LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. \ Shell'.' UNITED STATES OF AMERIOA. DELIdHMflliPRY EDITED- BY EDWARD-EGGLE5PN' * .n.ii.nai\/\/i,/i.au.nAli./in/t./t,/ie.ai}.».o.ii.JC i Z COLVABV5 i I W w w WW M. JwUc^fo' Lvjvrij cnclp\«j^to ^ s; m-^ ctvayiS &,.>| 4' 00 ^M^Y (J ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE 7/7 7 'VE ILLUSTRATIONS tyllle.iioriidl rcpK-esefitcitiaJi of Chyistopher Cohinihiis CIS Sf. Christopher bcariiar the Chrjsst-\oh(/ii Qrross.JJie.Zfii/r]i . -zMdiic in ih c vcof^^i^^e^^ ijj t^^e^ iHfd^i^m^ pf ( >>lii in h n s. NEW VDR J / £& CX THE STORY OF COLUMBUS BY ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE IVITH NINETV-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS By ALLEGRA EGGLESTON EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY EDWARD EGGLESTON OCT -Or,. NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1892 1 1892 Copyright, 1892, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. Electrotyped and Printed AT THE APPLETON PrESS, U. S. A. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. — Marco Polo . II. — Henry the navigator . III. — Young Columbus . IV. — Columbus in Portugal Y. — CoLUxMBUS IN Spain YI. — Columbus begs in vain YII. — A friendly monk . YIII. — Getting ready for the voyage IX. — The first voyage of Columbus X. — Land at last .... XI. — Exploring in the West Indies . XII. — Columbus visits Cuba . XIII. — The discovery cf Hayti XIY. — Wrecked ... XY. — A skirmish ..... XYI. — The return voyage XYII.— Land XYI II. — Rejoicings at court . XIX. — The second voyage XX. — Adventures among the Caribbee Islands XXI. — What had become of the colony XXII. — The infant settlement and its Indian neighbors XXIII. — Looking for gold XXIY. — Troubles of the colony XXY. — The voyage of discovery XXYI.— Along the coast of Cuba 1 PAGE . 1 . 9 . 16 . 23 . 30 . 35 , 40 , 46 . 51 , 59 . 65 . 70 . 76 . 83 . 88 , 92 . 97 . 104 . 110 . 116 . 121 . 130 . 136 . 144 . 148 . 154 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE XX VII. — The return to Hispaniola 159 XXVIII.— What happened in the colony in the absence OF Columbus 164 XXIX. — Ojeda's adventure and the war that followed . 168 XXX. — Troubles for Columbus, and a new gold mine . 175 XXXI.— In Spain 180 XXXII. — Columbus sets sail on his third voyage . . 185 XXXIII. — Columbus discovers pearls 190 XXXIV. — What happened in the colony while Columbus WAS away 196 XXXV. — A rebellion and a war 205 XXXVI.— Columbus AND the rebels 211 XXXVII. — The king and queen displeased . . . .218 XXXVIII. — Columbus in chains 221 XXXIX. — Columbus lands in chains 225 XL. — Columbus under a cloud 228 XLI. — Columbus predicts a hurricane .... 235 XLII. — Columbus at Honduras 239 XLIII. — Magic power and gold plates .... 245 XLIV. — Back to the land of gold 252 XLV.— Dealings with Quibian 258 XLVI.— Quibian's revenge 264 XLVII.— Stranded .269 XLVIIL— Columbus has a plan 274 XLIX.— A MUTINY • . 278 L. — Columbus makes use of an eclipse . . . 281 LI. — A VOYAGE in a canoe 283 LII. — A SMALL battle 288 LIII. — The last days of Columbus .... 293 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Allegorical representation of Columbus as St. Christopher Frontispiece Gate of Pekin 1 General map of Marco Polo's journey 2 Catapult loaded. Catapult discharged 3 Passport of gold, such as the Polos used in China . . .4 Arrival of the Polos in Venice 5 Prince Henry the navigator 8 Position of Ceuta 9 Roclv of Gibraltar 10 A ship, from an old manuscript 12 Map of the portion of the African coast discovered before Prince Henry's death 14 Gate of St. Andrea, Genoa, as it exists at present . . Facing 15 Gate of St. Andrea. Genoa, as it was in the time of Columbus . 15 Genoa and its harbor IG House in which Columbus lived, as it is at present . . .17 Supposed appearance of the house in Columbus's time (after Stagl- ieno) 18 Plan of the ground floor of the house in which Columbus lived (after Staglieno) 19 Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Genoa 20 Harbor of Savona 21 Portrait of Columbus 24 Map of the supposed Western Hemisphere 28 Map of Portugal, Spain, and Genoa 80 yiii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Portrait of King Ferdinand. Portrait of Queen Isabella . .31 Salamanca 33 Children mocking Columbus 36 View of the Alhambra across Granada 38 With Juan Perez at the monastery 41 A window in the Alhambra 43 Gateway of Granada 44 A caravel 49 Peak of Tenerife 52 The Canary Islands and the Azores 54 Map showing the islands at which Columbus landed . . .60 Old i)rint of 1500, showing Columbus landing, and the King of Spain sending ships across to America 61 A calabash 64 Indian paddling in a dug-out 66 Chair such as Columbus's messengers sat in, found in a cave on Turk's Island 74 '• She may not have enjoyed the clothing very much " . .78 ■*^The Indian monarch and his counsellors visit Columbus Facing 80 Shipwreck 83 An Indian mask from Ilayli 85 An arquebus 86 A Lombard 87 Columbus finds mermaids less beautiful than they had been rep- resented to be 89 A wampum belt 91 Columbus and the sailors draw beans 94 Columbus writes an account of his discovery . . . .96 Shore of the Azores 98 Port of Lisbon 101 Iloyal palace, Barcelona 104 Seville 108 The harbor, looking from Cadiz 110 Cadiz, from the mole 107 Columbus bids good-bye to his sons .... Facing 111 Marigalante Island 113 An Indian child is found in a hut ... . Facing 114 Map of Columbus's second voyage 115 The Indian trusts Columbus ,....,. 123 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix PAGE Indian image of stone, from Santo Domingo .... 130 Indian figure in wood, from Santo Domingo .... 132 Indian figure of cotton, leather, etc., from Santo Domingo . 133 Indian image of stone, from Santo Domingo .... 134 The Giralda Tower, Seville 137 Map of the route from Isabella to Cibao 142 Map of the voyage along the coast of Cuba 149 View of the southern shore of Hispaniola 163 Old cannon from the fortress of Santo Domingo .... 168 ^ Ojeda praying to his picture of the Virgin . . . Facing 168 Indian battle-axe 169 Cannon of Columbus's time 170 Stone carving from Santo Domingo 172 Columbus's armor 173 Map of Hispaniola 177 '^ Catalina tells Diaz of a new gold mine . . . Facing 178 South America 188 A Trinidad palm 189 Tower and fortress of Santo Domingo 196 The guana 198 Fortress and shore of Santo Domingo 200 Church of San Antonio, near Santo Domingo .... 201 Well at Santo Domingo, where ships get water, said to have been built by Bartholomew Columbus 206 ""^Don Bartholomew finds his messengers dead . . Facing 209 Chapel called Columbus's chapel, near Santo Domingo . .211 Tower in which it is said Columbus was imprisoned . . . 222 Interior of the fortress in which it is supposed Columbus was imprisoned 223 Portrait of Vasco da Gama, from a manuscript of his time . 229 Ruins of St. Nicholas Church, Santo Domingo .... 231 "' Interior of Dominican convent, Santo Domingo . . Facing 232 Ceiba tree, to which it is said the ships moored in Columbus's time 236 Map of Columbus's last voyage of discovery .... 240 Indian figure of stone found on the Honduras coast . . . 243 Sea view and Indians of the Mosquito Coast . . Facing 246 Characteristic Indian building on the coast .... 250 Don Bartholomew embraces the chief 262 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Hull of a ship of Columbus's time 272 Monument to Columbus at Barcelona 291 House in Valladolid in which Columbus died .... 297 Cathedral of Santo Domingo, where Columbus's remains were buried 299 Palace of Santo Domingo built bv Diego Columbus , . , 302 INTRODUCTION. By Edward Eggleston. The purpose of tlie writer of this book lias been to relate tlie life of the greatest of discoverers in a manner interesting and delightful to the general reader, while producing a narrative strictly conformed to the facts as given by the best ancient authorities and developed by the latest researches of scholars. There is here no attempt to discuss the pros and cons of debated points in Columbian history. Such investigators as IN'avarrete, Mr. Harrisse, Signor Staglieno, and our own learned I Mr. Justin Winsor, have wrought abundantly and with large results upon these problems. It is the purpose of the present work to tell the story as understood through the labors of these scholars, leaving aside ponderous discussions which in a book intended for general reading would tire without enlightening. Though disclaiming original investigation beyond the careful use of the leading authorities, Mrs. Seelye has been at much pains not to give the reader the dis- credited myths used by the old school of biographers. xii INTRODUCTION. It is a poor service to relate as history an interesting story that is not true, or to lift an historical figure into a heroism far from his real character. To give the facts as we know them, and to show Columbus as he really was, has been the sincere endeavor of the writer of this book. The story is wonderful enough without the embellishment of fiction ; the man is interesting enough when painted in his real colors. The curious researches of Mr. Henry Harrisse into the personal life of Columbus, the results of which have been given to the w^orld in monographs in several languages, have assisted the author to give it a personal coloring which is always a legitimate source of interest, especially to the young reader. One can hardly speak too highly of the patient ingenuity by which the antiquary Sign or Staglieno has managed to find and identify beyond doubt the house in which Columbus lived as a boy. Such investigations dissipate error, and make us know the real man and his environment. It was the fashion of the older modern biographers of Columbus, of whom Irving was the chief, to see all the Christian virtues in their subject. The school of romantic history and biography was as characteristic of the first half of the present century as the school of romantic fiction and poetry. Both sought at all costs to find a hero, and, whenever possible, to set over against this central figure a heroine. When the dis- INTRODUCTION. xiii covery of America was the theme, Cokmibus became a knight-errant with an admixture of saintliness^ while Isabella played the counterpart of heroine, to maintain the symmetry of the narrative. Such a method be- longed to a poetic age and had its uses, but it was fatal to sound historical conclusions. It reached its extreme of folly in the movement set on foot to have Columbus canonized by the Church for a saint. We have now swung to another extreme in our literary methods. Producing fiction much of which is quite too sordid to be justly called realistic, we are possessed at the same time with a sort of rage to debase the great figures of history. I^ot content with robbing them of the false laurels with which our imaginative predecessors have crowned them, we give way to a pessimistic passion for denying them any virtue at all. Because they have been praised for qualities they have not, we scorn them for false pretenders. One of the worst sufferers from this reaction is the great Genoese sailor whose achievement of four hundred years ago gave to civilization a world unknown before. There seems to be an emulation of detraction among the most recent investigators and learned biographers. To paint the discoverer in the darkest colors is accounted nowadays an evidence of scholarship. But the pessimistic and de- structive mode of judgment is as far from being scien- tific as the now discarded romantic treatment, while it is xiv INTRODUCTION. mucli less agreeable. Historic justice remembers the wisdom expressed in the motto which was Lord Bacon's device, and settles itself in a secure moderation. Let us grant, then, that this great navigator was not a saint. Like other great men, he had faults even when judged by the light of his own time ; and we have no right to censure him by the standards of our age. But he was a great lifteenth-century man. He could hardly have won his battle had he not had some of the faults of his ao^e. He has been blamed for not havino^ the quahties of Copernicus or Las Casas. We must not expect too much for our shilling. Columbus had in a degree rarely equaled the power to consecrate himself to one great achievement. He had courage, fortitude, and a mastery of navigation as then understood. In a word, he only had all that was needed to produce a man capable of crossing the Sea of Darkness. 'No other navigator of his time had conceptions so bold or a pertinacity of pursuit so unflagging. Men of aptitudes so special are usually one-sided. History will not lay it up against General Grant that he was a weak states- man, nor will posterity insist on remembering that Tur- ner, the painter, wrote bad poetry. It is enough that Co- lumbus alone of the men of the fifteenth century had the imagination to plan and the boldness to carry out a voyage in search of land to the westward. No one can make him less than what his own merit has made INTRODUCTION. XV him, the most conspicuous figure in the history of his age — the man wlio rendered the world the greatest service possible at that moment. He was not in advance of his age in other respects. He was superstitious ; he was ambitious ; he sought wealth, which was the prize that spurred other Genoese adventurers to hard tasks. He lacked the enthusiasm of disinterested research which possessed Copernicus and the reformatory spirit of Las Casas. But neither Copernicus nor Las Casas ever dreamed of setting out to find land by the untried water way to the westward, nor could either of them have set on foot so bold an undertaking. Nature does not give everything to one man. And the very faults charged against Columbus — his pursuit of wealth and his belief in his own divine mis- sion — propelled and su]>ported him in his arduous and perilous enterprise. Let us judge him fairly and by the standards of his age, and honor him for what he was and did, without censuring him that he was not some- thing else. To rob the doers of great deeds of their hard-earned glory, is to deprive the race of one of the mainsprings of notable actions. In the laborious task of gathering material for au- thentic pictures, the illustrator has been placed under obligation by the kindness of several gentlemen. Mr. Nathan Appleton, of Boston, generously put at her dis- posal a valuable collection of photographs, and several xvi rNTRODUCTION. drawings made under his own supervision in tlie island of Santo Domingo. Mr. E. C. Perry, of Honduras, also placed his collection in her hands. Acknowledg- ments are also due to Mr. Henry Marquand, of Kew York, Prof. Otis T. Mason, of the National Museum, and to others. It remains only to say that the present book is^ the first of a series intended to introduce the young reader and the general reader to wdiat is most interesting and delightful in American history. It is the result of the co-operation of two sisters already known to the public by work in their several departments. I have taken a lively interest in this labor of my daughters from the beginning, giving it whatever benefit I could of any knowledge of mine and of my experience in book- making, but my function has been merely editorial. hf GATE OF PEKIN. THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER I. MAKCO POLO. 125Jk-132Jt. In tlie middle ages people had never dreamed about such a place as America. To them the known world consisted of Europe, part of Asia, and a little strip of Africa. The first man to help people to know more about the world and to make them wish to know still more was a Yenetian gentleman, named Marco Polo, who lived two hundred years before Columbus. Strangely enough, Marco Polo did something toward the discovery of America, though he journeyed by THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. land rather than by sea, and traveled to the East in- stead of to the West. When Marco Polo was born (about 1254) his father and uncle, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, had just sailed away from Venice, which was their home, on a trading voyage to Constantinople. When they got to that city, instead of trading the goods which they had brouglit with them for some of the silks and spices which came from the far East and returning home as GENERAL MAP OF MARCO POLO'S JOURNEY. other merchants did, they exchanged all their merchan- dise for jewels, which could be concealed from robbers more easily than gold, and went on into the Eastern countries. I suppose they had some curiosity to find out where the spices, silks, gums, and jewels, which Europeans were so glad to buy, came from. They journeyed through Asia to China, or Cathay, as people called it in those days. The great Chinese Emperor, Kublai Khan, treated the strangers very kindly, and sent back a message by them to the Pope. MARCO POLO. The travelers were gone nineteen years, and when they returned they found that Nicolo had a son named Marco whom tliey had never seen, although he had by this time grown to be a man. They stayed in Italy two years, and then they took Marco with them and set out for the empire of Kublai Khan once more, carry- CATAPULT LOADED. ing some presents and letters from the Pope to the Chinese Emperor. It took the Polos four years to make the diffi- cult and dangerous jour- ney across Asia, to the home of the Grand Ivhan, who was very much delighted to see them. Marco became a great favorite with the Emperor, who made liim one of his officers. While Marco Polo was traveling about China as an officer of Kublai Khan his father and uncle made themselves useful by building a catapult, wliich was a machine at that time in use in Europe for throwing stones and other missiles. Gunpowder had not yet been invented. When the Polos had been away from home about twenty years they grcAV homesick. They asked the Khan for permission to go back to Venice for a visit, but the Emperor was so fond of them that he at first CATAPULT DISCHARGED. 4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. refused. He finally consented to let tliem go, but lie made tliem promise to return to China, giving them, at the same time, many rich presents and some tablets of gold, which tliey were to show as passports in the vari- ous countries that they w^ould have to pass through. About this time the daughter of Kublai Khan was to be married to the King of Persia. The Khan sent the Polos as far as Persia in the fleet w^hich carried this princess to her new home. The Chinese fleet touched at diflerent points in the East Indies, and so the travelers had a chance to see something of the isl- ands where spices grew\ When they reached Per- sia they were entertained very magnificently for nine months. After this somewhat long wedding festival w^as over the Polos continued on their way to Europe, dressed in coarse Chinese costume, so that they might not be in danger of being murdered for their riches. When they reached Ycnice, after having been gone twenty-four years, the travelers found that they had come to be regarded by their friends as long since dead and buried, and tliat their house had been inherited by PASSPORT OF GOLD 61T€H AS THE POLOS USED IN CHINA. / MARCO POLO. (5 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. some of their relatives. Tliis was unpleasant for the three Polos, especially as the members of their family refused to believe that they were indeed themselves, which was not so strange, for the wanderers were very much tanned, wore coarse Chinese dresses, and spoke their own tongue like Chinamen. Tlie strangers, however, gave a dinner to which they invited all the gentlemen of the Polo family. When the guests arrived they found the travelers dressed in robes of crimson satin. No sooner had water been served for the washing of hands, after the fashion of those days, than the three strange Polos rose, left the room, and presently returned in robes of crim- son damask. They caused the satin gowns to be cut up and divided among the servants. The guests probably thought this a very extravagant proceeding. However, the dinner had progressed but little further before the travelers again left the room and returned in crimson velvet robes, while the damask gowns were also dis- tributed among tlie servants. After a time the three Polos left the room once more, and came back dressed as Venetians, causing the velvet suits to be cut up as the others had been. Finally, when the cloth was re- moved from the table and the servants dismissed, the travelers brought in the coarse Chinese dresses, which they had worn on their travels. Taking sharp knives, they cut open the seams of these old garments and took out rubies, carbuncles, emeralds, and diamonds. Before leaving China they had exchanged the wealth which Kublai Khan had given them for these jewels, so that they might carry their riches with them. The sight of so much wealth quite freshened the memories of the MARCO POLO. 7 other members of the Polo family. They could no longer doubt that such rich men were their relations. After this, many people came to visit Marco Polo, in order to talk with him about his travels. He used the word millions so much in describing the riches of Kublai Khan that they dubbed him Messere Marco Mil- lione, or Mr. Marco Millions, as we should say, while his house is yet called " the court of the millions," for many people did not believe the strange tales of Mr. Marco Millions. Marco Polo was afterward captured in a war be- tween Venice and Genoa, and while he was in a Genoese prison he dictated an account of his travels to a fellow- prisoner, who wrote it down. This book became very famous. Many people doubted Marco Polo's stories about gold-roofed palaces and other fairy-like wonders, though we now know that his marvelous tales were many of them true. The reading of Marco Polo's travels set some thoughtful people to thinking about distant coun- tries and to planning ways of reaching them, so that it was Marco Polo, instead of his father and uncle, who had to do with the making of great discoveries. The Polos were not the only Europeans who had wandered as far as China, but Marco Polo was the first to leave a care- ful account of what he saw and heard. After him there was an Englishman named Sir John Mandeville who made a similar journey, and also wrote about it. These two books were read much by studious men, who were curious to know more concerning the geography of the world. THE STOllY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEE 11. HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 1394-1473. A MAN who had much more to do with the discovery of America than did Marco Polo was Prince Henry of Portugal, though he too looked for an Eastern and not a Western world. This prince was born in 1394, nearly a hundred years before Columbus discov- ered America. He was the son of John I of Portugal. This king had seized the throne at a time when there was great dispute as to who had a right to it, and most of the people believed him to be the only man able and brave enough to save the country. He proved to be a great king. Queen Phili])pa, tlie mother of Prince Henry, was an English lady, a daughter of the famous John of Gaunt, and sister of the Enghsh Tving Henry IV. Prince Henry's parents were nol)le and high-minded people, and they gave their sons the best education to be had in that day. PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 9 might have tliought inviting Henry was the third son of King John and Queen Philippa, and as it was not likely that he would ever become king, he had the more time to spend in such studies as he loved. When the three young men had come of age, King John and Queen Philippa wished them to be made knights. In order to become a knight a young man had iirst to do some brave deed with his sword, even though he were a prince. That his sons a chance to win knighthood, King John of giving tournaments for a whole year and the knights of all nations to attend them. Tournaments, however, were but playing at war, and the king's Minister of Finance told him that, as this would be a very costly plan, it would be better to spend the money in attacking the Moorish city of Ceuta, which was opposite to the rock of Gibraltar, for it was tliought in those days a Christian act to attack the infidel Moors. The young princes were better pleased to gain knighthood in true war ; so everything was secretly made ready to attack Ceuta, and Queen Phili]3pa had three jew- eled swords made to pre- sent to her sons when they should be knighted. But before the fleet was ready to sail the queen fell ill and died, giving the swords to her sons on her deathbed. Instead of waiting to mourn long over her death, the ^^^rn^/ POSITION OF CEUTA. 10 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. king and princes set out on tlieir expedition, for tliey knew that this valiant action would have pleased her best. Twice the Portuguese fleet anchored before Ceuta, and twice it was scattered by storms. The Moors were much frightened when they first saw the Christian ships, but when they were a second time driven away by storms the people of Ceuta w^ere thrown off their guard, for they thought that the vessels would never get together again. Prince Henry, after a great deal ROCK OF GIBRALTAR. of trouble, however, got the fleet assembled again, and the Portuguese ships anchored for the third time before Ceuta. When the Moors saw this they crowded the wall of the city on the side next the fleet with men, and lighted candles in all the windows, in order to dis- courage the Christians by making them think that there were a great many soldiers in the town. The Portu- guese were indeed already discouraged by so bad a be- ginning, but the king and his sons held to their purpose. HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. H The princes landed, each of tliem in command of a division of the army, fought their way in at three dif- ferent gates, and took possession of several parts of the city. But their soldiers fell to plundering too soon, and the Moors, seeing the Christians off their guard, made a rush and tried to drive them from the town. Prince Henry held the narrow street where he was with but a handful of men, and once, left all alone, he fought the enemy single-handed. Presently a messenger went to the king and told him that his son Henry had fallen. The king only answered : " Such is the end which soldiers must expect." When evening came, how^ever, and John I called a council. Prince Henry was there, and his father's face lighted up with joy when he saw him. The king of- fered to knight Henry first of the tliree princes, because he had proved himself so brave a soldier, but Henry begged that his older brothers should be honored before him. All night long the soldiers made plunder of the gold, silver, spices, and fine stuffs to be found in the Moorish city, while one nobleman selected for his share more than six hundred columns of marble and alabas- ter and a dome, purposing to build with these a palace for himself in Portugal. When morning came, the streets ran with oil, honey, spices, butter, and preserves which had been wasted by the plunderers. The three princes were knighted in the great mosque on this day ; the Moors, with their women and children, meanwhile climbed the mountains behind the city, bewailing their loss. While others were plundering. Prince Henry was learning from Moorish prisoners something about 12 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. the interior of Africa and the coast of Gninea, which made him tliink of making some discoveries in tliese unknown parts. After Henry returned home he was invited by kings of other countries to come and lead tlieir armies, but instead of becoming a great warrior he liked better to give up his life to making discoveries. In his day peo- A SHIP FROM AN OLD MANUSCRIPT. pie imagined, when they thought anything about it at all, that Africa reached to the south pole, but Prince Henry began to have a notion that possibly Africa did not extend so far, and that ships might sail around it, and tlms reach the rich world of the East. His second brother, Dom Pedro, or Prince Peter, as we should say. HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 13 spent twelve years in traveling to what people tlien called the seven parts of the world — that is, to Palestine, Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, England, and other places in Europe. When he came home he brought Avith him the travels of Marco Polo and a map said to have been made by this famous traveler. So Henry read the book of Marco Polo, and it helped to make him wish to find the way to the East Indies and China. Prince Henry went to live on a lonely promontory which ran out into the sea. There was nothing but sage brush growing on this barren place, because the waves in time of storm spouted up through holes in the rocky shore and fell in a salt spray over the land, so that no other j^lants could grow there. Here he studied, and sent out ship after ship, to find out all about the coast of Africa. Before Henry's time vessels had sailed only in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic Ocean along the coasts of Europe. Sailors w^ere very timid and feared to leave the land far out of sight. The compass had only just come to be used. For a long time after it was discovered that a needle rubbed on a magnet would turn toward the polar star, sea captains were afraid to use this discovery in finding their way by sea, lest their sailors should suspect them of being magicians, for men imagined that so strange a thing must have been made by tlie help of evil spirits. Prince Henry interested him- self in all things that could make it safer to sail in the great Atlantic, of wdiich people knew so little and had so great a horror that they called it the " Sea of Dark- ness." He improved maps and spent great sums of money on voyages of discovery. Although he did not 14 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. sail on these voyages himself he came to be called " Henry the Navigator." Some of the nobles of Portugal, who troubled them- selves but little about unknown parts of the world, com- plained about Prince Henry's useless expeditions to the coast of Africa, until the Madeira Islands were discov- ered by his ships, when they thought best to say no more. In spite of all the efforts of Henry the Navigator, discovery went on slowly. He had to offer his cap- tains great rewards to get them to round a new cape. The sailors of those days imagined strange monsters in unknown seas, and thought that at the equator nobody could live, and that there the water of the ocean boiled because of the great heat. Prince Henry had difficulty in getting his seamen to sail around Cape Bojador and thus to enter the tropics. They were for the most part content to go a little farther than the last ship had sailed, and return with some gold dust and negro slaves with which to make a profit on their voyages. Henry lived among seamen. He sent out gentle- men of his household, his cup bearer and his squires, as captains on his ships. Adventurous sailors from other countries came to him to be sent on voyages of discovery, while he entertained negro chiefs and dined fi^^trc:^^^ (Jinary . "* : > CS^^^ map of the portion of the afri- can coast discovered before prin(;e henry's death. Oate of St. A7idrea (Genoa) as it exists at present. HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 15 on ostrich eggs brought from Africa. When Prince Henry died, in 1473, the African coast had been ex- plored to Cape Yerd, but the way to India had not yet been fonnd, though the Portuguese had begun to be hopeful of it, because the coast of Africa turned east- ward from Cape Yerd. GATE OF ST. ANDREA, GENOA, AS IT WAS IN THE TIME OF COLUMBUS. 