3 n .JRewory (Jj)f Hjames JVglfaarit WASHINGTON IRVING LIFE OF COLUMBUS VOLUME I By Washington Irving BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. R. F. FENNO & COMPANY : PUB¬ LISHERS : 9 & n E. SIXTEENTH STREET : NEW YORK CITY : 1900 E\U. I8K* |^(0D 16162 i CONTENTS PAGE Prepack.. . 9 BOOK I. CHAP. I. Birth* Parentage, and Early Life of Columbus. .... IT II. Early Voyages of Columbus . 20 III. Progress of Discovery under Prince Henry of Portugal. 24 IV. Residence of Columbus at Lisbon—Ideas concerning Islands in the Ocean 29 V. Grounds on which Columbus founded his Belief of the existence of Un¬ discovered Lands in the West. 34 VI. Correspondence of Columbus with Paulo Tosoanelli—Events in Portugal relative to Discoveries—Proposition of Columbus to the Portuguese Court—Departure from Portugal. 40 BOOK II. I. Proceedings of Columbus after leaving Portugal—His Applications in Spain—Characters of Ferdinand and Isabella. 52 n. Columbus at the Court of Spain . 57 III. Columbus before the Council of Salamanca. 60 IV. Further Applications at the Court of Castile—Columbus follows the Court in its Campaigns . 66 V. Columbus at the Convent of La Rabida . 72 VI. Application to the Court at the time of the Surrender of Granada. 76 VII. Arrangement with the Spanish Sovereigns—Preparations for the Expedi¬ tion at the Port of Palos. . ... 81 VIII. Columbus at the Port of Palos—Preparations for the Voyage of Discovery 84 BOOK III. I. Departure of Columbus on his First Voyage. 89 II. Continuation of the Voyage—First Notice of the Variation of the Needle 93 III. Continuation of the Voyage—Various Terrors of the Seamen. 96 IV. Continuation of the Voyage—Discovery of Land. 101 BOOK IY. I. First Landing of Columbus in the New World. 109 II. Cruise among the Bahama Islands. 115 III. Discovery and Coasting of Cuba. 121 IV. Further Coasting of Cuba. 137 4 CONTENTS. CHAP, PAGE V. Search after the supposed Island of Babeque—Desertion of the Pinta. 132 VI. Discovery of Hispaniola. 135 VII. Coasting of Hispaniola. 142 VHI. Shipwreck.. 146 • IX. Transactions with the Natives. 148 X. Building of the Fortress of La Navidad.. 153 XI. Regulation of the Fcrtress of La Navidad—Departure of Columbus for Spain. 156 BOOK V. I. Coasting towards the Eastern End of Hispaniola—Meeting with Pinzon— Affair with the Natives at the Gulf of Samana. 160 IT. Return Voyage—Violent Storms—Arrival at the Azores. 166 III. Transactions at the Island of St. Mary’s. 171 IV. Arrival at Portugal—Visit to the Court. 174 V. Reception of Columbus at Palos. 180 VI. Reception of Columbus by the Spanish Court at Barcelona.184 FII. Sojourn of Columbus at Barcelona—Attentions paid him by the Sovereigns and Courtiers. 188 fill. Papal Bull of Partition—Preparations for a Second Voyage of Columbus.. 192 IX. Diplomatic Negotiations between the Courts of Spain and Portugal with respect to the New Discoveries. . 199 X. Further Preparations for the Second Voyage—Character of Alonzo de Ojeda—Difference of Columbus with Soria and Ponseca. 202 BOOK VI. I. Departure of Columbus on his Second Voyage—Discovery of the Caribbee Islands. 209 n. Transactions at the Island of Guadaloupe. 212 III. Cruise among the Caribbee Islands.217 IV. Arrival at the Harbor of La Navidad—Disaster of the Fortress. . 222 V. Transactions with the Natives—Suspicious Conduct of Guacanagari.229 VI. Founding of the City of Isabella—Maladies of the Spaniards. 234 VII. Expedition of Alonzo de Ojeda to explore the Interior of the Island- Dispatch of the Ships to Spain. 238 HIT. Discontents at Isabella—Mutiny of Bernal Diaz de Pisa. 243 IX. Expedition of Columbus to the Mountains of Cibao.246 T. Excursion of Juan de Luxan among the Mountains—Customs and Charac¬ teristics of the Natives—Columbus returns to Isabella. 253 XI. Arrival of Columbus at Isabella—Sickness of the Colony. 263 XII. Distribution of the Spanish Forces in the Interior—Preparations for a Voyage to Cuba. 268 BOOK VII. L Voyage to the East End of Cuba. 271 II. Discovery of Jamaica. 275 III. Return to Cuba—Navigation among the Islands called the Queen’s Gardens 278 IV. Coasting of the Southern Side of Cuba. 281 V. Return of Columbus along the Southern Coast of Cuba. 29# VI. Coasting Voyage along the South Side of Jamaica. 29S VII. Voyage along the South Side of Hispaniola, and Return to Isabella. 299 CONTENTS. 5 BOOK VIII. <*HAP. PAGK I. Arrival of uie Admiral at Isabella—Character of Bartholomew Columbus. 303 II. Misconduct of Don Pedro Margarite, and his Departure from the Island.. 306 III. Troubles with the Natives—Alonzo de Ojeda besieged by Caonabo. 310 IV. Measures of Columbus to restore the Quiet of the Island—Expedition of Ojeda to surprise Caonabo. 315 V. Arrival of Antonio de Torres with Four Ships from Spain—His Return with Indian Slaves . 321 VI. Expedition of Columbus against the Indians of the Vega—Battle. 321 VII. Subjugation of the Natives—Imposition of Tribute. 328 VIH. Intrigues against Columbus in the Court of Spain—Aguado sent to investi¬ gate the Affairs of Hispaniola. 334 IX. Arrival of Aguado at Isabella—His Arrogant Conduct—Tempest in the Harbor. S39 X. Discovery of the Mines of Hayna. 343 BOOK IX. I. Return of Columbus to Spain with Aguado. 347 H. Decline of the Popularity of Columbus in Spain—His Reception by the Sovereigns at Burgos—He proposes a Third Voyage.352 III. Preparations for a Third Voyage—Disappointments and Delays. 358 BOOK X. I. Departure of Columbus from Spain on his Third Voyage—Discovery of Trinidad. 366 II. Voyage through the Gulf of Paria. 371 - III. Continuation of the Voyage through the Gulf of Paria—Return to His¬ paniola . 379 IV. Speculations of Columbus concerning the Coast of Paria. 385 BOOK XI. I. Administration of the Adelantado—Expedition to the Province of Xaragua 391 H. Establishment of a Chain of Military Posts—Insurrection of Guarionex, the Cacique of the Vega. 397 III. The Adelantado repairs to Xaragua to receive Tribute. 403 IV. Conspiracy of Roldan. 407 V. The Adelantado repairs to the Vega in relief of Fort Conception—His In¬ terview with Roldan. 412 VI. Second Insurrection of Guarionex, and his Flight to the Mountains of Ciguay. 416 VII. Campaign of the Adelantado in the Mountains of Ciguay. 419 BOOK XII. I. Confusion in the Island—Proceedings of the Rebels at Xaragua.425 H. Negotiation of the Admiral with the Rebels—Departure of Ships for Spain. 429 III. Negotiations and Arrangements with the Rebels. 434 IV. Grants made to Roldan and his Followers—Departure of several of the Rebels for Spain. 443 V. Arrival of Ojeda with a Squadron at the Western Part of the Island— Roldan sent to meet him. 417 VT. Manoeuvres of Roldan and Ojeda. 451 VH. Conspiracy of Guevara and Moxica,.. 455 6 CONTENTS. BOOK XIII. CHAP. PAGE I. Representations at Court against Columbus—Bobadilla empowered to examine into his Conduct. 461 II. Arrival of Bobadilla at San Domingo—His Violent Assumption of the Command. 467 III. Columbus summoned to appear before Bobadilla . 472 IV. Columbus and his Brothers arrested and sent to Spain in Chains.477 \ BOOK XIY. I. Sensation in Spain on the Arrival of Columbus in Irons—His Appearance at Court. 483 II. Contemporary Voyages of Discovery. 486 III. Nicholas de Ovando appointed to supersede Bobadilla . 490 IV. Proposition of Columbus relative to the Recovery of the Holy Sepulchre.. 498 V. Preparations of Columbus for a Fourth Voyage of Discovery. 503 BOOK XV. I. Departure of Columbus on his Fourth Voyage—Refused Admission to the Harbor of San Domingo—Exposed to a Violent Tempest. 507 II. Voyage along the Coast of Honduras. 513 HI. Voyage along the Mosquito Coast, and Transactions at Cariari.518 IV. Voyage along Coast Rica—Speculations concerning the Isthmus at Veragua. 523 V. Discovery of Puerto Bello and El Retrete—Columbus abandons the Search after the Strait. 527 VI. Return to Veragua—The Adelantado explores the Country. 530 VH. Commencement of a Settlement on the river Belen—Conspiracy of the Natives—Expedition of the Adelantado to surprise Quibian. 537 VIII. Disasters of the Settlement. 543 IX. Distress of the Admiral on board of his Ship—Ultimate Relief of the Settlement. 547 X. Departure from the Coast of Veragua—Arrival at Jamaica—Stranding of the Ships.653 BOOK XVI. I. Arrangement of Diego Mendez with the Caciques for Supplies of Pro¬ visions—Sent to San Domingo by Columbus in quest of Relief. 556 II. Mutiny of Porras.'.562 HI. Scarcity of Provisions—Stratagem of Columbus to obtain Supplies from the Natives. 569 IV. Mission of Diego de Escobar to the Admiral. 572 V. Voyage of Diego Mendez and Bartholomew Fiesco in a Canoe to Hispaniola 575 VI. Overtures of Columbus to the Mutineers—Battle of the Adelantado with Porras and his Followers. 580 BOOK XVII. I. Administration of Ovando in Hispaniola—Oppression of the Natives.586 II. Massacre at Xaragua—Fate of Anacaona. 591 III. War with the Natives of Higuey . 597 IV. Close of the War with Higuey—Fate of Cotabanama.601 CONTENTS. 7 BOOK XVIII. CHAP. PAGE j[. Departure of Columbus for San Domingo—His Return to Spain. 607 II. Illness of Columbus at Seville—Application to the Crown for a Restitution of his Honors—Death of Isabella. 613 III. Columbus arrives at Court—Fruitless Application to the King for Redress 613 IV. Death of Columbus.624 V. Observations on the Character of Columbus. 62‘< APPENDIX. NUMBER I. Transportation of the Remains of Columbus from St. Domingo to the Havana. 637 II. Notice of the Descendants of Columbus. 639 HI. Fernando Columbus.648 IV. Age of Columbus ...650 V. Lineage of Columbus.651 VI. Birthplace of Columbus. 652 VH. The Colombos. 657 VIII. Expedition of John of Anjou.658 IX. Capture of the Venetian Galleys by Colombo the Younger. 659 X. Amerigo Vespucci. 661 XI. Martin Alonzo Pinzon. 670 XII. Rumor of the Pilot said to have died in the House of Columbus.672 XIII. Martin Behem. 674 XIV. Voyages of the Scandinavians. 676 XV. Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients. 680 XVI. Of the Ships of Columbus. 681 XVII. Route of Columbus in his First Voyage. 682 XVHI. Principles upon which the Sums mentioned in this Work have been reduced into Modern Currency. 691 XIX. Prester John. 692 XX. Marco Polo . 693 XXI. The Work of Marco Polo.698 XXII. Sir John Mandeville. 702 XX111. The Zones. 703 XXIV. Of the Atalantis of Plato. 704 XXV. The Imaginary Island of St. Brandan... . 704 XXVI. The Island of the Seven Cities. 709 XXVII. Discovery of the Island of Madeira. 710 XXVIII. Las Casas. 712 XXIX. Peter Martyr. 716 XXX. Oviedo. 720 XXXI. Cura de Los Palacios. 720 XXXH. “ Navigatione del Re de Castiglia del Isole e Paese Nuovamente Ritrovate”—“ Navigatio Christophori Colombi”.721 XXXni. Antonio de Herrera. 722 XXXIV. Bishop Fonseca. 723 XXXV. Of the Situation of the Terrestrial Paradise. 725 XXXVI. Will of Columbus. 728 XXXVII. Signature of Columbus. 730 V . . . PREFACE. Being at Bordeaux in the winter of 1825-6, I received a letter from Mr. Alexander Everett, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid, informing me of a work then in the press, edited by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Secretary of the Royal Academy of History, etc. etc., contain¬ ing a collection of documents relative to the voyages of Colum¬ bus, among which were many of a highly important nature, recently discovered. Mr. Everett, at the same time, expressed an opinion that a version of the work into English, by one of our own country, would be peculiarly desirable. I concurred with him in the opinion; and, having for some time intended a visit to Madrid, I shortly afterward set off for that capital, with an idea of undertaking-, while there, the translation of the work. Soon after my arrival, the publication of M. Navarrete made its appearance. I found it to contain many documents, hitherto unknown, which threw additional lights on the dis¬ covery of the New World, and which reflected the greatest credit on the industry and activity of the learned editor. Still the whole presented rather a mass of rich materials for history, than a history itself. And invaluable as such stores may be to the laborious inquirer, the sight of disconnected papers and official documents is apt to be repulsive to the general reader, who seeks for clear and continued narrative. These circum¬ stances made me hesitate in my proposed undertaking; yet the subject was of so interesting and national a kind, that I could not willingly abandon it. On considering the matter more maturely, I perceived that, although there were many books, in various languages, relative to Columbus, they all contained limited and incomplete ac¬ counts of his life and voyages; while numerous valuable tracts on the subject existed only in manuscript or in the form of 10 PREFACE. letters, journals, and public muniments. It appeared to me that a history, faithfully digested from these various mate¬ rials, was a desideratum in literature, and would be a more satisfactory occupation to myself, and a more acceptable work to my country, than the translation I had contemplated. I was encouraged to undertake such a work, by the great, facilities which I found within my reach at Madrid. I was resident under the roof of the American Consul, O. Rich, Esq., one of the most indefatigable bibliographers in Europe, who, for several years, had made particular researches after every document relative to the early history of America. In his ex¬ tensive and curious library, I found one of the best collections extant of Spanish colonial history, containing many documents for which I might search elsewhere in vain. This he put at my absolute command, with a frankness and unreserve seldom to be met with among the possessors of such rare and valuable works; and his library has been my main resource throughout the whole of my labors. I found also the Royal Library of Madrid, and the library of the Jesuits’ College of San Isidro, two noble and extensive collections, open to access, and conducted with great order and liberality. From Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, who communicated various valuable and curious pieces of informa¬ tion, discovered in the course of his researches, I received the most obliging assistance; nor can I refrain from testifying my admiration of the self-sustained zeal of that estimable man, one of the last veterans of Spanish literature, who is almost alone, yet indefatigable in his labors, in a country where, at present, literary exertion meets with but little excitement or reward. I must acknowledge, also, the liberality of the Duke of Ve- ragna, the descendant and representative of Columbus, who submitted the archives of his family to my inspection, and took a personal interest in exhibiting the treasures they contained. Nor, lastly, must I omit my deep obligations to my excellent friend Don Antonio de Uguina, treasurer of the Prince Fran¬ cisco, a gentleman of talents and erudition, and particularly versed in the history of his country and its dependencies. To his unwearied investigations, and silent and unavowed con¬ tributions, the world is indebted for much of the accurate information, recently imparted, on points of early colonial his¬ tory. In the possession of this gentleman are most of the papers of his deceased friend, the late historian Munos, who I PREFACE. 11 was cut off in the midst of his valuable labors. These, and various other documents, have been imparted to me by Don Antonia, with a kindness and urbanity which greatly increased, yet lightened, the obligation. With these, and other aids incidentally afforded me by my local situation, I have endeavored, to the best of my abilities, and making the most of the time which I could allow myself during a sojourn in a foreign country, to construct this history. I have diligently collated all the works that I could find relative to my subject, in print and manuscript; comparing them, as far as in my power, with original documents, t'hose sure fights of historic research; endeavoring to ascertain the truth amid those contradictions which will inevitably occur, where several persons have recorded the same facts, viewing them from different points, and under the influence of different interests and feelings. In the execution of this work I have avoided indulging in mere speculations or general reflections, excepting such as rose naturally out of the subject, preferring to give a minute and circumstantial narrative, omitting no particular that appeared characteristic of the persons, the events, or the times; and en¬ deavoring to place every fact in such a point of view, that the reader might perceive its merits, and draw his own maxims and conclusions. As many points of the history required explanations, drawn from contemporary events and the literature of the times, I have preferred, instead of incumbering the narrative, to give detached illustrations at the end of the work. This also enabled me to indulge in greater latitude of detail, where the subject was of a curious or interesting nature, and the sources of in¬ formation such as not to be within the common course of reading. After all, the work is presented to the public with extreme diffidence. All that I can safely claim is, an earnest desire to state the truth, an absence from prejudices respecting the nations mentioned in my history, a strong interest in my sub¬ ject, and a zeal to make up by assiduity for many deficiencies of which I am conscious. Washington Irving. Madrid , 1827. P. S.—I have been surprised at finding myself accused by come American writer of not giving sufficient credit to Do© 12 PREFACE. Martin Fernandez de Navarrete for the aid I had derived from his collection of documents. I had thought I had sufficiently shown, in the preceding preface, which appeared with my first edition, that his collection first prompted my work and subse¬ quently furnished its principal materials; and that I had illus¬ trated this by citations at the foot of almost every page. In preparing this revised edition, I have carefully and conscien¬ tiously examined into the matter, but find nothing to add to the acknowledgments already made. To show the feelings and opinions of M. Navarrete himself with respect to my work and myself, I subjoin an extract from a letter received from that excellent man, and a passage from the introduction to the third volume of his collection. Nothing but the desire to vindicate myself on this head would induce me to publish extracts so laudatory. From a letter dated Madrid , April 1st, 1831. I congratulate myself that the documents and notices which I published in my collection about the first occurrences in the history of America, have fallen into hands so able to appreciate their authenticity, to examine them critically, and to circulate them in all directions; establishing fundamental truths which hitherto have been adulterated by partial or systematic writers. Yo me complazeo en que los documentos y noticias que publico en mi coleccion sobre los primeros acontecimientos de la historia de America, hayan recaido en manos tan habiles para apreciar su autenticidad, para examinar las con critica y propa- garlas por todos partes echando los fundamentos de la verdad que hasta ahora ha sido tan adulterada par los escri tores par- ciales d sistematicos. In the introduction to the third volume of his Collection of Spanish Voyages, Mr. Navarrete cites various testimonials he has received since the publication of his two first volumes of the utility of his work to the republic of letters. ‘‘A signal proof of this,” he continues, “is just given us by Mr. Washington Irving in the History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which he has published with a suc¬ cess as general as it is well merited. We said in our introduc¬ tion that we did not propose to write the history of the admiral, but to publish notes and materials that it might be written PREFACE. 13 with vnracity; and it is fortunate that the first person to profit by them should be a literary man, judicious and erudite, already known in his own country and in Europe by other works of merit. Resident in Madrid, exempt from the rivalries which have influenced some European natives with respect to Columbus and his discoveries ; having an opportunity to exam¬ ine excellent books and precious manuscripts ; to converse with persons instructed in these matters, and having always at hand the authentic documents which we had just published, he has been enabled to give to his history that fulness, impartiality, and exactness which make it much superior to those of the writers who preceded him. To this he adds his regular method, and convenient distribution ; his style animated, pure, and elegant; the notice of various personages who mingled in the concerns of Columbus ; and the examination of various ques¬ tions, in which always shine sound criticism, erudition, and good taste.” Insigne prueba de esto mismo acaba de damos el Senor Wash¬ ington Irving en la Historia de la Yida y de los Viages de Cristobal Colon que ha publicado con una aceptacion tan general como bien merecida. Diginos en nuestra introduccion (1 § 56 pag. lxxxii.) que no nos proponiamos escribir la historia de aqual almirante, sino publicar noticias y materiales para que se escribiesce con veracidad, y es una fortuna que el primero que se haya aprovechado de ellas sea un literato juicioso y erudito, conocido ya en su patria y en Europa por otras obras apreciables. Colocado en Madrid, exento de las rivalidades que han dominado entre algunas naciones Europeas sob re Colon y sus descubrimientos ; con la proporcion de examinar excelentes libros y preciosos manuscritos, de tratar a personas instruidas en estas materias, y teniendo siempre a la mano los autenticos documentos que acabamos de publicar, ha logrado dar a su his¬ toria aquella extension imparcialidad y exactitud que la haeen muy superior a las de los escritores que la precedieron. Agre- gase a esto su metodico arreglo y conveniente distribucion; su estilo animado, puro y elegante ; la noticia de varios personages que intervenieron en los sucesos de Colon, y el examen de varias cuestiones en que luce siempre la mas sana critica, la erudicion y buen gusto .—Prologo al tomo 3°. THE LIFE AHD TOY AGES OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. BOOK I. ^Whether in old times, beyond the reach of history or tra¬ dition, and in some remote period of civilization, when, as some imagine, the arts may have flourished to a degree un¬ known to those whom we term the Ancients, there existed an intercourse between the opposite shores Of the Atlantic; whether the Egyptian legend, narrated by Plato, respecting the island of Atalantis was indeed no fable, but the obscure tradition of some vast country, engulfed by one of those mighty convulsions of our globe, which have left traces of the ocean on the summits of lofty mountains, must ever remain matters of vague and visionary speculation. As far as authenticated his¬ tory extends, nothing was known of terra firma, and the islands of the western hemisphere, until their discovery toward the close of the fifteenth century. A wandering bark may occa¬ sionally have lost sight of the landmarks of the old conti¬ nents, and been driven by tempests across the wilderness of waters long before the invention of the compass, but never re¬ turned to peveal the secrets of the ocean. And though, from time to time, some document has floated to the shores of the old world, giving to its wondering inhabitants evidences of land far beyond their watery horizon; yet no one ventured to spread a sail, and seek that land enveloped in mystery and peril. Or if the legends of the Scandinavian voyagers be correct, and their mysterious Yinland was the coast of Labrador, or the shore of Newfoundland, they had but transient glimpses of the 16 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. new world, leading to no certain or permanent knowledge, and in a little time lost again to mankind.* Certain it is that at the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the most intelligent minds were seeking in every direction for the scattered lights of geographical knowledge, a profound ignorance prevailed among the learned as to the western regions of the Atlantic; its vast waters were regarded with awe and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a chaos, into which conjecture could not penetrate, and enterprise feared to adventure. We need no greater proofs of this than the description given of the Atlantic by Xerif al Edrisi, surnamed the Nubian, an eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen were the boldest navigators of the middle ages, and possessed all that was then known of geog¬ raphy. The ocean,” he observes, “ encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify anything concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its pro¬ found depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes, and its haughty winds; yet there are many islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, although they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves without breaking; for if they broke, it would be impossible for ship to plough them.” f It is the object of the following work, to relate the deeds and fortunes of the mariner who first had the judgment to divine, and the intrepidity to brave the mysteries of this perilous deep; and who, by his hardy genius, his inflexible constancy, and his heroic courage, brought the ends of the earth into commu- ication with each other. The narrative of his troubled life is the link which connects the history of the old world with that of the new. *See illustrations in Appendix at the end of this work, article “Scandinavian Discoveries.” t Description of Spain, by Xerif al Edrisi; Conde’s Spanish translation. Madrid, im. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER I. BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY LIFE OP COLUMBUS. Christopher Columbus, or Colombo, as the name is written in Italian,* was born in the city of Genoa, about the year 1435. He was the son of Dominico Colombo, a wool-comber, and Su¬ sannah Fontanarossa, his wife, and it would seem that his an¬ cestors had followed the same handicraft far several genera¬ tions in Genoa. Attempts have been made to prove him of illustrious descent;, and several noble houses have laid claim to him since his name has become so renowned as to confer rather than receive distinction. It is possible some of them may be in the right, for the feuds in Italy in those ages had broken down and scattered many of the noblest families, and while some branches remained in the lordly heritage of castles and do¬ mains, others were confounded with the humblest population of the cities. The fact, however, is not material to his fame; and it is a higher proof of merit to be the object of contention among various noble families, than to be able to substantiate the most illustrious lineage. His son Fernando had a true feel¬ ing on the subject. “ I am of opinion,” says he, “that I should derive less dignity from any nobility of ancestry, than from being the son of such a father.” f Columbus was the oldest of four children; having two brothers, Bartholomew and Giacomo, or James (written Diego in Spanish), and one sister, of whom nothing is known but that she was married to a person in obscure life called Giacomo Bavarello. At a very early age Columbus evinced a decided inclination for the sea; his education, therefore, was mainly directed to fit him for maritime life, but was as general as the * Columbus Latinized his name in his letters according to the usage of the time, when Latin was the language of learned correspondence. In subsequent life when in Spain he recurred to what was supposed to be the original Roman name of the family, Colonus, which he abbreviated to Colon, to adapt it to the Castilian tongue. Hence he is known in Spanish history as Christoval Colon. In the present work the name will be w-ritten Columbus, being the one by which he is most known throughout the world. t The reader will find the vexed questions about the age, birthplace, and lineage of Columbus severally discussed iu the Appendix. 18 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. narrow means of his father would permit. Besides the ordi nary branches of reading, writing, grammar, and arithmetic, he was instructed in the Latin tongue, and made some proficiency in drawing and design. For a short time, also, he was sent to the university of Pavia, where he studied geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation. He then returned to Genoa, where, according to a contemporary historian, he assisted his father in his trade of wool-combing.* This assertion is indignantly contradicted by his son Fernando, though there is nothing in it improbable, and he gives us no information of his father’s occupation to supply its place. He could not, however, have remained long in this employment, as, according to his own account, he entered upon a nautical life when but fourteen years of age.f In tracing the early history of a man like Columbus, whose actions have had a vast effect on human affairs, it is interest¬ ing to notice how much has been owing to external influences, how much to an inborn propensity of the genius. In the latter part of his life, when, impressed with the sublime events brought about through his agency, Columbus looked back upon his career with a solemn and superstitious feeling, he attribut¬ ed his early and irresistible inclination for the sea, and his passion for geographical studies, to an impulse from the Deity preparing him for the high decrees he was chosen to accom¬ plish. | The nautical propensity, however, evinced by Columbus in early life, is common to boys of enterprising spirit and lively imagination brought up in maritime cities; to whom the sea is the highroad to adventure and the region of romance. Ge¬ noa, too, walled in and straitened on the land side by rugged mountains, yielded but little scope for enterprise on shore, while an opulent and widely extended commerce, visiting every coun¬ try, and a roving marine, battling in every sea, naturally led forth her children upon the waves, as their propitious element. Many, too, were induced to emigrate by the violent factions which raged within the bosom of the city, and often dyed its streets with blood. A historian of Genoa laments this prone¬ ness of its youth to wander. They go, said he, with the inten- * Agostino Giustiniani, Ann. de Genova. His assertion has been echoed by othei historians, viz., Anton Gallo de Navigatione Colombi, etc., Murakori, tom. xxiii.,- Barta Senaraga, de rebus Genuensibus, Muratori, tom. 24. t Hist, del Almirante, eap. 4. $ Letters to the Castilian Sovereigns, 1501. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. tion of returning when they shall have acquired the means oi living comfortably and honorably in their native place; but we know from long experience, that of twenty who thus depart scarce two return: either dying abroad, or taking to themselves Coreign wives, or being loath to expose themselves to the tempests of civil discords which distract the republic.* The strong passion for geographical knowledge, also, felt by Columbus in early life, and which inspired his after career, was incident to the age in which he lived. Geographical discovery was the brilliant path of light which was forever to distinguish the fifteenth century. During a long night of monkish bigotry and false learning, geography, with the other sciences, had been lost to the European nations. Fortunately it had not been lost to mankind: it had taken refuge in the bosom of AD rica. While the pedantic schoolmen of the cloisters were wast- mg time and talent, and confounding erudition by idle reveries and sophistical dialectics, the Arabian sages, assembled at Senaar, were taking the measurement of a degree of latitude, and calculating the circumference of the earth, on the vast plains of Mesopotamia. True knowledge, thus happily preserved, was now making its way back to Europe. The revival of science accompanied the revival of letters. Among the various authors which the awakening zeal for ancient literature had once more brought into notice, were Pliny, pomponius Mela, and Strabo. From these was regained a fund of geographical knowledge, which had lohg faded from the public mind. Curiosity was aroused to pursue this forgotten path, thus suddenly .reopened. A translation of the work of Ptolemy had been made into Latin, at the commencement of the century, by Emanuel Chrysoleras, a noble and learned Greek, and had thus been rendered more familiar to the Italian students. Another translation had fol¬ lowed, by James Angel de Scarpiaria, of which fair and beau¬ tiful copies became common in the Italian libraries.! The writings also began to be sought after of Averroes, Alfraga- nus, and other Arabian sages, who had kept the sacred fire of science alive, during the interval of European darkness. Tfie knowledge thus reviving was limited and imperfect; yet, like the return of morning light, it seemed to call a new crea¬ tion into existence, and broke, with all the charm of wonder, * Foglieta, Istoria de Genova, lib. ii. t Andres* Hist. £. Let., lib. iii, cap. 2, 20 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. upon imaginative minds. They were surprised at their own ignorance of the world around them. Every step was dis¬ covery, for every region beyond their native country was in a manner terra incognita. Such was the state of information and feeling with respect to this interesting science, in the early part of the fifteenth cen¬ tury. An interest still more intense was awakened by the dis¬ coveries which began to be made along the Atlantic coasts of Africa; and must have been particularly felt among a maritime and commercial people like the Genoese. To these circum¬ stances may we ascribe the enthusiastic devotion which Colum¬ bus imbibed in his childhood for cosmographical studies, and which influenced all his after fortunes. Tne short time passed by him at the university of Pavia was barely sufficient to give him the rudiments of the necessary sciences; the familiar acquaintance with them, which he evinced in after life, must have been the result of diligent self-schooling, in casual hours of study amid the cares aud vicissitudes of a rugged and wandering life. He was one of those men of strong natural genius, who, from having to contend at their very out¬ set with privations and impediments, acquire an intrepidity in encountering and a facility in vanquishing difficulties, through¬ out their career. Such men learn to effect great purposes with small means, supplying this deficiency by the resources of their own energy and invention. This, from his earliest commence¬ ment, throughout the whole of his life, was one of the remark able features in the history of Columbus. In every undertak - ing, the scantiness and apparent insufficiency of his means enhance the grandeur ox his achievements. CHAPTER II. EARLY VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. Columbus, as has-been observed, commenced his nautical career when about fourteen years of age. His first voyages were made with a distant relative named Colombo, a hardy veteran of the seas, who had risen to some distinction by hia bravery, and is occasionally mentioned in old chronicles; some¬ times as commanding a squadron of his own, sometimes as an LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 21 admiral in the Genoese service. He appears to have been bold and adventurous; ready to fight in any cause, and to seek quar- rel wherever it might lawfully be found. The seafaring life of the Mediterranean in those days was hazardous and daring. A commercial expedition resembled a warlike cruise, and the maritime merchant had often to fight liis way from port to port. Piracy was almost legalized. The fre¬ quent feuds between the Italian states; the cruisings of the Catalonians; the armadas fitted out by private noblemen, who exercised a kind of sovereignty in their own domains, and kept petty armies and navies in their pay; the roving ships and squadrons of private adventurers, a kind of naval Condottieri, sometimes employed by the hostile governments, sometimes scouring the seas m search of lawless booty; these, with the holy wars waged against the Mahometan powers, rendered the nar¬ row seas, to which navigation was principally confined, scenes of hardy encounters and trying reverses. Such was the rugged school in which Columbus was reared, and it> would have been deeply interesting to have marked the early development of his genius amid its stern adversities. All this instructive era of his history, however, is covered with darkness. His son Fernando, who could have best elucidated it, has left it in obscurity, or has now and then perplexed us with cross lights; perhaps unwilling, from a principle of mis¬ taken pride, to reveal the indigence and obscurity from which hig father so gloriously emerged. The first voyage in which we have any account of his being engaged was a naval expedition, fitted out in Genoa in 1459 by John of An j oil, Duke of Calabria, to make a descent upon Naples, in the hope of recovering that kingdom for his father King Reinier, or Renato, otherwise called Rene, Count of Pro¬ vence. The republic of Genoa aided him with ships and mo¬ ney. The brilliant nature of the enterprise attracted the atten tion of daring and restless spirits. The chivalrous nobleman, the soldier of fortune, the hardy corsair, the desperate adven¬ turer, the mercenary partisan, all hastened to enlist under the banner of Anjou. The veteran Colombo took a part in this ex¬ pedition, either with galleys of his own, or as a commander of the Genoese squadron, and with him embarked his youthful relative, the future discoverer. The struggle of John of Anjou for the crown of Naples lasted about four years, with varied fortune, but was finally unsuc¬ cessful, The naval part of the expedition, in which Columbus 22 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. was engaged, signalized itself by acts of intrepidity; and at one time, when the duke was reduced to take refuge in the island of Ischia, a handful of galleys scoured and controlled the bay of Naples.* In the course of thi§ gallant but ill-fated enterprise, Columbus was detached on a perilous cruise, to cut out a galley from the harbor of Tunis. This is incidentally mentioned by himself in a letter written many years afterward. It happened to me, he says, that King Reinier (whom God has taken to himself) sent me to Tunis, to capture the galley Fernandina, and when I ar- arrived off the island of St. Pedro, in Sardinia, I was informed that there were two ships and a carrack with the galley; by which intelligence my crew were so troubled that they deter¬ mined to proceed no further, but to return to Marseilles for an¬ other vessel and more people; as I could not by any means com¬ pel them, I assented apparently to their wishes, altering the point of the compass and spreading all sail. It was then even¬ ing, and next morning we were within the Cape of Carthagena, while all were firmly of opinion that they were sailing toward Marseilles.! We have no further record of this bold cruise into the harbor of Tunis; but in the foregoing particulars we behold early indi¬ cations of that resolute and persevering spirit which insured him success in his more important undertakings. His expedient to beguile a discontented crew into a continuation of the enter¬ prise, by deceiving them with respect to the ship’s course, will be found in unison with a stratagem of altering the reckoning, to which he had recourse in his first voyage of discovery. During an interval of many years we have but one or two shadowy traces of Columbus. He is supposed to have been principally engaged on the Mediterranean and up the Levant; sometimes in commercial voyages; sometimes in the warlike contests between the Italian states; sometimes in pious and pre¬ datory expeditions against the Infidels. Historians have made him in 1474 captain of several Genoese ships, in the service of Louis XI. of France, and endangering the peace between that country and Spain by running down and capturing Spanish vessels at sea, on his own responsibility, as a reprisal for an irruption of the Spaniards into Roussillon.! Again, in 1475, he is represented as brushing with his Genoese squadron in ruffling * Colenuccio, Istoria de Nap. lib. vii. cap. 17. t Letter of Columbus to the Catholic sovereigns, vide Hist, del Almirante, cap. 4> tChaufepie Suppl. to Bayie, vol. ii.; article “Columbus.” LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 23 bravado by a Venetian fleet stationed off the island of Cyprus, shouting “Viva San Georgio!” the old war-cry of Genoa, thus endeavoring to pique the jealous pride of the Venetians and provoke a combat, though the rival republics were at peace at the time. These transactions, however, have been erroneously attri¬ buted to Columbus. They were the deeds, or misdeeds, either of his relative the old Genoese admiral, or of a nephew of the same, of kindred spirit, called Colombo the Younger, to distin¬ guish him from his uncle. They both appear to have been fond of rough encounters, and not very scrupulous as to the mode of bringing them about. Fernando Columbus describes this Co¬ lombo the Younger as a famous corsair, so terrible for his deeds against the Infidels, that the Moorish mothers used to frighten their unruly children with his name. Columbus sailed with him occasionally, as he had done with his uncle, and, according to Fernando’s account, commanded a vessel in his squadron on an eventful occasion. Colombo the Younger, having heard that four Venetian gal¬ leys richly laden were on their return voyage from Flanders, lay in wait for them on the Portuguese coast, between Lisbon and Cape St. Vincent. A desperate engagement took place; the vessels grappled each other, and the crews fought hand to hand, and from ship to ship. The battle lasted from morning until evening, with great carnage on both sides. The vessel com¬ manded by Columbus was engaged with a huge Venetian ga lley. They threw hand-grenades and other fiery missiies, and the galley was wrapped in flames. The vessels were fastened to¬ gether by chains and grappling irons, and could not be sepa¬ rated; both were involved in one conflagration, and soon be¬ came a mere blazing mass. The crews threw themselves into the sea; Columbus seized an oar, which was floating within reach, and being an expert swimmer, attained the shore, though full two leagues distant. It pleased God, says his son Fernando, to give him strength, that he might preserve him for greater tilings. After recovering from his exhaustion he repaired to Lisbon, where he found many of his Genoese countrymen, and was induced to take up his residence.* Such is the account given by Fernando of his father’s first arrival in Portugal; and it has been currently adopted by mod- * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 5. See illustrations at the end of this work, article “ Capture «f the Venetian Galleys.” 24 LIFE OF CHRISTOFTIER COLUMBUS. ern historians; but on examining various histories of the times, the battle here described appears to have happened several years after the date of the arrival of Columbus in that country. That he was engaged in the contest is not improbable; but he had previously resided for some time in Portugal. In fact, on referring to the history of that kingdom, we shall find, in the great maritime enterprises in which it was at that time engaged, ample attractions for a person of his inclinations and pursuits; and we shall be led to conclude, that his first visit to Lisbon was not the fortuitous result of a desperate adventure, but was undertaken in a spirit of liberal curiosity, and in the pursuit of honorable fortune. CHAPTER ni. PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY UNDER PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL. The career of modem discovery had commenced shortly be¬ fore the time of Columbus, and at the period of which we are treating was prosecuted with great activity by Portugal. Some have attributed its origin to a romantic incident in the four¬ teenth century. An Englishman of the name of Macharn, fly¬ ing to France with a lady of whom he was enamored, was driven far out of sight of land by stress of weather, and after wandering about the high seas, arrived at an unknown and uninhabited island, covered with beautiful forests, which was afterward called Madeira.* Others have treated this account as a fable, and have pronounced the Canaries to be the first fruits of mod¬ ern discovery. This famous group, the Fortunate Islands of the ancients, in which they placed their garden of the Ilesperi- des, and whence Ptolemy commenced to count the longitude, had been long lost to the world. There are vague accounts, it is true, of their having received casual visits, at wide intervals, during the obscure ages, from the wandering bark of some Ara¬ bian, Norman, or Genoese adventurer; but all this was involved in uncertainty, and led to no beneficial result. It was not un¬ til the fourteenth century that they were effectually redis¬ covered, and restored to mankind. From that time they were occasionally visited by the hardy navigators of various coun- * See illustrations, article “ Discovery of Madeira.” LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 25 tries. The greatest benefit produced by their discovery was, that the frequent expeditions made to them emboldened mari- ners to venture far upon the Atlantic, and familiarized them, in some degree, to its dangers. The grand impulse to discovery was not given by chance, but was the deeply meditated effort of one master mind. This was Prince Henry of Portugal, son of John the First, surnamed the Avenger, and Philippa, of Lancaster, sister of Henry the Fourth of England. The character of this illustrious man, from whose enterprises the genius of Columbus took excitement, deserves particular mention. Having accompanied his father into Africa, in an expedition against the Moors at Ceuta he received much information con¬ cerning the coast of Guinea, and other regions in the interior, hitherto unknown to Europeans, and conceived an idea that important discoveries were to be made by navigating along the western coast of Africa. On returning to Portugal, this idea became his ruling thought. Withdrawing from the tumult of a court to a country retreat in the Algarves, near Sagres, in the neighborhood of Cape St. Vincent, and in full view of the ocean, he drew around him men eminent in science, and prosecuted the study of those branches of knowledge connected with the maritime arts. He was an able mathematician, and made him¬ self master of all the astronomy known to the Arabians of Spain. On studying the works of the ancients, he found what he con¬ sidered abundant proofs that Africa was circumnavigable. Eu¬ doxus of Cyzicus was said to have sailed from the Red Sea into the ocean, and to have continued on to Gibraltar; and Hanno, the Carthaginian, sailing from Gibraltar with a fleet of sixty ships, and following the African coast, was said to have reached the shores of Arabia.* It is true these voyages had been dis¬ credited by several ancient writers, and the possibility of cir¬ cumnavigating Africa, after being for a long time admitted by geographers, was denied by Hipparchus, who considered each sea shut up and land-bound in its peculiar basin; and that Africa was a continent continuing onward to the south pole, and sur¬ rounding the Indian Sea, so as to join Asia beyond the Ganges. This opinion had been adopted by Ptolemy, whose works, in the time of Prince Henry, were the highest authority in geog¬ raphy. The prince, however, clung to the ancient belief, that * See illustrations, article “ Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients.” 26 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLiJMBUS. Africa was circumnavigable, and found his opinion sanctioned by various learned men of more modern date. To settle this question, and achieve the circumnavigation of Africa, was an object worthy the ambition of a prince, and his mind was fired with the idea of the vast benefits that would arise to nis country should it be accomplished by Portuguese enterprise. The Italians, or Lombards as they were called in the north of Europe, had long monopolized the trade of Asia. They had formed connnercial establishments at Constantinople and in the Black Sea, where they received the rich produce of the Spice Islands, lying near the equator; and the silks, the gums, the perfumes, the precious stones, and other luxurious commodi¬ ties of Egypt and southern Asia, and distributed them over the whole of Europe. The republics of Venice and Genoa rose to opulence and power in consequence of this trade. They had factories in the most remote parts, even in the frozen regions of Moscovy and Norway. Their merchants emulated the magnifi¬ cence of princes. All Europe was tributary to their commerce. Yet this trade had to pass through various intermediate hands, subject to the delays and charges of internal navigation, and the tedious and uncertain journeys of the caravan. For a long time the merchandise of India was conveyed by the Gulf of Persia, the Euphrates, the Indus, and the Oxus, to the Caspian and the Mediterranean seas; thence to take a new destination for the various marts of Europe. After the Soldan of Egypt had conquered the Arabs, and restored trade to its ancient channel, it was still attended with great cost and delay. Its precious commodities had to be conveyed by the Red Sea; thence on the backs of camels to the banks of the Nile, whence they were transported to Egypt to meet the Italian merchants. Thus, while the opulent traffic of the East was engrossed by these ad¬ venturous monopolists, the price of every article was enhanced by the great expense of transportation. r It was the grand idea of Prince Henry, by circumnavigating Africa to open a direct and easy route to the source of this com¬ merce, to turn it in a golden tide upon his country. He was, however, before the age in thought, and had to counteract ig¬ norance and prejudice, and to endure the delays to which vivid and penetrating minds are subjected, from the tardy co-opera¬ tions of the dull and the doubtful. The navigation of the At¬ lantic was yet in its infancy. Manners looked with distrust upon a boisterous expanse, which appeared to have no opposite shore, and feared to venture out of sight of the landmarks. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS\ 27 Every bold headland and far-stretching promontory was a wall to bar their progress. They crept timorously along the Barbary shores, and thought they had accomplished c wonderful expe¬ dition when they had ventured a few degrees beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. Cape Non was long the limit of their daring; they hesitated to double its rocky point, beaten by winds and waves, and threatening to thrust them forth upon the raging deep. Independent of these vague fears, they had others, sanctioned by philosophy itself. They still thought that the earth, at the equator, was girdled by a torrid zone, over wliich the sun held his vertical and fiery course, separating the hemispheres by a region of impassive heat. They fancied Cape Bojador the ut¬ most boundary of secure enterprise, and had a superstitious be¬ lief that whoever doubled it would never return.