CHAPTER IV.

COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA. 1502-1506.

The Sovereigns Decline either to Restore to the Admiral his Government, or to Capture for him the Holy Sepulchre—So he Sails on a Fourth Voyage of Discovery—Fernando Colon and his History—Ovando Denies the Expedition Entrance to Santo Domingo Harbor—Columbus Sails Westward—Strikes the Shore of Honduras near Guanaja Island—Early American Cartography—Columbus Coasts Southward to the Darien Isthmus—Then Returns and Attempts Settlement at Veragua—Driven thence, his Vessels are Wrecked at Jamaica—There midst Starvation and Mutiny he Remains a Year—Then he Reaches Española, and finally Spain, where he shortly afterward Dies—Character of Columbus—His Biographers 202