16 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEK III. YOUNG COLUMBUS. lUQ-147Jt. A Venetian gentleman and a Portuguese prince had made great discoveries in unknown parts of the world, but the most wonderful of all discoveries was to be made by one who was neither prince nor gentleman, Christoforo Colombo, a Genoese weaver. Christopher Columbus, as we call him, was born in the Italian city of Genoa, somewhere about 1446. His GENOA AND ITS HARBOR, father was called Domenico Colombo, and his mother's name was Susanna. Ilis father was a weaver of wool, while liis mother came also of a family of wool and silk weavers. After Columbus became famous, some writers YOUNG COLUMBUS. 17 tried to prove that lie came of a noble family, but this is not true, for the Colombos, as they were called in Genoa, were simple working people. The father, three uncles, and several of the cousins of Christopher Co- lumbus were weavers, while his only sister married a cheese merchant. The father of Columbus was always poor, often he had to go in debt for the wool which he worked up, and once he bought a little piece of land and agreed to pay for it in pieces of cloth, but he did not get it paid for. He worked at his trade until he was about seventy-five years old, and finally died in debt, though he lived long enough to know that his oldest son had made a great discovery. A great deal of trouble has been taken to find the house which Do- menico Columbus owned, where Co- lumbus lived when he was a boy, and where he was probably born. It is a very narrow house, low and dark, and stands in a quarter of Genoa which was outside of the old city walls. In this quarter lived weavers of wool and silk, dressers of cloth, fullers, carders, dyers, and all people who made their living by working at the making of cloth. Thus we know^ what kind of neighbors the great dis- HOUSE IN WHICH CO- LUMBUS LIVED As IT IS AT PRESENT. 18 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. coverer had when he was a boy. The little house stood just M^thout the gate of St. Andrea, and Colum- bus must have seen this fine old gate many times in a day. On the lower floor of the narrow little house was the shop, which was open to the street, and here Domen- ico Columbus and his apprentices did their weaving, displaying their goods on a counter at the open front, and stopping work to sell to any customer who should chance to come. The family lived over the shop, and may have rented the story above this to some other poor family. The win- dow's had no glass in them, but there were wooden shutters for cold weath- er, with small apertures in them, which let in light through oiled linen or paper. The weavers of Genoa established little schools for their children, and probably Columbus was sent to one of these to learn to read, write, and cipher, until he got old enough to learn his father's trade. When this time came he went into his father's shop as an apprentice, and here he learned to comb wool or weave, prob- ably both. Columbus had three brothers, who were apprenticed to learn the weaver's trade, like himself. In later life he shared his good fortunes with two of them, Bartholomew and Diego, while we know nothing supposed appearance of the house in Columbus's time. (staolieno.) , YOUNG COLUMBUS. 19- m'////////i'//v/zi of ]|is other brother, except that he must have died when he was rather young. In 1470, when Christo- ,- pher Cohimbus was about „ 71 twenty-four years old, he | went on some small trad- , j ing voyage, for he signed a / a .' contract to pay a man sixty dollars for some wine which Columbus was to take on board a vessel and trade at some other port in the Mediterranean. But he does not seem to have been yet much of a sailor, for he is still called a weaver in the old papers. In Genoa a young man w^as not of age until he was twenty-five years old. About the time that Colum- bus came of age his father moved with his family to the city of Sa- vona, and there set up a weaver's shop. Two years after the removal to Savona a young comrade of Chris- topher's, named Mcolo Monleone, who was also a weaver, died. Be- fore Kicolo died, he made a will, to which there were six witnesses, three of whom were tailors, one a boot- maker, one a cloth-dresser, and one a weaver, this weaver being Christo- 3 y/^2^^EZ^^ W^A fW-^WM'/ZW^ yn=£ m PLAN OF THE GROUND- FLOOR OF THE HOUSE IX WHICH COLUMBUS LIVED. (STAGLIENO.) 20 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. pher Columbus. From this we know that Columbus was yet a plain working man. Soon after this, the CATIIEDKAL OF SAN LORENZO, GENOA. young weaver and his father signed a paper in which, they agreed to pay for some wool in pieces of cloth. Old legal papers, the only sources from which we can learn anything very certain about the early life of YOUNG COLUMBUS. 21 Columbus, show that he lived in Savona as a weaver until 1473, when he must have been about twenty-seven years old. There can be no doubt, however, that Chris- topher Columbus was no common weaver's boy, for he had less than twenty years more in which to learn to be a great navigator as well as to become a man of consid- erable education. It is altogether likely that he had very HARBOR OF SAVONA. little schooling, and that, like other men who have been poor boys and become famous, he educated himself by hard study at odd times. Genoa, like other Italian cities, had made itself rich by sending ships out to trade. All the land which be- longed to this city was a very small province, hemmed in by mountains, and most Genoese men who wished to 22 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. become rich or famous had to take to the sea. The province of Genoa had ah-eady furnished many admirals to Portugal, where such great discoveries were being pushed forward. No doubt Columbus, from the time that he was a little boy, had often stood on the wharves and seen the ships unloading their valuable merchandise, while he talked with seamen fresh from distant lands. He must have heard of Prince Henry's great plan for reaching India by going around Africa, and of the voy- ages made by the Portuguese. Perhaps he too had heard while he was still a weaver the story of Marco Polo's strange travels, for we know that at some time in his life he read Marco Polo's book, and that it made him wish very much to reach the rich countries about which it told. It is certain that young Columbus had a lively imag- ination, as well as a great deal of ambition. No doubt he often fancied himself making such a strange jour- ney as did Marco Polo, or sailing still farther than any Portuguese captain had done, and reaching the much- desired India. For him, as for many another Genoese young man, the sea was the only high road to fame and fortune, and Portugal was the place to go to if one wished to become a great discoverer, so when he was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, Columbus gave up his trade forever and took to the sea. A few years later we find him in Portugal. COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 28 CHAPTEK TV. COLUMBUS IX PORTUGAL. 1474-1485. Theee is very little known about the life of Colum- bus before he became a great man. We know that he went to live in Portugal, and that while he was there he made many voyages, for he afterward said that he had sailed in all the east, west, and north. It did not take a great deal of voyaging, however, to go into all the known seas of those days. Columbus had but to sail east in the Mediterranean, north to Iceland, south along the ex- plored coast of Africa, and to the islands west of Africa and of Europe to be a very experienced sailor, for this was as far as Europeans had ventured in any direction. At some time in his early life he got a wound, perhaps in one of the sea fights common in that day. AVhile Columbus was in Portugal he married a Portuguese lady, of good family, named Philippa Moniz. Columbus was a tall, strong man, with a long face, brilliant blue eyes, an aquiline nose, red hair, and a ruddy complexion, marked with freckles. He was rather rough and abstracted in his manner, and somewhat quick-tem- pered, though he knew how to be amiable at times. Those who saw Columbus said that he was a fine-looking man, although he dressed almost as plainly as a monk, for he was too thoughtful to care much about his clothes. 24 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. He was very much interested in geography, and learned to make maps and globes, and he sometimes made his living by selling these. Perhaps while he was making spheres he thought a great deal about what was in the great blank spaces. He believed that the part of the world already known — that is, from the Canary Islands to a certain city in Asia — made two thirds of the distance POKTKAIT OF COLUMBUS. around the globe, and that, as Marco Polo said that Asia extended very far eastward, it must come quite a dis- tance over into the unknown third of the world, and hence it would be quite easily reached by sailing west from Europe. In reality, only about one third of the world was known, while there remained two thirds to be explored ; but learned men in those days made the COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 25 same mistake concernino^ the size of the earth that Cohimbiis did. Probably if the truth about the circum- ference of the world had been known, America would not have been found bj Columbus. We have seen that Columbus was born in an age of discovery. It was not so much a curiosity to know about tlie unknown parts of the earth that made men at first bent on discovery as it was the desire for wealth. Italian cities, like Genoa, where Columbus was born, and Yenice, where Marco Polo lived, had become rich by sending out ships to trade with the Mohammedans, who sold spices, silks, and precious stones, which were brought by caravans from Asia. Those who had the means liked very much to dress in silk and jewels, while spices were greatly prized for seasoning the food of that day, which was rather plain and coarse. Great prices were paid for all kinds of goods from the East, and those who could sell them be- came rich, and enriched the countries where they lived. For this reason Prince Henry, as well as his brother and nephew, who were successively kings of Portugal, wished to find a way to India by sailing around Africa, thus making their country a market for the precious goods of the East. Spices and jewels, silks and precious gums^ drew men around the world on Ions: and dano^erous voyages and led them to find out about the globe on which they lived. It was probably while Columbus was in Portugal that he first thought of sailing directly west to reach Asia, instead of trying to go around Africa. He had not the least idea of finding a new continent, nor any desire to make such a discovery. Men in those days 26 THE STOKY OF COLUMBUS. liad no use for a new world ; what tliey longed for was an old world where precious commodities not to be found in Europe could be procured. In the days of Columbus many fables about islands in the Atlantic Ocean were believed. One of these stories was that when the Moors had conquered Spain, seven bishops with a great many people had sailed away into the Atlantic Ocean to an island where they had founded seven splendid cities, and the imaginary island on which they lived was called the Island of the Seven Cities. Another tale was about an island called St. Brandon, where a Scotch priest named St. Brandon had landed in the sixth century. People believed so firmly in these fantastic islands that the kings of Por- tugal several times gave them to subjects of theirs, w^ho never could succeed in finding their possessions. An imaginary island in which the ancients had believed, called Antilla, was looked for. There was still another fabled island called Brazil, and an Englisliman named Thomas Lloyd had sailed to the west of Ireland in 1480 in search of it. After about nine months Lloyd's ships put into an Irish port, badly beaten by tempests, and without having found the island of Brazil. People living on the Maderia Islands thought they saw on clear days a large island to the west, which they l^elieved to be St. Brandon. They sent in search of it, having first taken care to procure a grant of St. Brandon, but their island was never found. In spite of such disappoint- ments, St. Brandon, the Seven Cities, Antilla, Brazil, and other imaginary islands were put down on the maps of that day. Columbus made a careful note of all these tales. He too believed in the fabled islands, but he did COLUMBUS IN PORTUGAL. 27 not want to make a random voyage in search of them, as had other sailors. He only thought of them as conveni- ent and encouraging stopping places in making the long voyage westward to the shores of Japan and China. All that was known about Japan in the days of Columbus was that Marco Polo had reported that there was an island, which he called Cipango, lying five hun- dred leagues east of China. Marco Polo said that in Cipango there was an abundance of precious stones, while the king of that country lived in a palace the roof of which was covered with plates of gold, just as in Europe palaces are covered with plates of lead. This story is not impossible, since temples roofed with tiles of gold are not unknown in Asia to-day. Colum- bus did not doubt the stories of " Marco Millions," and he imagined himself sailing westward around the world, and so reaching the Island of Japan and the land of the Grand Khan. Thus the accounts of Marco Polo had much to do with both the discoveries of Prince Henry on the coast of Africa and with the finding of a new world in the West. Columbus was not the only man who had the grand idea of sailing west to reach the East. A great as- tronomer named Paolo Toscanelli, who lived in Flor- ence, had sent a letter to the Portuguese King, in w^iich he said that India could be reached by a shorter way than that which the Portuguese were looking for around Africa, and that this voyage should be made by sailing always westward. Columbus wrote to Paolo Toscanelli on the subject, and the great astronomer sent him a copy of this letter. He also sent Columbus a map in which the shores of Asia were made to come oj)230site to 28 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. the shores of Europe, while the imaginary Antilla and other islands, as well as the real Japan, dotted the ocean at convenient distances between the two continents. We see that though Columbus was not the only person who had the great idea, the difference between him and other men was that he believed so strongly in his idea that after he had once got it he thought of nothing else, and tried for nothing else but to carry it out. Since he was to find rich heathen lands, which, ac- cording to the idea of those days, must be taken posses- MAP OF THE SUPPOSED WESTEKN HEMISPHERE. sion of and converted to Christianity, Columbus thought it necessary to have a powerful king back of him. Besides this, he was far too poor a man to pay the cost of such an expedition alone. From the days of Prince Henry the Portuguese kings had known a great deal al)ont navigation and had " great heart," as Columbus himself said, in undertaking voyages of discovery. COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 29 John II, the grand-nephew of Prince Henry, was now on the throne. The king entertained learned men, both Jews and Christians in his palace, and received mariners from all parts of the world. While he reigned some noble discoveries were made by his sailors. Columbus had come to live in Portugal, the land of discovery. He carried his project to John II, propos- ing to him to find a way to the East Indies which should be shorter than the way he was seeking around Africa. The king kept Columbus waiting a long time, and at length declined his proposal. There were sev- eral reasons why so wise a king should have made this mistake. Columbus was a poor stranger, and Portugal did not need any longer to borrow its seafaring men from other countries, since there were now many hardy seamen in Portugal who had been taught in the school of African explorations. Then, too, Columbus, poor as he was, demanded great rewards for his discoveries ; he would have nothing less than the vice-royalty of the lands which he should find, the title of admiral, and a tenth part of the profits. He meant to make himself rich as well as famous by his discoveries. King John did not give such high rewards, and he was also perhaps a little disappointed in the results of Portuguese explo- rations, which had cost more than they had brought in. As the Cape of Good Hoj^e had not yet been found, the success of the attempt to reach India remained still in doubt. King John, however, did allow some of his own subjects to try a voyage westward, but they re- turned without having found land. This is said to have made Columbus very angry, for he felt that he had been cheated. 30 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEE Y. COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 1485-U87. iranc< ) J tall Columbus must have been very much disappointed when he was finally refused by King John, for Portugal was really the only country which was interested in dis- covery. But he was a persistent man, and he did not for a moment give up his plan. His brother Bartholo- mew had come to Portugal to try his fortunes with Christopher. Columbus now sent Bartholomew to pro- pose the plan to the King of England and the King of France, while he 'y [ himself set out for Spain. Knowing that Spain was jeal- ous of the discov- eries of the Portu- guese, he hoped that the king and queen of this country would be pleased with the idea of outdoing her neighbor in the race for India. When Columbus left Portugal to seek his for- tunes in Spain, somewhere about the year 1485, he left his wife and several little children behind him. At the time when Columbus went to Spain it was MAP OF PORTUGAL, SPAIN, AND GENOA. COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 31 PORTRAIT OF KING FERDINAND. governed by Ferdinand and Isabella. Before the time of this king and queen the country had been divided up into a great many king- doms, and there were all sorts of disorders, while the Moors, who had once conquered all Spain, were at war almost continually with the Christians. But when Ferdinand, w^ho was heir to the throne of Ara- gon, and Isabella, who became Queen of Castile, were married, and other small kingdoms came un- der their rule, Spain began to be, for the first time, a powerful country. Ferdinand and Isabella made it their chief work to conquer the Moors. At the time when Co- lumbus came to Spain the Moors had been driven intu the mount- ain kingdom of Granada, and here they were making their last stand against the Christians. King Ferdinand was a man of middle height, with muscles made hard and strong by exer- cises at arms. He had chestnut hair, a high forehead, w^hich was also a little bald, crooked teeth, and a face burned by constant exposure in war. His voice was sharp, and his speech quick. He dressed PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ISABELLA. 32 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. very plainly, for both Ferdinand and Isabella disliked ostentation. AVhen Ferdinand once wished to reprove a courtier for dressing too finely, he laid his hand on his own doublet and said : " Excellent stuff this, it has lasted me three pairs of sleeves." Ferdinand was an able king, careful and business- like. But Queen Isabella was much more loved than he. Her complexion was fair, her hair auburn, and her eyes blue and kindly. She was thought to be very ])eautiful. She was, when her religious bigotry was not aroused, a tender-hearted woman, and yet a queen of much ability and force. She governed her own kingdom, while Ferdinand governed his. During the wars with the Moors she sometimes busied herself with sending provisions to the army under command of the king, and sometimes rode into camp to encourage the sol- diers. Several suits of steel armor which Isabella wore have been kept to this day. She rode great distances on horseback, and sometimes, after spending the day in business, she would sit up all night dictating dis- patches. This great king and queen were so busy with their war against the ^Moors that it was very hard for Colum- bus to get them to listen to his plans or to think about them long at a time. The Spanish court was a camp which moved from place to place as the war went on, and Columbus had to follow it about. When he proposed his project to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella they called a council of the wisest men about the court to hear what the stranger had to say, and to decide whether it was possible to reach the islands of eastern Asia by COLUMBUS IN SPAIN. 33 sailing to the west. The court was then at the city of Salamanca, and it was during the winter of 1486-'87. The council of wise men which listened to tlie reasons of Columbus for wishing to undertake so strange a voy- age did not think it could be done. Ferdinand and Isabella did not, however, entirely refuse to consider the plans of Columbus, for he still followed the court when it moved to the city of Cordova. The account book of the royal treasurer of those days has been found, SAT-AMANCA. in which it is set down that on May 5, 148T, three thousand marevedis were paid to Cristobal Colomo, for this is what Columbus was then called in Spain. The three thousand marevedis would be about seventy-fiv^e dollars, but we must not forget that money would buy a great deal more in those days than now. In this old account book Columbus is set down as a stranger " em- ployed in certain things for the service of their High- nesses." So we see that the poor foreigner who came to propose an unheard of project was treated with kind- ness. 34 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. It is not known liow Columbus had earned his hving in Spain before this, though it is told by some that he made maps, and by others that he sold printed books. Printed books were a new thing in those days, for print- ing had not been very long invented, and Queen Isabella was very much interested in promoting this new art. COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 35 CHAPTEK YI. COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. U87-U9L For some years Columbus followed the Spanish court, trying to get the attention of the busy king and queen, who could not think long of anything but their war with the Moors. Sometimes he was noticed by great men at court. Quintanilla, the treasurer of the crown, pitied the poor foreigner, and gave him a home in his own house for a while. Diego de Deza, the bishop who taught the king's son, was kind to Columbus, and Juan Cabrero, who was first chamberlain to Ferdi- nand, befriended him. Sometimes the king and queen ordered money to be paid to him, or commanded the towns that he had to pass through in going to court to feed and lodge him. Still, there were times when Columbus was very poor and wore a shabby mantle. Many people laughed at his notions, and the very children are said to have pointed to their foreheads when he passed, to indicate that they thought him a crazy fellow. While Columbus was following the bustling court from place to place, his wife and all of his children, ex- cept one little l)oy named Diego, died in Portugal. Co- lumbus afterward had this little Diego with him in Sj^ain. He had also another little son, whom he called 4 36 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. Ferdinand. The mother of this child was named Beatriz Enriquez, and Hved in the city of Cordova. Cohnnbiis was present when the king laid siege to the Moorish city of Malaga, which was a rich and beauti- ful town, adorned with lovely gardens. The people of Malaga held out very obstinately, and in order that they might know that the Christian army had come to stay, ■A' CHILDREN MOCKINtr COLl MIU s Queen Isabella rode into the camp and took up her abode there. It is not very likely that any one thought much about the plans of Columbus during this busy time, but he w^as there waiting as usual. The people of COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 37 Malaga were finally starved out, the city surrendered, crosses and bells were put in the mosques, and the poor inhabitants were enslaved as a punishment for their stubborn courage. Every year some great city was besieged and taken. The next year, which was 1489, it was the Moorish city of Beza. There were floods and a great scarcity of food this year, and it was so hard to get money that Queen Isabella is said to have pawned the crown jewels and even the crown itself in order to carry on the war. The lack of money, the continuance of the war, and the great preparations for the wedding of the Princess Isa- bella, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, made it useless for Columbus to try to gain the attention of the sovereigns. Disheartened, he turned away from the Spanish court, intending to go to France or England to look for help. There was, however, in Spain, a noble- man called the Duke of Medina-Celi, who was himself almost a king, for he owned vessels and seaports, as well as great lands. This duke befriended Columbus in his time of discouragement. He took the poor foreigner into his own house to live, and kept him for two years among the many retainers that a great lord was accus- tomed to keep about him in those days. The duke was interested in the project of Columbus, and thought to let the stranger have three or four vessels at his own cost, since that was all he needed to try his novel voyage. The ships were made ready, but the duke dared not go into this undertaking without first letting the monarchs know about it. He wrote to the queen to ask her per- mission, but she declined to allow the duke to send out the ships on his own account. 