CHAP. X I I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
391
orders were obeyed, and confiding in the distribution he had made of his forces, both for the tranquillity of the colony and the island, Columbus prepared to depart on the prosecution of his discoveries.
To direct the affairs of the island during his absence, he
formed a junta, of which his brother Don Diego was president, and Father Boyle, Pedro Fernandez Coronel Alonzo Sanchez Caravajal, and Juan de Luxan, were councilors.
He left his
two largest ships in the harbor, being of too great a size and draft of water to explore unknown coasts and rivers, and he took with him three caravels, the Niña or Santa Clara, the San Juan, and the Cordera.