^\ "'^ v^ ' -"/ 
 
 
 .*'^- 
 
 .:0i 
 
 /.>. 
 
 
 e/?;^' 
 
 /. .av 
 
 
 
 -v 
 
 
 % /' 
 
 '\4' 
 
 
 ■%/ - 
 
 
 
 ^y- 
 
 
 ^^ .^^ 
 
 't.. - 
 
 ^ 
 
 "" 
 
 ,r^" 
 
 
 o>- 
 
 
 
 
 r//Z^% 
 
 
 '^ .^ 
 
 .-is'^ 
 
 OO 
 
 •^ * 
 
 
 '^".<^'' : 
 
 
 -^^ ^-^ 
 
 j^^ 
 
 ."^^ - 
 
 
 
 •A^^' ■^z- 
 
 % 
 
 B /> '''• 
 
 ^>- v« 
 

 
 
 
 .^^ -^^^ 
 
 V ^^^ 
 
 
 ... ^ -f" 
 
 
 
 "■^> ,,^' 
 
 
 ^y. V 
 
 ■> >rw. ' ^ 
 
 (X .■*• 
 
 
 
 ■^, 
 
 "^ " ^ \>^\ ^ * » ^ " ' 
 
 # <f- 
 
 
 
 5>0, 
 
 
 
 !"% ". ""'^. .-V 
 
 
 N^ „ 
 
 '^J- V^ 
 
 >s# 
 
 ^^ .#• 
 
 
 
 
 
 .^^^'^^- 
 
 ^0^ 
 
 ' 4 e "i ,\ 
 
 s^^ ■^-^. 
 
 o 0' 
 
 
 
 °iU * '- ^ ^ \^ 
 
 
 5-' 
 
 .'^ 
 
 ■>.' , 
 
 
 '^^- ,^^''' 
 
 --^ -r. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/centuryofdiscoveOOvoge 
 
BALBOA TAKING POSSESSION OF THE SOUTH SEA. 
 
n 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ;: 
 
 $ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I.— THE PORTUGUESE. 
 
 CHAPTER FAGK 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY .--.--- i 
 
 11. PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR - - - - 6 
 
 III. DIOGO CAM AND MARTIN BEHAIM - - - - 40 
 
 IV. BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ AND PEDRO DE COVILHA^I - - 49 
 V. VASCO DA GAMA - - - - - - "57 
 
 VI. PEDRO ALVAREZ CABRAL AND JUAN DE NOVA - - 87 
 
 VII. FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA - - - - - 98 
 
 VIIL ALFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE - - - - - I16 
 
 IX. THE LAST DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE - "131 
 
 X. THE PORTUGUESE RULE IN INDIA AND ITS DECLINE - I38 
 
 PART II.- THE SPANIARDS. 
 
 I. INTRODUCTORY - - - - - - - 1 50 
 
 II, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS - - - - "153 
 
 III. AMERIGO VESPUCCI . _ . . - - 219 
 
 IV. VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA . . - - - 234 
 
 V.-TERNAM DE MAGALHAENS . _ - - - 244 
 
 VI. HERNANDO CORTES ---_-- 263 
 
 VIL FRANCISCO PIZARRO - - - - - "313 
 
 Vin. THE LAST DISCOVERIES OF THE SPANIARDS - - - 346 
 
 IX. THE SPANISH RUli IN AMERICA . - - - 356 
 
 lUI J, ] 
 
 A. 
 
F^ITURY OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 ' BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH NAVIGATORS 
 FROM PRINCE HENRY TO PIZARRO. 
 
 (^ 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 
 OF 
 
 THEODORE VOGEL. 
 
 SSlith lEtucllJC illustrations. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 D. APPLETON AND CO., BROADWAY, 
 
 1877. 
 

 « » 
 
A 
 
 CENTURY OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 PART I.— THE PORTUGUESE. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 In the rugged mountain tract which separates the arid table- 
 land of central Spain from the humid coast of the Bay 
 of Biscay we trace the origin of the modern states of the 
 Pyrenean peninsula. Into this wild and scarcely acces- 
 sible region, which occupies the whole north-west corner 
 of the peninsula, and lies among the Cantabrian Moun- 
 tains, a thousand Christian families fled before the wild storm 
 of Arabs which in 711 destroyed at Xeres de la Frontera 
 the kingdom of the West Goths, and forthwith inundated the 
 whole peninsula. Thus was formed the Christian state of 
 AsturiaS; which still enjoys peculiar rights among the Spanish 
 provinces. From it the Crown Princes of Spain have been 
 used to take their title, and its inhabitants boast with genuine 
 Spanish arrogance that they, whose soil the foot of the Moslem 
 has never trodden, are the noblest of all the Spaniards. 
 
 From mere defence the Asturians soon proceeded to direct 
 attacks upon the invaders, and during the following centuries 
 the neighbouring states, by dint of never-ceasing struggles, 
 were gradually recovered by the Christians. It was usual in 
 
 I 
 
2 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 those days for a territory to be divided on the death of a prince, 
 and out of repeated divisions and reunions two kingdoms at 
 length arose at the beginning of the eleventh century. In the 
 east was Arragon, with its capital, Saragossa, first wrested 
 from the Arabs in 1130, comprising also Catalonia, and later 
 on Navarre ; and in the west, Castile, to which belonged 
 Gallicia, Asturias, and Leon. 
 
 King Alfonso VI. of Castile, in the year 1094, gave the 
 land between the Douro and the Minho as a fief to Count 
 Henry of Burgundy, a prince of the Capetian dynasty, who 
 came over the Pyrenees at the head of a large train of fol- 
 lowers in order to stand by his brethren in the faith in their 
 struggle with the infidel. With the territory the King also 
 bestowed the hand of his daughter upon the young prince, in 
 the hope of thus binding him closely to the cause of the 
 Spanish Christians. The territory received the name of Portugal 
 from its most important harbour, Porto Cale, now called Oporto, 
 and the young state devoted itself most zealously to the national 
 task— the driving of the Arabs from the Spanish soil. The ac- 
 complishment of this task was specially looked for from the 
 spiritual orders of knighthood, and, in imitation of the Castilian 
 Orders of St. Jago of Compostella, Calatrava, and Alcantara, 
 there arose in Portugal the Order of Aviz. Gloriously did the 
 Portuguese kings henceforth share in the struggle against the 
 Moors. But as time went on they sought more and more to 
 direct the attention of their people to the neighbouring coast 
 of Africa, and so to make the enthusiasm of the Portuguese 
 for a religious war serviceable for the extension of their terri- 
 tory. Though with no great result, the expeditions against 
 Ceuta and Tangier scarcely ceased from the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century, and they had a favourable eff-ect upon the 
 Castilian and Arragonese conquests, inasmuch as they occu- 
 pied the Moslems of Morocco in their own land and hindered 
 them from supporting their brethren in Spain. 
 
Introductory. 3 
 
 ■But more important than all was the fact that Portugal gra- 
 dually awoke to a consciousness of the value of its position 
 on the main ocean. The ancient highway of commerce from 
 the Mediterranean to the North Sea had never been com- 
 pletely forgotten since those times when bold Punic seamen 
 first discovered it. But in the night which settled over these 
 shores during the irruption of the northern nations the inter- 
 course ceased, and its timid recommencement at the time of the 
 Carlovingians was suppressed by the piracies of the Normans 
 and Danes. At last these wild forces raged themselves out, and 
 a more orderly state of things together with a certain culture 
 took the place of confusion. During the Crusades many a 
 ship, full of warlike Netherlanders, who had devoted their arms 
 to the service of the Holy Sepulchre, took the old road to the 
 Mediterranean. The Portuguese too many times found valu- 
 able allies against the Arabs in these brave and enthusiastic 
 northern crusaders. But this route was not made use of as 
 a highway for commerce until a new centre of industry and of 
 trade sprang up in the Flemish towns of Antwerp, Bruges, and, 
 above all, Ghent. Between them and the great Italian republics 
 that traded in the productions of the east the commerce v/as 
 soon so important that the thrifty Genoese and Venetians 
 .exchanged the troublesome and expensive land route over 
 the Alps and down the Rhine for the comfortable and far 
 cheaper way by sea through the Straits of Gibraltar. As 
 early as the year 13 18 the Venetians sent five ships to the 
 fair at Antwerp, and from year to year the number of the 
 ships increased. This commerce was of the greatest use to 
 Portugal. All voyages were then made by creeping round 
 the coast, and this continued to be the case until the middle 
 of the fifteenth century, when the astrolabe was introduced, 
 which enabled ships on the open sea to make something like 
 a correct calculation with regard to latitude and longitude. 
 In the voyage between Flanders and Italy, as long as it was 
 
 I — 2 
 
4 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 the custom to keep close to the shore, the harbour of Lisbon^ 
 which lay about half way, formed a welcome resting-place 
 into which ships seldom failed to run. In fact, this harbour 
 was so much frequented that in the time of King Ferdinand, 
 who ruled from 1367 to 1383, four hundred and fifty merchant- 
 ships might often be counted in it. In shipbuilding too the 
 Portuguese soon acquired such skill that they outdid their 
 teachers, and the Portuguese quick-sailing vessels, called 
 caravels, acquired a fame which they well deserved. A 
 caravel was a particularly round ship with a square stern. 
 It had two masts and carried four three-cornered sails, and 
 was armed like a galley ; and the persevering efforts of the 
 Portuguese kings to construct a caravel that should carry 
 cannon, without sacrifice of speed, were at length suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 The rapid growth of this little state soon secured it a great 
 name, and gave rise to many fables about the riches of the 
 Portuguese. It is certain that at the accession of King- 
 Ferdinand the treasury of Lisbon contained, besides other 
 coins and things of value, 800,000 gold pieces and 400,000 
 marks of silver — an enormous sum for those days. 
 
 King Ferdinand, whose weak and disorderly government 
 swallowed up the treasure, was the last of his house. His 
 early death in 1383 called up many claimants for the crown, 
 above all the King of Castile, who coveted the possession of 
 a land so rich, lying on the borders of his own. But the half- 
 brother of the late King, John the Bastard, gained a glorious 
 victory over the foreigner at Aljubarrota, four miles from 
 Lisbon, where he afterwards founded the splendid Abbey of 
 Batalha, the fine ruins of which are still standing. It was a 
 burdensome inheritance on which the young Prince entered, 
 and it cost him long years and much pains before the pros- 
 perity of the land, ruined by the misrule of Ferdinand, was 
 restored. However, the prudence and energy of the young 
 
Introductory. 5 
 
 Prince succeeded at last in healing the wounds of the land. 
 But his predecessor had left behind another inheritance in 
 which the glorious future of Portugal was bound up, and upon 
 which John and his whole family entered with hope and zeal 
 — Africa and the Ocean. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR. 
 
 King John I., the Bastard, had by his marriage with Philippa 
 of Lancaster five noble sons, all of whom deserved well of 
 their country. Henry, the third of these brothers, born on 
 the 4th of March, 1394, became grand master of the Order 
 of Christ, which King Dionysius had founded after the sup- 
 pression of the Templars and endowed with their great wealth 
 — wealth which, according to the rules of the new foundation, 
 was to be employed for the extension of Christendom. It 
 may have been this stipulation which first turned the attention 
 of the young Prince to the wide field which Africa presented 
 to his desire to spread the faith that he professed. When, on 
 investigating the matter, he found how exceedingly contradic- 
 tory and full of fable was all the geographical knowledge then 
 possessed of that quarter of the world, it awoke in him an 
 ardent desire to lift the veil and win for his country the great 
 prize which this enterprise offered. The year 141 5 was decisive 
 in this matter. In this year King John, accompanied by hiij 
 three eldest sons, proceeded with a fleet to the fortified town 
 of Ceuta, which lies on the north coast of Africa, opposite tO' 
 Gibraltar. After a gallant defence, Ceuta was taken by storm 
 and plundered : and of the three Princes who won their spurs 
 that day,Henry especially exhibited extraordinary bravery. 
 Ceuta remained in the hands of the Portuguese, and became 
 the key to Africa. From that day forward Henry decided to 
 make the investigation of that as yet unknown portion of the 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 7 
 
 world the task of his life, and for this the newly-conquered 
 town offered a good starting-point. In order to be as near as 
 possible to his field of labour, he afterwards removed his resi- 
 dence to the Castle of Terganabal in Algarve, which he had 
 built for himself on the Bay of Sagres. Here he spent nearly 
 half a century in retirement, far from the splendour of the 
 court, poring over nautical charts and books of travel, and 
 with the most intense earnestness following every step that 
 was made in the investigation of Africa by the Portuguese 
 expeditions, which were all either undertaken at his expense, 
 or at any rate greatly assisted by him. Admirable, indeed, is 
 the quiet patience which he opposed to the mocking scepticism 
 of his contemporaries and the want of success which fell to 
 his lot for many years, until at the end of his life he saw his 
 efforts crowned with the highest success, and a path of glory 
 opened to his native land. 
 
 The current opinion of learned men about Africa was that 
 only the north coast of that continent was habitable, and that 
 farther south the land that lay under the tropics was burnt up 
 by the vertical rays of the sun, and was unsuitable for all 
 animal and vegetable life. This theory, which the great 
 Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy, following a suggestion of 
 Aristotle, had put forth, was held by all Arabian and 
 European savants of the Middle Ages as incontrovertible, and 
 found confirmation, as it appeared, in the band of desert 
 land which begins a few miles south of the shores of the 
 Mediterranean Sea, and which was regarded as a passage to 
 the completely desolate region of the tropics. South of that 
 fearful desert it was thought there might be a tract covered 
 with vegetation and providing man and beast with the means 
 of subsistence. This was the opinion of the Roman poet 
 Ovid, who, in his account of the Creation, says, " The middle 
 one of the five zones is uninhabitable on account of its heat, 
 the two extreme ones are covered with deep snow, but to the 
 
8 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 two zones which God has placed between these He has given 
 an endurable climate by means of a mixture of heat and cold. 
 
 In the southern temperate zones was supposed to be the 
 dwelling-place of our antipodes, the existence of which, how- 
 ever, orthodox savants, following the opinion of St. Augustine, 
 denied. 
 
 But how penetrate to these happy regions } Only in 
 East Africa did it appear possible, where the sacred Nile, 
 breaking through the desert, rendered the passage practicable, 
 which, farther west, was barred by the impenetrable waste. 
 Following the Nile upwards, according to the opinion of the 
 time, a glorious land was reached which formed the junction 
 between the two temperate zones, and therefore was specially 
 favoured by Nature, and appeared destined to rule the world. 
 No wonder that the passion for strange stories and the love of 
 the marvellous, which characterised the Middle Ages, should 
 have made the most of such inviting materials. Wonderful things 
 were related of this land, the inhabitants of which belonged to 
 the Christian religion, and under the rule of a priestly King, 
 Prester John, enjoyed an eternal peace and almost supernatural 
 happiness. This marvellous tradition, which pointed to the 
 highlands of Abyssinia, whose inhabitants had already become 
 Christians in the fourth century, long possessed the minds even 
 of educated men, and for centuries there were not wanting 
 people who recognised in every newly-discovered land of the 
 East the fabulous kingdom of Prester John, even if it only 
 bore in some slight degree a resemblance to that land of 
 marvels. 
 
 Even Prince Henry had fallen into the popular delusion 
 that the region of the tropics was uninhabitable, until the 
 investigations which he made personally in Ceuta, and by 
 agents in Tunis, awoke doubt in his mind. He learnt that in 
 Morocco, as well as in Tunis, a regular commerce was carried 
 on with lands which lay on the other side of the great desert. 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 9 
 
 He learnt that caravans traversed that uninhabited region in 
 thirty-seven days, and that they brought to the shores of the 
 Mediterranean gold, ivory, and slaves. Lastly, he learnt that 
 south of that belt of sand there were races that differed from 
 the northern Africans, in that they had black skins and 
 woolly hair ; that there were large towns in these territories, 
 such as Timbuctoo, Ghagho, and Kantor, and powerful 
 kingdoms, among which those of Melli and Gana are most 
 frequently mentioned. The latter, which the Portuguese 
 miscalled Guinea, was, according to the report of the traders, 
 the most western of all the central African kingdoms, and 
 extended to the ocean. 
 
 These reports had, indeed, before this reached the Italian 
 republics, and had called forth isolated attempts on the part 
 of the Genoese and Venetians to reach by sea the land of the 
 blacks ; but the small success of these expeditions had soon 
 discouraged them. It is the distinguishing merit of Prince 
 Henry that he resumed these attempts with fresh vigour, and 
 made use of the singularly favourable position of Portugal for 
 this purpose. That the received opinion about the great 
 distance between the two temperate zones was founded on 
 gross exaggeration, he decided from certain information which 
 he obtained about the length of a caravan journey from 
 Morocco to the Soudan. He considered that the journey 
 might be made from Portugal in the same time by sea, if the 
 west coast of Africa were followed towards the south. This, 
 therefore, was the next task which Prince Henry set himself, 
 and he took it up with a fiery zeal. 
 
 But here hindrances met him which appeared almost 
 insurmountable. Uncomfortable reports were current about 
 the nature of the coast and sea, reports which had first been 
 set afloat by the Phenician and Carthaginian merchants. 
 These crafty traders had sought to monopolise the source of 
 their most important commodities, tin, amber, ivory, gum, &c., 
 
lo A Century of Discovery. 
 
 by spreading the most exaggerated and very often most 
 absurd tales about the dangers which awaited the foolhardy 
 navigator outside the Pillars of Hercules, if he sailed either 
 northward towards the tin-producing islands, or southward 
 to the hot lands where the black men dwelt. For a long time 
 all the Carthaginian stories about the northern seas had been 
 recognised as fables, for, with the fall of the Roman empire, 
 the centre of the civilised world had moved northwards; but the 
 faith in the horrible stories which had been related about the 
 coast of Africa was in no wise shaken. On the contrary, they 
 were received even by the learned as of undoubted authority. 
 On the coast of what is now called Morocco, the boldest sea- 
 men did not venture farther south than Cape Non, for the 
 proverb said, " He who sails around Cape Non (Not) either 
 will return or not." At that point was supposed to begin the 
 sea of horrors, full of dangerous rocks and shallows. The 
 heat of the sun was said to evaporate the water, so that the 
 sea became more and more salt the farther south you ad- 
 vanced, until at last it became such a dense mass that no ship 
 could cut through it. A constant calm prevented any escape, 
 and the evaporated water lay like a thick mist over the sea. 
 
 The restless popular fancy had also erected here magnetic 
 mountains which attracted every particle of iron, and thus 
 caused any ships which came into their neighbourhood to fall 
 to pieces. Of course there was no lack of horrible monsters 
 in the sea and giants on the land, who both lay wait for the 
 poor castaway seaman. And such fables were not mere 
 popular superstitions, but were treated of seriously in scientific 
 works. 
 
 It was therefore an important result when, in the first ex- 
 pedition which Prince Henry fitted out in order to reach 
 Guinea, a part of these superstitious fears were found to be 
 groundless. In the year 141 5 — the year of the taking of 
 Ceuta — he sent out two more caravels, under the command of 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 1 1 
 
 resolute Portuguese captains, with the express order to double 
 Cape Non, and to penetrate as far as possible towards the 
 south. The promontory which had been so much dreaded 
 was discovered to be perfectly safe, and the voyage along the 
 barren and uninhabited shore was prosperously made until, 
 about sixty miles beyond Cape Non, an obstacle was en- 
 countered which put an end to the farther progress of the- 
 vessels. This consisted of a rocky peninsula, which stretched 
 far into the sea, and from which a reef extended for six miles. 
 The ocean here dashed with such boisterous violence against 
 the shore that the courage of the sailors sank, and they de- 
 clared it utterly impossible to sail round the cape, which was 
 called Cape Bojador, from "bojar," to jut out. 
 
 Prince Henry would not for a moment entertain the idea 
 of abandoning his design, and the next year sent out many 
 ships, with orders to sail round this point; but not one 
 could fulfil the task. So low was nautical science still in 
 Portugal that none of the captains would venture to steer the 
 few miles out into the open sea which were necessary in order 
 to overcome the obstacle. They each clung in a craven 
 manner to the coast. A mere accident gave for a time another 
 direction to Prince Henry's energy. 
 
 A caravel, which he had sent out in the year 1419 to sail 
 round Cape Bojador, was caught by a storm before it reached 
 its goal, and driven far out into the open sea towards the west. 
 When the storm abated, the sailors found themselves on the 
 coast of an uninhabited island, which they christened Porto 
 Santo. It was one of the Madeira Islands which they had hit 
 upon, an island that had some years previously been discovered 
 by some Italian sailors, but which had been almost forgotten 
 again. 
 
 The next year the larger sister island was discovered, and 
 taken possession of Its Portuguese discoverers called it St. 
 Lawrence, as they discovered it on St. Lawrence's day ; but 
 
12 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 after a time it received the name which it now bears of 
 Madeira, which means the woody island. The whole island 
 was covered with thick forests, which, if we may believe the 
 statements of the Portuguese, consisted principally of cedars. 
 
 As soon as the Prince was informed of these discoveries — 
 the importance of which he could well appreciate — he made 
 preparations to people the newly-acquired lands, and to render 
 their productions useful. With the consent of the King, he 
 placed the islands under three governors, and called upon his 
 countrymen to emigrate to those fruitful lands whose virgin 
 soil promised a rich reward to the cultivator. 
 
 At the foundation of the little town of Funchal, on the south 
 coast of Madeira — which is still the capital of the group — a 
 part of the primeval forest was set on fire. The fire spread, 
 and burnt, according to some, for seven, according to others, 
 for nine years, and consumed all the timber of the island. 
 Now the island is poor in timber. The richness of soil, so 
 lavishly manured by the ashes of the conflagration, was incon- 
 ceivable. The corn bore at first sixtyfold ; the sugar-cane, 
 transplanted thither from Sicily, brought forth a rich harvest ; 
 and the vine, which, by the Prince's care, was brought from 
 Cyprus, produced that wine to which the island owes so much 
 of its fame. 
 
 The zealous care which the Prince devoted to the newly- 
 discovered Archipelago was richly repaid to him, for as he had 
 fitted out and despatched the expedition, he received the fifth 
 part of all the revenues of the islands, and with the sums 
 which in this way flowed into the treasury of the Order of 
 Christ he could defray the expenses of new undertakings. 
 Afterwards the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and Diserta 
 were made over to the Prince by his brother, King Edward, 
 as his own possession, with all their revenues, and with the 
 penal and civil jurisdiction. All the spiritualities were pre- 
 sented to the Order of Christ. 
 
Prhice Henry the Navigator. 13 
 
 Under Henry's government the population rapidly increased, 
 and it now numbers about 100,000 inhabitants, principally of 
 Portuguese descent. The once flourishing wine trade has been 
 almost ruined by the grape disease, which first made its ap- 
 pearance some years ago, and spread rapidly. In its palmiest 
 days the island produced 15,000 pipes of wine, on which the 
 Portuguese state laid heavy duties. Now the plains are covered 
 with sugar-canes, which form the most important article of 
 export ; and very recently attempts have been made to re- 
 introduce the cultivation of the vine. The splendid climate of 
 Madeira has caused it to be chosen as a winter residence for 
 people suffering from pulmonary diseases. 
 
 The promising development of the young colony caused 
 the Prince to turn his attention to the neighbouring group of 
 the Canary Islands, and excited in him the wish to gain them 
 also for Portugal. These islands, which had never been quite 
 forgotten, lie not far from the African coast, opposite Cape 
 Non. It was here the old Greeks and Romans placed the 
 happy islands of the Hesperides ; it was here that a venerable 
 tradition of the Middle Ages pointed out the island of the holy 
 Brandon ; and it was in this direction, at the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century, that the first Venetian and Genoese fleets 
 that ventured into the open sea directed their course. Portu- 
 guese ships had in 1335 brought to Lisbon men and goods 
 stolen from these islands, and the name — which is said to mean 
 " the rediscovered islands " — clearly points out that an earlier 
 knowledge of them had existed. 
 
 In the bull issued from Avignon on the 15th of November, 
 1344, the Pope, in virtue of his assumed supremacy over all 
 lands, granted the island to the Spanish Prince Louis de la 
 Cerda, who, however, was prevented by death from entering 
 on his lordship. In the second half of the fourteenth century 
 the islands were now and again visited, partly for the purposes 
 of gain, that is, to carry off slaves and to procure dragon's 
 
14 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 blood and orchil (a dye) from the inhabitants, and partly with 
 the object of converting them to Christianity. 
 
 Of all the islands on the coast of Africa, the Canaries were 
 the only ones that were peopled. From the scanty descrip- 
 tions and vocabularies which the discoverers have handed down 
 to us, we may conclude that there was some relationship be- 
 tween the Guanches — so the inhabitants were called — and the 
 people of the Atlas Mountains. How the migration from 
 Africa took place is a riddle, for it is certain that when the 
 Europeans arrived ships were unknown to the inhabitants, and 
 from want of boats the intercourse between island and island 
 was so small that the language of one island was not always 
 understood by the people of another. The Guanches are said 
 to have had tall athletic frames, were bright coloured, and had 
 long fair hair ; and this description has been confirmed by the 
 numerous mummies found in the sepulchres of the islands. 
 
 Their clothing was very scanty, and their dwellings were 
 either rude stone huts or the caves which had been formed 
 in great numbers by the upheaving of the basalt. Herbs, 
 roots, meal, and the milk and flesh of their flocks served 
 for their food. The use of fermented liquors was unknown 
 to them. Their tools also were clumsy; and since they 
 had no iron, they were forced to be content with wood and 
 stone, both for implements of industry and for arms. Cattle 
 and goats appear to have been numerous in all the islands ; 
 but the cultivation of corn was only carried on in those most 
 favoured by Nature — Teneriffe and Canary. On these the 
 number of the inhabitants was relatively great (Teneriffe is 
 represented as having 6000 fighting men, and Canary still " 
 more), and the people too showed a great superiority over 
 those of the other islands in civil and social development. 
 
 Canary was divided into two kingdoms, and each of the 
 Kings had to assist him a council of 190 men, chosen from the 
 noblest families. The people of Teneriffe were divided into 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 15 
 
 many tribes, each with its chief at its head. The division into 
 the nobility, the common people, and a despised class, to 
 whom fell the unclean occupation of slaughtering cattle and 
 goats, appears to have been common to all. Side by side 
 with the civil nobility, there was a priestly class, which pos- 
 sessed considerable political influence. The position of the 
 high-priest of Canary is compared by the Spanish chronicler 
 to that of a Christian bishop, and he possessed the power of 
 •examining into the claims of warriors who aspired to be made 
 nobles. Besides priests, priestesses are mentioned. 
 
 With regard to the religion of this remarkable people, there 
 are but few indications, which, however, tend to the conclusion 
 that the faith in a Creator of all things, who rewards the good 
 and punishes the wicked, was universal ; but that in particular 
 islands special divinities were also honoured. The dead — at 
 least, the illustrious dead — 'Were embalmed^ and, wrapped in 
 skins, were placed in holes and caves. Great praise is be- 
 stowed on the manners and customs of these Guanches, and 
 many incidents of their short history place them in a bright 
 light, to which the faithless cruelty of the Europeans forms a 
 very ugly contrast. They came confidingly to meet the 
 strangers, and the treaties concluded with them they never 
 broke. To shed blood needlessly appeared to them a most 
 shameful crime. Captives taken by them in war they never 
 killed, but included them in the lowest class. They were pas- 
 sionately devoted to song and dance; but their favourite occu- 
 pation was the exercise of arms, which they practised in great 
 tournaments. Even the European conquerors feared their 
 obstinate gallantry, although to the muskets and lances of the 
 Spaniards they could only oppose wooden clubs, slings, and 
 spears with points made of horn. Thus the Guanches appear 
 like the remains of a favoured race, once acquainted with a 
 higher civilisation, but, from long isolation, gradually degraded 
 to the condition of savages, though still retaining certain 
 
1 6 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 social regulations and elevated tastes, like noble ruins in the 
 midst of a deserted plain. 
 
 It was the hope of conquering these islands, and bringing 
 their inhabitants over to the faith, which caused the Norman 
 nobleman Jean de Bethencourt, of the castle Grainville la 
 Teinturiere, in the Pays de Caux, to embark from La Rochelle, 
 on the 1st of May, 1402, in a very good vessel, well pro- 
 visioned and manned. Such is the story of the Franciscan 
 Boutier and the secular Le Verrier, who accompanied the 
 adventure-loving nobleman as attendants, and have written a 
 full account of the whole undertaking. The knight Gadifer 
 de la Salle, an adventurer, joined him. On the way, in 
 Corunna and Seville, where they lay to, they had to over- 
 come difficulties raised by the rebellious spirit of the Gascon 
 and Norman seamen. After a short voyage from Seville, 
 they reached the Canary Islands, and the two knights took 
 possession of those which lay most to the north-west. On 
 the most northerly — -Lanceroto, which took its name from a 
 Genoese, Lancelot Maloysel, its first discoverer, they built a 
 fortress, to which they gave the significant name of Rubicon. 
 But the small number of their forces made the subjugation of 
 the inhabitants impossible ; and so Bethencourt returned, in 
 order to procure assistance from Europe. Gadifer remained 
 behind to take his place, but was soon reduced to the utmost 
 extremity by a conspiracy, which was formed by his subor- 
 dinate, Berthin de Berneval. 
 
 This traitor embarked on board a Spanish ship with twenty 
 of the inhabitants, whom he had kidnapped and thought to 
 sell as slaves, and left Gadifer and his men behind in the utmost 
 need, as he carried ofi" with him all their provisions. From this 
 unpleasant situation, which was made worse by the hostility 
 of the embittered Guanches, Gadifer was extricated at last 
 by the return of Bethencourt, who had paid homage to King 
 Henry II. of Castile, as his feudal lord, hoping thus to secure 
 
Prince Henry the Navigato7\ 1 7 
 
 a generous support. The subjugation of the island was then 
 speedily accomplished, and the inhabitants constrained to 
 receive Christianity, the King himself being baptised by the 
 chaplain, Le Verrier, and receiving the name of Louis, More 
 difficult was the subjugation of the neighbouring island, 
 Erbania, or Fuerteventura, the capital of which still bears the 
 name of Bethencuria. It was only accomplished after a 
 year's hard struggle, with the support of the baptised Guanches 
 of Lancerote, and by a sagacious use of the discord between 
 the two races which inhabited the island — a discord so bitter 
 that the weaker race had built a wall for their defence right 
 across the island. 
 
 After the arrival of new colonists from Normandy, Bethen- 
 court proceeded with the exploration and conquest of the rest 
 of the Canary Islands. But here he was not fortunate. He 
 suffered seriously in his conflicts with the gallant Guanches, 
 and could only establish a firm footing in the island of Ferro. 
 During these various expeditions he touched on the coast of 
 Africa south of Cape Bojador, and his biographers have much 
 to relate of the plans that he had formed for further discoveries 
 in this part of the world. Promising soon to return, and 
 making his nephew, Maciot, governor, he left the islands and 
 set sail for Rome, in order to make arrangements for the 
 spiritual welfare of his newly-converted subjects. At his re- 
 quest. Pope Innocent VII. created a new bishopric for the 
 Canary Islands, and made Albert de Maison the first bishop. 
 He took up his residence in Rubicon, being under the 
 Archbishop of Seville, From Rome Bethencourt turned 
 towards his home, and there, in the year 1425, he died, 
 without accomplishing his promised return to the Canary 
 Islands. 
 
 Even before the death of this worthy knight, whose religious 
 zeal had been considerably influenced by selfishness and love 
 of adventure, his nephew had found it impossible to retain his 
 
 2 
 
1 8 Jj Century of Discovery. 
 
 hold over the islands. He had not sufficient authority to 
 control the community, and the irregularity of the supplies 
 which he received from his uncle caused considerable suffering 
 to the colonists, and endangered the existence of the settle- 
 ment. Added to this, he had to encounter the opposition of 
 the Guanches and the raids of the Spanish corsairs. 
 
 These were sufficient reasons to make Maciot de Bethen- 
 court tired of such an unprofitable undertaking, and he 
 entered into a negotiation with Prince Henry, and gave him 
 the Canary Islands in exchange for territories in Madeira. 
 Greatly pleased at the important acquisition, Henry in 1424 
 sent out a strong force to receive the islands from Maciot. 
 He could not, however, conquer the larger islands of Canary, 
 Tenerifife, and Palma, all attempts, being frustrated by the 
 gallant defence of the natives ; and before the Prince could 
 send reinforcements, the King of Castile stepped in with a 
 claim upon the whole Archipelago in virtue of the homage 
 rendered to him by the elder Bethencourt. Considering the 
 expense and difficulty which the conquest of the islands 
 would cost, Prince Henry relinquished them on the payment 
 of a considerable sum of money. 
 
 The Castilians contented themselves at that time wath the 
 possession of the islands Langerote, Fuerteventura, and Ferro, 
 which had already been conquered and colonised. It was not 
 until the middle of the century that they began the conquest 
 of the other island, and it took them about fifty years fully to 
 accomplish it. Unfortunately, only imperfect and one-sided 
 accounts of this tedious struggle have come down to us, but it 
 is clear even from them that it was a desperate war, the 
 Guanches defending their liberty to the utmost against a 
 better armed enemy, and the Castilians giving proofs of that 
 gloomy, though chivalrous, fanaticism and that utter want 
 of feeling which were afterwards so terribly shown by their 
 conduct in the New World. Many times^ even in this unequal 
 
Prince Hemy the Navigator. 19 
 
 struggle, they encountered serious defeats. For instance, the 
 celebrated Alonso de Sago, who finally conquered the island, 
 and who is known to us by the name of Adelantado, was 
 often unfortunate in his contests with them. Thus, in the year 
 1493, he was allured into an ambush in the mountains by King 
 Benchomo, and lost eight hundred of the one thousand men 
 whom he commanded. In the middle of the battle, say the 
 Spanish historians, Benchomo came into the field and saw his 
 brother, who was wounded by a lance, sitting on one side of 
 the ravine. "What !" said the King, " resting while your soldiers 
 are fighting .''" " I have conquered," was the answer, " and 
 have fulfilled my duty as commander. Now my soldiers are 
 doing theirs : they are slaying." But this victory at Acentejo 
 was the last day of glory for a people worthy of a better fate. 
 Unheard-of misfortunes followed.- Returning in 1496 with 
 new forces, the Adelantado overthrew the Guanches of Tene- 
 riffe, on whom fortune had turned her back. The treaty then 
 sworn to by the Spaniards was not kept, Benchomo was lured 
 on to a ship and taken as a rare animal to Spain, thence to 
 Rome and Venice in order to show him to the Pope and the 
 Doge. In Venice he died. The unhappy islanders were pur- 
 sued into their most inaccessible hiding-places. Many threw 
 themselves down from the rocks, and died martyrs to a cause 
 they could no longer defend ; others fell with weapons in their 
 hands ; many were sold as slaves ; and the survivors, mingling 
 with new colonists who streamed into the fruitful land, adopted 
 their religion and language. In the whole island there has 
 been nobody for a hundred years who could boast of a pure 
 descent from the Guanches. But if as a people they have 
 passed away, the remembrance of their deeds is lovingly 
 cherished in the land, and the attention of the traveller who 
 climbs the peak of Tenerifie is drawn by the guide to many 
 spots rendered famous by the death-struggles of the Guanches. 
 After the failure of the attempt to gain the Canary Islands 
 
 2 — 2 
 
20 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 for Portugal, Prince Henry turned his attention principally tc 
 the government of Madeira, which quickly began'to flourish. 
 But he did not relinquish his plans to penetrate into the king- 
 dom of Guinea and the land of the blacks. The next thing 
 to be done was to induce the Portuguese to give up the custom 
 of sailing close to the coast, and to inspire them with the 
 courage and knowledge which a voyage in the open sea 
 demanded. With this object he summoned from Majorca the 
 learned Master Jacob, who was celebrated not only for his skill 
 in seamanship, but also in drawing maps and constructing^ 
 astronomical intruments. Probably Henry himself did some- 
 thing in the way of preparing charts, hence called Portulano ; 
 at any rate he .strove by example to inspire the Portuguese 
 with a desire for geographical and nautical knowledge. Just 
 at this time occurred the return of his elder brother, Pedro, 
 a prince whom in later years all the great services which he 
 had rendered to his country were powerless to protect from 
 shameful calumny and a miserable end. His thirst for know- 
 ledge had driven him into distant lands. Knowing and 
 sharing his brother's tastes, he brought him from Venice a 
 valuable gift, a manuscript account of the travels of Marco 
 Polo, that bold Venetian who,in the latter part of the thirteenth 
 century, had experienced, the most strange adventures in 
 Central and East Asia, and had drawn up a map in which the 
 supposed form of Africa was depicted, together with all the 
 known or imagined islands of the world. This gave a 
 higher flight to the plans and designs of Prince Henry. 
 Guinea, which had hitherto been the end and aim of his hopes, 
 now was looked upon by him merely as a midway station, 
 and behind, in the bright distance, there arose a vision of the 
 earthly Paradise — the Indies. 
 
 The productsof the Indies — that region so singularlyfavoured 
 by Nature — had always found a ready market in Europe, and 
 at every period when the intercourse between the East and 
 
■ Prince Hewy the Navigator. 2 1 
 
 the West had been reopened the demand for Indian wares had 
 increased ; when, for instance, Alexander the Great, on the 
 wings of victory, entered and Hellenised the East ; when the 
 Romans made conquests on the banks of the Euphrates and 
 Tigris ; and when the Arabs arose to subdue lands and found 
 kingdoms. At the time this intercourse seemed likely to be 
 limited, or indeed entirely interrupted by the advances of the 
 Turks — who understood only too well how to crush the civili- 
 sation which they found, but were utterly unable to substitute 
 another — the crusades began and brought about so close a con- 
 nection between the East and the West that the trade in Indian 
 wares received a powerful impulse. Stuffs, such as silk and 
 cotton ; spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves ; 
 precious things, such as gold, ivory, gems, and pearls, soon 
 became indispensable to the luxury of Northern and Western 
 Europe. The commerce between Europe and the East 
 lay in the hands of some of the commercial republics of 
 Italy. Instinctively had Venice, the city of the lagoons, ex- 
 pended her strength in the crusades, and found a rich reward 
 in the trading privileges which were conferred on her citizens 
 in Syria and the Byzantine empire. 
 
 An envious rival to Venice was Genoa, which, after the sup- 
 pression of Pisa, assumed a ruling position in the western por- 
 tion of the Mediterranean, continually seeking by a greater 
 activity and a more cunning diplomacy to surpass her. For 
 •centuries did these two mighty states contend, and the scene 
 of their conflict was the coasts of the Black and .^gean Seas, 
 the imperial palace of Constantinople, and the seraglios of 
 Turkish and Arabian potentates. The renewed advances of 
 the Turks in the fifteenth century closed the harbours of the 
 Black Sea and Asia Minor to the Venetians and Genoese, and 
 henceforth the Indian traffic was carried on with^^a more com- 
 plete exclusiveness through Egypt and Syria. With the 
 Mameluke sultans who ruled these lands from Cairo, the two 
 
2 2 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 naval states had been from the earliest times on the most 
 friendly terms. The frequent prohibitions which the Pope had 
 issued against all intercourse Avith the infidel rulers of Eg^-pt 
 had remained without effect, doubtless because they were op- 
 posed to the singular advantages to be reaped from intercourse 
 with the East, and even the chair of St. Peter had not been 
 altogether insensible to the golden benefits to be derived from 
 the flourishing Egyptian traffic. 
 
 The extraordinary commerce which was carried on in the 
 beautiful valley of the Nile brought new life to that 
 ancient land. The trade itself was considerable, consist- 
 ing principally in Indian wares brought by Arab sailors 
 from India to Suez, or other harbours of the Red Sea, and 
 from thence to Alexandria, the centre of the Levant comxmerce. 
 The yearly value of the trade of the Venetians in Alexandria 
 alone was, according to certain information, at least 6oo,ooO' 
 ducats. But its real worth was far greater than this. The 
 Italian traders took advantage of their monopoly, and gained a 
 profit of lOO per cent, on the Indian wares. Upper Italy and 
 the Venetian territory alone, according to an official report made 
 by the Doge, Thomas Mocenizo, to the Signoria (the great 
 council of Venice) in the year 1420, yearly received 50,000 cwt. 
 of cotton, worth 250,000 ducats; 520 bales of cinnamon, at 
 160 ducats a bale ; 3400 loads of pepper, at 100 ducats a load ;, 
 3000 cwt. of ginger; more than lOOO cwt, of sugar, at an 
 average of 15 ducats for 100 lbs. And still greater was the 
 sale of these Indian wares in Germany, whither the Venetians 
 sent their great trading expeditions. Indeed, this traffic, like 
 a magic wand, spread life and prosperity wherever it touchedo. 
 Trieste, Bozen, Sterzing, Mittenwald, flourished as intermediate 
 stations of the Venetian and Genoese trade, while Augsburg 
 was its centre, and through it attained that high point of power 
 and authority which rendered it such a happy example of 
 German city life in its richest and noblest development. In a. 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 23 
 
 similar manner London flourished in England, and Ghent and 
 Antwerp in Flanders, though none of all these towns could 
 rival the splendour of Venice. ' 
 
 On the Grand Canal stood those costly palaces whose 
 fairy-like splendour is yet reflected in the desolate waters. 
 The churches, filled with the trophies of eastern victories, were 
 adorned by Titian and Paul Veronese. The market-place 
 and the Riva dei Schiavoni were full of life, and picturesque 
 with bright costumes. Like Paris now, Venice was then the 
 oracle of fashion ; it was the goal to which pleasure-seekers 
 most frequently turned their steps, and it was the best school 
 for grace of manner, and for learning the most refined method 
 of enjoying life. Around its venerable Doges, who ruled not 
 only Venice itself, but the kingdoms of Cyprus, Morea, Candia, 
 and a great part of Dalmatia and the valley of the Po, stood 
 the most experienced diplomatists of all the states of Europe, 
 who indeed looked upon this central point of the world's in- 
 dustry, where the threads of eastern and western life were 
 twined together, as their highest school. And all this glory 
 stood upon the foundation of the trade with India. 
 
 But whilst this flood of prosperity was filling the city in the 
 lagoons, far in the west by the waves of the ocean a solitary 
 man was brooding over a scheme which was to put an end 
 to all this glory, destroy the foundation on which it rested, 
 and turn to his own land the current of fortune which 
 had been exclusively hers. The plans of the Prince soared 
 ever higher and higher. The representation of Africa given 
 him by the Venetian chart may not have resembled very 
 closely the real form of that continent ; but, at any rate, it 
 convinced the Prince that it was possible to sail round Africa, 
 and arrive directly at the source of the Indian trade. Happy 
 the people who should reach this goal ! To them must flow 
 all the riches of the earth, as from an inexhaustible spring. 
 And for what other people could this future be intended — 
 
24 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 what other people had more reason and right to strive after 
 this object than the Portuguese ? It seemed only to need an 
 earnest will and a patient constancy, and the tempting fruit 
 would be theirs. But how long a time was to elapse before 
 the Prince's noble dreams were realised. Nearly seventy years 
 passed away before Vasco de Gama landed in Calcutta, and 
 a hundred years before the discoveries of the Portuguese, 
 and the almost contemporaneous conquest of Egypt by the 
 Turks, for ever stopped the source whence had flowed the 
 prosperity and wealth of Venice. 
 
 The Prince first determined to assure himself of the trust- 
 worthiness of the chart, by sending out an expedition (1430) 
 to look for the islands which were marked somewhere in the 
 middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 100 miles west of Cape 
 St. Vincent. This journey in the open ocean would also be 
 a test whether the instructions of Master Jacob had borne 
 good fruit. The Commander Gonsalo Velho Cabral ventured 
 on the bold enterprise, and came back without accident ; but 
 instead of the expected islands, he had only discovered certain 
 rocks, which, from the surging tumult of the waves around 
 them, he named Formigas, that is, " the Ants." Henry, how- 
 ever, was not discouraged. The next year the commander 
 set sail again for another attempt, and this time with better 
 success. He landed, on the 15th August, 143 1, on the island 
 of Santa Maria, and thus became the discoverer, or redis- 
 coverer, of the Azores or Hawks' Islands, which, almost a 
 hundred years before, had been touched by some distressed 
 Venetian or Genoese ships. The discovery caused great joy 
 in Portugal, The most illustrious families took part in the 
 colonisation of the island, and to them Prince Henry gave large 
 territories as hereditary fiefs. Strange to say, the complete ex- 
 ploration and conquest of the island required almost thirty years, 
 and it was not until 1460, the year of the Prince's death,that the 
 most distant islands, Corvo and Flores, were discovered. The 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 25 
 
 rush of colonists was very great, for the climate of the islands 
 was mild and healthy, though damp. The fertile soil was so 
 completely cleared of its forests that the islands now are poor 
 in wood, with the exception of an evergreen laurel forest in 
 San Miguel. But still, thanks to the dampness of the atmo- 
 sphere, there has been no want of water from this reckless 
 destruction. Some Flemish nobles, who received large pos- 
 sessions from the Prince, brought into the land many colonists 
 from the Netherlands and North Germany. The island of Fayal 
 was specially the one to which these strangers flocked, and hence 
 for a long time it was called Ilha del Framengos, or the Island 
 of the Flemings. Terceira, which the Prince gave (1450) to 
 the Flemish knight Jacob von Brugge, was soon rich and 
 flourishing from the careful cultivation bestowed upon it by 
 the Netherlanders. But it was Jobst van Hurter, of Moer- 
 kerke, who had the chief merit of the Flemish emigration, 
 being sent to the Azores by the Duchess Isabella of Bur- 
 gundy, to whom the islands of Fayal and Piro had been pre- 
 sented. In i486, when he married his daughter to the Ger- 
 man geographer Martin Behaim, he was still in high repute as 
 governor. 
 
 The favourable results of Cabral's expeditions increased the 
 confidence of the Prince in the Venetian chart, and strength- 
 ened his determination to proceed along the west coast of 
 Africa, hoping at last to arrive in the Indian Ocean by sailing 
 round the continent. One of the gentlemen of his court, Gil 
 Eannes (Gilianes), undertook to sail round the formidable 
 Cape Bojador, which was still the limit of the West African 
 discoveries, and set sail in 1433 with this object. But with 
 him, as with Cabral, the first attempt was not successful, all 
 his efforts were frustrated, and obliged to return, he sought to 
 indemnify himself for the fruitless enterprise by kidnapping 
 some of the inhabitants of the Canary Isles. But this breach 
 of the treaty which Prince Henry had concluded with the 
 
26 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 crown of Castile, touching the Canaries, only made Gil Eannes's 
 crime blacker in the eyes of his master, and he could only 
 soften his anger by a solemn oath to solve the difficult problem 
 the following year. He kept his word, and sailed round Cape 
 Bojador, beyond which he found an uninhabited coast, whence 
 he brought home, as his only spoil, some strange plants — 
 Santa Maria roses. Notwithstanding, he met with a gracious 
 reception from the Prince, who looked upon these flowers as 
 satisfactory proofs of the erroneousness of the popular idea 
 that all vegetable life was impossible in the tropics. 
 
 The success of Gil Eannes attracted attention beyond 
 Portugal, and in his own land the rounding of the formidable 
 promontory was looked upon as an heroic deed which deserved 
 the highest honour. "Though," says the historian, Joas de 
 Barros, "it is no longer considered difficult, it was then looked 
 upon as a mighty achievement, and there were people who 
 lauded it as worthy of Hercules." It refuted the false opinion 
 prevalent throughout Spain, and gave courage to many who 
 had not hitherto ventured to pursue these discoveries. Ex- 
 cited by the popular ardour, the Prince sent out his cup- 
 bearer, Alfonso Gonsalves Baldaya, with a larger ship, accom- 
 panied by Gil Eannes, as guide. But their discoveries were 
 unimportant, and a second expedition, which was sent out in 
 1436, only added a few miles of sea to their previous know- 
 ledge. The land was desolate. Only a few scattered inhabi- 
 tants were met with, and these offered so determined an 
 opposition to the Portuguese that their wish to bring a prisoner 
 to the Prince, who might give him information about the 
 country, could not be carried out. To the great bay which 
 they then reached, and from which the Portuguese brought a 
 cargo of sealskins, they afterwards gave the incongruous name 
 of Rio do Ouro (Golden River) in order to gild a fruitless 
 undertaking with a fine name, and to give the idea that the 
 problem, part of which was the discovery of this fabulous 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 27 
 
 river, was solved. But in this case, as so often afterwards, 
 the name preceded the discovery. 
 
 Although he was very far from being discouraged by these 
 failures, Prince Henry was unable for the next few years to 
 do anything towards the accomplishment of his plans. First, 
 he was occupied with a great war against Tangier, which he 
 himself had urged upon the King his brother, and to the 
 command of which he was himself appointed in conjunction 
 with his younger brother, Ferdinand. With an army of 6000 
 men the Princes sat down before the hostile town (1437), but 
 were soon reduced to the direst extremity by a powerful 
 Moorish army which threatened them in the rear. From this 
 situation they were only able to extricate themselves by a 
 disgraceful treaty, which allowed them to depart on the 
 promise of giving up Ceuta. Prince Ferdinand remained as 
 hostage in the hands of the victors, by whom he was brought 
 to the capital, Fez, where he died after a captivity of six years 
 from ill treatment on the part of the Mussulmans. The unfor- 
 tunate Ferdinand, who well knew that the honour of Portugal 
 did not allow of his being released by the surrender of Ceuta, 
 bore his hopeless fate with a Christian patience which has 
 earned for him the name of the Constant Prince. Under this 
 name he still lives in the noble tragedy of the great Spanish 
 poet Calderon. Great was the grief and dismay of Portugal 
 at this disaster. 
 
 King Edward died of grief in 1438, leaving behind him an 
 infant heir, A bitter quarrel arose about the regency between 
 the widowed queen and Prince Pedro, which was decided after 
 a year in favour of the latter. Distracted by these events, and 
 drawn into the war of factions, being called on both sides to 
 act as mediator. Prince Henry was obliged to postpone the 
 execution of his plans until a more favourable time, and it 
 was not until peace had been restored under his brother 
 Pedro's rule that he could resume his work of discovery. In 
 
28 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 the year 1441 he fitted out two ships, of which one, under the 
 command of Antonio Gonsalves, the Prince's master of the 
 robes, was to explore the coasts already discovered ; whilst 
 the other, under the bold Nuno Tristam, was to proceed as 
 far as possible along the coast. Both were successful. The 
 united crews in a sharp night contest obtained possession of 
 twelve Moorish prisoners, from whom the Prince obtained 
 information about their home and trade with the south. So 
 important did the Prince consider this intelligence, and the 
 new discoveries made by Tristam, who had sailed along the 
 desolate coast as far as Cape Blanco, that in 1442 he sent an 
 embassy to Rome, to give an account to the Pope of the 
 recently-discovered islands and coasts, and to request that, as 
 compensation for the expense and trouble, Portugal might be 
 granted the investiture of all the land still to be discovered 
 between Cape Bojador and the Indies. By granting this 
 request, the Pope shut out all other nations from any concur- 
 rence in these explorations, and removed the fears of the Prince, 
 that others might come before him and reap the harvest where 
 he had sown with so much pains. 
 
 The Pope, who, according to the spirit of the times, looked 
 upon the opening up of new countries chiefly as a means to 
 extend Christianity, rewarded the efforts of the Prince by 
 granting him the tithes and the spiritual jurisdiction in all the 
 lands hitherto discovered or yet to be discovered by the 
 Portuguese, and forbade any one, whoever he might be, under 
 heavy spiritual penalties, to go exploring without permission 
 of the Prince. This gift was rendered more important by a 
 decree of the Regent Pedro, which granted the monopoly of 
 the trade to the discovered lands to his brother Henry, and 
 so filled the Prince's exhausted coffers. Outside Portugal 
 attention was aroused, and not only learned and able men, 
 who took a scientific interest in the Prince's undertakings, but 
 many adventurers and fortune-seekers began to stream into 
 
Prince Heitry the Navigator. 29 
 
 the country. Thus a German nobleman, named Balthasar 
 (unfortunately his family name is not preserved), who had 
 taken part in the capture of Ceuta, accompanied Gonsalves 
 when the latter took back the Moorish prisoners into their 
 own country, where they were exchanged for gold dust and 
 negroes. Balthasar's wish to experience a good storm was 
 gratified, but it did not deter the bold and adventurous man 
 from taking a share in greater enterprises. 
 
 The people of Portugal were not at all eager — in fact, they 
 were unwilling — to pursue the African discoveries. The great 
 contrast between the fruitful islands which had been so quickly 
 peopled with industrious agriculturists, and the rocky and 
 barren lands which had been opened up on the west coast of 
 Africa, did not act upon the mind of the people as a stimulus 
 to push on more vigorously towards the south until that coast 
 of Guinea should be found which promised the adventurer 
 such a rich reward, but rather as a warning to expend no 
 more money or men on the discovery of lands which became 
 more and more barren the farther south you went, and which 
 appeared thoroughly to confirm the popular opinion that the 
 tropical regions were uninhabitable. 
 
 But Henry was not only convinced of the complete incor- 
 rectness of this idea, he also felt sure that a single piece of 
 success would change the murmurs of the people into enthu- 
 siastic rejoicing, and the general indifference into general zeal. 
 Therefore he remained unmoved, and in the year 1443 his 
 patience was rewarded. 
 
 Nuno Tristam sailed round Cape Blanco, which he had dis- 
 covered two years before, and found, farther south, a bay con- 
 taining several islands, and with rich and fertile shores. The 
 bay is now called the Bay of Arguim. Around it lived a strong 
 Moorish people, called the Azeneghi,who supported themselves 
 by fishing, and were said to be next-door neighbours to the 
 blacks. The news of this discovery awoke in the Portuguese 
 
30 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 the spirit of enterprise. As early as 1444 there set sail from 
 Lagos, a town of Algarve, which, on account of its nearness, 
 had been made use of by the Prince for the fitting out of his 
 expeditions, a fleet of six caravels equipped hy a merchant 
 company which had been formed in the town for the purpose 
 of turning the newly-discovered lands to good account. The 
 Prince had given his consent with joy, and had placed 
 Lancarote, one of his household, in chief command of the 
 fleet. Among the leading men also was Gil Eannes, It 
 was made a condition that a fifth part of the gain should go 
 to the Prince, who had contributed to the expense of the ex- 
 pedition. The articles to which their attention was particu- 
 larly directed were gold dust, the musk of the civet cat, and 
 slaves. Nobody considered the kidnapping of these heathen 
 people as either illegal or wrong. On the contrary, the 
 cunning and courage necessary in the struggle with these un- 
 happy savages were considered so honourable that very many 
 Portuguese noblemen were knighted for such heroic deeds on 
 the shores of Africa. How lucrative this slave trade was is 
 shown, not only by the price of the living wares — a strong 
 slave was on an average, according to the present value of 
 money, worth ;^6o, — but also by the large number of ships 
 engaged in this traffic, fourteen being sent out in the year 1445 
 from Lagos alone, and twelve from other Portuguese harbours. 
 In accordance with the spirit of the times, the Prince also 
 thoughtlessly demanded the fifth of the slaves from every 
 returning ship. Indeed, in the course of time, the great 
 profit of this trade led to new agreements with the companies, 
 by which the Prince was to receive the fourth share if he did 
 not contribute to the expenses, and the half if he did. Though 
 it cannot be denied that the slave trade contributed to en- 
 courage the African discoveries because the men-stealers 
 found themselves continually obliged to turn up new un- 
 touched ground, yet the cruelties which they allowed them- 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 31 
 
 •selves to commit upon the savage tribes did much harm to the 
 Portuguese themselves. Suspicion was excited, and an ever- 
 increasing bitterness towards foreigners, to which many of 
 them fell victims, Gonsalvo de Cintia, who was slain with 
 seven companions in the Bight of Alguim, in 1445, by the 
 Azeneghi, was but the first of many. After him one of the 
 most lamented was Nuno Tristam, the discoverer of Arguim, 
 who, with his followers, in the year 1446, was surrounded by 
 the negroes in thirteen large boats on the Rio Grande. When 
 the Portuguese discovered that the enemies' arrows were 
 poisoned it was unfortunately too late. Almost the whole 
 crew, Tristam included, died immediately, and the five men 
 who alone remained alive, although completely ignorant of 
 navigation, brought the ship into the harbour of Lagos after 
 a two months' voyage. But all these losses were outweighed 
 by the extraordinary advantages of the Guinea traffic, and 
 new expeditions were continually being arranged. Prince 
 Henry, whose permission it was necessary to obtain, made 
 this trade subservient to higher objects. From every ship 
 that returned he required an exact report of the voyage, and 
 by the scientific expeditions, which he still continued to send 
 out yearly, he not only tested the correctness of these ac- 
 counts, but also opened up new territories, into which the traders 
 soon followed. A proof of the anxious desire which Henry 
 manifested to obtain as correct information as possible is 
 found in the story of Joas Fernandez, one of the gentlemen 
 of his court. He consented to be landed on the coast of 
 Africa, and passed seven months among the Azeneghi in order 
 to obtain correct information about their manners and customs, 
 and about the neighbouring land, with which they were 
 acquainted. The Prince sent to fetch him off the next year, 
 and, out of gratitude for his self-sacrifice, named him a com- 
 mander of the Order of Christ. A similar purpose was 
 answered by the fortified factory which was built in the year 
 
32 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 1445 on the islands in the Bay of Arguim, and by the inter- 
 course which was thus established with the Central African 
 traders. To information thus obtained he owed an exact ac- 
 quaintance with the coasts, even before they were reached by 
 the Portuguese sailors, to whom he was able to give man)^ 
 important hints and suggestions about their journey. Diniz 
 Fernandez, a rich citizen of Lisbon, or as some say, Diniz 
 Dias, once a page of the Prince, was the first to reach (1445) 
 the coasts of the black tribes, which were called Jaloffs. He 
 extended his voyage as far as a cape to which he gave the 
 significant name of Cape Verde. 
 
 In the same eventful year Lancarote, following the precise 
 descriptions of the Prince, discovered the mouth of the river 
 Senegal. It was thought to be a branch of the Nile, a mistake 
 which was repeated later about the great river which flows into 
 the Gulf of Guinea, and which still bears the name of the 
 Black Nile (Nilus Niger), which was then given to it. In the 
 next few years the boundary of the Portuguese possessions was 
 carried forward to the mouths of the rivers Gambia and Rio 
 Grande ; but there for a long time it remained — a fact which is 
 explained by the necessity under which Prince Henry found 
 himself of directing his exclusive attention to the internal 
 affairs of his country. 
 
 A bitter quarrel had broken out between the young King, 
 Alfonso (Afi"onso in Portuguese), and his uncle and foster-father, 
 Pedro, who up to this time had been regent. Prince Henry 
 naturally played the part of a mediator, and his efforts were 
 successful in preventing the breaking out of an open quarrel for 
 two years ; but at last the ceaseless irritation kept up by the- 
 courtiers, who understood how to excite the young King's jea- 
 lousy, made civil war unavoidable. Pedro, with his adherents, 
 fell fighting valiantly, on the banks of the little river Alfarro- 
 beira, against the overwhelming army opposed to him. Al- 
 though his heart was on the side of his much-loved brother^ 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 33 
 
 yet, when recourse was had to arms, Prince Henry remained 
 loyal to the King, and thus disarmed calumny and intrigue. 
 But his spirit was broken, and if the news of newly-discovered 
 lands still awoke his interest, he never again took an active 
 share in any expedition. Indeed, his time was pretty fully 
 occupied in the defence of Ceuta and the other Portuguese 
 possessions in Africa against the Moors — a task which had 
 been committed to him. 
 
 One spot of light in this dark period is the appearance of the 
 Venetian Luigi Casa da Mosto, or Cadamosto, born in 1422, who, 
 accidentally finding himself in the neighbourhood of the Prince, 
 was impelled by a strong desire to have an interview with him, 
 on account of the wonderful things which he had heard about 
 the new lands. Whether his motive was a thirst for know- 
 ledge, or a wish to grow rapidly rich, or perhaps a patriotic 
 dread of a danger threatening his native city — whatever it 
 was, Prince Henry was more ready to meet him because he 
 hoped to receive from one acquainted with the spice trade 
 authentic information about the spices of Guinea. On a pro- 
 mise of half the profits, he placed at the disposal of the 
 Venetian a caravel under the command of Vincent Dias, the 
 freight of which was to be provided by Cadamxosto. On March 
 22nd, 1455, it sailed from the harbour of Lagos. The account 
 which Cadamosto wrote of this and his next journey fortu- 
 nately has beeii preserved, and is rich in information about the 
 condition of the newly-discovered lands. Porto Santo and 
 Madeira, at which places he touched, he found in great pros- 
 perity ; indeed, the latter he describes as an earthly paradise. 
 Of the Canary Islands, he visited Gomera and Ferro, and has 
 given us an exceedingly interesting account of the Guanches, 
 who still held independent of Spanish control Canary, Tene- 
 riffe, and Palma. The Bay of Arguim, whither he next turned, 
 was the seat of a lively trade with the Moorish merchants, who 
 brought from the south all kinds of wares, chiefly black slaves, 
 
 3 
 
34 ^ Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 of whom at that time from Arguim alone between 700 and 800 
 were annually shipped to Portugal. The most interesting intel- 
 ligence which he received here about Central Africa concerned 
 a powerful negro state, the kingdom of Melli. A very exten- 
 sive traffic was carried on between Timbuctoo and Melli in 
 rock salt, which, he was told, was not only eaten in large 
 quantities by the inhabitants to correct the impurity of the 
 blood occasioned by the extreme heat, but was also used to 
 exchange for gold with the inhabitants of some mysterious 
 islands on the coast of a far distant sea. The next place where 
 the Venetian stopped was the Senegal, where the green woody 
 banks, with the fine native race, appeared very pleasing 
 after the desolate landscape and the Moorish Azeneghi of 
 Arguim. Here trade was not so profitable as in earlier days 
 from the great competition, so Cadamosto, after sufficiently 
 satisfying his curiosity about the inhabitants of Senegambia 
 the Jalofifs, continued his journey south to a piece of land 
 which is now held by the French, under the name of Cayor. 
 Here he found a negro King, named Budomel, whose upright- 
 ness and friendliness were already famed in Portugal, and 
 deservedly, as Cadamosto himself found. He spent fully four 
 weeks at the residence of Budomel, which was a hut surrounded 
 by seven courts, and situated at a distance of twenty-five miles 
 from the coast, and thus had sufficient opportunity of becoming 
 acquainted with the land and the people. The fruitfulness of 
 the land is so great that the necessaries of life — maize, millet, 
 and pulse — flourish in superabundance, although the lazy 
 negroes take scarcely any pains in their cultivation, and for 
 nine months in the year not a drop of rain falls. Wild animals 
 are very numerous ; the most important domestic ones are 
 goats and a small species of oxen. Cadamosto's traffic in this 
 place went on very smoothly and satisfactorily, and brought him 
 in a valuable cargo of slaves, which he bought for horses, cloth, 
 and silk. The rest of his goods he hoped to dispose of farther 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 35 
 
 south. After having, with this object in view, passed Cape 
 Verde, he was joined by two Portuguese caravels which Prince 
 Henry had meanwhile equipped and sent out, under the com- 
 ■mand of the Genoese nobleman Antonio Usodimare, for traffic 
 and exploration. They entered the Gambia together, but the 
 negroes, embittered by previous Portuguese kidnapping raids, 
 attacked them fiercely, and utterly refused to enter into friendly 
 correspondence with them. The intention of the two captains 
 to penetrate farther into the country was frustrated by the 
 cowardice of their men, and so the return voyage was begun. 
 After a rapid and prosperous passage they reached Lagos, 
 where Prince Henry received the account of their adventures, 
 and the due share of the profits. 
 
 The attempt which Cadamosto had made in vain to enter 
 the interior up the great river was repeated more successfully 
 the next year by the Portuguese, Diogo Gomez, who passed 
 up the Gambia in a caravel as far as Cantor. Here he not 
 -only disposed of his wares advantageously, but also received 
 valuable information about the kingdom of Melli, caravans 
 passing between it and Cantor. He was the first to bring an 
 account to Europe of a mighty river called Emin (the middle 
 course of the Niger), which ran through Melli, and a report of 
 violent wars and revolutions, which were laying waste the 
 Soudan, and rendering the communications with it difficult. 
 
 But this year 1456 was to be distinguished by an important 
 ■discovery. The two Italians — the Venetian, Cadamosto, and 
 the Genoese, Usodimare — ^who had met accidentally the year 
 before, proceeded together on an expedition, each providing a 
 -caravel. The Prince added a third. They left Lagos in May, 
 and had sailed prosperously as far as Cape Blanco, when a 
 violent storm drove them out into the open sea. On the third 
 day, to their surprise, they discovered land ; it proved to be 
 the Cape Verde Islands, which had until then been left to the 
 west by the Guinea explorers. From Buonavista — as they 
 
 3—2 
 
o 
 
 6 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 named the first island — they saw to the north a second, Sal,, 
 and sailing on to"vvards the south, they touched a third and 
 fourth, Santiago and Mago. All the islands were uninhabited, 
 but the soil seemed good, and water was abundant. Pigeons 
 were very numerous, and so tame that they could be taken 
 with the hand ; and there were large turtles, the flesh of which 
 was a great delicacy. The Italians sailed on Avithout troubling 
 themselves to explore all the islands of the group. They were 
 not thoroughly investigated until six years later, when Diogo 
 Gomez and the Genoese Antonio de Noli visited them. They 
 found that the islands lay in two groups, and although they 
 were mountainous and partly of volcanic origin, yet were well 
 adapted for cultivation. The immigration of Portuguese agri- 
 culturists immediately began, but unfortunately their descen- 
 dants — who now number little more than 100,000 over eighty 
 square miles — live in a miserable condition, from the mis- 
 management of the Portuguese Government. The state takes 
 no care of them beyond requiring the customary dues, and yet 
 if irrigation were undertaken with the support of the state, and 
 the valuable productions of the islands — salt, coffee, palm-oil^ 
 &c. — fostered, this group might be restored to an equally favour- 
 able condition with Madeira and the Azores. 
 
 On their farther journey the two Italian.? again entered the 
 Gambia, where this time they were received more amicably. 
 Sixty miles from the coast, at the residence of the negro 
 Prince Battimansa, to which they were conducted, they began 
 a traffic with the blacks, which was carried on very briskly. 
 The heat becoming unendurable, they returned to the ships, 
 and sailed still farther south. They touched at the mouth oF 
 the river Casamansa, so called after a negro prince of that name, 
 then at Rio Grande, and lastly at the Bissagos Islands, which 
 were inhabited by negroes, and where they would gladly have 
 stayed longer. The flotilla arrived safely at Lagos in the 
 year 1456. Their new discoveries, and the satisfactory results- 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 2)7 
 
 of their trading speculations, ensured them an honourable 
 reception with the Prince. Cadamosto undertook no more 
 expeditions, and, after some years spent in Portugal, returned, 
 a wealthy man, to his native city. But although not himself 
 visiting the coast of Africa, he certainly, as long as he re- 
 mained in Portugal, took part in the profitable trade with 
 Guinea; and his interest in the land and people of the tropics, 
 which makes his account so valuable, certainly did not flag. 
 "We owe to him a very exact report of an expedition made by 
 ■the Captain Pero de Cintra, the materials for which he received 
 from an old secretary of his who took part in it. This voyage 
 •of Pero de Cintra took place in the year 1461. It extended 
 beyond the Bissagos Islands, along a mountainous and beauti- 
 fully-wooded shore, rising towards the south-east to a con- 
 siderable range of mountains. On account of the thunder, 
 which resounded ceaselessly from the clouds hanging round 
 .these mountains, they named them Sierra Leone, the Lion 
 Mountains — a name which a great part of the coast still bears. 
 The voyage extended a short distance beyond Cape Mesurado, 
 a.s far as six degrees north latitude, where the shore was 
 •covered by a splendid forest — the Bosque de Santa Maria. 
 
 Prince Henry had not been able to take any share in the 
 equipment of this expedition — a year before he was laid to 
 rest in the quiet cloister of Batalha. The last years of his 
 life had been troubled by the African campaigns of his ad- 
 venturous nephew, Alfonso V. The attack on Alcac^ar el 
 Seguir, a harbour between Cintra and Tangier, which the 
 -King made in the year 1458, was brought to a prosperous 
 issue chiefly by the wise counsel and energy of the Prince. 
 In the land which had witnessed the glorious deeds of his 
 youth the Prince found a fitting theatre for the achieve- 
 ments of his old age. He led the storming party, to him the 
 town surrendered, and it was he who protected from deeds of 
 violence the Moorish p-arrison as it marched out. But the 
 
o 
 
 8 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 exertions which he had made seriously affected his health,, 
 and, after a tedious illness, death released him from his suffer- 
 ings, November loth, 1460, aged sixty-six. 
 
 In him the world lost no common man. Indeed, if a man's- 
 title to greatness in any way depends upon important results 
 following earnest strivings, he may well be called Prince Henry 
 the Great ; for he was the originator of that great work of 
 discovery which finally opened the way to India and gave to- 
 us a New World. And if the halo of brilliant success which 
 surrounds the names of Vasco de Gama and Christopher 
 Columbus is wanting to him, yet surely there was truer gran- 
 deur in the patience which struggled for ten years against 
 superstition and ill-will, and in the perseverance with which 
 he pursued the object which he had set before him. Certainly 
 he was far from attaining this object, and it was many years 
 before the men appeared who grasped the costly prize ; but 
 he was the first who saw it — who saw it in the distance — and 
 prepared the way for its attainment. Our knowledge of the 
 west coast of Africa was by him extended twenty degrees ;. 
 the discovery of fruitful islands and the profitable trade with 
 the blacks considerably increased the prosperity of his country; 
 the Portuguese seamanship, previously so rude that Cape 
 Bojador for many years prevented any farther advance, was,, 
 by his fostering care, so improved that Cadamosta pronounced 
 the Portuguese the best sailors in the world ; and, what was- 
 the most important of all, he inspired the people of Portugal,, 
 who at first watched his proceedings with indifference, with- 
 an ardent thirst for discovery. And he succeeded in effecting,- 
 all this without possessing attractive personal qualities or' 
 winning eloquence. On the contrary, the hermit of Sagre was- 
 of a stern exterior, taciturn, and unsociable. 
 
 Unmarried, with no fancy for women's society, surrounded 
 only by grave men, to whom he was bound by common scien- 
 tific aspirations, Prince Henry spent a long life, striving after' 
 
Prince Henry the Navigator. 39 
 
 one object which made him indifferent to all the pleasures of 
 the world. How he shared in the details of the work, how he 
 helped Master Jacob in the preparation of his charts, is well 
 known. Apparently he wrote with his own hand the work, 
 " The History of the Discoveries of Prince Henry," the loss of 
 which is much to be deplored. His contemporaries were far 
 from being just to him, and it is therefore all the more the 
 duty of posterity to recognise his merits. A man, high in 
 rank, thus earnestly and unselfishly devoting his whole life to 
 the realisation of a great idea, becomes the benefactor of his 
 country, of Europe, of the human race, and has, in a much 
 higher degree than he himself ever imagined, carried out the 
 beautiful and modest motto which he assumed at his knight- 
 hood on the taking of Ceuta — " Talent de bien faire." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DIOGO CAM AND MARTIN BEHAIM. 
 
 The Prince's heir^ Alfonso V., unfortunately had no desire 
 to tread in the footsteps of his uncle. Plans of conquest oc- 
 cupied his active mind. Repeated incursions into North 
 Africa put him in possession of the Moorish towns of Arzilla 
 and Tangier, and justified his adoption of the proud title, 
 " King of the Algarves on both sides of the sea." He was 
 less successful in his long struggle with his Castilian neigh- 
 bours. After the death of King Henry IV. of Castile, Alfonso 
 was betrothed to his young daughter, and laid claim to the 
 Castilian throne in virtue of this alliance. But the bloody 
 and costly war which the defence of this claim involved ended 
 in his total overthrow, in spite of heroic deeds of arms. His 
 opponents, Isabella, the sister of the late King, and her hus- 
 band, the heir to Arragon, so fiercely inflamed the warlike 
 pride and national hatred of the Castilians against Portugal, 
 that Alfonso was forced to retreat into his own kingdom, and, 
 after a vain attempt to interest Louis XL of France in his 
 behalf, was compelled to make peace. In order to obtain 
 this he had to sacrifice his bride, the unhappy Princess Joanna, 
 who was forced to take the veil in a Portuguese convent. This 
 peace, which was made in 1479, was of long duration, and had 
 a beneficial effect upon the foreign possessions of the two 
 states. The sovereignty of the Portuguese King over all lands 
 from Cape Non to the Indies, together with all the adjoining 
 seas and islands, over the Madeiras, the Azores, and the Cape 
 
Diogo Cam and Martin Behaiin. 41 
 
 Verde Islands, and over the conquests in the kingdom of 
 Fez, was solemnly recognised. Without the permission of 
 tke King of Portugal, the Castilians were not allowed to trade 
 in those lands and islands ; while, on the other hand, the Kings 
 of Castile retained the Canary Islands, and reserved to them- 
 selves the conquest of Granada. 
 
 A very considerable sum had already flowed into the Portu- 
 guese treasury from the lands discovered by Prince Henry the 
 Navigator, especially from the sugar plantations of Madeira. 
 The revenues of the Cape Verde Islands and the tolls paid 
 by traders in Arguim were farmed at a high rate ; and the 
 ivory trade, of which the Crown retained the monopoly, 
 steadily increased in value. Also from the trade on the 
 Guinea coast King Alfonso wished to draw something, and 
 for this purpose he entered into a negotiation with the rich 
 merchant Ferdinand Gomez, in Lisbon. From the year 1469 
 Gomez agreed to pay yearly the sum of 500 cruzados for the 
 trade from the mouth of the Senegal to Sierra Leone, and he 
 promised to explore a hundred leagues of the coast every year 
 from the Bosque de Santa Maria. In order to carry out this 
 last article of the agreement, unquestionably the hardest, 
 Gomez made friends with the most experienced Portuguese 
 sailors. Unfortunately no record whatever has been kept of 
 these expeditions, a negligence which is the more striking 
 when compared with the care shown by Prince Henry in pre- 
 serving accounts of those undertaken under his auspices. 
 From later sources we learn that, in 1470, Joas de Santarem 
 discovered the Gold Coast, now called Ashantee, north of the 
 Gulf of Guinea. This gulf the Portuguese ships boldly crossed 
 in a south-westerly direction, and thus discovered Prince's 
 Island, St. Thomas's Island, and Annabon — of course, crossing 
 the equator. These achievements, and the accounts brought 
 hy the sailors of the luxuriant vegetation and dense popula- 
 tion of these coasts, destroyed the last remains of the delusion 
 
4^ A Cenhtry of Discovery. 
 
 with regard to the impossibility of supporting either animal 
 or vegetable life in these tropical lands, and of the dangers 
 certain to be incurred by ships in those latitudes. Thtis. 
 Gomez honestly and unobtrusively carried out his contract,, 
 and was rewarded for his services by being raised to the rank 
 of a noble. On the death of Alfonso, in 148 1, Cape St. 
 Catherine had been attained, a point 2 deg. 30 min. south 
 latitude. 
 
 The death of the King brought about a great reaiction. 
 The young King, Joas II., to whom Portugal was indebted 
 for the peace with Castile, earnestly encouraged everything 
 which tended to the Avelfare of his kingdom ; but the African 
 discoveries he took up with the zeal of an enthusiast. This 
 may perhaps be partly accounted for by the fact that he was 
 the author of works both on geography and astronomy. 
 
 Immediately on his accession he sent out a large squadron, 
 under the command of one of his most trusted servants, Diego 
 d'Azambuja, in order to found a port which should not only 
 give a greater impulse to the trade with the blacks, but should 
 also render assistance to expeditions sailing farther south. 
 Azambuja chose for this purpose a point on the Gold Coast, 
 where he landed, on the 19th of January, 1482, 500 soldiers 
 and 100 artisans. 
 
 The ruler of the country, Caramansa, with whom they had 
 requested an interview, appeared with a numerous retinue. 
 The weapons of the negroes consisted of spears and shields, 
 or bows and arrows. The chiefs were adorned with gold rings, 
 and were followed by servants carrying their shields, and also . 
 seats, lest their masters should at any time feel fatigued. 
 Surrounded by all the splendour of his court, Caramansa ap- 
 peared, striding proudly forward, his arms and legs adorned 
 with gold rings, and wearing round his neck a band, from 
 which hung a number of little bells, and his beard being orna- 
 mented by little sprigs of gold. After a ceremonious greet- 
 
Diogo Cam and Martin Behaim. 43- 
 
 ing, Azambuja made a speech, in which he expressed the wish 
 of the King of Portugal that his brother Caramansa would 
 accept Christianity, conclude a treaty of commerce with him, 
 and allow the Portuguese merchants to build a fort. This 
 last demand appeared to the black King not only unneces- 
 sary, but even likely to be hurtful. He said he feared that 
 constant intercourse between the blacks and whites would 
 lead to inevitable quarrels. As an illustration, he pointed out 
 the hostility between the sea and the land, each one trying to 
 rule the other. " On this account," he said, " it would be 
 better to remain as they were before, and he would very gladly 
 trade as of old with the ' ragged ' ships." It was not until 
 after a long discussion, and much persuasion, that consent 
 was wrung from the wise negro. The building of the fort,, 
 which received the name of San Jorge da Mena — now called 
 Elmina — was immediately begun ; and here Azambuja re- 
 mained with sixty men, having sent the rest of the fleet back, 
 to Portugal. 
 
 Around the fort a settlement was quickly formed, which, as 
 early as the year i486, could claim the name and privileges 
 of a town. This rapid growth was principally in consequence 
 of the gold trade, which was carried on from this place with, 
 the interior, and which gave its name to the whole coast.. 
 Azambuja himself afterwards returned to Portugal, and rose 
 high in the favour of his King, by whose side he was ever found 
 in the most critical moments. For the next few years Joas 
 II. had hard work to hold down the rebellious barons of Por- 
 tugal. He ventured on the execution of the first peer, the 
 Duke of Braganza, and did not shrink from murdering, with 
 his own hand, his cousin and brother-in-law, the Duke of 
 Viseu ; but, notwithstanding, his interest in the Guinea trade 
 did not abate. He obtained (1484) from Pope Innocent VIII. 
 the ratification of his claim to all the African coasts and is- 
 lands as far as the Indies ; indeed, the Pope added a clause 
 
44 ^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 by which all discoveries made by other nations in this direc- 
 tion were to fall to the Portuguese. On the strength of this 
 the King added to his titles that of Lord of Guinea. At the 
 same time he ordered that every ship should carry on board 
 some stone pillars {padravi), on which should be written, in 
 Latin and Portuguese, the name of the King and the captain, 
 with the date of the year. These pillars were to be erected 
 on the newly-discovered coasts, as a sign of their being taken 
 possession of by Portugal. 
 
 The first man who sailed under these new orders was Diogo 
 Cam, who in 1484 passed Cape St. Catherine, and reached 
 the mouth of a mighty stream^ now called the Congo, which 
 the natives called Zaire, but to which Cam gave the name of 
 Rio . do Padrao, the Pillar River, because there he set up the 
 hrst pillar. He sailed some miles up the stream and found 
 the banks thickly peopled. Taking four natives on board as 
 hostages for some of his men who ventured to remain in the 
 country for the purpose of exploring it, he set sail, promising 
 to return. He proceeded prosperously along the coast as far 
 as Cape Serra, near Whale Bay, in twenty-two degrees south 
 latitude. 
 
 On his return voyage he entered the Zaire, and exchanged 
 the natives for his own people, who spoke very highly of the 
 treatment they had received from the natives. A very lively 
 intercourse was begun between them, and Cam understood 
 how to manage the negroes so well that the chief gave him 
 ivory and garments curiously made of palm leaves as presents 
 for King John, and sent a request that he would give him priests 
 to baptise him and his people. This response was most readily 
 responded to, and thus the Portuguese laid the foundation of 
 their dominion on those coasts, where they still possess the 
 so-called kingdoms of Angola and Benguela. 
 
