V * 1 • •* P* » %£» AT « W • : /\ '-aK-* **^ **^* /*\ --W/ *^ r oV * ^\> '•'SIR' -/"^ *"-^P • » ■« % ^ -HI*- V** ^ A* S ^ "p. .* .1^%% <> "co- ,V V ♦**•- C? : ^o v" • it ^^ .' THE STORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD BY COLUMBUS. THE STORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD BY COLUMBUS. COMPILED FROM ACCEPTED AUTHORITIES BY FREDERICK "SAUNDERS, LIBRARIAN OF THE ASTOR LIBRARY, AUTHOR OF "SALAD FOR THE SOLITARY AND THE SOCIAL," ETC. NEW-YORK: THOMAS WHITTAKER. 1892 - /3 4-ft?Jf LLJ3 I Copyright, 1892, By Thomas Whittaker. %§e Carton (press 171, 173 Macdougal Street, New York PREFACE. rr^HE design of this volume is to present a -*- sketch of the wonderful career of Christo- pher Columbus, including his eventful voyage, — the most memorable in the annals of maritime discovery. It has been remarked respecting the renowned discoverer, that while his name and fame fill so many pages in our historic annals, yet to the average reader of the present time the simple story of his life is invested with such stirring interest that it will continue far beyond the ap- proaching occasion that inspires it. Associated with the name of Columbus, as this Republic will ever continue to be, it will, by its wonderful growth and development in civiliza- tion and culture, its scientific achievements and inventive genius, also impart increasing luster to 8 PREFACE. his renowned achievement. At the approaching national celebration of the fourth centennial anni- versary of that event — when the several nations of the world, by their representatives, assemble for the purpose of laying the commemorative wreaths of this later age upon the altar of his fame — this memorial souvenir of our hero will not, it is hoped, prove unacceptable. CONTENTS. PAGE Ante-Columbian Explorers 15 The Early Life of Columbus 35 His Adventurous Voyage 53 His Letter Announcing his Discovery 83 The Close of his Career 95 Estimates of his Character 121 ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of Columbus Frontispiece v Fac-simile page about Prince Madoc Face 24 v Columbus at the Convent Gate v His Vessels on Their Course *j He Starts on his Voyage ■4 His First Sight of Land , J His Landing at San Salvador ■* Fac-simile page of his First Letter . - His Monument at Genoa 43 51 56 64 68 84 108 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. " The island of Atlantis is mentioned by Plato in his dialogue of ' Timaeus.' Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, is supposed to have travelled into Egypt. He is in an ancient city on the Delta, the fertile island formed by the Nile, and is holding converse with certain learned priests on the antiquities of remote ages, when one of them gives him a description of the island of Atlantis, and of its destruction, which he describes as having taken place before the conflagration of the world by Phaeton. This island, he was told, had been situated in the Western Ocean, opposite to the Straits of Gibraltar. There was an easy passage from it to other islands which lay adjacent to a large continent, exceeding in size all Europe and Asia." ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. "TTTITH the revival of learning in Europe * ▼ came the Reformation, the invention of the printing-press and the mariner's compass, accompanied with the great announcement by Columbus of the Western Continent. No sooner was this startling revelation made known to the Old World than we find a number of adventurous navigators eagerly following in the track of the heroic Genoese, — Vespucius, Cabot, Verrazano, and many others, representing the principal states of Europe. Numerous as they were, however, a multitude of nautical adventurers, centuries prior to his discovery, were found coasting along the Northwestern Ocean. As early as the fifth century the Chinese sent forth a Buddhist monk, named Hoei-SMn, who, it is believed, reached this continent and visited 16 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. what is now called Mexico ; but nothing of im- portance seems to be recorded of him. Passing over many similar legendary statements of re- mote times, we next find the Scandinavian cor- sairs cruising along the Northern seas. " Profes- sor Raf n, in ' Antiquitates Americana?/ gives no- tices of numerous Icelandic voyages to American and other lands of the West. The existence of a great country southwest of Greenland is referred to, not as a matter of speculation merely, but as something perfectly well known. Let us remem- ber that in vindicating the Northmen we honor those who not only give us the first knowledge possessed of the American continent, but to whom we are indebted besides for much that we esteem valuable." * The Northmen — who seem to have been the terror of the states of Europe, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, and whose long career as pirates made them daring and hardy advent- urers — were sea-rovers on the Atlantic some five or six centuries prior to the Columbian epoch. They are said to have had a genius for discov- * Dr. B. F. De Costa. ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. 17 eries of new lands, and it is believed approached the coast of the Western Continent, if, indeed, they did not for a time settle within a few hun- dred miles of it. In the year 860 they discovered Iceland by accident, having been driven npon its shores by a storm : and also Greenland by a simi- lar casualty, which country they held for more than four hundred years, and lost it again for more than two centuries. One of their number, named Leif, and another, Bjarni, voyaged along the coast and discovered what is still called New- foundland. It is stated that when they went ashore it was found to be snow-covered, barren, and without grass. They put to sea again, and the next land they found was Nova Scotia, which was well wooded, and they called it MarMand (woodland). They again set sail with a north- east wind, and in two days once more made the land ; and it is supposed that they were on the coast of New England, and it has been suggested, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. It has been stated that the first child born of European par- ents on this continent, as far as is known, was Snorri, the son of Earlesfre, in Vineland, a.d. 1007. 18 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. Thorvaldsen, the Danish sculptor, was among his descendants. The Scandinavians were accustomed to regard as their historians their Skalds, and were fond of listening to their poems and the legends of their Sagamen. One of the notable Sagas is the Chroni- cle of King Olaus, by Snorro Sturleson. One Biorne of Iceland, sailing to Greenland in search of his father toward the northeast, came in sight of a wooded coast, with islands in its vicinity. Such records in regard to the settlement of the Northmen on the American coast were known to have been made, and the fact was frequently referred to by early writers. Thus Adam of Bremen, who wrote an ecclesiastical history about the middle of the eleventh century, has a passage relating to the subject which, if it be not a sub- sequent interpolation, of which there is no evi- dence, is an incontestable proof of the discovery of Vineland. He made a visit to Denmark, and was informed, he says, by the king, " that a re- gion called Vineland had been found by many in that ocean, because there vines grew wild. Ac- cepting the discovery of America by Northmen ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. 19 about a.d. 1000, doubted ouly by those who have not had the leisure and opportunity patiently to examine the evidence bearing upon the subject, and recognizing it as settled, that somewhere within a fortnight's sail to the southwest of Greenland there must be the Vineland of Leif, so long the theme of fireside story, of tradition, of record in the Sagas, in the relation of Adam of Bremen, and in the Church archives touching the departure of Bishop Erik Gnupsson* to Vine- land, the question is one, not of the reality of the discovery, but of locality." To Humboldt its place was between Boston and New York. According to Rafn, Leif Erikson set up his houses— the earliest Norse dwellings in New England — on the shores of Narragan- sett bay. The conviction is that he (Leif) did not go to the south of Cape Cod, but built his houses on the banks of the Charles river, within the limits of the present city of Cambridge, not *The story of the appointment of Bishop Erik Upsi (Gnupsson) to missionary service in Vineland in 1121 is a matter of well-known record, preserved in the archives of the Vatican. 20 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. far from its entrance into Massachusetts bay at Boston. The following is a translation from one of the Icelandic Sagas of Erik the Red (Erik's Saga Mauda) : " Leif went to the court of King Olaf Tryggvason ; he was well received by the king, who felt that he could see that Leif was a man of great accomplishments. Upon one occasion the king came to speak with him, and asked him, ' Is it thy purpose to sail to Greenland in the sum- mer V 'It is my purpose to sail/ said Leif, 'if it be your will.' ' I believe it will be well/ an- swers the king, l and thither thou shalt go upon my errand, to proclaim Christianity there.' Leif replied that the king should decide, but gave it as his belief that it would be difficult to carry this mission to a successful issue in Greenland. The king replied that he knew of no man who would be better fitted for this undertaking, l and in thy hands the cause will surely prosper.' i This can only be/ said Leif, ' if I enjoy the grace of your protection.' Leif put to sea when his ship was ready for the voyage. For a long time he was tossed about upon the ocean, and came ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. 21 upon lands of which he had previously had no knowledge. There were self-sown wheat fields and vines growing there." This Leif, the Saga further states, " found some men upon a wrecked vessel, and he took them home with him, and procured quarters for them all during the winter. In this wise he showed his nobleness and goodness, since he in- troduced Christianity into the country, and saved the men from the wreck ; and he was called ' Leif the Lucky ' ever after." * But though several historians of different coun tries, who have written within the last two hun- dred years, have recognized that this discovery was actually made, the details of so interesting a fact were not fully known until the different nar- ratives were gathered together by the Northern Antiquarian Society of Denmark, and published in a single volume. The fullest and most important of these rela- tions exist in manuscript, in a collection known as the at cauic rtnti>cr ri'oni a farrtcountrte: tsd&k^t^ing is confrffcobv Mutczuma king of $attoun< tne,tn|>iBo:ationmaocfc2quictu!gof dispeople , niim fabmiffton to ftc bingofCaftilc, Hernando Curias being tfirn p:cfenr,fccbitb 10 laio oetonc in tfte Spanish £$$!iicie£ of ttjf conquctf of $e Wci\ Ind 2 ffje iB.^ttf^ tooiss ano nautes of p[ace0 ? fcfcMn ftat cotHtfrfo mmt® Mb oxie $ rm argue the fame : ao fe&ot ^eirtoi si Iffim * 3Ifo tfiepftatie a certcmc biro torfl) a fbejta^ of Cocrodb , $£ cape of Brycon , t^e rtntr of Uwyndor , mtrfbe tadUtte roche of Pcngvvyn,UbidibcaU Brynfh 02 WclOi hhh&s,0cp mamfcfHicfljcUj that it uuo fbatcountrteti^cbMaviuc aito big people miubitco. Fac-simile Page Relating to Prince Madoc. ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. 27 eight pages addressed "To the Reader/' which commence with these words : " Caradoc of Lan- caruan (gentle Reader) collected the successions and actes of the Brytish Princes after Cadwala- der, to the yeare of Christ 1156. Of the which collections there were seneral copies afterwards kept in either of the Abbeis of Conwey and Strat- flur, which were yearelie augmented as things fell out, and conferred together ordinarilie everie third yeare, when the Beirdh which did belong to those two abbeis went from one to the other in the time of their clera, wherein were contained besides, snch notable occurrences hapning within this lie of Brytaine, as they thought worthie the writing, which order of registering and noting continued in those abbeis until the year 1270." Vancouver found a tribe of Indians in the vicinity of the Columbia river whose language differed from that of the neighboring tribes, and whose features resembled those of northern Eu- ropeans. Lewis and Clark, the early travelers among the Red men of the Western wilds, also refer to some Indians near the mouth of the Columbia, whose characteristics corresponded re- 28 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. markably with those described by Vancouver. Another authority might be cited, Charlevoix, who states that he "found a number of white people settled near a lake, by the head-waters of the Missouri." Sir John Caldwell firmly believed in the fact of a Welsh colony having settled among the In- dians. He says : " They are the Panis, or, as the English pronounce it, Pawnees ; their country lay about the head of the river Osage, the southern branch of the Mississippi, and extended far west- ward to a chain of mountains, from the top of one of which the Pacific Ocean could plainly be seen." He further states that the Panis or Pawnees were whiter than any other tribe of Indians. This was the tribe that was represented by a Cherokee chief in London, in the year 1792, as of "Welsh descent. Purchas, speaking- of early discoveries made in the northern parts of the New World, Green- land, and New France, says : " The first knowl- edge that hath come to us of those parts was by Nicholas and Antonio Zeno. The former, being wealthy and of a haughty spirit, desiring ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. 29 to see the fashions of the world, built and fur- nished a ship at his own charge; passing the Straits of Gibraltar, he held on his course north- ward, with intent to see England and Flanders, but a violent tempest assailing him, he was car- ried he knew not whither." He finally reached Friesland, and in 1395 died there. His brother Antonio subsequently fitted out an expedition to Estotiland. In this country, which is west of Friesland, "the people possess some gold, sow corn, and make beer ; the wild fowl abound there, the land is very extensive, and it was regarded as a new world." After this voyage Antonio returned to Venice, where he died soon after, in 1405. Such are the meager data which have come down to us ; yet scanty as are the details, some persons have based upon them the conclusion that Zeno may have reached the American continent. Among the immediate precursors of Colum- bus, Henry of Portugal was one of the most con- spicuous. Prince Henry devoted himself to nautical science and explorations ; although the son of a king, he relinquished the pleasures of 30 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. the court, and took up his abode on the inhospi- table promontory of Sagres, at the extreme south- western angle of Europe. It was a small penin- sula, the rocky surface of which showed no signs of vegetation. It was in this secluded spot, with the vast ocean stretching measureless and mys- terious before him, that he devoted himself to the study of astronomy, built an observatory, and, it is said, established a school for the study of navigation. He collected the best works of the ancient geographers, charts and records of explorers ; and with princely liberality of reward invited the co-operation of the boldest and most skillful navigators. " We look back with aston- ishment and admiration at the stupendous achievement effected a whole lifetime later by the immortal Columbus — an achievement which formed the connecting link between the Old World and the New ; yet the explorations insti- tuted by Prince Henry of Portugal were in truth the anvil upon which that link was forged."* Another authority t remarks that "the special reason which impelled Prince Henry to take the * R. H. Major. t Arthur Helps. ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. 