And there was no time to spare.  The rough weather had severely tried the crazy and worm-eaten vessels; and anxiety and want of rest were having their effect on Columbus.  Making his way first to Porto Bello, where he was obliged to leave another caravel as no longer seaworthy, on the 31st of May he quitted the coast at a point on the west of the Gulf of Darien, and steered northward towards Cuba.  A collision between his two remaining ships rendered them still more unfit to cope with the squalls and breakers of the Archipelago; but at last, in the middle of June, with his crews in despair, nearly all his anchors lost, and his vessels worm-eaten so as to be “as full of holes as a honey-comb,” he arrived off the southern coast of Cuba, where he obtained supplies of cassava bread from friendly natives.

CHAPTER XII.

Failing to make head against the wind so as to reach Hispaniola, Columbus shaped his course for Jamaica, and there, in the harbour which he had named Santa Gloria on his former visit, his voyage was perforce brought to a conclusion.  As his ships could not float any longer, he ran them on shore, side by side, and built huts upon the decks for housing the crews.  Such a habitation, like the Swiss lake dwellings, afforded remarkable advantages of position in case of attack by a hostile tribe.

  Supply of provisions.

The admiral’s first care was to prevent any offence being given to the aborigines which might give cause for such an attack.  Knowing, by sad experience, the results of permitting free intercourse between the Spaniards and the natives, he enforced strictly a rule forbidding any Spaniard to go ashore without leave; and took measures for regulating the traffic for food so as to prevent the occurrence of any quarrel.  Diego Mendez, who had been his lieutenant, and had shown himself the boldest of his officers throughout this voyage, volunteered to proceed into the interior of the island to make arrangements for the periodical supply of provisions from some of the more remote tribes, as it was certain that the sudden addition to the population would soon exhaust the resources of the immediate neighbourhood.  This service Mendez performed with great adroitness, and a regular market was established to which the natives brought fish, game and cassava bread, in exchange for Spanish toys and ornaments.

  A messenger sent to Ovando; remarkable despatch to the sovereigns.