38 THE STOHY OF COLUMBUS. Columbus returned to court. Perhaps he hoped that if the queen cared enough for his project to refuse to let a subject undertake it she would carry it out her- self. She did appoint the treasurer, Quintanilla, to ex- amine the proposal of Columbus. But the king and queen were making great preparations to lay siege to the city of Granada, and Columbus was once more for- gotten. He followed the Spanish court to the encamp- ^- ^- V^' VIEW OF THE ALHAMBRA ACROSS GRANADA. ment before Granada. Queen Isabella, dressed in armor, rode about the field on a beautiful horse, re- viewing her troops. Once the fine tent in which she slept caught fire, and the queen and her children were barely saved from burning. Because of this accident, and for the reason that winter was coming on, the queen resolved to build solid houses of stone and mortar for the encampment, so that there should be a city out- side of a city. In less than three months, the new city COLUMBUS BEGS IN VAIN. 39 had sprung up, which was called Santa Fe, or Holy Faith. Amid all this tumult of work there was no hope for the poor Genoese. Columbus was out of money and dis- couraged. His brother Bartholomew had been to England, where Henry YII was king, and had got some encouragement there. He had then gone to France, where he was kindly received by Anne de Beaujeu, who governed for her young son, Charles VIII. So Colum- bus resolved to journey either to France or England, perhaps to both of these countries, and see what he could do. 40 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER YII. A' FRIENDLY MONK. U91. It was quite likely that Columbus would have to wait many years before he could prevail on the rulers of England or France to undertake his discovery. It was therefore necessary that he should provide for his children as well as a poor man could. Ferdinand Co- lumbus was very young yet, and might be left with his mother, but Columbus must find a home for Diego. He made up his mind to take him to tlie town of Huelva, where the child had an uncle and aunt, who could take care of him. Columbus and his little boy traveled on foot. He had almost reached the town of Huelva when he stopped one day at the monastery of La Rabida, and begged the porter to give him a little bread and water for the child. The prior of the convent, named Juan Perez, happened to see Columbus, and noticed that the poor stranger spoke Spanish with the accent of a foreigner. " Who are you, and where do you come from ? " asked the prior. "I have come," answered Columbus, "from the court, where I have been to propose certain maritime discoveries, engaging myself to make land at terra firina^ and demanding that they confide an expedition to me A FRIENDLY MONK. U for this purpose. But tlie men of the court have turned my projects into derision, saying they were nothing but air bubbles. Despairing of success, I have left the court, and am going to Huelva, to the house of a man named Muliar, husband of a sister of my wife." The good monk wanted to hear what the plan of Columbus was. So he invited him into the monastery, WITH JUAN PEREZ AT THE MONASTERY. and made him tell his story. Then he sent for a certain doctor of medicine, named Garcia Hernandez, who lived near by, in the town of Palos. This doctor knew some- 42 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. thing of the science of astronomy, and astronomy had much to do with geography in tliose days, for it was still rather a strange thing to believe that the world was round, and it took something of an astronomer to have faith in such an opinion. The shabby stranger, the monk, and the doctor had a long talk together, which ended in the monk's believ- ing in the possibility of the bold project of Colum- bus. This same Juan Perez had once been confessor to Queen Isabella. So he wrote a letter to the queen, begging her not to let Columbus leave Spain from dis- couragement. A pilot, named Sebastian Rodriguez, carried the letter to court, while Columbus and the little Diego stayed in the friendly convent. After fourteen days, Rodriguez came back with an answer from the queen, asking Juan Perez to come to court and talk with her. So the good Perez saddled his mule and set off secretly in the night to the court, which was still in the city of Santa Fe, before Granada. We do not know why Juan Perez made his journey so privately, nor what he said to the queen when he saw her once more, but we know that his friendship was worth more to Columbus than the friendship of all the great courtiers who had been kind to him at different times. The queen sent Perez back for Columbus, and at the same time she sent the navigator about seventy- two dollars, which would be the same in value as two hundred and sixteen dollars in our day. With part of this money Columbus made haste to buy some decent clothes and a mule, while he kept the rest to pay his traveling expenses. He and Juan Perez journeyed back to Santa Fe together with light hearts. A FRIENDLY MONK. 43 After they readied court, Queen Isabella appointed a conference of learned men to decide once more about the scheme of Columbus. There was a great discussion among these men. As for sailing partly around the '.^lufe^^^Til^y-.?^ .^f A WINDOW IN THE ALHAMBRA, world, some did not think it could be done and others were in favor of trying it. The Church fathers were quoted to prove that there could be no human beings living on the opposite side of the earth. According to THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. their notions, the people of Europe lived on the top of the ball and it was impossible for men to exist on the other side of the world, since they would have to walk ^'5 -^^^ '''*«'''^«^»*^ =' '^\\W]W'' ' ^s^^^w^^^i^- ti^^ '-T^r^ ^'LjS^'^, GATEWAY OF GRANADA. upside down. How was it possible for trees to grow with their roots above them, and how eould it ram and snow upward ? So strong was the notion that they lived on the top of the earth that, years after, Columbus was A FRIENDLY MONK. 45 said to have discovered "a considerable portion of the lower world." In the midst of this assembly sat Cardinal Mendoza, who was called the Third King of Spain, because he was so powerful. Just behind him sat Geraldini, the bishop who taught the royal children. Geraldini remarked to the great cardinal that the Church fathers were no doubt excellent theologians, but only mediocre geogra- phers, since the Portuguese had reached a point in the other hemisphere where they could no longer see the polar star, and had discovered another star at the south pole, and yet they had found all the countries situated under the torrid zone perfectly peopled. - The great cardinal favored the project of Columbus, and so did most of the assembly. About this time the city of Granada surrendered, and the war with the Moors was at an end. The flag of Spain floated from the highest tower of the beautiful palace called the Al- hambra. Columbus saw Boabdil, the last of the Moor- ish kings, come forth and kiss the hands of Ferdinand and Isabella, and of the young prince Juan, who was heir to the throne. Ferdinand and Isabella had made themselves the greatest sovereigns in Christendom, but they never once imagined that the discoveries of this poor Genoese weaver, who had so long followed their court and waited disconsolately in their ante-rooms, would add more to the glory of their reign than their great Moorish conquest. 46 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER YIIL GETTING READY FOE THE VOYAGE. It was in the very beginning of the year 1492, after he had waited seven years in Spain, that Queen Isabella agreed to send Columbus to seek a new way to India. But there was still another disappointment in store for the ambitious adventurer. He asked great rewards — the titles of admiral and viceroy and a share in the profits arising from all the discoveries he should make. This was too much, and Columbus would take nothing less, so he turned his back once more on the Spanish court, resolved to go immediately to France. After he had gone, Luis de Santangel, an officer of King Ferdinand's Kingdom of Arragon, is said to have remonstrated with Queen Isabella for letting such an opportunity slip. The queen relented, and a courier was sent to bring back the disappointed Columbus as he rode slowly away on his mule So the poor man with the grand projects returned to court once more, and this time no objections were made to his demands. There was some trouble about raising money enough to send Columbus on his voyage. The queen wished him to wait until the Moors were expelled from Spain, when the treasury would be filled with the money taken from the conquered people. But Columbus would GETTING READY FOR THE VOYAGE. 47 wait no longer. There is a storj that Queen Isabella offered to raise the money that was needed by pawning her jewels, but this is not probable, since the queen's jewels had been already pawned, it is thought, to carry on the war. At this moment, when the plans of Columbus were likely to fail for want of a little money, Luis de Santangel offered to lend the money to the queen. It would seem that King Ferdinand did not believe in the project of Columbus, for he did not share in the undertaking, and for some time after the discovery of America only the Castilians, who were Isabella's own subjects, were allowed to send ships there. At last the papers were signed. Columbus was to have the title of admiral and the office of viceroy over the lands that he should discover. He was to have a tenth part of the gold, precious stones, pearls, silver, spices, and other articles found in these lands, and if he bore an eighth part of the expenses he was to have an eighth part of the profits of all the voyages made, while he and his family were to have the title of Don, which was a great honor in those days, something like the title of Lord in English. After all the long delays and the many doubts as to whether it was best to undertake this famous first voy- age of Columbus, it cost Queen Isabella only about sixty thousand dollars. Columbus furnished one of the three small ships which were to sail, and so did his share toward the expenses. We do not know who it was that lent to Columbus the money to do this, for he was certainly too poor to do it himself. The little town of Palos, which was near the monas- 48 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. tery of La Rabida, had done something for which it was punished by being obhged to furnish tAvo ships every year to the crown. So the order was now given that Palos should turn over its two ships to Columbus. The royal order was read in the church of St. George in Palos to the officers of the town and many of the people. They promised to furnish the ships without any trouble, but wdien it was found that they were to sail into unknown seas there was great horror. The owners of the vessels thought that they w^ould certainly lose their ships, while common sailors refused to go on any such voyage. When courtiers and learned men were so uncertain about the undertaking, it is not strange that it was altogether terrible to ignorant peo- ple. Some of the men at court are said to have thought that when Columbus had once sailed west, he would find the roundness of the earth like a mountain, which he could not sail up again to come home. The sailors of Palos probably knew nothing about the earth being round, but they had many strange beliefs about the Sea of Darkness, as the Atlantic was called, and they thought that they would never see Spain again if they ventured off in this waste of waters. When Queen Isabella heard of this new difficulty, she sent a royal officer to see that ships were pressed into the service, and oifered to let criminals out of the prisons if they would sail on the dreaded voyage. But still there was a great deal of trouble to get ships and men. A family of bold seamen, called Pinzon, took an interest in the expedition, however, and went to a great deal of trouble to find men to go as sailors. At last ships were found. Two of them were of GETTING READY FOR THE VOYAGE. 49 the kind of vessel called caravels, and were not any larger than the small craft which one sees to-day sailing in rivers or coasting. Only the largest of them was decked \'":^'^^'^^^t^-^^^^ over, the others were merely ^-k T^ IzZi open sailing boats, with cabins X^'^Wm^Jmr built on the bow and stern, ^^f"-,^^^?^ one being a very small craft ,1 -^^^ 1 ' i ' j ^^^ with lateen sails. There was "^"^^tal^^^L ^^£ a great deal of trouble before ^'^^^^^^^^^fe-^ the ships could be got ready. a caravel. The men who calked them did it badly and then ran away ; some of the sailors de- serted and concealed themselves ; the owners of the vessels were also willing to put obstacles in the way of the voyage. But everything was ready by the beginning of August, 1492. Columbus was to sail in the largest ship, which was called the Santa Maria, that is Holy Mary, or as it was sometimes called The Marigalante, which means The Gallant Mary. This ship belonged to a man named Juan de la Cosa, wdio went along in command of her. The second ship, which was the best sailer, w^as called the Pinta. Her captain was Martin Alonzo Pinzon, one of the family who had helped Co- lumbus to lit out for the voyage, while another Pinzon was pilot. This ship belonged to two men of Palos, named Gomes Rascon and Cristobal Quintero. These two owners also sailed in their ship, as though they could not bear to part company with their property on so dangerous an expedition, and, in fact, they meant to take the first opportunity to fetch the vessel back to 50 THE STOliY OF COLUMBUS. Spain. The smallest ship, called the Nina, was com- manded bj another of the bold Pinzon family. The sailors were a very mixed lot. Some of them were re- leased prisoners, who would rather risk the horrors of unknown seas than take their punishment at home ; and we find that there was even one Englishman and one Irishman in the motley company. Before Columbus sailed he placed his two little boys, Diego and Ferdinand, at school in the city of Cordova. Diego was appointed a jDage to Prince Juan, the son of the king and queen. This was an honor which was usually granted only to the children of noble houses. The little Diego, who was probably about ten years old at this time, had to be sent to school for two years be- fore he was fit to go to court and serve as page to a prince. Every one who was to sail on the expedition took the sacrament before going. There were about ninety people in all. Letters were sent from the King and Queen of Spain, addressed to the Grand Khan, or Em- peror of China, whom Columbus expected, without doubt, to find. An interpreter was provided who was supposed to speak Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Cop- tic, and Armenian, for no one thought of anything but of the possibility of reaching Eastern lands. There was a sad parting at Palos, for the friends of those who sailed had little hope of ever seeing them again. The three little ships got under way at half an hour before sunrise on the morning of the 3d of August, 1492. THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 51 CHAPTEK IX. THE FIEST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. lJfJ92. No doubt it was a moment of relief to Columbus wLen he found himself fairly at sea, where his men could not desert nor ship owners make any more delays ; but the ship owners were with him, and his joy was short-lived. Kascon and Quintero, the proprietors of the Pinta, contrived, it is said, to have her rudder broken and unhung. The Pinta made signals of dis- tress and the fleet was detained in a high sea. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who was captain of the Pinta, tied the rudder with ropes, but it gave way again next day. There was nothing to do but to stop at the Canary Islands. Columbus tried to get another ship here, but as he could not do this he had the Pinta repaired, and at the same time had the lateen sails of the Nina changed so that she could keep up with the other ships. Columbus spent about three weeks at the Canary Islands. AVhile there he heard that some Portuguese ships were seen hovering oif Ferro Island. Afraid that the Portuguese had heard of his ex^^edition and that they might try to intercept him, Columbus got away as quickly as possible. For two days he lay be- calmed, how^ever, between the islands of Gomara and Tenerife. The sailors watched the volcano of Tenerife 5 52 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. smoking day and night. They had never seen anything of the sort before, and the sight is said to have awak- ened many fears, but Cohimbns explained it to them and told them about Mount Etna. On the 8th of September, at three o'clock in the morning, the wind sprang up and the three little ships were at length off for the Kew World. When they saw the last of the Canaries the sailors sighed and sobbed, for they thought they were doomed men ; but PEAK OF TENERIFE. Columbus talked to them about the great countries to which they were sailing, and inflamed their minds by the promise of riches for them all. He saw that he was in danger of failing because his men were faint-hearted, so he did everything that he could to encourage them. He kept two reckonings of the distance the ships had sailed — one for the sailors, which he made every day some leagues shorter than the actual distance, and a se- cret reckoning for himself, which gave the true dis- THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 53 tance made. He did this because he knew that the men would be disheartened if they knew how far they were from home. Three days after the ships left the Canary Islands a piece of a mast was picked up. It had lain long in the water, and seemed to have belonged to some large ship. Perhaps some vessel had tried these seas before and been lost. The men did not like the looks of this. Three days later Columbus noticed that the needle of the compass did not point directly toward the north star. He had never heard of the variation of the needle, now so well known to all mariners, and he was at a loss to understand it as many learned men have been since. In a few days the pilots noticed it and were anxious, for if the compass should fail them in this unknown ocean what w^ould they do ? But Columbus had invented a theory to explain it, and made use of it to reassure the pilots. The fleet presently entered the region of the trade winds which blow steadily from east to west, following the course of the sun. The ships were blown gently westward, while the air was so sweet and mild that Co- lumbus said it would have been like April in Andalusia or southern Spain if one might but have heard the song of the nightingale. A heron and a water-wagtail flew over the vessels and rejoiced the hearts of the men, for they thought that these birds would not fly far away from land. The ships at length began to sail past great patches of green and yellow weeds floating on the water. Sure- ly these weeds must have come from some island or reef. On one of the patches Columbus found a live 54 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. crab. He kept it very carefully, for it was encouraging to see life in this great waste of waters. When night came on the sliips plowed through schools of tunny fish, and the sailors amused themselves by throwing the har- poon at them. The crew of the Nina succeeded in kill- ing one of these fish with a harpoon. The smallest things were noticed on this first advent- urous voyage. At three hundred and sixty leagues .TlHanric Ocean 0C7Rcut|]C. Canary J THE CANARY ISLANDS AND THE AZORES from the Canaries another water-wagtail was seen. The weather continued to be mild. There w^as a gentle breeze, while Columbus said that the sea was as calm as the river Guadahjuiver at Seville. The Pinta, being the best sailer, pushed ahead. Presently she waited for the admiral's ship, and Pinzon, who was lier captain, called out that he had seen a great many birds flying toward THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 55 the sunset and also that he had seen land covered with clouds to the north ; but Columbus would not turn out of his course to look for land, though his men wanted him to. He believed in land to the west, and he did not wish to waste his time in sailing hither and thither. The wind began to freshen and the sailors had to short- en sail for the first time in a dozen days. The next day there were drizzling showers, Tvhich Columbus thought were a sign that land was near. Two pelicans lit on the ships, and he told his men that these birds did not often fly twenty leagues from shore. Perhaps the ships were passing between islands, but still Columbus would not change his course. He sound- ed, however, with a line two hundred fathoms long, but there w^as no bottom, and this certainly did not look as though land were near. The men had for a long time been discontented in spite of drizzling showers, weeds, live crabs, and water- wagtails. They were long out of sight of land, no other ships had ever sailed in these seas, so that there was no hope of rescue if they got into trouble. They did not like it that the wind blew always from the stern of the ship, for if the wind blew always one way how were they to reach home when they turned about? Then, too, they were afraid that the ships might be caught in one of those great flelds of tangled weeds as they had heard of ships being caught in frozen seas. It is not strange that the sailors were frightened. Many of them had been forced into this most audacious sea adventure that the w^orld had ever kno\^'n. Each day that they were disappointed in looking for land 56 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. they thought how much fartlier they were from liome. They had ah^eady sailed quite far enough to have made theirs one of the most wonderful of voyages. One day there was a light wind blowing from the southwest, which was lucky for Columbus, for it proved that the wind did not always come from the east. Three little birds, which the men thought must have come from groves or orchards, lit singing on the masts in the morning and flew away again at night. Big birds, it was thought, might fly very far out to sea, but it was impossible that these tiny creatures would vent- ure very far. Still, no land was seen and the breezes from the southwest were so light that they scarcely ruf- fled the water. The men began to complain that they could never reach home with such feeble winds. Co- lumbus tried to encourage them ; but when he had be- gun to be afraid that he could not restrain them much longer, there came up a great wind from the northwest, and the sea was quite rough enough to satisfy any one that the wind did not always blow^ from one quarter. This same day a dove flew over the ships, and to- ward evening the men saw a pelican, a little river bird, and a white bird. There were also several live crabs on the floating weeds, and they discovered fishes swim- ming about the ships. Columbus made the most of every sign that land was near, but, under such circum- stances, men grew tired of signs. The sailors began to say to one another that the admiral was a foreigner, who, for the mere fancy of making himself a great name and being called Don, made a game of exposing tliem to the greatest dangers and leading them to cer- tain death. If Columbus would not consent to return, THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS. 57 they might throw him in the sea, and say that he liad fallen in while gazing at the stars, as was his habit. Meantime the wind was favorable again on the 25th of September and the air was soft and mild. The ves- sels sailed near each other, while Columbus talked with Pinzon, the captain of the Pinta, about the map which Columbus had brought with him and which Pinzon had borrowed a day or two before. Pinzon thought that they might now be near Japan. Columbus agreed with him, but thought that the currents of the ocean might have carried the ships out of their course. He wished to look at the map again. Pinzon tied a rope to it and threw it on board the admiral's ship. While Columbus and his pilot were studying the map, Pinzon, who was standing on the high stern of the Pinta, shouted : " Land ! land ! Sefior, I claim my reward ! " The reason that Pinzon said this was that the king and queen had offered a velvet coat and a pension to the one who should first see land ; but he who gave a false alarm could not claim the reward again. The caj)- tain of the Pinta pointed to the southwest. Yes, every one saw land there. Columbus threw himself on his knees and thanked God. It was growing dark, so he ordered that the ships should head toward the land in the night; but in the morning there was no land to be seen. Pinzon had been deceived again by sunset clouds. The ships sailed on with a soft wind and a calm sea. In spite of their disappointment the sailors amused themselves by swimming about the ships. The men began to see dolphins, while flying fish fell on the decks of the ships. Four water-wagtails lit on the admiral's 58 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. ship. So many birds of a kind, said Columbus, would not have ventured far from land. The Nina was the next to discover land, but it was again a false alarm. There began to be great flocks of birds flying over the ships. The sailors, however, were disheartened and would hear no more of signs. They had been a month out of sight of land, always on the lookout, and yet the sun rose day after day out of the boundless water and set again in the ocean. At sunset Columbus noticed that the birds all flew toward the southwest as though they were going to their roosting place, which must be on land. Remembering that the Portuguese had often found land by following the flight of the birds at sun- set, Columbus changed his course to the southwest. The 11th of October came. The air was sweet with land odors, fresh weeds floated by the ships, wdiile the men saw a kind of green fish which lives about rocks. But, better than all, they picked u^ a thorny branch with red berries growing on it which was freshly broken from the tree. Then, too, they found a reed, a small board, and a stick which had been carved by hand. Even the discontented men could not doubt that land was near. In the evening, after all hands had sung the jSalve Regina as usual, Columbus made his men a little speech, in which he told them how good God had been to bring them so far safely, telling them that as they had that day seen such sure signs of land they had better keep a lookout during the night. LAND AT LAST. 59 CHAPTER X. LAND AT LAST. U92. No eyes were closed on board the three Httle ships that night. The Pinta pushed ahead as usuaL All were eagerly on the lookout. About ten o'clock, Co- lumbus, who was standing on the high poop of his ship, saw a faint, trembling light. It appeared and disaj)- peared, as though it might ])e a torch in a fisherman's boat which was being tossed up and down on the water, or perhaps a small candle being carried from one house to another on land. At two o'clock in the morning a gun was fired by the Pinta. A sailor on board this ship had seen land. The sails were now furled and the men spent the hours till dayhght in rejoicings. Colum- bus must have been the happiest of them all. The poor weaver had made himself one of the greatest of men by the success of this voyage. It was the 12th of October, 1492. After having been thirty-three days out of sight of land, Columbus and his men saw at daylight a low island covered with beautiful tropical trees, blooming and bearing fruit at a time "of the year when the leaves were falling in Spain. It is not known to-day which island in the West Indies is the one at which Columbus first landed. It is a question between Watling's Island, Grand Turk 60 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. Island, Cat Island, Mayaquana, Samana, and Acklin's Island. It was soon evident that the island was peopled, for men were seen running out of the woods to look at the ships. The Spaniards were, no doubt, too much de- lighted to see green land once more to be disappointed Son Sctluador fflXJonlncj'sIi. C^ Cuba MAP SHOWING THE ISLANDS AT WHICH COLUMBUS LANDED. when they found that these men were naked, and that nothing was to be seen of the magnificent cities of Japa.n. The ships' boats were manned, and the Spaniards made haste to the shore, carrying the flags of the expedi- tion, which had a green cross on one side and the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella, surmounted by crowns, on the other side. Columbus had dressed himself richly in scarlet for this great occasion. When the boats touched shore, admiral and men leaped out, threw themselves on LAND AT LAST. 61 the earth, and kissed it. Columbus, when he had arisen, solemnly took possession of the island in the name of the king and queen and called it San Salvador, or Holy Saviour. He was then greeted by his men as OLD PRINT OF 1500, SHOWING COLUMBUS LANDING AND THE KING OF SPAIN SENDING SHIPS ACROSS TO AMERICA. viceroy of this new world, and they humbly begged his pardon for any offenses they had given him during the voyage. The naked Indians assisted at the ceremony by star- 02 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. ing very hard, having not the smallest idea that their country was being taken possession of. It is said that when the natives first saw the ships in the early morn- ing, they thought them some kind of strange animal. Now, however, they imagined that these men had come down from the sky by means of the wings which they saw on their ships. After they had got a little used to the strangers they came near them, touching their beards, and wondering at the whiteness of their hands and faces. Columbus was pleased with the gentle, sim- ple ways of these islanders. He gave them red caps, necklaces of glass beads, and other such things as the Portuguese used in trading with the negroes of Guinea. The Indians were delighted with their gifts, and made haste to put the strings of beads around their necks to enjoy the effect. After resting on shore all day, Columbus and his men returned to their ships. Meantime the news was spreading among the natives, and each one was anxious to get some treasure of the men from the skies before they flew away again in their winged boats. They pad- dled up to the fleet in canoes or swam out, bringing live parrots and great balls of cotton yarn to exchange for anything the white men would give them. They were ready to give the few gold ornaments they had for a piece of broken dish, a scrap of glass, an end of a strap, or a bit of a barrel hoop ; but Columbus would not let his men trade with the Indians for anything less valuable than beads or bells. When night came the In- dians disappeared, only to swarm about the ships again when day returned. Their canoes were made of the trunks of trees hollowed out. They turned over very LAND AT LAST. 63 easily, but this did not trouble the natives, for they had no clothes to wet, and they swam about in the warm water until they could right their boats once more, bal- ing the water out with calabashes. After a day or two the Indians began to feel themselves at home on the ships, and those who had nothing to trade would seize some trifle which had taken their fancy and, jumping overboard, swim ashore with it. Columbus explored the coast of the island for some distance in the ships' boats. As the white men coasted the island, natives came out from the woods to see them, and ran along shore after them, offering them food and trying to get them to come to land. As they did not do this, the Indians swarmed about them in canoes or swam to them, making signs to them to know whether they had come down from the sky. Colum- bus was pleased with their simplicity, and gave them pins and other trinkets, with which they were highly delighted. After exploring part of the shore of the island, he resolved to push on for China or Japan. Marco Polo had said that there were over seven thousand islands extending along the coast of Asia, where spices and scented woods grew. Columbus thought that he must be among these islands, and it only remained to find Japan, or the country of the Grand Khan — that is, China. Columbus asked the In- dians where they got their gold ornaments, and, as they pointed