31 burden of discovery upon himself was, that neither mariner nor merchant would be likely to adopt an enterprise in which there was no clear hope of profit. In 1418 two young captains, Johann Goncalvez Zarco and Tristam Vaz, who, it is said, were as eager for adventure as the prince himself, were ordered on a voyage of discovery. They were driven out of their intended course by storms, and accidentally discovered a little island, where they took refuge, and called it Porto Santo. They found there a simple people, not altogether barbarous, and their reports on their return de- lighted the prince. He immediately sent them out again, together with a third ship, commanded by Bartholomew Palestrello (whose daughter subsequently became the wife of Columbus), and with these heroic navigators he sent various seeds and animals for the purpose of im- proving the island. Meanwhile a dozen years roUed on, and Prince Henry had yet won very little sympathy in his exploits from his contem- poraries." Portuguese maritime adventure and explora- tion, after the death of Prince Henry, who had 32 ANTE-COLUMBIAN EXPLORERS. devoted his life to the enterprise, did not, how- ever, cease. The prince died in 1463. After all that has been adduced to show what navigators may have discovered in advance of Columbus (although their contributions to our stock of maritime knowledge must not be under- valued, and notwithstanding that his grand dis- covery was less the result of design than acci- dent), still the noble name of the great admiral will ever continue to be associated with that of America, and retain the lofty eminence it occu- pies in the grateful esteem of mankind. THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. I know not when this hope enthralled me first, But from my boyhood up I loved to hear The tall pine-forests of the Apennine Murmur their hoary legends of the sea ; Which hearing, I in vision clear beheld The sudden dark of tropic night shut down O'er the huge whisper of great watery wastes. ****** I brooded on the wise Athenian's tale Of happy Atlantis, and heard Bjorne's keel Crunch the gray pebbles of the Vinland shore." James Russell Lowell. THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. LESS is sometimes known of our great men whose names have become historic than of the majority of persons whose claims to our regard are of less account. This is the more remarkable, since the realm of biographical lit- erature never was so widespread as it is at the present time. It seems as if our quota of knowl- edge of our representative men was to be in the inverse ratio of their greatness ; as in the in- stances of Homer, Shakespeare, and the hero of this brief sketch. Columbus, although not of the order of representative bards, was yet a colossus among navigators, and endowed with a force of character and intrepidity of purpose that defied the perils before which others succumbed. He achieved his work amidst betrayal and treachery, and a long succession of adverse circumstances. 36 THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. The historical character of such a man affords to the student a fertile theme of thoughtful consideration. It is therefore to be regretted that, although there have been so many eminent writers who have sought to portray his remark- able life-story, yet, owing to the fact of the paucity of documentary records, we possess but varying glimpses of his life, rather than a com- plete portraiture of his personality. Not only are there blank intervals in his career, but even the time and place of his nativity are yet in doubt j the best sustained record is, however, that Columbus was born at Genoa, about 1436, or, according to some writers, 1446. The annals of biography may be said, in- deed, scarcely to present a parallel instance of a character so complex and anomalous — if we are to accept all the conflicting statements of his various biographers — as that of the renowned dis- coverer. Certain it is, that there have been few, if any, whose life-record has been so checkered and pathetic, yet so illustrious in its results, and whose career is invested with such stirring and romantic interest as his. His father is said to THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 37 have been a wool-comber, and although living in humble circumstances, he seems to have had am- bition enough to send his son to the University of Pavia to the study of those sciences which might qualify him for nautical pursuits. Like other boys of that maritime city, he early evinced a passion for a sea-faring life. It was at a time when learning was leaving the monasteries, to take up its abode with the laity. Geographical discoveries and adventures had begun to create a desire for further geographical knowledge, and the writings of Pliny, Strabo, and others, which the newly discovered art of printing soon multi- plied, were read with avidity. Columbus began to make voyages when he was only fourteen years of age. As his practical experience in- creased his zeal increased, and his enthusiasm was enkindled afresh as the wonderful tales of mariners concerning mysterious lands seen in the far-off Atlantic fell upon his ears. Among the stories then current was the tradition of there being a large island in the Atlantic called An- tilla, mentioned by Aristotle. There was also another rumor of an island, on which St. Bran- 38 THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. don, a Scottish priest, landed in the sixth cent- ury, and founded there magnificent cities; and still another concerning seven Spanish bishops, with numerous followers, who also settled and founded seven cities. There came from Greece the story of Atlantis, which Plato is said to have learned from the Egyptians — a story which gave an account of an immense island in the Atlantic Ocean, in ancient times, full of in- habitants and great cities, but which had been visited by an earthquake and swallowed up by the sea. These and other marvelous stories and traditions Columbus eagerly listened to, and they naturally tended to inspire his glow- ing imagination with the bold design of daring the perils and dangers of the unknown "Western ocean. There is a curious allusion to the dis- covery of Columbus in an antique folio printed in 1516, which is in the Astor Library, entitled the " Polyglott Psalter n of Augustin Justinian, Bishop of Nebbio, in the island of Corsica. On the margin of Psalm xix., verse 4, he puts a note by way of commentary, in which he affirms that Columbus frequently boasted that he was the THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 39 person there referred to, and appointed of God to fulfill this Biblical statement. It is recorded that on a certain occasion a mysterious voice said to him in a dream, " God will cause thy name to be wonderfully resounded through the earth, and will give thee the keys of the gates of the ocean, which are closed with strong chains." It was doubtless the result of overwrought study of his theory ; but to the mind of Columbus it might have had the force of a supernatural revelation. Columbus, it has been said, stood midway be- tween the mediaeval and modern ages ; even his adventurous voyage over a dark and perilous ocean seems symbolic of the fact ; for gloom and disaster overshadowed his course until he gained the Western shore, when they vanished, and all became transfigured with the radiant light. Early in the fifteenth century commerce had stimulated maritime adventure, and that led to maritime discovery. Its most remarkable activ- ity was seen in the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas ; for the control of this commerce Genoa on the Mediterranean and Venice on the Adriatic 40 THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. were powerful and zealous rivals. Columbus was acquainted with the fact that Marco Polo and Mandeville had made extensive Eastern voyages and this may have inspired him afresh with his great project of exploring the Western seas. Columbus made voyages in the service of the Portuguese, and in 1477 he visited Iceland and parts adjacent ; there he doubtless heard of the exploits and discoveries of " Erik the Red," and whose achievements must have fired him with new zeal. But he was still poor and quite un- able to equip an expedition for the purpose, so he appealed to the King of Portugal for material aid; that monarch was, however, too much en- grossed with a war against Spain to listen to his overtures. Columbus waited patiently until his successor, John II., ascended the throne. This young king was appealed to, and his scheme was referred to a junta composed of two eminent cos- mographers and a bishop ; and they decided that his project was extravagant and visionary. Yet the king was not satisfied with their decision, and he called a council, but the same result followed. It was then that the bishop, who was the king's Columbus at the Convent Gate. THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 43 confessor, proposed the mean stratagem, that he should obtain from Columbus his plans and charts, etc., under pretext of considering his en- terprise. The evil suggestion was acted upon j a three-masted caravel was sent to the Cape de Verde Islands, with secret instructions to go as far westward as possible, to ascertain if there was any truth in the theory of Columbus. They did not go far before the cowardly crew became frightened by the Atlantic storms, and their base enterprise consequently came to naught but dis- grace, for Columbus discovered the treachery and left Lisbon in disgust, about 1484. He next appears at the gate of the Franciscan monastery near Palos. According to the testi- mony of Garcia Fernandez, the physician of Palos, a sea-faring man accompanied by a very young boy stopped one day at the gate of the convent of La Rabida, and asked of the porter a little bread and water for his child. While the porter was giv- ing refreshments to the boy, the prior of the con- vent passed by, and was at once impressed with the dignified bearing of the stranger. He entered into conversation with him, and invited him to 44 THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. remain as his guest. Columbus revealed his name to his benefactor, and told his troubles and his purposes. That such a man should be so far rejected and his plans disregarded caused the good Father Machena much surprise and regret. The prior was learned in geographical science, and was therefore well able to comprehend the grandeur of the views of Columbus. He was also deeply impressed with the wisdom of the navigator, and sent for a scientific friend at Palos to come and converse with his guest j and within the quiet cloister of La Rabida the project of Columbus was fully discussed. The result of their conference was that the prior offered to give him a favorable introduction to the Spanish court, and to take his son Diego into the convent and educate him. Of course Columbus gladly accepted the good services of Machena, and yet it was found to be an inauspicious time to lay the projected enterprise before Ferdinand and Isabella, as they were surrounded by the din and pageantry of war, to the exclusion of everything else. So Columbus, who by this time was no stranger to disappointments, returned to become THE EABIY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 45 again the guest at La Rabida until the spring of 1486, when the court had gone to Cordova. With anxious hopes Columbus repaired thither, and presented his letter, but instead of securing an audience with the king, the prior in attendance read the letter, shook his head, and bade the poor navigator " good-morning." For a long time Columbus lingered in Cordova; but he subse- quently found a friend and an advocate of his theory in Quintanillo, the controller of the treas- ury of Castile. That officer obtained for him the aid of Mendoza, archbishop of Toledo and grand cardinal of Spain, and by him he was admitted to Ferdinand and Isabella. The sovereigns lis- tened with deep interest and wonder while he presented his projected explorations. The prior of Prado was ordered to assemble a council of astronomers and cosmographers at Salamanca to confer with the navigator. " If the earth is round," said the wise men of that council, " you will be compelled to sail up a kind of mountain from Spain, which you cannot do, even with the fairest wind, and you could never get back ! " " Columbus appeared in a most unfavorable 46 THE EARLY LIFE OF QOLUMBUS. light before a select assembly — an obscure nav- igator, a member of no learned institution, desti- tute of all the trappings and circumstances which sometimes give oracular authority to dullness, and depending on the mere force of natural gen- ius. Some of the junta entertained the popular notion that he was an adventurer, or at best a visionary ; and others had that morbid impatience which any innovation upon established doctrine is apt to produce in systematic minds. What a striking spectacle must the hall of the old con- vent have presented at this memorable confer- ence ! A simple mariner standing forth in the midst of an imposing array of professors, friars, and dignitaries of the church, maintaining his theory with natural eloquence, and, as it were, pleading the cause of the New "World ! " * Disappointment and delay seemed to have been his fate for a series of years ; for he found no one willing to embark in his enterprise. So he turned from the monarchs to the rich nobles of Spain, but with the same result. The Duke of Medina Celi, to whom he applied, advised him * Irvine's "Life of Columbus." THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 47 to make another application to the Spanish mon- archs, and gave him a letter to the queen. The proud spirit of Columbus would not permit him again to wait upon the court in the character of a suppliant. He now determined to go to Paris, and was on his way thither j but meanwhile he called again at the convent for his child Diego, intending to place him at Cordova. Some in- fluential persons had heard of his intention to leave Spain, and were deeply regretting his departure. One of these was Santangel, crown treasurer of the church. He obtained ready access to the monarchs, and ably espoused the cause and claims of Columbus. The king was not convinced; but the queen was, and when Ferdinand complained that the war with the Moors had exhausted his exchequer, Isabella ex- claimed, " I will undertake the enterprise, for my own crown of Castile, and if necessary I will pledge my jewels for the money." Santangel said with emphasis, " It will not be necessary." A courier was sent after Columbus ; the queen as- sented to his terms, and urged him to prepare to start on his great mission as speedily as possible. 