with two ships; whereas the truth is, that he had three caravels in his first voyage.  The fourth, that his first discovery was Hispaniola; whereas the first land he came to was Guanahani, which he named St Salvador, or St Saviour.  The fifth, that the island of Hispaniola was inhabited by cannibals; while the truth is, that its inhabitants were the best and most civilized people in all those parts.  The sixth, that he took the canoe or Indian boat which he first saw by force of arms; whereas it is certain that he had no hostilities in the first voyage with any of the Indians, and continued in peace and amity with them until his departure from Hispaniola.  The seventh, that he returned by way of the Canary Islands, which is by no means the proper route.  The eighth, that he dispatched a messenger from the Canaries to their Catholic majesties; whereas it is certain he was not at these islands on his return, and that he was his own messenger.  The ninth, that he went with twelve ships on his second voyage, while he actually had seventeen.  The tenth, that he arrived at Hispaniola in twenty days, which is too short a time to reach the nearest islands; and he certainly did not perform the second voyage in two months, and besides went to other islands much farther distant before going to Hispaniola.  The eleventh, that he immediately afterwards went from Hispaniola with two ships, whereas he certainly went to Cuba with three vessels.  The twelfth falsehood is, that Hispaniola is four hours (difference in longitude) distant from Spain; while the admiral reckoned it to be five.  The thirteenth, to add one to the dozen, is that the western point of Cuba is six hours distant from Hispaniola; making a farther distance of longitude from Hispaniola to Cuba, than from Spain to Hispaniola.

By the foregoing examples of negligence, in inquiring into the truth of those particulars which are plain and easy to have been learnt, we may divine what inquiry he made into those which are obscure and in which he contradicts himself, as already proved.  But, laying aside this fruitless controversy, I shall only add that, in consideration of the many falsehoods in the Chronicle and Psalter of Justiniani, the senate of Genoa have imposed a penalty upon any person within their jurisdiction who shall read or keep those books, and have ordered that they shall be carefully sought after and destroyed.

To conclude this disquisition, I assert that the admiral, so far from being a person occupied with the vile employments of mechanics or handicraft trades, was a man of learning and experience, and entirely occupied in such studies and exercises as fitted him for and became the glory and renown of his most wonderful discoveries; and I shall close this chapter with an extract from a letter which he wrote to the nurse of Prince John of Castile.  “I am not the first admiral of my family, let them give me what name they please.  After all, that most prudent king David was first a shepherd, and was afterwards chosen king of Jerusalem; and I am a servant to the same Lord who raised him to so great dignity.”