Although the Spaniards were thus secure from starvation for the present, their position was most critical.  The journey to the easternmost extremity of Jamaica would probably not be unattended with difficulty and danger, for it must be effected through the midst of Indian tribes, hostile to each other, and therefore probably not unanimous in being friendly towards strangers.  But the most formidable obstacle to communication with the government of Hispaniola was the strait of forty leagues’ breadth, full of tumbling breakers and rushing currents, which separated the two islands.  However, it was necessary that the attempt should be made; and Diego Mendez, though he considered it to be “not merely difficult, but impossible, to cross in so small a vessel as a canoe,” volunteered for the service, after all the other Spaniards had declined to undertake it.  He was to be the bearer of a letter from the admiral to Ovando, asking him to send a vessel to release the castaways from their imprisonment, and of a despatch to the Sovereigns, giving a detailed account of the Admiral’s voyage and a glowing description of the riches of Veragua.  This despatch is very characteristic of the writer, bearing, as it does, the marks of strong enthusiasm, of almost fanatical superstition, of confidence in the midst of despair, and of exultation in the face of ruin.  Describing his reflections during the storm at the mouth of the river Bethlehem, he breaks into the following rhapsody, which, probably in perfect good faith, dwells on the contrast between the goodness of God and the bad faith of man, in a way which ought to have touched Ferdinand nearly.  It is worth quoting at full length, as an example of the wild fervour of a rapt enthusiast.

“Wearied and sighing,” writes Columbus, “I fell into a slumber, when I heard a piteous voice saying to me, ’O fool, and slow to believe and serve thy God, who is the God of all!  What did He more for Moses, or for His servant David, than He has done for thee?  From the time of thy birth He has ever had thee under His peculiar care.  When He saw thee of a fitting age, He made thy name to resound marvellously throughout the earth, and thou wert obeyed in many lands, and didst acquire honourable fame among Christians.  Of the gates of the ocean sea, shut up with such mighty chains, He delivered to thee the keys; the Indies, those wealthy regions of the world, He gave thee for thine own, and empowered thee to dispose of them to others, according to thy pleasure.  What did He more for the great people of Israel, when He led them forth from Egypt?  Or for David, whom, from being it shepherd, He made a king in Judaea?  Turn to Him, then, and acknowledge thine error:  His mercy is infinite.  He has many and vast inheritances yet in reserve.  Fear not to seek them.  Thine age shall be no impediment to any great undertaking.  Abraham was above a hundred years when he begat Isaac; and was Sarah youthful?  Thou urgest despondingly for succour.  Answer!