48 THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. Columbus claimed, as his reward, to be named high-admiral and governor-general and viceroy- over the lands he discovered, together with one tenth of the produce of the countries. Ferdinand acquiesced, and the contract was signed by the sovereigns, at Santa Fe, on the 17th of April, 1492. Furnished with authority from the court, he caused the royal order to be read, command- ing the authorities of the town to have two cara- vels ready for sea within ten days, and they with their crews placed at the disposal of the Admiral. A similar order was issued for the third vessel. When this edict was announced, although Palos was a seaport, and there were plenty of seamen, none seemed inclined to hazard their lives on such a perilous expedition, and the greatest con- sternation prevailed. Many fled the town to avoid being compelled to serve, and for some weeks no progress was made toward the equip- ment of the vessels. At this crisis, however, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and his brother Vincent Yanez, navigators of Palos, of great wealth and well-known courage and skill in nautical science, came forward, and not only engaged to furnish THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 49 one of the vessels, but to go themselves with Columbus. Irving thus summarizes this period of his career: "It must, however, be remarked that many of the facts which filled the interval be- tween his departure from Portugal and the time when we find him in Spain are mere conjectures. What seems incontestable is that during that interval he had a hard struggle with poverty — a striking proof of which we have in the miserable condition in which we first behold him in Spain j and it is not one of the least interesting circum- stances in his eventful life, that he had in a man- ner to beg his way from court to court to offer to princes the discovery of a world. The imme- diate movements of Columbus on leaving Port- ugal are, indeed, involved in uncertainty. It is said that about this time he made a proposition of his enterprise in person, as he had formerly done by letter, to the government of Genoa. The Republic, however, was in a languishing con- dition and embarrassed by a foreign war. Caffa, her great deposit in the Crimea, had fallen into the hands of the Turks, and her flag was on the point 50 THE EARLY LIFE OF COLUMBUS. of being driven from the Archipelago. Her spirit was broken with her fortunes j for with nations, as with individuals, enterprise is the child of pros- perity, and is apt to languish in evil days, when there is most need of its exertion. Thus Genoa, disheartened by her reverses, shut her ears to the proposition of Columbus, which might have elevated her to tenfold splendor, and perpetuated within her grasp the golden wand of commerce. The first firm and indisputable trace we have of Columbus after leaving Portugal is in the south of Spain, in 1485, where we find him seeking his fortune among the Spanish nobles, several of whom had vast possessions, and exercised almost independent sovereignty in their domains." HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. Chances have laws as fixed as planets have, And disappointment's dry and hitter root, Envy's harsh berries, and the choking pool Of the world's scorn, are the right mother-milk To the tough hearts that pioneer their kind, And break a pathway to those unknown realms That in the earth's broad shadow lie enthralled. ****** Thus ever seems it when my soul can hear The voice that errs not : then my triumph gleams, O'er the blank ocean beckoning, and all night My heart flies on before me as I sail : Far on I see my life-long enterprise ! " James Russell Lowell. HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. TN the wide realm of romance, it might be diffi- -*- cult to find a narrative so fraught with stir- ring and dramatic interest as that of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. That it should have often inspired " the poet's lip and the paint- er's hand " need not surprise us. His earliest voyage was with an expedition fitted out in Genoa in 1459, by John of Anjou, Duke of Cambria, to make a descent upon Na- ples. The republic of Genoa aided him with ships and money. After this, the events of his early life seem to be unrecorded, and at later intervals similar blanks occur in his life-story. While at Lisbon, Columbus met with Dona Felipa, daughter of Bartolomeo Monis de Pale- strello, an Italian who had been one of the most distinguished navigators under Prince Henry, 54 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. and had colonized and governed the island of Porto Santo. The acquaintance soon ripened into attachment, and ended in marriage. By this marriage he acquired the papers, charts, and journals of Palestrello, and in this way he be- came acquainted with the routes of the Portu- guese, and also made voyages to the coast of Guinea. When on shore, he supported his fam- ily by constructing maps and charts for the gov- ernment. His narrow circumstances obliged him to observe a strict economy, yet we are told that he appropriated a part of his scanty income to the support of his aged father at Genoa, and to the education of his three younger brothers. Columbus believed that he might reach India by a western course, and he communicated his theory to his friend, the eminent Toscanelli of Florence, who wrote to him an encouraging reply, and sent him a map projected partly by Ptolemy and partly from descriptions of Marco Polo, a Venetian, who made an overland journey to China in the latter part of the thirteenth century. With this map before him, Columbus gathered fresh incentives to his purpose. He felt con- HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 55 vinced that if lie sailed westward lie should reach Cathay (now known as China) and the great isl- and of Cipangi, which is believed to have been Japan. Like many important discoveries in science and the mechanic arts, the finding of the West- ern Continent was the result of accident. Nor was Columbus's the only instance of the kind 5 the Scandinavians, as already stated, and after them the Portuguese, afford illustrative exam- ples. With the Portuguese, Spanish, and Ital- ian, as well as the British, French, and German, all seem to have been inspired with the one idea of reaching the shortest passage to the opu- lent East. Hence, to that seeming accidental purpose the world has been indebted for the most important achievement of the ages. After enduring numerous disappointments and adverse fortune, Columbus was at length in a fair way to realize his fond desires. He found himself in command of three small vessels or caravels — the Santa Maria, which was the Admiral's (the only one with a deck), and two smaller craft, the Pinta and the Nina, with an 56 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. equipment of sailors numbering one hundred and twenty. After suitable religious services were held in the Church of St. George at Palos, the expedition sailed on Friday, the 3d of August, 1492. On the 9th the little flotilla reached the Canary Isl- ands, where they were detained more than three weeks, and early in September they passed to the west of the group, and boldly started to the then unknown lands beyond* * In the appendix to Irving's " Voyages of the Compan- ions of Columbus " is an account of the author's visit to the seaport town Palos. It is in the form of a letter to a friend, and was dated at Seville in 1828. He says: "I have made what I may term an American pilgrimage to the little port of Palos, in Andalusia, where Columbus fit- ted out his ships, and whence he sailed for the discovery of the New World. I had long meditated this excursion as a kind of filial duty of an American, and my intention was quickened when I learnt that many of the edifices mentioned in the history of Columbus still remained in nearly the same state in which they existed at the time of his sojourn at Palos, and that the descendants of the in- trepid Pinzons, who aided him with ships and money ; and sailed with him in the great voyage of discovery, still flourished in the neighborhood. ... I drove up to the principal posada, the landlord of which was at the door : he was one of the civilest men in the world, and disposed to do everything in his power to make me comfortable ; HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 59 With his charts, which were constructed on the basis of that which his friend Toscanelli had pre- viously sent to him, Columbus was now fairly afloat upon that ocean about which he had heard such gorgon tales of terror. With wonderful endurance, it is said, the three little vessels con- tended with the boisterous waves ; but no vio- lent storm had as yet overtaken them. As they there was only one difficulty — he had neither bed nor bed- room in his house. It was a hard case, but there was no help for it. So I commenced the historical researches which were the object of my journey, and inquired for the abode of Don Juan Fernandez Pinzon — to whom I had re- ceived a letter of introduction. My obliging landlord him- self volunteered to conduct me thither, and I set off full of animation at the thoughts of meeting with the lineal rep- resentative of one of the coadjutors of Columbus. ... I cannot express to you what were my feelings on treading the shore which had once been animated by the bustle of departure, and whose sands had been printed by the last footstep of Columbus. The solemn and sublime nature of the event that had followed, together with the fate and fortunes of those concerned in it, filled the mind with vague yet melancholy ideas. It was like viewing the silent and empty stage of some great draina when all the actors had departed. The very aspect of the landscape, so tranquilly beautiful, had an effect upon me, and as I paced the deserted shore by the side of a descendant of one of the discoverers I felt my heart swelling with emo- tions and my eyes filling with tears." 60 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. passed within view of the Peak of Teneriffe, which was then in a volcanic blaze, the sailors were scared ; and when they had gone over two hundred leagues further westward, Columbus observed, for the first time, a variation of the needle of his compass from a true line with the north star. This variation, which already had increased five degrees to the northwest, con- tinued to increase as they sailed on with no sure guide but the stars. They now encountered vast masses of sea- weed, which much retarded their progress; but soon they were cheered by the sight of a land-bird. These signs they believed were proofs of adja- cent land, and this hope quieted for a season the mutinous murmurings of the crew. For eleven days after leaving the Canary Isl- ands their caravels had sailed before an easterly trade-wind, and soon they became calmed from a southwest wind. At dim dawn of day, Martin Pinzon, standing on the high stern of the Pinta, pointing to the southwest, shouted to the Ad- miral, in great delight, exclaiming, " Land, land ! Senor, I claim the promised reward ! " But, alas ! HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 61 the apparition soon vanished with the rising sun. This was then the first of a similar series of dis- appointed hopes they were destined to experience. Martin Pinzon advised a more southerly course, from seeing a flock of parrots flying toward the southwest; but Columbus kept on his western way, which caused a fresh mutinous outbreak of discontent among the sailors, for they had now lost all hope, and in their desperation they openly defied the authority of the Admiral. With great dignity and calm decision he said to them : " This expedition has been sent out by your sovereigns, and come what may, I am determined, by the help of God, to accomplish the object of the voy- age." Enraged as the sailors were, and impatient to return to Spain, the proposition of the Admiral was complied with — namely, that if, at the ex- piration of three days, land was not discovered, he would abandon the enterprise and return home. Columbus felt confident that land could not be very far off, from indications so many and promising as to be almost deemed infallible. " We will cast you into the sea, and return to Spain," cried one of the most determined of the 62 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. crew j and it is added, that just at sunset, as they were about to carry their threat into execution, a coast fish was seen to glide by, a branch of thorn with berries on it floated by, and a piece of carved cane came to tell them the welcome tid- ings that they were nearing land. These favorable indications around them, and the calm, determined will of their commander, had the effect of subdu- ing somewhat the insurrection, and the voyagers continued their course with sullen discontent. Irving, however, quoting from Las Gasas and also from Navarrete, says, that "these authori- ties do not mention the incident given by some historians, namely, that Columbus, a day or two previous to coming in sight of the New World, capitulated with his mutinous crew, promising if he did not discover land within three days that he would abandon the voyage. The statement rests merely upon the report of Oviedo ." The following graphic sketch of the great crisis of Columbus's voyage is from an interest- ing recent work* As it is based upon his Diary, it is all the more interesting and valuable. * "With the Admiral." HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 63 " At ten o'clock his quick sight caught a glim- mer of light out to sea, which almost instantly disappeared. Fixing his eye on the quarter where it had vanished, he called to Pedro Gutier- rez and Rodrigo Sanchez, who were near by, and asked whether they could not see it as well ; then, raising his voice, he hailed the look-out on the bows, ' Old, in the prow there, see you not a light yonder off the port-bow 1 ' As the ship rose on a billow, Pedro Gutierrez saw the light plainly, and so told the captain, but Rodrigo Sanchez could not catch sight of it from where he stood. Up from the bows too came an answering hail which left the matter still in doubt : l No, Senor Captain, we see no light from here.' Once or twice more, however, the wavering spark showed itself to Co- lumbus's intent gaze, and then sank out of sight. " Sweeping swiftly to the west— for half a gale was blowing— the fleet held on its way, the Pinta leading, with the Nina next, and the flagship last of all. Hour after hour went by without inci- dent of any kind. At midnight the watch was changed, and fresh look-outs took the place of those who had been straining their eyes so far in 64 HTS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. vain ; but still the troubled surface of the ocean was all that met the sight. On board the Santa Maria the silence was unbroken, except by the swash of the waves against the ship's hull, and the low voices of the sailors as now and then they muttered some remark to one another. Just as the watch was again changing, toward two o'clock, the clouds which had been hiding the moon blew off, and the whole sea for leagues around was bathed in a flood of clear white light. Scarcely had the last shadows swept over the rolling sea when a brilliant flash of fire was seen in the direction of the Pinta, and the dull roar of a cannon was borne down the wind to the vessels astern. It was the signal for land in sight, and the flagship pressed forward to join her foremost consort. As her impatient sailors neared the Pinta they had no need to ask the news; for directly before them, not more than a couple of miles away, lay the low and rounded summits of what were clearly sand-hills, while on the beach below a heavy surf was dashing in lines of snowy foam. At the very moment the moon emerged from the clouds, Juan Rodriguez Bermejo, one of First Sight of Land. HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. QJ the Pinta's seamen from a little village near Se- ville, had seen the first beams fall on the glitter- ing sand and frothy breakers, and had hurriedly fired a gun, with excited cries of, t The land ! the land ! ' Had the moon remained hidden but a few minutes longer, there would have been a ship- wreck to report." This was on the memorable 12th of October, 1492. Columbus was now, in spite of the appall- ing and seemingly insuperable difiiculties which environed him, enabled to accomplish his grand design and verify his theory. " The great mystery of the ocean was revealed j his theory, which had been the scoff of sages, was triumphantly established ; and Columbus had thus secured to himself a glory as enduring as the world itself." " When first Columbus dared the western main, Spanned the broad gulf, and gave a world to Spain, How thrilled his soul with tumult of delight, When through the silence of the sleepless night Bursts shouts of triumph ! " Much discussion has recently been devoted to the question as to which of the Bahama group of 68 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. islands Columbus first sighted and landed upon. The drift of the prevailing belief is that it was what is known as Watling's Island, since that more closely than any other corresponds to the required characteristics of the original authorities. The Indian name of the island first discovered was Chianahani; the Admiral on landing gave it the Spanish name — San Salvador (Holy Saviour). He visited other islands adjacent, and settled a small colony at Cuba, or San Domingo, and discovered, among other things, that the natives of Fernandina lived in dwellings shaped like tents, and had nets stretched between posts, which they called hamacs, a name at once adopted by the ship's crew for swinging beds. Columbus called all these island groups West Indies, think- ing they were near India, and he gave the name Indians to all native tribes, accordingly, which they have continued to be called ever since. After discovering several others of the West India Islands, he set sail for Spain, where he arrived March 15, 1493. Columbus, even after he had in a subsequent voyage sighted the coast of South America, still held on to the fallacy that he had HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 71 reached the western part of the East Indies; and he died under the delusion. It is a curious coincidence of events and days, to mention that Columbus started on his great expedition on a Friday; he first discovered the Western shores on a Friday ; he commenced his return voyage to Spain on a Friday; and on a Friday reached the port of Palos. Yet it is the proverbial saying of sailors that it is an unlucky day. On his return voyage a fearful tempest over- took the frail flotilla ; so