that it was known that large islands, and probably a part of the
continent of Asia, were to be submitted to his sway if he had it, there
was every reason why the sovereigns should be unwilling to maintain for
him the broad rights which they had been willing to give when a scratch
of the pen was all that was needful to give them.

Bobadilla was recalled; so far well. But neither Ferdinand nor Isabella
chose to place Columbus again in his command. They did choose Don Nicola
Ovando, a younger man, to take the place of Bobadilla, to send him home,
and to take the charge of the colony.

From the colony itself, the worst accounts were received. If Columbus
and his brother had failed, Bobadilla had failed more disgracefully.
Indeed, he had begun by the policy of King Log, as an improvement on the
policy of King Stork. He had favored all rebels, he had pardoned them,
he had even paid them for the time which they had spent in rebellion;
and the natural result was utter disorder and license.

It does not appear that he was a bad man; he was a man wholly unused to
command; he was an imprudent man, and was weak. He had compromised the
crown by the easy terms on which he had rented and sold estates; he had
been obliged, in order to maintain the revenue, to work the natives with
more severity than ever. He knew very well that the system, under which
he was working could not last long. One of his maxims was, "Do the best
with your time," and he was constantly sacrificing future advantages for
such present results as he could achieve.

The Indians, who had been treated badly enough before, were worse
treated now. And during his short administration, if it may be called
an administration,--during the time when he was nominally at the head
of affairs--he was reducing the island to lower and lower depths. He
did succeed in obtaining a large product of gold, but the abuses of his
government were not atoned for by such remittances. Worst of all, the
wrongs of the natives touched the sensitiveness of Isabella, and she was
eager that his successor should be appointed, and should sail, to put an
end to these calamities.

The preparations which were made for Ovando's expedition, for the
recall of Bobadilla, and for a reform, if it were possible, in the
administration of the colony, all set back any preparations for a new
expedition of discovery on the part of Columbus. He was not forgotten;
his accounts were to be examined and any deficien