toward the southwest and seemed to say some- thing about a great monarch who used dishes of gold, he decided to go in search of this desirable king. Co- lumbus carried away seven of the natives of San Salva- dor to teach them Spanish and make use of them as in- 64 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. terpreters. He noticed that these men were not nearly so dark as the negroes of Africa, while their hair was not curly, but flowing. Some of them were covered with red, white, and black paint, others were only colored about the eyes and nose. A CALABASH. EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 65 CHAPTER XI. EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. U02. Columbus could see many islands from his ship, and it was hard to decide which one to visit first. His In- dian guides seemed to say by signs that at a neighbor- ing island the natives wore bracelets and anklets of gold, so Columbus sailed for this. He landed and took pos- session with the same ceremonies that he had used on San Salvador, calling the island Santa Maria. Santa Maria proved to be very much like the first one ; the natives were quite as much astonished, they were quite as naked, and gold was quite as scarce. So Columbus decided to proceed to another and much larger island. As the ships were about to sail, one of his Indian guides, who was on board the Nina, seeing that the white men were going so far away from his home on San Salvador, jumped into tlie water and swam to a canoe full of natives which was near. The sailors gave chase, but the Indians were too quick for them. They paddled ashore and ran into tlie woods, while the men took their re- venge by capturing their canoe and tieing it behind the IS'ina. Columbus regretted this incident, since he did not want the Indians to be afraid of the white men. A canoe was approaching the ships from another part of the island with one native in it. This fellow was com- THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. ing to trade a ball of cotton yarn for some liawk's shells. He stopped when he got near the ships, and seemed afraid to come nearer. Two or three sailors jumped overboard and captured him. Columbus stood on the poop of his ship. He ordered the Indian to be brought to him. The poor fellow came trembling and holding out his ball of yarn as an offering. But Columbus put a red cap on his head, strings of green beads about his arms, and hung little bells on his ears. He then had the fellow put in his canoe with his ball of cotton yarn and set free. He also made the sailors of the Nina let the canoe go that they liad captured, so that the Indians to whom it belonged might find it again. The ships now made for the larger island, and pres- ently they ran across an Indian alone in a canoe, pad- dling across the wide gulf between the islands. He had a little cassava bread, which was the chief food of these INDIAN PADDLING IN A DUG-OUT. people, and a gourd of water for supplies. He had also a little red earth with which to paint himself on his ar- rival, and some dry leaves, which the white men thought were medicine. It is quite likely that they were leaves of tobacco. He wore a string of the white men's beads around his neck, and was no doubt paddling to other EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 67 islands to astonish the natives with his finery, and to tell the story of how he had got it. As he seemed tired with paddling so far, the Spaniards took him on board, canoe and all. They fed him on bread, honey, and wine. The sea was so calm that the fleet did not reach the large island nntil night. The ships lay to until morning, bnt they put out the Indian boatman with his canoe, his treasures, and some presents, which Columbus had given him. He paddled ashore, and soon spread the news of the kindness of these strangers. The natives began coming out to the ships in the night, bringing fruit, roots, and spring water. Columbus gave them trinkets, and when any of them came on board, he gave him sugar and honey to eat, sweets being a great novelty to the Indians. Columbus named the island Fernandina, for the king. The people of this island sometimes wore a cotton mantle over the shoulders, or a sort of apron tied around the waist. Their houses were circular bowers, made of branches, reeds, and palm leaves. Under these tent-like roofs were nets made of cotton cord, stretched from one post to another, for beds. The Indians called these beds hamacs^ and so it is from these simple people that we get our hammock, even to the name. The admiral sailed along the shore of Fernandina. While the men landed to fill their water barrels, Co- lumbus went ashore and walked about. The great tropical forests filled him with admiration. " The coun- try," said he, ^' was as fresh as the month of May in Andalusia ; the trees, the fruits, the herbs, the flowers, the very stones, for the most part, as different from those of Spain as night is from day." The Indians gg THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. made haste to till the casks for their visitors from cool springs or little brooks. Columbus sailed away from Fernandina in search of an island whicli the Indians described by signs as hav- ing a gold mine, and also a king who dressed in fine stuffs and wore golden ornaments. He discovered an island which he called Isabella. '' There came off a fragrance," said Columbus, " so good and soft of the flowers and trees of the land that it w^as the sweetest thing in the world." He landed on this island without finding any sign of either gold mine or king, but he was delighted with the country. " I know not where first to go," he said, " nor are my eyes ever w^eary of gazing on the beautiful verdure. The singing of the birds is such that it seems as if one would never desire to depart hence. There are flocks of parrots which darken the sun, and other birds, large and small, of so many kinds and so different from ours that it is w^on- derf ul ; and, besides, there are trees of a thousand spe- cies, each having its particular fruit and all of a marvel- ous flavor, so that I am in the greatest trouble in the world because I do not know them, for I am very cer- tain that they are each of great value." Columbus did not doubt that many of these strange growths which he saw would be much prized in Spain for medicines and spices. He thought that he was in the East Indies, where valuable herbs and well-known spices grow. He did not fancy for a moment that he was in a new world where the plants were strange to Europeans, who had yet to learn their use and value. When the admiral asked the Indians of this island where gold w^as to be found, they pointed south and EXPLORING IN THE WEST INDIES. 69 said something about a large island called Cuba. He un- derstood by tlieir signs that there were gold, pearls, and spices there, and that large ships came there to trade. These, he made no doubt, were the ships of the Grand Khan, and the island must be Cipango or Japan. Co- lumbus thought to sail there and load up with gold and precious stones. He purposed then to sail to China, where he would deliver his letters to the Grand Khan, and return in triumph into Spain. 70 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XII, COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. U92. When Columbus neared the northern coast of Cuba he found that it was very large, with high mountains, beautiful valleys, and line rivers. He landed in the mouth of one of these rivers and named the island Juana, after the little Spanish prince Juan, in whose suite his son Diego was to be a page. Two cabins stood near the place at which the Spaniards landed. The people who lived in them fled into the forest when they saw the strange visitors approaching. On examin- ing the cabins the seamen found nothing in them but some nets made of palm-tree fibers and harpoons made of bone. Columbus forbade his men touching any of these things. Cuba was the most beautiful of all the islands that had yet been discovered. The lofty trees were covered with a fine foliage, laden with beautiful blossoms or fruit, and peopled with birds of brilliant hue. Colum- bus did not doubt that the sweet odors filling the air came from spice trees. He believed that there were gold mines in the interior and that the oysters which he saw in the water bore pearls. The admiral coasted along the shore of Cuba, uncer- tain whether it was the island of Japan or the mainland COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. Yl of China. He visited a village, but the terrified people fled to the mountains. The houses at this place were bet- ter built than any Indian cabins he had seen before, and he found in them rude wood carvings and masks. Colum- bus, ever hopeful, now^ felt sure that he would soon dis- cover signs of a more advanced civilization, and be- lieved that he was nearing an important kingdom. These people, he fancied, might prove to be tribes of poor fishermen living on the coast and selling their fish at cities in the interior. He presently found what he took to be skulls of cows, which proved to his satisfac- tion that there w^ere cattle in Cuba, but they were in reality the skulls of what is known as the sea cow. The Spaniards reached at length a large cape which was covered with palms. Three of the San Salvador Indians told Pinzon that behind this cape was a river which led to a country called Cuba-nacan, where there was much gold. In their language Cuba-nacan meant middle Cuba, nacan meaning middle ; but Pinzon was cei'tain that Cuba-nacan was Kublai Khan, the Emperor of China. If this were true this beautiful country would prove to be not Japan, but the mainland of China. The Spaniards set out to look for the river beyond the cape ; but there was no river there, and contrary winds set in so that the ships had to turn back. It Avas now the 1st of November. Columbus sent some men ashore to see the natives ; but the Indians ran away as soon as the w^hite men landed. When the Spaniards returned to their boats, the natives came back and stared at them from the shore. Columbus, who had learned his Marco Polo pretty well by heart, Y2 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. remembered that the Grand Khan was in the habit of sending ships to capture the natives of the islands for slaves. No doubt this was one of the islands visited by the slave ships of the Khan, and hence the reason for the alarm of the natives at the sight of ves- sels. With this idea in his head, Columbus sent one of his Indians ashore in a boat, charging him to tell the natives that the Spaniards were peaceable and that they had nothing to do with the Grand Khan. As the Indi- an interpreter knew nothing of the Grand Khan and little of the Spanish tongue, he probably said that the white men were good people and very generous in giv- ing away some very desirable articles, such as beads and bells. At any rate, he made a speech to the natives from the ship's boats, and then jumped out and swam ashore. Before night, sixteen canoes came out to the ships. The Indians brought cotton yarn and other such things to trade ; but Columbus forbade trading for anything except gold, thinking he could in this way make the Indians bring out their hidden treasures. They really had nothing of value, however, except a sil- ver nose ornament which one of them wore. These people said that their king lived inland, and that they had sent messengers to him to let him know of the presence of the white men. Columbus thought that this must be some petty mon- arch, so he concluded to send messengers himself to find out how rich he was, and what he knew about the Grand Khan. He sent one Spaniard, one converted Jew, and two Indians on this errand. The Jew was sent because he could speak Hebrew, and some other Eastern tongues. As Columbus believed that he was on the coast of Asia, COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. 73 he thought it likely that the Jew would be able to talk with the king of this country. The messengers were to ask the distance to certain seaports in Asia, and were to show cinnamon, nutmegs, cloves, peppers, rhubarb, and so forth, to the king, and lind out if these things grew here. Columbus had his ships careened and calked while he was waiting for his messengers to return. He showed the Indians who hung around him gold and pearls. They used the word hohio, and sometimes habeque, when they saw gold. Some old fellows told Columbus that there was a country where the people wore such things in their ears and around their necks. They also told about people who had one eye, and others who had dogs' heads. Perhaps they believed these tales them- selves, but it is also possible that they only wished to give the white men some stories large enough to suit them, or that they were speaking figuratively, after the manner of Indians, and were misunderstood. Meantime, the town of the inland king, where the messengers had gone, proved to be an Indian village of some fifty houses. The white men were received with every honor, and seated on some curious reclining chairs in the shape of hammocks, carved to look like animals with short legs and a flattened tail. The tail was curved upward to serve as a back, and the eyes and ears were incrusted with gold. The visitors were fed on fruits and vegetables, and their hands and feet were kissed by the men and women of the place. But the people of the village spoke neither Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic, nor Armenian, and so one of the Indian interpreters had to make a speech, in which 74 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. he told them among other things that the white men had come from heaven. As there was nothing to be learned here concerning the whereabouts of the Emperor of China, the Spaniard, CHAIR SUCH AS COLTJMBUS'S MESSENGERS SAT IN. FOUND IN A CAVE ON TURK's ISLAND. the Jew, and the two Indians set out on their return journey. On their way back they met Indians carrying firebrands with them, so that they might light fires with whicli to cook a certain root. This root r/as nothing less than the potato, and this was the first time that a white man saw it. The potato was destmed to be worth more to Europe than all the spices for which Columbus was looking, but of course the Spaniards did not sus- pect this. These messengers also saw Indians rolling up dry leaves within a dry leaf, and then lighting one end of the roll and sucking the smoke into their mouths. The Indians called these rolls of dried leaves tobaccos. The innocent white man could not imagine why the Indians smoked these leaves, unless it were to perfume themselves. The same messengers were the first Euro^ COLUMBUS VISITS CUBA. Y6 peans who saw fields of Indian corn ; they also saw fields planted with potatoes, others with the yucca, the root of which was made into cassava bread, besides fields of cotton, which the Indians spun and made into hammocks or wove into a sort of apron, which the women some- times wore. Though the white men had discovered so much that was new and wonderful, Columbus could not find that he was any nearer the Eastern cities for which he was looking. So, taking some of the natives of Cuba with him, he set out in search of the land of Bohio or Ba- heqiie^ which the Indians seemed to speak of as the land of gold. 76 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XIII. THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTI. U92. Troubled by contrary winds, Columbus did not make any new discoveries for some days. He beat about in sight of the island of Isabella, but feared to touch here lest he should lose his Indian guides, who did not like being kidnaped by the white men. The poor fellows kept a wistful eye toward San Salvador, which was their home. Meantime Pinzon thought he would try a little voyage on his own account. The Spaniards were all greedy for gold. One of the Indians on board Pinzon's ship had made him believe that he could guide him to a land of great riches. Columbus had signaled to the Pinta to join him, but she worked gradually away, and by another morning she was out of sight. This made Columbus angry, for it was the duty of Pinzon to obey him, as the admiral of the fleet. Columbus now returned to Cuba, and did some more sailing along its coasts. He found in one of the Indian cabins a cake of wax, which he took as a present to the king and queen, " for where there is wax," he said, " there must be a thousand other good things." He finally reached the eastern end of Cuba, which he thought to be the eastern end of Asia, though he called it India, for the different parts of Asia were very much THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTI. 77 "^ mixed in people's minds in those days. Colmnbus did not know which w^ay to turn. As he was sailing about in uncertainty, he saw land to the southeast. The Indi- ans said '^Bohio " when they saw this land, and, as Co- lumbus thought that hohio meant a land where there was much gold, he steered for it. The word hohio is still used in Santo Domingo for a cabin, and no doubt the simple guides meant that there were many cabins here. Columbus saw that he was coming to a beautiful shore, with high mountains, rich plains, and everywhere grand tropical forests. At night, the Spaniards could see many fires, while in the day-time numerous columns of smoke rose from the land, and there seemed to be many cultivated fields. They coasted along the northern shore of the island, for this was the island of Haj-ti, or Santo Domingo, as we call it to-day. There were noble mountains, covered with forests of the most valuable trees, and between them lay beautiful savannas, where there were fields of grain growing, decorated here and there with palms. There were so many fish in the sea that they sometimes jumped into the Spaniards' boats, and the voyagers heard what they thought to be the song of the nightingale in the woods, though there are no nightingales in America. The island of Hayti seemed to Columbus the most beautiful of all ; he therefore named it for Spain, His- paniola. When the white men landed, they found that the people had all fled. As Columbus could see culti- vated fields, he thought that the people of Hispaniola were perhaps more civilized than the other Indians that he had found. Columbus set up a cross to show that he took possession of the country. Three sailors, who 78 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. wandered about in the woods while this ceremony was being performed, happened on a crowd of Indians, who ran away very fast, not being troubled with any clothes to hinder them. The sailors ran after them and caught one young woman, whom they took back to the ships. As she wore no clothing whatever, it was necessary to give up the theory that the natives of Hayti miglit be more civilized than those of other islands ; but, on the other hand, the young woman, not to be wholly without decoration, wore a gold ornament in her nose, which gave the Spaniards encouragement. Columbus caused the woman to be clad, presented her with some trifles, and then set her free. In that warm climate this young savage may not have enjoyed the clothing very much, but she was no doubt delighted with her beads and bells. The next day the admiral sent some men and a Cuban Indian on shore to see if they could not get a chance to talk with the people of the village from which the woman had come. The messengers, after walking a considerable distance, found a large Indian village in a beautiful valley on the shores of a river. Here were SHE MAY NOT HAVE ENJOYED THE CLOTHING VERY MUCH." THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTI. 79 banana and palm trees, with birds gayly singing among the branches, though it was now December. There were a thousand houses in this town, but people there were none ; all had taken flight. The Cuban Indian was sent in pursuit of them. They were not so much afraid of a naked man of their own color, so they let him come near, and listened while he persuaded them to return and see the visitors from the skies. The Indians after a while ventured slowly back, stopping every now and then to put their hands on their heads, which was either an act of politeness with them or some charm to keep them from harm at the hands of these strange beings. A second company of Indians arrived soon after, carrying the woman whom the Spaniards had clothed upon their shoulders, to show how pleased they were with the treatment she had received. The savages gave the white men food and wdiatever else they required. They wished them to stay in their vil- lage all night, but the messengers returned to the ships. They told Columbus that they had seen a very rich and beautiful country, and that the people were finer looking and lighter colored than the Indians they had seen in the other islands. Columbus prosecuted his voyage still farther along the northern coast of Hayti. One night, when he was in the channel between the islands of Tortuga and His- paniola, he came upon an Indian paddling alone in a canoe. He wondered that a man should venture so far from land when the wind was blowing hard and the sea was rough. He did not see how the fellow could keep his tiny boat from turning over. The Spaniards picked up this solitary navigator, took his canoe in tow, fed 80 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. him with sweets, decked him with beads and hawkbells, and then sent him ashore on the island of Hispaniola. AVhen the Indian told his friends how well he had been treated, they soon came out to the ships with their usual merchandise to trade for gewgaws. They wore some gold ornaments, which gave the Spaniards new hopes. The signs of gold increased. One chief was found who cut a plate of gold as large as his hand into pieces and traded it with the white men. He promised to bring more gold the following day. The next day some sailors, who had been ashore, hastened on board to tell Columbus that this king was coming to see him ; not on foot, however, though he was a young man, but carried on a sort of hand-barrow or litter, by four men. When he arrived, Columbus was eating his dinner in the cabin. He ordered the monarch of the hand-barrow to be brought to him. The king entered the cabin of Columbus, commanding his followers with a wave of the hand to stay outside, which they did, squatting on the deck, except two old men, who entered with the king and sat at his feet. Columbus, always ready to apply European notions to America, conjectured that one of these men was the king's tutor and the other his counselor. This savage monarch would not permit the admiral to rise from his dinner, so Columbus caused some of his dishes to be offered to the chief. The latter tasted each dish very daintily, and then turned it over to the tutor and counselor, who devoured it quickly enough. He did the same with the drinks that were offered him, and Columbus was charmed with his air of stately dignity. He spoke little, but Columbus was sure that what he said must be very judicious, though he did The Indian monarch and his councillors visit Columbus. THE DISCOVERY OF HAYTl. ^1 not understand a word of it. After dinner was over, one of the officers of this king brought a belt, which the white men thouglit ahnost as fine as a Spanish belt, though of a different workmanship. This is the first time in history that we hear of the wampum belt, which Indian chiefs used in making a friendly treaty. It is strange that these island chiefs should have had the same custom as our North American Indians. The king gave the admiral the belt and two very tiny morsels of worked gold. Seeing that his guest ad- mired the cover of his bed very much, Columbus took it off and made him a present of it. He also gave him several amber beads, which he wore around his own neck, some red shoes, and a bottle of orange water. The king was very much delighted and astonished with the scent of the orange water. The admiral thought he said that he was sorry that they could not understand each other, and that he was the king of the whole island. Columbus showed him a gold ducat with the heads of Ferdinand and Isabella stamped on it, and some royal banners. The king remarked that these monarchs no doubt lived in the heavens. He was sent ashore in the ship's boat, with every honor, for Columbus was im- pressed with the dignity of a king who made his jour- neys on a hand-barrow. Having reached the shore, the chief once more mounted his litter, while one of his sons was carried behind him on the shoulder of an In- dian subject. Perhaps this was the crown prince. 82 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XIY. WRP]CKED. . It was Christmas eve. The sea was as calm as the water in a porringer, to use the words of Columbus. The admiral had not slept for two days and a night, so he left the helm in the hands of an experienced pilot and went to bed about eleven o'clock. Columbus was no sooner asleep than the helmsman turned the rudder over to a boy, and went to sleep himself. Meantime the currents drew the ship slowly toward a sand bank. She touched so softly that there was almost no shock. The boy who was steering felt the helm stop and heard the breakers on the sand bar. He began to cry out. Columbus was on his feet in an instant, and was the first man on deck. The pilot and several sailors ran out next. Columbus ordered them to get into the boat and throw out an anchor astern in order to warp the ship off. Instead of doing this the cowards rowed for the I^ina, which was half a league away. Meantime the current was driving the ship farther and farther on the bar. Columbus had her mast cut away, hoping that this would lighten her so that she would float once more. But it did no good. The vessel settled on her side, and her seams began to open. The men on the Nina would have nothing to do with the WRECKED. 83 runaway sailors, so they presently came back to their own ship, when it w^as too late to be of any service. SHIPWHECK. There was nothing for the crew to do bnt to take refuge in the IS'ina. Two officers were sent on shore to tell g4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. the king of tins part of the island of the misfortunes that had befallen the white men. This chief heard the sad story with tears, and sent a number of Indians with their canoes to help the Spaniards save the ship's cargo. The chief, whose name was Guacanagari, presently came out in a canoe himself, and politely watched to see that his men did their best in helping the whites. Every now and then the Indian king is said to have sent some relative of his to visit Columbus, and tell him with tears, not to afflict himself, for Guacanagari would give him all that he possessed. The kindness of this chief was real, for there was not a pin missing of the cargo when it was got together on shore, where the chief set some of his warriors to stand guard over it. But in spite of the friendliness of these simple people, Colum- bus did not spend a merry Christmas. Guacanagari made the admiral a visit on board the Nina the day after Christmas, showing his sympathy by a very sad face. He offered Columbus anything that he had, and said that he had already set apart three houses to store his goods in. While they were talking, a canoe load of strange Indians appeared on the scene, bringing leaves of gold to exchange for little bells. The sailors, too, who had been ashore in the village of Gua- canagari, also said that the Indians had given them gold for the smallest trifles. The face of Columbus lighted up at this news. The Indian chief was quick to see this, and told Columbus something about a place called Cibao, where there was much gold. He said that he would have plenty of gold brought from there as soon as possible. Columbus had heard the Indians men- tion Cibao before in connection with gold, and he WRECKED. 85 jumped to the conclusion that it meant Cipango, or Japan. Guacanagari invited Cohmibus to go ashore and eat with him, and the invitation was accepted. The feast consisted of coneys or little rabbits, fish, fruits, and cassava bread. The white men had not learned to like the Indian food yet, and preferred their own salt meat, sea biscuits, and wine. The king ate very slowly, washed his hands when done, and rubbed them with scented herbs. The chief ended the day's entertain- ment by giving Columbus a sort of carved mask, with eyes and ears of gold, and some necklaces, from which hung gold plates. Columbus now began to imag- ine it a lucky accident which had wrecked him on this coast, where there was so much promise of gold. His men were having a very good time on shore, with no work to do and plenty of tropical food to eat. Some of them proposed to stay on the island while Columbus returned to Spain, for the Nina was not large enough to carry them all. This idea pleased the admiral greatly. He resolved to have a little fort built out of the wrecked ship, and to leave a colony in Hispaniola. While the fort was building, Columbus dwelt in the largest house in the Indian village. This house was carpeted with palm leaves. Whenever Guacanagari came to see the admiral, he hung some gold ornaments around his neck. Columbus in return gave the chief necklaces AN INDIAN MASK FROM IIAYTI. §6 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. of green beads, a mantle of line cloth, a pair of colored boots, and a large silver linger ring. Guacanagari told Columbus about his troubles, which consisted mainly in a lively dread of the natives of the Caribbee Islands, who came and carried olf the people of Hispaniola as captives. Columbus promised the chief that the Spaniards would protect them from the Caribs, though he had not the least idea who the Caribs were, or where they came from. Before leaving, Columbus thought best, for more reasons than one, to show Gua- canagari the power of the white men, so he sent to the Nina for a Moorish bow and arrows, together with a certain Spaniard who was a very good marksman. The Indians were much pleased with this man's skill. An arquebus, which was the clumsy gun of that day, was also discharged, and a sort of cannon called a Lombard was fired into the hull of the wrecked ship. The fire-arms were too much for the Indians. King and subjects fell on the ground at the first report. They were much frightened, but when they were as- sured that these weapons should be used against their enemies, the Caribs, their fright is said to have changed to delight. The admiral left his little colony all the trinkets there were on board the two vessels, with which to trade, as well as provisions, arms, tools, seeds, cannon and powder, and a ship's boat. He ex]3ected when he came back to find a ton of gold gathered by trading with the Indians. He left thirty-nine men at this colony. AN ARQUEBUS. WRECKED. 