perilous was their condi- tion, indeed, that religious services were performed, and by the order of Columbus a number of beans, equal to the number of persons on board, were put into a cap, on one of which was cut the sign of the cross. Each of the crew made a vow that, should he draw forth the marked bean, he would make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, bearing a wax taper of five pounds' weight. The Admiral was the first to put in his hand, and the lot went to him. From that mo- ment he considered himself a pilgrim, and bound to perform the vow. In spite of this, the tempest 72 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. still raged, and the vessel was rolled and tossed about at the mercy of the waves, and each man gave himself up for lost. Columbus, fearing that his discoveries would be buried with himself and crew, wrote on parchment a brief account of his voyage and achievements. This he sealed and directed to the king and queen, superscribing a promise of a thousand ducats to the finder of the package, if it should be delivered unopened. He then wrapped it in a waxed cloth, which he placed in the center of a cake of wax, and inclosing the whole in a large barrel threw it into the sea, giv- ing his men to understand that he was perform- ing some religious vow. Lest this memorial should never reach the land, he inclosed a copy in a similar manner and placed it upon the poop of his vessel, so that, should it be swallowed up by the waves, the barrel might float off and sur- vive. But at last the storm ceased, and on the morning of the 15th of February land was seen ; but the Pinta had disappeared. Three men now hailed the vessel. They said that the Portuguese governor knew about Colum- bus and his plans. Columbus reminded his men HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 73 that they had vowed, during the tempest, to make a religious procession. Accordingly, one half of the crew landed, and walked in procession, bare- footed and in their shirts, to the chapel, while the Admiral awaited their return to perform the same ceremony with the remainder. Scarcely had they begun with their devotions, when they were sur- rounded by the rabble of the village and all taken prisoners. The form of the land prevented Columbus from seeing from his ship what was taking place on the island, and he was filled with anxiety because his men did not return. After awhile a boat put off from the island, where it appeared that the Portuguese government, out of jealousy, had or- dered the seizure of the crews of Columbus, and, if possible, himself also. After considerable par- ley, and the exhibition of his letters patent, sealed with the royal seal of Castile, he obtained the release of his men, and immediately set sail, but was driven by a furious storm into the Portuguese port Rastello. The weather prevented his pro- ceeding on his voyage, and the Portuguese came on board to welcome him, and the king, who was 74 HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. at Valparaiso, sent a message for him to come to court. Columbus was not without suspicion that the Portuguese intended him some evil, but he went to the court and related his adventures. Some of the king's counselors pretended to be- lieve that he had made no new discoveries, but had only visited some of the places which had been before discovered by the Portuguese, and they advised the king to detain him. But this he feared to do, and Columbus returned to his ship and resumed his voyage, and on the 15th day of March, at midday, entered the harbor of Palos, whence he had sailed on the 3d of August in the preceding year. It is a singular coincidence that on the evening of the day Columbus arrived at Palos, and while the demonstrations of joy were still going on, the Pinta, with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, also arrived. After his separation from the Admiral in the storm, he had made the port of Bayonne, and thinking that Columbus had been swallowed up by the tempest, wrote the sovereigns, claiming the honor of all discoveries, and requesting permis- sion to come to court and relate his adventures. HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 75 He thought to enter Palos first, but when, on entering the harbor, he beheld the vessel of Colum- bus and heard the enthusiasm with which he had been received, his heart died within him, and he returned to his home deeply dejected. The reply to his letter to the sovereigns soon arrived; it was of reproachful tenor, and forbade his appear- ance at court. This letter completed his humilia- tion; the anguish of his feelings increased his bodily malady, and in a few days he died, a vic- tim to deep chagrin. The sovereigns ordered Columbus to come im- mediately to court, where he was received with the greatest pomp and ceremonies. A splendid procession was formed, in which were displayed all the wonders of the New World, specimens of all the birds, plants, gold, gems, and, last of all, the men of a new race. At their request Columbus related all his hard- ships and adventures, and of the apparently in- exhaustible treasures of the New World, which would add incalculable wealth to the dominion of their majesties. During the whole of his sojourn at Barcelona, 76 SIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. the sovereigns took every occasion to bestow on Columbus personal marks of their consideration. He was admitted at all times to the royal pres- ence, and the queen delighted to converse with him on the subject of his enterprises. " The bells sent forth a joyous peal in honor of his arrival j but the Admiral was too desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns to pro- tract his stay long at Palos. His progress through Seville was an ovation. It was the middle of April before Columbus reached Barcelona. The nobility and cavaliers in attendance on the court, together with the authorities of the city, came to the gates to receive him, and escorted him to the royal presence. Ferdinand and Isabella were seated, with their son Prince John, under a superb canopy of state, awaiting his arrival. On his approach they rose from their seats, and ex- tending their hands to him to salute, caused him to be seated before them. These were unprece- dented marks of condescension to a person of Columbus's rank in the haughty and ceremonious court of Castile. It was, indeed, the proudest moment in the life of Columbus. He had fully HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 77 established the truth of his long-contested theory in the face of argument, sophistry, sneer, skepti- cism, and contempt. After a brief interval the sovereigns requested from Columbus a recital of his adventures 5 and when he had done so, the king and queen, together with all present, prostrated themselves on their knees in grateful thanks- givings, while the solemn strains of the Te Beum were poured forth by the choir of the royal chapel as in commemoration of some glorious victory." * In the midst of their rejoicings the Spanish sovereigns lost no time in taking every measure necessary to secure their new acquisitions, and were very desirous that Columbus should fit out another expedition. Accordingly, money, men, and credit were put at his disposal, and officers of high rank were chosen to assist in fitting out the vessels, all to be under the command of Co- lumbus. Seventeen vessels were prepared for the voyage — three large ones and fourteen smaller ones ; and instead of the difficulties which he be- fore had found in getting men enough to furnish his crews, great numbers, some of high rank, * Preseott. 78 BIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. pressed forward to get permission to make the voyage. The number had been limited to one thousand, but the desire to go was so great that the number was increased to twelve hundred. Many more were refused for want of room in the ships for their accommodation, but some contrived to get admitted by stealth, so that eventually about fifteen hundred set sail in the fleet. As Columbus had provided everything that seemed requisite for the equipment of the expedition — and the ex- penses had exceeded the amount anticipated — the comptroller, Juan de Soria, refused to sign the accounts of the Admiral, and in consequence in- curred the rebuke of Columbus. For this insub- ordination he is said to have been reprimanded, also, by the sovereigns, who commanded him to treat the Admiral with the respect due to his authority. From similar injunctions inserted in the royal letters to Fonseca, the archdeacon of Seville, it is believed that " he had occasionally indulged in the captious exercise of his official powers. These trivial differences are worthy of notice from the effect they appear to have had on the mind of Fonseca, for from them we must HIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. 79 date the rise of that singular hostility which he ever afterward manifested toward Columbus 5 which every year increased in rancor, and which he gratified in the most invidious manner, by secretly multiplying impediments and vexations in his path." * This brief outline sketch of the celebrated voy- age of the Admiral may be fittingly closed with the graceful sonnets of Sir Aubrey de Vere : " The crimson sun was sinking down to rest, Pavilioned on the cloudy verge of heaven ; And Ocean, on her gently heaving breast, Caught and flashed back the varying tints of even ; When, on a fragment from the tall cliff riven, With folded arms, and doubtful thoughts opprest, Columbus sat, till sudden hope was given, — A ray of gladness shooting from the West ! O what a glorious vision for mankind Then dawned upon the twilight of his mind — Thoughts shadowy still, but indistinctly grand ! There stood his genie, face to face, and signed (So legends tell) far seaward with her hand : Till a new world sprang up, and bloomed beneath her wand! "He was a man whom danger could not -daunt, Nor sophistry perplex, nor pain subdue ; A stoic, reckless of the world's vain taunt, And steeled the path of honor to pursue : So, when by all deserted, still he knew * Irving. gO BIS ADVENTUROUS VOYAGE. How best to soothe the heart-sick, or confront Sedition ; schooled with equal eye to view The frowns of grief and the base pangs of want. But when he saw that promised land arise In all its rare and beautiful varieties Lovelier than fondest Fancy ever trod, Then softening nature melted in his eyes ; He knew his fame was full, and blessed his God, And fell upon his face and kissed the virgin sod ! " HIS LETTER ANNOUNCING HIS DISCOVERY. " To his intellectual vision it was given to read the signs of the times in the conjectures and reveries of the past ages, the indi- cations of an unknown world : as soothsayers were said to read predictions in the stars, and to foretell events from the visions of the night."— Washington Irving. " He in the palace-aisles of untrod woods Doth walk a king : for him the pent-up cell Widens beyond the circles of the stars, And all the sceptered spirits of the past Come thronging in to greet him as their peer ; While, like an heir new-crowned, his heart o'erleaps The blazing steps of his ancestral throne." James Russell Lowell. HIS LETTER ANNOUNCING- HIS DISCOVERY. "TTT"HEN Columbus set sail on his memorable * * voyage, lie commenced a journal, intended for the inspection of the Spanish sovereigns. It opened with a stately prologue, in which he refers to the motives and aims which led to his expedi- tion. He proposed to keep this record, as he said, after the manner of Caesar's Commentaries. It will not be expedient to make further reference to this fact, however, the restricted limits of this work not admitting of citations from his journal. It must suffice to present a fac-simile page of the celebrated document known as his " First Letter," announcing his great discovery, together with some extracts from it in a translation from the Latin. On his return to Spain from his first voy- age Columbus, while on board of his ship, wrote two letters in Spanish. One was addressed to 84 HIS FIRST LETTER Luis de Santangel, the Crown Treasurer of Spain. One of these letters is believed to have been lost, but the other reached its destination, when it was translated into the then current court language, the Latin. Its publication created a profound sensation throughout the states of Europe, six editions of the Latin text having been exhausted within the year of its first appearance, besides the Spanish and other translations into the French, German, and Dutch. This " First Letter" of Co- lumbus is perhaps the rarest literary relic of our Americana j as a proof of it, it may be mentioned that two years ago a copy was sold at auction in New York at a little within three thousand dol- lars. It has been stated that only three copies were known to be in existence, the one ref erred to, and two in the British museum Library. It is proper to correct this statement, as a choice copy has been on exhibition during some score of years, among the illuminated manuscripts and incunabula in the show-cases of the Astor Library. This copy was the gift of the Hon. William Wal- dorf Astor. This little relic consists of only four small leaves fr&fiffob (ftufftofa! €okmtmi me ncftra mulry dTc&eti cfc JnfitUg Jndk fup.'a CBangon Rupcrinuert0*2tdqua0 prrgrat* d.-w cK-t-iuo antoa rnrnic aufpftf hi i err foisfctifTcmoffcrnfdi f 1>;Iilafxt bi^panfa? Hegu mifftte fufraf: ad magfufjcumdnm milfequS nofetlie a«r [itteratue rir Ireander dc Cofce abfcifpa no fejotnaf* m \.\mum wumit ratio kale 93at>iX}*cccc<]cchf ^onrifkatw Bictandrj Sari Snno puma* Qtfcmtam fufceplt p:otifittfe rem perfccmm me?fimm:m fuifTf granmi ribs fee fciojfJas a-nfhtm tyarara que re rniufanuf^ ra mboc noffro irinere geftc IntiCnttqp n& fmncmv.lCnanmortvao dfe|X>fNj)€^fbil8difccfti in mare Jndica pcrwcnUvbi phnmm infulw frniumetig baottacae bo* mimbu-arepper^qyarum omnium pjofelicifcoUegc noftro pieconio celebrar o ? ret i I lis c i renfi c on rradtc ente rtemi ne pofi fefTionem acctpi'pn'roeqjfariimdsm SaluatoMonomm lmpo# ftu ■ aiip 8 fttn 1 8 a h ti h tarn ad banc, cp ad cet c r .•> all ,n s - paw nimuiv€ai!t^o3ndf0nanaf?anmrcH ant Suartietiammatfl qnanq^rwao nomine nnncupiiuijquippf alii infulam Banae IBaHekfoncepnonavaHam j-erna?idmam> aham l)plabdl.im< allam Tmmm*% tk dcnhqim ap^dlm mitVifum pnmnm 111 earn mfuiamquam dudum "joanam rocari cfiri appniimutf: iu> jta aw lirttitKxcidcntem rerfuu aliquantulum p.'oaifrt amep earn magnam nullo reperto fine inuatf :rt non tnfuhr. fed conri fimton Cbatai piotiinriatn eflfe tredidtnnu nulla tit rtdens op ^idamuniripjauelnmarifimjsfifaconftnib^pifreraliqiicer^ €0% ? picdia rortica:curti quo? tnrolte loqui nequibam-qnard? nwl ac noe ridebant furripiebanr fugam « picgrediebar v\tm erifftmarw ahqua me prbcm riliafue mumturu»£)auc£ ridcm? qp longt' admodum pzogrt flit) nihil noui cmergdwrn bmot ria noe ad Septenrnoncm drferebat:^ fpfefugercfropfabaTrerrie tttnim regnabat b*ttma:ad Buftruro^ erat m roto corenderc; Fac-simile of the "First Letter" of Columbus. ANNOUNCING HIS DISCOVERY. 87 or eight pages, printed in Latin from Gothic type, upon time-worn paper, which, but for its subject- matter, would have been long ago discarded, but which on that very account is now so highly prized that it may be said to rival in interest much of the multitudinous issues of the press. The fol- lowing is the translation from the Latin of the commencement of the " Letter' 7 : " Letter from Christopher Colom : — to whom our age oweth much — concerning the islands of India, beyond the Ganges, recently discovered. In the search of which he was sent, under the auspices and at the expense of the most invinci- ble sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, — addressed to the noble Lord Gabriel Sanchez, Treasurer of the same most serene monarchs, which the noble and learned man Leander de Cosco translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin the 3d day of the calends of May, 1493 : the year one of the Pontificate of Alexander VI." It may suffice to add here the closing passage of the document, as indicative of the enthusiasm and exultant joy that inspired the heart of the discoverer. He adds : 88 SIS FIRST IETTER " Let then the king and queen, the princes and their happy kingdoms, unite with Christendom in returning thanks to our Saviour Jesus Christ for granting us such victorious success. Let them make processions, celebrate solemn festivals, and ornament the temples with palms and flowers; and let us also rejoice, not only at the exaltation of our faith, but also at the increase of temporal goods, of which Spain and Christendom will gather the fruits." In the spring of 1891, at the sale of a private library in this city, a copy of the "Letter" in Spanish by Columbus, announcing to Ferdinand and Isabella his discovery of the " famous land," was sold for $4300. As the small quarto consists of but four leaves or eight pages, containing only about 2500 words, it is in proportion to its size the most expensive book in the world. The sum mentioned is about the price of a perfect copy of the first folio edition of Shakespeare. The orig- inal Spanish edition of this "Letter" was ad- dressed to Luis de Santangel in the spring of 1493, only three copies of which are now known to be in existence. Until recently, the only copy ANNOUNCING HIS DISCOVERT. 