TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 465 and thwartino; him, for which his official station un- chapter , ... VIII. fortunately afforded him too many facilities. ^^ From these various circumstances the admiral's Histwrd voyage fleet was not ready before the beginning of 1498. Even then further embarrassment occurred in man- ning it, as few were found willing to embark in a service which had fallen into such general discredit. This led to the ruinous expedient of substituting convicts, whose regular punishments were commut- ed into transportation, for a limited period, to the In- dies. No measure could possibly have been devised more effectual for the ruin of the infant settlement. The seeds of corruption, which had been so long fes- tering in the old world, soon shot up into a plentiful harvest in the new, and Columbus, who suggested the measure, was the first to reap the fruits of it. At length, all being in readiness, the admiral em- barked on board his little squadron, consisting of six vessels, whose complement of men, notwith- standing every exertion, was still deficient, and took his departure from the port of St. Lucar, May 30th, 1498. He steered in a more southerly direction than on his preceding voyages, and on the first of August succeeded in reaching terra iirma ; thus en- Discovers ^ . terrajirma. titling himself to the glory of being the first to set foot on the great southern continent, to which he had before opened the way.^® It is not necessary to pursue the track of the 15 Muiloz, Hist, del Nuevo-Mun- IG Peter Martyr, De Rebus Ocean- do, lib. 6, sec. 20. — Fernando icis, dec. 1, lib. 6.— Navarrete, Co- Colon, Hist, del Almirante, cap. leccion de Viages, torn. ii. Doc. 64. — Zuiliga, Annales de Sevilla, Dipl.,nos. 116, 120.— Tercer Viage alio 1496. de Colon, apud Navarrete, torn. i. VOL. II. 59
