Columbus felt that he need no longer delay the despatch of twelve of his ships on the homeward voyage.

If he had not got golden cargoes for them, at any rate he had got the next best thing, which was the certainty of gold; and it did not matter whether it was in the ships or in his storehouse.

He had news to send home at any rate, and a great variety of things to ask for in return, and he therefore set about writing his report to the Sovereigns.

Other people, as we know, were writing letters too; the reiterated promise of gold, and the marvellous anecdotes which these credulous settlers readily believed from the natives, such as that there was a rock close by out of which gold would burst if you struck it with a club, raised greed and expectation in Spain to a fever pitch, and prepared the reaction which followed.
We may now read the account of the New World as Columbus sent it home to the King and Queen of Spain in the end of January 1494, and as they read it some weeks later.

Their comments, written in the margin of the original, are printed in italics at the end of each paragraph.