89 of this original edition supposed to exist was that in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. This copy formed part of the collection of the Baron Pietro Custodi, which was bequeathed to the Ambrosian Library in the year 1852, but had been mistaken for a Spanish edition of the other letter which was written by Columbus at the same time to Gabriel Sanchez. Annexed is an extract from the translation of this Spanish let- ter. It is the first description of the New World ever written : " To the first island that I found I gave the name of San Salvador, in remembrance of His High Majesty, who hath marvelously brought all these things to pass j the Indians call it Guana- hani. To the second island I gave the name of Santa-Maria de Conception, the third I called Fer- nandina, the fourth Isabella, the fifth Juana ; and so to each one I gave a new name. When I reached Juana, I followed its course to the westward, and found it so large that I thought it must be the mainland — the province of Cathay ; and as I found neither towns nor villages on the sea-coast, but only a few hamlets, with the inhabitants of 90 HIS FIEST LETTER which I could not hold conversation, because they all immediately fled, I kept on the same route, thinking that I could not fail to light upon some large cities and towns. At length, after the proceeding of many leagues, and finding that nothing new presented itself, and that the coast was leading me northward (which I wished to avoid, because winter had already set in), I re- solved not to wait for a change in the weather, but returned to a certain harbor which I had remarked, and from which I sent two men ashore to ascertain whether there was any king or large cities in that part. They journeyed for three days and found countless small hamlets with numberless inhabitants, but with nothing like order; they therefore returned. In the mean- time I had learned from some other Indians whom I had seized, that this land was certainly an island ; accordingly, I followed the coast east- ward for a distance of one hundred and seven leagues, where it ended in a cape. " All these islands are very beautiful, and dis- tinguished by a diversity of scenery; they are filled with a great variety of trees of immense ANNOUNCING HIS DISCOVERY. 91 height, and which I believe to retain their foliage in all seasons ; for when I saw them they were as verdant and luxuriant as they usually are in Spain in the month of May— some of them were blos- soming, some bearing fruit, and all nourishing in the greatest perfection, according to their respect- ive stages of growth and the nature and quality of each ; yet the islands are not so thickly wooded as to be impassable. The nightingale and various birds were singing in countless numbers, and that in November, the month in which I arrived there. There are besides in the same island of Juana [Cuba] seven or eight kinds of palm trees, which, like all the other trees, herbs, and fruits, consider- ably surpass ours in height and beauty. The pines also are very handsome ; and there are very extensive fields and meadows, a variety of birds, different kinds of honey, and many sorts of metals, but no iron. " In another island, which I named Hispaniola [Hayti], there are mountains of very great size and beauty, vast plains, groves, and very fruitful fields, admirably adapted for tillage, pasture, and habitation. The convenience and excellence of 92 BIS FIRST LETTER. the harbors in this island, and the abundance of the rivers, so indispensable to the health of man, surpass anything that would be believed by one who had not seen it. The trees, herbage, and fruits of Espanola are very different from those of Juana ; ^and, moreover, it abounds in various kinds of spices, gold, and other metals. The in- habitants of both sexes in this island, and in all the others which I have seen or of which I have received information, go always naked as they were born, with the exception of some of the women, who use the covering of a leaf or small bough, or an apron of cotton which they prepare for that purpose." THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. " Our human hearts are harps divinely strung, And framed diversely : waiting for the power Of kindred soul, and on each chord is hung A wondrous tower Of song and glory ! which, if touched aright, Would fill the world with light ! " T. Fowell. "Oh! who can tell what days, what nights he spent, Of tideless, waveless, sailless, shoreless woe ! And who can tell how many glorious once, To him, of brilliant promise full,— wasted, And pined, and vanished from the earth ! " PoUok. "There are three kinds of praise,— that which we yield, that which we lend, and that which we pay. We yield it to the pow- erful from fear, we lend it to the weak from interest, and we pay it to the deserving from gratitude." THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. THE departure of Columbus upon his second voyage was in striking contrast to the gloomy forebodings of his enforced crew when sailing from the port of Palos. On the 25th of September, 1493, the anchors were weighed and the vessels departed, amid the joys, good wishes, and strong hopes of the whole nation. They left the bay of Cadiz, and on the evening of the 27th of November cast anchor in the harbor of La Navidad. It was too late to distinguish objects, and, impatient to satisfy his doubts, Columbus ordered two cannon to be fired. The report echoed along the shore, but there was no reply from the fort ; every eye was directed to catch the gleam of some signal light, every ear listened to hear some friendly shout ; but no light was to be seen and no voice heard. On landing in the 96 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. morning they found the fort entirely destroyed, and hardly a trace of the settlement left. Columbus could not for some time get any ex- planation of the cause of these disasters, but as far as he could learn from the natives, the Span- iards had behaved in a very reckless and licen- tious manner, and as soon as he had gone spent their time in laziness and vicious indulgences, had neglected all necessary precautions for their safety, and in the dead of night were surprised by Coanabo and his warriors, and massacred. Gua- cauagari, the friendly cacique, and his subjects fought valiantly in their defense, but were routed, the cacique himself wounded, and his village burned to the ground. Columbus felt no desire to begin a settlement on a spot which had proved so unfortunate, so, sailing away, he found another harbor about forty miles distant, where he founded the first Christian city of the New World, and gave to it the name of Isabella, in honor of the queen. This second voyage of Columbus extended from September, 1493, until June, 1496 ; and it might have served to prove to the enthusiastic THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 97 navigator " how different is the reality of a course of ambition from the romance, which imagination so vividly portrays." More islands were explored j the mainland of America being still not even imagined by Columbus or any of his followers. But the extravagant expectations of enormous wealth which Columbus had himself cherished, and which had filled his vessels with greedy hidal- gos, who thought of little else than yellow gold, were of course grievously disappointed. Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Guadaloup were not to any great extent gold-producing countries. Pro- visions for so large a body of adventurers soon ran short, and Columbus was obliged to compel his indolent followers to labor for the production of food. Great indignation was soon evinced by these gentry; insurrections and conspiracies broke out against the Admiral, and they contrived to send their bitter complaints to the Spanish court. In 1495, Juan Anguado, in manifest con- travention of the agreement which the sovereigns had signed, was sent out to investigate these charges against Columbus. From the very com- mencement he had been granted the governorship 98 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. of the lands which he discovered, and yet by this act that grant was thus unscrupulously rescinded. Columbus, finding the affairs of the colony in such an unsatisfactory condition, and that such false charges had been sent to the Spanish sovereigns criminating him, he availed himself of one of the ships that was just about leaving for Spain, that he might vindicate himself in person. After a long and tedious voyage, he reached Cadiz on the 11th of June, 1496. The landing of Columbus at this time was very different from what it was when he returned before: then everybody was pleased and astonished, and he was received with the greatest joy j now the men who returned with him were sick, tired, and discouraged, and told all sorts of stories about the colony and about Columbus. He, instead of dressing himself in scarlet and gold, as he did before, felt so humbled at the troubles he had experienced that he clothed himself as a monk, with a cord around his waist. He was very kindly received by the sovereigns, and they did not speak of the stories they had heard against him. He described in the most favorable manner the further discoveries he had THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 99 made, and asked for eight ships, in order to carry out supplies and to make further discoveries. At last, after great delays, a certain sum was appro- priated to the use of Columbus, and on the 30th of May, 1498, he sailed with six ships on his third voyage. When he reached Cape Ferro he divided his squadron, sending three vessels with supplies to Hispaniola, and taking with him the other three to sail in a more southerly direction. Columbus soon found himself in a very warm latitude ; the air was dreadfully hot ; tar melted, and the pro- visions were spoiled from the great heat, so he re- solved to steer westward. As he continued his voy- age, he discovered on the 1st of August land lying to the south. He supposed it was another island, but it was, however, in fact a part of the conti- nent ; but it was the fate of Columbus never to know how great was the extent of his dis- coveries. Meanwhile, affairs upon the island which he had left more than two years before were fast get- ting from bad to worse. Continual disturbances with the natives, internal troubles and jealousies among themselves, were bringing about the great- 100 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. est confusion. Every disappointment, no matter by whom caused, was blamed to Columbus, and a great enemy arose in the person of one Roldan, who did everything in his power to make the peo- ple dissatisfied with the rule of Columbus. This was the state of affairs the Admiral found upon his return. He thought it best, after doing his utmost in the way of conciliation, to hasten the sailing of ships to Spain, and by them sent letters to the sovereigns explaining affairs and acquitting himself. But a great many complaints against Columbus had been carried to Spain. The fol- lowers of Roldan represented him as very cruel and unjust, and pretended that he meant to take the island for himself, and did not care for the sovereigns. The complaints became so numerous that, notwithstanding the efforts of the friends of Columbus, who endeavored to show how con- stant were his efforts to keep these unruly men in order, the sovereigns concluded to send out a commissioner to inquire into the state of the island. For this purpose they appointed a man named Bobadilla, and invested him with great powers — with instructions to deprive Columbus THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 101 of his office should he find him guilty, and take it himself. The arrival of Bobadilla caused great excite- ment. Columbus was absent, so Bobadilla estab- lished himself in his house and seized all his gold, jewels, books, papers, and writings, and spoke in the most disrespectful manner of Columbus, and upon his return to San Domingo seized him, put him in chains, and confined him in the fortress. All the dissatisfied people on the island now flocked to San Domingo, and tried to gain the favor of the new ruler by finding fault with all Columbus had done. Bobadilla listened to all these complaints, and when he had collected what he thought was proof enough of the guilt of Columbus, a guard was sent to remove him from the fortress to the ship. The vessel set sail early in October, bearing Columbus, shackled like the meanest culprit, and followed by the insults and curses of the rabble. The worthy Villejo and the master of the caravel, Andreas Martin, would have taken off his irons, but to this he would not consent. "No," said he, proudly, "their majesties com- 102 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. manded me by letter to submit to whatever Bobadilla should order in their name; by their authority he has put me in these chains. I will wear them until they shall order them to be taken off, and I will preserve them afterward as relics and memorials of the reward of my services." When it was known in Spain that Columbus was brought home in a shameful and disgraceful manner, loaded with chains, the people were much grieved, and so much did everybody in Spain take the part of Columbus that the sover- eigns, without waiting for the papers sent by Bobadilla, sent orders to Cadiz that he should at once be set at liberty and treated with respect, and wrote him that they were very sorry for what he had suffered, and desired him to come to court. Columbus was much comforted when he found himself restored to favor. He had borne all his trials meekly, but when he found himself so kindly received, and saw that the queen had tears in her eyes, he could no longer command his feel- ings, but fell down at her feet, so moved that THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 103 tears and sobbing took from the brave old Ad- miral the power to speak. The sovereigns spoke kindly to him, and raised him up ; told him that Bobadilla had acted con- trary to their orders, and that he should be dis- missed, and assured Columbus that his sufferings should be redressed and his property restored. The king promised to take away the govern- ment of the island from Bobadilla, and to send out some other person, who should take care of the colony for two years, at the end of which time Columbus should be restored to all his power over it. The person chosen was named Ovando, who was to be placed at San Domingo, with power to rule over all the islands and mainland, and also to examine into the accounts of Columbus and to restore to him the property unjustly taken away by Bobadilla. The fleet appointed to convey Ovando to his government was the largest that had yet sailed to the New World. It consisted of thirty-four vessels, nine of which were from ninety to one hundred and fifty tons burden, twenty-four cara- 104 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. vels from thirty to ninety, and one bark of twenty- five tons. The number of persons carried was about twenty-five hundred, many of them persons of rank and distinction, with their families. The squadron put to sea on the 13th of Febru- ary, 1502. In the early part of the voyage it was encountered by a terrible storm : one of the ships foundered, with one hundred and twenty souls ; the others were obliged to throw overboard every- thing on deck, and were completely scattered. The shores of Spain were strewed with articles from the fleet, and a rumor spread that all the ships had perished. When this reached the sover- eigns they were so overcome with grief that they shut themselves up for eight days, and admitted no one to their presence. The rumor proved in- correct; but one