* They looked with dismay upon the rapid currents of its neighborhood, and the furious surf which beats upon its arid coast. They imagined that beyond it lay the frightful region of the torrid zone, scorched by a blazing sun; a region of fire, where the very waves, which beat upon the shores, boiled under the intolerable fervor of the heavens. To dispel these errors, and to give a scope to navigation equal to the grandeur of his designs, Prince Henry established a naval college, and erected an observatory at Sagres, and he in¬ vited thither the most eminent professors of the nautical facul¬ ties; appointing as president James of Mallorca, a man learned ui navigation, and skilful in making charts and instruments. The effects of this establishment were soon apparent. All ihat was known relative to geography and navigation was gathered together and reduced to system. A vast improve¬ ment took place in maps, The compass was also brought into more general use, especially among the Portuguese, rendering the mariner more bold and venturous, by enabling him to navi¬ gate in the most gloomy day and in the darkest night. En couraged by these advantages, and stimulated by the munifi¬ cence of Prince Henry, the Portuguese marine became sig nalized for the hardihood of its enterprises and the extent ol its discoveries. Cape Bojador was doubled, the region of the tropics penetrated, and divested of its fancied terrors; the greater part of the African coast, from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verde, explored; and the Cape de Verde and Azore islands. * Mariana, Hist. Esp., lib. ii. cap. 23. 28 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. which lay three hundred leagues distant from the continent, were rescued from the oblivious empire of the ocean. To secure the quiet prosecution and full enjoyment of his dis^ coveries, Henry obtained the protection of a papal bull, grant¬ ing to the crown of Portugal sovereign authority over all the lands it might discover in the Atlantic, to India inclusive, with plenary indulgence to all who should die in these expeditions; at the same time menacing, with the terrors of the church, all who should interfere in these Christian conquests. * Henry died on the 13th of November, 1473, without accom¬ plishing the great object of his ambition. It was not until many years afterward that Yasco de Gama, pursuing with a Portuguese fleet the track he had pointed out, realized his an¬ ticipations by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, sailing along the southern coast of India, and thus opening a highway for commerce to the opulent regions of the East. Henry, however, lived long enough to reap some of the richest rewards of a great and good mind. He beheld, through his means, his native country in a grand and active career of prosperity. The dis¬ coveries of the Portuguese were the wonder and admiration of the fifteenth century, and Portugal, from being one of the least among nations, suddenly rose to be one of the most important. All this was effected, not by arms, but by arts; not by the stratagems of a cabinet, but by the wisdom of a college. It was the great achievement of a prince, who has well been described “full of thoughts of lofty enterprise, and acts of generous spiritone who bore for his device the magnanimous motto, “The talent to do good,” the only talent worthy the ambition of princes, f Henry, at his death, left it in charge to his country to prose¬ cute the route to India. He had formed companies and associa¬ tions, by which commeruial zeal was enlisted in the cause, and it was made a matter of interest and competition to enterpris¬ ing individuals, t From time to time Lisbon was thrown into a tumult of excitement by the launching forth of some new expedition, or the return of a squadron with accounts of new tracts explored and new kingdoms visited. Everything was confident promise and sanguine anticipation. The miserable hordes of the African coast were magnified into powerful na¬ tions, and the voyagers continually heard of opulent countries — ■ ■ ■ - 1 . . . -- —-■-' -—V. * Vasconcelos, Hist, de Juan II. + Joam de Barros, Asia, decad. i. % Lafitau, ConquStes des Portiyrais, tom. i. lib. I. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 29 farther on. It was as yet the twilight of geographic knowl¬ edge ; imagination went hand in hand with discovery, and as the latter groped its slow and cautious way, the former peopled all beyond with wonders. The fame of the Portuguese discov¬ eries, and of the expeditions continually setting out, drew the attention of the world. Strangers from all parts, the learned, the curious, and the adventurous, resorted to Lisbon to inquire into the particulars or to participate in the advantages of these enterprises. Among these was Christopher Columbus, whether thrown there, as has been asserted, by the fortuitous result of a desperate adventure, or drawn thither by liberal curiosity and the pursuit of honorable fortune.* CHAPTEK IV. RESIDENCE OF COLUMBUS AT LISBON—IDEAS CONCERNING ISL¬ ANDS IN THE OCEAN. Columbus arrived at Lisbon about the year 1470. He was at that time in the full vigor of manhood, and of an engaging presence. Minute descriptions are given of his person by his son Fernando, by Las Casas, and others of his contemporaries, f According to these accounts, he was tall, well-formed, muscu¬ lar, and of an elevated and dignified demeanor. His visage was long, and neither full nor meagre; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy ; his nose aquiline ; his cheek¬ bones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkin¬ dle ; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his youthful days, was of a light color; but care and trouble, according to Las Casas, soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and his amiableness and suavity in domestic life strongly attached his household to his person. His temper was naturally irritable ; J but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirit, comporting himself with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance of language. * Herrera, decad. i. lib. i. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 8. Las Casas, Hist. Ind. lib. i. cap. 8 MS, j Illeecae, Hist. Pontifical, fib. yi. so LIFE OF CHRISTOPH EE COLE MR VS, Throughout his life he was noted for strict attention to the offices of religion, observing rigorously the fasts and ceremo- nies of the church; nor did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was strongly tinctured. While at Lisbon, he was accustomed to attend religious ser¬ vice at the chapel of the convent of All Saints. In this convent were certain ladies of rank, either resident as boarders, or in some religious capacity. With one of these Columbus became acquainted. She was Dona Felipa, daughter of Bartolomeo Monis de Perestrello, an Italian cavalier, lately deceased, who had been one of the most distinguished navigators under Prince Henry, and had colonized and governed the island of Porto Santo. The acquaintance soon ripened into attachment, and ended in marriage. It appears to have been a match of mere affection, as the lady was destitute of fortune. The newly married couple resided with the mother of the bride. The latter, perceiving the interest which Columbus took in all matters concerning the sea, related to him all she knew of the voyages and expeditions of her late husband, and brought him all his papers, charts, journals, and memorandums.* In this way he became acquainted with the routes of the Portu¬ guese, their plans and conceptions; and having, by his mar¬ riage and residence, become naturalized in Portugal, he sailed occasionally in the expeditions to the coast of Guinea. When on shore, he supported his family by making maps and charts. His narrow circumstances obliged him to observe a strict econ¬ omy ; yet we are told that he appropriated a part of his scanty means to the succor of his aged father at Genoa, f and to the education of his younger brothers. } The construction of a correct map or chart, in those days, re¬ quired a degree of knowledge and experience sufficient to enti¬ tle the possessor to distinction. Geography was but just emerg¬ ing from the darkness which had enveloped it for ages. Ptole¬ my was still a standard authority. The maps of the fifteenth century display a mixture of truth and error, in which facts handed down from antiquity, and others revealed by recent discoveries, are confused with popular fables and extravagant conjectures. At such a period, when the passion for maritime discovery was seeking every aid to facilitate its enterprises, the ■ ' ■ w » — — --1 ——— ~ ■ - ' ■ ~ -- " ■ ' -■ - ■ ■■ * Oviedo, Croniea de las Indias, lib. ii. cap. 2. t Ibid. t Mufioz Hist. Nuevo Mundo, lib. iL LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 31 knowledge and skill of an able cosmographer like Columbus would be properly appreciated, and the superior correctness of his maps and charts would give him notoriety among men of science.* We accordingly find him, at an early period of his residence in Lisbon, in correspondence with Paulo Toscanelli, of Florence, one of the most scientific men of the day, whose communications had great influence in inspiriting him to his subsequent undertakings. While his geographical labors thus elevated him to a commun¬ ion with the learned, they were peculiarly calculated to foster a train of thoughts favorable to nautical enterprise. From con¬ stantly comparing maps and charts, and noting the progress and direction of discovery, he was led to perceive how much of the world remained unknown, and to meditate on the means of exploring it. His domestic concerns, and the connections he had formed by marriage, were all in unison with this vein of speculation. He resided for some time at the recently dis¬ covered island of Porto Santo, where his wife had inherited some property, and during his residence there she bore him a son, whom he named Diego. This residence brought him, as it were, on the very frontier of discovery. His wife’s sister was married to Pedro Correo, a navigator of note, who had at one time been governor of Porto Santo. Being frequently together in the familiar intercourse of domestic life, their conversation naturally turned upon the discoveries prosecuting in their vicinity along the African coasts; upon the long sought for route to India; and upon the possibility of some unknown lands existing in the west. In their island residence, too, they must have been frequent¬ ly visited by the voyagers going to and from Guinea. Living thus, surrounded by the stir and bustle of discovery, commun¬ ing with persons who had risen by it to fortune and honor, and * The importance which began to be attached to cosmographical knowledge is evident from the distinction which Mauro, an Italian friar, obtained from having projected an universal map, esteemed the most accurate of the time. A fac-simile of this map, upon the same scale as the original, is now deposited in the British Museum, and it has been published, with a geographical commentary, by the learned Zuida. The Venetians struck a medal in honor of him, on which they de- nominated him Cosmographus incomparabilis (Colline del Bussol. Naut. p. 2, c. 5). Yet Ramusio, who had seen this map in the monastery of San Michele de Murano, considers it merely an improved copy of a map brought from Cathay by Marco Polo (Ramusio, t. ii. p.17, Ed. Venet. 1606). Wearetold that AmericusVespuciuspaid one hundred and thirty ducats (equivalent to five hundred and fifty-five dollars in our time) for a map of sea and land, made at Mallorca, in 1430, by Gabriel de Valseoq (Barros, D, 1. i, c. 15. Derroto por Tofino, Introd. p. 25). LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. voyaging in the very tracks of its recent triumphs, the ar&em mind of Columbus kindled up to enthusiasm in the cause, it was a period of general excitement to all who were connected with maritime life, or who resided in the vicinity of the ocean. The recent discoveries had inflamed their imaginations, and had filled them with visions of other islands, of greater wealth and beauty, yet to be discovered in the boundless wastes of the Atlantic. The opinions and fancies of the ancients on the suh ject were again put in circulation. The story of Antilla, a great island in the ocean, discovered by the Carthaginians, was frequently cited, and Plato’s imaginary Atalantis once more found firm believers. Many thought that the Canaries and Azores were but wrecks which had survived its submersion, and that other and larger fragments of that drowned land might yet exist, in remoter parts of the Atlantic. One of the strongest symptoms of the excited state of the popular mind at this eventful era, was the prevalence of rumors respecting unknown islands casually seen in the ocean. Many of these were mere fables, fabricated to feed the predominant humor of the public; many had their origin in the heated imaginations of voyagers, beholding islands in those summer clouds which lie along the horizon, and often beguile the sailor with the idea of distant lands. On such airy basis, most probably, was founded the story told to Columbus by one Antonio Leone, an inhabitant of Madeira, who affirmed that sailing thence westward one hundred leagues, he had seen three islands at a distance. But the tales ot the kind most positively advanced and zealously maintained, were those related by the people of the Canaries, who were long under a singular optical delusion. They imag¬ ined that, from time to time, they beheld a vast island to the westward, with lofty mountains and deep valleys. Nor was it seen in cloudy and dubious weather, but in those clear days common to tropical climates, and with all the distinctness with which distant objects may be discerned in their pure, trans¬ parent atmosphere. The island, it is true, was only seen at intervals; while at other times, and in the clearest weather, not a vestige of it was to be descried. When it did appear, however, it was always in the same place, and under the same form. So persuaded were the inhabitants of the Canaries of its reality, that application was made to the King of Portugal for permission to discover and take possession of it; and it actually became the object of several expeditions. The island, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 33 however, was never to be found, though it still continued occasionally to cheat the eye. There were all kinds of wild and fantastic notions concerning this imaginary land. Some supposed it to be the Antilla mentioned by Aristotle; others, the Island of Seven Cities, so called from an ancient legend of seven bishops, who, with a multitude of followers, fled from Spain at the time of its conquest by the Moors, and, guided by Heaven to some unknown island in the ocean, founded on it seven splendid cities. While some considered it another legen¬ dary island, on which, it was said, a Scottish priest of the name of St. Brandan, had landed in the sixth century. This last legend passed into current belief. The fancied island was called by the name of St. Brandan, or St. Borondon, and long continued to be actually laid down in maps far to the west of the Canaries.* The same was done with the fabulous island of Antilla; and these erroneous maps and phantom islands' have given rise at various times to assertions that the New World had been known prior to the period of its generally reputed discovery. Columbus, however, considers all these appearances of land as mere illusions. He supposes that they may have been caused by rocks lying in the ocean, which, seen at a distance, under certain atmospherical influences may have assumed the appearance of islands; or that they may have been floating islands, such as are mentioned by Pliny and Seneca and others, formed of twisted roots, or of a light and porous stone, and covered with trees, and which may have been driven about the ocean by the winds. The islands of St. Brandan, of Antilla, and of the Seven Cities, have long since proved to be fabulous tales of atmos¬ pherical delusions. Yet the rumors concerning them d A Hve interest, from showing the state of public thought with respect to the Atlantic, while its western regions were yet unknown. They were all noted down with curious care by Columbus, and may have had some influence over his imagination. Still, though of a visionary spirit, his penetrating genius sought in deeper sources for the aliment of its meditations. Aroused by the impulse of passing events, he turned anew, says his son Fernando, to study the geographical authors which he had read before, and to consider the astronomical reasons which might corroborate the theory gradually forming in his mind. * See illustrations, article “Island of St. Brandan.” 34 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. He made himself acquainted with all that had been written by the ancients, or discovered by the moderns, relative to geog¬ raphy. His own voyages enabled him to correct many of their errors, and appreciate many of their theories. His genius having thus taken its decided bent, it is interesting to notice from what a mass of acknowledged facts, rational hypotheses, fanciful narrations, and popular rumors, his grand project of discovery was wrought out by the strong workings of Ills vig orous mind. CHAPTER V. GROUNDS ON WHICH COLUMBUS FOUNDED HIS BELIEF OF THE EXISTENCE OF UNDISCOVERED LANDS IN THE WEST. It lias been attempted, in the preceding chapters, to show how Columbus was gradually kindled up to his grand design by the spirit and events of the times in which he lived. His son Fernando, however, undertakes to furnish the precise data on which his father’s plan of discovery was founded.* “He does this,” he observes, “to show from what slender argument so great a scheme was fabricated and brought to light; and for the purpose of satisfying those who may desire to know distinctly the circumstances and motives which led his father to undertake this enterprise. ” As this statement was formed from notes and documents found among his father’s papers, it is too curious and interest¬ ing not to deserve particular mention. In this memorandum he arranged the foundation of his father’s theory under three heads: 1. The nature of things. 2. The authority of learned writers. 3. The reports of navigators. Under the first head he set down as a fundamental principle that the earth was a terraqueous sphere or globe, which might be travelled round from east to west, and that men stood foot to foot when on opposite points. The circ amference from east to west, at the equator, Columbus divided, according to Ptole¬ my, into twenty-four hours of fifteen degrees each, making three hundred and sixty degrees. Of these he imagined, com¬ paring the globe of Ptolemy with the earlier map of Marinus of * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 6, 7, 8. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 35 Tyre, that fifteen hours had been known to the ancients, extending from the Straits of Gibraltar, or rather from the Canary Islands, to the city of Thinse in Asia, a place set down as at the eastern limits of the known world. The Portuguese had advanced the western frontier one hour more by the dis¬ covery of the Azores and Cape de Verde Islands. There remained, then, according to the estimation of Columbus, eight hours, or one third of the circumference of the earth, unknown and unexplored. This space might, in a great measure, be filled up by the eastern regions of Asia, which might extend so far as nearly to surround the globe, and to approach the western shores of Europe and Africa. The tract of ocean inter¬ vening between these countries, he observes, would be less than might at first be supposed, if the opinion of Alfraganus, the Arabian, were admitted, who, by diminishing the size of the degrees, gave to the earth a smaller circumference than did other cosmographers; a theory to which Columbus seems at tunes to have given faith. Granting these premises, it was manifest that, by pursuing a direct course from east to west, a navigator would arrive at the extremity of Asia, and discover any intervening land. Under the second head are named the authors whose writings had weight in convincing him that the intervening ocean could be but of moderate expanse, and easy to be traversed. Among these, he cites the opinion of Aristotle, Seneca, and Pliny, that one might pass from Cadiz to the Indies in a few days; of Strabo, also, who observes, that the ocean surrounds the earth, bathing on the east the shores of India; on the west, the coasts of Spain and Mauritania; so that it is easy to navigate from one to the other on the same parallel.* In corroboration of the idea that Asia, or, as he always terms it, India, stretched far to the east, so as to occupy the greater part of the unexplored space, the narratives are cited of Marco Polo and John Mandeville. These travellers had visited, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the remote parts of Asia, far beyond the regions laid down by Ptolemy; and their accounts of the extent of that continent to the eastward had a great effect in convincing Columbus that a voyage to the west, of no long duration, would bring him to its shores, or to the extensive and wealthy islands which lie adjacent. The in¬ formation concerning Marco Polo is probably derived from * Strab. Cos. lib. i. ii. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. S6 Paulo Toscanelli, a celebrated doctor of Florence, already men¬ tioned, with whom Columbus corresponded in 1474, and who transmitted to him a copy of a letter which he had previously written to Fernando Martinez, a learned canon of Lisbon. This letter maintains the facility of arriving at India by a western course, asserting the distance to be but four thousand miles, in a direct line from Lisbon to the province of Mangi, near Cathay, since determined to be the northern coast of China. Of this country he gives a magnificent description, drawn from the work of Marco Polo. He adds, that in the route lay the islands of Antilla and Cipango, distant from each other only two hundred and twenty-five leagues, abounding in riches, and offering convenient places for ships to touch at, and obtain supplies on the voyage. Under the third head are enumerated various indications of land in the west, which had floated to the shores of the known world. It is curious to observe, how, when once the mind of Columbus had become heated in the inquiry, it attracted to it every corroborating circumstance, however vague and trivial. He appears to have been particularly attentive to the gleams of information derived from veteran mariners, who had been employed in the recent voyages to the African coasts; and also from the inhabitants of lately discovered islands, placed, in a manner, on the frontier posts of geographical knowledge. All these are carefully noted down among his memorandums, to be collocated with the facts and opinions already stored up in his mind. Such, for instance, is the circumstance related to him by Martin Yicenti, a pilot in the service of the King of Portugal; that, after sailing four hundred and fifty leagues to the west of Cape St. Vincent, he had taken from the water a piece of carved wood, which evidently had not been labored with an iron instrument. As the winds had drifted it from the west, it might have come from some unknown land in that direction. Pedro Correo, brother-in-law of Columbus, is likewise cited, as having seen, on the island of Porto Santo, a similar piece of wood, which had drifted from the same quarter. He had heard also from the King of Portugal, that reeds of an immense size had floated to some of those islands from the west, in the de¬ scription of which, Columbus thought he recognized the im¬ mense reeds said by Ptolemy to grow in India. Information is likewise noted, given him by the inhabitants of the Azores, of trunks of huge pme trees, of a kind that did not LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 37 grow upon any of the islands, wafted to their shores by the westerly winds; but especially of the bodies of two dead men, cast upon the island of Flores, whose features differed from those of any known race of people. To these is added the report of a mariner of the port of St. Mary, who asserted that, in the course of a voyage to Ireland, he had seen land to the west, which the ship’s company took for some extreme part of Tartary. Other stories, of a similar kind, are noted, as well as rumors concerning the fancied islands of St. Brandan, and of the Seven Cities, to which, as has already been observed, Columbus gave but little faith. Such is an abstract of the grounds, on which, according to Fernando, his father proceeded from one position to another until he came to the conclusion that there was undiscovered land in the western part of the ocean; that it was attainable; that it was fertile; and finally, that it was inhabited. It is evident that several of the facts herein enumerated must have become known to Columbus after he had formed his opinion, and merely served to strengthen it; still, everything that throws any light upon the process of thought, which led to so great an event, is of the highest interest; and the chain of deductions here furnished, though not perhaps the most logical in its concatenation, yet, being extracted from the papers of Columbus himself, remains one of the most interesting docu¬ ments in the history of the human mind. On considering the statement attentively, it is apparent that the grand argument which induced Columbus to his enterprise was that placed under the first head, namely, that the most eastern part of Asia known to the ancients could not be sepa¬ rated from the Azores by more than a third of the circumfer¬ ence of the globe; that the intervening space must, in a great measure, be filled up by tli£ unknown residue of Asia; and that, if the circumference of the world was, as he believed, less than was generally supposed, the Asiatic shores could easily be at¬ tained by a moderate voyage to the west. It is singular how much the success of this great undertaking* depended upon two happy errors, the imaginary extent of Asia to the east, and the supposed smallness of the earth ' both errors of the most learned and profound philosophers, but with¬ out which Columbus would hardly have ventured upon his en¬ terprise. As to the idea of finding land by sailing directly to the west, it is at present so familiar to our minds, as in some measure to diminish the merits of the first conception, and the 38 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. hardihood of the first attempt; but in those days, as has been observed, the circumference of the earth was yet unknown; no one could tell whether the ocean were not of immense extent, impossible to be traversed; nor were the laws of specific grav¬ ity and of central gravitation ascertained, by which, granting the rotundity of the earth, the possibility of making the tour of it would be manifest.* The practicability, therefore, of find¬ ing land by sailing to the west, was one of those mysteries of nature which are considered incredible while matters of mere speculation, but the simplest things imaginable when they have once been ascertained. When Columbus had formed his theory, it became fixed in his mind with singular firmness, and influenced his entire character and conduct. He never spoke in doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty as if his eyes had beheld the prom¬ ised land. No trial nor disappointment could divert him from the steady pursuit of his object. A deep religious sentiment mingled with his meditations, and gave them at times a tinge of superstition, but it was of a sublime and lofty kind; he looked upon himself as standing in the hand of Heaven, chosen from among men for the accomplishment of its high purpose; he read, as he supposed, his contemplated discovery foretold in Holy Writ, and shadowed forth darkly in the mystic revela¬ tions of the prophets. The ends of the earth were to be brought together, and all nations and tongues and languages united under the banners of the Redeemer. This was to be the trium¬ phant consummation of his enterprise, bringing the remote and unknown regions of the earth into communion with Christian Europe; carrying the light of the true faith into benighted and pagan lands, and gathering their countless nations under the holy dominion of the church. Hie enthusiastic nature of his conceptions gave an elevation to his spirit, and a dignity and loftiness to his whole demeanor. He conferred with sovereigns almost with a feeling of equality. His views were princely and unbounded; his proposed discov- "'y was of empires; his conditions were proportionally magni¬ ficent; nor would he ever, even after long delays, repeated disappointments, and imder the pressure of actual penury, abate what appeared to be extravagant demands for a mer^ possible discovery. * Malte-Brun, Geographic UniverseJle, tom. xiv. Note sur le Decouverte ^ l’Amerlque. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 39 Those who could not conceive how an ardent and comprehen¬ sive genius could arrive, by presumptive evidence, at so firm a conviction, sought for other modes of accounting for it. When the glorious result had established the correctness of the opinion of Columbus, attempts were made to prove that he had obtained previous information of the lands which he pre¬ tended to discover. Among these was an idle tale of a tempest- tossed pilot, said to have died in his house, bequeathing him written accounts of an unknown land in the west, upon which he had been driven by adverse winds. This story, according to Fernando Columous, nad no other foundation than one of the popular tales about the shadowy island of St. Brandan, which a Portuguese captain, returning from Guinea, fancied he had beheld beyond Madeira. It circulated for a time in idle rumor, altered and shaped to suit their purposes, by such as sought to tarnish the glory of Columbus. At length it found its way into print, and has been echoed by various historians, varying with every narration, and full of contradictions and improbabilities. * An assertion has also been made, that Columbus was pre¬ ceded in his discoveries by Martin Behem, a contemporary cos- mographer, who, it was said, had landed accidentally on the coast of South America, in the course of an African expedition; and that it was with the assistance of a map or globe, projected by Behem, on which was laid down the newly-discovered coun¬ try, that Columbus made his voyage. This rumor originated in an absurd misconstruction of a Latin manuscript, and was unsupported bv any documents; yet it has had its circulation, and has even been revived not many years since, with more zeal than discretion; but is now completely refuted and put to rest. The land visited by Behem was the coast of Africa beyond the equator; the globe he projected was finished in 1492, while Columbus was absent on his first voyage: it contains no trace of the New World, and thus furnishes conclusive proof that its existence was yet unknown to Behem. f There is a certain meddlesome spirit, which, in the garb of learned research, goes prying about the traces of history, cast¬ ing down its monuments, and marring and mutilating its fair¬ est trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition. It defeats one of the most sal- * See illustrations, article “ Rumor concerning the Pilot who died in the House o£ Columbus.” t See illustrations, article " Behem.” 40 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. utary purposes of history, that of furnishing examples of what human genius and laudable enterprise may accomplish. For this purpose some pains have been taken in the preceding chapters to trace the rise and progress of this grand idea in the mind of Columbus; to show that it was the conception of his genius, quickened by the impulse of the age, and aided by those scattered gleams of knowledge which fell ineffectually upon ordinary minds. CHAPTER VI. CORRESPONDENCE OF COLUMBUS WITH PAULO TOSCANELLI — EVENTS IN PORTUGAL RELATIVE TO DISCOVERIES—PROPOSITION OF COLUMBUS TO THE PORTUGUESE COURT—DEPARTURE FROM PORTUGAL. It is impossible to determine the precise time when Colum¬ bus first conceived the design of seeking a western route to India. It is certain, however, that he meditated it as early as the year 1474, though as yet it lay crude and unmatured in his mind. This fact, which is of some importance, is sufficiently established by the correspondence already mentioned with the learned Toscanelli of Florence, which took place in the summer of that year. The letter of Toscanelli is in reply to one from Columbus, and applauds the design which he had expressed of making a voyage to the west. To demonstrate more clearly the facility of arriving at India in that direction, he sent him a map projected partly according to Ptolemy, and partly ac¬ cording to the descriptions of Marco Polo, the Venetian. The eastern coast of Asia was depicted in front of the western coasts of Africa and Europe, with a moderate space of ocean between them, in which were placed at convenient distances Cipango, Antilla, and the other islands.* Columbus was greatly animated by the letter and chart of Toscanelli, who was considered one of the ablest cosmographers of the day. He appears to have procured the work of Marco Polo, which * This map, by which Columbus sailed on his first voyage of discovery, Las Casas, (lib. i. cap 12) says he had in his possession at the time of writing his history. It is greatly to be regretted that so interesting a document should be lost. It may yet exist among the chaotic lumber of the Spanish archives. Few documents of mere curiosity would be mof» prec*'-" LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 43 had been translated into various languages, and existed in man¬ uscript in most libraries. This author gives marvellous ac¬ counts of the riches of the realms of Cathay and Mangi, or Mangu, since ascertained to be Northern and Southern China, on the coast of which, according to the map of Toscanelli, a voy¬ ager sailing directly west would be sure to arrive. He describes in unmeasured terms the power and grandeur of the sove¬ reign of these countries, the Great Khan of Tartary, and the splendor and magnitude of his capitals of Cambalu and Quinsai, and the wonders of the island of Cipango or Zipangi, supposed to be Japan. This island he places opposite Cathay, five hun¬ dred leagues in the ocean. He represents it as abounding in gold, precious stones, and other choice objects of commerce, with a monarch whose palace was roofed with plates of gold in¬ stead of lead. The narrations of this traveller were by some con¬ sidered fabulous; but though full of what appear to be splendid exaggerations, they have since been found substantially cor¬ rect. They are thus particularly noted, from the influence they had over the imagination of Columbus. The work of Marco Polo is a key to many parts of his history. In his applications to the various courts, he represented the countries he expected to discover as those regions of inexhaustible wealth which the Venetian had described. The territories of the Grand Khan were the objects of inquiry in all his voyages; and in Ins cruis- ings among the Antilles he was continually flattering himself with the hopes of arriving at the opulent island of Cipango, and the coasts of Mangi and Cathay * While the design of attempting the discovery in the west was maturing in the mind of Columbus, he made a voyage to the north of Europe. Of this we have no other memorial than the following passage, extracted by his son from one of his let¬ ters: “In the year 1477, in February, I navigated one hundred leagues beyond Thule, the southern part of which is seventy- three degrees distant from the equator, and not sixty-three, as some pretend; neither is it situated within the line which in¬ cludes the west of Ptolemy, but is much more westerly. The English, principally those of Bristol, go with their merchandise to this island, which is as large as England. When I was there the sea was not frozen, and the tides were so great as to rise and fall twenty-six fathom.”! * A more particular account of Marco Polo and his writings is given among the illustrations. +Hist, del Almirante, cap. * 44 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. The island thus mentioned is generally supposed to have been Iceland, which is far to the west of the Ultima Thule of the ancients, as laid down in the map of Ptolemy. Several more years elapsed, without any decided efforts on the part of Columbus to carry his design into execution. He was too poor to fit out the armament necessary for so important an expedition. Indeed it was an enterprise only to be under¬ taken in the employ of some sovereign state, which could assume dominion over the territories he might discover, and reward him with dignities and privileges commensurate to his services. It is asserted that he at one time endeavored to en¬ gage his native country, Genoa, in the undertaking, but with¬ out success. No record remains of such an attempt, though it is generally believed, and has strong probability in its favor. His residence in Portugal placed him at hand to solicit the patronage of that power, but Alphonso, who was then on the throne, was too much engrossed in the latter part of his reign with a war with Spain, for the succession of the Princess Juana to the crown of Castile, to engage in peaceful enterprises of an expensive nature. The public mind, also, was not prepared for so perilous an undertaking. Notwithstanding the many recent voyages to the coast of Africa and the adjacent islands, and the introduction of the compass into more general use, navigation was still shackled with impediments, and the mariner rarely ventured far out of sight of land. Discovery advanced slowly along the coasts of Africa, and the mariners feared to cruise far into the southern hemisphere, with the stars of which they were totally unacquainted. To such men, the project of a voyage directly westward, into the midst of that boundless waste, to seek some visionary land,, ap¬ peared as extravagant as it would be at the present day to launch forth in a balloon into the regions of space in quest of some distant star. The time, however, was at hand, that was to extend the sphere of navigation. The era was propitious to the quick ad¬ vancement of knowledge. The recent invention of the art of printing enabled men to communicate rapidly and extensively their ideas and discoveries. It drew forth learning from libra¬ ries and convents, and brought it familiarly to the reading-desk of the student. Volumes of information, which before had ex¬ isted only in costly manuscripts, carefully treasured up, and kept out of the reach of the indigent scholar and obscure ar¬ tist, were now in every hand. There was henceforth to be no LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 45 retrogression in knowledge, nor any pause in its career. Every step in advance was immediately, and simultaneously, and widely promulgated, recorded in a thousand forms, and fixed forever. There could never again be a dark age; nations might shut their eyes to the light, and sit in wilful darkness, but they could not trample it out; it would still shine on, dis¬ pensed to happier parts of the world, by the diffusive powers of the press. At this juncture, in 1481, a monarch ascended the throne of Portugal, of different ambition from Alphonso. John II., then in the twenty-fifth year of his age, had imbibed the passion for discovery from his grand-uncle, Prince Henry, and with his reign all its activity revived. His first care was to build a fort at St. George de la Mina, on the coast of Guinea, to protect the trade carried on in that neighborhood for gold dust, ivory, and slaves. The African discoveries had conferred great glory upon Portugal, but as yet they had been expensive rather than pro¬ fitable. The accomplishment of the route to India, however, it was expected would repay all cost and toil, and open a source of incalculable wealth to the nation. The project of Prince Henry, which had now been tardily prosecuted for half a centu¬ ry, had excited a curiosity about the remote parts of Asia, and revived all the accounts, true and fabulous, of travellers. Besides the work of Marco Polo, already mentioned, there was the narrative of Rabbi Benjamin ben Jonah, of Tudela, a Spanish Jew, who sefc out from Saragossa in 1173, to visit the scattered remnants of the Hebrew tribes. Wandering with unwearied zeal on this pious errand, over most parts of the known world, he penetrated China, and passed thence to the southern islands of Asia.* There were also the narratives of Carpini and Ascelin, two friars, dispatched, the one in 1246, the other in 1247, by Pope Innocent IV., as apostolic ambassadors, for the purpose of converting the Grand Khan of Tartary; and the journal of William Rubruquis (or Ruysbroek), a celebrated Cordelier, sent on a similar errand in 1253, by Louis IX., of France, then on his unfortunate crusade into Palestine. These pious but chimerical missions had proved abortive; but the narratives of them being revived in the fifteenth century, * Bergeron, Voyages en Asie, tom. i. The work of Benjamin of Tudela, originally- written in Hebrew, was so much in repute, that the translation went through six |een editions. Andres, Hist. B. Let., ii. cap. 6. 46 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. served to inflame the public curiosity respecting the remote parts of Asia. In these narratives we first find mention made of the re¬ nowned Prester John, a Christian king, said to hold sway in a remote part of the East, who was long an object of curiosity and research, but whose kingdom seemed to shift its situation in the tale of every traveller, and to vanish from the search as effectually as the unsubstantial island of St. Brandan. All the speculations concerning this potentate and his Oriental realm were again put in circulation. It was fancied that traces of his empire were discovered in the interior of Africa, to the east of Benin, where there was a powerful prince, who used a cross among the insignia of royalty. John II. partook largely of the popular excitement produced by these narrations. In the early part of his reign he actually sent missions in quest of Prestor John, to visit whose dominions became the romantic desire of many a religious enthusiast.* The magnificent idea he had formed of the remote parts of the East made him ex- tremeiy anxious that the splendid project of Prince Henry should be realized, and the Portuguese flag penetrate to the Indian seas. Impatient of the slowness with which his dis¬ coveries advanced along the coast of Africa, and of the impedi¬ ments which every cape and promontory presented to nautical enterprise, he called in the aid of science to devise some means by which greater scope and certainty might be given to navi¬ gation. His two physicians, Koderigo and Joseph, the latter a Jew, the most able astronomers and cosmographers of his king¬ dom, together with the celebrated Martin Behem, entered into a learned consultation on the subject. The result of their conferences and labors was the application of the astrolabe to navigation, enabling the seaman, by the altitude of the sun, to ascertain his distance from the equator, f This instrument has since been improved and modified into the modern quadrant, of which, even at its first introduction, it possessed all the es¬ sential advantages. It is impossible to describe the effect produced upon naviga¬ tion by this invention. It cast it loose at once from its long bondage to the land, and set it free to rove the deep. The mariner now, instead of coasting the shores like the ancient navigators, and, if driven from the land, groping his way back in doubt and apprehension by the uncertain guidance of the * See illustrations, article “Prester John.” t Barros, decad. 1, lib. iv. cap. 2 . Mallei, lib. vi. d. 6 and 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 47 stars, might adventure boldly into unknown seas, confident of being able to trace his course by means of the compass and the astrolabe. It was shortly after this event, which had prepared guides for discovery across the trackless ocean, that Columbus made the first attempt, of which we have any clear and indisputable record, to procure royal patronage for his enterprise. The court of Portugal had shown extraordinary liberality in re warding nautical discovery. Most of those who had succeeded in her service had been appointed to the government of the islands and countries they had discovered, although many of them were foreigners by birth. Encouraged by this liberality, and by the anxiety evinced by King John II. to accomplish a passage by sea to India, Columbus obtained an audience of that monarch, and proposed, in case the king would furnish him with ships and men, to undertake a shorter and more direct route than that along the coast of Africa. His plan was to strike directly to the west, across the Atlantic. He then un¬ folded his hypothesis with respect to the extent of Asia, describ¬ ing also the immense riches of the island of Cipango, the first land at which he expected to arrive. Of this audience we have two accounts, written in somewhat of an opposite spirit; one by his son Fernando, the other by Joam de Barros, the Portu¬ guese historiographer. It is curious to notice the different views taken of the same transaction by the enthusiastic son, and by the cool, p rhaps prejudiced, historian. The king, according to Fernando, listened to his father with great attention, but was discouraged from engaging in any new scheme of the kind, by the cost and trouble already sustained in exploring the route by the African coast, which as yet re¬ mained unaccomplished. His father, however, supported his proposition by such excellent reasons, that the king was in¬ duced to give his consent. The only difficulty that remained was the terms; for Columbus, being a man of lofty and noble sentiments, demanded high and honorable titles and rewards, to the end, says Fernando, that he might leave behind him a name and family worthy of his deeds and merits.* Barros, on the other hand, attributes the seeming acquiescence of the king, merely to the importunities of Columbus. He con¬ sidered him, says the historian, a vainglorious man, fond of displaying his abilities, and given to fantastic fancies, such as 'JAisL. del Almirante. cay. 10. 48 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. that respecting the island of Cipango.* But in fact, this idea of Columbus being vain, was taken up by the Portuguese writers in after years; and as to the island of Cipango, it was far from being considered chimerical by the king, who, as has been shown by his mission in search of Prester John, was a ready believer in these travellers’ tales concerning the East. The reasoning of Columbus must have produced an effect on the mind of the monarch, since it is certain that he referred the proposition to a learned junto, charged with all matters relat¬ ing to maritime discovery. This junto was composed of two able cosmographers, mas¬ ters Roderigo and Joseph, and the king’s confessor, Diego Ortiz de Cazadilla, bishop of Ceuta, a man greatly reputed for his learning, a Castilian by birth, and generally called Cazadilla, from the name of his native place. This scientific body treated the project as extravagant and visionary. Still the king does not appear to have been satisfied. Accord¬ ing to his historian Vasconcelos,t he convoked his council, composed of prelates and persons of the greatest learning in the kingdom, and asked their advice, whether to adopt this new route of discovery, or to pursue that which they had al¬ ready opened. It may not be deemed superfluous to notice briefly the dis¬ cussion of the council on this great question. Yasconcelos reports a speech of the Bishop of Ceuta, in which he not only objected to the proposed enterprise, as destitute of reason, but even discountenanced any further prosecution of the African discoveries. “They tended,” he said, “to distract the atten¬ tion, drain the resources, and divide the power of the nation, already too much weakened by recent war and pestilence. While their forces were thus scattered abroad on remote and unprofitable expeditions; they exposed themselves to attack from their active enemy the King of Castile. The greatness of mon- archs,” he continued, “did not arise so much from the extent of their dominions, as from the wisdom and ability with which they governed. In the Portuguese nation it would be madness to launch into enterprises without first considering them in connection with its means. The king had already sufficient undertakings in hand of certain advantage, without engaging in others of a wild, chimerical nature. If he wished employ- * Barros, Asia, decad. 1, lib. iii. cap. 2. t Yasconcelos, Vida del Key Don Juan II., lib. iv. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 49 ment for the active valor of the nation, the war in which he was engaged against the Moors of Barbary was sufficient, wherein his triumphs were of solid advantage, tending to crip¬ ple and enfeeble those neighboring foes, who had proved them- selves so dangerous when possessed of power.” This cool and cautious speech of the Bishop of Ceuta, directed against enterprises which were the glory of the Portuguese, touched the national pride of Don Pedro de Meneses, Count of Villa Real, and drew from him a lofty and patriotic reply. It has been said by an historian that this reply was in support of the proposition of Columbus; but that does not clearly appear. He may have treated the proposal with respect, but his elo¬ quence was employed for those enterprises in which the Portu¬ guese were already engaged. “Portugal,” he observed, “was not in its infancy, nor were its princes so poor as to lack means to engage in discoveries. Even granting that those proposed by Columbus were conjec¬ tural, why should they abandon those commenced by their late Prince Henry, on such solid foundations, and prosecuted with such happy prospects? Crowns,” he observed, “enriched them¬ selves by commerce, fortified themselves by alliance, and acquired empires by conquest. The views of a nation could not always be the same; they extended with its opulence and pros¬ perity. Portugal was at peace with all the princes of Europe. It had nothing to fear from engaging in an extensive enterprise. It would be the greatest glory for Portuguese valor to penetrate into the secrets and horrors of the ocean sea, so formidable to the other nations of the world. Thus occupied, it would escape the idleness engendered in a long interval of peace—idleness, that source of vice, tha-t silent file, which, little by little, wore away the strength and valor of a nation. It was an affront, ” he added, “ to the Portuguese name to menace it with imagina¬ ry perils, when it had proved itself so intrepid in encountering those which were most certain and tremendous. Great souls were formed for great enterprises. He wondered much that a prelate, so religious as the Bishop of Ceuta, should oppose this undertaking; the ultimate object of which was to augment the Catholic faith, and spread it from pole to pole; reflecting glory on the Portuguese nation, and yielding empire and lasting fame to its princes.” He concluded by declaring that, “although a soldier, he dared to prognosticate, with a voice and spirit as if from heaven, to whatever prince should achieve this enter¬ prise, more happy success and durable renown than had ever 50 • ■ LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ■ been obtained by sovereign the most valorous and fortunate.” * The warm and generous eloquence of the count overpowered the cold-spirited reasonings of the bishop as far as the project of circumnavigating Africa was concerned, which was prose¬ cuted with new ardor and triumphant success: the proposition of Columbus, however, w as generally condemned by the council. Seeing that King John still manifested an inclination for the enterprise, it was suggested to him by the Bishop of Ceuta that Columbus might be kept in suspense while a vessel secretly dispatched in the direction he should point out might ascertain whether there were any foundation for his theory. By this means all its advantages might be secured, without committing the dignity of the crown by formal negotiations about what might prove a mere chimera. King John, in an evil hour, had the weakness to permit a stratagem so inconsistent with his usual justice and magnanimity. Columbus was required to furnish for the consideration of the council a detailed plan of his proposed voyage, with tne charts and documents according to which he intended to shape his course. These being pro¬ cured, a caravel was dispatched with the ostensible design of carrying provisions to the Cape de Verde islands, but with pri¬ vate instructions to pursue the designated route. Departing from those islands the caravel stood westward for several days, until the weather became stormy; when the pilots, seeing nothing but an immeasurable waste of wild, tumbling waves still extending before them, lost all courage and put back, ridi¬ culing the project of Columbus as extravagant and irrational.f This unworthy attempt to defraud him of his enterprise roused the indignation of Columbus, and he declined all offers of King John to renew the negotiation. The death of his wife, which had occurred some time previously, had dissolved the domestic tie which bound him to Portugal; he determined, therefore, to abandon a country where he had been treated with so little faith, and to look elsewhere for patronage. Before his departure, he engaged his brother Bartholomew to carry pro¬ posals to the King of England, though he does not appear to have entertained great hope from that quarter; England by no means possessing at the time the spirit of nautical enterprise which has since distinguished her. The great reliance of Co¬ lumbus was on his own personal exertions. * Vasconcelos, lib. iv. La Clede, Hist. Portugal, lib. xiii. tom. iu. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 8. Herrera, decad. 1, lib. i. cap. 7. LIFE OF CURIST0P1IKR COLUl'BTTS. 51 It was toward the end of 1484 that he left Lisbon, taking with him his son Diego. His departure had to be conducted with secrecy, lest, as some assert, it should be prevented by King John; but lest, as others surmise, it should he prevented by his creditors.* Like many other great projectors, while engaged upon schemes of vast benefit to mankind, he had suffered his own affairs to go to ruin, and was reduced to struggle hard with poverty; nor is it one of the least interesting circumstances in his eventful life, that he had, in a manner, to beg his way from court to court, to offer to princes the discovery of a world. * This surmise is founded on a letter from Iling John to Columbus, written some years afterward, inviting him to return to Portugal, and insuring him against arrest on account of any procesr, civil or criminal, winch might be pending against pim. gee Havarrete, OolLec. tom. ii. doc. 3. BOOK II. CHAPTER I. PROCEEDINGS OF COLUMBUS AFTER LEAVING PORTUGAL - HIS APPLICATIONS IN SPAIN — CHARACTERS OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. [1485.] The immediate movements of Columbus on leaving Portugal are involved in uncertainty. It is said that about this time he made a proposition of his enterprise, in person, as he had formerly done by letter, to the government of Genoa. The republic, however, was in a languishing decline, and embar¬ rassed by a foreign war. Caffa, her great deposit in the Cri¬ mea, had fallen into the hands of the Turks, and her flag was on the point of being driven from the Archipelago. Her spirit was broken with her fortunes; for with nations, as with individ¬ uals, enterprise is the child of prosperity, and is apt to languish in evil days when there is most need of its exertion. Thus Genoa, disheartened by her reverses, shut her ears to the pro¬ position of Columbus, which might have elevated her to ten¬ fold splendor, and perpetuated within her grasp the golden wand of commerce. While at Genoa, Columbus is said to have made arrangements out of his scanty means for the comfort of his aged father. It is also affirmed that about tins time he car¬ ried his proposal to Venice, where it was declined on account of the critical state of national affairs. This, however, is merely traditional, and unsupported by documentary evidence. The first firm and indisputable trace we have of Columbus after leav ing Portugal is in the south of Spain, in 1485, where we find him seeking his fortune among the Spanish nobles, several of whom had vast possessions, and exercised almost independent sovereignty in their domains. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 53 Foremost among these were the dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, who had estates like principalities lying along the sea-coast, with ports and shipping and hosts of retainers at their command. They served the crown in its Moorish wars more as allied princes than as vassals, bringing armies into the field led by themselves, or by captains of their own appoint¬ ment. Their domestic establishments were on almost a regal scale; their palaces were filled with persons of merit, and young cavaliers of noble birth, to be reared under their auspices, in the exercise of arts and arms. Columbus had many interviews with the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who was tempted for a time by the slendid prospects held out; but their very splendor threw a coloring of improba¬ bility over the enterprise, and he finally rejected it as the dream of an Italian visionary. The Duke of Medina Celi was likewise favorable at the outset. He entertained Columbus for some time in his house, and wai actually on the point of granting him three or four caravels which lay ready for sea in his harbor of Port St. Mary, oppo¬ site Cadiz, when he suddenly changed his mind, deterred by the consideration that the enterprise, if successful, would involve discoveries too important to be grasped by any but a sovereign power, and that the Spanish government might be displeased at his undertaking it on his own account. Finding, however, that Columbus intended to make his next application to the King of France, and loath that an enterprise of such impor¬ tance should be lost to Spain, the duke wrote to Queen Isabella recommending it strongly to her attention. The queen made a favorable reply, and requested that Columbus might be sent to her. He accordingly set out for the Spanish court, then at Cordova, bearing a letter to the queen from the duke, soliciting that, in case the expedition should be carried into effect, he might have a share in it, and the fitting out of the armament from his port of St. Mary, as a recompense for having waived the enterprise in favor of the crown.” * The time when Columbus thus sought his fortunes at the * Letter of the Duke of Medina Celi to the grand cardinal. Navarrete, Collect, vol. ii. p. 20. N.B.—In the previous editions of this work, the first trace we have of Columbus in Spain is at the gate of the convent of La Rabida, in Andalusia. Subsequent investigations have induced me to conform to the opinion of the indefatigable and accurate Navarrete, given in his third volume of documents, that the first trace of Columbus in Spain was his application to the Dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, and that his visit to the eonveut of La Rabida was some few years subsequent. 54 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. court of Spain coincided with one of the most brilliant periods of the Spanish monarchy. The union of the kingdoms of Arra- gon and Castile, by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, had consolidated the Christian power in the Peninsula, and put an end to those internal feuds which had so long distracted the country, and insured the domination of the Moslems. The whole force of united Spain was now exerted in the chivalrous enterprise of the Moorish conquest. The Moors, who had once spread over the whole country iike an inundation, were now pent up within the mountain boundaries of the kingdom of Granada. The victorious armies of Ferdinand and Isabella were continual¬ ly advancing, and pressing this fierce people within narrower limits. Under these sovereigns, the various petty kingdoms of Spain began to feel and act as one nation, and to rise to eminence in arts as well as arms. Ferdinand and Isabella, it has been re¬ marked, lived together not like man and wife, whose estates are common, under the orders of the husband, but like two monarchs strictly allied. * They had separate claims to sovereignty, in vir¬ tue of their respective kingdoms; they had separate councils, and were often distant from each other in different parts of their em¬ pire, each exercising the royal authority. Yet they were so hap¬ pily united by common views, common interests, and a great deference for each other, that this double administration never prevented a unity of purpose and of action. All acts of sover¬ eignty were executed in both their names; all public writings were subscribed with both their signatures; their likenesses were stamped together on the public coin; and the royal seal dis¬ played the united arms of Castile and Arragon. Ferdinand was of the middle stature, well proportioned, and hardy and active from athletic exercise. His carriage was free, erect, and majestic. He had a clear, serene forehead, which appeared more lofty from his head being partly bald. His eyebrows were large and parted, and, like his hair, of a bright chestnut; his eyes were clear and animated; his com¬ plexion was somewhat ruddy, and scorched by the toils of war; his mouth moderate, well formed, and gracious in its expres¬ sion; his teeth white, though small and irregular; his voice sharp; his speech quick and fluent. His genius was clear and comprehensive; his judgment grave and certain. He was simple in dress and diet, equable in his temper, devout in his religion, and so indefatigable in business, that it was said he * Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, etc. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. US seemed to repose himself by working. He was a great obser¬ ver and judge of men, and unparalleled in the science of the cabinet. Such is the picture given of him by the Spanish his¬ torians of his time. It has been added, however, that he had more of bigotry than religion; that his ambition was craving rather than magnanimous; that he made war less like a pala¬ din than a prince, less for glory than mere dominion; and that his policy was cold, selfish, and artful. He was called the wise and prudent in Spain; in Italy, the pious; in France and Eng¬ land, the ambitious and perfidious.* He certainly was one of the most subtle statesmen, but one of the most thorough ego¬ tists that ever sat upon a throne. While giving his picture, it may not be deemed impertinent to sketch the fortunes of a monarch whose policy had such an effect upon the history of Columbus and the destinies of the New World. Success attended all his measures. Though a younger son, he had ascended the throne of Arragon by in¬ heritance; Castile he obtained by marriage; Granada and Naples by conquest; and he seized upon Navarre as appertain¬ ing to any one who could take possession of it, when Pope Ju¬ lius II. excommunicated its sovereigns, Juan and Catalina, and gave their throne to the first occupant, t He sent his forces into Africa, and subjugated or reduced to vassalage Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and most of the Barbary powers. A new world was also given to him, without cost, by the discoveries of Columbus, for the expense of the enterprise was borne exclu¬ sively by his consort Isabella. He had three objects at heart from the commencement of his reign, which he pursued with bigoted and persecuting zeal: the conquest of the Moors, the expulsion of the Jews, and the establishment of the Inquisition in his dominions. He accomplished them all, and was re¬ warded by Pope Innocent VIII. with the appellation of Most Catholic Majesty—a title which his successors have tenaciously retained. Contemporary writers have been enthusiastic in their descrip¬ tions of Isabella, but time has sanctioned their eulogies. She is one of the purest and most beautiful characters in the pages of history. She was well formed, of the middle size, with great dignity and gracefulness of deportment, and a mingled gravity * Voltaire, Essai sur les Moeurs, etc., t Pedro Salazar di Mendoza, Monarq. de Esp. lib. iii. cap. 5. (Madrid. 1770, tom. i p. 402.) Gonzalo de Illescas, His-t. Pontif. lib. vi. cap. 23, § 3. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COL EMBUS. 56 and sweetness of demeanor. Her complexion was fair; her hail auburn, inclining to red; her eyes were of a clear blue, with a benign expression, and there was a singular modesty in her countenance, gracing, as it did, a wonderful firmness of purpose and earnestness of spirit. Though strongly attached to her hus¬ band and studious of his fame, yet she always maintained her distinct rights as an allied prince. She exceeded him in beauty, in personal dignity, in acuteness Of genius, and in grandeur ot soul.* Combining the active and resolute qualities of man with the softer charities of woman, she mingled in the warlike coun¬ cils of her husband, engaged personally in his enterprises,t and in some instances surpassed him in the firmness and intrepidity of her measures; while, being inspired with a truer idea of glory, she infused a more lofty and generous temper into his subtle and calculating policy. It is in the civil history of their reign, however, that the char¬ acter of Isabella shines most illustrious. Her fostering and maternal care was continually directed to reform the laws, and heal the ills engendered by a long course of internal wars. She loved her people, and while diligently seeking their good, she mitigated, as much as possible, the harsh measures of her hus¬ band, directed to the same end, but inflamed by a mistaken zeal. Thus, though almost bigoted in her piety, and perhaps too much under the influence of ghostly advisers, still she was hostile to every measure calculated to advance religion at the expense of humanity. She strenuously opposed the expulsion of the Jews and the establishment of the Inquisition, though, unfor¬ tunately for Spain, her repugnance was slowly vanquished by her confessors. She was always an advocate for clemency to the Moors, although she was the soul of the war against Granada. She considered that war essential to protect the Christian faith, and to relieve her subjects from fierce and formidable enemies. While all her public thoughts and acts were princely and august, her private habits were simple, frugal, and unostentatious. In the intervals of state business, she assembled round her the ablest men in literature and science, and directed herself by their counsels, in promoting letters and arts. Through her pa¬ tronage, Salamanca rose to that height which it assumed among the learned institutions of the age. She promoted the distribu- * Garibay, Hist, de Espana, tom. ii. Kb. xviii. cap. 1. t Several suits of armor cap-a-pii , worn by Isabella, and still preserved in the royal arsenal at Madrid, show that she was exposed to personal danger in her cam¬ paigns. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBVS. 57 tion of honors and rewards for the promulgation of knowledge; she fostered the art of printing recently invented, and encour¬ aged the establishment of presses in every part of the kingdom; books were admitted free of ail duty, and more, we are told, were printed in Spain, at that early period of the art, than in the present literary age.* It is wonderful how much the destinies of countries depend at times upon the virtues of individuals, and how it is given to great spirits by combining, exciting, and directing the latent powers of a nation, to stamp it, as it were, with their own great¬ ness. Such beings realize the idea of guardian angels, appointed by Heaven to watch over the destinies of empires. Such had been Prince Henry for the kingdom of Portugal; and such was now for Spain the illustrious Isabella. CHAPTER II. COLUMBUS AT THE COURT OF SPAIN'. When Columbus arrived at Cordova he was given in charge to Alonzo de Quintanilla, comptroller of the treasury of Cas¬ tile, but was disappointed in his expectation of receiving im¬ mediate audience from the queen. He found the city in all the bustle of military preparation. It was a critical juncture of the war. The rival kings of Granada, Muley, Boabdil the uncle, and Mohammed Boabdil the nephew, had just formed a coalition, and their league called for prompt and vigorous measures. All the chivalry of Spain had been summoned to the field; the streets of Cordova echoed to the tramp of steed and sound of trumpet, as day by day the nobles arrived with their re¬ tainers, vying with each other in the number of their troops and the splendor of their appointments. The court was like a military camp; the king and queen were surrounded by the flower of Spanish chivalry; by those veteran cavaliers who had distinguished themselves in so many hardy conflicts with the Moors, and by the prelates and friars who mingled in martial council, and took deep interest and agency in this war of the Faith. * Elogio de la Reina Oatholioa, por Diego Clemewciu. Madrid, 1831- 58 LIFE OF CnniSTOPIIER COLUMBUS . This was an unpropitious moment to urge a suit like that of Columbus. In fact the sovereigns had not a moment of leisure throughout this eventful year. Early in the spring, the king marched off to lay siege to the Moorish city of Loxa; and though the queen remained at Cordova, she was continually employed in forwarding troops and supplies to the army, and, at the same time, attending to the multiplied exigencies of civil government. On the 12th of June she repaired to the camp, then engaged in the siege of Moclin, and both sovereigns remained for some time in the Vega of Granada, prosecuting the war with unremitting vigor. They had barely returned to Cordova to celebrate their victories by public rejoicings, when they were obliged to set out for Gallicia, to suppress a rebel¬ lion of the Count of Lemos. Thence they repaired to Sala¬ manca for the winter. During the summer and autumn of this year Columbus re¬ mained at Cordova, a guest in the house of Alonzo de Quinta¬ nilla, who proved a warm advocate of his theory. Through his means he became acquainted with Antonio Geraldini, tlie pope’s nuncio, and his brother Alexander Geraldini, precep¬ tor to the younger children of Ferdinand and Isabella; both valuable friends about court. Wherever he obtained a candid hearing from intelligent auditors, the dignity of his manners, his earnest sincerity, the elevation of his views, and the practi¬ cal shrewdness of his demonstrations, commanded respect even where they failed to produce conviction. While thus lingering in idle suspense in Cordova, he became attached to a lady of the city, Beatrix Euriquez by name, of a noble family, though in reduced circumstances. Their con¬ nection was not sanctioned by marriage; yet he cherished sentiments of respect and tenderness for her to his dying day. She was the mother of his second son, Fernando, born m the following year (1487), whom he always treated on terms of per¬ fect equality with his legitimate son Diego, and who, after his death, became his historian. In the winter Columbus followed the court to Salamanca. Here his zealous friend, Alonzo de Quintanilla, exerted his in¬ fluence to obtain for him the countenance of the celebrated Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo, and Grand Cardinal of Spain. This was the most important personage about the court; and was facetiously called by Peter Martyr, the “third king of Spain.” The king and queen had him al¬ ways by their side in peace and war. He accompanied them LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 59 in their campaigns, and they never took any measure of con¬ sequence without consulting him. He was a man of sound judgment and quick intellect, eloquent in conversation, and able in the dispatch of business. His appearance was lofty and venerable; he was simple yet curiously nice in his apparel, and of gracious and gentle deportment. Though an elegant scholar, yet, like many learned men of his day, he was but little skilled in cosmography. When the theory of Columbus was first mentioned to him, it struck him as involving heterodox opin¬ ions, incompatible with the form of the earth as described in the Sacred Scriptures. Further explanations had their force with a man of his quick apprehension and sound sense. He perceived that at any rate there could be nothing irreligious in attempting to extend the bounds of human knowledge, and to ascertain the works of creation: his scruples once removed, he permitted Columbus to be introduced to him, and gave him a courteous reception. The latter knew the importance of his auditor, and that a conference with the grand cardinal was al¬ most equivalent to a communication with the throne; he exerted himself to the utmost, therefore, to explain and demon¬ strate his proposition. The clear-headed cardinal listened with profound attention. He was pleased with the noble and earnest manner of Columbus, which showed him to be no common schemer; he felt the grandeur, and, at the same time, the sim¬ plicity of his theory, and the force of many of the arguments by which it was supported. He determined that it was a mat¬ ter highly worthy of the consideration of the sovereigns, and through his representations Columbus at length obtained ad¬ mission to the royal presence. * We have but scanty particulars of this audience, nor can we ascertain whether Queen Isabella was present on the occasion; the contrary seems to be most probably the case. Columbus appeared in the royal presence with modesty, yet self-posses¬ sion, neither dazzled nor daunted by the splendor of the court or the awful majesty of the throne. He unfolded his plan with eloquence and zeal, for he felt himself, as he afterward declared, kindled as with a fire from on high, and considered himself the agent chosen by Heaven to accomplish its grand designs.! Ferdinand was too keen a judge of men not to appreciate the character of Columbus. He perceived that, however soaring * Oviedo, lib. ii. cap 4. Salazar. Cron. G. Cardinal, lib. i. cap. 68. finiter to tbe Sovereigns in 1501. 60 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. might be his imagination, and vast and visionary his views, his scheme had scientific and practical foundation. His ambh tion was excited by the possibility of discoveries far more inn portant than those which had shed such glory upon Portugal; and perhaps it was not the least recommendation of the enter¬ prise to this subtle and grasping monarch, that, if successful, it would enable him to forestall that rival nation in the fruits of their long and arduous struggle, and by opening a direct course to India across the ocean, to bear off from them the monopoly of oriental commerce. Still as usual, Ferdinand was cool and wary, and would not trust his own judgment in a matter that involved so many principles of science. He determined to take the opinion of the most learned men in the kingdom, and to be guided by their decision. Fernando de Talavera, prior of the monastery of Prado and confessor of the queen, one of the most erudite men of Spain, and high in the royal confidence, was commanded to assemble the most learned astronomers and cosmographers for the purpose of holding a conference with Columbus, and examining him as to the grounds on which he founded his proposition. After they had informed themselves fully on the subject, they were to consult together and make a report to the sovereign of their collective opinion.* CHAPTER HI. COLUMBUS BEFORE THE COUNCIL AT SALAMANCA, [1487.] The interesting conference relative to the proposition of Columbus took place in Salamanca, the great seat of learning in Spain. It was held in the Dominican convent of St. Stephen, in which he was lodged and entertained with great hospitality during the course of the examination.! Religion and science were at that time, and more especially in that country, closely associated. The treasures of learning were immured in monasteries, and the professors’ chairs were * Hist, del Almirante, cap. xi. t Hist, de Chiapa por Remesal, lib. ii. cap. 37, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 61 exclusively filled from the cloister. The domination of the clergy extended over the state as well as the church, and posts of honor and influence at court, with thp exception of hereditary nobles, were almost entirely confined to ecclesiastics. It was even common to find cardinals and bishops in helm and corse¬ let at the head of armies; for the crosier had been occasionally thrown by for the lance, during the holy war against the Moors. The era was distinguished for the revival of learning, but still more for the prevalence of religious zeal, and Spain surpassed all other countries of Christendom in the fervor of her devotion. The Inquisition had just been established in that kingdom, and every opinion that savored of heresy made its owner obnoxious to odium and persecution. Such was the period when a council of clerical sages was con¬ vened in the collegiate convent of St. Stephen, to investigate the new theory of Columbus. It was composed of professors of astronomy, geography, mathematics, and other branches of science, together with various dignitaries of the church, and learned friars. Before this erudite assembly, Columbus pre¬ sented himself to propound and defend his conclusions. He had been scoffed at as a visionary by the vulgar and the igno¬ rant ; but he was convinced that he only required a body of enlightened men to listen dispassionately to his reasonings, to insure triumphant conviction. The greater part of this learned junto, it is very probable, came prepossessed against him, as men in place and dignity are apt to be against poor applicants. There is always a proneness to consider a man under examination as a kind of delinquent, or impostor, whose faults and errors are to be detected and exposed. Columbus, too, appeared in a most unfavorable light before a scholastic body: an obscure navigator, a member of no learned institution, destitute of all the trappings and circum¬ stances which sometimes give oracular authority to dulness, and depending upon the mere force of natural genius. Some of the junto entertained the popular notion that he was an adventurer, or at best a visionary; and others had that morbid impatience of any innovation upon established doctrine, which is apt to grow upon dull and pedantic men in cloistered life. What a striking spectacle must the hall of the old convent have presented at this memorable conference! A simple mari¬ ner, standing forth in the midst of an imposing array of pro¬ fessors, friars, and dignitaries of the church; maintaining his theory with natural eloquence, and, as it were, pleading the 62 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP ITS. cause of the new world. We are told that when he began to state the grounds of his belief, the friars of St. Stephen alone paid attention to him ;* that convent being more learned in the sciences than the rest of the university. The others appear to have intrenched themselves behind one dogged position that, after so many profound philosophers and cosmographers had been studying the form of the world, and so many able navi-' gators had been sailing about it for several thousand years, it was great presumption in an ordinary man to suppose that there remained such a vast discovery for him to make. Several of the objections proposed by this learned body have been handed down to us, and have provoked many a sneer at the expense of the university of Salamanca; but they are proofs, not so much of the peculiar deficiency of that institution, as oi the imperfect state of science at the time, and the manner iu which knowledge, though rapidly extending, was still impeded in its progress by monastic bigotry. All subjects were still contemplated through the obscure medium of those ages when the lights of antiquity were trampled out and faith was left to fill the place of inquiry. Bewildered in a maze of religious con¬ troversy, mankind had retraced their steps, and receded from the boundary line of ancient knowledge. Thus, at the very threshold of the discussion, instead of geographical objections, Columbus was assailed with citations from the Bible and the Testament: the book of Genesis, the psalms of David, the prophets, the epistles, and the gospels. To these were added the expositions of various saints and reverend commentators: St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, St. Jerome and St. Gregory, St. Basil and St. Ambrose, and Lactantius Firmianus, a re¬ doubted champion of the faith. Doctrinal points were mixed up with philosophical discussions, and a mathematical demon¬ stration was allowed no weight, if it appeared to clash with a text of Scripture or a commentary of one of the fathers. Thus the possibility of antipodes, in the southern hemisphere, an opinion so generally maintained by the wisest of the ancients as to be pronounced by Pliny the great contest between the learned and the ignorant, became a stumbling-block with some of the sages of Salamanca. Several of them stoutly contradict¬ ed this fundamental position of Columbus, supporting them¬ selves by quotations from Lactantius and St. Augustine, who were considered in those days as almost evangelical authority. * Remesal, Hist, de jChiapa, lib. xi, cap. 7. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 69 But, though these writers were men of consummate erudition, and two of the greatest luminaries of what has been called the golden age of ecclesiastical learning, yet their writings were calculated to perpetuate darkness in respect to the sciences. The passage cited from Lactantius to confute Columbus is in a strain of gross ridicule, unworthy of so grave a theologian. “Is there any one so foolish,” he asks, “as to believe that there are antipodes with their feet opposite to ours: people who walk with their heels upward, and their heads hanging down? That there is a part of the world in which all things are topsy-turvy; where the trees grow with their branches downward, and where it rains, hails, and snows upward? The idea of the roundness of the earth,” he adds, “was the cause of inventing this fable of the antipodes, with their heels in the air; for these philosophers, having once erred, go on in their absurdities, defending one with another.” Objections of a graver nature were advanced on the authority of St. Augustine. He pronounces the doctrine of antipodes to be incompatible with the historical foundations of our faith; since, to assert that there were inhabited lands on the opposite side of the globe would be to maintain that there were nations not descended from Adam, it being impossible for them to have passed the * tervening ocean. This would be, therefore, to discredit the Bible, which expressly declares that all men are descended from one common parent. Such were the unlooked for prejudices which Columbus had to encounter at the very outset of his conference, and which certainly relish more of the convent than the university. To his simplest proposition, the spherical form of the earth, were opposed figurative texts of Scripture. They observed that in the Psalms the heavens are said to be extended like a hide,* that is, according to commentators, the curtain or covering of a tent, which, among the ancient pastoral nations, was formed of the hides of animals; and that St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, compares the heavens to a tabernacle, or tent, ex¬ tended over the earth, which they thence inferred must be flat. Columbus, who was a devoutly religious man, found that lie was in danger of being convicted not merely of error, but of heterodoxy. Others more versed in science admitted the glo¬ bular form of the earth, and the possibility of an opposite and * Extendens cceliun sicut> pellem. Psalm 103. In the English translation it ip Psalm 104, ver & 64 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER C0LUMBV8. habitable hemisphere; but they brought up the chimera of the ancients, and maintained that it would be impossible to arrive there, in consequence of the insupportable heat of the torrid zone. Even granting this could be passed, they observed that the circumference of the earth must be so great as to require at least three years to the voyage, and those who should under¬ take it must perish of hunger and thirst, from the impossibility of carrying provisions for so long a period. He was told, on the authority of Epicurus, that, admitting the earth to be spherical, it was only inhabitable in the northern hemisphere, and in that section only was canopied by the heavens; that the opposite half was a chaos, a gulf, or a mere waste of water. Not the least absurd objection advanced was, that should a ship even succeed in reaching, in this way, the extremity of India, she could never get back again; for the rotundity of the globe would present a kind of mountain, up which it would be impossible for her to sail with the most favorable wind.* Such are specimens of the errors and prejudices, the mingled ignorance and erudition, and the pedantic bigotry, with which Columbus had to contend throughout the examination of his theory. Can we wonder at the difficulties and delays which he experienced at courts, when such vague and crude notions were entertained by the learned men of a university? We must not suppose, however, because the objections here cited are all which remain on record, that they are all which were advanced; these only have been perpetuated on account of their superior absurdity. They were probably advanced by but few, and those persons immersed in theological studies, in cloistered retirement, where the erroneous opinions derived from books had little opportunity of being corrected by the ex¬ perience of the day. There were no doubt objections advanced more cogent in their nature, and more worthy of that distinguished univer¬ sity. It is but justice to add, also, that the replies of Columbus had great weight with many of his learned examiners. In answer to the scriptural objections, he submitted that the in¬ spired writers were not speaking technically as cosmographers, but figuratively, in language addressed to all comprehensions. The commentaries of the fathers he treated with deference as pious homilies, but not as philosophical propositions which it was necessary either to admit or refute. The objections drawn * Hist, dol Almirante, cap. 11. ■4 LIFE OF CHRISTOPH Ell COLUMBUS. 65 from ancient philosophers he met baldly and ably upon equal terms; for he was deeply studied on all points of cosmography. He showed that the most illustrious of those sages believed both hemispheres to be inhabitable, though they imagined that the torrid zone precluded communication; and he obviated con¬ clusively that difficulty; for he had voyaged to St. George la Mina in Guinea, almost under the equinoctial line, and had found that region not merely traversable, but abounding in population, in fruits and pasturage. When Columbus took his stand before this learned body, he had appeared the plain and simple navigator; somewhat daunted, perhaps, by the greatness of his task and the august nature of his auditory. But he had a degree of religious feeling which gave him a confidence in the execution of what he conceived his great errand, and he was of an ardent temperament that became heated in action by its own generous fires. Las Casas, and others of his contemporaries, have spoken of his command¬ ing person, his elevated demeanor, his air of authority, his kindling eye, and the persuasive intonations of his voice. How must they have given majesty and force to his words, as, casting aside his maps and charts, and discarding for a time his practical and scientific lore, his visionary spirit took fire at the doctrinal objections of his opponents, and he met them upon their own ground, pouring forth those magnificent texts of Scripture, and those mysterious predictions of the prophets, which, in his enthusiastic moments, he considered as types and annunciations of the sublime discovery which he proposed! Among the number who were convinced by the reasoning, and warmed by the eloquence of Columbus, was Diego de Deza, a worthy and learned friar of the order of St. Dominick, at that time professor of theology in the convent of St. Stephen, but who became afterward Archbishop of Seville, the second ecclesiastical dignitary of Spain. This able and erudite divine was a man whose mind was above the narrow bigotry of book¬ ish lore; one who could appreciate the value of wisdom even when uttered by unlearned lips. He was not a mere passive auditor: he took a generous interest in the cause, and by sec¬ onding Columbus with all his powers, calmed the blind zeal of his more bigoted brethren so as to obtain for him a dispassion¬ ate, if not an unprejudiced, hearing. By their united efforts, it is said, they brought over the most learned men of the schools.* * Remesal, Hist, de Chiapa, lib. xi. cap. 7. 66 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. One great difficulty was to reconcile the plan of Columbus with the cosmography of Ptolemy, to which all scholars yielded im¬ plicit faith. How would the most enlightened of those sages have been astonished, had any one apprised them that the man, Copernicus, was then in existence, whose solar system should reverse the grand theory of Ptolemy, which stationed the earth in the centre of the universe! Notwithstanding every exertion, however, there was a pre¬ ponderating mass of inert bigotry and learned pride in this erudite body, which refused to yield to the demonstrations of an obscure foreigner, without fortune or connections, or any academic honors. “It was requisite,” says Las Casas, “before Columbus could make his solutions and reasonings understood, that he should remove from his auditors those erroneous prin¬ ciples on which their objections were founded- a task always more difficult than that of teaching the doctrine. ” Occasional conferences took place, but without producing any decision. The ignorant, or what is worse, the prejudiced, remained obsti¬ nate in their opposition, with the dogged perseverance of dull men; the more liberal and intelligent felt little interest in dis¬ cussions wearisome in themselves, and foreign to their ordinary pursuits*; even those who listened with approbation to the plan, regarded it only as a delightful vision, full of probability and promise, but one which never could be realized. Fernando de Talavera, to whom the matter was especially intrusted, had too little esteem for it, and was too much occupied with the stir and bustle of public concerns, to press it to a conclusion; and thus the inquiry experienced continual procrastination and neglect. CHAPTER IV. FURTHER APPLICATIONS AT THE COURT OF CASTILE—COLUMBUS FOLLOWS THE COURT IN ITS CAMPAIGNS. The Castilian court departed from Salamanca early in the spring of 1487 and repaired to Cordova, to prepare for the memorable campaign against Malaga. Fernando de Talavera, now Bishop of Avila, accompanied the queen as her confessor, and as one of her spiritual counsellors in the concerns of the war. The consultations of the board at Salamanca were inter- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 67 rupted by this event, before that learned body could come to a decision, and for a long time Columbus was kept in suspense, vainly awaiting the report that was to decide the fate of his application. It has generally been supposed that the several years which he wasted in irksome solicitation were spent in the drowsy and monotonous attendance of antechambers; but it appears, on the contrary, that they were often passed amid scenes of peril and adventure, and that, in following up his suit, he was led into some of the most striking situations of this wild, rugged, and mountainous war. Several times he was summoned to attend conferences in the vicinity of the sovereigns, when besieging cities in the very heart of the Moorish dominions; but the tem¬ pest of warlike affairs which hurried the court from place to place and gave it all the bustle and confusion of a camp, pre¬ vented those conferences from taking place, and swept away all concerns that were not immediately connected with the war. Whenever the court had an interval of leisure and repose, there would again be manifested a disposition to con¬ sider his proposal, but the hurry and tempest would again return and the question be again swept away. The spring campaign of 1487, which took place shortly after the conference at Salamanca, was full of incident and peril. King Ferdinand had nearly been surprised and cut off by the old Moorish monarch before Velez Malaga, and the queen and all the court at Cordova were for a time in an agony of terror and suspense until assured of his safety. When the sovereigns were subsequently encamped before the city of Malaga, pressing its memorable siege, Columbus was summoned to the court. He found it drawn up in its silken pavilions on a rising ground, commanding the fertile valley of Malaga; the encampments of the warlike nobility of Spain extended in a semicircle on each side, to the shores of the sea, strongly fortified, glittering with the martial pomp of that chivalrous age and nation, and closely investing that important city. The siege was protracted for several months, but the vigorous defence of the Moors, their numerous stratagems, and fiei*ee and frequent sallies, allowed but little leisure in the camp. In the course of this siege, the application of Columbus to the sovereigns was nearly brought to a violent close; a fanatic Moor having attempted to assassinate Ferdinand and Isabella. Mistaking one of the gorgeous pavilions of the nobility for the 68 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. royal tent, he attacked Don Alvaro de Portugal, and Doha Beatrix de Bobadilla, Marchioness of Moya, instead of the king and queen. After wounding Don Alvaro dangerously, he was foiled in a blow aimed at the marchioness, and immediately cut to pieces by the attendants.* The lady here mentioned was ot extraordinary merit and force of character. She eventually took a great interest in the suit of Columbus, and had much influence in recommending it to the queen, with whom she was a particular favorite, f Malaga surrendered on the 18th of August, 1487. There ap¬ pears to have been no time during its stormy siege to attend to the question of Columbus, though Fernando de Talavera, the Bishop of Avila, was present, as appears by his entering the captured city in solemn and religious triumph. The campaign being ended, the court returned to Cordova, but was almost immediately driven from that city by the pestilence. For upward of a year the court was in a state of continual migration; part of the time in Saragossa, part of the time in¬ vading the Moorish territories by the way of Murcia, and part of the time in Valladolid and Medina del Campo. Columbus attended it in some of its movements, but it was vain to seek a quiet and attentive hearing from a court surrounded by the din of arms and continually on the march. Wearied and discour¬ aged by these delays, he began to think of applying elsewhere for patronage, and appears to have commenced negotiations with King John II. for a return to Portugal. He wrote to that monarch on the subject, and received a letter in reply dated 20th of March, 1488, inviting him to return to his court, and assuring him of protection from any suits of either a civil or criminal nature, that might be pending against him. He received also a letter from Henry VII. of England, inviting him to that country, and holding out promises of encourage¬ ment. There must have been strong hopes, authorized about this time by the conduct of the Spanish sovereigns, to induce Colum¬ bus to neglect these invitations; and we find ground for such a supposition in a memorandum of a sum of money paid to him by the treasurer Gonzalez, to enable him to comply with a summons to attend the Castilian court. By the date of this memorandum, the payment must have been made immediately * Pulgar, Cronica, cap. 87. P. Martyr, t Betrato del Buea Vassallo, lib. ii. cap. 16. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 69 after Columbus had received the letter of the King of Portugal. It would seem to have been the aim of King Ferdinand to pro vent his carrying his proposition to another and a rival mon¬ arch, and to keep the matter in suspense, until he should have leisure to examine it, and, if advisable, to carry itin to opera¬ tion. In the spring of 1489 the long-adjourned investigation ap¬ peared to be on the eve of taking place. Columbus was sum¬ moned to attend a conference of learned men, to be held in the city of Seville; a royal order was issued for lodgings to be pro¬ vided for him there; and the magistrates of all cities and towns through which he might pass, on his way, were commanded to furnish accommodations gratis for himself and his attendants. A provision of the kind was necessary in those days, when even the present wretched establishments, called posadas, tor the reception of travellers, were scarcely known. The city of Seville complied with the royal command, but as usual the appointed conference was postponed, being inter¬ rupted by the opening of a campaign, “in which,” says an old chronicler of the place, “the same Columbus was found fighting, giving proofs of the distinguished valor which accom¬ panied his wisdom and his lofty desires.” * The campaign in which Columbus is here said to have borne so honorable a part was one of the most glorious of the war of Granada. Queen Isabella attended with ail her court, including as usual a stately train of prelates and friars, among whom is particularly mentioned the procrastinating arbiter of the pretensions of Columbus, Fernando de Talavera. Much of the success of the campaign is ascribed to the presence and counsel of Isabella. The city of Baza, which was closely be¬ sieged and had resisted valiantly for upward ot six months, surrendered soon after her arrival; and on the 22d of Decem¬ ber, Columbus beheld Muley Boabdil, the elder of the two rival kings of Granada, surrender in person all his remaining pos¬ sessions, and his right to the crown, to the Spanish sovereigns. During this siege a circumstance took place which appears to have made a deep impression on the devout and enthusiastic spirit of Columbus. Two reverend friars arrived one day at the Spanish camp, and requested admission to the sovereigns on business of great moment. They were two of the brethren of the convent established at the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. * Diego Ortiz de Zufiiga. Ann. de Sevilla, lib. xii., anno 1489, p. 404. 70 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. They brought a message from the Grand Soldan of Egypt threatening to put to death all the Christians in liis dominion^ to lay waste their convents and churches, and to destroy the sepulchre, if the sovereigns did not desist from the war against Granada. The menace had no effect in altering the purpose of the sovereigns, but Isabella granted a yearly and perpetual sum of one thousand ducats in gold,* for the support of the monks who had charge of the sepulchre; and sent a veil cm broidered with her own hands to be hung up at its shrine, f The representations of these friars of the sufferings and in¬ dignities to which Christians were subjected in the Holy Hand, together with the arrogant threat of the Soldan, roused the pious indignation of the Spanish cavaliers, and many burned with ardent zeal once more to revive the contests of the faith on the sacred plains ot Palestine. It was probably from con¬ versation with these friars, and from the pious and chivalrous zeal thus awakened in the warrior throng aroUnd him, that Columbus first conceived an enthusiastic idea, or rather made a kind of mental vow, whicii remained more or less present to his mind until the very day of his death. He determined that, should his projected enterprise be successful, he would devote the profits arising from his anticipated discoveries to a crusade for the rescue of the holy sepulchre from the power ot the infidels. If the bustle and turmoil of this- campaign prevented the intended conference, the concerns of Columbus fared no better during the subsequent rejoicings. Ferdinand and Isabella entered Seville in February, 1490, with great pomp and tri¬ umph. There were then preparations made tor the marriage of their eldest daughter, the Princess Isabella, with the Prince Hon Alonzo, heir apparent of Portugal. The nuptials were celebrated in the month of April, with extraordinary splendor. Throughout the whole winter and spring the court was in a continual tumult of parade and pleasure, and nothing was to be seen at Seville but feasts, tournaments, and torchlight pro¬ cessions. What chance had Columbus of being heard amid these alternate uproars of war and festivity? During this long course of solicitation he supported himself, in part, by making maps and charts, and was occasionally assisted by the purse of the worthy friar Diego de Deza. It is * Or 1423 dollars, equivalent to 4269 dollars in our time, t Garabay, Compend. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 36. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 71 due to the sovereigns to say, also, that whenever he was sum* moned to follow the movements of the court, or to attend any appointed consultation, he was attached to the royal suite, and lodgings were provided for him and sums issued to defray his expenses. Memorandums of several of these sums still exist in the book of accounts of the royal treasurer, Francisco Gen zalez, of Seville, which has lately been found in the archives o:i Simancas; and it is from these minutes that we have been enabled, in some degree, to follow the movements of Columbus during his attendance upon this rambling and warlike court. During all this time he was exposed to continual scoffs and indignities, being ridiculed by the light and ignorant as a mere dreamer, and stigmatized by the illiberal as an adventurer. The very children, it is said, pointed to their foreheads as he passed, being taught to regard him as a kind of madman. The summer of 1490 passed away, but still Columbus was kept in tantalizing and tormenting suspense. The subsequent winter was not more propitious. He was lingering at Cordova in a state of irritating anxiety, when he learnt that the sove¬ reigns were preparing to depart on a campaign in the Yega of Granada, with a determination never to raise their camp from before that city until their victorious banners should float upon its towers. Columbus was aware that when once the campaign was opened and the sovereigns were in the field, it would be in vain to expect any attention to his suit. He was wearied, if not incensed, at the repeated postponements he had experienced, by which several years had been consumed. He now pressed for a decisive reply with an earnestness that would not admit of evasion. Fernando de Talavera, therefore, was called upon by the sovereigns to hold a definitive conference with the scientific men to whom the project had been referred, and to make a report of their decision. The bishop tardily complied, and at length reported to their majesties, as the general opinion of the Junto, that the proposed scheme was vain and im¬ possible, and that it did not become such great princes to engage in an enterprise of the kind on such weak grounds as had been advanced.