t entreaty of his wife
and children that he stayed with them. He found it hard to believe that
Columbus was inferior in rank or command to any other sovereign.

The beauty of the island and the hospitality of the natives, however,
were not enough to dispose the crews to continue this exploration
further. They were all convinced that they were on the coast of Asia.
Columbus did not mean that afterwards any one should accuse him of
abandoning the discovery of that coast too soon. Calling to their
attention the distance they had sailed, he sent round a written
declaration for the signature of every person on the ships. Every man
and boy put his name to it. It expressed their certainty that they were
on the cape which made the end of the eastern Indies, and that any
one who chose could proceed thence westward to Spain by land. This
extraordinary declaration was attested officially by a notary, and still
exists.

It was executed in a bay at the extreme southwestern corner of Cuba. It
has been remarked by Munoz, that at that moment, in that place, a ship
boy at the masthead could have looked over the group of low islands and
seen the open sea, which would have shown that Cuba was an island.

The facts, which were controlling, were these, that the vessels were
leaky and the crews sick and discontented. On the thirteenth of June,
Columbus stood to the southeast. He discovered the island now known as
the Island of Pines. He called it Evangelista. He anchored here and took
in water. In an interview, not unlike that described, in which the old
Cuban expressed his desire to return with Columbus, it is said that
an Evangelistan chief made the same offer, but was withheld by the
remonstrances, of his wife and children. A similar incident is reported
in the visit to Jamaica, which soon followed. Columbus made a careful
examination of that island. Then he crossed to Hispaniola, where, from
the Indians, he received such accounts from the new town of Isabella as
assured him that all was well there.

With his own indomitable zeal, he determined now to go to the Carib
islands and administer to them the vengeance he had ready. But his own
frame was not strong enough for his will. He sank exhausted, in a sort
of lethargy. The officers of his ship, supposing he was dying, put about
the vessels and the little squadron arrived, none too soon as it proved,
at Isabella.

He was as resolute as ever in his determination to crush the Caribs, an