In one of his epistles, dated Barcelona, May 1st, 1493, and addressed to C. Borromeo, [Peter Martyr] says: « Within these few days a certain Christopher Columbus has arrived from the western antipodes; a man of Liguria, whom my sovereigns reluctantly intrusted with three ships, to seek that region, for they thought that what he said was fabulous. He has returned and brought specimens of many precious things, but particularly gold, which those countries naturally produce.»