 These states consist of about seventeen thousand square 
 miles, with about five hundred thousand inhabitants, who ac- 
 
Diogo Cain and Martin Behaim. 45 
 
 knov/ledge the Portuguese supremacy, paying tribute and 
 providing troops when called upon. Congo itself has passed 
 out of the hands of the Portuguese, and the Christianity which 
 they planted there — at the end of the seventeenth century 
 there were about one hundred Christian churches — has been 
 rooted out. What kind of Christianity it was may be guessed 
 from the fact that one priest baptised on one day five thousand 
 heathen, and that most of those who had the charge of souls 
 there not only tolerated the slave trade, but themselves took 
 part in it, and grew rich by it. Even in Angola and Benguela 
 the activity of the Government was exerted in the slave trade. 
 The capital, San Paul de Loanda, among all the places on the 
 coast, was most constantly and for the longest period engaged 
 in it, and so enormous was the number of victims that the effect 
 was felt to the very centre of Africa. Since the philanthropic 
 zeal of England has put an end to the slave trade on the west 
 coast of Africa, the whole commerce of the Portuguese 
 dominions there has been stopped, and it appears unlikely 
 that the wretched administration will succeed in developing 
 the resources of the rich lands. 
 
 Diogo Cam was accompanied on this voyage by Martin 
 Behaim, the celebrated German geographer. He was born 
 in 1459 i^ the town of Nuremberg, and was descended from^ 
 the illustrious family of Schwarzbach. After the early death 
 of his father the gifted youth was taken care of by his uncle, 
 Leonard Behaim, who gave him a good education. Like 
 most youths of good family, he devoted himself to trade, and 
 during his journeys in the Netherlands learnt early to know 
 the world. In the Netherlands he determined in 1480 to visit 
 the Azores, to which islands at that time numbers of emigrants 
 from Flanders were flocking. Here he entered into intimate 
 relations with the principal families, and in i486 married the 
 daughter of Jobst van Heurter, governor of Fayal. But at 
 the same time he had acquired great influence in Lisbon, and 
 
46 A Cent2L7y of Discovery. 
 
 made himself a name. In the circle of famous mathematicians 
 and astronomers, who assembled there to turn to scientific ad- 
 vantage the discoveries of the Portuguese sailors, and by cal- 
 culations and conjectures to plan new ones, Behaim met with 
 a deferential reception, because he could boast that in his 
 early days he had enjoyed the acquaintance of the greatest 
 astronomer of those times, Johann Mtiller, of Konigsberg in 
 Franconia, also called Regiomontanus. 
 
 This great scholar had resided between 147 1 and 1475 at 
 Nuremberg, before he was called as cardinal to Rome, and it 
 is probable that young Behaim, inquiring and eager for know- 
 ledge, may have been his pupil. At any rate the astronomical 
 knowledge of the latter produced an impression on the learned 
 society in Portugal, and his reputation, which spread rapidly, 
 drew upon him the attention of King John. He was made 
 member of the scientific commission which consisted of the 
 president. Bishop Diego Ortiz, and the two Jewish physicians 
 to the King, Josef and Rodrigo. It was at that time engaged 
 in drawing up tables of the sun's altitude for use on the 
 other side of the equator. In consequence of the want of 
 acquaintance with the southern stars, the altitude of the 
 sun was the only means of reckoning the geographical lati- 
 tude when the polar star was lost sight of by passing the 
 equator. This nautical commission, as it appears, completed 
 its task by recommending to the sailors the use of the astro- 
 labe, an instrument which had hitherto only been used on 
 land, and which calculated the latitude by the culmination of 
 the most important stars. The instrument itself they im- 
 proved, made it of metal, and so arranged it that it could be 
 hung up. They also furnished it with tables in which they 
 laid down the course of the constellations in the southern 
 hemisphere. This work brought Behaim into close intercourse 
 with the King, and the clever and accomplished German won 
 so high a place in his confidence that he employed him on 
 
Diogo Cmn and Martin Behaim. 47 
 
 many occasions in difficult private affairs. In 1484 Behaim, 
 impelled by the wish to make himself acquainted with the 
 ■wonders of Africa, accompanied Cam as cosmographer, and 
 received equal honours with Cam on his return. He was 
 made a knight of the Order of Christ, and at the ceremony 
 the King himself girded him with his sword, and the Crown 
 Prince Emanuel put on his spurs. Overwhelmed with gifts, 
 he returned to the Azores, where he settled down and spent 
 the next io.^ years in quiet domestic happiness. But home- 
 sickness seized upon him, and he undertook the long journey 
 to Nuremberg, and spent almost two years (1491, 1492) in his 
 old home, admired by his fellow-citizens, who hung on the 
 lips of their travelled countryman, and would only let him^'go 
 -when he had carried out their wish and made a globe showing 
 .all the known lands. 
 
 This globe, made of wood covered with parchment, i foot 
 8 inches in diameter, is still in the possession of the Behaims 
 in Nuremberg, and is specially curious as furnishing a faithful 
 representation of the state of geographical knowledge in the 
 very year in which the discovery of a new world was to bring 
 about so mighty a revolution. 
 
 The west coast of Africa is exactly and faithfully delineated 
 .as far as the Cape of Good Hope, which had already been 
 discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, and the places where, ac- 
 cording to the orders of the King, stone pillars had been 
 erected are marked by Portuguese flags. But the east of 
 Africa and the coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean are 
 represented in a fanciful manner. The remarks and descriptions 
 .also contain, mixed up with what is correct, a number 6f absurd 
 statements, and the authority quoted with regard to South 
 Asia and East Africa is Marco Polo, the Venetian, who, in the 
 years 1270 — 1295, made his astounding journey through 
 Asia to Mongolia and China. The most curious part of the 
 globe is the expanse of sea between the west coast of Europe 
 
48 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 and the east coast of Asia. Of the existence of the New- 
 World, which was discovered that very year, Behaim had no 
 notion. On the contrary, he filled the space with innumerable 
 islands, among which was Cipang (Japan), and farther east he 
 marked two great lonely islands, St. Brandon's Land and 
 Antilha, to which he attached as remarks the absurd old fables. 
 
 In the year 1493 he returned to Fayal, which, however, he 
 must have left again in the same year, to execute a secret 
 commission of the King's in Flanders. On this journey he 
 was very unfortunate ; twice he fell into the hands of pirates, 
 and in England he became so dangerously ill that he thought 
 his last hour was come. Notwithstanding, he succeeded in 
 accomplishing the King's commission to his satisfaction, and 
 then he could allow himself to think of domestic bliss in Fayal, 
 which had become to him a second home. We know nothing 
 of him from 1494 to 1507; but some remarks of the great 
 Magalhaens make it not improbable that he took part in one 
 of the expeditions to South America, perhaps that of Christian 
 Jaquez in 1503, and attained a point so far south that he was 
 able to establish the existence of the important highway 
 which Magalhaens a few years later discovered. 
 
 In 1507 death overtook him in Lisbon, where he was then 
 residing. Apparently he was in bad circumstances, for after 
 the death of King John, 1495, the salary which he had received 
 as envoy was withdrawn. He died in a German hospital, and 
 was buried in a Dominican church. His only son_, Martin, 
 resided from 1519 — 1520 among his relations in Nuremberg, 
 who, in vain, tried to make him worthy of his father. After 
 that he disappeared ; but there is still living in Nuremberg a 
 family of his name which was ennobled m 168 1. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ AND PEDRO DE COVILHAM. 
 
 Shortly after the departure of Cam, Joas Alfonso de Aveiro 
 had been despatched by King John for the special purpose of 
 exploring the Bight of Benin. Previous expeditions had 
 crossed it in a south-easterly direction, but its north coast 
 had not been visited. Aveiro found it inhabited by a popula- 
 tion of strong healthy negroes. Their chief came to meet the 
 Portuguese, and sent an ambassador with them on their return 
 to request that the King would give them Christian priests, 
 and would establish a factory there. The desire was willingly 
 responded to, but when it was discovered that the cunning 
 -chief had merely designed to enrich himself by the slave trade, 
 and that neither he nor his people showed any intention of 
 being baptised, the factory was abandoned ; and this was 
 -done the more readily because many of the whites had fallen 
 victims to the fatal climate. 
 
 From another point of view the exploration of Benin 
 promised important results. Every ship engaged in the work 
 of discovery was, by command of the King, bound to carry 
 samples of all the Indian spices, in order to make clear to the 
 natives what they were looking for. Now it was from Benin 
 that the first African pepper was brought, and this aroused in 
 the King the hope that his people would be able to compete 
 with the Venetians. But the pepper proved to be inferior to 
 the Indian, and therefore was of less value in the spice market. 
 The King at first comforted himself with the hope that this 
 
 4 
 
50 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 arose from a mistake in the treatment of the fruit ; but ex- 
 perience has proved him wrong and shown that the African 
 pepper is a different and inferior kind. 
 
 Encouraged by Cam's discoveries, King John sent out a new 
 squadron in July or August, i486, consisting of two caravels 
 and a small ship laden with provisions. It was commanded 
 by Bartholomew Diaz de Novaes, a distinguished seaman, of 
 whose antecedents we know nothing, except that he was in 
 the service of the court and belonged to a family which had 
 already produced many daring sailors, am.ong whom probably- 
 was Diniz Diaz, who had discovered Cape Verde in 1445. 
 Joas Infante, a nobleman, commanded under him : they took 
 with them some negroes and negresses whom Cam had brought 
 home, and who now, having mastered the Portuguese language, 
 were to be returned to their homes. They had been very 
 kindly treated, and before they were set on shore were decked 
 out in bright garments and dazzling ornaments, in order to 
 fill their countrymen with astonishment at the power and 
 riches of the King of Portugal. They were also made ta 
 promise to penetrate as far as possible into the interior, and 
 to inquire everywhere for the country of Prester John. A 
 large reward was to be given to any one who should bring 
 information. So closely was the kingdom of this Christian 
 Priest-king connected in people's minds with the land of 
 spice ! 
 
 Having accomplished this commi-ssion, the little fleet sailed 
 on towards the south, and had soon left behind Cam's utmost 
 limit. In the neighbourhood of Walvisch Bay the first pillar 
 was set up, and from the contrary winds which obliged him to- 
 keep constantly tacking, Diaz gave the name of Angra das 
 Voltas, or the Bay of Tacks, to the bay now called St. Helena's 
 Bay. In order to escape the dangers which threatened him in 
 such unfavourable weather on an unknown coast, Diaz made 
 for the open sea. Here, however, the ship was overtaken by a 
 
Bartholomew Diaz and Pedi^o de Covilkam. 5T 
 
 tremendous storm. For fourteen days it was driven wildly hither 
 and thither ; tremendous waves broke over it ; and the cold, 
 which by this time was sensibly greater, took such hold upon 
 the wearied crew that, when at length the sky cleared, they 
 were scarcely in a condition to prepare for the homeward 
 voyage. They tried to reach the coast of Africa, but they had 
 been driven so far towards the east that their efforts were 
 fruitless. This at least was their first idea, but in a little while 
 the suspicion came across them that perhaps they had passed 
 the extreme south of Africa, and thus accomplished an impor- 
 tant part of Prince Henry's plan. They steered therefore to 
 the north, and the coast was soon reached. 
 
 They came to anchor in a large bay near a small rocky 
 island, which they baptised Santa Cruz, and there they erected 
 a stone pillar. This island is situated in the north-west corner 
 of what is now called Algoa Bay. From the numerous woolly- 
 headed natives who were pasturing their flocks on the shore^ 
 Diaz called this bay Angra d.os Vaqueiros, or the Cowherds' 
 Bay. The joy which Diaz would have felt at this prosperous 
 issue to his voyage was damped in a most vexatious manner. 
 His crew began to murmur and demand to return home, com- 
 plaining of the hardships they had endured, and of the loss of 
 the ship which contained the greater part of their provisions. 
 Diaz called a council of his officers, and they also were unani- 
 mous for a return. He was therefore obliged to yield, but 
 made it a condition that the ships should hold on their present 
 course for three days, in order that they might discover whether 
 the coast turned towards the north. The three days expired, 
 and the coast still continuing to lie west and east, they turned 
 round at the mouth of a river which they named Rio do In- 
 fante, from the second comimander. It was a very great sorrow 
 to Diaz to be obliged to relinquish the wish to be the first to 
 carry the Portuguese flag into the Indian Sea. He clung to 
 the pillar which he had erected on Santa Cruz, and took leave 
 
 4—2 
 
52 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 of it with as much grief, says the historian Barros, as if it had 
 been a child whom he was leaving for ever. 
 
 On the return voyage he soon found the spot where the 
 west and south coasts of Africa meet, and on this important 
 point set up a third pillar. In remembrance of the fearful 
 tempest by which the ship had been overtaken near this spot, 
 Diaz called it the Cape of Storms (Cabo Tormentoso). On 
 the coast of Congo the lost vessel was recovered, and after 
 visiting San Jorge da Mina to take on board a quantity of 
 gold-dust, Diaz directed his course homewards. 
 
 In December, 1487^ the fleet entered the Tagus, after a 
 voyage of sixteen months and seventeen days. The joy of the 
 King was extreme ; not only a strip of coast 375 miles long 
 had been explored, but, what was much more important, it had 
 been proved that it was possible to sail round Africa, and the 
 Indian Ocean was open to the Portuguese. In the height of 
 his exultation, and to show to the world the importance of 
 the discovery, he altered the name of the Stormy Cape to the 
 Cape of Good Hope, which the south point of Africa still 
 bears. 
 
 Diaz was richly rewarded and highly honoured. King John 
 might perhaps have sent him out again had he not been pre- 
 vented by troubles which came upon him. His successor, 
 Emanuel, immediately after his accession, charged him with 
 the preparation of a squadron. This squadron he accompanied 
 only as far as the Cape Verde Islands, leaving it then with his 
 ship for San Jorge da Mina, according to orders which he had 
 received, for it was the sagacious but ingenious principle of the- 
 Portuguese crown never to reward a discoverer with the con- 
 duct of the next expedition. This method of proceeding 
 relieved the King of the burden of gratitude, for when a num- 
 ber of persons took part in a discovery there was no one person 
 in particular to whom he felt indebted. Once more we hear 
 of the noble Diaz in an expedition under the command of 
 
BARTHOLOMEW DIAZ TAKING LEAVE OF SANTA CRUZ. 
 
Bartholomew Diaz and Pedi^o de Covilham. 53 
 
 Cabral. Near the Cape of Good Hope a violent storm over- 
 took the fleet, and on the 23rd of May, 1500, he found a watery 
 grave beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The year 1487 — rendered such an auspicious one for Portu- 
 gal by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope — was made 
 further noteworthy by tidings received from the East. 
 
 From the negro ambassador of the King of Benin it had 
 been learnt that about twenty months' journey from Benin 
 there was a powerful Prince named Ogane. The sound of the 
 name and certain striking peculiarities made the King quite 
 certain that this Ogane was no other than Prester John, the 
 ruler of the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. It appeared to 
 him most desirable to enter into communication with this 
 mighty Prince and to make sure of his friendship, as it would 
 be very valuable to the Portuguese in their advance towards 
 India. For this purpose he sent out two men who were good 
 Arabic scholars and thoroughly acquainted with African 
 affairs — Pedro de Covilham and Alfonso de Payva. They left 
 Lisbon in May, 1487, and in the character of merchants reached 
 Alexandria safely. Here they discovered that though Prester 
 John, or, in other words, the King of Abyssinia, was undoubtedly 
 a Christian, he did not possess the slightest influence in Indian 
 trade. Hereupon they separated. While Payva went direct 
 to Abyssinia — where he very shortly died — Covilham, still in 
 disguise, pursued his way to India. There he visited the places 
 most important for trade, collected valuable information about 
 the price of Indian wares and Arabian commerce, and returned 
 by Ormuz, from which place he took advantage of a favour- 
 able opportunity to visit the east coast of Africa in an Arabian 
 ship. He went to Sofala and Madagascar, and after a prospe- 
 rous journey arrived safely in Cairo, where, instead of finding 
 his companion, whom he had arranged to meet there, he re- 
 ceived the news of his death. But there were awaiting him two 
 messengers from the King of Portugal, Jews, one a learned 
 
54 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Rabbin, the other a poor shoemaker from Lamego, who 
 brought him orders to proceed, instead of Payva, to Prester 
 John in Abyssinia. Before Covilham set out he wrote an 
 account of his journey, and of the impressions to which they 
 had given rise, and sent it back by the two Jews to Portugal. 
 He was very well received in Abyssinia, whose King, Escander 
 (Alexander), felt himself very much flattered by such an atten- 
 tion from a European sovereign. He was at first in hopes of 
 being able very soon to return to Portugal, but the sudden 
 death of Escander rendered this impossible. The new Prince 
 held firmly to the old principle of Abyssinia : " Let strangers 
 into your country, but never let them out." In vain were all 
 the attempts of the Portuguese to procure his release. 
 
 Rodriga de Lima, whom King Emanuel sent to Abyssinia 
 in 1520 — a time v/hen the Portuguese power was ruling the 
 whole of the Indian Ocean, and was dominant even in the Red 
 Sea — received for answer that they had given the stranger a 
 wife and property, and that he could live at ease with his 
 family, and altogether had nothing to wish for. 
 
 Pedro de Covilham died in Abyssinia without seeing his 
 home again, but the history which he drew up in Cairo 
 reached the King, and disclosed to him many important 
 matters. It informed him that of all the harbours on the 
 coast of India, Calicut was the most important, its ruler, 
 Zamorin, possessing authority over all the other Princes of 
 Malabar, the west coast of India. It was chiefly from this 
 place that Arabian ships fetched the precious spices, pepper 
 and ginger being produced in the land itself, and cinnamon 
 and cloves being brought there by ships from countries in the " 
 far east. The profit of a direct intercourse with the Indian 
 harbours would necessarily be very important, for from 
 Covilham's account it appeared the price of spices in Calicut 
 was less by three times, or even five times, than in Alexandria, 
 so that they might reckon safely on annihilating the Venetian 
 
Bartholomew Diaz and Pedro de Covilham. 55 
 
 trade, if Portuguese ships could fetch the wares from Malabar 
 itself. 
 
 Of the east coast of Africa also Covilham gave most im- 
 portant information. He had been assured in Sofala that a 
 voyage along the coast towards the south-west was obstructed 
 by no danger or difficulty. Between East Africa and India, 
 as he could testify from what he had himself seen, lay an open 
 sea, constantly traversed by Arabian ships. So he concluded 
 his account — of which, unfortunately, we possess only an 
 abstract — by earnestly pressing the King to continue, un- 
 tiringly, the expeditions to the coast of Africa. " When once 
 the south point of that continent is found" — that it had already 
 been discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, he could not know — 
 "" it will be easy to reach Sofala and Zanzibar." There a 
 pilot must be taken on board, a native pilot, and the long 
 ■desired Indian paradise will soon be reached. Information 
 so certain and assurances so confident naturally inflamed the 
 ardour of the King. Only one link was wanting to complete 
 the chain between India and Portugal. He began immediately 
 to prepare an imposing fleet which should sail round the Cape 
 of Good Hope and find its way, by Covilham's directions, 
 India. But a terrible event occurred which ruined the ambi- 
 tious plans of the King. His only son, Prince Alfonso, a 
 handsome accomplished youth, whom his father idolised, was 
 killed by a fall from his horse only a few months after his 
 marriage with Isabella, the probable heiress of Castile and 
 Arragon. 
 
 The unhappy father was utterly shattered by this terrible 
 blow. When, after a long sorrowful retirement, he again 
 appeared in public, not only did his altered countenance 
 testify to the deepest anguish, but his character seemed to 
 have entirely lost the energy and ardour which had been its 
 distinguishing mark. The departure of the fleet, whose com- 
 mander had been already named, was constantly delayed ; 
 
56 A Cenhcry of Discovery. 
 
 and when, in 1493, Columbus, on his return from his first 
 journey, entered Lisbon, it was with bitter jealousy that King 
 John found that the prize for which once he had striven sO' 
 hard had fallen to the Castilians. But even jealousy could not 
 overcome the dejection into which he had fallen, and he con- 
 cluded that it was now too late to enter the lists with his more 
 fortunate rivals. Until his death, which occurred on October 
 25th, 1495, there was a complete cessation of all expeditions. 
 Thus was Portugal, when it had almost reached the goal 
 again, hindered by a freak of fortune, and obliged to share 
 with a neighbouring people the prize which otherwise would 
 have been hers alone. For there is no doubt that the journey 
 of Columbus would never have taken place had the Portuguese 
 previously landed in India, the country which he continually 
 hoped to reach. Certain it is that it would have been much 
 longer before the New World was discovered, and it would be 
 impossible to divine what the next century would have been, 
 had not the treasures of America made the Kings of Spain the 
 masters of Europe. Thus the sudden death of a youth became 
 in the hand of Providence the cause of the most complete 
 revolution in the whole history of Europe. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 VASCO DA GAM A. 
 
 King Emanuel, to whom history has given the honourable 
 surname of Great, at once brought new Kfe into the languish- 
 ing plans of discovery and reaped the costly harvest sown by 
 his predecessors, Prince Henry and King John II. At his 
 command the preparation of a squadron of four vessels by 
 Bartholomew Diaz was urged on with great zeal and with 
 such success that the expedition set sail from Restello, a port 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Lisbon, on the 8th of 
 June, 1497. 
 
 The King appointed Vasco da Gama commander, and in 
 this choice, which really only confirmed an arrangement 
 already made by John II., had selected the- right man for the 
 great undertaking. Vasco, who sprang from a distinguished 
 family, was born at Sinis, a Portuguese seaport, not far from 
 Lisbon, apparently earlier than 1469, which is generally given 
 as the year of his birth. The seaman's life to which, following 
 the example of his father, he devoted himself led him into the 
 African Seas, arid soon gave him an opportunity of displaying 
 his striking qualities. His name is first mentioned when, in 
 the service of the King, he took possession of all the French 
 ships found in the harbours of the kingdom. It was intended 
 by this means to avenge the capture by French pirates of a 
 caravel laden with gold coming from San Juan da Mina. 
 But since King Charles VIII. hastened to make good the 
 
58 . A Century of Discovery. 
 
 injury and to punish the offender, the affair had no further 
 consequences. 
 
 It is unknown how Vasca da Gama succeeded in attracting 
 to himself the notice of the King to such a degree that he 
 was named commander of the fleet which, following in the 
 steps of Bartholomew Diaz and Pedro de Covilham, was to 
 penetrate to India. 
 
 He was at this time in the prime of life. While small in 
 person, and in later years very corpulent, he pleased every one 
 by his dignified bearing and pleasant manners. But affable 
 and agreeable as he could be, he was yet fearful in his wrath. 
 Then his eye flashed, so that the bravest quailed before his 
 glance. Then he knew no sympathy and no mercy, and in 
 these bursts of passion was sometimes guilty of deeds of 
 wild cruelty such as not even the merciless policy of Portugal 
 towards the Moors could justify or excuse. But he possessed 
 exactly the qualities necessary for the great undertaking : an 
 ■€ye which nothing escaped, calm presence of mind, firmness, 
 and thorough control over the crew, whose affection, how- 
 ever, he knew how to gain by courtesy and a zealous care 
 for the welfare of the individual members. All these qualities 
 were united in Gama in such, a high degree that it would 
 have been difficult to find in Portugal an equally suitable 
 person, and the choice reflects high honour on the King who 
 made it. 
 
 The want of an account of Gama's expedition from the pen 
 of an eye-witness, which has been so much deplored, has been 
 supplied since 1858 by the discovery and publication of a 
 manuscript written by a sailor named Alvaro Velhes — a manu- 
 script which has special worth from its childlike descriptions, 
 and at the same time from the keen power of observation 
 evidently possessed by its uncultivated author. It bears the 
 unpretending title " An Account of a Journey." 
 
 But the deeds of " the great Gama " have been more worthily 
 
Vasco da Gama. 59 
 
 celebrated by the classical Portuguese poet Camoens, whose 
 ■'^ Lusiade " (the deeds of Lus, the fabulous ancestor of the 
 •Lusitanians or Portuguese) treats Vasco da Gama in the same 
 way as the " Odyssey " and the " ^Eneid " treat the heroes 
 whose names they bear. 
 
 The squadron, which left Restello on June 8th, 1497, con- 
 ■sisted of four ships : the St. Gabriel of 120 tons, the St. 
 Raphael of 100 tons, the Berrio of 50 tons, and a provision 
 ship of 200 tons, which was only to go part of the way. 
 Under Vasco da Gama commanded his brother Paul da Gama, 
 the experienced sailor Nicholas Coelho, and Gonzalo Nufies, 
 who had the charge of the provision ship. 
 
 The fleet was provisioned for three years, with crews 
 numbering one hundred and seventy men, and every ship had 
 as pilot a man already proved in the squadron of Bartholomew 
 Diaz. Before their departure the King himself received the 
 sailors and exhorted them to patience and obedience to their 
 commander. To Da Gama he presented a silk flag adorned 
 with the cross of the Order of Christ and credentials for the 
 African and Indian Kings, and exact instructions following 
 the reports of Diaz and Covilham. Then Vasco and all his 
 men, having confessed, marched to the ships and weighed 
 .anchor amidst the good wishes of the crowd of spectators. 
 
 Passing the Canaries, they touched at the Cape Verde 
 Islands, to take in meat, wood, and water, and repair the 
 damage which some of the ships had incurred in a storm. 
 Here Bartholomew Diaz separated from them, to go to his 
 post at San Jorge da Mina. Gama himself left on August 
 3rd, and held his course in the open sea far to the west of the 
 African shore. It was not till the 4th of November that they 
 touched the coast, and found a wide bay which received from 
 Gam.a the name of St. Helena's Bay. Stopping here some 
 days, they had much intercourse with the natives, sometimes 
 friendly and sometimes hostile. On November 22nd they sailed 
 
6o A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 round the Cape of Good Hope, but an unfavourable wind for 
 several days prevented them from running into the Bay of 
 San Bras, now called Mossel Bay, where the provision ship 
 was unladed, and the stores being divided among the three 
 ships, it was sent home. 
 
 They found here a large population of a race similar to that 
 around St. Helena's Bay. They were Hottentots, of the tribe 
 of the Gonaqua, which has since ceased to exist. They had 
 large herds of cattle — beautiful fat beasts, mostly of a black 
 colour, and so fine that our informant speaks of them as bear- 
 ing a comparison with those of his native province, Alemtajo. 
 He also praises the musical taste of the savages. "They 
 began to play on four or five pipes, one playing loud and the 
 others softly, and the harmony was very good for negroes, 
 from whom no one expects music. They also began to dance 
 in negro fashion, and our captain commanded the trumpets 
 to blow, and we danced in our ships, and the captain also 
 danced after he had come back to us from the land. After 
 the end of the feast we landed at the usual place, and bought 
 a black ox for three bracelets, which we ate the next Sunday. 
 It was very fat and the meat was good, tasting just like Portu- 
 guese beef" 
 
 Unfortunately this concord did not last. Gama, without 
 sufficient cause, grew suspicious and made some hostile demon- 
 strations, firing four discharges of powder only to frighten the 
 natives. The unwonted noise caused such a panic that the 
 whole troop fled to the mountains, and were never seen again. 
 Besides intercourse with the natives, the sailors amused them- 
 selves by shooting the penguins, which were here first seen, and 
 hunting seals. Before they finally returned to the ships they 
 erected a pillar and a cross on the shore. These, however, 
 they saw thrown down by the natives, as they sailed away. 
 
 As they pursued their course towards the east their fleet 
 touched some islands, which they called Ilheos Chaos, or the 
 
Vasco da Gama. 6i 
 
 Flat Islands, but which the English call the Bird Islands. The 
 wind changing-, they tried to reach the coast, but the current 
 was so strong that they were driven in one night to Santa 
 Cruz. Gama's confident bearing reassured the dispirited crew. 
 By renewed efforts they succeeded in mastering the stream 
 .and making an advance along the coast, which now bent more 
 .decidedly to the north-east and north. Just at Christmas-time 
 :they sighted a pleasant land, which still bears the name of 
 Christmas Land, or Natal. The favourable wind, however, for- 
 •.bade any pause here, and they contented themselves with 
 viewing the land from a distance. As long as the wind lasted 
 it was necessary to use it for their onward progress, and the 
 men were now in such spirits that even when obliged, from the 
 want of water, to use salt water for cooking, they bore it with- 
 out a murmur. However, they found themselves at last forced 
 to run into the shore. 
 
 On the loth January, 1498, they landed at the mouth of a 
 ■small river, the Rio do Cobre. Here they found the land 
 rthickly peopled. From the sailor's description, the people 
 appear to have been Kaffirs, as is evident from the fact that 
 he was surprised at their size, so superior to that of the Hot- 
 tentots. In the Kaffirs the Portuguese became acquainted 
 v/ith a comparatively civilised people, with whom it was easy 
 to hold intercourse. One of the chiefs was soon won over to 
 the strangers by the gift of a red jacket and pair of trousers, 
 a cap, and a bracelet. Dressed in his new attire, he showed 
 himself to his subjects, who testified their admiration by re- 
 peated clapping of hands. He received very hospitably into 
 his hut a sailor, named Martin Alfonso, who, having lived 
 some time in Congo, understood several negro languages, and 
 acted as interpreter. He sent him back the next morning to 
 the ships, with a present of poultry. Then a very brisk traffic 
 was begun between them, and the water-casks were speedily 
 filled, Avith the help of the blacks. We are told the natives 
 
62 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 wore much copper — the rings on their arms and legs, and the 
 ornaments in their hair, were all of copper. Besides the 
 azagays and the lances, six feet long, the Portuguese noticed 
 particularly the daggers with iron points and ivory hilts. The 
 natives also understood how to manufacture salt, by dipping 
 up the sea-water, and leaving it to evaporate in large flat 
 trenches. 
 
 When the Portuguese, after many days, again set sail, they 
 named the country the Land of Good People, in memory of 
 their pleasant intercourse. The exact spot where they made 
 this landing was probably north of Delagoa Bay, at the 
 mouth of the river now called Inhambane, south of Cape 
 Corrientes. Sailing onward, a flat coast on the left hand was 
 discovered ; and as they wanted to make investigations, and 
 also to repair the ships, they again anchored at the mouth 
 of a great river, now called the Zambesi. The natives of this 
 region were negroes, and manifested a most friendly disposi- 
 tion. Both men and women were well formed, but the latter 
 had the strange custom of piercing the upper lip in three 
 placeSj and inserting bent pieces of tin as ornaments. They 
 lived on corn and vegetables, which they cultivated in the 
 extremely fertile soil, and with which they willingly supplied 
 the Portuguese. 
 
 The sailors here learnt with extreme joy that they were 
 approaching civilised parts, and therefore near attaining the 
 object of their voyage. " After we had been two or three 
 days at that place," says Alvaro Velhes, " two of the principal 
 men came to visit us. One wore a silk turban, with bright-. 
 coloured stripes, and the other a cap of green satin. They 
 brought with them a young man, who, as far as we could 
 understand by their signs, came from a country a long way 
 off", and had seen ships as large as ours. We were exceedingly 
 rejoiced at this account, because it seemed as if we were ap- 
 proaching the lands we were seeking." 
 
VASCO DA GAMA AND THE KAFFIR CHIEF. 
 
Vasco da Gama. <oTy 
 
 Before their departure they erected a pillar, and named the 
 stream the River of Good Tidings. But the long visit to the 
 flat marshy coasts had unpleasant consequences. A great 
 number of the sailors were attacked by a violent sickness. 
 From the symptoms — swellings of the hands and feet, and 
 festering soreness of the gums, which made it painful and diffi- 
 cult to eat — they called it scorbutus, or scurvy, a disease until 
 then unknown. The medical knowledge of Paul da Gama, 
 and the extreme care which the commander took of the sick, 
 checked the disease before it had got a hold, and a supply 
 of fresh meat put a stop to it altogether. 
 
 Vasco da Gama set sail again on February 24th, and the 
 next day three little islands appeared ; but he continued his 
 course towards the north without stopping, and did not come 
 to anchor again until March 2nd, when they reached an island 
 separated from the coast by a narrow strait, the entrance to 
 which was much impeded by shallows. On this Island of 
 Mozambique they became perfectly assured of their approach 
 to the civilised East. The copper-coloured inhabitants were 
 Mohammedans, and understood the Arabic language. Their 
 clothing was very rich — bright-striped robes of linen or cotton, 
 turbans of glistening silks interwoven with gold thread, and 
 Moorish swords and daggers. In the harbour lay Moorish 
 merchant-ships, very large, but without decks, and the 
 planks being held together without nails, by means of bast, 
 which was prepared from the shell of the cocoa-nut ; the 
 sails consisted of matting made of palm-leaves, and the 
 whole rigging was very scanty. Yet these miserable vessels 
 made .long voyages, and, to the astonishment of the Admiral, 
 were well provided with compasses, quadrants, and charts. 
 They were laden with gold and silver, cloth, cloves, pepper, 
 pearls, and precious stones ; and the natives stated that all 
 these valuable commodities were to be found in a country not 
 far distant. "These precious stones, pearls, and spice so 
 
64 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 abounded that there was no need to buy them ; they could 
 be picked up by the basketful. The way thither was ren- 
 dered dangerous by shallows, but all along the coast there 
 were towns. We should also pass a very rich island, the in- 
 habitants of which were half Christian and half Mohammedan." 
 The reports about Prester John also were very numerous. 
 Vasco was told that his kingdom was quite near ; that he pos- 
 sessed towns by the sea inhabited by rich merchants ; but that 
 he himself lived in the interior, and could only be visited by un- 
 dertaking a long journey on camels, Vasco became acquainted 
 with some of the subjects of this mysterious prince. With the 
 Moors came on board two Abyssinian slaves, who proved 
 themselves to be Christians by immediately prostrating them- 
 selves before an image of St. Gabriel. This caused a firm 
 conviction in the fleet that, as they advanced towards India, 
 the population would become more Christian. The sailors 
 grew hopeful and excited on receiving this news. " We were 
 so glad that we wept for joy, and prayed God that He would 
 keep us in health, that we might at last feast our eyes with 
 that which we had so ardently longed for." 
 
 The Prince of Mozambique came many times on board and 
 exchanged presents with Gama. He also granted him two 
 pilots, whose pay was to be thirty ducats and two cloaks. But 
 the condition which Gama insisted on, that from the time of 
 the conclusion of the treaty one of the pilots should be con- 
 stantly on board, caused a disturbance of the friendly relations. 
 In fact, the Arabs, who were the chief people of the island, were 
 impelled by hostile feelings towards the strangers, since they 
 had discovered that they were not Turks, as they had at first 
 supposed them to be, but infidels. Besides religious hatred, 
 anxiety was aroused lest the monopoly of the Indian trade 
 should pass out of the hands of the Arabs. On the other side, 
 the Portuguese were unnecessarily suspicious, and often dis- 
 covered some crafty treason in a perfectly innocent trans- 
 action. 
 
Vasco da Gama. 65 
 
 From fear of a surprise, the Portuguese fleet left the har- 
 bour, and anchored off a httle island which they called St. 
 George. The boats which were sent to fetch back one of the 
 runaway pilots met with resistance, and a skirmish began 
 which was only put an end to by the arrival of the caravel 
 Bei'vio. Reserving the punishment of the Moors for a later 
 period, Gama set sail with his squadron, which was well stocked 
 with goats, poultry, and pigeons. But a dead calm detained 
 liim for many days ; the stream which runs southward along 
 the east coast of Africa carried him, against his will, back to 
 Mozambique. While taking in water an affray began, and 
 in consequence of a formal challenge, the Portuguese vessels 
 placed themselves before the palisade fortification with which 
 the Moors had tried to protect their little town, and opened 
 a fire, which did much damage, and caused such a panic 
 that during a pause in the firing the whole population passed 
 over to the mainland. Gama pursued their canoes ; some 
 were taken, and their contents given as plunder to the sailors, 
 -and their crews taken prisoners. 
 
 After this revenge, which was made use of as a precedent 
 for an endless series of acts of violence, by means of which the 
 Portuguese put an end to the Arab trade in the Indian Seas, 
 a favourable wind permitted their departure on May 29th ; but 
 they were still in fear of treason. The Mozambique pilot v/as 
 suspiciously watched, and it was not without reason that the 
 worst designs were attributed to him. The little group of the 
 Ouerimba Isles long bore the name of Ilhas do Acoutado, 
 Whipping Islands, from the punishment inflicted on him for 
 declaring that these islands were a part of the mainland. 
 
 The most important town on the east coast of Africa at that 
 time was Kiloa or Ouiloa, 9° south latitude, which was the seat 
 of a brisk trade. The pilots wished to bring the fleet into this 
 place, which was ruled by a Prince who also possessed au- 
 thority over many other towns ; but a strong south-west wind 
 
 5 
 
66 A Ce7itury of Discovery. 
 
 prevented this, and the Portuguese escaped what they after- 
 wards discovered to have been a plot for their destruction.. 
 With the help of two Moors, whom they captured in a boat on 
 the open sea, they reached on April /th the harbour of Mom- 
 baza, 4° south latitude. 
 
 This town was on an island separated from the mainland 
 by a canal, and being situated on hilly ground would have 
 attracted the Portuguese, had it not been for the numerous 
 merchant ships lying at anchor. On this account they thought 
 it safest to remain outside the harbour, and to receive there 
 the messengers of the King of Mombaza, who brought them 
 presents of fruit and a sheep, and invited them to visit the 
 place. Four Moors of rank remained as hostages for the 
 envoys whom Gama sent into the town. These latter were 
 struck by the regularity of the streets, by the stone houses, 
 and by the ceremonious etiquette with which the King re- 
 ceived them, and signified his acceptance of Gama's gift, some 
 valuable coral. 
 
 The large Christian population of which the pilots from 
 Mozambique had spoken were reduced to two Abyssinian 
 merchants, to whom the Portuguese paid visits. Then they 
 returned to their ships with many specimens of the spices 
 which were to be bought in the town. This decided Gama to 
 enter the harbour; but the conduct of the Moors upon a slight 
 accident which happened to the Admiral's ship again aroused 
 his suspicion. The Moors who were on board were tortured 
 with boiling oil until they confessed that the destruction of 
 the Portuguese had been determined on as a revenge for the 
 cruelties they had practised in Mozambique. The fleet there- 
 fore remained in its position outside the harbour, but it was 
 not safe there, and the night-watch often had to chase away 
 men who were found swimming round the ships, trying to cut 
 the ropes of the anchors. 
 
 In consequence of the treachery both real and imaginary, 
 
Vasco da Gama. 67 
 
 great discontent arose among the seamen, who were also sufifer- 
 inp- much from sickness. All the Moors who were on board, 
 even the closely-watched pilots from Mozambique, succeeded 
 in throwing themselves into the water and swimming away, 
 otherwise they would certainly have fallen victims to the 
 sailors' ill-humour. " These dogs," says Alvaro Velhes, 
 "planned these atrocities and many others, but the Lord 
 would not let them succeed, because they did not believe 
 in Him." Probably we may put down to their embittered 
 fancy the unlikely story that the little fortress which pro- 
 tected the harbour of Mombaza was full of Christian slaves 
 in chains. 
 
 On leaving the inhospitable Mombaza, Gama found himself 
 in great embarrassment. He dared not venture on the voyage 
 across the Indian Ocean without pilots, but, from the hostility 
 of the Moors, he saw no way of providing himself with these 
 indispensable guides. Fortune, however, favoured him, and 
 compensated him for his earlier difficulties by unexpectedly 
 fulfilling his wishes. 
 
 A few miles from Mombaza he captured a Moorish boat 
 containing seventeen men, besides a valuable cargo. From 
 these he learnt that the little town of Melinda — which they 
 reached the first evening — was governed by a Prince whose 
 peace-loving disposition promised to the Portuguese the fulfil- 
 ment of their wish. Gama determined to try and open com- 
 munication with him, and therefore, while the fleet anchored 
 far from the town, he sent on shore an old Moor^ — the most 
 trustworthy of the prisoners — to negotiate with the Prince of 
 Melinda. The same day — Easter Monday — a ship came out 
 bringing a high dignitary with presents, a civility which Gama 
 immediately reciprocated. The result of the intercourse thus 
 auspiciously begun was that the day after the fleet entered the 
 harbour. After a few days a personal interview between the 
 Admiral and the Moorish Prince took place, each in his boat ; 
 
 5—2 
 
68 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 they met in the middle of the harbour, and held a long friendly 
 conversation. 
 
 The report of the cruelties of the Portuguese had reached 
 Melinda, but, notwithstanding, the Prince showed himself un- 
 prejudiced and friendly. He came near the ships to examine 
 them, and was pleased at the salute which the Portuguese 
 fired in his honour ; and when he returned to the town left 
 his son and chief minister as hostages in the ships, while some 
 of the Portuguese accompanied him to his palace. 
 
 The next day a second interview on land was proposed, but 
 Gama's prudence forbade his landing. He excused himself 
 on the ground of an express prohibition of his King, and would 
 not yield to the earnest request of the Prince, who wished to 
 show the strangers to his lame father. So the meeting took 
 place on the beach. Well-armed boats rowed along the shore, 
 which was covered with an enormous crowd. The town — 
 which contained many, white stone buildings, and was sur- 
 rounded by a majestic forest of palms — presented a very plea- 
 sant appearance. For the convenience of trade there was a 
 high stone pier, from which steps led up to the palace of the 
 Prince. Here the Portuguese stopped and awaited the Prince, 
 who appeared borne in a palanquin, dressed in magnificent 
 attire, and surrounded by his chief men. Again assurances of 
 friendship and presents were exchanged, and Gama received 
 the promise that an experienced Christian pilot — who knew 
 the way to India — should be given him. But when two days 
 had passed away, and yet the pilot did not appear, Gama 
 seized a man of rank, and said he should keep him prisoner 
 until the promise was redeemed. The pilot immediately ap- 
 peared, a certain Malemo, surnamed Canaca, born at Gujerat, 
 who was experienced in nautical matters, and at the same time 
 trustworthy. 
 
 The Portuguese were pleasantly surprised to find in the 
 harbour of Melinda four ships manned by Indian Christian 
 
Vasco da Gama. 69 
 
 members of the ancient Church said to have been founded 
 by St. Thomas. With these brethren in the faith a hearty- 
 intercourse sprang up. They came daily on board the Portu- 
 guese ships and performed their devotions before the crucifix 
 and the image of the Virgin. They were people of a brown 
 complexion with long hair and beard, but their clothing was 
 scanty. They lived very simply and did not eat meat. With 
 Melinda, where a whole colony of Indians had settled, they 
 carried on a brisk trade, bringing Indian wares into the land 
 and exchanging them for gold, amber, tar, wax, and ivory. 
 Their friendship for the Portuguese became so hearty that 
 they gave them a great feast on their ships. 
 
 This meeting gave the discoverers the idea that India was 
 a Christian country, and at first they looked upon the Buddhists 
 also as co-religionists. The mistrust which Gama felt towards 
 the Moors was increased by these Indian Christians, but with 
 regard to the Prince of Melinda it was never justified. On 
 the contrary, he merited the fullest confidence^ not only by his 
 conduct on this occasion, but also by his ready help and 
 assistance on subsequent visits of Portuguese fleets. 
 
 The anchor was weighed on the 24th of April, and once 
 fairly on the open sea the ships struck boldly across the 
 Indian Ocean in order thus to reach the coast of Malabar. A 
 strong south-west wind swelled the sails, and it remained true 
 to the Portuguese until they had reached their goal. It was 
 the monsoon, a periodical wind which regulates the trade in 
 the Indian Ocean. 
 
 In the unusually short time of twenty-three days the Portu- 
 guese ships traversed the 750 miles which separated them 
 from India, and by the 17th of May they saw the coast of 
 Malabar before them. That name is still given to the 220 
 miles of coast which lie between Cape Comorin and the mouth 
 of the river Nerbudda. Along the whole coast lies the chain 
 of the Western Ghauts which forms a boundary to the Deccan. 
 
70 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Upon an average these mountains have a height of 3000 feet, 
 but some points attain an altitude of 8000 feet. The sea 
 washes their base, and only in the extreme south is there, 
 between it and the mountains, a narrow swampy plain. A 
 number of excellent harbours distinguishes this west coast 
 from Coromandel, the flat eastern coast, and even in old times 
 made it very important. Not only were the productions of 
 the interior exported from these harbours — such as indigo, 
 pepper, and cotton — but the Arab ships also found stored up 
 here the productions of the countries still farther east — cinna- 
 mon from Ceylon, nutmegs and cloves from the Sunda Islands. 
 Thus the Portuguese had discovered the very source whence 
 the Arabs drew the Indian wares in which th^y trafficked, and 
 it was therefore evident that the Arabs would do all they could 
 to prevent the Portuguese settling there. But it was doubtful 
 how the Indians would act, and to gain them, and particularly 
 their Princes, was of the utmost importance to Portugal. 
 
 The whole of India was broken up at that time into in- 
 numerable little kingdoms ; but whilst the north had had to 
 suffer the attacks of foreign conquerors, by which the people 
 and their religion had been very much affected, the whole 
 south of the peninsula, and particularly the coasts, were in- 
 habited by an unmixed Plindoo race who remained true to 
 their religion. 
 
 Almost every town on the west coast, where the Portuguese 
 first landed, was the seat of a little Prince. Most of them, 
 however, were subject to a mighty King who had his residence 
 at Calicut, the most populous and thriving town of Malabar. 
 To this King the Portuguese gave the title of Zamorin, which 
 was their version either of Tamutiri Rajah, that is, lord of the 
 hills and waves, or of Samoudri Rajah, that is, lord of the 
 ocean. 
 
 The Portuguese cast anchor in the open road before Cali- 
 cut on the 20th of May, a time of year in which there were 
 
Vasco da Gama. ji 
 
 aiot many ships in the harbour, it being much more frequented 
 in the early autumn, as the autumn monsoon was useful for 
 the return voyage to Arabia. 
 
 Some boats came out to greet the newcomers, and on one 
 ■of them was a Moor from Tunis, so that the Portuguese were 
 most agreeably surprised by receiving a welcome in their own 
 language : " Good luck ! Good luck ! lots of rubies, lots of 
 ■emeralds. You may thank God that He has led you into 3. 
 land where there is so much riches." This Moor, whose name 
 was Moncaide, was of most important service to the Portuguese 
 during their stay in India, and accompanied Gama to Portugal, 
 where he was baptised into the Christian faith and finally 
 settled down. 
 
 From him the Admiral learnt that the Zamorin was not at 
 that moment in Calicut, but fifteen miles up the country. It 
 appeared necessary to salute him, and therefore two men were 
 despatched to announce the arrival of the squadron to the 
 Prince, and to beg an audience for their leader. Although 
 the population of Calicut must have been considerable, the 
 town made no great impression on the Europeans. With the 
 exception of the stone houses which the Moors settled there 
 had built, it only consisted of wooden houses with roofs of 
 palm-leaves. The palace of the Zamorin, together with the 
 houses of the principal men, was situated in a palm wood, half 
 a mile from the town. The brown inhabitants were mistaken 
 by the Portuguese for Christians simply because they were not 
 Mohammedans ; some of them wore long hair and beards, and 
 some had their heads shaven with the exception of the crown. 
 They wore fine cotton clothes, but were naked from the waist 
 upwards. Both men and women, but especially the women, 
 were covered with ornaments — in their ears, on their arms, 
 breasts, and even toes were decorations of gold ; and in many 
 cases beautiful diamonds were to be seen. The people tdo 
 appeared to be sensible, good-tempered, and sociable. 
 
72 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 The Zamorin gave Gama's ambassadors a very friendly 
 reception, offering many presents and assurances of goodwill. 
 He promised to go himself at once to Calicut, and begged the 
 Admiral, with the help of a pilot whom he sent to him, to 
 leave the insecure road and cast anchor at a neighbouring 
 place called Pangaray, the usual landing-place of foreign ships, 
 and a spot which offered perfect security against storms. 
 After a little consideration, this counsel was followed, but 
 feeling a little mistrust, Gama would not allow the ships to 
 approach as near to the land as the pilot wished. Gama now 
 received a visit from one of the principal ofificers of the 
 Zamorin, a man who appears to have been the commander of 
 the town, and who had to watch over the intercourse of the 
 people with foreign traders. He brought an invitation from 
 the Zamorin, which he accepted for the 28th of May. The 
 thirteen men who accompanied him put on their best clothes, 
 and with waving banners and with a flourish of trumpets, the 
 Admiral stepped upon the shore of India. The commander 
 awaited him with a great train and an immense crowd of 
 people. Gama took his seat in a litter which was borne by 
 six men. Behind him came the Portuguese, among whom 
 was Alvaro Vilhes, and the native train. After a meal of 
 rice and excellent fish, which was offered to the foreigners in 
 the house of one of the great men, Gama stepped into a boat 
 prepared for the purpose and went up a piece of the river 
 which flows into the sea by Calicut. Numbers of large ships 
 were to be seen, but drawn up to the shore on account of the 
 season. Then the procession resumed its course by land until 
 a second halting-place was reached, this time a temple, which 
 the Portuguese took for a Christian church. 
 
 In the spacious building they saw some bronze pillars, 
 several images of different gods, and seven little bells. They 
 were still more strengthened in their mistake when some 
 priests came to meet them and sprinkled them with water 
 
Vasco da Gama. 73 
 
 and ashes ; and when they saw in a little side chapel, to which 
 only the priests had entrance, an image of the beautiful 
 Maha Madja, and on her breast her little son Buddha, they 
 naturally took it for the Virgin and Child, fell down upon 
 their knees, crossed themselves, and, with Gama at their head, 
 piously offered their devotions. They took little account of 
 the hideousness of the crowd of saints whose pictures covered 
 the walls, in spite of the fact that some of them had their 
 tongues an inch out of their mouths, and others had four or 
 five arms. Only John de Saa, a man given to doubt, enter- 
 tained any misgiving as to the Christianity of the saints. He 
 made the Admiral laugh by exclaiming, in order to render 
 himself perfectly secure in kneeling before the image, " If it is 
 a devil, may my prayer be heard, not by him, but by the true 
 God." 
 
 As the train of Portuguese advanced the surrounding 
 crowds increased, so that it was difficult to make way through 
 them. But at length the vicinity of the palace was reached, 
 and from it there issued a procession of people, who came with 
 music to welcome the Portuguese and conduct them to the 
 Zamorin. 
 
 The latter awaited his guests in a splendid apartment, re- 
 clining on a couch. He was dressed in a very full garment, 
 which reached down to the knees and was made of the finest 
 white cotton, embroidered with golden roses, and on his head- 
 he had a cap adorned with gold and jewels. The heavy rings 
 on his arms and legs sparkled and flashed with costly stones. 
 Near him stood a large golden bowl filled with betel, which 
 the inhabitants of India are passionately fond of chewing, in 
 order to lessen by its spicy aroma the depressing effect of the 
 heat. In his hand he held a golden cup, into which every 
 now and then he spat out the chewed betel. All those who 
 were present covered their mouths with their left hands, in order 
 to prevent their breath reaching the Zamorin, a crime which 
 
74 A Cenhtry of Discovery. 
 
 would have been punished as severely as if one had dared to 
 sneeze or spit in the presence of the Prince. 
 
 After the salutations had been made in the fashion of the 
 country the Prince desired the strangers to take their places 
 ■and ordered fruits to be offered them. Then he retired with 
 Gama into another room, where the latter gave him an ac- 
 count of his home and of his King, after which Gama was 
 dismissed with every assurance of goodwill. The Portuguese 
 passed the night in a hall at some distance from the palace, 
 which had been prepared for their reception. 
 
 A second audience was arranged for the next day, but a 
 most unpleasant circumstance compelled Gama to postpone 
 it. He had noticed that no one dared approach the Zamorin 
 with empty hands, and therefore had brought presents from 
 the ship. These would have been very suitable for a Hotten- 
 tot chief, but were not at all fitted for an Indian Prince who 
 was accustomed to every luxury ; twelve pieces of cloth, 
 twelve cloaks, six hats, four branches of coral, a small chest 
 with six bottles, a chest of sugar, two casks of oil, and two of 
 honey. The officers who were sent to inspect these presents 
 declared that they were much too common, that they would 
 not dare to offer them to the Zamorin, and asked whether 
 Gama had not brought with him more valuable things — if pos- 
 sible, gold. The Moors also, settled in the country, spoke 
 just as contemptuously of the presents ; Gama therefore was 
 very much disconcerted and determined not to offer them. 
 
 When he appeared again before the King, a few days later, 
 there was a significant lessening of cordiality. In his conver- 
 sation the Zamorin made it evident that he expected a suitable 
 present. " What did you want to discover here," he inquired, 
 " stones or men .' If men, why did you bring nothing for 
 them ?" At last he said that he had heard about a golden 
 statue of the Virgin which Gama had on board ; this must be 
 given him. With sailor-like honesty the Admiral replied 
 
Vasco da Gama. * 75 
 
 that the statue was not of gold, and that even if it had 
 been it could not have been given to the Prince. On the 
 other hand, the letter from King Emanuel, which was presented 
 and interpreted by one of the learned Moors, made a favour- 
 able impression on the Zamorin, and he granted his permission 
 to the Portuguese to unlade their wares and open a trade. 
 
 Thereupon Gama wished to return immediately to the ships, 
 but he and his men were detained on the shore. Many mis- 
 understandings and the suspiciousness of the Portuguese made 
 their case worse. At last the matter became really serious, 
 and it was not until Paul da Gama, at his brother's order, had 
 sent some wares on shore, that they were set free and allowed 
 to return to the ships. 
 
 "We thank God," says Alvaro Velhes, " that He has saved 
 us from men who are as deaf to all reason as if they sprang 
 from beasts. We knew well that if the Admiral were once 
 on board, any one of us who might be yet on shore had nothing 
 to fear." The expedition had occupied five days, and during 
 all that time those who had remained with the ships had 
 suffered the greatest anxiety. 
 
 Meanwhile the Moors settled in Calicut had thoroughly 
 awoke to a consciousness of the injury that would result to 
 them and their trade if the Portuguese were allowed to come 
 in, and therefore they did their best to increase the disagree- 
 ment between the Zamorin and Gama. The discontent which 
 the Zamorin and his officers felt at the stinginess of the Portu- 
 guese, and the want of reverence which they had shown in 
 their manner of approaching him, offered them a very good 
 handle. They represented the Portuguese as pirates, and by 
 bribery won over to their side the powerful Catwal or com- 
 mander, whom the Portuguese soon discovered to be their 
 most formidable enemy. 
 
 At first, indeed, Gama obtained permission from the Zamorin 
 to carry on trade with the natives, and the people of Call- 
 
76 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 cut showed themselves so friendly that the Portuguese were 
 able to make purchases without any danger, and a kind of 
 factory was established. But the Moors had the ear of the 
 Zamorin, as the Portuguese were not long in finding out. 
 Diego Dias, whom Gama despatched to the Zamorin as his 
 ambassador, was indeed admitted, but the magnificent presents 
 which he carried with him were again rejected as unworthy, 
 and he himself ungraciously dismissed. 
 
 By-and-by the Portuguese became suspicious that there 
 was a design to detain them until the Moorish fleet should 
 arrive and could assist in their overthrow. This suspicion was 
 strengthened when the Zamorin laid an arrest upon all the 
 goods still on shore, and placed a guard over those who 
 had the charge of them. At the same time all intercourse 
 was forbidden with the natives. Notwithstanding, the prisoners 
 succeeded in sending news to Gama of their situation, where- 
 upon he enticed nineteen Indians on board, and kept them as 
 hostages for the Portuguese. At the same time he announced 
 his intention of returning to Europe, and of coming back again 
 shortly, fully prepared to take signal vengeance for the injus- 
 tice with which he had been treated. This resolute way of 
 proceeding made an impression. 
 
 The Zamorin summoned Diego Dias before him, expressed 
 himself as perfectly unaware of what had been done by his 
 officers, ordered a strict investigation^ and restored freedom 
 to the imprisoned Portuguese. At the same time he sent a 
 letter to Gama by Dias for the King of Portugal. It ran 
 thus : "Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of your house, has visited 
 my land, which gave me much pleasure. In my land there is 
 cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones in abund- 
 ance. And what I want from your land is gold, silver, coral, 
 and scarlet." 
 
 The remarkable shortness and complete want of polite 
 phrases, which the people of the East usually employ so 
 
Vasco da Gama. jj 
 
 lavishly, show that the Zamorin had little esteem for the King 
 of Portugal and his ambassadors. And this was doubtless 
 owing to the calumnies of the Arabs, and to the unconcili- 
 atory conduct of the Portuguese, which was shown even in 
 little things. For example, Gama insisted in placing on 
 the land a pillar with the Portuguese coat-of-arms engraved 
 upon it, in spite of the most violent opposition on the part of 
 the Zamorin, who looked upon it as an attack upon his princely 
 rights, and without considering that it would be knocked down 
 immediately on the departure of the Portuguese. 
 
 When the released Portuguese were conducted back to the 
 ships, Gama only set free six of the Indians, and declared that 
 he should retain the others until all the Portuguese wares were 
 restored. But when next day the wares were brought in 
 seven boats, mutual mistrust prevented a peaceful conclusion 
 of the matter. From fear of treachery on the part of the 
 foreigners, only three boats approached, while the remaining 
 four kept at a distance. They made signs to the Portuguese 
 to place the hostages in the boat which hung at the back of 
 the Admiral's ship, from which they would fetch them, and at 
 the same time unlade the wares. This proposal was con- 
 sidered a cunning trick. Alvaro Velhes calls it a trick worthy 
 of a fox, and Gama declared that now he would not receive 
 the wares at all, but should take the hostages to Portugal. 
 
 Naturally this was looked upon in Calicut as an open breach 
 of the treaty, and as a horrible piece of kidnapping ; and it 
 served to verify all the evil reports which the Moors had spread 
 with regard to the Portuguese. The next morning seventy 
 strongly-manned boats rowed out to compel the release of the 
 prisoners, but a few cannon-shots sufficed to scatter them. 
 On the same day, August the 9th, Gama set sail and left 
 Calicut, after a stay of 104 days. 
 
 During this period Gama had succeeded in almost filling 
 the ships. But it is much to be lamented that the Portuguese 
 
78 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 left India in a state of irritation, and full of the most 
 hostile feelings. They believed themselves throughout to 
 have been slighted and treated in an underhand way, and the 
 just mistrust which they had at first felt with regard to the 
 behaviour of the Moors at last became a mania. An im- 
 partial investigation of the matter leads to the conclusion that 
 the ignorance of the Portuguese with regard to the manners of 
 Eastern lands was the chief cause of the discord. They came 
 with empty hands where every one was accustomed to pre- 
 sents and bribery ; they stood up stiffly and defiantly where 
 people were accustomed to the greatest deference ; and they 
 often showed a mistrust of the most solemn assurances, which 
 did them the greatest injury. 
 
 Hitherto the Portuguese had only held intercourse with 
 the rude inhabitants of the coast of Africa, for whom their 
 behaviour was exactly suitable ; they were quite unable 
 to appreciate the peculiar character of Indian civilisation, 
 and would not condescend to hold intercourse with the 
 natives as equals. 
 
 Their mistake in the matter of religion had contributed not 
 a little to this estrangement. They had imagined that, to- 
 gether with the coast of Africa, they had left behind the ter- 
 ritory of Islam, and had calculated that the Indians, whose 
 Buddha worship they had taken for Christianity, would render 
 them active assistance against thehated Musselmans; and when 
 they discovered the contrary, their vexation was much in- 
 creased. 
 
 Our informant says, "We were the more provoked that 
 such a trick should have been played us by a Christian King, 
 to whom our Admiral had made presents at his own expense, 
 desiring nothing more than that he should listen to reason." 
 
 Thus they left Calicut with unpleasant remembrances and 
 desires of revenge, which they hoped it would please God to 
 enable them to accomplish. Rivers of blood and indescribable 
 
Vasco da Gama. 79. 
 
 suffering resulted from this quarrel — a quarrel which induced 
 the Portuguese to depart from their original plan of peaceable 
 commerce, and enter on the path of conquest. Gama, de- 
 layed by repeated calms, continued coasting towards the north. 
 On September 19th he cast anchor off a little island 15° 44' 
 north latitude, named Anchediva. Here they set up their 
 third pillar ; and as repairs were necessary for the ships, this 
 island, on which were found both large forests and excellent 
 water, was chosen for a long rest. With the inhabitants of the 
 neighbouring coasts they had frequent communication, buying 
 from them fruit and wares, particularly cinnamon, and finding 
 them always friendly. 
 
 But here also the mistrust of the Portuguese caused much 
 trouble. When eight ships arrived, coming from the open sea, 
 they concluded that they had been sent in pursuit from Calicut, 
 and received them with a discharge of their guns, and drove 
 them from the shore. The same treatment awaited seven 
 other vessels, although their crews were Christians, and they 
 had come adorned with flags to the sound of music, to greet 
 their brethren in the faith. 
 
 About this time the Portuguese made acquaintance with a 
 singular individual. A man presented himself, of about forty 
 years of age, fully clothed, wearing turban and sabre. He 
 greeted the strangers, to their great astonishment, in pure 
 Italian. He was, according to his own account, the descen- 
 dant of a Jewish family from Posen ; he himself had been born 
 and brought up in Alexandria, but had travelled for trade 
 through a great part of Asia, and was now in the service of a 
 powerful Prince, residing in the neighbouring town of Goa. 
 At first the Portuguese received him in a very friendly manner^, 
 but, becoming suspicious of him, they flogged him four or five 
 times, and then he confessed that his Prince had sent him to 
 find out the strength of the Portuguese, and to entice them on 
 shore for the purpose of overpowering them. How much 
 
So A Century of Discovery. 
 
 belief is due to the confession is a question. That the Prince 
 of Goa wished to seize the Portuguese, in order by the help of 
 such brave men to overcome the neighbouring princes — such 
 was the Jew's story — does not seem very probable ; but the 
 Portuguese were pleased at this acknowledgment of their 
 valour, and congratulated themselves on the prudence by 
 which they had escaped the danger. " They had, you see, 
 said Alvares, " reckoned without their host." The destiny of 
 the Jew was curious. He was forced to accompany Gama to 
 Portugal. There he was converted to Christianity, and in 
 baptism took the name of the man who had flogged him, 
 Caspar da Gama.. His knowledge of languages made him a 
 most important man. He accompanied the next Portuguese 
 fleet to India as interpreter, and rendered signal service to his 
 new countrymen. At last he was made, by King Emanuel, 
 " Knight of the Palace/' under the name of Caspar da India, 
 and died at Lisbon, looked up to by all, and the intimate friend 
 of learned men. 
 
 On the 6th of October they began their return voyage, 
 hoping soon to arrive at home with the news of their great 
 success. But the return voyage was a time of intense suffering 
 to the sorely-tried sailors. From ignorance of the winds and 
 currents of the Indian Ocean, and not having a pilot on board, 
 they left the East Indian coast exactly at the most unfavourable 
 time. A month later the north-east monsoon would have 
 filled their sails and carried them safely and quickly to Africa, 
 where the current would have borne them comfortably along 
 the shore to the Cape. At present the voyage is made be- 
 tween Bombay and the Cape by sailing ships in about thirty 
 days. 
 
 But the Portuguese were driven away from the region of the 
 monsoon, which soon began to blow towards the south, and 
 arrived in the region of calms, which — situated exactly north 
 of the equator — divides the territories of the periodical winds 
 
Vasco da Gama. 8i 
 
 from one another. Gama's fleet was here held fast as if by an 
 invisible power, and had to endure the insupportable heat of 
 a tropical summer. No wonder that dire disease soon made 
 its appearance. 
 
 " In the midst of all this misfortune the scurvy broke out. 
 The flesh grew over the teeth, so that the sufferers could not 
 eat ; the legs began to swell, and the swelling spread so com- 
 pletely over the whole body that there was nothing to do but 
 die. Thirty people now died of it, without counting the thirty 
 whom it had previously killed. There were left at the most 
 -only seven or eight men on each ship to do the necessary work, 
 and even they were not well. Therefore I can declare certainly 
 that if the voyage had lasted a fortnight longer, no one would 
 ever have ventured to follow our example. Things had al- 
 ready got to such a pass that we saw our end approaching, 
 and could do nothing but make vows to the saints, and implore 
 their aid in behalf of our ships. The captains held a council, 
 and determined that if a contrary wind should arise, they 
 would return to India, and wait until their men had recovered. 
 But it pleased God in His mercy to send us a wind which in six 
 days brought us to the coast, at which we were as glad as if 
 we had reached Portugal, for we hoped now soon to be well 
 again." 
 
 The sufferings thus described lasted almost three months, 
 for it was the 2nd of February, 1499, when the ships reached 
 the coast of East Africa. Steering southward, they reached a 
 town with stately buildings rising from the sea. When Gama 
 heard that it was Magadoxo (2° i' south latitude), which he 
 had been told was a chief seat of the Moors, he determined to 
 give these crafty people a lesson, and sailing straight to the 
 town, fired upon it. 
 
 A very favourable wind carried the ships to the south, and 
 after dispersing with their guns some Moorish boats which 
 .attacked them near the town of Pate, the Portuguese found 
 
 6 
 
82 A Centttry of Discoveiy. 
 
 themselves on the 9th of February off the friendly Melinda, 
 Here they were well received by the King and the inhabitants, 
 and fresh provisions amply furnished. In order not to lose 
 the favourable wind, Gama weighed anchor after a stay of only 
 five days. As a proof of friendship, the Prince of Melinda 
 allowed a pillar to be erected, and also despatched an am- 
 bassador to the Portuguese King. Pursuing its course, the 
 fleet sailed past Mombaza, Zanzibar, and Mozambique. 
 
 The condition of one of the larger ships, the St. Raphael, 
 rendered some delay necessary. Many times stranded, once 
 damaged by lightning, the ship was no longer in a condition 
 to pursue its course. As the number of the men had so- 
 dwindled down that they were insufficient to man three ships,, 
 they divided the cargo and crew of the St. Raphael between the 
 two other ships, the Gabriel dind the Berrio, and surrendered 
 the proud vessel to the flames. 
 
 On the 3rd of March they reached Mossel Bay, near the 
 Cape, where they were constrained by a violent west wind to 
 stay longer than they had intended. On the 20th of March 
 they succeeded in sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, and. 
 found themselves in well-known waters. Impatience to see- 
 again their native shore now grew strong in every breast. In 
 the neighbourhood of the Cape Verde Islands the ships lost 
 sight of each other, and whilst the Berrio, commanded by 
 Nicolas Coelho, with Alvaro Velhes on board, continued its- 
 way home, and ran into Lisbon on the loth of Jul}-, the 
 Gah'iel anchored off Santiago, one of the Cape Verde 
 Islands. 
 
 Near the end of the voyage the Admiral was visited by a " 
 bitter grief. His faithful brother Paul had long been ill, and 
 whilst all the other invalids had quickly recovered after pass- 
 ing the Cape of Good Hope, the strength of Paul da Gama 
 visibly declined. The Admiral, who clung to him with tender 
 affection, left the flagship to follow, and with his sick brother 
 
Vasco da Gama. 83 
 
 went on board a swift caravel that he might arrive more 
 quickly in healthy regions. But in the neighbourhood of the 
 Azores the sick man's state became so alarming that the worst 
 was dreaded. He was carried on shore at Terceira, and there 
 he died in the arms of his afflicted brother, who for many 
 weeks could not tear himself from the grave. Gama did 
 not reach Lisbon till the 29th of August, 1499, his voyage 
 having lasted two years and two months. Here, though still 
 bowed down with grief, he had to take part in the magnificent 
 festivities which King- Emanuel had prepared in honour of the 
 great seaman and his glorious achievement. 
 
 After spending nine days in prayer at Restello, whence the 
 expedition had started, he entered Lisbon in procession amidst 
 the shouts of a dense multitude, which had gathered from far 
 and near to see the man who had first unfurled the Portuguese 
 flag on the coasts of India. The important news had been 
 communicated by the King immediately after the arrival of 
 Coelho to all the towns and villages of Portugal, and a special 
 messenger had been despatched to inform the court at Rome, 
 
 On Gama and his companions — only fifty-five men returned 
 out of one hundred and seventy — the King showered his 
 favours. Vasco da Gama was made Admiral of the Indies, 
 and at the same time raised to the highest rank among the 
 nobility and allowed to adopt the title of Dom and to quarter 
 the royal arms with his own. In addition to these honours, 
 when the King some time later discovered the immense ad- 
 vantage of direct intercourse with India, he made the Admiral 
 Count of Vidigueira, and also bestowed upon him the annual 
 income of 300,000 reals (about ^^5000), then a very great 
 sum, which was to pass to his descendants. In an equally 
 liberal manner did the King treat Nicolas Coelho and none 
 of the much-tried seamen went unrewarded. 
 
 His pious disposition also made the monarch anxious to 
 show his gratitude to Heaven, and at Restello, on the spot from 
 
 6—2 
 
84 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 which Vasco da Gama had embarked and on which he had 
 landed, he laid the foundation of a splendid cloister which 
 he destined to be the last resting-place of the royal family, 
 and named Bethlehem or Belem. This splendid building is 
 still standing, having been spared by the great earthquake of 
 Lisbon, to remind posterity of the enthusiasm to which it 
 owed its origin. 
 
 A touching proof of the respect in which he held the 
 
 memory of his great uncle is afforded by the statue of Prince 
 
 Henry the Navigator which he erected at the entrance of the 
 
 cloister and by the weekly mass which he instituted for his 
 
 . ifeoul. 
 
 Many years of rest were granted to Vasco da Gama to 
 restore his shattered health, whilst others were commissioned 
 to carry on his work. It was not until the loth of February, 
 1502, that he again left Lisbon at the head of a fleet of twenty 
 ships, strongly manned, with the object of securing the influence 
 of Portugal in India, and monopolising for her the whole of 
 the eastern trade. 
 
 No doubt Gama enjoyed appearing at the head of such an 
 important force in seas where the weakness of his first fleet 
 had prevented him from adopting decisive measures, and was 
 well pleased to show himself in the full splendour of power to 
 those who had treated him so contemptuously. He visited on his 
 outward journey Sofala, rich in gold, and concluded a treaty 
 with the Prince of Mozambique, who granted leave for the 
 founding of a factory, and promised that Portuguese vessels 
 sailing past should always be supplied with provisions. Then 
 the fleet stopped before Ouiloa, where the Portuguese ships 
 had been insulted, and after a violent cannonade the Prince 
 was brought to declare himself a feudatory of the King of 
 Portugal and to promise a yearly tribute. 
 
 Gama's irreconcilable antipathy towards the Moors showed 
 itself in still more fearful colours after his arrival in India. 
 
Vasco da Gama. 85 
 
 He pursued all Moorish ships with fire and sword. One large 
 ship, the Merii, which was carrying Mohammedan pilgrims to 
 Mecca from all parts of Asia, was attacked by the Portuguese 
 fleet on the 3rd of October and sunk after a whole day's 
 resistance on the part of the pilgrims. About three hundred 
 men and women fell victims to this act of vengeance. Twenty 
 children were spared that they might be brought up as Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 Even after this deed of cruelty, which is a foul blot on 
 Gama's name, the implacable man did not think he had suffi- 
 ciently avenged himself on the Moors. Remembering the treat- 
 ment which he had received in Calicut, he appeared before the 
 town, and when the Zamorin did not immediately grant his 
 demand to drive all the Moors out of the land, he opened a 
 terrible fire on the unhappy town, and put to death by torture 
 any Moor who fell into his hands. Then taking in a rich 
 cargo at the ports of Cochin and Cananore, and leaving the 
 full chastisement of the Zamorin for some future time, he set 
 out on his return to Europe. Five ships were left behind as 
 a defence to the factories erected on the Indian coast, and five 
 more were to cruise at the entrance of the Red Sea in order 
 to capture Arabian merchant-ships. 
 
 On the 1st of September, 1503, Vasco da Gama entered the 
 mouth of the Tagus after having encountered many storms on 
 the voyage. With great ceremony he presented to the King 
 the first tribute of the Prince of Ouiloa and the treaties 
 which he had concluded with the Kings of Cochin and Cana- 
 nore. He boasted of having completely frightened away the 
 hostile Moors by his severity. 
 
 The reception which he met with from King Emanuel was 
 most honourable. It seems therefore very strange that the 
 King never employed him again. Year after year powerful 
 fleets sailed to India, and all the important men of Portugal 
 took part in the enterprise. But Gama's name is connected 
 
86 A Cenhtry of Discovery. 
 
 with none of the great deeds which were accomplished on the 
 ocean discovered by him. 
 
 It is not until after Emanuel's death that he reappears on 
 the scene. John III. sent him to India on the 9th of April, 
 1524, with fourteen ships and three thousand men as his vice- 
 roy. On the voyage thither a great earthquake, which made 
 the waves rise mountains high, gave occasion to the lofty words 
 with which he sought to encourage his trembling companions : 
 "Why should we fear? Do you not see that the ocean is 
 trembling before us .''" 
 
 He busied himself on his arrival in India in great plans 
 which he was not destined to accomplish. For the sickness 
 which attacked him on his arrival increased from day to day, 
 and on the 24th of December, 1524, he died at Cochin. 
 
 It was some time before his ashes found rest. Interred first 
 in Cochin, then in Travancore, his body was in 1538, by com- 
 mand of King John III., brought to Portugal and buried in 
 a chapel not far from Vidigueira, from which place he took 
 his title, and where two of his descendants also rest. The in- 
 scription on the grave-stone runs thus : " Here lies the great 
 Argonaut, Dom Vasco da Gama, first Count of Vidigueira, 
 Admiral of the East Indies, the famous discoverer." The tomb 
 was broken into in the year 1840, and has been restored at 
 the expense of the State ; but the proposition which has so 
 often been made to prepare a worthy resting-place for the 
 ashes of the great sailor in the cloister of Belem has never 
 been carried into execution. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PEDRO ALVAREZ CABRAL AND JUAN DE NOVA. 
 
 The return of the first Portuguese ships, laden with the pro- 
 ducts of India, had aroused in Portugal a storm of national 
 enthusiasm, and presented to the imagination of all such an 
 alluring picture of endless riches that they watched with im- 
 patience for further steps on the part of the King. 
 
 To this disposition of the people, which was indeed most agree- 
 able to his wishes, Emanuel willingly responded, and hastened 
 the preparation of a new fleet, which he intended to sail by 
 the beginning of March ; for, according to the experience of 
 Vasco da Gama with regard to the winds and currents, that 
 appeared the most favourable time for a rapid voyage to 
 India. If everything prospered, the adventurers would land 
 on the Indian coast in autumn, could lade the ship there at 
 their ease, and then, in the spring of the next year, begin 
 their return. The correctness of this calculation, which ex- 
 perience has verified, is a proof that Gama's observations were 
 •carefully made and his conclusions trustworthy. 
 
 To the command of the fleet, which consisted of thirteen 
 sail, and carried 15 00 men on board, the King appointed 
 Pedro Alvarez Cabral, of whose earlier life nothing more is 
 known than that he belonged to one of the chief families of 
 Portugal, and had distinguished himself as a well-informed 
 and gallant man. It is possible that he was related to Gon- 
 salvo Velhes Cabral, who had been sent out by Prince Plenry, 
 Jn 1430^ to discover the Azores. 
 
S8 A CenttLry of Discovery. 
 
 Under him commanded Bartholomew Dias and Nicolas- 
 Coelho, who had accompanied Gama. The strength of the 
 crews shows that they reckoned on hostilities with the Moors. 
 Yet the instructions which Cabral received from King Emanuel 
 directed him to strive for peaceful intercourse, and to conclude 
 treaties of commerce. Besides, an attempt was to be made, 
 by the wish of the pious King, to convert the heathen ; and 
 for this purpose the fleet carried on board eight Franciscan 
 monks and eight seculars, together with a vicar, who were in- 
 tended to take the spiritual charge in the fort to be founded. 
 Earthly weapons were not to be employed unless these peace- 
 ful and pious efforts had no result. Even in that case, Cabral 
 was limited by precise directions from the King, who was in- 
 formed on all points and had foreseen all emergencies. 
 
 On the 9th of March, 1500, the fleet set sail and steered for 
 the open sea, with the good wishes of all. At the Cape Verde 
 Islands a pause was made, that some of the ships which had 
 become scattered by a storm might join company again. Ac- 
 cording to the advice of Gama, they ought now to follow a 
 southerly course, until the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope 
 had been reached. This is still considered the shortest pas- 
 sage through the two regions of the trade winds, pursued 
 already by Vasco da Gama. 
 
 Following closely these directions of Gama's, Cabral, after 
 crossing the line, entered the equatorial current, which carried 
 him imperceptibly towards the west. To the surprise of all, 
 on April 24th, a coast was perceived, which, according to 
 Cabral's reckoning, was 10 deg. south latitude, and quite 450 . 
 miles distant from Guinea. At first he thought the land he 
 had discovered was an island ; but when he had sailed along 
 it for a whole day, he was convinced that it was the coast of 
 a continent. Although his instructions forbade him to make 
 any stay, the importance of the discovery compelled the Ad- 
 miral to spend some days in examining the coast, along which 
 
Pedro Alvar£Z Cabral and y^Lan de Nova. 89 
 
 he steered as far as 18 deg. south latitude. He found, at 
 16 deg. 16 min. south latitude, an excellent harbour, which 
 offered a safe refuge for more than 200 ships, and which there- 
 fore received the name of Porto Seguro. This name still re- 
 mains attached to a town situated on this harbour. On the 
 shore, which was adorned with most luxuriant vegetation, 
 there were seen fine copper-coloured people, who came up 
 most confidingly to exchange bright-coloured parrots for the 
 toys offered by the Portuguese. 
 
 Cabral well discerned of what importance this coast would 
 be as a station for ships on their way to India, and took pos- 
 session of it for his native land by erecting a pillar. From 
 this it received the name of Tierra da Santa Cruz, which, how- 
 ever, afterwards gave place to that of Brazil. This name 
 arose from the large quantity of the red dye-wood, which was 
 compared to the colour of red-hot coals, and thence named 
 brasil. 
 
 A ship was despatched to bear the news of the discovery to 
 Portugal, and the King, early in 1501, sent out three sail to 
 investigate the important place. Yet several years passed 
 away before the immigration of the Portuguese and the build- 
 ing of forts began. Had not Columbus already, in 1492, dis- 
 covered the New World, it would thus, eight years later, have 
 been found through an accident. 
 
 On the 2nd of May Cabral again set sail, intending to reach 
 the Cape of Good Hope by crossing the Atlantic Ocean. But 
 this passage was not made without painful experience. The 
 superstitious minds of the sailors were much agitated by a 
 large comet, which showed itself at night in the eastern sky. 
 A high sea and stormy weather left no one in repose. Then,, 
 on May 23rd, was seen, for the first time, a waterspout ; and,, 
 while they were curiously watching it, a fearful storm sud- 
 denly arose, and sank four ships, with all their crews. Among 
 these unfortunate sailors was Bartholomew Diaz. No one 
 
■90 A Century of Discovejy. 
 
 was in a condition to render assistance^ for the remaining ships 
 were half full of water, and would probably have perished had 
 not the wind torn away their sails. For twenty days and 
 nights did this tempest rage, while the exhausted sailors 
 struggled for their lives. And when the storm subsided, and 
 the fleet, which had passed the Cape of Good Hope, was 
 stopped by dangerous shallows and contrary winds, it found 
 itself reduced to four much-damaged vessels. 
 
 It was only by earnest remonstrances that Cabral persuaded 
 the sailors to renounce their wish to return at once to Portugal, 
 and to declare themselves ready to continue their voyage. 
 They passed Sofala without touching, and proceeded to 
 Mozambique, where they could without danger repair the 
 ships and take in water — so strong still was the recollection 
 of the chastisement inflicted on the Moors by Gama. Here 
 too they obtained a pilot, who conducted them safely to 
 Quiloa, which they reached on July 26th. 
 
 The Island of Quiloa, lying 9 deg. south latitude, and sur- 
 passing all the other East African islands in fruitfulness, had 
 not been hitherto visited by the Portuguese. Yet, as it was 
 the seat of a Prince who ruled a large portion of the coast 
 and many much-frequented ports, it was worthy of special 
 attention ; and Cabral had therefore received express direc- 
 tions from King Emanuel, if possible, to conclude a treaty 
 with the Prince of Quiloa. However, the interview with this 
 powerful ruler, which took place on the water, remained with- 
 out result; and, hearing a report that troops were assembling 
 ■on the mainland, Cabral considered himself justified in leaving . 
 the place with his six ships — two which he had thought lost 
 had rejoined him — and deferring the negotiation to a more 
 favourable opportunity. 
 
