[Transcriber's Notes]

embellishment

The HTML and TXT formats discard page boundaries but retain the year
references in square brackets. Thus [1492-1495] indicate the following
text covers this period, until the next such appearance.

Several books on Columbus are available at Gutenberg.org, including "The
Life of Columbus" by Arthur Helps.

A pound sterling in 1600 is worth about 135 pounds or 235 Dollars US in
2006.

Here are some unfamiliar (to me) terms.

camlets
  Rich cloth of Asian origin, made of camel's hair and silk and later
  made of goat's hair and silk or other combinations. A garment made
  from this cloth.

contumacy
  Stubborn perverseness or rebelliousness; obstinate resistance to
  authority.

druggets
  Heavy felted fabric of wool or wool and cotton, used as a floor
  covering.

escheated
  Reversion of property to the state in the absence of legal heirs or
  claimants.

fee simple
  An estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without
  limitation to any particular class of heirs (fee simple) or limited to
  a particular class of heirs (fee tail).

glebe
  Plot of land yielding profit to an English parish church or an
  ecclesiastical office.

Pascua Florida
  Feast of flowers; Easter.

quit rent
  A land tax imposed on freehold or leased land by a landowning
  authority, freeing the tenant of a holding from other obligations.

New Style (dates)
  Describing dates after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. Various
  nations adopted the Gregorian calendar between 1582 and 1752.

Old Style (dates)
  Describing dates before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.

pompion
  Pumpkin.

sedulous
  Diligent in application or attention; persevering.

settle
  Long wooden bench with a high back, often including storage space
  beneath the seat.

[End Transcriber's Notes.]