* Notwithstanding this unfavorable report, the sovereigns were unwilling to close the door upon a project which might be pro* ductive of such important advantages. Many of the learned * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 2 , 72 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . members of the Junto also were in its favor, particularly Fray Diego de Deza, tutor to Prince Juan, who from his situation and clerical character had access to the royal ear, and exerted himself strenuously in counteracting the decision of the board. A degree of consideration, also, had gradually grown up at court for the enterprise, and many men, distinguished for rank and merit, had become its advocates. Fernando de Talavera, therefore, was commanded to inform Columbus, who was still at Cordova, that the great cares and expenses of the wars rendered it impossible for the sovereigns to engage in any new enterprise; but that when the war was concluded they would have both time and inclination to treat with him about what he proposed.* This was but a starved reply to receive after so many days of weary attendance, anxious expectation, and deferred hope; Co¬ lumbus was unwilling to receive it at second hand, and repaired to the court at Seville to learn his fate from the lips of the sovereigns. Their reply was virtually the same, declining to engage in the enterprise for the present, but holding out hopes of patronage when relieved from the cares and expenses of the war. Columbus looked upon this indefinite postponement as a mere courtly mode of evading his importunity, and supposed that the favorable dispositions of the sovereigns had been counteracted by the objections of the ignorant and bigoted. Renouncing all further confidence, therefore, in vague promises, which had so often led to disappointment, and giving up all hopes of coun¬ tenance from the throne, he turned his back upon Seville, in¬ dignant at the thoughts of having been beguiled out of so many precious years of waning existence. CHAPTER V. COLUMBUS AT THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA. About half a league from the little seaport of Palos de Moguer in Andalusia there stood, and continues to stand at the present day, an ancient convent of Franciscan friars, dedicated to Santa Maria de Rabida. One day a stranger on foot, m humble guise * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 2. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 73 but of a distinguished air, accompanied by a small boy, stopped at the gate of the convent, and asked of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While receiving this humble refresh¬ ment, the prior of the convent, Juan Perez de Marchena, hap¬ pening to pass by, was struck with the appearance of the stranger, and observing from his air and accent that he was a foreigner, entered into conversation with him, and soon learned the particulars of his story. That stranger was Columbus.* He was on his way to the neighboring town of Huelva, to seek his brother-in-law, who had married a sister of his deceased wife.f The prior was a man of extensive information. His attention had been turned in some measure to geographical and nautical science, probably from his vicinity to Palos, the inhabitants of which were among the most enterprising navigators of Spain, and made frequent voyages to the recently discovered islands and countries on the African coast. He was greatly interested by the conversation of Columbus, and struck with the gran¬ deur of his views. It was a remarkable occurrence in the mo¬ notonous life of the cloister, to have a man of such singular character, intent on so extraordinary an enterprise, applying for bread and water at the gate of his convent. When he found, however, that the voyager was on the point of abandoning Spain to seek patronage in the court of France, and that so important an enterprise was about to be lost for¬ ever to the country, the patriotism of the good friar took the alarm. He detained Columbus as his guest, and, diffident of his own judgment, sent for a scientific friend to converse with him. That friend was Garcia Fernandez, a physician resident in Palos, the same who furnishes this interesting testimony. Fernandez was equally struck with the appearance and con¬ versation of the stranger; several conferences took place at the convent, at which several of the veteran mariners of Palos were present. Among these was Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the head of a family of wealthy and experienced navigators of the place, celebrated for their adventurous expeditions. Facts were re¬ lated by some of these navigators in support of the theory of * “ Lo dicho Almirante Colon veniendo 4 laRabida, que es un monasterio de frailes en esta villa, el qnal demand6 4 la porteria que le diesen para aquel nifiico. que are nino, pan i agua que bebiese.” The testimony of Garcia Fernandez exists in manuscript among the multifarious writings of the Pleito or lawsuit, which are preserved at Seville. I have made use of an authenticated extract, copied for the late historian, Juan Baut. Munoz. t Probably Pedro Correo, already mentioned, from whom he had received inf vessels they might think proper, belonging to Spanish subjects, and to oblige the masters and crews to sail with Columbus in whatever direction he should be sent by royal command. Juan de Penalosa, an officer of the royal household, was sent to see that this order was properly complied with, receiving two hun dred maravedis a day as long as he was occupied in the busines r which sum, together with other penalties expressed in the man¬ date, was to be exacted from such as should be disobedient and delinquent. This letter was acted upon by Columbus in Palos and the neighboring town of Moguer, but apparently with as little success as the preceding. The communities of those places were thrown into complete confusion; tumults took place; but nothing of consequence was effected. At length Martin Alonzo Pinzon stepped forward, with his brother Yicente Yanez Pinzon, both navigators of great courage and ability, owners of vessels, and having seamen in their employ. They were related, also, to many of the seafaring inhabitants of Palos and Moguer, and had great influence throughout the neighborhood. They engaged to sail on the expedition, and furnished one of the vessels required. Others, with their owners and crews, were pressed into the service by the magistrates under the arbitrary mandate of the sovereigns; and it is a striking instance of the despotic author¬ ity exercised over commerce in those times, that respectable in¬ dividuals should thus be compelled to engage, with persons and ships, in what appeared to them a mad and desperate enterprise, During the equipment of the vessels, troubles and difficulties arose among the seamen who had been compelled to embark. These were fomented and kept up by Gomez Rascon and Chris- toval Quintero, owners of the Pinta, one of the ships pressed into the service. All kinds of obstacles were thrown in the way, by these people and their friends, to retard or defeat the voyage. The calkers employed upon the vessels did their work in a care¬ less and imperfect manner, and on being commanded to do it over again absconded.* Some of the seamen who had enlisted * I — ■ ■ - . ■ " ■ -- - ■ - - - — . . . - . . ■ ■ > — - —— ■ * Journal of Columbus. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 121 CHAPTEK in. DISCOVERY AND COASTING OF CUBA. [1492.] For several days the departure of Columbus was delayed b j contrary winds and calms, attended by heavy showers, which last had prevailed, more or less, since his arrival among the islands. It was the season of the autumnal rains, which in those torrid climates succeed the parching heats of summer, commencing about the decrease of the August moon, and last¬ ing until the month of November. At length, at midnight, October 24th, he set sail from the island of Isabella, but was nearly becalmed until midday; a gentle wind then sprang up, and, as he observes, began to blow most amorously. Every sail was spread, and he stood toward the west-south-west, the direction in which he was told the land of Cuba lay from Isabella. After three days’ navigation, in the course of which he touched at a group of seven or eight small islands, which he called Islas de Arena, supposed to be the present Mucaras islands, and having crossed the Bahama bank and channel, he arrived, on the morning of the 28th of October, in sight of Cuba. The part which he first discovered is supposed to be the coast to the west of Neuvitas del Principe. As he approached this noble island, he was struck with its magnitude, and the grandeur of its features; its high and airy mountains, which reminded him of those of Sicily; its fertile valleys, and long sweeping plains watered by noble rivers; its stately forests; its bold promontories and stretching headlands, which melted away into the remotest distance. He anchored in a beautiful river, of transparent clearness, free from rocks and shoals, its banks overhung with trees. Here, landing, and taking possession of the island, he gave it the name of Juana, in honor of Prince Juan, and to the river the name of San Sal¬ vador. On the arrival of the ships, two canoes put off from the shore, but fled on seeing the boat approach to sound the river for an¬ chorage. The admiral visited two cabins abandoned by their inhabitants. They contained but a few nets made of the fibres of the palm-tree, hooks and harpoons of bone, and some other 122 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. fishing implements, and one of the kind of dogs he had met with on the smaller islands, which never bark. He ordered that nothing should he taken away or deranged. Returning to his boat, he proceeded for some distance up the river, more and more enchanted with the beauty of the coun¬ try. The banks were covered with high and wide-spreading trees; some bearing fruits, others flowers, while in some both fruit and flower were mingled, bespeaking a perpetual round of fertility; among them were many palms, but different from those of Spain and Africa; with the great leaves of these the natives thatched their cabins. The continual eulogies made by Columbus on the beauty of the country were warranted by the kind of scenery he was be¬ holding. There is a wonderful splendor, variety, and luxuri¬ ance in the vegetation of those quick and ardent climates. The verdure of the groves and the colors of the flowers and blos¬ soms derive a vividness from the transparent purity of the air and the deep serenity of the azure heavens. The forests, too, are full of life, swarming with birds of brilliant plumage. Painted varieties of parrots and woodpeckers create a glitter amid the verdure of the grove, and humming-birds rove from flower to flower, resembling, as has well been said, animated particles of a rainbow. The scarlet flamingoes, too, seen some¬ times through an opening of a forest in a distant savanna, have the appearance of soldiers drawn up in battalion, with an ad¬ vanced scout on the alert, to give notice of approaching danger. Nor is the least beautiful part of animated nature the various tribes of insects peopling every plant, and displaying brilliant coats of mail, which sparkle like precious gems.* Such is the splendor of animal and vegetable creation in these tropical climates, where an ardent sun imparts its own lustre to every object, and quickens nature into exuberant fecundity. The birds, in general, are not remarkable for their notes, for it has been observed that in the feathered race sweetness of song rarely accompanies brilliancy of plumage. Columbus remarks, however, that there were various kinds which sang sweetly among the trees, and he frequently de¬ ceived himself in fancying that he heard the voice of the nightingale, a bird unknown in these countries. He was, in fact, in a mood to see everything through a favoring medium. * The ladies of Havana, on gala occasions, wear in their hair numbers of those in¬ sects. which have a brilliancy equal to rubies, sapphires, or diamonds. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 123 His heart was full to overflowing, for he was enjoying the ful¬ filment of his hopes, and the hard-earned but glorious reward of his toils and perils. Everything round him was beheld with the enamored and exulting eye of a discoverer, where triumph mingles with admiration; and it is difficult to conceive the rapturous state of his feelings, while thus exploring the charms of a virgin world, won by his enterprise and valor. From his continual remarks on the beauty of scenery, and from his evident delight in rural sounds and objects, he ap¬ pears to have been extremely open to those happy influences, exercised over some spirits, by the graces and wonders of nature. He gives utterance to these feelings with charac¬ teristic enthusiasm, and at the same time with the artlessness and simplicity of diction of a child. When speaking of some lovely scene among the groves, or along the flowery shores of these favored islands, he says, ‘ ‘ one could live there for ever. ” Cuba broke upon him like an elysium. “It is the most beau- tiral island,” he says, “ that eyes ever beheld, full of excellent ports and profound rivers.” The climate was more temperate here than in the other islands, the nights being neither hot nor cold, while the birds and crickets sang all night long. Indeed there is a beauty in a tropical night, in the depth of the dark blue sky, the lambent purity of the stars, and the resplendent clearness of the moon, that spreads over the rich landscape and the balmy groves a charm more captivating than the splendor of the day. In the sweet smell of the woods and the odor of the flowers Columbus fancied he perceived the fragrance of oriental spices; and along the shores he found shells of the kind of oyster which produces pearls. From the grass growing to the very edge of the water, he inferred the peacefulness of the ocean which bathes these islands, never lashing the shores with angry surges. Ever since his arrival among these Antil¬ les he had experienced nothing but soft and gentle weather, and he concluded that a perpetual serenity reigned over these happy seas. He was little suspicious of the occasional bursts of fury to which they are liable. Charlevoix, speaking from actual observation, remarks, “ The sea of those islands is com¬ monly more tranquil than ours; but, like certain people who are excited with difficulty, and whose transports of passion are as violent as they are i are, sc when the sea becomes irritated, it is terrible. It breaxs all bounds, overflow the country, sweeps away all things that oppose it, and leaves frightful 124 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ravages behind, to mark the extent of its inundations. It is after these tempests, known by the name of hurricanes, that the shores are covered with marine shells, which greatly sur¬ pass in lustre and beauty those of the European seas.” * It is a singular fact, however, that the hurricanes, which almost an¬ nually devastate the Bahamas, and other islands in the immedi¬ ate vicinity of Cuba, have been seldom known to extend their influence to this favored land. It would seem as if the very elements were charmed into gentleness as they approached it. In a kind of riot of the imagination, Columbus finds at every step something to corroborate the information he had received, or fancied he had received, from the natives. He had conclu¬ sive proofs, as he thought, that Cuba possessed mines of gold, and groves of spices, and that its shores abounded with pearls. He no longer doubted that it was the island of Cipango, and weighing anchor, coasted along westward, in which direction, according to the signs of his interpreters, the magnificent city of its king was situated. In the course of his voyage he landed occasionally, and visited several villages; particularly one on the banks of a large river, to which he gave the name of Rio de los Mares, f The houses were neatly built of branches of palm- trees in the shape of pavilions; not laid out in regular streets, but scattered here and there, among the groves, and under the shade of broad spreading trees, like tents in a camp; as is still the case in many of the Spanish settlements, and in the vih lages in the interior of Cuba. The inhabitants fled to the mountains, or hid themselves in the woods. Columbus care¬ fully notea the architecture and furniture of their dwellings. The houses were better built than those he had hitherto seen, and were kept extremely clean. He found in them rude statues, and wooden masks, carved with considerable inge¬ nuity. All these were indications of more art and civilization than he had observed in the smaller islands, and he supposed they would go on increasing as he approached terra firma. Finding in all the cabins implements for fishing, he concluded that these coasts were inhabited merely by fishermen, who car¬ ried their fish to the cities in the interior. He thought also he had found the skulls of cows, which proved that there were cattle in the island; though these are supposed to have been skulls of the manati or sea-calf found on this coast. * Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. i. p. 20. Paris, 1730, t Now called Savannah la Men LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 125 After standing to the north-west for some distance, Colum¬ bus came in sight of a great headland, to which, from the groves with which it was covered, he gave the name of the Cape of Palms, and which form the eastern entrance to what is now known as Laguna de Moron. Here three Indians, na* tives of the Island of Guanahani, who were on board of the Pinta, informed the commander, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, that behind the cape there was a river, whence it was but four days’ journey to Cubanacan, a place abounding in gold. By this they designated a province situated in the centre of Cuba; nacan , in their language, signifying the midst. Pinzon, how¬ ever, had studied intently the map of Toscanelli, and had im¬ bibed from Columbus all his ideas respecting the coast of Asia. He concluded, therefore, that the Indians were talking of Cublai Khan, the Tartar sovereign, and of certain parts of his dominions described by Marco Polo.* He understood from them that Cuba was not an island, but terra firma, extending a vast distance to the north, and that the king who reigned in this vicinity was at war with the Great Khan. This tissue of errors and misconceptions he immediately communicated to Columbus. It put an end to the delusion in which the admiral had hitherto indulged, that this was the island of Cipango; but it substituted another no less agreeable. He concluded that he must have reached the main-land of Asia, or as he termed it, India, and if so, he could not be any great distance from Mangi and Cathay, the ultimate destina¬ tion of his voyage. The prince in question, who reigned over this neighboring country, must be some oriental potentate of consequence; he resolved, therefore, to seek the river beyond the Cape of Palms, and dispatch a present to the monarch, with one of the letters of recommendation from the Castilian sov¬ ereigns ; and after visiting his dominions he would proceed to the capital of Cathay, the residence of the Grand Khan. Every attempt to reach the river in question, however, proved ineffectual. Cape stretched beyond cape; there was no good anchorage; the wind became contrary, and the appear¬ ance of the heavens threatening rough weather, he put back to the Eio de los Mares. On the 1st of November, at sunrise, he sent the boats on shore to visit several houses, but the inhabitants fled to the woods. He supposed that they must mistake his armament r 1 ■ --— -' * Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 44, ms. 126 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. i for one of the scouring expeditions sent by the Grand Khan to make prisoners and slaves. He sent the boat on shore again in the afternoon, with an Indian interpreter, who was instructed to assure the people of the peaceable and beneficent intentions of the Spaniards, and that they had no connection with the G rand Khan. After the Indian had proclaimed this from the boat to the savages upon the beach, part of it, no doubt, to their great perplexity, he threw himself into the water and swam to shore. He was well received by the natives, and suc¬ ceeded so effectually in calming their fears, that before evening there were more than sixteen canoes about the ships, bringing cotton yarn and other simple articles of traffic. Columbus for¬ bade all trading for anything but gold, that the natives might be tempted to produce the real riches of their country. They had none to offer; all were destitute of ornaments of the pre¬ cious metals, excepting one, who wore in his nose a piece of wrought silver. Columbus understood this man to say that the king lived about the distance of four days’ journey in the interior; that many messengers had been dispatched to give him tidings of the arrival of the strangers upon the coast; and that in less than three days’ time messengers might be expected from him in return, and many merchants from the interior, to trade with the ships. It is curious to observe how ingeniously the imagination of Columbus deceived him at every step, and how he wove everything into a uniform web of false conclu¬ sions. Poring over the map of Toscanelli, referring to the reckonings of his voyage, and musing on the misinterpreted words of the Indians, he imagined that he must be on the bor¬ ders of Cathay, and about one hundred leagues from the capi¬ tal of the Grand Khan. Anxious to arrive there, and to delay as little as possible in the territories of an inferior prince, he determined not to await the arrival of the messengers and merchants, but to dispatch two envoys to seek the neighboring monarch at his residence. For this mission he chose two Spaniards, Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres; the latter a converted Jew, who knew Hebrew and Chaldaic, and even something of Arabic, one or other of which Columbus supposed might be known to this oriental prince. Two Indians were sent with them as guides, one a native of Guanahani, and the other an inhabitant of the hamlet on the bank of the river. The ambassadors were fur¬ nished with strings of beads and other trinkets for travelling expenses. Instructions were given them to inform the kins LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLTTMBVS. 121 that Columbus had been sent by the Castilian sovereigns, a bearer of letters and a present, which he was to deliver per¬ sonally, for the purpose of establishing an amicable intercourse between the powers. They were likewise to inform themselves accurately about the situation and distances of certain pro¬ vinces, ports, and rivers, which the admiral specified by name from the descriptions which he had of the coast of Asia. They were moreover provided with specimens of spices and drugs, for the purpose of ascertaining whether any articles of the kind abounded in the country. With these provisions and in¬ structions the ambassadors departed, six days being allowed them to go and return. Many, at the present day, will smile at this embassy to a naked savage chieftain in the interior of Cuba, in mistake for an Asiatic monarch; but such was the singular nature of this voyage, a continual series of golden dreams, and all interpreted by the deluding volume of Marco Polo. CHAPTER IV. FURTHER COASTING OF CUBA. While awaiting the return of his ambassadors, the admiral ordered the ships to be careened and repaired, and employed himself in collecting information concerning the country. On the day after their departure, he ascended the river in boats for the distance of two leagues, until he came to fresh water. Here landing, he climbed a hill to obtain a view of the interior. His view, however, was shut in by thick and lofty forests, of wild but beautiful luxuriance. Among the trees were some which he considered linaloes; many were odoriferous, and he doubted not possessed valuable aromatic qualities. There was ft general eagerness among the voyagers to find the precious articles of commerce which grow in the favored climes of the East, and their imaginations were continually deceived by their hopes. For two or three days the admiral was excited by reports of cinnamon-trees, and nutmegs, and rhubarb; but on examina¬ tion they all proved fallacious. He showed the natives speci¬ mens of those and various other spices and drugs, and under¬ stood from them that those articles abounded to the south-east, 128 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. He showed them gold and pearls also, and several old Indians spoke of a country where the natives wore ornaments of them round their necks, arms, and ankles. They repeatedly men¬ tioned the word Boliio, which Columbus supposed to be the name of the place in question, and that it was some rich dis¬ trict or island. They mingled, however, great extravagances with their imperfect accounts, describing nations at a distance who had but one eye; others who had the heads of dogs, and who were cannibals—cutting the throats of their prisoners and sucking their blood.* All these reports of gold, and pearls, and spices, many of winch were probably fabrications to please the admiral, tended to keep up the persuasion that he was among the valuable coasts and islands of the East. On making a fire to heat the tar for ca¬ reening the ships, the seamen found that the wood they burnt sent forth a powerful odor, and, on examining it, declared that it was mastic. The wood abounded in the neighboring forests, insomuch that Columbus flattered himself a thousand quintals of this precious gum might be collected every year, and a more abundant supply procured than that furnished by Scios and other islands of the Archipelago. In the course of their re¬ searches in the vegetable kingdom, in quest of the luxuries of commerce, they met with the potato, a humble root, little valued at the time, but a more precious acquisition to man than all the spices of the East. On the 6th of November, the two ambassadors returned, and every one crowded to hear tidings of the interior of the country, and of the prince to whose capital they had been sent. After penetrating twelve leagues, they had come to a village of fifty houses, built similarly to those of the coast, but larger; the whole village containing at least a thousand inhabitants. The natives received them with great solemnity, conducted them to the best house, and placed them in what appeared to be intend¬ ed for chairs of state, being wrought out of single pieces of wood, into the forms of quadrupeds. They then offered them fruits and vegetables. Having complied with the laws of savage cour¬ tesy and hospitality, they seated themselves on the ground around their visitors, and waited to hear what they had to com¬ municate. The Israelite, Luis de Torres, found his Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Arabic of no avail, and the Lucayen interpreter had to be the * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. clxxi. p. 48. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 129 orator. He made a regular speech, after the Indian manner, in which he extolled the power, the wealth, the munificence of the white men. When he had finished the Indians crowded round these wonderful beings, whom, as usual, they considered more than human. Some touched them, examining their skin and raiment, others kissed their hands and feet, in token of submis¬ sion or adoration. In a little while the men withdrew, and were succeeded by the women, and the same ceremonies were re¬ peated. Some of the women had a slight covering of netted cot¬ ton round the middle, but in general both sexes were entirely naked. There seemed to be ranks and orders of society among them, and a chieftain of some authority; whereas among all the natives they had previously met with a complete equality seemed to prevail. There was no appearance of gold or other precious articles, and when they showed specimens of cinnamon, pepper, and other spices, the inhabitants told them they were not to be found in that neighborhood, but far off to the south-west. The envoys determined, therefore, to return to the ships. The natives would fain have induced them to remain for several days; but seeing them bent on departing, a great number were anxious to accompany them, imagining they were about to return to the skies. They took with them, however, only one of the principal men, with his son, who were attended by a domestic. On their way back, they for the first time witnessed the use of a weed, which the ingenious caprice of man has since con¬ verted into an universal luxury, in defiance of the opposition of the senses. They beheld several of the natives going about with firebrands in their hands, and certain dried herbs which they rolled up in a leaf, and lighting one end, put the other in their mouths, and continued exhaling and puffing out the smoke. A roll of this kind they called a tobacco, a name since trans¬ ferred to the plant of which the rolls were made. The Span¬ iards, although prepared to meet with wonders, were struck with astonishment at this singular and apparently nauseous indulgence.* * Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 51. “ Hallaron por el camino mucha gente que atrave-saban a sus pueblos mugeres y hombres: siempre los hombres con un tison en las manos y ciertos yerbas para tomar sus saliumerios, que son unas yerbas secas metidas en una cierta koja seca tambien & man era de mosquete hecho de papel de los que hacon los muchachos la Pascua del Espiritu Santo, y encondido por una parte de el, por la otra chupan o 130 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. On their return to the ships they gave favorable accounts of the beauty and fertility of the country. They had met with many hamlets of four or five houses, well peopled, embowered among trees, laden with unknown fruits of tempting hue and delightful flavor. Around them were fields, cultivated with the agi or sweet pepper, potatoes, maize or Indian corn, a species of lupin or pulse, and yuca, whereof they made their cassava bread. These, with the fruits of the groves, formed their principal food. There were vast quantities of cotton, some just sown, some in full growth. There was great store of it also in their houses, some wrought into yarn, or into nets, of which they made their hammocks. They had seen many birds of rare plumage, but unknown species; many ducks; several small partridges; and they heard the song of a bird which they had mistaken for the nightingale. All that they had seen, however, betokened a primitive and simple state of society. The wonder with which they had been regarded showed clearly that the people were strangers to civilized man, nor could they hear of any inland city superior to the one they had visited. The report of the envoys put an end to many splendid fancies of Columbus, about the barbaric prince and his capital. He was cruising, however, in a region of enchantment, in which pleas¬ ing chimeras started up at every step, exercising by turns a power over his imagination. During the absence of the emis¬ saries, the Indians had informed him, by signs, of a place to the eastward, where the people collected gold along the river banks by torchlight, and afterward wrought it into bars with ham¬ mers. In speaking of this place they again used the words Ba- beque and Bohio, which he, as usual, supposed to be the proper names of islands or countries. The true meaning of these words has been variously explained. It is said that they were applied by the Indians to the coast of terra firma, called also by them Caritaba.* * It is also said that Bohio means a house, and was often used by the Indians to signify the populousness of an island. Hence it was frequently applied to Hispaniola, as well as the more general name of Hayti, which means high land, and occasionally Quisqueya (i.e. the whole), on account of its extent. sorbant 6 reciben con el resuello por adentro aquel humo; con el qual se adormecen las carnes y cuasi emborracho, y asi diz que no sientenel caasancio. Estos mosque tos, 6 como los llam&remas, llamen ellos tabacos.”—Las Casas, Hist. Gen. Ind. lib. i. cap. 46. * Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, cap. 3. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 131 The misapprehension of these, and other words, was a source of perpetual error to Columbus. Sometimes he supposed Babeque and Bohio to signify the same islands; sometimes to be different places or islands; and Quisqueya he supposed to mean Quisai or Quinsai (i.e. the celestial city) mentioned by Marco Polo. His great object was to arrive at some opulent and civilized country of the East, with which he might establish commercial relations, and whence he might carry home a quantity of orien¬ tal merchandise as a rich trophy of his discovery. The season was advancing; the cool nights gave hints of approaching win¬ ter; he resolved, therefore, not to proceed farther to the north, nor to linger about uncivilized places, which, at present, he had not the means of colonizing, but to return to the east-south-east, in quest of Babeque, which he trusted might prove some rich and civilized island on the coast of Asia. Before leaving the river, to which he had given the name of Rio de Mares, he took several of the natives to carry with him to Spain, for the purpose of teaching them the language, that, in future voyages, they might serve as interpreters. He took them of both sexes, having learned from the Portuguese discoverers that the men were always more contented on the voyage, and serviceable on their return, when accompanied by females. With the religious feeling of the day, he anticipated great tri¬ umphs to the faith and glory to the crown, from the conversion of these savage nations, through the means of the natives thus instructed. He imagined that the Indians had no system of religion, but a disposition to receive its impressions; as they regarded with great reverence and attention the religious cere¬ monies of the Spaniards, soon repeating by rote any prayer taught them, and making the sign of the cross with the most edifying devotion. They had an idea of a future state, but lim¬ ited and confused. “ They confess the soul to be immortal,” says Peter Martyr, “and having put off the bodily clothing, they imagine it goes forth to the woods and the mountains, and that it liveth there perpetually in caves; nor do they exempt it from eating and drinking, but that it should be fed there. The answering voices heard from caves and hollows, which the Latinos call echoes, they suppose to be the souls of the departed, wandering through those places.* From the natural tendency to devotion which Columbus * P- Martyr, decad. viii. oajo, 9; M. Lock’s translation, 1612. 132 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. thought he discovered among them, from their gentle natures, and their ignorance of all warlike arts, he pronounces it an easy matter to make them devout members of the church and loyal subjects of the crown. He concludes his speculations upon the advantages to be derived from the colonization of these parts by anticipating a great trade for gold, which must abound in the interior; for pearls and precious stones, of which, though he had seen none, he had received frequent accounts; for gums and spices, of which he thought he had found indubitable traces; and for the cotton, which grew wild in vast quantities. Many of these articles, he observes, would probably find a nearer market than Spain, in the ports and cities of the Great Khan, at which he had no doubt of soon arriving.* CHAPTER V. SEARCH AFTER THE SUPPOSED ISLAND OF BABEQUE—DESERTION OF THE PINTA. [1492.] On the 12th of November, Columbus turned his course to the east-south-east, to follow back the direction of the coast. This may be considered another critical change in his voyage, which had a great effect upon his subsequent discoveries. He had pro¬ ceeded far within what is called the old channel, between Cuba and the Bahamas. In two or three days more he would have discovered his mistake in supposing Cuba a part of terra firma; an error in which he continued to the day of his death. He might have had intimation also of the vicinity of the continent, and have stood for the coast of Florida, or have been carried tliither by the gulf stream, or, continuing along Cuba where it bends to the south-west, might have struck over to the opposite coast of Yucatan, and have realized his most sanguine anticipa¬ tions in becoming the discoverer of Mexico. It was sufficient glory for Columbus, however, to have discovered a new world. Its more golden regions were reserved to give splendor to suc¬ ceeding enterprises. He now ran along the coast for two or three days without ♦ Primer Viage de Colon. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 133 stopping to explore it, as no populous towns or cities were to be seen. Passing by a great cape, to which he gave the name of Cape Cuba, he struck eastward in search of Babeque, but on the 14th a head wind and boisterous sea obliged him to put back and anchor in a deep and secure harbor, to which he gave the name of Puerto del Principe. Here he erected a cross on a neighbor¬ ing height, in token of possession. A few days were passed in exploring with his boats an archipelago of small but beautiful islands in the vicinity, since known as El jardin del Hey, or the king’s garden. The gulf, studded with these islands, he named the sea of Nuestra Senora; in modern days it has been a lurking-place for pirates, who have found secure shel¬ ter and concealment among the channels and solitary har¬ bors of this archipelago. These islands were covered with noble trees, among which the Spaniards thought they discov¬ ered mastic and aloes. On the 19th Columbus again put to sea, and for two days made ineffectual attempts, against head winds, to reach an island di¬ rectly east, about sixty miles distant, which he supposed to be Babeque. The wind continuing obstinately adverse and the sea rough, he put his ship about toward evening of the 20th, mak¬ ing signals for the other vessels to follow him. His signals were unattended to by the Pinta, which was considerably to the east¬ ward. Columbus repeated the signals, but they were still un¬ attended to. Night coming on, he shortened sail and hoisted signal lights to the masthead, thinking Pinzon would yet join him, which he could easily do, having the wind astern; but when the morning dawned the Pinta was no longer to be seen.* Columbus was disquieted by this circumstance. Pinzon was a veteran navigator, accustomed to hold a high rank among his nautical associates. The squadron had in a great measure been manned and fitted out through his influence and exertions; he could ill brook subordination therefore to Columbus, whom he perhaps did not consider his superior in skill and knowledge, and who had been benefited by his purse. Several misunder¬ standings and disputes had accordingly occurred between them in the course of the voyage, and when Columbus saw Pinzon thus parting company, without any appointed rendezvous, he suspected either that he intended to take upon himself a sepa¬ rate command and prosecute the enterprise in his own name. * Las Casas, Hist. Ind.,tom. i. cap. 27. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 29. Journal of Columbus. Navarrete, tom. i. 134 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. or hasten back to Spain and bear off the glory of the discovery. To attempt to seek him, however, was fruitless: he was far out of sight; his vessel was a superior sailer, and it was impossible to say what course he had steered. Columbus stood back, therefore, for Cuba, to finish the exploring of its coast; but he no longer possessed his usual serenity of mind and unity of purpose, and was embarrassed in the prosecution of his dis¬ coveries by doubts of the designs of Pinzon. On the 24th of November he regained Point Cuba, and anchored in a fine harbor formed by the mouth of a river, to which he gave the name of St. Catherine. It was bordered by rich meadows; the neighboring mountains were well wooded, having pines tall enough to make masts for the finest ships, and noble oaks. In the bed of the river were found stones veined with gold. Commbus continued for several days coasting the residue of Cuba, extolling the magnificence, freshness, and verdure of the scenery, the purity of the rivers, and the number and commo- diousness of the harbors. Speaking in his letters to the sover¬ eigns of one place, to which he gave the name of Puerto Santo, he says, in his artless but enthusiastic language, “ The amenity of this river, and the clearness of the water, through which the sand au the bottom may be seen; the multitude of palm-trees of various forms, the highest and most beautiful that I have met with, and an infinity of other great and green trees; the birds in rich plumage and the verdure of the fields, render this country, most serene princes, of such marvellous beauty, that it sur¬ passes ah others in charms and graces, as the day doth the night in lustre. For which reason I often say to my people, that, much as I endeavor to give a complete account of it to your majesties, my tongue camiot express the whole truth, nor my pen describe it; and I have been so overwhelmed at the sight of so much beauty, that I have not known how to relate it.” * The transparency of the water, which Columbus attributed to the purity of the rivers, is the property of the ocean in these latitudes. So clear is the sea in the neighborhood of some of these islands, that in still weather the bottom may be seen, as in a crystal fountain; and the inhabitants dive down four or five fathoms in search of conchs, and other shell-fish, which are visible from the surface. The delicate air and pure waters of these islands are among their greatest charms. * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 29. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 135 As a proof of the gigantic vegetation, Columbus mentions tha enormous size of the canoes formed from single trunks of trees. One that he saw was capable of containing one hundred and fifty persons. Among other articles found in the Indian dwell¬ ings was a cake of wax, which he took to present to the Castib ian sovereigns, J ‘ for where there is wax,” said he, “ there must be a thousand other good things.”* It is since supposed to have been brought from Yucatan, as the inhabitants of Cub8 for mutual safety; and not to stray beyond the friendly terri¬ tory of Guacanagari. He enjoined it upon Arana, and tlio others in command, to acquire a kmowlege of the productions and mines of the island, to procure gold and spices, and to seek dong the coast a better situation for a settlement, the present harbor being inconvenient and dangerous, from the rocks and shoals which beset its entrance. On the 2d of January, 1493, Columbus landed to take a fare¬ well of the generous cacique and his chieftains, intending the next day to set sail. He gave them a parting feast at the house devoted to his use, and commended to their kindness the men who were to remain, especially Diego de Arana, Pedro Gutier¬ rez, and Rodrigo de Escobedo, his lieutenants, assuring the cacique that when he returned from Castile he would bring abundance of jewels more precious than any he or his people had yet seen. The worthy Guacanagari showed great concern at the idea of his departure, and assured him that, as to those who remained, he should furnish them with provisions, and render them every service in his power. Once more to impress the Indians with an idea of the warlike prowess of the white men, Columbus caused the crews to per¬ form skirmishes and mock-fights, with swords, bucklers, lances, cross-bows, arquebuses, and cannon. The Indians were aston¬ ished at the keenness of the swords, and at the deadly power of the cross-bows and arquebuses; but they were struck with awe when the heavy Lombards were discharged from the fortress, wrapping it in wreaths of smoke, shaking the forests with their report, and shivering the trees with the balls of stone used in artillery in those times. As these tremendous powers, how¬ ever, were all to be employed for their protection, they rejoiced while they trembled, since no Carib would now dare to invade their island.* The festivities of the day being over, Columbus embraced the cacique and his principal chieftains, and took a final leave of them. Guacanagari shed tears; for while he had been awed by the dignified demeanor of the admiral , and the idea of his super¬ human nature, he had been completely won by the benignity of his manners. Indeed, the parting scene was sorrowful on all sides. The arrival of the ships had been an event of wonder and excitement to the islanders, who had as yet known nothing but the good qualities of their guests, and had been enriched by their * Primer Viage de Colon* Navarrete, tom. i. p. 121. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 159 celestial gifts; while the rude seamen had been flattered by the blind deference paid them, and captivated by the kindness and unlimited indulgence with which they had been treated. The sorest parting was between the Spaniards who embarked and those who remained behind, from the strong sympathy caused by companionship in perils and adventures. The little garrison, however, evinced a stout heart, looking forward to the return of the admiral from Spain with large reinforcements, when they promised to give him a good account of all things in the island. The caravel was detained a day longer by the ab¬ sence of some of the Indians whom they were to take to Spain. At length the signal-gun was fired; the crew gave a parting cheer to the handful of comrades thus left in the wilderness of an unknown world, who echoed their cheering as they gazed wistfully after them from the beach, but who were destined never to welcome their return. Note about the localities in the preceding chapter , extracted from the letter of T. S. Heneken , Esq. Guacanagari’s capital town was called Guarico. From the best information I can gather, it was situated a short distance from the beach, where the village of Petit Anse now stands; which is about two miles south-east of Cape Haytien. Oviedo says that Columbus took in water for his homeward voyage from a small stream to the north-west of the anchorage; and presuming him to have been at anchor off Petit Anse, this stream presents itself falling from the Picolet mountain, crossing the present town of Cape Haytien, and emptying into the bay near the Arsenal. The stream which supplied Columbus with water was dammed up at the foot of the mountain by the French when in possession of the country, and its water now feeds a number of public fountains. Punta Santa could be no other than the present Point Picolet. Beating up from St. Nicholas Mole along an almost precipitous and iron-bound coast, a prospect of uni’ivailed splendor breaks upon the view on turning this point; the spacious bay, the extensive plains, and the distant cordilleras of the Cibao moun¬ tains, impose upon the mind an impression of vastness, fertility, and beauty. The fort of La Navidad must have been erected near Haut du Cap, as it could be approached in boats by rowing up the river, and there is no other river in the vicin¬ ity that admits a passage for boats. The locality of the town of Guacanagari has always been known by the name of Guarico. The French first settled at Petit Anse; subsequently they removed to the opposite side of the bay and founded the town of Cape Frangais, now Cape Haytien; but the old Indian name Guarico continues in use among all the Spanish inhabitants of the vicinity. BOOK V. CHAPTER I. COASTING TOWARD THE EASTERN END OF HISPANIOLA—MEETING WITH PINZON — AFFAIR WITH THE NATIVES AT THE GULF OF - SAMANA. [1493.] It was on the 4th of January that Columbus set sail from La Navidad on his return to Spain. The wind being light, it was necessary to tow the caravel out of the harbor, and clear of the reefs. They then stood eastward, toward a lofty promontory destitute of trees, but covered with grass, and shaped like a tent, having at a distance the appearance of a towering island, being connected with Hispaniola by a low neck of land. To this pro¬ montory Columbus gave the name of Monte Christi, by which it is still known. The country in the immediate neighborhood was level, but farther inland rose a high range of mountains, well wooded, with broad, fruitful valleys between them, watered by abundant streams. The wind being contrary, they were de¬ tained for two days in a large bay to the west of the promontory. On the 6th they again made sail with a land breeze, and weath¬ ering the cape, advanced ten leagues, when the wind again turned to blow freshly from the east. At this time a sailor, sta¬ tioned at the masthead to look out for rocks, cried out that he beheld the Pinta at a distance. The certainty of the fact glad¬ dened the heart of the admiral, and had an animating effect throughout the ship; for it was a joyful event to the mariners once more to meet with their comrades, and to have a compan¬ ion bark in their voyage through these lonely seas. The Pinta came sweeping toward them, directly before the wind. The admiral was desirous of having a conversation with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and seeing that all attempt was fruitless from the obstinacy of the adverse wind, and that there was no safe anchorage in the neighborhood, he put back to the bay a little west of Monte Christi, whither he was followed by the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 161 Pinta. On their first interview, Pinzon endeavored to excuse his desertion, alleging that he had been compelled to part com¬ pany by stress of weather, and had ever since been seeking to rejoin the admiral. Columbus listened passively but dubiously to his apologies; and the suspicions he had conceived appeared to be warranted by subsequent information. He was told that Pinzon had been excited by accounts given him by one of the Indians on board of his vessel of a region to the eastward, abounding in gold. Taking advantage, therefore, of the supe¬ rior sailing of his vessel, he had worked to windward, when the other ships had been obliged to put back, and had sought to be the first to discover and enjoy this golden region. After sepa¬ rating from his companions he had been entangled for several days among a cluster of small islands, supposed to have been the Caicos, but had at length been guided by the Indians to His¬ paniola. Here he remained three weeks, trading with the na¬ tives in the river already mentioned, and collected a considera¬ ble quantity of gold, one half of which he retained as captain, the rest he divided among his men to secure their fidelity and. secrecy. Such were the particulars privately related to Columbus; who, however, repressed his indignation at this flagrant breach of duty, being unwilling to disturb the remainder of his voyage with any altercations with Pinzon, who had a powerful party of relatives and townsmen in the armament. To such a degree, however, was his confidence in his confederates impaired, that he determined to return forthwith to Spain, though, under other circumstances, he would have been tempted to explore the coast in hopes of freighting his ships with treasure, * The boats were accordingly dispatched to a large river in the neighborhood, to procure a supply of wood and water for the voyage. This river, called by the natives the Yaqui, flows from the mountains of the interior and throws itself into the bay, re¬ ceiving in its course the contributions of various minor streams. Many particles of gold were perceived among the sands at its mouth, and others were found adhering to the hoops of the wa¬ ter-casks. f Columbus gave it, therefore, the name of Pio del Oro, or the Golden Eiver; it is at present called the Santiago. In this neighborhood were turtles of great size. Columbus * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 34. t Las Casas suggests that these may have been particles of marcasite, which abounds in this river, and in the other streams which fall from the mountains of ©bao. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 76. 162 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. also mentions in his journal that he saw three mermaids, which elevated themselves above the surface of the sea, and he ob¬ serves that he had before seen such on the coast of Africa. He adds that they were by no means the beautiful beings they had been represented, although they possessed some traces of the human countenance. It is supposed that these must have been manati or sea-calves, seen indistinctly and at a distance; and that the imagination of Columbus, disposed to give a wonderful character to everything in this new world, h ad identified these misshapen animals with the sirens of ancient story. On the evening of the 9th of January they again made sail, and on the following day arrived at the river where Pinzon had been trading, to which Columbus gave the name of Rio de Gracia; but it took the appellation of its original discoverer, and long continued to be known as the river of Martin Alonzo.* The natives of this place complained that Pinzon, on his pre¬ vious visit, had violently carried off four men and two girls. The admiral, finding they were retained on board of the Pinta to be carried to Spain and sold as slaves, ordered them to be im¬ mediately restored to their homes, with many presents, and well clothed, to atone for the wrong they had experienced. This restitution was made with great unwillingness and many high words on the part of Pinzon. The wind being favorable, for in these regions the trade wind is often alternated during autumn and winter by north-westerly breezes, they continued coasting the island until they came to a high and beautiful headland, to which they gave the name of Capo del Enamorado, or the Lovers’ Cape, but which at present is known as Cape Cabron. A little beyond this they anchored in a bay, or rather gulf, three leagues in breadth, and extending so far inland that Columbus at first supposed it an arm of the sea, separating Hispaniola from some other land. On landing they found the natives quite different from the gentle and pa¬ cific people hitherto met with on this island. They were of a ferocious aspect, and hideously painted. Their hair was long, tied behind, and decorated with the feathers of parrots and othei birds of gaudy plumage. Some were armed with war-clubs, others had bows of the length of those used by the English arch, ers, with arrows of slender reeds, pointed with hard wood, oi tipped with bone or the tooth of a fish. Their swords were of * It is now called Porto Caballo, but the surrounding plain is called the Savanna of Martin Alonxo.—T. S. Heneken. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 163 palm-wood, as hard and heavy as iron; not sharp, but broad, nearly of the thickness of two fingers, and capable, with one blow, of cleaving through a helmet to the very brains. * Though thus prepared for combat, they made no attempt to molest the Spaniards; on the contrary, they sold them two of their bows and several of their arrows, and one of them was prevailed upon to go on board of the admiral’s ship. Columbus was persuaded, from the ferocious looks and hardy, undaunted manner of this wild warrior, that he and his companions were of the nation of Caribs, so much dreaded throughout these seas, and that the gulf in which he was anchored must be a strait separating their island from Hispa¬ niola. On inquiring of the Indian, however, he still pointed to the east as the quarter where lay the Caribbean Islands. He spoke also of an island, called Mantinino, which Columbus fan¬ cied him to say was peopled merely by women, who received the Caribs among them once a year, for the sake of continuing the population of their island. All the male progeny result¬ ing from such visits were delivered to the fathers; the female remained with the mothers. This Amazonian island is repeatedly mentioned in the course of the voyages of Columbus, and is another of his self-delusions, to be explained by the work of Marco Polo. That traveller de¬ scribed two islands near the coast of Asia, one inhabited solely by women, the other by men, between which a similar inter¬ course subsisted;! and Columbus, supposing himself in that vicinity, easily interpreted the signs of the Indians to coincide with the descriptions of the Venetian. Having regaled the warrior, and made him various presents, the admiral sent him on shore, in hopes, through his media¬ tion, of opening a trade for gold with his companions. As the boat approached the land, upward of fifty savages, armed with bows and arrows, war-clubs, and javelins, were seen lurking among the trees. On a word from the Indian who was in the boat, they laid by their arms and came forth to meet the Span¬ iards. The latter, according to directions from the admiral, endeavored to purchase several of their weapons, to take as curiosities to Spain. They parted with two of their bows; but, suddenly conceiving some distrust, or thinking to overpower this handful of strangers, they rushed to the place where they * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 77, ms. t Marco Polo, book iii. chap. 34; Eng. edit, of Marsden. 164 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. had left their weapons, snatched them up, and returned with cords, as if to hind the Spaniards. The latter immediately at* tacked them, wounded two, put the rest to flight, and would have pursued them, but were restrained by the pilot who com¬ manded the boat. This was the first contest with the Indians, and the first time that native blood was shed by the white men in the new world. Columbus was grieved to see all his exer¬ tions to maintain an amicable intercourse vain; he consoled himself with the idea, however, that if these were Caribs, or frontier Indians of warlike character, they would be inspired with a dread of the force and weapons of the white men, and be deterred from molesting the little garrison of Fort Nativity. The fact was, that these were of a bold and hardy race, in¬ habiting a mountainous district called Ciguay, extending five and twenty leagues along the coast, and several leagues into the interior. They differed in language, look, and manners from the other natives of the island, and had the rude but in¬ dependent and vigorous character of mountaineers. Their frank and bold spirit was evinced on the day after the skirmish, when a multitude appearing on the beach, the admi¬ ral sent a large party, well armed, on shore in the boat. The natives approached as freely and confidently as if nothing had happened; neither did they betray, throughout their subse¬ quent intercourse, any signs of lurking fear or enmity. The cacique who ruled over the neighboring country was on the shore. He sent to the boat a string of beads formed of small stones, or rather of the hard part of shells, which the Spaniards understood to be a token and assurance of amity; but they were not yet aware of the full meaning of this symbol, the wampum belt, the pledge of peace, held sacred among the In¬ dians. The chieftain followed shortly after, and entering the boat with only three attendants, was conveyed on board of the caravel. This frank and confiding conduct, so indicative of a brave and generous nature, was properly appreciated by Columbus; he received the cacique cordially, set before him a collation such as the caravel afforded, particularly biscuits and honey, which were great dainties with the Indians, and after showing him the wonders of the vessel, and making him and his atten¬ dants many presents, sent them to land highly gratified. The residence of the cacique was at such a distance that he could not repeat his visit; but, as a token of high regard, he sent to the admiral his coronet of gold. In speaking of these mci- LIFE OF CHIlISTOPnER COLUMBUS. 165 dents, the historians of Columbus have made no mention of the name of this mountain chief; he was doubtless the same who, a few years afterward, appears in the history of the island under the name of Mayonabex, cacique of the Ciguayans, and will be found acquitting himself with valor, frankness, and magnanimity, under the most trying circumstances. Columbus remained a day or two longer in the bay, during which time the most friendly intercourse prevailed with the natives, who brought cotton, and various fruits and vegetables, but still maintained their warrior character, being always armed with bows and arrows. Four young Indians gave such interesting accounts of the islands situated to the east that Columbus determined to touch there on his way to Spain, and prevailed on them to accompany him as guides. Taking ad¬ vantage of a favorable wind, therefore, he sailed before day¬ light on the 16th of January from this bay, to which, in conse¬ quence of the skirmish with the natives, he gave the name of Golfo de las Flechas, or the Gulf of Arrows, but which is now known by the name of the Gulf of Samana. On leaving the bay, Columbus at first steered to the north¬ east, in which direction the young Indians assured him he would find the island of the Caribs, and that of Mantinino, the abode of the Amazons; it being his desire to take several of the natives of each, to present to the Spanish sovereigns. After sailing about sixteen leagues, however, his Indian guides changed their opinion, and pointed to the south-east. This would have brought him to Porto Pico, which, in fact, was known among the Indians as the island of Carib. The admiral immediately shifted sail, and stood in this direction. He had not proceeded two leagues, however, when a most favorable breeze sprang up for the voyage to Spain. He observed a gloom gathering on the countenances of the sailors, as they diverged from the homeward route. Reflecting upon the little hold he had upon the feelings and affections of these men, the insubordinate spirit they had repeatedly evinced, the uncer¬ tainty of the good faith of Pinzon, and the leaky condition of his ships, he was suddenly brought to a pause. As long as he protracted his return, the whole fate of his discovery was at the mercy of a thousand contingencies, and an adverse acci¬ dent might bury himself, his crazy barks, and all the records of his voyage forever in the ocean. Repressing, therefore, the strong inclination to seek further discoveries, and determined to place what he had already made beyond the reach of accf 166 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . dent, he once more shifted sail, to the great joy of his crews, and resumed his course for Spain.* CHAPTER n. RETURN VOYAGE—VIOLENT STORMS—ARRIVAL AT THE AZORES. [1493.] The trade-winds which had heen so propitious to Columbus on his outward voyage, were equally adverse to him on his re - turn. The favorable breeze soon died away, and throughout the remainder of January there was a prevalence of light winds from the eastward, which prevented any great progress. He was frequently detained also by the bad sailing of the Pinta, the foremast of which was so defective that it could carry but little sail. The weather continued mild and pleasant, and the sea so calm, that the Indians whom they were taking to Spain would frequently plunge into the water and swim about the ships. They saw many tunny fish, one of which they killed, as likewise a large shark; these gave them a temporary supply of provisions, of which they soon began to stand in need, their sea stock being reduced to bread and wine and Agi peppers, which last they had learnt from the Indians to use as an impor¬ tant article of food. In the early part of February, having run to about the thirty- eighth degree of north latitude, and got out of the track swept by the trade-winds, they had more favorable breezes, and were enabled to steer direct for Spain. From the frequent changes of their course, the pilots became perplexed in their reckon¬ ings, differing widely among themselves, and still more widely from the truth. Columbus, besides keeping a careful reckon^ ing, was a vigilant observer of those indications furnished by the sea, the air, and the sky; the fate of himself and his ships in the unknown regions which he traversed often depended upon these observations; and the sagacity at which he arrived, in deciphering the signs of the elements, was looked upon by the common seamen as something almost supernatural, in the * Journal of Columb. Navarrete, tom. i. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 77 Hist. del. Almirante* cap. 34. 35. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 167 present instance, he noticed where the great bands of floating weeds commenced, and where they finished; and in emerging from among them, concluded himself to be in the same degree of longitude as when he encountered them on his outward voy¬ age ; that is to say, about 260 leagues west of Ferro. On the 10th of February, Vicente Yanes Pinzon, and the pilots Ruiz and Bartolomeo Roldan, who were on board of the admiral’s ship, examined the charts and compared their reckonings to determine their situation, but could not come to any agree¬ ment. They all supposed themselves at least one hundred and fifty leagues nearer Spain than what Columbus believed to be the true reckoning, and in the latitude of Madeira, whereas he knew them to be nearly in a direction for the Azores. He suf¬ fered them, however, to remain in their error, and even added to their perplexity, that they might retain but a confused idea of the voyage, and he alone possess a clear knowledge of the route to the newly-discovered countries * On the 12th of February, as they were flattering themselves with soon coming in sight of land, the wind came on to blow violently, with a heavy sea; they still kept their course to the east, but with great labor and peril. On the following day, after sunset, the wind and swell increased; there were three flashes of lightning in the north-north-east, considered by Columbus as signals of an approaching tempest. It soon burst upon them with frightful violence; their small and crazy vessels, open and without decks, were little fitted for the wild storms of the Atlantic; all night they were obliged to scud under bare poles. As the morning dawned of the 14th, there was a transient pause, and they made a little sail; but the wind rose again from the south with redoubled vehemence, raging throughout the day, and increasing in fury in the night; while the vessels labored terribly in a cross sea, the broken waves of which threatened at each moment to overwhelm them or dash them to pieces. For three hours they lay to, with just sail enough to keep them above the waves; but the tempest still augment¬ ing, they were obliged again to scud before the wind. The Pinta was soon lost sight of in the darkness of the night. The admiral kept as much as possible to the north-east, to approach the coast of Spain, and made signal lights at the masthead for the Pinta to do the same, and to keep in company. The latter, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 70. 168 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. however, from the weakness of her foremast, couTd not hold the wind, and was obliged to scud before it directly north. For some time she replied to the signals of the admiral, but her lights gleamed more and more distant, until they ceased entirely, and nothing more was seen of her. Columbus continued to scud all night, full of forebodings of the fate of his own vessel, and of fears for the safety of that of Pinzon. As the day dawned, the sea presented a frightful waste of wild broken waves, lashed into fury by the gale; he looked round anxiously for the Pinta, but she was nowhere to be seen. He now made a little sail, to keep his vessel ahead of the sea, lest its huge waves should break over her. As the sun rose, the wind and the waves rose with it, and throughout a dreary day the helpless bark was driven along by the fury of the tempest. Seeing all human skill baffled and confounded, Columbus endeavored to propitiate heaven by solemn vows and acts of penance. By his orders, a number of beans, equal to the num¬ ber of persons on board, were put into a cap, on one of which was cut the sign of the cross. Each of the crew made a vow that should he draw forth the marked bean he would make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, bearing a wax taper of five pounds’ weight. The admiral was the first to put in his hand, and the lot fell upon him. From that mo¬ ment he considered himself a pilgrim, bound to perform the vow. Another lot was cast in the same way, for a prilgrimage to the chapel of our Lady of Loretto, which fell upon a seaman named Pedro de Villa, and the admiral engaged to bear the expenses of his journey. A third lot was also cast for a pil¬ grimage to Santa Clara de Moguer, to perform a solemn mass, and to watch all night in the chapel, and this likewise fell upon Columbus. The tempest still raging with unabated violence, the admiral and all the mariners made a vow, that, if spared, wherever they first landed, they would go in procession barefooted and in their shirts, to offer up prayers and thanksgivings in some church dedicated to the Holy Virgin. Besides these general acts of propitiation, each one made his private vow, binding him¬ self to some pilgrimage, or vigil, or other rite of penitence and thanksgiving at his favorite shrine. The heavens, however, seemed deaf to their vows; the storm grew still more wild and frightful, and each man gave himself up for lost. The danger of the ship was augmented by the want of ballast, the consump* LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 169 tion of the water and provisions having lightened her so much that she rolled and tossed about at the mercy of the waves. To remedy this, and to render her more steady, the admiral ordered that all the empty casks should be filled with sea-water, which in some measure gave relief. During this long and awful conflict of the elements, the mind of Columbus was a prey to the most distressing anxiety. He feared that the Pinta had foundered in the storm. In such case the whole history of his discovery, the secret of the New World, depended upon his own feeble bark, and one surge of the ocean might bury it forever in oblivion. The tumult of his thoughts may be judged from his own letter to the sovereigns. “ I could have supported this evil fortune with less grief,” said he, “had my person alone been in jeopardy, since I am a debtor for my life to the supreme Creator, and have at other times been within a step of death. But it was a cause of infinite sorrow and trouble to think that, after having been illuminated from on high with faith and certainty to undertake this enterprise, after having victoriously achieved it, and when on the point of con¬ vincing my opponents, and securing to your highnesses great glory and vast increase of dominions, it should please the divine Majesty to defeat all by my death. It would have been more supportable also, had I not been accompanied by others who had been drawn on by my persuasions, and who, in their dis¬ tress, cursed not only the hour of their coming, but the fear inspired by my words which prevented their turning back, as they had at various times determined. Above all, my grief was doubled when I thought of my two sons, whom I had left at school in Cordova, destitute, in a strange land, without any testimony of the services rendered by their father, which, if known, might have inclined your highnesses to befriend them. And although, on the one hand, I was comforted by faith that the Deity would not permit a work of such great exaltation to his church, wrought through so many troubles and contradic¬ tions, to remain imperfect; yet, on the other hand, I reflected on my sins, as a punishment for which he might intend that I should be deprived of the glory which would redound to me in this world.” * In the midst of these gloomy apprehensions, an expedient suggested itself, by which, though he and his ship should perish, the glory of his achievement might survive to his name, and its * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 36. 170 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. advantages be secured to his sovereigns. He wrote on parch- ment a brief account of his voyage and discovery, and of his having taken possession of the newly-found lands in the name of their Catholic majesties. This he sealed and directed to the king and queen; superscribing a promise of a thousand ducats to whomsoever should deliver the packet unopened. He then wrapped it in a waxed cloth, which he placed in the centre of a cake of wax, and inclosing the whole in a large barrel, threw It into the sea, giving his men to suppose he was performing some religious vow. Lest this memorial should never reach the land, he inclosed a copy in a similar manner, and placed it upon the poop, so that, should the caravel be swallowed up by the waves, the barrel might float off and survive. These precautions in some measure mitigated his anxiety, and he was still more relieved when, after heavy showers, there ap¬ peared at sunset a streak of clear sky in the west, giving hopes that the wind was about to shift to that quarter. These hopes were confirmed; a favorable breeze succeeded, but the sea still ran so high and tumultuously that little sail could be carried during the night. On the morning of the 15th, at daybreak, the cry of land was given by Rui Garcia, a mariner in the maintop. The trans¬ ports of the crew, at once more gaining sight of the Old World, were almost equal to those experienced on first beholding the New. The land bore east-north-east, directly over the prow of the caravel; and the usual diversity of opinion concerning it arose among the pilots. One thought it the island of Madeira; another the rock of Cintra near Lisbon; the most part, deceived by their ardent wishes, placed it near Spain. Columbus, how¬ ever, from his private reckonings and observations, concluded it to be one of the Azores. A nearer approach proved it to be an island; it was but five leagues distant, and the voyagers were congratulating themselves upon the assurance of speedily being in port, when the wind veered again to the east-north¬ east, blowing directly from the land, while a heavy sea kept rolling from the west. For two days they hovered in sight of the island, vainly striv¬ ing to reach it, or to arrive at another island of which they caught glimpses occasionally through the mist and rack of the tempest. On the evening of the 17th they approached so near the first island as to cast anchor, but parting their cable, had to put to sea again, where they remained beating about until the following morning, when they anchored under shelter of its LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 171 northern side. For several days Columbus had been in such a state of agitation and anxiety as scarcely to take food or repose. Although suffering greatly from a gouty affection to which he was subject, yet he had maintained his watchful post on deck, exposed to wintry cold, to the pelting of the storm, and the drenching surges of the sea. It was not until the night of the 17th that he got a little sleep, more from the exhaustion of na¬ ture than from any tranquillity of mind. Such were the diffi¬ culties and perils which attended his return to Europe; had one tenth part of them beset his outward voyage, his timid and factious crew would have risen in arms against the enterprise, and he never would have discovered the New World. CHAPTER III. TRANSACTIONS AT THE ISLAND OF ST. MARY’S. [1493.] On sending the boat to land, Columbus ascertained the island to be St. Mary’s, the most southern of the Azores, and a pos¬ session of the crown of Portugal. The inhabitants, when they beheld the light caravel riding at anchor, were astonished that it had been able to live through the gale, which had raged for fifteen days with unexampled fury; but when they heard from the boat’s crew that this tempest-tossed vessel brought tidings of a strange country beyond the ocean, they were filled with wonder and curiosity. To the inquiries about a place where the caravel might anchor securely, they replied by pointing out a harbor in the vicinity, but prevailed on three of the mariners to remain on shore, and gratify them with further particulars of this unparalleled voyage. In the evening three men of the island hailed the caravel, and a boat being sent for them, they brought on board fowls, bread, and various refreshments, from Juan de Castaneda, governor of the island, who claimed an acquaintance with Columbus, and sent him many compliments and congratulations. He apolo¬ gized for not coming in person, owing to the lateness of the hour and the distance of his residence, but promised to visit the car¬ avel the next morning, bringing further refreshments, and the 172 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. three men, whom he still kept with him to satisfy his extreme curiosity respecting the voyage. As there were no houses on the neighboring shore, the messengers remained on board all night. On the following morning Columbus reminded his people of their vow to perform a pious procession at the first place whore they should land. On the neighboring shore, at no great dis¬ tance from the sea, was a small hermitage or chapel dedicated to the Virgin, and he made immediate arrangements for the performance of the rite. The three messengers, on returning to the village, sent a priest to perform mass, and one half of the crew landing, walked in procession, barefooted, and in their shirts, to the chapel; while the admiral awaited their return, to perform the same ceremony with the remainder. An ungenerous reception, however, awaited the poor tempest- tossed mariners on their first return to the abode of civilized men, far different from the sympathy and hospitality they had experienced among the savages of the New World. Scarcely had they begun their prayers and thanksgivings, when the rabble of the village, horse and foot, headed by the governor, surrounded the hermitage and took them all prisoners. As an intervening point of land hid the hermitage from the view of the caravel, the admiral remained in ignorance of this transaction. When eleven o’clock arrived without the return of the pilgrims, he began to fear that they were detained by the Portuguese, or that the boat had been shattered upon the surf- beaten rocks which bordered the island. Weighing anchor, therefore, he stood in a direction to command a view of the chapel and the adjacent store; whence he beheld a number of armed horsemen, who, dismounting, entered the boat and made for the caravel. The admiral’s ancient suspicions of Portuguese hostility toward himself and his enterprises were immediately revived, and he ordered his men to arm themselves, but to keep out of sight, ready either to defend the vessel or surprise the boat. The latter, however, approached in a pacific manner; the governor of the island was on board, and, coming within hail, demanded assurance of personal safety in case he should enter the caravel. This the admiral readily gave, but the Por¬ tuguese still continued at a wary distance. The indignation of Columbus now broke forth; he reproached the governor with his perfidy, and with the wrong he did, not merely to the Spanish monarchs, but to his own sovereign, by such a dishon¬ orable outrage. He informed him of his own rank and dignity; LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 173 displayed his letters patent, sealed with the royal seal of Castile, and threatened him with the vengeance of his government. Castaneda replied in a vein of contempt and defiance, declar¬ ing that all he had done was in conformity to the commands of the king his sovereign. A fter an unprofitable altercation, the boat returned to shore, leaving Columbus much perplexed by this unexpected hostility, and fearful that a war might have broken out between Spain, and Portugal during his absence. The next day the weather became so tempestuous that they were driven from their an¬ chorage, and obliged to stand to sea toward the island of St. Michael. For two days the ship continued beating about in great peril, half of her crew being detained on shore, and the greater part of those on board being landsmen and Indians, almost equally useless in difficult navigation. Fortunately, although the waves ran high, there were none of those cross seas which had recently prevailed, otherwise, being so feebly manned, the caravel could scarcely have lived through the storm. On the evening of the 22d, the weather having moderated, Columbus returned to his anchorage at St. Mary’s. Shortly after his arrival, a boat came off, bringing two priests and a notary. After a cautious parley and an assurance of safety, they came on board, and requested a sight of the papers of Co¬ lumbus, on the part of Castaneda, assuring him that it was the disposition of the governor to render him every service in his power, provided he really sailed in service of the Spanish sover¬ eigns. Columbus supposed it a manoeuvre of Castaneda to cover a retreat from the hostile position he had assumed; re¬ straining his indignation, however, and expressing his thanks for the friendly disposition of the governor, he showed his let¬ ters of commission, which satisfied the priests and the notary. On the following morning the boat and mariners were liberated. The latter, during their detention, had collected information from the inhabitants which elucidated the conduct of Cas¬ taneda. The King of Portugal, jealous lest the expedition of Colum¬ bus might interfere with his own discoveries, had sent orders to his commanders of islands and distant ports to seize and de¬ tain him wherever he should be met with.* In compliance with these orders, Castaneda had, in the first instance, hoped * Hist, del Almiranti* cap. 39. Las Casas, Hist. Ind,, lib. i. cap. 73, 174 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . to surprise Columbus in the chapel, and, failing in that attempt, had intended to get him in his power by stratagem, but was deterred by finding him on his guard. Such was the first re¬ ception of the admiral on his return to the Old World, an earn¬ est oc the crosses and troubles with which he was to be requited throughout life, for one of the greatest benefits that ever man conferred upon his fellow-beings. CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL AT PORTUGAL—VISIT TO THE COURT. [1493.] Columbus remained two days longer at the island of St. Mary’s, endeavoring to take in wood and ballast, but was pre¬ vented by the heavy surf which broke upon the shore. The wind veering to the south, and being dangerous for vessels at anchor off the island, but favorable for the voyage to Spain, ho set sail on the 24th of February, and had pleasant weather until the 27th, when, being within one hundred and twenty-five leagues of Cape St. Vincent, he again encountered contrary gales and a boisterous sea. His fortitude was scarcely proof against these perils and delays, which appeared to increase, the nearer he approached his home; and he could not help uttering a complaint at thus being repulsed, as it were, “from the very door of the house, ” He contrasted the rude storms which raged about the coasts of the old world, with the genial airs, the tran¬ quil seas, and balmy weather which he supposed perpetually to prevail about the countries he had discovered. “Well,” says he, “may the sacred theologians and sage philosophers declare that the terrestrial paradise is in the uttermost extremity of the East, for it is the most temperate of regions.” After experiencing several days of stormy and adverse weather, about midnight on Saturday, the 2d of March, the caravel was struck by a squall of wind which rent all her sails, and, continuing to blow with resistless violence, obliged her to scud under bare poles, threatening her each moment with destruction. In this hour of darkness and peril, the crew again called upon the aid of Heaven. A lot was cast for the perform* LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUHBUS. 175 ance of a barefooted pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria de la Cueva in Huelva, and, as usual, the lot fell upon Columbus. There was something singular in the recurrence of this circum- stance. Las Casas devoutly considers it as an intimation from the Deity to the admiral that these storms were all on his ac¬ count, to humble his pride, and prevent his arrogating to him¬ self the glory of a discovery which was the work of God, and for which he had merely been chosen as an instrument.* Various signs appeared of the vicinity of land, which they supposed must be the coast of Portugal; the tempest, however, increased to such a degree that they doubted whether any of them would survive to reach a port. The whole crew made a vow, in case their lives were spared, to fast upon bread and water the following Saturday. The turbulence of the elements was still greater in the course of the following night. The sea was broken, wild, and mountainous; at one moment the light caravel was tossed high in the air, and the next mo¬ ment seemed sinking in a yawning abyss. The rain at times fell in torrents, and the lightning flashed and thunder pealed from various parts of the heavens. In the first watch of this fearful night the seamen gave the usually welcome cry of land, but it now only increased the gen¬ eral alarm. They knew not where they were, nor where to look for a harbor; they dreaded being driven on shore, or dashed upon rocks; and thus the very land they had so ear¬ nestly desired was a terror to them. Taking in sail, therefore, they kept to sea as much as possible, and waited anxiously for the morning light. At daybreak on the 4th of March they found themselves off the rock of Cintra, at the mouth of the Tagus. Though enter¬ taining a strong distrust of the good-will of Portugal, the still prevailing tempest left Columbus no alternative but to run in for shelter; he accordingly anchored, about three o’clock, oppo site to Rastello, to the great joy of the crew, who returned thanks to God for their escape from so many perils. The inhabitants came off from various parts of the shore, congratulating them upon what they considered a miraculous preservation. They had been watching the vessel the whole morning with great anxiety, and putting up prayers for her safety. The oldest mariners of the place assured Columbus they had never known so tempestuous a winter; many vessels * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 73. 176 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS had remained for months in port, weather-bound, and there had been numerous shipwrecks. Immediately on his arrival Columbus dispatched a courier to khe King and Queen of Spain, with tidings of his discovery. He wrote also to the King of Portugal, then at Valparaiso, re¬ questing permission to go with his vessel to Lisbon; for a report had gone abroad that his caravel was laden with gold, and he felt insecure in the mouth of the Tagus, in the neighborhood of a place like Rastello, scantily peopled by needy and adven¬ turous inhabitants. To prevent any misunderstanding as to the nature of his voyage, he assured the king that he had not been on the coast of Guinea, nor to any other of the Portuguese colonies, but had come from Cipango, and the extremity of India, which he had discovered by sailing to the west. On the following day, Don Alonzo de Acuna, the captain of a large Portuguese man-of-war stationed at Rastello, summoned Columbus on board his ship, to give an account of himself and his vessel. The latter asserted his rights and dignities as admiral of the Castilian sovereigns, and refused to leave his vessel, or to send any one in his place. No sooner, however, did the commander learn his rank, and the extraordinary nature of his voyage, than he came to the caravel with great sound of drums, fifes, and trumpets, manifesting the courtesy of a brave and generous spirit, and making the fullest offer of his services. When the tidings reached Lisbon of this wonderful bark, anchored in the Tagus, freighted with the people and produce tions of a newly-discovered world, the effect may be more easily conceived than described. Lisbon, for nearly a century, had derived its chief glory from its maritime discoveries, but here was an achievement that eclipsed them all. Curiosity could scarcely have been more excited had the vessel come freighted with the wonders of another planet. For several days the Tagus presented a gay and moving picture, covered with barges and boats of every kind, swarming round the caravel. From morning till night the vessel was thronged with visitors, among whom were cavaliers of high distinction, and various officers of the crown. All hung with rapt attention upon the accounts given by Columbus and his crew, of the events of their voyage, and of the New World they had discovered; and gazed with insatiable curiosity upon the specimens of unknown plants and animals, but above all upon the Indians, so different from any race of men hitherto known. Some were filled with LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP US. 177 generous enthusiasm at the idea of a discovery, so sublime and so beneficial to mankind; the avarice of others was inflamed by the description of wild, unappropriated regions teeming with gold, with pearls and spices; while others repined at the incredulity of the king and his councillors, by which so im¬ mense an acquisition had been forever lost to Portugal. On the 8th of March a cavalier, called Don Martin de Noro- fia, came with a letter from King John, congratulating Colum¬ bus on his arrival, and inviting him to the court, which was then at Valparaiso, about nine leagues from Lisbon. The king, with his usual magnificence, issued orders at the same time that everything which the admiral required for himself, his crew, or his vessel, should be furnished promptly and abun¬ dantly, without cost. Columbus would gladly have declined the royal invitation, feeling distrust of the good faith of the king; but tempestuous weather had placed him in his power, and he thought it pru¬ dent to avoid all appearance of suspicion. He set forth, there¬ fore, that very evening for Valparaiso accompanied by his pilot. The first night he slept at Sacamben, where preparations had been made for his honorable entertainment. The weather being rainy, he did not reach Valparaiso until the following night. On approaching the royal residence, the principal cavaliers of the king’s household came forth to meet him, and attended him with great ceremony to the palace. His reception by the mon¬ arch was worthy of an enlightened prince. He ordered him to seat himself in his presence, an honor only granted to persons of royal dignity; and after many congratulations on the result of his enterprise, assured him that everything in his kingdom that could be of service to his sovereigns or himself was at his command. A long conversation ensued, in which Columbus gave an account of his voyage, and of the countries he had discovered. The king listened with much seeming pleasure, but with secret grief and mortification; reflecting that this splendid enterprise had once been offered to himself, and had been rejected. A casual observation showed what was passing in his thoughts. He expressed a doubt whether the discovery did not really appertain to the crown of Portugal, according to the capitula¬ tions of the treaty of 1479 with the Castilian sovereigns. Colum¬ bus replied that he had never seen those capitulations, nor knew anything of their nature; his orders had been not to go to La Mina, nor the coast of Guinea, which orders he had 178 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. carefully observed. The king made a gracious reply, express ing himself satisfied that he had acted correctly, and persuaded that these matters would be readily adjusted between the two powers, without the need of umpires. On dismissing Columbus for the night, he gave him in charge as guest to the prior of Crato, the principal personage present, by whom he was hon¬ orably and hospitably entertained. On the following day the king made many minute inquiries as to the soil, productions, and people of the newly-discovered countries, and the route taken in the voyage; to all which Columbus gave the fullest replies, endeavoring to show in the clearest manner that these were regions heretofore undiscov¬ ered and unappropriated by any Christian power. Still the king was uneasy lest this vast and undefined discovery should in some way interfere with his own newly-acquired territories. He doubted whether Columbus had not found a short way to those very countries which were the object of his own expedi¬ tions, and which were comprehended in the papal bull, grant¬ ing to the crown of Portugal all the lands which it should discover from Cape Non to the Indies. On suggesting these doubts to his councillors, they eagerly confirmed them. Some of these were the very persons who had once derided this enterprise, and scoffed at Columbus as a dreamer. To them its success was a source of confusion; and the return of Columbus, covered with glory, a deep humiliation. Incapable of conceiving the high and generous thoughts which elevated him at that moment above all mean considerations, they attributed to all his actions the most petty and ignoble motives. His rational exultation was construed into an insult¬ ing triumph, and they accused him of assuming a boastful and vainglorious tone, when talking with the king of his discovery; as if he would revenge himself upon the monarch for having rejected his propositions.* With the greatest eagerness, there¬ fore, they sought to foster the doubts which had sprung up in the royal mind. Some who had seen the na ves brought in the caravel, declared that their color, hair, and manners agreed * Vasconcelos, Vida de D. Juan II., lib. vi. The Portuguese historians in general charge Columbus with having conducted himself loftily, and talked in vaunting terms of his discoveries, in his conversations with the king. It is evident their infor¬ mation must have been derived from prejudiced courtiers. Faria y Souza, in his “Europa Portuguesa” (Parte iii. cap. 4), goes so far as to say that Columbus en¬ tered into the port of Rastello merely to make Portugal sensible, by the sight of the trophies of his discovery, how muchshe had lost by not accepting his propositions LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 179 with the descriptions of the people of that part of India which lay within the route of the Portuguese discoveries, and which had been included in the papal bull. Others observed that there was but little distance between the Tercera Islands and those which Columbus had discovered, and that the latter, therefore, clearly appertained to Portugal. Seeing the king much per¬ turbed in spirit, some even went so far as to propose, as a means of impeding the prosecution of these enterprises, that Columbus should be assassinated; declaring that he de¬ served death for attempting to deceive and embroil the two nations by his pretended discoveries. It was suggested that his assassination might easily be accomplished without incurring any odium; advantage might be taken of his lofty deportment to pique his pride, provoke him into an altercation, and then dispatch him as if in casual and honorable encounter. It is difficult to believe that such wicked and dastardly counsel could have been proposed to a monarch so upright as John II., but the fact is asserted by various historians, Portu¬ guese as well as Spanish,* and it accords with the perfidious advice formerly given to the monarch in respect to Columbus. There is a spurious loyalty about courts, which is often prone to prove its zeal by its baseness; and it is the weakness of kings to tolerate the grossest faults when they appear to arise from personal devotion. Happily, the king had too much magnanimity to adopt the ini¬ quitous measure proposed. He did justice to the great merit of Columbus, and honored him as a distinguished benefactor of mankind; and he felt it his duty, as a generous prince, to pro¬ tect all strangers driven by adverse fortune to his ports. Others of his council suggested a more bold and martial fine of policy. They advised that Columbus should be permitted to re¬ turn to Spain; but that, before he could fit out a second expe¬ dition, a powerful armament should be dispatched, under the guidance of two Portuguese mariners who had sailed with the admiral, to take possession of the newly-discovered country; possession being after all the best title, and an appeal to arms the clearest mode of settling' so doubtful a question. This counsel, in which there was a mixture of courage and craft, was more relished by the king, and he resolved privately, but promptly, to put it in execution^ fixing upon Don Francisco * Vasconcelos, Vida del Rei, Don Juan II., lib vi. Garcia de Resende, vida do Pom Joam II- Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 74, ms. 180 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. de Almeida, one of the most distinguished captains of the age, to command the expedition.* In the mean time Columbus, after being treated with distin- guished attention, was escorted back to his ship by Don Martin de Norona, and a numerous train of cavaliers of the court, a mule being provided for himself, and another for* his pilot, to whom the king made a present of twenty espadinas, or ducats of gold.f On his way Columbus stopped at the monastery of San Antonio, at Villa Franca, to visit the queen, who had ex¬ pressed an earnest wish to see this extraordinary and enter¬ prising man, whose achievement was the theme of every tongue. He found her attended by a few of her favorite ladies, and experienced the most flattering reception. Her ma¬ jesty made him relate the principal events of his voyage, and describe the countries he had found; and she and her ladies hung with eager curiosity upon his narra-tion. That night he slept at Llandra, and being on the point of departing in the morning a servant of the king arrived, to attend him to the frontier, if he preferred to return to Spain by land, and to provide horses, lodgings, and everything he might stand in need of, at the royal expense. The weather, however, hav¬ ing moderated, he preferred returning.in his caravel. Putting to sea, therefore, on the 13th of March, he arrived safely at the bar of Saltes on sunrise of the fifteenth, and at mid-day entered the harbor of Palos; whence he had sailed on the 3d of August in the preceding year, having taken not quite seven months and a half to accomplish this most momentous of all maritime en- terprises.J CHAPTER V. RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT PALOS. [1493.] The triumphant return of Columbus was a prodigious event in the history of the little port of Palos, where everybody was more or less interested in the fate of his expedition. The most * Vasconcelos, lib. vi. t Twenty-eight dollars in gold of the present day, and equivalent to seventy-four dollars, considering the depreciation of the precious metals. t Works generally consulted in this chapter: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. 1. cap. 17,' Hist, del Almirante, cap. 39, 40, 41; Journal of Columb. Navarrete, tom. i. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 181 Important and wealthy sea-captains of the place had engaged in it, and scarcely a family but had some relative or friend among the navigators. The departure of the ships upon what appeared a chimerical and desperate cruise, had spread gloom and dismay over the place; and the storms which had raged throughout the winter had heightened the public despondency. Many lamented their friends as lost, while imagination lent mysterious horrors to their fate, picturing them as driven about over wild and desert wastes of water without a shore, or as perishing amid rocks and quicksands and whirlpools; or a prey to those monsters of the deep, with which credulity peo¬ pled every distant and unfrequented sea. There was something more awful in such a mysterious fate than in death itself, under any defined and ordinary form.* Great was the agitation of the inhabitants, therefore, when they beheld one of the ships standing up the river; but when they learned that she returned in triumph from the discovery of a world, the whole community broke forth into transports of joy. The bells were rung, the shops shut, all business was suspended: for a time there was nothing but hurry and tumult. Some were anxious to know the fate of a relative, others of a friend, and all to learn the particulars of so wonderful a voy¬ age. When Columbus landed, the multitude thronged to see and welcome him, and a grand procession was formed to the principal church, to return thanks to God for so signal a dis¬ covery made by the people of that place —forgetting, in their ex¬ ultation, the thousand difficulties they had thrown in the way of the enterprise. Wherever Columbus passed, he was hailed with shouts and acclamations. What a contrast to his depar¬ ture a few months before, followed by murmurs and execra¬ tions ; or, rather, what a contrast to his first arrival at Palos, a poor pedestrian, craving bread and water for his child at the gate of a convent! Understanding that the court was at Barcelona, he felt dis¬ posed to proceed thither immediately in his caravel; reflecting, however, on the dangers and disasters he had already experi¬ enced on the seas, he resolved to proceed by land. He dis- * In the maps and charts of those times, and even in those of a much later date, the variety of formidable and hideous monsters depicted in all remote parts of the ocean evince the terrors and dangers with which the imagination clothed it. The same may also be said of distant and unknown lands; the remote parts of Asia and Africa have monsters depicted in them which it would be difficult to trace to any Originals in natural history. 182 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. patched a letter to the king and queen, informing them of his arrival, and soon afterward departed for Seville to await their orders, taking with him six of the natives whom he had brought from the New World. One had died at sea, and three were left ill at Palos. It is a singular coincidence, which appears to be well authen¬ ticated, that on the very evening of the arrival of Columbus at Palos, and while the peals of triumph were still ringing from its towers, the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, likewise entered the river. After her separation from the ad¬ miral in the storm, she had been driven before the gale into the Bay of Biscay, and had made the port of Bayonne. Doubting whether Columbus had survived the tempest, Pinzon had im¬ mediately written to the sovereigns giving information of the discovery he had made, and had requested permission to come to court and communicate the particulars in person. As soon as the weather permitted, he had again set sail, anticipating a tri¬ umphant reception in his native port of Palos. When, on enter¬ ing the harbor, he beheld the vessel of the admiral riding at an¬ chor, and learnt the enthusiasm with which he had been re¬ ceived, the heart of Pinzon died within him. It is said that he feared to meet Columbus in this hour of his triumph, lest he should put him under arrest for his desertion on the coast of Cuba; but he was a man of too much resolution to indulge in such a fear. It is more probable that a consciousness of his misconduct made him unwilling to appear before the public in the midst of their enthusiasm for Columbus, and perhaps he sickened at the honors heaped upon a man whose superiority he had been so unwilling to acknowledge. Getting into his boat, therefore, he landed privately and kept out of sight until he heard of the admiral’s departure. He then returned to his home, broken in health and deeply dejected, considering all the honors and eulogiums heaped upon Columbus as so many re¬ proaches on himself. The reply of the sovereigns to his letter at length arrived. It was of a reproachful tenor, and forbade his appearance at court. This letter completed his humiliation ; the anguish of his feelings gave virulence to his bodily malady, and in a few days he died, a victim to deep chagrin.