The Spaniards, however, were soon attacked by the natives, and were in such distressing circumstances that Columbus was compelled to abandon his purpose of leaving a colony on this part of the continent and to take his men on board the ships and to return to Española. Speaking of the return-voyage, Ferdinand Columbus writes: “Thus rejoicing that we were all together again, we sailed along the coast eastward. Although all the pilots were of the opinion that we might return to San Domingo by standing away to the north, nevertheless the admiral and his brother knew that it was requisite to run a considerable distance along this coast before they steered across the gulf that is between the continent and Española, at which our men were displeased, thinking that the admiral designed to sail directly for Spain, whereas he neither had provisions nor were his ships fit for the voyage.[213] But as he knew best what was to be done, we held on our course until we came to Porto Bello, where we were obliged to leave the ship Biscaina, on account of its leaky condition, being all worm-eaten through and through. Steering along the coast, we passed by the port we called Retrete, and a country near which there were many small islands, which the admiral called Las Barbas, but the Indians and pilots call that the territory of the cacique Pocorosa. We held on this course ten more leagues to the last land we saw of the continent, called Marmora, and on Monday, the first of May, 1503, we stood to the north.... Although all the pilots said we should be east of the Caribbee islands, yet the admiral feared we should not make Española, which proved to be true.... We reached an Indian town on the coast of Cuba, called Mataia, where, having obtained some refreshment, we sailed for Jamaica.”[214] On his return to the island of Jamaica, in June, 1503, Columbus, describing his voyage along the isthmus of Darien, wrote to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, saying: “On the thirteenth of May I reached the province of Mango, which is contiguous to that of Cathay, and thence I steered for the island of Española.”[215] Peter Martyr[216] also seems to have held the opinion that Columbus’s explorations were along the continent of Asia. Writing in 1510, the first decade of the New World, he remarks: “The opinion of Christopher Columbus respecting the magnitude of the sphere and the opinions of the ancients concerning the under-navigation of the world seem to be adverse. Nevertheless the parrots and many other things brought from there indicate that the islands savor only of India, either being near it or else of the same nature.”[217]