n favour with the queen, containing, in eloquent and touching language,
an ample vindication of his conduct.

When it was read to the noble-minded Isabella, and she found how grossly
Columbus had been wronged, and the royal authority abused, her heart was
filled with sympathy and indignation.

Without waiting for any documents that might arrive from Bobadilla,
Ferdinand and Isabella sent orders to Cadiz, that he should be instantly
set at liberty, and treated with all distinction, and sent him two
thousand ducats to defray his expenses to court. They wrote him a
letter at the same time, expressing their grief at all that had
happened, and inviting him to Grenada.

He was received by their majesties with the greatest favour and
distinction. When the queen beheld this venerable man approach, and
thought on all he had deserved and all he had suffered, she was moved to
tears.

Columbus had borne up firmly against the injuries and wrongs of the
world, but when he found himself thus kindly treated, and beheld tears
in the benign eyes of Isabella, his long suppressed feelings burst
forth, he threw himself upon his knees, and for some time could not
utter a word for the violence of his tears and sobbings.

Ferdinand and Isabella raised him from the ground and endeavoured to
encourage him by the most gracious expressions.

As soon as he had recovered his self-possession, he entered into an
eloquent and high-minded vindication of his conduct, and his zeal for
the glory and advantage of the Spanish crown.

The king and queen expressed their indignation at the proceedings of
Bobadilla, and promised he should be immediately dismissed from his
command.

The person chosen to supersede Bobadilla was Nicholas de Ovando. While
his departure was delayed by various circumstances, every arrival
brought intelligence of the disasterous state of the island under the
administration of Bobadilla.

He encouraged the Spaniards in the exercise of the most wanton cruelties
towards the natives, to obtain from them large quantities of gold. "Make
the most of your time," he would say, "there is no knowing how long it
will last;" and the colonists were not backward in following his advice.
In the meantime the poor Indians sunk under the toils imposed upon them,
and the severities with which they were enforced.

These accounts hastened the departure of Ovando, and a person sailed
with him, in order to secure what he could of the wreck of Colu