here came to us singing a great canoe
and in it a plumed cacique with his wife and daughters. All wore twists
of pearls around throat and arms. They gave them freely for red,
blue and green beads, which to them were indeed rubies, sapphires and
emeralds.--Whence came the pearls? It seemed from the coast beyond and
without this gulf. Whence the gold? It seemed from high mountains far
behind the country of Paria. It was dangerous in the extreme to go
there! "Because of the light which repels all darkness!" said the
Admiral. "When we go there, it must be gently and humbly like shriven
men."

It was August. He knew that Don Bartholomew in Hispaniola craved
his return. The three ships, too, were weatherworn, with seams that
threatened gaping. And as for our adventurers and the husbandmen and
craftsmen, they were most weary of the sea. The mariners were used to
it, the Admiral had lover's passion for it, but not they! Here before
us, truly, loomed a promising great land, but it was not our port; our
port was San Domingo! There, there in Hispaniola, were old Castilians
in plenty to greet and show. There were the mines that were actually
working, gold to pick up, and Indians trained to bring it to you! There,
for the enterprising and the lucky, were gifts of land, to each his
_repartimentio_! There was companionship, there was fortune, there was
ease! Others were getting, while we rode before a land we were too few
to occupy. They went in company to the Admiral. We had discovered. Now
let us go onto Hispaniola! The ships--our health.

When it came to health it was he who had most to endure.

The gout possessed him often. His brow knotted with pain; his voice,
by nature measured and deep, a rolling music, became sharp and dry. He
moved with difficulty, now and then must stay in bed, or if on deck in
a great chair which we lashed to the mast. But now a trouble seized his
eyes. They gave him great pain; at times he could barely see. Bathe
them with a soothing medicine, rest them. But when had he rested them,
straining over the ocean since he was a boy? He was a man greatly
patient under adversity, whether of the body or of the body's
circumstance, but this trouble with the eyes shook him. "If I become
blind--and all that's yet to do and find! Blessed Mother of God, let not
that happen to me!"

I thought that he should go to Hispaniola, where in the Adelantado's
house in San Domingo he might submit to bandaging, light and sea s