 At Melinda he was welcomed with much rejoicing, and 
 many costly presents, and a letter written by King Emanuel's 
 own hand, bound the Prince closely to the Portuguese interest. 
 
Pedro Alvarez Cabral and Jtian de Nova. gi 
 
 He left this place on August 7th, and, being accompanied by- 
 two Indian pilots, reached the coast of India in sixteen days. 
 
 After a fortnight's stay at Anchediva, the fleet appeared on 
 the 13th September off Calicut. At first all went well. The 
 Zamorin condescended to meet the Admiral on the coast and 
 promised to do all in his power to assist the Portuguese in 
 their mercantile projects. A capacious building was immedi- 
 ately granted them for a magazine, and Ayres Correa, the 
 factor, soon filled it with wares. When the treacherous 
 whisperings of the Moors began again to produce an effect 
 on the Zamorin, Cabral brought about a second meeting, and 
 by means of his firm and dignified behaviour induced the 
 Prince to make a formal treaty, establishing the conditions of 
 the spice trade, and granting the Portuguese equal advantages 
 with the Moors. 
 
 Still it was not possible to maintain this peaceful state of 
 things unbroken. The obtrusive missionary zeal of the clergy 
 may have increased the growing bitterness, and Correa's 
 haughty behaviour gave great offence, so that the Portuguese 
 trade progressed but slowly. The natives preferred to offer 
 their wares to the Moors, who had long understood all the 
 pecuharities of the Indian market, and who traded accordingly, 
 rather than to the imperious Portuguese, who treated them in 
 such an unconciliatory manner. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that after three months hardly two 
 ships were fully freighted in spite of great efforts. Instead of 
 seeing their mistake and trying to rival the Moors by greater 
 concessions to the Indian method of trading, the Portuguese 
 complained of the favour shown to the latter and considered 
 themselves injured. At last they began to make use of 
 violence, took possession of the goods which were intended 
 for the Moors, and tried to compel the native traders to be 
 satisfied with the prices which they settled as being proper 
 once for all. 
 
92 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 While the Portuguese showed such arrogance it was easy 
 for the Moors to stir up the people. A disturbance, caused 
 by some tyrannical act on the part of Correa, became a com- 
 plete uproar; an enraged mob stormed the Portuguese factory; 
 Correa and his men were beaten, and fifty Portuguese were 
 either killed or taken prisoners. Cabral was, on account of 
 the small force which he had at his command, not in a 
 condition to rescue his people, or at any rate demand full 
 satisfaction. Still he avenged himself by setting fire to 
 fifteen Moorish vessels which lay in the harbour, and by 
 bombarding the town of Calicut for two days, thus killing 
 some hundreds of perfectly innocent persons. But all peace- 
 ful intercourse was of course for the present quite at an 
 end. The calumnies of the Moors, who had represented 
 the Portuguese as pirates, appeared of course more than 
 ever credible to the Indians, and especially to the Indian 
 Princes. 
 
 In vain did Cabral await an embassy from the Zamorin 
 offering an apology and begging for a resumption of trade. 
 So he determined to depart. But he could not think of re- 
 turning to Portugal until his ships were fully freighted. He 
 considered it therefore most opportune when the Rajah of 
 Cochin, a port situated about thirty miles to the south, sent 
 him word that great stores of pepper were laid up in that 
 town, which the Portuguese might have for a moderate price. 
 Cochin was at that time a small tow^n dependent on the 
 mighty Zamorin, but one which bore its dependence with 
 impatience. It was particularly vexatious to the Rajah that 
 Calicut had gradually raised itself to be the chief emporium 
 of all Indian wares, while the neighbouring harbours were 
 ruined. He had long viewed with envy the large tolls received 
 by the mighty Zamorin, and it appeared to him worth while 
 to make an attempt to draw into his territory the strangers 
 who had done so much injury to the Moorish commerce, and 
 
Pedro Alvarez Cabral and yuan de Nova. 93 
 
 who had quarrelled with the Zamorin, in order, by means of 
 traffic with them, to raise Cochin at the the expense of 
 Calicut. 
 
 His scheme succeeded. He was obliged, indeed, in the 
 great struggle which shortly took place, unreservedly to take 
 the part of the Portuguese, and many times to see his whole 
 power endangered ; but when the matter was finally decided 
 Cochin took the place of the desolated Calicut, and became 
 the most important port of Malabar, while the revenues of the 
 •Rajah were proportionately increased. In a short time Cabral's 
 ^hips were laden with pepper. 
 
 The example of the Rajah was followed. The Princes of 
 Cananore and Coulam, two towns to the north of Calicut, and 
 also under the supremacy of the Zamorin, begged the Portu- 
 guese to visit them. But Cabral could not spare the time, 
 and only promised the Prince of Cananore to fetch a certain 
 quantity of ginger, which the latter agreed to have ready for 
 him. 
 
 Just as he was on the point of leaving Cochin there appeared 
 a fleet of 70 sail, among which were 25 large ships, with 1500 
 warriors on board, sent by the Zamorin to drive the Portuguese 
 -out of the Indian Seas. But they did not dare to attack him, 
 and contented themselves with watching the dreaded foreigners. 
 Cabral was not in the least disturbed. He quietly steered out 
 of the harbour of Cochin, sailed past Calicut, in full view of 
 the town, in order to show his utter fearlessness, and took the 
 ginger on board at Cananore. 
 
 Here the Portuguese were offered more wares than their 
 ships would hold, and were obliged to refuse much. The 
 Rajah of Cananore thought that this was from want of money, 
 and offered Cabral a loan ; but Cabral showed the royal mes- 
 sengers the many chests full of gold which he still had on 
 board, thanked the Rajah for his goodwill, and promised to 
 report his friendliness to the King of Portugal. He then set 
 
94 ^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 out with his richly-laden fleet on his return voyage, accom- 
 panied by ambassadors from Cochin and Cananore. 
 
 But the voyage was not without disaster. In the neighbour- 
 hood of Melinda one of the largest ships ran upon a rock, and 
 sank with all its cargo. Its guns afterwards were turned 
 against the Portuguese by the King of Mombaza, who re- 
 covered them by means of divers. When the Cape was once 
 rounded all went well, and on the 31st of July, 1501, Cabrat 
 cast anchor before Lisbon. But of the thirteen ships that had 
 gone out, six lay at the bottom of the ocean, and only half of 
 the men returned. On account of these disasters the Admiral 
 met with a cold reception from the King. Although he could 
 be charged with no fault, he was never again employed in any 
 of the future undertakings, and the rest of the life of this- 
 deserving and ill-used man is veiled in complete obscurity. 
 
 The King v/as particularly vexed that, in spite of the liberal 
 and costly fitting out of the fleet committed to him, Cabral 
 had not been able to establish a firm footing in any part of 
 India, and that he had not succeeded in erecting a fortress and 
 in taking possession in the name of Portugal of some favour- 
 able point on the coast. I^ had so completely reckoned upon 
 this being done that, during Cabral's absence, he had despatched 
 a little fleet of four ships and eighty men simply for the pur- 
 poses of trade, in order at once to make use of the military 
 advantage which he assumed Cabral to have gained. 
 
 His intention was that henceforward a similar little merchant 
 fleet should sail every year in March, the most favourable 
 time. But after the return of Cabral, King Emanuel was filled 
 with anxiety for the little squadron, which was not fitted either 
 for defence or attack. 
 
 He had appointed commander of this squadron Juan de- 
 Nova, a noble Galician, who had distinguished himself in dif- 
 ferent expeditions in the Portuguese service as a skilful and 
 brave seaman. On this occasion he justified the confidence of 
 
Pedro Alvarez Cabral and yuan de Nova. 95 
 
 the King-, and showed himself well suited for his very difficult 
 position. Under him Vinetti, a Florentine, commanded a 
 caravel, which his countryman, the rich merchant, Bartholomew 
 Marchioni, had fitted out, making use of the permission of the 
 King, who for a certain share in the profit had thrown open 
 the trade to India. 
 
 This permission is another proof of the firm conviction on 
 the part of the King that Cabral's imposing squadron must 
 certainly have removed all the hindrances to trade which the 
 hostility of the Moors and the reluctance of the Zamorin 
 could have caused. 
 
 On his outward voyage Nova discovered in the Atlantic 
 Ocean (7° 56' south latitude) a rocky island, which from the 
 day on which it was first seen he called Conception. This 
 was afterwards changed into Ascension, and is now a station 
 of the English ships employed in the suppression of the slave 
 trade. It has a small population. The squadron sped pros- 
 perously on, though delayed for a time in the Mozambique 
 Channel by contrary winds. Going round Calicut, it made 
 directly for Cochin, but before it could run into the harbour 
 it had to sustain a sharp conflict with an attacking fleet of 
 the Zamorin, which, however, it succeeded in driving back. 
 
 Here and in Cananore the ships were quickly laded with 
 pepper, ginger, and cinnamon, the Princes of both towns show- 
 ing themselves most friendly, and then Nova, with much haste, 
 left the coast, and cruised about in the open sea until the 
 north-east monsoon arose and quickly bore the ships towards 
 the west. 
 
 Nova's return voyage was rendered remarkable by a dis- 
 covery. On the 22nd of May, 1502 (15° 55' south latitude, 
 and 5° 44' west longitude), an island arose before them, which, 
 in honour of the saint whose day it happened to be, received the 
 name of St. Helena. On closer inspection it was discovered that 
 the island possessed anexcellentharbour,and abundance of good 
 
.96 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 water, and therefore was well suited for a harbour of refuge, 
 and for a watering station. This small island has now a popu- 
 lation of 7000 people. Since 1688 it has been in the posses- 
 sion of the British, and is constantly visited by ships going to 
 .and from the East Indies, which stop here to take in water 
 and provisions. But the great interest of the island consists in 
 its having been the place to which the fallen Emperor Napo- 
 leon I. was banished, and where he died. It was in the farm- 
 liouse, Longwood, in the most dreary part of the island, that 
 he fretted away the last six years of his life. Under the 
 liistoric willow-tree, which stands near the farmhouse, his 
 .ashes rested until 1841, when Louis Philippe and his Minister 
 Thiers caused them to be disinterred, and brought to France, 
 where they found a more fitting tomb in the Hotel des 
 Invalides. 
 
 On the nth of September, 1502, Nova ran into the harbour 
 at Lisbon, and met with a most gracious reception from the 
 King, and a rich reward, which was due no doubt to the rich 
 cargoes of the ships, and to his circumspect conduct. He had 
 not suffered the least loss, either in ships or men. 
 
 King Emanuel now added to the titles which he had hither- 
 to borne — King of Portugal and of the Algarves, and Lord 
 of Guinea — the new one of Lord of the navigation, conquest, 
 and trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India, by which he 
 showed what was the goal he aimed at, rather than what he 
 .really possessed. 
 
 It was important first of all to get the trade of those lands 
 entirely into the hands of the Portuguese. Since the result 
 ■of the three expeditions which had already been made to Iiidia 
 had shown clearly the superiority of the Moorish merchants 
 and the preference of the natives for them, it was now deter- 
 mined to have recourse to force and to render their Moorish 
 rivals afraid of vying with the Portuguese, and thus to gain a 
 free field. 
 
Pedro Alvarez Cabral and Jtmn de Nova. 97 
 
 To carry out this policy of terror, no one seemed more suit- 
 able than Vasco da Gama, in whose mind still rankled the 
 bitterest feelings towards the Moors, to whose artifices he had 
 fallen a victim. The command, therefore, of the fleet was 
 committed to him, and he received full powers to use force 
 towards the Moors and any Indian Prince who might oppose 
 him. In what a bloody manner he made use of this power 
 has already been related. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA. 
 
 When Vasco da Gama, in 1503, returned from his second 
 voyage to India, he left at two places in Malabar — Cochin 
 and Cananore — a small number of Portuguese for the protec- 
 tion of the factories established there — in the first harbour 
 thirty, and in the latter twenty men — and a fleet which, be- 
 sides serving as a protection to the men, was intended to 
 watch the Moorish merchant-ships. 
 
 But its commander, Vincente Sodre, allowed himself, in 
 spite of all warnings, to be persuaded to make an attack upon 
 the Moorish ships in the Red Sea, at the most unfavourable 
 time of year, and paid for his folly by his own death and the 
 destruction of almost the whole fleet before it reached the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 This appeared to the Zamorin a favourable opportunity to 
 strike a blow at the Portuguese in the factories, and to teach 
 the Indian Princes who protected them that it was vain to 
 make use of the arms of foreigners in order to escape from the 
 rule of their rightful superior. His army was too powerful 
 for them to oppose it in the open field, and therefore the 
 Rajah of Cochin evacuated the town, and withdrew to the 
 Island of Waiping, taking the Portuguese with him. Even 
 here he was hard pressed, until the arrival of a Portuguese 
 fleet put an end to his difficulty, and made the Zamorin's army 
 retreat. 
 
 This was a squadron which King Emanuel had prepared 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 99 
 
 before the return of Gama in 1503. It was principally com- 
 posed of merchant-ships, which were to return as soon as pos- 
 sible to Portugal with rich cargoes. At the head of this 
 squadron were two brothers, Francisco and Alfonso de Albu- 
 querque ; and a small part of the fleet, under Antonio de 
 Saldanha, was directed to cruise about near the Red Sea. 
 With the help of 600 Portuguese, the Rajah of Cochin soon 
 drove the Zamorin out of his territory ; and, out of gratitude 
 to his protectors, he consented to the building of a fort on his 
 territory. Immediately — September 27th, 1503 — -the work 
 was begun, and, close by the town of Cochin, arose a strong 
 building, which would at least serve as a defence in the case 
 of hostile attack. It was called Santiago, and became the 
 foundation of the Portuguese power in India. It had a 
 gamson of 150, commanded by the brave Duarte Pacheco 
 Pereira. 
 
 The factories in Cananore and Coulam were then visited, and 
 there the ships were laded ; for in Cochin it had been im- 
 possible to collect wares, owing to the war that had been 
 raging. Then the two brothers returned home. But only 
 Alfonso arrived safely in Portugal. Francisco, who left Cochin 
 on the 31st of January, 1504, perished, with all his ships, no 
 one knows how or where. 
 
 The fear of the Rajah of Cochin, that the Zamorin would 
 renew his attacks as soon as the Portuguese fleet had de- 
 parted, was only too well founded. The Zamorin had indeed, 
 without the knowledge of the Arabian merchants, negotiated 
 with the brothers Albuquerque, and had even condescended 
 to give compensation for the destruction of the factory ; but 
 they soon began to suspect him, and, without waiting for 
 any explanation, attempted to seize the ships of Calicut. 
 Such treatment convinced him that friendly intercourse with 
 the Portuguese would only be possible if he yielded to all 
 their demands unconditionally, and surrendered all his rights 
 
 7—2 
 
lOO A Century of Discovery. 
 
 as a prince. He preferred to try the fortune of war, hoping- 
 that a severe defeat might render a settlement in India odious 
 to the Portuguese, while it would at the same time inspire with 
 new courage those whom the imperious conduct of the strangers 
 had dismayed, and deter the subject princes from following 
 the dangerous example of revolt. 
 
 With a mighty host, consisting of 70,000 men, 160 ships, 
 200 musketeers, and 300 pieces of ordnance, he entered the 
 territory of Cochin. It required the courage of a Pacheco 
 Pereira even to think of opposition to such a host. But this 
 extraordinary man, the first example of that incredible heroism 
 which was afterwards so frequently displayed, and which sur- 
 rounded the Portuguese arms with the glamour of magic, 
 marched straight to meet the enemy's host, and did not re- 
 turn to the island town of Cochin until he had first inflicted 
 severe losses upon it. The siege lasted from March until the 
 end of July, with varying fortune, the besieged suffering much, 
 but at the same time doing many glorious deeds. The ap- 
 proaches to the island had every day to be defended by bloody 
 contests with the enemy, whose valour was animated by the 
 personal presence of the Zamorin. Against the harbour of 
 Cochin fire-ships were let loose, which with difficulty were 
 diverted ; and eight floating-towers, supported by the whole 
 fleet of the enemy, attempted to make a landing, but were 
 driven back by the Portuguese guns. 
 
 The exhausted garrison, which was aided by only a few 
 thousand native soldiers in the service of the Rajah, found a 
 more powerful ally in a pestilence which broke out in the 
 enemy's camp, and carried off so many victimsthat the Zamorin 
 broke up the siege, after having lost 18,000 men. This melan- 
 choly result so decreased his importance that some of the 
 subject princes immediately fell away from him, and made 
 offers to the Portuguese. Pacheco's fame was great in all 
 India ; and when he returned to Portugal the King rewarded 
 
Francisco de Almeida. loi 
 
 iiim with a significant coat of arms and the governorship of 
 the African Gold Coast ; but, becoming the victim of some 
 atrocious calumnies, the gallant leader eventually died in 
 chains, and his family fell into the deepest poverty. 
 
 In September, 1504, there appeared in the harbour of the 
 relieved city of Cochin a Portuguese fleet of thirteen well- 
 armed ships, having on board 1200 men, among whom were 
 many noblemen eager to gain fame and wealth in India. The 
 commander of this fleet, which Emanuel had fitted out be- 
 cause Gama represented that war was absolutely necessary, 
 was Lopo Soares. He bombarded Calicut for two days, burnt 
 the Zamorin's town, Kranganor, with all the ships that lay in 
 the harbour ; and at last, at the end of December, made a bold 
 attack on the well-manned Moorish merchant fleet which, 
 composed of seventeen ships, lay in the harbour of Ponani, 
 waiting for cargo, feeling perfectly secure under the shelter of 
 the batteries which the Zamorin had erected on the shore. 
 The audacious attack was perfectly successful, and ended in 
 the utter destruction of the Moorish fleet. 
 
 It was the severest punishment which could have been in- 
 flicted upon the Zamorin, for such a terrible loss frightened 
 the Moors away from his ports, and consequently made a 
 considerable difference in his revenue. At the same time 
 Soares showed the greatest possible honour to the faithful 
 Rajah of Cochin, and when he sailed away with his well- 
 Jaden fleet, left behind him four ships and a strong garrison 
 as a protection. 
 
 King Emanuel saw with much rejoicing the growing in- 
 iluence of his people on those distant shores, and the con- 
 stantly increasing wealth which accrued to Portugal. 
 
 In the course of a few years Lisbon had become the great 
 ■spice market of Europe, and could supply nearly the whole 
 ■ continent, since from twelve to fifteen well-laden ships came 
 dnto her harbour every year. Portugal was able to lower the 
 
I02 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 prices, and thus monopolised the whole trade, which had once 
 been the wealth of Venice. Of course the use of spice in- 
 creased as the price diminished, and thus larger sums were 
 spent in Indian wares. The advantage which accrued to 
 Portugal from this impetus to trade was something quite 
 remarkable. 
 
 Besides the gigantic sums which flowed into the royal 
 coffers and gave the King means to prepare new fleets, a number 
 of large merchant houses sprang up, and a fresh life came 
 into trade. Moreover the varied undertakings and the pre- 
 sence of many foreigners in the land were of great advantage 
 both to the citizens and peasants, and exercised a beneficial 
 influence even in the most distant corners of the land. 
 
 The more evident all this general prosperity became, the 
 more zealous did the King grow to render it permanent. It 
 did not escape him that in the long run it would not be enough 
 to send large fleets to India just to procure cargo and then 
 return. During their absence the impressions made upon the 
 enemies of Portugal by their brilliant deeds of arms were 
 quickly effaced, so that as a rule each fleet had to repeat the 
 work done by the preceding one. 
 
 This unsatisfactory state of things was only to be prevented 
 by maintaining constantly a considerable force in India. 
 Emanuel determined to do this. Indeed, to give more uni- 
 formity to the conduct of Indian affairs and more permanence 
 to the relations with the Indian princes, he determined that a 
 representative of the King should take up his residence in 
 India with the title of viceroy. The term of office was fixed 
 at three years ; for which period also all persons engaged in 
 the service, whether holding civil or military appointments, 
 were to be pledged. 
 
 The first man whom Emanuel invested with the dignity of 
 viceroy was Francisco de Almeida, Count of Abrantes, one of 
 those remarkable men who, without any thought of self or 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 103 
 
 their own advantage, know no other glory than that of their 
 country, and seek no other advantage than that of the people 
 to whom they belong. He sprang from one of the most 
 illustrious families of Portugal, and had, since he first dis- 
 tinguished himself in the siege of Granada, added glory to 
 his name by many feats of arms both at sea and against the 
 Moors in North Africa. 
 
 He cannot have been a young man when he was appointed 
 by the King to the governorship in India, for he took with him 
 a son old enough to bear arms, who was to earn his first laurels 
 under his father's eyes. His bearing in his new office was dig- 
 nified without being haughty. He himself submitted to the 
 greatest deprivations and fatigues in the interests of his office, 
 and he demanded from those under him, when necessary, the 
 utmost exertion of their powers. But whilst he displayed 
 an almost incredible unselfishness, and continually gave up 
 spoil which was justly his, he was so generous in praising and 
 rewarding those who faithfully fulfilled their duty or who 
 performed great deeds that he sometimes drew down upon 
 himself the displeasure of the King. This is proved by one 
 sentence of the great man's which has come down to us, " I 
 shall return to Portugal," he said, when he laid down his office, 
 " and place before the King my master the instructions which 
 he gave me, and if he finds that I have exceeded my com- 
 mands in distributing his wealth, here is my own ; and if that 
 is not sufficient to repair the damage, I shall tell him that 
 another time he must not put the sword into the hand of a 
 fool." 
 
 This liberality won for him the hearts of his subordinates, 
 while his heroic greatness, his blameless life, and his strict 
 sense of justice gained him the admiration of India. 
 
 He was next employed by the King in East Africa. 
 Emanuel wished that the Portuguese should establish a firm 
 footing on this coast, which was so important when considered 
 
I04 A Centtcry of Discovery. 
 
 in connection with the Indian trade. He had also cast an 
 eye upon the province of Sofala, rich in gold but yet scarcely 
 touched. Almeida, according to the King's orders, sailed 
 with part of his fleet to Ouiloa, the most powerful of the East 
 African mercantile cities. Disputes, which arose between 
 him and the Prince of Quiloa, ended in an assault on the town, 
 which the Portuguese took and plundered. With the new 
 Prince, whom Almeida established in place of the dethroned 
 one, he concluded a highly-advantageous treaty, which was 
 wrung from him no doubt in great measure by fear of the 
 Portuguese arms. Almeida was allowed to build the fort 
 Santiago on the harbour of Ouiloa, and to furnish it with a 
 sufficient garrison. Much the same occurred at Mombas, 
 only that this town was able to make a greater resistance, 
 by means of the Portuguese guns which had been recovered 
 by means of divers from the bottom of the sea, as has been 
 already related, and therefore its defenders thus met with 
 more severe treatment after the capture. In both places the 
 spoil was great. 
 
 Much more peaceful and friendly was Almeida's entrance 
 into Melinda. The native Prince was loaded with presents and 
 reaped the fruits of his wise and pacific behaviour in the in- 
 creased prosperity of his harbour — a prosperity due doubtless 
 to the destruction of the more powerful neighbouring cities. 
 
 The Viceroy did not go himself to Sofala, the exploration 
 of that land of gold and the establishing of a settlement there 
 being committed to a special fleet of six ships which sailed 
 away from Portugal under the command of Pedro de Anhaya 
 shortly after Almeida. Permission was obtained for the 
 Portuguese to land from the Moorish Prince who ruled in 
 Sofala, and the building of a fort began. It was made of 
 wood, from the difficulty of procuring stone. 
 
 But, in consequence of the murderous climate, all the Portu- 
 guese were soon laid lowwith fever, and the Moorish Prince had 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 105 
 
 waited just for this to make more sure, as he thought, of their 
 destruction. Stirred up by him, the surrounding Kaffir tribes 
 stormed the fort, but were driven back by one discharge of the 
 guns. ThePortugueserevenged themselves for this treachery by 
 murdering the Moorish Prince, and setting up in his place one of 
 his sons, who acknowledged himself a vassal of King Emanuel. 
 
 Portugal has maintained its dominion on that unhealthy 
 coast to this day, and countless numbers have fallen victims 
 to the fatal fever, in the pursuit of trade. The gold district 
 itself is fifty miles inland from Sofala, and forms a table-land, 
 which has frequently been visited of late by European travel- 
 lers, and may perhaps yet be the scene of a future immigration 
 of gold-diggers. 
 
 The fact that these mines have undoubtedly been worked 
 from very early times has given rise to the opinion that this 
 was the Ophir of the Bible ; but others, as appears, with more 
 justice, have placed that land of gold in India, at the mouth of 
 the Indus. 
 
 Whilst Pedro de Anhaya was superintending the settlement 
 of the Portuguese in Sofala, Francisco de Almeida arrived at 
 Malabar. According to his instructions, he began first to 
 build a fort on the island of Anchediva, which King Emanuel 
 considered specially fitted to be the starting-point for future 
 undertakings. But when, after some time, it appeared that 
 the neighbourhood of the great commercial city of Goa, which 
 was under the rule of the Prince of Bujapoor, would be too dan- 
 gerous for the new fortress, it was given up ; but the Portuguese 
 remained on good terms with the chief of the Indian pirates, 
 who had been accustomed to use the island as a haunt. The 
 Viceroy then visited the factories in Cananore and Cochin 
 and found everything in a prosperous state. He sought, by 
 many marks of honour, to bind the Prince of Cochin, the 
 oldest and most faithful ally of Portugal, still closer to her 
 interests; and then, when he had freighted the merchant-ships 
 
io6 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 and despatched them to Portugal, he set himself to execute 
 the task which had been appointed him. 
 
 His plan was to gain for Portugal the uncontrolled dominion 
 of the Indian Seas, but entirely to abstain from all conquest 
 on the mainland, which might involve her in incalculable per- 
 plexity. He trusted for the necessary support on the coast 
 partly to certain factories, but more to the adherence of the 
 Indian princes who should be brought to serve the cause of 
 Portugal, either by fear or by the hope of a rich reward. 
 
 Whilst with this view he distinguished in every possible 
 way the Rajah of Cochin, he punished severely the town of 
 Coulam, the inhabitants of which, stirred up by the Moors, had 
 burnt down the factory with all the goods stored up in it, and 
 had killed all the Portuguese. A similar chastisement had 
 shortly before been the lot of Onor, a town in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Anchediva. From Cananore the Viceroy 
 superintended the freighting of the ships so successfully that 
 they were ready in a few months to return to Portugal. 
 
 Three of these ships, which sailed from Cochin on the 26th 
 of November, 1505, were driven out of their usual course by a 
 violent north wind, and constrained to sail more directly south 
 for the Cape of Good Hope. This mishap caused the dis- 
 covery of Madagascar, or, as the Portuguese called it, San 
 Lourengo. They sailed round its south point, however, with- 
 out stopping to explore it. On this new course, which greatly 
 shortened the journey, they have been followed by most ships 
 returning from India. 
 
 The next year's fleet did not arrive as soon as it was ex^ 
 pected. The delay was caused by the fact that its commander, 
 Tristam da Cunha, whose name is still borne by a group of 
 islands which he discovered (12° 2' west longitude, and 37° 6' 
 south latitude), had, at the command of the King, assisted 
 Alfonso de Albuquerque to establish the influence of Portugal 
 on the east coast of Africa, even north of Melinda. Some 
 
.Francisco de Almeida. 107 
 
 coast towns on the peninsula Somali were razed to the ground, 
 Cape Guardafui was doubled, and a fort built on the island of 
 Socotra. 
 
 This mountainous but most unhealthy island, which lies 
 opposite Cape Guardafui, was designed by Emanuel to serve 
 as a station for the Portuguese fleet, and to enable it com- 
 pletely to close the Red Sea against all Moorish vessels. 
 After a few years, however, it was found that the island could 
 not be held, and it was given up. The two commanders em- 
 ployed a full year in carrying out this commission of their 
 King. 
 
 Then while Tristam da Cunha pursued his way to India, 
 Albuquerque sailed to Ormuz. This town lies 56° 29' east 
 longitude, and 27° 5' north latitude, and commands the straits 
 between the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf Although 
 the island on which it is situated is small and perfectly 
 barren — for the salt soil will produce nothing, and all the 
 necessaries of life, even water, have to be brought from the 
 mainland — yet on account of its position it was then thickly 
 peopled, and Ormuz itself, next to Malacca and Aden, was 
 considered the most important town of Asia. In its markets 
 were to be found the wares of India, together with the produce 
 of Persia, Armenia, Tartary, and other northern countries. 
 
 "The world," says a native proverb, "is a ring, and 
 Ormuz is the gem which it contains." If the title. Lord of the 
 Trade of the Indies and Ethiopia, which Emanuel had adopted, 
 was to be anything more than a title, it was necessary that it 
 should be asserted in the capital of that trade. 
 
 So Albuquerque, September, 1507, with seven ships, carrying 
 460 men, appeared before the splendid city, which had a 
 garrison of 30,000 men, among whom were 4000 Persian archers, 
 and in whose harbours lay 400 ships. With such a dispro- 
 portionate force, it was yet just like the audacity of Albu- 
 querque, and the recklessness of the Portuguese, who looked 
 
Jo8 A Century of Discovery, 
 
 upon all the East as their rightful prey, to call upon the 
 King of Ormuz to do homage, and to pay a yearly tribute. 
 
 The Vizier Atar, who held the reins of government for the 
 infant Prince over the town and kingdom, which extended 
 along the coasts of Arabia and Persia, did not venture at once 
 to try the fortune of arms, but entered upon negotiations with 
 these terrible strangers, in order to keep them amused. How- 
 ever, the very next morning the Portuguese fell upon the mer- 
 chant fleet which lay in the harbour, sank a great many ships, 
 and burnt the rest. The fire was so fearful that it placed the 
 town in danger. The Vizier, frightened by the spectacle, 
 agreed to a treaty by which he recognised the King of Portu- 
 gal as the feudal lord of Ormuz. He also agreed to pay a 
 tribute of 15,000 ducats, and to allow a fort to be erected for 
 the security of the Portuguese influence. 
 
 But this treaty, extracted by terror, was never carried out. 
 After a few days new disputes arose, and the Vizier, who felt 
 himself encouraged by the large army which stood at his com- 
 mand, and the hatred of the Portuguese entertained by the 
 people at large, put continual hindrances in the way of the 
 -building of the fortress, so that, giving up the vain attempt, 
 they withdrew to Socotra. 
 
 However, convinced of the great importance of Ormuz, he 
 appeared again the next year, and spent the whole autumn in 
 spreading terror and dismay in the city. But, as on the 
 first occasion, he had been able to accomplish nothing, so now 
 this attempt, in which he had only three ships and about 300 
 men, was perfectly fruitless, and he was at last obliged to make 
 . up. his mind to leave Ormuz, fully intending to attempt the 
 
 I execution of his plan at some future time, and when circum- 
 
 stances should be more favourable. 
 
 Meantime Tristam da Cunha had reached Malabar with 
 the merchant fleet, and had taken on board the stores which 
 Almeida had prepared. This, thought the Viceroy, was the 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 109 
 
 time to strike a blow against the Zamorin, whose fleet had 
 many times shown itself on the high seas, but had continually- 
 been driven back by the Portuguese, under the leadership of 
 a brave youth, Lourengo de Almeida. He, however, had not 
 been able to hinder a number of merchant-ships from entering 
 the harbours of the Zamorin, where they had procured rich 
 cargoes. Just then — October, 1507 — there lay a large number 
 of them in the harbour of Ponani, a few miles south of Calicut, 
 where they appeared to be protected against every surprise by 
 the Zamorin's fleet and the fortifications, which were manned 
 by 4000 soldiers. 
 
 But even there the Portuguese sought them under the leader- 
 ship of Almeida and of Tristam da Cunha. The two young 
 sons of the general commanded the vanguard of the fleet ; 
 they forced a landing under the fire of the enemy's batteries, 
 and defeated the natives in a most murderous fight, in which 
 indeed almost all of them were slain. Threatened on shore, 
 the Moors now left their ships in the lurch and saved them- 
 selves. The conquerors only took the guns from the ships, 
 setting fire to everything else, even to the town with its rich 
 stores. 
 
 The effect produced by this deed of arms was very great, 
 and increased in the whole of India the dread felt of the 
 Portuguese. The Moorish ships found it wise to avoid the 
 dangerous harbours of the Zamorin, and preferred to take 
 the long voyage to Ceylon and the Trade Isles, in order to 
 procure the costly productions from the lands where they 
 Avere indigenous. But even this was soon put a stop to by 
 the Portuguese. Not content with capturing and destroying 
 numbers of the ships on their return voyage, the Portuguese 
 soon supplanted the Moors even in their trade with these 
 distant lands. 
 
 Thus a strongly-fortified factory was established by Lourengo 
 de Almeida on the Maldives, not only for the sake of the ex- 
 cellent coir — rope made from cocoa-nut fibres — which these 
 
no A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 islands produced, but also to lay wait here for the Moorish 
 merchant-ships. It was the same youthful hero who first dis- 
 played the Portuguese flag in Ceylon. He landed in Galle, 
 in the south of the island, and entered into friendly intercourse 
 with the ruler of Ceylon. 
 
 The dominion of Portugal over the Indian Seas appeared 
 more and more firmly established. The great merchant fleets, 
 which had in earlier times carried the productions of India 
 to Arabia, were either destroyed or no longer ventured into 
 the Indian Seas, where they found themselves treated with 
 the most relentless severity, just as if they had made an inroad 
 into an enemy's land. With an iron foot the Portuguese 
 trampled upon their flourishing trade, in order upon its ruins 
 •to establish their own mercantile power. This change was 
 accompanied by great revolutions. Mighty princes lost their 
 influence, insignificant harbours became in a night important 
 •places of trade ; whilst at the places which had hitherto been 
 .centres of commerce trade came to a standstill, and poverty 
 ^speedily ensued. 
 
 T|hus it v/as at Alexandria, the old emporium for the 
 ;]y[e4iterranean, which quickly lost its importance. The de- 
 (Crease in the customs was highly disagreeable to the Mame- 
 ;luke Sultan of Egypt, and moved him to an attempt to drive 
 xthe Portuguese out of India, in order to assist the Moors, 
 ^whose trade had been of such service to Egypt. Venice, 
 which felt its very life imperilled by the commercial prosperity 
 of Portugal, did not fail to give both encouragement and 
 ,active support. The Sultan, Kansu Ghwari, therefore caused 
 a large fleet to be fitted out in the Red Sea, which put to sea, 
 in 1507, under the command of the Emir Hossein, a native of 
 Kurdistan. It was calculated that allies would be found in 
 India ; above all, that the Zamorin of Calicut and the Mussul- 
 man King of Cambaya, whose revenues had been seriously 
 injured by the progress of the Portuguese, would certainly 
 assist him. 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 1 1 1 
 
 The near approach of this hostile fleet was reported to the 
 Viceroy ; but he did not consider the report worthy of credit. 
 So the Emir Hossein succeeded, in January, 1508, in surprising 
 the young Almeida, as the latter, with a fleet of twelve men-of- 
 war, was conducting the Malabar ships of the Kings of Cochin 
 and Cananore to Choul, a little harbour north of Goa. In spite 
 of the overwhelming force of the enemy, Louren^o attacked the 
 Egyptian fleet, but without doing it much damage ; and when 
 the fleet of Cambay, under the command of Mel-ek As, the 
 governor of Din, came to the support of the enemy, he re- 
 cognised the necessity of retreat. 
 
 But in order to avoid the appearance of flight, the Portu- 
 guese squadron left the harbour by day — the merchant-ships 
 in front, and then, one behind the other, the men-of-war. 
 Lourengo himself covered the rear. At first every attack of 
 the hostile fleet was repulsed, until, by an unlucky accident, 
 the battle took an unexpected turn. 
 
 At the entrance of the harbour were several rows of mov- 
 able piles — thin poles fixed into stones sunk in the water 
 — which the fishermen used to fasten their nets to. They in 
 no way hindered ships sailing out, since they bent under 
 them. But a hole had been made in Louren9o's vessel under 
 the water by a shell from one of the enemy's guns, and into 
 this hole one of the poles got fixed. Thus the ship became 
 entangled in the other piles, and was kept back, while the 
 others sailed prosperously out into the open sea. 
 
 The enemy immediately rushed from all sides upon the 
 vessel, to the assistance of which the others could not come. 
 A boat which the nearest Portuguese ship despatched to 
 rescue the crew Lourengo sent back, and he and his men pre- 
 pared for a death struggle. The ship and the crew seemed 
 in the very jaws of destruction, but Lourengo showed no signs 
 of surrendering. Soon a ball carried away half his thigh. He 
 was then compelled to allow himself to be placed on a chair 
 near the mainmast, and thus he continued to cheer on his men 
 
I T 2 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 until a second ball carried away half his ribs, and he fell. 
 The death of this heroic youth increased the fury of the 
 Portuguese crew, and strengthened them in their determina- 
 tion to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Three times was 
 the enemy driven back ; and when at length they succeeded 
 in boarding the ship, they founds among the heaps of slain, 
 only nineteen men, all severely wounded, whom they took 
 prisoners. 
 
 Although this glorious defeat only increased the reputation 
 for superhuman bravery which the Portuguese had gained in 
 India, It yet showed that the dreaded enemy was not altogether 
 invincible, and made the Indian princes inclined to enter into 
 negotiations with the Emir. 
 
 This determined the Viceroy, who had his son's death tO' 
 avenge, to make a great attack on the Mohammedan fleet, 
 which had retired to the peninsula of Gijerat. 
 
 During the summer the m^en-of-war were refitted, and when 
 in the autumn the merchant fleet came from Portugal it also 
 was equipped for war. Just as they were preparing to start 
 from Cananore Alfonso de Albuquerque arrived, having, while 
 at Ormuz, been appointed successor to Almeida in the vice- 
 royalt5^ He demanded immediate installation in his office, 
 reminding Almeida that his three years had expired. The 
 latter, however, decidedly refused to lay down his power until 
 he had executed his scheme of revenge. " I have already," 
 he said, " drawn the sword, and am not accustomed to sur- 
 render it to another in order that he may avenge wrongs done 
 to me." 
 
 This refusal led to a serious quarrel between the two great 
 men. It even went so far that Albuquerque was arrested by 
 Almeida, but finally ended in a complete reconciliation. 
 Whilst Albuquerque went to Cochin and undertook the 
 government of. the factories, Almeida, on the 12th Decem.ber, 
 1508, went towards the north with a fleet of 19 sail, on which 
 
LOUREN^o i;E Almeida's last engagement. 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 113 
 
 there were 1200 Portuguese soldiers and sailors and 400 
 Malabar auxiliaries from Cochin and Cananore. Among the 
 Indian Princes who, after Lorenzo's death at Choul, had 
 negotiated with Emir Hossein, the most important was a 
 Persian, named Sabayo. In his best harbour, Dabul, which 
 was strongly fortified and garrisoned with 6000 men, there 
 was stored up for the Moorish merchants, to whom Sabayo 
 was allied by a common faith, a large quantity of Indian wares 
 ready for lading. 
 
 Almeida ordered this harbour to be stormed. It was taken 
 after a hard struggle and given over to the troops to plunder. 
 But a fire broke out, and the town, with all its treasures, was 
 reduced to a heap of ashes. 
 
 The Portuguese fleet then proceeded to Diu, This town, 
 which is situated on a little island south of the peninsula of 
 Gujerat, was the most important harbour of the kingdom of 
 Cambay, and, on account of its position, peculiarly well fitted 
 as a station for a fleet intended to rule the Indian Ocean. 
 For this reason, the Emir Hossein had gone thither, and had 
 found in Melech As, the Governor of Diu, a warm ally. More 
 than 200 ships prepared for war lay in the harbour, among 
 which were about 100 small ones which the Zamorin had 
 sent to their aid. 
 
 Undismayed, the Portuguese pressed into the harbour ; a 
 frightful battle ensued, which ended with the flight of the 
 Zamorin's ships, and the utter destruction of the Egyptian 
 fleet. The victors had thirty killed and 300 wounded ; the 
 enemy lost 1500 men, among whom were 440 Mamelukes, 
 who had defended themselves to the last. Of the captured 
 ships, Almeida only retained six ; the rest he set fire to. The 
 booty was very considerable, and two Egyptian standards 
 were sent as trophies to Portugal. 
 
 This battle put an end for ever to the attempts of the 
 Egyptians to destroy, or, at any rate, to injure the Portuguese 
 
 8 
 
114 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 trade in India, A short time after (15 1 8) the kingdom of the 
 Mamelukes fell into the hands of the Turks, who, in 1538, 
 made a single vain attempt to establish themselves in 
 India, 
 
 In the pride of conquest, Almeida returned to Cochin. 
 Very unwillingly did he surrender his dignity to Albu- 
 querque, He would much have liked to have carried out 
 the great undertaking he had planned. Before he could 
 embark on board the fleet, which every year returned to 
 Portugal, and leave behind what had been the scene of 
 his labours for so many years, he was obliged to witness 
 the honours which had hitherto been his pass to his suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 Much displeased at the ingratitude which he fancied he 
 had experienced, he set sail, on November 19th, 1509, for his 
 home, where he might be sure of an honourable reception and 
 a rich reward. But no such happy fate was in store for the 
 hero ; a premature and inglorious death awaited him. 
 
 In Saldanha Bay, not far from the Cape of Good Hope, the 
 squadron cast anchor to take in water. While Almeida and 
 the crew — consisting of 150 men — were thus engaged, they 
 became involved in a quarrel with the negroes, who fell upon 
 the Portuguese, and drove them back to their boats. Unfor- 
 tunately, the boats had drifted along the shore, and so 
 they had to make their retreat over a long stretch of burning 
 sand. Stones and spears meanwhile were hurled at the ex- 
 hausted men, and many a noble Portuguese was stretched 
 upon the earth. 
 
 Among them was Almeida, pierced through the breast with 
 a spear. 
 
 His body was buried at the spot where he fell. The 
 sad news plunged all Portugal into deep mourning. King 
 Emanuel honoured his memory by rich presents to his 
 

 DEATH OF FRANCISCO DK Al.MKIDA IN SAl.UANUA iiAY. 
 
Francisco de Almeida. 115 
 
 family : and King Ferdinand of Aragon, on the receipt of the 
 melancholy tidings, retired into solitude (as was the custom 
 on the death of a person of royal blood), in honour of the 
 man who had performed such heroic deeds before the walls 
 of Granada. 
 
 8—2 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ALFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE. 
 
 The new Viceroy, who^ in the prime of life — he was born in 145 3 
 — entered upon his office, was no novice in Indian affairs. He 
 had, as we have seen, defended the fort of Cochin against the 
 attacks of the Zamorin ; and lately, the enterprises with which 
 the King had entrusted him on the coasts of East Africa and 
 Arabia, had given him full opportunity to display his heroism, 
 his powers as a general, and his force of character. Entering 
 on his office in the autumn of 1509, he immediately com- 
 menced a course of policy completely different to that of his 
 predecessor. Almeida had made it his object to maintain the 
 Portuguese supremacy on the sea, and to secure the Indian 
 trade, which, in the few years since Vasco da Gama's landing 
 at Calicut, had made Portugal the richest country in Europe. 
 In his opinion, it was well to be satisfied with a few strong 
 factories on the mainland of India, because the distance of the 
 mother country made it difficult to supply forces sufficient 
 either for making conquests or for retaining conquests when 
 made. 
 
 Albuquerque considered such limits unworthy. He did not. 
 wish to work merely for the present, but to do something 
 which should last for all time. The employment of providing 
 as much pepper and cinnamon as possible for the market of 
 Lisbon did not satisfy him ; but to lay the foundations of a new 
 empire seemed to him a worthy object. And it was just the 
 distance of the mother country which in his eyes rendered it 
 
Alfonso de Alhtquei^que. 117 
 
 necessary to create a power In India sufficient to support the 
 Portuguese dominion on the sea without having to wait for 
 months for help from home. With these views, which the 
 event justified, Albuquerque undertook to found the Portu- 
 guese Empire in India, and this self-imposed task he nobly 
 accomplished. 
 
 At first he felt himself in some degree obstructed by the 
 presence of the Marshal Fernando Coutinho, who had arrived 
 shortly before Almeida's departure, and held a joint command 
 with him. Against his better judgment, he was obliged to 
 join in a war which Coutinho had planned against Calicut. 
 Together they appeared with a considerable force before the 
 town, on which already signal chastisement had often been 
 inflicted, and on January 2nd, 15 10, began to storm it. They 
 succeeded in making themselves masters of the town ; but in 
 the somewhat distant castle of the Zamorin the native soldiers 
 defended themselves most obstinately. The Portuguese who 
 had penetrated so far were cut off from the main force, and 
 surrounded in their retreat in the thick woods which environed 
 the town. The Marshal himself and eighty men lost their 
 lives. Albuquerque avenged their death by burning down 
 the whole town and all the ships found in the harbour ; then 
 he forsook the untenable spot. 
 
 In the very same month he sailed again out of Cochin 
 at the head of a fleet of twenty-one sail, bearing 1600 armed 
 men. His object originally was Ormuz, which he intended 
 to punish for resisting him twice ; but on the way he suddenly 
 changed his mind, and determined upon a coitp de main against 
 Goa. This town, which had flourished for many years on the 
 Moorish trade, lay on a little island named Tissuari, which, 
 three miles long from east to west, and " a mile from north to 
 south, is situated in 15° 30' north latitude, on the west coast of 
 India, from which it is only separated by a narrow arm of the 
 sea. It had a secure harbour, difficult of access, however. 
 
1 1 8 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 during the summer monsoon. Next to Dabul, which lay more 
 to the north, and which Almeida had burnt, it was the chief 
 trading-place for the kingdom of Beejapoor and the other 
 states which had separated from the great empire of the 
 Deccan. This island, which lies about half-way down the 
 coast of Malabar, Albuquerque destined to be the future 
 centre of the Portuguese dominions which he intended to 
 found. 
 
 The moment was well chosen. Sabayo was just dead, and 
 his son ismael Adil Khan, whose name the Portuguese turned 
 into Hidalkano, was expecting an attack from the neighbour- 
 ing princes, who had unwillingly submitted to the usurpation 
 of Sabayo, having been specially provoked by his marriage 
 with the daughter of the lawful King of the Deccan, and by 
 the claims to the supremacy which he founded upon it. It. 
 was not therefore to be expected that Hidalkan would be.- 
 able to defend Goa. This good news, brought by Timoja,, 
 who was the captain of the Anchediva pirates, and since 
 Gama's time had been a faithful ally of Portugal's, decided 
 the Viceroy to make an immediate attack upon the important- 
 town, which, after a short resistance on the 25th of February,. 
 1 5 10, fell into his hands. They immediately began to build 
 a church, to appoint magistrates, and to take all the measures 
 necessary for defence, for they felt pretty certain that Hidal- 
 kan would use his utmost efforts to recover his most impor- 
 tant port. 
 
 And so it happened. A vanguard of 10,000 men forced. a 
 passage over the narrow strait which separates the island from 
 the mainland, and sat down before the town. Then Hidalkan 
 himself approached with 60,000 men, among whom were 5000 
 horse-soldiers. Opposed to such an overwhelming force were 
 the Spaniards, behind unfinished ramparts, and surrounded 
 by the native inhabitants of the place, and by Moors whose 
 sympathies were all on the side of the besiegers. Albuquerque 
 
Alfonso de Alhtquerqtie. 119 
 
 therefore determined for the present to give up his conquest 
 and withdraw to his fleet. The monsoon, however, began to 
 blow, and hindered the ships from sailing away, and three 
 months of the greatest suffering ensued. Besides continual 
 conflicts with the enemy — for "three drops of Portuguese 
 blood flowed for every drop of water " that they procured— 
 a fearful pestilence broke out in the army, and carried off 
 numbers of brave men. Still they held out courageously, 
 and at last, in August, 15 10, were able to get away from the 
 fatal spot. 
 
 But Albuque rque was far from being deterred from the 
 execution of his plans by this first calamity. Scarcely allowing 
 himself any time for rest, he again left Cochin — much to the 
 vexation of the Prince, who disliked the idea of the Portuguese 
 head-quarters being removed to Goa, since it would considerably 
 diminish both his revenue and importance — and sailed with 
 twenty-three ships, having on board 1500 Portuguese and 300 
 natives of Malabar, against Goa. The town was defended by 
 a garrison of 9000 men, Hidalkan being engaged in the field 
 against some of the neighbouring princes. 
 
 On the 25th of November, 15 10, the Portuguese, whose 
 courage despised all obstacles, again entered the town. In- 
 deed, taking advantage of a panic which spread among the 
 enemy, they took possession not only of the whole island, but 
 also of a strip of the mainland opposite. The treacherous 
 Moors were tried, and either put to death or driven out of the 
 town. But full security, both of life and property, was granted 
 to the Indian inhabitants, and when they had off'ered their 
 submission and pledged themselves to pay the usual taxes, 
 Albuquerque gave them a native chief, in the Prince of Onor, 
 Melreu, whose duty it should be to judge them and to collect 
 and deliver up the taxes. By such lenient treatment he sought 
 to reconcile the great body of the people with the new order 
 of things. And with the same object he encouraged the 
 
I20 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 marriages of the Portuguese with Indian women. To such 
 young couples he gave the houses, fields, and gardens of the 
 exiled Moors, and in this way created a burgher class, on 
 whom he could depend, and to whom he gave the offices of 
 greatest trust in the town. 
 
 Changing thus what had hitherto been a mere system of 
 pillage and oppression into a regular and well-ordered govern- 
 ment, he naturally made many enemies among the Portu- 
 guese, who looked upon themselves as defrauded, and sent 
 prejudicial reports to the King. 
 
 No one, however, ventured openly to oppose the great man, 
 who soon succeeded in giving Goa an importance greater 
 than that it had hitherto possessed. New buildings sprang 
 up, numbers of ships were fitted out in the harbour, and in 
 the mint, which Albuquerque set up, gold, silver, and copper 
 coins were struck off that soon found their way into all the 
 Indian harbours, 
 
 A particular importance was given to Goa by an enactment 
 of the Viceroy, which prohibited to all the other East Indian 
 ports the traffic in Arab horses. Since the climate of a great 
 part of India makes the breeding of good horses impossible, 
 the Indian princes were obliged to import Arab horses, in 
 order to maintain their cavalry, the flower of their army, in a 
 fit condition for war. All this important traffic was now 
 turned to Goa, and brought in a considerable revenue. At 
 last Albuquerque, in order to render the trade secure, erected 
 a great fort, which he called Manuel, in honour of the King. 
 In it he placed a garrison of 400 men, 80 of whom were horse- 
 soldiers, while Melreu commanded a body of 5000 Indians. 
 To such forces could be trusted the defence of Goa against 
 any attempt which Hidalkan might make to recover it, and 
 in March, 15 10, Albuquerque quitted it for new enterprises. 
 
 Of course Hidalkan immediately attempted another siege, 
 but the garrison held out bravely until help arrived and then 
 
Alfonso de AlbtLqtLerque. 12 1 
 
 made a sally. This was repeated many times until, in the 
 autumn of 15 12, Albuquerque himself stormed the enemy's 
 fortress Benestarin, which covered the passage from the main- 
 land to the island, and so alarmed Hidalkan that he begged 
 for peace. Henceforth the possession of Goa was secured, 
 and the town rapidly rose to an importance which was much 
 increased by its being made the seat of government. 
 
 The great change which now took place in Portuguese 
 politics did not fail to produce a deep impression on the Indian 
 princes, who up to this point had esteemed it beneath their 
 princely dignity to enter into negotiations with the Portuguese, 
 whom they looked upon as pirates. Ambassadors came to 
 Goa from all the great kingdoms of South India, in order to 
 enter into alliance with the new power. The hostile Kings of 
 Calicut and Cambay begged for peace, and consented to allow 
 the building of forts in Calicut and DIu. 
 
 With every spice fleet which returned to Portugal went am- 
 bassadors from Indian princes with presents to King Emanuel 
 and assurances of friendship. Thus the bold capture and 
 brave maintenance of Goa secured to the Portuguese power a 
 firm hold over the whole west coast of India. The trade 
 also was regulated by treaties. All ships that were not 
 Portuguese were excluded from traffic in the harbours of the 
 allied princes, unless they could show Portuguese passes. 
 
 After these great successes the restless Albuquerque turned 
 himself to new tasks in the far east. When the Portuguese 
 had taken possession of the land whence ginger, pepper, and 
 cinnamon are brought into the European market, their atten- 
 tion had been directed to the coasts which produce camphor, 
 the nutmeg, and the clove ; that is to say, the Sunda Islands 
 and the Moluccas. 
 
 Mysterious and dark as is the early history of these distant 
 lands, it is yet certain that they have for a long period played 
 an important part in the commerce of Asia. The merchant 
 
122 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 fleets of civilised nations, which sought their valuable produc- 
 tions, and the lively intercourse maintained by them with 
 Chinese; Arabs, and Indians, had aroused the gifted Malay 
 inhabitants of these islands and coasts. There, too, the re- 
 ligions of other countries had found a ready reception. As 
 Buddhism had conquered Brahminism, so it, in turn, had given 
 way before the Islamism spread by the Arabs, which shortly be- 
 fore the arrival of the Portuguese had become the general faith. 
 
 Of the native races, two showed themselves peculiarly re- 
 ceptive of external influences ; the Javanese and the Ourang- 
 loutjOr men of the sea, who, having their origin in Sumatra, have 
 established themselves on the various coasts, and distinguish 
 themselves by their remarkable skill as sailors and traders, 
 and also by their inveterate inclination for piracy. 
 
 In very early times there were regular social institutions ; 
 and the splendid ruins on the island are a proof of the advance 
 even then made by the Javanese. When the Portuguese 
 appeared on their coasts there existed several Mahometan 
 principalities which, with much mistrust, entered into trade 
 with the foreigners, and a century later were swallowed up in 
 one kingdom. The Ourang-lout had, in ii6o, built on a little 
 island at the south of the Malay peninsula the town of Singa- 
 pore, which had quickly become the centre of trade in that 
 neighbourhood. But, oppressed by the jealous King of Siam, 
 they had deserted this city, and, in 1253, had built, farther 
 west and in a singularly fine position, the town of Malacca, 
 which soon had risen to importance, and had diverted the 
 stream of comxmerce from its old course round Sumatra and 
 through the Straits of Sunda, into the Straits of Malacca and" 
 between Nicobar and Andaman. The princes and people of 
 the Ourang-lout had soon afterwards embraced Islamism, and 
 were continually engaged in war with the Buddhist Emperor 
 of Siam. From the Portuguese accounts we gain but a slight 
 impression of the uncommon prosperity of this commercial 
 
Alfonso de Albttquerque. 123 
 
 town ; but we learn from them that between 30,000 and 
 40,000 houses were scattered for a mile along the coast, so we 
 may calculate the population at about 150,000. Besides the 
 Ourang-lout, who were the governing race, numerous foreign 
 traders had settled there. These were divided into four 
 quarters — that of the Javanese, Moors, Bengalees, and 
 Chinese, each with its own chief. Among the merchant 
 families there was such wealth that they reckoned their 
 property by tons of gold. 
 
 To this great emporium of trade Almeida had sent, as early 
 as 1509, Diego Lopez de Segueira with five ships, and orders 
 to conclude a treaty with the Sultan of Malacca. The genuine 
 Portuguese recklessness, with which on the way Segueira 
 seized some ships and burnt them because they had not Por- 
 tuguese passes, did not prevent his being well received by the 
 Sultan. But this act caused so many delays, intrigues, and 
 secret plots against the Portuguese, that at last he lost 
 patience and returned without finishing his business. Indeed;, 
 he left several of his countrymen prisoners in the hand of the 
 Sultan, but threatened due revenge if they were badly treated. 
 To fulfil this threat Albuquerque appeared in the Malacca 
 roads on the ist of July, 15 11, with nineteen ships, carrying 
 800 Portuguese and 600 armed natives of Malabar. 
 
 All negotiations for peace having been put an end to by the 
 exorbitant demands of the Portuguese and the contemptuous 
 refusal of the Sultan, hostilities began. In a military point of 
 view, the most important feature of the town was a bridge 
 over the little river that divided the town into two halves — 
 the north and foreigners' quarter ; and the south, containing 
 the palaces of the Sultan and native nobility. 
 
 The first attack on this bridge failed, with heavy loss to the 
 assailants ; but a second attempt, on the loth of August, suc- 
 ceeded ; and from the strong position thus won, piece by 
 piece, the whole town was conquered in a few days, while the 
 
124 -^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 Sultan fled. Of all the inhabitants, only the Ourang-lout and 
 Moors were treated as enemies ; all the Javanese, Chinese, and 
 Hindus were spared. The booty was immense, and is said to 
 have exceeded a million ducats. 
 
 With his accustomed energy, Albuquerque began the build- 
 ing of a Christian church, and of a strong fortress, in which he 
 placed a garrison of 300 men. He made the same civil ar- 
 rangement as in Goa. He appointed a native governor of the 
 city, and native judges for the Mahometans and Buddhists, 
 from whose judgment, however, there was to be an appeal to 
 the Portuguese tribunal. The tolls for exported and imported 
 goods were fixed, and produced a considerable revenue. A 
 mint was also set up. 
 
 Edouard Fernandez and Ruy da Cunha were sent as am- 
 bassadors to the neighbouring Emperors of Siam and Pegu, 
 They succeeded in forming alliances with these courts, and 
 on their return gave the most astonishing accounts of their 
 Oriental magnificence. Antonio de Abreu was despatched 
 with three ships and 120 men, in order to visit the Banda and 
 Molucca Islands, the home of the most important spices. 
 
 Without waiting for the return of all these am.bassadors, 
 Albuquerque left Malacca in the spring of 15 12, leaving 
 Fernam Peres de Anrade behind as governor. But the return 
 voyage to India was very disastrous, owing to unfavourable 
 weather. 
 
 On the coast of Sufnatra, the flag- ship and several others 
 were wrecked on a sand-bank, and the crews only saved with 
 great difiiculty, while " the richest booty ever seen since the 
 discovery of India " was buried beneath the waves. Quick and 
 successful as had been the undertaking against Malacca, the 
 maintenance of that important place was very difficult, and 
 called for m.any sacrifices. Many enemies from the outside 
 came to the support of the inhabitants, who felt themselves 
 ill-used by misrule, often by injustice and utter want of con- 
 
Alfonso de Albuque^^qiLe. 125 
 
 sideration. Javanese pirates threatened the town, and the 
 exiled Sultan several times established himself in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and pressed upon the Portuguese fortress both by 
 land and water. The little garrison was often hard beset ; 
 but it held out until, with the monsoon, a fleet came to its 
 relief from India. 
 
 Driven out of his haunts, the old Sultan drew back to the 
 neighbouring island, Bintang, while on the peninsula itself his 
 son founded a new kingdom, which still stands. This struggle 
 for the existence of the Portuguese rule in Malacca lasted for 
 years. In 1526, the island, Bintang, was taken, and then the 
 possession of Malacca could be reckoned secure. 
 
 For a long time after his return from Malacca, the Viceroy 
 was occupied with the ordering of the Portuguese possessions 
 in Malabar; yet at the same he made preparations for another 
 great undertaking. This time he wished to pay the Arabs a 
 visit in the Red Sea itself, and, if possible, to prevent them 
 coming into the Indian Seas at all. 
 
 At last a fleet of twenty ships of war was ready, manned 
 by 1700 Portuguese and 800 allied natives of Malabar. On 
 the 1 8th of February, 15 13, they set sail, and on the 24th of 
 March they appeared before Aden, a very strong town, with an 
 excellent harbour, situated on the south coast of Arabia (45° 5'^ 
 east longitude). The possession of this harbour would have 
 made the Portuguese masters of the Red Sea, just as now, in 
 the hands of the English, it is the key to that sea. The im- 
 portance of the place decided Albuquerque to make an attack, 
 which, however, was repulsed, in spite of the great bravery 
 displayed by the Portuguese in a struggle which lasted four 
 hours. The strong position and good defences of the town 
 rendered it useless to attempt another assault ; so the fleet 
 sailed away through the Straits of Babelmandeb (the Gate of 
 Sorrow) into the Red Sea. 
 
 These straits are six miles broad, but there are seven islands 
 
126 A Ceiitztry of Discovery. 
 
 in them, which render their navigation in stormy weather dan- 
 gerous even for sailors who have a knowledge of the place. 
 But the Red Sea is even worse. The Arabs call it the Closed 
 Sea, and it is only in the middle that there is just a narrow 
 channel of deep water. In this channel there is not much 
 danger to be feared ; but it is subject to frequent calms, which 
 render a voyage along it very tedious. But along both the 
 African and Arabian coasts are many rocks and islands with 
 shallow straits between them. The coasts are, indeed, only 
 accessible by the help of experienced pilots, and even these 
 always observe the precaution of casting anchor every night. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the Portuguese fleet made but slow 
 progress, and at last was obliged to lie to for two months off 
 the island of Kamarang, near the Arabian coast. But with 
 the first favourable wind, Albuquerque left this unhealthy 
 spot, which had brought sickness and death among his men, 
 and hastened to quit the treacherous sea, in which he could 
 find no place suitable for a fortress. The undertaking had 
 failed, but the Arabs were frightened by Albuquerque's bold- 
 ness, he being the first of all Christian sailors to penetrate 
 into the Red Sea. 
 
 On the return voyage several Arab ships were captured, and 
 then the fleet sailed to Diu, v/hose cunning Governor, Melek 
 As, had not yet consented to the building of a Portuguese 
 fortress. Having returned again to Goa, the Viceroy devoted 
 the whole year, 15 14, to the affairs of government, which de- 
 manded a close attention. 
 
 Numerous and very often just complaints were brought to 
 him of the covetousness and tyranny of the officials, and these 
 complaints demanded from him a stern interference. His 
 impartiality and high sense of justice were now fully seen ; 
 but it was only to be expected that many of the men who 
 suffered at his hands should express themselves as dissatisfied, 
 and even assume a hostile attitude towards the Viceroy. 
 
Alfonso de Aldtiquerque. 127 
 
 He knew liis enemies quite well, but continued to act 
 ■towards them in a most generous manner, and contented 
 himself with sending those to Portugal for punishment whom 
 he could prove to be guilty of treason. But the men thus 
 sent hastened to spread all sorts of calumnies with regard to 
 Albuquerque, making capital, of course, of the disastrous 
 .expedition to the Red Sea, which had cost so much money 
 and so many human lives. They succeeded only too well in 
 destroying King Emanuel's confidence in him. He was 
 rendered more ready to listen to their reports by the fact that 
 his self-love had been wounded by Albuquerque's decided 
 refusal to carry out some of his orders; for instance, to evacuate 
 Goa. Thus the fall of Albuquerque was preparing in Portugal 
 while he, in the full consciousness of his faithfulness and 
 receiving tokens of royal favour, believed himself to be 
 secure. 
 
 Just at that time Albuquerque was occupied with active pre- 
 parations against Ormuz. To be sure, the tribute to which the 
 King had pledged himself had been, at least in part, paid, but 
 no exhortation with regard to the fort which he had promised 
 to build produced any effect. And the place seemed to Al- 
 buquerque so important that he swore he would not shave 
 or cut his beard until he had enforced performance of the 
 promise. 
 
 At last all the preparations were complete, and Albuquerque 
 was able, with a fleet consisting of fourteen large men-of-war, 
 seven caravels, and six galleys, and having on board 1500 
 Portuguese and 700 Indians, to proceed from Goa against the 
 town which had so long occupied his care and attention. 
 
 On the 26th of March the fleet arrived at Ormuz, where 
 immediately the greatest alarm ensued. The leading persons 
 in the town were no longer the same as the Portuguese had 
 found eight years before; and a new King was on the throne; 
 but, like his predecessors, completely in the power of his First 
 
128 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Minister. This man, a Persian of the name of Ahmed, in- 
 tended to play into the hands of the Persian Shah Ismael, 
 and had therefore provided a strong garrison of Persian 
 archers. Still he did not dare to bid defiance to the great 
 power of Albuquerque, and entered into negotiations which 
 ended in a complete ratification of the previous treaty. As 
 a sign of the Portuguese supremacy, the Portuguese standard 
 was unfurled on the royal castle, which was greeted by a 
 salute from the fleet. In a short time the fortress was erected 
 on the most favourable place and armed by the King of Or- 
 muz with all his guns, which, however, he was unwilling to 
 give up. 
 
 When Albuquerque saw that the discontent of the King 
 was nourished by his minister, he freed himself in an oriental 
 manner of the dangerous man, having him struck down by 
 some Portuguese noblemen while on a visit. The King, whom 
 this murder relieved from a most disagreeable subjection, 
 henceforth honoured and loved Albuquerque as his deliverer, 
 and the latter strove, by a dignified conciliatoriness, to render 
 the relation between them firm and lasting. 
 
 A disease which attacked Albuquerque in August grew 
 worse day by day, and at last made him think of returning 
 to Goa. He placed as governor in the fortress at Ormuz his 
 nephew, Pedro de Albuquerque, whomhe named ashis successor 
 hi case, of his death. Then he set sail on the 8th of Novem- 
 ber in tile hope of 3'et recovering his health on the salubrious 
 Indian coast. He was met by a Moorish ship, which brought 
 him rews from India that utterly crushed him. King Emanuel 
 had recalled him to Portugal, and his successor, Lopo Soarez, 
 a personal enemy of Albuquerque's, had already arrived in 
 Cochin, bringing with him, in offices of high trust, others 
 of his opponents^ some even of those very men whom he had 
 sent to Portugal for punishment. At the same time he learnt 
 that the commands with regard to the government which 
 
DEATH OF ALBUQUERQUE OFF GOA. 
 
Alfonso de Albuquerque. 192 
 
 King Emanuel had laid on the new official were diametrically 
 opposed to his own plans and principles. 
 
 Such ungrateful treatment he had not expected. He was 
 deeply pained and broke out into the words, " Now it is time 
 to turn to the Church, for I have ruined myself with the King 
 out of love to the people, and with the people out of l(>¥eto 
 the King." Henceforth he had done with earthly caresV and 
 rejected all nourishment. Only after much persuasion was 
 he induced to allow his secretary to write the following letter .. 
 to the King : 
 
 " Sir, — This is the final letter which now, at my last gasp, 
 I write to your Royal Highness. Many letters have I written 
 to you with a lighter heart on occasions when I had succeeded 
 in rendering you some service. I leave behind in this land a 
 son, Bras de Albuquerque, and I beg your Highness to allow 
 him to reap the reward of his father's services. As regards 
 Indian affairs, they will speak for themselves and for me," 
 
 The signing of this letter exhausted all his remaining strength. 
 When the ship reached Goa they did not venture to carry him 
 on shore. A priest was summoned to offer him the last con- 
 solations of religion, and on the morning of the i6th of Decem- 
 ber, 15 15, he breathed his last in sight of the town which he 
 had made the queen of India. His body was buried at first 
 in Goa. Hidalgos carried it on their shoulders into the 
 church which he had founded, and the whole population of 
 the town. Christians, heathens, and Moors, followed with loud 
 and sincere lamentation. 
 
 His wish to be buried with his ancestors in Portugal 
 was not fulfilled for a considerable time, the inhabitants of 
 Goa being unwilling to part with his remains, for which 
 they erected a costly shrine. Indeed, soon after Albu- 
 querque's death it became the custom among the heathen 
 and Moors, when they suffered any injustice from the Gover- 
 nor, to repair to his grave, bringing oil for the lamp and adorn- 
 
 9 
 
130 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 \ng the tomb with flowers, while they implored his departed 
 spirit to procure justice for them. It needed a bull from the 
 Pope, threatening the inhabitants of Goa with excommunica- 
 tion if they any longer opposed the removal of the body, 
 before the accomplishment of the great man's last wishes 
 could be effected. 
 
 The interment in the family vault in Lisbon, which took 
 place on the 6th of April, 1566, was accompanied with much 
 pomp and magnificence. 
 
 Alfonso de Albuquerque was of middle height and well-pro- 
 portioned ; his features were pleasant and attractive, but no 
 one could stand against the wrathful glance of his eye. A 
 long snow-white beard fell down to his girdle. In society he 
 was agreeable, lively, and full of wit. He had received an 
 excellent education for his time, and was well able to express 
 his thoughts in writing. Having a keen insight into character, 
 he knew how to treat every one according to his peculiarities, 
 and had even shown himself a match for the cunning Moors. 
 The greatness and precision of his plans, the care employed 
 in their preparation, and the speed and power of their execu- 
 tion are worthy of all admiration. But still higher honour is 
 due to his noble nature, his highmindedness and detestation 
 of everything base. It is just this which makes his image stand 
 out bright and shining from the background formed by the 
 low passions of his countrymen. 
 
 The general grief which his death caused, even in the hearts 
 of those who had been hostile to him in life, speaks in the 
 clearest manner possible for the noble character of this great 
 man. What he did in India, the result has shown. He was 
 the founder of the colonial power of the Portuguese in that 
 country. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE LAST DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
 
 Starting from their new possessions, the Portuguese soon 
 made themselves acquainted with all the neighbouring 
 countries, beginning with those which were most important to 
 their rising trade. The Bay of Bengal had been visited by- 
 Portuguese ships under Almeida, and a few years later com- 
 mercial treaties were concluded with the Indian Princes who 
 ruled its coasts. There was, however, a peculiar charm in 
 penetrating farther into the mysterious East, and thus a special 
 interest was excited by the settlements of the Portuguese in 
 the Moluccas and their intercourse with the early civilised 
 .states of China and Japan. 
 
 The Moluccas are five little islands lying very close together 
 under the equator in 128° east longitude, near the curiously- 
 shaped island Gilolo. Their names are, beginning from the 
 north, Ternate, Tidor, Motir, Makjan, and the larger Batchang. 
 
 They are of only a few miles' circumference, and in each 
 island the centre is occupied by a volcano, so that only the 
 narrow coast is fit for habitation and cultivation. But they 
 are the home of the nutmeg tree, which is found nowhere else, 
 except in the little Banda Islands (4° ^t,' south latitude, 
 130° 3' east longitude), and of which the blossom, as mace, and 
 the fruit, the nutmeg, are such valuable articles of trade. 
 
 The trade in these spices, carried on by the Javanese, the 
 Chinese, and even the Arabs, had created considerable pros- 
 perity among the simple inhabitants of these islands, and pro- 
 
 9—2 
 
132 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 duced an ample revenue for their Princes. When the appear- 
 ance of the Portuguese in the Sunda Islands, and their forcible 
 settlement in Malacca, caused an entire revolution in the East 
 Asiatic trade, the Princes of the Moluccas perceived that it 
 would be for their interest to make a friendly alliance with 
 the new rulers of the sea, who on their side were aiming at 
 extending their influence to the very centre of the spice trade.. 
 With such desires on either side it was easy to come to an 
 understanding. 
 
 Antonio de Abreu, whom Albuquerque had sent, in 15 ii, 
 to search for the Moluccas, only reached the Banda Islands. 
 There lading his three ships with nutmegs he began his re- 
 turn. But one of these ships, commanded by Francisco 
 Serrao, foundered in a storm. Upon this the bold Portuguese 
 attacked and captured after a hard struggle a pirate vessel,, 
 on board of which they returned to the Island of Amboyna^ 
 which lies midway between the Banda Islands and the 
 Moluccas. They were fetched off from this island by the 
 Prince of Ternate, and Serrao, the first European who had set 
 foot on the Moluccas, was overwhelmed by him with tokens of' 
 friendship. 
 
 About the same time ambassadors were sent by the Princes- 
 of Ternate and Tidor to Malacca, requesting the foundation 
 of a Portuguese factory in their islands. The jealousy of the 
 two Princes, each vying with the other for the friendship of the 
 Portuguese, and each hoping to have the factory built on his 
 islandj made the game a very easy one for the Portuguese. 
 Nevertheless, a delay of many years took place, and nothing 
 was done, until a report arose that the King of Spain was 
 preparing to form a settlement in the important group from the 
 other side. 
 
 Then they hastened to make up for the delay. ■ The build- 
 ing of a fort on Ternate was begun on June 24th, 1522, but 
 shortly before some Spaniards from Magalhaens's fleet had 
 touched on the islands, and a vehement dispute, which was- 
 
The Last Discoveries of the PortiigiLese. 133 
 
 only composed after much trouble, arose between the two 
 crowns for their possession. 
 
 A commission of Spanish and Portuguese astronomers met 
 on a bridge between Badajoz and Elvas, in 1524, to settle the 
 question whether, according to the papal bull of 1494, the 
 Moluccas belonged to Spain or Portugal. As at that period 
 they were not thoroughly conversant with the method of 
 fixing the longitude of a place, and there were even different 
 opinions about the number of miles in a geographical degree, 
 it v/as found impossible to come to an agreement. And it 
 was not until 1529 that the matter was settled by a treaty 
 between the tv/o kingdoms. The islands became the property 
 of Portugal, but had to pass through ten wretched years of 
 oppression and violence, until the noble Antonio Galvao, made 
 governor in 1536, by his wise and just rule persuaded the 
 natives to submit to the Portuguese supremacy, and converted 
 many of them to Christianity. 
 
 In the meantime most of the islands of the Sunda group 
 had been visited by the Portuguese. On some factories had 
 been established and forts built, as, for example, on Java and 
 Amboyna. Other places they had been obliged to abandon 
 through the violent opposition offered by the natives. Thus 
 the Portuguese had not succeeded in establishing themselves 
 in Acheen, the north-west part of Sumatra ; indeed, in 1522, 
 they were obliged to evacuate a fort they had founded in 
 Padang. 
 
 Farther to the east the Portuguese had not extended their 
 discoveries, but ships which had been driven by bad weather 
 into the region beyond the Moluccas brought back reports of 
 great countries. Thus, in 1526, Jorge de Menezes became, 
 against his will, the discoverer of New Guinea, which he named 
 Papua ; and, in 1601, Emanuel Godinho de Eredia found in 
 the south-east a long piece of coast, which proved to be a part 
 of the west coast of Australia. 
 
134 -^ Cenitiry of Discovery. 
 
 The Portuguese had opened communication with China; 
 very early. By their settlement at Malacca they had been 
 brought so near this old empire , that intercourse between 
 them could not be avoided. There were also in Malacca 
 multitudes of Chinese settlers, and great numbers of Chinese 
 trading vessels or junks were constantly engaged between the 
 harbours of the Sunda Islands and China. 
 
 It therefore appeared advisable to form an official connection, 
 and Fernam Peres de Andrade Avas sent by the Viceroy, 
 Lopez Soares, with eight ships, to open negotiations with 
 China. On the 15 th of August, 15 17, he reached the island 
 of Tamang, which lies at the entrance of the Bocca Tigris, the 
 mouth of the river Se Kiang. Here all foreign ships which 
 wished to sail up the river to the harbour of Canton were 
 obliged to cast anchor and get permission to do so from the 
 harbour officials. 
 
 The Portuguese at once began to experience that evasive 
 smoothness and suspicious courtesy with which the Chinese,, 
 even to this day, seek to keep at a distance everything and 
 everybody that is foreign to them. The requests of the 
 strangers were passed from one official to another, and were 
 only granted after numberless ceremonies had been gone 
 through. 
 
 At the end of September the Portuguese fleets accompanied 
 by a pilot, who conducted it through the dangerous passage,, 
 arrived in the harbour of Canton. But here they found them- 
 selves surrounded by the most injurious mistrust, and hindered 
 from anything like free action. It was only owing to the- 
 great conciliatoriness of Andrade that a good understanding; 
 was maintained, and it was by means of all kinds of conces- 
 sions to Chinese arrogance that permission was obtained to 
 despatch a Portuguese ambassador to the court of the great 
 Emperor, who just at that time was engaged in a war with the 
 Tartars in the north of his enormous empire. 
 
The Last Discoveries of the Porttigiiese. 135 
 
 Thomas Fires, a man of low birth, for he was an apothe- 
 cary, but remarkable for his knowledge and his dexterity, was 
 chosen for this office. He was put on shore with several 
 companions, and was treated by the Chinese magistrate with 
 all the consideration due to his office. The Portuguese wares, 
 principally Indian spices, were eagerly bought, while the Por- 
 tuguese in their turn made purchases in silk and rice. In this 
 way they became acquainted with what seemed to them the 
 very strange manners and customs of the great commercial 
 city, while, thanks to Andrade's judicious management, they 
 contrived to keep on good terms with the inhabitants. 
 
 The sickness which broke out among his men made him 
 set sail sooner than he had intended to do. Before his depar- 
 ture he had notice of it proclaimed in all the markets, in order 
 that any one who had any claim upon the Portuguese might 
 come and be satisfied. This method of proceeding had a 
 very good effect, and when Andrade, in September, 15 17, left 
 the Chinese Seas, there existed very friendly relations between 
 the two nations, to both of whom Andrade's expedition had 
 been of great profit. 
 
 But soon the Portuguese had occasion to notice that the 
 unfavourable reports spread by the different nations whom 
 they had ill-treated had reached China, and injured their 
 position. Pires had to wait for a year in Canton before he 
 procured permission from Pekin to proceed to the Emperor's 
 court. When at last he was admitted, in 1521, the Emperor 
 treated the Portuguese proposals with considerable suspicion, 
 and said openly that he had been informed that the Portu- 
 guese, under the pretence of trading, reconnoitred lands in order 
 to conquer them. 
 
 Then a change took place on the throne, and the new Em- 
 peror sent Pires back to Canton, where he was kept in prison, 
 all friendly intercourse with the Portuguese being broken off. 
 The breach was made irremediable by the arrogant and haughty 
 
136 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 behaviour of the commander of the Portuguese squadron, 
 Simon de Andrade, the brother of his predecessor. A battle en- 
 sued before the harbour of Canton, during which, fortunately 
 for the Portuguese, a storm arose which scattered the enemy's 
 ships and favoured the retreat of the Portuguese. In 1524 
 Pires died in chains, his companions were dragged away as 
 prisoners into the interior, and all peaceful intercourse between 
 the Chinese and Portuguese appeared for ever at an end. 
 
 But after some years matters improved. As a reward for 
 the important services rendered by the Portuguese in the sup- 
 pression of piracy in the Chinese and Indian Seas, the Emperor 
 Kang-hi granted them leave, in 1556, to establish a factory in 
 the harbour of Canton. 
 
 The peninsula Macao was chosen for the purpose ; a brick 
 wall was built across the narrow sandy peninsula which unites 
 it to the mainland ; and with well-founded mistrust the Portu- 
 guese were forbidden to build a fort or to cross this wall on 
 any pretext whatever. But they knew how to manage : they 
 built a cloister with portholes, and a bishop's palace, which 
 they provided with cannon; and they placed in the new town 
 a strong garrison under the name of trading officials. Under 
 such protection Macao soon began to flourish. On the sandy 
 coast magazines sprang up, and on the naked rock beautiful 
 houses ; while the fleets of Malacca, Goa, and Lisbon anchored 
 in its harbour. This jDrosperity lasted till the eighteenth 
 century. Then the place rapidly sank, partly in consequence 
 of the new commercial treaties which China formed with the 
 Dutch and P2nglish, and partly on account of the deterioration 
 of its inhabitants, in which the worst elements of the Chinese 
 character had become evident. The corrupt descendants of 
 the Portuguese settlers were indeed barely tolerated ; the 
 Chinese had become the real masters, and the Mandarins of 
 Canton had more influence in the Portuguese colony of Macao 
 than the King of Portugal and his officers. 
 
The Last Discoveries of the Portugitese. 137 
 
 Before the resumption of friendly relations with China, the 
 Portuguese had visited the group of islands which lie near 
 Japan, and in 1542 had reached that remarkable archipelago. 
 In all the harbours of that empire they met with a friendly 
 reception, and were able to carry on a profitable trade. At 
 the same time a most rich and fruitful field was opened here 
 for Christian missions. After the arrival of the celebrated 
 Jesuit, Francis Xavier, the number of conversions increased 
 year by year, until, in 1589, a terrible persecution of the 
 Christians began, which lasted for fifty years, and at length 
 completely rooted out Christianity. 
 
 At the same time that this persecution occurred, all the 
 Japanese harbours were closed against the Portuguese, and 
 indeed against all Christian nations, with the exception of the 
 Dutch, who, under a surveillance that was scarcely bearable, 
 and on the most humiliating terms, were allowed to maintain 
 a factory on the little artificial Island of Desima. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PORTUGUESE RULE IN INDIA AND ITS DECLINE. 
 
