ke it
succeed._[14]

Translation of a letter written by Christopher Columbus from the court
of Queen Isabella at Barcelona to Padre Juan Perez de Marchena, a
Franciscan monk, Prior of the Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida,
Huelva, Spain (Date, 1492):

_Our Lord God has heard the prayers of His servants. The wise and
virtuous Isabel, touched by the grace of Heaven, has kindly
listened to this poor man's words. All has turned out well. I have
read to them our plan, it has been accepted, and I have been called
to the court to state the proper means for carrying out the designs
of Providence. My courage swims in a sea of consolation, and my
spirit rises in praise to God. Come as soon as you can; the Queen
looks for you, and I much more than she. I commend myself to the
prayers of my dear sons and you._

_The grace of God be with you, and may our Lady of Rabida bless
you._

COLUMBUS' OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS GREAT DISCOVERY.

Translation of a letter sent by Columbus to Luis de Santangel,
Chancellor of the Exchequer of Aragon, respecting the islands found in
the Indies; inclosing another for their Highnesses (Ferdinand and
Isabella).

R. H. Major, F. S. A., Keeper of the Department of Maps and Charts
in the British Museum and Honorary Secretary of the Royal
Geographical Society of England, states that the peculiar value of
the following letter, descriptive of the first important voyage of
Columbus, is that the events described are from the pen of him to
whom the events occurred. In it we have laid before us, as it were
from Columbus' own mouth, a clear statement of his opinions and
conjectures on what were to him great cosmical riddles--riddles
which have since been solved mainly through the light which his
illustrious deeds have shed upon the field of our observation:

_Sir: Believing that you will take pleasure in hearing of the great
success which our Lord has granted me in my voyage, I write you this
letter, whereby you will learn how in thirty-three[15] days' time I
reached the Indies with the fleet which the most illustrious King and
Queen, our Sovereigns, gave to me, where I found very many islands
thickly peopled, of all which I took possession, without resistance, for
their Highnesses, by proclamation made and with the royal standard
unfurled. To the first island that I found I gave the name of San
Sa