346
LIFE
A N D
VOYAGES
[BOOK V I ,
OF
selves to the food of the natives, Columbus requested present supplies from Spain. scanty.
Their provisions were already growing
Much of their wine had been lost, from the badness
of the casks; and the colonists, in their infirm state of health, suffered greatly from the want of their accustomed diet.
There
was an immediate necessity of medicines, clothing, and arms. Horses were required, likewise, for the public works, and for military service; being found of great effect in awing the natives, who had the utmost dread of those animals.
He requested also
an additional number of workmen and mechanics, and men skilled in mining and in smelting and purifying ore.
He recommended
various persons to the notice and favor of the sovereigns, among whom was Pedro Margerite, an Arragonian cavalier of the order of St. Jago, who had a wife and children to be provided for, and who, for his good services, Columbus begged might be appointed to a command in the order to which he belonged.
In like man
ner he entreated patronage for Juan Aguado, who was about to return in the fleet, making particular mention of his merits. From both of these men he was destined to experience the most signal ingratitude. In these ships he sent also the men, women, and children taken in the Caribbee Islands, recommending that they should be carefully instructed in the Spanish language and the Christian faith.
From the roving and adventurous nature of these people,
and their general acquaintance with the various languages of this great archipelago, he thought that, when the precepts of religion and the usages of civilization had reformed their savage manners and cannibal propensities, they might be rendered eminently serviceable as interpreters, and as means of propagating the doctrines of Christianity.