87 As a part of the seamen who sailed with Columbus were released prisoners, it is likely that many of the men who consented to remain behind were criminals who had their own reasons for not caring to go home. This was a very bad seed to sow in a new soil. Colum- bus named his fort La Navidad, or the Nativity, because he had been wrecked here on Christmas eve. Itc^Air^^m:-.^ JW A LOMBARD. 88 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEK XY. A SKIRMISH. U93. On the 4th day of January, 1493, the Nina was towed out of the harbor of La Navidad, and made her start for Spain. The wind was contrary, and she pushed slowly along the northern coast of Hispaniola. One day, while the Nina was beating about in sight of a bold mountain- peak which Columbus named Monte Christo, a sailor who was on the lookout called from the mast where he was perched that the Pinta was in sight. The men on the Nina were overjoyed, for they dreaded to take the long A^oyage to Spain alone in their indifferent little ship. Pinzon made some very poor excuses to the admiral for his long absence. But Columbus dared not reprove him, for he had many relatives and friends in the two ships, and Columbus did not want anything to happen to hinder him from getting back to Spain safely with his good news. Pinzon had really gone off on a voyage of his own. He had wasted some time cruising about among small isl- ands, and had tlien gone to Hispaniola and traded for gold along the coast. Half of this gold he kept, and gave the other half to his sailors to persuade them to con- ceal the fact, for the gold belonged to the crown. The thrifty Pinzon had also captured four Indian men and two girls, whom he meant to sell in Spain for slaves. A SKIRMISH. 89 Tlie weather was still rough after the Pinta had joined the Nina, so that Columbus was detained some time longer off the coast of Hispaniola. He saw here what he thought to be mermaids, for people at that time believed in the existence of these beauties of the sea. But Columbus did not find them so beautiful as they had been represented, for the mermaids of Columbus COLUMBUS FINDS MERMAIDS LESS BEAUTIFUL THAN THEY HAD BEEN REPRESENTED TO BE. were probably sea calves. The ships presently came to the river where Pinzon had been trading. Columbus made his rebellious captain put ashore the men and girls that he had captured for slaves, for he did not wish the Indians to have any reason to hate the Span- iards. The ships at length reached the great bay of Samana, on the western end of the island, and the ad- miral sent some of his men to the land to fill the water casks for the long voyage, for this was to be the last stopping-place before sailing for Spain. 90 THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. The men were met by a number of Indians armed with bows and arrows, tipped with fish teeth, and carry- ing heavy wooden swords or clubs with which they could break a man's skull. They were painted, and re- sembled in all points a party of our North America In- dians on the war-path. They did not fight the white men at this time, however, but sold some of their bows and arrows to the sailors. Columbus concluded that these fierce braves must be the Caribs of whom the oth- er Indians seemed so much afraid, for he believed that the natives whom he had seen hitherto were always as gentle and friendly as they appeared. One naked warrior came on board the Mna. Co- lumbus talked with him by signs and by the aid of a San Salvador Indian, and got some prodigious lies for his pains. When asked where the country of the Caribs was, the Indian pointed to the east and added the in- formation that in tliat country, gold was found in pieces half as large as the poop of the Nina. Columbus also got from him some story about an island which was peopled only by women. It is likely that he was look- ing for such a place, for Marco Polo told about an island near Asia where women lived alone, and another one where only men lived, and the discoverer was always on the lookout for these places. Columbus fed the Indian, gave him a bead necklace and some colored stuffs, and set him ashore to tell his people to bring any gold they might have to the ships. The seven Spaniards who took the Indians ashore began to trade with the natives they found there. These fellows, however, presently seized their bows and arrows, as well as some cords for tying prisoners, and A SKIRMISH. 91 began to fight. The Spaniards immediately fell upon them, and wounded one in the breast with an arrow and another in the back with a sword. The courage of the Indians departed quickly ; they fled to the woods, dropping their arms by the way. Columbus regretted this skirmish, but reflected that it might have a good effect in making the na- tives afraid to attack the little colony he had left be- hind. The Indians took it all in good part, however, and their chief sent Colum- bus a string of beads made of shells, that is to say, what in North America is called a wampum belt. The Indians beo-an to come on board, and four young fellows, probably wishing to be rid of the new com- ers, told him some tales of A -WAMPUM BELT. an island lying to the eastward. They were carried off for their pains, for Columbus insisted that they should go to the island with him as guides. As the island did not appear and the wind was favorable, the ships bore away for Spain and the Indians had to make the rough voyage with them. 92 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEH XYL THE RETURN VOYAGE. U93. The Pinta and tlie Nina were both very leaky, and the sailors had to work hard to keep down the water. But they had a good wind, and the ships sped swiftly along toward the Old World. The men caught some tunny-iish and killed a shark, wdiicli they were glad to eat, for their supplies were running low and all they had left was sea biscuit, wine, and some agi-peppers, which they had brought with them from the West Indies. They made such good progress that in less than a month all hands began to look for Spain, or at least for the Canaries. But on the 12th of February there came up a violent wind, and the sea ran very high. On the next day, toward night, the wind increased and there were flashes of lightning in the northeast. Columbus pre- dicted a storm, and it did not delay. The two leaky little ships scudded along all night under bare poles. Neither of them had decks, and they must have been very uncomfortable places in a wintry gale. The storm let up a little on the morning of the 14th, and the ships made some sail, but the wind presently came up from the south more furiously than ever. The men had to take in sail and let the ships drive before the THE RETURN VOYAGE. 93 hurricane. Darkness came on once more, and the vessels signaled to one another with lights. For a long while the men on the Nina could see the lights of the Pinta, but presently they were lost in the tempest. When morning came there was no shij) to be seen, and the despairing men on the Mna gave her up for lost, and expected that their turn would come next. As the day wore on, the storm increased in violence. There seemed to be no hope for the men on the little Nina unless Heaven should come to their help, and so they made vows after the custom of their time. Co- lumbus caused as many beans as there were men on the ship to be put into a cup. On one of these beans was cut a cross. Every one then made a vow that should he draw the marked bean, he would, if the ship got safe to land, make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Mary of Guadaloupe, carrying a wax candle weighing five pounds. Columbus drew the bean with the cross on it. The beans were put in a cup again, and this time another pilgrimage was vowed. A sailor drew the marked bean, and Columbus promised to give him money with which to pay the expenses of his pilgrim- age. Another lot was then cast for a pilgrimage to still another shrine, to say a mass there and watch all night in the chapel. Columbus again drew the marked bean. As the storm grew worse than ever, sailors, officers, and men at once made a solemn vow that w^ere they ever spared to reach land, they would go, barefooted and clad only in their shirts, in procession to the nearest church dedicated to the Virgin to give thanks. After making their vows, the sailors bethought them- selves to fill all the empty barrels wdth sea w^ater, for 94 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. the ship lacked ballast, because so much of the water and food had been used on the voyage that she rolled very badly. Still matters grew worse and worse. The COLUMBUS AND THE SAILORS DRAW BEANS men cursed their admiral for having taken them into such dangers, and for not having turned back, as they had desired him on many occasions. The unhappy Colum- bus knew very well that he had made a great discovery, THE RETURN VOYAGE. 95 which would make his name known for all time if he could once reach Spain with the news of it. Now, how- ever, the very memory of his achievement was about to be swallowed up in the ocean, and in time to come sailors would forever be afraid to follow in his track, imagining that he had come to some mysterious and dreadful end. Then he thought about his two little boys, Diego and Ferdinand, at school in Cordova. Their father lost, the king and queen would never know the great service that he had rendered them, so that there would be no one to befriend the children. In his sad thoughts Columbus imagined that he was now to be terribly punished for his sins by being deprived of the glory of his great success. Then he began to won- der if there were not some way in which, though he should be dead and the ship lost with every soul on board, the news of his discovery might yet be saved. Having thought of a plan, he sat down amid all this confusion of the elements and wrote on parchment how he had found the land that he had gone to seek, and promised to discover, how many days it had taken to sail there, and by what route he had sailed, as well as a description of the country and the people. Columbus sealed his parchment and addressed it to the king and queen of Spain, writing on the outside that lie who would deliver it should have a reward of a thousand ducats. He then wrapped the parchment in a waxed cloth and put it into an empty barrel, which he caused to be carefully headed and thrown into the sea. He did not tell his men what this was for, but let them think that he was performing some vow. His mind was still uneasy lest the barrel should never reach land. 96 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. which, in fact, it never did, so far as is known. So he wrote another account, sealed it in the same way, and put it in an empty cask, which he placed on the liigh poop of his ship, so that should she go down, the barrel would float off and stand a chance of being picked up. COLUMBUS WKITES AN ACCOUNT OF HIS DISCOVERT. LAND. 97 CHAPTER XYII. LAND. U93. On the morning of the 15tli of Fe])mary a sailor wlio was on the lookout in the rigging gave the cry of land. The men were wild with delight. Iso one knew^ what the land was. Some thought it the island of Madeira, some Portugal, and some Spain, but Columbus believed it to be one of the Azores. The storm was so great that for two days the shij) beat about in sight of land, unable to n^ake it. Once she threw out an anchor, but her cable broke. Finally she anchored under shelter of the northern shore of the island. Co- lumbus had scarcely eaten or slept for many days. He now took a little rest and awoke suffering with the gout. The island proved to be St. Mary, the most southern of tlie Azores. The people of the island were astonished that the Is'ina had outlived such a storm. They were wonder-struck when they heard of the discoveries that had been made, but the governor of the Island had his own opinion about it. He made no doubt that Colum- bus had been interferino^ with some of the discoveries of the crown of Portugal, to which this island belonged. Nevertheless, he sent polite messages to the Spanish admiral, together with bread, fowls^, and other fresh 98 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. provisions. Columbus liad not forgotten the vow that he and his men had made, so he asked if there was any church on the island dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He was told that there was a small hermitage, built on the rocks behind the next point. Columbus asked the men who had come out to the ship to find the priest who had the key to the little chapel, and have it un- -■^^^2fx '''^^, •- <■' ^- SHORE OF THE AZORES. locked. The next day he reminded his men of their vow. It was agreed that half of them should go bare- foot and in their shirts to the little church on the rocks, and that when they returned the other half should do the same. The sailors went, but the day wore on and they did not return. Columbus began to be uneasy. A point hid the chapel from view. He changed the anchorage of the Kina, so that he could see the hermit- age. There were a number of armed men on horse- LAND. 99 back on the shore. Cohimbiis saw them get into the ship's boat and row out toward the vessel. The fact was that the governor of St. Mary had taken the sailors prisoners in their rather scanty cos- tume, w^iile they were performing their vow. The Portuguese, having been almost the only discoverers of new lands up to this time, were naturally jealous that Spain should enter the field as a rival. The governor of the island came out to the Nina in the captured ship's boat. Both he and Columbus talked Yery boast- fully as officers of their different crowns, and Columbus swore that if his men were not delivered up he would carry a hundred of the inhabitants of St. Mary captive to Spain ; but they came to no settlement. In spite of the way in which he had spoken to the governor, Columbus was anxious. Perhaps war had broken out between Spain and Portugal while he was away. He moved back to his first anchorage, so that the ship would not get the force of the waves so much. The next day the w^eather was bad, and Columbus had to sail over toward the island of St. Michael and take shelter behind it. He had a great deal of trouble to manage his ship, for there were only three old hands left on board, the rest being landsmen and Indians, which last were of no account whatever. Columbus had to do a sailor's work himself. The vessel got through the night safely, and as the storm had abated the next day, Columbus returned to St. Mary toward evening. The ship's boat came out from the island again, bringing a notary. Having first been assured of his safety, the notary got aboard the Nina, where he spent the night. He was very polite, and said that the 100 'J^HE STORY OP COLUMBUS. governor only wished to know whether the admiral had a commission from the King and Queen of Spain. Columbus was equally polite, and showed his papers. The notary went away satisfied, and presently the sailors all came back in the ship's boat. In consequence of this bad reception at the Azores and the roughness of the weather, Columbus did not get a chance to take in the ballast which his ship needed. He weighed anchor, and the wind blew the Nina toward Spain, but quite too furiously. At one time a dove lit on the ship, and again the men saw many little birds that had been driven out to sea by the storm. The tempest increased. On the 3d of March the Spaniards furled their sails and began to despair once more of ever reaching Spain. This time they made a vow and drew lots that one of their number should go barefoot and in his shirt to a certain church in Iluelva, the marked bean falling to Columbus once more. The I^ina rushed along under a furious gale, with- out an inch of sail, and with the sea running to a ter- rific height, while there were lightning flashes and bursts of thunder. Columbus felt as though he were repulsed " from the very door of the house,-' as he said. In the middle of the night came the cry of land, but this only added to the terror of the seamen, for the ship was in danger of being driven ashore headlong and wrecked. In order to prevent this, they managed to make a little sail. When morning came, Columbus saw that he was off the point of Cintra, near the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. There was nothing for it but to take refuge in the harbor, and brave the Portuguese in their very capital. LAND. 101 The Kina had no sooner entered the bay than the people ran in crowds to look at her, as though they were gazing on a miracle. They were, in truth, aston- ished that so frail a bark had weathered the storm when '"^^S??— -:^. PORT OF LISBON. there was news everywhere of wrecks. Columbus sent a courier to the King and Queen of Spain Aviththe news of his discovery. He also wrote to the King of Portu- gal, telling him where he had been, and asking that he might enter the port of Lisbon. He did this because the story had got about that his ship was loaded with gold, and he was afraid of being troubled. The captain of a Portuguese man-of-war which lay near him summoned Columbus on board his vessel to ac- count for himself. But Columbus stood upon his dignity as a Spanish admiral, and refused to come. When the Portuguese captain heard, however, what an extraordi- nary voyage the Kina had been on, he came to visit Columbus with the music of drums, fifes, and trumpets. 102 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. By the next day the water was covered with boat- loads of people who had come out to see the Indians on board the Nina, and hear the sailors tell of the strange lands to which they had been. The king gave orders that Columbus should have everything given to him of which he had need. He also asked the discoverer to come and see him in his palace at Valparaiso. So Co- lumbus went to see King John of Portugal once more. He was received with every honor. The king made him put on his hat again when he had taken it off in his presence, and seated him by his side as though he were a royal personage. He made Columbus tell him all about his voyage. The kings of Portugal were in- telligent men and much interested in discoA^eries by sea. King John could not but admire so brave a deed, but he regretted sorely that he had not undertaken this voyage himself. He remarked that he was not sure whether, according to tlie treaty he had made with Spain, he might not lay claim to this new country. Portugal had indeed a papal grant to all the lands dis- covered from Cape Non, in Africa, to the Indies. If Columbus had found the Indies, he might be interfering with the rights of Portugal. Columbus said that he did not know anything about the treaty, but that the King and Queen of Spain had ordered him not to go near the coast of Africa, and that he had obeyed them. The king answered politely that it was all right, and that no doubt there would be no trouble about it. After the discoverer had visited the king, he had to visit the queen and tell her about his adventures. On the 13th of March Columbus made sail for Spain, and after two days he anchored in the harbor of Palos, LAND. 103 out of which he had sailed seven months and a half be- fore. The people of Palos were wild with deliirht. They came to meet him in procession, shouting with excitement. They held it a great honor that Columbus had sailed from their town, priding themselves on it as much as though they had not done their utmost to de- feat his enterprise at the outset. 104 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XYIIL REJOICINGS AT COURT. U92. The Pinta had not foundered, as Columbus sup- posed. Those on board of her did not doubt, in their turn, that the Mna was lost, and Martin Alonzo Pinzon thought to be the first to carry the good news to Spain and to gain much of the credit that was due to Colum- bus. The Pinta made land in Galicia, and Pinzon has- tened to send his account of the new discov- eries to Ferdi- nand and Isa- bella, and to ask for to permission come to ROYAL PALACL BARCELONA. court. The king and queen had perhaps heard already of the behavior of Pin- zon in the West Indies, for Co- REJOICINGS AT COURT. 105 lumbus had sent a courier to them from Portugal. They sent Pinzon word that they would not see him unless he came in the suite of Columbus, where he belonged. Pinzon came back to Palos ill the same day that Colum- bus reached there, and died soon after. Some writers say that he died of a broken heart because of the refusal of the king and queen to see him. Ferdinand and Isabella sent for Columbus to come to court, which was then at Barcelona. So the navigator set out, carrying with him the gold he had brought and the curiosities of the West Indies, among which were six Indians. One of the Indians that Columbus had brought with him had died on the voyage and three were left sick at Palos, for Indians do not readily stand changes of place and new modes of living. The great discoverer traveled very slowly, because he was stopped on the road by crowds of people who thronged around him to stare at the Indians and ask questions about the voyage. He reached Barcelona about the middle of April, a month after he had landed. Meantime, Ferdi- nand and Isabella, highly delighted with the success of the enterprise, had ordered that a grand reception should be prepared for Columbus. The courtiers went out to meet him, and there was a great procession through the city in sight of the multitudes that filled the streets and crowded the windows and housetops to get a look at Columbus and his wild men from the New World. The king and queen seated themselves on a throne, beneath a canopy of gold brocade, with their son. Prince Juan, beside them, to receive the great discoverer. Co- lumbus kneeled to kiss the hands of their majesties, but they raised him up and caused him to sit down in their 106 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. presence, which was a great honor in a land of severe etiquette hke Spain. The monarchs then bade Cohnn- bus tell them all about his voyage, and made him show them the parrots, strange plants, ornaments of gold, and the natives that he had brought with him. This done, Ferdinand and Isabella fell on their knees and gave thanks to God for the wonderful discovery. When all was over, the admiral was conducted to his lodgings by the courtiers in procession. After this, when the king rode out, Columbus rode on one side of him and the crown prince on the other, which was the greatest com- pliment that could have been paid the discoverer. The pension promised to the first man who should see land w^as granted to Columbus, who saw the trem- bling light on the eve of his great discovery. The ad- miral has been much criticized for taking this pension away from a poor sailor. It is not known for what reasons the discoverer was preferred to the seaman of the Pinta. It should be remembered, however, that the captain and the crew of this ship were in disgrace for having deserted the admiral, and plotted to rob the gov- ernment of the much desired gold. The new^s of the discovery traveled fast. It was soon known in the courts of Europe and discussed by learned men. The letter Columbus had sent to Ferdi- nand and Isabella from his ship, was printed in differ- ent places. In the court of Henry YII, of England, men said that it w^as a thing "more divine than human." Everybody believed, as Columbus did, that he had found a way to the most eastern parts of Asia, and it took a long time to get this notion out of men's heads. REJOICINGS AT COURT. 107 This belief caused the new islands to be known as the Indies, and after a while as the West Indies, while the name of the Antilles came from the tradition of an isl- and called Antilla in the Atlantic Ocean. It was also because of the belief that India had been found that natives of the Kew World were called Indians. The Pope was supposed to have a right to grant heathen lands to Christian kings, so Ferdinand and Isa- bella hastened to send him the news of the great dis- covery, and ask him to give them a right to the lands which Columbus had found for them. He did this, and, CADIZ, FROM THE MOLE. as the Portuguese were jealous that the Spanish discov- eries might interfere with theirs, the Pope established an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean, from north to 108 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. south, giving Spain all the land on the west of this line, and Portugal all the land found on the east. Great haste was made to send out a second fleet to the new world to make sure of the discoveries. Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville and after- ward a bishop, was given control of India affairs, as they were called, with an office at Seville. Fonseca and Columbus were very busy getting ready for the new voyage. Seventeen ships, little and big, were to sail this time from Cadiz, and it took a great deal of money REJOICINGS AT COURT. 109 to pay the expenses of so great a fleet. Part of the funds came from the sale of the gold and jewels taken from the unhappy Jews whom Ferdinand and Isabella had driven from Spain, for it was thought in those days a religious act to persecute all who did not believe in Christianity. The arms which the men who w^ent on this new voy- age were to carry came from the beautiful Moorish palace of the Alhambra, which w^as at this time used as an arsenal. In those days gunpowder w^as not yet much employed in light warfare. The arquebuse, which was the hand gun of that day, was heavy and awkward, for the man w^ho used it had to carry a stand with him to rest it on when he fired, and soldiers naturally pre- fered the bow and arrow. Queen Isabella interested herself very much in plans for converting the Indians. The six natives whom Columbus had brought to Barcelona were baptized, the king, queen, and Prince Juan being sponsors. Prince Juan chose one of these Indians to add to his attendants. The poor fellow died some two years afterward, as these people almost always did when removed from their home, and the Spaniards pleased themselves with the thought that he w^as the first of these wild people to enter heaven. 110 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEE XIX. THE SECOND VOYAGE. U93. Those wlio went with Columbus on his first voyage thought that they were doomed men. The second ex- pedition was quite another affair. It was said that men were ahnost willing to jump into the sea and swim to these new lands. The magic word gold had been spoken, and thousands, many of whom were of the nobility, THE HARBOR, LOOKING FROM CADIZ. flocked to Columlnis to beg employment in the new colony. People thought they had only to go to the Indies to pick up gold. The voyage also seemed to offer a fine field for adventure, better even than had the Moorish wars. Many had to be refused, and as it was, more were engaged to go than had been intended. Columbus bids good-by to his sons. THE SECOND VOYAGE. m Among others who were to sail with Columbus was his younger brother Diego, who had no doubt come from Genoa as soon as he had heard of the good fortune of Christopher. Horses were put on the ships, as well as cattle, seeds, vines, sugar-canes, and grafts. Besides these things, the vessels were loaded with an abimdance of beads, hawksbells, looking-glasses, and such other inexpensive trinkets as would take the fancy of the Indians. There was so much to be done that the fleet could not be got ready to sail until the 25th of September, 1493. There was a great bustle of departure and leave- taking in the harbor of Cadiz an hour before sunrise on the morning of the sailing, for fifteen hundred peo- ple, many of them men of high rank, were starting out for the New World, and crowds had come to bid them farewell. Among the others gathered there in the early morning were the sons of Columbus, come to see their father off. The great discoverer was very fond of these two boys. One of the purposes of his life was to make them great and rich men. The ships were finally off. They made sail for the Canaries, where they stopped some time, laying in meat, wood, and water for the voyage. While Columbus was at the Canaries he gave to each one of his captains a sealed paper, commanding them not to open the papers unless they got lost from the fleet. These papers gave directions for sailing to Hispaniola, for Columbus wished to keep the route a secret as far as possible, so that others should not get in ahead of him and reap the fruits of his enterprise. The fleet lost sight of the last of the Canaries on the 9 112 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. 