176 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. PART tion. Although John professed himself satisfied '- — with the explanation, he soon after despatched an ambassador to Barcelona, who, after dwelling on some irrelevant topics, touched, as it were, inci- dentally on the real object of his mission, the late voyage of discovery. He congratulated the Spanish sovereigns on its success ; expatiated on the civili- ties shown by the court of Lisbon to Columbus, on his late arrival there ; and acknowledged the satis- faction felt by his master at the orders given to the admiral, to hold a western course from the Canaries, expressing a hope that the same course would be pursued in future, without interfering with the rights of Portugal by deviation to the south. This was the first occasion, on which the existence of such claims had been intimated by the Portuguese. warydipio- lu thc mcau whilc, Ferdinand and Isabella re- macy. ... . t ceived intelligence that King John was equipping a considerable armament in order to anticipate or de- feat their discoveries in the west. They instantly sent one of their household, Don Lope de Herrera, as ambassador to Lisbon, with instructions to make their acknowledgments to the king for his hospita- ble reception of Columbus, accompanied with a re- quest that he would prohibit his subjects from in- terference with the discoveries of the Spaniards in the west, in the same manner as these latter had been excluded from the Portuguese possessions in Africa. The ambassador was furnished with orders of a different import, provided he should find the reports correct, respecting the equipment and prob- able destination of a Portuguese armada. Instead
