of the great father of
waters, the ocean.

Our passenger now became very thoughtful, revolving in his memory the
many and various dangers he had passed in the years of his
peregrinations, and the thriftless conduct he had pursued all his life
long. The result of the account to which he thus called himself was a
firm resolution to change his way of life, to keep a much better hold of
whatever wealth God might yet be pleased to bestow upon him, and to
behave with more reserve towards women than he had hitherto done.

The fleet was nearly becalmed whilst the mind of Felipe de Carrizales
was actuated by these reflections. The wind soon after rose and became
so boisterous that Carrizales had enough to do to keep on his legs, and
was obliged to leave off his meditations, and concern himself only with
the affairs of his voyage. It was so prosperous that they arrived
without check or accident at the port of Cartagena. To shorten the
introduction of my narrative and avoid all irrelevant matter, I content
myself with saying that Felipe was about eight-and-forty years of age
when he went to the Indies, and that in the twenty years he remained
there he succeeded, by dint of industry and thrift, in amassing more
than a hundred and fifty thousand crowns. Seeing himself once more rich
and prosperous, he was moved by the natural desire, which all men
experience, to return to his native country. Rejecting therefore great
opportunities for profit which presented themselves to him, he quitted
Peru, where he had amassed his wealth, turned all his money into ingots,
and putting it on board a registered ship, to avoid accidents, returned
to Spain, landed at San Lucar, and arrived at Seville, loaded alike with
years and riches.

Having placed his property in safety, he went in search of his friends,
and found they were all dead. He then thought of retiring to his native
place, and ending his days there, although he had ascertained that death
had not left him one survivor of his kindred; and if, when he went to
the Indies poor and needy, he had no rest from the thoughts that
distracted him in the midst of the wide ocean, he was now no less
assailed by care, but from a different cause. Formerly his poverty would
not let him sleep, and now his wealth disturbed his rest; for riches are
as heavy a burden to one who is not used to them, or knows not how to
employ them, as indigence to one who is continually under its pressure.
Money and the want