It had been found accidentally, by an Indian woman at the mines, while listlessly moving her rake to and fro in the water one day during dinner time.

Its value was estimated at 1,350,000 maravedis;[About 416 English Pounds] and in the festivities which took place on the occasion, it was used as a dish for a roast pig, the miners saying that no king of Castile has ever feasted from a dish of such value.

We do not find that the poor Indian woman had any part in the good fortune.

Indeed, as Las Casas observes, she was fortunate if she had any portion of the meat, not to speak of the dish.

Bobadilla had purchased the nugget for Ferdinand and Isabella, and had shipped it with other treasure valuable enough to go a long way towards compensating the sovereigns for all their expenditure on the new colony--if the fleet could only reach Spain in safety.
But on the second day after its departure the Admiral's prediction became terribly verified.