BOOK XV.
C H A P T E R I. DEPARTURE
O P C O L U M B U S ON H I S F O U R T H
ADMISSION TO
A
TO
VIOLENT
THE
HARBOR
OF SAN
VOYAGE.
REFUSED
DOMINGO.
EXPOSED
TEMPEST.
[1502.]
A G E was rapidly making its advances upon Columbus when he undertook his fourth and last voyage of discovery. He had already numbered sixty-six years, and they were years filled with care and trouble, in which age outstrips the march of time. His constitution, originally vigorous in the extreme, had been impaired by hardships and exposures in every clime, and silently preyed upon by the sufferings of the mind. His frame, once powerful and commanding, and retaining a semblance of strength and majesty even in its decay, was yet crazed by infirmities and sub足 ject to paroxysms of excruciating pain. His intellectual forces alone retained their wonted health and energy, prompting him, at a period of life when most men seek repose, to sally forth with youthful ardor, on the most toilsome and adventurous of expe足 ditions. His squadron for the present voyage consisted of four cara-