13th of October. The weather was fine, and the ships sped along for the New World. Once, indeed, they had a violent thunder storm, and blue flames were seen rising from the tips of the masts. This was the elec- trical light known as St. Elmo's fire. The superstitious Spanish sailors, believing this to be St. Elmo liimself, thought they were safe when they saw the flames, and began to say litanies and sing chants. This time the fleet reached land in twenty days after leaving the Canaries. The ships had gone farther south than Columbus had sailed before, and one of the Carib- bee Islands was the first land seen. The people on board shouted with joy, for they had got very tired of the bad sea food and of bailing water out of the leaky ships, and had been sighing for land for some time. Columbus named the island Dominica, which means Sunday, because he had found it on that day. Though it was the 3d of N"ovember, wdien everything was dull and brown in Spain, Dominica was green from the tops of her mountains to the water's edge, " which was de- lightful to see," in the opinion of the men on board the fleet. During this first day six islands could be seen from the ships, each beautifully green ; the air was sweet with the scent of flowers, and flocks of parrots and other birds of brilliant color flew from one island to another. Columbus could find no good harbor in Dominica, so he sailed to another island, which he called Marigalante, after his ship. The admiral went ashore at Marigalante, carrying the royal banner, to take pos- session, and found the island was covered with dense woods, of such kinds of trees as the Spaniards had never seen before, some bearing fruit and some in bios- THE SECOND VOYAGE. 113 som. The men found one leaf which had a promising smell of cloves, while some of them tasted an unknown fruit and were made ill by it. There seemed to be no people on this island, and Columbus only remained :c:^.^.6^____ MARIGALANTE ISLAND. there two hours. The next day he sailed for another very large island. The ships ran by a high mountain on the shore of this island with a peak, which was the crater of a volcano. Streams of water ran down the mountain, and in one place there was a waterfall which seemed to come from the sky, so high was it. As the cascade fell it became clouds of foam, which looked in the distance like Avhite rock, and the men on shipboard disputed whether it was rock or water, and made wagers with one another regarding it. Columbus named this island Guadalupe, because he had promised the monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe to name some 114 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. new land for tlieir convent. There were some small villages on the sea-shore, but the jDeople who lived in them fled as soon as they spied a sail. The admiral sent some men ashore to find out what sort of people lived here, though the Spaniards suspected that those they had seen running were not embarrassed by clothing. The men found the cabins much like those which Columbus had seen before — little thatched roofs, with hammocks strung from their posts, furnished with dishes made out of calabashes, or of rude earthenware ; cotton spun and nnspun ; bows and arrows tipped with bone, and some very large, tame parrots, with plumage of green, white, blue, and red. There were also some fruits which looked like great green pine cones, but which proved to have a delicious taste. This was the first time that white men had ever tasted pine-apples. In one of the cabins was a little frightened, naked child, whom the parents had forgotten when they ran away. The Spaniards put some strings of glass beads around the arms of the child, so that when the people came back they would see that the strangers meant to be friendly. The white men found human l)ones about these cabins, w^hich made Columbus think that these were the very Caribs of which other Indians were afraid, and said that they ate human flesh. In the next few days the Spaniards captured some Indians, and some women fled to them. These women were prisoners who had been carried away from other islands, and, as the Spaniards thought, expecting to be eaten, preferred to try their chances with the white strangers. Columbus had them decorated with bells and set ashore, though the poor creatures seemed to be A71 Indian child is found in a hut. THE SECOND VOYAGE. 115 reluctant to go. The boats had no sooner put them ashore and pushed off again than their Indian masters rushed out and tore the ornaments off' of them. The next day, when some men were ashore getting w^ater, these women came and begged to be taken back, so the sailors took pity on them and took them to the ships. The Indian women told Columbus that most of the men of the place had gone off in their canoes to make cap- tives on some of the other islands. MAP OF ^'■"'j^>^ COLUMBUS' SECOND VOYAGE. ^^ "^ "■^CiVnanqQlaiitre IS' . . xJlDom'in'icft ? 5 116 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XX. ADVENTURES AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. U93. One of the Spanish captains with eight men had gone ashore on the island of Guadahipe (or, as the pres- ent French possessors call it, Guadaloupe), without per- mission from the admiral, and did not return. Colum- bns was in haste to sail for Hispaniola. Parties went ashore and scrambled about in the thick woods, firing an arquebuse from time to time, but they found no sign of the lost Spaniards. There was nothing to do but to wait another day. So Columbus ordered that the time should be used in getting in water and wood, and washing clothes. While the linen of fifteen hundred men fluttered in the breeze, Alonzo de Ojeda, a bold fellow, with some forty men, beat up the woods in search of the lost Spaniards, blowing trumpets and discharging guns. They returned without finding them, but said that they had discovered such valuable things as mastic, aloes, sandalwood, frankincense, and cinnamon trees, and that they had seen falcons, kites, turtle-doves, crows, par- tridges, and nightingales. Ojeda also said that they had waded through twenty-six rivers. It is quite likely that Ojeda waded through the windings of the same river more than once, as well as that he saw spices and birds other than those of which he boasted. ADVENTURES AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. H^ After the stragglers had been gone four days, Co- lumbus concluded that they had been eaten by can- nibals. He was about to sail when the wanderers hailed the ships from shore. They had been lost in the tropical tangle, and had scrambled about unable to lind the coast. One man had climbed one of the immense trees to try to get the points of the compass by means of an observation of the stars, but the great canopy of leaves at the top concealed the sky from sight. The men had finally happened upon the shore, and so found their way to the ships, looking worn and half starved. Hungry as they were, Columbus punished them for going ashore without permission by putting them in irons on half -rations. The Indian women on board the fleet said that there were other islands to the south of Guadaloupe, and that beyond them was the mainland, which was true, strange to say — for the white men did not usually get any very correct information from the natives. Columbus, however, anxious to reach the little colony he had left, held his course for Hispaniola. He passed many beautiful islands, and named them in passing. As the weather was bad, the fleet anchored at one which was named Santa Cruz. A well-manned barge was sent ashore, with instructions to talk with the Indians, and try to get from them directions for reach- ing Hispaniola. The people fled, however, and the men only found several women and children, whom they took to be prisoners of the Caribs. While the fleet lay at anchor, a canoe came in sight with four men, two women, and two boys in it. These Indians had not seen the ships, on account of the wind- 118 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. ings of tlie shore, until they were quite near them. When they saw the strange sight, they stopped pad- dling and lay stupefied with amazement for almost an hour, within two gunshots of the vessels. The barge was just starting back from its trip to the shore, when the crew saw the wonderstruck Indians. The ship's boat altered its course, and crept slowly along shore until it had cut off retreat for the canoe. The Indians paddled with all their might when they saw the barge close upon them. But the Spaniards gained on them, and when the Caribs saw that they could not escape, they took to their bows and arrows, both men and women, and began to fight. Their aim was so good that they wounded two Spaniards, although the white men were defended by shields or wooden bucklers. The barge ran down the canoe and upset it, or the white men would soon have been all killed. These brave Indians, after their canoe was overturned, swam about in the water, wading where it was shallow enough, and taking the chance to get a fresh shot at the enemy. The Spaniards had as much as they could do to take them prisoners, and indeed they could not get one fellow until he was mortally wounded with a lance. One of the wounded Spaniards afterward died, for these Indians used poisoned arrows. The Spaniards noticed that the costumes of the Caribs was different from that of the other Indians they had seen — that is to say, that they wore their hair longer, and, instead of decorating their faces with crosses and other figures, they stained their eyebrows and eyelids, which made them look very fierce. The Spaniards thought that one of the women in the canoe ADVENTURES AMONG THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS. Hg was a queen, while one of the boys was her son. These Indians were afterward sent to Spain, and were stared at by people who liked to have their blood curdled by the sight of man-eaters. The early discoverers were so easily deceived by what they saw, and what they fancied they understood in talking by signs with the natives, that we are not sure whether the Caribbeans were so much of cannibals as the Spaniards imagined. They thought that they found parts of a man boiling in a kettle on the island of Guada- loupe ; but when we remember that Columbus mistook sea-cows for mermaids, we may be permitted to doubt whether this interrupted meal of the Indians was really a meal of human flesh. It is quite likely, however, that they may sometimes have eaten their enemies in the ferocity of w^ar, as our Korth American Indians did. All the natives of these islands had the cheerful habit of keeping the bones, or perhaps the heads of their dead friends, about their cabins, and when the Spaniards saw such things among the Caribs, they were likely to think them the signs of cannibalism. The people in Spain, believing all they heard about these fierce cap- tives, thought the " queen's son " had a lion's face, and the crowd looked with shuddering horror at such monsters. Columbus next sailed near a number of small islands, bare and rugged. There were so many of them that he gave them the convenient name of the Eleven Thousand Yirgins. The next land that he discovered was the large island of Porto Eico, which the Spaniards noticed had a very rich soil. The Indians on the ships said that the peojDle who lived here were not Caribs, but that the 120 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. Caribs fought with them and carried them off, and that they revenged themselves by eating Caribs on occasion. The same day that the fleet left Porto Kico, land was sighted, which Columbus hoped would prove to be His- paniola, where he had built the fort of La Navidad. WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 121 CHAPTER XXL WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. It was the 22d of Xovember when the fleet reached the end of this large island, which proved to be Hayti or Hispaniola, though Columbus had not seen this part of it before. A boat was sent ashore to bury the sailor who had died of the poisoned arrow of the Caribs. A number of Indians gathered around the white men, Avearing gold in their ears or about their necks. Some of tliese Indians went off to the ships and invited the Spaniards to come ashore, saving that they had plenty of gold. But Columbus did not wish to wait here, so he sent the natives back with some shirts and caps for presents. The fleet presently came to Samana Bay, where there had been a skirmish with the Indians on the first voyage. Of the Indians Columbus had taken to Spain with him, seven had lived to embark on the return voy- age. Five of these died on the voyage out, and there were now but two living, and, indeed, the Spaniards had had a great deal of trouble to keep these two alive. One of the survivors belonged to the party of four young men whom Columbus had carried away from Samana Bay. The Spaniards had made a Christian of this fellow, and, having dressed him finely and loaded 122 'l^"HE STORY OF COLUMBUS. him with trinkets, they sent hin:i ashore, hoping he would make Christians of his people and persuade them to become subjects to the Spanish crown. They never heard anything more of him. He probably re- lapsed speedily into savagery and kept well away from white men. Columbus made his next stop at a harbor near Monte Christo, thinking that perhaps he would make his set- tlement here. Some of the men landed to see if this was a good place in which to settle. But the country proved to be low and moist, and the men found two dead bodies here. One of them had a rope of Spanish grass around the neck, and was tied to a stake in the form of a cross. The bodies were very much decayed, so that the men could not tell whether they were Span- iards or Indians, but Columbus began to have fears re- garding the fate of his colony. The next day the men found two more bodies farther on, and one of these had a great deal of beard, wdiich made the Spaniards very suspicious that there had been trouble, for the Indians had no beards. Columbus sailed on to La Navidad, where he had left his colony. It was night when he got tliere, and as he had been once wrecked on the sand bank here, he now lay off the coast to wait until morning. He caused two guns to be fired, thinking that if the Spaniards were still alive they would answer with a shot from the little fort. There w^as a dead silence, nor could any fires or other signs of living beings be discovered on the shore. About midnight a canoe slipped stealthily out to the fleet. The Indians on board hailed the first vessel they came to and asked for Columbus. They WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 123 were shown to the admiral's ship. Cohim- bus was in the cabin, but they would not go aboard till they saw him. When he came out they were still distrustful, until a light was held up so that they could see his face. Then they w^ere willing to climb up on deck. One of these Indians was a cousin of the chief Guacanagari. He brought two masks, deco- rated with gold, as a present from this chief. The Indians stayed on the ships three hours talking with Columbus. When they were asked about the Spaniards whom Colum- bus left here they said that some of them had died, that others had been killed in quarrels 124 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. among themselves, and that afterward the country had been attacked by a chief named Caonabo, who Hved in the mountains of Cibao, where gold came from. This king had burned the houses of both the white men and the Indians, and that Guacanagari had himself been wounded in the fight, and was lying at a distance from here ill of his wound. They said that this w^as the reason why he had not come out to the ships, though he meant to come the next day. They also said that some of the Spaniards were alive and had gone away from here, but one of them told the San Salvador In- dian, who was interpreter, that the white men w^ere all dead. The men in the fleet would not believe this last story, but took comfort in the hope held out by the other relation. . The next morning every one was looking for a visit from the Indian king Guacanagari. Meantime Colum- bus sent some men ashore. They found the little pali- saded fort of the Spaniards burned and leveled to the ground. A few Indians who lurked about were very shy when the white men tried to come near them. The Spaniards began to be very much afraid that the wdiite men had really been killed by the treachery of Guacana- gari. They threw buttons and other trifles to the In- dians to encourage them, but they could only coax four men to go aboard the ships with them. These Indians said that the white men were all dead. When they were asked who killed them they answered Caonabo. They went away promising to bring Guacanagari, but the chief did not come. Either he had been concerned in the murder of the whites or he was afraid that he would be blamed for it. WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. ] 25 The next day Columbus went asliore and examined the burned fort. He found that the house of the chief, Guacanagari, was also burned. Columbus ordered men to dig up the ground around the fort and to look in the well, for he had told the men whom he left in this fort to bury their gold, or to throw it in the well if they were surprised. While the men were digging, Columbus marched off to look for a better place to plant his colony. He came to an Indian village, of wretched, damp little hovels, overgrown with grass. The people had fled, hiding wdiatever they could not take with them in the grass around their houses. In these cabins the white men found things that they thought the Spaniards would not have traded, such as a handsome Moorish mantle, folded just as it came from Spain, stockings, pieces of cloth, and an anchor. They ripped open a basket which had been very carefully sewed up, and saw in it an In- dian's head wrapped in a cloth. It was perhaps the head of some ancestor preserved in this way, according to sav- age custom. When Columbus got back to the ruins of the fort, he learned that the Indians had regained their courage during his absence, and had traded gold worth a mark with the white men who had been left there. They had also showed where the bodies of eleven Span- iards lay. The grass had grown over these bodies, so that the men must have been dead for about two months. No gold had been found buried, and there w^as an end to the ton of gold which Columbus ex- pected to have sent back to Spain. The Indians still said that Caonabo had killed the colonists, but they hastened to make complaints that 10 126 ■ THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. the white men had taken three and fonr wives each from among the native women, so that it began to be suspected that the dead men had angered the Indians among whom they hved and had been killed by them. A caravel was sent along the shore to look for a better place to build a town than the disastrous La Navidad. Two Indians came out to talk with the cap- tain of the caravel, whose name was Maldonado, as he was sailing along the coast. One of the Indians was the brother of Guacanagari, and he begged the Span- iards to come and see the chief, for he lay ill of a wound, in his village. So Maldonado went ashore with some men. He found the Indian king lying in his ham- mock with his leg bound up. He told the same story that the other Indians had about the Spaniards having been killed by Caonabo, saying that he had been wounded in the fight, and showing his bandaged leg. He gave to each of the Spaniards a gold ornament, of a size suited to what he thought to be each man's rank. These ornaments were not very valuable, for the Indians were accustomed to beat the gold very thin in order to make it look showy. Guacanagari begged Maldonado to ask Columbus to come and see him. Columbus concluded to go. Having eaten an early dinner on shipboard, the admiral and all his principal men went ashore, richly dressed, as became men paying a visit to a monarch. Columbus took some presents with him, and Guacanagari had not forgotten to provide himself with presents in turn. The chief lay in his hammock, and made a polite gesture when the Spaniards entered his cabin. He regretted the death of the white men with tears in his eyes. He told Columbus the same WHAT HAD BECOME OF THE COLONY. 127 story of their fate, how some had died of disease, others had gone to Cibao and been killed, while the rest were attacked in their fort and massacred by Caonabo. Gua- canagari gave Columbus a hundred gold beads, a golden coronet, three small calabashes of gold dust, and eight hundred beads made of stone. Perhaps these beads were like a necklace of chalcedony beads from Porto Kico, which exists to-day. These stones are drilled and polished with wonderful perfection, considering that the natives worked with stone implements. Columbus gave Guacanagari, in turn, some glass beads, hawksbells, knives, pins, needles, small looking-glasses, and copper ornaments, all of which seemed more valuable to the innocent chief than gold. Columbus had two surgeons with him, and he asked Guacanagari to let them see his wound. One of the surgeons, named Dr. Chanca, said that it would be neces- sary for the chief to be moved outside, for the cabin was so darkened by the crowd of people that it was hard to see anything. The chief consented, but Dr. Chanca thought that he did this " more from timidity than inclination." The Indian king left tlie cabin, leaning on the arm of Columbus. When the doctor began to untie his bandage Guacanagari explained that the wound had been made by a ciha, which meant a stone. When the leg was uncovered, the doctors ex- amined it, but could iind no sign of a w^ound, tliough the cunning fellow pretended that it pained him very much. Columbus thought best not to appear to suspect the chief, so he invited him to visit the fleet. Gua- canagari went and took supper with Columbus. He was shown everything strange on the ship. Pie was 128 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. very much astonished when he saw the horses, for there were no four-footed animals of any size on the island. Columbus told the chief that he would like to build houses here. Guacanagari was willing, but he said that it was a damp place, which was true enough. This In- dian king talked a good deal with the finest-looking woman among the Caribbee captives, whom the Spaniards called Catalina. TJie next day some Indians came on board the ships, and among them the brother of Guacanagari. It was noticed that he talked with the ten Indian women who had come from the Caribbee Islands, and especially Catalina. When night came, these women dropped over the side of the ship and swam for the shore, which was nearly two miles away. The alarm was given, and the women were chased, but only four were caught, just as they reached shore. This was too much for Columbus. He thought that the wily Guacanagari had persuaded the women to es- cape. The Spaniards believed that he wished to add Catalina to the number of his wives. Columbus sent messengers the next morning to demand that tlie chief should return the Indian women. But the village of Gua- canagari was deserted. The inhabitants had decamped in the night in spite of the chief's wound. This was one of the first experiences of white men in dealing with the American Indian, whom they had at first believed to be an innocent creature incapable of guile. As for the little settlement at La Navidad, many an- other colony in the xTew World has had a similar fate, for much the same reasons. The colonists were mostly lawless men, and when they w^ere left where WHAT HAD BECOME OP THE COLONY. 129 they were afraid of no one, they lived as wickedly as possible, robbed the Indians, whom they thought gentle creatures, of their gold and their women, and, falling out among themselves, killed one another. No doubt also some of them died of fevers, as was always the case in the early settlements in America. It is quite likely that a party of them did march off to Cibao to get gold, and got killed for their pains. It would not have been strange if the Indians among whom they had lived had massacred the others, but all that the Spaniards conld afterwards learn seemed to show that the story of Gua- canagari was true, in spite of his suspiciously invisible wound and his unceremonious leave-taking with the lovely Catalina. 130 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEE XXII. THE INFANT SETTLEMENT AND ITS INDIAN NEIGHBORS. The day after the flight of Giiacanagari the Span- iards went in boats np the coast in search of a good place to settle. As they rowed along the shore the na- tives seemed uneasy, and when the white men landed they fled. While the Spaniards were walk- ing around the deserted Indian village, they came upon a savage stretched on the ground, with a gaping wound in his shoulder. On examination, the wound proved to have been made by an Indian dart. The fellow had not been able to run any farther. He said that he had got his wound in the fight with Caonabo. Since Gua- canagari had taken himself off with the Indian captives of the Spaniards, the latter had disbelieved his story, but when they found this Indian with a wound real and visible, the story seemed more probable again. At last Columbus fixed upon a spot for his settle- ment, and landed men and animals. The horses had INDIAN IMAGE OF STONE, FROM SANTO DOMINGO. THE INFANT SETTLEMENT. 131 been on the ship three months, and were very much in need of pasture and a firm footing. A Httle city, named Isabella, was laid out with a square and streets. A church, a store-house, and a house for the admiral were begun of stone, a stone wall without mortar was to be laid around the town, while the other houses were made of wood and reeds, like the Indian cabins. Seeds were planted, and every one worked very hard, while Colum- bus " multiplied himself " to superintend the labor. Before long the malarial fevers, incident to a new land and a warm climate, smote the little settlement. The settlers were landed in a bad condition to withstand illness, for they had been three months on shipboard, living on salt meat and moldy sea biscuit. It required years of experience to teach colonists to eat the light vegetable food of the Indians, which was more whole- some in a warm climate than their own heavier diet. The Spaniards thought that they could not live without wine and salt meat. They were glad enough just now, how- ever, to get the yams with which the Indians came loaded every day. These people would sell provisions, and even gold, to the colonists for tags off of shoe strings, beads, pins, or pieces of broken dishes. And now for the first time the white men began to be better acquainted with the Indians. The native men were entirely naked, the women usually wore grass and leaves about their hips, while the more ostentatious had a covering of cotton cloth. For full-dress occasions, men and women painted themselves in various colors, decorating their bodies with crosses and with pictures of animals and cabins, which produced an effect ridicu- lous enough to the eyes of the new-comers. The Indians 132 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. also shaved some parts of their heads, and left long tufts of matted hair hanging in other places. " In short," said Dr. Chanca, describing them in a letter, " whatever would be looked upon in our country as characteristic of a madman is here regarded by the highest of the In- dians as a mark of distinction." These people had hatchets and axes made of stone, and very handsomely finished, so that the white men wondered at them. They lived mostly on cassava bread. This was made of the root of the yucca, often called the Spanish bayonet. The root was scraped and strained in a press. The liquor which drained from it was poisonous. The pulp was made into a broad, thin cake, which could be kept a long time. When the Indian wished to eat it he steeped it in water. The savages also ate yams, fc" seasoned with agi-pepper and they had besides what Dr. Chanca de- scribed as "a kind of grain like hazel nuts, very good to eat." Of course, this was Indian corn. The meat of the Indians was fish, utias or little rabbits about as big as a rat, together with birds, to which they added " lizards, spiders and worms," according to Dr. Chanca. " To my fancy," said the good doctor, " their bestiality is greater than that of any beast upon the earth." This is the near view of the American Indian, and quite different from the poetical ideas about these people wliich Columbus had INDIAN FIGIJIK IX WOOL) FROM SANTO DOMINGO. THE INFANT SETTLEMENT. 133 'S^ fS^I^' entertained at first. The lizards with which Dr. Chanca was so much disgusted were iguanas, which sometimes grow to be five feet long. The iguana, which is a sort of lizard with a tail like a lance, can climb trees, not- withstanding its size. It is still thought to be very good eating in the countries where it is found. Alligators were also classed as lizards by the Spaniards. They found that on a small island near Hispaniola there was what they called a lizard '' as big around as a calf," with a tail "as long as a lance." The men often went out to try to kill it, but were sur- prised to find that though it was so bulky, it got into the sea quickly enough. This was their first introduc- tion to an alligator, the name of which is derived from the Spanish words " el lagarto,^' that is " the lizard." The Indians had queer little figures of wood, cotton, or stone in their cabins which they called zemis, giving them the names of dead ancestors and holding them in superstitious reverence. When the white men asked the natives what these were, they would say " turey^' which meant " of heaven," or more properly sacred or mysterious. They also called the strange things belong- ing to the white men " turey.''^ Dr. Chanca once pre- tended that he was going to throw one of these figures INDIAN FIGl'RE ()F COTTON, LEATH- ER, ETC., FROM SANTO DOMINGO. 