 As early as the year 1508 the great extent of the Portuguese- 
 possessions in India had compelled King Emanuel to divide- 
 their rule. He appointed two governors — the one, with his 
 seat of office on the Island of Socotra, was to rule over the 
 coasts of East Africa and of Asia as far as the peninsula of 
 Gujerat; and to the other, who was to reside at Cochin, was. 
 given the control of Malabar. 
 
 But like so many appointments which are settled in royal 
 cabinets without a correct knowledge of the true state of 
 matters, this arrangement was soon seen to be perfectly im- 
 practicable. The Island of Socotra was perfectly unsuitable for 
 a settlement, and the management of all affairs in the Arabian 
 and Persian Seas needed henceforth to be under the control 
 of the Indian Viceroy. So it was finally arranged that all the 
 East African settlements should be placed under a govern- 
 ment of their own, while all the other possessions on the coasts- 
 of Arabia, Persia, India, and the Sunda Islands should be.- 
 handed over to the Viceroy, who should reside at Goa. 
 
 But in later years even this arrangement proved insufficient 
 The Viceroy's territory was too large to be governed from one 
 spot. Under King Sebastian, therefore, in 1 571, all the pos- 
 sessions east of Cape Comorin were placed under a new 
 governor, who had his headquarters in Malacca. 
 
 Goa, however, was still considered the capital of Portuguese 
 India, and it displayed all the magnificence suited to such a 
 
The Porht^uese Rule in India and its Decline. 
 
 "<i> 
 
 I 
 
 position. Its population was 200,000, principally Indians^ 
 though a good number of Portuguese settlers and a mongrel 
 race, the offspring of the mixed marriages between Europeans 
 and Indians, were to be seen in the magnificent streets, re- 
 markable for their handsome stone buildings. The public 
 squares were adorned with fountains, triumphal arches, and 
 statues, whilst among the eighty churches might be seen, 
 towering above them all, the gigantic dome of the cathedraL- 
 In 1559, the Bishop of Goa had been raised to the dignity of 
 Archbishop and Patriarch of all India, and the Bishops of 
 Cochin and Malacca were placed under him. The Viceroy's 
 palace, which lay near the harbour, was a very imposing 
 building. 
 
 Among the Viceroys who resided here, Nomo da Cunha, 
 1528 — 38; Juan de Castro, 1545 — 48; and Louis de Ataide, 
 1568 — 71, distinguished themselves by their abilities and 
 governing powers, as well as by great deeds of arms. As with 
 the decline of the Portuguese power the number of inhabitants 
 began to diminish, so also the climate of Goa, which had 
 hitherto been very favourable, began to change, and became 
 so fatal that in the beginning of the eighteenth century New 
 Goa was built, some miles from the old city, and thither both 
 the Government and population rem.oved. Since that time 
 Old Goa has become a heap of ruins, and only a few hundred 
 people live in it. 
 
 The dominions of Portugal in Asia were very scattered. 
 On the coast of Malabar it possessed fortresses in Cochin and 
 Cananore, etc. To each of these fortresses was attached a 
 small piece of territory, which was the property of the Portu- 
 guese crown, while the principal revenue was drawn from the 
 tolls and from all sorts of privileges which they possessed.. 
 But it was different with Goa, Here not only the island, but 
 a large piece of territory on the neighbouring coast was the 
 immediate property of the Portuguese ; and it was carefully 
 
1 40 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 cultivated by a hardy population. Farther north the Portu- 
 guese possessed the island of Salsette, the harbours of Choul, 
 Bassim, and Daman, and the important Diu. In this latter 
 place they had first established a firm footing as somewhat 
 obtrusive allies of the Sultan of Cambay, who had been at- 
 tacked by the Mongols. They had then established a fort ; 
 but the next year, on the murder of Badur, who, returning 
 from a visit to the Viceroy, became, in some mysterious man- 
 ner, involved in a quarrel with the Portuguese, the whole 
 island of Diu, with its excellent harbour, fell into their hands. 
 A few years later it was defended with heroic braver}' against 
 a powerful Turkish fleet. From that time forward it was, 
 after Goa, the most important harbour which Portugal pos- 
 sessed in India. 
 
 One rich source of revenue M'as the money paid in tolls at 
 Ormuz, whose King sank more and more into a dependent 
 condition. But the advances of the Turks, \\\\o had taken 
 possession of Aden and the land at the mouth of the Tigris 
 and Euphrates, gradually lessened the importance of the 
 place. 
 
 On Ceylon the Portuguese had fortresses in Galle and 
 Colombo. In the treaties which, taking advantage of their 
 mutual discord, they concluded with the different native 
 princes, they exacted a yearly tribute in the productions of 
 the island. 
 
 In the extreme east^ IMalacca, whose harbour tolls steadily 
 increased in value, was the centre for the numerous posses- 
 sions of the Portuguese on the Sunda Islands and of their 
 trade with China and Japan. 
 
 The history of these possessions is that of one continual 
 struggle against the hostile powers which laboured for their 
 destruction. It v/as necessary to be ever on the watch against 
 the attacks of the Turks, as well as against the designs of the 
 native princes, who were continually seeking to shake off the 
 
The Portuguese Ride in India ana its Decline. 141 
 
 yoke of the Portuguese. The Zamorin of CaHcut especially 
 was continually making attempts to recover the position of 
 influence and importance which he had held before the arrival 
 of the Portuguese. It was not until 1540 that he was brought 
 to conclude a peace which lasted for thirty years — the happiest 
 years of Portuguese rule in India. At the conclusion of that 
 period the great alliance of Indian princes was formed which, 
 in 1 57 1, began the war against Portugal. At one and the 
 same time Choul was besieged by the Nizam Orhan, the suc- 
 cessor of the Nizam Maluk; Goa by Hidalkan, and Shalle by 
 the Zamorin, while smaller princes threatened the harbours 
 of Cananore, Culet, and Cochin ; and the Sultan of Acheen 
 reduced Malacca to the greatest distress. 
 
 But the great Viceroy, Louis de Ataide, b}^ straining to the 
 utmost all the powers of the Portuguese, who displayed the 
 most heroic courage, succeeded in driving back the monstrous 
 armies of the enemy, and only Shalle, which the guns of the 
 Zamorin turned into a mere heap of ruins, was lost. 
 
 Peace was soon restored ; but the Portuguese were not able 
 to overcome the dislike which their behaviour from the very 
 beginning had called forth in the Indian princes. This was 
 seen when other Europeans — the Dutch and English — ap- 
 peared in India, and were received with much goodwill, be- 
 cause they were looked upon as valuable allies against the 
 Portuguese. The unwise and often unjust measures of govern- 
 ment contributed not a little to foster this feeling of hostility, 
 and it was further increased by the covetousness and arrogance 
 displayed in its administration. Since the great thing was to 
 bring as much money as possible into the royal treasury, 
 oppression and robbery were resorted to to procure it. Thus 
 the tribute demanded from the Prince of Ormuz was in a few 
 years raised from the 15,000 ducats, which he had agreed 
 to, to 20,000, 25,000, 60,000, and 100,000. 
 
 These sums were more than the King could pay, and there- 
 
J 42 A Centuiy of Discovery. 
 
 fore, in the year 1543, lie was a debtor to the Portuguese trea- 
 sury for no less than 518,537 ducats. In order to collect this 
 the royal household was remodelled in the most economical 
 manner. At last a claim was laid by the Portuguese upon 
 the duties which the King raised on palm wine ; and it was 
 with much difficulty that they were induced to withdraw it, 
 although the poor King declared that he did not know what 
 he should have left to live upon. 
 
 The King of Colombo, a faithful ally of the Portuguese, was 
 treated in much the same way. The Viceroy, Alfonso de 
 Noronha, in 1550, caused the palace of the late King to be 
 searched, just as if all in it belonged to him by right, and 
 finally had it plundered ; while at the same time he defrauded 
 the new King in the most shameless manner, and, by the 
 threat of taking him prisoner, wrested from him all he pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 Thus the Portuguese rule was little calculated to gain the 
 favour of the Indians. A few of the Viceroys acted in an 
 honourable manner, and did their best to protect the natives 
 from oppression, and procure justice for them ; but these were 
 only exceptions, and, as a rule, the Indian peasant or citizen 
 was utterly defenceless against the tyranny of his Portuguese 
 neighbours, who considered it the lawful right of the conqueror 
 to satisfy all his desires at the expense of the subject race. 
 
 Religion also gave an edge to the ill-feeling between the 
 two "nations. Except a small number of Thomas Christians, 
 the Indians were all either believers in Mahometanism or 
 Brahminism. From the beginning the former stood in an 
 .attitude of hostility to the Christian conquerors, and repaid -in 
 full measure the fanatic intolerance which the Portuguese felt 
 towards them. The latter suffered from their misguided 
 missionary zeal, a zeal which did not shrink from violence, 
 and which evidently tended to the political subjugation of the 
 people. 
 
l^he Portuguese Rule in India and its Decline. 143 
 
 Especially calculated to embitter the Indians against them 
 was the desecration and destruction of the ancient temples. 
 The Archbishop of Goa, for instance, carried on the forced 
 conversion of the people of Salsette in such a manner that in 
 1564 he had all the temples of the island, 200 in number, 
 and most of them ancient places of worship, broken into by 
 his troops and turned into the ruins which still excite the admi- 
 ration of numberless visitors. 
 
 Very often it was not religious zeal at all, but mere greed, 
 which led to these attacks upon the temples ; for in long ages 
 immense treasures had been Reaped up in these sacred places 
 by the presents of pious pilgrims. Thus in 1544 the Viceroy 
 Alfonso de Sousa received a command from John III. of 
 Portugal, to take possession of the pagoda of Tremel, and 
 place its treasures in the royal chests. Nobody even hesi- 
 tated because the pagoda was in the land of the Sultan of 
 Narsinga, a Prince who was an ally of the Portuguese ; and 
 -when a storm dispersed the fleet, on board of which was the 
 Viceroy himself, he was still unwilling to return without having 
 .-at any rate in some measure fulfilled the royal commands, 
 ■ So he and his men fell upon the pagoda of Tebilicare and 
 - plundered it instead. On their return the robbers were 
 ; ^attacked by troops of irritated natives in a narrow pass. It 
 was not until they had suffered the loss of thirty men killed 
 and 150 wounded, among whom was the Viceroy, that they 
 succeeded in reaching the ships with their booty. 
 
 The Viceroys during their term of ofhce occupied a princely 
 position. In warlike affairs, in matters of administration and 
 . of justice, they were absolute masters. In the most important 
 towns royal palaces were built for them, and their emoluments 
 were great. Their most important privilege was, that during 
 their term of office no court could receive a complaint against 
 ,, them. 
 
 Yet the position of the Viceroys was not so influential and 
 
144 ^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 independent as appears at first sight. They were often obliged 
 to carry out measures of which they did not approve, but which 
 had been settled in the royal cabinet in Lisbon. Their Portu- 
 guese officers and subordinates were constantly guilty of dis- 
 obedience. Even an Albuquerque considered it advisable, 
 before any great undertaking, to take counsel with his higher 
 officers and hidalgos, and to have minutes taken of the meet- 
 ing, so that he might be provided against accusations in the 
 case of disaster. 
 
 In later times the rancorous disputes between two rival 
 candidates for the Viceroyalty contributed not a little to 
 undermine the authority of the Viceroy. As instances, we 
 may cite the cases of Vaz de Sampayo and Pedro Mas- 
 carenhas in 1526, or that of Moritz Bareto, who supplanted 
 Antonio de Maronha in 1573. 
 
 The Portuguese nobility required from the Viceroy special 
 respect, and if they thought themselves injured^ immediately 
 brought their grievances and calummies to the King, whose 
 ear was usually open to them. The officials shamelessly de- 
 frauded the treasury. They sold too, at a high price, wares 
 which they had extorted from the Indians ; and when out of 
 sight of their superiors, took a most shameful advantage of 
 their offxcial position. Thus it happened at last, incredible as 
 it may appear, that in the year 1570 the rich Portuguese pos- 
 sessions in India did not produce a sufficient revenue to pay 
 the expenses of the government. 
 
 If, in the interests of the royal treasury or of the Indians, 
 an attempt was made to restrain the robberies and oppres- 
 sions of the Portuguese officials, not seldom they broke out 
 in open rebellion, and the state itself often suffered serious 
 damage. A royal decree had declared the trade in cloves 
 with the Moluccas to be a privilege of the crown, but the 
 Portuguese on the islands, with the governors, Vincenzio da 
 Fonseca and Tristam de Tayde, at their head, formed a con- 
 
The Porhtguese Rtile in htdia and its Decline. 145 
 
 spiracy to oppose both secret and open resistance to this 
 measure, in order to retain the profitable trade in their own 
 hands, and Antonio Galvao was the first who succeeded in 
 enforcing obedience to the King's command. The Viceroy 
 himself was frequently constrained to make sacrifices from 
 his own income. Money came in irregularly. Nothing could 
 be obtained from Portugal, unexpected dangers produced un- 
 foreseen expenses ; the Viceroy must pay out of his own purse, 
 or if he wished to persuade the Portuguese who lived in India 
 to make a sacrifice, he must set them an example. It was 
 common to procure loans from the town of Goa, but often 
 this could only be accomplished by the Viceroy himself be- 
 coming security. And when the term of this laborious and 
 ungrateful office had expired, even the well-deserving Governor 
 would see himself put on one side as useless, while his suc- 
 cessor, to whose rising sun even those whom he had over- 
 whelmed with favours paid homage, overthrew all he had 
 done, and most usually adopted a policy entirely opposed to 
 his own. He might think himself happy if at the close of 
 his office there did not arrive a royal order to arrest him and 
 bring him to trial on charges laid against him by his 
 enemies and calumniators in Lisbon. 
 
 Besides, it was the custom to throw into prison at Lisbor 
 returning Viceroys, and only to release them on the payment 
 of a large sum, they being looked upon as sponges who had 
 filled themselves in India, and must be squeezed in Portugal. 
 The heart of many a deserving man was broken by such un- 
 grateful and ungracious treatment from the Princes in whose 
 service they had borne so many troubles and deprivations. 
 
 The gallantry of the Portuguese, which they manifested 
 from the first in the Indian waters, and the heroic fearlessness 
 which caused them to begin and carry through successfully a 
 struggle against such odds, must not make us blind to the 
 hateful characteristics which made themselves more evident 
 
 10 
 
1 46 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 year by year. The riches of India developed in them an un- 
 bridled luxury, and allured them to the most dissolute course 
 of life. Their own historians accuse them of hatred of work, 
 godlessness, cruelty, and faithlessness, and this reproach is 
 supported by a long series of terrible examples. 
 
 Georg Pock, the Nuremberg merchant, writing on January 
 1st, 1522;, from Cochin to his countryman, Michael Behaim, 
 draws an ugly picture of the Portuguese character. He 
 writes of them plainly : " The Portuguese, who are born Por- 
 tuguese, poison the air with their pride. Should one of them 
 possess ten ducats, he must have a velvet coat, a silver dagger, 
 polished boots, and a violin with which to steal about the 
 streets at nights and serenade the ladies. The Moors see that 
 one Portuguese never wishes well to another, but that they 
 deceive one another and oppress the poor, so that the com- 
 mon people fall into distress, and are forced to go to the Moors 
 and make themselves Moors (that is, deny their faith. Moors 
 here signifies Mohammedans). The officials never keep faith : 
 they will give a Moor a letter when he is going to sea. The 
 letter runs thus : ' Whoever reads this letter signed by me, let 
 him give credit to the Moor and allow him to go where he will.' 
 For such a letter he receives 200 ducats. Then, when the Moor 
 goes to sea, the official sends after him, causes all the cargo to 
 be seized and the ship sunk. In this manner they become rich. 
 When the Moors see that the Portuguese never keep faith, 
 they say that our religion cannot be a good one. You will find 
 people who have lived here fifteen years, have never gone to 
 confession, have 15,000 ducats in the land; but they never 
 reflect on their ways, being fully occupied with the thought 
 that possibly the Moors may murder them all." 
 
 This description, given by a""man deserving credit, refers to 
 the early times of Portuguese rule ; but the moral declension 
 was rapid, and at the end of the century the Portuguese and 
 their descendants in India 'appear an utterly corrupt race, 
 
The Porhiguese Rtile in India and its Decline, 147 
 
 displaying, however, in danger and distress that imperishable 
 inheritance of the nation, heroic courage and contempt of 
 death. But all these evils — the hostility of the Indian 
 princes and of the Indian people, bad government and ter- 
 rible social depravity — would not have brought about the 
 ruin of the Portuguese rule in India ; the cause of its fall came 
 from Portugal itself The real reason of it was the change 
 and degeneration of the national character. 
 
 Incalculable wealth had been poured into the country. The 
 chronicler Goes tells us that he had often seen merchants 
 appear in the Indian market in Lisbon with sacks full of gold 
 and silver to pay for the goods they had received, and that 
 the officials were obliged to put them off to another day, be- 
 cause the time did not suffice to count the money, the sums 
 being so great that were received every day. 
 
 These riches were employed in the pleasures of life and in 
 .the gratification of ever-increasing desires. The allurements 
 of easy gain enticed many from labour and created a nation 
 of idlers and revellers, who were unwilling to make any sacri- 
 fice for the greatness of their country. The impetus, there- 
 fore, which had been given to the nation by the perseverance 
 of Henry the Navigator, and by the great successes of 
 Emanuel, under such circumstances soon began to abate. 
 The strong young men who yearly set sail in thousands for 
 the tropics returned either to their native land cripples or 
 physically and mentally enfeebled, or they perished miserably 
 in Asia. This yearly loss of men, which was increased in 
 1578 by the disastrous battle at Alcassar in North Africa and 
 the fall of King Sebastian with the flower of the Portuguese 
 youth, necessarily exhausted so small a land. 
 
 Emanuel's son and successor, John III., introduced the In- 
 quisition into Portugal in 1536, and allowed the Jesuits to 
 establish themselves in the country immediately after the 
 order was founded. Very soon they had gained a firm foot- 
 
 10 — 2 
 
148 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 ing in all classes of society, and exercised a most injurious 
 influence on the measures of the King and of his successors, 
 who were all quite dependent on them. 
 
 As was the case everywhere, they introduced into Portugal 
 a bitter struggle against all freedom of thought and any ideal 
 conception of life, and sought to substitute instead an external 
 devoutness, thus destroying the whole counterpoise to moral 
 aberration. 
 
 Thus, the political catastrophe which overwhelmed Portugal 
 came upon a people that even the bitter smart of national ruin 
 could not shake out of its mental dulness and stupidity. In 
 the year 1580 the Plouse of Burgundy became extinct, and, 
 after a slight resistance, which was soon overcome, Philip II.. 
 of Spain ascended the throne. Thus the union of Portugal 
 with its more powerful neighbour — a union which it had so 
 often successfully resisted — was at length effectually accom- 
 plished. In India also Philip II. was proclaimed King, and 
 he hoped the riches of the East would prove a mighty 
 assistance in the struggle which he was carrying on against 
 Protestantism and freedom of thought, and in the attempt 
 that he was making to maintain absolute authority both in 
 civil and ecclesiastical affairs, even at the expense of the vast 
 progress made during the last century. 
 
 Plow little he succeeded in attaining his object is well 
 known, but Portugal had the most to suffer from his audacious 
 undertaking. For the Dutch, to whom the Portuguese har- 
 bours were closed after the union of Portugal with Spain, 
 boldly sought the wares that they needed in India itself, and 
 indeed soon made their land a general emporium of Indian 
 produce. At first they avoided the Portuguese possessions, 
 and restricted themselves to the remote and unimportant parts 
 of the Indian Sea, but with time their courage grew. In 1603 
 they bombarded Goa, and even before that time had expelled 
 the Portuguese from the Moluccas, and had established them- 
 
The Porttcgziese Rule in India and its Decline. 149 
 
 selves side by side with them in Ceylon, while in 1641 they 
 took Malacca. 
 
 Everywhere the Indians received them with open arms, and 
 supported them in their struggles with the Portuguese. And 
 when the latter at last succeeded in freeing themselves from the 
 hated Spanish yoke, and in raising a native prince — the Duke 
 of Braganza — to the throne, the Dutch did not agree to re- 
 linquish their Indian possessions, but, on the contrary, took 
 care to secure them in the Peace of Westphalia. 
 
 Since that time the rule of Portugal in India has been 
 limited to the towns of Diu, Daman, and Goa, to the eastern 
 half of the Island of Timor, and to the town of Macao in 
 China. 
 
PART II.— THE SPANIARDS. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 The kingdom of Spain was formed by the union of the two- 
 kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. This union was eventually 
 brought about by the marriage at Valladolid, on the 19th of 
 October, 1469, of Queen Isabella of Castile with the Crown 
 Prince Ferdinand of Aragon. j^But the mutual jealousy of 
 the kingdoms opposed a resolute resistance and for a long 
 time prevented any blending of them into one ; and the first 
 prince who really united the two crowns on his head was the 
 grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella^ — Charles V. — who, in 
 1 5 16, was proclaimed King of Castile and Aragon. He was 
 at once the first and the mightiest Prince of the Spanish 
 nation, which, under him, ruled the fate of Europe. This 
 European Power at the same time gained an immense acces- 
 sion of strength by the discovery and conquest of America, 
 which not only poured an inexhaustible stream of wealth into 
 the state cofi"ers, but also gave Spain a high and well-deserved 
 importance as a naval power. 
 
 All the conditions necessary to this rapid rise were to be 
 found in the two states of which Spain was formed. To be 
 sure, Aragon, and particularly Castile, were in the main inland 
 states, and the only power of the people lay in the bold un- 
 governable knights and the manly burghers of the great towns. 
 But the inhabitants of Catalonia, which had been united with 
 
Introductory. 151 
 
 Aragon since the thirteenth century, had from early times 
 devoted themselves to trade, and were a seafaring nation. 
 Here was the town of Barcelona, which, specially favoured by 
 Aragon, and possessing a constitution which was almost re- 
 publican, profited by its favourable situation and by the 
 neighbourhood of the mighty forests, which produced wood 
 well adapted for ship-building. 
 
 In the kingdom of Castile too there was a promising be- 
 ginning of a maritime power, which, however, could not 
 develop itself in such a favourable manner as the Catalonian. 
 Its north-western provinces, Galicia and Biscay, had in early 
 time an important fishery in the Atlantic Ocean, and the fleet 
 which, in 1247, they sent against Seville was powerful enough 
 to defy the Moorish fleet, and to keep the town completely 
 shut in on the side of the sea. But with the taking of Seville 
 the Castilians first gained a harbour corresponding to their im- 
 portance, and their commerce began to be of consequence. The 
 Kings of Castile bestowed great care on their new possession, 
 began the formation of great arsenals, and gave a hearty wel- 
 come to any traders possessing nautical experience who chose 
 to settle there. Many Genoese took advantage of this oppor- 
 tunity, and erected great warehouses. It very soon became a 
 lively commercial city, and possessed a large fleet, which was 
 also useful to the Castilian King in his political undertakings. 
 Thus it was employed with much success at the siege of Car- 
 thagena and Algeciras, 1263 — ']'^ ; and the foundation of a 
 military order for service on the sea must have been a mere 
 whim and piece of kingly ostentation, as was also the appoint- 
 ment of an Admiral of Castile. The ceaseless struggles with 
 the Moorish states exercised the warlike powers of the young 
 fleet, but they hindered it from taking a peaceful share in the 
 great trading movement in the Mediterranean Sea, from which 
 the Castilians were as good as excluded. 
 
 Thus in Barcelona and Seville the conditions existed which. 
 
152 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 under certain favourable circumstances, promised the develop- 
 ment of considerable maritime power. And the favourable 
 circumstances soon occurred ; the marriage of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella bound the powers of the two kingdoms together, and 
 thereby attained the object of struggles which had gone on 
 for 500 years — ^the destruction of the Moorish Kingdom in 
 the Spanish Peninsula, and the erection of a kingdom which 
 had an important influence on the affairs of Europe. And 
 happy fate led the man to Spain who poured incalculable 
 riches into her lap, and opened a sphere in which all the 
 powers of the nation could develop themselves and find oc- 
 cupation. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 Ten places on the north coast of the Ligurian Bay have laid 
 claim to the honour of having produced the great man who 
 discovered the New World ; yet it is almost certain that he 
 was a native of the great mercantile city of Genoa. The time of 
 his birth is more doubtful. While some think he was born in 
 1436, others decide for the year 1446 or 1456. If we follow 
 the indications given by Columbus himself, we shall give the 
 preference to the last date. For in the letter which he ad- 
 dressed to King Ferdinand on the 7th of July, 1503, he says 
 he was twenty-eight years old when he came to Castile, which 
 certainly was in the year 1484. Also all the other indications 
 given in his report agree with the supposition that he was 
 born in the year 1456. The name of the family to which he 
 belonged was Colon or Colombo. It was not noble ; for in 
 his letter to Prince Juan's nurse he compares himself to King 
 David^ whom God raised to high honour from the rank of a 
 shepherd. Therefore the claims put forth by the ancient 
 family of the Counts of Colombo, in Piacenza, to relationship 
 with the celebrated discoverer are proved to be groundless. 
 
 His family was of the burgher class, but not undistin- 
 guished. In the letter already mentioned Columbus boasts 
 that he was not the first admiral of his family, and claims as 
 a relative a Colon el Mozo, of Cogoleto, who was Genoese 
 admiral in the middle of the fifteenth century. The father of 
 our hero was Dominico Colombo, an honest weaver in a suburb 
 
154 ^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 of Genoa, who afterwards removed to Savona, and who was 
 still alive shortly before the death of his great son. From his 
 marriage with Susanna Fontanarossa sprang three sons — 
 Christopher, Bartholomew, and Jacob — and a daughter, who 
 married a tradesman. The family was well-to-do, and could 
 give the promising boy a moderately good education, traces 
 of which are evident in his later letters and reports. Having 
 chosen a seaman's life as his calling, he was sent at a very 
 early age to the high school of Pavia, where at that time 
 famous scholars taught mathematics, astronomy, and geo- 
 graphy. How long he remained under their instruction is 
 uncertain ; but at fourteen he went to sea, and on the Genoese 
 merchant-ships in the Mediterranean became a skilful sailor. 
 Most of the harbours of that sea were known to him, and we 
 learn from his own mouth that he visited the island of Chios,, 
 and had there watched the collecting of mastic (resin from the 
 pistacia lentiscus). In the course of these voyages, among 
 other places, he visited Portugal apparently about I475- 
 
 There he became acquainted with Dona Felipa Perestrello, 
 the daughter of Bartholomew Perestrello, an excellent seaman, 
 who had been many times employed by Prince Henry. He 
 very shortly married, but his young bride brought him no 
 dowry. Perestrello himself Avas already dead when Columbus 
 first came to Portugal, and his possessions on the island of 
 Porto Santo, which his grandfather had discovered, were, it 
 appears, quite lost to the family, except one estate in which 
 Columbus spent some time as the guest of his mother-in-law. 
 The happy union only lasted a short time, being put an end 
 to by the death of the wife, apparently at the birth of a son, 
 who was christened Diego. It was not difficult for so clever 
 and striving a seaman to gain his livelihood at that time in 
 Portugal. Columbus drew maps, prepared mathematical 
 works, and, first as pilot and afterwards as captain, entered 
 the service of the great merchant houses. 
 
Christopher Columbus. 155 
 
 In this position he found opportunities to become ac- 
 quainted with the whole of the Atlantic Ocean, as far as it 
 was then known. In his last writings, " The Prophecies," he 
 declares, with justice, " Every part of the ocean which has yet 
 been sailed through, I have sailed through." Of the voyages 
 which he then made we have accounts of two, and they are 
 particularly interesting. In one he visited England, and from. 
 Bristol, which at that time was a place of considerable trade,, 
 he went to Iceland, and even proceeded more than 100 Spanish 
 miles beyond it. This voyage took place in the year 1477, 
 and led him to the borders of that continent which he after- 
 wards discovered. Some years later (1483) we find him on 
 the Gold Coast of Africa, in the recently-built fortress of San 
 Jorge de Mina. Such extensive voyages in such opposite direc- 
 tions must have given him, in addition to the extraordinary 
 gifts of observation that he possessed, a rich treasure of 
 experience and knowledge, which he increased by diligent 
 study. 
 
 The writings and diaries of his late father-in-law had a great 
 influence on the direction of his mental activity. At that time 
 — that is, between the years 1478 and 1484 — the conviction- 
 became firmly fixed in his mind that the east coast of Asia^ 
 could be reached from the west coast of Europe, and that this 
 way to India was much to be preferred, on account of its- 
 shortness and convenience, to the other, which the navigators 
 of Portugal were then striving to find. This idea Columbus 
 was not the first to put forth, just as he was not the first 
 European who trod the soil of America ; but the enthusiasm 
 with which he defended the idea and proved it to be practi- 
 cable, the perseverance with which he devoted his whole life to- 
 it, combined with the deep obscurity which rests on all the 
 earlier visitors of America, secure to him for all time the fame 
 of being the discoverer of the New World, and make his name, 
 one of the most glorious in the history of the world. 
 
156 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 About 500 years before Columbus bold sailors had landed 
 on the shores of the New World. They were Normans ; some 
 of those wild sea-robbers who from the ninth century were 
 the terror of all the coasts of France and Germany. From the 
 deep fiords of Norway, on the shores of which their wooden 
 dwellings stood, the ships of the Vikings every year poured 
 out in hundreds and assembled in fleets, over which the bravest 
 and most distinguished had the command under the title of 
 Sea Kings. Woe to the coast which they pitched upon for 
 attack. Mercilessly were the most fruitful regions turned 
 into utter wastes, and there was no obstacle at which they 
 did not mock, no enemy that could withstand them. The 
 struggle with the most unheard-of dangers they looked upon 
 as a mere pastime and a manly enjoyment of life, and these 
 mighty giants in their little fragile barks, which were without 
 decks, and, at the most, only possessed the protection of a 
 tent, ventured out into the unknown ocean, trusting only to 
 their unflinching powers of endurance and the sharpness of 
 their wits. From the Faroe Islands they had, at the end of 
 the ninth century, discovered and colonised Iceland. The 
 ■civil order which had at that time been established in Norway, 
 from its union under one government by the conquests of 
 Harald Harfagar, impelled the wildest and most untamed of 
 the Normans to emigrate to that distant island, the Thule of 
 the ancient Greeks and Romans, where they preserved their 
 national characteristics and religion for many centuries, un- 
 affected by foreign influence. 
 
 From this island, in the year 982, Eric the Red, who on 
 account of his many deeds of violence was obliged to leave 
 his native land, sailed directly to the west, where he suspected 
 there was land, and found, after a few days, a coast which ran 
 north and south, and on whose rocky mountains he observed 
 enormous glaciers stretching even into the sea. It was the 
 east coast of Greenland. He followed it to its most southernly 
 
Christopher Colu^nbiLs. 157 
 
 point, Cape Farewell, and found on the other side of that 
 cape deep fiords and a number of little islands which reminded 
 him of the home he had left. He settled there, and the 
 charming descriptions of the delightful climate of the land 
 which reached Iceland soon drew crowds of Norman colonists 
 to it. The west coast far up to the north was speedily covered 
 with settlements. As early as the year 999 as many as 190 
 dwellings might have been counted, and when Christianity 
 was introduced it became the seat of a bishopric and of several 
 convents. But from the middle of the fourteenth century all 
 knowledge of the colony in the distant Greenland disappeared. 
 In some way, which has never been explained, it was forsaken 
 or died out, and since the coast was taken by the Danes in 
 1727 — though many monuments of the earlier people, such 
 as ruined walls, gravestones. Runic inscriptions have been 
 found — no indication of the fate of the people has been dis- 
 covered. 
 
 Greenland is only part of the Archipelago lying near the 
 American coast, but the mainland itself was apparently dis- 
 covered by the bold Normans. As early as the year 986 
 Bjarni, sailing from Iceland to Greenland to seek his father, 
 who had gone thither, was driven by stress of weather towards 
 the south, and saw coasts, the description of which answers to 
 those of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. 
 
 Hearing of this, Leif, the eldest son of Eric the Red, went 
 thither and passed a whole winter in a beautiful woody and 
 grassy land, which, on account of the wild grapes growing, 
 received the name of Winland. With tolerable certainty this 
 has been identified with the coast of Rhode Island, one of the 
 most northerly states of the Union. Leif s brother, Thorwald, 
 went even farther south, and perished in a struggle with the 
 aborigines ; his grave may be seen in what is now the State 
 of Massachusetts. After an attempt on the part of another 
 member of the family to establish a settlement in Winland, 
 
i-^S A Centtuy of Discovery. 
 
 which was completely frustrated by the hostile conduct of the 
 savages, all further attempts at discovery appear to have been 
 given up. 
 
 The fabulous account of the voyage of an Icelandic mer- 
 chant, Gudleif Gudlangson, who, in 1027, having been driven 
 from his course by a violent storm, reached a distant shore, 
 .and there found a missing countryman in high honour among 
 the natives, deserves small credit. About the same amount 
 is due to the discovery of the shores called Hoitramannaland 
 (the land of the white men), which some people have imagined 
 to be Georgia and Florida. 
 
 The news of this discovery of a new world by Iceland and 
 Greenland Normans only reached the civilised states of Europe 
 in a very confused manner. But in Iceland it remained an 
 old tale of the highest interest, and, much altered and improved 
 by passing from mouth to mouth, was finally written down. 
 
 Among the learned the possibility of reaching the east 
 coast of Asia from the west coast of Europe, by sailing directly 
 west, had been many times mooted. The conviction of the 
 spherical form of the earth was at this time universally spread, 
 and the question only remained whether the space of water 
 between the two continents was not too great to allow of a 
 passage. The necessity of being prepared with provisions 
 and water for the journey both ways made it a more serious 
 matter. Happily a mistake was made about the distance 
 between the continents, the circumference of the earth being 
 .calculated about a fifth (more exactly -19) less than it 
 really is. 
 
 In the works of the French savant, Pierre dAilly, which 
 appeared in 1480, and were accessible to Columbus, there is a 
 certain passage in which are collected together all the expres- 
 sions of Aristotle, Seneca, Strabo, and other learned men, 
 tending to make the distance betvv^een Spain and the coast of 
 Asia appear smaller. Still greater was the authority of Paulo 
 
 ^ 
 
Christopher Columhits. 159 
 
 Toscanelli, the famous cosmographer of Florence, 1397 — 1482, 
 who supported this opinion. Writing in answer to a question 
 proposed to him by an ecclesiastic, Fernando Martinez^ in the 
 ■name of the King, Alfonso I. of Portugal, the Florentine 
 astronomer, in a letter dated June 25, 1474, accompanied by 
 a chart, thus expresses his emphatic opinion : " From the 
 town of Lisbon westward you may count twenty-six distances 
 of 250 miles each to the large and noble city of Cathay (the 
 capital of China at that time)." This distance is about a 
 third of the earth's circumference. He estimated the distance 
 between the two towns to be about '120 degrees, though in 
 reality it is nearly as much again. It was known also from 
 Marco Polo's journey that about 10 degrees from the main- 
 land of Asia lay the islands of Cipango (Japan), and thus the 
 space left to be traversed became comparatively small, and 
 the voyage no longer appeared impracticable. They expected, 
 therefore, to find the coast of Japan in the meridian of San 
 Francisco, in California. The space which still remained con- 
 siderably lost its terrors by the supposed existence of the 
 traditional islands of Antigua and St. Brandon's Land, the 
 
 'first of which, according to Toscanelli, should lie about 50 
 
 -degrees west of Lisbon. 
 
 His residence in Portugal, and his intercourse with the most 
 renowned astronomers and sailors in the land, made Columbus 
 acquainted with these opinions, and the active mind of the 
 young man seized with ardour on the great idea, the accom- 
 plishment of which promised him a good position and undying 
 fame. He set himself to collect carefully all evidence which 
 seemed to prove the existence of land to the west. On the 
 
 -shores of Madeira and Porto Santo and the Azores there had 
 often been washed up from the west by the waves foreign 
 trees, pieces of carved wood, according to some reports, even 
 the dead bodies of an unknown race of men. Sailors driven 
 to the west had frequently picked up these strange things ; 
 
1 6o A Century of Discovery. 
 
 there were even stories of land having been seen in the 
 distance. 
 
 That Columbus received his first impulse to discovery on 
 his visit to Iceland, from hearing of the Norman voyages to 
 Winland, is certainly erroneous, for the news of the proximity 
 of such large tracts of land would have entirely altered his 
 views respecting the distance of the Asiatic coast, which he 
 aimed at reaching. More likely the great thought first came 
 to him after this journey, which he took in 1477 ; it was after 
 his return from Iceland that he became intimate with the 
 family of Perestrello (to whose papers and journals he had 
 access), and was introduced into the circle of the most illus- 
 trious seamen. So it probably was not until 1479 that he 
 addressed to Toscanelli a letter, in which he says, that having 
 heard of the astronomer's opinions^ he wished for his counsel,, 
 since he had determined to make the great venture. The 
 complaisant Florentine answered readily, sending at the same 
 time a copy of his former letter with the chart. Columbus's 
 hopes were raised to certainty. "You will see," so the letter 
 ran, " that the journey you are intending to undertake is much 
 less difficult than is supposed." Thus encouraged and with 
 his convictions strengthened, Columbus sought for an audience 
 with King John II., who had zealously furthered the Portu- 
 guese discoveries. It was granted him, and he tried to gain 
 the interest and active support of the King by a lively and 
 distinct explanation of his plan. 
 
 But then began the long series of disappointments to which 
 the great man was destined. The King hesitated to carry 
 into execution such a costly and expensive plan, broached by 
 a still unknown sailor, and referred him to the nautical com- 
 mission, which was at that time engaged in adapting the 
 astrolabe to sea voyages. After a long careful examination, 
 Martin Behaim, who during his residence in the Azores had 
 himself become well acquainted with the strange objects 
 
Christopher CohmibiLs. i6i 
 
 drifted up, pronounced in favour of attempting the bold expe- 
 dition to the west, but the other members of the commission, 
 the two Hebrew physicians and the Bishop of Ceuta, con- 
 sidered that many of the premises were unfounded, and the 
 conclusions drawn from them uncertain. They could not 
 therefore advise the King to spend large sums on an under- 
 taking of such doubtful result, while it appeared that, perse- 
 vering in the African discovei-ies already begun, they might 
 hope to reach India very speedily. Perhaps the exorbitant 
 demands of Columbus, which afterwards endangered his scheme 
 in Spain, may have been one cause of his want of success. 
 However it was, he failed to obtain a favourable answer from 
 the King. The story that King John dishonestly sent out a 
 Portuguese to make the attempt, and did not give an absolute 
 refusal to the Genoese until the attempt had failed, cannot be 
 proved, and contradicts the known character of the King. The 
 truth probably is that the King balanced the certainty of 
 sailing round Africa against the uncertainty of a voyage to 
 the west. 
 
 Much mortified, and still thoroughly convinced of the future 
 success of his plan, Columbus resolved to turn his back on 
 Portugal, and to make to other states who could better appre- 
 ciate the grandeur of his conceptions the great offer which 
 that country had so short-sightedly refused. While his brother 
 Bartholomew, who had followed him to Portugal, remained in 
 Lisbon, and perhaps accompanied the expedition of Bartho- 
 lomew Dias in the year 1487, Columbus in 1484 secretly 
 escaped over the border, for the Portuguese, who jealously 
 concealed their African discoveries from strangers' eyes, would 
 certainly have prevented the departure of one so well ac- 
 quainted with them. 
 
 The story goes that he then proceeded to his native city 
 Genoa, passing on to Venice, in which places his plans suffered 
 a double rejection. But no proofs can be produced of his 
 
 II 
 
1 62 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 residence in either town, and there is an entire absence of 
 records, which could scarcely be the case had he negotiated 
 with the authorities of those cities. Apparently he went 
 straight from Portugal to Spain, where he first applied to the 
 Duke of Medina Sidonia, one of the mighty vassals of Castile, 
 lord of great possessions in Andalusia and master of a not 
 inconsiderable naval force. Won over to the stranger's plan, 
 the Duke had already prepared ships to be placed at his dis- 
 posal, when he changed his mind, considering that such a 
 great undertaking with all its possible consequences was not 
 an affair for a private man, but rather for a great state. He 
 therefore sent Columbus with letters of recommendation to 
 Queen Isabella, and on January 20th, i486, he was taken into 
 her service. The learned men of the University of Salamanca 
 were formed into a commission, before which Columbus laid 
 his plans, together with the letter of the famous author which 
 supported his ideas. But except the Dominican, Diego de 
 Deza, who became afterwards Archbishop of Seville, and re- 
 mained to the end a faithful patron of Columbus, none of these 
 learned men were convinced by the arguments of Columbus, 
 In recent times this commission has been on this account 
 treated with the utmost scorn. The charge has been brought 
 against it of opposing to the deep thoughts of the Genoese 
 texts of Scripture, and of treating the whole affair in a highly 
 unscientific manner. But this was not the case, and we are 
 bound in justice to acknowledge that the arguments of Co- 
 lumbus might very easily have been answered out of the very 
 books from which he drew them. The opponents of Columbus 
 were fighting on the side of truth, the Genoese was only con- 
 tending for a happy delusion, which ended in the discovery of 
 the New World. A result which he had not reckoned upon 
 put him in the right, and those who are easily dazzled by 
 success have thought to glorify the deed by heaping con- 
 tempt on those who with justice opposed him. 
 
Christopher CohanbiLS. 165 
 
 The decision of the commission is not known, but the fact 
 that the undertaking was not carried out does not prove its 
 rejection. The final struggle with the Moors of Granada 
 already begun, fears lest Portugal might be irritated, perhaps 
 even provoked to war, were important weights in the scale. 
 Columbus remained in the service of Castile and took up his 
 abode in Cordova, where his small salary and the money he 
 procured by making charts, etc., secured to him a tolerable 
 livelihood. Under these circumstances he determined to wait 
 for happier times, and in the meanwhile secured many lasting 
 friends among influential persons of the court of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella. But this delay became at length unendurable ; 
 the Moorish war long remained undecided, and his bitter ex- 
 perience as suitor to haughty patrons appeared humiliating to 
 his over-sensitive nature. 
 
 After a residence of five years, he left Cordova in 1491, with 
 his son Diego, who was then about twelve years old, to try 
 his luck at the court of France, where a young and adven- 
 turous monarch was holding the reins of government. But 
 he had now reached the crisis of his fate. The traveller 
 knocked at the gate of a Franciscan convent, La Ribida, at 
 the port of Palos, and begged for refreshment for himself and 
 his boy. The Guardian, Juan Peres de Marchena, a brother 
 much looked up to, who bore the honourable title of Confessor 
 to the Queen, took an interest in the gifted man, who related 
 to him his plans and their disappointment in vivid colours. 
 The Guardian's heart was soon entirely won, and he invited 
 him to remain, and promised to use all his influence on his 
 behalf. 
 
 A letter which he immediately despatched to the Queen 
 shortly received a very kind answer, in which Columbus was 
 summoned to appear at the court, which was then in the 
 camp of Santa Fe before the walls of Granada. A small 
 sum was also remitted to defray the expenses of the journey. 
 
 II — 2 
 
T 64 A Cenhcry of Discovery. 
 
 With warm thanks he took leave of his new friend, leaving" 
 little Diego in his care, and hopefully began his journey. 
 
 He entered the court at a happy moment (Dec, 1491), just 
 when Granada had made offers to surrender, and the glorious 
 end of the war which had raged for so many years appeared 
 in sight. To the enthusiasm called forth by this great 
 achievement no plan, however great or expensive, appeared 
 impossible ; so Columbus met with a most friendly reception. 
 Yet months went by. The entrance of the monarchs into 
 the conquered town took place on the 2nd January, 1492, 
 with extraordinary magnificence, and Columbus received no 
 decided answer. 
 
 The unheard-of demands of Columbus caused this delay. 
 He required, in case of the discovery of a western route to 
 India, a patent of nobility rendering the title of Don hereditary 
 in his family. He also required that he should be made Ad- 
 miral of the Atlantic Ocean, and should rank as high as the 
 Admiral of Castile ; that the power and title of Viceroy over 
 all the discovered countries should be conferred upon him ; 
 with the right to name three men for all offices in those lands 
 out of whom the Crown should choose ; that he should have 
 the tenth of the revenues which should flow to the Crown 
 from the lands to be discovered ; and, lastly, the right to an 
 eighth share in all mercantile undertakings which the Crown 
 might engage in in those lands. 
 
 These demands met with decided opposition. King Fer- 
 dinand and a great number of the most important people at 
 court were irritated by the presumption of the Genoese. 
 Who was Columbus, and what deeds had he to boast of, that 
 he should thus dare to demand control over the most proved 
 and deserving officials — men too who could point proudly to 
 their old nobility .^ Where were the securities that the results 
 of his undertaking would at all fulfil the hopes on which he 
 founded his demands 1 How monstrous were these demands 
 
Christopher ColumbzLS. 165 
 
 ■when compared with the poor rewards bestowed in Portugal 
 ■on the most distinguished seamen for the greatest services ! 
 
 The lands over which Columbus demanded the Viceroyalty, 
 and of whose produce he demanded the tenth part, were not 
 virgin shores with a wild population, but the imperial Japan 
 and China, with millions of civilised and industrious in- 
 habitants. All these important considerations were discussed ; 
 but when something less was offered him, he immediately de- 
 parted with wounded pride, and threatened to go to France 
 or England, whence he had received promises. 
 
 What wonderful faith in himself! What bold confidence 
 that the benefits which would result to Spain from his work, 
 must justify the great and really unheard-of demands which 
 he made. And yet it would have been better if he had yielded, 
 and had lowered his demands in those points particularly 
 which caused the most offence — the claim upon the Vice- 
 royalty and the tenth. A little earnest self-examination and 
 a calm glance into the future must have made it clear to him 
 that he was pushing himself into a position for which he could 
 not be fit, and involving himself in embarrassments with the 
 Crown which, as it was at that time the great object of the 
 Crown to render vassals powerless, would be sure to be to his 
 disadvantage. The exorbitancy of his demands bitterly 
 avenged itself on him. 
 
 He had hardly quitted the court, when his friends, who 
 meanwhile had increased in numbers, interceded for him with 
 great zeal. Among them Luis de Santangel, the Treasurer of 
 Aragon, distinguished himself by his unwearied persistency. 
 He dwelt particularly on the responsibility which they would 
 incur if, in consequence of their parsimony, other lands should 
 gain the advantages which were now offered to Spain, and 
 added that even supposing the expedition did fail, it was 
 quite worth while to undertake it, in order to be assured of 
 the impracticability of any route to India in that direction. 
 
1 66 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 The resolution of the Queen was somewhat shaken by these 
 representations, and when Santangel went on to remind her 
 that she was denying the knowledge of Christianity to count- 
 less multitudes of heathen, he touched the right chord. The 
 pious Queen, whose most earnest desire was the conversion of 
 her Moorish and Jewish subjects, was won by this clever move; 
 and she was filled with such zeal that she said she would 
 pledge the crown jewels to procure the funds necessary for 
 the execution of the undertaking. This offer, however, was 
 not carried into execution, for Santangel, who firmly believed 
 in Columbus, provided from his own estates the 5000 ducats 
 which were required. 
 
 Messengers announcing the unconditional granting of his 
 demands recalled Columbus to Santa Fc. The treaty was 
 concluded on the 17th of April; on the 30th of the same 
 month Columbus received the dignities that he had de- 
 manded, and immediately set out for Palos, a port between 
 the mouths of Guadiana and Guadalquiver, whence the expe- 
 dition was to start. 
 
 He made use of this harbour because he was bound in the 
 service of the crown within ten days to fit out two caravels. 
 A third ship was also chartered, and in accordance with the 
 treaty Columbus bore an eighth of the expense. Very useful 
 to him was the celebrated maritime family of the Pinzons, out 
 of which three brothers, Martin Alonso, Vincente Yanez, and 
 Francisco Martin, offered to accompany him. With their 
 assistance the fitting out of the ships and the engaging of the 
 crews were speedily accomplished, and all was ready for the 
 start by the 3rd of August, 1492. 
 
 The little squadron consisted of three ships : the Santa 
 Maria, the Pmta, and the little Nina. All three, especially 
 the Pinta, were very indifferent sailers ; and owing to the 
 hasty manner in which they were prepared, were found ta 
 
Christopher Cohtmbtts. 167 
 
 have many defects which could with difficulty be remedied on 
 the high seas. 
 
 The Santa Maria was commanded by Columbus himself, 
 the Pinta and the Nina by the two eldest of the Pinzons. 
 The crews numbered altogether ninety men, for the most part 
 experienced seamen, who had pledged themselves to follow 
 Columbus whithersoever he should go. Thus with no pomp, 
 and but ill-prepared for the difficulties that might be ex- 
 pected, Columbus set out to discover a new world. Of this 
 voyage he kept a most comprehensive journal, which has been 
 published, abridged by the Bishop Las Casas. It gives us an 
 exact idea of it. 
 
 Only a few days after the squadron started, the rudder of 
 the Pinta broke, and it could not be repaired until they reached 
 the Canaries. On the Island Gomera, which belongs to that 
 group, and v/hich had already been taken and colonised by 
 the Spaniards, Columbus remained for some months improving 
 the vessels. He also took in provisions for a voyage of such 
 uncertain length. The diary tells us that on the 12th of 
 August a great eruption of the Pik de Teyde on Teneriffe 
 took place, the first of which we know anything. On the 6th 
 of September Columbus left the Island of Gomera, and took 
 his course straight towards the west. 
 
 Unconsciously he chose that part of the Atlantic Ocean in 
 which it is the broadest ; but this misfortune was pretty well 
 compensated for by the favouring wind which blew at first 
 most unceasingly, the north-east trade wind. The passage 
 therefore was a comparatively quick one, and only occupied 
 thirty-four days. The temperature was very pleasant. Co- 
 lumbus compares it to the climate of Andalusia, and only 
 deplored that the song of the nightingale was wanting. 
 
 On the 13th of September the compass was first noticed to 
 decline towards the north-west, a circumstance which Columbus 
 took care to explain in such a manner that the crew should 
 
1 68 A Cenhtry of Discovery. 
 
 not be alarmed. The many stones of the terror of the sailors, 
 and of their increasing bitterness against Columbus, which at 
 last became open mutiny, are the inventions of later writers, 
 for whom the course of the remarkable voyage was not suf- 
 ficiently adventurous. But Columbus himself confesses that 
 he kept a double reckoning, and thus strove to deceive the 
 Crew as to the distance that they had come. But the decep- 
 tion was nothing very considerable. 
 
 On the 1 8th of September the difference between the two 
 reckonings was only fifty miles. It must be remembered, 
 however, that all calculations of the speed of vessels rested at 
 that time upon conjectures which could lay no claim to cer- 
 tainty, The only complaint which Columbus makes about the 
 cowardice of his crews we find oh the 23rd September : " The 
 sailors began to whisper, when they saw no considerable 
 waves, that there would never be a wind to take them back 
 to Spain." 
 
 The monotony of the voyage was enlivened by frequent 
 signs of land being near, though they were over and over 
 again found to be deceptive. Thus on the 25th of September 
 they thought they were near a vast land. Indeed, from the 
 Pinta the crew declared they had seen land, and sang the 
 " Gloria in excelsis." But the next morning they discovered 
 that they had been deceived by the clouds. Also the nume- 
 rous birds which were seen from the ships kept the sailors in 
 constant excitement, for they erroneously thought they could 
 not fly many miles from the shore. Columbus explained to 
 himself all these appearances by the supposition that the 
 ships had passed near the traditionary Island of Antiglia 
 without seeing it ; but he would not stop to seek for it, since 
 he wished first to find the mainland of Asia. 
 
 The confusion into which the crews were constantly thrown 
 by the repeatedly mistaken announcements of land induced 
 Columbus to forbid such announcements to be made, except 
 
Christopher Colicmbus. 169 
 
 on good grounds ; but at the same he promised, as the 
 monarchs had desired, a pension of 10,000 maravedis to the 
 man who should first discover land, and undertook to add at 
 his own expense a silk doublet. 
 
 Up to the 7th of October they had maintained a course 
 directly west, but on that day Columbus yielded to the repre- 
 sentations of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and steered W.S.W., 
 -chiefly because great flights of birds — Pinzon thought they 
 were parrots — had been seen flying in that direction. Had 
 Columbus persevered in the original direction, he would about 
 the next day have reached the northern islands of the Bahama 
 group, and thence probably the mainland of America in the 
 part now called Florida, whilst by changing his course he was 
 ■carried to the southern islands of that group, and past the 
 south point of Florida to the West Indies. 
 
 After this change of course the signs that land was near 
 multiplied. Carved sticks and branches of trees, etc., were 
 picked up ; and on all the ships hope and expectation swelled 
 "high in every breast. On the nth of October, about ten 
 o'clock, Columbus, who was looking out from the poop of his 
 ship, perceived before him the uncertain glimmer of a light, 
 which appeared again several times, and looked like a waver- 
 ing torchlight. Others whom he called thought they saw it 
 too, although the Admiral himself was very likely deceived. 
 The excitement increased, no eye was closed. 
 
 The Pinta, commanded by the ambitious Martin Alonso 
 Pinzon, kept in front, and it was from her masthead that at 
 two o'clock in the morning of the 12th of October, 1492, came 
 the long-expected cry of " Land ahead !" It was a sailor 
 named Rodrigo de Trianawho first perceived the coast in the 
 uncertain twilight. He, however, never received the promised 
 pension, Columbus claiming it for himself on the ground of 
 the light he had seen ; Rodrigo in a rage left Spain, and 
 passing over to Africa abjured his faith. This conduct of 
 
1 70 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Columbus, which certainly was not amiable, proceeded pro- 
 bably less from mere greed than from the anxious desire to 
 prove that the discovery of Asia from the west was entirely 
 his work, even in the minutest details. 
 
 They gazed impatiently into the dim light, until the 
 rising sun dispelled all doubt. At a little distance was- 
 stretched out a flat coast, over which rose green hills. The 
 goal was reached, the difficult and dangerous undertaking was- 
 accomplished. But where were they .-* According to Co- 
 lumbus's secret calculations, the ships had traversed after 
 leaving the Canaries, which lie io° west of Lisbon, 1122 
 Spanish miles, or 90°. Now according to Toscanelli, the 
 distance between Lisbon and Cipango (Japan) amounted at 
 the most to 110°. So there could be no doubt that they had 
 reached Cipango, or at least one of the group of islands lying 
 near. 
 
 As soon as the ships had found anchorage, Columbus 
 entered an armed boat and landed on the coast, accompanied 
 by the eldest of the brothers Pinzon. Then in the presence 
 of notaries with great formality he took possession of the 
 land for the Queen of Castile. He set up a wooden cross,, 
 and named the island — for such the land proved to be — San 
 Salvador. It was called by the natives Guanahani. It has 
 no mountains, but is beautifully wooded, with a lake near the 
 centre. It is one of the Bahama or Lucayan group, which lies 
 something in the form of a crab off the coast of Florida to the 
 south-east. There has recently been a violent dispute as to- 
 which island was first trodden by Columbus, and it has been 
 settled in favour of Watling Island (latitude 23° 56' north, 
 and longitude 74° 28' west). To the error of Columbus, who 
 thought he had arrived on the coast of Asia, is due the name 
 of West Indies, which he gave to all the islands he discovered 
 in the course of years, as also that of Indians, which was con- 
 ferred on the natives of America. 
 
Christophei" Columbus. 171 
 
 The natives looked upon the Spaniards as descended from 
 the sun, and came to meet them with the greatest reverence ; 
 their confidence was secured by little gifts, glass beads, little 
 bells, etc., and they showed themselves thoroughly harmless 
 and friendly. The simplicity and poverty of their condition 
 excited the astonishment of the Spaniards. They went 
 perfectly naked ; they were well proportioned, and of a brown 
 complexion, which Columbus compared to that of theGuanches, 
 and which they themselves sought to beautify by the use of 
 bright paint. Their dwellings were simple reed huts roofed 
 with palm leaves. Their food was principally vegetables, 
 maize, manioc, yams, and potatoes, but they ate also fish, 
 mussels, and the flesh of birds. 
 
 In fishing they made use of a little hsli called by the 
 Spaniards reverso, whose back was armed with thorns. 
 Fastened to a thin but strong line, the Indians took it to the 
 sea, and as soon as a large fish showed itself let it loose. It 
 at once rushed upon its prey and fastened itself firmly to it 
 by its prickles ; the tortured fish made for the shore, and 
 there was easily caught by means of a rod which was attached 
 to the end of the line. The tools of which the Indians made 
 use were very rough ; they were unacquainted with iron, and 
 employed instead sharpened stones and mussel shells. They 
 so little understood other weapons that they took hold of 
 Columbus's sword by the blade and wounded themselves. 
 Since many of them had fresh wounds the Spaniards inquired 
 the cause and learnt that they had gained them in struggles 
 with neighbouring warlike races, who often visited these shores 
 for kidnapping purposes. This was the first news which the 
 Spaniards received of the more highly-organised but fiercer 
 people of the Carribee Islands, with whom, in later times, 
 they had such serious struggles. But Columbus considered 
 them to be inhabitants of China. " I thought," he said, " and 
 I still think that people come over here from the mainland tO' 
 
T 7 2 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 make prisoners and slaves. They must be most faithful and 
 docile servants. I am convinced that they would be converted 
 to Christianity without any difficulty, for I believe that they 
 belong to no heathen sect." 
 
 But for the present Columbus gave up his plan of convert- 
 ing the Indians, and of erecting a fortress on the island, as he 
 was anxious to reach Cipango as soon as possible. By various 
 accidental resemblances of names, he was strengthened in the 
 delusion that he was near the coast of Asia. Thus he first 
 mistook Cuba and afterwards the district of Cibao in Hayti 
 for Cipango, and the name Caniba, by which the Carribeans 
 called themselves, he thought pointed to their being the 
 subjects of the Khan of Mongolia, whom their ruler sent out 
 to kidnap slaves. 
 
 Still labouring under this delusion he left Guanahani on 
 the 14th of October, taking with him seven Indians to show 
 liim the way from island to island. In his progress towards 
 the south-west, he touched on a mass of small coral islands. 
 Only on two of the larger ones, Santa Maria de la Concepcion 
 (the present Rum Key) and Fernandina (the present Long 
 Island), did he make any stay. These he took possession of 
 for Castile. They, in every way, resembled Guanahani. 
 The voyage was then continued towards the south-west, 
 "for," he writes in his diary, on the 24th of October, 
 " I am determined to visit Ouinsay, and to present your 
 Royal liighncsscs' letter to the great Khan." 
 
 On the 26th of October the squadron arrived at the north 
 coast of Cuba, with the beauty of which Columbus \vas charmed. 
 He seems never to weary of telling of the fragrance of the 
 tropical woods, of the charming voices of the birds, of the 
 glorious mountains, and of the tranquil pleasant harbours. 
 In the intoxication of his discovery, he believed he saw 
 mastic in the primeval forests, pearls in the clear sea, gold 
 dust in the rivers, and in the most animated language he 
 
Christophei'' Columhis. 173 
 
 praises the earthly paradise which he had won for Castile. 
 The ships pursued their course along the north coast until 
 they were about 60" west of Ferro. Here they made a halt, 
 since Columbus was now convinced that Cuba was not 
 Cipango, but part of the mainland. In order to examine it 
 more closely, he sent two Spaniards, one of whom was a con- 
 verted Jew, on an embassy into the interior, and gave them, 
 as interpreter, an Indian, who had been captured in Guana- 
 hani. If possible they were to penetrate into the chief city of 
 the Khan, which they, misled by the ill-understood directions 
 of the Indians, thought to be close to the coast. 
 
 After three days the embassy returned. They had found, 
 twelve miles inland, an encampment of the natives, consisting 
 of fifty huts, containing a population of about 7 000 persons, by 
 whom they had been received with great honour and curiosity; 
 but about the great Khan and the lands in which gold and 
 spices were to be found, they had been able to discover 
 nothing. They mentioned, as a peculiar custom of the natives, 
 that they carried about with them "a glowing coal and a 
 certain herb, wrapped in a leaf like a cartridge, in order to 
 light one end and suck in the smoke from the other. These 
 cartridges they called tobacco." 
 
 According to the acciount of a later writer, it was not the 
 rolls of leaves that were so called, but the reed through which 
 the smoke was sucked up. These reeds were of a peculiar 
 form. While one end was intended to hold the glowing roll 
 of leaves, the other end was divided into two little reeds, which 
 the Indians placed in the nostrils, for they smoked with their 
 noses, not their mouths. 
 
 Undeceived by the report of the ambassadors, the Admiral 
 determined to give up any further voyage towards the west. 
 The new direction taken by the ships was decided by Colum- 
 bus's wish to seek for the land of gold he believed to be near, 
 and where, by finding larger treasures, he hoped to indemnify 
 
•I 74 A CentiLry of Discovery. 
 
 himself for not having reached India. At Guanahani and on 
 all the islands he had discovered since he had noticed that 
 the Indians wore thin gold plates as ornaments in their noses. 
 When asked where the gold came from, the Indians had 
 pointed towards the south, and had said that a land lay there 
 which they sometimes called Bohio and sometimes Babeque. 
 There large quantities of this noble metal were to be found. 
 The stories told by the Indians of this wonderful land aroused 
 the covetousness of the Spaniards, and they took such a hold 
 upon Columbus that he made the discovery of this land his 
 cfoal. Thus even in the first discoveries of the New World 
 was proved the justice of the saying, that the colonisation of 
 America by the Spaniards and the progress of their discoveries 
 was governed, as by a law of nature, by the presence or absence 
 of gold. 
 
 On the 1 2th of November Columbus set sail again. Sad 
 to say, before his departure he had five young men, seven 
 women, and three children captured to take to Spain with 
 him, by which cruel action he inspired the confiding natives 
 with the greatest terror and hatred. The next night a man 
 came swimming up to the ship and begged him to take him 
 with him since his wife and children were among those who 
 were being carried away. Henceforth the shores of Cuba 
 were deserted. Warned of the cruel stranger by messengers 
 and fiery signals, the inhabitants had fled into the woods. 
 The* squadron pursued its way along the north coast of Cuba 
 to the east and south-east. So great was the Spaniards' 
 greed for gold that Martin Alonzo Pinzon separated from the 
 other two ships, in order to find the land of gold for himself 
 and to secure the glory of its discovery. In vain were all the 
 signals which Columbus made during the night of the 21-22 
 November, the fugitive did not return. On the 5th of Decem- 
 ber the Admiral reached the east point of Cuba, which he 
 named Juana in honour of the Crown Princess, and at the 
 
Christopher Columbus. 175 
 
 -same time there arose in the east a new land with high moun- 
 -'tains which the Indians on board said to be Bohio. But the 
 people of the island itself called it Quizqueia, that is to say 
 the world, or Cibao (the stony), or Hayti (the rough land). 
 The last name has rem.ained to this day and has outlived the 
 Spanish name, Hispaniola (Little Spain), which Columbus 
 gave it. 
 
 On Hispaniola the Spaniards found a much higher develop- 
 ment of social life than on the coast which they had hitherto 
 touched. The whole island was divided into several king- 
 doms, governed by hereditary princes called caciques. Of 
 these kingdoms some were specially important on account of 
 their extent and of the power of their caciques, such as, on 
 the north coast, Marien and Maguana, and on the west and 
 -south coasts, Xaraqua and Higuey. The power of the 
 ^caciques over their subjects was unlimited, they were the 
 possessors of the land, and they adjudged the work and the 
 -pay. All the little dainties of the island, the flesh of the rabbit 
 .and the lizard, were reserved for their table, and the people 
 - were kept at a distance from the sacred persons of the princes 
 by a troublesomely precise etiquette. By the greater con- 
 venience of their dwellings, and by some attempts at decora- 
 ,tion, the inhabitants of Hispaniola showed themselves superior 
 to those of Cuba, though they evidently belonged to the same 
 ,race. But at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards these 
 ; gentle people were threatened with destruction by another 
 stronger race. These were the Kalina, or Kaniba,* or Kari- 
 .ben, that is heroes, as the natives of the Antilles called them, 
 a people who originally dwelt on the south coast of South 
 . America. They had already conquered a part of Hispaniola 
 and Caonabo. The cacique of the kingdom was a Carribean 
 adventurer. Tall and strongly made, they were superior in 
 
 * From this word, in consequence of the imperfect pronunciation of 
 the Spaniards, we have got our word cannibals, or men-eaters. 
 
1 76 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 courage and warlike qualities to the natives of the Antilles, 
 and were feared even by Spaniards. In war they were fre- 
 quently accompanied by their wives, who were little inferior 
 to the men in ferocity. Their most terrible weapon was a 
 poisoned arrow. In their piroques, forty feet long and capable 
 of holding fifty men, they went from island to island, and 
 often in perfect fleets made plundering expeditions on to the 
 coasts, where the inhabitants, if they were unable to escape 
 by flight, were carried off prisoners. The men were cooked 
 and eaten, the women made slaves. Against these fearful 
 enemies the natives of the Antilles were defenceless, and 
 there is no doubt that if it had not been for the arrival of the 
 Spaniards they would in a short time have been destroyed by 
 them. 
 
 In his first expedition Columbus came but little into per- 
 sonal contact with the Carribeans, and learned most about 
 them from the descriptions of their victims, since he sailed only 
 on the north coast of Hispaniola. Here the farther he ap- 
 proached towards the east the more lively became the trade 
 with the natives, who came in hundreds on to the ships, and 
 exchanged provisions, cotton, and golden ornaments for all 
 sorts of trifles. When they noticed the eagerness of the 
 Spaniards for gold, they gave them to understand that in a 
 land farther to the east, which they called Cibao, gold was 
 found and smelted. This news still more inflamed Colunibus's 
 desire to find this land of gold. " May the merciful God," he 
 exclaimed, " help me to find this gold, or rather these mines." 
 Then a groat misfortune befell him, and dashed all his hopes. 
 On Christmas night, when all were asleep, even the Admiral 
 himself, who had watched for two nights, the ship, owing to 
 the helm having been committed, contrary to his express 
 orders, to a sailor-boy, ran on a sand-bank. The Admiral was 
 the first on deck, and by ordering an anchor to be cast from 
 the stern, did all he could to prevent the complete destruction 
 
Christopher Cohtmbus. 177 
 
 of the ship. But the crew, stupefied by the disaster, dis- 
 obeyed his commands, sprang into the boat, and tried to 
 escape on to the Nina, which was about half a mile off. 
 There they were brought to reason, and returned to the Santa 
 Maria, which by that time, however, it was hopeless to think 
 of saving. 
 
 Fortunately Columbus had for some days been carrying on 
 friendly intercourse with the Cacique of the liaytian kingdom 
 of Marien — Guanacanagari was his name — and on hearing of 
 the disaster he showed the greatest sympathy, and ordered 
 his subjects to give the Spaniards all the help possible in the 
 saving of their goods. This was done in their most zealous and 
 honourable manner; so that in a few days everything was 
 saved. Between Columbus and the Cacique, a stately dignified 
 man, who immediately hastened to the spot, visits and pre- 
 sents were exchanged. 
 
 The fear of the Caribs betrayed by Guacanagari was skil- 
 fully made use of by Columbus to gain his consent to the 
 building of a fortress, the garrison of which should keep the 
 Caribs at a distance. The building had become necessary, 
 because the Nina was too small to bear the crews and freight 
 of two ships. In a few days the little fort was finished, con- 
 sisting of some buildings and sheds made of reeds, and pro- 
 tected by wooden palisades and a ditch. From the season 
 when it was built, it was called Natividad, and forty men 
 were appointed as a garrison, under the command of Diego 
 de Arana from Cordova. They received instructions to con- 
 tinue the profitable gold trade with the natives, and, if pos- 
 sible, find the mine itself. A wise and friendly behaviour 
 towards the Indians was also specially inculcated. In order 
 to arouse a desirable dread of their arms, Columbus caused 
 his archers to display their skill, and arranged sham fights, 
 with repeated discharges of the cannons, which made a great 
 impression. 
 
 12 
 
178 A Ceniury of Discovery. 
 
 He thought himself so secure of the result he desired that 
 as early as the 4th of January, 1493, before the palisades were 
 finished, he set sail in the Nina, after having promised to 
 return at the very latest in a year. The cause of this sudden 
 departure was the news, brought by the Indians, that another 
 ship was engaged in the purchase of gold ornaments not far 
 off. It could only be the Pinta, and Columbus was very 
 anxious that it should return in his company, and should not 
 arrive a little before him in Spain, which would considerably 
 diminish his glory as a discoverer. 
 
 On the 6th of January they met the fugitive, and Martin 
 Alonzo Pinzon immediately came on board the Nina to ex- 
 cuse himself and to represent the separation of the ships as 
 unintentional. Columbus pretended to believe him, but was 
 full of mistrust, and gave Pinzon fully to understand that he 
 was under his control and must obey. The names which he 
 had given to the promontories along the coast were imme- 
 diately changed. From that time the relations between these 
 men, who had been once so intimate, became hostile, and so 
 continued until death separated them. The insubordination of 
 the one and the somewhat petty jealousy of the other pre- 
 vented any reconciliation. 
 
 The Pinta had in the meantime visited some little groups 
 of islands off the coast of Hispaniola, and carried on a profit- 
 able barter, by which the Spaniard had become possessed of 
 much gold, some pieces being as large as a man's fist. Pinzon 
 himself, with twelve companions, had penetrated into the in- 
 terior of Hispaniola, and had brought back news of an island 
 rich in gold, called Yamaye (Jamaica), to the south of Cuba, 
 and also of a coast lying to the west, easily attainable, whose 
 inhabitants were always clothed. Columbus paid no attention 
 to this important information, which evidently referred to 
 Yucatan, or perhaps even Mexico, not only because it was 
 brought him by Pinzon, but also because his first intention 
 
Christopher Columbus. 1 79 
 
 to visit at any cost the Great Khan of China, and if possible 
 to reach India, had long been given up. Hardly was he sure 
 of having discovered a land of gold than all his bold plans 
 took to flight, his enthusiasm for discovery cooled, and he 
 thought of nothing else but carrying away the discovered 
 treasure. 
 
 The two ships set out together on the return voyage. They 
 touched at many points on the coast of Hispaniola, and found 
 the natives everywhere friendly and trustful. In some places 
 they believed they saw gold in the sand of the rivers, but no- 
 where did they make a stay of any length. At the east end of 
 the islands they first met with the Caribs, who, as they at once 
 perceived from their form and bearing, belonged to quite an- 
 other stock. After a fight with them, in which the first blood 
 -was shed and four Caribs were taken prisoner, the ships, on the 
 17th of January, left the coast, and sailed north-east into the 
 open sea. Until the 12th of February they allowed the ships 
 to run before the wind, though the steersmen found it impos- 
 sible to agree as to the longitude in which they were. But 
 on that day a fearful storm arose, in which the frail ships were' 
 in the greatest danger. It lasted for three days, and so utterly 
 wearied the crews that every moment they believed death to 
 be at hand. In this distress the pious Admiral proposed to 
 seek the assistance of the Virgin and of the saints by vowing 
 pilgrimages. As many beans as there were men on board 
 were placed in a cap, among which one was marked by a 
 cut. Each drew a bean, and whoever had the marked one 
 was to make the promised pilgrimage. Three times the lot 
 was drawn in this manner, and twice it fell upon the Admiral ; 
 the third time it fell upon a sailor from Cadiz, but Columbus 
 promised to pay the expenses of his pilgrimage. In addition 
 to this the whole crew vowed, if they were saved, to make a 
 pilgrimage in their shirts to one of the chapels consecrated 
 to the Virgin, 
 
 12 — 2 
 
i8o A Century of Discovery. 
 
 When everything was thus done to procure the favour of 
 Heaven, Columbus bethought himself how he might get the 
 news of his discovery to Europe in case they were all lost. 
 He wrote down a short account of his voyage with a state- 
 ment of the lands discovered, and placing it sealed in an air- 
 tight vessel, together with a note which begged the finder to 
 take it to the Court of Castile, and promised him a reward of 
 looo ducats for so doing, threw it into the sea. Fortunately 
 this was unnecessary. The weather began to improve on 
 February i6th, and the next day land was discovered, which 
 proved to be one of the Azores — Santa Maria. 
 
 But in the fearful storm the ships were separated, and the 
 Pinta was still on the high sea, while the Nina had found a 
 temporary resting-place. The crew returned thanks for their 
 deliverance. For Columbus it was a special triumph, as it 
 proved him to be correct when he reckoned that they 
 would reach the Azores, if they held on in the course they 
 had taken. Full of joy, he writes in his diary, " I have always 
 purposely exaggerated the distance, in order to lead astray 
 the pilots and sailors, and thus keep the key of the western 
 navigation to myself I have succeeded so perfectly that 
 now nobody can point out with accuracy the way back to 
 India." 
 
 The Nina was detained at Santa Maria until February 24th, 
 partly from the need of rest after so much fatigue, and partly 
 from the hostility of the Portuguese commander, Joas de Cas- 
 tanheda. Half the crew was suddenly attacked by him. and 
 taken prisoners, as, in fulfilment of their vow, they were tra- 
 velling in their shirts to a lady chapel near the coast. How- 
 ever, after some days, the good understanding was restored. 
 What was the cause of the quarrel has never been clearly 
 known. Whilst some believe that Castanheda was secretly 
 commissioned by the Portuguese King, Joas H., to destroy 
 Columbus, others with greater probability declare that he 
 
Christopher Columbus. 18 1 
 
 suspected the Spanish ship of having come from Portuguese 
 ■Guinea, and that he suspended hostihties directly he was con- 
 vinced of the groundlessness of his suspicions. Rested and 
 refreshed, they began their journey home on February 24th, 
 hoping in a few days to touch their native coast. 
 
 But their trials were not over yet On March 3rd they 
 .again encountered a storm, which excited the greatest alarm, 
 and impelled the Admiral anew to solenm vows. The ship 
 was in extreme peril, being driven by the storm with fearful 
 force towards the Portuguese coast, and it required all the 
 •skill of the Admiral and the utmost exertions of the crew 
 before the Tagus was at last successfully entered. On the 
 evening of March 4th the Nina came to anchor at the famous 
 landing-place Restello, near Lisbon. The news of their arrival 
 naturally excited great attention in the city, in which Colum- 
 bus in earlier times had had many acquaintances. With the 
 congratulations which their great success called forth was 
 mixed much envy and jealousy at the good fortune which 
 had fallen to their hated neighbours, and many complaints of 
 the blindness of the King, who had rejected a man of such 
 distinction. 
 
 The Government was doubtful how to act. On March 5th 
 Bartholomew Dias appeared on board the Nina, and sum- 
 moned Columbus before a court of inquiry to justify himself 
 for his secret departure, but was satisfied when Columbus 
 produced the letter which nominated him Castilian Admiral. 
 Then followed an invitation to the royal castle at Valparaiso, 
 situated a short distance from Lisbon, and in which John IL 
 was at that time residing. On the 9th of March Columbus 
 went thither, accompanied by some of his companions, and 
 he took with him, to amuse the King, the captured Indians 
 and specimens of the plants and animals of Hispaniola. He 
 met with a better reception than he expected. The King 
 appeared interested in the detailed account which he gave 
 
1 82 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 him, and succeeded admirably in mastering the vexation and 
 jealousy by which he was consumed. He, however, let slip 
 the words that he should lay claim to the newly-discovered 
 lands in virtue of the grant made to Castile by the Pope, and 
 of the treaty concluded between Portugal and Castile in the 
 year 1479. But he nobly refused the offer of some courtiers 
 to try and engage the hot-blooded Admiral in a dispute and 
 stab him as if in haste, and thus remove out of the way the 
 only man who understood how to find the way to the New 
 World. Indeed, he honourably entertained the great dis- 
 coverer, and when the latter took his leave on the nth of 
 March dismissed him in the most gracious manner. Re-em- 
 barked on board the Nina, Columbus hastened his departure 
 and arrived at Palos on the 15 th of March. 
 
 Here all hope had quite been given up that the long-looked- 
 for fleet would ever be seen again. The joy therefore was 
 all the greater ; indeed, it was little short of ecstasy when the 
 adventurers themselves related the grand results of their ex- 
 pedition, and described the wonders of the distant paradise- 
 The very next day appeared the Pinta. It came from Bayonne 
 in Galicia, at which place it had first touched the Portuguese 
 shore, and from whence Pinzon had despatched a letter ta 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, in order to communicate to them the 
 happy news, and to beg an audience. 
 
 But the monarchs, remembering their agreement with Co- 
 lumbus, had directed him to go to Palos and there await 
 the Admiral, in whose train he might appear at court. This 
 ungracious answer broke the heart of the proud and self- 
 conscious man, who could not bear to be in subjection to a' 
 foreigner, whose superior he considered himself to be. An 
 illness with which he had been attacked shortly before his 
 landing quickly grew worse, and carried him off in a few days. 
 But the Pinzons, whose support had been of such service to 
 Columbus's undertaking, now withdrew ; and this may have 
 
Christopher ColiLmbus. i8 
 
 o 
 
 had a good deal to do with the rapid and most unfavourable 
 change of public opinion concerning Columbus. 
 
 A glorious triumph awaited the great discoverer on his 
 arrival, and it was the greatest moment of his life. Those who 
 previously had expressed a doubt as to the result of his plan, 
 and, indeed, had laughed at the fanatic, now felt themselves 
 bound to make up for their mistrust by their ostentatious 
 applause ; and those who had always taken Columbus's part 
 now proudly joined their friend, a part of whose glory they 
 felt reflected upon themselves. 
 
 After he, accompanied by his whole crew, had fulfilled the 
 vow made during the late storm, he went to Seville, where 
 he made his entrance on Palm Sunday, surrounded by a re- 
 joicing crowd, who could not satisfy themselves with gazing 
 at the curiosities he had brought with him. Here he awaited 
 the answer of the monarchs to the report which he had des- 
 patched to them immediately after landing at Palos. When 
 it arrived he could read in the inscription what a gracious re- 
 ception awaited him. It ran thus : " To Don Christopher 
 Columbus, our Admiral on the Seas, and Viceroy and Gover- 
 nor of the islands discovered in the Indies." The letter was 
 full of most flattering congratulations^ and invited him to 
 appear at the court, which was then residing at Barcelona, 
 the second great harbour of Spain, 
 
 He began the journey immediately, and arrived before 
 Barcelona in the middle of April. His entrance into the city 
 became a great triumphal procession, exceeding the boldest 
 flights of his fancy. A glittering troop of horsemen met him 
 before the town and preceded him as he entered ; then fol- 
 lowed six Indians (the rest Columbus had left behind in 
 Seville sick) ; then came noble pages carrying parrots, stufl'ed 
 animals, and other curiosities, with open chests full of gold 
 ornaments ; and lastly, Columbus on horseback in splendid 
 attire, attended by the chief men of the two kingdoms. With 
 
184 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 tlie festive pealing of the bells and the deafening shouts of 
 the populace who crowded the streets, the procession reached 
 the market-place, where, on a balcony erected for the occasion, 
 the King and Queen awaited the Admiral. On his appearance 
 King Ferdinand rose, and when Columbus knelt and kissed 
 the hands of the royal pair the King raised him and invited 
 him to be seated — the greatest honour a Spanish monarch 
 can show a subject. 
 
 Columbus had frequently in unconstrained intercourse with 
 the Prince to relate his adventures, and he was often seen 
 riding by the side of the King. A significant coat-of-arms 
 was bestowed upon him. In the two upper fields were the 
 castle of Castile and the lion of Leon, while below to the 
 right was a sea full of islands, and to the left five anchors. 
 The globe and cross on the helmet of the coat-of-arms, and 
 the inscription, " Columbus found a new world for Castile and 
 Leon," were apparently added later. And this brilliant 
 reception by the Princes corresponded to the homage which 
 the proud nobility and all classes of the people offered him. 
 We may rejoice fervently that the Admiral was thus recom- 
 pensed for his many years of disappointment and suffering, 
 and we cannot grudge him the proud pleasure of seeing himself, 
 though of lowly birth, raised to the highest honours. Still we 
 cannot help anticipating a reaction after such extraordinary 
 favour, and feel that at the latest it must ensue as soon as it 
 was found out that the newly-discovered land was not India, 
 the way to which might yet be found by the Portuguese. For 
 all this immoderate rejoicing arose from the delusion that, if it 
 Avas not actual!)' India that had been discovered, India could 
 at any rate be very easily reached from the lands found by 
 Columbus, and there was a most discreditable pleasure in the 
 minds of the Spaniards at the thought of the disappointment 
 of the hated Portuguese. 
 
