in safe keeping.  I would be glad if you could see them.  The King and the Queen, my Lords, now wish to honour me more than ever.  May the Holy Trinity guard your noble persons, and increase the importance of your very magnificent office. 
          “Done in Seville, April a, 1502.

“The High-Admiral of the Ocean-Sea and Viceroy and Governor-General of the islands and mainland of Asia and the Indies, belonging to the King and Queen, my Lords, and the Captain-General of the Sea, and a Member of their Council.

.S.
.S.A.S. 
X M Y
Xpo FERENS.”

Columbus was anxious to touch at Espanola on his voyage to the West; but he was expressly forbidden to do so, as it was known that his presence there could not make for anything but confusion; he was to be permitted, however, to touch there on his return journey.  The Great Khan was not out of his mind yet; much in it apparently, for he took an Arabian interpreter with him so that he could converse with that monarch.  In fact he did not hesitate to announce that very big results indeed were to come of this voyage of his; among other things he expected to circumnavigate the globe, and made no secret of his expectation.  In the meantime he was expected to find some pearls in order to pay for the equipment of his fleet; and in consideration of what had happened to the last lot of pearls collected by him, an agent named Diego de Porras was sent along with him to keep an account of the gold and precious stones which might be discovered.  Special instructions were issued to Columbus about the disposal of these commodities.  He does not seem to have minded these somewhat humiliating precautions; he had a way of rising above petty indignities and refusing to recognise them which must have been of great assistance to his self-respect in certain troubled moments in his life.

His delays, however, were so many that in March 1502 the Sovereigns were obliged to order him to depart without any more waiting.  Poor Christopher, who once had to sue for the means with which to go, whose departures were once the occasion of so much state and ceremony, has now to be hustled forth and asked to go away.  Still he does not seem to mind; once more, as of old, his gaze is fixed beyond the horizon and his mind is filled with one idea.  They may not think much of him in Spain now, but they will when he comes back; and he can afford to wait.  Completing his preparations without undignified haste he despatched Bartholomew with his four little vessels from Seville to Cadiz, where the Admiral was to join them.  He took farewell of his son Diego and of his brother James; good friendly James, who had done his best in a difficult position, but had seen quite enough of the wild life of the seas and was now settled in Seville studying hard for the Church.  It had always been his ambition, poor James; and, studying hard in Seville, he did in time duly enter