134 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. into the fire, upon which the Indians fell to weeping, very much grieved. Sometimes they carried their zemis off into the w^oods and hid them, lest the white men should take possession of them. It was not uncommon, however, for them to steal these prized images of one another. The chief kept his zemi in a cabin devoted to the purpose. The Spaniards once entered one of these cabins and found the presid- ing zemi speaking. The white men were skeptical, and, examining the mouth of the deity, they found it contained a small tube, which they traced to a heap of leaves in the corner of the cabin, under w^hich lay an Indian, who was engaged in putting words into the mouth of the idol. The chief begged the white men not to expose his tricks, as he was enabled to govern his j:^ people by means of the commands of this convenient zemi. The natives performed some rites in the cabins devoted to the worship of these little figures. In the center of the hut was a carved trencher, on which was placed a fine powder, probably tobacco or snuff. The worshiper put some of this powder with a certain ceremony on the head of the image, and then breathed a portion of it into his own nostrils through two hol- low reeds, pronouncing some strange w^ords at the same time. The Indians had various funeral customs. The body of a chief was often opened and dried before the fire ; in INDIAN IMAGE OF STONE, FROM SANTO DOMINGO. THE INFANT SETTLEMENT. I35 other cases the head only was preserved and, again, the body was carried to a cave and left there with a gourd of water and a little bread placed beside it. In other instances the body was burned with the cabin of the dead man. These Indians had a habit of strangling those who were near death, though sometimes they car- ried them away from their cabins and left them hang- ing in their hammocks with a little bread and water beside them. Such relics of these island people as have come down to us — idols, masks, collars, mortars, weapons, and tools — show wonderful workmanship, the highest degree of skill, it is said, that can be attained by men pecking things out of stone with stone implements. While the Spaniards were noting the customs of the Indians, the latter were making their own shrewd obser- vations with regard to the manners and morals of their new neighbors. " Behold the Christians' god ! " they said pointing to bits of gold. 136 THE STORY OF COLL^MBUS. CHAPTEK XXIIL LOOKING FOR GOLD. Columbus had chosen the place for the city of Isa- bella, because he thought that it was nearer to the mountains of Cibao, where the Indians said there was gold. On his departure from Spain he had expected to send back a valuable lading of the precious metal, which was to have been gathered by the settlers at La Navidad. As the men had been , massacred, whatever gold they may have collected must have been carried off by the Indians. Columbus wished at least to send back some good news. He was ill himself of the same fever that troubled so many of his men, but he resolved to send Alonzo de Ojeda, with fifteen men, to the place the In- dians had told about, to see if there was any gold there. The Spaniards had heard so much about the dreadful Caonabo, or "lord of the golden house," as his name meant, that they were afraid of him, and Ojeda was no doubt chosen on account of his courage. This Ojeda had once amused Queen Isabella in the follow- ing fashion : The queen was in a great church tower in Seville, called the Giralda. High up in the air a beam extended out from the tower. From this beam the people below looked like ants. Ojeda walked briskly out on the beam, quite as though he were LOOKING FOR GOLD. 137 walking about his own chamber. When he got to the end of it, he stood on one foot for a moment and then, turning about, walked back again. He next stood on the beam, braced one foot against the w^all of the tower and threw an orange to the top of it. This feat had attracted a good deal of attention, but Ojeda was really doing a braver thing when he ventured into the country of a chief who had slain the first company of Spaniards that had gone there to look for gold. Ojeda and his men had to f^^^ cross many rivers before they reached the mountains. They followed an Indian trail and climbed up into the mountain country. No Caonabo appeared to stop the way, and the Indians were friendly. They w^ashed grains of gold out of the sands of the brooks and gave them freely to the white men. There was certainly gold here. Ojeda and his men picked up some nuggets, one of which weighed nine ounces. They were sure that there must be a great deal of ore in the mountains, for the Indians dug no deeper than the length of a hand Mil "^>^'! THE GIRALDA TOWER, SEVILLE. 138 THE STORY OP COLUMBUS. in looking for it. Ojeda and his men went back with their specimens of gold. The next day, another young gentleman, named Gorvalan, who had been to another place where the Indians said there was gold, returned with specimens of the metal. There was great excite- ment in the settlement. Columbus wrote a very hope- ful letter to send back to Spain. Dr. Chanca also wrote in his letter that "the king and queen might now consider themselves the most wealthy sovereigns in the world," for, said he, " on the return of the ships from their next voyage they wdll be able to take back such a quantity of gold as will fill with amazement all who hear of it." So twelve ships sailed back to Spain, laden only with the news of gold mines, of laurel trees whose bark smelled like cinnamon, of trees bearing bees- wax or producing wool and cotton, and other marvels such as men can always see in a beautiful new land be- fore they have had time to put their new discoveries to the test. One of the things that Columbus wrote in the letter that he sent back in these ships was a proposal that the Spaniards should capture the natives of the Caribbee Islands and send them to Spain as slaves, exchanging them for cattle, which the people at Hispaniola would need very much. lie argued that this would be an advantage to the savage slaves, since they would become Christians in this way and learn not to eat their fellow- men. As the Portuguese made slaves of the negroes of Africa, it is not strange that Columbus should have thought of making slaves of the Indians. Indeed, the poorer classes in Europe were held at this time in a sort of bondage, and there was no sentiment in favor of hu- LOOKING FOR GOLD. I39 man liberty. The great discoverer at this time planted the seeds of slavery in these beautiful islands. In the hands of cruel and greedy adventurers, this slavery was soon to sweep away the whole Indian population. While Columbus was still ill of malarial fever a plot was formed against him among some of the men of Isabella. Already the colonists had begun to be home- sick. They found that there were no sudden fortunes to be picked up in the Xew World, while there was a great deal of hard work, for which they had not bar- gained. A man named Cedo, who was an assayer of metals, gave it out as his opinion that there was no gold on the island, or at least so little that it was not worth looking for. When the Indians brought large grains of gold, he said that they had been melted and had been a long time gathering, having been handed down from generation to generation among the natives. The malcontents made a plot, under the lead of an officer named Bernal Diaz, to seize the ships in the harbor and sail to Spain. But Columbus, hearing of tlie scheme, put the leader in prison and punished some of the others. The admiral, having now pretty well recovered from his illness, got ready to make a journey in person to Cibao. For fear of any more mutinies, he had all the arms and ammunition in the town stored in one of the vessels in the harbor. He then gave his brother Diego command of Isabella while he should be gone. Colum- bus wanted to make quite a display and overawe the In- dians this time, so he took four hundred men with him, and he caused them all to be dressed in the most brilliant colors and march to the sound of drums and trumpets, 140 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. with banners flying, followed by a train of Indians from around Isabella. The little army set out on the 12th of March, 1494, and marched for the first day through a plain and across two rivers. At night they camped at the foot of a rocky pass, through the Monte Christo Mountain range, which Columbus named El Puerto de los Hidalgos, or the Pass of the Gentlemen, because some cavaliers had gone ahead and opened the road for the others to pass through. The next day men, horses, and mules climbed up the pass. "When they reached the summit they looked down upon many leagues of beautiful plain beyond, crossed here and there by the silver thread of a stream, columns of smoke rising from Indian cabins, graceful palms and other noble tropical trees growing everywhere, while the whole charming stretch of level land was bordered by the hazy lines of distant mount- ains. This grand valley, which is famous to-day for its noble beauty, was named by Columbus the Yega Real, or Poyal Plain. The Spaniards descended the slope and began to march through the Yega Real. Columbus ordered the horsemen to go first because the Indians were very much awestricken at the sight of horse and rider. In fact, they thought that horse and man were all one ani- mal, and were quite astonished when they saw the animal walking around in two divisions, as it seemed to them when the men dismounted. The savages had, in fact, no good opinion of horses. Such large animals, they felt certain, would eat them. There were many Indian villages in the Yega. The little round cabins were built of reeds with thatched LOOKING FOR GOLD. 141 roofs, and dooi'S so low that the inmates had to go on all fours in entering them. As the brilliant army neared an Indian village, horsemen in advance, banners flying and trumpets and drums sounding, the simple natives fled or crept in at the doorways of their cabins, barring them with a few reeds. The Indians who had come with tlie Spaniards from Isabella walked into a native house and helped themselves to anything they might And in it, without any ceremony. The owner never showed any displeasure, but when the Indians tried this practice among the whites, they were soon made to un- derstand that it was not a Christian custom. The army presently arrived at a river whicli Colum- bus named the River of Reeds. Tlie Spaniards en- camped for the night on the beautiful banks of this stream. Before sleeping they bathed in its waters. In the morning they crossed in canoes or on rafts, and swam their horses over. The next day they marched through magnificent forests, where they saw many strange fruits which they tried to imagine the same as fruits they had known in Spain. Columbus named the next stream that he crossed the River of Gold, because some particles of gold were found in its sands. The third river that lay in his course ran across translucent pebbles, which gave it a green look, so Columbus called it Green River. All of these streams were the Yaqui or its tributaries. Tlie following day the army reached the foot of some steep mountains, that the discoverer called the Gates of Cibao. The next day the march was through a rough and rugged country. Often riders had to descend from their horses and scramble up steep places, leading their animals. From this point Cohim- 11 142 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. bus sent back some mules to Isabella to bring more provisions, for the journey had been longer than he had expected, and the Spaniards thought that they could not eat the Indian food. The following day found the little army in the country of Cibao, which was very dilierent .Isabella .^''"■//^ MAP OF THE KOTJTE FROM ISABELLA TO CIBAO. from the Royal Plain. This was a land of rocks, cov- ered only with such plants as could grow in a stony soil, with a few pine and palm trees here and there, while little streams carrying particles of gold in their sands ran down from the mountains. The Indians met the Spaniards with presents of provisions and grains of gold which they liad gathered in the streams for them. Columbus made up his mind to build a fort in this country, so that the Spaniards would have a place in which to store their gold and to take refuge in, in case of an attack. He named his proposed fort St. Thomas, as a sort of pious jest, because the discontented ones at Isabella had doubted the existence of gold here unless they might see it and touch it. When the men were LOOKING FOR GOLD. I43 digging for the foundations of this fort thej came across what seemed to them a sort of nest of straw, in which were, in place of eggs, several round stones as large as oranges which seemed to have been worked by the hand of man. The Spaniards wondered at these, and thought they looked as though they were meant for cannon balls, for stone cannon balls were used in Europe at that time. It is likely that they were really stone heads for Indian war clubs, which had been hidden here or per- haps buried with some Indian as his cherished treas- ures. Such round stones were also used sometimes to crush the grains of Indian corn. 144 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEE XXIV. TROUBLES OF THE COLONY. Columbus left a captain named Pedro Margarite and fifty-six men to build Fort St. Thomas, and began tlie journey back to Isabella. At Green Kiver lie met his mules returning with provisions. They had lost some time at the Kiver of Gold, because it was swollen by rains and there had been trouble about crossing it. When Columbus reached the River of Gold, he had to stop there some time himself to wait for the w^ater to fall. The people brought him food, and sold it to him for trifles. Columbus and some of the wiser Spaniards began to eat the food of the country in order to set a good example to the others. It was the 29th of March when the admiral got back to Isabella. He was much pleased to And that melons which had been planted less than two months before, were now ripe. In twenty days cucumbers had grown large enough to eat, while a wild vine which had been trimmed was loaded with grapes, green peas were ready for picking, and some wheat had ripened. Every seed that was put into the rich soil sprang up, fruit stones germinated, and sugar-canes grew, so that Columbus found every reason to be delighted with the fertilitv of the beautiful island. TKOUELES OF THE COLONY. I45 The colony was not so prosperous, however, as its fields and gardens. The moist, warm climate w^hich made things grow^ so fast was not suited to Europeans. There was a great deal of sickness, and there had been many deaths. The young Spanish gentlemen of noble families who had come over expecting to get suddenly rich, or at least to have some fine adventures, w^ere dis- gusted when Columbus made them do their share of work with the commoner sort of people in the building of the town. They remembered that the admiral was a foreigner, and only a peasant by birth, and they hated him. When men grew sick there was no one to nurse them, and they died of fever and homesickness. Co- lumbus, as the head of the colony, was likely to be blamed for the misfortunes which befell these young gentlemen. The gloomy end of so many men of good families was long remembered in Hispaniola. Years after this, when Isabella had been abandoned, because it was unhealthy, there was a story that two Spaniards once wandered into the deserted town. In one of its grass-grown streets they saw two rows of hidalgos, or Spanish gentlemen, in old-fashioned dress. The two Spaniards were astonished to see strangers in this lonely place, and asked them wdio they were and where they came from. The gentlemen did not answer, but politely raised their hands to their heads to take oft' their hats by way of salute. Horrible to relate, their heads came oft with their hats, and the headless gentlemen presently had the good taste to vanish. The beholders, according to the story, almost fell dead with fright, and after this the tale of the dead gentlemen w^ho w^ere so polite as to doff their heads became the stock ghost story of the 146 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. island. It serves to show how long and vividly the misfortunes of these early settlers were remembered in Hispaniola. Colnmbus had hardly reached Isabella on his return when he had news from Fort St. Thomas that all the Indians had fled from the country, and that Caonabo was coming to burn the fort. The admiral was not greatly alarmed by this news. He was meditating a voyage of discovery, for he had not given up his notion that he was on one of the islands at the eastern extreme of Asia, and that by going westward he nnist reach a civilized country. He began to make ready for the voyage. Provisions were running low at Isabella. The biscuits were almost gone, and the flour was used up. There was some wheat, but there w^ere no mills to grind it in. The colonists were starving in a bountiful land. In order to give them something to do, so that they might not be brewing mischief, and hoping to get them used to eating the food of the country, Columbus made all the able-bodied men in Isabella, except a few work- men whom he wanted to build mills and some sailors for the ships, into a little army, and sent them to march through the island and overawe the Indians. He sent this body of men as far as Cibao under the charge of Ojeda. When this captain reached Fort St. Thomas he was to take command of this fort, and let Pedro Margarite take the lead of the little army. Ojeda had got no farther than the River of Gold before he got into trouble with the Indians. Three Spaniards going from Cibao to Isabella had been granted by a chief three Indians to carry their baggage over the river. "When the three Indian porters had TROUBLES OF THE COLONY. 147 got half -way across the river, they turned and ran away with the bundles of the S]3aniards. The native king, instead of punishing his thievish subjects, took posses- sion of the bundles himself, in all simplicity. The Spaniards demanded their property in vain. Ojeda, appearing on the scene, cut off the ears of one of the thieves and sent nearly the whole royal family in irons to Isabella. Columbus thought best to make an example of these fellows, to save the Spaniards from further trouble. A chief, who lived near the unlucky one whom Columbus was about to punish, came to Isabella in a great hurry, to beg for mercy for his friend. This chief had been very kind to the white men, but Columbus, nevertheless, had his prisoners taken to the public square to have their heads cut off. The friendly chief begged with many tears for the lives of the captives, and Co- lumbus finally forgave them. Having settled the affairs of the colony as well as he could, Columbus set sail on the 2tl:th of April, in his three smaller vessels, to look for Asia. 148 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XXV. THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. ^9J^. The admiral, having heard that Guacanagari had come back to his old home, stopped at the harbor of La Navidad to see him. The chief, however, took a hasty leave when he saw the ships appear. So Columbus sailed on for Cuba. He thought that Cuba was part of the main-land of Asia, and he wanted to know more about it and especially to claim it for Spain before the Portuguese should reach it by the opposite route. He soon approached the eastern end, which is now called Point Maysi. From this place the admiral set out to sail along the southern shore of Cuba. After coasting for some distance he anchored in a harbor which is now called Guantanamo. The entrance to this harbor was narrow, but within it seemed like a lake surround- ed by mountains and bordered by blossoming trees. Columbus could see two cabins built of reeds, and the smoke of fires on the beach. He landed with some armed men and the San Salvador Indian, who went along as interpreter, but the wigwams were empty and the fires had been deserted. Apparently the Spaniards had broken up a feast. There were fish, utias or little rabbits, and guanas or big lizards, hanging on the trees or roasting over the fires. As the Spaniards had been THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 149 living meagerlj of late, -tliej sat down to eat without more ado, though they left the guanas untouched, for they considered them a kind of serpent, and felt much disgust at the thought of eating them. After tliey had feasted, the men, strolling about in the woods, happened on seventy Indians liuddled together upon the top of a high rock. When the Spaniards tried to get near them they fled, with the exception of one very bold man, who stood ready to run at the first sign of danger. The Indian interpreter was sent out to talk with this brave. MAP OF THE VOTAGE ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. The interpreter having satisfied the natives that their strange-looking visitors meant them no harm, they pres- ently came forth from their hiding-places. Their chief, they said, had sent them to the sea-shore to get fish for a feast which he w^as going to give to another chief, and they were cooking the provisions as the only means of keeping them from spoiling in a warm climate. The savages gave themselves no trouble because the strangers had eaten their food. They said that one night's fishing would make that good. Columbus, however, paid them in beads and hawkbells, so that white men and Indians 150 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. parted very good friends, after a hearty hand-sliaking all around. As the ships sailed along the coast crowds of Indians — men, women, and children — looked at them from the land. They held up fruits and provisions to tempt the strange voyagers ashore, and sometimes they pad- dled out in their canoes, bringing cassava bread, fish, and calabashes of fresh water as offerings to the heav- enly beings. The admiral never failed to send the simple creatures away happy with gifts of trifles. He dropped anchor again in another noble harbor. Here there were Indian villages and cultivated spots of ground wdiich looked in the distance like orchards and gardens. We must remember that Columbus and his men were always straining their eyes to see some sign of the civ- ilization of eastern Asia. The people of this bay were as friendly as possible. The admiral asked them where gold was to be found. They directed him to a large island south of them. Columbus was tempted to go out of his course to look for this island. He steered directly south. Presently the lovely shores of Jamaica came in view. He thought this the most delightful land he had yet seen. It is strange to see how variously the Indians were affected by the first sight of white men. In some places they fled, in others they came out to meet their visitors with perfect confidence, while in still other places they were disposed to fight. The Indians of Jamaica met the ships in a fleet of large canoes, giving the war- whoop, and threatening the Spaniards with their wooden lances. Columbus, as usual, avoided a battle. He wished to make friends with them and learn something THE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 151 from them about the world in which they lived. Look- ing for a harbor where he could get fresh water and careen one of his ships to calk her, he found a bay where the savages were very fierce. They were decked with black war-paint and gayly colored feathers, and they threw their spears at the white men and yelled in true Indian style. As it was necessary to get rid of these furious fellows before the shijJ could be hauled ashore and careened, Columbus sent some cross-bow men in the boats to attack them. Spanish arrows fired from cross-bows soon threw the w^arriors into confusion. The men then landed, let fly another volley, and set a fierce dog on the Indians. This is the first time that we hear of a dog being used in Indian warfare ; it was, in fact, a custom brought from Europe, where the use of these animals in war was not unknown. Large dogs were new to the natives, who had only small dogs that could not bark. Columbus named the island Santiago, but it has re- tained its more beautiful Indian name of Jamaica. The Indians, after they had been cured of their first fury, were friendly enough, bringing the Spaniards plenty of fresh provisions. These people had very large " dug- out " canoes, made of immense mahogany trees. These were carved and painted at the bow and stern. It is said that one of these canoes was ninety-six feet long and eight feet wide. Columbus did not stay long at Jamaica. Probably he did not find the prospect of gold sufiicient to tempt him to give up his search for India along the coast of Cuba. Just as he was about leaving Jamaica an adventurous young Indian came out to the ships and begged to go with the white men. His 152 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. family followed him, imploring liim not to go, but lie persisted. He sailed away with the Spaniards, and we do not know what became of him. Columbus crossed again to Cuba, steering for a cape which he named Cabo de la Cruz, or Cape of the Cross, and the cape is still called by this name. He landed at a large native town. The chief of this place told him that when the Spaniards sailed along the northern shore of Cuba, on the first voyage of Columbus, the Indians who had seen the white men told the news from one to another, and that it had reached him. The admiral asked these savages wdiether Cuba was an island or a continent. They answered that it was an island, but so large that no one had ever seen the end of it. This answer left Columbus as uncertain as ever. He sailed on west, and presently found himself in a very large bay or gulf. A severe thunder-storm struck him here. This tempest put the ships in a good deal of danger while it lasted, because there were many sand- banks and keys or little rocky islands in this bay. The farther the ships sailed, the more of these islands there were. The sailor at the mast-head could see them as far as his eyesight reached. Some w^ere small and bare, others were green, while still others were covered wdth forest trees. It was a very beautiful sight, and Columbus called this the Queen's Garden. The Queen's Garden was, however, a very dangerous place for ships, and the admiral hardly dared to sleep night or day, for fear of another accident like that which had happened on his first voyage. He might have stood farther out to sea and avoided these keys, but he remembered that Marco Polo had described the coast of Asia as having TflE VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. 153 a great many islands near it, and he expected soon to reach some rich country. It was a most anxious time for Columbus, for often the ships had to be towed out of a dangerous place, while sometimes they actually touched upon sand-banks in spite of all his care. While the admiral was sailing among these islands he came upon some Indian fishermen, who were too much absorbed in their pursuit to be frightened at the sight of the strange vessels. Thej motioned for the whites to keep still and not disturb their fishing. So the Spaniards watched them a while. The Indians tied a line to the tail of a small fish which had hooked fins u]>on its back. The story goes that these fish very obligingly went and hooked themselves into the bodies of large fish ; but it seems more likely that the large fish swallowed the little fish, and so got caught themselves. The Spaniards invited the fishermen on board. The Indians gave the whites their fish, and would have given them their fishing-tackle and the gourds in which they carried their drinking-water, but Columbus would not take these. He made the fishermen happy by some cheap presents. The ships sailed on, the men still admiring the little islands, on some of which they saw brilliant flamingoes, while on others were tortoises. They observed that these creatures laid their eggs in the sand and left them there to be hatched by the heat of the sun. After the hot tropical day in these regions the clouds gathered at sunset every evening and there was a terrible thunder-shower, which cleared away when the moon rose. The nightly tempests gave Columbus a great deal of anxiety in these dangerous shallows. 15i THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEK XXYI. ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. For a little time Columbus found it clear sailing, having got out of the Queen's Garden at last. He stopped at a large Indian village for food and water. The natives brought the white men some kind of a bird to eat, which they took for a dove. Finding that these birds had a peculiar taste, Columbus had the crop of one of them opened, and thought that it contained sweet spices. As spices were wished for next to gold, the admiral believed this a good sign. He tried at this place, as usual, to find out what the Indians knew of the geography of the land that they lived in. The old chief of the village said that farther on there were a great many more islands, and that the sea was shallow. The Indians had never heard, they said, that Cuba had any end to the west — at least, they were certain that one could not reach the end in forty moons. They said that there was a country west of here called Mangon, where one might learn more about it. Mangon, Columbus thought, sounded like Mangi, which was the name of the southern part of China, ac- cording to Marco Polo. He asked the Indians more about it, and got from them some story about the people who lived there having tails and wearing clothes to ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. 