ship was lost, the others reas- sembled, and arrived at San Domingo on the 15th of April. Columbus sailed on his fourth and last voyage on the 9th of May, 1502. He was sixty-six years old, and his constitution was much impaired by the hardships and sufferings which he had under- gone. His frame, once powerful and command- THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 105 ing, was now wrecked by infirmities, and subject to paroxysms of severest pain. The voyage was disastrous, and the health of the Admiral suffered from his exposure and persecution, as well as from the approaching infirmities of age ; but the worst was the muti- nous conduct of his crew, which compelled him to return to Spain in November, 1504, having added nothing of importance to his previous dis- coveries. Thus it will be apparent that Columbus had found certain of the West India islands, and parts of Central and South America, but had not even sighted the coast of North America. There seem to have been two supremely happy moments in the strange life of this strange man — the first when he saw land after his advent- urous voyage j the second, the recognition of his achievement. Between these two, however, all the happiness of his life was condensed. This is his sad description of himself in one of his letters to Ferdinand and Isabella : " Such is my fate that twenty years of service, through which I passed with so much toil and 106 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. danger, have profited me nothing ; and at this day I do not possess a roof in Spain that I can call my own. If I wish to eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go bnt to the inn or tavern, and I sel- dom have wherewith to pay the bill. I have not a hair npon me that is not gray j my body is in- firm j and all that was left me, as well as to my brothers, has been taken away and sold, even to the frock that I wore, to my great dishonor. I implore your highnesses to forgive my complaints. I am, indeed, in as ruined a condition as I have related. Hitherto I have wept over others ; may Heaven now have mercy upon me, and may the earth weep for me ! " " Joy, joy for Spain ! a seaman's hand confers These glorious gifts, for a new world is hers ! But where is he? that light whose radiance glows, — The loadstone of succeeding mariners ! Behold him, crushed beneath o'ermastering woes, — Hopeless, heart-broken, chained, abandoned to his foes !" Columbus died in 1506, at Valladolid, in neg- lect. So little did men think of the event that an official announcement of his death was not made until twenty-seven days after ; and so com- THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 107 plete had become the indifference of even Span- iards that one Spanish historian, writing in regard to his early voyages, had not heard of his death in 1507, and another was ignorant of it in 1508. Nobody seemed interested about the death of Columbus j at the end of seven years, however, Ferdinand, not wishing to leave to history the record of his ingratitude and neglect of the dis- coverer who had so enlarged the grandeur of Spain, ordered that obsequies for the deceased should be celebrated conformably to his rank of High Admiral. His coffin was exhumed from the convent of San Francisco, and transported to the cathedral of Seville, where, at the expense of the king, a solemn requiem was performed, after which the body was deposited in the vaults of the convent of Las Cuevas, at Seville. There has been no little controversy as to the final resting-place of the remains of the discov- erer; but the question seems at length to have been satisfactorily settled that they are enshrined in the cathedral of San Domingo. The monu- ment is a plain white marble bas-relief, about f our feet high, representing in a medallion a very 108 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. apocryphal portrait of the Admiral, the inscrip- tion being : " O restos e Ymajen del grande Colom ! Mil siglos durad guardados en la Urna, Y en la remembranza de nuestra Nacion." (Oh, remains and image of the great Columbus ! For a thousand ages rest secured in this urn, And in remembrance of our nation. ) There are many monuments erected to the memory of Columbus in several parts of Europe j that once known as Ferdinand's no longer exists. There is one in the plaza of San Domingo, and another of great elegance at Genoa, erected about thirty years since. Another is in Cuba, and there is one facing the Capitol at Washington. For an ideal portrait of Columbus it is stated that he was tall, of good presence, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated and clignined de- meanor. His visage was long, and; neither full nor meager; his complexion fair%nd freckled, and inclined to ruddy ; his nose aquiline ; his cheek-bones rather high; his eyes light gray; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair in his youthful days was of a light col- Monument of Columbus at Genoa. THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. HI or, but care and trouble soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. It is stated that there are about one hundred different portraits of Columbus extant, but none that is known to have been painted from life. The most reliable is believed to be that painted by Julio Giovio, who, although a contemporary, did not make his portrait from life, but some fif- teen years after the death of the Admiral. The picturesque frontispiece to this volume is from the ideal portrait of a celebrated French artist, Leopold Flameng. It seems strange that, although it must have been known at the time that Columbus was the first to discover America, it was not named after him, since it is admitted that Americus Vespucius did not reach the shores of the continent for more than a year subsequently. Vespucius reached South America in the year 1497, while Columbus was preparing for his third voyage. He pub- lished a glowing description of the new lands he had visited. Columbus died in 1506 and Vespu- cius in 1512 ; and in the year which followed the death of the former, the attempt was first pub- 112 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. licly made to ascribe to Vespucius the priority of the discovery of the Western Continent, and to impose npon it the name America. It seems to be the opinion of some historians that Americns Vespncius arrogated to himself the privilege of conferring his own name npon the country that he knew Colnmbns had dis- covered, for he was personally acquainted with him. Nothing can invalidate the glories of the real discoverer, however 5 for although it bears the name of America, the New World will ever be associated with that of Colnmbns. The earli- est publication of the Vespucius narrative was in 1504, while the name and letters of Colum- bus were familiar throughout Europe from 1493. Humboldt says: "It was not Vespucius, but an obscure man, who invented the name of America, and who proposed it in his work — l Cos- mographies, Introdiictio insuper quatuor Amend Vespucii Navigations .'" But from whatever source, and with whatever design, originated the appellation of America, contemporary historians did not so entitle the new continent, nor is the name inscribed upon any chart or map prepared THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. H3 within twenty-eight years after the first great voyage across the Atlantic. It was called by historical and many of the early geographical writers, "The New World," "The Indies/' "Western India/' etc., while the research of Robertson shows Gomara, Oviedo, Herrera, Martyr, and Benzoni (the two last coun- trymen of Vespucius) ascribing the discovery to Columbus. Whether the honor of conferring the name on the newly discovered continent was alien- ated from its rightful owner by fraud, through any confederacy of the enemies of Columbus, with or without the knowledge of Vespucius, is a question that seems to puzzle historians, and therefore is not now easy to determine. We find, indeed, another class of writers who, in advo- cating the character of Vespucius, insist that he has been covered with a great deal of unmerited obloquy. Before 1507, when Jean Basin of Saint-Die pub- lished the name America, it is said not to be found in any printed document, nor even in any manuscript of recognized and incontestable au- thority. 114 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. M. Marcou, of the Geographical Society of Paris, claims that his theory of a native origin for the name of America has been accepted in Spain, Spanish America, and, with some excep- tions, in the United States ; in France, Germany, and Italy it has excited donbt and surprise, but in the last named he has the support of the emi- nent Turin geographer, M. Guido Cora. " There is no doubt that Columbus and Vespucci went along the Mosquito coast at the foot of the Sierra Amerrique, and that the name was reported by the officers and men of these expeditions, and Schoner, the geographer, declared in 1515 that the name was already popular in Europe." It should be remembered that both Vespucius and Columbus died believing they had discovered Cathay or the western shores of the Indies, never dreaming that what we call America was a sepa- rate continent. This supposed land had then a name — the Indies, which it retains officially still in Spain. True it is that the first maps, especially those emanating from Rome, mentioned the New World as Terra Sancta Cruris (the Land of the Holy Cross) ; and as late as the seventeenth cen- THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER, H5 tury maps were still published with no other designation ; but when they first began to exhibit the name of America, Vespucius had ceased to exist. Yespucius first sighted this continent, partly by accident, in 1498. It was his first voyage as a subordinate officer, under command of an expedi- tion which was guided by the charts which Colum- bus had drawn of the course to Trinidad and the coast of Pavia nearly a year before. Four voyages are ascribed to Vespucius: the first voyage undertaken for the King of Spain; then in the capacity of pilot or of simple trader in 1497 ; or, according to Las Casas, Herrera, and others, the second voyage was also undertaken for the King of Spain, probably under Vicente Pin- zon. The third voyage was undertaken for the King of Portugal ; the expedition sailed probably under Cabral from Lisbon, May 10, 1501. The fourth voyage was also undertaken for the King of Portugal, and that expedition sailed from Lis- bon in 1503. The description of these four voy- ages was published for the first time together in a kind of appendix to a Latin work on cosmog- 116 THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. raphy by Waldsee Miiller, in 1507. Vespucius, from whom America may be said to have acci- dentally received its name, was born at Florence in 1451. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Seville when Columbus, in 1496, was making preparations for a second voyage to the New World. The success of the great discoverer in- flamed Vespucius with a passion for discovery. He sailed from Cadiz on the 29th of May, 1499, in the expedition commanded by Admiral Hojeda, and after a voyage of thirty-seven days arrived at that portion of the continent of America now called Cumana, and explored some hundreds of miles along the coast. He returned in the autumn of the same year, but soon commenced a second voyage, under Admiral Pinzon, which resulted in the discovery of a cluster of small islands on the south of the Gulf of Mexico. The maps published detailing his explorations brought him great rep- utation. The relics and memorabilia of Columbus are still preserved with scrupulous care in the Impe- rial Library at Seville. There may be seen the identical charts, drawings, and calculations which THE CLOSE OF HIS CAREER. 117 Columbus had made and used in his first voyages over the Western ocean. There also is the manu- script volume, inscribed by his own pen, which Washington Irving discovered many years since, while making researches among the archives of Spain, for his work on " Columbus." In addition there yet exist there the steel armor and breast- plate, inlaid with gold, as well as the sword of the great Admiral ; and his letters addressed to Queen Isabella, bound in volumes — all which pos- sess imperishable interest to the ages. A leading authority * on the subject has esti- mated that about six hundred authors have al- ready written upon Columbus exclusively, and that the literature referring incidentally to the subject is of vastly greater extent. In addition to this a new race of writers at the present time is busily making fresh researches into the history of the great event which, for a season, is the absorbing topic of out' time. On the 18th of February, 1890, the American Congress arranged for celebrating the four hun- dredth anniversary of the discovery of America * Harrisse. 118 THE CLOSE OF HIS CABEEE. by an exhibition to be held in Chicago in May, 1893. This act provided the sum of $1,500,000 for the erection of special buildings for the Govern- ment exhibit, admitted goods for exhibition duty free, and empowered the various governmental departments to contribute toward its success. ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. "'Tis -with our judgments as our watches,— none Go just alike,— yet each believes his own." Pope. "The parts of a judge are to select and collate the material points of that which hath been said, and to give the rule or sentence." Bacon. " Let none direct thee what to do or say; Till thee thy judgment of the matter sway ; Let not the pleasing many thee delight ; First judge, if those whom thou dost please, judge right." Sir J. Denlmm. " Most heartily I do beseech the court to give the judgment.' Shakespeare. ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. GREAT writers have immortalized, poets idealized, and priests would canonize Colum- bus ; but the question as to his real character yet to some seems still in doubt. It is a difficulty that has increased in proportion to its age ; and in the vindication of truth, it has been said that the work is very great, but the laborers in the cause are very few. " There is a certain meddle- some spirit," wrote Irving, "which in the garb of learned research goes prying about the traces of history, casting down its monuments, and mar- ring and mutilating its fairest trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition : it defeats one of the most salutary purposes of history— that of fur- nishing examples of what human genius and laud- able enterprise may accomplish." 122 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. Looking through the hazy distance of four cen- turies, it is difficult to form any adequate estimate of a character so complex as that of Columbus. In some respects it seems unique, and not to be judged by any modern standard of criticism. That he was brave, persistent, and heroic, as well as inspired with a lofty ambition, is evident. That he accomplished a wonderful discovery, al- though unwittingly, and that he has consequently become the central figure in nautical adventure and discovery is equally true. But although in- stinctively brave and self-denying, he seems yet to have been recklessly ambitious, intolerant, and even cruel to his own ship's crew, and still more tyrannical to the natives of the lands he had vis- ited ; yet he became himself, in his last days, the victim of treachery and shameful persecution, ending his great career in disgrace and poverty. Writes Mr. Harvey : " I am no hero- worshiper, nor do I wish to be the iconoclast my friends have sometimes called me. In a progressive age there cannot be many men distinguished above their fellows ; there must be groups of men of talent ; it is only in an unenlightened time that individual ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 123 men can stand out conspicuously. ... So thinking, a Curtius leaps into the gulf, a Regulus returns to torture and to death, a Leonidas keeps the pass. It is right to record their acts for guid- ance or avoidance, but not by undue adulation to dissociate them from their surroundings. Nor must we do this with Columbus." Justin Winsor comes to this conclusion with regard to the character of Columbus : "We have seen a pitiable man meet a pitiable death. Hardly a name in profane history is more august than his. Hardly another character in the world's record has made so little of its opportunities. His discovery was a blunder ; his blunder was a new world; the New World is his monument! Its discoverer might have been its father; he proved to be its despoiler. He might have given its young days such a benignity as the world likes to associate with a maker ; he left it a legacy of devastation and crime. He might have been an unselfish promoter of geographical science; he proved a rabid seeker for gold and a viceroyalty. He might have won converts to the fold of Christ by the kindness of his spirit ; he gained the exe- 124 ESTIMATES OF HIS CM ABAC TEE. crations of the good angels. He might, like Las Casas, have rebuked the nendishness of his con- temporaries ; he set them an example of perverted unbelief . The triumph of Barcelona led down to the ignominy of Valladolid, with every step in the degradation palpable and resultant." Another authority* remarks: "As a mariner and discoverer Columbus had no superior j as a colonist and governor he proved himself a failure. Had he been less pretentious and grasping, his latter days would have been more peaceful. Dis- covery was his infatuation ; but he lacked practi- cal judgment, and he brought upon himself a se- ries of calamities." " There is perhaps no other instance on record of a great man whom disappointments and injus- tice did not dishearten and disgust, who had his greatness recognized in his lifetime and yet was robbed of his emoluments, and who, after death, had the honor he had so hardly won conferred upon another ! " Our latest authority t states that " the chains in which he had been brought back as a prisoner from the New World, and * Hubert Bancroft. t Tarducci's " Columbus." ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 125 which he had always kept hung up in his room as a memorial of the reward bestowed for his services, he directed to be placed in his sepul- cher after death j and his will was in this respect punctually executed. No one seemed aware of his passing away. The death of the discoverer of the New World passed without notice within the walls of the city where he died. But the oblivion with which the malice of his enemies succeeded in surrounding his person was soon dispelled by the brilliant splendor of his fame, to which time gave ever-increasing strength and vigor. King Ferdinand himself was forced to yield to the growing influence of his fame, and ordered a monument erected to the man he had caused to expire in poverty and anguish in a lodging- house ! n 11 In most biographies a very erroneous concep- tion of the subject would be received from a man's own account of himself and his deeds. But in the case of Columbus there is no such danger. No man ever presented so faithful a mirror to re- flect all his thoughts and dreams, hopes and dis- appointments, greatness of soul with petty weak- 126 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. nesses, as Columbus, The fault to be fouud with previous histories of Columbus is either that au attempt is made to picture Columbus as a model of perfection, or there is a want of accuracy in details. Many documents have been brought to light within the last half century which, with the aid of intelligent criticism, have greatly increased our knowledge of Columbus. He is, as Alexander von Humboldt calls him, ' a giant standing on the confines between mediaeval and modern times; and his existence marks one of the great epochs in the history of the world.' " * " Columbus was a man of quick sensibility, liable to great excitement, to sudden and strong impressions, and powerful impulses. He was naturally irritable and impetuous, and keenly sen- sible to injury and injustice ; yet the quickness of his temper was counteracted by the benevo- lence and generosity of his heart. The magna- nimity of his nature shone forth through all the troubles of his stormy career. He has been ex- tolled for his skill in controlling others ; but far greater praise is due to him for his firmness in * H. F. Brownson. ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 127 governing himself. In his letters and journals, instead of detailing circumstances with the tech- nical precision of a mere navigator, he notices the beauties of nature with the enthusiasm of a poet or a painter. It is but justice to his character to state that the enslavement of the Indians taken in battle was at first openly countenanced by the crown, and that when the question of right came to be discussed at the entreaty of the queen, sev- eral of the most distinguished jurists advocated the practice ; so that where the most learned men have doubted, it is not surprising that an un- learned mariner should err. These remarks in palliation of the conduct of Columbus are required by candor." * Columbus, like all distinguished characters of history, might be said, in an eminent degree, to represent the spirit and prevailing thought of his times. Nautical enterprise and adventure were the characteristics of his epoch, and he seems to have appeared on the stage of action just at the time that was most propitious for the develop- ment of his enterprise. Numerous writers have * Irving. 128 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. sought to portray the wonderful career of Colum- bus. These may be named : the most conspicu- ous are Las Casas, Major, Irving, Rosselly de Lorgues, Harrisse, and Tarducci. For the most part, each present us with a different phase or es- timate of his character. It seems, from the last- named authority, that for any one who may desire to follow all the steps of Columbus in his check- ered life, Washington Irving and Rosselly de Lorgues are perhaps the two that dispute the field in this respect. The words of an acknowledged critic on the subject, Mr. Harrisse, may fittingly be here intro- duced. He says : "I do not mean to underrate the important services rendered by Christopher Columbus, or to condemn him for the errors which he committed in his surmises and argu- ments. No, indeed ! All innovators, everywhere and always, have experienced and advocated delu- sions. Even now, in this age of scientific truths, we see discoveries spring out of mistaken notions, not only in the sphere of hypothesis, but in exact sciences. Take, for instance, the detection of the planet Neptune, which in many respects is not ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER, 129 unlike the discovery of America. In 1846, after years and years of the most arduous mathematical calculations, Le Verrier announced that the irregu- larities in the motion of Uranus were due to the disturbing action of some unknown planet, and that by pointing the telescope on the first of Janu- ary, 1847, toward a certain part of the heavens, the celestial body, long suspected but never seen, would appear. And sure enough, near or about the degree of longitude marked by Le Verrier, on the day appointed, Neptune was duly detected. Yet when astronomers became possessed of the necessary data, and studied the problem, they found that the very elements of Le Verifier's com- putations were wrong. It is a question, therefore, whether there were not as many errors and as much luck in Le Verrier's memorable discovery as in that of Columbus. Nor must you believe that I am inclined to lessen the real merits of the great Genoese, or fail to admire him ; but my ad- miration is the result of reflection, and not a blind hero-worship. Columbus removed out of the range of mere speculation the idea that beyond the Atlantic Ocean lands existed, and could be 130 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. reached by sea, and made of the notion a fixed fact, and linked forever the two worlds. That event, which is unquestionably the greatest of modern times, secures to Columbus a place in the pantheon dedicated to the worthies whose cour- ageous deeds mankind will always admire. . . . When a great event occurs, in science as in his- tory, the hero who seems to have caused it is only the embodiment and resulting force of the medi- tations, trials, and endeavors of numberless gen- erations of fellow-workers, conscious and uncon- scious, known and unknown." " It is not too much to say that Columbus owes his grand success to his unselfish unity of purpose. There was no want of breadth in his character to canker the fair fame of his benefaction to the world. Even the most glorious work of men's hands would fail to be a fit memorial of him whose monument is half the inhabited world. We find no fault in him ! When smaller men tried to rise upon the ruin of his credit, he took it quietly, and forgave it without scorn. There is not one imperfection to limit our reverence for his memory. The son of a humble Genoese wool- ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 131 comber, he left his children a distinction prouder than a pedigree of the purest blood." * An able writer t in the North American Review thus summarizes the unjust treatment which Columbus was destined to suffer from the hands of Ferdinand: " Columbus entered the Spanish service in 1486, and continued in it for twenty years, until his decease in 1506. Of this period six years were employed in solicitations to be sent to the Indies ; twelve succeeding were occupied in his voyages of discovery ; and for the residue, he was a humble suppliant in Spain, awaiting justice to redress or death to terminate his sufferings. His treatment during this whole period was such as to give his biographers occasion to declare that Spain did no more than yield a tardy assistance to the great undertaking, and afterward to per- secute him who had replenished her provinces with wealth. And what are the proofs alleged in regard to the years preceding his voyage? He was permitted to gain a scanty subsistence by selling charts in the seaports of Andalusia; he was uniformly befriended by Don Diego de Deza, * J. C. H. t Caleb dishing. 132 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. afterward archbishop of Seville 5 he was protected two years by the Duke of Medinaceli ; more than this, he was actually preserved from starvation by Juan Perez, prior of La Rabida, and the alms of his religious house. But where, in the mean- time, was the bounty of his kind-hearted and lib- eral king ? Did Ferdinand ever lend a candid ear to the representations of Columbus, or hospitably entertain him in the extremity of his want ? No ! Navarrete has ransacked every record in Spain, from the royal repositories of Simancas and the Escurial, to the more humble collections of his literary friends j and no vestige remains of the patronage of the government at this period but a simple passport granted him in 1489. He, a necessitous Genoese pilot, advanced doctrines in geography adverse to all the received opinions of his contemporaries. Neither the quality of the individual nor the nature of his object was calcu- lated to produce a favorable impression upon the Spaniards. In his zeal to vindicate Ferdinand, Navarrete seems to have lost sight of the truly monstrous injuries which Columbus was doomed to suffer. He ostentatiously recounts the honors ESTIMATES OF HIS CHAEACTEB. 133 bestowed upon the navigator on his return from his first voyage ; but omits to contrast these with the indignities by which they were again and again outweighed. Columbus returned from his second voyage in 1496, and was compelled by the intrigues of Don Juan de Fonseca to wait in at- tendance two whole years before he could obtain another armament. During the Admiral's resi- dence in Hispaniola, upon this third expedition, the colony became overflowed with the scum of Spain — men of desperate character and turbulent spirits, who threw the whole island into confusion by their licentiousness. Columbus saw that the very existence of the colony was at stake, and with admirable firmness and courage he quelled the dissolute crew which surrounded him, and rescued the settlement from ruin. Order they denounced as tyranny, and their false accusations against Columbus obtained a ready credence from Ferdinand, who dispatched Bobadilla to the Indies to supersede Columbus. The very second day after his landing, without even giving Columbus preparation for the outrage, he ordered him and his two brothers to be seized and transported to 134 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. Spain in irons I This Bobadilla then took posses- sion of all the Admiral's papers, his money, and his honse, appropriating them thus fraudulently to his own use." These various tributes to the memory of Co- lumbus would be incomplete without the follow- ing rugged, energetic words of Carlyle. He says : " Brave sea-captain, Norse sea-king — Columbus, my hero, royalest sea-king of all! It is no friendly environment this of thine, in the waste deep waters ; around thee mutinous, discouraged souls, behind thee disgrace and ruin, before thee the impenetrated veil of night. Brother, these wild water-mountains bounding from their deep bases are not entirely there on thy behalf ! Thou art not among articulate-speaking friends, my brother 5 thou art among immeasurable dumb monsters, tumbling, howling, wide as the world here. Secret, far off, invisible — invisible to all hearts but thine — there lies a help in them : see how thou wilt get at that. Mutiny of men thou wilt sternly repress ; weakness, despondency, thou wilt cheerily encourage ; thou wilt swallow down contempt, complaint, weakness of thyself and ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 135 others; — how much wilt thou swallow down! Yes, niy world-soldier, thou of the world-marine service, thou wilt have to be greater than this tumultuous, unmeasured world here round thee is: thou in thy strong soul, as with wrestler's arms, shalt embrace it, harness it down, and make it bear thee on, — to new Americas." The following glowing estimate of the character of our hero is from the pen of one * who has de- voted some years to the study of the historic and representative men of all ages ; and whose ana- lytical skill in the delineation of character has been long recognized : " Wrapped up in those glorious visions which come only to a man of superlative genius, and which make him insensible to heat and cold and scanty fare, even to reproach and scorn, this in- trepid soul, inspired by a great and original idea, wandered from city to city, and country to coun- try, and court to court, to present the certain greatness and wealth of any state that would em- bark in his enterprise. But all were alike cynical, cold, unbelieving, and even insulting. He op- * Dr. J. Lord. 136 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. poses overwhelming, universal, and overpowering ideas. To have surmounted these amid such pro- tracted opposition and discouragement constitutes his greatness; and finally to prove his position by absolute experiment and hazardous enterprise makes him one of the greatest of human benefac- tors, whose fame will last through all the genera- tions of men. And as I survey that lonely, ab- stracted, disappointed, and derided man — poor and unimportant, so harassed by debt that his creditors seized even his maps and charts, obliged to fly from one country to another to escape im- prisonment, without even listeners and still less friends, and yet with ever-increasing faith in his cause, utterly unconquerable, alone in opposition to all the world — I think I see the most persistent man of enterprise that I have read of in history. Critics ambitious to say something new may rake out slanders from the archives of enemies, and discover faults which derogate from the character we have been taught to admire and venerate; they may even point out spots which we cannot disprove in that sun of glorious brightness which shed its beneficent rays over a century of dark- ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 137 ness, — but this we know, that, whatever may be the force of detraction, his fame has been steadily increasing, even on the admission of his slander- ers, for three centuries, and that he now shines as a fixed star in the constellation of the great lights of modern times, not alone because he succeeded in crossing the ocean when once embarked on it, but for surmounting the moral difficulties which lay in his way before he could embark upon it, and for being finally instrumental in conferring the greatest boon that our world has received from any mortal man since Noah entered into the ark." The following extract is from Mr. William C. Bryant's " History of the United States " : " With a patience that nothing could wear out, and a perseverance that was absolutely uncon- querable, Columbus waited and labored for eight- een years, appealing to minds that wanted light and to ears that wanted hearing. His ideas of the possibilities of navigation were before his time. It was one thing to creep along the coast of Africa, where the hold upon the land need never be lost ; another, to steer out boldly into 138 ESTIMATES OF Hiu CHARACTER. that wilderness of waters over which mystery and darkness brooded. " The glory of the discovery he actually made has to a remarkable degree obscured the fact that in the long discussion before kings and councils of the discovery he proposed to make it was Columbus who was in the wrong, and his oppo- nents who were in the right, on the main question — a short western route to India. The ignorance, the obstinacy, the stupidity, with which he so long contended were, indeed, obstacles in the way of an event so important to all civilized races as the possession of half the globe; but that event was no more proposed or foreseen by Columbus than it was opposed by those who with- stood him the most persistently, or ridiculed him the most unmercifully. " But at last, as he believed, and as they were forced to confess, by an event which all misap- prehended, he was justified. The enthusiasm, the strength of faith, the tenacity of purpose, which through so many years had never faltered, had at length triumphed — triumphed even in the final struggle with the superstition and desperation of ESTIMATES OF HIS CHAEACTEB. 