e truth respecting my noble father to
remain in oblivion. Whatever may be the faults in this performance, these
will not be owing to my ignorance of the truth; for I pledge myself to set
down nothing which I do not find in his own papers or letters, or of which
I have not actually been a witness.

In the following work, the reader will find a faithful record of all the
reasons which induced the admiral to enter upon his great and glorious
and successful enterprize, and will learn how far he personally proceeded
in his _four_ several voyages to the New World. He will see what great
and honourable articles were conceded to him, before going upon his great
discovery, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, how basely all these
were violated, and he most unworthily and inhumanly treated, after
performing such unparalleled services; how far he established the affairs
of Hispaniola, the first settlement of the Spaniards in the New World;
and what care he took that the _Indians_ should not be oppressed, but
rather prevailed on by kind usage and good example, to embrace the
Catholic faith. In this work, likewise, will be found a faithful picture
of the manners and customs of the Indians, an account of their opinions
and practices respecting religion, and every thing that can reasonably be
looked for in a work like the present: The foundation for which was laid
by the great discoverer, and the superstructure raised by me his own son,
who possessed every advantage derivable from a liberal education and the
possession of authentic original documents, to fit me for executing a
work of such importance.

SECTION I.

_Of the Country, Original, and Name of Admiral Christopher Columbus; with
other particulars of his Life previous to his arrival in Portugal._

It is a material circumstance in the history of a great man to make known
his country and original, as those are best esteemed in the world who are
derived from noble cities and born of illustrious parents. Wherefore some
would have engaged me to prove that the admiral my father was honourably
descended, although his parents, through the fickleness of fortune, had
fallen into great poverty. Those persons required me to prove that his
ancestors descended from _Junius Colomus_, who, as Tacitus relates,
brought Mithridates a prisoner to Rome, for which service he was raised
by the Roman people to the consulate. They would likewise have induced me
to give an account at large o