155 hide tliem. In triitli, Columbus had got into a region of romance once more, for he had reached a land where his interpreter could not understand the language of the natives, and so conversation was carried on by signs. I^ow, Columbus remembered that Sir John Mandeville, the Englishman who had traveled in Asia after Marco Polo, had said that some of the naked tribes of Asia believed that the people who wore clothes did so to conceal tails, as they could think of no other reason for wearing clothes. Ever hopeful, and expecting soon to reach a country where people went clothed, Columbus presently came to a sea rendered milky in color by line white sand mixed with the w^ater. The ships w^ere soon entangled among many little islands again, but Columbus pushed ahead, believing himself on the eve of making some notable discovery. He stopped in a great bay, and sent some men ashore for water. The forests were so high and thick that it was impossible to tell whether there were any people living here or not. While the men were filling the water barrels, one Spaniard scrambled about in the woods with his cross-bow, looking for game. He came running back to his companions and said that he had seen some thirty Indians, among whom were three white men, one of whom w^as dressed in a long white robe, while two wore tunics down to their knees. He said that he had shouted for his companions, for he w^as afraid to meet so many alone, and with that the whole troop had fled. The sailors all took refuge in the ships immediately, for there seemed to be some- thing terrifying to them in the idea of meeting men in clothes. As for Columbus, he was pleased to hear the 156 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. story, for lie thought that he was now about to find a civihzed conntiy, or that at least there was a civilized land in the interior. The next day the admiral sent an armed party of men on shore, telling them to go forty miles inland, if need be, to iind these men who wore clothing. They traveled through the forest until they came to a plain overgrown with tall and matted grass, in which they became so tangled that they presently returned. But Columbus did not give it up, and sent another party out the next day. These men had not gone far before they found the track of some large animal. It was no doubt the foot-prints of an alligator, but they took it for the tracks of nothing less than a lion or a griffin, and made a hasty retreat for the ships. They had found on their trip great cranes feeding in natural meadows, had smelled spicy odors, and had seen im- mense grape-vines climbing up the trees. Columbus afterward sent some clusters of grapes from this part of Cuba to Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as some of the water of the milky sea. The admiral sailed on until he came to some Indian cabins. The natives were naked, l)ut Columbus was not dismayed by this, as he imagined that they were only fishing tribes, and that more civilized people lived inland. These Indians brought out provisions to the ships. Columbus tried to learn something from one of them about the country, but as he had to talk by signs, he got a queer story as usual. This time it was a tale of a chief living in the mountains, who wore a long white robe and spoke only by signs. Be- yond this place the admiral found only a lonely coast ALONG THE COAST OF CUBA. I57 where no human beings were to be seen. Still, he did not for a moment doubt that he was near the civilized parts of Asia. He made a plan for exploration which was worthy of his great mind. He would continue on past India to the Ked Sea and so cross over to Joppa on the Mediterranean, and sail back to Spain, or, better still, sail clear around Africa and beat the Portuguese on tlieir own ground. In this way Columbus thought to be the first man to go around the world. This was a noble plan, and perhaps Columbus would have tried to carry it out if he could. He would then have found that Cuba was only an island, and would have discovered the main-land of America lying in his way, if he had sailed on to the west ; and in reaching Mexico he might have found something like the civil- ization that he was looking for, as well as gold enough to fulfill the hopes of Spain. But his ships were very leaky, his stock of sea-biscuit was scanty and spoiled by being wet, and his men, incapable of his great concep- tions, were clamorous to return to Hispaniola. Columbus sailed westward until the 13th of June, and still found no end to Cuba. Tlie sailors agreed with him that this was no doubt the main-land of Asia. But before he turned back, the admiral sent a notary around the three ships to take the oath of every man that Cuba was the continent of Asia. This seems a strange thing to do, but Columbus began to find out that his men could tell different tales about his discov- eries under different circumstances. Everybody, down to the ships' boys, took their oath, and it was then pro- claimed that if an officer contradicted this statement he was to pay a fine of ten thousand maravedis, while a 12 158 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. common sailor would get a hundred lashes and have his tongue cut out. While this strange Old World proceeding was go- ing on to prove that Cuba was a continent, it is said that a ship's boy at the mast-head might have looked over the islands and seen the Gulf of Mexico beyond. But Columbus turned back, and as he steered south- east he discovered the large Island of Pines. THE RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. 159 CHAPTER XXYII. THE EETUEN TO HISPANIOLA. Columbus stopped at the Island of Pines for wood and water. He tried to sail around the south side of this island to get away from the little keys, but he got into a deep lagoon instead of a channel, and had to go back. The men were much discontented at having to sail back ever so little. Having got out of the lagoon, Columbus went around the north of the island, where the ships sailed through a milky sea and an inky sea. Again they must worm their way through dangerous passages between little islands. Once the admiral's ship ran aground. It was imj)Ossible to pull her off the bar, and she had to be towed over, which strained her badly and made her more leaky than ever. The little vessels at last reached open water. Sweet odors came from the shores. On the lonely coast where they had been the men had to live on a pound of moldy sea-biscuit and a small measure of wine a day. They were glad enough now to anchor in the mouth of a river and feast on utias, birds, cassava bread, and tropical fruits brought to them by the Indians. Co- lumbus had a wooden cross put up here, as he did in many other places, by way of taking possession. After the cross had been put up mass was said. The old 1(30 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. chief of the couiitrj " assisted very decently " at the mass by making various motions. When the ceremony was over he gave the Spaniards to understand that he comprehended perfectly that they were thanking God, and that he knew that the souls of the good would go to heaven, while the body would return to the earth. He said that he had visited Jamaica and Hispaniola and knew^ the principal people on these islands, and that he had traveled to the east of Cuba, w^iere there was a chief who wore a robe like the Spanish priests. As this Indian king said all this by signs, we may be per- mitted to doubt whether he said anything of the sort, and believe that what he really said was something quite different. When Cuba came to be better known, no people were found in it who wore clothes, so that the tales of people who wore robes grew no doubt out of the strong belief of the white men that they were in Asia. From this river Cohmibus struck out more to sea, to avoid the shallows of the shore. On the 6th of July there set in a terrible rain which seemed like an- other deluge. AVhat with leaking from below and with rain from above, the ships were pretty nearly sub- merged. The poor sailors toiled at the pumps without any apparent effect. Columbus and his men suffered very much, for they had to support all the work and anxiety of the voyage on spoiled and scanty food. When they got fresh provisions from the natives they could not keep them over one night, so warm w^as the climate. Columbus, w^orn out by his trials, vowed that he would never subject himself to such vexations again. After eleven weary days the ships made land at THE RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. 101 Cape Cruz. The Indians brought them cassava bread, fish, fruits, and otlier things to eat, and the hungry men were comforted for a time. Necessity liad made them begin to like the native food. The wind was contrary for sailing to Hispaniola, and so Columbus struck over to Jamaica and coasted the southern shore of this island. Perhaps he had not yet given up his notion that there was gold on this island. He beat to the east for nearly a month along the shore of Jamaica, the winds being very unfavorable. The enthusiastic explorer was delighted with this his last discovery. The natives were now very fi-iendly, and came to the ships in canoes with provisions. At one place three canoes paddled out to meet the ships. In one of these, which was carved and painted, was a chief with his wife and two daughters. This chief moved in state. His attendants wore head-dresses of gay feathers, while round his own head were strings of colored stones, with a large piece of gold in front. He wore two plates of gold hanging from his ears, a string of white beads hung around his neck, while he was adorned with a belt of colored stones about his waist. His wife was decorated with bead ornaments, and wore also a small cotton apron, and some cotton bands about the arms and legs. The eldest daughter had a girdle of stones, but the other one was probably too young for finery, for she wore nothing whatever. It is said that this chief wished to go away with the Spaniards, but Co- lumbus would not take him, knowing how much In- dians suffered when they attempted to live in a state of civilization. It was the 20th of August when Columbus sighted 162 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. the western end of Hispaniola. He was not sure w^iat island it was, until a chief came off to the ships who called Columbus by name and used words which he had learned of the colonists. The homesick sailors were delighted. They were yet, however, a long way from Isabella. Columbus lost sight of two of his ships at one time, and sent some sailors to climb to the top of a small rocky island to look for them. The men did not discover the lost ships, but they killed six sea- wolves and a number of birds. These creatures were so unused to men that they could be knocked over with sticks. After six days of waiting the lost vessels re- joined the admiral. The little fleet then sailed west- ward along the southern shore of the island in view of a beautiful plain, where there were many inhabitants. Some of the people came out to the ships and told Co- lumbus that men from Isabella had visited them. He asked them how things went with the colony, and they said " Well." Columbus was much relieved when he heard this, for he was anxious about the settlement. He sent nine men overland to Isabella to carry the news that he was coming. By the middle of September Columbus was still coasting Hispaniola, when he w^as struck by a very bad storm. He took refuge behind a small island which lay near Hispaniola, but he was very anxious about his other ships, which were in the open sea. They rode out the storm in safety, however, and joined the admi- ral when it was over. The discoverer had planned to extend his voyage to some of the Caribbee islands, but he had been so anxious and slept so little for sr> long a time, that he fell ill of a fever at this point, and lay as THE RETURN TO HISPANIOLA. 163 though he were dumb, blind, and senseless for many days. His men hastened to Isabella with him. The first person that the sick discoverer saw when he came to consciousness was his brother Bartholomew, whom he had not seen for more than eight years. Co- lumbus must have been delighted to encounter this brother once more, as he seems to have been very fond of him. Bartholomew Columbus had come back to Spain when he had heard of the great deeds of Chris- topher. The king and queen had received him very kindly, and had given him the command of some ships which were going out with provisions for the colony. VIEW Oy THE SOUTHERN COAST OF HISPANIOLA. 164 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTER XXYIII. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY IN THE ABSENCE OF COLUMBUS. The sight of his brother was the onl^y pleasant thing which happened to the sick discoverer when he reached his colony. Everything had been going as badly as possible. Pedro Margarite, who had been left by Co- lumbus in command of a small army, instead of explor- ing the island in accordance with the orders of the ad- miral, encamped in the Yega Peal, among the Indians. Here the Spaniards acted much as the first colonists on the island had done : thej devoured the food of the natives, eating more, it was said, in a day than would supply a native for a month. They robbed the Indians of their wives and led wicked, lawless lives in every way. In vain Diego Columbus had remonstrated with Margarite. Margarite thought himself above an upstart family like that of Columbus. Many of the colonists, belonging to great Spanish families, having been an- gered that Columbus had forced them to Avork, took the part of Margarite. Father Boil, who was the head of the priests in the colony, was among the malcontents. Margarite and Boil did not think it best to wait for Columbus to return, but took themselves off in the ships which had been brought over by Bartholomew Colum- WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. I65 bus. They wished to hurry back to Spain in order to tell their tale first to the king and queen. Meantime, the soldiers, left to themselves, wandered about the island robbing and oppressing the Indians at their will. The natives presently began to take revenge in true Indian fashion, falling suddenly upon any small bands of white men that they might find and massacring them. One chief put to death the Spaniards who had quartered themselves in his town. After this he set fire to a house where there were forty sick men. The fierce chief Caonabo thought it a good time to attack Fort St. Thomas. But this fort was in the liands of Alonzo de Ojeda, and he was quite another sort of a man to deal with. He had fought the Moors and been engaged in private feuds and duels many times, having nevei" yet lost a drop of blood. He always carried with him a small painting of the Yirgin, which he believed protected him from harm. When he was out on an expedition, he would take this picture from his knap- sack whenever there was a chance, and, hanofins^ it against a tree, say his prayers to it. Like Jolm Smith, the warrior of Jamestown, and Miles Standish, the In- dian figliter of Plymouth, Ojeda was a little man, but very bold and strong. Caonabo found Ojeda ready for him. The fort was well built, and surrounded by a river on three sides and a ditch on the other. Not finding the white men off their guard, as they had hoped, there remained noth- ing for the natives to do but to starve them out. They besieged the fort, but Ojeda gave them plenty to do, falling upon them at any favorable moment, and slaughtering them right and left at the point of the 166 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. sword. Indians are never good at a siege. They began to fall away one by one, until Caonabo was forced to go himself for want of an army. But the chief did not give lip his hope of exterminating the white men. He prowled around Isabella, and saw how weak it was and how many of the people were ill. There were five great chiefs in the island, and Caonabo made a plan to get them all to join him, in order to get rid of the Spaniards once for all. The five chiefs were easily persuaded, except our old friend Guacanagari, who once more took the part of the white men. As he was the chief whose people lived nearest to Isabella, he was an important ally. After Columbus had returned from his voyage, he was sick for some time. He made Bartholomew his lieutenant or adelantado, for this brother was a man of a great deal more force than Diego. While Columbus was still lying ill Guacanagari came to visit him. He told Columbus how he had remained friendly to the white men in spite of the persuasions of the other chiefs. He said that this had made the other chiefs angry with him, and they had killed one of his wives and stolen another. He wanted Columbus to help him punish his enemies. When he talked about the massacre of the first colony it was with tears in his eyes, so that Co- lumbus began to think as much of Guacanagari as he had at first. At present the Indians were menacing a small Span- ish fort called Magdalena, which was near the great Yega. Columbus sent some soldiers to relieve this fort. He also sent for the principal chief of this region, whose name was Guarionex. He explained to Guarionex that WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COLONY. 16t he had only sent out these soldiers to reheve his fort and punish the chief who had massacred so many Span- iards while he was away. He also said that the bad actions of the Spaniards while he was away had been done in disobedience to his orders. In order to get this chief to feel friendly toward tlie settlement, he persuaded him to allow his daughter to marry his Indian inter- preter, who was a San Salvador Indian. In this way Columbus coaxed away another chief from Caonabo. He did not know how^ to deal with Caonabo himself, however, for it was impossible to hunt him out of his mountains, and there was no knowing wdien he might fall upon the settlements. At this moment the bold little Captain Ojeda offered to go Avith only ten men to capture the dreaded chief and bring him alive to Isa- bella. Columbus gladly accepted this offer, though it was doubtful what would be the outcome of such an adventure. 168 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. CHAPTEE XXIX. ojeda's adventure and the war that followed. 1494-]495. Ojeda chose ten men to go with him, and, after arming and mounting them well, set off on his hair- brained adventure. He traveled many miles through the forests before he reached the home of the mountain chief. Probably his picture of the Virgin went with him and hung on more than one tree by the way. Cao- nabo was not alarmed when these eleven white men en- tered his town, for they were too few to do him any harm. Ojeda pretended to have come on a friendly errand from Co- lumbus, to bring the chief a val- /^ uable present. The bold Span- ish soldier soon made himself a prime favorite among the Indians. He could do all kinds of feats, to their great admiration, and they already knew him to be a great warrior. Ojeda took a strange way to coax Caonabo to go to OLD CANNON FROM THE FORTRESS OF SANTO DOMINGO. ir^^^=^--w Ojeda praying to his picture oj the Virgin. OJEDA'S ADVENTURE. 169 the settlement. It seems that the Indians were very much charmed with the chapel bell at Isabella. One can fancy that an Indian, who delighted in the tinkle of hawkbells tied on his arms and legs when he danced, would be much pleased with the sound of a large bell. The Indians thought that the chapel bell was certainly turey^ or supernatural. When they saw the Spaniards hurry to church at the sound of its ringing they imao^ined that the bell talked to them. Ojeda now offered to give Caonabo this wonderful bell if he would go to Isa- bella with him. Caonabo thought he would, but he took care to take his war- riors along. Ojeda objected that this did not look like a friendly visit, but Caonabo said that it would not do for a person of his importance to go visiting with fewer attendants. This was a very good excuse, but Ojeda did not like the looks of this manoeuvre. He knew that Columbus wanted to avoid war and either make peace with this chief or capture him. He pretended to be sat- isfied, however, and traveled on with the Indians. When they were near the river Yaqui Ojeda one day showed Caonabo a set of burnished steel manacles. He told the chief that these beautiful ornaments came from the tureij of Biscay, Biscay being the Spanish town where iron was manu- factured. He also said that these ornaments were worn by the kings of Spain at their most solemn dances. INDIAN BATTLE-AXE. 170 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. The flattered chief consented to put them on, after hav- ing bathed in tlie river. The next step was to persuade Caonabo that it would be a fine thing to ride into Isabella on horseback wearing these royal ornaments. The chief consented to mount behind Ojeda, dressed in manacles. He no doubt felt that he cut a fine figure in the eyes of his wondering subjects, decked with shin- ing ornaments and daring to ride one of the dread- ed horses. Ojeda and his men dashed around among the Indians, mak- ing wider and wider cir- cles, until they got out of sight in the forest. The soldiers then drew up around Caonabo, bran- dishing their swords and telling the chief that they would kill him if he made a sound or tried to get away. They hastily tied him with cords to Ojeda, and they all rode aw^ay for Isabella, leaving the Indians far behind. They had a long and dangerous journey be- fore them. They thought best to avoid Indian villages or gallop through them at full speed, and they suffered greatly from hunger and w^atchfulness. Fancy the surprise in Isabella when the brave little Captain Ojeda entered the town with the dreadful Ca- onaba tied behind him. The chief bore his misfortunes stolidly, in Indian fashion. For want of a better place, Columbus kept him a prisoner in his own house, which CANNON OF COLUMBUS'S TIME. OJEDA'S ADVENTURE. 171 was small. The captive chief, in chains, could be seen bj passers-by through the open door. When Colum- bus, who kept up a good deal of dignity as viceroy, en- tered the house, all who were there rose in his presence. The Indian chief, however, declined to rise, but he al- ways got up when the small Captain Ojeda entered. The Spaniards asked Caonabo the reason of this. Co- lumbus, they told him, was guamigidna^ or chief over all, and Ojeda was only one of his men. Caonabo an- swered that Columbus had not dared to come to his house and make him a prisoner, while Ojeda had. By capturing Caonabo Columbus did not get rid of Indian wars. One of this chief's brothers presently marched forth to attack Ojeda, who was at St. Thomas again. The little captain, however, rode out to meet the Indians, and soon put them to flight, killing many of them and capturing the chief's brother. As was always the case with later colonies in the Kew World, the men were generally half starved, though living in a plentiful land. The supplies fur- nished by the Indians were uncertain, as they were a very indolent people and did not feel obliged to raise more food than was necessary for their own immediate wants. The colonists, so long as they had to work for the colony in general, never succeeded in planting enough to support themselves. The famine in the colony of Columbus was only ended by the arrival of four ships from Spain loaded with provisions. The admiral sent back by these ships five hundred Indians to be sold as slaves in Spain. This was a cruel meas- ure, into which Columbus was probably pushed by the demand upon him to make the colony immediately 13 172 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. profitable, while it was argued that the poor natives were thus put where they might stand a chance of being converted to Christianity. The wars with the Indians had perhaps also excited a hatred of the race. Colum- bus sent over what gold had been gathered, but this was probably not a very large amount, considering that the settlers had spent more time in squabbling and idle- ness than in gold-digging. The Indians were sold in Seville, but they died speedily in their new and hard life. During all this time Columbus was ill. It was not until five months after he had first been taken sick on shipboard that he recovered his usual health. Indian war was constantly threatening the set- tlement, and by April, 1495, it broke out. All of the chiefs, ex- cepting Guacanagari, banded together to at- tack the white men, another brother of Ca- onabo taking his place as chief of the tribe. They were on the warpath now, making their way toward Isabella. Columbus made haste to muster his army. It was very small — only two hundred footmen and twenty horsemen — but there were also twenty bloodhounds. The white men wore steel armor, and carried cross-bows, swords, lances, and the awkward gun called the arque- buse. Guacanagari and his warriors followed the Span- ish force, but they were of no use to the white men. The little army marched up over the Pass of the Ilidal- STONE-CARVING M 8ANT0 DOMINGO. OJEDA'S ADVENTURE. 173 goes and down into the beautiful Yega Eeal. Tlie In- dians sent scouts ahead to see how many there were of the white men. The savages were not able to count above ten, so they carried ears of corn wdth them and shelled off a grain for every man they saw in the army of Columbus. As they brought back a very small amount of corn to re}3re- sent the Spanish army, the In- dian chiefs felt sure of success. Columbus divided his army uf^^r^, <. o <« -w>?i i,- into several parts, each of which iZw^i^^W^^^ attacked the Indians from dif- ferent points. The sound of drums, trumpets, and fire-arms drowned the war-whoops of the natives. The horses trampled them under foot, their riders dealt blows to right and left with their swords, the bloodhounds chased down their prey and tore the helpless creatures to pieces, while the arquebuse did its share in the deadly w^ork. The warriors fled in every direction, or begged for mercy from the tops of rocks and precipices. Many were killed, and many more were taken prisoners. After the battle Columbus made a tour through the known part of the island and reduced it to subjection. The Indians were forced to pay tribute. Each savage over the age of fourteen was made to pay a hawkbell full of gold-dust. In the places where there was no gold, cotton was taken in its stead. A much larger COLUMBUS'S AKMOR. 1Y4 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. tribute was exacted of the chiefs. The brother of Ca- onabo had to give half a calabash of gold. When the Indians had paid their tribute they were given medals of lead or leather to wear around their necks, and any Indian found without his medal was punished. This tribute was a terrible burden to the Indians, to whom work made life unendurable. It bore also very hard upon the chiefs, who were leaders among the Indians rather than kings, as the Spaniards thought, and could not, it is probable, exact much tribute from their so- called subjects, and so were little richer than other In- dians. It was found to be so hard for the natives to furnish so much gold that the tribute was reduced to half a hawkbell of gold-dust, a hawkbell full being worth about five dollars. Meantime, there was such complete peace that a white man might go from one end to the other of the island unarmed and meet with no harm. TROUBLE FOR COLUMBUS. 175 CHAPTER XXX. TKOUBLE FOR COLUMBUS, AND A NEW GOLD MINE. Ijf95-U96. Columbus had no sooner settled the affairs of the island than his enemies in Spain made him fresh trouble, and they could not be dealt with so easily as the simple Indians. The two runaways, Margarite and Father Boil, had made as bad a story as possible of the troubles of the colony, blaming Columbus for everything. As it was very hard for the king and queen to know the real state of the case at so great a distance, they sent a man named Juan Aguado out to the colony to inquire into the state of affairs there. This Aguado had been one of the officers of Columbus on his second voyage out. In his letters to court, Columbus had recommended him and Margarite to the royal favor. Now, however, we find that they were both his enemies. When Aguado landed at Isabella Columbus was in the interior of the island. Aguado took no notice of Bartholomew Columbus, who was governing in his brother's absence. He caused the letter of credence given to him by the king and queen to be proclaimed by sound of trumpet It read : "Knights, esquires, and other persons who by our orders are in the Indies, we send to you Juan Aguado, our groom of the chambers, who will speak to you on 1Y6 THE STORY OF COLUMBUS. our part. We recommend yon to give liim faith and credit." Of course, everybody who was discontented com- plained to Aguado, and there w^ere many such people, while Aguado made the most of his little time of au- thority. Meantime, Columbus hastened to Isabella. People expected that there would be some sort of an explosion when Aguado and the proud discoverer met. But there was nothing of the sort. Columbus received Aguado courteously, caused the letter of credence to be proclaimed again by trumpet, and said that he was ready to obey the sovereigns in everything. After Aguado had meddled in the government of the island and had spent some time hearing the com- plaints of discontented white men and Indians, this gen- tleman got ready to leave. Columbus also thought best to go back to Spain and try to undo what his enemies had been doing against him at court. When the ships were all ready to set sail one of those terrible hurri- canes which occur sometimes in tropical countries struck Hispaniola. A wdnd from the east and a wind from the west seemed to meet and engage in a terrific war to the sound of thunder. The whirlwind tore over the country, pulling up great trees by the roots, and loosening rocks in the mountains, which crashed into the valleys below. The lighter houses were blown away, and people fled for safety. The ships in the har- bor were whirled about, their cables broken, and they were either sunk or wrecked on the shore, while the men on board of them were drowned. After three hours the storm was over. The Indians called this kind of storm furicanes or uricanes, and that is how TROUBLE FOR COLUMBUS. 177 they have come to have the name of hurricane. The four ships which Aguado had brought over were wrecked, as well as two others that were in the harbor. There was only the Nina left, and she was badly dam- aged. Columbus and Aguado did not care to sail to Spain in the same vessel, so that there was nothing to do but to wait until another could be built out of the timbers of the wrecked ships. While the vessel was being built something interest- ing happened. There was a young Spaniard named Miguel Diaz, who had had a fight with another man and wounded him so badly that it was thought that he would die. Afraid of being punished as a murderer,