139 men who would have gladly sacrificed him to their fears." " His impetuous ardor threw him into the study of the fathers of the Church, the Arabian Jews, and the ancient geographers j while his daring but irregular genius, bursting from the limits of imperfect science, bore him to conclusions far beyond the intellectual vision of his contempo- raries. If some of his conclusions were erroneous, they were at least ingenious and splendid ; and their error resulted from the clouds which still hung over his peculiar path of enterprise. His own discoveries enlightened the ignorance of the age, guided conjecture to certainty, and dispelled the very darkness with which he had been obliged to struggle. In the progress of his discoveries he has been remarked for the extreme sagacity and the admirable justness with which he seized upon the phenomena of the exterior world. The variations, for instance, of terrestrial magnetism, the direction of currents, the groupings of ma- rine plants, fixing one of the grand climacteric divisions of the ocean, the temperatures changing not solely with the distance to the equator, but 140 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. also with the difference of the meridians : these and similar phenomena as they broke npon him were discerned with wonderful quickness of per- ception, and made to contribute important prin- ciples to the stock of general knowledge. This lucidity of spirit, this quick convertibility of facts to principles, distinguish him from the dawn to the close of his sublime enterprise, insomuch that, with all the sallying ardor of his imagination, his ultimate success has been admirably character- ized as a l conquest of reflection.' He was de- cidedly a visionary, but a visionary of an uncom- mon and successful kind. The manner in which his ardent, imaginative, and mercurial nature was controlled by a powerful judgment, and directed by an acute sagacity, is the most extraordinary feature in his character. This governed his imagination, instead of exhausting itself in idle flights, lent aid to his judgment, and enabled him to form conclusions at which common minds could never have arrived, nay, which they could not perceive when pointed out. l His soul,' ob- serves a Spanish writer, * was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved the ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 141 great enterprise of traversing that sea which had given rise to so many fables, and of deciphering the mystery of his time.' With all the visionary fervor of his imagination, its fondest dreams fell short of the reality. He died in ignorance of the real grandeur of his discovery. Until his last breath he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opnlent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the East. He supposed Hispaniola to be the ancient Ophir which had been visited by the ships of Solomon, and that Cuba and Terra Firma were but remote parts of Asia. What visions of glory would have broken upon his mind could he have known that he had indeed discovered a new continent, equal to the whole of the Old World in magnitude, and separated by two vast oceans from all the earth hitherto known by civilized man ! And how would his magnani- mous spirit have been consoled, amidst the afflic- tions of age and the cares of penury, the neglect of a fickle public, and the injustice of an ungrate- ful king, could he have anticipated the splendid empires which were to spread over the beautiful 142 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. world lie had discovered; and the nations and tongues and languages which were to fill its lands with his renown, and revere and bless his name to the latest posterity." * The last citation, and the latest in the order of time, is from the work of an " accepted authority " on the subject,! who remarks: "No one can deny that Las Casas was a keen judge of men, or that his standard of right and wrong was quite as lofty as any one has reached in our own time. He had a much more intimate knowledge of Columbus than any modern historian can ever hope to acquire, and he always speaks of him with warm admiration and respect. But how could Las Casas ever have respected the feeble, mean-spirited driveler whose portrait Mr. Winsor asks us to accept as that of the Discoverer of America! If, however, instead of his biograph- ical estimate of Columbus, we consider Mr. Win- sor's contributions toward a correct statement of the difficult geographical questions connected with the subject, we recognize at once the work of an acknowledged master in his chosen field. * Washington Irving. t John Fiske. ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 143 It is work, too, of the first order of importance. It would be hard to mention a subject on which so many reams of direful nonsense have been written as on the discovery of America. In dealing with the subject one must steadily keep before one's mind the quaint notions of ancient geographers, especially Ptolemy and Mela, as por- trayed upon maps. It was just these distorted and hazy notions that swayed the minds and guided the movements of the great discoverers. Without constant reference to these old maps one cannot begin to understand the circumstances of the discovery. "In recent years elaborate researches have been made by Henry Harrisse and others in the archives of Genoa, Savona, Seville, and other places with which Columbus was connected, in the hope of supplementing this imperfect infor- mation concerning his earlier years. A number of data have thus been obtained, which, while clear- ing up the subject most remarkably in some directions, have been made to mystify and em- broil it in others. The general impression, how- ever, which the discussions of the past twenty 144 ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. years have left upon my mind is that the more violent hypotheses are not likely to be sustained, and that the newly ascertained facts do not call for any very radical interference with the tra- ditional lines upon which the life of Columbus has heretofore been written." By thus placing in close proximity these diver- gent and conflicting opinions of eminent writers, the reader will be the better enabled to collate them together and form his own conclusion. The high position that Columbus has for centuries oc- cupied in the world's annals has naturally tended in an unusual degree to challenge the closest scrutiny and criticism. Few critics, it may be added, are to be found in their judgment entirely free from prejudice or bias, on one side or the other. Without further adding to the above esti- mates and opinions — much less attempting to har- monize them — this eclectic summary may suffice. Until Columbus had solved the mystery of the dark sea, nothing of great importance had been discovered in nautical affairs that resulted in any practical value to the world. That event formed the great epoch of maritime history, as did the ESTIMATES OF HIS CHARACTER. 145 landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, subsequently, in civil and ecclesiastical history. And both have alike exerted a controlling and beneficent influ- ence upon mankind in each hemisphere. Looking backward to the daring experiment of Columbus with his three small caravels, when the " ocean sea " was regarded with mysterious dread as one of horrors and disasters, we can better appre- ciate the grandeur of his enterprise. That sea of gloomy dread contrasted with the same broad ocean — now the great highway of the commerce of all nations, which bears upon its mighty bosom argosies of stately sea-palaces and the merchant- craft of every clime — may well justify the pride we feel in this our age when we contemplate its marvels of naval architecture and nautical skill, as well as its achievements in other departments of science and of art. WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. i. SALAD FOR THE SOLITARY AND THE SOCIAL. By FREDERICK SAUNDERS. Popular edition, revised, and illustrated with over fifty engrav- ings. One volume, 8vo, 526 pages, handsomely bound. Cloth, gilt top, $2.00 ; full gilt edges, $2.50. " It is an inexhaustible magazine from whence to draw genial intellectual entertainment, and sharp provocatives to wholesome mirth and gayety." — Harper's Magazine. " It is emphatically a book to buy." — New- York Times. " A volume that may be read and re-read." — New-York World. "One of the most delightful series of essays in our language." — Albion. "It breathes the fine aroma of the library." — New-York Tribune. "A delightful companion for all seasons and for all occasions." — Boston Traveller. " There is hardly another book that contains so much good and quotable matter of its kind." — New- York Evening- Post. " It is full of incident, witticism, wise maxim, and felicitous illustration. The new popular edition just published is very attractive to the eye, and will, doubtless, create a new constituency for itself." — The Christian Union. *** Copies for sale at all first-class bookstores, or will be forwarded free, on receipt of price, by the publisher, THOMAS WHITTAKER, 2 and 3 Bible House, New-York. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. II. PASTIME PAPERS. One volume, i2mo, cloth extra, $1.00 ; paper covers, 50 cents. "De Quincey divided literature into the literature of knowledge and the literature of power. Mr. Saunders of the Astor Library distinguishes a third category in the literature of rest and recreation, with a refreshing quality in it, which, though it may not make it a literature of power, does not fail to soothe the fevered mind, and ' Ease the anguish of a torturing hour. ' In his ' Salad for the Solitary and the Social,' he produced the first proof of his ability in such recreative essays. After several years of silence he has again set his hand to the same work, and given us an attractive i6mo, pub- lished by Whittaker, under the similar title of Pastime Papers.' The papers are rich in the good quality of rare and curious learning, gleaned from long acquaintance with a great library." — New-York Independent. " ' Pastime Papers' are a series of light essays dealing with various sub- jects. Mr. Saunders has profitably and agreeably condensed here much varied reading with admirable results. These gracefully written papers may well be- guile any person pleasantly of a leisure hour." — London Graphic. " ' Pastime Papers ' show the results of many excursions into out-of-the-way nooks of literature. Quaint stories, odd facts, curious observations, have been woven by the judicious author into a series of graceful papers full of pleasant reflection and gentle humor." — New-York Tribune. " They are graceful and attractive, but they are something more. They convey a good deal of information ; and they stimulate while they refresh, and furnish no small amount of material for profitable thought. Few readers, es- pecially such as are of a literary turn, will fail to find their account in turning the leaves of this dainty volume. " — Christian Intelligencer. " They show how industriously this literary bee has fed upon the flowery lit- erature of the Astor Library, and what a wise use he has made of the mental honey thus gathered." — New- York Telegraph. V Copies for sale at all first-class bookstores, or will be forwarded free, on receipt of price, by the publisher, THOMAS WHITTAKER, 2 and 3 Bible House, New-York. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. III. STRAY LEAVES OF LITERATURE. One volume, i2mo, cloth extra, $1.25. "As the writer says ' Good night ' to us at the close of this series of essays, we wish that he could stay and talk a little longer. He is so cheerful, so full of literary reminiscences, so bright and chatty, as to make us regret that he leaves us so soon to our own rather commonplace reflections, as we fix our fires, and prepare for ' tired nature's sweet restorer.' Such a book is pervaded with the aroma of a good library. It was evidently written among books, and no lover of books will fail to notice the nice sympathy and appreciations which the writer has managed to express on almost every page. Mr. Saunders of the Astor Library, in New-York, of which he was appointed librarian in 1876, is pretty well known to most literary readers. Anything that he writes is sure of a welcome. In his previous volumes he has shown a most felicitous way of chatting about books, men, and things ; and this present book adds to his reputation. So bright and attractive is he that the general reader, hitherto un- acquainted with this fellow-worker with Bryant on the Evening Post, this London-born veteran of eighty-two years, would be likely to take him for one still in the hope and flush of life's forenoon. These ' Stray Leaves ' comprise thirteen essays on various subjects, the first of which, that on ' Old Book Notes,' contains many quaint and curious bits of information, and is perhaps the best. " It speaks and also reminds one somewhat of the ' Curiosities of Literature ' published by the elder Disraeli very near a century ago. It is to be noticed how he lingers over the old books, the tried and enduring ones, suggesting that our present literary tastes are, if anything, a little too current. ' Readers of new books only,' he says, ' like those who indulge too freely in new bread, may suffer from dyspepsia, mentally and physically.' He stimulates to the best kind of reading. He is full of references and quotations. While his book con- tains little that is strictly new, much curious and half-forgotten lore is here brought to light. Diamonds of literary and esthetic beauty are brought into close contrast with a few rough potatoes of common sense, to borrow the figure of an old poem, and it is hard to tell which should be preferred. It is a happy idea, where in his essay on ' Head, Heart, and Hand ' he states that it is ' es- sential to a man's happiness that he maintain pacific relations both with his conscience and his stomach.' In his view of things he fully agrees with Lamb, who held that 'a laugh is worth a hundred groans in any state of the market.' " The old songs and ballads of different races are touched upon pleasandy, and light is shed over some of them. Sympathy and the seasons, music, sal- utations, and flowers, with several other themes, are treated in his delightful conversational way. A clear and concise index renders the facts and anec- dotes of the volume readily available. These essays are so gracefully written, so rich in the rare and curious gleanings of his library reading, that many a leisure hour may be profitably charmed away. The latch-string is always out for Mr. Saunders. We hope that he will ' call again.' " —Public Opinion. *** Copies for sale at all book-sellers, or will be forwarded free, on receipt of price, by the publisher, THOMAS WHITTAKER, a and 3 Bible House, New- York. . w ^ • " v v k £ °- «♦*.•&&% £*£fe?°* /-^*- -. **0« *°< *o i* ♦ « • •- ^* v • ** v^R** «* ^ -^WV * v -* ''MPS** & %> .' > V ^ ' 5 V^-V VW>* V Tftr v* % «Sr. % / 4|fe %./ *iSfe ■ %/ -^Sfe ^ ^VA * * /: .•i ^ .- ^* .y ^••T2^- A ol> %. *^ ■ STORY OF THE DISCOVER i: STORY OF THE DISCOV OFTHENEWWOR1 BY C0LUM5US