 The enthusiastic descriptions of Columbus of the riches of 
 
ENTRY OF COLUMBUS INTO BARCELONA. 
 
Christopher Columbus. 185 
 
 the lands he had discovered aroused the whole people ; the 
 sanguine man reckoned with the greatest confidence how 
 many millions of gold the colonists he had left behind would 
 have collected before his return, and drew such exaggerated 
 .and enticing pictures of the ease with which treasures might 
 be collected that a perfect gold fever took possession of the 
 whole nation, and it was not without justice that a charge of 
 deception was subsequently brought against him. 
 
 The Government contemplated colonising in a great measure 
 the discovered lands, and consented to all the projects formed 
 hy the Admiral with that view, while they appointed Juan 
 Rodriquez de Fonseca, afterwards Bishop of Badajoz, to 
 superintend the necessary supplies and to conclude the con- 
 tracts. 
 
 As early as the 8th of May Columbus left Barcelona and 
 betook himself to Andalusia, where all the preparations were 
 carried forward with energy. Seventeen ships, including three 
 large merchant-ships^ were made ready, on which embarked 
 15,000 men, among whom were many farm labourers and 
 soldiers. Among the adherents of Columbus were now many 
 important personages, especially the great pilot Juan de la Cosa, 
 and the heroic nobleman Alonso de Ojeda. A number of 
 priests were to open the Christian mission among the Indians, 
 All kinds of European animals, and among them horses, were 
 shipped off for the new. colony, and every one prophesied a 
 rapid prosperity. These important preparations delayed the 
 departure of the fleet, and it was not until September 25th, 
 1493, that it sailed from Cadiz, steering first for the Canary 
 Islands, where the cargo of domestic animals was to be com- 
 pleted. On the 13th of October they left the island of Ferro, 
 and crossed the ocean without any adventures worthy of 
 mention. 
 
 The Admiral this time steered rather more to the south, in 
 the hope of reaching more directly India itself Thus he 
 
1 86 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 enjoyed the full benefit of the trade wind which brought him 
 in sight of land after a prosperous voyage of twenty-one days. 
 It was the Lesser Antilles, which stretch northward in a half 
 circle from the mouth of Orinoco to the Greater Antilles. 
 The first land, which was seen on Sunday the 3rd of November, 
 was called Dominica. Without touching it, the ship turned 
 towards the north, and the same day a flat island was dis- 
 covered, which was named after the Admiral's ship, Maria: 
 Galante. The next day there appeared a larger island with 
 lofty mountains, which received the name of Guadaloupe, after 
 a famous shrine in Spain. Columbus landed there. The 
 inhabitants, Caribs, fled to the woods, but some women and 
 children, who appeared to be prisoners taken by the Caribs 
 in one of their raids, came to implore protection from the 
 Spaniards. The latter examined the forsaken huts, and from 
 their appearance concluded that the inhabitants belonged to 
 a higher grade of civilisation than those of Hispaniola. But 
 to their horror they found in most of the huts human flesh 
 being prepared for eating. 
 
 After a delay of some days, caused by some of their crew 
 being lost in the woods, they left the island. Proceeding on 
 their Avay they met a canoe, with eight men and women, and 
 sent their boats out to seize it ; but the Caribs being over- 
 taken offered a desperate resistance and wounded two 
 Spaniards with their poisoned arrows. Even when their boat 
 was sunk they continued to fight, swimming, and took refuge 
 on a rock almost covered by the water, and from which, how- 
 ever, they were dragged one by one and brought on board 
 bound. Even then they were violent and resembled " Lybian 
 lions caught in nets." They were well formed and had long 
 thick hair and no beard. They cut off their front hair and 
 painted circles round their eyes, which increased the wildness 
 of their appearance. 
 
 The voyage was continued in a north-westerly direction 
 
Christopher Coluinbtts. 187' 
 
 through a number of httle islands, to which Columbus gave- 
 the name of St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins. 
 Then they came to a large island, now called Porto Rico. 
 Though the coasts appeared attractive, Columbus could 
 not be induced to make a stay there, as he was impelled for- 
 ward by a lively anxiety for those left behind in Natividad. 
 Porto Rico being passed, he soon reached the north coast 
 of Hayti, along which he continued his journey with such' 
 haste that on the 27th of November the squadron came to- 
 anchor off the spot where eleven months before he had 
 built the little fort. But his salute was not responded to. 
 No boat put off from the shore, and a mysterious silence 
 reigned. Then the presentiment of a great misfortune came 
 over Columbus, a presentiment that he found only too true 
 when he landed. The fort lay in ashes, and every here 
 and there were the remains of the unhappy garrison. By 
 degrees the mystery which enveloped their fate was cleared 
 up, chiefly by the account of Guacanagari, who, detained 
 by illness, could not come to visit the Admiral, but was 
 visited by him. Shortly after the departure of Columbus, 
 the Spaniards had given themselves up to all sorts of evil 
 courses, had become disunited, and the greater part of them 
 had been killed during a plundering expedition into the land 
 of Maguana by the cacique of that country, the warlike 
 Caonabo. This chief had then invaded the land of Marien, 
 burnt the fort, destroying the little garrison, whose commander 
 Arana, taking refuge in a boat, had been drowned with all 
 his companions. Guacanagari himself, who related this un- 
 happy story, represented himself as having been wounded 
 in battle with Caonabo, and many of his subjects had fresh 
 wounds, evidently made by Indian weapons. But the Spaniards 
 did not trust the cacique, and accounted him guilty of their 
 countrymen's death. Although this opinion was confirmed by 
 the flight of their Indian prisoners, yet the Admiral could not 
 
i88 A CenhLvy of Discovery. 
 
 persuade himself to bring to account this his first ally. 
 But the ships soon left this gloomy spot, seeking more to the 
 east a favourable place for the foundation of a new town. It 
 rose rapidly, and under the name of Isabella became the 
 first settlement of the Spaniards in the New World. But 
 very soon the insidious nature of the climate showed itself, 
 many of the colonists, including Columbus himself, being 
 struck down with sickness. As soon as he was tolerably 
 restored, he sent twelve of the ships home, to request new 
 supplies of men, animals, and provisions. As he felt that 
 these demands would excite surprise in Spain, where, 
 from his former prophecies, they would look rather for the 
 arrival of great riches, he renewed his glowing descriptions 
 of the abundance of gold in the island, especially in the in- 
 terior, where Ojeda had found earth containing gold. He 
 suggested also that the expenses of the repeated expeditions 
 might be covered by capturing and selling the Indians for 
 slaves. " Your Highness," he writes, " should send out every 
 year caravels with cattle, provisions, and implements for agri- 
 culture at a moderate price. The expense might be repaid 
 by sending back slaves, for which purpose the Caribs, once 
 tamed, would answer better than the other races, on account 
 of their strength, agility, and intelligence. With the help of 
 the boats which I am building here, they may be captured in 
 great numbers." 
 
 After sending off the fleet, Columbus, on March I2th, 
 .started for the interior, taking with him 400 men and a little 
 troop of horsemen. He penetrated without difficulty to the 
 -mountainous district of Cibao, meeting with a most friendly 
 reception from the Indians, who were greatly astonished at 
 the Spaniards' horses. The unmistakable abundance of gold 
 suggested to the Admiral the idea of securing the possession 
 of the country by building a fort. The work was begun im- 
 .mediately, and was completed in a few days. It stood on a 
 
Christopher Columbus. 189 
 
 height, protected by a river, and received the name of Saint 
 Thomas. It was garrisoned with fifty-two men, under the 
 command ,of the knight Pedro Margarite. Returning at the 
 end of the month to Isabella, Columbus undertook several 
 measures for the purpose of making the new colony inhabit- 
 able. He cut down the forests, cleared the land, began to 
 plant, and to build mills. He strained to the utmost the 
 powers of all in this work, making no exceptions in favour of 
 the nobles, and sparing only the sick, whose number the heat 
 increased every day. Thus in a land where they had ex- 
 pected to gather riches without any trouble, the emigrants 
 saw themselves compelled to hard labour, for worse pay than 
 they would have received in their own country. A dissatisfied 
 rebellious spirit soon showed itself among them, to which, in 
 isolated cases, Columbus opposed a relentless severity. Yet 
 he thought his position sufficiently secure to allow him to 
 resume his voyages of discovery. He appointed a council tO' 
 manage the government during his absence, in which was 
 the rancorous Benedictine monk Buil, and over which he 
 nominated his youngest brother, the quiet kind-hearted Diego 
 Columbus, president Then, on April 24th, 1494, he left the 
 harbour of Isabella with three ships and turned towards the 
 west. 
 
 He soon reached the east point of Cuba, which he believed 
 to be the most easterly point of the mainland. This time he 
 sailed along the south coast of the island. He found it every- 
 where well peopled, but when he inquired for the land of gold 
 the natives so invariably pointed to the south that he resolved 
 to go in that direction. After two days he came to land, the 
 island of Jamaica. The inhabitants, who resembled those of 
 Cuba and Hispaniola in appearance and manners, though 
 more warlike in their disposition, swarmed round the ship in 
 their canoes, which were ninety feet long, challenging the 
 Spaniards to an encounter. It was not until they had had a 
 
1 90 A CentiLry of Discovery. 
 
 "bloody lesson that they could he induced to carry on more 
 peaceful intercourse. Even then Columbus could obtain no 
 more certain knowledge about the wealth of the land, but was 
 again directed to the south. He followed the north coast until 
 he reached the western point of the land, which proved it to 
 be an island, and then he returned to what he imagined to be 
 the mainland, Cuba. But the navigation along the south 
 •coast was extremely difficult. Legions of little islands con- 
 tinually compelled the ship to keep close to the shore, and it 
 was frequently endangered by sandbanks and reefs. Not the 
 least sign appeared of any approach to the civilised states 
 ■of Asia, though a deceitful resemblance of names now and 
 .again raised false hopes. 
 
 On the I2th of June the patience of the Admiral was ex- 
 hausted. In order to assure himself against future reproaches, 
 he caused the assembled crews to take an oath, administered 
 •by the royal notary, that in Cuba they had discovered the 
 mainland, and not a mere island. If they should ever change 
 this opinion the officers were to be punished by the loss of 
 their tongues and a fine, and the common sailors by flogging. 
 By this singular document Columbus sought to quiet the ac- 
 cusations of his conscience, which told him how wrong it was 
 to return yet to Hispaniola. The voyage had been continued 
 along the south coast of Cuba as far as the Isla de Finos. If 
 •Columbus had only persevered for three days longer, he would 
 Jiave reached the west point of Cuba and would have proved 
 it to be an island. ' Then news certainly would have reached 
 him of Yucatan and Mexico, and he would probably have 
 been the first to reach the populous highly-civilised states of 
 that coast. The peculiarity of the culture possessed by their 
 natives would have removed the delusion that he had reached 
 the coast of Asia. From mere longing for Hispaniola Co- 
 lumbus forfeited the accomplishment of his great task. 
 
 On the return voyage they coasted along the hitherto un- 
 
Christopher Columbus. 191 
 
 visited south shore of Hispaniola, and were intending to pass 
 over to Porto Rico when the Admiral, who from fear of an ac- 
 cident had not closed his eyes for thirty-two nights, suddenly 
 fell ill. He lay in a deep lethargy without sight or hearing, 
 and the doctor doubted whether he would ever recover. The 
 ship was therefore turned round as quickly as possible, and 
 they steered for Isabella, where they arrived September 29th, 
 1494. That the sickness, which lasted five months, at length 
 abated Columbus owed to the faithful care of his brothers, 
 Diego and Bartholomew. The latter, himself an experienced 
 seaman, had been negotiating for Columbus at the English 
 court until the news reached him that the discovery of India 
 had fallen to the share of the Castilian crown. Then he 
 hastened to Spain, was well received by the court, raised to 
 the rank of a noble, and at last sent to the New World, having 
 under his command three ships. He arrived during the Ad- 
 miral's absence in Cuba and Jamaica, but on the return of 
 the latter he found many opportunities of assisting him, and in- 
 deed, on account of his manly bearing and keen intelligence, 
 soon became indispensable to him. 
 
 Already there appeared the first traces of those troubles 
 which soon rendered the very existence of the colony doubt- 
 ful. Many Spaniards seized the first opportunity to turn 
 their backs upon the New World. Thus Marguerite and 
 Buil had returned to Spain, where, by their exaggerated ac- 
 counts of their sufferings and by their complaints of Colum- 
 bus's rule, they aroused general attention. Others roamed 
 through the island, ill-treating the Indians, and thus exciting 
 the extreme hostility of the harmless people towards their 
 heartless persecutors. Already their cruelty had been re- 
 venged by the murder of a few scattered individuals, and the 
 caciques formed a secret alliance against the Spaniards. The 
 soul of this alliance was Caonabo. Already he had besieged 
 the bold Ojeda for thirty days in Saint Thomas, and at last 
 
192 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 had only been compelled to withdraw from want of supplies. 
 In him the Indians hoped they had found the liberator of 
 their island. Terrible therefore was the fear on the one 
 side, and great the joy on the other, when the dreaded cacique^ 
 by a deed of almost incredible heroism on the part of Ojeda,. 
 was brought prisoner to Isabella. The bold Spaniard, by 
 means of a cunning trick, induced Caonabo to allow some 
 bright jingling chains to be put on him. He then seized him^ 
 placed him on a horse, and by the threat of stabbing him if 
 he made the slightest resistance, succeeded in carrying him 
 off to a Spanish dungeon. 
 
 Columbus treated his prisoner with respect on account of 
 his rank and heroism ; he declined to sit in judgment upon 
 him himself, and subsequently took him with him to Spain ; 
 but he died on the voyage of a broken heart. Warned by 
 Guanacanagari, the Spaniards took measures for defence, and 
 Columbus marched out as soon as he was recovered, in the 
 spring of 1495, with 200 men and twenty horsemen to subdue 
 the island. The most formidable allies of the Spaniards were 
 the bloodhounds, who at a word from their masters threw 
 themselves on the naked Indians and tore them to pieces. 
 The poor creatures were perfectly defenceless against these 
 four-footed assistants of the two-legged devils, as they called 
 the Spaniards. 
 
 Soon every spark of opposition was extinguished in blood,, 
 and even the caciques themselves submitted. Guanonex, 
 one of the most powerful, gave his sister to the interpreter,. 
 Diego, to wife, and was obliged, like the rest, to suffer the 
 settlement of the Spaniards in his territory, and to allow the 
 building of forts. All the centre of the island was subdued,, 
 and Columbus was able to think of fulfilling, at the expense 
 of the vanquished race, the expectation of great riches that 
 he had excited in Spain. Five hundred prisoners were shipped 
 ofT in order to be sold in Seville as slaves, though, through 
 
Christopher ColiLinbus. 193 
 
 the interference of the gentle-hearted Isabella, they were sub- 
 sequently set free and returned to their native land. The fate 
 also of those who went unpunished was deplorable. The Ad- 
 miral laid upon every grown person a yearly tax of as much 
 gold dust as was contained in four little bells, in weight from 
 three to four ducats, or 100 pounds of cotton. This was the 
 death-warrant of the poor Indians ; they could not work. 
 Their life had hitherto been a peaceful enjoyment of the gifts, 
 which their glorious land yielded to them either of itself or 
 with slight trouble. Hard work, from which they reaped no 
 benefit themselves, took away all enjoyment from their exist- 
 ence. They fled in numbers to the mountains, and there 
 died of hunger. Of those who remained behind, numbers 
 committed suicide, casting away a life which the ill-usage 
 and licentiousness of the Spaniards rendered valueless. Co- 
 lumbus, however, saw with great satisfaction a vast treasure 
 of gold and cotton accumulating. 
 
 Then a heavy blow fell upon him, the forerunner of more 
 evil times which were yet to come. In October, 1495, Juan 
 Aguado suddenly appeared from Spain with a royal mandate 
 which, with laconic brevity, directed all the Spaniards then in 
 Hispaniola to refer to him. The monarchs had been moved 
 to send out this embassy by anxiety for Columbus, having 
 heard nothing of him for a long time. Besides, the evil re- 
 ports spread by Bull and Margarite had aroused in them con- 
 cern for the distant colony which had been founded at such cost. 
 From Aguado, whom Columbus had himself recommended to 
 them, they hoped to obtain certain information and, at the 
 same time, they proposed to cut down the exorbitant expense 
 caused by the wages and support of so many hundred colo- 
 nists, by reducing the number to five hundred. Columbus, 
 rendered uneasy by this step, resolved to proceed himself to 
 Spain that he might set himself right in the King's opinion. 
 He appointed his brother Bartholomew his substitute or Ade- 
 
 13 
 
1 94 A Ccnhiry of Discove7y. 
 
 latitado, and aiiant;"cd that in case of his death this power 
 should go to his younger brother Diego. By these appoint- 
 ments, although indeed ratified by I'^erdinand and Isabella, 
 he yet brought upon himself the displeasure of the Princes, 
 for they were caleuIaU-d t(^ cor.drni the reports spread by his 
 enemies that he wishetl, by the neglect of the general Spanish 
 interest, to make the island of Ilispaniola a private possession 
 of his own f.imily. 
 
 On the loth of March, 1496, he left the island with 220 
 men, embarking on two new ships. lie stayed for some 
 time among the Lesser Antilles, and arrived in the harbour 
 of Cadiz on the nth of June, after a voyage of fifty days, 
 which, except for a failure of provisions, was a very prospe- 
 rous one. lie met the King and Queen at Burgos, and suc- 
 ceeded once more in convincing them of the brilliant future 
 which lay before the West India Islands by presenting them 
 Avith the gold which he had collected in the last few years, 
 and by giving an exaggerated estimate of the revenue which 
 might be expected in the future. Chanca, the doctor and 
 notary who accompanied (.\ilumbus on this journey, says in 
 his report: " If the Admiral's people hail not been fonder of 
 sleep and idleness than work they would have brought with 
 them gold, amber, and Brazil wood in abundance. But 
 nuvst of them refused to obe\' his commands, as if they were 
 unjust." 
 
 Ct^Iumlnis obtaineil a number of favourable decrees, by one 
 of which all pri\'ate persons were forbidilen tt> make any 
 voyages of discovery to the West Indies ; for so deluded was 
 the great man that he dreamed of restraining the great impulse 
 of the age b)' a family monopoly. The most difficult question 
 was that of money. The ceaseless demands which Columbus 
 made in behalf of the colony on the royal purse were con- 
 stantly met by evasions and refusal on the part of Fonseca, 
 the Minister for Indian AlTairs, and his conduct was justified 
 
Christophci' Columbus. 195 
 
 by the complete exhaustion of the treasury. In order to 
 lessen the serious expense of the pay of the colonists, Colum- 
 bus made the unhappy proposition that Hispaniola should be 
 used as a place of banishment for condemned criminals, whom 
 he hoped to turn into docile and grateful colonists. Unfor- 
 tunately this proposition was adopted, and Columbus subse- 
 quently had to suffer much from the evil elements which 
 were thus let loose among a population already rebellious 
 and indolent. 
 
 Still, however, the equipment of the new squadron, which 
 Columbus was to conduct to the New World, was delayed. 
 It was not until January, 1498, that he could despatch two 
 ships to Hispaniola ; and the remaining six ships, which the 
 Seville house of Gianotto Berardi from Florence was com- 
 missioned to equip, were not ready to sail until May. How 
 impatiently he bore these delays we may see, not only from 
 his conduct to a subordinate of Fonseca's, but also from a 
 passage in the next letter which he despatched to Ferdinand 
 and Isabella from the New World. " I was," he writes, "still 
 suffering from the hardships of my earlier journeys, and I had 
 hoped to have found repose in Spain after my return from the 
 Indies ; but, on the contrary, I found only trouble and vexa- 
 tion." 
 
 From the Canary Islands he sent on the 21st of June, half 
 the squadron to Hispaniola, in order to announce his arrival, 
 and to satisfy the most urgent needs of the colony. He him- 
 self with three ships went to the Cape Verde Islands, and 
 from thence struck out in a south-westerly direction, in order 
 if possible to reach India at some point near the equator. In 
 this design he was strengthened by Jacob Ferrer from Barce- 
 lona, the Queen's jeweller, who assured him that the proper 
 home of gold and jewels was only to be found in the tropics. 
 But after a journey of many weeks, the calms and the terrible 
 heat, which threatened to burst the seams of the ship and to 
 
 13—2 
 
196 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 melt the tar, made him give up his design and sail more de- 
 cidedly to the north and north-west. 
 
 In this way, on the 31st of July, Trinidad was discovered, 
 which lies in 10 degrees north latitude, off the coast of South 
 America ; and the next day, the ist of August, South America 
 itself came in sight, the first part of the mainland which Colum- 
 bus touched. It was the inhospitable delta of the Orinoco ; 
 and the desolate appearance of the land, which he took for an 
 island, prevented him from landing and exploring it, and de- 
 termined him to sail through the narrow straits which he saw 
 before him to the west. 
 
 In the night the ships were almost swamped by a great 
 tide-wave which poured through the strait ; and next morning 
 the passage was effected only after a hard conflict with 
 the stream. The ships then found themselves in a basin that 
 was almost enclosed, and which the people on the shore called 
 Paria. Into it such mighty streams flowed that for some 
 distance it had no salt taste. 
 
 This made Columbus doubtful about his idea of the insular 
 form of the land. " If it should be a continent," he says in 
 his diarj^ " the learned world will be very much astonished 
 about it." But with this suspicion of the truth he soon 
 mingles a highly fanciful mistake. He thinks that at this 
 place he has discovered a wart-like swelling of the earth, so 
 that the shape of the world is less like that of a ball than of a 
 pear ; and in this way he explains the force and rapidity of 
 the streams. He also imagines that the land from which 
 they come is no other than Paradise, situated in the south-east 
 of Asia, and by its height saved at the time of the flood. 
 
 But instead of either confirming or disproving these ideas 
 by a longer examination, the Admiral turned his back 
 upon this land of wonders, and forcing a passage through 
 the dangerous Dragon's Mouth, hastened by the Island ]\Tar- 
 gucrita to Plispanicla, whither most important interests sum- 
 
Christopher Columbus. ic^y 
 
 moned him. If he found everything in a prosperous con- 
 dition there, he resolved to send his brother Bartholomew to 
 make a further examination of the new land. Thus he forerot 
 that his object had been to discover China and India, and 
 allured by enjoyment and possession, he abandoned any 
 further glory as a discoverer. 
 
 On the 31st of August he entered St. Domingo, the new 
 Spanish town which, at the command of the Admiral, his 
 brother Bartholomew had built in his absence on the south 
 coast of Hispaniola, and from which subsequently the whole 
 island took its name. 
 
 Shortly before Columbus had touched the mainland of 
 America, it had been discovered much farther north by a bold 
 adventurer. Sebastian Cabot, the son of a Venetian family who 
 had settled in Bristol, had with his father Giovanni sailed, in 
 1497, on a voyage of discovery under the royal flag of England, 
 and on the 24th of June, 1497, 402 days before Columbus, 
 had in north latitude 56 found an inhospitable coast, the 
 peninsula of Labrador. On a second voyage, 1498, he suc- 
 ceeded in rediscovering Newfoundland, whose valuable cod- 
 fishery has been from that time to this a source of wealth to 
 both England and France. 
 
 He also both in his second and third voyages touched on 
 the coast of North America, and explored it for some distance 
 in a southerly direction ; but by degrees this was almost for- 
 gotten, since all eyes were directed to the gold lands which 
 had been discovered by the Spaniards and Portuguese. Yet 
 we can judge of the extent of Cabot's voyages, by the fact 
 that in 1500 the Spaniards found traces of the presence of 
 English ships in the Bahama Islands. 
 
 The indefatigable man for a time entered tte Spanish ser- 
 vice, but quitted it again; and in 15 17 started from Bristol to 
 find the North-west Passage, the conclusion in the meantime 
 having been generally arrived at that the lands hitherto dis- 
 
198 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 covered formed part of a continent of their own. It is true 
 that he did not attain his object, being compelled to return by 
 a mutiny among his men ; but according to his diaries and 
 maps, he penetrated far into that labyrinthine archipelago of 
 islands lying north of Hudson's Bay, which has been more 
 thoroughly explored only in the present century. 
 
 Contemporaneously with Cabot, the Portuguese family Cor- 
 tereal, in which the governorship of Terceira, one of the 
 Azores, was hereditary, undertook a succession of expeditions 
 to the north-west. In 1500 they discovered the coast of 
 Greenland, and in 1501 the woody shores of a land more to 
 the south, which, from the bodily strength of its inhabitants, 
 whom they thought to make slaves of, they called Labrador, 
 or "the labourers' land." But when in subsequent years a 
 number of ships were lost, and in them the most active 
 members of the family, King Emanuel forbade the dangerous 
 voyages to be continued. 
 
 Both Sebastian Cabot and Caspar Cortereal have been 
 cited by the English and Portuguese to prove that to 
 them and not to the Spaniards belongs the glory of the dis- 
 covery of America. But Cabot alone did in reality land on 
 the New World before Columbus. And even this discovery, 
 which occurred almost five years after the landing of the great 
 Genoese on Guanahani, had scarcely any efifect on the gradual 
 conquest and settlement of the New World. Indeed, the 
 English let nearly seventy years pass away before they made 
 another attempt to visit the lands discovered by Cabot, whose 
 voyages by that time they had almost forgotten. They are 
 therefore not in a position to contest the glory of Columbus," 
 the discoverer of the New World. 
 
 When Columbus ran into the harbour of St. Domingo, at 
 the end of August, 1498, he found awaiting him news that 
 were far from cheering with regard to the state of the colony. 
 The energetic Adelantado had successfully put down a 
 
Christopher Cohunbus. 199 
 
 Tising of the natives under the leadership of the cacique 
 Guarionex, and also after a ceaseless pursuit in the mountains 
 for three months had captured the ringleader. But a much 
 more serious danger threatened the colony. A conspiracy 
 among the Spaniards themselves, some of whom had been 
 punished for cruelty to the natives, was formed against Bar- 
 tholomew, and at its head was the Chief Justice Roldan, a 
 man whom the Admiral had advanced. The conspirators did 
 not indeed succeed in getting possession of the fort, but their 
 ungovernable behaviour caused the greatest anxiety. Some 
 seventy men strong, but with a camp following of lOO Indian 
 women and burden-bearers, they withdrew to the west coast 
 of Hispaniola, which as yet had been little touched by the 
 Spaniards, and where was the kingdom of Xaragua, governed 
 by a family of caciques favourable to the foreigners. Here 
 they established themselves, and behaved like lords of the 
 land, subjecting the natives to all kinds of ill-treatment. 
 
 When those three ships which Columbus had sent out from 
 the Canary Islands, by an unlucky accident landed in 
 Xaragua, it was easy for Roldan from among the convicts 
 whom they carried to persuade a considerable number to join 
 the rebels. This he did by drawing a most enticing picture 
 of a life of complete idleness full of unbounded pleasure. 
 Grown confident by this accession to their numbers, on 
 October 17th the rebels solemnly renounced their allegiance 
 to the Admiral, and he found himself powerless against them. 
 Even by those who remained faithful he was little loved, for 
 in his efforts to secure as large a share as possible for the 
 Crown and for himself, he had often run counter to the in- 
 terests of others, and brought upon himself the charge of 
 being hardhearted and avaricious. He was also most anxious 
 to prevent anything from occurring which might shake still 
 more the confidence of the monarchs in his powers of ad- 
 ministration. He therefore entered into negotiation with the 
 
200 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 rebels, but a year elapsed before it was brought to a success- 
 ful conclusion. 
 
 By the treaty of September 28, 1499, Roldan was restored to 
 his office of Chief Justice, his friends were granted assigna- 
 tions of service from the natives, the payment of their wages 
 during the whole time of their rebellion, and the right to ex- 
 tort the fulfilment of these conditions by force of arms. 
 Though the Admiral showed himself so conciliatory, it was 
 with the intention, as he informs the monarchs, of breaking 
 his promises on the first opportunity, an intention which he 
 tried to justify to his conscience by all kinds of sophistry. 
 In fact, he took advantage of a renewal of the disturbances to 
 arrest and execute some of the insurgents, leaving others to- 
 languish in prison. 
 
 At last his dreams seemed about to be fulfilled. The 
 labour of the Indians, who tilled the fields for the Spaniards, 
 brought in sufficient for the supply of the colony ; and the 
 the mines of Cibao, let out by the Admiral to certain persons, 
 paid the wages of the colonists, and produced also consider- 
 able sums for the Crown and the Admiral. Columbus began 
 to look forward with hope to the future, but he awoke from 
 his dreams to a dismal reality. 
 
 The rebels had several times found means to send letters to- 
 the monarchs of Spain, in which they made most vehement 
 accusations against Columbus, representing themselves as 
 victims of the selfish family policy of the Admiral. These 
 reports, added to the curses of the hundreds who returned,, 
 disappointed, sick, beggared, from the countries which had 
 been represented to them as golden lands and paradise, raised 
 to the highest pitch the mistrust which Columbus's govern- 
 ment of the new colony had excited many years before. 
 Fonseca and the rest of the zealous ministers were irritated 
 at his arbitrariness and constant demands for money. Ferdi- 
 nand's suspicious character was alarmed at the great power 
 
Christopher Columbics. 201 
 
 which was united in one hand in a country so remote, and 
 he feared his royal authority would suffer ; and Isabella, who 
 had till now been the Admiral's protector, was offended by the 
 actual illtreatment of royal officers, and by the sale of captured. 
 Indians constantly repeated in spite of prohibition. And 
 lastly the glory which had shone till now round the great 
 discoverer was suddenly dimmed by the return of Vasco da 
 Gama from his voyage, bringing proofs that the boasted 
 discoveries of the Spaniards were not, as they had proclaimed 
 them to be, the Indies. The latter were forced to confess 
 their error and with inward bitterness see the relations re- 
 versed, and the hated Portuguese, who till now had looked at 
 Spain with envy, in possession of all the endless treasures of 
 the East. 
 
 Compared to one cargo of Vasco da Gama, all that had 
 poured into Spain from the New World, since the discovery 
 of Guanahani, was unimportant and worthless. This change 
 of feeling naturally altered the public opinion of Columbus : 
 if he were not a deceiver, he was himself deluded, a fanatic. 
 Such was the disposition of mind in which the Princes received 
 the letters of Columbus, describing his journey and arrival in 
 Hispaniola. They heard with consternation of the disorder 
 reigning in the colony, and were particularly concerned at 
 the determination expressed by Columbus, to extirpate, if 
 necessary, the rebels to the last man. They feared the 
 Admiral v/ould be carried away by his passions into hasty and 
 unjust actions, and they more and more lent an ear to the 
 accusations of his enemies. 
 
 After much consideration it was determined to remove 
 Columbus for a time from his ofhce, and to appoint a suc- 
 cessor, to bring the colony into order. The new Governor 
 was to be allowed to make fresh appointments to all the 
 offices and to remove any persons at his pleasure. This was 
 indeed to be only a temporary measure, and the rights of the 
 
202 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Admiral were to remain untouched. Unfortunately the choice 
 of the monarchs for an office, which certainly ought to have 
 been filled only by a man of the greatest caution and tact, 
 fell upon the hot-headed Francis de Bobadilla. 
 
 In June, 1500, the new Governor left Spain, and arrived in 
 St. Domingo on the 23rd of August. He was able to obtain 
 possession of the government without any resistance, for he 
 at once drew all to his side by the promise of the pay 
 which was in arrears. In the most undignified manner he 
 chose to upset everything which Columbus had established. 
 He heaped favours upon Roldan and his adherents, remitted 
 the tenth to the settlers, with a free permission to dig for 
 gold, promising every one an unrestrained golden life. "Scrape 
 together what you can, who knows how long it may last," he 
 is reported to have said to somebody, and he himself set them 
 the example. With the greatest effrontery he took possession 
 of the Admiral's house, and all he found in it. Columbus 
 writes with regard to this in his letter to Ferdinand and 
 Isabella: "The Commendador (Bobadilla) on his arrival 
 seized my house and, to be brief, appropriated its contents. 
 Perhaps, indeed, he wanted it, but no corsair could have 
 treated a merchant worse." 
 
 Columbus's brother, and afterwards himself, coming peace- 
 ably to St. Domingo, were arrested and thrown into chains. 
 An examination carried on secretly naturally called forth a 
 number of charges against the fallen man, and produced a 
 long accusation, which, with the three prisoners, was sent to 
 Europe. When Columbus was committed a prisoner to 
 Alonso de Valleja, who was to take him to Spain, he thought 
 at first that he was going to be taken to execution, and was 
 only pacified on the repeated assurance of Valleja that such 
 was not the case. As soon as the anchor was weighed Valleja 
 approached the Admiral and off"ered to relieve him from his 
 chains, but the latter waved him back, saying that the chains 
 
COLUMBUS SENT IN CHAINS TO SPAIN. 
 
Ch7''tstophe7'' ColiLinbus. 203 
 
 with which their majesties had loaded him should only be 
 removed at their command, and that he should then preserve 
 them to remind him of the reward which the Spanish crown 
 had granted him for his faithful service. 
 
 At the end of November, 1500, the ships arrived at Cadiz, 
 and quick as lightning spread the news that the Admiral, 
 whom seven years before every one had gone out to meet in 
 triumph, was now brought home in chains at the command of 
 the Princes. The public opinion of Spain was unanimous in 
 condemning the unworthy manner in which they had treated 
 the great benefactor of the nation. Even Ferdinand and 
 Isabella were indignant when they heard of Bobadilla's con- 
 duct. They sent immediately a command to Cadiz to set the 
 Admiral at liberty, and treat him with due honour. They 
 sent to himself a present of 2000 ducats and an invitation to 
 come to their court at Granada. There Columbus appeared 
 on the 17th of December, and cast himself with bitter tears 
 before their throne. Greatly moved, the King and Queen 
 raised him up. The generous Isabella could not restrain 
 her tears at the thought of the injustice that had been 
 done in her name to such a faithful subject. The least 
 satisfaction that could be granted to a man so injured 
 was the deposition of Bobadilla, who had far exceeded his 
 commission, and it was immediately determined upon. But 
 when the first impulse had spent itself there was considerable 
 hesitation as to the advisability of restoring Columbus to his 
 command. Would not the impetuous man abuse his power 
 against all who had contributed to his fall, and was there not 
 important testimony to prove that in the government of His- 
 paniola he had not succeeded in winning the love and trust 
 of the settlers } It appeared better to entrust to an impartial 
 man the adjustment of the vexed questions and the tranquil- 
 lising of irritated feeling. Such a man the Princes thought 
 they had found in Don Nicolas de Ovando, an unselfish and 
 
204 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 strictly just man, who, on the 3rd of September, 1501, was 
 appointed governor of Hispaniola. The trustworthy lawyer 
 Maldonado was sent out with him to examine into the conduct 
 of Bobadilla and Roldan. 
 
 The invitation to accompany the new governor to the 
 transatlantic settlement, which was now to be reduced to 
 order, met with an extraordinary response from the Spanish 
 people. On the thirty-two ships 2500 persons left Spain, with 
 Ovando, on the 13th of February, 1502. It was with pain 
 that Columbus saw himself thus pushed aside, and even though 
 the monarchs treated him with kindness and assured him 
 that his claims to the tenth part of the produce of the colony 
 should remain undisputed, yet, from the scant intercourse 
 with Hispaniola, it was inevitable that Columbus should 
 sometimes be in want, especially as he had returned to Spain 
 without any money. 
 
 This inactive waiting was hard to bear, since it might be 
 years before he were re-installed, and he saw, Avith bitter 
 vexation, how every year numbers of bold men set out to 
 discover lands which he had reserved for himself. For as 
 early as the year 1499 the crown had taken off the absurd 
 prohibition of all private undertakings which the selfishness 
 of Columbus had procured, and since that time large extents 
 of coast had been discovered on the other side of the Atlantic 
 Ocean. The bold Alonso de Ojeda had, in 1499, discovered 
 the coast of South America as far as the river Amazon, and 
 after that a great part of the north coast. Also, the experienced 
 seaman, Per Alonso Nino, and Vincente Yanez Pinzon, 
 who in 1492 had commanded the Nina, had set out "on 
 discoveries. While the former brought back a great treasure 
 of gold and pearls from the island Margarita, Pinzon, who 
 sailed S.S.W. from the Canary Islands, was the discoverer of 
 the Brazils, since, on the 26th January, 1500, almost three 
 months before the landing of Cabral, he discovered Cape St. 
 
Christopher Columbus. 205 
 
 Augustine, and from that point followed the coast towards the 
 north as far as the Caribean Sea. Lastly, Rodrigo de Bastidas 
 who, accompanied by the great seaman Juan de la Cosa, had 
 sailed from Seville in 1500, completed the investigation of 
 the north coast of South America by steering steadily west- 
 ward from Venezuela until he reached Darien. He also had 
 brought home great treasures with him. 
 
 When now Ojeda prepared for a second voyage, Columbus 
 was afraid that his glory as a discoverer would be still more 
 diminished, and offered himself to the crown for a new expe- 
 dition into unknown regions. Thus we see the great man by 
 a number of painful circumstances restored to his true vocation, 
 which unfortunately he had forsaken. The monarchs eagerly 
 accepted the proposal of the Admiral. It was arranged that 
 the object of this voyage should be to reach China and India; 
 for between Cuba, which was still considered part of the 
 Asiatic mainland, and the coast of South America it was the 
 universal idea that there must be, towards the south-west, a 
 passage to India. After the departure of the great fleet which 
 had sailed with Ovando to Hispaniola, it was not easy to 
 provide Columbus with a sufficient squadron, and therefore he 
 was obliged to content himself with four ships and 150 sailors. 
 Besides his brother Bartholomew, he was accompanied by his 
 younger son, Ferdinand, who was born at Cordova on 
 September 27th, 1488, of Donna Beatrice Enriquez d'Arana, 
 and whose coolness in danger during this voyage is warmly 
 praised by his father. 
 
 On the 9th of May, 1502, Columbus left Cadiz, touched at 
 the Canary Islands on the 26th of May, and after a voyage of 
 unparalleled prosperity reached Matinono, now called Mar- 
 tinique, which had not been visited by him previously. Instead 
 of proceeding immediately to discover the west passage, he 
 could not resist the temptation of showing himself again free 
 and in authority to his beloved Hispaniola, which had seen 
 
206 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 him depart in chains, and thus infringed a distinct command 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella. For the monarchs, in their well- 
 founded fears that a visit of Columbus would renew the 
 irritation and disturb Ovando in his work of reconciliation, 
 had exacted a promise from the Admiral not to touch His- 
 paniola except on his way back from China. A desire to 
 exchange an unseaworthy ship for a better sailer formed his 
 excuse for breaking this promise. But Ovando, who followed 
 scrupulously the orders he himself had received, refused him 
 permission to enter the harbour of St. Domingo, and Columbus 
 experienced the bitter pain of being treated as an enemy 
 and repulsed from a land that he had presented to Spain. 
 The great fleet was lying ready for its return to Europe, but 
 leaving the safe harbour in spite of the warnings of Columbus, 
 it encountered a violent storm and was almost entirely 
 destroyed. In this fearful catastrophe Guarionex, Bobadilla, 
 Roldan, and other enemies of Columbus whom Ovando was 
 sending to Spain for trial, met their deaths. It was not only 
 to the Admiral that this appeared an act of divine retribution 
 upon those who had offended against him. 
 
 On the 14th of July the little squadron, which had taken 
 refuge from the violence of the storm in the shelter of a bay, 
 left the island of Hispaniola and steered for the west. Jamaica 
 was only touched at, and on the 30th of July the ships anchored 
 before Guanaja, a coral island in what is now called the Gulf 
 of Honduras, close to the coast of the mainland. While the 
 Spaniards were trying to make themselves understood by the 
 inhabitants, there approached them from the open sea a boat, 
 the workmanship of which struck Columbus with astonishment. 
 It was, indeed, only the trunk of a single tree hollowed out, but 
 in length it equalled a galley, and was eight feet wide. It had 
 an awning, made of reeds and leaves, for the commander and 
 his wives and children. This strange vessel came alongside 
 of the Spanish fleet without fear, and its crew immediately 
 climbed on board. 
 
Christopher Columbus. 207 
 
 At the first glance Columbus, now a practised observer^ 
 perceived that he had to do with people of a higher cultiva- 
 tion than those he had hitherto met. The men wore a gar- 
 ment round their waists, and the women were carefully con- 
 cealed in their wide mantles. They represented themselves 
 as merchants coming from a land called Maya, to exchange 
 their wares with less civilised people. Among these wares 
 Columbus mentions cotton-cloth, skilfully woven carpets, and 
 copper axes, knives, pans, vessels of stone, wood, and clay, and, 
 lastly, swords made of hard wood, in the blade of which were 
 placed great pieces of obsidian. They also brought a great quan- 
 tity of brown seeds, which they valued very highly, and which 
 v/ere unknown to the Spaniards. They were the seeds of the 
 cacao-tree, which were used as money at that time in Mexico 
 and Yucatan. 
 
 Although these remarkable Indians, who, at any rate, must 
 have come from Yucatan, extolled to Columbus the abund- 
 ance of silver in their country, and .spoke of its dense population, 
 yet he would not be persuaded to visit the land of Maya, the 
 name of which he immediately connected with the Chinese 
 province of Manchoo. He was rather strengthened in his 
 original plan by the information that they gave him of gold 
 lands to the south-east. Thus for the third time Columbus 
 put off visiting Yucatan and Mexico, the discovery of which 
 would have brought him new glory, and would have saved 
 him the bitter experience of the last years of his life. 
 
 Instead of this, the voyage continued to the south. But the 
 coast soon took a bend towards the south-east ; then directly 
 towards the east ; and it was difficult to make way along it on 
 account of the opposing winds and the stormy water. At last, on 
 the 1 2th of September, a cape was reached, and beyond that 
 the coast again took a most decidedly southerly direction. At 
 the sight of this a great burden fell from the soul of the Ad- 
 miral, who for a moment had begun to doubt the possibility 
 
2o8 A Cenht,ry of Discovery. 
 
 of finding a passage to the south-west, and full of joyful thank- 
 fulness to God, he named the cape, which now is generally- 
 called Cape Honduras, Gracias a Dios. 
 
 Still struggling against opposing winds, the squadron sailed 
 in a southerly direction, to the barren coast of what is now 
 called Mosquito Land, until it reached smiling regions thickly 
 peopled. Columbus did not doubt that he was on the eastern 
 •coast of the so-called Golden peninsula — that was the name 
 given by Ptolemy to the Malay peninsula in Further India ; 
 and in this delusion he was strengthened, not only by the 
 riches of the country, but also by the information which he 
 received from the Indians, that nine days' journey to the Avest 
 there was another sea. According to Columbus's idea, this 
 could be nothing else but the Bay of Bengal ; and so he re- 
 peatedly assured himself that he was only ten days' journey 
 from the Ganges. Thus he was mistaken by not less than 
 1 80° — half the circumference of the globe. But so certain was 
 he of the justice of his idea, that he believed the south point 
 of the peninsula to be quite close, and eagerly pursued his 
 course, in spite of the stormy weather. But the coast bent 
 round again to the east, and he could scarcely hide from him- 
 self any longer that he had reached the coasts discovered by 
 Ojeda and Bastidas. 
 
 Fortune did not allow Columbus to correct his mistake. 
 On the 5th of December he was obliged by the violence of 
 the contrary winds to return; he had arrived at the narrowest 
 part of the Isthmus of Panama. Only a few days more, and 
 he would have reached coasts where he must have found clear 
 traces of the recent visit of Spanish ships — coasts the con- 
 nection of which with Paria, which he himself had discovered, 
 had been proved. But, just as on his second journey to the 
 south coast of Cuba, he turned round at the decisive moment, 
 and so died in the belief that Hispaniola was Japan, Cuba a 
 peninsula of Asia, the Isthmus of Panama the peninsula of 
 
Christopher Columbus. 209 
 
 Malacca, and that between the latter and the north coast of 
 South America, which he supposed to be an enormous island, 
 there must be a passage to the Indian Seas, and that this way 
 would prove shorter and less dangerous than the Portuguese 
 way round the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 The ships continued to suffer from rough weather on their 
 return voyage, and in a few days it increased to such violence 
 that destruction was hourly expected. But after some weeks' 
 cruising about, they came to anchor at the mouth of a river 
 on the coast of Veragua, which they had passed some months 
 before. To the general surprise, it appeared that they were 
 in a land of gold, the riches of which, as far as could be dis- 
 covered from expeditions that Bartholomew made in February, 
 1503, appeared to be inexhaustible. They proceeded imme- 
 diately to erect huts, where fifty men, with the Adelantado at 
 their head, determined to remain as the nucleus of a colony. 
 Fortunately the departure of the ships was delayed by a sand- 
 bank which the dry weather formed at the mouth of the river; 
 for just when they had intended to depart, the Indians, em- 
 bittered by a rash attack which the Adelantado had made 
 against the most powerful Prince of the land — Quibia — made 
 so violent an assault on the young settlement that it was 
 evident it could not be held. With considerable loss — thir- 
 teen Spaniards were killed, many wounded, and both the 
 boats lost — the colonists succeeded in getting on board, and 
 thereupon, on the 20th of April, the fleet left the inhospit- 
 able coast, abandoning the fourth ship, which was no longer 
 ■seaworthy. 
 
 For the same reason they were obliged to forsake and sink 
 another ship on the open sea. The two remaining vessels 
 could scarcely be kept above water ; their keels were eaten 
 away by a kind of shell- fish, and there were such serious leaks 
 that the whole crew was continually employed at the pumps. 
 Fortunately the weather was favourable, and the ships were 
 
 14 
 
2IO A Centtiry of Discovery. 
 
 carried without wind by the currents to the north, until, on 
 the loth of May, they reached the south coast of Cuba. 
 
 Only Columbus knew where he was, and apparently he con- 
 firmed the mistake of the pilots, who thought they w^ere at 
 Porto Rico, in order to keep to himself the knowledge of 
 the gold land of Veragua. After only a short stay, steering- 
 south, he crossed over to Jamaica, and there he allowed the 
 two ships, which were only miserable wrecks, to run on to the 
 sand. He hoped that help would be sent him from the neigh- 
 bouring island of Hispaniola, where by some fortunate accident 
 they might soon hear of his distress. He also made the ex- 
 periment of sending two canoes to Hispaniola, to hire a ship 
 at his own expense. For this daring undertaking, which was 
 sometimes ventured upon by the Indians of Jamaica, he 
 chose his faithful secretary, Diego Mendez, and the Genoese 
 Bartholomew Fiesco. To each he gave six Spaniards and ten 
 native oarsmen. 
 
 The brave men reached the coast of Hispaniola after a four- 
 days' voyage, but did not succeed in doing much for those left 
 behind in Jamaica. The cold prudence of Ovando judged 
 that in the half-pacified state of the island the appearance of 
 the Admiral would be injudicious ; so he deferred giving an 
 answer to the envoys, and it was not until after seven long 
 months had elapsed that the faithful Mendez received per- 
 mission to hire a ship. It was only the open discontent of 
 the Spanish colonists that impelled Ovando at last to despatch 
 a small vessel to inquire about the condition of the Admiral. 
 
 Before the departure of Fiesco and Mendez, Columbus 
 had been ill, and even when he was able now and then- to 
 leave his bed he was obliged to remain in one of the wrecks, 
 in which he had fixed his dwelling. There the account of the 
 journey for Ferdinand and Isabella was written, which, dated 
 the 7th of July, he committed to the care of Mendez. The 
 style of this remarkable letter is very melancholy. In con- 
 
Christopher Cohimbiis. 211 
 
 trast to his earlier letters, there is a striking want of order in his 
 relation of facts, and only every now and then he launches 
 forth in the lively descriptions of nature and in the exag- 
 gerated calculations which occur so often in his other writings. 
 Humboldt has already pointed out that the peculiarities spring 
 from the deep excitement of a proud soul, hurt by a long 
 course of injustice and deceived in its most cherished hopes. 
 In bitter words he holds up before the monarchs the ingrati- 
 tude which they had shown him, and breaks out in the most 
 piteous complaints. "Where is the man," writes he, "not 
 even excepting Job, unhappier than I ? The very harbours 
 which I discovered at the peril of my life refused me a refuge 
 from the death which threatened me, my young son, my 
 brother, and my friends. The service, pains, and dangers of 
 twenty years have brought me no gain. At this present time 
 I possess not a brick in Spain, and inns alone offer me shelter 
 when I need rest or a simple meal, though, alas ! I often have 
 not the money wherewith to pay the bill. For the same 
 reason I have left my son Don Diego in Spain, without the 
 means of subsistence and without a father, hoping that he 
 would find in your highnesses just and grateful Princes, who 
 w^ould repay him with interest that of which your service has 
 robbed him." In another place he plainly attacks his op- 
 ponents, particularly Fonseca. " Let him who has caused 
 
 these evils come and heal them if he can Favour and 
 
 honour ought to be granted to him who has exposed himself 
 to the dangers of the undertaking ; and it is unjust that he 
 who has opposed it should, together with his heir, reap the 
 profits." This disjointed account of his experiences is in^ 
 terrupted by a stubborn defence of his geographical blunders. 
 " The earth is not so large as people think ; six parts of its 
 surface are land, and only one-seventh is sea." Then come en- 
 thusiastic descriptions of the discovered treasures. Thus he 
 declares Veragua is the Ophir of the Bible, from which Solo- 
 
 14 — 2 
 
2 12 A Cenhijy of Discovery. 
 
 mon procured gold for the Temple ; and about the riches of 
 traditional lands, Ciambe and Ceguarra, which ought to lie 
 south-west of Veragua, he breaks out In the most exaggerated 
 style. More frequently too than was the case in his earlier 
 letters the religious fanaticism of his natural character be- 
 comes evident, as in the lofty description which he gives of 
 a vision he had had in January. A voice from Heaven had 
 reproved him for his faintheartedness, and had revealed to 
 liim the wisdom of the Divine ways. But the deepest vexa- 
 tion breaking out in passionate complaints is the great char- 
 acteristic of the letter. 
 
 Approaching events were not calculated to remove this 
 dejection. The crew, unoccupied and no longer bound to- 
 gether by active service, became most unruly, and neither the 
 sick Admiral nor the stern Adelantado could force them to 
 obedience. Under the idea that Columbus intended to hinder 
 their return, and would force them to remain as colonists on 
 the unhealthy coast, some fifty men, under the leadership of 
 two brothers, named Porras, combined together and quitted 
 the ship, intending to try and get back to Spain by them- 
 selves. Failing to do this, they wandered about the island 
 illusing the Indians. Columbus and those who had re- 
 mained true to him had to suffer for the excesses of these 
 men ; for the Indians, who hitherto had brought them all the 
 necessaries of life in exchange for the most trifling gifts, now 
 kept aloof, and even showed such a hostile disposition that 
 the disabled crews of the stranded ships were in the greatest 
 danger. An eclipse of the moon, which Columbus had cal- 
 culated beforehand, made the Indians friendly again ; for 
 when they saw the face of the moon darkened in displeasure 
 at their inhospitality, as Columbus had told them it would 
 be, they sought to avert the anger of the god by rich offerings 
 to the starving strangers. 
 
 As the first token of an approaching rescue appeared that 
 
. Christopher CohcmbiLs. 2 [ 3, 
 
 little ship which Ovando had sent out to procure news, under 
 the command of Diego de Escobar, a rival of Columbus. To 
 be sure, he only brought letters and a small quantity of provi- 
 sions, refused to land, and soon departed, without taking any 
 of the shipwrecked party with him ; but they felt they were, 
 not altogether forgotten, and learned that Mendez was neo-o- 
 tiating for the hire of a ship. But before it made its appear- 
 ance there was a regular fight between the two parties of 
 Spaniards. With fifty men the dauntless Adelantado went 
 out against the rebels, who had established themselves in the 
 neighbourhood of the ship, and forced them to submit, after a 
 bloody battle. 
 
 At last the longed-for ship appeared, and Columbus quitted 
 Jamaica on the 28th of June, 1504, having endured great 
 sufferings on the island for more than a year. He was 
 honourably received in St. Domingo ; but the suspicious 
 Ovando watched with such anxiety every step of the Admiral 
 that the latter determined to return as soon as possible to- 
 Spain. On the 12th of September, 1504, he left his beloved 
 Hispaniola, never to see it again, and, after a stormy passage 
 landed at Cadiz in the beginning of November. 
 
 Thus ended Columbus's last voyage, in which he had dis- 
 covered a great part of the coast of Central America, and had 
 found a new land of gold. But little attention was bestowed 
 upon these results, because he again had not found the western 
 passage to China and India. The death of his patroness 
 Isabella, which took place on the 26th of November, shortly 
 after Columbus landed, was a severe blow to him. From the 
 cold Ferdinand, who always behaved in a suspicious and 
 reserved manner to Columbus, he could not expect a reinstal- 
 lation. He was, indeed, well received at Court, and in a 
 manner suited to his rank^ but the utmost to which the 
 King would condescend was to propose that the Vice-royalty 
 of the West Indies should be exchanged for a Castilian 
 
214 ^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 earldom. But upon that point Columbus would not give up 
 his right, and so the breach between them became wider and 
 wider. He cannot at that time have wanted means, for the 
 royal revenues from the West Indies, which were even then 
 considerable, came in regularly, and the tenth of them fell to 
 Columbus. The property too which he had left behind him in 
 Hispaniola in 1500 was restored in the most honourable man- 
 ner. But anxiety about the establishment of his claims to the 
 Viceroyalty, and vexation at the arbitrary enactments of the 
 Indian Council which, under the President Fonseca, managed 
 the affairs of the Spanish colonies in the New World, under- 
 mined his already shattered health. In Valladolid, in the 
 spring of 1506, he had a violent attack of his old complaint. 
 He saw that death was approaching and prepared himself for 
 it by arranging his affairs and by exercises of pious devotion. 
 With the ejaculation, " Lord, into Thy hands I commit my 
 spirit," he expired in the arms of his son on Ascension Day, 
 May 2 1st, 1506. According to his wish, he was buried in the 
 Franciscan cloister at Valladohd, but in 15 13 Ferdinand 
 caused his remains to be disinterred and gave them a new 
 resting-place in the Carthusian cloister of Santa Maria de las 
 Cuevas in Seville. But neither there were they destined long 
 to remain. At the wish of the Spanish settlers in the New 
 World, they were in the year 1536 transferred to the Cathedral 
 of St. Domingo ; and when, in the year 1795, Spain was forced 
 to yield the island of Hispaniola to France, she would not 
 leave to the new possessors the bones of the great discoverer. 
 Once more exhumed they were with great pomp interred in 
 the principal church of Havana, the capital of Cuba, and a 
 splendid monument was raised over them. 
 
 Columbus was only fifty years of age, but during his life- 
 time he was generally supposed to be older, and his appearance 
 justified this idea, for his frame was thoroughly worn out by 
 the superhuman exertions which he had made. Even in his 
 
Christopher Columbus. 215 
 
 thirtieth year his hair was quite white. IJe is described as of 
 middle height, well proportioned, and strongly built. His 
 long face, with an aquiline nose and rather prominent cheek- 
 bones, was fresh-coloured. His light-grey eyes had a friendly 
 look, and were particularly expressive when he spoke, as he 
 usually did in a lively manner, and with many gestures. He 
 liked simple attire, preferring a garment which resembled in 
 colour and cut the garb of the Franciscans. 
 
 The great man, even though we do not seek to hide his 
 faults, may well claim not only the grateful reverence of 
 posterity for the discovery of a New World, but also our 
 interest in his personal life. If he was too hasty in his con- 
 clusions, yet the strength of his convictions, which led him to 
 scorn all disappointments and vexations, was truly wonderful. 
 His power of observation in apprehending and explaining so 
 many new appearances in land trodden by him for the first 
 time was very great. And though the mistakes which he made 
 in his geographical calculations were preposterous, yet we 
 must remember that they were shared by the greatest scholars 
 of his time. 
 
 How rich an imagination is displayed in his vivid descrip- 
 tions of the splendours of tropical nature, and how varied 
 are the similes and illustrations ever at his command in his 
 descriptions of his voyages, has often been pointed out. In 
 disposition Columbus was gentle and humane, but he required 
 from his subordinates the same unwearied diligence that he 
 imposed upon himself, without considering that they could 
 not possess his enthusiasm. In times of difficulty, when 
 those under him were rebellious and refractory, he never 
 knew the right times for compliance and firmness, so that 
 he constantly failed in authority. On his soft, almost sen- 
 timental disposition, which preserved him from injustice to- 
 wards others, the wrongs and i injuries which he himself had 
 to endure made so deep an impression that he could not 
 
I 2 1 6 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 easily forgive people who had done him harm. The discovery 
 of gold in Hispaniola was disastrous to him ; the wish to 
 fulfil the great expectations which he had raised made him 
 blind to his impotence to restrain the wild rapacious colo- 
 nists, and turned the soft-hearted man into a merciless slave- 
 dealer. 
 
 Very singular too is the manner in which, in spite of his 
 great learning, he clung to the superstitions of his time. 
 The grounds of his geographical conjectures he sought in the 
 Prophets and in the mysterious intimations of the writers of 
 the Middle Ages ; and his greatest hope was, with the help of 
 the boundless wealth which the New World was certain to 
 produce, to effect the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre from 
 the rule of the Turks. A short time before his death he was 
 employed upon a work which he never finished, " The Pro- 
 phecies," in which he calculates that the destruction of the 
 world would take place in the year 1656. It has been already 
 mentioned that his excited fancy led him to believe that he 
 saw visions. 
 
 The death of this great man was almost unnoticed in Spain. 
 Even in the year 1520 Spanish writers were in doubt 
 whether he still lived, but later ages have been just to his 
 memory. 
 
 The faithful brother of the great discoverer, Bartholomew 
 the Adelantado, was in the year 151 1 granted by King Ferdi- 
 nand the island of Mona, between Plispaniola and Porto Rico, 
 but it reverted to the Crown upon his death in 1 5 14. Diego 
 the younger brother, who in 1503 had received an office at 
 court that brought him a considerable income, must have died 
 shortly before Bartholomew in Seville, also without heirs. 
 Of the two sons of the Admiral, the younger, Ferdinand, the 
 brave companion of his father on his fourth voyage, occupied 
 
Christopher Cohtmbus. 217 
 
 an honourable position at the Court of the young King and 
 Emperor Charles V., in whose company he several times visited 
 Germany and Flanders. He was one of the members of that 
 famous court which at Badajos, in 1524, was appointed to divide 
 the world between Spain and Portugal. He was not an ecclesi- 
 astiCj as some have thought; but being unmarried and childless, 
 spent his very considerable income in collecting a library of 
 rare and precious books, which, though much reduced by 
 dishonest hands, still exists at Seville under the name of 
 the Columbian Library. Before his death, which occurred 
 at Seville in 1539, he composed a memoir of his great 
 father, of which an Italian translation was printed in Venice 
 in 1571. 
 
 Diego, the eldest son of the Admiral, married, in 1508, 
 Donna Maria de Toledo, of the family of the Dukes of Alva,, 
 who was herself related to the royal house. This high alliance 
 immediately procured for him the appointment of Viceroy of 
 the Indies, and in 1509 he relieved Ovando in the government 
 of the Island of Hispaniola. But in the interests of the Crown^ 
 the influence and authority of the distant Viceroy was grad- 
 ually reduced, so that at last it became a mere empty dignity. 
 The successful issue of the lawsuit against the Crown which 
 his father had instituted was some compensation to him for 
 this. The results of other lawsuits by which he hoped to 
 gain for himself the coasts of Central America, he did not live 
 to see, being carried off by a sudden death in the year 1526. 
 For his infant son the widow entered into a compromise,, 
 by which he received the title of the Duke of Veragua, Mar- 
 quis of Jamaica, Captain-general of Hispaniola, and Admiral 
 of the Indies, together with an hereditary yearly income of 
 10,000 ducats. This title and revenue were only enjoyed for 
 two generations, the second Don Diego, great-grandson of the 
 discoverer, dying in 1576 without children. In a great lawsuit 
 
2 1 8 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 the relatives"struggled for the inheritance of the estate, but it 
 was not until 1608 that a decision was obtained, by which 
 Don Nuno de Braganza, Count of Gelves, a descendant of 
 the great Admiral through his mother, obtained the succes- 
 sion to all the titles, rights, and revenues. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 AMERIGO VESPUCCI. 
 
 Although a thankful posterity has recognised the merits of 
 Columbus, and accorded to him boundless honour and glory, 
 the great reward, to which he had a right, they denied him, 
 not naming after him the New World, which he first imagined 
 and discovered beyond the Atlantic Ocean. The injustice 
 thus inflicted on the great discoverer is certainly not miti- 
 gated by the honour, through a mere whim of fortune, falling 
 to a man who, though in every respect honourable and 
 worthy, could never be placed by the side of Columbus, and 
 indeed never thought of emulating him.. 
 
 Amerigo (an Italian form of the German Almerich) Ves- 
 pucci was born on March 9th, 145 1. He was the son of the 
 rich and esteemed Anastasio Vespucci by his marriage with 
 Elizabeth Mini. The family to which he belonged was one 
 of the chief in the flourishing state of Florence, and like most 
 other important families of that town was devoted to trade. 
 Even the youthful Amerigo, who had received a careful edu- 
 cation from a learned uncle, became a merchant ; at the same 
 time mastering so thoroughly all knowledge accessible to him 
 that he was afterwards much distinguished for his acquaint- 
 ance with mathematics and geography. 
 
 But about the general course of his youth and early man- 
 hood we have no certain information. We first hear of him 
 again in 1490. In that year he left Florence, and v/ent to 
 Seville, where he became manager in a large house of busi- 
 
220 A Cenhtry of Discovery. 
 
 ness belonging to his countryman Gianotto Berardi. It had 
 only been established a few years, but had already become 
 the largest firm of the town, and could boast of all kinds of 
 distinctions that had been conferred on it by the royal house 
 of Castile. 
 
 Amerigo came to Seville just at the right time, for only a 
 few years later the newly-instituted Indian Council held its 
 sittings in the town, and from it numerous expeditions started 
 for the New World. The house of Berardi took a most active 
 share in this new movement. Indeed, it provisioned in a 
 great part Columbus's second fleet, and the fitting out of the 
 third fleet was entirely owing to Vespucci, who after Berardi's 
 death in 1495 became principal of the firm. Intercourse with 
 great seamen awoke in Vespucci that dormant inclination for 
 discovery which finally induced him to give up his life as a 
 merchant. When, owing to the efforts of Bishop Fonseca, 
 the President of the Indian Council, and in spite of all that 
 Columbus could do, the path of discovery was opened to all, 
 Vespucci was one of the first to enter upon it. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1499, he left Seville in the company 
 of Alonso de Ojeda, who, having distinguished himself during 
 Columbus's second voyage, had through his cousin, the In- 
 quisitor Ojeda, obtained permission from Fonseca to visit 
 Paria and the neighbouring coasts. In what capacity Ves- 
 pucci accompanied him, whether as merchant or astronomer, 
 or, as he states himself, as a functionary of the King, is not 
 very clear. 
 
 The little fleet, consisting of two ships and fifty-seven men, 
 had as pilot the famous Juan de la Cosa, with whom Ojeda 
 had become acquainted in the service of Columbus. On the 
 1 8th of May, 1499, they left Cadiz, and the wind constantly 
 favouring them, at the beginning of July they sighted the 
 coasts of the New World, and reckoned they were 200 miles 
 
Amerigo Vespucci. 22 r 
 
 south-east of Paria, and therefore near the country now called 
 Guiana. 
 
 Impelled by the desire of reaching the south coast of Asia, 
 the Spaniards steered towards the south ; but their hope that 
 the coast would at last turn towards the west was disap- 
 pointed. On the contrary, they came to the mouths of two 
 larere rivers three or four miles wide, the fresh water of which 
 affected the sea for a great distance. They were the Amazon 
 and the Rio Para. The region appeared to Vespucci an 
 earthly paradise. He was specially struck with the magnifi- 
 cence of the vegetation, and at night he never tired of study- 
 ing the stars of the southern sky, which were all new to him. 
 He observed and described with great acuteness the manners 
 of the inhabitants, and this part of his travels many readers 
 have studied, and thus the name of the author has become 
 famous. He describes the Indians as a careless race, without 
 any belief in a God, knowing no distinction between right 
 and wrong, and without any sense of shame. He praises 
 their activity, but expresses himself warmly about many of 
 their wicked customs, especially their cannibalism. 
 
 The voyage to the south was continued for some time, until 
 contrary winds forced them to return. The little fleet sailed 
 back to the regions already discovered, and reached Trinidad, 
 which Columbus had explored on his third voyage. Following 
 his example, they passed through the Serpent's Mouth into 
 the Gulf of Paria, and after some stay among the friendly 
 natives left it through the Dragon's Mouth. From the Island 
 of Margarita, which Columbus had seen previously, they ob- 
 tained some pearls, and turning again southwards along the 
 coast, they entered a region untouched by Europeans. They 
 discovered everywhere beautiful lands and friendly natives, 
 and continued their voyage along the coast, landing occasion- 
 ally ; but nowhere could they find the precious things that 
 they so eagerly sought. However, leaving the coast, some 
 
22 2 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 fruitful islands were discovered towards the north, the largest 
 of which, Curasao, from a story originating in the terror of 
 one of Ojeda's sailors, long had the reputation of being in- 
 habited by giants. 
 
 Pressing on towards the west, the bold sailors found a lofty 
 peninsula, which they rounded, and on its west beach came 
 upon an Indian village, the construction of which excited 
 their astonishment. The huts were supported on high pillars, 
 and were connected with one another and with the land by 
 drawbridges. From this circumstance the whole territory 
 received the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice, which it 
 still bears. The Spaniards soon became involved in a quarrel 
 with the warlike inhabitants of the town, in which, as might 
 be expected, they were the conquerors. The ships left with 
 a stolen cargo of cotton, and steering southwards, traversed 
 the broad Gulf of Venezuela. They thus discovered the narrow 
 canal which leads into the Sea of Maracaybo, but Ojeda, 
 although he had no difficulty in procuring provisions and met 
 with a friendly reception from the Indians, found neither gold 
 nor pearls, and therefore determined to return. He sailed 
 along the West shore of the Gulf of Venezuela, from which 
 the snowy peaks of the Sierra di Santa Marta were visible, 
 and when the ships reached the open sea a favourable south- 
 west breeze filled their sails and brought them in a few days 
 to the coast of Hispaniola. 
 
 Columbus's dispute with the rebels under Roldan had just 
 been brought to a conclusion by the treaty so humiliating to 
 the Admiral. The arrival of Ojeda, who had a good repute 
 among the Spanish settlers, appeared dangerous to both 
 parties, and the Admiral was especially irritated at the in- 
 fringement of his rights, which he considered Ojeda's voyage 
 to be. Quarrels ensued, amounting even to bloodshed, until 
 Ojeda, at the beginning of January, 1500, determined to quit 
 the island. In order to make up for the lack of gold and 
 
A merig o Vespucci, 223 
 
 pearls, which were so much looked for, Ojeda turned his ships 
 towards the north, and from the the little islands at the south 
 of Florida, and from the Bahama Islands, which had not been 
 visited since 1492, collected a cargo of 200 Indian slaves 
 These, after his return in the middle of June, 1500, he pub- 
 licly sold in Cadiz. Nevertheless, the profit falling to those 
 who had taken part in the voyage was miserably small. 
 
 But love of adventure impelled the fiery Ojeda to new 
 enterprises. As early as July 28th, 1500, he made an 
 agreement with Fonseca by which, undertaking a new 
 voyage, he secured to himself the Governorship of all the 
 Coasts of Maracaybo which he might discover. But the 
 Crown delaying the ratification, Ojeda did not set out until 
 January, 1502. The settlement then formed was very soon 
 abandoned on account of the want of provisions, the hostility 
 of the irritated Indians, and discord among the Spaniards. 
 Thrown into chains by his own men, Ojeda was brought 
 through Hispaniola to Spain, where he had hard work to 
 hold his own in a lawsuit instituted against him, A third 
 voyage to Venezuela in 1505 was also unsuccessful. For 
 some years the brave man lived at Hispaniola in straitened 
 circumstances, until at last he was named Governor of Nueva 
 Andalusia, a province of the north coast of South America, 
 between the Gulf of Venezuela and the mouth of the Atrato,, 
 and departed in 1509 for his post. He endeavoured vainly 
 to form settlements at various points, and a series of fierce 
 engagements with the Caribs caused the Spaniards serious 
 loss, the famous pilot Juan de la Cosa being among the 
 killed. 
 
 The colony of San Sebastian, which finally he established 
 near the mouth of Atrato, was reduced to such a condition 
 by sickness, famine, and constant battles — in v/hich all the 
 heroism of Ojeda could not break the power of the enemy — 
 that he was obliged himself at last to proceed to Hispaniola 
 
2 24 ^ Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 to seek for assistance. During his absence the colony became 
 scattered, and he himself having- reached Hispaniola, after 
 going through all kinds of dangers and deprivations, died 
 there in 15 15 in the greatest misery, stripped of everything 
 and forgotten by all. 
 
 He is perhaps the most interesting figure among the thou- 
 sands of adventurers who at that time made the New World 
 the scene at once of the most atrocious crimes and of the 
 most heroic deeds. He united in a striking manner all the 
 most contradictory qualities which those adventurers dis- 
 played. Heroism and a thirst for gold, a keen enjoyment of 
 life and a great capability of enduring hardships, an utter 
 deafness to the dictates of conscience and a fanatical adhe- 
 rence to the commands of the Church. Whilst Ojeda was 
 constantly impelled by love of adventure to new enterprises 
 Vespucci discovered such a taste for the excitement and 
 varied experiences which travelling offered as rendered it im- 
 possible for him to return to his mercantile life. It is gene- 
 rally assumed that he accompanied Vincente Yanez Pinzon, 
 that distinguished seaman from Palos, who had served under 
 Columbus as commander of the Nina, in an expedition to the 
 coast of Brazil, about three months before Cabral's voyage. 
 This opinion is supported by an account of a voyage, pub- 
 lished under the name of Amerigo, in which the name of 
 Pinzon is not mentioned, but the principal circumstances of 
 the voyage are described in accordance with the facts. 
 
 Pinzon, however, left Palos on the i8th of November, 1499, 
 when Ojeda's squadron, in which was Vespucci, lay on the coast 
 of Hispaniola. Even if one assumes that Vespucci, immediately 
 on his arrival in the island, which at the earliest could not 
 have occurred before the 23rd of September, 1499, separated 
 from Ojeda and returned to Europe, it still does not allow 
 time for the voyage and the preparations unavoidable before 
 Pinzon's departure. Besides this, his first account, in which 
 
Ame7^igo Vespucci. 225 
 
 he describes the occurrences of Ojeda's voyage, is dated July 
 iSth, 1500, at which time Pinzon, who did not return until 
 September 30th, was still in America. Therefore there is 
 greater probability in the idea that these excellent "Voyages," 
 which are only preserved in a very mangled condition, were 
 not written by Vespucci, or were drawn up by him from the 
 accounts given him by some one who took part in the voyage. 
 But his participation in Ojeda's expedition drew upon the 
 Florentine the attention of King Emanuel of Portugal, who, 
 from Cabral's report of the discovery of Brazil, at once per- 
 ceived the importance of that land for connecting Portugal 
 with India, and hastened to take possession of it before the 
 Spanish discoverers should have entered it. Apparently be- 
 fore Pinzon, the real discoverer of Brazil, had returned from 
 his voyage, an offer had been made to Vespucci to enter the 
 Portuguese service and to take part in an exploring expedi- 
 tion along its coast. He gladly consented, and on the 13th of 
 May, 1 501, we see him leaving the harbour of Lisbon on 
 board a squadron consisting of three vessels. We do not 
 know who was the commander, but at any rate it was not 
 Vespucci, who did not possess the necessary experience, and 
 who is much more likely to have accompanied the fleet as a 
 cosmographer, as Behaim had once accompanied Bartholomew 
 Diaz. The object of the voyage was not merely to prove the 
 identity of the coasts discovered by Cabral and Ojeda, which 
 Pinzon's voyage had rendered doubtful, but also, if possible, 
 to sail round the newly-discovered coasts in a westerly direc- 
 tion, and thus discover a second route to India, by which 
 might be reached the Moluccas and the rich Sunda Islands, as 
 yet only known by report. Vespucci did his utmost to attain 
 a result that would have brought him the fame that now 
 surrounds the name of Magalhaens. But he did not suspect 
 what the latter knew, that a monstrous ocean separates the 
 New World from the east coast of Asia. 
 
 15 
 
2 26 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 After a long delay in the Bissagos Islands off the coast of 
 West Africa and a tedious voyage, the sailors on the i6th of 
 August first sighted a smiling coast at 5 degrees south lati- 
 tude, and drew near to a peninsula, which, in honour of the 
 saint whose day it happened to be, they called San Roque, 
 the name which the east point of South America still bears. 
 The aborigines here showed themselves v&xy hostile, attacking 
 and devouring some sailors who ventured into the interior. 
 Without stopping to chastise them the ships continued their 
 course towards the south, landing every now and then and 
 carrying on friendly intercourse with the Indians. One can 
 still trace the stations of the discoverers in the names of the 
 principal points, which they always called after the saints' 
 days. Thus, on the 28th of August, they arrived at Cape Agos- 
 tinho, which had already been discovered though not named 
 by Pinzon. On the 4th of October they found the mouth 
 of the river San Francisco ; on the ist of November the Bay 
 de Todos os Santos, where now is situated the town of Bahia ; 
 on the 2Tst of December the Cape of St. Thomas ; and 
 on the 1st of Janauary, 1502, the Bay of Rio Janeiro (the 
 river of St. Januarius), which they took for the mouth of a 
 river. They stayed for some time in the Bay of Cananea, 26 
 south latitude, erroneously stated by Vespucci to be 32 
 south latitude. Vespucci describes the natives of this pro- 
 vince to be fine people, of a reddish colour, who disfigured 
 themselves by piercing their lips for the purpose of inserting 
 ornaments made of a blue stone or of bone. This most un- 
 becoming custom — Vespucci once saw in the lip of a man a 
 stone of half a hand's breadth, and weighing seven ounces 
 — procured for these Indians in later times the name of 
 Botocuden (cork wearers). They had their goods in common, 
 and lived without religion a thoroughly sensual life, frequently 
 interrupted, however, by wars with the neighbouring races. 
 Those who were conquered were devoured, and Vespucci 
 
Amerigo Vespucci. 227 
 
 iieard a man boast that he had eaten 300 men. In the huts too 
 the Portuguese often found salted human flesh. The splendid 
 climate, which was rendered clear by almost unvarying east 
 winds, made the Indians so healthy that, according to Ves- 
 pucci, they often lived to be a hundred and fifty. Finding no 
 precious metals on the whole of this coast, the sailors were 
 -eager to return, but were persuaded by Vespucci to make 
 another attempt to find the western passage to India. They 
 again set out on the 15 th of February, and steered directly 
 to the south-east, not allowing themselves to be deterred by 
 the increasing cold. On the 3rd of April they encountered a 
 fearful storm, which lasted several days. During this they dis- 
 covered an inhospitable coast, which the ships followed towards 
 the south for twenty miles. At last the sky cleared, but the 
 storm and the cold had deprived every one of any desire to 
 examine more nearly the coast, which, according to Vespucci's 
 reckoning, lay about 55 south latitude. What this land could. 
 have been it is impossible to decide with certainty. Most pro- 
 bably it was the most southerly part of Patagonia, close by the 
 Straits of Magalhaens. Every one on board was glad when 
 they turned round, steering to the north-east for the coast of 
 Africa, but it was not until after much contending with the 
 winds and waves that they reached it on the loth of May. 
 In Sierra Leone they were obliged to set fire to one of their 
 ships, which had become perfectly useless. The other two 
 entered the harbour of Lisbon on the 7th of September, 1502, 
 after an absence of sixteen months. 
 
 King Emanuel, in spite of the empty hands with which the 
 discoverers returned, was well pleased with their perseverance 
 and with the large extent of coast explored by them. He 
 immediately prepared a new squadron to complete the dis- 
 covery and to seek the passage to the Moluccas, of the 
 -existence of which they felt certain. Of the six ships which 
 set sail on the loth of May, under the orders of Gonzalo 
 
 15—2 
 
228 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Coelho, one was commanded by Amerigo Vespucci. But the 
 great hopes that were aroused by this expedition were lament- 
 ably disappointed. Coelho, against the advice of Vespucci, 
 kept along the coast of Africa as far as Sierra Leone, instead 
 of sailing to the west, direct from the Cape Verde Islands. 
 In crossing the ocean he discovered, in 3 degrees south lati- 
 tude, an island of some size, which afterwards received the 
 name of Fernando de Moronha, after a captain to whom it 
 was presented by the King. The commander's ship having 
 run upon rock's, Coelho gave Vespucci orders, with a large 
 boat and a few sailors, to explore the island and see whether 
 there was a secure harbour for the fleet. This commission 
 Vespucci executed, and found on the island, which was well 
 watered and inhabited by countless birds, a spacious and 
 well-protected harbour. But in vain did he wait here for the 
 squadron. After a week of painful suspense, he was fetched 
 off by his ship, which at the same time brought the announce- 
 ment that Coelho, his own vessel having been sunk, had' 
 sailed with the remaining ships farther towards the west. 
 Very much hurt, Vespucci followed him to All Saints' Bay,, 
 the appointed meeting-place, and waited there for two months. 
 But in vain, so at length he determined to leave. On his own- 
 responsibility he sailed along the coast until he reached about 
 18 degrees south latitude, and there on a favourable spot 
 founded a little fort, in which he left behind twenty-four men 
 with provisions for six months. Then he started on the return 
 voyage and reached Lisbon on the i8th of June, 1504. The- 
 remaining ships of the fleet came in singly one after another, 
 without any valuable cargoes and without having discovered 
 the western passage, or indeed having sought it with anything 
 like earnestness. After that the Portuguese many times visited 
 the Brazils, either to seek for the passage to India, or to pro- 
 cure a cargo of the valuable Brazilian wood. But the first 
 
Amerigo Vespucci. 229 
 
 colony which they established was Pernambuco, which they 
 built in 1526. 
 
 But the displeasure of Emanuel, which fell upon all who 
 took part in the unhappy undertaking, was the cause of Ves- 
 pucci's emigration. He accepted a call from the Castilian 
 court, which made him great promises, and in the spring of 
 1505 entered Spain. It was intended to employ him in an 
 expedition which, under the command of Vincent Yanez Pin- 
 ion, was to visit the new-found southern continent. Probably 
 the desire to find the western passage was the real cause of 
 the scheme. Vespucci himself from Seville urged on the pre- 
 paration of the squadron, but for some unknown reason the 
 plan was never carried out, and in 1508 Vespucci was ap- 
 pointed to the newly-created ofhce of royal pilot, with the 
 considerable revenue of 200 ducats. In this new position it was 
 his duty to examine the pilots of the West Indian vessels in 
 their use of the astronomical instruments, and to make a trust- 
 worthy map of the New World, in which should be inserted 
 the newly-discovered countries according to the accounts 
 brought back by the discoverers. This very important and 
 honourable position, which made his name known in distant 
 circles, he continued to occupy until his death, which oc- 
 curred in Seville, on the 22nd of February, 15 12. Vespucci 
 left behind him a widow but no children. He died convinced 
 that the New World was a part of Asia, and had no suspicion 
 that it was an independent continent, which by a wonderful 
 whim of fate would immortalise his name. 
 
 We can entirely clear him from the design attributed to him 
 of endeavouring to lessen Columbus's glory, or to substitute 
 his own name for that of the great discoverer. On the con- 
 trary, he was always on the best terms with Columbus. This 
 is clearly proved by a letter which Columbus, on the 5th of 
 February, 1505, addressed to his son Diego, and in which he 
 tells him that Vespucci, who has just gone to the Castilian court, 
 
230 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 will labour in his (Columbus's) interest. "Vespucci," he writes,, 
 "has always been very friendly to me. Fortune has been 
 unkind to the worthy man, as to so many others. He too 
 has not received the reward due to his services." The 
 sons of the Admiral never showed the least ill-will towards 
 Vespucci, and Ferdinand Columbus, the biographer of his 
 father, never once mentions him. Las Casas is the first 
 person who expresses his displeasure at the adoption of the 
 name America, but even he does not give the least intima- 
 tion that he considers Vespucci at all to blame. 
 
