_Such is my plan; if it be dangerous to execute, I am no mere theorist who would leave to another the prospect of perishing in carrying it out, but am ready to sacrifice my life as an example to the world in doing so. If I do not reach the shores of Asia by sea, it will be because the Atlantic has other boundaries in the west, and these boundaries I will discover._ THE TRUST OF COLUMBUS. From a letter of Columbus to a friend: _For me to contend for the contrary, would be to contend with the wind. I have done all that I could do. I leave the rest to God, whom I have ever found propitious to me in my necessities._ SIGNATURE OF COLUMBUS. _S. i. e. Servidor_ _S. A. S. Sus Altezas Sacras_ _X. M. Y. Jesus Maria Ysabel_ _Xpo. FERENS Christo-pher_ _El Almirante El Almirante._ In English: Servant--of their Sacred Highnesses--Jesus, Mary, and Isabella--Christopher--The Admiral. --BECHER. THE LAST WORDS OF COLUMBUS. _Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit._ FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 14: This letter received no answer.] [Footnote 15: Columbus left the Canary Isles September 8th, made the land October 11th--thirty-three days.] [Footnote 16: Watling's Island.] [Footnote 17: These canes are probably the flowering stems of large grasses, similar to the bamboo or to the _arundinaria_ used by the natives of Guiana for blowing arrows.] [Footnote 18: An old Spanish coin, equal to the fiftieth part of a mark of gold.] [Footnote 19: Small copper coins, equal to about the quarter of a farthing.] [Footnote 20: One arroba weighs twenty-five pounds.] [Footnote 21: There appears to be a doubt as to the exact number of men left by Columbus at Espanola, different accounts variously giving it as thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, and forty. There is, however, a list of their names included in one of the diplomatic documents printed on Navarrete's work, which makes the number amount to forty, independent of the Governor Diego de Arana and his two lieutenants, Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo. All these men were Spaniards, with the exception of two; one an Irishman named William Ires, a native of Galway, and one an Englishman, whose name was given as Tallarte de Lajes, but whose native designation it is difficult to guess at. The document in question was a proclamation to the effect that the heirs of those men should, on presenting at the office of public business at Seville sufficient proof of their being the next of kin, receive payment in conformity with the royal order to that purpose, issued at Burgos on December 20, 1507.] [Footnote 22: Dominica.] [Footnote 23: Martinique.] [Footnote 24: Of Genoa. The Island of Chios belonged to the Genoese Republic from 1346 to 1566.]