* Let no one, however, indulge in harsh censures over the grave of Pinzon! His merits and services are entitled to the highest praise; his errors should be regarded with indulgence. * Mufioz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. iv. § 14. Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domin. lib. ii LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 183 He was one of the foremost in Spain to appreciate the project of Columbus, animating him by his concurrence and aiding him with his purse, when poor and unknown at Palos. He afterward enabled him to procure and fit out ships, when even the mandates of the sovereigns were ineffectual; and finally embarked in the expedition with his brothers and his friends, staking life, property, everything upon the event. He thus en¬ titled himself to participate largely in the glory of this immor¬ tal enterprise; but unfortunately, forgetting for a moment the grandeur of the cause, and the implicit obedience due to his commander, he yielded to the incitements of self-interest, and committed that act of insubordination which has cast a shade upon his name. In extenuation of his fault, however, may be alleged his habits of command, which rendered him impatient of control; his consciousness of having rendered great services to the expedition, and of possessing property in the ships. That he was a man of great professional merit is admitted by all his contemporaries; that he naturally possessed generous sentiments and an honorable ambition, is evident from the poignancy with which he felt the disgrace drawn on him by his misconduct. A “mean man would not have fallen a victim to self-upbraiding for having been convicted of a mean action. His story shows how one lapse from duty may counterbalance the merits of a thousand services; how one moment of weak¬ ness may mar the beauty of a whole life of virtue; and how important it is for a man, under all circumstances, to be true not merely to others, but to himself.* * After a lapse of years, the descendants of the Pinzons made strenuous represen¬ tations to the crown of the merits and services of their family, endeavoring to prove, among other things, that but for the aid and encouragement of Martin Alonzo and his brothers, Columbus would never have made his discovery. Some of the testi¬ mony rendered on this and another occasion was rather extravagant and absurd, as will be shown in another part of this work.t The Emperor Charles V., however, taking into consideration the real services of the brothers in the first voyage, and the subsequent expeditions and discoveries of that able and intrepid navigator, Vincente Yanez Pinzon, granted to the family the well-merited rank and privileges of Hidalguia , a degree of nobility which constituted them noble hidalgos, with the right of prefixing the title of Don to their names. A coat of arms was also given them, emblematical of their services as discoverers. These privileges and arms are carefully preserved by the family at the present day. The Pinzons at present reside principally in the little city of Moguer, about a league from Palos, and possess vineyards and estates about the neighborhood. They are in easy, if not affluent circumstances, and inhabit the best houses in Mo¬ guer. Here they have continued, from generation to generation, since the time of t Vide illustrations, article “ Martin Alonzo Pinzon.” 184 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER YI. RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS BY THE SPANISH COURT AT BARCELONA The letter of Columbus to the Spanish monarchs had pro duced the greatest sensation at court. The event he an¬ nounced was considered the most extraordinary of their pros¬ perous reign, and following so close upon the conquest of Gra¬ nada, was pronounced a signal mark of divine favor for that triumph achieved in the cause of the true faith. The sovereigns themselves were for a time dazzled by this sudden and easy ac¬ quisition of a new empire, of indefinite extent, and apparently boundless wealth; and their first idea was to secure it beyond the reach of dispute. Shortly after his arrival in Seville, Colum¬ bus received a letter from them expressing their great delight, and requesting him to repair immediately to court, to concert plans for a second and more extensive expedition. As the summer, the time favorable for a voyage, was approaching, they desired him to make any arrangements at Seville or elsewhere that might hasten the expedition, and to inform them, by the return of the courier, what was to be done on their part. This letter was addressed to him by the title of “ Don Christopher Columbus, our admiral of the ocean sea, and viceroy and governor of the islands discovered in the Indies at the same time he was promised still further rewards. Co¬ lumbus lost no time in complying with the commands of the sovereigns. He sent a memorandum of the ships, men, and munitions requisite, and having made such dispositions at Se¬ ville as circumstances permitted, set out for Barcelona, taking with him the six Indians, and the various curiosities and pro¬ ductions brought from the New World. » --- _.— - . the discovery, filling places ofj public ti’ust and dignity, enjoying the good opinion and good will of their fellow-citizens, and flourishing in nearly the same state in which they were found by Columbus, on his first visit to Palos. It is rare indeed to find a family, in this fluctuating world, so little changed by the revolutions of nearly three centuries and a half. Whatever Palos may have been in the time of Columbus, it is now a paltry village of about four hundred inhabitants, who subsist chiefly by laboring in the fields and vineyards. The convent of La Rabida still exists, but is inhabited merely by two friars, with a novitiate and a lay brother. It is situated on a hill, surrounded by a scattered forest of pine trees, and overlooks the low sandy country of the sea-coast, and the windings of the river by which Columbus sallied forth upon the ocean. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 185 The fame of his discovery had resounded throughout the na¬ tion, and as his route lay through several of the finest and most populous provinces of Spain, his journey appeared like the pro¬ gress of a sovereign. Wherever he passed the country poured forth its inhabitants, who lined the road and thronged the vil¬ lages. The streets, windows, and balconies of the towns were filled with eager spectators, who rent the air with acclamations. His journey was continually impeded by the multitude pressing to gain a sight of him and of the Indians, who were regarded with as much astonishment as if they had been natives of another planet. It was impossible to satisfy the craving curiosity which assailed him and his attendants at every stage with innumer¬ able questions; popular rumor, as usual, had exaggerated the truth, and had filled the newly-found country with all kinds of wonders. About the middle of April Columbus arrived at Barcelona, where every preparation had been made to give him a solemn and magnificent reception. The beauty and serenity of the weather in that genial season and favored climate contributed to give splendor to this memorable ceremony. As he drew near the place, many of the youthful courtiers and hidalgos, together with a vast concourse of the populace, came forth to meet and welcome him. His entrance into this noble city has been com¬ pared to one of those triumphs which the Romans were accus¬ tomed to decree to conquerors. First were paraded the Indians, painted according to their savage fashion, and decorated with their national ornaments of gold. After these were borne various kinds of live parrots, together with stuffed birds and animals of unknown species, and rare plants supposed to be of precious qualities; while great care was taken to make a con¬ spicuous display of Indian coronets, bracelets, and other decora¬ tions of gold, which might give an idea of the wealth of the newly-discovered regions. After this, followed Columbus on horseback, surrounded by a brilliant cavalcade of Spanish chi¬ valry. The streets were almost impassable from the countless multitude; the windows and balconies were crowded with the fair; the very roofs were covered with spectators. It seemed as if the public eye could not be sated with gazing on these tro¬ phies of an unknown world; or on the remarkable man by whom it had been discovered. There was a sublimity in this event that mingled a solemn feeling with the public joy. It was looked upon as a vast and signal dispensation of Providence, in reward for the piety of the monarchs; and the majestic and 186 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. venerable appearance of the discoveror, so different from the youth and buoyancy generally expected from roving enterprise, seemed in harmony with the grandeur and dignity of his achievement. To receive him with suitable pomp and distinction, the sov¬ ereigns had ordered their throne to be placed in public under a rich canopy of brocade of gold, in a vast and splendid saloon. Here the king and queen awaited his arrival, seated in state, with the prince Juan beside them, and attended by the digni¬ taries of their court, and the principal nobility of Castile, Va- lentia, Catalonia, and Arragon, all impatient to behold the man who had conferred so incalculable a benefit upon the nation. At length Columbus entered the hall, surrounded by a brilliant crowd of cavaliers, among whom, says Las Casas, he was con¬ spicuous for his stately and commanding person, which with his countenance, rendered venerable by his gray hairs, gave him the august appearance of a senator of Eome; a modest smile lighted up his features, showing that he enjoyed the state and glory in which he came ;* and certainly nothing could be more deeply moving to a mind inflamed by noble ambition, and conscious of having greatly deserved, than these testimonials of the admiration and gratitude of a nation, or rather of a world As Columbus approached the sovereigns rose, as if receiving a person of the highest rank. Bending his knees, he offered to kiss their hands; but there was some hesitation on their part to permit this act of homage. Raising him in the most gracious manner, they ordered him to seat himself in their presence; a rare honor in this proud and punctilious court, f At their request, he now gave an account of the most striking events of his voyage, and a description of the islands discovered. He displayed specimens of unknown birds and other animals; of rare plants of medicinal and aromatic virtues; of native gold in dust, in cnude masses, or labored into barbaric ornaments; and, above all, the natives of these countries, who were objects ©f intense and inexhaustible interest. All these he pronounced mere harbingers of greater discoveries yet to be made, which would add realms of incalculable wealth to the dominions of their majesties, and whole nations of proselytes to the true faith. When he had finished, the sovereigns sank on their knees, * Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 78. ms. t IjUS Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 78. Hist, del Almirante, cap. Cl. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 187 and raising their clasped hands to heaven, their eyes filled with tears of joy and gratitude, poured forth thanks and praises to God for so great a providence; all present followed their exam¬ ple ; a deep and solemn enthusiasm pervaded that splendid as¬ sembly, and prevented all common acclamations of triumph. The anthem Te Deum laudamus, chanted by the choir of the royal chapel, with the accompaniment of rostrum ents, rose in a full body of sacred harmony; bearing up, as it were, the feel¬ ings and thoughts of the auditors to heaven, “ so that,” says the venerable Las Casas, “it seemed as it in that hour they communicated with celestial delights. ” Such was the solemn and pious manner in which the brilliant court of Spain cele¬ brated this sublime event; offering up a grateful tribute of melody and praise, and giving glory to God for the discovery of another world. When Columbus retired from the royal presence, he was at¬ tended to his residence by all the court, and followed by the shouting populace. For many days he was the object of uni¬ versal curiosity, and wherever he appeared was surrounded by an admiring multitude. While his mind was teeming with glorious anticipations, his pious scheme for the deliverance of the holy sepulchre was not forgotten. It has been shown that he suggested it to the Span¬ ish sovereigns at the time of first making his propositions, hold¬ ing it forth as the great object to be effected by the profits of his discoveries. Flushed with the idea of the vast wealth now to accrue to himself, he madq a vow to furnish within soven years an army, consisting of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, for the rescue of the holy sepulchre, and a simi¬ lar force within the five- following years. This vow was re¬ corded in one of his letters to the sovereigns, to which he re¬ fers, but which is no longer extant; nor is it certain whether it was made at the end of his first voyage or at a subsequent date, when the magnitude and wealthy result of his discoveries became more fully manifest. He often alludes to it vaguely in his writings, and he refers to it expressly in a letter to Pope Alexander VI., written in 1502, in which he accounts also for its non-fulfilment. It is essential to a full comprehension of the character and motives of Columbus, that this visionary project should be borne in recollection. It will be found to have entwined itself in his mind with his enterprise of discov¬ ery, and that a holy crusade was to be the consummation of those divine purposes, for which he considered himself selected 188 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. by Heaven as an agent. It shows how much his mind was ele¬ vated above selfish and mercenary views—how it was filled with those devout and heroic schemes, which in the time of the Crusades had inflamed the thoughts and directed the enterprises of the bravest warriors and most illustrious princes. CHAPTER VII. SOJOURN OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA—ATTENTIONS PATD HIM BY THE SOVEREIGNS AND COURTIERS. The joy occasioned by the great discovery of Columbus was not confined to Spain; the tidings were spread far and wide by the communications of ambassadors, the correspondence of the learned, the negotiations of merchants, and the reports of trav¬ ellers, and the whole civilized world was filled with wonder and delight. How gratifying would it have been, had the press at that time, as at present, poured forth its daily tide of specula¬ tion on every passing occurrence! With what eagerness should we seek to know the first ideas and emotions of the public, on an event so unlooked for and sublime! Even the first an¬ nouncements of it by contemporary writers, though brief and incidental, derive interest from being written at the time; and from showing the casual way in which such great tidings were conveyed about the world. Allegretto Allegretti, in his annals for Sienna for 1493, mentions it as just made known there by the letters of their merchants who were in Spain, and by the mouths of various travellers.* The news was brought to Genoa by the return of her ambassadors Francisco Marchesi and Gio¬ vanni Antonio Grimaldi, and was recorded among the trium¬ phant events of the year; f for the republic, though she may have slighted the opportunity of making herself mistress of the discovery, has ever since been tenacious of the glory of having given birth to the discoverer. The tidings were soon carried to England, which as yet was but a maritime power of inferior importance. They caused, however, much wonder in London, and great talk and admiration in the court of Henry VII., where the discovery was pronounced ‘ ‘ a thing more divine than hu- * Diarj Senesi de Alleg. Allegretti. Muratori, Ital. Script., tom. cxiii, t Foglieta, Istoria de Genova, lib. ii. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 180 man.” We have this on the authority of Sebastian Cabot him - self, the future discoverer of the northern continent of America, who was in London at the time, and was inspired by the event with a generous spirit of emulation.* Every member of civilized society, in fact, rejoiced in the oc¬ currence, as one in which he was more or less interested. To some it opened a new and unbounded field of inquiry; to others, of enterprise; and every one awaited with intense eagerness the further development of this unknown world, still covered with mystery, the partial glimpses of which were so full of wonder. We have a brief testimony of the emotions of the learned in a letter, written at the time by Peter Martyr to his friend Pomponius Laetus. “You tell me, my amiable Pom- ponius,” he writes, “that you leaped for joy, and that your de¬ light was mingled with tears, when you read my epistle, certi¬ fying to you the hitherto hidden world of the antipodes. You have felt and acted as became a man eminent for learning, for I can conceive no aliment more delicious than such tidings to a cultivated and ingenuous mind. I feel a wonderful exultation of spirits when I converse with intelligent men who have re¬ turned from these regions. It is like an accession of wealth to a miser. Our minds, soiled and debased by the common con¬ cerns of life and the vices of society, become elevated and ameliorated by contemplating such glorious events.”! Notwithstanding this universal enthusiasm, however, no one was aware of the real importance of the discovery. No one had an idea that this was a totally distinct portion of the globe, separated by oceans from the ancient world. The opinion of Columbus was universally adopted, that Cuba was the end of the Asiatic continent, and that the adjacent islands were in the Indian seas. This agreed with the opinions of the ancients, heretofore cited, about the moderate distance from Spain to the extremity of India, sailing westwardly. The parrots were also thought to resemble those described by Pliny, as abounding in the remote parts of Asia. The lands, therefore, which Colum¬ bus had visited were called the West Indies; and as he seemed to have entered upon a vast region of unexplored countries, existing in a state of nature, the whole received the compre¬ hensive appellation of “The New World.” During the whole of his sojourn at Barcelona, the sovereigns * Hackluyt, Collect. Voyages, vol. iii. p. 7. t Letters of P. Martyr, let. 158, 190 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. took every occasion to bestow on Columbus personal marks of their high consideration. He was admitted at all times to the royal presence, and the queen delighted to converse with him on the subject of his enterprises. The king, too, appeared oc¬ casionally on horseback, with Prince Juan on one side, and Columbus on the other. To perpetuate in his family the glory of his achievement, a coat of arms was assigned him, in which the royal arms, the castle and lion, were quartered with his proper bearings, which were a group of islands surrounded by waves. To these arms was afterward annexed the motto: A Castilla y d Leon, Nuevo mundo dio Colon. (To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a new world.) The pension which had been decreed by the sovereigns to him who in the first voyage should discover land, was adjudged to Columbus, for having first seen the light on the shore. It ia said that the seaman who first descried the land was so incensed at being disappointed at what he conceived his merited reward, that he renounced his < ratry and his faith, and going into Africa turned Mussulman; an anecdote which rests merely on the authority of Oviedo,* who is extremely incorrect in his narration of this voyage, and inserts many falsehoods told him by the enemies of the admiral. It may at first sight appear but little accordant with the acknowledged magnanimity of Columbus, to have borne away the prize from this poor sailor, but this was a subject in which his whole ambition was involved, and he was doubtless proud of the honor of being personally the discoverer of the land as well as projector of the enterprise. Next to the countenance shown him by the king and queen may be mentioned that of Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, the Grand Cardinal of Spain, and first subject of the realm; a man whose elevated character for piety, learning, and high prince¬ like qualities, gave signal value to his favors. He invited Columbus to a banquet, where he assigned him the most hon¬ orable place at table, and had him served with the ceremonials which in those punctilious times were observed toward sover¬ eigns. At this repast is said to have occurred the well-known anecdote of the egg. A shallow courtier present, impatient of * Oviedo, Cronico de las Indias, lib. ii. cap. 2. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 191 the honors paid to Columbus, and meanly jealous of him as a foreigner, abruptly asked him whether he thought that, in case he had not discovered the Indies, there were not other men in Spain who would have been capable of the enterprise? To this Columbus made no immediate reply, but, taking an egg, invited the company to make it stand on one end. Every one at¬ tempted it, but in vain; whereupon he struck it upon the table so as to break the end, and left it standing on the broken part; illustrating in this simple manner that when he had once shown the way to the New World nothing was easier than to follow it.* The favor shown Columbus by the sovereigns insured him for a time the caresses of the nobility; for in a court every one vies with his neighbor in lavishing attentions upon the man “whom the king delighteth to honor.” Columbus bore all these caresses and distinctions with becoming modesty, though he must have felt a proud satisfaction in the idea that they had been wrested, as it were, from the nation by his courage and perseverance. One can hardly recognize in the individual thus made the companion of princes, and the theme of general won' der and admiration, the same obscure stranger who but a short time before had been a common scoff and jest in this very court, derided by some as an adventurer, and pointed at by others as a madman. Those who had treated him with con¬ tumely during his long course of solicitation, now sought to efface the remembrance of it by adulations. Every one who had given him a little cold countenance, or a few courtly smiles, now arrogated to himself the credit of having been a patron and of having promoted the discovery of the New World. Scarce a great man about the court but has been enrolled by his historian or biographer among the benefactors of Columbus; though, had one tenth part of this boasted patronage been really exerted, he would never have had to linger seven years solicit¬ ing for an armament of three caravels. Columbus knew well ♦the weakness of the patronage that had been given him. The only friends mentioned by him with gratitude, in his after let¬ ters, as having been really zealous and effective, were those two worthy friars, Diego de Deza, afterward Bishop of Palencia and Seville, and Juan Perez, the prior of the convent of La Rabida. * This anecdote rests on the authority of the Italian historian Benzoni (lib. i. p. 12, ed. Venetia, 1572). It has been condemned as trivial, but the simplicity of the reproof constitutes its severity, and was characteristic of the practical sagacity of Columbus. The universal popularity of the anecdote is a proof of its merit. 192 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Tlius honored by the sovereigns, courted by the great, idol ized by the people, Columbus, for a time, drank the honeyed draught of popularity, before enmity and detraction had time to drug it with bitterness. His discovery burst with such sud¬ den splendor upon the world as to dazzle envy itself, and to call forth the general acclamations of mankind. Well would it be for the honor of human nature, could history, like romance, close with the consummation of the hero’s wishes; we should then leave Columbus in the full fruition of great and well- merited prosperity. But his history is destined to furnish another proof, if proof be wanting, of the inconstancy of public favor, even when won by distinguished services. No greatness was ever acquired by more incontestable, unalloyed, and ex¬ alted benefits rendered to mankind, yet none ever drew on its possessor more unremitting jealousy and defamation; or in¬ volved him in more umnerited distress and difficulty. Thus it is with illustrious merit: its very effulgence draws forth the rancorous passions of low and grovelling minds, which too often have a temporary influence in obscuring it to the world; as the sun emerging with full splendor into the heavens, calls up, by the very fervor of its rays, the rank and noxious vapors, which, for a time, becloud its glory. CHAPTER VIIL PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION—PREPARATIONS FOR A SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS, [ 1493 .] In the midst of their rejoicings the Spanish sovereigns lost no time in taking every measure necessary to secure their new ac¬ quisitions. Although it was supposed that the countries just discovered were part of the territories of the Grand Khan, and of other Oriental princes considerably advanced in civilization, yet there does not appear to have been the least doubt of the right of their Catholic majesties to take possession of them. During the Crusades a doctrine had been established among Christian princes extremely favorable to their ambitious de¬ signs. According to this, they had the right to invade, ravage, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 193 and seize upon the territories of all infidel nations, under the plea of defeating the enemies of Christ, and extending the sway of his church on earth. In conformity to the same doctrine, the pope, from his supreme authority over all temporal things, was considered as empowered to dispose of all heathen lands to such potentates as would engage to reduce them to the domin¬ ion of the church, and to propagate the true faith among their benighted inhabitants. It was in virtue of this power that Pope Martin V. and his successors had conceded to the crown of Portugal all the lands it might discover from Cape Bojador to the Indies; and the Catholic sovereigns, in a treaty con¬ cluded in 1479 with the Portuguese monarch, had engaged themselves to respect the territorial rights thus acquired. It was to this treaty that John II. alluded, in his conversation with Columbus, wherein he suggested his title to the newly- discovered countries. On the first intelligence received from the admiral of his suc¬ cess, therefore, the Spanish sovereigns took the immediate pre¬ caution to secure the sanction of the pope. Alexander VI. had recently been elevated to the holy chair; a pontiff whom some historians have stigmatized with every vice and crime that could disgrace humanity, but whom all have represented as eminently able and politic. He was a native of Valencia, and being born a subject of the crown of Arragon, it might be in¬ ferred, was favorably disposed to Ferdinand; but in certain questions which had come before him, he had already shown a disposition not the most cordial toward the Catholic monarch. At all events, Ferdinand was well aware of his worldly and perfidious character, and endeavored to manage him accord¬ ingly. He dispatched ambassadors, therefore, to the court of Rome, announcing the new discovery as an extraordinary tri¬ umph of the faith; and setting forth the great glory and gain which must redound to the church from the dissemination of Christianity throughout these vast and heathen lands. Care was also taken to state that the present discovery did not in the least interfere with the possessions ceded by the holy chair to Portugal, all which had been sedulously avoided. Ferdi¬ nand, who was at least as politic as he was pious, insinuated a hint at the same time by which the pope might perceive that he was determined, at all events, to maintain his important ac¬ quisitions. His ambassadors were instructed to state that, in the opinion of many learned men, these newly-discovered lands having been taken possession of by the Catholic sovereigns, 194 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. their title to the same did not require the papal sanction; still, as pious princes, obedient to the holy chair, they supplicated his holiness to issue a bull, making a concession of them, and of such others as might be discovered, to the crown of Castile. The tidings of the discovery were received, in fact, with great astonishment and no less exultation by the court of Rome. The Spanish sovereigns had already elevated themselves to high consequence in the eyes of the church, by their war against the Moors of Spain, which had been considered in the light of a pious crusade; and though richly repaid by the acqui¬ sition of the kingdom of Granada, it was thought to entitle them to the gratitude of all Christendom. The present discov¬ ery was a still greater achievement; it was the fulfilment of one of the sublime promises to the church; it was giving to it “ the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.” No difficulty, therefore, was made in granting what was considered but a modest request for so im¬ portant a service; though it is probable that the acquiescence of the worldly-minded pontiff was quickened by the insinua¬ tions of the politic monarch. A bull was accordingly issued, dated May 2d, 1493, ceding to the Spanish sovereigns the same rights, privileges, and indul¬ gences, in respect to the newly-discovered regions, as had been accorded to the Portuguese with regard to their African discov¬ eries, under the same condition of planting and propagating the Catholic faith. To prevent any conflicting claims, however, between the two powers in the wide range of their discoveries, another bull was issued on the folloAving day, containing the famous fine qf demarcation, by which their territories were thought to be clearly and permanently defined. This was an ideal fine drawn from the north to the south pole, a hundred leagues to the west of the Azores, and the Cape de Verde Islands. All land discovered by the Spanish navigators to the west of this line, and which had not been taken possession of by any Christian power before the preceding Christmas, was to belong to the Spanish crown; all land discovered in the con¬ trary direction was to belong to Portugal. It seems never to have occurred to the pontiff, that, by pushing their opposite careers of discovery, they might some day or other come again in collision, and renew the question of territorial right at the antipodes. In the mean time, without waiting for the sanction of the court of Rome, the utmost exertions were made by the sover* LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 195 eigns to fit out a second expedition. To insure regularity and dispatch in the affairs relative to the New World, they were placed under the superintendence of Juan Rodriguez de Fon¬ seca, archdeacon of Seville, who was successively promoted to the sees of Bajadoz, Palencia, and Burgos, and finally appointed patriarch of the Indies. He was a man of family and influence; his brothers Alonzo and Antonio were seniors, or lords, of Coca and Alaejos, and the latter was comptroller-general of Castile. Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca is represented by Las Casas as a worldly man, more calculated for temporal than spiritual concerns, and well adapted to the bustling occupation of fitting out and manning armadas. Notwithstanding the high ecclesi¬ astical dignities to which he rose, his worldly employments seem never to have been considered incompatible with his sacred functions. Enjoying the perpetual, though unmerited, favor of the sovereigns, he maintained the control of Indian affairs for about thirty years. He must undoubtedly have possessed talents for business, to insure him such a perpetuity of office; but he was malignant and vindictive; and in the gratification of his private resentments not only heaped wrongs and sorrows upon the most illustrious of the early discoverers, but frequently impeded the progress of their enterprises, to the great detriment of the crown. This he was enabled to do privately and securely by his official situation. His perfidious conduct is repeatedly alluded to, but in guarded terms, by con¬ temporary writers of weight and credit, such as the curate of Los Palacios, and the bishop Las Casas; but they evidently were fearful of expressing the fulness of their feelings. Sub¬ sequent Spanish historians, always more or less controlled by ecclesiastical supervision, have likewise dealt too favorably with this base-minded man. He deserves to be held up as a warning example of those perfidious beings in office, who too often lie like worms at the root of honorable enterprise, blight¬ ing, by their unseen influence, the fruits of glorious action, and disappointing the hopes of nations. To assist Fonseca in his duties, Francisco Pinelo was associa¬ ted with him as treasurer, and Juan de Soria as contador, or comptroller. Their office, for the transaction of Indian affairs, was fixed at Seville; extending its vigilance at the same time to the port of Cadiz, where a custom-house was established for this new branch of navigation. Such was the germ of the Royal India House, which afterward rose to such great power and importance. A correspondent office was ordered to be insti- 196 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COL EMBUS. tilted in Hispaniola, under the direction of the admiral. These officers were to interchange registers of the cargoes, crews, and munition of each ship, by accountants who sailed with it. All persons thus employed were dependants upon the two comp- trollers-general, superior ministers of the royal revenue; since the crown was to be at all the expenses of the colony, and to receive all the emoluments. The most minute and rigorous account was to be exacted of all expenses and proceeds, and the most vigilant caution ob¬ served as to the persons employed in the concerns of the newly- discovered lands. No one was permitted to go there, either to trade or to form an establishment, without express license from the sovereigns, from Columbus, or from Fonseca, under the heaviest penalties. The ignorance of the age as to enlarged principles of commerce, and the example of the Portuguese in respect to their African possessions, have been cited in excuse of the narrow and jealous spirit here manifested; but it always more or less influenced the policy of Spain in her colonial regu¬ lations. Another instance of the despotic sway maintained by the crown over commerce, is manifested in a royal order, that ah ships in the ports of Andalusia, with their captains, pilots, and crews, should be held in readiness to serve in this expedition. Columbus and Fonseca were authorized to freight or purchase any of those vessels they might think proper, and to take them by force, if refused, even though they had been freighted by other persons, paying what they should conceive a reasonable price. They were furthermore authorized to take the requisite provisions, arms, and ammunition, from any place or vessel in which they might be found, paying a fair price to the owners; and they might compel, not merely mariners, but any officer holding any rank or station whatever, whom they should deem necessary to the service, to embark in the fleet on a reasonable pay and salary. The civil authorities, and all persons of rank and standing, were called upon to render all requisite aid in expediting the armament, and warned against creating any impediment, under penalty of privation of office and confisca¬ tion of estate. To provide for the expenses of the expedition the royal revenue arising from two thirds of the church-tithes was placed at the disposition of Pinelo; and other funds were drawn from a disgraceful source—from the jewels and other valuables, the sequestrated property of the unfortunate Jews, banished LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 197 from the kingdom, according to a bigoted edict of the preced¬ ing year. As these resources were still inadequate, Pinelo was authorized to supply the deficiency by a loan. Requisitions were likewise made for provisions of all kinds, as well as fo* artillery, powder, muskets, lances, corselets, and cross-bows. This latter weapon, notwithstanding the introduction of fire¬ arms, was still preferred by many to the arquebus, and con¬ sidered more formidable and destructive, the other having to be used with a match-lock, and being so heavy as to require an iron rest. The mili tary stores which had accumulated during the war with the Moors of Granada furnished a great part of these supplies. Almost all the preceding orders were issued by the 23d of May, while Columbus was yet at Barcelona. Rarely has there been witnessed such a scene of activity in the dilatory offices of Spain. As the conversion of the heathens was professed to be the grand object of these discoveries, twelve zealous and able ecclesiastics were chosen for the purpose, to accompany the expedition. Among these was Bernardo Buyl or Boyle, a Bene¬ dictine monk, of talent and reputed sanctity, but one of those subtile politicians of the cloister, who in those days glided into all temporal concerns. He had acquitted himself with success in recent negotiations with France, relative to the restitution of Rousillon. Before the sailing of the fleet, he was appointed by the pope his apostolical vicar for the New World, and placed as superior over his ecclesiastical brethren. This pious mission was provided with all things necessary for the dignified per¬ formance of its functions; the queen supplying from her own chapel the ornaments and vestments to be used in all solemn ceremonies. Isabella, from the first, took the most warm and compassionate interest in the welfare of the Indians. Won by the accounts given by Columbus of their gentleness and sim¬ plicity, and looking upon them as committed by Heaven to her especial care, her heart was filled with concern at their desti¬ tute and ignorant condition. She ordered that great care should be taken of their religious instruction; that they should be treated with the utmost kh 'ness; and enjoined Columbus to inflict signal punishment on all Spaniards who should be guilty ot outrage or injustice toward them. By way, it was said, of offering to Heaven the first-fruits of these pagan nations, the six Indians whom Columbus had brought to Barcelona were baptized with great state and cere¬ mony; the king, the queen, and^ Prince Juan officiating as 198 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. sponsors. Great hopes were entertained that, on their return to their native country, they would facilitate the introduction of Christianity among their countrymen. One of them, at the request of Prince Juan, remained in his household, but died not long afterward; a Spanish historian remarked that, according to what ought to be our pious belief, he was the first of his na¬ tion that entered heaven.* Before the departure of Columbus from Barcelona, the pro¬ visional agreement made at Santa Fe was confirmed, granting him the titles, emoluments, and prerogatives of admiral, viceroy, and governor of all the countries he had discovered, or might discover. He was intrusted also with the royal seal, with au¬ thority to use the name of their majesties in granting letters patent' and commissions within the bounds of his jurisdiction; with the right also, in case of absence, to appoint a person in his place, and to invest him, for the time, with the same powers. It had been premised in the agreement that for all vacant of¬ fices in the government of the islands and main-land, he should nominate three candidates, out of which number the sovereign should make a choice; but now, to save time, and to show their confidence in Columbus, they empowered him to appoint at once such persons as he thought proper, who were to hold their offices during the royal pleasure. He had likewise the title and command of captain-general of the armament about to sail, with unqualified powers as to the government of the crews, the establishments to be formed in the New World, and the ulterior discoveries to be undertaken. This was the honeymoon of royal favor, during which Colum¬ bus enjoyed the unbounded and well-merited confidence of his sovereigns, before envious minds had dared to insinuate a doubt of his integrity. After receiving every mark of public hono: and private regard, he took leave of the sovereigns on the 2Sth of May. The whole court accompanied him from the palace to his dwelling, and attended, also, to pay him farewell honors on his departure from Barcelona for Seville. * Herrera, Hist. 1* d., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 5. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLTJMBUS. 199 CHAPTER IX. DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE COURTS OF SPAIN ANP PORTUGAL WITH RESPECT TO THE NEW DISCOVERIES. [ 1493 .] The anxiety of the Spanish monarchy for the speedy depart- ure of the expedition was heightened by the proceedings of the court of Portugal. John II. had unfortunately among his coun¬ cillors certain politicians of that short-sighted class, who mis¬ take craft for wisdom. By adopting their perfidious policy he had lost the New World when it was an object of honorable enterprise; in compliance with their advice, he now sought to retrieve it by stratagem. He had accordingly prepared a large armament, the avowed object of which w r as an expedition to Africa, but its real destination to seize upon the newly-dis¬ covered countries. To lull suspicion, Don Ruy de Sande was sent ambassador to the Spanish court, requesting permission to procure certain prohibited articles from Spain for this Afri¬ can voyage. He required also that the Spanish sovereigns should forbid their subjects to fish beyond Cape Bojador, until the possessions of the two nations should be properly defined. The discovery of Columbus, the real object of solicitude, was treated as an incidental affair. The manner of his arrival and reception in Portugal was mentioned ; the congratulations of King John on the happy result of his voyage ; his sastisfaction at finding that the admiral had been instructed to steer west¬ ward from the Canary Islands, and his hope that the Castilian sovereigns would continue to enjoin a similar track on their navigators—all to the south of those islands being granted by papal bull to the crown of Portugal. He concluded by intimat¬ ing the entire confidence of King John, that should any of the newly-discovered islands appertain by right to Portugal, the matter would be adjusted in that spirit of amity which existed between the two crowns. Ferdinand was too wary a politician to be easily deceived. He had received early intelligence of the real designs of King John, and before the arrival of his ambassador had himself dis¬ patched Don Lope de Herrera to the Portuguese court, furnished with double instructions, and with tw T o letters of widely opposite LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 200 tenor. The first was couched in affectionate terms, acknowi edging the hospitality and kindness shown to Columbus, and communicating the nature of his discoveries; requesting at the same time that the Portuguese navigators might be prohibited from visiting those newly-discovered lands, in the same man¬ ner that the Spanish sovereigns had prohibited their subjects from interfering with the African possessions of Portugal. In case, however, the ambassador should find that King John had either sent, or was about to send, vessels to the New World, he was to withhold the amicable letter, and present the other, couched in stern and peremptory terms, and forbidding any enterprise of the kind.* A keen diplomatic game ensued be¬ tween the two sovereigns, perplexing to any spectator not ac¬ quainted with the secret of their play. Resende, in his history of King John II., informs us that the Portuguese monarch, by large presents, or rather bribes, held certain of the confidential members of the Castilian cabinet in his interest, who informed him of the most secret councils of their court. The roads were thronged with couriers; scarce was an intention expressed by Ferdinand to his ministers, but it was conveyed to his rival monarch. The result was that the Spanish sovereigns seemed as if under the influence of some enchantment. King John an¬ ticipated all their movements, and appeared to dive into their very thoughts. Their ambassadors were crossed on the road by Portuguese ambassadors, empowered to settle the very points about which they were going to make remonstrances. Frequently, when Ferdinand proposed a sudden and perplexing question to the envoys at his court, which apparently would require fresh instructions from the sovereigns, he would be as¬ tonished by a prompt and positive reply; most of the questions wmch were likely to occur having, through secret information, been foreseen and provided for. As a surmise of treachery in the cabinet might naturally arise, King John, while he reward¬ ed his agents in secret, endeavored to divert suspicions from them upon others, making rich presents of jewels to the Duke de Infantado and other Spanish grandees of incorruptible in¬ tegrity. f Such is the intriguing diplomatic craft which too often passes for refined policy, and is extolled as the wisdom of the cabinet; * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. Zurita, Anales de Aragon, lib. i. cap. 25. + Resende, Vida del Rey Dom Joam H., cap. 157. Faria y Souza, Europa Portu- Ifuesa, tom. b. cap. 4, p- 3. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 201 but all corrupt and disingenuous measures are unworthy of an enlightened politician and a magnanimous prince. The grand principles of right and wrong operate in the same way between nations as between individuals; fair and open conduct, and in¬ violable faith, however they may appear adverse to present purposes, are the only kind of policy that will insure ultimate and honorable success. King John, having received intelligence in the furtive manner that has been mentioned, of the double instructions furnished to Don Lope de Herrera, received him in such a manner as to prevent any resort to his peremptory letter. He had already dispatched an extra envoy to the Spanish court to keep it in good humor, and he now appointed Doctor Pero Diaz and Don Buy de Pena ambassadors to the Spanish sovereigns, to adjust all questions relative to the new discoveries, and promised that no vessel should be permitted to sail on a voyage of discovery within sixty days after their arrival at Barcelona. These ambassadors were instructed to propose, as a mode of effectually settling all claims, that a line should be drawn from the Canaries due west; all lands and seas north of it to apper¬ tain to the Castilian court; all south to the crown of Portugal, excepting any islands already in possession of either powers.* Ferdinand had now the vantage-ground; his object was to gain time for the preparation and departure of Columbus, by entangling King John in long diplomatic negotiations.! In re¬ ply to his proposals, he dispatched Don Pedro de Ayala and Don Garcia Lopez de Caravajal on a solemn embassy to Portu¬ gal, in which there was great outward pomp and parade, and many professions of amity, but the whole purport of which was to propose to submit the territorial questions which had risen between them to arbitration or to the court of Pome. This stately embassy moved with becoming slowness, but a special envoy was sent in advance to apprise the king of Portugal of its approach, in order to keep him waiting for its communica¬ tions. King John understood the whole nature and object of the em¬ bassy, and felt that Ferdinand was foiling him. The ambassa¬ dors at length arrived, and delivered their credentials with great form and ceremony. As they retired from his presence, he looked after them contemptuously: “This embassy from * Zurita, lib. i. cap. 25. Herrera, decad. 1, Ub. it pap. 5. t Vasconcelos, Don Juan U., lib. vi. 202 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. our cousin,” said he, “wants both head and feet.” He alluded to the character both of the mission and the envoys. Don Garcia de Caravajal was vain and frivolous, and Don Pedro de Ayala was lame of one leg.* In the height of his vexation, King John is even said to have held out some vague show of hostile intentions, taking occasion to let the ambassadors discover him reviewing his cavalry and dropping ambiguous words in their hearing, which might be construed into something of menacing import.! The embassy returned to Castile, leaving him in a state of perplexity and irritation; but whatever might be his chagrin, his discretion prevented him from coming to an open rupture. He had some hopes of interference on the part of the pope, to whom he had sent an embassy, complaining of the pretended discoveries of the Spaniards, as infringing the territories granted to Portu¬ gal by papal bull, and earnestly imploring redress. Here, as has been shown, his wary antagonist had been beforehand with him, and he was doomed again to be foiled. The only reply his ambassador received, was a reference to the line of partition from pole to pole, so sagely devised by his holiness. X Such was this royal game of diplomacy, where the parties were playing for a newly-discovered world. John II. was able and intelli¬ gent, and had crafty councillors to advise him in all his moves; but whenever deep and subtle policy was required, Ferdinand was master of the game. CHAPTER X. FURTHER PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND VOYAGE—CHARACTER OF ALONSO DE OJEDA—DIFFERENCE OF COLUMBUS WITH SORIA AND FONSECA. [ 1493 .] Distrustful of some attempt on the part of Portugal to in¬ terfere with their discoveries, the Spanish sovereigns, in the course of their negotiations, wrote repeatedly to Columbus, urging him to hasten his departure. His zeal, however, needed no incitement; immediately on arriving at Seville, in the * Vasconcelos, lib. vi. Barros, Asia, d. i, lib, iii. cap. 2. t Vasconcelos, lib. vi. f Herrera, decad. i., lib, ii. cap. 5. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 203 beginning of June, he proceeded with all diligence to fit out the armament, making use of the powers given him to put in re¬ quisition the ships and crews which were in the harbors of Andalusia. He was joined soon after by Fonseca and Soria, who had remained for a time at Barcelona; and with their united exertions, a fleet of seventeen vessels, large and small, was soon in a state of preparation. The best pilots were chosen for the service, and the crews were mustered in pres¬ ence of Soria the comptroller. A number of skilful husband¬ men, miners, carpenters, and other mechanics were engaged for the projected colony. Horses, both for military purposes and for stocking the country, cattle, and domestic animals of all kinds, were likewise provided. Grain, seeds of various plants, vines, sugar-canes, grafts, and saplings, were embarked, together with a great quantity ot merchandise, consisting of trinkets, beads, hawks’ bells, looking-glasses, and other showy trifles, calculated for trafficking with the natives. Nor was there wanting an abundant supply of provisions of all sorts, munitions of war, and medicines and refreshments for the sick. An extraordinary degree of excitement prevailed respecting this expedition. The most extravagant fancies were enter¬ tained with respect to the New World. The accounts given by the voyagers who had visited it were full of exaggeration; for in fact they had nothing but vague and confused notions con¬ cerning it, like the recollection a dream, and it has been shown that Columbus himself had beheld everything through the most delusive medium. The vivacity of his descriptions, and the sanguine anticipations of his ardent spirit, while they roused the public to a wonderful degree of enthusiasm, prepared the way for bitter disappointment. The cupidity of the avari¬ cious was inflamed with the idea of regions of unappropriated wealth, where the rivers rolled over golden sands, and the mountains teemed with gems and precious metals; where the groves produced spices and perfumes, and the shores of the ocean were sown with pearl. Others had conceived visions of a loftier kind. It was a romantic and stirring age, and the wars with the Moors being over, and hostilities with the French suspended, the bold and restless spirits of the nation, impatient of the monotony of peaceful life, were eager for em¬ ployment. To these the New World presented a vast field for wild enterprise and extraordinary adventure, so congenial to the Spanish character in that period of its meridian fervor and 204 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. brilliancy. Many hidalgos of high rank, officers of the royal household, and Andalusian cavaliers, schooled in arms, and inspired with a passion for hardy achievements by the roman¬ tic wars of Granada, pressed into the expedition, some in the royal service, others at their own cost. To them it was the commencement of a new series of crusades, surpassing in ex¬ tent and splendor the chivalrous enterprises to the Holy Land. They pictured to themselves vast and beautiful islands of the ocean to he overrun and subdued; their internal wonders to be explored, and the banner of the cross to be planted on the walls of the cities they were supposed to contain. Thence they were to make their way to the shores of India, or rather Asia, penetrate into Mangi and Cathay, convert, or what was the same thing, conquer the Grand Khan, and thus open a glorious career of arms among the splendid countries and semi-barbar¬ ous nations of the East. Thus, no one had any definite idea of the object or nature of the service on which he was embarking, or the situation and character of the region to which he was bound. Indeed, duiing this fever of the imagination, had sober facts and cold realities been presented, they would have been rejected with disdain; for there is nothing of which the public is more impatient than of being disturbed in the indul¬ gence of any of its golden dreams. Among the noted personages who engaged in the expedition was a young cavalier of the name of Don Alonso de Ojeda, celebrated for his extraordinary personal endowments and his daring spirit; and who distinguished himself among the early discoverers by many perilous expeditions and singular exploits. He was of a good family, cousin-german to the venerable Father Alonso de Ojeda, Inquisitor of Spain; had been brought up under the patronage of the Duke of Medina Celi, and had served in the wars against the Moors. He was of small stature, but vigorous make, well proportioned, dark complexioned, of handsome, animated countenance, and incredible strength and agility. Expert at all kinds of weapons, accomplished in all manly and warlike exercises, an admirable horseman, and a partisan soldier of the highest order; bold of heart, free of spirit, open of hand; fierce in fight, quick in brawl, but ready to forgive and prone to forget an injury; he was for a long time the idol of the rash and roving youth who engaged in the early expeditions to the New World, and has been made the hero of many wonderful tales. On introducing him to histori¬ cal notice, Las Casas gives an anecdote of one of his exploits, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 205 which would be unworthy of record, but that it exhibits the singular character of the man. Queen Isabella being in the tower of the cathedral of Seville, better known as the Giralda, Ojeda, to entertain her majesty, and to give proofs of his courage and agility, mounted on a groat beam which projected in the air, twenty feet from the tower, at such an immense height from the ground, that the people below looked like dwarfs, and it was enough to make Ojeda himself shudder to look down. Along this beam he walked briskly, and with as much confidence as though he had been pacing his chamber. When arrived at the end, he stood on one leg, lifting the other in the air; then turning nimbly round, he returned in the same way to the tower, unaffected by the giddy height, whence the least false step would have precipitated him and dashed him to pieces. lie afterward stood with one foot on the beam, and placing the other against the wall of the building, threw an orange to the summit of the tower, a proof, says Las Casas, of immense muscular strength. Such was Alonso de Ojeda, who soon became conspicuous among the followers of Columbus, and was always foremost in every enterprise of an adventurous nature; who courted peril as if for the very love of danger, and seemed to fight more for the pleasure of fighting than for the sake of distinction.* The number of persons permitted to embark in the expe¬ dition had been limited to one thousand; but such was the urgent application of volunteers to be allowed to enlist without pay, that the number had increased to twelve hundred. Many more were refused for want of room in the ships for their accommodation, but some contrived to get admitted by stealth, so that eventually about fifteen hundred set sail in the fleet. As Columbus, in his laudable zeal for the welfare of the enter¬ prise, provided everything that might be necessary in various possible emergencies, the expenses of the outfit exceeded what had been anticipated. This gave rise to occasional demurs on the part of the comptroller, Juan de Soria, who sometimes re¬ fused to sign the accounts of the admiral, and in the course of their transactions seemed to have forgotten the deference due both to his character and station. For this he received re¬ peated and severe reprimands from the sovereigns, who em¬ phatically commanded that Columbus should be treated with * Las Casas, lib, i., ms. Pizarro, Varones Illustres. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. I lib. ii. cap. & 206 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, the greatest respect, and everything done to facilitate his plans and yield him satisfaction. From similar injunctions inserted in the royal letters to Fonseca, the archdeacon of Seville, it is probable that he also had occasionally indulged in the captious exercise of his official powers. He appears to have demurred to various requisitions of Columbus, particularly one for foot¬ men and other domestics for his immediate service, to form Ids household and retinue as admiral and viceroy; a demand which was considered superfluous by the prelate, as all who em¬ barked m the expedition were at his command. In reply, the sovereigns ordered that he should be allowed ten escuderos de d pie , or footmen, and twenty persons in other domestic capacities, and reminded Fonseca of their charge that, both in the nature and mode of his transactions with the admiral, he should study to give him content • observing that, as the whole armament was intrusted to his command, it was but reasonable that his wishes should be consulted, and no one embarrass him with punctilios a^d difficulties.* These trivial differences are worthy of particular notice, from the effect they appear to have had on the mind of Fonseca, for from them we must date the rise of that singular hostility which he ever afterward manifested toward Colum¬ bus ; which every year increased in rancor, and which he gra¬ tified in the most invidious manner, by secretly multiplying impediments and vexations in his path. While the expedition was yet fingering in port, intelligence was received that a Portuguese caravel had set sail from Madeira and steered for the west. Suspicions were imme¬ diately awakened that she was bound for the lately-discovered lands. Columbus wrote an account of it to the sovereigns, and proposed to dispatch a part of his fleet in pursuit of her. His proposition was approved, but not carried into effect. On re¬ monstrances being made to the court of Lisbon, King John declared that the vessel had sailed without his permission, and that he would send three caravels to bring her back. This only served to increase the jealousy of the Spanish monarchs, who considered the whole a deep-laid stratagem, and that it was intended the vessels should join their forces, and pursue their course together to the New World. Columbus was urged, therefore, to depart without an hour’s delay, and in¬ structed to steer wide of Cape St. Vincent, and entirely avoid * Navarrete, Coleo,, tom, U, Pocumeaitos, No, 62-66, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 207 the Portuguese coasts and islands, for fear of molestation. If he met with any vessels in the seas he had explored, he was to seize them, and inflict rigorous punishment on the crews. Fonseca was also ordered to be on the alert, and in case any expedition sailed from Portugal to send double the force after it. These precautions, however, proved unnecessary. Whether such caravels actually did sail, and whether they were sent with sinister motives by Portugal, does not appear; nothing was either seen or heard of them by Columbus in the course of his voyage. It may be as well, for the sake of distinctness, to anticipate, in this place, the regular course of history, and mention the manner in which this territorial question was finally settled between the rival sovereigns. It was impossible for King John to repress his disquiet at the indefinite enterprises of the Spanish monarchs; he did not know how far they might extend, and whether they might not forestall him in all his anticipated discoveries in India. Finding, however, all at¬ tempts fruitless to gain by stratagem an advantage over his wary and skilful antagonist, and despairing of any further assistance from the court of Rome, he had recourse, at last, to fair and amicable negotiations, and found, as is generally the case with those who turn aside into the inviting but crooked paths of craft, that had he kept to the line of frank and open policy, he would have saved himself a world of perplexity, and have arrived sooner at his object. He offered to leave to the Spanish sovereigns the free prosecution of their western dis¬ covery, and to conform to the plan of partition by a meridian line; but he represented that this line had not been drawn far enough to the west; that while it left the wide ocean free to the range of Spanish enterprise, his navigators could not venture more than a hundred leagues west of his possessions, and had no scope or sea-room for their southern voyages. After much difficulty and discussion, this momentous dis¬ pute was adjusted by deputies from the two crowns, who met at Tordesillas in Old Castile, in the following year, and on the 7th of June, 1494, signed a treaty by which the papal line of partition was moved to three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape de Yerde Islands. It was agreed chat within six months an equal number of caravels and mariners, on the part of the two nations, should rendezvous at the island of the Grand Canary, provided with men learned in astronomy and navigation. They w ere t o proceed thence to the Cape de 20S LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Verde Islands, and thence westward three hundred and 3ev« enty leagues, and determine the proposed line from pole to pole, dividing the ocean between the two nations.* Each of the two powers engaged solemnly to observe the bounds thus prescribed, and to prosecute no enterprise beyond its proper limits; though it was agreed that the Spanish navigators might traverse freely the eastern parts of the ocean in prose¬ cuting their rightful voyages. Various circumstances im¬ peded the proposed expedition to determine the line, but the treaty remained in force, and prevented all further discus¬ sions. Thus, says Vasconcelos, this great question, the greatest ever agitated between the two crowns, for it was the partition of a new world, was amicably settled by the prudence and address of two of the most politic monarchs that ever swayed the scep¬ tre. It was arranged to the satisfaction of both parties, each holding himself entitled to the vast countries that might be discovered within his boundary, without any regard to the rights of the native inhabitants. * Zurita, Hist, del Hey remand., lib. i. cap. 29. Vasconcelos, lib- Yi BOOK VI. CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS ON HIS SECOND VOYAGE—DISCOVERY OF THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. [1493.] The departure of Columbus on his second voyage of dis¬ covery presented a brilliant contrast to his gloomy embarka¬ tion at Palos. On the 25th of September, at the dawn of day, the Bay of Cadiz was whitened by his fleet. There were three large ships of heavy burden,* and fourteen caravels, loitering with flapping sails, and awaiting the signal to get under way. The harbor resounded with the well-known note of the sailor, hoisting sail or weighing anchor; a motley crowd were hurrying on board, and taking leave of their friends in the confidence of a prosperous voyage and triumphant return. There was the high-spirited cavalier, bound on romantic enter¬ prise; the hardy navigator, ambitious of acquiring laurels in these unknown seas; the roving adventurer, seeking novelty and excitement; the keen, calculating speculator, eager to profit by the ignorance of savage tribes; and the pale mission¬ ary from the cloister, anxious to extend the dominion of the church, or devoutly zealous for the propagation of the faith. All were full of animation and lively hope. Instead of being regarded by the populace as devoted men, bound upon a dark and desperate enterprise, they were contemplated with envy, as favored mortals, bound to golden regions and happy climes, where nothing but wealth and wonder and delights awaited * Peter Martyr Bays they were carracks (a large species of merchant vessel, prin cipally used in coasting trade), of one hundred tons burden, and that two of the caravels were much larger than the rest, and more capable of bearing decks from the size of their masts.—Decad. i. lib. i. 210 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. them. Columbus, conspicuous for his height and his com¬ manding appearance, was attended by his two sons, Diego and Fernando, the eldest but a stripling, who had come to witness his departure,* * * § both proud of the glory of their father. When¬ ever he passed, every eye followed him with admiration, and every tongue praised and blessed him. Before sunrise the whole fleet was under way; the weather was serene and pro¬ pitious, and as the populace watched their parting sails bright- ening in the morning beams, they looked forward to their joy¬ ful return laden with the treasures of the New World. According to the instructions of the sovereigns, Columbus steered wide of the coasts of Portugal and of its islands, standing to the south-west of the Canaries, where he ar¬ rived on the 1st of October. After touching at the Grand Canary, he anchored on the 5th at Gomera, to take in a supply of wood and water. Here also he purchased calves, goats, and sheep, to stock the island of Hispaniola; and eight hogs, from which, according to Las Casas, the infinite number of swine was propagated, with which the Spanish settlements in the New World subsequently abounded. A number of domestic fowls were likewise purchased, which were the origin of the species in the New World; and the same might be said of the seeds of oranges, lemons, bergamots, melons, and various orchard fruits, f which were thus first introduced into the isl¬ ands of the west, from the Hesperides or Fortunate Islands of the Old World. % On the 7th, when about to sail, Columbus gave to the com¬ mander of each vessel a sealed letter of instructions, in which was specified his route to the harbor of Nativity, the residence of the cacique Guacanagari. This was only to be opened in case of being separated by accident, as he wished to make a mystery, as long as possible, of the exact route to the newly- discovered country, lest adventurers of other nations, and par¬ ticularly the Portuguese, should follow in his track, and inter¬ fere with his enterprises^ After making sail from Gomera, they were becalmed for a * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 44. t Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 83. X Humboldt is of opinion that there were wild oranges, small and bitter, as well aa wild lemons, in the New World, prior to the discovery. Caldcleugh also mentions that the Brazilians consider the small bitter wild orange of native origin.—Hum¬ boldt, Essai Politique sur l’lsle de Cuba, tom. i. p. 68. § Las Casas, M. Sup. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 211 few days among the Canaries, until, on the 13th of October, a fair breeze sprang up from the east, which soon carried them out of sight of the island of Ferro. Columbus held his course to the south-west, intending to keep considerably more to the southward than in his first voyage, in hopes of falhng in with the islands of the Caribs, of which he had received such vague and wonderful accounts from the Indians.* Being in the region of the trade-winds, the breeze continued fair and steady, with a quiet sea and pleasant weather, and by the 24th they had made four hundred and fifty leagues west of Gomera, with¬ out seeing any of those fields of sea-weeds encountered within a much less distance on their first voyage. At that time their appearance was important, and almost providential, inspiring continual hope, and enticing them forward in their dubious en¬ terprise. Now they needed no such signals, being full of con¬ fidence and lively anticipation, and on seeing a swallow cir¬ cling about the ships, and being visited occasionally by sudden showers, they began to look out cheerily for land. Toward the latter part of October they had in the night a gust of heavy rain, accompanied by the severe thunder and lightning of the tropics. It lasted for four hours, and they considered themselves in much peril, until they beheld several of those lambent flames playing about the tops of the masts, and gliding along the rigging, which have always been objects of superstitious fancies among sailors. Fernando Columbus makes remarks on them strongly characteristic of the age in which he lived. “On the same Saturday, in the night, was seen St. Elmo, with seven lighted tapers at the topmast: there was much rain and great thunder; I mean to say, that those lights were seen, which mariners affirm to be the body of St. Elmo, on beholding which they chant litanies and orisons, holding it for certain, that in the tempest in which he appears, no one is in danger. Be that as it may, I leave the matter to them; but if we may believe Pliny, similar lights have some¬ times appeared to the Roman mariners during tempests at sea, which they said were Castor and Pollux, of which likewise Seneca makes mention.”! * Letter of Dr. Chanca. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 45. A similar mention is made of this nautical super¬ stition in the voyage of Magellan. “During these great storms, they said that St. Elmo appeared at the topmast with a lighted candle, and sometimes with two, upon which the people shed tears of joy, receiving great consolation, and saluted Jiim according to the custom of mariners. He remained visible for a quarter of an LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. m On the evening of Saturday, the 2d of November, Columbus was convinced, from the color of the sea, the nature of the waves, and the variable winds and frequent showers, that they must be near to land; he gave orders, therefore, to take in sail, and to maintain a vigilant watch throughout the night, lie had judged with his usual sagacity. In the morning a lofty island was descried to the west, at the sight of which there were shouts of joy throughout the fleet. Columbus gave to the island the name of Dominica, from having dis¬ covered it on Sunday. As the ships moved gently onward, other islands rose to sight, covered with forests, while flights of parrots and other tropical birds passed from one to the other. The crews were now assembled on the decks of the several ships, to return thanks to God for their prosperous voyage, and their happy discovery of land, chanting the Salve Regina and other anthems. Such was the solemn manner in which Columbus celebrated all his discoveries, and which, in fact, was generally observed by the Spanish and Portuguese voyagers. CHAPTER H. TRANSACTIONS AT THE ISLAND OF GUADALOUPE. [1493. J The islands among which Columbus had arrived were a part of that beautiful cluster called by some the Antilles, which sweep almost in a semicircle from the eastern end of Porto Rico to the coast of Paria on the southern continent, forming a kind of barrier between the main ocean and the Caribbean Sea. During the first day that he entered this archipelago, Colum¬ bus saw no less than six islands of different magnitude. They were clothed in tropical vegetation, and the breezes from them were sweetened by the fragrance of their forests. After seeking in vain for good anchorage at Dominica, he stood for another of the group, to which he gave the name of his ship, Marigalante. Here he landed, displayed the royal hour, and then disappeared, with a great flash of lightning, which blinded the peo pie.”— Herrera, decad, ii. lib.jv. cap. iO, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 213 banner, and took possession of the archipelago in the name of liis sovereigns. The island appeared to "be uninhabited; a rich and dense forest overspread it; some of the trees were in blos¬ som, others laden with unknown fruits, others possessing spicy odors—among which was one with the leaf of the laurel and the fragrance of the clove. Hence they made sail for an island of larger size, with a re¬ markable mountain; one peak, which proved afterward to be the crater of a volcano, rose to a great height, with streams of water gushing from it. As they approached within three leagues they beheld a cataract of such height that, to use the words of the narrator, it seemed to be falling from the sky. As it broke into foam in its descent, many at first believed it to be merely a stratum of white rock.* To this island, which was called by the Indians Turuqueira,t the admiral gave the name of Guadaloupe, having promised the monks of our Lady of Guadaloupe in Estremadura to call some newly-discovered place after their convent. Landing here on the 4th, they visited a village near the shore, the inhabitants of which fled, some even leaving their children behind in their terror and confusion. These the Span¬ iards soothed with caresses, binding hawks’ bells and other trinkets round their arms. This village, like most of those of the island, consisted of twenty or thirty houses, built round a public place or square. The houses were constructed of trunks and trees interwoven with reeds and branches, and thatched with palm-leaves. They were square, not circular like those of the other islands, J and each had its portico or shelter from the sun. One of the porticos was decorated with images of serpents tolerably carved in wood. For furniture they had hammocks of cotton net, and utensils formed of cala¬ bashes or earthenware, equal to the best of those of Hispaniola. There were large quantities of cotton; some in the wool, some in yarn, and some wrought into cloth of very tolerable texture; and many bows and arrows, the latter tipped with shap bones. Provisions seemed to abound. There were many domesticated geese like those of Europe, and parrots as large as household fowls, with blue, green, white, and scarlet plumage, being the splendid species called guacamayos. Here also the Spaniards * Letter of Dr. Chanca. t Letter of Dr. Chanca. Peter Martyr calls it Carucueira or Queraquiera, decad. 1. lib. ii. t Hist, del Almirante, cap. 02. 214 LIFE OF CHR1ST0PIIER COLUMBUS. first met with the anana, or pineapple, the flavor and fra* grance of which astonished and delighted them. In one of the houses they were surprised to find a pan or other utensil of iron, not having ever met with that metal in the New World. Fernando Colon supposes that it was formed of a certain kind of heavy stone found among those islands, which, when burnt, has the appearance of shining iron; or it might have been some utensil brought by the Indians from Hispaniola. Certain it is, that no native iron was ever found among the people of these islands. In another house was the stern-post of a vessel. How had it reached these shores, which appeared never to have been visit¬ ed by the ships of civilized man? Was it the wreck of some vessel from the more enlightened countries of Asia, which they supposed to lie somewhere in this direction? Or a part of the caravel which Columbus had lost at the island of Hispaniola during his first voyage? Or a fragment of some European ship which had drifted across the Atlantic? The latter was most probably the case. The constant current which sets over from the coast of Africa, produced by the steady prevalence of the trade-winds, must occasionally bring wrecks from the Old World to the New; and long before the discovery of Columbus the savages of the islands and the coasts may have gazed with wonder at fragments of European barks wliich have floated to their shores. What struck the Spaniards with horror was the sight of hu¬ man bones, vestiges, as they supposed, of unnatural repasts; and skulls, apparently used as vases and other household uten¬ sils. These dismal objects convinced them that they were now in the abodes of the Cannibals, or Caribs, whose predatory ex¬ peditions and ruthless character rendered them the terror of these seas. The boat having returned on board, Columbus proceeded up¬ ward of two leagues, until lie anchored, late in the evening, in a convenient port. The island on this side extended for the distance of five and twenty leagues, diversified with lofty mountains and broad p T ains. Along the coast were small vil¬ lages and hamlets, the inhabitants of which fled in affright. On the following day the boats landed, and succeeded in taking and bringing off a bey and several women. The information gathered from them confirmed Columbus in his idea that this was one of the islands of the Caribs. He learnt that the inhab¬ itants were in league with two neighboring islands, but mada LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 215 war upon all the rest. They even went on predatory enter¬ prises, in canoes made from the hollowed trunks of trees, to the distance of one hundred and fifty leagues. Their arms were bows and arrows pointed with the bones of fishes or shells of tortoises, and poisoned with the juice of a certain herb. They made descents upon the islands, ravaged the villages, carried off the youngest and handsomest of the women, whom they re- tained as servants or companions, and. made prisoners of the men, to be killed and eaten. After hearing such accounts of the natives of this island, Co¬ lumbus was extremely uneasy at finding, in the evening, that Diego Marque, a captain of one of the caravels, and eight men were missing. They had landed early in the morning without leave, and straying into the woods, had not since been seen or heard of. The night passed away without their return. On the following day parties were sent in various directions in quest of them, each with a trumpeter to sound calls and signals. Guns were fired from the ships, and arquebuses on shore, but all to no purpose, and the parties returned in the evening, wearied with a fruitless search. In several hamlets they had met with proofs of the cannibal propensities of the natives. Human limbs were suspended to the beams of the houses, as if curing for provisions; the head of a young man recently killed was yet bleeding; some parts of his body were roasting before the fire, others boiling with the flesh of geese and parrots.* Several of the natives, in the course of the day, had been seen on the shore, gazing with wonder at the ships, but when the boats approached, they fled to the woods and mountains. Several women came off to the Spaniards for refuge, being cap¬ tives from other islands. Columbus ordered that they should be decorated with hawks’ bells and strings of beads and bugles, and sent on shore, in hopes of enticing off some of the men. They soon returned to the boats stripped of their ornaments, and imploring to be taken on board the ships. The admiral learnt from them that most of the men of the island were ab¬ sent, the king having sailed some time before with ten canoes and three hundred warriors, on a cruise in quest of prisoners and booty. When the men went forth on these expeditions, the women remained to defend their shores from invasion. They were expert archers, partaking of the warrior spirit of * P. Martyr, Letter 147 to Pomponio Leeto. Idem, decad. i. lib. ii. 216 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. their husbands, and almost equalling them in force and intre¬ pidity.* The continued absence of the wanderers perplexed Columbus extremely. He was impatient to arrive at Hispaniola, but un¬ willing to sail while there was a possibility of their being alive and being recovered. In this emergency Alonso de Ojeda, the same young cavalier whose exploit on the tower of the cathe¬ dral at Seville has been mentioned, volunteered to scour the island with forty men in quest of them. He departed accord¬ ingly, and during his absence the ships took in wood and water, and part of the crews were permitted to land, wash their clothes, and recreate themselves. Ojeda and his followers pushed far into the interior, firing off arquebuses and sounding trumpets in the valleys and from the summits of cliffs and precipices, but were only answered by their own echoes. The tropical luxuriance and density of the forests rendered them almost impenetrable; and it was neces¬ sary to wade a great many rivers, or probably the windings and doublings of the same stream. The island appeared to be naturally fertile in the extreme. The forests abounded with aromatic trees and shrubs, among which Ojeda fancied he per- coived the odor of precious gums and spices. There was honey in hollow trees and in the clefts of rocks; abundance of fruit also; for, according to Peter Martyr, the Caribs, in their preda¬ tory cruisings, were accustomed to bring home the seeds and roots of all kinds of plants from the distant islands and coun¬ tries which they overran. Ojeda returned without any tidings of the stragglers. Seve¬ ral days had now elapsed since their disappearance. They were given up for lost, and the fleet was about sailing when, to the universal joy, a signal was made by them from the shore. When they came on board their haggard and exhausted looks bespoke what they had suffered. For several days they had been perplexed in trackless forests, so dense as almost to ex¬ clude the light of day. They had clambered rocks, waded rivers, and struggled through briers and thickets. Some, who were experienced seamen, climbed the trees to get a sight of the stars, by which to govern their course; but the spreading branches and thick foliage shut out all view of the heavens. They were harassed with the fear, that the admiral, thinking * Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. ix. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 217 them dead, might set sail and leave them in this wilderness, cut off forever from their homes and the abodes of civilized man. At length, when ahnost reduced to despair, they had arrived at the sea-shore, and following it for some time, be¬ held, to their great joy, the fleet riding quietly at anchor. They brought with them several Indian women and boys; but in all their wanderings they had not met with any man; the greater part of the warriors, as has been said, being fortunately absent on an expedition. Notwithstanding the hardships they had endured, and his joy at their return, Columbus put the captain under arrest, and stopped part of the rations of the men, for having strayed away without permission, for in a service of such a critical nature, it was necessary to punish every breach of discipline.* CHAPTER III. CRUISE AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. [1493.] Weighing anchor on the 10th of November, Columbus steered toward the north-west, along this beautiful archipelago; giving names to the islands as they rose to view; such as Montserrat, Santa Maria la Redonda, Santa Maria la Antigua, and San Martin. Various other islands, lofty and well-wooded, appeared to the north, south-west, and south-east; but he for- bore to visit them. The weather proving boisterous, he an¬ chored on the 14th at an island called Ayay by the Indians, but to which he gave the name of Santa Cruz. A boat well manned was sent on shore to get water and procure information. They found a village deserted by the men, but secured a few women and boys, most of them captives from other islands. They soon had an instance of Carib courage and ferocity. While at the village they beheld a canoe from a distant part of the island come round a point of land and arrive in view of the ships. The Indians in the canoe, two of whom were females, remained gazing in mute amazement at the ships, and were so entranced that the boat stole close upon them before they per- * Dr. Chanca’s Letter, Hist, del Almlrante, cap. 46. 218 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ceived it. Seizing their paddles they attempted to escape, but the boat being between them and the land, cut off their re¬ treat. They now caught up their bows and arrows and plied them with amazing vigor and rapidity. The Spaniards cov¬ ered themselves with their bucklers, but two of them were quickly wounded. The women fought as fiercely as the men, and one of them sent an arrow with such force that it passed through and through a buckler. The Spaniards now ran their boat against the canoe and over* turned it; some of the savages got upon sunken rocks, others discharged their arrows while swimming, as dexterously as though they had been upon firm land. It was with the ut¬ most difficulty they could be overcome and taken. One of them, who had been transfixed with a lance, died soon after being brought aboard the ships. One of the women, from the obedience and deference paid to her, appeared to be their queen. She was accompanied by her son, a young man strongly made, with a frowning brow and lion’s face. He had been wounded in the conflict. The hair of these savages was long and coarse. Their eyes were encircled with paint, so as to give them a hideous expression; and bands of cotton were bound firmly above and below the muscular parts of the arms and legs, so as to cause them to swell to a disproportioned size ; a custom prevalent among various tribes of the New World. Though captives in chains, and in the power of their enemies, they still retained a frowning brow and an air of defiance. Peter Martyr, who often went to see them in Spain, declares, from his own experience, and that of others who accompanied him, that it was impossible to look at them without a sensation of horror, so menacing and terrible was their aspect. The sen¬ sation was doubtless caused in a great measure by the idea of their being cannibals. In this skirmish, according to the same writer, the Indians used poisoned arrows; and one of the Span¬ iards died within a few days, of a wound received from one of the females.* Pursuing his voyage, Columbus soon came in sight of a great cluster of islands, some verdant and covered with forests, but the greater part naked and sterile, rising into craggy moun¬ tains ; with rocks of a bright azure color, and some of a glister¬ ing white. These, with his usual vivacity of imagination, he 1 P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Hist, del Almiranto, cap. 47. Las Casas. Hist. Iud* tap. 85, ms. Letter of Dr. Chanca. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 219 supposed to contain mines of rich metals and precious stones. The islands lying close together, with the sea beating roughly in the narrow channels which divided them, rendered it danger¬ ous to enter among them with the large ships. Columbus sent in a small caravel with latine sails, to reconnoitre, which re¬ turned with the report that there were upward of fifty islands, apparently inhabited. To the largest of this group he gave the name of Santa Ursula, and called the others the Eleven Thousand. Virgins.* Continuing his course, he arrived one evening in sight of a great island covered with beautiful forests, and indented with fine havens. It was called by the natives Boriquem, but he gave it the name of San Juan Bautista; it is the same since known by the name of Porto Rico. This was the native island of most of the captives who had fled to the ships for refuge from the Caribs. According to their accounts it was fertile and popu¬ lous, and under the dominion of a single cacique. Its inhabi¬ tants were not given to rove, and possessed but few canoes. They were subject to frequent invasions from the Caribs, who were their implacable enemies. They had become warriors, therefore, in their own defence, using the bow and arrow and the war-club; and in their contests with their cannibal foes they retorted upon them their own atrocities, devouring their pri¬ soners in revenge. After running for a whole day along the beautiful coast of this island, they anchored in a bay at the west end, abounding in fish. On landing, they found an Indian village, constructed as usual round a common square, like a market-place, with one large and well-built house. A spacious road led thence to the seaside, having fences on each side, of interwoven reeds, inclos¬ ing fruitful gardens. At the end of the road was a kind of ter¬ race, or look-out, constructed of reeds and overhanging the water. The whole place had an air of neatness and ingenuity, superior to the ordinary residences of the natives, and appeared to be the abode of some important chieftain. All, however, was silent and deserted. Not a human being was to be seen during the time they remained at the place. The natives had concealed themselves at the sight of the squadron. After remaining here two days, Columbus made sail, and stood for the island of His¬ paniola. Thus ended his cruise among the Caribbee Islands, the account of whose fierce and savage people was received with * P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Letter of Dr. Chanca. 220 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. eager curiosity by the learned of Europe, and considered as settling one dark and doubtful question to the disadvantage of human nature. Peter Martyr, in his letter to Pomponius Lsetus, announces the fact with fearful solemnity. ‘ ‘ The stories of the Lestrigonians and of Polyphemus, who fed on human flesh, are no longer doubtful! Attend, but beware, lest thy hair bristle with horror!” That many of the pictures given us of this extraordinary race of people have been colored by the fears of the Indians and the prejudices of the Spaniards, is highly probable. They were constantly the terror of the former, and the brave and obstinate opponents of the latter. The evidences adduced of their canni¬ bal propensities must be received with large allowances for the careless and inaccurate observations of seafaring men, and the preconceived belief of the fact, which existed in the minds of the Spaniards. It was a custom among the natives of many of the islands, and of other parts of the New World, to preserve the remains of their deceased relatives and friends; sometimes the entire body; sometimes only the head, or some of the limbs, dried at the fire; sometimes the mere bones. These, when found in the dwellings of the natives of Hispaniola, against whom no prejudice of the kind existed, were correctly regarded as relics of the deceased, preserved through affection or reverence; but any remains of the kind found among the Caribs were looked upon with horror as proofs of cannibalism. The warlike and unyielding character of these people, so dif¬ ferent from that of the pusillanimous nations around them, and the wide scope of their enterprises and wanderings, like those of the nomad tribes of the Old World, entitle them to distin¬ guished attention. They were trained to war from their infancy. As soon as they could walk, their intrepid mothers put in their hands the bow and arrow, and prepared them to take an early part in the hardy enterprises of their fathers. Their distant roamings by sea made them observant and intelligent. The natives of the other islands only knew how to divide time by day and night, by the sun and moon; whereas these had ac¬ quired some knowledge of the stars, by which to calculate the times and seasons.* The traditional accounts of their origin, though of course ex¬ tremely vague, are yet capable of being verified to a great degree by geographical facts, and open one of the rich veins of curious * Hist, del Almirarrte, cap. 63. LIFE OF CHRIST0PI1ER COLUMBUS. 221 inquiry and speculation which abound in the New World. They are said to have migrated from the remote valleys embo¬ somed in the Apalachian mountains. The earliest accounts we have of them represent them with weapons in their hands, con¬ tinually engaged in wars, winning their way and shifting their abode, until in the course of time they found themselves at the extremity of Florida. Here, abandoning the northern conti¬ nent, they passed over to the Lucayos, and thence gradually, in the process of years, from island to island of that vast and verdant chain, which links, as it were, the end of Florida to the coast of Paria, on the southern continent. The archipelago extending from Porto Rico to Tobago was their stronghold, and the island of Guadaloupe in a manner their citadel. Hence they made their expeditions, and spread the terror of their name through all the surrounding countries. Swarms of them landed upon the southern continent, and overran some parts of terra firma. Traces of them have been discovered far in the interior of that vast country through which flows the Oroonoko. The Dutch found colonies of them on the banks of the Ikouteka, which empties into the Surinam; along the Esquibi, the Maroni, and other rivers of Guayana; and in the country watered by the windings of the Cayenne; and it would appear that they extended their wanderings to the shores of the southern ocean, where, among the aboriginals of Brazil, were some who called themselves Caribs, distinguished from the surrounding Indians by their superior hardihood, subtlety, and enterprise.* To trace the footsteps of this roving tribe throughout its wide migrations from the Apalachian mountains of the northern continent, along the clusters of islands which stud the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea to the shores of Paria, and so across the vast regions of Guayana and Amazonia to the remote coast of Brazil, would be one of the most curious researches in aboriginal history, and throw much light upon the mysterious question of the population of the New World. ♦.Rochefort, Hist. Nat. des Isles Antilles; Rotterdam, 16G&- LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . 222 CHAPTER IV. ARRIVAL AT THE HARBOR OF LA NAYIDAD — DISASTER OF THE FORTRESS. [1493.] On the 226. of November the fleet arrived off what was soon ascertained to be the eastern extremity of Hayti, or, as the admiral had named it, Hispaniola. The greatest excitement prevailed throughout the armada, at the thoughts of soon ar¬ riving, at the end of their voyage. Those who had been here in the preceding voyage remembered the pleasant days they had passed among the groves of Iiayti; and the rest looked for¬ ward with eagerness to scenes painted to them with the capti¬ vating illusions of the golden age. As the fleet swept with easy sail along the green shore, a boat was sent to land to bury a Biscayan sailor, who had died of the wound of an arrow received in the late skirmish. Two light caravels hovered near the shore to guard the boat’s crew, while the funeral ceremony was performed on the beach, under the trees. Several natives cams off to the ship, with a mes¬ sage to the admiral from the cacique of the neighborhood, in¬ viting him to land, and promising great quantities of gold; anxious, however, to arrive at La Navidad, Columbus dis¬ missed them with presents and continued his course. Arriv¬ ing at the gulf of Las Flechas, or, as it is now called, the gulf of Semana, the place where, in his preceding voyage, a skir¬ mish had occurred with the natives, he set on shore one of the young Indians of the place, who had accompanied him to Spain, and had been converted to Christianity. He dismissed him finely apparelled and loaded with trinkets, anticipating favorable effects from his accounts to his countrymen of the wonders he had seen, and the kind treatment he had expe¬ rienced. The young Indian made many fair promises, but either forgot them all, on regaining his liberty and his native mountains, or fell a victim to envy caused by his wealth and finery. Nothing was seen or heard of him more.* Only one Indian of those who had been to Spain now remained m tha * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 9. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 223 fleet; a young Lucayan, native of the island of Guanahani, who had been baptized at Barcelona, and had been named after the admiral’s brother, Diego Colon. He continued always faithful and devoted to the Spaniards. On the 25th Columbus anchored in the harbor of Monte Christi; anxious to fix upon a place for a settlement in the neighborhood of the stream to which, in his first voyage, he had given the name of the Rio del Oro, or the Golden River. As several of the mariners were ranging the coast, they found, on the green and moist banks of a rivulet, the bodies of a man and boy; the former with a cord of Spanish grass about his neck, and his arms extended and tied by the wrists to a stake in the form of a cross. The bodies were in such a state of de¬ cay that it was impossible to ascertain whether they were In¬ dians or Europeans. Sinister doubts, however, were enter¬ tained, which were confirmed on the following day; for on re¬ visiting the shore, they found, at some distance from the former, two other bodies, one of which, having a beard, was evidently the corpse of a white man. The pleasant anticipations of Columbus on his approach to La Navidad were now overcast with gloomy forebodings. The experience recently had of the ferocity of some of the in¬ habitants of these islands, made him doubtful of the amity of others, and he began to fear that some misfortune might have befallen Arana and his garrison. The frank and fearless manner, however, in which a number of the natives came off to the ships, and their unembarrassed demeanor, in some measure allayed his suspicions; for it did not appear probable that they would venture thus confidently among the white men, with the consciousness of having recent¬ ly shed the blood of their companions. On the evening of the 27th, he arrived opposite the harbor of La Navidad, and cast anchor about a league from the land, not daring to enter in the dark on account of the dangerous reefs. It was too late to distinguish objects. Impatient to satisfy his doubts, therefore, he ordered two cannon to be fired. The re¬ port echoed along the shore, but there was no reply from the fort. Every eye was now directed to catch the gleam of some signal light; every ear listened to hear some friendly shout; but there was neither light nor shout, nor any other sign of life; all was darkness and deathlike silence.* * Letter of Dr. Chancfc, Ka.*«xrete» Colec. de Viage, tom. i. I 224 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . Several hours were passed in dismal suspense, and every one longed for the morning light, to put an end to his uncertainty. About midnight a canoe approached the fleet; when within a certain distance, it paused, and the Indians who were in it, hailing one of the vessels, asked for the admiral. When direct¬ ed to his ship they drew near, but would not venture on board until they saw Columbus. He showed himself at the side of his vessel, and a light being held up, his countenance and com¬ manding person were not to be mistaken. They now entered the ship without hesitation. One of them was a cousin of the cacique Guacanagari, and brought a present from him of two masks ornamented with gold. Columbus inquired about the Spaniards who had remained on the island. The information which the native gave was somewhat confused, or perhaps was imperfectly understood, as the only Indian interpreter on board was the young Lucayan, Diego Colon, whose native language was different from that of Hayti. He told Columbus that sev¬ eral of the Spaniards had died of sickness; others had fallen in a quarrel among themselves, and others had removed to a dif¬ ferent part of the island, where they had taken to themselves Indian wives. That Guacanagari had been assailed by Caona- bo, the fierce cacique of the golden mountains of Cibao, who had wounded him in battle, and burnt his village; and that he remained ill of his wound in a neighboring hamlet, or he would have hastened in person to welcome the admiral.* Melancholy as were these tidings, they relieved Columbus from a dark and dismal surmise. Whatever disasters had overwhelmed his garrison, it had not fallen a sacrifice to the perfidy of the natives; his good opinion of the gentleness and kindness of these people had not been misplaced; nor had their cacique forfeited the admiration inspired by his benevolent hospitality. Thus the most corroding care was dismissed from his mind; for, to a generous spirit, there is nothing so dis¬ heartening as to discover treachery where it has reposed con¬ fidence and friendship. It would seem also that some of the garrison were yet alive, though scattered about the island; they would doubtless soon hear of his arrival, and would hasten to rejoin him, well qualified to give information of the interior. Satisfied of the friendly disposition of the natives, the cheer¬ fulness of the crews was in a great measure restored. The * Dr. Chanca’s Letter. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 48. