Columbus returns to Isabela to find most people sick or dead

On Saturday, the 29th day of March, the Admiral arrived at la Isabela, where he found all the people very worn down, because few escaped being either dead or sick, and those who were wholly well were at least weak from the little food, and every hour feared coming to the state of the others; and even had they not feared it, the sorrow and compassion alone of seeing the greater part of them in such extreme need and anguish was a sad, tearful and incurable thing. The more provisions fell short, the more people fell sick and died, and their rations grew thinner; these thinned from day to day because, when the provisions were unloaded, many were found damaged and rotten; the Admiral laid the blame for this, or much of it, on the negligence or carelessness of the captains of the ships. …