CHAP. V I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
421
COLUMBUS.
charged this part of his mission, and seen the ships depart, pro ceeded to Spain on the further concerns of the admiral.* * Some brief notice of the further fortunes of Diego Mendez may be inter esting to the reader.
When King Ferdinand heard of his faithful services,
says Oviedo, he bestowed rewards upon Mendez, and permitted him to bear a canoe in his coat of arms, as a memento of his loyalty.
He continued de
votedly attached to the admiral, serving him zealously after his return to Spain, and during his last illness.
Columbus retained the most grateful and affection
ate sense of his
On his death-bed he promised Mendez that, in
fidelity.
reward for his services, he should be appointed principal Alguazil of the island of Hispaniola ; an engagement which the admiral's son, Don Diego, who was present, cheerfully undertook to perform.
A few years afterwards, when the lat
ter succeeded to the office of his father, Mendez reminded him of the promise, but Don Diego informed him that he had given the office to his uncle Don Bartholomew ; he assured him, however, that he should receive something equivalent.
Mendez shrewdly replied, that the equivalent had better be given
to Don Bartholomew, and the office to himself, according to agreement.
The
promise, however, remained unperformed, and Diego Mendez unrewarded. He was afterwards engaged on voyages of discovery in vessels of his own, but met with many vicissitudes, and appears to have died in impoverished circum stances.
His last will, from which these particulars are principally gathered,
was dated in Valladolid, the 19th of June, 1536, by which it is evident he must have been in the prime of life at the time of his voyage with the admiral.
In
this will he requested that the reward which had been promised to him should be paid to his children, by making his eldest son principal Alguazil for life of the city of San Domingo, and his other son lieutenant to the admiral for the same city.
It does not appear whether this request was complied with under
the successors of Don Diego. In another clause of his will, he desired that a large stone should be placed upon his sepulchre, on which should be engraved, " Here lies the honorable Cavalier Diego Mendez, who served greatly the royal crown of Spain, in the conquest of the Indies, with the admiral Don Christopher Columbus, of glorious memory, who made the discovery ; and afterwards by himself, with ships at