fault and censuring ask, while they sit in
security at home, "Why did you not do so and so under such
circumstances?" I wish they now had this voyage to make. I verily believe
that another journey of another kind awaits them, or our faith is
nothing.

On the thirteenth of May I reached the province of Mago [Mango],[405-3]
which borders on Cathay, and thence I started for the island of
Espanola. I sailed two days with a good wind, after which it became
contrary. The route that I followed called forth all my care to avoid the
numerous islands, that I might not be stranded on the shoals that lie in
their neighborhood. The sea was very tempestuous, and I was driven
backward under bare poles. I anchored at an island, where I lost, at one
stroke, three anchors; and, at midnight, when the weather was such that
the world appeared to be coming to an end, the cables of the other ship
broke, and it came down upon my vessel with such force that it was a
wonder we were not dashed to pieces; the single anchor that remained to
me was, next to the Lord, our only preservation. After six days, when the
weather became calm, I resumed my journey, having already lost all my
tackle; my ships were pierced by borers more than a honey-comb and the
crew entirely paralyzed with fear and in despair. I reached the island a
little beyond the point at which I first arrived at it, and there I
turned in to recover myself after the storm;[406-1] but I afterwards put
into a much safer port in the same island. After eight days I put to sea
again, and reached Jamaica by the end of June;[406-2] but always beating
against contrary winds, and with the ships in the worst possible
condition. With three pumps, and the use of pots and kettles, we could
scarcely clear the water that came into the ship, there being no remedy
but this for the mischief done by the ship-worm. I steered in such a
manner as to come as near as possible to Espanola, from which we were
twenty-eight leagues distant, but I afterwards wished I had not done so,
for the other ship which was half under water was obliged to run in for a
port. I determined on keeping the sea in spite of the weather, and my
vessel was on the very point of sinking when our Lord miraculously
brought us upon land. Who will believe what I now write? I assert tha