 The reason of the injustice done to Columbus arose from 
 the ignorance that the West Indies and the land discovered in 
 the south had anything to do with each other. The mistake 
 of Columbus, who took the West Indies for Japan and its neigh- 
 bouring islands, suggested the idea that that southern land, the 
 size of which was more clearly proved by every expedition,, 
 was a completely independent country, a gigantic island, 
 separated somewhere from the West Indies and the east 
 coast of Asia by an arm of the sea. As late as the year 1530 
 the maps of the world show this channel, or at any rate a gap 
 between South and North America, Whilst the name of 
 Columbus is indissolubly connected with Hispaniola, Cuba, 
 and the other West Indian islands, little or nothing was heard 
 of his third and fourth voyages, which carried him to the 
 coast of the mainland, and therefore people were perplexed to 
 find a name for it. Amerigo Vespucci was the first to describe 
 the nature of the country and its inhabitants, which he did in 
 a series of " Voyages," and his name therefore naturally oc- 
 curred to people. 
 
 A letter addressed by him, either at the end of 1502 or the 
 beginning of 1503, to Lorenzo di Pier Francisco de' Medici, a 
 member of a collateral branch of the celebrated princely 
 house, did not reach Florence until after the death of Lorenzo. 
 
Amerigo VespiLCci. 231 
 
 (Lorenzo died March loth, 1503), and so fell into other hands. 
 In this letter Vespucci gave his friend a concise account of 
 his adventures from June 4th, 1501 (the time of his stay at 
 Cape Verde), till September 7th, 1502 (the time of his return 
 from the first Portuguese voyage). The interesting nature of 
 this letter, vi^hich contained much that was new, led to its pub- 
 lication. This took place in Paris, 1503, in Latin, and it made 
 such a noise that a number of editions and translations in 
 German and Italian followed. This result caused the publi- 
 cation, certainly either against the will or without the know- 
 ledge of the author, of a number of other letters of Vespucci,. 
 which he had addressed to Pietro Soderini in Florence. They 
 appeared translated into Latin from a French translation, and 
 were collected into a continuous whole under the title of "The 
 Fourth Voyage," in 1507, in St. Die in Lorraine. The original 
 compilers, of this work, whether out of ignorance or with an 
 evil intention, allowed a number of errors, mutilations, and 
 interpolations to creep in, which place Vespucci's voyages in 
 a completely false light. 
 
 Among the early voyages with Ojeda, which he describes 
 to Soderini in two long letters, there are two remarkable ex- 
 peditions, the second of which in many points appears identical 
 with that of Pinzon, and there is the most utter confusion in 
 the dates, so that, resting upon these voyages, it was for a long 
 time declared that Amerigo had reached the mainland before 
 Columbus, and it is still uncertain whether or not he took 
 part in Pinzon's voyage in 1499-1500. The errors have been 
 more clearly manifested by the discovery of two earlier 
 letters, written by him to Lorenzo Medici on July i8th, 
 1500, and June 4th, 1501. These only mention one voyage 
 in the Castilian service, and are tolerably exact in the 
 dates. 
 
 The rapid circulation of Vespucci's letters had closely 
 connected the name of the Florentine with the great con- 
 
232 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 tinent in the south with which most men had become ac- 
 quainted from those writings, and it was natural to name the 
 land after him which as yet had no other name, and of whose 
 discovery by Columbus they were ignorant. This was tirst 
 done by Martin Hylacomilus (Waldseemiiller), a native of 
 Freiburg in Breisgau, at that time a bookseller and teacher of 
 geography at St. Die, where, under the protection of Duke 
 Rene the Second of Lorraine, he was engaged in the editing 
 of the works of Ptolemy. 
 
 In 1507 he published an "Introduction to Cosmography," 
 which he dedicated to the Emperor Maximilian I., and 
 to which he added a Latin edition of the "Voyages." In 
 this work he says : " The fourth continent may very fit- 
 tingly be called Amerigo — that is, the land of Amerigo, 
 or America — because Amerigo discovered it." The pro- 
 position received support. Little geographical treatises, 
 which appeared in 1509, 15 12, and 15 15 in Strasburg and 
 Nuremburg, repeated it, and in 1520 the name America first 
 appeared in the maps of the world which the monk Camers 
 published in Vienna from the drawings of Peter Apianus 
 (Bienervitz). The name indeed is limited to what is now 
 Brazil, and by the side of it stands the remark, "This land was 
 discovered in 1497, with the adjacent islands, by the Genoese 
 Columbus." 
 
 But the new name quickly naturalised itself, and soon was 
 adopted for the whole south mainland. Indeed, as advancing 
 discoveries proved that it, together with the West Indies and 
 the northern mainland, was a great division of the earth, the 
 well-sounding name America was employed for the whole 
 continent, and thus the just claim of the name Columbia was 
 set aside. 
 
 While we deplore the injustice done to the memory of the 
 great discoverer, we need not let it mislead us into attributing 
 to the fortunate author a wilful appropriation of another's 
 
Amerigo VespiLcci. 233 
 
 fame, and thus become guilty of another injustice. Rather 
 let us accord him due honour for his discoveries and explora- 
 tions in the New World, and do nothing to lessen his reputa- 
 tion as a man of honour, to which Columbus himself bears 
 
 witness. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA. 
 
 When Ojeda, in 1510, left the town of St. Sebastian near the 
 mouth of the Atrato in Darien, in order to procure aid from 
 Hispaniola, he placed over those whom he left behind Francisco 
 Pizarro, afterwards so famous, and extracted a promise from 
 them all to remain fifty days in their miserable position, for 
 he hoped in that time to bring them assistance. Pizarro 
 waited in vain for his return ; and at last, after the number 
 of those under his command had melted down to about sixty, 
 the largest number which the two shattered ships could hold, 
 he set sail for Hispaniola. Shortly afterwards one of the 
 vessels was wrecked, and sank with all on board before the 
 eyes of those on board the other ship. A few days later they 
 unexpectedly met a stately vessel coming towards them. It 
 was commanded by the Advocate Martin Hernandez de En- 
 ciso, who had gained considerable wealth in Hispaniola, and 
 whom Ojeda had enticed to assist in the founding of the 
 colony on the Atrato by appointing him governor. 
 
 After long preparations and many hindrances on the part 
 of Don Diego Columbus, who laid claim to Central America, 
 he had at length taken 150 men, a number of animals, and a 
 good stock of provisions and arms to the new colony, which 
 he hoped to find in a prosperous condition. Instead of this, 
 thirty half-starved men came to meet him on a crazy ship, 
 these being all that remained of the colonists. In spite of the 
 miserable accounts which he received from them, he determined 
 
Vasco Nunez de Balboa. . 235 
 
 to re-establish the forsaken colony, and forced the fugitives to- 
 unite with the 550 fresh men whom he was bringing with 
 him from Hispaniola. Among these there was one of the most 
 distinguished of the Spanish discoverers. 
 
 Vasco Nunez de Balboa, born 1475, at Xeres, near Badajoz,. 
 in the province of Estremadura, sprang from a rich and re- 
 spectable family, though in his early youth he had squandered 
 his wealth, and by his giddy pranks had forfeited his good 
 name. Like many others, he sought to recover both by join- 
 ing in the expedition to the New World which promised to 
 courageous fortune-hunters fame and spoil in rich measure. 
 He was a companion of Rodrigo de Bastidas, who in the year 
 1500 explored a part of the north-west coast of South 
 America, and returned to Spain with a rich spoil of gold and 
 pearls. 
 
 As was the case with all who took part in it, this expedi- 
 tion produced for Balboa a little property, which he spent in 
 settling in Hispaniola. But here also his extravagance and. 
 love of gambling made him a poor man ; and, pressed by 
 many creditors, he soon found himself in the greatest dis- 
 tress, from which he knew not how to escape except by flight. 
 Now for the protection of creditors it had been rendered ex- 
 ceedingly difficult for any one to quit the islands, and Balboa 
 could not find means to carry out his projected retreat. 
 
 At last he succeeded in smuggling himself on to the ship 
 which Enciso had fitted out for Darien. He is said to have been 
 carried on board concealed in a cask, and to have remained 
 there for some days. When he at last ventured forth Enciso 
 was very unpleasantly surprised ; for, by the laws of the 
 Spanish colony of Hispaniola, the captain who assisted in the 
 flight of a debtor became himself responsible to the creditor. 
 However, he did not carry out his threat of setting Balboa 
 on shore on the first desert island, fearing the bodily 
 strength and the well-known audacity of his unwished- 
 
236 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 for companion, but tried to comfort himself with the hope 
 that Balboa would prove himself of value in the new settle- 
 ment. 
 
 The arrival at the forsaken San Sebastian was not auspi- 
 cious. Enciso's ship ran upon the rocks, and with its valuable 
 cargo sank so quickly that it was all the crew could do to 
 
 I save even their lives. Thus the settlers had from the beginning 
 to struggle with hunger, and in the unceasing conflicts with 
 the natives, who made use of poisoned arrows, their numbers 
 rapidly diminished. It was no wonder therefore that de- 
 ■spondency seized upon them. Balboa, however, by proposing 
 to cross over to the west coast of the Gulf of Darien, inspired 
 them with new courage. 
 
 On his earlier visit in the ship of Bastidas he had found 
 there a rich country, friendly people, and handsome towns. 
 The proposal was carried out, and all Balboa's statements were 
 proved correct. After an easy victory over the Indians, the 
 adventurers took possession of a large village, where they 
 found provisions in abundance and a considerable quantity of 
 gold. 
 
 In gratitude for the protection that had been granted to 
 them by the miraculous image at Seville, they named the new 
 town Maria del Antigua. This indeed was not situated in 
 jl the province of New Andalusia, which Ojeda and Enciso had 
 
 been charged to colonise, but west of the mouth of the 
 Atrato, in the province of the Knight Diego de Nicuesa, 
 which embraced the whole east coast of Central America, 
 from the Atrato to Cape Gracios a Dios, and bore the pompous 
 name of Castilla del Oro. 
 
 This circumstance was made use of by those among the 
 
 II settlers hostile to Nicuesa to deprive him of the com.mand. 
 i! Vasco Nunez Balboa was chosen in his place until the King's 
 
 pleasure should be known. It was the first step to fortune 
 made by the bold unscrupulous adventurer. The unexpected 
 
Vasco Nunez de Balboa. 237- 
 
 arrival of two well-manned and well-provisioned ships, pre- 
 pared at Nicuesa's expense at Hispaniola, and now on their 
 way to him, had put it into the settlers' heads to ask him to- 
 come and take the command. 
 
 The messengers found him and his people reduced to a 
 miserable condition at Nombre de Dios, not far from Aspion- 
 vali. The band of settlers, diminished by every possible pri- 
 vation, greeted the invitation to the rapidly rising town of 
 Santa Maria del Antigua as deliverance from certain destruc- 
 tion, and Nicuesa himself arranged their transmission with 
 much pleasure. 
 
 But among the men whom he sent in advance there were 
 some whom he had wronged or cruelly punished for disobe- 
 dience. They excited the people of Santa Maria against the 
 new ruler, who had aroused general displeasure by errors of 
 judgment and careless speeches. He allowed himself to be 
 persuaded by Balboa, who feigned the greatest friendship for 
 him, to submit his claims to an election. It turned out un- 
 favourably for Nicuesa. Almost unanimously Balboa was 
 raised to the head of the settlement, and with the proviso 
 that the choice should be ratified by the King, he undertook 
 the government of Castilla del Oro. Although he had pro- 
 mised his protection to the deposed governor, he yet allowed 
 the rebels to force the hated Nicuesa on board an unseaworthy 
 ship, with sixteen men who remained faithful to him. Nothing 
 was ever heard of the unfortunate men. Probably they and 
 their miserable bark were swallowed up by the waves. 
 
 Thus through a series of intrigues and acts of violence Bal- 
 boa found himself ruler of one of the richest lands of America 
 hardly a year after he had escaped on board Enciso's ship a 
 fugitive in the utmost misery. He succeeded, however, in 
 making men forget the unworthy means through which he 
 had obtained the government by the power and wisdom with 
 which he conducted it. All the best features of his great 
 
238 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 •character now came to the front. His manner of life was 
 simple and devoid of all show ; he was generous and liberal, 
 bold in his schemes ; the valour he displayed in contests with 
 his enemies was almost superhuman, while he was mild and 
 humane to the conquered. The dominion he gained and 
 maintained over the minds of 300 lawless men borders on the 
 wonderful. By the force of his example he carried them from 
 one enterprise to another, where danger and hardship, but 
 not rewards, were alike to all. 
 
 The inhabitants of Central America were superior to the 
 harmless Indians of Hispaniola and to the men-eating Caribs. 
 Certainly on account of the warm climate they went com- 
 pletely naked and lived in simple huts, but they were divided 
 into various ranks. They honoured the sun and moon as 
 divinities, and the care with which- they embalmed the bodies 
 of the dead makes it probable that they believed in an exist- 
 ence after death. Thus they formed a connecting link be- 
 tween the inhabitants of the Antilles, who were little raised 
 above the animals, and the highly-developed people whom 
 the Spaniards afterwards met on the tablelands of Anahuac 
 and Quito. 
 
 All these tribes were fond of gold ornaments, and the 
 nobles among them were served from gold vessels. Therefore 
 it was easy for the Spaniards to collect considerable quantities 
 of the precious metal, and by constant attacks and surprises 
 they soon increased their treasure. On one of these expedi- 
 tions Balboa received from the son of a Prince, who was as- 
 tonished at the Spaniards' thirst for gold, the first news of an 
 ocean which lay not far off towards the south-west, beyond a 
 ridge of mountains, and which was visited by ships little 
 inferior in size to those of Spain. The richest gold lands were 
 said to lie on the coasts of this great sea. Balboa immedi- 
 ately divined that this must be the sea that washed the shores 
 of India, but the whole importance of the news he could not 
 
Vasco Ntmez de Balboa. 239 
 
 appreciate. He burned with the desire to make his name 
 immortal by the discovery of the new ocean, and his followers, 
 whose thirst for gold was whetted by the Prince's descrip- 
 tions, showed themselves ready to accompany him through 
 all dangers and difficulties. But the plan could not be carried 
 out for a long time. The subjugation of the neighbouring 
 Indians and the suppression of a dangerous conspiracy formed 
 by them^ which was discovered and frustrated by the faithful- 
 ness of Balboa's Indian wife, took up a considerable time, 
 and until this was accomplished it seemed unadvisable to 
 divide the little company. 
 
 It was not until reinforcements had arrived from Hispan- 
 iola — whose Governor, Don Diego Columbus, the crafty Bal- 
 boa acknowledged as his superior — that the expedition to the 
 Western Ocean could be thought of On September ist, 1513, 
 they began their march from Maria del Antigua. Balboa 
 himself led the little army, which consisted of 190 Spaniards 
 and 600 Indian bearers, and was accompanied by several of 
 the formidable bloodhounds. The precise point of departure 
 was Careta, a place on the coast a few miles from the settle- 
 ment, whose Prince was friendly to the Spaniards, and had 
 been baptised, receiving the name of Don Fernando. The 
 distance between the shores of the two oceans measures at 
 this point scarcely thirty miles, and would therefore under 
 ordinary circumstances be accomplished in three or four days' 
 march. But on this narrow strip of land were crowded to- 
 .gether the greatest difficulties and obstructions. 
 
 The mountain range indeed was not formidable from its 
 height, but its slopes were covered with dense primeval forests 
 and poisonous vapours arose from the swampy ground tra- 
 versed by numerous sluggish rivers. Added to this there 
 was the necessity of forcing a passage through the territory 
 of various Indian tribes. It was almost three weeks from the 
 time Balboa and his men left Careta (September 6th) before 
 
240 A Centu7'y of Discovery. 
 
 they reached the neighbourhood of the coast. On the 25th of 
 September his Indian guides informed him that from a neigh- 
 bouring hill the sea could be seen. He wished to be the first to 
 enjoy the sight, so he climbed the hill alone. Arrived at the 
 top he saw close beneath him a bay with many inlets towards 
 the south-west, opening into the boundless ocean. Overcome 
 with joy Balboa fell upon his knees and praised God, who had 
 favoured him with so great a revelation. 
 
 On the 29th of September he reached the shore, and bear- 
 ing a banner upon which was emblazoned the Virgin and 
 Child, he waded up to his knees into the water and solemnly, 
 in the names of the Kings of Arragon and Castile, took pos- 
 session " of these southern seas, lands, shores, harbours, and 
 islands, with all that they contained, their kingdoms and their 
 marches, and swore to defend them against any foreign claim, 
 for the monarchs of Castile present and future, to whom be- 
 longs the empire and dominion of all these Indies, the islands 
 together with the north and south mainland, with their seas 
 from the north pole to the south pole on both sides of the 
 equator, within and without the tropics of Cancer and Capri- 
 corn, all being by right the possession of their majesties and 
 their successors." Then he made each of the Spaniards con- 
 vince himself by the salt taste that it was the shore of an 
 ocean, and sign his name to a deed drawn up by the notary, 
 Valderrabano, formally taking possession. 
 
 The bay which Balboa then reached still bears the name 
 of San Miguel, from the day on which it was discovered. Its 
 shores are extraordinarily rich in pearls. The Spaniards col- 
 lected a great number, among them some singularly large 
 specimens, but quite dull, because the Indians knew no way 
 of opening the shells but by fire and smoke. They were 
 mostly found on the shores of some neighbouring islands, 
 later named the Pearl Islands. Bad weather prevented Bal- 
 boa from taking possession of them, and after several weeks* 
 
Vasco Ntmez de Balboa. 241 
 
 sojourn with the chiefs of the country, whom he attached to 
 him partly by show of power and partly by friendly concilia- 
 tion, he determined on his return. He chose a different 
 way, but encountered equal difficulties. The opposition 
 was so great that he tried to overcome it by accusing some 
 of the chiefs of treason and criminality, and condemning 
 them to be torn to pieces by bloodhounds. This horrible 
 punishment spread terror far and wide, but we should do him 
 injustice if in our detestation of Balboa's bloody cruelty we 
 forgot that he did not act thus wantonly, but in the hope of 
 breaking down all opposition ; and that he chose as his victims 
 those who were hated and feared by their countrymen. Com- 
 pared with those who followed him indeed he appears mild 
 and humane. 
 
 On January 19th, 15 14, Balboa returned to Santa Maria, 
 where he found everything prospering. In March he sent 
 the great news of his discovery to Spain, together with 20,ooO' 
 ducats and 200 of the most beautiful pearls, which was the 
 royal share of the booty. By such dazzling proofs of his 
 fitness he hoped to wipe out the stain which rested on his 
 accession to power, and to stifle the complaints of his enemies. 
 And indeed the stir which his news excited was quite remark- 
 able. Learned men recognised the mistake Columbus had 
 made in supposing he had reached the east coast of Asia,, 
 while an unknown ocean lay between it and the new continent. 
 Still it was possible that west of Cuba it might be connected 
 with the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 In the Spanish nation there broke out a new and violent 
 attack of the gold fever. To reward the skill and success of 
 Balboa King Ferdinand appointed him Adelantado of the 
 newly-discovered South Sea — the name given to the new 
 ocean, Balboa having crossed the Isthmus of Central America 
 from north to south — and made him Governor of Coiba on 
 the Atlantic Ocean, and Panama on the South Sea, thus com- 
 
 16 
 
242 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 pensating him for certain enactments made previous to the 
 arrival of his messenger. Enciso and the friends of the unfor- 
 tunate Nicuesa had accused Balboa at court of having unjustly 
 seized the governorship, and had excited a strong feeling 
 against the traitor, as they named him. Ferdinand, desirous 
 of securing civil order to the hopeful colony, had appointed 
 Pedrarias de Avila, a man of sixty, its governor, as successor 
 to Nicuesa, thereby setting aside as illegal the rule of Balboa. 
 Pedrarias set sail on April nth, 15 14, with twenty-two ships 
 and 1200 men, and landed on June 30 at Santa Maria. 
 
 He was unfit for his post, but no opposition was offered to 
 him, and he obtained possession of the reins of government 
 without difficulty. Almost immediately he began a secret 
 examination of Balboa, in the hope of gaining over to his 
 side the man who had the greatest influence among the 
 colonists and the surrounding Indians. But the cunning of 
 Balboa was too much for him, and the examination ended in 
 his acquittal. The rule of Pedrarias was altogether very un- 
 imfortunate. The colony was visited by intense heat, and the 
 produce of the land was not sufficient to support the increased 
 number of Spaniards. Many died of hunger in the streets of 
 the town ; others perished in the plundering raids which want 
 drove them to make upon "the Indians, whom of course this 
 kind of treatment turned from friends into enemies. 
 
 No wonder that the colonists wished for Balboa's rule back 
 again. This becoming known to Avila filled him with hatred 
 of the great discoverer, which increased when he found that 
 Balboa had been appointed by the King governor of two 
 provinces, which were thus withdrawn from his immediate 
 jurisdiction, although Balboa was to remain his subordinate. 
 However, he kept up an appearance of friendship, and even 
 betrothed to Balboa one of his daughters left behind in Spain, 
 but secretly he was brooding over plans for his destruction. 
 Balboa at last succeeded in obtaining his permission to build 
 
Vasco Ntinez de Balboa. 243 
 
 .some ships on the South Sea, in which to visit the gold lands. 
 With great trouble the ships were conveyed in separate pieces 
 over the isthmus and there put together, and Balboa was just 
 ready to put off, when on some urgent pretext he was sum- 
 moned by Avila to Santa Maria. There he was thrown into 
 chainsj and the accusation brought against him that he was 
 intending to rebel and set up an independent government on 
 the shores of the South Sea. At the same time the old 
 charges of rebelling against Nicuesa and supplanting Enciso 
 were brought up again. The judges being already gained 
 over, pronounced sentence of death on Balboa and four of his 
 adherents in January, 15 17, and at Avila's command it was 
 carried out at Ada, a little offshoot from Santa Maria. 
 
 Thus the Spaniards robbed themselves of the man most 
 ■fit to explore the coast of the South Sea just at the m.oment 
 when he was on the point of accomplishing the task, which 
 afterwards fell to the share of the rough Pizarro. By his 
 unjust death Balboa atoned for the many crimes which had 
 stained his life. And the heroism of his character and the 
 glorious results which his great qualities enabled him to achieve 
 ihrow an undying charm around his memory. 
 
 16 — 2 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FERNAM DE MAGALHAENS. 
 
 By Balboa's discoveries some of the mistaken ideas were 
 cleared up which until then had been entertained with regard 
 to the New World. It was now known that the Antilles were 
 not Japan, and Darien was not Malacca, and that between 
 Europe and Asia there lay a great continent, separated from 
 Europe by the Atlantic and from Asia by Balboa's great 
 ocean. But to most minds it appeared perfectly incompatible 
 with the purpose of the world's creation that these two great 
 oceans should be completely separated from one another by 
 a large continent stretching from north to south, and that 
 such an almost insurmountable obstacle should be placed in 
 the way of communication between the two civilised parts of the 
 earth. Every one was convinced that there must be a strait, 
 possibly in a direct line between Spain and India, which united 
 the two oceans and would be a most convenient path for trade- 
 To discover this strait was the unceasing object of the 
 Spanish discoverers. Their zeal stirred up the still open 
 question concerning the possession of the Moluccas. The 
 mistaken measurement of the earth assumed, as we have 
 before mentioned, that the boundary of the territory granted 
 to the Portuguese by the Pope (i8o degrees east of the Canary 
 Isles) was in the Bay of Bengal, and the Spaniards were angry 
 that the Portuguese had overstepped it by their conquests in 
 Further India and in the Sunda Islands. With anxiety and 
 vexation they saw the Portuguese discoveries extending 
 
Fernaryi de Magalhaens. 245 
 
 steadily towards the east, and approaching nearer and nearer 
 to the Spice Islands, concerning which they were fully con- 
 vinced that they lay on the Spanish side of the globe. Yet 
 they were not in a condition to resist these encroachments 
 unless they could find a direct western route to these islands, 
 for to pursue the Portuguese by the route round Africa and 
 to seek to pass them in the Indian Ocean would render a 
 desperate struggle certain, the result of which was by no 
 means sure. 
 
 Columbus therefore sought this passage in the neighbour- 
 hood of Darien ; some years later hopes were entertained 
 that it would be discovered in the Gulf of Mexico, and later 
 still Cortes explored the whole east coast of North America 
 from Florida to Labrador with the same object. But in vain. 
 Still more zealously was South America examined for the 
 same purpose, that being for a long time looked upon as an 
 island. All the numerous expeditions along its west coast 
 had the same object, but without the desired result. Still 
 they did not give up hope. 
 
 Juan Diaz de Solis, who had accompanied Pinzon on his 
 third voyage in 1509, thought, in 15 16, he had discovered 
 the long-sought- for passage, when he found about 35 degrees 
 south latitude the east coast of America suddenly turn to- 
 wards the west and continue in that direction for miles. But 
 he recognised his mistake when the water lost its saltness ; 
 he had run into the great fresh water estuary of the two 
 gigantic rivers Parana and Uruguay, and which afterwards 
 received the name of Rio de la Plata. He landed on the 
 shores of this gulf and was killed and eaten by the wild 
 Indians. His horrified companions at once turned round 
 ■without accomplishing the task which Solis had set himself. 
 
 But a greater man soon followed in his footsteps, Fernam 
 de Magalhaens, better known under the Spanish form of his 
 name, Magellan, was born about the year 1480, in Oporto, of 
 
246 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 an old noble Portuguese family. We know nothing of his 
 youth. Like other young men of his rank, he probably knew 
 something of struggles with the infidels and of dangerous 
 voyages. It is certain that in his early life he went to India 
 in the service of the Portuguese crown, and there distinguished 
 himself. Though his personal appearance was mean, he sooa 
 brought himself into notice by his boldness and activity. He 
 served as an officer in the great fleet which, in 151 1, Alfonso 
 de Albuquerque led against Malacca, and took part in the 
 taking and defence of that important town. 
 
 The next year he took part in the war against the infidels 
 hi Africa. At Azamor he received a wound in the thigh from 
 a lance, which made him lame for the rest of his life. Having 
 come to court, in order to beg for an appointment in reward 
 for the services he had rendered, he was at once dismissed be- 
 cause he had presented himself without leave, and sent back 
 to Africa. Some time afterwards, finding all his endeavours 
 fruitless, he determined to forsake for ever his native land, in 
 which he had been publicly disgraced by having a groundless 
 charge of embezzlement brought iigainst him. Pie formally 
 gave up all his rights in Portugal, and on October 20th, iS^7r 
 removed his residence to Seville. A short time afterwards he 
 married a daughter of a Portuguese named Diego Barbosa,. 
 who had settled in Seville. 
 
 Magalhaens was in possession of information which he 
 thought he could make more use of in his new home than in 
 his old. P'rancisco Serrao, the first of all the Portuguese who 
 reached the Moluccas (15 12), and who had spent some years 
 there, was his greatest friend. PVom him he had received 
 letters containing a detailed account of his experiences. The 
 distances given by Serrao were, according to the fashion of dis- 
 coverers, exaggerated, and firmly convinced Magalhaens that 
 the delightful islands which brought forth the costly products 
 of the east might be fairly claimed by the Spaniards. Pie con- 
 
Fernam de Magalhaeus. 24/ 
 
 suited about it with an an astronomer named Falciro, who had 
 also emigrated from Portugal, and he arrived at the same con- 
 clusion. Together they applied to the Honourable Council 
 for India, offering their services for the discovery and settle- 
 ment of the Moluccas. 
 
 In February, 181 5, they arrived at the royal court of Valla- 
 dolid, and began their negotiation with Fonseca, the well- 
 known President of the Council, The prudence and caution 
 natural to this man would probably have prevented these 
 plans being adopted had not Magalhacns assured him most 
 confidently that he could find the desired passage. Being- 
 questioned more closely, he stated that he had seen it marked 
 on a large m»ap of the world which was kept in the treasury 
 of the King of Portugal, and which had been drawn up by 
 the Nuremberger Martin Behaim. 
 
 Now it is not at all impossible that this man, besides the 
 voyage in which he accompanied Cam, 1484, may have taken 
 part in other expeditions, and perhaps have even become ac- 
 quainted with the coast of South America. But in the year 
 1492, when he prepared the globe for the Nurembergcrs, he 
 appears to have had no knowledge of the American coasts, 
 and if we refer to a map of the world added by him to an 
 edition of Ptolemy published in the year 1507, we find the 
 extreme limit of the continent fixed. At the Rio de Cananca, 
 32 degrees south latitude, and on the other side of a broad 
 gulf is represented a belt of large islands evidently drawn 
 from fancy. 
 
 It is most probable that Magalhaens invented the story when 
 he saw that, without pretending to a knowledge of the shorter 
 way to the Moluccas, he should not obtain the appointment 
 he desired. He trusted that he should be able to justify his 
 assertions, if fortune were not adverse. At any rate the careful 
 investigation to which afterwards he subjected every bay along 
 the coast of South America makes him appear quite uncertain 
 
248 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 of the position of the desired strait. However, he obtained 
 his object, Fonseca was quite won over and seconded most 
 warmly the plans of the sailor who was in possession of such 
 important information. 
 
 When Magalhaens had made up his mind to relinquish his 
 claim to the rank of Admiral he succeeded in concluding a very 
 favourable treaty (March 22nd, 15 18). The crown promised to 
 fit out five good ships and man them with 234 skilful sailors, 
 whom it undertook to pay for two years. All other seamen were 
 forbidden for ten years to make use of the passage that 
 should be discovered by Magalhaens. To him the command 
 of the fleet was committed, and the rank of Adelantado and 
 the governorship of all lands that he should discover were 
 promised to him. Of the revenues that should flow to the 
 crown the twentieth part was to be paid to the discoverer, 
 upon whom also was conferred the right to import into 
 Spain, yearly, spices to the value of 1000 ducats, and to 
 receive a fifth part of the produce of the voyage. Finally, 
 of the islands discovered after the crown had chosen 
 six, the seventh and eighth were to be allotted to Magal- 
 haens, that he might receive the fifteenth part of their 
 produce. 
 
 Full of zeal Magalhaens set to work to prepare his squadron. 
 Soon the five ships lay in the harbour of Seville, ready to 
 sail. They were th.&Trmidad, which Magalhaens himself com- 
 manded ; the San Antonio, under Juan de Cartagena; the 
 Conception, under Caspar de Ouesada ; the Victoria, under 
 Luis de Mendoza ; and the Santiago, under the Portuguese 
 Juan Serrao, probably a relation of the discoverer of the 
 Moluccas. But the departure was delayed by all sorts of 
 jealousies which sprang up against the foreigner, and which 
 could only be overcome with the greatest difficulty. The 
 Portuguese too put in a protest against the undertaking as 
 infringing their rights, and their consul in Seville sought by 
 
Fernam de Magalhaens. 249 
 
 promises and threatenings to move his faithless countryman 
 from his purpose. But he remained immovable, and success- 
 fully overcame all the difficulties that lay in his way. 
 
 On the 20th of September, 15 19, the squadron left San 
 Lucan de Barremeda, a harbour at the mouth of the Guadal- 
 quiver, and on the 2nd of October it passed the Canary 
 Islands. Then it took a westerly course, until on the 29th of 
 November it reached San Agostinho, and thence went south- 
 ward along the coast. In January, 1520, they passed the 
 mouth of the Rio de la Plata, after which they were in a per- 
 fectly new region. Magalhaens then kept close to the coast, 
 and narrowly examined every bay which offered the least 
 possibility of a passage. On the 24th of March they reached 
 the Gulf of St. Matthias, a few days later St. George's Bay, and 
 at the end of the month a narrow inlet which is now called Port 
 Desire (47° 50' south latitude), but to which he gave the name 
 of Puerto de los Patos (Goose Harbour), because on its coasts 
 and on the island at its entrance there were an incredible 
 number of penguins. 
 
 Meanwhile the southern winter had begun, and it was un- 
 wise to continue the voyage. But since there was a want of 
 wood and water in Puerto de los Patos they went on until 
 they found (49 degrees south latitude) a very convenient 
 harbour, which received the name of St. Julian. Here a most 
 dangerous conspiracy broke out. Whilst on the way Magal- 
 haens had been obliged to place Juan de Cartagena, his second 
 in command, in confinement, on account of mutinous conduct. 
 Arrived at Port Julian he was set free by Quesada and Men- 
 doza, and on Easter Monday three ships, the San Antonio, 
 the Conception, and the Victoria, were in open rebellion against 
 Magalhaens. Their captains accused him of having overstepped 
 the royal orders and of having arrogated to himself unlawful 
 powers. Magalhaens saw that all his authority would be at 
 an end if he yielded, and that he should never succeed in ac- 
 
250 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 complishing his dangerous and difficult undertaking with 
 mutinous and untrustworthy crews. He adopted the sternest 
 measures, a course to which his hard nature incHned him. He 
 had Mendoza stabbed, whom he looked upon as the soul of 
 the conspiracy. Edward Barbosa, a brother-in-law of the 
 commander^ immediately took possession of the Victoria, and 
 Magalhaens himself, who with a wise foresight had placed 
 himself with the two faithful ships at the entrance of the har- 
 bour, by a charge of artillery compelled the other two ships to 
 surrender. Stern justice was exercised towards the heads of 
 the conspiracy. Quesada was condemned, Mendoza's body 
 was quartered, Cartagena and a priest who had taken part 
 in the mutiny were landed on a barren shore. The sailors, 
 whose services could not be dispensed with, were pardoned ; 
 but the bloody scenes had greatly terrified them. Hence- 
 forth every one trembled before the stern inexorable man, 
 and no one ventured to contradict him, much less oppose 
 him. 
 
 Until August the winter detained the little fleet in its har- 
 bour of refuge. During that time Magalhaens became ac- 
 quainted with the uncouth inhabitants of the land. They 
 were very tall, though not giants, as for a long time they were 
 reckoned on account of the exaggerated accounts of travellers. 
 They wore as clothing the skins of some unknown animal sewn 
 together (probably the huanaco, a kind of llama). Even their 
 feet were covered with skins, and this circumstance gave them 
 the name of Patagonians (the flat-footed), which they still 
 bear. At first they were quite confiding, but an attack of the 
 Spaniards, who wanted to carry off some of these strange 
 people, soon made them suspicious and hostile. 
 
 The quarrels deprived the Spaniards of the opportunity of 
 a close observation of the manners and customs of these 
 Indians. Yet they noticed that their worship consisted of 
 prayers to the devil. 
 
Fernam de Magalhaeiis. 251 
 
 The Patagonians have no settled dwellings, but wander 
 about at pleasure^ carrying with them huts, mere wooden 
 frames covered with skins. They live mostly on raw flesh 
 and a sweet root from which they prepare a kind of meal. 
 Rats and mice, which were caught for them on board the 
 ships, they devoured raw without even skinning them. They 
 appeared insatiable. Six of them emptied a kettle of broth 
 intended for twenty sailors, and of the two whom the Spaniards 
 had captured each daily consumed a basket of biscuits, and 
 could swallow at one draught half a bucket of water. 
 
 On the 24th of August they weighed anchor, and the four 
 ships — one of the ships had been wrecked on an exploring ex- 
 cursion — pursued their way to the south. But the weather 
 was so unfavourable that they were obliged to lie to for some 
 weeks in the harbour of Santa Cruz. There Magalhaens in- 
 formed the crew, to their great consternation, that if necessary 
 he should continue his journey southwards as far as 75° soutk 
 latitude. Fortunately, however, their patience was not tried 
 so far, for October 21st, only three days after leaving the har- 
 bour of Santa Cruz, the ships rounded Cabo dos Virgines, and 
 found the entrance to a broad channel running in a south- 
 westerly direction. 
 
 It was the long-desired passage, which ever since has borne 
 the name of its discoverer. It consists of a number of rocky 
 chambers with narrow branching passages. Running to the 
 north there are numerous deep fiords, and to the south narrow 
 outlets into the sea. 
 
 Contrary winds hindered the forward progress of the ships. 
 Even to this day a great knowledge of the place is necessary 
 to steer safely through such a labyrinth. Cape Froward, the 
 south point of America, divides the strait into two halves, of 
 which one, the Atlantic, has a north-easterly direction, while 
 the other runs to the north-west. In the former there is a re- 
 freshing prospect of green woods, but the latter is a narrow 
 
252 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 pass through rocks, some of them 7000 feet high, between 
 which glaciers float down to the sea. 
 
 Arrived at Cape Froward, Magalhaens called a meeting of 
 his principal sailors, and laid before them the question whether 
 they thought it advisable to continue the voyage, since their 
 provisions would only last three months. All voted to do so, 
 since they knew that such was the decided desire of their 
 chief. Only Stevam Gomez, the helmsman of the San An- 
 tonio, an experienced sailor, counselled that they should return 
 to Spain, and come back the next year with a new fleet. But 
 he was out-voted ; and Magalhaens angrily interrupted his re- 
 presentations with the words, " Enough of this. Even if we 
 are compelled to eat the leather on the ships' yards, it shall 
 not prevent my keeping my word with the Emperor." 
 
 A short time afterwards he sent the San Antonio to explore, 
 and when it returned it did not find the rest of the ships at 
 the appointed place. The crew at once demanded that they 
 should be allowed to return home ; Gomez supported them in 
 this demand, the captain was put in chains, and the vessel 
 started on the homeward voyage. It arrived in Spain on the 
 6th of May, 1521, where the worst possible reports were im- 
 mediately circulated about the disastrous results of the under- 
 taking. 
 
 The desertion of his best ship was a blow to Magalhaens, 
 but it did not shake his resolution. Without hesitation he 
 pursued his way, and on the 27th of November arrived at the 
 •end of the strait, and to the great joy of all sailed out into the 
 open sea. 
 
 In order to reach a warmer region, Magalhaens steered 
 towards the north for nearly a month, and then sailed in a 
 north-westerly direction. The equator was crossed on the 
 1 2th of February,- 1521, and a few days later they reached a 
 latitude of 13° north, where they remained. The voyage over 
 "the ocean lasted more than three months, and Magalhaens 
 
Fernmn de Magalhaens. 253 
 
 named it the Pacific, on account of the calms from which they 
 suffered. All this time they only came to two inhabited 
 islands, their course carrying them by an unlucky accident 
 beyond the swarm of islands which are scattered over the 
 tropical zone of the great ocean. 
 
 Oppressive heat rendered the sufferings of the almost ex- 
 hausted voyagers very great, for the small supply of water 
 which yet remained had long become bad, and its nauseous- 
 ness was so great that it could scarcely be drunk. For weeks 
 the only food that remained was biscuit, mouldy, decayed, 
 and defiled by rats. At last they ate the leather with which 
 the yards were covered to protect them from the friction of 
 the ropes ; but this was so hard that it had to be soaked for 
 five days in the sea before it was soft enough to cook. And 
 all this suffering was of course accompanied by the horrible 
 scurvy, which caused the gums so to swell that those attacked 
 by it could not take any nourishment. 
 
 At last there came an end to the terrible torture. On the 
 6th of March there appeared before the longing eyes of the 
 starving seamen two green islands, which rose out of the 
 waves like gardens, and the ships were soon surrounded by 
 numerous boats full of natives, who brought them all kinds of 
 fruits, and among others cocoanuts and bananas. These boats 
 were distinguished by three-cornered mat sails and crooked 
 poles sticking out right and left, which served to balance 
 them. The naked natives, of an olive colour, who were dis- 
 tinguished by symmetry of form and had pleasant counte- 
 nances, came on board the Spanish vessels with perfect fear- 
 lessnesSj and conducted themselves with the utmost ease 
 
 Everything was new to them, and everything that pleased 
 them — and what did not please them } — they immediately 
 tried to appropriate. In vain the Spaniards many times 
 cleared the decks of them. Any attempt at harshness so en- 
 raged them that they pelted the ships with stones and burn- 
 
254 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 ing pieces of wood — bows and arrows they had none. A few 
 cannon shots indeed put them to flight, but they came back 
 at night, and under cover of darkness succeeded in cutting off 
 'one of the best boats and carrying it ashore. To recover this 
 the Spaniards landed, gained possession of the boat, burnt 
 down a village, and carrying off all the provisions they could 
 •iind, weighed anchor. They gave to the group of islands the 
 name of Ladrones or Thieves' Islands, which they still bear. 
 The two islands visited by the Spaniards were probably 
 Guahan and Santa Rosa, the two most southerly ones. 
 
 Three days only had their stay lasted. From the 9th to 
 the 1 6th of March they pursued their way westward, till they 
 reached the coast of an island covered with dark green woods 
 and luxuriant vegetation. They soon discovered that it was 
 one of a group of large and populous islands, to which the 
 Spaniards gave the name of St. Lazarus Islands from the day 
 on which they were found. The year 1 542, however, when 
 they were carefully examined by Ru}^ Lopez de Villalobas> 
 the name was changed to the Philippines. 
 
 Magalhaens anchored cautiously in a retired bay on a small 
 uninhabited island, where the sick sailors soon got well. 
 After a week's rest the fleet again set sail, and soon reached 
 the Island of Massana, now called Limasagua, whose in- 
 habitants came out immediately to greet the strangers. Pre- 
 sents were exchanged, and such intimate relations were estab- 
 lished that several Spaniards at the invitation of the King 
 passed the night in his palace ; and the assembled crews cele- 
 brated their Easter with great solemnity on shore. The in- 
 habitants were Malays, for the most part entirely naked, but 
 tattooed all over. The Spaniards were exceedingly disgusted 
 at their habit of betel-chewing. All the islanders, without 
 distinction of age or sex, were provided with pieces of a pear- 
 shaped fruit, the areca nut, which, with the addition of a little 
 lime, they wrap up in the betel leaves and put into their 
 
Fernam de Magalhaens. 255 
 
 inouths. They never left off this occupation the whole day, 
 and declared that they would die if they gave up the betel, 
 which excites the heart. 
 
 Here Magalhaens learned that at no great distance lay the 
 most fruitful and most beautiful island of the whole archi- 
 pelago. It was named Zebu, and he crossed over to it on the 
 7th of April, accompanied by the friendly King of Massana. 
 In the harbour of a considerable town lay several mer- 
 chant-ships, and from one of these, which belonged to Siam, 
 the King of Zebu learned that the new comers belonged to 
 the mighty nation that had conquered Malacca. Impelled 
 by fear, he sought to gain their friendship, treating them 
 with the utmost courtesy. They were supplied with plenty 
 of provisions, and splendidly entertained at the court of 
 the King. So anxious was his brown Majesty to conciliate 
 the Spaniards that he declared himself ready to embrace 
 Christianity, and acknowledge the supremacy of the Spanish 
 crown. On the 14th of April therefore he was baptised, with 
 his wife and many subjects. The hideous idols were burnt, and 
 crosses erected in their place, the whole country being pro- 
 claimed Spanish. 
 
 But the surprising speed of this revolution, which highly 
 delighted the Spaniards, had yet its great dangers. A number 
 of the inhabitants were very dissatisfied with the change, and 
 particularly irritated at the ill-treatment of their gods. They 
 retired into the little island of Mactan, which lay in the imme- 
 diate neighbourhood of Zebu, and was the seat of a universal 
 discontent. 
 
 When Magalhaens received news of this he determined, in 
 spite of the advice of all judicious persons, to attack the mal- 
 contents, who, as he hoped, were not in a condition to hold out 
 against the superior arms of the Europeans. In the night of 
 the 26th and 27th of April he sailed with sixty well-armed 
 people on three boats, on each of which there was a cannon, 
 
256 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 to Mactan, accompanied by the King of Zebu and a fleet of 
 native boats. 
 
 In the first grey of the morning they saw the coast. As 
 the shallowness of the water hindered the boats from ap- 
 proaching, the warlike leader sprang into the water, and with 
 forty-nine of his companions waded to the shore. The over- 
 whelming crowds of the enemy, reckoned at about 1500 men, 
 fell upon the little troop, which were obliged to depend en- 
 tirely upon their own exertions, as the cannons in the boats 
 could do nothing at so great a distance, and Magalhaens had 
 expressly forbidden the native auxiliaries to take any part in 
 the battle, so sure was he of speedy victory. 
 
 But the wooden shields of the natives were some protection 
 against the firearms of the Spaniards, whilst the latter were 
 unable to stand against the furious attacks of their enemies, 
 who swarmed on them from all sides with a perfect hail of 
 arrows. Several of them fell, and Magalhaens himself was 
 severely wounded in the leg by a bamboo spear. He ordered 
 a retreat, which with most of his men became a flight, and by 
 wading they succeeded in reaching the ships. Only seven or 
 eight of the bravest remained with their general, who retired 
 slowly, still fighting, towards the beach. The nearer they 
 came to the water the more inpetuous became the attacks. 
 Twice Magalhaens's helmet was struck oft", and at last he was 
 wounded by a lance-thrust in the forehead. He ran his spear 
 through his antagonist, but could not succeed in drawing it 
 out of his body again. He tried to draw his sword, but a 
 severe blow disabled his arm. Almost at the same moment 
 he was struck down by a lance, and once prostrate he was 
 soon overwhelmed by the natives, and expired under count- 
 less wounds. Seven Spaniards fell with him, and the rest 
 escaped to the ships. But the battle was continued in the 
 water, and was only brought to an end by a discharge of 
 cannon. 
 
DEATH OF MAGALHAENS IN THE ISLAND OF MACTAN. 
 
Fernam de Magalhaens. 257 
 
 Thus the great seaman found a sad end among savages ; 
 after having so often braved the rage of the elements, and 
 'having been the first to open the mysterious gates of a great 
 ocean, he fell a victim to over-confidence in the irresistible 
 power of European arms and Spanish gallantry. He was not 
 allowed to reap the reward of his great deed. Perhaps a 
 •gracious Providence wished to spare him the fate of Columbus. 
 
 His death was disastrous to the whole undertaking. To- 
 gether with the belief in the invincibility of the strangers 
 departed the Christian faith of the new converts ; and when 
 the victorious islanders threatened the King of Zebu with war 
 if he remained in alliance with the enemies of their country, 
 he was easily persuaded to betray those whom he had hitherto 
 treated as his guests. He invited them to a 'feast on the 1st 
 of May, for the purpose of giving them presents for his liege 
 lord the King of Spain. Twenty-two Spaniards, under the 
 lead of Barbosa, who had taken the command, accepted the 
 invitation, and Barbosa's scornful taunt, that whoever feared 
 might stay on board, impelled the gallant Serrao to accom- 
 pany them. His mistrust was only too well founded. At the 
 feast all the guests were put to the sword, Serrao only being 
 spared. Him they dragged down to the shore bound, and 
 offered to release hitn for a ransom of two cannons. But the 
 Spaniards did not venture near, and hastily weighed anchor. 
 The unhappy Serrao, whose entreaties for deliverance died 
 away unanswered, was dragged back to the town, and there 
 probably miserably murdered. 
 
 Deeply cast down, the sailors continued their way towards 
 the south. The crews being so sorrowfully diminished in 
 numbers, and many of the survivors being wounded, it was no 
 longer possible to manage the three ships, and it was therefore 
 determined to burn the worst of the vessels, the Conception, 
 on the open sea. They then sailed west in search of the 
 Moluccas, and touched the island of Palawan, whence they 
 
 17 
 
258 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 steered towards the south. Thus they reached the island of 
 Borneo, and entered the harbour of that name. 
 
 This was the seat of a powerful Sultan, who prepared a very- 
 friendly reception for the exhausted Spaniards, and displayed 
 the greatest pomp before them. Beautifully decorated boats 
 brought them all kinds of presents, especially provisions ; 
 among other things arrack, a spirit prepared from rice, with 
 which the Spaniards now for the first time became acquainted. 
 An embassy which they despatched to the court of the Prince 
 was conducted to the splendid palace by monstrous elephants 
 having wooden constructions on their backs. Here they found 
 a richly-dressed bodyguard and numerous dignitaries ; but the 
 Sultan himself sat with his wife in a kind of box with a grat- 
 ing in front of it, and everything which the strangers wished 
 to say to him was passed from mouth to mouth up a perfect 
 staircase of officers until it reached the Prime Minister, who 
 transmitted it through a speaking-trumpet to the ear of the 
 Prince. The reply came back in the same way. After the 
 audience the ambassadors were well entertained, and then 
 conducted back to the ships. 
 
 The very active people over whom the Sultan ruled were of 
 Malay origin, and had recently become Mahometans. They 
 are particularly good sailors, and singularly skilful traders, 
 and they also understand agriculture and the management of 
 cattle. The principal articles of commerce produced by their 
 very fruitful land are cinnamon, ginger, sugar-cane, and cam- 
 phor, and the brisk trade draws into their land foreign mer- 
 chants in crowds, especially Chinese. 
 
 From the 8th to the 29th of July the Spaniards lay in the 
 harbour of Borneo, bartering for provisions and other ne- 
 cessaries. But when, from mutual misunderstandings, they 
 became engaged in strife with the numerous merchant-ships, 
 they left the harbour in over-anxious haste, and sought farther- 
 north a solitary bay, in which to carry out the repairs necessary- 
 
Fernam de Magalhap.ns. 259 
 
 to their ships. Here they examined carefully the plants and 
 animals peculiar to the island, and amused themselves with 
 hunting wild boars and turtles. After some weeks they re- 
 sumed their voyage in search of the Moluccas. On their way 
 they captured all the Malay boats that they met, and made 
 those on board act as pilots. At length, on the 8th of No- 
 vember, 1 52 1, they anchored off the coast of the island of 
 Tidor, more than two years after their departure from 
 Spain. 
 
 Almansor, the Sultan of this island, immediately came on 
 board, and made himself exceedingly obliging, even going so 
 far as to take an oath of allegiance to the Emperor Charles 
 V. In this way he hoped to procure the assistance of the 
 Spaniards against the Portuguese, towards whom he had a 
 strong feeling of hatred. It is even said, as the Spaniards 
 heard afterwards, that Francisco Serrao, the discoverer of the 
 Moluccas, and a close friend of Magalhaens, had been poisoned 
 by Almansor. In spite of there being no Portuguese at that 
 time in Tidor, the Spanish sailors yet did not feel themselves 
 secure, and freighted their ships as hastily as possible with 
 cloves. Fortune favoured them. Pedro Affonso de Lourousa, 
 the Portuguese factor on the neighbouring island of Ternate, 
 probably influenced by a bribe, delivered over the goods he 
 had stored up by him, and united himself with the Spaniards. 
 He also procured for them alliances with the Sultans of Ter- 
 nate and Batchang. In a few weeks the ships were freighted, 
 and they were just on the point of' weighing anchor when 
 a great leak was discovered in the Trinidad, the largest of 
 the two ships, which made it necessary to delay the start. 
 While the vessel was being repaired, the crew, consisting of 
 fifty men, with their captain, Gomez de Espinosa, took up 
 their dwelling on the island. At last everything was made 
 right, and the}' set sail towards the north-east, for they dared 
 not approach the Portuguese possessions in India, where the 
 
 17 — 2 
 
26o ' A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 landing of the Spaniards in the Moluccas was known, and pre- 
 cautionary measures had been taken. 
 
 Espinosa preferred to return across the wide ocean, hoping 
 to find the harbour of Panama, in Central America, where for 
 some years a Spanish Governor had ruled. But he waited 
 vainly for a favourable west wind ; he sailed up to 42° north 
 latitude, but all to no purpose. At last he was compelled to 
 turn round ; and, dismasted and almost wrecked by a storm 
 that lasted for five days, the Tri7iidad xQt\xrntd to the Moluccas. 
 Here meanwhile the Portuguese had arrived with a consider- 
 able force, and there remained nothing for the unhappy 
 Spaniards but to surrender to their rivals. The hard treat- 
 ment which they received in prison and the unhealthy climate 
 soon swept them off, and only four of them — three sailors and 
 a chaplain — returned, in 1526, in a Portuguese ship, to their 
 native land. 
 
 The Victoria, which quitted Tidor on the i8th of December, 
 1 521, had a happier fate. On it there were forty-seven 
 Spaniards and thirteen natives, principally prisoners who had 
 been captured in the Malay boats. The captain was Juan 
 Sebastian Elcano ; the helmsman, Francisco Albo. The 
 pilots, who were taken from Tidor, conducted the ship first 
 towards the south, until it had passed out of the Sunda Sea 
 by the island of Timor into the open Indian Ocean. They 
 then steered directly to the west, and after a prosperous voy- 
 age of three months, reached the south point of Africa. 
 Violent contrary winds, however, hindered them from passing 
 the Cape, and even after they had entered the Atlantic Ocean 
 the patience of the crew was severely tried by continued bad 
 weather. Their number was reduced by hunger and sickness 
 to thirty, and these were so enfeebled that they stopped at 
 St. Jago, in the Cape Verde Islands, to recruit. 
 
 As they artfully gave out that they had come from 
 America, and were part of a fleet sailing to Hispaniola that had 
 
Fernam de Magalhaens. • 261 
 
 been driven out of its course by a storm, they met with a very 
 friendly reception from the Portuguese colonists. They did not, 
 however, exercise the caution necessary, and the latter soon 
 found out the truth. The Governor of the town immediately 
 acted according to the orders which King Emanuel had issued 
 for all Portuguese colonies in case at any time they should be 
 visited by people circumnavigating the globe. He seized 
 a boat, and took the thirteen men that were in it prisoners, at 
 the same time arming the ships lying in the harbour in order 
 to overpower the Trinidad. But the watchful Elcano had 
 carefully observed the movements on the shore, and without 
 troubling himself about the fate of the prisoners, sailed away 
 with all speed. 
 
 At last on the 6th of September, 1522, the ship reached the 
 Spanish coast, and ran into the harbour of San Lucar de 
 Barrameda, which it had left almost three years before. Of 
 the sixty that had then manned it only thirteen returned, and 
 they were utterly exhausted both in body and mind. They 
 had long been given up as lost, and their return was looked 
 upon as a miracle. They themselves considered it so, and 
 immediately after their landings true to the vow which they 
 had made in the day of their distress, went barefooted and 
 bareheaded in a solemn procession to the church Santa Maria 
 del Antigua to offer their thanks to Heaven for their wonderful 
 deliverance. The whole learned world was deeply interested 
 in the successful accomplishment of the great undertaking of 
 circumnavigating the globe. The most important result, with 
 the exception of the discovery of the great ocean, was the 
 curious fact that the voyagers had lost a whole day on their 
 way. Many thought this an oversight, but the astronomer 
 Contarini immediately showed that this was the natural con- 
 sequence of their circuit from east to west, whereby they had 
 accompanied the sun, and that in the same way the opposite 
 movement from west to east would bring the gain of a day. 
 
262 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 It was also thought a great thing that by this first circum- 
 navigation of the globe a palpable proof of the spherical 
 form of the earth was given. 
 
 The Emperor Charles summoned the bold sailors to his 
 court at Valladolid, and there heard with the greatest interest 
 their wonderful story. He rewarded each with a pension, and 
 to Elcano he granted also a significant coat of arms, on which 
 were displayed in a field of gold nutmegs and cloves, and a 
 globe with the inscription, " Primus circumdedisti me." 
 
 But he had no intention of neglecting the political con- 
 sequences of the expedition, the discovery of a western route 
 to India and the seizure of the Moluccas. He fitted out a 
 new squadron of seven sail, which left Seville on the 24th of 
 July, 1525, in order to take the new way to the Spice Islands. 
 The commander was Garcia de Loaysa, but under him Elcano 
 again took part in the expedition. In making for the 
 Straits of Magellan, one of the ships strayed to the south 
 point of Tierra del Fuego, which was afterwards called Cape 
 Horn. Of all the ships only the Admiral's, with a crew 
 that had been sadly lessened by sickness, reached Tidor on 
 the 31st of December, 1526, where the Spaniards established 
 themselves and engaged in hot struggles with the Portuguese, 
 who had built a fort at Ternate. A ship despatched to their aid 
 by Cortes from Mexico, and which anchored at Tidor in 1528, 
 was most welcome. But internal discord crippled the under- 
 takings of the Spaniards. In 1529 Tidor was betrayed into 
 the hands of the Portuguese, and the few Spaniards who 
 survived were obliged according to the treaty to retire to 
 another island. Here the struggle continued until the news 
 of the treaty of 1529, by which the Moluccas were conceded 
 to the Portuguese, reached them. There were only seventeen 
 Spaniards who then (1534) returned home. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HERNANDO CORTES. 
 
 Wpiile the Spanish ships were traversing the newly-dis- 
 'Covered ocean, and striving with the Portuguese for their most 
 valuable possession in the Indian waters, nothing had been left 
 undone to increase the value of the Antilles. The wealth of 
 Hispaniola, though by no means inconsiderable — in 1520, 
 according to some authorities, 100,000 ducats are said to have 
 flowed into the royal coffers ; according to others, ^{^300,000 
 — was yet not important enough to satisfy the expectations 
 of the adventurers who streamed into the land, and who 
 were therefore compelled to support themselves as planters. 
 Bishop Fonseca, the worthy President of the Council for 
 Indian Affairs in Seville, did all in his power to encourage the 
 emigration of industrious and steady colonists. Such received 
 free passages, were exempted from all taxes with the exception 
 of the tenth, and the piece of land which they pledged them- 
 selves to cultivate for four years then became their own 
 property. Only metals, jewels, and dyes the Crown reserved 
 to itself, and it made special arrangements with certain dis- 
 tinguished persons for the procuring of these. Upon all other 
 productions of the island it only placed a moderate duty. 
 But favourable as everything was to the emigration of an 
 industrious labouring class, there were few adventurers who 
 were inclined for a life of quiet work. A spirit of feverish 
 restlessness had come over the whole of Spain and had 
 penetrated to the very lowest stratum. With a greed for the 
 treasures of the New World was united a knightly joy in the 
 
264 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 stirring and romantic dangers — a joy which had first been' 
 inspired by the wars with the Arabs, and which now could be 
 satisfied in that land of wonders on the other side of the 
 ocean. And, lastly, there was added to this the pious delusion 
 that in fighting with, and indeed destroying, the heathen 
 natives, the Spaniards were executing a work useful to the 
 Church and well pleasing to God. A longing for wealth and 
 the easy enjoyment of life, the desire for unheard-of adven- 
 tures, and a fanatical missionary zeal are the striking charac- 
 teristics of the thousands and tens of thousands who in a few 
 years flocked into America. Only a few of them returned 
 with anything like wealth to their native country ; the ma- 
 jority found their death in some foolhardy enterprise ; while- 
 many returned home beggars and infirm, having wasted their 
 quickly-gained wealth in play and dissipation. The lives of 
 these fortune-hunters oscillated between the greatest extremes ;. 
 to-day they were the possessors of rich plantations, lords of 
 hundreds of brown slaves — all subject to every wish of their- 
 masters, and the objects of every kind of inhumanity — drunkards, 
 and gluttons — men are even said at their feasts to have placed on 
 their tables gold-dust instead of salt; to-morrow they were poor^ 
 in debt, in jail, threatened with lawsuits. But it was exactly 
 men like these, reduced by misfortune and their own wicked- 
 ness, that were always ready to engage in the most adventur- 
 ous undertakings, and to follow the brave leader who could 
 promise them deprivations, struggles, and adventures, and as 
 their reward, riches and unbridled enjoyment. Thus Hispa- 
 niola was the starting-point of numerous expeditions which 
 gradually covered the coasts and islands of Central America 
 with Spanish colonies. 
 
 Under thegovernorshipof Nicholasde Ovando, Hernan Ponce,, 
 who from the place of his birth was called de Leon, had colo- 
 nised the island of Porto Rico, and after a bloody struggle 
 had subdued the natives. The gold of the island — though it 
 
Hernando Cortes. • 265. 
 
 quickly proved to be not very great in quantity — and its 
 fruitful plains, allured many Spanish settlers to it, while the 
 natives rapidly died out. For the same reasons the coasts of 
 Cuba, the insular nature of which was at last firmly estab- 
 lished, was quickly covered with Spanish settlements, as soon 
 as the knight Diego Velasquez (15 11), with the consent of 
 the Governor, Diego Columbus, had begun the colonisation of 
 the island. Here the opposition of the Indians was but 
 weak, and ended with the capture and execution of their 
 leader, the Cacique Hatuey. 
 
 When Diego Columbus had victoriously established his 
 claim to the governorship of Porto Rico, the conqueror, Hernan 
 Ponce de Leon (15 13), left the island, in order to procure for 
 himself a new governorship in some of the yet undiscovered 
 lands. The report of a wonderful medicinal spring in the 
 land of Bimini which made the old young again made him. 
 direct his course towards the north-west. He discovered oa 
 this voyage a country to which he gave the name of Florida, 
 but he did not find the wonderful spring, neither did he 
 succeed in forming a settlement on the peninsula, both coasts 
 of which he visited, because the warlike Indians opposed 
 most vehemently every attempt to land. 
 
 On his return the Bahama Islands and the little groups ofi" 
 the coast of Florida were more thoroughly explored, but the 
 whole expedition did not fulfil the hopes of Hernan Ponce. 
 This want of success did not, however, discourage him. In the 
 year 15 15, by personally conducting his affairs in Castile, he 
 obtained the appointment of Adelantado of Bimini, and in 
 1520 he sailed from Porto Rico with a stately squadron ta 
 found a settlement in Florida. This time the expedition was 
 even more disastrous. A number of the Spaniards fell in 
 battle with the Indians, and the rest Hernan Ponce was obliged 
 to take back to Porto Rico, himself suffering from a wound 
 which soon afterwards proved fatal. 
 
266 A Cenhuy of Discovery. 
 
 Just as Porto Rico was the starting-place of expeditions 
 intended for the north, Cuba was the point of departure for 
 the unknown west. The immediate object of these expedi- 
 tions was the slave trade, and it first led the Spanish sailors 
 to the little islands in Honduras Bay. On the ist of March, 
 15 17, Hernandez de Cordova found himself opposite an un- 
 known promontory. Cape Catoche (21 degrees north latitude), 
 where the Spaniards first met traces of high civilisation. 
 Populous towns with white houses, above whicli arose 
 ■stately towers and mighty temples, with a stirring population, 
 decently clothed and skilled in all kinds of arts and manu- 
 factures — this was a sight quite new and entirely unexpected 
 by the Spaniards, who until now had only met with the naked 
 children of nature. As far as Cordova continued his voyage 
 along the coast to the west the same sight met his eyes, and 
 in Compeche he learnt to know the superior gallantry of the 
 natives and their skill in war, being forced by them after con- 
 siderable loss to return to the ships. He left the coast, 
 ■called by the natives Maya, but to which, mistaking a reply 
 received from its inhabitants, Cordova gave the name of Yu- 
 catan. He returned by Florida to Cuba, where he soon after 
 died. But the surprising information which he brought with 
 him awoke in the Governor, Velasquez, the desire for dis- 
 covery. Out of his own means he fitted out a squadron of 
 four ships to obtain exact information about the newly-dis- 
 covered lands, and gave the command to his nephew, the 
 upright Juan de Grijalva. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1518, he discovered south of Cape Ca- 
 toche the important Island of Cozumel, with a surprisingly 
 large number of temples, and after rounding the cape he 
 proceeded along the whole north coast of Yucatan without 
 entering into friendly intercourse with the natives until he 
 reached the river Tabasco, the boundary of the great king- 
 dom of Mexico, the size and importance of which was not 
 
Hernajido Cortes. 267 
 
 known to the Spaniards. The coast then turned towards the 
 north-west, and Grijalva followed it to a group of little islands 
 which, from their bloody altars, received the name of Isla de 
 Los Sacrificios. 
 
 The coast of the mainland, where the town of Vera Cruz 
 now stands, was then called Ulua, and was thickly peopled. 
 Here Grijalva succeeded in opening a friendly communication 
 with the natives and their rulers, and for some unimportant 
 trifles obtained great treasures of skilfully worked gold. 
 Faithful to the directions received from Velasquez, Grijalva 
 withstood the wish of his sailors to establish a settlement in 
 Ulao, and contented himself with despatching a ship, under 
 the subsequently famous Pedro de Alvarado, with the treasures 
 and important news to Cuba. He himself for a time continued 
 his voyage along the coast, which bent towards the north, 
 turning round at last at the mouth of the river Panuco 
 (22 degrees north latitude). The gap which was still left 
 between the utmost point of Grijalva's discoveries and the 
 v/est coast of Florida, traversed by Ponce de Leon, was filled 
 up in 15 19 by Francisco de Garay, the assistant-governor of 
 Jamaica. The squadron sent out by him explored the whole 
 north coast of the'Gulf of Mexico, and thus made clear that 
 the two peninsulas of Florida and Yucatan belonged to one 
 and the same continent. This was the last link in the long 
 chain of Central American discoveries. 
 
 When Grijalva, on the 30th of September, 15 18, landed in 
 Havannah he was much surprised to receive a cool reception 
 from the Governor Velasquez. The capricious man blamed 
 him for having faithfully carried out his orders, and resisted 
 the proposal to found a colony. Immediately after Alvarado's 
 arrival he had begun preparations, and passing over Grijalva, 
 appointed another to the command of the undertaking. This 
 was a man exceptionally fitted to overcome the unheard-of 
 difficulties of his task and to carry it through in a brilliant 
 
2 68 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 manner, but one whom Velasquez certainly would never have 
 chosen if he had fully known his aspiring and independent 
 spirit. 
 
 Hernando Cortes was born of a good family in the year 
 1485, at Medellin, in the province of Estremadura. He was 
 designed by his father, a captain of the Spanish army, for a 
 lawyer. He received a good education, and to complete his 
 studies was sent to the University of Salamanca. But after 
 two years, which the fiery youth spent in dissipation and 
 riot, his parents saw that it would be impossible to make a 
 lawyer of him, and let him follow the bent of his adventurous 
 mind. So in 1504 he embarked for the New World, and 
 after a very dangerous voyage landed at Hispaniola, where 
 Ovando granted him a considerable repartimento (piece of 
 land and the compulsory service of some Indians), and ap- 
 pointed him notary of the new town of Azua. 
 
 Some years passed away in the pleasant enjoyment of his ' 
 possession, and the monotony of his life he varied by many 
 affairs of honour and by the share which he took in the 
 struggles with the Indians. In this way he became acquainted 
 with Velasquez, whom he accompanied to Cuba in 15 11. At 
 first a favourite of the new Governor, he subsequently be- 
 came hostile to him and headed a conspiracy to obtain 
 the deposition of Velasquez. But Velasquez was on his 
 guard and got possession of the person of Cortes. He is said 
 even to have intended to have him executed, and was only 
 deterred by the urgent entreaties of some important persons. 
 After a time Cortes gave up his hostile designs against the 
 Governor, and in order to evince his change of mind mar- 
 ried the beautiful Catalina Xuarez, from Granada, who was 
 under the protection of Velasquez. The reconciliation was a 
 durable one. Cortes lived almost exclusively on the large 
 estate granted to him near the harbour of St. Jago, in which 
 he was invested with the dignity of Alcalde, and all the rest- 
 
Hernando Cortes. ' 269 
 
 less and ambitious wishes of his soul appeared to slumber. 
 Then came Alvarado's news of the wonderful discoveries of 
 Grijalva, and immediately all Cortes's love of adventure 
 awoke. 
 
 By the mediation of good friends he procured from Velas- 
 quez the command of the expedition that was projected, and 
 at once became unweariedly active in endeavouring to com- 
 plete the preparation of his squadron, upon which he spent 
 his whole wealth, and indeed plunged deeply into debt. But 
 his hopes were almost shattered at the last moment. Doubts 
 had arisen in the mind of Velasquez concerning the faithful- 
 ness of his former antagonist, and he meditated placing a 
 more reliable person in command. Cortes no sooner sus- 
 pected the design than with his half-completed squadron he 
 immediately left the harbour of St. Jago (on the i8th Novem- 
 ber, 15 18). In other harbours of the island he made up what 
 was wanting, and in spite of the hurry of the preparations he 
 completed everything with care and exactness, superintending 
 all himself to the minutest detail. In spite of the prohibition 
 of the irritated Governor the best soldiers joined the force of 
 the rebel general, in whose energy and skill all placed the 
 greatest confidence, and when he mustered his forces at the 
 west point of Cuba, Cape St. Antonio, he found himself in 
 command of eleven ships, no sailors, 503 soldiers, and 200 
 Indian servants. 
 
 The management of the ships was entrusted to Anton de 
 Alaminos, who had accompanied Columbus, Cordova, and 
 Grijalva. His chief strength lay in artillery, which consisted 
 of ten heavy and four light cannon, and in a cavalry force of 
 sixteen horse, which had been obtained at great expense, 
 but proved afterwards of the greatest service. Full of confi- 
 dence, Cortes weighed anchor on February iStli, 15 19, and 
 proceeded with his little force to the conquest of a powerful 
 empire, which counted its subjects by millions. 
 
270 A Century of Discovciy. 
 
 In the centre of this kingdom lay the country of Anahuac^ 
 consisting of a large portion of the high tableland, which 
 rises 7000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. This territory had 
 been in early times the seat of a people of high development 
 — the Toltecs — who, from some unexplained cause, had en- 
 tirely vanished, leaving as the only proofs of their existence 
 the ruins of some venerable temples. New tribes poured into 
 the empty land from the north — the savage Chichemecs, 
 the more developed Acolhuans, and the warlike Aztecs. The 
 second tribe built their capital, Tezcuco, on the east shore of 
 the lake which lies in the middle of the high land, while the 
 Aztecs found a site for their chief town in the lake itself — 
 Tenochtitlan being built on piles in the marshy ground like a 
 second Venice, and being only accessible from the shore by 
 narrow causeways. Soon after the building of the town, which 
 must have taken place about 1325, the two nations concluded 
 an alliance offensive and defensive ; but the warlike Aztecs 
 proceeded from conquest to conquest, and soon ruled both in 
 the tablelands and also on the sultry shores of the two oceans. 
 
 The town of Tezcuco remained small, and its citizens sought 
 their glory in peaceful acquisitions, by which their more power- 
 ful neighbours and allies profited. Both the states were king- 
 doms, the King being chosen by four electors from the brothers 
 or nephews of his predecessor. His power Avas almost un- 
 limited, his person sacred, and he was honoured almost as a 
 god. But next to him was an aristocracy, with great landed 
 possessions and a certain legal influence in the government. 
 The rest of the population was divided into freemen and slaves. 
 The chief occupation of every Aztec was war, to which he Avas 
 brought up from his youth. A warlike disposition and an ex- 
 aggerated sense of honour was cherished by the distinctions 
 accorded to the brave ; and even the highly influential priestly 
 order did their utmost to preserve uninjured the warlike ten- 
 dencies of the national character. 
 
Hernando Cortes. 271 
 
 The religious opinions of the Aztecs offer a strange mixture 
 of lofty simplicity and gloomy superstition, of mild worship 
 and bloody sacrifices ; possibly the brighter side should be 
 attributed to the old Toltecs, and the gloomy and savage to 
 the natural disposition of the Aztecs. Besides one chief god, 
 creator of the world, they acknowledged several hundred lesser 
 •gods, who were represented by ugly images. Amongst these, 
 those who possessed most influence over the nation were the 
 bloodthirsty god of slaughter, Huitzilopotchli — whose name 
 the Spaniards changed into Vitzliputzli — and the god of war, 
 Mexitli, the chief town, and afterwards the whole land, being 
 named after his temple. In fearful contrast to the cheerful 
 feasts, to the processions of women and children in honour of 
 the mild deities, were the horrible human sacrifices offered to 
 the god of slaughter. The unhappy victim was stretched alive 
 upon the altar, and the chief priest, with a skilful hand, opened 
 the breast and tore out the throbbing heart. In every town 
 of the kingdom rose temples to Huitzilopotchli, and the num- 
 ber of human beings oftered to him annually in the whole 
 kingdom of the Aztecs is estimated at the lowest calculation 
 as 20,000, while on special occasions, such as an accession or 
 the dedication of a temple, it probably reached twice or three 
 times that number. 
 
 Most of these victims were prisoners taken in war ; and in 
 order that there might be a sufficient number to offer, the 
 Aztecs, who in battle always strove to make prisoners 
 rather than to slay, annexed to their kingdom certain pro- ■ 
 vinces — as, for example, Tlascala — in order in their ceaseless 
 wars to have undisturbed territories in which to attend to 
 their altars and sacrifices. What rendered the whole matter 
 more revolting and horrible, was the custom of the priests to 
 give back the body of the victim to the warrior who had 
 taken him in battle, in order that he might feast on it with 
 his friends. And this was no savage meal of hungry can- 
 
272 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 nibals, but a banquet in which costly beverages and all kinds 
 -of dainty dishes were served up in golden vessels, and at which 
 all the guests conducted themselves according to the rules 
 of good manners. "Surely never," says Prescott, " were re- 
 finement and the extreme of barbarism brought so closely in 
 contact with each other." 
 
 But this revolting picture must not make us blind to the 
 extraordinary achievements of the Aztecs in almost every 
 department of social life. Their well-cultivated land was 
 covered with numerous towns built of stone. Among the 
 public buildings the most remarkable were the temples, 
 tcocalli, consisting of immense flattened pyramids of earth, 
 upon which were high towers. Well-kept roads united the 
 towns, between which there was the liveliest traffic. For 
 money were used quills full of gold-dust, pieces of lead, and 
 cocoa-beans. The knowledge of the Aztecs in astronomy was 
 not inconsiderable, their temples were adorned with sculptures, 
 and, written in hieroglyphics, they possessed songs celebrating 
 the deeds of their heroes, and also a history of their country. 
 
 Unfortunately, only a few of these valuable mo'^uments 
 have been saved from the fanatical wrath of the Spanish 
 priests. With consummate skill the Aztecs made entire pictures 
 from the down of humming-birds, and manufactured splendid 
 garments and quilts out of feathers. The administration of 
 the great kingdom was ordered to the minutest detail. The 
 governors of provinces had to send to the capital by runners, 
 who were relieved from station to station, reports of every im- 
 portant event in their jurisdiction, and in a few days received 
 answers and commands by the same means. There w^ere 
 garrisons in most of the important towns, and there were 
 special arrangements by which the militia of the whole king- 
 dom could be drawn together at the shortest notice. For 
 armour the Aztec warriors wore coats of quilted cotton, and 
 the nobles had also breastplates of thin silver and magnificent 
 
Hernando Cortes. 273 
 
 'garments of feathers. Their weapons were, besides slings, 
 arrows and lances, the points of which, however, were not 
 made of iron but of brass. 
 
 But the hour of destruction struck for this wonderful and 
 singular civilisation when the Spaniards under Cortes landed 
 on their coast. After its departure from Cape St. Antonio, 
 the fleet steered first for the island of Cozumel, where the 
 pious zeal of the Spaniards displayed itself by destroying the 
 idols and obliging the people to submit to baptism. A more 
 important event, however, was the adhesion of a man who 
 made himself particularly useful as interpreter and adviser. 
 Geronimo de Aguilar was a Spanish priest who had been ap- 
 pointed to the colony in Darien, and through shipwreck had 
 been obliged to spend many years in Yucatan, where he had 
 become perfectly familiar with the customs and speech of 
 Maya. It was only on the payment of a considerable sum 
 that the Cacique, to whose house he belonged, would consent 
 to the departure of Aguilar, who, full of ardent gratitude, 
 attached himself to his deliverer, Cortes. The expedition met 
 with a new interruption in Tabasco. Here, where Grijalva 
 had been received so hospitably, Cortes was treated in a most 
 bostile manner, a change of feeling that was caused by the 
 vehement reproaches with which the Tabascans had been 
 overwhelmed by all their neighbours for their friendly re- 
 ception of the strangers. 
 
 Cortes prepared for hostilities, and twice gave battle to 
 the Indians, capturing and occupying their city. But the 
 courage and pertinacity which the Indians opposed to the 
 superiority of European arms excited the admiration of the 
 Spaniards. Peace was made and an alliance concluded, and 
 presents were exchanged. Among the twenty slaves whom 
 the Cacique of Tabasco presented to Cortes there was one 
 whose influence tended greatly to the successful issue of the 
 enterprise. Marina, as the Spaniards called her, was the 
 
 18 
 
274 ^ Cenhi7y of Discovery. 
 
 daughter of one of the principal Caciques in Anahuac, and 
 had been sold by her heartless mother into slavery in Yu- 
 catan. She was therefore able to translate the language of 
 the Aztecs into the Maya tongue, from which Aguilar could 
 translate it into Spanish. Her beauty and rare gifts of mind 
 enchained Cortes, and the Indian, through passionate love to 
 the great adventurer, espoused his cause against her father- 
 land. She was soon able to speak Spanish, and rendered* 
 essential service to the Spaniards, who escaped many serious 
 dangers by following her counsel. Thus her name is closely 
 united to that of Cortes, and is still mentioned with honour 
 in the land of Mexico. 
 ^ On the 20th of April, 15 19, the little fleet anchored op- 
 posite the island of San Juan de Ulua, where now Vera Cruz 
 stands. With the friendly assistance of the inhabitants, they 
 soon encamped, and learned that they were in the kingdom of 
 the mighty Montezuma, and that Teotlili, the Governor of the 
 ■ province, dwelt near. He soon made his appearance with a 
 great train, greeted the strangers with much courtesy, offered 
 them presents, and inquired the reason of their visit. Cortes 
 declared himself the ambassador of a mighty Prince on the 
 other side of the sea, and asked for a personal audience of 
 the Emperor Montezuma, at the same time offering presents. 
 Teotlili promised to present the request, and accordingly sent 
 it immediately to Tenochtitlan, together with pictures of the 
 wonderful strangers. 
 
 Montezuma had been King of Anahuac since 1502. Be- 
 longing to the priestly class, he had given before his election 
 many proofs of his bravery and warlike skill, and the altars of 
 the god of slaughter had never bled with more numerous offer- 
 ings than during his reign. But, in spite of many beneficent in- 
 stitutions, he had not been able to retain the love of his sub- 
 jects ; his ostentatious manner of living and his arrogance had 
 estranged from him the minds of the people in his capital,. 
 
Hernando Co7^tes. 275 
 
 while those in the provinces were embittered by the increas- 
 ing pressure of an excessive taxation. The news of the land- 
 ing of the Europeans made the deepest impression upon him. 
 It reminded him of an old saying, according to which Quet- 
 zalcoatl, the god of the air, and the great benefactor of 
 Anahuac, exiled by the hatred of the other gods, had em- 
 barked from the shores of the Atlantic, promising to return, 
 with his descendants, after the lapse of centuries, when a 
 good time would begin for the whole of Anahuac. The 
 Aztecs faithfully looked for the return of this benevolent 
 god, and had exactly at that period discovered different ap- 
 pearances in the heavens which they took for signs of the 
 approach of the happy event. Just then landed on the 
 Atlantic shores from a great ship men who, from the white 
 colour of their skins, from their curly hair and long flowing- 
 beards, resembled the pictures of the expected god ; and they- 
 bore thunder and lightning with them. V/ere they the pro- 
 mised descendants of Quetzalcoatl .'' Was he himself among 
 them } These questions occupied the minds not only of the 
 lower people, but also of the pious Emperor ; and they gave 
 to his intercourse with the perplexing strangers a character of 
 indecision which Cortes well knew how to take advantage of 
 So the remarkable tradition contributed much to the Spanish 
 conquest. 
 
 After long consideration Montezuma chose the most ill- 
 judged course. He offered the Spaniards presents of immense 
 worth, but at the same time forbade them to come to the capital,. 
 and bade them leave the kingdom. Of course, the more the 
 boundless wealth of the land was displayed before the greedy 
 eyes of the Spaniards the less was it to be expected that they 
 would do this, and therefore Cortes replied that he could not 
 think of returning to his own land until he had delivered the 
 messages of his King personally to Montezuma. Then there 
 followed a new report to Tenochtitlan, and then came more 
 
 18—2 
 
276 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 presents and an answer like the first. But when the Spaniards 
 made no preparations to evacuate the land, and indeed said 
 that they had come to induce the Aztecs to exchange their 
 shameful idolatry for the worship of the one true God, the 
 native dignitaries withdrew and broke off all intercourse with 
 the foreigners. At the same time the natives received a com- 
 mand to cease providing the strangers with food. 
 
