Thus, surely, their Highnesses the King and Queen may henceforth regard themselves as the most prosperous and wealthy sovereigns in the world; never yet, since the creation, has such a thing been seen or read of; for on the return of the ships from their next voyage, they will be able to carry back such a quantity of gold as will fill with amazement all who hear of it. Here I think I shall do well to break off my narrative. I think those who do not know me, who hear these things, may consider me prolix, and a man who has exaggerated somewhat, but God is my witness, that I have not exceeded, by one tittle, the bounds of truth.[313-2]
[283-1] There is a gap here in the text of the original which has been filled by taking the corresponding words in Bernaldez's text.
[284-1] Major here translated _algun dia_ "one day." It should be "some days." Bernaldez has _algunos dias_, and Coma says the tarry at Gomera was nearly six days.
[284-2] _La nao Capitana_ means the flagship. The name of the flagship on the second voyage was _Marigalante_. _Historie_ of Ferdinand Columbus, cap. XLV. (London, ed. 1867), p. 137.
[285-1] The island of Dominica, which is so called from having been discovered on a Sunday. _Historie_, p. 137.
[285-2] The island Marigalante, which was so called from the name of the ship in which Columbus sailed. _Historie_, _ibid._
[286-1] One would infer from this that it was the fruit of the _manzanillo_, which produces similar effects. (Navarrete.) On the Manzanillo (Manchineel), see Oviedo, lib. IX., cap. XII. He says the Caribs used it in making their arrow poisons.
[288-1] It was Diego Marquez, the inspector, who with eight other men went on shore into the interior of the island, without permission from the Admiral, who caused him to be sought for by parties of men with trumpets, but without success. One of those who were sent out with this object was Alonzo Ojeda, who took with him forty men, and on their return they reported that they had found many aromatic plants, a variety of birds, and some considerable rivers. The wanderers were not able to find their way to the ships until the 8th of November. [Navarrete, condensed from Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, II. 7-8.]