t in
this letter I have not related one hundredth part of the wonderful events
that occurred in this voyage; those who were with the Admiral can bear
witness to it. If your Highnesses would be graciously pleased to send to
my help a ship of above sixty-four tons, with two hundred quintals of
biscuits and other provisions, there would then be sufficient to carry me
and my crew from Espanola to Spain. I have already said that there are
not twenty-eight leagues between Jamaica and Espanola; and I should not
have gone there, even if the ships had been in a fit condition for so
doing, because your Highnesses ordered me not to land there. God knows if
this command has proved of any service. I send this letter by means of
and by the hands of Indians; it will be a miracle if it reaches its
destination.

This is the account I have to give of my voyage. The men who accompanied
me were a hundred and fifty in number, among whom were many calculated
for pilots and good sailors, but none of them can explain whither I went
nor whence I came;[407-1] the reason is very simple: I started from a
point above the port of Brazil[407-2] in Espanola. The storm prevented me
from following my intended route, for I was obliged to go wherever the
wind drove me; at the same time I fell very sick, and there was no one
who had navigated in these parts before. However, after some days, the
wind and sea became tranquil, and the storm was succeeded by a calm, but
accompanied with rapid currents. I put into harbor at an island called
Isla de las Pozas, and then steered for mainland;[408-1] but it is
impossible to give a correct account of all our movements, because I was
carried away by the current so many days without seeing land. I
ascertained, however, by the compass and by observation, that I moved
parallel with the coast of the mainland. No one could tell under what
part of the heavens we were, and when I set out from there to come to the
island of Espanola, the pilots thought we had come to the island of St.
John, whereas it was the land of Mango, four hundred leagues to the
westward of where they said.[408-2] Let them answer and say if they know
where Veragua is situated. I assert that they can give no other account
than that they went to lands, where there was an abundance of gold, and
this they can certify surely enough; but they do not know the way to
return thither for such a purpose; they would be obliged to go on a
voyage of discovery as muc