“I should have much desired to free myself from this affair had it been honourable towards my Queen to do so.  The support of our Lord and of her Highness made me persevere:  and to alleviate in some measure the sorrows which death had caused her, I undertook a fresh voyage to the new heaven and earth which up to that time had remained hidden; and if it is not held there in esteem like the other voyages to the Indies, that is no wonder, because it came to be looked upon as my work.

     “The Holy Spirit inflamed Saint Peter and twelve others with him,
     and they all contended here below, and their toils and hardships
     were many, but last of all they gained the victory.

“This voyage to Paria I thought would somewhat appease them on account of the pearls, and of the discovery of gold in Espanola.  I ordered the pearls to be collected and fished for by people with whom an arrangement was made that I should return for them, and, as I understood, they were to be measured by the bushel.  If I did not write about this to their Highnesses, it was because I wished to have first of all done the same thing with the gold.

“The result to me in this has been the same as in many other things; I should not have lost them nor my honour, if I had sought my own advantage, and had allowed Espanola to be ruined, or if my privileges and contracts had been observed.  And I say just the same about the gold which I had then collected, and [for] which with such great afflictions and toils I have, by divine power, almost perfected [the arrangements].

“When I went from Paria I found almost half the people from Espanola in revolt, and they have waged war against me until now, as against a Moor; and the Indians on the other side grievously [harassed me].  At this time Hojeda arrived and tried to put the finishing stroke:  he said that their Highnesses had sent him with promises of gifts, franchises and pay:  he gathered together a great band, for in the whole of Espanola there are very few save vagabonds, and not one with wife and children.  This Hojeda gave me great trouble; he was obliged to depart, and left word that he would soon return with more ships and people, and that he had left the Royal person of the Queen, our Lady, at the point of death.  Then Vincente Yanez arrived with four caravels; there was disturbance and mistrust but no mischief:  the Indians talked of many others at the Cannibals [Caribbee Islands] and in Paria; and afterwards spread the news of six other caravels, which were brought by a brother of the Alcalde, but it was with malicious intent.  This occurred at the very last, when the hope that their Highnesses would ever send any ships to the Indies was almost abandoned, nor did we expect them; and it was commonly reported that her Highness was dead.

“A certain Adrian about this time endeavoured to rise in rebellion again,