 At this opportune moment, the explorer whom Cortes had 
 despatched returned with the information that they had 
 found a spot farther to the north much better suited for an en- 
 campment. Thither Cortes determined to remove, but he 
 first prevailed upon the army to constitute itself a colony 
 and to appoint its own magistrates. Before these Cortes 
 appeared with every mark of respect and solemnly renounced 
 the powers which he had received from Velasquez. As was to 
 be foreseen these new magistrates begged him to retain the 
 offices of Captain and Justicia Mayor, and to govern the 
 colony that was to be founded in the name of the King of 
 Spain. By this prearranged comedy Cortes made himself 
 ■completely independent of the Governor of Cuba, and hence- 
 forth derived his power from the choice of the colonists. 
 Nothing was wanting but the ratification of the King to make 
 him equal with Velasquez. The Spaniards now left the desert 
 in which they had hitherto been encamped and marched 
 northwards through a garden-like region, while the fleet sailed 
 along the coast. On the way Cortes and his army paid their 
 promised visit to Cempoalla, the cacique of the capital of 
 Totonakis. They found a flourishing well-built town of some 
 20,000 inhabitants, and in it met with a friendly reception. 
 Very soon the sharp eye of Cortes discovered that the Toto- 
 nakis, recently subdued by the Aztecs, were discontented 
 with their government, and might become valuable allies in 
 the struggle that lay before him. In answer to his inquiries, 
 
Hernando Cortes. 277 
 
 after some reserve, the cacique broke out into violent com- 
 plaints of the oppression of Montezuma, and was evidently- 
 pleased at his promise to protect him from all injustice. He 
 accompanied the Spaniards to a town but a few miles distant, 
 named Chiahuitzla, close to Vi^hich lay the ground for the new 
 settlement, which received the name of Villa Rica de la Vera 
 Cruz. Suddenly there appeared five Aztec nobles to demand 
 the usual tribute from the Totonakis. The presence of the 
 Spaniards and the friendly terms on which they were with the 
 natives excited their anger and they threatened them with 
 severe punishment. Then there arose a disturbance, probably 
 at Cortes's instigation, and the ambassadors were made 
 prisoners and given up to the Spaniards. Thus a thorough 
 breach was made with the Aztecs, and the Totonakis found 
 themselves dependent on the protection of the Spaniards. 
 Exceedingly pleased at this event, Cortes sought now to ward 
 off the danger on the other side. He treated the captive 
 Aztecs with peculiar gentleness, and allowed them secretly 
 to escape. The clever though double policy of Cortes was 
 perfectly successful. Montezuma, who at the first news of 
 the insurrection had given way to the wildest anger, was ap- 
 peased by the report of the ambassadors. 
 
 There soon appeared in the Spanish camp a new embassy 
 with costly presents, as thanks for the mild treatment of the 
 captives. At the same time Montezuma announced that, out 
 of respect to Cortes, he would defer the severe punishment of 
 the rebellious Totonakis until after his departure, which must 
 now soon take place. Cortes received the presents with 
 thanks, and answered that the visit which he intended to pay 
 to the Emperor in Tenochtitlan would no doubt remove all 
 misunderstanding between them — an answer which evidently 
 caused annoyance to the Aztec ambassadors. 
 
 Meanwhile the new town grew and promised to form a 
 useful point whence to look for support in all future under- 
 
278 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 takings. The people in authority were active, and the garri- 
 son that was to remain behind, under the command of the 
 trustworthy Juan de Escalante, was soon chosen. But before 
 he started, Cortes wished to have done everytliing possible to 
 give his power weight. He therefore sent a ship under the 
 conduct of Alaminos to Spain, in order to petition King 
 Charles to approve of all that he had already done and to 
 ratify his appointment to the office of governor. In order to 
 secure a favourable hearing, Cortes added his own share to the 
 royal fifth of the spoil, and as at his instigation every one did 
 the same, the whole treasure that had been collected was 
 shipped off for the royal treasury. Certainly a most striking 
 proof of the influence which he exercised over the minds of 
 his soldiers. 
 
 Drawing together the army for the march to Cempoalla 
 he gave the celebrated order to destroy the fleet that lay 
 before Vera Cruz. The unsuitableness of the ships was 
 merely an excuse, Cortes really wished by this measure to 
 take away every hope of returning to Cuba in case of mis- 
 haps, and of compelling his followers to place their trust en- 
 tirely in their own bravery and the wisdom of their leader. 
 At first indeed there was a threatening of mutiny, but when 
 Cortes appeared among the conspirators and placed before 
 them his reasons, they all cheered him and demanded to be 
 led to Mexico. After the Totonakis had been induced by 
 means both of constraint and persuasion to give up the 
 bloody service of their gods and come over to Christianity in 
 masses, nothing in the interior could stand against them. 
 
 Cortes set out on the i6th of August, 15 19. His army 
 consisted of 400 infantry, 15 horse-soldiers and pieces of ar- 
 tillery, and he was accompanied by 1300 Totonakis and 1000 
 burden-bearers. He also took with him forty of the principal 
 persons from Cempoalla as hostages and guides. Their way 
 led them through the woods of the Tierra Caliente. After a 
 
Hernando Cortes. 279 
 
 .gentle ascent they reached on the second day the town Xa- 
 lapa, and then saw before them the rugged range of moun- 
 tains, with its snowy peaks, which yet remained to be cUmbed. 
 Witli difficulty the army wound its way up the passes, suffer- 
 ing much from the alteration in climate, which changed from 
 unbearable heat to cold rain and snow. When the height of 
 7000 feet was reached the scenery became more agreeable. 
 Hills and low ranges of mountains alternated with green 
 woody valleys and well-cultivated plains. The climate was 
 refreshing. 
 
 Passing through several towns, which received them more 
 or less hospitably — none, however, opposing them — the army 
 approached the borders of the little state of Tlascala, which 
 for several hundred years had successfully defended its liberty 
 against the encroachments of the Aztecs, by whom it was 
 surrounded. Almost overcome by numbers, cut off from all 
 the necessaries of life — for half a century they had been de- 
 prived of cocoa, cotton, and salt — they still obstinately refused 
 to submit to their mighty neighbours, against whom they 
 entertained an invincible hatred. They were a stalwart agri- 
 cultural people, earning their bread by the sweat of their 
 brow from the soil of their little fatherland, and unceasing 
 wars had rendered them remarkable for their power of self- 
 control. Their speech and manners resembled those of the 
 Aztecs, but were ruder and less developed. Their little state 
 was not a monarchy, but was divided into four orders, depen- 
 dent upon one another. The unity of the whole was main- 
 tained by means of a great council which decided all the 
 most important matters, and in which the heads of the four 
 orders played the chief part. 
 
 To this council Cortes sent forward some Totonakis to 
 ask liberty to march through the country, and to invite the 
 people to join him in his attack against their old enemy the 
 Aztecs. But contrary to all expectation, in the council a 
 
28o A Century of Discovery. 
 
 feeling of mistrust prevailed with regard to the strangers, who 
 were reproached with having cast down the gods of the people, 
 and it was decided to oppose them. The young general Xi- 
 cotencatl was accordingly instructed to open the war with the 
 Spaniards, who had already passed the great wall which 
 form.ed the east border of Tlascala. Thereupon began a 
 struggle more obstinate than the Spaniards had hitherto ex- 
 perienced in America. 
 
 It was only after the utmost exertions and considerable 
 loss that they succeeded in forcing their way through a rocky 
 pass. Then the enemy yielded to the cavalry and formidable 
 artillery, and retreated in perfect order. Cortes established 
 himself cautiously at the mouth of the pass, and after some 
 days accepted a second battle offered him in the open field 
 by the great army of the Tlascalans, numbering full 50,000' 
 men. The shock of these masses was fearful, and had it not 
 been for the destructive effect of the artillery upon the thick 
 ranks of the enemy the little handful of Spaniards would 
 certainly have been overwhelmed. The struggle lasted for 
 four hours, and only after repeated assaults did the enemy 
 beat a retreat, in which Cortes left them unmolested. He 
 returned to his secure position, and awaited the result of a 
 second embassy which he despatched to the council. 
 
 But it was not until after the failure of a night attack that 
 the overtures of the Spanish general were accepted. At last 
 peace was brought about. On September 23rd followed the 
 public entry into the town. The strangers were received as- 
 welcome guests, and by a warm response endeavoured to 
 show that all hostility was banished from their minds. Tlas- 
 cala acknowledged the supremacy of the Spanish King, and 
 promised to support Cortes in his march against Tenochtitlan. 
 Cortes, at the advice of the sagacious Father Bartolome 
 de Olmedo, desisted from his endeavour to introduce Chris-- 
 tianity, fearing to shake a friendship of such recent date. 
 
Hernando Coi^tes. 281 
 
 During their stay at Tlascala a new embassy appeared from 
 Montezuma. He had at first witnessed with pleasure the 
 march of Cortes against Tlascala, hoping that the sturdy 
 mountaineers, who had so gallantly resisted the Aztecs, would 
 overcome the strangers. But the news of the victories of the 
 Spaniards and their alliance with the Tlascalans had changed 
 this joy into dismay, and this time the messengers brought a 
 very warm invitation to Tenochtitlan. This sudden change 
 of mind, with the earnest request to come by Cholula, together 
 with the warnings of the rough Tlascalans, excited Cortes's 
 suspicions. But he contrived to conceal them, and in spite 
 of all the counsels of the Tlascalans, who sent with him 6000 
 soldiers, began his march to Cholula. 
 
 This town in the eyes of all the inhabitants of Anahuac 
 was peculiarly sacred ; there Quetzalcoatl had reigned bene- 
 ficently ; there stood his famous sanctuary, the most gigantic 
 teocalli of the whole land ; there, in over 200 temples, were 
 more than 6000 men yearly offered up to the bloody Aztec 
 gods. The inhabitants of the town, numbering about 150,000, 
 had the reputation of being very highly educated, wanting in 
 courage, but not, as the Tlascalans asserted, in cunning and 
 deceit. 
 
 The Spaniards, who were very warmly received, were as- 
 tonished at the order and cleanliness of the streets, in which 
 the traffic was very great. They were quartered in the court- 
 yard of a large temple and abundantly supplied, while their 
 Tlascalan allies, not to arouse any hostile feeling, had formed 
 a camp outside the town. 
 
 But after a few days the conduct of the Cholulans changed 
 and manifested coldness and dislike. Suspicion again 
 awoke in Cortes's mind, but all inquiries were vain, until 
 Marina, who had insinuated herself into the confidence of a 
 cacique's wife, solved the riddle. She discovered a fearful 
 conspiracy against the Spaniards, who on their departure 
 
2S2 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Avere to be attacked and cut off in the streets. Already all 
 kinds of missiles had been collected on the flat roofs, the side 
 streets had been stopped by ditches and stakes, and an army 
 of 20,000 Aztecs had been drawn together before the town, 
 who were to advance at the first signal. Such were the 
 orders of Montezuma. 
 
 Cortes, who at first was utterly perplexed at so great a 
 ■danger, soon recovered his presence of mind, and determined 
 to forestall the treacherous act by a fearful blow. Under the 
 pretext of immediate departure he collected several thousand 
 of the bravest Cholulans in the court of the temple in which 
 he was living, and had them all cut down at a given sign. 
 Then began a desperate attack of the people on the Spaniards, 
 who made sorties and drove back the raging crowd. When 
 the Tlascalans, according to agreement, forced their way into 
 the town and fell upon the enemy in the rear, the victory was 
 decided. Slaughter and rapine swept the beautiful city ; some 
 of the streets and the most important temples, in which the 
 Cholulans desperately defended themselves, were set on fire, 
 and it seemed likely that the whole city would be destroyed, 
 when Cortes caused the battle to cease and offered the van- 
 quished mercy. Order was soon restored, but Cholula had 
 for ever lost its splendour. 
 
 This bloody act spread far and wide terror and supersti- 
 tious fear of the strangers, who were not only invincible in 
 battle, but could be injured by no treacherous deceit. Mon- 
 tezuma trembled on his throne. He sent again an embassy 
 to the Spanish camp with rich presents, and he asserted his 
 innocence of the treachery : the troops had been only as- 
 sembled to suppress an insurrection ; and as for the treache- 
 rous Cholulans, they had only got their deserts. Cortes ap- 
 peared to believe in Montezuma's innocence and started for 
 Tenochtitlan. The nearer they came to the seat of the Em- 
 peror the more carefully did they take every precautionary 
 
Hernando Cortes. 283 
 
 measure. They did not relax their caution for a moment, 
 but marched in perfect readiness for battle. 
 
 At last the heights were reached from which opened upon 
 them the beautiful view of the lakes of Mexico. With de- 
 lighted astonishment the travellers saw at their feet the 
 elitterinsr sheets of waters, with innumerable white towns and 
 villages lying on their shores, and in the centre the stately 
 imperial city with its imposing palaces and pointed temples. 
 Above it rose the lofty mountain of Chapoltepec with its 
 strongly fortified castle. All around stretched wide plains of 
 garden and arable land, interspersed with oak and cedar 
 woods, which grew thicker away from the city up the beau- 
 tiful slopes of the hills. 
 
 "And even now," says Prescott, "when so sad a change 
 has come over the scene ; when the stately forests have been 
 laid low, and the soil, unsheltered from the fierce radiance of 
 the tropic sun, is in many places abandoned to sterility ; when 
 the waters have retired, leaving a broad and ghastly margin 
 white with incrustation of salts ; while the cities and hamlets 
 on their borders have mouldered into ruins, — even now that 
 desolation broods over the landscape, so indestructible are 
 the lines of beauty which nature has traced on its features, 
 that no traveller, however cold, can gaze on them with any 
 other emotions than those of astonishment and rapture." 
 
 The admiration, however, excited in the minds of the 
 Spanish soldiers soon yielded to fear at the thought of the 
 disproportion between their small force and the countless 
 numbers of this brave and powerful people, whose beautiful 
 home they had come in insolent confidence to conquer, and it 
 needed all the forcible eloquence of their leader to reassure 
 their fainting courage. With redoubled caution, by slow 
 marches they descended into the populous plain, whose inha- 
 bitants, full of curiosity but in no hostile spirit, crowded to 
 see the strangers. Once more came messengers from Monte- 
 
284 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 zuma, showing that the superstitious Emperor was at an end 
 of all his resources, and begged them earnestly not to enter 
 the capital, and promised in return for this concession to give 
 the general and his captains enormous sums of gold, and to 
 pay a yearly tribute to their King. 
 
 Thus, tortured by blind fear, did the Prince of a mighty em- 
 pire humble himself before a handful of adventurers, not having 
 yet tried the strength of the forces at his command. Truly the 
 superstition and weakness of Montezuma were the best allies 
 of the bold Spaniard, who without them had scarcely suc- 
 ceeded in his rash enterprise. Of course Cortes, with the un- 
 moved composure which had already many times stood him 
 in good stead, insisted upon entering, and Montezuma found 
 himself obliged to consent. The Emperor's nephew, Cacama> 
 King of Tezcuco, appeared to welcome the strangers, and 
 when the Lake of Chaico was crossed by a great causeway, 
 Cailkahua, Montezuma's brother, met them and conducted 
 them to his royal city, Iztapalapa, in the palaces and far-famed 
 gardens of which they found a splendid reception. 
 
 Iztapalapa lay on the shores of the lake, and at the 
 mouth of the gigantic causeway leading across the lake to 
 the capital, which appeared to float on the clear waters. From 
 this point began on November 8th, 15 19, the entry of the 
 Spaniards. For hours the little army marched along the 
 stupendous causeway, formed of gigantic blocks of stone and 
 broad enough to allow ten men to ride abreast. Along each 
 side lay hundreds of boats in which the curious Indians 
 watched the strange procession. After a long ceremonious 
 welcome from Aztec chieftains, the Spaniards passed by a 
 wooden drawbridge into the town^ at the entrance of which 
 the Emperor himself met them. Surrounded by a crowd of 
 the most illustrious of the land appeared the glittering litter 
 borne by nobles. Over the head of the sacred person of the 
 ruler four chiefs bore a canopy formed of brilliant feathers. 
 
MEETING OF CORTES AND MONTEZUMA. 
 
Hernando Cortes. 285 
 
 adorned with jewels and mounted in silver. Beneath it was 
 Montezuma, a majestic man of about forty years of age, 
 slight in figure, and with earnest dignified features. 
 
 On arriving near the royal litter Cortes dismounted and 
 approached the Prince respectfully, who on his part, supported 
 by his brother and nephew, rose and advanced some steps to 
 meet the Spaniard. The strange interview, which one had 
 tried as hard to avoid as the other had to procure, was short 
 and formal. Montezuma bade the Spaniard welcome and 
 promised him a friendly reception, and Cortes returned his 
 thanks and hung round the Emperor's neck a chain of bright- 
 coloured cut glass, which was esteemed of value in Mexico. 
 He was about to embrace Montezuma but was prevented by 
 those around him, who considered such an act a desecration 
 of the imperial majesty. Then Montezuma returned to his 
 litter over carpets spread by his retinue, that the feet of the 
 ruler might not be defiled by the earth. All bent low in the 
 presence of the monarch, and many in the excess of their 
 reverence fell with their faces on the ground. Slowly the 
 royal procession departed, while the Spaniards marched with 
 flying colours and martial music into the town. 
 
 The great street along which the procession passed was 
 broad and often crossed canals, by which the whole town was 
 intersected, and upon which a verj'" large traffic was carried 
 on by means of flat boats. Thus the markets of the capital 
 were provided from the surrounding country. The houses 
 along the street were mostly built of a red stone found 
 in the neighbourhood, and presented generally a very stately 
 appearance. All had flat roofs, which were turned into 
 fragrant gardens by the numerous flowers growing in pots. 
 Among the houses of the citizens appeared the great palaces 
 of the nobles, covering mostly a great space, and enclosing a 
 a shady court with cooling fountains. Close by were gigantic 
 temples with their strange pyramids, and from the open spaces 
 
286 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 could be seen the snowy summits of the neighbouring moun- 
 tains looking down upon the town. The splendid sight was 
 enlivened by the immense crowds of people surging through 
 the streets to enjoy the unwonted spectacle, few of whom had 
 any foreboding of the disastrous future in store for the Aztec 
 people through these iron-clad strangers. And as these 
 marched on in exulting pride, the brilliant variety of strange 
 sights which passed before their eyes made an ineffaceable 
 impression upon their rough minds. 
 
 A gigantic temple of the god of war was appointed for their 
 residence, and there Montezuma with exquisite courtesy again 
 appeared to bid them welcome. The prudence of Cortes 
 soon changed it into a fortress, the entrance of which was 
 covered by the cannon, and his soldiers being forbidden on 
 pain of death to leave the temple without permission, he 
 went himself the next morning with a slender retinue to 
 return the Emperor's visit. The palace to which he was con- 
 ducted consisted of a great num.ber of low stone buildings 
 spread over a very large space. In the courts played foun- 
 tains of bright water brought in pipes from Mount Chapol- 
 tepec, the whole town being supplied by the same means. 
 The enormous rooms were lined with carved sweet-smelling 
 wood, the floors were covered with mats made of palm leaves, 
 tapestry of feather work adorned the walls. The air was 
 laden with choice scents, and the Spaniards half-intoxicated 
 were led from room to, room until they found themselves in 
 the presence of the Emperor, who received them surrounded 
 by his chief nobles. The conversation which ensued, in 
 which Cortes immediately set forth the truths of the Christian 
 religion without making any impression on the mind of the 
 King, is chiefly important for the declaration of Montezuma 
 that he was ready to acknowledge the supremacy of the King 
 of Spain — a declaration of which Cortes soon made use 
 against the Prince. Overwhelmed with presents, the Spaniards 
 
Hernando Cortes. 287 
 
 were graciously allowed to depart. The people were very 
 cordial to their Emperor's guests, letting them saunter unmo- 
 lested through the streets and markets. Cortes in Monte- 
 zuma's company even ascended the famous temple of the 
 god of slaughter, and enjoyed the wonderful view over the 
 whole valley of Mexico — a refreshing contrast to the blood- 
 stained ground, the hideous idols and the altar awaiting new 
 victims. With difficulty Cortes restrained his zeal for the 
 conversion of the people, knowing it to be in vain. The 
 Spanish soldiers were allowed to visit in troops the wonders 
 of the capital — the provisions supplied to them at Monte- 
 zuma's expense were excellent. Yet in spite of all this 
 anxiety filled the hearts of all, and chiefly of the general. 
 How could they leave the great city } By a secret departure 
 or in open day with the knowledge of the Emperor } And 
 was it advisable to leave the city } Would it not be giving 
 up the advantage they had gained, and destroying the prestige 
 which their success hitherto had won for them } 
 
 To these considerations Cortes put an end by a decision which 
 accorded with his daring nature. He chose the boldest way,. 
 thus putting the finishing stroke to his hitherto uninterrupted 
 success. He determined to seize as hostage the sacred person 
 of his host, and thus through the Emperor himself impose 
 upon the land the Spanish rule. A pretext was soon found 
 in the conduct of an Aztec chieftain who had attacked the 
 Spanish garrison of Vera Cruz. Several Spaniards had fallen 
 in the battle — Escalante himself, the commander of the 
 fortress, had died of his wounds, and the victorious chief had 
 aroused the country far and wide against the strangers. For 
 this Montezuma was to be made responsible. Cortes at an 
 audience demanded the punishment of this chief, and when 
 Montezuma had consented to this, he requested further that 
 until the matter was settled the Emperor would remove his 
 residence to the palace inhabited by the Spaniards. This 
 
2 88 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 ■demand excited the Prince to the utmost. " Has anybody 
 ever heard such a thing," he cried, flaming with anger, " as a 
 great Prince like me wiUingly leaving his palace to become a 
 prisoner in the hands of strangers ? And even were I to con- 
 sent to such a humiliation, my subjects would never agree to 
 it !" All persuasion, all remonstrances were in vain, and the 
 utmost which Cortes could obtain was a promise from Mon- 
 tezuma to deliver to the Spaniards as hostage one of his 
 ■children — a promise which did not satisfy him. Two hours 
 passed in these fruitless negotiations, when the Knight 
 Velasquez de Leon exclaimed in wild impatience, "Why do 
 we waste words on these savages .'' We have gone too far to 
 retreat now. Let us seize him, and if he resists cut him down 
 with our swords." 
 
 When the meaning of these threats had been explained by 
 Marina to the Emperor in answer to his anxious inquiry, all 
 power of resistance seemed gone. He felt that an irresistible 
 fate was opposed to him to which he must bend. Deadly 
 pale he arose, and almost inaudibly declared himself ready to 
 follow the Spaniards. His litter was immediately prepared, 
 and all arrangements made for his removal. When the people 
 saw their Prince in the midst of the strangers passing to their 
 residence, a loud outcry arose, and attempts were made to 
 stop the procession by violence. But Montezuma himself 
 interposed. If the Spaniards knew his weakness, his people 
 should not guess his shame, and so he found strength to quiet 
 the people, and to assure them that he was going of his own 
 free will to visit the Spaniards. The people immediately dis- 
 persed. This event itself proved how serviceable the instru- 
 ment would be with which Cortes intended to subdue the 
 land. 
 
 In the quarters of the Spaniards the unhappy Prince was 
 received with an ostentatious show of honour. The best rooms 
 were chosen for him, and furnished with the splendour to 
 
Hernando Cortes. 289 
 
 which he was accustomed. A numerous court attended him 
 wherever he went, and in his manner of life there was no 
 alteration. All affairs of government continued to be con- 
 ducted in his name, and the etiquette by which his sacred 
 person was protected was rigorously observed by the 
 Spaniards. Montezuma submitted to his fate without mur- 
 muring. He watched with interest the military exercises of 
 the Spaniards, spoke to them individually, and gave them all 
 proofs of his goodwill and generosity. He took a special 
 liking to some of the Spanish knights, playing at the national 
 games with them, and by his friendly amiable behaviour won 
 the affection of his gaolers. For that he was a prisoner he 
 could not conceal from himself, though he sought carefully to 
 hide it from his Aztecs. A strong Spanish guard was posted 
 in his anteroom, and admission to his person could be obtained 
 only through the general. In the meantime Cortes, by Mon- 
 tezuma's commission, examined the captive chieftain and 
 condemned him to be burnt. The sentence was carried out 
 on the unhappy man, forsaken by his own master, in the court 
 of the palace, the imperial arsenals being plundered at Cortes's 
 command to form the pile, that no weapons might be forth- 
 coming in case of a rising. During the execution Cortes 
 put the captive Emperor in fetters that he might in this 
 way, he said, atone for his share in the attack made on the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 This unexpected disgrace deprived the unfortunate man of 
 speech. Bursting into tears he submitted without resistance, 
 and it was touching to see how tenderly his attendants 
 held his feet in their arms, trying by soft cloths to mitigate 
 the pressure of the cold iron. After a short time the chains 
 were removed, but the whole proceeding had broken the 
 Emperor's proud heart. Cortes thought he had by this time 
 sufficiently humbled his prisoner, and offered him a free return 
 to his royal palace, but Montezuma sorrowfully refused. How 
 
 19 
 
290 A Centtcry of Discovery. 
 
 could he after such humihation return to the throne of his 
 fathers? And how would he be received by the proud nobles who 
 esteemed before all the glory and greatness of their country ? 
 He preferred to remain in captivity, which in future became 
 much milder. He visited the principal temple to perform his 
 devotions ; in the ships built by the Spaniards he made trips on 
 the lake, and several times hunted in his parks. . Of course a 
 Spanish general always accompanied him, but he never made 
 any attempt to escape from his miserable position. Indeed he 
 took the part of the Spaniards against the Aztecs in every 
 attempt made by them to shake off the foreign yoke. Cortes 
 was warned by him of the rising planned by the chiefs of the 
 land, and he helped to bring the King of Tezcuco, the head of 
 the conspiracy, into the power of the Spaniards, by whom 
 he was kept in close confinement. At last he determined 
 solemnly to take the oath of homage to the King of Spain. 
 The ceremony was performed before a great assembly of 
 nobles whom he desired to follow his example. As sign of 
 their submission they brought gold and articles of value in 
 such quantities that the royal fifth, which was conscientiously 
 deducted, amounted to 32,400 ounces of gold — according to 
 the present value nearly ;^i 30,000. But most earnestly 
 did Montezuma defend himself from the impatient desire of 
 the Spaniards that the chief temple should be cleared for the 
 public exercise of their religion, and he warned them plainly 
 of the unfavourable impression which such an insult to their 
 religious feelings would excite in the people. 
 
 But again and again the Spaniards repeated their demand, 
 and at last an agreement was come to by which one of the 
 towers of the Teocalli was given up to them for their worship. 
 They immediately took away the idols, cleansed the space of 
 the blood of the sacrifices, and erected an altar on which they 
 placed an image of the Virgin. Their religious zeal was now 
 satisfied, and with pious devotion they saw the cross shine 
 
Hernando Cortes. 291 
 
 in the highest place of the capital. But the truth of Monte- 
 zuma's warnings immediately showed itself The friendly 
 intercourse between the people and the Spaniards was ex- 
 changed for a cold reserve, and by the Emperor's own mouth 
 Cortes was informed that the whole land was preparing to 
 revenge the injury done to the gods. 
 
 While he was engaged in preparing to meet this expected 
 insurrection, bad news reached him from the coast. There a 
 ■squadron of eighteen ships had arrived, sent by Velasquez 
 from Cuba to chastise his rebellious general, and assert his 
 rights to the rich land of Mexico. To the command of this 
 ■ fleet he had named a Castilian nobleman, Pamphilo de Nar- 
 vaez, entrusting him with an army of 900 men, including 
 eighty horsemen and eighty musketeers, with a good store of 
 cannon. 
 
 Trusting in this powerful force, Narvaez, who had landed 
 on April 23rd, 1520, at San Juan de Ulua, was full of rash con- 
 fidence, which was not shaken by the news of the great suc- 
 cesses gained by Cortes. But his soldiers were dazzled by 
 the glamour which such heroic deeds had cast over the name 
 of the great warrior, and by the news of the riches which had 
 fallen to the share of Cortes's army. 
 
 Comparing the friendliness, generosity, and martial talents 
 of Cortes with the arrogance, niggardliness, and blind self- 
 confidence of Narvaez, a feeling of detestation arose in them 
 towards their commander. Cortes took advantage of this 
 feeling. He hastily determined to quit Tenochtitlan with 
 only seventy men, leaving behind him a garrison of 140 
 under Pedro de Alvarado, whom, on account of his long fair 
 hair and majestic mien, the Mexicans called Tonatink, that is, 
 the sun. In Cholula Cortes met with reinforcements, and 
 with a little army of 266 men he surprised his rival on a rainy 
 night in Cempoalla. After a short conflict Narvaez was taken 
 prisoner, and his troops joined Cortes, hoping under his stan- 
 
 19—2 
 
292 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 dard to reap honour and gold. Thus the great danger was 
 averted, and the Aztecs, who had hoped that the strangers 
 would destroy one another, saw the hated Malinche — so they 
 called Cortes — return to the capital at the head of an army 
 that had been increased threefold. 
 
 Here meanwhile the threatened disturbances had broken out, 
 and the brave but incautious Alvarado had hastened the out- 
 break by a useless slaughter in which the noblest of the people 
 had fallen victims. He despatched messengers to summon 
 Cortes, and inform him of the extreme danger threatening the 
 weak garrison. By forced marches the latter reached the capital 
 on the 24th of June, 1520. But the streets were utterly de- 
 serted, and a mysterious silence rested over the whole city. 
 In order to avert a renewal of the strife, Cortes set Monte- 
 zuma's brother, Cuitlahuatzin, at liberty; but in this courageous 
 and able Prince he gave the insurgents exactly the leader whom 
 they needed. Under his command all the flower of the Aztec 
 race assembled, and after a few days began a desperate attack 
 upon the Spanish camp. For several days the Spaniards had 
 the greatest difficulty in preventing the enemy from forcing 
 an entrance, and the thousands whom they struck down with 
 their firearms and swords were immediately replaced by fresh 
 battalions, v/ho rushed upon the fortifications with the utmost 
 contempt of death. Only at night had the besieged any rest, 
 and the frightful struggle was renewed every morning. Many 
 were soon disabled, and the complete blockade made a famine 
 imminent. 
 
 In this distress Cortes turned to Montezuma, and begged 
 his intercession. Although convinced of the utter uselessness 
 of such a step, the Emperor allowed himself to be persuaded, 
 and dressed in his most magnificent robes, ascended the tower 
 of the Palace. The noise immediately ceased, the raised 
 lances fell, and the Aztecs gazed with awe at their imprisoned 
 Emperor. There was a silence as of death when Montezuma 
 
Hernando Cortes. 293 
 
 began to speak. But when he desired that they should allow 
 his, friends, as he called the detested foreigners, to depart in 
 peace, a storm of displeasure overwhelmed the base cowardly 
 ruler, who had stooped to become the slave of a foreign 
 oppressor, to whom he was willing to surrender even his land 
 and his people. Curses were hurled at him, and a hail of 
 arrows and stones directed against the person of the Prince 
 to whom but a short time before his subjects had offered 
 almost divine honours. Hit by a stone on the forehead, the 
 unhappy man sank down, and was borne back by the Spaniards 
 into the Palace, while his subjects, horrified at their own deed, 
 immediately dispersed. 
 
 In vain did Cortes strive to cheer the broken-hearted 
 monarch. He lay utterly speechless, and refused to have his 
 wound cared for. He was unwilling to survive the injury 
 done to him by his own people. When the Spaniards saw 
 that his end was near they tried to induce him to embrace 
 Christianity, but in vain. Only once did he open his lips in 
 order to beg Cortes to commend his children to the favour of 
 the Spanish King. He died in the arms of a few faithful fol- 
 lowers, who had remained with him, on the 30th of June, 1520, 
 at the age of 41, after having reigned for eighteen years, and 
 having been for three-quarters of a year the prisoner of the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 His death was a great loss to the Spaniards ; with him they 
 lost all influence over the Aztec people, w^hose wrath now 
 knew no bounds. Storm followed storm, and the wearied 
 Spaniards saw the moment approaching when they must be 
 overpowered by numbers. There could be no doubt of the 
 fate that awaited them. "At last the gods have given you 
 into our hands," was the cry of the Mexicans. " Huitzilo- 
 potchli has long been looking for his victims. The altar is 
 ready, and the knife sharp. None of you can escape, for the 
 bridges are broken down." Even the bravest among the 
 
294 ^ Cejitury of Discoveiy. 
 
 Spaniards began to feel fainthearted, and in the hopeless 
 struggle Cortes saw himself obliged to strike some decisive 
 blow. 
 
 In order to raise the courage of his men he ordered a great 
 sally. It was of the utmost importance to obtain possession 
 of the neighbouring temple, from the roof of which the enemy 
 cast missiles upon the camp. A picked band of Aztec 
 warriors defended the sacred place, and to a man fell before 
 the Spanish arms. The fight was particularly fierce iipon the 
 flat summit of the building. Here Cortes was in the greatest 
 danger. Two young men cast themselves upon him, and it 
 was with the utmost difficulty that he escaped from their 
 grasp. 
 
 The conquerors at once cast down the hated image of the 
 god of slaughter, and set fire to the temple which had been 
 the pride of the capital. This deed, which the Spaniards 
 looked upon as well-pleasing to God, so raised their courage 
 that Cortes determined to make use of the favourable moment 
 and begin the perilous retreat. Knowing that all the bridges 
 had been broken down, Cortes caused a portable wooden 
 bridge to be prepared, and determined that^the retreat should 
 be directed in a westerly direction towards the town Tla- 
 copan. 
 
 He appointed the night of the ist of July for the attempt. 
 The march began in the pre-arranged order about midnight, 
 and the Spaniards succeeded in getting safely through the 
 town, which was wrapped in sleep, until they came to the be- 
 ginning of the causeway. Here they stumbled upon a band 
 of Mexicans, who immediately gave the alarm. Soon there 
 resounded from all sides the shrill noise of the war horns, 
 while the beat of the monstrous drums rapidly brought up 
 fresh bands of warriors. While the rearguard could only with 
 the greatest loss keep back the raging onset of the Aztecs, 
 hundreds of boats had come up on both sides of the causeway. 
 
CORTES IN DANGER. 
 
Hernando Cortes. 295 
 
 and from these was poured an unceasing hail of missiles upon 
 the army as it strove to advance upon the narrow path. Then 
 there was a stoppage. The first breach was reached, and it 
 was necessary to lay down the pontoon. This delay was fatal 
 to many. At last the onward march was resumed, but soon a 
 second breach was reached. A still longer and equally de- 
 structive delay ensued, and soon it was known that it had 
 been found impossible to take up the pontoon and bring it 
 farther. All discipline was then at an end, and the one desire 
 of every one was to save his own life. The rearguard pressed 
 irresistibly upon those in the van, and drove them nearer and 
 nearer to the edge of the abyss. Here the climax of misery 
 seemed attained. Happy were those who found a watery 
 grave or met with a speedy death from the Mexicans. Many 
 were knocked down and stunned, and thus fell alive in the 
 hands of their enemies, who kept them as long-desired victims 
 for the bloody altars of their gods. At last the terrible gap 
 was filled up by cannon, baggage, and the bodies of the slain, 
 and over this awful bridge the fugitives made their way. 
 There was a third breach to be crossed, but fortunately for 
 the fugitives, their pursuers were by this time so occupied with 
 the booty that lay scattered along the causeway that the dif- 
 ficulty was overcome without much additional loss. By the 
 dawn of day the shore was reached, and the exhausted 
 warriors halted in a temple near Tlacopan. 
 
 Much cast down, the General reviewed the shattered rem- 
 nant of his proud army. What a melancholy sight ! All the 
 cannon, the enormous booty, almost all the horses were lost, 
 and 400 Spaniards and at least 4000 of the Indian allies had 
 perished. This terrible retreat, which they called the Noche- 
 triste, was for ever deeply engraved in the memories of the 
 survivors. 
 
 And how would it be possible for them, in their exhausted 
 condition, weaponless, and deeply cast down by their disaster, 
 
296 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 to continue the conflict ? How were they to make their way 
 to Tlascala, where alone they could feel at all secure, through a 
 hostile land, of which all the inhabitants were in arms. But 
 the confident bearing of the General inspired the troops with 
 fresh courage, and gave them strength to ascend the heights 
 which enclose the valley of Mexico, though having continually 
 to skirmish with the enemy. After some days' hard march- 
 ing, they reached the tableland, and then prepared to ad- 
 vance into the friendly Tlascala, when suddenly, on the 8th of 
 July, they found themselves face to face with an enormous 
 army of the enemy, which filled the whole valley of Otompan, 
 or Otumba, and cut off their retreat. According to the re- 
 ports of the Spanish writers, it must have been an army of 
 200,000 men, who, in proud confidence, displayed the utmost 
 pomp. As far as the eye could reach there were shields and 
 waving banners, curiously-shaped helmets, forests of glittering 
 spears; and the heart even of the bravest must have sunk 
 when he compared with it the small number of the Spaniards 
 and their allies, ill-armed and enfeebled. But Cortes's heart 
 knew neither fear nor despondency. Without delay he placed 
 his little army in order of battle, and encouraged it by a 
 spirited speech, in which he promised it the protection of God 
 and the saints, and painted the delights of rest and refresh- 
 ment after this last desperate struggle. Then he ordered an 
 immediate charge, and from the height the little band rushed 
 upon the enormous masses of the enemy. The shock was so 
 great that the foremost ranks were broken^ and a broad road 
 was opened for the Spaniards. But in a moment the endless 
 masses closed upon them, and raged like a stormy sea 
 upon a little island which they threatened to swallow up. 
 Opposed to such overwhelming odds, the utmost exertions 
 must be powerless. It seemed as if nothing short of a 
 miracle could save them. Then Cortes's eagle eye caught 
 sight of the General commanding the Aztec army, who was 
 
Hernando Cortes. 297 
 
 easily recognised by his splendid attire and by the sacred 
 standard waving over him. Instantly he resolved what to 
 do. At the head of twenty men, to which number his cavalry 
 had dwindled down, he cut himself a path through the enemy 
 until he stood before this man. With his own- hand he 
 stabbed him to the heart, while his companions fell upon the 
 body-guard. 
 
 When the Aztecs saw their General fall and the sacred ban- 
 ner in the hands of the dreaded strangers, a cry of horror re- 
 sounded over the whole battlefield, the huge army broke and 
 fled in utter disorder, the pursuing Spaniards and Tlascalans 
 cutting them down with horrible slaughter. Twenty thousand 
 Aztecs must have fallen in this battle, and the spoil of golden 
 and other ornaments found on the dead compensated in some 
 measure for the lost treasures of the night. 
 
 After this wonderful victory the march to Tlascala met with 
 no further hindrance. There the wearied men were met with 
 open arms, and were able to refresh themselves after the in- 
 credible exertions of the past week. But a long rest was not 
 to Cortes's taste, and he immediately set to work to repair 
 the losses he had suffered. He succeeded by his eloquence in 
 persuading his companions in arms, who at first desired to 
 retreat to the coast and take ship for Cuba, to persevere in the 
 glorious enterprise, and again to encounter the dangers from 
 which they were but just escaped. With the Tlascalans for 
 allies, he forced the countries for some distance round to ac- 
 knowledge the King of Spain; and having thus again in- 
 spired them with fear of the Spanish arms, he obtained the 
 necessary means by the tribute he imposed, and increased the 
 number of Indian auxiliaries who were to accompany him 
 against Mexico. He laboured so unremittingly to strengthen 
 and equip the Spanish army that in a few months it was 
 ready for war. He found himself again in command of 40 
 horsemen, 80 musketeers, and 500 infantry, armed with 
 
298 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 swords and long lances. A part of this force were fresh 
 troops sent by Velasquez to the support of Narvaez, whom 
 he supposed to be in possession of the command. They had 
 not for a moment dreamt of joining the victorious standard of 
 Cortes, In the same way he had come into possession of 
 nine cannon, which accompanied the army. The number of 
 Indian auxiliaries — exaggerated no doubt — is estimated at 
 100,000 men. 
 
 Before the expiration of the year 1520^ the restless man was 
 again on the shore of the lake of Mexico, and fixed his head- 
 quarters in the old town of Tezcuco, over which he placed as 
 King, Prince Ixtlilxochitl. He wisely abandoned the idea of at 
 once beginning the siege of the capital, the white buildings of 
 which were reflected in the clear lake ; but spent months In 
 isolating it, desolating the land around, and subduing its in- 
 habitants. Generally he placed himself at the head of these 
 raids, while the trusty Gonsalvo de Sandoval remained be- 
 hind in Tezcuco, and superintended the building of the ships 
 with which Cortes hoped to rule the lakes. These ships, thir- 
 teen in number, were built in Tlascala under the direction of 
 an experienced shipbuilder, Martin Lopez, and were then 
 taken to pieces^ and the separate parts, together with the 
 necessary iron-work, sails, and rigging, carried on the backs 
 of thousands of bearers to Tezcuco, a distance of almost 
 twenty miles. Even this gigantic undertaking rewarded by 
 its complete success the foresight and thought which had 
 been expended on its execution. 
 
 At last the necessary preparations were complete. The 
 whole region around the lakes was subject to the Spaniards, 
 the Aztecs were confined within their island city, and the 
 ships were launched at Tezcuco. At the end of May, 1521, 
 Cortes thought it was time to begin the attack on the 
 capital. He caused the town of Tlacopan to be occupied 
 by a division of his men under the command of the Cap- 
 
Hernando Cortes. 299 
 
 tains Alvarado and Olid, and broke down the aqueduct which 
 ran from Chapoltepec to the island. The body of his army, 
 under the command of the brave Sandoval, he sent out to 
 take possession of Iztapalapa, the key to the southern cause- 
 way, and while both these movements were successfully ac- 
 complished, Cortes himself moved his fleet — which, to use his 
 own expression, he considered the " key of the war " — out 
 into the lake, and destroyed a great fleet of Indian boats, 
 running down some and sinking others by a heavy fire of grape- 
 shot. Then he took possession of the advanced work called 
 Xoloc, erected in the centre of the southern causeway, and 
 affording a strong position, which Cortes, by means of forti- 
 fications and cannons, strengthened still more. 
 
 The town had for a long time been armed for the conflict. 
 In the place of Cuitlahuatzin, who had been carried off by the 
 small-pox — a disease brought into the land by the Spaniards 
 — ^Guatemozin, his nephew, had been chosen, a younger war- 
 rior, but one distinguished by his bravery and strength of 
 character. He had taken up the sacred struggle for the 
 defence of his country against the foreign conquerors with the 
 greatest energy, and had inflicted heavy losses upon the 
 Spaniards by sudden surprises and ceaseless attacks, at the 
 same time rendering their conquest of the surrounding region 
 extremely difficult. But he was not in a condition to prevent 
 their advance, and was ever obliged to yield to their superior 
 arms and to the overwhelming numbers of their Indian allies, 
 fired by a desire to avenge themselves on their ancient con- 
 querors and by the prospect of rich booty. Still nothing 
 could break the spirit of the young Emperor. Without hesi- 
 tation, he rejected every offer made him by Cortes, and pre- 
 pared to continue the struggle to the death. After the third 
 causeway, the one leading to the north was occupied; and Cortes 
 began an attack upon the one by which he had first entered 
 Mexico. The many gaps in this were defended by walls and 
 
300 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 strong bodies of men ; but the guns of the ships cleared a 
 passage for the infantry. One breach after another was passed 
 and then filled up with stones, until at last the entrance of the 
 city was gained. The streets were found to be intersected by 
 many ditches and walls, behind which the principal forces of 
 the Aztecs were established, while a murderous hail of missiles 
 fell upon the heads of the assailants from the roofs of the 
 houses. It was not possible for the Spaniards to establish 
 themselves in the city. They succeeded by desperate charges 
 in penetrating to the great square in the middle of the city, 
 but were continually forced to retreat again. For several 
 days these vain attempts were repeated, and some palaces 
 were set on fire. Even during the night the wearied com- 
 batants could have little rest, for they were obliged to be con- 
 stantly on the watch against surprises on the part of Guate- 
 mozin. 
 
 At last Cortes was over-persuaded by his captains against 
 his better judgment to order a general assault. At first, in- 
 deed, everything seemed to prosper, for the separate storming 
 columns penetrated far into the town. But at a given signal 
 they were attacked and compelled to retreat ; and in the re- 
 treat they suffered heavy loss, especially at the passages over 
 the numerous canals which intersected the streets. Even 
 Cortes was in extreme danger, and was only saved from the 
 terrible fate of falling ahve into the hands of the enemy by 
 the self-sacrifice of some of his devoted adherents. The 
 attack was drawn oft" on all sides, and while the Spaniards 
 returned downcast into their quarters, the whole city echoed 
 with sounds of festive joy. As the evening advanced the 
 besiegers saw with horror all the temples lighted and pre- 
 pared for the bloody human sacrifices. Indeed, the clearness 
 of the air allowed them to see the torturing and the slaughter 
 of the prisoners. 
 
 The priests now announced to the Aztecs that Huitzilo- 
 
Hernando Cortes. 30 r 
 
 potchli, pleased with the rich offering that had been presented 
 to him, would again have mercy upon his people, and within 
 three days deliver all the strangers into their hands. This 
 prophecy flew with the speed of lightning, and at one and the 
 same time inspired the Aztecs with fresh courage, and filled 
 the hearts of the superstitious allies of the Spaniards with dis- 
 may, and led them to creep away from the camp by thou- 
 sands. It was not until the week had passed away without 
 the prophesied destruction of the Spaniards that they returned 
 ashamed. 
 
 Rendered wise by the unhappy issue of the attack, Cortes 
 determined to attempt the conquest of the city in a surer 
 though more tedious way. He caused the town to be closely 
 blockaded by his ships and by numerous Indian boats, so 
 that no supplies could be brought in. He reckoned that 
 famine must soon ensue, and the strength of the opposition 
 be overcome. The cold-bloodedness with which he thus de- 
 voted thousands to the most miserable death becomes more 
 terrible when we consider the methodical manner in which he 
 arranged the destruction of the town. Each day a certain 
 part of the city was taken possession of and utterly destroyed. 
 The ruins of the houses were made use of to fill up the canals, 
 and thus a broad ever-increasing plain was procured, which 
 gave the Spaniards plenty of room for their military opera- 
 tions, and offered the besieged no cover for their surprises. 
 It was only after a bitter struggle that Cortes resolved upon 
 this terrible plan, which devoted to destruction the beautiful 
 city that would have been the crowning trophy of his con- 
 quest. 
 
 On reading the report sent to the Spanish King by Cortes, 
 in which he describes the painful necessity for the destruction, 
 and the fearful execution of the plan, one cannot but feel that 
 it must have been written with tears in his eyes. But he saw 
 no other way of overcoming the desperate resistance of the 
 
302 A Cenhiry of Discovery. 
 
 Aztecs. Guatemozin had rejected all the terms of peace that 
 Cortes had made to him, and, following the counsel of the 
 priests, resolved to continue the struggle to the very last. 
 With wild joy the Indian allies welcomed the new plans of 
 attack on the capital, which gave promise of satisfying their 
 thirst for revenge on their oppressor, and the charges that 
 Cortes gave them to spare the wounded fell on deaf ears. 
 
 Through the whole month of July the fight was continued 
 according to the new system. The Spaniards pressed upon the 
 city on three sides, under Cortes, Alvarado, and Sandoval. 
 The Spanish infantry went first with cannons and muskets 
 and drove, the Aztec warriors out of certain streets. Then 
 they made a stand and defended themselves against the 
 attacks of the enemy, while the Indian allies destroyed the 
 captured houses. That accomplished, the Spaniards relin- 
 quished their position, which it would have been impossible 
 to maintain on account of the stench from the dead bodies, 
 and retreated to the camp. This method of fighting caused 
 them but small loss, and they only suffered from the bad weather 
 and want of rest. But fearful were the sufferings of the be- 
 sieged. Famine and pestilence rapidly lessened their numbers, 
 and their Indian foes mercilessly slaughtered every Aztec who 
 fell into their hands. With every step that the Spaniards 
 advanced, more terrible were the scenes of grief and misery 
 that were displayed. They found the earth dug up in the 
 search for roots and worms, the trees stripped of their young 
 shoots, their foliage, and their bark. Crowds of half- starved 
 Mexicans crept about like spectres in streets and market-places, 
 which had once been lively and animated. Corpses lay un- 
 buried in heaps about the streets, making the air pestilential 
 — a proof of the utmost distress, for the Aztecs considered 
 it a sacred duty to bury the dead. More horrible still were 
 the sights that presented themselves to the Spaniards on 
 entering the dwellings. On the floor lay the miserable re- 
 
Hernando Cortes. 
 
 6^0 
 
 mains of the inmates, some still in the death struggle and 
 others already decomposed ; distracted mothers with their 
 infants dying before their eyes of starvation ; wounded men 
 trying in vain to crawl away as their enemies entered. But 
 they all disdained to ask for mercy, meeting the foe with the 
 •savage implacable stare of a wounded tiger tracked by the 
 hunter to his last hiding-place. In vain were the repeated 
 commands of the Spanish General to spare the poor defence- 
 less wretches. His Indian allies made no distinction; with 
 wild cries of victory they pulled down the burning buildings 
 on the heads of the miserable people, and the flames con- 
 sumed the living and dead in one common funeral pile. 
 
 Thus the beautiful city was laid in ashes, and its inhabitants 
 died daily by thousands. The three divisions of the Spanish 
 force met on the smoking ruins before the last quarter of the 
 town into which the miserable remnant of the population had 
 fled. New offers of peace were rejected by Guatemozin with 
 the old constancy. So the struggle began again for this last 
 refuge of the besieged, who defended themselves in vain with 
 unequalled fury to the utmost of their power. On the 13th 
 of August the Spaniards poured in like an irresistible torrent 
 •over the last bulwarks, their progress being marked by streams 
 of blood and flames running from street to street. During 
 the melee a crowd of boats were pushed from the shores and 
 endeavoured to make their escape over the lake. But the 
 Spanish ships were on the watch. Some of the largest boats 
 were overtaken by the ship of the Captain Garcias Holguin, 
 and while he was preparing to sink them the Indians gave 
 him to understand that the Emperor was among them. At 
 the same moment a young warrior in armour rose and shouted, 
 ^' I am Guatemozin. Take me to Malinche, I am his prisoner, 
 but do my wife and followers no harm." The prisoners were 
 taken on board the Spanish ships, and the Emperor being 
 asked to stop the battle by a command to his subj ects, replied, 
 
304 A Centtiry of Discovery. 
 
 " It is not necessary : they will cease to fight when they see 
 
 that their Prince is a prisoner." He was right, the Aztecs at 
 
 this intelligence gave up the struggle and submitted to their 
 
 fate. On shore Cortes came to meet the imperial prisoner, 
 
 and saluted him with chivalrous courtesy. The captive 
 
 answered with dignity : " I have done all I could to defend 
 
 myself and my people. Now I am reduced to this condition. 
 
 You, Malinche, will do with me as you please." Then laying 
 
 his hand on the hilt of the dagger which Cortes wore in his 
 
 girdle, he added with vehemence, "But I would you would strike 
 
 me down with this dagger and deliver me from life." Cortes 
 
 tried to soothe him. " Fear nothing," he said, "you shall be 
 
 treated with every respect. You have defended your capital 
 
 like a brave soldier, and a Spaniard knows how to value bravery 
 
 even in an enemy." He sent him, together with his young 
 
 wife, a daughter of Montezuma's, and the chief of his followers, 
 
 under Sandoval's care, to a town on the neighbouring coast. 
 
 The siege was at an end, the town was razed to the ground. 
 
 The remains of the population, about 30,000 men, marched in a 
 
 long sorrowful procession out of the city of their fathers. 
 
 About 200,000 must have fallen victims to the sword, the 
 
 flames, famine, and the pestilence during the course of the 
 
 siege. The besiegers calculated their loss, by which their 
 
 Indian allies mostly suffered, at 30,000 men. It was weeks 
 
 before the scene of this terrible struggle was cleared of the 
 
 dead bodies and the pestilential atmosphere sweetened by the 
 
 fresh sea-breezes. In the meantime the victorious army was 
 
 occupied in feasting, thanksgiving, and dividing the spoil. 
 
 This was considerable, 130,000 ducats in value, but far from 
 
 satisfying the exaggerated expectations which the Spaniards 
 
 had cherished. The ill-temper of the .troops vented itself in 
 
 bitter language, and at last turned upon Cortes, whom they 
 
 accused of dishonesty. They demanded that the imprisoned 
 
 Emperor should be put to the torture, in the hopes of discover- 
 
Hernando Cortes. , 305 
 
 ing from him the place where he had hidden his treasures. 
 When Cortes refused, he was suspected of a secret under- 
 standing with the prisoner, and so in an evil hour he gave his 
 consent to the torture. It was vain, as might have been ex- 
 pected, and Guatemozin bore it with the patient courage 
 which distinguished the unfortunate man. When his com- 
 panion in suffering, the King of Tlacopan, broke out into 
 groans, he reproved him with the words : " Do you think, then, 
 that I am lying on a bed of roses T The wretched proceed- 
 ing was soon put an end to by Cortes, but it was too late to 
 prevent the stain which had been inflicted on his honour. 
 
 The fall of the capital rendered the rule of the Spaniards 
 over the whole land secure. Even princes who had not been 
 tributary to the Aztec monarch submitted to the mighty 
 stranger, and did homage to the King of Spain. Arms were 
 laid aside, and Cortes devoted himself to the ordering of the 
 conquered land, in which he showed the same skill and un- 
 tiring energy as he had done in its subjection. The capital 
 rose again out of its ashes, although with a very changed ap- 
 pearance. Many of the canals were filled up, the streets were 
 widened, and a number of churches built, of which the most 
 splendid was the great cathedral dedicated to St. Francis, 
 which rose in the place of the principal temple, and the 
 foundation of which was composed of the uncouth images of 
 ±he fallen idols. Rows of stately stone buildings lined the 
 streets in which the Spaniards dwelt who settled in the city, 
 while Cortes built for himself a spacious palace in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the cathedral. For the defence of the capital 
 Cortes built a fortress and provided it with seventy guns, 
 some of which he took from the dismantled ships at Vera 
 Cruz, and some were cast in a foundry that he had 
 established in the land. Only four years after the taking of 
 the city it presented again a pleasant, almost splendid ap- 
 pearance, and was inhabited by 2000 Spanish and 30,000 
 
 20 
 
3o6 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Indian families, Cortes was not less zealous for the spiritual 
 welfare of the people. At his invitation numbers of priests 
 came from the West Indies, and threw themselves with such 
 zeal into the work of conversion that within twenty years all 
 the inhabitants of this extensive country belonged by name 
 to the Christian Church, mingling-, however, with their new 
 faith much of their hereditary superstition. 
 
 Cortes took great pains to discover the natural sources 
 of the wealth of the land, oj^ened some silver mines, and in- 
 troduced useful plants. In the most important places he 
 founded new towns, among other Zacatula, for which he 
 anticipated a great future. Here he caused a fleet to be built 
 for exploration and conquest as far as Asia, while at the same 
 time he sent out ships from Vera Cruz to try and discover the 
 long-sought-for passage from one ocean to the other on the 
 northern coast of the Mexican Gulf By means of his 
 generals, Alvarado and Olid, he took possession of the 
 southern lands of Guatemala and Honduras, and here a 
 flourishing colony soon sprang up. 
 
 The most serious difficulty which the great man had to con- 
 tend with was the satisfying of his greedy countrymen who 
 settled down in the most beautiful and fruitful neighbourhoods. 
 Very unwillingly he saw himself obliged to, consent to the intro- 
 duction of the wretched system of rcpartimcntos. He took care 
 that the burden of servitude should fall only upon those races 
 that had been guilty of treason and cruelty to the Spaniards, 
 and he tried to protect the slaves by a number of laws intended 
 to restrain the tyranny of the masters. In order to prevent 
 the pillage which had been so injurious in the West Indian 
 colonies, he made a number of enactments which were all 
 calculated to chain the white settler to the land, and to lead 
 him for the sake of his own interest to cultivate the soil. The 
 allotments of land only became the property of the colonists 
 when they had held them for eight years, and they had to 
 
Hernando Cortes. 307 
 
 prove that they were worthy of the gift by the care which 
 they bestowed upon them during that period. Every married 
 man was forced to bring his wife into the country on penalty 
 of losing the land allotted to him, and every bachelor was 
 compelled to marry within a certain period on the same 
 penalty. It was owing to these enactments that the new 
 state became much more quickly than the other colonies had 
 done the home of a large number of Spanish families who 
 settled on their possessions, instead of wishing to return to 
 their old homes after a few years with their spoils. By other 
 laws the settler was pledged to take into cultivation yearly a 
 certain piece of land, and to reside in the town for a portion 
 of every year. 
 
 Beneficial as these laws for the most part were to the 
 development of the infant state, and high as is the opinion 
 which they give of the sagacity of the conqueror, yet they 
 created much displeasure in the minds of those whom they 
 affected. The sensitive and suspicious disposition of the 
 Spaniard showed itself in a very ugly light, and persons whom 
 the great man had overwhelmed with benefits calumniated 
 and accused him at the Spanish Court, There from the very 
 beginning the question had been undecided how Cortes should 
 be treated. Velasquez was indefatigable in his complaints, 
 demanding to be invested with the government of Mexico, 
 and he had a powerful supporter in Bishop Fonseca, the leader 
 in Indian Affairs. Together they had succeeded in send- 
 ing out a plenipotentiary, Christoval de Tapia, who was to 
 call Cortes to account. The latter, however, by bribery had 
 prevailed upon him to leave the country. He had also at 
 court warm partisans, especially the Duke of Bejar and the 
 Count of Aguilar. 
 
 But his wonderful exploits and the valuable services by 
 which he had so greatly extended the Castilian power inter- 
 ceded still more strongly for him. And so the Emperor 
 
 20 — 2 
 
3o8 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 Charles V. signed a decree at Valladolid, October 15th, 1522, 
 by which Cortes was made Governor, Commander-General, 
 and Supreme Judge of New Spain, as Mexico was then called, 
 Avith a considerable salary. This decision so affected his chief 
 opponents Velasquez and Fonseca that they fell sick and soon 
 after died. In Mexico, on the contrary, it caused universal joy, 
 and for a while all his calumniators were silenced. We hear 
 nothing more of them until the long absence of Cortes between 
 the years 1524 and 1526. At that time he undertook an 
 expedition to Honduras to reduce to submission by force of 
 arms its conqueror Olid. The march was through perfectly 
 unknown regions, where the climate was pestilential and the 
 hardships and sufferings were very great. On this expedition 
 the unfortunate Guatemozin, whom Cortes for security had 
 carried with him, came to a sad end. He was accused of 
 having taken part in a conspiracy by which the Spaniards 
 were to be destroyed in an almost inaccessible pass. Although 
 he asserted his innocence, Cortes pronounced sentence of death 
 upon him, not so much from a conviction of his guilt as from a 
 desire to be rid of the burdensome charge of such an important 
 prisoner, and immediately after the sentence the unfortunate' 
 Prince, with several companions, was hanged on a tree. He 
 died with the greatest composure. " I knew," he said, " what 
 it was to trust to your false promises, Malinche ; I knew that 
 you had destined me to this fate. Would I had laid hands on 
 myself when they led me prisoner to you ! Why do you kill 
 me so unjustly .'' God will call you to account for it." These 
 words cut Cortes to the heart, and stings of conscience with 
 regard to this unrighteous deed of blood tormented him to 
 the end of his life. 
 
 As the army passed through the land, the birthplace of 
 the interpreter Marina, Cortes parted from his faithful com- 
 panion, whom he presented with valuable estates and married 
 to one of the knights of his retinue. In Honduras the General 
 
Hernando Cortes. 309 
 
 found the insurrection already suppressed, and the faithless 
 Olid executed. But sickness laid him low, and contrary winds 
 long hindered his return. In the meantime the report of his 
 death was spread in Mexico, and the royal officers sequest- 
 trated his possessions. When in 1526 he returned, the whole 
 country received him with extravagant joy. For even the 
 natives whom he had subdued had learnt from the oppression 
 of the Spanish officials doubly to prize his gentleness and love 
 of justice. But with the officials themselves he was hencefor- 
 ward at constant feud. Soon after some high Spanish officers 
 came to the country to investigate the mutual complaints, and 
 one of these, Estrada by name, went to the absurd length 
 of ordering the great conqueror to leave the capital, because 
 he had interceded for an old comrade, who for some slight 
 offence had been sentenced to lose his hand. Cortes obeyed, 
 but determined to extricate himself from such an undignified 
 position by going to the King himself, and so took ship for 
 Spain. 
 
 In May, 1528, he landed in Palos after a prosperous voyage, 
 and went to Toledo, where the Emperor at that time resided. 
 He was received in the most distinguished manner, and cleared 
 himself of all charges and calumnies. The Emperor, who 
 personally showed him the greatest attention and loaded him 
 with honours, made him Marquis del Valle d'Guaxaca, and 
 bestowed upon him in that valley and in other parts of the 
 land enormous possessions, in which there were more than 
 twenty towns and villages, with 23,000 vassals. 
 
 But the Emperor resolutely refused to entrust him with the 
 government of the country, for it was the policy of the Crown 
 not to give the rule of a conquered land to the conqueror and 
 discoverer, lest he should be too independent and self-im- 
 portant. This refusal was rendered less bitter to Cortes by 
 the reason assigned, namely, that it was impossible to do 
 without his services in the warlike undertakings yet remain- 
 
3 1 o A Century of Discovery. 
 
 ing to be accomplished, and by his appointment as Com- 
 mander-in-Chief for New Spain and the South Seas. 
 
 For two years Cortes remained in Spain, where the most 
 distinguished grandees treated him as their equal, and the 
 oldest families felt themselves honoured by his alliance. His 
 first wife had died in Mexico in the year 1522, and he now con- 
 tracted a second marriage with a daughter of the Count of 
 Aguilar, and lived in great state. In the spring he returned 
 to Mexico, where meanwhile the civil government had been 
 established. But all kinds of disagreements between the two 
 powers were perfectly unavoidable, and when, in order to put 
 an end to this state of things, the Spanish Court forbade 
 Cortes to come within ten miles of the capital, he retired 
 deeply hurt to Tezcuco, and later to his own city of Cuerna- 
 vaca, where he built himself a palace, and took up his per- 
 manent residence. 
 
 For the next few years his activity was devoted to the care 
 of his extensive estates. He introduced the sugarcane from 
 Cuba, and merino sheep from Spain, and planted whole 
 hedges of mulberry-trees, in order to promote the production 
 of silk. But such a quiet life was not suited to content the 
 active soul of Cortes for any length of time. 
 
 Between the years 1532 and 1534 he fitted out in the har- 
 bour of Tehuantepec two squadrons, which he sent out on 
 voyages of discovery towards the north-west. They discovered 
 the peninsula of California, to which Cortes himself conducted 
 a colony. But his good luck had forsaken him ; the colony 
 could not prosper in that barren land, and when he himself 
 set sail on a voyage of discovery, he was driven about by a 
 storm in the Gulf of Mexico — which for a long time bore the 
 name of Cortes Sea — and at length compelled to return. 
 
 In the year 1539 the indefatigable man sent out a new 
 fleet, under the command of his captain Ulloa. This 
 brave sailor discovered the north end of the Gulf of Cali- 
 
Hernando Cortes. 311 
 
 fornia, sailed round the narrow peninsula, and went along 
 the west coast towards the north. At twenty-nine degrees 
 north latitude he sent back one of his ships to carry news of 
 the discovery to the Marquis ; but he himself continued his 
 voyage towards the north, and was lost with all his com- 
 panions. 
 
 Cortes intended to go with a considerable body of followers 
 into the newly-discovered lands to take possession of them 
 for the Spanish Crown, and to found a new colony, but was dis- 
 turbed in this design by the new Viceroy Mendoza, who 
 claimed the right of founding the colony himself, an open in- 
 fringement of the right granted by the Emperor to Cortes. 
 The latter saw himself thus cheated of the reward of his pains, 
 and felt that he had expended enormous sums and burdened 
 his estates with debt all for nothing. In order to procure 
 justice, he determined to go once more to Spain. 
 
 Accordingly in the autumn of 1540 we find him in Madrid, 
 where he had dealings with the Royal Council for India, and 
 the next year he accompanied the Emperor in his disastrous 
 campaign against Algiers. He was always treated with the 
 most honourable attention, but his wishes and his grievances 
 were not attended to. Like Columbus he was obliged to re- 
 mind his royal master of his incalculable services, but like 
 Columbus he saw that they were forgotten. After having for 
 some years waited in vain for an improvement in the state of 
 affairs, he determined to turn his back upon his ungrateful 
 country. Shortly before the time that he had fixed for his 
 departure he was attacked by a sickness in Seville, which 
 quickly exhausted his strength, and he died in the village 
 Castilleja de la Cuesta, on the 2nd of December, i547- He 
 was sixty-two years old. His body was first buried at 
 Seville, but in 1562 was taken by his son to the New World, 
 and interred in Tezcuco. But even here it was not allowed 
 to rest. In 1629 it was laid in the cathedral of Mexico, and 
 
312 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 since 1794 has been buried in the hospital founded by him in 
 the capital. 
 
 Cortes left behind him from his second marriage — he had 
 no children by his first wife — three daughters, who made 
 brilliant marriages, and one son, Martin, w^ho inherited his 
 possessions and his title. But in the fourth generation the 
 male branch of the family died out, and the inheritance passed 
 by marriage into another family. At present the ducal 
 family of Monteleone, which boasts of descent from the great- 
 granddaughter of the great conqueror, is in possession of his 
 title and lands. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FRANCISCO PIZARRO. 
 
 In South America is an elevated plain much resembling 
 the tableland of Anahuac, and like it at the time of the 
 Spanish discoveries, the seat of a civilised people and the 
 centre of a mighty empire, the conquest of which by a hand- 
 ful of Spaniards offers a worthy parallel to the exploits of the 
 lion-hearted Cortes. Between twenty and twelve degrees 
 south latitude there stretches among the peaks of the Cor- 
 derillas an uninterrupted series of tablelands, at an elevation 
 of 12,000 feet. Almost in the centre of these mountain plains 
 lies the great lake of Titicaca, surrounded by gigantic vol- 
 canoes. The islands which lie scattered over it are said to 
 be the mysterious place in which a powerful state had its 
 origin. 
 
 About the year 1000 A.D., so said tradition, which was 
 looked upon almost as history^ the rudeness and barbarity of 
 the inhabitants of these plains had reached such a point that 
 the Sun-god could no longer look upon it. Out of com- 
 passion he then sent down two of his children, Manco Capac, 
 and his sister and wife, Mama Oello Huaco, to teach the de- 
 based people order, morality, and how to lead a happy life. 
 These children of the sun descended upon one of the islands 
 of Titicaca, and then, obedient to the commands of their 
 father, pursued their way towards the north, until the golden 
 reed which they stuck every evening in the earth disappeared. 
 This spot they chose for their dwelling-place, and called it 
 
31-4 -^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 Cusco. They collected round them the rude inhabitants of 
 the valley and imparted to them their divine message. The 
 people willingly listened to them, and learned from them the 
 arts of ploughing, spinning, and weaving, being persuaded to 
 adopt a settled and industrious life. 
 
 Such was the mythical origin of Cusco. It became the seat 
 ■of a long series of wise and powerful princes, who were said to 
 have sprung from the divine pair, and bore the title of Incas or 
 Princes. The blessings flowing from their beneficent and salu- 
 tary administration were extended farther and farther, partly 
 by the willing submission of the neighbouring tribes, and partly 
 by force of arms, for the Incas were all warlike conquerors. 
 
 When the Spaniards entered the country they ruled over 
 all the mountain region from twenty degrees south latitude to 
 the equator, and over the coast lands from the river Maule in 
 Chili (thirty-five degrees south latitude) to the Gulf of Guaya- 
 quil (two degrees south latitude). All this extensive territory 
 was united in one state, the institutions of which, though 
 manifesting much resemblance to those of the civilised states 
 of Asia, yet bore the stamp of a unique and highly-interest- 
 ing character. 
 
 The rule of the Incas was necessarily absolute, because 
 they were held by their subjects to be descendants of the 
 gods, and therefore divine beings themselves. The number 
 of the Incas was very considerable, for under that name were 
 ■embraced, not only the reigning Prince, but all who could 
 trace back their pedigree in the male line to the divine pair, 
 and since every King had many hundred wives, the number, 
 of Incas increased with every generation, until they formed 
 a numerous aristocracy, ruling the whole country. The King, 
 always the eldest son by the only legitimate marriage of his 
 father with a sister, considered these noble families as his 
 relations, who had a right to a share in the splendour as well 
 as the burdens of government, but there was a great distance 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 315 
 
 maintained between him, and the principal nobles, and none 
 dared to venture into the presence of the Son of the Sun 
 except barefoot and with a light burden on his shoulder, in 
 token of subjection. He was at the head of the priests and 
 Jiad the chief seat at the most important religious feasts. 
 He took the chief command in war, imposed taxes, gave laws, 
 named his officers, who gave account to him. He was the 
 source from which all power flowed, and which gave life to 
 the whole, state. His appearance was extremely magnifi- 
 cent, he . wore long flowing robes of the finest stuff, shining 
 with -gold and the rarest jewels, and on his head a bright- 
 coloured turban covered with scarlet net, in which were placed 
 upright two feathers of a rare bird, which the King alone 
 might use for his adornment. 
 
 His throne was surrounded by his relations the Incas, who 
 were bound to him, not only by a common origin, but by their 
 inclinations and interests. They were distinguished from the 
 rest of the people by a special dress and peculiar language, 
 and for their support the best parts of the public lands were 
 appointed. They lived chiefly at court near the Prince, who 
 had been brought up with them, but they held all the high 
 ■offices in the provinces, and only from among them could the 
 higher- priestly offices be filled, being in virtue of their birth 
 qualified for priestly functions. The whole race of the Incas, 
 as the shape of their sculls shows even now, must have been 
 far superior in mental capacity to the other races of the 
 country. 
 
 A second and inferior order of nobility consisted of the 
 •Curacas, the caciques of subject races and their descendants. 
 They were usually continued in their authority, but their 
 sons v/ere required to live at the capital as hostages for 
 their fidelity. Their power seems usually to have been only 
 local, and always subordinate to the authority of the governor 
 of the provinces, who was chosen only from the Incas. 
 
3 1 6 A Century of Discovejy. 
 
 The whole state was divided into four large provinces, each 
 ruled by a governor. Under him were the officials in charge- 
 of the districts, each of which contained 10,000 inhabitants,, 
 and was subdivided into smaller districts of 1000, 500, 100, 
 50, down to 10 persons respectively. Each of these had a 
 functionary at its head, who was responsible for his subor- 
 dinates. The graver offences were brought before the gover- 
 nor, lighter ones were punished by the courts of justice of the 
 towns or districts, and every province was visited annually by 
 commissioners to inquire into the administration of justice. 
 The laws were few, but since their transgression was an offence 
 against a divine law-giver, it was considered a blasphemy 
 against God, and thus the smallest fault deserved death as 
 much as heavier crimes. 
 
 But the most peculiar regulations were those connected 
 with the political economy of the country. By them all land 
 capable of cultivation was divided into three parts, one for the 
 sun and his priests, a second for the Prince and his house, and 
 the third for the people. The last portion was divided in equal 
 parts among the subjects. As soon as any one at the age pre- 
 scribed by the law took to himself a wife, a certain lot of land 
 was granted to him, which was increased as his family grew. 
 This division was revised every year, that it might be always 
 accurate. The people were required by the law to cultivate 
 their lands and also the portions belonging to the sun and to^ 
 the Inca. At daybreak, men, women, and children were called 
 to work by the sound of a horn, and appeared adorned as- 
 for a feast. They performed their work cheerfully, singing . 
 harmoniously the while. First they laboured for the sun, 
 then for the old and sick, then they cultivated their own 
 land, and lastly that of the Incas. 
 
 The most important of the domestic animals were the 
 llamas ; they fed in great numbers on the plains and were the 
 objects of the greatest care. They all belonged to the King,. 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 317 
 
 and their flesh might be used only at court feasts or for sacri- 
 fice, but they were very valuable as beasts of burden and for 
 Iheir wool. At a fixed time they were shorn and their wool 
 brought into the store-houses. Then each family was allowed 
 as much as they were considered to need, and the women 
 ■made it up for the family's use, being required also to work 
 for the Inca. There were special officers appointed to super- 
 intend, not only the division of the wool, but also the women's 
 ~work and the collecting of the cloth. 
 
 The mines also, the chief riches of the country, were the 
 •exclusive possession of the King, and worked for his advantage. 
 As few hands as possible, however, were drawn away from 
 agriculture, which was considered the chief occupation of the 
 people. It had been carried to a high point, the natural fruit- 
 fulness of the soil being increased by manuring with guano, 
 which was brought from some little islands directly off the 
 ■coast. A network of canals, which frequently had to be cut 
 underground through the rocks, carried life in all directions, 
 and changed deserts into arable land. These singular arrange- 
 ments, in which an enlightened despotism was led by its bene- 
 volent intentions to establish a communist equality, perfectly 
 accomplished its purpose. The subjects were trained in a 
 spirit of patient obedience and quiet content, which in every- 
 thing that concerned the government saw a proof of super- 
 human wisdom. But there was nothing like advance for the 
 Peruvian. As he was born, so he must die, and all Piis strivings 
 to attain a higher lot were in vain. Even his time was not his 
 own. He paid his taxes by work. Therefore the government 
 liad a right to treat idleness as a crime that injured the state. 
 But the useful side of these institutions was seen not only in 
 the constant growth of the national revenues, but also in the 
 complete absence of all the passions of envy, ambition, 
 avarice, and love of change. As long as people could remem- 
 ber everything had run in the same groove, and the Spaniards 
 
3 1 8 « A Century of Discovery, 
 
 unanimously agreed that no government was better suited to 
 the disposition of the people, and that no people could have 
 been more contented with its lot or more devoted to its govern- 
 ment. 
 
 One of the proofs of the care of the government for the 
 general welfare are the wonderful roads which intersected the 
 whole land, and the remains of which still excite admiration. 
 All the difficulties of the ground — and no land could present 
 more or greater — were overcome, rocks were broken through, 
 suspension-bridges thrown over wild mountain streams,. 
 and ravines filled up. Also, wherever it was possible, water 
 was carried along both sides of the roads, and they were 
 shaded by trees planted for the purpose. On these roads the 
 King travelled about the land and satisfied himself of the 
 condition of the provinces. On them the armies also could 
 comfortably move about, and messengers carried the reports 
 of the governors to the capital. Also, for the comfort of 
 travellers, every here and there inns were erected. 
 
 The Peruvians were particularly skilful in masonry. They 
 could work huge stones with very simple tools — iron was un- 
 known to them — and they fitted them together so perfectly 
 that it was impossible to pass the blade of a knife between 
 them. In this way they built gigantic fortresses, palaces for 
 their kings, and temples for their gods. But how to fit in 
 windows and to make pointed roofs to the buildings they did 
 not understand. Their houses were dark, with flat roofs made 
 of beams tied together, or loosely thatched with straw, the 
 rainless climate requiring only shelter from the rays of the 
 sun. The houses of the people were built in the simplest 
 manner of mud. Next to architecture the Peruvians distin- 
 guished themselves by their skill in polishing jewels and 
 working gold. This precious metal was not sought for in 
 mines, but was found in large masses on the surface, and was 
 used for every kind of decoration or utensil connected with 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 319 
 
 the temples and altars. The Spaniards saw with astonished 
 admiration their skilful work, especially noticing the exceed- 
 ingly faithful representation of animals and plants made by 
 the native goldsmiths with their rude tools. The excellent 
 cloth also, prepared from the fine wool of the vicuna, won 
 strong approbation from the Spaniards. 
 
 The Peruvians, surpassing the Mexicans in many respects, 
 were behind them in possessing no money and trade not being 
 encouraged by their government. Still more, the picture 
 writing in use in Mexico was unknown to them. They had a 
 very imperfect substitute in the quipus, a cord two feet long, 
 formed of closely-woven threads of bright colour, from which 
 depended a number of little threads. By knotting these 
 threads in different ways certain things were expressed, 
 and by this quipus not only were the reports of the officials 
 communicated, but also the great deeds of the Incas were 
 handed down to posterity. 
 
 The Peruvians acknowledged one supreme invisible Being, 
 the creator and preserver of the universe, whom they adored 
 under the name of Pachacamac and Viracocha, and whose 
 temple served as an oracle. But the divinity to whom they 
 paid most honour was the sun-god, the ancestor of the Incas, 
 who introduced his worship into all the lands conquered by 
 them. The ceremonies were full of solemn magnificence, and 
 his temples were covered with gold within and without. The 
 oldest of these temples stood on an island in the Titicaca Lake, 
 but the most splendid was the chief temple of Cusco, covering 
 a large space, and the interior of which was literally a vault of 
 gold. The number of priests and attendants attached to the 
 service of the sun-god was enormous, and the chief priest was 
 next in rank to the King himself. To their great surprise, the 
 Spaniards found features of their own religious service repeated 
 in the Peruvian worship of the sun : the incense in the temples, 
 processions, pilgrimages, even convents with their inmates 
 
320 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 •dedicated to the sun, who led at least as secluded a life as their 
 western sisters. Although the Incas cherished an universal 
 reverence for their divine ancestor the sun-god, they were 
 liberal or politic enough not to forbid divine honour to be paid 
 to the gods of the subject nations. Their temples remained 
 standing side by side with the new sun temple, and their 
 priests were provided from the ample income of the sun, but 
 the images of the gods travelled to Cusco, and served there, 
 like the chief's sons, as pledges of the fidelity of the new sub- 
 jects. The Incas took great pains to further the melting 
 together of the different races among their people. For this 
 purpose they chose the musical language of Cusco, the Ouichuan, 
 for the official language, and appointed teachers of it in every 
 district. 
 
 The first information which reached the ears of the Spaniards 
 about this wonderful state was very indefinite, and naturally 
 chiefly concerned the fabulous riches of the country. Balboa 
 had already heard of it, and had formed plans for the conquest 
 of this Eldorado, which at last appeared to have been found. 
 His ignominious death put an end to these plans, and the 
 Spanish Crown lost the man best adapted to carry out the 
 gigantic enterprise. His murderer, Pedrarias de Avila, was 
 commissioned to search for the wonderful land, and prepare 
 for its conquest. With this object in view, he removed the 
 capital of his province, Castilla del Oro, from the Atlantic 
 coast across the isthmus to the shores of the great ocean 
 where, after Balboa's discoveries, the town of Panama had arisen. 
 Thence he sent out several times expeditions of discovery, 
 but generally they took the direction towards the north, hoping' 
 to find the strait which was universally supposed to unite the 
 Carribean Sea with the great ocean, and the discovery and 
 conquest of Nicaragua which followed, turned the attention of 
 Spanish settlers from the south. An expedition was made in 
 1522 by Pasual de Andagoya to the west coast of South 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 321 
 
 America, following in the track of Balboa, but he soon returned 
 without having effected anything. At last the man appeared 
 who, overcoming all obstacles, was to realise the great plans of 
 the unhappy adventurer, and to lift the veil which had hitherto 
 protected the golden land from the conquest of the Spaniards, 
 Francisco Pizarro, born at Truxillo, a town in Estremadura, 
 passed a very obscure youth ; even the year of his birth can- 
 not be settled wdth any certainty, but the year 147 1 has been 
 named with some probability. He was of illegitimate birth, 
 his father, Gonzalvo Pizarro, being a captain in the Castilian 
 army, and his mother in a humble position. The boy grew up 
 much neglected, without the beneficial influence of family life, 
 without any instruction, and, as all accounts agree in stating, 
 in the occupation of a swineherd. From this poor position he 
 escaped as he grew up, and was one of the first to emigrate to 
 the New World in order to seek his fortune. But even there 
 he had to go through a rough schooling, and instead of the 
 success which he had expected, he met with dangers and a 
 hard lot, for so late as 15 10 we find him taking part, in a 
 subordinate position, in the expedition of Alonso de Ojeda 
 which was planned for the colonisation of Uraba. When Ojeda 
 left the colony in order to procure support from Hispaniola, he 
 knew none among all his companions to whom he could 
 entrust the command of the hungry, sick, and unruly crew 
 except the fearless and determined Pizarro. He, true to his 
 promise, held out in the fearful position in which he was 
 placed for fifty days, and even then delayed his departure 
 until death had so decreased his band that those who remained 
 could be brought away on the two ships that they possessed. 
 During a storm one of these sank, and the other, which bore 
 Pizarro, fell in with Enciso, and returned with him to the set- 
 tlement they had just left, which, by Balboa's advice, was 
 removed to the river Darien. Here, in Santa Maria del Antigua, 
 Pizarro became deeply involved in the quarrel which finally 
 
 21 
 
322 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 ended with the nomination of the bold Balboa to the governor- 
 ship. To him Pizarro closely attached himself. He was his 
 instructor in the art of keeping a crowd of wild adventurers in 
 willing obedience, and of showing to the natives now kindli- 
 ness, and now an inflexible severity. He was among the 
 brave men who first traversed the isthmus, and the wonderful 
 story of an inexhaustible land of gold in the south sank deep 
 into his soul. 
 
