stretching headland called Cape de la Vela, or Cape of the
Sail. There the state of his vessels--and perhaps the disappointment
of his hopes at not meeting with abundant sources of immediate
wealth--induced him to abandon all further voyaging along the coast,
and, changing his course, he stood across the Caribbean Sea for
Hispaniola. The tenor of his commission forbade his visiting that
island; but Ojeda was not a man to stand upon trifles when his
interests or inclinations prompted him to the contrary. He trusted to
excuse the infraction of his orders by the alleged necessity of
touching at the island to calk and refit his vessels and to procure
provisions; but his true object is supposed to have been to cut
dye-wood, which abounds in Hispaniola.

Columbus, at that time, held command of the island, and, hearing of
this unlicensed intrusion, despatched Francesco Roldan, the quondam
rebel, to call Ojeda to account. The contest of stratagem and
management that took place between these two adroit and daring
adventurers has already been detailed. Roldan was eventually
successful, and Ojeda, being obliged to leave Hispaniola, resumed his
rambling voyage. He at length arrived at Cadiz, in June, 1500, his
ships crowded with captives, whom he sold as slaves. So meagre,
however, was the result of this expedition that we are told [by
Vespucci] that when all the expenses were deducted but five hundred
ducats remained to be divided between fifty-five adventurers. What
made this result the more mortifying was that a petty armament, which
had sailed some time after that of Ojeda, had returned two months
before him rich with the spoils of the New World.

The successful armament alluded to was that of Pedro Nino, who had
sailed with Columbus on his first voyage and on his third. With a
caravel of only fifty tons, and a crew of thirty-three men, he sailed
from Palos in June, 1499, returning in April, 1500, with a richer
cargo of pearls than any other that had been brought from the new
country. He had steered directly for the Pearl Coast, and at or near
Cumana and Margarita, had amassed a fortune from the sea.

In this connection it should be mentioned, that the country adjacent
to the Pearl Coast, opposite Cumana, was known to the natives as
_Amaraca-pan_; that the name _Amaraca_ occurs frequently in this
region, as (_A_)_mar-aca-ibo_, the great gulf where the Lake-Dwellers
live. It is regarded only as a coincidence that a name so n