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. »lib. i. cap. 9, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER CO LUMP Its. 223 Indians who had come on board were well entertained, and departed in the night gratified with various presents, promising to return in the morning with the cacique Guacanagari. The mariners now awaited the dawn of day with reassured spirits, expecting that the cordial intercourse and pleasant scenes of the first voyage would be renewed. The morning dawned and passed away, and the day advanced and began to decline, without the promised visit from the cacique. Some apprehensions were now entertained that the Indians who had visited them the preceding night might be drowned, as they had partaken freely of wine, and their small canoe was easy to be overset. There was a silence and an air of desertion about the whole neighborhood extremely suspicious. On their preceding visit the harbor had been a scene of contin¬ ual animation; canoes gliding over the clear waters, Indians in groups on the shores, or under the trees, or swimming off to the caravel. Now, not a canoe was to be seen, not an Indian hailed them from the land; nor was there any smoke rising from among the groves to give a sign of habitation. After waiting for a long time in vain, Columbus sent a boat to the shore to reconnoitre. On landing, the crew hastened and sought the fortress. It was a ruin; the palisadoes were beaten down, and the whole presented the appearance of having been sacked, burnt, and destroyed. Here and there were broken chests, spoiled provisions, and the ragged remains of European garments. Not an Indian approached them. They caught sight of two or three lurking at a distance among the trees, and apparently watching them; but they vanished into the woods on finding themselves observed. Meeting no one to explain the melancholy scene before them, they returned with dejected hearts to the ships, and related to the admiral what they had seen. Columbus was greatly troubled in mind at this intelligence, and the fleet having now anchored in the harbor, he went him¬ self to shore on the following morning. Repairing to the ruins of the fortress, he found everything as had been described, and searched in vain for the remains of dead bodies. No traces of the garrison were to be seen, but broken utensils, and torn vestments, scattered here and there among the grass. There were many surmises and conjectures. If the fortress had been Sacked, some of the garrison might yet survive, and might either have fled from the neighborhood, or been carried into captivity. Cannon and arquebuses were discharged, in hopes, 226 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. if any of the survivors were hid among rocks and thickets, they might hear them and come forth; but no one made his appearance. A mournful and lifeless silence reigned over the place. The suspicion of treachery on the part of Guacanagari was again revived, but Columbus was unwilling to indulge it. On looking further the village of that cacique was found a mere heap of burnt ruins, which showed that he had been involved in the disaster of the garrison. Columbus had left orders with Arana and the other officers to bury all the treasure they might procure, or, in case of sud¬ den danger, to throw it into the well of the fortress. Tie ordered excavations to be made, therefore, among the ruins, and the well to be cleared out. While this search was making, he proceeded with the boats to explore the neighborhood, partly in hopes of gaining intelligence of any scattered survivors of the garrison, and partly to look out for a better situation for a fortress. After proceeding about a league he came to a hamlet, the inhabitants of which had fled, taking whatever they could with them and hiding the rest in the grass. In the houses were European articles, which evidently had not been procured by barter, such as stockings, pieces of cloth, an anchor of the caravel which had been wrecked, and a beautiful Moorish robe, folded in the form in which it had been brought from Spain.* Having passed some time in contemplating these scattered documents of a disastrous story, Columbus returned to the ruins of the fortress. The excavations and search in the well had proved fruitless; no treasure was to be found. Not far from the fort, however, they had discovered the bodies of eleven men, buried in different places, and which were known by their clothing to be Europeans. They had evidently been for some time in the ground, the grass having grown upon their graves. In the course of the day a number of the Indians made their appearance, hovering timidly at a distance. Their apprehen¬ sions were gradually dispelled until they became perfectly com- Jnunicative. Some of them could speak a few words of Spanish, and knew the names of all the men who had remained with Arana. By this means, and by the aid of the interpreter, the story of the garrison was in some measure ascertained. It is curious to note this first footprint of civilization in the •Letter of Dr. Chanca. Cura de los Palacios, cap. 120. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 227 New World. Those whom Columbus had left behind, says Oviedo, with the exception of the commander, Don Diego Arana, and one or two others, were but little calculated to follow the precepts of so prudent a person, or to discharge the critical duties enjoined upon them. They were principally men of the lowest order, or mariners who knew not how to conduct themselves with restraint or sobriety on shore. * No sooner had the admiral departed, than all his counsels and commands died away from their minds. Though a mere hand¬ ful of men, surrounded by savage tribes and dependent upon their own prudence and good conduct, and upon the good-will of the natives, for very existence, yet they soon began to indulge in the most wanton abuses. Some were prompted by rapacious avarice, and sought to possess themselves, by all kinds of wrongful means, of the golden ornaments and other valuable property of the natives. Others were grossly sensual, and not content with two or three wives allowed to each by Guacanagari, seduced the wives and daughters of the Indians. Fierce brawls ensued among them about their ill-gotten spoils and the favors of the Indian women; and the natives beheld with astonishment the beings whom they had worshipped, as descended from the skies, abandoned to the grossest of earthly passions, and raging against each other with worse than brutal ferocity. Still these dissensions might not have been very dangerous had they observed one of the injunctions of Columbus, and kept together in the fortress, maintaining military vigilance; but all precaution of the kind was soon forgotten. In vain did Don Diego de Arana interpose his authority; in vain did every inducement present itself which could bind man and man together in a foreign land. All order, all subordination, all unanimity was at an end. Many abandoned the fortress, and lived carelessly and at random about the neighborhood; every one was for himself, or associated with some little knot of con¬ federates to injure and despoil the rest. Thus factions broke out among them, until ambition arose to complete the destruc¬ tion of their mimic empire. Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo, whom Columbus had left as lieutenants to the com¬ mander, to succeed to him in case of accident, took advantage of these disorders and aspired to an equal share in the authority, if not to the supreme control, f Violent affrays succeeded, in * Oviedo, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 12. t Oviedo, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 1£ 228 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. which a Spaniard named Jacomo was killed. Having failed in their object, Gutierrez and Escobedo withdrew from the fortress with nine of their adherents and a number of their vvomen, and turned their thoughts on distant enterprise. Ha ving heard marvellous accounts of the mines of Cibao, and th® golden sands of its mountain rivers, they set off for that district, flushed with the thoughts of amassing immense treasure. Thus they disregarded another strong injunction of Columbus, which was to keep within the friendly territories of Guacanagari. The region to which they repaired was in the interior of the island, within the province of Maguana, ruled by the famous Caonabo, called by the Spaniards the Lord of the Golden House. This renowned chieftain was a Carib by birth, and possessed the fierceness and enterprise of his nation. He had come an adventurer to Hispaniola, and by his courage and address, and his warlike exploits, had made himself the most potent of its caciques. The inhabitants universally stood in awe of him from his Carib origin, and he was the hero of the island, when the ships of the white men suddenly appeared upon its shores. The wonderful accounts of their power and prowess had reached him among his mountains, and he had the shrewdness to perceive that his consequence must decline before such formidable intruders. The departure of Columbus gave him hopes that their intrusion would be but temporary. The discords and excesses of those who remained, while they moved his detestation, inspired him with increasing confidence. No sooner did Gutierrez and Escobedo, with their companions, take refuge in his dominions, than he put them to death. He then formed a league with the cacique of Marien, whose terri¬ tories adjoined those of Guacanagari on the west, and con¬ certed a sudden attack upon the fortress. Emerging with his warriors from among the mountains, and traversing great tracts of forest with profound secrecy, he arrived in the vicinity of the village without being discovered. The Spaniards, confiding in the gentle and pacific nature of the Indians, had neglected all military precautions. But ten men remained in the fortress with Arana, and these do not appear to have main¬ tained any guard. The rest were quartered in houses in the neighborhood. In the dead of the night, when all were wrapped in sleep, Caonabo and his warriors burst upon the place with frightful yells, got possession of the fortress before its inmates could put themselves upon their defence, and sur¬ rounded and set fire to the houses in which the rest of the LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 229 white men were sleeping. Eight of the Spaniards fled to the seaside pursued by the savages, and, rushing into the waves, were drowned; the rest were massacred. Guacanagari and his subjects fought faithfully in defence of their guests, but not being of a warlike character, were easily routed; the cacique was wounded by the hand of Caonabo, and his village was burnt to the ground.* Such was the history of the first European establishment in the New World. It presents in a diminutive compass an epi¬ tome of the gross vices which degrade civilization, and the grand political errors which sometimes subvert the mightiest empires. All law and order being relaxed by corruption and licentiousness, public good was sacrificed to private interest and passion, the community was convulsed by divers factions and dissensions, until the whole was shaken asunder by two aspiring demagogues, ambitious of the command of a petty fortress in a wilderness, and the supreme control oi eight-and- thirty men. CHAPTER V. TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES—SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT OF GUACANAGARI. [1493. J The tragical story of the fortress, as gathered from the In¬ dians at the harbor, received confirmation from another quar¬ ter. One of the captains, Melchor Maldonado, coasting to the east with his caravel in search of some more favorable situation for a settlement, was boarded by a canoe in which were two Indians. One of them was the brother of Guacanagari, and entreated him, in the name of the cacique, to visit him at the village where he lay ill of his wound. Maldonado immediately went to shore with two or three of his companions. They found Guacanagari confined by lameness to his hammock, surrounded by seven of his wives. The cacique expressed great regret at not being able to visit the admiral. He related * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 9. Letter of Dr. Chanca. Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 49. Cura de los Palacios, cap. SJBO, ms, Munoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. iv. 230 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. various particulars concerning the disasters of the garrison, and the part which he and his subjects had taken in its defence, showing his wounded leg bound up. His story agreed with that already related. After treating the Spaniards with his accustomed hospitality, he presented to each of them at parting a golden ornament. On the following morning Columbus repaired in person to visit the cacique. To impress him with an idea of his present power and importance, he appeared with a numerous train of officers, all richly dressed or in glittering armor. They found Guacanagari reclining in a hammock of cotton net. He exhibit¬ ed great emotion on beholding the admiral, and immediately adverted to the death of the Spaniards. As he related the dis¬ asters of the garrison he shed many tears, but dwelt particu¬ larly on the part he had taken in the defence of his guests, pointing out several of his subjects present who had received wounds in the hattle. It was evident from the scars that the wounds had been received from Indian weapons. Columbus was readily satisfied of the good faith of Guacana¬ gari. When he reflected on the many proofs of an open and generous nature, which he had given at the time of his ship¬ wreck, he could not believe him capable of so dark an act of perfidy. An exchange of presents now took place. The cacique gave him eight hundred beads of a certain stone called ciba, which they considered highly precious, and one hundred of gold, a golden coronet, and three small calabashes filled with gold dust, and thought himself outdone in munificence when pre¬ sented with a number of glass beads, hawks’ bells, knives, pins, needles, small mirrors, and ornaments of copper, which metal he seemed to prefer to gold.* Guacanagari’s leg had been violently bruised by a stone. At the request of Columbus, he permitted it to be examined by a surgeon who was present. On removing the bandage no signs of a wound were to be seen, although he shrunk with pain whenever the limb was handled.! As some time had elapsed since the battle, the external bruise might have disappeared, while a tenderness remained in the part. Several present, how¬ ever, who had not been in the first voyage, and had witnessed nothing of the generous conduct of the cacique, looked upon his lameness as feigned, and the whole story of the battle a fabrica- * Letter of Dr. Chanca. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. t Letter of Dr. Chanca, Cura tie log Palacios, cap. 130, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 231 tion, to conceal his real perfidy. Father Boyle especially, who was of a vindictive spirit, advised the admiral to make an im¬ mediate example of the chieftain. Columbus, however, viewed the matter in a different fight. Whatever prepossessions he might have were in favor of the cacique; his heart refused to believe in his criminality. Though conscious of innocence, Guacanagari might have feared the suspicions of the white men, and have exaggerated the effects of his wound; but the wounds of his subjects made by Indian weapons, and the de¬ struction of his village, were strong proofs to Columbus of the truth of his story. To satisfy his more suspicious followers, and to pacify the friar, without gratifying his love for persecu¬ tion, he observed that true policy dictated amicable conduct to¬ ward Guacanagari, at least until his guilt was fully ascertained. They had too great a force at present to apprehend anything from his hostility, but violent measures in this early stage of their intercourse with the natives might spread a general panic, and impede all their operations on the island. Most of his offi¬ cers concurred in this opinion; so it was determined, notwith¬ standing the inquisitorial suggestions of the friar, to take the story of the Indians for current truth, and to continue to treat them with friendship. At the invitation of Columbus, the cacique, though still ap¬ parently in pain from his wound,* accompanied him to the ships that very evening. He had wondered at the power and gran¬ deur of the white men when they first visited his shores with two small caravels; his wonder was infinitely increased on be¬ holding a fleet riding at anchor in the harbor, and on going on board of the admiral’s ship, which was a vessel of heavy burden. Here he beheld the Carib prisoners. So great was the dread of them among the timid inhabitants of Hayti, that they contem¬ plated them with fear and shuddering, even though in chains.! That the admiral had dared to invade these terrible beings in their very island, and had dragged them as it were from their strongholds, was, perhaps, one of the greatest proofs to the In¬ dians of the irresistible prowess of the white men. Columbus took the cacique through the ship. The various works of art; the plants and fruits of the Old World; domestic fowls of different kinds, cattle, sheep, swine, and other animals, brought to stock the island, all were wonders to him; but what * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 89. t Peter Martyr, Letter 153 to Pomponius Lietus. 232 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. most struck him with amazement was the horses. He had never seen any hut the most diminutive quadrupeds, and was aston¬ ished at their size, their great strength, terrific appearance, yet perfect docility.* He looked upon all these extraordinary ob¬ jects as so many wonders brought from heaven, which he still believed to be the native home of the white men. On board of the ship were ten of the women delivered from Carib captivity. They were chiefly natives of the island of Boriquen, or Porto Rico. These soon attracted the notice of the cacique, who is represented to have been of an amorous com¬ plexion. He entered into conversation with them; for though the islanders spoke different languages, or rather, as is more probable, different dialects of the same language, they were able, in general, to understand each other. Among these wo¬ men was one distinguished above her companions by a certain loftiness of air and manner; she had been much noticed and ad¬ mired by the Spaniards, who had given her the name of Cata¬ lina. The cacique spoke to her repeatedly with great gentleness of tone and manner, pity in all probability being mingled with his admiration; for though rescued from the hand of the Caribs, she and her companions were in a manner captives on board of the ship. A collation was now spread before the chieftain, and Colum¬ bus endeavored in every way to revive their former cordial in¬ tercourse. He treated his guest with every manifestation of perfect confidence, and talked of coming to live with him in his present residence, and of building houses in the vicinity. The cacique expressed much satisfaction at the idea, but observed that the situation of the place was unhealthy, which was indeed the case. Notwithstanding every demonstration of friendship, however, the cacique was evidently ill at ease. The charm of mutual confidence was broken. It was evident that the gross licentiousness of the garrison had greatly impaired the venera¬ tion of the Indians for their heaven-born visitors. Even the reverence of the symbols of the Christian faith, which Columbus endeavored to inculcate, was frustrated by the profligacy of its votaries. Though fond of ornaments, it was with the greatest difficulty the cacique could be prevailed upon by the admiral to suspend an image of the Virgin about his neck, when he under* stood it to be an object of Christian adoration, f * Hist, del Almirante, ubi sup. Letter of Dr. Chanca. t Hist, del Almirante. can. id LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 233 The suspicions of the chieftain’s guilt gained ground with many of the Spaniards. Father Boyle, in particular, regarded him with an evil eye, and privately advised the admiral, now that he had him on board, to detain him prisoner; but Colum¬ bus rejected the counsel of the crafty friar, as contrary to sound policy and honorable faith. It is difficult, however, to conceal lurking ill-will. The cacique, accustomed, in his former inter¬ course with the Spaniards, to meet with faces beaming with gratitude and friendship, could not but perceive their altered looks. Notwithstanding the frank and cordial hospitality of the admiral therefore, he soon begged permission to return to land.* The next morning there was a mysterious movement among the natives on shore. A messenger from the cacique inquired of the admiral how long he intended to remain at the harbor, and was informed that he should sail on the following day. In the evening the brother of Guacanagari came on board, under pretext of bartering a quantity of gold; he was observed to converse in private with the Indian women, and particularly with Catalina, the one whose distinguished appearance had at¬ tracted the attention of Guacanagari. After remaining some time on board, he returned to the shore. It would seem, from subsequent events, that the cacique had been touched by the situation of this Indian beauty, or captivated by her charms, and had undertaken to deliver her from bondage. At midnight, when the crew were buried in their first sleep, Catalina awakened her companions. The ship was anchored full three miles from the shore, and the sea was rough; but they let themselves down from the side of the vessel, and swam bravely for the shore. With all their precautions they were overheard by the watch, and the alarm was given. The boats were hastily manned, and gave chase in the direction of a light blazing on the shore, an evident beacon for the fugitives. Such was the vigor of these sea-nymphs that they reached the land in safety; four were retaken on the beach, but the heroic Cata¬ lina with the rest of her companions made good their escape into the forest. When the day dawned, Columbus sent to Guacanagari to de¬ mand the fugitives; or if they were not in his possession, that he would have search made for them. The residence of the cacique, however, was silent and deserted; not an Indian was * Peter Martyr, decad i. iib. ii. 234 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. to be seen. Either conscious of the suspicions of the Spaniards, and apprehensive of their hostility, or desirous to enjoy his prize unmolested, the cacique had removed with all his effects, his household, and his followers, and had taken refuge with his island beauty in the interior. This sudden and mysterious de¬ sertion gave redoubled force to the doubts heretofore enter¬ tained, and Guacanagari was generally stigmatized as a traitor to the white men, and the perfidious destroyer of the gar¬ rison.* CHAPTER VI. FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF ISABELLA—MALADIES OF THE SPANIARDS. % [1493.] The misfortunes of the Spaniards both by see end land, in the vicinity of this harbor, threw a gloom round the neighbor¬ hood. The ruins of the fortress, and the graves of their mur¬ dered countrymen, were continually before their eyes, and the forests no longer looked beautiful while there was an idea that treachery might be lurking in their shades. The silence and dreariness, also, caused by the desertion of the natives, gave a sinister appearance to the place. It began to be considered by the credulous mariners as under some baneful influence or ma¬ lignant star. These were sufficient objections to discourage the founding of a settlement, but there were others of a more solid nature. The land in the vicinity was low, moist, and unhealthy, and there was no stone for building; Columbus determined, therefore, to abandon the place altogether, and found his projected colony in some more favorable situation. No time was to be lost; the animals on board the ships were suffering from long confinement; and the multitude of persons, unaccustomed to the sea, and pent up in the fleet, languished for the refreshment of the land. The fighter caravels, there¬ fore, scoured the coast in each direction, entering the rivers and harbors, in search of an advantageous site. They were in- * Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii, I-etter of Dr. Chanca. Cura de los Palacios, cap. 180, ms, LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 235 structed also to make inquiries after Guacanagari, of whom Columbus, notwithstanding every suspicious appearance, still retained a favorable opinion. The expeditions returned after ranging a considerable extent of coast without success. There were fine rivers and secure ports, but the coast was low and marshy, and deficient in stone. The country was generally deserted, or if any natives were seen, they fled immediately to the woods. Melchor Maldonado had proceeded to the east¬ ward, until he came to the dominions of a cacique, who at first issued forth at the head of his warriors, with menacing aspect, but was readily conciliated. From him he learned that Guaca- nagari had retired to the mountains. Another party discow ered an Indian concealed near a hamlet, having been disabled by a wound received from a lance when fighting against Caonabo. His account of the destruction of the fortress agreed with that of the Indians at the harbor, and concurred to vindi¬ cate the cacique from the charge of treachery. Thus the Spaniards continued uncertain as to the real perpetrators of this dark and dismal tragedy. Being convinced that there was no place in this part of the island favorable for a settlement, Columbus weighed anchor on the 7th of December, with the intention of seeking the port of La Plata. In consequence of adverse weather, however, he was obliged to put into a harbor about ten leagues east of Monte Christi; and on considering the place, was struck with its advantages. The harbor was spacious, and commanded by a point of land protected on one side by a natural rampart of rocks, and on another by an impervious forest, presenting a strong position for a fortress. There were two rivers, one large and the other small, watering a green and beautiful plain, and offering ad¬ vantageous situations for mills. About a bow-shot from the sea, on the banks of one of the rivers, was an Indian village. The soil appeared to be fertile, the waters to abound in excellent fish, and the climate to be temperate and genial; for the trees were in leaf, the shrubs in flower, and the birds in song, though it was the middle of December. They had not yet be¬ come fa milia rized with the temperature of this favored island, where the rigors of winter are unknown, where there is a per¬ petual succession, and even intermixture of fruit and flower, and where s milin g verdure reigns throughout the year. Another grand inducement to form their setlement in this place was the information received from the Indians of the ad- 236 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS . jacent village, that the mountains of Cibao, where the gold mines were situated, lay at no great distance, and almost par¬ allel to the harbor. It was determined, therefore, that there could not he a situation more favorable for their colony. An animated scene now commenced. The troops and various persons belonging to the land service, and the various laborers and artificers to be employed in building, were disembarked. The provisions, articles of traffic, guns and ammunition for defence, and implements of every kind, were brought to shore, as were also the cattle and live stock, which had suffered exces¬ sively from long restraint, especially the horses. There was a general joy at escaping from the irksome confinement of the ships, and once more treading the firm earth, and breathing the sweetness of the fields. An encampment was formed on the margin of the plain, around a basin or sheet of water, and in a little while the whole place was in activity. Thus was founded the first Christian city of the New World, to which Columbus gave the name of Isabella, in honor of his royal patroness. A plan was formed, and streets and squares projected. The greatest diligence was then exerted in erecting a church, a pub¬ lic storehouse, and a residence for the admiral. These were built of stone, the private houses were constructed of wood, plaster, reeds, or such materials as the exigency of the case per¬ mitted, and for a short time every one exerted himself with the utmost zeal. Maladies, however, soon broke out. Many, unaccustomed to the sea, had suffered greatly from confinement and sea-sick¬ ness, and from subsisting for a length of time on salt provi¬ sions much damaged, and mouldy biscuit. They suffered great exposure on the land, also, before houses could be built for their reception; for the exhalations of a hot and moist climate, and a new, rank soil, the humid vapors from rivers, and the stagnant air of close forests, render the wilderness a severe trial to constitutions accustomed to old and highly-cul¬ tivated countries. The labor also of building houses, clearing fields, setting out orchards, and planting gardens, having all to be done with great haste, bore hard upon men who, after toss¬ ing so long upon the ocean, stood in need of relaxation and re¬ pose. The maladies of the mind mingled with those of the body. Many, as has been shown, had embarked in the expedition with visionary and romantic expectations. Some had anticipated LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 237 the golden regions of Cipango and Cathay, where they were to amass wealth without toil or trouble; others a region of Asiatic luxury, abounding with delights; and others a splen¬ did and open career for gallant adventures and chivalrous enterprises. What then was their disappointment to find them¬ selves confined to the margin of an island; surrounded by im¬ practicable forests; doomed to struggle with the rudeness of a wilderness; to toil painfully for mere subsistence, and to attain every comfort by the severest exertion. As to gold, it was brought to them from various quarters, but in small quantities, and it was evidently to be procured only by patient and perse¬ vering labor. All these disappointments sank deep into their hearts; their spirits flagged as their golden dreams melted away, and the gloom of despondency aided the ravages of disease. Columbus himself did not escape the prevalent maladies. The arduous nature of his enterprise, the responsibility under which he found himself, not merely to his followers and his sovereigns, but to the world at large, had kept his mind in con¬ tinual agitation. The cares of so large a squadron; the inces¬ sant vigilance required, not only against the lurking dangers of these unknown seas, but against the passions and follies of his followers; the distress he had suffered from the fate of his tnurdered garrison, and his uncertainty as to the conduct of the barbarous tribes by which he was surrounded; all these had harassed his mind and broken his rest while on board the ship: since landing new cares and toils had crowded upon him, which, added to the exposures incident to his situation in this new climate, completely overpowered his strength. Still, though confined for several weeks to his bed by severe illness, his energetic mind rose superior to the sufferings of the body, and he continued to give directions about the building of the city, and to superintend the general concerns of the expedi¬ tion.* ♦Hist, del Almirante, cap 50. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 10. Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ii. Letter of Dr. Chanca, etc. 238 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. CHAPTER Vn. EXPEDITION’ OP ALONSO DE OJEDA TO EXPLORE THE INTERIOR OP THE ISLAND—DISPATCH OF THE SHIPS TO SPAIN. [1493.] The ships having discharged their cargoes, it was necessary to send the greater part of them back to Spain. Here new anxieties pressed upon the mind of Columbus. He had hoped to find treasures of gold and precious merchandise accumu¬ lated by the men left behind on the first voyage; or at least the source of wealthy traffic ascertained, by which speedily to freight his vessels. The destruction of the garrison had de¬ feated all those hopes. He was aware of the extravagant ex¬ pectations entertained by the sovereigns and the nation. What would be their disappointment when the returning ships brought nothing but a tale of disaster! Something must be done, be^e the vessels sailed, to keep up the fame of his dis¬ coveries, and justify his own magnificent representations. As yet he knew nothing of the interior of the island. If it were really the island of Cipango, it must contain populous cities, existing probably in some more cultivated region, beyond the lofty mountains with which it was intersected. All the Indians concurred in mentioning Cibao as the tract of country whence they derived their gold. The very name of its cacique, Caonabo, signifying “The Lord of the Golden House,” seemed to indicate the wealth of his dominions. The tracts where the mines were said to abound lay at a distance of but three or four days’ journey, directly in the interior; Columbus deter¬ mined, therefore, to send an expedition to explore it previous to the sailing of the ships. If the result should confirm his hopes, he would then be able to send home the fleet with confi¬ dence, bearing tidings of the discovery of the golden mountains of Cibao. * The person he chose for this enterprise was Alonso de Ojeda, the same cavalier who has been already noted for his daring spirit and great bodily force and agility. Delighting in all ser¬ vice of a hazardous and adventurous nature, Ojeda was the ♦Herrera, Hist. Ind., dec. i. lib. ii. cap. 10. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 239 more stimulated to this expedition from the formidable charac¬ ter of the mountain cacique, Caonabo, whose dominions he was to penetrate. He set out from the harbor, early in January, 1494, accompanied by a small force of well-armed and deter¬ mined men, several of them young and spirited cavaliers like himself. He struck directly southward into the interior. For the two first days the march was toilsome and difficult, through a country abandoned by its inhabitants; for terror of the Spaniards extended along the sea-coast. On the second even¬ ing they came to a lofty range of mountains, which they as¬ cended by an Indian path, winding up a steep and narrow defile, and they slept for the night at the summit. Hence, the next morning, they beheld the sun rise with great glory over a vast and delicious plain covered with noble forests, studded with villages and hamlets, and enlivened by the shining waters of the Yagui. Descending into this plain, Ojeda and his companions boldly entered the Indian village. The inhabitants, far from being hostile, overwhelmed them with hospitality, and, in fact, im¬ peded their journey by their kindness. They had also to ford many rivers in traversing this plain, so that they were five or six days in reaching the chain of mountains which locked up, as it were, the golden region of Cibao. They penetrated into this district, without meeting with any other obstacles than those presented by the rude nature of the country. Caonabo, so re¬ doubtable for his courage and ferocity, must have been in some distant part of his dominions, for he never appeared to dispute their progress. The natives received them with kindness; they were naked and uncivilized, like the other inhabitants of the island, nor were there any traces of the important cities which their imaginations had once pictured forth. They saw, however, ample signs of natural wealth. The sands of the mountain streams glittered with particles of gold; these the natives would skilfully separate, and give to the Spaniards with¬ out expecting a recompense. In some places they picked up large specimens of virgin ore from the beds of the torrents, and stones streaked and richly impregnated with it. Peter Martyr affirms that he saw a mass of rude gold weighing nine ounces, which Ojeda himself had found in one of the brooks.* All these were considered as mere superficial washings of the soil, betraying the hidden treasures lurking in the deep * ?eter Martyr,, decad. i, lib. ii. 240 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. veins and rocky bosoms of the mountains, and only requiring the hand of labor to bring them to light. As the object of his expedition was merely to ascertain the nature of the country, Ojeda led back his little band to the harbor, full of enthusiastic accounts of the golden promise of these mountains. A young cavalier of the name of Gorvalan, who had been dispatched at the same time on a similar expedition, and who had explored a different tract of country, returned with similar reports. These flattering accounts served for a time to animate the drooping and desponding colonists, and induced Columbus to believe that it was only necessary to explore the mines of Cibao, to open inexhaustible sources of riches. He determined, as soon as his health would permit, to repair in person to the mountains, and seek a favorable site for a mining establish¬ ment.* The season was now propitious for the return of the fleet, and Columbus lost no time in dispatching twelve of the ships under the command of Antonio de Torres, retaining only five for the service of the colony. By this opportunity he sent home specimens of the gold found among the mountains and rivers of Cibao, and all such fruits and plants as were curious, or appeared to be valuable. He wrote in the most sanguine terms of the expeditions of Ojeda and Gorvalan, the last of whom returned to Spain in the fleet. He repeated his confident anticipations of soon being able to make abundant shipments of gold, of precious drugs and spices; the search for them being delayed for the present by the sickness of himself and people, and the cares and labors re¬ quired in building the infant city. He described the beauty and fertility of the island; its range of noble mountains; its wide, abundant plains, watered by beautiful rivers; the quick fecundity of the soil, evinced in the luxuriant growth of the sugar-cane, and of various grains and vegetables brought from Europe. As it would take some time, however, to obtain provisions from their fields and gardens, and the produce of their live stock, adequate to the subsistence of the colony, which consist¬ ed of about a thousand souls; and as they could not accustom themselves to the food of the natives, Columbus requested present supplies from Spain. Their provisions were already growing scanty. Much of their wine had been lost from the * Hist, del Almirante, cap. 50. LIFE OF CniUSTOPIlER COLUMBUS. 241 badness of the casks; and the colonists, in their infirm state of health, suffered greatly from the want of their accustomed diet. There was an immediate necessity of medicines, clothing, and arms. Horses were required likewise for the public works, and for military service; being found of great effect in awing the natives, who had the utmost dread of those animals. He requested also an additional number of workmen and mechan¬ ics, and men skilled in mining and in smelting and purifying ore. He recommended various persons to the notice and favor of the sovereigns, among whom was Pedro Margerite, an Arra- gonian cavalier of the order of St. Jago, who had a wife and children to be provided for, and who, for his good services, Columbus begged might be appointed to a command in the order to which he belonged. In like manner he entreated pa¬ tronage for Juan Aguado, who was about to return in the fleet, making particular mention of his merits. From both of these men he was destined to experience the most signal ingratitude. In these ships he sent also the men, women, and children taken in the Caribbee Islands, recommending that they should be carefully instructed in the Spanish language and the Chris¬ tian faith. From the roving and adventurous nature of these people, and their general acquaintance with the various lan¬ guages of this great archipelago, he thought that, when the precepts of religion and the usages of civilization had reformed their savage manners and cannibal propensities, they might be rendered eminently serviceable as interpreters, and as means of propagating the doctrines of Christianity. Among the many sound and salutary suggestions in this let¬ ter, there is one of a most pernicious tendency, written in that mistaken view of natural rights prevalent at the day, but fruit¬ ful of much wrong and misery in the world. Considering that the greater the number of these cannibal pagans transferred to the Catholic soil of Spain, the greater would be the number of souls put in the way of salvation, he proposed to establish an exchange of them as slaves, against live stock, to be furnished by merchants to the colony. The ships to bring such stock were to land nowhere but at the Island of Isabella, where the Carib captives would be ready for delivery. A duty was to be levied on each slave for the benefit of the royal revenue. In this way the colony would be furnished with all kinds of five stock free of expense; the peaceful islanders would be freed from warlike and inhuman neighbors; the royal treasury would be greatly enriched; and a vast number of souls would be 242 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. snatched from perdition, and carried, as it were, by main force to heaven. Such is the strange sophistry by which upright men may sometimes deceive themselves. Columbus feared the dis¬ appointment of the sovereigns in respect to the product of his enterprises, and was anxious to devise some mode of lightening their expenses until he could open some ample source of profit. The conversion of infidels, by fair means or foul, by persua¬ sion or force, was one of the popular tenets of the day; and in recommending the enslaving of the Caribs, Columbus thought that he was obeying the dictates of his conscience, when he was in reality listening to the incitements of his interest. It is but just to add that the sovereigns did not accord with his ideas, but ordered that the Caribs should be converted like the rest of the islanders; a command which emanated from the merci¬ ful heart of Isabella, who ever showed herself the benign pro¬ tectress of the Indians. The fleet put to sea on the 2d of February, 1494. Though it brought back no wealth to Spain, yet expectation was kept alive by the sanguine letter of Columbus, and the specimens of gold which he transmitted; his favorable accounts were corrob¬ orated by letters from Friar Boyle, Doctor Chanca, and other persons of credibility, and by the personal reports of Gorvalan. The sordid calculations of petty spirits were as yet overruled by the enthusiasm of generous minds, captivated by the lofty nature of these enterprises. There was something wonderfully grand in the idea of thus introducing new races of animals and plants, of building cities, extending colonies, and sowing the seeds of civilization and of enlightened empire in this beautiful but savage world. It struck the minds of learned and classical men with admiration, filling them with pleasant dreams and reveries, and seeming to realize the poetical pictures of the olden time. “Columbus,” says old Peter Martyr, “has begun to build a city, as he has lately written to me, and to sow our seeds and propagate our animals! Who of us shall now speak with wonder of Saturn, Ceres, and Triptolemus, travelling about the earth to spread new inventions among mankind? Or of the Phoenicians who built Tyre or Sidon? Or of the Tyrians them¬ selves, whose roving desires led them to migrate into foreign lands, to build new cities, and establish new communities?”* Such were the comments of enlightened and benevolent men, who hailed with enthusiasm the discovery of the New World, * Letter 153 to Pomponius Lsetus. LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLXJMBUS. 243 not for the wealth it would bring to Europe, but for the field it would open for glorious and benevolent enterprise, and the blessings and improvements of civilized life, which it would widely dispense through barbarous and uncultivated regions. Note.— Isabella at the present day is quite overgrown with forest, in the midst of which are still to be seen, partly standing, the pillars of the church, some remains of the king’s storehouses, and part of the residence of Columbus, all built of hewn stone. The small fortress is also a prominent ruin; and a little north of it is a cir¬ cular pillar about ten feet high and as much in diameter, of solid masonry, nearly entire; which appears to have had a wooden gallery or battlement round the top for the convenience of room, and in the centre of which was planted the flagstaff. Having discovered the remains of an iron clamp imbedded in the stone, which served to secure the flagstaff itself, J tore it out, and now consign to you this curi¬ ous relic of the first foothold of civilization in the New World, after it has been ex¬ posed to the elements nearly three hundred and fifty years .—From the Letter of T. S. Heneker. CHAPTER VIII. DISCONTENTS AT ISABELLA—MUTINY OF BERNAL DIAZ DE PISA. [1494.] The embryo city of Isabella was rapidly assuming a form. A dry stone wall surrounded it, to protect it from any sudden at¬ tack of the natives, although the most friendly disposition was evinced by the Indians of the vicinity, who brought supplies of their simple articles of food, and gave them in exchange for Euro¬ pean trifles. On the day of the Epiphany, the 6th of February, the chur h being sufficiently completed, high mass was cele¬ brated with great pomp and ceremony, by Friar Boyle and the twelve ecclesiastics. The affairs of the settlement being thus ap¬ parently in a regular train, Columbus, though still confined by indisposition, began to make arrangements for his contemplated expedition to the mountains of Cibao, when an unexpected dis¬ turbance in his little community for a time engrossed his at¬ tention. The sailing of the fleet for Spain had been a melancholy sight to many whose terms of enlistment compelled them to remain on the island. Disappointed in their expectations of immediate wealth, disgusted with the labors imposed on them, and ap¬ palled by the maladies prevalent throughout the community, they began to look with horror upon the surrounding wildet 244 LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. ness, as destined to be the grave of their hopes and of them, selves. When the last sail disappeared, they felt as if completely severed from their country; and the tender recollections of home, which had been checked for a time by the novelty and bustle around them, rushed with sudden force upon their minds. To return to Spain became their ruling idea, and the same want of reflection which had hurried them into the enterprise, with¬ out inquiring into its real nature, now prompted them to extri¬ cate themselves from it, by any means however desperate. Where popular discontents prevail there is seldom wanting some daring spirit to give them a dangerous direction. One Bernard Diaz de Pisa, a man of some importance, who had held a civil office about the court, had come out with the expedition as Comptroller; he seems to have presumed upon his official powers, and to have had early differences with the admiral. Disgusted with his employment in the colony, he soon made a faction among the discontented, and proposed that they should take advantage of the indisposition of Columbus, to seize upon some or all of the five ships in the harbor, and return in them to Spain. It would be easy to justify their clandestine return, by preferring a complaint against the admiral, representing the fallacy of his enterprises, and accusing him of gross deceptions and exaggerations in his accounts of the countries he had dis¬ covered. It is probable that some of these people really con¬ sidered him culpable of the charges thus fabricated against him; for in the disappointment of their avaricious hopes, they over¬ looked the real value of those fertile islands, which were to en¬ rich nations by the produce of their soil. Every oountry was sterile and unprofitable in their eyes that did not immediately teem with gold. Though they had continual proofs in the specimens brought by the natives to the settlement, or fur¬ nished to Ojeda and Gorvalan, that the rivers and mountains in the interior abounded with ore, yet even these daily proofs were falsified in their eyes. One Fermin Cedo, a wrong-headed and obstinate man, who had come out as assayer and purifier of metals, had imbibed the same prejudice against the expedi¬ tion with Bernal Diaz. He pertinaciously insisted that there was no gold in the island; or at least that it was found in such inconsiderable quantities as not to repay the search. He de¬ clared that the large grains of virgin ore brought by the natives had been melted; that they had been the slow accumulation of many years, having remained a long time in the families of the Indians, and handed down from generation to generation; LIFE OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 245 which in many instances was probably the case. Other speci¬ mens of a large size he pronounced of a very inferior quality, and debased with brass by the natives. The words of this man outweighed the evidence of facts, and many joined him in the belief that the island was really destitute of gold. It was not until some time afterward that the real character of Fermin Cedo was ascertained, and the discovery made that his igno¬ rance was at least equal to his obstinacy and presumption; qualities apt to enter largely into the compound of a meddle* some and mischievous man.* Encouraged by such substantial co-operation, a number of turbulent spirits concerted to take immediate possession of the ships and make sail for Europe. The influence of Bernal Diaz de Pisa at court would obtain for them a favorable hearing, and they trusted to their unanimous representations, to preju- dice Columbus in the opinion of the public, ever fickle in its smiles, and most ready to turn suddenly and capriciously from the favorites it has most idolized. Fortunately this mutiny was discovered before it proceeded to action. Columbus immediately ordered the ringleaders to be arrested. On making investigations, a memorial or infor¬ mation against himself, full of slanders and misrepresentations, was found concealed in the buoy of.one of the ships. It was in the handwriting of Bernal Diaz. The admiral conducted him¬ self with great moderation. Out of respect to the rank and station of Diaz, he forbore to inflict any punishment; but con¬ fined him on board one of the ships, to be sent to Spain for trial, together with the process or investigation of his offence, and the seditious memorial which had been discovered. Sev¬ eral of the inferior mutineers were punished according to the degree of their culpability, but not with the severity which their offence deserved. To guard against any recurrence of a similar attempt, Columbus ordered that all the guns and naval munitions should be taken out of four of the vessels, and put into the principal ship, which was given in charge to persons in whom he could place implicit confidence, f This was the first time Columbus exercised the right of pun¬ ishing delinquents in his new government, and it immediately awakened the most violent animadversions. His measures, though necessary for the general safety, and characterized by * Cura de los Palacios, cap. 320,122, ms. t Herrera, Hist, In&. deead, i. lib. ii. cap. 11. Hist, del Almirante, cap 50. 246 LIFE OF CEBIS TO PEER COLUMBUS. the greatest lenity, were censured as arbitrary and vindictive. Already the disadvantage of being a foreigner among the people he was to govern was clearly manifested. He had national prejudices to encounter, of all others the most general and il¬ liberal. He had no natural friends to rally round him; where¬ as the mutineers had connections in Spain, friends in the colony, and met with sympathy in every discontented mind. An early hostility was thus engendered against Columbus, which con tinued to increase throughout his life, and the seeds were sown of a series of factions and mutinies which afterward distracted the island. CHAPTER IX. EXPEDITION OF COLUMBUS TO THE MOUNTAINS OF CIBA