 Later he united himself to the new Governor Pedrarias, and 
 after Balboa's death accompanied him to Panama. After almost 
 thirty years' service in the New World he had gained nothing 
 beyond a captaincy and an unhealthy piece of land which 
 scarcely supported him. He was fifty years old and longed 
 for something better, and therefore was easily persuaded to 
 undertake the conduct of an expedition to the land of gold, 
 for which a man of his military experience, intrepidity, and 
 unscrupulosity was exactly fitted. 
 
 He was asked to take a share in the promising undertaking 
 by the hot-blooded Diego de Almagro, a man about the 
 same age as Pizarro, and one who, like him, had sprung 
 from the lowest ranlis, and was an uneducated soldier of fortune. 
 The third in the league was Hernando de Luque, a dis- 
 tinguished priest from Panama, a man of some influence and 
 generally beloved. He it was who drew up the whole plan of 
 the undertaking and who assigned to each their parts. In 
 November, 1524, Pizarro sailed with two small ships prepared 
 by Almagro, which carried about 100 men. But the voyage 
 over the unknown sea was far more difficult than had been 
 suspected. The adventurers did not succeed in getting farther 
 than 7 degrees north latitude, and then, after months of terrible 
 want and suffering, were glad to be able to return to Panama. 
 AlmagrOj who followed with the third ship, succeeded in 
 getting as far as 4 degrees north latitude, but also returned 
 without having accomplished anything. But in the struggles 
 
Francisco Pizan^o. 323 
 
 with the natives, whose territories they plundered, a small 
 quantity of gold was obtained, and this kept alive the avarice 
 of the adventurers and inspirited them for fresh enterprises. 
 
 The disapproval of the Governor Pedrarias prevented the 
 three allies from at once repeating their attempt, but when he 
 was superseded by a new Governor, Don Pedro de los Rios, 
 all difficulties were quickly removed, and the three men went 
 to work with fresh courage. It was then on the loth of March, 
 1526, that they concluded the celebrated agreement in which 
 they divided among themselves the Peruvian kingdom with 
 all its treasures. It was expressly arranged that Luque, who 
 provided the necessary money, 20,000 ducats, should have a 
 full third of the land repartimentos, gold, silver, and precious 
 stones ; and in case the two warriors who conducted the expe- 
 dition should be faithless to the agreement, his right was 
 acknowledged to claim the whole property. But Luque, a 
 priest of only moderate wealth, represented the licenciate 
 Espinosa, who employed the treasures of Miaraqua in this 
 way. The treaty was drawn up in a religious tone, and the 
 historian Robertson cannot help exclaiming, " In the name of 
 the Prince of Peace they concluded a treaty which had for its 
 object plunder and bloodshed." 
 
 It was very difficult to obtain the necessary crews, for expe- 
 ditions to the south were in bad odour even with the well- 
 inured Spaniards on account of the almost insupportable 
 fatigues to be endured. At last the preparations were com- 
 plete, and in the summer of 1526 the bold venture was made 
 with two ships scantily manned. At the mouth of the little 
 river San Juan, 4 degrees north latitude, the adventurers were 
 so fortunate as to find in a little village a rich spoil of gold, 
 and while Almagro carried this to Panama in the hope of 
 alluring others to join in the enterprise, the daring Pizarro 
 sent out the second ship to explore under the command of 
 Ruiz, and established himself on the coast, where he remained 
 
 21 — 2 
 
324 A Cenhiry of Discove7y. 
 
 with a small band tormented by hunger and mosquitos. Ruiz 
 returned before Almagro, having crossed the equator on the 
 west coast of America, and having gathered from the crew 
 of a great Indian boat astonishing accounts of the riches 
 and high civilisation of the kingdom of the Incas. Encou- 
 raged by this good news, Pizarro, when Almagro returned 
 bringing new men, resumed the voyage. But the ships were 
 overtaken by dreadful storms, and after being driven hither 
 and thither the adventurers found themselves on the shores 
 of a well-cultivated land, full of towns and villages, the numer- 
 ous inhabitants of which streamed forth armed and showed 
 a hostile disposition. The Spaniards saw that they were too 
 weak to maintain a struggle with such a superior force ; they 
 therefore determined at once to return to Panama and pro- 
 cure greater numbers for the enterprise. But a part of the 
 crew were to remain behind under Pizarro in order to remove 
 any doubt about the determination of the others to carry cut 
 their plan. 
 
 For several months these men waited on the little island of 
 Gallo, 2 degrees north latitude, for the arrival of the reinforce- 
 ments. Plalf-naked and tortured with hunger^ for they had 
 nothing to eat but shellfish, they also suffered greatly from 
 fearful storms of rain by which the whole island was flooded. 
 At last a ship appeared to relieve their miserable condition, 
 but it was not Almagro who commanded it, but Tafur. He 
 had been sent by the Viceroy with the express command 
 to bring the rest of the expedition back to Panama, where 
 the second failure of the undertaking had excited great indig- 
 nation against its foolhardy authors, and the great sacrifice of 
 men which it demanded. 
 
 If Pizarro obeyed the command of the Governor, there was, 
 he felt, no hope that a sufficient number of adventurers to 
 accomplish his plans would ever again join him. He there- 
 fore set the command at nought, and by a short energetic 
 
Francisco Pisarro. 325 
 
 speech succeeded in inducing thirteen of his companions to 
 remain with him. Some provisions being left them, the bold 
 men watched their countrymen sail away, and then, by 
 means of a rude raft which they constructed, transferred their 
 residence to an island called Gorgona, which lay somewhat 
 more towards the north. There began again the same life of 
 want and misery, which the settlers had to endure for seven 
 long months before they descried a sail. This time it was 
 the faithful Ruiz, who had importuned the Governor so long 
 that at last he allowed him to set sail with a little ship 
 manned only by sailors. But this permission was granted 
 only on the condition that Pizarro's new expedition should not 
 occupy more than six months. 
 
 Without delay he left the island where he had endured so 
 much suffering, and a favourable wind carried him to the 
 south. On the twentieth day after the departure from Gor- 
 gona, the ship rounded a cape, and the adventurers saw 
 before them the glorious bay of Guayaquil (2 degrees south 
 latitude). It was a magnificent sight. High in the back- 
 ground rose the snowy peak of the gigantic Chimborazo and 
 Cotopaxi, and from their base down the crescent-shaped 
 bay stretched broad forests and well-cultivated plains, while 
 nearer the shore rose stately cities. The ship anchored before 
 Tumbez, which lay on the south shore of the bay, and almost 
 immediately the Curaca sent on board all kind of refresh- 
 ments and some live llamas, an attention which Pizarro reci- 
 procated by a present of swine and poultry, both unknown 
 animals in that country. His messengers returned with a 
 favourable report of the inhabitants, whom they described as 
 friendly and cordial. They spoke also with admiration of the 
 great buildings of the town, particularly of the Temple of the 
 Sun, covered with plates of gold and silver, and full of astonish- 
 ing treasures. But alluring as these reports sounded, their 
 small number forbade the Spaniards to think of satisfying 
 
326 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 their hunger for gold, and Pizarro enjoined on all his com- 
 panions to show the utmost friendship and forbearance in 
 their intercourse with the natives. He continued his voyage 
 to Santa (8 degrees south latitude) finding the coast every- 
 where studded with towns and villages inhabited by a gentle 
 and industrious people. He was also able to satisfy himself 
 sufficiently that he had reached the long-sought land of gold. 
 Returning to Tumbez, where some of the crew settled, he left 
 for the north, and in the spring of 1528 ran into the harbour 
 of Panama after an absence of nearly two years. 
 
 The news he brought immediately reversed the unfavour- 
 able opinion that had been held with respect to the under- 
 taking, and he found adventurers enough ready to join him. 
 But his associates were of opinion that it would be best to 
 obtain first distinct promises and a regular appointment from 
 the Court ; and with this object Pizarro was persuaded to 
 go himself to Spain. He arrived in Seville in the summer 
 of 1528, where, by the influence of Enciso, whom he had as- 
 sisted in deposing, he was thrown into prison. But a royal 
 command soon set him free ; and at Toledo he maintained his 
 claims so convincingly before Charles V., drawing such an 
 animated picture of the riches of the land he had discovered, 
 that the Indian Council received orders to arrange with him 
 at once in the most favourable manner. 
 
 On the 26th of July 1529, a document was signed in which the 
 rank and title of Governor, Commander-in-chief, Adelantado, 
 and Supreme Judge was conferred upon Pizarro for the province 
 of New Castile (the name given to the kingdom of the Incas), 
 which he was to conquer. At the same time a revenue of 725,000 
 maravedis was conferred upon him, and significant figures were 
 added to his coat of arms. But while he took such good care 
 of himself, he only procured for Almagro the appointment of 
 Governor of Tumbez, with a revenue of 200,000 maravedis, 
 and for Luque the bishopric of Tumbez, with an income of 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 327 
 
 1000 ducats, although before his departure from Panama he 
 had pledged himself to obtain for them honours equal to his 
 own. By means of money advanced to him from many per- 
 sons — among whom was Cortes, who happened to be just then 
 in Spain — he was able to equip a little fleet, and, with 250 
 chosen men, set sail for the New World in January, 1530. 
 Among his companions were his three brothers, Hernando, 
 Gonzalo, and Juan, who forsook their humble employments 
 in the little town of Truxillo, in the hope of ruling over great 
 nations in Peru. In Panama the expedition was delayed by 
 a vehement dispute between Pizarro and Almagro, who could 
 not forgive the selfish conduct of his colleague, and would 
 hardly be pacified. 
 
 It was not until January, i53i, that the three ships, having 
 on board, besides the 200 soldiers, twenty-seven horses, pro- 
 ceeded on their way — a contemptible force to venture to over- 
 throw the enormous and well-ordered kingdom of the Incas. 
 But Pizarro's confidence had already endured many hard 
 trials, and he doubted not of a favourable termination to the . 
 enterprise. His first spoil, worth 20,000 ducats, which he ob- 
 tained by assaulting the town of Coaque, he sent back to 
 Panama, that more men might be induced to follow under the 
 leadership of Almagro. He himself proceeded along the 
 coast, meeting with scarcely any opposition until he reached 
 the island of Puna, in the Bay of Guayaquil. Here the war- 
 like Indians met them in arms, and though after a violent 
 struggle they received a serious overthrow, yet the Spaniards 
 were left in a situation of great danger, until they were re- 
 lieved by the arrival of a fresh force of 100 men under the 
 gallant Hernando de Soto. The little army then proceeded 
 to Tumbez. When Pizarro five years before first visited the 
 kingdom of the Incas, it was under the rule of the powerful 
 Huayna Capac, who in his youth had conquered Quito and 
 incorporated the great state. But this powerful ruler had 
 
o 
 
 28 A Cenhcry of Discovery. 
 
 since died, and on his death-bed had made dispositions which 
 produced very serious results. According to the unchange- 
 able law of the empire, the crown passed to Prince Guascar, 
 the eldest son of his queen. But by a princess of Quito he 
 had a favourite son, named Atahualpa, who grew up near him 
 and won his father's whole heart. From love to him he 
 separated from the empire the newly-conquered kingdom of 
 Quito, and gave it to his favourite as an independent govern- 
 ment. For some years the brothers were very good friends ; 
 but at length a war broke out between the two, and the whole 
 army, with the best generals, took the side of Atahualpa, who 
 had passed his youth in the army, and the rightful King was 
 obliged to yield. Before the gates of his own capital, Guas- 
 car, a prince of excellent qualities, was overcome and taken 
 prisoner, while his fortunate rival obtained the crown, dis- 
 gracing his conquest by a terrible slaughter of the Incas, his 
 relatives. 
 
 These events had just occurred when the Spaniards landed 
 in Tumbez, in 1532, and they had left behind traces not only 
 in the land, but also in the tempers of the people. The 
 Spaniards found Tumbez, which had been represented to 
 them as so delightful, wasted, it was said, by the inhabitants 
 of Puna. The colonists that had been left behind in the 
 earlier expedition had vanished, and no certain information 
 concerning their fate could be obtained. Pizarro therefore 
 gave up his plan of making Tumbez the headquarters of the 
 expedition, and led his army along the coast in a southerly 
 direction, until he had found a suitable place. Here in a 
 fruitful valley not far from the sea, into which a navigable ' 
 river flowed, he founded the first Spanish colony, and gave it 
 the name of San Miguel. He spent the whole summer of the 
 year 1532 in fortifying the town, in forming a community out of 
 those soldiers who were disposed to settle, and in appointing 
 the authorities, while the ships returned to Panama with the 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 329 
 
 spoil already collected. From the information that he col- 
 lected here with regard to the condition of the country, he 
 found that the deposed Guascar was languishing as a prisoner 
 in the strong fortress Xaura, and that the victorious Atahualpa, 
 with his army, was distant from San Miguel only some twelve 
 days' journey in the town of Cassamarca, whither he had gone 
 for the warm baths. There Pizarro determined to seek him 
 out, and on the 21st of September, 1532, left San Miguel with 
 105 foot-soldiers and sixty- three horse. 
 
 Their way soon led the little band out of the glorious scenery 
 of the coast into the wild region of the mountains whose sum- 
 mits appeared to touch the heavens. They were well received 
 wherever they stopped, and an ambassador from the Inca met 
 them, who brought presents to their general, and an invitation 
 couched in the most friendly terms. Suspicious, however, of 
 these assurances, Pizarro continued his march ready prepared 
 for battle, the cavalry under his brother Hernando and the 
 gallant de Soto going forward to explore the road and the 
 heights. But they met with no hostile demonstration, and 
 even the most difficult passes, which might have been made 
 invincible by a small garrison, were found open and unguarded. 
 Was the Inca in earnest in his assurances, or was he trying to 
 entice the strangers into a trap ? The Spaniards inclined to 
 the latter supposition, which gave them the right to be stern 
 and dictatorial. They still continued to ascend, and at last, by 
 a difficult mule path, crossed the inhospitable ridge which was 
 the boundary of Cassamarca. Then began to reappear beautiful 
 watered meadows and cornfields, and at last was seen the 
 town itself in a lovely green valley, whence arose a pillar of 
 steam, betraying the far-famed hot springs. A mass of white 
 tents rising in front of the town showed Pizarro that Ata- 
 hualpa was protected by a considerable army. 
 
 But without sign of fear he led his little army down into the 
 town, which he found deserted by its inhabitants. He chose 
 
330 A Century of Discovery, 
 
 for his quarters a three-cornered place at the end of the town, 
 which was surrounded by spacious halls. Although the even- 
 ing was far advanced, he sent a troop of cavalry to the neigh- 
 bouring baths to greet the Inca and see how things stood. 
 They found Atahualpa in an open court of the palace, sur- 
 rounded by his dignitaries, but neither by the arrogant message 
 of their general, nor by surprising feats of horsemanship, could 
 they produce the least impression on the Prince, who remained 
 quite impassive, and betrayed nothing of the astonishment 
 which the unexpected appearances must have excited in 
 him. But he listened courteously to their invitation to 
 visit them in the town, and promised to come the next 
 day. 
 
 What did Atahualpa purpose .'' Were his intentions as harm- 
 less as he asserted } It was hardly to be supposed that a 
 prince who had given such proofs of courage and sagacity 
 could be blind to the great danger that threatened his town. 
 Or did he purpose to destroy these dangerous strangers, and 
 had with this end in view enticed them into the lion's den ? 
 But then surely he would not have been rash enough to trust 
 his own person to them. His conduct remains a riddle to this 
 day, in spite of the assertion of Pizarro that he meant to kill 
 most of the Spaniards, keeping the bravest in his service, and 
 in spite of the fact that in Peru, as in Mexico, there was an 
 old tradition of some divine beings who were one day to return, 
 and that this old story no doubt came to the help of the daring" 
 invaders. 
 
 The report of the messengers of the dignified bearing of 
 Atahualpa and the warlike masses by which he was sur- 
 rounded put the courage of the Spaniards to a hard trial, but 
 Pizarro assured them that all was going just as he wished, and 
 that the next day would make them lords of Peru. He 
 determined by a coup de main to make himself master of the 
 person of the Prince, and make him play the same part that 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 331 
 
 Montezuma had played in the hands of Cortes, whom Pizarro 
 followed as his model most faithfully. 
 
 On the next day, November i6th, 1532, he communicated 
 his plans to his troops. He then caused the guns to be placed 
 in a neighbouring fortress, and ordered his men to keep them- 
 selves concealed in the great halls and, at a given signal, to burst 
 out and begin the slaughter. When all the preparations for 
 the treacherous assault were complete, the priests who accom- 
 panied the Spanish army joerformed a solemn Mass, and called 
 upon God to take under His almighty protection the warriors 
 who were to fight for His holy cause, and for the extension of 
 His kingdom. With pious ardour the soldiers joined in the 
 prayers and hymns, " One might have supposed them," says 
 Prescott, " a company of martyrs about to lay down their lives 
 in defence of their faith, instead of a licentious band of ad- 
 venturers meditating one of the most atrocious acts of perfidy 
 on the record of history. But the Spaniards were not hypo- 
 crites : in their mistaken piety they were perfectly convinced 
 that their designs would be pleasing to God, and, unfor- 
 tunately, there is no want in history of examples to prove 
 that the warmest religious enthusiasm may exist side by side 
 with the most utter want of principle and the coarsest 
 selfishness." 
 
 Meanwhile the unsuspecting victim was approaching. Before 
 the town Atahualpa stopped and sent the desired message, 
 that he should enter the town unarmed and with but few 
 soldiers, and that he intended to pass the night there. It was 
 near sunset when the head of the procession passed to their 
 destruction through the gate of the city. First came a hundred 
 servants to clear away every obstacle; then followed other 
 companies of various ranks and variously clothed, but all with 
 great magnificence. A particularly fine appearance was madeby 
 the body-guard and immediate servarlts of the Prince, dressed 
 in sky-blue ; and the chief members of the aristocracy ex- 
 
332 A Centuiy of Discovery. 
 
 cited much attention by their rich attire, and by the large 
 golden balls which they wore in their ears. They all united 
 in solemn songs, "which sounded in our ears," says one of 
 the pious discoverers, "like songs of hell." 
 
 Last appeared the Inca borne on a litter, seated on a stool 
 of solid gold, of inestimable value. The litter was adorned 
 with bright-coloured feathers of tropical birds, and glittered 
 with gold and silver plates. The dress of the Prince much 
 surpassed in splendour that of his attendants. He wore a 
 necklace of emeralds of unusual size and beauty. His short 
 hair was ornamented, and round his brow was wound the royal 
 turban, the Borla, the fringe of which hung down to his eyes. 
 The Inca looked round him with dignity, and was astonished 
 to see the place empty where he expected to meet the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 Then Father Vincent de Valverde stepped forward to meet 
 him. He was a gloomy Dominican, Pizarro's chaplain. He 
 held in one hand a Bible, in the other a crucifix, and said he 
 came at the General's command to call upon the King to 
 accept Christianity. With the help of his interpreter, the 
 cunning Felipillo, he explained the chief doctrines of the 
 Christian Church, telling him that the vicars of Christ, the 
 Popes of Rome, were lords of all lands, and therefore of 
 Peru, and that they had charged the Spanish King to convert 
 that country to Christianity. The- summary, in itself rather 
 indistinct, was not rendered more clear by passing through an 
 interpreter. Only one thing did Atahualpa understand, the 
 statement that in his land another than he possessed the 
 supreme authority. He cried indignantly, " I am greater than 
 any other Prince upon earth ! Your Emperor may be a great 
 Prince, I do not doubt it, since I see that he has sent his ser- 
 vants across the sea to me, and I am ready to consider him as 
 a brother. As for what you said about the Pope, he must be 
 mad if he thinks he can give away lands that do not belong 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 333 
 
 to him." Then he asked Valverde on what he rested such 
 foohsh statements. The priest pointed to the Bible. Atahualpa 
 took it, and being perfectly unacquainted with the crooked 
 signs which covered the leaves, let the book drop carelessly 
 on the ground. The monk hastily picked up the sacred book, 
 ran to Pizarro and told him of the insult to the word of God. 
 " Strike at once," he cried, " I will absolve you." 
 
 Pizarro lifted a white handkerchief and waved it, a cannon 
 shot resounded, and at this given sign the Spaniards rushed 
 from all sides upon their helpless victims. A cry of distress 
 was raised, broken by the battle-cry of the assailants and the 
 thunder of the artillery. The whole place was soon a scene 
 of utter confusion, the alarmed Peruvians seeking in vain to 
 escape from the swords of their relentless enemies. In desper- 
 ation they succeeded in forcing an opening in the stone Avail, 
 by which some of them escaped. Pizarro's object from the 
 beginning was to obtain possession of Atahualpa's person. 
 But the faithful guards, who surrounded the Prince, threw 
 themselves between him and the Spaniards, and, unarmed as 
 they were, tried to make a defence for him of their own 
 bodies. It was not until they were cut down to the last man 
 that the assailants succeeded in seizing the King and carrying 
 him safely into the neighbouring building. 
 
 Then the struggle ceased, but an enormous number of the 
 noblest of the Peruvians — the accounts vary between 2000 
 and 10,000 — lay dead on the scene of the conflict, while of 
 the Spaniards not one was wounded. On the bodies of the 
 fallen, who were buried the next day, a rich spoil was found, 
 which was much increased by the plunder of the Inca's palace. 
 Well satisfied, and with the consciousness of having performed 
 a work well-pleasing to God, they lay down to sleep. 
 
 The unhappy Prince, bewildered by the treachery of the 
 assault, and overwhelmed by the fearful scenes which he had 
 witnessed, was entertained as a guest the same evening at the 
 
334 -^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 table of Pizarro, who behaved to him with sol-dierly courtesy 
 and assured him of good treatment. A suite of rooms were 
 appointed him, in which he settled himself with his wives and 
 retinue. Intercourse with his subjects was allowed him, only 
 of course under strict supervision. He reconciled himself to 
 his altered situation with the sang froid characteristic of his 
 people, and while towards his subjects he displayed, even as a 
 prisoner, all the majesty of royalty, to his jailors he was 
 friendly and sociable. From them he learned to play at dice 
 and chess, and often gratified them with costly presents. 
 
 Pizarro chose Cassamarca for his headquarters. He em- 
 ployed himself first in erecting a Christian church, and then 
 in making all the necessary arrangements for the maintenance 
 of the troops. Through the captive Prince he summoned 
 back the fugitive inhabitants, dismissed the Indian army and 
 obtained possession of their leaders. At the same time he 
 sent out companies to traverse the country, put down all 
 opposition and plunder the temples and palaces. They soon 
 collected important treasure, and Atahualpa had good reason 
 to imagine that the Spaniards were impelled less by religious 
 zeal and love of honour than by covetousness. He wished 
 to please them that he might procure his liberty. So one day 
 he offered to Pizarro, as ransom, sufficient gold to fill the room 
 in which they were to the height that a man could reach with 
 his arm. This offer surpassed so much the most brilliant ex- 
 pectations of the avaricious Spaniards that they doubted the 
 possibility of its fulfilment. However, Pizarro consented, 
 and drawing a red line along the wall, he made a notary draw 
 up the conditions of the agreement. The room was about 
 seventeen feet wide, twenty-two feet long, and the line on the 
 wall was at a height of nine feet from the ground. This space 
 was to be filled with gold; but it was agreed that the gold should 
 not be melted into bars but should be left in the form in which 
 it was found. A smaller neighbouring room Atahualpa 
 
Francisco Pizmn'o. 335 
 
 ■offered to fill twice with gold, and for the fulfilment of the 
 agreement a space of two months was allowed. His mes- 
 sengers went to all parts of the land and demanded from the 
 priests and guardians of the palaces the golden furniture that 
 they might bring it to Cassamarca. The news reached even 
 the imprisoned Guascar, and in the hope of purchasing his 
 freedom in the same way he offered the Spanish general still 
 greater treasures than his brother, who, not being a native of 
 Cusco, did not know the place where the treasures were to be 
 found. But Atahualpa heard of this message, and, from a 
 well-grounded fear that Pizarro would constitute himself arbi- 
 trator between the two rivals, gave orders that his unfortu- 
 nate brother should be murdered. So Guascar died at the 
 command of his brother, who, himself a prisoner, denied any 
 complicity in the murder without being able to convince his 
 jailor. 
 
 The wide extent of the kingdom delayed the execution of 
 the promise that Atahualpa had given, but day after day 
 great loads of royal treasures arrived and were put into safe 
 custody. The impatience of the soldiers to obtain their share 
 of the enormous booty was so great that at last Pizarro began 
 the division. On a careful reckoning it was estimated that 
 the gold collected was worth the enormous sum of 1,326,529 
 dollars, besides a mass of silver of the value of 5 1,610 marks. It 
 was the greatest spoil that, since the memory of man, had fallen 
 into the hands of a victorious army. Pizarro first separated 
 the royal fifth, taking care that the most valuable and skilful 
 work should be included in it that the Castilian Court might 
 be made acquainted with the skill and taste of its new 
 subjects. The royal portion was conveyed by Hernando 
 Pizarro to Spain, and he was charged at the same time to seek 
 for fresh honours for the conquerors and reinforcements. On 
 the division Pizarro^s share amounted to 57,222 dollars of gold 
 and 2350 marks of silver, besides the Inca's stool of solid 
 
33^ ^ Cenhny of Discovery. 
 
 gold. The officers' prize was very great, and even of the 
 common soldiers the horseman each received 8880 dollars of 
 gold and 360 marks of silver, and the foot-soldiers 4440 dollars 
 of gold and 180 marks of silver. Smaller sums were given to 
 the garrison of San Miguel and to Almagro's troops, who had 
 arrived meanwhile in Cassamarca with a force of 200 soldiers, 
 of whom 50 were horsemen. The priest Luque, the third 
 partner, had died shortly before, but Espinosa, who had 
 advanced the money, appears to have been richly repaid. 
 
 The newly-arrived forces at last made it possible for Pizarro 
 to think of marching to Cusco, but he felt that the captive 
 Prince would be in his way. Since the division of the spoil 
 he had loudly demanded his freedom, although the treasures 
 had not entirely fulfilled his promise. Pizarro hesitated, but 
 at last determined to prolong Atahualpa's captivity and to 
 look for an opportunity of ridding himself of his troublesome 
 prisoner. It came only too soon. Reports were spread of 
 threatened risings among the natives aroused by the dethroned 
 Inca against the strangers, and the soldiers, who saw before 
 them all the hardships of camp-life, demanded the death of 
 the conspirator. Pizarro was decided. He sent away from 
 the camp the chivalrous Hernando de Soto, the warmest 
 defender of the prisoner, and formed a court of justice to try 
 the unhappy Prince. With heartless hypocrisy great pains 
 were taken to give to the arbitrary act an appearance of justice. 
 Pizarro and Almagro sat as judges, an advocate was given to 
 the accused, and a public official prosecuted. 
 
 Twelve charges were brought against him, the most import- 
 ant being that he had usurped the Crown and murdered his 
 brother, that after the conquest of the country by the Spaniards 
 he had wasted the revenues of the empire to the injury of 
 the Castilian crown, that he was guilty of idolatry and 
 adultery, and that he had tried to excite a rebellion against the 
 Spaniards. The unfortunate man was unanimously declared 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 337 
 
 guilty, and the only question that was raised was the advisa- 
 bility of a capital sentence. This, however, was soon decided 
 upon, and the pious Valverde gave the matter his blessing. 
 When the sentence was communicated to the Inca he was 
 much distressed, although he had long foreboded it. For a 
 moment trouble unmanned him, and he cried with tears in 
 his eyes, "What have I done to deserve so miserable a fate ? 
 And you condemn me to it," he said, turning to Pizarro, " you 
 who have been treated by my people with kindness and hos- 
 pitality, with whom I have shared my treasures, and who 
 have received nothing but kindness from my hands .''" He 
 begged piteously for his life, but the heartless man was not to 
 be moved. Then Atahualpa recovered his composure, and 
 calmly allowed himself to be led in chains to the place of 
 execution. He had constantly resisted all attempts of Val- 
 verde to convert him, but the fear of being burnt alive over- 
 came him, and the promise being given him of sparing him 
 this fearful form of death if he was baptised, he professed 
 himself a Christian. He had hardly entered the Christian 
 Church under the name of Juan de Atahualpa, when the 
 executioner put an end to his troubles by strangling him. So 
 died, August 29th, 1533, the last Inca who reigned inde- 
 pendently over the great kingdom. He was a man of great 
 and brilliant qualities, both of the heart and understanding, 
 though there were not wanting dark shadows on his character. 
 But these fall into insignificance when compared with the black 
 deceit and cunning cruelty to which he fell a victim. His 
 execution brought upon Pizarro much weil-deserved reproach, 
 and he sought in vain to throw the blame of the detestable 
 crime upon the officers who had urged him to it. 
 
 The death of the Inca, the sun round which the whole state 
 system of Peru revolved, necessarily brought confusion into 
 the entire kingdom, and rebellion broke out in the distant 
 provinces, while at the same time an Indian army assembled 
 
 22 
 
338 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 before Cusco to prevent the Spaniards from entering the holy 
 city. Pizarro tried to smooth over this difficulty by setting 
 upon the vacant throne first a brother of Atahualpa's, and 
 after his speedy death a brother of Guascar's, the youthful 
 and heroic Manco Capac, and causing the Peruvians solemnly 
 to pay him homage. The march to Cusco was delayed by 
 repeated skirmishes, and many a difficult pass could only 
 be won by hard fighting. But at last all difficulties were 
 overcome, and the Spaniards saw lying at their feet Cusco, the 
 holy city of the Incas. On November 15th, 1533, they entered 
 it, and were not less astonished at finding such a healthy 
 climate at the height of 10,000 feet above the sea than at the 
 extent of the population, which is reckoned then to have 
 numbered 400,000, and also at the regular arrangement of the 
 streets and numerous fine buildings. The town was divided 
 into four quarters by four streets which led to the four pro- 
 vinces of the great empire. In the spacious squares rose 
 gigantic edifices, the castles of the Incas^ the temple of the 
 sun, etc., while at the east end upon a hill stood a fortress, built 
 of enormous stones, commanding the whole town. In all these 
 buildings was to be found excellent masonry, on many also 
 tasteful sculpture. But what delighted the Spaniards more 
 than anything was the prospect of rich spoil, in which they 
 were not disappointed. 
 
 Although the chief wealth had previously been sur- 
 rendered for Atahualpa's ransom, and Pizarro had strictly 
 forbidden the plundering of private houses, yet a treasure was 
 collected and divided among the adventurers which was 
 estimated at 580,200 ducats in gold, and 215,000 marks of 
 silver. The sudden flood of riches naturally produced a most 
 pernicious effect upon those rude minds ; very few ultimately 
 returned rich to their native land, most squandered their 
 wealth in the most foolish manner. Many fell victims to the 
 love for gambling which seems born in Spaniards, losing all 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 339 
 
 their property in one day. Then all the worst passions of the 
 human heart were aroused, and the unhappy Peruvians saw 
 their property, their honour, their freedom, their life treated 
 as toys by wild inhuman masters. 
 
 In Cusco, where many Spaniards settled, the civil govern- 
 ment was soon arranged, and attempts were made to convert 
 the natives. Pizarro founded settlements in different parts of 
 the country, and by the lavish manner in which he bestowed 
 repartimientos attracted many Spaniards into the land. From 
 among these infant towns he selected Los Reyes (the city of 
 the three kings), which he founded on January 6, 153S, for the 
 capital of the kingdom, and took great pains with the building 
 of it. It prospered and increased rapidly, and its name was 
 soon changed to that of Lima, from the river Rimac, on the 
 banks of which it was situated. In a short time rose on the 
 coast Truxillo and Santa to the north, and Nasca and Are- 
 quipa to the south. The fruitfulness of the soil, and the 
 natural resources of the country, especially the mines, pro- 
 mised the youthful settlement rapid prosperity, but a suc- 
 cession of terrible conflicts soon destroyed these hopes. 
 
 First there was a fearful rising of the natives which called 
 for all the efforts of the conquerors. The young Inca Manco 
 Capac succeeded in escaping from the captivity in which his 
 white masters kept him, and called his people to arms. He 
 appeared in 1536 with a huge army before Cusco, which was 
 garrisoned by 200 Spaniards under Hernando and Juan, 
 brothers of the Governor. The attack was made with un- 
 equalled fury, and repeated day after day. To this was 
 added a great fire by which a large part of the town was laid 
 in ashes, and famine also made its appearance among the 
 besieged. But they endured with heroic courage all the 
 sufferings of a five months' siege, constantly making san- 
 guinary sorties until at last the army of the besiegers was 
 dispersed. Juan Pizarro lost his life in the defence of the 
 
 22 — 2 
 
340 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 town. After having escaped this extreme danger it was not 
 hard for the Spaniards to drive the rebel Peruvians step by- 
 step out of the cultivated portion of the country into the im- 
 passable mountains. There, however, Manco Capac held out for 
 many years, frequently descending to destroy with fire and 
 sword the land over which his father had reigned so prosper- 
 ously, and which was now bleeding under the iron heel of the 
 foreigner. It was not until 1544 that he met his death at the 
 hand of an assassin. 
 
 Still more disastrous for the country was the renewal of the 
 old dispute between Pizarro and Almagro. The arrival of 
 Hernando Pizarro at the Spanish court had caused universal 
 astonishment and surprise throughout Spain. His story and 
 the treasures that he brought surpassed so much all that had 
 ever been seen before that every one was inclined to consider 
 it a fairy tale, and nothing but the evidence of their senses 
 could persuade them of the truth of these wonders. Thousands 
 offered themselves for the gold land, and Fernando set out 
 on his return with a great fleet crowded with new settlers. 
 He was also the bearer of fresh favours from the Emperor to 
 the two leaders. Pizarro's province, which began at the river 
 San Juan, 4 degrees north latitude, and extended 70 Spanish 
 miles to the south, received an addition of 270 more. All the 
 country south of that was given to Almagro as an inde- 
 pendent government. Very soon arose difficulties about the 
 boundaries of the two provinces. Cusco, even Lima itself, 
 became disputed territory. Almagro at first undertook an 
 exploring and conquering expedition to the south. He 
 crossed the Cordilleras in one of the wildest parts, where after- 
 wards the inexhaustible silver mines of Potosi were disco- 
 vered, and traversed the land of Chili in spite of frequent 
 conflicts with the natives. But he was forced to return with- 
 out founding a settlement or finishing the conquest of the 
 country. Pie climbed up through the inhospitable desert of 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 341 
 
 Atacama to the tableland of Titicaca, where he arrived just 
 in time to assist in overthrowing Manco Capac, who was besieg- 
 ing Cusco. He then laid claim himself to the possession of 
 the capital, and succeeded in making himself master of it 
 by surprise, and capturing Hernando and Gonzalo, the two 
 brothers of his rival. A division of the army which was sent 
 against him he completely defeated at the river Abancay. 
 Pizarro not being then in a position to make head against 
 him tried to avert the threatened danger by negotiations, and 
 brought Almagro to consent to a temporary agreement, 
 according to which he released the brothers Pizarro and 
 evacuated Cusco. Meanwhile the Governor hastily made pre- 
 parations, procured reinforcements from Central America, and 
 soon found himself at the head of a large army, which he sent, 
 under the command of his brother Hernando, against his old 
 companion-in-arms, remaining himself in Lima. 
 
 Terrified out of his false security, Almagro marched to 
 Cusco, and there, oppressed by age and sickness, surrendered 
 his command to his faithful officer Orgonez. On April 26th, 
 1538, ensued the decisive battle at Salinas, before the gates 
 of Cusco. After a bloody conflict Pizarro remained the victor. 
 Orgonez fell, his army dispersed, and Almagro was taken 
 prisoner. Fernando Pizarro, after having given Cusco up 
 to plunder, called a court-martial to decide the fate of the 
 rebel. The pitiable farce to which Atahualpa had fallen 
 victim was repeated. Condemned to death, Diego de Almagro 
 was strangled in prison, his body beheaded in the public 
 square, and then buried with great ceremony, Pizarro's 
 brother following the bier as chief mourner. At the time of 
 his miserable death Almagro was an old man of seventy. He 
 was of equally low origin with Pizarro, and had passed through 
 the same school of danger and adventure ; but he differed 
 from him in his cheerful disposition and frank nature, and 
 was totally wanting in the cautious circumspect character 
 
342 A Centtiry of Discovery. 
 
 which distinguished Pizarro. Hernando Pizarro would scarcely 
 have dared to commit such an act without being certain of 
 his brother's consent, and both were to receive the due 
 punishment of their crime. Hernando went to Spain in I539> 
 where the friends of the murdered man had accused him, 
 trusting that the treasures he brought with him would be 
 sufficient proofs of his innocence. But he was coldly received, 
 and without a trial was sent to the fortress of Medina del 
 Campo, where he languished a prisoner for twenty years. He 
 did not obtain his freedom until 1560, when, unbroken by his 
 long confinement, he had attained a great age. 
 
 Long before that had the Governor Francisco Pizarro met 
 his end. He had treated the numerous adherents of Almagro 
 with careless contempt, neither attempting to win them by 
 kindness nor to keep them down by severity. These discon- 
 tented men formed a dangerous party in the new state. For 
 all the sufferings and dangers they had endured, especially the 
 march to Chili, they had been rewarded only by poverty and 
 neglect. They found a head in the natural son of their late 
 leader, young Diego de Almagro, whom his father had named 
 his heir, but whom Pizarro had robbed of his inheritance. 
 Under the guidance of a discontented officer named Juan de 
 Rada, Diego made preparations for an outbreak. On Sun- 
 day, June 26th, 1 541, the conspirators, only twenty in number, 
 left Almagro 's house and hastened to the palace of the Gover- 
 nor, shouting, " Long live the King ! Death to the tyrant !" 
 The inhabitants of Lima, quiet in their houses during the 
 midday heat, paid no attention to the uproar, and so the 
 murderers passed unhindered through the open doors of the 
 palace, cutting down all who came in their way. Pizarro had 
 been warned some days before, but considered the report a 
 mere invention. He had just been dining in company with his 
 half-brother, Martin de Alcantara, the chief judge, and the new 
 Bishop of Quito, and other friends, when the noise warned him 
 
DEATH OF PIZARRO. 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 
 
 o^^ 
 
 of the greatness of the danger. He preserved his presence of 
 mind perfectly, and commanding an officer to shut the door 
 which led into the court, he hastened to put on his armour. 
 But the officer in confusion ran straight into the arms of the 
 conspirators and was cut down. So before the Governor and 
 his friends were armed the conspirators were upon them. 
 Nevertheless they fought desperately, and several of the 
 assailants were stretched mortally wounded on the ground. 
 Alcantara and the other friends of the Governor fell, and he 
 himself was attacked, but brought several to the ground by 
 quick powerful blows, till at last he received a severe wound 
 in the neck and fell. "Jesus,"" cried the wounded man, and 
 making with his finger a cross on the bloody ground, he 
 stooped to kiss it, when another blow ended his life. 
 
 So closed this strange career, so rich in adventure, in bril- 
 liant feats and in horrible crimes, begun in poverty and dirt 
 and reaching the highest honours and riches. No one can 
 •deny his great qualities, his unwavering courage, his quick 
 discernment, his rapid action, his perfect self-confidence ; and 
 the stains on his character which disgust us are to be found on 
 all those unprincipled adventurers, disfiguring also a Balboa and 
 a Cortes. But in Pizarro were wanting the redeeming features 
 which almost reconcile us to the others and make us judge 
 them rather leniently and admire their heroism. Their nobility 
 of mind and chivalrous disposition were ill replaced by the 
 cold calculation and passionless character of Pizarro, and 
 his image remains gloomy and hateful. Apparently he was 
 about seventy years of age at the time of his death. His 
 funeral was conducted the same evening in the greatest haste 
 and secrecy. Some servants carried the body wrapped in a 
 cloth to the church, where it was buried in one corner with- 
 out chant or prayer. " There was none," says the historian 
 Gomara, " to say ' God forgive him.' " 
 
 Immediately after Pizarro's death, the young Almagro was 
 
344 -^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 proclaimed Governor, and acknowledged by all in authority. 
 But even after this revolution the troubles of the young state 
 were not over. Shortly after, the judge Vaca de Castro entered 
 Peru, having been sent out by the Spanish Government some 
 months before to investigate the troubles of the country and 
 call Pizarro to account for his deeds of violence. Immediately 
 after his arrival he made use of his authority and summoned 
 Almagro to submit to him, while at the same time, by his wise, 
 firm, and moderate conduct, he gained the hearts of the chief 
 part of the Spanish settlers. But Almagro, fearing for his life, 
 withdrew to Cusco and prepared for war. A battle was fought 
 in the plains of Chupas on September i6, 1542, Almagro was 
 defeated after a gallant struggle, taken prisoner, and executed in 
 Cusco with forty of his adherents. Under the judicious manage- 
 ment of Vaca de Castro the land enjoyed a short period of rest, 
 but was again disturbed by the intelligence that a new code of 
 laws had been prepared in Spain for Peru, which would in- 
 fringe the rights of the conquerors, by declaring the Peruvians 
 free and protecting them against their masters. To carry out 
 these laws Blasco Nunez Vela was chosen, and named Viceroy 
 of Peru. He arrived in the summer of 1544, and entered 
 Lima with great pomp. But the object for which he was sent 
 out made him hated by all the Spaniards, and his violent con- 
 duct augmented the embittered feeling until at last it broke 
 out in open insurrection. It was headed by Gonzalo Pizarro, 
 the only one left of the four brothers, who, as Governor of 
 Quito, had spent a long time on a difficult expedition down 
 the Amazon. During Vaca de Castro's rule he had been en- 
 gaged in working his rich mines. He was a brilliant soldier, 
 but possessed no force of character. The Spaniards flocked 
 round him, and he was soon able to lead an army against Lima, 
 where the Governor shut himself up. Utter confusion ensued. 
 At last in a battle fought before the gates of Quito on January 
 1 8th, 1546, Blasco Nunez was defeated and fell. 
 
Francisco Pizarro. 345 
 
 The fortunate victor was proclaimed Governor, and saluted 
 with the title of " Deliverer and Protector of the people." His 
 authority seemed firmly established throughout the land, his 
 fleet ruled the sea, and even Darien was dependent on him. 
 In overweening security he adopted a princely style of magni- 
 ficence, and probably intended to declare himself independent 
 King of Peru. But the end of his glory soon came. 
 
 The opposition to Governor Nunez had excited great dis- 
 pleasure in Spain, and in the new governor, Pedro de la Gasca,. 
 the right man was found for a most difficult post. He had 
 given indubitable proofs of ardent loyalty and great qualities, 
 while he was a man of gentle manners and at the same time 
 of resolute character. By the decision of Charles V. himself^ 
 he was invested with unlimited powers and almost royal pri- 
 vileges, and embarked for America on May 26th, 1546. 
 
 It was not until his arrival that he heard of the complete 
 triumph of Pizarro and the death of the Viceroy, by which he 
 was placed in a most difficult position. But by his moderation 
 and perseverance he succeeded ultimately in awakening regret 
 for their rebellion in the minds of most of Pizarro's companions 
 and persuading them to come over to his side. After a war 
 of several months Pizarro's army was disbanded just before 
 the battle which was to decide the matter. He himself was 
 captured, and in April, 1548, with several of his associates 
 brought to execution. 
 
 Gasca was equally successful in reducing the land to order, 
 and when in 1550 he embarked for Spain, he left Peru in per- 
 fect repose, the Spaniards in the enjoyment of their lands 
 and the Indians reconciled to their lot. The monarch, for 
 whom by his wise and energetic conduct he had saved the 
 brightest jewel of his foreign possessions, rewarded him with 
 the bishopric of Siguenza, which he held until his peaceful 
 death in 1567. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE LAST DISCOVERIES OF THE SPANIARDS. 
 
 It has been already remarked that the discoveries of the 
 Spaniards are closely connected with the finding of the pre- 
 cious metals. In the search for them they shrank from no 
 difficulties and no hardships. Countries where gold and silver 
 were to be found were soon covered with settlements, and gold- 
 seekers streamed in unceasingly from the mother country. 
 On the other hand, those countries that were poor in the pre- 
 cious metals soon lost all interest, and it was only under ex- 
 ceptionally favourable circumstances that, after a long period, 
 immigrants began to stream into them. 
 
 Such natural advantages, however, existed for the Antilles 
 and the Isthmus of Darien. Those islands were the natural 
 and most convenient station for Spanish ships going farther to 
 the west ; as the oldest possessions, they had attained a higher 
 degree of order, and the towns planted on them had grown 
 up so quickly that the inhabitants felt settled and at home, 
 while their harbours showed signs of active prosperity. The 
 isthmus having special importance as the highway for all the 
 trade of Peru, the town of Panama developed rapidly. 
 
 Of all the countries along the coast of the eastern sea, 
 Mexico, so rich in silver, was most attractive, and the overflow 
 of its settlers went to found new colonies in the neighbour- 
 ing lands to the north, where new silver mines were constantly 
 being found. Chihuahua was taken possession of by Francisco 
 de Ibarra in 1564, and a few years later the outposts of the 
 
The Last Discoveries of the Spaniards. 347 
 
 Spanish settlers extended to the wild regions of New Mexico, 
 and were the scene of unceasing conflicts with the wild Indians. 
 
 The north coast of the Mexican Gulf had been explored in 
 a series of expeditions, and claimed as a Spanish possession ; 
 but after, by searching the coast narrowly, it had been proved 
 that the passage to the west was not to be found there, no 
 further interest was taken in the swampy lands which gave no 
 promise of precious metals. Florida was the only exception, 
 being the object of many voyages of discovery, in consequence 
 of dazzling accounts of riches reported to be found in a land 
 sparingly endowed by Nature. 
 
 The old romantic knight, Juan Ponce de Leon, the dis- 
 coverer of the land, had been attracted by a spring which was 
 to restore youth. The unfortunate experience of Ponce did 
 not prevent numbers of enterprising men from following in 
 his steps. Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, in 1526, tried to estab- 
 lish a settlement on the banks of the river Sautee, in the part 
 now called South Carolina ; but in conflict with the natives, 
 who were irritated by treacherous attacks, he lost the greater 
 part of his men, and led the rest back to Hispaniola. Then 
 Pamphilo de Narvaez, the unlucky opponent of the great 
 Cortes, appeared on the scene. Supported by influential 
 friends, he received permission to conquer Florida, and 
 equipped a force of 400 men, among whom were forty-five 
 horsemen. With this strong force he embarked on board a nu- 
 merous fleet, and appeared on April 12th, 1528, off the west 
 coast of Florida. Deaf to all advice, he immiediately landed 
 his troops, and marched with them into the interior of the 
 country, commanding his fleet to go in search of a desirable 
 harbour. In spite of indescribable difficulties from the swampy 
 land, and continued contests with the warlike natives, the 
 march was conducted to the heart of the peninsula ; but none 
 of the desired treasures were found, and the army was obliged 
 to return to the coast. There they wandered about, looking 
 
34S A Century of Discovery. 
 
 in vain for the fleet, which had been scattered by a storm. 
 At last they determined to build boats, and in them proceed 
 along the coast. These frail barks, however, were all swal- 
 lowed up by the waves, Narvaez himself losing his life. Of 
 all these brave men, only two were ever again seen by their 
 countrymen — the paymaster, Alvaro Nunez, who, after being 
 kept in hard slavery for many years by the rude tribes, ap- 
 peared in the autumn of 1536 on the north border of Mexico, 
 which he had succeeded in reaching after a journey on foot of 
 incredible difficulty; and a sailor, Juan Ortez, who was rescued 
 by the next expedition, 
 
 Unterrified by the miserable result of all the earlier ex- 
 peditions, Hernando de Soto, the chivalrous companion of 
 Pizarro, accepted the government of Florida, and employed 
 the great treasures which he had won in Peru in equipping a 
 gallant army of 1000 men, with which he proceeded to his 
 government on May 12th, 1539. He founded a settlement 
 on the Bay of San Spirito, which was afterwards removed to 
 the Apalachie Gulf, and penetrated with his army [into the 
 interior, where he had to struggle with the same difficulties of 
 the swampy soil and savage inhabitants as his predecessor 
 had done. More fortunate than he had been, Soto overcame 
 all difficulties, passed the winter at a favourable part of the 
 peninsula, and then, by deceitful accounts of a land rich in 
 gold, allowed himself to be persuaded into undertaking a 
 great expedition in a north-westerly direction to the river 
 Mississippi. Crossing it the indefatigable general proceeded 
 as far as the Arkansas, but then was obliged to return and 
 establish himself at the junction of the two streams. There 
 he was attacked on May 25th, 1542, by a lingering fever, to 
 which his constitution, weakened by excessive exertion, at 
 last succumbed. His army, thus left without a general, at- 
 tempted first to reach Mexico, but in the prairies of Texas 
 was forced to give up the plan and return to the Mississippi. 
 
l^he Last Discoveries of the Spaniards. 349 
 
 On seven frail ships which they built there, the survivors, 350 
 in number, embarked on the 2nd of July, 1543, and, after a 
 tedious voyage along the coast, reached the Atlantic harbours 
 of Mexico in a miserable condition. 
 
 The unfortunate result of this brilliant expedition taught 
 the Spaniards a lesson, and from that time they forsook the 
 dangerous coast. It was only very gradually that there arose 
 round the best harbours of Florida little settlements, which in 
 time became towns. St. Augustine, lying on the east coast, 
 30° north latitude, is the oldest of these towns. 
 
 More successful were the enterprises which had for their 
 •object the rich mountain lands between Darien and Mexico. 
 As early as 15 15 and 15 16 armies under Gonsalo de Badajoz 
 and that Gaspar de Espinosa who afterwards defrayed the ex- 
 penses of the conquest of Peru, swept over the country now 
 called Costa Rica, and carried away rich spoil. Later Gil 
 Gongalez Davila arrived, having started, in 1522, with four 
 ships to explore the coast of Panama. He visited the Gulf of 
 Nicoya, which Espinosa had already found, and during a 
 march into the interior discovered the great fresh water lake, 
 which, from a neighbouring chief, was called Nicaragua. Here 
 they met with a highly-cultivated people, closely resembling 
 the Aztecs in their manners. The squadron proceeded at 
 once to the north, and discovered the Gulf of Papagayo 
 and that beautiful inlet of the South Sea, which, in honour 
 of the President, received the name of Fonseca Bay (13° north 
 latitude). The newly-annexed lands soon received a large 
 number of emigrants from Panama. 
 
 Penetrating farther to the north, the Spanish discoverers 
 met some of their countrymen, who had entered the country 
 from the opposite direction. They were commanded by 
 Pedro de Alvarado, the bold companion of Cortes, whom the 
 latter had commissioned to conquer the country of Guate- 
 mala. He performed his task with horrible cruelty in the 
 
350 A Cenhtry of Discovery. 
 
 year 1524. The people of this land were highly civilised, re- 
 lated to theToltecs in Mexico and the Mayas in Yucatan, but 
 incapable of resisting the arms which had overthrown the 
 mighty kingdom of the Aztecs. Alvarado remained until his 
 death, in 1 541, Governor of Guatemala, which attained such 
 importance that in 1540 it was separated from Mexico, to 
 which it had hitherto belonged, and was made independent 
 under its own Captain-general. At the same time the rest of 
 the territories in Central America were added to it, and also 
 Honduras, which Olid had conquered in 1523. The Captain- 
 general resided in Old Guatemala, a town which soon became, 
 next to Mexico, the most splendid of the whole of Spanish 
 America. 
 
 The north coast of South America was not occupied by 
 Spanish colonists until later, although it had been made 
 known by Columbus and Ojeda. This was probably caused 
 by fear of the Caribs, who had inflicted fearful damage on the 
 first Spaniards who entered their country. The country of 
 Uraba on the Gulf of Darien, too Avell known by the miser- 
 able expeditions of Ojeda, was colonised by Spaniards from 
 the south. Sebastian de Belalcazar, an officer of Pizarro's, 
 had conquered Quito in 1534, and going on northward into 
 the valley of Popayan, in which the river Caiica had its source, 
 took possession of a province for himself, holding it under the 
 government of Lima. Penetrating still farther northward, 
 Juan de Quesada occupied the highlands of the Cordilleras 
 on both banks of the Magdalena, founding there, in 1538, the 
 new capital of Santa-Fe de Bogota, at a great height above 
 the sea, and opening a way along the strean to the Caribbean 
 Sea. 
 
 About the same time the neighbouring coasts from the 
 Gulf of Maracaybo to the mouth of the Orinoco were oc- 
 cupied. All these territories were given by Charles V., in 
 1525, to his privy councillor, the merchant, Bartholomaus 
 
The Last Discoveries of the Spania7'ds. 351 
 
 Welser, who, being born (1484) a scion of a famous commer- 
 cial house in Augsburg, by successful speculation became one 
 of the richest men in Europe, and counted the Emperor him- 
 self among his debtors. As payment for a debt of 11,000,000 
 gulden, a long strip of the coast was given him for twenty- 
 eight years. It was named Venezuela (Little Venice), from 
 the villages built on piles in the sea, which the discoverers 
 had found on the coasts of the Gulf of Maracaybo. Welser, 
 in 1527, sent his trusted friend — afterwards son-in-law — Am- 
 brosius Dalfinger into the country. He took with him some 
 Jesuit missionaries, twenty-four German miners, and a com- 
 pany of Spanish soldiers. Coro, lying at the mouth of the 
 Maracaybo, was the starting-point of expeditions by which 
 he gradually subdued the numerous tribes of the natives. 
 Nicolaus Federmann, of Ulm, who joined him in 1530, with 
 fresh forces, has given us a faithful description of these 
 savages, and of the wars waged against them. 
 
 But after the death of the Governor, Dalfinger, in 1541, the 
 administration of the colony, the produce of which the Wel- 
 sers brought under their own flag to the European markets, 
 fell into bad hands. Quarrels with the Governors of the 
 neighbouring Spanish colonies, and the cruelties which the 
 agents and soldiers had perpetrated upon the natives, turned 
 the attention of the Spanish Government to the mal-ad- 
 ministration. Following the advice of a commission sent 
 to investigate the matter, Charles V. took away the govern- 
 ment in 1555 from the Welsers, buying back their rights and 
 taking possession of Venezuela for the Spanish crown. The 
 new Gover-"'or took up his residence after 1566 in Caracas, 
 where Colun^bus had already founded a settlement under the 
 name of San Jago de Leon. 
 
 The attempts to explore the course of the gigantic Amazon 
 claim a special interest on account of the fearful sufferings 
 endured by the discoverers. Gonzalo Pizarro, the youngest 
 
352 A Century of Discovery, 
 
 of the brothers, had scarcely been appointed Governor of 
 Quito when he collected a considerable army to subjugate the 
 mysterious lands lying to the east, where they expected to 
 find the most valuable spices, and of course plenty of gold 
 and precious stones. With 350 well-armed Spaniards, 4000 
 Indians, many horses and dogs, he marched out of Quito in 
 January, 1540. 
 
 But the passage over this almost inaccessible part of the 
 Cordilleras was only accomplished with the greatest difficulty, 
 and a fearful earthquake, splitting the rocks and swallowing 
 up entire villages, increased the terror with which the stern 
 face of nature impressed even these bold minds. When the 
 descent on the east side of the mountains was effected, the 
 warm damp climate generated severe sickness, and the journey 
 through the uninhabited region of the primeval forests 
 weakened even the most hardened constitutions. The Span- 
 iards were soon reduced to the most loathsome food, and 
 their garments worn to rags. But the dazzling pictures called 
 up by their imagination gave them strength to persevere. 
 They pursued their march along the banks of the Napo, a 
 tributary of the Amazon, Their strength continuing to fail, 
 they built a ship with indescribable difficulty, melting down 
 the shoes of the slaughtered horses for nails, using the gum of 
 trees for pitch, and their torn clothes for ropes. After hard 
 labour for two months a rough boat was completed, strong 
 and roomy enough to carry half the company. 
 
 The journey was thus rendered easier, but their sufferings 
 from hunger increased, and still there appeared no signs of 
 inhabited or cultivated land. In this extremity Pizarro sent " 
 forward the ship with fifty men, under the command of Fran- 
 cisco de Orellana of Truxillo, to forage for provisions and 
 await the arrival of the others at the confluence of the Napo 
 and the Amazon. Pizarro and those who remained with him 
 reached this spot after a wearisome march of two months. 
 
The Last Discoveries of the Spaniards. 353 
 
 But, to their horror, the ship was nowhere to be seen, and 
 they learned from Sanchez de Vargas, who had quitted it, 
 that Orellana, thinking only of his own safety, had pursued 
 his way down the larger stream, hoping to be able from its 
 mouth to reach Spain. 
 
 In their despair the only stay of the Spaniards was the 
 heroic courage of Gonzalo Pizarro. He pointed out to them 
 that there was no hope of deliverance, except in at once re- 
 turning to Quito. But the sufferings endured on the road 
 were fearful, and only eighty Spaniards and 1000 Indians 
 reached (June, 1542) the point whence the expedition had 
 started : and they were naked, famished, scarred, and wounded, 
 and many of them bearing in their bodies the seeds of in- 
 curable diseases. 
 
 Meanwhile Orellana, who excused the faithlessness with 
 which he had left his^ companions a prey to hunger, by the 
 impossibility of steering against the mighty stream, had suc- 
 cessfully escaped all the dangers to which the ship was ex- 
 posed from the rapidity of the stream, the rocks, and the 
 floating islands. He seldom ventured to land, since his weak 
 and famished crew were not a match for the warlike Indians. 
 At last he reached the coast, and steering northward came 
 to the little island of Cubagua, which lies off Paria, and was 
 then much visited on account of its pearl fisheries. Here 
 he found Spanish ships, which conveyed him and his com- 
 panions home. He mixed up with his report of their unen- 
 durable sufferings fables of an Eldorado, and of a race of war- 
 like women that inhabited the land, which doubtless gave rise 
 to the name still borne by the mightiest stream on the earth. 
 He received permission to conquer and colonise the lands 
 that he had discovered, and collected for that purpose 500 ad- 
 venturers. They, however, could not agree, and dispersed 
 when they reached the Canary Islands, Orellana himself 
 dying of vexation. 
 
 23 
 
354 ^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 For more than lOO years the upper and middle streams of 
 the Amazon, thus explored by him, were not again visited by 
 any European, but the land near the estuary was quickly 
 taken possession of by the Portuguese Government and united 
 to Brazil, to the coasts of which a large body of emigrants 
 was sent. 
 
 After Hernando Jacques had built (1526) Pernambuco, the 
 oldest of all the Brazilian cities, Bahia and Rio Janeiro arose, 
 and the whole land was placed under Captain-generals, of 
 whom the first, Thomas de Souza, fixed his residence in 
 Bahia. Still farther south Spain maintained the right which 
 the discoveries of the unfortunate Juan Diaz de Solis 
 (1515-16) and of Magalhaens (1519) had given her over the 
 Gulf of La Plata. 
 
 In 1525 Pedro de Mendoza offered Charles II. to undertake 
 at his own cost the exploration and conquest of that tract of 
 country, and the land between the river Paraguay and La 
 Plata was conferred upon him with the title of Adelantado. 
 In 1534 he set out with fourteen ships and 3000 men, explored 
 the lower course of the two great streams which empty them- 
 selves into the Rio de la Plata, and by a victorious conflict 
 with the natives assured the Spanish dominion. On a favour- 
 able spot he laid the foundation, in 1535, of the town Buenos" 
 Ayres, and died on his way to Spain, whence he was seeking 
 reinforcements. 
 
 In 1537 Juan de Ayolas went up the Paraguay, and some- 
 where about eighty degrees south latitude reached the high- 
 lands of Peru. On his return, however, the natives, whom 
 he had treated in a cruel manner, fell upon him and" 
 killed him with all his companions. Twelve years later 
 Captain Dominigo Martinez de Yrala repeated the attempt 
 to unite the Spanish possessions on the shores of South 
 America. The way which he chose was south of that taken 
 by Ayolas, and led through wild mountain regions ; but he 
 
The Last Discoveries of the Spaniards. 355 
 
 succeeded in reaching Peru, and in returning again to Para- 
 guay. On the way laid open by him constant intercourse has 
 since been established between the two Spanish provinces. 
 
 The narrow coast land of Chili was explored in 1525 by 
 Almagro, to whom the Emperor had allotted it ; but he 
 neglected to establish permanent colonies, being too much 
 occupied in maintaining against Pizarro his claim to the 
 southern part of Peru. After his defeat his successful rival 
 added the land to his own territory, and commissioned the 
 brave Pedro de Valdivia to conquer it. He began in 1538, 
 and by hard fighting established himself in the land. The 
 first town that he founded was Santiago, which is still the 
 capital of the country, and in 1550 the celebrated harbour of 
 Valparaiso was formed. 
 
 But previously to that time there had been dissensions in 
 Peru, and Pedro de Valdivia had sided with the imperial 
 governor, Pedro de la Gasca, contributing more almost than 
 any one to the triumph of the latter over Gonzalo Pizarro. 
 As a reward the government of Chili was conferred upon 
 him, as an independent Captain-general. But he only en- 
 joyed this new honour for a few years. In 1553 he fell into 
 the hands of the wild Araucans, a people inhabiting the south 
 of Chili, and not yet completely subdued, and by them was 
 slain. 
 
 The communication of the rich colonies in the Pacific with 
 the mother-country was maintained through Panama, for in 
 spite of the delays and difficulties accompanying the lading 
 and unlading on the two coasts of the peninsula, this way was 
 always preferred on account of its safety and speed to the 
 tedious and dangerous passage through the Straits of Magel- 
 lan. It was not until the discovery of Cape Horn by the 
 Dutch that a commercial highway round South America was 
 established. 
 
 23—2 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SPANISH RULE IN AMERICA. 
 
 The false assumption with which the Spaniards entered the 
 New World, that in consequence of the Pope's gift the whole 
 land was the property of their King, and that their conflicts 
 with the heathen inhabitants was a holy work, became the 
 source of endless misery. If an adventurer took possession, 
 with the proper formalities, of an island or a coast in the 
 name of his King, resistance to the foreign power was looked 
 upon and punished as rebellion. And if any unfortunate 
 native ignorantly accepted baptism, the slightest relapse to 
 the worship of his fathers was sufficient to condemn him to 
 be burnt as a heretic. It was on this false reasoning too that 
 the conquerors supported their right to impose the yoke of 
 slavery on the Indians, and to give an appearance of justice 
 and piety to their selfish plans and heartless cruelties. 
 
 Rebellion and heresy were the pretexts made use of by the 
 Spanish governors for breaking down the power of the native 
 princes and sweeping them from their paths. The fate of 
 Guatemozin and Atahualpa was shared by hundreds of Indian 
 chiefs on equally frivolous grounds. It was often considered 
 unnecessary to go through the form of a trial, and the 
 Spaniards recklessly violated the most solemn treaties, and 
 committed acts of brutal violence. Such was the conduct of 
 Nicolas de Ovando in 1503 towards Anacoana, the beautiful 
 and sagacious Queen of Xaraqua, the most westerly district 
 of Hispaniola. He announced his intention of paying her a 
 
The Spanish Rule in America. 357 
 
 visit, and set out with 200 infantry and seventy horsemen. 
 Anacoana, who had always shown herself a faithful ally of 
 the Spaniards, received him with considerate respect, and in 
 his honour caused a great dramatic dance to be performed. 
 But the gloomy Ovando was brooding over a bloody requital. 
 He invited her and her chiefs to a military feast, and while she, 
 with surprise and delight, was gazing at the new spectacle he 
 gave the preconcerted signal by laying his hand on his order. 
 Instantly the soldiers turned their arms against their unsuspect- 
 ing guests and a fearful slaughter began. Neither sex nor age 
 found pity or compassion. Anacoana was taken alive, but 
 only to be reserved for an ignominious death on the gallows. 
 In order to escape from a threatened investigation of this 
 crime, two years after her death Ovando instituted a trial 
 of the unfortunate Queen and pronounced her justly con- 
 demned for an attempted rebellion. If those in authority 
 were guilty of such fearful acts of violence against the princes, 
 how could they successfully control the Spanish soldiers of 
 fortune who came down like a troop of hungry wolves upon 
 the natives. To have been born in Spain gave any one a 
 claim to a piece of land and a number of Indians to cultivate 
 it. These unfortunate beings possessed absolutely no rights, 
 and a life of danger and a sudden accession to prosperity and 
 fortune rendered their masters insensible to their sufferings. 
 Besides the worst cases, unfortunately only too numerous, of 
 perfectly inhuman cruelty and bloodthirstiness, there was also 
 such a fearful amount of hardheartedness and indifference on 
 the one side, and misery and despair on the other, that one 
 can well understand the irritation that even contemporaneous 
 writers display while narrating the gloomy history. 
 
 The Spanish Government did everything in its power to 
 soften the lot of the Indians, partly from self-interest, for the 
 unfortunate creatures were Spanish subjects and increased the 
 national revenues, but also from compassion and humanity. 
 
35^ A Ceiihiiy of Discovery. 
 
 The pious Isabella tried to protect the Indians from the 
 oppressions of the Spaniards, and after her death the Govern- 
 ment continued the same efforts and drew up a number of 
 laws by which they consented, indeed, that the Indians should 
 be forced to execute a certain quantity of work, but endea- 
 voured to secure to them their freedom and a humane treat- 
 ment. But these laws could not be carried out in the colonies ; 
 the officials were much too avaricious to resist the temptation 
 of rapidly becoming rich ; and all authority was powerless 
 against the resolution with which the colonists stood upon 
 their supposed rights. 
 
 At the sight of such terrible events, the clergy did not for- 
 get their sacred duty as the protectors of the oppressed. The 
 monks of the Dominican Order especially raised their voices 
 loudly, and condemned from the pulpit the inhumanity of the 
 Spaniards. They continued their heroic struggle against the 
 tyranny of the colonists, in spite of the persecution which 
 they had to endure from them, and although they Avere not 
 supported as they ought to have been by the court, where the 
 opposite party employed both influence and gold against them. 
 
 The noble Bartholome de las Casas was the most inde- 
 fatigable champion of the Indians. Born at Seville in 1474, 
 he laboured as a priest in Hispaniola from 1504, and after 
 that in Cuba. He relinquished his post there in order to 
 plead the cause of the remains of the native population. 
 After an attempt to found a model colony on the coast of 
 Paria, which in spite of his efforts proved unsuccessful, he 
 joined the Dominican Order in 1523, and for many years 
 laboured successfully as a preacher of the Gospel in Mexico, 
 Nicaragua, and Guatemala, constantly endeavouring to restrain 
 the violence of the Christian conquerors, and beloved as a 
 father by the poar heathens to whom he devoted himself. 
 During this time he was often in Spain, where he did his 
 utmost to make the court lay to heart the grievances of its 
 
The Spanish Rtde in Ame^Hca. 359 
 
 brown subjects. In order to increase the effect of their com- 
 plaints he drew up a detailed description of the cruelties of 
 which the Spaniards had been guilty, calling it "A Short 
 Account of the Destruction of India." In the most unsparing 
 manner he accused both those in authority and also private 
 people of arbitrary cruelty, and paiHted a horrible picture of 
 the oppression to which the poor Indians were exposed. It 
 is a terrible history of suffering, every line written in blood, 
 and we can only hope that the benevolent man, in order to 
 produce a more striking effect, lent a willing ear to many un- 
 authenticated accounts of robbery and violence, and In 
 righteous indignation exaggerated the cruelty. The book 
 excited the greatest attention, the court was shaken out of its 
 indifference, and drew up a number of beneficial laws. Las 
 Casas was rewarded for his zeal by the offer of the rich 
 bishopric of Cusco. He refused it, but afterwards was per- 
 suaded to accept the bishopric of the Mexican province of 
 Chlapa. But after some years he relinquished his dignity and 
 returned to Spain, where he withdrew into the convent of 
 Atocha in Madrid^ and occupied himself until his death with 
 the completion of his great work, " The Universal History of 
 India." Of this work, which according to his directions was not 
 to be printed until forty years after his death, only a small 
 portion was published, but it has served as an Important 
 $ource of information to all historians of the age of discovery. 
 Las Casas died at a great age In the year 1566. 
 
 The interference of the Government came too late for a 
 great part of the New World ; blooming provinces had be- 
 come barren wildernesses, whole nations had died out in a -few 
 years, and the small remnant were not to be saved from the 
 fate that awaited them. Besides the countless victims that 
 fell before the swords of the Spaniards, thousands were mown 
 down by the diseases introduced into the land by the strangers, 
 and thousands more languished and died under the burden of 
 
360 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 the hard labour to which their masters had subjected them. 
 The gold mines of Hispaniola and the fisheries of Cubagua 
 constantly required fresh labourers, and new relays were forced 
 to take the place of those that died. 
 
 The gentle inhabitants of the Antilles, unsuited to a life of 
 such hard work and fearful suffering, had no other means of 
 freeing themselves than self-murder, to which they had re- 
 course in their despair. Whole companies killed themselves 
 by inhaling the vapours of some poisonous herb which they 
 kindled near their hammocks ; and it was not uncommon for 
 the whole native establishment of a settler to hang themselves 
 together, delighting in the thought that they were thus re- 
 ducing their tormentor to beggary. These wholesale suicides 
 of the Indians quickly depopulated the Antilles of their 
 aboriginal inhabitants. As early as 1508 the number of the 
 natives of Hispaniola had dwindled down to 60,000 ; in 15 12 
 there were only 20,000, and in 15 14 only 14,000. Some- 
 what different is the account of Federmann, who, in 1530, on 
 a journey to Venezuela, stayed some time in Hispaniola. He 
 says : "The Indians are completely subject to the Christians, 
 and serve them — as many, indeed, of them as remain — but 
 their number is comparatively small ; for, as we understand, 
 of the 500,000 Indians in the land when the Christians first 
 discovered it, not more than 20,000 are now to be found. 
 Numbers have perished from a disease called smallpox, some 
 have fallen in war, and many have died from the hard work 
 in the gold mines to which the Christians have forced 
 them : for they are a gentle people, and unfitted for such toil." 
 
 But even if the numbers given by Federmann are too high, 
 they still confirm the striking decrease of the population, which 
 continued from year to year. In Hispaniola the native race 
 died out immediately after the arrival of the Spaniards ; in 
 Cuba it was completely extinct in the year 1548. 
 
 But on the mainland the energetic interference of Govern- 
 
The Spanish Ride in America. 361 
 
 ment was just in time to save the principal part of the abori- 
 gines from such a miserable fate. True, even here there were 
 whole provinces utterly depopulated, such as Darien and 
 Veragua, previously thickly inhabited ; and under the leader- 
 ship of hard-hearted men, such as Pizarro, Dalsinger, and par- 
 ticularly Pedro de Alvarado, the most terrible cruelties were 
 perpetrated. Yet in the highlands of Mexico and Peru there 
 still lived millions of the aborigines, whose lives and posses- 
 sions were at length protected from the bloodthirstiness and 
 avarice of their oppressors. 
 
 But the most stubborn resistance was offered by the Spanish 
 settlers to the humane laws procured by Las Casas. In Peru 
 it amounted in 1546 to open rebellion against the new Governor, 
 Blasco Nunez Vila, which could only be pacified by Pedro de 
 la Gasca. Also in Mexico there was a continual resistance on 
 the part of the Spanish settlers, who felt their stolen rights 
 infringed by being thus deprived of their property. Only by 
 the stern interference of the Viceroy could the rebels be kept 
 down ; and as late as 1567 the descendants of the great Cortes 
 were subjected to great persecution on the charge of having 
 stirred up the discontented Spaniards to rebellion. 
 
 One inevitable consequence of the dying out of the native 
 population was the introduction of the African negroes into 
 the Antilles. Unfortunately the noble Las Casas himself re- 
 commended this shameful human trafSc in his great zeal for the 
 protection of the Indians committed to his charge. He bit- 
 terly repented when he discovered, as he himself says, that 
 one law held good for the natives and the negroes. 
 
 The introduction of negroes was begun in the year 1520, 
 and only two years later we hear of the first negro rising. 
 The extension of the growth of the sugar-cane, and the de- 
 crease of native labour, made the number of slaves brought in 
 in succeeding years much larger. In 1560 there were 30,000 
 black slaves on Hispaniola ; and an Italian traveller even 
 
o 
 
 62 A Century of Discovery. 
 
 then foresaw that the island must some day fall into the 
 hands of the Africans. The rest of the Antilles kept pace 
 with Cuba ; but the mainland, in which there was still a native 
 labouring class, was almost completely spared the plague. 
 
 Unfortunately the monstrous territory, with its inexhaustible 
 resources, was ruled in the same narrow-hearted and small- 
 minded way that had been shown in its discovery. From 
 fear of the expense, the Government had relinquished the 
 undertaking, and left the task of the discovery and conquest of 
 the New World to upstart audacious adventurers, and then 
 watched them most suspiciously, and brought charges against 
 them until the power that had been promised them reverted 
 to the crown. Nor did the government of the newly-con- 
 quered territories bear that stamp of a superior policy which 
 it is impossible to deny to the rule of the Portuguese in India, 
 in spite of the very different adversaries with whom they had 
 to contend. 
 
 The discovery of a New World was valued like a rich mine, 
 according to its produce in silver and gold ; and if the silver 
 fleets came in safely and punctually, all was attained that was 
 looked for. At the same time the spirit of monopoly con- 
 tinually increased. As the crown reserved to itself the trade 
 in the precious metals, so it would have preferred to limit to 
 the Castilians the advantages to be drawn from the rich lands. 
 And though it was found impossible to exclude the other 
 Spanish subjects, the New World was closed to Jews and 
 Arabs, and the trade with it was confined to Seville and a few- 
 other favoured harbours. 
 
 This exclusiveness, which has nothing in common with the 
 true work of a healthy colonial policy, went hand in hand 
 with a systematic repression of the colonies. All indepen- 
 dent action was suspiciously watched and suppressed. Even 
 those born in the land, the Creoles, who were the largest 
 landed proprietors, and constituted the upper classes in the 
 
The Spanish Rule in Aniejnca. 363 
 
 towns, were excluded from every position of influence. The 
 higher offices were conferred upon trueborn Spaniards, and 
 even they were only left in office for a few years. No attempt 
 was made to procure for the glorious lands a higher culture 
 and a richer development ; on the contrary, every advance 
 was checked and all cultivation limited, in order not in the 
 smallest degree to overstep the requirements of the mother 
 country, and so bring down the prices. 
 
 The Indians felt themselves well off under the despotic 
 government, which towards them took a patriarchal form, and 
 the clergy served as a support. In a few years they had 
 baptised all the natives ; and the people of the time were so 
 convinced of the importance of the work, that even a Las 
 Casas was of opinion that the benefit of baptism quite made 
 up for the curse of slavery, and that the Indians had no 
 right to be angry at a revolution which had brought them so 
 great a blessing. But what kind of Christianity was it with which 
 the Indians were inoculated } At the present day many travel- 
 lers testify that they belong to the Christian Church without 
 any inward conviction, that they do not understand its doctrines, 
 and have adopted nothing beyond the external rites, under 
 which are concealed many links with the heathenism of their 
 ancestors. Also the well-intentioned care which the clergy — 
 especially the Jesuits — exercised over the converts had not a 
 beneficial effect. The characteristics of the Indian nature — 
 dependence, carelessness about the future, indifference with 
 regard to a poor way of living, an utter want of ambition 
 and emulation — all these weaknesses of the natives were 
 strengthened by the guardianship of the law, by their being 
 deprived of property, and by the training of the clergy ; while 
 their tendency to idleness was fostered by the many saints' 
 days. The fact that the nation considered it advantageous 
 to fan the hatred between the Creoles and Indians had the 
 same tendency. 
 
364 -^ Century of Discovery. 
 
 Therefore it can excite no wonder that, after hundreds of 
 years, when the colonies separated from Spain, the Indians 
 were in the same, if not a lower, condition than that occupied 
 by their ancestors at the time the foreign yoke was imposed 
 upon them. But even the mother country has reaped no benefit 
 from the possession of the richest provinces on the earth. The 
 enormous influx of gold and silver into Spain, especially after 
 the conquest of Mexico and Peru, at one and the same time 
 crippled the trade and agriculture of the country, and raised 
 the price of all the necessaries of life. While emigration into 
 the great provinces on the other side of the sea almost depopu- 
 lated the country, the people were poor amidst their treasures. 
 
 In the hands of its princes, especially of the gloomy Philip 
 the Second, this was a powerful aid in their infatuated attempt 
 to stop the wheel of time and gain new conquests for the ex- 
 ploded ideas of the Middle Ages. The result of the conflict is 
 w.ell known. Vanquished Spain was shut out from the rapid ad- 
 vance of the next few centuries ; and when at length she could 
 no longer resist the general stream, her transatlantic provinces, 
 the sources of her wealth, broke loose. Cuba and Porto Rico 
 alone could be saved from the general wreck, and their pos- 
 session has been retained only by incessant sacrifices. And 
 Spain herself, to whom is wanting all the training and de- 
 velopment which the last few centuries has brought to other 
 nations, is now struggling, amidst terrible convulsions and 
 internal conflicts, to attain a new constitution and to shake 
 off the inheritance which the great century of her discoveries 
 has left to her. By her own fault, that has become to her a 
 curse which might have been an inexhaustible source of" 
 blessing. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, PKINTEKS, GL'ILDi-'ORD, SURKEY. 
 
s 
 
 

 -^^ 
 
 ,00^ 
 
 
 
 .N -O. 
 
 >^ '^'^^ 
 
 
 x\\- 
 
 -iTl^^,, t; 
 
 9-^ 
 
 
 ^. ,N^-' 
 
 
 "^. 
 
 yvj'v 
 
 
 V-- 
 
 -^^ ^, V. 1 « ,, 
 
 O O 
 
 .^^ "^-t^ 
 
 '^.^ .^^^ 
 
 .-6^^^ , 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 " ,.v 
 
 x^^' '%^ 
 
 ' a\ „ V 
 
 "^ s 
 
 
 &' 
 
 ^ 
 
 .0 
 
 
 00^ 
 
 
 
 
 .S 
 
 
 A'^" ".'^ 
 
 A 
 
 
 - ^ 
 
 
 ^Jj 
 
 -^^ ". 
 ^^.. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 %^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 As 
 
 #,^ •■ v*^^^ 
 
 ,^^ ■<>. 
 
 
 •\' 
 
 '% v^ 
 
 .A<^ .A-.V'-'^^-^" 
 
 v5 -U^ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 0^ 
 
 ' ' « ft s ^ 
 
 
 
 

 •"X'v"^: 
 
 ,- -O, 
 
 
 
 
 
 aV^ 
 
 - '■ « <^^ 
 
 .■^^^\- 
 
 %.v', '^^, jO^' ■^ ,0''0^' ■'' 
 
 
 
 ^ %..<s^ :>M^^ '%s;^'^ ^# 
 
 
 S^ % 
 
 y ■^', 
 
 
 .0 c. 
 
 '>^/ ^v 
 
 V- 'c^ 
 
 & (1 ^' V 
 
 •i^ 3 IBS' <■ O ^ == %^-,, , - -4 _^ 
 
 ,0- 
 
 V. 
 
 
 
 A-^ ^.^ 
 
 
 ^-'. » 8 1 
 
 A^' •^^. 
 
 
 
 .vV ,^^ 
 
 
 N c „ <- 
 
 / . . s ^ v'\ 
 
 OO 
 
 cs^ ^#