It was on the 4th of January, 1493, that Columbus set sail for Spain. He left a part of his men in the island of Hispaniola (Hayti, in the language of the original inhabitants), to occupy a fort he had built near a harbor, which he had named _La Navidad_. While coasting on the eastern side of the island, he met the Pinta, which had for a time, under its disaffected captain, deserted from him. Joined by this vessel again, they proceeded homeward on their voyage; but they met with tempests, which their frail barks were little able to encounter. The Pinta, being separated from the Nina, was supposed to have been lost; but this proved to have be a mistake, as she reached Spain nearly at the same time with the other caravel. At the time of their greatest extremity, when all hope of safety had departed, Columbus, anxious that the knowledge of his discovery might be communicated to the world, wrote a brief account of his voyage; and having properly secured it in a barrel, committed the latter to the ocean, in the hope that it might afterwards be found, should he and his crew never see land again.[3] But they were mercifully preserved, as the storm at length subsided, and, within a few days, they reached the island of St. Mary's, one of the Azores. While he was at that island, where he had sought a refuge for his wearied men and his own over-tasked body and mind, he encountered a species of persecution most disgraceful to civilized society. It was the result of the mean malignity of the Portuguese, who were piqued that the honor of the discovery should not have been secured for themselves, and was manifested by the imprisonment of a portion of his crew, and other vexatious treatment. At length, regaining his men, he set sail for home; but, meeting with tempestuous weather, he was forced to take shelter in the Tagus. Here astonishment and envy seemed to be equally excited by the knowledge of his discoveries; and, could certain courtiers of the monarch have had their own way, the great adventurer would have been stricken down by the hand of the assassin. So black a deed of treacherous villany had been advised. The king, however, treated him with generosity, and Columbus being dismissed with safety, soon found himself entering the harbor of Palos, just seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port.