CHAP. V I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
339
CHAPTER VI. RETURN TO VERAGUA.—THE ADELANTADO EXPLORES THE COUNTRY. [1502]
ON the 5th of December, Columbus sailed from El Retrete, and relinquishing his course to the east, returned westward, in search of the gold mines of Veragua. On the same evening he an chored in Puerto Bello, about ten leagues distant ; whence de parting on the succeeding day, the wind suddenly veered to the west, and began to blow directly adverse to the new course he had adopted. For three months he had been longing in vain for such a wind, and now it came merely to contradict him. Here was a temptation to resume his route to the east, but he did not dare trust to the continuance of the wind, which, in these parts, appeared but seldom to blow from that quarter. He resolved, therefore, to keep on in the present direction, trusting that the breeze would soon change again to the eastward. In a little while the wind began to blow with dreadful vio lence, and to shift about, in such manner as to baffle all sea manship. Unable to reach Veragua, the ships were obliged to put back to Puerto Bello, and when they would have entered that harbor, a sudden veering of the gale drove them from the land. For nine days they were blown and tossed about, at the mercy of