226 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
obtained.
And they likewise directed me to the westward and also to the north
behind the country they occupied. I did not put this information to
the test, on account of the provisions and the weakness of my eyes and
because the ship was not calculated for such an undertaking."
In
his letter to one of the queen's attendants, written in 1500, Columbus
says, in justification of his conduct toward his miserable detractors :
"I believed that the voyage to Paria would in some degree pacify them
because of the pearls and the discovery of gold in the island of
Espanola. I left orders for the people to fish for pearls, and called
them together and made an agreement that I should return for them, and
I was given to understand that the supply would be abundant."
And
again in the same letter, after speaking of a quantity of gold which
mysteriously disappeared when Governor Bobadilla sent him and his
brothers loaded with chains to Spain, he says : "I have been yet more
concerned respecting the affair of the pearls, that I have not brought
them to their Majesties. . . . Already the road is opened to gold and
pearls, and it may surely be hoped that precious stones, spices, and a
thousand other things will also be found."
A
more detailed account of Columbus's pearling adventures, and of the
subsequent discoveries and explorations on the Caribbean coast is given
by Francisco Lopez de Gomara in his "Historia general de las Indias,"
published in 1554, of which the following is a literal translation
slightly abridged :
Since
there are pearls on more than four hundred leagues of this coast
between Cape Vela and the Gulf of Paria, before we proceed farther it
is proper to say who discovered them. In the third voyage made by
Christopher Columbus to the Indies, in 1498, having reached the island
of Cubagua, which he called "Isle of Pearls," he sent a boat with
certain sailors to seize a boat of fishermen, to learn what people they
were and for what they were fishing. The sailors reached the shore
where the Indians had landed and were watching. A sailor broke a dish
of Malaga ware and went to trade with them and to look at their catch,
because he saw a woman with a string of rough pearls (aljofar) on
her neck. He made an exchange of the plate for some strings of rough
pearls, white and large, with which the sailors returned highly
delighted to the ships. To assure himself better, Columbus ordered
others to go with buttons, needles, scissors, and fragments of the same
Valencian earthenware, since they seemed to prize it. These sailors
went and brought back more than six marcs (forty-eight ounces) of rough
pearls, large and small, with many good pearls among them. Said
Columbus then to the Spaniards : "We are in the richest country of the
world. Let us give thanks to the Lord." They wondered at seeing all
those rough pearls so large, for they had never seen so many, and could
not contain their delight. They understood that the
